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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 110, 99-06-07Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 110, 7 June 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] FINAL ARMENIAN ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCEDThe Central Electoral Commission on 4 June released the final results of the 30 May parliamentary elections, Noyan Tapan reported. The Miasnutyun alliance, comprising Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsian's Republican Party of Armenia and former Communist Party First Secretary Karen Demirchian's People's Party of Armenia, polled 41.67 percent of the vote, winning 29 of the 56 seats allocated under the proportional system. It also won 28 of the 75 seats allocated in single-mandate constituencies, giving it a total of 57. The Communist Party of Armenia polled 12.1 percent and has 10 deputies, the Right and Accord bloc 7.97 percent (seven deputies) the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashhnaktsutiun 7.83 percent (seven deputies), Country of Law 5.28 percent (six deputies) and the National Democratic Union 5.17 percent (six deputies). The Armenian Pan-National Movement and the Arakelutiun (Mission) party have one deputy each. There are 32 independent deputies. LF[02] ARMENIAN PREMIER TO RESIGNArmen Darpinian announced at a cabinet meeting on 5 June that he will step down as prime minister, adding that he has submitted his resignation to President Robert Kocharian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported the same day quoting Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian. Harutiunian did not specify whether other members of the cabinet also intend to quit. In an interview with several Armenian television channels on 5 June, Kocharian said one of the two leaders of the Miasnutyun alliance should assume the duties of parliamentary speaker and the other should head the new cabinet. At the same time, Kocharian said that the Armenian Constitution bars the prime minister from simultaneously holding a second cabinet post. A source within Miasnutyun told RFE/RL that Vazgen Sargsian, with whom Kocharian reportedly discussed the composition of the new government last week, wants to combine the posts of defense minister and premier. LF[03] PAPAL VISIT TO ARMENIA POSTPONEDPope John Paul II will not visit Armenia in early July, as planned, because of the illness of Armenian Catholicos Garegin I, dpa reported on 5 June. The Armenian Apostolic Church issued a statement the previous day asking believers to pray for the Catholicos, who is suffering from cancer. LF[04] GEORGIAN POLICE DISPERSE DEMONSTRATORSGeorgian police on 6 June forcibly dispersed some 300 people who tried to stage a protest in front of the U.S. embassy building in Tbilisi, AP reported. The demonstrators oppose plans for an exhibition of Georgian Church treasures in several U.S. cities this fall. A group of Georgian students began a hunger strike in early May to protest those plans, after which Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze ordered the creation of a commission to assess the desirability of sending valuable artifacts to the U.S. for the planned exhibit (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 5 May 1999). LF[05] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SLAMS PLANNED ADJAR CONFERENCEAddressing a government session on 3 June, Eduard Shevardnadze criticized the intention of Russia's "Glasnost" Fund and the leadership of Georgia's Adjar Autonomous Republic to hold a conference in Adjaria on the right of nations to self- determination, Caucasus Press reported on 5 June. Shevardnadze said the conference is intended to fuel centrifugal tendencies in Georgia, vowing that if it takes place, Georgia will respond by convening a conference on the same subject in either Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan, or Bashkortostan. Adjar Supreme Council chairman Aslan Abashidze rejected Shevardnadze's criticism as unfounded, saying the conference will discuss European-drafted programs on minority rights. LF[06] KAZAKHSTAN DENIES PKK PRESENCEThe Kazakh Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 4 June rejecting as "fiction" claims by Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan that that organization has an office in Kazakhstan, Russian agencies reported. Kazakhstan "has never supported and is not going to support terrorist organizations and separatist activities," the statement said. In earlier evidence at his ongoing trial, Ocalan had said that the PKK maintains a presence in Armenia and receives financial support from that country's ethnic Kurdish minority, according to Anatolia News Agency on 1 June. Ocalan also claimed on 3 June that the PKK maintains an office in Azerbaijan that provides funds for the organization, according to Turan. The Azerbaijani authorities have made no official response to that claim. LF[07] KAZAKH POPULATION RESPONDS TO GOLD COLLECTION DRIVEUp to 1,000 people have donated gold or hard currency in response to President Nursultan Nazarbaev's appeal to bolster Kazakhstan's dwindling gold and hard currency reserves, ITAR- TASS and AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 1999). Some state employees in Almaty told AP that their directors are pressuring them to contribute. Marat Ospanov, chairman of the lower house of the parliament, endorsed a proposal by the president of Kazakhstan's jewelers' association that the government should print money to finance the purchase of gold from the population, which could then be sold on world markets, according to Interfax. Ospanov is considered a possible successor to embattled Prime Minister Nurlan Balghymbaev. LF[08] CENTRAL ASIAN ECONOMIC SUMMIT CANCELLEDA session of the Central Asian Economic Union scheduled to be held in Kyrgyzstan on 4 June has been postponed, provisionally until 15 June, ITAR- TASS and "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported. The presidents of the other three members of the grouping, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, all announced that they would not be able to attend on 4 June "for objective reasons." In recent months, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have been embroiled in disagreements over unpaid debts and import tariffs. LF[09] ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IMMINENT IN TAJIKISTAN?Meeting in Dushanbe on 6 June, UN and World Bank experts called for immediate measures to strengthen the insecure wall of a dam in the Pamirs Mountains, AP reported citing Interfax. Should the dam collapse, water from Lake Sarez could flood a 20,000 square mile area of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan inhabited by 5 million people. LF[10] TURKMENISTAN, CHINA TO INCREASE ECONOMIC TIESTurkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov held talks in Ashgabat on 4 June with a visiting Chinese government delegation headed by Deputy Premier Qian Qichen, Interfax and "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported. The two expressed satisfaction with the level of political understanding between their countries and agreed on the need to intensify economic ties. The oil, gas, and textile sectors and silk production were identified as promising areas for cooperation. Niyazov also noted that China's experience in conducting market reform is of interest to his country. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] KOSOVA TALKS COLLAPSE...NATO General Sir Mike Jackson said at Kumanovo, Macedonia, on 7 June that two days of talks between NATO and Yugoslav military officials ended without an agreement on a "full and speedy withdrawal" of all Yugoslav forces from Kosova. He added that the Yugoslav delegation "presented a proposal that would not provide a safe return of the refugees and full withdrawal of Serb troops. Their proposal was not consistent" with the peace agreement that Belgrade agreed to last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 1999). NATO officials told reporters that the Serbs tried to renegotiate the terms of the peace agreement in order to delay the withdrawal of their forces and to permit many more of those forces to remain in Kosova than the peace agreement allows. AP reported from Vienna that Belgrade may be seeking to delay an agreement on the troop withdrawal in the hope of getting better terms under the resolution that the UN Security Council is expected to approve soon (see Part I). PM[12] ...NATO CONTINUES BOMBINGGeneral Jackson also said in Kumanovo on 7 June that "there is no alternative but to continue and intensify the bombardments until the Yugoslav side is prepared to implement their commitment." Yugoslav Foreign Ministry spokesman Nebojsa Vujovic noted that the Yugoslav delegation has "a mandate to negotiate a technical agreement based on the principles...of respect for Yugoslav territorial integrity with [Kosova] as an integral part [of that country] and also the deployment of an international security presence under UN auspices or of an international presence established by a decision of the Security Council.... We came here in good faith [and]...we are ready to continue the talks." In Brussels, a NATO spokesman said that "operations on [7 June] are under way and accelerating towards their prior intensity," which had been reduced after Belgrade accepted the peace agreement. Elsewhere, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea stressed that the talks "have not been broken off" and that General Jackson is ready to resume them when the Serbs return. PM[13] SERBIAN FORCES SHELL ALBANIASerbian forces on 5 and 6 June fired shells up to 15 kilometers into Albanian territory, hitting the town of Kruma and several other villages in the Has Mountains, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Tirana. Some shells hit power installations, interrupting the local electricity supply. Two people were injured in the shelling. UNHCR officials evacuated some 1, 000 people from the village of Golaj, including 600 refugees. Local officials said they will not force local inhabitants to leave, but they advised local residents to avoid the border area during the shelling. Meanwhile, NATO planes pounded Serbian artillery positions on the Kosovar side of the border in response to the attacks on 6 June. And the Italian coast guard intercepted a ship carrying 350 Kosovar refugees in the Straits of Otranto on 5 June. FS[14] UCK REPORTS NEW SERBIAN OFFENSIVEThe Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) issued a statement in Tirana on 6 June saying that the Yugoslav army has launched a new offensive in Kosova. The statement stressed that since 1 June Serbian forces have been engaged in "a large-scale offensive not only against the UCK, but also against the Albanian civilian population," dpa reported. The statement added that Serbian forces are using heavy artillery and "chemical weapons" and that the attacks are particularly intense in western, central, and northwestern parts of Kosova. The charge regarding chemical weapons has not been independently confirmed. FS[15] KRASNIQI SAYS UCK WILL DISARMUCK spokesman Jakup Krasniqi told RFE/RL on 6 June that "the Serbian military, police, and paramilitary forces [must] withdraw from Kosova. These forces have [committed] killings, massacres, and massive destruction. And if we achieve [the withdrawal], I am convinced that the UCK...will not reject [its] demilitarization and transformation [into a police force], which will take place in close coordination with the U.S. and NATO." Krasniqi warned that "Milosevic and his clan have [often] made agreements and commitments that they knew they would never carry out." He stressed that "the UCK has never attacked withdrawing Serbian forces and it will not do so now. But the Serbs claim that [the UCK does so in order] to justify Serbian operations not only against the UCK but also against the civilian population." He stressed that "even in recent days, [Serbian forces] have...shelled areas where the civilian population is hiding." FS[16] BLAIR: SERBIA HAS 'NO FUTURE' WITH MILOSEVICBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters on 6 June in London that he "cannot imagine sitting down and dealing with" Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Blair stressed that "if you've got an indicted war criminal in charge of your country, you're not going to be part of the family of nations. Countries are not going to be queuing up to give you aid and help and support. Milosevic has ruined the country, he's ruined its economy.... He's isolated it in the eyes of the respectable international community.... [There] isn't a future for Serbia with Milosevic," Blair concluded. PM[17] TAIWAN PLEDGES AID FOR KOSOVA, MACEDONIAPresident Lee Teng- hui said in Taipei on 7 June that his government will provide $300 million in relief aid for Kosovar refugees, Reuters reported. He added: "Being a country that promotes human rights and to [demonstrate] our humanitarian spirit, we are willing to offer our aid to those suffering" in Kosova. Elsewhere, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Taiwan will provide $15 million in loans to Macedonia, including a $12 million low-interest loan for infrastructure such as roads and bridges and a $3 million "trade grant," AP reported. Taiwan has already provided Macedonia with $2 million in refugee relief aid. Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski is currently visiting Taiwan at the head of a 59-member delegation, which includes top government and business leaders. PM[18] GREECE BARS TRANSIT TO PEACEKEEPERS FOR KOSOVAThe Greek authorities have denied permission for 2,200 U.S. Marines to disembark on Greek territory and travel to Macedonia, where the troops will form part of the proposed peacekeeping force for Kosova, AP reported on 7 June. The Greek authorities fear unrest in the run-up to the 13 June elections for the European Parliament. Polls consistently show overwhelming popular opposition in Greece to NATO's policy in the Balkans. PM[19] DJUKANOVIC, DODIK CRITICIZE MILOSEVICMontenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said in Cetinje on 4 June that Milosevic made the "correct decision" in accepting the peace agreement, "but it has come very late and after a lot of suffering and destruction. No one has the right to consider themselves the victor. We have all been significantly defeated," Reuters quoted him as saying. He added that "we should now focus on how to rebuild the country, heal the wounds and plug into modern civilization." In Banja Luka, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told the daily "Glas Srpski" that Milosevic accepted an agreement that he could have had several months earlier before the bombing began. "The question is why he did not accept the terms when they were first offered. He is responsible for the death of 5,000 people in Serbia. Of course, NATO is responsible, too," Dodik concluded. PM[20] DJINDJIC APPEALS FOR SERBS IN KOSOVAZoran Djindjic, who is the leader of the opposition Serbian Democratic Party, appealed in a letter to international mediators for "serious guarantees for the security" of Kosova's Serbian minority, which makes up less than 10 percent of the province's population. Djindjic added that "it is difficult to imagine that most Serbs will stay" in Kosova without adequate guarantees for their safety. He addressed his letter to Russia's Viktor Chernomyrdin, Finland's Martti Ahtisaari and Strobe Talbott of the U.S., RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 6 June. The following day, "The Daily Telegraph" wrote that many Serbs in Kosova fear reprisal killings against them by the UCK once a peace agreement goes into effect. Many local Serbs have fought on the side of Milosevic's forces, the London-based daily added. PM[21] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST 'SEPARATISM'Addressing a forum of intellectuals in Targu Mures on 5 June, Emil Constantinescu said he will "never agree" to "separatist ideas" contravening the "fundamental interests" of Romanians and the constitution, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Constantinescu said he was responding to a "document" signed by "Transylvanian intellectuals" who demand autonomy for Transylvania and the Banat region. Constantinescu said that similar "intellectual adventures" have been "dearly paid for," arguing that Yugoslavia's dismemberment began with a study of birth rates in Kosova. MS[22] ROMANIA MAY RENOUNCE BELL HELICOPTERS DEALDefense Minister Victor Babiuc on 4 June said Romania may be forced to shelve last year's deal with Bell Helicopters Textron in order to cope with budget constraints. The same day, Prime Minister Radu Vasile said that deal might be replaced by one with the Franco-German concern Eurocopter that would involve the construction by the Brasov IAR planemaker of transport helicopters and the servicing of Airbus planes owned by the national company TAROM. Babiuc also said that the Romanian army has drawn up three scenarios for its restructuring and modernization, depending on budgetary constraints. Those scenarios envisage cutting the size of military forces from the current level of 144,000 troops and 35,000 civilians to 140,000-85,000 and 35,000-21,250, respectively. MS[23] ROMANIAN LABOR UNREST SPREADS TO EDUCATION SECTORTrade unions representing teachers have renewed the general strike suspended on 28 October 1998, Romanian radio reported on 7 June. The unions are protesting wage arrears and insufficient funding from the state budget. Also on 7 June, a government commission headed by one of the premier's aides is to discuss with the protesters at the Tepro factory in Iasi how to solve the labor conflict there. MS[24] MOLDOVA PLUNGES INTO CONSTITUTIONAL CRISISLocal election run-offs were held in more than 430 localities on 6 June, as the country plunged into a constitutional crisis, RFE/ RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The Central Electoral Commission had voted by five to four the previous day to declare the non-biding referendum on introducing a presidential system as valid, despite the fact that turnout was below the 60 percent stipulated by the law. Those commission members who voted in favor said the electoral law gives the commission "the right" to annul the referendum but does not require it to do so. Deputy Ion Ungureanu, representing the parliament on the commission, said the decision will be appealed in the Supreme Court. On 4 June, the parliament approved the Control and Petitions Committee report that accuses President Petru Lucinschi of having violated the constitution. It also asked the prosecutor- general to launch an investigation. MS[25] BULGARIA TO DEFEND RIGHTS OF NATIONAL MINORITY IN YUGOSLAVIAPrime Minister Ivan Kostov told the Bulgarian parliament on 4 June that Sofia will insist on defending the rights of the Bulgarian national minority in Yugoslavia, BTA reported. Kostov said the Bulgarian minority must enjoy "the same rights" as other ethnic minorities in Yugoslavia. He also expressed "concern" over the "mass drafting" into the Yugoslav army of members of the Bulgarian minority, including leaders of the community. One of those leaders, Marko Shukarev, is on trial charged with "absence without leave" from the military unit into which he was drafted. Kostov said Shukarev failed to return to his unit for medical reasons. MS[26] BULGARIAN PREMIER MEETS GAZPROM CHIEFKostov met with Gazprom chief Rem Vyakhirev on 3 June, three days before departing for a visit to Moscow. The two men discussed the issue of payment in part of Russian gas deliveries to Bulgaria with Bulgarian products in order to reduce Bulgaria's large trade deficit with Russia. They also discussed the extension of the right to transit Russian gas deliveries through Bulgaria, BTA reported. Kostov assured Vyakhirev that an investment program for the state-owned Bulgargas approved by the cabinet one day earlier will make it possible to increase transit deliveries. MS[C] END NOTE[27] SLOVAKIA CLEARING HURDLES FOR EU MEMBERSHIP TALKSBy Ron SynovitzEU officials say the Slovak presidential election last month has improved the country's chances of joining talks on EU membership. But the latest reports from Brussels suggest that Bratislava has more work to do on economic reforms in order to join membership talks, which are already under way with the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's government is pushing forward reform and budgetary legislation with the aim of earning his country a favorable review in the next European Commission report on accession progress. A positive report this fall could win Slovakia an invitation to membership negotiations as early as December, when EU leaders meet for a summit in Helsinki. Jan Kuderjavy, head of the Slovak Foreign Ministry's EU integration division, told RFE/RL that talks with European Commission delegates last week led him to believe progress is being made. "The government is taking drastic steps to improve macroeconomic figures and especially the negative [deficit] trends," he said, adding that he hopes the commission's assessment in its next regular report will enable Slovakia to qualify for EU membership negotiations. The European Commission's last accession report on Slovakia, published last October, warned that drastic reform was needed in the banking sector. It said a high percentage of non-performing loans could threaten the broader economy, and it prescribed "more transparent and market-based policies" to help Slovakia cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU. In particular, the commission drew attention to non-market mechanisms for setting prices, along with shadowy privatization deals and "political involvement" in the appointment of state firm managers. Many observers have argued that all these conditions were the legacy of former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's government, which was ousted in last September's elections. Dzurinda's current reform program calls for faster management restructuring at state firms and banks, together with a reduction of the budget deficit and an increase in regulated prices for commodities like energy and rents. The government has taken steps to control political cronyism within the upper management levels of large state firms by revoking the so-called Revitalization Act. That law, also one of Meciar's legacies, allowed loss- making state firms to stay afloat through cash infusions from the state budget. It also enriched political allies of Meciar, who retain senior management positions in state firms--at the expense of those firms and, inevitably, the national budget. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in an April report that "removing personnel associated with the Meciar government," and adopting more open policies are seen as essential to restoring Slovakia's credibility on reforms. The World Bank says restructuring ultimately should aim to make firms productive and profitable so that government subsidies are not needed to pay workers' wages. In this way, restructuring eases the burden that money- losing state firms place on the national budget. Indeed, austerity measures are at the center of Dzurinda's recently announced program to stabilize the Slovak economy. The governing coalition's main economic priorities are to reduce the fiscal deficit from more than 5 percent of GDP to about 2 percent by the end of this year. It also hopes to halve the current account deficit from more than 10 percent of GDP. Kuderjavy says the price liberalization demanded by Brussels will admittedly make life more difficult for the Slovak people for at least the next 18 months. He said the cost of electricity will increase by 35 percent, heating bills by 40 percent, gas by 50 percent, and rents by 70 percent. But, he said, social programs are being created to address the needs of the poorest Slovaks as well as pensioners on fixed incomes. In last October's European Commission report, the strongest criticism of Slovakia was related to developments in the political sphere. The commission noted a lack of stability in the institutions guaranteeing democracy and the rule of law. It cited the inability of the Slovak parliament to elect a president as an example of institutional paralysis. It condemned Meciar's controversial use of transferred presidential powers and his disregard for Constitutional Court rulings. And it also considered the treatment of minorities under Meciar's regime to be a problem. Dzurinda's cabinet has removed most of the EU's political concerns about Slovakia. At the Visegrad Four summit in Bratislava last month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban praised Dzurinda's treatment of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Moreover, Rudolf Schuster's election as president in a nationwide vote last month brought an end to a 15-month period in which Slovakia had no head of state. This means that the only remaining political reform demanded by Brussels is the adoption of legislation on minority languages. Kuderjavy says the government is busy on that issue and could resolve the matter in the near future. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague. 07-06-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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