RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 194, 99-10-05

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 194, 5 October 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA TO DONATE CONCRETE TO TURKEY

[02] INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF ARMENIAN INTERIOR TROOPS

[03] RUSSIA AGAIN ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA OF ABETTING

[04] SOME GEORGIAN CLERGY OPPOSE POPE'S PLANNED VISIT

[05] ABKHAZ ELECTION, REFERENDUM RESULTS ANNOUNCED

[06] SALE OF KAZAKHSTAN'S STAKE IN TENGIZCHEVROIL STILL UNDECIDED

[07] MORE ELECTION-RELATED VIOLENCE IN KAZAKHSTAN...

[08] ...AS INDEPENDENT MEDIA FACE PRESSURE

[09] KYRGYZ TROOPS TAKE TWO GUERRILLA BASES...

[10] ...AS TALKS ON HOSTAGES' RELEASE CONTINUE

[11] TALIBAN ACCUSE TAJIKISTAN OF PROVIDING ARMS TO NORTHERN

[12] UZBEKISTAN DENIES ITS PLANES BOMBED TAJIKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] TRUCK DRIVER FROM FATAL ACCIDENT IN SERBIA FOUND

[14] SERBIAN POLICE AGAIN BLOCK PROTEST MARCH

[15] UN HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY TO PROPOSE LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

[16] SERBIAN DAILY RESUMES PUBLICATION

[17] SERBIA FREES 54 KOSOVAR PRISONERS

[18] NATO PEACEKEEPERS REMOVE BARRICADES IN KOSOVAR TOWN

[19] KFOR SPOKESMAN CRITICIZES THACI

[20] SAKIC TO APPEAL VERDICT

[21] SLOVENIA CONCERNED ABOUT MINORITY IN AUSTRIA AFTER ELECTIONS

[22] DISCORD OVER ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN 'RECONCILIATION PARK'

[23] ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC LEADER STEPS DOWN

[24] MOLDOVA TO SET UP ETHNIC BULGARIAN COUNTY

[25] BULGARIAN VICE PRESIDENT THREATENS TO LEAVE RULING COALITION

[C] END NOTE

[26] GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE?

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA TO DONATE CONCRETE TO TURKEY

trainloads of concrete to Turkey for reconstruction in the

town of Izmit, devastated by an earthquake in mid-August,

Interfax reported on 4 October. Immediately after that

disaster, Armenia said it would to send rescue teams to

Turkey if asked (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 August 1999). LF

[02] INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF ARMENIAN INTERIOR TROOPS

State prosecutors have completed their

investigation into the death last February of Interior Troops

commander Artsrun Markarian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported

on 4 October. No date has been set, however, for the trial of

the three men originally charged with Markarian's murder. His

two bodyguards, who were arrested and charged with the crime

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 and 15 February 1999), were

released from custody in July. LF

[03] RUSSIA AGAIN ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA OF ABETTING

In a live interview on Russian Television on 3

October, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov argued that it is in

the interests of both Georgia and Azerbaijan to cooperate

with Russia to prevent Chechnya becoming a hotbed of

international terrorism, Turan reported. Ivanov added that

Moscow has proof that terrorist groups used Georgia and

Azerbaijan for their own purposes." Ivanov said he has

informed the governments of the South Caucasus Republics that

Russian border services are prepared jointly to resolve the

existing problems. On 4 October, Turan cited an article in

"Obshchaya gazeta" quoting Federal Security Service sources

as claiming that Stinger anti-air missiles were transported

via Georgia to Chechnya and portable anti-air systems via

Azerbaijan to that republic in late August. Chechen Vice

President Vakha Arsanov told Turan on 3 October that the

report is untrue. He said Chechnya needs Stingers but does

not have any. LF

[04] SOME GEORGIAN CLERGY OPPOSE POPE'S PLANNED VISIT

Press on 4 October quoted an unnamed representative of the

Georgian clergy as saying that several of his colleagues

disapprove of Pope John Paul II's proposed visit to Georgia

next month. In particular, he said, they oppose the plans for

the pontiff to conduct an open-air mass in Tbilisi. A

spokesman for the Georgian Patriarchate told the disaffected

clergymen that the Patriarchate has no power to change what

he termed the "political decision" to invite the pope to

visit Georgia. Also on 4 October, Georgian President Eduard

Shevardnadze told a news conference in Tbilisi that

preparations are under way for the pope's visit, which he

termed "a historic event" for Georgia, Interfax reported. LF

[05] ABKHAZ ELECTION, REFERENDUM RESULTS ANNOUNCED

President Vladislav Ardzinba was re-elected for a second

five-year term on 3 October, garnering 99 percent of the

vote, RIA Novosti reported the following day quoting the

Abkhaz Central Electoral Commission. There were no other

candidates in the ballot. In the referendum on constitutional

amendments, which was held simultaneously, 97 percent of the

87 percent of the electorate who participated endorsed the

breakaway republic's 1994 constitution. That document defines

Abkhazia as an independent, democratic republic. The Georgian

Foreign Ministry has lodged an official protest with the

Russian State Duma, whose Council sent seven observers to

monitor the poll, Caucasus Press reported. Speaking in

Tbilisi on 4 October, Georgian President Shevardnadze said

that the international community "was not impressed" by the

Abkhaz elections. He warned that although Georgia will make

every effort to resolve the Abkhaz conflict peacefully, it

could still resort to military means to achieve that goal,

according to Interfax. LF

[06] SALE OF KAZAKHSTAN'S STAKE IN TENGIZCHEVROIL STILL UNDECIDED

Industry, and Trade, told Interfax on 4 October that the

proposed sale of part of the Kazakh government's 25 percent

stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture is "a political

issue" contingent on implementation of the state budget.

Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev had said in August that

Astana might be forced to sell part of its share in that

project, but several senior officials had argued that it

would be foolish to do so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 August

and 3 September 1999). LF

[07] MORE ELECTION-RELATED VIOLENCE IN KAZAKHSTAN...

Daulet Qazybekov, who is a candidate in the 10 October

elections to the lower chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament,

was badly damaged by a Molotov cocktail on 4 October,

RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported. No one was injured.

Kazakhstan's Central Electoral Commission has registered 109

cases of election-related violence since the beginning of the

election campaign. LF

[08] ...AS INDEPENDENT MEDIA FACE PRESSURE

Almaty editorial offices of the independent newspaper "21

vek" on 4 October in what they said was an investigation of

the newspaper's tax record, RFE/RL's correspondent in the

former capital reported. The newspaper's bank account has

also been frozen. Journalists believe that the move was

intended to intimidate editor-in-chief Bigeldy Gabdulklin,

who is running as an independent candidate in the 10 October

elections. A second journalist who is also contesting that

poll, "DAT" editor Sharip Quraqpaev, told RFE/RL that he is

encountering problems in getting access to the state-run

media. LF

[09] KYRGYZ TROOPS TAKE TWO GUERRILLA BASES...

forces on 4 October took the villages of Zardaly and Korgon,

the bases of the ethnic Uzbek guerrillas who have been

holding 13 hostages in southern Kyrgyzstan since late August,

ITAR-TASS reported. The guerrillas retreated toward Tajik

territory. Meeting in Bishkek on 4 October with UN Drug

Control Program Executive Director Pino Arlacchi, Kyrgzstan's

President Askar Akaev said that the guerrilla incursions into

southern Kyrgyzstan are the result of closing the road from

the Kyrgyz city of Osh to Khorog in neighboring Tajikistan to

drug smugglers, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital

reported. Drug traffickers have been forced to seek

alternative routes through Kyrgyz territory. Kyrgyz Security

Council Deputy Secretary Askarbek Mameev similarly told

Interfax on 4 October that Islamic militants operating in Osh

control up to 70 percent of the drugs smuggled through

Kyrgyzstan. LF

[10] ...AS TALKS ON HOSTAGES' RELEASE CONTINUE

parliamentary deputy Tursunbai Bakir Uulu told RFE/RL on 4

October that he has met in Afghanistan with leaders of the

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to which the hostage-takers

belong. Those leaders said they are ready to release the 13

hostages held by the guerrillas on condition that Bishkek

halts all military action against the guerrillas. Kyrgyz

Human Rights Committee Chairman Tursunbek Akunov, who has

mediated between the Kyrgyz leadership and the guerrillas,

told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau by telephone from Pakistan on 2

October that he too is trying to travel to Afghanistan to

meet with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to discuss

conditions for the hostages' release. LF

[11] TALIBAN ACCUSE TAJIKISTAN OF PROVIDING ARMS TO NORTHERN

The Taliban Foreign Ministry issued a statement in

Kabul on 4 October warning of reprisals against neighboring

Tajikistan for its alleged opening of a new route to supply

arms to the Northern Alliance of Ahmed Shah Massoud, Reuters

reported. The statement claimed that in return for those

weapons and other logistical support, the Northern Alliance

is channeling vast quantities of drugs into Tajikistan. LF

[12] UZBEKISTAN DENIES ITS PLANES BOMBED TAJIKISTAN

Foreign Ministry spokesman told ITAR-TASS on 4 October that

the Uzbek government knows nothing about the 2 October

incident in which unmarked planes dropped bombs and opened

fire on villages in Tajikistan's Djirgatal and Tajikabad

regions. At least three people were killed in the attack on

Tajikabad; earlier reports had said no one was injured (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 4 October 1999). On 4 October, Kyrgyz

presidential press spokesman Kanybek Imanaliev told RFE/RL

that the air raids were undertaken by both Kyrgyz and Uzbek

aircraft. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] TRUCK DRIVER FROM FATAL ACCIDENT IN SERBIA FOUND

of the truck involved in the 3 October road accident

involving members of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement

(SPO) has been found, Reuters reported on 5 October. SPO

leader Vuk Draskovic was slightly injured while the other

four passengers in the two cars involved all died (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 4 October 1999). Draskovic and other party

members have called the accident an assassination attempt.

Draskovic's lawyer, Borivoje Borovic, said no details about

the driver are known. He said an investigation will determine

if the incident was "an attempted murder or a traffic

accident." Memorial services are to be held on 5 and 6

October for those killed in the accident, including

Draskovic's brother-in-law. Draskovic called on Serbs to turn

out for the funerals. Some observers speculate that the

accident was an attempt by the government to silence

Draskovic's Studio B TV station, which has been showing

extensive footage of the police actions against demonstrators

in Belgrade. The station has been jammed continuously over

the last month, Assistant Director Milos Rajkovic told the

Beta news agency. He said that at times, the signal can be

received by only one-third of Belgrade. PB

[14] SERBIAN POLICE AGAIN BLOCK PROTEST MARCH

once again blocked the route of some 10,000 protesters taking

part in an anti-government demonstration in Belgrade on 4

October, Radio Index reported. It was the 14th consecutive

day of demonstrations around the country organized by the

Alliance for Change (SZP). About 10,000 people were reported

to have demonstrated in Nis and some 5,000 in Novi Sad. The

Beta news agency reported that 25,000 rallied in the central

town of Kragujevac, where SZP leader Zoran Djindjic told the

crowd that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic "wants to

stay in power at any cost and we want to expel him at any

cost." In the eastern Serbian town of Bor, the local branch

of Draskovic's SPO joined an SZP protest for the first time.

Draskovic has called the protests ineffective. PB

[15] UN HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY TO PROPOSE LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

Nis that he will propose that economic sanctions against

Yugoslavia be suspended, Beta reported on 4 October.

Dienstbier said that "the countries that introduced sanctions

against the former Republic of Yugoslavia and bombed it will

be responsible for deaths from exposure and starvation" if

the sanctions continue. He added that "Milosevic and others

[in power] will have enough food and heating." Dienstbier

said he will make his recommendation to the UN General

Assembly. He also condemned the police actions against

demonstrators in Belgrade. PB

[16] SERBIAN DAILY RESUMES PUBLICATION

the Belgrade independent daily "Glas javnosti" reappeared on

newsstands on 4 October, Radio B2-92 reported. But Director

Slavoljuib Kacarevic said that the newspaper's problems "are

not over." He revealed that members of the state "financial

police" were stationed in the editorial department and claim

to be conducting a secret investigation. Kacarevic added that

he signed a police statement declaring he was aware of his

responsibility "regarding any possible and existing objection

to our work." In other news, Yugoslav Telecommunications

Minister Ivan Markovic said the state will take steps against

media "aggression" in Yugoslavia. He said the rebroadcasting

of foreign programs by domestic radio stations is part of

this aggression. PB

[17] SERBIA FREES 54 KOSOVAR PRISONERS

Cross said on 4 October that Serbia released 54 ethnic

Albanian prisoners who were arrested in Kosova, AP reported.

The prisoners were being held in the Sremska Mitrovica prison

in Vojvodina. The chairman of the Serbian Bar Association,

Milan Vujin, said that the prisoners were released because

"it had been established during the investigation...that

there were no conditions for initiating criminal procedures

(against them)." The Red Cross said it has access to some

1,900 prisoners who were arrested by the Serbs in Kosova but

are now held outside the province. PB

[18] NATO PEACEKEEPERS REMOVE BARRICADES IN KOSOVAR TOWN

barricade on a highway near the town of Kosova Polje on 5

October, Reuters reported. KFOR said it had met all Serbian

demands--including the doubling of the number of troops in

the mostly ethnic-Serb town and stationing more police there-

-before removing the blockade. KFOR also removed a blockade

set up by ethnic Albanians some 300 meters from a Serbian

blockade. It had warned both sides the previous day that it

would remove the blockades if they were not taken down

voluntarily. PB

[19] KFOR SPOKESMAN CRITICIZES THACI

said on 4 October in Prishtina that remarks made by Kosovar

Albanian leader Hashim Thaci were "factually incorrect" and

"inflammatory," AP reported. Thaci had said the previous day

that the newly formed Kosova Protection Corps will be headed

by leaders from the disbanded Kosova Liberation Army and will

eventually run a military academy (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4

October 1999). Lavoie said that the corps must be apolitical,

that Thaci will have no influence over the group, and that it

will not have a military training academy. In other news,

Tanjug reported that some 80 people returned to Kosova from

Nis on 4 October. PB

[20] SAKIC TO APPEAL VERDICT

criminal Dinko Sakic said on 4 October that they will appeal

the verdict against him, Hina reported. The lawyers said the

verdict delivered by the presiding judge, Drazen Tripalo, was

"vague and too general." Tommy Baer, the honorary chairman of

the B'nai B'rith organization, commended the guilty verdict.

He said Croatia has shown "that it does not fear facing its

past and learning the lessons from a painful chapter in its

history." Baer was invited by Croatian President Franjo

Tudjman to attend the trial as an international observer. The

U.S. State Department also praised the decision, an RFE/RL

correspondent reported. PB

[21] SLOVENIA CONCERNED ABOUT MINORITY IN AUSTRIA AFTER ELECTIONS

the success of Austria's nationalist Freedom Party in the 3

October elections could cause concern among the Slovenian

minority living in Austria's Carinthia region, the Slovenian

agency STA reported. Frlec said, however, that he is hopeful

that good relations between Ljubljana and Vienna will

continue and that the Freedom Party's opposition to further

expansion of the EU will not hurt Slovenia's chances of

joining the union. PB

[22] DISCORD OVER ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN 'RECONCILIATION PARK'

inauguration of the Romanian-Hungarian reconciliation park

in Arad on 6 October and has delegated Deputy Premier and

Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica to represent him, Romanian

Radio reported on 5 October. No reason for this change of

plan was given. Hungarian Radio reported that Prime

Minister Viktor Orban, who was also to attend the ceremony,

will decide on 5 October whether to be present in view of

Vasile's decision. Meanwhile, the Arad local council on 5

October voted against making available the land earmarked

for the projected park. MS

[23] ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC LEADER STEPS DOWN

Cunescu, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania

(PSDR), will not seek re-election at the party's congress

scheduled for 16 October, Mediafax reported on 3 October.

The two main candidates for that post, Labor and Social

Protection Minister Alexandru Athanasiu and PSDR first vice

chairman Emil Putin, submitted their electoral platform to

the party's National Council on 3 October. Putin wants the

PSDR to withdraw from the ruling coalition and to resume

talks on a merger with the Alliance for Romania and the

Socialist Party. Athanasiu opposes forming any alliance

before the 2000 local elections and is in favor of the

PSDR's continuing membership in the coalition. MS

[24] MOLDOVA TO SET UP ETHNIC BULGARIAN COUNTY

on 4 October announced the setting up of a Taraclia county,

thereby approving the recommendations of a commission

headed by Deputy Premier Nicolae Andronic, RFE/RL's

Chisinau bureau reported. The former Taraclia district

became part of Cahul county following the recent local

administration reform, prompting protests by its mostly

ethnic Bulgarian residents and causing tension in relations

with Sofia. Government spokesman Nicolae Chirtoaca said

that Premier Ion Sturza is "aware" that the decision will

trigger "negative reactions" from some "political

formations" wanting to make election capital out of the

decision and intending to "use radicalism" for this

purpose. He said the new county cannot be viewed as

"setting a precedent" because it will not enjoy any sort of

"administrative, territorial, cultural, or other form of

autonomy." MS

[25] BULGARIAN VICE PRESIDENT THREATENS TO LEAVE RULING COALITION

National Union (BANU) may pull out of the ruling coalition

because it is dissatisfied with the role its senior partners

have assigned it in the upcoming local elections, AP reported

on 4 October, citing BTA. Kavaldzhiev said BANU

representatives were placed at the bottom of candidate lists

for the 16 October elections and were not included in the

electoral commissions that will monitor vote counting. BANU

has eight seats in the United Democratic Forces parliamentary

group. MS

[C] END NOTE

[26] GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE?

At about 8:00 p.m. on 2 October, two assailants threw

two hand grenades into a crowd surrounding presidential

hopeful Natalya Vitrenko following a campaign meeting in

Inhuletsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The blast reportedly

injured more than 30 people, including Vitrenko and her aide

Volodymyr Marchenko. The motives for the attempt on 48-year-

old Vitrenko's life remain unknown. Meanwhile, the incident

may have an impact on the election campaign as a whole as

well as voters' preferences in the 31 October ballot, given

that the public tends to sympathize with the assailed, rather

than the assailants.

Vitrenko, the only woman candidate in the 31 October

elections, heads the Progressive Socialist Party. In 1996,

she quit Oleksandr Moroz's Socialist Party, accusing Moroz of

"bourgeois views." She went on to launch her own party and

win 14 parliamentary seats in the March 1998 elections.

Vitrenko's platform for the presidential elections

combines fierce populism, nostalgia for the Soviet era, and

strong anti-Western sentiments. Polls in Ukraine, which many

believe to be unreliable and biased, consistently put her in

second or third place, after President Leonid Kuchma and

Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko. In the mock

presidential elections held among more than 100,000 Ukrainian

students on 28 September, Vitrenko won 12.57 percent backing

to come in second after Kuchma.

It appears that Vitrenko's election appeal is not

limited to any specific social or professional group. As the

support she won among students shows, her rhetoric is

appealing to various social strata. And all press reports

about her campaign meetings--regardless of whether reporters

are favorable or hostile toward her--underscore the fact that

those meetings are usually well attended and animated.

Vitrenko is not only a populist but also a popular candidate.

Many Ukrainian commentators have suggested that the

presidential administration initially supported Vitrenko's

political career and her current presidential bid in an

attempt to split Ukraine's leftist electorate--especially

that of Moroz--and pave the way for Kuchma's re-election. To

support that argument, those commentators note that several

months ago Vitrenko was seen on Ukrainian state-controlled

television almost every day, while other left-wing leaders

were granted only rare coverage. They also believe that in

exchange for those official favors, Vitrenko's parliamentary

caucus has on several occasions blocked anti-Kuchma

legislation in the parliament.

It is revealing that Vitrenko has now virtually

disappeared from the state-controlled electronic media. In

fact, if the Kuchma-Vitrenko collaboration theory holds

water, her disappearance from that media may mean she has

already fulfilled her mission of splitting the leftist vote.

It may also mean, however, that the presidential entourage

senses an "electoral danger" to Kuchma from Vitrenko herself.

Some observers have already voiced the opinion that by

promoting Vitrenko's political career, Kuchma has let the

genie out of the bottle and may now face a powerful challenge

from the candidate he apparently wanted to use as a mere tool

against his political foes.

The case of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus

provides an interesting parallel to that of Vitrenko in

Ukraine. In 1993, then Prime Minister Vyachaslau Kebich used

Lukashenka, an unknown lawmaker at that time, in the power

struggle against Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislau

Shushkevich. Kebich gave Lukashenka the go-ahead to deliver a

parliamentary report on corruption, which resulted in

Shushkevich's ouster. But that report simultaneously placed

Lukashenka in the nationwide spotlight and made him a popular

hero. In July 1994, Lukashenka won a landslide victory on an

extreme populist ticket in the country's first presidential

elections. Among the losers were both Shushkevich and Kebich.

Moreover, during the 1994 presidential campaign in

Belarus, Lukashenka's election team claimed that someone had

made an attempt on Lukashenka's life by shooting at him when

he was travelling by car to a campaign meeting. Investigators

found neither assailants nor convincing evidence that

Lukashenka's life had been threatened, but the incident was

widely reported. Some commentators continue to assert that

Lukashenka staged the assassination in order to boost his

popularity. In any case, Lukashenka garnered almost 80

percent support in the 1994 ballot.

The 2 October grenade attack on Vitrenko will likely

reinforce her already relatively strong standing as a

presidential hopeful and within the political arena as a

whole. Simultaneously, it may weaken the position of the

incumbent president and, possibly, some other hopefuls. There

have already been many allegations and complaints that during

the presidential campaign in Ukraine, the authorities have

violated election legislation and harassed Kuchma's rivals.

The armed attack against one of the candidates will only add

to the general atmosphere of distrust, uncertainty, and

dissatisfaction in a country plagued by economic inefficiency

and endangered by political authoritarianism.

05-10-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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