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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 194, 99-10-05Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 194, 5 October 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA TO DONATE CONCRETE TO TURKEYArmenia will send twotrainloads 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 TROOPSCOMMANDER COMPLETEDState 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 ABETTINGTERRORISTSIn 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 VISITCaucasusPress 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 ANNOUNCEDIncumbentPresident 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 UNDECIDEDKanat Bozumbaev, a senior official at the Ministry of Energy,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...The office ofDaulet 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 PRESSUREPolice entered theAlmaty 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...Kyrgyz governmentforces 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 CONTINUEKyrgyzparliamentary 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 NORTHERNALLIANCEThe 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 TAJIKISTANAn UzbekForeign 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 FOUNDThe driverof 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 MARCHSerbian riot policeonce 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 SANCTIONSSpecial UN Human Rights Rapporteur Jiri Dienstbier said inNis 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 PUBLICATIONFollowing a two-day ban,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 PRISONERSThe International RedCross 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 TOWNInternational peacekeepers in Kosova (KFOR) removed abarricade 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 THACIKFOR spokesman Roland Lavoiesaid 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 VERDICTDefense attorneys for convicted warcriminal 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 ELECTIONSSlovenian Foreign Minister Boris Frlec said on 4 October thatthe 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'Romanian Premier Radu Vasile will not attend theinauguration 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 DOWNSergiuCunescu, 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 COUNTYThe governmenton 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 COALITIONVice President Todor Kavaldzhiev says his small AgrarianNational 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?by Jan MaksymiukAt 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
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