Italy Offers $40 if Albanians Leave
Police on Monday offered Albanian refugees $40 each and new clothes if they go home, but many of the hundreds of remaining refugees promised to fight rather than return to Europe’s poorest country.
Soldiers set up tables with new shirts, trousers, shoes and mineral water to persuade the refugees to leave. Officials said those agreeing to abandon Italy received $40 each.
Last week, up to 18,000 refugees came to Italy in the third such exodus in the last year. Interior Minister Vincenzo Scotti told reporters a total of 16,573 Albanians have been sent back.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis flew to Tirana for talks on the problem. Italian news organizations said De Michelis announced that Italy will provide Albania with $69.6 million in emergency food aid over the next three months and $46.4 million in industrial aid.
In Brussels, the European Community Commission said it has cleared $2.38 million in emergency aid to buy food and medicine for Albania.
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