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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 117, 01-06-20Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 117, 20 June 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSSES KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS WITH PARTY LEADERSRobert Kocharian met in Yerevan on 19 June with the leaders of Armenia's main political parties to brief them on the ongoing Karabakh peace process, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Neither the presidential press service nor party leaders who attended the meeting divulged details. Also on 19 June, Turan quoted former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott as saying that Armenia and Azerbaijan were "very, very close" to finding a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict on the eve of the October 1999 parliament shootings. Talbott described that massacre as "a human, political, and geopolitical catastrophe." LF[02] ARMENIA TO RECEIVE NEW LOANS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSArmenian government officials announced on 19 June that Western donors have pledged some $180 million on new low-interest loans over the next five years for measures to modernize water mains and irrigation systems, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The World Bank is likely to provide almost $150 million of which $65 million will be spent for irrigation purposes, including a dam on the Arax River and water mains for the Vayots Dzor, Armavir, and Tavush raions. The Arax marks the border between Armenia and Turkey. The German government is expected to provide a loan of 50 million German marks ($23 million). Gagik Martirosian, who heads the State Committee on Water Resources, said that the Arax dam project has been agreed with the Turkish government despite the formal absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries. LF[03] AZERBAIJAN TO EXPEDITE ALPHABET REFORMUnder a presidential decree published on 19 June, President Heidar Aliev enumerated official measures aimed at raising the standard of Azerbaijani- language use and expediting the transition from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet, Turan reported. Those measures include creating a state language commission, and drafting a law on the state language and a program for improving the teaching of the Azerbaijani language, and are to be completed within one month. In addition, the government is instructed to institute penalties for "covert and open propaganda against the state language and resistance to the use of the state language and Azerbaijani alphabet." LF[04] WAS JAILED FORMER AZERBAIJANI MINISTER MURDERED?Rafiga Feyzullaeva told journalists in Baku on 19 June that her brother Rafig, who was found dead in his prison cell two days earlier, did not die of natural causes, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reported. She said his body bore traces of violence, and implicated two senior presidential administration officials in his murder. Rafig Feyzullaev, a former education minister, was sentenced in February to 12-years imprisonment on charges of swindling and misappropriation of state funds totaling $100,000. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his appeal against that sentence on 18 June. LF[05] GEORGIAN MINISTER OF FINANCE DENIES FEUD WITH NATIONAL BANKFinance Minister Zurab Nogaideli told journalists in Tbilisi on 19 June that there is no conflict between his ministry and the National Bank, and that the latter institution will advance 117 million laris ($8.25 million) in the near future to cover salary arrears to teachers, Caucasus Press reported. The National Bank last week accused the ministry of engaging in "social demagogy" by blaming its inability to pay those salaries on the bank's refusal to release that credit (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 June 2001). LF[06] U.S. ADVISER ADVOCATES REDUCING GEORGIAN ARMY PERSONNELA senior U.S. Department of Defense official told a Georgian parliament session on 19 June that Georgia's armed forces should be cut by 7,000- 8, 000 to a maximum of 12,000-13,000 men over the next five years, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. At the same time, he said that funding for the armed forces should be increased, a measure for which Georgian Defense Ministry officials have lobbied without success (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 47, 8 December 2000 and Vol. 4, No. 7/8, 23 February 2001). But some opposition parliament deputies objected that Georgia should not cut its armed forces at a time when neighboring states are building up their armies. LF[07] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT MOVES TO REHABILITATE FORMER PRESIDENTDeputies voted on 19 June to reopen the suspended criminal case into the abortive 1993 attempt by former President Zviad Gamsakhurdia to return to power, Caucasus Press reported. That move is intended as a preliminary to closing the case and rehabilitating the deceased president, whose remains will then be brought back from Georgia from his current resting place in Grozny. National Reconciliation Commission Chairman Vassili Maghlaperidze said that the return of Gamsakhurdia's remains to Georgia is a precondition for reconciliation between the current authorities and Gamsakhurdia's supporters. Also on 19 June, some 100 former Gamsakhurdia supporters jailed for crimes committed in 1992-1993 embarked on a hunger strike to demand their early release, AP reported. LF[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT SAYS CENTRAL ASIAN STATES SHOULD UNITE AGAINST ISLAMIC EXTREMISMNursultan Nazarbaev has told a Kazakh TV channel that the states of Central Asia should join forces to oppose the threat posed by Afghanistan's version of radical Islam, Reuters reported on 19 June. He said that radical Islam threatens to return the countries of the region to the Middle Ages. Nazarbaev hailed as a "historic event" the transformation at last week's Shanghai summit of the Shanghai Forum into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The six members of that organization -- Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- signed a declaration affirming their commitment to containing ethnic and religious militancy. LF[09] BP TO SELL STAKE IN KAZAKH OIL CONSORTIUMA spokesman for British Petroleum has said the company has sold its 9.5 percent stake in the OKIOC consortium created to exploit Kazakhstan's Kashagan offshore oil field to TotalFinaElf, thereby giving the latter a majority 23.79 percent stake in OKIOC, Interfax reported on 19 June. BP will, however, retain its stake in Kazakhstan's Tengiz field. LF[10] KAZAKHSTAN'S 'GREENS' WARN OF THREAT TO LAKE BALKHASHMels Eleusizov, the leader of the Tabiyghat (Nature) Party, told a press conference in Almaty on 19 June that if China proceeds with its plans to build several dams on the cross-border Ili River (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 June 2001), the reduced flow of water from that river into Lake Balkhash could cause the dessication of the lake on a scale comparable to the death of the Aral Sea, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported. LF[11] KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT RESUMES DEBATE ON CHINESE BORDER AGREEMENTSThe Legislative Assembly (the lower chamber of Kyrgyzstan's parliament) on 19 June resumed debate on the controversial 1996 and 1999 bilateral agreements delimiting the Kyrgyz-Chinese border, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 and 14 June 2001). Government official Salamat Alamanov told deputies that the process of demarcating the border, which began earlier this month, is continuing despite their 13 June demand that it should be suspended. The Justice Ministry has rejected that demand as illegal. But Alamanov added that only those sectors of the border delimited in the 1996 agreement, which the government claims the previous parliament ratified in 1998, are being demarcated, and not those sectors amended under the 1999 amendments that have not yet been ratified. The 1998 ratification document has disappeared. LF[12] EBRD TO DOUBLE INVESTMENT IN TAJIKISTANMeeting on 18 and 19 June in Dushanbe with President Imomali Rakhmonov and Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, a visiting EBRD delegation said the bank will draft over the next couple of months a new strategy for Tajikistan, and plans over the next two years to double the volume of its investments in that country from $15 to $30 million, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The fund will continue to give priority to measures to support and develop small and medium business, and will also help to fund infrastructure projects including the reconstruction of runways and navigation systems at Dushanbe and Khujand airports. LF[13] TURKMENISTAN TO BAN RETAIL SALES OF BIBLEA Turkmen government agency informed bookstores in March that the Bible may no longer be offered for sale in either the Russian or Turkmen language, Keston News Service reported on 20 June. The Koran is reportedly still freely available. LF[14] UZBEKISTAN CONTINUES LAYING MINES ON BORDERUzbekistan is continuing to lay mines on sectors of its mountain border that are difficult to access, Interfax reported on 19 June, quoting an interview given to the newspaper "Narodnoe slovo" by Major General Makhmud Utaganov, the chairman of Uzbekistan's State Border Committee. He said that such mining is confined to sectors of the border where there is no local civilian population, and that it does not contravene the 1980 UN Convention restricting the use of such weapons. Meanwhile, the local authorities in southern Kyrgyzstan's Batken Oblast are preparing to remove mines along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border in line with a directive issued last week by Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiev. Since late 1999, several Kyrgyz have been killed or injured by Uzbek mines laid in the border region. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: SERBIA 'FLUNKS WAR CRIMES TEST'...The NGO Human Rights Watch said in a statement in New York on 19 June that the international donors conference for Serbia slated for 29 June in Brussels should be postponed until Belgrade begins cooperating seriously with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal. The NGO maintains that "holding a conference raising billions in economic assistance for Yugoslavia would be inappropriate given Yugoslavia's complete failure to cooperate with the...tribunal... While opposing economic aid, the rights group supports continued humanitarian assistance to Yugoslavia." The statement noted that "since April, the authorities in Belgrade have not arrested one person indicted by the tribunal. They also have made no public commitment to surrender former President Slobodan Milosevic." Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, argued that "any claim that Yugoslavia has made progress on cooperation would be patently false. This is the moment for the international community to insist on full cooperation" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 May 2001, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report, " 15 May 2001). PM[16] ...AND IS WASTING TIME OVER LEGISLATION...Human Rights Watch said in its statement in New York on 19 June that it "has never believed that the adoption of a cooperation law was necessary for Yugoslavia to arrest and surrender the individuals indicted by the tribunal. Recently, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and several Yugoslav officials have acknowledged that no law is necessary to transfer Milosevic and other indictees to The Hague. This week the federal cabinet submitted a law on cooperation to the parliament. In a detailed analysis of the draft law sent today to U.S. and EU officials, Human Rights Watch pointed to several loopholes that could seriously delay or obstruct meaningful cooperation. 'Not only is this law unnecessary, the draft itself represents a step backward, not forward,' said Dicker." PM[17] ...OF QUESTIONABLE VALUEThe statement by Human Rights Watch from New York on 19 June adds that "the draft law does not acknowledge Yugoslavia's overarching obligation to cooperate with the tribunal. The law also gives Yugoslav courts the authority to decide whether the tribunal is abiding by its own rules. The draft states that the tribunal cannot act in a way that would 'jeopardize Yugoslavia's sovereignty or national security interests.' It leaves unanswered who has the ultimate authority to resolve any disagreement between the tribunal and the government of Yugoslavia on these issues." PM[18] HAGUE PROSECUTOR CANCELS VISIT TO SERBIACarla Del Ponte, who is The Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, has cancelled a trip to Belgrade amid signs that even the proposed legislation on cooperation is unlikely to pass parliament, Reuters reported from The Hague on 19 June. She had intended the trip as a working visit to lay the groundwork for cooperation. Her spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, said that the visit has been "postponed" until Belgrade clarifies its stand on extraditing Milosevic and other indicted war criminals. PM[19] SERBIA TO 'RESTRUCTURE' TANJUGThe federal government has appointed a commission to prepare a proposal on the restructuring of the state-run news agency Tanjug, Beta reported on 18 June. The commission will be headed by Deputy Information Minister Vlatko Vujovic and consist of prominent government and Tanjug officials. Tanjug dates back to the early days of the rule of Josip Broz Tito as the government's news agency. In more recent years, it became a mouthpiece of Milosevic. It is not clear whether Tanjug will remain a state news agency or be privatized. PM[20] SERBIAN ARMS FOR CROATIA, BOSNIAThe Zastava arms factory in Kragujevac has delivered the first shipment of unspecified weapons to unnamed buyers in Croatia in 10 years, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 19 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 2001). Zastava is conducting negotiations with unnamed buyers in Bosnia about possible sales. PM[21] MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER OUTLINES PLANSFilip Vujanovic said in Podgorica on 19 June that his government will soon offer a "dialogue" to the pro-Belgrade opposition, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He added that he will strictly observe a recent agreement with the Liberal Alliance, which will give the government limited parliamentary support in return for the government's commitment to holding a referendum on independence. Vujanovic said that he will propose talks to the Serbian government on establishing "a new model of relations as a union [savez] of two independent states." His proposal makes no mention of the existing federal government, which Podgorica does not recognize. Djindjic has rejected previous Montenegrin proposals based on a union of two independent states, arguing that there must be either a union or independence, but not both. PM[22] UN SECURITY COUNCIL HEAD WARNS KOSOVAR SERBSAfter returning to New York from a brief visit to Kosova and Serbia, Security Council President Anwarul Chowdhury said on 19 June that Kosova's Serbs should take part in the political processes in that province (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 2001). He noted that "while the mission [from the UN to Kosova] was left in no doubt that strong reservations exist, not least in Belgrade, about the difficulties involved in taking forward elections in Kosovo on the basis of the constitutional framework, it also recognizes that the status quo is unacceptable and that a political process has to be taken forward in accordance with Security Council resolution 1244, " RFE/RL reported. Chowdhury added that "the Kosovo Serb community, in particular, must integrate into the structures being set up by [the UN civilian administration] UNMIK, rather than attempt to set up parallel structures." PM[23] KOSOVAR PARTIES REJECT PUTIN'S PROPOSALKosova's three main ethnic Albanian parties have rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for a Balkan conference to affirm the inviolability of boundaries, Deutsche Welle's Albanian Service reported from Prishtina on 18 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 June 2001, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 23 March 2001). Leaders of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK), and Alliance for the Future of Kosova (AAK) said that Putin's suggestion reflects Belgrade's line on Kosova. The party leaders stressed that the future of Kosova will be determined primarily by the Western powers. On his recent trip to the Balkans, Putin repeated a proposal put forward by Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in March aimed at precluding independence for Kosova or Montenegro. PM[24] BUSH TO VISIT KOSOVAUnnamed U.S. officials told Reuters in Washington on 19 June that President George W. Bush will visit U.S. troops at Camp Bondsteel in Kosova on 24 July. On his recent visit to Warsaw, Bush repeated his administration's policy that the U.S. and its NATO allies "went into the Balkans together and we will come out together. Our goal must be to hasten the arrival of that day." PM[25] PEACEKEEPERS DETAIN 19 SUSPECTED GUERRILLAS IN KOSOVAKFOR troops have detained 19 suspected ethnic Albanian guerrillas near the border with Macedonia in three separate incidents in the past three days, a KFOR spokesman told Reuters in Prishtina on 20 June. PM[26] MACEDONIAN TALKS IN DIFFICULTYAll-party talks aimed at working out a blueprint for Macedonia's political future are proceeding slowly because of a hardening of positions among some of the participants, dpa reported from Skopje on 20 June. On one hand, some of the ethnic Albanians have gone beyond their long-standing program to demand that they be given a top executive post in the government with a veto power (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 June 2001). On the other hand, some members of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE) have taken a hard-line position that the acceptance of virtually any of the Albanian demands would lead to the federalization and partition of Macedonia. PM[27] MACEDONIAN INTERIOR MINISTER QUITS TOP SECURITY BODY...Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski told the BBC's Serbian Service of 20 June that he is quitting the all-party security body slated to supervise any peace deal. He charged that his colleagues are "too ready" to accept Albanian demands. An unnamed government source told Reuters in Skopje, however, that Boskovski resigned because his position has become untenable following his recent short-lived attempt to army "police reservists" among Skopje's ethnic Macedonians (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 June 2001). PM[28] ...WHILE CALLING FOR MILITARY SOLUTIONBoskovski told the BBC's Serbian Service on 20 June that Macedonia does not need political talks or foreign intervention. He stressed that the security forces are fully able to defeat the rebels and that they should be allowed to do so. PM[29] NATO DEBATES MACEDONIAN ARMS COLLECTIONNATO ambassadors began a discussion in Brussels on 20 June of a possible role for the Atlantic alliance in helping disarm guerrillas in Macedonia, Reuters reported. One unnamed NATO official told the news agency that any mission "must be clearly defined and accepted by both sides. One option [involves] a brigade of troops, three battalions, the other is much fewer." Javier Solana, the EU's chief security policy official, said that "the Atlantic alliance will probably take a decision to help...through the deployment of a force in Macedonia with the idea to help in the disarmament of the extremist forces," RFE/RL reported. PM[30] SEVERE RAINFALL HITS BOSNIAHeavy rains have struck Bosnia almost without interruption since the weekend, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Tuzla on 20 June. Besides testing an often shaky infrastructure, heavy rains can wash some of the tens of thousands of land mines buried throughout the country onto roads and fields. PM[31] ROMANIA SUSPECTS 'CONSPIRACY' IN ALLEGED IRAQI ARMS EXPORTSPresident Ion Iliescu on 19 June said he has ordered extensive investigations to be carried out into allegations that Romania has broken the UN-imposed embargo on arms exports to Iraq, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 2001). Iliescu added that the report (which is published in full in the July-August 2001 issue of the magazine "Commentary") could be a "diversion" aimed at eliminating Romania from among NATO candidates precisely at a time when the organization has reaffirmed its commitment to further expansion. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said it is "embarrassing" to claim Romania is selling arms "when others traffic armaments for billions of dollars." He added that "all sorts of means are used by all sorts of lobbies." Industry and Resources Minister Dan Ioan Popescu said it is "strange" that the allegations "pop up precisely when Romania is on an ascending trend toward Euro-Atlantic integration." The Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry, in separate statements, also denied the allegations. MS[32] ROMANIA'S REACTION TO HUNGARIAN 'STATUS BILL' IS HARSHReacting to the approval of the "Status Law" by the Hungarian parliament earlier on 19 June (see above), the cabinet said in an official statement that it has "taken note" that the Hungarian parliament has "ignored" the Romanian observations "presented to the Hungarian side on numerous occasions." It said the law as a whole is "discriminatory" and infringes on international legislation. It also said no provision in the bill contravening the bilateral treaty between the two countries "can apply on Romania's sovereign territory." Premier Nastase said in Cluj that the law "will not be applied in Romania, just as is not applied in Austria," and Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana called the law "an anachronism" stemming from "the pre-electoral atmosphere in Budapest." With the exception of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania, all parliamentary parties condemned the bill. MS[33] ROMANIA PROTESTS UKRAINIAN DRILLING IN BLACK SEAThe Foreign Ministry on 19 June protested against an announcement by Ukraine that it intends to start drilling in search of oil in the vicinity of Serpents' Island in the Black Sea, Romanian Radio reported. The ministry drew attention to the fact that, when signing the bilateral treaty between them in May 1997, both sides agreed to refrain from exploiting mineral resources in the disputed area around the island until the dispute is solved via negotiations. MS[34] BARONESS NICHOLSON 'RADICALLY' CHANGES PRELIMINARY REPORTAccording to a Romanian radio correspondent's dispatch from Brussels on 19 June, Baroness Emma Nicholson, European Parliament rapporteur for Romania, has "radically" amended the draft report about to be submitted to the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. Nicholson, according to the dispatch, said Romania had "superbly" reacted to the "cold shower" it received when the contents of her original report were announced and has taken significant measures to improve the situation of abandoned children. She also mentioned progress in preparing the privatization of mammoth companies and of banks, as well as the proposed elimination from the Penal Code of punishment of sexual minorities. MS[35] PROTESTING ROMANIAN WORKERS GO ON HUNGER STRIKEThree trade union leaders and 18 members of the unions at the Resita CSR steel-producing plant began a hunger strike on 19 June in protest against the management's failure to pay arrears and resume production, and the government's refusal to intervene in the conflict with the U.S.-based Noble Ventures company, which owns the plant, Mediafax reported. MS[36] ROMANIA NOT INTERESTED IN JOINING GUUAMRomania "is paying special attention to cooperation with GUUAM member states but joining that organization is not on the agenda of its present foreign policy objectives," the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau said in a 19 June press release, as cited by Flux. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin recently said he will propose that Romania and other countries join that organization. The press release said Bucharest is interested in "intensifying relations with GUUAM states" and will examine that possibility "from the perspective of its own interest...and in light of its firm priority to pursue integration in European and Euro-Atlantic structures." MS[37] SEPARATISTS AGAIN DENY MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT ENTRY...The Transdniester authorities on 19 June denied President Voronin access to Bendery/Tighina, where he had planned to deliver a speech at a rally marking nine years since the outbreak of hostilities between Chisinau and Tiraspol, Infotag reported. His planned speech was printed in the official "Nezavisimaya Moldova" Russian-language newspaper. In the speech, Voronin condemned "the ambitions of politicians in Chisinau and Tiraspol, which led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injured." He also wrote that "the Transdniestrians defended themselves, arms in hand, against the insanity that triggered the war" in 1992 and that Moldovans on the right bank of the Dniester River "wiped out this insanity in the 25 February free elections." MS[38] ...CASTING DOUBT ON NEGOTIATIONS' OUTCOMEVoronin and separatist leader Igor Smirnov on 20 June began a new round of negotiations in Chisinau, and observers say that Smirnov has deliberately set the talks up for failure. At the previous round of negotiations on 16 May, Voronin submitted to Smirnov a draft on granting the Transdniester autonomous status within Moldova, but Smirnov is arguing that the draft "does not take into considerations previously signed agreements," ITAR-TASS reported. Voronin said after the previous day's incident that the Tiraspol leaders "are playing the game of negotiations, but are in fact afraid of a honest and frank dialogue." He said the separatists "realize that the times when they could arouse fears [among Transdniester's Russian-speaking population] are running out and people are beginning to understand who wants peace and who benefits from the confrontation." MS[39] MOLDOVAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN U.S.Nicolae Cernomaz has asked U.S. Assistant Treasury Secretary Nancy Lee to assist in Moldova's efforts to restructure its foreign debt, BASA-press and Flux reported on 19 June, citing a Foreign Ministry press release. Lee said the U.S. is ready to send a group of experts to Chisinau to study the problem, but emphasized the importance for Moldova to "normalize relations" with the International Monetary Fund. Cernomaz also met USAID head Andrew Nastios to discuss the continuation of aid provided by that agency to Moldova's privatization program. MS[40] BULGARIA'S KOSTOV TO REMAIN SDS LEADER -- FOR NOWOutgoing Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova said after a 19 June meeting of the leadership of the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) that Ivan Kostov will "stay on, at least for now," as SDS leader, Reuters reported. Mihailova, who is also an SDS deputy chairwoman, said that at the meeting "no leadership personnel changes were discussed, because we are a responsible political force and must first analyze the reasons that led to our electoral defeat." She said Bulgaria does not have a "more serious statesman" than Kostov, who has "managed to overcome many hurdles." She said Kostov "took over when the country was destroyed and managed to turn it into a state that is negotiating its EU membership." MS[C] END NOTE[41] AUTHORITARIANISM MAY BE HARSH, BUT IT ISN'T EFFECTIVEBy Paul GobleBelarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime has sought to justify its authoritarian approach by saying that harsh measures are required to combat social ills like crime and the drug trade. But police officials in Minsk have conceded that the state's enormous police apparatus has failed to stop the traffic in illegal drugs both into and through Belarus. Colonel Anatol Hury of the Belarusian Interior Ministry said in an interview with dpa on 19 June that Belarus has become a major transshipment point between Central Asia and Western Europe despite the efforts of his agency to put a stop to this trade. And he noted that more illegal drugs are coming into Belarus and that more Belarusians are using them. It is not clear from Hury's remarks to what extent the increase in the inflow of narcotics is a consequence of the abolition of controls on the Russia- Belarus border within the framework of Russian-Belarusian integration. Hury stressed that the police have not been inactive: They confiscated 63 times more drugs and arrested 29 times more pushers and users in 2000 than in 1999. But despite those actions, the price of drugs on the streets of Belarus has continued to fall, a pattern suggesting that more drugs are now available. In 1996, for example, a gram of heroin sold for $100 but now the price has fallen to only $12, Hury said. And because of that, Hury suggested, he believes the real number of drug users in Belarus is closer to 40,000 than the government's official estimate of only 8,000. Many governments around the world are fighting what is often a losing battle against illegal drug use. In many cases, these governments have found that putting more police on the drug beat, arresting and jailing more distributors and users, and seeking to change public attitudes have not had the impact their proponents had predicted. Not surprisingly, given the direct and indirect health and social consequences of widespread drug abuse, many people in these countries have been willing to listen to those in the police and security services who argue that only more police power can do the job. But the situation in Belarus is a clear indication that authoritarianism by itself may not solve the problem. Indeed, such measures may in this case actually make the problem worse. According to many observers, the Belarusian KGB is even more powerful than was its namesake in that republic during Soviet times. And Lukashenka has deployed the police and security forces against his opponents with such vigor that many have seen his regime as a throwback to the worst features of the past or even drawn an analogy between it and authoritarian regimes elsewhere. But this report of growing drug-trafficking in Belarus suggests that Lukashenka's authoritarian approach has not been effective against a genuine social ill. Indeed, the police appear to be far less able to fight crime than to harass dissidents and political opponents of Lukashenka. Many of the post-communist countries suffer from this pattern. Indeed, for many, it is a longstanding one. At the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire had the reputation of being a repressive police state, and its secret police arm, the Okhrana, in fact was ruthless. But despite that, Russia then was spending less than one-fiftieth per capita on ordinary police than was Italy in the same year. And consequently, the police were largely ineffective in many areas. During the Soviet era, the ordinary police were stronger, but they were never given the support that the secret police had and consequently often lost out in the battle with ordinary criminals. In both pre-1917 Russia and the post-1917 Soviet Union, the ordinary police did not have the resources their Western colleagues had for the fight against crime. In the decade since 1991, as the situation in Belarus shows, that pattern has continued and even gotten worse in some countries. Ordinary police in all too many of these countries remain poorly paid and frequently brutal but ineffective in dealing with their larger tasks. Lukashenka has justified his authoritarian approach by arguing that his government can and will fight organized crime. And he has won some popular support because of these pledges. But the report by Colonel Hury of the Belarusian police shows that his authoritarianism may be harsh but it is not effective. And the very ineffectiveness of the government's efforts against a genuine social evil like the drug trade may cause at least some Belarusians to question the justifications Lukashenka has offered in defense of his authoritarian approach. 20-06-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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