Voice of America, 99-09-05

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From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] KOSOVO POLICE BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

[02] ALBRIGHT / TURKEY / L BY KYLE KING (ISTANBUL)

[03] TURKEY / ALBRIGHT / QUAKE / L-O BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

[04] RUSSIA / DAGESTAN / S-L BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

[05] RUSSIA/DAGESTAN EXPLOSION (S&L) BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

[06] RUSSIA / DAGESTAN / 2ND UPDATE / S-L BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

[01] KOSOVO POLICE BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

INTRO: A NEW CONTINGENT OF NEARLY TWO-HUNDRED UNITED NATIONS POLICE VOLUNTEERS HAS ARRIVED IN KOSOVO FROM THE UNITED STATES. TIM BELAY REPORTS FROM PRISTINA THAT THEIR ASSIGNMENT WILL INCLUDE REGULAR POLICE WORK AND THE TRAINING OF A NEW LOCAL POLICE FORCE FOR THE PROVINCE.

TEXT: THE ONE HUNDRED-AND-EIGHTY-SIX OFFICERS FROM THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES COME AS AN ADDITION TO THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE AMERICANS WHO ARE ALREADY WORKING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL POLICE HERE. THEIR ARRIVAL IS ESPECIALLY TIMELY AS INCIDENTS OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE HAVE BEEN ON THE INCREASE IN RECENT DAYS IN KOSOVO, FOLLOWING A TWO-WEEK PERIOD OF RELATIVE CALM. MOST RECENTLY, AN EXPLOSION AT AN APARTMENT IN PRISTINA FRIDAY NIGHT KILLED AN ELDERLY SERBIAN MAN. FIVE PEOPLE WERE HURT BY SHATTERED WINDOW GLASS.

DON GRADY FROM THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO IN THE UNITED STATES IS THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF THE U.S. CONTINGENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL POLICE FORCE. MR. GRADY SAYS HIS GROUP HAS A TWO-PART MISSION.

INITIALLY WE HAVE TO DO LAW ENFORCEMENT WORK SO WE HAVE TO DO THE ACTUAL POLICING SO THESE GUYS WILL ACTUALLY BE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WITH FULL EXECUTIVE POWERS AND THEY'LL BE DOING COMPLETE POLICING RESPONSIBILITIES. THE SECOND PART OF THE MISSION IS TO HELP REBUILD A KOSOVO POLICE SERVICE.

MR. GRADY SAYS THE AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS WHO VOLUNTEERED TO WORK IN KOSOVO HAVE A SINCERE DESIRE TO SEE A CLIMATE OF IMPROVED LAW AND ORDER HERE.

POLICING GETS IN THE BLOOD AND IT'S THE KIND OF THING THAT YOU FEEL REALLY CLOSE TO. THESE POLICE OFFICERS WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY WANT TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING THAT'S BIGGER THAN THEY ARE....SO THE IDEA OF ESTABLISHING A DEMOCRATIC POLICING INSTITUTION IN AN AREA WHERE IT WAS SOMETHING LESS THAN DEMOCRACY PREVIOUSLY IS VERY APPEALING TO A LOT OF THESE GUYS.

MR. GRADY SAYS THE OFFICERS RECEIVED SEVEN 12 HOUR DAYS OF INTENSIVE PREPARATION FOR THE KOSOVO MISSION BEFORE LEAVING THE UNITED STATES. HE SAYS THE VOLUNTEERS WERE ABLE TO LEARN A LITTLE ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED RECENTLY IN THE PROVINCE, AND GAIN SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE OVERALL HISTORY OF KOSOVO. TIM BELAY FOR VOA NEWS, PRISTINA.
NEB/TB/PLM === Tim Belay Tirana 355-42-67545 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

TEXT: NEB/WTW/ 05-Sep-1999 08:08 AM EDT (05-Sep-1999 1208 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[02] ALBRIGHT / TURKEY / L BY KYLE KING (ISTANBUL)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has toured the region most devastated by last month's earthquake in Turkey and met with the country's foreign minister to discuss humanitarian aid. From Istanbul, Correspondent Kyle King reports.

TEXT: The Secretary of State flew to Turkey from Israel and went by helicopter to the epicenter of the quake, which killed more than 14-thousand people when it struck August 17th. In the city of Izmit she toured a tent city being set up by the 26th Marine Expedition Unit. The Marines have erected about 150-tents at the site and are expected to eventually bring in about 500. More than 30-thousand people are still missing and although many buildings in Izmit are still standing, most of the people living in the region are too afraid to return to their homes. After talks with Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, Secretary of State Albright said she had come to express her sympathy for the terrible loss the country had suffered.

[03] TURKEY / ALBRIGHT / QUAKE / L-O BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Turkey (Sunday) to see areas ravaged by the massive earthquake which tore through the country's northwestern industrial heartland August 17th. Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara. Text: Turkish officials say Ms. Albright's visit, the first in-five years by a Secretary of State, was long overdue. Being a strategic crossroads between the Middle East, the Balkans, and the volatile Caucasus republics of the former Soviet Union, Turkey considers itself one of the United States' most strategic allies. Turkey has been providing bases for the U-S led allied air patrols designed to protect Iraqi Kurds from possible attacks by Iraqi government forces since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. This year Turkey opened its airbases to NATO planes taking part in Allied missions against Serb forces during the NATO campaign in Kosovo. Ms. Albright surveyed the extensive damage caused by last month's deadly earthquake that destroyed tens-of- thousands of homes and left hundreds-of-thousands homeless. Turkish officials say the death toll could exceed 20- thousand when clean-up in the stricken areas is completed. The estimate is much lower than the initial 45-thousand death toll predicted both by U-N and Turkish officials in the early days following the quake. Critics of the government charge many of the dead have gone unreported simply because their bodies are being bulldozed into the sea along with rubble during the massive clearing operation. Meanwhile, aftershocks continue to rock Izmit, the northwestern industrial town where the earthquake measured seven-point-four on the Richter scale. Thousands of residents made homeless by the quake continue to be sheltered in tent cities erected by the Turkish military and international-aid agencies. U-S Marines in the area are helping erect all-weather tents brought to the region by U-S ships. And a 10- member U-S military team of doctors and other medical staff is also working in the Izmit area. (SIGNED)
NEB/AZ/DW/RAE 05-Sep-1999 11:46 AM LOC (05-Sep-1999 1546 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[04] RUSSIA / DAGESTAN / S-L BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

INTRO: Russia's Defense Ministry has assumed full control from the Interior Ministry over military operations against Islamic militants in Dagestan (in Russia's southern Caucasus region). Moscow correspondent Eve Conant reports military activity has been stepped up as federal forces try to rout the militants from the mountainous area called Karamakhi.

TEXT: Although there's been a change of command, Russian helicopter gunships and artillery continue to pound several villages in central Dagestan. On Saturday Russia's Defense Ministry was granted full control over the conflict, taking over from Interior Ministry troops who fought the militants in other parts of Dagestan last month. Russian news agencies report Lieutenant-General Gennady Troshev has been appointed as commander of the unified forces. The Defense Ministry says it is taking over the Interior Ministry in order to "increase the effectiveness" of the campaign against the militants, who are well armed and entrenched in strong underground shelters. Previous Russian forces included army ground troops, local police forces, Interior Ministry troops and volunteers with little or no training.

[05] RUSSIA/DAGESTAN EXPLOSION (S&L) BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

INTRO: An explosion has destroyed a five-story military apartment block in the Dagestani city, Buinaksk -- killing at least nine people and injuring more than 70 others. Initial Russian news reports also say hundreds of gunmen have crossed into Dagestan from Chechnya and occupied several villages. Correspondent Eve Conant follows developments from Moscow.

TEXT: Russian news agencies report dozens of residents of the five-story military apartment block may still be buried under heaps of rubble. Russian news agencies report the Dagestani government is calling the blast a "terrorist act," but no one has yet claimed responsibility. Rescue teams on the scene say they expect casualty figures to rise and that most of the victims are women and children. The Itar-Tass news agency reports police also discovered and defused a car loaded with 100 kilograms of T-N-T -- timed to explode near a military hospital and another military apartment block in Buinaksk. Russian news agencies also report hundreds of gunmen crossed into Dagestan early Sunday, from neighboring Chechnya, and occupied several villages in the Novolaksky district.

[06] RUSSIA / DAGESTAN / 2ND UPDATE / S-L BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

INTRO: Hundreds of gunmen (some estimates up to two- thousand) have crossed into Dagestan from Chechnya and are fighting for control over four villages. Moscow correspondent Eve Conant reports the incursion came as rescue workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble of a military housing apartment in the city of Buinaksk where an explosion killed at least 17-people and injured up to 100-others.

TEXT: Gunmen crossed into Dagestan (early Sunday) from neighboring Chechnya, and began fighting with local police for control of villages in the Novolaksky district. A Russian Interior Ministry official addressed the people of Dagestan on local television and asked the men of the republic to assist federal forces in countering the attack. In Buinaksk, rescue workers are sifting through the rubble of a five-story apartment building which collapsed after what was believed to be a car bomb ripped though it late Saturday. The building housed civilians as well as Defense Ministry officials and their families. Dagestani officials are describing the explosion and the new incursion as -- links in the same chain. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, but local authorities have said they believe it is connected with recent threats by Islamic fundamentalists.

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