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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 39, 00-02-24

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 39, 24 February 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] NEW ARMENIAN CABINET LINEUP AGREED
  • [02] AZERBAIJAN PIPELINE TALKS FAIL TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS
  • [03] CONOCO TO RESUME OPERATIONS IN AZERBAIJAN
  • [04] GEORGIAN GUERRILLA LEADER ARRESTED IN WESTERN GEORGIA
  • [05] USAID, RED CROSS, EU ALLOCATE FUNDS FOR GEORGIAN DISPLACED
  • [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER WARNS AGAINST UNSANCTIONED OIL SALES
  • [07] FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER'S BODYGUARDS CHARGED
  • [08] TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURE BACKS RULING PARTY IN PARLIAMENTARY

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [09] NATO READY TO DEAL WITH MILOSEVIC THREAT
  • [10] FRANCE TO SEND MORE TROOPS TO KOSOVA
  • [11] HOLBROOKE WARNS MILOSEVIC AGAINST NEW CONFLICT
  • [12] NATO TO RESETTLE ALBANIANS IN MITROVICA
  • [13] MACEDONIA CONCERNED ABOUT BELGRADE'S PLANS
  • [14] EU AID FOR KOSOVA
  • [15] KOSOVA ADMINISTRATION CALLS FOR FREEDOM FOR PRISONERS
  • [16] BOSNIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS
  • [17] CROATIAN COURT AGAINST WIRE-TAPPING
  • [18] ZAGREB WELCOMES REFUGEES
  • [19] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT FUDGING ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE?
  • [20] HUNGARIAN VISITOR CONFIRMS CHARGES AGAINST ROMANIAN COMPANY
  • [21] ROMANIAN NATIONALISTS NOT TO PROSECUTED...
  • [22] ...WHILE CLUJ PRESSES CHARGES AGAINST ITS MAYOR
  • [23] 'BABIUC CRISIS' STILL UNSOLVED IN ROMANIA
  • [24] BULGARIA ALERTS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ON LIBYA TRIAL

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [25] HARDSHIP FUELS GAMBLING FEVER IN ARMENIA

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] NEW ARMENIAN CABINET LINEUP AGREED

    Prime Minister Aram

    Sargsian and the eight political parties represented in the

    parliament reached agreement late on 23 February on the

    composition of a new streamlined cabinet, RFE/RL's Yerevan

    bureau reported the following day. The number of ministries

    has been cut from 24 to 16, of which six will be headed by

    new appointees. The defense, national security, interior, and

    foreign ministers retain their posts. The Communist Party

    will join the cabinet for the first time since ceding power

    in the 1990 Supreme Soviet election, and a member of the

    opposition National Democratic Union will head the Ministry

    of State Property. Former Premier and Economy Minister Armen

    Darpinian loses his post. His ministry will be merged with

    the Finance Ministry, which will be headed by current

    Minister of Finance Levon Barkhudarian. President Robert

    Kocharian is expected to endorse the new cabinet on 24

    February. LF

    [02] AZERBAIJAN PIPELINE TALKS FAIL TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS

    Ten days

    of talks in Baku between Georgian government representatives

    and potential investors in the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil export

    pipeline, which were also attended by Azerbaijani and Turkish

    government representatives, ended on 23 February without an

    agreement being signed, Reuters reported. Those talks will

    resume in Istanbul on 26 February. According to Caucasus

    Press, the sides agreed on four concerns raised by the

    Georgian government, but there was no consensus on

    responsibility for the security of the pipeline, for which

    Georgia declines to take responsibility, or the amount that

    Georgia will receive in transit tariffs. Georgia is

    reportedly demanding $0.20 per barrel, while Turkey will

    receive $1.59 per barrel of the total $2.58 tariff. LF

    [03] CONOCO TO RESUME OPERATIONS IN AZERBAIJAN

    The U.S. oil

    company Conoco will acquire a 20 percent stake in the

    consortium to develop the Zafar/Mashal offshore Caspian oil

    field, Turan and Interfax reported on 22 February. The other

    partners in the production-sharing agreement to develop that

    field, which was signed in April 1999, are Exxon (30 percent)

    and Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR (50 percent). Conoco

    closed its office in Baku last month following its failure

    during three years of negotiations to conclude an agreement

    with the Azerbaijani government on reviving the shallow-water

    sector of the Gyuneshli oil field (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27

    October 1999). LF

    [04] GEORGIAN GUERRILLA LEADER ARRESTED IN WESTERN GEORGIA

    Police

    in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi have arrested Ramin

    Pirtskhalava, a deputy leader of the White Legion guerrilla

    detachment operating in southern Abkhazia, on charges of

    manslaughter, Caucasus Press reported on 23 February. On 21

    and 23 February, representatives of the Abkhaz parliament and

    government in exile claimed that the Abkhaz authorities are

    deploying additional militia in the security zone along the

    Inguri River, which separates Abkhazia from the rest of

    Georgia. Under a protocol signed on 3 February, a maximum of

    320 Abkhaz police may be deployed in Abkhazia's southernmost

    Gali Raion. LF

    [05] USAID, RED CROSS, EU ALLOCATE FUNDS FOR GEORGIAN DISPLACED

    PERSONS

    The U.S. government and the International Committee

    of the Red Cross signed an agreement in Tbilisi on 24

    February to provide $1.2 million for ethnic Georgian

    displaced persons who fled the conflicts in Abkhazia and

    South Ossetia, Caucasus Press reported. Those funds will be

    used to restore homes and assess how to reintegrate the

    displaced persons into social life. Also on 24 February,

    Caucasus Press cited the Georgian Foreign Ministry as saying

    that the EU will extend its funding for the restoration of

    homes damaged during the fighting in South Ossetia. Some 150

    displaced persons from Abkhazia blocked traffic on Tbilisi's

    main boulevard on 21 February to demand their allowances,

    which have not been paid since November 1999. LF

    [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER WARNS AGAINST UNSANCTIONED OIL SALES

    Addressing the parliament on 23 February, Qasymzhomart Toqaev

    expressed concern that crude oil is being exported from

    Kazakhstan through off-shore zones at dumping prices,

    RFE/RL's Astana correspondent reported. Toqaev later told

    journalists that in 1999, three joint ventures exported a

    total of 28,000 tons of crude at prices ranging from $47.46--

    $64.32 per metric ton, compared with the world market price

    of $114.74, according to Interfax. He said that a state

    commission has been created to monitor the oil sector. Toqaev

    also expressed the hope that rising world prices for oil and

    non-ferrous metals will boost the country's economy in 2000.

    Also on 23 February, Rosneft Vice President Sergei Oganesyan

    told journalists in Moscow that his company may sell part of

    its 7.5 percent stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium,

    Interfax reported. That consortium is building a pipeline to

    export crude from western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea port of

    Novorossiisk. LF

    [07] FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER'S BODYGUARDS CHARGED

    Two of Akezhan

    Kazhegeldin's bodyguards who have been held in custody since

    December have been formally charged with illegal possession

    of weapons, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported on 24 February

    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 December 1999). The former

    commander of Kazhegeldin's squad of bodyguards told

    journalists in Almaty on 21 February that all the weapons his

    men had at their disposal were returned to the authorities

    following Kazhegeldin's resignation in the fall of 1997. LF

    [08] TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURE BACKS RULING PARTY IN PARLIAMENTARY

    POLL

    In an article published on 21 February, First Deputy

    Premier Khodji Akbar Turadjonzoda appealed to the Tajik

    electorate to back the ruling People's Democratic Party of

    Tajikistan (the former Communist Party) in the 27 February

    parliamentary elections in order to prevent a possible

    confrontation between the legislature and the executive,

    should the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) win a

    majority in the new parliament, Asia Plus-Blitz reported.

    Turadjonzoda also criticized an IRP campaign slogan that

    equates the IRP with Islam and argues that votes cast against

    the party are anti-Islam. He claimed that the 2 percent of

    the vote which the IRP's candidate polled in the November

    1999 presidential poll reflects its popularity among the

    electorate. IRP leader Said Abdullo Nuri predicted earlier

    this month that his party will win 35 percent of the seats in

    the new parliament. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [09] NATO READY TO DEAL WITH MILOSEVIC THREAT

    NATO's Supreme

    Commander in Europe General Wesley Clark told the

    "International Herald Tribune" of 24 February that Yugoslav

    President Slobodan Milosevic recently launched a new campaign

    of covert operations to challenge the Atlantic alliance.

    Serbian agents have gone into Kosova and neighboring areas,

    including Montenegro, to sow unrest, according to Clark. He

    stressed that NATO is determined to make Kosovska Mitrovica a

    multi-ethnic community, despite the "intimidation and other

    dirty work of the military units, gangs, and thugs who have

    been sent there by Belgrade." On his recent visit to the

    Balkans, he added, he warned ethnic Albanian leaders not to

    contribute to the tensions, saying that NATO does not want

    fighting to spread to the Presevo-Bujanovac-Medvedja area of

    southern Serbia. Up to 100,000 ethnic Albanians live in that

    region, to which the Belgrade authorities recently sent an

    additional 200 special police. PM

    [10] FRANCE TO SEND MORE TROOPS TO KOSOVA

    In Washington on 23

    February, French Defense Minister Alain Richard told a press

    conference that his government has decided to send between

    600 and 700 soldiers to Kosova in addition to the 4,500 it

    already has there. He said this is necessary in order to

    "take control of the situation," AP reported. U.S. Secretary

    of Defense William Cohen said that "a greater show of force

    and a greater capability is going to be essential" in

    Mitrovica in the very near future and that Washington is

    considering sending more troops. In London, a Defense

    Ministry spokesman told Reuters on 24 February that the U.K.

    does not plan to send any additional forces to the province.

    There are approximately 30,000 NATO troops in Kosova, in

    addition to 7,000 peacekeepers from non-NATO countries. PM

    [11] HOLBROOKE WARNS MILOSEVIC AGAINST NEW CONFLICT

    U.S.

    Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke said in New York on 23

    February that Belgrade is "playing a very dangerous game" by

    provoking unrest in Mitrovica. He added: "They lost four wars

    in the last eight years. I don't know what they think they're

    doing, but whatever it is, it's not going to work." The

    ambassador stressed that "the Serb leadership in Belgrade is

    trying to partition [Kosovo] at the Mitrovica bridge. This is

    a campaign being directed by Belgrade, directed by Mr.

    Milosevic and his senior colleagues. They are infiltrating

    people. Mitrovica is now certainly the most dangerous place

    in Europe. The reason for that is not because Albanians and

    Serbs don't like each other. That's an established historical

    fact. It's because the leadership in Belgrade, led by

    President Milosevic, is conducting a campaign to undermine

    the efforts of NATO and the United Nations," AP reported. PM

    [12] NATO TO RESETTLE ALBANIANS IN MITROVICA

    NATO spokesmen said

    in Mitrovica on 23 February that the Atlantic alliance will

    soon start moving ethnic Albanians back to their homes in

    Serb-held northern Mitrovica. Local Serbian leader Oliver

    Ivanovic argued that a crisis "will come to a head within 10

    to 15 days" unless NATO abandons those plans, AP reported.

    Meanwhile in Brussels, unnamed NATO officials said that the

    alliance's North Atlantic Council, which is its governing

    body, will hold a special meeting on 25 February to discuss

    the situation in Kosova. PM

    [13] MACEDONIA CONCERNED ABOUT BELGRADE'S PLANS

    A spokesman for

    the Macedonian Defense Ministry told an RFE/RL correspondent

    in Skopje on 23 February that troops went on a higher state

    of alert and increased the number of border patrols recently.

    He said that the main reason was the increased concentration

    of Serbian forces in the south of that country (see "RFR/RL

    Newsline," 23 February 2000). He added that Skopje is also

    concerned that events in Kosova could affect Macedonia's

    internal stability. "From the other side of the border,

    things can happen that can get out of control," he said. PM

    [14] EU AID FOR KOSOVA

    The European Commission announced in

    Brussels on 23 February that it will make available $5.6

    billion to promote democracy and stability in the Balkans.

    The program will run through 2006 and will be funded

    primarily with money taken from the EU's agricultural budget.

    Most of the funds will go to Kosova. PM

    [15] KOSOVA ADMINISTRATION CALLS FOR FREEDOM FOR PRISONERS

    The

    UN's provisional administration issued a statement in

    Prishtina on 23 February calling on the Security Council to

    appeal to the Belgrade authorities to free the approximately

    1,600 Kosovars being held in Serbian prisons. The statement

    also called on Belgrade to allow the Red Cross free access to

    the prisoners. PM

    [16] BOSNIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS

    In Sarajevo on 23 February,

    the OSCE's Robert Barry officially opened the campaign for

    the Bosnian local elections slated for 8 April. He said that

    68 parties, seven coalitions, and 18 independent candidates

    will compete for 3,300 offices. A total of 21,000 candidates

    have registered. Elections will not take place in Brcko,

    which has a special status. The vote in Srebrenica is slated

    for October. PM

    [17] CROATIAN COURT AGAINST WIRE-TAPPING

    The Constitutional Court

    on 23 February overturned legislation allowing the interior

    minister to tap telephones and read correspondence in cases

    where the minister deems national security to be at risk. The

    court ruled that the legislation violates constitutional

    provisions dealing with citizens' basic rights. PM

    [18] ZAGREB WELCOMES REFUGEES

    Speaking in the parliament on 23

    February, Prime Minister Ivica Racan dismissed criticism from

    conservative deputies that the government wants to resettle

    Serbian refugees before it finds jobs for "thousands" of

    Croats. Racan said that his government does not favor Serbs

    over Croats but merely wants to guarantee "the return of

    Croatian citizens." Elsewhere, an OSCE spokesman praised the

    government's plan to resettle 16,500 refugees (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 21 February 2000). He stressed, however, that the

    government will be judged by how it implements the plan. PM

    [19] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT FUDGING ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE?

    The

    parliament on 23 February began discussing the government's

    plan to cut officials' salaries by 10-20 percent. During the

    campaign, the governing coalition promised to cut salaries by

    40 percent, but the proposed legislation provides only for

    the salary of the president to be cut by that amount. The

    pledge was very popular in the election campaign. Officials

    receive high wages by Croatian standards. Observers note,

    however, that the massive wealth accumulated by many

    officials came not from their salaries but from the

    opportunities they received by being part of the large

    insider network of the former ruling party. PM

    [20] HUNGARIAN VISITOR CONFIRMS CHARGES AGAINST ROMANIAN COMPANY

    Hungarian Justice Minister Ibolya David told her Romanian

    counterpart, Valeriu Stoica, in Bucharest on 23 February that

    Hungary will launch court proceedings against the Aurul

    company "within two days." She said Hungary wants the assets

    of the Romanian-Australian company suspected of causing the

    recent cyanide spill to be seized in order to pay for the

    damage, Romanian and Hungarian media reported. Also on 23

    February, a large UN team of experts arrived in Romania to

    open an investigation into the incident, which has cause

    widespread pollution in Central European rivers. MS

    [21] ROMANIAN NATIONALISTS NOT TO PROSECUTED...

    The Arad

    prosecutor's office announced on 22 February that it has

    halted proceedings against Romanian nationalists who

    disrupted last October's celebration of "Martyrs' Day" during

    Hungarian Justice Minister David's visit to that city (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 October 1999). The prosecutor said the

    demonstrators acted "spontaneously" and cannot be charged

    with "breach of the peace. " MS

    [22] ...WHILE CLUJ PRESSES CHARGES AGAINST ITS MAYOR

    The Cluj

    town council on 23 February voted by an overwhelming majority

    to press charges against Mayor Gheorghe Funar. Using council

    funds, Funar paid a fine imposed on him by a local tribunal

    for having caused losses to the Alimentara company. Funar

    said he will appeal the decision. Meanwhile, another Romanian

    mayor, Marin Lutu, has been detained for 30 days on suspicion

    of fraud. Lutu is the mayor of one of Bucharest's city

    districts. He was expelled from the National Party Christian

    Democratic (PNTCD) after he refused to renounce his seat on

    the board of a company that he is suspected of having favored

    in a privatization tender. MS

    [23] 'BABIUC CRISIS' STILL UNSOLVED IN ROMANIA

    The National

    Liberal Party says it will not agree to Defense Minister

    Victor Babiuc's replacement until Transportation Minister

    Traian Basescu apologizes to President Emil Constantinescu

    for having insulted him in connection with the so-called

    Babiuc crisis, Romanian Radio reported on 24 February (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 February 2000). Earlier, the coalition

    leaders agreed on ways to solve the crisis, and the

    presidential office said it does not expect Basescu to make a

    public apology. The PNTCD, meanwhile, has said it is no

    longer demanding that Basescu apologize to Constantinescu,

    adding that the Democratic Party nominee for the defense

    portfolio must have Constantinescu's approval, since the

    president is the army's commander in chief. MS

    [24] BULGARIA ALERTS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ON LIBYA TRIAL

    According to Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova, Bulgaria

    has "alerted all international institutions" and is seeking

    "contacts on all levels, formal and informal," to enlist help

    for the six Bulgarians facing the death penalty in Libya, AP

    reported on 23 February (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 23 February

    2000). She also said Sofia has asked the Libyan authorities

    to postpone the trial in order for the defendants to

    "properly prepare their defense" and be allowed to meet with

    Bulgarian embassy officials. Both Mihailova and President

    Petar Stoyanov called on Bulgarians and the media to refrain

    from comments in order "not to jeopardize the lives of

    Bulgarians." MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [25] HARDSHIP FUELS GAMBLING FEVER IN ARMENIA

    By Emil Danielyan

    Every morning dozens of mostly elderly men and women

    form a long line in the center of Yerevan in temperatures

    below freezing. It is not pension benefits or relief aid that

    they are waiting for. Somber and miserable, they are trying

    their lack at gambling--an activity that until now was

    unthinkable among that social group in Armenia.

    One of the many gambling halls in Armenia offers

    everybody a free ticket to take part in the opening draw of

    bingo. It's a chance that those mired in poverty cannot

    afford not to take.

    Bingo halls packed with desperate people are symptomatic

    of the nationwide fever for gambling. Lotteries, slot

    machines, and casinos are now part of the day-to-day life of

    a growing number of Armenians. And the proportion of those

    people involved in gambling industry has become so large that

    sociologists speak of a major change in the national culture.

    Armenia's persisting social hardships make the industry

    one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. That

    growth has been particularly visible over the past year.

    Snark reported earlier this month that revenues in 1999 from

    licensing fees for casinos and gambling halls totaled 87.6

    million drams (more than $160,000), while revenues from

    lottery licenses amounted to 6 million drams.

    Verzhine Marutian, 72, is poor, drawn, and not one's

    idea of a gambler. She was visibly happy when she became one

    of two lucky bingo players (out of more than 200

    participants) to win 2,000 drams ($4). That sum is almost

    equal roughly a third or even half of her monthly pension.

    "Life forces us to come here," said another player, a

    man in his 70s who was not lucky that day.

    Life also forces many other people to bank on a sudden

    windfall. A game known as "lotto" and similar to bingo has

    come to be the most popular form of gambling. Those whose

    numbers listed on cards are called out in a draw can expect

    to win anything from a free lottery ticket to an apartment.

    There are now more than a dozen weekly lotto games, all of

    them run by private companies and broadcast live on

    nationwide television.

    Such games have regular slots on state-owned Armenian

    National Television, the channel that can be received by the

    largest number of people in the country. Every weekday at

    7:10 p.m. local time ANT airs the lotto draw. Each day, the

    draw is organized by a different company.

    While competition is becoming increasingly tough, two

    local firms, Family Lotto and Kind Lotto, have emerged as the

    market leaders. In a country of just over 3 million

    inhabitants, they each sell up to 300,000 tickets a week.

    Only a quarter of ticket-holders win something. The main

    weekly prize is usually the equivalent of $10,000. More than

    a hundred other lucky ticket-holders win television sets,

    refrigerators, and washing machines, while thousands of

    others have to content themselves with smaller wins.

    "This gambling boom results from the hopeless situation

    the people are now in," said Aharon Adibekian, a local

    sociologist. "Gambling gives them hope for a better life,

    something which they haven't got from government officials

    and politicians in the last 10 years." The popularity of the

    games, Adibekian said, testifies to changes in a national

    character that was molded over centuries. A tragic history

    taught Armenians to tuck away extra money in the anticipation

    of worse times. Reliance on hard work rather than pure luck

    was a norm.

    Since the transition to the free market has still not

    translated into economic benefits for most people, Adibekian

    argued, gambling may be perceived to be the most realistic

    way of ending the miseries of life. "If things remain as they

    are, the younger generation may adopt it as a norm of

    behavior," he warned.

    Lottery firms admit that poverty is the major driving

    force behind their business. They are also keen to cite the

    benefits they bring to the economy. As one Kind Lotto

    executive put it, "a whole army of people" are kept busy

    selling lottery tickets. And they sell well, judging by the

    abundance of retailers in Yerevan alone. One such ticket

    costs 300-500 drams.

    Brisk sales are kept up by aggressive advertising, which

    gives television channels hefty revenues. In addition, the

    lottery firms are major taxpayers. Wealthier Armenians choose

    to gamble in casinos and smaller "game houses" that have slot

    machines only. According to official figures, there are

    nearly 80 such places in Armenia, the bulk of them in the

    capital. They, too, have spread rapidly in the last few

    years, often at the expense of other businesses. One of

    Yerevan's expensive jewelry shops shrunk its floor space by

    half last year to allow slot machines to be installed.

    Some casinos violate a government requirement

    stipulating that they must be at least 200 meters away from a

    school. Nor do they post a notice about the "negative

    consequences of visiting a casino," as is required by law.

    The author is an RFE/RL correspondent living in Yerevan.

    24-02-00


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


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