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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 45, 00-03-03Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 45, 3 March 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARRESTED ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE DECLARES HUNGER STRIKEAleksan Harutiunian, who was detained in December and chargedwith complicity in the 27 October parliament shootings, has begun a hunger strike to protest his continued detention and demand that the investigation of his case be transferred from the military prosecutor to the Prosecutor-General's Office, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 2 March. Military Prosecutor Gagik Jahangirian had rejected an appeal late last month by Harutiunian's lawyer, Ruben Sahakian, to transfer his client's case to the prosecutor-general (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 February 2000). Sahakian told journalists in Yerevan on 2 March that the investigators have found no evidence to substantiate Jahangirian's hypothesis that the killings were part of a coup attempt. LF [02] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA COMMENT ON PIPELINE TALKSAzerbaijanstate oil company President Natik Aliev told journalists in Baku on 2 March that the most recent round of talks between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project yielded agreement on one unspecified point about which Georgia had been adamant, Interfax reported. In Tbilisi the same day, Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili said that agreement was reached on all issues that concern Georgia as a transit country. But Interfax quoted unnamed Azerbaijani sources as saying Georgia continues to refuse to accept financial responsibility for any "force majeure damage" to the pipeline on Georgian territory. The costs of repairing one of the planned three pumping stations, should it be damaged by a terrorist attack, could reach $150 million, Interfax calculated. U.S. special envoy for Caspian energy issues John Wolf said on 1 March that the talks, which took place in Istanbul, did not cover the question of transit tariffs, according to AP. LF [03] ONE GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WITHDRAWSLess than oneweek after submitting some 57,000 signatures to the Georgian Central Electoral Commission, Party of National Ideology chairman Zurab Gagnidze has withdrawn his candidacy, Caucasus Press reported on 2 March. Gagnidze, who earlier accused the commission of favoring the three candidates with the greatest chance of success, called on his supporters to vote for one of those three, incumbent President Eduard Shevardnadze. The commission is currently verifying the authenticity of the signatures submitted by the remaining 11 candidates. LF [04] KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS WORLD BANK FUNDING FOR INSURANCE FOR FOREIGNINVESTORSDulat Kuanyshev, the chairman of Kazakhstan's Foreign Investment Agency, told journalists in Almaty on 1 March that his country is seeking $50 million from the World Bank toward providing insurance for foreign investors against the self-interest of bureaucrats and legislative anarchy, by which he presumably meant demands for bribes and frequently changing legislation, AP reported. Several days earlier, Premier Qasymzhomart Toqaev had warned that shifts in government policy constitute a deterrent to potential foreign investment (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 February 2000). Kuanyshev said the government is hoping to attract $1.5-2 billion in direct foreign investment this year, primarily in the mining sector. He estimated that direct investment in 1999 totaled $1.3 billion, mostly in the oil and gas sector, Interfax reported. LF [05] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT SAYS STABILITY IN RUSSIA CRUCIAL FOR CENTRALASIAVisiting the newly created Batken Oblast in southern Kyrgyzstan on 2 March, President Askar Akaev stressed that peace and stability in Central Asia are largely contingent on the outcome of the 26 March Russian presidential poll, Interfax reported. Akaev expressed the hope that Russian voters will elect a head of state who enjoys the trust of the Russian people. He advocated a preemptive strike to wipe out "international terrorists" in Tajikistan who took hostages in Batken late last summer. And he warned that any attempt by those "terrorists" to stage a repeat incursion into Kyrgyzstan will be repelled. LF [06] KYRGYZ PREMIER HOPES PARLIAMENT WILL SUPPORT REFORMSAmangeldy Muraliev told Interfax in Bishkek on 29 Februarythat the strong showing by the Communist Party in the 20 February parliamentary elections reflects the population's anger at declining living standards. He expressed the hope that the new parliament will back the government's reform program. Muraliev said that investment legislation must be amended to encourage both domestic and foreign investment and that the private sector must be strengthened. In particular, he advocated scrapping what he termed "populist" legislation on taxing farmers and peasants and abolishing the five-year moratorium on the sale of land, which was imposed after a 1998 referendum (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 October 1998). LF [07] TAJIK, RUSSIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS AFGHANISTANDuring atelephone conversation on 2 March, Imomali Rakhmonov and Vladimir Putin expressed concern at the escalation of fighting in Afghanistan close to the Afghan-Tajik border over the previous few days, Russian agencies reported. The two presidents called for unspecified additional measures to reinforce that border within the framework of the CIS Collective Security Treaty, to which both countries are signatories. The Russian border guards deployed along the Tajik-Afghan border are monitoring the situation. LF [08] TURKMEN PRESIDENT WILL NOT ATTEND TURKIC SUMMITSaparmuratNiyazov's work schedule will not permit him to attend the meeting of leaders of Turcophone countries in Baku next month, Interfax reported on 2 March, citing the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. In Baku, unnamed Azerbaijani officials expressed displeasure at Niyazov's decision. Relations between the two countries are strained over use of the planned Trans-Caspian gas export pipeline (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 and 2 March 2000). LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] HAGUE COURT GIVES CROATIAN GENERAL 45 YEARSThe Hague-basedwar crimes tribunal on 3 March sentenced Croatian General Tihomir Blaskic to 45 years in prison for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war. Most of the atrocities took place in the Lasva Valley between 1992 and 1994, especially in the Muslim village of Ahmici in 1993. Blaskic denied that he ordered the brutal attacks on Muslims and their property or that he was in a position to control the actions of his troops. Blaskic is the highest-ranking individual whom the tribunal has sentenced, and his sentence is the longest that it has handed down. His trial provided evidence of the links between the Croatian army and authorities on the one hand and the Herzegovinian Croat military on the other. PM [10] CROATIA TURNS DOCUMENTS OVER TO HAGUEGraham Blewitt, who isa spokesman for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, said on 2 March that the new Croatian government has turned over an unspecified number of documents dealing with the Croatian army's "Flash and Storm" campaigns in 1995. Blewitt added that the delivery of the documents is a clear sign that Zagreb truly intends to cooperate with the tribunal. The Hague wants to investigate charges that the Croatian army carried out atrocities against ethnic Serbian civilians during the two campaigns against the Krajina forces. The previous Croatian government balked at handing over documents on the grounds that they contained information that might compromise national security. PM [11] MEDICAL TEAM SAYS TUTA FIT TO TRAVEL TO HAGUEA spokesmanfor the Hague-based tribunal said on 2 March that a group of court-appointed doctors have examined Mladen "Tuta" Naletilic in Zagreb and concluded that he is sufficiently fit to travel to the Dutch city "under correct medical conditions," Reuters reported. Tuta's own doctors had previously said that he is not well enough to travel on account of a worsening heart condition. The tribunal indicted him in 1998 for the murder, torture, and persecution of "thousands" of Muslims in 1993. PM [12] U.S. TO PUBLICIZE REWARDS FOR WAR CRIMINALSDavid Scheffer,who is the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, said in Washington on 2 March that the U.S. will soon put up 10,000 wanted posters in Bosnia and Serbia to publicize up to $5 million in rewards for information leading to the capture of indicted war criminals. The posters will depict the three most-wanted war criminals: Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, and Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic. Scheffer said: "We...believe that the time has come for these individuals to move from the region to The Hague, so their influence will no longer impede the efforts of those citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia who want to advance democracy and the rule of law," an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Scheffer declined to say how the U.S. will distribute the posters in Serbia. He added that "it will simply happen." Karadzic is believed to be in eastern Bosnia and Mladic in Serbia. PM [13] OSCE SAYS MILOSEVIC 'SUBVERTING' BOSNIAN SERB MEDIATheOSCE's Robert Barry said in a statement in Sarajevo on 2 March that "recent events in Banja Luka indicate that the government in Belgrade is not content with its clearly announced terrorist campaign against Serbia's independent media. It now feels it must move against the independent media in the [Republika Srpska] as well. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be subject to the whims of another government. I believe they've had enough of meddling politics." He was referring to a recent Bosnian Serb court inquiry at the request of a Serbian court against two journalists from the independent weekly "Reporter." The journalists had published a photo of Milosevic wearing a hat favored by the royalist Serbian Chetniks of World War II. In October 1999, a Serbian court indicted the two for harming the "reputation of Yugoslavia." PM [14] THACI DENIES LINKS WITH NEW ALBANIAN GUERRILLASHashimThaci, who is the former leader of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) and now head of the Party for Democratic Progress, told Reuters on 2 March that he and the UCK have nothing to do with recent armed incidents in southwestern Serbia (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 29 February 2000). He said: "There is no more UCK. As you know, I was one of the UCK commanders. My impression is that the problem of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac and the appearance of uniformed people has been exaggerated in the media." Thaci added: "We and the international community are observing the situation in order to solve the problems [of Serbia's ethnic Albanian minority] in accordance with the rights of the citizens who are living there to overcome armed confrontations which are dangerous for the region." PM [15] ALBRIGHT PLAYS DOWN 'MULTIETHNICITY' FOR KOSOVASecretary ofState Madeleine Albright said in Washington on 2 March that the key principle that must be applied in Kosova is "respect for minority rights," Reuters reported. She added that "the word 'multiethnic' is harder to talk about for [Kosova] because the Serbs are really a minority there, so it is a matter of respect for minority rights." Her statement marks a departure from the practice of most Western leaders to stress that their goal is to restore a "multiethnic society" to the province. Ethnic Albanians make up approximately 90 percent of Kosova's population. Other minorities include Roma, Bosnian Muslims, Turks, Montenegrins, and the Gorani. The latter are a Slavic Muslim people unique to the region whose culture shows heavy Albanian, Macedonian, and Serbian influence. PM [16] SERBIAN GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER TABLOIDThe government said ina statement on 2 March that it has decided to "merge 'Vecernje Novosti' into the Federal Public Institution Borba after being informed that the state is the majority owner" in "Vecernje Novosti." Pero Simic, who is the mass-circulation daily's editor, said in a letter to readers that as late as August 1999, a Belgrade court ruled that the newspaper is 76 percent privately owned. He described as "slavery" the merger into a newspaper with a circulation 25 times lower than his own. Simic recently introduced an editorial policy that is more independent of the government than was previously the case. "Borba" is the mouthpiece of the United Yugoslav Left of Mira Markovic, who is Milosevic's wife. PM [17] PETRITSCH WARNS BOSNIA ON COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBERSHIPTheinternational community's Wolfgang Petritsch said in Sarajevo on 2 March that Bosnia must implement key reforms blocked by nationalists before it is allowed to join the Council of Europe, Reuters reported. He stressed that membership is a "carrot" that the international community should give to Bosnia only in return for its passing a reformed election law, speeding up refugee returns, accelerating privatization, and invigorating joint governmental institutions. PM [18] HDZ MODERATES LEAVE PARTYFormer Foreign Minister MateGranic and former Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) Vice President Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said in Zagreb on 2 March that they are leaving the HDZ to form the Croatian Democratic Center (HDC). The two moderate political leaders noted that the HDZ was founded just over a decade ago as a mass movement to end communist rule and achieve independence. They argued that the HDZ has, however, never succeeded in transforming itself into a political party based on clear policies and principles, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Granic and Ozbolt stressed that the HDZ now contains unnamed extreme rightists. Granic was the HDZ's unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 24 January elections. He blamed in-fighting in the HDZ for his defeat. PM [19] ROMANIA TO INTRODUCE VISAS FOR MOLDOVARomanian ForeignMinister Petre Roman on 1 March said his country will impose visas on Moldovans, Rompres reported on 2 March. He did not say when Romania would introduce the visa restrictions. In other news, former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea on 2 March described a recent decision by customs officials to impound the printing press of the newspaper "Cotidianul" as an attack on the freedom of the press, AP reported. VG [20] NATO SUPREME COMMANDER IN EUROPE MEETS ROMANIAN OFFICIALSGeneral Wesley Clark asked Romanian Prime Minister MugurIsarescu for information on the country's efforts to reform its military, noting that NATO is ready to assist the country in carrying out those reforms, Rompres reported on 2 March. President Emil Constantinescu told Clark that Romania could play a key role in building East-West ties in the Black Sea region, adding that the sea should not become a "border" in the European integration process. Constantinescu suggested that oil resources from the Caucasus could be transported through Romania's ports on the sea. VG [21] ROMANIAN SECURITY SERVICES GUARDING ILIESCUThe Romaniansecurity services (SPP) are "tightly" guarding former president and current opposition leader Ion Iliescu after he claimed to have received a threatening anonymous letter (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 March 2000), Rompres reported on 2 March. The SPP says it has received no indication of any plots against the life of Iliescu. VG [22] GAZPROM RESUMES SUPPLIES TO MOLDOVARussia's natural gascompany Gazprom on 3 March resumed gas supplies to Moldova one week after cutting them off, Reuters reported. An official from the company said Moldova has agreed to pay its $11.1 million debt to Gazprom for January and February by 16 March. Moldova has also promised to make semi-monthly payments for future gas deliveries. VG [23] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT 'REGRETS' BULGARIAN COURT DECISIONBoris Trajkovski on 2 March expressed regret at the recentdecision by the Bulgarian Constitutional Court to outlaw the ethnic Macedonian political party OMO-Ilinden-PIRIN (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 March 2000), BTA reported. While Trajkovski acknowledged that it is "unusual" for a president to comment on a decision by another country's court, he said he felt compelled to express his opinion on what he described as a "sensitive issue." He added: "I hope that Bulgaria will be more sensitive in solving identical or similar issues." The same day, the Macedonian Foreign Ministry said the court decision appears to have been based on "political arguments" rather than on legal considerations, adding that it was an "unprecedented act." The opposition Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia also criticized the court decision as well as the Macedonian government's "vague policy" toward Bulgaria and the rights of its Macedonian minority. VG [24] NEW PARTY REGISTERS IN BULGARIAA new party calling itselfthe George Ganchev Bloc registered in Bulgaria on 2 March, Bulgarian Radio reported. VG [C] END NOTE[25] INTERNATIONAL MONITORS IN MONTENEGRO: PROS AND CONSBy Jolyon NaegeleThe idea of deploying several hundred international monitors in Montenegro was raised on the sidelines of an international conference in Podgorica this week. The conference was convened as a dialogue between Montenegrin and Serbian pro-democracy politicians and activists to address constitutional differences. Montenegro has been Serbia's increasingly unwilling partner in the Yugoslav Federal Republic, founded eight years ago after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Montenegro is now on the road to sovereignty, with an increasingly democratic legislature, new reform laws and its own Western- oriented foreign policy. But Montenegro is rump Yugoslavia's sole outlet to the sea, and a potential hard currency earner through tourism and maritime trade. Those industries brought in some $320 million a year a decade ago but now are virtually nonexistent. The head of one of Montenegro's three ruling pro- democracy parties, Social Democrat Zarko Rakcevic, says that as long as Montenegro fails to gain international recognition as a sovereign state, it will be unable to borrow on international financial markets to rebuild its industry. Rakcevic says he hopes the international community changes its position toward Montenegro and accepts Montenegro's basic right to national self-determination--the right to separate its fate from Serbia, as he puts it. That, he believes, would prevent a repetition of recent tragic experiences in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosova. And he argues that Montenegro is the best example that Orthodox, Catholics, and Muslims can live together in harmony. Rakcevic, a Montenegrin parliamentary deputy, says the solution is to take preventive action in the field of security by deploying observers before trouble starts. He said argues that with some 200 international monitors, for example, in the republic, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic "will decide completely differently." Rakcevic says deploying monitors would be a clear sign to Milosevic to cease his destabilization of Montenegro, which has included an economic blockade and the setting up of Yugoslav Television transmitters on Yugoslav military bases. But Rakcevic warns that if the international community waits until after Milosevic puts military and paramilitary pressure on Montenegro, it will be too late. A senior official with the international community's Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, Finnish diplomat Alpo Rusi, told RFE/RL that the international community is coming round to the idea that deploying monitors in Montenegro, possibly under the aegis of the OSCE, would make sense. Rusi notes that although Yugoslavia is barred from the Stability Pact for now, Montenegro is, in practice, functioning as a member state of the pact. But he says that putting together a monitoring mission for Montenegro is not yet part of the pact's official brief. The UN deployed observers along Macedonia's border with Kosova and Serbia more than six years ago, and their presence--including that of several hundred U.S. soldiers--is one of the reasons Milosevic never started trouble with Macedonia. In contrast, however, the EU's deployment in 1991 of a European military monitoring mission in Croatia after the fighting and ethnic cleansing began had little effect, except for providing the West with military intelligence. Serbian forces soon shot down a mission helicopter. and the mission did little if anything to hold back the fighting. Similarly, the presence of UN peacekeepers from UNPROFOR in Bosnia did not prevent the systematic destruction by Serbian forces of the areas that the UN had designated "safe areas." Nor did it deter Serbian forces from carrying out the massacres of some 7,000 men near one of those so-called "safe areas," Srebrenica, in 1995. Later, an unarmed OSCE mission in Kosova was slow to deploy, never reached full capacity, and was soon forced to withdraw after Serbian forces made its job impossible and the launching of NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia last Spring inevitable. Since the Serbian capitulation and withdrawal from Kosova last June, the international community has failed to deploy anywhere near the agreed-upon number of NATO-led peacekeepers and UN civilian police in Kosova. That is true, despite the worsening situation in Mitrovica and along Kosova's eastern border with Serbia. So it is far from clear whether there will be sufficient willingness to deploy observers in Montenegro. The issue poses many questions: Would the observers be armed? Would they stand firm or flee in the event of the likely Serbian provocation? And what would be the justification for deployment? Do humanitarian aid convoys bound for Kosova really require the security of observers in Montenegro when their main obstacles are Kosova customs agents just over the border. And what would the reaction be of the Yugoslav Second Army based in Montenegro, already in a heightened state of alert and now manning fresh barricades along Montenegro's sole border crossing with Albania. Based on the international community's record to date, a deployment of monitors in Montenegro is unlikely to be agreed upon until it is too late. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent currently in Montenegro. 03-03-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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