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Home , Fan Noli, Fatos Nano, Pandeli Majko, Sali Berisha

Dates and events

2000 BC 1430 Emergence of Illyrian culture in establishes control. Balkan peninsula. 1443-68 800-600 BC Skenderbeg defeats Ottoman army and unites Greeks establish colonies in peninsula. Albanian rulers. After his death, the Ottoman Empire re-establishes rule. 4th century BC Height of Illyrian kingdom. Invasions by 1878 Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Albanian League founded; its goals include unification of Albanian territories and cultural 168 BC emancipation. Roman Empire controls Illyrian territory. 1910-12 4th to 7th century AD Armed struggle to achieve democratic reform Former Illyrian territory becomes part of the and autonomy. Vlore Congress declares Byzantine Empire. Invasions by Visigoths, independence after allied Greek, Serbian and Ostrogoths, Huns, Serbs and Croats. Montenegrin forces declare war on Turkey. 1054 1912 Christian church splits into Catholic and Balkan allies defeat Turkey. Western European Orthodox denominations. 'great powers' accept Albanian independence 9th to 14th century but cede large territories to and . Albanian territory dominated by Bulgarians, 1914-18 Italians, Serbs, Turks. Chaos as various Western European and Balkan armies invade . 1920 National congress held in Lushnje; progressive government under , opposed by conservative group led by Ahmet Bey Zogu. 1925-39 Zogu overthrows Noli's liberal government and rules as president and king.

1939-45 Albania occupied by Italian and German armies. Communist groups form resistance and gain control in 1944; their leader is . A A defaced fresco at Ardinice monastery.

82 ALBANIA 1946 1997 Albania declared the People's Republic of March: Widespread anarchy, rioting and Albania, ruled by Hoxha's Party of Labour. looting of army weapons stores following Economic and diplomatic ties with Yugoslavia collapse of pyramid investment schemes. (until 1948), the Soviet Union (until i960), Transitional government of and his and China (until 1978). Socialist Party takes over from . April: Arrival of multinational peace-keeping 1967 force. Religious worship is banned and all mosques May: Elections. Socialists gain power under and churches closed. President Medani and Prime Minister Nano. 1985 July-August: Departure of peace-keeping force. Enver Hoxha dies. 1998 1990-91 Nano resigns under pressure and Pandeli Hoxha's successor Majko becomes Prime Minister. allows regains leadership of the DP. independent political December 1999 parties. Occupations resigns as Prime Minister. of foreign embassies by about 5,000 people. Pro- January 2000 democracy demonstrations Fatos Nano returns as Prime Minister. in Tirane. Elections scheduled for later in the year. 1992 Democratic Party led by Sali Berisha wins elections. 1993-97 Increasing government authoritarianism and corruption.

> Mother Albania, one of the few statues from communist times that was left standing in 1990-91.

ALBANIA 83 Facts and figures

Land area Access to safe water 28,750 km2 56.4 per cent (1989) Population Access to sanitation 3.4m (1998) 96.6 per cent (1989) Annual average growth rate: 2.01 per cent Gross National Product per annum (1996) US$3,4O7m (1998) 46 per cent (1997) of live in US$1,002 US$ per capita (1998) urban areas Average annual growth (1998): 8 per cent Average annual growth (1997): -7 per cent Currency Lek (1 Lek = 100 quintars) Structure of Gross Domestic Product (1997) 141 Lek = US$i (January 2000) Agriculture: 56.0 per cent Industry: 12.4 per cent Education Construction: 11.2 per cent Compulsory school enrolment (8 grades): Transport: 2.7 per cent 100 per cent; boys 51.7 per cent, girls 48.3 Others: 17.6 per cent per cent (1998) Students going on to high school: 61 per Inflation cent (1997) 20.7 per cent (1998) Adult literacy: 91.8 per cent (1989) Current account balance Spending on education as percentage of US$ -65.1 million (1998) GNP: 11 per cent (1997) US$ -272.1 million (1997) Average life expectancy External debt 68.5 years for men, 74.3 years for women US$ 270 million (1997) (I995) Main foreign donors (1997) Health EU: 35 per cent Infant mortality rate: 43.3 per 1000 births Italy: 14 per cent World Bank: 13 per cent (J997) USA: 10 per cent Maternal mortality rate: Germany: 10 per cent 25.2 per 100,000 live births (1992) Health expenditure as percentage of GNP 6 per cent (1997) Physicians per 10,000 people: 18.1 (1994) Health units per 10,000 people: Sources: UNDP Human Development Reports 85.3 (1994) 1995,1996,1998, Economist Intelligence Unit

84 ALBANIA Sources and further reading

Balkan politics Broken April (London: Saqi Press, : Oppression of Ethnic Albanians, 1990) Urgent Issues Paper (London: The Minority The General of the Dead Army (London: Rights Group, 1992) Quartet Books, 1986) Minorities in the Balkans, Report N0.82 http://studweb.studserv.uni-stuttgart.de/ (London: The Minority Rights Group, 1989) studweb/users/ger/geno999/english/ english.html James Pettifer and Hugh Poulton The Southern Balkans (London: The Minority Rights Politics and development Group (Greece), 1994) EIU Country Report Albania (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2000) General interest http://reenic.utexas.edu/reenic/Countries/ Nicholas Panno 'The Process of Democratisation Albania/albania.html#Subjects in Albania', in Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott (eds.) Politics, Power and the Struggle International Journal of Albanian Studies for Democracy in Southeast Europe c/o Shinasi A. Rama, Department of Political (Cambridge University Press, 1997) Science, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA Miranda Vickers Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity (C Hurst & Co, 1997) www.albania.co.uk www.undp.org/rbec/nhdr/1996/summary/ www.albanian.com albania.htm www.middlebury.edu/~como/albania.shtml www.unhcr.ch/world/euro/albania.htm History www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/ Albania: Political longterm/worldref/country/albania.htm Imprisonment and the law (London: www.worldwidenews.com/albania.htm Amnesty International, 1984)

Bill Hamilton and Bhasker Solanki Albania: Who Travel Cares? (London: Grantham, 1992) Robert Carver The Accursed Mountains (London: Flamingo, 1999) John Wilkes The (Oxford: Blackwell, James Pettifer Blue Guide: Albania (London: 1992) A&C Black and New York: WW Norton, Literature and culture 1994) Robert Elsie History of (New York: University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton, 1995)

ALBANIA 85 Oxfam in Albania

Oxfam GB has been working in Albania since more than 200 individually designed wheel- 1992, at first distributing winter clothing in the chairs have been produced and distributed. In north of the country as well as providing initial addition, the project has provided active support to a group of fledgling local NGOs. rehabilitation camps and independent living In 1993 Oxfam established a permanent skills training. In 1997, the resource centre presence in Albania, in order to work on issues became independent from Oxfam and is now a of rural poverty, gender equality, disability, and well-established, high-profile local NGO, the NGO development. A major rural development Albanian Disability Rights Foundation (ADREF). programme in the Commune of Shllak in Oxfam has also played a significant role Shkoder District, one of the country's poorest in supporting Albanian women's organisations and most isolated areas, started in 1994. Self- like Reflexione. It helped in establishing the help projects include water supply and income- LINEA counselling centre in Shkoder, which generating activities. Despite the cultural offers assistance and support to women on difficulties in this very traditional area, Oxfam issues of domestic violence. has also worked directly with women. A rural Most recently, Oxfam in Albania has resource and training centre serving both developed a public awareness campaign on lowland and highland farmers has been set up. arms control with the UNDP. Oxfam also In 1994 Oxfam in Albania set up the remains very active in the area of emergency country's first resource centre for people with preparedness and worked with UNHCR in disabilities. The project established the first responding to the Kosovo refugee crisis in production facility for wheelchairs: to date, 1998 and 1999.

< At the ADREF workshop, which employs wheelchair users, each wheelchair is custom- made.

86 ALBANIA Index

abduction 40, 43-4 constitutions 18, 25, 58-9, 79-80 Greece abortion 49 contraception 49 Albanians 31, 37, 38, 39-40, 45 ADREF 53-4, 61, 86 corruption 9, 21, 24 seasonal employment 34, 39 agriculture 12 counselling 54, 56, 57, 58, 86 Greek-speaking Albanians co-operatives 21-2, 35 credit rationing 33 14, 40-1, 74 industrial pollution 68-9 crime 43,44,70,71,73 seasonal employment 38-9 culture 9-10,14-16, 62-4 health care 33, 47-51, 84 small-scale 32-3, 35, 36, 56 traditional 5-6, 7,15-16, 58-9, 75 infant mortality 47-8, 84 Albania, image in foreign media history 5-7,12-13,17-2O» 82-3 9, 38, 79, 80 deforestation 66 Hoxha, Enver 5, 19-20, 23, 74, 82-3 Albania, north 13, 16, 35, 58-9, 71, democracy 6-7, 26, 41, 79-81, 83 education 42 74-6 inexperience 7, 21, 22, 29, 52 economy 31 Alia, Ramiz 23, 83 parliamentary 23-4 international ties 19, 83 authoritarianism 9, 24, 28-9 women's status 55 oppression 6-7,19-22, 29, 37 Democratic Party 23-4, 26, 27, 29, statue toppled 5, 28 Balkan politics 8-9,13-14,17, 74, 83 human-rights abuses 24 79 disability 53-4, 60-4, 86 Ballsh 65, 68-9 dissent 20, 23, 24, 29 identity, Albanian 7, 74-8 banditry 26, 40, 71, 73 divorce 57-8 IMF 24,48 see also abduction, mafia doctors 48-9, 51 independence 18, 82 Berisha, Sali 13-14, 23-4, 25, 26, Durres 35, 77 industrial pollution 65-6, 68-9 28-9, 30, 83 international aid 8, 35, 54, 71, 73, blood feuds 16, 26, 59, 71, 75 economic crisis 23-4, 30, 37, 49 79, 80-1, 84 border issues 13-14,18, 37-9, 77 economic reform 23, 25, 30-3, 50 investment 24-5, 35-6 Bosnian war 34-5 economy 8-9, 30-6, 48-9, 84 Italian invasion 5,18,19, 82 Byzantine Empire 12, 82 see also emigration Italy, Albanians 31, 37, 38 education 42-6, 50-1, 77-8, 84 cars 34, 48-9, 67 steelworks 31-2, 65 of Lek Dukagjine 16,75 censorship 24, 27, 62 emigration 28, 32, 34, 37-41, 64 Korge 44, 49-51 central planning 30-1 doctors 51 Korce District Hospital 50-1 China 19, 30, 31 education 43 Kosovo 8, 77-8, 81 civil society 7, 80 effects 31, 45-6 Kosovo Albanian refugees 8,13, 37, civilians, armed 25-6, 70, 72, 73, 80 gender 56 71, 73, 77-8, 86 comedy festivals 15-6 NGOs 38 Kosovo Liberation Army communist state see also migrant workers, 8, 71, 73, 77 arts subsidies 15 young people disabilities 60-1 environmental pollution 65-9 land conflict 70-1 divorce 57-8 European powers' involvement languages 13-14, 45 education 42 6, 8-9,18, 24, 79, 79-82 law and order 20, 25, 31-2, 70-3, health care 47-8, 50 ethnicity 14, 74 80 overthrow 6-7, 23, 27-8 life expectancy 47-8, 49, 84 political prisoners 21-2 foreign domination 6-9, 17, 82 LINEA 56, 57, 58, 86 secret police 20, 21, 24, 72 literacy 42 see also SIGURIMI gender factors 43-4, 49, 55-9 see also education southern/central bias 74 geography 11-12, 84 literature 16, 62-4 see also Hoxha Gjirokaster 13,15, 41, 74 looting 25, 31, 39, 42, 70, 80

ALBANIA 87 mafia 26, 40, 70 Qemali, Ismail 18 UNESCO 12-13 Majko, Pandeli 25, 26, 83 UNHCR 86 Medani, Rexhep 25, 26, 83 radio 62 universities 27, 40-1, 43 media 15-16, 24, 26, 27, 37, 62 Reflexione 56, 58-9, 80, 86 migrant workers 30, 31, 34, 37, 38, religion 12-13, 82-3 vaccination 47-8 39-40 remittances 30 violence, domestic 57-8, 59 see also emigration road network 31 virginesh 59 Mussolini, Benito 19 Roma minority 14 volunteerism 52 Romania 28, 45 Voskopoje 42-5 Nano, Fatos 23, 25, 26, 83 rural-urban migration 35, 75 NATO 71, 73, 78, 83 rural areas 33, 34 Yugoslavia 19 NGOs 52-4,86 education 42 see also Kosovo crime 43 health care 48-9 disability 61 poverty 34-6 water supplies 47, 49, 84 emigration 38 prostitution 57 weaponry 25-6, 70, 72, 73, 75-6, 80 environmental issues 67, 68 women's status 57, 58, 59 welfare allowance 34, 61, 62 funding 54, 80 wheelchairs 61, 62, 64, 86 north Albania 35 sanitation 47, 49, 84 women small-scale farmers 36 seasonal employment 34, 39 counselling 54, 56-8, 86 women's groups 55, 59 security 9, 41 divorce 57-8 Noli, Fan 18, 82 abduction 43-4 family planning 49 gender 40, 43-4, 56 Kanun 75 oilfields 66,68-9 peace-keeping forces 25, 73 maternal mortality 48, 84 Ottoman Empire 6,12,17, 82 private industry 32 rural areas 57, 58, 59 weapons 73, 75-6 traditions 16 poetry 16, 62-4 Serbia 82 violence against 57-8, 59 police 70, 73 see also Kosovo see also culture, gender factors see also SIGURIMI shanty-towns 35, 75 Women's Centre 52, 58 political prisoners 20-2 Shkoder 34, 35-6, 58 women's movement 52, 53, 55-9 politics 9-10 SIGURIMI 20, 21, 24, 72 work permits 39-40 authoritarianism 9, 24, 28-9 Skenderbeg, Gjergj Kastrioti World Bank 24, 48 borders 13-14,18, 37-9, 77 5,17. 82 coalition 23, 25 social unrest 25, 36, 49-50, 52 Yugoslavia 9,19, 83 corruption 9, 21, 24 Socialist Party 25, 26, 83 see also Kosovo elections 23-4, 79-80, 83 soil erosion 66 Younger generation 27-9, 40-1 parties 23-4, 25, 26, 27, 29 Stalinism 19, 30 public attitudes 9-10, 72 student 23, 27-8, 40 Zogu, Ahmet 18, 82 pollution 31, 65-9 population 30 teachers 22, 42, 43, 46 poverty 34-6, 44-5 Tirane' 5-6, 28, 35 privatisation 31-2 shantytowns 35, 75 prostitution 43, 56-7, 63 Tirane University 27, 43 public attitudes 9-10, 67, 72 public transport 39, 44 UN peace-keeping 8 pyramid investment schemes UNDP 36, 37-8, 43, 71, 72, 86 24-5, 35-6 unemployment 28, 30, 31, 35-6, 55

88 ALBANIA