 |
Compact version |
|
 |
        |
|
 |
||
|
Monday, 18 November 2024
|
||
 |
 |
|
|
|
RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 20, 00-01-28Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 20, 28 January 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA, U.S. FORM ECONOMIC 'TASK FORCE'Armenian Premier Aram Sargsian and visiting U.S.State Department coordinator Bill Taylor signed an agreement in Yerevan on 27 January establishing a task force to promote bilateral economic ties and ensure the more rational use of U.S. economic aid, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Several U.S. government agencies, including the Agency for International Development and Eximbank, will be represented on the new task force. Taylor also met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, who pledged Armenia's willingness for economic cooperation with other regional states, according to ITAR--TASS. Taylor told Sargsian on 26 January that the World Bank supports the U.S. initiative to convene an international conference on economic reconstruction in the Caucasus. LF [02] ARRESTED FORMER ARMENIAN EDUCATIONMINISTER DECLARES HUNGER-STRIKEAshot Bleyan, who has been held in pre-trial detention since May, has declared a hunger-strike, Snark reported on 26 January. Bleyan is charged with embezzlement of public funds (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 March and 15 May 1999). He has rejected those charges as politically motivated. LF [03] ARMENIAN JOURNALIST'S JAIL SENTENCESUSPENDEDArmenia's Court of Review on 27 January suspended the one-year prison sentence handed down last year to Nikol Pashinian, editor of the newspaper "Haykakan Zhamanak," but failed to clear him of criminal charges, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Pashinian was found guilty last year of insulting law-enforcement officials, declining to publish a retraction, and slandering two persons (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 and 2 September 1999). Pashinian said he will challenge the Court of Review's failure to throw out the charges against him with the higher Court of Appeal. LF [04] PROVISIONAL DATE SET FOR AZERBAIJANIPRESIDENT'S IRAN VISITAzerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told journalists in Baku on 27 January that President Heidar Aliev is likely to visit Iran in February or March of this year, Turan reported. The visit had been scheduled for last September but failed to take place, partly because of Azerbaijan's annoyance at Tehran's reluctance to extradite to Azerbaijan former Azerbaijani special forces officer Mahir Djavadov, whose brother, Rovshan, was killed in 1995 in what Azerbaijan claims was an attempt to overthrow Aliev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 August 1999). LF [05] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT DISMISSES TOP ENERGYOFFICIALSAt an emergency meeting of energy sector officials late on 26 January, President Aliev blamed the energy shortage that has necessitated rationing on corruption and inefficiency, Turan and AP reported. Aliev charged that top officials not only take no measures to prevent the embezzlement of heating oil intended for the country's thermal power stations, but some of them are even involved in that theft. He further claimed that the population pays double the officially stated figure of only 26 percent of the total amount owed in electricity bills, and that corrupt officials pocket the difference. He termed inadmissible three instances of theft of crude from the Baku-Supsa oil export pipeline. Aliev then dismissed the deputy chairman of Azerenergy JSC and the acting chairman of Azerigas for "serious shortcomings in their work." LF [06] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PLANS 'NATIONALRESISTANCE'Meeting in Baku on 27 January, representatives of most opposition parties decided to set up an initiative group to create a new National Resistance Movement, Turan reported. The aims of that movement will be to campaign for a just solution to the Karabakh conflict and for democratic elections. Opposition parties have been discussing the expediency of creating such a movement for several months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 October 1999). LF [07] RUSSIA RETURNS SOME IMPOUNDED MILITARYEQUIPMENT TO GEORGIARussian customs has released a consignment of arms impounded in Moscow last year, Caucasus Press reported on 28 January. The arms had been sent to Romania for an exhibit of military technology and were being shipped back to Georgia via Moscow. Russian customs impounded the weapons, fearing they were destined for Chechnya (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 November 1999). But Russian customs officials have not yet released a consignment of 3,000 camouflage uniforms donated by the U.S. to the Georgian armed forces (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 November 1999). LF [08] GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DISCLOSESDESERTION FIGURESSome 3,000 servicemen deserted from the Georgian army in 1999, Defense Ministry spokesman Koba Liklikadze told journalists in Tbilisi on 28 January, according to Caucasus Press. He added that the primary reasons for deserting are appalling living conditions and the lack of public respect for military personnel. "Rossiiskaya gazeta" in December 1999 estimated the total strength of the Georgian armed forces at 33,000; ground forces number 13,000. LF [09] CHECHENS BEGIN PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER INGEORGIAA Chechen information bureau in Tbilisi has begun publication--with the assistance of the Association of the Georgian Free Press--of the newspaper "Chechenskaya pravda," Interfax reported on 26 January. The agency described the contents of the paper as "anti-Russian." The Georgian authorities deny any connection with the paper. LF [10] KAZAKHSTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER DISCLOSESDETAILS OF BORDER DISPUTE WITHUZBEKISTAN Erlan Idrisov told journalists in Almaty on 27 January that Uzbek border guards, supported by an armored personnel carrier, advanced 5 km into the territory of Kazakhstan's Sary-Aghash and Qazyqurt districts on 25 January and unilaterally demarcated a 60 km stretch of the border, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported. Local Kazakh residents subsequently removed the border markings and held protest meetings. Idrisov said Kazakh and Uzbek government officials had reached agreement on the sidelines of the 25 January CIS summit to set up a joint commission to demarcate the border, which was to meet for the first time in March. Idrisov affirmed that Kazakhstan "will not cede one meter" of its territory to Uzbekistan. LF [11] NGOS IN KYRGYZSTAN PROTEST STATEINTERFERENCE IN ELECTION CAMPAIGNTolekan Ismailova, who is executive-director of the Coalition for the Democratization of Society, which groups together some 130 NGOs, told journalists in Bishkek on 27 January that her organization has appealed to President Askar Akaev to prevent continued government interference in the parliamentary election campaign, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. The coalition has compiled a report citing cases in which local authorities have recommended appointing specific individuals to local election commissions. The Coalition also condemned the requirement imposed by the Central Electoral Commission that prospective candidates should pay a registration fee of 30,000 soms (approximately $600). As a result, far fewer candidates have registered to contest the 20 February poll than did the 1995 parliamentary elections. RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 27 January that a total of 455 candidates have registered to contend the poll. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[12] NEW CROATIAN GOVERNMENT GETS DOWN TOBUSINESSThe new government of Prime Minister Ivica Racan agreed at its first session on 27 January to cut ministers' salaries (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 January 2000). Other government officials can expect similar cuts in a move designed to reassure voters that officials are sharing the economic difficulties of ordinary citizens, "Jutarnji list" reported. Elsewhere, Racan said that the government will not ask for a rescheduling of the foreign debt. On 28 January, Deputy Prime Minister Zeljka Antunovic called for a war on graft and crony capitalism. She stressed that corruption has penetrated "every level of state administration," Reuters reported. PM [13] CROATIAN MINISTER: HAGUE HAS JURISDICTIONOVER OPERATION STORMForeign Minister Tonino Picula told "Jutarnji list" of 28 January that the Hague- based war crimes tribunal has the legal right to investigate war crimes committed in the course of Operation Storm. The previous government held that Storm, which the army carried out in August 1995 in the Serb-held Krajina region, was an internal affair outside The Hague's jurisdiction. Picula, who has described himself as a "rocker at heart," is himself a veteran of Operation Storm. He also told the Zagreb daily that Croatia must quickly make up for lost time and seek rapid integration into Europe. The EU demands that Zagreb improve its cooperation with The Hague as a pre-condition for better relations with Brussels. PM [14] CONSERVATIVE VOTERS TO DECIDE CROATIANPRESIDENTIAL VOTE?The Rijeka-based daily "Novi List" published a poll on 28 January which gives Stipe Mesic 36.8 percent and Drazen Budisa 33.4 percent in the 7 February runoff presidential vote (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2000). Some 23.4 percent of voters are undecided. The independent daily concluded that people who voted for Mate Granic and other defeated conservative candidates in the first round have switched to Budisa or are undecided. Budisa has strong anti-communist credentials. PM [15] CROATIA'S BILL FOR TUDJMAN'S FUNERAL:$662,000The funeral and tomb for late President Franjo Tudjman cost the taxpayers a total of $662,000, Hina reported on 27 January. The decision to cover the costs was one of the last ones taken by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa before the new government took office. The bill includes the funeral, the tomb, and the costs of providing free public transportation to enable Croats from all over Croatia and Bosnia to attend the funeral, AP reported. PM [16] CROATIAN EX-MINISTER DETAINED ONSUSPICION OF EMBEZZLEMENTPolice in Zagreb detained outgoing Minister of Tourism Ivan Herak on 27 January, just hours after the new government took office. He is suspected of diverting $195,000 for the reconstruction of a hotel on the island of Rab into an account for his own company, "Jutarnji list" reported. Herak is now in custody in Pula, where a judge will soon determine whether there is enough evidence to indict him. He is also under suspicion of having used the ministry's advertising campaign to launder money. PM [17] NATO CONFINES HERZEGOVINIANS TO BASESFOR commander General Ron Adams ordered on 27January that all ethnic Croatian forces in Bosnia- Herzegovina (still widely known by their wartime name of HVO) must not leave their bases or conduct training exercises. NATO troops then surrounded HVO bases to enforce the ban. A NATO spokesman said that the ban will be lifted as soon as the Croats supply SFOR with unspecified information. The spokesman added that NATO's demands will be "easy to meet," AP reported from Sarajevo. PM [18] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA AS 'BEACON'Serbianopposition leader Vladan Batic said in Banja Luka on 27 January that the Bosnian Serb entity is a "beacon" for other Serbs because Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and many other leaders refuse to take orders from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Batic is attending a meeting of opposition leaders and political personalities from the Republika Srpska, including former President Biljana Plavsic, in honor of visiting Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 28 January 2000). PM [19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER BLASTS EUZoranDjindjic of the Democratic Party and Alliance for Change coalition told the "Berliner Zeitung" of 27 January that the EU has proven "a catastrophe as a partner" for the opposition. He said that the EU makes big promises but does not deliver on them. Djindjic urged Brussels to pledge in the future to do only what it is willing or able to do. Djindjic noted that the EU recently refused to lift sanctions prohibiting oil shipments or direct air flights to Serbia, both of which would benefit ordinary Serbs and not the regime (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 January 2000). He said that by refusing to make this minimal concession to the Serbian opposition, the EU made the opposition look ineffective in the eyes of voters. The opposition will now begin "a pause" in its relations with Western Europe, Djindjic added. He said that the opposition must, in any event, change its tactics in Serbia and stress domestic social issues in order to mobilize popular support against the Milosevic regime. PM [20] STUDENTS JEER PROFESSOR SESELJSeveralhundred students at Belgrade University's Law Faculty jeered Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj when he arrived at the university on 27 January in his new capacity as a professor of law. The faculty's Professor Knezevic resigned in protest over the appointment of his new colleague, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Knezevic called the appointment a "caricature of education." His resignation brings to a total of more than 150 the number of professors to quit or be fired from the university in the past two years, since the government gave itself the right to appoint and dismiss faculty. PM [21] BELGRADE REOPENS AIR SPACEThe Yugoslav airtransport authorities allowed Western airlines to use Yugoslav air space on 27 January for the first time since NATO's bombing campaign in the spring of 1999. PM [22] NEW LOOK OF MONTENEGRIN CABINETPrimeMinister Filip Vujanovic on 27 January made several changes in the government. Branko Lukovac replaces Branko Perovic as foreign minister. Perovic recently resigned after an Italian court linked him to the mafia. Budimir Dubak replaces Slobodan Tomovic as minister of religious affairs. Tomovic alienated many supporters of Montenegrin independence by recently showing public support for the Serbian Orthodox Church and belittling the rival Montenegrin Orthodox Church (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 January 2000). The Belgrade daily "Danas" wrote that Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan Amfilohije did not bless Dubak at the ceremony. The other three appointments are Ljubisa Krgovic as deputy prime minister for financial affairs, Radojica Luburic as minister of culture, and Rade Gregovic to manage land use and zoning. PM [23] TIRANA OPERA MUSICIANS TO CONTINUESTRIKESeven musicians vowed to continue their hunger strike after police moved them from a theater to a hospital "for tests" on 27 January, dpa reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 January 2000). The artists attended a rally of 200 colleagues and supporters in central Skanderbeg Square. The government calls the protest "illegal" and refuses to fire the culture minister or abandon plans to privatize the opera and ballet. PM [24] ROMANIAN EDUCATION MINISTER RESIGNSAndrei Margas on 27 January tendered his resignation,Rompres reported. Government spokesman Ionut Popescu said the minister offered to resign because "in an impoverished economy with a small budget, reforms are really difficult." He said the prime minister had "taken note" of the resignation but did not specify whether he had accepted it. The resignation came as teachers across the country entered the fourth day of a strike demanding an increase in wages (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 January 2000). Romanian Radio reported on 27 January that opposition deputies from the parliamentary Education Committee released an open letter in which they said the education system is "about to collapse." VG [25] IMF GIVES HOPEFUL SIGNAL TO ROMANIA ONSTAND-BY AGREEMENTIMF representative Emanuel Zervoudakis said on 27 January that the fund may release the next tranche of a $547 million standby loan to Romania provided certain measures are taken in the next few weeks. Zervoudakis said the IMF will make a final decision in March. He said the Romanian parliament should pass a 2000 budget by then and resolve issues related to salary policy. The IMF disagrees with the government's recent 80 percent increase in army salaries. In other news, Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar on 27 January said he will sue the prefect who suspended him from his post this week, Hungarian Radio reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 January 2000). VG [26] MOLDOVAN PREMIER DISCUSSESTRANSDNIESTER WITH EU OFFICIALSDumitru Braghis discussed the possibility during his recent visit to Brussels of holding a high-level meeting involving representatives of Moldova, the breakaway Transdniester region, and the EU, BASA-Press reported on 27 January. The proposed meeting would reportedly involve Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi, European Commission President Romano Prodi, and EU security envoy Javier Solana. Braghis said a schedule for the meeting will be worked out according to the schedules of the three political leaders. Meanwhile, a Spanish military delegation on 27 January suspended its efforts to inspect the Russian army depots in Transdniester after twice being refused entry into the region (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 January 2000), BASA-Press reported. The Transdniester border guards reportedly would have allowed the Spanish team to enter on its own but refused to allow it to come in with an escort of Moldovan government officials. VG [27] HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE REJECTS BULGARIA'SREQUESTOrganizers of the international Holocaust conference in Stockholm on 27 January say they rejected a request by Bulgaria to add a clause to the forum's final declaration about the country's exemplary treatment of Jews during World War II, Reuters reported. The Swedish Foreign Ministry noted that many countries made requests for additional clauses but added that the organizers did not want them included because they wanted the declaration to be more general. The rejection was welcomed by the Jewish community of Greece, which had expressed outrage at the Bulgarian request. Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov told the conference that his country takes pride in the fact that it rescued its entire 50,000- strong Jewish population from being sent to Nazi concentration camps. VG [28] FORMER BULGARIAN AMBASSADOR SEEKSASYLUM IN CANADABulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova said on 27 January that Bulgaria's former ambassador to Canada, Slav Danev, is asking for asylum in that country, AP reported. She gave no reason for Danev's actions, saying only that it is an "extremely unpleasant incident." She said his refusal to return home is illegal. Danev's mandate expired at the end of last year, and the government appointed a new ambassador to replace him. In other news, the Bulgarian charge d' affairs in Moscow met with officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry on 27 January to express Bulgaria's "astonishment" at Russian criticism of the recent Balkan summit in the town of Hissar (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 January 2000), Bulgarian Radio reported. The Bulgarian official said the Russian reaction was characteristic of international relations during the Cold War. VG [C] END NOTE[29] A New Vocabulary For An Old AgendaBy Paul GobleAt the Moscow summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States this week, acting Russian President Vladimir Putin used a new vocabulary with which few could disagree in the pursuit of an old goal which far fewer support. Putin said that the post-Soviet states must band together in "the fight against international terrorism, extremism, and separatism." Such goals, stated in this way, drew little dissent either from the participants of the CIS meeting or among leaders of the international community as a whole. But recent Russian rhetoric about Chechnya suggests that Putin is using these words less as a precise statement of Moscow's specific intentions than as a means of increasing Russian power over the 11 other former Soviet republics now part of the CIS, something most appear likely to oppose. Indeed, Putin's remarks this week appear to reflect the difficulties Moscow has had in trying to justify both its efforts to develop the power of the Russian state and its struggle to find a way to describe its campaign in Chechnya in a palatable manner. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian leaders regularly talked about the importance of building democratic institutions, a position they saw as enhancing their chances of getting Western aid but ones that put Russia at odds with the even more authoritarian regimes in some post-Soviet countries. But in recent months and especially since the appointment of Putin as acting president, Russia's rhetoric has shifted away from democratic norms to the need to build state power in the name of fighting terrorism and extremism. Such a shift might have been expected to cost Moscow support in the West, except for the fact that many Western leaders have accepted the notion that the Russian state had become too weak to achieve anything and that its strengthening was thus a priority. But such a shift clearly could and did win support both from authoritarian leaders in some post-Soviet states who were looking for a justification for their style of rule and from more democratic ones who face real challenges on the ground. Thus, the highly authoritarian president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, greeted Putin's words this week as an indication that Russia now represented the only power capable of foiling "the geopolitical plans of the supporters of extremism and terrorism." And more reformist but increasingly threatened leaders in several other post-Soviet states saw Putin's words as a kind of justification for their adoption of tougher positions toward their own populations. All of these tendencies have been exacerbated by the Chechen war. Moscow began its campaign there in the name of blocking an independence movement and opposing the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. These slogans initially appeared to confer certain advantages, but each of them entailed serious drawbacks. Talking about opposition to national independence did not play well in many of the post- Soviet states that only a decade ago had been a part of the Soviet Union. And opposing Islam, while acceptable as a principle of action in some Western countries, was less and less plausible for a country with a rising percentage of Muslims in its own population and one that seeks to recover its influence over neighboring states with predominantly Muslim populations. Consequently, Putin in particular and Moscow leaders in general have recast their campaign in Chechnya as a struggle against bandits, terrorists, and extremists--a goal which few either in the West or in the post-Soviet states are prepared to reject as illegitimate. That helps to explain why there has been such muted Western criticism of Russia's actions in Chechnya compared to five years ago. And it also helps to explain why so many of the participants in the CIS summit appeared to be such enthusiastic supporters of Moscow's current line. Indeed, some observers have gone so far as to suggest that Putin won an important victory at this meeting. After all, they note, all the CIS presidents came out against the same things Moscow said it was against. But that is a misreading of both what the leaders of the non-Russian countries actually feel and what Moscow all too clearly hopes to achieve. Many leaders, including Ukraine's Leonid Kuchma, were very explicit that the CIS was far from being an effective institution, even though they and he backed Putin's language on "bandits." Moreover, Putin's use of the CIS summit to celebrate the new Russian-Belarusian "union" shows that his intentions are not limited to fighting terrorism. For both these reasons, the agreement at this CIS summit, as has been true at so many earlier ones, was more apparent than real, a reflection of Putin's rhetorical skill and also of the near certainty that many of the leaders at this meeting will ultimately likely see through it. 28-01-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
All Rights Reserved.