RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 152, 99-08-06

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 152, 6 August 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT NOT TO ATTEND SIGNING OF TURKMEN

[02] AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL DENIES DISAGREEMENTS WITH TURKEY OVER

[03] STALIN'S GRANDSON ELECTED HEAD OF GEORGIAN LEFT-WING

[04] KAZAKH OPPOSITION BLOC THREATENS ELECTION BOYCOTT

[05] KAZAKH WOMEN END HUNGER STRIKE

[06] KYRGYZ DETAINED IN KAZAKHSTAN TO BE EXTRADITED

[07] AFGHAN FIGHTING 'NOT A THREAT' TO TAJIKISTAN

[08] TURKMENISTAN TO CREATE NATIONAL BUREAU FOR REFUGEES

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] MONTENEGRO UNVEILS PLAN FOR FUTURE TIES WITH SERBIA

[10] MONTENEGRIN PROPOSAL PUTS POWER IN REPUBLICS

[11] U.S. GIVES MONTENGRIN PROPOSAL CAUTIOUS BACKING

[12] LESKOVAC TELEVISION EDITOR FREED

[13] RESERVISTS TO TAKE HUNGER STRIKE TO BELGRADE

[14] SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER WARNS OPPOSITION

[15] YUGOSLAV AUTHORITIES MOVE AGAINST PRIVATE RADIO

[16] YUGOSLAV ARMY DROPS CHARGES AGAINST DJINDJIC

[17] AHTISAARI CALLS FOR KFOR TO TAKE CHARGE OF SECURITY

[18] SERBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SAYS PARAMILITARIES WERE

[19] ...WARNS OF ALBANIAN 'CULTURE OF BLOOD FEUDS'

[20] RUGOVA, THACI MEET WITH KOUCHNER

[21] LDK JOINS TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL

[22] TAIWAN FREEZES KOSOVA AID AFTER CANCELING PREMIER'S VISIT

[23] MACEDONIA LIFTS FEE FOR RELIEF TRUCKS

[24] ALBANIAN SPECIAL POLICE TAKE CONTROL OF DURRES PORT

[25] IMF APPROVES ROMANIAN STAND-BY LOAN

[26] HUNGARIAN LEADER IN ROMANIA URGES CHURCH PROPERTY

[27] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE MEETS MORE

[C] END NOTE

[28] TRANSDNIESTRIAN LEADER WARNS AGAINST ATTEMPT TO EVACUATE

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT NOT TO ATTEND SIGNING OF TURKMEN

Interfax on 5 August quoted an unnamed

Turkmen government source as stating that Heidar Aliev will

not attend the 6 August signing in Ashgabat of an agreement

between the Turkmen government and the PSG company giving the

latter the rights to extract Turkmen gas and export it via

the projected Trans-Caspian pipeline. According to ITAR-TASS,

Niyazov and Aliev agreed during a telephone conversation on 5

August to meet in the near future to discuss both the gas

pipeline project and the "equitable division" of the central

sector of the Caspian. The recent announcement of huge

reserves of gas in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian has

called into question the viability of the costly and

technically problematic Trans-Caspian pipeline project (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 13 July 1999). LF

[02] AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL DENIES DISAGREEMENTS WITH TURKEY OVER

Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov told

journalists on 5 August that Azerbaijan and Turkey could sign

within one month the four main framework agreements on

construction of the Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Caspian

oil, Turan reported. He denied persistent rumors that there

are serious disagreements between Baku and Ankara over the

terms of the project (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 July 1999).

Also on 5 August, Interfax quoted Armenian First Deputy

Energy Minister Kalust Galustian as saying that routing the

Baku-Ceyhan pipeline via northern Armenia, rather than

Georgia as planned, would reduce the estimated $2.4 -$3

billion cost by $500 million. LF

[03] STALIN'S GRANDSON ELECTED HEAD OF GEORGIAN LEFT-WING

Yevgenii Dzhughashvili has been elected leader of

the People's Patriotic Union of Georgia, Russian agencies

reported on 5 August. That alignment unites a number of left-

wing parties and organizations. Former Georgian parliamentary

speaker Vakhtang Goguadze told Interfax that the choice of

Dzhughashvili, who is 63 and a former Soviet army colonel,

could serve to consolidate left-wing forces in the run-up to

the 31 October parliamentary elections. But the United

Communist Party of Georgia objected to the choice of

Dzhughashvili over their leader, retired General Panteleimon

Giorgadze. LF

[04] KAZAKH OPPOSITION BLOC THREATENS ELECTION BOYCOTT

"Respublika" bloc convened a press conference in Almaty on 5

August to demand unspecified amendments that would make the

present election law more democratic, RFE/RL's bureau in the

former capital reported. They said that if those change are

not made, they will consider boycotting the parliamentary

elections in September-October. The opposition leaders also

demanded representation on the national and local electoral

commissions. They said they have addressed an open letter to

President Nursultan Nazarbaev requesting that the elections

to the upper chamber of parliament be postponed from

September to December. LF

[05] KAZAKH WOMEN END HUNGER STRIKE

Zher-Ana (Motherland) Party have ended the hunger strike they

began in Almaty three weeks ago to protest the planned

privatization of agricultural land, RFE/RL correspondents in

the former capital reported on 6 August (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 27 July 1999). But their leader said they will

resume the protest if the parliament returns to discussing

the draft bill on land ownership, which passed in the first

reading last month. Discussion of that bill has been shelved

indefinitely, and Prime Minister Nurlan Balghymbaev said last

week that conditions are not yet ripe for the sale of

agricultural land (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 July 1999). LF

[06] KYRGYZ DETAINED IN KAZAKHSTAN TO BE EXTRADITED

National Security Ministry official Talant Razzakov confirmed

on 5 August that 17 Kyrgyz citizens detained by Kazakh police

three weeks ago in Jambyl Oblast will shortly be sent back to

Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The Kyrgyz were

among 78 Sunni Muslims, including women and children,

detained for allegedly illegal religious activities at a camp

near the Kazakh town of Taraz (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 and

22 July 1999). The Kyrgyz Muftiyat has written to

Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry protesting the detentions,

which a Kazakh prosecutor said were carried out in response

to a request from Uzbekistan. The Uzbek Interior Ministry had

claimed that radical Islamists suspected of involvement in

the February bombings in Tashkent had gathered near Taraz.

Also on 5 August, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported that the

Uzbek embassy held a press conference on the ongoing

investigation into those bombings. Embassy officials said the

perpetrators wanted to kill President Islam Karimov and

establish an Islamic state in Uzbekistan. LF

[07] AFGHAN FIGHTING 'NOT A THREAT' TO TAJIKISTAN

Aleksandr Markin, who commands the Russian border guard

detachment deployed on the frontier between Tajikistan and

Afghanistan, told Interfax on 5 August that the resurgence of

heavy fighting in Afghanistan between the Taliban and

Northern Alliance forces does not threaten Tajikistan's

security. Markin said his troops have adequate resources to

maintain the security of the border "under any

circumstances." LF

[08] TURKMENISTAN TO CREATE NATIONAL BUREAU FOR REFUGEES

Djamil, who heads the UNHCR's regional office, said after

talks in Ashgabat that Turkmenistan will set up a national

bureau for refugees by the end of this year, "Nezavisimaya

gazeta" reported on 5 August. Djamil's discussions in the

Turkmen capital also focused on the need to expedite the

return to Tajikistan of refugees who fled during the 1992-

1997 civil war. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] MONTENEGRO UNVEILS PLAN FOR FUTURE TIES WITH SERBIA

Montenegrin government approved a detailed plan on 5 August

that would abolish the Yugoslav federation and recast

Podgorica-Belgrade relations as a loose association of two

sovereign states. The Montenegrin parliament is slated to

approve the measure "soon," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. It is unclear if the government intends the

proposal as a basis for negotiations with Belgrade or as a

"take-it-or-leave-it" proposition. Top Montenegrin officials

said recently that they will hold a referendum on

independence if the Serbian authorities do not respond to the

proposal by late September. PM

[10] MONTENEGRIN PROPOSAL PUTS POWER IN REPUBLICS

for establishing a "Union of Montenegro and Serbia" with a

unicameral legislature in which Montenegro and Serbia would

have equal representation, BETA reported on 5 August. The

cabinet would have a maximum of six ministries with small

staffs, while each republic would, in effect, have its own

foreign policy and army, which would be loosely coordinated

with those of the other. Both sides would have to agree to

broad joint foreign- and economic-policy goals, which would

center on integration with Euro-Atlantic structures. Each

republic would have economic independence and the right to

introduce its own currency. Any joint currency would have to

be freely convertible. And each republic would have a veto on

joint decisions, including the election of the union's

president and any declaration of war. PM

[11] U.S. GIVES MONTENGRIN PROPOSAL CAUTIOUS BACKING

Department spokesman James P. Rubin said in Washington on 5

August that the Montenegrin proposal is a "measured and

rational approach to political and economic reform." He added

that "we think that they should continue to work within

Yugoslavia to ensure their rights are protected." PM

[12] LESKOVAC TELEVISION EDITOR FREED

Leskovac jail on 5 August after completing a 30-day sentence

for broadcasting a call for an anti-Milosevic demonstration

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 July 1999). He told a rally of some

4,000 people after his release from prison that he does not

regret broadcasting the appeal, which led to a series of

large demonstrations. Novkovic added that he hopes similar

anti-Milosevic protests will take place in all Serbian towns.

PM

[13] RESERVISTS TO TAKE HUNGER STRIKE TO BELGRADE

10 army reservists staging a hunger strike in Nis said on 5

August that they will continue their 10-day-old protest in

Belgrade "next week." The spokesman added that the only

response they have had from the authorities was a police

threat to remove them from the city center. The reservists

demand back pay for their recent service in Kosova. PM

[14] SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER WARNS OPPOSITION

Stojiljkovic said in Kraljevo on 5 August that KFOR troops

have failed to protect Serbian civilians in Kosova. He

charged that this failure constitutes a violation of their

mandate, the Belgrade daily "Politika" reported. Stojiljkovic

accused unnamed "outside factors" of using domestic "traitors

and hooligan elements, in other words, allies of NATO" to

undermine Serbia's economy, security, and political life. He

warned that the security forces will not allow efforts to

"destabilize" Serbia to continue. The minister did not

elaborate. PM

[15] YUGOSLAV AUTHORITIES MOVE AGAINST PRIVATE RADIO

Telecommunications Ministry officials on 5 August informed

the management of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic's Belgrade-

based Studio B Television that Studio B faces legal action if

it continues to allow the private radio station B2-92 to use

one of its frequencies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 August

1999). The ministry officials stressed that only Studio B has

the legal right to broadcast on that frequency. A spokesman

for Studio B said that B2-92 will continue to use the

frequency under a new name that will include the term "Studio

B," VOA's Croatian Service reported. PM

[16] YUGOSLAV ARMY DROPS CHARGES AGAINST DJINDJIC

the Yugoslav army prosecutor's office dropped charges of

draft-dodging against Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic

(see "RFE/RL. Newsline," 29 July 1999). The opposition

politician said that the decision shows that the army is not

willing to let the Milosevic regime use it for political

purposes. PM

[17] AHTISAARI CALLS FOR KFOR TO TAKE CHARGE OF SECURITY

President Martti Ahtisaari, who helped broker the Kosova

peace settlement, said in Helsinki on 6 August that KFOR and

not civilian police should assume responsibility for security

in the province. He added: "I fear the role of the

international police has not been fully thought out. They are

perhaps needed when [local] police are retrained...and in

monitoring the [local] police," Reuters reported. The

president concluded: "That 3,000 or 3,100 police should keep

order in the country is not of this world. [Keeping order]

requires close cooperation between KFOR and the international

police." Foreign governments have contributed fewer police

than expected to the international police force. PM

[18] SERBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SAYS PARAMILITARIES WERE

Natasa Kandic of the

Humanitarian Law Fund (FHP) told Reuters in Belgrade on 5

August that most of the killings in Kosova were carried out

by paramilitary units "established by orders from a very high

level" and attached to regular forces. "Their task was to

expel people from villages, and to kill," she said, adding

that they included Bulgarian and Russian mercenaries. Kandic

called on Serbs to "start talking about responsibility, to

support the UN war crimes tribunal, and the investigation and

punishment not just of perpetrators, but also those

responsible at a high level, starting with Milosevic." The

FHP was the only Serbian NGO to investigate Serbian war

crimes during the conflict, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

noted. FS

[19] ...WARNS OF ALBANIAN 'CULTURE OF BLOOD FEUDS'

August also urged the Kosovar Albanians to "face up" to the

wave of revenge killings of Serbs since June. She added that

the revenge attacks are rooted in the Albanian "culture of

blood feuds" and warned that if left unchecked they could

"spiral out of control." Kandic stressed that "this is not

revenge in the usual sense--'you robbed me, I'll rob you.'

Nothing like this happened in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.

It is part of the Albanian mentality." She urged "new

discussion" of the problems, adding that "otherwise it will

go on till the last minority [in Kosova] is eliminated." FS

[20] RUGOVA, THACI MEET WITH KOUCHNER

leader of the moderate Democratic League of Kosova

(LDK), met on 4 August with the Kosova Liberation Army's

(UCK) Hashim Thaci in the residence of UN Special

Representative Bernard Kouchner in Prishtina, an RFE/RL

South Slavic Service correspondent reported. The three

discussed the situation in Kosova and forms of possible

cooperation between the rival Kosovar political groups

and the UN civilian administration. Bilal Sherifi, who

is the head of Thaci's UCK-backed provisional

government, told RFE/RL on 5 August that "the two sides

discussed the agreement signed [by the Kosovar Albanian

delegates] in Rambouillet about the creation of the

provisional government.... Both sides agreed to create a

joint commission to administer financial resources that

have been collected by the fund administered by [the

LDK's shadow-state Prime Minister Bujar] Bukoshi." FS

[21] LDK JOINS TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL

correspondent in Prishtina on 5 August that they have

appointed their representatives to the UN's transitional

council, following their meeting with Kouchner. Kosovar

Albanians, Serbs, and small ethnic minorities are represented

on the council, along with representatives of the

international community. Rugova and LDK senior leader Fatmir

Sejdiu will represent the LDK. Mark Krasniqi of the Christian

Democratic Party of Kosova will also participate in the

council. On 16 July, the first meeting of the transitional

council took place, but Rugova refused to attend it, arguing

that smaller shadow-state political parties must also be

represented. FS

[22] TAIWAN FREEZES KOSOVA AID AFTER CANCELING PREMIER'S VISIT

spokesman for Taiwanese Prime Minister Vincent Siew said in

Taipei on 5 August that Taiwan will "re-evaluate" a planned

$300 million donation to Kosova. The announcement came after

NATO notified Siew the previous day that it "cannot guarantee

his security" in the region during a planned visit, dpa

reported. The spokesman stressed that the donation can be

made only "after we have made contacts with and gained

understanding of the region." Siew had planned to visit

Kosova on 5 August after his visit to Macedonia, together

with a 160-strong business delegation (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

5 August 1999). FS

[23] MACEDONIA LIFTS FEE FOR RELIEF TRUCKS

in Geneva on 6 August that the Macedonian authorities have

agreed to lift a $348 per-truck inspection fee for UNHCR

relief vehicles bound for Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4

August 1999). The spokesman added that "aid trucks will start

rolling this morning." At least 90 aid trucks are waiting in

Skopje alone. PM

[24] ALBANIAN SPECIAL POLICE TAKE CONTROL OF DURRES PORT

Minister Pandeli Majko on 5 August ordered special police

troops to take control of the main port of Durres to stem

corruption and smuggling, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. Majko stressed that local police have proven unable

to deal with highly organized and well-armed criminals. FS

[25] IMF APPROVES ROMANIAN STAND-BY LOAN

on 5 August approved the $547 million stand-by loan on which

the Romanian government and the IMF had agreed in April. The

loan will be disbursed over eight months and the first $73

million tranche released immediately, Reuters reported. IMF

First Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer said that

Romania must continue efforts to obtain credits from

international private lenders. Fischer added that the full

implementation of the government's program would "mark a

major step forward in Romania's quest for financial stability

and establish the basis for sustainable growth." Under the

approved loan, Romania is aiming at an inflation rate of some

40 percent, a decline in output of no more than 3.5 percent,

and a consolidated deficit not exceeding 3.7 percent of GDP

in 1999. MS

[26] HUNGARIAN LEADER IN ROMANIA URGES CHURCH PROPERTY

Bela Marko, chairman of the Hungarian Democratic

Federation of Romania (UDMR), sent a letter to President Emil

Constantinescu, Prime Minister Radu Vasile, and Justice

Minister Valeriu Stoica on 5 August urging the restitution of

Church property confiscated by the Communists. Marko says the

UDMR cannot comprehend why the restitution of such property

is not included in a bill on the restitution of real estate

currently being debated by the parliament, Mediafax reported.

MS

[27] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE MEETS MORE

Party of Democratic Forces leader Valeriu Matei

told journalists in Chisinau on 5 August that the

presidential drive to change the constitutional system is

aimed at "setting up a dictatorship." He warned that if the

drive is successful, President Petru Lucinschi will extend

his mandate, following the examples of Belarus and

Kazakhstan. Parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov said that

the presidential commission draft on changing the

constitution was "a surprise for the deputies," RFE/RL's

Chisinau bureau reported. He argued that the draft is an

"anti-democratic document" that violates the principle of the

separation of powers. Meanwhile, 38 deputies on 5 August

asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the

constitutionality of a draft law initiated by them. The draft

envisages curtailing presidential powers and introducing a

full-fledged parliamentary system in Moldova. MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] TRANSDNIESTRIAN LEADER WARNS AGAINST ATTEMPT TO EVACUATE

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