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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 214, 99-11-03Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 214, 3 November 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW SPEAKERMeeting in emergencysession on 2 November, deputies elected People's Party member Armen Khachatrian as parliamentary speaker, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Khachatrian formerly headed the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. Gagik Aslanian, who is also a member of the People's Party, and Tigran Torosian of the Republican Party were elected deputy speakers. All three candidacies were endorsed by a large majority of deputies. Republican Party chairman Andranik Markarian, who had been tipped for the speaker's post, proposed all three candidacies, explaining that leaders of all factions in the parliament had decided unanimously that it is important to observe the status quo, whereby the speaker and one of his deputies are members of the People's Party and the second deputy speaker a member of the Republican Party, according to Noyan Tapan. Those two parties constitute the majority Miasnutiun parliament faction. LF [02] KHACHATRIAN PLEDGES CONTINUITY, STABILITYAddressingdeputies prior to the vote on the three candidacies, Khachatrian vowed that "all programs that were envisaged by [the assassinated leaders] will be put into practice by all of us," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He called for a multi-partisan effort to maintain political stability and help the country recover from the aftermath of last week's murders of the prime minister and parliament speaker. President Robert Kocharian told the session that the support shown for the three candidates demonstrates that the parliament is capable of discharging its basic functions in accordance with the constitution, which in turn suggests that "democracy is becoming stronger in our country," according to Noyan Tapan. Kocharian said that within the next few days, he will name a new premier and cabinet, which, he said, should enjoy the support of the parliamentary majority. LF [03] OSCE NOTES VIOLATIONS DURING GEORGIAN ELECTION...In itspreliminary assessment, the OSCE Election Observer Mission termed the 31 October Georgian parliamentary poll "a step toward Georgia's compliance with OSCE commitments," according to Caucasus Press on 3 November, but it failed to endorse the voting as free and fair. The statement said that voters were generally able to express their will and that the elections laws provided an adequate framework for genuine multi-party elections. At the same time, it noted that local officials in several districts violated the procedures envisaged for the vote count. Conduct of the poll was termed good in Tbilisi but less than satisfactory in Samtskhe-Djavakheti and Kvemo Kartli (which have large Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities, respectively) and unsatisfactory in Adjaria. The assessment said that the "heated competition" between political parties during the run-up to the poll confirms the existence of political pluralism, but it added that the tone of the campaign "went beyond acceptable limits." The statement also noted instances of election-related violence and intimidation. LF [04] ...AS DO INDEPENDENT MONITORSNugzar Ivanidze, who heads theindependent Fair Elections group, told AP on 2 November that the 31 October elections "can be called multi-party but they weren't democratic." Ivanidze said that observers were barred from watching the ballot box at some polling stations and that 15,000 ballot papers vanished from one Tbilisi polling station hours before the vote began. Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili told Caucasus Press on 2 November that contrary to official preliminary returns, his party achieved the 7 percent minimum required for representation in the new parliament. Irakli Batiashvili, one of the leaders of the Industry Will Save Georgia bloc, claimed that the bloc polled 20 percent of the total party-list vote. According to official statistics, the two election subjects received 6.85 and 6.75 percent of the vote. LF [05] GEORGIA, RUSSIA OFFER CONTRADICTORY REPORTS OF CHECHEN BORDERTALKSThe director of Georgia's Border Guards, Valerii Chkheidze, met with his Russian counterpart, Konstantin Totskii, in Moscow on 2 November to discuss the possibility of jointly protecting the border between Georgia and Chechnya. ITAR-TASS quoted Chkheidze as saying that he and Totskii agreed on the deployment of Russian border guards along that stretch of the Russian-Georgian border to prevent the infiltration of mercenaries into Chechnya from Georgian territory. But Interfax quoted Totskii as saying that Chkheidze rejected the possibility of a joint force to protect the border, which, he said, will be guarded solely by Georgian detachments. Totskii added, however, that a Russian contingent will travel to the border shortly to inspect conditions there. He said that inclement weather is likely to render that mountain sector of the border impassable within the next few weeks. LF [06] SUSPECT IN ASSASSINATION BID EXTRADITED TO GEORGIANugzarChukhua, whom the Georgian authorities have identified as one of the 12 men who participated in the failed bid to assassinate Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in February 1998, was extradited to Georgia from North Ossetia on 2 November. He was apprehended by Russian police on suspicion of involvement in the bomb explosion in Vladikavkaz's central market earlier this year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 September and 20 October 1999). Russian investigators have established that Chukhua served as commander of a detachment of the Georgian National Guard under President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, according to Interfax. LF [07] RUSSIA PLAYS DOWN POSSIBLE DAMAGE FROM ROCKET EXPLOSION OVERKAZAKHSTAN...Russian Deputy Premier Ilya Klebanov told journalists on 2 November that Moscow will not pressure Kazakhstan to lift the temporary ban imposed on the launch of Proton rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome following the explosion of one such rocket shortly after blastoff on 27 October, Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 October 1999). But Klebanov added that it is unlikely that Moscow will pay compensation for the disaster, as it occurred at a high altitude over an unpopulated area and there is little risk of contamination from toxic heptyl rocket fuel. Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev had said last week that Astana will probably demand a larger sum in compensation than it had received after a similar explosion in July. On 2 November, Toqaev told reporters that last week's explosion had damaged bilateral relations, Reuters reported. LF [08] ...AS LOCAL RESIDENTS PROTESTThe inhabitants of Aqsuvillage in Qaraghandy Oblast staged a demonstration on 1 November to demand the closure of the Baikonur cosmodrome, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The region was contaminated with heptyl rocket fuel following the July Proton rocket explosion. The protestors claim that toxic fuel was also spilled after last week's explosion. LF [09] REPEAT ELECTIONS CALLED IN THREE KAZAKH CONSTITUENCIESAmember of Kazakhstan's Central Electoral Commission said on 2 November that the results of the 24 October runoff elections in three constituencies have been annulled because of unspecified violations by candidates or their supporters, Reuters reported. She added that the chief electoral officials in those districts have been dismissed. The districts in question are in the city of Atyrau and in Dzhambyl and South Kazakhstan Oblasts. Kazakhstan's election law bans the original candidates from running in the repeat elections, for which no date has been set. Meanwhile, Orleu (Progress) Party leader Seydakhmet Quttyqadam has brought a court case against Almaty City Mayor Viktor Khrapunov, whom he accuses of fraud during the 10 and 24 October parliamentary votes, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital reported on 2 November. LF [10] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT DENIES HAVING FOREIGN PROPERTY, BANKACCOUNTSNursultan Nazarbaev told the state-owned Khabar news agency on 2 November that he neither owns property abroad nor has any foreign bank accounts, Interfax reported. The "New York Times" reported last month that Swiss investigators had discovered an account they believed was used by Nazarbaev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 October 1999). LF [11] TAJIK OPPOSITION PARTY URGES BOYCOTT OF PRESIDENTIAL POLL...Following a meeting of the United Tajik Opposition on 2November, the Islamic Renaissance Party, which is the senior partner in that umbrella grouping, issued a statement the next day calling for a boycott of the 6 November presidential election, AP reported. Economics and Foreign Trade Minister Davlat Usmon, who was registered as a presidential candidate of the Islamic Renaissance Party, formally requested last week that his registration be annulled as he had failed to collect the required number of signatures in his support. Usmon also demanded that the poll be postponed. ITAR-TASS on 2 November quoted Central Electoral Commission Chairman Mirzoali Boltuev as saying that ballot papers with the names of incumbent President Imomali Rakhmonov and Usmon have already been sent to all electoral districts. LF [12] ...AS EU EXPRESSES CONCERNIn a statement issued on 2November by the German Embassy in Dushanbe, the EU expressed concern that incumbent Imomali Rakhmonov is the sole candidate for the 6 November presidential poll, AP reported. The statement said that candidates should be able to propose their candidacies "on a free and fair basis" and that "the electorate must have a choice." LF [13] TURKMENISTAN GAS PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION DELAYED?Representatives of the U.S. company PSG, which is theoperator of the planned Trans-Caspian gas export pipeline from Turkmenistan to Baku, and PSG's upstream partner, Shell, told journalists in Ashgabat on 2 November after talks with Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov that construction of the pipeline will not begin before the end of 2000 and will take two years, Interfax reported. Meeting with Niyazov the same day, Iran's Deputy Petroleum Minister Mehdi Hashemi Bahramani said Iran is prepared to import 8-11 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Turkmenistan. Iran currently receives some 2 billion cubic meters of gas via the Korpedzhe- Kurt Kui pipeline in payment for Iranian infrastructure construction. LF [14] RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST 'POLITICIZING' PIPELINE ROUTESInAnkara, Russia's Ambassador Aleksandr Lebedev told Interfax on 2 November that politicizing "purely commercial deals" to build pipelines to transport gas to Turkey is "ruinous," Interfax reported. The Blue Stream pipeline to export Russian natural gas to Turkey is expected to be completed by early 2001. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] MONTENEGRO INTRODUCES GERMAN MARK...The Montenegringovernment on 2 November introduced the German mark as its second legal currency (see "RFE/R" Newsline," November 1999). Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and other officials from the republic said Montenegro was forced to take the step to protect itself from bad monetary policy and instability in neighboring Serbia. Montenegrin Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said the move has "absolutely nothing to do" with "destructive" measures such as "secession," Radio Montenegro reported on 2 November. Meanwhile, Djukanovic said the move will "increase the time span" during which Montenegro can wait for changes in Serbia before taking further steps toward independence. VG [16] ...WHILE U.S. EXPRESSES 'UNDERSTANDING'...The U.S. StateDepartment on 2 November expressed understanding for Montenegro's currency decision. A State Department official said the U.S. "recognizes the serious economic concerns" that led Montenegro to such a decision. The official added that the move "underscores the need for democratic change in Yugoslavia." VG [17] ...AND MOST YUGOSLAV OFFICIALS KEEP QUIETYugoslav PresidentSlobodan Milosevic made no official mention of developments in Montenegro on 2 November after a meeting with Serbian President Mirko Marjanovic, according to a Radio Belgrade report cited by the BBC. Instead, Milosevic congratulated Marjanovic on his efforts to reconstruct the country after the NATO bombing. The same day, however, the Yugoslav United Left party, which was formed by Milosevic's wife, denounced Montenegro's currency decision as the work of "separatists," Tanjug reported. Meanwhile, opposition Serbian Renewal Movement spokesman Ivan Kovacevic welcomed the Montenegrin decision and said Serbia should also introduce the German mark. Kovacevic said Montenegro's efforts to redefine its relationship with Serbia do not represent a threat to the existence of the Yugoslav federal republic. VG [18] STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE IN BELGRADEBetween 2,000 and 3,000Serbian students marched through the streets of Belgrade on 2 November to demand early elections. The rally, which was organized by 16 student organizations, was one of the first student-led rallies since the winter of 1996-1997. Demonstrators marched past the headquarters of the governing Socialist Party chanting calls for Yugoslav President Milosevic to be sent to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. VG [19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES ASK EU TO LIFT SOME SANCTIONSDuring a 2 November meeting with EU representatives inBudapest, a group of Serbian opposition politicians called on the EU to lift some of its economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, MTI reported. Slobodan Vuksanovic, deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, said the group repeated its request that the EU "differentiate between the Milosevic regime and the Serbian citizens, as the latter do not deserve to be punished." VG [20] YUGOSLAV AUTHORITIES RELEASE BRITISH CORRESPONDENTA Britishcorrespondent for "The Times" newspaper was released from prison on 2 November because of health problems, the Serbian Justice Ministry told Beta. Dessa Trevisan had been sentenced to 10 days in jail the previous day for travelling in Yugoslavia without a valid entry stamp in her passport (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 November 1999). Trevisan described conditions in the Belgrade prison as "inhumane" but added that she was not mistreated during the night she spent in jail, AP reported on 2 November. She said the judge told her British passports are "not appreciated" in Yugoslavia. VG [21] STABILITY PACT COORDINATOR CALLS FOR 'RESTRUCTURED'SANCTIONSThe international community's coordinator for the Balkan Stability pact, Bodo Hombach, said on 2 November that while sanctions against Yugoslavia have been "effective," they need to be restructured to minimize the impact on average Serbs. VG [22] U.S. DIPLOMAT CALLS FOR AN END TO ANTI-SERB VIOLENCE INKOSOVAWilliam Walker has condemned recent attacks on ethnic Serbs in Kosova, AP reported on 2 November. Walker is well known and well respected among ethnic Albanians in Kosova for having condemned Serbian violence against Albanians in the province before the NATO bombing campaign began in March. Walker, who is on a visit to Kosova, said attacks on Serbs in the region play "into the hands of Milosevic." However, he also said the overall situation in Kosova has improved since he was last in the province. "When I was here before it was night, and now I think it's day," he commented. VG [23] DEL PONTE URGES ARRESTS OF MORE WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS...Carladel Ponte, the chief prosecutor for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, on 2 November urged SFOR troops in Bosnia- Herzegovina to engage in a "more active effort" to arrest war crimes suspects, Reuters reported. She added that the tribunal will issue more indictments next year. Since 1996, SFOR has arrested 14 war crimes suspects and killed two others while trying to arrest them. Some suspects, including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, are still at large. Del Ponte, who is on a visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, said that SFOR Commander Ronald Adams assured her that SFOR will continue to support the tribunal's efforts. VG [24] ...WHILE ADAMS ANNOUNCES REDUCTION IN SFOR TROOPSAdams on 2November announced that SFOR troop strength will be reduced by one-third by April 2000 because of the improving security situation in Bosnia. There are currently about 30,000 troops from some 40 countries supervising the peace in Bosnia- Herzegovina. VG [25] TUPURKOVSKI OFFERS TO STEP DOWN OVER ELECTION RESULTDemocratic Alliance chairman Vasil Tupurkovski on 2 Novemberoffered to step down as party leader after finishing third in the Macedonian presidential elections (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 November 1999), Reuters reported. He described his offer as a "normal gesture" for a politician who fails to achieve a stated goal. Tupurkovski added that his party is re-examining future relations within the governing coalition, of which the alliance is a member. The relatively poor showing of Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Trajkovski in the vote is causing strains within the governing VMRO-DPMNE, according to a source close to the government cited by Reuters. VG [26] IMF GIVES ALBANIA POSITIVE ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTA visitingIMF delegation on 2 November announced that economic growth in Albania is expected to reach 8 percent this year, while inflation will be around zero by the end of the year, dpa reported. The delegation said the budget deficit is under control and the government has made "notable progress" on its privatization program. The news agency also reported that the positive economic results are largely a result of the increased foreign assistance and hard currency flowing into the country as a result of the Kosova crisis. Albanian Finance Minister Anastas Angjeli said the government has agreed with the IMF that economic growth and inflation will total 8 percent and 3 percent, respectively, next year. VG [27] ALBANIAN POLICE CONDUCT BORDER AREA SWEEPAlbanian policearrested 21 people in a 2 November sweep through the northeastern part of the country near the border with Kosova, dpa reported. The detained persons are suspected of smuggling as well as involvement in a series of robberies of ethnic Albanians from Kosova. The sweep comes as Albania prepares to sign an agreement with Germany on the repatriation of some 200,000 Kosova Albanians. The Kosovars are to pass through Albania on their way home. VG [28] ROMANIAN SUPREME COURT QUERIES LAW ON ACCESS TO SECURITATEFILESThe Supreme Court on 2 November appealed to the Constitutional Court to consider the constitutionality of the recently passed law on access to the files of the former secret police, Mediafax reported. The law does not allow access to the files of employees of the post-communist secret services, with the exception of the directors of those services and their deputies. The Supreme Court says that this restriction infringes on Article 31 of the constitution, which provides for the freedom of information. The Constitutional Court will consider the appeal on 28 November. MS [29] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES LUCINSCHIDumitruDiacov on 2 November said the government will ask the parliament to vote confidence in it on 4 November. He also accused President Petru Lucinschi of having organized an anti-parliamentary campaign, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Last week, the legislature rejected the government's draft law envisaging budget cuts as well as bills on the privatization of five of the country's leading wineries and the Chisinau cigarette factory. Diacov, who heads the formerly pro-presidential For a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova Bloc, said that if these laws are rejected again, the cabinet will resign because that would mean an end to financing from the IMF and the World Bank. In such a case, he added, responsibility will rest with Lucinschi and those parties and independent deputies who support him. MS [30] BULGARIAN PREMIER IN FRANCEIvan Kostov said after talkswith his French counterpart, Lionel Jospin, and President Jacques Chirac in Paris on 2 November that he is "leaving France very happy," BTA reported. Kostov told journalists that Jospin assured him that the EU will start accession talks with "all applicants of the second wave" at the same time. He said that France's "categorical position" is that all those countries, including Bulgaria and Romania, will be invited to join the EU. Kostov discussed with Chirac EU conditions for starting negotiations with Bulgaria. He said that they both agreed that "progress in economic reforms will be no problem." Kostov said that France "will not be the country to press" for closing down the Kozloduy nuclear plant, and he noted that Jospin expressed readiness to offer Bulgaria "expert assistance" on the matter. MS [C] END NOTE[31] MONITORS EVALUATE UKRAINIAN ELECTIONSby Lily HydeMonitoring organizations unanimously agree that voting in Ukraine's 31 October presidential election was conducted in a peaceful and orderly fashion. The Committee of Ukrainian Voters (CVU), the International Republican Institute, and a joint statement by the Council of Europe and the OSCE all said that their monitors had seen minor infringements of the election law but these were insufficient to affect the outcome. They agreed that most violations seemed to be the result of ignorance or incompetence rather than deliberate fraud. The CVU did not gain official accreditation for its monitors because the Ukrainian government was giving such credentials only to foreign or international groups. The OSCE has called this discrepancy a "backward step" in the election law. But the CVU managed to send to polling stations some 16,000 people accredited as journalists. Igor Popov, head of the CVU, said that those observers found a large number of violations of the election law...but our general conclusion is that these violations have not significantly influenced the results of the election. We want to emphasize that the candidates who will go on to the second round were those really supported by Ukrainian voters." Popov noted that the gap between the first and second places, taken by incumbent Leonid Kuchma and challenger Petro Symonenko, and the third place is so large that the 300,000 to 400,000 votes considered questionable by the CVU could not invalidate the results. The CVU's Yevhen Radchenko divided violations into three types: electioneering on voting day, misconduct in the voting and counting processes, and, worst of all, interference by government officials. "The third group of violation, to our mind, is the most serious and dangerous that we detected," he commented. "These are violations committed by officials who are not legally participating in the election process. These officials often directly or indirectly intervened in the election process." In polling stations across the country, many election committees consisted of employees from one government institution, while committee heads were most often Kuchma appointees. For example, in one polling station in Irpin, a small town just outside Kyiv, more than half of the committee members worked at the forestry institute at which voting took place, and the head of the institute was present all day during polling as an official observer for Kuchma. Speaking to RFE/RL, the institute head said he had told all his staff to cast their ballots for Kuchma. But he rejected the idea that his presence during voting in any way influenced the vote. All the monitoring groups expressed deep concern at the conduct of the election campaign, which, they said, was characterized by media manipulation, illegal government participation, and even violence. The OSCE's report was especially damning on government interference prior to voting. It said that political intervention on behalf of incumbent President Kuchma had been undertaken by security forces, the post office, and housing authorities. Simon Osborne, head of the OSCE mission in Ukraine, told journalists in Kyiv on 1 November that the election observers mission received "numerous verified reports that public officials in state institutions were campaigning in favor of the incumbent president." For example, Osborne said, "observers noted that heads of state administrations in eight oblasts at various levels openly urged voters to vote for the president." Furthermore, the election mission "received numerous allegations that postal workers were distributing campaign materials for President Kuchma and that [housing authority] employees were canvassing support for the incumbent president in at least four oblasts. In the latter case, the involvement in the election campaign could easily be perceived as intimidation," according to the OSCE official. The OSCE also heavily criticized the lack of independent coverage in state-run media. The organization said this reporting overwhelmingly favored Kuchma. The author is an RFE/RL corespondent based in Kyiv. 03-11-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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