Voice of America, 00-02-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] ALBRIGHT - CROATIA (L) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

[02] ALBRIGHT / CROATIA (L UPDATE) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

[03] ALBRIGHT / SERB OPPOSITION (L-ONLY) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

[04] ALBRIGHT / ALBANIA (S-OVERNIGHTER) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

[05] E-U / DANUBE (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

[06] NORTHERN IRELAND - WEAPONS BY ANDRE DE NESNERA (WASHINGTON)

[07] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

[08] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] ALBRIGHT - CROATIA (L) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is in Croatia where dignitaries and heads of state from more than 50 countries have gathered for the inauguration of the country's new reform minded President, Stipe Mesic. From Zagreb, VOA's Kyle King reports the Secretary will also use her visit to discuss the new government's reform efforts and meet with leaders of the Serbian opposition.

TEXT: Secretary of State Albright's visit to Croatia is her second this month and officials traveling with the Secretary say she will use the trip to show strong U-S support for reform measures the month-old government has already taken. In contrast to the nationalistic policies of the late President Franjo Tudjman, Croatia's new government has promised to allow the return of Serb refugees, cut off support for Croatian separatists in Bosnia, and cooperate with the International War Crimes Tribunal. Croatia's new President -- Stipe Mesic -- has promised to give the country a fresh start and join western institutions. In the last week, Croatia's new Prime Minister has met with NATO and European Community officials to discuss prospects for future membership. U-S officials are hoping a democratic transformation in Croatia will provide an example for the people of neighboring Serbia, which is still dominated by the hardline policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. U-S officials say the Secretary does not plan to announce any major new aid programs, but will discuss ways to support Croatia's reform agenda and promote investment. In addition, the Secretary will discuss the plight of thousands of Serb refugees who were driven out of Croatia following the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation. On the sidelines of today's inauguration, the Secretary will discuss regional security issues with Germany's foreign Minister Joshka Fischer and other officials. She is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the Serbian Opposition. U-S officials say the policies of Croatia's new government are in stark contrast to the situation in Serbia, where the autocratic policies of President Milosevic have led to international isolation. Saturday, Ms. Albright travels to Albania, where she will thank the government for the support it provided to the international community during the conflict in Kosovo. (signed) 18-Feb-2000 03:14 AM EDT (18-Feb-2000 0814 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[02] ALBRIGHT / CROATIA (L UPDATE) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the inauguration of Croatia's new president, Stipe Mesic, sends a message to the people of neighboring Serbia that they too can have democracy. The secretary joined heads of state and dignitaries from dozens of countries today at the President's swearing in ceremony in Zagreb. VOA's Kyle King has this report from the Croatian capital.

TEXT: // MUSIC // With heads of state and foreign dignitaries from more than 50 nations looking on, Croatian President Stipe Mesic took the oath of office in Zagreb's historic Saint Marc (Sveti Marko) Square.

[03] ALBRIGHT / SERB OPPOSITION (L-ONLY) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has met in Zagreb with Serbian opposition leaders from Yugoslavia to discuss what lessons can be learned from the democratic transformation in Croatia. As VOA's Kyle King reports, Yugoslavia's opposition leaders are cautious, but say they might be able to win this year's elections if they work together.

TEXT: Secretary of State Albright used her talks with the sometimes feuding Serbian opposition leaders to urge them to work together on common election programs. German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer and his Dutch counterpart also took part in the session, which included Zorin Djindic and several other key Serbian politicians. A senior U-S official at the meeting said the opposition leaders believe Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is weakened but desperate to hold on to power. Mr. Djindjic told reporters after the meeting the opposition had gained support and needed to turn that support into concrete action if it wanted to win. Speaking at a later news conference with the newly- inaugurated Croatian president and prime Minister, Ms. Albright said she was hoping for success.

[04] ALBRIGHT / ALBANIA (S-OVERNIGHTER) BY KYLE KING (ZAGREB)

INTRO: U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits Albania Saturday, where she will thank the government for its support during the crisis in Kosovo. V-O-A's Kyle King is traveling with the secretary and files this report.

TEXT: The secretary had wanted to include a stop in Albania during previous trips to the region, but officials say security concerns prevented such a visit. In Tirana, the Secretary will meet with Albanian officials to thank them for the role they played in support of the international community during the crisis in Kosovo. Albania became a staging area for International troops during the conflict. Albania also hosted thousands of refugees, putting a major strain on the country's economy, which is one of the poorest in Europe. Officials say Ms. Albright will use the visit to try to develop ways to promote greater prosperity in Albania. (signed)
NEB/KBK/JP 18-Feb-2000 16:38 PM EDT (18-Feb-2000 2138 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[05] E-U / DANUBE (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: The European Commission has made its own inspection of the gold mine in Romania where a broken dam caused a spill of cyanide compounds into the Tisza and Danube Rivers. V-O-A correspondent Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels that the Commission is concerned about possible accidents at mines in other parts of Europe.

TEXT: The European Commission says it is clear there will be long term effects on the environment from the January 31st spill of cyanide and heavy metals into the Tisza and Danube Rivers. The Commission plans to set up an independent task force next week to coordinate help for Hungary and Romania. Both countries told visiting Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem they are eager for assistance -- such as the mobile laboratories offered by the United Nations Environment Program to take river measurements. The spill from the Baia Mare gold mine has killed fish and wildlife in the rivers. Commissioner Wallstroem says the accident will not affect Romania's membership negotiations with the European Union, but the spill is a warning to the E-U to investigate other mines throughout Europe.

[06] NORTHERN IRELAND - WEAPONS BY ANDRE DE NESNERA (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Earlier this month, the British government suspended local government authority in Northern Ireland for an indefinite period. The suspension was prompted by lack of progress on an issue that has plagued politicians in the British province for decades: how to get rid of weapons held by paramilitary groups such as the Irish Republican Army. In this report, former London correspondent Andre de Nesnera looks at the issue known as decommissioning.

TEXT: "Decommissioning" is shorthand for the hand- over, or verified disposal of weapons held by paramilitary groups. Once again, politicians are grappling with that issue which has proven to be the main obstacle to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. The largest, most sophisticated and well-organized paramilitary group is the Irish Republican Army which for decades has waged a guerilla war against British rule in Northern Ireland. Paul Beaver - senior defense analyst with the British publication "Jane's Defense Weekly" - says the I-R-A has a variety of weapons including several shoulder- launched surface-to-air missiles known as SAM-7's. He says the paramilitary group also has a devastating sniper rifle - the American 50-caliber "Barret."

[07] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: U-S stock prices were sharply lower today (Friday) - one day after Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan dropped a heavy hint that short-term interest rates will go up again. Even the normally sturdy technology stocks sold off. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: All the major indices lost nearly three percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 295 points, closing at 10-thousand-219. The Industrials are down less than two percent for the week. The Standard and Poor's 500 index slid 42 points. And the Nasdaq composite, which closed at a record high Thursday, dropped over 130 points. The latest on the U-S economy shows no problem with inflation. Consumer prices last month rose a smaller- than-expected two-tenths of one percent, despite higher oil prices. But the stock market shrugged off the good news. Investors worried about rising interest rates after a central bank warning that inflation is bound to show up in the booming U-S economy.

[08] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Elections in the United States and abroad are the big topic of discussion in the nation's editorial pages this Friday. Zimbabwe's recent election, handing longtime President Robert Mugabe a defeat, is a popular topic. So is today's parliamentary election in Iran and tomorrow's crucial Republican Party U-S presidential primary balloting in South Carolina. There are also comments about President Clinton's trip to the sub-continent next month, Germany's latest apology for the Holocaust, the faltering peace in Northern Ireland, and a real hot weather emergency shaping up for ice cream lovers here in the United States. Now, taking a closer look, here is _________ with today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Robert Mugabe has been president of Zimbabwe for more years than most people can remember, and his party has most of the power in parliament. So it came as quite a shock when, in a recent referendum, he lost his bid to become Zimbabwe's president for life. The Los Angeles Times suggests:

VOICE: ... President ... Mugabe emerged severely weakened from his stunning defeat last weekend in a referendum on constitutional amendments that would have increased his powers and in effect made him president for life. The vote might have started his ruling ZANU-PF party sliding toward defeat in the April parliamentary election, and that would be a boost for democracy in Zimbabwe. ... he has squandered public trust in his government.

TEXT: The Washington Post adds that the problem of an AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe probably affected the vote as much as disenchantment with Mr. Mugabe's leadership.

VOICE: /// OPT /// To its credit, Zimbabwe's electorate was unswayed by Mr. Mugabe's demagogic offer of free white land. But /// END OPT /// the low turnout in traditionally pro-Mugabe rural areas may also have do with the country's most horrific crisis: Some 25 percent of Zimbabweans are H-I-V- positive, and ... the plague is especially crippling in the countryside, where corn production dropped 61 percent in 1999 because farmers are simply too exhausted by disease to work.

TEXT: Still on elections, there is a crucial one in Iran today, with many U-S newspapers hoping for gains by the reformer faction running for parliament. Today's Boston Globe praises the potentially peaceful, ballot-box revolution.

VOICE: /// OPT /// Today's parliamentary elections in Iran cast light on the unique predicament of a country struggling to survive the misrule of a clerical theocracy. /// END OPT /// If the so-called reformers backing President Mohammad Khatami gain a majority of seats in parliament, as they are expected to, they will diminish somewhat the hard-liners' dominance /// OPT /// and do so in accordance with the will of a voting majority. /// END OPT /// But decisive power will still remain in the hands of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his fellow conservatives ... Iran's uniqueness, on display in these elections, is of a religious dictatorship allowing itself to be changed from within by democratic means.

TEXT: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram tells readers to watch not only the South Carolina primary, but also results from Teheran.

VOICE: /// OPT /// Almost six-thousand candidates are vying for 290 seats in Iran's Majlis (parliament), and /// END OPT /// the outcome of that election will determine whether the pace of inexorable reform in that theocracy will accelerate or slow down. ... Thirty-eight million Iranians are eligible to vote ... It will be interesting to compare the percentage of those who vote there today to the percentage of eligible voters who go to the polls in South Carolina tomorrow.

TEXT: Regarding the South Carolina Republican presidential primary tomorrow [Saturday], pitting Texas Governor George Bush against Arizona Senator John McCain, public opinion polls indicate a statistical dead heat. Whatever the outcome, The San Francisco Examiner is sick of the negative campaigning.

VOICE: One thing worse than negative campaigning is candidates accusing each other of it -- over and over again. ... [the] stakes are high. The winner will become the leader and odds-on favorite to be the party's nominee. Both men are spending an inordinate amount of time accusing the other of "negative campaigning"... Zip [close] the crying lips. Put the gloves back on. And may the toughest counter puncher win.

TEXT: In the Savannah [Georgia] Morning News, Richard Fogaley, editorial columnist, dissects the character of this campaign.

VOICE: What we're seeing ... I suspect, is a different kind of focus by the voters. The issues matter to some extent, particularly the economy, but the persona, the character, the trustworthiness of the candidates are what the electorate is concentrating on. It's obvious the national media are charmed by [Senator] McCain. His P-O-W [Prisoner Of War] story is a sexy [Editors: in this case "interesting"] sell, and his candor and accessibility are disarming to the usually cynical reporters. [Democratic candidate, Mr. Bill] Bradley exudes a little of the same charm, but it's based as much on his challenge to the crown prince and his basketball career as on anything else. [Governor] Bush and [Vice President Al] Gore have the name recognition, the money and the early momentum. We'll see tomorrow night just how far those resources can take them. [EDS: Do not be confused by that last sentence to think there is a Democratic primary also in South Carolina. There is NOT.]

TEXT: Back to international subjects, The New York Times calls President Clinton's trip to the sub- continent next month "long overdue," but warns that a stop in Pakistan, without some pre-visit progress over ending the Kashmir dispute with India would:

VOICE: ... send the wrong signal to other trouble spots about the seriousness of American opposition [both] to military coups and reckless intervention in the problems of a neighboring country.

TEXT: The [New York] Daily News takes note of the latest apology from Germany about the Holocaust, made by President Johannes Rau Wednesday in the Israeli Knesset.

VOICE: It was ... extraordinary. In a wrenchingly emotional apology for the Nazi genocide ... [President] Rau said: ".. I bow in humility before those murdered ...I am asking for forgiveness for what Germans have done, for myself and my generation, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, whose future I would like to see alongside the children of Israel." Unlike some other nations that have developed amnesia, Germany has tried to make amends for its action during World War Two.

TEXT: From Oklahoma, another call for the Irish Republican Army to disarm and save the Northern Ireland peace process, this time from The Tulsa World.

VOICE: It's time for the I-R-A -- and all the paramilitary groups, including Protestant ones in Northern Ireland -- to disarm. /// OPT /// That means all their assault weapons, hand grenades and explosives. /// END OPT /// It's time the I-R-A grew up and dropped its bully tactics. It's time for peace.

TEXT: The debate continues over whether the United States should provide another one-point-three billion dollars in military and other aid to Colombia to help combat widespread insurrection, inextricably mixed up with the nation's narcotics growers and smugglers. The Dallas Morning News says:

VOICE: Congress should approve [President] Clinton's aid request. ... The U-S aid would support [President Andres] Pastrana's "Plan Colombia," an ambitious seven-point-five-billion dollar strategy to solve his country's crisis. Approximately three-fourths of the aid would purchase 63 helicopters and train two special anti-narcotics battalions. The rest would pay to eradicate drug crops, to promote legal agriculture and to reform the judicial system. Contrary to critics' assertions, the aid would not augur another Vietnam-type quagmire.

TEXT: In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is angry that the State Department hid vital information about the possible complicity of the U-S government in the murder of two Americans by Chilean intelligence during the overthrow of the Allende government by General Augusto Pinochet.

VOICE: What the censored [State Department] documents were about was avoiding embarrassment, and that is not a legal exception to disclosure under the act (law). President Clinton is right to push for full disclosure about U-S involvement in Chile and in other Cold War hot spots, and the Pentagon and C-I-A (Central Intelligence Agency)must also comply.

TEXT: And lastly, a really serious hot weather emergency is looming for the United States according to this editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

VOICE: A nationwide shortage of ice cream cones ... It should hit home -- wouldn't you know it -- just about the time a cone filled with your choice of ice cream ... would most hit the spot, [Editors: really refresh a person] when the temperature starts to get civil here again. ... the largest cone producer in the country, Ace ... with plants strategically located in Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas, went bankrupt last December. Its plants are closed and coneless. .. even the president of the second-biggest ice cream cone maker . has grave doubts that the effort ... to fill ... demand ... will suffice. It's enough to make you scream.

TEXT: And on that note of impending crisis, we bid farewell to the U-S editorial pages for another day.
NEB/ANG/JP 18-Feb-2000 11:52 AM EDT (18-Feb-2000 1652 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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