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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 74, 98-04-17Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 74, 17 April 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] U.S. CALLS FOR END TO TURKMEN-AZERBAIJAN DISPUTEU.S. ambassador Stanley Escudero met with Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev in Baku on 15 April and handed over a letter from U.S. Vice President Al Gore calling on Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to resolve their dispute over the ownership of two Caspian oil fields before Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's 20 April visit to the U.S., Russian agencies reported. Last summer, Turkmenistan claimed ownership of the Kyapaz and Chirag fields, which Azerbaijan says lie within its sector of the Caspian. At his meeting with Escudero, Aliev announced he has formally approved construction of proposed Trans- Caspian pipelines to export oil and gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Those pipelines would link up with the proposed pipeline from Baku to the Turkish Mediterranean terminal at Ceyhan (see also "End Note"). LF[02] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY QUERIES OSCE ELECTION VERDICTThe Armenian Foreign Ministry on 15 April issued a statement registering its concern about significant discrepancies between the preliminary report issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's observer mission and its final assessment of the second round of the presidential poll, Reuters reported. The OSCE final assessment concluded that the poll "does not meet the OSCE standards to which Armenia committed itself." The Foreign Ministry statement pointed out that four other observer groups, including those sent by the Council of Europe and the Russian State Duma, failed to register violations. LF[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTY MAY COOPERATE WITH PRESIDENTSpeaking at a press conference in Yerevan on 16 April, Shavarsh Kocharian, a leading member of the National Democratic Union, said his party is willing to support Robert Kocharian because the new president's agenda does not contradict that of the NDU, ArmenPress reported. But Shavarsh Kocharian said the NDU is concerned that the new president may not be able to implement his programs under the existing regime. He said the NDU will offer its support to President Kocharian only if he takes steps toward the Armenia that the NDU envisions. NDU chairman Vazgen Manukian polled 12.24 percent of the vote in last month's pre-term presidential elections. He was among several defeated candidates who protested alleged falsification of the vote. LF[04] ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO KILL GEORGIAN PRESIDENT PLANNED?Mamuka Areshidze, chairman of the Georgian parliamentary Commission for Relations with Caucasian Peoples, told journalists in Tbilisi on 15 April that the Georgian Ministry of National Security is aware preparations are being made in the North Caucasus for a further attempt on the life of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, Caucasus Press and "Nezavisimaya gazeta" of 17 April reported. Areshidze added that several North Caucasian militants participated in the failed 9 February attempt to kill the Georgian president. LF[05] RYBKIN'S WHIRLWIND TOUR OF CENTRAL ASIARussian acting Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Rybkin was in Ashgabat on 15 April where he met with President Saparmurat Niyazov and discussed regional security, Russian loans to Turkmenistan, and the status of the Caspian, Interfax reported. The following day in Dushanbe, Rybkin promised the Tajik government that Russian troops will remain in the country and that the military exercise with Russia's 201st motorized division in southern Tajikistan was "a demonstration of the political will necessary for settling many problems here," Interfax reported. Later the same day in the Uzbek capital, Rybkin said Russia is not seeking to "usurp the right to reform the CIS," Radio Mashal reported. And on 17 April, Rybkin was in the Kyrgyz capital where he expressed regret that President Askar Akayev will not attend the 29 April CIS summit owing to a previous engagement. Rybkin's tour of the four countries was intended to review plans for that summit. BPREGIONAL AFFAIRS [06] U.S. URGES MOSCOW TO ENGAGE IN DIALOGUE WITH RIGA...Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has sent a letter to her Russian counterpart, Yevgenii Primakov, urging Moscow to engage in a dialogue with Riga to resolve their differences over the ethnic Russian minority in Latvia. State Department spokesman James Rubin said on 16 April that Washington does not want to see Russian- Latvian relations "spin out of control," adding that the U.S. regards "threats or sanctions" as "counterproductive." The State Department also welcomed amendments to the citizenship law proposed by a Latvian government working group (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 April 1998). JC[07] ...WHILE MOSCOW SAYS SUCH LETTERS "NORMAL PRACTICE"Also on 16 April, the Russian Foreign Ministry responded to a "New York Times" report that Albright's letter to Primakov was "harsh" in tone, Interfax reported. "There is nothing harsh in the correspondence between [Primakov and Albright]," a ministry official told the Russian news agency. He also commented that exchange of such letters is "normal practice" in discussing "various international issues of mutual interest." "Nobody in Moscow is talking about sanctions against Latvia. What is under discussion is the possibility of instilling order in trade and economic relations with that country and taking specific steps designed to help Riga understand the need to normalize its relations with ethnic minorities in that country, " the official said. JC[08] LUKASHENKA DISCUSSES PAYMENT FOR RUSSIAN OILBelarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka met in Minsk on 16 April with managers of Russia's four largest oil companies (LUKoil, Slavneft, Yukos, and Surgutneftegaz) to discuss payment for crude oil supplies to Belarus, Interfax reported. Until recently, Minsk paid for 70 percent of the oil supplies in hard currency and 30 percent in commodities. It has run into difficulty making those payments, however, since the Russian government demanded that the total sum be paid in hard currency. Lukashenka said Belarus owes Russia some $170 million for oil deliveries because "there is no reliable settlement procedure." LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov said before the meeting that a new means of payment will certainly be found because the two sides "have no alternative to cooperation and mutual understanding," Interfax reported. But according to Reuters, no results were publicly announced after the meeting. JM[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] BOSNIAN SERB COUPLE FOUND DEAD IN DRVARUN police found the bodies of a Bosnian Serb couple in their burning house in Croatian-held Drvar on 16 April. A police spokesman said that both had been shot in the back and that the husband's body showed signs of physical abuse, RFE/RL reported. The two had recently returned to Drvar within the framework of a program sponsored by the international community under the Dayton agreement, which guarantees all refugees the right to go home in safety. The UN police spokesman added that some local Croats have been seeking to intimidate returning Serbs. He stressed that the latest incident underscores the need to replace the current Croatian police force with a multi- ethnic one. In Washington, the State Department issued a statement blaming the local Croatian authorities for "the climate of intolerance and harassment in which these murders took place." PM[10] U.S. DEMANDS END TO 'HERCEG-BOSNA'William Dale Montgomery, the U.S. ambassador to Croatia, said in a statement in Zagreb on 16 April that Croatia must help dismantle the Herzegovinian quasi-state of Herceg-Bosna, which continues to exist in contravention of the Dayton agreement. "We look to the government of Croatia to use its influence to see that these parallel institutions are dismantled and that responsibility is ceded" to the joint Croatian and Muslim federal government in Sarajevo. Montgomery added that Zagreb's continued support for the Herzegovinian hard-liners places a "heavy financial and political burden on Croatia." PM[11] INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL ARRESTEDOn 16 April, representatives of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal took custody of Zoran Zigic at a Banja Luka prison, where he was serving a sentence for murder not related to alleged war crimes. He has since arrived in The Netherlands. The tribunal wants him in conjunction with atrocities at the Bosnian Serbs' Omarska concentration camp in northwest Bosnia in 1992. PM[12] SERBIA'S OTHER REGIONS WANT TALKS...On 16 April in Prishtina, ethnic Albanians continued to stage peaceful protests and to boycott talks with the Serbian authorities without foreign mediation. The previous day, political representatives of Serbia's other regions demanded in Novi Sad that Belgrade offer them the same type of open negotiations on outstanding issues that the authorities say they are ready to offer all ethnic groups in Kosova. Representatives of Vojvodina, Sumadija, and Sandzak said their regions are no less important to Serbia than is Kosova. Sandzak Coalition leader Rasim Ljajic said his group has given the authorities a one-week deadline to send a negotiating team to Novi Pazar, the Belgrade daily "Danas" wrote. PM[13] ...BUT BELGRADE SAYS NO TO 'POLITICAL CLOWNS'Meanwhile, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj dismissed as "laughable" the idea of talks with the leaders who met in Novi Sad, "Danas" reported on 16 April. Seselj said the government offered talks to the ethnic Albanian political parties because they represent the majority of the Kosovars. He added that the other regional leaders are "political clowns" who have no mandate from the people they claim to represent. PM[14] MAIN KOSOVAR PARTY SPLITSA group led by nationalist academic Rexhep Qosja and former Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) Deputy Chairman Hydajet Hyseni has founded the New Democratic League of Kosova (LRDK). Meeting in Prishtina on 15 April, the group elected Qosja as party leader and Hyseni as deputy. In a declaration, the LRDK accused the current LDK leadership of "changing the character, the substance, the structure and the organizational principles of the LDK [by] neglecting...democratic procedures and misusing the institution and position" of President Ibrahim Rugova. It also said that the LDK was responsible for gross irregularities in the 22 March parliamentary and presidential elections. FS[15] YUGOSLAV ARMY INVOLVED IN KOSOVAYugoslav troops in the Gjakova region have seized over 60 automatic rifles, four machine guns, 100 hand grenades, more than 10,000 bullets and other "terrorist equipment" after an armed clash with smugglers who were attempting to cross the border from Albania, Tanjug reported on 16 April. This is Belgrade's first acknowledgment that regular troops as well as the paramilitary police are playing a role in the current repression. The Yugoslav authorities formally protested the alleged incursion to the Albanian government. The following day, a spokesman for the Albanian Prime Minister's Office said the incident was a "set-up." PM[16] FOREIGN MILITARY ROLE NOT RULED OUT IN KOSOVAGeneral Henry Shelton, who is chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Skopje on 16 April that an international armed force could be sent to Kosova if no political solution emerges there. "Because of the impact in the region we have made it, I think, very clear that we prefer a diplomatic solution, but we have not ruled out any alternative," he said. PM[17] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS NEW GOVERNMENTRexhep Meidani on 16 April turned down the proposed new cabinet agreed on by the parliament the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 April 1998). Meidani noted that the position of prime minister was not mentioned in the cabinet list and demanded that the minister for local government also be made deputy prime minister. The parliament then approved yet another cabinet, which Prime Minister Fatos Nano presented to Meidani. In the new version, the Socialist Luan Hajdaraga will receive the defense portfolio and his fellow Socialist Bashkim Fino local government. Outgoing Interior Minister Neritan Ceka is not included the new government, but his Democratic Alliance will keep the Interior Ministry through former Deputy Defense Minister Perikli Teta. Observers told "RFE/RL Newsline" in Tirana that the changes are more a public relations exercise than a real political overhaul. FS[18] BALKAN COUNTRIES AGREE ON JOINT MILITARY FORCEAlbania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Turkey agreed on 16 April to set up the Multinational Peace Force in South-Eastern Europe (MPF). Romanian chief of staff Gen. Constantin Degeratu said the MPF will be subordinated to either the United Nations or to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and could begin operations within two years. Each country will contribute some 5,000 troops. Further discussions on setting up the force are planned for 22 May in Tirana, and the final agreement is expected to be signed in Sofia in May or June. MS[19] BALKAN SUMMIT DISCUSSES REGIONAL SECURITYMeeting in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya on 16 April, the presidents of Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania discussed regional security and agreed that the best form of such security is integration into Euro- Atlantic structures. They called on the international community to continue closely monitoring the implementation of the Dayton agreements. They also said that the Kosovo crisis can be resolved only by a peaceful solution achieved through "constructive dialogue" and in line with the UN Charter on Human Rights. The three presidents agreed to "gradually" set up a free trade zone between their countries, Mediafax reported. MS[20] ROMANIAN PREMIER VISITS TRANSYLVANIARadu Vasile spent his first day in office visiting the counties of Harghita and Covasna, Romanian media reported on 16 April. He said he wanted to "demonstrate" to ethnic Romanians who form a minority there that "they are not abandoned." and that Vasile said the local authorities' use of the Hungarian language "should pose no problems," but he warned the Sfantu-Gheorghe authorities that it "must show the same sensitivity" to the demands of ethnic Romanians that it displays toward those of ethnic Hungarians living in counties with a Romanian majority. Vasile also said he found out that while some of the ethnic Romanians' demands are "legitimate and correct," many of their alleged problems exist "in their imagination." By way of example, he cited alleged "flooding" of the counties by investments from Hungary. MS[21] BODYGUARDS OF EXTREMIST ROMANIAN SENATOR INVOLVED IN INCIDENTBodyguards of Senator Corneliu Vadim Tudor, leader of the extremist Greater Romania Party (PRM), physically attacked a private television team filming on the Bucharest street where both the senator and Premier Vasile live, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported on 15 April. Tudor shouted insults at the team and later said in the parliament that the journalists had scared his daughter, who believed they wanted to kill her. The Prima TV team had reported that Tudor has set up an illegal information network from among PRM members but Tudor told the parliament his party was "too poor" to maintain such a network. MS[22] TIRASPOL, CHISINAU POSTPONE EXPERTS' MEETINGA meeting of the experts negotiating a settlement of the conflict between Moldova and the separatist Transdniester has been postponed for what Chisinau described as "technical reasons," Infotag reported on 16 April. RFE/RL's bureau in the Moldovan capital quoted Aleksander Karaman, the deputy of separatist leader Igor Smirnov, as saying Tiraspol is interested in a speedy resumption of the negotiations and that the "only obstacle" to those talks is the continuation of the Moldovan coalition parleys and Chisinau's failure to date to appoint a successor to Anatol Taranu, the former chief of the negotiating team. Taranu failed in his bid to be elected a deputy in last month's parliamentary elections. MS[23] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, PROGRAMThe parliament on 16 April approved setting up a National Security Council and a pro-Western national security program, RFE/RL's Sofia bureau reported. The council is to be headed by Premier Ivan Kostov and will deal with economic issues, domestic and foreign policy, and participation in collective security systems such as NATO. The program defines gaining access to NATO and the EU as strategic priorities and says Bulgaria is to take part in regional peace-keeping efforts. MS[24] PROTEST AGAINST SENTENCING OF BULGARIAN JOURNALISTIn a letter addressed to President Petar Stoyanov, Reporters sans Frontieres protested the recent sentencing of Yovka Atanasova, the chief editor of a daily published in the southern Bulgarian town of Stara Zagora. Atanasova is to pay a fine and serve a five-month jail sentence for the repeated libel of a local businessman: she had previously received a suspended sentence. The organization says that there are four other cases pending against Atanasova and that several other journalists may face trial for similar reasons. It demands that the penal code be changed to prohibit such prosecutions. Stoyanov recently asked the parliament to amend the relevant provision. MS[C] END NOTE[25] CASPIAN UPS AND DOWNSby Liz FullerDevelopments since the beginning of this month have substantively changed the prospects for developing Caspian oil reserves and exporting them to world markets. While Moscow has further modified its stance on the status of the Caspian Sea, it now seems certain that there will be delays in completing two of the pipelines intended to transport oil from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Meeting last week in Moscow, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbaev, again affirmed their agreement on dividing the entire sea bed of the Caspian into national sectors proceeding from the median line and leaving the sea waters under joint control. Discussing this option during their two-day summit in January, the two presidents had called for the drafting of a bilateral agreement delineating their respective national sectors. That move represented a concession to Kazakhstan on the part of Moscow: last August, the Kazakh government had formally protested a Russian tender for developing several north Caspian oil and gas fields on the grounds that the deposits in question were located in Kazakhstan's sector of the sea. The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected that protest but at the same time announced Moscow will abandon its previous negotiating position, adopted in late 1996, whereby it would permit all five Caspian littoral states (Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan) to freely develop hydrocarbon resources located in a 45-mile offshore zone but would allow deposits in the remainder of the sea to be developed only by unanimous consent. Iran and Turkmenistan signaled their agreement with this approach, but both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which at that time had already signed three lucrative agreements with Western consortia to exploit deposits beyond the 45-mile coastal zone, opposed it. The Russian-Kazakh agreement is to be signed on 28 April, but its implementation may prove problematic, given that the two sides still disagree over the water depth to be used in calculating the median line. And Kazakhstan's prospects of exporting its oil in bulk received a further setback this week with the announcement that the Caspian pipeline running from the vast Tengiz field via Astrakhan to Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk will not be completed before late 2001, one year later than planned. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, too, appear to be closer to reaching an agreement in their dispute over the ownership of several Caspian deposits, including Chirag and Kyapaz. Visiting Baku in early April, Turkmen Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov announced that "there is no disagreement between us in principle on dividing the Caspian." He added that "we are ready to reach a mutual agreement with Azerbaijan." Two days ago, U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Stanley Escudero delivered to Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev, a letter from U.S. Vice President Al Gore asking Aliev and his Turkmen counterpart, Saparmurat Niyazov, to resolve the disagreement before Niyazov's planned trip to Washington next week. A solution to the Azerbaijani-Turkmen dispute is crucial for an agreement on constructing an alternative pipeline to export oil from both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. That pipeline would run across the bed of the Caspian to Baku and thus link up with Azerbaijan's export pipeline network. Aliev and Nazarbaev first agreed on the expediency of a Trans-Caspian oil pipeline during the former's visit to Almaty last summer. The Azerbaijani president announced his official endorsement of Trans- Caspian pipelines for oil and gas during his 14 April meeting with Escudero, but he did not give any indication of who might agree to finance the project, estimated to cost $3 billion. Russia is opposed to an underwater pipeline across the Caspian on ecological grounds, given that the Caspian is a seismically sensitive zone. And it is unclear whether the Russian compromise proposal on the status of the sea, whereby the waters would fall under joint jurisdiction, constitutes an obstacle to building such a pipeline. Moreover, construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline depends on a decision on how best to export oil from Baku. At present, limited amounts of Caspian oil are being exported through the sole operational pipeline, which runs north from Baku via Chechnya to Novorossiisk. A second pipeline running west from Baku to the Georgian Black Sea coast of Supsa, which is currently undergoing repair, was expected to go into operation in the fall of this year. But earlier this month, it became apparent that this pipeline is in far worse condition than originally believed. Experts say it needs to be almost totally rebuilt, meaning its completion will be delayed by up to one year. The cost of repairs has already reached $590 million, almost double the original estimate, and Azerbaijan's State Oil Company is reportedly refusing to increase the budget further. This setback strengthens the arguments espoused by both the U.S. and the Turkish government in favor of having the so-called Main Export Pipeline for Caspian oil from the Azerbaijani, Kazakh, and Turkmen sectors run from Baku to the Turkish Mediterranean terminal at Ceyhan. The U.S. favors that route because it avoids Russian territory and will therefore strengthen the common pro-Western orientation of Azerbaijan and Georgia. But most Western companies currently engaged in developing Azerbaijani oil fields regard the Baku-Ceyhan option as the least advantageous of the three on economic grounds--the projected cost is between $2.5 and $3 billion. A decision between the three possible routes for the Main Export Pipeline--Baku- Novorossiisk, Baku-Supsa, or Baku- Ceyhan--is due to be taken in October but will almost certainly be postponed. 17-04-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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