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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1 No. 2, 97-04-02
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 2, 2 April 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA & CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARDZINBA'S MOSCOW VISIT POSTPONED.
[02] KAZAKHSTAN CREATES NATIONAL OIL, GAS COMPANY.
[03] AKAYEV ON STATUS OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE.
[04] UZBEK-GREEK RELATIONS.
[05] NEW FINDINGS IN TAJIK CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS SOUTHERN REBELS...
[07] ...AND ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN SECRET POLICE.
[08] ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER FLIES TO ALBANIA.
[09] UN WARNS OF HUNGER IN ALBANIA.
[10] UPDATE ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
[11] VAN DER STOEL IN BUCHAREST.
[12] NEW FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN ROMANIA.
[13] NEW MOLDOVAN PARTY BACKS PRESIDENT.
[14] MOLDOVA'S HOMELESS CHILDREN.
[15] BULGARIAN PROSECUTOR SAYS EX-COMMUNISTS SABOTAGED LUKANOV CASE.
[16] BULGARIAN INFLATION FALLS SHARPLY.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA & CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARDZINBA'S MOSCOW VISIT POSTPONED.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has abruptly postponed scheduled talks with
Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba in order to rethink its position on
Abkhazia, Interfax reported on 1 April. The move comes after the CIS
summit's decision to extend the mandate of the CIS peacekeeping force in
Abkhazia. Meanwhile, the Abkhaz parliament has passed a resolution
rejecting the summit decision. Ethnic Georgians forced to flee Abkhazia
during the 1993 hostilities plan a mass demonstration outside the
parliament building in Tbilisi tomorrow, despite a plea from parliamentary
speaker Zurab Zhvania not to do so, RFE/RL reported.
[02] KAZAKHSTAN CREATES NATIONAL OIL, GAS COMPANY.
Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin has signed a resolution creating
a national oil and gas company, Interfax reported. State shares in joint
ventures currently held by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of
Energy and Natural Resources will be handed over to the new company, called
Kazakhoil. Kazhegeldin gave the ministries 15 days to complete the
transfer. Under the new resolution, Kazakhoil will become a registered
shareholder in the potentially lucrative Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The
Kazakh government will retain the right to manage these shares, however.
[03] AKAYEV ON STATUS OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE.
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has told Yeltsin that Russian will be given
the status of state language in Kyrgyzstan, alongside Kyrgyz, Russian TV
reported. Yeltsin's aide Dmitrii Ryurikov said the Russian president is
satisfied with the treatment of Russian-speakers in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan
is the only Central Asian state to receive full programming from all three
major Russian TV channels. Russian currently has the status of "official"
language but not "state" language, in which the affairs of government are
conducted.
[04] UZBEK-GREEK RELATIONS.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his Greek counterpart, Konstantinos
Stephanopoulos, have signed a treaty on friendship and cooperation, RFE/RL
reported. Karimov was on an official visit to Athens. The two leaders also
signed agreements on avoidance of double taxation, protection of
investments, and cooperation in economics, technology, education, science,
culture, and tourism. Karimov said Greece and Uzbekistan are more united
than divided. Stephanopoulos called Uzbekistan a key nation in Central
Asia.
[05] NEW FINDINGS IN TAJIK CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.
Law enforcement authorities in Dushanbe say four men they apprehended in
late February in connection with "multiple crimes" do not belong to the
United Tajik Opposition (UTO), as was previously believed. ITAR-TASS
reported on 1 April that the four men are members of outlaw bands and are
guilty of virtually all major crimes committed in Tajikistan since 1994,
including the killings of Russian servicemen. The men, whose names are
being withheld, were found in possession of pistols and materials necessary
for making home-made bombs.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS SOUTHERN REBELS...
Bashkim Fino went to Gjirokaster yesterday, his first trip to his troubled
political home base since becoming head of the coalition government last
month. He was greeted by cheering, heavily-armed rebel leaders from
Gjirokaster and Tepelene. Fino met with elected officials as well as with
the rebels and insurgent Committees of Public Salvation, Reuters
reported. The Democratic Party of President Sali Berisha has threatened to
pull out of the coalition government if officials from the Socialist
Party--to which Fino belongs--maintain contacts with the rebels.
[07] ...AND ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN SECRET POLICE.
Fino used his trip to Gjirokaster to announce the abolition of SHIK, the
secret police, which is widely seen as an arm of President Sali Berisha's
Democratic Party. Fino said he and Berisha met with SHIK boss Bashkim
Gazidede and his deputy, Bujar Rama, last weekend and formally accepted
their resignations, Reuters reported on 1 April. Fino also blocked funds
for the agency. "We are going to build a new intelligence service, with a
new face," he said. Elsewhere in Gjirokaster, there was an attack on the
home of the Greek consul. The incident is not expected to overshadow Fino's
trip to Greece today, since both sides are determined to work together
closely in the face of the current crisis.
[08] ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER FLIES TO ALBANIA.
Romano Prodi paid a half-hour surprise visit to Gjirokaster this morning to
talk with Fino about plans for a multinational force to secure the delivery
of relief supplies to Albania. Both governments are anxious to press ahead
with the project, despite the imbroglio that arose following the fatal
maritime collision last week. Italian Defense Minister Beniamino Andreatta
said yesterday that the multinational intervention force should be ready
within 10 days. His Albanian counterpart, Shaqir Vukaj, is in Italy to help
prepare the way. Meanwhile, the rebel Committee of Public Salvation in
Vlora says Italian troops are welcome there, AFP reported. An Albanian
government spokesman told Radio Tirana yesterday that the maritime
collision and the intervention force are unrelated issues. He blasted "left
extremists and Mafiosi" for previously threatening the Italians.
[09] UN WARNS OF HUNGER IN ALBANIA.
A mission from the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs says 400,000
Albanians are threatened by hunger in the wake of the current strife and
the collapse of the central state apparatus. A spokesman added that while
famine is not imminent and that the quantities of food needed are modest
compared with Bosnia and some African crisis spots, it is still necessary
to "fill the gaps," Reuters reported on 1 April. The spokesman said that
anarchy and banditry are the main problems, not the destruction and
dislocation that plagued relief efforts in Bosnia. Elsewhere, the Albanian
Interior Ministry reports that 10 people died the previous day in incidents
stemming from the proliferation of weapons among civilians, AFP reported.
[10] UPDATE ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic insists on firing various ministers
critical of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, RFE/RL reported. But
Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic refuses to do so, arguing that only
parliament can make the decision. In Sarajevo, Bosnia's Energoinvest
company says it will no longer import any gas from Russia. The decision
came after Russia's Gazeksport cut deliveries to Bosnia to a bare minimum
because of unpaid bills. In Banja Luka, today's Nasa Borba writes that
Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic's position is increasingly under
threat after her Serbian Democratic Party overruled her objections to a new
treaty on relations with Belgrade. Over the weekend, Muslim and
international officials charged that the Pale-Belgrade agreement could lead
to the economic division of Bosnia by setting up special ties between the
Republika Srpska and federal Yugoslavia.
[11] VAN DER STOEL IN BUCHAREST.
Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Severin says his country still needs OSCE
High Commissioner for National Minorities Max van der Stoel for the
protection of national minority rights in Romania as well as for the
protection of the Romanian national minorities' rights in neighboring
countries. Van der Stoel met with Severin yesterday at the beginning of his
three-day visit to Romania, RFE/RL reported. Severin told Van der Stoel
that the problem of the Babes-Bolyai university in Cluj should be solved by
setting up a Romanian and a Hungarian department within the university,
rather than creating two ethnic universities. Van der Stoel will also meet
with President Emil Constantinescu, Premier Victor Ciorbea, and leaders of
the UDMR--the Hungarian ethnic alliance.
[12] NEW FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN ROMANIA.
Tokyo is to grant Romania a $ 177 million credit for Transportation
Ministry projects to build a container-terminal in Constanta and improve
roads in the southwestern part of the country. In other news, Lockheed
President Norman Augustine says the company is interested in investing in
the Romanian arms industry. He adds that the company has already started
lobbying in the U.S. Congress and the White House for Romania's admission
to NATO, RFE/RL reported on 1 April.
[13] NEW MOLDOVAN PARTY BACKS PRESIDENT.
The United Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDUM) says it supports
President Petru Lucinschi's political program but does not want to be
considered a pro-presidential party, Infotag reported on 1 April. Anatol
Taranu, co-chairman of the PSDUM, told a news conference in Chisinau that
his party will back Lucinschi insofar as he implements his program. Eugen
Sobor, another PSDUM co-chairman, said that while the party strives to
attract "prestigious personalities" to its ranks, it does not wish to turn
itself into a mass party. He added that it "will close its doors to
renegades who have tried many parties in the last years."
[14] MOLDOVA'S HOMELESS CHILDREN.
At least a third of all homeless children in Chisinau are ill with
syphilis, RFE/RL reports on 2 April. In addition, at least half of these
children suffer from various infectious skin diseases, according to
statistics released by police. The number of homeless children in Moldova
is rising steadily. In 1996 alone, shelters in Chisinau received more than
1,500 children--an increase of 25% over the previous year. Most of them are
from homes affected by alcoholism or extreme poverty.
[15] BULGARIAN PROSECUTOR SAYS EX-COMMUNISTS SABOTAGED LUKANOV CASE.
Bulgaria's chief prosecutor has accused the previous Socialist government
of doing everything possible to help late Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov win
his case against Bulgaria at the Council of Europe's Human Rights Court in
Strasbourg, RFE/RL reported on 1 April. Ivan Tatarchev says an
investigation is being launched to clarify the activities of former Premier
Zhan Videnov and his justice minister, Mladen Chervenyakov. The court ruled
last month that the human rights of Lukanov were violated when he was
arrested in 1992 on charges of misappropriation. It ordered the state to
pay his widow and two children more than $ 20,000 in legal costs and
compensation. Lukanov was assassinated last October.
[16] BULGARIAN INFLATION FALLS SHARPLY.
Alberto Mussalem, representative of the World Bank in Sofia, says that
since Stefan Sofiyanski's caretaker cabinet took office in February,
inflation has fallen sharply, while treasury and hard-currency reserves
have increased. RFE/RL's correspondent in Sofia quotes Sofiyanski as saying
Bulgaria is on the brink of "relative financial and economic
stabilization." Sofiyanski said price liberalization will not lead to
economic hardship for the country's citizens. He added that the World Bank
has pledged $40 million for grain imports and that the U.S. will soon
donate $25 million worth of forage grains for livestock.
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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