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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 69, 00-04-06Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 69, 6 April 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER'S BODYGUARD COMMITS MANSLAUGHTERArbak Babasian, a relative of parliamentary speaker ArmenKhachatrian and head of his bodyguard service, shot and killed a man during an argument on the street in Yerevan during the night of 4-5 April, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Babasian was subsequently detained by police. Khachatrian left Armenia on the evening of 4 April for an official trip to Australia. Since his appointment five months ago, he has been repeatedly criticized for incompetence and inappropriate behavior (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 14, 6 April 2000). LF [02] AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY SIGN FURTHER MILITARY COOPERATIONAGREEMENTAzerbaijani Deputy Defense Minister Colonel Mamed Beydullaev and Colonel General Baha Tuzuner, who is commander of the Turkish ground forces, signed a protocol in Baku on 5 April on training military personnel, Interfax and Turan reported. LF [03] ARMENIAN MINORITY CALLS ON GEORGIA TO ACKNOWLEDGE 1915GENOCIDESome 200 representatives of the majority ethnic Armenian population of Samtskhe-Djavakheti in southern Georgia held a protest demonstration in the regional center of Akhalkalaki during Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze's election campaign visit there on 4 April, Caucasus Press reported on 5 April, citing "Rezonansi." The protesters called upon the Georgian leadership to acknowledge as genocide the killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. They also demanded measures to improve social and economic conditions in the region (see "End Note," "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 September 1999). LF [04] ADJAR LEADER TO QUIT GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE?Georgianstate television reported on 5 April that Aslan Abashidze, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Adjar Autonomous Republic, will announce on 6 April his decision to withdraw his candidacy in the 9 April Georgian presidential poll, according to Caucasus Press. Abashidze had held talks on 5 April in Batumi with Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania, whom former Batumi Mayor Tamaz Kharazi had accused in 1997 of plotting to oust Abashidze (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 and 22 October 1997). Shevardnadze is scheduled to travel to Batumi on 6 April, where he will meet with Abashidze. LF [05] WORKERS MOVEMENT LEADER ARRESTED IN KAZAKHSTANWorkersMovement leader Madel Ismailov was arrested in Almaty on 6 April and will be charged with participating in the unsanctioned pensioners' protest in that city on 30 March, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported. Meanwhile Irina Savostina, who heads the Pokolenie movement to defend pensioners' rights, told RFE/RL that she intends to request political asylum in the Russian Federation because of the increasing oppression of opposition activists by the Kazakh authorities. LF [06] KAZAKHSTAN LAUNCHES CRACKDOWN ON CUT-PRICE OIL SALESKazakhstan's Premier Qasymzhomart Toqaev said on 4 April thatthe ongoing investigation into the sale of oil below world prices is encountering fierce resistance from oil companies, Reuters reported. Losses to the state budget from such sales in the past are estimated at several hundred million dollars. Toqaev had announced in February the creation of a commission, which he chairs, to investigate such abuses (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February 2000). LF [07] KAZAKHSTAN DRAFTS PROGRAM TO CUT UNEMPLOYMENTKazakhstan'sgovernment plans to finalize within 10 days measures to reduce poverty and unemployment, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 5 April. Prime Minister Toqaev told a cabinet session the previous day that it is planned to reduce unemployment by 21 percent by the end of 2002, from 13.5 percent to 9 percent of the able-bodied population. First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Pavlov had said earlier that priority will be given to ensuring that at least one member of every household has a job, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 1 April. Toqaev also said that the percentage of budget spending on unemployment and other social benefits will be raised from 0.8 percent to 1 percent. He said that the government must not incur any arrears in such payments. LF [08] COURT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST KYRGYZ OPPOSITION LEADER RESUMED,SUSPENDEDA Bishkek district court on 5 April opened proceedings against opposition El (Bei Bechara) chairman Daniyar Usenov for assaulting a businessman at Bishkek airport in 1996, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. That case had been closed last fall after the businessman withdrew his suit against Usenov but was reopened in February 2000. The 5 April court proceedings were suspended after 30 minutes when Usenov rejected the defense lawyer proposed by the court and was arrested on charges of obstructing the course of justice. He was released on 6 April, however, reportedly on instructions from Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev. U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin had called on 5 April for Usenov's immediate release. LF [09] KYRGYZ PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE GUILD FORMEDMeeting inBishkek on 5 April, Kyrgyz human rights activists formed the Guild of Prisoners of Conscience of Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Oppositionist Topchubek Turgunaliev, who has been designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was chosen to head the guild's Coordinating Council. LF [10] TAJIK, BELARUS PRESIDENTS SIGN FRIENDSHIP, COOPERATIONAGREEMENTImomali Rakhmonov and Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a friendship and cooperation agreement in Dushanbe on 5 April, together with other accords intended to create a legal basis for expanded cooperation in the spheres of the economy, science, technology, transport, and communications, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. Rakhmonov accepted an invitation to visit Belarus next month. The two presidents had met for one hour the previous day to discuss bilateral relations. Also on 5 April, the two countries' defense ministers, Colonel General Sherali Khairulloev and Aleksandr Chumakov, met to discuss military cooperation both within the CIS Collective Security Treaty and on a bilateral basis. Belarus is currently training Tajik air force specialists in the use of air defense weapons. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] FRENCH LEADERS DETERMINED TO ARREST KARADZICFrenchPresident Jacques Chirac said in Paris on 5 April that top war criminals should be arrested in Bosnia, adding that "justice must be done." Defense Minister Alain Richard told a cabinet meeting that "France believes that arresting [former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan] Karadzic is a major goal and remains an objective to which it is determined to contribute," Reuters reported. Richard also noted that French peacekeepers are participating in the arrest of war criminals "at least as much as the British and Americans." French troops led the operation on 3 April to arrest Karadzic's former deputy, Momcilo Krajisnik (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 4 April 2000). PM [12] KARADZIC'S WIFE APPEARS AT RALLYLjiljana Zelen-Karadzicattended a rally of her husband's Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in Pale on 6 April. AP reported that it was her first appearance "in years at such a large public gathering." Supporters chanted her husband's nickname, "Rasko." She told reporters that her family fears for her husband's arrest but added, "We have confidence in God and we pray." She lamented the arrest of Krajisnik, adding that "a man who signed the Dayton Peace Agreement [in 1995] together with [U.S. President Bill] Clinton was arrested in the way they arrest Mafiosi. But the Americans can only do it that way. We, however, are decent people and will wait for the [8 April local] elections. The results will show our victory," Zelen- Karadzic added. PM [13] BELGRADE WANTS HAGUE TRIBUNAL ABOLISHEDActing in the nameof the federal government, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic sent an appeal from Belgrade to the UN Security Council demanding that the UN abolish the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. Jovanovic stressed that the tribunal has "no legal basis" and that its sole purpose is to conduct "genocide against the Serbian people." In related news, Krajisnik telephoned his brother Mirko in Pale from The Hague to arrange the hiring of defense lawyers. Momcilo told Mirko that he does not want to deal with any papers from the tribunal without a lawyer, "Danas" reported on 6 April. PM [14] MORE INCIDENTS AGAINST ALBANIANS IN SERBIAAn unknown snipershot and killed Ismet Aliu in the Dobrosin area of southwestern Serbia's Presevo Valley on 4 April, AP reported two days later. A NATO spokesman in Prishtina gave no details of the incident, but "Koha Ditore" reported that Aliu was "on patrol" when he was shot. The Dobrosin area is part of a demilitarized zone in which ethnic Albanian guerrillas are active. In another incident, police "abducted" and briefly detained Fahri Musliu, who is an ethnic Albanian correspondent for Voice of America, in Belgrade on 6 April. Sonja Biserko, who heads the Serbian Helsinki Committee, said that he had recently received threatening telephone calls and that several unidentified men had tried to enter his flat the night before he was abducted. This is the first recent case in Serbia of an abduction of a journalist working for a foreign broadcaster, AP added. PM [15] FATHER SAVA WARNS CRITICSFather Sava, who is a spokesmanfor Serbian Orthodox Archbishop Artemije and a leader of Kosova Serbs opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, said at Gracanica monastery on 5 April that pro- Milosevic Serbs have a right to visit the monastery and make their political views known. He warned them, however, that they must behave appropriately when visiting a monastery and not swear or smoke there, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Sava spoke after some 100 pro-Milosevic Serbs staged a protest at Gracanica against Sava's and Artemije's recent decision to participate in the UN's provisional advisory council in Kosova as observers (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 April 2000). Elsewhere, Sava appealed to the Serbian diaspora to act responsibly in their support of political causes in the former Yugoslavia. He said that it is all too easy to engage in militant rhetoric if one is sitting "in a comfortable chair" in Western Europe far from the harsh realities of Kosova, Bosnia, or Krajina, "Vesti" reported on 6 April. PM [16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION REMAINS HAMSTRUNGLeaders of the factiousSerbian opposition have still not agreed among themselves who will speak and in which order at the mass protest meeting slated for 14 April in Belgrade, "Vesti" reported on 6 April. Such seemingly petty questions of precedence and status have for years prevented the opposition leaders from sinking their differences and working together to oust Milosevic. PM [17] SESELJ SUPPORTERS OUST PRIVATE MEDIA FROM LEGISLATUREOfficials of the Serbian parliament ordered out of a sessionof the Culture and Information Committee an unspecified number of reporters from the dailies "Danas," "Glas javnosti," and "Blic" at the request of deputies from Vojislav Seselj's Radical Party. The ban on 5 April also affected reporters from the Beta and Fonet news agencies and Studio B television, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [18] DJUKANOVIC SAYS MONTENEGRO WILL NOT BE PROVOKEDMontenegrinPresident Milo Djukanovic said in Brussels on 5 April that "we are conscious that time is on our side...and that's why we are trying very hard to avoid all the pitfalls that the Belgrade regime has created for us. We are confident that any escalation would play into their hands and would be to our detriment. I'm confident that we'll succeed." Djukanovic stressed that Montenegro's government is "trying to be a responsible government, which will not make nervous moves or provoke instability," Reuters reported. PM [19] MACEDONIA WANTS KFOR TO BETTER CONTROL BORDERPresidentBoris Trajkovski's office sent a statement to KFOR commander General Klaus Reinhardt on 5 April calling on peacekeepers to better control the Kosova-Macedonian border and prevent incidents. The move came several days after unidentified persons briefly detained four Macedonian soldiers after they strayed into Kosova on 2 April, Reuters reported. In Prishtina, Reinhardt said that he "will not allow [Kosova] to become a safe haven for bandits and criminals." The men who detained the soldiers demanded the release of Xhavit Hasani, a Macedonian-born Albanian whom many Kosovars regard as a hero of the 1999 conflict. The UN authorities in Kosova recently deported Hasani to Macedonia, where he is wanted for murder. The four Macedonian soldiers were freed on 3 April after Hasani was let out of prison on $100,000 bail and allowed to return to Kosova, AP reported. PM [20] DEL PONTE PRAISES CROATIAN GOVERNMENTCarla Del Ponte, whois the chief prosecutor of the Hague-based tribunal, said in Zagreb that she is "very happy" about the new government's cooperative attitude toward the tribunal. She said that she "got a lot of documents" during her visit (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 April 2000). She refused to provide any details of possible sealed indictments of high-ranking Croatian officials. Del Ponte added, however, that she spoke to Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic about an unspecified number of sealed indictments and that he knows the names of those indicted, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM [21] CROATIAN PARTIES AGREE ON APPONTMENTSLeaders of the sixgoverning parties agreed in Zagreb on 5 April to soon make appointments to leading government agencies, in which each party will have a prescribed percentage of top jobs. The agencies involved deal with military affairs, privatization, the police, the railways, the posts and telecommunications, and the state insurance firm, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM [22] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN ROMANIADuring a three-day visit toRomania, Robert Kocharian met with his Romanian counterpart, Emil Constantinescu, on 5 April to discuss bilateral economic relations, collaboration within the framework of the TRACECA and INOGATE projects, and Romanian support for Armenia's quest to join the Council of Europe. They also touched on the role Romania might play in seeking a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict when it takes over the OSCE rotating chairmanship in 2001. The two presidents agreed that Romanian free zones can serve as transit-bases for Armenian exports to Europe. Robert Nazarian and Traian Basescu, who head the joint inter- governmental commission, signed two agreements on agricultural cooperation, Mediafax reported. MS [23] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN GERMANYPetre Roman met withhis German counterpart, Joschka Fischer, on 5 April to discuss ways to improve economic cooperation as well as Romania's bid to join the EU, the Balkan Stability Pact, and the blockage of shipping on the River Danube since the NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia. The two ministers also discussed German aid to Romania to deal with environmental problems, an RFE/RL correspondent in Berlin reported. MS [24] FORMER ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DENIES ROLE IN 'HOT LINE'TALKS WITH KREMLINAlliance for Romania (APR) Chairman Teodor Melescanu, who was foreign minister in Nicolae Vacaroiu's cabinet, has denied reports that he played any role in the talks with Russia on establishing a "hot line" between Bucharest and Moscow. Melescanu, who is the APR candidate in the 2000 presidential contest, said the fact that presidential counselor Constantin Degeratu revealed on the eve of the election campaign that such discussions had taken place proves that Constantinescu is attempting to manipulate the electorate and "inflate" the scandal. Melescanu also backed the Party of Social Democracy in Romania's demand that a parliamentary investigative commission be set up to find out how secret documents were leaked from the Foreign Ministry to Constantinescu and were used by him in his 1996 presidential campaign, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported on 5 April. MS [25] ROMANIAN SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN DIESSorin Moisescu died ofa heart attack on 6 April at the age of 61, AP reported. During the 1990s, Moisescu held several top legal positions, including that of prosecutor-general. He was appointed to head the Supreme Court in June 1998. VG [26] MOLDOVAN CABINET APPROVES PRIVATIZATION BILLSThe Moldovangovernment on 5 April approved plans for the privatization of the wine and tobacco industries, BASA-Press and Flux reported. The plans call for the sale of 51 percent of shares in the wine and tobacco companies. The state is to retain a 34 percent stake in each company and 15 percent will be sold to each company's employees at a nominal price. The IMF has set the privatization of these two industries as a pre- condition for granting credits to Moldova. VG [27] BULGARIA TO RECEIVE AID FROM GERMANYGermany will provideBulgaria with DM 30.3 million ($14.9 million) to support economic reforms, BTA reported. Bulgarian Deputy Economy Minister Hristo Mikhaylovski was in Germany on 4 April to sign a protocol on that assistance. In other news, the Irish- American company Cable Bulgaria will invest $200 million over three years in the development of a national cable television and Internet service in the Balkan country, AP reported. Cable Bulgaria is owned by Ireland's Ganley Group and Catamount Partners L.P., a U.S. investment fund controlled by the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. VG [C] END NOTE[28] POLAND RECEIVES MIXED SIGNALS OVER EU ENTRYBy Breffni O'RourkeBy virtue of its spectacular progress in economic reform and its enthusiastic desire to join Western structures, Poland has always been regarded as a leading candidate for quick entry into the EU. Already a member of the NATO alliance, Poland has set its own target date of January 2003 for accession to the EU. It is one of five Central and East European "front-runners" that have been negotiating with Brussels for the past two years. (The others are Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Slovenia.) For its part, the EU's Executive Commission has always declined to set an entry date for any of the candidates, although it maintained a generally encouraging tone. But there have recently been confusing signals about the position of Poland. Guenter Verheugen, the EU's commissioner for enlargement, said in an interview with "Uniting Europe" last week that Poland is not "predetermined" to be in the first wave of accession. Theoretically seen, he said, "Poland could even be the last of all to join." In diplomatic circles where words are weighed, such a formulation is striking. It follows Verheugen's comments the month before in Warsaw when he said Poland could miss the 2003 deadline, as it had fallen behind in developing its legislative program. Also in Warsaw, Ricardo Levi, the spokesman for Commission President Romano Prodi, mused aloud about the possibility of a first-wave entry without Poland. Verheugen has since made an effort to backtrack, in an evident attempt to smooth ruffled feathers. In an interview with the "Financial Times" on 4 April, he said it is his personal objective to ensure that Poland is among the first new members. He said there is no change in the commission's strategy and no one need be nervous. The enlargement process is "irreversible," he commented. So why the sudden swing in tone? Poland's Ambassador to the EU Jan Truszczynski told RFE/RL that there is "no reason to believe that Poland has ceased to be one of the leaders in the league of candidates." He admitted that there are delays of "several months," in legislation in some important areas, including telecommunications but stressed that work is now being speeded up. The ambassador, like other Polish officials, says it is "unthinkable" that Poland should be left out of the first wave. So what has caused EU officials to think the unthinkable? The most likely answer is agriculture. EU member states have not yet been able to decide how--or even whether- -the terms of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can be extended to Eastern candidates. The CAP is an extremely expensive instrument of financial support for EU farmers. It consumes half the entire EU budget and is deeply unpopular in international trade circles, where it is seen as posing unfair trade competition. Extending the system to Poland's 2 million farms, most of them smallholdings worked at subsistence level, would probably bring the CAP to the point of collapse. Moreover, present member states would revolt at having to pay so much for Poland. Verheugen foreshadowed the difficulties when he said last month that member states will not be able to formulate a full, common negotiating position on agriculture until at least the end of this year, despite the fact that negotiations with Poland and the other front runners are set to open this June. Verheugen has moved to put the ball in Warsaw's court, by saying the Polish government will have to come up with a clear concept on restructuring its agriculture. But as Ambassador Truszczynski says, the EU, too, must do its part. He says Brussels is reluctant to get down to the hard talking: "They have to start proposing the solutions they have been signaling for quite some time already. We have to start discussing substance, this substance has not yet been the subject of discussion, the member states preferring until now to ask additional questions, to demand additional explanations from all the candidates." One possible solution in Poland's case would be to consider most of the farms not to be farms at all in terms of the CAP. Fewer than half a million farms in Poland are considered commercially viable. These could be subsidized under the CAP, while the other 1.5 million properties, which are often not much more than family plots, could be helped under other EU funds, for instance for social development in rural areas. What now appears clear, for Poland and for the other candidates, is that the agriculture issue is one with a potential to upset previous perceptions about who is leading in the EU accession stakes. The author is an RFE/RL senior correspondent based in Prague. 06-04-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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