Albania Moves to Quell Food Riots, Burglaries

President Ramiz Alia on Saturday authorized the use of army troops to quell three days of food riots in northern Albania. In the capital of Tirana, police took almost complete control of bread distribution after a series of burglaries and attacks on bread trucks.

Albania, emerging from more than 40 years of repressive Stalinist rule under former dictator Enver Hoxha, is Europe’s neediest country.

With winter setting in, it now relies almost exclusively on foreign aid to feed its 3.2 million desperately poor people.

Panic buying and rioting in several cities were sparked by an announcement last Wednesday by Socialist Premier Ylli Bufi that food reserves, and in particular bread grain supplies, would last only a week.

Alia issued a decree on Saturday that authorizes the army to intervene and restore order if police are unable to protect food shops, factories and other facilities from rioters. It was not clear when troops would be dispatched.

The government said at least two people were reported killed in rioting in the northern district of Kruje, which includes Tirana.

State television reported that in Lac, a Kruje district town about 40 miles north of Tirana, hundreds of people attacked restaurants, food shops and bakeries on Friday.