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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 80, 97-07-24Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 80, 24 July 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ABKHAZ TALKS GET OFF TO ROCKY STARTUN-sponsored talks in Geneva between Georgian and Abkhaz government representatives began on 23 July. The start of the talks was delayed for several hours because the Abkhaz side objected to the reading out of a letter by representatives of the Western states that constitute the Friends of Georgia group. In an address read to participants by a representative, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the primary responsibility for reaching a solution to the conflict lies with Georgia and Abkhazia but the international community could provide economic and technical help, Reuters reported. "Rezonansi" on 22 July quoted Annan as saying that the UN Security Council would discuss the possibility of sending a UN peacekeeping force to Abkhazia only after the withdrawal of the CIS force currently deployed there.[02] TAJIK PRESIDENT MEETS WITH POPULAR FRONT LEADERS...Imomali Rakhmonov on 23 July met with field commanders from some of the former Popular Front units in southern and central Tajikistan to discuss the reconciliation process, RFE/RL correspondents and ITAR-TASS reported. Rakhmonov asked the commanders for help in disarming their followers in line with Tajikistan's plans to cut armed forces by 30 percent. The commanders said they were still against the return to Tajikistan of fighters from the United Tajik Opposition. They also criticized "separatists" in Tajikistan; in this context, Col. Mahmud Khudaberdiyev, commander of the Tajik Army's First Brigade, was mentioned. Popular Front units were armed in 1992 by former President Rahmon Nabiyev and later by those who helped bring Rakhmonov to power at the end of 1992. The units were officially disbanded in 1993, but many commanders disobeyed that order and lived as warlords with their private armies.[03] ...ASKS FOR HELP IN CAPTURING TERRORISTSRakhmonov also said it was important to locate and capture Rezvon Sadirov, who, together with his brother Bahrom and their followers, held members of the UN observer mission hostage in December 1996 and again in February 1997. Bahrom Sadirov was eventually captured, but his brother remains at large. UN officials, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan and special envoy to Tajikistan Gerd Merrem, said they have received reports that Bahrom Sadirov is living in the compound of Presidential Guard commander Gaffur Mirzoyev and that Rezvon Sadirov has been seen on the streets of Dushanbe.[04] MORE OFFICIALS SACKED IN TURKMENISTANPresident Saparmurat Niyazov visited the northern Turkmen province of Tashauz on 23 July. On learning that the province would not be able to meet the 1997 grain quota, Niyazov fired many of the province's officials, including the governor of the province, according to ITAR-TASS. This is the fourth Turkmen province that has announced it cannot meet target figures for 1997. Officials were also fired in the other three provinces.[05] NEW AGREEMENT ON TURKMEN-PAKISTANI PIPELINETurkmen Oil Minister Batyr Sarjaev, Pakistani Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Nisar Ali Khan, and representatives from the U.S.'s Unocal company and Saudi Arabia's Delta Corp. signed in Islamabad on 23 July an agreement stipulating December 1998 as the start-up date for construction of the Turkmen-Afghan-Pakistan pipeline, AFP reported. The 1, 464 km pipeline is scheduled to be completed by 2001. The Pakistani minister said he has "absolutely no doubt" that the pipeline will be finished by then. At a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Turkmenistan in May, an agreement was signed calling for construction to begin by 1 October 1997, but the situation in Afghanistan has pushed back that date. The signatories of the 23 July agreement are to meet again before 15 September.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT RESIGNSSali Berisha resigned on 23 July, as he had promised to do in the event that his Democratic Party lost the 29 June legislative elections. Berisha issued a statement saying the Socialists' victory marked "the return to power of the last communist nomenklatura." Following the announcement of his resignation, crowds in Tirana fired Kalashnikovs into the air in celebration. Rexhep Mejdani, a leading Socialist Party official and former professor of physics, is expected to be Berisha's successor. Berisha will take up a seat in the parliament and is widely expected to take over the Democratic Party leadership. The governing Socialists and their allies promised during the election campaign to make the country a parliamentary republic and abandon the strong, French-type presidency that Berisha and the Democrats created.[07] ALBANIAN PARLIAMENT CONVENESThe legislature convened for the first time on 23 July in Tirana amid tight security. The Democrats boycotted the session to protest what they said were gross irregularities in the election. Only Genc Pollo, the party's secretary-general, attended out of the 27 Democratic deputies. The Socialists and their allies have more than a two-thirds majority and have pledged to introduce changes in the constitution. Meanwhile in Brussels, NATO diplomats told journalists that the Atlantic alliance is ready to send a team of experts to Albania to make recommendations on rebuilding the armed forces. The diplomats denied, however, that NATO has any intention of taking over the role of the multinational peacekeeping force, whose mandate will end in August. Albania joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program in 1994, but its military disintegrated in the anarchy that swept the country earlier this year.[08] DEMONSTRATIONS MARK MILOSEVIC'S INAUGURATIONSlobodan Milosevic took the oath of office as president of federal Yugoslavia in Belgrade on 23 July. He also took up official residence in Beli Dvor, where former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito lived. Milosevic's inauguration was greeted by some 3,000 noisy protesters, who pelted shoes at Milosevic's car to symbolize the thousands of people who fled the country under his rule. Police used batons to hold back the crowd and to separate it from a group of Milosevic supporters. The new president received official congratulations from his counterparts in Cuba, Ghana, and Slovakia, but not from those in Western countries, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the Serbian capital. Also in Belgrade, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic warned that Montenegro's deputies in the federal parliament could still oust Milosevic if he fails to introduce key reforms.[09] TOP SECURITY MEASURES FOR SOCCER MATCH IN BELGRADESerbia's Partizan-Belgrade beat Croatia-Zagreb 1-0 on 23 July in the qualifying round of the European Champions' Cup. Police reinforcements arrived to control crowds for the sold-out match. Some Serbs in the crowds called the Croats "fascists," but the game took place without serious incident. Ljubisa Tumbakovic, the Serbian coach, praised the Croatian team's performance. The contest marked the first time that major Serbian and Croatian teams have played each other on former Yugoslav territory since 1991. Partizan will play Croatia again in Zagreb in a week's time. Soccer matches between top Serbian and Croatian teams have been highly politicized since the communist era.[10] U.S. SLAMS SERBIAN MEDIA POLICYA State Department spokesman said in Washington on 23 July that Serbia's "practice of restricting the operation of radio and television stations is a step backward in the process of democratization and further delays Serbia's integration into the international community." In Belgrade, a group specializing in the rights of independent media said the Serbian authorities have shut down 55 independent radio or TV stations since the start of the year. The Milosevic government has been cracking down on the independent electronic media in the runup to the Serbian elections slated for September. But in Podgorica, the Montenegrin government on 23 July signed several agreements with independent radio and TV stations, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the Montenegrin capital.[11] BOMB DESTROYS UN VEHICLE IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKAUN spokesmen said in Tuzla on 24 July that a bomb blew up a UN car in Bratunac, near Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. Americans working for the UN police force were sleeping nearby. This is the latest in a series of almost daily incidents against international personnel on Bosnian Serb territory since NATO's intervention against indicted war criminals on 10 July. UN and NATO spokesmen maintain that there is no evidence to show that the incidents are part of any organized campaign. But in New York on 23 July, the UN Security Council warned Bosnian Serb leaders against violent attacks on peacekeepers and police. Meanwhile in Brussels, countries participating in an international aid donors' conference pledged $1.2 billion for reconstruction in Bosnia by the end of the year. Speakers stressed that money will go only to those working to implement the Dayton agreements.[12] NEWS FROM FORMER YUGOSLAVIAIn Rome on 23 July, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson called on all Western countries to support Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic against Radovan Karadzic and his loyalists. In New York, UN officials announced that U.S. diplomat William Walker will replace Gen. Jacques Klein as the UN's chief administrator in eastern Slavonia. In Zagreb, Croatian Health Minister Andrija Hebrang said he and local Serbs reached agreement on a transition plan to integrate Serbian staff into the Croatian health system at the Vukovar hospital. Pre-war Croatian director Vesna Bosanac will return to her post by 15 October. The hospital has strong symbolic importance for both Croats and Serbs dating from the Serbian siege of Vukovar in 1991.[13] ROMANIAN-IMF TALKSPoul Thomsen, the IMF chief negotiator for Romania, met with Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea in Bucharest on 23 July to discuss the implementation of the agreement reached with the IMF in April. The IMF is to decide in August whether to release the second installment of a $430 million standby loan. Thompsen refused to make any statement to the press, saying only that the discussions will continue, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. He will meet with Ciorbea again on 28 July. Government spokesman Eugen Serbanescu said the IMF team will be meeting representatives of economic ministries, the National Bank, and the State Property Fund to review future fiscal and monetary policy. Meanwhile, the Council of Europe's Social Development Fund announced on 23 July that it will provide a $ 33.8 million loan for building orphanages and accommodation for abandoned children in Romania.[14] HUNGARIAN CONSULATE REOPENS IN CLUJThe Hungarian consulate in Cluj, which was closed by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1988, was reopened on 23 July. The ceremony was attended by Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs and his Romanian counterpart, Adrian Severin, an RFE/RL correspondent in Cluj reported. Kovacs said the occasion marks the "end of the epoch of artificial incitement to inter-ethnic conflict." Severin said it showed a "return to normalcy." Gheorghe Funar, the extreme nationalist mayor of Cluj, boycotted the ceremony and announced that the local council is on vacation and has "more important priorities" than finding a location for the consulate, which is using temporary premises. Funar also said the hoisting of the Hungarian flag outside the consulate would infringe on the Romanian constitution. Severin responded by saying foreign policy in not made by local mayors.[15] BILINGUAL SIGNS REINSTALLED IN TARGU MURESThe bilingual Hungarian-Romanian signs recently dismantled in Targu Mures (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 July 1997) were reinstalled on 23 July on the order of Mayor Imre Fodor, despite the opposition of the local prefect Dorin Florea. Florea was overruled by the government's secretary, Remus Opris, who said there was no need for the local council to approve the move. Opris said ethnic Hungarians make up 52 percent of the town's population, far more than the 20 percent stipulated in the government ordinance allowing bilingual signs. The anti-Hungarian "Romanian Cradle" organization, which painted over the bilingual signs in the colors of the Romanian flag, protested the decision. The Party of Romanian National Unity, the chauvinist Greater Romania Party, and the Party of Social Democracy in Romania are collecting signatures in support of Fodor's dismissal.[16] ROMANIAN LIBERAL PARTIES CONTINUE TO FIGHTThe Bucharest municipal tribunal on 23 July ruled against the Alexandru Popovici wing of the National Liberal Party-Democratic Convention (PNL-CD), which contested the merger in June of the party's Nicolae Cerveni wing with the Liberal Party '93. The new Liberal Party claims it is a member of the Democratic Convention, but Popovici says the PNL-CD has "vanished from political life" because the ministers representing the party in the government have all joined the National Liberal Party, according to the private television station Antena 1.[17] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT OPPOSES LUSTRATION LAWPetar Stoyanov has said it is "too late" for Bulgaria to pass a law designed to ban former leading communist officials from holding positions in the state administration, an RFE/RL correspondent in Sofia reported. In a statement released by the presidential office on 23 July, Stoyanov said such a law should have been passed after the collapse of communism in 1989 for it to have had the right effect. At present, the law would no longer "have a stimulative effect for Bulgaria, nor would it have a healing effect on the country's society, which has embarked on the road of the reforms needed to overcome its crisis," Stoyanov noted. In other news, the IMF on 23 July approved the release of a $130 million installment of a $ 510 million standby agreement aimed at cementing the country's economic reforms, Reuters reported.[18] BULGARIA SEEKS TO DISPEL RUMORS OF POPE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTForeign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov told a press conference in Sofia on 23 July that Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova and Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev have sent a letter to the German authorities asking them to cooperate in dispelling rumors about the attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. The German daily "Bild" recently wrote that East German intelligence files show Bulgaria's communist secret services were involved in the attempt. According to "Bild," a former officer of the East German security service (Stasi) told an Italian magistrate in April that the Bulgarian secret service asked the Stasi to help deflect suspicion from Sofia. Vlaikov said that "if there is evidence for Bulgaria's involvement," those responsible "should be charged." He added that "the whole truth must come to light" because it affects not just politicians "but the Bulgarian nation as a whole."[C] END NOTE[19] Competitive Enlargement?by Michael MihalkaThe European Commission recommended on 15 July that the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Estonia join Cyprus in beginning accession talks with the EU. The EU would have preferred to set its house in order before proceeding with enlargement. But the 8 July announcement of NATO expansion dictated both the timing and the selection of candidates for the current wave of EU enlargement. The EU set three main criteria for beginning accession talks: political, which meant stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the protection of minorities; economic, which meant a functioning market economy that can withstand competitive pressure from other EU countries; and the ability to take on the obligations of membership--in particular, implementing the common law ("acquis communitaire") of the EU. Of the 10 Central European applicants, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia were regarded as capable of meeting the criteria in the mid-term, while Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia were not. Turkey, which first applied for associate membership in 1963, was again give the cold shoulder. Of the latter group, only Slovakia was considered to meet the economic criteria and have the ability to take on the common law. But it failed to make the first wave because of the instability of its institutions and shortcomings in the functioning of its democracy. Vladimir Drozda of the Slovak Social Democratic Party said on 16 July that Meciar's government has betrayed the historical interests of Slovakia by proving incapable of guaranteeing integration into NATO and the EU. The EU Commission argued that Latvia and Lithuania had met the political criteria but did not yet have competitive market economies. In the case of Bulgaria and Romania, the recent changes of government in both countries meant they were well on their way to meeting the political criteria. But neither country was judged to have an economy capable of withstanding international market pressures. Romanian Minister for European Integration Alexandru Herlea admitted that his country "cannot afford now to accede to the European Union." Nevertheless, Bucharest argued that the EU summit in December in Luxembourg should agree to start accession talks with all candidate countries and not just those singled out by the European Commission. The EU had hoped to resolve its institutional and policy problems before proceeding with enlargement. At the Amsterdam summit in June, it failed to do either. Now enlargement will prove the engine for EU reform. The small states within the EU had wanted to exclude both Estonia and Slovenia from the first wave of accession talks to avoid triggering the institutional reform that would weaken their power. The Amsterdam summit had called for yet another intergovernment conference to deal with institutional reform if enlargement led to an EU composed of more than 20 states. Excluding Estonia and Slovenia would have left the enlarged EU with 19 members. Unfortunately for the small states, both Estonia and Slovenia met the criteria. And perhaps just as important, both had been left out of NATO enlargement. NATO had excluded the Baltic States from the first wave of its enlargement partly because it did not want to antagonize Russia. But while opposing NATO enlargement, Russia has not raised any objections to other states joining the EU. On 15 July, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadii Tarasov said that Russia actively supported the Baltic States' membership in the EU. The Scandinavian countries had actively championed their cause with regard to both NATO and the EU. Slovenia and Romania had made the short list for NATO enlargement, having received the support of nine of the 16 members. However, the U.S. had insisted that the first wave of enlargement be restricted to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. Slovenia was left out of NATO enlargement partly because of concerns that its military contribution to NATO would be limited. But in the economic sphere, Slovenia has been a sterling performer with a GNP per capita almost on par with that of Greece. The states that had pushed for Slovenia's NATO candidacy also ensured that it would be in the first wave of EU enlargement, despite the objections of the smaller states. By contrast, Romania remains a backward country economically. Even Romania's own ministers admitted that Romania was more qualified to join NATO than the EU. The proportion of the labor force in the agricultural sector, some 24 percent, is a good indicator of Romanian economic backwardness. Corresponding figures for Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary are 8 percent, 11 percent, and 15 percent, respectively. According to the World Bank, Romanian GNP per capita has not increased since 1970. With some 27 percent of its labor force in agriculture, Poland will bring a backward agricultural sector into the EU. Some studies have suggested that extending membership to Poland and other Central European states could double the amount of money that the EU pays for agricultural support through its Common Agricultural Policy. In addition, the EU will need to rethink its so-called structural funds, which go to poorer areas within the EU. Germany has insisted that those funds not be increased, while Spain is demanding that they not be cut. Since the prospective new members are all poorer than current ones, funds will have to be redistributed. The author teaches at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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