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Albanian Times, 96-05-30
Albanian Times
May 30, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] President Orders Probe of Police Crackdown
[02] Italy Says Albania May Bow to Election Criticism
[03] France Urges Restraint and Reconciliation
[04] Socialists Vow to Continue Protest
[05] Lek Stronger Despite Poll Controversy
[06] CEI To Discuss Admitting Albania, Others As Associate Members
[07] Albanian Media on Tuesday's Crackdown
[08] Fountain Oil Annoinces Major Equity Funding
[01] President Orders Probe of Police Crackdown
TIRANA, May 29 - The president of Albania has ordered
prosecutors to investigate a violent police crackdown on opposition
demonstrators. President Sali Berisha insisted that the rally in central
Tirana was illegal, but said the government would respect civil rights.
Berisha said he had ``asked the prosecutor's office to start
investigating abuses, and according to law it should take the
necessary decisions.'' The move comes after mounting pressure by Berisha's
political adversaries and foreign observers. Socialists said Wednesday that
one of their activists, 24-year-old Eduard Kullolli, had been shot and killed
after participating in the protest. But the Interior Ministry denied the
killing had anything to do with the protest. Hundreds of people attended
burial services Wednesday in Kullolli's village outside of Tirana. The ruling
Democratic Party claimed an overwhelming victory in
Sunday's election, winning 95 seats in the 140-seat parliament,
according to results released on state television Wednesday night.
The Socialists won five seats, and a party representing ethnic
Greeks won two. New voting was ordered in three districts where widespread
voting irregularities were determined to have occurred, state
television said. There were no clear winners in 10 districts, necessitating a
second round of voting to be held on Sunday. Another 25 seats are
decided by proportional representation based on percentage of the
nationwide vote. Berisha said he expected the opposition to take the seats it
wins in parliament. On Wednesday, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe harshly criticized the poll. Although the report
refrained from dismissing the elections outright as unfair, it was the group's
most critical report on any election it has monitored in post-communist
eastern Europe. Berisha did not directly respond to the report. The flawed
election and bloody police crackdown could cool European and U.S. enthusiasm
for Berisha's Albania. (Albanian Times/Radio Tirana/AP/Reuters)
[02] Italy Says Albania May Bow to Election Criticism
ROME, May 29 - Italy said on Wednesday it believed Albanian
President Sali Berisha might be prepared to annul results in certain
constituencies following widespread criticism of last weekend's general
election. Undersecretary at the Italian Foreign Ministry Piero Fassino said
Rome had called on Berisha to re-hold elections in seats where there had been
serious vote violations. ``It seems to us, from contacts we've had from our
ambassador in Tirana that Berisha is moving in this direction,'' Fassino told
parliament, adding that reports from observers pointed to ``irregularities in
many seats.'' ``There needs to be a rapid return to democratic normality,'' he
said, calling on opposition forces in Albania to reopen the political dialogue
and warning Berisha against any crackdown against his rivals. Fassino said
Italy hoped to see a return to democratic normality in the forthcoming second
round of the ballot. Italy holds the rotating presidency of the European
Union. (Albanian Times/Reuters)
[03] France Urges Restraint and Reconciliation
PARIS, May 29 - France called for restraint in Albania on Wednesday, and said
the second round of general election voting must be above reproach. French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jacques Rummelhardt told a daily
briefing: ``Yesterday's incidents at the banned demonstration called by
the
opposition demand restraint on all sides and necessary reconciliation.
"France calls on all the parties concerned to prepare the second ballot
to ensure it takes place in an exemplary manner which excludes any
possible
criticism.'' The French statement referred to the OSCE's call for an
irreproachable second round but omitted any mention of its comments on alleged
irregularities on the first ballot. (Albanian Times/Reuters)
[04] Socialists Vow to Continue Protest
TIRANA, Albania - Albania's Socialists vowed to continue protesting
parliamentary elections that they and international monitors say
the ruling party rigged. President Sali Berisha, urged the public
not
to join the protests, which he contended were led by former chiefs
of Albania's despised Communist secret police. The opposition said it would
keep up the pressure for new elections. ``The next step will be a repeat of
today's step,'' Servet Pellumbi, deputy head of the Socialist Party, said
after Tuesday's protests. ``And we'll spread it all over the country.''
Socialists have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Aleksander
Meksi, along with the interior minister, deputy interior minister,
and head of state broadcasting. They also demanded the elections be
annulled. On Wednesday, Socialists organized protests in Gjirokatra and Korca
under the watchful eyes of the police. In both cases there were no reports of
incidents. (Albanian Times)
[05] Lek Stronger Despite Poll Controversy
TIRANA, May 29 - Albania's currency, the lek, strengthened against the dollar
on Wednesday, despite rising poltical instability in the
Balkan nation and an interruption of Tirana's bustling street currency market
by the police. The lek was last changing hands at 112 to the dollar, up from
114 on Monday, the day after Albania's third multi-party general election in
which the conservative, pro-market Democratic Party has claimed a landslide
victory. Three days before the elections the lek had fallen to about 120 to
the dollar, its lowest point in two years. ``Before the elections there were
rumours that it would go down to 200 leks, that's why everybody was buying
hard currency,'' one of about 1,000 street dealers milling every day just
outside the central bank told Reuters. ``But now that the Democrats have won,
everybody thinks it (the lek) will be about the same level as before the
elections. It might even get stronger,'' added the trader, who would give his
name only as Fation. Tirana's currency market is concentrated on a small
stretch of pavement near the Bank of Albania, the central bank, and within
sight of the Socialist Party's
headquarters. Trading was disrupted on Tuesday when police moved in to
quash a
demonstration by the opposition. As much as $2 million changes hands on
Tirana's street money market on a normal day, traders estimated. Only two or
three are licensed by the central bank, providing the hard
currency supply for the rest of the market. ``They're the market's basis
and
set the price,'' said Fation. Most of the customers coming to change leks
into dollars were businessmen requiring hard currency for imports, he
added.
While an average street dealer usually makes less than one lek on
every
dollar he sells, the banks' spread usually hovers around three leks
per
dollar. The street market so far has resisted attempts by Albania's central
bank, keen on fostering citizen's trust in the country's shaky banking system,
to institutionalise trading. (Courtesy of Reuters)
[06] CEI To Discuss Admitting Albania, Others As Associate Members
VIENNA, May 29 - Central and east European foreign ministers
meet in Vienna on Friday to discuss the reconstruction of Bosnia
and to find ways of improving cooperation in the region. Diplomatic sources
said the two-day forum of the 10-member Central European Initiative (CEI)
would also consider admitting five associate members -- Ukraine, Albania,
Belarus, Romania and Bulgaria. Austria, which chairs the group this year, has
said it favours opening the CEI's doors to all five applicants. The forum, set
up in 1989, already groups Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, the Czech Republic,
Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Italy. (Albanian
Times)
[07] Albanian Media on Tuesday's Crackdown
TIRANA, May 29 - Albanian newspapers gave full coverage on
Wednesday to a police crackdown on an opposition rally, with only the
ruling
Democrat daily focusing on the party's apparent election victory. Both left-
supporting and independent newspapers carried pictures of
police beatings and injured demonstrators at the capital's main Skanderbeg
Square, where opposition supporters tried to gather on Tuesday to
protest
against general elections they said were a sham. The Democratic Party daily
Rilindja Demokratike only mentioned the violence in passing, dedicating the
front page to what it claimed was a crushing election win for President Sali
Berisha's ruling party. ``The squares belong to the people, the violence was
illegal,'' read the banner headline of Zeri I Popullit (Voice of the People),
the paper of the main opposition Socialists. Despite opposition charges that
Berisha has adopted a more authoritarian style since he became president in
1992, Albania is still widely regarded to have a comparatively free press. In
contrast to some other countries in the region, such as Croatia, Albanian
newspapers are able to reflect a wide range of political opinion -- widely
considered to be one of the main cornerstones of a democracy. The Albanian
Socialists' Zeri I Popullit dedicated two full pages to pictures of battered
opposition supporters, riot police and a foreign journalist with blood
streaming down his face. Albani
a's one television channel, radio station and news agency remain state-
controlled and reflected the government's version of Tuesday's events.
Independent dailies Koha Jone and Gazeta Shqiptare reported Tuesday's clashes
in detail.
[08] Fountain Oil Annoinces Major Equity Funding
OSLO, May 29 - Fountain Oil Inc <GUSH.O>. said on Wednesday it
expected to use most of the net proceeds from a five million share issue
to
the development of hydrocarbon prospects in Russia, Ukraine and Albania,
according to a statement on the Oslo bourse. Fountain holds equity interests
in the Maykop field in Russian, the
Leyaki field in eastern Ukraine and the Gorisht-Kocul field in Albania.
(Albanian Times/Reuters)
This material was reprinted with permission of AlbAmerica Trade & Consulting
International. For more information on ATCI and the Albanian Times, please
write to AlbaTimes@aol.com
Copyright © ATCI, 1996
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