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Voice of America, 00-02-20
CONTENTS
[01] KOSOVO WEAPONS (S&L) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA)
[02] AUSTRIA DEMONSTRATION(L-ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)
[03] U-N DANUBE (L O) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)
[01] KOSOVO WEAPONS (S&L) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA)
DATE=2/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-259371
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: NATO-led troops from many nations are
searching for weapons and criminals in the volatile
Kosovo city of Mitrovica. Tim Belay reports from
neighboring Albania on the progress of the crackdown.
TEXT: The major operation to seize illegal weapons
began in the Serb-dominated part of the town and
extended to the mainly ethnic-Albanian areas.
The biggest such operation by international
peacekeepers since they moved into Kosovo last June is
expected to continue for several days. More than two-
thousand troops working with police say they recovered
automatic rifles and plastic explosives.
Troops from France, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, the
United States, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands,
Germany, Norway, and Turkey were involved in the arms
search.
// REST OPT FOR LONG //
Serbs threw stones and snowballs at U-S troops who
joined the search in the Serb section of Mitrovica.
The soldiers moved to another area to avoid an
escalation of the conflict. No one was injured.
Mitrovica residents were told through radio messages,
loudspeakers, and leaflets that the search was taking
place and to not interfere.
Recent violence in Mitrovica has presented NATO-led
peacekeepers and Kosovo's U-N-led administration with
one of the most serious threats to their mission to
bring security and democracy to the Yugoslav province.
The ethnically divided city has been the scene of
several eruptions of violence this month that left at
least nine-people dead and more than 20-wounded. Two
French soldiers were wounded by snipers last week.
(SIGNED)
NEB/TB/DW/RAE
20-Feb-2000 12:50 PM EDT (20-Feb-2000 1750 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
[02] AUSTRIA DEMONSTRATION(L-ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)
DATE=2/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-259356
CONTENT=
Voiced at :
INTRO: More than 200-thousand angry demonstrators
from Austria and elsewhere in Europe took to the
streets of Vienna Saturday for what has been described
as Austria's biggest anti-Government protest since
World War Two. Stefan Bos reports from Budapest, the
crowd demonstrated against the participation of Joerg
Haider's far right Freedom Party in a new coalition
government.
TEXT:
/// ACT 1---Sound speaker, establish, fade under ///
At the same Vienna Square where Austrian born Nazi
leader Adolf Hitler once addressed enthusiastic masses
62 years ago(1938),opposition speakers and an
estimated over 200-thousand people expressed their
dismay with Mr. Haider's extreme right wing Freedom
Partyu and its inclusion in the new government.
Burning candles and carrying banners, Austrians and
people from elswhere in Europe, including children and
pensioners, shouted slogans against Austria's two-
week-old coalition Government between Mr. Haider's
Party and the conservative People's Party. Mr. Haider
himself does not have any position in the Cabinet.
In a radio interview, an angry Mr.Haider described the
protestors as, in his words " a bunch of left wingers
who were paid by interest groups and the Social
Democrats, who lost the Parliamentary October
elections."
Mr. Haider's party gained 27 percent of the vote and
ended 30 years of Social Democrat rule by forming a
coalition government with the People's Party.
He accused the Social Democrats and other political
opponents of using what he called "the violence of
the streets" to bring down the Government.
But below the balcony where leader Hitler appeared in
triumph in 1938 after annexing Austria, protesters,
like this woman, made it clear they would not be
intimidated by Mr. Haider.
/// Woman act and English ///
"I really hope that with international pressure
that we will be able to change something. I
really believe in that, I do believe in that."
/// Ened act ///
Another woman demonstrator agreed :
/// Womand act in German ///
"We don't want this Government" she says. They are
damaging what we have worked for in Austria."
Other protestors said they were deeply concerned about
Mr. Haider's comments playing down Nazi crimes and
praising the employment policy and other aspects under
Hitler's leadership.
Critics have also accused Conservative People's Party
leader Wolfgang Schuessel of placing his personal
ambition to become Chancellor above the good of the
nation by forming a Government with Mr. Haider's
party. (Signed)
NEB/PT
19-Feb-2000 19:27 PM EDT (20-Feb-2000 0027 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
[03] U-N DANUBE (L O) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)
DATE=2/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-259370
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-N team is leaving early this week to
assess the effects of cyanide on the Danube River in
Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Lisa Schlein
reports from Geneva the poison continues to spread
after spilling late last month from a Romanian gold
mine.
TEXT: Numerous environmental and scientific experts
have investigated the poisonous spill and they have
returned conflicting reports on just how much damage
the cyanide has caused.
Spokesman Donato Kinniger of the U-N Department of
Humanitarian Affairs says the team of experts is
charged with returning a full and objective report on
the situation.
// KINNIGER ACT //
We plan to have a team of 10 or 12-experts,
environmental experts, engineers, and they will
work for approximately three-weeks in order to
find out what is the damage and make a complete
assessment of the situation.
// END ACT //
The accidental spill of cyanide from an Australian-
owned gold mine in Romania occurred three-weeks ago.
As the poison moved down river toward Hungary it
killed tons of fish. Some environmental experts
reported the river's entire ecological system would
likely be destroyed for years to come.
Other experts took a more optimistic view and
predicted the damage would be only short-term.
A U-N environmental task force was in Serbia to assess
damage caused by NATO bombing during the Kosovo war
when the cyanide spill occurred. It turned its
attention to the Danube.
The head of the task force, Pekka Haavisto, says the
cyanide spill is being diluted quickly, but he says it
is hard to define the long-term effects on the river
system.
// HAAVISTO ACT //
We have not had this type of, this scale of,
cyanide accident before. And my first
estimation is that it can take years. It can
take one, two, three-years at least before the
full recovery is there. But, how long, we do
not know yet.
// END ACT //
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is calling
for an urgent review of environmental and health
regulatory standards related to the mining of precious
metals in Europe.
A W-H-O expert says the accidental cyanide spill is
only one of the environmental problems caused by
mining operations. He says the W-H-O is also
concerned about concentrations of copper and lead
being found in European river systems and their
possible detrimental impact on human health.
(SIGNED)
NEB/LS/DW/RAE
20-Feb-2000 09:28 AM EDT (20-Feb-2000 1428 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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