RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 110, 00-06-07

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 110, 7 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING

[02] AZERBAIJAN, U.S. OPTIMISTIC ON EXPORT PIPELINE

[03] AZERBAIJAN TO BEGIN IMPORTING NATURAL GAS

[04] ANOTHER GEORGIAN OFFICIAL MURDERED

[05] CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE GEORGIAN PREMIERSHIP LOSES SUPPORT

[06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT PLAYS DOWN TENSIONS WITHIN RULING PARTY

[07] KAZAKH EDUCATION ACTIVIST ASSAULTED

[08] MORE KYRGYZ POLITICAL PARTIES DECIDE TO BOYCOTT ROUNDTABLE

[09] MURDERER OF TAJIK OPPOSITIONIST SENTENCED

[10] TAJIK DEFENSE MINISTER SLAMS POOR DISCIPLINE

[11] TURKMEN DEPUTY PREMIER DISMISSED

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] IZETBEGOVIC TO STEP DOWN

[13] IZETBEGOVIC TAKES STOCK OF SUCCESSES, FAILURES

[14] IZETBEGOVIC DEPARTURE TO HERALD NEW ELECTIONS?

[15] BOSNIA LAUNCHES JOINT BORDER POLICE

[16] U.S. HIKES AID FOR BOSNIAN REFUGEE RETURN

[17] KOSOVA SERBS TO LAUNCH ROAD BLOCKADE

[18] TENSE SITUATION IN GRACANICA

[19] CHURCH CALLS ON KOSOVA SERB REFUGEES TO VOTE

[20] NATO REJECTS AMNESTY'S CHARGES

[21] MACEDONIA PROTESTS TO BELGRADE

[22] MACEDONIAN GOODS FOR MONTENEGRO

[23] EU HAS PRAISE BUT NO TIMETABLE FOR ALBANIA

[24] BROTHER OF MONTENGRIN PRESIDENT ARRESTED

[25] MONTENEGRO, U.S. REJECT MILOSEVIC OFFICIAL'S CHARGE

[26] CROATIAN WORKERS OCCUPY MINISTRY

[27] NEW LEFTIST COALITION EMERGING IN ROMANIA...

[28] ...WHILE RIGHT DOES POORLY

[29] ANOTHER ROMANIAN BANKING OFFICIAL DETAINED

[30] MOLDOVA PLAYS 'GREAT POWERS' CARD

[31] BULGARIA TO SEEK EGYPTIAN HELP OVER LIBYA TRIAL

[C] END NOTE

[32] OSCE SEEKS AGREEMENT ON CENTRAL ASIAN WATER

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING

expenditures by 5.5 percent, to $495 million, the RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported. The government will withdraw $26.7

million from a $53 million privatization fund to underwrite

the additional expenditures, mostly in the construction

sector. Specifically, $10 million will be earmarked for the

northern districts hit by the 1988 earthquake. The additional

expenditure, which has also been approved by the Armenian

Central Bank, will raise the projected budget deficit to some

$120 million. LF

[02] AZERBAIJAN, U.S. OPTIMISTIC ON EXPORT PIPELINE

June at the opening of the seventh annual Caspian Oil and Gas

exhibition in Baku, Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev

expressed confidence that the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil export

pipeline will be completed by 2004, Turan reported. U.S.

special adviser on Caspian issues John Wolf said he believes

that the problem of raising the estimated $2.4 billion

construction costs for the pipeline will soon be resolved.

Wolf said the U.S. would welcome Russian participation in

that and other Caspian projects. He said the U.S. has a

strategic interest only in ensuring that one state does not

control all export pipelines from the region. Wolf suggested

that Kazakhstan might also export some of its Caspian oil to

Ceyhan. He explained that doing so would not necessitate

building a trans-Caspian underwater oil pipeline as up to

400,000 barrels per day could be transported by tanker from

Aktau to Baku. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN TO BEGIN IMPORTING NATURAL GAS

is vice president of the Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR,

told journalists in Baku on 6 June that in the future his

country will import at least 2 billion cubic meters of

natural gas annually in order to switch from oil- to gas-

fired electric power stations, Interfax reported. The cost of

importing gas will be met from the proceeds from the sale of

crude oil. Aliev said that both Russia and Iran have offered

to supply gas, but he did not quote prices. Azerbaijan

currently extracts some 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas

annually but needs 14 billion cubic meters. LF

[04] ANOTHER GEORGIAN OFFICIAL MURDERED

Prosecutor Zaza Nakeuri was shot dead near Tbilisi late on 5

June, Caucasus Press reported the following day. It is not

clear whether the killing was politically motivated. LF

[05] CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE GEORGIAN PREMIERSHIP LOSES SUPPORT

leader of the Union of Georgian Traditionalists, Akaki

Asatiani, said that 40 of the 133 parliament deputies who in

late April signed a legislative initiative proposing the

reintroduction of a cabinet of ministers and of the post of

premier have now withdrawn their support for that proposal,

Caucasus Press reported. Those members of the majority Union

of Citizens of Georgia who endorsed those proposals were

rebuked by President Eduard Shevardnadze (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 9 May 2000). Asatiani termed the deputies'

behavior "childish," and vowed to collect 200,000 signatures

among the population in order to raise the issue again in the

legislature. LF

[06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT PLAYS DOWN TENSIONS WITHIN RULING PARTY

interruption, Shevardnadze on 5 June described as "normal"

the decision of the Abkhazeti parliamentary faction to quit

the parliament majority, Caucasus Press reported (seee

"RFE/RL Newsline," 29 May 2000). Shevardnadze also said he

does not plan to leave the majority Union of Citizens of

Georgia (SMK), which he founded as his personal power base in

the early 1990s. Two prominent members of the SMK

parliamentary faction quit the group last week to protest the

parliament's endorsement of Nino Chkhobadze as minister for

environmental protection. Numerous deputies had earlier

charged that while holding that post in the previous

government, Chkhobadze had approved the import into Georgia

of the environmentally dangerous substance pyrolized resin

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 May 2000). LF

[07] KAZAKH EDUCATION ACTIVIST ASSAULTED

threw acid in the face of Ersain Erqozha in Almaty late on 5

June, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital reported.

Erqozha was hospitalized with severe burns and may lose the

sight of one eye. Erqozha's unofficial movement, named

"Education is the Future of the Next Generation," has

repeatedly criticized plans by the Ministry of Education to

privatize educational establishments. He had earlier been

threatened, and claimed that attack on him was politically

motivated. LF

[08] MORE KYRGYZ POLITICAL PARTIES DECIDE TO BOYCOTT ROUNDTABLE

(Freedom) parties announced in Bishkek on 6 June that they

will not participate in the roundtable discussion with

government representatives and NGOs scheduled for 8-9 June,

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

Chairman Topchubek Turgunaliev condemned the Kyrgyz

leadership's unilateral decision to increase the number of

participating organizations from 27 to 75. But he also argued

that the roundtable should become a permanent forum at which

government and opposition could exchange ideas. The

opposition Ar-Namys and Kairan-El parties had earlier

announced that they would not participate, while Communist

Party chairman Absamat Masaliev said his members are

undecided because no agenda for the session has been

published. Also on 6 June, Jerzy Wenclaw, who heads the OSCE

office in Bishkek, said that while his organization had

participated in the preparations, the roundtable is not

taking place under its aegis, Interfax reported. LF

[09] MURDERER OF TAJIK OPPOSITIONIST SENTENCED

Supreme Court on 5 June sentenced a 21-year-old man to 17

year in prison for the September 1998 shooting of respected

opposition leader and journalist Otakhon Latifi, AP and

Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 September 1998).

Latifi had returned to Tajikistan several months earlier and

headed the National Reconciliation Commission's sub-committee

for legal issues. LF

[10] TAJIK DEFENSE MINISTER SLAMS POOR DISCIPLINE

meeting of the Ministry of Defense board on 6 June, Defense

Minister General Sherali Khayrullaev harshly criticized

sloppy discipline among Defense Ministry personnel, Asia

Plus-Blitz reported. He said that so far this year more than

200 servicemen have been detained for infringements,

including desertion, being absent without leave and using

vehicles with illegal license plates. He warned commanders

that they will be held responsible if the situation does not

improve. LF

[11] TURKMEN DEPUTY PREMIER DISMISSED

Niyazov on 6 June dismissed Serdar Babaev, deputy premier

with responsibility for agriculture and water resources, for

unspecified shortcomings, Reuters reported. No replacement

has yet been named. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] IZETBEGOVIC TO STEP DOWN

Muslim member of the joint presidency, said in Sarajevo on 6

June that he will retire from politics in October at the end

of his current term as presidency chairman. He added: "In

August I will be 75, and the job of a member of the

presidency requires a physical condition that I no longer

have. I wish to thank all those who have supported me in the

previous most difficult 10 years of our history." He added:

"This is not the only reason [for the retirement.] There is

also some disappointment, there are some misunderstandings

between me and the international community...which could

damage the further consolidation of the situation in Bosnia.

The international community is pushing things forward in

Bosnia...but it is doing it at expense of the Muslim people.

I feel it as an injustice. These are the things that I cannot

live with. Somebody must come [forward] who can deal with

such problems," Reuters reported. PM

[13] IZETBEGOVIC TAKES STOCK OF SUCCESSES, FAILURES

said in Sarajevo on 6 June that his greatest success was that

he helped prevent Bosnia's becoming part of a greater Serbia

during the war of 1992-1995. He added that his greatest

failure was that he was subsequently unable to establish a

"unified, democratic, and prosperous Bosnia." Expanding on

his self-criticism, he noted that "there are no human rights

in the country. Bosnia is being eaten up by social problems.

There are no jobs, and people have a difficult life," the

"Los Angeles Times" quoted him as saying. Izetbegovic is a

devout Muslim who spent nine years in communist jails as a

political prisoner. He founded the Party of Democratic Action

in 1990 and has remained its leading figure. He is known to

his followers as "grandpa" and considered the most important

figure in establishing the post-communist Muslim nation. PM

[14] IZETBEGOVIC DEPARTURE TO HERALD NEW ELECTIONS?

from Sarajevo on 7 June that "some [unnamed] international

officials who effectively run this country said Izetbegovic's

decision may compel the two other presidency members--Bosnian

Serb Zivko Radisic and Bosnian Croat Ante Jelavic--to resign,

too. New elections would provide an opportunity to remove

Radisic and Jelavic, who are seen by some international

officials as an obstruction to implementing terms of the 1995

Dayton peace agreement for a multiethnic, unified Bosnian

state." A spokeswoman for the OSCE said that the OSCE's chief

representative Robert Barry will soon discuss the latest

political developments with Wolfgang Petritsch, who is the

international community's high representative in Bosnia. PM

[15] BOSNIA LAUNCHES JOINT BORDER POLICE

the international community inaugurated the State Border

Service in Sarajevo on 6 June. It will eventually have 3,000

members, who will be posted at some 240 border crossings,

Reuters reported. Izetbegovic said at the ceremony: "This

service sets conditions for the establishment of economic

relations with other countries and defines a strategy of

development and the fight against corruption. It will also

help the establishment of a single economic space." PM

[16] U.S. HIKES AID FOR BOSNIAN REFUGEE RETURN

Bosnia Thomas Miller said in Sarajevo on 6 June that

Washington has increased its financial support for refugee

return to $67.2 million. Some $45 million will go toward

rebuilding infrastructure, $12.2 million for rebuilding

homes, and $10 million for micro-credits and farm assistance.

He noted that in the first four months of 2000, some 11,445

refugees went home to areas controlled by an ethnic group

different from their own, compared to 3,438 the previous

year. Miller called the increase "fantastic" and stressed

that refugee return is "among our highest priorities,"

Reuters reported. PM

[17] KOSOVA SERBS TO LAUNCH ROAD BLOCKADE

the hard-line leader of Serbs in northern Mitrovica, said on

6 June that Serbs will block roads leading out of that

enclave for two hours each day to protest growing and

organized violence against the province's Serbs (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 6 June 2000). Ivanovic added that the blockade

will continue until 12 June, when the UN Security Council is

slated to discuss the situation in the Kosova. PM

[18] TENSE SITUATION IN GRACANICA

grenade attack in Gracanica on 6 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

6 June 2000). Angry Serbian crowds then attacked Swedish KFOR

troops and their vehicles. British troops fired into the air

and at their attackers, injuring one. Brigadier Richard

Shirreff said: "We were attacked. We had to fire shots to

protect ourselves," AP reported. PM

[19] CHURCH CALLS ON KOSOVA SERB REFUGEES TO VOTE

Orthodox Church issued a statement in Belgrade on 6 June

urging Serbian refugees from Kosova to register with the UN

civilian authorities and vote in the local elections widely

expected to take place this fall. Serbian hard-liners have

called for a boycott of the registration process. PM

[20] NATO REJECTS AMNESTY'S CHARGES

spokesman Jamie Shea rejected a report by Amnesty

International that accused NATO of committing war crimes in

its 1999 campaign to end atrocities in Kosova. The report

charged that the Atlantic alliance deliberately attacked

civilian targets. Shea called the charges "unfounded." He

added that the Hague-based tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla

Del Ponte recently said that NATO did not commit war crimes

and that "her opinion carries more weight" than does that of

Amnesty. Serbian spokesmen in London and Belgrade praised the

Amnesty study, BBC television reported (see "RFE/RL Balkan

Report," 6 June 2000). PM

[21] MACEDONIA PROTESTS TO BELGRADE

Nikola Dimitrov said in Skopje on 6 June that his government

has submitted a "verbal demarche" to the Serbian authorities

because border guards refuse admission to Macedonian citizens

with stamps in their passports from the UN's civilian

administration in Kosova. PM

[22] MACEDONIAN GOODS FOR MONTENEGRO

of trucks will take goods from Macedonia to Montenegro via

Kosova once a week, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on

6 June. PM

[23] EU HAS PRAISE BUT NO TIMETABLE FOR ALBANIA

who headed a team of EU officials visiting Albania, said in

Tirana on 6 June that Albania has made much progress in

stabilizing the macroeconomic situation, adopting laws on the

police and civil service, and privatizing the mobile

telephone monopoly. He added, however, that much remains to

be done to strengthen law and order, speed up reforms in the

financial sector, and privatize banks, utilities, and the

fixed telephone monopoly, Reuters reported. Barbaso said that

he cannot provide a timetable for Albania's reaching an

association agreement with the EU, adding that such a

decision can be made only by EU leaders in Brussels. PM

[24] BROTHER OF MONTENGRIN PRESIDENT ARRESTED

arrested Aco Djukanovic, who is the younger brother of Milo

Djukanovic, for assaulting Zoran Klajic with a pistol,

Montenegrin dailies reported on 6 June. Klajic is a member of

the pro-independence Liberal Alliance, which will run

candidates against those of the elder Djukanovic's coalition

in the 11 June local elections. A lawyer for Aco Djukanovic

said that Klajic had taunted him. PM

[25] MONTENEGRO, U.S. REJECT MILOSEVIC OFFICIAL'S CHARGE

on 7 June that charges by hard-line Yugoslav Information

Minister Goran Matic regarding the recent murder of a

Djukanovic aide are the product of an "insane, sick, and

tragic mind." Matic had blamed the CIA for the killing of

Goran Zugic. In Washington, a CIA spokesman called Matic's

remarks "absurd," AP reported. PM

[26] CROATIAN WORKERS OCCUPY MINISTRY

state-run NAMA department store chain occupied the building

of the Economics Ministry on 7 June. They want the government

to provide money for the financially-troubled company, which

has not paid most of its 2,000 workers for several months. PM

[27] NEW LEFTIST COALITION EMERGING IN ROMANIA...

97 percent of the vote counted, the Party of Social Democracy

in Romania is well ahead in the 4 June local elections,

having won 26.3 percent of the mayoralties, 24.7 of local

councilor posts, and 26.1 percent of county councilor posts.

In second place is the Democratic Party, with 12.9 percent of

mayors, 10.6 percent of local councilors, and 9,9 percent of

county councilors. The Alliance for Romania is in third

place, with 9.3 percent of mayors, 8.7 percent of local

councilors, and 8 percent of county councilors. Observers say

these three parties may form a coalition after the fall

parliamentary elections if current trends persist. MS

[28] ...WHILE RIGHT DOES POORLY

Romania (CDR) came fifth in mayoral elections (7.3 percent),

trailing the National Liberal Party (PNL), which ran on

separate lists from those of the CDR. The PNL also scored

better than the CDR in terms of local councilors (8 percent

compared with 6.5 percent) and county councilors (7.1 percent

compared with 6.8 percent). The CDR has lost in five out of

the six large towns, the exception being Timisoara.

Independent candidates placed sixth, followed by the

Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (5.4, percent, 6.3

percent, and 7.3 percent, respectively) and the Greater

Romania Party (4.8 percent, 5.8 percent, and 6.4 percent).

The ballot seems to confirm predictions of the likely demise

of the Party of Romanian National Unity. MS

[29] ANOTHER ROMANIAN BANKING OFFICIAL DETAINED

General's Office on 6 June detained Camenco Petrovici, former

president of CEC, Romania's largest state saving bank.

Petrovici is suspected of "abuse of office." The decision to

detain him was taken after Petrovici had undergone

questioning. Petrovici, a member of the ruling National

Peasant Party Christian Democratic, had signed a contract

guaranteeing CEC investments in the since collapsed National

Investment Fund without informing the CEC administrative

board. CEC says the guarantee is null and void. If convicted,

Petrovici faces a jail sentence of between five and 15 years.

MS

[30] MOLDOVA PLAYS 'GREAT POWERS' CARD

departing on 6 June for a five-day official visit to China,

said Moldova wants to study the Chinese experience in

economic reforms as well as the possibility to export to

third countries through China. Lucinschi told Chinese

reporters that Moldova considers Taiwan an "inalienable part

of China," Infotag and ITAR-TASS reported. Moldovan media

said Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a visit to

Moldova on 16-17 June--the first official visit of a Russian

president since independence, Among other things, Putin will

discuss with his hosts the Transdniester conflict. Meanwhile,

the OSCE on 6 June expressed "concern" for the failure of

Russian troops to withdraw from the Transdniester, despite a

pledge to do so at last year's OSCE Istanbul summit, AP

reported. MS

[31] BULGARIA TO SEEK EGYPTIAN HELP OVER LIBYA TRIAL

Minister Nadezhda Mihailova, who starts a three-day official

visit to Egypt on 7 June, will seek the help of President

Husni Mubarak and other officials to secure a fair trial of

the six Bulgarian medics detained in Libya, Reuters reported

on 6 June, quoting ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov. On 2

June, some 2,000 people holding candles had held a protest

vigil near the Libyan embassy in Sofia. Four days later, on 6

June, Libya's ambassador to Sofia lodged a protest against

the vigil, AP reported. MS

[C] END NOTE

[32] OSCE SEEKS AGREEMENT ON CENTRAL ASIAN WATER

The chairwoman of the OSCE, Austrian Foreign Minister

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, went to Central Asia last week. One

goal of her visit was to persuade the five countries to meet

in London at the end of the year to discuss how the region's

water resources could be used for the good of all.

When she left Tashkent at the end of her tour, Ferrero-

Waldner knew it would not be possible to convene the

conference this year. The presidents of Turkmenistan and

Uzbekistan said they prefer to handle the problem on a

bilateral basis and rejected the multilateral approach

proposed by the OSCE. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan,

however, favor the conference.

The OSCE chairwoman told RFE/RL she now believes it

could be one or two years before the conference is held. In

the meantime, OSCE will organize working groups and other

meetings to try to persuade Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to

join the others at the talks.

All the upstream countries, she said, want a solution to

the problem and do not want to stick to the old solutions

from the communist era. This is the reason why the proposed

conference, when it finally does take place, will deal with

all aspects of the water problem--how the water should be

shared, the building of storage dams, the use of

hydroelectric power, and irrigation.

Officials traveling with the OSCE chairwoman said her

negotiations in both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were

difficult. The reaction of Turkmen President Saparmurat

Niyazov was described as cold. He said he does not believe an

international conference in London is the right way to handle

the matter.

Those officials also said that Uzbek President Islam

Karimov told the OSCE chairwoman that his country has a

thousand years of experience in managing its water problems.

He added that he, too, prefers bilateral discussions over a

multilateral conference.

Nevertheless, the foreign ministers of both countries

have been invited to visit the OSCE headquarters in Vienna to

discuss the proposals with experts on water management. The

OSCE says it hopes the water problems can also be discussed

on the sidelines of a summit meeting in Tashkent in October.

That meeting has been called primarily to discuss how to

tackle the pressing issue of drug smuggling in Central Asia

and security issues.

Ferrero-Waldner stressed that the OSCE is not trying to

lecture the two reluctant states. "We are only advising on

something we think could be good for the whole region," she

commented.

Neither Turkmenistan nor Uzbekistan attended a seminar on

trans-boundary water resources organized by the OSCE in

Almaty last November. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan

did participate. However, some progress was made at a recent

meeting of the five deputy water ministers in Nukes, a city

in Uzbekistan located near the dying Aral Sea.

The OSCE is not the only international organization

working with the five Central Asian states to overcome the

problems in reaching a water-sharing agreement. The World

Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and

other international bodies have also made suggestions.

International experts say one important issue is what

the water-rich states should get in return for sharing their

waters. That is a sensitive issue in Kyrgyzstan, which is

rich in water but has few other natural resources to boost

the lagging economy. One Kyrgyz expert told journalists

traveling with the OSCE chairwoman that some people in

Kyrgyzstan are already asking why they should give away their

water.

The expert, who asked not to be identified, also said

that some people have suggested Kyrgyzstan should block the

flow of water to other countries unless it receives

compensation. He said that argument, while made only by a

minority, illustrates the tensions that can arise unless the

problem is solved.

A widely-read environmental report issued last year

noted that Uzbekistan's agriculture depends heavily on the

water-intensive cotton yield. The report said this has

occasionally caused tensions with upstream states such as

Kyrgyzstan.

The OSCE chairwoman described the management of trans-

boundary water resources as "one of the fundamental

environmental issues in the region." She said the OSCE hopes

that Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will eventually come to

agree that it can be best tackled by all five states working

together for the common good.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Munich.

07-06-00

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

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