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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 78, 00-04-19Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 78, 19 April 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT, ITERA AT ODDSDeputy Energy MinisterKaren Galstian told journalists in Yerevan on 18 April that the Gazprom subsidiary ITERA has been excluded from the short-list of five foreign companies whose tenders for four Armenian energy distribution networks are currently under consideration, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Galstian explained that ITERA does not qualify because its partner in the bid, Rosatomenergo, failed to submit the findings of a compulsory international audit clarifying its financial situation. Four international companies, from France, Spain, the U.S., and a Swedish-Swiss group, remain in the running. One day earlier, ITERA announced that it had cut gas deliveries to Armenia by half because of nonpayment of bills for previous deliveries. The director of the Armrosgaz joint venture, Roland Adonts, told ITAR-TASS that non-payment of debts totalling millions of dollars incurred by Armenian power plants and private consumers preclude his organization's paying its own debts to ITERA. LF [02] TURKEY ALLOCATES FURTHER GRANT FOR GEORGIAN MILITARYMajor-General Sherafeddin Teliasan, who heads the Financial Department of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff, and Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Giorgi Katamadze signed an agreement in Tbilisi on 19 April under which Ankara will provide a further $4 million for the Georgian armed forces, Caucasus Press reported. Katamadze told journalists that most of that sum is earmarked for reorganizing the 11th brigade of the Georgian army, for measures to raise standards to comply with NATO requirements, and to finance the opening of a NATO office in Georgia. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has said on several occasions that Georgia will make a formal bid no later than 2005 for membership in the alliance. Turkey allocated $5.5 million for the Georgian armed forces in 1998 and an additional $3.8 million in 1999. LF [03] RUSSIA TO STEP UP SECURITY ON BORDER WITH KAZAKHSTAN?RFE/RLcorrespondents in Kazakhstan on 19 April cited the KODA news agency as reporting that Moscow will deploy troops and Cossack units to guard its border with Kazakhstan beginning next month. Both the Kazakh Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Kazakhstan have refused to comment on that report. "Nezavisimaya gazeta-regiony" reported in issue No. 6 of this year that the Volgograd authorities have asked Moscow to establish a frontier zone encompassing six raions of Volgograd Oblast to put a halt to purchases of land in those districts by residents of Kazakhstan and to an upsurge in smuggling and other cross-border crime. LF [04] KAZAKHSTAN WANTS TO LURE ITS ETHNIC GERMANS BACKFollowing ameeting between Kazakhstan's deputy premier, Erzhan Utembaev, and a German government representative, it was announced that Kazakhstan will launch a campaign to persuade ethnic Germans who emigrated from Kazakhstan to return, "Inostranets" reported in issue No. 14. Kazakhstan will offer financial aid to those who wish to do so. Over the past 11 years Kazakhstan's ethnic-German population has shrunk from almost 1 million to 350,000. LF [05] WORKER PROTEST IN SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN ENTERS SECOND WEEKHundreds of current and former employees of the TarazPhosphorous Plant in Kazakhstan's southern Zhambyl Oblast are continuing the protest they began on 11 April to demand payment of overdue salaries and pensions, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on 18 April. An unknown number of protesters are on hunger strike, of whom five have been hospitalized. As of 13 April, 20 protesters had been arrested. LF [06] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION DEMANDS KULOV'S RELEASESome 200opposition representatives staged a march in central Bishkek on 18 April to demand the release from pre-trial detention of opposition Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov, Interfax reported. Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan leader Jipar Jeksheev said that the protest was intended to reassure the public that the authorities cannot "destroy democracy." LF [07] CRIME BOSS SHOT DEAD IN TAJIKISTANTajik law enforcementofficials killed Nurullo Isaev, whom they identified as head of a major criminal gang, in a shootout east of Dushanbe on 17 April, Reuters reported the following day. One police officer was also killed in the exchange of fire. Isaev's gang was reportedly responsible for the murder in 1999 of the head of the Tajik Interior Ministry's department for the struggle against organized crime. LF [08] UZBEK PRESIDENT REJECTS U.S. CRITICISM OVER HUMAN RIGHTSU.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told journalistsin Tashkent on 18 April after her talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov that the latter categorically rejected U.S. criticism of human rights abuses in Uzbekistan, AP and Reuters reported. Albright also noted that Uzbekistan is delaying serious market reform, in particular in making its currency fully convertible. But she stressed that the U.S. regards Uzbekistan as a friend, and is prepared to assist Tashkent in combatting any spillover of Islamic extremism from Afghanistan or elsewhere in Central Asia. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] SLOVENIAN PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON PRIME MINISTERTheparliament begins discussions on the afternoon of 19 April on the candidacy of center-right opposition candidate Andrej Bajuk to succeed Janez Drnovsek as prime minister (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 April 2000). The ballot is expected on 20 April at the latest. If Bajuk does not win the necessary 46 out of 90 votes, President Milan Kucan and the various political parties have three more days to nominate other candidates or to renominate Bajuk. If the legislature fails to elect a new prime minister by 8 May, Kucan must bring elections forward from the fall to June or July. Bajuk is expected to obtain not more than 44 votes, Reuters reported. Political power in Slovenia is centered in the parliament. Several parties other than Drnovsek's Liberals want new election legislation based on proportional representation. PM [10] FONTAINE: SLOVENIA TO EU IN FIRST GROUPNicole Fontaine, whois president of the European Parliament, said in Ljubljana on 18 April that she does not expect the current Slovenian government crisis to delay the Alpine republic's admission to the EU (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 April 2000). She added that she expects Slovenia to be among the next group of new members admitted. "I believe Slovenia could be among countries that will participate in the 2004 election to the European Parliament," Reuters quoted her as saying. PM [11] FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS SIGN ITALIAN COMMERCIAL PACTRepresentatives of the five former Yugoslav republics signeda multilateral agreement in Trieste to promote economic contacts between each other and with Italy, "Jutarnji list" reported on 19 April. This is the first such agreement since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia began in 1991 and is sponsored by Confcommercio, or the Italian Chamber of Commerce. The agreement contains few concrete pledges but paves the way for cooperation between firms in the various former Yugoslav republics with the backing of Italian money. PM [12] WAR CRIMES TRIALS TO TAKE PLACE IN CROATIA?Forensics expertsfrom the Hague-based war crimes tribunal discovered an unspecified quantity of human bones at a suspected mass grave at Obradovic Varos near Gospic, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 18 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2000). Deputy Justice Minister Ranko Marijan suggested that suspects might eventually be tried in Croatia rather than in The Netherlands. He added: "Under our constitutional law, the [Hague-based] tribunal should have jurisdiction, but given the recent talks between the government and the chief prosecutor, [Carla Del Ponte,] it is not unlikely that the war crimes cases will be tried in Croatia," Reuters reported. "It is in the vital interest of Croatia and its citizens that the suspects stand trial here," Marijan added. If any trials do take place in Croatia, it would be the first time that the tribunal has agreed to hold trials outside The Netherlands. PM [13] BANKING SCANDALS WEIGH HEAVILY ON CROATIA'S BUDGETCentralBank Governor Marko Skreb said in Zagreb on 18 April that the costs of resolving problems stemming from some 25 bank failures will amount to $5.5 billion, or two-thirds of the 1999 state budget. Some of the costs will be covered by selling off the banks' assets and the rest from the state budget, AP reported. Critics have charged that Skreb, who until recently was a member of late President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), took too long to investigate the bank failures. Many Croats believe that bad loans to HDZ loyalists lie at the root of most of the bank failures. PM [14] RACAN: TUDJMAN, AIDES INVOLVED IN 'ROBBERY'Croatian PrimeMinister Ivica Racan said in Zagreb on 18 April that recordings of conversations between Tudjman and some of his aides indicate that they were involved in "robbery" in the sale of the mass-circulation daily "Vecernji list," "Jutarnji list" reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2000). Deputy Prime Minister Zeljka Antunovic added that this was not the only privatization of a firm to be directed by the president's office. Parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic is expected to make further recommendations in the case in the course of 19 April. Rijeka's "Novi List" called the scandal "Croatia's Watergate affair." The independent daily also speculated as to whether Ivic Pasalic, who heads the Herzegovinian lobby and was Tudjman's top domestic advisor, will wind up in jail once the case goes to court. He currently enjoys parliamentary immunity. Speculation has centered on the possibility that Pasalic and one of Tudjman's sons actually controlled "Vecernji list." PM [15] GRANIC ALSO IN THE DOCK?The Croatian Interior Ministry ispreparing criminal charges against Mate Granic, who is a former foreign minister and HDZ presidential candidate, "Jutarnji list" reported on 19 April. Granic allegedly illegally transferred some $1.75 million over an unspecified period of time to foreign bank accounts. The money then returned to Croatia to finance the construction of Granic's house and other projects. He called the charges an example of politically-motivated "revenge-seeking." Granic recently left the HDZ to form the more moderate Democratic Center, which leads the HDZ in popularity polls. PM [16] UN SLAMS SERBIA OVER HUMAN RIGHTSMembers of the UN's HumanRights Commission voted 44-1 to condemn Belgrade for repression of the independent media and political opposition, as well as for the misuse of justice for political purposes. Russia cast the sole vote against. The measure also noted that in Kosova there had been "systematic targeting and terrorization of the civilian population...by Serbian forces, mass forced displacement, expulsion, group massacres, and summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention," as well as rape, widespread destruction of homes, and the repression of the expression of political views, AP reported. PM [17] SERBIAN COURT FINES BETAA Belgrade court on 18 April finedthe private news agency Beta $6,900 at the black market rate in a libel suit filed by Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic. A similar suit was dismissed against the daily "Blic" on the grounds that it had simply reprinted a Beta story linking Matic to the 1999 murder of independent journalist Slavko Curuvija rather than report the charge on its own. Beta Director Radomir Diklic told Reuters that he expects to lose the case. "They will fine us for certain, because the [media] law exists so that they can collect their bounty," he added. PM [18] DJINDJIC: SERBIA HEADING FOR GENERAL STRIKEDemocratic Partyleader Zoran Djindjic said that the "final scenario" in the political action begun with the 14 April Belgrade protest meeting will be for two million citizens to turn out in a "kind of general strike," "Danas" reported on 19 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 April 2000). He added that Yugoslav Prime Minister Slobodan Milosevic is now frightened of defections from the ranks of his supporters. PM [19] MILOSEVIC BACKERS IN MONTENEGRO CLOSE RANKSThe Montenegrinbranches of the Serbian People's Party and Vojislav Seselj's Radicals have joined an electoral coalition recently formed by Milosevic's supporters in that republic, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 18 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 April 2000). PM [20] HUGE GOLD DEPOSIT FOUND IN ROMANIAA huge gold deposit,believed to be the biggest in Europe, has been found in central Romania, according to a report published on 18 April by the U.S. Pinock Allen and Holt Company, AFP reported. The deposit is near the town of Rosia Montana and is believed to contain over 250 tons of gold and 1,370 tons of silver spread over 20 square kilometers. Frank Timis, head of the Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources, which holds a 65 percent stake in the joint venture behind the find, said his company has spent $20 million on feasibility studies for the find and plans to invest up to $250 million in the project, convinced that "we will be able to extract 85-90 percent" of the precious metals. The project will employ some 2,000 workers in a region hit hard by unemployment. MS [21] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT RAISES PENSIONSThe government on 18April decided to gradually raise pensions beginning on 1 May. The smallest pensions will be raised by as much as 50 percent. The cabinet said the move was made possible by its decision to tax economic activities that previously went untaxed. The cabinet also decided to restructure the state- owned ROMGAZ company, breaking the monopoly into five independent companies. MS [22] CHISINAU STUDENTS WIN ROUND...Chisinau Mayor SerafimUrechean on 18 April told some 20,000 students demonstrating in the Moldovan capital that the mayoralty has decided to annul its decision depriving them of the right to free travel on public transportation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2000). Urechean also said that the students detained one day earlier after clashes with the police had been freed. But he added that the decision on free public transportation may be revised, depending on government subsidies. After his announcement, most demonstrators withdrew but several thousand gathered on one of the town's main streets where skirmishes with police forces reoccurred. They blocked traffic, but dispersed after further parleys with the police, RFE/RL's bureau in the Moldovan capital reported. Parliamentary Chairman Dumitru Diacov said "provocateurs" identified to be President Petru Lucinschi supporters had been spotted among the demonstrators. MS [23] ...AND RENEW DEMONSTRATIONSSome 7,000 students gathered on19 April in Grand National Assembly Square to protest against their peers having been beaten up by police in a student hostel the previous night. The students claim policemen locked up students in a hostel, beat them and said they should stop participating in the protests. A police spokesman said an investigation has been launched. MS [24] STOYANOV SAYS BULGARIA VICTIM OF YUGOSLAV CONFLICTSPresident Petar Stoyanov, currently visiting Germany, said on18 April in an interview with the daily "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" that the Yugoslav conflicts over the past nine years "caused Bulgaria great losses" and deprived it of being "a transit country for west European goods to southeastern Europe." Stoyanov said investors have also been scared off and the wars in general have threatened the success of Bulgaria's economic reforms. He said that the Bosnia war of 1992-1995 cost Bulgaria "at least $5-6 billion" and the Kosova war also "caused damages in the billions." Further losses are now produced by the blocking of navigation on the Danube River as the result of the NATO air strikes, he said. MS [25] UN RESOLUTION ON ANGOLA MAY AFFECT BULGARIAThe UN SecurityCouncil on 19 April approved a resolution warning that it will consider imposing penalties against countries found to have 89iolated an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Angolan rebels. The council set a six-month period to further investigate how the UNITA rebels were able to fuel their war and said it will decide in November whether to take action against violators. An independent panel of experts earlier said Bulgaria had been the main supplier of arms to the rebels, though a number of African countries and Belgium were also involved. Bulgaria has called the report "distorted," Reuters reported. MS [26] IOM LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN AGAINST WOMEN SEX SLAVERY IN BULGARIAThe International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 18April launched a campaign aimed at preventing the export of women as sex slaves, AP reported. A similar campaign was launched, also on 18 April, in Slovakia. The IOM says some 10,000 Bulgarian women, mostly under 18, have fallen prey to the sex trade, being lured into going abroad by promises of jobs as models and dancers, and even marriages to Westerners. Village girls as young as 14 have also been kidnapped and smuggled over the border. MS [C] END NOTE[27] GETTING PRIORITIES STRAIGHT IN CROATIAReal politics have come to Croatia this year. No moreleaden statements by officials of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) alternating with pathetic cries from a seemingly helpless opposition. The HDZ has split and its remaining leaders feud in public. It is true that HDZ-backed newspapers like "Vecernji list," "Slobodna Dalmacija," and "Vjesnik" have lost their government insider's edge and furthermore face an uncertain future. But the independent "Jutarnji list" and the independent weeklies make for exciting reading as HDZ leaders fight each other and scandals from the previous 10 years emerge on an almost daily basis. But that is not the only excitement in the Croatian press these days. Something else that crops up almost every day are verbal pot-shots exchanged between President Stipe Mesic and members of the government, usually Prime Minister Ivica Racan or Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic. It is to be expected that the two sides do not see eye-to-eye about the issues surrounding the reduction of the president's constitutional powers. Opinion polls, moreover, suggest that most voters are pleased with both the president and the government, and that they find the ongoing tension between them normal and healthy. In fact, Mesic is the country's most popular politician, and right behind him comes Racan. But one area of seemingly constant sparring is more an embarrassment than anything else, namely how they deal with The Ghost of Franjo Tudjman. This does not refer to the question of cutting the president's constitutional powers. The issue is the pains to which politicians go to show themselves as breaking with Tudjman's fondness for official pomp and circumstance. If Tudjman's strutting about flanked by young men in "historical" comic-opera uniforms was unintentionally funny, the same might be said of the current sparring over the legacy of government-by-show. Specifically, "issues" have arisen regarding the home of the president and other officials, and the proper protocol to be shown at airports. Last month, Mesic was furious that the government offered him a "luxury villa" as his official residence. He refused the house, calling the offer a ploy to make him look extravagant in the eyes of average Croats. It appears that many people were indeed angry that their president would live in the lap of luxury, but a look at the photos of the home suggested that it was anything but of international presidential quality. The author knows any number of U.S. professors or German businessmen who live in much more comfortable or spacious surroundings, and the list need not stop there. In the end, Mesic did not take the house. (Whether the building's pre-1941 owners will get it back is another matter.) For good measure, it might be noted that the prime minister lives in an ordinary flat, with guards outside his apartment block on a parking lot shared by several other modern buildings. This self-enforced modesty recalls tales of the blue- blooded former British Labour minister who shunned his aristocratic title and allegedly painted rust spots on his car to give himself a more close-to-the-people image. But not all modesty is a matter of personal choice. Mesic and Granic openly sparred in the press over the degree of protocol to be shown to the president when he leaves on or returns from an official visit, such as the one Mesic made to Bosnia- Herzegovina in March. Mesic argued that his demands are far from Tudjman's pomp and in keeping with the practices of such democracies as Slovenia and Bulgaria. He felt that the Racan government virtually ignored his visit and that such behavior amounted to an insult. But Granic was not to be budged in his role as the defender of modesty in government. He recently sought not to have to ride in the same car from the airport as a visiting Thai princess, in contradiction to protocol. Questions of protocol also arose over the issue of the presence of a military band--de rigeur under Tudjman--to greet her. In the end, Racan and the government went along with internationally accepted standards of protocol in receiving the visiting dignitary. But this is unlikely to be the end of the matter. Croatia certainly has more substantial problems than the legacy of pomp and circumstance. It will take a while before a truly functioning democracy takes root, including the establishment of really independent media. The government certainly cannot afford to forget that a main reason that it attracted voter support in January was popular anger over the HDZ's corruption and misuse of the privatization process, but this will take long years to set right. Issues of housing, unemployment, and the cost of living require immediate attention, although here, too, there are no easy answers. Perhaps more profoundly, there is a general social malaise and ethical vacuum that one finds in many post-communist societies. How these aspects of life will be brought up to "European norms" is anybody's guess. In short, Croatia has its tasks more than cut out for it. The example of Slovakia shows that even a determined opposition with its own agenda can squabble and falter after it comes to power, making a return of the old regime a very real possibility. In such circumstances, one does not know whether to laugh or cry when Croatia's top elected officials fight publicly over issues such as the size of the president's work room or the color of a carpet at an airport. 19-04-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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