RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 36, 01-02-21

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 5, No. 36, 21 February 2001

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] EU DELEGATION VISITS ARMENIA

[02] ARMENIA, UKRAINE PLAN TO EXPAND BILATERAL TRADE

[03] OSCE KARABAKH PEACE PROPOSALS LEAKED

[04] AZERBAIJANI WAR INVALIDS VACATE HEADQUARTERS

[05] IRATE AZERBAIJANI TRADERS DEMOLISH GEORGIAN BORDER

[06] GEORGIA RULES OUT RUSSIAN TROOP PRESENCE IN PANKISI

[07] KAZAKH PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS INTEREST IN BAKU-CEYHAN

[08] KAZAKH PREMIER OUTLINES PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING

[09] KAZAKHSTAN REDUCES UNEMPLOYMENT

[10] KYRGYZ PREMIER EXPLAINS UZBEK GAS SUPPLIES CHAOS

[11] KYRGYZ COURT POSTPONES APPEAL BY OPPOSITION

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] SERBIA OFFERING NEW TERMS TO PRESEVO ALBANIANS?

[13] SERBIA AND MACEDONIA TO COOPERATE AGAINST

[14] MACEDONIA CALLS ON KFOR TO DO MORE FOR BORDER

[15] COVIC CALLS FOR SERBIAN ROLE IN KOSOVA SETTLEMENT

[16] POWELL: U.S. TROOPS TO STAY IN BALKANS

[17] MONTENEGRO SETS DATE FOR KEY VOTE

[18] MONTENEGRO SAYS THAT BELGRADE DOES NOT REPRESENT IT

[19] CROATIAN PRESIDENT CALLS ON SERBIA TO 'CHANGE

[20] HAGUE NOT TO SEEK CROATIAN GENERAL

[21] SLOVENIA TO CLOSE DUTY FREE SHOPS

[22] FORMER ROMANIAN DISSIDENT TO SUE SECURITATE ARCHIVES

[23] ...SUSPECTS FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER OF HAVING BEEN

[24] IMF PROLONGS ROMANIAN VISIT

[25] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT AGAINST 'BABY EXPORTS'

[26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ANNULS

[27] RUSSIAN MINISTER TO VISIT MOLDOVA

[28] BULGARIAN OFFICIAL CLAIMS EU NOT PROVIDING FUNDS FOR

[29] BULGARIAN AIRLINES PERSONNEL GIVEN PAID LEAVE OF

[C] END NOTE

[30] There is no End Note today.

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] EU DELEGATION VISITS ARMENIA

chairwoman and Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Foreign

and Security Policy Commissioner Javiar Solana and External

Relations Commissioner Chris Patten -- visited Yerevan on 20

February on the first leg of a tour of the South Caucasus. Lindh

told journalists after talks with President Robert Kocharian and

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian that she is aware of "a clear

commitment and political will" on the part of the Armenian

leadership to resolve the Karabakh conflict. She added that a

peaceful and long-lasting solution to that conflict would

facilitate closer cooperation between the EU and the states of

the South Caucasus. Lindh said the EU intends to devote closer

attention to the region in future. Patten for his part said the EU

will continue to fund regional cooperation programs such as the

TRACECA transport network and the INOGATE program. LF

[02] ARMENIA, UKRAINE PLAN TO EXPAND BILATERAL TRADE

Ukrainian inter-governmental economic cooperation

commission, government delegations from the two countries

finalized the text of a 10-year agreement outlining the main

priorities for commercial ties, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

reported. That agreement, which is to be signed during

Armenian President Robert Kocharian's visit to Kyiv next week,

provides for expanding bilateral trade from the 2000 level of

$15.5 million to $38 million by 2003. Vladimir Novytskii, who

heads Ukraine's State Committee on Industrial Policy,

reaffirmed Kyiv's interest in participating in the construction of

a pipeline to export gas from Iran to Armenia. He said that

pipeline could be extended to Georgia and further westwards,

thereby enabling Ukraine to purchase Iranian gas and minimize

its present dependence on deliveries from Russia and

Turkmenistan. LF

[03] OSCE KARABAKH PEACE PROPOSALS LEAKED

official press on 21 February published in Russian and

Azerbaijani what it claims is the text of the three successive

draft proposals for resolving the Karabakh conflict offered by

the OSCE Minsk Group in July 1997, December 1997 and

November 1998, RFE/RL's Baku bureau reported. Also on 21

February, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported that it and several

other Armenian media outlets have received an Armenian

translation of the five-page November 1998 OSCE proposal

that Azerbaijan and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

Republic form a "common state." Baku rejected that proposal.

The leaked document confirms that the proposal gives the

unrecognized republic de facto independent status, with the

right to its own constitution and armed forces and to veto any

legislation enacted by the central parliament in Baku. The

document contains a separate provision on the withdrawal of

Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories

contiguous to Nagorno-Karabakh. A senior Armenian diplomatic

source confirmed the authenticity of the document, while a

Karabakh official noted that the Armenian translation contains

minor inaccuracies. LF

[04] AZERBAIJANI WAR INVALIDS VACATE HEADQUARTERS

supporters of the Karabakh war invalids, members of the

Society that represents the invalids' interests on 21 February

abandoned the hunger-strike they began last week to demand

an increase in their pensions and allowances, Turan reported.

An estimated 500 veterans and invalids vacated the society's

headquarters on 21 February and handed the premises over to

police in return for assurances that they will not be arrested.

On 20 February, the Prosecutor-General's office and Interior

Ministry had issued a joint statement accusing the invalids of

"organizing mass disturbances," "incitement to illegal actions

and violence," and the embezzlement of some 1 billion manats

($217,000). LF

[05] IRATE AZERBAIJANI TRADERS DEMOLISH GEORGIAN BORDER

A convoy of some 30 vehicles carrying up to 300

Azerbaijani traders crossed into Georgia on 19 February and

demolished a border post to protest the 420 lari ($200)

customs tariffs they are routinely required to pay, Caucasus

Press reported. LF

[06] GEORGIA RULES OUT RUSSIAN TROOP PRESENCE IN PANKISI

Georgian presidential spokesman Kakha Imnadze said

on 20 February that Tbilisi will "in no circumstances" allow

Russia to deploy troops in the Pankisi gorge in northern

Georgia, bordering on Chechnya. Russian officials have

repeatedly claimed that the estimated 7,000 Chechens who

have fled the fighting in Chechnya to take refuge in Pankisi,

which is home to Georgia's Chechen minority, include numerous

armed fighters. LF

[07] KAZAKH PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS INTEREST IN BAKU-CEYHAN

Nursultan Nazarbaev has written to his Georgian

counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze to reaffirm Kazakhstan's

interests in exporting oil via Georgia, Caucasus Press reported

on 20 February. Nazarbaev noted that by signing the March

1999 Ankara and November 1999 Istanbul declarations,

Kazakhstan affirmed its support for construction of the

planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline for Caspian oil. He said that the

capacity of the Tengiz-Novorossiisk oil pipeline that is expected

to become operational later this year is not sufficient to export

the 67 million tons per year that Kazakhstan envisages

producing. LF

[08] KAZAKH PREMIER OUTLINES PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING

Addressing a cabinet session on 20 February,

Qasymzhomart Toqaev said he has ordered oil companies and

refineries to produce an additional 9 million tons of diesel for

agricultural use during the spring sowing campaign, and that

the export of diesel fuel will be banned during that period. He

added that farmers will not be supplied with diesel at reduced

prices this year, Interfax and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

Toqaev further expressed concern that 70 percent of the

country's agricultural machinery is worn out. LF

[09] KAZAKHSTAN REDUCES UNEMPLOYMENT

Insurance Minister Alikhan Baimenov told the cabinet session on

20 February that 264,000 new jobs were created last year,

and registered unemployment fell as a result to 12.8 percent,

ITAR-TASS reported. He also said that the population's cash

incomes increased by 4-5 percent last year, while the average

wage rose by 19.2 percent. Reuters last month gave the

minimum wage in Kazakhstan as 3,484 tenges (about $42). LF

[10] KYRGYZ PREMIER EXPLAINS UZBEK GAS SUPPLIES CHAOS

Kurmanbek Bakiev attributed Uzbekistan's failure to resume

natural gas deliveries to Kyrgyzstan by the absence of any

formal agreement between the two countries on gas supplies

for this year, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Bakiev said

that the only current agreement in force is one on gas supplies

to the Bishkek heating plant. In December 2000 then Deputy

Prime Minister Esengul Omuraliev announced that he and his

Uzbek counterpart Rustam Yunusov had signed an

intergovernmental agreement on oil, gas and electricity

supplies for 2001 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 December 2000).

Uzbekistan halted gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan on 25 January.

LF

[11] KYRGYZ COURT POSTPONES APPEAL BY OPPOSITION

The Bishkek City Court on 20 February postponed

indefinitely hearings on an appeal by the opposition newspaper

"Asaba," RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. A

Bishkek district court ordered the paper last fall to pay 5

million soms (about $105,000) in compensation to parliament

deputy and former Communist Party of Kirghizia First Secretary

Turdakun Usubaliev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 and 26

October 2000). Usubaliev had complained that "Asaba" has

insulted him systematically over a period of eight years. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] SERBIA OFFERING NEW TERMS TO PRESEVO ALBANIANS?

20 February to elected Presevo Valley ethnic Albanian leaders

Riza Halimi and Zekerija Fazliu. AP reported the message "is

also clearly meant to include the armed guerrillas" operating in

the region. Covic appealed to the Albanians to "take immediate

measures" to "stop the terrorist actions" and appoint

negotiators for talks as part of a "dialogue" between Belgrade

and the local Albanian community. In an apparent break with

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's position and in a clear

concession to Albanian views, Covic said there can be

"international mediation" but did not elaborate (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 13 February 2001). The Albanians want autonomy,

disarmament, and international mediation. Covic recently

outlined Belgrade's proposals aimed at defusing tensions in the

region in a lengthy document (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 16

February 2001). In his latest letter, Covic stressed the

government's commitment to "human rights" and pledged to

withdraw security forces once "extremist" groups are disarmed

and disbanded., Reuters reported. PM

[13] SERBIA AND MACEDONIA TO COOPERATE AGAINST

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran

Svilanovic and his Macedonian counterpart Srdjan Kerim said in

Belgrade on 20 February that there are no outstanding

problems between their two countries (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

16 February 2001, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 20 February

2001). Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and Macedonian

Premier Ljubco Georgievski said that their talks centered on the

security situation in southern Serbia and the need to oppose

"extremist" actions that can destabilize the region, "Vesti"

reported. Georgievski reiterated his support for the Serbian

plan for Presevo. Djindjic said that the two countries'

cooperation is limited to "exchanging information" and that

there is "no need" for coordinated efforts by their respective

security forces. Asked to comment on recent "terrorist actions

by extremists from Kosovo" on Macedonian territory,

Georgievski said only that Skopje has not yet determined

exactly who the recent intruders are (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

19 February 2001). PM

[14] MACEDONIA CALLS ON KFOR TO DO MORE FOR BORDER

President Boris Trajkovski met in Skopje with KFOR

representatives on 20 February, urging them to take steps to

prevent further infiltration by uniformed, armed groups from

Kosova into his country. The president also discussed security

issues with top Macedonian Defense and Interior Ministry

officials. In the latest incident, some 200 armed ethnic

Albanian fighters crossed from Kosova into the area near

Tanusevci on 20 February, dpa reported. Skopje has often

complained to KFOR about lax security on the porous and in

many places rugged border. PM

[15] COVIC CALLS FOR SERBIAN ROLE IN KOSOVA SETTLEMENT

a visit to the divided city of Mitrovica, Serbian Deputy Premier

Covic said on 20 February that "anyone who believes that the

Kosovo crisis can be resolved without Serbia and Yugoslavia is

completely wrong." He added that Belgrade's "new democratic

authorities have...the formula to achieve this with the help of

the international community," AP reported. He did not

elaborate. He may have been referring to the plan set down by

Kostunica's foreign policy advisor to enable Serbia to reassert

itself in Kosova with the help of the international community

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 February 2001). It is not clear how

Belgrade hopes to make such an eventuality palatable to the

90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, which wants only

independence and nothing to do with Serbia (see "RFE/RL

Balkan Report," 15 and 22 December 2000 and 23 January

2001). PM

[16] POWELL: U.S. TROOPS TO STAY IN BALKANS

State Colin Powell told visiting German Foreign Minster Joschka

Fischer in Washington on 20 February that the U.S. remains

committed to keeping its troops in NATO peacekeeping

operations in Bosnia and Kosova, Deutsche Welle reported (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 5 February 2001). PM

[17] MONTENEGRO SETS DATE FOR KEY VOTE

Djukanovic announced in Podgorica on 20 February that

legislative elections will take place on 22 April. "I'm convinced

that the elections are the most democratic step in the building

of Montenegro as a free and open democratic society," AP

quoted Djukanovic as saying. The elections are expected to be

followed by a referendum on independence (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 20 February 2001). Djukanovic stressed that

independence "is more rational than trying to build a fourth

Yugoslavia on the wreck of three Yugoslav failures," Reuters

reported. PM

[18] MONTENEGRO SAYS THAT BELGRADE DOES NOT REPRESENT IT

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Branko Lukovac said in

Sarajevo on 20 February that the Belgrade authorities do not

have the right to represent Montenegro or its interests in

Bosnia or anywhere else, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. He said that the reason that he has come to Bosnia is

to familiarize the authorities there with Montenegro's proposals

on the future of Belgrade-Podgorica relations. His Bosnian

counterpart, Jadranko Prlic, said that Bosnia will respect

whatever decision Montenegro's people make about their

future, Deutsche Welle reported. PM

[19] CROATIAN PRESIDENT CALLS ON SERBIA TO 'CHANGE

Speaking in Vienna on 20 February,

Stipe Mesic called on the Belgrade leadership to make it clear

to the Serbian public that the government has indeed broken

with the nationalistic Milosevic era (see "RFE/RL Balkan

Report," 13 February 2001, and "RFE/RL South Slavic Report,"

15 February 2001). Austrian President Thomas Klestil praised

the Croatian government for setting a new course over the

past year by promoting democracy, media freedom, refugee

return, and cooperation with the Hague-based war crimes

tribunal, dpa reported. PM

[20] HAGUE NOT TO SEEK CROATIAN GENERAL

crimes chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said in a statement on

21 February that "the prosecution of Mirko Norac -- for events

in Gospic in 1991 and for any other alleged crime committed

between 1991 and 1995 on the territory of the Republic of

Croatia -- is the responsibility of the relevant authorities of

Croatia," AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 February

2001). PM

[21] SLOVENIA TO CLOSE DUTY FREE SHOPS

on 21 February to close duty free shops on EU borders in June.

The government is under pressure from Rome and Vienna to

shut down the shops but is reluctant to approve a measure

that will cost some 1,000 jobs, Reuters reported. Minister for

European Affairs Igor Bavcar argues that any delay in the

closure will slow down EU membership negotiations. PM

[22] FORMER ROMANIAN DISSIDENT TO SUE SECURITATE ARCHIVES

Gabriel Andreescu, a prominent anti-Ceausescu

dissident, on 20 February told journalists he is suing the

National College for the Study of the Securitate Archives

(CNSAS), Mediafax reported. Andreescu said the college

"infringes the legal right of citizens to have access to their own

[Securitate] file." He said he has several times applied to the

CNSAS to see his file but has never received a reply. Andreescu

also said he is suing the CNSAS for having refused his request

to make public information on the collaboration of Romanian

Orthodox Church Synod members with the former secret

police. Andreescu said CNSAS members are "defying Romania's

citizens through their impertinence and lack of competence."

MS

[23] ...SUSPECTS FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER OF HAVING BEEN

Andreescu also said he suspects CNSAS

member and former Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu was a

Securitate collaborator, but cannot prove his suspicion. The

Group of Social Dialogue (GDS), at whose seat Andreescu met

journalists, distanced itself from his declarations and said that

Andreescu, a former GDS chairman, "ceased to be an active

GDS member" more than one year ago. MS

[24] IMF PROLONGS ROMANIAN VISIT

Neven Mates, chief negotiator for Romania, has decided to

extend its stay in Romania to 25 February, Mediafax reported

on 20 February, citing Finance Ministry sources. Prime Minister

Adrian Nastase said earlier on 20 February that the delegation

will end its visit on 22 February and might return for further

discussions at the end of March. Also on 20 February, Ziad

Alhadad, head of the World Bank mission to Romania, said

Romania needs to improve economic stability and continue

structural reforms in order to be better positioned to attract

foreign investment. MS

[25] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT AGAINST 'BABY EXPORTS'

said in Bucharest on 20 February that he opposes the "export

of babies" from Romania, Mediafax reported. Iliescu made his

comments at a foreign investment forum in response to a

question about the situation of the thousands of homeless or

institutionalized children in Romania. Iliescu pledged that the

state will establish "appropriate new living conditions" for all

such children and that legislation on this issue will be drafted

before the end of the current parliamentary session. He said

the bill will include an action program for the central and local

governments. A lack of contraceptives and Romanian dictator

Nicolae Ceausescu's policy forbidding abortions led to

thousands of children being abandoned by their parents,

making Romania the locale for thousands of legal and illegal

adoptions -- mostly by Westerners -- after Ceausescu was

executed on Christmas Day 1989 and the communist regime

fell. PB

[26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ANNULS

Moldova's Constitutional Court has

declared unconstitutional essential provisions in the law on

restructuring agricultural enterprises undergoing privatization,

Infotag reported 20 February. Last April, parliament amended

the law in such a way that the property of such enterprises

was not subject to confiscation by court decisions. Moreover,

even property confiscated or seized previously was supposed

to be returned to the owners. The Constitutional Court decided

that parliament had exceeded its authority by amending the

law in such a way, because in effect it overruled court

decisions, which only a higher court may do. DW

[27] RUSSIAN MINISTER TO VISIT MOLDOVA

Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu will visit Moldova on 21

February to discuss technical issues, Infotag reported. Part of

these discussions will include Russian assistance to Moldova in

setting up an emergencies ministry of its own, as well as

providing training and equipment for rescue teams. DW

[28] BULGARIAN OFFICIAL CLAIMS EU NOT PROVIDING FUNDS FOR

Kiril Ermenkov, the chairman of the

National Assembly's Energy Committee, said on 20 February

that the EU has not kept its pledge to provide Bulgaria with

money needed for the early closure of two reactors at the

controversial Kozloduy nuclear power plant, BTA reported.

According to an agreement signed with Sofia, the EU was to

have already provided 200 million euros ($182.5 million) as

compensation for early decommissioning of the two 880 MW

reactors. Ermenkov said the EU is planning on giving Bulgaria

some 100 million euros next year, but that the country needs

the money now in order to shut down the reactors on time. PB

[29] BULGARIAN AIRLINES PERSONNEL GIVEN PAID LEAVE OF

The Israeli owner of Bulgaria's financially-troubled

Balkan Air company announced on 20 February that most of

the company's employees have been given a one-month paid

leave of absence, AP reported. Balkan Air spokesman Victor

Melamed said 70 percent of the some 2,100 employees

received the paid leave. Balkan Air has been grounded since 14

February (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 February 2001). The

Zeevi Holdings Group, which owns the airline, is suing Bulgaria

for $230 million for breaching the sale contract. Balkan Air is

also facing bankruptcy proceedings for unpaid debts. PB

[C] END NOTE

[30] There is no End Note today.

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URL: http://www.rferl.org

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