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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 62, 01-03-29
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 5, No. 62, 29 March 2001
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN ENERGY PRIVATIZATION RESULTS POSTPONED
[02] ARMENIAN MILITARY COMMANDERS APPEAL ON BEHALF OF JAILED KARABAKH
DEFENSE MINISTER
[03] AZERBAIJAN'S NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER LISTS PRIORITIES
[04] ARMENIA, GEORGIA SEEK TO STRENGTHEN BILATERAL, REGIONAL COOPERATION
[05] GEORGIA DENIES IT PLANS TO HOST NATO BASES
[06] EDITOR OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PAPER WARNED AGAINST 'UNLAWFUL' PROTEST
ACTIONS
[07] KYRGYZ SECURITY OFFICIALS BELIEVE NEW ISLAMIST INCURSION IMMINENT
[08] JAPAN ALLOCATES DROUGHT RELIEF FOR TAJIKISTAN
[09] TAJIK PRESIDENT WANTS ECO TO FOCUS MORE ON ECONOMY
[10] COMMUNIST PARTY OF TAJIKISTAN REPORTS INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP
[11] UZBEKISTAN BANS MEAT IMPORTS FROM NEIGHBORS
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[12] FIGHTING CONTINUES IN MACEDONIA
[13] MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES POSSIBLE
[14] EU OFFICIAL URGES MACEDONIAN, ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADERS TO BEGIN TALKS
[15] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT DENIES SERB MINISTER'S CLAIM OF AN AGREEMENT
[16] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS AGREEMENT WITH IMF MADE FOR MULTIMILLION DOLLAR
LOAN
[17] POLICEMAN INJURED IN BUFFER ZONE FIGHTING
[18] CROAT TROOPS CONTINUE TO ABANDON BOSNIAN ARMY
[19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT ABOLISHES UPPER HOUSE
[20] DISMISSED ROMANIAN PROSECUTOR APPLYING FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM
[21] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT DISMISSES RUMORS OF CONFLICTS WITH PREMIER
[22] ROMANIAN LIBERALS SAY NEGOTIATIONS WITH IMF FAILED
[23] ROMANIANS GAIN ACCESS TO PERSONAL SECURITATE FILES
[24] ROMANIAN MAYOR DISMISSES ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM
[25] MOLDOVAN PREMIER JUSTIFIES PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY
[26] MOLDOVAN DEPUTY PREMIER SAYS IMF, WORLD BANK TO SUPPORT DEBT
RESTRUCTURING
[27] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT SETS ELECTION DATE
[28] NATO TROOPS TO BE 'LONG TERM STATIONED' ON BULGARIAN TERRITORY?
[29] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT TO MEDIATE IN STATE RADIO CONFLICT?
[30] BULGARIAN FINANCE MINISTER DISMISSES OPPOSITION PROPOSAL ON FOREIGN
DEBT
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no End Note today.
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN ENERGY PRIVATIZATION RESULTS POSTPONED
The Armenian government commission to oversee the international tender for
four electricity- distribution networks said on 28 March it will delay for
three weeks announcing the outcome of that tender, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau
reported. Energy Ministry spokeswoman Zhasmena Ghevondian explained that
one of the three foreign firms involved, AES Silk Road, has requested more
time to study the bid specifications (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 March
2001). The outcome of the tender will now be made public on 19 April. LF
[02] ARMENIAN MILITARY COMMANDERS APPEAL ON BEHALF OF JAILED KARABAKH
DEFENSE MINISTER
Several senior Armenian veterans of the Karabakh war, including popular
General Arkadii Ter-Tadevosian, on 28 March appealed for the release of
former Karabakh Defense Minister and army commander Samvel Babayan,
RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Babayan was sentenced last month to 14
years' imprisonment on charges of masterminding the March 2000 attempt to
assassinate Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-
Karabakh Republic (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 27 February 2001). The signatories
to the appeal argue that even if the charges against Babayan are true, he
deserves clemency in the light of his past role in the military victory
over Azerbaijan and the role he could still play in the event of renewed
hostilities. LF
[03] AZERBAIJAN'S NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER LISTS PRIORITIES
Speaking in Baku on 28 March, Azerbaijan's National Security Minister Namik
Abbasov listed four factors that, he said, should influence the work of the
country's security bodies over the next decade, Turan reported. The first
is the possibility that Azerbaijan will become the venue for a struggle for
influence between various major powers. The second is the country's
potential role as a transit country and center for investments, which
requires efforts to prevent illegal migration, money-laundering and the use
of Azerbaijani territory for the burial of nuclear waste. The third is the
need for information security. And the fourth is globalization, which
requires that the work of Azerbaijan's security services conforms to new
international legislative norms and standards. LF
[04] ARMENIA, GEORGIA SEEK TO STRENGTHEN BILATERAL, REGIONAL COOPERATION
On a one-day working visit to Yerevan on 28 March, Georgian Foreign
Minister Irakli Menagharishvili met with his Armenian counterpart Vartan
Oskanian, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and President Robert
Kocharian to discuss bilateral ties, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Yerevan
bureau reported. Menagharishvili told journalists after those talks that
agreement was reached on coordinating the two countries' activities in
international, and particularly European organizations. According to an
Armenian Foreign Ministry press release, Oskanian and Menagharishvili
acknowledge that the relationship between their two countries serves as a
stabilizing factor in the South Caucasus, and that their views on what the
basic tenets of the planned South Caucasus security pact should be are very
similar. Markarian assured Menagharishvili that while Yerevan has no
intention of encouraging the predominantly Armenian population of Georgia's
southern Djavakheti region in its bid for greater autonomy, it is
nonetheless concerned by adverse socio-economic conditions in the region
and is prepared to help alleviate them. Menagharishvili expressed his
appreciation of that offer. LF
[05] GEORGIA DENIES IT PLANS TO HOST NATO BASES
Menagharishvili also told journalists in Yerevan on 28 March that media
reports that Tbilisi plans to host a NATO military base are "groundless
rumors," Russian agencies reported. He said the Georgian government is
currently concerned with ensuring the closure of the Russian military bases
in Georgia, and that "stationing any other military units in Georgia is out
of the question." LF
[06] EDITOR OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PAPER WARNED AGAINST 'UNLAWFUL' PROTEST
ACTIONS
Melis Eshimkanov, who owns the embattled opposition newspaper "Asaba," was
warned on 28 March by Bishkek City Prosecutor Tologon Albanov that he will
be held responsible for any "unlawful" actions during the protest planned
for 30 March against the authorities' systematic reprisals against his
paper, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Also on 28 March, an official from
the Prosecutor-General's office informed Eshimkanov that Turdakun Usubaliev,
former first secretary of the Communist Party of Kirghizia and currently a
parliament deputy, has filed a new libel suit against Eshimkanov and is
demanding the confiscation of his property. LF
[07] KYRGYZ SECURITY OFFICIALS BELIEVE NEW ISLAMIST INCURSION IMMINENT
An unnamed Kyrgyz National Security Service official told RFE/RL's Bishkek
bureau on 28 March that his agency has information indicating that Djuma
Namangani, a leading member of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,
has returned from Afghanistan to Tajikistan and that his fighters are
currently congregating close to the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in preparation for
a new incursion into Kyrgyzstan. Also on 28 March, the Kyrgyz Defense
Ministry announced that it will stage military exercises in the south of
the country during the first two weeks in April. LF
[08] JAPAN ALLOCATES DROUGHT RELIEF FOR TAJIKISTAN
The Japanese government will give its Tajik counterpart $3 million to
purchase food for citizens of Tajikistan hardest hit by last summer's
severe drought, ITAR-TASS reported on 28 March. LF
[09] TAJIK PRESIDENT WANTS ECO TO FOCUS MORE ON ECONOMY
Meeting on 29 March in Dushanbe with Abdurahim Guvohi, the visiting
secretary-general of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Tajik
President Imomali Rakhmonov expressed the hope that ECO will in future
devote greater attention to promoting economic cooperation and ties between
its members, especially in the sphere of banking and finance, instead of
concentrating its attention on science, education and culture as it has
recently done, Asia Plus-Blitz reported quoting presidential press
secretary Zafar Saidov. Rakhmonov and Guvohi agreed that resolving the
Afghan conflict would facilitate such enhanced economic cooperation within
ECO. LF
[10] COMMUNIST PARTY OF TAJIKISTAN REPORTS INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP
Some 1,200 people applied last year for membership of the Communist Party
of Tajikistan (CPT), and a further 40 have done so over the past two months,
CPT Central Committee secretary Tuygun Bagirov told Asia Plus-Blitz on 29
March. The CPT's total membership is estimated at 65,000. LF
[11] UZBEKISTAN BANS MEAT IMPORTS FROM NEIGHBORS
A special government commission has banned the import of meat and dairy
products from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in a bid to prevent the
spread of foot-and-mouth disease into Uzbekistan, Reuters reported on 28
March quoting an Uzbek Health Ministry official. Cases of the disease have
been reported in all three countries, and some 90,000 cattle in border
areas of Uzbekistan have been vaccinated against it. The last reported case
of foot-and-mouth disease in Uzbekistan was in 1989, Interfax quoted
Agriculture Ministry official Ruslan Ten as saying. LF
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[12] FIGHTING CONTINUES IN MACEDONIA
The Macedonian army pushed toward the Kosova border on 29 March in its
offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels in the northern part of the
country, Reuters reported. Shelling backed by helicopter landing troops and
infantry was used to advance the army's position in and around the village
of Gracani. A Defense Ministry spokesman said on 28 March that the
insurgents "do not control a single village in Macedonia." An Interior
Ministry spokesman said government forces seized four truckloads full of
weapons abandoned by the rebels near Tetovo in the villages of Lavce and
Selce. The arms were described as "modern and sophisticated." The army also
continues to bombard suspected rebel positions in hills outside of Tetovo.
One soldier was killed near Gracani when the jeep he was riding in hit a
mine. He is the seventh member of a Macedonian security force to die in the
violence. PB
[13] MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES POSSIBLE
Srgan Kerim said in Vienna on 28 March that it is not "taboo" to talk about
changes to Macedonia's Constitution, as some ethnic Albanian leaders have
called for, Reuters reported. Kerim said if ethnic Albanian parties in
parliament decide to raise this issue, it "will be discussed and dealt with
accordingly." But he added that "we must avoid the false impression that
the terrorists succeeded in forcing this onto the agenda now." Kerim said
that "the target of our security forces was and will remain terrorists and
extremists, not the local Albanian population." Kerim was in Vienna for
talks with his Austrian counterpart, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. He is to
address the permanent council of the OSCE on 29 March. PB
[14] EU OFFICIAL URGES MACEDONIAN, ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADERS TO BEGIN TALKS
Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign and security policy official, said in
Brussels on 29 March that Macedonian leaders must hold talks with ethnic
Albanian officials to help resolve the crisis in the country, AP reported.
Solana, speaking during a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee, said he told Macedonian leaders in Skopje that "after
the consolidation of the military situation the time has now come to
concentrate on the political agenda." He said ethnic Albanians "must be
shown that there is a real opportunity for promoting the interests of their
community through political means." He added that Macedonian leaders are
worried that it will appear as though they are acceding to demands by the
insurgents. Solana warned that the situation remains "dangerous" and that
"the disintegration of Macedonia remains every Balkan expert's worst
nightmare." Ethnic Albanians make up some 23 percent of the country's
population. PB
[15] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT DENIES SERB MINISTER'S CLAIM OF AN AGREEMENT
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica refuted a statement by Serbian
Justice Minister Vladan Batic that he has agreed to extradite non-Yugoslav
citizens living in Serbia to the UN war crimes tribunal, Reuters reported.
In a letter sent to the Belgrade daily "Blic," Kostunica said that the
claim by Batic that an agreement was made to extradite foreigners to The
Hague "is not true." The letter highlights the differences between the
Yugoslav president and many leading members of the Serbian government.
Kostunica's comment comes days after Belgrade extradited Bosnian Serb
Milomir Stakic to the war crimes tribunal. Stakic is accused of genocide.
Kostunica said that move was "an exception that should not have been made,"
arguing that no one on Yugoslav territory should be extradited until a new
law allowing such action is passed. PB
[16] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS AGREEMENT WITH IMF MADE FOR MULTIMILLION DOLLAR
LOAN
Deputy Premier Miroljub Labus said in Belgrade on 28 March that Yugoslavia
has completed talks with the IMF and will receive a $260 million loan,
Reuters reported. Labus said in a statement that the first tranche of the
loan should be available in June. He said that a few technical issues still
must be agreed on. The deal is seen as crucial for Yugoslavia to open debt
rescheduling talks with its creditors. Yugoslavia rejoined the IMF in
December. PB
[17] POLICEMAN INJURED IN BUFFER ZONE FIGHTING
A Serbian policeman was injured in a mortar attack on 28 March in the
buffer zone between Serbia and the republic's southern province of Kosova,
AP reported. The attack took place near the Serbian police checkpoint of
Cerevajka. PB
[18] CROAT TROOPS CONTINUE TO ABANDON BOSNIAN ARMY
Ethnic Croat soldiers continue to desert the Muslim-Croat Federation
defense forces, AP and Reuters reported. The barracks at Mostar and
Kiseljak have been reported empty, though earlier reports of 1,900 soldiers
leaving their barracks in Vitez (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 March 2001) were
dismissed by Western sources as inaccurate, as up to two-thirds of the
troops had already been dismissed due to lack of funds for salaries.
Federation Defense Minister Mijo Anic said on 28 March that the 940
soldiers in Orasje returned to their barracks after the appointment of a
new, pro-government commander. Anic added that Croats leaving the army
would simply be replaced by Bosnian Croats loyal to the government. "It is
simply as if the workers of a company leave their jobs and the company
hires replacements." DW
[19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT ABOLISHES UPPER HOUSE
By a vote of 103 to 35, the Croatian parliament's 151-seat lower house
passed changes to the constitution enabling the dissolution of the House of
Counties, the nationalist-dominated upper house. House Speaker Katica
Ivanisevic called the move "an act of political violence," Hina reported.
The ruling six-party coalition said the upper house is a waste of money
with little political impact. Prime Minister Ivica Racan and parliament
Speaker Zlatko Tomcic admitted the changes should have been made with other
changes to the constitution last November, but they had hoped the House of
Counties could have dealt with regional administration. DW
[20] DISMISSED ROMANIAN PROSECUTOR APPLYING FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM
Ovidiu Budusan, who has recently been dismissed as Department for
Combatting Organized Crime chief in the Prosecutor General's Office, on 29
March told the daily "Evenimentul zilei" that he has launched proceedings
against Prosecutor General Joita Tanase, but is also applying for political
asylum in France, Mediafax reported. Budusan's dismissal was due to his
having dispatched to France, at the request of the authorities there, the
transcripts of President Ion Iliescu's testimony last year in connection
with the Adrian Costea money laundering affair (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28
March 2001). French embassy sources in Bucharest contacted by Mediafax said
they have no knowledge of Budusan's request. Tanase said Budusan's
interview "disqualifies him to be a magistrate." In the interview, Budusan
also accuses Premier Adrian Nastase of infringing on the independence of
the judiciary. MS
[21] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT DISMISSES RUMORS OF CONFLICTS WITH PREMIER
Iliescu said in Targu Jiu on 28 March that rumors repeatedly carried in the
media about conflicts between himself and Nastase are the result of
"infantile games" played by journalists who "have a passion for inventing
and misinforming." Iliescu said there never were and there are no "Iliescu
wing" and "Nastase wing" in the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania
(PDSR), RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. "We shall disappoint you all:
there will be no rift in the PDSR, neither will there be one between
Iliescu and Nastase," the president commented. MS
[22] ROMANIAN LIBERALS SAY NEGOTIATIONS WITH IMF FAILED
National Liberal Party Deputy Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu told
journalists on 28 March that the government's negotiations with the IMF
"have failed" and "a large question mark looms over the 2001 budget,"
RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS
[23] ROMANIANS GAIN ACCESS TO PERSONAL SECURITATE FILES
The first four people who examined their Securitate files on 28 March said
they were "shocked" to realize what a "senseless waste of money" the
shadowing of suspects was under the communist regime. Dorli Blaga, daughter
of famous philosopher Lucian Blaga, said the apartment she had shared with
her late husband, Cluj university professor Tudor Bugnariu, had been
"bugged" in every room and even the "most intimate moments" did not escape
electronic surveillance. Gheorghe Onisoru, chairman of the National Council
for the Study of Securitate Archives, said between one and two million
Romanians had been shadowed by the Securitate, which had employed for this
purpose not only its own staff, but also "up to some 700,000 informers,
each submitting information on two to three suspects." Some 1,200 Romanians
have so far applied to examine their personal Securitate files. MS
[24] ROMANIAN MAYOR DISMISSES ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM
Constanta Mayor Radu Mazare, reacting to allegations that he is promoting
racial and xenophobic policies and views about Roma and the Turkish
minority (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 March 2001), told journalists on 28
March that the allegations stemmed from the fact that the mayoralty has
taken measures against theft, begging and illegal trading, and advised his
critics to "take up honest work." MS
[25] MOLDOVAN PREMIER JUSTIFIES PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY
Outgoing Premier Dumitru Braghis told journalists in Chisinau on 28 March
that "not victory, but participation in the ballot" is the motivation for
his candidacy in the presidential elections due to be held on 4 April,
RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The premier's candidacy has been
endorsed by the Braghis Alliance to avoid a legal deadlock, since the
electoral law makes no provision for single candidacies. The other
candidate, whose victory is certain, is Party of Moldovan Communists leader
Vladimir Voronin. MS
[26] MOLDOVAN DEPUTY PREMIER SAYS IMF, WORLD BANK TO SUPPORT DEBT
RESTRUCTURING
Outgoing Deputy Premier Andrei Cucu, briefing journalists on his visit to
Washington last week, said on 28 March that both the IMF and the World Bank
will support Moldova's request for debt restructuring. However, Moldova
will have to negotiate separately the restructuring of its debts with the
main lenders--Russia and the U.S. MS
[27] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT SETS ELECTION DATE
President Petar Stoyanov said on 29 March he has set 17 June as the date of
the next parliamentary elections, Reuters reported. Premier Ivan Kostov's
Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) won by a landslide in 1997, but polls show
its popularity is declining and the SDS is now nearly on par with the
opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party. Kostov's government is the first to
have served a full four-year mandate since the end of one-party rule in
1989. MS
[28] NATO TROOPS TO BE 'LONG TERM STATIONED' ON BULGARIAN TERRITORY?
Bulgarian Ambassador to NATO Konstantin Dimitrov said on 28 March the
recent agreement signed with NATO and allowing NATO troop movements on
Bulgarian territory without prior approval by the parliament could lead to
the "provisional stationing" of those troops on Bulgarian territory for "a
longer term, if necessary," AFP reported. The parliament is due to ratify
the accord this week. MS
[29] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT TO MEDIATE IN STATE RADIO CONFLICT?
Stoyanov on 28 March met with members of the governing board of state radio
and separately with a delegation of the journalists, whose protest has been
on going for over a month. The president declined to make any comments
after the meetings, the English-language daily "Monitor" reported. MS
[30] BULGARIAN FINANCE MINISTER DISMISSES OPPOSITION PROPOSAL ON FOREIGN
DEBT
Finance Minister Muravei Radev on 28 March dismissed the suggestion of BSP
leader Georgi Parvanov that a foreign financial institution should manage
Bulgaria's foreign debt. Radev said no foreign bank will engage in such
activity, unless it is persuaded that the country's government is unable to
cope with the task, and this is not the case with Bulgaria. Parvanov made
the suggestion last week after returning from Vienna, "Monitor" reported.
He said Bank Austria is ready to undertake the task if the elections due to
be held in June bring a change in the country's government. Radev said
Parvanov either "misinterpreted" what Bank Austria officials told him, or
this was "a slap in his own face...[reflecting] profound doubts as to the
abilities of a cabinet headed by Parvanov to cope with the problem." MS
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no End Note today.
29-03-01
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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