RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 164, 99-08-24

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 164, 24 August 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GEORGIAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET

[02] KAZAKH PRESIDENT MEETS WITH SOUTH KOREAN, JAPANESE DIPLOMATS

[03] TOP OIL OFFICIAL FIRED IN KAZAKHSTAN

[04] KYRGYZ DEFENSE MINISTER SACKED AS TROOPS BATTLE GUERRILLAS

[05] KYRGYZ NEWSPAPER EDITOR ARRESTED

[06] TAJIKISTAN HOSTS FRUITLESS AFGHAN TALKS

[07] UZBEKISTAN RELEASES JAILED CHRISTIANS

[08] HOSTAGES TAKEN, RELEASED IN UZBEKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] RUSSIAN-ALBANIAN STANDOFF CONTINUES IN RAHOVEC

[10] KFOR'S JACKSON BACKS RUSSIANS...

[11] ...CONFIRMS UCK DEMILITARIZATION ON SCHEDULE

[12] SERBIAN WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS TO BE TRIED IN PRIZREN

[13] DID SERBIAN FORCES USE SARIN GAS IN KOSOVA?

[14] ANNAN APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR

[15] MAJKO WANTS ALBANIANS TO MAKE DONATIONS FOR KOSOVA-

[16] DJINDJIC SAYS MILOSEVIC RULE WILL LEAD TO CHAOS

[17] ARE SOME MILOSEVIC BACKERS ABANDONING HIM?

[18] UN EXPERTS CAUTIOUS ON SERBIAN CHARGES OF ENVIRONMENTAL

[19] PRESUMED SREBRENICA VICTIMS EXHUMED FROM MASS GRAVE

[20] CROATIAN MINISTER TELLS VETERANS NOT TO MAKE POLICY

[21] ROMANIAN PREMIER WARNS PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES...

[22] ...DISMISSES RUMORS ON QUITTING

[23] ROMANIA TO CHANGE TAXATION SYSTEM

[24] RUN-OFF IN GAGAUZ-YERI ELECTIONS

[25] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT READY TO COMPROMISE ON PRESIDENTIAL

[C] END NOTE

[26] WHEN FOUR TIMES FIVE MIGHT EQUAL ZERO

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GEORGIAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET

"consultative" talks in Moscow on 23 August with his Russian

counterpart, Igor Sergeev, Russian agencies reported. The

main topics of discussion were bilateral cooperation, the

Russian peacekeeping force deployed in Abkhazia under a CIS

mandate, and the future of the four Russian military bases in

Georgia. Georgian parliamentary deputies have repeatedly

demanded the closure of two of those facilities. A further

bone of contention between the two sides are the conditions

for Moscow's return to Georgian jurisdiction of 44 buildings

previously used by Russian troops (see "RFE/RL Caucasus

Report," Vol. 2, No. 25, 25 June 1999). LF

[02] KAZAKH PRESIDENT MEETS WITH SOUTH KOREAN, JAPANESE DIPLOMATS

Minh in Astana on 23 August to discuss bilateral trade and

economic ties, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. It is

unclear whether the alleged sale by Kazakhstan of MiGs to

North Korea was also on the agenda. Nazarbaev held talks the

same day with visiting senior Japanese diplomat Takemi Keizo

on the ecological situation at the former nuclear testing

ground at Semipalatinsk, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

Japan is a major participant in a UN-funded program to clean

up the territory adjacent to the site and will host an

international conference on that problem next month. LF

[03] TOP OIL OFFICIAL FIRED IN KAZAKHSTAN

fired KazakhOil State Oil Company President Nurlan Qapparov

on 23 August for "exceeding his authority in deciding

important strategic issues," AP reported. Qapparov's deputy,

Uzaqbay Qarabalin, was appointed acting president. Also on 23

August, Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev confirmed that

in order to plug an anticipated budget shortfall next year,

Astana may be constrained to sell part of its 25 percent

stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture, which is

developing the vast Tengiz oilfield, according to Interfax. A

spokesman for Russia's LUKoil told Interfax on 20 August that

his company is interested in increasing the 5 percent stake

in Tengizchevroil owned by the U.S.-Russian joint venture

LukArco. LF

[04] KYRGYZ DEFENSE MINISTER SACKED AS TROOPS BATTLE GUERRILLAS

Subanov on 24 August and appointed Chief of Staff General

Nurdin Chomoev to replace him, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau

reported. Late on 23 August, Kyrgyz forces attacked the group

of guerrillas who took hostage Kyrgyz Interior Ministry

forces commander Major-General Anarbek Shamkeev and four

Japanese geologists in southern Kyrgyzstan earlier that day.

According to unconfirmed reports, both sides incurred

casualties during that fighting. A second group of guerrillas

has seized control of two more villages, raising the number

under their control to four. Parliamentary deputy Dosbol Nur

Uulu told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau that the guerrillas'

strength exceeds 200. In Dushanbe, Tajik Security Council

Secretary Amirkul Azimov told Interfax that the guerrillas

are loyal to ethnic Uzbek field commander Djuma Namangani,

who refused to comply with the deadline to disarm issued by

Tajikistan's National Reconciliation Commission. That

deadline expired last month. LF

[05] KYRGYZ NEWSPAPER EDITOR ARRESTED

the independent and outspoken daily "Vechernii Bishkek," has

been arrested on charges of tax evasion, ITAR-TASS reported

on 24 August. LF

[06] TAJIKISTAN HOSTS FRUITLESS AFGHAN TALKS

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement and opposition Northern

Alliance met for a second round of Pakistan-mediated talks in

Dushanbe on 23 August, AP and ITAR-TASS reported. As at the

18 August round, no agreement was reached on adopting

proposals made by Pakistan as a basis for ending the civil

war. The North Alliance reportedly argued that Pakistan is

incapable of acting as a disinterested mediator and called on

Islamabad to stop interfering in the conflict, withdraw its

forces from Afghanistan, and end its support for the Taliban.

LF

[07] UZBEKISTAN RELEASES JAILED CHRISTIANS

unpublished decree signed by President Islam Karimov on 20

August, one Jehovah's Witness and all five known Christians

imprisoned in Uzbekistan have been freed, Keston News Service

reported on 23 August. Three of the five were Pentecostalists

serving sentences of 10-15 years. The Uzbek authorities are

also reportedly preparing to register several local Baptist

and Pentecostalist congregations. Observers believe the

gesture of leniency is intended to improve the country's

image before the U.S. State Department presents to Congress

on 1 September its annual assessment of religious freedom

worldwide. LF

[08] HOSTAGES TAKEN, RELEASED IN UZBEKISTAN

guerrillas seized control of a meteorological station in

eastern Uzbekistan on 23 August, ITAR-TASS reported. The

guerrillas released the staff of the facility and five local

tourists after robbing them of documents, money, clothing,

and food and fuel supplies. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] RUSSIAN-ALBANIAN STANDOFF CONTINUES IN RAHOVEC

ethnic Albanians continued to block roads leading to Rahovec

on 24 August, thereby preventing Russian peacekeepers from

entering that town (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August 1999).

The roadblock includes a long line of trucks, buses,

tractors, and other vehicles. Dutch peacekeepers are

scheduled to begin mediation between Russian officers and the

Albanian protesters later in the day, AP reported. The

protesters reject the deployment of Russian soldiers,

claiming that Russian mercenaries committed atrocities in

that area in March and April. The protesters also say they

fear Russian KFOR will protect Serbian paramilitaries who are

allegedly hiding in the Serb-dominated quarter of Rahovec. FS

[10] KFOR'S JACKSON BACKS RUSSIANS...

Sir Mike Jackson told Reuters in Prishtina on 23 August

that the Russians are "doing a good job" in all the

areas of Kosova that they currently patrol. He added

that the Rahovec protests are "no more than a bump in

the road." Elsewhere, Colonel-General Georgii Shpak, who

is commander of Russian paratroop units, told Interfax

in Moscow that "we have a peacekeeping mission in

[Rahovec] and we will carry it out." FS

[11] ...CONFIRMS UCK DEMILITARIZATION ON SCHEDULE

press conference with General Agim Ceku, who is the

chief of the Kosova Liberation Army's (UCK) General

Staff, in Prishtina on 23 August, Jackson confirmed that

the UCK handed in all its heavy weapons, all long-

barreled weapons, and 60 per cent of all automatic small

arms by 19 August, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service

correspondent reported. That day marked the end of the

second phase of the UCK's demilitarization. Jackson

stressed that the UCK must now concentrate on

transforming itself into a non-military group. The UCK

has committed itself to completing its demilitarization

by 19 September. FS

[12] SERBIAN WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS TO BE TRIED IN PRIZREN

peacekeeping troops in Rahovec on 20 August will stand

trial at a District Court in Prizren, rather than in The

Hague, Reuters reported. UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)

spokeswoman Nadia Younes said, however, that "although

this will be a domestic war crimes trial, the [tribunal]

takes great interest in this case. [This is] because the

events in [Rahovec] are related to the indictment of

[Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic." Tribunal

officials told Reuters on 23 August that they support

the arrest and trial of suspected war criminals in local

courts so long as the judiciary is "mature and

democratic enough" to ensure that individuals receive a

fair trial. FS

[13] DID SERBIAN FORCES USE SARIN GAS IN KOSOVA?

Daily Telegraph" reported on 24 August that "the Serbs used

Sarin nerve gas against ethnic Albanians before NATO

intervened" in Kosova. A UN expert told "Jane's Defence

Weekly" recently that Serbian forces used the gas against the

Kosovar Albanians "since the early nineties.... The attacks

affected some 4,000 people, including children," the London

daily reported. Observers note that Kosovar spokesmen have

long charged that the Serbian forces used poison gas against

ethnic Albanians. Outside experts have confirmed that poisons

were used in several incidents, but not that Sarin gas was

one of the toxins involved. PM

[14] ANNAN APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed German

environmental expert Tom Koenigs as deputy special

representative in Kosova in charge of civil

administration, on 23 August, AP reported. Koenigs, who

is a member of the Green Party and a close colleague of

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, will replace Dominique

Vian of France, who is leaving after only two months in

office. Koenigs will be one of four deputies to UN

Special Representative Bernard Kouchner. Since 1989,

Koenigs has been the head of the Environmental

Protection Department of Frankfurt, which also includes

responsibility for sewage management, the fire

department, and energy supplies. Between 1993 and 1997,

he was treasurer of Frankfurt. AP noted that he has a

reputation as a tough administrator focusing on

increasing the efficiency of public services and

modernizing the city administration. FS

[15] MAJKO WANTS ALBANIANS TO MAKE DONATIONS FOR KOSOVA-

Prime Minister Pandeli Majko called on

the Albanian people on 23 August to donate money for a

highway linking Durres with Prishtina, an RFE/RL South

Slavic Service correspondent reported. Majko said in

Tirana that "the Albanian government has decided that

the construction of a road linking Tirana with Prishtina

is one of its strategic priorities. That road will serve

both ethnic Albanian entities in the Balkans.... It will

serve the faster movement of goods, people, capital, and

culture." Majko called the plan "a gigantic challenge

for our nation" but stressed that "together we...can

achieve wonders for our joint future.... This will be

the Albanians' road and we Albanians will build it... We

shall ask for help from our international partners, but

initially we should demonstrate that we are able to help

ourselves." FS

[16] DJINDJIC SAYS MILOSEVIC RULE WILL LEAD TO CHAOS

Party leader Zoran Djindjic told AP in Belgrade on 23 August

that Serbia will face serious problems if Milosevic remains

in office much longer. Djindjic stressed that if the

president "does not go by the end of October, we will have a

humanitarian catastrophe and social unrest by hungry people."

He added that there will also be "further territorial

disintegration" if Montenegro declares independence in

response to Milosevic's refusal to quit. The opposition

leader argued that each unsuccessful attempt by the

opposition to unseat Milosevic has been followed by war.

Djindjic rejected charges by Milosevic's backers and the

Serbian Renewal Movement's Vuk Draskovic that his policies

will lead to "civil war" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August

1999), saying such accusations are "communist-style

intimidation." PM

[17] ARE SOME MILOSEVIC BACKERS ABANDONING HIM?

Change leader Vladan Batic said in Belgrade on 23 August that

Milosevic's supporters will not fight a "civil war" for him.

Batic added that some key Milosevic backers have recently

contacted U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 14 July 1999). Batic said those individuals

include prominent businessman Bogoljub Karic, Deputy Prime

Minister Ratko Markovic, economics adviser Zoran Lilic, and

others, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Batic

stressed that Milosevic must resign and a transitional

government must replace the present one. PM

[18] UN EXPERTS CAUTIOUS ON SERBIAN CHARGES OF ENVIRONMENTAL

Pekka Haavisto, who is chairman of the United Nations

Environmental Program's (UNEP) Balkans Task Force, said in

Belgrade on 23 August that he and his colleagues are

continuing their investigation into environmental damage in

Serbia as a result of the recent NATO air strikes. The team

arrived several weeks ago to look for the presence of a wide

variety of chemicals and other toxic waste in the

environment. In response to Serbian charges that the air

strikes led to radioactive fallout because some of the bombs

allegedly contained depleted uranium, Haavisto said his team

will proceed according to scientific evidence and not be

swayed by "rumors." The experts expect to complete a

preliminary study in September. They will then decide what to

do next, Reuters reported. Officials of UNEP and NATO

maintain that NATO used depleted uranium only in shells fired

at tanks in Kosova and not in missiles or bombs used against

Serbia proper. PM

[19] PRESUMED SREBRENICA VICTIMS EXHUMED FROM MASS GRAVE

completed the exhumation of 23 persons from a mass grave near

the Serbian-held town of Zvornik on 23 August, "Oslobodjenje"

reported. The experts believe that the bodies are those of

some of the 7,000 missing persons from Srebrenica (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August 1999). The forensic team will

resume work in September. Survivors say that up to 1,000

Srebrenica victims may be buried in mass graves in that area.

PM

[20] CROATIAN MINISTER TELLS VETERANS NOT TO MAKE POLICY

Minister Mate Granic said in Zagreb on 23 August that

Dubrovnik-area war veterans who recently blocked the border

crossing to Trebinje should desist from such protests in the

interest of promoting good relations with Bosnia (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 23 August 1999). He urged the veterans to let the

Hague-based war crimes tribunal deal with Serbs who committed

atrocities during the 1991 shelling of Dubrovnik, including

former Trebinje Mayor Bozidar Vucurevic. Obrad Gazda, who is

that town's current mayor, told Rijeka's "Novi List" that the

people of Trebinje have nothing to apologize for. He stressed

that the former Yugoslav army alone is responsible for the

shelling. PM

[21] ROMANIAN PREMIER WARNS PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES...

parliament convened in an extraordinary session on 23 August,

Radu Vasile urged parliamentary deputies to pass the

government-proposed legislation on restitution of real estate

and agricultural land to former owners or their heirs. Vasile

said that if they fail to do so by September, the government

will legislate such restitution by emergency regulation,

RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The opposition Party of

Social Democracy in Romania is threatening to boycott the

debate on procedural grounds. It also says government-

proposed restitution will increase the budget deficit by $50

billion. MS

[22] ...DISMISSES RUMORS ON QUITTING

recently reported in the media that he intends to resign and

accept an offer from the World Bank. He said that no such

offer has been made and that if it were, he would turn it

down. On 20 August, Education Minister Andrei Marga, whom the

media tips as a possible successor to Vasile, told

journalists that the National Peasant Party Christian

Democratic (PNTCD) needs to "urgently embark on [developing

a] strategy of reconstruction," Mediafax reported. Marga said

that reconstruction can take place at "a doctrinary, an

organizational, and a personal" level and that he believes he

"has solutions" for all three levels. He added that he does

not intend to run for a party leadership post but would

"think the offer over" if it were made to him. MS

[23] ROMANIA TO CHANGE TAXATION SYSTEM

August approved a regulation changing the taxation system.

Under the new system, Romanians will be taxed on "global

income," which will include wages and earnings deriving from

any other sources of income, either in Romania or abroad. The

government also decided that the pensions and incomes of

farmers are not to be taxed in the future. RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. MS

[24] RUN-OFF IN GAGAUZ-YERI ELECTIONS

on 5 September between incumbent Gagauz-Yeri Autonomous

Region Governor Georgii Tabunschik, who placed second (20.6

percent) in the 22 August elections in the region, and

Moldovan Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dimitrii Croitor,

who came first with 21.5 percent of the vote, RFE/RL's

Chisinau bureau reported. Turnout was 55.1 percent. Run-offs

will also be held in 25 of the 35 constituencies where

candidates for the People's Assembly were elected for the

first time since 1994, when the region gained autonomous

status, using a single-seat majority system. Tabunschik, who

has virtually introduced a system resembling the one

President Petru Lucinschi favors for the whole of Moldova,

has a good chance of being re-elected. MS

[25] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT READY TO COMPROMISE ON PRESIDENTIAL

Presidential spokesman Anatol Golea told journalists

on 23 August that Lucinschi is "ready to discuss various

variants on amending the constitution." He said Lucinschi has

initiated the debate on amending the basic law in order to

get feed-back from citizens and international organizations

and is "ready to discuss any constructive proposals." Golea

said that "unfortunately, many representatives of parties are

rejecting the draft [proposed by the presidential commission]

without having even read it." In response to a question,

Golea said the president regards the draft submitted by 38

deputies on instituting a full-fledged parliamentary system

as "an attempt to monopolize public [opinion] and ignore

people's will freely expressed in the [non-binding]

referendum of 23 May." MS

[C] END NOTE

[26] WHEN FOUR TIMES FIVE MIGHT EQUAL ZERO

Some 300 days after the four-party ruling Slovak

coalition took over the helm, the cracks in that coalition

are threatening the country's political stability. The

presence of a "Romanian syndrome" of decision-making

paralysis, mutual accusations among the coalition partners,

and political cronyism is beyond dispute.

Mikulas Dzurinda's cabinet was formed by four

formations--the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), the Party

of Civic Understanding (SOP), the reformed-communist Party of

the Democratic Left (SDL), and the Hungarian Coalition (SMK)-

-most of which have different social, economic, and political

priorities.

Like the SDK, the SMK is a political product of former

Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's midwifery. To circumvent an

electoral law that raised the parliamentary hurdle for

political alliances, three parties representing ethnic

Hungarians merged to form the SMK before the 1998 elections.

But unlike the SDK, the SMK currently shows few cracks. The

cementing force is the coalition partners' failure to fulfill

promises made before the elections. As in Romania, where the

unity of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania is

safeguarded by the struggle of its many wings and various

ideological views on how to enforce ethnic Hungarian demands

its on coalition partners, the SMK is already threatening to

"review" its participation in the coalition.

In the first place, Agriculture Minister Pavol Koncos of

the SDL refused to appoint an SMK party member as head of the

Slovak Land Fund, ignoring what the SMK claims was a "verbal

agreement" whereby it withdrew its demand for the agriculture

portfolio. The SMK is suspected by the SDL--not to mention

the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and

the xenophobic Slovak National Party--of intending to use the

land fund to restitute to ethnic Hungarians land confiscated

under the Benes decrees. Second, the SMK is dissatisfied with

the law on the use of minority languages in contact with

official authorities, which it considers too restrictive.

Passed by the parliament on 10 July, that law was mainly the

brainchild of Deputy Premier in charge of legislation Lubomir

Fogas of the SDL. Not surprisingly, Slovak media reported

that the SMK is demanding the dismissal of both Koncos and

Fogas.

Set up on the eve of the 1998 elections by five center-

right parties that, like the SMK, aimed at circumventing

Meciar's new electoral law, the SDK is the major coalition

partner. It is also the party most affected by the Romanian

"coalition of coalitions" syndrome. The five "mother parties"

of the SDK--the Christian Democratic Movement, or KDH, the

Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Union, the Democratic

Party, and the Green Party--agreed before the elections to

separate again after the ballot. Following the ballot,

however, Dzurinda opposed dismembering the SDK.

That stance put Dzurinda on a collision course with KDH

leader, Justice Minister, and former Premier Jan Carnogursky,

who, understandably, objected to seeing Dzurinda, a former

KDH member, becoming the dominant personality in Slovak

politics. But the Democratic Union and the Democratic Party

have also advocated--though less emphatically than

Carnogursky-- a return to a looser alliance formed by the

"mother parties." Dzurinda says that option is "out of the

question."

Carnogursky has led the campaign that ended on 9 August

with the ousting of former Transportation Minister Gabriel

Palacka, Dzurinda's most loyal minister. Palacka's ties with

Dzurinda date back to their employment in the Czechoslovak

railways company and were strengthened when he became the SDK

treasurer. The premier was very disturbed about the forced

departure of Palacka, who was held responsible for

irregularities in appointments at the ministry and

privatization tenders supervised by it. He openly attacked

Carnogursky, admonishing him for causing "government

instability."

Nor is Palacka the only ally of Dzurinda to have come

under criticism. Economy Minister Ludovit Cernak, who managed

the premier's 1998 electoral campaign, has been linked to the

privatization scandal caused by businessman Vladimir Poor's

sale of his shares in the Nafta Gbely refinery to the

Cincinnati-based Cinergy Company. Whereas Carnogursky and the

media blamed the deal on Cernak, Dzurinda deflected the blame

on National Property Fund (FNM) chief Ludovit Kanik and his

deputy, Ladislav Sklenar, demanding that both resign. He was

able to have the government approve a resolution calling for

their resignation but failed to have the parliament endorse

it. Carnogursky and, above all, the Democratic Party, which

had nominated Kanik, came to the FNM chief's defense. All of

which made Czech journalist Peter Schultz wonder, in an

article published in the 16 July "Lidove noviny," whether

Dzurinda was not promoting a sort of "Meciarism without

Meciar" by defending his own cronies and attacking those of

his adversaries.

Dzurinda's conflict with the Democratic Party may have

serious consequences. The most ardent promoter of the long-

due economic reforms is Privatization Minister Ivan Miklos,

who is a member of that party. Should his party leave the

coalition, Dzurinda might find himself surrounded by strange

bedfellows. The SDL, true to its origins, is refusing to back

the Miklos-sponsored bill on the privatization of large

state-owned companies, insisting that the state keep a

majority stake in energy and gas distributors as well as a 34

percent stake in banks. The Romanian parallel is once more

striking, but in Romania it is the Democratic Party that

plays a role like that of the SDL in Slovakia.

Meanwhile, the HZDS is hinting that the SDL and the SOP

may leave the coalition and help Meciar return to power. Is

Dzurinda's four-party coalition multiplied by the SDK's five-

party "coalition of coalitions" about to result in zero?

24-08-99

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

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