ALBANIA: TIRANA: PRIME MINISTER FATOS NANO PRESS CONFERENCE

(17 Sep 1998) English/Nat The Albanian parliament is due to decide whether to arrest ex-President Sali Berisha which could result in more political crisis for the Balkan state. Western powers, fearing instability in the former Communist state could further inflame the region, have sent a new European Union representative to Tirana to try to avert further violence. Albania's former president has vowed to continue his battle for power and rally in the capital until the government resigns. There is heavy security guarding Albania's Prime Minister. Fatos Nano appeared at a news conference on Wednesday for the first time since the fresh outbreak of unrest in Albania. Nano declared he is committed to using all democratic and legal means to restore peace following three days of unrest in the capital Tirana. SOUNDBITE: (English) "By defending legality and constitutionality with democratic legal means including use of legal force to avoid criminal attacks after military coup against legally elected institutions, which are considered by all the international parties legitimate and democratic. SUPER CAPTION: Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister When asked what charges former President Sali Berisha will face, Nano said he was not the right person to ask and declined to comment further. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Let me only reiterate that I am not here in the equality of the prosecutor general or chief of police for arrest" SUPER CAPTION: Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister He expressed his government willingness to negotiate, - but only with democratically elected bodies. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We are ready to negotiate and always commit the government and the legitimately elected institutions and authorities of this country in a political process for solutions of any crisis here or in Kosovo but we can't negotiate with terrorists that still bomb and keep armed instead of showing themselves open for dialogue" SUPER CAPTION: Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister He also had a strong message for the opposition SOUNDBITE: (English) "We aren't going to allow anymore for anybody to attack, bomb and shell democratically elected institutions in the middle of the Balkans which you know pretty well are in very dangerous situation" SUPER CAPTION: Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister U-S and European diplomats fear the unrest could spread, further complicating the situation in the neighbouring Serbian province of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian rebels are fighting for independence. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...