The imminent withdrawal of its ambassador, Mr Paolo Foresti, for alleged favouritism towards Albania's president, Mr Sali Berisha, may cause some damage to Italy's reputation but should by no means be allowed to overshadow the extremely positive contribution made by that country towards peace in the Balkan region. Firstly it should be stressed that Mr Foresti asserts strenuously that the alleged transcript of his conversation with Mr Tritan Shehu, the leader of Mr Berisha's Democratic Party, as published in a Tirana newspaper, is a fabrication and that his behaviour has been meticulously evenhanded. Nevertheless the damage done to his credibility in such a tense political situation is such that the Foreign Ministry in Rome will, most probably, be forced to replace him.
Secondly in a decade when European peace initiatives in the Balkans have foundered through inefficiency and lack of cohesion between governments, it should be recognised that the Italian led peace force in Albania, the FMP, has achieved a welcome measure of success. What happened in Albania had been unprecedented in Europe since the early days of this century. An entire country, the continent's poorest, descended into a state of armed chaos. The government, army, police and even the opposition forces, ceased to exist as effective entities.
In the space of days the entire country passed out of the control of the state and into that of young men, some of them in their early teens, who had managed to get their hands on up to one million rifles as well as an unknown number of grenades and other weapons of destruction. In receiving tens of thousands of refugees, in evacuating EU nationals caught in the nightmare of those chaotic days in March of this year and, later and more importantly, in leading a military force which has succeeded in bringing Albania out of its chaos, Italy has played a commendable part in preventing yet another Balkan bloodbath.
The geographical closeness of Albania to the former Yugoslavia and the existence of large Albanian populations in Kosovo and Macedonia made it essential that tensions in the area be eased. No country has played a greater part than Italy in doing this and Northern European prejudices against Italian military prowess have received a battering in the process. Italy's successes should be compared, for example, to Britain's dangerously incompetent attempt to rescue its citizens in the same country two months ago. Today in Rome the civilian side of the Albanian rescue operation will continue with a meeting of officials from those countries who wish to ensure a lasting and peaceful democracy established in that country. The decision of the Socialist opposition to Mr Berisha to take part in next month's elections is the most hopeful sign so far that this can be achieved.