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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 115, 99-06-14Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 115, 14 June 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] NEW ARMENIAN PREMIER TO NAME GOVERNMENTVazgen Sarkisian, who was appointed prime minister by Armenian President Robert Kocharian on 11 June, will announce the composition of his government in the next few days, Interfax reported. Sarkisian, whose Unity alliance won 57 of the 131 seats in parliament, will give up his post as defense minister. PG[02] PAPAL VISIT TO ARMENIA ALTEREDThe Holy See announced on 14 June that an official visit to Armenia by Pope John Paul II scheduled for 2-4 July has been changed due to the illness of Armenian Catholicos Garegin I, who is recovering from cancer surgery performed in February. Instead of the July meeting, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope would fly to Armenia from Krakow, Poland on 18 June to visit the ailing Orthodox patriarch. John Paul will return to Rome that same day. PG/PB[03] AZERBAIJAN RATIFIES JAPAN OIL ACCORDThe Azerbaijani parliament on 11 June ratified a $2.3 billion agreement between Baku's SOCAR oil company and a Japanese oil consortium, Interfax- PIA reported. The agreements will go into effect after Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev signs them. Four Japanese firms control 50 percent of the deal-- SOCAR holds the other 50 percent. The joint enterprise will develop three areas in the Caspian Sea thought to contain upwards of 100 million tons of oil. PG[04] HAS GEORGIAN REBEL LEADER SURRENDERED?Akaky Eliava and nine others involved in an insurrection against Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in October 1998 reportedly surrendered to Georgian authorities on 11 June, Interfax reported. But on 13 June, Eliava denied that he had surrendered and asked the country's parliament to guarantee his security. The confusion may reflect the fact that Eliava and his men were not formally arrested but simply gave written pledges that they would not flee the country and that they came out of hiding only after the authorities met their demands and released 39 others involved in their movement. PG[05] GEORGIAN SHIP TAKES PART IN PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE EXERCISEA patrol cutter from the Georgian navy will participate in a NATO Partnership for Peace program near Varna, Bulgaria, from 14-26 June, ITAR- TASS reported. PG[06] NAZARBAEV TO GET SPECIAL POWERS?Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev on 11 June asked the parliament to grant him the power to issue laws prior to the convocation of the next session of that body, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. His comments came during an address to parliament in which he called for the adoption of a number of bill's prior to the legislature's summer recess. Nazarbaev said that the country's rapidly changing economic situation "requires faster legal steps to enhance the ongoing reforms." Parliamentarians indicated to Reuters that the legislature is likely to go along with the measure, which will further concentrate power in the hands of Nazarbaev. Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbaev said on 14 June that he fully supports the president's request in order to clear a "backlog of legislation" that he said is crucial to lifting the economy out of a worsening slump. PG/PB[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S KURDS DENY PKK ACTIVITYNadir Nadirov, the president of the Association of the Kurdish People in Kazakhstan, said on 11 June that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has never been active in his country, Interfax- Kazakhstan reported. But he added that the Kurds of Kazakhstan "cannot be indifferent" to the fate of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is now on trial in Turkey. PG[08] KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIA CONSULT ON PIPELINE ROUTESRussian First Deputy Premier Nikolai Aksenenko met with Kazakh officials in Astana on 12 June to discuss possible pipeline routes for the export of Kazakhstan's oil to foreign markets, ITAR-TASS reported. The two sides also discussed the schedule of Russia's payments for the leasing of the Baikonur space center. Aksenenko reportedly promised that Moscow would make the first payment in July. PG[09] WORLD BANK LOAN FOR TAJIK PRIVATIZATION PROJECTSThe World Bank has approved a $20 million loan to support the privatization of farms in Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS reported on 12 June. The loan was made through the bank's International Association for Development, a program that makes loans to the world's poorest countries. PG[10] KARIMOV STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF SINO-UZBEK TIESDuring a visit to Tashkent by Chinese Deputy Premier Qian Qichen on 11 June, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov called for expanding ties between the two countries as part of an effort to revive "the ancient Great Silver Road" linking Europe to Asia. PG[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] NATO FORCES ENTER KOSOVABritish peacekeepers crossed from Macedonia into Kosova on 12 June. By the early hours of 14 June, French, German, U.S., and Italian forces had entered their respective zones as well (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 June 1999). Crowds of ethnic Albanians turned out to greet the forces of Operation Joint Guardian with cheers and flowers. Some Kosovars, including males in Prishtina, said that this was the first time they had left their homes in nearly three months for fear of letting Serbian forces know where they are. PM[12] INCIDENTS REPORTED FROM THE STARTBritish troops' progress toward Prishtina was slowed on 12 June by the need to clear mines and booby-traps. Once in the capital, they killed a Serbian policeman who reportedly fired on them. German troops in the Prizren sector killed at least one Serb who shot at them from a car the following day. Unknown gunmen killed two German journalists from the magazine "Stern" near Duha. They were photographer Volker Kraemer and reporter Gabriel Gruener. Deutsche Welle on 14 June quoted a German KFOR spokesman as saying that the journalists had "no business" being in Duha at that time. A third German journalist was killed near Prizren. The BBC reported that incidents are likely to continue as KFOR seeks to establish order and disarm Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) fighters emerging from hiding as well as retreating Serbs. Other incidents took place in which ethnic Albanians jeered retreating Serbs and threw objects at them. PM[13] RUSSIAN TROOPS, NATO IN STAND-OFF NEAR AIRPORTSome 200 Russian paratroops arrived by land from Bosnia via Serbia on 11 June, thus becoming the first foreign forces to enter Kosova. Serbs in Prishtina gave them a hero's welcome. The Russians took control of the airport and denied access to British and French forces that wanted to enter, telling them that the airport is "their sector." NATO forces had planned to make the airport their headquarters in Prishtina. Much confusion surrounds the circumstances under which the Russians were ordered into Kosova and what their future role there will be (see stories in Part I). Observers note that, whatever the case, the Moscow leadership is clearly using the presence of Russian troops on the ground to strengthen Moscow's hand in its ongoing negotiations with Washington over Russia's unresolved role in Kosova. PM[14] UCK: RUSSIANS MUST GOHashim Thaci, who heads the UCK-backed provisional government, said in a statement in Tirana on 14 June: "We are concerned about the entrance of these Russian troops into Kosova without permission of the international community or the Provisional Government.... This partition of Kosova that Russians intend to [establish] will be unacceptable for the Provisional Government of Kosova. We cannot guarantee the security of the Russian troops that entered Kosova. They must leave Kosova as soon as possible." PM[15] ANOTHER MASS GRAVE IN KOSOVA?Ethnic Albanians alerted KFOR peacekeepers over the weekend to a group of freshly-dug graves in a cemetery near Kacanik. On 14 June, peacekeepers inspected the site and called in forensic experts from the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. Local Kosovars told reporters that Serbian forces brutally killed an unspecified number of ethnic Albanians in May. The BBC said that this will be the first reported mass grave in Kosova to be examined by KFOR and the tribunal. PM[16] YUGOSLAV GENERAL PRAISES HIS TROOPSGeneral Vladimir Lazarevic, who commands the Yugoslav Army's Prishtina Corps, told state-run television on 13 June that his troops performed "brilliantly and heroically" in defending their country and defeating "separatist-terrorist" forces in Kosova, Reuters reported. "The Prishtina Corps was the focus of the defense of Yugoslavia." NATO, he continued, sought "to enslave, subjugate and humiliate an entire people...the Serbian people. [The allies] have done great evil to our country, committed unprecedented crimes against the entire population, against humanity and against peace." PM[17] SERBS FLEE KOSOVARetreating Serbian paramilitaries and other forces began leaving Kosova over the weekend with vehicles loaded with refrigerators, stereo equipment, televisions, bicycles, and other goods. Elsewhere, aid workers in Rozaje, Montenegro, said on 13 June that more than 9,000 ethnic Serb civilians had passed through the area in recent days. Some of the Serbs said they were leaving Kosova until their safety there was assured. Other Serbian civilians took all their possessions with them and said that they were leaving for good. In Prishtina, local Serbs appealed to villagers passing through the capital to stay. In Prizren on 14 June, some local Serbs waited for assurances of safe passage northward through areas held by the UCK. PM[18] SESELJ QUITS GOVERNMENTOn 14 June, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj made good on a previous threat to leave the government if a NATO force occupied Kosova and took his Serbian Radical Party out of the government. Seselj said that his party has no reason to stay in the government since Kosova "is under occupation." The Radicals hold two deputy prime-ministerships and 13 cabinet posts. The BBC reported from Belgrade that Milosevic will have "no trouble" finding other people to join his government by promising them jobs and patronage. PM[19] DJINDJIC CALLS FOR NEW ELECTIONSSerbian Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told Inforadio Berlin that new elections should take place this fall rather than in 2000, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" of 12 June reported. He stressed that the opposition can get its message to the voters if it has sufficient access to the media. He added that the opposition will also benefit when soldiers return from Kosova and tell people that the war was unnecessary and could have been avoided. PM[20] MONTENEGRO TO SECEDE?Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 14 June that "Yugoslavia needs a democratic turnaround. If Serbia remains a prisoner of the former policy, Montenegro will look for its own legal status." He has repeatedly said that he does not seek independence but stressed that Milosevic's policies are detrimental to Montenegrin interests. In Podgorica on 14 June, a group of intellectuals formed the Movement for the Independence of Montenegro and called for a referendum on separate statehood. They issued a declaration in which they said that "federal institutions, instead of protecting Montenegro, are the cause of instability and insecurity," AP reported. PM[21] IS THE UCK DISINTEGRATING?An unnamed UCK fighter told the "The Observer" in Kukes on 12 June that "there [are] fights...between the officers and the [regular soldiers in an UCK camp in Albania].... The men want to go [into Kosova]. If NATO is there with hundreds of journalists, they feel they should be in there. It is also their victory and they're very [upset] that no one is acknowledging what they did." Another soldier stressed that "all the soldiers who are here on the front line want to go home and check out their own villages.... The UCK [is] going to have a hard time trying to keep their men together." A Dutch mercenary, who resigned from the UCK, said that "the commanders [are] battling for positions between each other. Every commander has two bodyguards.... The commanders are afraid of each other. Things are going to get very bad." FS[22] UCK, GERMAN TROOPS SEND REFUGEES BACK INTO ALBANIAAt the Morina border crossing on 14 June, UCK soldiers and German KFOR troops told about 300 Kosovar refugees to go back to their camps, AP reported. UNHCR officials want the refugees to remain in their camps until NATO peacekeepers have restored order, cleared minefields, and established conditions for an orderly return, an UNHCR spokeswoman said in Geneva. The priority of the UNHCR is the return of internally displaced persons before the refugees can come home from abroad. Meanwhile, the UNHCR is preparing to send its first humanitarian aid convoy into Kosova. Thaci's government issued an appeal calling on the refugees to remain in Albania. It added: "We appeal to the Kosovar people in Albania to be patient for a safe and organized return at the right time and in the right place." FS[23] GEORGIEVSKI CALLS FOR RECONSTRUCTION, RETURN OF REFUGEESMacedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said in Taipei, Taiwan on 11 June that the return of the 250,000 Kosovar refugees and a comprehensive international plan for Balkan economic reconstruction are necessary if he is to realize his plans for his country's development. Unnamed sources with his party told AP that work will begin in July or August on a Taiwanese- financed "industrial zone" near Skopje airport. The project will cost some $200 million and include about 20 factories that will manufacture or assemble high-technology products for the European market. PM[24] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SAYS MILOSEVIC SACRIFICED YUGOSLAVIAEmil Constantinescu, in an address on national television on 11 June, said that peace in Yugoslavia has been achieved at the price of an "enormous destruction" for which "a whole generation [of Yugoslavs] will have to pay" because "the Milosevic regime preferred to sacrifice the country and its people" rather than opt for a "solution that would have been possible from the very beginning" of the conflict. Constantinescu said Romania has passed the test of its alliance with NATO "with flying colors," and despite the economic difficulties caused by the crisis has managed to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt. He pledged to personally support an initiative to set up an association of businessmen to promote Romania's participation in the reconstruction of Yugoslavia. MS[25] ROMANIAN OFFICER INVESTIGATED FOR TREASONThe Defense Ministry on 13 June confirmed a report published in the daily "Ziua" which said that a Romanian officer is under investigation by military prosecutors on suspicion of treason. The accused is suspected of having sold secret documents to a British citizen suspected of espionage, Mediafax and AP reported. The officer, who has been placed on reserve, is alleged to have sold the secret documents for $2,000 to the Sibiu-based Geo Strategies digital mapping company, a joint British-Romanian firm. Two Romanian civilians are also under investigation. In other news, the Teachers' Trade Union Federation on 12 June decided to reject the government-proposed agreement on ending its strike and is continuing the labor sanctions. MS[26] BULGARIA DELAYS RESPONSE TO RUSSIAN AIR CORRIDOR REQUESTA spokesman for the Foreign Ministry on 12 June said Russia has requested "through diplomatic channels" an air corridor for the transportation of troops to Kosova. The spokesman said that the request "was not made in line with existing requirements" and it "has been agreed" that Moscow send to Sofia "an additional note" detailing "the movement of the envisaged units." When the request is received it will be considered "in line with existing procedure," the spokesman said. He added that Bulgaria hoped that "by that time, the talks on the single command of the peacekeeping forces in Kosovo will be successfully completed and the order of their movement regulated." MS[27] BULGARIAN PREMIER DEFENDS GOVERNMENT POSITION ON KOSOVAIvan Kostov on 11 June said in the parliament that the government's position on the Kosova crisis has been praised by the international community and has led to a reconsideration of Bulgaria's "strategic role" in the restoration of peace and stability in the Balkans, BTA reported. Kostov was responding to Socialist Party deputy Ivan Genov, who accused the government of having "militarized its foreign policy" and of having "sacrificed national security" in order to ensure its stay in power.[28] BULGARIA, MOLDOVA DISCUSS TRANSIT OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUELVisiting Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Nicolae Andronic on 11 June discussed with Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov the transit of spent nuclear fuel from the Kozloduy nuclear plant to Russia via Moldova, BTA and Infotag reported. Andronic will present a report to the Moldovan parliament, which is to debate the ratification of the November 1997 agreement on the transit signed by Russia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. In 1998, the parliament rejected the ratification and allowed only a one-time transit of the spent fuel. Andronic told journalists that he also discussed with Stoyanov the lifting of visa requirements imposed by Bulgaria on Moldovan nationals. The talks also covered the status of the Taraclia district in Moldova. The ethnic Bulgarians there view the district's incorporation into the Cahul county as an infringement of there rights. MS[C] END NOTE[29] Moscow's Third WayBy Paul GobleThe introduction of some 200 Russian troops into Prishtina and their continuing occupation of the airport there reflect Moscow's continuing effort to navigate between cooperation with NATO and confrontation with Western creditor countries. This essential continuity has been obscured over the weekend both by often apocalyptic Western commentaries and by Western governments anxious to overcome the difficulties that arose when 200 Russian soldiers unexpectedly showed up in the Kosovar capital. Commentators in leading U.S. and West European newspapers speculated that this latest Russian action could mean one of two things: It could be a rogue operation by Russian generals and thus an indication that President Boris Yeltsin is no longer in control of the situation in Moscow. Or, these same analysts suggested, it could mean that Yeltsin has had a change of heart and now shares the nationalist agenda of many of NATO's most vociferous critics in the Russian capital. In either case, the prospects for East-West relations are extremely gloomy. At the other extreme were spokesmen for both NATO forces and Western governments who went to great lengths to suggest the Russian presence in Prishtina was a "bump in the road" and that the differences between Moscow and NATO that it reflected would soon be overcome. Each of these three views--the notion that Yeltsin does not have total control of his government, the idea that Yeltsin's views about the West are evolving, and the belief that this "bump" will soon be overcome--captures part of the current East-West geopolitical reality. And only a combination of the three provides not only an accurate description of what is going on but also a picture of just where Russian policy on Yugoslavia and on the West now is. As reporting from Moscow on Saturday and Sunday shows, few Russians care very much about who ordered the introduction of Russian forces--Yeltsin, the Defense Ministry, or a particular general. Instead, they are pleased that Russia has been able to create a fact on the ground that NATO was earlier unwilling to grant but is equally unwilling to directly challenge. Yeltsin will gain support abroad in at least two ways. On the one hand, the Serbs and other states angry at NATO and the United States will see Russia as their spokesman/protector, even if Moscow eventually backs down. And on the other, the Russian president will almost certainly be able to extract some greater concessions from the West in order to bring the Russian forces into conformance with NATO's plans, something Yeltsin will be better positioned to do if there is confusion about just who gave the order to send them there in the first place. Moreover, reporting from Moscow also makes it clear that Yeltsin is evolving in his views about the West under the impact of NATO's actions in Yugoslavia. Yeltsin is clearly less uncritical of the West than he was a year ago, and he is very much interested in demonstrating his own and his country's power, especially because both have so obviously declined. But Yeltsin also remains very aware of his dependence on the West and also the dependence of his country, an awareness that helps to explain why Moscow has taken such a carefully calibrated action. It also supports the idea that the Russian president was very much involved in the deployment decision. If the introduction of Russian troops into Prishtina had been a rogue action or if it had been the product of a new anti- Western Yeltsin, it might have been both larger and more dramatic than it in fact has proved to be. Indeed, the Prishtina operation appears to reflect a desire to put pressure on the West without taking a step that would totally alienate the leaders of countries to which Moscow still looks for assistance of various kinds. NATO will certainly seek a compromise that will keep the Russians "on board" as various Western leaders have said. Indeed, precisely because some in Moscow--including Yeltsin-- have positioned themselves to deny full responsibility, the West may again as it has in the past give Yeltsin credit for backing away from something that he may have been responsible for starting. And even if that happens--and the odds of a settlement on this point are probably quite good--Moscow and Yeltsin undoubtedly assume they will walk away winners, not only by signaling their support of the Serbs but also by underscoring the West's largely self-imposed requirement that Moscow be included in all future discussions about Kosova. Consequently, Moscow's pursuit of a third way in this conflict appears likely to bring it far greater benefits than either of the extreme alternatives. And that in turn suggests that Yeltsin, who has practiced this style of politics before, almost certainly is heavily involved in this case as well. 14-06-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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