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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 227, 98-11-24Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 227, 24 November 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] KAZAKH SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS VERDICT AGAINST FORMER PREMIERThe Kazakh Supreme Court on 24 November completed its review of the verdict handed down in October by the Medeu District Court, which had found former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin guilty of participating in a meeting of an unsanctioned organization, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported. The Supreme Court failed to overturn that verdict, in effect dashing Kazhegeldin's hopes of registering as a candidate in the 10 January presidential elections. Under Kazakh law, no one found guilty of an offense may run as an electoral candidate. Last week, incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev had requested that the Supreme Court review the case, saying he would welcome Kazhegeldin's participation in the poll (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 18 November 1998). LF[02] SAMSUNG BUYS SHARES IN KAZAKH COPPER PLANTSamsung Deutschland GmbH has purchased a 90 percent stake in the East Kazakhstan Copper and Chemicals Plant, Interfax reported on 23 November. Shares in the plant, which produces copper and zinc concentrate, were up for sale on the Kazakh stock exchange to the tune of 524.7 million tenge ($6.3 million). According to one official from the Kazakh Department for State Property and Privatization, it was the biggest single issue of shares in the country's short history. BP[03] UN ENVOY TO TAJIKISTAN ADDRESSES PRESSUN special envoy to Tajikistan Jan Kubis told journalists on 23 November that he hopes the departure of the Uzbek contingent from the CIS peacekeeping force will not have a negative impact on the work of those units still participating. ITAR-TASS reported on 23 November. (The units remaining in Tajikistan are from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.) He added the UN is interested in "all components" that facilitate the implementation of the 1997 peace accord. Kubis stressed that the UN mission to Tajikistan will not resume its tasks in full until the investigation into the July murder of four UN employees is completed. BP[04] OSCE CHAIRMAN IN TBILISIPolish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Bronislaw Geremek met with Georgian officials in Tbilisi on 23 November to discuss the recent local elections and the OSCE's role in trying to mediate a solution to the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, ITAR-TASS reported. Meeting with President Eduard Shevardnadze, Geremek assessed the democratization process in Georgia as "irreversible," according to Caucasus Press. Geremek said that any settlement of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia must safeguard the interests of those ethnic minorities and also preserve Georgia's territorial integrity. He added that the OSCE is prepared to assist in monitoring the repatriation to Abkhazia's Gali Raion of Georgian displaced persons. Geremek and Shevardnadze signed a memorandum of cooperation between Georgia and the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. LF[05] ABKHAZ LEADER ACCUSES GEORGIA OF SABOTAGING REPATRIATIONIn his weekly radio address on 23 November, Vladislav Ardzinba said that the Georgian leadership is "constantly postponing" the signing of two documents drafted by his envoy Anri Djergenia and Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and is trying to introduce fundamental changes into those texts, ITAR-TASS reported. One of those documents addresses conditions for economic aid to Abkhazia and for the return to Abkhazia's Gali Raion of Georgian displaced persons, while the second abjures the use of force by either side. Djergenia told journalists in Tbilisi on 23 November that Sukhumi will allow only those Georgians who have not lived in Abkhazia "for a long time" to return, presumably meaning those who fled in 1992-1993. This would exclude those who returned and were forced to flee a second time in May 1998. Djergenia also rejected the creation in Abkhazia of parallel (Georgian and Abkhaz) local councils, according to Caucasus Press. LF[06] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT SAYS HE WON'T CEDE POWERAddressing members of the Yeni Azerbaycan party he created six years ago as a personal power base, Heidar Aliev warned on 21 November that the country's authorities will suppress any move by the opposition to undermine them and will never cede power, Turan reported on 23 November. In an implicit contradiction, Aliev said that he had called on opposition leaders three times to open a dialogue with no preconditions, noting that such a dialogue is possible only if the opposition recognizes him as the country's legitimate president. Many opposition leaders refuse to do so, arguing that the results of the 11 October presidential election were falsified. Meanwhile, some opposition politicians and "thousands of readers" have pledged to join the hunger strike launched two weeks ago by editors of independent newspapers to protest libel suits brought by senior officials. The newspapers say those suits are intended to bankrupt them. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[07] GLIGOROV ASKS GEORGIEVSKI TO FORM GOVERNMENTMacedonian President Kiro Gligorov on 23 November entrusted Ljubco Georgievski with forming a government. The prime minister- designate told reporters that he expects to have his cabinet lineup completed by 27 November. Georgievski heads a coalition consisting of his own Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and Vasil Tupurkovski's Democratic Alternative, which together have 62 out of the 120 seats in the parliament. Georgievski is conducting negotiations to bring Arben Xhaferi's Democratic Party of the Albanians into the coalition in order to broaden its base. The prime minister-designate is 32 years old and gives his occupation as "poet." His center-right coalition won the recent elections on a platform that stressed ending corruption and promoting economic development. One of the government's first tasks will be to approve NATO's request to use Macedonian territory as a base for its rapid-reaction force for Kosova. PM[08] OBSERVERS DECLARE ALBANIAN REFERENDUM VALID...International monitors said in a statement in Tirana on 23 November that the previous day's referendum on a new constitution "was carried out in a correct manner, for which voters and election officials should be commended." The statement added that "the political forces should now resume their dialogue and concentrate on Albania's vital problems. This could be best achieved through constructive cooperation between all parties, including the Democratic Party," which opposed the draft constitution and called for a boycott of the referendum (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 November 1998). The OSCE, Council of Europe, and European Parliament provided the monitors. In Vienna, Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, speaking on behalf of the EU, said the vote was evidence of Albania's "democratic maturity." PM[09] ...BUT BERISHA REMAINS DEFIANTDemocratic Party leader Sali Berisha told a rally in Tirana on 23 November that the referendum is invalid because, he claimed, only 38 percent of the electorate cast their ballots. He also urged "freedom fighters" to defy the Socialist-led government. Berisha said: "Let's get rid of the filthy animals. Whoever wants to violate our votes will have to pass over our bodies." Berisha often uses fiery rhetoric that his opponents say amounts to an incitement to violence. For the first time, speakers and demonstrators openly called for OSCE Ambassador to Albania Daan Everts to leave the country, dpa reported. Everts received an anonymous death threat shortly before the referendum. PM[10] UCK FREES SERBIAN POLICEMANFighters belonging to the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) freed a Serbian police officer near Podujeva on 24 November. He told reporters that the guerrillas "did not harass me. Probably they had mixed me up with someone else.... I want to go home as soon as possible. The war is no good for anyone and it has to stop," he added. U.S. diplomat Shaun Byrnes and UCK spokesman Adem Demaci helped arrange the officer's release, AP reported. On 18 November, the UCK captured the policeman and two ethnic Albanian civilians, whom the guerrillas regard as pro-Serbian collaborators. It is unclear what happened to the two civilians. PM[11] KOSOVARS CHARGE BELGRADE WITH 'WASTING TIME'Ethnic Albanian spokesmen said in Prishtina on 23 November that recent Serbian proposals on the political future of Kosova amount to a rejection of the U.S. draft on the subject and are an "exercise aimed at wasting time" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 November 1998). In the federal Yugoslav capital, a spokesman for U.S. envoy Chris Hill said that Hill's talks with Serbian President Milan Milutinovic are part of a "process" aimed at securing a settlement before spring, when fighting is widely expected to resume. The Kosovars want at the very least broad autonomy on a provincial level as a prelude to a referendum on independence in two to three years' time. The Serbs seek to dilute potential ethnic Albanian political power by stressing autonomy on a local level and ensuring an equal voice for all the province's ethnic groups as part of a permanent settlement. PM[12] MONTENEGRINS SAY MILOSEVIC RESPONSIBLE FOR 'CRISIS'Predrag Popovic and Rifat Rastoder, who are deputy speakers of the Montenegrin parliament, told visiting representatives of European local governments in Podgorica on 23 November that the "regime of [Yugoslav President] Slobodan Milosevic bears sole responsibility for the crisis in relations" between Montenegro and Serbia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 November 1998). The two legislators added that Milosevic is blocking the functioning of federal bodies in response to the ongoing process of democratization and decentralization in Montenegro, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[13] GREECE, CROATIA AGREE ON ADRIATIC ROADGreek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos told his Croatian counterpart Mate Granic in Athens on 24 November that a proposed Adriatic highway "is a project of immense importance for Greece. We are making efforts to include it in trans-European networks." Another unnamed Greek official said that Athens will seek EU funding for the project, Reuters reported. The road would link Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, and Italy and facilitate travel and shipping. The previous day, President Franjo Tudjman told his Greek hosts that "Croatian culture and history are based on those of Greece, not only on Greek classical civilization but also on the struggle of the Greek people in the last century for freedom," "Jutarnji list" reported. PM[14] CROATIAN OPPOSITION URGES 'CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE'Liberal Party leader Vlado Gotovac, in his capacity as spokesman for a coalition of six opposition parties, said in Zagreb on 23 November that Croats should respond with "civil disobedience" when confronted with "activities incompatible with morality" at their work place. His remarks come several weeks after two bank clerks revealed that Tudjman's wife has several hundred thousand dollars in undeclared accounts. Gotovac added that the opposition expresses solidarity with journalists who seek to carry out their professional responsibilities but are hindered by the government and ruling party from doing so, "Vjesnik" reported. PM[15] CROATIA NOT TO ATTEND NATO EXERCISESA spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told the Hina news agency in Zagreb on 23 November that Croatian representatives will not accept Slovenia's invitation to observe NATO maneuvers in Slovenia on 25 November. The spokesman said that Croatia thanks Slovenia for the invitation but finds the date "not appropriate." Observers suggested that Zagreb had wanted a formal invitation from the Atlantic alliance to attend the entire exercise and not just a one-day segment that is also open to the public. PM[16] COOK SAYS SLOVENIA GOOD PROSPECT FOR NATO, EUBritish Foreign Minister Robin Cook said in Ljubljana on 23 November that "Slovenia is entitled to its place in the front row of countries that are looking at the European Union." He added that recent EU criticism of Slovenia was "aimed at helping [it] find solutions" to several problems. Cook also said that "Slovenia must be invited" if NATO decides at its 50th anniversary conference in Washington in 1999 to ask countries to participate in a second round of eastward expansion. The minister added that he is "sorry" that Ljubljana was not included in the first round. PM[17] MOLDOVA SEEKS HELP TO FILL ENERGY VOIDDeputy Prime Minister Valentin Dolganiuc flew to Bucharest on 23 November in an effort to secure emergency electricity supplies for his country, Reuters reported. Dolganiuc is reported to be offering Romania shares in companies soon to be privatized in exchange for electricity. Moldova produces less than one-third of the electricity it needs and relies on Ukraine, Russia, and Romania for the rest. Rompres reported that Ukraine recently reduced its energy supplies to Moldova by some 50 percent. As a result, residents of Chisinau are experiencing brownouts for much of the day. PB[18] BULGARIAN PREMIER SAYS CORE REFORMS TO BE COMPLETED SOONIvan Kostov said that the main elements of the government's reform plan will be completed by July 1999, BTA reported on 22 November. Kostov said on state radio that reforms in the tax, administration, and social service spheres will be completed by that date. He added that the liquidation of insolvent companies should be completed by that time as well. The following day, the government began liquidating a debt-ridden mine in the southeastern town of Zlatograd, where workers have been striking in an effort to gain a pay raise (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 November 1998). PB[19] BULGARIA BANS YUGOSLAV AIRLINE FLIGHTSThe Bulgarian government has joined an EU ban on Yugoslav airlines, BTA reported. Transport Minister Wilhelm Kraus said the move is in line with Sofia's obligations as an associate member country of the EU. It is unclear when the ban will begin. In other news, Standard & Poor's gave Bulgaria a B+ credit rating, the Finance Ministry reported. The agency said the improved macroeconomic and financial stability of Bulgaria are the reasons for the positive rating. PB[C] END NOTE[20] BEREZOVSKII AS MR. FIX-ITby Liz FullerCIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovskii recently unveiled his blueprint for reversing "seven years of disintegration" and breathing new life into the moribund Commonwealth of Independent States. The blueprint offers a framework for mutually beneficial economic cooperation among CIS members. Somewhat inauspiciously, perhaps, it was published in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on Friday, 13 November. Over the past 10 days, Berezovskii has been touring the CIS states in an attempt to persuade their presidents to endorse his plan. To date, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Tajikistan have expressed cautious support, while their Azerbaijani and Turkmen counterparts have proven more skeptical. A discussion of Berezovskii's proposals is on the agenda for the CIS summit scheduled for 11-12 December, Russian President Boris Yeltsin's health permitting. Berezovskii was appointed executive secretary of the CIS in April 1998, when strains within the commonwealth had reached such magnitude that many observers were predicting its imminent demise. Those tensions derived partly from the CIS's failure to preserve a single, viable economic space composed of the former Soviet republics and partly from President Yeltsin's warning at the March 1997 CIS summit that Russia is prepared to resort to subversion and sabotage to weaken the Soviet successor states and keep them within its sphere of influence. In the "Nezavisimaya gazeta" article, Berezovskii expresses concern that widespread disenchantment with the CIS could evolve into anti-Russian sentiment within the non-Russian successor states and give rise to centrifugal tendencies within Russia itself. Berezovskii emphasizes that resurrecting the USSR is impossible, given that the union was geared toward a planned, not a market economy. At the same time, he argues that voluntary economic integration is in the interest of all CIS states, since it would expedite their integration into the global economy. But given that the primary reason for the demise of the USSR was the failure of its Communist Party to address the grievances of the non-Russian republics, any attempt to rebuild the political foundations of the CIS should be undertaken with extreme caution so as not to impinge on the desire of newly independent states to protect their sovereignty and independence, Berezovskii comments. As the first step toward reversing centrifugal economic trends, Berezovskii proposes creating one or several CIS free trade zones. (Among the hundreds of CIS agreements signed but not implemented over the past seven years is one, signed in April 1994, on setting up such a zone. That accord, however, fails to provide either clear guidelines or a timetable for doing so.) The Special CIS Inter-State Forum, created after the CIS Chisinau summit in October 1997, also considered the possibility of free trade zones. It used the April 1994 agreement as a springboard but failed to make recommendations on fundamental issues, including whether such zones should encompass only the movement of goods or also the service sector. In this context, Berezovskii warns that "palliative measures" are dangerous. A flawed blueprint for economic integration might temporarily create the illusion that the CIS is functioning effectively as an economic organization, but the inevitable disillusionment when that proved not to be the case would be so profound as to pose a real threat to the Commonwealth's survival. Berezovskii distinguishes two approaches to economic integration: the "soft" approach, as epitomized by the European Free Trade Association (created by countries that did not meet the criteria for entry into the EU), and the "hard" approach, as exemplified by the EU, in which economic integration paves the way for the creation of supranational structures, both economic and political. (One CIS proponent of the "hard" approach is the Kazakh economist Nigmatzhan Isingarin, who recently included in a list of "urgent priorities" for CIS integration the "gradual coordination [sblizhenie] of foreign policy positions.") Berezovskii considers the "soft" approach more appropriate for the CIS and proposes a CIS free trade zone as a first step in that direction. But he also predicts that the "soft" approach may acquire a momentum of its own: reversing the decline in intra-CIS trade would serve as the incentive for a CIS Customs Union, which, in turn, would engender moves to coordinate monetary policy and create a single market. Thus the "soft" approach may eventually lead to its members' accepting the "hard" approach. In this context, Berezovskii cites the fusion of the European Free Trade Association into the European Community. The (possibly fatal) difference between the EU and Berezovskii's blueprint is, of course, that the EU was not built from the remnants of a former empire. Moreover, Berezovskii's envisaged transition from a "soft" to a "hard" approach toward economic integration may cause an acute allergic reaction among those non-Russians who are inclined to see ulterior neo-imperialist motives behind any Russian advocacy of supra-national structures, thus jeopardizing the free trade zone from the outset. Berezovskii himself concedes that "introducing supra-national elements into the CIS at the present stage would not correspond to the strategic interests of its members." But he adds that "without a certain degree of coordination, it will be impossible to proceed further than creating a free trade zone." Berezovskii's success in selling his blueprint to the skeptics among the CIS presidents will depend on his ability to persuade them that the document is not intended ultimately to undermine their sovereignty and that the momentum can be halted before economic integration expands into the political sphere. 24-11-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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