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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 157, 99-08-13Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 157, 13 August 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR EMERGENCY PARLIAMENT SESSIONThe government on 12 August requested that President RobertKocharian convene an emergency parliament session on 23 August to debate its proposed budget cuts, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. In late July, Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian had proposed measures to overcome the 33 billion dram ($61 million) budget shortfall incurred during the first six months of 1999. Those measures included cracking down on tax evasion and increasing duties on gasoline and cigarettes (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 July 1999). The parliament, which is loyal to Sargsian, is likely to endorse those proposed measures. Also on 12 August, the government announced the firing of 15 town and village council heads for allegedly failing to ensure the planned level of local budgets. Minister for Local Government Khosrov Harutiunian said that the dismissed local officials had also failed to cooperate with tax authorities. LF [02] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT MEETS WITH U.S. DELEGATIONHeidarAliev held talks in Baku on 12 August with a visiting delegation of five U.S. Congressmen who had previously visited Yerevan and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Interfax and Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 and 11 August 1999). Aliev noted that bilateral relations are expanding but complained at Congress's failure to repeal Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which bars direct U.S. economic and military aid to Azerbaijan as long as the blockade of Armenia and Karabakh remains in force. The Congressmen called for the continued observance of the existing cease-fire and for further direct contacts between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to find a political solution to the Karabakh conflict. LF [03] FORMER GEORGIAN FINANCE MINISTER ON TRIALThe trial of GuramAbsandze, who served as finance minister in 1991-1992 under the late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, opened in Georgia's Supreme Court on 12 August, Caucasus Press reported. Absandze, along with 12 others, is accused of planning the attempt to assassinate Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on 9 February 1998. Three people, including two of Shevardnadze's bodyguards, died in a mortar attack on the presidential motorcade. Absandze has rejected almost all the charges against him as politically motivated, according to Interfax. LF [04] DID KAZAKHSTAN SELL MIGS TO NORTH KOREA?Kazakhstan'sNational Security Committee on 12 August opened a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the abortive sale of six obsolete MiG fighters, an RFE/RL corespondent in Almaty reported. The same day, South Korea's Foreign Minister Hong Soon-Young summoned the Kazakh ambassador in Seoul and expressed "serious concern" that the ultimate destination of the MiGs, which Kazakh officials say were bound for the Czech Republic, was North Korea, according to AP. A Russian transport aircraft carrying the disassembled fighters was impounded at Baku's Bina airport in March. The Azerbaijani authorities later returned them to Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 March and 21 April 1999). On 11 August, the U.S. similarly expressed "serious concern" that Kazakhstan may have exported dozens of MiG-21 fighters to North Korea. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Al Gore telephoned Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev on 12 August to discuss bilateral relations and regional and international security issues, according to ITAR-TASS. LF [05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PARLIAMENT SPEAKER CRITICIZES NEW MEDIA LAWAddressing an international conference on the media in Almatyon 12 August, Marat Ospanov said he thinks the new media law passed by Kazakhstan's parliament last month contains "many undemocratic norms," adding that he would welcome the postponement of its adoption, according to Interfax. Conference participants agreed on the wording of an appeal addressed to President Nazarbaev, which points to restrictions on media openness and freedom of speech in Kazakhstan, especially with regard to journalists' attempts to spotlight corruption. It also calls on the president to suspend the law so that it can be reformulated to "ensure the observance of the constitutionally guaranteed principles of openness and the ban on censorship." LF [06] GUERRILLAS RELEASE ONE KYRGYZ HOSTAGE, TAKE ANOTHERThemilitants from Tajikistan who took four Kyrgyz officials hostage last week in the Batken district of southern Kyrgyzstan seized a fifth hostage on 12 August, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. They later released one of the original four hostages, who told the Kyrgyz authorities that the band is demanding a large sum of money. Speaking at a press conference in Tashkent on 12 August, Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov confirmed earlier reports that some of the militants are Uzbek citizens and members of the armed military formation of Djuma Namangani. Kamilov said that the situation in Kyrgyzstan is the internal affair of that country, but at the same time he expressed the hope that the Kyrgyz authorities will not allow the guerrillas to enter Uzbekistan until they have been disarmed. LF [07] TAJIKISTAN DENIES ITS NATIONALS FIGHTING IN DAGHESTANTajikistan's Security Council secretary Amirkul Azimov toldITAR-TASS on 12 August that there is no truth to Russian media reports that some Tajik nationals are fighting on the side of the Islamic militants in Daghestan. He added that the Tajik people, having themselves experienced civil war, "will never take part in any unfavorable actions against friendly Russia." LF [08] TURKMENISTAN THREATENS TO TAKE UKRAINE TO COURTTurkmenistan's Foreign Ministry released a statement on 12August warning that it will take Ukraine to an international arbitration court if that country fails to pay its debts for this year's supplies of Turkmen natural gas soon, ITAR-TASS reported. As of 12 August, Ukraine had paid for only some 10 percent of the 8.76 billion cubic meters of gas supplies between 1 January and 21 May, when gas transports were suspended (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 August 1999). LF [09] U.S. EXPERTS INSPECT UZBEK FORMER CHEMICAL WEAPONS PLANTAteam from the U.S. Defense Ministry on 12 August toured the Nukus chemical plant in northwestern Uzbekistan, which until 1993 served as a testing ground for Soviet and Russian chemical weapons, AP and Interfax reported. The U.S. team will decontaminate the test laboratories and then set about trying to locate and neutralize hundreds of tons of germ- warfare cultures, including pulmonary anthrax, which are buried on an island in the Aral Sea, according to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" of 11 August. Those measures are foreseen in a U.S.-Uzbek agreement signed in May 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 May 1999). LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] THACI PROPOSES APPOINTING PROVISIONAL LEGISLATUREKosovaLiberation Army (UCK) leader Hashim Thaci told Vienna's "Die Presse" of 13 August that Kosova must have laws that meet international standards before elections can take place. He argued that a "consultative and executive" body for all Kosovars could function as a provisional legislature to pass the laws, but he did not elaborate. Thaci added that a future elected parliament will have to approve legislation passed by that body for those laws to remain valid. He again criticized the UN civil courts for using the Yugoslav and Serbian penal and civil codes, which he had earlier called "undemocratic laws." FS [11] KOSOVAR ALBANIANS HOLD MORE PROTESTS AGAINST RUSSIANPEACEKEEPERSAbout 2,000 ethnic Albanians demonstrated against Russian peacekeepers in Kamenica on 12 August. The protesters jeered at and beat on vehicles of Russian KFOR soldiers. No other incidents were reported. A Russian soldier told Reuters that "we just try to endure it, turn our head away sometimes. We've got used to this. It happens every day. It's mostly kids, not many adults." Organizers denied they were from the UCK and identified themselves as members of a local "council of civic-minded Albanians." FS [12] BRITISH KFOR INJURE TWO ALBANIAN CRIMINALS AFTER CARCHASEBritish soldiers arrested four ethnic Albanians and injured two of them in a shoot-out following a car chase near Vernica on 12 August. A fifth escaped. The four are suspected of having intimidated local Serbs. The soldiers said that they had advance warning that ethnic Albanians would launch an attack on local Serbs that day. FS [13] KOSOVAR STUDENT LEADER HELD IN SERBIAN PRISONThe Serbianauthorities continue to hold some 2,270 ethnic Albanians in several prisons in Serbia, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting's "Balkan Crisis Report" noted on 10 August. Another 1,500 Kosovars are missing and presumed imprisoned. Among the imprisoned are Albin Kurti, a well-known Prishtina University student leader and pacifist. He became radicalized during the Serbian crackdown of 1998 and served as press spokesman for senior nationalist politician Adem Demaci, who was the UCK's political representative. Also imprisoned is human rights activist Flora Brovina. Her son told "Balkan Crisis Report" that she has become partly paralyzed while in detention. Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross have frequently expressed regret that the June peace agreement did not oblige Serbian authorities to release or provide information about Kosovars held in Serbian jails. PM [14] MILOSEVIC RESHUFFLES YUGOSLAV CABINETPrime Minister MomirBulatovic on 12 August removed Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Lilic and seven ministers from the cabinet. Bulatovic announced the appointment of two new deputy prime ministers and 11 ministers. Vojislav Seselj's xenophobic Serbian Radical Party has five of the new posts. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists received three, as did his wife's hard-line United Yugoslav Left (JUL). The small Serbian People's Party of Montenegro was given one of the new posts. Cedomir Mirkovic, who is a minister without portfolio, belongs to a small party called New Democracy (ND). A party spokesman said that the ND has called for Milosevic to resign and that Mirkovic has "excluded himself" from the party by accepting a cabinet post, "Danas" reported. PM [15] HARD-LINERS CONSOLIDATE POSITION IN BELGRADEAll members ofthe incoming and outgoing Yugoslav governments are on a Western list of 308 top officials barred from receiving Western visas, Reuters reported on 12 August. Ever since Milosevic lost Kosova in June, observers have expected a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reinforcing the position of the hard-liners. This is the first time that the Radicals have served in the Yugoslav cabinet. Goran Matic, who is the new information secretary, belongs to JUL and is known for his outspoken criticism of the non-state media. The ousted Lilic recently called for Serbia to learn to "speak the language" of the international community (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 10 August 1999). He now becomes an adviser to Milosevic on foreign economic relations. PM [16] DEMOCRATIC PARTY SLAMS YUGOSLAV CABINETThe oppositionDemocrats said in a statement in Belgrade on 12 August that the new cabinet represents "nothing new and nothing good.... With this move, the regime has sent several messages. To the world it is saying 'forget about any cooperation with Yugoslavia,' and to its citizens it is saying that they will face a difficult winter and further impoverishment, without heating and electricity," Reuters reported. Milosevic, for his part, told the new government that "our aim is to continue successfully with the process of current reforms, contribute to an accelerated pace of economic development and increase productivity and living standards." PM [17] GENERAL PERISIC SAYS MILOSEVIC MUST GOFormer GeneralMomcilo Perisic told a Belgrade press conference on 12 August that the first goal of his new Movement for a Democratic Serbia is to oust Milosevic (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 10 August 1999). He stressed that Milosevic "has made Serbia's territory shrink and its people die." The current leadership has "no more right whatsoever to represent us and lead us," Perisic added. He argued that the opposition has "not done much to change things." For that reason, he continued, he founded his own "political movement" instead of joining an existing one. When a reporter asked the former general about his role in the shelling of the Croatian port of Zadar in 1991, Perisic responded that he was "defending a still existing country against rebels." A Croatian court has sentenced him to 20 years in prison in conjunction with the shelling. Many Bosnians regard him as a war criminal for his role in the shelling of Mostar in the 1992-1995 war. PM [18] SERBIAN PENSIONERS STAGE PROTESTSome 1,000 retired personsdemonstrated in Belgrade on 12 August to protest their low living standards and to demand Milosevic's resignation. A spokesman for the group called on pensioners to join the opposition's anti-Milosevic gathering in Belgrade on 19 August, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [19] VOJVODINA'S HUNGARIANS TO SET UP PROVISIONAL COUNCILAProvisional Council of Hungarians in Vojvodina will be formed on 20 August, Hungarian media reported on 13 August. The council is to be set up on the basis of the three-pronged autonomy concept drawn up by six of the region's Hungarian organizations, according to Laszlo Jozsa, deputy chairman of the Vojvodina Hungarian Federation (VMSZ). It will have 54 members representing the federal, republican, and provincial parliaments and one-fifth of its members will be local council representatives. The VMSZ has informed Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi of its intentions, but the Hungarian cabinet has not responded to the announcement, Jozsa said. MS [20] CROATIAN SERBIAN LEADER BLASTS 'LYNCHING'Milorad Pupovac,who is a key leader of Croatia's Serbian minority, said in Zagreb on 12 August that the recent killing of Djuro Mutic was deliberate and ethnically motivated, "Novi List" reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 August 1999). Pupovac noted that no Croatian authority ever accused Mutic of crimes against Croats during the 1991-1995 conflict. The Serbian leader stressed that "everyone in Croatia should be concerned" if Mutic's "lynching" was part of a campaign to expel Serbs from Croatia. He did not elaborate, except to say that the killing was probably the work of more than a few people. PM [21] UNHCR PAYS MACEDONIA $4.4 MILLION FOR REFUGEE ACCOMMODATIONUNHCR and Macedonian government officials signed an agreementon 12 August whereby the UNHCR will pay Macedonia $4.4 million for expenses the country incurred during this year's refugee crisis. The Macedonian government will receive $1.2 million immediately and the rest in installments. Additional UNHCR assistance to Macedonia includes 13 jeeps and unspecified quantities of radio and fire-fighting equipment. A UNHCR spokesman stressed that the UNHCR usually does not compensate host countries but makes exceptions in some cases. Macedonia took in a total of 360,000 refugees from Kosova. FS [22] FIRST MODERN MOVIE HOUSE OPENS IN ALBANIACulture MinisterEdi Rama opened the first modern movie house in Albania on 12 August, dpa reported. Rama stressed that the opening of the movie house, jointly financed by a private investor and the government, "is a very important event in the cultural and social life of the country." An unclear privatization policy and the absence of government support led to the closure of more than 300 communist-era movie houses throughout Albania since 1991. Many became bingo halls, and only one cinema remained in the capital, showing primarily pornography. FS [23] ALBANIAN LEGISLATIVE REFORM MINISTER RESIGNSArbenImami resigned on 12 August "for personal reasons," dpa reported. According to earlier press reports, Imami plans to study law in the U.S. He played a leading role in drafting Albania's post-communist constitution. FS [24] MOLDOVAN PRISONER IN TRANSDNIESTER ACCUSES PRESIDENTLUCINSCHIAndrei Ivantoc, a member of the "Ilascu group" imprisoned in the Transdniester since 1992, has accused President Petru Lucinschi and Ion Sturza's cabinet of neglecting the fate of the group. In a 29 July letter that only recently reached Chisinau, Ivantoc said he has been on a hunger strike for 77 days, has lost half of his body weight, and is convinced he will die, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. He explained that he went on a hunger strike to protest the Tiraspol authorities' "systematic mistreatment" of the group. Ivantoc added that Lucinschi "cynically used" the Ilascu group's ordeals in his 1996 electoral campaign and later wrote to Ilascu saying he hopes to see him in Chisinau "by Christmas 2001." Ivantoc argued that Lucinschi "would probably like to use [the group] once more in his 2000 presidential campaign." MS [25] BULGARIAN DEPUTY PREMIER ROBBED BY BODYGUARDBulgarianpolice on 12 August said they have arrested Chief Sergeant Kiril Alexandrov of the National Bodyguard Service for theft, AP reported. Alexandrov admitted stealing the equivalent of $120 from the apartment of Deputy Premier Evgeni Bakardzhiev, to whom he had been assigned. That amount equals the average monthly salary in Bulgaria. MS [C] END NOTE[26] DEPENDING ON FOREIGN INVESTMENTBy Paul GoblePost-communist countries that have relied on foreign investment to power their economic recovery frequently find themselves in difficulty when investors turn away. More serious, those that have been able to show relatively high rates of growth in the past as a result of such investment sometimes have allowed that achievement to justify avoiding the hard choices necessary to make growth self-sustaining on the basis of domestic production. That is what appears to be happening in Estonia, a country whose economic performance over the last eight years has been among the best of the post-communist world but one that now faces declining rates of growth and rising unemployment. Last week, Kersti Kaljulaid, economics adviser to the country's prime minister, said Estonia needs dramatically higher rates of foreign investment if it is to escape from a mounting economic crisis. That is because its domestic economy is still too weak to power a recovery, she said. But more important, as Kaljulaid herself acknowledged, "foreign investment has been this economy's main motor for years.... Even though the economy went into a standstill last year, we still saw record levels" of outside investment. Now, however, outside investment may be about to fall as well. The IMF recently refused to back additional investment there and other investors may follow suit. If that happens, Estonia, which has been on the fast track toward EU membership, could find itself in both economic and political difficulties. Because of Estonia's favorable geographic location and its business-friendly government, foreign investment earlier flowed into the country at impressive rates. A few years ago, for example, foreign investment in Estonia was equal to or even greater than that in the Russian Federation, a country that has a population 100 times larger. That pattern allowed Estonia to post economic figures far better than most post-Soviet states. But it also lulled some in the Estonian government to conclude that the good times, powered by outside investment, would continue without interruption. Some Estonian leaders, however, had called attention to such overreliance on foreign investment. In a speech earlier this year, for example, President Lennart Meri pointedly asked "Where is Estonia's Nokia?" in a reference to the Finnish electronics firm that has contributed so much to Estonia's economic expansion. Meri's speech sparked a debate in Estonia's media over whether and when Estonia could develop an industrial base that would drive its economy forward even when foreign investment slowed. Some participants in that discussion suggested that Estonia should rely on its geographic position to become a bridge between Russia and the West and earn its way as a trading center. But other Estonians objected that such a strategy would leave Tallinn at the mercy of the vagaries of Moscow politics. Others suggested that Estonia should develop its traditional industries, including fishing and food processing. But their arguments brought the response that such industries would not be sufficient to support high rates of growth for long. And still others said that Estonia should exploit its remarkably extensive computer network to become an information center for northern Europe. But again there were replies that such a strategy would not be sufficient, given the lead that West Europeans now have in that area. As a result, this debate petered out with no answer to Meri's question or a broader discussion on the needs for domestic entrepreneurism. However, the current economic crisis, which was brought on by levels of foreign investment that are no longer sufficient to power growth, seems certain to reopen these discussions. Whether Estonia can find an answer--its own Nokia, in other words--remains very much an open question. But unless it does, Estonia and Estonians are likely to find themselves far more dependent on the international economy than they would like and thus far less independent as a state than they clearly want. 13-08-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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