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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 227, 99-11-22Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 227, 22 November 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS CALL FOR REGIONAL SECURITYSYSTEM...In their speeches to the OSCE Istanbul summit, both Robert Kocharian and Heidar Aliev advocated the creation of a South Caucasus security system that would complement the existing European security system, Reuters and Noyan Tapan reported. That system would involve the three South Caucasus states plus Turkey, Russia, and the U.S. Aliev said that under the terms of such a regional security agreement, all foreign troops should be withdrawn from the region, according to Turan. It is unclear whether Moscow would agree to close its military base in Armenia. LF [02] ...DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICTKocharian and Aliev met on 18November in Istanbul with OSCE Chairman in Office Knut Vollebaek and the foreign ministers of the three states that co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group (the U.S., Russia, and France) to discuss the ongoing efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict. No details of those talks were revealed. The two presidents also met separately on 19 November with U.S. President Bill Clinton, who praised their commitment to ongoing peace talks. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told a correspondent for RFE/RL's Armenian Service on 19 November that the summit played a "very positive" role in removing barriers to further progress in the Karabakh peace talks. Oskanian noted that the final document adopted by the 54 summit participants hailed the recent direct talks between Kocharian and Aliev but called for the resumption of Minsk Group-mediated talks as "the most appropriate format for finding a solution to the conflict." LF [03] GEORGIA, RUSSIA AGREE ON CLOSURE OF TWO RUSSIAN BASESMeeting on 18 November on the sidelines of the OSCE Istanbulsummit, Georgian and Russian representatives reached preliminary agreement that in accordance with the revised CFE Treaty, Moscow will close the two largest of its four military bases in Georgia by 1 July 2001, Caucasus Press reported. The two bases are in Vaziani and Gudauta. All Russian military personnel there must leave six months before that date. An inventory of the equipment at those bases will be undertaken soon, Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze told journalists in Tbilisi on 20 November. He added that the fate of the two remaining bases in Akhalkalaki and Batumi will be determined at bilateral talks beginning next year. The chairman of the Georgian parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security, Revaz Adamia, had proposed in May that the Vaziani and Gudauta bases be closed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 May 1999). LF [04] RUSSIAN PLANE AGAIN VIOLATES GEORGIAN AIRSPACEThe GeorgianForeign Ministry protested to Moscow over the incursion into Georgian airspace on 18 November of a Russian Su-25 fighter aircraft, Interfax reported. The aircraft overflew the north Georgian village of Shatili, close to the Georgian-Chechen border, where Russian helicopters dropped anti-personnel mines the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1999). A Russian Air Force spokesman told Interfax on 20 November that two Russian Su-25 aircraft had flown close to the Georgian frontier on 18 November, but he denied that either had entered Georgian airspace. LF [05] DEMONSTRATORS CALL ON SOUTH OSSETIAN PRESIDENT TO RESIGNAnopposition movement named Hope of Ossetia staged a demonstration in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, Caucasus Press reported on 18 November, citing "Dilis gazeti." The demonstrators protested the catastrophic economic and energy situation in the unrecognized republic and called for the resignation of its president, Lyudvig Chibirov. It was the first public expression of discontent with Chibirov. On 16 November, "Dilis gazeti" reported that Chibirov has appealed to the entire Ossetian nation to contribute funds for the construction of hydro-electric power stations after the Georgian Energy Ministry signaled its intention to cut off power supplies to the region because of the region's inability to pay for them. Russia has already stopped supplying South Ossetia with electricity owing to the republic's $15 million unpaid debt. LF [06] ABKHAZ GOVERMENT IN EXILE DEMANDS PAYMENT OF BACK WAGESSome200 employees of the Health, Education, and Culture Ministries of the Abkhaz government in exile staged a protest demonstration outside the state chancellery in Tbilisi on 22 November to demand payment of their salaries for the past nine months, Caucasus Press reported. Deputy Education Minister Vakhtang Gasviani said that the monies earmarked for salaries had instead been used for business trips and stationery. The Georgian Finance Ministry has accused the government in exile of misappropriating budget funds (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1999). LF [07] NEW GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CONVENESGeorgia's newly electedparliament convened for the first time on 20 November and elected Zurab Zhvania as its chairman by a vote of 162 to 29, Caucasus Press reported. Zhvania had served as chairman in the outgoing legislature. LF [08] KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIA AGREE ON COMPENSATION FOR ROCKET ACCIDENTDuring talks in Astana on 18 November, the deputy primeministers of Russia and Kazakhstan agreed that Moscow will pay approximately $400,000 in compensation for damage caused by the explosion of a Russian Proton rocket shortly after blastoff from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 27 October, Interfax reported. Moscow had paid $270,000 in compensation after an earlier Proton explosion in July. On 20 November, Russian Space Agency Director Yuri Koptev told Interfax he is pleased with the agreement that Moscow reached with Kazakhstan on 18 November regarding restrictions on future launches in the event of another rocket explosion. Under that agreement, Kazakhstan does not have the right to ban further launches, but Moscow undertakes to suspend all further launches of rockets of the type involved until the causes of the accident are clarified. LF [09] FORMER PREMIER CONSIDERS RETURNING TO KAZAKHSTANAkezhanKazhegeldin may take up President Nursultan Nazarbaev's 4 November invitation to return to Kazakhstan, Interfax- Kazakhstan reported on 19 November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 November 1999). Kazhegeldin said that drawing all "healthy forces" into politics is the only way to extract the country from the current crisis. He said that he is prepared to mediate a dialogue between the Kazakh authorities and the opposition. He called for the passing of a new constitution and election legislation and the holding of new presidential and parliamentary elections. Kazhegeldin was barred from contesting the presidential elections in January 1999. LF [10] KAZAKHSTAN'S SECURITY MINISTRY THWARTS SEPARATISTSA seniorofficial of Kazakhstan's National Security Ministry said on 19 November that the ministry's forces detained a group of 22 armed men the previous night in East Kazakhstan Oblast, Reuters and RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported. The official said the men intended to seize local government buildings in the city of Ust-Kamennogorsk and proclaim all or part of the oblast Russian territory. LF [11] KYRGYZSTAN NAMES PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DATEUnder a decreesigned by President Askar Akaev on 12 November and published on 19 November, elections to both chambers of the parliament will take place on 20 February, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The People's Assembly (upper house) will be composed of 45 deputies and the Legislative Assembly (lower house) 60 deputies, of whom 15 will be elected under the proportional system. LF [12] STILL NO AGREEMENT ON TAJIK ELECTION LAWTajik governmentand opposition representatives on the Commission for National Reconciliation have still not reached agreement on six articles of the draft election law, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 22 November, quoting the commission's press secretary, Akmadshoh Komilzoda (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 November 1999). The opposition has rejected the government's demand that parliamentary candidates be nominated only by "councils" of voters. The deadline for finalizing the text of the law was 20 November, but the commission will meet again on 23 November in an attempt to reach agreement. LF [13] WOMEN DEMONSTRATE IN UZBEK CAPITALSome 40 women staged apublic protest outside the city mayor's office in Tashkent on 18 November to protest the arrest of relatives on what they say were fabricated charges of possession of drugs and weapons and of illicit Islamic literature, Human Rights Watch reported. All the arrested men are practicing Muslims and have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 years for encroaching on the constitutional order of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In related news, Uzbek Human Rights Society General Secretary Talib Yakubov told an UN Human Rights panel in Geneva last week that the Uzbek authorities have built a huge prison camp in the desert southwest of the Aral Sea, where persons sentenced for their religious beliefs are incarcerated, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 19 November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 September 1999). Yakubov said that 38 prisoners have died at that camp so far this year. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[14] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH DETERIORATES...The health ofPresident Franjo Tudjman worsened overnight, and his treatment "has been adjusted accordingly," doctors said in a statement on 22 November. The statement did not provide any details. The Croatian leader has been in a Zagreb hospital since 1 November and has spent much of the time in intensive care. The authorities have provided little information and no photographs of the leader during his hospitalization. He is widely believed to have suffered from cancer since at least 1996. PM [15] ...WHILE POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY CONTINUESTudjman failed tomeet a deadline of midnight on 20 November to sign documents authorizing parliamentary elections on 22 December. Reuters reported that it is unclear whether elections can still be held legally in December or whether 27 January may be the next possible date. Parliamentary speaker Vlatko Pavletic is expected to meet with representatives of the parties represented in the legislature on 22 November to discuss ways of avoiding political paralysis caused by Tudjman's apparent incapacitation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1999). The opposition demands a full report on Tudjman's health before making any decision. The constitution allows the speaker of the parliament to take over presidential duties if the president is permanently incapacitated or dies. Presidential elections must be then held within 60 days of the speaker's assuming those duties. The constitution contains no provision for what is to happen if the president is temporarily incapacitated. PM [16] VIOLENT INCIDENT BETWEEN CLERICS IN MONTENEGROSerbianOrthodox Father Dragan Stanisic hit Montenegrin Orthodox Metropolitan Mihajlo in the face on a mountain road near Cetinje on 21 November, the independent news agency Montena faks reported. AP added that Stanisic's entourage thereupon "trashed" Mihajlo's car. Stanisic told RFE/RL's South Slavic Service that no such incident took place. Police confiscated a video tape allegedly of the clash from a local television crew and are investigating. In Cetinje, some 250 angry demonstrators protested the incident. The authorities sent out an unspecified number of riot police and called in reinforcements from Podgorica in an apparent attempt to prevent matters from getting out of hand. The Montenegrin Orthodox Church was founded in 1991, but the Serbian Orthodox Church does not recognize it. PM [17] YUGOSLAV ARMY OFFICER BEATEN IN MONTENEGROAn unspecifiednumber of people hit Yugoslav army Lieutenant Colonel Radovan Aleksic with batons in front of his home in Podgorica, where he headed army intelligence on 19 November, Reuters reported. A statement from the Second Army said: "Since the incident involves a high-ranking army officer, it could have much greater implications, and the army demands an urgent investigation by Montenegrin authorities." The statement did not indicate what those implications might be. PM [18] CIVILIAN FLIGHTS SUSPENDED IN KOSOVAKFOR said in astatement on 21 November that the approximately 30 civilian flights per week into Prishtina airport have been suspended. The airport will remain closed to civilian traffic pending the completion of an investigation by French and UN experts into a recent plane crash, in which all 24 people on board died (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 November 1999). A French spokesman suggested that confusion could arise between ground controllers using military terminology and civilian pilots. The suspension of flights will mean increased traffic at the border crossing with Macedonia at Blace, Reuters reported. PM [19] SERBIAN POLICE KILLED IN MINE INCIDENTTwo Serbian policemendied and six were injured on 21 November when their vehicle struck a land mine near Kursumlija, 10 kilometers north of the border between Serbia and Kosova. Serbian authorities blamed "Albanian terrorists" for the incident. AP reported from Prishtina that unidentified ethnic Albanian guerrillas have recently made repeated incursions into Serbia proper. Under the June peace agreements, the Kosova Liberation Army is long supposed to have disarmed. Serbian forces are obliged to maintain a specified distance from the border with Kosova. PM [20] LEADING ALBANIAN WRITER CALLS FOR RESTRAINTIsmail Kadare,who is widely considered to be the greatest living Albanian writer, told the Kosova station Radio 21 on 21 November that ethnic Albanians should not seek revenge against Serbs. Kadare stressed that there can be no excuse for what the Serbian forces did in Kosova. He added, however, that the Albanians can show that they are "brave and noble" by not answering violence with violence. PM [21] INDEPENDENT ECONOMISTS TO LAUNCH 'CONTRACT WITH SERBIA'Mladjan Dinkic, who is a spokesman for the G-17 group ofindependent economists, said in Belgrade on 21 November that his group is preparing a document called a "Contract with Serbia" as a joint platform for the opposition. He stressed that while the opposition parties have failed to unite in a single coalition, he hopes that perhaps they can agree at least on a common platform. Dinkic noted that the opposition must pool its resources if it is to defeat the three-party governing coalition. PM [22] DAYTON ANNIVERSARY: BOSNIAN UNITY LONG WAY OFFThe leadingrepresentatives of the international community in charge of enforcing the Dayton peace agreement said in a statement in Sarajevo on 20 November that true peace remains a distant goal. The international community's Wolfgang Petritsch, the UN's Jacques Klein, SFOR's General Ron Adams, and the OSCE's Robert Berry stressed that Bosnia has yet to become a united state that includes all ethnic groups. The joint statement marked the fourth anniversary of the conclusion of the Dayton peace treaty, which ended the war in Bosnia. In Banja Luka, representatives of Bosnia's religious communities called for the return of all property that was wrongly taken from religious organizations during the war. PM [23] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS ECONOMIC DECLINE HURTING EUCHANCESFormer President Ion Iliescu said in Sofia on 21 November that the economic decline in the country is hurting Bucharest's chances of joining the EU, AP reported. Iliescu, who was in Sofia to attend a seminar marking the fall of the Berlin Wall, said the government's reform programs are "undermining the economy and causing a decline in people's living conditions." He said reform should lead to economic growth and is the "only honest way we can get closer to integrating in the European Union." Iliescu, who was president from 1990 to 1996, has seen his popularity surge in recent opinion polls as the economy continues to stagnate. PB [24] ROMANIA CONFIRMED FOR OSCE CHAIR IN 2001Romania on 19November was officially named to take over the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2001, AFP reported. Norway currently holds the chair, which is filled by the country's foreign minister. Austria will have the chairmanship in 2000. In other news, the European Investment Bank loaned Romania 210 million Euros ($216 million) on 19 November for the construction of a major highway from Bucharest to the Black Sea port of Constanta, Mediafax reported. PB [25] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CONVINCES PREMIER-DESIGNATE TO CARRY ONMoldovan Premier-designate Valeriu Bobutac decided after a 20November meeting with President Petru Lucinschi to continue to seek support for a new government, BasaPress reported. The previous day, Bobutac said he had failed to form a new government and had asked Lucinschi to relieve him of his mandate. But parliamentary speaker Dumitru Diacov said Bobutac has changed his mind and will continue to work for a new government. Moldova has been without a government since Premier Ion Sturza resigned two weeks ago. PB [26] CLINTON THANKS BULGARIA FOR SUPPORT OVER KOSOVAU.S.President Bill Clinton said in Sofia on 22 November that he is "very grateful" to Bulgarian leaders for the support they gave to NATO during the air campaign against Yugoslavia, AFP reported. Clinton said before a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart, Petar Stoyanov, that "we are committed" to supporting Bulgaria "politically, economically, and militarily over the long run." It is the first time ever that a U.S. president has visited Bulgaria. Clinton is to meet with Premier Ivan Kostov and give an address on Sofia's Nevsky Square. Kostov said he will warn Clinton that a decline in living standards in Yugoslavia may send refugees to Bulgaria. PB [C] END NOTE[27] MOVES FOR CHANGE WITHIN ALBANIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTYby Fabian SchmidtChanges are under way in Albania's leading conservative party. These could prove a first step toward renewing the party and overcoming the polarization between the Democrats and Socialists that has characterized political life for most of the past decade. A number of prominent politicians from the opposition Democratic Party (PD) announced on 9 November that they will form a group called the Democratic Alternative within the party. They seek to challenge the dominant position of PD leader and former President Sali Berisha. They also want to promote democracy within the party and to improve the PD's standing in the eyes of voters. The group includes eight out of a total of 27 PD parliamentary deputies. The Tirana daily "Koha Jone" quoted unnamed members of the group as saying that they will push for an extraordinary party congress soon. The decision to form the new group comes just over one month after Secretary-General Genc Pollo challenged Berisha for the party leadership at a national congress. Pollo withdrew his candidature shortly before the vote, however, saying he had received threats against himself and his family. The proposals put forward earlier this month by the eight are similar to the ones that Pollo advanced before the congress. Unnamed party officials supporting the reformers told "Koha Jone" that they intend to change the platform, statutes, and leadership of the party. They plan to achieve their aim by winning grassroots support from among the rank and file. It remains unclear if that challenge will succeed, but the reformers are already hard at work. They have begun to collect signatures at local party meetings throughout the country. The statutes stipulate that a quarter of all PD members or a quarter of the members of its National Council must request that a congress be held. "Koha Jone" also noted that the reformers have held frequent meetings with former PD members who earlier quit the party because of Berisha's increasingly authoritarian style. Since 1992, when the Democrats won parliamentary and presidential elections and put an end to the rule of the former Communists, the PD has lost many of its co-founders and prominent leaders. Some of them founded a smaller, liberal-oriented center-right party, the Democratic Alliance, which is now in the Socialist- dominated coalition government. Others, like the young and energetic former party leader Eduard Selami have withdrawn from politics for the time being. Selami has warned that the Democrats will isolate themselves if the party fails to reform from within. One of the eight reformers--legislator and former Foreign Relations Secretary Eduard Demi--takes a similar view. He told the "Albanian Daily News" that the PD is losing popular support. Demi stressed that it needs to change from within and to regain the "respect and credibility" it once enjoyed from the electorate. Demi said: "We want to gain back the people's belief in the PD in order to win the next elections," which are due in 2001. He added that the party is suffering from a "veil of ridicule that covers the PD in the eyes of the international community." By this, he meant the frequent criticism by international officials of repeated parliamentary boycotts by the PD legislators and their lack of constructive participation in the drafting of new legislation. The daily noted that the conflict between the reformers and Berisha's supporters became public when the former refused to boycott a parliamentary session in early November, at which the cabinet of newly appointed Prime Minister Ilir Meta faced a vote of confidence. This was a bold move, but the eight will need to win sufficient support from within the party or face the same fate as other Berisha challengers have in the past. Jemin Gjana, who is the pro-Berisha leader of the Democrats' parliamentary group, said that "those who do not see themselves in one party may join another party...or they can found a new party." Another Berisha spokesman told the "Albanian Daily News" that the party leadership will exclude those deputies who attended the recent parliamentary session from running as Democrats in the next elections. He added that the eight "have excluded themselves by disobeying the leadership's orders [and by] caring only for their own interests." Demi, however, countered that the party may expel only members who break with the party's political principles. He argued that "by attending the session, we respected our party's political line.... We expressed our opinion, and none of us approved the program of the Socialist Party government." He added that the harsh reaction from the party leadership "is emotional, and it comes out of desperation." Another supporter of the reformers, Tirana mayor Albert Brojka, recently told Vienna's "Die Presse" that Berisha and Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano are responsible for the polarization of Albanian political life. Brojka said that both have a "communist mentality" and that the time has come for younger people to come to the fore. The author is a research analyst for the former Yugoslavia and Albania at the Sued-Ost Institut in Munich, Germany. 22-11-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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