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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 98, 99-05-20Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 98, 20 May 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] SOME ARMENIAN CLERGY OPPOSE POPE'S PLANNED VISITThe Vatican officially confirmed on 19 May that Pope John Paul II will visit Armenia from 2-4 July as part of the celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of Armenia's adoption of Christianity as the state religion, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 March and 21 April 1999). But Azg/Mirror-On-Line reported the same day that some members of the Armenian clergy oppose the planned visit, which they fear reflects an attempt by the Catholic Church to bring the Armenian Apostolic Church under its influence. Some priests reportedly also resent the fact that Catholicos Karekin I did not consult with his clergy before inviting the pontiff to visit Armenia. LF[02] CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY VISITS ARMENIAContinuing his tour of CIS capitals, Yurii Yarov met with President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Armen Darpinian in Yerevan on 19 May, Noyan Tapan reported. Those talks focused on the planned CIS free trade zone, the restructuring of the CIS Executive Committee, and the distribution of posts on that committee among individual CIS states. Yarov subsequently told journalists that the level of economic cooperation between CIS member states is inadequate, which he attributed to the impact of the region-wide financial crisis. Darpinian said that CIS heads of state will sign an agreement on the free- trade zone at their next summit in Minsk in early June, adding that the zone will become operational on 1 January 2000. Yarov also rejected suggestions that his predecessor, Boris Berezovskii, was responsible for the decision by Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia not to renew their participation in the CIS Collective Security Treaty. LF[03] CHINESE EMBASSY DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF ROCKET SALES TO ARMENIAA spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Yerevan told Noyan Tapan on 19 May that the embassy has no information concerning allegations made the previous day by Azerbaijan State Foreign Policy Adviser Vafa Guluzade that Armenia has acquired eight Chinese Typhoon multiple rocket systems (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 1999). LF[04] ABKHAZ PRESIDENT TO SEEK RE-ELECTIONVladislav Ardzinba intends to seek a second term in the presidential elections to be held in September 1999, Caucasus Press reported on 20 May, quoting presidential adviser Astamur Tania. Tania said that "other political forces" in Abkhazia, whom he did not name, will also nominate candidates. Tania dismissed the Amtzabz (Fire) opposition movement as "a myth created by Georgian intelligence" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 May 1999). He said leaflets distributed in Abkhazia in the name of that movement were printed in Georgia and are of a higher quality than can be produced using the typographic facilities available in Abkhazia. LF[05] ABKHAZIA REJECTS RUSSIAN CRITICISM OF PLANNED MILITARY EXERCISESCaucasus Press on 20 May quoted Abkhaz Security Minister Astamur Tarba as saying that as planned, the unrecognized republic will hold large-scale military maneuvers late this month, despite the protest by a senior officer of the Russian peacekeeping contingent that such exercises would violate the May 1994 cease-fire agreement (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 May 1999). Tarba said the maneuvers will be held in a district of Ochamchira Raion that is not part of the military zone, in which only limited amounts of military equipment may be deployed. LF[06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION PARTIES SIGN MEMORANDUMSeveral opposition parties and movements including Azat, Azamat, Orleu, and the Communist Party have signed a memorandum on preparations for the October parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported on 20 May. Orleu leader Seydakhmet Quttyqadam explained that the opposition's primary aim is to campaign against the existing political system rather than against either President Nursultan Nazarbaev or Prime Minister Nurlan Balghymbaev. LF[07] KYRGYZ HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS STAGE NEW PICKETSome 50 people picketed the parliamentary building in Bishkek on 19 May to demand the resignation of Justice Minister Nelly Beishenalieva and the re-registration of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, RFE/RL correspondents in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Members of the committee, whose registration was revoked by the Ministry of Justice in September 1998, had staged a similar picket last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 May 1999). Members of the presidential administration met with the picketers that day and created a joint commission to investigate the issue. Commission member Beishenalieva continues to oppose the committee's re-registration. LF[08] TAJIK AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE LATEST ARMED CLASHMembers of the Committee for National Reconciliation and the United Tajik Opposition are trying to determine the circumstances that led to fighting between refugees from Uzbekistan and fighters from an Uzbek opposition group during the night of 16-17 May in a village in Garm Oblast, AP-Blitz reported on 20 May. Some 18 people were killed in the fighting. The head of the Uzbek opposition group, Juma Namangoni, is reportedly wanted in Uzbekistan on suspicion of involvement in the series of bombings in Tashkent in February. Since those attacks, the number of refugees fleeing from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan has increased. LF[09] TURKMENISTAN'S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION MEETSThe Central Electoral Commission has held its first session devoted to preparations for the 12 December parliamentary elections, Interfax reported on 19 May. Under the schedule adopted at that meeting, the commission has 10 days after the elections in which to count votes and announce the names of new parliamentary deputies. For the first time, international observers will be on hand to monitor the poll. LF[10] UZBEKISTAN WANTS FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN PRIVATIZATIONPresident Islam Karimov has described foreign participation in the ongoing privatization process as "vital" at the current stage of the reform process, Interfax reported on 19 May. Revenues from privatization in the first quarter of 1999 were some 20 percent down on the same period last year. Karimov said that the world financial crisis should not negatively affect either privatization or the process of attracting foreign investment. It is unclear whether he addressed the deterrent effect on potential investors of restrictions on the convertibility of the national currency. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] HUNDREDS OF SERBIAN SOLDIERS DESERT IN KOSOVAAt least 800 Yugoslav army troops left their units in Kosova on 19 May to return to their homes in Krusevac and elsewhere in central Serbia. For several days, their families had been protesting to demand their return, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 1999). Some of the deserters handed in their uniforms and weapons before leaving their posts. Other soldiers took their arms and equipment with them, some of whom "used their weapons" to enable fellow deserters to pass the roadblocks of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's paramilitary police. Army spokesmen in Belgrade said the men going home were mainly reservists and that their withdrawal had been scheduled. The BBC reported that the number of deserters was as high as 2,000 and that some soldiers left after bitter arguments with their commanders. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin said the desertions are particularly significant because they involved "entire units." PM[12] U.S. SHOWS EVIDENCE OF MASSACREState Department officials showed a video in Washington on 19 May that they said proved the accuracy of earlier reports and surveillance photographs to show that Serbian forces massacred a group of elderly Kosovars at Izbica in mid-April. Rubin added that there are eyewitnesses to the atrocity. He did not elaborate. PM[13] CACAK CITIZENS CALL ON BELGRADE TO PROTECT KOSOVARSMembers of Cacak's unofficial "citizens' parliament" condemned what they called the dictatorship of the governing Socialist Party of Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 19 May. The parliament also called on the Serbian authorities to "protect [ethnic] Albanian families and their civil rights, and to enable them to return" to Kosova. Observers note that this is one of the first calls by the Serbian opposition for the protection and return of the ethnic Albanians. PM[14] MONTENEGRO SAYS YUGOSLAV ARMY 'HIJACKING' AID TRUCKSZorica Maric, who is Montenegro's diplomatic representative to the U.S., said in Washington on 19 May that Yugoslav troops have recently begun diverting to the Kumbor army barracks humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Croatia. She added that "the confiscation of humanitarian aid is already jeopardizing the humanitarian situation in the refugee camps," AP reported. In Podgorica, Deputy Prime Minister Dragisa Burzan said the government will try to "convince [the military] to leave the border area. If they don't, we will find another way of dealing with [the problem]. People are getting very impatient with all this," Reuters quoted him as saying. "The army wants to suffocate us," he added. PM[15] GEORGIEVSKI PLEDGES OPEN BORDERUN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in Skopje on 19 May that Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski has promised him that he will keep Macedonia's border open for Kosovar refugees, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Georgievski added that Macedonia's government is currently able to cope with another 30,000 refugees. Elsewhere, Georgievski announced the appointment of new economics, agriculture, and health ministers. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party joined the government as a minister without portfolio, bringing the number of parties in the governing coalition to four. Also in Skopje, a bomb exploded outside a mosque in the central part of the mainly ethnic Albanian part of town. Two people were seriously injured. Police are investigating. PM[16] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS KOSOVAR RIVALS TO TIRANAPaskal Milo in Tirana on 19 May called on "all political groups in Kosova to send their representatives to a meeting in Tirana in the next few days." He urged them to "reaffirm once again their commitment to work together and to talk with one voice, on the basis of the agreement that they reached in Paris after the Rambouillet talks," an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Tirana. The rival groups had agreed in France in March to create a joint provisional government. Meanwhile, in an apparently conciliatory gesture, Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) spokesman Jakup Krasniqi said that he welcomes Tirana's role as a mediator between the rival Kosovar factions. The previous day in Tirana, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had urged UCK representatives and the nationalist scholar and writer Rexhep Qosja to reach an understanding with Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League of Kosova. FS[17] ALBANIA REINFORCES TROOPS AROUND KUKESThe Albanian army moved additional troops, tanks, and other military equipment into the Kukes area on 19 May, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, U.S. A-10 "tankbuster" planes continued to attack military positions on the Yugoslav side of the border. Elsewhere, no additional refugees crossed the main border checkpoint at Morina. FS[18] ITALIAN COAST GUARD RESCUES 30 KOSOVAR REFUGEESAn Italian coast-guard vessel rescued 30 Kosovar refugees from Albanian's Karaburuni Peninsula on 19 May, Reuters reported. Instead of bringing the refugees to Italy as promised, smugglers from Vlora dumped them on the Karaburuni Peninsula after a short trip across the bay of Vlora and wished them good luck. The refugees said they paid about $2,500 each for the journey. FS[19] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT FACES POTENTIAL STRIKEPrime Minister Radu Vasile warned that a threatened general strike would destabilize the country, Reuters reported on 19 May. Vasile's comments came after inconclusive talks between his government and union leaders. The unions are expected to decide on 20 May whether to go ahead with a general strike on 24 May. Vasile also said labor unrest would crush Romania's bid to take part in the planned Balkan reconstruction plan after the Kosova conflict. The Vasile cabinet is facing a confidence vote in the parliament on 20 May in connection with a package of economic reform laws (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 May 1999). VG[20] NEW BILINGUAL RADIO STATION TO GO ON AIR IN TRANSYLVANIAGyorgy Frunda, a senator for the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR), announced that a 24-hour Hungarian- and Romanian-language radio station will be launched in Targu Mures on 1 September, the BBC reported on 19 May, citing Hungarian Duna TV. VG[21] MOLDOVAN DEPUTIES WANT STRONGER GOVERNMENTA group of 39 parliamentary deputies from Moldova's governing Alliance for Democracy and Reforms has submitted to the Constitutional Court a package of constitutional amendments on expanding the government's powers, Infotag and BASA-Press reported on 19 May. According to Moldovan law, all amendments to the constitution must be examined by the court before the legislature can deal with them. One of the deputies said the amendments would give the government the power to "pass decisions of a legislative character," provided the parliament did not reject them within "two to three days of their adoption." Deputy parliamentary speaker Iurie Rosca said the proposed amendments are part of President Petru Lucinschi's attempt to "reduce the role of the parliament to that of a decorative body under governmental subordination," BASA-Press reported. A non-binding referendum on expanding the president's powers is scheduled for 23 May. VG[22] OSCE PRAISES BULGARIAN ROMA INTEGRATION MODELBulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Veselin Metodiev said the OSCE is planning to apply the Bulgarian model for integrating Romani communities and organizations to other countries, according to an 18 May BTA report cited by the BBC. Metodiev's comments came after he met with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Max van der Stoel in Sofia. BTA also cited a government official as saying that the EU's PHARE program has approved funding for projects connected to Bulgaria's Romani minority. In other news, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mikhailova met with her Austrian counterpart, Wolfgang Schuessel, in Vienna on 19 May, BTA reported. Schuessel said "almost no other country" in the region has suffered as many losses owing to the Kosova conflict as has Bulgaria. VG[C] END NOTE[23] RUGOVA SPEAKS OUT TOO LATEby Fabian SchmidtKosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova has finally outlined his political strategy some two weeks after arriving in Rome from Kosova, where he spent more than one month under Serbian house arrest. He told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" of 17 May that he does not recognize the provisional government of Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) leader Hashim Thaci, thereby clearly defining his position in the ongoing power struggle over the future of Kosova. His statement, even if addressed more to a Western readership than to the Kosovars, was certainly overdue. Rugova failed to take advantage of the extensive international media coverage he received immediately after he arrived in Rome. He refrained from stating clearly his position on key issues and explaining what had happened to him while he was under house arrest. Then he lost more valuable time by travelling to Paris, Brussels, Bonn, and London, where he met with numerous Western leaders. Albanian and Kosovar politicians both in Tirana and elsewhere were left guessing about his political views and plans. By mid-May, the UCK had become a strong political force. It quickly filled the vacuum created by the collapse of Rugova's shadow state in the course of the Serbian ethnic- cleansing campaign. Thaci's government draws its legitimacy primarily from an agreement on forming a provisional government that the Kosovar delegates to the Rambouillet peace talks concluded in March. Thaci, who headed the Kosovar delegation in France, went on to claim the post of prime minister for himself and assigned several ministerial positions to the various Kosovar parties represented in Rambouillet. The key ministerial positions went to the UCK, while Rugova's Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) received less important ones. This was apparently one of the main reasons why an LDK delegation, led by shadow-state Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi, declined to join the Thaci government when visiting Tirana on 2 May. Another reason was reportedly that Bukoshi still has large funds from Diaspora donations and does not want to simply hand over the money to Thaci. Instead, Bukoshi suggested forming a new government, which he invited the UCK to join. On 3 May, UCK spokesman Jakup Krasniqi dismissed Bukoshi's proposal as "unacceptable," making clear that "there is already a government of Kosova led by Hashim Thaci." Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko, who had invited the rivals to meet in Tirana, urged them--in vain--to unite. Foreign Minister Paskal Milo stressed that "there is no time to lose as to who will be prime minister and who will be ministers." He added that "it is important to set up a government representing all Albanians in Kosova." Each side, nonetheless, insisted that its rivals join its own government first, and each remained unwilling to compromise. Two days after the Albanian government's mediation effort ended, Rugova arrived in Rome with his family. He had a golden opportunity to promote unity among the Kosovars and thereby influence the Albanian government to take positions close to his own. But by focusing on meetings with Western leaders rather than spending time with his own people, he left the political initiative to Thaci. On 12 May, the Albanian parliament's Socialist majority voted to recognize the Thaci government. That same day, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer announced that Rugova had decided to stay in Germany. By that time, Rugova had not yet explained to the Kosovar public what had happened to him in Serbian captivity and whether he signed a document with Serbian President Milan Milutinovic under duress or voluntarily. That document called for autonomy within Serbia and for direct Serbian-Kosovar negotiations, with foreigners present only "as guests." Instead, Rugova said he preferred not to talk about his meetings with Milutinovic. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Paskal Milo on 14 May urged Rugova to declare his support for the Thaci government. Milo stressed that the Albanian government does "not support one side [of the Kosovar political spectrum] against the other" but rather seeks to promote Kosovar unity. Milo also called on Rugova to visit Tirana, saying that "if [Rugova] says he is the [president] of the [Kosovar] Albanians..., then first of all he needs to come and see Albanians. [It is] unacceptable, unthinkable that he would not come to Albania, where there are 440,000 people from Kosova. He must come here to encourage them, to support them." Rugova finally clarified his position in an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" of 17 May. "Whatever I signed in Belgrade is meaningless," he said, adding that he put his signature to the document to protect his family. Rugova also said that he will travel to Macedonia and to Albania and visit refugee camps there. Furthermore, he sounded a conciliatory note by saying that "it is tragicomical that we have two provisional governments at the same time." Rugova added that he will invite Kosovar political leaders from all political groups to Bonn to discuss forming a new provisional government. It remains to be seen how the UCK will respond to that suggestion. Indeed, Rugova risks losing the little sympathy he may have left among the UCK. In an interview with the Hamburg weekly "Die Woche" of 19 May, he called on the West not to arm the UCK and to negotiate with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Rugova seems to be working on the assumption that his most important asset is his good personal and political links to Western politicians. But he must be careful not to lose contact with his electorate in the refugee camps and with fighters in the field if he wants to maintain his position. Sooner or later the Kosovars will hold an election, and foreigners will not be the ones voting. 20-05-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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