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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 238, 98-12-14Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 238, 14 December 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] FIRST OIL PUMPED INTO BAKU-SUPSA PIPELINEThe Azerbaijani International Operating Company began filling the export oil pipeline from Baku to Georgia's Black Sea terminal of Supsa on 10 December, Caucasus Press reported. The process of filling the 930 kilometer pipeline will be completed by February 1999, and the pipeline will begin operating one month later. Initial annual throughput is estimated at 2.5 million metric tons. Gia Chanturia, the president of the Georgian International Operating Company, which operates the Georgian sector of the pipeline, told journalists in Tbilisi on 11 December that Georgia will receive some $25-30 million annually in tariffs, ITAR-TASS reported. LF[02] AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS IRANIAN OIL DEALThe Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 10 December condemning the proposed deal between Iran and the Royal Dutch Shell and Lazno oil companies to conduct geological exploration in what Baku claims is part of its sector of the Caspian Sea, Turan and Interfax reported. That agreement is scheduled to be signed on 14 December. The Azerbaijani statement condemned the proposed exploration as "illegal," "unilateral," and "inadmissible." It also rejects Iran's claim to 20 percent of the Caspian. The five Caspian littoral states have been at loggerheads for several years over the optimum approach to dividing the Caspian into national sectors and the precise borders of those sectors. LF[03] AZERBAIJANI EX-PARLIAMENT SPEAKER FACES NEW CRIMINAL CHARGESThe prosecutor-general has opened another criminal case against Rasul Guliev on charges of insulting President Heidar Aliev, Interfax reported on 13 December. Guliev, who left Azerbaijan in 1996, accused Aliev of cutting a deal with the Armenian leadership under which Azerbaijani forces would not prevent Armenia occupying the Kelbadjar and Lachin districts of Azerbaijan and the town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 26 June 1998). In January 1998, Guliev was accused of having engaged in large-scale embezzlement when he headed Azerbaijan's largest oil refinery. He was stripped of his deputy's immunity in April. LF[04] RUSSIA DELIVERS NUCLEAR FUEL TO ARMENIARussia delivered an urgently needed consignment of nuclear fuel for Armenia's Medzamor power station on 11 December, ITAR-TASS reported. The same day, Armenian and Russian officials signed an agreement in Moscow whereby Russia will extend a $20.24 million loan to Armenia to finance safety measures at the plant and further shipments of fuel. Armenian enterprises owe Medzamor some $40 million for electricity supplies, according to "Nezavisimaya gazeta" of 16 October. LF[05] MANUKIAN CRITICIZES ARMENIAN LEADERSHIPSpeaking at the 10th congress of his National Democratic Union on 11 December, former Prime Minister and twice defeated presidential candidate Vazgen Manukian charged that the economy of Armenia and Karabakh is mainly controlled by clans under the leadership of President Robert Kocharian, Defense Minister Vazgen Sargssian, Interior and Security Minister Serzh Sargssian, and Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel Babayan. Differences of opinion surfaced between Manukian, who insists that political change is possible only through democratic elections, and parliament deputy Davit Vartanian, who refuses to rule out "revolutionary methods," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. In addition, Manukian rejects any cooperation with the existing Armenian government, while Vartanian would condone such cooperation to solve fundamental problems such as unemployment. In July, Vartanian accepted an offer from Kocharian to head the presidential oversight service. LF[06] ARMENIANS PROTEST DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS IN NAKHICHEVANA senior Armenian clergyman and members of the Nakhichevan Union representing Armenians from that Azerbaijani exclave have addressed appeals to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to UNESCO Secretary-General Federico Mayor to intervene to prevent the further destruction of Armenian religious and cultural monuments in Nakhichevan, Noyan Tapan reported on 10 December. In late November, Armenian architects on the Iranian bank of the Arax, which forms the frontier between Iran and Nakhichevan, reported that gravestones and stone crosses in the cemetery of Old Djuga in Nakhichevan were being destroyed by bulldozers or removed. In the 1920s, the population of Nakhichevan was predominantly Armenian, but as a result of emigration from the region, it is now 95 percent Azerbaijani. LF[07] OPPOSITION TO CHAIR TWO FURTHER GEORGIAN CITY COUNCILSLabor Party member Malkhaz Asatiani was elected chairman of the city council of Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city, on 10 December, Caucasus Press reported. The same day, a member of the People's Party was elected chairman of the Gori City Council. A representative of the ruling Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK) has rejected that outcome and absconded with the ballot papers. In his weekly radio address, President Eduard Shevardnadze said on 14 December that the SMK's lackluster showing in the 15 November local elections "is not a defeat" for that party. LF[08] KYRGYZ OFFICIALS DETAINED DURING ANTI-CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONKyrgyz Interior Minister Omurbek Kutuev told journalists on 14 December that a number of state officials have been detained on corruption and embezzlement charges, RFE/RL correspondents in Bishkek reported. Kutuev said arrests began on 12 December. Among those arrested, he named First Deputy Finance Minister Alymbek Biyalinov, Deputy Finance Minister Rysbek Begmatov, Deputy Minister of Ecology Jumakadyr Akeneev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Stamakun Asanaliev, and the head of the newly privatized Agricultural Leasing company. He added that there are more detainees but declined to give further details. Also on 14 December, President Askar Akayev signed a decree aimed at stepping up the battle against corruption. Last week, Akayev sacked the head of his administration (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 December 1998). BP[09] ABDULLOJONOV ACCUSES TAJIK GOVERNMENT OF GENOCIDE...Former Tajik Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullojonov, who is wanted by Dushanbe for his role in the violence in the northern Leninabad Oblast early last month, issued a statement on 9 December accusing the Tajik government "led by President Imomali Rakhmonov" of "practicing political, regional, and ethnic genocide," ITAR-TASS reported three days later. Abdullojonov wrote that following the violence in the north last month, "thousands of people were thrown in prison, tens of thousands of homes were looted, and hundreds of the area's residents have disappeared without a trace." He also criticized the United Tajik Opposition for giving "tacit agreement" to events in northern Tajikistan, especially because "more than anyone else, they have experienced the horrors of the infringement of rights." BP[10] ...AND TARGETING HIS RELATIVESAbdullojonov also claimed he has relatives still living in the area who have been targeted by the Tajik authorities. He said his mother's home in Khujand was looted and his brother, the former mayor of Khujand, arrested. Saying he is accustomed to attacks against himself, he questioned the need to harass his relatives and friends still in Tajikistan. He also said that he is ready to appear before a "free and impartial international court" to answer to any charges of wrong- doing. BP[11] KAZAKHSTAN'S POPULATION CONTINUES TO DECREASEThe director of the Migration and Immigration Agency, Zauytbek Turysbekov, said on 12 December that during Kazakhstan's seven years of independence, 2.17 million people have left Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS reported. During the same period, 590,000 people, of whom 170,000 are ethnic Kazakhs, have entered the country. As of 1 January 1998, the country's population was 15.6 million. BP[12] TURKMENISTAN CELEBRATES THREE YEARS OF 'NEUTRALITY'Turkmenistan on 12 December celebrated the third anniversary of the UN decision to officially recognize that country's "neutrality," ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. To mark the occasion, a 75- meter-high Neutrality Arch was unveiled, atop of which is a 12- meter, gold-plated statue of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. The statue slowly revolves so that it is always facing the sun. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] EU BACKS MONTENEGRO, CALLS FOR SERBIA'S DEMOCRATIZATIONIn a draft statement released on 12 December at the end of the Vienna summit, leaders of the 15 EU member countries called for democratic reform and free media in federal Yugoslavia. The statement also expressed support for Montenegro's reformist President Milo Djukanovic. With regard to Kosova, the statement said that there is a "lack of commitment by both [Kosova Albanian and the Serbian leadership] to support the negotiation process." It urged both sides "to show flexibility in the talks necessary for agreement to be reached on the future status of Kosova." FS[14] MILOSEVIC WARNS NATO NOT TO ENTER KOSOVAFederal Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic told the "Washington Post" of 13 December that if NATO troops cross into Kosova to rescue international observers, they will be treated as aggressors. He added that it "is the duty of our army not to allow any foreign troops to get into our territory." Meanwhile, the French-led extraction force has started building camps throughout northern Macedonia, Reuters reported on 13 December. FS[15] GOVERNMENT OF BOSNIA'S MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION APPROVED...The parliament of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation on 12 December approved incumbent federation President Ejup Ganic serving another term in office. It also supported Ganic's proposal that current Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic remain in office and approved 13 government ministers. Ganic and Bicakcic belong to the Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Ivo Andric Luzanski of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) was elected as federation vice president in a power-sharing deal reached by the two ruling nationalist parties. After one year, Ganic and Luzanski will switch positions. FS[16] ...PLEDGES REFORMSBicakcic told "Dnevni Avaz" of 13 December that his cabinet, made up of a four-party coalition, will work to speed up economic reforms. The coalition has eight portfolios and the HDZ five. Bicakcic said that his priorities are the acceleration of the privatization process and improvement of the social security system. A spokeswoman for the international community's high representative, Carlos Westendorp, told Reuters that "we hope that all elected officials are committed to the implementation of the peace agreement and the ambitious plan for 1999," which will be outlined at an upcoming 50-nation meeting of the Peace Implementation Council in Madrid on 15-16 December. Donor nations at the meeting are expected to increase pressure on Bosnia to implement economic reforms. FS[17] IZETBEGOVIC WANTS CROATIAN POLICE TO LEAVE BOSNIAN TOWNAlija Izetbegovic, the Muslim member of the joint Bosnian presidency, demanded on 11 December that Croatia withdraw its police from the western Bosnian border town of Martin Brod before the Croatian- Bosnian border commission resumes its work (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 December 1998). Croatia captured the town in 1995. Zagreb subsequently withdrew its military, but Croatian police still patrol the area. Izetbegovic said that "instead of an immediate withdrawal of the police, Croatia is trying to declare the area a disputed border issue which needs to be negotiated." A spokesman for Westendorp told Reuters that "Martin Brod is within the confines of Bosnia," adding that Westendorp has also made that clear. He added, however, that the matter should be resolved by the joint border commission. FS[18] UN MONITORS ATTACKED IN BOSNIAN CROAT TOWNSFOR troops evacuated monitors of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) from Stolac after a hostile crowd assaulted them on 10 December. The monitors requested SFOR support after the local police had denied them access to a part of the police headquarters where SFOR later found and confiscated unspecified illegal weapons. The Stolac police chief resigned following the incident. Stolac had a mixed Bosnian Muslim and Croatian population before it was captured in 1993 by Croatian forces, who expelled some 8,000 Muslims. Local Croats have attacked refugees returning to the town in at least 70 incidents this year. The IPTF monitors had planned to evaluate the performance of local police in preventing further violence, Reuters reported on 11 December. FS[19] BOSNIAN SERB COURT FINDS MUSLIMS GUILTY OF SREBRENICA MURDERS...A Bosnian Serb court has sentenced two Muslims to 20 years in prison each and a third to 11 years for murder. The three men belonged to a group of seven that claimed to have escaped a massacre of thousands of Muslims when Serbs captured Srebrenica in July 1995. They maintained that they had survived months in the wild and had surrendered when they spotted U.S. soldiers in May 1996. The U.S. troops, noting some of the men were wearing military uniform and carrying weapons, handed them over to Bosnian Serb police. AP reported. FS[20] ...WHILE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONDEMNS RULINGA spokeswoman for Westendorp told AP that the court handed down sentences despite a lack of evidence. She said that the defendants had signed a confession to having committed the crime but had been forced to do so. Defense lawyer Bakir Pasic said there was no evidence of a murder. He pledged to appeal the ruling at the Bosnian Serb Supreme Court. According to Pasic, the court based its ruling on a report that four Serbs from the Zvornik area were reported missing and were never found. Pasic stressed that there is no substantive evidence linking the disappearance of the Serbs to those sentenced. Meanwhile, the three convicted men have announced they are staging a hunger strike to protest the ruling. FS[21] CROATIAN JOURNALISTS SUE GOVERNMENT FOR SPYINGThe editor and four journalists of the weekly "Nacional" on 11 December filed charges against the Croatian Interior Ministry for allegedly spying on them. "These illegal actions resulted in the violation of the plaintiffs' constitutional rights," lawyer Ivan Polan told Reuters. Interior Minister Ivan Penic has admitted the secret police have targeted individual journalists, but only when part of a "security problem." He has never explicitly denied allegations of spying on the staff of "Nacional." FS[22] ALBANIAN STUDENTS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKEAbout 70 students in Tirana launched a hunger strike on 11 December, demanding a 50 percent increase in scholarships and better accommodation. The students said their protest is not politically motivated, Reuters reported. But Information Minister Musa Ulqini suggested the protest was organized by the opposition Democratic Party. Prime Minister Pandeli Majko said in a statement the following day that the students are justified in their requests, which the government will seek to meet. Majko added he is ready to meet the students to discuss their demands. FS[23] ALBANIAN PREMIER WANTS INTELLIGENCE CHIEF SACKEDPrime Minister Majko on 11 December asked President Rexhep Meidani to sack secret services chief Fatos Klosi, a government spokesman told dpa. The spokesman gave no reason for Majko's decision. The secret services have recently been criticized in the media for failing to provide information about a series of terrorist attacks. FS[24] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES MOVE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTIONThe Party of Social Democracy in Romania, the Party of Romanian National Unity, and the Greater Romania Party moved a no-confidence motion in the cabinet on 11 December, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. They accuse the government of economic failure and loss of international prestige. The motion is to be submitted to the legislature on 16 December and a vote will take place five days later. The opposition Romanian Alternative Party has said it will not support the motion, saying it reflects the "incapability of the leftist opposition to adapt itself to the needs of the present." The Alliance for Romania party said the government deserves to be censured but that the motion is aimed at "making political capital." Meanwhile, the government on 12 December approved a final document on streamlining its structure, which will be submitted to the parliament on 16 December. MS[25] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PROMULGATES INVESTMENT LAWEmil Constantinescu on 13 December signed into law legislation guaranteeing foreign investors the same treatment as their local counterparts, Romanian television reported. Under the legislation, foreign investors will be exempt from import taxes on equipment brought into the country and will be granted tax reductions based on the volume of their investment. Those investing more than $50 million will pay no profit taxes for 10 years. The legislation also provides safeguards for foreign investors against nationalization, expropriation, or discrimination. MS[26] LUCINSCHI REJECTS ALLEGATIONS ABOUT ILLEGAL PLANE SALESMoldovan President Petru Lucinschi on 11 December denied he acted illegally when approving the sale of 21 MiG-29 airplanes to the U.S. in 1997. Lucinschi said that his actions conformed with the "legislation previously in force" and that the parliamentary commission that had made the allegations was driven by "political motives," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi also said the sale of the planes to the U.S. would have "political, rather than economic" advantages since Washington has promised Moldova "support in many aspects related to our problems" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 December 1998). In other news, on 12 December the parliament adopted the 1999 budget, which provides for austere measures. MS[27] MOLDOVAN AUTHORITIES RULE OUT REFERENDAThe Central Electoral Commission on 11 December rejected the Taraclia local authorities' request to hold a referendum on the district's local administrative independence, the Flux agency reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 11 December 1998). The commission said such a referendum would violate the 1996 law on local administration. It also rejected the request of the Basarabeanca Municipal Council to hold a referendum on 9 January on joining the Gagauz-Yeri autonomous region, saying that ballot would be "illegitimate and infringe on existing legislation." MS[28] PRO-GOVERNMENT BULGARIAN ETHNIC TURKS SET UP OWN PARTYThe first national conference of the Initiative Council for Renewing the Movement of Rights and Freedom (DPS) announced on 12 December that it is setting up a separate party, to be called the National Movement for Rights and Freedoms (NDPS), BTA reported. Gyuner Tahir, a deputy representing the ruling United Democratic Forces (ODF) coalition, was elected leader of the new political formation. Because of differences with DPS leader Ahmed Dogan, Tahir set up the Initiative Council in March 1997 and ran on ODF lists in elections the following month. Observers expect the NDPS to sign an agreement with the Union of Democratic Forces, which is the main component of the ODF, on joint lists in the 1999 local elections. MS[29] BULGARIAN ROMA SET UP NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONMore than 3,000 delegates representing Romani organizations have set up the Evroroma national association, which unites more than 20 Bulgarian Romani organizations. The association's goal is to mediate between the Romani community and the government in finding solutions to Roma's social and economic problems. Tsvetelin Kunchev, a deputy representing Euroleft, was elected chairman of the association. He told the gathering that he is "a Bulgarian by origin but a [Rom] by heart." Euroleft leader Alexander Tomov, who first suggested the setting up of the association, said his party "will not be the guardian but a partner" of Evroroma. Euroleft and Evroroma are likely to sign an agreement on cooperation in the 1999 local elections. MS[C] END NOTE[30] REFORM AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN ROMANIAby Michael ShafirThe last year of the millennium is likely to be a difficult one for Romanians. In early December, Radu Vasile's cabinet announced its determination to implement long-postponed structural reforms. Procrastination on reform has seemingly relegated Romania to the last place on the list of countries striving for EU membership. Worse still, some observers believe that Bucharest will default on servicing its external foreign debt of more than $ 2.2 billion in 1999. During the past few months, the international rating agencies Moody's and Standard and Poor's have twice reduced Romania's rating. The IMF has suspended the last two tranches of a $430 million loan agreed with Victor Ciorbea's cabinet, and an IMF delegation in Bucharest in November made it clear that the fund will neither resume loaning nor re-negotiate a new agreement unless the reform process finally kicks off. Without further IMF credits, borrowing will become practically prohibitive and Romania will be hurled toward an economic dead-end. But this economic vicious circle is not the only factor threatening Romania's immediate future. Political instability is also likely to influence the country's performance in 1999. Tense relations between the two main coalition partners, the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) and the Democratic Party, spearheaded the demise of Ciorbea's cabinet. And since Vasile's government was sworn in April, tensions have re-emerged and have apparently reached new heights within each of the coalition's members. On 21 November, the Democratic Party expelled from its ranks former Foreign Minister Adrian Severin and Adrian Vilau, a deputy whose past links with the Communist secret service were revealed in June, prompting his resignation as chairman of the parliamentary commission overseeing the Intelligence Service. It is unclear whether those revelations were engineered by the leadership of the Democratic Party itself, as some observers suspect. Vilau himself has pointed out that past links with the Securitate (as in the case of Mihai Darie, a member of the party's Standing Bureau) did not seem to bother the party's leadership as long as those involved were prepared to march to the tune of party leader Petre Roman. With the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to argue that Severin's dismissal as foreign minister in December 1997 was triggered as much by his unsubstantiated claims that some party leaders and media directors were agents of foreign secret services as by his criticism of Roman's style of leadership. With Senator Octavian Stireanu resigning from the Democratic Party to protest the 21 November decision, the Democrats (and thus the ruling coalition) find themselves with three parliamentary mandates fewer. On the same day the Democrats expelled Severin and Vilau, tensions within the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD)--the leading formation of the CDR--were coming to a head. At a forum in Satu Mare, a group headed by Ciorbea, who had not reconciled himself to his own political demise, was virtually calling on the PNTCD not only to revise its coalition agreement with the Democrats but also to return to the party's "historical roots." Even if this meant withdrawing from the coalition (which would lead to early elections), the option was worth considering, the group argued. It called for convening an extraordinary PNTCD congress to analyze how the PNTCD's principles are reflected in policies implemented by Vasile's cabinet and how to democratize the party and increase grass- roots influence. In other words, the group headed by Ciorbea was firing the first shot in a struggle to replace Vasile as well as octogenarian PNTCD leader Ion Diaconescu. However, some participants were unwilling to endorse all the points raised during the discussion. One week later, only Ciorbea and five other prominent PNTCD members signed a letter addressed to the party leadership that included all those points. But the divisions within the PNTCD remain for all to see, with Ciorbea heading what observers have dubbed the "Taliban" or "fundamentalist" faction within the party. This faction calls for a return to "morality" in politics, a formulation that implies a rejection of compromise with the Democrats on such matters as the restitution of property as well as criticism of the failure of the CDR-led coalition to pass a lustration law or to expedite passing a law on access to the files of the former communist secret services. That failure had prompted the Movement of Civic Alliance to suspend its membership in the CDR in early April. In a recent declaration, the movement hinted that the possibility of setting up a new party is no longer being ruled out. Should a split occur within the PNTCD, Ciorbea, who now is one of Diaconescu's deputies, may well become its leader. Other recent developments include the Romanian Alternative Party's October decision to quit the CDR, claiming a monopoly on representation of "right- wing" views, and calls within the PNTCD's main partner in the CDR, the National Liberal Party (PNL), to revise the statutes of the alliance to reflect the PNTCD's loss of its former primacy. Moreover, some PNL leading members are now openly talking about replacing Vasile with PNL deputy chairman Valeriu Stoica. Against this background, the ongoing threat of political instability in Romania as the year 1998 draws to a close hardly bodes well for either the cabinet or its ability to implement reform. 14-12-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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