Albanian President Agrees To Share Power With Opposition

President Sali Berisha and his political opposition agreed Wednesday on a new coalition government, while the United States ordered the evacuation of most of its diplomatic community amid growing panic over unrest sweeping this small Balkan country.

Looters raided military ammunition depots in the capital, Tirana, for the first time as a frenzied effort to seize guns spread. It was unclear whether those grabbing the weapons in Tirana were for or against the government, but police who were present did little to intervene, witnesses said.

Albania’s new caretaker prime minister, Bashkim Fino of the opposition Socialist Party, told reporters the country was on the brink of civil war. Saying his government’s first priority was to somehow reduce the large number of arms that have fallen into private hands, he immediately initiated contact with insurgents who have taken control of the south.

“This is not the time to confront but to dialogue,” Fino, 34, told state television Wednesday night.

Fino hails from Gjirokaster, one of the southern cities in rebellion, giving him credibility with forces in the south. One of his first acts was to meet Agim Gozhica, a former army general who heads the rebel council in Gjirokaster. But no one really controls the collection of rebels, thugs and criminals that holds sway in southern cities, and disarming them all any time soon is unlikely.

In Washington, the Clinton administration ordered most U.S. government employees, their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers and others to leave Albania as soon as possible, reducing the U.S. Embassy staff to Ambassador Marisa Lino and 17 aides whose jobs are considered essential.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said all other diplomats and their families - about 160 people - would leave Albania as “a precautionary measure because of the instability in the country.” At the same time, the department urged the estimated 2,000 private U.S. citizens now in Albania to leave the country for their safety.

The uprising began last month after the collapse of pyramid investment schemes wiped out the life savings of hundreds of thousands of Albanians, many of whom hold Berisha’s government accountable for their loses.

Late Wednesday, state television announced the formation of a new government, following days of bitter negotiations in which Berisha agreed to share power with his longtime enemies, the Socialists. Five ministries will go to the ruling Democratic Party, four to the Socialist Party and five others to smaller parties.

Over the objections of the opposition, the new government’s Interior Ministry will be filled by the ruling party. The post is critical because it controls both police and secret police, as well as elections.

As part of a agreement aimed at ending the violence, parliamentary elections are to be held by June. The opposition fears that the ruling party will use its control of the Interior Ministry to repeat the egregious fraud committed in parliamentary elections last May that gave Berisha another five years in the presidency.

The Interior Ministry oversees the selection of election commissions, the printing of ballots and all internal security matters.

To answer opposition demands, Berisha and his opponents agreed to create a new Interior Ministry post that will serve as a kind of second-in-command with wide-ranging powers. It will be filled by an opposition politician. But the power-sharing arrangement raised the specter of crippling gridlock because former enemies would have to cooperate closely.