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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 213, 98-11-05Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 213, 5 November 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] FIGHTING CONTINUES IN NORTHERN TAJIKISTAN...Fighting between government troops and forces loyal to former army Colonel Mahmud Khudaberdiyev continues in and around the northern city of Khujand on 5 November, RFE/RL correspondents and Russian media reported. The government has dispatched another 300 soldiers to the area to bolster forces already battling Khudaberdiyev's troops. Government troops in Khujand have reportedly reclaimed buildings belonging to the National Security Ministry and the local police. Heavy fighting is reported around the Khujand headquarters of the Interior Ministry's special forces' unit. A government official told RFE/RL more than 100 have died in the fighting and that casualties are almost evenly divided between government and rebel forces. Fighting is also reported at the Anzob Pass, 100 kilometers north of Dushanbe, the highest point on the road between the Tajik capital and Khujand. BP[02] ...AFTER NEGOTIATIONS BREAK DOWNAn attempt at negotiating with Khudaberdiyev's group, which calls itself the Movement for General Peace in Tajikistan broke down shortly after commencing on 4 November. Khudaberdiyev had demanded that government forces withdraw to an area 10 kilometers from Khujand and lift the blockade of the airport at Chkalovsk. He also demanded that 40 percent of the cabinet posts be granted to his group and that former Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullajonov, who is wanted by Tajik law enforcement agencies, be allowed to speak on national television and radio. Presidential spokesman Zafar Saidov said on 5 November there will be no more negotiating with Khudaberdiyev's group and demanded that the rebels surrender immediately. BP[03] GEORGIA, RUSSIA SIGN FRONTIER AGREEMENTSGeorgian and Russian representatives signed in Moscow on 3 November two agreements redefining Russia's diminishing role in helping to guard Georgia's borders, ITAR-TASS reported. The agreements follow the passage of a law by the Georgian parliament in July affirming that over the next two years, Georgia will assume sole responsibility for doing so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 July 1998). One of the two agreements defines the ongoing areas of cooperation, which no longer include protecting Georgia's maritime borders. The second deals with the gradual transfer to Georgian jurisdiction of the areas still being jointly guarded and of property currently owned by the Russian federal Border Guard Service. LF[04] ARMENIA DENIES OFFERING TO MEDIATE BETWEEN ISRAEL, IRANForeign Ministry spokesman Arsen Gasparian on 4 November denied that during his visit to Israel last week, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian had offered to mediate between Israel and Iran, Noyan Tapan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 November 1998). But Gasparian added that Armenia does not exclude the possibility of such mediation if the government of either country requests it. LF[05] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ADJOURNS ELECTION LAW DEBATEThe ongoing debate on two draft election laws has been adjourned until 16 November after more than a dozen political parties again affirmed their support for the draft prepared by representatives of 11 parliamentary factions and groups, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 4 November. That draft, which provides for 30 seats in the future 131-member parliament to be allocated in single- member constituencies and the remaining 101 on the basis of proportional representation, is regarded as minimizing the possibility of gerrymandering. The majority Yerkrapah group wants 80 seats allocated in single-member constituencies. Prominent oppositionist David Shahnazarian warned that opposition parties will consider boycotting next summer's parliamentary elections if the Yerkrapah draft law is passed. Yerkrapah deputy Andranik Manukian dismissed the boycott threat as irrelevant for the outcome of the poll. LF[06] NEW ARMENIAN RADICAL PARTY CRITICIZES GOVERNMENTLeaders of the National Security Party, which recently split from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), have outlined the party's program, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 4 November. They pledged to strive for a tough Armenian stand in the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict and to promote the establishment of "strong Armenian statehood." The party's chairman, Garnik Isagulian, criticized the Armenian leadership's Karabakh policy as "unclear." Igor Muradian, one of the founders in 1988 of the movement for unification with Karabakh, told journalists that President Robert Kocharian is leading Armenia to "international isolation" and strained relations with "allies." Muradian predicted that Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev may soon be tempted to resume the war in Nagorno-Karabakh owing to what Muradian sees as Azerbaijan's weakening geopolitical position. LF[07] UKRAINE CONTINUES LOBBYING FOR ROLE IN CASPIAN OIL EXPORTTwo prominent Ukrainian officials have again argued the merits of transporting some Caspian oil to international markets via Ukrainian territory rather than through the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. Following a meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Consultative Council, Security and Defense Council Secretary Vladimir Gorbulin pointed out on 3 November that transportation costs per metric ton of crude via Ukraine would be $10 cheaper than via Turkey. In Baku, Ukrainian ambassador Boris Alekseenko said that the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which links up with the Druzhba pipeline, would be able to transport 40 million tons per year on completion late in 1999. He said that Ukraine could refine half of this quantity domestically. Alekseenko also endorsed proposals for routing the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline via the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa and the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun, according to ANS-Press. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[08] KOSOVARS CALL HILL PLAN 'UNACCEPTABLE'The government of the Kosovar shadow state issued a statement in Prishtina on 4 November saying that "the draft plan for an interim settlement in Kosova prepared by U.S. [Ambassador to Macedonia] Chris Hill is unacceptable. The plan cannot even serve as a basis for further discussion." The statement called for the formation of a "neutral Implementation Commission, composed of two representatives designated by the [shadow state], two designated by [Belgrade], and three individuals from abroad designated by the UN secretary general in cooperation with the EU presidency." The Kosovars said they are willing to negotiate with the Serbs in Geneva in the presence of foreign negotiators once the Independent Commission confirms that Belgrade has met the existing demands of the international community. The text added that the "interim agreement does not have to expressly confirm...that Kosova is an independent state, but the agreement must not prejudice" that view, either. PM[09] IS THE POLICE FORCE THE KEY?The statement issued by the shadow state in Prishtina on 4 November argued that any settlement in Kosova must take account of the existence of the shadow-state and its ministries and departments, which will guarantee full rights to all members of ethnic minorities. Elsewhere, senior Kosovar politician Fehmi Agani told the VOA's Albanian Service that Hill's proposal is "not yet acceptable." He stressed that the Kosovars demand "further guarantees" that the ethnic Albanians will receive a "fair share" of positions on the proposed police force. Ethnic Albanians make up some 90 percent of the province's population. Elsewhere, Hill told Reuters that the Kosovars "have gone beyond demanding independence to reviewing the specific clauses of the draft." PM/FS[10] FRANCE WANTS TO HEAD KOSOVA MISSIONDefense Minister Alain Richard said in Paris on 5 November that his country wants to "command and provide" the bulk of an all-European rapid reaction force to protect unarmed foreign monitors in Kosova. "France would like to take on a significant part of the responsibility for the security force for the monitors," he said. The proposed "extraction force," which will have a mandate to rescue any of the 2,000 monitors if they face danger, will consist of some 1,500 troops. Those troops will most likely be based in Macedonia. France has offered to provide 750 soldiers. The U.S. does not plan to send any ground troops. In Brussels on 4 November, NATO Secretary- General Javier Solana said that the "extraction force" will be operational by the end of the month. PM[11] KARADJORDJEVIC SAYS WEST HELPED MILOSEVICPrince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, who is the claimant to the Serbian throne, said in London on November 4 that the West gave Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic a "new lease on life" by negotiating with him and allowing him to play the role of a peacemaker, AP reported. The prince charged that Milosevic deliberately orchestrated the crisis in Kosova and "provoked NATO" into threatening air strikes so that he could then negotiate a settlement and portray himself to his own people as the man who "saved Serbia." Karadjordjevic added: "Serbia remains in darkness and ignorance, and the state- run media are singing praise to the president. Any hope of democratic reform is on hold, and that is serious." PM.[12] BELGRADE BARS WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATORS...A spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia said in The Hague on 5 November that "Yugoslavia has not given the necessary visas [for tribunal officials] to investigate [in Kosova]. They will not allow an investigation" there. The previous day Louise Arbour, who is the court's chief prosecutor, said that she and her staff have a clear mandate to investigate possible war crimes and other atrocities in Kosova. Critics of the recent agreement between Milosevic and U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke have noted that the pact does not oblige Milosevic to cooperate with the tribunal (see "RFE/RL Bosnia Report," 21 October 1998). PM[13] ...AND INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERSerbian authorities in Uzice on 4 November stopped a truck carrying copies of the independent daily "Danas" from Podgorica and confiscated the newspapers. The editors of "Danas" recently resumed publication in Montenegro after the Serbian authorities banned them from publishing in Belgrade under a new media law (see "RFE/RL Bosnia Report," 28 October 1998). PM[14] NEW BOSNIAN SERB PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICENikola Poplasen took office as president of the Republika Srpska in Banja Luka on 4 November. He promised to work with the international community, to defend Serbian interests in the dispute over Brcko and to promote closer ties to Belgrade. Moderate Serbian legislators joined with non-Serbian deputies to re-elect Petar Djokic speaker of the parliament. Nationalist Serbian legislator Dragan Kalinic told members of the moderate Serbian Concord coalition that the hard-liners will go into opposition. Kalinic had earlier worked to strike a power-sharing deal with Concord that would lead to his election as speaker and the exclusion of Croats and Muslims from key decisions. Before the parliament opened, the international community's Carlos Westendorp told CNN that the return to power by nationalist Bosnian Serbs would mean an end to foreign assistance to the Republika Srpska. PM[15] TURKS START TO REBUILD ALBANIAN NAVAL BASEThe arrival of three Turkish ships at Pasha Liman on 4 November marked the beginning of the Turkish navy's efforts to reconstruct Albania's main naval base. Pasha Liman is in a poor state of repair after citizens looted it during unrest in 1997. Turkey has granted Albania $5 million for the port's reconstruction and is providing 50 experts to work on the project. It is also assisting Albania in the reconstruction of a military shipyard near Vlora and of the naval academy, dpa reported. To that end, it is granting an additional $16 million. FS[16] WAS BIN LADEN IN ALBANIA?A former government minister who asked not to be identified told "Gazeta Shqiptare" on 4 November that he met suspected Islamist terrorist Osama Bin Laden in Tirana in 1994. The minister said that Bin Laden was part of a Saudi delegation and identified himself as a businessman. He offered to finance the building of apartment blocks and a health care center in an Albanian village, AP reported. The same day, the U.S. offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Bin Laden's arrest for his suspected involvement in the August U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Some media reports in August suggested that the bombings were in retaliation for several arrests of suspected Islamist terrorists in Albania this summer (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 August 1998). FS[17] ALBANIA, CHINA SIGN AGREEMENTSAlbanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo and his Chinese counterpart, Tang Jiaxuan, signed cultural and education exchange agreements in Beijing on 4 November. Milo is on a two-week Asian tour aimed at boosting economic ties. Tang praised the "traditional friendship" of the two countries, saying Beijing will never forget Albania's support for China's admission to the UN and over the issue of Taiwan, ATSH reported. Communist Albania sided with China in the Sino-Soviet dispute in the 1960s. FS[18] TURKEY PRAISES BULGARIA'S MINORITY POLICIESTurkish President Suleyman Demirel on 4 November praised Bulgaria's policies toward its Turkish minority, saying Bulgaria's ethnic Turks are "loyal citizens of their country" as well as "a bridge" between Turkey and Bulgaria, BTA reported. Demirel expressed support for Bulgaria's quest to NATO membership. Also on 4 November, Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and his visiting Bulgarian counterpart, Ivan Kostov, signed an agreement under which Sofia will pay pensions to thousands of ethnic Turks who left Bulgaria during the communist period. They also signed agreements on free trade and border demarcation, Reuters reported. In other news, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov, commenting on Serbian Deputy Premier Vojislav Seselj's recent statement on the possibility of setting up an East European military bloc against NATO, said that the idea is "ridiculous." MS[C] END NOTE[19] DEJA VU FOR SERBIAN ACADEMICSby Michael J. JordanIt's almost deja vu for Zagorka Golubovic. Except this time, it's even worse. In 1968, when Golubovic was a 38-year-old anthropology professor at Belgrade University, her classroom criticism of Yugoslavia's communist regime helped spark a six-day protest in which some 25,000 students and faculty barricaded themselves in. Soon after, loyalty to the regime became a key qualification for work. As a result, Golubovic and seven others were banned from teaching in 1975, the only such action ever taken in communist Yugoslavia. Today, Golubovic is just as unwilling to kow-tow to authority. She and more than 100 outspoken colleagues have rejected a new law demanding what amounts to an oath of loyalty to Slobodan Milosevic, the increasingly totalitarian Yugoslav president. The subsequent dismissals--a few faculty were forcibly removed during lectures and continued to teach out on the sidewalk--have spawned a movement to create an "unofficial" system of post- graduate studies. "I'm a person not easily disappointed or frustrated, but I feel even more helpless than I did in 1968 or 1975 because at least then we felt we had some autonomy," said Golubovic, who was recently in Budapest to discuss creation of the Alternative Academic Educational Network. "But we still believe we can do something about it." Such optimism is rare nowadays in Serbia. Milosevic's stable of rabid nationalists and unreformed Communists have launched an all-out assault not only on the university system but on the independent media. Not surprisingly, these two sectors are virtually the last vestiges of free thinking in Serbia. They were also responsible for the most serious threat to Milosevic's decade-long grip on power: the anti-government street protests of winter 1996-1997. Curiously, the crackdown on both higher education and the independent media comes in the wake of the agreement signed by Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke. The deal averted NATO military strikes against Serbian military facilities by promising some sort of autonomy for Kosova, Serbia's war-ravaged southern province. Belgrade conspiracy theorists suspect that Holbrooke-- in expressing the West's desperation to halt the Kosova bloodshed--may have given Milosevic the green light to bulldoze his domestic opponents. "We know that compared with a bloody uprising and bloody reaction, what happens to Serbian professors and the media is puny," conceded Vojin Dimitrijevic, a prominent law professor at Belgrade University. "But you cannot count on a lasting settlement when you allow one partner to enact brutally oppressive laws." Indeed, Milosevic's recent tactics do not augur well for the Kosova cease- fire, say dissidents. Milosevic is entrusted to serve up a palatable autonomy plan for the ethnic Albanians of Kosova, who took up arms for an independent state. But at the same time, he crushes the few institutions of autonomy for his own ethnic brethren. Would the Kosova Albanians even want what the rest of Serbia has? It's enough to drive someone like Dimitrijevic over the edge. The legal expert was vice chairman of the UN Human Rights Committee from 1992-1994. But in April 1992 he plummeted into a severe depression when his worst predictions came true: war in Bosnia, orchestrated by Milosevic. On a sabbatical in Norway at the time, Dimitrijevic found some comfort in the suggestion of his Norwegian psychiatrist: "Where you come from, anyone who doesn't suffer psychological problems is probably either abnormal or immoral." But Dimitrijevic recovered and has since rediscovered his spirit of resistance. He is director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights. And since his new dean sent him packing last month, he has helped spearhead the new Alternative Academic Educational Network. The post-graduate--albeit unaccredited--courses the network will offer will almost certainly draw top- notch students since they'll be taught by the cream of Serbian scholars. Ultimately, these outcast professors hope the network may lay the foundation for Serbia's first independent university. The need for an alternative to the Serbian universities is obvious, just as the Kosova Albanians realized when they established their "shadow" school system earlier this decade. The new university law politicized the system overnight: Milosevic now picks the education minister, who selects university deans, who, in turn, choose faculty. Hiring is no longer the job of a panel of experts or based on scholarly criteria. A contract spells out loyalty to the dean. This paves the way for less talented, but more loyal faculty, while degrading the quality of education, said Vladeta Jankovic, a literature professor and a conscientious objector. The state is also driving a wedge between students and faculty. Students have been mollified--for now--with looser requirements for passing classes and more time to take and re- take exams. Some deans, said Jankovic, are also encouraging some students to inform on their professors--who's talking politics, who's skipping lectures. Not all students are playing along. When a replacement for Jankovic was brought in from the provinces, he said all 250 students rose and marched out of the lecture hall. And a couple of professors grabbed headlines last week by teaching on the sidewalks immediately off campus, with their students looking on. "We're supposed to teach students facts, methods, and how to think," Jankovic said. "To abuse that position, to emphasize political affiliation, is criminal. The regime wants blind obedience, but we must set an example for the public--that we should not be afraid." The author is a Budapest-based journalist (e-mail: michaeljjordan@csi.com). 05-11-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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