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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 150, 01-08-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 150, 9 August 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA REGISTERS GROWTH IN INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT...Industrial production in Armenia increased during the first seven months of this year by 8.7 percent, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Ashot Shahnazarian told journalists in Yerevan on 8 August. He said that the increase in light-industry production was 60 percent, largely as the result of the reopening of four textile factories, and in the mining sector, 30 percent, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Shahnazarian said some 7,000 new jobs have been created since the beginning of the year, 10 percent of them in the information technology sector, and that four more export-oriented factories are to reopen later this year. LF[02] ...INVESTIGATES ILLEGAL EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCESMinister for Industrial Infrastructure David Zadoyan acknowledged on 8 August that there is some truth to allegations by former State Property Minister Vanya Mkhitarian that natural resources are being illegally extracted and exported, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. But he rejected as "grossly exaggerated" Mkhitarian's estimate that such exports cost the state some $50 million annually, saying the figure is closer to $10 million. Zadoyan said criminal proceedings have been brought against 68 of the approximately 400 Armenian companies engaged in developing deposits of building materials, stone, and minerals. LF[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS ATTACKEDRauf Arifoglu, a leading member of the opposition Musavat Party, and other party members traveling with him were attacked on 9 August in the town of Khudat 200 kilometers north of Baku by unidentified persons in civilian clothes, Turan reported. The assailants threw stones, eggs, and tomatoes, injuring an unspecified number of people. The Musavat Party members proceeded to the party's local headquarters, but hooligans attacked the building, breaking doors and windows. Police detained Ramazan Aliev, the chairman of the Khudat branch of Musavat, and compelled the Musavat delegation to leave the town under police escort. Arifoglu traveled to Khudat to hold a meeting of members of several local branches of the Musavat Party in defiance of an 8 August ban on that meeting issued by local police. The police had also warned that Arifoglu would be arrested together with Ramazan Aliev if he entered the town. LF[04] BELARUSIAN PREMIER VISITS AZERBAIJANVisiting Baku on 8 August at the head of a government delegation, Belarusian Premier Uladzimir Yarmoshyn met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Artur Rasizade and with President Heidar Aliev, Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. Speaking to journalists, Yarmoshyn noted the absence of any disagreements between the two countries and said the primary objective of his visit is to promote trade and economic cooperation. He expressed an interest in importing Azerbaijani cotton and grapes and exporting light and heavy machinery and furniture to Azerbaijan. The two premiers signed six bilateral agreements, including one barring dual taxation, while the mayors of Minsk and Baku signed a cooperation agreement. LF[05] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT ENDORSES LUKASHENKA'S BID FOR RE-ELECTION...During his talks with Yarmoshyn on 8 August, President Aliev expressed his personal support for his Belarusian counterpart Alyaksandr Lukashenka and said he hopes the latter is successful in his bid for re-election in next month's presidential poll, ITAR-TASS reported. LF[06] ...AGAIN CRITICIZES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OVER KARABAKHAliev also renewed his criticism of the international community for what he termed its indifference to the violation by Armenia of Azerbaijan's borders and territorial integrity, AFP reported. Also on 8 August, the independent TV station ANS TV quoted Aliev as having told "Le Figaro" that the search for a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict is the most difficult task of his entire life. Noting calls by the opposition for a new war against Armenia to restore Baku's control over Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliev said the opposition hopes to make use of the resulting situation to seize power. LF[07] AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL REJECTS PREDICTIONS OF FIGHTING ON NORTHERN BORDERState Adviser for National Policy Idayat Orudzhev on 8 August dismissed as "a provocation" a statement by the hitherto unknown Committee for the National Revival of Daghestan claiming that Moscow intends to create a crisis situation on the border between Daghestan and Azerbaijan, involving the Lezgin minority that lives on both sides of that border, Turan reported, citing the independent "525-ji gazeti." The Daghestan statement was published on 7 August in several independent or opposition Azerbaijani newspapers. LF[08] TURKMENISTAN AGAIN WARNS AZERBAIJAN AGAINST DEVELOPING KYAPAZ FIELD...In an interview with Reuters on 8 August, Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister Yelly Gurbanmuradov again affirmed that the Caspian Kyapaz oilfield lies in Turkmenistan's sector of the Caspian Sea, and that Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR has no right to begin work on that oilfield's Geigel structure. Since 1997, Ashgabat has repeatedly affirmed its claim not only to the Kyapaz field but also the Azeri and Chirag fields, the right to develop which the Azerbaijan International Operating Company acquired in 1994. LF[09] ...AS AZERBAIJAN REJECTS TURKMEN ESTIMATES OF ITS DEBTSAlso on 8 August, Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Abbasov dismissed as "groundless and far-fetched" Ashgabat's estimates that it is owed some $59.7 million by Baku, Turan and Interfax reported. Abbasov again said Azerbaijan's total state debt to Turkmenistan amounts to no more than $18.7 million (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 July 2001). LF[10] GEORGIA SAYS PROGRESS MADE ON CLOSING GUDAUTA BASEDuring talks in Moscow on 2-3 August, Georgian and Russian government delegations came closer to an agreement on the procedure for the withdrawal from the Gudauta military base in Abkhazia of the remaining Russian weaponry and troops deployed there, according to Caucasus Press on 6 August and Reuters on 8 August. The two sides agreed that all remaining military equipment, including antiaircraft guns, will be withdrawn, and that Georgian observers will monitor that withdrawal. Georgia had earlier proposed the use of international observers, and Russia asked for further time to consider that option. The Abkhaz authorities, however, have warned that they will permit neither Georgian nor international monitors to enter the base to observe the withdrawal. It was also agreed that following the Russian troop withdrawal a "lightly armed" contingent from the Russian peacekeeping force deployed under the CIS aegis along the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia will be stationed at the base to prevent the Abkhaz military from taking control of it. The talks will resume in Moscow next week. LF[11] NEW GEORGIAN DRAFT ANTICORRUPTION BILL ELICITS MIXED RESPONSEMost Georgian ministers on 8 August rejected as unworkable a draft bill proposed by Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili that would empower the state to confiscate property or capital if the owners are unable to give a convincing explanation of how that property was acquired, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. Saakashvili produced photographs of mansions under construction, the cost of which he argued far exceeds the salary of a government minister. Economy, Industry, and Trade Minister Vano Chkhartishvili condemned the bill as "populist," while Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze claimed it violates the Georgian Constitution. But Vano Merabishvili, who chairs the Georgian parliament's Committee on Economic Policy and Reforms, told Caucasus Press on 9 August that allowing the confiscation of illegally acquired property would help to reduce dramatically the incidence of misappropriation of state property. LF[12] GEORGIA, U.S. HOLD JOINT NAVAL EXERCISEOne U.S. and six Georgian warships held one-day naval exercises on 8 August off the Black Sea port of Poti in the presence of Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze, AP reported. LF[13] KAZAKHSTAN UNVEILS PLANS FOR INCREASING GAS PRODUCTIONKazakhstan's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has approved the draft program announced six months ago (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 8 February 2001) for developing the national gas industry, Interfax reported on 8 August. That draft program advocates increasing natural gas extraction to 34 billion cubic meters by 2005, 47 billion cubic meters by 2010, and 52 billion cubic meters by 2015. It estimates gas needs for domestic consumption at 7.84 billion, 11.15 billion, and 15.83 billion respectively. Kazakhstan produced 8.87 billion cubic meters of gas last year and 5.189 billion cubic meters during the first six months of 2001. LF[14] KYRGYZSTAN TO PRESS AHEAD WITH PLANS TO SELL WATERThe deputy minister of agriculture, water resources, and food processing, Barataaly Koshmuratov, announced in Bishkek on 8 August that Kyrgyzstan will establish special commissions to draft regulations for receiving payment from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan for water they receive from cross-border rivers flowing out of Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Kyrgyzstan needs some 1.2 billion soms ($25 million) annually for the upkeep of reservoirs that provide water primarily for neighboring countries. Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akaev on 23 July signed into law a bill passed one month earlier by the Kyrgyz parliament designating water as a commodity. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev on 24 July condemned Kyrgyzstan's plans to charge for its water as a violation of international norms (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 July 2001). LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] MACEDONIA BETWEEN WAR AND PEACEFollowing the killing of 10 Macedonian soldiers in the largest single loss of life since the conflict began, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE) said in Ohrid on 8 August that "it is an illusion to participate in dialogue when Macedonian soldiers are dying, when civilians are being kidnapped, and we have fighting in Tetovo," AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2001). Representatives of the VMRO and three other parties in the talks nonetheless initialed a comprehensive peace agreement, which is slated to be signed on 13 August. It is not clear whether the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (UCK) will abide by the document, or whether parliament will approve it. The National Security Council met later on 8 August and called for "the most energetic, offensive measures" against those who threaten government forces, Reuters reported. One policeman was killed overnight at Rataje near Tetovo. EU envoy Francois Leotard told a French radio station on 9 August that he remains very cautious. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We don't count our chickens before they're hatched." PM[16] MACEDONIAN TOWN SEES FRESH FIGHTINGDpa reported from Tetovo on 9 August that fighting has erupted within the town for a second day in a row. The police appear to have abandoned the mainly ethnic Albanian community, where the UCK has set up checkpoints to the south of the city center. Many people who fled in their cars to Skopje turned around and headed back, but it is not clear why. PM[17] MACEDONIA: WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?The UCK denied responsibility for the deaths of the 10 soldiers on 8 August, saying that its forces were not in the area, AP reported. The BBC reported on 9 August that there has been a buildup of Macedonian forces near Tetovo in recent days, but that the overall strengths of the security forces and the UCK are "roughly equal." Observers note that it is not clear whether there are elements on one or both sides of the ethnic divide that are out of control, or whether some of the violence in recent days represents an attempt by hard-liners on one or both sides to sabotage the peace agreement. Javier Solana, the EU's chief security policy official, told the BBC that "what is needed now is leadership" in both ethnic groups. PM[18] MACEDONIAN VIOLENCE CONDEMNEDSpeaking in Washington on 8 August, Boucher said: "We need to say that the ambush this morning by the insurgents was really an outrageous act of violence... We condemn this act in the strongest terms. We have unequivocally stood against all acts of violence in Macedonia and all breaches of the cease-fire, and we'll continue to point that out," RFE/RL reported. In Ohrid, Leotard said: "The political process will continue until...13 August, when the political agreement that we have prepared will be signed in Skopje... We have condemned and we continue to condemn acts of violence that are committed in this country and that interfere with the cause of peace." PM[19] WHAT ROLE FOR NATO IN MACEDONIA?The Macedonian Security Council's declaration from Ohrid on 8 August was critical of NATO's performance in the crisis, adding that Skopje expects more from the Atlantic alliance than it has so far received, the BBC's Serbian Service reported on 9 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2001). The "Financial Times" reported from Brussels that "even if a peace deal is signed in Macedonia, there are serious doubts about the prospect for a proposed NATO operation aimed at disarming" the UCK. The alliance does not know how many weapons the guerrillas have or whether it can collect them within the proposed 30-day time frame. Several NATO member governments fear that any operation lasting longer than that could lead to an unwelcome, open-ended mission. No advance teams have yet been sent to the region, the daily added. PM[20] MOSQUE SET ON FIRE, SHOPS DEMOLISHED IN MACEDONIAN TOWNFollowing the reports of the killing of the 10 soldiers, Interior Minister Ljube Buckovski imposed a 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew on Prilep, where most of the 10 came from, dpa reported on 8 August. Several hundred Macedonians nonetheless demanded weapons to attack a neighboring Albanian village "in order to save Macedonia," Deutsche Welle's Bosnian Service reported. When their request was denied, the crowd set fire to a mosque in central Prilep and ransacked a number of shops owned by Albanian and other Muslim Macedonians. Similar riots took place in Bitola earlier this year after some local men were killed by Albanian fighters (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 2 May 2001). UB/PM[21] ALBANIAN SHOPS DESTROYED IN MACEDONIAN CAPITALSeveral hundred Macedonian citizens who had been forced to leave their villages some weeks ago staged a peaceful protest in front of the Macedonian parliament in Skopje on 8 August. The crowd had gathered to mourn the 10 dead soldiers. As the Skopje daily "Dnevnik" on 9 August reported, the protesters were later joined by a crowd of young Skopje citizens, who later destroyed several Albanian-owned shops in the city center. UB[22] MACEDONIAN TOWN CUT OFF FROM WATER SUPPLYFor the second time in three months, the UCK cut off the water supply of the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo, the Skopje daily "Utrinski vesnik" reported on 9 August. The UCK demanded that a convoy with humanitarian aid be sent to the village of Lipkovo and that the electricity supply be improved for the entire region. UB[23] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT, FORMER KING, JOIN IN HONORING PREDECESSORPresident Ion Iliescu and former king Michael for the first time on 8 August appeared in public side by side at a ceremony held at the Romanian Academy to mark 400 years since the death of Michael the Brave, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. In 1601, the prince briefly united the three provinces that make up today's Romania. Iliescu addressed the former monarch with the royal title "Your Majesty." In his speech, the former king said he had been christened with the name of the medieval prince and hopes to be remembered by history as "just Michael, with no other addition." He also said that in communist times, celebrations used to be "hijacked by the authorities." In an obvious allusion to Moldova, Michael said Romania no longer faces a threat to its territorial integrity but Romanians living beyond the country's borders face attempts to "reinvent history" through claims that they "belong to another nation and speak a different language." MS[24] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION, MEDIA CRITICIZE GENERALS' RETRIALNational Liberal Party Deputy Ovidiu Draganescu on 8 August said that the retrial ordered by Prosecutor-General Joita Tanase of generals Victor Stanculescu and Mihai Chitac is an attempt to "cleanse the files" of the chief culprits in the repression of the 1989 anticommunist uprising, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2001). Draganescu was reacting to the official announcement that the retrial will begin on 28 January 2002 at the Supreme Court. Draganescu also said that Tanase's appeal of the 15-year sentence passed on the two defendants in 1999 "shows that the justice system serves political power." The daily "Ziua," cited by AP, commented that "the heroes of Timisoara," where the uprising started, "are turning in their graves," while the daily "Evenimentul zilei" sarcastically asked in a headline: "Revolution? When? Where?" MS[25] ...AS PRESIDENT MAY CONSIDER REQUEST TO PARDON MINERS' LEADERPresident Iliescu on 8 August said that he "has not yet received" the request of Greater Romania Party leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor that he pardon miners' leader Miron Cozma, but will "analyze" the request "when I return from vacation," Mediafax reported. Cozma, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1999 for his role in staging the violent demonstrations that brought about the demise of the cabinet headed by Petre Roman in 1991, was also the leader of the miners' rampage in Bucharest in July 1990, when he heeded an Iliescu request to "restore order" against anticommunist protesters. In his letter to Iliescu, Tudor says the president should use his prerogatives to "end the judicial farce of the [Emil] Constantinescu regime." MS[26] VORONIN, SMIRNOV FAIL TO MAKE PROGRESS ON TRANSDNIESTER STATUSMoldovan President Vladimir Voronin said after a new round of negotiations with separatist leader Vladimir Smirnov in Tiraspol on 8 August that the sides have "failed to make any progress" in the negotiations over the status of the Transdniester and that "no such progress can be envisaged as long as Smirnov is in power," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Voronin also said that Moldova intends to withdraw from the Transdniester authorities the right to use the Moldovan customs seal in an effort to curb smuggling and other illegalities. Smirnov said that Tiraspol is willing to consider Voronin's proposal for a 30 percent reduction in military forces, but it "needs more time" to implement the proposal and assurances that its security needs will be respected. The two leaders signed three protocols of minor significance. MS[27] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT APPOINTS NEW ENERGY MINISTERIacob Timiuc was appointed on 8 August as the new Moldovan Energy Minister, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Timiuc, who was Deputy Economy Minister, replaces Ion Lesanu, who was dismissed by Voronin together with former Foreign Minister Nicolae Cernomaz on 27 July. MS[28] BULGARIAN COMMISSION FINDS 'INCONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE' ON MINISTER'S COLLABORATIONThe commission checking the records of collaboration by Bulgarian officials with the communist secret police said on 8 August that it has found "inconclusive evidence" suggesting that a member of the current Bulgarian cabinet may have collaborated with the former Committee on State Security, BTA reported. The minister's name is on the files of the secret services, but in accordance with provisions of the law such evidence cannot be considered to be proof if it is not corroborated by other documents. MS[29] BULGARIAN ROMA RETURNED FROM NORWAYSome 70 Bulgarian citizens, most of whom are Roma, were flown back to Sofia from Norway, where they had unsuccessfully attempted to apply for political asylum, BTA reported. The Norwegian authorities stamped in their passports a prohibition to reenter the country. BTA also reported that 40 other asylum seekers were to be returned to Bulgaria on 9 August. MS[30] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CONDEMNS 'TERRORIST ATTACKS' IN MACEDONIAThe Foreign Ministry on 8 August said in an official statement that it is "concerned and alarmed" over the recent escalation of tension in Macedonia, BTA reported. The ministry condemned the "terrorist attack" by "ethnic Albanian extremists" earlier that day and condoled the relatives of the "victims from among Macedonian security forces." The ministry also said Bulgaria "insists" that the 5 June armistice in Macedonia must be respected and that it expects the "international community" in general and NATO, the EU, and the U.S. in particular, to "actively interfere to contain the situation and to allow no further escalation of the tension." MS[C] END NOTE[31] LUKASHENKA LOST FACE AT VITSEBSKBy Alex CampbellSummits seldom are about the issues their participants say they are. Instead, they typically are intended to boost the standing of one or more of those taking part. Sometimes that strategy works, but sometimes, as in the case of Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka's boosting of the recent Slavic Bazaar meeting in Vitsebsk with his Russian and Ukraine counterparts, it fails miserably. Lukashenka had already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin six times this year, and another summit with him and his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma apparently struck the Belarusian leader as just what he needed to build support in advance of presidential elections on 9 September. Even before the 25 July meeting took place, the International Helsinki Federation pleaded with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents not to go to Vitsebsk lest they appear to be supporting a politician who flagrantly violates human and civil rights. And Belarusian opposition groups forwarded to Putin new documents implicating Lukashenka in the activities of a government-supported death squad and the "disappearances" of his political opponents. That certainly did Lukashenka no good either at home or abroad. Nonetheless, both Putin and Kuchma decided to attend the Slavic Bazaar. But once there, they pursued their own agendas, not his, an approach that underscored Lukashenka's isolation rather than boosting his standing. Lukashenka should have seen this coming: Each of his successive visits to Moscow this year has prompted ever more critical comment, sometimes off the record but ever more frequently on, by Russian officials about him. And in the run-up to Vitsebsk, several Russian papers said that the Kremlin had been infuriated by Lukashenka's suggestion that no one can "whack" people left and right if he wants to succeed. People in the Russian capital took that to be criticism of Putin's remarks at the start of his Chechen campaign. And other Russian commentary was even more sneering. One paper derided "this so-called ally of ours" and referred to him as "President Luka." Lukashenka tried to overlook this and to play up the "common Slavic roots and cultural identities of three fraternal nations." Putin's response was surprisingly cool and noncommittal and Kuchma's was not much warmer. Russian reporters immediately presented this as yet more evidence of growing personal animosity between Lukashenka and the other two presidents. But perhaps the most striking (and to Lukashenka, infuriating) result of Russian attitudes was the fact that Russian television channels, from which most Belarusians get much of their news, did not show Lukashenka once in their coverage of the summit. Consequently, an event that was intended to give Lukashenka a boost in his campaign may have had just the opposite effect. If Lukashenka suffered a loss at this summit, did anyone win? Clearly Kuchma was the chief beneficiary of the meeting. His bilateral sessions with Putin were positive and media coverage stressed their personal rapport. As a result, the Ukrainian president left the meeting in high spirits. But what of Putin? He underscored the importance of Belarus to Russia by coming to the summit, but he did so in a way that limits the damage Lukashenka's antics, which have so angered the West, can do to him. Indeed, by behaving the way he did, Putin probably gained points in the West and elsewhere in the neighborhood. So, in the end, two of the three summit participants got what they wanted, but the host had to go away with less than nothing. Alex Campbell is an analyst of Belarusian affairs. 09-08-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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