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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 70, 97-07-10Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 70, 10 July 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ABKHAZ TROOPS, GEORGIAN PARTISAN FORMATIONS CLASHUp to 20 fighters were killed on 9 July in a clash between members of Georgia's White Legion guerrilla formation and Abkhaz troops in the Kodori gorge, Russian and Georgian agencies reported. Interfax cited a spokesman for Georgia's Border Defense Department as claiming that the Abkhaz landed in an unmarked helicopter. However, the commander of the CIS peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia said no unidentified aircraft has been sighted in the region. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 10 July quoted a local Georgian official as saying that Abkhaz militants regularly use helicopters belonging to the Russian peacekeeping contingent (see also "End Note" below).[02] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT AT MADRID NATO SUMMITAddressing the inaugural session of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Madrid on 9 July, Heidar Aliev argued that NATO and the council "should not be indifferent observers to the conflicts in the Caucasus," which he termed a "serious threat to common European security", RFE/RL reported. Aliev again accused Armenia of adopting "a non-constructive" position toward the ongoing efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group to mediate a settlement of the conflict. He also repeated the erroneous, exaggerated claim that 1 million Azerbaijanis have been driven from their homes and that Armenian forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's total territory. (More accurate estimates are 780, 000 displaced persons and 10-15 percent.][03] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ADVOCATES GREATER INVOLVEMENT IN REGIONAL SECURITYAlexander Arzoumanian told representatives of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council that the new body should serve as a framework for defusing regional tensions, according to an RFE/RL correspondent in Madrid. He said that among other things, the council should promote openness and implement a regional disarmament policy, adding that such an approach would contribute to consolidating the existing cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh. In separate meetings, Arzoumanian also discussed the Karabakh issue with French President Jacques Chirac and bilateral relations with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.[04] MUTINOUS TAJIK COLONEL PROMISES SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENTCol. Mahmud Khudaberdiyev, commander of the Tajik Army's First Brigade, told RFE/RL's Tajik service on 9 July that he has contacted President Imomali Rakhmonov to offer the support of his unit in cleaning up crime in and around Dushanbe. Khudaberdiyev, who on several occasions has ignored presidential orders, told Rakhmonov that Dushanbe should be a de- militarized zone. He said there are currently more than 30 armed outlaw bands working in the area of the capital and that their presence threatens the work of the Tajik president and the leader of the United Tajik Opposition, Said Abdullo Nuri. Khudaberdiyev claimed he supports both the president and the peace efforts but added that all parties and movements must be represented in the newly formed Tajik Reconciliation Commission, not just the ruling party and the UTO, if peace is to hold in Tajikistan.[05] TURKMEN PRESIDENT BLASTS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALSSaparmurat Niyazov on 8 July summoned leading prosecutors and accused them of involvement in criminal activities, RFE/RL correspondents in Ashgabat reported. Niyazov said both the prosecutors and members of the militia have links to crime, including the drug trade. He added that they would soon be dismissed. Niyazov also noted that from now on, no official at the prosecutor's office will be allowed to serve more than two years in a bid to combat corruption among state officials.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] NATO MOVES AGAINST WAR CRIMINALSNATO troops killed Simo Drljaca in Prijedor on 10 July, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in London. Drljaca was the Serbian police chief in Prijedor during the Bosnian war and was linked to the "ethnic cleasing" of Croats and Muslims, as well as to concentration camps. In their surprise 10 July operation, British troops arrested Milan Kovacevic, who is wanted for complicity in war crimes. The previous day, U.S. President Bill Clinton and other top NATO officials said in Madrid that they did not want to comment on press reports that NATO intends to capture Radovan Karadzic or other indicted individuals. Clinton added, however, that the U.S. is clear about its support for embattled Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic "and what she's trying to do. We oppose the unconstitutional efforts to restrict her authority. We appreciate the fact that, even though we don't agree on everything, she has stated her adherence to the Dayton Accords and has tried to follow them." Meanwhile in Brussels, the EU announced that it is suspending all non-humanitarian aid to the Republika Srpska as long as Karadzic is free.[07] PLAVSIC, MILOSEVIC CLASH AGAINSerbian President Slobodan Milosevic met in Belgrade on 9 July with Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serbian representative on the Bosnian joint presidency. Plavsic refused to attend, saying to Milosevic in a letter that he should come to her headquarters in Banja Luka if he wanted to meet, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the west Bosnian town. Plavsic also challenged Milosevic's view that the current political fight in the Republika Srpska is a struggle between rival power centers in Banja Luka and Pale. The real issue, she said, is "whether we will become a state based on the rule of law or whether we will continue to be a party-run fiefdom sunk in crime." Meanwhile in Bijeljina, Plavsic's backers staged a rally in her support.[08] TWO DEAD IN ETHNIC VIOLENCE IN MACEDONIAAt least two ethnic Albanians were killed and many more wounded following clashes between Macedonian police and hundreds of Albanians in Gostivar on 9 July. Police arrested more than 300 Albanians; several police were injured in the violence. Tensions began when police pulled down Albanian flags flying from the city hall and some Albanians tried to rehoist them. AFP reported that UN peacekeepers left town during the violence. A new Macedonian law allows the Albanian and Turkish minorities opportunities to display their national symbols, but generally not on public buildings. The question of flags is politically sensitive because many Macedonians suspect that the banners are a symbol of irredentism.[09] NEWS FROM FORMER YUGOSLAVIAIn Skopje, the Macedonian government on 9 July announced the devaluation of the denar by 15 percent, in keeping with recommendations made by the IMF. In Belgrade, federal Yugoslav military authorities said that one Yugoslav soldier was wounded in a clash with an armed Albanian gang along the two countries' border. Also in the Serbian capital, Bosnian Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic met with Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle. They announced the setting up of an interfaith council in Bosnia that will include Muslims and Jews as well as Catholics and Orthodox. And in Grude in western Herzegovina, thousands attended the funeral of Mate Boban, the Herzegovinian Croat leader who died of a stroke on 7 July. Among those present were Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak and Croatian nationalist politicians Vladimir Seks and Branimir Glavas.[10] FIRST CASUALTY IN INTERNATIONAL FORCE IN ALBANIAAn explosive device went off on the grounds of the Italian medical center in Vlora on 9 July, killing one Italian soldier and wounding three. The dead man was the first fatality among the 7,000 foreign troops participating in Operation Alba since April. It is not clear how the bomb found its way into the Italian complex. Also in Vlora, one man died and two were wounded in an exchange of gunfire between armed gangs. Foreign news agencies reported additional deaths in Elbasan and Shkodra. Current estimates suggest that there are 1 million weapons in private hands across the country following the looting of military and police installations at the start of the year.[11] VRANITZKY SAYS ALBANIA STILL NEEDS INTERNATIONAL FORCEFranz Vranitzky, the Organization for Security and Europe's chief envoy to Albania and former Austrian chancellor, said on 9 July that Operation Alba troops should stay on beyond their planned withdrawal deadline of 12 August, Austrian media reported. He argued that "the question of security is essential. One cannot simply withdraw and think that Albania is entirely peaceful." The August withdrawal date "is certainly too early." Vranitzky has argued since late spring that the peacekeepers will be needed well after the elections, which ended on 6 July. Italy, which leads Operation Alba, nonetheless wants to conclude the mission in August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 July 1997). Foreign media report that many Albanians say the troops have brought a measure of stability and should remain.[12] ALBANIAN COALITION TALKS WELL ADVANCEDThe Socialist Party and its election allies have virtually completed negotiations aimed at allocating cabinet posts in the new government, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 10 July. Members of the Democratic Alliance will head the Interior and Defense Ministries, while a Social Democrat will manage foreign affairs under Socialist Prime Minister- designate Fatos Nano. Foreign diplomats told news agencies that the government could be in place by 17 July. Elsewhere in Tirana, election officials said the Socialist-led coalition has more than a two-thirds majority in the parliament following the second round of elections on 6 July. Unofficial totals give the coalition 107 out of 155 seats, or four more than the 103 needed to change the constitution.[13] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN MADRIDEmil Constantinescu told the inaugural session of NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council on 9 July that Romania has the "irrevocable desire" to participate in deciding Europe's "security architecture" and to join NATO as soon as possible. He said Romania was rediscovering her "historical vocation as a mediator and as a point of convergence" in southeastern Europe. He added that the basic treaties signed with Hungary and Ukraine and the trilateral pacts signed with Ukraine and Moldova should help build a "flexible and lasting structure" capable of preventing or at least localizing potential conflicts. At a later press conference, Constantinescu said he assumes "personal responsibility" for the NATO-bid outcome and thanked in particular French President Jacques Chirac for his support.[14] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT ENFORCES AMENDED EDUCATION LAWThe government on 9 July approved an "urgent ordinance" amending the education law, thereby postponing parliamentary debate on the issue and allowing immediate implementation. The Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania had threatened to leave the ruling coalition if the law were not enforced by ordinance, since debate in the legislature would have prevented its implementation in time for school year 1997-1998. George Pruteanu, the chairman of the Senate's Education Commission and a member of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, opposed the amended version, along with other members of the ruling coalition parties. The amended law abolishes the provisions whereby high-school final exams and university entrance tests had to be in the Romanian language. It also provides for education in the mother tongue at all levels, including the instruction of history and geography. Under the previous version of the law, both of those subjects had to be taught in Romanian.[15] EXPLOSION KILLS 16 AT ROMANIAN MILITARY AIR BASESixteen people died on 9 July at a military airfield in Craiova, southern Romania, when an "experimental bomb" produced in the country exploded while being loaded into a plane. A Defense Ministry statement said the explosion caused a chain reaction and detonated other bombs in the YAR-93 aircraft. Eight of the dead were defense industry workers and the other eight were military engineers. Three other people were injured, one seriously.[16] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT IN MADRIDPetru Lucinschi has said Chisinau views the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council as contributing to Moldovan security and is ready to "start a dialogue with interested parties." He was addressing the inaugural session of the council in Madrid on 9 July. Lucinschi failed to specify whom he head in mind but added that it was necessary to improve mechanisms geared at "conflict prevention." In an interview with Infotag the same day, Lucinschi said NATO's expansion was the outcome of the "evolutionary changes" that its three new members had undergone. Moldova's possible accession to the alliance was a matter "for the 21st century," he said in response to a question. For the time being "Moldova has proclaimed its neutrality and seeks to implement it in practice." The "mutually exclusive" political views dividing Moldovan society should not be enhanced by additional confrontations, he said.[17] COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO DISCUSS MOLDOVAN CHURCH CONFLICT?The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has recently been asked to include on the assembly's agenda for the fall the issue of the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, BASA-press reported on 9 July. Vlad Cubreacov, who represents the opposition Popular Front in the assembly, says he has the endorsement of deputies from 10 European states to debate the issue. The Moldovan government refuses to recognize the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, which is subordinated to the Patriarchate in Bucharest. Meanwhile, the Synod of the Moldovan Orthodox Church (which is recognized by the authorities in Chisinau) on 9 July asked the parliament to pass a law allowing religious instruction in schools.[18] TURKISH MINORITY PARTY WANTS BULGARIAN CONSTITUTION AMENDEDYunal Lyutvi, a leader of Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, says the constitution should be amended to recognize the presence of a Turkish minority in the country. He told a press conference in Sofia on 9 July that the present basic law is "inadequate for the changes and challenges faced by Bulgaria," Reuters reported. Also on 9 July, Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov told reporters in Sofia that the invitations issued the previous day to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join NATO signifies that the alliance's doors are now wide open. He expressed confidence that the country will be invited to join NATO in the future if the reforms continue at the pace of recent months.[19] BULGARIA TO REDUCE LENGTH OF MILITARY SERVICEDefense Minister Georgi Ananiev on 9 July told a press conference in Sofia that compulsory military service in Bulgaria will be reduced from 18 months to one year beginning 1 January 1998. Ananiev said the Supreme Military Council has approved amendments to the Defense and Armed Forces Law, which will now be discussed by the government and submitted for approval by the parliament, Reuters reported. Ananiev said the envisaged reforms will "set the legal grounds for a professional army." Chief of Staff Miho Mihov recently announced the intention to transform the army into a professional one (see RFE/RL Newsline, 20 June 1997). Army entrants would be cut up by 15,000 every year, saving the state several million leva, Ananiev said. The draft law also envisages a reduction of military service for university graduates from 12 months to nine.[20] EU LOANS TO BULGARIAThe EU will grant Bulgaria several loans totaling $515 million to support the country's economic reform efforts, RFE/RL's Sofia bureau reported on 9 July, citing a press release of a visiting EU Commission delegation. The delegation says the main loan will total $280 million and its first installment is expected in the fall. The package also includes a $168 million loan to upgrade the country's aging power plants and improve electricity supply as well as a $40 million Phare program loan for structural and social security reform.[C] END NOTE[21] SOLUTION TO ABKHAZ CONFLICT CONTINUES TO PROVE ELUSIVEby Liz FullerUp to 20 people were killed on 9 July in fighting on the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. The incident underscores that some Georgians who fled Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 hostilities are ready to launch a new offensive to bring the separatist region back under the control of the central government in Tbilisi. It could also negate recent progress in negotiations aimed at achieving a political settlement of the conflict. Over the past month, high-level Russian officials have engaged in intensive mediation in an effort to expedite the signing of a seven-point "interim protocol," drafted by the Russian Foreign Ministry, that would formally end the conflict. This concentrated diplomacy came in response to an ultimatum by the Georgian parliament, which intends to demand the withdrawal of the CIS peacekeeping force along the internal border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia when the force's mandate expires on 31 July if a decision taken at the March CIS heads of state summit is not implemented. According to that decision, the force is to be redeployed throughout Abkhazia's Gali Raion, located in the southernmost part of the breakaway region. The Abkhaz leadership has opposed such redeployment, arguing that no change can be made to the peacekeepers' mandate without its consent. From 8 to 19 June, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba discussed the draft protocol at meetings in Moscow with presidential chief of staff Valentin Yumashev, Security Council Secretary Ivan Rybkin, Deputy Prime Minister Valerii Serov, Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, and Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov. (Ardzinba worked under Primakov in the early 1980s when the latter was director of Moscow's Oriental Institute.) Ardzinba also held talks with Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili, who met separately with Russian officials. On 16 June, both Russian diplomat Gennadii Ilichev and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze noted "progress" and a "certain rapprochement" between the two sides. Three days later, however, Primakov departed for the Summit of the Eight in Denver and the talks were adjourned. According to subsequent Russian press reports, expressions of cautious official optimism proved premature. Accounts differ, however, as to what derailed the negotiations. Nezavisimaya gazeta on 20 June quoted Ardzinba as saying that by 13 or 14 June the two sides had virtually reached agreement on the final text of the protocol, which reflected major concessions by the Abkhaz over their republic's future status vis-a-vis Tbilisi. Menagharishvili had flown back to Tbilisi to submit the draft to the Georgian leadership, but legal experts in Tbilisi had insisted on such substantive amendments that the Abkhaz side had refused to continue the talks. A different explanation, however, was given by Revaz Adamia, chairman of the Georgian parliament commission on security and defense issues and Shevardnadze's personal envoy to Ardzinba, who told Nezavisimaya gazeta of 4 July that the sticking point was not Abkhazia's future status but the timetable for the repatriation of ethnic Georgians who fled Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 hostilities. The issue of the displaced persons is highly controversial. Estimates of the number of Georgians who fled from Abkhazia vary widely. Georgian officials routinely give the number as up to 300,000, although at the time of the 1989 Soviet census the total Georgian population of Abkhazia was only 240, 000. The Georgian leadership insists that only a few thousand of those Georgians who fled Abkhazia have returned, while the Abkhaz say that some 60,000 of the 80,000 Georgians who lived in Abkhazia's Gali Raion, have already gone back. (A spokesman for the UNHCR told "RFE/RL Newsline" that an estimated 40,000 Georgians have returned permanently.) Abkhaz objections that allowing too many Georgians to return too fast could destabilize the internal situation may mask suspicions that the Georgian leadership wishes to tilt the ethnic balance in its favor. In 1989, Georgians accounted for 45.7 percent of Abkhazia's total population of 538,000. If the Georgian government insists on resettling 300,000 ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia, this would raise the Georgians' total share of the region's population to well over 50 percent, leaving the Abkhaz, who number less than 100,000, a minority. In early July, Berezovskii spent three days shuttling between Tbilisi and the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, in the hope of breaking the deadlock. Again, Georgian spokesmen claimed that progress was made but declined to divulge any details. Members of Berezovskii's entourage, however, told Kommersant Daily of 4 July that Ardzinba is insisting that Abkhazia and Georgia have equal status within a "federative union." Even if there is no truth to Russian media claims that Ardzinba is under serious pressure from hard-liners, the 9 July fighting is likely to have outraged public opinion and thus made it more difficult for either Ardzinba or Shevardnadze to propose--or accept--any further compromise. In short, a formal settlement of the conflict seems as elusive as ever. Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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