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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 66, 99-04-07Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 66, 7 April 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] DASHNAK PARTY TO SUE ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENTVahan Hovannisian, leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (HHD), said on 6 April that his party plans to sue former President Levon Ter- Petrossian for slander, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Ter-Petrossian suspended the party in December 1994, accusing its members of terrorism and political murders. Ter-Petrossian said last month that he considered his action justified as it prevented further "terror." Dozens of HHD activists, including Hovannisian, were charged with terrorism and coup plotting in two separate trials in 1995 and 1996 that were widely seen as politically motivated. Robert Kocharian, who succeeded Ter-Petrossian as acting president in February 1998, immediately lifted the ban on the HHD's activities and had Hovannisian and others released from jail. LF[02] NGO TO PROVIDE ONLINE COVERAGE OF ARMENIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGNRepresentatives of "Cooperation and Democracy," which is funded by the UN Development Program and the U.S. non-governmental organization Internews, told journalists in Yerevan on 5 April that the organization will host a Web site on 25 April to provide coverage in Armenian, English, and Russian of the 30 May parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Media specialist Mark Grigorian told RFE/RL that the aim is to provide election coverage in accordance with Western standards, with emphasis on objectivity and giving equal access to all parties and candidates. LF[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION FORMS PARLIAMENT FACTIONSome 20 parliament deputies, including a dozen defectors from the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan party, attended the first formal meeting on 6 April of the Democratic Bloc, Turan reported. Only seven opposition representatives were elected to the 124-seat parliament in the November 1995 poll. LF[04] WAR VETERANS THREATEN SUICIDE OVER DEPRIVATION IN AZERBAIJAN'S SECOND CITYSome 50 veterans of the Karabakh war have threatened to kill themselves in front of the parliament building in Baku over the next three days, Turan reported on 6 April. The veterans are protesting social and economic conditions in the city of Gyanja, in particular "total unemployment, and the lack of electricity, gas and drinking water." LF[05] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA ASSESS CIS SUMMIT RESOLUTIONAnri Djergenia, who is Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba's representative at talks with Georgia, criticized participants at the 2 April CIS summit in Moscow for failing to take into account Abkhazia's position when adopting a resolution on the Abkhaz conflict, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. The resolution sets conditions for a six-month extension of the mandate of the CIS peace- keeping force currently deployed along the internal border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. That mandate will be prolonged if Georgia and Abkhazia sign, within one month, documents abjuring a resumption of hostilities and stipulating conditions for the repatriation to Abkhazia of Georgian displaced persons. Djergenia specifically objected to a clause in the CIS summit resolution calling for the creation of an interim Abkhaz-Georgian administration in Abkhazia's southernmost Gali raion with Russian and UN participation. LF[06] KAZAKHSTAN'S CURRENCY CONTINUES TO LOSE VALUE...At the close of trading on 6 April, the average exchange rate quoted for the tenge was 138.5 to the dollar, down from 100 tenge the previous day and 87.5 tenge on 2 April, Interfax and AP reported. Central Bank chairman Kadyrzhan Damitov termed that rate unrealistic, and attributed it to trader nervousness. IMF representative Paul Ross expressed support for the decision by the government and National Bank to allow the tenge to float. He also praised the bank's tight monetary policy. But Ross urged the government to withdraw its 5 April promise to convert all savings bank deposits to hard currency at a rate of 88.3 tenge to the dollar provided those savings accounts are frozen for nine months. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 7 April noted that the loss in value of the tenge may affect implementation of the country's sequestered 1999 budget, which was predicated on an exchange rate of 91 tenge to the dollar. LF[07] ...IMPACTING ALSO ON KYRGYZSTANKyrgyzstan's som dropped 14 percent in value on 6 April, from 35 to 40 to the dollar, Interfax and AP reported. Central Bank spokeswoman Zhyldyz Kozhobaeva said the bank was trying to stabilize the som and prevent panic buying of foreign currencies. The exchange rate for the som plummeted from 17 to over 30 to the dollar between July and November 1998, primarily as a result of the Russian financial crisis. In Tashkent, however, the Uzbek som remained stable against the dollar on 6 April, according to Interfax. LF[08] RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS TAJIKISTANMeeting in Dushanbe on 6 April with President Imomali Rakhmonov, Igor Sergeev discussed expanding military and technical cooperation as well as the future of the CIS Collective Security Treaty, Russian agencies reported. Sergeev subsequently told journalists that he and Rakhmonov came close to reaching agreement on allowing Russia to maintain a military base in Tajikistan for a period of 25 years. It was not clear from Sergeev's remarks whether this entails building a new Russian military facility, or bestowing the formal legal status of a Russian military base on the facilities occupied by the estimated 20,000 Russian troops already stationed in Tajikistan. On 7 April, Sergeev met informally in Dushanbe with Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, ITAR-TASS reported. Sergeev assured Massoud of the Russian government's interest in stepping up talks on a political settlement in Afghanistan at which all that country's political forces would be represented. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] FISCHER REVEALS SERBIA'S 'OPERATION HORSESHOE'German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in Bonn on 6 April that Serbian security forces set into motion on 26 February a plan called "Operation Horseshoe" aimed at the expulsion of the ethnic Albanian population from Kosova, the "Berliner Zeitung" reported. Fischer added that he deeply regrets that he did not take Milosevic seriously when the Yugoslav leader told him in early March that Serbian forces could empty Kosova "within a week." Fischer stressed that Serbia is likely to emerge from the current conflict as a truncated state and that Milosevic will become known as "Serbia's destroyer." The foreign minister said that it is an "extremely difficult question" whether the West could accept Milosevic as a negotiating partner in eventual peace talks. Fischer noted that a lasting peace in the Balkans will require security guarantees for all states in the region, at least 20 years of EU economic assistance, and the development of democratic structures. PM[10] OGATA: EXPULSIONS WERE PLANNEDSadako Ogata, who is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told an emergency aid gathering in Geneva on 6 April that the Serbian expulsion of Kosovars was "forced, planned, and directed" in a deliberate move to "destroy the identity" of the province. Ogata stressed that resettlement programs "must meet minimum humanitarian standards, including non- separation of families. Random, disorganized and, worst of all, forced evacuations will not, I repeat not, be accepted by the UNHCR." She added that "solutions, for the overwhelming majority, mean returning to their homes as soon as possible," AFP reported. PM[11] WHERE ARE THE REFUGEES?The more than 40,000 Kosovar refugees massed in the no-man's land along the Macedonian border were gone by the morning of 7 April. "Confusion reigned" among aid workers as to what happened to them, Reuters reported. Some observers noted that the Macedonians have sent many refugees to camps to await resettlement abroad. Other observers suggested that the authorities may have put as many as 30,000 Kosovars on buses bound for Albania, Greece, or Turkey. The UNHCR's Paula Ghebini said that "we cannot account for about 30,000 people...You can't just put refugees on a bus and not tell them where they're going." She added that the UNHCR is concerned that the Macedonian authorities have split families up by arbitrarily selecting refugees for resettlement in one country or another. Some reports suggest that some of the Kosovars may have returned to the Serbian- controlled province. PM[12] NATO: NO FORCED DEPORTATIONSBritain's Brigadier Tim Cross told Reuters at Macedonia's Stenkovec airfield on 7 April that families will not be separated and "no one will go anywhere they don't want to go." The UNHCR and OSCE set up a special registration desk for those wanting to go to Germany. By 8:00 am local time, "thousands" of people were lined up in front of it. PM[13] GEORGIEVSKI BLASTS NATOMacedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said in Skopje on 6 April that the Atlantic alliance acted "completely irresponsibly" by ignoring his warnings that air strikes could lead to a humanitarian disaster, AP reported. He added: "Macedonia cried out that something dramatic was going to happen, but the U.S. and EU have done nothing to help...How many [refugees] do we have to take to satisfy Europe and for the Kosovar people to say 'thank you,'" Reuters quoted him as saying. Macedonia seeks to join NATO, but many citizens and government officials have become bitter over having become a front-line state. Many ethnic Macedonians sympathize with Serbian policies in Kosova. Macedonia's population is some 23 percent ethnic Albanian, and one of their two largest parties is part of the coalition government. PM[14] REFUGEE INFLUX TO ALBANIA CONTINUESAnother 16,000 displaced persons arrived in Albania on 6 April, bringing the total in that country to 280,000 according to OSCE estimates. Most were registered at the Morina crossing point near Kukes. A further 1,000 came from Montenegro. An OSCE spokesman in Tirana said helicopters ferrying supplies to the border had brought back wounded refugees to that city, including children hit by shrapnel. The next day, Serbian authorities closed the Morina crossing and told the refugees it is safe for them to go home because of Milosevic's unilateral declaration of a cease-fire (see below). Few Kosovars, if any, trust anything that the Serbian authorities say, the BBC reported. FS[15] GOVERNMENT ACCELERATES EVACUATIONS FROM KUKESThe Albanian authorities used 5,000 buses and trucks to evacuate 17,500 refugees from remote Kukes to other parts of the country on 6 April. The authorities so far have evacuated a total of 110,000 people from there since the influx began in March. Also on 6 April, 20 planes landed at Tirana airport with 2,400 tons of aid--mainly food, tents, and medicines. Elsewhere, the head of the World Bank's Tirana office, Carlos Elbirt, said that the World Bank will give Albania's government budgetary support of around $20 million to cope with the situation. FS[16] REFUGEE REPORTS MASS KILLINGA refugee, identified as Gani Bushati, told AP in Kukes on 6 April that Serbian forces in the morning of 2 April rounded up between 130 and 150 villagers in Llabjane near Peja, herded them into a barn and opened fire. He said he survived because others fell over him. The story, if true, would represent the biggest single alleged mass execution since the expulsions began. The man said he and two other survivors hid for two days in the mountains until they received care at a field hospital run by the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK). Serbian authorities have expelled foreign correspondents from Kosova, so independent confirmation of Bushati's account is not possible. In Tirana, OSCE chairman and Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek told journalists that it is difficult to get verifiable information. He added nonetheless: "I think we have to admit that we're talking about genocide." FS[17] WEST SLAMS MILOSEVIC'S 'HOLLOW SHAM'...British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the BBC on 7 April that Milosevic's offer of a unilateral cease-fire the previous day is a "hollow sham." Cook added that NATO has intensified its air operations against Yugoslav military targets. President Bill Clinton said that Milosevic must withdraw his forces from Kosova and allow all refugees and displaced persons to go home under international protection if he wants the air strikes to end. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema also called Milosevic's offer "insufficient." PM[18] ...AS DOES ALBANIAThe Foreign Ministry issued a statement in Tirana on 6 April saying that the cease-fire is "just another act of cheating." It added that "the criminal regime of Belgrade is trying to buy time in order to continue its campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing." The statement stressed that real peace in Kosova can be restored only after the Serbian forces withdraw their forces from the province, accept the Rambouillet peace accords and allow all refugees and displaced people to return under the protection of NATO forces. President Rexhep Meidani called the cease-fire "an act of demagogy and a cynical provocation," Reuters reported. Prime Minister Pandeli Majko told an unnamed NATO official in Tirana that the government offers "full collaboration with NATO for any further action" that the alliance undertakes against Serbia. FS[19] BRITAIN SAYS SERBIAN MILITARY PUTS CIVILIANS AT RISKDefense Secretary George Robertson said in London on 6 April that it is "deeply regrettable" that NATO air strikes have led to civilian casualties. He stressed, however, that "civilians are directly being put at risk as part of Serbian military policy," which places military assets in residential areas, schools, and factories, AP reported. Robertson nonetheless stressed that "we shall continue with our attacks as long as necessary to ensure Milosevic is defeated in his vile ethnic war." Serbian television reports on the destruction caused by NATO air strikes and highlights civilian casualties and injuries. It does not report on the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Kosovars, except to suggest that "the Albanians" are fleeing NATO air strikes. PM[20] TALBOTT IN ROMANIAU.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott praised Romania on 6 April for its readiness to share its burden of the refugees from Kosova and for its position on the NATO actions in Yugoslavia, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Talbott said the U.S. will increase by $6 million its assistance program for democratization, economic reform, and the army, to a total of $46.6 million in 1999. Talbott said the NATO Washington summit later this month will examine "not only the conflict in Yugoslavia, but the future of the region as a whole" and that he expects President Emil Constantinescu and Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu (with whom he conducted talks), to provide the summit with "an intellectual and political leadership role" in the search for the region's secure future. MS[21] ROMANIAN CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS THREATEN THE CDRThe civic organizations that are members of the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) warned the political parties in the CDR on 7 April that they will "search for an electoral alternative" in the next parliamentary elections if their role in the CDR will not be equalized to that of the parties. The CDR council also decided to renew regular meetings among its leaders, but CDR chairman Ion Diaconescu said that in line with the electoral law, the new protocol now being worked out must distinguish between political parties and civic organizations. In other news, the Hungarian honorary consulate was officially opened in Constanta on 7 April. MS[C] END NOTE[22] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN PARTY TORN BY INNER CONFLICTBy Michael ShafirThe Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) is scheduled to hold its sixth congress in May 1999 and the event is likely to be tumultuous. The UDMR's "radical" and "moderate" wings, which have long been at odds, now appear to be headed for an open confrontation that may impact not only UDMR's future, but also that of the Romanian coalition in which the UDMR is a member, indeed may even have a regional and international influence. The "radical" wing of the alliance, headed by Reformed Bishop Laszlo Toekes, has in the last months scored heavily against its adversaries, whose leader is the UDMR chairman, Bela Marko. Internal UDMR elections under way in preparation for the congress displaced "moderates" at the head of several important UDMR local branches, replacing them with partisans of the bishop. This was the case in Targu Mures, Cluj, and Timisoara, three of the most important and powerful UDMR local organizations. Moreover, the new leader of the Mures county UDMR local organization, lawyer Eloed Kincses, has been elected by the Cluj and Timisoara "radicals" to run against Marko for the UDMR chairmanship in May. There are several explanations for the UDMR's rank and file radicalization. First, the minority Hungarian electorate, just like that formed by the ethnic majority, is dissatisfied with the economic performance of the ruling coalition. Marko has become associated with the promotion of the coalition partnership, and with the promise to deliver the "general goods" of reform and improved living standards as a means to solve the problems of the Hungarian minority. Second, and perhaps more important, is the perceived responsibility of the "moderates" for the failure to deliver the "specific goods" pursued by the UDMR when it joined the coalition in 1996. The former cabinet headed by Victor Ciorbea, initially seemed inclined to meet those demands. In an unwritten "gentlemen's agreement," the UDMR leadership shelved its demands for autonomy in exchange for some concrete steps aimed at meeting more modest demands. Two government regulations issued by that cabinet allowed for the use of the minority mother tongue in administration in localities with a significant proportion of minority inhabitants, and amended the education law to make possible university instruction in the minority mother tongue. Government regulations, however, have to be eventually approved by the parliament, and some of the UDMR's partners in the coalition joined forces with the nationalist opposition to stall both pieces of legislation. UDMR threats to leave the coalition eventually brought about the compromise solution of setting up a so-called "multicultural university," but even that solution is, for the time being, stalled, as a court of justice (acting on appeals launched by three opposition parties) ruled that it was "unconstitutional" and contradicted the education law still in force. The resignation of Gyorgy Tokay in January as minister in charge of minorities affairs, though submitted on "personal grounds" that were never elucidated, was another blow suffered by the "moderates," since its most likely reason was the untenable position of an avowed partisan of "dialogue" with the ethnic majority when that dialogue had produced little after more than three years of coalition partnership. His replacement, Cluj Senator Peter Eckstein Kovacs, is not easily identifiable as either a "moderate" or a "radical," but, if the current trend in the UDMR continues, is unlikely to pursue his predecessor's line. Recently, several UDMR members of the so-called "Platform for Change of the UDMR" were summoned before the Prosecutor General's office in connection with a resolution adopted in September 1998 at a "forum" held by these Toekes supporters, which resurrected the call for territorial autonomy and demanded the granting of "double citizenship" for members of the Hungarian minority by Budapest. Marko was forced to publicly defend his rivals, though not their ideas. He could have hardly done otherwise, bearing in mind that the investigation was opened at the request of nationalist Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar. Budapest has distanced itself from the "double citizenship" demand. The cabinet headed by Viktor Orban is wisely taking a cautious position vis-a- vis the internal UDMR struggle. Against the background of Kosova, the radicalization of the UDMR might indeed turn into too dangerous a card to play, the more so as Romanian nationalists are warning against a "Kosova precedent." Emblematically, Marko has spoken about the need to pre-empt Kosova-like situations by having the international community act before they become "hot and close to explosion." While pledging that Hungarian Transylvanians will only use "political means" to achieve their goals, Marko also warned that the Yugoslav lesson shows that "he who believes that borders are frozen...is wrong." The statement was probably intentionally ambiguous, bearing in mind the growing strength of his opponents in the UDMR. Less driven by subtleties, some pro-Toekes Transylvanian pundits on several occasions spoke of changing Western perceptions on solving interethnic conflicts triggered by the persecution of minorities. The Toekes-posed challenge has already met with what is hardly a "moderate response of the moderates," and one of the most interesting proposals is to have the honorary UDMR chairman (that is, Toekes himself) allowed to speak in an official position only after the UDMR chairman (now, Marko) has "clarified" the bishop's statement. In other words, to silence Toekes. This, in itself, is a sure indication that the sixth UDMR congress will be anything but a "silent event." 07-04-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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