Concern in Albania over repatriation agreement

Several Tirana dailies wrote on 30 January that Albania will have difficulty carrying out its recent agreement with Germany to help repatriate 100,000 refugees from Germany to Kosova. "Gazeta Shqiptare" argued that the Albanian police do not have the manpower to protect the convoys of refugees from probable attacks by armed bandit gangs, dpa reported. Elsewhere, an Albanian Defense Ministry spokesman said that Germany has sent $3.5 million worth of military equipment to Albania "in recent years." Observers note that much of it comes from stocks of the former East German army. PM