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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 106, 01-06-05Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 106, 5 June 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT REVIEWS REGIONAL ECONOMIC, SECURITY TRENDSIn an extensive interview with Mediamax on 5 June, which was subsequently circulated by Groong, Robert Kocharian said that security and peace in the South Caucasus are crucial to European security as a whole. He also argued that regional economic cooperation could not only contribute to resolving political differences between the states of the region but also encourage a greater volume of foreign investment. In that context he expressed regret that Azerbaijan has repeatedly said such regional economic cooperation is contingent on a solution to the Karabakh conflict. He also stressed the progress Armenia has achieved in building democratic institutions, noting that "the political environment in Armenia is becoming stable and more predictable, which is very important for our business partners." Kocharian said that during his visit to Brussels on 5-9 June he will discuss with NATO and EU officials a future European role in establishing peace in the South Caucasus. LF[02] AZERBAIJAN OIL EXPORT PIPELINE COSTS MAY BE REVISED UPWARDDavid Woodward, who is president of the Azerbaijan International Operating Company engaged in developing three Azerbaijani offshore oil fields, told journalists in Baku on 4 June that the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Caspian oil may cost up to 20 percent more than the original estimate of $2.4-$2.7 billion, AP reported. He said the original estimate was revised following the completion last month of preliminary engineering works, but that a final figure will only be calculated later. The Turkish government has pledged to meet any costs in excess of $2.5 billion. LF[03] TRIAL OF BORDER VIOLATORS OPENS IN AZERBAIJANI EXCLAVEThe trial opened in the Nakhichevan City Court on 4 June of one Kazakh, one Kyrgyz, and three Russian citizens identified by the Azerbaijan National Security Committee as members of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, Turan and ANS TV reported. The five were apprehended last September crossing the border from Armenia into Nakhichevan. Local police forcibly prevented an ANS cameraman from entering the courtroom. LF[04] RUSSIAN OFFICIAL SAYS GEORGIA SHOULD BE 'MORE FLEXIBLE' OVER ABKHAZ SETTLEMENTDuring talks in Moscow with a Georgian Socialist Party delegation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Pastukhov said the Georgian leadership should adopt a more flexible approach to resolving the Abkhaz conflict and embark on economic cooperation with the Abkhaz leadership, Caucasus Press reported on 4 June. Pastukhov, who for years was involved in the ongoing search for a political solution to the Abkhaz conflict, specifically proposed opening railway transportation between Russian and Georgia via Abkhazia, which Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has said is contingent to the repatriation to Abkhazia of Georgian displaced persons. Pastukhov also proposed building an oil export pipeline from Novorossiisk to the Georgian port of Supsa that would benefit Abkhazia (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report,"Vol. 1, No. 1, 3 March 1998). LF[05] GEORGIAN KIDNAPPERS LOWER RANSOM DEMANDThe abductors of Levan Kaladze, whose brother Kakha is a member of the Georgian national soccer team as well as Italy's AC Milan, have lowered from $600,000 to $450,000 the ransom they are demanding for his release, Caucasus Press reported on 4 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 May 2001). But they have threatened to kill Levan Kaladze if that ransom is not paid. LF[06] GEORGIAN, TURKISH OFFICIALS SIGN DEFENSE GRANT PROTOCOLVisiting Turkish General Staff official General Sherafetin Teliasan and Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili signed a protocol in Tbilisi on 4 June whereby Ankara will provide Georgia with a fourth grant, worth $2.5 million, for defense purposes, Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 April 2001). Two million dollars will be spent on vehicles and communications systems for the 11th motorized rifle brigade, and to develop the Marneuli military airfield and the Tbilisi military academy, and the remaining $500,000 on the Georgian border guards, according to ITAR-TASS. LF[07] KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT TO DEMAND ANNULMENT OF BORDER AGREEMENT WITH CHINA...Alisher Abdimomunov, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly (the lower chamber of Kyrgyzstan's bicameral legislature), told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 4 June that his committee will recommend that deputies call for the annulment of border agreements signed in 1996 and 1999 that cede Kyrgyz territory to China (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23, 25 and 29 May 2001). The Kyrgyz government claims that the previous legislature ratified the original 1997 agreement, but Abdimomunov said his committee cannot find either a transcript or a tape recording of the session at which this took place. LF[08] ...APPROVE DUAL CITIZENSHIP WITH RUSSIAKyrgyz parliament deputy Omurbek Tekebaev told journalists in Bishkek on 4 June that some 70 of a total 105 legislators have approved a constitutional amendment that would provide for dual Kyrgyz-Russian citizenship, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. That amendment is intended to dissuade Kyrgyzstan's dwindling Russian minority from emigrating. LF[09] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT SUBMITS ELECTION LAW AMENDMENTS TO PARLIAMENTAskar Akaev has submitted to the parliament some 50 amendments intended to render the election law more democratic, Interfax and RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The amendments include lowering from 50,000 to 20,000 the number of signatures required to register as a presidential candidate. But the controversial requirement that all presidential candidates take oral and written Kyrgyz-language examinations remains unchanged. LF[10] TURKMEN DEPUTY PREMIER DISMISSEDSaparmurat Niyazov has fired Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Finance Minister Orazmurad Bekmuradov, Interfax reported on 4 June. Speaking at a cabinet session on 4 June, Niyazov noted positive developments in most economic sectors, especially the oil and gas sector and agriculture. In contrast, he criticized poor specialist training and the misuse of resources within the power-engineering ministry and similar incompetence within the health service. LF[11] TURKMENISTAN CLOSES EMBASSY IN AZERBAIJANCiting temporary financial constraints, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry informed the Azerbaijani government on 4 June that it has closed its diplomatic representation in Baku, which was opened in 1999, ITAR-TASS reported. The two countries are at odds over ownership of several Caspian oil fields. Azerbaijan has no diplomatic representation in Ashgabat, but Deputy Foreign Minister Halaf Halafov told Turan on 5 June that Azerbaijan intends to open an embassy there. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[12] U.S. SAYS SERBIA MUST COOPERATE WITH THE HAGUEU.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington on 4 June that the government has not yet decided whether to attend the EU's donors conference for Serbia, which is slated for 29 June. He stressed that the U.S. links its participation in the gathering to Serbia's willingness to cooperate seriously with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal. Boucher said: "The conference, I believe, is expected at the end of the month. So, as the time approaches, I am sure we would make our decisions, but at this moment there hasn't been one," RFE/RL reported. Some observers have suggested that the key Western role in Serbia might be played by the EU, given Brussels' desire to manage European problems by itself and the high level of anti-American feeling in Serbia, including that of President Vojislav Kostunica himself (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report,"17 October 2000, and 5 January and 15 May 2001). PM[13] EX-MILOSEVIC ALLIES BLOCK YUGOSLAV HAGUE LAW...Members of Serbia's governing Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition failed once again on 4 June to secure the agreement of the Montenegrin Socialist People's Party (SNP) to a proposed law on cooperation with The Hague (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 2001). The SNP maintains that it should be possible to work together with the tribunal without extraditing Yugoslav citizens, namely former President Slobodan Milosevic, "Pobjeda" reported. The SNP has the backing of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia and the United Yugoslav Left of Mira Markovic, the wife of Milosevic. The SNP was part of the last Milosevic government, but most of its leadership switched allegiances to the DOS last fall when it was clear that Milosevic and his party had lost the elections. PM[14] ...AS GOVERNMENT'S FATE HANGS IN THE BALANCESerbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said in Belgrade on 4 June that he believes that the lack of agreement between the DOS and SNP could lead to a collapse of the coalition of the two parties, which forms the federal government. Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic told RFE/RL's South Slavic Service that he sees no purpose in holding further talks with the SNP unless it is willing to modify its stand. He added that Serbia has become a "hostage" of the small SNP, "Blic" reported. The current impasse could become a crisis and lead to new elections, "Politika" wrote. The Podgorica daily "Vijesti" reported from Belgrade, however, that the DOS is prepared to make one final offer to the SNP. PM[15] ARMY DENIES LINK TO SERBIAN MASS GRAVESThe General Staff said in a statement that neither the army leadership nor any member of the army are linked to any attempt to conceal evidence of war crimes, "Danas" reported on 5 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 2001). PM[16] MILOSEVIC AIDES FACE JUSTICE IN SERBIAThe trial began in Belgrade on 4 June of Radomir Markovic, Milosevic's former security chief. He and three of his assistants are charged with revealing state secrets, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Markovic also faces charges related to an apparent assassination attempt on opposition leader Vuk Draskovic with a truck in 1999. Details of the charges regarding state secrets have not been made public, but it is widely assumed that Markovic is suspected of sharing confidential information with other Milosevic allies and later destroying incriminating evidence. In related news, the Serbian Supreme Court ordered the rearrest of Dragoljub Milanovic, a former director of state-run television, on charges of abuse of office and "acts against public security." He had been released from preventive detention in April, but the latest court ruling overturned that decision. PM[17] PRESEVO ALBANIANS PROTEST SERBIAN POLICE MOVESRiza Halimi, who heads the Presevo district council and the Party for Democratic Activity, said in Bujanovac on 4 June that the Serbian Interior Ministry has begun to recruit members of the multiethnic police force without consulting with representatives of the Albanian community, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Halimi added that the ministry's decision to move the police academy from ethnically mixed Bujanovac to the more Serbian community of Kraljevo is in contravention of the OSCE's plan for a multiethnic force. PM[18] MACEDONIA AND SERBIA TO FIGHT 'TERRORISM AND ORGANIZED CRIME'Macedonian Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski and his visiting Yugoslav counterpart Slobodan Krapovic signed an agreement in Skopje on 4 June according to which Belgrade will supply Skopje with intelligence and arms. The Macedonian minister said that "it is no secret that our country needs weapons. Our teams of experts will consider possibilities for a broader cooperation between our defense ministries," AP reported (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report, 5 June 2001). Krapovic agreed with his hosts that ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia are using "human and minority rights...to hide the real goals of Albanian extremism and terrorism, their fight for territory." The weapons on offer include offensive as well as defensive ones, the BBC's Serbian Service reported. The two ministers agreed on the importance of fighting "terrorism and organized crime," which many Albanians regard as a hate-speech euphemism for "Albanians." PM[19] EARTHQUAKE IN NORTHERN MACEDONIAAn earthquake shook northern Macedonia on 3 June, the Skopje daily "Utrinski vesnik" reported. The earthquake registered as magnitude 5 on the Mercalli scale and its epicenter was about 20 kilometers northeast of Skopje, close to the provincial town of Kumanovo. The quake could also be felt in the capital, which was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake on 26 July 1963. UB[20] KOSOVA ELECTION RULES CLARIFIEDDaan Everts, the OSCE's chief of mission in Kosova, said in Prishtina on 4 June that the 17 November general elections will be held in one round according to a proportional system. All of Kosova will be treated as one electoral district, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Some 100 seats will be elected directly, while 10 seats will be reserved for Serbs (who make up about 7 percent of the population) and 10 for members of other minority groups (who make up a total of about 4 percent of the population). PM[21] BOSNIAN MUSLIM ATTACK ON CATHOLICS CONDEMNEDAn attack by three Muslim youths on a group of Roman Catholic worshipers outside Sarajevo's cathedral on Pentecost Sunday has met with universal condemnation by Muslim leaders, "Oslobodjenje" reported on 5 June. The U.S. Embassy also criticized the perpetrators of the incident. The Interior Ministry has prepared indictments. PM[22] TRANSYLVANIAN NATIONALIST MAYOR FACES INVESTIGATIONPolice on 4 June opened an investigation against Cluj nationalist Mayor Gheorghe Funar for having sealed the premises of the Town Hall to local councilors, Mediafax reported. Funar claimed the provisions of the Local Public Administration Law recently adopted by the parliament prohibit town councilors from holding office in state companies and that 16 out of 31 councilors hold positions on company boards. He said that as a consequence the council must be disbanded and new elections held. However, that provision of the law applies only from 2004 onward and the local prefect has refused to disband the council. Observers unanimously believe that Funar is in fact trying to avoid implementing those provisions of the law that would make it mandatory for his town to allow bilingual street signs. On 2 June, some 200 people demonstrated in front of the Hungarian Consulate in Cluj, chanting obscenities and "Hungarians out!" MS[23] ROMANIAN GENERAL RESIGNS TO AVOID DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE...General Mircea Chelaru on 4 June requested that he be placed on reserve, thereby avoiding disciplinary action for his participation in the ceremony marking the 55th anniversary of Marshal Ion Antonescu's execution, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The Defense Ministry approved the request. Chelaru said he did not wish to hinder his country's efforts to join NATO, but rejected as "malicious" the interpretation of his presence at the ceremony. Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor threatened to make public compromising documents on Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu if Chelaru's request was rejected. Earlier, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said Chelaru's presence was "out of place" and that officers with high rank such as his should have been aware of the "sensitivity" in at least two countries -- Israel and the U.S -- toward the Antonescu issue. Chelaru "wondered" in reaction whether "sensitivity must be displayed only by Romania." MS[24] ...AND ROMANIAN JEWS PROTEST HONORING ANTONESCUThe Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities (FCER) on 4 June said it is "firmly condemning" attempts to rehabilitate Antonescu, whom it described as a "controversial historic personality" who pushed Romania into a "war with huge human costs." The FCER said it had "learned with consternation" about the unveiling of Antonescu's bust on 1 June by "nationalist, chauvinist forces" and that the monument honors one guilty of having "nurtured" the 1941 Iasi pogroms in which thousands of Jews lost their lives. The FCER also says Antonescu ordered the mass deportations of Jews from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to Transnistria, resulting in the loss of "over 100,000 lives." It said it "hopes" that the democratic countries that fought the Axis powers during World War II will oppose the "attempts to rehabilitate Marshal Antonescu...who represents neither the Romanian people nor the country's new democratic forces." MS[25] PROMINENT ROMANIAN POLITICIAN RESIGNS AS HEAD OF PARLIAMENTARY GROUPSenator Petre Roman, who last month lost the chairmanship of the Democratic Party to Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu, on 4 June officially resigned as leader of the party's parliamentary group in the Senate and was replaced by Viorel Pana, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. He said that "the new road on which the Democratic Party is marching cannot convince me." Also on 4 June, the four deputies who recently resigned from the PRM participated in the meeting of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies. They said they have "unofficially" joined the PDSR but will "do so officially" only when the intended merger of their Party of Democratic Forces into the PDSR is approved. MS[26] ROMANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ANNULS GOVERNMENT ORDINANCE ON REFUGEE STATUSThe Constitutional Court ruled on 5 June that a 2000 government ordinance on the status of refugees is unconstitutional. The ordinance grants those whose requests for political asylum have been rejected the right to appeal to a higher court of justice, but at the same time gives the authorities the right to deport those people from Romania without waiting for the result of the appeal. The Constitutional Court ruled that the stipulation infringes on the constitutional provision for the right to judicial defense. MS[27] RUSSIAN DUMA COMMISSION CHAIRMAN MAKES INFLAMMATORY STATEMENTS IN TIRASPOL...Georgii Tikhonov, head of the Russian Duma's commission on the Transdniester, said in Tiraspol at the end on a three-day visit on 3 June that the OSCE 1999 summit resolutions are "only recommendations" without a binding character, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported the next day. Tikhonov also said he is confident the Duma will not ratify the OSCE resolution and that the commission he heads "believes Russia's military presence in the Transdniester must be preserved and consolidated, it being practically Russia's western line of defense." Tikhonov also said he is sure the Transdniester will "one way or another" join the Russia-Belarus Union, whether alone or concomitantly with Chisinau. He also said the Duma will not ratify the basic treaty with Chisinau and that separate treaties between Russia on the one hand, and Moldova and the Transdniester on the other, ought to be signed. MS[28] ...TRIGGERING ANGER IN CHISINAUMoldovan President Vladimir Voronin refused to receive Tikhonov on 4 June, saying the exact nature of his visit has not been clarified, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Moldovan Parliamentary Deputy Speaker Vadim Mishin criticized at a meeting with the Duma's delegation Tikhonov's Tiraspol statements, saying no one can argue about the judicial validity of the OSCE summit's resolution. Vasile Sturza, Moldova's chief negotiator with Tiraspol, said Tikhonov's statements will work against the search for a solution to the conflict. Tikhonov's deputy head of the commission, Pavel Burdukov, said in Chisinau that Russia will not be able to meet the OSCE deadline for the withdrawal of its arsenal from the Transdniester. MS[29] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS SMIRNOV HAS 'EXOTIC IDEAS'Voronin, in an interview with Infotag on 4 June, said Transdniester separatist leader Igor Smirnov "can always be counted on to produce exotic ideas." Voronin was responding to the interviewer's question on whether Smirnov had proposed at their 16 May meeting that Moldova "quit the Istanbul OSCE summit agreements." MS[30] BULGARIAN, MACEDONIAN PRESIDENTS CALL ON ALBANIA TO JOIN COMMON PROJECTSVisiting Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and his Bulgarian counterpart Petar Stoyanov, meeting in Sofia on 4 June, invited Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani to join them in new discussions on common projects meant to link their part of the Balkans to the rest of Europe, AP reported. One of the main projects is the construction of a trans-Balkan artery linking the Black Sea port of Burgas with the Adriatic port of Vlora in Albania. It would include a highway, a railroad, telecommunication facilities, and an oil pipeline. Stoyanov said a joint approach would send "a strong signal to the people of the three countries and to the international community that we are looking for a common European perspective." MS[C] END NOTE[31] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT REASSERTS CONTROLBy Jan MaksymiukLast week's appointments made by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to the new cabinet of Premier Anatoliy Kinakh seemed to fully confirm the opinions of those observers of the Ukrainian political scene who have asserted that the ousting of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko was orchestrated by Kuchma solely to defuse the president's own political problems. Kuchma made Kinakh's cabinet almost a copy of Yushchenko's by reappointing 11 cabinet members who served under Yushchenko. "Only the premier was changed, while the government remained [the same]," Kuchma commented on the recent government reshuffle in Ukraine, speaking to journalists at last week's CIS summit in Minsk. The issue of Yushchenko's ouster emerged some two months ago when the Ukrainian opposition -- most notably the National Salvation Forum and the For the Truth groups -- were staging regular and vigorous demonstrations in Kyiv, demanding the ouster of Kuchma and top state officials over their alleged role in the murder of independent journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. Those allegations seemed to be confirmed by secret audio recordings made by former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko in Kuchma's office and subsequently made public in Ukraine by Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz. Even though not impressively large, those anti-Kuchma protests brought Ukraine's "tape scandal" into the spotlight of Ukrainian and world public opinion and did much damage to Kuchma's political stature. Those who suspect Kuchma and his administration of political plots assert that Kuchma ordered the arrest of former Deputy Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko and orchestrated the dismissal of Yushchenko in an attempt to gradually change the direction of opposition protest actions. And indeed, following Tymoshenko's arrest in mid-February and the inauguration of Yushchenko's dismissal process in the parliament, opposition groups became involved in organizing actions in defense of these two politicians. The opposition's drive to oust Kuchma, though not dropped altogether, had already become less energetic before 26 April, when Yushchenko was voted out of his post. That drive subsided almost completely in May, when different opposition factions engaged in disputes over the expediency of holding an anti-Kuchma referendum. Apparently, the Communists and the so-called oligarchic parties helped Kuchma get rid of Yushchenko in exchange for some promised concessions. Many Ukrainian commentators maintained that Kuchma had agreed to introduce some "oligarchic" ministers in the new government. If this theory holds water, then Kuchma must have immensely disappointed the oligarchs. There are only several vacancies left in Kinakh's cabinet, and all of them are in relatively less important ministries. It is also not clear what the Communists have gained by contributing to Yushchenko's ouster. Neither Kuchma nor Kinakh have promised to make an about-face change in Ukraine's economic or political course, as postulated in the Communist Party's program. Kuchma has managed to tighten his grip on the government following the "tape scandal" and Yushchenko's dismissal. Last week the Ukrainian president issued a decree introducing the posts of state secretaries and deputy state secretaries for the Cabinet of Ministers and individual ministries. The state secretaries are to be appointed for five-year terms. Kuchma's spokesman, Volodymyr Lytvyn, explained that the decree was necessitated by frequent cabinet reshuffles which, he argued, threaten to "disorganize the executive branch" in the country's "period of transition and political restructuring." The state secretaries, not subordinated to the prime minister, are to deal with the day-to-day running of the government and provide continuity between consecutive cabinets. Many opposition politicians have voiced fears that Kuchma's move indicates a further assault on democracy on his part. Tymoshenko said the introduction of state secretaries is "the logical transformation of the authoritarian [power] system into dictatorship." Reforms and Order Party leader Viktor Pynzenyk said the decree is politically tantamount to "the liquidation of the institute of the Cabinet of Ministers, which is now becoming a window-dressing [body] since the entire power has been focused on the president." And Kyiv-based political scientist Mykola Tomenko commented that many ministers from the previous cabinet of Yushchenko retained their posts in that of Kinakh, but "significantly lost their powers" to state secretaries. "Kinakh is becoming a sort of presidential representative or adviser to deal only with managing the regional system of power, some economic branches, and individual enterprises," Tomenko added. With summer vacations close at hand, the Ukrainian opposition may face additional difficulties in mobilizing its adherents for anti-Kuchma protests on the scale they did in February and March. And when a new period of political activity starts in September, most politicians and parties will probably be much more interested in ensuring their own political future in next year's legislative elections than in trying to threaten that of the president. Thus, even if morally damaged, Kuchma seems to be politically secure at least until a new legislature is formed. Perhaps the most bitter pill for the National Salvation Forum in its anti- Kuchma campaign was how Yushchenko behaved following his ouster. Yushchenko declined offers to join or even head the anti-Kuchma opposition and announced that he is going to form a "broad democratic coalition" to win in next year's parliamentary elections. But the first persons he consulted on the creation of such a coalition were parliamentary speaker Ivan Plyushch and -- Kuchma. Some Ukrainian commentators are convinced that only one move by the opposition -- a political alliance of Yushchenko (as candidate for the post of president), Tymoshenko (would-be premier), and Moroz (would-be parliamentary speaker) -- could radically revamp the Ukrainian political scene and give democrats a fair chance to defeat both "the party of power" grouped around Kuchma and several oligarchic parties. But at present, such an alliance seems to be the least likely political development of all. 05-06-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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