RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 125, 00-06-28

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 125, 28 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN, U.S. PRESIDENTS DISCUSS KARABAKH

[02] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN MOSCOW

[03] AZERBAIJAN HALTS OIL EXPORTS VIA RUSSIA

[04] GEORGIAN STATE MINISTER UPBEAT ON ECONOMY

[05] GEORGIAN MINISTER DISCUSSES PROSPECTS FOR RESOLVING ABKHAZ

[06] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY WANTS TV PROGRAM FOR COMPATRIOTS

[07] TWO GEORGIAN RENEGADES JOIN FORCES

[08] LAW ON KAZAKHSTAN'S FIRST PRESIDENT PASSED...

[09] ...AS OPPOSITION UNVEILS ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS

[10] KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SCHEDULED...

[11] ...AS OPPOSITION CHALLENGER GOES ON TRIAL

[12] TAJIK PRESIDENT OUTLINES ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

[13] TURKMEN PRESIDENT EXPLAINS AVERSION TO CIS FREE TRADE ZONE

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] YUGOSLAVIA GIVES DETAILS OF 'ANTI-TERRORISM' BILL...

[15] ...WHILE U.S. SAYS IT'S NOT SURPRISED

[16] YUGOSLAV DRAFT LAW AIMED AT CONTROLING BUSINESSES?

[17] EU APPROVES AID TO YUGOSLAVIA

[18] MOB ATTACKS SERBIAN MONKS, RUSSIAN TV CREW

[19] NORWEGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER SUGGESTS LONG STAY FOR NATO IN

[20] U.S. CONDEMNS INTIMIDATION OF BOSNIAN PRESS

[21] MORE BODIES FOUND IN BOSNIA

[22] SERBIAN POLICE NOT COOPERATING IN DRASKOVIC INVESTIGATION

[23] CROATIA WANTS WAR CRIMES CHARGES AGAINST YUGOSLAV ARMY

[24] ROMANIAN BANKING CRISIS SPREADS

[25] MONEY-LAUNDERING AFFAIR HAUNTS FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT

[26] NATO COMMANDER IN ROMANIA.

[27] CORRECTION:

[28] BULGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER DEPLORES DECLINE IN MILITARY

[C] END NOTE

[29] PARTY REGISTRATION ENDS IN KOSOVA

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN, U.S. PRESIDENTS DISCUSS KARABAKH

meeting at the White House on 27 June, Robert Kocharian and

Bill Clinton reviewed the prospects for a settlement of the

Karabakh conflict, AP reported. A White House spokesman told

journalists that Clinton had assured Kocharian that the U.S.

"will do its part...to support and implement a durable

settlement." Kocharian also met with Vice President Al Gore

to discuss economic issues, U.S. economic aid to Armenia, and

draft projects for regional cooperation in the South

Caucasus, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. LF

[02] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN MOSCOW

Moscow on 27 June with Russian President Vladimir Putin,

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, and Russian Security

Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov to discuss military-technical

cooperation and expanding cooperation in the energy and

economic sectors, ITAR-TASS reported. Those talks were

intended to prepare for a visit by President Kocharian to

Moscow next month. Sarkisian also met with Russian Premier

Mikhail Kasyanov to discuss bilateral economic cooperation

and financing the training of Armenian military officers in

Russia. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN HALTS OIL EXPORTS VIA RUSSIA

oil company SOCAR has suspended the export of oil via the

Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline, Interfax reported on 27 June. An

unnamed SOCAR official said that the company is currently

extracting only enough oil to cover the country's immediate

domestic needs and stockpile supplies of heating oil for the

coming winter. SOCAR stopped pumping oil into the Baku-

Novorossiisk pipeline last week, citing the need for

"maintenance works," according to Caucasus Press. LF

[04] GEORGIAN STATE MINISTER UPBEAT ON ECONOMY

said in Tbilisi on 27 June that journalists' assessments of

the country's economic situation are too negative, Caucasus

Press reported. Arsenishvili expressed confidence that

President Eduard Shevardnadze and the Georgian government

"have the strength to overcome the crisis" and that "only one

year separates us from complete success." LF

[05] GEORGIAN MINISTER DISCUSSES PROSPECTS FOR RESOLVING ABKHAZ

Malkhaz Kakabadze, who is minister with special

responsibilities, held talks in Sukhum on 27 June with the

prime minister of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia,

Vyacheslav Tsugba, Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba, and

presidential representative Anri Djergenia, Caucasus Press

reported. The talks, at which UN special representative for

Abkhazia Dieter Boden was also present, were intended to

prepare for a meeting next month of the Coordinating Council

that is to focus on confidence-building measures between the

two sides, the repatriation to Abkhazia of Georgian displaced

persons, and economic issues. Tsugba reportedly insisted on

the presence at that meeting of his Georgian counterpart,

Arsenishvili. It is not clear whether the new UN draft plan

for a political solution of the conflict was also discussed.

Kakabadze, for his part, assured the Abkhaz officials that

Tbilisi will not embark on new military action against

Abkhazia. LF

[06] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY WANTS TV PROGRAM FOR COMPATRIOTS

Georgian parliamentary Foreign Relations

Committee Chair Nino Burdjanadze expressed concern on 27 June

that the Ministry of Communications and Transport is unable

for financial reasons to air television programs for the

Georgian minority living in north-western Azerbaijan,

Caucasus Press reported. Georgian samizdat documents in the

early 1980s claimed that minority was deprived of basic

cultural facilities or Georgian-language education. LF

[07] TWO GEORGIAN RENEGADES JOIN FORCES

joined forces with Dato Shengelia, a former member of the

Mkhedrioni paramilitary force who is now aligned with

Georgian guerrillas operating in western Georgia and

Abkhazia, according to "Rezonansi" on 28 June. Eliava has

been on the run in western Georgia since launching an

abortive uprising in fall 1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 and

20 October 1998). LF

[08] LAW ON KAZAKHSTAN'S FIRST PRESIDENT PASSED...

of Kazakhstan's parliament passed the controversial Law on

the First President of Kazakhstan in the second and final

reading on 27 June. As predicted by Azat Peruashev, first

secretary of the Civic Party, which drafted the bill giving

incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev life-long powers and

privileges, the final version differed only marginally from

the original draft. Peruashev told Interfax on 26 June that

the law is needed to prevent an erosion of the country's

achievements after Nazarbaev's presidential term ends.

Nazarbaev had voiced reservations about the bill, saying that

he does not intend to become "a khan or a president for life"

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 and 26 June 2000). But opposition

Azamat Party leader Petr Svoik observed on 27 June after the

bill was passed that "nothing significant can happen in

Kazakhstan without the will of the president," Reuters

reported. LF

[09] ...AS OPPOSITION UNVEILS ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS

conference in Almaty on 27 June, the opposition Republican

People's Party of Kazakhstan outlined seven proposals to deal

with corruption and the ongoing economic crisis, RFE/RL's

bureau in the former capital reported. The party termed that

crisis the direct consequence of a system of government

tailored to one individual, the country's president. The

proposals are on redistributing executive power from the

president to the parliament and government, abolishing the

upper house of parliament and increasing the number of

deputies to the lower house, reducing the president's powers

and cutting his term of office from seven to five years,

conducting direct elections for the posts of regional

administrators and judges, ensuring the independence of the

judiciary, making all violations of human or constitutional

rights punishable by law, and barring the president's

relatives from holding positions in the executive or

judiciary for the duration of his term in office. LF

[10] KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SCHEDULED...

June, the People's Assembly (the upper house of Kyrgyzstan's

parliament) scheduled the presidential elections for 29

October, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The deadline for

nominating candidates is 14 September and for registration 24

September. Several opposition politicians have announced

their intention to contend the poll. Incumbent President

Askar Akaev has not yet formally confirmed that he will run

for another term, but he is expected to do so before the end

of this month. LF

[11] ...AS OPPOSITION CHALLENGER GOES ON TRIAL

Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov's trial on charges of abuse

of power and forgery during his tenure as Minister of

National Security opened at a military court in Bishkek on 27

June, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Only

witnesses and Kulov's lawyers were permitted to attend; his

wife was barred from the proceedings, as were OSCE

representatives and a Kyrgyz representative of the New York-

based International League for Human Rights. In an interview

published on 27 June in the Bishkek newspaper "Litsa" and

summarized by Interfax, Kulov predicted that the presidential

poll will be "tough," but he added that he does not think any

opposition candidate stands a chance of victory. He said that

he will contest the poll if acquitted. LF

[12] TAJIK PRESIDENT OUTLINES ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

special session of the UN General Assembly in Geneva on 27

June, Imomali Rakhmonov expressed concern that integration

processes in the world economy create problems for countries

in transition whose industrial output cannot compete on world

markets and that incur mounting debts for the import of raw

materials, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The most important task

for the Tajik government, he said, is alleviating poverty,

adding that a program has been drafted to reduce by 2003 the

present 80 percent of the country's population who live in

poverty. Rakhmonov added that natural disasters in recent

years have compounded the country's economic and social

problems, and he appealed to world wheat producers for

supplies to compensate for the loss of most of this year's

wheat crop owing to drought. LF

[13] TURKMEN PRESIDENT EXPLAINS AVERSION TO CIS FREE TRADE ZONE

Saparmurat Niyazov explained that Turkmenistan declined to

join the proposed CIS free trade zone because it stands to

lose some $500 million by doing so. He admitted that not all

goods produced in Turkmenistan would find buyers in other CIS

states. Niyazov added that he does not plan to attend the

informal CIS summit to be held in Crimea on 18 August. Also

on 27 June, Russian President Putin and his Ukrainian

counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, discussed by telephone the draft

agenda for that gathering, Interfax reported. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] YUGOSLAVIA GIVES DETAILS OF 'ANTI-TERRORISM' BILL...

Yugoslav government released details on 27 June of a draft

law it says is aimed at punishing people who commit "acts

that threaten constitutional order," Reuters reported. The

bill, which is expected to be passed by the parliament on 30

June, would allow jail terms of at least five years for any

behavior deemed to endanger "constitutional order" or

threaten "the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic

of Yugoslavia." The legislation would also allow suspects to

be detained for 30 days without being charged with a crime;

the current legal limit is three days, although the

constitution states only one day. The opposition Christian

Democratic Party said in a statement that the bill should be

called "the anti-opposition law." Djordje Subotic of the

League of Social Democrats said the passage of the bill will

plunge the people of Yugoslavia into "darkness and fear." PB

[15] ...WHILE U.S. SAYS IT'S NOT SURPRISED

Department said on 27 June that it is not surprised by the

proposed "anti-terrorism" bill. Acting State Department

spokesman Phillip Reeker said "Milosevic's rather rancid

regime has a strong history of trying to stamp out democratic

movement within Yugoslavia." In other news, the trial in

Belgrade of five Serbs accused of being French mercenaries

and plotting to assassinate Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic began on 27 June. The five are charged with spying

for France during NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia last year

and with the murders of two ethnic Albanians in Kosova. PB

[16] YUGOSLAV DRAFT LAW AIMED AT CONTROLING BUSINESSES?

Yugoslav parliament on 30 June is to consider a bill that

would put insolvent firms under the control of the central

bank, Reuters reported, citing the state news agency Tanjug.

Aleksandar Vlahovic of Deloitte & Touche in Belgrade said the

bill "is an efficient way to replace current management" of

companies the government views as unfriendly. The draft says

"a company will be treated as insolvent if it does not have

enough funds to make all due payments." Critics point out

that virtually every firm in Yugoslavia has debts but is not

necessarily bankrupt. PB

[17] EU APPROVES AID TO YUGOSLAVIA

June approved allocating 61 million euros ($57.4 million) in

humanitarian aid for refugees, displaced people, and others

in Yugoslavia, Reuters reported. The funds are to be spent on

providing better food supplies, shelter, sanitation, and

health services. Some 32 million euros of the total will be

sent to Serbia, and an additional 18 million euros to its

southern province of Kosova. PB

[18] MOB ATTACKS SERBIAN MONKS, RUSSIAN TV CREW

stoned a group of Serbian Monks and a Russian television crew

near the Kosovar town of Prizren on 27 June, AFP reported. UN

peacekeepers said the crew was attacked while making a film

on the monks at the Svete Bogorodice monastery in the village

of Musutiste, some 15 kilometers northeast of Prizren. A KFOR

spokesman said the Kosovar Albanians surrounded the group and

demanded that one of the monks be handed over because, they

said, he had committed war crimes. PB

[19] NORWEGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER SUGGESTS LONG STAY FOR NATO IN

Bjorn Tore Godal said on 27 June that NATO forces in

Kosova are facing a long stay in the province, AP reported.

Godal made his comments in Prishtina to UN officials and

commanders of the NATO-led peacekeeping force. Godal said

stability in Kosova would allow the troops to leave, but he

added that stability "is still far away from the current

situation." In other news, the body of a Serbian man who

vanished last week was found in Prishtina. Police said the

man, who is from Strpce, about 40 kilometers south of

Prishtina, died "under suspicious circumstances." Some 500

Serbs staged a peaceful protest in front of the UN building

in Strpce after the discovery of the body. PB

[20] U.S. CONDEMNS INTIMIDATION OF BOSNIAN PRESS

that measures undertaken by Bosnian federation officials

against the newspaper "Dnevni Avaz" are attempts to

intimidate the independent press, Reuters reported on 26

June. Tax authorities have frozen the daily's bank accounts

for several days, and police have raided the newspaper's

offices on several occasions. Bosnian Prime Minister Edhem

Bicakcic denied the claims of repression and said the checks

were routine and had been made on some 70 companies. PB

[21] MORE BODIES FOUND IN BOSNIA

another 24 bodies on 27 June in a cave and in graves in

Sarajevo, bringing the total number of bodies found at the

two sites over the last week to 82, Reuters reported. Amar

Masovic, the head of the Sarajevo-based Muslim State

Commission for Missing Persons, said the victims from the

cave in Lisac are thought to be from the Serbian-run Omarska

prison camp in Prijedor. Lisac is 18 kilometers east of

Bosanska Krupa. Masovic said the commission has found the

remains of some 900 non-Serb victims in the Prijedor area but

was searching for another 3,227. In other news, three people

died in separate landmine incidents on 26 June. One victim

was a shepherd and the other two were workers attempting to

clear mines. PB

[22] SERBIAN POLICE NOT COOPERATING IN DRASKOVIC INVESTIGATION

Podgorica, said on 27 June that Serbian police are not

cooperating with their Montenegrin counterparts in the

investigation of the shooting of Serbian opposition leader

Vuk Draskovic, AFP reported. Zivkovic said the police should

have brought a suspect, Dusan Spasojevic, to court in

Podgorica but have not yet done so. Two men are being held in

the shooting (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 June 2000), but

Montenegrin authorities want to question four other suspects.

PB

[23] CROATIA WANTS WAR CRIMES CHARGES AGAINST YUGOSLAV ARMY

1991 Yugoslav siege of Dubrovnik to international war crimes

tribunal at The Hague, Reuters reported. Justice Minister

Stjepan Ivanisevic said that Croatia's new government has

handed over to the tribunal several documents and videotapes

related to the bombardment of the city. Ivanisievic said "by

doing this we wanted to speed up the process of investigating

and indicting" the Yugoslav army and paramilitaries. He added

that "we intend to provide more material so that indictments

are raised and [Carla] del Ponte has publicly pledged to

[make indictments] in [the] near future." PB

[24] ROMANIAN BANKING CRISIS SPREADS

revoked the license of the private Banca Columna, after the

bank failed to obtain capital to pay back its creditors, AP

reported on 27 June. The formal closure of the bank comes

three years after it had effectively ceased operations. The

National Bank also decided to begin bankruptcy proceedings

against the International Bank of Religions (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 25 May 2000) and placed Banca Unirea under

supervision. Unirea encountered liquidity problems after

one of its main shareholders withdrew capital. Also on 27

June, the Prosecutor-General's Office said Romania

completed the documentation necessary for the extradition

from Israel of Ioana Maria Vlas. Vlas is the former chief

of SovInvest, whose management of the National Investment

Fund resulted in that organization's collapse. Romanian

lawyers will present the case to an Israeli court that will

decide on Vlas's extradition. MS

[25] MONEY-LAUNDERING AFFAIR HAUNTS FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT

Romanian-born French businessman Adrian Costea, suspected

by the French authorities of money-laundering, refuted

Iliescu's claims that their relationship was a

"superficial" one. The letter, published by Mediafax,

details the development of their relationship and Costea's

financing of Iliescu's 1992 and 1996 presidential campaign.

Costea is also demanding that Iliescu immediately settle

the debt owed to one of his companies for different

services to the former president. MS

[26] NATO COMMANDER IN ROMANIA.

Europe General Joseph Ralston met with Premier Mugur

Isarescu and Foreign Minister Petre Roman in Bucharest on

27 June to discuss the modernization of Romania's military

and the country's preparations for joining NATO. Ralston

said the purpose of his visit was to acknowledge the

important role Romania plays in providing regional

security. On 28 June, he is to meet with President Emil

Constantinescu, Defense Minister Sorin Frunzaverde, and

Chief of Staff General Mircea Chelaru, RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. MS

[27] CORRECTION:

June that new Transportation Minister Anca Boagiu is the

first woman in the Romanian cabinet. The first woman to

join the cabinet, in December 1999, was Labor and Social

Affairs Minister Smaranda Dobrescu.

[28] BULGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER DEPLORES DECLINE IN MILITARY

Defense Minister Boiko Noev, who is

currently on a visit to the U.S., said in Washington that he

"regrets" that military cooperation with Russia has declined

in recent years, ITAR-TASS reported. Noev said there are two

reasons for this decline: Bulgaria's determination to join

NATO and unsatisfactory Russian supplies of spare parts for

military equipment used by the Bulgarian forces. Meanwhile,

on 27 June, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji began a two-day visit

to Bulgaria that Reuters describes as being "largely of

symbolic importance." MS

[C] END NOTE

[29] PARTY REGISTRATION ENDS IN KOSOVA

With the recent conclusion of the registration of

political parties, the OSCE has taken one step closer to

organizing local elections in Kosova, which are scheduled to

take place this fall. On 20 June, the OSCE submitted

preliminary lists of political parties that will take part in

that ballot, but it has not yet settled on a voting system,

"Koha Ditore" reported on 21 June. No Serbian political

parties have registered, nor have many Serbian voters.

OSCE officials explained that the list includes some

parties that have not yet provided all the necessary

documentation for registration and that in these cases the

Central Election Commission (KQZ) will have to approve their

status. The official deadline for registration of political

parties was 11 June, while independent candidates and

citizens' groups had until 19 June to complete their

applications.

The Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), the Democratic

Party of Kosova (PDK), and the Alliance for the Future of

Kosova (AAK) are the main competitors for the ethnic Albanian

vote. The LDK was the strongest and most influential party of

the Kosovar shadow-state, which pursued its pacifist policies

under shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova between 1991 and

1998. Now it faces two big challengers that emerged from the

subsequent armed conflict.

Both the PDK of former Kosova Liberation Army (UCK)

commander Hashim Thaci and the AAK, led by Ramush Haradinaj,

who is another former high-ranking UCK leader, have adopted

pro-Western political platforms. They maintain, however, that

their long-term goal is independence for Kosova, an aim also

shared by the LDK. The AAK is an alliance of six political

parties that joined forces in order to pose a more effective

challenge to the two main contenders.

UNMIK's David de Beer, who is responsible for the

registration of political parties, said that the LDK and AAK

are running for seats in 29 out of 30 communities and

municipalities, while the PDK has candidates in only 27.

Other potentially important parties include the Liberal

Center Party of Kosova (PQLK), which is running in 20

communities and municipalities, and the Liberal Party of

Kosova (PLK), which will field candidates in 19. The PQLK is

headed by Naim Maloku--yet another former senior UCK leader--

who has gathered mainly former UCK fighters around him. The

PLK, headed by Gjergj Dedaj, is a party that has its roots in

the shadow-state structures and is closely allied to the LDK.

The LDK will have no candidates in Zvecan, which is

inhabited mostly by Serbs, while the AAK failed to register

in Zvecan, Zubin Potok, another mostly Serbian community, or

in Leposaviq, a Serbian community close to the northern

Serbian border.

Altogether 23 political parties, including the AAK, have

filed registration applications. De Beer did not announce the

number of independent candidates running but acknowledged

that the OSCE has received numerous applications.

The fewest applications, however, came from the Serbian

communities of Zvecan, Leposaviq, Zubin Potok, and Novoberda.

Serbian political parties did not register in any district.

Only six parties of ethnic minorities registered: three

representing Slavic-speaking Muslims, two the Turkish, and

one the Ashkali community. The last-named are a group of

Albanian-speaking Muslims, probably of Romany origin, who

claim to be of Persian descent. On average, there are eight

parties running in each community.

According to OSCE plans, the parties are to present

their candidates for each municipality (district?) by the end

of July, even though the OSCE has not yet set a formal

deadline. Nor is it clear what kind of election system UNMIK

will introduce. This, however, must be decided before the

candidates' lists can be drawn up.

UNMIK, OSCE, and other unnamed officials told "Koha

Ditore" that they are leaning toward a proportional

representation system, even though the three largest ethnic

Albanian political parties are opposed to that idea. De Beer,

however, made clear that it is up to the UNMIK's Bernard

Kouchner to decide. Another open question is whether the

parties will have the right to name candidates for the

proportional lists after the elections or whether the lists

will be closed before the vote.

Voter registration will end on 15 July. OSCE spokeswoman

Claire Trevena acknowledged that the process is proceeding

more slowly in Prishtina than in other parts of Kosova. As of

17 June, only 76,900 citizens of Prishtina had registered,

which is just over one-third of the city's estimated

population. By that day, 651,551 voters out of a total

estimated population of 2 million had registered throughout

Kosova, including many newcomers from Albania. But only

people who were living in Kosova on 1 January 1999 will have

the right to vote (this excludes refugees who left Kosova

before that date).

The Serbian population has been largely boycotting the

voter registration process and is also expected to boycott

the elections. This, however, poses a great danger for post-

election Kosova. If ethnic Albanian political parties win an

overwhelming majority of seats in the city council of

Mitrovica, the Serbs will refuse to acknowledge its

authority. If the local government in the divided city then

tries to interfere in the affairs of the Serbian-dominated

north, new violent conflicts may be hard to avoid.

28-06-00

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

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