Voice of America, 00-02-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] U-N BALKANS SUMMARY (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[02] TURKEY / KURDS (L ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

[03] YUGOSLAV WAR CRIMES (L-ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

[04] I-M-F DISPUTE (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

[05] NORTHERN IRELAND (L-ONLY) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

[06] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

[07] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] U-N BALKANS SUMMARY (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: The United Nations Special Representative for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, said today (Monday) that the search for peace and stability in the region is complicated by the fact that the leaders of Serbia are indicted war criminals. VOA Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: Mr. Bildt says the major issue in the Balkans is the conflict between those who favor ethnic and religious integration within their societies, and within the region, and those who favor disintegration. He observed that every step toward disintegration has been associated with violence and massive violations of human rights. But, in a formal report to the U-N Security Council, Mr. Bildt says it is highly unlikely that a regional settlement - based on integration - can occur without the participation of the leaders of the former Yugoslavia. That, he notes, poses a major dilemma for the international community.

[02] TURKEY / KURDS (L ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

INTRO: A Turkish court has released three Kurdish mayors who were arrested and jailed for alleged links with Kurdish separatists. As Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara, the three were released to await trial.

TEXT: Thousands of people gathered outside Diyarbakir's maximum security prison after hearing the news that the three Kurdish mayors were being set free.

[03] YUGOSLAV WAR CRIMES (L-ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

INTRO: Four Bosnian Serbs accused of murder, torture and persecution went on trial today/Monday at the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The men include three commanders of the Omarska prison camp in northwest Bosnia, one of three camps where prosecutors say thousands of Muslims and Croats died in 1992. Lauren Comiteau has more from The Hague.

TEXT: Prosecutor Grant Niemann says this is a case of ethnic cleansing and persecution on a massive scale. He said it was a well planned and orchestrated campaign of terror by ethnocentric fanatic nationalists loyal to the self-declared Serb Republic.

[04] I-M-F DISPUTE (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: A significant dispute is emerging between the United States and European Union over Europe's choice of a German finance official to become managing director of the International Monetary Fund. V-O-A's Barry Wood reports the feud intensified Monday when the Clinton administration said it will not support Germany's candidate for the I-M-F job.

TEXT: Presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart says the United States will not support Caio Koch-Weser for the I-M-F job because he lacks broad support. Mr. Lockhart says President Clinton discussed the situation Saturday in a telephone call with German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

[05] NORTHERN IRELAND (L-ONLY) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

INTRO: Britain's top official for Northern Ireland has met with Unionist and Republican leaders in an attempt to revive the peace process. The effort follows suspension of Northern Ireland's home rule assembly. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from London that the mood is far from optimistic.

TEXT: Unionist leader David Trimble insists the home- rule institutions cannot be re-established until the Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) makes a move toward handing in its weapons. The head of the I-R-A's political wing says the peace process is in tatters. Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams told his party supporters Sunday it is time to shift the focus from repairing the peace process to building the party's electoral strength. That does not bode well for Britain's efforts to get the peace process back on track. Britain's top official for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson, met with Mr. Trimble and Mr. Adams to see how that can be done. There was no indication after the Belfast meetings that he had made any progress. It was Mr. Mandelson's first meeting with Gerry Adams since last month's suspension of the home-rule assembly in Belfast. Mr. Adams had tried to prevent the suspension with a last-minute proposal from the I- R-A on weapons disarmament. But Mr. Mandelson said the I-R-A offer needed clarification. His order to suspend the two-month-old home-rule assembly put Northern Ireland once again under direct rule from London. At the time, Mr. Adams accused Mr. Mandelson of caving in to Unionist leader David Trimble, who had threatened to resign from the home-rule assembly if the I-R-A did not start handing over its weapons. Sinn Fein argues the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement only sets next May as the deadline for disarming both loyalist and republican para-militaries. Shortly after the suspension of home-rule powers, the I-R-A stopped talking to the special commission supervising the disarmament process. (SIGNED)
NEB/LMK/GE/RAE 28-Feb-2000 11:37 AM EDT (28-Feb-2000 1637 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[06] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: U-S stock prices were mixed today (Monday), with the "blue-chips" recovering from steep losses last week. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed back over the 10-thousand mark. It gained 176 points, or one and three-quarters percent, closing at 10- thousand-38. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed 14 points higher. Meanwhile, the technology-weighted NASDAQ composite - which set three record highs last week - closed down two-tenths of one percent. Some analysts believe the stock market is uninspired at this point, with virtually nothing but interest rate concerns driving it.

[07] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Editorial writers in the United States are continuing to comment on recent statements from Beijing about eventual reunification -- by force if necessary -- with Taiwan. There are also other editorials on: the increasing violence in Yugoslavia's Kosovo province; the Cuban boy who is the subject of a diplomatic standoff between Cuba and the United States; the acquittal of four New York City police officers in the shooting death of a Guinean immigrant; and the increasing number of U-S children being given personality-modifying drugs. Now, here is _________ with a closer look in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: In Connecticut's capital, the Hartford Courant, is upset by the threat from Beijing that if Taiwan does not begin seriously discussing reunification, China might try to take the island back by force.

VOICE: In an attempt to influence Taiwan's presidential election, the Chinese government has threatened the use of force if the Taiwanese continue to drag their feet on negotiating reunification ... The threat is serious enough, but its timing makes it doubly so. ... C-I-A Director George Tenet considers the situation in the Taiwan Strait volatile and has warned of a "high potential" for a military crisis between China and Taiwan this year. All the more reason, then, for U-S politicians to cool it on the campaign trail .[with] . pro-Taiwan rhetoric...

TEXT: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says Beijing's rhetoric is dangerous and its timing is even worse.

VOICE: Catching the United States by surprise, the People's Republic of China issued a crude warning to Taiwan last week. ...the odd thing is that the three leading candidates for the March 18th [Taiwan] election have soft-pedaled the independence issue, and all are in favor of continuing negotiations with the mainland. So this blunt warning is not only uncalled for (as well as going beyond anything previously stated), it also is harmful to China's immediate interests.

TEXT: In Texas, the Houston Chronicle warns:

VOICE: The P-R-C may see the issuance of its threat as a necessary move to influence the outcome of the R- O-C's presidential election, but it cannot bode well for the debate in the U-S Congress on trade relations. ... Altogether it is a serious misreading on the part of Beijing of the democratic process both in the United States and on Taiwan.

TEXT: Lastly on this topic, the Augusta Chronicle in Maine is even more blunt, saying:

VOICE: The communist Chinese regime is not only brutal, it's ["also"] none too smart, either. Maybe that explains why it is brutal. ... With the March 18th date for Taiwan's second presidential election fast approaching, Beijing is unleashing a new round of threats ... to force the island nation into immediate talks on reunification. ... But once again the tactic appears to be backfiring. The threats have served only to strengthen the candidacy of strong anti- Communist Chen Shui-bian.

TEXT: To the Balkans now, and more worry about the escalating fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in and around Mitrovica in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. NATO should not be surprised at the violence, suggests the Orlando Sentinel.

VOICE: Nastiness is woven into the social fabric of that Yugoslav province, populated mostly by ethnic Albanians. Those folks and Yugoslavia's Serbian majority have written their joint history in the blood of ethnic and religious conflict for hundreds of years. Did the Clinton administration really believe that the situation would improve after the United States and its allies invaded Yugoslavia to end a civil conflict in Kosovo last year? ... If U-S officials believed that, they were off the mark. ... In truth, neither France nor any other country with peacekeepers in Kosovo can hope to solve the province's problems.

TEXT: The size of the peacekeeping force, the Washington Times says, may not be the whole problem.

VOICE: Before they increase the size of the disorganized force that is now on the ground -- 30- thousand NATO troops, 7-thousand non-NATO troops and 23-hundred-27 civilian police officers -- they might consider asking what the problem with the current force is. For leaders of world powers to admit to being bested at their game of peacekeeping takes more than a little courage though. ... The current peacekeeping force, both military and civilian police, needs a cohesive, organized strategy that mere numbers won't enhance.

TEXT: U-S-A Today, published in a Washington, D-C suburb, talks of the plight of thousands of children who are brought into the country illegally by adults and who often end up in jail because of what the papers calls a "Sluggish I-N-S [Immigration and Naturalization Service.]

VOICE: Hundreds of children are traumatized ... by being ... separated from loved ones and thrown into juvenile correctional facilities or shelters even before the Immigration and Naturalization Service determines if they're fleeing persecution or if they're illegal immigrants who will be sent back to their home countries. ... At a minimum, the children should be housed humanely. ... The U-S can't claim the moral high ground globally when its backyard betrays alarming and cruel neglect.

TEXT: The Miami Herald is again discussing the prospect of sending additional U-S military aid to Colombia to help solve that country's drug trafficking problems.

VOICE: Retired U-S General Barry McCaffrey, the nation's so-called drug czar, last week praised Colombia's military for cleaning up its human-rights record. ...General McCaffrey's optimistic support of the Colombian military seems premature, however, standing in contradiction to a recent Human Rights Watch report that accuses specific brigades and commanding ... officers of collaborating with private armies ... committing atrocities against civilians. These private armies - - called paramilitaries - - typically are funded by rich farmers and drug producers. [Colombian President Andres] Pastrana deserves Washington's support in his fight against drug traffickers. They're a scourge to the people of Colombia ... But so are the paramilitaries and the army units that aid them. They certainly deserve equal condemnation.

TEXT: Several papers are commenting on the acquittal of four New York City police officers who last year shot to death an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, Amadou Diallo, thinking he was a criminal. U-S-A Today says:

VOICE: Unfortunately, the shooting and the verdict are now fueling another set of harmful expectations ... that officers who use excessive authority or force will get away with it. A rare victory against that view occurred last year, when two New York officers were convicted of a ghastly station torture of a [Haitian immigrant] suspect with a broom handle. ... a terrible balance still exists; between cops (often white) conditioned to expect the worst from the public, and a public (often black or brown) conditioned to expect the worst from cops.

TEXT: Lastly, the [Bergen County,(Northern) New Jersey] Record is one of several papers voicing concern about a new report that says more and more American doctors are prescribing psychiatric drugs for pre-school age children. The papers wonders:

VOICE: Are we using drugs, both stimulants and antidepressants, to even out normal fluctuations in pre-schoolers' behavior? "It is not really clear that children this young could meet the diagnostic criteria for either attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depression, and those are the probable diagnoses given to justify the use of stimulants ... and antidepressants," ... [says the]... lead author of the study on drug use among children published this week.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of editorial comment from Monday's U-S press.
NEB/ANG/KL 28-Feb-2000 11:58 AM EDT (28-Feb-2000 1658 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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