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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 136, 00-07-18Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 136, 18 July 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] OSCE CHAIRWOMAN VISITS YEREVANBenita Ferrero-Waldner met inYerevan on 16 and 17 July with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to discuss the Karabakh peace process. She also had a telephone conversation on that subject with Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, who reaffirmed his commitment to a peaceful solution of the conflict, according to ITAR-TASS. Ferrero-Waldner said that talks between President Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, have yielded agreement on a number of elements of a settlement, but she added that it is too early to reveal what those elements are. She said that the time is now propitious for resolving the conflict but that doing so depends on the two sides' political will and readiness to compromise. Ferrero-Waldner also attended the formal opening on 17 July of the OSCE office in Yerevan. She flew to Baku later that day for talks with Azerbaijani leaders. LF [02] POLL RESULTS SHOWS ARMENIANS THINK PRESIDENT IS IN CHARGEAccording to an opinion poll commissioned by the daily"Hayots ashkharh," the results of which the newspaper began publishing on 14 July, 20 percent of the 1,000 people polled believe that President Kocharian rules Armenia, 18 percent believe real control lies with the mafia, 13 percent with the government, 11 percent with the bureaucracy, 9 percent with the army and law enforcement agencies, and 4 percent with the parliament, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. LF [03] AZERBAIJANI TV STATION DEFIES AUTHORITIESIn defiance ofwarnings from the Azerbaijani prosecutor-general, the private television station ANS TV on 17 July rebroadcast an interview first aired on 14 July with Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev, Groong reported, citing the BBC World Service. Caucasus Press reported the next day that Russian Security Council secretary Sergei Ivanov has asked the Azerbaijani leadership to investigate how the interview was filmed and taken out of Russia. Ivanov said the film footage, in which Basaev calls for a war to drive Russia out of the Caucasus, could be construed as propagating war, which is a violation of Russian law. LF [04] AZERBAIJAN RESUMES OIL EXPORTS VIA RUSSIAAzerbaijan's stateoil company SOCAR resumed pumping oil into the Baku- Novorossiissk export pipeline on the evening of 14 July, Interfax reported three days later. It had suspended exports late last month in order to cover domestic needs and build up a reserve of heating oil for the coming winter (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June 2000). The resumption of exports coincided with a visit to Baku by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and presidential envoy for the Caspian Viktor Kalyuzhnyi. It is not clear whether during his talks with Azerbaijani officials, Kalyuzhnyi raised the question of Baku's refusal to pay a $29 million fine imposed by Transneft for Azerbaijan's failure to comply with a 1996 commitment to minimum oil exports via Russia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 and 10 July 2000). LF [05] WAS GEORGIAN REBEL COLONEL SHOT IN COLD BLOOD?According toElene Tevdoradze, who is chairwoman of the Georgian parliamentary committee of human rights, the official account of the events that preceded the 9 July shooting in Zestafoni of Colonel Akaki Eliava and one of his deputies is inaccurate. "Rezonansi" on 18 July quoted Tevdoradze as saying after meeting with three of Eliava's supporters who are still in custody that they had not taken any hostages at the Zestafoni police headquarters. Georgian officials say Eliava was shot because he had taken four hostages and attempted to escape with them (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 July 2000). On 17 July, an independent pathologist said after examining Eliava's body that it showed signs of bruises and bleeding on the chest, head, face, and right knee that could have been caused by blows from a heavy blunt object, Caucasus Press reported. Also on 17 July, Ombudsman Nana Devdariani issued an appeal for the release of two of Eliava's three detained supporters, arguing that their arrest on charges of illegal arms possession was illegal as they were unarmed at the time. LF [06] GEORGIAN INTERIOR MINISTER CANCELS UKRAINE TRIPKakhaTargamadze will not attend a planned meeting in Kyiv of Russian, Ukrainian and Georgian interior ministers, Caucasus Press reported on 18 July. The agency attributed Targamadze's decision to his reluctance to leave Georgia while President Eduard Shevardnadze and parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania are both abroad as well as to rising tensions in western Georgia in the wake of rebel Colonel Eliava's death. LF [07] GEORGIA TO INTENSIFY DEFENSE COOPERATION WITH ESTONIA...Avisiting Estonian delegation headed by Lauri Altman, who is adviser to Defense Minister Juri Luik, held talks in Tbilisi on 17 July with Deputy Defense Minister Grigol Katamadze, Caucasus Press reported. The two sides focused on sharing experiences in air defense and army reform, and the possibility of junior Georgian officers undergoing training in Estonia. Caucasus Press quoted Altman as saying that Estonia considers Georgia "a partner country" with which it hopes to expand cooperation in the light of their shared aspiration to NATO membership. LF [08] ...AND BULGARIAGeorgian Deputy Defense Minister Katamadzetold Caucasus Press on 17 July that during Georgian Defense Minister Davit Tevzadze's visit to Bulgaria the previous week, agreement was reached that Sofia will present the Georgian navy with two de-commissioned landing craft. BTA on 11 July quoted Bulgarian Defense Minister Boyko Noev as saying that "it is in Bulgaria's best interests that Georgia develop as a strong and stable state under the leadership of President Shevardnadze." LF [09] COUNCIL OF EUROPE ALLOCATES FUNDS FOR GEORGIAN BORDER GUARDSThe chairman of Georgia's State Border Guard Department,Valerii Chkheidze, told a press conference in Tbilisi on 17 July that the Council of Europe will provide 1 million euros ($1.06 million) for equipment for his force, Caucasus Press reported. LF [10] BALCEROWICZ ACCEPTS GEORGIAN POSTPresident Shevardnadzesaid on 17 July that Polish economist and former Deputy Premier Leszek Balcerowicz has accepted a post as his economic adviser, Russian agencies reported. Balcerowicz will come to Georgia next month, together with a team of fellow Polish economists, to study the situation there. LF [11] 'JE MEURS DE SOIF AUPRES DE LA FONTAINE...'Tbilisi MayorVano Zodelava has ordered the immediate repair of all non- functioning fountains in Tbilisi, Caucasus Press reported on 17 July. Temperatures in the city recently reached 40 degrees Centigrade, and the hot weather is expected to continue at least until the end of the month. LF [12] KAZAKHSTAN REVOKES U.S. COMPANY'S REFINING CONCESSIONKazakhstan's government on 11 July revoked the five-yearlicense issued to the U.S. company CCL Oil in 1997 to operate the Pavlodar oil refinery, Interfax reported quoting Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Trade Kanat Bozumbaev. The Office of the Prosecutor-General said that decision was prompted by CCL Oil's failure to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the refinery, which last year produced only 640,000 tons of oil, down 60 percent on the 1998 level. The refinery is capable of processing between 6-7 million tons of crude annually, with yields of up to 80 percent. The state's 87.9 percent stake in the refinery has been transferred to the Energy, Industry, and Trade Ministry, which intends to appoint a new management shortly. LF [13] TURKMENISTAN REFUSES PERMISSION TO REOPEN, RESTORE ARMENIANCHURCHESThe Turkmen government and the Moscow Patriarchate both oppose either the reopening of Armenian churches in Turkmenistan or the restoration of a 19th-century church in the town of Turkmenbashi, Keston News Service reported on 17 July. There are an estimated 40,000 Armenians in Turkmenistan. LF [14] TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN DISCUSS DELIMITING COMMON BORDERAspecial Tajik government commission headed by Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov held talks in Tashkent from 10-13 July on preparations for the first stage of delimiting the two countries' common border, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 17 July. Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, signed a protocol on border delimitation last month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 June 2000). Technical work along the border is expected to take at least 18 months. The Uzbek cabinet has also abrogated customs duties on Tajik vehicles transiting Uzbekistan. During a telephone conversation on 17 July, Rakhmonov and Karimov assessed the implementation of previous bilateral agreements and agreed to convene a meeting of elders and representatives of the intelligentsia and law enforcement agencies of regions on either side of the border, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] THACI REJOINS UN COUNCIL IN KOSOVAHashim Thaci, who wascommander of the former Kosova Liberation Army and is now a leading Kosovar politician, has agreed to end his recent "suspension" of cooperation with Bernard Kouchner's UN- sponsored advisory council, Reuters reported on 17 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 July 2000). Thaci told reporters that he and Kouchner continue to disagree over the "temporary" administrative arrangements that Kouchner made with the Serbs. But Thaci added that he and Kouchner "made progress" on several other issues, including various social questions such as benefits for war invalids and pensioners. He stressed that there should be no need for the special arrangements for the Serbs after the local elections slated for October. "After the free elections, there will be a new reality," he said. Kouchner's spokeswoman said: "We're very happy. Now the work can restart and we can tackle the real problems and move toward elections." PM [16] EVERTS, IVANOVIC REACH UNDERSTANDING ON SERBIAN ROLE INELECTIONSOliver Ivanovic, who is leader of the hard-line Serbs in northern Mitrovica, said on 17 July that he has promised Daan Everts, who heads the OSCE mission supervising the October ballot, that he will not disrupt the vote. Everts called Ivanovic's assurances "progress," adding: "Mr. Ivanovic has promised that he would do what he can to avoid any violence or intimidation and let people at least have the freedom of choice, so those who want to register...[can] do so," AP reported. For his part, Ivanovic confirmed that he "condemned any violence." He added, however, that he regrets that Everts was unable to promise in return that "significant numbers" of Serbian refugees will return to Kosova soon. PM [17] FRENCH, SERBS CLASH IN MITROVICAAn angry crowd of Serbssurrounded a UN police station in northern Mitrovica on 17 July to protest the arrest of a Serb who had allegedly set fire to several cars, AP reported. French troops then fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. A UN police spokesman said in Prishtina that "a police officer was briefly detained [by the Serbs], but later he was released unharmed." The Serbs had hoped to exchange him for the imprisoned man. The spokesman said on 18 July that the situation in Mitrovica is calm, Reuters reported. PM [18] ROBERTSON ARRIVES IN KOSOVANATO Secretary-General LordRobertson and a delegation of NATO diplomats arrived in Prishtina on 18 July. They are slated to meet with ethnic Albanian and Serbian leaders. The previous day, Robertson met with Croatian President Stipe Mesic and other leaders in Brussels and praised the progress toward Euro-Atlantic integration that Croatia has made under its new government. On 19 July, Robertson and his delegation are slated to arrive in Sarajevo. PM [19] EU BROADCASTING EQUIPMENT FOR KOSOVA SERBSThe EuropeanBroadcasting Union said in a statement in Geneva on 17 July that it has delivered camera equipment to a team of three Serbian journalists working for the UN's new public television (RTK) in Gracanica, AP reported. The $53,000 project will also provide equipment for a similar bureau in Mitrovica. The UN aims to establish studios for RTK in many parts of Kosova and train journalists in accordance with high professional standards. PM [20] SERBIAN COURT SENTENCES KOSOVARSA court in Pozarevac on 17July sentenced 20 Kosovars to two years imprisonment each on charges of "terrorism," the private Beta news agency reported. PM [21] DJUKANOVIC WILLING TO MEET MILOSEVIC...Montenegrin PresidentMilo Djukanovic told the Belgrade daily "Glas javnosti" of 17 July that he is willing to meet with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, provided an agenda for the talks is agreed on beforehand. He added that he does not see at present any chance for the Serbian opposition to unseat Milosevic. Djukanovic said that he has rejected recent suggestions by several opposition leaders that he run against Milosevic in eventual direct elections for the Yugoslav presidency (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 July 2000). Milosevic will determine the outcome of the elections, Djukanovic stressed, adding that Montenegro will boycott any vote because it does not accept his recent changes in the federal constitution. PM [22] ...BUT VUJANOVIC SKEPTICAL ON SERBIAN PARTIESPrime MinisterFilip Vujanovic said that "there is no need for further dialogue" with the three governing parties in Milosevic's coalition. "We had a dialogue with them [in 1999]. We talked about the possibility of their influencing the government of Serbia, being a constituent part of that government, to respond to our platform [on redefining relations between Serbia and Montenegro]. These talks had no result and clearly showed [the Serbian parties] had no wish to talk," the private Montenafax news agency reported from Podgorica on 18 July. PM [23] MILOSEVIC PARTY CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARYOfficials ofMilosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) marked that organization's 10th anniversary by praising what they claimed is its excellent record. A party spokesman said in Belgrade on 17 July: "The Socialist Party of Serbia has during these 10 years achieved exceptional results despite constant and powerful media and economic pressures, political blackmail, and finally the brutal NATO bombing and aggression" in 1999, Reuters reported. The Milosevic-run daily "Politika" hailed the SPS as "the strongest leftist party in the Balkans." But Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement--which is as critical of NATO as is the Milosevic regime--said in a statement that "a chain of human and national tragedies is the achievement of the Socialist Party's decade-long reign, which also resulted in economic collapse, a moral collapse and no sign of a decent future." The statement added that Milosevic has transformed Serbia into a country as isolated as the late Albanian dictator "Enver Hoxha's Albania," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [24] BOSNIAN MUSLIMS PROTEST EVICTIONSSeveral dozen Muslimdisplaced persons blocked a road near Maglaj to protest orders for them to leave Serbian-owned homes in Bakotici where they have been living since the 1992-1995 war. A local government spokesman told Reuters that "the problem is linked" to the eviction of several dozen Bosnian citizens of Middle Eastern origin from the nearby village of Bocinja. Those men traveled to Bosnia as Islamic fighters during the war and subsequently acquired Bosnian citizenship by marrying local women. Many representatives of the international community have called for the eviction of the former Islamic fighters, whom they suspect of having links to terrorist organizations based elsewhere in the Muslim world. The Sarajevo daily "Avaz" reported on 18 July that the authorities have declared a state of emergency in the area. PM [25] CROATIA JOINS WTOOn 17 July, Croatia formally became the137th member of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [26] DISAPPOINTMENT IN SLOVENIA WITH EUGuenter Verheugen, whois the EU's commissioner for enlargement, said in Ljubljana on 17 July that Slovenia is a "front-runner" for EU membership in terms of popular consensus for joining the EU "and not only in that respect," Reuters reported. He added, however, that Slovenia must speed up privatization and cut bureaucracy. The Ljubljana daily "Delo" wrote the next day that Verheugen disappointed the Slovenian public, which had hoped for better news and concrete information on Slovenia's admission to the EU. PM [27] CONSTANTINESCU QUITS ROMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACEPresidentEmil Constantinescu, speaking on national television on 17 July, said he will not run for a second term. Constantinescu said that a "Mafia-type system with links to official institutions" is dominating and destroying the country's economic and political structures and that his attempts to fight corruption have been presented by his opponents as part of an election campaign. Alluding to his predecessor, Ion Iliescu, Constantinescu pledged not to seek a parliamentary seat and will thus forego parliamentary immunity. He also said he will not seek the leadership of any political party. Constantinescu said "political competition" among parties and individuals has "deteriorated into a blind struggle for power-seeking personal or group interests. " This is a time when "people buy and sell principles, ideologies, seats in the parliament and the cabinet, making use to that end of lies, blackmail, vulgarity, and manipulation" he commented. MS [28] ROMANIAN PREMIER REJECTS MINISTER'S RESIGNATIONMugurIsarescu on 17 July rejected the resignation of Finance Minister Decebal Traian Remes, who had wanted to protest the National Liberal Party's decision to continue talks with the Alliance for Romania (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2000). Government spokeswoman Gabriela Vranceanu said Remes has been "carrying a great part of the burden of unpopular but necessary economic decisions" and his presence in the cabinet is required even more "at a time when some of the positive effects" of those policies are beginning to become apparent. The premier, Vranceanu said, will not accept "a resignation that has nothing to do with the cabinet and its policies." MS [29] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT WANTS 'DOUBLE REFERENDUM'Presidentialspokesman Anatol Golea told journalists on 17 July that President Petru Lucinschi will not promulgate the law on changing Moldova's semi-presidential system into a parliamentary one, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi says that the law, which was passed on 5 July, contravenes the results of the 23 May 1999 non-binding referendum, which approved Lucinschi's initiative to transform Moldova into a presidential republic. Golea also said Lucinschi may ask the parliament to approve a referendum on both the 5 July constitutional amendment and his own initiative to increase the presidential prerogatives. Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that the latter is in line with the provisions of the basic law. But parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov and Party of Moldovan Communists leader Vladimir Voronin were quoted by Infotag as saying the parliament will examine Lucinschi's initiative "in six months." By then Lucinschi's term will have expired. MS [30] ISRAEL TO REMOVE MONUMENT HONORING BULGARIAN KINGA semi-governmental Israeli organization has announced it will remove a monument it erected in Israel to honor King Boris III for having saved the lives of Bulgarian Jews, dpa reported on 17 July, citing the Israeli daily "Ha'aretz." The Jewish National Fund said that an expert commission has established that the king failed to act to prevent the 1943 deportation of more than 11,000 Macedonian and Thracian Jews to the Treblinka Nazi death camp (at the time Bulgaria had occupied Macedonia and Thracia). The commission also said that King Boris had supported Bulgaria's joining the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy, and Japan in March 1941. The monument honoring the king was erected in Israel's Bulgaria forest at the request of Jews from Bulgaria who said Boris had been instrumental in saving their lives. MS [C] END NOTE[31] CONFRONTING EVILby Patrick MooreThere are times when things must be called by their proper name and acted on accordingly. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement on 10 July marking the fifth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre that "the tragedy of Srebrenica will forever haunt the history of the United Nations. This day commemorates a massacre on a scale unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War--a massacre of people who had been led to believe that the United Nations would ensure their safety." Annan stressed that "we cannot undo this tragedy, but it is vitally important that the right lessons be learned and applied in the future. We must not forget that the architects of the killings in Srebrenica and elsewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although indicted by the [Hague-based] International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, are still at large. This fact alone suggests that the most important lesson of Srebrenica--that we must recognize evil for what it is, and confront it not with expediency and compromise but with implacable resistance--has yet to be fully learnt and applied." As the secretary-general noted, those most to blame for the evil are still at large. These include not only Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, but especially the one man most responsible for the destruction of the former Yugoslavia and for all the tragedies that accompanied it--Slobodan Milosevic. It will perhaps be to the undying credit of the Hague- based tribunal that it issued a public indictment in May 1999 against Milosevic and four of his top cronies. At a stroke, the court ensured that they could not considered respectable negotiating partners. There would thus be no repeat of the tragicomic developments during the Croatian and Bosnian conflicts, when Western diplomats and politicians beat a steady path to Milosevic's door and hailed him as "the man who can deliver." In fact, the question inevitably arises as to why it took the international community so long to realize who Milosevic really is and treat him accordingly. Perhaps a deep, public discussion of this issue would help avoid some future tragedies elsewhere. Certainly such a discussion could prove more fruitful than the current, often sterile debate regarding which bombs hit which targets in 1999. Milosevic's aggressive intentions were clear from his rhetoric in the 1980s, just as Hitler's were in the 1930s. But just as it took several international crises before the Allies became willing to stop Hitler by force, so long months passed and thousands of peoples died before even the first timid steps were taken to contain the Serbian dictator's aggression, let alone halt or reverse it. In the end, it was Croatian and Muslim ground troops that sent the Serbian forces fleeing. NATO air strikes helped deliver the peace in Bosnia, but it was not until Kosova in 1999 that the Atlantic alliance showed that the lessons of the previous decade had been learned. Even then, what remained was a "Saddam Hussein peace," with the dictator still in power. Milosevic continues to proceed at home with policies that have led to the gradual destruction of Serbia's best traditions in public life, society, culture, and the economy. His policies have already led to four lost wars and an end to centuries-old Serbian settlements in the south and west, just as Hitler's policies cost Germany the results of centuries of colonization in the east. It now seems clear that Milosevic's next victim outside Serbia's borders is Montenegro. The question is whether NATO will act before he has an opportunity to cause further destruction and bloodshed. At least one leader of a NATO country has drawn the necessary conclusions and had the courage to say so in public. Just one day after Annan's remarks about the need to face up to evil, Czech President Vaclav Havel said in Dubrovnik of the Montenegrin crisis: "Apart from political options, there are alternatives, which consist of a demonstration of force. The international community [previously] looked on events [in former Yugoslavia] with surprise and abhorrence and reacted too late. It should not be repeated a fifth time." 18-07-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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