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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 228, 98-11-30Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 228, 30 November 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA, KARABAKH ACCEPT OSCE PLAN, BUT BAKU REJECTS ITThe foreign ministers of Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic said on 26 November in Yerevan that they have officially accepted the latest OSCE Minsk Group's Karabakh peace proposals as a basis for further talks, despite unspecified reservations, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Karabakh Foreign Minister Naira Melkumian said that the guarantees envisaged for Karabakh's future security and economic development need further clarification. She also noted that Stepanakert will not make any further concessions to Azerbaijan. The previous day, Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev had told visiting OSCE chairman-in- office Bronislaw Geremek that Azerbaijan "will never accept" the proposal that Azerbaijan and Karabakh form a common state. Aliev complained that the new peace plan puts Azerbaijan "in a difficult position" ahead of the 2 December Oslo meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers. LF[02] RUSSIA WILL CONTINUE SUPPLYING ARMENIA WITH NUCLEAR FUELAtomic Energy Minister Yevgenii Adamov told journalists in Moscow on 25 November that Russia will continue supplying nuclear fuel for Armenia's Medzamor nuclear power plant "out of political necessity," despite that country's debt of 180 million rubles ($10 million) for earlier deliveries, AP and ITAR-TASS reported. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Gustov said the following day that an agreement on the supply of fuel elements will be signed within days, according to Interfax. Armenian Prime Minister Armen Darpinian said in Moscow on 26 November that he reached agreement during talks with Gustov and Russian Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov on the release of $7-11 million in earthquake relief funds frozen in Armenia's former Soviet Vneshekonombank, Interfax reported. LF[03] ARMENIA DROPS OBJECTIONS TO OSCE SUMMIT IN TURKEYArmenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told journalists in Yerevan on 26 November that the Armenian leadership has withdrawn its objections to the choice of Istanbul as the venue for the next OSCE summit, due in 2000 or 2001, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The Armenian leadership had argued earlier that Turkey is not a suitable venue for the summit in the light of its poor human rights record and its refusal to open its frontier or establish diplomatic relations with Armenia. Oskanian said the Armenian decision was motivated by the desire to promote regional cooperation. On 27 November, ITAR-TASS reported that the previous week Turkish border guards had shot dead an Armenian citizen who tried to cross the Armenian-Turkish frontier in the mistaken belief that he was a Kurdish suicide bomber. LF[04] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITIONIST SENTENCED FOR ALLEGED COUP PLANA leading member of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, Fuad Gakhramanly, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on 27 November for authoring an article allegedly outlining ways to overthrow President Aliev, Reuters and Turan reported. Gakhramanly was arrested in June after the unpublished article was confiscated during a search of the premises of the opposition newspaper "Chag" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 June and 19 November 1998). LF[05] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS' PROTEST FORCIBLY DISPERSEDPolice broke up a picket in front of the presidential administration building in Baku on 25 November. The action had been organized by editors of opposition publications protesting the recent crackdown on the independent media, Turan and Interfax reported. Meeting the following day with some 20 editors who had launched a hunger strike earlier this month to protest libel cases brought by leading officials against independent newspapers, OSCE chairman- in-office Geremek pleaded with them to end their action, which, he said, "has demonstrated the dramatic state of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan." Some editors stopped their hunger strike later that day on medical advice. Meanwhile, 13 senior officials and members of President Aliev's family have opened separate libel cases against the newspaper "Azadlyg," demanding a total of $462,000 in damages. The newspaper claimed they had acquired real estate abroad, Turan reported on 25 November. LF[06] UN EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ABKHAZIAThe UN Security Council issued a statement on 25 November expressing concern at the possibility of renewed fighting in Abkhazia and calling for the planned meeting between Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba to take place as soon as possible, AP and dpa reported. Shevardnadze told journalists on 26 November that the reasons for the postponement of that meeting, originally planned for the first half of November, was that agreement had not been reached with the Abkhaz leadership on security guarantees for ethnic Georgians returning to Abkhazia. Shevardnadze also expressed surprise at a statement earlier that day by Tamaz Nadareishvili, chairman of the Abkhaz parliament in exile. Nadareishvili claimed to have information that the Abkhaz were planning to shoot down Shevardnadze's airplane if he flew to Sukhumi to meet with Ardzinba, according to Caucasus Press. LF[07] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT IN TBILISIDuring his visit to Tbilisi on 26-27 November, Petar Stoyanov met with his Georgian counterpart, Shevardnadze, to discuss implementation of the TRACECA project, including the projected ferry link from Poti to Varna, and the prospects for exporting Caspian oil via Bulgaria. On 27 November, Stoyanov visited both Poti and the oil terminal at Supsa. Georgian and Bulgarian officials signed a number of bilateral agreements on defense and frontier cooperation, combating drugs and crime, and avoiding double taxation. LF[08] TAJIK REBELS IMPLICATE UZBEKISTANAt a 27 November press conference in Dushanbe, 16 rebels who were captured during fighting in Tajikistan's northern Leninabad Oblast earlier this month claimed they were trained in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, Russian agencies reported. The rebels said they crossed into Afghanistan via the Uzbek border city of Termez and were trained in Uzbekistan by members of former Tajik Army Colonel Mahmud Khudaberdiyev's troops and "military specialists of Uzbekistan's special forces." They later received additional training in Uzbekistan's Jizzak Oblast before entering northern Tajikistan. Uzbek President Islam Karimov on 30 November denied that Uzbekistan has any links to the rebels. According to Interfax on 27 November, 114 government servicemen died and 431 were wounded during the fighting in Leninabad Oblast, while 220 rebels were killed and 215 wounded. BP[09] UZBEK FOREIGN MINISTER IN IRAN, PAKISTANAbdulaziz Kamilov was in Iran and Pakistan from 24-27 November to whip up support for a conference on Afghanistan in Tashkent, ITAR-TASS reported. Meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, he extended an invitation to both Kharrazi and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to visit Uzbekistan. IRNA reported on 24 November that while Kharrazi described Uzbekistan as a country that has "close ties with Iran," this does not mean the two countries hold identical views on issues. On 27 November, Kamilov met with Pakastani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and handed over a letter from Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Kamilov also met with Taliban representative Wakil Ahmad to discuss Taliban participation in the Tashkent conference. Ahmad, however, said his movement will participate only if it is invited as the legal government of Afghanistan. BP[10] KAZAKHSTAN, UES AGREE ON DEBT PAYMENTKazakhstan on 28 November announced it will pay off its $229 million debt to Russia's Unified Energy Systems (UES) by turning over the Ekibastuz Power Plant No. 2, the Ekibastuz-Omsk power line, and the Severny coal pit to the Russian company, Russian agencies reported. UES board chairman Anatolii Chubais, who was in northern Kazakhstan for discussions with Kazakh officials, called the decision a "breakthrough" and said it paved the way for the creation of powerful joint industrial conglomerate that would export electricity from Kazakhstan to Russia. BP[11] CANDIDATES FOR KAZAKH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ANNOUNCEDThe Central Elections Committee announced on 30 November, the last day of registration for the January presidential elections, that incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev, chairman of the Customs Committee Gany Kasymov, parliamentary deputy Engels Gabbasov, and Communist Party chairman Serikbolsyn Abdildin have all registered to compete, RFE/RL correspondents in Astana reported. Abdildin had said at a 26 November press conference he has collected only 115,000 of the 170,000 signatures required to register and that he doubted he would be able to pay the registration fee of $30,000, which is 1,000 times the minimum average wage in Kazakhstan. Also on 26 November, the U.S. State Department criticized the ruling of the Kazakh Supreme Court two days earlier upholding a lower court's decision that in effect barred former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin from running in the elections. BP[12] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION LEADER RELEASED EARLY FROM JAILThe chairman of the opposition party Erkin Kyrgyzstan, Topchubek Turgunaliev, was released from prison on 24 November, RFE/RL correspondents in Bishkek reported. Turgunaliev was sent to prison for four years on charges of abuse of power in February 1997. Those charges stemmed from the period when Turgunaliev was rector at the Bishkek University of Humanities in 1994. BP[13] RUSSIAN STATE DUMA SPEAKER IN TURKMENISTANGennadii Seleznev said at a press briefing in Ashgabat on 25 November that there must be a resolution to the dispute between Russia's Gazprom and Turkmenistan, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. Gazprom and Turkmenistan have again failed to reach agreement on the price of Turkmen natural gas supplies delivered to Europe via the Russian company's pipelines. He also criticized Turkmenistan's delays in facilitating the granting of Russian citizenship to those who wish to have it. The two countries have an agreement on dual citizenship. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[14] GEORGIEVSKI ANNOUNCES CABINET LINEUPMacedonian Prime Minister- designate Ljubco Georgievski said in Skopje on 27 November that his 27-member cabinet will consist of 14 members of his own Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, eight of Vasil Tupurkovski's Democratic Alternative, and five of Arben Xhaferi's Democratic Party of the Albanians. The foreign minister will be Aleksandar Dimitrov of the Democratic Alternative. Georgievski added that "all coalition partners have the good will to resolve [Macedonia's] economic and interethnic problems," Reuters reported. The parliament is expected to approve the cabinet on 30 November and to elect at least three deputies to Speaker Savo Klimovski, MIC news agency reported. Elsewhere, a spokesman for the IMF welcomed Georgievski's recent statement that he will try to hold the exchange rate of the denar at 31.5 to the German mark. PM[15] WALKER SEEKS EXPANDED ROLE FOR MONITORSU.S. diplomat William Walker, who heads the international monitoring team in Kosova, said in Brezovica on 29 November that the Belgrade authorities interpret the agreement with the OSCE on the verification mission "in the narrowest possible way and we're reading it in the widest possible way," Reuters reported. He added that "the international presence, even in a feeble form, has had an impact and [as more monitors arrive] things will become more normal." Walker said that his group's mission will include preventing violations of human rights, reforming the police, preparing for elections, and giving the ethnic Albanian majority access to the electronic media. PM[16] SERBIA SAYS NATO FORCE MUST NOT INTERVENEOn 27 November, the Frankfurt-based independent Serbian daily "Vesti" quoted unnamed Yugoslav military authorities as saying that Belgrade will regard any intervention by NATO's rapid reaction force on Yugoslav territory as an "act of aggression." The spokesmen added that there is no provision in the agreement between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke for a rapid reaction force to cross into Yugoslav territory. NATO's Klaus Naumann had earlier said that the alliance expects the Yugoslav military to ensure the verifiers' safety from attacks by Serbs and that the Macedonia-based rapid reaction force will protect the verifiers from threats to their safety by the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK). PM[17] PERISIC CALLS SACKING 'ILLEGAL'General Momcilo Perisic said in a statement that Milosevic's recent decision to fire him as chief of the general staff was taken "without consultation, without preparation, and in an illegal fashion" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 November 1998). The general added that his dismissal shows that "the current authorities do not wish to have [military] leaders who have a high degree of integrity and who think for themselves," "Vesti" reported on 27 November. Spokesmen for the government and for Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia called Perisic's removal part of a "routine rotation" of top officers. In recent years, Perisic has disagreed with Milosevic on a number of key issues and has refused to use the army against Milosevic's domestic enemies. PM[18] BELGRADE BLASTS HILL PLAN...Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Milovan Bojic said in Belgrade on 29 November that U.S. envoy Chris Hill's plan for broad autonomy for Kosova "is an indirect way to full succession" of the province from Serbia. Bojic added that the Kosova problem cannot be solved by what he called "chopping up Serbia" and that the Hill plan is "short-sighted and perfidious" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 November 1998). PM[19] ...WHILE UCK MOVES CLOSER TO ITUCK political spokesman Adem Demaci told Belgrade's independent Radio B-92 on 28 November that the UCK is willing to "temporarily" drop its demands for independence. He said the guerrillas would accept a gradual transition lasting three years, during which Kosova would have equal status with Serbia and Montenegro within federal Yugoslavia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 November 1998). Demaci stressed that the Kosovars must be guaranteed the right to a referendum on independence at the end of the transition period. He called the Serbian 11-point program for Kosova, which reduces autonomy to the local level only and gives Belgrade the last word in the province's affairs, "something that not even a dog would swallow." Demaci told the Prishtina daily "Koha Ditore" that the "UCK will accept nothing less than what was demanded in the 1991 referendum," in which Kosovars voted overwhelmingly for independence. PM[20] UCK FREES JOURNALISTSKosovar guerrillas on 27 November freed Tanjug journalist Nebojsa Radosevic and photographer Vladimir Dobricic in central Kosova in Walker's presence. The two Serbs said they had been well treated by the UCK, which captured them on 18 October. Uncertainty surrounds the fate of two other Serbian journalists, who went missing in August. Meanwhile in the Skenderaj region on 28 November, the UCK held a swearing-in ceremony for 300 fighters and a memorial service for a schoolteacher whom the Serbs killed one year ago. The man's funeral marked a milestone in the Kosova conflict because uniformed UCK fighters made their first public appearance there. PM[21] MONTENEGRO WANTS MONITORSMiodrag Vukovic, who is a top adviser to President Milo Djukanovic, said in Podgorica that the Montenegrin authorities want an OSCE monitoring mission to come to the country, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 27 November. The following day, State Prosecutor Bozidar Vukcevic said that Montenegro recognizes the "legality and legitimacy" of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal and will actively cooperate with it. PM[22] ALBANIAN SECRET SERVICE DISCOVERS BIN LADEN NETWORKSecret Service chief Fatos Klosi told the "Sunday Times" of 29 November that the Albanian authorities have discovered a network of Islamist terrorists operated by Osama Bin Laden. Klosi confirmed earlier reports by a French terrorist suspect of Algerian origin that Bin Laden has tried to send units to fight in Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 9 November 1998). He added that Bin Laden's agents include "Egyptians, Saudi Arabians, Algerians, Tunisians, Sudanese, and Kuwaitis...from several different organizations." Klosi also said that terrorists have already infiltrated other parts of Europe from Albania as illegal immigrants. Bin Laden visited Albania in 1994 as a member of a Saudi business delegation. FS[23] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONSTITUTION INTO LAWRexhep Meidani signed into law the country's first post-communist constitution on 28 November, which is Albanian Independence Day (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 25 November 1998). The final official results of the 22 November referendum showed 93.5 percent in favor of the law. Turnout, however, was only 50.57 percent. Representatives from the opposition Democratic Party, which boycotted the referendum and sessions of the parliamentary commission that drafted the constitution, claimed that the results have been falsified. They also refuse to recognize the new constitution, charging that turnout was only 39.6 percent. And they have recently urged their supporters to bring down the government through peaceful means. International observers say the referendum was carried out correctly. FS[24] ROMANIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER FIREDPrime Minister Radu Vasile on 27 November dismissed Agriculture Minister Dinu Gavrilescu. Government spokesman Razvan Popescu said Gavrilescu was dismissed because of slow progress in reforming the agricultural sector and in meeting demands to qualify for World Bank agricultural credits, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. He is replaced by Reform Minister Ioan Muresan, whose ministry is to be abolished under the government restructuring program approved in September. The previous day, six members of the ruling National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD), including former Premier Victor Ciorbea, sent an open letter to PNTCD county organizations demanding that an extraordinary congress of the party be convened. The group wants to examine, among other things, relations with the PNTCD's Democratic Party coalition partner and the possibility of the PNTCD's withdrawing support for Radu Vasile's cabinet. MS[25] MOST ROMANIANS BELIEVE LIFE WAS BETTER UNDER CEAUSESCUA public opinion poll conducted by the Media Metro Institute on behalf of the Soros Foundation indicates that 51 percent of Romanians believe life before 1989 was "better than now." Nineteen percent are of the opinion that the country would fare better if ruled "by a single person with clear-cut opinions" rather than by people who have different opinions. Sixty-four percent believe Romania is "heading in the wrong direction." The Democratic Convention of Romania heads electoral preferences with 29 percent, followed by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (26) and the Greater Romania Party (16 percent). In a presidential contest, 34 percent would back Emil Constantinescu, 22 percent Ion Iliescu, and 18 percent Greater Romania Party leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor. MS[26] MEDIATORS SUBMIT DRAFT AGREEMENT ON TRANSDNIESTER'S STATUSThe international mediators in the Transdniestrian conflict have drafted an agreement for settling the conflict between Chisinau and the separatist region, Infotag reported on 25 November. John Evans, head of the OSCE permanent mission, and the Russian and Ukrainian presidential representatives on the mediation commission said they have submitted the draft agreement to President Petru Lucinschi and to Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov. They also said the document fully respects Moldovan sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, while envisaging a special status for the Transdniester region. The mediators stressed the two sides are free to submit their own proposals to improve the document. Addressing the parliament in Chisinau on 27 November, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe chairwoman Leni Fischer said the Council of Europe will support a summit aimed at solving the Transdniester conflict. MS[27] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT MOVES TOWARD ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTYThe parliament on 27 November passed in the first reading amendments to the penal code abolishing the death penalty, Reuters reported. The amendments are part of the effort to harmonize Bulgarian legislation with that of the EU. The vote was 128 to 30 with 20 abstentions (see also "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 November 1998). MS[28] EU APPROVES AID FOR BULGARIAThe EU on 25 November approved humanitarian aid worth $1.7 million for Bulgaria to help the needy through the winter. The funds will help provide food and medicine to individuals as well as to clinics, hospitals, and social institutions. The funding will be channeled through humanitarian organizations, AP reported. MS[C] END NOTE[29] UKRAINE'S LACK OF DIRECTION JEOPARDIZES REFORMBy Christopher WalkerSeven years into its post-Soviet experience as an independent state, Ukraine has distinguished itself as much by what it has avoided as by what it has accomplished. On the one hand, the country has managed to escape the deep ethnic divisions many predicted and, for the time being at least, has sidestepped the near total economic and social collapse Russia has undergone. But at the same time, Ukraine has also avoided many of the critical reforms necessary to pave the way for long-term prosperity. Thus, Ukraine now finds itself at a crossroads, uncertain whether the belated implementation of strict reforms would generate Polish-style prosperity or Russian-style destabilization. The reluctance to proceed with an ambitious program of painful measures is in many ways understandable. Average Ukrainians have suffered enormous hardships since 1991. If asked to endure even more in a bid to achieve the promised, albeit theoretical prosperity, many Ukrainians would answer "no." A kind of symbiotic paralysis has developed between Ukraine's political decision-makers and the country as a whole. Each knows action must be taken, but neither is able to identify the force that could act as the catalyst for change. Recognizing this, the Communists, in cooperation with leftist forces in the parliament, point to Russia's difficult experience with Western-style reform to bolster their argument for taking a different course at home. The battle lines are visible in the current dispute over the state budget, in which members of the opposition are heavily attacking the government's proposed budget as endangering Ukraine's social safety net. While Russia's difficulties loom large on Ukraine's eastern border, a more constructive example is provided by Poland, to the West. Poland's success did not come easily. The economic recovery, which began in 1992, was preceded by nearly three years of economic suffering and social dislocation. After the fall of communism, Poland was indisputably in a better position than Ukraine to make the difficult post-Soviet transition, but despite the initial hardships, Poland has steadfastly stayed the reform course. It now is enjoying the rewards of its hard-fought efforts. Poland has achieved rapid private-sector growth, estimated at 10 percent annually from 1995 through 1997. Unemployment has been steadily declining and is now under 10 percent, down from a high of 16 percent in 1994. Moreover, Poland has attained positive GDP growth annually over the past six years. Foreign investors have acknowledged Poland's commitment to economic reform. From 1990 to mid-1997, total foreign investment in Poland was $16.2 billion. By comparison, foreign investment in Ukraine from independence in 1991 through the third quarter of 1998 totals $2.6 billion. Of course, as long as the Ukrainian authorities dither over reform, foreign investors will be reluctant to commit significant resources to the Ukrainian market. Ukraine should also consider the implications of Poland's growing prosperity and its entry into the Western sphere of influence. To both countries' credit, they have worked assiduously to forge a balanced and constructive relationship. However, the EU is asking Poland to take firmer steps on a number issues related to Poland's eastern neighbors. For example, Warsaw is facing considerable pressure from Brussels to tighten border restrictions with Ukraine, but for the time being it has refused to impose visa requirements on Ukrainians. At home, Ukraine is beset by a host of other problems, including pension and wage arrears, rampant organized crime, and widespread official corruption. A burgeoning shadow economy has evolved in response to the dysfunction of the official market. The shadow economy, along with the many individuals and businesses that flout the law, accounts for a huge loss in desperately needed tax revenues. In fact, the authorities' frustration with widespread tax evasion payment was revealed last summer when Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoytenko ordered 1,500 business executives to a tent camp outside Kyiv until they paid delinquent taxes. Other evidence of Ukraine's economic weakness is observable in the vast number of Ukrainians who travel abroad in search of employment. Large numbers of Ukrainians work as manual laborers in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, and other countries for periods of several weeks or months. Many of these jobs are run by Ukrainian gangs or criminal syndicates that claim to offer safe transport, employment documents, and a large amount of money by Ukrainian standards. After completing their terms of employment, many are disappointed to learn that they will receive only a bus ticket back to Ukraine, if that. By venturing westward to countries that already belong to the EU or are within striking distance of joining that organization, these Ukrainian workers are implicitly acknowledging the direction their own country should take. The author is manager of programs at the European Journalism Network. 30-11-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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