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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 76, 18 July 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] FIRST GROUP OF TAJIK REFUGEES RETURNA group of 275 Tajik refugees returned from Afghanistan on 17 July, according to RFE/RL correspondents. This was the first party of refugees to come back since the 27 June signing of the Tajik National Peace Accord which provided for the safe return and repatriation of the refugees. They must undergo a registration process and medical check before being allowed to continue on to areas of residence. However, the exchange of prisoners between the Tajik government and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) in Tavil- Dara will not take place on 18 July as was hoped. The government side has sent a list of the prisoners it wants returned and the UTO is presently searching for these people. The exchange originally was scheduled for 15 July.[02] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT IN WASHINGTONAddressing U.S. business leaders at the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation [OPIC] on 17 July, Eduard Shevardnadze underscored his country's progress over the past three years toward political stability, privatization and marketization, Western agencies reported. He pleaded for more foreign investment in hydro-electric power, agriculture, tourism, mining and machine building. Shevardnadze also stressed his country's potential role as a transit corridor between Asia and Europe. Shevardnadze and U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen signed an agreement on military cooperation and U.S. financial aid to Georgia to fund measures to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Shevardnadze had lunch with vice president Al Gore and met later with Senate leaders.[03] KAZAKHSTAN ADOPTS NEW CRIMINAL CODEKazakhstan on 16 July approved its new criminal code, according to ITAR- TASS and Interfax. A presidential spokesman said the new code "is devoid of ideology," and emphasizes human rights, not state interests. The new code does not abolish the death penalty but does make courts which pass such sentences responsible for explaining the necessity of such a punishment. The option of life imprisonment will not be debated until 2003. Also, on the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, there is an article in the code which provides for punishing those "hampering journalists' professional work."[04] PAKISTAN TO HELP TURKMENISTAN DEVELOP NAVYPakistani naval specialists will help train personnel for Turkmenistan's navy, according to a 18 July report from ITAR-TASS. The chief of Pakistan's Navy, Fasih Bokhari, is presently in Turkmenistan discussing cooperation with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. Pakistan has already helped train Turkmen pilots and has been giving advice to the Turkmen armed forces. Bokhari stressed that Turkmenistan's official neutral status plays an important role in Central Asia.[05] OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN ARRIVE IN BAKUThe U.S., French and Russian co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group arrived in Baku on 17 July for talks with President Heidar Aliev and foreign minister Hasan Hasanov on the latest proposals for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Turan reported. Also on17 July, representatives of the 50,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis who fled Karabakh during the hostilities presented to the U.S., French and Russian embassies an appeal to the presidents of those countries not to permit the presidential elections in Karabakh scheduled for 1 September. They further demanded the restoration of their rights and said the conflict could not be adequately resolved without making provisions for them to return to their homes.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] ALBANIA'S BERISHA SET TO RESIGNPresident Sali Berisha said in Tirana on 17 July that he wants to convene the newly elected parliament in order to present his resignation to that body. He charged, however, that the Socialists' election victory "has its roots in violence, terror, assassination attempts and killings, [which were] organized by the victors before and during the election campaign." Berisha also argued that the Socialists manipulated voters' desire for compensation from their losses in collapsed pyramid schemes. He predicted, however, that the Socialists will soon lose support among the population. Before the election, Berisha promised to resign if his party lost the vote. He cannot legally hold both the presidency and the parliamentary seat he won in the 29 June elections. He and the Socialists blame each other for the delay in convening the new legislature.[07] VRANITZKY WARNS AGAINST ALBANIAN SECURITY VACUUMFranz Vranitzky, the OSCE's chief envoy to Albania, said in Vienna on 17 July that the planned withdrawal of foreign troops by mid-August could lead to a "security vacuum." He suggested that NATO could avoid that possibility by maintaining a training mission "within the Partnership for Peace program." He stressed that "of all [Albanian] institutions, the police and army deserve special mention. They will have the primary responsibility of tackling security problems." The WEU has been helping to rebuild the police force. Vranitzky also warned both the winners and the losers in the June elections that they must face up to "their democratic responsibilities. Should this not happen, should they return to their old games, the international community will not be willing to cooperate" and will leave the Albanians to their own devices.[08] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS SESELJ OUT OF PUBLIC LIFEOpposition politicians and human rights activists said in Belgrade on 17 July that nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj should be banned from public life and the media, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the Serbian capital. The call came after an incident the previous night at the studios of BK Television, during which Seselj's body guards severely beat up human rights lawyer Nikola Barovic. Media accounts of the incident differ in details, but "Nasa Borba" of 18 July quotes Seselj as telling Barovic: "consider yourself a dead man." During the broadcast, Seselj insulted Barovic, who threw water in the politician's face. The beating took place after the broadcast. Opposition spokesmen regretted that BK Television did not report the beating in its newscast.[09] BULATOVIC CALLS FOR EARLY ELECTIONS IN MONTENEGROPresident Momir Bulatovic told Belgrade's BK Television on 17 July that Montenegro's ongoing political crisis has become so serious that the only way out is to hold new elections. Bulatovic appears to have lost the power struggle within the governing party, and elections might be his only hope of not becoming completely marginalized. In Budva, parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic said that newly elected Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is "our reality." Marovic, who supports the anti-Milosevic faction of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, added, however, that "the future clearly belongs to democratic norms, an open society, and radical reforms." And in Podgorica, the Montenegrin government criticized recent pro- Milosevic statements and actions by Zoran Knezevic, the federal Yugoslav justice minister, who is from Montenegro. The statement stopped short of demanding his resignation, the Belgrade daily "Danas" reported on 18 July.[10] CLINTON SAYS DAYTON AGREEMENT MUST BE DEFENDED. U.SPresident Bill Clinton said in Washington on 17 July that NATO peacekeepers' mission in Bosnia will come to an end in mid-June 1998 as planned. He added, however, that "none of us wants to see Bosnia revert to what happened before we started [the mission]. And none of us wants to see the extraordinary efforts, which had to be made by the United States and our allies in NATO, have to be made all over again a few years from now because Bosnia goes back into war." He did not elaborate as to what kind of NATO or other international presence he might envision for Bosnia after the end of SFOR's mandate, however. Clinton added there is no evidence that the attack on a U.S. soldier on 16 July on Bosnian Serb territory had anything to do with NATO's recent actions against indicted Bosnian Serb war criminals.[11] ANOTHER EXPLOSION IN THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKAA bomb damaged the home of a U.N. police monitor in northwest Bosnia on 18 July in what has become a daily series of explosions, which some observers believe may be aimed at intimidating foreigners in the Republika Srpska. The previous night, posters of Radovan Karadzic went up in Banja Luka, with captions such as: "Don't touch him," "He means peace," and "He is freedom." Bosnian Serb radio reported that citizens have given a "spontaneous response" to recent NATO actions against indicted war criminals by refusing to serve foreigners in restaurants and shops. In Banja Luka, British SFOR officials say they have handed over to local police the suspects in the latest grenade attack on British troops (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 1997). In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns on 17 July repeated the SFOR's official position that there is no evidence that the recent anti-foreign incidents are related.[12] BOSNIAN SERB MEDIA CALLED "RACIST AND DISHONEST"In Sarajevo, spokesmen for international organizations on 17 July called recent trends in the Bosnian Serb media "racist and dishonest," an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the Bosnian capital. The spokesmen referred specifically to coverage of international organizations and of embattled Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic. In Pale, the office of Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serbian member of the Bosnian joint presidency, issued a statement saying the Bosnian Serb authorities must work together with SFOR to prevent current tensions from getting out of hand. Krajisnik's office also stressed the importance of implementing the Dayton agreement, including the smooth functioning of joint institutions. Krajisnik had met earlier with Gen. William Crouch, the commander of SFOR.[13] CROATIA WANTS SPEEDY RETURN OF REFUGEESDevelopment Minister Jure Radic said in Zagreb on 17 July that he expects some 1,000 Serbs will leave eastern Slavonia for their old homes elsewhere in Croatia "by the end of next week." He added, however, that he will demand that Jacques Klein, the UN's chief administrator in the area, enable 10,000 of the 80,000 Croats who fled eastern Slavonia during Serb rule to return within three weeks. Also in the Croatian capital, Cardinal Vinko Puljic and three other Roman Catholic bishops from Bosnia-Herzegovina called for strict implementation of the Dayton agreement. They stressed the right of all refugees to go home, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Zagreb. And elsewhere in that city, a major fire broke out in the Student Center and spread to the railway yard, disrupting international and domestic traffic in and out of the main train station.[14] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN INDONESIAPresident Emil Constantinescu on 18 July began in Jakarta discussions with his Indonesian counterpart, Suharto, Radio Bucharest reports. Constantinescu is paying a three-day visit to Indonesia during which he will discuss bilateral political and economic relations. Radio Bucharest and AFP reported that at the outset of the visit on 17 July, Constantinescu was "disagreeably surprised" by the display of portraits of his wife, alongside his own, in the Indonesian capital. At his requests, the portraits of Nadia Constantinescu were removed by the hosts, who explained that this was part of the "official protocol." An AFP reporter in Jakarta commented that "Several years after the fall of Ceausescu, Romania still suffers from the 'Elena syndrome.' " Elena Ceausescu was dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's spouse and, like her husband, the subject of a "cult of personality." Nadia Constantinescu is accompanying her husband as a private person.[15] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON MILITARY REFORMAt a press conference in Bucharest on 17 July, Defense Minister Victor Babiuc said his country's armed forces were too large, though under the limits imposed by a November 1995 Vienna treaty on armament reductions. Babiuc said the Madrid NATO summit decision means Romanian defense expenditure will have to grow rather than be reduced, and that he plans to ask the government for an increase in the ministry's share of the budget. He also said Russia has recently suggested to Bucharest that the countries renew military technological cooperation and conclude a military treaty. He said that "just as NATO can not ignore Russia, neither can Romania do so, the more so as it is a country in our immediate vicinity," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.[16] ROMANIAN INFORMATION SERVICES DENY LINKS WITH SWISS SPYSpokesmen for both Romanian information services denied on 18 July any involvement with a Swiss diplomat arrested for spying for Romania (See "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 1997). The director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Gen. Ioan Talpes, said his service "is not and was never involved in any activity of espionage against Switzerland," the independent Mediafax agency reported. The agency also cited a spokesman for the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) who said that SRI's activities concentrate on the defense of Romania's internal security and that it is "in no way linked with such activities, the more so as we speak of a friendly country."[17] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENTARY CRISISThe Moldovan parliament on 17 July dismissed Dumitru Diacov as deputy chairman of the legislature. Diacov, who is close to President Petru Lucinschi, had repeatedly called for early elections to overcome the parliament's reluctance to pass legislation on reforms urged by the president. The move is apparently a retaliation by deputies who were unable earlier on the same day to gather enough support in the house for the election of Andrei Diaconu as the second deputy chairman of the parliament. The Socialist-Unity-Edinstvo faction made its support of Diaconu conditional on the dismissal of Diacov. The removal of Diacov was proposed by the parliament's chairman, Dumitru Motpan. Some opposition members also voted in favor. Diacov told Infotag that the vote was forged by Motpan.[18] IMF RELEASES NEW INSTALLMENT FOR MOLDOVAN LOANThe IMF on 17 July approved the release of the third installment of Moldova's three-year extended fund facility loan, which carries a total value of about $ 181 million. The drawing is for some $ 21 million and was approved after a review of Moldova's economic performance, an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported. The IMF's Executive Board said it welcomes the recent intensification of economic reform efforts but cautioned the government not to neglect its "effective implementation." An IMF mission will visit Chisinau next week to continue the "regular dialogue" with the authorities.[19] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WANTS OWN SECRET POLICE FILE OPEN TO PUBLICPetar Stoyanov says he wants his communist era secret police file to be opened to the public. He told reporters in Sofia on 17 July that although a draft law under debate in the parliament would not cover him, he wants his file made public even before the law takes effect. The parliament begins debating the draft on 18 July. The law would open to the public the files of all members of parliament, ministers, top government officials and high ranking judges. The opposition Socialist Party said it would vote against the new law on "national security grounds," an RFE/RL Sofia correspondent reported. Deputy premier Vesselin Metodiev, a historian who briefly served as head of the State Archives in 1992, said about 250,000 Bulgarians were recruited as secret police informers.[C] END NOTE[20] TROUBLE FOR MILOSEVIC?By Patrick MooreSerbian President Slobodan Milosevic stands poised to assume the federal Yugoslav presidency in a few days. He probably will be able to transfer his power and authority he has personally accumulated to his new job, but some of his former allies in Montenegro could make things difficult for him. On 15 July, both houses of the federal Yugoslav parliament elected Milosevic to succeed Zoran Lilic by overwhelming margins. The regime-controlled media spoke of an "historic event," and orchestrated congratulatory telegrams poured in from around the country. On closer examination, however, the victory seems less than remarkable. Parties controlled by Milosevic or his wife, Mirjana Markovic, easily commanded the necessary legislative majorities. A further advantage was that Milosevic ran unopposed, because obedient parliamentary committees ruled on 14 July that the five other declared candidates had not been legally registered for the contest. And in any event, the absence of opponents may not have made much difference, since the Serbian opposition has been so prone to in-fighting that it almost always plays into Milosevic's hands. What was surprising, however, was the speed with which the election was held. Critics charged that the vote should have taken place legally only the following week, most likely on 23 July, RFE/RL correspondents reported from Belgrade. Instead, Milosevic supporters forced the election through early. Furious opposition politicians claimed that Milosevic had stolen the election. But some of them told RFE/RL that Milosevic was behaving like "the dictator and autocrat he always was," and that the vote should come as no surprise. In any event, at least some opposition figures felt that Milosevic had left himself open for a legal challenge and filed a suit in the courts against his election. The question remains as to why Milosevic resorted to dubious tactics in order to secure an election that had long been regarded as a foregone conclusion. After all, it had long been clear that the Serbian constitution barred him from another term as Serbian president, and that the Yugoslav constitution similarly banned Lilic from running for re-election. Pundits had been arguing for perhaps a year that Milosevic would stay in power by becoming Yugoslav president and transferring his massive powers to his new office, which had been a figurehead position under Lilic. Milosevic was forced to change tactics quickly. In recent months, a revolt had been brewing in the once-docile Montenegrin leadership. President Momir Bulatovic and his Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) owed their power to Milosevic and his Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), but, as the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" put it, "some of the puppets began to assume a life of their own." The reason was that Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his leading allies such as Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic had come to the conclusion that ties to Milosevic had become a political liability for Montenegro and for themselves. The tiny mountainous republic lives primarily from tourism and shipping, and Djukanovic, whose fortune is widely believed to come from war- profiteering, would like to set up a huge free-trade zone. But Milosevic's policies have kept Yugoslavia politically and economically isolated, thereby thwarting any hopes of Montenegro overcoming its poverty. The revolt reached a new stage on 11 July, when the DPS Steering Committee voted to dump Bulatovic as party chief and replace him with Pejanovic- Djurisic. Five days later, when Bulatovic tried to enter party and government offices while the Steering Committee was meeting, security guards turned him away. Some observers at home and abroad wrote that Bulatovic might be able to start up his own new party, but that he could not expect to be re-elected to the presidency. In short, Milosevic's enemies appeared triumphant in Montenegro. The mountain republic's political leadership was slated to meet on 22 July to make a final decision on how Montenegrin deputies in the federal Yugoslav parliament should vote in the presidential ballot expected on 23 July. Milosevic apparently decided not to take any chances with possible Montenegrin opposition in the presidential vote and held the election more than a week early. Once again, as so often in his 10-year career, he showed himself to be a master of tactics, but this time his shift resulted from weakness. Nor is Montenegro his only problem. In recent weeks, he has been tightening his grip on Kosovo through a well-publicized visit to the region and through show- trials of ethnic Albanian "terrorists." In Sandzak, which connects Kosovo to Bosnia and has a slight Muslim majority, he has purged the administration of its main town, Novi Pazar. International isolation and a catastrophic domestic economy, moreover, will continue to confront him. But it is Montenegro that poses the greatest immediate potential problem. Federal legislators from that republic -- and perhaps even from Serbia -- may well block Milosevic from weakening the legal prerogatives of the republics in order to strengthen those of the federal presidency. RFE/RL correspondents report from around Yugoslavia that the best Milosevic may be able to hope for is to remain the source of real power while not enjoying the formal and legal attributes of authority. Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty URL: http://www.rferl.org Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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