RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 63, 00-03-29

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 63, 29 March 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT BEGINS VISIT TO GEORGIA

[02] ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN TROOPS LAUNCH JOINT MANEUVERS

[03] TWELVE SUSPECTS IN KARABAKH SHOOTING RELEASED

[04] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES PUTIN

[05] VETERAN GEORGIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CHALLENGES PRESIDENTIAL

[06] PARTICIPATION OF GEORGIAN INTELLIGENCE IN MURDER OF ABKHAZ

[07] CIA DIRECTOR VISITS KAZAKHSTAN

[08] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION SETS CONDITIONS FOR DIALOGUE WITH

[09] ETHNIC UIGHUR SHOT DEAD IN KYRGYZ CAPITAL

[10] TURKMEN, TURKISH PRESIDENTS DISCUSS GAS EXPORTS

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION CONFERENCE OPENS...

[12] ...AS DOUBTS ABOUT PACT CONTINUE

[13] BOSNIAN LEADER APPEALS FOR BUILDING MATERIALS

[14] IZETBEGOVIC SAYS BRCKO COULD BE MODEL FOR BOSNIA

[15] BOSNIAN SERB ARMY REJECTS BOSNIA-WIDE FORCE

[16] U.S. 'DISAPPOINTED' BY ALBANIAN FAILURE TO DISARM

[17] RETURN OF CONTACT GROUP?

[18] LAYWER CALLS FOR FREEING FRENCH COLONEL IN KOSOVA AFFAIR

[19] CROATIAN BANK SCANDAL WINDING DOWN?

[20] MESIC THREATENS REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENCY

[21] YET ANOTHER RAILWAY STRIKE IN CROATIA

[22] ROMANIAN GOLD MINING COMPANY AGAIN POLLUTES RIVERS

[23] U.S. CONGRESSMAN DEFENDS REMARKS ON FORMER ROMANIAN

[24] ROMANIAN DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE CONSTANTINESCU

[25] OSCE HEAD IN MOLDOVA SAYS PUTIN'S ELECTION TO HELP RESOLVE

[26] BULGARIAN RULING PARTY'S POPULARITY WANES

[27] KOSTOV SAYS PUTIN'S WIN WILL IMPROVE RELATIONS

[C] END NOTE

[28] AGREEMENT ADVANCES TRANSPORT CORRIDOR AROUND SERBIA

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT BEGINS VISIT TO GEORGIA

arrived in Tbilisi on 28 March at the head of a delegation

that also included deputy parliamentary speaker Tigran

Torosian and five government ministers. During a 90-minute

meeting, Kocharian and his Georgian counterpart, Eduard

Shevardnadze, discussed bilateral relations and regional and

international issues, including Armenia's participation in

the TRACECA project and the possibility of requesting EU

funding to upgrade the highway linking Tbilisi and Yerevan,

Interfax reported. The two presidents also signed a joint

statement on expanding relations and presented each other

with state awards. LF

[02] ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN TROOPS LAUNCH JOINT MANEUVERS

infantry, tank and aviation units from the Armenian armed

forces and Russia's military base in Armenia began three days

of joint maneuvers in Armavir on 28 March under the

supervision of the commander of the Russian Group of Forces

in the Transcaucasus, Lieutenant General Vladimir Andreev,

Noyan Tapan reported. The object of the exercises is to check

the fighting trim of the troops and teamwork of various

troops and units of the Russian and Armenian armed forces. LF

[03] TWELVE SUSPECTS IN KARABAKH SHOOTING RELEASED

in Stepanakert said on 28 March that 12 persons taken into

custody last week on suspicion of involvement in the 22 March

attack on Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, have been released owing to a lack

of evidence, RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent reported. It

is unclear whether former Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel

Babayan, three of whose bodyguards have reportedly confessed

to the attack, was among those released. An unspecified

number of suspects have been detained. Speaking in Tbilisi

the same day, Armenian President Kocharian said that all the

persons directly involved in the assassination bid are in

custody, ITAR-TASS reported. He attributed the attack to

local opposition to Ghukasian's campaign to impose law and

order. LF

[04] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES PUTIN

congratulation to Russian President-elect Putin, Heidar Aliev

noted that the latter's 26 March election victory reflects

the support of Russian citizens for democratic reform as well

as for the strengthening of the state system and law and

order, Turan reported on 28 March. He expressed confidence

that the "traditional friendly relations" between Russia and

Azerbaijan will be developed in the name of regional

stability. "Dilis gazeti" on 28 March quoted Lyudvig

Chibirov, president of the unrecognized Republic of South

Ossetia, as congratulating Putin and expressing the hope that

after the 9 April Georgian presidential poll, Moscow and

Tbilisi will devote greater attention to resolving the South

Ossetian conflict. The same newspaper also quoted Abkhaz

presidential aide Astamur Tania as saying that Putin regards

Abkhazia as part of Russia's sphere of strategic interests

and for that reason will not condone a resumption of

hostilities in the region. LF

[05] VETERAN GEORGIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CHALLENGES PRESIDENTIAL

Irakli Tsereteli, who for 11 years has headed the

Georgian National Independence Party, which is not

represented in the present parliament, has challenged

Shevardnadze, Adjar Supreme Council Chairman Aslan Abashidze,

and former Communist Party First Secretary Djumber

Patiashvili, to a televised debate, Caucasus Press reported

on 28 March. Shevardnadze, Abashidze, and Patiashvili are the

three main candidates in the 9 April presidential election.

Tsereteli is also one of the leaders of the Center for

Georgia's Freedom and Democracy, which is campaigning for a

nationwide boycott of that poll. LF

[06] PARTICIPATION OF GEORGIAN INTELLIGENCE IN MURDER OF ABKHAZ

There is no connection between Georgian

intelligence and the Tsvizhba brothers, who are believed to

have ordered the murder in September 1995 of Abkhaz Deputy

Prime Minister Yurii Voronov, Caucasus Press reported on 28

March, quoting Vitali Mikhelidze, who is deputy security

minister of the Abkhaz government-in-exile. The Abkhaz

authorities have recently detained a man in connection with

the killing who, they claim, acted on instructions from the

Georgian security services (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 March

2000). LF

[07] CIA DIRECTOR VISITS KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Astana on 28

March, Reuters reported. No details of those talks were

revealed. LF

[08] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION SETS CONDITIONS FOR DIALOGUE WITH

Meeting with OSCE representative Jerzy Wenclaw in

Bishkek on 28 March, opposition party leaders Jypar Jeksheev,

Daniyar Usenov, and Omurbek Subanaliev said they will accept

an invitation from President Askar Akaev and government

leaders to discuss the political situation only after the

release from custody of Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov,

RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. They also

said that dialogue should take place under the aegis of the

OSCE. Meanwhile Kulov is proceeding with the hunger strike he

declared last week to protest his detention, while some 150

of his supporters continue their picket in central Bishkek.

Also on 28 March, a local official in Bishkek's Pervomai

district rejected a request by five opposition parties to

convene a meeting on 2 April to protest Kulov's arrest and

the falsification of the outcome of the recent parliamentary

elections. LF

[09] ETHNIC UIGHUR SHOT DEAD IN KYRGYZ CAPITAL

Aripzhan Zaripov, the head of the Ittipak Society that

represents Kyrgyzstan's 50,000-strong Uighur minority, was

shot dead outside his home in Bishkek on 28 March, RFE/RL's

bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. LF

[10] TURKMEN, TURKISH PRESIDENTS DISCUSS GAS EXPORTS

day of an official visit to Turkmenistan, Suleyman Demirel

told his host, Saparmurat Niyazov, in Ashgabat on 28 March

that Turkey has already agreed to purchase from Turkmenistan

30 billion cubic meters of gas per year and thus there is no

need to reopen discussion of that issue, according to

Interfax. Niyazov, for his part, said that the planned Trans-

Caspian pipeline remains Turkmenistan's main choice of export

route, despite parallel talks on gas sales with Russia and

Iran. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION CONFERENCE OPENS...

conference opened in Brussels on 29 March as part of the EU's

Balkan Stability Pact. Representatives of some 44 countries

and 37 international organizations are taking part. Balkan

participants are Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia,

Macedonia, Montenegro, and Romania. Pact Coordinator Bodo

Hombach told the "Berliner Zeitung" that he hopes to receive

at least $1 billion in pledges for projects he wants to

launch immediately. He will need several billion dollars more

to fund some 100 additional projects slated to start "within

the next two years," he added. Among projects devoted to

economic development, some $2.7 billion will be needed for

infrastructure alone. Other projects range from protecting

minority rights to supporting independent media. Hombach

stressed that any money spent on peaceful development in the

Balkans is a good investment. He argued that supporting

stability in the region "is cheap in relation to what

conflicts cost." PM

[12] ...AS DOUBTS ABOUT PACT CONTINUE

all the powers of persuasion that he honed in his German

political career to convince skeptical governments and other

donors of the seriousness of his projects, the "Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote on 29 March. Many critics charge

that Hombach is a political appointee unqualified for the

post and that since his appointment in 1999 he has been more

concerned with his own salary and perks than with the

Balkans. Other critics note that the pact has awakened more

hopes within the Balkans than it can possible fulfill. Its

ability to fulfill its mission has been further hampered by

rivalries elsewhere in the EU bureaucracy, the Frankfurt

daily added. Hombach's office seeks to screen potential

projects and line the best ones up with sources of funding.

The pact does not fund projects on its own (see also "End

Note" below). PM

[13] BOSNIAN LEADER APPEALS FOR BUILDING MATERIALS

who is an adviser to Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic,

said in Washington on 28 March that what returning refugees

"need is not some planning, not endless bureaucracy [but

rather ample supplies of] building material waiting for them

upon arrival.... Within two to three weeks they can build

their own houses themselves," AP reported. He argued that

unnecessary delays are caused by the current process of

enlisting construction companies to build the houses. Hajric

stressed that security remains a concern in only about 20

percent of Bosnia and that "dozens of thousands of families"

are ready to return to their homes in the remaining 80

percent. PM

[14] IZETBEGOVIC SAYS BRCKO COULD BE MODEL FOR BOSNIA

said in Brcko that great efforts must be made so that people

of all nationalities can return to their homes in the Brcko

district, "Oslobodjenje" reported on 29 March (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 28 March 2000). If a multiethnic administration is

successful in Brcko, it could serve as a model for all of

Bosnia, he continued. PM

[15] BOSNIAN SERB ARMY REJECTS BOSNIA-WIDE FORCE

Jelicic, who is deputy defense minister of the Republika

Srpska, said in Brussels that the Bosnian Serb army (VRS)

seeks membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace Program,

"Vesti" reported on 29 March. Jelicic stressed, however, that

the VRS must join the program as a distinct force and not as

part of a larger Bosnian army including Croatian and Muslim

forces. Jelicic argued that the Dayton peace agreement

clearly recognizes the VRS as a distinct force. NATO has

repeatedly told the VRS that it is welcome in Partnership for

Peace only as part of a Bosnia-wide army. PM

[16] U.S. 'DISAPPOINTED' BY ALBANIAN FAILURE TO DISARM

Department spokesman James Foley said in Washington on 28

March that "we continue to stress to the [ethnic] Albanian

leadership in [Kosova] that we are serious about [earlier]

messages of zero tolerance for violence and extremism," AP

reported. He was referring to recent press reports that armed

ethnic Albanian militants in southwestern Serbia have not

made good on a promise to wage their struggle by political

means only (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 March 2000). PM

[17] RETURN OF CONTACT GROUP?

U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Russia met in Paris on 28

March in the first gathering in more than one year of the

international Contact Group for the former Yugoslavia. The

officials issued a statement calling for the careful

preparation of the fall Kosova local elections and for the

early restoration of civilian administrative structures in

the province. The officials also expressed support for the

Serbian opposition and for the government of Montenegro. They

did not act on a French suggestion that the countries'

foreign ministers meet soon. PM

[18] LAYWER CALLS FOR FREEING FRENCH COLONEL IN KOSOVA AFFAIR

Mechain, filed a formal request in Paris on 28 March for the

release of his client from police custody. The colonel is

under investigation for allegedly leaking to the press

confidential documents about divisions and differences of

opinions among the French in Kosova. One document said that

many French officers regard Bernard Kouchner, who is the

French head of the UN's civilian mission in the province, as

anti-Serb. In other news, London's "The Times" reported that

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson and the alliance's

Supreme Commander Europe General Wesley Clark recently

cancelled scheduled visits to Mitrovica after the CIA learned

that Serbian forces planned to shoot down their helicopter

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 March 2000). PM

[19] CROATIAN BANK SCANDAL WINDING DOWN?

holders in Istarska Banka demonstrated in Pula on 28 March to

demand that the National Bank unfreeze their accounts (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 28 March 2000). An RFE/RL correspondent

reported on 29 March from Zagreb that depositors will be

allowed "limited access" to their accounts. He added that

Istrian political leader Ivan Jakovcic has meanwhile

distanced himself from some of his earlier remarks suggesting

that Prime Minister Ivica Racan is partly responsible for the

scandal. National Bank Governor Marko Skreb may be forced to

resign as a result of the imbroglio, which made public

tensions between the larger and smaller members of the

governing six-party coalition, the correspondent noted. Skreb

denied charges from within Jakovcic's party that he

engineered the collapse of Istarska Banka in order to enable

the Rijecka Banka to buy it out, "Novi List" reported. Some

members of Racan's government are rumored to have ties to

Rijecka Banka, the RFE/RL correspondent added. PM

[20] MESIC THREATENS REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENCY

Stipe Mesic said on 28 March that he will call a referendum

on whether to limit or "abolish" the powers of the president

if unnamed members of the government persist with what he

called moves to "abolish" his powers. Mesic charged that the

initiatives to limit his authority come from members of the

larger two-party coalition, who are unhappy that a member of

the smaller four-party coalition won the presidency. Earlier

this year, before the presidential vote, all political

parties agreed on the need to reduce the powers enjoyed by

the late President Franjo Tudjman. Since his election, Mesic

has stressed that he will use the presidency as a check on

the government. PM

[21] YET ANOTHER RAILWAY STRIKE IN CROATIA

stopped trains throughout Croatia for one hour on the morning

of 29 March to protest management's plans to shut down some

loss-making local lines. Management argues that Croatian

Railways must reduce losses and become more efficient. The

leaders of the three railway workers' unions say that the

cuts will mean big job losses. The unions add that management

can reduce waste by fighting corruption within its own ranks.

PM

[22] ROMANIAN GOLD MINING COMPANY AGAIN POLLUTES RIVERS

10,000 tons of lead residue has spilled into the Rivers Vaser

and Viseu, tributaries of the Tisa (Tisza) River. The

incident was caused by the Aurul company in Baia Borsa that

was responsible for the cyanide spill in early February. The

company failed to notify the authorities of the spill, which

occurred on 27 March during heavy rainfalls that resulted in

the breaking of a five-meter stretch of a dam, RFE/RL's

Bucharest bureau and Reuters reported. Samples of water from

the Tisa show lead is 2.7 times over permitted levels.

Environment Minster Romica Tomescu visited the area on 28

March, together with World Bank director for Romania Andrew

Vorkink, who is currently in Romania to see how the bank can

help that country cope with ecological problems as well as

improve health care and wildlife conservation. MS

[23] U.S. CONGRESSMAN DEFENDS REMARKS ON FORMER ROMANIAN

U.S. Helsinki Commission co-chairman Christopher

Smith has said he stands by his 23 March remarks about former

President Ion Iliescu and his Party of Social Democracy in

Romania, an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported on 28

March (see "RFE/RL Newsline,' 27 March 2000). Smith said he

had expressed a "legitimate concern about an issue that

concerns the national interest of the U.S." During his term

in office from 1990-1996, Iliescu was "indifferent" to

corruption, Smith noted. But he added that his remarks must

not be interpreted as an effort to influence the 2000

electoral process in Romania. Smith had spoken during a U.S.

Congress hearing on corruption in former communist countries.

MS

[24] ROMANIAN DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE CONSTANTINESCU

Senator Costel Gheorghiu, a member of the house's Defense

Commission, has harshly criticized President Emil

Constantinescu for having signed an ordinance on 13 March

allowing the transit of 5,000 KFOR troops through Romanian

territory over a three-month period. Gheorghiu said on 27

March that Constantinescu had acted "in cooperation" with

former Defense Minister Victor Babiuc. He said that the

ordinance contravenes the defense law, which stipulates that

such transit must be approved by the parliament and that the

government must request such approval. Gheorghiu said the

president's act established a dangerous precedent," adding

that NATO "does not appreciate servile attitudes" and

promotes respect for the rule of law. In other news,

Democratic Party Senator Cazimir Ionescu on 27 March resigned

from the party, saying its leadership has "marginalized" him.

MS

[25] OSCE HEAD IN MOLDOVA SAYS PUTIN'S ELECTION TO HELP RESOLVE

William Hill said on 28 March that the

election of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency will

help solve the problem of Moldova's separatist Transdniester

region, ITAR-TASS reported. Hill said he expects Putin to

take a more active role in the dispute, adding that the most

important part of reaching a resolution is finalization of an

agreement on the region's special status. He said the

presidents of Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as

Transdniesterian separatist leaders, will meet in Kyiv this

summer to discuss a draft of the agreement. In other news,

the Moldovan Information and Security Service dismissed as a

"provocation" Russian reports that a rehabilitation and

training center for Chechen rebels is being run in Moldova.

PB

[26] BULGARIAN RULING PARTY'S POPULARITY WANES

poll released on 29 March show that the approval rating of

Bulgarian Premier Ivan Kostov is at a record low, Reuters

reported. Only 28 percent of respondents said they are

satisfied with the government, led by Kostov's Union of

Democratic Forces. This is the party's lowest approval rating

since taking power nearly three years ago. Nearly 62 percent

said they were disappointed in the government. BBSS Gallup

pollster Kancho Stoichev said people are unhappy with "rising

unemployment, low salaries, lack of transparency in

privatization, and corruption." The government had a 34

percent approval rating one year ago. PB

[27] KOSTOV SAYS PUTIN'S WIN WILL IMPROVE RELATIONS

Premier Kostov said he is hopeful that Vladimir Putin's win

in the 26 March Russian presidential election will have a

"positive effect" on bilateral relations, ITAR-TASS reported

on 27 March. Kostov said Bulgaria wants Russia to continue

with the democratic process and have "authoritative

government and authoritative state institutions." He added

that Sofia hopes to improve lagging bilateral trade because

"each lost export dollar means lost jobs." PB

[C] END NOTE

[28] AGREEMENT ADVANCES TRANSPORT CORRIDOR AROUND SERBIA

After nine years of bickering, Romania and Bulgaria have

agreed on a site for a Danube River bridge that will allow

trans-Balkan traffic to bypass Serbia. The agreement, signed

in Bucharest on 27 March, is one of the first concrete

results of the Balkan Stability Pact.

The bridge is a key link in a EU project known as Pan-

European Transport Corridor Four. That project aims to create

a major north-south transport route linking Greece and

western Europe through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Under

the 27 March agreement, the new bridge will cross the Danube

about 20 kilometers east of Serbia at the Bulgarian town of

Vidin and the Romanian river port of Calafat.

For years, Bucharest had lobbied for a bridge to be

built further to the east--a move that would have put the

north-south transport corridor closer to Bucharest as well as

increasing the amount of transit fees received by Romania.

Romanian officials finally agreed on the Vidin-Calafat site

under pressure from the EU.

Currently, the main road and rail routes between western

Europe and the Balkans pass through Yugoslavia. But all of

Serbia's Danube bridges were destroyed in NATO's air campaign

last year. Serbia's only existing route across the Danube

today--a tiny road on the "Iron Gates" dam between Serbia and

Romania--is north of Belgrade.

Even before NATO's air strikes, the EU had been eager to

create an alternative transport route bypassing Serbia.

Belgrade's neighbors suffered trade losses totaling billions

of dollars when the main transport route was cut by

international sanctions against Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Those sanctions forced much of the trans-Balkan traffic

to pass along inferior roads in Bulgaria to the Romanian city

of Giurgiu--the site of the only existing bridge between

Romania and Bulgaria. In the mid-1990s, truck drivers

typically faced a border delay of 10 days there, and the

crossing earned itself the nickname "Bottleneck Bridge."

Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov praised the idea of

a transportation route to the west that bypasses troubled

Serbia. "Trans-European Corridor Four is an alternative way

between southeastern Europe and Central Europe that does not

pass through Yugoslavia," he commented. "And that is why it

is very important for our country."

Kostov says construction of the bridge will start later

this year and will take about two-and-a-half years to

complete.

Romanian Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu is also happy

about the project. He noted that the new transport corridor

will pass through what he called "a stable region."

Bodo Hombach, the EU's special coordinator for the

Stability Pact, said the union will do its best to complete

the bridge as soon as possible. Hombach also noted that the

EU is committed to clearing debris from destroyed bridges

within Serbia to reopen the river to navigation sometime this

summer.

In the meantime, Hombach said, EU experts already have

started evaluating and coordinating details on the finances

needed to improve road and rail links near Vidin and Calafat.

Plans for the new bridge call for four lanes of road

traffic and two railroad lines. The project also includes

$200 million of financing through the Stability Pact to

improve road and rail lines in western Romania--particularly

through the Jiu Valley and the Carpathian mountains.

The Balkan Stability Pact was established last summer by

the EU and the Group of Eight countries to aid the political

and economic reconstruction of southeastern Europe in the

aftermath of the Kosova conflict. Balkan members are Albania,

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and

Macedonia.

A donor conference opens in Brussels on 29 March under

the auspices of the Stability Pact to support reconstruction

in the Balkan signatory countries.

The European Investment Bank is in charge of the program

to repair and expand the region's infrastructure, including

transport projects.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is

leading programs to develop the private sector, and the World

Bank is responsible for the overall aid strategy.

The author is an RFE/RL senior correspondent based in Prague.

29-03-00

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

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