ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703170124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TIRANA, ALBANIA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
After risky investment schemes apparently got out of hand, many Albanians want President Sali Berisha ousted.
Greek frogmen and U.S. Marines backed by choppers and hidden sharpshooters made speedy forays into Albania on Saturday to evacuate hundreds of foreigners trapped by the country's descent into anarchy.
Marines using helicopters ferried out more than 300 people from 32 other countries. Greeks stormed ashore at the port of Durres, fired over the heads of an armed mob, and evacuated 250 Chinese, Jordanian and Syrian citizens.
Italian officials said more than 3,500 Albanian refugees had reached Adriatic ports after a 50-mile journey in leaky fishing craft and antiquated navy boats, raising concerns about a repeat of the mass arrivals from Europe's poorest country in 1991.
Early today, an Albanian military vessel carrying about 500 Albanians ran aground in rough waters about a mile off the port of Brindisi, Italy, sparking panic.
Italian authorities immediately began a rescue and two coast guard boats ferried the Albanians to shore. Officials said some people had minor injuries in the incident. Two people who tried to swim to shore were missing.
Shooting that forced the suspension of the American evacuation effort Friday diminished in Tirana on Saturday. Police and vigilantes answering to Albania's weak multiparty government established checkpoints around Tirana and Durres to try to monitor citizens' movement and take away weapons.
In the evening, the capital was awash with rumors that President Sali Berisha had resigned, but an official statement read on state TV denied them.
European Union diplomats meeting in the Netherlands reported ``solid disagreement'' on whether to send a military force to try quiet another Balkan troublespot.
The United States is willing to consider a proposal by European envoy Franz Vranitzky for a ``stabilization force,'' but a senior U.S. official said it was not clear what the former Austrian chancellor had in mind and whether it was a military intervention.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be very difficult to intervene both because of the chaos and the weakness of the national government.
``We have not made any kind of decision to use force to go in or to say we are going to occupy the country,'' he said. ``That doesn't make sense.''
The Albanian government asked for an international force, saying it was unable to restore order on its own, according to Vranitzky, whose efforts the United States backs in general.
Although there is little organization to the revolt that has gripped almost all of Albania, many people want Berisha out. He and some members of his Democratic Party are accused of allowing risky investment schemes to get out of hand, or directly profiting from them. Almost every Albanian family lost money in them. In the past week, people in many towns have ransacked military facilities and armed themselves.
``Everyone in this country has guns,'' said Col. Emerson Gardner, the U.S. commander of the evacuation. Most shooting was indiscriminate, but there were shots directed toward Marines.
The military hospital in Tirana reported that 10 people had been killed since Friday morning and more than 85 injured.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. 1. A U.S. Marine leads an unidentifiedby CNBAmerican child and his mother to a Navy helicopter in Albania
Saturday. Marines evacuated hundreds of foreigners trapped in the
country. color. 2. A desperate Albanian leaps from ship to dock in
his futile struggle to reach another ship, which had arrived to
evacuate Chinese and Iranian citizens from the port of Durres on
Saturday.