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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 152, 00-08-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 152, 9 August 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] GEORGIAN OFFICIALS SAY TALKS UNDER WAY WITH ABDUCTORS OF REDCROSS WORKERSAn unnamed Georgian Interior Ministry official told Caucasus Press in Tbilisi late on 8 August that the Georgian authorities are conducting talks with the persons who abducted three Red Cross workers in the Pankisi gorge on 4 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 and 8 August 2000). Prosecutor-General Djamlet Babilashvili had told journalists earlier that day that the three had been kidnapped, but are still alive. Vakha Ibrahimov, who heads the Chechen Information center in Tbilisi, told Caucasus Press on 7 August that he knows the identity of the kidnappers, but did not disclose it. On 9 August, Caucasus Press reported that the kidnapping has precipitated a confrontation between the Chechen minority in the Pankisi gorge and the Chechen refugees. One group reportedly holds the three officials and is demanding a ransom for their release while the other faction wants them to be freed unconditionally. LF [02] TENSIONS RISE IN GEORGIAN PROVINCESSome 2,500 iraterecently dismissed former employees of the Chiatura Manganese Combine on 7 August attacked a Georgian parliament deputy who tried to dissuade them from protesting their dismissal, "Dilis gazeti" reported the following day. After two unsuccessful attempts to privatize the enterprise, a Czech company, Saga Print, acquired a 75 percent stake in the plant last August and restarted production but failed to pay off an estimated $5 million in salaries arrears to the plant's staff. Meanwhile, popular discontent is increasing among the residents of the Black Sea port of Poti at the Georgian government's decision that all proceeds from plans to privatize the port will be channeled to the central budget, according to "Rezonansi" on 9 August. LF [03] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT AGAIN WARNS TAX EVADERSIn remarksbroadcast on state-run Khabar TV on 8 August, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev again warned major foreign investors to strive for the maximum honesty and openness in tax matters, Reuters and Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 August 2000. Nazarbaev mentioned Chevron, the oil-producer Mangistaumunaigaz (which is largely Indonesian- owned), the western companies developing the Karachaganak gas condensate deposit, and the Eurasian Bank group. Reuters notes that some western companies export Kazakh-made goods to their own off-shore subsidiaries at reduced prices to avoid paying taxes. LF [04] NEW GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENTS IN KAZAKHSTANPresidentNazarbaev on 7 August named as minister of labor and social security a former head of his administration, Alikhan Baimenov, who has headed the state-run agency for government and administrative appointments since its creation one year ago, Interfax reported. The agency has succeeded in creating a laudable degree of openness and fairness in filling vacant positions, according to "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 8 August. Baimenov replaces Nikolai Radostovtsev, and Karim Masimov, chairman of the board of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, was named transport and communications minister, succeeding Serik Burkitbaev. Burkitbaev has been appointed presidential advisor with responsibility for the Internet and communications technology, RFE/RL's Astana bureau reported on 9 August. Nazarbaev's decree did not cite any reasons for what Premier Qasymzhomart Toqaev subsequently described as "a normal rotation" of personnel. LF [05] ANOTHER POLITICAL PARTY REGISTERED IN KAZAKHSTANKazakhstan's Ministry of Justice on 7 August registered thePatriots' Party, headed by former Customs Committee chairman and failed presidential challenger Ghani Qasymov, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 January 1999). Qasymov claims membership of his party is growing daily, but declined to cite a specific figure. LF [06] SECOND SUSPECT ARRESTED IN ISRAELI DIPLOMAT'S MURDER INKYRGYZSTANKyrgyz police have detained a 19-year-old Russian student in connection with the murder last week of Israeli diplomat Brosh Elzar and his Kyrgyz landlady, Interfax reported on 8 August. A suspect who was arrested last week testified that he and an accomplice had planned to rob the apartment in question and did not expect to find it occupied, according to AP. LF [07] UZBEK SECURITY OFFICIAL SAYS INVADERS FROM TAJIKISTANSURROUNDED...Uzbek Security Council Secretary Mirakbar Rakhmankulov told journalists in Tashkent on 8 August that "steps have been taken to blockade" the estimated 100 fighters of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan that Uzbek authorities say entered the country from neighboring Tajikistan in recent days, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2000). "The operation to wipe them out has been carefully planned...using all possible means at our army's disposal," he added. He denied that the Islamists have seized control of the strategic mountain pass of Kamchik that links Tashkent with the Ferghana Valley. Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov claimed that the Islamists are receiving support and assistance from unnamed members of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO). He said that Uzbek and Tajik forces are cooperating to neutralize the invaders. Other Uzbek officials have admitted military losses during clashes with the Islamists. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher urged the Uzbek authorities to observe "the maximum restraint" in their actions against the Islamists in order to keep casualties to a minimum, Reuters reported. LF [08] ...AS TAJIKISTAN DENIES THEY CROSSED ITS TERRITORYMeanwhile, Tajik officials continue to deny that theIslamists entered Uzbekistan from Tajik territory, Russian agencies reported. The first deputy chairman of Tajikistan's Committee for Border Protection, Major-General Safarali Saifullaev, told Interfax on 8 August that no groups of fighters could have crossed the Tajik-Uzbek border unobserved. He further denied that any such groups had been seen crossing the Afghan-Tajik border. One of the leaders of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yuldash, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on 8 August that his men have been on Uzbek territory for a long time. He denied that they receive help from the UTO. Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Sattarov told a press briefing in Dushanbe on 9 August that Tajikistan has no interest in destabilizing the situation either on its own territory or in neighboring districts of Uzbekistan, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. LF [09] KAZAKHSTAN UNFAZED, KYRGYZSTAN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE INCURSIONInterfax on 8 August quoted unnamed sources withinKyrgyzstan's power ministries as saying that all police and army troops in southern Kyrgyz frontier posts along the Kyrgyz-Tajik and Kyrgyz-Uzbek borders have been placed on alert. Special battalions are being brought from northern Kyrgyzstan to the south. In Almaty, a spokesman for Kazakhstan's National Security Committee declined to comment on the reported incursion into Uzbekistan, while a border- guard service official told Interfax that the Kazakh-Uzbek border "is quite closed" and that further measures to strengthen it are not needed. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry on 8 August similarly said on 8 August that the incursion "is of a local nature," adding that reports on how the invaders entered Uzbekistan are "very contradictory." LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] WESTERN CAPTIVES PLEAD 'NOT GUILTY' BEFORE YUGOSLAV MILITARYCOURTTwo British experts serving with an OSCE police training mission in Kosova and two Canadian contractors pleaded not guilty at a military court session in Belgrade on 9 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline" and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 8 August 2000). They face possible terrorism charges, which could bring each man up to 15 years in prison. British and Canadian diplomats attended the session but refused to comment, AP reported. The diplomats were accompanied by two Yugoslav lawyers, whom they hired in addition to the state- appointed attorney Vojislav Zecevic. Zecevic said he welcomes the assistance. The diplomats hope to meet with the four captives, who have not yet had direct contact with their respective embassies, Reuters reported. Meanwhile in The Hague, Dutch acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Eveline Herfkens said that the Belgrade authorities have yet to allow Dutch diplomats access to four Dutch citizens, whom the Yugoslavs took prisoner shortly before capturing the Britons and Canadians. PM [11] KOSOVA COURT ACQUITS SERBIAN FAMILY IN SLAYINGA mainlyAlbanian court in Gjilan ruled on 8 August that there is not sufficient evidence to convict three men from the Momcilovic family of killing an ethnic Albanian outside their home in July 1999. Boban Momcilovic thanked NATO peacekeepers for bringing to light evidence suggesting that a U.S. soldier might have been responsible for the fatal shot, which was fired when an angry Albanian crowd appeared outside the Momcilovic's home, AP reported. PM [12] UN WARNS OF 'POISONING' FROM SERBIAN-RUN SMELTER IN KOSOVAAUN spokesman in Mitrovica said on 8 August that a Serbian-run lead smelter is sending five times what the WHO considers a "very dangerous amount" of lead into the air from the Trepca mining complex. The spokesman noted that "the smelter plant is operating without proper environmental and health controls. The fumes are not going up the chimney, which has a converter, and instead they are pumping raw residues over Zvecan and Mitrovica," Reuters reported. PM [13] EXPLOSION DESTROYS SERB-OWNED RESTAURANT IN PRESEVO AREAAstrong explosion ripped through a Serbian-owned restaurant in Bujanovac in the early hours of 8 August, AP reported. The blast occurred when unknown persons threw an unspecified explosive device down the "Dva Lava" restaurant's chimney. The Serbian authorities have blamed a recent rash of violent incidents in the area on militant ethnic Albanian infiltrators from Kosova. PM [14] SERBIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE PLEDGES TO WORK WITH WESTVojislav Kostunica, who is the Yugoslav presidentialcandidate of the united opposition, told Reuters on 8 August that he will work together with Western countries if he is elected in September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2000). He also said that "it is necessary" for the opposition to take part in the ballot even if it will not be free or fair, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Elsewhere in Belgrade, the Serbian Renewal Movement's Vuk Draskovic blamed the united opposition for splitting the vote against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic by not supporting his candidate for the presidency. The following day, a Democratic Party spokesman appealed to Draskovic to back Kostunica, Reuters reported. PM [15] CROATIAN CIGARETTE COMPANY DENIES MILOSEVIC LINKThecigarette company in Rovinj has denied charges made by the daily "Jutarnji list" on 3 August that it produces cigarettes for a smuggling enterprise run by Marko Milosevic, the son of the Yugoslav president, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 7 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 August 2000). PM [16] REFUGEE RETURNS UP IN BOSNIADuring the first six months of2000, some 19,751 persons returned to their homes in Bosnia- Herzegovina in areas under the control of an ethnic group that is not their own. The UNHCR added in a statement in Sarajevo that this figure is up 150 percent over the corresponding period in 1999, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 8 August. The following day, "Dnevni avaz" reported that Malaysia has pledged $425,000 to enable some 113 Muslim and Serbian families to return to their homes in the Neum and Sekovici areas. The daily also quoted Minister Omer Vatric of the Sarajevo canton as saying that the government evicts squatters from some 250 flats each month so that the original owners can return. Observers note that such squatters are usually Muslims from rural areas in eastern Bosnia or western Herzegovina. PM [17] HISTORICAL BOSNIAN MOSQUE TO BE REBUILT?The IslamicCommunity, which is the principal Muslim religious organization in Bosnia, said in a statement in Sarajevo on 8 August that it is determined to rebuild the 16th-century Ferhadija Mosque in Banja Luka even without the permission of the Bosnian Serb authorities, Reuters reported. Serbian paramilitaries dynamited the UNESCO-listed structure in 1993. The area surrounding the mosque was bulldozed in 1996. PM [18] ROMANIAN PREMIER TURNING DOWN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY OFFER?Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu will officially announce on 9August his decision on running for president, and, according to media reports, Isarescu has decided to turn down the offer. On 8 August the premier and National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) chairman Ion Diaconescu had a five-hour talk in Neptun, the Black Sea resort where Isarescu is vacationing, and the encounter is most likely to have focused on the candidacy, Romanian Radio reported. Union of Rightist Forces co-chairman Adrian Iorgulescu said that if Isarescu turns down the offer to be the newly-established Democratic Convention of Romania 2000's (CDR) presidential candidate, the CDR has "another possible candidate from within its on ranks, as well as two prospective candidates from outside the CDR." MS [19] FORMER ROMANIAN OFFICIAL CHARGED IN MONEY-LAUNDERING AFFAIRMihai Unghianu, deputy governmental secretary general in thecabinet headed by Nicolae Vacaroiu in 1992-1996, has been officially charged with complicity in the Adrian Costea money-laundering affair, Mediafax reported. The agency said that at Unghianu's orders, the Bancorex state bank had guaranteed $5 million to cover the costs of producing and distributing an album intended to promote Romania's image abroad and transferred $1,524, 600 to a French publishing house headed by Costea. The publishing house delivered only 4,200 albums whose costs were $235,200. Bancorex was closed down by the government in July 1999, being merged into the Romanian Commercial Bank, after having issued over the years $1.2 billion in non-performing loans. The Prosecutor- General's Office is investigating the circumstances of that bank's performance. MS [20] PRIVATE HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY APPLIES FOR ROMANIANPERMISSIONLevente Suket, who represents the Harghita County Cultural Center, on 8 August told Mediafax that the Education Ministry has now received an application for permission to open a private university with tuition in Hungarian. The university is funded by the Hungarian government and Suket said he expects the ministry to issue a "provisional permit" for the functioning of the new institution. The ministerial Academic Accreditation Council is to later examine whether the private university fulfills conditions for being issued a permanent permission, Suket said. He also said that the private Partium University headed by Reformed Bishop Laszlo Toekes is to be integrated within the new institution. MS [21] ANTHRAX EPIDEMIC SPREADS IN ROMANIAThe Agriculture Ministryon 8 August said new outbreaks of anthrax were reported in several counties, after the epidemic killed two men and dozens of animals in the Danube delta region last month. The ministry said infected cattle were discovered in western, northern, and eastern Romania, Reuters reported. It said the epidemic had been caused by this year's severe drought and the failure of farmers to vaccinate cattle. MS [22] MOLDOVA, TURKEY TO FOSTER MILITARY TIESVisiting TurkishDefense Minster Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and Moldovan Minister of Industry and Trade Ion Lesan on 8 August signed an agreement on collaboration in the munitions industry, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The agreement also stipulates that the sides will set up a joint committee that will establish priorities for military collaboration between them. Infotag reports that Ankara is showing an interest in cooperation with the Moldovan military industry, most of which is now idle. Moldovan Defense Minister Boris Gamurari, who attended the signing ceremony, said that during his two- day talks with Cakmakoglu it was agreed to hold joint military exercises with the possible participation of Ukraine and Romania. Cakmakoglu was also received by Premier Dumitru Braghis. MS [23] U.S. ENVOY MEETS MOLDOVAN PREMIERWilliam Taylor, U.S.special ambassador in charge of coordination of aid to CIS states, met on 8 August with Braghis and Deputy Premier Lidia Gutu, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Braghis thanked the U.S. administration for the technical and financial aid extended to Moldova, emphasizing that the U.S. is providing some 55 percent of the total aid Moldova receives from abroad. Braghis said Chisinau would welcome an increase of financial aid in 2001, to be used to promote economic growth. Guta urged Taylor to speed up deliveries of agricultural produce aid, taking into consideration the effects of this year's drought. Taylor emphasized the necessity of governmental "transparency" and "responsibility" in order to improve the efficiency of the extended aid. MS [C] END NOTE[24] WILL RUSSIA SUCCEED IN THE BATTLE AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM?By Paul GobleRussian President Vladimir Putin's pledge to fight anti- Semitism and improve economic conditions have contributed to "a noticeable decrease" in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Russia over the last year, according to a report issued this week by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. But, this U.S.-based watchdog organization warns, the difficulties Putin faces in rooting out entrenched anti- Semitic groups in the regions, his own reliance on the security services and the possibility that the Russian economic growth may slow could trigger a new upsurge in anti- Semitism. The danger of a new wave of anti-Semitism could grow, the UCSJ said, if post-Soviet threats like the alliance between neo-Nazi and Cossack paramilitary groups combine with Soviet-type challenges like increased dominance by the security organs and the suppression of freedom of the press. According to this group, which has been monitoring anti- Semitism in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states for more than a generation and which currently is conducting research on anti-Semitic incidents in all of Russia's regions, this link-up has already taken place in some places and appears to be gaining ground in others, including in Moscow itself. Perhaps the worst example is Krasnodar Governor Nikolai Kondratenko, who, the report notes, has publicly accused Jews of conspiring to destroy Russia and even of "inventing" homosexuality to promote that end. In May, he said that Zionists were working together with the United States to "zombify" the Russian population and to incite ethnic conflicts on Russian territory. But if this threat exists, the UCSJ argues, so too are some reasons for optimism. First of all, Putin's own commitment to oppose anti-Semitism and his efforts to rebuild the law enforcement agencies have significantly reduced the number of anti-Semitic incidents registered in the last years of Boris Yeltsin's presidency. Putin has even ordered the arrest of some extremists, something the report said would have been "unthinkable" under Yeltsin. Moreover, Putin's own political agenda of recentralizing power and authority in Moscow appears to be directed against the leaders of the country's regions, some of which are headed by openly extremist and anti-Semitic governors. Thus Putin has his own political reasons for moving against such groups. And finally, the dramatic increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Russia in 1998-99 compared to the early and mid-1990s has attracted growing attention from governments and human rights organizations in the West, some of whom had viewed the collapse of communism by itself as the solution to the historical problem of anti-Semitism in Russia and her neighbors. One example of this was the attention these governments and groups gave to the recent arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky, an oligarch who happens to be Jewish. If some were willing to accept Moscow's argument that his arrest arose from his business activities, many speculated that he had been singled out because of his religious background. The impact on Russia of this renewed Western concern is uncertain. On the one hand, Putin and his government are unlikely to want to offend countries from which Moscow still hopes to extract assistance and cooperation. But on the other hand, Western statements on this issue could trigger the very thing they are designed to oppose: an upsurge of nationalistic rhetoric and action which could further threaten Jews in the Russian Federation. Indeed, the mixed Russian reaction to U.S. Vice President Al Gore's selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman as his vice presidential running mate highlights some of the problems ahead, with many Moscow papers focusing on Lieberman's Jewish background and one, the "Vedomosti" business daily, going so far as to suggest on 8 August that "if Gore wins the election, Russia will have a very uncomfortable opponent." For all these reasons, the UCSJ says, the West will have to keep channels of communication open with Moscow to ensure that its voice is heard on the importance of combatting anti- Semitism but do so in a way that does not further inflame the situation. That challenge, the report concludes, makes the next 12 months "a crucial time" for determining the future of Russian Jewry--and indeed, of Russian democracy as a whole. 09-08-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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