RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 113, 00-06-12

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 113, 12 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ENDORSES NEW CABINET

[02] WORLD BANK APPROVES NEW LOAN FOR ARMENIA

[03] AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT PASSES NEW ELECTION LEGISLATION

[04] COUNCIL OF EUROPE EXPRESSES CONCERN AT HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

[05] ...PLIGHT OF DISPLACED PERSONS, CHECHEN REFUGEES

[06] UN OBSERVER ROBBED IN WESTERN GEORGIA

[07] GEORGIA, SOUTH OSSETIA HOLD TALKS ON RESOLVING CONFLICT

[08] CENTRAL ASIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS ATTEND ECO SUMMIT...

[09] ...HOLD BILATERAL TALKS

[10] NEW POLITICAL PARTY ESTABLISHED IN KAZAKHSTAN

[11] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN BEGINS NEW HUNGER STRIKE IN

[12] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION CALLS ON OSCE TO MODERATE NEW ROUNDTABLE

[13] MURDER WITNESS FOUND DEAD IN TAJIK CAPITAL

[14] UZBEK PRESIDENT OUTLINES PRIORITIES

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] SPLIT VOTE IN MONTENEGRIN LOCAL ELECTIONS...

[16] ...REFLECTS DIFFERING CONDITIONS

[17] KOSOVARS CELEBRATE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF END OF SERBIAN

[18] ...BUT WITH SOME MISGIVINGS

[19] KOSOVA SERBS CONCERNED FOR FUTURE

[20] KOUCHNER TAKES STOCK OF KOSOVA

[21] KFOR COMMANDER WARNS AGAINST 'QUICK FIXES'

[22] LI PENG SLAMS NATO IN BELGRADE

[23] TENSIONS ON MACEDONIAN BORDER WITH KOSOVA

[24] IMF HAS PRAISE, CRITICISM FOR ALBANIA

[25] CROATIA TO APPLY FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP

[26] CROATIAN GOVERNING PARTY BLASTS FASCIST COMMEMORATION

[27] FORMER SECRET POLICE BEHIND ROMANIAN INVESTMENT FUND

[28] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT OPPOSES LEAVING CIS

[29] BULGARIA'S CHIEF EU NEGOTIATOR FIRED ON CORRUPTION GROUNDS

[30] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT OVERRIDES PRESIDENTIAL VETO

[C] END NOTE

[31] KOSOVA ONE YEAR ON: LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ENDORSES NEW CABINET

deputies indicated on 9 June that they will not push for a

no-confidence vote in the new cabinet of Andranik Markarian,

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Markarian, who had

presented his program to deputies the previous day (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 June 2000), vowed to make every effort

to avoid seemingly inevitable cuts in budget spending this

year. He added that the ongoing stabilization of the domestic

political situation is reflected in what he called signs of

"an atmosphere of mutual trust" between the president,

premier, and parliament. Under the Armenian Constitution,

deputies' failure to challenge Markarian's program

constitutes formal approval of his cabinet, which

parliamentary deputy speaker Gagik Aslanian announced on 10

June. LF

[02] WORLD BANK APPROVES NEW LOAN FOR ARMENIA

approved a $40 million loan for upgrading Armenia's transport

infrastructure, the head of the Bank's Yerevan mission,

Oweiss Saadat, told journalists in the Armenian capital on 9

June. The funds are earmarked for improving road and rail

bridges, tracks, and rolling stock as well as transport

connections with neighboring Georgia and Iran. It is the

second such transport project the bank has funded in Armenia.

LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT PASSES NEW ELECTION LEGISLATION

vote of 86 to three with six abstentions, deputies on 9 June

passed in the third and final reading the controversial

amendments to the law on the Central Electoral Commission,

Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. Those changes stipulate that

one third of the commission's 18 members will be proposed by

the majority Yeni Azerbaycan party, one third by

parliamentary deputies from the opposition Azerbaijan Popular

Front and Azerbaijan National Independence parties, and the

remaining third by independent parliament deputies, most of

whom tacitly or overtly support the ruling authorities. The

amendments are the product of talks conducted by OSCE and

ODIHR representatives with both the Azerbaijani leadership

and opposition parties. The amended legislation has been

condemned as unfair by representatives of opposition parties

that were barred from participating in the 1995 parliamentary

elections under the proportional system and are thus not

eligible for representation on the commission. LF

[04] COUNCIL OF EUROPE EXPRESSES CONCERN AT HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

Council of Europe Commissioner Alvaro Gil-

Robles told journalists in Tbilisi on 9 June at the end of a

one-week visit to Georgia that he does not consider

conditions in Georgian prisons acceptable, Caucasus Press

reported. He also called for the immediate release of former

Mayor Tengiz Asanidze, who was pardoned by President Eduard

Shevardnadze in an amnesty last year but whom Adjar leader

Aslan Abashidze refuses to release from prison (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 12 October 1999 and 9 February 2000). LF

[05] ...PLIGHT OF DISPLACED PERSONS, CHECHEN REFUGEES

also expressed concern over the conditions in which displaced

persons from Abkhazia live, which he compared unfavorably

with those of Chechen refugees in Georgia. But he added that

as a result of his talks in Sukhum with Abkhaz leader

Vladislav Ardzinba, he believes agreement will soon be

reached on the repatriation of those displaced persons to

Abkhazia. Gil-Robles said that he visited the Pankisi gorge,

on the border between Georgia and Chechnya, and found no

evidence supporting Russian claims that there are Chechen

guerrilla bases there. But he admitted that some Chechen

refugees in Pankisi are engaged in criminal activities, and

he called for the swiftest possible repatriation of all of

them to Chechnya. On 10 June, Georgian police in Tbilisi

detained four Chechens from the Pankisi gorge who were trying

to exchange counterfeit $100 bills, Interfax reported. LF

[06] UN OBSERVER ROBBED IN WESTERN GEORGIA

in military uniforms robbed a member of the UN Observer Force

in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi on the night of 9-10

June, ITAR-TASS reported. It is the third such incident

involving UN personnel in the town. Several members of that

forces were taken hostage in the Kodori gorge earlier this

month but were later released. LF

[07] GEORGIA, SOUTH OSSETIA HOLD TALKS ON RESOLVING CONFLICT

Ossetian and OSCE representatives, held three rounds of

Russian-mediated talks in Djava between 31 May and 10 June on

a draft document intended to expedite a political solution of

the conflict between the central Georgian government and the

self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia, Interfax and ITAR-

TASS reported. South Ossetia continues to demand independent

status, while Tbilisi insists it is prepared to discuss only

degrees of autonomy for South Ossetia within Georgia. Further

talks are to take place under the OSCE's aegis in Vienna

later this month. LF

[08] CENTRAL ASIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS ATTEND ECO SUMMIT...

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as

Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev attended the

summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Tehran on

10-11 June, Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. Addressing the

summit on 10 June, Aliev called for establishing peace and

security in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. He expressed

the belief that Iran can play an important role in resolving

conflicts in the region. Aliev also said the restoration of

the Silk Road, linking Central Asia and the Caucasus with

Europe, will boost the economies of the Central Asian states.

Summit participants, who also included representatives from

Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, agreed to relax trade

barriers in order to boost economic cooperation. They also

discussed the transportation of energy resources within the

region, AP reported. LF

[09] ...HOLD BILATERAL TALKS

summit with Pakistan's leader, General Pervez Musharraf, who

undertook to provide Azerbaijan with military assistance to

resolve the Karabakh conflict, according to an unconfirmed

Interfax report on 10 June. The presidents of Kyrgyzstan,

Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan met separately with Iranian

President Mohammad Khatami to discuss bilateral relations,

ITAR-TASS reported. Khatami and Tajik President Imomali

Rakhmonov repeated their previous calls for a peaceful

solution to the civil war in Afghanistan. LF

[10] NEW POLITICAL PARTY ESTABLISHED IN KAZAKHSTAN

Patriots of Kazakhstan held its founding congress in Almaty

on 9 June, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital

reported. Ghani Qasymov, a former chairman of Kazakhstan's

Customs Committee who ran unsuccessfully against President

Nursultan Nazarbaev in last year's presidential poll, is the

founder of the party. Qasymov said his party will support

democratic changes in Kazakhstan. LF

[11] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN BEGINS NEW HUNGER STRIKE IN

Lyubov Ivanova, the lawyer of arrested Ar-Namys

party leader Feliks Kulov, told an RFE/RL correspondent in

Bishkek on 9 June that her client began another hunger strike

in detention two days earlier. She said Kulov was protesting

the prison authorities' refusal to allow him to receive food

parcels from his family. Kulov staged a 17-day hunger strike

following his arrest earlier this year on charges of abuse of

his official position when he held the post of minister of

national security (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 March and 12

April 2000). LF

[12] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION CALLS ON OSCE TO MODERATE NEW ROUNDTABLE

the El, Kairan-El, Republican, Communist, and Democratic

Movement of Kyrgyzstan parties issued a statement in Bishkek

on 9 June condemning as a political show the roundtable

discussion between the government, opposition, and NGOs that

began the previous day, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital

reported. They expressed support for a proposed alternative

roundtable to be mediated by the OSCE representation in

Bishkek (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 June 2000). Participants in

the ongoing Bishkek protest gathered on 9 June outside the

OSCE office and called on that organization to condemn the

roundtable. The OSCE had declined to participate on the

grounds that the final format for that gathering differed

considerably from that originally agreed upon by the OSCE,

the government, and the opposition. LF

[13] MURDER WITNESS FOUND DEAD IN TAJIK CAPITAL

Abdujabor Sayfulloev identified his body in a Dushanbe morgue

on 7 June, Asia Plus-Blitz reported two days later. The cause

of his death is unknown. Sayfulloev had been employed as

chauffeur by the chairman of the Tajik Television and Radio

Committee, Saifullo Rahimov, and was the sole witness to his

killing by unknown gunmen on 20 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

22 May 2000). LF

[14] UZBEK PRESIDENT OUTLINES PRIORITIES

published on 8 June in "Fidorkorlar," the publication of the

eponymous pro-government political party, Islam Karimov said

that the ultimate aim of Uzbekistan's ongoing economic reform

is to build a socially-oriented market economy, according to

Interfax. He stressed the importance of minimizing

interference by supervising bodies in the functioning of the

economy, increasing the country's export potential, and

ensuring a gradual improvement in living standards and social

safeguards for the most disadvantaged strata of the

population. Karimov singled out Islamic fundamentalism and

Western movies propagating the cult of violence as among the

greatest threats to creating a society "based on high moral

and spiritual values." LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] SPLIT VOTE IN MONTENEGRIN LOCAL ELECTIONS...

results give supporters of Montenegrin President Milo

Djukanovic the lead in the 11 June local elections in

Podgorica. In Herceg Novi, however, followers of Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic appear to have the upper hand.

The first official results are expected later on 12 June. The

contest between Djukanovic's For A Better Life coalition and

the rival Yugoslavia-Momir Bulatovic group was widely seen as

a test between supporters of Djukanovic's independent-minded

reform course and supporters of close links to Belgrade. The

BBC reported on 12 June that few local issues would affect

the outcome and that the central issue is indeed the nature

of future relations with Serbia. PM

[16] ...REFLECTS DIFFERING CONDITIONS

June added that Milosevic's supporters in Herceg Novi appear

to have benefited from their campaign to depict Djukanovic as

a Western puppet whose Western allies tried to buy him votes.

Reuters added that the large number of war veterans and

pensioners in Herceg Novi might have also tipped the scale in

favor of Milosevic. Predrag Bulatovic, who led the campaign

for the Yugoslavia-Momir Bulatovic slate, said: "In this

election the citizens showed they were for the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia." By contrast, Podgorica was and

apparently remains a source of support for Djukanovic, who

can count on the support of most government workers. He told

followers: "Today we can say for sure that Montenegro is

marching on a stable, democratic, reformist path and that no

one can distract it from that path. Our victory in Podgorica

is much better and greater than our defeat in Herceg Novi,"

the president concluded. PM

[17] KOSOVARS CELEBRATE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF END OF SERBIAN

Some 30,000 ethnic Albanians filled a soccer stadium

in Prishtina on 11 June to mark the first anniversary of the

arrival of NATO peacekeepers in the province, Reuters

reported. A column of 300 former members of the Kosova

Liberation Army (UCK), who now wear the uniforms of the

civilian Kosova Protection Corps (TMK), marched past

enthusiastic onlookers waving Albanian flags. Many

spectators, however, jeered veteran Kosova rights campaigner

Adem Demaci when he said: "We should not forget that those

Serbs who remain here are now living in miserable

conditions..... They have been abandoned by Belgrade," AP

reported. TMK commander Agim Ceku told listeners that Kosova

needs a "tolerant and democratic society," but he did not

mention Serbs. He added: "We have to prove to our [Western]

friends that we have the ability to run Kosova after they

leave." Reuters noted that everyone its correspondent

interviewed saw independence as the only future for Kosova.

PM

[18] ...BUT WITH SOME MISGIVINGS

reported on 12 June that Kosovar political life has become

highly fragmented and that many former UCK comrades-in-arms

are now bitter rivals. The most serious challenger to former

UCK leader Hashim Thaci is Ramush Haradinaj, the article

added. Many former guerrilla leaders, moreover, have become

involved in "brutal infighting, corruption, and mafia-style

activities," which is strongly resented by ordinary Kosovars.

The London daily suggested that the TMK is known locally as

Tomorrow's Masters of Kosova and that many of its members

have also been linked to crime (see also "End Note" below).

PM

[19] KOSOVA SERBS CONCERNED FOR FUTURE

Trajkovic called the situation of the province's Serbian

minority "catastrophic," AP reported from Prishtina on 11

June. He stressed that "Serbs and other non-Albanians are

directly targeted [in ethnic violence]...and if this

continues, only Albanians will remain" in Kosova. Trajkovic

argued that "a key problem is that the international

community's strategy is still based on the view that [local]

Albanians are the victims." In Gracanica, Serbian Orthodox

Father Sava, who is also a leader of the local Serbs, said

that he is "very discouraged" by his recent visit to the UN

Security Council. He said he does not see how Serbs can

continue to participate in UN-sponsored Kosova civilian

councils unless the Security Council provides Serbs with

written guarantees for their security in the province,

Reuters reported. PM

[20] KOUCHNER TAKES STOCK OF KOSOVA

June, Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN's civilian

administration in Kosova, said that the province was a "dead

desert" when peacekeepers first arrived. Now, he argued, much

has changed: "We have reduced by 10 times the amount of

crime, but there persists too much murder, violence, arson,

and actions directly particularly against the Serbs of

Kosovo." Kouchner stressed that it will be a long time before

it is possible for Serbs and Albanians to live together

peacefully. "Until this pain is eased, until the scars heal

over, until people in the [ethnic] Albanian families know if

those disappeared are dead or not, what happened to their

brother, their cousin, their sister, their father, then it

will not be possible to create conditions for greater

tolerance," an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the UN. PM

[21] KFOR COMMANDER WARNS AGAINST 'QUICK FIXES'

Brigadier Richard Shirreff said in Prishtina on 10 June that

he is confident that he has the necessary forces to combat

terrorism in Kosova. He added, however, that "there are no

quick fixes in the fight against terrorism. We are not

necessarily dealing with a coordinated organization. We may

well be dealing with individuals who strike when the

opportunity arises. This is very difficult to get a handle

on," Reuters reported. PM

[22] LI PENG SLAMS NATO IN BELGRADE

of the Chinese parliament and best known abroad for his role

in the 1989 killing of protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen

Square, addressed the Yugoslav parliament on 12 June. He said

that NATO's 1999 intervention to stop the genocide in Kosova

"constitutes a violation of the purposes of the UN Charter

and the universally recognized norms governing international

relations and poses a serious threat to stability in Europe

and peace in the world," Reuters reported. Li stressed that

"bombing does not bring peace." PM

[23] TENSIONS ON MACEDONIAN BORDER WITH KOSOVA

persons in Kosova exchanged fire with Macedonian defense

forces along the border on 9-10 June in separate incidents,

Reuters reported. President Boris Trajkovski subsequently

ordered the army to "raise combat readiness" along the

frontier, dpa reported. Macedonia recently strengthened

border security in response to previous incidents (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June 2000). PM

[24] IMF HAS PRAISE, CRITICISM FOR ALBANIA

on 9 June, IMF First Managing Director Stanley Fischer

praised the Albanian authorities' achievements in pursuing

"sound" macroeconomic policies, Reuters reported. Fischer

added that Albania has "GDP growing at about 7 percent,

inflation at close to zero, and external reserves at a

comfortable level." He noted, however, that Tirana still

needs to promote structural reforms. PM

[25] CROATIA TO APPLY FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP

Rados said in Zagreb on 9 June that his government will

formally apply for full membership in the Atlantic alliance

in the fall, Hina reported. He stressed that Croatia is

anxious to meet all terms for NATO membership, including

civilian control over the military. Under the late President

Franjo Tudjman, who himself was a retired general, the

military and intelligence communities were widely regarded as

laws unto themselves. PM

[26] CROATIAN GOVERNING PARTY BLASTS FASCIST COMMEMORATION

Minister Ivica Racan's Social Democrats said in a statement

on 9 June that a recent commemorative meeting by far-right

activists "is in clear contrast to the policies of the Social

Democrats." The Zagreb-based Civic Committee for Human Rights

called the rally "a grave shame and a real danger for today's

Croatia," AP reported. A group of ultranationalists met in

Slunj the previous day to honor Jure Francetic, one of the

leaders of the World War II pro-Axis Croatian government. PM

[27] FORMER SECRET POLICE BEHIND ROMANIAN INVESTMENT FUND

Thirty-six out of the 40 county branch managers of

the collapsed National Investment Fund are former Securitate

officers, Mediafax reported on 9 June. The other four served

in the Interior Ministry and in the Defense Ministry. The

previous day, the ad-hoc governmental commission

investigating the case said fraud was "committed from within

the fund" by people with managerial prerogatives. Earlier,

the government had announced that the fund's collapse

amounted to a "threat to national security." MS

[28] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT OPPOSES LEAVING CIS

recommended on 10 June that the parliament reject a draft law

submitted by the Popular Party Christian Democratic to

abrogate all agreements with the CIS, Flux reported. The

cabinet says the step would negatively impact on the effort

to bring about the withdrawal of Russian troops from the

Transdniester and solve the conflict with the separatists

there. It also said that Moldovan trade within the CIS is

growing and that leaving the organization would be against

Moldova's interests. And it added that at the moment, CIS

membership does not pose an obstacle to Moldova's integration

into European structures. MS

[29] BULGARIA'S CHIEF EU NEGOTIATOR FIRED ON CORRUPTION GROUNDS

June, said he has asked Alexander Bozhkov, the country's

chief negotiator with the EU, to resign owing to suspicions

that he has been involved in corruption. Later the same day,

Bozhkov complied with that request. Before his appointment as

chief EU negotiator in December 1999, Bozhkov was deputy

premier and industry minister and supervised property

restitution and privatization. Bulgarian media have dubbed

him "Mr. 10 percent," alleging he was involved in dubious

deals from which he received a 10 percent cut. Kostov said he

asked Bozhkov to step down after receiving a report from the

Prosecutor-General's Office, AP and Reuters reported. MS

[30] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT OVERRIDES PRESIDENTIAL VETO

parliament on 9 June voted by 122 to 63 with 12 abstentions

to override President Petar Stoyanov's veto of the law

shortening military service, AP reported. Last month,

Stoyanov had asked lawmakers to reconsider the legislation in

view of the military's opposition to it. Under the new

legislation, as of 1 October 2001 military service for

university graduates will be six months and for regular

conscripts nine months. In other news, Egyptian President

Hosni Mubarak on 10 June told Foreign Minister Nadezhda

Mihailova in Cairo that he is "committing himself" to take up

with the Libyan authorities the issue of the six Bulgarian

nationals accused of deliberately infecting children in a

Benghazi hospital with the HIV virus last year. MS

[C] END NOTE

[31] KOSOVA ONE YEAR ON: LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the

deployment of NATO peacekeepers in Kosova, the international

community has sent a strong message to Kosova's leaders that

the latest wave of violence is intolerable and must stop.

Serbs have been the main targets in a spate of drive-by

shootings, a road mining, and a series of grenade attacks.

But two key Albanian figures--former commanders of the

disbanded Kosova Liberation Army or (UCK)--were also killed

in the last two months.

But NATO-led peacekeepers have also been targets. A car

rigged with about half a kilo of plastic explosives and a

timer was parked n front of the British battalion

headquarters in the center of Pristina late last week. But a

British guard noticed something odd about the vehicle, and a

KFOR unit deactivated the car bomb in time.

Javier Solana, NATO's former secretary-general, who

ordered the 11 weeks of air strikes against Yugoslavia that

ended a decade of Serbian repression of Kosova's Albanian

majority, is now the EU's high representative for common

foreign and security policy. He was in Kosova last week to

deliver a stern warning to the top Kosovar Albanian leaders,

including political leader Ibrahim Rugova and former UCK

commander Hashim Thaci.

"As long as we continue with this level of violence, it

will be very difficult to continue with the process of

reconstruction in a good way, difficult to continue with the

process of reconciliation," he noted. "And therefore I'd like

here once again to make a clear appeal to the leaders of this

community to lead. To lead means to talk with the people and

to condemn what has to be condemned--and the violence has to

be condemned."

Solana expressed "alarm and tremendous indignation" at

the violence against the Serbian community. He said that the

anti-Serb violence --at least 58 attacks last month--is

discouraging displaced Serbs from returning. Some 150,000

Kosovar Serbs fled the province last year and most have not

yet returned.

A special envoy of U.S. President Bill Clinton delivered

a similar message, less harshly worded, to Rugova and Thaci

on 8 June. James O'Brien said that Kosova's leaders should

put themselves above suspicion of allowing or encouraging

violence. "If they act properly in this regard, then acts of

violence will be seen for what they are--criminal acts,

committed in some cases by extremists, who hope to disrupt

the political process that the entire international community

has committed itself to," he commented.

O'Brien said the recent incidents are "systematic

attempts to destabilize Serb communities." He declined to

respond directly to allegations that the Belgrade regime may

be behind some of the violence in an effort to destabilize

Kosova and discredit the international community. And he

argued that a professional criminal investigation is required

to establish just who is responsible. O'Brien added that

both Rugova and Thaci told him the violence is unacceptable

to the people of Kosova, and they committed themselves to

work publicly to end the violence.

Rugova and Thaci each issued statements last week

deploring the violence. Rugova, in his capacity as head of

the Democratic League of Kosova, termed the acts of violence,

"especially those targeting the Serb community, extremely

disturbing." No matter who is responsible, he said, the

violence threatens Kosova's hard-won freedom, stability and

peace. Rugova demanded an immediate halt to the violence,

warning that further acts, "especially on the first

anniversary of freedom, may take away the moral and material

support Kosova has had in the international community."

In comparison, Thaci's statement, issued in his capacity

as head of the Democratic Party of Kosova, was much more

mildly worded. It called for "this phenomenon to disappear"

and asks "all citizens of Kosova to refrain from and to

denounce all violent acts" and to contribute to increasing

security for all citizens of Kosova.

While the international community exerts pressure on

Kosova's leaders, KFOR peacekeepers have a similar mission at

the grassroots level. The commander of a British battalion

currently stationed in Pristina, Lieutenant Colonel James

Murray-Playfair, said his troops are talking directly to the

people in order to get across " a very clear message, that

violence will not be tolerated." He described the recent

upsurge in violence as "a relatively small blip," saying that

the long-term trend since the UCK was demilitarized in

September is toward an increasingly secure environment.

Murray-Playfair added, however, that challenges still

remain. The first challenge, he said, "is persuading men of

violence--wherever they come from, whether they are Serbs who

want to injure policemen, Serbs who want to injure Albanians,

Albanians who want to injure Serbs or indeed other Albanians-

-the very, very strong, resolute message from all of KFOR is

that this violence will not be tolerated. And I think the

challenge of security over the summer is one that we will

continue to fight out."

The author is an RFE/RL senior editor based in Prague.

12-06-00

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

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article