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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 22, 97-04-30
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 22, 30 April 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TAJIK PRESIDENT
[02] GEORGIAN FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS
[03] NEW PRIME MINISTER APPOINTED IN ABKHAZIA
[04] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES TREATY ON RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE
[05] ARMENIAN EX-PREMIER TO FOUND NEW POLITICAL PARTY
[06] TURKMENISTAN PLANS NEW OIL CONSORTIUM
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] ALBANIAN UN AMBASSADOR PRAISES ITALIAN-LED MISSION
[08] LEKA ZOGU CALLS FOR GREATER ALBANIA
[09] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP
[10] THIRD TERM FOR SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC?
[11] EU RETURNS TRADE PERKS TO BELGRADE
[12] SERBIAN OPPOSITION SPLIT AGAIN?
[13] OSCE SETS UP BOSNIAN REFUGEE VOTING PROGRAM
[14] ROMANIAN PREMIER ATTACKS OUTGOING INTELLIGENCE SERVICE CHIEF
[15] ROMANIA, TURKEY SIGN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
[16] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN WASHINGTON
[17] MOLDOVAN PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE REOPENS CASE AGAINST NEWS AGENCY
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TAJIK PRESIDENT
A grenade was thrown today at Imomali Rakhmonov in the northern Tajik city
of Khujand, RFE/RL's Tajik service reported. At the time, Rakhmonov was
walking to a local theater to give a speech marking the 65th anniversary of
the city's university. Rakhmonov was wounded in the leg, but his condition
is described as not "life-threatening." Two people are reported dead and up
to injured, Russian Public TV reported. Authorities have taken two people
into custody in connection with the attack.
[02] GEORGIAN FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS
Davit Yakobidze, who came under severe criticism last fall for alleged
incompetence, submitted his resignation to President Eduard Shevardnadze on
28 April, Interfax reported. Yakobidze has been targeted by the head of the
parliamentary anti-corruption commission. Shevardnadze has appointed
Mikhail Chkuaseli, prefect of Guria and an economist, to replace Yakobidze.
[03] NEW PRIME MINISTER APPOINTED IN ABKHAZIA
Sergei Bagapsh, a former first secretary of the Abkhaz Komsomol and
most recently a permanent representative of the Abkhaz leadership in Moscow,
has been appointed Abkhaz prime minister, Interfax and BS-Press reported
yesterday. Bagapsh replaces Gennadii Gulua, who resigned for health reasons
on 24 April. Bagapsh is a native of Ochamchire Raion, where support for
Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba is plummetting.
[04] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES TREATY ON RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE
The Armenian parliament voted yesterday to ratify the March 1995 treaty
permitting Russia to maintain a military base in Armenia for a 25-year
period, Russian agencies reported. The vote was 118 to four with seven
abstentions. The Russian State Duma ratified the treaty on 18 April.
[05] ARMENIAN EX-PREMIER TO FOUND NEW POLITICAL PARTY
Former Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan told the first issue of the
Armenian newspaper Menk that he will head a new political party named
Azatutyun [Freedom], RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported yesterday. The
founding congress of the party is scheduled for 29 May. Bagratyan said
the party "will have a modern liberal ideology" and will represent the
interests of property owners and producers.
[06] TURKMENISTAN PLANS NEW OIL CONSORTIUM
President Saparmurat Niyazov and Turkish Energy and Natural Resources
Minister Recai Kutan met yesterday and announced that a new consortium will
be formed to attract investments for the construction of pipelines,
Interfax reported. The goal is the construction of a Turkmenistan-Turkey-
Western Europe pipeline. Financing of the project will be discussed at the
next meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization, scheduled
to start in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on 12 May.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] ALBANIAN UN AMBASSADOR PRAISES ITALIAN-LED MISSION
Pellumb Kulla told a press conference in New York yesterday that the
situation in his country has improved since Operation Alba began earlier
this month. He says that the foreign troops have "positively inspired" the
Albanian military and police to restore order. Kulla added that most
schools reopened under police protection yesterday and that the rest
are slated to open today. He pointed out that the authorities are currently
lifting press restrictions and that all political parties want the 29 June
elections to go ahead. The ambassador noted, however, that there are still
parts of the country where armed bands block access even to government
officials.
[08] LEKA ZOGU CALLS FOR GREATER ALBANIA
The claimant to the throne said in Tirana yesterday that the unification of
all Albanian-speaking areas would be in the long-term interest of all
Balkan peoples and would promote regional stability. He added, however,
that the Albanians must achieve unity only by peaceful means and that "the
last thing we need is another conflict in the Balkans." Leka stressed that
he regards himself as king of all Albanians, including those living in
Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro. He argued that Albanians have the same
right as Germans to national unification and that the "Albanian question"
exists only because of foreign interference.
[09] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP
An Italian army spokesman told a press conference in Tirana yesterday that
Italian soldiers acted within their mandate on 28 April when they
intervened to help a bus driver, whom gunmen were attacking. Also in the
capital, President Sali Berisha urged the IMF yesterday to send a team of
experts to investigate the collapse of the pyramid schemes. At the EU
foreign ministers' conference in Luxembourg, Italian diplomats called for
an international conference on Albania. And at the Black Sea conference in
Istanbul, Albanian representative Mirgjind Pefiku asked for help in
reviving his country's economy.
[10] THIRD TERM FOR SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC?
Opposition leader Zoran Djindjic told Nasa Borba today that it would be
unconstitutional for President Slobodan Milosevic to serve a third term.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Ratko Markovic said to the pro-regime
Belgrade daily Politika ekspres that Milosevic could seek another term when
his current one runs out this year. Markovic believes that the
constitutional ban on more than two terms applies only to full terms of
five years each, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Belgrade yesterday.
Milosevic's first time in office, the deputy prime minister argues, was
shorter and hence does not count toward his constitutional limit. Observers
at home and abroad have long been expecting Milosevic to run for federal
Yugoslav president later this year. Growing anti-Milosevic sentiment in
Montenegro, however, may have prompted him to change his tactics.
[11] EU RETURNS TRADE PERKS TO BELGRADE
The federal Yugoslav government applauded the decision of the EU foreign
ministers in Luxembourg yesterday to restore federal Yugoslavia's
commercial privileges (see RFE/RL Newsline, 29 April 1997). Belgrade says
that the move will strengthen links between it and western Europe but added
that the EU should have lifted curbs soon after Milosevic signed the Dayton
agreement in December 1995. The EU praised what it called an improvement in
the opposition's access to the state media but said that future trade
privileges will depend on Belgrade's policy toward the media, Kosovo, and a
new election law. Also in Luxembourg, Macedonian Prime Minister Branko
Crvenkovski signed a four-year cooperation pact with the EU.
[12] SERBIAN OPPOSITION SPLIT AGAIN?
The Democratic Party says that the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) seems
about to leave the Zajedno coalition, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from
Belgrade yesterday. SPO leader Vuk Draskovic announced that his party is
launching its own pre-election campaign, which prompted the Democrats'
comment. Draskovic also said he will call "all of Serbia" out on the
streets again if the government refuses to talk with the opposition
about election rules. Also in Belgrade, former Prime Minister Milan Panic
confirmed that he has joined Zajedno, according to Nasa Borba today. Panic
added that the Kosovo problem is "more or less solved" because the
international community feels that the province must remain part of Serbia.
Panic argues that the Albanians must now "join the system, vote, and obtain
the same rights as the Serbs."
[13] OSCE SETS UP BOSNIAN REFUGEE VOTING PROGRAM
The OSCE announced in Vienna yesterday that Bosnian citizens living abroad
can register to vote in person or by mail between 5 May and 7 June. In
Bosnia itself, the OSCE will have 2,300 observers on hand for the 13-14
September local elections, more than twice the number it had for last
year's vote. The OSCE still needs more money to hold the elections,
however, even though Germany and the U.S. recently announced additional
contributions. Many observers regard the local elections as a last chance
to reverse "ethnic cleansing" because voters will have the right to vote
for local governments in their original home towns.
[14] ROMANIAN PREMIER ATTACKS OUTGOING INTELLIGENCE SERVICE CHIEF
Premier Victor Ciorbea says that Virgil Magureanu was among the country's
"last Soviet relics," RFE/RL reported. Magureanu resigned last week
as director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI). Ciorbea told
journalists in Bucharest yesterday that Moscow-trained staff in
governmental and presidential institutions have been forced to quit their
posts. Today, Magureanu is to submit the SRI's report for 1996 to a joint
session of the bi-cameral parliament. The report was first submitted late
last year but was sent back for revison following demands for
clarifications.
[15] ROMANIA, TURKEY SIGN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel and his Romanian counterpart, Emil
Constantinescu, met in Istanbul yesterday and signed a free trade agreement,
RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The agreement is aimed at increasing
the volume of bilateral trade to $ 1 billion. The two leaders also
pledged mutual support in pursuing further integration with Europe. Demirel
said Turkey considers it a "priority" to back Romania's bid to join NATO.
[16] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN WASHINGTON
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen says Romania has made "tremendous
progress" in asserting civilian control over the military and in
modernizing its armed forces, an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington
reported. Cohen was welcoming Romanian Defense Minister Victor Babiuc on
his arrival at the Pentagon yesterday. Cohen reiterated that for the time
being, the U.S. will take no position on which countries should be
invited to join the enlarged NATO. Before his meeting with Cohen, Babiuc
told reporters that he hopes to convince the U.S. that NATO expansion
should include both the northern and the southern flanks of the alliance.
This, he said, is the only way to preserve NATO's "cohesion."
[17] MOLDOVAN PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE REOPENS CASE AGAINST NEWS AGENCY
The Prosecutor-General's Office has asked a court to overturn a November
1996 ruling rejecting a demand by the office that BASA-press be forced to
reveal an information source within the Ministry of Defense. In June 1996,
BASA-press had cited a ministry source in connection with former Minister
of Defense Pavel Creanga's statement that he would the army on alert, if
President Mircea Snegur attempted to dismiss him. Snegur, who was voted out
of office late last year, attempted to dismiss Creanga but failed to win
the support of the government. Creanga has not denied the information that
BASA received from the ministry last June. The Prosecutor-General's Office
says that information had affected "state interests."
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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