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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 239, 00-12-12Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 239, 12 December 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] U.S. MILITARY UNVEILS AID PROGRAM FOR ARMENIAThe U.S. Department of Defense will provide Armenia with $1.3 million next year toward the cost of training and equipping border guards and customs personnel, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 11 December, quoting a military attache at the U.S. embassy in the Armenian capital. The U.S. will also provide equipment worth $300,000 to establish a "de-mining center." Noyan Tapan quoted the same attache as saying that a senior U.S. military delegation will arrive in Yerevan on 12 December to sign a military cooperation agreement between the two countries. LF[02] OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TRAVEL TO ANKARA, NAKHICHEVAN, ARMENIA...Following talks in Ankara on 9 December with Turkish leaders, the U.S. and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group travelled the following day to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, where they were joined by their Russian counterpart. The three men then flew to Yerevan, where they met on 11 December with Armenian President Robert Kocharian to discuss how to resolve the Karabakh conflict, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. French co- chair Jean-Jacques Gaillard termed that meeting "encouraging," while U.S. co-chair Carey Cavanuagh told journalists the talks were "very productive," adding that "the impression we have now is that all conflicting parties want to move forward and get a concrete result as soon as possible." Kocharian, for his part, was quoted by his press service as insisting that "the conflict must be resolved on the basis of equality between the parties." LF[03] ...AND KARABAKH AND BAKUThe co-chairs travelled by helicopter on 11 December from Yerevan to Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Noyan Tapan and a correspondent in Stepanakert for RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. The unrecognized enclave's president, Arkadii Ghukasian, told the co-chairs during a three-hour meeting that he is concerned at what the Karabakh leadership perceives as a slackening in the pace of the negotiating process. He also argued that Karabakh representatives should participate in the ongoing series of talks between Kocharian and Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev. Following talks with Aliev later the same day in Baku, the co-chairs announced that the Armenian and Azerbaijani defense ministers will meet on the border between Armenia and Nakhichevan on 15 December to discuss measures to preclude further violations of the cease-fire that took effect in the spring of 1994, ITAR-TASS reported. Cavanaugh added that Turkey will play "an important role" in implementing the peace agreement once it is reached and that Ankara has promised to provide economic assistance in developing the region, according to Turan. LF[04] WERE SVANS RESPONSIBLE FOR ABDUCTION OF UN OFFICIALS IN GEORGIA?Svan bandits were responsible for the 10 December abduction of two UN officials in Abkhazia's Kodori gorge, Abkhaz Deputy Interior Minister Valeri Lagvilava told Caucasus Press on 11 December. Lagvilava rejected claims by Georgian officials, including President Eduard Shevardnadze, and by the UN that Abkhaz were responsible, noting that the Kodori gorge is under Georgian control. Svans are believed to have been responsible for two previous abductions of UN officials in the same area (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 15 October 1999 and 6 June 2000). Also on 11 December, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba said the Georgian leadership has not contacted him to propose joint measures to secure the observers' release, Interfax reported. UN Special Envoy in Georgia Dieter Boden travelled to Sukhum on 11 December for talks on securing the observers' release, according to Caucasus Press. In Tbilisi, Giorgi Baramidze, who chairs the parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security, told journalists that failure to apprehend and punish those responsible for such abductions is one of the reasons why they recur so frequently. He suggested that unnamed "political forces" in Russia may have staged the abductions both in Kodori and the Pankisi gorge in northeastern Georgia with the aim of destabilizing the political situation in the country, Caucasus Press reported. LF[05] MAJORITY PARLIAMENTARY FACTION SEEKS INCREASED FUNDING FOR GEORGIA'S REGIONSParliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania chaired a closed meeting on 11 December between members of the majority Union of Citizens of Georgia faction and the ministers of finance and the economy to discuss the draft budget for 2001, Caucasus Press reported. Deputies approved that draft in the first reading on 8 December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 December 2000), but the majority has threatened to withhold approval in the second reading, scheduled for 12 December, unless another10 million laris ($5 million) are allocated to the regions. The government said only an additional $2 million laris could be made available for that purpose. LF[06] FORMER GEORGIAN PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATION TO SUE JUSTICE MINISTERThe former paramilitary organization Mkhedrioni, which recently held its constituent congress as a political organization (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 46, 1 December 2000), plans to sue Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili, Caucasus Press reported on 11 December, citing "Akhali taoba." Saakashvili told a news conference in Tbilisi on 8 December that his ministry will not register the organization under its current name and with its present leadership. It is still headed by bank robber-turned- philosopher Djaba Ioseliani, who played a key role in the 1991 ouster of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Saakashvili claimed that Mkhedrioni still propagates violence, which is forbidden by the Georgian Constitution. Mkhedrioni has invited Georgian politicians to a 16 December discussion on whether Georgia should proclaim its neutrality. LF[07] FORMER KAZAKH FIRST DEPUTY PREMIER GIVEN NEW POSTAs some observers had predicted, Aleksandr Pavlov, who was dismissed last month as Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 November 2000), has been appointed a deputy director of the KazakhMys copper smelter, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on 9 December. LF[08] OSCE CONVENES DISCUSSION OF KAZAKHSTAN'S ELECTION LAWSThe OSCE hosted a round-table discussion in Astana on 8 December on unspecified proposed amendments to Kazakhstan's election legislation, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Representatives of the Alash, Azat, and other political parties as well as of some NGOs participated in the discussion, but the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan failed to send representatives. LF[09] KYRGYZSTAN'S GOVERNMENT RESIGNSIn accordance with the Kyrgyz constitution, the cabinet resigned on 9 December following the reinauguration of Askar Akaev as president, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 11 December. Akaev is to propose a new cabinet at a joint session of both chamber of parliament on 12 December. Domestic observers anticipate that Amangeldi Muraliev will be reappointed prime minister. LF[10] TALIBAN, NORTHERN ALLIANCE HOLD TALKS IN TURKMENISTANRepresentatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani met for an informal dinner on 10 December, AP and ITAR- TASS reported. The previous day, the two sides had held talks separately in Ashgabat with UN special representative Frances Vendrell. The 10 December dinner was the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since they met in Tashkent in July 1999. Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Batyr Berdiev and his predecessor, presidential envoy Boris Shikhmuradov, also attended. Vendrell told journalists that "the mistrust is deep" and that it is too early to expect a breakthrough or a major step toward ending the Afghan conflict. On 11 December, the Taliban warned that they will withdraw from the talks if the UN imposes more sanctions on Afghanistan. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] CROATIAN LEADER CALLS ON HAGUE TO BE 'EVEN-HANDED'...Prime Minister Ivica Racan told reporters in Zagreb on 11 December that "it is no secret that we have problems" with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. The cabinet met earlier that day to discuss relations with the tribunal and its desire to question General Petar Stipetic, who heads the General Staff. The cabinet agreed on a detailed, 13-point set of demands to the tribunal, which stresses that the court must show an evenhanded approach in dealing with war crimes in the region as a whole, "Novi List" reported. The government called on the tribunal to differentiate between aggressors and victims in processing cases involving war crimes. The court should respect Croatian law, work with Croatian authorities and courts, and go through government channels in seeking to interview past or present officials, the government added. PM[12] ...AS FRUSTRATION GROWS AMONG CROATSDeputy Prime Minister Goran Granic and several other political leaders have argued in recent weeks that the tribunal is placing undue emphasis on alleged Croatian war crimes, particularly those committed in 1995, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 11 December. Granic and others stress that the tribunal must pay more attention to alleged crimes committed by ethnic Serbian paramilitaries and Yugoslav forces in Croatia between 1990 and 1995. These views were reflected in the 13 demands by the government published in "Novi List" on 12 December. There is a widespread view in Croatia that the international community has been very strict with Croatia regarding its cooperation with The Hague, while making no such demands of the new Belgrade authorities. Some leading politicians believe that the tribunal has taken advantage of the government's willingness to cooperate with The Hague by making particularly tough demands on it. PM[13] HAGUE COURT CALLS CROATIAN DEMANDS 'UNACCEPTABLE'Graham Blewitt, who is a deputy prosecutor in The Hague, said that the cabinet's demands are unacceptable and an attempt to evade Croatia's obligations toward the tribunal, "Novi List" reported on 12 December. He added that the tribunal will soon issue indictments against unnamed Croatian generals for alleged war crimes committed during the 1995 campaign against the Serbian rebels. Blewitt stressed that the tribunal has a clear mandate from the UN Security Council and does not follow the demands of the Croatian government. In Zagreb, the daily "Republika" reported that the first Croatian generals likely to be indicted are Mirko Norac and Ante Gotovina. PM[14] YUGOSLAV LEADER SEEKS TALKS WITH 'MODERATE ALBANIANS'...Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said in Rome on 11 December that he hopes to negotiate the future autonomy of Kosova with representatives "moderate Albanians, who are in the majority" in the province, the BBC's Serbian Service reported. He did not express any regret for Serbian policies in the province that led to the 1999 conflict there, nor did he specify which ethnic Albanians he thinks will meet with him (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 December 2000). PM[15] ...UNDERTAKES WHIRLWIND VISIT TO ITALYKostunica met in Rome on 11 December with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, who visited Belgrade soon after Kostunica's victory in October, and Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 October 2000). Referring to Italy's role in NATO's 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia, Kostunica said that "it is always difficult to remember what happened. We can never forget, but we must look to the future," AP reported. Before returning to Belgrade, Kostunica called on Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. The Yugoslav leader also met with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who is the Holy See's secretary of state. PM[16] DID YUGOSLAV LEADER 'SNUB' GREECE?London's "Financial Times" reported on 12 December that Kostunica "has annoyed Greek officials by unexpectedly calling off a visit to Athens due to start on [13 December]. One official said it was the second time Mr. Kostunica had postponed the trip, claiming pressure of work in Belgrade." According to the newspaper's Athens correspondent, the real reason Kostunica chose not to visit Greece was because of Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis's efforts not only to demonstrate good will toward and support for Serbia but to display "even-handedness in relations with all his Balkan neighbors... Albanian political leaders from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania itself met recently in Athens under the auspices of a private U.S. group promoting inter-ethnic relations." PM[17] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LAUNCHES CAMPAIGNSeveral political leaders from the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition were in Sabac on 11 December to kick off their campaign for the 23 December parliamentary elections, "Danas" reported. DOS officials said that they expect to take their campaign to more than 70 towns and cities by election day. DOS leaders Zoran Djindjic and Vuk Obradovic stressed that the coalition intends to combat corruption and revive the economy. They called on voters to help "finish the job" of ousting elected officials loyal to the former regime of President Slobodan Milosevic. PM[18] SERBIAN COURT CONVICTS NINE OF 'KIDNAPPING'A court in Uzice convicted nine men on 11 December for "kidnapping" indicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Stevan Todorovic and handing him over to NATO forces in Bosnia in September 1998, Reuters reported. Todorovic has since been in The Hague. A SFOR spokeswoman said at the time of his capture that he was arrested in Bosnia. Serbian prosecutors had demanded that the nine be sentenced for "terrorism" in what was generally regarded as a political, anti-Western trial organized by the former regime. PM[19] BOMB EXPLODES AHEAD OF ALBANIAN LEADER'S VISITA bomb went off in Fushe Kruja on 11 December shortly before Prime Minister Ilir Meta was slated to open a cement factory there. Police are investigating the incident, in which nobody was hurt, AP reported. It is unclear who planted the bomb or for what reason. Fushe Kruja and several other communities near Tirana were settled in recent years by a large number of migrants, primarily from northern Albania. Those new communities have a reputation for being unstable and lawless. They lack not only zoning regulations and essential infrastructure but also the basic social fabric essential to impart stability and respectability in Albanian society and culture. PM[20] FINAL RESULTS OF ROMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFFAccording to the final results of the 10 December presidential runoff, Ion Iliescu won 66.83 percent of the votes while Greater Romania Party leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor garnered 33.17 percent, Mediafax reported on 12 December. Turnout was 57.5 percent. The two chambers of the newly elected parliament convened on 11 December, and the five parliamentary groups represented in the legislature elected their leaders, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Adrian Nastase, who has been designated a candidate for the premiership by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), said the new cabinet will "start working sometime between Christmas and New Year." Meanwhile, on 12 December, the PDSR is to resume talks with the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Democratic Party, and the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) on an agreement to cooperate in the legislature. MS[21] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS MAKE PLANSNastase also said on 11 December that he will seek the PDSR chairmanship, which will become vacant when Iliescu is sworn in as president. PNL presidential candidate Theodor Stolojan resigned his seat in the parliament, saying he had entered politics "to become president, not a deputy." Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, speaking to Mediafax on 11 December, dismissed rumors that he will become Romania's representative at the World Bank or ambassador to Washington. "After being National Bank governor and premier I shall not be humiliated into accepting the post of an international clerk," he commented, adding that he might "go into private business." Mediafax said the parliament is likely to replace him as National Bank governor in January 2001. UDMR deputy Laszlo Fazakas, whose name the National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives included among those of former informers, resigned his seat on 11 December. MS[22] ROMANIA WELCOMES EU SUMMIT DECISIONSThe Foreign Ministry on 11 December said it is "pleased" with the decisions of the recent EU summit in Nice, according to which Romania will have 15 votes on the decision-making Council of Ministers when it joins the organization. Hildegard Puwak, the future minister for European integration in the PDSR government, was quoted by Reuters as saying that "the EU decision is irreversible, and it is less important that some countries will join sooner and others later." MS[23] LUCINSCHI SAYS EARLY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ARE SOLUTION TO ELECTORAL IMPASSEPresidential spokesman Anatol Golea said on 11 December that President Petru Lucinschi believes the way out of the impasse in the undecided presidential elections is to dissolve the legislature and hold early parliamentary elections. Golea denied that Lucinschi had acted in any way to the advantage of Party of Moldovan Communist (PCM) leader Vladimir Voronin, saying the election of a communist as president would harm Moldova's interests. RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 11 December that deputies representing the Democratic Convention of Moldova in the parliament will now strive to reach an agreement with the PCM whereby Voronin withdraws from the presidential race and a candidate backed by both parties is nominated. MS[24] TRANSDNIESTER ELECTS NEW LEGISLATURENearly 44 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the 10 December elections to the restructured Transdniester Supreme Soviet, Infotag reported on 11 December. In order to be valid, turnout had to be at least 25 percent. Two hundred candidates competed for the 43-seat unicameral parliament, which is elected in single-seat constituencies under a "first- past-the-post" system. MS[25] ISRAELI INVESTORS BUY BULGARIAN MOBILE TELEPHONE COMPANYA group of three Israeli investors announced on 8 December they are buying Mobitel, Bulgaria's only mobile telephone company, AP reported. Lev Leviev, one of the three investors, told Darik Radio that the deal is "99 percent closed" but refused to divulge the price of the transaction, which media reports put at between $700 million and $1 billion. Also on 8 December, the Administrative Court barred the private Nova TV station, owned by the Greek group Antenna, from starting nationwide broadcasts, after competitors challenged the way in which it won its license. MS[C] END NOTE[26] SREBRENICA: RETURN TO NORMAL LIFE IS SLOW (PART TWO)By Jolyon NaegeleFive-and-a-half years after the mass murders by Bosnian Serb forces of Bosniak Muslim men, the biggest problem Srebrenica faces is not the massacre's legacy. Rather, it is fact that displaced Serbs from Muslim- and Croat-administered parts of Bosnia are still living in the town. The refugees say their homes were burned down and they have no jobs to go back to. They are occupying the homes of Srebrenica's original inhabitants, namely Muslims and Serbs. The Republika Srpska minister in charge of returns to Srebrenica, Senad Subosica, says some 9,000 displaced Serbs from Bosnia's Muslim-Croatian Federation reside in the town and the surrounding municipal district, making up the overwhelming majority of its current population. In addition, he says, there are almost 1,300 displaced Serbs from destroyed villages elsewhere in the Srebrenica municipality who are occupying other people's homes in the town. Subosica admits that until the displaced Serbs vacate the houses they are now occupying, the return of former Muslim and Serb residents will be very difficult. "In arranging the resettlement of Bosniak [Muslims] here and simultaneously finding alternative housing for the current users of this property, Srebrenica is a particularly difficult position, because about 60 percent of its housing has been destroyed." Subosica says a two-way project for mass resettlement is being prepared, which requires cooperation with all the communities in the Muslim-Croat Federation from which Serb residents fled to Srebrenica. "We will help these municipalities to take back their citizens in a dignified manner so as to enable the dignified return of Srebrenica's Muslims and other displaced residents to their homes," he says. In Sarajevo, the first deputy high representative of the international community in Bosnia-Herzegovina, U.S. Ambassador Ralph Johnson, expresses frustration with what he says is the Srebrenica municipality's ineffective administration. "We got the very clear impression that some leadership on the Bosniak side was discouraging Bosniak [Muslim] refugees from going back to Srebrenica, just as the hard-line leadership on the Serb side was trying to frustrate them from coming back. [Why?] Because...it was in the interest of the extremists on both sides to keep this division alive. That is, to keep alive the memory of Srebrenica as a place of historical horror and to discourage returns, each [side] for their own reasons." Johnson describes the reconstruction of the municipality as very slow, in part because the area is what he describes as an "economic wasteland." He says some modest gains have been made, including the appointment of the town's first Muslim policeman since the end of the war. But returns of Muslims and Serbs are slow and few--they are largely the town's pensioners. Johnson also says that there have been no significant security breaches recently. But he notes that just prior to the fifth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in July, some houses that had been prepared for returns were burned down. He also notes that Srebrenica was the scene of substantial voter fraud in last month's local elections. As a result, the OSCE has withdrawn a third of the mandates from the main Bosnian Serb party, the Serbian Democratic Party. The outgoing mayor of Srebrenica is a Serb, Milisav Marijanovic. He says he and his municipal council are doing what they can to return the town to a semblance of normalcy. "For a variety of reasons, Srebrenica met the fate that it did in the course of the war and after the war," he argues. "Personally, I feel that the people did not deserve this. But we can't escape what happened. Now we are working for the benefit of the people of Srebrenica so they can start living something approximating a normal life." The mayor says, with a hint of hyperbole, that Srebrenica is the only place in Republika Srpska and possibly in all of Bosnia-Herzegovina where every building was damaged during the fighting and where, in the five years since the fighting ended, not one single new home has been built. Marijanovic is critical of the international community for imposing a system of municipal government in which both Serbs and Muslims are represented--the mayor is a Serb, his deputy is a Muslim, and so on, down through the local government. All official documents must be signed by both a Muslim and a Serbian representative--a system that Marijanovic describes as ineffective. Srebrenica's chief of administration is a Muslim, Ibrahim Hadzijic. He returned from exile in Tuzla 18 months ago but still spends his weekends in Tuzla with his family. Hadzijic says security in Srebrenica remains a problem, with freedom of movement not yet at the desired level. Hadzijic notes that multi-ethnic schools, police units, and courts cannot be set up unless full freedom of movement is assured. In addition, Hadzijic says, Bosnian Serb war criminals are still at large in Srebrenica. "Everyone probably knows who they are, but no one wants to say. Everyone knows. And everyone is afraid. Everyone is scared," he remarks. But Marijanovic denies any major war criminal is at large in the municipality. "None of those publicly indicted [for war crimes] are here," he says. "As for those indicted secretly, it's a hypothetical question whether someone is potentially indicted or not. And an indictment without proof does not mean someone is guilty." In spite of reports of violence, Marijanovic insists that Srebrenica is among the most peaceful towns in Bosnia. The author is an RFE/RL senior correspondent based in Prague. Part One of this article appeared in yesterday's "RFE/RL Newsline." 12-12-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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