Voice of America, 99-09-16

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CONTENTS

[01] YUGO / DEMONSTRATIONS (L-ONLY) BY PHILIP SMUCKER (BELGRADE)

[02] KOSOVO / K-L-A LEADER (L) BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)

[03] ENVIRONMENT BRIEFS:YUGOSLAV ENVIRONMENT, BY ROSANNE SKIRBLE (WASHINGTON)

[04] KOSOVO / RUSSIANS (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

[05] KOSOVO CORPS / REGISTRATION (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

[06] NATO-KOSOVO (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

[07] ROMANIA TURNAROUND (L-O) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

[08] TROUBLE IN THE CAUCASUS BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)

[09] COHEN-NATO TALKS PREVIEW (L-O) BY JIM RANDLE (PENTAGON)

[10] NORTHERN IRELAND-TALKS BY ANDRE DE NESNERA (WASHINGTON)

[11] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

[12] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] YUGO / DEMONSTRATIONS (L-ONLY) BY PHILIP SMUCKER (BELGRADE)

INTRO: A spokesman for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party says demonstrators in Serbia have nothing to fear if they obey the law. His statement comes in advance of demonstrations next week that some organizers say could draw over a million people into streets across Serbia. Philip Smucker reports from Belgrade.

TEXT: Socialist Party spokesman, Ivica Dacic, says anti-government demonstrators planning a huge rally for next Tuesday do not have to fear a crackdown from Serbian police.

[02] KOSOVO / K-L-A LEADER (L) BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The political leader of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army, says the K-L-A will meet Sunday's deadline for disarming and demobilizing its forces. Hashim Thaci [pron: hah-`SHEEM `THAH-chee] is in Washington for meetings with U-S officials, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. V-O-A's Pamela Taylor reports.

TEXT: Hashim Thaci, whose wartime name was "the snake," told V-O-A (today/Thursday) there is "absolutely no problem" with K-L-A forces meeting a Sunday deadline to disarm. He says he plans to be back in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, for Saturday's planned victory parade to celebrate the occasion.

[03] ENVIRONMENT BRIEFS:YUGOSLAV ENVIRONMENT, BY ROSANNE SKIRBLE (WASHINGTON)

SATELLITE TOOLS FOR STORM PREDICTION, U-S FUEL ECONOMY NUMBER=7-32728
EDITOR=SMART
TELEPHONE=619-2806
CONTENT=
Attention:Environment

INTRO: On this week's Environment Briefs, VOA's Rosanne Skirble reports on the environmental impact of the NATO air campaign in Yugoslavia, tools for predicting tropical storms and research that shows Americans want tougher fuel emissions standards.

TEXT: The World Wildlife Fund announced this week new evidence of contamination in the water and soil at two facilities bombed in the NATO air campaign in Yugoslavia earlier this year. TAPE CUT ONE: PHILIP WHELLER (: 11) "We found in those samples elevated levels of a variety of highly toxic substances including mercury, ethylene dichloride, polycyclic aromatic hyrdrocarbons and dioxin."

TEXT: That's Philip Wheller, who led a World Wildlife Fund mission to the Pancevo Petrochemical Complex and the Novi Sad Oil Refinery in late July to assess the environmental impact of the 78 day NATO bombing campaign. He says the toxic substances continue to pollute the area. TAPE CUT TWO: PHILIP WHELLER (: 09) "These materials are leaching off of these facilities and into the Danube River as well as potentially causing long-term damage to ground water sources in this area."

TEXT: The World Wildlife Fund made an urgent plea for financial support, technical assistance and equipment from the international community to clean up and remove the contaminants. The conservation organization says the toxins present a greater threat to natural resources and public health the longer they are left untreated. BRIDGE

TEXT: As millions of Americans along the east coast of the United States keep a careful eye on Hurricane Floyd, weather forecasters have more tools than ever to track the path of tropical storms. The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin has developed new models to estimate wind speed, movement and intensity of storms in the upper atmosphere. Another product allows scientists to track smaller scale weather systems that are not visible with the global models now in use. Institute research scientist Tim Olander says the new tools give weather experts information they need to make more accurate forecasts. TAPE CUT THREE: TIM OLANDER (: 13) "They really find that these products help them understand more about the atmosphere surrounding a hurricane, and it gives them a better idea of where it is going to go and how it is going to increase in intensity or decrease (in intensity)."

TEXT: Tim Olander says he hopes the satellite data will also help to improve emergency warning systems for tropical storms and therefore help save lives. BRIDGE

TEXT: In a close vote on Wednesday the U-S Senate rejected a resolution that would have led to raising fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks and sport utility vehicles. Prior to the Senate vote, several environment groups released polls that show overwhelming public support for stricter fuel standards. In a poll conducted by the World Wildlife Fund, three out of four drivers who own vans, light trucks or sport utility vehicles say manufacturers should be required to make cleaner less polluting cars even if they cost more. Seventy percent of Independent and Republican voters polled in New Hampshire told the Sierra Club that they supported raising fuel efficiency standards to cut pollution. Daniel Becker directs the global warming campaign for the Sierra Club. TAPE CUT FOUR: DANIEL BECKER (:08) "This is something that cuts across ideological lines. It cuts across political lines. It cuts across union and non-union household lines. It's just something that all Americans seem to support."

TEXT: Daniel Becker says while the fuel economy resolution is dead in the Senate, the close vote was a signal to President Clinton to veto the bill it is attached to, thus requiring that fuel economy standards be studied and made stricter. (SIGNED) NEB/RS/nes 16-Sep-1999 13:40 PM EDT (16-Sep-1999 1740 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[04] KOSOVO / RUSSIANS (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

INTRO: The commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo reacted sharply (Thursday) to criticism about the ability of his troops to act effectively in the province. Tim Belay reports the comments were aimed at ethnic Albanian demonstrators who have blocked the deployment of Russian peacekeepers for the past month in the southern Kosovo city of Orahovac [pron: uh-`RAH-hu-vats].

TEXT: The Orahovac protesters are consistent in their objections to Russian troops, who are in Kosovo as part of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission, called K-FOR. They say Russian mercenaries helped Serbs commit atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and argue that Russian peacekeeping troops are just as likely to side with the Serbs in any new local disputes. The commander of the Russian soldiers in Kosovo, Major General Valery Yevtukovich, says people have no right to connect the Russian peacekeepers with the private Russian citizens who took part in the conflict. He says Russian citizens are not allowed to be soldiers of fortune under Russian law. And he says since the Russian government was not involved in recruiting and placing soldiers of fortune in Kosovo, it can not be held responsible for their activities. On a positive note, General Yevtukovich says talks on allowing the Russians to enter Orahovac are going well, and he expects the month-long standoff to end quickly and peacefully. Even as these talks continue, more Russian peacekeepers are beginning to work in the areas around Orahovac, as Major Ole Irgens, a spokesman for NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, explains:

[05] KOSOVO CORPS / REGISTRATION (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

INTRO: On Monday, officials in Kosovo will begin processing applications for a new civilian force in the province - the Kosovo Corps. They are specifically recruiting former fighters in the Kosovo Liberation Army. From Geneva, Lisa Schlein reports.

TEXT: The start of this registration process is seen as a significant step in United Nations efforts to transform former K-L-A fighters into productive members of Kosovo's civil society. The Kosovo Corps is being formed as a civilian emergency and humanitarian force. That is, it will assist in reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. Its members will also be trained to react rapidly to natural disasters and other emergencies. The International Organization for Migration is handling the Corp's formation under the auspices of the United Nations. The I-O-M's Jean-Philippe Chauzy says the K-L-A has been demobilized and now the former combatants have to be re-integrated into civilian life. He calls this a major challenge for the international community.

[06] NATO-KOSOVO (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: NATO says it believes it destroyed just about all the Serbian military equipment it reported destroyed during the war in Kosovo. V-O-A Correspondent Ron Pemstein in Brussels reports NATO's Supreme Commander, General Wesley Clark, gave the assessment during a briefing for news reporters.

TEXT: You have heard about NATO jets bombing decoy Serbian tanks in Kosovo. They did. According to NATO's final battlefield assessment, its pilots destroyed about nine decoy tanks. Instead of 116 tanks that NATO said its pilots destroyed in Kosovo, the final confirmed figure is 93. The decoys and any questionable reports have been eliminated. The same analysis shows NATO pilots destroyed 153 armored personnel carriers, 339 military vehicles, and 389 artillery and mortars. The point NATO's Supreme Commander makes, is that numbers are not the proof of the effectiveness of an air campaign.

[07] ROMANIA TURNAROUND (L-O) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Just a few months ago Romania, the largest of the Balkan economies, seemed on the edge of defaulting on its foreign debt while its economy continued a second year of steep decline. But V-O-A's Barry Wood reports that some economists say Romania has turned the corner and is on the road to recovery.

TEXT: The change came in April when the International Monetary Fund finally agreed to a big loan it had delayed for over a year. The promise of nearly half a billion dollars in I-M-F lending prompted other lenders to step forward and the government's finances were suddenly improved. A tight budget was presented and long delayed privatizations were put on a fast track. But the damage from past mismanagement as well as trade disruptions connected with Russia's financial crisis and Nato's air war against Serbia have taken their toll. The economy will register a three percent decline this year but is expected to grow in 2000. Karen Zietlow, an economist at Planecon in Washington, applauds the Romanian government for finally taking action to restructure money losing state enterprises.

[08] TROUBLE IN THE CAUCASUS BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Russia's former minister of the Interior and commander of Russian forces in Chechnya was in Washington this week to brief policy-makers about Moscow's claim that Islamic fundamentalists are behind the recent terrorist attacks in Moscow and the conflict in the Caucasus region. General Anatoly Kulikov addressed the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. V-O-A's Pamela Taylor was there, and has this report:

TEXT: General Kulikov says the violence in Dagestan is directed by Islamic militants in neighboring Chechnya, and financed by Arab oil interests seeking access to the Caspian Sea. He says there are six- thousand Islamic guerrillas now fighting in Dagestan, including mercenaries from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Libya who entered through Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. General Kulikov says Arab sources have sent 10-million dollars to guerrillas in the Caucasus.

[09] COHEN-NATO TALKS PREVIEW (L-O) BY JIM RANDLE (PENTAGON)

INTRO: NATO Defense ministers gather in Toronto next week to discuss improving weapons, communications, and the ways nations move troops and equipment into battle. Some of the talks will focus on lessons learned from NATO's first shooting war in Kosovo, while others deal with repairing relations with Russia strained by that conflict. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports, the 19 ministers will also talk about cutting the number of peackeepers deployed in Bosnia. Text: Right now, 31-thousand soldiers form the NATO- led force that keeps Bosnia's the once-warring ethnic factions from resuming their devastating conflict. The drastic reduction in violence in Bosnia has allowed elections, landmine clearance, and a few other signs of progress toward a safe, civil society. But the peacekeeping operation costs billions of dollars and strains the military resources of some countries including the United States. Officials say defense ministers from the NATO alliance will discuss a proposal to cut the force by about one third, but no decision is expected at this meeting. Another NATO-led peacekeeping force is at work across the border from Bosnia in Kosovo. The lessons from the Kosovo conflict that led to that new peacekeeping mission are being widely studied and debated in the U- S Military and Congress. But U-S officials say it is already clear that there is a wide gap in capability between the expensive, high-technology forces fielded by Washington and those of most of the allies. Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Kramer says the defense ministers will continue talks on closing the capability gap.

[10] NORTHERN IRELAND-TALKS BY ANDRE DE NESNERA (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Former U-S Senator George Mitchell is back in Belfast, trying to help overcome obstacles to an agreement that would pave the way for a more decentralized government in Northern Ireland. In this report, former London correspondent Andre de Nesnera looks at the current political stalemate in the British province.

TEXT: George Mitchell has played a key role in fashioning what is commonly known as the "Good Friday" Accord. The former U-S Senator acted as a mediator and adviser to Northern Ireland's main political parties as they hammered out an agreement on the province's future - an agreement signed in April 1998 after months of negotiations. The accord was supposed to establish new political institutions giving Northern Ireland more say in running its day to day affairs. But 17 months after the "Good Friday" accord was signed, those institutions are still not in place. And so George Mitchell is back in Belfast, trying to get the various political parties to fully implement the April 1998 agreement. Noel Doran is deputy-editor of Belfast's "Irish News," a daily newspaper reflecting the views of the Nationalist - or Catholic - community. He says there are still important differences between the Nationalist parties and the Protestant Unionists - those who favor keeping Northern Ireland within Great Britain.

[11] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were mixed today (Thursday) in volatile trading. VOA Business Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10- thousand-737, down 64 points. But the Standard and Poor's 500 index gained one-half point to close at 13- hundred-18. The NASDAQ index lost one-quarter percent. Stocks were down for most of the day with the Industrial Average losing more than 170 points by late morning. But buying interest developed in mid- afternoon substantially cutting the losses. Earnings warnings caused some stocks to fall sharply. The Eastman Chemical company, Quintiles, which conducts testing for drug companies and F-D-X, the parent of Federal Express, all warned their quarterly profits will be below expectations.

[12] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Two domestic stories are drawing the majority of comment in the editorial pages of Thursday's U-S dailies. One is Hurricane Floyd, which is currently pounding the southeastern coast of the United States, and the other is a victory for those who favor campaign finance reform. There is also comment on President Clinton's granting of clemency to several Puerto Rican terrorists; dealing with North Korea; and the responsibility for what happened in East Timor. We also have comments on AIDS in Africa and reports of some good news following the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Greece. Now, here is ___________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Today's Boston Globe writes about how Hurricane Floyd is disrupting millions of lives, but it gives thanks for advances in weather forecasting that give advance warning of such meteorological violence.

VOICE: . surprise is not part of Floyd's weaponry. This is quite a difference from the unnamed killer that battered New England 61 years ago . which killed 600 people. That storm arrived unexpectedly, undetected as it swept up from the tropics, pushing great tides before it. Today, only two generations later, hurricanes cannot be secrets given modern forecasting technology.

TEXT: The New York Times makes a similar point.

VOICE: What is striking about a hurricane like Floyd . is the amount of information being drawn from it. Aircraft . have been flying into the storm, clocking wind speeds and dropping weather-instrument packages . In the exact pressure center of the vortex. Satellites have been tracking Floyd's movement from high above, returning readings on every possible parameter. /// OPT /// . An astonishing amount of this information . now makes its way promptly onto the Internet, which has become something of a weather watcher's dream. /// END OPT /// It feels almost Olympian to look down on this hurricane from the vantage of a weather satellite ..

TEXT: The Miami Herald says the storm's "message" is that Florida needs a tough building code, while The St. Petersburg [Florida] Times considers "Floyd's lessons[:]" that official evacuation plans for the state's coastal areas are inadequate to handle the one-million-300-thousand residents. And The Orlando Sentinel worries that the Kennedy Space Center's housing of the nation's four space shuttles is not strong enough to withstand a powerful hurricane.

TEXT: The other popular domestic story is the House of Representatives' vote this week in favor of campaign finance reform. The Washington Post, noting that the bill now goes to the Senate, which killed it last year, says of the House vote:

VOICE: The House did well on campaign finance reform Tuesday night. The bill's dogged sponsors . the supportive Democratic leadership and the 54 Republicans who broke with their own resisting leadership to vote aye all deserve great credit. The bill now goes to the Senate, where a majority likewise is in favor, but not - yet - the 60 needed to break the expected Republican filibuster. . The Senate will have no business of comparable importance before it.

TEXT: The Detroit [Michigan] News, however, is opposed to the measure approved by the House:

VOICE: The major problem with the legislation: It ignores the First Amendment [to the U-S Constitution.] The House bill is reportedly headed for an uncertain future in the Senate. Its future should be certain. The Senate should kill it. The . bill . would ban "soft money" and severely limit "issue ads" purchased by independent interest groups. "Soft money" refers to contributions made to political parties, which are not limited in the way direct contributions to candidates, or "hard money," are. . The worst part . is its [the bill's] limit on . "issue ads." . This is simply a gag order on political speech, /// OPT /// and . puts the notoriously inept and biased F-E-C [Federal Election Commission] in charge of decisions about . [free] speech. /// END OPT///

TEXT: Still on the domestic scene, the clemency granted by President Clinton to several Puerto Rican terrorists continues to draw comment. Two Georgia papers are unhappy. First, The Atlanta Journal, which says the President needs to "justify [his] rationale for clemency to the eleven men who received it."

VOICE: We cringe at this slap in the face of families of the six people killed and the scores of maimed victims of the Armed forces of National Liberation [FALN], which showed no clemency in 130 bombings of military, civilian and law-enforcement facilities. . If it's not a terrorists-for-votes deal, [Mr.] Clinton needs to justify his timing. His wife is consolidating a U-S Senate run representing New York, home to one-million-300-thousand Puerto Ricans.

TEXT: The Augusta Chronicle is furious that a Senate hearing into why and how President Clinton reached his clemency decision was deprived of government witnesses at the last minute.

VOICE: The flimsy reason for the cancellation [of F- B-I witnesses] . was that a congressional inquiry into the president's exclusive power to grant clemency might be unconstitutional. Hogwash! The hearings aren't questioning the president's clemency power. They're looking into how the pardons affect national security and the longstanding bipartisan policy of not making deals with terrorists.

TEXT: Turning to Asian affairs, the latest deal between the United States and North Korea, bringing a temporary halt to long-range missile testing, draws this comment from Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal.

VOICE: Last weekend, North Korea agreed to end, at least temporarily, testing of long-range ballistic missiles. So on Tuesday, President Clinton indicated he was prepared to lift some U-S trade sanctions that have been imposed on North Korea for nearly half a century. [Mr.] Clinton's response to the reclusive and repressive regime's latest twist in its nuclear- weapons research program was appropriately measured. Critics worry [President] Clinton is rewarding North Korea's bad behavior. They have it wrong.

TEXT: But in Hawaii, which is in range of the latest Korean missile, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is upset, suggesting "North Korea has again employed blackmail to win concessions.

VOICE: Once again, North Korea's blackmail has worked. The White House national security adviser, Samuel Berger, said Pyongyang's pledge deserved to be rewarded. Whether it was deserved or not may be debated. It might be more accurate to say that the U- S felt it had to deal with the problem with promises as well as threats. The question now is what the North Koreans will try next.

TEXT: Still in Asia, on the subject of the killing in East Timor after the pro-independence vote, Denver's Rocky Mountain News foreign affairs columnist Holger Jensen says the U-S shares some responsibility for the violence in East Timor. He says the U-N's decision to finally send a peacekeeping force there:

VOICE: . does not atone for the council's inexcusable delay in waiting for Indonesian permission to deploy such a force - a delay that East Timor's Catholic leader, Bishop Carlos Belo, believes may have cost more than ten-thousand lives. Nor does it excuse the Clinton administration's insistence that the Indonesian army help contain the violence, while at the same time acknowledging it to be one of the principal perpetrators. That folly will be compounded if Indonesian troops are allowed to remain in [East Timor] in "an advisory and liaison role."

TEXT: Today's Houston Chronicle is aghast that this week's AIDS conference in Zambia was so poorly attended.

VOICE: There were some lesser government officials at the meeting, but none of the presidents of the 16-sub- Saharan nations invited, not even Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, who was supposed to host the conference. Few people should have been surprised. Sub-Saharan presidents, the men who make the political and economic decisions for their nations, have never demonstrated much interest in battling the disease, to their shame./// OPT /// Sub-Saharan Africa has been the site of 80 percent of the world's AIDS deaths over the past 15 years. . The battle against AIDS has lacked major political leadership or support, which is must have to curb the disease's spread./// END OPT ///

TEXT: On the other side of the world, in assessing the carnage from the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Greece, The San Francisco Chronicle sees a possible silver lining to the tragedy.

VOICE: It's hard to believe that a string of massive earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Greece and Turkey could have a bright side. Yet the shared disasters have produced a common bond that is melting historic animosities. Greek rescue teams rushed to Turkey . on August 17 . but the biggest surprise came when Greece announced it would no longer oppose Turkey's long-sought bid to join the European Union. When Greece experienced its own deadly quake, Turkish relief workers showed up to return the favor. /// OPT