RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 199, 99-10-12

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 199, 12 October 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] MILITARY NOT TO VOTE IN ARMENIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS

[02] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS MEET

[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PROTESTS CLOSURE OF TV STATION

[04] AZERBAIJAN MILITARY OFFICIAL ARRESTED

[05] AZERBAIJAN, IRAN SEEK TO EXPAND COOPERATION

[06] GEORGIAN AMNESTY DISPUTE INTENSIFIES

[07] GUARD ATTACKED AT RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE IN GEORGIA

[08] OSCE CRITICIZES KAZAKH ELECTIONS...

[09] ...AS INITIAL RESULTS DELAYED

[10] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT NAMES NEW PREMIER

[11] KYRGYZ TROOPS ADVANCE ON GUERRILLA BASE

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION CANDIDATES CALL FOR POSTPONEMENT OF

[13] ...AS UTO WITHDRAWS FROM CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

[14] SECOND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOMINATED IN UZBEKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] ALBANIA'S MAJKO TO REMAIN PRIME MINISTER

[16] UCK COMMANDER DENIES WAR CRIMES CHARGES

[17] SERBIAN NGO CALLS FOR RELEASE OF KOSOVAR PRISONERS

[18] UN ADMINISTRATOR KILLED IN PRISHTINA

[19] NO MASS GRAVE IN KOSOVA MINE

[20] NEW IDEAS FOR RAHOVEC?

[21] EU TO LAUNCH LIMITED FUEL PROGRAM FOR SERBIA

[22] MILOSEVIC BLASTS OPPOSITION

[23] MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER 'DISAPPOINTED' BY OPPOSITION

[24] PETRITSCH TO INVESTIGATE BOSNIAN SERBS' VISIT TO MILOSEVIC

[25] ROMANIAN COALITION IN DISARRAY

[26] DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ROMANIA DEPLETED BY DESERTIONS

[27] BULGARIAN PREMIER WARNS AGAINST EU 'ILLUSIONS'

[C] END NOTE

[28] A REAL BATTLE ON THE VIRTUAL FRONT

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] MILITARY NOT TO VOTE IN ARMENIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS

Armenian parliament on 11 October voted to amend the election

law to allow Armenian servicemen to cast their votes in local

elections only in their place of permanent residence,

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. That measure will affect

the majority of army conscripts who normally perform their

compulsory military service away from their native towns and

villages. Opposition parties and international monitors have

claimed in the past that tens of thousands of soldiers are

ordered by their commanders to vote for pro-government

candidates. Voting by the military has consistently figured

in the list of election drawbacks reported by OSCE election

monitoring missions. LF

[02] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS MEET

Heidar Aliev met on the border between Armenia and

Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhichevan on 11 October for a

fourth round of talks on Karabakh. The meeting, which lasted

just over two hours, was held behind closed doors. Kocharian

told journalists later that he and Aliev discussed "the

entire spectrum of issues" related to the settlement process,

in particular "the degree of compromise." He declined,

however, to give details. Aliev, for his part, noted that

successive peace proposals by the UN and the OSCE have failed

to yield a solution to the conflict. Aliev termed his direct

talks with Kocharian "very useful" but said "more time,

meetings and talks, and of course mutual compromises" are

needed to reach a peace settlement, Noyan Tapan reported. LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PROTESTS CLOSURE OF TV STATION

Azerbaijani opposition parties formed a committee to defend

the rights of the independent television station Sara TV,

which was shut down by the Ministry of Justice on 9 October,

Turan reported. Turan quoted a member of the Azerbaijani

presidential administration as saying that the reason for the

closure was that the station's original registration in 1994

was illegal because its owners are not citizens of

Azerbaijan. But Sara TV president Rasul Rauf, who has a

British passport, said on 11 October that the Justice

Ministry claimed that the station "interferes in the public-

political life of Azerbaijan" and has departed from its

customary focus on entertainment. Rauf told Reuters that the

closure was "politically motivated." LF

[04] AZERBAIJAN MILITARY OFFICIAL ARRESTED

former instructor at the Baku Higher Naval Academy who

incurred the wrath of Defense Minister Safar Abiev for his

disclosures of corrupt practices and dissenting views within

that ministry, was arrested on 10 October, Turan reported the

following day quoting "Yeni Musavat" (see "RFE/RL Caucasus

Report," Vol. 2, No. 34, 26 August 1999). It is not clear

what crime Mirzoev has been charged with. LF

[05] AZERBAIJAN, IRAN SEEK TO EXPAND COOPERATION

last week at the head of an Azerbaijani delegation, deputy

parliamentary speaker Yashar Aliev discussed with Iranian

Majlis speaker Ali-Aqbar Nateq-Nouri and with Foreign

Minister Kamal Kharrazi the need to expand bilateral

relations, which Aliev said should not be impeded by "minor

problems," IRNA reported. The talks focused on cooperation in

the oil, gas, and road construction sectors as well as in

cross-border trade. Yashar Aliev also attended a session of

the Tehran-Baku economic commission, which is intended to

explore how to increase trade turnover between the two

countries from the present level of $160 million. LF

[06] GEORGIAN AMNESTY DISPUTE INTENSIFIES

Prosecutor-General's Office has made good on its 6 October

threat and brought criminal proceedings against the

authorities of the Adjar Autonomous Republic for that

region's failure to free all 28 prisoners eligible for

release under Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze's 1

October amnesty (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 and 8 October

1999). Three of the 28 men remain in jail. Speaking on

Georgian Radio on 11 October, Shevardnadze said the Adjar

authorities' refusal to comply with his amnesty decree

constitutes a threat to Georgia's territorial integrity. LF

[07] GUARD ATTACKED AT RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE IN GEORGIA

Armenian youths attacked a guard at the Russian military base

in the south Georgian district of Akhalkalaki on 11 October,

Caucasus Press reported. The guard shot and mortally wounded

one of the youths in self-defense. No details of the motive

for the assault are available. LF

[08] OSCE CRITICIZES KAZAKH ELECTIONS...

assessment released on 11 October, the OSCE observer mission

to the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan termed the poll

an improvement on the January 1999 presidential elections,

Reuters and dpa reported. But the monitors noted that while

the actual conduct of the vote was relatively free of

violations, intimidation and obstruction of opposition

candidates and parties "seriously undermined" democratic

principles during the election campaign and "contributed to

widespread expectations that the election results would be

falsified and that nothing would change as a result of the

elections." LF

[09] ...AS INITIAL RESULTS DELAYED

chairwoman Zaghipa Balieva told journalists on 11 October

that the preliminary results of the poll, which were to have

been released that day, will be available only on 12 October,

Reuters reported. Meanwhile Communist Party Chairman

Serikbolsyn Abdildin said in Almaty on 11 October he believes

that his party will win five or six of the 10 seats allocated

under the proportional system but that none of its candidates

in single-mandate constituencies received the required 50

percent of the vote to win outright in the first round,

Interfax reported. Azat Peruashev, head of the pro-government

Civic Party of Kazakhstan, told Interfax that eight of the

party's candidates have won in single-candidate

constituencies. A total of 64 candidates contested the 10

party-list seats, while 549 competed in the remaining 67

single-candidate constituencies. ("RFE/RL Newsline"

incorrectly reported on 11 October that 65 candidates

contested the party-list seats and 484 took part in the

remaining single candidate districts.) LF

[10] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT NAMES NEW PREMIER

outgoing parliament on 12 October unanimously approved the

candidacy of Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev as the

country's new prime minister, Reuters reported. President

Nursultan Nazarbaev had named Toqaev acting premier on 1

October following the resignation of Nurlan Balghymbaev (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 1 October 1999). Toqaev, who is 46, is a

trained diplomat with little economic expertise. But

parliamentary speaker Marat Ospanov, who had been fiercely

critical of Balghymbaev and was regarded as a possible

successor to him, told Interfax on 11 October that he

considers Toqaev "a suitable figure" for the post. Ospanov

argued that tensions between the parliament and the

Balghymbaev cabinet deterred badly-needed foreign investment,

which he hopes will now be forthcoming in the light of the

international community's "recognition and trust" in Toqaev.

LF

[11] KYRGYZ TROOPS ADVANCE ON GUERRILLA BASE

forces advanced into the Khodjo-Achkhan gorge on 11 October,

where ethnic Uzbek militants had retreated together with the

13 hostages they seized in August, Interfax and ITAR-TASS

reported. The Kyrgyz troops met with little resistance there.

Presidential press secretary Kanybek Imanaliev told

journalists in Bishkek the same day that all but 100 of the

estimated 1,000 guerrillas have retreated into Tajikistan.

The whereabouts of the hostages are unclear. LF

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION CANDIDATES CALL FOR POSTPONEMENT OF

Economics and Foreign Economic Relations

Minister Davlat Usmon (Islamic Renaissance Party), Sulton

Kuvvatov (Democratic Party/Tehran Platform) and Saiffidin

Turaev (Justice Party) issued a statement on 11 October

calling for the postponement of the 6 November presidential

elections, Interfax reported. They also asked for an

emergency session of the parliament to discuss the situation.

The three had threatened last week to boycott the poll to

protest what they termed interference by local district

administrators intended to prevent them from collecting the

signatures required to register as presidential candidates

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 October 1999). Central Electoral

Commission chairman Mirzoali Boluev, who met with the three

candidates on 8- 9 October, rejected their criticism of local

administrators as "illegal propagandist pressure" aimed at

winning the support of the international community, Asia

Plus-Blitz reported on 11 October. He offered to extend the

deadline for the submission of registration documents until

11 October. LF

[13] ...AS UTO WITHDRAWS FROM CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

United Tajik Opposition issued a statement on 10 October

supporting the claim by the three opposition candidates that

local administrators are sabotaging the election campaign,

Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 11 October. The UTO announced

that since the Central Electoral Commission is incapable of

taking measures to ensure that the poll is free and fair, the

UTO will withdraw its representatives, who account for 25

percent of the commission's members. LF

[14] SECOND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOMINATED IN UZBEKISTAN

People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, which is the

successor organization to the Communist Party of Uzbekistan

and has the largest faction (71 deputies) in Uzbekistan's

250-seat parliament, has named its leader, Abdulkhafiz

Djalalov, as its candidate for the January 2000 presidential

poll, Reuters and AP reported on 11 October. Djalalov, 52, is

director of the department of philosophy and law of the Uzbek

Academy of Sciences. The People's Democratic Party was headed

until 1994 by incumbent President Islam Karimov, who has been

nominated as presidential candidate by both the Social

Democratic Party (Adolat) and the Fidorkorlar. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] ALBANIA'S MAJKO TO REMAIN PRIME MINISTER

in Tirana on 11 October that his government will remain in

office "until a change is appropriate...while respecting the

[need to preserve the] stability of the country," Reuters

reported. He added that he feels "hurt in his moral and

political legitimacy" by his recent defeat by Fatos Nano in

the contest for the Socialist Party leadership (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 11 October 1999). Majko had previously threatened

to resign the prime minister's post if he failed to gain the

party chair. Nano, who pledged to nominate a woman for

Majko's job if Majko quit, appealed to the government on 11

October "not to take any hasty decisions." He added that the

government "is legitimate and has the backing of the

Socialist Party." Elsewhere, opposition leader Sali Berisha

said that Majko no longer enjoys the backing of his own party

and should call early elections. PM

[16] UCK COMMANDER DENIES WAR CRIMES CHARGES

who headed the general staff of the former Kosova Liberation

Army (UCK), told Zagreb's "Jutarnji list" of 12 October that

only Serbs committed war crimes on Croatian territory during

the 1991-1995 war. He added that he will not comment on

allegations that the Hague-based war crimes tribunal is

investigating him for war crimes in 1993, when he was a

Croatian army commander in the Medak area near Gospic. Ceku

said, however, that he expects that the Croatian government

will "react" to the charges, which appeared in the latest

issue of London's "The Sunday Times." The general told the

Croatian daily that he has no information to suggest that he

might have been secretly indicted for war crimes. PM

[17] SERBIAN NGO CALLS FOR RELEASE OF KOSOVAR PRISONERS

Humanitarian Law Center said in a statement on 10 October

that Serbian authorities continue to hold 2,000 ethnic

Albanian prisoners. These include 25 minors, 11 women, about

200 wounded, and some 50 people who are sick. The statement

stressed that "their immediate release is above all required

on humanitarian grounds and is not subject to political

debate." Some of the wounded were injured in the NATO attack

on the Dubrava prison in Kosova in May. Some former inmates

of Dubrava charge that Serbian security forces killed about

100 and wounded some 200 ethnic Albanian prisoners following

the air attack, the statement added. Observers note that the

June agreement between Belgrade and NATO did not oblige the

Serbian authorities to release or provide lists of prisoners.

UN and Red Cross officials argue that this was a key omission

in the agreement. PM

[18] UN ADMINISTRATOR KILLED IN PRISHTINA

Kouchner said in Paris on 12 October that the UN civilian

administrator beaten and shot dead in Prishtina the previous

day "was apparently an American of Bulgarian origin," Reuters

reported. Kouchner suggested that Valentin Krumov, who had

arrived in Kosova earlier that day, spoke Bulgarian in a

restaurant and the local inhabitants mistook him for a Serb.

In Prishtina, a UN police spokesman said that a crowd

attacked and beat Krumov in Mother Theresa Street before

killing him. It was the first killing of a civilian

administrator in Kosova. AP quoted an unnamed Polish member

of the UN police force as saying that he never speaks Polish

in public in Prishtina because local Albanians are often

unable to distinguish Serbo-Croatian from other Slavic

languages and react with hostility to the sound of any Slavic

language. PM

[19] NO MASS GRAVE IN KOSOVA MINE

based war crimes tribunal said in Prishtina on 11 October

that international forensic investigators have found no bones

or bodies in the Trepca lead and zinc mine near Mitrovica.

She stressed that "they found absolutely nothing..., not even

animal bones." Reuters noted that rumors have been

circulating in Kosova that Serbian forces dumped the bodies

of as many as 700 Kosovars in the important mine. PM

[20] NEW IDEAS FOR RAHOVEC?

Rahovec on 11 October that there has been little progress in

talks between local ethnic Albanians and Russian

peacekeepers. KFOR has assigned the Russians to the town, but

the Kosovars say that Russians are pro-Serb and hence

unwelcome. Sauer added that a former UCK commander proposed

that the Russians stay out of Rahovec for one year "while the

citizens rebuild their lives." After that, the local people

"might" agree to a Russian presence, the UCK official argued.

Elsewhere, Rahovec's Mayor Agim Thaqi suggested that Russians

might immediately begin patrolling outlying villages but not

the town itself, AP reported. In Moscow, Foreign Minister

Igor Ivanov sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

again charging that the UCK "and other armed groups of

Kosovar Albanians" have not yet been demilitarized, Interfax

reported. PM

[21] EU TO LAUNCH LIMITED FUEL PROGRAM FOR SERBIA

ministers agreed in Luxembourg on 11 October to try to send

fuel trucks to the opposition-controlled towns of Nis and

Pirot. How the EU will do this without encountering the

opposition of the Yugoslav government remains unclear, the

"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. The ministers

agreed to maintain a ban on civilian flights to and from

Serbia. German and Finnish diplomats sought to lift the ban,

arguing that it affects ordinary people more than the top

regime officials. Germany's Joschka Fischer stressed that the

EU's ban on visas for leading officials is its key means of

pressuring the Belgrade elite. Most leading members of the

Serbian opposition stayed away from the meeting because of

their objections to the EU's proposed text of a joint

declaration (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 October 1999).

Elsewhere, Kouchner said that he doubts that the opposition

has the strength to overthrow Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic, Radio Svobodna Evropa reported. PM

[22] MILOSEVIC BLASTS OPPOSITION

Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic said that the EU's

demand that the opposition pledge to extradite war criminals

to The Hague was "irresponsible at such a critical moment in

Serbia's history." In Leskovac, Milosevic nonetheless accused

his opponents of being the West's "bootlickers." He appealed

to citizens not to "be fooled by those who drag themselves

along the streets of our towns in the evenings," by which he

apparently referred to the opposition's protest marches.

Milosevic charged that the opposition wants to launch a

"civil war." PM

[23] MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER 'DISAPPOINTED' BY OPPOSITION

"disappointed" by the decision of most Serbian opposition

leaders not to attend the conference. He called their

decision a "wrong move," the Frankfurt-based Serbian daily

"Vesti" reported. PM

[24] PETRITSCH TO INVESTIGATE BOSNIAN SERBS' VISIT TO MILOSEVIC

spokeswoman for the international community's Wolfgang

Petritsch said that his office will ask Zivko Radisic, who is

the Serbian representative on the Bosnian joint presidency,

to explain his recent visit to indicted war criminal

Milosevic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 October 1999),

Sarajevo's "Dnevni avaz" reported on 12 October. Republika

Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik criticized the visit by

Radisic and two other Bosnian Serb politicians, which has led

to a strain in relations between Dodik and Radisic, the daily

added. PM

[25] ROMANIAN COALITION IN DISARRAY

voted to set up three investigation commissions to examine

the management of budgetary funds, privatization, and reform.

Two commissions will investigate the activities of the

Ministry of Culture and the State Property Fund, while the

third will examine how RomTelcom was privatized. The ministry

and the fund are both headed by members of the National

Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD). The initiative to

set up the commissions came from the Democratic Party, the

PNTCD's minor coalition partner. In the vote on forming the

new commissions, the opposition backed the Democrats, while

the PNTCD and other coalition members opposed the initiative.

The Democrats are also demanding that a special commission be

set up to examine whether the Environment Ministry (also

headed by a PNTCD member) is meeting conditions for EU

membership, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS

[26] DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ROMANIA DEPLETED BY DESERTIONS

Romeo Trifu and Liviu Spataru from the Democratic Party

announced on 11 October their resignation from the party,

which is headed by Senate chairman Petre Roman, RFE/RL's

Bucharest bureau reported. Two weeks earlier, the Democrats

were deserted by deputy George Serban and Senator Radu F.

Alexandru. Trifu said he is leaving the party owing to the

Democrats' "arrogance" in relations with coalition partners

and with rank-and-file members of the party. Spataru said his

decision was prompted by the party's having distanced itself

from a social-democratic orientation and by the fact that

Roman is "the prisoner" of a "group of Democratic Party

ministers who are demolishing the party's structures." MS

[27] BULGARIAN PREMIER WARNS AGAINST EU 'ILLUSIONS'

on 9 October warned Bulgarians that they must not entertain

"illusions" about being accepted into the EU without building

a competitive economy and a modern infrastructure, AP

reported, citing BTA. Addressing a public rally in

Dimitrovgrad, Kostov said that "some people imagine Europe as

a charity organization." BTA reported the previous day that

British Premier Tony Blair has addressed a letter to Kostov

saying Sofia's commitment to close down the controversial

Kozloduy nuclear plant will improve its chances of EU

integration. MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] A REAL BATTLE ON THE VIRTUAL FRONT

Russians and Chechens are fighting not only on the

physical battlefield in the North Caucasus. They have taken

their fight to the virtual world of the Internet, with each

side trying to seize the advantage there as well.

Last week, Moscow officials denied that Russian forces

had attacked a bus carrying Chechen fugitives and killed many

of them. But before that report could be aired on central

Russian television, the Chechens used their Internet Website

to post photographs of the incident.

Not only did this call into question Russian claims

about the way in which Moscow is conducting the current

campaign, but it forced Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

to focus ever more closely on the role of the Internet in

deciding the outcome of conflicts.

Speaking to journalists last week, Putin openly

acknowledged that Moscow was playing catch-up on this

battlefield: "We surrendered this terrain some time ago," he

said, "but now we are entering the game again."

The prime minister's remarks came on the heels of

reports that Russia's evolving national security concept now

calls for tightened control over the media during crisis

situations.

Indeed, the Russian government's own newspaper

"Izvestiya" noted rather critically that "the introduction of

centralized military censorship regarding the war in the

North Caucasus is the only new idea" in the much vaunted

national security doctrine.

But if battlefield censorship is nothing new--most

governments have sought to impose it in most wars--then the

war in the virtual world of the Internet is. And because of

that, the attackers still have significant advantages over

the defenders, even though that pattern may be reversed.

Since declaring their independence from the Soviet Union

in November 1991, the Chechens have pioneered the use of

Website as a weapon to try to break the information blockade

that the Russian authorities have tried to impose over the

conflict.

In recent weeks, the Russian government responded on a

number of fronts. It has tried to close down the most

important of the Chechen Websites---http://www.kavkaz.org--

and even sought help from Western governments to that end.

But Moscow has not limited itself to official moves

against the Chechen efforts in cyberspace. The Russian

authorities or their supporters have routinely hacked into

Chechen sites, destroying or distorting the materials and

information they contain.

And taking a leaf from the Chechens' book, the Russian

government's news agencies have expanded their activities on

the web, not only increasing the number of Websites they

operate but tailoring them to deliver specific messages to

specific audiences.

Control of information has always been a key element in

military strategy and has often determined the outcomes of

military campaigns. For most of human history, commanders on

the scene and their political superiors were in a position to

determine what was reported and what was not.

But the rise of mass circulation newspapers in Europe

during the last century and even more the appearance of radio

and television in this one has limited the ability of both

generals and politicians to control the situation. Now the

Internet has reduced their ability to do so still further.

If Moscow eliminates one Chechen site, another is likely

to replace it within hours, if not minutes. If those

supporting the Russian side hack into a Chechen site, the

Chechens are likely to respond by hacking into a Russian one.

Indeed, there are suspicions that the Chechens or their

backers may have been behind the defacing of Moscow Mayor

Yurii Luzhkov's Website two weeks ago precisely because of

his statements against Chechnya and his efforts to expel

Chechens from the Russian capital.

The Internet and the World Wide Web have thus become yet

another field of battle in modern war, one in which neither

side has yet been able to declare any final victory.

But this new, virtual, but all too real battlefield

appears likely to be one in which those who seek to control

the free flow of news are likely to suffer more defeats than

those who sponsor it. And the victories of the latter in

cyberspace may ultimately translate into other victories as

well.

12-10-99

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

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