RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 15, 00-01-21

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 15, 21 January 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GEORGIAN RULING PARTY CHOOSES SHEVARDNADZE AS PRESIDENTIAL

[02] RUSSIANS IN KAZAKHSTAN WANT EQUAL REPRESENTATION

[03] DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST ARREST OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY

[04] ...AS OTHER KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIANS THREATENED WITH

[05] KYRGYZ OFFICIAL DENIES GOVERNMENT'S RESIGNATION IMMINENT

[06] KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN DISCUSS EXPANDING ECONOMIC

[07] PARTY LIST CANDIDATES REGISTERED FOR TAJIK ELECTION

[08] SON OF DETAINED TURKMEN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FACES

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] CROATIAN GOVERNING PARTIES REACH AGREEMENT

[10] PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION STRAINING COALITION?

[11] GRANIC: LEARN FROM HDZ'S MISTAKES

[12] HDZ TRYING TO SQUEEZE THROUGH PROMOTIONS?

[13] MULTI-ETHNIC POLICE START WORK IN BRCKO

[14] BOSNIAN JOINT MILITARY COMMITTEE OK'S PEACEKEEPERS

[15] BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT BLOCKS ELECTION LAW

[16] CROATS CHARGE DISCRIMINATION IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

[17] THOUSANDS ATTEND ARKAN'S FUNERAL

[18] U.S. EMBASSY IN TIRANA PARTLY REOPENED

[19] ITALIANS ARRESTED IN ALBANIAN AID SCANDAL

[20] ROMANIAN PARTIES INTERESTED IN TIMING OF LOCAL ELECTIONS

[21] GAGAUZ-YERI TO OPPOSE MOLDOVAN PRIVATIZATION?

[22] BULGARIAN-TURKISH TRADE DROPS

[23] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS ACCORDS IN ISRAEL

[C] END NOTE

[24] Croatia Votes On Monday

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GEORGIAN RULING PARTY CHOOSES SHEVARDNADZE AS PRESIDENTIAL

The Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK), the

largest faction in the Georgian parliament, on 20 January

officially notified the Central Electoral Commission that

it has chosen incumbent President Eduard Shevardnadze as

its candidate in the 9 April presidential poll, Caucasus

Press reported. The SMK must now collect 50,000 signatures

in support of Shevardnadze's candidacy by 19 February 2000.

LF

[02] RUSSIANS IN KAZAKHSTAN WANT EQUAL REPRESENTATION

organizations representing Kazakhstan's ethnic Russian

community, "Russkaya obshchina" leader Yurii Bunakov

appealed to local Russians not to leave Kazakhstan for

Russia in view of the social and economic problems that

country is experiencing, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent

reported. But Bunakov admitted that Russians in Kazakhstan

feel they have been treated as "step-children" since the

demise of the USSR. He argued that all Kazakhstan's ethnic

groups should be equally represented in the country's power

structures. LF

[03] DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST ARREST OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY

Some 200 people, including several parliament

deputies, congregated outside the government building in

Bishkek on 20 January to protest the arrest the previous

night of opposition El (Bei-Bechara) Party leader and

parliament deputy Daniyar Usenov, RFE/RL's bureau in the

Kyrgyz capital reported. Usenov was forcibly taken by

police from a Bishkek hospital, where he was being treated

for a heart condition. He is accused of failing to comply

with a summons to appear in court on 14 January in

connection with a case brought against him in 1996 and

subsequently closed. Usenov told RFE/RL by telephone on 20

January that neither he nor his lawyer received any court

summons. Usenov theoretically has double immunity from

arrest by virtue of being a deputy to the present

parliament and a registered candidate to contest a single-

mandate constituency in the 20 February parliamentary poll.

LF

[04] ...AS OTHER KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIANS THREATENED WITH

An official of the Ar-Namys Party told RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau on 20 January that the party's founder,

former Bishkek mayor Feliks Kulov, also faces imminent

arrest (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 January 2000). And a

parliament official told RFE/RL the same day that

parliament deputy Ishenbai Kadyrbekov faces arrest on

charges of assaulting and injuring a fellow parliament

deputy. Kulov and Kadyrbekov, one of the founders in 1993

of the Social-Democratic Party, are also registered as

election candidates. LF

[05] KYRGYZ OFFICIAL DENIES GOVERNMENT'S RESIGNATION IMMINENT

January that there is no truth to the rumors circulating in

the Kyrgyz capital the previous day that the government was

about to resign, Interfax reported. He said that Prime

Minister Amangeldi Muraliev's cabinet "will work long and

steadily." An unnamed government official had told RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau on 18 January that Muraliev had submitted

his resignation to President Askar Akaev, but that the

latter had not yet accepted it. LF

[06] KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN DISCUSS EXPANDING ECONOMIC

Tajik Premier Akil Akilov traveled to Bishkek

on 19 January for talks with President Akaev and with his

Kyrgyz counterpart, Amangeldi Muraliev, Interfax and Asia

Plus-Blitz reported. Akilov's talks with Muraliev focussed

primarily on economic cooperation. The two premiers signed

agreements on free trade and on the mutual protection of

investments. They also agreed to establish a bilateral

commission to resolve border issues, noting the desire of

both sides to develop coal, gas, and mineral resources

located in the immediate vicinity of their common border.

Akilov also told journalists that the two countries will

prepare a joint appeal to the World Bank for a credit to

finance the reconstruction of cross-border highways as a

way to encourage cross-border trade. LF

[07] PARTY LIST CANDIDATES REGISTERED FOR TAJIK ELECTION

Central Commission for Elections and Referenda on 20

January completed the process of registering the party

lists submitted by the six political parties contesting the

27 February elections to the lower house of the Tajik

parliament, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The commission said

that none of the parties managed to submit the necessary

documentation to secure the registration of all 22

candidates it proposed on time. So far, none of the parties

has lodged a complaint. The ruling People's Democratic

Party of Tajikistan registered 21 candidates, the Communist

Party 20, the Democratic Party 19, the Socialist Party 18,

and the Islamic Renaissance Party and Adolatkhoh 15 each.

LF

[08] SON OF DETAINED TURKMEN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FACES

Murat Nurmamedov has been placed under

house arrest and faces criminal charges of armed

hooliganism, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reported on 20

January quoting OSCE and Western embassy officials in

Dushanbe. Mamedov's father, Nurberdy, who heads the

unregistered Agzybirlik opposition party, was arrested in

Ashgabat earlier this month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10

January 2000). LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] CROATIAN GOVERNING PARTIES REACH AGREEMENT

designate Ivica Racan announced in Zagreb on 20 January

that his two-party coalition and the coalition of four

smaller parties concluded a 15-point agreement on the

functioning of the new government (see "End Note," below).

Racan's Social Democrats will hold half of the positions,

and his allies, the Social Liberals, will have 25 percent.

The remaining 25 percent will go to the four smaller

parties. The government will seek to reach its decisions by

consensus, but, if that fails, the two largest parties will

have the last word. The government will include a deputy

prime minister, two sub-deputies, and 19 ministers. The

ministerial portfolios will be redesigned from those of the

current cabinet in order to stress European integration and

economic reform. Racan said that no names have been decided

for the cabinet, although "Jutarnji list" of 21 January

identifies what it says are several of the key new

ministers. PM

[10] PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION STRAINING COALITION?

Zagreb on 20 January that the new government consists of

six parties and that its stability will not be affected by

the upcoming presidential election that pits Drazen Budisa

of the two-party coalition against Stipe Mesic of the four-

party grouping. A spokesman for Mesic, who is the front

runner, told Reuters that Mesic will work closely with

Racan "to achieve political and economic stability for

Croatia." Nonetheless, Budisa and his deputy Goran Granic

accused Mesic in separate newspaper interviews of being as

potentially autocratic as the late President Franjo

Tudjman. Budisa accused the more extroverted Mesic of

"theatrics" in his campaign and stressed that the political

situation is too volatile to enable anyone to predict the

outcome. PM

[11] GRANIC: LEARN FROM HDZ'S MISTAKES

Granic, who is the candidate of Tudjman's defeated Croatian

Democratic Community (HDZ), appealed to voters to support

him in order to prevent the two governing coalitions from

controlling all top state posts. He told Deutsche Welle on

20 January that many problems arose during the HDZ's 10-

year rule because it had a monopoly on power. No party or

coalition, he added, should be allowed to acquire a

monopoly again. Granic told "Vecernji list" of 21 January

that the HDZ must become a modern, European, Christian-

democratic party. He added that he is confident that he

will be elected president in the second round. Recent

polls, however, put him a distant third behind Mesic and

Budisa. PM

[12] HDZ TRYING TO SQUEEZE THROUGH PROMOTIONS?

reported on 21 January that outgoing Defense Minister Pavao

Miljavac tried to persuade acting President Vlatko Pavletic

to approve 950 promotions in the military before the new

government takes office. Tudjman was slated to approve the

promotions in late 1999, but he did not manage to do so

before falling ill. According to the independent Zagreb

daily, Pavletic said that he turned down Miljavac's request

because he does not have enough time left in office to

study each of the requests for promotion. He added that

Racan has made it clear to him that the new government will

quickly consider the requests on their merits and without

regard to political criteria. PM

[13] MULTI-ETHNIC POLICE START WORK IN BRCKO

officers -- including Muslims, Serbs, and Croats --

officially took up their duties in the Brcko district of

Bosnia on 20 January, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. International arbitrators ruled last year that

Brcko is to be a neutral district and not part of either

the Republika Srpska or of the mainly Croat and Muslim

federation. PM

[14] BOSNIAN JOINT MILITARY COMMITTEE OK'S PEACEKEEPERS

of the joint Permanent Military Committee of Bosnia-

Herzegovina formally approved plans in Sarajevo on 20

January for Bosnian contingents to take part in

international peacekeeping operations. The participants

noted that the size of local military forces was reduced by

15 percent in 1999 and that the international community

expects similar cuts in 2000. PM

[15] BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT BLOCKS ELECTION LAW

Sarajevo on 20 January, a spokeswoman for the international

community's Wolfgang Petritsch criticized the joint

parliament for failing to approve the new local election

law despite appeals by the Council of Europe for it to do

so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 January 2000). The law is

designed to break the major nationalist parties' grip on

power and enable moderates and non-nationalists to win

offices. Elsewhere, the OSCE, which will supervise the

local elections in April, announced that it has

disqualified nine candidates for failing to move out of

apartments belonging to other people. A major problem

hampering refugee return across Bosnia is the presence of

squatters in the refugees' flats. The squatters are usually

members of the ethnic group in control of the given region,

while the would-be returnees tend to belong to other

nationalities. PM

[16] CROATS CHARGE DISCRIMINATION IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Jelavic, who is the Croatian representative on the Bosnian

joint presidency, issued a document on 20 January in which

he charged that ethnic Croats are being systematically

deprived of equal legal status with the larger Muslim and

Serbian communities. Jelavic argued that the 1995 Dayton

peace agreement allows the Croats to maintain special ties

with Croatia but that unspecified "processes" are underway

to eliminate that right. Jelavic's spokesman added that the

Croats reserve the right to decide how to protect their

interests if they feel threatened, Hina reported.

Elsewhere, Jelavic told "Jutarnji list" of 21 January that

Budisa is a man deserving of respect and that nobody in

Bosnia, regardless of nationality, would oppose his

becoming president of Croatia. Jelavic dismissed some of

Mesic's critical statements about the Herzegovinian Croats

as "campaign rhetoric," adding that "if Mesic wins, we'll

sit down and talk." PM

[17] THOUSANDS ATTEND ARKAN'S FUNERAL

from Serbia, Montenegro, and the Republika Srpska attended

the funeral of Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan" in Belgrade on 20

January (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 18 January 2000).

Elsewhere, Ivica Dacic, who is the spokesman for Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia,

said that "Arkan was no doubt a patriot, regardless of his

contradictory biography," Reuters reported. Serbian Deputy

Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj said that "one thing is for

sure: Arkan was a true Serbian patriot, and all the

political misunderstandings and conflicts we had should now

be forgotten." PM

[18] U.S. EMBASSY IN TIRANA PARTLY REOPENED

Albania Joseph Limprecht, Albanian President Rexhep

Meidani, and Foreign Minister Pascal Milo attended a

ceremony in Tirana on 20 January to mark the partial

resumption of consular services at the embassy. Students

and government travelers will now be able to receive visas

in the Albanian capital, but private and business travelers

will still have to go to Athens for them, dpa reported. The

State Department closed down most functions at the embassy

in August 1998 owing to worries about possible terrorist

attacks by Islamic fundamentalists. PM

[19] ITALIANS ARRESTED IN ALBANIAN AID SCANDAL

spokesman said in Rome on 20 January that the director of a

1999 Italian aid mission in Vlora and three other

individuals have been arrested for corruption and abuse of

office. The four are suspected of having allowed gangs and

black marketeers to operate with impunity in the Kosova

refugee camp under their supervision. PM

[20] ROMANIAN PARTIES INTERESTED IN TIMING OF LOCAL ELECTIONS

Matei Agaton on 20 January said his party wants parliament

to place priority on debating the electoral laws for the

local and general elections this year, Mediafax reported.

Agaton said the PDSR believes the ruling coalition is

procrastinating on the law for local elections so that it

can then postpone the general and presidential ballots. He

said the PDSR wants the local elections to be held in May.

The Democratic Party chairman Petre Roman told Prime

Minister Mugur Isarescu that his party also wants local

elections to be held in May. Roman said the constitution

allows the general elections to be delayed by three months,

but it does not allow for such a delay in the case of the

presidential vote. Alliance for Romania leader Teodor

Melescanu said his party wants the local elections to be

held in May or June, and the parliamentary and presidential

votes in October or November. MS

[21] GAGAUZ-YERI TO OPPOSE MOLDOVAN PRIVATIZATION?

Croitor, the governor of the Gagauz-Yeri autonomous

republic, on 19 January told a meeting of regional

intelligentsia that the autonomous region "must be the

manager" of all properties on its territory. He said the

republic's Popular Assembly had "recently" adopted a

decision to that effect. Croitor said this does not imply

that Gagauz-Yeri is "appropriating" Moldovan property but

rather "transferring" such property to its own

"management." He added that the decision is in line with

the region's constitution. Croitor said several enterprises

located on the autonomous republic's territory were

privatized "too cheaply" and have brought no income to

local authorities. Victor Cecan, chairman of a

parliamentary Control and Petitions Committee, said he has

not read the Popular Assembly's decision but added that

"laws adopted by the assembly must not contradict Moldovan

legislation." MS

[22] BULGARIAN-TURKISH TRADE DROPS

signed last year between Bulgaria and Turkey has failed to

produce the expected results, and 1999 trade between the

two Balkan countries has fell by 27 percent compared with

the previous year, AP reported on 20 January, citing Faruk

Erkoc, the Turkish co-chairman of the Bulgarian-Turkish

business council. The free trade agreement enacted on 1

January 1999 calls for trade in industrial goods to be

fully liberalized by the end of 2001. It also reduced

tariff quotas for agricultural products. MS

[23] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS ACCORDS IN ISRAEL

Israeli officials on 18 January signed in Tel Aviv an

agreement on avoiding double taxation and an accord on

agricultural cooperation, BTA reported the next day.

Meeting with Israeli businessman on 19 January, President

Petar Stoyanov said Bulgaria wants to develop "mutually

beneficial cooperation with Israel" and is not asking for

"one-sided assistance." He said Bulgaria's cheap labor

force can be combined with Israeli know-how in the high

technology, agriculture, and the defense industries. MS

[C] END NOTE

[24] Croatia Votes On Monday

Croatian voters go to the polls on 24 January to choose a

successor to the late President Franjo Tudjman. The two

leading candidates--Stipe Mesic and Drazen Budisa --are

both from the ranks of the opposition, which won the 3

January parliamentary elections. The question is what

effect the presidential vote will have on the new

government.

Monday's election is likely to be only the first

round of balloting in the race to fill Croatia's highest

office. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the

votes this time, a second round will come two weeks later.

The stakes are high because the constitution--

which many observers believe was written for the autocratic

Tudjman--gives the president at least 24 crucial powers.

These include key decision-making functions in military and

security policy.

All mainstream political parties agree that those

powers must be curtailed or reassigned to the government or

other bodies. No party wants another imperial Tudjman

presidency. In order to stress that his era has ended, the

leading candidates have said they do not intend even to

live in the official residence Tudjman used. But the job

still remains the highest in the country, and will

doubtless play a key role even after its powers are scaled

back.

The outcome of the presidential election is

unlikely to make much difference in terms of policies on

this or other issues, since there is a broad agreement

between the two leading candidates as to what has to be

done. These priorities include improving the economy and

standard of living, speeding up privatization, attracting

foreign investment, and accelerating Croatia's entry into

Euro-Atlantic institutions. Brussels and Washington are

particularly interested in seeing if the new government

institutes democratic reforms, enables Serbian refugees to

come home, respects the independence and sovereignty of

Bosnia-Herzegovina, and cooperates with the Hague-based war

crimes tribunal.

Both leading candidates have promised quick

action on Euro-Atlantic issues. This is largely because it

will be easier to attain clear foreign policy goals than to

restructure a faulty economy that served the interests of

the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), which ruled since

1990 amid charges of corruption and cronyism.

But, then, what is the center of attention in

this election if not policy? The issue is what the outcome

of the vote will mean for the power relationship between

the large two-party coalition led by Prime Minister-

designate Ivica Racan and Budisa and its smaller four-party

ally, which backs Mesic. The two coalitions teamed up to

defeat the HDZ in the parliamentary vote and have since

agreed in broad terms on power-sharing in the new cabinet.

But rivalries still persist between them. Racan

and Budisa maintain that the coalitions must share power

between them on the basis of the relative number of votes

they received in the parliamentary elections. Racan has

told reporters that this interpretation is embodied in the

power-sharing agreement. The smaller coalition, however,

would still like to control more seats than the size of its

electorate would warrant, and it would prefer that the

cabinet reach decisions by consensus rather than by

majority vote.

Racan is likely to carry the day on both issues

if Budisa holds the presidency. If Mesic becomes president,

however, the smaller coalition may feel emboldened to

challenge Racan on these and other issues. Mesic may also

use some of his presidential powers to pressure Racan to be

more mindful of his smaller partner's interests.

A second problem involves the relations within

the two-party coalition if Budisa loses the presidency.

Should that happen, the Social Democrats will still have

the prime minister's job, but there will be no

corresponding "plum" for the Social Liberals. Is it

possible that Budisa's party might seek compensation from

Racan for Budisa's loss by demanding either additional

cabinet seats or even that the prime minister's position

rotate between the two coalition partners?

Nor are these the only issues likely to come to a

head as a result of the presidential election. The HDZ will

have to face serious questions regarding its own future if,

as expected, Foreign Minister Mate Granic--the HDZ's

candidate--comes in third behind Mesic and Budisa in the

first round. The once formidable party has already begun to

implode at breathtaking speed, and its chief faction

leaders regularly exchange insults in public. Granic

himself quit his party offices in disgust and in a

desperate attempt to rid himself of the albatross of his

party. But he continued to slip in the polls, which led him

to tell reporters that he would have been better off had he

run as an independent.

It was only a few weeks ago that Granic was

leading Budisa in the polls, with Mesic trailing in third

place. Mesic is best known abroad as the Croat who was

blocked by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic from assuming

the rotating Yugoslav presidency in 1991. Many Croats had

regarded him as a man of the past. But the feuding within

the HDZ appears to have destroyed the candidacy of the

otherwise popular foreign minister, putting Granic out of

the running and apparently skyrocketing Mesic into a new

career.

Meanwhile, the dapper and outgoing Mesic has been

marketing himself well against the bookish Budisa. His

message is simple and apparently quite effective: A vote

for Mesic is a vote to ensure that no single party (or

coalition) will again control all the top positions of

power.

21-01-00

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

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