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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 49, 01-03-12
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 5, No. 49, 12 March 2001
Participants at a conference of Chechen political organizations held in
Moscow on 10 March called on the Russian government to start a dialogue,
without preconditions, between the Putin and Maskhadov administrations on a
"civilized political settlement" of the Chechen conflict, Interfax
reported. They also called for a referendum among citizens of the Chechen
Republic on the region's future status, and for the UN and OSCE to act as
guarantors of a future peace agreement. But a further resolution calling
for the deployment in Chechnya of armed peacekeeping forces from neutral
countries passed by only four votes. Participants also disagreed on whether
Aslan Maskhadov remains Chechen president: he was elected in January 1997,
apparently for a four-year term (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 4, No.
5, 2 February 2001). Shamil Beno, the Moscow representative of pro-Moscow
administration head Ahmed Kadyrov, said at the conference that
representatives of that administration must be allowed to attend any talks
between Maskhadov and the Russian leadership. LF
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA, NATO DISCUSS COOPERATION
[02] FORMER ARMENIAN DISSIDENT CALLS FOR ANNULMENT OF TREATY OF KARS
[03] TWO CHECHENS CAPTURED IN AZERBAIJAN
[04] AZERBAIJANI KILLED IN GEORGIAN MARKET RAID
[05] GEORGIA, RUSSIA, OSCE SLAM ABKHAZ ELECTIONS
[06] GEORGIA CONDEMNS RUSSIAN STALLING ON ABKHAZ SETTLEMENT
[07] GEORGIA URGES SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT...
[08] ...CONFIDENT GUUAM WILL SURVIVE
[09] KYRGYZ COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCE ON OPPOSITION LEADER
[10] TAJIK PRESIDENT AGAIN AFFIRMS PRO-RUSSIAN ORIENTATION
[11] IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS TAJIKISTAN
[12] FORMER TURKMEN FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED AMBASSADOR TO CHINA
[13] UIGHUR WRITER REPORTED MURDERED IN UZBEK JAIL
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[14] MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN LEADER CALLS FOR PEACE MARCH
[15] ALBANIA CALLS FOR MACEDONIAN STABILITY
[16] NEW ALBANIAN PARTY FOUNDED IN MACEDONIA
[17] SITUATION REMAINS TENSE IN MACEDONIA
[18] MACEDONIAN MINISTER PROMISES CHANGES
[19] NATO DIPLOMAT STILL HOPEFUL ON PRESEVO CEASE-FIRE
[20] BELGRADE MUZZLES SERBIAN GENERALS
[21] SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH NATO OFFER...
[22] ...WARNS NATO IT WILL 'HAVE TO FIGHT' ALBANIANS...
[23] ...SAYS U.S. CONGRESSMEN 'PAID' BY ALBANIANS
[24] U.S. WARNING TO BELGRADE?
[25] BOSNIAN SERB WAR CRIMES SUSPECT SURRENDERS
[26] TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SETS UP SERBIAN CHAPTER
[27] SERBIAN REFORMIST LEADER DIES IN CAR CRASH
[28] HERZEGOVINIAN CROATS REMAIN ADAMANT
[29] FORMER ROMANIAN KING TURNS DOWN ILIESCU'S INVITATION
[30] YET ANOTHER PROMINENT PD LEADER LEAVES PARTY
[31] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN LAW ON STATE SECRETS CONTINUES
[32] MOLDOVA TO BECOME MEMBER OF THE STABILITY PACT?
[33] BULGARIA ARRESTS TWO FOR ESPIONAGE
[34] BULGARIAN LEGISLATURE URGES INTERNATIONAL HELP FOR MACEDONIA
[C] END NOTE
[35] There is no End Note today
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA, NATO DISCUSS COOPERATION
Admiral Guido Venturoni, who is chairman of NATO's Military Committee, met
in Yerevan on 8-9 March with Armenian leaders to discuss the domestic
political situation and the prospects for greater bilateral cooperation.
President Robert Kocharian characterized Venturoni's visit as a "new step"
in Armenia's ties with NATO, according to Snark as cited by Groong. Both
Kocharian and Prime Minister Andranik Markarian expressed the wish to
expand Armenia's participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program,
stressing at the same time that the Russian military presence in Armenia
constitutes a factor for stability in the South Caucasus rather than a
threat to neighboring countries. Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian
characterized cooperation with NATO as "an integral part" of Armenia's
national security system, according to ITAR-TASS. LF
[02] FORMER ARMENIAN DISSIDENT CALLS FOR ANNULMENT OF TREATY OF KARS
Presidential Human Rights Commission Chairman and former Soviet-era
dissident Paruyr Hairikian told a press conference in Yerevan on 9 March
that his Self-Determination Union demands the return to Armenian
jurisdiction of Azerbaijan's enclave of Nakichevan and the Turkish
territories of Kars and Ardahan, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Those
lands were placed under the control of Azerbaijan and Turkey respectively
under the terms of the Treaty of Kars signed between Kemalist Turkey and
Soviet Russia on 16 March 1921. Hairikian condemned the present Armenian
leadership for neglecting the issues of those lost territories, and called
on all Armenian political parties to join a campaign to demand that the
treaty be annulled. Hairikian also condemned what he termed Russian
Communists' complicity in the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. LF
[03] TWO CHECHENS CAPTURED IN AZERBAIJAN
Russian Interior Ministry officers and officials from the Azerbaijani
Prosecutor-General's office detained two prominent Chechen fighters in Baku
on 7 March, Russian agencies reported. The two men, who were extradited to
Russia four days later, were identified as Badrudi Murtazaev, said to be a
close associate of field commander Shamil Basaev, and Ruslan Akhmadov, who
together with field commander Arbi Baraev is suspected of involvement in up
to 30 hostage-takings, including those of foreigners, and of the kidnapping
and execution in 1998 of four British and New Zealand telephone engineers.
Speaking to foreign journalists in Baku on 10 March, Azerbaijani President
Heidar Aliev said the extradition was in compliance with bilateral
agreements on legal assistance, ITAR-TASS reported. LF
[04] AZERBAIJANI KILLED IN GEORGIAN MARKET RAID
An Azerbaijani woman was trampled to death on 11 March during an inspection
by Georgian tax police of a market near Tbilisi, Caucasus Press reported.
The tax police confiscated numerous vehicles loaded with contraband audio
and video equipment, provoking protests and stone-throwing by traders. It
is the second death of an Azerbaijani at the hands of Georgian officials
within the past week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 March 2001). Also on 11
March, Georgian border officials prevented an attempt by a convoy of some
15 vehicles to break through the border post without undergoing controls.
LF
[05] GEORGIA, RUSSIA, OSCE SLAM ABKHAZ ELECTIONS
Over 50 percent of the registered Abkhaz electorate cast their ballots on
10 March in elections to local councils, Reuters and ITAR-TASS reported
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 and 7 March 2001). A senior Abkhaz security
official said that the voting proceeded "smoothly." But in Tbilisi,
representatives of the Georgian displaced persons forced to flee Abkhazia
during the 1992-1993 war staged a protest against the Abkhaz poll, and
Georgian parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania said that "there can be no talk"
of the legitimacy of any elections in Abkhazia until those displaced
persons have been allowed to return home. The UN, the OSCE, the Council of
Europe, and the Russian Foreign Ministry have all issued statements saying
they do not recognize the ballot as valid. LF
[06] GEORGIA CONDEMNS RUSSIAN STALLING ON ABKHAZ SETTLEMENT
Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Avtandil Napetvaridze told journalists
in Tbilisi on 9 March that for several months Russia has blocked discussion
of a UN-drafted proposal to resolve the Abkhaz conflict, which would grant
Abkhazia "a high degree of autonomy" within Georgia, Interfax reported. He
said Moscow considers that those proposals "do not reflect the interests of
the Abkhaz side," and accused the Russian leadership for saying it condemns
separatism but doing nothing to eradicate it. Tbilisi has similarly refused
recently to discuss two earlier draft accords aimed at paving the way to a
formal solution of the Abkhaz conflict (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol.
4, No. 5, 2 February 2001). LF
[07] GEORGIA URGES SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT...
Georgia has a "vital interest" in the swiftest possible solution of the
Karabakh conflict, presidential administration official Shalva Pichkhadze
told the Armenian news agency Mediamax on 9 March, according to Groong.
Puchkhadze recalled that Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze had said he
would be prepared to try to mediate a solution to the conflict if asked by
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so. Pichkhadze added that
"realistically speaking" only the three states that co-chair the OSCE Minsk
Group are capable of "eradicating the reasons that provoked" that conflict.
LF
[08] ...CONFIDENT GUUAM WILL SURVIVE
Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Napetvaridze told journalists in
Tbilisi on 9 March that the GUUAM alignment will survive even if one of its
five members (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) should
quit the grouping, Interfax reported. He said Georgian officials prefer to
refrain at present from predicting whether Moldova, following the Communist
victory in the 25 February Moldovan parliamentary elections, might leave
GUUAM. He said other countries have expressed an interest in joining that
alignment but declined to name them. LF
[09] KYRGYZ COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCE ON OPPOSITION LEADER
The Bishkek Military Court on 9 March upheld the sentence handed down by
the Bishkek City Court in January on former Vice President and opposition
Ar-Namys Party leader Feliks Kulov, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Kulov
was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on charges of abusing his
official position while serving as National Security Ministry in 1997-1998.
The Bishkek City Court had acquitted Kulov on those charges last summer,
but in September the Military Court demanded that the acquittal be reviewed
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August and 12 September 2000 and 22 January
2001). LF
[10] TAJIK PRESIDENT AGAIN AFFIRMS PRO-RUSSIAN ORIENTATION
Speaking in Dushanbe on 9 March on the fifth anniversary of the signing by
pro-government organizations of the Treaty on Public Accord, President
Imomali Rakhmonov again affirmed that Russia is Tajikistan's "main
strategic partner," and that that partnership is a guarantee of
Tajikistan's security, ITAR-TASS reported. Rakhmonov said a decree is in
preparation on the mandatory study of the Russian language, which he termed
a precondition for implementing joint large-scale economic projects with
Russia, including completion of the construction of the Ragun hydroelectric
plant. As in two recent interviews with the Russian press, Rakhmonov again
appealed to Russia to invest in the exploitation of Tajikistan's natural
resources (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 February 2001). LF
[11] IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS TAJIKISTAN
Ali Shamhani held talks in Dushanbe on 9 March with his Tajik counterpart
Colonel-General Sherali Khairulloev and with Tajik President Rakhmonov,
Russian agencies reported. Those talks focussed on the prospects for
bilateral military cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan. The two
defense ministers agreed that there can be no military solution to the
civil war in that country and called for peace talks between Afghan
President Burhanuddin Rabbani and the leaders of the Taliban. LF
[12] FORMER TURKMEN FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED AMBASSADOR TO CHINA
Boris Shikhmuradov, who was demoted last summer from Turkmen Foreign
Minister to special presidential envoy for Caspian issues (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 31 July 2000), has been relieved of that latter post and named
ambassador to Beijing, ITAR-TASS reported on 11 March, quoting the Turkmen
News Service. LF
[13] UIGHUR WRITER REPORTED MURDERED IN UZBEK JAIL
Uighur writer Eminzhan Osmanov was recently murdered in jail in Uzbekistan
by Uzbek National Security Committee staffers, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau
reported on 9 March, quoting Yusufbek Mukhlisi, the leader of the Almaty-
based National Front for the Liberation of Eastern Turkistan. Osmanov's
body, which bore traces of beatings and torture, was handed over to his
relatives in Tashkent on 2 March with orders that he should be buried
immediately. A former head of the Uighur section of the Writers' Union of
Uzbekistan, Osmanov was arrested last year and charged with propagating
Wahhabism. LF
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[14] MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN LEADER CALLS FOR PEACE MARCH
Speaking in Skopje on 12 March, Arben Xhaferi, who heads the governing
Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH), called on fellow Macedonian
Albanians to take part in a peace march in the capital the following day.
He stressed that "another war in the Balkans cannot be tolerated," AP
reported. He argued that the recent "violence in Tanusevci jeopardized...the
entire image of Albanians and threatens their natural alliance with the
democratic nations of the West." Xhaferi stressed that the fighting is the
work of "extremists." Out of the recent violence, Albanians have "emerged
as villains, as the guilty party, and a destabilizing element for the
region," he concluded. PM
[15] ALBANIA CALLS FOR MACEDONIAN STABILITY
Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta met in Tirana on 11 March with the
leaders of Macedonia's two largest ethnic Albanian political parties. Meta
told his guests that "the stability of Macedonia is vital for the stability
of the whole region. The Albanian government supports the attempts of your
parties to promote dialogue and participate in the country's institutional
life," dpa reported. Xhaferi told reporters that "we agreed that the use of
violence is unacceptable and that it will only damage the image of the
Albanians." Ymer Ymeri of the opposition Party of Democratic Prosperity
(PPD) argued that "the attitude of the Macedonian government has been, and
continues to be, against the Albanians, so the current situation is a
result of this attitude. The number of armed people can increase if the
Macedonian government continues to ignore the Albanians." The PPD was part
of a governing coalition until the 1998 elections. PM
[16] NEW ALBANIAN PARTY FOUNDED IN MACEDONIA
Some 500 people attended a meeting in Skopje on 11 March to found the
National Democratic Party (PDK). Co-President Kastriot Haxhirexha told the
BBC that the PDK's goals are similar to those of the PDSH and PPD except
that it calls for recasting Macedonia as a federation with separate
Macedonian and Albanian components. He added that the PDK wants a
referendum on "political and cultural autonomy" as well as the right to use
"national symbols." Haxhirexha denied that the new party is a political arm
of the National Liberation Army (UCK) guerrillas fighting along the border
with Kosova. His fellow Co-President Fadil Bajrami told AP that the PDK
wants greater local self-government at the expense of Skopje. He added that
the party wants Macedonia redefined as a state of "Macedonians and
Albanians" with the two languages on equal legal footing. PM
[17] SITUATION REMAINS TENSE IN MACEDONIA
Xhaferi told Prishtina's "Koha Ditore" on 11 March that the source of
ethnic tensions in Macedonia is located within that republic itself and has
nothing to do with Kosova. Elsewhere, Macedonian security forces fanned out
in patrols along the border with Kosova, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service
reported. The border crossings at Blace and Jaznice remain closed (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 March 2001). Macedonian state-run media stopped
rebroadcasting Albanian- and Macedonian-language programs of the BBC, but
did not give a reason. PM
[18] MACEDONIAN MINISTER PROMISES CHANGES
After meeting with his Albanian colleague Paskal Milo in Peshkopi, Albania,
Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim promised to implement unspecified
social and economic reforms to improve the lot of the 23 percent ethnic
Albanian minority, AP reported. He stressed that "Macedonia's government
can distinguish extremist groups from the rest of the population." Milo
agreed with the need for reforms, adding that "acts of violence by
extremist groups should not be considered as actions by all Albanians." PM
[19] NATO DIPLOMAT STILL HOPEFUL ON PRESEVO CEASE-FIRE
Peter Feith told Reuters in Bujanovac on 12 March that negotiators from the
Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac (UCPMB) are consulting
with the guerrillas and that he hopes to meet with the envoys later in the
day. Feith has been trying for several days to negotiate a cease-fire
around the demilitarized security zone between the UCPMB and Serbian
forces. The UCPMB objects to readmitting the feared Serbian paramilitary
police into the village of Trnava near the Macedonian border as part of
NATO's recent offer to the Serbian forces (see below). Leaders of the
region's Albanian political parties said in Presevo on 11 March that
opening the zone to Serbian forces will undermine stability there, RFE/RL's
South Slavic Service reported. On 9 March, UCPMB Chief-of-Staff Shefket
Musliu said that his guerrillas will "fight to the last man" because they
"have nowhere to go" and will not take "orders from NATO." PM
[20] BELGRADE MUZZLES SERBIAN GENERALS
Authorities have banned army and police commanders from making statements
to the press about the situation in southern Serbia, dpa reported on 11
March, quoting Tanjug. Several top officers have recently made little
secret of their desire to punish "Albanian extremists" and take the "first
step" toward a return of Serbian forces to Kosova. PM
[21] SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH NATO OFFER...
Speaking to reporters in Belgrade on 11 March, Zoran Djindjic joined other
Serbian critics of NATO's offer to readmit Serbian forces to a part of the
border safety zone where Kosova, Serbia, and Macedonia come together (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 March 2001). "Our forces will be there in the
crossfire. On the one side, we will have Albanians from Kosovo, and on the
other side, we will have Albanians from Macedonia. Both are extremists, and
we think this problem could be called a hot potato. This hot potato should
be taken by KFOR and Macedonian security forces," RFE/RL reported. He added
that "our interest is primarily in the part of the buffer zone around
Bujanovac and Presevo," where government troops are anxious to force
guerrillas out of their positions. Djindjic had just returned from a trip
to Germany, where Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer assured him of Berlin's political and economic support in Serbia's
transition to democracy, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on
10 March. PM
[22] ...WARNS NATO IT WILL 'HAVE TO FIGHT' ALBANIANS...
Prime Minister Djindjic told "Glas javnosti" of 11 March that "the
international forces need to realize that they will either confront ethnic
Albanian extremism or be defeated...and humiliated." He stressed that "KFOR
is facing a situation in which the baby it once nursed is now beginning to
bite," AP reported. He added that Belgrade is under "no illusions" about
the prospects for a negotiated peace with the Albanian fighters in the
Presevo Valley, adding that "they will keep resorting to pure terrorism."
PM
[23] ...SAYS U.S. CONGRESSMEN 'PAID' BY ALBANIANS
Premier Djindjic also told "Glas javnosti" on 11 March that the Western
powers should demand the arrest and trial in The Hague of Kosovar leader
Hashim Thaci for "atrocities" he allegedly committed during the Serbs' 1999
ethnic-cleansing campaign in Kosova. Djindjic said support for the Kosovars
has been waning recently in some EU countries. He added, however, that in
the U.S. "the Albanian lobby cannot be ignored. There are U.S. congressmen
who we know are being paid by the Albanian lobby. That is a fact, and we
must live with it," AP reported. Djindjic offered no proof of his claims.
Some Belgrade media and President Vojislav Kostunica's adviser, Predrag
Simic, have frequently referred to the alleged power of an "Albanian lobby"
in Washington. PM
[24] U.S. WARNING TO BELGRADE?
The "New York Times" reported on 10 March that "the United States has told
the...government in Belgrade [in a three-page letter] that if it expects
American aid to continue, it should arrest and imprison former President
Slobodan Milosevic by the end of March, and at the same time should assist
in transferring to The Hague at least one person indicted on war crimes
charges, senior Western officials said today." The report added that
"Washington is not insisting that Mr. Milosevic be transferred immediately
to The Hague, where he is under indictment for war crimes for Serbian
actions before and during the 1999 Kosovo war. But its official policy
remains that Mr. Milosevic face charges in The Hague." The daily noted that
"for American aid to continue, President [George W.] Bush must certify to
Congress by 31 March that the Belgrade government is cooperating with the
Dayton agreement, furthering human rights, and cooperating with The Hague
tribunal. Otherwise, nonrelief American aid of $100 million this fiscal
year will be cut off; about half of it is not yet disbursed." PM
[25] BOSNIAN SERB WAR CRIMES SUSPECT SURRENDERS
Blagoje Simic, who was a senior Bosnian Serb civilian administrator,
arrived in the Netherlands on 12 March on a plane from Belgrade. He is the
first Yugoslav citizen to voluntarily go to The Hague in connection with
war crimes charges relating to the 1992-1995 war. The trained physician was
chief administrator of Bosanski Samac during the conflict. Of the town's
prewar population of 17,000 Croats and Muslims, only 300 remained at the
end of the war, AP reported. Before leaving for Belgrade, he said that he
will prove his innocence of the charges. His lawyer stressed that Simic
does not believe that all Serbs should be punished by the international
community because of the misdeeds of a few. There has been speculation in
some regional and foreign media in recent days that at least one indicted
Yugoslav citizen would voluntarily go to The Hague in order to demonstrate
to the U.S. authorities that Serbia is cooperating with the tribunal. PM
[26] TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SETS UP SERBIAN CHAPTER
Transparency International, which is a German-based NGO specializing in
combating corruption, said in a press release on 12 March that it has
launched a Serbian branch. Miklos Marschall, who is the NGO's director,
said that he hopes that the new office will help contribute to bringing
Serbian practices into line with European norms. PM
[27] SERBIAN REFORMIST LEADER DIES IN CAR CRASH
Maja Tasic, who is a leader of the Civic Alliance and top aide to Yugoslav
Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, died in a car accident in a Belgrade
suburb on 10 March. Foul play is not suspected, AP reported. PM
[28] HERZEGOVINIAN CROATS REMAIN ADAMANT
Hard-line Croat leader Ante Jelavic said that he will ignore High
Representative Wolfgang Petritsch's dismissal of him and continue plans to
set up a "self-administration," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 9
March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 March 2001). PM
[29] FORMER ROMANIAN KING TURNS DOWN ILIESCU'S INVITATION
Former Romanian King Michael I on 11 March turned down a surprise
invitation from President Ion Iliescu to visit Romania, Mediafax reported.
The previous day, in an unprecedented move intended as "reconciliation,"
Iliescu invited the former king to participate at the reopening of the
Modern Art Gallery at the Romanian Art Museum, which was hosted by the
former royal palace. Michael I declined the invitation due to "undelayable
obligations," but promised to visit "in the nearest future." During
Iliescu's presidency between 1990 and 1996, Michael I, now a Swiss citizen,
was denied entry to the country several times. ZsM
[30] YET ANOTHER PROMINENT PD LEADER LEAVES PARTY
Democratic Party (PD) Executive Secretary for International Affairs Victor
Bostinaru on 9 March announced his resignation from the party, Romanian
media announced. Bostinaru said he resigned due to recent weeks' events
within PD, with internal conflicts heating up ahead of the party's
Extraordinary National Convention scheduled for May, which will elect the
new chairman. Democratic Party Chairman Petre Roman said he regretted
Bostinaru's resignation, and called on party members to unite forces in
stopping internal disputes and "yielding to narrow personal interests."
Bostinaru's announcement came only days after Roman appealed to former
prominent party figures to return to the fold of the PD (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 7 March 2001). ZsM
[31] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN LAW ON STATE SECRETS CONTINUES
The Romanian Press Club on 12 March released a declaration protesting the
recently approved law on state secrets, labeling it "an attack on the
liberty of the press," Romanian media reported. The law, approved by
Parliament on 7 March, provides for severe sentences for anyone found
guilty of publishing state secrets (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 March 2001).
The declaration argues that the law, instead of protecting secrets,
actually protects "abuses, frauds, and theft," and infringes on citizens'
rights to information. In related news, President Iliescu on 9 March said
authorities do not intend to limit the access to information. He added that
he will analyze the text of the law and, if changes are needed, will send
it back to Parliament. ZsM
[32] MOLDOVA TO BECOME MEMBER OF THE STABILITY PACT?
Victor Chirila, deputy director of the European Integration Department from
the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 9 March announced that Moldova
may be admitted as a member at the next regional meeting of the Stability
Pact for Southeastern Europe, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Chirila,
who participated in the regional meeting of the pact in Ljublana, said
Stability Pact members have reached a consensus over the admittance of
Moldova to the pact. In an interview with RFE/RL, Deputy Foreign Minister
Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, who also serves as deputy to Stability Pact
Coordinator Bodo Hombach, said the secretariat of the Stability Pact
believes Moldova's "destiny is connected to the European destiny on the
whole." He added, however, that due to its problems with the Transdniester
breakaway region, Moldova needs "totally special attention" from European
organizations. The No. 3 in the hierarchy of the Party of Moldovan
Communists, Victor Stepaniuc, recently expressed doubts about the
advisability of Moldova joining the pact, claiming that behind such
organizations are "NATO's weapons." ZsM
[33] BULGARIA ARRESTS TWO FOR ESPIONAGE
A Bulgarian Defense Ministry official and a retired colonel were arrested
by Bulgarian authorities for espionage, Reuters reported on 10 March. The
Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that Colonel Yani Yanev, a
former deputy chief of a department in the Defense Ministry's Intelligence
Directorate, was arrested on 6 March along with ministry employee Lilyana
Gesheva "for actions against national security. Gesheva supplied Yanev with
documents that were a state secret." The Bulgarian news agency BTA reported,
citing Defense Ministry sources, that Yanev was arrested outside the
entrance to the Russian Embassy in Sofia. The daily "24 Chasa" quoted
Russia's ambassador to Sofia, Vladimir Titov, as denying Russian
involvement in the affair. PB
[34] BULGARIAN LEGISLATURE URGES INTERNATIONAL HELP FOR MACEDONIA
The Bulgarian parliament on 9 March issued an appeal to several
international organizations calling for increased engagement in Macedonia
in order to end the insurgency by ethnic Albanians along Kosova's border
with Macedonia, Reuters reported. In a statement, the parliamentarians
appealed to "the UN, NATO, the OSCE, and the EU to keep up their vigorous
efforts to prevent the destabilization of Macedonia, and, therefore, of the
whole region." It added that it expects "KFOR [the NATO-led peacekeeping
force in Kosova] to strengthen measures for control of the border between
Kosovo and Macedonia, in order to curb provocations." Bulgaria has shown
great concern over the border conflict and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and
President Petar Stoyanov have offered both military hardware and troops to
Macedonia. PB
[C] END NOTE
[35] There is no End Note today
12-03-01
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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