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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 131, 97-10-03Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 131, 3 October 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA SLASHES 1997 BUDGET EXPENDITURESFinance and Economics Minister Armen Darbinyan told journalists in Yerevan on 2 October that projected budget expenditures for 1997 will be slashed by15 billion drams ($30 million), RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Darbinyan said the cuts are necessary because of "incorrect budget estimates" of the amount of financial aid from foreign donor states and international financial institutions. He added, however, that government revenues in September reached a record high of 10.1 billion drams, more than double the amount for the same period in 1996. Darbinyan, who took part in the recent annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Hong Kong, said the World Bank gave the green light for Armenian access to its commercial loans. This move, he said, reflects the West's support of Yerevan's economic policies.[02] THREE KILLED IN CASPIAN HELICOPTER CRASHThree people were killed on 2 October when an Azerbaijani Airlines helicopter carrying oil workers crashed into the Caspian Sea, Russian and Azerbaijani agencies reported. Sixteen people are still missing. The cause of the crash is unknown; visibility at the time was normal, according to Turan. Three days earlier, Belgian Foreign Minister Erik Derycke was forced to cancel a planned visit to Baku after the Azerbaijani Airlines airplane on which he was booked had to be grounded for technical reasons.[03] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS NEW DEFENSE DOCTRINEThe parliament on 1 October adopted a defense doctrine drafted earlier this year, RFE/RL's Tbilisi bureau reported. Parliament Defense and Security Committee Chairman Rezo Adamia described the document as a "defensive defense doctrine," meaning that the armed forces can use force only to repel aggression. Opposition parties have criticized the doctrine as "superficial" and claimed it does not address the country's specific problems, in particular the need to restore territorial integrity.[04] ANOTHER HOSTAGE-TAKING IN TAJIKISTANA meat plant factory manager and his son were abducted by an unidentified armed gang in Dushanbe during the night of 2-3 October, ITAR-TASS reported. Police believe that the perpetrators are fighters loyal to warlord Revzon Sodirov and that Sodirov wishes to exchange the hostages for his brother, Bakhrom, who is being held in custody for the February abduction of a group of UN observers. Meanwhile, Interfax on 2 October quoted United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri as saying the repatriation of the estimated 2,500-3,000 opposition forces from Afghanistan is being delayed by logistical and financial problems.[05] PROTEST MARCH CONTINUES IN KAZAKHSTANSome 1,000 workers from the southern city of Kentau who began marching to Almaty on 1 October to protest wage and pension arrears have reached Shymkent, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported on 2 October. Some of the marchers, including the trade union leaders who organized the protest, proceeded by train to Almaty; the rest are continuing on foot. An attempt by South Kazakhstan Oblast Prosecutor-General Sultan Jabanov to halt the marchers was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Interfax on 2 October reported that 10 inmates of a high security prison in western Kazakhstan have been hospitalized after slitting open their stomachs to protest prison conditions.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] MOSCOW SAYS SFOR SEIZURE OF BOSNIAN SERB RADIO, TV UNJUSTIFIEDThe Russian Foreign Ministry on 2 October said there was no "serious justification" for the NATO-led operation the previous day to seize control of hard-line Bosnian Serb radio and television, Interfax reported. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Valerii Nesterushkin said "there are reasons to fear that such actions may jeopardize the implementation of the Belgrade agreements of 24 September on overcoming the crisis in Republika Srpska and provoke a new wave of confrontation." But the U.S. State Department has rejected Russian criticism about the NATO seizures. State Department spokesman James Foley noted the operation was "fully in conformity with agreements" reached by the alliance's foreign ministers at Sintra, Portugal in May and at subsequent meetings "to which the Russians were a party."[07] UN-SUPERVISED EXHUMATION CONCLUDED IN BOSNIAA total of 87 bodies have been recovered from a mass grave at Hrgar, in northwestern Bosnia, ending a month-long exhumation supervised by the UN, Bosnian Television reported on 2 October All the bodies have been exhumed and undergone an autopsy, according to experts involved in the excavation. To date, 43 of the victims, all believed to be Muslim civilians, have been identified. Residents from the surrounding area with relatives reported missing have been asked to help identify the bodies. Hrgar was a Bosnian Serb artillery position during the siege of the Bihac enclave. Several Bosnian officials said the victims at Hrgar were civilians arrested by Serbian forces as they tried to flee the area, HINA reported.[08] MORE RESULTS OF BOSNIAN LOCAL ELECTIONSThe Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on 2 October released the results of the September local elections for a further 14 communities. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic's Democratic Action Party (SDA) maintained its control of three of Sarajevo's four constituencies. In the Muslim-controlled town of Bosanski Petrovac, which was 74 percent Serbian before the war, refugee voters ensured the victory of a Serbian opposition coalition party. Similarly, in the formerly multi-ethnic, now Serb-controlled town of Kotor Varos, the Muslim coalition won the vote. Meanwhile, the Bosnian branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has challenged the results in Bosanski Brod , in which the Serbian bloc won 24 town council seats and the Croatian-Muslim bloc 21. Local HDZ chairman Zdravko Marinic said this is exactly what the HDZ had feared and why it had wanted to boycott the elections, HINA reported.[09] PRISTINA STUDENTS PLEDGE TO RESUME PROTESTS...Pristina University student leaders have pledged to resume protests by mid- October unless the Serbian authorities implement the 1996 education agreement between then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova, the Kosovo Information Center reported on 2 October. The previous day, student leaders agreed to calls by Rugova and Western diplomats to postpone further protests (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 October 1997). Ernest Luma, deputy chairman of the Student Union of Pristina University, has said that at least 100 students were beaten by the police, of whom 13 sustained "severe injuries." Police are maintaining tight control on all access routes to Pristina in a bid to prevent young people from entering the city, ATA reported.[10] ...AS LILIC WARNS KOSOVARSZoran Lilic, the left-wing candidate in the 5 October run-off presidential elections in Serbia, told Kosovo's Serbian Radio Mitrovica on 2 October that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo cannot attend schools in Serbia that use curricula drawn up in Tirana, nor can they open universities. "There exists one university and one education system [in Kosovo], which must be respected", he said, adding, "they have the opportunity, if they choose to take it, to attend classes in Albanology, to have the right to their own culture, history, and media in their own language. They have the right to everything other minorities throughout the world have." Lilic also remarked that Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo will never be a national minority, nor will there ever be another republic in Serbia in addition to the Republic of Serbia.[11] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT TAKES MEASURES AGAINST GRAY ECONOMYThe government on 2 October announced that all competent state bodies will undertake rigorous and coordinated action to eliminate the parallel or gray economy, Tanjug reported. The cabinet noted that the "illegal parallel economy has reached such a level as to become a serious threat to the country's economic and even political system." Measures will include tax reform and strict enforcement of the penal code.[12] POLICE HEADQUARTERS ATTACKED IN ALBANIAUnidentified persons on 2 October used antitank shells to attack the police headquarters in Saranda, in southern Albania, ATA reported. Police believe the attack was linked with the detention of three persons suspected of injuring a police officer and of robbery. An explosion in front of the town hall occurred simultaneously with the antitank attack. Interior Minister Neritan Ceka and Interior Ministry Secretary of State Ndre Legisi arrived in Saranda the same day for talks with local government and police officials.[13] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT ASKS SEVERIN TO SUBSTANTIATE SPY ALLEGATIONSThe government on 2 October asked Foreign Minister Adrian Severin to submit to the appropriate authorities evidence substantiating his allegations that "foreign agents" are active in political parties and in the media (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 23 September 1997). A governmental press release said the executive will debate the issue again following the completion of the investigation. Also on 2 October, the ruling coalition's Coordination Commission recommended that the ordinance on the closure of mines and on miners' compensation remain in force, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. That decision contradicts the recent agreement between Finance Minister Mircea Ciumara and leaders of the mining trade unions (See "RFE/RL Newsline, " 1 October 1997).[14] ROMANIAN SENATE TO DEBATE ACCESS TO SECURITATE FILESThe Senate has voted in favor of an urgent debate on Senator Ticu Dumitrescu's draft law on accessing the files of the former communist secret police. The debate will take place on 14 October and is seen as support for Dumitrescu in his dispute with the leadership of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 October 1997). However, an RFE/RL Bucharest correspondent noted there are doubts about the constitutionality of the vote. The basic document stipulates that if a draft law affects the state budget, it must be considered by the government before the parliament can debate it. The Dumitrescu draft falls into that category since it provides for the setting up of a body overseeing access to the files and for the financing of that body from the budget.[15] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CONFIDENT ABOUT TRANSDNIESTER SOLUTIONAt a meeting with a visiting Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe delegation on 2 October, Petru Lucinschi said he is confident that agreement on a solution to the Transdniester conflict will be reached in negotiations at expert level in Moscow in October, Infotag reported. He stressed Chisinau's intention to offer Tiraspol broad autonomy within a unified Moldova. However, Aleksandr Karaman, the breakaway region's vice president, told the same delegation in Tiraspol that the Transdniester authorities view the "joint state" as being made up of two equal entities with some common structures jointly agreed on.[16] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT OVERRIDES PRESIDENTIAL VETOESThe parliament on 2 October overrode President Lucinschi's vetoes of two laws. Lucinschi had refused to promulgate a law, passed by the legislature on 25 July, that would abolish penalties for failing to make payments to the state budget that were due by 1 July. The president had argued the law would greatly reduce financial discipline. The second piece of legislation he had vetoed would amend the law on the State Accounting Chamber to require that body to submit reports to the parliament within five days of receiving such a request, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported.[C] END NOTE[17] MORE PRIVATIZATION REVERSALS TO COME?by Stephanie BakerIn a sign that pressure is building to clean up Russia's scandal-plagued privatization process, the Moscow Arbitration Court has ruled that 41 percent of the shares in the chemicals plant Cherepovets Azot be returned to the government. It is the first high-profile privatization to be reversed, targeting the country's third largest bank, Oneksimbank, which in 1994 acquired a 41 percent stake in the chemicals factory. The court ruled on 29 September that the shares should be returned to the government because Oneksimbank had failed to meet the investment conditions stipulated in the tender. Russian media have played up the case because Oneksimbank's founder, former First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Potanin, has been embroiled in a media war over his involvement in recent privatization sales. Potanin led a consortium that won a major stake in Russia's telecommunications holding company Svyazinvest in July. The apparent losing bidders, however, cried foul play and launched a campaign against the sale through their media outlets. In early August, a company linked to Oneksimbank won an auction for a controlling stake in the metals giant Norilsk Nickel, despite last- minute calls for that auction to be postponed. Recent allegations that former State Property Committee Chairman Alfred Kokh, who oversaw both auctions, accepted money from a Swiss company linked to Oneksimbank for a questionable book deal have only intensified speculation that Svyazinvest and Norilsk Nickel were sweetheart deals. Sergei Dorenko, a Russian Public Television (ORT) journalist, first publicized Oneksimbank's mismanagement of Cherepovets in a report aired just after the Svyazinvest auction. He alleged that Oneksimbank dodged its investment requirements under the tender by diverting $41 million to an off- shore bank. In an interview with RFE/RL, Dorenko later claimed credit for the court's decision, saying his coverage of the story had forced the court to take a closer look at the case. State Property Minister Maksim Boiko, however, portrayed the court's ruling as part of his efforts to clean up the privatization process, which has been plagued by accusations that the state has handed property to insider banks at cut-rate prices. Boiko said that funds earmarked for investment in the Cherepovets factory had been used for other purposes. He pledged to ensure the "honest" enforcement of investment terms following sell-offs of state property. Whether the court's decision was politically motivated is open to speculation. But there is clearly pressure building on the government to plug some of the many loopholes that have been exploited during the privatization process. Until just recently, the government had used "investment tenders" to sell off state property. But many of the owners were able to evade the investment conditions due to lax oversight or, as many observers believe, insider deals between the buyer and seller. Russia's new privatization law attempts to define the rules of the game more clearly. Although the Cherepovets case was tried under the criminal code after charges of fraud were brought, the privatization law includes a provision that allows sales of state shares to be reversed if investment conditions have not been fulfilled. The new law, which went into effect on 2 August, also allows sales of state property to be overturned if there is evidence of collusion between buyer and seller, if the price of the sale has been fixed, or if beneficial conditions have been granted to one bidder over another. While the law is clearly meant to address some of the wrongs that have dogged the privatization process, and particularly the Cherepovets case, some lawyers point out that the legislation is so vague that it makes overturning a privatization for political or technical reasons relatively easy. The law could affect not just major players like Oneksimbank but smaller investors as well. William Simons, a lawyer with Pepper, Hamilton & Sheets and a faculty member at Leiden University's Institute for East European Law and Russian Studies in The Netherlands, says the law creates uncertainty for owners. He asks: "From a policy point of view, the main question is, once a transaction has been completed, is it a stable decision or can it be turned back?" The law mentions nothing about shares that were auctioned off and then resold to third parties, nor does it clearly spell out a statute of limitations. Last month, the State Duma set up a committee to investigate whether the sales of Svyazinvest, the oil company Sibneft, Norilsk Nickel, and the Tyumen Oil Company complied with existing legislation. The committee, culled from different parliamentary factions, is due to announce its findings on 1 November. It is charged with examining the starting prices of the state shares, procedures for the sales, and the role of state officials in the auctions. Observers, however, doubt that the committee's findings will result in any reversals. The author is a Moscow-based RFE/RL correspondent. -10-97 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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