File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/97-04-23.075, message 55


Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 07:57:21 +1000
From: sjwright-AT-vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Steve Wright)
Subject: (en) ++ Out of Albania


Subject: (en) ++ Out of Albania
From: esperanto <lingvoj-AT-lds.co.uk>
Reply-To: <a-infos-d-AT-tao.ca>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 16:53:33 +0100


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Extract from FREEDOM
Free sample copy available on request from London.
=============================

OUT OF ALBANIA
LAND IN FEAR FOR ITSELF

This month, at a time when most of the world's media has pulled out
of Southern Albania, FREEDOM has sent a correspondent to the rebel
town of Saranda to assess the situation on the ground...
------------------------------

To enter Albania in the south from Greece, as I did at the Kakavia
Bridge, is to wend one's way through a forest of guns and automatic
weapons. Can't be done by an outsider? Well, perhaps not. Not
without a gun of your own, or better still a guide with a gun.

As luck has it, there are guns for hire in Albania for the innocent
abroad. They crowd around at the frontier offering their taxis to take
whoever to wherever, but preferably Saranda. And they are all
armed to the teeth. Some even add a certain legitimacy to the
transaction by supplying a receipt for their services. Mine says:

'Republika e Shquiperise - Ministria e
            Transporteve'
         Kakavi [to] Saranda
         Saranda [to] Kakavi
[Farel Gjithseji 18,000 Dracmas [f421]

The journey takes just over one hour, and mine was punctuated by
a halt at an armed road-block outside Saranda, and several
discharges along the way into the mountainside from the driver's
Kalashnikov. These were probably signals to warn in our approach
at critical points of the journey. My driver said: "Bang, bang; good,
good!"  

 Here is a land - the poorest in Europe - where fear grips
everyone. But by the time I realised my full predicament, I was in
the back seat of the taxi and it was too late to panic.  

I can't say I wasn't warned. The Albanian Consul in Ioanina,
Greece, had told me it was impossibly dangerous to visit southern
Albania wlth its weak police force and citizen committees. But he
would say that, as a government functionary. He showed all the
signs of fear I later saw in Albania itself, especially among the
middle classes (a fuller report in Freedom's interview with the
Albanian Consul in next issue).  

The villages between Kakavia and Saranda show a few signs of
life, but are mostly desolate. There are goats and sheep in the
fields, and even the odd cow. Some peasants are working the land,
some are clearly trying to keep going. 

But the Albanian customs post at Kakavia is an empty burnt-out
ruin. I didn't see anyone in uniform during my stay in Albania. The
roadside is littered with wrecked vehicles.  

A few towns along the way have bars functioning with men sitting at
tables outside watching as we pass. At one point a man thumbs a
lift, but my driver snubs him. There are two of us in the car besides
my guide. The Albanian in the front passenger seat holds the
automatic weapon resting on the dashboard.  

Above the dashboard dangle three icons. I stare at them from time
to time during our deadly drive: a rabbit's foot, a religious item and
a triangular flag with German colours and a BMW logo. The more
practical would want to put their faith in the object I first mistook for
a gear-stick whicn turned out to be an automatic weapon. After I got
my breath back I muttered "I hope you know how to use it". But
before we got to the road-block at Saranda the gun was hidden
away. 

At the checkpoint a dozen armed men and lads checked the boot. I
wound the window down and an older man asked "Who's this?" My
driver says "An Englishman." 

This seemed to satisfy them, but one of the young lads with a fresh
complexion and cheerful disposition asked me if I had a cine
camera. I said "No", knowing that a Japanese journalist had had his
camera stolen in the nearby town of Gjirokaster. We shake hands
through the open window as the group wave us on and the car
continues towards Saranda. 

The next day Greek television gives details of a European Aid
Protection Force to go into Albania. Its crities call it 'Club Med Army'
as it involves Italy, France, Spain and Greece. One of its jobs may
be to 'explore other possibilities' for assistance, including
monitoring the collection of weapons looted from armouries.
------------------------------------------   
     In the next Freedom we will report
   'Welcome to Saranda' with interviews
 with some of its citizens and an analysis
   of how the power of guns, money and
      ideas influence events there
----------------------------------------
               'WHY I WON'T VOTE'
        a four-page anti-election leaflet
                  with text by
           Tony Gibson and Rita Milton
         and Freedom's name and address
suitable for pushing through lotal letterboxes in
       the run-up to the general election
     The cost of printing has been met by a
        generous donation of =A3250 from a
                    comrade.
              Send postage only at:
                38p for 20 copies
                73p for 50 copies
              f1.05 for 100 copies

                  Freedom Press
           84b Whitechapel High Street
                  London El 7QX
---------------------------------------

the latest issue of our anarchist quarterly
               now available

               THE RAVEN

       Language and Communication: 3

   96 pages for f3 (post free anywhere)

                order from
              FREEDOM PRESS
        84b Whitechapel High Street
               London E1 7QX

FREEDOM PRESS INTERNATIONAL               
http://www.tao.ca/~freedom


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ATB,

Steve

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