|
|
|
RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 14, 97-04-18
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 14, 18 April 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN WARLORD SAYS SHEVARDNADZE WITNESSED 1993 EXECUTIONS.
[02] ABKHAZ PRESIDENT RULES OUT FURTHER TALKS WITH GEORGIA.
[03] WORLD BANK LENDS KYRGYZSTAN $44 MILLION.
[04] TAJIK TALKS OFF AGAIN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] CONFUSION OVER ALBANIAN ELECTION DATE.
[06] CROATIAN PARTIES WIN IN MOST SLAVONIAN DISTRICTS.
[07] BILDT CALLS FOR ISOLATION OF BOSNIAN SERB LEADER.
[08] STEINER SLAMS BOSNIAN SERB TRIAL OF "ZVORNIK SEVEN."
[09] OSCE LACKS MONEY FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
[10] ALL SLOVENIAN PARTIES BACK NATO MEMBERSHIP.
[11] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES BUDGET LAW.
[12] ROMANIA WANTS TO PURCHASE USED U.S. FIGHTER PLANES.
[13] RUSSIAN DUMA COMMISSION WRAPS UP MOLDOVAN VISIT.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WARNS CLINTON ABOUT EXCLUSION FROM NATO.
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN WARLORD SAYS SHEVARDNADZE WITNESSED 1993 EXECUTIONS.
Dzhaba Ioseliani, former head of the disbanded Mkhedrioni paramilitary
force, says he was arrested in November 1995 because he had informed the
Georgian parliament that he was present when Interior Minister Shota
Kviraya executed five men in Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze's
presence. Ioseliani said the executions were carried out in western Georgia
in October 1993. The date and place suggests that the executed men were
supporters of late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who launched an
unsuccessful insurrection in fall 1993. Ioseliani has been charged with
treason in connection with the failed car bomb attack on Shevardnadze in
August 1995. He protests that his arrest was illegal because, as a deputy,
he had parliamentary immunity. He added that there is no hard evidence to
substantiate the charges against him. Ioseliani made the claims in a letter
to Supreme Court chairman Mindia Ugrekhelidze, published in the Georgian
press on 16 April.
[02] ABKHAZ PRESIDENT RULES OUT FURTHER TALKS WITH GEORGIA.
Vladislav Ardzinba says the re-routing of all telephone communications from
Russia to Abkhazia via Georgia was "a political act" that showed Russia is
trying to force Abkhazia to agree to enter a federation with Georgia, AFP
reported yesterday, quoting Interfax. Ardzinba ruled out further talks with
Georgia on a political solution to the conflict, while Georgian
presidential adviser Shalva Pichkhadze told Interfax that Georgia has
exhausted almost "all areas of compromise" with Abkhazia. He hinted that
Georgia could be forced to seek alternative mediators if the resolution
adopted at the March CIS summit on broadening the mandate of the CIS
peacekeepers in Abkhazia is not implemented.
[03] WORLD BANK LENDS KYRGYZSTAN $44 MILLION.
The World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) has approved a
$44 million loan for Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL reported yesterday. The funds will
be used to help reduce the budget deficit and will cover the cost of
privatizing or closing down non-productive state enterprises. The loan is
also intended to help maintain essential public services slated for
privatization. It is repayable over 30 years with a10-year grace period.
[04] TAJIK TALKS OFF AGAIN.
Talks between the Tajik government and the United Tajik Opposition have
been called off again, RFE/RL's Tajik service reported yesterday.
Discussions resumed on 16 April after breaking down the previous week but
have now been postponed until 16 May. Both sides said they needed to
consult with their leaderships before continuing the discussions.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] CONFUSION OVER ALBANIAN ELECTION DATE.
Franz Vranitzky, the OSCE's chief envoy to Albania, said in Tirana
yesterday that party leaders have agreed on 29 June as the date for early
parliamentary elections but have not yet reached consensus on conditions
for the poll. But later, Prime Minister Bashkim Fino told the ATA news
agency that "the elections will be held by the end of June but a fixed date
has not been agreed to." Tritan Shehu, a leader of President Sali Berisha's
Democratic Party, told AFP that no date was even been discussed. Other
issues to be resolved before the elections include dealing with the rebels
in the south, drafting a new election law, granting all parties freer
access to TV and radio, and clarifying why the pyramid investment schemes
collapsed.
[06] CROATIAN PARTIES WIN IN MOST SLAVONIAN DISTRICTS.
Croatian government spokesmen in Zagreb and ethnic Serb leaders in Vukovar
said yesterday that early, unofficial returns show Croatian parties winning
16 out of eastern Slavonia's 27 districts. Croatian Deputy Prime Minister
Ivica Kostovic told journalists that the governing Croatian Democratic
Community has an absolute majority in most of those 16 areas. The remaining
11 were won by the Serbian Independent Democratic Party (SSDS). The SSDS, a
broad Serbian coalition, claims victory in Beli Manastir and some other
municipalities, while both the Croats and Serbs agree that the vote in
Vukovar was evenly split. The UN administration in the area will begin to
release official figures later today.
[07] BILDT CALLS FOR ISOLATION OF BOSNIAN SERB LEADER.
Carl Bildt, the international community's High Representative in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, wrote UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan yesterday that there
should be only "essential business contacts" with the Serbian member of the
joint Bosnian presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik. Bildt says that Krajisnik is
still close to former Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal Radovan
Karadzic. Bildt called Karadzic's role "evil," an RFE/RL correspondent in
Sarajevo reported. Meanwhile, Bildt's spokesman told reporters that
there will be no international aid for Bosanski Samac and Foca in the
Republika Srpska and for Croat-controlled Vitez because indicted war
criminals openly take part in local government there.
[08] STEINER SLAMS BOSNIAN SERB TRIAL OF "ZVORNIK SEVEN."
Bildt's deputy, Michael Steiner, has blasted the Bosnian Serb authorities
for not allowing seven Muslim males to have their own lawyers in a trial
that was slated to open this week in Zvornik. He said in Sarajevo yesterday
that the trial is "a travesty of justice" and could lead to sanctions
against the Serbs. Mystery has surrounded the case of the seven, who
surrendered to U.S. peacekeepers near Zvornik last May. The Muslims claimed
to be survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, but the Serbs charged them
with murder and unauthorized possession of weapons. The peacekeepers
handed the Muslims over to the Serbian police, which the Muslims say
tortured them.
[09] OSCE LACKS MONEY FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Peterson said in Vienna yesterday that
the OSCE is $32 million short of what it needs to organize the Bosnian
local elections in September. He accused various unspecified countries of
engaging the OSCE in various political projects but failing to provide the
money to carry them out. Peterson said the time has come to abandon
the system of financing the OSCE on the basis of voluntary contributions
and to start assessing members dues instead.
[10] ALL SLOVENIAN PARTIES BACK NATO MEMBERSHIP.
All parties signed a declaration in Ljubljana yesterday supporting
membership in the Atlantic alliance. The parties say that Slovenia is ready
to cover all expenses connected with joining. The opposition Social
Democrats launched the initiative. Slovenia has been intensively lobbying
NATO member states in recent weeks in a bid to be admitted in the first
wave of new members. It is the only former Yugoslav republic that most
observers give a serious chance of admission in the foreseeable future,
although Croatian President Franjo Tudjman says that his country is ready
to join.
[11] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES BUDGET LAW.
A joint session of Romania's bi-cameral parliament has passed the law on
the 1997 state budget, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported yesterday. The
leftist and nationalist opposition voted against the law. Finance Minister
Mircea Ciumara told RFE/RL's Romanian service that the budget will require
"a few months of sacrifice" from the population but will enable Romania to
shake off its current economic impasse. The budget foresees a deficit
amounting to 4.5% of GDP, an inflation rate of 90%, and an 8% unemployment
rate. The same day, the government amended and approved the list of
10 state-owned loss-making companies slated for privatization or
liquidation. Together, those companies account for 7.5% of the deficit in
the state sector.
[12] ROMANIA WANTS TO PURCHASE USED U.S. FIGHTER PLANES.
A Defense Ministry spokesman says Romania plans to buy used fighter and
transport planes from the U.S. military to bring the country closer to NATO
standards. He told Reuters yesterday that Defense Minister Victor Babiuc
has sent a letter of intent to the U.S. Defense Department for the purchase
of 12 F-16 or F-18 fighter jets and nine Hercules C-130 transport
aircraft. The spokesman also said Bell Helicopter Textron of the States was
"at an advanced stage" in its bid to buy a controlling stake in the
Intreprinderea Aeronautica Romana company to jointly produce Cobra attack
helicopters. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Adrian Severin and his Italian
counterpart, Lamberto Dini, met in Rome yesterday and signed a joint
declaration on a "strategic partnership" between their countries. An RFE/RL
corespondent in the Italian capital reported that the document provides for
Italian support for Romania's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.
[13] RUSSIAN DUMA COMMISSION WRAPS UP MOLDOVAN VISIT.
Adrian Puzanovsky, head of a State Duma commission for the Transdniester,
says the Duma has not ratified the 1990 basic treaty with Moldova because
the breakaway region's problems have not yet been solved, BASA-press
reported yesterday. Speaking at the end of the commission's four-day visit
to Moldova, Puzanovsky said the Duma's stance is "dictated by its
responsibility" toward settling the conflict. He added that the commission
was "highly appreciative" of the accords to resume negotiations signed by
Chisinau and Tiraspol as a result of Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov's
mediation. The commission was received yesterday by President Petru
Lucinschi and other Moldovan officials.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WARNS CLINTON ABOUT EXCLUSION FROM NATO.
Petar Stoyanov has sent a letter addressed to U.S. President Bill Clinton
warning that leaving Bulgaria out of NATO risks creating a "gray area" in
the Balkans, Reuters reported yesterday, citing a press release from the
presidential office. Bulgaria itself could turn from an "island of
stability" into an "island of uncertain security," he said. Stoyanov told
Reuters he expects tomorrow's parliamentary elections to seal a new
national consensus in favor of the market reforms delayed since the end of
communist rule. He said Bulgaria was a latecomer to those reforms but could
learn from the mistakes of its more advanced ex-communist neighbors.
Meanwhile, the election campaign ended yesterday.
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
|
