ALBANIAN COALITION PROVOKING VIOLENCE, RULING PARTY SAYS.

Byline: Associated Press 

President Sali Berisha's party threatened to pull out of the caretaker government Saturday, accusing its coalition partners of inciting violence by signing a joint declaration with insurgents.

Nine more people were reported dead in the violence and chaos that have convulsed the Balkan nation since investors' anger over failed investment schemes turned this month into armed rebellion.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council approved sending a force into Albania to protect foreign relief efforts. In addition to violence, the country also faces a food shortage.

Earlier, all major opposition parties signed the declaration, drafted by the insurgents, which calls for Berisha's removal through peaceful means.

Berisha's Democratic Party called an emergency meeting with Premier Bashkim Fino of the rival Socialist Party and other opposition leaders. The ruling party warned that it would withdraw from the coalition.

``The Democratic Party reminds all the political forces in the country that political cooperation with the (insurgents') committees and agreements with them are an unjustifiable incitement to street violence and they will help prolong terrorism in the country,'' the party said in a statement.

Parliamentary speaker Pjeter Arbnori, a Berisha ally, warned that the opposition parties' signing of the rebel declaration could lead to political gridlock. Berisha's party controls Parliament and already has blocked several pieces of proposed legislation put forward by the coalition government.

Lawmakers scheduled a special session today to formally approve the deployment of the international force and debate the rebel declaration.

Meanwhile, VEFA, one of the few pyramid schemes that did not completely fall apart, sought to reassure investors late Saturday with a television ad in which it promised to repay their capital. The ad did not say when the repayments would begin.

Nearly 200 people have died and hundreds have been injured since the violence began in January. Thousands of Albanians have fled the troubles, crossing the Adriatic Sea on rickety boats to Italy.