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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 11, 00-01-17Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 11, 17 January 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT UNVEILS NEW DRAFT BUDGETArmenianFinance Minister Levon Barkhudarian outlined the main parameters of the revised budget to journalists on 15 January, prior to its submission to parliament, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The volume and spending proportions are virtually identical to those for 1999, with expenditures planned at 254 billion drams ($490 million) and revenues at 202 billion drams. The ensuing 4.3 percent deficit is lower than that for 1999. About one-third of the scarce public funds are earmarked for the social sector, and 20 percent for defense and law enforcement. The government expects the Armenian economy to expand by 6 percent under a projected 5 percent consumer price inflation this year. Barkhudarian said the GDP growth last year equaled 4 percent and inflation was just 2 percent. LF [02] ARMENIAN COMMUNIST PARTY ELECTS NEW FIRST SECRETARYVladimirDarpinian, who is 68 and served as Armenian SSR Interior Minister in the 1970s, was unanimously elected first secretary of the Armenian Communist Party on 15 January, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Darpinian replaces Sergei Badalian, who died unexpectedly in November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999). He pledged not to make any changes in the party's domestic and foreign policies. The Communist Party is the third largest faction in the Armenian parliament. LF [03] AZERBAIJAN CREATES COMMISSION TO COORDINATE GAS PIPELINENEGOTIATIONSPresident Heidar Aliev on 14 January issued a decree establishing a state commission to conduct negotiations on drafting an intergovernmental agreement between Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, and Turkey on construction of the planned Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. The commission will also conclude an agreement with the sponsors of the project. An Azerbaijani delegation will travel to Ashgabat on 18 January for talks on what percentage of the pipeline's annual capacity of 16 billion cubic meters will be reserved for Azerbaijani gas from the offshore Shah Deniz deposit. LF [04] TURKISH PRESIDENT CALLS FOR CAUCASUS STABILITY PACT...Visiting Tbilisi on 14-15 January, Suleyman Demirel calledfor a Caucasus Peace and Stability Pact analogous to that concluded last year for the Balkans, Turan and Reuters reported. Demirel proposed that the pact be jointly drafted by all three South Caucasus states and signed by their presidents and those of the world's leading countries. He argued that stability in the Caucasus benefits not only that region, but also Turkey and Central Asia, and is thus in Europe's interest as well. Demirel warned that Georgia and Azerbaijan should not be drawn into the Chechen conflict. He expressly excluded Chechnya from the stability pact, according to Reuters. LF [05] ...DISCUSSES BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE PROJECTDemirel alsodiscussed with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze construction of the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Caspian oil. Since the signing in Istanbul in November of four framework agreements on that pipeline, Tbilisi had demanded amendments to absolve it of financial responsibility for damage caused to the Georgian section of the pipeline by force-majeur accidents. Georgia had also demanded financial compensation for the owners of land which the pipeline will transit, European-standard ecological safeguards, and 2-3 percent of the crude oil exported through the pipeline. Demirel told journalists on 15 January that Ankara had agreed to all those demands, Reuters reported. Giorgi Chanturia, head of the Georgian International Operating Company that will operate the Georgian section of the pipeline, said that Georgia is prepared to use 50 percent of the transit fees it receives to finance the security of the pipeline, according to Turan. LF [06] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION SEEKS TO AMEND ELECTION LAWThe fiveopposition parties aligned in the Union for Georgian Revival bloc decided late on 16 January to submit an alternative election law to the Georgian parliament committee for constitutional and juridical issues, Caucasus Press reported. At the same time, the bloc will begin collecting the 50,000 signatures needed to demand a referendum on their proposed amended version of the law. If their demands to amend the law are rejected, the bloc may boycott the 9 April presidential election, for which they have not yet formally proposed a candidate. LF [07] MORE OFFICIALS CHARGED IN KAZAKHSTAN MIG SALES CASECriminalcharges have been brought against Asker Gabdulin, former director of the Metallist defense plant in Kazakhstan which sold obsolete MiG fighter aircraft to Agroplast of the Czech Republic for resale to North Korea, and against two Czech Agroplast officials, Interfax reported on 14 January. Whether they will be brought to trial is, however, uncertain. Gabdulin's whereabouts are unknown, and the Czech Republic has not yet responded to a Kazakh request to extradite the two Agroplast officials. LF [08] DOMESTIC SECURITY SITUATION DETERIORATING IN KAZAKHSTANKazakhstan's National Security Committee chairman, MajorGeneral Alnur Musaev, told journalists in Astana on 14 January that the conflict potential on Kazakhstan's southern borders and in the Caucasus is negatively affecting the security situation in the country, Interfax reported. He said that in 1999 34 foreign nationals were expelled from Kazakhstan for espionage. LF [09] FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES CRITICIZE KAZAKH EXPORT RESTRICTIONSThe Kazakhstan Petroleum Association, which representsforeign oil companies engaged in Kazakhstan, is concerned by the Kazakh government's decision to limit the amount of crude that may be exported this year to 22 million metric tons, Interfax reported on 14 January. The rationale for the restriction is to ensure that Kazakhstan's three refineries work at full capacity. The Association's chairman, Edward Verona, told journalists in Almaty on 14 January that annual production is estimated at 30 million metric tons, and that the association's members have no interest in selling the surplus 8 million tons of oil to the Kazakh government at less than world market prices. He welcomed the government's readiness for talks on the issue and expressed the hope that a compromise agreement will be reached. LF [10] UZBEKISTAN AGAIN REDUCES GAS SUPPLIES TO KYRGYZSTANUzbekistan on 15 January again reduced gas supplies toneighboring Kyrgyzstan to a minimum in retaliation for Bishkek's failure to pay its outstanding $400,000 debt for earlier supplies, ITAR-TASS and AP reported. Most private homes in Bishkek and other areas of northern Kyrgyzstan were without gas or heating as most of Kyrgyzstan's thermal plants are gas fired. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] ARKAN KILLED IN BELGRADEAn unknown gunman or gunmen killedZeljko Raznatovic "Arkan" and two men accompanying him at Belgrade's Intercontinental Hotel on 15 January. The killer or killers vanished, and police have yet to report any leads. Observers note that the indicted war criminal had many enemies in the gangster underworld who would have liked to see him eliminated. Speculation also centers on the possibility that his killing may have been politically motivated because he "knew too much" about Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and his involvement in war crimes and the underworld (see "End Note" below). On 16 January, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Panama City that she would have preferred that Arkan "stand trial in The Hague for his crimes." In London, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook expressed similar views, as did Mirza Hajric--an aide to Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic--in Sarajevo. Hajric added that the regime probably wanted Arkan out of the way. In Belgrade, opposition leader Vuk Draskovic took a similar position. PM [12] SERBIAN PRIVATE TELEVISION TRANSMITTER SABOTAGEDOn 16January, unknown persons damaged a transmitter on Mt. Kosmaj belonging to Studio B Television, which is the voice of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). The intruders also took equipment valued at more than $50,000, Reuters reported. As a result of the damage, the station's signal cannot be received outside Belgrade. A spokesman for the SPO said that the damage to the transmitter was an act of "state terrorism" by the regime. Observers note that the Milosevic regime has always placed great weight on its control of the airwaves. PM [13] MONTENEGRO TO SEND MILOSEVIC TO HAGUE?Montenegrin PresidentMilo Djukanovic told private Belgrade Radio B2-92 on 15 January that he does not rule out the possibility that Montenegro would extradite Milosevic to The Hague were the indicted war criminal to arrive in Montenegro. Djukanovic said that his government will do everything it can to cooperate with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal. PM [14] U.S. TELLS BELGRADE TO LEAVE MONTENEGRO ALONEU.S.Undersecretary of Defense Walter Slocombe said in Tirana on 14 January that it would be a "serious mistake" for Belgrade to interfere in Montenegro's internal affairs. He stressed, however, that "we are confident that with good sense from all sides, a crisis could be avoided," Reuters reported. Slocombe also warned Belgrade against trying to reintroduce its forces into Kosova. Serbian forces left the province in June under an agreement with NATO. Top Belgrade civilian and military officials regularly call for their return "to protect Serbian lives and property." PM [15] U.S. COMMANDER APOLOGIZES TO KOSOVAR FAMILYBrigadierGeneral Ricardo Sanchez, who commands U.S. forces serving with KFOR, sent a message of condolence on 17 January to the family of an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl. She had reportedly been raped and killed by a U.S. serviceman the week. Staff Sergeant. Frank J. Ronghi has been charged in the case and is under arrest. Sanchez stressed in his message that "the Department of the Army will spare no effort in bringing this matter to justice," AP reported from Vitina. PM [16] MESIC TAKES LEAD IN CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLLSTwo newpublic opinion polls indicate that Stipe Mesic, who represents a coalition of four small opposition parties, has acquired a lead ranging between four and eight percentage points over Drazen Budisa, who is the candidate of the larger two-party opposition coalition. Budisa in turn is ahead of the Croatian Democratic Community's (HDZ) Mate Granic by at least five percentage points. RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported the one poll on 15 January, while "Vecernji list" ran the second one two days later. The Zagreb daily quoted Mesic as saying that he is confident of victory and that the poll results vindicate him for his support over the years for the rule of law and for European democratic standards. Reuters on 14 January quoted him as saying that by electing him president, voters will complete the ouster of the HDZ but also prevent the large coalition from monopolizing the top offices. PM [17] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT NAMES NEW PRIVATIZATION CHIEFRexhepMeidani approved Prime Minister Ilir Meta's nomination of Mustafa Muci as minister of privatization on 15 January, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 January 2000). In other news, police arrested two of their colleagues near Ballsh, south of Tirana, on 14 January for cutting power lines. The men apparently committed the act of sabotage to increase local discontent with the Socialist-led government, dpa reported. PM [18] ROMANIA'S RULING PARTY TO STRENGTHEN CHAIRMAN'SPREROGATIVES...The prerogatives of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) chairman are to be widened, according to new party statutes that are to be submitted for approval to the party's Permanent Delegation at the end of this month, Mediafax reported on 14 January. According to the new statutes, the PNTCD chairman will automatically become the party's candidate for the post of premier. If he declines the position, the chairman, octogenarian Ion Diaconescu, will designate the person to fill that position, as well as the ministers representing the party in the cabinet, after consultations with the PNTCD's leading bodies. The new statutes are said to reflect the "lessons derived from the Radu Vasile episode." MS [19] ...WHICH MAY SOON BE NEEDED TO DISCIPLINE DISSENTERS...Alsoon 14 January, PNTCD vice-chairman Sorin Lepsa, a Vasile supporter, said the former premier's exclusion from the party was an infringement of its statutes and that the party has "strayed away from its Christian Democratic doctrine" and has "dramatically" lost support since Vasile's exclusion. Lepsa said that unless the Permanent Delegation will "clarify the situation and return the party to its path," the PNTCD will be "condemned." MS [20] ... AND TO COPE WITH RENEWED PRESSURE FROM POLITICAL ALLYInan interview with Mediafax on 14 January, National Liberal Party (PNL) First Deputy Chairman Valeriu Stoica said the PNL will resume negotiations at the end of the month with the PNTCD on participating on separate lists in local elections due later this year and on signing a new protocol of the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR), of which both parties are the main components. Stoica said the CDR may continue to function as an alliance for the parliamentary elections--also due in 2000-- and that if the PNTCD will reject his party's proposals "we shall behave just as they do, that is to say we shall also refuse to negotiate." MS [21] CONFLICTS EMERGE IN THE RANKS OF ROMANIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTYAS WELLDemocratic Party spokesman Dumitru Moinescu on 14 January said Deputy Chairman Traian Basescu "should explain" to Chairman Petre Roman what he meant in a recent interview with the daily "Adevarul" in which he said that as foreign minister, Roman has "less time for party affairs" and that this was good for the party. Basescu said in reaction that Moinescu "acts like a typical apparatchik, ready to always deny what he believes does not serve the party." He said that Roman "is well over the period when he was ready to hear only positive things about the party" and added that "if the Democrats are now supported by only 4.3 percent of the electorate, this is also due to people like Moinescu, who prove that second-rank party officials are incapable of substituting for the first rank." MS [22] U.S. TO FINANCE RUSSIAN ARSENAL WITHDRAWAL FROMTRANSDNIESTER?U.S. Ambassador to Moldova Rudolf Perina told journalists on 14 January that his country is ready to contribute $30 million to finance the evacuation of the Russian arsenal from Transdniester, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Perina spoke after a meeting on 13 January with separatist leader Igor Smirnov. He also said that the U.S. supports the idea of having an OSCE group of experts evaluate the arsenal's volume and the state of the weaponry. Perina said he had offered Smirnov to extend the aid of U.S. coal deliveries to Transdniester. Smirnov said in reaction that there is no reason for "foreign missions" to deal with the arsenal which now "belongs to the Transdniester people" and that its evaluation "is the competence of the Russian Federation" which maintains an "operative group" in the region. MS [23] MOLDOVA WALKS THE TIGHTROPE ON CHECHNYA"Moldova willcontinue accepting Chechen refugees and render possible assistance in solving humanitarian problems. At the same time, its leadership condemns terrorism and secessionism, and does not intend to grant refugee status to persons suspected of terrorism," a press release of the presidential office cited by ITAR-TASS said on 16 January. Earlier, Valerii Klinenko, leader of the Moldovan Congress of Russian Communities, warned that refugees from Chechnya could reinforce local criminal groups and that Moldova "might be dragged into political adventure if it gives sanctuary to the Chechens." MS [24] EU PLEDGES HELP, SAYS BULGARIA MUST CONTINUE REFORMSThe EUwill "do its best to support the country's preparations for accession" and Bulgaria will receive funds totaling 1.8 billion euro ($1.84 billion) till 2006 for this purpose, European Commission President Romano Prodi told Bulgaria's parliamentarians on 14 January. Addressing the legislature, Prodi also said Bulgaria will need to "make further efforts in reforming its economy." He praised the government's decision to close down the Kozloduy nuclear plant, describing the agreement between Sofia and Brussels as "painful, but necessary," BTA and AP reported. MS [25] BULGARIA REFORMS ARMY GENERAL STAFFAs of 1 March, thestructure of Bulgaria's' General Staff will be reformed. The staff will have six, instead of nine directorates, and two, instead of three deputy chiefs. It will have a total staff of 372, Bulgarian radio, cited by the BBC, reported on 14 January. MS [C] END NOTE[26] Running With WolvesBy Patrick MooreThe murder of Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan" is but the latest event to draw attention to the murky side of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia. The killing raises more questions that it does answers. On 15 January, an unknown gunman or gunmen shot Arkan through the left eye at Belgrade's Intercontinental Hotel. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival at the hospital. A second underworld figure accompanying Arkan was also killed, and a bodyguard later succumbed to his wounds. Two days later, the police had announced no lead on the killers. The independent daily "Danas" suggested that the person or persons involved had fled in a waiting car, which drove onto the highway linking Belgrade and Zagreb. The paper also noted that the killing was thoroughly professional. Arkan embodied a dark area of Serbian public life where politics, crime, intelligence and police work, paramilitary groups, business, sport, and entertainment come together. The son of a Serbian military officer, he was born in Slovenia on 17 April 1952. His life involved a history of criminal activity together with work for Belgrade's undercover services; in short, a double life. In communist times, for example, he combined bank robbery in Sweden with activities against Croatian emigres there. His years in the West earned him a place on Interpol's wanted list, but it is for his activities of the past ten years--that is, during the Milosevic era--that he is best known. He led a paramilitary formation called the Tigers in the conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia, and played a role in organizing the paramilitary "police" of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosova as well. Arkan and his men were known for brutality even by the standards of the Serbian paramilitaries, and were instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of eastern Bosnia in early 1992. In 1997, the Hague-based war crimes tribunal indicted him for crimes against humanity. But Arkan had other interests as well. Wartime Serbia and its sanctions provided abundant opportunities for smuggling and other illicit business activities, at which Arkan excelled. As the cosmopolitan and intellectual class that had long given Belgrade a distinctive image emigrated or struggled to make ends meet, the city increasingly acquired the imprint of the new mafia class. Arkan was but one of the more famous of these men. He also owned the Obilic soccer club and was married to the flamboyant pop star Cvetlana Velickovic "Ceca." Her genre is known as "turbo folk" and is particularly associated with the popular culture of Milosevic's wars in the early 1990s. She was his third wife and bore him the last two of his nine children. A man of pronounced Serbian nationalist views, he headed the small pro-Milosevic Party of Serbian Unity. Arkan claimed to have no ties to Milosevic, who in turn kept his distance in public from the man whom many regarded as his lieutenant and chief executioner. U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke noted in his memoirs that Milosevic dismissed any question of Arkan's activities as a "peanut issue." But Holbrooke also recalled that Milosevic was nonetheless "annoyed" over the American's criticism of Arkan in a way that Milosevic was not bothered by remarks about Radovan Karadzic or General Ratko Mladic.* This leads to the question of who might have been behind the murder, and whether that someone could just be Milosevic. A number of factors point in this direction, although the truth may never be known. First, Arkan knew quite a lot about the Serbian leader's activities over many long years. After learning of Arkan's murder, Mirza Hajric--who is an aide to Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic--said in Sarajevo that "someone was making sure that one of the key people who knew too much should not live too long," AP reported. In line with this possibility, one may recall unconfirmed press reports last year that Arkan was allegedly trying to plea-bargain with the war crimes tribunal. Second, Arkan's was not the first mysterious murder of a person from this particularly complex corner of the Belgrade underworld. Since 1992, there have been 10 unsolved murders of very prominent Serbs--some, but not all, with criminal connections--who knew a lot about Milosevic and his activities. "The Guardian" pointed out on 17 January that some of these individuals--such as Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic "Frenki"--are still reported to be living in Belgrade and may now be rather concerned about their futures. And third, the regime's reaction to the latest spectacular murder has been rather curious. Hours went by without any commentary. When the regime media did report the story, they played it down. Since then, official Belgrade seems at a loss for words. But perhaps it may soon launch a new conspiracy theory of its own, in which the alleged killers come from the ranks of Milosevic's enemies and have foreign connections. In any event, whether or not one accepts the theory that the regime was behind the killing of Arkan, it is clear that the Milosevic era has led to a growth of gangland killings and a culture of guns and violence in the Serbian capital. One theory making the rounds in Belgrade is that Arkan had clashed with Marko Milosevic, the president's "businessman" son, over turf in the gasoline trade. Other theories focus on other aspects of Arkan's business dealings, including a desire for revenge by families of his deceased enemies. In short, it is clear that Arkan knew no shortage of people who had possible reason to do him in. What is also certain is that he will never testify in The Hague, and the truth about many of his activities will go with him to the grave. Jacques Klein, who is the UN's chief representative in Bosnia, called Arkan a "coward and a psychopath." Klein added that "the sad part of all this is that he was not actually brought to justice, that he was not brought to The Hague." * Richard Holbrooke, "To End A War," ( New York: Random House, 1998), p. 190. 17-01-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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