Albania

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Country in southeastern Europe, bounded north by Serbia and Montenegro, east by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, south by Greece, and west and southwest by the Adriatic Sea.

Government
Under the 1991 interim constitution, Albania has a single-chamber legislature, 140-member people's assembly. It is elected every four years, 100 of its members by universal suffrage by means of a two-ballot, majority vote system and 40 on a proportional representation basis. An executive president, who is also commander in chief of the armed forces and who is debarred from concurrently holding party office, is elected by the people's assembly and may serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. A prime minister, appointed by the president, and a council of ministers (cabinet), drawn from the majority grouping within the assembly, have day-to-day charge of government. Private property, freedom of worship and expression, and political pluralism were endorsed by the interim constitution. A new constitution, the first of the post-communist era, was approved in a national referendum in November 1998 despite the call for a boycott by the opposition Democratic party of Albania (PDS). The constitution came into effect that November.

History
In the ancient world the area was occupied by the Illyrians, later becoming a Roman province until the end of the 4th century AD. Albania then came under Byzantine rule, which lasted until 1347. There followed years of invasions by Bulgarians, Serbs, Venetians, and finally Turks, who arrived in 1385 and, after the death of the nationalist leader Skanderbeg (George Castriota) (1403–1468), eventually made Albania part of the Ottoman Empire following the siege of Scutari in 1478.

Independence
Albania became independent in 1912, after the First Balkan War, and was proclaimed a republic in 1925. In 1928 President Ahmed Beg Zogu was proclaimed King Zog. Overrun by Italy and Germany in 1939–44, Albania became a republic with a communist government in 1946 after a guerrilla struggle led by Enver Hoxha.

The ‘Hoxha experiment’
At first closely allied with Yugoslavia, Albania backed the Soviet dictator Stalin in his 1948 dispute with the Yugoslav ruler Tito and developed close links with the USSR in 1949–55, entering the trade organization Comecon in 1949. Hoxha imposed a Stalinist system with rural collectivization, industrial nationalization, central planning, and one-party control. Mosques and churches were closed in an effort to create the ‘first atheist state’. Hoxha remained a committed Stalinist and in 1961 broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR and withdrew from Comecon. Choosing isolation and neutrality, Albania also severed diplomatic relations with China in 1978. The ‘Hoxha experiment’ left Albania with the lowest income per head of population in Europe. After Hoxha's death in 1985, there was a widening of external economic contacts and the number of countries with which Albania had formal diplomatic relations increased from 74 in 1978 to 111 in 1988.

Open dissent
Opposition to the regime mounted during 1990. In early July unprecedented antigovernment street demonstrations erupted in the capital, Tirana. Faced with a government crackdown, 5,000 demonstrators sought refuge in foreign embassies and were subsequently allowed to leave the country. Later the same month diplomatic relations with the USSR were restored and embassies re-established.

End of one-party system
In December 1990, amid continuing protests in Tirana and economic collapse, the Communist Party (CP) leadership authorized opposition parties and lifted the ban on religion. An opposition party was immediately formed by the Tirana intelligentsia: the Democratic Party (DP), led by Sali Berisha. Elections to the People's Assembly due to be held February 1991 were postponed to give the new party time to organize, and in return the opposition agreed to a temporary wage freeze and ban on strikes.

Civil unrest
A huge bronze statue of Hoxha in Tirana was toppled by demonstrators February 1991, and there were riots in several other towns. Ramiz Alia, president since 1985, replaced the unpopular premier Adil Çarçani (1922–97) with Fatos Nano, a reform economist. Alia also declared the imposition of presidential rule and tanks were moved into the streets of Tirana. Fears of a right-wing coup prompted a flight of thousands of Albanians to Greece, Yugoslavia, and Italy. ‘Nonpolitical’ refugees were sent back to Albania.

First multiparty elections
Diplomatic relations with the USA and the UK, suspended since 1946, were restored in March and May 1991 respectively. In Albania's first free multiparty elections, held in March–April 1991, the ruling Party of Labour of Albania (PLA) captured 169 of the 250 seats in the new people's assembly, securing the necessary two-thirds majority to make constitutional changes.

PLA support came predominantly from rural areas. In the major towns the DP polled strongly, convincingly defeating President Alia in the first round in a Tirana constituency. The frustration of the opposition's supporters was vented in anticommunist rioting in Shkodër, with four persons being shot dead by police, including the local DP leader. The report of a commission blamed the security forces for these deaths and the Siqurimi (secret police) were replaced May 1991 by a new national Security Council.

Economic problems
An interim constitution was adopted April 1991, with the country renamed the Republic of Albania and the PLA's leading role abandoned. The People's Assembly elected Ramiz Alia as both the new executive president of the republic, replacing the presidium, and commander in chief of the armed forces. In May 1991 Fatos Nano was reappointed prime minister, but resigned in June. The economy deteriorated rapidly: agricultural, industrial products, and exports were declining and unemployment stood at almost 40%. Nano was replaced by Ylli Bufi, heading a new, interim ‘government of national stability’ with members from the opposition parties, including Gramoz Pashko (DP leader) as deputy premier. In June 1991 the PLA renamed itself the Partia Socialiste ë Shqipërisë (PSSH; Socialist Party of Albania), with Fatos Nano elected as its chair. A land-privatization bill was passed to restore land to peasants dispossessed under communist rule in July, and from late summer Albania began to receive emergency aid from the European Community. Between September and December 1991 there were recurrent anticommunist demonstrations, bread riots, and protest strikes, prompted by deteriorating living conditions, and continued attempts by Albanians to leave the country.

First noncommunist leaders
The DP withdrew from the coalition government, claiming manipulation by former communists, and on 6 December 1991 Prime Minister Bufi resigned. President Alia appointed Vilson Ahmeti as Albania's first noncommunist premier. The DP won 62% of the national vote in March 1992 elections and the newly formed parliament elected Sali Berisha, founder and leader of the DP, as the country's president and granted him increased executive powers. Aleksandr Meksi succeeded Ahmeti as prime minister.

In July 1992, a ban was imposed on all ‘fascist, antinational, chauvinistic, racist, totalitarian, communist, Marxist-Leninist, Stalinist, or Enverist’ (following Enver Hoxha) political organizations, and in September former president Ramiz Alia was charged with abuse of power and misuse of state funds. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in 1994, but released in 1995 following an appeal court ruling. The DP was renamed the Democratic Party of Albania (PDS) in 1993. A national referendum in 1994 rejected proposals for a new presidential-style constitution. A law against ‘communist genocide’, passed in 1995, banned any person who had been a member of parliament or a member of the Communist Party Politburo or Central Committee, prior to May 1991, from running in national or local elections until 2002, thereby ruling out a number of potential challengers for the 1996 presidential elections.

In May–June 1996, the ruling PDS claimed an overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections amidst allegations by the opposition PSS of rigging and intimidation of voters. President Berisha agreed to restage elections in some constituencies. In July 1996 Berisha asked Aleksandr Meksi to form a new coalition government.

In January 1997, nine high-risk investment schemes collapsed: many people had sold their land and homes to invest money in pyramid schemes which promised returns of 50% per month. Almost half the population had participated, investing $1 billion. Inevitably, once the supply of new investors dried up the schemes began to collapse. Several of the promoters were sponsors of Berisha's ruling Democratic Party, and in February thousands of protesters marched through the towns of Fier and Vlorë, chanting antigovernment slogans and demanding compensation. The crisis worsened after protesters set fire to the Democratic Party's headquarters in Vlorë, and after the government's use of riot police in Tirana. The government failed to convince the country that it had no part in the investment schemes; it maintained control in most areas by heavy police presence, mass arrests, and random violence. Although Berisha promised investors some compensation, it was necessarily restricted since the budget deficit was already high.

In early March 1997, southern Albania was close to anarchy as demonstrators burned buildings and raided barracks and weapons deposits, threatening to attack Tirana if Berisha did not stand down and make way for new parliamentary elections. Berisha showed no sign of stepping down himself, but dismissed the prime minister and the head of the army, closed down opposition newspapers, and declared a state of emergency which entailed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and a ban on public gatherings of more than four people, and gave the police and army the right to shoot demonstrators on sight. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds arrested, and armed rebels controlled the south of the country. The opposition, led by the ex-communist Socialists and the Democratic Alliance, a liberal splinter from the Democratic Party, formed a ten-party Forum for Democracy, demanding that the government be replaced by non-party technocrats, pending new elections. Berisha was re-elected unopposed for a further five-year term by the parliament which, boycotted by the opposition, was dominated by the Democratic Party.

Berisha reached agreement with opposition parties in the north to form an all-party interim government. He promised amnesty for civilians and military rebels who handed in their weapons within a week. Within a few days, the Albanian army had withdrawn from at least four southern cities, mostly without a shot being fired, allowing rebellious civilians to extend their control over the three main roads running south of Tirana.

Bowing to pressure, in mid-March Berisha appointed as prime minister of a forum for Democracy-dominated caretaker government Bashkim Fino, a US-educated economist and member of the Socialist opposition and former mayor of the rebel-held southern town of Gjirokaster. However, the southern rebels and mafiosi refused to cooperate with the new Tirana government unless Berisha resigned. The European Union, meanwhile, rejected the Albanian government's request for troops to restore order. In late March 1997 over 13,000 Albanians fled by boat to Italy. In April the EU sent 6,000 Italian, French, and Greek soldiers to distribute food and medicine as calm returned to Tirana. Their aim was to create a secure environment for international aid organizations and for the elections which Berisha had promised for the summer.

In April 1997 King Leka Zog I, whose family fled Albania in April 1939, returned from South Africa; it was agreed that a referendum should decide the question of the restoration of the Albanian monarchy.

Following two rounds of voting in June and July 1997, Albania's Socialists and their allies won a two-thirds majority in the elections which were called to end a prolonged period of anarchy. Fatos Nano, previously released from jail and pardoned, was elected prime minister. On 23 July 1997 Berisha announced his resignation as head of state in the wake of the defeat of his Democratic Party, and the succeeding president was Rexhep Mejdani.

In early 1998, supporters of Berisha staged a revolt in the northern town of Shkodër, in the worst disruption of public order since the Socialist-led government was elected in July 1997. The Albanian government sent special forces to Shkodër to put down the revolt. After Berisha's armed supporters had held street protests in Tirana in September 1998, Prime Minister Fatos Nano accused Berisha of trying to perpetrate a coup. This had followed the assassination of Berisha's lieutenant, Azem Hajdari, in suspicious circumstances. Nano later resigned and was replaced as prime minister by Pandeli Majko, a fellow socialist.

In July–August 1998 Albania was to forced to deal with a massive influx of refugees across its border with the region of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, following the Yugoslavian military offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The offensive was intended to put down the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary force with 500 fighters at its core, which advocates independence from Serbia and unification with Albania. The conflict cost hundreds of lives and resulted in a flood to neighbouring countries of 200,000 civilian refugees – equivalent to 10% of Kosovo's population. There were reports of ethnic killings. In March 1999 NATO aircraft began a bombing campaign in an attempt to force the Yugoslav government to end its persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. In Albania, the NATO Albania Force (A-For) mission attempted to help Albania cope with the Kosovar refugee influx until it was replaced in September 1999 with an Italian-led force known as Communication Zone West (COMMZ-W).

An Albanian court acquitted October 1998 the former president Ramiz Alia and three other senior officials of genocide and crimes against humanity. Alia escaped while awaiting trial and was believed to be living in Paris, France.

Prime Minister Majko was succeeded by the socialist Ilir Meta in October 1999. Majko had resigned earlier in the month after losing the leadership of the ruling PSSH to former prime minister Fatos Nano. In April 2000 the death penalty was abolished.

In July 2001, the PSSH, led by Ilir Meta, was re-elected in a general Election. The party won 42% of the vote to capture 73 of the 140 parliamentary seats. However, Meta was forced to resign on 29 January 2002 amid a power struggle with Fatos Nano. Meta accused Nano of instigating the crisis because of Meta's refusal to support him as a presidential candidate. In February, Pandeli Majko of the PSSH became prime minister, and formed a new cabinet.

The general elections of July 2005 saw former president Sali Berisha returned to power. There were re-runs in various constituencies, and the final result was not announced for nearly two months, but in September Berisha became prime minister.

The pan-African colours express African unity. Effective date: 1 August 1990. >>