Voice of America, 99-11-29

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From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] BALKANS / BILDT (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

[02] BOSNIA / NATO (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

[03] U-N-CONFLICT PREVENTION (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[04] UNICEF / TURKEY EARTHQUAKE (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

[05] WTO / OVERVIEW BY AMY BICKERS (SEATTLE)

[06] IN SEATTLE, WHITHER WORLD TRADE BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[07] NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIEW (S-ONLY) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

[08] NORTHERN IRELAND (L) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

[09] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

[10] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] BALKANS / BILDT (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

INTRO: A senior United Nations official is warning that new conflicts are likely to break out in the Balkans unless much needed political and economic reforms are made. Lisa Schlein has this report from Geneva.

TEXT: U-N Special Envoy to the Balkans Carl Bildt admits United Nations efforts to create stability in the region have achieved little so far. He says prospects for peace and stability in the Balkans remain a distant hope since the end of the Kosovo conflict five months ago. Mr. Bildt says reconstructing the shattered economies of Yugoslavia and neighboring states is, by itself, not a solution. He says stability and peace in the region will not happen unless the nations make the necessary political, economic and social reforms. In addition, Mr. Bildt says Balkan states must reintegrate their economies with those of the rest of Europe and must reconcile their political and ethnic differences.

[02] BOSNIA / NATO (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: The top international official in Bosnia- Herzegovina has dismissed 22 local officials for obstructing the peace process. V-O-A Correspondent Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels, where the official, Wolfgang Petritsch, held talks at NATO and the European Union.

TEXT: The 22 dismissed officials include the mayors of towns in Bosnia that have defied international orders to allow the return of refugees and property. They include the Serb mayor of Banja Luka in northwestern Bosnia, and Bosnian Croat and Muslim officials in other parts of the country. The order dismisses them from their current position and forbids them from running in the municipal elections scheduled for next April. Wolfgang Petritsch explained his order to reporters at NATO Headquarters.

[03] U-N-CONFLICT PREVENTION (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: The United Nations Security Council has been discussing (Monday) ways in which the Council can prevent armed conflicts around the world. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened the session by saying the Security Council should move from a "culture of reaction to a culture of prevention." He observed that prevention is cost effective in both financial and human terms. He offered several suggestions to improve the Security Council's ability to prevent armed conflicts, including a greater, and earlier, use of U-N fact- finding missions. Mr. Annan said the Security Council must also become more sensitive to sudden changes in nations that can lead to conflict.

[04] UNICEF / TURKEY EARTHQUAKE (L-ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

INTRO: The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says thousands of children who were severely traumatized by the earthquake that struck Turkey in November are in urgent need of psychological counseling. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

TEXT: UNICEF says thousands of children and adults are still suffering serious psychological effects from the major earthquake that hit Turkey in August. But the agency says the population caught in Turkey's second quake, in November, is even more heavily traumatized. This is because those people who survived the first disaster have been forced to relive that devastating experience a second time. The coordinator of UNICEF's earthquake relief program in Turkey, William Gardner, says evidence from a preliminary survey carried out in Duzce (the epicenter of the quake) shows more than 30 percent of the children are traumatized.

[05] WTO / OVERVIEW BY AMY BICKERS (SEATTLE)

INTRO: A huge four-day global trade conference opens in Seattle, Washington Tuesday with the aim of narrowing differences over a multitude of issues, including farm subsidies and labor standards. As Amy Bickers reports from Seattle, the talks open amid concerns that conflicting viewpoints and massive protests could hamper progress at the meeting.

TEXT: The upcoming World Trade Organization will open without a clear agenda, since trade negotiators were unable to reach a consensus after months of talks. Their inability to find common ground is symbolic of the many difficult challenges the 135 W-T-O member will face at this conference, where a multitude of issues are likely to be discussed but agreement is expected to be elusive. The hope is that this ministerial meeting will officially launch a comprehensive new round of negotiations. Among the leading topics: environmental issues, freeing up trade in the services sector, tariffs on industrial goods and investment and competition policy. Keith Rockwell, spokesman for the W-T-O, predicts trade in agricultural products is likely to be the thorniest issue.

[06] IN SEATTLE, WHITHER WORLD TRADE BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Hundreds of delegates from 135 nations are gathering for The World Trade Organization [W-T-O] meeting Tuesday in Seattle, Washington. At best it is hoped the huge conference will settle additional trade questions and set the standard for free world trade during the first years of the new millennium. At its worst, the meeting may degenerate into protectionist bickering, fomented by many farm and trade union groups in member nations, worried about increased foreign competition. And adding to the flavor, will be tens-of-thousands of demonstrators, many of whom see increased world trade as an evil that does few any good. With that background, you can be sure the subject is already front and center in the editorial columns, and here is ______________ with a sampling of the latest.

TEXT: Conference organizers had hoped a preliminary meeting in Geneva last week would have set the firm agenda in place, but the delegates were unable to agree on subjects. Among the many issues to be resolved are how environmental issues affect trade, abolishing farm subsidies for exports, opening markets for trade in services and further cutting tariffs. "The Los Angeles Times" says there are hundreds of peripheral issues that could bog things down, and the paper says hopefully, they can be kept out of the discussion.

VOICE: Few nations relish the idea of opening their markets to imports, but the 135-member countries of the World Trade Organization will seek to do just that in Seattle this week. .. Agreement in the . discussions . will hinge on the negotiators' success in keeping most .. Pet projects off the agenda. Labor standards and environmental rules, for instance, clearly do not belong on the trade agenda. . Keeping the agenda simple is the key to the Seattle round.

TEXT: Turning to the largest U-S daily in the region of the conference, "The Oregonian", in Portland, we find little sympathy for the thousands of protestors who plan to disrupt the conference any way they can.

VOICE: // OPT // The world of some of the most radical protesters would be one where nations move back behind the trade barriers and protectionist policies of the not-so-distant past. The world they would create, despite their good intentions, would be one of greater distrust and the extended dominion of rich nations over the poor. It is the world we have been moving away from for more than a decade, as the era of freer international trade has taken hold. // END OPT // . It is ironic that many of the people who are arriving in Seattle to protest the W-T-O wrap their views in the cloaks of world peace and international understanding. In their efforts to undermine the W-T-O session, they are attacking one of the few effective means of creating those things. Trade and interdependence have historically been key factors in keeping nations from going to war against each other ...

TEXT: Taking a very different view of the message to be delivered from the street protests is "The Miami Herald".

VOICE: The most important message to emerge from this week's meeting . may be the one delivered by the protesters outside. It is this: The Millennium Round of trade talks cannot strictly focus on expanding commerce and knocking down barriers. . The point is . to put expanded trade in a larger context that protects and enforces the values embraced in other international treaties and enhances people's lives.

TEXT: From the heartland, and Nebraska's largest daily, "The Omaha World-Herald", we get this resounding answer to why Americans should care about world trade. The paper goes on to point out one good reason; that exports of goods, including farm products and industrial machinery, and services from Nebraska accounted for two-point-two-billion dollars of the state's economy in 1998.

VOICE: Given these conditions, it would be foolhardy to ignore the global marketplace. Moreover, if the World Trade Organization negotiations reduce trade barriers in coming years, the United States has clear potential for expanding its exports. . Free trade does not guarantee absolute security to every American. It does, however, encourage an economy in which people and businesses are free to make their own decisions in the most efficient way possible.

TEXT: "The Boston Globe's" view is that, given increasing reservations about further changes among many nations, a cooling off period may be the best result at Seattle.

VOICE: It is a sad comment on the nature of international trade negotiations these days that the most favorable outcome of the World Trade Organization conference ... could be simply the status quo. While the conference should endorse another round of talks designed to ease barriers to trade in a number of fields, the political realities in many countries make it increasingly difficult for them to embrace still freer international commerce.

TEXT: The San Jose [California] "Mercury News" takes a negative view of the conference protestors demonstrating in the streets.

VOICE: Many of them rail against international trade. Globalization, they say, is crushing everything from the natural environment to the economies of developing countries to worldwide cultural diversity. . They are as wrong as the Luddites of the Industrial Revolution. Like that economic upheaval, globalization bestows its benefits unevenly and not without collateral damage. But overall, it improves life for people around the world.

TEXT: "The Washington Times" says some real leadership is needed by the industrialized democracies.

VOICE: "The Financial Times" reported last week that a senior official for France said leaders were reluctant "to fly a long way for an unnecessary photo-call" at the W-T-O conference. It is precisely this apathy towards the conference that is imperiling the potential success of the "Millennium Round" of free-trade talks. Negotiators for the 135 nations .. abandoned their efforts in Geneva last Tuesday to work out an agenda. Clearly, there is a lot more for world leaders to do in Seattle than simply pose for photo-ops. They could instead assume some leadership and attempt give trade talks momentum.

TEXT: With that, we conclude this sampling of comment regarding the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting this week in Seattle, Washington.
NEB/ANG/RAE 29-Nov-1999 13:14 PM EDT (29-Nov-1999 1814 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[07] NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIEW (S-ONLY) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

INTRO: In Northern Ireland, Republicans and Unionists are set to share power when they form an all-party executive council (later in the day/ a few hours from now/EDS: meeting due to start at 1430 UTC / 9:30am EST). The peace process had stalled over the timing of the council and the disarmament of Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) paramilitaries. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from London that the historic power-sharing formula comes after Unionists agreed to set up the council last weekend.

TEXT: Northern Ireland's assembly meets (in the afternoon) to nominate the 12 ministers for the cabinet. Two will be named from the I-R-A's political wing Sinn Fein. Ulster Unionists agreed to set up the council with Sinn Fein even before the I-R-A starts handing over its weapons. But Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble says his party will take another look at the process in February if the I-R-A has not started disarming by then. Sinn Fein says that was not part of the formula worked out over the past ten weeks with U-S mediator George Mitchell. But Sinn Fein did agree that an I-R-A middleman is to be named this week to work with the special commission on disarmament. NEB/LMK/GE/gm 29-Nov-1999 06:26 AM EDT (29-Nov-1999 1126 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[08] NORTHERN IRELAND (L) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

INTRO: The Northern Ireland assembly has selected its 12-minister all-party executive council. The power- sharing formula brings together Republicans and Unionists -- once bitter enemies -- in a peace cabinet. Correspondent Laurie Kassman in London reports selection of the 12-member cabinet was delayed several months by a dispute over the timing of disarming the Irish Republican Army.

TEXT: Speaking in Irish and English, Martin McGuinness, was the first member of the I-R-A's political wing, Sinn Fein, to accept a cabinet post -- as education minister.

[09] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were lower today (Monday), as the U-S bond market weakened in response to the dollar's latest slump against the Japanese yen. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 40 points, about one-third of one percent, closing at 10- thousand-947. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell eight points, to 14-hundred-seven. And the Nasdaq Composite lost three-quarters of one percent. Prices on the 30-year government bond fell sharply, driving the yield back up to six-point-three percent. And, that's despite another sign of a slowing U-S economy. Home sales in the United States fell an unexpected six-point-six percent in October, the lowest level in two years.

[10] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: As the nation returns to work after the long Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, world trade is very much on the minds of editorial writers. The World Trade Organization summit convenes this week in Seattle, Washington, and thousands of demonstrators are on hand to voice concerns about the negative aspects of world trade. Other topics being discussed in the nation's newspapers include: the fate of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is facing a death sentence in a Turkish prison; the big leap forward towards peace in Northern Ireland; the AIDS crisis in Africa, and peace talks in the Middle East.

TEXT: The World Trade Organization summit opens Tuesday with delegates from 135 member nations trying to agree on rules for less restrictive global trade. Demonstrators in the tens of thousands will be in the streets, giving their mostly negative view of increased world trade. The Boston Globe says reservations are growing about globalization and maybe there should be a cooling off period in expanding trade.

VOICE: It is a sad comment on the nature of international trade negotiations these days that the most favorable outcome of the World Trade Organization conference ... could be simply the status quo. While the conference should endorse another round of talks designed to ease barriers to trade in a number of fields, the political realities in many countries make it increasingly difficult for them to embrace still freer international commerce.

TEXT: The San Jose [California] Mercury News however reserves it's criticism for WTO opponents demonstrating in the streets.

VOICE: Many of them rail against international trade. Globalization, they say, is crushing everything from the natural environment to the economies of developing countries to worldwide cultural diversity. . They are as wrong as the Luddites of the Industrial Revolution. Like that economic upheaval, globalization bestows its benefits unevenly and not without collateral damage. But overall, it improves life for people around the world.

TEXT: The Washington Times says some real leadership is needed by the industrialized democracies.

VOICE: The Financial Times reported last week that a senior official for France said leaders were reluctant "to fly a long way for an unnecessary photo-call" at the W-T-O conference. It is precisely this apathy towards the conference that is imperiling the potential success of the "Millennium Round" of free-trade talks. Negotiators for the 135 nations .. abandoned their efforts in Geneva last Tuesday to work out an agenda. Clearly, there is a lot more for world leaders to do in Seattle than simply pose for photo-ops. They could instead assume some leadership and attempt give trade talks momentum.

TEXT: Turning to Europe, there is a good deal of optimism about peace prospects in Northern Ireland following an agreement by the Ulster Unionists to participate in a new, power-sharing assembly. The New York Times is elated:

VOICE: The vote . was a triumph for its politically courageous leader, David Trimble, whose willingness to move beyond old orthodoxies has made a vital contribution to peace. Overcoming fierce internal opposition, Mr. Trimble persuaded his party to end its nearly 17-month boycott of the new government, even though the I-R-A [Irish Republican Army] has not yet begun turning over its illegal arsenal of bombs and guns. ... Now, thanks to Mr. Trimble, Unionism has caught up with the desire of its constituents for a more hopeful future, based on compromise and guarantees of majority rule and minority rights.

TEXT: The Boston Globe, like The Times, says the onus is now on the I-R-A, because:

VOICE: . if the organization is serious about supporting the Good Friday agreement . there is no need to retain the bombs and snipers' rifles it has used for acts of terror in Northern Ireland and Britain.

TEXT: And now on to yet another internal conflict that has long defied settlement: the battle between the Kurds of Turkey and the Turkish government. Now, with Turkey's Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan, facing a death sentence for terrorism, several U-S papers, including The Minneapolis [Minnesota] Star Tribune are suggesting an alternative to Ankara.

VOICE: The Turkish appetite for revenge . is understandable. But indulging it would induce only momentary satisfaction, and an enduring case of political indigestion. Ocalan's execution is bound to reignite Kurdish separatist fury, while keeping him alive could be the key to forging peace. From his cell, Ocalan has already called a cease-fire and directed his fighting group to start acting more like a political party. . Turkey has nothing to lose by sparing Ocalan's life . It also has much to gain.

TEXT: The Chicago Tribune agrees with The Star- Tribune, that Turkey has far more to gain by clemency that revenge.

VOICE: To be sure, Turkey shouldn't take, or spare, a life simply because it is politically convenient to do so. But in this case, there are sound reasons to commute Ocalan's death sentence, and if EU [European Union] membership becomes a side benefit, so be it. [Also] Sparing Ocalan wouldn't be a stretch; Turkey has had a de fact moratorium on executions since 1984.

TEXT: To African affairs, and a lament in The Sun from Baltimore on the most recent survey of the damage AIDS is doing in Africa.

VOICE: The latest United Nations report . contains some truly horrifying news. In Africa, H-I-V-positive women for the first time outnumber infected men. This means more and more infants will be born with the incurable virus. The implications will be devastating for South Africa and Zimbabwe, in particular. . Only education and strong political commitment make it possible to combat H-I-V. This will be a growing challenge to Third World leaders.

TEXT: To the Middle East now, where The Tulsa [Oklahoma] World is concerned about the size of obstacles still blocking a final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

VOICE: Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinians leader Yasser Arafat have made concessions that were unpopular with their citizens. But the gains they have made far outweigh what they have given up. Problems remain. [Mr.] Barak still faces opposition from the defeated ultra-right wing Likud Party, which would prefer no concessions be made to the Palestinians. . [Mr.] Arafat has his own set of problems -not the least of which can be his wife, Suha . [who] accused Israel of the "daily and intensive use of poison gas" against Arab women and children. . The statement .did no favors to those, including Mrs. Arafat's husband, trying so hard to forge a peace.

TEXT: Still in the region, The Houston Chronicle is lamenting the Kuwaiti Parliament's vote to deny giving women full political rights by 2003.

VOICE: Such thinking seems strange and alien to most people in America, where women not only vote and work in political organizations but serve in elected offices as well as men do. But before we begin to feel too superior about our seemingly advanced ways, we need only to be reminded that women in America were denied the right to vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920; that blacks and other minorities were sometimes denied the right to vote through polling taxes and other subterfuges as recently as the 1960s. Maybe we are not as different from others as we'd like to think.

TEXT: Turning to Asia, there is more reaction to China's recent launch of a spacecraft designed for manned flight. The Forth Worth Star-Telegram warns:

VOICE: Too much progress in space could backfire on China's leadership. . By raising the expectations of the Chinese masses, the country's great technological leap forward may set in motion the dynamics that ultimately could lead to the demise of Chinese communism. What survives of the communist system in China today, despite its deplorable human rights record, is a far cry from the inflexible totalitarianism of the Mao years.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of comment from Monday's editorial pages.
NEB/ANG/JO 29-Nov-1999 11:44 AM EDT (29-Nov-1999 1644 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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