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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 211, 99-10-29Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 211, 29 October 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER, PARLIAMENT SPEAKER GUNNED DOWNFive gunmenshot dead Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian, parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchian and his two deputies, a government minister, and two parliamentary deputies in the parliament's main chamber on 27 October. A third parliamentary deputy died of a heart attack, and six were seriously injured. The gunmen initially claimed they were staging a coup but later said they wanted only to protest the country's economic collapse, for which they held Sargsian responsible. They allowed journalists to leave the parliament but held deputies and government ministers hostage overnight. The gunmen surrendered in the late morning of 28 October after talks with government leaders, including President Robert Kocharian, who assured them a free trial, and after a statement detailing their grievances was read on state television (see also "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2. No. 43, 28 October 1999). LF [02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ASSUMES PREMIER'S DUTIESPresidentKocharian on 29 October temporarily took over the duties of prime minister, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported quoting a presidential spokeswoman. The previous day, he declared three days' national mourning, which will culminate in the funeral of the murdered officials on 31 October. He will name a new premier next week, after the parliament elects its new speaker and deputy speakers. Meeting with Kocharian on 28 October, the leaders of all parliamentary parties and factions pledged their support for him. Also on 28 October, former President Levon Ter-Petrossian issued a statement calling on all Armenians to "unite around the president and meet the challenge to our statehood with solidarity and dignity," Noyan Tapan reported. LF [03] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY CALLS FOR RESIGNATION OFPROSECUTOR, POWER MINISTERSIn an emotional statement released on 28 October, the Armenian Defense Ministry, which Vazgen Sargsian had headed from mid-1995 until June of this year, called for the resignation of the interior and national security ministers and the prosecutor-general. It blamed the two former for failing to ensure adequate security at the parliament building. Carrying assault rifles, the five gunmen had reportedly entered that building through an entrance reserved for journalists. It also castigated all three men for failing to solve the murders of two prominent Defense Ministry officials. Interior Minister Suren Abrahamian tendered his resignation the same day, but Kocharian has not yet accepted it. LF [04] OPPOSITION PARTY DISOWNS LEADER OF GUNMENThe ArmenianRevolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun issued a statement on 27 October saying that Nairi Hunanian, the leader of the five gunmen, had been expelled from the party for "misconduct" in 1992 within a year of joining it. Over the last six months, Hunanian, who is 34 and a former journalist, had openly spoken about "the need to bring the government down by force and destroy its leaders," "Novoe vremya" reported on 28 October. LF [05] NEW ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS ELECTEDConvening in Echmiadzin on27 October, delegates to the National Ecclesiastical Assembly elected Garegin Nersisian, Archbishop of Ararat, as the 132rd Catholicos of All Armenians. Nersisian received 263 votes in the second, secret ballot, compared with 176 for Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian. Nersisian, who is 48, was born in a village near Echmiadzin and entered the seminary there in 1965. He has studied theology in Vienna, Bonn, and the Russian Orthodox Church Academy in Azgorsk, from which he graduated in 1979. LF [06] U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE IN ARMENIAShortly beforeSargsian was shot dead on 27 October, Strobe Talbott had met with the prime minister as well as with President Kocharian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian for four hours to discuss the Karabakh peace process and related measures to establish peace and stability in the South Caucasus, Noyan Tapan reported. Kocharian stressed his commitment to a peaceful solution of the conflict, noting that the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should be a full party to the negotiating process. LF [07] AZERBAIJAN SEEKS TO DEPORT CHECHEN REFUGEESThe Azerbaijaniauthorities on 27 October deported 20 Chechen refugees who had arrived in Baku on a flight from Tbilisi earlier that day, Caucasus Press reported. On arriving by bus at the frontier with Georgia, the refugees refused to leave Azerbaijani territory and the next day declared a hunger strike. A spokesman for Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry said that the country cannot accept more refugees as it already has "more than 1 million" internally displaced persons as a result of the war in Karabakh. LF [08] LANDMINE DISCOVERED IN GEORGIAN BORDER GUARDS HQTheGeorgian Border Guards' Tbilisi headquarters were evacuated on 27 October after an anti-personnel landmine was discovered in the building, ITAR-TASS reported, quoting Border Guards commander Valerii Chkheidze. The last contingent of Russian border guards stationed in Georgia had vacated the building earlier that day. Chkheidze told Caucasus Press that the contingent will be detained at the Georgian-Russian border in order to clarify the incident. LF [09] GEORGIA DENIES HARBORING CHECHEN GUNMENGeorgia's NationalSecurity Ministry on 28 October denied that Chechen gunmen have crossed the frontier into Georgia's Akhmeta Raion, ITAR- TASS reported. Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi the previous day, former Defense Minister and independent parliamentary candidate Tengiz Kitovani said a band of 450 armed Chechens is encamped in the Pankisi gorge in that raion. LF [10] ANOTHER RUSSIAN ROCKET EXPLODES OVER KAZAKHSTANA Protonrocket exploded shortly after blastoff from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 27 October, the second such explosion within four months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 July 1999). No injuries were reported from falling debris, some of which has been located. As was the case in July, the Kazakh authorities have again suspended launches of Proton rockets from Baikonur pending an investigation into the cause of the blast. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has sent a formal protest note to Moscow in connection with the incident, which Kazakhstan's Premier Qasymzhomart Toqaev discussed in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on 28 October, according to Interfax. LF [11] KAZAKH OPPOSITION FORMS NEW UMBRELLA GROUPMeeting in Almatyon 27 October under police surveillance, some 300 representatives of 13 opposition movements and parties adopted a resolution on the formation of a new Democratic People's Party, RFE/RL correspondents in the former capital reported. Participants also adopted a second resolution criticizing procedural violations during the recent parliamentary elections and terming the poll illegal and invalid, Interfax reported. They appealed to the international community not to recognize the validity of the poll and demanded new elections next year. Addressing the gathering, Orleu (Progress) Party chairman Seydakhmet Quttyqadam called for the resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbaev. In a written statement read to the meeting, former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin affirmed that the Kazakh authorities "stole victory from democratic forces before the eyes of the Kazakh people and the international community," Reuters reported. LF [12] TAJIK SUPREME COURT REJECTS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S APPEALTajikistan's Supreme Court on 27 October rejected an appealby Economics Minister Davlat Usmon to annul his registration as a candidate for the 6 November presidential election, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The Supreme Court last week overruled the Central Electoral Commission's refusal to register Usmon, but the latter protested that the court decision is illegal as he had submitted only some 82,000 signatures in his support, rather than the legal minimum of 145,000 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 October 1999). Usmon's 5-year-old nephew was kidnapped in Dushanbe on 27 October but found unharmed on the city outskirts the following day, according to Interfax. LF [13] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER APPEALS FOR HELP TO ENSURE POLL ISDEMOCRATICUnited Tajik Opposition and Islamic Renaissance Party leader Said Abdullo Nuri has written to OSCE chairman in office Knut Vollebaek and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to enlist their organizations' help in organizing "democratic and fair" presidential elections, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. Nuri charged that the current strained political climate is "not contributing to peace and national accord." He added that the UTO will not resume its participation in the Commission for National Reconciliation until its demand for an emergency session of the parliament is met. In a 28 October press release, Human Rights Watch termed the upcoming presidential poll "a farce" in the light of government restrictions on potential candidates and on the activities of political parties, the media, and freedom of association. LF [14] ISLAMISTS AGAIN VOW TO MAKE UZBEKISTAN AN ISLAMIC STATEDuring a press conference conducted by telephone on 27October, Zubair ibn Abdurrakhim, who is chairman of the board of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, said the movement aims to focus world attention on the persecution of "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in Uzbekistan and ultimately to oust the current Uzbek leadership and establish an Islamic state, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. He said the seizure by the movement's guerrillas of hostages in Kyrgyzstan was in retaliation for the Kyrgyz government's expulsion of 250 Uzbek oppositionists to Uzbekistan. Speaking in Dushanbe the following day, United Tajik Opposition leader Nuri argued against the forced deportation from eastern Tajikistan of Uzbek Islamists who had failed to comply with the Tajik government's 27 October deadline to leave the country voluntarily, according to ITAR-TASS. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] MACEDONIA TO ELECT A PRESIDENT...Voters go to the polls on31 October in the first round of voting to elect Macedonia's second president since independence in 1991. If, as expected, none of the six candidates wins a majority, a second round will take place on 14 November. Incumbent Kiro Gligorov is not running for re-election. He is the first of the post- communist heads of state in the Yugoslav successor states to leave office. Moreover, his is the only one of those republics to win independence from Belgrade peacefully. Known as "the old fox," Gligorov is widely credited with having kept his country out of regional conflicts. He also sought to establish good relations with neighboring states without, however, drawing too close to any of them. In recent months, he has been involved in acrimonious public disputes with the center-right government of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who has been in office for almost one year. Gligorov is close to the opposition Social Democrats, who held power until Georgievski and his allies defeated them in a campaign that emphasized promoting free markets and ending corruption. PM [16] ...BUT WHO WILL IT BE?The two leading contenders for thepresidency are Vasil Tupurkovski of the multi-ethnic Democratic Alternative and Boris Trajkovski of Georgievski's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO), Reuters reported on 28 October. Both parties belong to the governing coalition and were long expected to field a joint candidate, namely Tupurkovski. But continuing rivalries within the coalition and poor performances by some of Tupurkovski's ministers in the cabinet led VMRO to decide to go it alone. Both of the main ethnic Albanian parties are running a candidate, but their voters are likely to come exclusively from the Albanian minority, which represents only about one-quarter of the population. Trajkovski, Tupurkovski, and the Social Democrats' Tito Petkovski have all sought to court the Albanian vote. Most parties agree on the need for economic development, European integration, and ethnic harmony. PM [17] MONTENEGRO ADOPTS LAW ON CITIZENSHIP...The parliament inPodgorica passed a law on Montenegrin citizenship on 28 October. The new legislation recognizes a separate Montenegrin citizenship distinct from that of Yugoslavia or Serbia. Deputies loyal to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic walked out of the session, saying that the law is separatist. Pro-independence Liberals also quit the meeting, charging that the legislation does not go far enough to restore full independence, AP reported. PM [18] ...PREPARES TO INTRODUCE GERMAN MARKPresident MiloDjukanovic said in Podgorica on 28 October that Montenegro is ready to introduce the German mark as a parallel currency to the Yugoslav dinar (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 October 1999). He stressed that while Montenegro does not want to destabilize Yugoslavia or the region, the government is obliged to protect its citizens against growing inflation in Serbia. PM [19] DODIK BLASTS BELGRADE OVER CURRENCY CHARGERepublika Srpskacaretaker Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told Belgrade's "Danas" of 29 October that Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic is trying to deceive his own people. Matic recently charged that with Western backing, the Republika Srpska has sought to destabilize the Yugoslav dinar by "flooding" Serbia with forged dinar banknotes. Dodik commented that people forge only strong currencies, not the inflation-plagued dinar. He added that the source of Serbia's economic woes is its own regime, whose policies constitute an "economic war" against Serbs in both Serbia and Bosnia. PM [20] PETRITSCH INTRODUCES DECREES ON BOSNIAN PROPERTYTheinternational community's Wolfgang Petritsch issued several decrees on 28 October enabling Bosnian refugees and displaced persons to reclaim their property in either half of the republic. He called the decision a "watershed," "Oslobodjenje" reported. Observers note that a major problem preventing people from going home is that other people are squatting in their flats and houses. Local nationalists often back the squatters in their claim to the property in an effort to consolidate the results of "ethnic cleansing." PM [21] PARTIES REGISTER FOR BOSNIAN VOTEOfficials of the OSCE,which organizes elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said in Sarajevo on 28 October that 73 parties and 17 independent candidates have registered for the local elections slated for April 2000, dpa reported. PM [22] CROATIAN PRESIDENT IN THE VATICANFranjo Tudjman opened anexhibition of Croatian religious art in the Vatican on 28 October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 October 1999). PM [23] META ACCEPTS ALBANIAN PREMIERSHIPPresident Rexhep Meidaninamed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta to head the new government following the recent resignation of Meta's ally Pandeli Majko (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 29 October 1999). Meta said that he "will do the impossible to work for a better life for Albanian citizens." He noted that he will retain Interior Minister Spartak Poci, who has cracked down on gangs, particularly in the north. PM [24] CONVOY OF SERBS ATTACKED IN KOSOVASome 1,500 ethnicAlbanians blocked and ransacked a convoy of 155 Serbs in Peja on 27 October, injuring at least 18. A Dutch KFOR commander said that some of the Serbs would "certainly" have been killed if peacekeepers had not intervened. The Serbs were en route from their isolated settlement near Rahovec to Montenegro. They continued on their way after the incident. UN, KFOR, and Serbian officials condemned the attack. Serbian spokesmen said in Belgrade that the incident shows that KFOR is unable to protect Kosova's Serbian population. PM [25] AIR CORRIDOR TO KOSOVA TO REOPENThe Macedonian authoritieson 28 October approved a request by NATO and the EU to reopen an air corridor to civilian flights to Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 October 1999). PM [26] SERBIAN OPPOSITION AGREES TO STICK TOGETHERRepresentativesof 15 opposition parties agreed in Belgrade on 28 October to work together "before, during, and after" any future elections, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The single largest opposition party, which is Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement, did not sign the pact. Elsewhere, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj said that the governing parties will also maintain a united front whenever elections are held. PM [27] MILOSEVIC PRAISES RAMSEY CLARKFormer U.S. Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark met with Milosevic in Belgrade on 28 October. The Serbian leader called his guest "brave, objective, and moral" for his opposition to NATO's recent bombing campaign against Serbia, AP reported. Very few Westerners have called on Milosevic since May, when the Hague-based war crimes tribunal indicted him for atrocities committed in Kosova. PM [28] DEL PONTE WANTS BIG FISHCarla del Ponte, who is the Haguetribunal's new chief prosecutor, said in Prishtina on 28 October that her priority will be to bring top-ranking war criminals to justice. These include Milosevic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, and Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, she added. She noted that Milosevic may face charges in addition to those for which he has already been indicted. In The Hague, a court spokesman said that Serbia, Croatia, and the Republika Srpska have failed to deliver a total of 35 indicted war criminals to the tribunal. PM [29] EU TO GIVE ROMANIA LARGE GRANTSEU commissioner forenlargement Guenter Verheugen said in Bucharest on 28 October that the union will provide Romania with 600 million euros ($636 million) annually until 2006 to upgrade transport, environment, agriculture, and rural development programs. Verheugen, who met with President Emil Constantinescu and Chamber of Deputies Chairman Ion Diaconescu, said the EU wants to see consensus among Romanian parties on joining the union, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The government the same day approved Romania's National Development Plan, which is to be submitted to the EU by the end of the month. MS [30] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SLAMS OPPOSITION LEADERIn a statementreleased on 28 October, Constantinescu said that Party of Social Democracy in Romania Deputy Chairman Adrian Nastase's recent criticism of the government's decision to raise wages for employees of the Defense and Internal Affairs Ministries is "demagogic." Nastase had said the decision is a "bribe paid ahead of the electoral campaign for the use of [police] truncheons." The Defense Ministry also criticized Nastase, who responded that he was not insulting "those in uniform" but the "demagogy that characterizes the discourse of those in power." MS [31] ROMANIAN STUDENTS PROTESTThousands of students marched inBucharest and other cities on 27 and 28 November demanding higher grants and better living conditions on campus, RFE/RL's Romanian service reported. The students said they have decided to go on strike for "an unlimited period." MS [32] RUSSIAN CONTINGENT IN TRANSDNIESTER DESTROYS ARSENALRussian troops in the Transdniester on 27 October destroyedseveral tons of ammunition that had belonged to the former 14th army stationed in the separatist region, ITAR-TASS and BASA-press reported. General Valerii Yevnevich, who commands the Russian contingent in the breakaway region, told journalists that the destruction of the ammunition was stipulated in an agreement with Tiraspol that had been reached "with the assistance of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin." ITAR-TASS cited Yevnevich as saying that the withdrawal of the remaining arsenal "will take up to six years" and require "400 special trains" that will transit Ukraine. Romanian Radio reported on 28 October that Putin has invited Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov to Moscow for talks. MS [33] BULGARIA, EU TO NEGOTIATE CLOSING KOZLODUYThe Bulgariangovernment on 28 October announced it will begin negotiations with the EU on a plan to shut down the aging Kozloduy nuclear plant, AP reported. The agency said that under the government plan, Bulgaria wants to leave the two newer reactors functioning until the two older ones have been decommissioned. BTA reported the same day that parliamentary Energy Committee Chairman Kiril Ermenkov said that the older units must not be closed before 2003, while the newer ones must operate until 2008-2010. Ermenkov said that the EU proposal that the older units be closed in 2001 and the newer ones the following year is "unacceptable." MS [C] END NOTE[34] VIOLENCE AND RECRIMINATIONS OVERSHADOW GEORGIAN ELECTIONCAMPAIGNby Liz Fuller In the runup to Georgia's 31 October parliamentary elections, policy issues have been virtually eclipsed by recriminations and complaints. Leaders of the most influential political parties have accused one another of malpractice. Hundreds of would-be candidates have complained over the Central Electoral Commission's refusal to register them. And there has been widespread concern about election- related violence. As in the 1992 and 1995 elections, several dozen parties and blocs are on the ballot sheet. And as in previous polls, parties with very similar priorities and programs have mostly chosen to run individually, rather than join forces. For example, there are several parties or blocs representing Communists and Stalinists, and three whose declared principal aim is to revive the moribund industrial sector. At the same time, the electoral alliances that have emerged tend to unite parties with diverging, in some cases even conflicting policies or orientations. Two blocs are considered to have the greatest chance of achieving the minimum 7 percent of the vote needed to win seats under the proportional system (150 seats in the parliament are to be allocated under this system, while the remaining 85 are to be contested in single-mandate constituencies). The first comprises the Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK), which forms the largest faction in the outgoing parliament, and the recently created Party for the Liberation of Abkhazia, headed by the chairman of the so-called Abkhaz parliament in exile, Tamaz Nadareishvili. The second is the Union for the Revival of Georgia, headed by Aslan Abashidze, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Adjar Autonomous Republic. That bloc unites four parties: Abashidze's Union for Democratic Revival, which is the second-largest faction in the outgoing parliament; the Socialist Party; the Union of Traditionalists, which in 1990 formed part of the late Zviad Gamsakhurdia's Round Table--Free Georgia coalition; 21st Century, which includes supporters of the late president; and a nameless group of supporters of former Georgian Communist Party First Secretary Djumber Patiashvili. The only other groups that, according to observers, are likely to win seats under the party-list system are the right-wing National Democratic Alliance--Third Way; the Labor Party, which scored a significant success in the November 1998 local elections; and Industry Will Save Georgia, which is headed by beer magnate Gogi Topadze. The SMK's 1995 election victory was due to then parliamentary chairman Eduard Shevardnadze's success in stabilizing the domestic political situation after three years of chaos, collapse, civil war, and economic decline and thereby laying the foundation for a modest economic upswing. But despite millions of dollars in credits from international financial organizations, that upswing was not sustained, nor did Shevardnadze succeed in making good on his 1995 election promise to create 1 million new jobs. Popular disillusion with the SMK contributed to the unanticipated strong showing of Shalva Natelashvili's Labor Party in the November 1998 local elections. Observers disagree as to how much of a threat Abashidze's alliance poses to the SMK. Adzharia may appear relatively calm, stable, and prosperous compared with the rest of Georgia, but that stability is maintained by suppressing dissent. And many analysts believe that Adjaria's economic success is at least partly due to its misappropriation of millions of lari in taxes that should have paid to the central government in Tbilisi. In addition, Abashidze is widely regarded both in Georgia and abroad as a stalking-horse for Moscow, which still maintains a military base in Adzharia. An early October poll put support for the Union of Citizens of Georgia at 27 percent and for the Union for Revival at 17.8 percent. But an article in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" of 22 October put Abashidze's support countrywide at 46 percent, compared with only 22 percent for Shevardnadze's party. Such predictions, together with Shevardnadze's recent description of the election campaign as "a struggle for power," have served to fuel the widespread popular perception that the SMK will resort to underhand means, including falsification of the vote, to ensure an election victory. Other developments have similarly contributed to apprehension that the poll will be less than free and fair. Buses transporting Abashidze's supporters to a planned rally in Tbilisi were intercepted by police in Khashuri, in western Georgia, and forbidden to proceed for several days. Natelashvili has claimed that power supplies have been cut in some rural areas when Labor and other opposition candidates appeared on state television. Several opposition and independent candidates have been attacked and injured. And the Central Electoral Commission refused to register a total of 476 candidates on the grounds that their applications contained errors. As of 25 October, the commission was still unable to say precisely how many candidates would contend the poll. The rising tensions have been exacerbated by the realization that the parliamentary poll is, in effect, also a "qualifier" for next April's presidential elections. Both Shevardnadze and Abashidze have already announced their intention to run in that ballot. If the SMK defeats Abashidze's bloc by only a narrow margin, tensions will likely rise even more over the next six months, and other candidates may be tempted to participate in the hope not so much of winning but of being rewarded for backing one or the other candidate in an anticipated runoff. If, however, Abashidze's bloc fares worse than most observers currently predict, then either Patiashvili, Socialist Party leader Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, or Traditionalists' chairman Akaki Asatiani may decide to challenge Abashidze as the bloc's presidential candidate. 29-10-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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