Albania approaching anarchy again, PM says, as OSCE issues ultimatum on election row

TIRANA, the capital of Europe's poorest and most politically-volatile country, may be on the brink of another convulsion of anarchy if a political stalemate is not resolved, according to Albania's Prime Minister, Mr Bashkim Fino.

The leading European envoy to Albania, Dr Franz Vranitzky, yesterday issued an ultimatum to bickering politicians that if they did not reach a compromise on an election process by today they would meet unspecified consequences.

The statement by Dr Vranitzky, who represents the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), gave no details, but an OSCE official said it most likely meant a withdrawal of assistance from the OSCE and other international organisations.

Italy's Defence Minister, Mr Beniamino Andreatta, said Albania faced a crucial 24 hours and called on the Democratic Party of Mr Sali Berisha and the opposition socialists to overcome what he termed their "natural arrogance" and reach a compromise.

Mr Fino, a member of the Socialist Party, the successor of Europe's most hardline communist party, in phone calls to the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, and Dr Vranitzky, the former Austrian chancellor, asked for European aid to help reach agreement between his grouping and the Democratic Party.

Following the collapse of get-rich-quick investment schemes, Mr Berisha's government came under pressure in February, with the crisis reaching a climax in March. After meetings with Dr Vranitzky the president made concessions by allowing Mr Fino to head a coalition government and by agreeing to hold fresh elections.

However, the vote, due to take place on June 29th, might be boycotted by Mr Berisha's opponents on the issue of how many deputies should be elected by the "first past the post" system and how many under proportional representation. The former, British-style, vote in the last election gave the Democratic Party an overwhelming majority.

The uneasy peace which reigns at the moment is being enforced by a 6,000-strong European force of soldiers from Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Denmark and others.

As darkness fell in Tirana last night, the city was the epitome of tranquility in comparison with the incessant rattle of automatic gunfire which raged when I was here in mid-March, as the country descended into armed chaos.

The potential for such anarchy remains. In a country of 3.5 million, it is believed that there are more than one million automatic weapons in circulation. The country is also dotted with concrete bunkers dating from the era of Albania's paranoid dictator, Enver Hoxha.

A million guns, 700,000 bunkers and a political crisis do not make for a stable mixture. There have been reports of bridges being blown up across southern rivers, in what appears to be an attempt at a physical partition of a country already divided in its political loyalties.

Efforts to bring both sides closer continued yesterday with meetings held by the US and Italian ambassadors with opposing politicians. Italy and the European Union have threatened to withdraw aid to Albania if its politicians do not reach agreement on the electoral process.