Italy mediates in Albanian crisis

[UPI]

TIRANA, March 10 UPI) -- Italy has begun mediating in the insurgency
in Albania in an effort to establish a dialogue between rebels and the
government.
The British Broadcasting Coporation reports that Italian officials
are meeting with rebel leaders from Southern Albania on board an Italian
navy warship moored off the Adriatic coast.
An Italian Foreign Ministry statement Monday says the goal of the
meeting is to speed up and consolidate the general amnesty agreement
signed Sunday by President Sali Barisha and the opposition.
The deal, aimed at ending more than a month of unrest in Southern
Albania, offers a government of national unity and elections to be held
by June.
The crisis in Albania stems from the collapse late last year of bogus
investment schemes. By Christmas up to 80 percent of the country's
population had lost their life's savings, spawning protests blaming the
government for not adequately warning investors.
The protests crystallized lingering anger over the nation's already
dire economic straits. Albania, the last European nation to be freed
from communist rule, is also region's poorest.
Meanwhile, rebel forces reportedly have taken two more towns in
Southern Albania.