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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 66, 00-04-03Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 66, 3 April 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER AGAIN CALLS FOR NEW ELECTIONSSpeaking at a press conference in Yerevan on 30 March,National Democratic Union Chairman Vazgen Manukian again advocated pre-term parliamentary and presidential elections, Armenpress and Noyan Tapan reported. He had called on President Robert Kocharian to resign in mid-January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 January 2000). Manukian argued that Armenia is "on the verge of disaster" as a result of the "process of destruction" embarked upon by individuals "of a low intellectual level" long before the 27 October parliament shootings. Manukian also repeated his doubts that Samvel Babayan, the former defense minister of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, was involved in the 22 March attempt to assassinate the enclave's president, Arkadii Ghukasian (see also "End Note" below). LF [02] ARMENIA, RUSSIA CONCLUDE WAR-GAMESSome 2,000 Armenian andRussian troops on 31 March wrapped up four days of military maneuvers at a training ground west of Yerevan, RFE/RL's bureau in the Armenian capital reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 March 2000). The commander of the Russian Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus, Lieutenant General Vladimir Andreev, who directed the maneuvers, denied that the exercise was connected with or aimed to duplicate Russia's ongoing military campaign in Chechnya. But Armenian General Mikael Harutiunian said the Armenian armed forces are looking into elements of Russia's tactics against veteran Chechen fighters in mountainous terrain in order to improve their performance in mountainous or wooded areas. LF [03] ARMENIAN POW RELEASEDAn Armenian serviceman who had beenheld prisoner in Azerbaijan for five months was released on 31 March in what an Armenian Security Ministry official termed "a goodwill gesture" on the part of Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev, ITAR-TASS and Turan reported. Armenia still holds 10 Azerbaijani prisoners. LF [04] RUSSIAN MINISTER VISITS AZERBAIJANRussian Minister forEmergency Situations Sergei Shoigu held talks with President Aliev in Baku on 31 March, focusing on responses to natural disasters and on measures to prevent landslides such as the one that caused major damage in Baku on 6 March, ITAR-TASS reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 March 2000). Aliev assured Shoigu of his country's continued support for Russia's military action in Chechnya and called for greater Russian input in resolving conflicts on the territory of CIS member states. He said resolving such conflicts is a prerequisite for greater regional cooperation between Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. LF [05] GEORGIA EXTRACTS FIRST OILA U.S.-Georgian joint venturethat began drilling its first well at Taribana in eastern Georgia four months ago extracted its first oil on 1 April in the presence of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, Caucasus Press reported. According to the news agency, Shevardnadze, having sampled the oil, said the taste is reminiscent of Georgian red wine. Taribana's reserves are estimated at 1 million tons. LF [06] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION CONVENES ANTI-ELECTION DEMOSome 350-400supporters of deceased Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia attended a demonstration in Tbilisi on his birthday, 31 March, AP reported. Participants called on the Georgian electorate to boycott the 9 April presidential election. Also on 31 March, a 49-year-old woman set fire to herself near the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi to protest the authorities' refusal to amnesty political prisoners, Caucasus Press reported. The previous day, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights wrote to President Shevardnadze to draw his attention to the condition of four prisoners who have declared a hunger strike to demand such an amnesty (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 March 2000). The letter noted that when Georgia joined the Council of Europe one year ago, it undertook to review the cases of some 100 imprisoned Gamsakhurdia supporters but has not yet begun to do so. LF [07] KAZAKHS STAGE PROTEST ON BORDER WITH UZBEKISTAN...Some 200residents of the Sary-Aghdash district of South Kazakhstan Oblast gathered on the border with Uzbekistan on 31 March to protest the planned construction of additional customs points on the Uzbek side of the border, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported. Local officials from the two countries agreed to postpone the beginning of construction work. Speaking in Astana on 1 April, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov denied that any tensions exist along unpopulated stretches of the border that are currently being demarcated, but he admitted that demarcation is proving more problematic in populated areas, ITAR-TASS reported. Idrisov said that the Kazakh authorities have reached agreement with their Uzbek counterparts that no unilateral actions wll be taken on the border until the demarcation is complete. LF [08] IS KAZAKHSTAN PLANNING TERRITORIAL-ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM?RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent quoted "unofficial sources" on3 April as saying that the Kazakh leadership is considering abolishing the 14 oblasts into which the country is currently divided and creating in their place five larger regions. The five would be Western Kazakhstan, comprising the present Atyrau, Oral, Mangystau, and Aqtobe Oblasts; South Kazakhstan, comprising Qyzyl-Orda, Zhambyl, and South Kazakhstan Oblasts and some districts of Almaty and the former Taldy-Qorghan Oblast; Eastern Kazakhstan, comprising the rest of Taldy-Qorghan as well as the former Semey and Eastern Kazakhstan and Pavlodar Oblasts; Northern Kazakhstan, comprising the present North Kazakhstan, Qostanay, and Kokshetau Oblasts; and Central Kazakhstan, comprising Aqmola, Qaraghandy, Zhezkazghan, and Torghay Oblasts. LF [09] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY TO 'GO UNDERGROUND'Some 150delegates to a 2 April emergency congress of the opposition Ar-Namys party voted to go underground in response to ongoing persecution by the Kyrgyz authorities, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. The delegates also appealed to the international community to exert pressure on the Kyrgyz leadership to give detained Ar-Namys chairman Feliks Kulov and the head of Kulov's election campaign team, Emil Aliev, the official status of political prisoners. Meanwhile, several hundred people continued their picket in central Bishkek to demand Kulov's release and the annulment of the parliamentary election results in the constituency where he lost the 12 March runoff vote. LF [10] COURT IMPOSES NEW PENALTIES ON KYRGYZ OPPOSITION NEWSPAPERABishkek district court on 31 March imposed a 40,000 som (about $850) fine on the opposition weekly "Res Publica" for libel, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. The newspaper's chief editor and a journalist were fined 5,000 soms each. The newspaper has suspended publication as it has still not paid a fine imposed by a previous court ruling for slandering the chairman of the National Radio and Television Corporation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 January 2000). LF [11] TAJIK PRESIDENT, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER CALL FORCOOPERATION TO FIGHT TERRORISMImomali Rakhmonov and Igor Sergeev on 2 April appealed to Russia and the CIS states, specifically the states of Central Asia, to cooperate in the battle against international terrorism, Russian agencies reported. The two men were speaking on the final day of the first stage of military exercises in Tajikistan, in which some 13,000 troops from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan took part. Belarus and Armenia have sent observers. With the aid of 40 tanks and armored vehicles, those troops were called upon to simulate the elimination of a terrorist group that had crossed into the territory of one of the Central Asian states. The second stage of the maneuvers begins in Uzbekistan on 3 April. LF [12] TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN PREPARE TO DEMARCATE COMMON BORDERThe presidents of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, SaparmuratNiyazov and Islam Karimov, agreed during a telephone conversation on 31 March to draft an agreement on demarcating the border between their two countries, Russian agencies reported. The agreement will also focus on the shared use of waters from the Amu-Darya River, which forms part of that frontier. LF [13] UZBEKISTAN INTERCEPTS RADIO-ACTIVE MATERIALS ON BORDER WITHKAZAKHSTANUzbek customs officials on 31 March confiscated 10 lead containers with radio-active material from an Iranian-registered truck at the Kazakh-Uzbek border, Russian agencies reported on 2 April. The truck was headed for Pakistan, and its driver had documentation claiming that his cargo consisted of stainless steel scrap. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[14] NATO TROOPS ARREST EX-BOSNIAN SERB CHIEFSFOR troopsarrested Momcilo Krajisnik in Pale on 3 April under a "sealed indictment" from the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. The former Serbian representative on the Bosnian joint presidency is "the highest-ranking person" arrested and sent to The Hague so far, NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said in Brussels. Krajisnik faces charges of "genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, including murder, willful killing, extermination, complicity in genocide, deportation, and inhumane acts," according to Robertson. He added that the arrest of the former top aide to Radovan Karadzic "is good news for justice and good news for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. To those individuals who remain at large I will repeat...the net is closing. It is time to give yourselves in." Robertson praised the "courage, professionalism, and dedication" of the troops who carried out the arrest. PM [15] KRAJISNIK'S FAMILY DESCRIBES ARRESTKrajisnik's son Milos(21) told AP on 3 April that an unspecified number of NATO troops "took my dad away. Some of them spoke Serbian, some English, but mostly French." He said he counted seven or eight soldiers before they bound him and his brother Njegos and turned their faces toward the floor. Krajisnik's father, Sretko, told reporters that the troops used unnecessary force when they destroyed the door to the Krajisnik home with explosives prior to making the arrest. "If they had knocked on the door, I would have opened it," the elderly man said. PM [16] CLARK SAYS NATO WATCHING MONTENEGRONATO's Supreme CommanderEurope General Wesley Clark said in Riga on 2 April that the Atlantic alliance is carefully monitoring possible moves by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to undermine the Montenegrin leadership under President Milo Djukanovic. "I can tell you that NATO remains concerned, we are very watchful. We have seen over the past...months long development of various capabilities that could be employed to threaten Mr. Djukanovic," Reuters reported. He did not elaborate (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 March 2000). Meanwhile in Podgorica, Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said that three Yugoslav generals have been appointed as advisers to Djukanovic and the government as a means of improving communication between the Montenegrin authorities and the army, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [17] MESIC WARNS OF IMPENDING BALKAN CONFLICTCroatian PresidentStipe Mesic told the German weekly "Der Spiegel" of 3 April that "Milosevic is like a bicyclist who can keep going only as long as he moves in the direction of war." The possibility of a new war in the Balkans is great, and the West knows that a number of danger signals are already present. "Violence can erupt at any time," Mesic stressed. Montenegro and Macedonia are possible flashpoints, but Kosova and southwestern Serbia are more likely, the Croatian president continued. In any event, the West must let Milosevic know beyond any doubt that "if you attack Montenegro militarily, then your days are numbered." Montenegro needs international support to develop its democracy and a free economy. This, in turn, can serve as a model for Serbia. Mesic warned, however, that "it is a waste of time to wait for democracy to come to Serbia" at any time soon. PM [18] KOSOVA'S SERBS RETURN TO UN COUNCILFather Sava Janjic, whois a spokesman for the Serbian National Council (SNV), said in Gracanica on 2 April that SNV leaders have agreed to return to the UN's provisional advisory council for Kosova as observers. Sava stressed that the Serbs' return after a boycott of several months will be on a three-month trial basis to see what the council can achieve in promoting "security, housing, and the return of refugees," AP reported. If the results are not adequate after three months, it "will not be possible to continue our participation within the interim administration," Reuters added. Sava argued that "we are at the door. We need the door opened a bit." Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN civilian administration, said that the Serbs' decision was "courageous." He added that "now the real work can start on setting up the administration." Pro- Milosevic Serbs in Mitrovica called the Gracanica decision "catastrophic." The SNV opposes the Belgrade leadership. PM [19] TERRORIST ATTACK FOILED IN PRISHTINA?NATO troops took"unprecedented" security measures around the alliance's headquarters and U.S. diplomatic offices in Prishtina on 2 April, Reuters reported. Alliance officials feared a guerrilla attack after raiding a nearby house that until recently was used by the Joint Relief Committee, a Saudi Arabian charity. A NATO spokesman said that "people in the house had obviously been observing our facilities and U.S. facilities. And they obviously left in a hurry." Members of the former Kosova Liberation Army "had staked out the [house] for months and reported the movements of its staff to U.S. officials," the news agency added. U.S. officials suspected the charity of having links to Osama bin Laden, who is wanted in connection with previous terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities. Spokesmen for the charity denied any links to terrorism. One noted that "people react strangely to Saudi Arabians." PM [20] SLOVENIAN PRIME MINISTER NAMES NEW CABINET MEMBERSJanezDrnovsek said in Ljubljana on 3 April that he has proposed eight experts who do not belong to any political party to join his cabinet following the resignation of nine ministers from the People's Party (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 March 2000). He added that he will resign if the parliament rejects his nominees. The legislature has until 7 April to decide, AP reported. Drnovsek's Liberals hold only 25 out of 90 seats in the parliament and need the support of their former coalition partners to govern. Elections are due by the end of the year, but many observers believe that an early ballot will be necessary following the decision of the People's Party to leave the government. PM [21] ROMANIAN ROMA DENOUNCE RACIST STATEMENT BY OPPOSITION LEADERThe Romani CRISS-Roma Center for Social Intervention andStudies asked on 31 March that international institutions involved in the protection of human rights protest a recent racist comment by Alliance for Romania Deputy Chairman Mugurel Vintila. The center said Vintila told the daily "National" of 28 March that "Western chancelleries" are preparing Romania's "transformation into a Gypsy state" and that according to information he had received from "a diplomat posted in the West," there are plans to bring Roma from other countries to Romania and create on its territory "a Gypsy state." Vintila added that the Roma in Romania are financed from abroad in order to "penetrate the [country's] power-structures." MS [22] PLANNED ANTONESCU STATUE AGAIN RAISES CONTROVERSYClujprefect Bogdan Cerghizan on 31 March said the town's municipal authorities have begun construction for a planned statue of wartime leader Marshal Ion Antonescu. His predecessor, Vasile Salcudean, had appealed to an administrative court against the decision to erect the statue. That appeal is still pending and Cerghizan says that if construction works are not immediately stopped, he will demand that a criminal investigation be launched against the local authorities, Mediafax reported. MS [23] ROMANIA CUTS OFF ELECTRICITY SUPPLIES TO MOLDOVARomaniaceased supplying electricity to Moldova at midnight 31 March. Romanian Industry and Trade Minister Radu Berceanu said on Romanian Television that Moldova owes Romania $36 million. The current contract for electricity supplies expired on 31 March and a new one has not been negotiated. Moldovan Premier Dumitru Braghis said on 1 April that the cut resulted from a "misunderstanding." He explained that the former Moldtranselectro company, which negotiated the supplies, has been restructured and the Romanian side fears that its three successor-companies will not take over the debt. In a telephone conversation with his Romanian counterpart, Mugur Isarescu, Braghis proposed that the debt be taken over by the Moldovan state. Romania supplies some 20 percent of Moldova's electricity. MS [24] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT QUESTIONS BILL ON COMMUNIST REGIMEUNLAWFULNESSPetar Stoyanov told journalists on 31 March that the bill on the unlawfulness of the communist regime, which the parliament had passed in the first reading one day earlier, poses some problems and that he hopes lawmakers will look at it once more before the second reading (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 March 2000), BTA reported. Stoyanov said that the bill is accurate in describing "the misanthropic theory and practices of the communist regime" but "it is another matter whether the legal formulations employed in it and the timing of its passage are the right ones." The bill lifts the statute of limitations on crimes committed by the Communists. MS [25] BULGARIAN PREMIER DENIES FLOATING IDEA OF SERBIA'SFEDERALIZATIONIvan Kostov denied in the parliament on 31 March that at the 17-18 March meeting in Budapest of countries neighboring Yugoslavia, he promoted the idea of transforming that country into a six-state federation, BTA reported. Kostov said that the idea "was not his"; rather, it had been floated by the Social Democratic League in Vojvodina, and "we only drew attention that such an idea exists." MS [C] END NOTE[26] ATTACK ON KARABAKH PRESIDENT EXACERBATES POLITICAL TENSIONSIN YEREVANBy Liz Fuller Investigators in Stepanakert announced on 27 March that the botched attempt five days earlier to assassinate Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, was planned and carried out by persons close to Samvel Babayan, the enclave's former army commander and defense minister. Babayan is the most formidable political opponent Ghukasian, who dismissed Babayan as defense minister last July, triggering protests by other senior generals and precipitating a political standoff that was defused only by the intervention of Armenian President Robert Kocharian. Five months later, in December 1999, Ghukasian also replaced Babayan as commander of the Karabakh Defense Army. But Babayan nonetheless remained one of the unrecognized republic's most influential political figures, enjoying the support of many local parliamentary deputies and of the Karabakh-based Armenian National Democratic Party. Three of the five persons named on 27 March as having confessed to the attack on Ghukasian are members of Babayan's bodyguard, and a fourth is his wife's brother. Babayan was taken into custody within hours of the attack, as was his brother Karen, who has since been suspended as mayor of Stepanakert. As of 30 March, neither brother had been charged with involvement in the assassination bid. But the unrecognized enclave's prosecutor-general told RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent the same day that other charges could brought against Samvel Babayan, in addition to illegal arms possession, abuse of power, and tax evasion. Senior officials in Stepanakert and Yerevan say that the motives for the attack on Ghukasian are to be sought in the local political situation. The unrecognized republic's foreign minister, Naira Melkumian, was quoted by Armenpress on 24 March as saying that "I do not think that there is a force outside Karabakh and Armenia that was interested in the elimination of President Ghukasian." Speaking in Tbilisi on 28 March, Armenian President Kocharian attributed the attack to "internal processes that take place in post-war countries and regions when order is being restored." In view of his months-long standoff with Ghukasian, Babayan was the most obvious suspect in the attack on the Karabakh president. Babayan's extensive power can be partly attributed to his control over dubious economic interests on which Ghukasian now plans to crack down. The attack on Ghukasian thus presented the Karabakh leadership with a cast- iron excuse to detain the renegade general and, by extension, hamstring the opposition to Ghukasian in the runup to this summer's elections for the enclave's new parliament, which Babayan's supporters stood a good chance of winning. Noyan Tapan's veteran political commentator David Petrosian observed that the primary beneficiary of the attack is Karabakh Premier Anushavan Danielian, who would have lost his post in the event of an election victory by Babayan's supporters. Danielian is currently discharging the duties of Karabakh president. But whether despite or precisely because of the fact that Babayan was the most obvious suspect, an increasing number of Armenian politicians from across the political spectrum are expressing doubt at his personal involvement in the attack and are warning against making him a scapegoat. Those skeptics include not only leading members of the nationalist "Right and Accord" bloc, which supports Babayan and is believed to receive funding from him, but also Kim Balayan, a Karabakh-born member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun, National Democratic Union chairman Vazgen Manukian, who characterized Babayan as too intelligent to issue direct orders for an attempt on Ghukasian's life, and Andranik Markarian, head of the Miasnutiun majority parliamentary bloc. If Babayan is formally charged with the assassination bid, President Kocharian's failure unequivocally to condemn that charge could exacerbate the rift that already exists between the Armenian president and Miasnutiun, and broaden it into one between Ghukasian and Kocharian, on the one hand, and Babayan's sympathizers and supporters in Yerevan and Stepanakert, on the other. But if Kocharian were to fail to endorse Babayan's indictment, the ensuing perceived lack of solidarity between Yerevan and Stepanakert could, at the very least, negatively affect the ongoing search for a political settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Meanwhile, the circumstances of the attack, specifically the use of automatic rifles against a moving target, raise the question of whether the intention was in fact to eliminate Ghukasian or simply to create a pretext for neutralizing Babayan. Like some other observers, Lenser Aghalovian, chairman of a small Armenian party composed mainly of Karabakh-born intellectuals, reasoned that if an experienced warrior like Babayan had indeed wanted to get rid of Ghukasian, the latter would not have survived. A single shot from a grenade-launcher would have left Ghukasian with no chance of survival, Aghalovian told "Haykakan Zhamanak." 03-04-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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