News:Italy 'plotted' power switch in Tirana & ...
Sokol Rama
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"They (Serbs) have carried out horrible massacres. They
have raped 12 to 13 year old girls, have torched children
alive and killed elderly people. I have seen these with my
own eyes when I was coming from Peja. They do not deal with
men and KLA fighters but only with civilians."
- a mother from Peja (ATA, July 16, 1998)
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Taken without permission, for fair use only.
Italy 'plotted' power switch in Tirana
Focus-Albania PM-Designate under Attack from Opposition
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THE TIMES
October 1 1998
EUROPE
Italy 'plotted' power switch in Tirana
FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME
HINTS emerged in the Italian press yesterday that Western influence - above
all Italian - played a crucial role in shaping this week's change of guard
in Tirana.
Newspapers said Italy's aim was to ensure stability in Albania and avoid
another risky intervention while the Balkans is in turmoil over the
fighting in Kosovo.
"Italy has dropped a leader it never liked," La Repubblica said yesterday,
referring to the resignation of Fatos Nano, the Socialist leader, as Prime
Minister and the choice of a much younger and relatively unknown Socialist,
Pandeli Majko, 31, as his successor. "Italy is shedding no tears for Fatos
Nano, whom it had never taken to its heart ... Italian diplomacy has played
a decisive role behind the scenes in the fall of the Albanian leader."
Diplomats said Mr Nano's departure had the "approval" not only of Italy,
but also other Western powers, notably the United States. "The West
believes that if money donated for the reconstruction of Albania is not to
be wasted, the country needs to put its dark past behind it," said one.
"That may mean getting rid not only of Nano, but also of his predecessor
and arch enemy, Sali Berisha. It is time for a new generation to take
over."
Italy has long had an interest in its neighbour across the Adriatic. In
1939, Mussolini annexed it as a colony. Last year, as Albania's democracy
and economy tottered, it led a successful nine nation intervention force.
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Focus-Albania PM-Designate under Attack from Opposition
Reuters
01-OCT-98
TIRANA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Albanian Premier-designate Pandeli Majko came
under personal attack from the opposition on Thursday as his attempts to
form a new government after weeks of political uncertainty hit a snag.
Opposition leader Sali Berisha said the 30-year-old Majko had suffered
mental illness when he was a student.
"The leadership of the Democratic Party would like to inform Albanians and
the international community that the newly-nominated prime minister
interrupted his university studies for a year due to a serious mental
illness," Berisha told a news conference. He did not elaborate.
There was no immediate response from the Premier-designate.
Majko, secretary general of the ruling Socialist Party, faces the daunting
task of restoring law and order to the volatile Balkans nation, whose
capital Tirana was rocked by two days of bloody riots last month.
He wants a Socialist to head the public works ministry, whose role in
rebuilding Albania's shattered infrastructure is seen as crucial for
economic recovery in Europe's poorest nation.
But the Social Democratic Party, a member of the Socialist-led five-party
coalition, was refusing to give up the post, insisting that outgoing
minister Gaqo Apostoli should be reappointed.
"All issues with the other parties have been settled. What remains to be
agreed upon is the share of the Social Democrats in the government," a
senior Socialist Party politician said.
A Socialist Party source said he expected Majko, poised to become Europe's
youngest head of government, to hammer out a deal during the day.
Prime Minister Fatos Nano resigned on Monday after failing to get the
backing of the coalition for a cabinet reshuffle two weeks after violence
shook Tirana following the murder of a leading member of the opposition
Democrats.
Berisha, a former president, called Majko a puppet of Nano and said his
appointment would represent a continuation of Albania's crisis.
Former student leader Majko was once formally honoured by Berisha for
helping to bring down Stalinist rule in 1990.
Berisha again said his party had offered a dialogue but complained that
President Rexhep Meidani had declined to consult his party before asking
Majko to form a new government.
The Democrats want a caretaker government of technocrats to lead the
country to early elections rather than have the Socialists, reformed heirs
of the communists who ruled for four decades, stay in power.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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