Voice of America, 00-03-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] ANNAN - KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[02] KOSOVO UNREST (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA)

[03] U-N-H-C-R / KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

[04] ALBRIGHT / CZECH VISIT (L ONLY)) BY KYLE KING (PRAGUE)

[05] ALBRIGHT BOSNIA (L ONITER) BY KYLE KING (PRAGUE)

[06] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

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

[01] ANNAN - KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today (Tuesday) he is concerned about what he calls the "ambiguity" of the political future of Kosovo. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: When the United Nations Security Council created the U-N interim administration in Kosovo it promised "substantial autonomy" for the province. However, the head of the Kosovo mission, Bernard Kouchner, says the phrase "substantial autonomy" must be defined and U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan agrees. Mr. Annan told reporters the main split in Kosovo now involves ethnic Albanians who want independence and Serbs who want some affiliation with Serbia. As long as the political future is unclear, Mr. Annan says, it will be difficult to involve those two groups and other minorities in the political process.

[02] KOSOVO UNREST (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA)

INTRO: There has been more violence in the divided Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica and officials there are reporting dozens of injuries, among them at least 16 French NATO peacekeepers. Tim Belay reports that the renewed violence is the latest in a month-long period of ethnic conflict.

TEXT: Young ethnic-Albanian men and teenagers in Kosovska Mitrovica are being blamed for starting a fight while United Nations officials were registering Serbian residents on the Serb-dominated northern side of the city. The registration is part of a plan to return ethnic- Serbs to their homes on the Albanian-dominated south side of Mitrovica. Kosovska Mitrovica is divided between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. It has been the scene of repeated ethnic tensions that left at least 10 people dead and dozens injured in recent weeks. Since last week, the northern Mitrovica district where the firing broke out has been heavily fortified by NATO-led peacekeeping forces. The troops were successful in returning some Albanians to their homes after a two-day standoff with angry Serbs. The atmosphere remained extremely tense but quiet returned after the shooting. (Signed)
NEB/TB/GE/JP 07-Mar-2000 13:45 PM EDT (07-Mar-2000 1845 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[03] U-N-H-C-R / KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

INTRO: The United Nations refugee agency, U-N-H-C-R, says there has been a sharp increase this week in the number of ethnic Albanians fleeing into Kosovo from other parts of Serbia. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the agency says the Albanians come from several towns in an area of southern Serbia which borders Kosovo.

TEXT: The U-N refugee agency says more than 600 Albanians from the Presevo region in Serbia registered Monday at a U-N-H-C-R office in the eastern Kosovo town of Gnjilane.

U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says the new arrivals told aid workers they fled because of continuing tensions and sporadic clashes between Serb police and ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia.

[04] ALBRIGHT / CZECH VISIT (L ONLY)) BY KYLE KING (PRAGUE)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is wrapping up a three-day visit to the Czech Republic, where she has outlined her vision for peace and stability in southeastern Europe. From Prague, VOA's Kyle King reports.

TEXT: Ms. Albright used the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth the first Czechoslovak president, Thomas Masaryk, to call for greater cooperation in bringing southeastern Europe into what she called the democratic mainstream.

[05] ALBRIGHT BOSNIA (L ONITER) BY KYLE KING (PRAGUE)

INTRO: U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travels to Bosnia-Herzegovina later today / Wednesday to discuss efforts to bridge lingering animosities between the Muslim, Serb and Croat communities - more than four years after the war ended there. VOA's Kyle King is traveling with the secretary and files this report.

TEXT: Secretary of State Albright begins her visit to Sarajevo by meeting with Bosnian Croat opposition leader Kresmir Zubak and then visiting the strategic northern city of Brcko.

[06] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: U-S stock prices were sharply lower today (Tuesday), with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing below 10-thousand for the first time in seven days. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 374 points, over three and one-half percent, to 97-hundred-96. The main culprit was an earnings warning by Proctor and Gamble - the largest U-S maker of household goods. Proctor and Gamble shares traded at one-third their value, shaving at least 100 points off the Dow average. The Standard and Poor's 500 index dropped 35 points. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite briefly crossed over the five-thousand mark for the first time, before succumbing to profit-taking and a loss of over one percent.

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

INTRO: Today is known as "Super Tuesday" in the United States, when 16 states hold primary elections or caucuses to decide which candidates will compete for the presidency in the general election in November. Indications are the two front-runners in the Republican and Democratic party races -- Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore -- will be the big winners (in today's primaries). Other topics drawing comment in American newspapers include the conviction of a top Gore fund-raiser; the return of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to his native land; concerns about violence in Kosovo, and the scheduled Israeli pullout from Lebanon. Now, here is __________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Newspapers in every corner of the nation are keyed on the primary elections being held in several key states today, where hundreds of delegates to the national political conventions will be chosen. The Grand Forks [North Dakota] Herald, where a Democratic caucus will be held, finds a change from previous years.

VOICE: Something magical has happened this year. Americans have gotten turned on [become energized by] to politics. This has been clear since Iowa and New Hampshire, when candidates first came face to face. Public interest has grown since that time, and it will reach a new peak today... Today's Super Tuesday could mean the end of competitive campaigns in both parties. ... [but it] shouldn't be regarded as the end of the political season. ... Indeed, it is really the beginning.

TEXT: Today's [New York] Daily News doesn't like the way Texas Governor George Bush ended his campaign in New York.

VOICE: Memo to George W. Bush's aides: Please spray your boy with a little Glade air freshener. The stench from the swine-like campaign he is waging has become unbearable. ... Republicans who truly care about this city, this state and this country will cast their ballots for John McCain.

TEXT: The Atlanta Constitution, in calling for a big turnout, evokes the experience of black South Africans voting in their first election a few years ago.

VOICE: When South Africans got their first chance to vote as a multiracial democracy, 87 percent of them turned out. Some voters in wheelchairs waited in steaming heat for more than seven hours. ... When Russians were given ballots for the first time, 66 percent voted. Many of them braved icy conditions to mark their ballots, because they so valued a right denied to previous generations. But when we Georgians go to the polls today, anything over 38 percent will be considered a great turnout. ... You should go to the polls. ... Don't be a no-show at democracy's most important gathering.

TEXT: Connecticut's Waterbury Republican-American, witnessing a primary in its state, is especially concerned about the prospect of "crossover" voting in which Democrats are allowed to vote in the Republican primary and vice versa. The paper also has qualms about so-called blanket primaries where all candidates are listed on a single ballot.

VOICE: Do crossover and blanket primaries make any sense? As party functions they don't. Opening the door to independents and members of other parties obliterates any meaning to party affiliation. It renders the party structure and influence useless.

TEXT: Turning to a related issue, the convictions on several counts of a principal Al Gore fundraiser, Maria Hsia, for fund-raising illegalities, The Manchester [New Hampshire] Union Leader is appalled.

VOICE: Upon hearing of Hsia's conviction, [Vice President] Gore expressed sympathy for her and called her a "friend." Nice to know [Mr.] Gore calls "friend" a figure whom [the] ... chairman of the investigation into the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandal described as "an agent of the Chinese government." ... Either [Mr.] Gore is so unforgivably naive that he socializes with Chinese Communist agents without knowing it, or he is unforgivably cavalier about national- security interests.

TEXT: Internationally, the return of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet from 17 months of house arrest in Britain continues to draw attention. The Tulsa World in Oklahoma feels the ex-dictator should stand trial.

VOICE: As historic despots go, the 17-year fascist rule of [General] Pinochet could be considered mild. He is suspected in the deaths of at least three-thousand people - [including] some citizens of the countries that wanted to extradite him -- and the torture of thousands of others. That hardly puts him in the same league as Hitler, Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot. But that doesn't make it any less important that he answer for his crimes.

VOICE: Both Augusto Pinochet and international human-rights groups can claim victory in the 17- month struggle to determine whether Spain could put him on trial for crimes committed in far- away Chile. [General] Pinochet won his freedom. His adversaries gained a far-reaching legal precedent. // END OPT //

TEXT: The New York Times is upset at the slow pace of financial and other aid the Europeans are supplying to U-N peacekeeping and rebuilding efforts in Yugoslavia's Kosovo province.

VOICE: Europe has financed traditional projects like the repair of power grids. But it has been slow to send the 45-million dollars it pledged for the day-to-day running of the Kosovo administration. As a result, [Bernard] Kouchner, [chief U-N administrator,] began the year with insufficient funds for everything from doctors, teachers and local police to garbage collectors ... and road repair crews. ... The European Union says the money is now on the way, but it should have been provided months ago. // OPT // Kosovo also urgently needs more international police officers to keep situations like the confrontation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the city of Mitrovica from spreading. ... The West can be proud of its role in ending terror and mass expulsions from Kosovo. But it cannot yet be satisfied with its efforts to help build a functional, law-abiding society there. // END OPT //

TEXT: Turning to the Mideast, The Miami Herald is pleased at the perseverance of Israel to go ahead with what the paper calls its "brave Lebanon withdrawal."

VOICE: Israel's decision to leave southern Lebanon is a gamble -- but it's a risk worth taking. Sunday's unanimous Cabinet approval of Israeli plans to withdraw troops by July strengthens Prime Minister Ehud Barak's hand to broker peace and restart negotiations with Syria, which stalled in January. ... Mr. Barak must now devote his energies to mending rifts within his coalition government and finding ways to get peace negotiations restarted.

VOICE: The U-A-E deal will have to be approved by Congress. Although some members ... have questioned the wisdom of selling sophisticated weapons to foreign countries, representatives should not hesitate to give their vote of approval for this sale. It is not only good business for Lockheed Martin, but it also serves to equip America's allies with the necessary tools to keep the peace in their own neighborhoods. // END OPT //

TEXT: In African affairs, The Boston Globe is again lamenting the continuing border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

VOICE: A nation where eight-million people are threatened by famine would be wise to end a senseless war immediately. Ethiopia ought to accept an African peace plan that calls for the peaceful settlement of its border dispute with Eritrea. Yet late last month fighting broke out, as it has periodically since heavy combat ended last June. ... it is clear that Ethiopia is presenting the biggest roadblock to peace.

TEXT: Lastly, The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, decries what it feels is "the misuse of citizen soldiers" in this country. It is responding to Army plans to reduce the time state militia troops and military reserve units are called upon to serve active duty overseas, bolstering the regular Army.

VOICE: Now the citizen soldier himself is becoming an endangered species, as the guard and ... reserve see their own ranks thinned and vacancies going unfilled. ... The only solution to the very real problems facing all the armed forces ... is a better balance between active- duty manpower and overseas commitments. We can have a smaller and cheaper Army, Navy and Air Force. And we can continue to fill the role of world policeman when diplomacy fails. But we can't, indefinitely, have it both ways. The citizen soldier is a priceless asset in the defense of American interests at home and abroad. It is wrong to squander him in defense of a policy this administration has shown little interest in paying for.

TEXT: On that cautionary note, we conclude this sampling of Tuesday's editorials from the U-S press.
NEB/ANG/WTW 07-Mar-2000 11:27 AM EDT (07-Mar-2000 1627 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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