RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 36, 00-02-21

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 36, 21 February 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN RULING COALITION PARTNER CALLS FOR CABINET

[02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, DASHNAKS DISCUSS KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT UNDERGOES EYE SURGERY

[04] ABKHAZIA REJECTS LATEST UN DRAFT PEACE PROPOSALS

[05] PICKETS IN WESTERN GEORGIA DISPERSE

[06] GEORGIA SAYS NO CHECHEN MILITANTS ON ITS TERRITORY

[07] STALIN'S GRANDSON HOPES TO CONTEST GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL

[08] KYRGYZSTAN HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

[09] OIC DELEGATION IN TAJIKISTAN

[10] TWO TAJIK POLICE OFFICERS ATTACKED

[11] TURKMEN PRESIDENT SAYS HE WILL EVENTUALLY STEP DOWN

[12] UZBEK PRESIDENT ESTABLISHES NEW CONTROL BODY

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] KFOR ENDS SEARCH FOR MITROVICA ARMS

[14] ETHNIC ALBANIANS MARCH ON MITROVICA

[15] WHY IS CLARK IN MACEDONIA?

[16] ALBRIGHT URGES ALBANIANS TO FORGET NATIONALISM, CORRUPT WAYS

[17] SERBIAN PARTIES APPEAL TO SANDZAK

[18] ANOTHER FINE FOR SERBIAN DAILY

[19] BELGRADE PROTEST AGAINST HAIDER, SESELJ

[20] SOCIALISTS LEAVE BOSNIAN SERB COALITION

[21] MESIC TO PUBLISH RECORDS OF TUDJMAN-MILOSEVIC DEALS

[22] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT HAS PROPOSAL FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES

[23] DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF ROMANIA HAS TWO ELECTORAL FACES

[24] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW DEPUTY SPEAKERS

[25] BULGARIA THREATENS TO EXPEL YUGOSLAV JOURNALIST

[C] END NOTE

[26] SANDZAK FACES DILEMMAS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN RULING COALITION PARTNER CALLS FOR CABINET

Senior members of the People's Party of Armenia

(HZhK), which forms the majority Miasnutiun parliament bloc,

together with the Republican Party, told RFE/RL on 18

February that the Armenian government should be reshuffled in

order to bring in ministers capable of implementing its

proposed economic policies. They refrained, however, from

naming ministers and denied that the party wants more cabinet

posts in addition to the two it already holds. The HZhK also

criticized the 2000 draft budget as not based on a clear

economic program. On 17 February, the HZhK expressed its

support for demands by opposition parties to convene a

special parliamentary session to debate the planned

privatization of the energy distribution network (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 11 February 2000). LF

[02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, DASHNAKS DISCUSS KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--

Dashnaktsutiun (HHD) on 19 February to discuss ongoing

diplomatic efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict and the

overall political and economic situation, RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. At the close of its congress earlier this

month, the HHD had warned against a solution to the conflict

that would entail concessions from Armenia (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 15 February 2000). In an interview published in

"Iravunk" on 17 February, Hovannisian stated that none of the

peace proposals advocated to date by the OSCE Minsk Group is

acceptable to his party. He termed recent developments in the

peace process "very dangerous," and argued that Armenia

should not engage in further talks on resolving the conflict

until it has made progress toward resolving economic and

domestic political problems. LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT UNDERGOES EYE SURGERY

a cataract removed in surgery at Washington on 17 February,

Reuters and Turan reported the following day. Azerbaijani

state television reported that Aliev "feels well." ITAR-TASS

quoted Azerbaijani Health Minister Ali Insanov as saying on

18 February that the president will return to Baku "in a few

days." LF

[04] ABKHAZIA REJECTS LATEST UN DRAFT PEACE PROPOSALS

will not discuss the "basic principles of distributing

constitutional powers" between Georgia and Abkhazia, which

were drafted by the UN, Astamur Tania, an aide to Abkhaz

President Vladislav Ardzinba, told Caucasus Press on 18

February. That draft envisages broad autonomy for Abkhazia

within a unified Georgian state. Abkhaz Prime Minister

Vyacheslav Tsugba, for his part, told Caucasus Press that the

Abkhaz authorities are prepared to discuss only establishing

relations with Georgia on the basis of two equal states. LF

[05] PICKETS IN WESTERN GEORGIA DISPERSE

have blockaded the Inguri bridge, in western Georgia, since

early February to demand the release of relatives held

hostage in Abkhazia have dispersed after being assured by

Georgian intelligence chief Avtandil Ioseliani that two

Georgians sentenced by the Abkhaz for crimes committed during

the 1998 hostilities will be released, Caucasus Press

reported on 21 February. In return, Georgia will release two

Abkhaz customs officers seized in late January (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 2 and 8 February 2000). The Abkhaz had earlier

protested that a protocol signed in early February covered

the release of all hostages, but not of persons convicted for

war crimes. On 18 February, the CIS peacekeeping detachment

deployed along the internal border between Abkhazia and the

rest of Georgia had accused the Georgians of exacerbating

tensions by refusing to expedite the Abkhaz officers'

release. LF

[06] GEORGIA SAYS NO CHECHEN MILITANTS ON ITS TERRITORY

Georgian Border Guard Service commander Korneli Salia on 18

February denied the claim made earlier that day by his

Russian counterpart, Konstantin Totskii, that between 400 and

1,000 Chechen militants have taken refuge in Georgia's

Pankisi gorge close to the border with Chechnya, ITAR-TASS

and Caucasus Press reported. On 19 February, the Georgian

Foreign Ministry announced that Azerbaijan, Hungary, Spain,

Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Romania, Turkey, the Czech

Republic, and Estonia have sent representatives to serve in

an OSCE force that will monitor the Chechen sector of the

Georgian-Russian border. LF

[07] STALIN'S GRANDSON HOPES TO CONTEST GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL

Georgia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on 19

February received applications from another two presidential

hopefuls, raising the total to 16, ITAR-TASS reported. The

last two candidates to submit their applications before the

19 February deadline were Yevgenii Djughashvili, 63, a

retired Soviet army colonel and grandson of Joseph Stalin,

and lawyer Ushangi Dondjashvili. On 18 February, the CEC

officially banned the collection of signatures in support of

the presidential candidacy of former Georgian Security chief

Igor Giorgadze, who the Georgian authorities claim

masterminded an attempt to assassinate parliamentary chairman

Eduard Shevardnadze in 1995. The CEC ruled that Giorgadze

cannot contest the poll as he has not lived in Georgia for

the past two years. LF

[08] KYRGYZSTAN HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Kyrgyzstan's 2.4 million voters cast their ballots on 20

February in elections for the country's new bicameral

parliament. Preliminary returns indicated that the Communist

Party polled some 27 percent of the party list vote, under

which 15 of the 60 seats in the lower house are to be

allocated. A women's group was in second place, followed by

the pro-presidential My Country group and the pro-government

Union of Democratic Forces. LF

[09] OIC DELEGATION IN TAJIKISTAN

Talbak Nazarov held talks in Dushanbe on 17 February with a

delegation from the Organization of the Islamic Conference

headed by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad

Zarif, Asia Plus-Blitz reported the following day. Discussing

the war in Afghanistan, Nazarov proposed a cease-fire as a

first step toward a solution. All parties agreed that further

peace talks within the Six-Plus-Two group (Russia, the U.S.,

China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and

Uzbekistan) are needed to expedite a settlement of the civil

war in Afghanistan and should be supplemented by

international and private initiatives. LF

[10] TWO TAJIK POLICE OFFICERS ATTACKED

opened fire late on 18 February on two police officers in

Dushanbe, Interfax reported. One of the officers later died

from his wounds. On 19 February, ITAR-TASS quoted a senior

Tajik security official as saying that several suspects have

been detained in connection with the 16 February grenade

attack on the car of Dushanbe Mayor Makhmadsaid Ubaidullaev,

in which Deputy Security Minister Shamsullo Dzhabirov was

killed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 February 2000). LF

[11] TURKMEN PRESIDENT SAYS HE WILL EVENTUALLY STEP DOWN

in Ashgabat on 19 February, his 60th birthday, Saparmurad

Niyazov that over the next five to seven years he plans to

prepare a successor, after which he will resign, Interfax and

AP reported. He said that he considers it his duty to prepare

a new generation of politicians to whom power will be

transferred, rather than risk a power vacuum or power

struggle. LF

[12] UZBEK PRESIDENT ESTABLISHES NEW CONTROL BODY

has issued a decree creating a Coordinating Council for

Control that will be subordinate to himself and will monitor

implementation of presidential and government decrees and

resolutions, Interfax reported on 18 February. The new

commission will also monitor the work of government

commissions headed by ministers or presidential advisers. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] KFOR ENDS SEARCH FOR MITROVICA ARMS

from approximately 12 countries--including 150 U.S. soldiers-

-completed a thorough search of Mitrovica on 21 February,

General Pierre de Saqui de Sannes told Reuters. He did not

elaborate. The hunt for illegal weapons began the day before,

yielding some 10 Kalashnikovs, four M-48s, and several

smaller weapons on the first day. In northern Mitrovica,

Serbs threw stones and other objects at U.S. troops, whom

they accused of using excessive force. A Serbian spokesman

said French peacekeepers have been conducting routine

searches "for weeks" without incident, AP reported. Ethnic

Albanians told journalists that the French had been sloppy

and ineffective in their searches. KFOR spokesmen stressed

that all KFOR follows the same policy, while one indicated

that peacekeepers have precise knowledge of arms caches and

are determined to find them. PM

[14] ETHNIC ALBANIANS MARCH ON MITROVICA

Albanians began a five-hour march from Prishtina to Mitrovica

on 21 February, Reuters reported. They demanded an end to the

violence in and division of the town. Some carried banners

reading "No to Partition of Kosova" and "Without Mitrovica

there is no Kosova." Others carried Albanian, U.S., or NATO

flags. In Mitrovica, KFOR officials said that only a "small

delegation" will be allowed past NATO checkpoints to enter

the city. Before the June 1999 peace agreement, both north

and south Mitrovica were predominantly Albanian. Many ethnic

Serbs settled in northern Mitrovica at the close of the

conflict, saying they felt safe only in an area with a large

concentration of Serbs. Ethnic Albanians have accused French

peacekeepers of giving tacit support to what the Albanians

call the illegal partition of the city. KFOR denies that

charge. PM

[15] WHY IS CLARK IN MACEDONIA?

General Wesley Clark said on a "routine consultation" visit

to Skopje on 20 February that he came "to assure your leaders

of NATO's continuing intent that there will be peace,

stability, and progress in this region. I came here to thank

the government for its continued support for the KFOR

mission," AP reported. His visit followed one by NATO

Secretary- General Lord Robertson (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18

February 2000). "Vesti" reported from Skopje on 21 February

that the Atlantic alliance wants to be sure of support from

the Macedonian authorities in the event of a conflict in

Montenegro or of escalating tensions in Kosova. Should a new

conflict come to the region, NATO would again require transit

rights across Macedonian territory and air space, as well as

military bases in Macedonia, "Vesti" added. PM

[16] ALBRIGHT URGES ALBANIANS TO FORGET NATIONALISM, CORRUPT WAYS

parliament in Tirana on 19 February that Albania's future

lies in a democratic, united Europe. She urged her listeners

to shun violence, corruption, and the absence of the rule of

law. She added: "We look ahead to a new and brighter future

for Southeast Europe. We look to Albania to help lead the

way.... We support your efforts to build a professional and

accountable police, an efficient and effective customs

service, and an impartial judiciary," AP reported. "The old

ways of doing business are no longer acceptable," she added.

Prime Minister Ilir Meta told a news conference that charges

that Tirana seeks a greater Albania are made by nationalistic

Serbs anxious to distract foreign attention from their own

plans for a greater Serbia. Meta stressed: "I want to confirm

once again that we work for a European Albania and for

Southeast Europe to be integrated in the EU and NATO,"

Reuters reported. PM

[17] SERBIAN PARTIES APPEAL TO SANDZAK

Democratic Party, Social Democracy, and New Democracy

appealed to Muslims and Serbs in Sandzak not to heed or

spread rumors about a "coming armed conflict" in the region

(see "End Note," below). The three opposition parties

stressed that the Belgrade regime wants to spread fear and

insecurity in Sandzak so that it can better manipulate the

people there, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

[18] ANOTHER FINE FOR SERBIAN DAILY

February fined the independent daily "Danas" $8,000 at the

free market rate for allegedly slandering the head of the

state health insurance fund. The daily wrote that Tomislav

Jankovic abused his position for personal gain. "Danas" and

some other private media in Serbia have been the targets of

recent costly lawsuits by persons close to Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic. PM

[19] BELGRADE PROTEST AGAINST HAIDER, SESELJ

people held a peaceful protest outside the Austrian embassy

on 19 February. They carried banners equating Austria's far-

right leader Joerg Haider with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister

Vojislav Seselj and with Nazism. PM

[20] SOCIALISTS LEAVE BOSNIAN SERB COALITION

of the Republika Srpska (SPRS), which is the Bosnian branch

of Milosevic's party, said in a statement in Banja Luka on 20

February that it is leaving the governing coalition. The

party said the move came in response to Prime Minister

Milorad Dodik's recent sacking of Deputy Prime Minister

Tihomir Gligoric and health insurance fund manager Dragutin

Ilic, both Socialists. Former President Biljana Plavsic,

whose party belongs to the governing coalition, said that the

SPRS's move is the result of orders from Milosevic's party,

which recently held its congress in Belgrade (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 18 February 2000), RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. Dodik's coalition has a three-seat majority in the

legislature even without the Socialists. PM

[21] MESIC TO PUBLISH RECORDS OF TUDJMAN-MILOSEVIC DEALS

President Stipe Mesic told Vojvodina opposition leader Nenad

Canak in Zagreb that he will publish the records of the

meetings and agreements between Milosevic and the late

President Franjo Tudjman, "Jutarnji list" reported on 21

February. It is unclear when the texts will be published. The

two presidents are widely believed to have reached several

agreements in the 1990s on the partition of Bosnia.

Elsewhere, Mesic is slated soon to name Vjera Suman as his

spokeswoman and Tomislav Karamarko as head of the National

Security Council. Karamarko is a former adviser to Mesic and

to former Prime Minister Josip Manolic. He has also headed

the Zagreb police. Finally, Defense Minister Jozo Rados said

that Tudjman's elite presidential guard will be disbanded and

integrated into other units. PM

[22] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT HAS PROPOSAL FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES

Tonino Picula, has prepared a $55 million proposal for a

forthcoming Budapest meeting of the EU's Stability Pact,

"Jutarnji list" reported on 21 February. The plan aims at

resettling 16,500 individuals--or 7,000 families--from among

the tens of thousands of ethnic Serbian refugees. The new

government has expressed its willingness to resettle the

refugees but stresses that it needs money to offer them

housing, infrastructure, and jobs. PM

[23] DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF ROMANIA HAS TWO ELECTORAL FACES

Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) on 18 February signed

two protocols on the forthcoming local and general elections.

In the June local elections, the CDR will be made up of just

two formations--the National Peasant Party Christian

Democratic and the Romanian Ecologist Party. Its two other

members, the National Liberal Party and the Romanian

Ecologist Federation, will run separately from the CDR.

However, all four parties will run jointly in the general

elections, which have yet to be scheduled. On 19 February,

the National Convention of the Democratic Party re-elected

Petre Roman as its chairman, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. MS

[24] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW DEPUTY SPEAKERS

parliament on 18 February elected Party of Moldovan

Communists (PCM) deputy Vadim Mishin and Democratic

Convention of Moldova (CDM) deputy Vladimir Ciobanu as deputy

speakers, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Radio Bucharest

said it is the first time since 1994, when the party was

legalized, that the Communists hold a key position in the

Moldovan official hierarchy. On 19 February, President Petru

Lucinschi said he is "worried" that the new structure of

alliances in the parliament will not make it possible for the

legislature to pass the privatization laws that the

government and the IMF have agreed on. Presidential spokesman

Anatol Golea also said Lucinschi is "not ruling out" the

"danger" that the new PCM-CDM alliance will vote to transform

the country's system into a full-fledged parliamentary

system, Flux reported. MS

[25] BULGARIA THREATENS TO EXPEL YUGOSLAV JOURNALIST

Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov told journalists on 20

February that Sofia "will have to reconsider the permit for

Tanjug's correspondent to stay in the country," AP reported,

citing BTA. The step is in retaliation to repeated entry bans

on Bulgarian journalists. Last week, a Bulgarian private

television crew was denied entry to eastern Serbia, where a

50,000-strong Bulgarian minority lives. MS

[C] END NOTE

[26] SANDZAK FACES DILEMMAS

Ethnic Muslims make up just over 50 percent of the

population of Sandzak, which is a larger percentage than

their fellow Muslims constitute in neighboring Bosnia-

Herzegovina. But while the Bosnian Muslims exude a certain

self-confidence and use the politically correct term

"Bosnjak" to refer to themselves in order to underscore their

self-image as "the authentic Bosnians," the Muslims in

Sandzak are anything but confident.

The root of their problem is that Sandzak is

administratively divided between Serbia and Montenegro.

Slobodan Milosevic's regime has long remained deaf to calls

from the region for its unity and autonomy. Strategically

important Sandzak forms a land bridge connecting Kosova and

Bosnia and is well known to students of the origins of World

War I as the Sandzak of Novi Pazar.

Another problem is a division of the Muslims' own

making, namely political splits in their own ranks that

prevent them from speaking with one voice. As with the

Serbian opposition in Belgrade, the differences often have

more to do with politicians' egos than with parties'

platforms. One of the best-known figures is Rasim Ljajic, who

heads the Sandzak Coalition and the regional branch of Alija

Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action (SDA). He is

generally at odds with Sulejman Ugljanin, who was his

predecessor as head of the SDA.

But other problems are not necessarily of the Muslims'

own making. During the Bosnian conflict, there were periodic

incidents of "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims carried out by

paramilitary groups in Sandzak. Some other Muslims, fearing

the worst, fled to Bosnia or beyond.

Another issue centers on Sandzak's current political

relationship to Serbia and Montenegro. Like the Kosova

Albanians, many of the Sandzak Muslims have chosen in recent

years to reject the legitimacy of the Milosevic regime by

refusing to participate in Belgrade's political life or take

part in Serbian elections. Now the main fear among Sandzak's

Muslims is that the tensions between Serbia and Montenegro

will somehow work to the Muslims' disadvantage and that

matters could come to head very soon.

Several politicians and representatives of NGOs from the

region recently participated in a round-table in Belgrade.

Some participants were very pessimistic, regarding the

Muslims' days in Sandzak as numbered. According to this view,

the Muslims have no choice in an increasingly ethnically

polarized environment but to emigrate to Bosnia. There,

however, they have not always received the warmest of

welcomes, at least partly because many Bosnians regard them

as competition in a tight job market, given that they are

willing to work for relatively low wages.

Another opinion is that the Montenegrin part of Sandzak

should seek to unite with Serbia if Montenegro secedes from

the Yugoslav federation. This would restore the unity of

Sandzak, albeit under Milosevic. Perhaps one speaker at the

Belgrade round-table--Dzemail Suljevic, who represents the

SDA in the Serbian parliament--felt that an attempt to unite

all of Sandzak in a reform-minded Montenegro would provoke an

armed response from Milosevic. In any event, another speaker-

-Mujo Mukovic of the Sandzak Coalition--said his party wants

the unity of Sandzak but argues that it is up to the Muslims

of Montenegro to decide their own future.

Several speakers looked beyond the frontiers for a

solution to their problems. One argued that the Muslims

should involve the international community, just as the

Serbian opposition and the Montenegrin government have done.

Another speaker went a step further and stressed that the

only solution from the Muslim standpoint is to seek an

international protectorate for Sandzak.

That, of course, would be a tall order and would likely

be met with either stunned silence or the response that the

Muslims should concentrate their efforts on promoting

democracy and reform in Serbia and Montenegro. The

international community has not been too pleased with the

results of its experiences in Bosnia. Its more recent effort

in Kosova is faltering for lack of money and personnel. One

suspects that any Sandzak Muslims are sadly mistaken if they

expect a NATO fire brigade to come to their rescue in the

foreseeable future.

21-02-00

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

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