Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Violent borders hold Albania back Peace, reform difficult, Albanian President Meidani says during Prague visit By Michael Mainville During a recent visit to Prague, Albanian President Rexhep Meidani summed up the arduous task confronting his impoverished nation. How, he asked, can Albanian citizens be expected to care about such issues as free-market reform when their country is falling apart? "Without improvements to the quality of life, with the cuts of energy in the wintertime, with the cuts of water, how can we persuade them [to support reforms]?" Meidani asked. The task, he said, was impossible. And while Meidani highlighted his country's reform efforts during his four-day visit in early April, he also said that Albania is unlikely to see peace or prosperity unless the Balkans themselves calm down. A country of 3.5 million wedged between the Adriatic Sea and four volatile nations -- Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro -- Albania has suffered a series of reversals since it emerged from a communist coma in 1989. Under Communist President Enver Hoxha, who died in 1985 after four decades in power, Albania considered Soviet communism an infidel creed and even broke off ties with Maoist China. Halting attempts to build a free-market economy in the early 1990s only provoked extensive unemployment. The collapse of a pyramid scheme in 1997 cost thousands of already poor Albanians their life savings and triggered riots that brought down the government. During a round-table discussion at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Meidani said his country was only now recovering from the beating it took in the immediate aftermath of communism. The economy grew by 7 percent last year, inflation is under control and the country's privatization efforts are progressing. Meidani said he expects the last state bank and state insurance company to be privatized by the end of this year. "In general, the economic trends are very good," he said. "Regarding the political life, well, it's not easy. Not only in Albania, but in all the region of the Balkans." 'Greater Albania' Ethnic conflict in the Balkans has repeatedly spilled over Albania's borders, with an influx of nearly 500,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo fleeing attacks by Serb forces in 1999. More recently, conflict between ethnic Albanian paramilitaries and government security forces in Macedonia has spurred the arrival of thousands of additional refugees. Albania at a glance Capital: Tirana Full Name in Albanian: Republika e Shqiperise Population: 3,490,435 (July 2000 estimate) Ethnic Groups: Albanian 95 percent, Greek 3 percent, other (Vlachs, Roma, Serbs, Bulgarians) 2 percent Some ethnic Albanian paramilitary groups outside Albania want to create a "Greater Albania," a state that would include Kosovo, southern Serbia's Presevo valley and a chunk of Macedonia. Meidani and his country's government dismiss the idea, working instead with individual ethnic Albanian leaders in other countries to diffuse conflicts. "I've repeated and repeated this, it is strange," he said when asked about the concept. "There is no normal political mind in Albania ... that is thinking of or planning for a 'Great Albania.'" He even rejects the idea of bringing Albanian political leaders from his country, Macedonia and Kosovo together to resolve disagreements, saying such a gathering might be misinterpreted as a gesture of support for backers of a pan-national state. This does not keep Meidani and his government from assailing the treatment of ethnic Albanian minorities in Macedonia and Serbia. During his visit, Meidani called on Serbian leaders to take responsibility for their actions. "If the Serb leadership will not condemn the genocide ... the ethnic cleansing, different atrocities -- publicly -- it will be quite difficult to eradicate the roots of this kind of sick nationalism in Serbia," he said. Admitting past crimes would be the first step toward further regional integration in the Balkans, Meidani said. Albania is among those pushing for the region to create a sort of "mini-Schengen" zone, a territory without internal borders in the Balkans -- similar to the one created in parts of western and northern Europe -- which he hopes would lead to further economic growth and regional stability. "Regional integration will help all countries in the Balkans to be integrated as soon as possible into European or Euro-Atlantic structures," he said. Czech officials who met with Meidani praised his country's efforts at stabilizing the situation in the Balkans and the steps it has taken toward political reforms. "Albanian citizens strive for a new life in conditions [that] are incomparably harder than what has been experienced by us," President Vaclav Havel said during a press conference with Meidani. Senate Chairman Petr Pithart, who also met Meidani, called on the Czech government to become more directly involved in bringing peace to the Balkans. "I am convinced that we ... should play a greater role in the Balkans and that if our ambition is to help somewhere in the world, it should be there," he said. -- With wire reports Michael Mainville's e-mail address is mmainville@praguepost.cz