Albania’s Leader Chokes Off Unrest

Embattled President Sali Berisha was reelected Monday by an obedient parliament stacked with party faithful, while an emergency crackdown aimed at stopping fierce riots sent journalists and opposition politicians into hiding.

With parts of this impoverished country awash in anarchy, Berisha posted police roadblocks on major highways, slapped censorship on news reports and imposed a nationwide curfew that transformed the capital into a ghost town after nightfall. Police have orders to shoot to kill. Albanians cannot congregate in groups larger than four.

The violence that began two months ago after the collapse of fraudulent pyramid schemes and escalated into demands that Berisha’s right-wing government step down reportedly continued in the south, after mobs looted army arsenals during a bloody weekend that claimed 13 lives.

State radio gave new accounts of more shootings, fires and looting. But it was difficult to obtain independent details because the government cut telephone lines to Vlore, a southern Adriatic port city and former Communist stronghold that was the scene of the worst fighting.

Berisha ordered foreign nationals out of southern Albania, triggering fears that he plans a wider, deadlier military action in the area. Italian naval aircraft escorted by combat helicopters evacuated 36 foreigners from Vlore.

In Tirana, the capital, the offices of Albania’s main opposition newspaper were gutted in the predawn hours Monday by a fire that employees said was started by groups of men carrying walkie-talkies. One reporter for Koha Jone was missing and reported to have been arrested, while several others were in hiding, their friends and families said. A number of politicians from the opposition Socialist Party were also lying low.

“The situation speaks for itself,” said Abin Puto, an Albanian human rights activist. “We don’t dare go out . . . [when] darkness falls.”

Meanwhile, ordinary Albanians hoarded food and retreated to their homes after Berisha ordered stores closed at 3 p.m. as part of draconian emergency measures aimed at quashing the worst political violence to grip this small country since the chaotic fall of communism six years ago.

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Journalists were required to submit their reports to a government censor for approval, and the British Broadcasting Corp. said authorities cut its satellite hookup, blacking out its coverage. Earlier, the government blocked Albanian-language BBC and Voice of America broadcasts, diplomats said. This was all part of an effort by the government to silence the news, which officials have contended was helping to foment the riots.

As the emergency decree issued Sunday night took full force Monday afternoon, Berisha had himself reelected to a five-year term by a parliament full of members of his Democratic Party of Albania. He ran unopposed in a ceremony surreal for its solemnity and boycotted by the opposition.

“Today is the day of open dictatorship in Albania,” proclaimed opposition leader Neritan Ceka, head of the Democratic Alliance. “Only a dictator could be elected under such conditions.”

Berisha’s party holds overwhelming control of the parliament after last year’s elections, widely regarded as blatantly fraudulent.

Analysts said Berisha now appears to be fighting for his political survival, taking a hard line to stop the riots and showing no mercy for protesters he has characterized as “Red Communist terrorists.”

But his iron-fist actions are also worrisome to human rights activists, who said Berisha may try to use the emergency as a smoke screen to eliminate opposition.

“Legally a government has a right to impose emergency measures, especially given what is going on in the south,” said Fred Abrahams, research associate for the New York-based Human Rights Watch. “But there is evidence that the government is using it to justify a violent crackdown on the press and opposition politicians.”

Under the emergency law, the leaderships of the army, Interior Ministry and secret police were merged into a Council for Defense that will enforce the new measures. Berisha named Baskim Gazidede, head of the feared secret police force SHIK, to run the Defense Council.

Albania in effect has no other government, since Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi and his Cabinet were forced to resign over the weekend in an unsuccessful attempt by Berisha to throw a bone to his opponents. Instead, government authority has crumbled in parts of Albania in the face of the pyramid crisis, in which tens of thousands of Albanians lost their life savings.

“The police have proven time and time again that they are not able to handle this,” said one Western diplomat. “They are poorly equipped, poorly trained, and they are demoralized. A lot of them lost a lot of money too.”

Opposition--particularly in the south, home of Albania’s former Stalinist dictator, Enver Hoxha-- has been especially virulent. Berisha hails from northern part Albania and, since taking office in 1992, has placed northern Albanians in government and police positions.

On Monday, the Council of Europe urged an immediate end to the violence. Southern European countries--notably Italy and Greece--are especially eager for a peaceful solution because of the potential for Albanian refugees to flood their shores.

In Washington, the Clinton administration swiftly denounced the parliamentary reelection of Berisha. “This step is likely to increase polarization rather than facilitate a solution,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.