Voice of America, 00-02-29

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CONTENTS

[01] KOSOVO / POLICE BY RON PEMSTEIN (VUCHITRN, KOSOVO)

[02] U-N BOSNIA BRIEFING (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[03] AUSTRIA - HAIDER (L ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)

[04] AUSTRIA / FREEDOM PARTY (L-ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (VIENNA)

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

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

[07] PEACEKEEPING PROBLEMS IN KOSOVO BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

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

[01] KOSOVO / POLICE BY RON PEMSTEIN (VUCHITRN, KOSOVO)

INTRO: The Kosovo Police School (K-P-S) has started its third class with 250-students, mostly Albanian, but including Serbs and other minorities. The goal is to produce enough police officers to give Kosovo a police force without foreign help. Correspondent Ron Pemstein visited the school in Vuchitrn, Kosovo and sends this report. Text: In classroom "A", the teacher points to 22-year old student Myvette Makolli and describes her as a hot-tempered blonde who has tried to stab a police officer with a knife. She is taking part in a classroom exercise in the first week of her class on the use of force. The teacher's words are translated into Albanian as he tries to make his students think of how they would react if confronted by the angry Myvette.

[02] U-N BOSNIA BRIEFING (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: The top United Nations official in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, said today (Tuesday) that Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic remains the major obstacle to stability in the region. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: Mr. Klein, who is in New York for consultations with U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told reporters the recent democratic presidential election in Croatia was a positive thing for Bosnia. He says as Croatia moves into the mainstream of Europe, Bosnia will move with it. He also observed that the fact that Bosnia is no longer a top international news story is actually a positive sign, indicating a low level of violence there. However, Mr. Klein says that until Serbia has a democratic government, the region will remain unstable. He characterizes the atmosphere in Serbia as one of paranoia, isolation and victimization. He says the man responsible for that is Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic and Mr. Klein has a message for the people of Serbia

[03] AUSTRIA - HAIDER (L ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)

INTRO: The leader of Austria's far right Freedom Party, Joerg Haider, who praised aspects of Nazi policies, has resigned in the wake of anti government protests and international pressure. But as Stefan Bos reports from Budapest, Mr. Haider is expected to continue as a provincial governor.

TEXT: Mr. Haider said he quit as party leader to avoid complications for the coalition government, in which his party will continue to take part. The controversial leader said he is not withdrawing from politics. Speaking trough an interpreter, Mr. Haider said he made the decision because he wants to focus more on his work as Governor of Carinthia province.

[04] AUSTRIA / FREEDOM PARTY (L-ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (VIENNA)

INTRO: The vice chancellor of Austria, Susanne Riess-Passer, who succeeds Joerg Haider as leader of Austria's far right Freedom Party, has promised to deal with Austria's Nazi past as well as adopt a more friendly policy toward foreigners. Stefan Bos spoke with Ms. Riess- Passer in Vienna before Mr. Haider's resignation announcement and filed this report.

TEXT: Ms. Riess-Passer said Monday that she had not expected to become the party's new leader, and stressed that her party had not pressured Mr. Haider to step down. The fourteen other members of the European Union as well as many other nations -- have moved to isolate Austria diplomatically, mostly due to Mr. Haider's anti-foreigner stance and his past praise for Nazi employment policies. Some say they are afraid of the re-emergence of ultra rightwing sentiments in a country that was once a close ally of Nazi Germany. Ms. Riess-Passer said that she would like to show the outside world and Austrians that her party and the government is serious about dealing with the country's Nazi-past by giving compensation to the victims of that era.

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

INTRO: The resignation of Joerg Haider as the leader of Austria's rightwing Freedom Party has not changed the European Union's (E-U) attitude toward Austria's coalition government. V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels that Austria remains diplomatically isolated.

TEXT: It is not Joerg Haider personally, but the position of his party. That is the attitude of the European Union's member governments that downgraded their relations with Austria when Mr. Haider's Freedom Party came into power. Belgium's foreign minister Louis Michel, on a visit to Israel, says nothing has changed, so European Union political sanctions against Austria should remain in force. Mr. Haider has not taken a personal role in the new government, but Mr. Michel says he obviously remains in the party and continues to call the shots (i.e. direct the party). The Belgian minister calls Mr. Haider's resignation as Freedom Party leader a ploy to mollify Western capitals. Portugal's prime minister, Antonio Gueterres, is the chairman of the European Union for this six- month period and he wants to keep the sanctions against Austria in place. Speaking in Lisbon, he says Mr. Haider's resignation shows there is a problem and the European Union was right to raise it. For the time being, the Prime minister says there is insufficient information to determine the intentions behind the move. A French spokeswoman says E-U sanctions were aimed at his party in the government, not Mr. Haider himself, and this move changes nothing. Here at the European Commission, spokesman Peter Guilford says the commission will continue to do business with Austria as a member of the European Union, and Mr. Haider's absence as head of his party does not change the commission's stand.

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

INTRO: U-S stock prices were higher today (Tuesday), as the "blue-chips" recovered more of last week's big losses. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average nestled above 10-thousand for the second day in a row. The Industrials climbed to 10-thousand-128 with a gain of 89 points, less than one percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index also advanced, gaining 18 points. Investors apparently are looking for bargains among the "blue-chips." The stocks that have come to represent the "old economy" have been badly beaten down - many languishing at or near their all-time lows. Meanwhile, after two days of profit-taking, the technology-weighted Nasdaq composite soared for a gain of more than two and one-half percent, closing at its first record high since last Thursday.

[07] PEACEKEEPING PROBLEMS IN KOSOVO BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Since the beginning of this month, violence between Serbian and Albanian residents of the Kosovo city of Mitrovica has been escalating. About two weeks ago, two French army peacekeepers were wounded and an Albanian sniper was shot to death. The French and U-S defense ministers have each pledged to send in reinforcements to bolster peacekeepers in the area. However, some U-S newspapers are beginning to wonder whether the overall NATO peacekeeping effort in the war-torn Yugoslav province is bogging down amid the continuing ethnic hostility. We get a sampling now, from ________ in this week's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Mitrovica in the mountainous north of Kosovo is divided by a river, with ethnic Serbs living on one side and ethnic Albanians on the other. Because of the intense animosities between them, members of one ethnic group who used to live in neighborhoods dominated by the other have fled to refugee areas where their own group is in the majority. French forces trying to keep the peace between them have been criticized for not asserting themselves more forcefully with the warring elements of both sides. The escalating violence peaked about two weeks ago, with a street riot [2/13]. That accelerated speculation in portions of the American press that the overall situation in Kosovo is deteriorating, and that Mitrovica may still be a "time bomb" that could set it all off. We begin our sampling in Colorado, where Holger Jensen, foreign affairs columnist of Denver's Rocky Mountain News, calls the Kosovo peacekeeping duties for all the armed forces there not only "frustrating," but also "futile."

VOICE: Events in Kosovska Mitrovica demonstrate the futility of trying to persuade implacably hostile Serbs and Albanians to live together in a multi-ethnic Kosovo. They also show how ludicrous it is for the western powers to recognize Serbian sovereignty over a province that is now only five percent Serbian with 100-thousand Serbs surrounded by two-million Albanians who don't want nor recognize rule from Belgrade. ... Kosovska Mitrovica has the largest concentration of Serbs left in the province. They consider it their last stand. /// OPT /// Many who fled other parts of Kosovo settled in or around northern Mitrovica, separated from Albanians in the southern part of the city by the Ibar River. Unfortunately, Serbs occupy the homes of Albanians who fled south, while Albanians occupy the apartments of Serbs who fled north, making it a flash point. /// END OPT /// NATO also made the mistake of stationing French troops there, long regarded by the Albanians as being pro-Serb. ... Congress has expressed growing impatience with the open-ended presence of American peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo. But NATO's outgoing commander, General Wesley Clark, told the (U-S) House Armed Services Committee they will have to remain in the Balkans indefinitely until [Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic is removed from power. ... But will a new government reconcile Serbs and Albanians? The answer is probably no.

TEXT: In the opinion of Newsday on New York's Long Island, "Kosovo will Haunt the Next President."

VOICE: In Mitrovica ... a showdown among ethnic Albanians, Serbs and NATO troops is playing itself out that could determine the future of the international peacekeeping effort in the breakaway Serbian province. Within days, France will add about 700 troops to the five-thousand it has in the city and Washington may send a Marine expeditionary unit to quell rising violence that has left nine civilians dead and 20 wounded this month, including two French soldiers. ... The best ... NATO can hope for is a resumption of the tense but relatively stable situation that prevailed before the flare-up of violent clashes between Albanian Kosovars and Serbs. ... But it's chimeric (illusory) to hope that even additional troops will do much to attain the nominal goal of the NATO and U-N effort: Creating a functional multi-ethnic entity that can govern itself autonomously but still remain part of sovereign Serbia. /// OPT /// That paradoxical construct is the basis for the peacekeeping effort, and its chances for eventual success must be viewed with considerable skepticism. /// END OPT ///

TEXT: In the Pacific region, Hawaii's Honolulu Star- Bulletin says despite the difficulties, "The peacekeepers must deal with the violence and remain in Kosovo to achieve a lasting peace," adding:

VOICE: The more the town [EDS: Mitrovica] is polarized, the less likely it will be that stability can be attained. The NATO-led troops are challenged to find a way of integrating the city, no small task but one that is necessary in creating a lasting peace throughout Kosovo. ... Whether the two ethnic groups can be peacefully integrated any time soon is doubtful. In the days ahead, a curfew and numerous checkpoints should end the immediate violence and allow NATO to develop a strategy over a longer term. But it may be years before it will be safe for the peacekeepers to leave.

TEXT: In Boston, The Christian Science Monitor agrees, suggesting if a multi-ethnic society is to be restored, more force is needed now.

VOICE: If a self-governing multi-ethnic entity remains the goal of intervention there, the means of reaching it have to be strengthened. This requires, above all, developing the civilian structures that can move Kosovo toward stability. ... Kosovo is turning out to be just as thorny as anticipated. Pressure could mount to reject the multi-ethnic model and go for partition ... That would be a mistake. Resentments would build, fueling future conflict. The western allies should stick to the original goal -- beef up (EDS: increase) efforts to build a civil society, and recognize this will be a very long commitment.

TEXT: The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, however, wonders whether more troops are really needed, and if they are, where will both the escalation and U-S military involvement in this Balkan trouble spot end.

VOICE: Many Americans ... remember the term from the dark days of the Vietnam War: escalation. NATO officials are heading down that road in Kosovo with calls this week for additional troops to keep the troubled peace there. ... Two French soldiers were shot by snipers in northern Kosovo and on Sunday, angry Serbs stoned U-S troops who were searching for illicit weapons. Americans withdrawing under a hail of stones and garbage recalled scenes from Somalia seven years ago. ...NATO forces continue to be interposed between ethnic factions to create the appearance of peace where no peace actually exists.

TEXT: The Vietnam analogy, while still a painful memory for the Chicago Tribune, is not apt, says the big Midwestern daily.

VOICE: ... Kosovo isn't Vietnam -- not now, if ever - and [General Wesley] Clark, NATO's supreme commander, has the right idea. His call (for more NATO troops in Kosovo) should be heeded, as long as America ... doesn't get saddled with more than its fair share of the peacekeeping burden. A message needs to be sent, with a strong show of force, that NATO is resolute and committed to defending Kosovo civilians from all attempts to undermine U-N peacekeeping efforts.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of opinion on the recent surge of violence in and around the northern city of Mitrovica in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
NEB/ANG/JP 29-Feb-2000 15:02 PM EDT (29-Feb-2000 2002 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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

INTRO: From Portland, Maine in the eastern United States to Portland, Oregon in the west, Tuesday's editorial columns are filled with comment on the Amadou Diallo case in New York State. Mr. Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, was shot to death by four New York City police officers who mistook him for a rapist they were searching for. The officers' acquittal of all charges has been followed by an avalanche of commentary. The other popular topic is also domestic: Texas Governor George Bush's apology for a speech at a fundamentalist Christian University in South Carolina that has been criticized for its anti-Roman Catholic views. Overseas, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's policy in Chechnya is a major topic, as is increased repression of dissent in Cuba. There is also comment about a new U-N plan for the Congo and European fears of U-S British eavesdropping by a sophisticated satellite network called Echelon. Now, here is ________ with a closer look in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Last year, four white, New York City police officers on a special street crime unit shot and killed an unarmed immigrant from Guinea in West Africa. The officers said they thought he was a rapist they were seeking, and when he reached for his wallet, they said they thought he was reaching for a gun. Last week, a jury made up of four blacks and eight whites, with a black jury foreman, acquitted the four officers of murder, and several lesser counts. Today's papers generally support the verdict, while questioning New York police practices that led to the killing. In Portland, Maine, the Portland Press Herald agrees the shooting may not have been a crime, but questions police tactics.

VOICE: If the shooting death ... is examined in the context of the decision the officers had to make just before opening fire, than an Albany jury's verdict... makes sense. ... The [members of the jury] recognized that these situations are never easy and officers can only be expected to do the best they can in a split second ... What's outrageous [are] ... the policies that led to [Mr.] Diallo's being at the point of four guns in the first place. Though not a confirmed suspect, he was chased and cornered. Why?

VOICE: Clear across the country, in Portland, Oregon, The Oregonian agrees the jury reached the correct verdict under the circumstances, but goes on to suggest:

VOICE: If ever there were an argument for community policing it is this case. If ever a city needed to heed it, it is New York. ... before the city can move ahead, it has to accept that it is, in a direct way, responsible for [Mr.] Diallo's death, even if the officers cannot be blamed.

TEXT: The St. Louis Post Dispatch is worried about what it calls "the chilling message for some Americans" this case sends, especially to the nation's blacks.

VOICE: ... the jury's verdict reinforces fears, especially among minorities, that even if law-abiding, they are at the mercy of the police in a society that has shown little desire to hold officers accountable for their actions.

TEXT: The Atlanta Constitution, however, points out the officers are not yet free, by any means.

VOICE: The acquittals do not mean the four [police officers] will suffer no consequences. They appear bent under a heavy burden of remorse; they await a departmental review of the shootout and could lose their jobs, and they face civil suits from [Mr.] Diallo's family.

TEXT: Still in Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle lauds the jury for its wisdom.

TEXT: What [the people protesting the verdict] don't understand, which the racially mixed jury did understand, is that sometimes - - especially in dangerous police work - - horrible, heart-rending accidents can happen. This was a courageous color- blind jury that came to a courageous decision - - restoring much confidence in the criminal justice system.

TEXT: The day's other popular editorial topic concerns Texas Governor George Bush's apology for a speech given at a fundamentalist Christian university in South Carolina which holds anti-Roman Catholic views. The Hartford [Connecticut] Courant says:

VOICE: Even George W. Bush himself now realizes that his zeal to win the South Carolina Republican presidential primary served him poorly when he appeared at Bob Jones University. ... His regret, which he reiterated in a letter to [Roman Catholic] Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, may not be enough to remove the stain on the governor's campaign.

TEXT: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains why so many Americans are so upset with the appearance.

VOICE: With dozens of South Carolina universities available, Mr. Bush headed straight for the only one that called the pope the anti-Christ, forbids interracial dating and once told a gay alumnus he would be arrested for trespassing if he came to the campus. ... you can't have it both ways. You can't earn the far-right conservative seal of approval by choosing to "associate" with Bob Jones and then contend that you are [a defender] of racial and religious tolerance.

TEXT: Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the visit shows even more serious flaws in the candidate's character:

VOICE: ... his visit to Bob Jones University is the latest in a series of blunders that, taken together, raise questions not only about the kind of campaign he is running, but [also] about his intelligence and his political and moral values.

TEXT: Turning to overseas issues, Russia continues to be criticized for its military campaign in Chechnya. Citing dramatic German television videotape of Russian troops roughly disposing of the handcuffed bodies of executed Chechen fighters, the Washington Post says:

VOICE: It is decreasingly deniable that Russia's armed forces have committed major abuses - - war crimes -- in Chechnya. ... If Russia flouts international law when it wages war against its own citizens, how scrupulously will it adhere to any arms control treaty with the United States?

TEXT: On another Russian topic, the leadership of Acting President Vladimir Putin, the Florida Times- Union from Jacksonville argues that the nation may be headed toward dictatorship and it faults the Clinton administration's response.

VOICE: Is Russia headed for dictatorship? Arguably, it trembles on the brink. And the Clinton administration has done everything possible to give it a careless shove. How else to interpret President Clinton's gushing praise of Vladimir Putin, Russia's acting president? ... one might have expected a bit more restraint. ...[Mr.] Clinton has been deaf to the anguished cries of Chechens. He described the Russian destruction of [Grozny] as "liberation."

TEXT: Turning now to Latin America, Charleston's [South Carolina] Post and Courier faults Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for his hard line against Cuba's growing number of dissidents.

VOICE: [President] Castro certainly, appears to be worried. Elizardo Sanchez, who has emerged as Cuba's leading dissident over the past decade by staying in Cuba despite frequent imprisonment and offers of asylum abroad, has been keeping a record of the repression. He reported recently that since the summit meeting of Spanish-and Portuguese-speaking leaders in Havana last November, there has been an intensive crackdown on dissidents. More than 300-pro- democracy activists have been detained, 200 have been placed under house arrests and 22 have been jailed and are awaiting trial, Mr. Sanchez told Knight Ridder newspapers. He said ... persecution is the worst in a decade.

TEXT: Turning to Africa, the New York Times is guardedly optimistic about the latest United Nations plan to send a small observer force to the Democratic Republic of Congo to foster a cease-fire by all the various factions fighting there. However, the paper warns:

VOICE: Without effective international support for Congo's tenuous peace accord there is every likelihood of a wider war. But one may reasonably hope that the difficulties can be eased enough to create acceptable circumstances for the U-N mission to proceed. The U-N must be sure, though, that it is not embarking on a futile operation, for a failed mission would be worse than no mission at all.

TEXT: Finally, some fears about a super-secret, U-S British, Canadian surveillance system called Echelon, begun during the Cold War, which is able to intercept virtually all computer-generated electronic mail ["e- mail"] and telephone and other communications. The San Francisco Examiner suggests that while friends do not spy on their friends, as some European nations have suggested the U-S and Britain are doing to them, these charges are silly.

VOICE: The maxim that `gentlemen don't read each other's mail' is put to the test by a snit between Europe and the U-S. European fears that [an] eavesdropping network held over from the Cold War is capturing industrial secrets and taking business from competitors on the continent can hardly with stand a simple credibility test. The system of monitoring satellite communications, telephones, faxes and Internet exchanges is far too high-volume an operation to sort out business confidences ... [The complaints about this] ... intelligence operation ... seems to serve the French and some other members of the European community as a scapegoat for business disappointments.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of comment from the editorial columns of Tuesday's U-S press.
NEB/ANG/KL 29-Feb-2000 12:16 PM EDT (29-Feb-2000 1716 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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