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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 154, 99-08-10Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 154, 10 August 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER OFFERS TO MEDIATE IN KARABAKHCONFLICTOn a one-day visit to Yerevan on 9 August, Kamal Kharrazi met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and with his Armenian counterpart, Vartan Oskanian, to discuss bilateral political and economic relations and regional problems, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Kharrazi told journalists after the talks that he and Oskanian agree that expanding bilateral relations may serve to promote stability in the South Caucasus. He reaffirmed Tehran's readiness to facilitate a dialogue between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaderships on resolving the Karabakh conflict. Acknowledging that offer to promote dialogue, Oskanian said that the OSCE (of which Iran is not a member) will remain the main mediator the conflict. According to Oskanian, the two sides also discussed ways of underwriting construction of the planned $120 million gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia. LF [02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH U.S. CONGRESSMENPresidentKocharian and Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian met separately in Yerevan on 9 August with a visiting group of five U.S. Congressmen, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The talks reportedly focused on U.S.-Armenian relations and regional issues, including the Karabakh conflict. Kocharian noted that over the past 18 months (that is, since he became acting president in February 1998) Armenia's foreign policy has become more dynamic but that activity seeks to mitigate rather than to exploit conflicts of interest in the South Caucasus. Both Kocharian and Sargsian expressed optimism that the former's meeting last month in Geneva with Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev could herald a breakthrough in the deadlocked Karabakh peace process. Kocharian left Yerevan later on 9 August for a 10-day vacation at an undisclosed location, Noyan Tapan reported. LF [03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION TO DEMAND AMENDMENTS TO LOCAL ELECTIONLAWThe Movement for Electoral Reforms and Democratic Elections (MERDE) has presented to the presidential apparatus a list of proposed amendments to the law on municipal elections, Turan reported on 9 August. Those proposals include increasing the number of persons to be elected to local government bodies at all levels, electing 50 percent of those officials under the proportional and 50 percent under the majoritarian system, and banning the presence of police officials within 100 meters of polling stations. MERDE has also created a three-strong committee to negotiate on those proposals with the presidential administration. The elections are scheduled for 12 December. LF [04] RUSSIA DENIES BOMBING GEORGIAN VILLAGEGeorgian BorderGuards said on 9 August that a Russian SU-25 aircraft dropped several bombs on the village of Zemo Omalo in eastern Georgia injuring three people. The village is close to Georgia's border with Chechnya and Dagestan. A spokesman for the Russian Air Force General Staff denied those reports, adding that Russian fighters are not conducting operations in Dagestan's airspace and thus could not inadvertently overfly Georgia, Caucasus Press reported. Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze telephoned acting Russian Premier Vladimir Putin to complain about the incident. Putin expressed regret and promised to investigate the incident. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has likewise requested clarification from President Yeltsin of the bombing. In June, Moscow rejected Georgian claims that its fighters had violated Georgian airspace (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 and 28 June 1999). LF [05] CENTRAL ASIAN OFFICIALS UNFAZED BY STEPASHIN DISMISSALSpokesmen for the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tajik presidentialstaff expressed confidence on 9 August that Sergei Stepashin's dismissal and the appointment of Vladimir Putin as acting Russian premier will not negatively affect their countries' relations with Russia, according to Interfax. A Kazakh official said it is too early for an official statement, but he expressed the personal opinion that there will be no changes in Russia's policy towards Kazakhstan. Unnamed Kyrgyz officials said they are confident Russia's next government will promote bilateral economic and political relations. Tajik presidential press secretary Zafar Saidov termed Stepashin's firing "a purely internal Russian affair," adding that Tajikistan's leadership is confident that the dismissal will in no way affect the "alliance and strategic partnership" developing between Russia and Tajikistan. LF [06] KAZAKH PRESIDENT DISMISSES DEFENSE MINISTERFollowing ameeting of Kazakhstan's Security Council on 9 August, Nursultan Nazarbaev issued a decree dismissing that body's chairman Nurtai Abykaev, Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbaev, and an unspecified number of lower-level defense and security officials for their handling of the sale of six decommissioned MiG-21 fighter aircraft, Interfax and AP reported. Azerbaijani authorities impounded the fighters when the Russian transport aircraft exporting them to the Czech Republic landed in Baku. The fighters were subsequently returned to Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 March and 21 April 1999). Nazarbaev subsequently named Chief of General Staff Bakhytzhan Yertaev acting defense minister and promoted Security Council Deputy Chairman Alnur Musaev to head the council. LF [07] SQUATTERS STAGE PROTEST IN KYRGYZ CAPITALSome 1,000homeless young people gathered along the administrative border between Bishkek and Chu Oblast on 9 August to demand permission from the city authorities to build their own homes on waste ground on the city outskirts, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Bishkek Deputy Mayor Abdraim Kulbaev told RFE/RL following a similar demonstration by some 500 squatters on 6-7 August in the south of Bishkek that the protesters' demands are illegal. Meeting with homeless young people in June, President Askar Akaev promised to form a government commission to consider their demand to create a new parliamentary constituency whose deputy would represent their interests (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June 1999). LF [08] TAJIK MILITANTS TAKE KYRGYZ OFFICIALS HOSTAGEOn 6 August,some 21 guerrillas who had entered southern Kyrgyzstan from Tajikistan in late July took hostage four Kyrgyz officials sent to negotiate with them, Interfax and RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Bolot Dzhanuzakov, who heads the defense department within the Kyrgyz presidential administration, told journalists on 9 August that the guerillas, who are armed with submachine-guns and grenade-launchers, are demanding safe passage to Uzbekistan. Kyrgyz Security Ministry official Talant Razzakov told RFE/RL on 6 August that the guerrillas are part of the religious extremist forces of Jumabai Namangani, an ethnic Uzbek field commander based in Tajikistan who opposes Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] SERBS, ALBANIANS FAIL TO AGREE ON MITROVICA SETTLEMENT...Representatives of the ethnic Serbian and Albaniancommunities of Mitrovica, meeting on 9 August under the mediation of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and KFOR, failed to agree on ensuring freedom of movement (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 August 1999). Ethnic Albanian Mayor Bajram Rexhepi told Reuters after the meeting: "Our plan was to return the population in 15 days [but the] Serbs said the deadline should be September 2000." A Serbian representative, however, said that "there is a good will in both sides. I don't know if we are going to sign an agreement, but both sides had some concrete suggestions." FS [10] ...WHILE TENSIONS CONTINUEEthnic Albanians injured a Frenchsoldier in clashes on 9 August in Mitrovica. The clashes occurred as French troops kept the city's main bridge closed and installed a roadblock with barbed wire and armored vehicles, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported. The bridge links the ethnic Albanian-dominated south of the city with the Serbian-dominated northern part. In an effort to relieve tensions, Mary-Pat Silveira, who is the UN's deputy chief representative for north Kosova, addressed hundreds of protesters. She tried in vain to explain to the crowd that the international community is trying to solve the problem through negotiations. Later that day, local Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) commander Rahman Rama asked the people to end their protests. FS [11] THACI SLAMS FRENCH KFOR...UCK leader Hashim Thaci toldRFE/RL's South Slavic Service on 9 August that "according to all international agreements, the territory of Kosova is [undivided]...but the partition of Mitrovica is nonetheless a reality today. We cannot accept such a reality. The [ethnic] Albanians have every right to try to cross the bridge..., to go back to their houses, and to reunite with their families." Thaci charged the French KFOR forces with behaving in an "undemocratic and arrogant" manner by blocking the city's bridge. He also alleged that there are still Serbian police and paramilitary forces in northern Mitrovica in violation of the June peace agreement. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin defended the French position. He argued that "at present, there would be a serious risk of large- scale violence if the Albanians were allowed to cross the bridge." FS [12] ...OPPOSES APPLYING YUGOSLAV LAWSThaci on 9 Augustcriticized UNMIK's plan to apply laws that were in force in Kosova on 24 March 1999, when NATO began its bombing campaign. He said that such laws prevailed under a decade of repressive direct rule and added that "you cannot establish a democratic society with undemocratic laws." Thaci also criticized KFOR for briefly detaining UCK Chief of the General Staff Agim Ceku and the UCK-backed provisional government's Minister of Public Order Rexhep Selimi last week for carrying guns illegally or without the required documentation. Meanwhile, Ceku met with KFOR commander General Sir Mike Jackson in Prishtina to discuss the ongoing demilitarization of the UCK. FS [13] SERBIAN OPPOSITION MEETS WITH PATRIARCHLeading opponents ofYugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic met with Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle at his Belgrade residence on 9 August to discuss their plans for peaceful democratic change. Differences remain between several leaders on some key points, most notably over the nature of a transitional government, Belgrade's "Danas" reported. Those present included the Serbian Renewal Movement's Vuk Draskovic and the Democratic Party's Zoran Djindjic. It was the first known face-to-face meeting of the two powerful rivals since early 1997. Mladjan Dinkic of the G-17 group of independent economists said that the Orthodox Church has "blessed" his group's Stability Pact for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government, the Frankfurt-based Serbian daily "Vesti" reported. The leaders agreed to take part at a Belgrade rally that the G-17 has called for 19 August. The Church leadership is expected to decide on its position on the rally on 10 August. The Holy Synod has previously called on Milosevic to resign (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 June 1999). PM [14] SERBIAN OPPOSITION HAILS MEETING...Vladan Batic of theAlliance for Change said that the 9 August meeting at the Patriarch's residence demonstrated the opposition's "symbolic unity," "Vesti" reported. Batic stressed that this display of unity showed a "new and brighter face of Serbia" to both domestic and foreign publics. Both Draskovic and Djindjic said that the Church has a key role in promoting political change. PM [15] ...WHILE REGIME CRITICIZES ITSerbian Radical Party leaderand Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj warned the Church not to give its blessing to "those seeking to take power by force." He charged that those unnamed individuals want to involve the Church in their efforts aimed at launching a civil war, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported from Belgrade on 9 August. The state-run Tanjug news agency said that the opposition leaders are in effect calling on the Church to "violate the constitution," which calls for the separation of Church and state. PM [16] GENERAL PERISIC FOUNDS POLITICAL MOVEMENTFormer GeneralMomcilo Perisic has formed a Movement for Democratic Serbia, "Vesti" reported on 10 August (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 10 August 1999). Its guiding principles are democratic change and the ouster of Milosevic. Perisic is expected to issue a more detailed program in the course of the week. He stressed that his movement is not a political party and is open to members of other political groups. Its founding membership stands at 50. On 9 August, Perisic held separate meetings with Patriarch Pavle and with representatives of the Otpor (Resistance) students' movement. He did not take part in the meeting of opposition leaders with the Patriarch. PM [17] CACAK MAYOR: OUST GOVERNMENT THAT 'HATES THE PEOPLE'TheSerbian opposition held rallies in Ruma, Mionica, and Valjevo on 9 August. In Mionica, Cacak Mayor Velimir Ilic urged his listeners to oust the "political riffraff who are running Serbia and to replace those [leaders] who hate their own people," "Vesti" reported. He chided unnamed politicians who, he said, try in vain to steer a middle course between Milosevic and his opponents. Observers note that this is probably a reference to Draskovic, who wants a transitional government that includes Milosevic's supporters as well as his opponents. PM [18] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT THREATENS LOCAL BROADCASTERSTheTelecommunications Ministry informed local television and radio stations on 9 August that they will lose their licenses if they do not pay their back taxes within seven days, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Observers note that many local stations are controlled by the opposition. PM [19] SANDZAK RIVALS SPAR OVER PROGRAMSSulejman Ugljanin's MuslimNational Council has approved a Memorandum on Autonomy for the Sandzak region, which straddles the border between Serbia and Montenegro. The plan calls for six districts in Serbia and five in Montenegro to form the autonomous region that will be part of the Yugoslav federation, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 10 August. Rasim Ljajic, who is Ugljanin's political rival, criticized the plan, "Vesti" reported. Ljajic charged that Ugljanin has, in effect, "stabbed [Montenegrin President Milo] Djukanovic in the back" by announcing the program before Belgrade and Podgorica have discussed Djukanovic's plan for redefining relations between the two republics (see "End Note" below). Ljajic said that his rival's program is in keeping with Milosevic's position that Yugoslavia must remain a united country. PM [20] MILOSEVIC MEETS POPLASENMilosevic discussed unspecifiedpolitical issues with Republika Srpska President Nikola Poplasen in Belgrade on 9 August, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Earlier, the international community's Carlos Westendorp had removed Poplasen from office for non- compliance with several provisions of the Dayton peace agreement. Poplasen refuses to accept Westendorp's decision. PM [21] BELGRADE REPLACES UN ENVOYThe Yugoslav Foreign Ministrysaid in a statement on 9 August that Stanimir Vukicevic has replaced Nebojsa Vujovic as Belgrade's chief diplomat at the UN. Vujovic left his post for "reasons of health," the statement added. He was the Foreign Ministry's chief spokesman abroad during the recent NATO air campaign against Serbia. PM [22] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON 31 OCTOBERParliamentary speaker Savo Klimovski announced in Skopje on 9August that the first round of the upcoming presidential elections will take place on 31 October and the second round on 14 November. The election campaign will start on 1 October. Klimovski said: "I expect that the...elections will take place in a fair and democratic atmosphere." None of the major parties has yet announced its candidate to replace Kiro Gligorov, who has been president since 1991 and who is barred by the constitution from running for office for a third time. FS [23] ALBANIAN PREMIER WANTS BETTER COOPERATION WITH LOCAL MAYORSPandeli Majko told a 9 August meeting of mayors fromthroughout the country that "we have to understand once and for all that we are all sitting in the same boat and have the same route in front of us. This is true regardless of the coloring of the government and regardless of the name of the captain." Majko urged the mayors, most of whom belong to the Democratic Party, to overcome differences with his Socialist- led central government, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported. Majko stressed that misunderstandings between the central government and local government officials have led to a lack of coordination and that many mayors have not made use of funds offered by the central government or international donors as a result. He also thanked the mayors for their efforts to cope with the refugee crisis during the Kosova conflict. FS [24] ROMANIA AUCTIONS ITEMS BELONGING TO CEAUSESCUSHundreds ofitems belonging to Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, who were executed in December 1989, are being auctioned off in Bucharest, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The auction began on 9 August and will continue until end of the week. The authorities launched the auction on the eve of the solar eclipse, hoping that the influx of tourists (the eclipse can be best watched in Romania) will help raise at least $300,000. Among the items sold on the first day of the auction were a black Buick limousine presented by U.S. President Richard Nixon to Nicolae Ceausescu, which fetched $15,000, and a wooden chess set which chess champion Anatolii Karpov gave as a present to the Romanian president shortly before to latter's execution. Reuters said that the bid for the latter item, which went for $2,368, was rumored to have been made on behalf of the Russian Embassy. MS [25] FIFA ASKS ROMANIA TO PROBE OFFICIAL'S ALLEGED ANTI-SEMITICACTIVITIESMichael Zen Ruffinen, secretary-general of the International Soccer Federation (FIFA), has written to the Romanian Soccer Federation (FRF) demanding that a probe be launched into the alleged anti-Semitic activities of FRF deputy chairman Dumitru Dragomir, Mediafax and AP reported on 9 August. Dragomir, a communist-era police officer, is the owner of the weekly "Atac la persoana," which frequently publishes anti-Semitic articles. One of the weekly's journalists is on trial for having published several articles of an overtly anti-Semitic nature (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 and 10 September 1998). MS [26] MOLDOVA, U.S. HOLD JOINT MILITARY EXERCISEA 10-day militaryexercise involving military police from North Carolina and a motorized rifle Moldovan brigade began on 9 August in Bulboaca, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The exercise, called Blue-Shield 99, is focusing on peace-keeping operations. MS [27] BULGARIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF DENIES CODES STOLEN FROM U.S.EMBASSYAngel Katsarov, chief of military intelligence, has said that reports about stolen military data from the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington are "nonsense," BTA reported on 8 August, citing the daily "Trud." The Bulgarian press recently began reporting on the alleged theft last month of a computer from the office of the military attache in Washington, General Stoyan Tsonkov. Tsonkov refused to make any comment to "Trud." The opposition daily "Duma" on 8 August wrote that during the Cold War, "this act of carelessness would have been punished with death or a prison sentence.... Times have changed now and General Tsonkov may even be promoted." MS [C] END NOTE[28] MONTENEGRO SETS TERMSby Patrick MooreThe Montenegrin authorities have laid down tough terms for continuing a joint state with Serbia. The regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is unlikely to accept those terms, but democrats in Serbia might find them attractive. On 5 August, the Montenegrin government approved a detailed plan that would abolish the Yugoslav federation and recast Podgorica-Belgrade relations as a loose association (zajednica) of two equal and sovereign "member states." The Montenegrin parliament is slated to approve the measure soon. It is unclear whether 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. The plan calls for establishing an "Association of Montenegro and Serbia" with a unicameral legislature. Montenegro and Serbia would have equal representation, while legislators would be subordinate to the parliament of their own member state. The positions of president and prime minister would rotate between Montenegrin and Serbian officials. The president would be from one member state and the prime minister from the other, while both would belong to the governing political party or coalition in their own state. "Bureaucratic" administrative structures would be small. There would be a maximum of six ministries with small staffs. Each republic would, in effect, have its own foreign policy and army, which would be loosely coordinated with those of the other. The two sides would have to agree to joint foreign and economic policy goals aimed at integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Each republic would have economic independence and the right to introduce its own currency. Any joint currency would be freely convertible and would be backed by a currency board and protected by strict legal safeguards. Each republic has a veto on joint decisions, including the election of the joint president and a declaration of war. There would be a constitutional court to rule on the validity of legislation passed by the association's legislature. Montenegro and Serbia would have equal representation on the bench. The text, in fact, reads more like a dull legal document than a declaration of political principles. Podgorica's intent was to make very sure that its rights and privileges are carefully protected and that it would no longer be Serbia's junior partner. Nor would this be a new Yugoslav federation to which constituent "republics" would be subordinated. Power clearly would rest with the two member states. The joint state would exist solely to further the specific interests of each member and not as an end in itself. It would not be called Yugoslavia. The basic political principles are that the association would be based on democratic values, the rule of law, and human rights. Economic policy would rest on the pillars of a market economy, free trade, and a convertible currency. There are several references to developing ties with the EU and integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. There are no references, however, to the proposed union of Serbia, Russia, and Belarus, which the Belgrade hard-liners have so warmly embraced. The Belgrade regime is, in any event, unlikely to accept the Montenegrin proposal, which would greatly limit the powers that Milosevic enjoys within the current federal structure. On 8 August, Ratko Krsmanovic, who is a top official of the pro-Milosevic United Yugoslav Left, called the plan "an attempt to destroy our country and to provoke conflicts. It would create a situation for foreign intervention." The Radicals' Vojislav Seselj has blasted it as "illegal secession." It could be argued that any Serbian politician would have difficulty endorsing a plan that gives Montenegro's approximately 600,000 inhabitants political weight equal to that of the roughly 7 million people living in Serbia (excluding Kosova). But initial reactions suggest that many members of the democratic Serbian opposition--such as the Democrats' Zoran Djindjic and Vladan Batic of the Alliance for Change--have responded positively to the Montenegrin proposal, seeing it as a step toward the democratization of Serbia. If the Milosevic regime remains silent on the Montenegrin proposal or rejects it outright, Montenegro is likely to declare independence. But if Serbia in the coming months acquires a democratic leadership that is willing to accept Podgorica's principles, the outcome could be a democratic state with a sound and growing economy. In such a case, might not the association become attractive to some of its neighbors, such as Macedonia or Bosnia--or even Albania or Kosova? 10-08-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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