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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 157, 98-08-17Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 157, 17 August 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTEBANK OF RUSSIA[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARRESTS AT BAKU OPPOSITION RALLYAzerbaijani police arrested 106 of the 5,000 or so people who attended the opposition rally in a Baku suburb on 15 August to protest the authorities' failure to provide democratic conditions for the 11 October presidential elections Interfax reported quoting Interior Minister Ramil Usubov. Almost all those detained were subsequently released. Opposition representatives estimated the number of demonstrators in Baku at closer to 20,000, saying 300 were detained. They added that a total of 50,000 people took part in protest demonstrations across the country. Earlier on 15 August, Baku police had detained 15 opposition activists and temporarily surrounded the home of Azerbaijan Popular Front party chairman Abulfaz Elchibey. Police also detained an RFE/RL correspondent in Gyandja and prevented opposition activists from picketing the Supreme Court, the Presidential Chancellery, and the Baku Mayor's Office, Turan reported. LF[02] STANDOFF DEFUSED ON GEORGIAN-ARMENIAN BORDERGeorgian army detachments were prevented from conducting joint maneuvers with Russian forces on 13 August in Akhalkalaki Raion, which borders on Armenia, according to an RFE/RL correspondent in the Georgian capital. According to the Georgian governor of the region, Gigla Baramidze, the Georgian units were halted by 25 Armenians armed with mortars and other artillery, who Baramidze said were members of the Djavakhk organization. That group was formed to protect the interests of the district's predominantly Armenian population. But a local Armenian official told Caucasus Press that the Armenians had merely intended to warn the Georgian troops of possible hostile reactions by local Armenian residents unaware of the real reason for the Georgian troops' presence in the region. Although Georgian Television had announced the maneuvers in advance, some Armenians in Akhalkalaki feared that the Georgian troops were planning to deport them. The Georgian units subsequently withdrew. LF[03] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA MARK SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF OUTBREAK OF WARSpeaking in Sukhumi on 14 August, the anniversary of the Georgian incursion that precipitated the 1992-1993 war, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba assessed the prospects for a settlement as remote, Reuters reported. Ardzinba warned that he will refuse to participate in future peace talks if attacks by Georgian guerrillas on Abkhaz police continue, adding that such attacks "will not go unanswered by our side." Georgian presidential adviser Levan Aleksidze told Interfax that "sooner or later" Abkhazia will again become part of a united Georgia and that the unresolved conflict should be settled by peaceful means. But Tamaz Nadareishvili, chairman of the ethnic Georgian Abkhaz parliament in exile, told Interfax that military force is the only way to ensure the return to Abkhazia of the ethnic Georgian population forced to flee during the fighting. LF[04] UZBEK PRESIDENT VISITS AFGHAN BORDERIslam Karimov visited the city of Termez, located on the border with Afghanistan on 15 August, ITAR-TASS and Reuters reported. Karimov met with senior military officials in the city and said he is confident in the ability of the country's armed forces to protect the border. Of the civilian population, Karimov said they "are confident in their own strength. Such a nation is invincible." In a related story, the Uzbek Defense Ministry released a statement on 14 August denying a "Kommersant- Daily" report the same day alleging Uzbek military units had crossed the Amu-Darya and were taking up positions in the Panjshir Gorge in Afghanistan. BP[05] TAJIK OPPOSITION CALLS FOR REFERENDUM AGAINThe United Tajik Opposition on 14 August renewed its call to hold a nationwide referendum on rewording part of the constitution, Interfax reported. The UTO objects to the term "secular state," which, it says, prevents some groups from participating in the country's political life. UTO deputy leader, now first deputy Prime Minister Khoja Akbar Turajonzoda, had called for such a referendum before returning to Tajikistan from self- imposed exile in Tehran in February. The government's response is the same now as then: "Those articles shall not be changed even in a referendum." BP[06] REGIONAL HEAD MURDERED IN TAJIKISTANThe head of the Shahrinaw Region, Kalandar Khaydarov, was killed by unknown assailants on 16 August, ITAR-TASS reported. Men in military clothing broke into his home in Shahrinaw, 40 kilometers west of Dushanbe, and took Khaydarov away. His body was found later with multiple bullet wounds. Police are attributing the crime to a mafia dispute. BP[07] IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN KAZAKHSTANKamal Kharrazi met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana on 14 August to discuss the Caspian Sea, Interfax and IRNA reported. Nazarbayev said the Russian-Kazakh agreements on the division of the sea could serve as a model for resolving the Caspian's status. Kharrazi said the sea should be de-militarized to "become a sea of friendship and peace." The two also discussed resuming shipments of Kazakh crude oil to Iran via the Caspian. Kharrazi noted that the planned Neka-Persian Gulf pipeline will be completed in two years and that shipments of crude oil will then resume. BP[08] CONSTRUCTION OF TURKMEN-PAKISTANI PIPELINE TO BEGIN THIS YEARA Turkmen government official said construction of the 1,271 kilometer Turkmen-Pakistani pipeline will start before the end of this year, Interfax reported on 14 August. Gochmurad Nazdzhanov said recent events in Afghanistan, where the Taliban movement have captured most of that country, will not affect the pipeline schedule. "It is a purely economic project," Nazdzhanov said, "we cannot see any reason for postponing the work." After Pakistan, the Turkmen government has the best relations with the Taliban, who for the past two years have occupied territory adjacent to Turkmenistan. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] SERBIAN FORCES CAPTURE JUNIKA spokesman for Serbian paramilitary police forces said in Prishtina on 16 August that those forces took control of Junik, which is located near the Albanian frontier and which was the last key town under the control of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK). The spokesman added that Serbian forces are now able to move unhindered throughout the province. Foreign journalists reported from Junik that it is deserted except for some 15 people too old to flee. The correspondents also noted widespread material damage, including to the main mosque, the minaret of which is reported missing. Kosovar sources said that Serbian forces used tanks and aircraft to launch an assault on villages near the Albanian border on 15 August. PM[10] EXODUS OF REFUGEES CONTINUESSpokesmen for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that some 600 refugees from Junik reached Tropoja in northern Albania on 14 August alone, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 17 August. Two days earlier, the newspaper had quoted a UNHCR spokesman as saying in Geneva that "thousands" of Kosovars are waiting in the mountains near the border to cross into Albania. The spokesman added that refugees had previously avoided the minefields that Serbian forces laid along the Albanian frontier but that more recently they have begun trying to cross through the mined areas. PM[11] DEMACI ACCEPTS UCK POSTVeteran Kosovar politician Adem Demaci told RFE/RL's South Slavic Service on 14 August that he is pleased to accept the UCK's recent offer to head its negotiating team and will relinquish all other political duties, as requested by the guerrillas (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 August 1998). Demaci added that he remains committed to independence for Kosova. The next day, he said that no negotiations on Kosova's future can be successful without the participation of the UCK and the political opposition. Shadow- state President Ibrahim Rugova's negotiating team includes only parties that participate in the shadow-state government. PM[12] MOSCOW PRAISES KOSOVAR AGREEMENT TO TALKThe Russian Foreign Ministry on 14 August praised the decision of the shadow-state leadership to appoint a special delegation to talk with the central government in Belgrade, Interfax reported. The Ministry press release called on all sides to "start negotiations immediately and without any preliminary conditions." In a related release, the Foreign Ministry said that Russian participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace maneuvers in the Balkans reflect "Russia's role in strengthening stability and security" there. PG[13] NATO STARTS MILITARY EXERCISES IN ALBANIA...Military personnel from 14 NATO and Partnership for Peace member states began a five-day exercise in Albania on 17 August. The 1,700-member force will take part in various drills in the mountains. ITAR-TASS noted that "no exercises imitating air raids have been planned.... NATO promised to do everything possible so that the exercises seem 'politically sterile,' as Russia... insisted." The U.S. Defense Department on 14 August withdrew two of its planned three warships from the exercises, reducing the number of its participating marines from 1,000 to 275. A Pentagon spokesman said the same day in Washington that the troops are needed to help evacuate U.S. citizens from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He stressed that the reduction is not related to the situation on the ground in Albania. The exercises are partly designed to show Belgrade that NATO is able to respond, if necessary, in the Kosova crisis. FS[14] ...WHILE U.S. EMBASSY EVACUATES PERSONNELThe U.S. government began evacuating all but essential staff from Albania on 16 August after the State Department temporarily suspended normal embassy operations in the wake of the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 August 1998). An unnamed embassy source told Reuters that Ambassador Marisa Lino will stay on. State Department officials said the previous day in Washington that the decision to suspend activities does not reflect any change in the "good" U.S.- Albanian relations. The officials declined to comment on whether they fear any specific terrorist threat in Albania. The evacuation follows earlier media reports that the African bombings may have been in revenge for the arrest of four Islamic fundamentalists in Albania earlier this year. Meanwhile, an unidentified Albanian police official told AP in Tirana on 16 August that the authorities recently arrested a fifth suspected Egyptian Islamist. FS[15] ALBANIA QUITS ISLAMIC CONFERENCEPrime Minister Fatos Nano told "Zeri i Popullit" of 16 August that Albania is no longer a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Albania, which has a large Muslim population, became a member of the OIC in 1993 under former President Sali Berisha. Nano, however, claims that Albania never really belonged to the OIC because Berisha did not follow Albanian legal procedure when applying to join that body. He added that "Albania has no other future but to be integrated in Europe." And he stressed that Albania will continue to cooperate with the "Arab countries" on a bilateral or multilateral level. Meanwhile, "Koha Jone" reported on 16 August that it has received unspecified threats because of its recent articles against Islamic fundamentalism. FS[16] HERZEGOVINIAN SERBS GO HOMESome 100 Serbs from Bacevici near Mostar returned home on 15 August for the first time since 1992 and immediately began rebuilding the devastated village. The UNHCR will provide the returnees with drinking water and other basic necessities until Bacevici's basic infrastructure is functioning again. To date, only 15,045 Bosnian refugees have returned to homes in regions where they constitute an ethnic minority, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 15 August, citing UNHCR figures. The newspaper added that some 376,146 Muslims and Croats have gone back to homes on the territory of the mainly Muslim and Croatian federation since the Dayton agreement was signed at the end of 1995. PM[17] SREBRENICA INVESTIGATION WIDENSDutch military justice authorities in Arnhem and Defense Minister Frank de Grave in The Hague have launched investigations into charges that Dutch peacekeepers in July 1995 ran over with armored vehicles and killed up to 30 Muslim soldiers who were blocking the Dutch path of retreat from Srebrenica, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 15 August. The military justice authorities also plan to issue an open invitation to all 460 former peacekeepers to file a disposition about their recollections of the fall of Srebrenica. Several Dutch government bodies are investigating a variety of charges that the Dutch troops did not carry out their duties to protect the Muslims and that they may actually have helped the Serbs round up Muslim civilians (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 August 1998). PM[18] ROMANIA'S LIBERALS WANT ALLIANCE RESTRUCTUREDValeriu Stoica, first deputy chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL), said on 16 August that his party wants to continue its membership in the Democratic Convention of Romania but that the convention must be "restructured". He said restructuring is necessary to "make more specific the role each member plays in the alliance." He added that the PNL may want to run its own candidates in the next local elections. Stoica also warned against the "obsessive ongoing discussions" about a government reshuffle that Prime Minister Radu Vasile has announced for next month. He said the such discussions are reminiscent of the "reshuffling psychosis" that preceded the events leading to the resignation of Victor Ciorbea's cabinet. MS[19] ETHNIC HUNGARIAN LEADER ON UNIVERSITY IN ROMANIAAttila Verestoy, leader of the Senate parliamentary group of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania, said on 14 August that he wished to "remind" President Emil Constantinescu of his 10 December 1997 declaration. Constantinescu had said he supports the setting up of a Hungarian-language state university in Romania. Verestoy was responding to Constantinescu's recent statement in Cluj in support of a "multi-cultural" university in the town, Mediafax reported. Verestoy also said he does not rule out the possibility of setting up a separate university for national minorities scattered throughout several Transylvanian towns and whose center would be in "Cluj or Targu Mures." He also said teaching at such university could take place "in Hungarian and German." MS[20] BULGARIAN OFFICIALS CLAMP DOWN ON CORRUPTION, CRIMEThree customs officials and two police officers in the Black Sea port of Burgas have been dismissed and 13 other customs officials are being investigated for involvement in smuggling into the country millions of tons of sugar without paying custom duties, AP reported on 14 August. The sugar was processed at a nearby plant owned by a subsidiary of Multigroup, which is run by members of the former communist nomenklatura and security services. The same day, customs officials at the Black Sea port of Varna seized 670 kilograms of cocaine, while police near Sofia arrested a Bulgarian who tried to sell a Turkish bus driver 3,200 compact discs suspected to be pirate copies. MS[C] END NOTE[21] STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE CENTRAL BANK OF RUSSIAA crisis broke out on world financial markets when the Russian economy was at the start of a recovery. From October 1997 the Government and the Bank of Russia have been protecting the main achievements of the economic policy of the recent years--stable prices and a fixed ruble and, hence, the living standards of the people. The problem of servicing the national debt aggravated sharply [sic] with the worsening of the foreign economic situation and because of the unsatisfactory state of affairs with revenues of the budget. Expenditures for the redemption of the earlier issued state securities and the payment of interest on them have become a heavy burden on the state budget with tax collection being low. The Russian Government has to reduce the domestic state debt, cutting expenditures under the federal budget and making external borrowings. The Government's economic programme was backed in July by international financial organisations and leading countries of the world. However, the crisis aggravating in Asia and a new fall of world prices of oil have not permitted the restoration of the confidence in Russian securities and, hence, the improvement of the situation with the budget. The country's foreign currency reserves continue shrinking and the banking system experiences certain difficulties. In this situation the Government and the Bank of Russia deem it necessary to take a set of measures aimed at the normalisation of the financial and budget policy.1. As of August 17, 1998, the Bank of Russia floats the ruble within new limits of the "currency corridor" fixed at the level of from 6 to 9.5 rubles to the US dollar. Interventions by the Bank of Russia will be made to lessen sharp fluctuations in the ruble rate. The Bank of Russia will be using the interest policy for the same purpose. 2. State securities (treasury bills and federal loans bonds) that are to be canceled up to December 31, 1999, inclusively, will be exchanged for new securities. The technical parameters of the exchange will be announced on Wednesday, August 19, 1998. Biddings in the market of treasury bills -- federal loan bonds are suspended till the securities' exchange is completed. 3. Under the provisions of the regulations of the International Monetary Fund, the Government and the Bank of Russia introduce temporary restrictions for Russian residents on large-scale foreign currency operations. A 90-day moratorium is imposed as of August 17, 1998 on the repayment of credits received from non-residents in the Russian Federation, on the payment of insurance on credits insured by the mortgage of securities, on the payments under fixed-term contracts in foreign currency. Non-residents in the Russian Federation are prohibited to invest funds into ruble assets with the time for repayment of up to one year. 4. The Government and the Bank of Russia regard a stable functioning of the banking system and the system of settlements and payments in the Russian Federation as one of [its] important priorities. In this connection, the Government and the Bank of Russia favour the setting up of a payments' pool by the biggest Russian banks to maintain stability of interbank settlements. At the same time the Bank of Russia is going to exert efforts to consolidate the Russian banking system, drawing into this stable [sic] Russian Banks and leading foreign banks. 5. To restore the financial market, the Russian Government will shortly begin placing short-term treasury bills (for a term of one or two weeks). A broader range of securities will be issued for the population. 6. The Government and the Bank of Russia address to the Federal Assembly a legislative initiative to tighten control over the flow of currency abroad. At the same time the Government and the Bank of Russia are going to take urgent actions in the area within the bounds of their powers. 7. The Russian Government repeatedly suggests to the State Duma to hold an extraordinary session before the end of August to pass key draft laws helping to ensure the timely payment of pensions and wages to workers in the state sector, to create legislative procedures for banks' stabilisation and to strengthen the system of currency regulation and currency control. Prime Minister, President, Russian Federation Bank of Russia S.V. Kiriyenko S.K. Dubinin Source: ITAR-TASS, 17 August 1998. 17-08-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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