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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 219, 99-11-10Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 219, 10 November 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] TALKS ON NEW ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT DEADLOCKED?President RobertKocharian and Prime Minister Aram Sargsian have agreed that the security portfolios in the new cabinet should go to career professionals with no political affiliation, but they still disagree over the future of Vahan Shirkhanian, who is minister for industrial infrastructures in the outgoing cabinet, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 9 November quoting a source close to the Armenian government. A former deputy defense minister, Shirkhanian was close to murdered Premier Vazgen Sargsian (Aram's elder brother). Kocharian reportedly opposes his being given a new cabinet post. The disagreement over Shirkhanian is reportedly delaying the announcement of the composition of the new cabinet, which is expected this week. The current ministers dealing with economic issues will remain in their posts to underscore the government's continued commitment to market reforms, the source said. LF [02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ALLOWS DEPUTY'S ARREST IN CONNECTION WITHSHOOTINGSDeputies voted on 10 November to lift the immunity of independent legislator Mushegh Movsisian, who can now be charged with involvement in the 27 October shootings of Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian and seven others, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian told the parliament that the leader of the five gunmen who committed the killings implicated Movsisian, claiming that the latter began planning the murders last March. Movsisian has denied any involvement in the killings. Ten people have now been detained in connection with the murders, according to Noyan Tapan on 9 March. LF [03] KAZAKHSTAN ROCKET LAUNCH BAN MAY AFFECT INTERNATIONAL SPACESTATIONNurlan Utembaev, who is deputy head of Kazakhstan's National Space Committee, told Reuters in Almaty on 9 November that the temporary ban on launches of Russian Proton rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan may delay the launch of a module that is to form part of new International space station. That launch is scheduled for December or January. Utembaev said the ban on Proton rocket launches could be lifted "fairly soon" after completion of the investigation into the explosion of a Proton rocket shortly after blastoff on 27 October. But Meirbek Moldabekov, who is director of Kazakhstan's Space Agency, said that no Proton launches will be allowed before February or March, AP reported on 9 November, citing Interfax. Also on 9 November, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov told RFE/RL correspondents that Kazakhstan will demand substantial financial compensation from Russia for the 27 October disaster. He said that Russia receives $70-90 million for each commercial Proton rocket launch, whereas all Kazakhstan gets is ecological damage. LF [04] KAZAKHSTAN ADOPTS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGYPresidentNursultan Nazarbaev chaired a session of the National Security Council on 9 November that adopted a new national security strategy for the period until 2005, Interfax reported. That document identifies the most serious short- and long-term threats to the country in the foreign, military, economic, political, social, environmental, and information spheres. Journalists were not admitted to the session, RFE/RL's Astana bureau reported. LF [05] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT NAMES NEW TOP SECURITY OFFICIALAskar Akaevon 9 November appointed 56-year-old Tashtemir Aitbaev as minister of national security, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. A former Kirghiz Komsomol first secretary, Aitbaev served as deputy KGB chairman and then as a Kirghiz Communist Party Central Committee secretary in the late 1980s. In that latter capacity, he expressed support for the unsuccessful August 1991 putsch. Aitbaev replaces Misir Ashirkulov, who was named on 5 November to head the presidential administration. Akaev on 9 November also named Tilekmek Meimanaliev Minister of Health Care and appointed Colonel Anarbek Shamkeev commander of the Interior Ministry forces. The previous commander resigned in September after he was taken hostage and then released by ethnic Uzbek guerrillas in southern Kyrgyzstan. LG [06] KYRGYZSTAN DENIES THEFT OF HOSTAGES' RANSOMAn unidentifiedspokesman for the Kyrgyz presidential administration denied on 9 November Japanese media reports that Kyrgyz and Tajik officials embezzled part of the multi-million dollar ransom allegedly paid by the Japanese government to secure the release of four Japanese geologists taken hostage in southern Kyrgyzstan in August, ITAR-TASS reported. Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" on 9 November had claimed that Tokyo paid $3 million under the guise of Official Development Assistance to ransom the four hostages, according to dpa. In Dushanbe, Tajikistan's Minister for Emergency Situations Mirzo Zieyev, who helped negotiate the hostages' release, told Reuters that "as a Muslim" the leader of the guerrillas who seized the hostages freed them "without asking for or receiving any money." LF [07] TAJIK NATIONAL RECONCILIATION COMMISSION RECONVENESTheCommission for National Reconciliation convened on 9 November to discuss the work of its joint committees charged with drafting legislation on the media and the conduct of parliamentary elections scheduled for February, Asia Plus- Blitz reported. The United Tajik Opposition (UTO) had suspended its participation in the work of the commission on 18 October to protest the authorities' refusal to convene an emergency parliamentary session to debate deliberate obstruction of opposition candidates' efforts to register as candidates for the 6 November presidential poll (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 October 1999). LF [08] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER OPTIMISITICUTO leader Said AbdulloNuri told journalists in Dushanbe on 9 November that although the opposition formally withdrew its boycott of the 6 November presidential poll, its members did not vote for opposition candidate Davlat Usmon because his candidacy was illegal, ITAR-TASS reported. Nuri expressed relief that the poll did not exacerbate tensions and that the Tajik leadership acceded to what he termed the opposition's "fair demands." Nuri and incumbent President Imomali Rakhmonov signed a protocol on 5 November containing political guarantees related to the preparations for and conduct of the February parliamentary elections. LF [09] ANOTHER TAJIK DEFENSE MINISTRY OFFICIAL MURDEREDAlieutenant-colonel with the Tajik Defense Ministry was shot dead in a Dushanbe suburb late on 8 November, Reuters and AP reported the following day. It was the second such murder of a military official in less than a month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 October 1999). LF [10] UZBEKISTAN, CHINA SIGN LOAN AGREEMENTChina will advance an$11 million loan to Uzbekistan under the terms of a framework agreement signed during President Islam Karimov's ongoing visit to China, ITAR-TASS reported on 9 November. Meeting that day with China's Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangshen, Karimov called for expanded cooperation in the chemical, aircraft building, and light industry sectors. The annual trade turnover between the two countries totals $830 million, which Karimov termed insufficient. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] SERBIAN POLICE BEAT DEMONSTRATORSPolice in Belgradeforcibly broke up a protest by the student opposition organization Otpor (Resistance) on 9 November, injuring about 50 demonstrators, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The students want the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, early elections, and the repeal of legislation regulating universities and the media. Police prevented several buses from reaching the capital from elsewhere in Serbia. PM [12] DRASKOVIC BACKERS WALK OUT OF SERBIAN LEGISLATURE...Deputiesbelonging to Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) walked out of the parliament on 9 November after legislators belonging to the governing coalition rejected a motion to investigate a mysterious car accident last month that left three of Draskovic's aides dead. Draskovic has called the accident an "assassination attempt" against him staged by the authorities (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 October 1999). PM [13] ...ARE SKEPTICAL ON REGIME'S ATTITUDE TOWARD ELECTIONSBefore the SPO deputies walked out of the parliament, thelegislature approved an opposition motion to discuss early general elections. SPO legislator Milan Mikovic said, however, that "it's a tactical maneuver [on the part of the governing coalition]. They are afraid of elections and have no real intention of holding them," the "Wall Street Journal Europe" reported. The legislature also began discussions of proposed changes in legislation regarding elections to local government posts. The opposition, which controls more than 30 municipalities, is opposed to the proposed changes. PM [14] MILOSEVIC MEETS WITH RUSSIAN DIPLOMATSergei Lavrov, who isRussia's ambassador to the UN, discussed Kosova with Milosevic in Belgrade on 9 November. The two men agreed that UN resolution 1244 is the "sole document" regulating the affairs of the province. The resolution states that Kosova remains a part of Yugoslavia and of Serbia. They also agreed on the need to send Serbian forces back to Kosova, to ensure the return of all refugees, and to disarm remaining "armed formations" in the province. Western diplomats stopped meeting with Milosevic after the Hague-based war crimes tribunal indicted him in May for atrocities in Kosova. PM [15] CHURCH DESTROYED BY FIRE IN KOSOVAUnknown persons set fireto the Serbian Orthodox church in the village of Donji Zakut in the early hours of 9 November. KFOR troops previously maintained a 24-hour presence at the church but recently began to limit their role to occasional patrols in order to conserve manpower. PM [16] ARTEMIJE APPEALS TO SERBIAN REFUGEESIn Belgrade, ArchbishopArtemije and other leaders of Kosova's Serbian National Council urged some 100 Serbian refugees from the province to return to their homes. Artemije stressed that the refugees must go back if a Serbian presence is to be maintained in Kosova. PM [17] MACEDONIA POSTS REWARD IN GLIGOROV CASEThe government on 9November announced that it will pay up to $550,000 for information leading to the arrest of the persons who in October 1995 attempted to kill President Kiro Gligorov with a car bomb. Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov noted that "it's been four years since the attempt on President Gligorov's life, and the investigation has produced no result," AP reported. Gligorov lost an eye and suffered extensive damage to his face in the explosion. He will leave office following the election of his successor on 14 November. PM [18] PRIME MINISTER SAYS CROATIAN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONING'NORMALLY'Speaking in Zagreb on 9 November, Zlatko Matesa denied rumors that the government is unable to function because President Franjo Tudjman has been incapacitated. Matesa stressed that "everything is functioning completely normally," including the security services, "Jutarnji list" reported. The Zagreb daily added that Tudjman's doctors have stopped issuing daily reports on his condition. Observers note that the Croatian Constitution assigns 24 powers to the president that he cannot delegate to anyone else. These include key decision-making functions in military and security policy. The constitution is widely believed to have been written to guarantee Tudjman a commanding role in state affairs. His recent illness has led to much speculation as to what would happen if he were to die or become incapacitated (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 November 1999). PM [19] CROATIAN BISHOP WARNS AGAINST ISOLATIONArchbishop JosipBozanic told a meeting in Zagreb to discuss the Vatican's recent European Bishops' Conference that Croatia must remain "politically and psychologically" oriented toward Europe, "Jutarnji list" reported on 10 November. He warned that if Croats "close themselves off" from Europe, they will find themselves "back in the East." Bozanic also noted that the effects of communism on society have proven more deeply rooted and longer lasting than most people thought at the time the system collapsed. He added that the period of post- communist optimism is long past. Observers note that some elements in the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) have reacted to frequent criticism of its policies by the EU and OSCE by expressing the view that Croatia does not need to take European views into account. PM [20] BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES MEASURE ON CORRUPTIONThelegislature on 9 November approved a comprehensive anti- corruption plan put forward by the international community's Wolfgang Petritsch. Measures include establishing an independent judiciary, setting up tighter border controls, and making a survey of the change in officials' wealth between 1992 and the present, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Observers note that corruption is rampant throughout Bosnia and is widely seen as a major stumbling block to post-war reconstruction and development. PM [21] OSCE APPEALS TO BOSNIAN JOURNALISTSThe office of the OSCEin Sarajevo called upon all journalists to report to the organization any threats that they may have received, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 9 November. Reports will be treated as confidential. The move comes after several violent attacks on journalists. PM [22] ROW OVER BOSNIAN SERB TELEVISION CHIEFThe Bosnian Serbparliament will soon discuss the controversy over the government's decision to replace Andjelko Kozomara with Slavisa Sabljic as head of Radio Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS), "Oslobodjenje" reported on 10 November. Prime Minister Milorad Dodik says that he sacked Kozomara because he has become politically too close to Milosevic. Petritsch's spokesmen argue that Dodik has no right to make changes in the administration of RTRS and that Kozomara has not allowed his personal views to affect program content, "Oslobodjenje" and "Vesti" reported on 9 November. In related news, "Jutarnji list" wrote on 10 November that Tudjman's top aide Ivic Pasalic is seeking to "build up a media empire" in Bosnia. Pasalic is one of the most prominent Herzegovinian Croats in the Zagreb power structure. PM [23] ROMANIAN SENATE APPROVES LAND RESTITUTION BILLThe Senate on9 November approved by a vote of 89 to 12 with 27 abstentions a bill providing for the restitution to former owners of up to 50 hectares of farmland and 10 hectares of forest confiscated by the communist regime, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The Chamber of Deputies passed the law earlier this year in a version that provided for the restitution of up to 30 hectares of forest. A bicameral commission will now mediate to decide on a final version of the law. MS [24] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT ENDORSES BRASOV AGREEMENTThe cabinet on9 November approved the main points of an agreement reached one day earlier between its representatives and unions representing workers at the Roman truckmaker in Brasov, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 November 1999). The cabinet did not approve that part of the agreement that provides for granting workers tax exemptions and financial bonuses. It also rejected the demand to raise salaries, dismiss managers, and revise layoff plans. AP reported from Brasov that union leaders accuse the government of fomenting tension by dispatching riot police to the town. Meanwhile, thousands of students resumed protests in Bucharest and other Romanian cities to push their demands for higher grants and better living conditions in dormitories. MS [25] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CALLS PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER'IRRESPONSIBLE'Petru Lucinschi told journalists on 9 November that parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov is "irresponsible," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi was responding to Diacov's statement earlier that day accusing Lucinschi of having "provoked" the government crisis "in order to impose a state of emergency in the country and hold early parliamentary elections." He also rejected Diacov's accusation that he is responsible for the split in the For a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova Bloc, saying "not me, but Dumitru Diacov promoted the split...by exercising pressure [on deputies] to force them to vote" the way Diacov wanted. Also on 9 November, the World Bank followed the lead of the IMF by announcing it is suspending credits to Moldova owing to the parliament's refusal to approve the laws on the privatization of wineries and the tobacco industry. MS [26] EU WILL HELP BULGARIA MEET COSTS FOR NUCLEAR PLANT SHUTDOWNGuenter Verheugen, EU commissioner in charge of expansion,said the EU will help Bulgaria meet the costs for shutting down the four aging nuclear reactors at Kozloduy. In a video- recorded address to participants in an international meeting in Sofia on 9 November, Verheugen said the EU is prepared to finance the modernization of the two units that went on line in 1989, but he added that the older four reactors "cannot be brought up to Western safety standards at reasonable costs." He also said democracy has been "firmly established in Bulgaria" and the country has made "sustained progress" in bringing its legislation into line with the EU's. There has been progress toward establishing a functioning market economy, but Bulgaria has yet to complete privatization, bring accounting and taxation up to EU standards, and develop a "stable environment" for business, AP reported. MS [C] END NOTE[27] FOUR YEARS AFTER ERDUT, EASTERN SLAVONIA CONTINUES TO LAGby Christopher WalkerWhen the Erdut Agreement was signed four years ago, much of Eastern Slavonia was unsure whether to expect another round of bloodshed or an end to the violence that had plagued that region since 1991. The regional capital of Osijek remained garrisoned--store windows were taped and buildings barricaded with wood planks and sandbags against possible attack from the Serbian forces that held positions across the Drava River. After Croatia declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in June 1991, Serbian rebel forces had seized about 30 percent of Croatian territory, including a large portion of Eastern Slavonia. The agreement reached in Erdut, a small village on the bank of the River Danube, brought to an end the fighting over the last Serb-held area in Croatia and provided the framework for the peaceful return of that territory to Croatian administration. In fact, the agreement, which was concluded during the Dayton negotiations on Bosnia-Herzegovina, set out ambitious settlement terms for Eastern Slavonia (and the regions of Baranja and Western Sirmium). It provided for a United Nations Transitional Administration (UNTAES) to oversee the reintegration of the region into the Republic of Croatia as well as functioning as an interim political authority, supervising the return of refugees, organizing elections, training a police force, and demilitarizing the Serbian rebels who had gained control of Eastern Slavonia. The two- year mandate of UNTAES expired in January 1998. However, the passage of four years since the cessation of hostilities has neither eased the raw feelings that exist between Croats and Serbs in the region nor enabled Eastern Slavonia to restore its hobbled economy to its pre-conflict status. In fact, the legacy of the conflict and the embittered atmosphere that persists threaten to keep Eastern Slavonia in the same chronically impoverished state as plagues other war- torn ex-Yugoslav territories, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosova, and Serbia. Nevenka Cuckovic of the Zagreb-based Institute for International Relations observes that Eastern Slavonia has "remained economically depressed and not much progress has been achieved in the last three or four years. The [Croatian] government started many programs, but the [effort to build] housing and infrastructure reconstruction prevailed in all initiatives, while neglecting economic restructuring, privatization and business start-ups." The outbreak of war eight years ago disrupted trade and supply routes. Traditional regional economic links remain frayed to this day. Local business people complain that the region has been unable to shake the image it has acquired over the years--namely one of on-and-off fighting. Moreover, the post-conflict period has been marked by tense inter- ethnic relations, economic stagnation, and substantial population shifts. With regard to refugees and the internally displaced, the Erdut Agreement provides for facilitating the return of those people "under secure conditions, assuring them the same rights as all other residents." This task has proven very difficult. A report published by Human Rights Watch earlier this year concluded that the "exodus of [Eastern Slavonia's] Serbs calls into question the success of the UNTAES mission beyond peaceful reintegration into the territory" of the Republic of Croatia. On this same subject, the OSCE has been critical of the lack of political will shown by Croatian authorities in upholding basic rights of the Serbian minority. This exodus has been just one in a series of population transfers in the region involving Serbs and Croats alike. This phenomenon is of course not specific to Eastern Slavonia. Real or perceived concerns about personal security, discrimination by local authorities, and miserable economic prospects are common to all parts of the former Yugoslavia that have experienced violent conflict. To add to the region's woes, much-needed international assistance has been stretched to its limits by the onset of new crises. Over the course of this decade, assistance flows have been subject to the demands of successive conflicts, each fresh conflict more serious than the previous one. In 1991, world attention was focused on Kosova, where Slobodan Milosevic--then in power for less than two years--was stepping up his repression of ethnic Albanians in Serbia's southernmost province. Events in Eastern Slavonia in late 1991, punctuated by the horrors in Vukovar, then diverted attention from Kosova. Ironically, eight years later, Croatian officials point out that Kosova--as well as Bosnia-- has absorbed critical aid that could otherwise have been used in Eastern Slavonia. In addition, the Kosova war has had a spillover effect on the region. Cuckovic notes that "NATO intervention also hurt legal economic entities in Eastern Slavonia, while the informal [gray] economy was flourishing during the conflict." Eastern Slavonia is just one small piece of the damaged fabric of the former Yugoslavia. Sadly, as the case in most of the other conflict-ridden areas in the Balkans, few observers are bullish on the region's prospects for renewal in the short term. For the time being, conditions in Eastern Slavonia will continue to suggest a cessation of hostilities rather than an enduring peace. The author is a New York-based analyst specializing in Eastern European affairs ([email protected]) 10-11-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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