USIA - Burns: Situation in Albania has Deteriorated Significantly, 97-03-14
From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at <gopher://gopher.usia.gov>
BURNS: SITUATION IN ALBANIA HAS DETERIORATED SIGNIFICANTLY
(Special State Department briefing of March 14) (730)
By Jane A. Morse
USIA Diplomatic Correspondent
Washington -- The chaos in Albania has gotten worse, suspending efforts by
the United States to evacuate U.S. citizens and other foreigners, says
State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns.
During a special briefing March 14, Burns said: "It's very clear, from
reports from our embassy in Albania that public order has broken down, not
only throughout the country, but specifically in the capital, Tirana. And
while there is a new national government of national reconciliation that
has been named, all reports...continue to lead to one conclusion: The
situation in Albania has deteriorated significantly."
Before rescue efforts by the U.S. military were suspended for security
reasons, CH46 helicopters were able to airlift some 500 civilians from
Tirana, Burns said. Most were Americans, but he said 18 different
nationalities were represented in the group. Twenty Americans were able to
escape by foot to Macedonia, according to Burns. The U.S. government
estimates are that there are about 2,000 U.S. private American citizens in
Albania, most living in Tirana.
Burns emphasized that although nonessential personnel and dependents are
being evacuated from the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador Marisa Lino and 17 State
Department officials will stay in Tirana to aid Americans and to try to
work with the Albanian government in resolving the conflict.
In the meantime, the international community is struggling to find a way to
restore order to the near-anarchy that exists in Europe's most impoverished
country.
Former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, delegation leader for the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), met on an
Italian ship in the Adriatic with Albania's Prime Minister Bashkim Fino,
the foreign minister, and members from the Albanian general staff. They are
trying, according to Burns, to "give some impetus to the Albanian
government to pull itself together, to reassert public order in the capital
city and throughout the country."
NATO members are meeting to coordinate efforts to evacuate foreigners.
Burns discounted rumors of inserting an international military force. "I
don't believe there's an outside military force anywhere in the world that
could impose order in every town and village and hamlet in Albania over the
weekend," Burns said. The restoration of peace, he emphasized, "has to
start with a political process. It has to start with the government leaders
-- both the government of President Berisha and the opposition leaders...deciding
that they're going to try to reimpose an element of civil order and
political order throughout the country, and that they're going to set up a
process, a political process whereby the country's problems can be talked
about and elections can be held."
The crisis in Albania began some six weeks ago, with the collapse of
fraudulent investment schemes that left thousands of Albanians penniless.
People took to the streets calling for the government to restore their
losses and demanding the resignation of President Sali Berisha. Berisha
remains in Tirana, according to Burns, although some members of his family
have fled the country. He is reported to have acknowledged his lack of
control over his military forces as well as the people.
Burns said that the U.S. government urges "all Albanian citizens to support
their government and to work for a political resolution to the current
problems in Albania.
"We call on all sides, including the mobs in the street, to exercise
restraint, to observe the general amnesty, and to observe the principles of
nonviolence...and to work through the political process.
"Nothing good will come from tearing down Albania," Burns said. "Albania
must be preserved as a state. And the government, we think -- this broad-
based national government -- is the best chance for all Albanians to try to
work out their problems.
"Those who have taken up arms should understand that only by committing
themselves to a democratic political process and by laying down their
weapons, can they create conditions in which all of us, beyond Albania, can
be helpful to them. There is the possibility of Western economic aid
through the World Bank, through the International Monetary Fund, through
the United States and other governments, but that kind of assistance cannot
arrive in a situation of chaos and disorder and civil war. And that's our
message to the Albanian people, particularly those who are in the streets
today."
From the United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at gopher://gopher.usia.gov
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