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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 137, 99-07-16

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 137, 16 July 1999


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OBTAINS COURT INJUNCTION
  • [02] SUSPECT IN ARMENIAN ELECTION VIOLENCE RELEASED
  • [03] AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL SHEDS LIGHT ON ALIEV-
  • [04] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN
  • [05] ABKHAZ PARLIAMENT-IN-EXILE CHAIRMAN DEMANDS
  • [06] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT VISITS KAZAKHSTAN
  • [07] KAZAKHSTAN PROTESTS RUSSIAN BAN ON MEAT
  • [08] RUSSIAN, UZBEK FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [09] RUGOVA ENDS 'MYSTERY VISIT' TO KOSOVA...
  • [10] ...AFTER CALLING FOR COOPERATION WITH UN
  • [11] LDK DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN KOUCHNER'S
  • [12] THACI 'FEELS GOOD' ABOUT RUGOVA
  • [13] EXPLOSION INJURES 20 IN KOSOVA
  • [14] ALLIANCE CALLS FOR SERBIAN OPPOSITION TO UNITE
  • [15] PENSIONERS STAGE PROTEST
  • [16] SERBIAN POLICE HARASS OPPOSITION PETITION DRIVE
  • [17] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT MAKES 'WARTIME' MEASURES
  • [18] DRASKOVIC POINTS FINGER AT ALBANIANS
  • [19] MACEDONIA TO OPEN ALBANIAN-LANGUAGE
  • [20] GREEK POLICE KILL ALBANIAN HIJACKER
  • [21] HAGUE COURT OPENS DOOR FOR MORE INDICTMENTS
  • [22] BOSNIA TO CUT MILITARY EXPENDITURES
  • [23] UN EXTENDS PREVLAKA MANDATE
  • [24] NATO SUPREME COMMANDER EUROPE IN BUCHAREST
  • [25] ROMANIAN GENERALS SENTENCED
  • [26] FIRST MOLDOVAN-RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING EXERCISES
  • [27] BULGARIA RAISES DANUBE BRIDGE DISPUTE WITH EU
  • [28] ISRAELIS CIRCUMVENT ARAB BOYCOTT OF BULGARIAN

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [29] HUNGARIAN ARMY CHIEF RESIGNS

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OBTAINS COURT INJUNCTION

    AGAINST GREEK TELECOM

    The Armenian government has

    obtained a court order against Greece's OTE, which owns a

    90 percent in Armenia's ArmTelecom monopoly, allowing it to

    seize shares worth $140 million in ArmTelecom, Noyan Tapan

    reported on 15 July. Armenia brought a lawsuit against OTE in

    late June for non-payment of at least $18 million in profit tax.

    OTE acquired its share in ArmTelecom when the

    communications monopoly, previously owned by the Armenian

    government and the U.S. registered Trans World Telecom,

    was privatized in 1997. LF

    [02] SUSPECT IN ARMENIAN ELECTION VIOLENCE RELEASED

    AFTER QUESTIONING

    Ashot Aghababian, whose supporters

    are accused of opening fire on supporters of a rival

    candidate during the local elections in Yerevan's Ajapniak

    district on 11 July, was taken into custody for questioning on

    15 July but released later the same day, Noyan Tapan

    reported on 16 July. A spokesman for the Prosecutor-

    General's Office told the agency that Aghababian has not

    been formally arrested (as erroneously reported in "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 16 July 1999). LF

    [03] AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL SHEDS LIGHT ON ALIEV-

    KOCHARIAN MEETING

    Presidential administration

    department head Novruz Mamedov told RFE/RL's Armenian

    Service on 15 July that the 16 July meeting in Geneva

    between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was

    arranged at the urging of the U.S. Mamedov also said that in

    a letter to both presidents following their meeting in

    Washington in late April, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine

    Albright outlined additions to the most recent Karabakh draft

    peace plan proposed by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk

    Group. He added that one of those additions deals with the

    repatriation of refugees and displaced persons. The two

    presidents had planned to met in Luxembourg last month, but

    Aliev's doctors dissuaded him from making that trip (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 1999). LF

    [04] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN

    CUSTOMS POST INCIDENT

    Husein Djavadov, a leading

    member of the Nakhichevan branch of the Azerbaijan Popular

    Front Party, has rejected allegations by Azerbaijani Interior

    Minister Ramil Usubov that members of his party arriving in

    Nakhichevan from Ukraine instigated the violence at the

    Sadarak border crossing between the Azerbaijani exclave

    and Turkey earlier this month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July

    1999). A spokesman for residents of Sadarak similarly denied

    any involvement by the Popular Front, attributing the clash to

    customs officials' unfair treatment of local residents, Turan

    reported on 16 July. The Azerbaijan Popular Front Party's

    Nakhichevan branch and some Azerbaijani newspapers have

    attributed the fighting to rivalry between mafia groups. LF

    [05] ABKHAZ PARLIAMENT-IN-EXILE CHAIRMAN DEMANDS

    PUNISHMENT FOR KODORI KIDNAPPERS

    Tamaz

    Nadareishvili, who is chairman of the Abkhaz parliament-in-

    exile (composed of the ethnic Georgian deputies to the

    Abkhaz parliament elected in late 1991, has cancelled

    international travel plans and will remain in Tbilisi until the

    persons responsible for the 9 July kidnapping of the entire

    Abkhaz government-in-exile are found, Caucasus Press

    reported on 16 July. Nadareishvili blamed the abduction on

    "those who cannot reconcile themselves to the existence of

    legitimate Abkhaz authorities, especially on the eve of

    parliamentary elections" (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol.

    2, No. 28, 15 July 1999). He has founded his own political

    party to contest those elections. Nadareishvili planned to

    visit Azerbaijan and Ukraine to discuss the possible

    participation of those countries in an international

    peacekeeping force for Abkhazia. He also intended to

    address the UN Security Council in New York. LF

    [06] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT VISITS KAZAKHSTAN

    Petru

    Lucinschi arrived in Astana on 14 July at the head of a

    government delegation that also included First Deputy Prime

    Minister Nikolae Andronic and Foreign Minister Nicolae

    Tabacaru, INFOTAG reported. Lucinschi held talks on 15 July

    with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev on boosting

    bilateral trade and Kazakhstan's repayment of its $5.5 million

    debt to Moldova. Nazarbaev noted that some Kazakh

    bankers believe the breakaway Transdniester Republic has

    outstanding debts to Kazakhstan that accumulated before

    1991, but his country will not press for repayment, according

    to Interfax. The two presidents expressed satisfaction at the

    overall level of bilateral relations and reached agreement on

    setting up a joint commission for economic cooperation. They

    also signed a convention on avoiding dual taxation. LF

    [07] KAZAKHSTAN PROTESTS RUSSIAN BAN ON MEAT

    IMPORTS

    Kazakhstan's Veterinary Agency issued a

    statement on 16 July terming Moscow's recent imposition of

    a ban on imports of meat from Kazakhstan "politically

    motivated," RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Russia had

    said the ban was prompted by the discovery of hoof-and-

    mouth disease among cattle in the Qostanay Oblast of

    northern Kazakhstan. The Kazakh agency claimed the ban

    was in retaliation for Astana's temporary ban on the launching

    of Russian rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome. LF

    [08] RUSSIAN, UZBEK FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET

    Igor Ivanov

    met with his Uzbek counterpart, Abdulaziz Kamilov, in

    Tashkent on 15 July to discuss bilateral relations, regional

    problems, and the conflicts in Tajikistan and Afghanistan,

    Interfax reported. The two ministers also assessed

    preparations for Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin's

    planned visit to Uzbekistan and for the 19-20 July meeting in

    Tashkent under UN auspices of the "Six Plus Two" group of

    states (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran,

    and Pakistan, all of which border on Afghanistan, plus Russia

    and the U.S.) to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

    Representatives of both rival factions in Afghanistan have

    also been invited to that meeting, but it unclear whether the

    Taliban will send a representative (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2

    and 4 June 1999). LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [09] RUGOVA ENDS 'MYSTERY VISIT' TO KOSOVA...

    Kosovar

    shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova left Kosova on 15

    July, only a few hours after arriving in the province, VOA

    reported. The "Los Angeles Times" noted that his quick

    departure "puzzled observers." The daily added that

    Rugova and his wife briefly returned to their home in the

    late evening after meetings with UN officials and

    journalists. While she remained in the car, he went into the

    house, "rushing out" after a few minutes and departing

    without smiling, stopping only to wave briefly to a few

    children. His Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) Vice

    President Edita Tahiri said that Rugova will return next

    week to "restart work as president of Kosova." FS

    [10] ...AFTER CALLING FOR COOPERATION WITH UN

    ADMINISTRATION

    Earlier on 15 July, Rugova met with

    several UN officials in Prishtina, including newly appointed

    UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner. Rugova

    indicated at press conference that he is not willing to

    share power with his rival Hashim Thaci of the Kosova

    Liberation Army (UCK). Rugova stressed that "the

    objective of the people and political groups of Kosova

    [must be] to cooperate with the international community,"

    an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported.

    Rugova added that "the priority is the economic,

    democratic, and social reconstruction of Kosova and

    especially the building of pluralism." Rugova said that

    elections could be held after "some months." FS

    [11] LDK DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN KOUCHNER'S

    ROUNDTABLE

    Kouchner told AFP on 16 July that the LDK

    did not participate at the first meeting of an UN-sponsored

    roundtable in Prishtina, which included various political

    groups. The meeting was intended to support the

    reconstruction of public administration. Kouchner said: "I

    am sad that the LDK has chosen not to participate.... They

    are unhappy about the current composition" of the

    roundtable. The previous day Kouchner told Reuters that

    "in our hearts and minds we know this is all about

    reconciliation. In our heads, we know real peace will take

    time...." FS

    [12] THACI 'FEELS GOOD' ABOUT RUGOVA

    Thaci told AFP on

    15 July: "I've been inviting Rugova to come back to Kosova

    for a long time.... I feel very good that he accepted." He

    noted that "there is enough space in Kosova for Rugova."

    The main positions in the new administration "belong to

    Kosovars, not to people who are losers, who have been

    losers before the war, during the war, and now after the

    war," he commented, adding that he is "not talking

    specifically about Rugova" but about "the ones...who have

    placed obstacles in the resistance's path." Thaci said that

    Kouchner can help "create a better climate among the

    political factions in Kosova." He also commented that the

    UCK wants to "build a multi-ethnic, open, and tolerant

    society, [and] create democratic institutions including [the

    participation of] Albanians, Serbs, and Montenegrins." FS

    [13] EXPLOSION INJURES 20 IN KOSOVA

    A KFOR spokesman

    said in Prishtina on 16 July that some 20 people received

    shrapnel injuries the previous day in Vitina in the U.S.-

    controlled sector. A U.S. helicopter evacuated seven of the

    most seriously wounded people to U.S. military hospital

    facilities elsewhere. KFOR detained two unidentified males

    after the blast. Witnesses reported seeing unidentified

    persons dropping a box from a car in the area shortly before

    the explosion, AP reported. PM

    [14] ALLIANCE CALLS FOR SERBIAN OPPOSITION TO UNITE

    On

    15 July in Kragujevac, some 10,000 persons attended an

    anti-Milosevic rally called by the Alliance for Change, VOA

    reported. Cacak Mayor Velimir Ilic and former General Vuk

    Obradovic told the crowd that they hope that Vuk Draskovic

    and his Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) will join with the

    alliance in "a united front fighting for a new Serbia."

    Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic urged all of Milosevic's

    opponents to sink their partisan differences and support "a

    social revolution of a people deprived of its rights." Some of

    the people attending the demonstration told Reuters that

    they do not care which party organizes rallies so long as the

    protests are anti-Milosevic. Some of those people added that

    they plan to attend the Kragujevac rally called by the SPO for

    17 July. In Leskovac, some 1,000 people took part in the

    11th consecutive day of protests aimed at freeing a local

    television journalist from prison (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14

    July 1999). PM

    [15] PENSIONERS STAGE PROTEST

    Some 2,000 "angry

    pensioners" gathered in Belgrade on 15 July to demand

    higher retirement benefits and Milosevic's resignation, AP

    reported. Among those attending was Dragoslav Avramovic,

    the former governor of the National Bank, who is widely

    credited with having stopped hyper-inflation in 1994.

    Avramovic has recently begun to take an active role in

    opposition politics. Some observers have suggested that he

    might hold a high post in a post-Milosevic government if his

    health permits. PM

    [16] SERBIAN POLICE HARASS OPPOSITION PETITION DRIVE

    Democratic Party officials said in Belgrade on 15 July that

    several "regime thugs" beat eight party workers who were

    collecting signatures on the opposition's anti-Milosevic

    petition in Novi Beograd. The officials added that they have

    the license plate numbers of the attackers' car and will press

    criminal charges. In Novi Sad, police harassed several

    opposition party workers who were putting up signs urging

    people to sign the petition. In Gornji Milanovac, police

    prevented opposition activists from collecting signatures on

    the petition on streets and in a park. The party workers

    continued the petition drive at the entrance to a church after

    the priests gave them permission, RFE/RL's South Slavic

    Service reported. In Sremska Mitrovica, police detained four

    persons who were gathering signatures, Reuters reported.

    PM

    [17] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT MAKES 'WARTIME' MEASURES

    PERMANENT

    The Serbian legislature voted on 15 July to

    enact into law several economic measures that the

    government temporarily instituted under its "state of war"

    during NATO's air campaign in the spring. The SPO, the

    League of Vojvodina Hungarians, and the Vojvodina Coalition

    did not take part in the voting. Before the ballot,

    parliamentary speaker Dragan Tomic of the governing

    coalition announced that the New Democracy Party has left

    the coalition. The other members of the coalition thereupon

    "cancelled" the five legislative mandates that New Democracy

    received under a pre-election agreement between the

    coalition parties. New Democracy's Dusan Mihajlovic called

    the move "illegal" and motivated by a desire for revenge. PM

    [18] DRASKOVIC POINTS FINGER AT ALBANIANS

    Draskovic

    said in Athens on 15 July that the situation in Kosova "is more

    than dramatic. Now there is ethnic cleansing against the

    Serbs by the Albanians. They burn their houses, their

    churches, their fields." Referring to the recent hi-jacking of a

    Greek bus by an Albanian (see below), Draskovic added:

    "This should show that the Serbs are not the problem, but

    the Albanians who want to create a Greater Albania," Reuters

    reported. PM

    [19] MACEDONIA TO OPEN ALBANIAN-LANGUAGE

    UNIVERSITY

    Macedonian Foreign Minister Aleksandar

    Dimitrov told Reuters on 15 July in Skopje that the

    Macedonian government will allow the ethnic Albanian

    minority to establish its own university. He did not indicate

    when this will happen. Dimitrov added that "it is the

    inviolable right of everyone to have education in their

    mother tongue, including higher education." Observers

    note that the statement marks a milestone in Macedonian

    politics. Efforts by ethnic Albanians to establish an

    Albanian-language university in Tetovo in 1994 were met

    with a violent crackdown by the police. At the time, the

    Social Democratic government argued that establishing

    such a university would be tantamount to secession. Prime

    Minister Ljubco Georgievski told "RFE/RL Newsline" in

    September 1998, when he was still an opposition leader,

    that he would allow the establishment of the university if

    the ethnic Albanian leaders ceased raising ethnically-

    related issues and joined him in concentrating on economic

    development. FS

    [20] GREEK POLICE KILL ALBANIAN HIJACKER

    Greek police

    killed an Albanian who had hijacked a bus after a stand-off

    near Florina on 15 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 July

    1999). Special police stormed the bus and freed the last

    five hostages unharmed, AP reported. FS

    [21] HAGUE COURT OPENS DOOR FOR MORE INDICTMENTS

    Ruling on an appeal by convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal

    Dusan Tadic, the appeals chamber of the Hague-based war

    crimes tribunal concluded on 15 July that the Bosnian war of

    1992-1995 was "an international armed conflict" and not

    merely a civil war. In light of this ruling, persons inside and

    outside Bosnia can now be prosecuted for violations in

    Bosnia of the Geneva conventions that protect civilians in

    wartime. The court also ruled that there was a "direct chain

    of military command" from Belgrade to the Bosnian Serbs. PM

    [22] BOSNIA TO CUT MILITARY EXPENDITURES

    Bosnia's

    Permanent Committee for Military Issues, which is chaired by

    officials from the international community, decided in Sarajevo

    on 15 July to cut military spending in the Republika Srpska

    and the mainly Muslim and Croatian federation by 15 percent

    this year. A spokesman for the committee said that its

    members hope their decision will serve as an example to

    other Balkan countries. PM

    [23] UN EXTENDS PREVLAKA MANDATE

    The Security Council

    voted on 15 July to extend by six months the mandate for

    the 27-member UN military observer mission in Croatia's

    Prevlaka region (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July 1999). The

    new mandate runs until 15 January 2000. PM

    [24] NATO SUPREME COMMANDER EUROPE IN BUCHAREST

    Following his 15 July meeting with President Emil

    Constantinescu, Prime Minister Radu Vasile, and Chief of

    Staff General Constantin Degeratu, General Wesley Clark

    told journalists the Kosova crisis has demonstrated that

    "Romania is fully prepared to participate in the NATO spirit

    of shared risks, burdens and benefits in security," RFE/RL's

    Bucharest bureau reported. At the same time, he said the

    decision on Romania's NATO entry is a "political one." For

    now, he said, one can discuss only the "gradual integration"

    of Romania's armed forces into NATO under "concrete

    cooperation programs." Clark stressed that his statement

    last month on the Trianon Treaty did not envisage a

    change of borders (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"28 June 1999).

    MS

    [25] ROMANIAN GENERALS SENTENCED

    Generals Victor

    Stanculescu and Mihai Chitac on 15 July were sentenced by

    the Supreme Court to 15 years in prison for their part in

    the attempted quashing of the December 1989 popular

    revolt in Timisoara, which sparkled the toppling of the

    communist regime. They were also stripped of their military

    rank and ordered to pay 500 million lei ($ 31,400)

    compensation to the relatives of the 72 people who were

    killed and the 253 wounded during those events. The

    judges rejected the defendants argument that they had

    been carrying out orders from dictator Nicolae Ceausescu,

    saying "military discipline excludes blind subordination and

    does not annul responsibility for a crime." After the

    toppling of the Ceausescu regime, Stanculescu became

    industry and later defense minister, while Chitac was

    interior minister. MS

    [26] FIRST MOLDOVAN-RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING EXERCISES

    TAKING PLACE NEAR MOSCOW

    Russian-Moldovan peace-

    keeping forces began exercises on 16 July in the vicinity

    of Moscow, Infotag reported. The exercise is the first ever

    involving troops from the two countries and is taking place

    within the framework of a military cooperation agreement

    signed earlier this year. MS

    [27] BULGARIA RAISES DANUBE BRIDGE DISPUTE WITH EU

    OFFICIAL

    Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova on 15 July

    handed Bodo Hombach, the EU official in charge of Balkan

    reconstruction, a file on Bulgaria's decade-old dispute with

    Romania on building a second bridge over River Danube,

    Reuters reported. Hombach, was asked to intervene to

    persuade the Romanian side to drop its objections to the

    construction of the new bridge and its location (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February and 22 June 1999). From

    Sofia Hombach went to Bucharest, where he conducted

    talks with President Constantinescu, Premier Vasile, and

    other officials. MS

    [28] ISRAELIS CIRCUMVENT ARAB BOYCOTT OF BULGARIAN

    NATIONAL CARRIER

    Gad Zeevi, chairman of the board of

    one of two Israeli companies that recently acquired a 75

    stake in Balkan Air, told journalists in Sofia on 15 July that

    the Zeevi-Arkia consortium has transferred its shares to a

    Dutch subsidiary in response to Lebanon and Syria's

    annulment of landing rights. He refused to name the new

    shareholder and said that "the next flight of Balkan Air to

    Beirut will take off as scheduled, unless the [Bulgarian]

    Foreign Ministry stops it," AP reported. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [29] HUNGARIAN ARMY CHIEF RESIGNS

    By Matyas Szabo

    Chief of Staff and Commander of the Hungarian Armed

    Forces Colonel-General Ferenc Vegh's resignation last week

    came as no surprise. Since early June, Budapest dailies have

    reported on the sharp disagreements between Vegh and

    Defense Minister Janos Szabo over a government plan to

    increase the Defense Ministry's control over the armed

    forces. Paradoxically, Vegh's resignation came at a time when

    both sides claimed to uphold one and the same principle:

    namely, that of civilian control over the military. Opinions

    diverged, however, on how that control was to be achieved.

    Vegh, a graduate of the Hungarian Military Academy who

    also studied at the Soviet Union's Military College of Tank

    Units and the U.S. Army's War College, was promoted to

    commander in chief in 1996 under Socialist Defense Minister

    Gyorgy Keleti and played a leading role in preparing the army

    for accession to NATO. Vegh believes that the 1990 decision

    to separate the military command and the Defense Ministry

    was a wise one and that the status quo should be

    maintained. He told Hungarian Radio on 6 June that he has

    "always respected civilian control over the army, but the

    General Staff was established two years ago to ensure

    conformity with NATO, and it would be a mistake to touch

    that."

    Viktor Orban's government, however, thought

    differently. "We cannot have a situation whereby on the

    grounds of professional decisions the politicians have no say

    in how public funds are spent," administrative state secretary

    at the Defense Ministry Tamas Wachsler said two weeks

    before Vegh's resignation. "The duty of the military is to

    execute political decisions. This is what civilian control is all

    about," he concluded.

    The conflict peaked on 16 June when Orban told Szabo

    very firmly that he expected a better performance from the

    ministry. The same day, Vegh accused Szabo of managing a

    400-strong "shadow General Staff" at the Defense Ministry

    that advises decision-makers, while army commanders are

    pushed to the background.

    The ministry's response, transmitted to the media

    through anonymous sources, was quick and firm: "The General

    Staff must merge with the ministry and not vice versa. We

    shall quash anyone who opposes the government program."

    Szabo broke his long silence by admitting that he had

    differences with Vegh. He said he was ready to compromise

    but noted that "there are matters within the ministry that can

    be settled only through orders."

    Szabo won Orban's support for personnel changes in

    the ministry. The first person to be removed, however, was

    not Vegh, but one of his deputies, Nandor Hollosi. As for his

    own status, Vegh refused to make a statement until the

    situation was fully clarified. The daily "Magyar Hirlap" on 1 July

    reported that NATO military leaders had already been

    informed about Vegh's dismissal and that he would be

    offered a diplomatic post should he volunteer to resign.

    In early July, Orban ordered his military adviser, Jeno

    Poda, to bring the dispute to an end within one week. Vegh

    had to choose between three options: accept the new

    organizational concept, resign, or be fired. Vegh submitted

    his resignation to President Arpad Goncz on 9 July, thereby

    ending weeks of guessing about the outcome of the rift

    between the armed forces and the Defense Ministry.

    Owing to the laconic statements of all the parties

    involved in the conflict, it is difficult to say whether questions

    of principle or of personnel were behind the dispute. The

    opposition Hungarian Socialist Party believes that "the

    ministry was obviously acting in accordance with a scenario."

    According to the party, the unjustified dismissals and

    personnel changes in the ministry and General Staff as well as

    internal tensions and operational disorders cast doubt on the

    competence of the ministry's leadership. The party also

    noted that Hungary's constitutional system includes the

    principle of the army's civilian control and that the present

    government coalition ignored the parliament's role in shaping

    military decisions.

    According to some military experts, the merger of the

    General Staff and the ministry would contravene NATO's basic

    requirement about civilian control over the army.

    Paradoxically, those who are in favor of the merger refer to

    the lack of civilian control in the existing structure. In their

    opinion, civilian control would be achieved if military

    commanders were supervised by civilians.

    Military diplomats, however, are mainly concerned about

    Vegh's replacement. On 15 July, Lajos Fodor, deputy state

    secretary at the Defense Ministry, was recommended to

    succeed Vegh. Surprisingly, both the governing coalition and

    the opposition--but more important, the ministry and the

    General Staff--would be satisfied to see Fodor appointed

    chief of staff. And there is consensus that the personnel

    change will not affect Hungary's relationship with NATO.

    Indeed, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said on

    12 July in Budapest that Vegh's departure is Hungary's

    internal affair.

    16-07-99


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


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