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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 162, 98-08-25Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 162, 25 August 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] UN WITHDRAWS SOME PERSONNEL FROM TAJIKISTANThe UN observers' mission in Tajikistan released a statement on 24 August announcing it will temporarily withdraw some of its personnel from Tajikistan and has suspended "non-essential" visits to the country by UN employees, ITAR-TASS reported. A political adviser to the UN observers told ITAR-TASS the decision affects those who were monitoring the peace process in areas outside Dushanbe until 20 July, when four employees of the UN were killed in a remote area in central Tajikistan. Although the Tajik government and United Tajik Opposition say they know who the guilty parties are, there have been no announcements to date that anyone has been brought to Dushanbe to face charges. ITAR-TASS on 25 August, quotes "a representative of the Tajik government" as saying it is the lack of success in extraditing the alleged perpetrators of the crime from UTO-held territory that has prompted the UN move. BP[02] KAZAKH PREMIER SAYS NO REDUCTION IN OIL PRODUCTIONNurlan Balgimbayev said while visiting the western town of Uralsk that the country will not cut oil production in 1998, Interfax reported on 24 August. Balgimbayev said he is aware that oil prices are the lowest in 30 years, but he added that Kazakhstan will still produce 27 million tons this year, of which nearly 15 million will be exported. Balgimbayev noted that the country could produce up to 220 million tons a year but added that only "once the price is up will we increase oil production." The premier said that a number of pipeline projects are currently under review, and he noted that "if the political situation in Afghanistan stabilizes," a pipeline via that country to the Arabian Sea is a possibility. Balgimbayev stressed the importance of the oil industry, saying it "provides over 30 percent of budget revenues." BP[03] KYRGYZSTAN WILL GUARD ITS OWN BORDERSBolot Januzakov, an official in the presidential administration, said at a press briefing on 24 August that beginning next year, Kyrgyzstan will start forming its own border service to replace Russian border guards, ITAR-TASS reported. Finance Minister Talaibek Koichumanov said on 21 August that 63 million som (about $3.3 million) has been allotted from the state budget for this purpose, RFE/RL correspondents reported. The move comes after a 21 August visit by Russian Border Guard director Colonel- General Nikolai Bordyuzha and is in keeping with an earlier bilateral agreement. But before Bordyuzha's arrival in Kyrgyzstan, ITAR-TASS on 21 August quoted him as saying "there will be no serious reduction or withdrawal of Russian border guards from Kyrgyzstan in the near future." Since 1992, Russian border guards have been helping provide security along the China-Kyrgyz border, at the national airport outside Bishkek, and along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. BP[04] EU WELCOMES ARMENIAN PARTICIPATION IN TRACECA CONFERENCEDennis Corboy, EU ambassador to the three Transcaucasus states, told journalists in Yerevan on 24 August that the EU welcomes the Armenian leadership's decision to send a government delegation to Baku to participate in the 7-8 September conference on the TRACECA transport corridor, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. But Corboy admitted that unresolved conflicts in the Transcaucasus could prove an obstacle to implementation of the TRACECA project, which is sponsored by the EU. He called for talks aimed at resolving the Karabakh conflict to be resumed within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. LF[05] TWO KILLED IN WEST GEORGIAN BOMB EXPLOSIONTwo people were killed on 24 August and 60 injured when part of the regional administration building in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi was destroyed by a bomb, Caucasus Press reported. Most of those injured were fugitives from neighboring Abkhazia's Gali Raion. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze condemned the blast as "an act masterminded and executed by enemies of Georgia." He added that it "will not change the Georgian people's determination to build an independent and democratic state," ITAR- TASS reported. LF[06] GEORGIA CLOSES FRONTIER WITH ARMENIA?Georgian border troops are refusing to allow Armenian citizens to enter Georgia, Noyan Tapan reported on 24 August, quoting an Armenian Agriculture Ministry official. Two days earlier, Georgia had banned the import of cattle, poultry, and dairy products from Armenia because of an outbreak of hoof- and-mouth disease there. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[07] SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR CEASE-FIRE IN KOSOVAThe UN Security Council issued a statement in New York on 24 August calling on both sides to establish an immediate cease-fire in the province. The text condemned "all violence and acts of terrorism from whatever quarter" and warned of a "humanitarian disaster" if the conflict continues into the winter. It added that the violence "has dangerous implications for the stability of the region." In Bonn, a spokesman for Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that "if the situation worsens further, military intervention could become necessary." The spokesman added that Germany will propose to its EU partners an additional package of economic sanctions against federal Yugoslavia. The proposal also calls for the "observation of Kosovar Albanians in Germany to prevent them from purchasing weapons." Elsewhere, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi told visiting Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Lilic that he supports Serbia's position on Kosova, the Belgrade daily "Danas" wrote. PM[08] SERBIAN OFFENSIVE CONTINUESSerbian forces continued to shell ethnic Albanian villages near the road connecting Prishtina with Prizren on 24 August. Several ethnic Albanian villages near Prishtina airport also came under fire. From London, the "Financial Times" quoted unidentified diplomats as saying that the Serbian strategy is to take control of highways and nearby villages and confine the guerrillas to an ever smaller area of central Kosova. "Once the villages are empty, police and paramilitary forces move in, looting and burning homes, despite assurances given by [Yugoslav President] Slobodan Milosevic...that civilians are welcome to return." PM[09] AID WORKERS REPORTED KILLEDThe Prishtina daily "Koha Ditore" reported that Serbian paramilitary police killed three aid workers belonging to the Mother Teresa charitable foundation near Malisheva on 24 August after allowing the three to pass a checkpoint. The report said that the Serbs fired on a tractor that the aid workers were using to take basic food supplies and soap distributed by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to displaced persons nearby. Spokesmen for the Mother Teresa organization told AP that they are trying to contact their personnel in the field to verify the report. PM[10] STUDENT LEADERS SENTENCEDThe district court in Prizren sentenced nine ethnic Albanian students on 24 August to jail terms totaling 32 and one-half years. Their crimes included "engaging in hostile acts and terrorism" this past spring (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 May 1998). The students said that they had only organized a public first- aid course. PM[11] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS KOSOVAR ABUSES 'COMMONPLACE'Amnesty International issued three reports in London on 24 August charging that "each day, extreme misery and pain produced by human cruelty is now an everyday experience for more and more helpless people." The organization argued that women, refugees, and the mentally handicapped are particularly vulnerable to violence and to "ill treatment by police and unfair trials." PM[12] INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS PROTEST VIOLENCEThe Belgrade-based Association of Independent Electronic Media in Yugoslavia (ANEM) issued a statement on 24 August to protest what it called "violent acts against journalists that occurred over the past week" in Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 August 1998). The incidents involved beatings, intimidation, or "disappearances" of Serbian or ethnic Albanian journalists. The text concluded: "ANEM calls on all participants in armed actions...to refrain from violence against journalists and from using them in mutual showdowns and for blackmail. ANEM calls on the international organizations to find Radio Prishtina's missing journalist and his driver.... ANEM urges all mediators...to pay special attention to the security of journalists.... ANEM once again calls on all journalists and media to [be professional and]...adhere to journalistic ethics." PM[13] UCK TO ADOPT GUERRILLA TACTICSAdem Demaci, the chief political spokesman for the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK), said that the fighters will no longer wage conventional warfare against the Serbian forces but will use guerrilla tactics, the Belgrade daily "Danas" wrote on 25 August. Demaci argued that the Serbian forces will be much more vulnerable if they do not know from which direction to expect an attack and that "30,000 armed guerrillas" will be very effective using hit-and-run tactics. PM[14] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION LAUNCHES PROTESTS AFTER ARRESTS...About 3,000 Democratic Party supporters protested in central Tirana's Skanderbeg Square on 24 August against the imprisonment of six former high- ranking government officials the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 24 August 1998). Former President Sali Berisha delivered a speech in which he called Prime Minister Fatos Nano a "criminal" and "drug addict." Berisha added that "we are here today to tell [Nano] that we defend our rights with our lives, with our blood. You are our enemy, the enemy of freedom, the enemy of the Albanians, Albania, and the Albanian nation." An editorial in a special edition of "Rilindja Demokratike" the same day called on Democratic supporters to "fill public squares with protests until this government of criminals, smugglers, and national traitors is gone." Most Albanian newspapers do not usually publish on Mondays. FS[15] ...BUT COURT BACKS DETENTIONA Tirana military court ruled on 24 August that the six former officials, who are charged with committing crimes against humanity during the unrest in 1997, must remain in custody pending trial. So far, no date has been set for that trial. A defense lawyer told VOA's Albanian-language service that the charges are trumped-up. He stressed that no individual was hurt by any actions of the six. The lawyer charged that the military court overstepped its authority by ruling on all the defendants, some of whom are civilians. FS[16] ALBANIAN CENTRAL BANK REPORTS SLOW RECOVERYCentral Bank Governor Shkelqim Cani told Reuters on 24 August in Tirana that the economy is showing modest signs of recovery after unrest, following the collapse of pyramid investment schemes in early 1997. Cani said that he expects a GDP growth of 10 percent this year and a decline in inflation from 40 percent at the end of 1997 to 10 percent by the end of 1998. Both targets are in line with recommendations by the IMF, which recently allocated $48 million to Albania. Cani said that Kosova crisis could have a negative impact on foreign investment and also force the government to increase spending. FS[17] ROMANIAN FINANCE MINISTER PRESENTS BUDGET REDUCTION PROPOSALDaniel Daianu on 24 August submitted to the government his proposal to cut the current budget by some 8 trillion lei (almost $ 1 billion), RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Daianu also said his ministry is working on a project to sell the debts of state companies in exchange for shares at prices below the outstanding debt. Daianu also said he supported a proposal recently made by Sorin Dimitriu, head of the State Privatization Fund, to sell loss-making companies "for 1 dollar" to those willing to take over the companies' debts. MS[18] ROMANIAN MINERS STAGE WARNING STRIKESome 30,000 miners on 24 August staged a 24-hour warning strike to protest lay-offs and what they claim is the government's failure to implement a program for the restructuring of areas in which miners have accepted voluntary redundancy. MS[19] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT ON RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CHANGEPetru Lucinschi on 24 August told journalists that he hopes the changes in the Russian government will help overcome "the acute financial crisis" in that country. Lucinschi said that Russia is Moldova's "strategic partner," with 60 percent of exports being directed to that country. Consequently, he added, Moldova "is very much interested in having the situation there stabilized," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Dumitru Croitoru told RFE/RL that the change of government in Moscow will not "in any way influence" Russian-Moldovan relations and is "an internal Russian problem in which Moldova cannot interfere." MS[20] MOLDOVANS MARK RIBBENTROP-MOLOTOV PACT ANNIVERSARYSome 200 people on 23 August participated in a rally in Chisinau marking the 59th anniversary of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, which led to Bessarabia's annexation by Stalinist Russia in 1940. The participants demanded the "elimination of the historic injustice," the annulment of "all consequences of the pact," and the restoration of the "Romanian unitary state within its historic borders," Infotag reported. The protesters also shouted anti-Russian slogans in front of the Russian embassy and demanded the release of Ilie Ilascu, who has been jailed for six years in Transdniester. MS[21] BULGARIAN PREMIER SAYS RUSSIA WILL OVERCOME FINANCIAL CRISISIvan Kostov on 24 August said Russia will overcome its current financial crisis "because the international community supports Moscow's efforts" and because Russia itself has "considerable resources," ITAR- TASS reported. Kostov said that President Boris Yeltsin's "decisive governance" is also a factor that will help overcome the crisis, but he added that the financial situation in Russia could have a "negative impact" on bilateral trade and economic cooperation. In other news, Reuters reported on 24 August that in a bid to attract foreign tourists, Bulgaria has lifted value-added tax on tourist services offered by local tour operators to foreigners. MS[C] END NOTE[22] LATVIA TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON CITIZENSHIP LAW AMENDMENTSby Jan CleaveTwo months after the passage of amendments to the country's citizenship law, the Latvian Central Electoral Committee has announced that an initiative by the nationalist-inclined Fatherland and Freedom party to hold a referendum on those amendments has been successful. By 24 August, the committee had counted some 224,000 signatures, well over the 131,000--or 10 percent of the electorate--required to force a referendum. The final result of the campaign will be announced once signatures from abroad are included in the tally. Meanwhile, the fate of the citizenship law amendments continues to hang in the balance--a state of affairs that will not help improve Latvia's tense relations with neighboring Russia. Latvia's treatment of its approximately 650,000- strong ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking minority has long been a source of discord between Moscow and Riga. Basing its law on the principle that it was occupied and did not have to give citizenship to those who were moved there by the occupying authorities, Latvia renewed the citizenship of those who had it in 1940 and also that of their descendants. Many of those who fell into these two categories were ethnically Russian. The Russian government has rejected Latvia's interpretation of its political history and argued that Latvia's citizenship law is intended to withhold citizenship from the many people, primarily but not exclusively ethnically Russian, who moved to Latvia between 1940 and 1991. And Moscow has consistently argued that this "deprivation" constitutes ethnic discrimination. Latvia's citizenship law was passed in 1994, following extensive debates and disagreement among the coalition parties. The legislation came under fire not only from Russia but also from international organizations such as the OSCE, which urged Riga to adopt amendments in line with its recommendations. But with a ruling coalition that includes groups willing at times to play the nationalist card, it quickly became apparent that the government parties were unable to agree among themselves on how to amend the law. Ironically, the passage of the amendments was expedited by an event earlier this year that outraged Moscow and revealed just how fragile Latvian- Russian relations are. On 3 March, some 1,000, mostly Russian- speaking pensioners blocked the main road in downtown Riga to protest living standards. When several protesters refused to move off that road, police used rubber batons to disperse them. Footage of those events shown by Russian Public Television sparked an outcry in Moscow, with politicians of all stripes calling for retaliatory measures. Just six weeks later, the Cooperation Council of the ruling coalition parties reached an agreement whereby the law would be amended to remove the "naturalization windows" (which gave priority to younger people), simplify language tests for people over 65, and grant citizenship to all children born after 21 August 1991 when they reach 16 and can prove their ability to speak Latvian. But while the last provision was supported by the Fatherland and Freedom party, which is the largest party in the parliament, it did not meet the OSCE recommendation that children born in Latvia be automatically granted citizenship, regardless of language proficiency. An amended version of the law that complied with the OSCE recommendation was finally pushed through the parliament in the third and final reading in mid-June. Since then, the signing into law of the amendments has been on hold, thanks to the initiative of the Fatherland and Freedom party, supported by the constitutionally required one-third of parliamentary deputies, to collect signatures for a referendum. Prime Minister Guntars Krasts of the Fatherland and Freedom Party, who signed the referendum petition just days before the signature-collecting campaign ended, argues that the amendments were passed without a broad public debate and that the best way to judge public opinion is through a popular vote. President Guntis Ulmanis and Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs, in particular, have been vocal opponents of such a ballot, arguing that it will further damage relations with Russia and also jeopardize Latvia's chances of joining the EU. But the referendum will not only impact on Latvia's relations with its eastern neighbor and on its image abroad. It is also set to make citizenship and minority-majority relations a campaign issue in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for 3 October. That, observers note, will have the effect of both keeping alive and turning the full public spotlight onto an issue that has deeply divided Latvian society. Moreover, with only the two-thirds majority population able to cast its vote, the referendum itself is likely to stir up animosity within the disenfranchised one-third minority. The Fatherland and Freedom Party, meanwhile, has made it clear that it wants the referendum to take place at the same time as the elections. Such a scenario would likely encourage more people to take part in the ballot. The party is also concerned that if the vote were to take place on a separate day, there may not be the necessary turnout of 50 percent of the electorate. Indeed, the timing of the referendum may well prove crucial to the validity of the ballot. If the vote does not take place until after the elections-- and the chairman of the Central Electoral Committee has already come out in favor of that option--voters may be required to cast their ballot twice within a short period. Experience shows that in such cases, election- weariness among voters frequently determines the outcome of the second ballot. 25-08-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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