Envoy says Berisha may hold elections

THE Dutch Foreign Minister, who is on a European Union mission to help end the bloody crisis in Albania, said yesterday the Albanian President, Mr Sali Berisha, appeared willing to hold early elections.

"It is not a matter of if but a matter of when," Mr Hans van Mierlo, whose country holds the EU presidency, told reporters in Athens before travelling to Tirana.

The EU, Albania's largest aid-donor by far, is to tell Mr Berisha the viability of programmes worth £200 million last year could be put in doubt by the continued conflict.

Stung by accusations of standing idly by, and deeply concerned about regional instability, the EU is determined to deliver a tough message to Tirana along with its hand of friendship.

Earlier, after a meeting of senior diplomats in Brussels, Mr van Mierlo was dispatched to Tirana to urge Mr Berisha to engage in further talks with the opposition with a view to forming a government which enjoys broad support. That is code for a coalition government of national reconciliation, a demand supported by the US.

Mr Van Mierlo will insist on the need for new elections and a new constitution, warn that a state of emergency should not be used to suspend all political rights, and express particular concern for the rights of the media.

He will tell Mr Berisha the EU believes the Albanian government should accept the good offices of the former Austrian Chancellor, Mr Franz Vranitzky, the special representative of the OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Co. operation in Europe. Mr Vranitzky is in Tirana.

Diplomatic sources say the EU is likely to back the idea of an OSCE crisis-management role in Albania and possibly in monitoring fresh elections as it did in former Yugoslavia.

Mr Vranitzky warned earlier the conflict in Albania could spread, German radio reported.

"There is a danger that the conflict in Albania could expand to other areas in the Balkans," Mr Vranitzky said in the radio interview,

He said he assured Mr Berisha the OSCE delegation would not "prosecute him like an enemy". Mr Berisha was important for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, Mr Vranitzky said.

The 54-member OSCE, Europe's top security body, appointed Mr Vranitzky on Tuesday to go to Albania to assess the situation.

A delegation from the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy and human rights, is already in Albania, and will be joined by Mr Van Mierlo's EU mission.

The US State Department yesterday welcomed the joint appeal by the government and opposition in Albania to mobs to give up their weapons in return for an amnesty.

Departmental spokesman Mr Nicholas Burns expressed the hope a ceasefire could be worked out and stressed that Washington puts great stock in the OSCE mission.

Britain yesterday reiterated its concern over the situation and called on Mr Berisha to meet Mr Vranitzky "without further delay".

The British Foreign Office, in a statement, also advised against all travel to Albania "for the time being", and advised British nationals and their dependants "whose presence is not essential" to leave.

Also in London, eight press freedom and human rights groups jointly condemned the Albanian government's "violent suppression of peaceful expression" during the civil unrest there.

"The violence in the south may not be used to justify attacks on those critical of the state," said the group in a statement released in London.