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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 199, 99-10-12Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 199, 12 October 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] MILITARY NOT TO VOTE IN ARMENIAN LOCAL ELECTIONSTheArmenian 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 MEETRobert Kocharian andHeidar 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 STATIONMeeting in Baku on 11 October, representatives of leadingAzerbaijani 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 ARRESTEDDjanmirza Mirzoev, aformer 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 COOPERATIONVisiting Iranlast 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 INTENSIFIESThe GeorgianProsecutor-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 GEORGIAFourArmenian 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...In its preliminaryassessment 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 DELAYEDCentral Electoral Commissionchairwoman 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 PREMIERKazakhstan'soutgoing 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 BASEKyrgyz governmentforces 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 OFPRESIDENTIAL POLL...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 COMMISSIONTheUnited 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 UZBEKISTANThePeople'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 MINISTERPandeli Majko saidin 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 CHARGESGeneral Agim Ceku,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 PRISONERSTheHumanitarian 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 PRISHTINAThe UN's BernardKouchner 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 MINEA spokeswoman for the Hague-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?NATO's General Wolfgang Sauer said inRahovec 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 SERBIAEU foreignministers 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 OPPOSITIONIn Belgrade on 11 October,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 OPPOSITIONFilip Vujanovic said in Luxembourg on 11 October that he was"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 MILOSEVICAspokeswoman 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 DISARRAYThe Senate on 11 Octobervoted 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 DESERTIONSDeputiesRomeo 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'Ivan Kostovon 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 FRONTBy Paul GobleRussians 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
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