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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 111, 99-06-08Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 111, 8 June 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER TO BE NAMED NEW PREMIERPresident Robert Kocharian on 10 June will formally name Vazgen Sargsian to head the new government, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 8 June, quoting an unnamed senior government source. Kocharian will sign the appropriate decree immediately following the election at the opening session of the new parliament of the parliamentary speaker. The most likely candidate for that post is former Armenian Communist Party First Secretary Karen Demirchian, who, together with Sargsian, leads the Miasnutyun alliance. The alliance has a majority in the new parliament. LF[02] ABKHAZ, GEORGIAN DELEGATIONS MEET IN ISTANBULRepresentatives of the government of Georgia and that of the country's breakaway Black Sea region of Abkhazia began consultations in Istanbul on 7 June aimed at kickstarting the deadlocked peace process. Since late last year, the two sides having been trying to reach agreement on two documents, one on the non-resumption of hostilities and the other dealing with both the repatriation to Abkhazia of an estimated 200,000 Georgian displaced persons who fled during the 1992- 1993 war and measures to revive the region's economy. Speaking in Tbilisi on 7 June, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that if it proves impossible to arrive at a peace settlement through diplomatic means, Tbilisi will consider other, unspecified measures. Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba told the Istanbul meeting that Shevardnadze's comparison between the Abkhaz and Kosova conflicts is inappropriate, given that it was the Georgian army that began the war by invading Abkhazia in 1992. LF[03] TURKEY GRANTS GEORGIA FUNDS FOR ARMY MODERNIZATIONMajor- General Serafetddin Elci, who is head of the Financial Department of the Turkish armed forces General Staff, and Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Grigol Katamadze signed an agreement in Tbilisi on 7 June under which Ankara will grant Georgia $1.7 million in 1999 toward modernizing its armed forces, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. Part of those funds will be allocated to the Georgian Frontier Guard Service. Last year, Turkey granted Georgia $5.5 million for defense purposes. Turkey will also assist Georgia in organizing multinational maneuvers in 2001 within the framework of NATO's Partnership for Peace program. LF[04] PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY CRITICIZES KAZAKH GOVERNMENTLeading members of the OTAN (Fatherland) party, including parliamentary speaker Marat Ospanov, issued a statement on 7 June castigating the government for failing to protect domestic industry, stem rising unemployment, and pay pensions and social allowances on time, Reuters and Interfax reported. The statement said that as a result of its "incompetent actions," the present government has forfeited public support. It called on parliamentary deputies to vote no confidence in the present cabinet, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Prime Minister Nurlan Balghymbaev responded by characterizing the problems facing his government as the legacy of the policies pursued by former Premier Sergei Tereschenko, who now heads OTAN. LF[05] KAZAKHSTAN FACES BUDGET CUTSPrime Minister Balghymbaev on 7 June presented to the lower house of parliament plans for cutting budget spending in 1999 by more than 18 billion tenge ($151 million), ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. Revenues are to be revised downward by 11.5 billion tenge. Balghymbaev said that the decrease in revenues is the result of falling exports to the country's most important trading partners, especially Russia, and lower prices for oil and metals on world markets. LF[06] ANOTHER PROTEST DEMONSTRATION IN KYRGYZSTAN...Some 50 people picketed the regional administration building in the northern Kyrgyz town of Talas on 7 June to protest deteriorating living conditions and delays in paying wages and pensions, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The same day, the lower house of the parliament began considering government-proposed amendments to the Law on Pensions and Social Guarantees, which would double the minimum salary from 100 soms ($2.3) to 200 soms. Deputies rejected that proposal as inadequate, noting that the minimum per capita subsistence level is 950 soms. LF[07] ...AS BISHKEK YOUTH DEMAND OWN PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCYMeeting on 5 June with President Askar Akaev, representatives of young people engaged in building their own homes on the outskirts of Bishkek suggested creating a new constituency to enable them to vote for a parliamentary deputy to represent their interests, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. They complained that the district where they live is without roads, running water, electricity, or public transport to the city center. The district is home to some 100,000 young people from rural areas, 80 percent of whom are unemployed. Akaev promised that a government commission will be formed to address the problem. In 1990, homeless residents of Bishkek founded the first informal political organization in the then Kirghiz SSR. LF[08] TAJIK OPPOSITION SEEKS TO BRIDGE RIFT WITH GOVERNMENTThe United Tajik Opposition will create a working group headed by National Reconciliation Commission member Muhammad Sharif Himmatzoda to discuss conditions for renewing cooperation with the government on implementation of the 1997 peace agreement, Interfax and Reuters reported. UTO leader Said Abdullo Nuri said he anticipates that the working group will make its proposals within five or six days. The opposition suspended its work in the National Reconciliation Commission two weeks ago to protest the government's failure to implement key points of the 1997 peace agreement, including the release of 93 imprisoned opposition fighters and the appointment of opposition nominees to 30 percent of all national and local government posts (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 May 1999). LF[09] TAJIKISTAN, CHINA DISCUSS TRADE, BORDER DEMARCATIONVisiting Dushanbe on 6-7 June, Chinese Deputy Premier Qian Qichen met with Tajik First Deputy Prime Minister Khodja Akbar Turadjonzoda and President Imomali Rakhmonov. The talks focused on measures to expand bilateral trade and economic relations, including Tajikistan's accession to the agreement between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan on the transit of goods. They also dealt with outstanding points of disagreement in a draft document demarcating the frontier between the two countries. Rakhmonov and Qian discussed regional security and the situation in Afghanistan, on which their views proved "almost identical," according to presidential spokesman Zafar Saidov. The two sides also signed an intergovernmental agreement whereby China will grant Tajikistan 10 million yuan (about $1.2 million) in humanitarian aid. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] ALBRIGHT BRINGS KOSOVAR RIVALS TOGETHERU.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met in Cologne on 8 June with the rival Kosovar leaders Hashim Thaci from the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK), Ibrahim Rugova of the Democratic League of Kosova, and Rexhep Qosja of the United Democratic Movement of Kosova. It was the first meeting between Rugova and the other two Kosovar leaders since the Rambouillet talks in March. Albright said later at a joint press conference with Thaci that "these representatives of the [Kosovar] political leadership have told me without any ambiguity that they will meet the key commitments made at Rambouillet." She added that the four discussed plans to set up a civilian administration in Kosova "under a special representative of UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan," Reuters reported. FS[11] THACI SAYS UCK WILL NOT ATTACK RETREATING SERBSThaci said at the press conference with Albright in Cologne on 8 June that "the UCK very soon will declare that it will refrain from attacking any retreating Serbian forces." Albright confirmed that she received the same message from Thaci during their earlier meeting. Thaci also promised that the UCK will "give up its military functions" once an international peacekeeping force moves into Kosova. Albright said "the [UCK] will demilitarize and enter into a process of transformation [into becoming primarily a political organization. Kosova's] political leaders will, I hope, cooperate to make [Kosova] truly democratic." FS[12] UNHCR: SITUATION INSIDE KOSOVA DETERIORATINGA spokeswoman for the UNHCR said in Skopje on 8 June that recently arrived refugees report an upsurge in fighting between Serbian forces and the UCK. She did not say where the refugees have come from. The spokeswoman added: "We are getting stories of people being bused repeatedly to the border only to be turned around and sent back where they came from. Many, many people trying to get out are being prevented by Serb authorities and by the increased fighting," Reuters reported. PM[13] SERBIAN POLICE INTRODUCE NEW TORTURE REGIMENIn Kukes, recently arrived refugees told aid workers that Serbian police "have come up with a new mix of brutality and bureaucracy" to torture Kosovar males in Mitrovica prison, Reuters reported on 8 June. Police "call in Serbian boys as young as 12 years old to beat and humiliate [Kosovars] for five days before dumping them at the border with Albania." The police also force the Kosovars to sign statements in which they "confess" to being terrorists, "as if [the police] could one day use these documents to keep [the Kosovars] from ever returning home," the news agency continued. Aid workers said that they have no idea why the Serbian police have introduced this program of "sadism sealed with red tape." Some recently arrived refugees added that new prisoners arrive at Mitrovica as soon as others are released. PM[14] BELGRADE WANTS TO MONITOR RETURNEESA Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Belgrade on 8 June that Serbian border police and customs officials must remain in Kosova in order to ensure that only legitimate refugees come back once a peace settlement is concluded. He stressed that the Serbian authorities must keep out "people from Albania proper...including those separatists and terrorists who are active over there and will come and start chasing Serbs," Reuters reported. PM[15] SERBIAN FORCES SHELL MACEDONIAN VILLAGESome 30 mortar shells hit the ethnic Albanian village of Jazince on the border with Kosova in northwestern Macedonia on 7 June, Reuters reported. Some buildings were damaged but no one was injured. One local man told reporters that the Serbian forces "like to play games with us, to kill Albanians." In recent weeks, many Kosovars have illegally crossed into Macedonia in the Jazince area. In Taipei the following day, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski played down the shelling incident, adding "this is the first time [Serbian forces have shelled a Macedonian village].... I believe this is no big threat to our national security because there are 16,000 NATO soldiers to help keep stability in Macedonia and the number will increase in the near future." PM[16] SERBIAN ARTILLERY HITS TARGETS DEEP INSIDE ALBANIASerbian forces fired seven artillery shells about 25 kilometers into northern Albania on 8 June, an OSCE spokesman told Reuters. The shells hit a village near Bajram Curri, but no casualties were reported. The previous day, two U.S. B-52 aircraft bombed Serbian artillery positions inside Kosova after the artillery fired numerous shells into Albania. FS[17] ALBANIA'S MEIDANI URGES NATO TO CONTINUE BOMBINGPresident Rexhep Meidani on 7 June urged NATO to intensify its bombing campaign and force Milosevic to implement the peace agreement. Meidani argued that "this language is the only language...Milosevic's regime understands." He told Reuters that the failure of the Kumanovo talks between NATO and Yugoslav generals was "predictable" and that it is likely that further meetings will also produce nothing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sokol Gjoka told an RFE/RL correspondent that "this is not the first time that the Belgrade government has tried to back out of agreements it signed earlier under pressure of the international community." He added that Milosevic "is trying to gain time and carry out his [war] aims." FS[18] MONTENEGRO SEEKS TO BAR RETREATING SERBIAN FORCESAn unnamed "senior government figure" told Reuters in Podgorica on 7 June that the Montenegrin authorities have "asked NATO not to allow Serbian forces [leaving Kosova] to come through here. There is no need for that-- they can go directly to Serbia without setting foot here." The Montenegrin authorities have frequently said that they fear that Milosevic will try to stage a coup in order to take control of their mountainous republic. PM[19] THREAT TO MILOSEVIC 'FROM THE BOTTOM'?Neither the politically "servile" army leadership nor the divided opposition constitutes the chief political threat to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote on 8 June. If there is any serious challenge to the Yugoslav leader from inside the political establishment, it comes from Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, the daily continued. The principal threat to Milosevic comes "from below," namely from ordinary soldiers who have deserted their units in Kosova and from ordinary citizens who have come to realize that 12 years of Milosevic's rule have meant four lost wars and much destruction. The newspaper notes that Milosevic's hold on the provinces has weakened over the years, and that most small- and medium-sized cities are governed by the opposition. PM[20] SOUTH AFRICA: MILOSEVIC 'NOT WELCOME'Officials of the South African Foreign Ministry have informed the Yugoslav embassy in Pretoria and the domestic press that Milosevic "will not be welcome" at the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki, which is slated for 16 June. The South African officials noted that the government is legally obliged to arrest Milosevic and deport him to The Netherlands because the Hague-based war crimes tribunal recently indicted him, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" noted on 8 June. In London, "The Sunday Times" recently reported that Milosevic's son Mirko has transferred nearly $3 million to bank accounts in South Africa in preparation for a move by the Milosevic family to that country. Observers note that Serbian business interests in South Africa have grown in recent years. PM[21] BOSNIAN SERB WAR CRIMES SUSPECT FLOWN TO HAGUENATO peacekeepers arrested Dragan Kulundzija near Prijedor on 7 June and sent him to The Hague. The war crimes tribunal indicted him in 1995 for having allegedly killed, tortured, or sexually abused Muslim and Croatian prisoners while he was a commander at the Keraterm concentration camp in 1992. Kulundzija is also charged with "unlawfully seizing and imprisoning" people and holding them under "inhumane conditions." PM[22] MUSLIMS, SERBS ELECT GOVERNING BODY IN SREBRENICAThe 42- member Srebrenica town council elected a government consisting of nine Muslims, nine Serbs, and a Muslim chairman on 7 June, Reuters reported. Ambassador Robert Barry, who heads the OSCE's mission to Bosnia, called Srebrenica "perhaps the most symbolically important town" in that state. He added that "if reconciliation can occur here in Srebrenica, it can occur anywhere in Bosnia." Bosnian Serb forces seized Srebrenica in 1995 and subsequently killed possibly up to 7,000 of its Muslim inhabitants, primarily males. The killings have been widely described as the largest single atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II. Srebrenica is now located in the Republika Srpska. Former residents living in various parts of Bosnia elected the current town council in 1997. The 24 council members who are Muslims continue to live in Muslim-held territory. PM[23] ROMANIAN COURT REHABILITATES FORMER TOP COMMUNIST SPYThe Supreme Court on 7 June quashed two death sentences handed down to Lieutenant-General Ion Mihai Pacepa, former deputy chief of the communist secret police's Foreign Intelligence Department. Pacepa was sentenced by a military tribunal after his defection to the U.S. in 1978. The sentences had been appealed by the Prosecutor-General's Office on grounds of "inconclusive evidence." Pacepa's lawyer told the court that his client had been sentenced for "high treason" while he had "only betrayed the secrets of the Ceausescu clan, which was at the helm of the country at the time," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Observers say the annulment of the sentences is part of Romania's effort to improve its chances of being admitted to NATO. MS[24] ALBRIGHT POSTPONES ROMANIAN VISITA Foreign Ministry spokesman on 7 June said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has postponed a short visit planned for the next day because of the Kosova crisis. Also on 7 June, President Emil Constantinescu discussed with Prime Minister Radu Vasile Romania's participation in the reconstruction of Yugoslavia. Constantinescu recently said Romania could help with exports of cement, metallurgical products, and electricity, whose supply exceeds demand on the Romanian market. MS[25] PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF MOLDOVAN LOCAL ELECTIONS RUN-OFFS RELEASEDThe Central Electoral Commission on 7 June announced that the preliminary results of the local election run-offs held one day earlier show that independent candidates are leading the field in mayoral races, having gained 19.1 percent. Of the political parties taking part in the election, the Bloc of Communists, Agrarians, and Socialists led the field with 12.1 percent, followed by the Democratic Convention of Moldova (7.3 percent), the Centrist Alliance (9.4 percent ) and the Party of Democratic Forces (5.1 percent). All other political formations scored 2 percent or less. MS[26] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO PARLIAMENTARY RESOLUTIONPresidential spokesman Anatol Golea told journalists on 7 June that President Petru Lucinschi views the parliamentary resolution accusing him of breaching the constitution as "an attempt to exercise pressure on the Constitutional Court" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 June 1999). The court has yet to rule on the legality of the 23 May non-binding referendum. In other news, Flux reported that Ukraine will not renew electricity supplies to Moldova as long as the government in Chisinau persists in refusing to offer state guarantees that it will pay off its $16.2 million debt by the end of 1999. Citing a government official in charge of energy supplies, the agency said that since Romania and the Transdniester are unable to cover Moldova's consumption needs, electricity shortages are likely to continue. MS[C] END NOTE[27] NATO WANTS MORE THAN WORDS FROM HUNGARYby Michael J. Jordan Ask the average Hungarian about history, and he'll likely recount the centuries of suffering at the hands of foreign invaders. Thus when Hungary joined NATO on 12 March, it seemed motivated less by the desire to join the "winning" side of the Cold War than by the wish for a future of guaranteed security.It was cruel irony when on 24 March, just 12 days after Hungary's induction, NATO launched its first air strikes against Yugoslavia. Hungary was de facto at war with its southern neighbor. More than two months later, the Hungarians, to their consternation, find themselves being dragged deeper into the war. While the public generally supports the NATO air campaign and the free use of Hungarian air space, recent opinion polls show a solid two- thirds of the public opposes any attack from Hungarian soil. An even larger number resist the possible use of Hungarian troops in either a ground offensive or peacekeeping mission. But the public outcry falls on deaf ears in Brussels and Washington. With NATO prodding Hungary to meet its alliance obligations, while dangling the carrot of a significant role in post-war reconstruction of the Balkans - the Hungarian leadership consented to the first launch of fighter aircraft from Hungarian air bases. Last month, 20 of 24 U.S. Marine F/A-18 Hornets arrived in southern Hungary. Equipped with laser-guided bombs, the Hornets began flying combat missions on 28 May. Turkey, another NATO member, was more enthusiastic about granting access to its bases last month. If no peace agreement is forthcoming, missions from there may begin this month, although Turkish aircraft are already flying missions out of Italy. These are the latest steps in what NATO officials describe as an intensified assault on the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Hungarians officials are lending their support to the stepped-up air campaign. "This is exactly the kind of NATO we wanted to join 10 years ago, one that stands for a certain set of values," said Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, as he inspected the F-18s last month. "And now, NATO is fighting to defend those values." Meanwhile, the mood among Hungarians has turned fatalistic. This is especially evident in Taszar, the small village adjacent to the air base where the NATO aircraft are stationed. The base has also served as the staging ground for NATO's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia since late 1995. "We never wanted them here, but nobody asks what the simple people want," says retired truck driver Laszlo Kalmar, as an F-18 roars overhead. "More and more people around here are talking about World War III." While Mr. Kalmar and others in Taszar fear they may now be targets for Yugoslav missiles, there is no denying the strategic value of Hungary in NATO's military operation. Hungary is the only NATO member that borders Yugoslavia (it is, in fact, an island within the alliance in that it borders no other NATO state). Its proximity to Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital (100 miles away), and other key cities makes NATO aircraft in Hungary more "deployable" if quick action were needed. And were NATO to invade with ground forces, the flat terrain and short distance between Hungary and Belgrade is vastly more appealing than the rugged mountains that separate Kosova from both Macedonia and Albania. For now, at least, Hungary will host only aircraft. Taszar is also awaiting as many as 18 A-10 Warthog aircraft, "tankbusters" that could do low-flying dirty work against Serbian forces on the ground in Kosova. These would be used instead of the 22 Apache attack helicopters now based in Albania, which U.S. President Bill Clinton recently described as too "risky" to use against the Serbs. NATO officials say the launch of combat missions from Hungary and Turkey would serve two purposes: it relieves the workload at NATO's base in Aviano, Italy, and opens up two new fronts against Milosevic. Elsewhere, NATO aspirants Romania and Bulgaria, both next door to Yugoslavia, are allowing free use of their air space. But Greece, which sympathizes with its Orthodox Christian brethren, the Serbs, has been the only NATO member to refuse use of its air space. Hungary has signed on, but with deep reservations about how that move will affect the 350,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Vojvodina, the northern province of Yugoslavia that was Hungarian territory until a post-World War I treaty. Vojvodina may indeed become a more central issue as the search for a settlement to the Kosova conflict continues. Both Vojvodina and Kosova had autonomy within the old Yugoslavia until Milosevic abolished it in 1989. Hungarians on either side of the border fear that if a peace resolution for Kosova fails to address Vojvodina's status, as the Dayton peace deal in 1995 failed to address Kosova, the seeds may be sown for a future Balkan conflict. If anything, recent comments by right-wing Hungarian politicians have only inflamed the situation. One ultra- nationalist lawmaker, Istvan Csurka, pushes for Hungary to protect the Hungarian minority with a border "revision" that would annex parts of Vojvodina. And Zsolt Lanyi, the chairman of the parliament's Defense Committee, went so far as to suggest "statehood" for both Vojvodina and Kosova. Many observers denounced the statements. "It is untimely," said Gernot Erler, deputy parliamentary leader of Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party, "because it reinforces the Serbian nationalist belief that the world cooperates in order to disintegrate Yugoslavia." The author is a Budapest-based freelance journalist ([email protected]). 08-06-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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