(Fwd) [76] KEY EVENTS OF CRISIS IN ALBANIA

["Curtis Price" <cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Date:          Fri, 14 Mar 1997 16:55:46 -0500
From:          NewsHound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (NewsHound)

Subject:       [76] KEY EVENTS OF CRISIS IN ALBANIA

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "RIOTS". The selectivity score was
76 out of 100.

Key events of crisis in Albania
By The Associated Press

Key events in the two months of unrest that have drawn Albania into anarchy:

------

--Jan. 15: Manager of one of Albania's wildly popular pyramid schemes announces
that her fund has collapsed; thousands of people who lost money besiege her
home.

--Jan 16: Another high-risk investment fund halts payments. Thousands protest.
Government freezes $255 million of assets held by get-rich-quick schemes.

--Jan. 19: Riot police beat protesters in Tirana, the capital. Opposition
accuses government of lying to people about funds.

--Jan. 25: Enraged investors take control of Lushnja in southern Albania.

--Jan. 27: President Sali Berisha orders army into action to remove protesters'
roadblocks.

--Feb. 5: Police fire plastic bullets and water cannon at 10,000 people
demonstrating in southern city of Vlora.

--Feb. 27: Berisha's party nominates him for another five-year term.

--Feb. 28: Four people killed in violence in Vlora.

--March 1: Berisha announces government's resignation.

--March 2: Parliament declares national state of emergency, imposes curfew,
media censorship. Vlora declares virtual independence from central authority.

--March 3: Parliament re-elects Berisha.

--March 5: Government jets bomb village in southern Albania.

--March 6: Berisha and opposition meet, announce 48-hour amnesty for insurgents
to turn in arms.

--March 8: Insurgents take control of southern Albania with capture of
Gjirokastra.

--March 9: Berisha announces coalition government, early elections.

--March 11: Unrest spreads to northern Albania.

--March 13: Unrest engulfs all major population centers, including Tirana.
Evacuation of foreigners begins.

--March 14: Albanian gunmen fire on U.S. and Italian military helicopters
evacuating foreigners. One U.S. helicopter returns fire.

AP-WS-03-14-97 1535EST


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