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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 194, 98-10-08Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 194, 8 October 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] KAZAKH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SCHEDULED FOR JANUARYA joint session of the Kazakh parliament on 8 October approved holding presidential elections on 10 January 1999, RFE/RL correspondents in Astana reported. That vote was originally slated to take place in December 2000. Opposition parties and movements are expected to protest that decision. One day earlier, deputies approved amendments to the constitution extending the terms in office of both houses of the parliament and the president (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 October 1998). They also struck the provisions that a president may not be older than 65 and may not serve more than two terms in office. BP[02] NAZARBAYEV APPROVES DECISIONPresident Nursultan Nazarbayev has approved the parliament's decision to bring the presidential election forward, thereby shortening his current term in office by almost two years. Nazarbayev was elected once as president following independence in 1991, and his term in office was extended through a referendum in 1995, which also stipulated that the presidential election would take place in December 2000. BP[03] UZBEKISTAN TO INTRODUCE MONTHLY REPORTS ON FOREIGN TRADEPresident Islam Karimov has signed a document stipulating that companies must produce monthly reports on their foreign trade activities, Interfax reported on 7 October. Starting in January 1999, "both public and private economic entities" are required to submit monthly reports of their exports, imports, and currency flows. Special legislation will be introduced to punish company heads who do not meet the deadlines. BP[04] KYRGYZ CHIEF BANKER PAINTS GLOOMY PICTUREThe chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Bank, Marat Sultanov, was quoted by ITAR- TASS on 8 October as saying "we were prepared for the Russian crisis in Kyrgyzstan but not on such a scale." Sultanov noted that the Russian Federation is his country's main trading partner, accounting for 25 percent of Kyrgyzstan's foreign trade. He said the value of the national currency, the som, has decreased by 17-18 percent since the beginning of the Russian economic crisis. And he revealed that Kyrgyzstan was able to prop up the som by using bank reserves, "which then decreased by 7-8 percent." BP[05] DEPUTY SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT RESIGNSAs the parliament met for the third day to consider opposition demands that the government's privatization program be changed, Albert Bazeyan, a deputy speaker of that body, announced his resignation on 7 October, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Bazeyan, a leading figure in the Yerkrapah group, which supports President Robert Kocharian, said that he "does not want to participate in political games." Following his announcement, the parliament narrowly rejected the opposition's changes to the privatization program. PG[06] ONLY 7,000 PARTICIPATE IN ARMENIAN COMMUNIST RALLYSome 7,000 communist supporters--far fewer than organizers had predicted-- participated in a demonstration in Yerevan on 7 October to express "solidarity" with protesters in Russia and to demand the resignation of the Armenian government, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Communist party leader Sergei Badalian told the crowd in Yerevan that Armenians must place their hopes on the "victory of the Russian people." PG[07] ARMENIAN AIRLINE IN TROUBLEVyacheslav Yaralov, the director- general of Armenian Airlines, told RFE/RL's Armenian Service on 7 October that his enterprise needs at least $50 million in the immediate future to overcome serious financial difficulties, replace aging Soviet-made aircraft, and acquire Western planes. Yaralov acknowledged that the airline lost $2 million in the first six months of 1998. PG[08] ARMENIA ASKS COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO SET UP CAUCASUS MEETINGArmenian parliamentary chairman Khosrov Arutyunyan on 7 October asked the Council of Europe to organize a joint meeting of the parliamentary speakers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, ITAR- TASS reported. Arutyunyan made the proposal in Tbilisi, where he is taking part in an expanded meeting of the bureau of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. PG[09] ALIEV AGAIN REJECTS AZERBAIJANI ELECTION DELAYArguing that the Azerbaijani Constitution gives him no choice, President Heidar Aliev on 7 October again rejected opposition demands that the presidential poll be postponed, Interfax reported. Aliev's statement came on the date the opposition had declared as a deadline for any announcement. In other remarks, Aliev noted that the country's hard currency reserves rose to $500 million in recent years, up from only $2 million in 1994. He added that inflation has fallen to nearly zero, and that the manat has strengthened against the dollar. And he also commented that he sees no reason to change the current government, which he said "consistently and intelligently implements the course of reforms." PG[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] CLINTON WARNS MILOSEVICU.S. President Bill Clinton said in Washington on 7 October that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic runs the risk of NATO air strikes against Serbia unless he fully meets the demands of the UN Security Council. The president added: "I believe it is absolutely imperative that there be a cease-fire, a withdrawal of troops, that the humanitarian groups get access to these hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced, and that negotiations resume.... The most important thing we can do is work with the Russians to try to actually avoid military strikes by securing [Milosevic's] compliance. If he does that, if he completely complies, he doesn't have to worry about military force.... I do not believe the United States can be in a position, and I do not believe NATO can be in a position, of letting tens of thousands of people starve or freeze to death this winter because Milosevic didn't keep his word." PM[11] DIPLOMATIC DEAD-END ON KOSOVA?U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke arrived in Brussels on 7 October to brief Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and NATO leaders on his talks with Serbian and Kosovar leaders during the previous two days. He met with Milosevic three times but did not secure an agreement to end the crisis in Kosova. The Yugoslav leader's office issued a statement saying that "threats" against Serbia only make the crisis worse. U.S. officials in Washington noted that Serbian forces are "digging in for the winter" in Kosova, despite Milosevic's repeated assertions that they have withdrawn. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is scheduled to meet with Milosevic in Belgrade on 8 October before the Russian diplomat travels to London for talks with the other foreign ministers of the international Contact Group countries. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told CNN on 8 October that air strikes could be only "days" away. PM[12] GEREMEK SAYS OSCE NOT TO SEND MISSION TO KOSOVAPolish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, who is also the OSCE rotating chairman, said on 7 October that the OSCE will not send its mission to Kosova, PAP reported. That statement followed Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic's invitation the previous day to send an OSCE mission to the province. Geremek said Jovanovic's proposal was "disappointing. It is hard to see a minimum of good will on the part of the Yugoslav authorities behind this proposal," he added. JM[13] SERBIA PREPARES FOR AIR STRIKESThe Serbian air force has begun shoring up its anti-aircraft defenses, including Russian SAM-6 air defense systems, and has dispersed its planes throughout the country, U.S.-based ABC Television reported on 7 October. The air force's MiG-29s have been placed in special hardened bunkers, and reservists have received call-up notices. State-run television has begun broadcasting patriotic songs and programs aimed at generating enthusiasm for the war tax that the government recently announced (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 October 1998). Shoppers have begun stockpiling basic food stuffs, and shortages have appeared in supermarkets for the first time since the Bosnian war ended in late 1995, Euronews Television reported on 8 October. PM[14] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES BAN REBROADCASTING...Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Milovan Bojic and Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic told the editors-in-chief of independent radio and television stations in Belgrade on 7 October that "public information services in conditions of immediate war must adapt their behavior" accordingly and not spread "fear, panic and defeatism" (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 7 October 1998). Bojic added that "this is not an appeal, this is an order." He said that the authorities will soon issue a formal ban on the rebroadcasting of programs of RFE/RL, VOA, the BBC, and Deutsche Welle. PM[15] ...WHILE INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS PROTESTAfter the meeting in Belgrade on 7 October, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) issued a statement, in which it said that "such orders represent the most dramatic form of state censorship in Serbia and direct intolerable interference into editorial policy of the media. Therefore, they should be considered...unconstitutional and illegal." In a second statement, ANEM charged that the police have recently harassed independent journalists. Meanwhile in the Vojvodina town of Velika Kikinda, Interior Ministry troops arrested Zoran Milesevic, the editor-in-chief of independent Radio Velika Kikinda, on the grounds that he is a reservist and that the army "needs somebody to drive ammunition trucks" to Kosova, Radio B-92 reported. PM[16] SERBS FIRE ON ALBANIAN TROOPSAn Albanian Interior Ministry spokesman told the ATA news agency on 7 October that federal Yugoslav soldiers fired at an Albanian border patrol on Albanian territory the previous day. The Albanian forces did not return fire and no one was injured in the incident, which took place in the village of Borje, near Kukes. Albania called a meeting of the joint Yugoslav-Albanian border commission to investigate the shooting. FS[17] ALBANIAN PREMIER UNDERLINES SUPPORT FOR NATO ACTION...Pandeli Majko, whose government faces a formal vote of confidence on 8 October, told the parliament the previous day that "our government supports any actions of the international community and NATO that would lead to a peaceful solution of the conflict in Kosova." Majko stressed that Albania "is threatened with [Serbia's dragging it into a conflict], which might take on regional proportions." He added that his government will make plans for accommodating refugees during the coming winter. FS[18] ...PLEDGES TO RESTORE LAW AND ORDERMajko told the parliament on 7 October that his government's top priority is fighting organized crime, corruption, and smuggling. He pledged to hold a referendum next month on a new constitution and stressed that he seeks to work with the opposition. Majko called on the Democratic Party to stop boycotting the parliament. (As he spoke, the Democrats were holding a rally outside to demand new elections.) With regard to the economic sphere, Majko said that inflation will be below10 percent and GDP will grow by 7-8 percent by the end of this year. He added that the 1998 budget deficit will amount to 6.6 percent of GDP and that the government aims to cut it to 3.2 percent by 2001. Majko also pledged to create 35,000 new jobs by year's end and 50,000 in 1999 as well as increase efforts to attract international financial aid. FS[19] BOSNIAN JOINT PRESIDENCY MEETSThe three members of the newly elected presidency agreed in Sarajevo on 7 October to hold their future meetings in that city rather than alternate the sessions between it and the Serbian-held suburb of Lukavica. This was the first meeting of that body, which consists of the Muslim Alija Izetbegovic, Serb Zivko Radisic, and the Croat Ante Jelavic. Meanwhile in Banja Luka, some 500 people protested against NATO plans to launch air strikes against Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[20] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION URGES PRESIDENT TO REPORT ON NATIONA letter has been sent to Emil Constantinescu requesting that he deliver a state of the nation address to the parliament, Rompres reported on 7 October. The letter, initiated by the opposition Alliance for Romania and the Romanian National Unity Party, was signed by some 130 parliamentary deputies. It states that Constantinescu owes it to "the Romanian people" to give them details and answers to the "serious problems" the country now faces. PB[21] ROMANIAN EDUCATION MINISTER AGAINST HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE UNIVERSITYAndrei Marga told his Hungarian counterpart, Zoltan Pokorni, that there will be no university instruction in Hungarian in Romania, MTI reported on 6 October. Marga made that comment during the World Higher Education Conference in Paris. Pokorni said further details on Marga's position are required to determine if the opinion is that of the minister or of the government. The Romanian government approved a resolution last week allowing for the establishment of a Hungarian- and German- language university, to be called Petoefi-Schiller. PB[22] MOLDOVA TO REDUCE FORCES IN TRANSDNIESTER SECURITY ZONEMoldova has decided to unilaterally reduce the number of peacekeepers in its contingent in the Transdniestrian security zone, Infotag reported on 7 October. The Moldovan delegation of the Joint Control Commission said in a statement that the move was a "step of goodwill." It said that over the next week, 82 soldiers and six armored vehicles would be moved out of the zone, which is guarded by Moldovan, Russian, and Transdniester forces. PB[23] STOYANOV CONCERNED ABOUT KOSOVABulgarian President Petar Stoyanov said on 7 October that Sofia must be "very careful" in the way it reacts to the situation in Kosova, Reuters reported. During a visit to a military unit near Sofia, Stoyanov said that he is concerned that the events in Yugoslavia could negatively influence "the situation in our countries." He said Bulgarians should not "panic." Colonel-General Mikho Mikhov, the commander of the army's General Staff, said the Bulgarian army has not been put in an increased state of combat readiness because of the situation in Kosova. PB[24] BULGARIA TO EXPORT WHEAT TO RUSSIAStoyan Alexandrov, head of Bulgaria's Central Cooperative Bank, said on 7 October that some 500,000 tons of wheat will be exported to Russia this year, AP reported, citing "Trud." Alexandrov said the quantity represents Bulgaria's entire wheat surplus for 1998. Just two years ago, Bulgaria had to import wheat, but liberalized prices and the increased private ownership of farms have increased production. PB[C] END NOTE[25] KAMCHATKA: STUNNING BEAUTY, STAGGERING WASTEby Floriana FossatoThe annual salmon run on Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East brings millions of salmon back to their spawning grounds after three or four years at sea. This year, the salmon run is particularly good. "In fact, the best in the last 40 years," say officials at Kamchatka's fish resources department. As Russia's financial and political crisis deepens, it is clear that fish and vegetables, mainly potatoes, from private plots will be the main sources of food for most of the 400,000 people living on the peninsula, which lies some 11,000 kilometers to the east of Moscow. Kamchatka, like other Russian regions, imports a large amount of foodstuffs from abroad, says Aleksandr Potievskii, head of foreign economic relations at the regional administration. Until August, when Russia in effect defaulted on its debt and devalued the ruble, importing goods from abroad was cheaper than bringing them from the "mainland," as continental Russia is called on the peninsula. According to Potievskii, transport tariffs across Russia made goods more expensive than those from abroad. As a result, food imports came mainly from the U.S., South Korea, China, and Japan. Vyacheslav Zviagintsev, manager of the private Krechet tourist agency, one of Kamchatka's longer established companies, said in August that even importing helicopter fuel from the U.S was "cheaper than importing it from Russia." Following a controversial agreement with the regional administration, Krechet has the exclusive right to bring tourists by helicopter to the Valley of Geysers, one of Kamchatka's most fascinating and most frequently visited sites. However, foreign imports had to be paid for in hard currency. Now, with Russia's banking and payments sector in effect paralyzed, most traders have reportedly had to cease their operations. Many are sinking in a sea of debt. According to Potievskii, revenues from tourism, which last year contributed 10 percent to the regional budget, will also fall, since the number of foreign and Russian tourists is set to decrease sharply. Potievskii said that some 90 percent of foreign tourists came from Japan, a country that itself is now deeply mired in economic difficulties. He added that the regional administration wanted to improve the tourist infrastructure, including upgrading the local airport. As for Russian tourists, only in the past two years had the country's emerging middle class started exploring Russia's best preserved wilderness, featuring 160 dormant and 29 active volcanoes as well as hot springs and a rich wildlife. Now, as the middle class's profits and prospects are being wiped out, Kamchatka's plans and foreseeable tourism revenues, estimated at more than $1 billion in the next decade, are also likely to suffer, at least in the short term. The main source of revenue for both the budget and the population of Kamchatka has traditionally been its fisheries, not tourism. According to official data, more than 80 percent of budget revenues originate in the fishing industry, and members of every family are involved in one way or another in the industry. Much of the fish is sold abroad, mainly to Japan and in many cases in deals made directly at sea. Fishing authorities are widely accused of involvement in the activities of black-market traders. The phenomenal salmon run of this year may have proven crucial in helping Kamchatka's economy. But the evidence suggests that profits will be strangled by a lack of adequate fish- processing and other facilities, poaching, and bureaucratic ineptitude. The spectacle of rivers brimming over with salmon is remarkable, but the sight of trucks dumping tons and tons of unprocessed dead fish is appalling. The salmon are caught and their precious red eggs, which will be sold as caviar, are extracted, but the fish themselves are literally "good for nothing" as the available facilities are unable to process them in large quantities. Moreover, there are no refrigerating and transport facilities that would enable small fishing companies to take the produce to markets outside Kamchatka. "Such blind exploitation and waste of natural resources is criminal," said Masha Vorontsova, Russian coordinator of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "It is a sad sight indeed," concedes Pavel Gordeychuk, head of fishing expertise at Kamchatka's Federal Department for Protection and Reproduction of Fish Resources and Fisheries Regulations. "However," he explains, "since the breakup of the Soviet Union, fish processing facilities on land have collapsed, as previously state-run fishing companies were privatized and only now, amidst huge problems, are small steps bring taken to revive the sector." To compensate the people of Kamchatka who are too old or unhealthy to help fishing companies with this year's salmon run, authorities have organized the free transport and distribution of tons of fish to the regional capital, Petropavlovsk Kamchatskii. People elsewhere in the region, along with the wild bear population of Kamchatka, are stocking up on fish as best they can in order to make it through the long winter. This is the first article in a three-part series on Russia's Far East by Floriana Fossato, an RFE/RL correspondent based in Moscow. 08-10-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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