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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 238, 00-12-11Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 238, 11 December 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES PETITION FOR ARRESTED ENTREPRENEUR'S RELEASEThree members of the majority Miasnutiun parliamentary faction and one deputy from the Right and Accord faction have signed a petition addressed to Prosecutor-General Boris Nazarian asking him to release businessman Arkadii Vartanian and are canvassing other deputies to do likewise, Noyan Tapan reported on 8 December. They pledge to ensure that Vartanian, who is a Russian citizen, does not leave Armenia. Vartanian was taken into custody following a 30 October march by his supporters to the presidential palace in Yerevan. He has been charged with calling for the overthrow of the Armenian leadership but denies that charge. LF[02] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES BUDGET FOR 2001 IN FIRST READINGDeputies on 8 December approved in the first reading the third draft budget presented by the cabinet, Interfax and Caucasus Press reported. The two earlier drafts had been rejected by President Eduard Shevardnadze or by "power ministers" who complained that it did not provide adequate funding for their agencies (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 47, 8 December 2000). The draft sets revenues at 839.7 million laris ($419.8 million) and expenditures at 1.12 billion laris. Of the resulting 277.6 million-lari deficit, 100 million will be covered by domestic sources and the remainder by foreign grants and loans. Minister of State Giorgi Arsenishvili characterized the bill as "a poor budget for a poor country." Its passage by mid-December is one of the preconditions for the disbursal of new IMF and World Bank loans. LF[03] TWO UN OFFICIALS ABDUCTED IN WESTERN GEORGIAOne Polish and one Greek officer serving with the UN Observer Mission in Georgia were abducted while on patrol in the Kodori gorge in Abkhazia. It is the third abduction of UN personnel in the region over the past two years. On both previous occasions, the UN observers were released unharmed within days, reportedly without any ransom being paid, but their abductors escaped capture. LF[04] PLOT TO ASSASSINATE GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER DISCOVEREDGiorgi Baramidze, who is chairman of the parliament's Defense and Security Committee, told journalists in Tbilisi on 8 December that he had been informed of a plot to kill parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania, Caucasus Press reported. Baramidze suggested that it is not known whether the plot was prepared by a foreign power or by forces in Georgia, whether acting alone or on the orders of a foreign power. He claimed there is a link between earlier acts to destabilize the political situation in Georgia, including bombings in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi last summer and abductions in the Pankisi gorge. LF[05] OPPOSITION PARTIES STAGE NEW DEMONSTRATION IN AZERBAIJANI CAPITAL...Several thousand people attended a rally convened by six leading opposition parties in Baku on 9 December, Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. Representatives of those parties adopted a resolution calling for the dissolution of the parliament elected on 5 November, the punishment of persons guilty of falsifying the outcome of that ballot, and the new elections. They also demanded the release of all political prisoners and an investigation into the police action against participants in the 18 November protest demonstration in Sheki (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 November 2000). For the first time, supporters of exiled former President Ayaz Mutalibov participated in a protest rally convened by the opposition. Some 200 police monitored the proceedings but did not intervene. LF[06] ...AS PROTESTS CONTINUE IN NAKHICHEVANSeveral hundred people gathered on 8 December in the village of Nehram in the Babek Raion of the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan to demand the resumption of uninterrupted power supplies, Turan reported. When representatives of the local leadership explained that power shortages make it impossible to comply with their demand, the rally participants and thousands of supporters began a march on the exclave's capital but were prevented by police and Interior Ministry troops from proceeding. Police reportedly began throwing stones at the marchers, injuring 10 of them. They also arrested 10 protesters, six of whom were subsequently released. One man from Nehram was killed in an automobile accident during the standoff with police. Thousands of his fellow villagers staged another protest on 9 December to demand an investigation into his death. LF[07] BORDER VIOLATORS APPREHENDED IN NAKHICHEVANFive men believed to be Kurds were intercepted late on 7 December in the Sharur district of Nakhichevan while seeking to cross the border into Armenia, Turan reported. The agency quoted local security officials in Nakhichevan as saying that the men confessed to being members of the Kurdistan Workers Party and to have entered Nakhichevan from Iran. Azerbaijan regularly accuses Armenia of hosting PKK bases on its territory. LF[08] KAZAKH PRESIDENT PROPOSES REVISED TERMS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT...Addressing a session of the council of foreign investors in Almaty on 8 December, Nursultan Nazarbaev advocated that international companies operating in Kazakhstan revise the terms of their contracts to bring them into closer conformity with international law and make their operations, tax payments, and observance of Kazakhstan's labor laws "more open and transparent," Interfax reported. But Nazarbaev explained at a press conference after that session that any such revision must be agreed by both parties. "If we want [Kazakhstan] to be a legal state, there can be no unilateral reconsideration of contracts with foreign companies," Interfax quoted him as saying. LF[09] ...SAYS WILL NOT INTERVENE IN OIL REFINERY DISPUTENazarbaev told the same press conference in Almaty on 8 December that he will not interfere in the dispute between the present and former directors of the Shymkent Oil refinery, in which Canada's Hurricane Hydrocarbons has an 88 percent stake, Interfax reported. With police support, Nurlan Bizakov, who was sacked as chairman of the refinery's board in August, reoccupied his office in early December after an Almaty district court reinstated him. He has since been evicted by the refinery's current president, against whom he has brought criminal charges. Meanwhile the Almaty City Court has overturned the district court's ruling reinstating Bizakov. LF[10] KAZAKHSTAN DENIES PLANS FOR OIL PIPELINE TO IRANKazakhstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov told journalists on 8 December that reports that the Kazakh government plans to create a consortium to build an oil export pipeline to Iran are untrue, Interfax reported. Those reports claimed that Kazakhstan had proposed that the participating countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran) have a 50 percent share, and the oil companies using the pipeline the other 50 percent. Idrisov said the distribution on 4 December of a press release, allegedly issued by his ministry, announcing the planned consortium was "a technical error." But visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Sadeq Kharrazi told journalists in Almaty on 8 December that Tehran supports the Kazakh proposal, which he said reflects the "wisdom" of the Kazakh leadership, and will cooperate in the planned pipeline construction. LF[11] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT REINAUGURATEDAskar Akaev was inaugurated in Bishkek on 9 December for another term as president of Kyrgyzstan, Reuters and Interfax reported. He won re-election in late October, garnering some 75 percent of the vote (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 October 2000). Akaev swore "before the people of Kyrgyzstan and the most holy Ala-Too mountains" to uphold the constitution and law, to preserve his country's independence, and to safeguard citizens' rights. "I will apply all my powers to live up to your high trust," he told members of the government and parliament during the ceremony. "Our main task will be to ensure our people are not disappointed in their hopes and that corruption and bureaucracy do not block creative progress," he added. Speaking in Bishkek the previous day, Akaev had pledged to battle corruption within the government apparatus, especially the taxation and customs agencies, and within the judicial system, including the Supreme Court. He also called for cuts within the civil service and the creation of a banking system in which both the population and foreign investors would have confidence, Interfax reported. LF[12] TURKMENISTAN HOSTS AFGHAN TALKSRepresentatives of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government and the Northern Alliance held separate meetings with UN special representative Frances Vendrell and Turkmen diplomats in Ashgabat on 9 December to try to reach an end to the civil war, AP and Russian agencies reported. Interfax quoted both Afghan sides as saying after those consultations that they reject any new UN sanctions against Afghanistan. Also on 9 December, Zharmakhan Tuyakbaev, speaker of the lower chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament, discussed the Afghan situation with Indian leaders in New Delhi, ITAR-TASS reported. Both sides expressed their readiness to coordinate efforts to resolve the Afghan conflict and endorsed the planned imposition of tougher UN sanctions against the Taliban. LF[13] UZBEK PRESIDENT SAYS REFORMS SHOULD BENEFIT POPULATIONSpeaking in Tashkent on 8 December at a ceremony to mark the eighth anniversary of the adoption of Uzbekistan's constitution, Islam Karimov complained that many members of the country's leadership continue to abuse their authority, Interfax reported. He admitted to "a lot of difficulties" in implementing political and economic reforms that, he said, should benefit the population. Karimov cited bribery and swindling among those problems. He added that the population needs to "develop an appreciation of the law [and] a sense of freedom and responsibility." LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[14] KOSOVAR LEADER: NATO MUST STAY IN KOSOVAModerate Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova told the Hamburg weekly "Der Spiegel" of 11 December that the province is de facto independent, if not in name. He suggested that it is only a matter of time before the international community and especially the EU reach a consensus to recognize Kosova's independence. Rugova added that any talks with the Serbian authorities must take place only at a "low level" and only after the 23 December Serbian elections. He ruled out any agreement with Belgrade on autonomy for the province, adding that "any past agreement with the Serbs led to tragedy for us." Rugova stressed that "Belgrade recently waged a 10-year-war against us, in which thousands of Albanians were killed, robbed, and beaten." He added that any union of the ethnic Albanians in the Balkans is a long-term project that can be realized only in the framework of a united Europe. In any event, NATO must remain in Kosova in order to ensure regional stability. The alliance could maintain bases to guarantee security for the Balkans as a whole, Rugova added (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 November 2000). PM[15] KOSOVA SERBS STAGE PROTESTSeveral hundred Serbs protested in the village of Merdare on Serbia's border with Kosova on 10 December to demand the right to return to their homes across the frontier, Reuters reported. Some of the demonstrators attempted to cross into Kosova but were blocked by peacekeepers. The UN's civilian administration has said that it is still too dangerous for Serbs to return to Kosova. Meanwhile on the border between Kosova and the Presevo region, KFOR troops detained 13 Albanians seeking to enter Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. And in Mitrovica on 11 December, KFOR troops arrested two ethnic Albanians after an explosion and bursts of machine gun fire were heard, AP reported. PM[16] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT CALLS FOR FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT MEDIAVojislav Kostunica told a two-day conference in Belgrade on 10 December that Serbia's media must be financially independent in order to maintain their political independence, Reuters reported. He said at the gathering, which is sponsored by Serbia's Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and the Council of Europe: "This means that media cannot be funded by the state or by foreign countries. It is the only way the media can continue to serve the truth and help democratization." Kostunica said that foreign assistance should center on providing programs and training journalists. He called the media "fellow combatants" in the struggle to overthrow the regime of former President Slobodan Milosevic. Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer stressed the need for laws to ensure the independence of the media from state interference, especially state-run Radio Television Serbia. PM[17] YUGOSLAVIA PREPARES TO JOIN IMF...Mladjan Dinkic said in Belgrade on 10 December that he expects his country will join the IMF on 20 December. In the meantime, he added, Serbia will remove the last obstacle to its membership when it reaches an agreement with the other successor states to the former Yugoslavia on dividing that country's properties and assets. The agreement is expected to be concluded in Brussels on 18-19 December. PM[18] ...RAPIDLY NORMALIZES RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBORSYugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic and his Slovenian counterpart, Dimitrij Rupel, signed an agreement in Ljubljana on 9 December establishing diplomatic relations. Rupel said that the agreement put an end to an "abnormal" situation, "Dnevnik" reported. In Sarajevo, the Bosnian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Svilanovic and Bosnian Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic will sign a similar declaration in Belgrade on 15 December, "Vesti" reported on 10 December. In Zagreb on 9 December, President Stipe Mesic said that Kostunica must distance himself politically from the Bosnian Serbs, just as Mesic's government has done in relation to the ethnic Croats of that republic, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[19] BERLIN'S 'BAMBI PRIZE' FOR SERBIAN POLITICIANSerbian Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic received Berlin's Bambi Prize for his role as "creator" of the Serbian revolution, "Vesti" reported on 10 December. The Bambi awards are sponsored by the Burda publishing house for people who have achieved success in the worlds of entertainment, politics, or the media. Djindjic studied in Berlin and speaks excellent German. He frequently appears in the German media. PM[20] MONTENEGRO TO DO MORE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKINGDeputy Interior Minister Vladimir Cejovic said in Podgorica on 10 December that his government will step up efforts with foreign countries--especially with Italy and Albania--to reduce the flow of traffic in human beings. Most of the traffic involves prostitutes and illegal migrants from former communist countries working in Montenegro or seeking passage to Western Europe. Cejovic said that Milosevic's policy of visa-free travel for Chinese citizens made controlling the flow of Chinese migrants particularly difficult, AP reported. PM[21] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER SIGNS AGREEMENT IN MACEDONIAAkis Tsochatzopoulos signed a bilateral security agreement in Skopje on 10 December with his Macedonian counterpart, Ljuben Paunovski. The two men also discussed the situation in southwestern Serbia. Paunovski said: "We agreed that there are clear signals of tension in southern Serbia, but that there is no indication yet that it might escalate." He called on both sides to "behave responsibly," dpa reported. On 11 December, Tsochatzopoulos is slated to meet with President Boris Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, and Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim. In related news, a first- ever conference of mayors of Balkan cities ended in Thessaloniki with a joint declaration, Makfaks news agency reported on 10 December. Delegations from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Yugoslavia participated. Macedonia was represented by officials from Skopje, Tetovo, and Kumanovo. PM[22] MACEDONIA TO RESUME TIES WITH BEIJINGStojan Andov, who is the new president of the Macedonian parliament, met recently in Belgrade with a top official of the Chinese embassy there, MIC news service reported from Skopje on 8 December. A Macedonian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that his government is seeking ways to resume diplomatic links to China without ending its economic relationship with Taiwan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 2000). He stressed, however, that the government has not yet launched any formal initiative to that end. Former presidential hopeful Vasil Tupurkovski and many others in Macedonia expected that recognizing Taiwan in early 1999 would lead to massive Taiwanese investment into Macedonia's lagging economy. The hopes proved unfounded. Several other Balkan countries are believed to have been carefully watching Macedonia's "Taiwan experiment" to see if it would economically prove to their advantage to switch recognition from China to Taiwan. PM[23] MACEDONIAN COURT WORKERS GO ON STRIKEThe union representing workers in the judiciary called a strike over pay for 11 December, Makfaks news agency reported. PM[24] CROATS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF TUDJMAN'S DEATHUp to 10,000 people attended a memorial service at the Zagreb grave of the late President Franjo Tudjman on 10 December to mark the first anniversary of his death. Ivo Sanader, who heads Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community, said that Tudjman's critics have resorted to "disgusting lies and defamation" to blacken his memory, AP reported. President Stipe Mesic, who did not attend the memorial service, said in Zagreb that Tudjman did much for the cause of Croatian independence but that he made serious mistakes in his policies toward Bosnia and Europe, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[25] ILIESCU WINS ROMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF...With more than 95 percent of the votes in the 10 December presidential runoff officially counted, Party of Social Democracy in Romania chairman Ion Iliescu has secured a new term as head of state. Romanian Radio reported on 11 December that Iliescu gained 73.87 percent and Greater Romania Party (PRM) candidate Corneliu Vadim Tudor 26.13 percent. Responding to exit polls on 10 December, Iliescu called on Romanians to display unity in an effort of "economic and social reconstruction and struggle against poverty, corruption, and crime." He said he will strive to "accelerate Romania's dignified integration into the EU and NATO" and pledged to punish those who "plundered national wealth [and] infringed on the constitution and the country's law". The president-elect also said he hopes international lenders will display "understanding" of Romania's difficult situation and "back its reforms blueprint." MS[26] ...WHILE TUDOR CRIES FOUL PLAYResponding to exit polls, Tudor accused the PDSR of having bribed both pollsters and the Central Election Commission, saying this was "the greatest fraud in this century's Romanian history." He said he will appeal to the International Tribunal in The Hague and to the OSCE. The falsified election results signify "the victory of the Antichrist," he said. In an incident at a Bucharest polling station, a PRM member threw a bottle of blue ink at President Emil Constantinescu. The man, who is known to have psychological problems, was charged with "offending a state official." MS[27] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT WILL NOT USE FORCE AGAINST SQUATTERSPrime Minister Dumitru Braghis said on 8 December that the government does not intend to use force against squatters who one day earlier occupied a building that is intended to accommodate members of the parliament. Some of the squatters, most of whom are Transdniester war veterans and members of police, are reported to be armed, according to RFE/RL's Chisinau Bureau. They say they live in very poor conditions, while the deputies for whom the flats are destined "have no merits." Parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov condemned the action, hinting that the protesters are being manipulated by the same forces that want the presidential elections under way in the parliament to fail--a probable allusion to President Petru Lucinschi. MS[28] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS BUDGET TO MEET NATURAL DISASTER COSTSThe parliament on 8 December approved adding 30 million lei ($2.42 million) to the expenditures of the 2001 budget, to pay for the damage caused by the extreme frost experienced from 26-28 November. This increases the budget deficit. The World Bank, Romania, Russia, Belarus, and China have announced relief measures to help Moldova overcome the consequences of the disaster. MS[29] BULGARIAN POLITICIAN LAUNCHES NEW PARTYFormer Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev was elected chairman of the recently- formed center-right Civic Party on 9 December, Reuters reported. Bonev said his party will try to attract voters in the 2001 elections who are disappointed with the ruling Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) and still remember the failures of the main opposition Socialist Party. He ruled out an alliance with the SDS after the elections. Bonev was sacked from the cabinet last year and in April 2000 demanded that Prime Minister Ivan Kostov resign. He accused Kostov of having failed to respond to an Interior Ministry report on graft among top officials. MS[C] END NOTE[30] SREBRENICA: MUSLIMS RETURNING TO THEIR HOMES (PART 1)By Jolyon NaegeleThere are no road signs pointing the way to Srebrenica. A good map and sense of direction, however, should get the visitor through the market town of Bratunac and onto the road up through Potocari, where most of the mass killings occurred in July 1995. The mining and spa town of Srebrenica lies beyond, nestled at the end of a steep and narrow valley. The material destruction in this Bosnian Serb-administered corner of eastern Bosnia is as bad as anywhere else in the war-damaged land. The landscape is pockmarked with houses lacking roofs or even walls. In some places, nothing more than the foundations are left. Burned-out vehicles and other remains of the war still lie piled up by the roadside. But it is the human losses that make Srebrenica different from every other community in Bosnia. Some 7,000 men from this town and surrounding communities have been missing and presumed dead since General Ratko Mladic's Bosnian Serb forces swept down the mountains and divided the men from the women and children. The men have not been seen alive since. The town itself had a pre-war population of 7,000--mainly Muslims and Serbs, but also Croats, Montenegrins, and Roma--out of a total of 37,000 in the surrounding district. During the war, Srebrenica's population swelled to about 45,000, as both residents and displaced Muslims from elsewhere in eastern Bosnia crowded into the UN-declared safe haven. Srebrenica's misfortune was its strategic importance to both the Serbs and the Bosnian Muslims. It is close both to the Drina River border with Serbia just over the hills to the east and to other largely Muslim towns in the area, including Zvornik, Bratunac, Zepa, Gorazde, Foca, and Visegrad. In the outside world, the name "Srebrenica" has become synonymous with mass murder. But what happened here five-and-a-half years ago is rarely mentioned by the town's residents themselves, at least not in public. Srebrenica auto mechanic Mirsad Djozic, a 42-year-old Muslim, survived the entire war in the besieged town, living in constant hunger. When Srebrenica fell, Djozic succeeded in hiking over the mountains all the way to Tuzla. He says he hid in the woods for several weeks before making the 15-day hike, mostly at night, to freedom. He lived in exile in Vogosca, near Sarajevo, but five months ago he returned to Srebrenica to rebuild his house, which he says the Serbs burned to the ground. Djozic says he has found a wall of silence about the recent past: "There is still no justice, but otherwise things are quite good here. There are no provocations. The police behave correctly to me. The authorities are really acting correctly. We haven't had any more problems so far." He added that he does not intend to bring his family back until war-damaged school and health facilities are reconstructed. He says he has applied for assistance to rebuild his house but so far has received nothing. The OSCE representative in Srebrenica, Gerard Keown, says about 100 gutted houses have been prepared for reconstruction. This year, 10 Muslim families have returned to Srebrenica; about 20 Muslim-owned homes have been reconstructed so far with international assistance, and authorities expect another 10 families to be returning soon. Fata Husejnagic returned five months ago, together with her daughter, Sanela and her 90-year-old mother, Mejra. Fata, who used to work at the local spa of Banja Guber, says Srebrenica was one of the most beautiful towns in Bosnia before the fighting erupted in early 1992. She fled with Sanela to Tuzla in April of that year, leaving behind her mother and two of her brothers. The Serbs expelled Fata's mother after they overran the town three years later. But her two brothers, one of them a professor of biology and chemistry, were never heard from again and are presumed to be among the more than 7,000 Srebrenica men murdered by the Serbs. Fata says she was not afraid to return because she still has her family's property--now a shell-damaged house and an overgrown garden. A displaced Serb, Sanja, together with her parents, husband, and baby son, were living in the Husejnagic house when Fata returned. Sanja asked if they could stay, but Fata said 'no' and they moved elsewhere. At first, Fata found communication with almost all the Serbs in Srebrenica difficult. Old friends turned their heads away, but Fata persisted in greeting them when she saw them and, after four days, they finally began returning her greetings. Neighbors she no longer even recognized came by with coffee and offers of sympathy and help. Fata says the fighting left no psyche unscarred. As she puts it: "Everyone suffered psychologically from what happened, and we have to forgive." At the same time, she says, it is impossible to forget. "I cannot forget that I had two brothers and a normal family," she remarks. The author is an RFE/RL senior correspondent based in Prague. Part II of this article will appear in tomorrow's "RFE/RL Newsline." 11-12-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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