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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 215, 98-11-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 215, 9 November 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] TAJIK MILITARY BEGINS MOP-UP OPERATION IN NORTH...Tajik government troops have forced rebels from the district of Aini and have cleared the highway from Dushanbe to the main northern city of Khujand. Aini was the last pocket of rebel resistance after government troops stormed the old fortress in Khujand on 7 November, freeing "dozens" of Interior Ministry troops held captive by the rebels. Latest reports suggest the rebels have broken up into small bands and are attempting to make their way to Uzbekistan. The Tajik government has reinforced border guards along the Tajik-Uzbek border. Leninabad Region administrative head Kasym Kasymov appeared on national television on 7 November saying at least 70 government soldiers and civilians have been killed and more than 300 wounded since fighting broke out on 4 November. BP[02] ...BUT REBEL LEADERS REMAIN AT LARGEThe whereabouts of rebels whom the Tajik government hold responsible for the fighting are unknown. Presidential spokesman Zafar Saidov said they may have already crossed the border into Uzbekistan. The government has named former army Colonel Mahmud Khudaberdiyev, former deputy Transportation Minister Narzullo Dustov, as well as former Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullojonov and his brother, former Khujand Mayor Abdughani Abdullojonov, as the masterminds behind what Dushanbe calls an attempted coup. The Prosecutor-General's Office launched criminal proceedings against the four on 8 November, noting that Khudaberdiyev and Abdumalik Abdullojonov are already wanted on earlier charges. BP[03] NAZARBAYEV NOT OPPOSED TO EX-PREMIER RUNNING IN ELECTIONSKazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on 7 November he welcomes other candidates in the 10 January presidential elections and has nothing against former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin taking part in that race, ITAR- TASS reported. Nazarbayev's press secretary, Asylbek Bisembayev, said the previous day that in order to be eligible to run, Kazhegeldin must have a court ruling against him overturned in a higher court before 30 November. However, Bisembayev also said Kazhegeldin needs to show more respect for the Medeu Court, which found him guilty of attending an unsanctioned meeting in early October. He added that Kazhegeldin "three times ignored the Medeu court sessions" held to consider his case. BP[04] KAZAKH PREMIER SAYS ECONOMY REMAINS SOUNDNurlan Balgimbayev on 6 November said that inflation has been kept at 2.3 percent since the beginning of this year, Interfax reported. Balgimbayev said this is an improvement over last year, when inflation reached more than 7 percent. ITAR-TASS reported on 9 November that Kazakhstan has the highest average monthly pension (some $36) among the CIS countries. BP[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION, POLICE CLASH IN BAKUPolice resorted to violence against opposition leaders and their supporters in Baku on 7 and 8 November, Reuters and Interfax reported. On 7 November, dozens of people were injured and many more detained temporarily when police intervened to prevent an unsanctioned march by 3,000- 4,000 supporters of Azerbaijan National Independence Party chairman Etibar Mamedov. The marchers were protesting the falsification of the results of the 11 October presidential elections. Mamedov claims his share of the vote was large enough to warrant a runoff between himself and Heidar Aliev, who according to official returns received 76 percent of the vote. On 8 November, police attacked and beat Liberal Party leader Lala Shovket Gadjieva and Democratic Party chairman Ilyas Ismailov following a sanctioned rally in Baku attended by between 10,000 and 15,000 people. The demonstrators similarly protested the falsification of the presidential election results. LF[06] AZERBAIJANI, TURKISH OFFICIALS DISCUSS PIPELINE PROJECTMeeting in Istanbul on 6 November, Azerbaijani and Turkish government officials finalized draft agreements on construction of the proposed Baku- Ceyhan export pipeline for Azerbaijan's Caspian oil, AP and ITAR- TASS reported. Those agreements are to be signed by the respective heads of state later this month. Also on 6 November, Turkish State Minister for Maritime Affairs Burhan Kara said Ankara may increase transit fees for tankers passing through the Turkish straits in a move that would make the export of oil via that route "irrational," AP reported. LF[07] AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT CRITICIZES OIL, GAS SECTORS...At a government session on 6 November chaired by President Aliev, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasi-zade criticized the failure of the state oil company SOCAR to reverse the ongoing decline in gas extraction, despite an increase in oil production, Turan reported. Rasi-zade also expressed concern at the decline in the export of oil products, but he did not estimate to what degree that decline is the result of the oil price slump on world markets. President Aliev gave an overall positive assessment of the country's economic performance during the first nine months of 1998, noting GDP growth of 8.5 percent. Aliev also said that Azerbaijan's per capita foreign debt ($73) is one of the lowest of any former Soviet republic. LF[08] ...ASSESSES PRIVATIZATIONAliev told government ministers that 80 percent of small state-owned enterprises and 20 percent of smaller ones have been privatized. He added that 51 percent of GDP is currently generated by the private sector. "Azadlyg" in late October reported that plans have been drawn up to privatize SOCAR and several other strategic enterprises. Those plans allegedly provide for members of Azerbaijan's ruling elite to acquire those enterprises under cover of fake foreign companies. LF[09] ARMENIAN PARTIES FAIL TO RESOLVE ELECTION LAW DEADLOCKViktor Dallakian of the Yerkapah group, the largest in the Armenian parliament, told journalists on 6 November that he does not believe the minority factions within the parliament are interested in resolving the current dispute over the country's proposed new election law, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Dallakian said that Fatherland group leader Eduard Yegorian, the author of one of the two drafts currently under discussion, failed to attend a planned meeting convened in the hope of reaching a compromise agreement. The Yerkrapah want 60 percent of the 131 seats in the new parliament to be allocated in single-mandate constituencies. Opposition parties reject that scheme, arguing that it facilitates gerrymandering. They have said they may boycott the poll if the Yerkrapah draft is voted into law (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 November 1998). LF[10] CHAIRMAN OF FORMER RULING PARTY ASSESSES ELECTION CHANCESArmenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) chairman Vano Siradeghian told a Yerevan press conference on 6 November that he thinks the HHSh will be represented in the next parliament but is unlikely to make a strong showing in the elections due next summer, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He predicted that those elections will not be fair, observing that "the opposition can close only one third of all vote-rigging loopholes." Siradeghian dismissed as "a witch-hunt" calls by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (HHD) for the present leadership unequivocally to condemn corruption by members of former President Levon Ter-Petrossian's leadership team, many of whom still hold key positions. . He criticized Ter- Petrossian's successor, Robert Kocharian, for what he termed the new leadership's hard-line foreign policies toward Turkey and on resolving the Karabakh conflict. LF[11] GEORGIAN MILITARY OFFICIAL ARRESTEDHenrikh Lolua, deputy head of the United Military Academy of Tbilisi, was arrested on 9 November on suspicion of involvement in last month's insurrection by army units in western Georgia sympathetic to deceased President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Caucasus Press reported. LF[12] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT COMMENTS ON JUSTICE REFORM SETBACKIn his weekly radio address, Eduard Shevardnadze on 9 November declined to condemn outright the 3 November ruling by Georgia's Constitutional Court that a law enacted earlier this year introducing a new professional examination for all judges is unconstitutional, Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 November 1998). Shevardnadze commented that "no reform has ever been painless," adding that Georgian society supports the new measures aimed at minimizing corruption within the legal system. Parliamentary majority leader Mikhail Saakashvili, who drafted the new law, described the Constitutional Court's ruling as "absurd and anti-legal." LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] U.S. SAYS HAGUE TRIBUNAL MUST HAVE ACCESS TO KOSOVADavid Scheffer, who is Washington's chief envoy dealing with war crimes, said in Belgrade on 7 November that "it is the unanimous view of all the Security Council members that the [Hague-based war crimes] tribunal investigators should have full authority to do their job" in Kosova. He added that the question of access to Kosova for the investigators "is not a debatable issue." He spoke at a conference on war crimes sponsored by non- government organizations in the Serbian capital on 7-8 November. The previous week, Yugoslav authorities denied visas to top officials of the Hague court to go to Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 November 1998). On 7 November, the Yugoslav Justice Ministry issued a statement stressing that Kosova is Yugoslavia's internal affair and outside the court's jurisdiction. PM[14] SERBIAN MEDIA CLAMPDOWN CONTINUESA Belgrade court ended hearings against the independent daily "Dnevni Telegraf" on 8 November, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Bratislava Morina, who heads the Serbian government's refugee program and who belongs to the hard-line United Yugoslav Left, brought the case against the newspaper, which the Belgrade authorities recently shut down and which is now published in Montenegro. Morina sued the paper for publishing an advertisement by the opposition student movement "Resistance." In related news, Resistance issued a press release on 6 November in which it reported that police arrested four students in Belgrade two days earlier for writing anti-government graffiti. The statement added that the students went on trial "immediately" and received 10 days each in prison. Resistance called for their release. PM[15] MONTENEGRO ISSUES DECREE ON MEDIA FREEDOMThe Montenegrin government issued a decree on 6 November guaranteeing full freedom to local and foreign media. The document pledges that foreign news agencies and journalists will be able to work unhindered and that local radio stations may rebroadcast foreign programs if they do not exceed 30 percent of the local station's programming. The Montenegrin government strongly opposes many policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, which it regards as anti-democratic and against Montenegro's fundamental political and economic interests. Several publications recently banned in Serbia are now based in Montenegro. Critics of the Montenegrin government charge, however, that the Montenegrin media are not free to criticize President Milo Djukanovic or to write about corruption. PM[16] INCIDENTS CONTINUE IN KOSOVATwo Serbian policemen went missing in southwestern Kosova on 6 November. Their police colleagues have since been conducting a search for them. Also on 6 November, some five Kosovar guerrillas died in a shoot-out with police in southwestern Kosova. It is unclear if the incidents were linked, AP reported. In Prishtina on 7 November, representatives of Kosovar Serbs insisted that any future autonomy for Kosova include autonomy for Serbs from local ethnic Albanian rule. The Serbian representatives said that there can be no political settlement in Kosova without the Serbs' approval and that Milosevic does not have the right to sign agreements in their name. Also in the Kosovar capital, some 11 British monitors "with military backgrounds" arrived on 6 November, Reuters noted. PM[17] HILL MEETS WITH UCK FIGHTERSU.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Chris Hill, who is also Washington's chief envoy in the Kosova crisis, held what Reuters described as "secretive talks...[in a] cloak-and-dagger atmosphere" with representatives of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) in Dragobilj on 6 November. UCK spokesman Jakup Krasniqi said afterward that the talks were "fruitful" but gave no details. Hill "avoided" journalists and left immediately after the meeting, Reuters added. PM[18] MACEDONIAN COALITION TALKS TO BEGINA spokesman for the Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH) said in Skopje on 6 November that party leader Arben Xhaferi will begin discussions this week with Ljubco Georgievski, who is most likely to be the next prime minister, on the PDSH's joining the new government (see "End Note," "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 November 1998). The PDSH spokesman said that his party noted that Georgievski and his ally Vasil Tupurkovski "created a positive climate in the [recent] election campaign and did not instigate inter- ethnic hatred." The spokesman stressed that the PDSH believes that improving interethnic relations is the "key to economic development." Georgievski and Tupurkovski campaigned on a platform of ending corruption and promoting economic growth. PM[19] WESTENDORP REJECTS BOSNIAN HOUSING MEASUREThe international community's Carlos Westendorp ordered "suspended" a recent regulation issued by the government of the mainly Muslim and Croatian Bosnian federation to govern property rights, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 6 November. Westendorp said that the measure would impede the right of refugees to return to their former homes, which is a fundamental right guaranteed in the Dayton agreement. In Zagreb, Croatian officials said on 7 November that Bosnian federal President Ejup Ganic, a Muslim, canceled a meeting of top Bosnian and Croatian officials originally slated for 9 November in Zagreb. The new date for signing an agreement on bilateral relations is 19 November. Federal Vice President Vladimir Soljic, an ethnic Croat, said that he doubts that the signing will take place even on that later date. PM[20] MIXED RESULTS ON SERBIAN-CROATIAN RELATIONSOn 6 November in New York, the UN Security Council issued a statement calling on Croatian officials to provide better security for Serbs in eastern Slavonia. The next day in Belgrade, the transportation section of the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce asked the Transportation Ministry to approve setting up 65 new bus routes to Croatia. Twenty-one Yugoslav firms expressed an interest in participating. The Belgrade authorities rejected a similar request by the Montenegrin Chamber of Commerce to connect Montenegro with Croatia by bus via the still- closed border crossing of Debeli Brijeg, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[21] DID BIN LADEN TRY TO SEND FIGHTERS TO KOSOVA?Claude Cheik Ben Abdel Kader, who is a French citizen of Algerian origin and on trial for murder in Albania, told a Tirana court on 7 November that he came to Albania as "a man" of suspected Islamist terrorist Osama Bin Laden." Albanian police arrested Kader in August for allegedly killing his Albanian translator (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 19 October 1998). Kader said that he had wanted to "organize a group of 300 people to...fight in Kosova against the Serbs," adding that he considers this year's Serbian offensive "a war against Islam." Kader claimed that his translator was also a member of the Islamist group and died in an unspecified accident, AP reported. Bin Laden, who reportedly visited Albania in April 1994, is the key suspect in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August. FS[22] GERMAN-ALBANIAN FOUNDATION BECOMES BANKThe Albanian-based Foundation for Enterprise Financing and Development (FEFAD) celebrated its transformation into a full-fledged bank on 6 November, the "Albanian Daily News" reported. The German Bank for Reconstruction and Development founded FEFAD in 1996. Since then, it has given some 750 credits worth a total of $ 5.5 million to small and medium- sized enterprises. The transformation will allow the FEFAD-Bank to receive deposits, offer bank accounts to customers, and make transfers. FS[23] BUCHAREST MAYORAL RACE NARROWLY DECIDEDActing Mayor Viorel Lis, running on the Democratic Convention of Romania ticket, has narrowly defeated Sorin Oprescu, the candidate of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, in the runoff elections to the Bucharest mayoralty, Mediafax reported on 8 November. With nearly all votes counted, Lis received 50.5 percent of the vote, compared with 49.5 percent for Oprescu. Turnout was 37.8 percent. In other news, the IMF delegation that visited Romania last week said it will return for further talks in January and that the possibility of resuming loans to Romania will be examined in March, after the 1999 budget has been approved by the government. MS[24] ROMANIA'S COUNTRY RISK RATING DOWNGRADED AGAINFor the second time in three months, Moody's Investment Service has downgraded Romania's country risk classification, citing political instability and doubts about the country's capability to meet its $2.26 billion foreign debt servicing in 1999. Standard & Poor's downgraded Romania's risk rating last month, Mediafax reported on 8 November. The previous day, the government announced that Greece's OTE has won the bid to purchase a 35 percent stake in RomTelcom. OTE paid $675 million and will invest another $400 million over the next three years if operations grow. MS[25] MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION MOVES NO CONFIDENCE MOTIONThe Party of Moldovan Communists on 6 November moved a no confidence motion in the cabinet, citing the government's responsibility for the ongoing economic crisis, BASA-press reported. The motion must be debated within three days. Communist leader Vladimir Voronin has said his party is ready to participate in setting up a new cabinet on condition that it be allowed to appoint the prime minister. Also on 6 November, the parliament passed a new law on local administration that provides for the appointment of prefects as government representatives at the local level. The autonomous Gagauz-Yeri region will also have a prefect. MS[26] RUSSIAN ARMS EXPORTER SUES BULGARIAN COMPANYThe state-run Russian arms exporting company Rosvooruzhenie has sued the Armimex company, and a Sofia court has ordered the seizure of state-owned Armimex's bank accounts, ITAR-TASS reported on 7 November, citing Bulgaria's "Standard." Rosvooruzhenie says Armimex has defaulted on a $3 million debt for exports to a machine tool plant, adding that the debt dates back three years. The Bulgarian Defense Ministry's engineering directorate guaranteed the debt. Armimex is the successor of that directorate. MS[C] END NOTE[27] RUSSIAN CRISIS FUELS LATVIAN ECONOMIC WORRIESby Katya CengelRussia's continuing economic crisis is causing problems for those countries with which it has significant trade links . That is certainly true of neighboring Latvia. Russia is Latvia's second-largest market, and many Latvian companies are now feeling the strain. Official statistics show that before the crisis, some 15 percent of Latvia's exports went to Russia and almost 12 percent of its imports came from that country. It is widely expected that newer numbers will show a drop in trade, the effect of which is already being seen in unemployment figures. In August, Latvia's unemployment rate was officially listed as 7.4 percent, but according to the State Employment Service, it had climbed to 7.6 percent one month later. Much of the increase is being linked to the situation in Russia, as higher-than-average unemployment is being registered in those districts where exports to Russia are highest. This applies, in particular, to areas dealing with food and fish products. At a press conference last month, Latvian Welfare Minister Vladimirs Makarovs said he expects another 10,000 people to lose their jobs owing to the closure of Latvian companies as a result of the Russian crisis. He said that he expects official unemployment to reach 8.6 percent in the coming months and that "even highly qualified and well paid workers are in danger". Among the companies most severely affected are 70 that have scaled down their business or manufacturing operations. Of these, 14 have halted work altogether and 46 have partly closed. Some 2,000 employees have been laid off and another 5,000 sent on unpaid leave. Auto Elektroaparatu Rupnicas [Riga Auto Electric Apparatus Plant] is an example of a company that has been forced to reorganize. With 70 percent of its business involving shipments to Russia, the company recently reduced its 1,200 employees to 700. Arnis Ermanis Shemins, president of the company, said his firm was unable to make severance payments to its former employees, adding that further lay- offs are expected. The company has suspended exports to Russia and sales have declined by half. Some companies are encountering difficulties making other payments as well. Maiga Dzervite, deputy director- general of the State Revenue Service, says 50 companies have requested extensions for making tax payments. Of those, 15 are linked to the fishing industry, nine to the transport sector, and eight to the food and beverages industry. Latest available figures put the export of food products at 8.7 percent down on last year's level, while the export of machinery and electrical equipment has declined by 6.8 percent. Dzervite warns that worse is to come for the economy as a whole: "Revenue is decreasing, the economy is distorted, and the gross national product is going down." She added that Latvia "will survive but it will not be such a nice picture as we originally drew for 1998." Dzervite describes the effects of the Russian crisis as occurring in three stages. The first affects companies selling directly to Russia. The second hits those supplying goods to companies that export to Russia. And the third involves firms from all sectors of the economy supplying goods to Latvian consumers, since higher unemployment means smaller demand for goods and services. Some companies are resorting to barter to continue trade with Russia. OlainFarm pharmaceuticals, which formerly sold 60 percent of its products to Russia, has just signed a contract to exchange medicine for Russian coal. Currently, about 30 percent of their production is going to Russia in barter trade. The company's advertising director, Egils Grikis, credits the Russian government with the barter idea, which will allow OlainFarm to retain all its employees. The arrangement has lowered the need to find new markets, which, in itself, is a difficult process. Agris Skuja, director of the industry department for the Latvian Economics Ministry, acknowledged that Latvian products are generally "not of a sufficiently high quality for the European market," adding that "it is expensive to meet European standards." He added that the situation is "very bad" and can be improved only through a long, expensive program. Worker training needs to be enhanced, the government must provide a better legislative framework for business, companies must better explore other markets and develop marketing strategies, and Latvia must gain increased political and economic support from the EU, he argues. Some officials hope Latvia's entrance into the World Trade Organization will help provide a way forward. Latvia was accepted as a WTO member last month, and ratification by the Latvian parliament is expected within the next few weeks. The author is a Riga-based contributor to RFE/RL. 09-11-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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