RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 146, 99-07-29

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 146, 29 July 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER OUTLINES AUSTERITY MEASURES

[02] AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY AT ODDS OVER OIL EXPORT PIPELINE

[03] KAZAKH OPPOSITION LEADER ACCUSED OF INSULTING PRESIDENT

[04] GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE COMPLETED IN KYRGYZSTAN

[05] OPPOSITION IN KYRGYZSTAN PLANS JOINT COUNCIL

[06] MORE ANTHRAX CASES REPORTED IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN

[07] DEMILITARIZATION, REFERENDUM PREPARATIONS ON TRACK IN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[08] GENEROUS PLEDGES FOR KOSOVA

[09] ALBRIGHT ARRIVES IN KOSOVA

[10] ITALY URGES RUGOVA TO RETURN TO KOSOVA

[11] KOSOVAR LEADER 'PIQUED' AT EXCLUSION FROM SUMMIT

[12] KFOR JAILS THREE MEN FOR KOSOVA MURDERS

[13] TWO KEY YUGOSLAV RADIO STATIONS RESUME BROADCASTING

[14] SERBIA'S DJINDJIC TURNS TRIAL INTO PROPAGANDA COUP

[15] ANTI-MILOSEVIC PROTESTS CONTINUE IN SERBIA

[16] YUGOSLAV COLONEL BLASTS PRO-MILOSEVIC GENERALS

[17] ALBANIA'S MAJKO CALLS ON UN TO TAKE CONTROL OF YUGOSLAV ARMY

[18] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT TELLS COURTS TO 'STAND UP' TO CRIMINALS

[19] TAIWAN ANNOUNCES INDUSTRIAL ZONE IN MACEDONIA

[20] HAGUE COURT SEEKS LIFE SENTENCE FOR CROAT

[21] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CANCELS PRIVATIZATION LAW

[22] BULGARIA HAS LOWEST BIRTH RATE IN EUROPE

[C] END NOTE

[23] ALBANIA'S NEW ENVIRONMENT

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER OUTLINES AUSTERITY MEASURES

television address since his appointment as prime minister

last month, Vazgen Sargsian on 28 July explained his proposed

measures to overcome Armenia's budget crisis, RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported. Sargsian said that budget revenues

for the first half of 1999 were 33 billion drams ($61

million) less than planned, which is equal to some 10 percent

of projected government spending for 1999. Characterizing the

situation as "extremely difficult but not hopeless," Sargsian

vowed to raise some taxes, crack down on tax evasion, and

increase excise duties on cigarettes and gasoline. He said

those measures will help to bridge the budget shortfall

without seriously affecting the poor and the middle class.

During talks in Yerevan last week, IMF representatives gave

the Armenian government until late August to bridge the

budget gap, which has delayed disbursement of planned IMF and

World Bank loan tranches totaling some $55 million. LF

[02] AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY AT ODDS OVER OIL EXPORT PIPELINE

statement on 27 July saying that talks between Azerbaijani

and Turkish working groups have failed to reach agreement on

four draft documents that would constitute the legal basis

for the construction and use of the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil

export pipeline, "Izvestiya" reported on 29 July.

Representatives of the two countries had signed a protocol in

Istanbul in April pledging to finalize and sign the four

documents in question by the end of July. The points of

disagreement, according to "Izvestiya," are over transit

tariffs and the requirement that Turkey meet additional

construction costs if the total cost of building the pipeline

exceeds $2.4 billion. Turkey is demanding a tariff fee of $21

per metric ton of oil, while Azerbaijan and Western oil

companies engaged in the Caspian refuse to pay more than $18-

19. LF

[03] KAZAKH OPPOSITION LEADER ACCUSED OF INSULTING PRESIDENT

told journalists in Almaty on 28 July that he has been

formally charged with insulting President Nursultan

Nazarbaev, an RFE/RL correspondent in the former capital

reported. Quttyqadam had said at a rally in February that he

considered that Nazarbaev has failed to fulfill his

obligations as president and should resign, adding that

Kazakhstan needs a "strong leader" like Ataturk or de Gaulle.

Quttyqadam also argued on 28 July that the presidential

system should be replaced by a parliamentary one and that the

parliament should be empowered to form a government and to

appoint regional leaders, according to Interfax. He said that

the parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall, in which

he will run in a single-mandate district in Almaty, offer

"the last chance" for the development of democracy in

Kazakhstan. LF

[04] GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE COMPLETED IN KYRGYZSTAN

Amangeldy Muraliev on 26 July presented to the cabinet three

new ministers appointed to replace those dismissed by

President Askar Akaev three days earlier, RFE/RL's Bishkek

bureau reported. Former State Property Fund director Sultan

Mederov replaces Marat Sultanov as finance minister and is

himself replaced by former Customs Director Tashkul

Kereksizov. Jalalabad University rector Tursunbek Bekbolotov

takes over from Sovetbek Toktomyshev as minister of

education, science, and culture, and Imankadyr Rysaliev, a

former presidential administration department head, succeeds

Mira Jangachareva as minister of labor and social issues.

Jangaracheva was named deputy governor of Chu Oblast on 26

July. LF

[05] OPPOSITION IN KYRGYZSTAN PLANS JOINT COUNCIL

Bishkek on 28 July, representatives of five opposition

parties (Free Kyrgyzstan, the Communist Party, the People's

Party, the republican Party and "My Country") announced they

will form a joint political council on which each party will

have one representative, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported.

They also expressed their objection to President Akaev's

proposal to amend the election law passed by the parliament

in April in order to reduce from 12 months to six the period

for which a political party must be officially registered

prior to parliamentary elections (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3

May and 22 June 1999). Akaev's proposed amendment is

presumably intended to facilitate the participation in the

February 2000 parliamentary elections of the Adilet Party,

created as a support base for the president. The Jalalabad

regional branch of Adilet held its founding conference on 24

July and elected as its head Kubanychbek Djumaliev, the

governor of Jalalabad Oblast and a former premier. LF

[06] MORE ANTHRAX CASES REPORTED IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN

Glinenko told Interfax on 28 July that six more cases of

anthrax been reported in Osh Oblast over the past nine days,

Interfax reported. The victims had eaten infected beef. A

total of 957 people have been placed under medical

observation. Meanwhile, 10 people have been hospitalized with

anthrax in the Bazar-Korgin district of Jalalabad Oblast,

which borders on Osh, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. LF

[07] DEMILITARIZATION, REFERENDUM PREPARATIONS ON TRACK IN

United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri

told journalists in Dushanbe on 28 July that the opposition

will meet the 31 July deadline for disarming its forces,

Reuters reported. That deadline is stipulated in the protocol

that he and President Imomali Rakhmonov signed on 17 June. Of

a total of some 6,000 opposition fighters who have been

screened by the Central Attestation Committee, 4,500 have

opted for service in either the army or the police.

Meanwhile, preparations are continuing for the 26 September

referendum on constitutional amendments that will remove the

present ban on political parties with a religious

orientation, AP-Blitz reported on 27 July. Acting UN Special

Representative Joges Saksena told journalists in Dushanbe on

27 July he hopes the constitutional amendments will be

approved, paving the way for a special parliamentary session

that will schedule new parliamentary elections for January.

The opposition has retracted its demand that those elections

be held before the 6 November presidential poll. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[08] GENEROUS PLEDGES FOR KOSOVA

countries and dozens of aid agencies and regional

organizations, meeting in Brussels on 28 July, pledged more

than $2 billion for humanitarian and reconstruction aid for

Kosova. The largest pledge was the U.S. offer of $500

million, followed by $200 million from Japan, $190 million

from Germany, and $145 million from the U.K. Prior to the

meeting, representatives of several UN agencies and the EU

said that $564 million is needed for immediate aid needs, AP

reported. In New York, the General Assembly authorized a

budget of $200 million to finance UN operations in Kosova.

Marjatta Rasi, who is Finland's ambassador to the world

organization and who spoke in the name of the EU, said she

fears that the UN will not provide enough money for its

agencies to carry out their respective mandates. PM

[09] ALBRIGHT ARRIVES IN KOSOVA

Albright arrived in Prishtina on 29 July for a one-day visit.

She is slated to meet with KFOR's General Sir Mike Jackson

and the UN's Bernard Kouchner. The previous day in Rome,

Albright called on Washington's allies to show "the same kind

of cooperation in peace as we had during the war." She and

her Italian counterpart, Lamberto Dini, said that the

reconstruction process is proceeding too slowly. PM

[10] ITALY URGES RUGOVA TO RETURN TO KOSOVA

told a press conference in Rome on 28 July that the Italian

government has "taken note of the fact that [Rome-based,

Kosovar shadow-state] President [Ibrahim] Rugova has not been

playing an active role since the arrival of KFOR in

Prishtina. The Italian government has been encouraging Rugova

to return to the region and play the role that his own

election [as president entitles] him to play. He [should

become] more active than he has been so far. We have

encouraged him to take part in meetings with KFOR and UN

administrators, which he has shied away from, and we expect

him to go back to Prishtina soon to resume his political

role," Reuters reported. PM

[11] KOSOVAR LEADER 'PIQUED' AT EXCLUSION FROM SUMMIT

in Rome on 28 July that he is "piqued" that his Democratic

League of Kosova (LDK) was not invited to the 29-30 July

Balkan reconstruction summit in Sarajevo. He played down

reports of tensions between the LDK and the Kosova Liberation

Army, saying: "We discuss. There is no war between us."

Reuters reported that "sources close to [Rugova's] entourage

in Rome" told the news agency that Rugova has no plans to

return to Kosova soon (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 1999).

In Prishtina, Kouchner told "Corriere della sera" that "there

can never be real change" in Kosova without Rugova. PM

[12] KFOR JAILS THREE MEN FOR KOSOVA MURDERS

British peacekeepers said in Prishtina on 29 July that KFOR

has jailed three of the five men whom peacekeepers recently

questioned about the murder of 14 Serbian farmers in Staro

Gracko (see "RFE/RL Newsline,' 26 July 1999). KFOR released

the other two men. The spokesmen did not elaborate. In Staro

Gracko, Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle conducted a funeral

service for the 14 men. He said that "the only good thing

about this misfortune is that you left the world not as

criminals but as innocent victims." Kosova Serb leader

Momcilo Trajkovic stressed that the international community's

mission in Kosova will fail if KFOR does not prevent ethnic

Albanians from killing Serbs. Several hundred Serbs attended

the funeral, which KFOR troops guarded. Kouchner also

attended. PM

[13] TWO KEY YUGOSLAV RADIO STATIONS RESUME BROADCASTING

Prishtina went back on the air on 28 July for the first time

since NATO's springtime bombing campaign damaged its

facilities. The broadcast began with an address by Kouchner.

Programs made under UN supervision were in Albanian, Serbian,

and Turkish. In Belgrade, the private radio station B-92

resumed broadcasting under the name of B2-92. A spokesman

said that the station will broadcast only music until 2

August, when it will resume newscasts. He stressed that any

interference by the authorities with the station will lead to

"abandoning the project," AP reported. B2-92 broadcasts on a

frequency assigned by the Belgrade city council to Studio B

Television, which is close to Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal

Movement. The Serbian authorities shut down B-92 on 2 April.

PM

[14] SERBIA'S DJINDJIC TURNS TRIAL INTO PROPAGANDA COUP

military court on 28 July that he never received the army

call-up notice that the authorities maintain they sent him

during the conflict in Kosova, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 July 1999). He stressed

that the proceedings are a "political trial" and vowed to

continue his demands for Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic to resign. The court decided not to arrest

Djindjic, nor did it set a date for a second hearing. A

Democratic spokesman told AP that Djindjic must appear before

a Belgrade local court on 3 August to face charges that he

failed to report a change of residence to the authorities. PM

[15] ANTI-MILOSEVIC PROTESTS CONTINUE IN SERBIA

attended a rally sponsored by the opposition Alliance for

Change in the southern spa town of Vrnjacka Banja on 28 July.

Near Cacak, 30 reservists blocked a road to intensify demands

that the government pay their back wages for the weeks they

spent in Kosova. One reservist told Reuters that they are

determined to get their back pay before winter. PM

[16] YUGOSLAV COLONEL BLASTS PRO-MILOSEVIC GENERALS

Dragan Vuksic, who was a member of the Yugoslav delegation to

the 1995 Dayton Bosnian peace talks, told the mass-

circulation Belgrade daily "Blic" of 28 July that unnamed,

pro-Milosevic "self-styled mouthpieces" have no right to

speak for the entire army. He said that the unnamed generals

support the regime only to "defend their positions and

privileges." This was an apparent reference to recent pro-

Milosevic statements by Generals Dragoljub Ojdanic and

Nebojsa Pavkovic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 July 1999).

Vuksic stressed that "the current regime" has no right to use

the army "as a means of last resort to stay in power." He

added that he has resigned from the army rather than remain

in a situation in which "others speak on my behalf and

against my beliefs and will." PM

[17] ALBANIA'S MAJKO CALLS ON UN TO TAKE CONTROL OF YUGOSLAV ARMY

the UN should place the Yugoslav army under international

control. He argued that Belgrade's military "has waged four

wars [since 1991] and caused much suffering to the region. It

is the obligation of the international community to take

measures to reduce Serbia's military capacity and exert

control over its armed forces," dpa reported. PM

[18] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT TELLS COURTS TO 'STAND UP' TO CRIMINALS

courts have undermined the police and the legal system by

freeing criminals whom the police have caught red-handed.

Observers note that many witnesses are afraid to testify

against often powerful local gang members, which prevents

courts from convicting the accused. Moreover, criminals are

sometimes able to intimidate or bribe judges. PM

[19] TAIWAN ANNOUNCES INDUSTRIAL ZONE IN MACEDONIA

who is Taiwan's charge d'affaires in Skopje, said on 28 July

that Taipei will soon make up for time lost during the Kosova

conflict and start construction of a special industrial zone

in Petrovac, near Skopje. The Taiwanese government hopes to

attract investments that will provide employment for

Taiwanese-trained Macedonian workers. The government has been

urging Taiwanese businessmen to produce goods in Macedonia

for European markets. PM

[20] HAGUE COURT SEEKS LIFE SENTENCE FOR CROAT

Gregory Kehoe told the Hague-based war crimes tribunal on

28 July that Croatian General Tihomir Blaskic deserves a

life sentence for his role in the ethnic cleansing of

Muslims from the Lasva valley in 1993. This is the first

time that a prosecutor has demanded the maximum penalty

from the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,

Reuters reported. PM

[21] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CANCELS PRIVATIZATION LAW

unconstitutional a law on the privatization of the

Moldtelcom company, which passed in 1998 by a simple

majority of the parliamentary deputies present. The basic

law stipulates, however, that so-called organic laws, which

are considered of prime importance, must be passed by a

majority of all deputies elected to the parliament. The law

was contested by deputy Victor Cecan, who represents the

Party of Moldovan Communists, Infotag reported the next

day. MS

[22] BULGARIA HAS LOWEST BIRTH RATE IN EUROPE

population is rapidly sinking and the country now has the

lowest birth rate in Europe, Reuters reported on 28 July,

citing the National Statistics Institute. Yordan Kalchev,

an expert with the institute, told journalists that the

decline began in 1990. Last year, the birth rate in

Bulgaria was 7.9 per 1,000, while the mortality rate was

14.4 per 1,000. In the same year the population decreased

by 0.6 percent and now stands at 8.23 million. If the trend

continues, the total population will fall to 6.91 million

by 2020, Kalchev said, adding that it is also getting

older. In 1998, every fourth Bulgarian was a pensioner. MS

[C] END NOTE

[23] ALBANIA'S NEW ENVIRONMENT

Following the end of the war in Kosova, Albania has

begun to return to normality, but its perceptions of both

itself and its surroundings have changed. The Albanian

public's friendliness and hospitality vis-a-vis the refugees

throughout the Kosova crisis and Albania's support for the

international military and humanitarian effort gave the

country a very good image abroad, which contrasts sharply

with its reputation before the crisis of being crime-ridden,

impoverished, and politically polarized.

Since early 1997, Albania had become notorious for its

Kalashnikov-waving adolescents who dominated scenes of

civilian unrest that broke out after the collapse of pyramid

investment schemes. But Albania's political leaders seized

the Kosova crisis as a unique opportunity to show the

international community Albania's maturity. Now the country

finds itself on the winning side in what is in effect a large

international alliance. The post-war order offers Albania a

serious prospect of long-term regional development and

prosperity, and it is up to the Albanians to make sure that

prospect becomes reality.

Plans for regional cooperation in the Balkans are not

new, but the presence of the U.S., the EU, the UN, and other

key international figures instrumental in ending the Kosova

conflict has removed numerous practical and psychological

barriers that were blocking the country's regional

integration with its neighbors.

The largest barrier to collapse was that between Albania

and Kosova. This development's significance compares to the

fall of the Berlin Wall, despite some differences. While

before 1989 the Berlin Wall served only the East German

regime in helping it prevent its citizens from fleeing to the

democratic West, the Albanian-Kosova border, for most of its

post-1945 history, was a border between two dictatorships

that were highly suspicious of each other. Furthermore, the

border dates back to the creation of the Albanian state in

1913; therefore, it had a more profound impact on the

cultural and social development on either side of it than did

the Berlin Wall.

The Rambouillet accord specifies that there must be free

movement of goods, services, and people from and to Kosova.

With the border now open, regional integration between

Albania and Kosova can take place quickly in terms of

economy, trade, culture, and other sectors. More so than

Kosova, Albania will profit from that integration, which will

allow the remote and underdeveloped mountainous northern

regions of Bajram Curri and Kukes to link up with their

Ottoman-era markets in Gjakova and Prizren. Albanian

legislator Neritan Ceka has already suggested that the

government draw up plans to build a highway to Kosova.

Similarly, closer integration with Montenegro is now

possible. In late June, the Yugoslav federation withdrew its

border controls between Montenegro and Albania, thus opening

the way for free movement of people. Now it is up to Tirana

and Podgorica to regulate the border and customs regime in a

mutually beneficial way. Both sides have already made clear

that they want to promote a liberal border regime.

To the south, Athens is interested in linking its

Adriatic coastal region with central Europe through a highway

via Albania, Montenegro, and Croatia. Albanian Foreign

Minister Paskal Milo and his Greek counterpart, George

Papandreou, agreed in Athens in early June to put that

project high on the agenda of the Sarajevo stability summit

that began on 29 July. The two met shortly thereafter with

their Macedonian counterpart, Aleksandar Dimitrov, and agreed

to launch a smaller-scale regional project designed to

facilitate cross-border travel for people living in the

frontier region.

Another result of the crisis has been the substantial

strengthening of many Macedonians' trust toward both their

own ethnic Albanian minority and towards Albania. Many

Macedonian politicians and voters long feared that an

explosion of the Kosova crisis could lead to a breakup of

Macedonia. During the crisis, almost a quarter of a million

Kosovar refugees entered Macedonia. This, however, did not

lead to any moves by Macedonia's Albanians against the

Macedonian state, which remained stable. In return, Skopje

has shown itself willing to make concessions, including

permitting university education in the Albanian language,

which the previous Macedonian government had rejected for

fear of fostering "separatism."

Albania thus faces a much friendlier neighborhood than

it did only a short time ago. But Albanians will have to

show that they are capable of taking advantage of the new

opportunities. Albania's opposition Democratic Party took a

first step toward ending the political polarization that

has long bedeviled Albania. On 17 July, an extraordinary

party congress voted unanimously to end the party's 10-

month boycott of the parliament, which the Democrats had

launched in response to the killing of one of their

legislators.

Party leader Sali Berisha told the delegates that:

"Fulfilling the request of the U.S. government to return to

the parliament is the least we could do, after all that

they did for Albanians," indicating that the move was

linked to the U.S. involvement in ending the Kosova crisis.

Berisha added that "the Democratic Party commits itself to

creating a new political climate where nobody will be

excluded anymore."

But not all Albanians have proven responsible enough to

promote a vision for a common future. Another Albanian way of

returning to "normal" was evident in Vlora on 10 July, when

local citizens armed with machine guns stormed and looted an

Italian-run refugee camp. If Albania remains unable to tackle

the problem of crime, it will be difficult for its neighbors

to take the next large step of relaxing the border regime or

establishing a customs union.

29-07-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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