(18 Apr 1997) Natural Sound
Greek and Italian ships carrying soldiers and armoured vehicles docked in the southern Albanian port of Durres, Friday.
The troops are part of a 6-thousand strong multinational force charged with securing aid for the poor and hungry.
The Greek boat Samos carrying 130 men and 34 vehicles sailed into port in Durres Friday.
The troops -- part of the 6-thousand-strong multinational force are destined for Fier, 20 miles north of Vlora.
They will set up base there before meeting up with the Italian contingent in Vlora next week.
The multinational force is charged with protecting aid shipments to this impoverished country.
Further Italian forces arrived aboard the Moby Dick, the ship carried 300 men and some 80-plus trucks.
There is widespread support for the presence of an international force here.
One rebel leader in Vlora told about 2,000 supporters that rebel committees should work with the foreign troops and give them "a dignified welcome."
On Thursday, Albania's parties agreed to hold parliamentary elections on June 29.
But former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's envoy for Albania, said there was still no consensus on how to treat the rebels.
The election is intended to bring some stability to Albania, which is sharply divided between an insurgent south and a north that largely backs President Sali Berisha.
Vranitzky insists that rebels who support democracy - as opposed to bandit gangs who use their guns to rob and kill - should be brought into Albania's mainstream.
Nearly 400 people have been killed and more than 3-thousand injured since investment funds started to fail in January.
Anger over the get-rich-quick schemes boiled into a revolt against Berisha, who is widely blamed for allowing the schemes to continue.
Berisha however has denied any wrongdoing and remains in the capital, Tirana.
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29 июл 2015
