BY BOBBIS MISAILIDES
ATHENS, Greece - U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright called for a NATO mission to be sent to Albania to come up with a proposal on how the Atlantic imperialist alliance can help "in reestablishing a functioning and democratically controlled army in that country." Albright made this statement while touring Yugoslavia to push for compliance with the Washington-crafted Dayton accords the U.S. government forced the rival regimes in the Yugoslav republics to sign in 1995.

"Albania is an example of a pattern of crisis situations we face, and will have to face in the future in Europe," Albright said, according to the May 31 Eleftheroptipía, one of the main Greek dailies. "It reflects the need for NATO and the Euro-Atlantic Council of Cooperation to focus their efforts, working with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), on preventing conflicts."

Meanwhile, the Italian government announced it will send more troops to Albania before the June 29 elections take place to augment its 2,500-strong detachment already there in that Balkan country.

There are more than 6,500 imperialist troops in Albania, led by the Italian government along with eight other regimes in Europe. The occupying forces in Albania aim to quell the working-class rebellion which began in early January against the devastating consequences of capitalist "market reforms" imposed by the pro-imperialist regime of President Sali Berisha.

The revolt has thrown into utter crisis the rule of the bureaucratic caste that has for decades controlled political power in this Balkan workers state. The NATO military force, Albright said "will aid in reestablishing a functioning army." During the popular revolt, Albania's armed forces have been virtually dissolved, with many units and thousands of individual soldiers and officers joining the rebels.

One of the main pretexts the imperialists use to justify their deepening intervention is the "guarantee of free and fair elections." The imperialist troops will be patrolling the streets in cities throughout Albania and guarding poll stations. The OSCE is sending about 400 "observers." Franz Vranitsky, the OSCE coordinator in Albania, spoke in Rome's parliament on May 26, urging the Italian government to prolong the mandate of the imperialist occupation for another three months.

On June 2 the Italian government recalled Paolo Foresti, its ambassador to Tirana, back to Rome. Foresti had voiced open support for Berisha in taped discussions with Democratic Party (DP) leader Tritan Sehou, which were published by an Albanian daily. Rome quickly responded, fearing Foresti's statements could spark resistance to its occupying troops by Albania's armed workers and farmers.

The demand for Foresti's recall to Italy was supported, among others, by Albanian Prime Minister Bashkim Fino. Fino's Socialist Party (SP) and Berisha's DP are the main groups in the national coalition government in Tirana representing competing layers within the bureaucratic caste.

Under pressure from the occupying forces, the SP and the DP agreed to hold the elections hoping to put an end to the workers' struggle.

Both parties accuse each other for being responsible for the crisis facing the rule of the privileged social layers they represent. On May 27 the SP organized a protest rally against the "state of emergency" that has continued to be enforced since the beginning of the revolt. The SP also demanded that Berisha hand over control of the SHIK, Albania's secret police, as he had promised under the agreement to hold the elections.

About 10,000 people participated in the protest rally held at Tirana's soccer stadium, chanting "Sali you dog, we will hang yoú and `give us our money back." The ousting of Berisha and reimbursement for the money they lost in the "pyramid" schemes are the main demands of the popular revolt. The "pyramids" were investment scams endorsed by Berisha's government in which hundreds of thousands lost their life savings after their collapse.

While holding some poorly attended election rallies in northern Albania, Berisha has continued his terror campaign against working people. Eight people were wounded after a bomb exploded on a bus in central Tirana. The bomb went off 10 minutes before the nine o'clock curfew that is imposed under the state of emergency measures. The day before, another bomb exploded in a cafeteria at Tirana's Skederbey Square wounding more than 20 people. The cafeteria's owner is Vice Minister of Public Order Lous Perpale, who is a leader of the SP.

While blaming Berisha for the attack, Perpale said that the action aim "to repeat the elections with the violence and fraud of March 1996." The DP holds the majority of seats in parliament after those rigged elections.

Pieter Arbnore, president of Berisha's parliament in Tirana, reiterated the DP's position that "a precondition for the lifting of the state of emergency is the dissolution of the rebel's committees." In agreeing to hold the vote, Fino has also called for their dissolution.

But the rebel councils have refused to disband. The armed workers and farmers and the Committees for National Salvation, born in the heat of the revolt, remain the main obstacle in the ability of the imperialist occupying forces and Tirana's national coalition government to subdue the working class in Albania.  
 
 
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