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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 135, 97-10-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 135, 9 October 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] GEORGIAN INTELLIGENCE TRIED TO FRAME LEADING POLITICIANSFormer businessman Temur Maskhulia told journalists in Tbilisi on 8 October that while he was under arrest earlier this year, senior security officials, including former Security Minister Shota Kviraya, had sought to pressure him into giving false testimony implicating leading politicians, the agency Caucasus press reported. He added that the officials threatened to fabricate charges of treason against him if he did not comply. Maskhulia was asked to testify that Georgian Ambassador to Russia Vazha Lortkipanidze, parliamentary deputy Vakhtang Goguadze, and former Commander-in-chief of Russian troops in Georgia Fyodor Reut were involved in the August 1995 assassination attempt against Eduard Shevardnadze. He was also told to testify that the lion's share of drug-trafficking in Georgia is controlled by Adzhar Supreme Soviet Chairman Aslan Abashidze.[02] GEORGIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF ON TERRORIST INCIDENTAvtandil Ioseliani told Georgian Television on 8 October that unnamed foreign intelligence services may have carried out the two bomb explosions in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi at the end of September, Interfax reported. A woman was seriously injured in one of the explosions. Alternatively, Ioseliani commented, there may be a link between the explosions and the demand by Georgian displaced persons from Abkhazia for the withdrawal of the CIS peacekeeping force currently deployed in western Georgia. Meanwhile, the Georgian daily "Akhali taoba" has claimed that Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze's rationale for dividing the National Security Ministry into two separate agencies is intended to undercut the ministry's influence in domestic politics, according to Interfax.[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST RELEASEDParliamentary deputy Norayr Khanzadyan, who is the Union for Self- Determination's representative on the Central Electoral Commission, was released from detention on 4 October, Noyan Tapan reported four days later. Khanzadyan had been detained on 1 October in connection with a scuffle between Union for Self-Determination leader Paruir Hairikyan and a former member of the Union, Aramazd Zakarian in the National Assembly building on 18 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 October 1997). No charges have been brought against Khanzadyan.[04] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT REJECTS CULT OF PERSONALITYRamiz Mekhtiev, the head of the presidential administration, summoned government media heads on 5 October to inform them that Heidar Aliev is "discontent" with the adulation lavished upon him by the local media, Turan reported on 8 October. In particular, Mekhtiev added, Aliev objects to being referred to as "His Majesty." In an official statement, the presidential press service also castigated the media for engaging in flattery of the president rather than objectively reporting on foreign and domestic policies.[05] MOVE TO NEW KAZAKH CAPITAL IN DOUBT?The planned move of the government from Almaty to Aqmola on 23 October is in doubt, an RFE/RL correspondent in Almaty reported on 7 October. The move was originally scheduled to take place on 10 October, but President Nazarbaev postponed it by two weeks in August. Visiting Aqmola on 4 October with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Nazarbaev expressed satisfaction with progress in the construction of new ministries, the parliament, and apartment blocks. He also affirmed that the city will be ready by 23 October. But thousands of apartment buildings are either incomplete or have been built so hastily that they will be unfit for habitation in winter temperatures of minus 50 degrees Celsius. Parliamentary deputies are to be temporarily housed in hotels, government officials in hostels, and technical workers in kindergartens.[06] KAZAKHSTAN, TURKEY SIGN OIL DEALThe Kazakh government and the state-owned Turkish oil company TPAO have signed a $750 million contract to develop oil fields in Kazakhstan's Aktyubinsk Oblast, Interfax and the "Wall Street Journal" reported on 9 October. A senior Kazakh official told journalists that the region contains an estimated 45 million metric tons of oil. TPAO and Amoco are to create a joint venture to explore and develop the reserves.[07] KAZAKH MINERS STRIKESeveral thousand miners and industrial workers in Qaraghandy Oblast went on strike on 8 October, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported. The strikers are protesting the planned closure of several coal mines in the oblast.[08] TURKMEN PRESIDENT BACK IN SADDLESaparmurad Niyazov chaired a cabinet session on 6 October to assess the ongoing cotton and grain harvests, Interfax reported. It was Niyazov's first day back at work since undergoing cardiac surgery in Germany on 1 September. Niyazov, who pronounced himself in good shape, also attended a ceremony commemorating the victims of the 1948 earthquake that destroyed Ashkhabad. His mother and brothers were among the victims.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] SFOR SEEKS TO RESTORE ORDER NEAR DRVAR...Canadian troops of the NATO-led Stabilization Force were deployed on 7 October to guard a western Bosnian village after Bosnian Croats attacked the homes of Serbian returnees. SFOR said a Croatian official who hit a Canadian soldier with his car was removed from the vehicle and physically restrained by the troops guarding the village of Martin Brod, near Drvar. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Kris Janowski said in Sarajevo on 8 October that the violence erupted after the return of 27 Serbs who had fled the Bosnian Croat-held village at the end of the Bosnian war. The UNHCR had organized their return. Janowski said Croatian workmen claiming to have received orders to repair the houses for Croats forced their way into the houses, throwing out the Serbs' belongings and sending the returnees fleeing to a single building in the village.[10] ...AS MOSTAR RADIO SAYS AGREEMENT REACHEDBosnian Croat Mostar Radio quoted Bosnian Croat police in Drvar on 8 October as saying SFOR troops had erected barbed wire barricades at the entrance to Martin Brod and were barring access to everyone except Drvar police. At a meeting in Drvar, local officials and the UNHCR agreed that the local police will guarantee the security of all people living in Martinbrod. They also agreed that SFOR checkpoints there would be dismantled by 9 October and that the repatriation of former residents will be carried out through agreement between all interested parties. In addition, temporary residence permits for displaced Croats will be canceled if the lists of returnees include the Serbian owners of the homes in which the displaced Croats are residing. The two sides stressed that all necessary conditions must be fulfilled for the return of displaced Croats, mainly to Banja Luka.[11] SFOR LIFTS BAN ON BOSNIAN FEDERATION ARMY MOVEMENTSSFOR spokesman in Sarajevo Jan Joosten said on 8 October that following the Muslim-Croatian federation's confirmation that there are no more prisoners of war in the federation, SFOR has lifted its ban on the movement and training of troops from the mainly Muslim Bosnia-Herzegovina Army and from the Bosnian Croat Defense Council. Sarajevo Radio also quoted Joosten as saying that during an SFOR inspection of a civil police station in Mrkonjic Grad , SFOR troops confiscated 10 automatic guns, as well as a considerable amount of other arms and ammunition.[12] PRO-PALE POLICE REPEL PRO-PLAVSIC OFFICERSPolice loyal to the hard-line Bosnian Serb leadership in Pale early on 8 October foiled attempts by forces loyal to President Biljana Plavsic to seize Interior Ministry facilities in the northern Bosnian towns of Bijeljina, Derventa, Teslic, and Bosanski Brod, SRNA reported. The Pale- based news agency said that "legitimate" Interior Ministry forces were given a timely tip-off from a leader of the "renegade" Banja Luka Public Security Center who did not want to see "fraternal" Serbian blood being shed.[13] NEW MINES IN JAJCE, EXPLOSIONS IN PRNJAVORBanja Luka Srpski Radio on 8 October quoted a local SFOR spokesman as saying new mines have been laid in the Bosnian Croat-held Jajce area. One person lost both legs when one of the mines exploded, the seventh such casualty in recent weeks. A UN International Police Task Force spokesman said that another explosion occurred in the village of Luzani, near Prnjavor, on 4 October following two explosions in the area in September. He confirmed that the bridge over the Sava River to Croatia at Bosanska Gradiska was reopened on 26 September but noted the issue of visas and insurance of vehicles has not been resolved yet. As a result, he said, the reopening of the Bosanska Gradiska border crossing to vehicles has been postponed until final agreement is reached.[14] OSCE TO POSTPONE ANNOUNCING BRCKO ELECTION RESULTS?Banja Luka's independent Big Radio has reported that the official results of the local elections in Brcko will be postponed again. The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe had announced that the final tally would be announced on 8 October. Teodor Gavric, president of the local electoral commission, said all the votes have been counted and that the reason for the postponement may be the "large number of complaints that the OSCE has received in the meantime."[15] BOSNIAN CROATS PLEAD NOT GUILTYAll 10 Croats from central Bosnia who handed themselves over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague pleaded innocent at their first hearing on 8 October. Four are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes for heading the Bosnian Croat troops who allegedly killed and tortured Muslim men, women, and children and drove hundreds more from 14 towns in the central Lasva Valley in 1992-1993. The six other suspects are charged with participating in a massacre in the mostly Muslim village of Ahmici, in central Bosnia. If convicted, the 10 face up to life imprisonment (the tribunal does not have a death sentence).[16] ALBANIA ASKS YUGOSLAVIA TO REOPEN BORDER WITH MONTENEGROAt an 8 October meeting with Yugoslav charge d'affaires in Tirana Stanimir Vukicevic, Albanian Interior Minister Neritan Ceka requested that Yugoslavia reopen the border crossing point of Hani i Hotit on the shore of Lake Skadar, ATA reported. Ceka informed Vukicevic of measures taken by the Albanian police to strengthen border controls and reestablish order. Vukicevic responded that he would forward Ceka's request to the competent authorities. They also discussed the possibility of opening other border crossing points between Albania and Yugoslavia. Hani i Hotit, the only border crossing point between Albania and Montenegro, was closed as a result of nationwide unrest in Albania last March.[17] ALBANIAN MAYORS DEMAND MORE INDEPENDENCE FROM CENTERMore than 60 mayors from around the country, meeting in Tirana on 8 October, demanded greater independence from the central government, ATA reported. Albert Brojka, the Mayor of Tirana and the chairman of the National Association of the country's Mayors, proposed that a percentage of income from value-added tax, which was recently raised from 12.5 percent to 20 percent, be transferred to local governments. Meanwhile, workers at the Albanian-Polish shipyard Durres-Gdansk staged a strike on 7 October to demand wage hikes. The Albanians say they are being discriminated against since their Polish counterparts earn 10 times more than they do, ATA reported.[18] HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ROMANIALaszlo Kovacs and his Romanian counterpart, Adrian Severin, headed the first meeting of the joint commission supervising the implementation of the 1996 basic treaty, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The meeting took place in the Romanian capital on 8 October. The commission agreed that representatives of the ethnic Hungarian and Romanian minorities should participate in discussions of the sub-commission supervising the implementation of the treaty's provisions on national minority rights. The nine sub-commissions discussed the "strategic partnership" between the two countries, integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, and the fight against organized crime. Kovacs also met with President Emil Constantinescu.[19] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT, MINERS REACH AGREEMENTMarin Condescu, the leader of the largest miners' trade union, said after his 8 October meeting Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea that a solution has been found to all the miners' grievances (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 October 1997). He noted that funding for the six state-owned mining companies has been ensured to the end of 1997 and that a national mining agency overseeing mines still in operation will be set up. Ten mining areas will be turned into "special economic zones." Condescu did not mention the miners' demand for a wage hike, Radio Bucharest reported.[20] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT BACKS DEMANDS OF "REVOLUTIONARIES"Some 500 members of associations representing those who took part in the December 1989 uprising demonstrated in downtown Bucharest on 8 October to protest the government's decision to limit privileges for those claiming to be "revolutionaries," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The demonstrators said they will "occupy" one of the capital's main squares until their meeting with Senate Chairman Petre Roman on 9 October. The law on privileges for "revolutionaries" was passed during the presidency of Ion Iliescu, who took part in the 8 October demonstration and denounced the government's intention as a "political diversion." The government argues that many of those enjoying the privileges are not entitled to them. Meanwhile, two former deputy ministers are under investigation for complicity in falsifying "revolutionary certificates."[21] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES ELECTORAL LAWThe parliament on 8 October approved the electoral law in its first reading, Infotag reported. The new legislation provides for a proportional system whereby a single nationwide constituency would elect a 101-member parliament. The elections would be held within three months of the expiration of the outgoing legislature's mandate. Parties would have to collect at least 20,000 signatures to register with a new central electoral commission. To gain entry to the parliament, a party would have to receive at least 4 percent of valid votes cast. The law must be approved in its second and third readings by the end of this year, when the mandate of the current parliament ends.[22] CHISINAU CONSIDERS ENERGY OPTIONSDeputy Prime Minister Ion Gutu on 8 October said that Moldova's participation in the construction of the Cernavoda nuclear energy complex in Romania is not viable from an economic point of view, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. An official from the Economics and Reform Ministry told journalists that participation in the Cernavoda complex would involve an investment totaling $ 500 million, which, he said, Moldova does not have. He added that Chisinau would have to pay a higher price for electricity from Cernavoda than that produced in Moldova or imported from other countries. In related news, Infotag reported that Russia's Gazprom company has warned that Moldova will receive only the gas supplies it can afford without applying for credits. Cibotaru said a Moldovan delegation will soon go to Russia for "difficult negotiations" aimed at ensuring "normal supplies" during the coming winter.[23] BULGARIA ACCUSES RUSSIA OF 'FREE INTERPRETATIONS' IN DIPLOMATIC ROW...Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov on 8 October accused Russian officials of making "rather free interpretations of some facts while withholding other facts." Vlaikov was responding to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadii Tarasov's statement on 7 October that Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov's schedule was already full when Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova asked to meet with him at the UN General Assembly Session in New York (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 October 1997). Vlaikov said that the meeting had been arranged in advance and that Bulgarian officials had tried repeatedly to confirm it, Reuters reported. Also on 8 October, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that talks between Russian and Bulgarian diplomats scheduled to take place in Moscow that day have been canceled, Interfax reported.[24] ...AS ALLEGATIONS OF RUSSIAN SPYING ACTIVITIES CONTINUEMajor General Radoslav Peshleevsky, commander of the Bulgarian engineering troops, has denied press reports that he has been recruited by the Russian intelligence services, BTA reported on 7 October. Peshleevsky threatened to sue publications that printed such allegations.[C] END NOTE[25] ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF BULGARIA'S CURRENCY BOARDby Petko BocharovOne hundred days after Bulgaria introduced a currency board as an emergency measure to restore discipline to monetary policy, officials in Sofia are cautiously optimistic about the effects on the country's economy. There have been major improvements, explaining why, in contrast to the gloom of three months ago, the prevailing view now is that better times are coming. Even the IMF, which maintains a notoriously austere profile, has expressed satisfaction. Assistant executive director Stanley Fisher recently called Bulgaria's financial stabilization "impressive." Lost confidence in the country's banks is returning, and private and company deposits in bank accounts are growing. And the foreign currency reserve has tripled to almost 3,8 billion German marks. Moreover, at the end of September, meetings took place in Sofia between representatives of the government and Moody's, one of the leading consulting companies that define the credit rating of securities and countries. Moody's classification of Bulgaria in 1996 was B-3, which is the lowest grade and in effect means "payment first, then delivery." Now, according to the French bank Paribas and the German investment bank Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, there are strong expectations that Moody's will raise Bulgaria's credit rating to B-1, thus listing it ahead of countries like Turkey, Romania, or Ukraine. The positive developments strengthen perceptions among the public that the Union of Democratic Forces (ODS), which won a decisive victory over the former communists in the April parliamentary elections, is leading the country in the right direction. Yet no one believes the crisis is over. The wounds inflicted by the former Socialist Party government through its long neglect of reforms are too deep for that. Bulgarians are bracing for the hardships that are still to come in the reform process. Emil Harsev, a prominent financier who opposed the Currency Board before its implementation, told RFE/RL that the crucial period will be this winter. He says the Bulgarian economy runs in cycles: summer is the season of income, winter the season of expenses. If the board endures the hardship of the cold months, its standing as an instrument of policy will be strengthened for the years ahead, he commented. The Currency Board was introduced on 1 July, amid high inflation and a deepening economic crisis. It essentially took currency matters out of the hands of the Central Bank. Harsev, a former deputy governor of the National Bank, says inflation under the currency board has not dropped as low as had been hoped. In January, prices had been rising at a level near hyper-inflation. After the ODS government took power and the currency board was put in place, inflation was about 3.5 percent in July and 5.5 percent in August, instead of the predicted rate of 2 percent. Prices of consumer goods continue to rise. One reason for this is that privatization has not yet reached the big state monopolies in power supply. Those monopolies deal with the imports of oil, natural gas, and coal; they also own refineries and electrical plants and distribute the products. The result is a "supplier's market" that pushes up inflation. But Martin Zaimov, the head of the currency board, argues that there is nothing to worry about. Zaimov, who is also vice president of the National Bank, said inflation is and will remain under control. He predicted that the inflation rate will soon fall significantly. The World Bank apparently shares his optimism. Kenneth Lay, the head of the bank's South-East Europe department, arrived in Sofia at the end of September. His arrival followed the decision, reported at the Hong Kong meetings of the IMF and World Bank, to open negotiations with Bulgaria for a considerable loan. The author writes regularly for RFE/RL. 09-10-97 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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