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RFE/RL Newsline, 08-01-08
CONTENTS
[01] POLAND WANTS TALKS WITH RUSSIA, GERMANY ON PIPELINE
[02] RUSSIA CALLS ATTACKS ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS 'TERRORISM'
[03] CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF TO STAY ON BEYOND RETIREMENT AGE
[04] OPPOSITION ACTIVIST BEATEN IN MOSCOW
[05] UNIFIED RUSSIA ISSUES NEW MEMBERSHIP GUIDELINES
[06] CHECHEN PROSECUTOR IN EXILE REOPENS INVESTIGATION OF EXECUTIONS
[07] LDPR RESETTLEMENT PROPOSALS TRIGGER OUTRAGE IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA
[08] RESIDENTS STAGE MORE PROTESTS OVER POWER CUTS IN DAGHESTAN
[09] INGUSH VILLAGERS VOTE NO CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT, APPEAL TO PUTIN
[10] JAILED AZERBAIJANI YOUTH ACTIVIST COMPLAINS OF INTOLERABLE
CONDITIONS
[11] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ALLEGES ELECTION FRAUD, BUT CALLS OFF PUBLIC
PROTEST
[12] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT MEETS WITH CHINESE OFFICIAL
[13] TAJIK OFFICIAL ANNOUNCES DROP IN ELECTRICITY EXPORTS FROM
TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN
[14] BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION COMMUNISTS FACE LIQUIDATION
[15] BELARUSIAN POLICE DETAIN SMALL-BUSINESS ACTIVIST
[16] UKRAINIAN PREMIER CONGRATULATES GEORGIA ON FAIR ELECTION
[17] SERBIAN PRESIDENT, PREMIER TAKE DIFFERENT TACKS ON EU...
[18] ...AS SERBIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER REJECTS ULTIMATUM
[19] SERBIAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL VOWS TO DEFEND WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS
[20] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH LAMBASTES WEST OVER KOSOVA
[21] EU PRESIDENT SEES BOSNIA AS 'BIGGEST THREAT' TO STABILITY
[22] ALBANIA LAUNCHES NEW PRIVATIZATION CAMPAIGN
[23] U.S. PLANS TO TRANSFER PRISONERS TO AFGHAN FACILITIES REPORTEDLY
STALL
[24] VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
[25] U.S. REPORTS NAVAL STANDOFF WITH IRAN IN PERSIAN GULF
[26] IRAN'S PRESIDENT PRESENTS BUDGET IN LEGISLATURE
[27] HEAD OF UN NUCLEAR INSPECTORATE TO VISIT IRAN
[28] IRANIAN COURT ORDERS AMPUTATION OF CONVICTS' HANDS, FEET
[29] DETAINED STUDENT RELEASED IN IRAN
[30] U.S., IRAQI FORCES LAUNCH OPERATION AGAINST AL-QAEDA
[31] IRAQI AWAKENING LEADER KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK
[32] IRAQI PRESIDENT'S SON TO ASSUME MINISTERIAL POSITION IN REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
[33] FORMER IRAQI PREMIER COMMENTS ON KIRKUK
[34] THERE IS NO END NOTE TODAY
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 Volume 12 Number 5
Russia
[01] POLAND WANTS TALKS WITH RUSSIA, GERMANY ON PIPELINE
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with the Polish
edition of "Newsweek" of January 7 that he wants to discuss the planned
Nord Stream pipeline with Russian and German officials, international
media reported. He said he hopes "to launch an in-depth discussion. We
need to demystify the problem. We need to understand why the Russians
are holding out for this project under the Baltic, which is three times
more expensive than a gas pipeline crossing Poland, and what the
conditions would be for changing it." The pipeline will traverse an
area of seabed that contains much chemical and military waste,
including toxins and live explosives. Poland, Sweden, Finland, and the
Baltic states all object to Nord Stream on political or ecological
grounds or both. Many Polish critics believe that the pipeline will
enable Gazprom to continue to supply gas to Western European customers
if Russia cuts off deliveries to Poland for political reasons. On
November 6, soon after his election victory, Tusk told reporters that
"this initiative, this project [Nord Stream], has not been prepared
well." He has remained tough on the pipeline issue while seeking to
accommodate the views of Berlin and Moscow on selected other issues.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with the daily
"Gazeta Wyborcza" of January 5 that Poland will not make a decision on
hosting part of a U.S. missile-defense system until after the 2008 U.S.
presidential election lest it irk Russia by agreeing to the project
now, only to find that a new U.S. administration is no longer
interested in it. Moscow previously called on Warsaw and Prague not to
decide on missile defense until after the U.S. vote in November 2008.
Polish and Russian officials will hold talks in Warsaw on missile
defense on January 10 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 2 and 7, and
December 12, 17, and 19, 2007). PM
[02] RUSSIA CALLS ATTACKS ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS 'TERRORISM'
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on January 7 that
strikes from the Gaza Strip against Israeli settlements are
"terrorism," mid.ru reported. At the same time, he stressed that
Israeli cuts in fuel supplies and electricity to the population of the
Gaza Strip are "unacceptable." Kamynin said that "a collective
punishment of over a million Palestinians cannot provide an appropriate
background for resuming a substantive Palestinian-Israeli negotiating
process" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 7, 2008). PM
[03] CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF TO STAY ON BEYOND RETIREMENT AGE
An unnamed "source with the Russian Defense Ministry" told Interfax on
January 8 that General Yury Baluyevsky's period of military service
will be extended to 2010, even though he has already passed the normal
retirement age. The standard age limit in the army is 60, and
Baluyevsky will turn 61 on January 9. The source said that "the
country's leadership can extend the term of service for a general. It
was prolonged for three years" at an unspecified point in 2007.
Baluyevsky is chief of the General Staff and first deputy defense
minister. PM
[04] OPPOSITION ACTIVIST BEATEN IN MOSCOW
Maria Koleda, a 17-year-old Other Russia activist, was attacked and
beaten by unknown assailants in Moscow on the evening of January 5,
Ekho Moskvy reported on January 7. The attack was reported by Aleksandr
Averin, a spokesman for the National Bolshevik Party, which is part of
the broad Other Russia opposition coalition. Averin said two men
approached Koleda outside her apartment building, asked her name, and
then beat her, leading to a concussion and a broken finger. Averin
added that Koleda suspects the assailants might have been police
officers. RC
[05] UNIFIED RUSSIA ISSUES NEW MEMBERSHIP GUIDELINES
The pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party has issued new procedures for
those who would like to join the party, Ekho Moskvy reported on January
7. Under the guidelines, newcomers must first serve a period of at
least three months as a party "supporter," working in a local party
organization, before becoming eligible for full membership. Members
must be Russian citizens of at least 18 years of age, and they must pay
party dues and participate in party activities. Local, regional, and
national party structures have the right to accept new members. RC
[06] CHECHEN PROSECUTOR IN EXILE REOPENS INVESTIGATION OF EXECUTIONS
The press office of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria (ChRI) issued a
statement on January 7 announcing that the investigation of certain
high-profile "acts of terrorism" committed in Chechnya between 1996-99
has been reopened, chechenpress.info reported. The statement mentioned
the killing of six Red Cross personnel in late 1996 and the execution
in 1998 of one New Zealand and three British telecommunications
engineers (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 10, 22, and 29, 1998, and
April 19, 1999). It referred to witnesses' testimony indicating that
former ChRI Information Minister Movladi Udugov and his brother Isa
Umarov planned those killings and that members of the armed group
subordinate to Apti Abitayev carried them out. Udugov and Umarov are
believed to have played a key role in persuading resistance commander
and former ChRI President Doku Umarov (no relation to Isa) to proclaim
himself head of a North Caucasus emirate last fall (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," October 30, 2007). The Prosecutor-General's Office rejected
as untrue reports posted on websites sympathetic to or controlled by
Umarov and Udugov implicating field commander Uvais Akhmadov in the
abduction and killing of the four engineers. LF
[07] LDPR RESETTLEMENT PROPOSALS TRIGGER OUTRAGE IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA
Proposals by Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
(LDPR) to deport to Georgia all non-Russian residents of the North
Caucasus have triggered a storm of protest in the Kabardino-Balkaria
Republic, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on January 4 and 6. Arguing that
Russia needs Christian states on its southern border, the LDPR proposed
in its campaign program for last month's election to the Russian State
Duma resettling the Chechens and Ingush in northern Georgia, thus
removing any chance of a resumption of hostilities between Chechnya and
Moscow; resettling in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia the
Circassians, Balkars, and Karachais; and resettling Ossetians from the
Republic of North Ossetia-Alania to South Ossetia, which would gain
independence from Georgia. Daghestan would gravitate into the influence
of Iran. Those changes would leave three more-or-less mono-ethnic
federation subjects -- the Stavropol, Rostov and Krasnodar guberniyas
-- on Russia's southern border; Russian troops would be deployed to the
present-day North Caucasus republics, which would be left without any
civilian population. Professor Khadjismel Tkhagapsoyev of the KBR state
university asked why the Russian prosecutor-general has not reacted to
the discriminatory measures the LDPR proposed with regard to Russian
citizens. Cherkess Congress leader Ruslan Keshev pointed out that the
LDPR proposals recall the forced deportation of the Circassians to
Turkey in the 19th century. The LDPR polled less than 1 percent of the
vote in Kabardino-Balkaria in the December Duma elections, according to
regnum.ru on December 3. LF
[08] RESIDENTS STAGE MORE PROTESTS OVER POWER CUTS IN DAGHESTAN
Several groups of between 30-40 residents of Makhachkala, the capital
of Daghestan, again blocked traffic intersections on January to protest
power outages at a time when temperatures have plunged to minus 10
degrees Celsius, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on January 7, quoting an
unnamed Interior Ministry official. Several people were injured when
police used force to disperse similar protests late last month (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," January 2, 2008). LF
[09] INGUSH VILLAGERS VOTE NO CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT, APPEAL TO PUTIN
Some 100 residents of the village of Kantyshevo in Ingushetia's Nazran
Raion, most of them unemployed, passed a vote of no confidence in
Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov at a meeting on January 7, the
independent website ingushetiya.ru reported. The villagers also adopted
an appeal to President Vladimir Putin listing untrue claims by Zyazikov
of alleged economic progress and warned that the population has been
"reduced to despair" by Zyazikov's tolerance of corruption and
embezzlement by senior republican officials. LF
Transcaucasia And Central Asia
[10] JAILED AZERBAIJANI YOUTH ACTIVIST COMPLAINS OF INTOLERABLE
CONDITIONS
Ruslan Basirli, who was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in 2006
on charges of colluding with Armenian intelligence to overthrow the
Azerbaijani leadership (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," August 15, 2005,
and "RFE/RL Newsline," July 11 and 13, 2006), plans to begin a hunger
strike on January 12 to protest his transfer from a cell he shared with
two other prisoners to a larger cell with inferior conditions, day.az
reported on January 8. LF
[11] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ALLEGES ELECTION FRAUD, BUT CALLS OFF PUBLIC
PROTEST
Representatives of the nine parties aligned in the opposition National
Council on January 7 accused the Central Election Commission of
manipulating the returns from the January 5 preterm presidential
election to give incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili the 50 percent-plus-one
vote required to avoid a runoff against National Council candidate
Levan Gachechiladze, civil.ge reported. As of early January 8, with
votes counted from 3,070 of a total of 3,512 polling stations,
Saakashvili leads with 52.1 percent of the vote followed by
Gachechiladze (24.98 percent), Davit Gamkrelidze, Badri
Patarkatsishvili, Shalva Natelashvili, Giorgi Maisashvili, and Irina
Sarishvili-Chanturia. Gachechiladze publicly accused Central Election
Commission Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili on January 8 of rigging the
ballot and demanded his resignation, civil.ge reported. Three NGOS that
monitored the ballot -- the International Society for Fair Elections
and Democracy, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, and New
Generation-New Initiative -- have between them lodged a total of almost
450 separate protests against procedural violations. Tina Khidasheli of
the opposition Republican party, which is a member of the National
Council, listed a series of discrepancies between the vote protocols
signed by heads of individual polling stations and the data posted by
the election commission. A second Republican party member, Levan
Berdzenishvili, said the opposition refuses to acknowledge the validity
of the official returns, Caucasus Press reported. The National Council
nonetheless decided on January 7 to cancel a street demonstration
planned for January 8 to protest the perceived falsification of the
ballot, and vowed that it will challenge the official results in court,
Caucasus Press reported. LF
[12] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT MEETS WITH CHINESE OFFICIAL
Nursultan Nazarbaev has met in China, where he is vacationing, with
Tang Jiaxuan, a special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao and former
Chinese foreign minister, centrasia.ru reported on January 7 citing
Kazinform. The two men discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral
relations, which Nazarbaev singled out as a foreign-policy priority,
and to expand economic cooperation in the non-raw-materials sector,
including transport and machine-building. LF
[13] TAJIK OFFICIAL ANNOUNCES DROP IN ELECTRICITY EXPORTS FROM
TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN
In Dushanbe, Rashid Gulov, an official of Tajikistan's Barqi Tojik
state electricity company, said on January 7 that electricity supplies
from neighboring Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been cut by half,
according to the Russian news agency Regnum. Gulov noted that the
disruption in supplies has resulted in the imposition of "strict
restrictions of electricity" in Tajikistan. The latest restrictions
reduced the amount of electricity from an average of four-five hours a
day to between two and three hours. Gulov added that the cut was due to
higher consumption and rising demand in both neighboring countries, but
that once the current cold weather eases, more electricity supplies
will be freed up for export to Tajikistan. After the recent reductions,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan supplied up to 5 million kilowatt hours of
electricity to Tajikistan daily, a roughly 50 percent reduction from
only a week earlier. RG
Eastern Europe
[14] BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION COMMUNISTS FACE LIQUIDATION
Belarus's Justice Ministry has filed suit with the Supreme Court for
the liquidation of the opposition Belarusian Party of Communists (PKB),
RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported on January 7. The ministry charges
that the PKB, which on August 2, 2007, was suspended for six months by
the Supreme Court, took a number of steps prohibited by law during the
suspension period. The ministry says that the PKB took part in
organizing the European March for Freedom and its regional structures
took part in some mass events. The PKB leadership described the
liquidation suit as a "politically motivated action aimed at yet
another discrediting of the PKB." In October, the Supreme Court upheld
the ministry's suit filed to close down the opposition Women's Party
Hope. AM
[15] BELARUSIAN POLICE DETAIN SMALL-BUSINESS ACTIVIST
Police officers in Barysau, Minsk Oblast, on January 8 detained Viktar
Harbachou, leader of the unregistered organization For The Free
Development of Enterprise, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported.
Harbachou's wife, Svyatlana Harbachova, told the broadcaster that an
unknown man provoked an incident while they were getting off a train
and ran away when the police arrived. Harbachova believes that the
incident was deliberately contrived in order to prevent her husband
from taking part in an upcoming protest. Belarusian small-business
owners have called a demonstration for January 10 in central Minsk to
protest the presidential decree that, as of January 1, bars them from
hiring employees other than three family members. AM
[16] UKRAINIAN PREMIER CONGRATULATES GEORGIA ON FAIR ELECTION
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on January 7 congratulated
Georgian presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili on holding a free,
democratic, and fair presidential election, UNIAN reported. "In Ukraine
we are well aware of how important it is for all the responsible
politicians to respect the democratic choice of their people,"
Tymoshenko told Saakashvili, who is believed to have won in the first
round. Saakashvili invited Tymoshenko to attend the inauguration
ceremony, which will take place in Tbilisi on January 20. AM
Southeastern Europe
[17] SERBIAN PRESIDENT, PREMIER TAKE DIFFERENT TACKS ON EU...
"Serbia's integration with the EU strengthens our country in every
way," Serbian President Boris Tadic told Serbs on January 6. Speaking
in an interview with the daily "Press," Tadic also linked Serbia's
future relations with the EU to Serbia's prospects of retaining
sovereignty over Kosova, saying that ties with the EU would strengthen
Serbia and that "only a strong Serbia can protect its interests where
Kosovo is concerned. Giving up on the European path literally means
giving up on Kosovo." Tadic's statement stands in strong contrast to an
ultimatum issued to the EU by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who
said on January 3 that the EU must give up either its plan to tighten
ties with Serbia or its plan to send a mission to Kosova and create a
"quasi-state" there. The EU "cannot at the same time break up Serbia
and sign the SAA [Stabilization and Association Agreement] with
Serbia," Kostunica argued (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 4, 2008). AG
[18] ...AS SERBIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER REJECTS ULTIMATUM
Prime Minister Kostunica's ultimatum to the EU has been explicitly
rejected by his deputy, Bozidar Djelic, who told "Blic" that Serbia
"will sign" an SAA, the first step toward possible membership, with the
EU "if the EU invites us," the daily reported on January 5. The EU's
leaders are expected to decide whether to sign an SAA with Serbia and
what next steps to take about Kosova when they meet on January 28 (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," December 17, 2007). Djelic and President Tadic both
belong to the government's largest party, the Democrats (DS). With the
exception of the Liberal Democratic Party, Serbia's major parties are
united in opposing independence for Kosova and the crossparty
solidarity was reflected in a strongly worded resolution on the issue
of Kosova's status passed by the Serbian parliament on December 26 (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," December 27, 2007). In his interview with "Press,"
Tadic reiterated his commitment to trying to maintain Serbian
sovereignty over Kosova, saying, "I will never accept Kosovo's
independence, and everyone must be aware that any unilateral solution
would destabilize the region and have unforeseen consequences." But, he
said, he would also never allow "our youth to go to war ever again"
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 4, 2008). AG
[19] SERBIAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL VOWS TO DEFEND WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS
Tomislav Nikolic, one of the two major contenders for the Serbian
presidency, vowed on January 6 to protect war crimes suspects indicted
by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
if he becomes president. "Victory by me will mean that Serbia will join
the defense of those who are facing the Hague tribunal," he said.
"Those who currently fear they may be caught will have no reason to
fear," Nikolic said on the eve of the Serbian Christmas. Nikolic's
opposition to the UN's war crimes tribunal is well-known, but his
statement highlights what will be at stake when Serbs vote on January
20 and -- if a runoff is needed -- on February 3. The EU has
conditioned the official signing of an SAA with Serbia on the capture
of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' military commander during
Bosnia-Herzegovina's civil war, and a victory by Nikolic would add new
urgency to the dilemma facing the EU -- whether to insist on Mladic's
capture or drop that precondition and accelerate Serbia's integration
with the EU (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 17, 2007). Carla Del
Ponte, who left her post as the ICTY's chief prosecutor in December,
has urged the EU to maintain a tough line, saying that she is
"convinced that the arrest of the remaining four fugitives will only be
achieved" before the ICTY is due to close its doors in 2008 if the EU
maintains its policy of "conditionality" (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
December 12, 2007). Nikolic told the four remaining fugitives from the
ICTY to "hang in there just a little longer," a clear indication that
he believes Serbia can withstand EU pressure until the ICTY no longer
exists. In addition to Mladic, the other three men wanted by the ICTY
are: the Bosnian Serbs' political leader Radovan Karadzic; a Bosnian
Serb police commander, Stojan Zupljanin; and a Croatian Serb leader,
Goran Hadzic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 14, 2007). The founder of
Nikolic's Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Seselj, is currently on
trial at The Hague, and formally remains the party's leader. AG
[20] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH LAMBASTES WEST OVER KOSOVA
In a strongly worded letter to the faithful to mark Orthodox Christmas,
the Serbian Orthodox Church on January 6 attacked the world's
"power-mongers" for seeking to snatch Kosova from Serbia. According to
the Serbian news agencies Beta and Tanjug, the message, which was read
out at services across Serbia on January 7, stated that "the
power-mongers of this world are throwing dice for our...land and
shamelessly insulting our feelings and our dignity. Today, for their
own interests in the Balkans and Europe and by trampling all the
provisions of international law...they want to snatch away from the
Serbian nation its cradle, heart, and soul, which will forever remain
in Kosovo-Metohija." The message also described Kosova -- or
Kosovo-Metohija, as Serbs refer to it -- as "our holy land, the heart
and soul of the Serbian people." "May all those who are most brutally
violating all the standards of divine and human justice stop and
ponder," the message concluded. Belgrade lost control of Kosova in 1389
and regained authority over it only in 1912, but the Serbian Orthodox
Church's monasteries and churches managed to maintain the Serbs'
spiritual life in Kosova throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule.
Among the many messages issued in Serbia to mark Christmas were wishes
for the recovery of the Serbian Orthodox Church's leader, 93-year-old
Patriarch Pavle, who has been in hospital since November and was unable
to officiate at any services. AG
[21] EU PRESIDENT SEES BOSNIA AS 'BIGGEST THREAT' TO STABILITY
Divisions within Bosnia-Herzegovina about the future of the state pose
a "more serious" threat to stability in the Balkans than the undecided
future of Kosova, Janez Jansa, the prime minister of Slovenia, which
currently holds the presidency of the EU, told reporters on January 7.
"For Kosovo it's clear what will happen, it's more a question of how to
do it," AFP quoted Jansa as saying, in a comment that suggests he
believes Kosova will gain independence from Serbia. "For Bosnia the
question is: Are the Dayton agreements working? First we have to see if
the Dayton agreement works," Jansa said, but he argued that, in his
view, in the long term, "it's not possible to have a state that cannot
rule itself and needs international governors." The Dayton accords
ended Bosnia's civil war and maintained the administrative divisions
that emerged during the war. However, those divisions became the
subject of intense dispute in 2007, with some arguing for the
dismantlement of the Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb-dominated
autonomous region established during the war. Those disputes set back
the timeline for forging closer ties with the EU and led to a major
confrontation with the high representative of the international
community, which has overseen Bosnia's postwar recovery since 1996.
While several agreements achieved late in 2007 appear to have eased
tensions, there remain fears of fresh standoffs between Bosnia's three
major ethnic communities (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 3, 2007).
There is also a fear that independence for Kosova could stoke
secessionist sentiment among Bosnian Serbs (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
November 21, and December 3 and 4, 2007). Slovenia assumed the rotating
presidency of the EU on January 1, and has made clear that the Balkans
will feature prominently in the agenda it will set during the six
months that it will chair EU meetings (see "RFE/RL Newsline," August
28, November 15 and 16, and December 19, 2007). Jansa has previously
expressed guarded optimism about the prospects for the Balkans in 2008
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 19, 2007) AG
[22] ALBANIA LAUNCHES NEW PRIVATIZATION CAMPAIGN
2008 "will be marked by a privatization wave," Albanian President Sali
Berisha said on January 5, the news service Balkan Insight reported.
Among the assets due to be sold are the country's sole oil refinery,
the national power generator, and a major insurance house. It is hoped
that the sales of the energy companies will help alleviate the
country's acute energy problems, which have been particularly grave in
recent winters and summers. The recurrent blackouts have held back
Albania's strong recent growth and have led to sharp exchanges between
the government and the opposition, which in December called a rally to
protest against the government's handling of energy policy. Energy
Minister Genc Ruli claimed in a speech to parliament on December 17
that the energy situation has improved dramatically and predicted that
imports will result in fewer power cuts this winter. However, the
importance of making further progress fast was highlighted in early
January by Deputy Prime Minister Gazmend Oketa, who told the January 5
edition of "Rilindja demokratike" that energy is one of the
government's two priorities in 2008, together with securing an
invitation in April to join NATO. Along with energy, corruption is
currently one of the two focuses of the opposition's attacks on the
government, and Berisha can expect significant scrutiny of plans
announced on January 5 to issue tenders to build new hydroelectric
plants. The issue of government corruption is very much in the
headlines at present, as Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha is facing
investigation into abuse of power during another major recent tender,
the construction of a highway to the border with Kosova (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," December 28, 2007). In late 2007, Transparency International
found that more than any other Europeans (outside the former Soviet
Union), Albanians believe their society is rife with corruption. AG
Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
[23] U.S. PLANS TO TRANSFER PRISONERS TO AFGHAN FACILITIES REPORTEDLY
STALL
"The New York Times" reported on January 7 that political, legal, and
security problems have stalled efforts to transfer prisoners held by
the U.S. military in Afghanistan to a high-security facility run by the
Afghan military. As a result, although the U.S.-run detention center at
Bagram Air Base is badly overcrowded with some 630 prisoners, the
detainees will remain there for the time being. U.S. officials say that
efforts to hand over prisoners to the Afghan government have run into
unforeseen problems, resulting in the growing number of prisoners held
by the U.S. military. The completion of a new Afghan National Detention
Center has been complicated by resistance to the plan among some Afghan
government ministries, the daily reported. At the same time, the Afghan
government has failed to assure the United States that it will treat
the detainees humanely and abide by elaborate security conditions. MM
[24] VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
More than a dozen Afghans were reported killed in the latest
insurgency-related violence in southern Afghanistan in recent days,
Afghan and international news media reported on January 7. Afghan
border police commander General Abdul Raziq reported that a suicide
bomber on a motorcycle attacked a border police patrol on January 7 in
Kandahar Province, killing a policeman. Raziq said that clashes and a
roadside bomb elsewhere left nine people dead, including four
civilians. He added that five other policemen were seriously wounded
when a suicide bomber struck their vehicle in the Spin Boldak district
of Kandahar Province. In neighboring Helmand Province, police
unsuccessfully tried to defuse a remote-controlled roadside bomb on
January 7 in Nad Ali district; two policemen and two civilians were
killed in the blast, and four were wounded, according to provincial
police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal. In the Zhari district of
Kandahar, three Taliban militants were killed in a battle between
police and NATO troops on January 6, the Interior Ministry said in a
statement. MM
[25] U.S. REPORTS NAVAL STANDOFF WITH IRAN IN PERSIAN GULF
The U.S. military reported a "significant" confrontation early on
January 6 between five boats belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (IRGC) and three U.S. Navy ships in international waters
near the Strait of Hormuz, international news agencies reported on
January 7. The Iranian boats made "threatening" moves, approached a
U.S. ship, and sent a radio transmission suggesting an Iranian vessel
was about to ram a U.S. ship, CNN reported. The Iranian boat in
question reportedly turned away as the U.S. ship prepared its guns and
officers "were in the process" of ordering it to fire. Iranian boats
were also seen dropping unspecified white boxes into the water near
U.S. ships, officials told CNN. According to the U.S. military, the
IRGC took control of Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf in
November. An unnamed Pentagon official on January 7 qualified the
incident as "the most serious provocation of this sort...we've seen
yet," AP reported. White House spokesman Tony Fratto urged the Iranians
to avoid repeating such an action, as it could "lead to a dangerous
incident in the future," AP reported. VS
[26] IRAN'S PRESIDENT PRESENTS BUDGET IN LEGISLATURE
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad presented the state budget for the Persian
year to late March 2009 at an open session of parliament on January 7,
Radio Farda reported, citing Iranian news agencies. The budget showed
an increase of 17 percent from the previous year, and Ahmadinejad
promised to transfer some of Iran's oil revenues to the people, though
without specifying how. He spoke again of the need to simplify the
budget format, Fars news agency reported. The proposed budget of some
$285 billion (2,710 trillion rials) is up from $248 billion the
previous year. Ahmadinejad indicated that spending for large-scale
construction and development projects has increased. The budget is
based on revenues Iran would earn if it sold each barrel of oil for
$39.7, though its crude oil is currently sold at closer to $90 a
barrel. Critics of the Ahmadinejad government have blamed persistent
inflation over the past two years on increased state spending and the
injection of oil money into the economy. Presidential allies have
countered that inflation is partly "stoked" by malicious press
speculation or by economic interest groups. VS
[27] HEAD OF UN NUCLEAR INSPECTORATE TO VISIT IRAN
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Muhammad
el-Baradei is to visit Iran on January 11-12 as part of an ongoing
program of cooperation intended to provide answers to IAEA questions
about Iran's activities, news agencies reported. Iranian politicians
have been more upbeat about Iran's nuclear program since a U.S.
intelligence report released in December indicated that Iran probably
halted its suspected nuclear-weapons program in 2003 (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," December 13 and 18, 2007). Iran says this corroborated its
assertions that it has a civilian program and has never sought to
produce weapons. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told the media on
January 7 without elaborating that el-Baradei's visit is to "provide
assurance about Iran's past and present nuclear activities." The IAEA
was to have concluded its inquiries into Iran's program by the end of
2007, but unnamed diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, have
said that it has faced unspecified obstacles, AP reported on January 7.
VS
[28] IRANIAN COURT ORDERS AMPUTATION OF CONVICTS' HANDS, FEET
A court in the southeastern Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province announced on
January 6 that it ordered the amputation of the right hands and left
feet of five men convicted of armed activity and kidnapping, Radio
Farda reported, citing news agencies. The five convicts were identified
by their family names as Jalali, Rudini, and Pahlavan, with two named
Rigi. The sentence was carried out in the town of Zahedan. While
amputation is a legal sentence in Iran, according to dpa there have
been no reports of it being used in recent years. VS
[29] DETAINED STUDENT RELEASED IN IRAN
Ali Azizi, a student of Tehran's Amir Kabir University arrested in
November, has been released, the daily "Etemad" reported on January 7
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 20, 2007). It was not immediately
clear if bail was posted for his release from Evin prison. Separately,
the family of Emadeddin Baqi, the detained head of the Association in
Defense of Prisoners' Rights, received a visit in Tehran from a former
reformist interior minister, Abdullah Nuri. They discussed Baqi's
reported ill-health and recent hospitalization. Nuri was interior
minister in the government of Mohammad Khatami until he was dismissed
in June 1998 by a mainly conservative parliament. He later spent time
in jail for critical public comments and press activities, and was once
beaten by right-wing vigilantes in the street while a minister. VS
[30] U.S., IRAQI FORCES LAUNCH OPERATION AGAINST AL-QAEDA
Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the head of day-to-day U.S. military
operations in Iraq, announced on January 8 the start of a new operation
targeting Al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to a U.S. military press release.
Operation Phantom Phoenix will consist of a "series of joint Iraqi and
coalition division- and brigade-level operations to pursue and
neutralize remaining Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other extremist elements,"
the statement said. "Phantom Phoenix will synchronize lethal and
nonlethal effects to exploit recent security gains and disrupt
terrorist support zones and enemy command and control," it added. "The
nonlethal aspects of this operation are designed to improve delivery of
essential services, economic development, and local governance
capacity," the statement noted. No further details were released. KR
[31] IRAQI AWAKENING LEADER KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK
Colonel Riyad al-Samarra'i, the head of Al-Adhamiyah Awakening Council,
was killed outside the Sunni Waqf (Endowments) Office in Baghdad when a
suicide bomber embraced al-Samarra'i and blew himself up. Al-Samarra'i
was a Waqf employee. A second explosion came from a car bomb that
exploded only meters away from the scene of the first attack. The
state-run Al-Iraqiyah news channel reported 14 dead in the two attacks
and 26 wounded. Al-Samarra'i's son was reportedly among those killed.
In a December 29 audio statement, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
called on Iraqis to attack the leaders of the awakening councils,
formed by Sunni Arab tribes to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq (see "Iraq: Bin
Laden Appeals To Muslims To Support Al-Qaeda," rferl.org, January 4,
2008). The bin Laden statement followed a December 4 announcement by
Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Umar al-Baghdadi of the start of a campaign
to specifically target awakening council members. The campaign is to
run until the Islamic calendar date 20 Muharram, which is at the end of
January. KR
[32] IRAQI PRESIDENT'S SON TO ASSUME MINISTERIAL POSITION IN REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
Qubad Talabani, the son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, will
reportedly take a ministerial position in the Kurdistan regional
government (KRG), "Jamawar" reported on January 7. Qubad is currently
the KRG's representative to the United States. Muhammad Mala Qadir, a
senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told "Jamawar" that
Qubad may be assigned to head the KRG's foreign relations department.
"Jamawar" also reported that the decision to leave Nechirvan Barzani as
the KRG's prime minister (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 7, 2008) was
made after Talabani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),
failed to agree on a candidate for the post. Meanwhile, the "Sbay"
website reported on January 7 that senior PUK members are unhappy with
the decision to leave Barzani, a Kurdistan Democratic Party official,
at the helm for another term. Under a power-sharing agreement, Barzani
was to vacate his seat and a PUK official was to serve the next
two-year term. One PUK official, who asked not to be identified, told
the website that Talabani "asked us to put our recommendations in
writing [for the post]. Apart from a few members, we all thought that
the post should be filled by a PUK candidate for the next two years. It
seems the decision was made beforehand [by Talabani]; therefore, our
views were not considered." KR
[33] FORMER IRAQI PREMIER COMMENTS ON KIRKUK
Former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari told Al-Sharqiyah television
in an interview broadcast on January 7 that politicians working on the
issue of Kirkuk should consider the city's special status. Under
Article 140 of the constitution, Kurds displaced from Kirkuk should be
returned to the city, and Arabs settled in the city under Saddam
Hussein's Arabization campaign should be returned to their homes in the
south, after which a referendum is to be held to determine whether
Kirkuk should be incorporated into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Iraq's Kurdish leaders agreed last month to a six-month extension on
the implementation of Article 140, which was to have been completed by
the end of 2007. The United Nations will now oversee the implementation
process. "We should deal with this issue cautiously, frankly, and
transparently," al-Ja'fari said. "The entire issue, including the
demographic change in the city, should be tackled in a fair, clear way
that will satisfy the majority." Al-Ja'fari suggested the issue not be
addressed at all for the next six to 12 months, so that sectarian
tensions over the status of Kirkuk subside. KR
End Note
[34] THERE IS NO END NOTE TODAY
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