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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 130, 99-07-07Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 130, 7 July 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA DENIES PLANNING TRIPARTITE MILITARY ALLIANCEAn Armenian Foreign Ministry official rejected on 2 July a report circulated the previous day by a U.S. think-tank quoting Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos as stating that Armenia, Greece and Iran plan to create a formal defense alliance at a meeting in Athens later this month, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The ArmenianForeign Ministry confirmed that such a meeting is planned, but added that it will focus only on cooperation in tourism, communications and transport, energy, technology, environmental protection and disaster prevention, according to Noyan Tapan. On 5 July, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that Tbilisi had declined an invitation last year to participate in the tripartite economic talks after Tbilisi's proposal that Azerbaijan also be included was rejected, according to Caucasus Press. LF[02] INTERIM ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS ELECTEDParticipants at a 4 July joint meeting in Echmiadzin of archbishops and bishops and of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church elected Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian as interim vicar- general following the death on 29 June of Catholicos Garegin I, Noyan Tapan reported. Under church statutes a new catholicos may be elected no earlier than six months after the death of the incumbent. But Pozapalian told journalists on 5 July that "this [provision] should be changed because we wish to inaugurate a new Catholicos by the beginning of the year 2000," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Other Church sources told RFE/RL that the pan- Armenian ecclesiastical assembly will probably convene in mid- December. LF[03] ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN PESSIMISTIC OVER KARABAKH PEACE PROSPECTSArmenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told journalists in Yerevan on 5 July that Azerbaijan's rejection of "all major provisions" of the most recent Karabakh peace proposals drafted by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen leaves little chance for an imminent settlement of the conflict, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Oskanian said that the co-chairmen are not ready to change the draft substantially as they believe it is already based on compromise. He said Armenia would oppose any major "deviations" from that document, which advocates the creation of a "common state" comprising Azerbaijan and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Interfax on 5 July quoted Azerbaijani State Foreign Policy Advisor Vafa Guluzade as hinting that Baku may oppose Russia's continued co-chairmanship of the Minsk Group. Oskanian had said Azerbaijan's mistaken conviction that "Russia is behind everything" also impedes a settlement of the Karabakh conflict, according to Noyan Tapan. LF[04] AZERBAIJAN'S PARLIAMENT VOTES ON ELECTION, MEDIA LAWSBy a vote of 82 for and one against, deputies passed the law on municipal elections on 2 July in the third and final reading, Turan reported. The 17 opposition deputies aligned in the Democratic bloc declined to participate in the vote in protest against an agreement reached with the parliamentary leadership three weeks earlier that the bill would be given a repeat second reading during which opposition objections to it would be discussed. Leaders of several opposition parties including Musavat's Isa Gambar and Azerbaijan Popular Front First Deputy Chairman Ali Kerimov condemned the bill as undemocratic and hinted that they may boycott the poll. Also on 2 July, parliament passed in the first reading a controversial new law on mass media which the opposition claims limits press freedom. LF[05] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS PROTEST REPRISALSSome 30 journalists and members of NGOs held an unsanctioned protest on 6 July in front of the Prosecutor-General's office in Baku to protest recent harassment and violence against independent journalists, Turan reported. The Baku mayor's office had refused permission the previous day to stage the protest. On 2 July, a U.S. State Department spokesman expressed concern over recent attacks on Azerbaijani journalists and called on the Azerbaijani government to take measures to protect press freedom. Reporters sans Frontieres likewise wrote to Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev to ask him to intervene to halt violence against journalists. LF[06] GEORGIA DENIES PLANS TO INVADE ABKHAZIAGeorgian Defense Ministry spokesman Koba Liklikadze dismissed as a fabrication plans published by "Izvestiya" for a simultaneous air and sea invasion of Abkhazia by Georgian troops, according to Caucasus Press on 5 July. The planned date of that operation is not clear. Liklikadze said the publication was intended to exacerbate relations between Tbilisi and Sukhumi. LF[07] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT WANTS UN TO CONDEMN ALLEGED ABKHAZ ETHNIC CLEANSINGEduard Shevardnadze told journalists in Tbilisi on 5 July that he will request UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Security Council members to classify reprisals against ethnic Georgian residents of Abkhazia in 1992-1993 as ethnic cleansing, ITAR-TASS reported. Georgian troops similarly killed thousands of Abkhaz civilians during the 13 month war. Speaking at a conference in Tbilisi on 6 July on the circumstances of the war in Abkhazia, Georgian Prosecutor-General Djamlet Babilashvili said that Georgian prosecutors have compiled 200 volumes of documentary evidence of ethnic cleansing, including proof of the murders of some 6,000 ethnic Georgians. That documentation is to be submitted to the International Court in The Hague. LF[08] KAZAKHSTAN SUSPENDS LAUNCHES FROM BAIKONURKazakhstan's Foreign Ministry informed Moscow on 6 July that Astana will not allow further launches of Russian satellites from the Baikonor cosmodrome until the circumstances of the explosion the previous day of a Russian Proton booster rocket are clarified, Russian agencies reported. That rocket, which was to put a communications satellite into orbit, exploded soon after launching. Parts of the debris, some of them several tons in weight, landed in residential areas in Kazakhstan's central Karaganda region, but noone was injured by them. Russian Aerospace Agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov, however, told Ekho Moskvy on 6 July that the Kazakh ban applies only to Proton rockets of the type that exploded, and not to all launches from Baikonur, according to ITAR-TASS. LF[09] KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN TO WRITE OFF MUTUAL DEBTSThe Kazakh and Kyrgyz ministers of trade said in a statement issued after their meeting in Almaty on 2 July that the two countries will "soon" sign an agreement offsetting mutual debts, Interfax reported. Kazakhstan owes Kyrgyzstan some $22.5 million for electricity and irrigation water, while Kyrgyzstan owes $12 million. Kazakhstan will also abolish the 200 percent duty it imposed in March on imports of butter, soft drinks and some other goods imported from Kyrgyzstan according to AP. Interfax on 6 July also quoted Kyrgyzstan National Bank board member Azamat Tokbaev as saying that Bishkek hopes to restructure part of its $132.8 million debt to Russia, $17 million of which is due in 1999. Kyrgyzstan's total foreign debt amounts to $1.53 billion. The state debt is currently equal to 59 percent of GDP. LF[10] MORE TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURES NAMED TO GOVERNMENT POSTSIn a bid to improve strained relations with the United Tajik Opposition, President Imomali Rakhmonov on 2 July named opposition field commander Mirzo Ziyeev to head the newly upgraded Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense, Reuters and Interfax reported. The Tajik authorities' ongoing refusal to appoint Ziyeev defense minister had impelled UTO leader Said Abdullo Nuri to threaten to cease cooperation with the government within the Commission for National Reconciliation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June 1999). Five further opposition candidates were named to government posts on 6 July. LF[11] TURKMENISTAN, RUSSIA REACH COMPROMISE ON BORDER GUARDSRussian Federal Border Service Director Colonel-General Konstantin Totskii held talks in Ashgabat on 6 July with Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, Turan and Interfax reported. Totskii said that Niyazov expressed understanding for his argument that it is impossible to withdraw the Russian border guard contingent from Turkmenistan before 19 November 1999, when the treaty regulating the Russian presence expires. Ashgabat had said earlier this year that it would not extend that treaty (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 May 1999). Totskii added that Niyazov agreed that "our ties must be maintained." He said that the precise parameters for continued cooperation will be addressed in future talks. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[12] NOVI SAD COUNCIL TELLS MILOSEVIC TO GOThe town council of Serbia's second largest city voted on 6 July to urge Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to resign, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. This is the first such call by an elected body in Serbia since anti-Milosevic protests began in June. In Belgrade, The Association of Free and Independent Labor Unions said in a statement that Milosevic's resignation will pave the way for Serbia's return to Europe and enable Serbia to shed the stigma of being a pariah state. In several Serbian cities, local officials and anti-Milosevic politicians appealed to the international community to send reconstruction aid directly to Serbia's cities and towns and not to make the Serbian people pay further for Milosevic's wars. PM[13] POLICE CLASH WITH PROTESTERS IN LESKOVACAn unspecified number of police attacked some of the 5,000 anti-Milosevic demonstrators who assembled in Leskovac on 6 July. The protestors called for Milosevic to resign and for the release from jail of local television broadcaster Ivan Novakovic, who recently interrupted the transmission of an important basketball game to announce an anti-Milosevic demonstration on 5 July. On that day, some 20,000 people turned out for the protest in a town that was previously not known as an opposition stronghold. On 6 July, a local court sentenced Novakovic to 30 days in jail. PM[14] DJINDJIC CALLS FOR MASS PROTESTSSome 10,000 people attended a protest in Uzice on 6 July to demand Milosevic's resignation, free elections, and an end to controls over the media, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic called for two to three months of street protests in "free cities" across Serbia to oust the Yugoslav president. Djindjic proposed the following scenario: "The people go onto the streets, the Church calls the people to go onto the streets.... Serbia as a whole is in a state of civil disobedience and general strike. He goes." Djindjic added: "I can envisage that [beginning] in 10 days' time in Serbia...each day at the same time all churches ringing their bells to send the message: 'It's time for you to go.'" Djindjic returned on 4 July to Serbia from Montenegro, where he was hiding from Milosevic's police (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 July 1999). PM[15] SERBIAN CHURCH TO FORM COUNCIL IN KOSOVAThe Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church met in Gracanica monastery near Prishtina on 6 July to discuss setting up a National Council to represent the Serbs in the province, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. The Council will be headed by Archbishop Artemije and will represent the interests of Kosova's Serbs in contacts with KFOR and the ethnic Albanian leadership. Artemije noted in Gracanica that in recent days KFOR has become more effective in protecting Serbs from attacks. Serbian state-run media have increasingly started to refer to Artemije as a "traitor" and to call on the Patriarchate to distance itself from him. Both Artemije and the Holy Synod have called for Milosevic to resign. PM[16] MULTI-ETHNIC APPEAL FOR RECONCILIATIONSerbian leaders Archbishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic, the Kosova Liberation Army's (UCK) Hashim Thaci, and other regional leaders signed a joint declaration in Prishtina on 2 July calling for reconciliation between the province's ethnic groups. UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello brought the parties together to issue the appeal (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 July 1999). PM[17] NEWLY APPOINTED UNMIK CHIEF PLEDGES TO TALK TO ALL SIDESFrench Health Minister Bernard Kouchner, who is the newly appointed chief of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said in Geneva on 6 July that he is "open to dialogue" with all political forces in Kosova. Kouchner stressed that "there is a lot of goodwill from the side of the Kosovars for this administration to be put into place and made to work.... It will be very hard and difficult, but...the UN can build on the peace and provide a future," Reuters reported. He made the remarks after discussing his new tasks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan appointed Kouchner on 2 July. Kouchner, a founder of Medecins sans frontieres and former French minister for humanitarian affairs, is expected to arrive in Prishtina next week to take over the civilian administration from interim UNMIK chief Sergio Vieira de Mello. FS[18] KFOR REJECTS SELF-APPOINTED KOSOVAR 'GOVERNMENTS'KFOR spokesman Jonathan Bailey told AP on 5 July in Prishtina that "a number of politicians in [Kosova] have self- styled titles such as prime minister.* The only government...that we recognize as legitimate is that of the UN." The UCK-backed provisional government's Prime Minister Thaci said he recognizes the UN's mandate but also stressed that the ethnic Albanian delegation at the Rambouillet talks signed a document authorizing him to create a provisional government. Thaci said: "That is an agreement which was signed and is legitimate.* The international community took part in that agreement. They saluted it and supported it, because that agreement showed a unification between Kosova's political forces." Vieira de Mello stressed: "We are the only source of authority.* We are not excluding [the UCK], but we are not recognizing a government." An unnamed UN official told the BBC on 7 July that elections in Kosova will not take place before the spring of 2000. FS[19] OGATA DEMANDS MORE MONEY FROM EUROPEAN COUNTRIES FOR KOSOVAIn Prishtina on 6 July, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata urged European countries to provide more money for Kosovar refugees, AFP reported. Ogata said that the repatriation process is proceeding smoothly but added that "I have money for about a week's operation. I think we have about $10 million right now in cash." Ogata stressed that returning refugees need emergency shelter and that the UNHCR needs funds for long- term reconstruction projects. She added that "the U.S., European Commission, and Japan are the big cash donors. [But] we would like to get more cash from the various European countries." UNHCR officials said in Geneva that about 606,300 refugees have so far returned to Kosova. Meanwhile, 91,500 are still in Albania, 19,000 in Macedonia, 22,200 in Montenegro, and 17,400 in Bosnia. Elsewhere, Italy's coast guard on 6 July intercepted a Montenegrin boat carrying about 700 unidentified refugees. FS[20] CLARK WARNS "PARAMILITARIES"NATO's Supreme Commander Europe General Wesley Clark said in Mitrovica on 6 July that the Atlantic alliance will not tolerate continued interference from paramilitary groups in the consolidation of peace in Kosova. The general added: "Some paramilitaries have been here, they may still be here, some have been arrested, others will be." The general stressed that there is "no room in [Kosova] for paramilitaries, and they have to leave," Reuters reported. "When they leave and the inflammatory rhetoric stops on both sides, people will get back to their livelihoods and work together, and I think that's the answer to partition" of the province. PM[21] SANDZAK MUSLIMS TO SEEK AUTONOMY, TROOP EXITRifat Skrielj, who heads the Association of Sandzak Muslims in Bosnia, told Reuters on 6 July in Sarajevo that many Sandzak Muslims fear that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic may try to ethnically cleanse the area. Skrielj stressed that the Muslims will "appeal to the international community to ensure that the Yugoslav military withdraws from the region and allows the people to live there in safety." He added that "we shall also ask for a greater level of self-government in Sandzak." The region straddles the border between Serbia and Montenegro. Ethnic Muslims make up a slight majority and have close cultural and political ties to the Muslims of Bosnia. PM[22] BELGRADE DENIES VOLLEBAEK VISA FOR MONTENEGROThe Yugoslav federal authorities on 6 July turned down a request by OSCE Chair and Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek for a visa to visit Montenegro as part of his upcoming three-day trip to the Balkans. Yugoslav officials told the Norwegian Foreign Ministry that they would give Vollebaek a visa only if he went to Belgrade first. A Norwegian spokesman in Oslo called the Yugoslav decision "unacceptable," adding that it must have been made "at a very high level on the Serbian side." PM[23] NATO ARRESTS WAR CRIMES SUSPECTBritish SFOR peacekeepers arrested Radislav Brdjanin on 6 July in Banja Luka and sent him to The Hague. The war crimes tribunal there previously indicted him for crimes against humanity in connection with the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats from the Banja Luka region by Serbian forces in 1992. Brdjanin served as deputy prime minister of the Republika Srpska during the war when Radovan Karadzic was its president. He is currently head of the People's Party of the Republika Srpska and a parliamentary deputy. Brdjanin is one of the highest Bosnian Serb officials to be indicted and the highest one to be arrested. He was among those people who were indicted by the court on its "sealed" list, which means that his indictment was kept secret so as not to alert him and prompt him to go into hiding. PM[24] ROMANIAN RULING ALLIANCE IN DISARRAYThe National Council of the National Liberal Party (PNL) on 2 July decided that the PNL will run on its own in the local elections scheduled for 2000, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) spokesman Remus Opris on the same day said the PNL has "opted out of the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR)." PNTCD chairman Ion Diaconescu on 5 July said the PNL decision "contravenes the spirit, the tradition, and the protocol of the CDR." Diaconescu said the PNTCD will adopt an official stance on its partner's decision in the near future, but added that he saw "no urgency" in taking such a step since the local elections are still "a whole year ahead of us." MS[25] LABOR PROTESTS SPREADING IN ROMANIA...A wild-cat strike by bus and tram drivers in Bucharest ended on 7 July after Mayor Viorel Lis agreed to raise wages by 60 percent as of 1 July and by an additional 20 percent as of 1 October, Romanian radio reported. Bucharest's subway employees also staged a demonstration on 6 July to protest against a decision to place the metro company under the Transportation Ministry's authority. Labor protests were also reported at the Petromidia Black Sea oil refinery over delays in the implementation of a decision to sell the company to a Turkish investor. In other news, workers at the Iasi Tepro steel pipe maker company on 6 July resumed protests against planned layoffs at their firm. Finally, the Cartel Alfa Trade union demanded the government's resignation, accusing the cabinet of failing to implement a protocol signed in May. MS[26] ...AS GOVERNMENT REPORTS PROGRESS ON PRIVATIZATIONThe French consortium Renault on 2 July signed a deal to buy a 51 percent stake in the Dacia car maker for $270 million. The IMF had initially objected to the deal because it provides for tax exemptions to the French investor. In other news, Prime Minister Radu Vasile on the same day announced that Romania has secured a $200 million loan from Credit Suisse First Boston at a 12 percent interest rate. Securing such a loan was one of the IMF's main conditions for approving an agreement on renewing the flow of IMF money to Bucharest. Finally, Transportation Minister Traian Basescu on 5 July said that, in line with an agreement with the World Bank, Romania has finalized a list of 50 state- owned companies slated for privatization or liquidation. MS[27] MOLDOVA-TRANSDNIESTER SUMMIT POSTPONED AGAINThe scheduled meeting between President Petru Lucinschi and separatist leader Igor Smirnov in Tiraspol has been postponed from 6 July to 13 July, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 5 July. Presidential spokesman Anatol Golea said the meeting was postponed to allow more time for preparation. Golea said the summit's importance has increased since it will now take place shortly before a scheduled 16-17 July meeting in Kyiv involving Lucinschi, Smirnov, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and Russian Premier Sergei Stepashin. He said the four leaders are expected to "further accelerate" the negotiation process with the separatists. MS[28] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENTIAL CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION HOLDS FIRST MEETINGThe commission set up by Lucinschi to make recommendations on implementing a presidential system in Moldova held its first meeting on 5 July, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Some politicians participating in the commission are members of parties which are opposed to changing Moldova's parliamentary system. Golea said those politicians are sitting on the commission "at their personal request" and in their capacity as members of the cabinet. He said they include Deputy Premier Nicolae Andonic of the Party of Moldovan Revival and Conciliation, Justice Minister Ion Paduraru of the Party of Democratic Forces, and parliamentary deputy Ion Morei of the For a Democratic and Prosperous Moldovan Bloc. MS[29] TURKISH TROOPS RETURN TO BULGARIA AFTER 121 YEARSA Turkish contingent of 130 soldiers travelling in 52 vehicles on 3 July passed through Bulgaria on its way to Kosova, where it joined the KFOR peacekeeping mission, AP reported. The local media noted that this was the first time in 121 years that Turkish soldiers have set foot on Bulgarian soil. Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule for 500 years until it gained independence in 1878. MS[30] BULGARIA REFORMS CURRENCYThe new lev bills were released on 5 July. The currency reform, which was announced last year, slashed three zeroes off the previous lev bills. The lev is now pegged to the Deutschmark and trading at 1,9098/$1 and at 1, 95583 to the euro, AP reported. MS[C] END NOTE[31] RUSSIAN DUMA ELECTIONS: THE LAWBy Floriana FossatoThe new law regulating the election of deputies to Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, leaves the basic election rules intact but also contains some interesting changes. Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the new law on 25 June, some five months before the scheduled parliamentary elections. The bill had been approved by both houses of parliament about a month earlier. The basic election rules remain the same under the new law. Half of the Duma's 450 seats will still be filled by deputies elected directly in single-ballot constituencies. The remaining seats will be split among political parties based on the percentage of the vote they receive. But the regulations do contain some significant changes. Most notable among them is a new interpretation of the five percent of the vote that a party must attain in order to be represented in the Duma. In accordance with a late 1998 ruling by the Constitutional Court, the new law states that the total number of political groups reaching the five-percent threshold must now represent more than 50 percent of the voters. This calculation will be made only after the official vote count is made public. If the parties that managed to obtain five percent of the vote do not together add up to half the ballots cast, then political groups that have reached more than three percent of the vote will also make it into the Duma -- until the total percentage of voters represented in the chamber meets the required 50 percent. According to Duma deputies who worked on the text, the law also represents an attempt to reduce election fraud by forbidding the use of so-called "dirty techniques" -- including the adoption by candidates and parties of names and symbols already used by other candidates and groups. The law also requires candidates to declare income, property, and criminal convictions, if any. It stipulates that Russian citizens who are also citizens of another state -- the Russian Constitution allows dual citizenship -- must make the same declaration. In addition, the new law forbids businesses that receive state financial support from making donations to party election funds. The hope is that these and other provisions will make the parliamentary race more open and discourage potential candidates with criminal records. But many Russian politicians and journalists nevertheless predict that the campaigns for the 19 December parliamentary vote, and for the presidential election due next June, will be marked by widespread legal violations. The new law tries to strengthen safeguards against rigging the ballot in several ways. For example, it bans the practice of early voting, originally intended to bolster the electoral turn-out by attracting those who are unable to vote on election day. In the last few years, however, the practice has frequently led to allegations of fraud. Another article of the new law allows individual candidates and parties to qualify for the race by paying a cash deposit instead of collecting signatures, the common practice in past elections. The money will be returned only if the candidate or party makes it to the Duma, and the deposit is expected to come from each candidate's campaign funds. Ten percent of each candidate's campaign fund can be used as deposit. According to one of the drafters of the law, Viktor Sheinis, a respected legislator from the Yabloko party, the deposit represents a positive development. In a recent interview with RFE/RL, Sheinis said that "the practice of collecting signatures has proved to have serious deficiencies. It has increasingly become a commercial and criminal affair. Now there is an alternative. Usually, with only few exceptions, signatures are collected and paid for. There are even firms ready to collect signatures on behalf of any candidate willing to pay." Sheinis added that, with so many less-than-serious candidates vying for parliamentary office, the cash deposit is better than the collection of signatures for another important reason: The money, he says, will end up in needy state coffers, and will be used to cover the cost of the election. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent in Moscow. 07-07-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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