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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 108, 98-06-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 108, 9 June 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] UN OBSERVERS INJURED IN ABKHAZIA...Two members of the UN observer force in western Georgia and an interpreter were injured on 8 June when their armored vehicle ran over an anti-tank mine in Abkhazia's Gali Raion, Russian agencies reported. Six Abkhaz police officers were killed in a similar incident in Gali on 2 June. LF[02] ...AS ABKHAZ TALKS REACH IMPASSERussian Foreign Ministry officials Lev Mironov and Gennadii Ilichev joined Georgian and Abkhaz presidential representatives Vazha Lortkipanidze and Anri Djergenia at their sixth day of talks in Moscow on 8 June, Russian agencies reported. They failed, however, to overcome differences between the two sides. The talks are intended to prepare a draft peace agreement, a protocol on the repatriation of ethnic Georgians to Gali Raion, and another protocol on control mechanisms. Those documents are intended to be signed at a meeting between Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and his Abkhaz counterpart, Vladislav Ardzinba. Shevardnadze said on 8 June that the Abkhaz proposals on repatriation are unacceptable as they stipulate no time frame, according to Interfax. Abkhazia has rejected Tbilisi's proposal that the Russian peacekeeping contingent currently deployed in Abkhazia under the CIS's aegis be augmented by a Ukrainian force. Abkhazia also demands that Tbilisi and Sukhumi jointly petition Moscow to lift the economic embargo on Abkhazia. LF[03] TALKS ON SOUTH OSSETIA POSTPONEDThe meeting scheduled for 9 June between Georgian President Shevardnadze and his South Ossetian counterpart, Lyudvig Chibirov, has been postponed "for a couple of weeks." Caucasus Press reported on 9 June quoting Irakli Machavariani, who heads the Georgian delegation to the Georgian-South Ossetian talks. Machavariani said the postponement was necessitated by Shevardnadze's need to concentrate on the Abkhaz situation. LF[04] ARMENIAN JOURNALIST FACES LIBEL CASEArmenian parliamentary speaker Khosrov Harutiunian has opened libel proceedings against Haik Babukhanian, editor of the Union of Constitutional Rights newspaper "Iravunk," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 8 June. Speaking on national television on 2 June, Babukhanian said that the current parliament is "95 percent criminal" and was elected in 1995 by "illegal" means. Those charges were subsequently reprinted in the 5 June issue of "Iravunk." Babukhanian told journalists after being summoned to the Prosecutor-General's Office on 8 June that he will summon in his defense members of the former opposition electoral commission and their proxies who were "beaten up and intimidated" during the1995 elections. Union of Constitutional Rights chairman Hrant Khachatrian, who endorsed Robert Kocharian's candidacy after receiving only 0.21 percent of the vote during the first round of the March presidential elections, says his party backs Babukhanian. Khachatrian condemned Harutiunian's decision to open libel proceedings as "outrageous." LF[05] KARABAKH GOVERNMENT CRISIS CONTINUESArkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic, announced on 8 June that he has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Leonard Petrosian, an RFE/RL correspondent in Stepanakert reported. Ghukasian did not say whether he will assume the duties of prime minister himself, as he hinted last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 1998.) Speaking at a news conference in Stepanakert on 5 June, Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel Babayan said he would not accept the post of prime minister if it were offered him. At the same time, he said he will not remain indifferent to the composition of the new cabinet, warning that he is prepared to resign unless "young, experienced, and skillful people" are included in the new government. Babayan also said his brother Karen has resigned as interior minister to put an end to what he termed "unnecessary gossip." LF[06] KARABAKH PRISONER SWAP FAILSAn exchange of prisoners of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan planned for last month failed to take place, Noyan Tapan reported on 8 June. Azerbaijan proposed exchanging Armenian civilians for Azerbaijani POWs, but Armenia and Nagorno- Karabakh rejected that proposal. LF[07] AZERBAIJANIS PROTEST IRANIAN POLICE ACTIONMembers of the Movement for the National Independence of South Azerbaijan have lodged a protest with the Iranian Embassy in Baku against the detention by Iranian security forces of some 60 ethnic Azeris in Tabriz on 3 June, Turan reported on 8 June. Thousands of Iranian Azerbaijanis participated in a rally in Tabriz to protest the 29 May adoption by the French National Assembly of a resolution recognizing the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. LF[08] ANOTHER DEATH LINKED TO ISSYK-KUL SPILL?Doctors say that, according to preliminary finding, the death of a 71-year-old man from the Issyk-Kul area on 6 June was from sodium cyanide poisoning following the spill last month, RFE/RL correspondents reported. An autopsy is currently being performed in Bishkek. Meanwhile, Interfax reported on 9 June that 40 people assisting in the clean-up of the area have been taken ill and brought back to the capital, for treatment. Meanwhile, the department head of the Kumtor gold mining venture, which is being held responsible for the spill, told RFE/RL correspondents on 8 June that Kumtor president Gerhardt Glattis has resigned and will be replaced by one of his predecessors, Len Homeniuk. BP[09] KAZAKH PLANE WITH RADIOACTIVE CARGO ALLOWED TO LEAVE UKRAINEUkrainian customs authorities have given permission to a Kazakh airliner with radioactive material aboard to continue its journey after they found all documents to be in order, Radio Rossiya reported on 8 June. The plane was grounded at the Rovno airport, outside Kyiv, when officials found unusually high levels of radiation from metal barrels aboard the plane. RFE/RL correspondents quoted officials in Kazakhstan as saying the radioactive material comes from Africa and the U.S. and is not dangerous. They added that it is intended for use at the Oskemen Metallurgical Plant as "raw material." BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] EU, U.S. FREEZE ASSETS, BAN INVESTMENTS IN SERBIAIn separate moves, the EU and the U.S. government have frozen all Yugoslav assets in their countries and slapped a ban on investment in Serbia, Reuters reported. Meeting in Luxembourg, the EU foreign ministers decried the "ethnic cleansing" under way in Kosova and called on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to allow humanitarian organizations and foreign observers to western Kosova, where military operations are taking place. The ministers also said they have not ruled out the option of putting into effect Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorizes foreign military intervention in order to keep peace. The U.S. State Department said it is working with Britain on a UN Security Council Resolution that would allow "all necessary measures" to stop the violence in Kosova. The official Yugoslav news agency, Tanjug, called the new sanctions against Serbia "politically motivated" and "incomprehensible." PB[11] STRONG WORDS FROM BLAIR, CHIRAC, COHENBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair said on 8 June in Copenhagen that all options are being considered to stop the "unacceptable violence and brutality" in Kosova, AFP reported. French President Jacques Chirac said in Washington the same day that "we cannot accept the ethnic cleansing" and that he hopes the Contact Group (consisting of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the U.S) will "decide to be very firm to Serbs and to President Milosevic." He added that such an approach could include military action, which, he said, would need UN authorization and Russian approval. U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said on 8 June that U.S. and European forces may be deployed to prevent the spread of violence in Kosova. U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, however, said unilateral U.S. military intervention in the crisis is not being discussed at this time. Cohen will discuss the situation in Kosova on 11 June at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. The Contact Group meets the next day in Paris. PB[12] ENVOY URGES TALKS TO RESUME BETWEEN BELGRADE, KOSOVAR ALBANIANSU.S. envoy Christopher Hill said it is imperative that Yugoslav officials and Kosova Albanian leaders renew talks, Reuters reported. Hill, who toured an area of heavy fighting near the Albanian border with Kosovar Albanian official Fehmi Agani, said it is time to "get a negotiating process started." Kosovar officials failed to attend talks scheduled for 5 June in Prishtina because of the ongoing Serbian offensive in western Kosova. The Kosovar side said it will not resume talks until Serbian paramilitary forces withdraw from Kosova. PB[13] DIPLOMATS TOUR DESTROYED TOWNSEscorted by Yugoslav officials, some 60 foreign diplomats on 8 June were given a tour of several locations in western Kosova that had been sealed off because of fierce fighting, Reuters reported. The diplomats, who were not allowed to be accompanied by journalists, said most of the towns were deserted and many of the buildings reduced to rubble or burned down. Police also showed the diplomats confiscated weapons. Dutch ambassador Jan Sizoo said the area is a "battlefield" and that Yugoslav officials accompanying the diplomats said the "terrorists" started the fighting. PB[14] REFUGEE INFLUX SLOWS DOWN, SPREADS OUTInternational relief agencies reported on 8 June that the flow of ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing from Kosova to Albania had stabilized, Reuters reported. A UN High Commissioner for Refugees official said some 10,000 refugees arrived in northern Albania over the past 10 days. Albanian officials said the total is closer to 15,000. While most were receiving care in the Tropoje region, some 600 people had fled to the port city of Durres, the Albanian news agency ATA reported. Other reports said refugees are making plans to join relatives in other European countries. Fighting is reported to be continuing near the Albanian border. The pro-Serbian Media Center in Prishtina, said ethnic Albanians had attacked two Serbian villages in the Drenica region. It also reported that one Serbian policeman was killed near the border. PB[15] ISTANBUL CONFERENCE DISCUSSES KOSOVAReferring to Kosova, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said at a Balkan conference in Istanbul on 8 June that a tragedy similar to Bosnia cannot be allowed to be repeated, the "Turkish Daily News" reported. Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said in his speech to the delegates that although there will be no mention of Kosova in the declaration issued at the end of the two-day conference, Albania must express its concern over the "killing of innocent civilians, the destruction of villages and towns, and the increasing flow of refugees." Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic, who has insisted that no mention of Kosova be included in the declaration, did not mention the troubled Serbian region in his address. UN Undersecretary-General Vladimir Petrovski, an observer at the conference, urged the group to discuss the Kosova crisis. PB[16] ATTACK ON NORTHERN ALBANIAN ARMS DEPOTUnidentified gunmen attacked an arms depot in the northern Albanian district of Mirdita on 8 June, "Koha Jone" reported. Guards exchanged fire with the attackers until the gunmen withdrew. Nobody was injured. The previous day, Prime Minister Fatos Nano told the National Security Council in Tirana that the secret service has warned him that some Kosovar refugees may try to attack arms depots to obtain weapons. Nano claimed that some federal Yugoslav agents provocateur were among the refugees, but he did not elaborate. The Defense Ministry, meanwhile, has increased security around depots. FS[17] DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS ALBANIA HAS NATO SUPPORTAlbanian Defense Minister Luan Hajdaraga told parliament on 8 June that the army is ready and able to defend Albania's borders and that it expects NATO support in the event of a Yugoslav attack, "Gazeta Shqiptare" reported. Hajdaraga was responding to a question by opposition legislator Azem Hajdari, who claimed there are "fewer Albanian soldiers at the border than there are deputies during a parliamentary session." Hajdaraga noted that NATO experts recently surveyed the northern Albanian border area (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June 1998) and are planning to hold joint military exercises there in August. FS[18] BOSNIAN SERB PARTIES TO UNITE FOR ELECTIONSThree reformist Bosnia Serb political parties announced on 8 June that they will join forces for elections in September. The Serb National Alliance, the Socialist Party, and the Independent Social Democrats said they will nominate a joint list of candidates for the posts of the Republika Srpska presidency and two posts reserved for Serbs in Bosnia's joint presidency and government. The move is aimed at replacing two Bosnian Serb hard-liners: Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serbian representative on the joint presidency, and Boro Bosic, co-chairman in Bosnia's joint government. The parties announced that they will run independently in the parliamentary elections. PB[19] BOSNIA SIGNS DECLARATION WITH EUBosnian Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic said in Luxembourg on 8 June that his country is determined to join the "European family of nations," dpa reported. Prlic made his comments after meeting with EU foreign ministers and signing a declaration on relations between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the EU. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Bosnia could expect continued support from the EU "if you help yourselves" and "build a peaceful, democratic and open nation." The EU has donated some $2.2 billion to Bosnia. PB[20] BOSNIAN CROAT INFORMS TUDJMAN OF PLAN TO SET UP SPLINTER PARTYKresimir Zubak said in an open letter to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 8 June that he will continue with the formation of a new Bosnian Croat political party, Croatian Radio reported. Zubak, the Croat representative on the joint Bosnian presidency, said he is tired of the hard-liners in the ruling Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ-BH), who, he said, are accumulating power in the Bosnian Croat stronghold in southwestern Bosnia, to the detriment of Sarajevo. Zubak said he has concluded that "the differences within the political leadership of the party are unbridgeable." Tudjman has sought to keep the HDZ-BH intact through the September elections in Bosnia and recently met with Zubak in Zagreb (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June 1998). PB[21] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVE PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE ELECTRICITY MONOPOLYThe government on 8 June approved a draft law for restructuring the RENEL electricity state monopoly utility. Under that bill, the monopoly would be divided into three companies: two would compete for customers, while the third would remain under state control and oversee nuclear energy production. The draft still has to be approved by the parliament. No layoffs are envisaged by the plan, which would be implemented over two years; the unions, nonetheless, have protested the bill. Also on 8 June, some 20,000 miners in several towns protested the government's program to restructure the mining industry. Almost 10,000 miners have been laid off since last September. MS[22] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN NEW YORKEmil Constantinescu, addressing the UN General Assembly on 8 June, said the new democracies in Eastern Europe can and must play a significant role in combating organized crime and drug trafficking. On 7 June, Constantinescu met with the Romanian emigre community in New York, which protested the delay in returning confiscated properties. Constantinescu also announced that Emil Hurezeanu, a former director of RFE/RL's Romanian Service, is to be appointed presidential spokesman. MS[23] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR 'RADICAL REFORM' OF ARMYIn his weekly address to the nation on 8 June, Petru Lucinschi called for a "radical reform" of Moldova's armed forces, BASA-press and Infotag reported. He said the reform must improve both the country's "fighting capability" and military technology. Lucinschi also called for an end to the "interminable debates" on whether the country needs an army or a national guard. He said that Moldova is "at a crossroads where the interests of several states intersect" and has "paramilitary structures that are not controlled by the government...and huge arsenals of Russian troops" stationed in the country. He argued that in those circumstances, "the army is an instrument for ensuring the country's security, independence, and territorial integrity." MS[24] GAZPROM TO CUT MOLDOVAN SUPPLIESGazprom on 8 June told the Moldovan government that it will cut gas deliveries by 50 percent as of 15 June, RFE/RL's Chisinau reported. The Russian concern said "normal deliveries" will resume only when Moldova clears its entire debt to the company. It added that Chisinau has paid for only 51 percent of deliveries so far this year and has thus broken the March agreement on clearing the debt. On 31 May, Moldova's total debt to Gazprom was $590 million, of which $388 million is owed by the Tiraspol separatists. MS[25] BULGARIA FREEZES SERBIAN ASSETSThe government on 8 June announced it is freezing Serbian and federal Yugoslav funds in local banks, Reuters reported, citing BTA. The decision followed that of the EU earlier the same day to freeze assets held abroad by the two governments. The ban will not apply to funds held by Yugoslav companies and individuals in Bulgarian banks. It also excludes accounts of the Yugoslav embassy in Sofia. MS[C] END NOTE[26] THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WEARING A BEARD IN CENTRAL ASIAby Salimjon AioubovIt may seem absurd, but wearing a beard has acquired more importance politically in some Central Asian countries than any reforms, parties, movements, cease- fires, or agreements. While Afghanistan's Taleban measure beards and punish the wearer if the beard is shorter than required, in neighboring Uzbekistan people are persecuted if they have bushy or long beards. Before the civil war in Tajikistan, a beard was a demonstration of political support for the Islamic opposition. However, during the unrest, which broke out after 1992, it became a recognized attribute of army generals and opposition fighters. In the view of many bureaucrats, having a beard was the same as having links to armed groups. It was unimportant whether those groups are governmental or belonged to the Islamic opposition. But today, the hidden meaning of the beard has disappeared because of acute shortages of money, water, soap, and safety razors. Wearing a beard was a political thing in Soviet times, too. Communists claimed that men with beards were dissidents. In 1975, when poet and university teacher Foteh Abdullo grew a beard, the authorities--from the rector of the university to the ideology secretary of the Tajik Communist Party's Central Committee--invited him several times for the toughest reprimands. Many people followed that development closely and speculated about the longevity of Abdullo's beard. Abdullo's reply to the ideology secretary became a folk legend. Abdullo told the secretary that he was a passionate follower of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Comrade Fidel Castro. The Communist authorities could not continue their campaign against Abdullo's beard because they feared showing a lack of respect for the "people's love" for those three communist leaders. "In the past, only geologists and artists were allowed to grow a beard," said old men. Indeed, during the Soviet era, a beard was associated with Western hippies, U.S. surrogate radio broadcasts, and Soviet dissidents. Uzbek President Islam Karimov's predecessor, former communist boss Sharaf Rashidov, associated the occasional growing of a beard among Uzbekistan students with the pernicious influence of Western culture. However, Karimov's opinion is not very far from this viewpoint, though it emphasizes an undesirable Islamic influence. "If you have noticed. Wahhabis have a characteristic feature--they have beards, untidy beards.... There is perhaps a certain sense in it." A Kyrgyz newspaper echoed Karimov's statement: "The basic sign according to which the Uzbek special services distinguish Wahabbis from other citizens has become a beard. A [beard] wearer can at any moment be stopped and subjected to a humiliating search and even arrest." Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov does not emphasize a beard as a political sign because many of his army generals sport beards. But in 1992, during the short reign of the National Reconciliation Government, every television broadcast featured someone with a beard. What is more, the inhabitants of the capital city, Dushanbe, have never seen such a large number and variety of beards. When power changed hands in Dushanbe in December 1992, a large number of people immediately shaved off their beards, except those who thought beards were not a political statement. But they were wrong. Armed supporters of the government often caught those wearing beards and pulled out each hair. Now wearing a beard in Tajikistan generally has only one meaning: people have neither the time nor opportunity to shave. But it will be a long and difficult road for those in the neighboring countries before they can wear a beard that similarly has an apolitical meaning. The author works for RFE/RL's Tajik Service. 09-06-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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