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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 67, 00-04-04Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 67, 4 April 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SANCTIONS FORMER MINISTER'S DETENTION...Deputies voted overwhelmingly on 4 April to lift the immunityof former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian to allow him to be taken into custody, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 March 2000). Prosecutor-General Boris Nazarian said the measure is necessary because Siradeghian is threatening witnesses and trying to prolong his trial, which began in September 1999. He is charged with ordering several contract killings during the early 1990s. Siradeghian was not present at the 4 April parliamentary session. His close associates told RFE/RL he had left the country the previous day, anticipating the outcome of the vote. LF [02] ...GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR ENERGY PRIVATIZATIONOn 3 April,deputies finally defeated a long-standing opposition initiative to halt the ongoing privatization of the country's four regional energy distribution networks, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. That privatization is one of the preconditions for continued disbursement of World Bank loans. Five international companies are participating in the tender for those networks, which are to be sold in two packages, First Deputy Energy Minister Karen Galstian told journalists the same day. Galstian said no single bidder will be permitted to acquire more than a 51 percent stake in either package, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will purchase up to 20 percent, according to Noyan Tapan. The majority Miasnutiun parliamentary faction was divided over the merits of privatization. Most deputies from the Republican Party of Armenia voted against the opposition bill, regarding it as a challenge to Prime Minister Aram Sargsian's economic policies, but their colleagues from the People's Party of Armenia supported the opposition initiative. LF [03] ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS UNION PROTESTS KARABAKH COLLEAGUE'SARRESTThe Union of Journalists of Armenia issued a statement on 3 April expressing concern at the arrest of Vahram Aghajanian, a journalist for the opposition Karabakh newspaper "Tasnerord nahang," Armenpress reported. The law enforcement agencies of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have not said why Aghajanian was detained in Stepanakert last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 March 2000). But a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said he was taken into custody for "obstructing the implementation of martial law," which has been in force in the enclave since 1992. The statement said that Aghajanian's earlier criticism of the Karabakh authorities does not constitute grounds for his detention. Also on 3 April, deputies from the Armenian parliament's Right and Accord faction, which supports arrested former Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel Babayan, told a Yerevan press conference that the Karabakh authorities are attempting to muzzle Aghajanian because they disapprove of his reporting, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. LF [04] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT POSTPONES PLANNED VISIT TO TURKEYHeidar Aliev will not visit Turkey on 17-18 April because theplanned celebration of the 700th anniversary of the Ottoman Empire has been postponed, Turan reported on 3 April, quoting presidential administration official Novruz Mamedov. LF [05] RUSSIAN MILITARY DELEGATION POSTPONES TALKS WITH GEORGIAAdelegation from the Russian Ministry of Defense has postponed indefinitely talks in Tbilisi on handing over to the Georgian authorities properties that belong to the Russian military, Caucasus Press reported. Fourteen properties were to be selected from a list of 44 , agreed on during talks last year between Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze and his Russian counterpart, Igor Sergeev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 August 1999). But implementation of that agreement has been delayed by Russia's reluctance to hand over a military airfield to the Georgian side. LF [06] GEORGIA, GREECE SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENTGeorgianand Greek Defense Ministry officials have signed an agreement on cooperation in 2000 within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace program and on the participation of officers from each country acting as observers during maneuvers in the other country, Caucasus Press reported on 3 April. Greece undertook to cover all expenses involved in that participation. LF [07] VETERAN GEORGIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE ASSAULTEDNationalIndependence Party of Georgia Chairman Irakli Tsereteli was attacked and beaten in Tbilisi on the night of 3-4 April while returning home after giving an interview to Georgian National television, Caucasus Press reported. Tsereteli is one of the leaders of the Center for Georgia's Freedom and Independence, which advocates a nationwide boycott of the presidential elections scheduled for 9 April. LF [08] CHINESE OFFICIAL VOWS TO RESOLVE OIL COMPANY DISPUTE WITHKAZAKHSTANHu Yaobin, vice president of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), told journalists in Almaty on 3 April that the ongoing dispute between that corporation and sacked employees of the Aqtobe-Munaigaz company in northwest Kazakhstan will be resolved in the near future, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital reported. Some 2,000 workers at that facility are demanding compensation and/or reinstatement after being dismissed when the CNPC acquired a 60 percent stake in Aqtobe-Munaigaz in 1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 January and 2 March 2000). Also on 3 April, a senior Aqtobe-Munaigaz official told Interfax that the company plans to increase output from last year's 2.3 million tons, of which 370,000 were exported to China, to 2.5 million tons this year and 3 million tons in 2001. LF [09] KAZAKH OPPOSITION NEWSPAPERS CRITICIZEDThe latest issue ofthe newspaper "Altyn orda," which is the mouthpiece of the pro-presidential OTAN party, has published harsh criticism of several opposition newspapers, including "Soldat" and XXI vek," RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported on 4 April. Those papers are accused of bias toward former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin and of receiving financial support from him. LF [10] KYRGYZ LEADERSHIP REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRATIZATION...Presidential spokesman Osmonakun Ibraimov told journalists inBishkek on 3 April that President Askar Akaev intends to draw lessons from the shortcomings of the February-March parliamentary poll in order to ensure that they are not repeated during the presidential election later this year, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Ibraimov said that Akaev remains committed to further democratization. Also on 3 April, Akaev's adviser Askar Aitmatov told journalists that preparations are under way for a round-table discussion under the aegis of the OSCE between the country's leadership and the opposition. LF [11] ...AS ARRESTED OPPOSITION LEADER CONTINUES HUNGER STRIKEAr-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov told two Russian television channels on 3 April that his health is deteriorating as a result of the hunger strike he began on 22 March, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Kulov said he is allowed to meet with his lawyer, but not with members of his family. LF [12] UZBEK SPECIALISTS SAY CONTRABAND RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL NOTWEAPONS-GRADENuclear scientists in Tashkent said on 3 April that the 10 containers of radio-active material intercepted on the Kazakh-Uzbek border four days earlier could not be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, Interfax reported. The materials were destined for Pakistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 April 2000). RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported that the cargo was loaded by a private Kazakh company in Shymkent, southern Kazakhstan. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] U.S. HAILS ARREST OF KRAJISNIKU.S. Ambassador to the UNRichard Holbrooke, who was also the architect of the 1995 Dayton Bosnian peace agreement, called SFOR's arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik on 3 April "the best news in five years" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 April 2000). Holbrooke noted that Krajisnik's extradition to The Hague "is a major blow to the separatists, racists, and murderers who have been trying to thwart the concept [of Bosnia as a single nation] that is at the heart" of the Dayton agreement, Reuters reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin noted that only by assigning "individual responsibility [for war crimes] can collective responsibility be expunged." He added that "today's arrest sends a message to Mr. [Radovan] Karadzic that time is against him and that the international community will not let up in its efforts to bring him to justice," AP reported. Karadzic, who is one of the two most senior Bosnian Serb war criminals still at large, should "get even less sleep [following Krajisnik's arrest] than he's been getting up to now," Rubin said. PM [14] BELGRADE SLAMS 'GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBIAN PEOPLE'TheYugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 3 April that the arrest of Krajisnik "clearly shows that NATO continues its policy of genocide against the Serbian people," Reuters reported. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party (SPS) said in a statement that "by this act, SFOR showed itself to be a mere occupation force directed against the interests of the Republika Srpska and the Dayton peace accord." The SPS argued that NATO used "cowboy principles" to strengthen the position of Bosnian Serb moderates led by Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. PM [15] MIXED REACTION FROM SERBIAN OPPOSITIONVuk Draskovic'sSerbian Renewal Movement (SPO) said that the 3 April arrest is "worthy of condemnation from a legal, political, and any other kind of standpoint," "Vesti" reported from Belgrade. Referring to the fact that Krajisnik's arrest was based on a secret indictment, the SPO added that such indictments are not used as the basis for arrests "in any single Western country." The party called attention to the timing of the arrest, which took place shortly before the 8 April Bosnian local elections. But Vladan Batic of the Alliance for Change said that everyone must recognize that the Hague-based war crimes tribunal is a "cruel reality" of political life in the former Yugoslavia. He noted that the Dayton agreement commits all signatories to cooperating with The Hague and that Milosevic is among the signatories. Batic wondered when Milosevic, whom the tribunal has indicted for war crimes, will be arrested and sent for trial. PM [16] BOSNIAN SERBS SHAKEN BY KRAJISNIK'S ARRESTDodik said inBanja Luka on 3 April that he had nothing to do with the arrest of Krajisnik or its timing. He suggested that responsibility lies with Krajisnik's own Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), for which he had been campaigning, "Vesti" reported. Dodik stressed that the SDS has been a constant source of trouble in Bosnian politics, adding that he hopes the party will soon "meet its end." Bosnian Serb Vice President Mirko Sarovic said that the arrest of Krajisnik violates "all resolutions and other measures [approved by] the UN's Security Council" on Bosnia. He added that in making the arrest, SFOR showed that it "is not preserving the peace but rather violating the basis of human rights and freedom" in Bosnia. Jovan Mitrovic of former President Biljana Plavsic's Serbian National Alliance said the arrest was "directed against the Serbian people." The SDS said in a statement that it has responded to the latest developments "peacefully and with dignity." Zivko Radisic, who succeeded Krajisnik on the Bosnian joint presidency in 1998, wondered "who is next" on The Hague's list, "Oslobodjenje" reported. PM [17] WARM WORDS FROM SARAJEVO FOR SFORAdnan Jahic, who is aspokesman for Alija Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action, said in Sarajevo on 3 April that Krajisnik's arrest gives one reason to hope that the arrest of Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic is not far off, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Jacques Klein, who is the UN's chief representative in Bosnia, called Krajisnik "the most persistent extremist and xenophobic individual with whom I had to deal," Reuters reported. Klein added that Krajisnik "robbed his own people.... He personally profited [from war and suffering through his business deals]. It is always easy to mislead people under the [banner] of nationalism," Klein concluded. PM [18] MIXED FEELINGS AMONG ELECTION MONITORS, KOSOVARSAspokeswoman for the OSCE, which is organizing and monitoring the 8 April elections, said in Sarajevo on 3 April that "we believe that the people from the Republika Srpska want elections free of violence. People should just go and vote." But in Split, OSCE officials said privately that they fear for the safety of their several hundred monitors in the Republika Srpska. In Prishtina, one Kosovar spokesman told "RFE/RL Newsline" that Krajisnik's arrest means that "there is one [war criminal] off to The Hague, but what about the rest?" A second spokesman said that he fears the international community will now concentrate its efforts on arresting Bosnian war criminals and will neglect bringing to justice those responsible for atrocities in Kosova in 1998 and 1999. The spokesman added: "Milosevic has the blood of two million people on his hands. When will NATO go after him?" PM [19] PETRIC SACKS HERZEGOVINIAN POLICE CHIEFWolfgang Petritsch,who is the international community's chief civilian representative in Bosnia, has fired Ante Barisic as chief of police in Canton 10, which includes the Livno region, a Croatian nationalist stronghold. Petritsch charged that the ethnic Croatian police chief did nothing over a period of many months to stop attacks on Serbs and Muslims, "Oslobodjenje" reported on 4 April. PM [20] IS DJUKANOVIC COOPTING MILOSEVIC'S MILITARY OPPONENTS?The"Sueddeutsche Zeitung" reported on 4 April that the three generals who are advising the Montenegrin leadership on military affairs are opposed to Milosevic, who previously sacked them on account of their political views (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 April 2000). Former deputy air force chief General Blagoje Grahovac advises President Milo Djukanovic, while General Radoslav Martinovic, who formerly commanded the Second Army in Montenegro, works with Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic. Former military intelligence chief Nedeljko Boskovic advises Vukasin Maras, who is Djukanovic's police chief. In addition, some 300 "middle-ranking" army officers have applied to join Djukanovic's paramilitary police, the Munich-based daily added. PM [21] ROMANIAN PREMIER SAYS 'NO SECOND TERM IN OFFICE'MugurIsarescu told Antena 1 private television channel on 3 April that he will not agree to head another cabinet after the elections scheduled for this fall, Romanian Radio reported on 4 April. Isarescu said he might return to the post of National Bank governor but might also "go the private sector, possibly the media." MS [22] ROMANIAN GENERAL SENT TO PRISON FOR 1989 SOLDIERS' DEATHSThe Supreme Court on 3 April sentenced Dumitru Draghin toeight years in prison for "negligence" and "manslaughter," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. On 22 December 1989, the military unit defending the Bucharest international airport under Draghin's command opened fire against another unit that had responded to its call for reinforcement. Apparently, Draghin's unit had feared a "terrorist attack" during the first day of the anti-Ceausescu uprising. Fifty soldiers were killed and 13 wounded. The court ruled that Draghin should have ensured that the two units were aware of each other's position. It also ruled that Draghin and the Defense Ministry must pay 1.5 billion lei ($77 million) to relatives of the deceased as compensation. The ministry said it will appeal that part of the sentence. MS [23] MAIN ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY CONCLUDES AGREEMENT WITHFRINGE LIBERALSIon Iliescu, leader of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, and Radu Campeanu, who heads the extra- parliamentary National Liberal Party-Campeanu Wing, signed an agreement on 31 March to join forces for the local elections scheduled for this summer. Under the agreement, the two formations will support the best-placed candidate in runoffs but will run separately in the elections. They will also examine the possibility of cooperating in the parliamentary elections scheduled for the fall, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS [24] BULGARIA, ROMANIA CALL FOR RAPID CLEAN-UP OF DANUBEIn a 2April letter to the EU and NATO, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and his Romanian counterpart, Isarescu, called on the two organizations to help rapidly clean up the River Danube, AFP reported. The two leaders wrote that they "insist" that the re-establishment of Danube shipping, which has been blocked by rubble from bombed bridges since the NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia, must be regarded as an issue separate from the sanctions imposed on that country. Kostov and Isarescu noted that 70 percent of Bulgarian and 80 percent of Romanian river boats are out of service as a result of the blockage and that their countries have "suffered more than Yugoslavia." MS [25] LIBYA AGAIN POSTPONES BULGARIANS' TRIALLibya has postponedfor the second time the trial of six Bulgarian medical workers charged with intentionally infecting children with the HIV virus, Reuters reported on 3 April, citing Bulgarian Foreign Ministry sources. The postponement follows a request by the Libyan lawyer representing the defendants, who said he needs more time to study the indictment and prepare his defense. MS [C] END NOTE[26] KALININGRAD'S FUTURE WHEN THE EU EXPANDSBy Ahto LobjakasThe Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, once a favored Soviet bridgehead, spent most of the 1990s in quiet, decaying isolation. Though home to nearly 1 million inhabitants, it has been largely ignored by both Moscow and the EU. When the EU admits Poland and the three Baltic states, the presence of a Russian island in the union will be a unique problem. "The Kaliningrad Puzzle," a report commissioned by the Finland-based think-tank Aland Islands Peace Institute, looks at how the EU should treat the Russian exclave. Pertti Joenniemi of the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, who presented the report in Brussels last week, told RFE/RL that Kaliningrad's relative isolation in recent years means its problems are not easy to resolve. "Seen from a European Union perspective," he said, "one of the major problems is that there is no firm political leadership to lead Kaliningrad out of its crisis. There is a clash between the [local] government and the Duma opposition and that seems to stop any kind of progress." Kaliningrad's problems are manifold. Joenniemi lists corruption, smuggling, and drug trafficking as endemic in Kaliningrad, and the exclave has seen the rapid spread of AIDS. Many of the problems, according to the report, result from the years of neglect by the federal government in Moscow. In 1991, a free economic zone was established in Kaliningrad, but the region's poor starting position and uncompetitive economy left it increasingly dependent on imports. Kaliningrad's first post-Soviet governor, Yurii Matochkin, sought--unsuccessfully--to promote economic reform and open Kaliningrad to other countries in the region. The current governor, Leonid Gorbenko, has favored a largely isolationist course and has taken no steps to initiate much-needed structural reforms. Foreign direct investment in Kaliningrad, while higher than in Russia as a whole ($70 per capita annually in the exclave, compared with $63 in Russia) is still much lower than in the neighboring Baltic states (for example, $563 per capita in Lithuania in 1999). According to Joenniemi, the EU has regarded Kaliningrad as external to the union. Poland and Lithuania have responded to EU requirements for candidate countries by tightening their visa and trading policies toward the Russian exclave. But the report warns that EU policies of isolation and indifference risk leaving Kaliningrad an economic backwater and a source of instability. To avert that risk, Joenniemi argued, the EU needs to develop a long-term strategy for Kaliningrad. "My proposal is that Kaliningrad [should be] provided with both a long-term and a short-term perspective," he told RFE/RL. "That it will in the long run approach the European Union, maybe even reach EU membership of some sort. I don't mean Russia as a whole, but Kaliningrad separately." In the short term, the report says, the EU will need to find ways of providing Kaliningrad with development aid beyond the fairly limited ambit of TACIS, the aid program aimed at Russia and the CIS. Border policy must be amended to allow residents of Kaliningrad to travel more easily both to the east and west. The idea that Kaliningrad could one day have a closer relationship to the EU than the rest of Russia is gaining ground beyond academic circles. Last year, during its presidency of the EU, Finland promoted closer cooperation with Kaliningrad. Sweden has promised to do the same during its presidency next year, and perhaps even go further. Last week, Swedish Trade Minister Leif Pagrotsky raised the issue of eventual EU membership for Kaliningrad in an article published in a leading Swedish daily. And Russia itself seems not too averse to allowing greater cooperation between Kaliningrad and the EU. A 1999 official strategy paper for the development of relations with the EU says that while Kaliningrad must be recognized as part of Russia, it could also become a "pilot region" for Euro- Russian cooperation in the 21st century. The author is RFE/RL's correspondent in Brussels. 04-04-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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