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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 54, 00-03-16Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 54, 16 March 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER ANGERED AT PRESIDENT'S ARMY APPOINTMENTSMeeting late on 14 March with representatives of theparliamentary majority Miasnutiun bloc, Aram Sargsian condemned President Robert Kocharian's failure to inform him in advance of his intention to promote senior army generals who are leading members of the Yerkrapah Union of veterans of the Karabakh war, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). That failure, Sargsian said, was "a violation of the rules of the game." He stressed that he does not oppose those appointments but added that Kocharian's failure to inform him or Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian in advance was unacceptable. Miasnutiun members present at the meeting told RFE/RL that Sargsian said Harutiunian had wanted to resign in protest but that he had dissuaded him from doing so. LF [02] KARABAKH PARLIAMENT BACKS NEW DRAFT ELECTION LAWThelegislature of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has adopted "as a basis for further discussions" a draft election law that does not provide for the election of deputies under the party list system, RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent reported on 15 March. The enclave's top leaders maintain that political parties in Nagorno-Karabakh are still too weak to take over the leadership. The opposition had proposed an alternative draft under which 11 seats in the new parliament would have been allocated under the party list system and the remaining 22 in single-mandate constituencies. LF [03] GEORGIAN, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTS REAFFIRM PARTNERSHIP...LeonidKuchma met with his Georgian counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, in Tbilisi on 15 March, Caucasus Press reported. The two presidents signed a joint statement on extending bilateral cooperation within the framework of a relationship that Kuchma described as "deeper than just a special partnership." Shevardnadze, for his part, told journalists after his talks with Kuchma that the two countries' interests "completely coincide," according to Interfax. Those interests include the possible transport of Caspian oil to international markets via Ukraine and the TRACECA transport project. Ukraine is also likely to be formally included in the Friends of the UN Secretary-General Group, which is seeking to mediate a solution of the Abkhaz conflict (see " RFE/RL Newsline," 5 January 2000). Kuchma is to meet with Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania on 16 March before flying to Baku. LF [04] ...DISCUSS GUUAMAt their joint press conference on 15March, Shevardnadze said that he and Kuchma want regional cooperation within GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) to serve the interests of all its members, Caucasus Press reported. The Georgian president noted that the doors of that group are open to new members. But he stressed that the alignment is primarily economic and that military cooperation between its members plays only a minor role. LF [05] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE THREATENS LAWSUITA spokesman for Djumber Patiashvili said Patiashvili will begin legal proceedings against the Georgian leadership if the latter fails to identify and arrest a group of young men who pelted him with rotten eggs during a campaign meeting in the southeast Georgian town of Bolnisi on 14 March, Caucasus Press reported. Local police failed to intervene, even when a fight broke out between the egg-throwers and Patiashvili's supporters. Central Electoral Commission chairman Djumber Lominadze condemned the incident on 15 March. Patiashvili is regarded as the most serious of the six rival candidates to Shevardnadze, who is seeking a second term. Meanwhile, Roin Liparteliani, whose application to register for the poll was rejected, has said he will seek political asylum in Europe, according to Caucasus Press. Liparteliani said he was pressured by the Central Electoral Commission which claimed that signatures submitted in support of his application were forged. LF [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER TO DECIDE ON TENGIZCHEVROIL SALEPresidential administration official Sarybai Kalmurzaev toldjournalists in Astana on 15 March that President Nursultan Nazarbaev has asked Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev to decide whether Kazakhstan should sell part of its 25 percent stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture, Interfax reported. The country's leaders disagree over the advisability of and timeframe for doing so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999 and 7 March 2000). LF [07] PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE IN KYRGYZSTAN...A crowdestimated between several hundred and 1,000 gathered in central Bishkek on 15 March to protest the conduct and outcome of the 12 March second round of voting for a new parliament, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. They were prevented by police from entering the government building or the Constitutional Court, where they had hoped to hand over a petition addressed to President Askar Akaev, Constitutional Court chairwoman Cholpon Baekova, Bishkek mayor Medet Kerimkulov and the OSCE. That petition, which was signed by some 13,000 people, demands the holding of repeat elections in constituencies contended by opposition candidates and the annulment of court rulings barring opposition candidates from contending the poll. Protests also continued on 15 March in the village of Kara-Buura, Talas Oblast, in Djalalabad, and in Balykchy (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). LF [08] ...AS OSCE TOP OFFICIAL MEETS WITH PRESIDENTOSCE Secretary-General Jan Kubis arrived in Bishkek on 15 March for a one- day visit during which he discussed the elections with President Akaev and with opposition party leaders Feliks Kulov and Daniyar Usenov, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Usenov was barred from the second round, while OSCE monitors have publicly questioned the legality of Kulov's defeat in Kara-Buura (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 March 2000). Kubis cancelled a scheduled press conference, but Reuters quoted him as describing the poll as "a blemish on the president's prestige." LF [09] PARLIAMENT CANDIDATE KILLED IN KYRGYZ HELICOPTER CRASHErkinbek Maryev, a deputy to the outgoing Kyrgyz parliamentwho was re-elected on 12 March, was killed in a helicopter crash in Naryn Oblast on 15 March, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Two crew members also died, while the remaining four crew members and passengers were seriously injured. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] YUGOSLAV ARMY BLASTS MONTENEGRIN LEADERSHIPThe commandersof the Yugoslav Second Army, which has responsibility for Montenegro, said in a faxed statement on 16 March that the Montenegrin leadership is colluding with unnamed NATO powers against the army, AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). The statement noted that "attempts here to disunite the army from its people are recognized as coming from those same forces who failed in their aggression through military airstrikes [against Serbia in 1999]. Actions [by President Milo Djukanovic's government] against the army in Montenegro are taken in collusion with foreigners.... The wish of certain persons and institutions in Montenegro to challenge the army's authority is a smokescreen for their own anti-constitutional acts," the statement added, in apparent reference to Djukanovic's reformist policies. "The army and the navy will not cause any incidents but will act decisively whenever their members or property are threatened," the army's message concluded. PM [11] NATO'S CLARK WARNS OF MILOSEVIC MOVE AGAINST MONTNEGRONATO's Supreme Commander in Europe General Wesley Clark saidin Madrid on 15 March that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is "setting the stage for moving on to military action [against Montenegro]. We don't know whether he has taken a decision yet, but we are watching the situation closely," AP reported. PM [12] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN ANOTHER INDEPENDENTBROADCASTEROfficials of the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry removed essential broadcasting equipment from the facilities of independent Television Pirot in southeastern Serbia on 16 March. It is not clear on what legal basis the authorities took the station off the air. Officials of the United Yugoslav Left of Mira Markovic, who is Milosevic's wife, have criticized the editorial policy of the station in recent weeks. In Belgrade on 15 March, Veran Matic, who heads the Association of Independent Electronic Media, said that the regime "is increasingly resorting to brute force" in its crackdown on the media (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 16 March 2000). He added that the staff of the Radio Station B2-92 have prepared unspecified "options" should the government try to take the broadcaster off the air. PM [13] ALBRIGHT: SERBIAN OPPOSITION NEEDS ONE LEADERU.S. Secretaryof State Madeleine Albright told journalists in Banja Luka that the Serbian opposition should unite behind "one leader, not four," "Vesti" reported on 16 March. She stressed that change will come about in Serbia only through elections and that the opposition must be united in order to win such a vote. PM [14] U.S. SEIZES ARMS FROM ALBANIAN EXTREMISTSThe U.S.military's Task Force Falcon said in a statement in Prishtina on 16 March that troops "have thoroughly cleared" an unspecified number of arms caches and storage areas used by ethnic Albanian extremists along the border between Kosova and Serbia. Members of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, using helicopters and armored vehicles, seized more than 200 uniforms, 22 crates of ammunition, two mortars, 28 hand grenades, seven rifles, six land mines, and unspecified other military supplies, AP reported. Nine people were detained. The statement added that the arms belonged to "fringe or extremist elements operating in [Kosova], Macedonia, or the Presevo Valley [of southern Serbia].... The results of these operations clearly demonstrate that Task Force Falcon will take all necessary actions to ensure that [Kosova] is not used as a staging base for exporting violence into the Presevo Valley or any attempts to extend violence back" into Kosova, the statement concluded. PM [15] ALBRIGHT WARNS ALBANIAN NATIONALISTSIn recent days, severaltop U.S. officials have repeatedly told ethnic Albanians not to engage in violence in southwestern Serbia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). In Washington on 16 March, Albright said that ethnic Albanians "are in danger of losing our support" if they try to provoke the Serbian forces in Presevo. She added, however, that the recent activities by ethnic Albanian extremists cannot be compared with Milosevic's crackdown on Kosova in 1999. "I would say that the large majority of Kosovar Albanians are trying to put their lives together--and this is where the difference is-- after a systematic, government-organized pillaging by the Milosevic Serbs.... [The regime tried] "to kill and ethnically cleanse the entire [Kosova]-Albanian nation," AP reported. Her spokesman, James Rubin, added: "We do not believe we are drifting toward a conflict with Kosovar Albanian insurgents.... We are working to limit the influence of extremists." PM [16] BULGARIA, ALBANIA CONCERNED ABOUT EXTREMISTSBulgarian PrimeMinister Ivan Kostov has recommended that former Kosova Liberation Army's Hashim Thaci use his influence to prevent any conflict in southwestern Serbia. In a 15 March letter, Kostov added that armed clashes in the region could have "consequences" for Bulgaria. The area is home to a small Bulgarian minority. Meanwhile in Tirana, Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said that the government has criticized ethnic Albanian extremists in southwestern Serbia. The government accused the nationalist leaders of being more concerned with their own careers than with the interests of the local population, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [17] COMPROMISE IN MITROVICASerbian guards on 16 March took uppositions 30 meters from a bridge in Mitrovica that NATO peacekeepers secured the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). The Serbs had been slated to man posts 100 meters from the bridge, but French officers agreed to a compromise in an apparent effort to defuse tensions between NATO forces and local Serbs. AP reported that "for the first time" Serbian leader Oliver Ivanovic showed a conciliatory attitude toward the U.S., which many Serbs regard as their primary enemy. Ivanovic told the news agency of an "urgent need" for local Serbs to "establish contacts with the American side and improve their image with the Americans," AP reported. PM [18] MILOSEVIC BLASTS UN MISSION IN KOSOVAMilosevic said on 15March in Belgrade that the UN has not carried out its mandate in Kosova and should leave the province. "The UN, which undertook an obligation to stabilize the situation in [Kosova] by its presence there, has betrayed [our] confidence.... Rather than use its authority...to restrain terrorist gangs of ethnic Albanian extremists, we now have a situation in which terrorism takes place under the mission's patronage, even financed by the UN resources. Such a mission should be terminated as soon as possible," Tanjug reported. PM [19] DID TUDJMAN HAVE TELEPHONE LINE TO MILOSEVIC?"Jutarnji list"on 16 March quoted unnamed persons "who are very close to President Stipe Mesic" as saying Mesic's staff recently discovered that former President Franjo Tudjman had a "direct telephone line to Milosevic." Former Tudjman aide Hrvoje Sarinic told the paper that he has no knowledge of any "hot line to...Milosevic." Sarinic added, however, that he now realizes that Tudjman did many things about which he and other top aides were ignorant. Sarinic added that he is leaving Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) to join the Democratic Center recently formed by leading former HDZ moderates (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 March 2000). PM [20] CROATIA PAID HERZEGOVINIANS SECOND SALARIESCroatian DefenseMinister Jozo Rados told the independent weekly "Globus" of 17 March that Herzegovinian Croat leader Ante Jelavic and some 112 Herzegovinian military officers received salaries from Zagreb in addition to the ones they were paid in Bosnia. In Mostar, members of several war veterans' organizations wrote to the local HDZ to urge it to break with corrupt officials and "criminals" lest it lose the local elections slated for April, "Jutarnji list" reported on 16 March. PM [21] ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY CRITICIZES ROMANIAN MINORITYPOLICIESRepresentatives of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) on 15 March criticized the EU and the U.S. for praising Romania's minority policies, Hungarian TV2 reported. At celebrations in Tirgu Mures marking the anniversary of the 1848 revolutions, UDMR chairman Bela Marko criticized European commissioners for trying to "convince" ethnic Hungarians in Romania "how good life is for us." While Marko acknowledged that conditions have improved for Hungarians in Romania, he said more needs to be done. "We need the free use of language, the right to independent decision-making and autonomy here, in our homeland," said Marko. UDMR honorary chairman Bishop Lazslo Toekes accused U.S. President Bill Clinton and OSCE minorities commissioner Max van der Stoel of ignoring the problems of the Hungarian minority. VG [22] MOLDOVAN, TRANSDNIESTRIAN PARLIAMENTS SIGN ACCORDThechairmen of the parliaments of Moldova and the breakaway Transdniester region signed a cooperation accord on 14 March in Tiraspol, Flux reported the next day. Under the agreement, the two legislatures will exchange information and hold regular meetings. However, Moldovan deputy Vitalia Pavlicenco noted that the two sides remain far apart on the question of the Transdniester's status. VG [23] BULGARIAN PREMIER, OPPOSITION LEADER UPBEAT ON MEETINGBulgarian Prime Minister and Union of Democratic Forcesleader Ivan Kostov and Akhmed Dogan, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Rights and Freedoms, have both described their 14 March meeting as the beginning of a new era of dialogue between their parties, BTA reported. While Dogan said it is too early to talk about a "partnership" between the two parties, he said the meeting was a step toward establishing a "transparent European-style dialogue." VG [24] BULGARIA CRITICIZES 'LEAK' OF UN REPORTBulgaria's actingpermanent representative at the UN, Vladimir Sotirov, has lodged an official protest over the fact that a UN report on his country's alleged weapons sales to Angola's UNITA rebel group was "leaked" to the media before Bulgarian officials had a chance to see it, Bulgarian Radio reported on 15 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 March 2000). Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said on 15 March that the Bulgarian government will respond to the report after conducting an "in depth" study of it. VG [C] END NOTE[25] POLAND WANTS EU MEMBERSHIP BY 2003By Jan MaksymiukPoland's Solidarity-led government has pledged to prepare the country for EU entry by 1 January 2003. Skeptical voices in Brussels about Warsaw's ability to be ready to join the EU by that date tend to provoke irate reactions from Polish coalition politicians. The most recent example of such a skeptical voice was European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi's remark in an interview with the 3 March "Financial Times." Prodi told the newspaper that the EU will take a tough stance with applicant countries from Eastern and Central Europe now that Austria's Freedom Party, which campaigned largely on an anti-EU enlargement ticket, has joined the Austrian government coalition. "We must tranquilize our public opinion and the public opinion of applicant countries. Otherwise, there will be hundreds of Austrian situations," Prodi noted. According to the EU official, since the Freedom Party joined Austria's cabinet, the EU is "completely at risk" of having its operations blocked by a hostile government among its members. Moreover, this risk will grow with enlargement, he argued. Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek commented on 6 March that to give in to pressure from populists by delaying EU enlargement would be a "paradox." "The union has always been built on the basis of courage," he said. "If fear were to become its building material now, I would be very skeptical about its future." Jan Kulakowski, Poland's chief negotiator with the EU, told "Gazeta Wyborcza" on 8 March that Warsaw should not have to pay the price for developments in Austria, which he called "somebody else's problem." According to Kulakowski, in accepting new members, the EU should be guided by the "merits" of those countries rather than reactions from member countries. Kulakowski admitted that Warsaw is responsible for "delays" in the accession talks with the EU, but at the same time he accused Brussels of "lacking the good political will" to wrap up negotiations on the customs union, financial control, and joint foreign and security policies. Apparently bearing in mind such arguments, Prodi backed down somewhat from his original remark when he said on 9 March that there will be no slowdown in EU enlargement, despite concerns raised by the Freedom Party in Austria. "It is our commitment to everybody in Europe that enlargement will take place in accordance with the criteria that have been laid down and, in line with that, we have been carrying out this process," he said, adding that Poland's criticism is "completely unjustified." As for Poland, it faces the difficult task of passing some 200 bills to adapt its legislation to EU standards. It must also persuade a growing number of domestic malcontents that EU entry will benefit the country in the long run, despite the sacrifices required now. The opposition post-Communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) shares the belief of the ruling Solidarity Electoral Action and the Freedom Union that EU entry is Poland's strategic goal and "raison d'etre." However, Poland's post- Communists are cautious about giving a concrete date for when Poland will be ready to join the EU. The reason, perhaps, can be found in the left wing's anticipated victory in next year's parliamentary elections. Some even predict that the SLD will gain a majority of seats in the parliament and form a one-party cabinet. In such a case, the SLD would be held fully responsible for any possible failure to observe the 2003 deadline for EU entry. Meanwhile, the strongest opposition to the EU within Poland comes from Poland's radical farmers' union Self- Defense, whose populist leader, Andrzej Lepper, once compared the EU to a "kolkhoz" administered by Brussels. Lepper's well-publicized argument that the EU does not treat Poland like a partner but like a market for EU products is echoed by Polish farmers. Lepper has announced his intention to run in this year's presidential elections and build a parliamentary "third force" based on his Self-Defense union. Some even fear that Lepper may become Poland's Haider. In comparison with the EU, Poland's agricultural sector is overmanned, under-invested, and unable to compete on international markets. Radical--and painful--changes are needed to meet at least minimal EU requirements in the agricultural sphere. So far, however, the Solidarity-led government has avoided any tough decisions in that sector and has more or less complied with farmers' demands for more subsidies. Another barrier on Poland's path to the EU is the lack of a consistent and well-advertised information policy explaining and promoting European integration goals among the general public. The recently announced plan to hold a referendum on EU entry in Swidnica, a town of 65,000 in southeastern Poland, this summer is a good opportunity to conduct such an information campaign. A poll late last year found that only 46 percent of Poles support joining the EU, a disappointing decline from 64 percent in early 1998. 16-03-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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