
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990                   TAG: 9007050119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIENNA, AUSTRIA                                LENGTH: Medium

ALBANIANS AGREE TO TALKS

Albanian authorities agreed to meet Wednesday with a representative of foreign embassies sheltering more than 200 asylum-seekers who have issued one of the biggest rebuffs to 45 years of orthodox Communist rule.

In Vienna, an Albanian diplomat said on condition of anonymity that all foreign embassies in Tirana, the Albanian capital, were assured anyone wishing to leave would receive a passport. He indicated there would be no reprisals.

Last week, a few Albanians hoping to leave their impoverished, isolated country of 3.2 million sought political asylum at embassies. Word of their success apparently spread by word of mouth, and on Monday, their numbers swelled. Truckloads crashed through embassy gates or clambered over walls.

Some Albanians were injured in their desperate attempt to gain entry. At least three were shot and wounded by agents of the feared secret police, diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Tanjug, the official Yugoslav news agency, said 214 Albanians who want to leave the country have taken refuge in about a dozen foreign diplomatic missions in Tirana.

In a telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press in Ankara, the Turkish ambassador in Tirana, Teoman Surenkok, gave the total number of refuge-seekers as 243.

The unrest is the latest sign that the people are frustrated by Albania's refusal to follow other Eastern European countries in adopting democratic reforms.

Albanian officials arranged to meet with Yugoslav Ambassador Novak Pribicevic, who was empowered to represent all foreign missions harboring Albanians, according to Austria's APA news agency.

In addition, Tanjug cited unidentified Albanian sources as saying the Communist Party Central Committee planned an emergency meeting shortly.

Foreign ambassadors accredited to Tirana agreed to jointly seek a solution to the plight of Albanians in their embassies.

Hanns Schumacher, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Bonn, said Albanian authorities refused on Wednesday to grant landing permission for a cargo plane carrying relief goods for the West German Embassy, where 86 Albanians sought refuge. He said Bonn would pursue the matter today.

by CNB