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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 123, 99-06-24Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 123, 24 June 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] SOUTH CAUCASUS LEADERS ENTHUSIASTIC OVER AGREEMENT WITH EUSpeaking at a joint news conference in Luxembourg on 22 June, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said the partnership and cooperation agreements he and Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders had signed earlier that day with the EU mark the beginning of a new era for the south Caucasus, Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June 1999). Both Shevardnadze and his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, noted that the EU stresses the need to resolve regional conflicts as a precondition and incentive for expanded mutual economic cooperation. Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Artur Rasizade said implementation of EU-sponsored projects to develop a regional transportation system and promote the exploitation of Caspian hydrocarbons will increase the importance of the south Caucasus in the 21st century. A joint declaration signed by the three leaders and the EU also underscores the importance of developing good governance and the rule of law, and establishing fair legislation for foreign investment. LF[02] ZHIRINOVSKII PREDICTS NATO INTERVENTION IN CAUCASUS...Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovskii told journalists in Strasbourg on 23 June that he believes NATO will seize any opportunity to intervene militarily in the Transcaucasus, Interfax reported. Zhirinovskii said he believes new fighting is imminent between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in Abkhazia. He also predicted that NATO will encourage the Crimean Tatars to pursue an independence drive modeled on that in Kosova, casting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in the role of villain a la Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic. But the Armenian daily "Yerkir" on 23 June quoted Zhirinovskii as saying that NATO "would not dare" to replicate the Kosova scenario in either Karabakh or Abkhazia. LF[03] ...BUT SOLANA DENIES SUCH PLANSNATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told journalists in Brussels on 23 June after a meeting with Armenian President Kocharian that the alliance has no plans to send troops to Azerbaijan as a counterweight to the Russian forces stationed in Armenia. The previous day, Turan had quoted Azerbaijani State Foreign Policy Advisor Vafa Guluzade as saying that Azerbaijan would welcome NATO's input towards resolving the Karabakh conflict. Solana noted that NATO is on good terms with all three south Caucasus states, which he termed partners and successful participants in the Partnership for Peace program. Speaking in Baku on 23 June, British Ambassador Roger Thomas said his country believes that the OSCE Minsk Group (of which the U.K. is not a member) remains the most suitable body to resolve that conflict. "We are not waiting for NATO to bring anything new in the Minsk Group," Turan quoted him as saying. LF[04] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS EC COMMISSIONERBefore leaving Luxembourg for Brussels, Kocharian met on 22 June with the EC's foreign policy commissioner, Hans van den Broek, Noyan Tapan reported. Their talks focused on efforts by Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, to resolve the Karabakh conflict, EU assistance programs to the Transcaucasus, economic problems in Armenia, the country's Mezdamor nuclear power station, and the situation in Kosova. LF[05] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT DISCUSSES ENERGY ISSUESPresident Aliev met in Baku on 23 June with the outgoing U.S. special envoy for Caspian energy issues, Richard Morningstar, and Morningstar's successor in that post, John Wolf, Turan and Caucasus Press reported. The talks focused on the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Azerbaijan's Caspian oil, and a Trans-Caspian pipeline to transport Turkmen gas to world markets via Azerbaijan and Georgia. Natik Aliev, president of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, said on 23 June that Turkey is demanding that the estimated cost of the former project be revised upwards by $300 million from the present $2.4 billion. Heidar Aliev told journalists prior to his talks with the two U.S. officials that rumors of his precarious health are "false and immoral," according to ITAR- TASS. But Reuters noted that Aliev appears frail and thinner than before the heart bypass surgery he underwent in the U.S. in April. LF[06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT VISITS NETHERLANDSOn a one-day state visit to The Netherlands on 23 June, Eduard Shevardnadze held talks with Prime Minister Wim Kok on bilateral cooperation, Georgian cooperation with the EU, and the prospects for increased Dutch investment in the Georgian economy, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. Shevardnadze also met with Queen Beatrix, and traveled to Rotterdam for the signing of a memorandum on cooperation between that port and the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti. Also signed was a memorandum on cooperation between the Netherlands and Georgian defense ministries. LF[07] TWO KILLED BY LANDMINE IN ABKHAZIA...Two people were killed and at least 13 injured on 23 June when a passenger bus ran over a landmine in Abkhazia's southernmost Gali raion, Caucasus Press reported. The Foreign Ministry of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia issued a statement blaming Georgian guerrillas operating in Gali for the attack, while a spokesman for the guerrillas said that Abkhaz special services perpetrated the assault to discredit them. Several dozen people, most of them policemen, have died in such incidents over the past year. LF[08] ...AS PEACEKEEPERS' ANNIVERSARY GENERATES PROTESTAlso on 23 June, Russian President Yeltsin sent congratulations to the Russian peacekeeping force on the fifth anniversary of its deployment along the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June 1999). The Abkhaz parliament- and government-in-exile, which represent ethnic Georgians who fled Abkhazia in 1992-93, issued a joint statement protesting the anniversary celebration, noting that in the past five years 2,000 people have been killed on territory which the peacekeepers control, Caucasus Press reported. LF[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S PARLIAMENT VOTES CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENTIn a secret ballot on 24 June, the required two thirds of all deputies of both chambers of Kazakhstan's parliament voted confidence in Premier Nurlan Balghymbaev's cabinet, ITAR-TASS reported. Balghymbaev had demanded such a vote on 21 June after deputies rejected further planned cuts in budget spending (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 June 1999). On 21 June, Marat Ospanov, speaker of the lower house, had argued that the government should not choose the easy option of cutting social programs, especially during the runup to parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall. Instead, the government should work for more effective tax collection and the growth of monetary policy, Interfax quoted him as saying. Speaking in London on 22 June, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev assured potential investors that the cabinet "will not allow" default on either domestic or foreign debt, according to Interfax. LF[10] DEPUTIES' ARREST DELAYS KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT SESSIONThe People's Assembly--the upper chamber of Kyrgyzstan's parliament-- resumed its session on 23 June with a 36-hour delay following the arrest late on 21 June of deputy Djalgap Kazakbaev, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Interfax quoted Deputy Security Minister Kubat Kozhonaliev as saying that Kazakbaev is accused of selling, at dumping prices, uranium concentrate from the Kara-Balta uranium and gold mine of which he is director, and of embezzling $739,500 from state coffers. Some 200 employees of the Kara-Balta mine picketed the government building in Bishkek on 22 June to demand Kazakbaev's release. People's Assembly speaker Abdygany Erkebaev told journalists on 23 June that the arrests of Kazakbaev and of a second parliament deputy, Boris Vorobev, on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion constitute a violation of the constitution. In a referendum in October 1998, the Kyrgyz electorate endorsed restricting deputies' immunity from arrest to when parliament is in session, but the constitution has not yet been amended to incorporate that change. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] THREE SERBS KILLED IN PRISHTINAKFOR peacekeepers on 24 June found the badly beaten bodies of three Serbs in the economic faculty of Prishtina University. The three were a professor, a guard, and the cafeteria manager. Elsewhere, KFOR troops prevented some 40 ethnic Albanians from breaking into the Radio-Television Prishtina building. In Zegra to the southeast, U.S. Marines the previous day killed one local Serb and wounded two others who had fired on the Marines with an automatic weapon, "The New York Times" reported. Reuters noted that other local Serbs have organized a convoy to leave the area. In Peja, Italian peacekeepers arrested four ethnic Albanians whom a Serbian woman said had raped her, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[12] SWISS FREEZE MILOSEVIC'S ASSETSThe Federal Police Agency said in a statement in Bern on 23 June that "as a precautionary measure, the...Agency today ordered that assets of the Yugoslav head of state Slobodan Milosevic and the four other people charged [with war crimes by the Hague-based tribunal] be frozen." The four are Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, Army Chief-of-Staff General Dragoljub Ojdanic, and Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic. Observers note that many of Belgrade's leaders are widely believed to also have substantial funds in Russian, Cypriot, and South African banks. PM[13] A QUARTER MILLION REFUGEES BACK IN KOSOVAUNHCR officials said in Geneva on 24 June that more than 250,000 refugees have returned to Kosova since NATO forces entered the province, AFP reported. This is almost one-third of all refugees who fled the region. On 23 June alone, 34,500 refugees went home, including 15,200 from Macedonia, 16,500 from Albania, and 2,800 from Montenegro. An estimated 524,000 refugees are still in neighboring countries. There are still some 294,500 refugees in Albania, 142,100 in Macedonia, 65,700 in Montenegro, and 21,700 in Bosnia-Herzegovina. About 69,500 Serbs have recently left Kosova, of whom 19,500 fled to Montenegro and 50,000 to Serbia. On 22 June, a UNHCR spokeswoman said in Prishtina that Kukes is almost deserted and there are only 800 refugees left from among the 100,000 the city sheltered in recent weeks. FS[14] BUKOSHI SAYS UCK MUST BECOME POLITICAL PARTY, NOT MILITARY FORCEKosovar shadow-state Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi, who is a rival of the Kosova Liberation Army's (UCK) Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, told the "Berliner Zeitung" in Prishtina on 23 June that the UCK must not be allowed to take over the police forces of Kosova or to form a National Guard. Bukoshi said that the new police forces could nonetheless include former UCK fighters. He stressed, however, that the UCK also has political aspirations and is facing a conflict of interest if it intends to be an armed force at the same time. Bukoshi warned that using the existing UCK structures to build up an armed force will endanger democracy. Bukoshi said he is currently working to build civilian structures in Kosova. He added that "we must make our presence known lest the UCK steal the whole show." FS[15] DID RUSSIAN PARATROOPERS SHIELD YUGOSLAV ARMY FROM NATO?"Komsomolskaya Pravda" on 24 June reported that the 200 Russian paratroopers who entered Kosova before NATO on 11 June had orders to stop British forces from gaining access to a Yugoslav military storage area with classified equipment, including radar devices belonging to an air force unit. The article says that the Yugoslav forces did not have enough time to evacuate all of the equipment in time and therefore appealed to the Russians to block the storage area off, allowing them to withdraw the classified hardware. Other materiel stored at the site reportedly included air-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, and laser-guided bombs. FS[16] EU FOREIGN MINISTERS VISIT KOSOVAFrance's Hubert Vedrine, Germany's Joschka Fischer, the U.K.'s Robin Cook, and Italy's Lamberto Dini visited Kosova on 23 June. They were the first high-ranking Western officials to go to the province since its recent occupation by KFOR troops. The ministers met Kosovar Albanian leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi, as well as representatives of the local Serbs, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. After visiting the site of the alleged massacre of Kosovars by Serbs at Velika Krusa, Cook called the place "a vision of hell." Fischer and German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping appeared visibly shaken after seeing the site. The four countries' ministers appealed to all people in Kosova for reconciliation and reiterated their determination to bring war criminals to justice. On 24 June, NATO commander General Wesley Clark and NATO Secretary- General Javier Solana arrived in Prishtina. Clark said that the growing evidence of atrocities vindicates NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia. PM[17] FRENCH FIND MASS GRAVE SITEFrench KFOR troops on 23 June found a mass grave in northern Kosova that may contain the remains of up to 180 victims. David Scheffer, who is the chief U.S. envoy dealing with war crimes, said in Gjakova that the Serbian forces "violated so many different laws of war that they were almost the perfect model of how not to conduct warfare." He added that "there's a profusion of atrocity sites throughout [the province]. They are popping up every day." PM[18] SCHROEDER NAMES AIDE TO BALKAN POSTA spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in Bonn on 24 June that Schroeder has proposed Chancellery Minister Bodo Hombach to be the EU's coordinator for the Balkan stability pact. Observers noted that Hombach's departure from the cabinet is expected to lead to Schroeder's first significant cabinet shake-up. PM[19] KUCAN CALLS MILOSEVIC 'MAN OF THE PAST'Slovenian President Milan Kucan said in Ljubljana on 24 June that Milosevic is "a man of the past for the international community, definitely, and it's only a question of time when he will become a man of the past for the Serbs. Objectively, his policies caused the most damage to the Serbian nation itself. The question is when will the Serbian nation understand this, " Reuters quoted him as saying. In Belgrade the previous day, a poll showed that Milosevic's popularity is down from as much as 40 percent to just over 15 percent. Some 70 percent of the respondents said he is mostly or completely responsible for Serbia's present situation. The poll also showed, however, that there is no clearly recognized alternative to Milosevic. PM[20] MACEDONIA ARRESTS SERBIAN 'TERRORISTS'The Macedonian authorities on 22 June arrested 10 ethnic Serbian citizens of Macedonia in conjunction with recent attacks on NATO forces in Macedonia. Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov added the following day that Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for two unnamed Yugoslav army officers in conjunction with the "terrorist" acts. PM[21] PROFESSORS CALL FOR MONTENEGRIN INDEPENDENCESome 74 Montenegrin professors and academics signed a declaration in Podgorica on 23 June in which they called on the country's leadership to declare independence from Yugoslavia. The professors argued that "Montenegro cannot be truly equal unless it is sovereign and internationally recognized," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[22] STILL OVER ONE MILLION BOSNIAN REFUGEESThe office of the Bosnian joint presidency issued a report in Sarajevo on 23 June in which it said that some 1.25 million people live in Bosnia as refugees or displaced persons. More than half of them lived before 1992 in what is now the Republika Srpska, to which very few Muslims or Croats have returned since the Dayton peace agreement was signed in 1995. PM[23] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PRESENTS NEW SECURITY STRATEGY IN PARLIAMENTEmil Constantinescu on 23 June presented in the parliament the country's new security strategy, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 June 1999). He said it is the first time that security is not viewed as a concept that stems "from the state, but from citizens and from their fundamental interests and rights." Also on 23 June, the coalition commission examining land restitution agreed that up to a maximum of 50 hectares of land will be returned to any individual former owners. A compromise seems to be emerging on the restitution of forests, with the upper limit for individuals being set at 10 hectares (as demanded by the Democratic Party) and at 30 hectares (as demanded by the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic) for churches and monasteries. MS[24] ROMANIAN PREMIER TO RUN FOR PNTCD CHAIRMANSHIP?Prime Minister Radu Vasile, in an interview with the private radio station Pro FM, said on 22 June that he "does not rule out" the possibility that he will run for the chairmanship of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) at its next congress in January. Reacting to the declaration on 23 June, PNTCD chairman Ion Diaconescu said he thought Vasile is "well placed" to run for the post and that he will "react favorably" to Vasile's candidacy, but added that the PNTCD has "not yet entered the period of electoral campaign." But party spokesman and PNTCD vice chairman Remus Opris said he considers it "abnormal" for the premier to think of the succession at a time when "his hands are otherwise full" with the government's business. PNTCD vice chairman Nicolae Ionescu-Galbeni also criticized Vasile's declaration, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS[25] ROMANIAN MINORITIES' COUNCIL WARNS AGAINST XENOPHOBIAThe Council of National Minorities on 23 June said it must "regretfully note" that publications propagating "xenophobic, personal, and collective aggression against members of ethnic minorities" are "proliferating every week." The council said the weekly "Atac la persoana," which propagates such views, is being increasingly emulated by other publications, which "distort reality and hinder the harmonization of normal interethnic relations, as well as dangerously contribute to the perpetuation of prejudice, hatred, and divisions, thereby greatly harming democracy in Romania," Mediafax reported. MS[26] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT BLAMES UNIONS FOR RIOTSA spokesman for the government on 23 June said the trade unions must be blamed for the riots in which two people were injured and several detained after clashing with the police earlier that day, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June 1999). Nicolae Cirtoaca said that the cabinet is ready to negotiate with the National Trade Union Federation on paying off the $85 million in salary arrears, but the negotiators must be "realistic" and take into consideration the poor state of the economy. Cirtoaca accused the unions of politicizing their demands, saying it is not a matter of chance that the protest had taken place on the eve of Prime Minister Ion Sturza's presentation of a report to the parliament on the government's record after 100 days in office. MS[27] MOLDOVAN CABINET RESTITUTES SYNAGOGUE TO JEWISH COMMUNITYThe government on 23 June decided to return to the Jewish community a synagogue and two religious schools that were confiscated by the communist authorities in 1940, AP reported. The synagogue, built in 1835, is one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. The decision coincides with the end of a two-day gathering of Jews of Moldovan origin in the capital. MS[28] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WANTS END TO YUGOSLAV CONFLICT POLARIZATIONAddressing the Consultative Council for National Security on 23 June, President Petar Stoyanov said the Yugoslav conflict has "polarized political opinions in Bulgaria" and the time has come to "put an end to disputes and concentrate on identifying national priorities." He said Bulgaria must now concentrate on getting a "fair share" from the process of southeast European reconstruction. At the same meeting, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov called on Bulgarian companies wishing to participate in regional reconstruction projects to "display initiative." He said that "nobody invites bids for projects expecting governments to win the contract," but added that this does not mean that the cabinet will not lobby in favor of Bulgarian interests, BTA reported. MS[29] BULGARIA SUBMITS DRAFT RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE IN YUGOSLAVIALuchezar Toshev, head of the Bulgarian delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on 23 June submitted a draft resolution denouncing human rights abuses in Yugoslavia, BTA reported. The draft says the situation of the Bulgarian minority in that country has deteriorated and condemns the mobilization to the Yugoslav army of ethnic Bulgarian minority leaders, the arrest and conviction of Marko Shukarev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7, 10, 16, 18 June 1999), and the campaign against activists of the Helsinki Committee for the Protection of the Bulgarian Minorities' Rights and Freedoms, BTA reported. MS[30] WORLD BANK LOAN TO BULGARIA APPROVEDThe World Bank on 23 June approved a $75.7 million loan to Bulgaria for structural adjustments in agriculture, BTA reported. The agreement was signed in Washington by the bank's director for Bulgaria, Andrew Vorking, and Deputy Premier Alexander Bozhkov. The board approved increasing the originally envisaged loan by $25 million to compensate Bulgarian farmers for losses suffered during the conflict in Kosova. MS[C] END NOTE[31] NATO INTERVENTION IMPACTS CROATIAN POLITICAL SCENEBy Andrej KrickovicThe NATO intervention in Yugoslavia has had a noticeable impact on the Croatian political scene. Croatia's relationship with the international community has improved and the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is showing a willingness to comply with the conditions that the international community has set for expediting the democratization of the country. But the HDZ may be ready to go back to its old intransigence now that the Kosova crisis is over, though the West's new willingness to play the decisive role in the region may give them no other choice but to adhere to Western demands if the HDZ wants to bring Croatia into Euro-Atlantic structures. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's support for Croatian separatists in Bosnia-Herzegovina and his refusal to implement democratic reforms have often put him at odds with the international community in the past. But the government's unconditional support for the NATO air campaign in Kosova has significantly improved relations with both the U.S. and Europe. In April, U.S. President Bill Clinton lifted an arms embargo on Croatia and negotiations have recently begun on the purchase of an advanced military radar system from Washington. The postwar stability pact for southeastern Europe may also speed up the country's integration into the EU. Western diplomats have let the HDZ know that there will be no free rides towards Western integration and Zagreb will still have to fulfill the same conditions that have been laid out in the past. The West still insists on a reform of the election law, increased freedom of the press, the return of Serbian refugees, cooperation with the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and the dismantling of separate ethnic-Croatian government institutions in the para-state of "Herceg-Bosna." Thus far the HDZ has been willing to cooperate. Serious talks with the opposition on a new election law and media freedom are under way. The ruling party is in desperate need of foreign loans. The country faces a severe recession. Experts expect GDP will shrink by 1 to 2 percent this year--a troubling statistic considering that the country is still engaged in postwar reconstruction. Recent scandals that implicate top members of the ruling party threaten the very collapse of the financial system. They have also helped discredit the HDZ's economic model, which is largely based on patronage and political connections. The HDZ is hopeful that now that the war in Kosova is over they will be given access by foreign lenders to reconstruction funds that they hope to be able to use to buy some social peace. The country will hold parliamentary elections by the end of the year and HDZ politicians have tried to present the newfound warming with the West as a foreign policy triumph. But voters seem unimpressed--the popularity of the opposition has grown during the two months of NATO bombing. Most recent polls indicate that the HDZ will only receive around 20 percent of the vote and will have to yield control of parliament to the opposition. Croatian voters are much more concerned with economic issues. The real buying power of citizens has fallen by 10 percent since the beginning of the year. There is also great anxiety about the tourist season. According to government estimates, Croatia will lose between $500-600 million in tourism revenues as a result of the NATO intervention. Such economic issues and the animosity that most people feel towards the HDZ have overshadowed any foreign policy gains the country has made since the NATO intervention. There have also been indications that the HDZ may continue with its authoritarian ways. The opposition has accused the HDZ of deliberately maintaining an atmosphere of political violence and fear that could reduce the chances that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be free and fair. In recent speeches, President Tudjman has railed against internal enemies and claims that 20 percent of Croatian citizens are against an independent Croatia. Last month, fascist thugs led by extremist right-wing groups attacked peaceful protesters at an antifascist rally in downtown Zagreb. Right-wing toughs have also attacked opposition and union leaders. Many believe rising violence is inspired and even organized by hard-liners in the ruling party. The recent arrest of former intelligence service chief Miroslav Separovic for divulging state secrets to the investigative weekly "Nacional" has awakened fears about the misuse of the intelligence services. The intelligence services routinely spy on the opposition and independent media. There have even been allegations that they have rigged the outcome of the national soccer championships to ensure the victory of Tudjman's favorite team. Opposition and independent media fear that the intelligence services may be willing to use similar tactics to influence the outcome of the upcoming elections. Tudjman may also still be committed to his plans of partitioning Bosnia- Herzegovina along ethnic lines. Western diplomats politely ignored his Kosova peace plan, which envisioned a partition of Kosova between Serbs and Albanians. But Croatian observers believe Tudjman's peace plan was inspired by hopes that a partition of Kosova along ethnic lines will set a precedent for a future solution in Bosnia. Tudjman may hope that the West will again divert its attention from the Balkans once the Kosova crisis is over. But NATO's victory in Kosova and the Southeast European Stability Pact have sent a signal that the West has increased its commitment in the region. Irregularities in the upcoming elections or open support for Bosnian Croat separatists will be met by a stiff reaction from the U.S. and EU. In the end, Tudjman and the HDZ may have no other choice but to abandon their Bosnian adventures and go ahead with real democratic reform. The author is a free-lance journalist based in Zagreb. 24-06-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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