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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 191, 98-10-02Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 191, 2 October 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN YEREVANJavier Solana arrived in Yerevan from Baku on 1 October on the last leg of a Transcaucasian tour that he said is aimed at deepening the Alliance's "good relations" with the three countries of the region, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Following talks with Prime Minister Armen Darpinian on regional initiatives, Solana said there is "space for further cooperation" between NATO and Armenia, which Darpinian said has a "very serious future." Solana said he does not consider Armenia's close military cooperation with Russia an obstacle to relations with NATO. General Mikael Harutyunian, Armenian army chief of staff, said that his talks with Solana will focus on Armenia's involvement in the Partnership for Peace program and on future cooperation, including training of officers and joint military exercises. A senior Armenian Foreign Ministry official told RFE/RL on 30 September that Yerevan will not seek NATO membership in the foreseeable future. LF[02] ARMENIA, GEORGIA AT ODDS OVER GAS TRANSITGeorgia has rejected an Armenian demand for compensation for the cost of building a gas pipeline from Russia via Georgia to Armenia during the early 1990s, Caucasus Press reported on 1 October. David Eliashvili, head of the Georgian company Transgazprom, termed the Armenian claims groundless, pointing out that Yerevan is in arrears in paying transit fees. In December 1997, Armenia and Russia created a joint venture to manage supplies of Russian natural gas to Armenia. Under a subsequent agreement signed in July 1998, that joint venture assumed ownership of Armenia's natural gas infrastructure. LF[03] RUSSIAN PRESS BLAMES U.S. BODY FOR AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION TACTICS"Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 30 September lays the blame for the ongoing confrontation between the Azerbaijani opposition and authorities over the upcoming presidential poll on the National Democratic Institute. The daily claims that the institute openly backs the opposition, which embarked on "mass acts directed against the president" only in August after the NDI proposed postponing the presidential poll until a later date. "Nezavisimaya gazeta," which is financed by Boris Berezovskii's LogoVAZ group, termed the NDI's activities a violation of all the laws of international ethics and interference in the internal affairs of a foreign state. It suggested that the U.S. wants the poll to be flawed by procedural violations on the assumption that a compromised and weak Aliev would be more susceptible to U.S. pressure. LF[04] GEORGIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS IN JEOPARDY?As of 1 October, the Georgian Finance Ministry had transferred to the Central Electoral Commission only 100,000 lari ($74,000) of the estimated 1.53 million lari needed to finance the 15 November municipal elections, Caucasus Press reported. The ministry's budget has been sequestered, and the Central Bank has failed to transfer funds to the ministry because of its debts to the state. Also on 1 October, Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze and Prosecutor- General Djamlet Babilashvili assured the Georgian parliament that they will take all necessary measures to prevent any interference by the "power" bodies in the voting. LF[05] GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS TO HOLD CONGRESS IN ADJARIAParliamentary deputy Boris Kakubava has reached agreement with Adjar Supreme Council chairman Aslan Abashidze on convening a congress of Georgian displaced persons who fled Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 war in Batumi, Caucasus Press reported. Representatives of the displaced persons were prevented from holding that congress in Tbilisi in late September as originally planned (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 and 28 September 1998). LF[06] TWO AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS BEATENTwo sisters on the staff of the opposition newspaper "Yeni Musavat," Esmira and Ilhama Namiqqizi, were attacked and beaten at a Baku metro station on the evening of 30 September, ANS-press reported on 2 October. Rauf Arifoglu, editor of "Yeni Musavat," told journalists that the newspaper had received "numerous" threatening telephone calls in recent weeks. On 29 September, Esmira Namiqqizi had published an article criticizing several officers of the Interior Ministry's Anti-Gangster and Anti-Terrorism Department. LF[07] TAJIKISTAN DENIES AIDING ANTI-TALIBAN OPPOSITIONPresidential press spokesman Zafar Saidov has denied allegations by an Afghan Taliban leader that Tajikistan provided an airbus to transport Iranian- and Russian-supplied arms to anti-Taliban rebels on Afghan territory, Reuters reported on 2 October. In a radio broadcast the previous day, a Taliban leader had claimed that a pilot who recently defected to the Taliban forces said he had flown a planeload of ammunition from southern Tajikistan to Bagram, north of Kabul, for delivery to opposition commander Ahmed Shah Massoud. LF[08] TAJIK GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION ISSUE ULTIMATUM TO WARLORDSIn a joint statement released on 1 October, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri issued an ultimatum to rebel field commanders to surrender their arms within one week, Reuters and Interfax reported. According to the ultimatum, any maverick groups that fail to comply will be forcibly neutralized. The document is directed primarily against the military formations commanded by Said Mukhtor Yurov and Rafshan Gafurov, which operate east of Dushanbe. Also on 1 October, ITAR-TASS reported that the contact group of ambassadors of states that are guarantors of the 1997 General Peace Agreement have issued a statement welcoming the agreement reached between the Tajik leadership and opposition on the resumption of cooperation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 September 1998). LF[09] TURKMENISTAN, UKRAINE FAIL TO SETTLE GAS DEBTSTalks between President Saparmurat Niyazov and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Holubchenko in Ashgabat have failed to yield an agreement on how Kyiv should pay its estimated $704 million debt for Turkmen gas supplied in 1996-1997, Interfax reported on 1 October. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma had proposed that Kyiv would supply commodities to cover part of that debt. Nor was agreement reached on several proposed bilateral construction projects, including a bridge across the Amu-Darya River in eastern Turkmenistan and the reconstruction of compressor stations. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] UN TAKES NO ACTION ON KOSOVAThe Security Council voted on 1 October to condemn the recent massacres of ethnic Albanians in Kosova but did not assign blame for the killings or authorize NATO to intervene militarily against Serbia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 October 1998). British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, who holds the rotating chair of the highest UN body and who called the special session, said that the vote is a "clear, direct message" to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to "immediately investigate and punish those responsible" for the killings. Russian and Chinese diplomats told reporters, however, that their governments want further information on the massacres before assigning blame. Slovenian Ambassador Danilo Turk told CNN that "diplomacy still has a job to do" before the Council can authorize military action. CNN concluded that "it is not clear if there is the international will" to take tough measures against Belgrade. PM[11] BELGRADE INVITES ANNANThe state-run Tanjug news agency reported that the government on 2 October issued an invitation to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit that country before finishing his forthcoming report on Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 October 1998). The previous day, Yugoslav Ambassador to the UN Vladislav Jovanovic said in New York that he hopes Annan will rely on "real information" on the massacres, and not that supplied by international humanitarian organizations. Jovanovic suggested that the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) might be responsible for the killings and called for an investigation by forensic teams consisting of Serbian and foreign experts. The diplomat also urged the UN to investigate the murders of Serbian civilians and police in Kosova. Jovanovic warned against authorizing NATO air strikes against his country, saying that such intervention would only "make matters worse" and place the international community on the side of "separatists and terrorists." PM[12] WASHINGTON ISSUES TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR YUGOSLAVIAThe State Department issued a warning to U.S. citizens on 1 October to leave Yugoslavia. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave a closed-door briefing to the entire Senate on the security situation in Kosova. She later told reporters that diplomacy will be given an additional chance to resolve the crisis but added that NATO is "now prepared to act." Secretary of Defense William Cohen said that the deadline for NATO to decide on intervention will come "soon." Robert Gelbard, who is the U.S. special envoy for the former Yugoslavia, told the BBC that the massacres leave Serbia with "no credibility at all." In New York, Ambassador Greenstock said that "it looks as though Milosevic will only understand the use of force or the threat of the use of force. That is what we are now preparing. If it's necessary, we will use it... If unity [of the Security Council on intervention] is not possible, then we'll have to make our own decisions according to the circumstances." PM[13] SESELJ THREATENS RETALIATION AGAINST NATO TROOPSSerbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj said in Belgrade on 1 October that Western countries are manipulating the reports of atrocities in Kosova to justify military attacks on Serbia. "All media and all agencies in charge of waging a special, psychological war have joined this orchestrated campaign by Western powers against the Serbian people.... Maybe we are incapable of hitting each one of their planes, but the West should be aware that their soldiers will be our targets no matter where they are, if we can get at them." The former paramilitary leader added that there are "some territories where it will be easy to do so." Observers suggested that this might be a reference to SFOR troops in Bosnia. The next day, Mirjana Markovic, who is Milosevic's wife, compared the U.S. to a "bellicose giant who picks adversaries who cannot defend themselves." PM[14] ALBANIA CHARGES SERBIA WITH GENOCIDEThe Albanian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 1 October saying that the recent killing of civilians in Kosova showed "the readiness of Belgrade's authorities to continue their policy of aggression, genocide and ethnic cleansing" against Kosovars. The statement stressed that the massacres are only "one episode in the endless cruelties of the Serbian military and police forces" and charged Serbia with having massacred hundreds of civilians since February under the pretext of fighting the UCK. The statement called on the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to bring to justice the "perpetrators of these crimes and those in Belgrade who ordered them." The statement also called for NATO intervention in Kosova to "end Serbian violence [there]." FS[15] RADISIC CALLS FOR PRAGMATISMZivko Radisic, who is the newly elected Serbian member of the Bosnian joint presidency and who will soon occupy the rotating chair of that body, told the "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" of 2 October that his Socialist Party is totally independent of its Yugoslav namesake, Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia. Radisic said he would not have run for the presidency if he did not believe "in the future of Bosnia- Herzegovina," but he added that that state consists of two legally equal entities and three equal peoples. He said he regrets that Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic, who is a member of the same electoral coalition as he is, was not reelected but said that he expects he can work with her successor, Nikola Poplasen. Radisic called that Hague-based war crimes tribunal a "political court directed exclusively against the Serbian people," adding that war criminals must first answer to their own ethnic group. PM[16] OSCE SACKS ELECTED OFFICIALSIn Sarajevo on 1 October, representatives of the OSCE, which supervised the 12-13 September Bosnian elections, barred a Croatian local council member from Siroki Brijeg and a Serbian deputy to the Republika Srpska legislature from taking their seats. The move was punishment for violations of the election rules by their respective parties, the Croatian Democratic Community and the Serbian Radical Party. The election supervisors fined a Muslim-led coalition in Tuzla $700 for arranging for its supporters to vote in their own homes. In Lukavica, the joint government approved a draft agreement with Croatia on Bosnia's use of Croatia's port of Ploce. The joint presidency and parliament, as well as the Croatian legislature, must ratify the text before it becomes binding. PM[17] MAJKO FORMS NEW GOVERNMENTAlbanian President Rexhep Meidani approved the new cabinet list that Prime Minister-designate Pandeli Majko presented to him on 2 October. The composition is little different from that of the outgoing government of former Prime Minister Fatos Nano, Reuters reported. Ingrid Shuli of the Social Democrats replaced fellow party member Gaqo Apostoli as public works and transport minister, and Socialist Kadri Rrapi succeeded party colleague Anastas Angjeli as labor minister. Angjeli will take over the finance portfolio from Arben Malaj. The parliament must vote on the cabinet within 10 days. PM[18] BERISHA SLAMS MAJKOFormer President Sali Berisha told a press conference on 1 October that "the leadership of the Democratic Party would like to inform Albanians and the international community that the newly nominated prime minister interrupted his university studies for a year owing to a serious mental illness." He did not elaborate, nor has Majko commented on that claim. Berisha added that his party had offered a dialogue but President Meidani had declined to consult with his party before asking Majko to form a new government. FS[19] GREEK CONSULAR OFFICIAL ATTACKED IN GJIROKASTRAUnidentified attackers threw a hand-grenade at the apartment of the secretary of the Greek Consulate in Gjirokastra on 30 October, AP reported. A room was damaged but there were no injuries. Several explosions have occurred in Gjirokastra this year, but no one has claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, Europe's soccer's governing body, UEFA, has postponed a match between Albania and Greece because of the continuing political instability in Albania. The Euro 2000 qualifying match was scheduled to take place in Tirana on 10 October. FS[20] BUCHAREST'S DECISION ON 'MULTICULTURAL UNIVERSITY' STIRS CONTROVERSYDeputy Education Minister Mihai Korka said it is "absurd" to limit teaching in the envisaged "Petofi-Schiller" multicultural university to minority languages and that his ministry will not agree to carry out the decision unless tuition there is conducted in the Romanian language as well. Observers stress that Education Minister Andrei Marga, a main opponent of "ethnic universities," did not participate in the government meeting that adopted the decision on 30 September. Paul Porr, deputy chairman of the German Democratic Forum, said his organization was not consulted, adding that the German minority "does not need" a separate university. Observers also stress that the government-proposed compromise is illegal unless the Chamber of Deputies changes the article prohibiting higher education in separate minority state universities approved by the chamber's Education Commission, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported on 1 October. MS[21] ROMANIAN ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE WORSENSRomania's GDP in the first six months of 1998 has dropped by 5.2 percent, compared with the same period last year, the National Statistics Board said on 30 September. The balance of trade deficit for the same period has grown to $1.66 billion, compared with $1.36 billion in the first half of 1997. Exports dropped by 8.9 percent and imports by12.8 percent. MS[22] BULGARIA DISMISSES RUSSIAN OPPOSITION TO BALKAN FORCEForeign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov on 30 September told Reuters that Russia's objections to the setting up of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force for Southeastern Europe were "groundless and based on the outdated concept of a world divided into spheres of influence by the major powers." Agreement on establishing such a force was reached in Skopje on 19 September. Vlaikov said the force is "not directed against any country, neither was it an attempt to limit the influence of any state." The Russian Foreign Ministry on 29 September argued that the force is an attempt to limit Russia's role in the region. MS[C] END NOTE[23] THE PARTIES AND THE PERSONALITIES IN THE LATVIAN ELECTIONSby Jan CleaveWhen Latvian voters go to the polls on 3 October, they will be asked to vote not just in elections to the Seventh Saeima (or parliament) but also in a referendum on amendments to the citizenship law. The latter of those two ballots, which asks whether voters favor removing the so-called "naturalization windows" and granting citizenship to all children born after independence if their parents request it, has dominated the run- up to election day. Nonetheless, pundits will be watching closely after polling ends to see which of the 21 parties competing in the elections win entry to the legislature and which of the personalities leading those parties gain the upper hand in post- election negotiations on forming a new government. According to opinion polls, the likely winner of the elections will be the right-of-center People's Party, founded early this year and led by the charismatic former Prime Minister Andris Skele. Since February, the People's Party has led opinion polls ahead of the two largest ruling coalition partners: the centrist Latvia's Way, a strong advocate of the amendments to the citizenship law, and the nationalist-rightist Fatherland and Freedom party, which initiated the 3 October referendum and is the only major party openly opposed to the amendments. In a poll conducted by the Latvijas Fakti research center earlier this week, Skele's party secured 19 percent of the vote, followed by Latvia's Way (15.6 percent) and the Fatherland and Freedom party (14.1 percent). The popularity of the People's Party may be largely attributed to Skele himself, whose reputation as a reformer was molded during his premiership from December 1995 to July 1997. During that period, Latvia had its first balanced budget and the groundwork for the country's continued economic success was laid- -achievements that in the wake of the Russian financial crisis are likely to be valued by the electorate. With regard to the issue of citizenship, Skele has said he believes the amendments are vital to Latvia's bid to join the EU and NATO and to improving the country's image abroad. His party's platform, however, does not address the issue of how to improve relations with Russia. Another new formation whose popularity stems largely from its leader is the aptly named New Party (9.4 percent). Founded earlier this year, the New Party is led by Raimonds Pauls, who was a well known entertainer in the 1970s and 1980s. Its platform embraces both leftist and centrist ideology, promoting state control over the economy and closer ties to Russia while favoring tax cuts for private entrepreneurs as well as backing EU and, to a lesser extent, NATO membership. The other two parties that look set to overcome the 5 percent barrier are both on the left of the political spectrum. The Social Democratic Alliance (9.2 percent) is headed by Juris Bojars, who, as a former KGB employee, is barred from running for the Saeima. His party seeks to appeal to that part of the electorate that has suffered most under Latvia's tough economic reforms, favoring a strong role for the state in the economy. The National Harmony Party (8.2 percent), which brings together former Communists and independence activists, also favors heavy state control over the economy and is opposed to NATO membership. Analysts suggest that the undecided voter (7.6 percent of the electorate, according to the latest Latvijas Fakti poll, was undecided on the eve of the elections) may help the Farmers Union, a member of the ruling coalition, and Democratic Party Saimnieks, which quit the government earlier this year, to overcome the 5 percent hurdle. And the so-called "shy voter"--one who is unwilling to reveal to pollsters his preference for one of the more radical parties--may be instrumental in assisting formations such as Joahim Zigerist's extreme nationalist Popular Movement for Latvia or Janis Jurkans's party, which is the successor to the Communists, in their bid to enter the legislature. While it is difficult to predict the division of parliamentary mandates, analysts believe the Seventh Saeima could be even more fragmented than its predecessor. That would not bode well for the parliament. The numerous factions in the Sixth Saeima as well as the frequent changes of party membership among parliamentary deputies have been held responsible for slowing down and complicating the work of the legislature. As for the new government, the post-election negotiations on its formation are likely to be tough and protracted. People's Party chairman Skele has made it clear he would prefer a more stream-lined cabinet than the present one. Earlier this week, he told the BNS news agency that a coalition of several parties would not benefit Latvia but "two parties...would be a good result." The opinion polls, however, would seem to suggest a different outcome. This article is based on information provided by RFE/RL's Riga bureau. 02-10-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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