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Albanian Times, 96-07-27
Albanian Times
July 27, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] EU Sees Local Poll As Test For Ties With Tirana
[02] Justice Official Shot Dead in Tirana
[03] Tirana Stock Exhange
[04] Police Arrests Hostage Taker
[01] EU Sees Local Poll As Test For Ties With Tirana
TIRANA, July 26 - European Commissioner Hans Van den Broek said
on Friday that upcoming local elections in Albania would be a test which could
influence the Balkan nation's future ties with the European Union. Winding up
a brief trip to Tirana for talks after Albania's recent controversial general
election, the EU's external affairs commissioner also said Europe would
continue to provide financial aid for the continent's poorest state. ``The
upcoming elections (in October) are an important test for the country,'' Van
den Broek told a news conference. The commissioner is the first senior EU
official to visit Albania since parliamentary elections on May 26 and June 2
which returned President Sali Berisha's ruling Democrats to power with a
landslide majority. ``We would like to see, depending on developments in the
second half of this year, whether by the end of this year we can propose to
our Council of Ministers...to upgrade its agreement of cooperation,'' he said.
Van den Broek pledged the EU would maintain its financial backing for
Albania, promising to ``release a fu
rther tranche for balance of payments support.'' ``I hope very much that the
country will be benefiting from the support of the Council of Europe and also
the OSCE in preparing free and fair elections,'' Van den Broek said. ``We hope
to receive official invitations to send international observers.'' The Council
of Europe has urged Albania to hold all-party talks to solve the political
crisis and stage fresh general elections once a new electoral law is in place.
``We are not interfering in domestic processes in this country,'' the
commissioner said. ``But we feel very closely attached and allied to this
country and are therefore interested in its further democratic evolution.''
(Albanian Times/Reuters)
[02] Justice Official Shot Dead in Tirana
TIRANA, July 26 - A senior Albanian justice ministry official
was shot dead on Friday morning outside his home in the suburbs of
the
capital Tirana, police said. Bujar Kaloshi, 40, was killed and an unidentified
woman seriously injured by two assailants, they said. ``Kaloshi, who had just
stepped into his car, was killed at 7.40 a.m.
local time by six bullets fired at his head and stomach through the front
window of the vehicle,'' an officer said. Kaloshi, who was a political
prisoner under Albania's former communist government, heads the Justice
Ministry's prison department. "The two gunmen, who were wearing sports
clothes, also tried to kill Kaloshi's driver, but he escaped,'' the police
officer said. Witnesses said the 43-year-old woman, whose identity was not
immediately disclosed, was recovering in hospital. Albanian Defence Minister
Safet Zhulali visited the scene shortly after the attack and spoke to
Kaloshi's family. Kaloshi was married with two children. (Albanian
Times)
[03] Tirana Stock Exhange
TIRANA, July 26 - The Tirana Stock Exchange (TSE) had two transactions on the
Monday session in one-year T-bills, worth 100 million leks and
55 million respectively, between the National Commercial Bank of
Albania and the central Bank of Albania, a trader said. There was no trade on
Thursday, the only other day the TSE trades. (Albanian Times)
[04] Police Arrests Hostage Taker
TIRANA, July 26 (Reuter) - Albanian police on Friday arrested an armed
man who had taken several people hostage at a bank in central Tirana, police
said. The unidentified man, who carried a hunting rifle, apparently threatened
staff at the Savings Bank with the weapon after they refused to grant him a
loan, witnesses said. Witnesses said the man, his hand injured in a struggle
with police, was taken to an ambulance. Police had surrounded the area, about
100 metres (yards) from the main Skanderbeg Square. Police gave no further
details. (Albanian Times)
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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