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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 122, 98-06-26Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 122, 26 June 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ TALKS RESUMEGeorgian Ambassador to Russia Vazha Lortkipanidze met for three hours in Sukhumi on 25 June with Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba and presidential envoy Anri Djergenia, Interfax and Caucasus Press reported. Both envoys subsequently told journalists that progress had been made towards reaching agreement on a peace protocol, and two further protocols on rebuilding the Abkhaz economy, and the return to their homes in Abkhazia's southernmost Gali raion of the 35,000 ethnic Georgians who fled during last month's fighting. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze rejected an earlier draft protocol on repatriation on 20 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June 1998). LF[02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION DEMANDS ABOLITION OF CENSORSHIPThe Democratic Congress that comprises ten opposition parties issued a statement on 25 June arguing that free and democratic presidential elections will not be possible unless political censorship and existing restrictions on the activities of opposition political parties are abolished, Turan reported. The Democratic Congress also demanded the immediate release of two young opposition activists arrested for drafting what the authorities have termed a blueprint for destabilizing the political situation in Azerbaijan. That document was confiscated during a search of the editorial office of the opposition newspaper "Chag" (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 18 June 1998). On 24 June, Azerbaijan Popular Front Party deputy chairman Ulvi Hakimov, arrested 10 days earlier for obstructing the police, was released from custody. Meanwhile Azerbaijani human rights activists have founded a new organization to counter repression by the Azerbaijani authorities of potential opposition presidential candidates. LF[03] AZERBAIJANI EX-PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ACCUSES PRESIDENTIn an interview given to "Moskovskie novosti" and summarized by Turan on 25 June, Rasul Guliev alleged that President Heidar Aliev and his family have misappropriated $900 million from the sale of oil, metals and cotton. Guliev claimed that Aliev knew in advance of the coup launched by rebel colonel Suret Huseinov that resulted in the ouster of President Abulfaz Elchibey in June, 1993. Guliev also alleged that Aliev and former Armenian parliament speaker Babken Ararktsian colluded in the surrender to Armenian forces in summer, 1993, of six Azerbaijani raions bordering on Nagorno- Karabakh. LF[04] WORLD BANK GIVES LOANS TO KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTANThe World Bank issued loans to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on 25 June, ITAR- TASS reported. Kazakhstan received $300 million for pension reform making "transition from the Soviet-era retirement system to a model using individual savings accounts" possible. Kyrgyzstan received $15 million for improving the heating and energy sector in the capital, Bishkek. BP[05] IMF GIVES $128 MILLION CREDIT TO TAJIKISTANThe International Monetary Fund announced on 25 June that it will grant Tajikistan a $128 million credit for restructuring the country's economy, ITAR-TASS and the Russian Information Agency reported. Tajikistan, in the first year of three-year restructuring program, will receive $48 million in 1998, half now and the rest in six months. According to Tajik government plans, there will be 4 percent annual GDP growth in the period 1999-2001, inflation should drop to eight percent (from 164 percent in 1997), and the fiscal deficit will drop from the present 3.3 percent to 0.3 percent. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] HOLBROOKE RETURNS TO KOSOVA...Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador-designate to the UN, arrived in Prishtina on 26 June for meetings with Parliamentary Party leader Adem Demaci, who openly supports the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK). Holbrooke will then hold his second meeting this week with shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 and 25 June, 1998). The diplomat arrived in Prishtina from Belgrade, where he met with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic the previous day. Holbrooke did not provide information on those talks when questioned by reporters. Elsewhere, Reuters noted that fighting is taking place in "virtually every direction" from Prishtina and that the UCK captured a mine within sight of the capital. The mine provides the coal for the city's power plant. The Kosovar KIC news agency wrote that Serbian police armed Serbian and Romany civilians just north of the capital on the road to Mitrovica. PM[07] ...WHILE U.S. DEFENDS POLICYState Department spokesman James Rubin said in Washington on 25 June that Holbrooke's shuttle diplomacy constitutes a "virtual negotiation" aimed at defusing the crisis in Kosova. Rubin cited Holbrooke as saying that the lesson of the negotiations that produced the 1995 Dayton agreement is that "discussions [should take] place separately, [as a] kind of proximity discussions, and not face-to-face discussions." The spokesman added that the U.S. and other Western countries plan to send a monitoring mission to Kosova to help prevent the "situation from spinning out of control." Rubin said that Milosevic bears the bulk of responsibility for the crisis and defended Holbrooke's decision to meet with representatives of the UCK, the VOA noted (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 June 1998). PM[08] HOLBROOKE TO BRING KOSOVAR FACTIONS TOGETHER?RFE/RL's correspondent reported from Tirana on 26 June that the Holbrooke- UCK meeting is widely seen there as part of a U.S. strategy aimed at persuading the guerrillas to submit to the political control of the civilian leadership headed by Rugova. Fehmi Agani, a senior advisor to Rugova, was also present at Holbrooke's session with the UCK representatives. Meanwhile in Bonn, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel urged Rugova on 25 June to establish control over the UCK, to which Rugova replied that he is "working on it," the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote. Kinkel told Rugova to drop "any illusions" that Kosova will become independent or that "NATO will launch air strikes tomorrow." FS/PM[09] NANO WARNS OF 'ANOTHER BOSNIA IN TWO WEEKS'Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano told the "International Herald Tribune" of 26 June that there must be air strikes "to stop the Serbs" within two weeks if a new Bosnian-type conflict is to be avoided, "with all the consequences that could bring for Western Europe." Nano said that Albania, Greece and Macedonia have created "a good partnership" to help contain the conflict, but also that all Europe stands to lose if Kosova becomes "Lebanonized" and waves of refugees leave the province. Nano said that Milosevic will not stop the conflict because he "is fighting for his personal power in Serbia." NATO must stop the functioning of his "war machine," on which he is spending $1.7 million daily, the prime minister concluded. PM[10] MORE KOSOVAR REFUGEES ARRIVE IN ALBANIA...Two groups of between 20 and 30 refugees each arrived in Bajram Curri on 25 June after a recent drop in the refugee flow (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 22 June). The refugees, who are mainly women, children and old men, abandoned their homes in villages around Gjakova last week. In recent days, fewer than a dozen refugees have arrived per day in Albania, according to the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A UNHCR official told Reuters in Bajram Curri on 25 June that "the Serbs have stepped up monitoring of the border area and increased troop numbers." A spokesman for the Albanian Labor and Social Affairs ministry added that there is no food shortage and that Bajram Curri's food market is well stocked although the recent jump in population had pushed up prices. FS[11] ...WHILE GUNMEN ATTACK HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONSIn two separate incidents on 25 June, gunmen in Tropoja shot at officials of humanitarian aid organizations and the Kosovar Health Ministry. In one incident, unidentified gunmen fired shots at a car containing the Kosovar shadow state's representative in Bajram Curri and a doctor who was inspecting facilities in the region on behalf of the Kosovar Health Ministry. The doctor was hit by a bullet but will survive, "Koha Jone" reported. In another incident, unidentified gunmen fired at a car with Christian missionaries delivering humanitarian relief to the local branch of Caritas. Nobody was injured in the incident, "Gazeta Shqiptare" reported. Meanwhile, Taulant Dedja, who is the government's refugee coordinator, asked the anti-corruption agency to make sure that humanitarian aid deliveries are not pilfered. FS[12] ARGENTINA TO ARREST SAKIC'S WIFEVictor Ramos, who heads the Argentine government's anti-racism unit, said in Jerusalem on 25 June that the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has given him documentary evidence "that is very serious" about Nada (Esperanza) Sakic. Ramos added that he "will follow President Carlos Menem's directives, which are that any war criminal discovered in our country must be brought to trial," Reuters reported. Nada is the wife of Dinko Sakic, whom Argentina recently extradited to Croatia to face war crimes charges stemming from his role as commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 1998). Nada Sakic was commander at a women's camp at the same time. Tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma, and opposition Croats perished in the camps. PM[13] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES LAW ON ACCESS TO SECURITATE FILES...The Senate on 25 June approved with a vote of 109-7 a law making possible access to the files of the former secret police, provided this "does not affect national security." The law is yet to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Senator Constantin Ticu-Dumitrescu withdrew his sponsorship of the law in protest against the amendments made to his draft. The law sets up a National Council for the Study of the Archives of the Former Securitate, but leaves the files with the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice. The council can request information from these bodies but cannot store the files itself. MS[14] ... AS MORE INFORMERS COME OUT OF CLOSETDeputy Viorica Frasinie of the opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania, and the chairman of the Brasov local branch of the Romanian Alternative Party (a member of the ruling coalition) both admitted on 25 June to having been informers of the former secret police. National Liberal Party (PNL) Deputy Chairman Viorel Catarama said he would not comply with the decision of his party to submit in writing a declaration of non- collaboration with the Securitate, because he has "already made a public statement last year" denying any collaboration. Reacting to the statement, PNL First Vice Chairman Valeriu Stoica said Catarama might face sanctions. Meanwhile, all but two out of 26 ministers complied with the decision of premier Radu Vasile and submitted written declarations on their record of links with the Securitate. The two ministers who did not do so are abroad. MS[15] TENSION IN ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN RELATIONSThe Defense Ministry on 25 June said it was "puzzled" by a commentary on Hungarian state radio which said that military maneuvers underway in the Harghita and Covasna counties, the bulk of whose population is Hungarian ethnic, is aimed at "intimidating the local population." The ministry denied that Hungarian journalists were not allowed to observe the maneuvers. The Vasile cabinet on 25 June went ahead with its earlier decision to establish a commission evaluating the possibility of setting up a Hungarian-language state university. The leadership of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania said it is satisfied with the decision and is no longer contemplating leaving the ruling coalition. The government also decided to return to ethnic minority organizations 17 buildings that had been confiscated by the communists, eight of which will be returned to the Hungarian minority. MS[16] PACE ENDS MONITORING OF ROMANIAGunnar Janson, special rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on 25 June officially announced the ending of Romania's monitoring on the Assembly's "special list." On the same day, however, the parliament again failed to eliminate from the Penal Code the provision making homosexual relations a punishable offense. Many of the deputies representing the ruling coalition spoke against the elimination of Article 200, which was one of the reasons for the assembly's monitoring of Romania. The debate is to continue next week. MS[17] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN MOLDOVASuleyman Demirel, beginning a two-day visit to Moldova, on 25 June discussed bilateral relations and economic cooperation with his host, President Petru Lucinschi, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. They also signed an accord on avoiding double taxation and an agreement between the two countries' health ministries. Demirel thanked his hosts for the way Moldova has solved the problem of Gagauz minority autonomy, saying that the Gagauz population is "a bridge" in the two countries' friendship. Demirel announced Turkey has agreed to grant Moldova a $35 million credit to be used "at its discretion" but that $15 million is to be used in improving the water supply system in southern Moldova, in the Gagauz Yeri autonomy area. Demirel is visiting the autonomous region on 26 June. MS[18] BULGARIA APPROVES ALTERNATIVE MILITARY SERVICEThe Bulgarian parliament on 25 June approved a bill providing for alternative military service, BTA reported. The length of that service was set at 18 months for university graduates and two years for other conscripts. The bill allows alternative service on conscience grounds, and says conscripts opting for this service enjoy the same rights and have the same obligations as regular conscripts. MS[C] END NOTE[19] A NEW NATIONAL SOCIALIST THREATby Paul GobleThe same social problems that powered the rise of national socialism in Germany in the 1930s have emerged in many post- communist countries and now threaten their transitions to democracy and the free market. Across this region, a variety of sources suggest, all too many people feel a sense of national humiliation and want to find a scapegoat. They feel threatened by economic dislocations that have allowed some to become fabulously wealthy while leaving others more impoverished than ever before. And they feel that they need a single ruthless leader rather than a fractious parliament to lead them out of their difficulties. Despite these obvious parallels and the appearance of a small number of explicitly neo-nazi fringe groups in several of the countries of this region, most people both there and beyond have assumed that the post- communist states are somehow immune to such a development precisely because of their own experience with and struggle against Nazi Germany a half century ago. But that may be changing. On 22 June, Russian President Boris Yeltsin warned that Nazi-like extremism now threatened his country and called on everyone to recognize just how dangerous it is. Speaking on the 57th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Russian leader said that "those obsessed with the ideas of national supremacy and anti-semitism should ask themselves whether they realize what they are doing." And noting that Russia "saved the world from Nazism half a century ago," Yeltsin himself asked "Will Russians allow the most fearful ideology ever known to mankind to take root on our soil?" Some observers have concluded that Yeltsin's words, coming on the eve of his announcement of a new anti-crisis program, are simply intended to frighten the West into providing his government with more aid. After all, no one in the West would want to see Yeltsin supplanted by a fascist dictatorship if sending more financial assistance alone could prevent that from happening. Other reporters have suggested that Yeltsin was only talking about those small groups in Russian society that openly flaunt Nazi symbols like the swastika or that have attacked synagogues and non-Russians in the Russian Federation. Such groups, various human rights organizations have concluded, now number only about 4,000 people in Moscow itself. But regardless of Yeltsin's exact intention, his words seem likely to have the effect of calling attention to a broader set of problems not only in the Russian Federation but in other post- communist states as well. And such attention has the effect of highlighting both the reasons that there is a new national socialist threat in these countries and also why it may not come to pass. On the one hand, virtually all these countries are suffering from the traumas of transition. And because they still have little experience with the tensions inherent in democratic politics and free market economies, some in their populations are increasingly susceptible to the appeals of those who would combine a nationalist message of revenge with a socialist set of promises for economic security. Sometimes this combination is dismissed as the "red-brown coalition, the coalition between the old communist nomenklatura and the new nationalists found in many parliaments and some executive offices. But often it is more subtle and affects the styles and messages of otherwise democratic leaders. And the fact that such messages are being delivered by otherwise mainstream leaders has the effect of opening the door to ever more extreme groups. But on the other hand, none of these countries yet has the one element that linked these two sets of ideas together in a way that tore apart the political fabric in Western Europe in the pre-World War II period. That element is the presence of a single charismatic leader who can convince people that he and he alone can lead them out of their current difficulties. If there is no such leader yet in power in any of these countries, there are several obvious candidates for the job in many of them. Yeltsin's warning by itself will not prevent them from seeking such positions. But it may make everyone involved more sensitive to the dangers their rise would inevitably entail. 26-06-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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