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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 19, 00-01-27Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 19, 27 January 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS TO RESUME KARABAKH TALKSArmenian President Robert Kocharian told journalists on 26January upon his return to Yerevan from the CIS summit in Moscow that he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Heidar Aliev will continue their talks on the Karabakh conflict on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Russian agencies reported. Kocharian added that both he and Aliev agree on the need to reverse the slowdown in the peace process since the 27 October Armenian parliament shootings. Kocharian refrained from making any prognosis as to the likely outcome of the planned Davos talks. But Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on 26 January in Strasbourg, where he is attending the Parliamentary Asssembly of the Council of Europe session, that those talks will show in which direction the peace process is heading, according to ITAR-TASS. Also on 26 January, Kocharian briefed Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, on his talks with Aliev in Moscow on 24 January, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. LF [02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION REJECTS OFFICIAL RATIONALE FORELECTRICITY RATIONINGAzerbaijani opposition experts said on 25 January that the planned introduction of energy rationing testifies to the incompetence of economic planners and the inefficient use of the energy generated, Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 January 2000). Ali Masimov of the Azerbaijan Popular Front and Musavat's Gubad Ibadogly both said that Azerbaijan generates enough power to meet its domestic needs but that some of that power is illegally exported. LF [03] GEORGIAN OFFICIALS OFFER CONFLICTING EXPLANATIONS FOR ABKHAZCLASHTamaz Nadareishvili, chairman of the ethnic Georgian Abkhaz parliament-in-exile, told Caucasus Press on 27 January that the the five Abkhaz killed or wounded in western Georgia's Zugdidi Raion late on 25 January had been engaged in reprisals against local Georgians involved in cigarette smuggling (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 January 2000). But Temur Khetsuriani, who is Security Minister in the ethnic Georgian Abkhaz government-in-exile, said that the men had abducted a Georgian couple from a village in Zugdidi on 23 January. Interfax on 26 January said that the Abkhaz were attacked while conducting unsanctioned talks with local Georgians on the hostages' release. LF [04] KAZAKH MIG SALE TRIAL RESUMESThe trial resumed in Almaty of26 January of Kazakh Army Chief of General Staff Bakhytzhan Ertaev and businessman Aleksandr Petrenko, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported. The two men are accused of arranging the illegal sale to North Korea of 40 obsolete MiG fighters. The proceedings were suspended on 11 January after Ertaev suffered a minor heart attack (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 January 2000). Ertaev told journalists on 26 January that the accusations against him are groundless, and that he is confident he will be acquitted, according to Interfax. LF [05] KAZAKH REGIONAL NEWSPAPER EDITOR CHARGED WITH ABETTINGSEPARATISTSOleg Ablakaev, editor of the commercial newspaper "HBC-Press" in the town of Oskemen in eastern Kazakhstan, has been formally charged with supporting separatism, RFE/RL correspondents reported on 27 January. Publication of "HBC-Press" was suspended for three months earlier this week because the paper had printed an appeal last November to the region's ethnic Russian population by Viktor Kazimirchuk, the leader of a group of Russians accused of planning to establish an independent Russian republic on the territory of eastern Kazakhstan. One of Kazimirchuk's co- accused, former Oskemen municipal council member Nikolai Ivanov, is now in Russia trying to obtain political asylum. Kazimirchuk has been taken to a psychiatric hospital in Almaty. LF [06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION PARTY OFFICIAL REFUSED EXIT VISAKazakhstan immigration officials this week rejected a requestfor an exit visa by Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan's Executive Committee Chairman Gaziz Aldamzharov, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported on 27 January. Aldamzharov said he believes that refusal was politically motivated. The Republican Reople's Party of Kazakhstan is headed by former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin. LF [07] KAZAKHSTAN PROTESTS UZBEK BORDER DEMARCATIONAstana haslodged an official protest with the Uzbek government over unilateral moves by Tashkent to demarcate sections of the two countries' 230 km common border without prior consultation with the Kazakh government, ITAR-TASS reported on 26 January citing Kazakhstan State Television. There have been several recent incidents of Uzbek border guards opening fire on Kazakhs in the vicinity of the border (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 January 2000). LF [08] KYRGYZ POLICE DEFUSE CAR BOMB IN CAPITALAlerted by a streetcleaner, Kyrgyz police defused a primitive explosive device detected under a car in the yard of a house in Bishkek, ITAR- TASS reported on 27 January. The residents of the building in question include two government officials, several Turkish businessmen, relatives of a Kyrgyz parliament deputy, and a priest from a Korean church. LF [09] TAJIKISTAN UNVEILS 1999 ECONOMIC STATISTICSTajikistan's GDPgrew by 3.7 percent in 1999 compared with the previous year, Interfax reported on 26 January quoting the State Statistics Commission. Industrial production rose by 5 percent, while agricultural output increased by 3.8 percent despite the loss of half the country's cotton crop due to adverse weather conditions. Annual inflation in 1999 was 24 percent, compared with 20 percent in 1998. The country posted a $24.8 million foreign trade surplus in 1999, compared with a deficit the previous year. Aluminium, average prices for which rose by 10 percent in 1999, accounts for 45 percent of Tajikistan's export production. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] RACAN ANNOUNCES NEW CROATIAN GOVERNMENTPrime Ministerdesignate Ivica Racan announced in Zagreb on 27 January that his six-party coalition has reached an agreement on the new 22-member government. He added that he will ask acting president Vlatko Pavletic to appoint the cabinet later in the day. Of the three vice premiers, Social Liberal Goran Granic will be Racan's direct deputy. Slavko Linic, who belongs to Racan's Social Democrats and is mayor of Rijeka, will be in charge of the economy. Social Democrat Zeljka Antunovic will deal with political and social affairs. Social Democrats will head three key ministries: Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, and Interior Minister Sime Lucin. Defense Minister Jozo Rados is a Social Liberal. PM [11] DEFEATED CROATIAN PARTY DEADLOCKEDMembers of the presidencyof the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) failed at a three- hour meeting in Zagreb on 26 January to agree on who will head the party's factions in the new parliament, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The party is on the verge of disintegration following the death of President Franjo Tudjman in December and the subsequent outbreak of factional in-fighting in public. PM [12] TUDJMAN'S LEGACY CRUMBLING RAPIDLYPavletic has reassignedcommand of the presidential honor guard from the president to the chief of the General Staff, "Jutarnji list" reported on 27 January. A final decision on the unit's fate will lie with the new president, who will be elected on 7 February. Both candidates have indicated that they will eliminate the guard unit as well as other symbols of Tudjman's rule that are widely regarded as pompous. Elsewhere, the same Zagreb daily notes that moves by the HDZ to rename streets and squares after Tudjman have largely come to nothing. Only three towns have passed proposals to name a street or square after the late president. PM [13] PETRITSCH BLOCKS SAROVIC AS BOSNIAN SERB PRESIDENTTheinternational community's Wolfgang Petritsch said in Sarajevo on 27 January that Republika Srpska Vice President Mirko Sarovic has no right to move into the vacant president's job. Petritsch called such an attempt "regrettable, unconstitutional, and illegal...with the clear and obvious aim of destabilizing" the Republika Srpska, AP reported. He added that Sarovic "will be held accountable" for his announcement the previous day that he will assume the presidency. Sarovic said that he wanted to end the political stalemate in the Republika Srpska and replace Milorad Dodik, the moderate prime minister. Carlos Westendorp, who was Petritsch's predecessor, offered the presidential post to Sarovic in March 1999 after sacking Nikola Poplasen, the nationalist president. Sarovic at that time declined the offer. Westendorp told him that he should reconsider but that he would need the approval of the international community to assume the presidency. Petritsch has since said that he does not want Sarovic in the post. PM [14] KLEIN CALLS ON COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO ADMIT BOSNIAJacquesKlein, who is the UN's chief representative in Bosnia- Herzegovina, appealed to the Council of Europe to admit that country even though it has not yet fulfilled all criteria for membership. In remarks he prepared to deliver in Strasbourg, Klein noted that "it may not be a Bosnia you wish to see sharing your home or even living in your neighborhood...[but] while it is clear that Bosnia still has a distance to go in fully meeting European standards, to deny accession again would only reward those who caused its misfortunes. Wise judgment must be made. Left outside for too long, one of your closest neighbors may become a breeding ground for anti- democratic and foreign tendencies sustained by exploitation and criminality," AP reported from Sarajevo on 26 January. PM [15] OSCE SEEKS REFORM OF BOSNIAN PRESIDENTIAL VOTEThe OSCE,which supervises elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina, will propose to the joint Bosnian parliament that it adopt a new election law. According to the proposal, voters will be able to cast their ballot for whichever of the three seats in the joint presidency they wish, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 26 January. Currently, voters in the Republika Srpska vote for the Serbian seat, while voters in the federation elect only the Muslim and Croatian representatives. PM [16] YUGOSLAV COURT REJECTS MONTENEGRO'S DUAL CURRENCY SYSTEMMeeting in Belgrade on 26 January, the Constitutional Courtcalled illegal Montenegro's move in November 1999 to introduce the German mark as legal tender alongside the Yugoslav dinar. Montenegro is likely to ignore the ruling--as it has other Belgrade court decisions--because it does not recognize the authority of the Belgrade federal government. Podgorica argues that the introduction of the mark was necessary to shield Montenegro from rising inflation in Serbia. The Montenegrin authorities also note that the move was simply taking recognition of the reality that the mark has been widely used throughout the former Yugoslavia for decades. PM [17] SERBIAN CROWN PRINCE CALLS FOR OPPOSITION UNITYOn his firstvisit to the Republika Srpska, Aleksandar Karadjordjevic said in Banja Luka on 26 January that "we must work to remove the regime in Belgrade," Reuters reported. He called Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic "the leader of 250,000 thugs who run the country through oppression." Aleksandar appealed to opposition politicians to stop "creating idiotic problems" among themselves and to "shut up, so that we can get on with life and hope." He stressed that he considers as enemies of the Serbian people all those who are anti-democrats, AP reported. PM [18] ALBRIGHT APPEALS FOR MONEY FOR KOSOVASpeaking in Washingtonon 26 January, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on "our partners" to "pledge generously" to aid Kosova but also to be prompt with their payments. She argued that a "serious crisis" has emerged in the province for the UN administration because of a lack of money, AP reported. PM [19] MACEDONIAN POLICE FILE CHARGES AGAINST ALBANIANSA policespokesman said in Skopje on 26 January that the police have arrested 10 ethnic Albanians in connection with the murder of three policemen in the ethnic Albanian village of Aracinovo recently (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2000). An additional suspect remains at large, he added. Aracinovo is believed to be the center of an ethnic Albanian smuggling ring. PM [20] ROMANIAN PARTIES CONTINUE DEBATE ON TIMING OF ELECTIONSThechairman of the National Peasants' Party Christian Democratic, Ion Diaconescu, said on 25 January that his party wants local and general elections to be held "according to the usual schedule," Mediafax reported. He rejected rumors in the press that the PNT-CD intends to call for a postponement of the elections. The statement is the latest in ongoing discussions on the timing of the elections (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 January 2000). The president of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, Bela Marko, said his party supports the idea of holding the local elections in June 2000 and the parliamentary elections in November, Rompres reported. In other news, Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mihail Dobre on 26 January announced that Romania lost some $900 million in 1999 as a result of last year's conflict in Kosova, Mediafax reported. VG [21] APPEAL COURT REINSTATES CLUJ MAYORAn appeals court in Clujreinstated Gheorghe Funar as the mayor of the city after he was suspended pending an investigation of allegations that he abused his position and damaged private interests (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 January 2000). Funar, who heads the chauvinist Greater Romania Party, will now be able to serve as Cluj mayor until a court rules on his indictment. VG [22] SPECIAL SUMMIT ON TRANSDNIESTER TO BE HELD IN JULYMoldovanPresident Petru Lucinschi on 26 January said he and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed at the CIS summit in Moscow to hold a special meeting on the break-away Transdniester region this July, BASA-Press reported. He said the meeting will be attended by representatives from Moldova, Transdniester, Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE. Lucinschi described the CIS summit as a "turning point" and said Putin "unequivocally supported Moldova's position on the resolution of the Dniester region problem," ITAR-TASS reported. VG [23] TRANSDNIESTER WANTS TROOP WITHDRAWAL COORDINATED WITHSETTLEMENTRepresentatives of the Transdniester administration said they support the Russian Foreign Ministry's position that a withdrawal of Russian troops can only take place in conjunction with a political settlement, according to ITAR-TASS. The representatives said the Russian troops are fulfilling a "stabilizing and peacekeeping mission" in the region. Meanwhile, Transdniester authorities refused to allow a military inspection team from Spain to enter the region on 26 January, BASA-Press reported. The Spanish team arrived in Moldova the day before with the intention of inspecting Russian army depots in accordance with the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty. The Transdniester authorities said they were denied entry into the region because they failed to inform the Tiraspol government beforehand. VG [24] UKRAINE THREATENS TO CUT OFF ALL ELECTRICITY TO MOLDOVAUkraine on 26 January threatened to cut off all electricityexports to Moldova because of unpaid debts, BASA-Press reported. Moldovan energy officials described the warning as a means of pressuring Chisinau into paying those debts. According to BASA-Press, Moldova owes Ukraine some $60 million in unpaid energy debts. Meanwhile, the Chisinau energy distribution network has been cutting off power to various neighborhoods of the capital 3-4 times a day for 6-10 hours. Temperatures in the capital have been oscillating recently between 15 C and 20 C degrees below zero. In other news, observers from the Helsinki Human Rights Committee on 26 January said they noted "numerous" violations of the electoral rules during the 23 January elections in Taraclia county, BASA-Press reported. VG [25] BULGARIA WELCOMES EU PROPOSAL ON VISASBulgarian PresidentPetar Stoyanov on 26 January welcomed the European Commission's proposal that visa requirements be dropped for Bulgarians and Romanians, BTA reported. Stoyanov described the proposals as confirmation that the two countries are moving in the right direction. The European Commission's proposal to include the two Balkan countries on a list of 48 countries that have visa-free relations with the EU must now be approved by the 15 EU governments and the European Parliament. An official in the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said Sofia expects the procedure to be completed this year. Bulgarian and Romanian experts are scheduled to meet on 28 January to discuss measures to tighten border controls, which is one of the EU's key conditions for lifting visa requirements. VG [26] BULGARIA REJECTS RUSSIAN CRITICISM OF BALKAN SUMMITBulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaykov on 26January rejected Russian criticism of the recent Balkan summit in the Bulgarian town of Hissar, BTA reported. On 25 January, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed "bewilderment" at the fact that Yugoslavia was not represented at the meeting and described the summit as "isolationist" with relation to Belgrade. Vlajkov said the meeting was not "isolationist" but rather represented "a new form of cooperation" in the region. He added: "At a time when cooperation with Yugoslavia is difficult, its participation in the event would have blocked positive results of the meeting," AP reported. VG [C] END NOTE[27] Capital Flight From Russia ContinuesBy Robert LyleThe global organization of commercial banks, investment firms and insurance companies--the Institute of International Finance (IIF)--says that capital flight from Russia continues to be substantial and should be around $20 billion again this year. The IIF says the flight of capital from Russia has been at about that level annually for the past year or two. Charles Dallara, managing-director of the institute, told reporters in Washington on 24 January that the problem for Moscow continues to be a lack of solid reforms and stable policies. "Obviously, it will be important for Russia to find some policy framework that will stabilize and turn around that situation at some point, but we don't have a clear sense that that's in the cards," he said The director of research for the IIF, Kevin Barnes, says there was some reduction in the amount of capital flight from Russia in December. But he says even if that decrease continues it will not have a major impact on the forecast of $20 billion fleeing this year. Overall, says Barnes, there are a lot of uncertainties ahead for Russia. "Perhaps the removal of some of the political uncertainty that we fear through a prolonged election period could make the situation even more difficult. That will not happen. We are having to reevaluate a number of developments. Russia has been helped by strong oil prices, (but is) still very uncertain on capital flight and what will happen on the debt picture." The institute says Russia's capital flight and other problems will turn private capital flows into the country from positive to negative this year--with money more leaving than coming in. For the rest of what the IIF calls "emerging Europe"-- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey--the picture is very positive. Private capital flows, which had dropped markedly during the 1998 crisis, are beginning to return and are estimated to have hit nearly $32 billion in 1999. They should climb another $500 million this year. Barnes says these countries are drawing external financing because of their progress in reforms: "We've seen some encouraging steps, such as in Bulgaria. But there needs to be continued efforts in that area to work toward the goal of convergence with the European union. In several of those economies, we see encouraging progress, but still more needs to be done." Capital flows into all of the emerging economies in the world are expected to increase from just below $150 billion in 1999 to nearly $200 billion this year. That all depends, says the IIF, on a continued strong U.S. economy and no major crises anywhere in the world this year. Robert Lyle is a former Washington-based correspondent for RFE/RL. 27-01-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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