![]() |
Compact version |
|
![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() |
Thursday, 15 August 2024
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 220, 99-11-11Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 220, 11 November 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SAYS NEW DRAFT MEDIA LAW UNDEMOCRATICMeeting on 10 November at the Baku Press Club,representatives of the opposition Democratic Bloc of parliamentary deputies expressed concern that the parliamentary majority ignored most proposed amendments to the draft law on the mass media that is soon to be considered in the third reading, Turan reported. They termed the law as a whole undemocratic and incommensurate with the concept of freedom of speech. Specifically, they argued that the proposed issuing of licenses to media outlets constitutes a form of censorship and that political parties should not be eligible to establish electronic media. They also objected to the provision that empowers courts to close down media outlets for three months. LF [02] AZERABIAJNI POLITICAL PARTIES SIGN NEW STATEMENT ON KARABAKHEighteen opposition parties signed a joint statement in Bakuon 10 November detailing measures they consider the country's leadership should take with regard to the unresolved Karabakh conflict, Turan reported. Those measures include insisting that Armenia comply with four 1993 UN Security Council resolutions demanding the immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory. They also want Yerevan to pay compensation for material damage. The statement goes on to demand that the financing and professionalism of the Azerbaijani armed forces be improved. Also on 10 November, the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which did not sign the joint statement, issued a separate statement calling for a political solution to the Karabakh conflict, Turan reported. But it added that such a solution should not be "defeatist" and must not infringe on the country's territorial integrity. LF [03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CALLS FOR GREATER OSCE EFFORT TORESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICTMeeting on 9 November in Baku with the new French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Jean- Jacques Gaillard, Heidar Aliev again accused that body of "inactivity." He added that his ongoing talks with his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, do not absolve the OSCE of responsibility for trying to resolve the Karabakh conflict, Turan reported. Aliev had made similar criticism during the September visit to the South Caucasus of OSCE Chairman in Office Knut Vollebaek (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 September 1999). LF [04] AZERBAIJAN DENIES IT WILL HOST CHECHEN FIGHTERS...Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Kuliev on 10 Novemberrejected as "deliberate disinformation" a Russian Defense Ministry statement issued earlier that day claiming that Chechen fighters plan to relocate the bulk of their forces to Azerbaijan, Turan reported. Presidential Administration official Novruz Mamedov similarly termed that report "absurd," noting that it would be logistically impossible for the Chechens to relocate in such a way. The Russian statement said the Chechens have received permission from Baku to set up camps in Azerbaijan in return for an undertaking to assist Azerbaijan in a new war in Karabakh. It also claimed that the Chechens are considering moving to Turkey. LF [05] ...WHILE GEORGIA SAYS IT WILL NOT TAKE IN CHECHEN GOVERNMENTIN EXILEAlso on 10 November, the Georgian Foreign Ministry officially denied the Russian Defense Ministry claim, which was made in the same statement, that Tbilisi will permit the presence on its territory of some Chechen militants and a Chechen government in exile headed by President Aslan Maskhadov, Caucasus Press reported. Parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania and Defense Minister David Tevzadze both told journalists in Tbilisi that neither they nor any other Georgian officials have ever held talks on the subject with Chechen officials, according to ITAR-TASS. LF [06] TWO GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES AGAIN CLAIM ELECTION OUTCOMEFALSIFIEDLabor Party Chairman Shalva Natelashvili told journalists in Tbilisi on 10 November that he has appealed to the Georgian Supreme Court to rule on the validity of the 31 October parliamentary election results, Caucasus Press reported. Natelashvili claims that the Union of Citizens of Georgia, which according to official returns won an absolute majority, "appropriated" 300,000 votes cast for his party. Natelashvili says the Labor Party polled at least 15 percent of the vote, while Central Electoral Commission figures indicate it failed to surmount the 7 percent minimum required for parliamentary representation. The National Democratic Party of Georgia on 10 November similarly refused to accept the official outcome of the vote. It added that while it does not consider falsifications by both the Union of Citizens of Georgia and, in Adjaria, by the Union for Democratic Revival to be the primary cause of the party's failure to gain representation in the new parliament, those infringements nonetheless mirror "the anarchy reigning in the country," according to Caucasus Press. LF [07] KAZAKHSTAN'S NEW GOVERNMENT SWORN INSpeaking at the 10November ceremony in Astana at which the new cabinet was sworn in, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev said the government's primary tasks are ensuring balanced economic development and expediting the reform process, RFE/RL's correspondent in the capital reported. Nazarbaev stressed that no overspending of the budget will be tolerated, adding that "unnecessary expenditures" by the presidential administration and government should be cut. He said foreign investment should be increased, but he noted this should be done by encouraging "solid investors" rather than "dark horses," according to Interfax. Nazarbaev described the struggle against corruption and crime as a further key task. He urged the government "to work as a single team" in a spirit of discipline and mutual understanding. LF [08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT SLAMS OSCE...Speaking to journalistsin Astana after the 10 November ceremony, President Nazarbaev accused the OSCE of indifference to developments in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the North Caucasus, RFE/RL's Astana bureau reported. (Afghanistan is not an OSCE member.) Nazarbaev suggested that the OSCE is not needed if it "does not care about Asian states." Nazarbaev has long been lobbying for the creation of an Asian equivalent of the OSCE, and two months ago it hosted a conference to discuss that project (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 September 1999). Nazarbaev again rejected the OSCE's criticism of Kazakhstan's recent parliamentary elections, noting that up to eight candidates contested each mandate. He said the poll constituted a difficult but real step toward democratization, adding that he considers Kazakhstan "the most democratic country in Central Asia." Nazarbaev said the use of "double standards" by any organization is "unacceptable." LF [09] ...WHILE OSCE OFFICIAL REJECTS NAZARBAEV'S CRITICISMUlrichSchoening, who heads the OCSE mission in Kazakhstan, told the TV station 31 Channel on 11 November that he considers Nazarbaev's accusation that the OSCE is guilty of double standards unfounded, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported. Schoening affirmed the OSCE's readiness to continue cooperating with Kazakhstan, adding that he hopes Kazakhstan will not become the first country to leave the organization voluntarily. LF [10] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ONELECTION LAWA spokesman for the Ar-Namys party told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 10 November that the party has asked the Constitutional Court to rule on inconsistencies between the country's constitution and the Election Code adopted last year. The Election Code stipulates that only political parties registered with the Ministry of Justice at least one year before parliamentary elections may participate in the poll. The constitution does not contain any such restriction. President Askar Akaev suggested in June that the minimum interval between registration and qualifying for participation in elections should be reduced to six months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 June 1999). The Ar-Namys party was founded in July by former Bishkek Mayor Feliks Kulov and registered one month later (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August 1999). The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 2000. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH TAKING TURN FOR WORSE?The state-run Hina news agency quoted Franjo Tudjman's doctors as saying on 11 November that the Croatian president suffered a "capillary hemorrhage of internal organs" the previous night. The doctors added that they have changed his treatment for complications following his recent surgery for "a rupture of his large intestine." Tudjman is widely believed to have suffered from cancer since 1996. The state-run media have provided no pictures of him in the hospital, while official information on the state of his health has been sparse. PM [12] CROATIAN SERB LEADER URGES SERBS TO VOTEMilorad Pupovac,who heads the Serbian National Council and is a member of the Croatian parliament, urged Serbs to vote in the 22 December legislative elections. He stressed that Serbs can help end the rule of Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community only if they vote, the Frankfurt-based Serbian daily "Vesti" reported on 11 November. Some other leaders of the small Serbian minority have called for a boycott of the elections. PM [13] NATO: CROATIAN SECURITY FORCES INVOLVED IN BOSNIAN CRIMEReuters on 10 November quoted unnamed Western diplomats inLondon as saying that NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina have found extensive evidence that Croatian security forces have been undermining the Bosnian peace settlement. NATO kept Croatian and Bosnian Croat security forces under close observation for one year in a project called Operation West Star. NATO "hit the jackpot," a diplomat added. The evidence "provides conclusive proof of the continuing role of the Croatian intelligence service in Bosnia. It points the finger directly at Zagreb," he said. Reuters noted that "Croatian security services were involved in everything from running paramilitary gangs to money laundering and dealing in pornography." PM [14] HAGUE COURT GIVES SERB ANOTHER 25 YEARSOutgoing Presidentof the Hague-based war crimes tribunal Gabrielle Kirk McDonald handed down on 11 November an additional sentence of up to 25 years on Bosnian Serb defendant Dusan Tadic. Tadic will serve that sentence consecutively with the 20-year term he received earlier. McDonald suggested that the court did not give Tadic the maximum penalty, which is life imprisonment, because he has become a "model detainee" and because of considerations regarding "the effect of the length of the sentence" on his family, AP reported. His trial on charges of atrocities against Muslims and Croats during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war began in May 1997. PM [15] UN HAS EXHUMED MORE THAN 2,000 BODIES IN KOSOVACarla delPonte, who is the Hague court's new chief prosecutor, told the UN Security Council on 10 November that international investigators have unearthed the bodies of 2,108 persons in Kosova. She noted that some bodies may never be found "because we have discovered evidence of tampering with graves," Reuters reported. Forensics experts have exhumed 195 graves and hope to investigate an additional 334 in the year 2000. Serbian Deputy Information Minister Miodrag Popovic told the BBC on 11 November that most of the 2,108 people probably "died of natural causes." A forensics expert responded that he and his colleagues can easily prove that most of the victims died violently and in some cases in rather grisly circumstances. PM [16] SOME 379 KILLED IN KOSOVA SINCE JUNEA KFOR spokesman saidin Prishtina that 135 Serbs, 145 ethnic Albanians, and 99 people of other or undetermined nationalities have been murdered in Kosova since NATO took control of the province, London's "The Guardian" reported on 11 November. The daily added that criminal rather than purely ethnic considerations appear to have been involved in many of the deaths. For example, some Albanians killed numerous elderly Serbs in order to take their property. PM [17] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES CURBS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTThelegislature passed a bill on 10 November giving the central government greater control over local administrations. Opposition parties, who are in power in more than 30 municipalities, say the bill is aimed at undermining their political base. Vladan Batic, who is a leader of the Alliance for Change, said that opposition-run municipalities should organize themselves in "self-governing clusters," "Vesti" reported. PM [18] CLAIMANT TO SERBIAN THRONE URGES OPPOSITION TO UNITECrownPrince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic said that the opposition must unite and work together to oust the regime, Belgrade's "Danas" wrote on 11 November. He also urged the Serbian people to support the opposition. Aleksandar spoke on the eve of a conference in Budapest that brings together leaders of the opposition and the diaspora. PM [19] MONTENEGRIN DAILY SAYS YUGOSLAV COMMANDER SLAMMED GOVERNMENTThe editors of the Podgorica daily "Vijesti" said on 10November that they stand by their story that Chief of the General Staff General Dragoljub Ojdanic recently criticized top government officials during a visit to Montenegro. Ojdanic subsequently denied the report, which claimed he criticized Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, and Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic for what Ojdanic allegedly called the poor state of affairs in the army. In addition to their response to Ojdanic's denial, "Vijesti" editors also published on 10 November remarks the army chief had made in Montenegro that they had previously withheld from publication. Among other things, Ojdanic allegedly commented that he intends to cut the size of the navy and the air force, which he considers much less important than the army. He added that most officers are interested primarily in their pay and that he will raise their salaries soon. PM [20] MACEDONIA, GREECE START PIPELINE CONSTRUCTIONWork began on10 November on an oil pipeline that will link Macedonia's sole refinery with the port of Thessaloniki. Greece will bear most of the $90 million costs. Its state-run oil company recently acquired a majority stake in its Macedonian counterpart. PM [21] ITALY, ALBANIA STEP UP COOPERATION AGAINST MIGRANTSAlbanianPrime Minister Ilir Meta said in Tirana on 10 November that Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini promised him more assistance to help prevent the smuggling of goods and people across the Strait of Otranto. Meta had returned from a brief trip to Rome, which was his first trip abroad since his recent election as prime minister. Traffic in illegal migrants from Albania to Italy continues unabated, dpa noted. Drug smuggling from Albania is on the increase, despite the presence of Italian forces in Albania and in Albanian territorial waters. PM [22] TIRANA MAYOR CRITICIZES OLDER GENERATION OF POLITICIANSAlbert Brojka, who belongs to the opposition DemocraticParty, told Vienna's "Die Presse" of 11 November that the Democrats' Sali Berisha and the Socialists' Fatos Nano "have an old communist mentality" that has led to political polarization. Brojka stressed that Albania instead needs a "European mentality" that allows people to differ on political issues without regarding one another as enemies. He said that he believes Nano's recent victory over former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko for the leadership of the Socialists will only make the political climate worse. Majko favored a policy of rational political dialogue and reconciliation between the two rival parties, Brojka added. He expressed regret that Berisha has retained control over the Democrats, despite a short-lived challenge from the younger Genc Pollo. PM [23] RAIL TRAFFIC RESUMES AFTER WORKERS END BLOCKADERailwaytraffic in Romania was back to normal early on 11 November after hundreds of railway workers ended a blockade of trains at Bucharest's main train station to protest low wages, AP reported. Trains were delayed for up to five hours after the workers had taken over the North Train Station the previous day. They want their wages doubled and the plan to restructure and downsize the national rail system to be scrapped. Transportation Minister Traian Basescu, whom the workers want sacked, said he is happy the situation was resolved peacefully, but he called the protest a "serious" violation of the law. He said the ministry will file an official complaint. Negotiations between the ministry and union leaders are due to begin on 11 November. PB [24] BULGARIAN DOCUMENTS ON ZHIVKOV OUSTER MISSINGThe head ofBulgaria's government archives, Panto Kolev, said on 10 November that documents related to the coup that ended the 35-year rule of Communist leader Todor Zhivkov have disappeared, AP reported. Kolev said the minutes from the Communist Party meeting at which he was dismissed are among those documents missing, as are those detailing Bulgaria's role in the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of the former Czechoslovakia. Former Interior Minister Atanas Semerdzhiev is currently awaiting trial for allowing secret police officials to destroy files in 1990. In other news, the 10th anniversary of Zhivkov's ouster, which fell on 10 November 1989, was not officially marked in Bulgaria. PB [25] BULGARIA'S POPULATION SHRINKING FASTESTWith a negativegrowth rate of minus 6.4 people per 1,000, Bulgaria's population is shrinking faster than that of any other country in East-Central Europe, AP reported on 9 November, citing BTA. The data were included in a paper delivered at an international demographic conference in Sofia. Since 1989, Bulgaria's population has sunk by 1 million owing to emigration, which was reported at 700,000, and because of a high mortality rate. MS [C] END NOTE[26] UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF: KUCHMA VERSUS COMMUNISMby Askold KrushelnyckyThe first round of Ukraine's presidential elections on 31 October left incumbent Leonid Kuchma in the lead and his Communist rival, Petro Symonenko in second place. Under Ukraine's electoral rules, if no candidate receives more than half the vote, then the two with the highest share of the vote go on to a run-off. Kuchma seemed comfortably ahead in the first round with 36 percent of the vote, compared with Symonenko's 22 percent. But Kuchma has been criticized throughout his term in office for the troubled state of the economy, for failing to introduce major market reforms, and for presiding over a government riddled with corruption. Critics say that Kuchma is now playing on the fears of a communist return to power in order to win second-round votes from many who intensely dislike him. Symonenko has openly acknowledged he favors a return to Soviet-style government and wants a new Soviet Union, with Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan as initial members. He has also said he will reverse those market reforms Kuchma has introduced. Ahead of the second round of voting on 14 November, Symonenko has been trying to gather support from some of his former rivals among the 12 other opposition hopefuls who competed in the first round. Symonenko has put together a loose coalition of three leftist and three centrist former candidates in the hope that their supporters will vote for him on 14 November. He has the backing of the leader of the Peasant Party and parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko. But his support from the two candidates who took third and fourth places in the first round is clearly less than whole- heated. Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, the third-place candidate, has said he will support Symonenko--but he has given that support only grudgingly. Moroz notably failed to turn up beside Symonenko on 7 November for Communist Party commemorations in Kyiv of the October 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia. Like Moroz, ultra-Marxist Natalya Vitrenko scored some 11 percent of the vote in the first round to come in fourth. Some analysts believe Vitrenko's popularity was boosted by an apparent assassination attempt against her during the campaign. Vitrenko has since said she will give her blessing to Symonenko only if he promises her the prime minister's job. That is a promise the communist leader has not been willing to make. However, Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist Party announced on 10 November it will throw its support behind Symonenko because he "stands for changing the course of economic and political reforms." Mary Mycio, the Ukraine correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," told RFE/RL that she does not believe the people who support Symonenko can deliver votes. "They can basically only provide him with their own personal support," she argues. "In the case of Vitrenko, I think that a lot of her votes were very emotional and based perhaps on her popular slogans and not necessarily on any program or proposals that she was making." At the 7 November rally in Kyiv, attended by some 3,000 mostly elderly party faithful, Symonenko toned down his rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to a wider range of voters. His supporters have sought to dispel fears of a communist comeback, presenting Symonenko as a moderate who would take care of Ukraine's sluggish economy and its people and even restore churches now in disrepair. But analyst Mycio does not think Symonenko will be able to persuade enough voters of his new-found moderate views to win the run-off. She believes Kuchma could have been defeated only if Symonenko had stepped down in favor of another candidate, as is allowed under Ukraine's electoral law. "Ironically," she added, "I think that the only person in the election, in the stable of candidates, who could deliver votes would be Symonenko.... If Symonenko told the members and supporters of the Communist Party to vote for a candidate, they would." Kuchma has dismissed the alliance backing Symonenko, saying he is "not afraid, even if they are joined by several more candidates." But he and his supporters have also sought help from former first-round rivals. And they have stepped up efforts to portray a potential communist victory as a national disaster. State-controlled television, moreover, has been showing grim film footage of Soviet atrocities in Ukraine. Among Kuchma's democratic opponents in the first round, the candidate who did best was Yevhen Marchuk. On 10 November, Kuchma named Marchuk to head the National Security Council, a presidential body with sweeping powers in security matters. The move is seen as a clear attempt to win over the some 8 percent of voters who backed Marchuk in the first round. Meanwhile, Kuchma has won support from the Green Party, whose leader was also one of the first-round losers. And a faction of the divided nationalist Rukh movement said it will back the president on condition that Ukraine seeks membership in NATO. Like many who will support Kuchma in the second round, Rukh sympathizers will vote for him only because they fear the alternative more than the incumbent. In fact, it is this sentiment that Mycio and some other analysts believe will allow Kuchma to pull off a victory on 14 November--barring any unexpected developments during the last days of campaigning. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague and currently covering the Ukrainian presidential election from Kyiv. 11-11-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |