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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 190, 00-10-02
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 4, No. 190, 2 October 2000
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, PARTY LEADERS DISCUSS PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER'S
FUTURE
[02] MINISTER RULES OUT 2004 CLOSURE OF ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER STATION
[03] FORMER KARABAKH ARMY CHIEF REQUESTS POSTPONEMENT OF TRIAL TESTIMONY
[04] AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT'S IRAN TRIP TO BE POSTPONED AGAIN?
[05] AZERBAIJANI POLICE ATTACK OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATORS
[06] COMMUNISTS REGISTERED TO CONTEST AZERBAIJANI POLL
[07] TWELVE PRISONERS ESCAPE FROM GEORGIAN JAIL
[08] GEORGIAN REGIONAL OFICIALS SAYS RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS ENGAGE IN
SMUGGLING
[09] SEVEN KILLED IN CHURCH BOMBING IN TAJIKISTAN
[10] TAJIKISTAN FEARS REFUGEE INFLUX, BUT NOT TALIBAN ATTACK
[11] UZBEK DEFENSE MINISTER DISMISSED
[12] FINAL OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT--PART 1 COUNTRIES
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[13] SERBIAN GENERAL STRIKE BEGINS
[14] MILOSEVIC'S SERBIAN BASES OF SUPPORT ERODING?
[15] STATE-RUN SERBIAN MEDIA SHOW SIGNS OF DISLOYALTY
[16] YUGOSLAV MINISTRY KICKS OUT BBC JOURNALIST
[17] DEAL TO LET SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC 'OFF THE HOOK'?
[18] HAS MILOSEVIC REPLACED SERBIAN POLICE CHIEF?
[19] MILOSEVIC WARNS YUGOSLAV OFFICERS OF 'PLOTS'
[20] KOUCHNER CALLS KOSOVA VOTE COUNT 'LIE'
[21] VIOLENCE IN KOSOVA
[22] SOCIALISTS CLAIM VICTORY IN ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS
[23] TENSIONS IN CROATIAN LEADERSHIP AFTER MESIC SACKS GENERALS
[24] SLOVENIA INTO NATO IN SECOND ROUND?
[25] ROMANIAN POLL CONFIRMS ILIESCU, PDSR LEAD
[26] MOLDOVAN TIRASPOL PRISONER RUNS ON EXTREMIST ROMANIAN PARTY LISTS
[27] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT 'RE-INTERPRETS' AUDIO-VISUAL LAW...
[28] ...AMID OPPOSITION PROTEST AGAINST DIACOV, VORONIN
[29] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS CZECH REPUBLIC
[30] FINAL OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT--PART 2 COUNTRIES
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no end note today....
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, PARTY LEADERS DISCUSS PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER'S
FUTURE
Talks on 29 September between Robert Kocharian and leaders of parliamentary
parties failed to resolve the impasse created by disagreement over whether
the parliament's 26 September vote on speaker Armen Khachatrian's
resignation was valid, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 27 and 28 September 2000). Kocharian had made clear on 28
September that Khachatrian could continue to occupy that post only if he
had the support of a majority of deputies. "Haykakan zhamanak" on 30
September said that Kocharian assured the party leaders that he will not
dissolve the parliament in the immediate future. Some deputies had
predicted that disagreement over Khachatrian would eventually split the
majority Miasnutiun parliamentary bloc, a development they argued would
necessitate new elections. Khachatrian on 29 September showed no sign of
willingness to step down. LF
[02] MINISTER RULES OUT 2004 CLOSURE OF ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER STATION
Armenian Energy Minister Karen Galustian said in Yerevan on 30 September
that the Medzamor nuclear power station is a key element in the country's
energy system and need not be closed down for safety reasons in 2004 as
earlier agreed with the EU, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 18 December 1998). Galustian said the plant, which produces
approximately 42 percent of Armenia's electricity, could function until at
least 2013. He added that the Armenian leadership does not have the
hundreds of millions of dollars required to provide alternative sources of
energy in the event of Medzamor's closure in 2004. LF
[03] FORMER KARABAKH ARMY CHIEF REQUESTS POSTPONEMENT OF TRIAL TESTIMONY
Samvel Babayan, who together with 14 associates is accused of the 22 March
attempt to assassinate Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, asked on 28 September for his testimony to be
postponed to give him the chance to talk in confidence to the court
chairman and public prosecutor, Noyan Tapan reported. Babayan had refused
on 21 September to attend further court sessions, demanding that the trial
be transferred to a court in Armenia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 September
2000). On 27 September Babayan said he would testify only at a closed court
session. LF
[04] AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT'S IRAN TRIP TO BE POSTPONED AGAIN?
Heidar Aliev told journalists in Baku on his arrival from London late on 29
September that he feels well, Reuters and Interfax reported. Aliev added
that he considers it imperative to discover the source of rumors circulated
last week by the internet newspaper www.gazeta.ru that he had died (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 26 September 2000). On 30 September, Azerbaijan's
Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliev told Turan that Aliev's visit to Tehran,
planned for 8-11 October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 September 2000), may be
postponed until 14-17 October. LF
[05] AZERBAIJANI POLICE ATTACK OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATORS
Baku city police on 29 September attacked some 300 people congregated
outside the Court of Appeal, which was considering appeals by four
opposition parties against the Central Electoral Commission's refusal to
register them to contest the 5 November parliamentary poll under the
proportional system, Turan and Interfax reported. Some 20 members of the
Musavat party were beaten, and one was temporarily detained. The court
rejected the appeals of the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan and the National
Congress and postponed until 2 October consideration of the appeals by
Musavat and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan. LF
[06] COMMUNISTS REGISTERED TO CONTEST AZERBAIJANI POLL
The Central Electoral Commission on 30 September registered the list of
candidates submitted by the Communist Party of Azerbaijan to contest the 25
party list seats in the new parliament, Turan reported. The Court of Appeal
last month overruled the Commission's refusal to register the Communist
candidates on the grounds that the documentation submitted by that party
contained errors (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 and 22 September 2000). LF
[07] TWELVE PRISONERS ESCAPE FROM GEORGIAN JAIL
Twelve prisoners escaped from the hospital of a maximum security prison in
Tbilisi during the night of 30 September-1 October, reportedly through a 25-
meter tunnel they had secretly dug, Caucasus Press and Russian agencies
reported. The 12 include Loti Kobalia, commander of the late President
Zviad Gamsakhurdia's presidential guard, and former Finance Minister Guram
Absandze, who is currently on trial on charges of involvement in the
February 1998 attempt to assassinate President Eduard Shevardnadze.
Shevardnadze condemned the jail break as "an unprecedented bandit act"
undertaken with the connivance of prison staff, some of whom have been
arrested, according to ITAR-TASS. Police erected road blocks on highways
out of Tbilisi, but none of the escapees has yet been recaptured. LF
[08] GEORGIAN REGIONAL OFICIALS SAYS RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS ENGAGE IN
SMUGGLING
In a letter to Major General Sergei Korobko, commander of the CIS
peacekeeping force deployed along the border between Abkhazia and the rest
of Georgia, Bondo Djikia, governor of the west Georgian region of Mingrelia
and Upper Svaneti, accused the peacekeepers, of cooperating with criminal
groups engaged in smuggling stolen vehicles, Caucasus Press reported on 29
September. Those peacekeepers are all Russian servicemen. Korobko, in turn,
claimed that the Georgian police connive with the smugglers. LF
[09] SEVEN KILLED IN CHURCH BOMBING IN TAJIKISTAN
At least seven people died and 50 were injured by two bombs that exploded
during a religious service at a Korean church in Dushanbe on 1 October,
Reuters and AP reported. Tajik security and police officials have
classified the bombings as an act of terrorism. LF
[10] TAJIKISTAN FEARS REFUGEE INFLUX, BUT NOT TALIBAN ATTACK
Tajik Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov said in Moscow on 29
September that an estimated 100,000 fugitives from the ongoing fighting in
northern Afghanistan are congregated on the border between Afghanistan and
Tajikistan. Azimov and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov
both said that if those fugitives crossed the border into Tajikistan, their
presence would lead to destabilization and a humanitarian catastrophe, as
Dushanbe does not have the resources to care for them. Almost half of
Tajikistan's 6 million population is already threatened with hunger
following this summer's severe drought. Azimov also said that the Tajik
leadership is not concerned about a Taliban attack on its territory, given
that the Tajik armed forces are, in his opinion, "the most efficient and
mobile" in Central Asia, according to Interfax. Ivanov similarly said he
sees no need for Moscow to increase its troop presence in Tajikistan, ITAR-
TASS reported. LF
[11] UZBEK DEFENSE MINISTER DISMISSED
President Islam Karimov on 29 September fired Lieutenant General Yurii
Agzamov as defense minister, a post to which he had been appointed in
February (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 February 2000). No reason was cited for
his dismissal. Karimov simultaneously appointed as Agzamov's successor his
deputy, Major General Kodir Gulomov, who also held the post of head of
Uzbekistan's armed forces academy. LF
[12] FINAL OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT--PART 1 COUNTRIES
CountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal Russia32282888
Kazakhstan3407 Georgia0066
Uzbekistan1124Azerbaijan2013
Armenia0011*Kyrgyzstan0011
Tajikistan0000 Turkmenistan0000
<i>*Stripped of a bronze because of doping.</i>
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[13] SERBIAN GENERAL STRIKE BEGINS
Following some preliminary strike actions by students, workers, drivers,
and other citizens in various parts of Serbia between 29 September and 1
October, the opposition's general strike began in earnest on 2 October (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 29 September 2000). BBC Television reported from
Belgrade that transportation in the capital had come to a halt and that
thousands of people had taken to the streets in a "festive atmosphere."
Police limited their actions to removing license plates from vehicles
participating in road blocks, the broadcast added. Opposition Mayor-elect
Milan Protic encouraged demonstrators to continue their protests until
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic leaves office and lets Vojislav
Kostunica replace him, Sky News Television reported. Reuters subsequently
reported, however, that "most shops opened, major state institutions were
unaffected [by the strike], and by late morning the city was almost back to
normal." In Novi Sad on 1 October, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic said
the opposition is trying to create "chaos, unrest, and conflicts," RFE/RL's
South Slavic Service reported. PM
[14] MILOSEVIC'S SERBIAN BASES OF SUPPORT ERODING?
Many observers inside Serbia and abroad agree that the success of the
general strike will depend on whether the opposition can maintain the
momentum of the protest. Other important issues are whether the opposition
can attract supporters other than from the urban middle classes and whether
it can shut down important, highly visible branches of the economy such as
power and the media. Workers at the Kolubara coal mine near Lazarevac
launched a protest on 29 September. By 2 October, police began allowing
strike sympathizers to deliver food to the miners. Other strikes are taking
place at the Kostolac mine and power plant and at the Pancevo refinery. PM
[15] STATE-RUN SERBIAN MEDIA SHOW SIGNS OF DISLOYALTY
The strike committee at Radio-Television Novi Sad called on all employees
on 1 October not to obey orders from the pro-Milosevic management and not
to broadcast "false information," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.
The opposition's Press Center said in a statement that eight local radio
stations in several parts of Serbia have stopped re-broadcasting the
programs of Radio-Television Serbia. PM
[16] YUGOSLAV MINISTRY KICKS OUT BBC JOURNALIST
On 29 September, Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic announced the
expulsion of BBC correspondent Jacky Rowland for "twisting the words" of
Serbs she interviewed during her coverage of the recent elections. The BBC
management said that it hopes that Belgrade will "reconsider its decision,"
the BBC reported. PM
[17] DEAL TO LET SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC 'OFF THE HOOK'?
Russian diplomats arrived in Belgrade following President Vladimir Putin's
offer to mediate between Milosevic and the opposition, RFE/RL's South
Slavic Service reported on 1 October (see also Part I). The next day,
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in London that "Milosevic is left
with absolutely no friends anywhere in the world," Reuters noted. London's
"The Observer" reported on 1 October that "intense diplomacy" is under way
at the instigation of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to enable
"Milosevic [to] avoid prosecution for war crimes and escape into exile, if
he agrees to hand power to Serbia's opposition." An unidentified "senior
German diplomat" told the British weekly: "Officially [Germany is] in favor
of [the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, which has indicted Milosevic]. But
we need an exit strategy and that means getting him off the hook." PM
[18] HAS MILOSEVIC REPLACED SERBIAN POLICE CHIEF?
The Podgorica daily "Vijesti" reported on 2 October that Milosevic has
sacked Rade Markovic as head of state security in the Serbian Interior
Ministry. His replacement is Zoran Janackovic, the daily added. Janackovic
is the Yugoslav intelligence officer and ambassador to Macedonia, whom the
authorities in Skopje are investigating for allegedly attempting to
"destabilize Macedonia" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 September 2000). PM
[19] MILOSEVIC WARNS YUGOSLAV OFFICERS OF 'PLOTS'
Speaking near Belgrade on 30 September, Milosevic told a group of newly
promoted officers that "internal enemies" are allegedly ready to "call on
foreign armies" for unspecified purposes, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service
reported. He added that Yugoslavia "actively and continuously cooperates
with the entire world." Milosevic stressed that Yugoslavia's annual "growth
rate of 20 percent is the highest in the world." On 1 October, opposition
leader Goran Svilanovic told Hungarian Radio that Milosevic can no longer
count on the loyalty of the police and the army. PM
[20] KOUCHNER CALLS KOSOVA VOTE COUNT 'LIE'
Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN's civilian administration in Kosova,
said in New York on 29 September that the Milosevic regime's claim that it
received some 140,000 votes in Kosova is "a lie," Reuters reported.
Kouchner noted that only 45,000 people voted in Kosova on 24 September. PM
[21] VIOLENCE IN KOSOVA
In Zvecan near the Trepca complex, about 50 rock-throwing Serbs clashed
with police and fire-fighters on 1 October. It is not clear why the Serbs
attacked fire-fighters, who were attempting to extinguish two blazes in
different parts of the complex. A UN spokeswoman said that "we don't know
whether the fires were caused by arson," AP reported. Meanwhile in
Prishtina, a NATO spokesman said that peacekeepers found the body in Novo
Selo Zaimovo the previous night of Sadri Berisha, a member of the civilian
Kosova Protection Corps. Unknown persons shot him three times while he was
in his car. PM
[22] SOCIALISTS CLAIM VICTORY IN ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS
Officials of the governing Socialist Party said in Tirana on 2 October that
their party swept the previous day's municipal and local elections,
including--for the first time--Tirana, Reuters reported. Prime Minister
Ilir Meta said: "These were not only the fairest, most democratic, and most
transparent elections the country has ever had, but also the calmest."
Turnout was about 61 percent. Final tallies are expected "in a few days." A
spokesman for international monitors said that voting was peaceful and
without any serious problems, except for some isolated disputes over
voters' lists in Vlora and some other places. Opposition Democratic Party
spokesman Edi Paloka, however, called the elections "entirely manipulated."
Genc Pollo, who is a former Democratic leader who has broken with the party
leadership, told the BBC that "Albania has passed a test in democracy." He
added that the outcome shows that the Democrats in general and Berisha in
particular failed to present a "credible alternative" to a Socialist
leadership "widely seen as corrupt." PM
[23] TENSIONS IN CROATIAN LEADERSHIP AFTER MESIC SACKS GENERALS
President Stipe Mesic and Defense Minister Jozo Rados met for two hours in
Zagreb on 1 October to discuss Mesic's recent sacking of seven generals,
"Jutarnji list" reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 September 2000). Rados
said afterward that Mesic conceded it "would have been better" had he
consulted Rados before firing the men. The generals had written a
politically charged letter to protest the government's recent arrest of
alleged war criminals. Opinion polls suggest that a slight majority of the
population supports Mesic but that many Croats fear the government is
indeed "criminalizing" the 1991-1995 war for independence, as the generals
charge (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 29 September 2000). Drazen Budisa, who
heads the Croatian Social Liberal Party, said Mesic acted within his rights
but that the sackings did not resolve the issues that the generals raised
in their letter. The opposition Croatian Democratic Community called for
new elections in the wake of the sackings. Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica
Racan rejected the call. PM
[24] SLOVENIA INTO NATO IN SECOND ROUND?
Speaking in Ljubljana on 30 September after returning from the U.S.,
Defense Minister Janez Jansa said that NATO has not yet determined the
precise date for Slovenia's admission to the Atlantic alliance, RFE/RL's
South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 September 2000).
Jansa added that Slovenia will "most likely" be invited to join NATO after
the alliance's summit in Prague in the summer of 2002. PM
[25] ROMANIAN POLL CONFIRMS ILIESCU, PDSR LEAD
An opinion poll released by the Social Research Bureau on 1 October shows
former President Ion Iliescu still ahead in the presidential race, with 35
percent backing. He is followed by Premier Mugur Isarescu (20 percent),
Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor (12.3 percent),
National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate Theodor Stolojan (12.1 percent),
Democratic Party leader Petre Roman (9.3 percent), Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania's (UDMR) Gyorgy Frunda (6 percent), and Alliance for
Romania (APR) leader Teodor Melescanu (5.2 percent). In the parliamentary
contest, the field is led by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (38.2
percent), followed by the Democratic Convention of Romania 2000 (14.5
percent), the Democratic Party (12.1 percent), the PRM (10.5 percent), the
PNL (9.8 percent), the UDMR (7.5 percent), and the APR (6.6 percent).MS
[26] MOLDOVAN TIRASPOL PRISONER RUNS ON EXTREMIST ROMANIAN PARTY LISTS
PRM leader Tudor on 1 October announced that Moldovan parliamentary deputy
Ilie Ilascu, who has been imprisoned in Tiraspol since 1992, has obtained
Romanian citizenship and will run on the PRM lists for the Senate in Bacau
county. MS
[27] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT 'RE-INTERPRETS' AUDIO-VISUAL LAW...
By a vote of 52 to 26, the parliament on 29 September passed an amendment
to the audio-visual law aimed at resolving the dispute triggered by a
recent court ruling, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. According to the
amendment, the law's provision stipulating that a minimum of 65 percent of
broadcasts must be in the "state language" applies only to domestically
produced programs and not to re-transmissions of programs produced abroad.
The court's ruling would have obliged the Audio-Visual Council to withdraw
licenses from several stations that re-broadcast Russian-language programs
and has caused tensions in relations with Moscow. The amendment was
supported only by the Democratic Party (the former For a Democratic and
Prosperous Moldova Bloc) and the Party of Moldovan Communists (PCM). MS
[28] ...AMID OPPOSITION PROTEST AGAINST DIACOV, VORONIN
Claiming that Parliamentary Chairman and Democratic Party leader Dumitru
Diacov falsified the vote count, 26 opposition parties deputies demanded a
vote of no confidence in Diacov and walked out of the legislature. The
opposition deputies also accused PCM leader Vladimir Voronin of having
"insulted national symbols" during the debate and demanded that the
Prosecutor-General's Office launch an investigation. Replying to an
opposition deputy, Voronin said the Moldovan flag is "a fascist flag." He
later attempted to "clarify" the statement, saying he did not mean the
current flag, which carries the Moldovan coat of arms since 1992, but an
earlier version that is identical to the Romanian flag and "used to be
carried by Romanian fascists headed by Antonescu in World War II." MS
[29] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS CZECH REPUBLIC
Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova, during a two-day visit to Prague, on
29 September met with her Czech counterpart, Jan Kavan, and signed a
memorandum on enlarging cooperation between their ministries. Kavan and
Mihailova described bilateral ties as "good and problem-free." The two
ministers agreed, according to Kavan, that it is "necessary that Vojislav
Kostunica's victory in the Yugoslav presidential elections be confirmed."
Kavan also said that Prague supports Bulgaria's bid for a non-permanent
seat on the UN Security Council. He thanked Sofia for its support of the
Czech Republic's bid to be granted the presidency of the UN General
Assembly in 2002, CTK reported. MS
[30] FINAL OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT--PART 2 COUNTRIES
CountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal Romania116926
Ukraine3101023 Hungary86317Belarus331117
Poland65314Bulgaria56213
Czech Rep.2338Lithuania2035
Slovakia1315 Latvia1113
Yugoslavia1113 Estonia1023
Slovenia2002 Croatia1012
Moldova0112 Macedonia0011
Albania0000Bosnia-Herzeg.0000
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no end note today....
02-10-00
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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