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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 182, 97-12-18Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 182, 18 December 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] KAZAKH OPPOSITION, PRESIDENT COMMEMORATE 1986 UNRESTThe Azat movement and the Union of Participants in the December 1986 Uprising held a demonstration in Almaty on 17 December to mark the 11th anniversary of the spontaneous uprising against the election of ethnic Russian Gennadii Kolbin as first secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party's Central Committee, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported. Dozens of people were killed when police used violence to dispel the 1986 unrest. President Nursultan Nazarbaev unexpectedly joined the commemorative meeting to participate in prayers for those killed. He then told the demonstrators that he is realizing the political aspirations of those Kazakhs killed in 1986 and during the Stalin era. Some demonstrators responded by criticizing the president's economic policies, prompting Nazarbaev to make a hasty departure. LF[02] POLICEMEN MURDERED IN EASTERN UZBEKISTANRFE/RL correspondents in Tashkent report that three policemen were killed in the eastern Uzbek city of Namangan on 16 December. These latest murders follow the killing in late November of a senior police official in the area. And on 12 December, a couple were murdered in a village outside Namangan. Police have questioned a number of people in connection with those crimes but have not yet arrested or charged anyone. BP[03] UZBEK, RUSSIAN AIRLINES SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENTThe managing director of Uzbekistan's national airlines on 17 December, signed a cooperation agreement with the managing director of Russia's Transaero, ITAR-TASS reported. The agreement, entitled the "CIS Alliance," aims to increase contacts between the national airlines of former Soviet republics in order to compete against foreign carriers. The two directors emphasized they hoped other newly independent states would join the alliance. BP[04] BOMB EXPLODES IN ABKHAZIA, TALKS DELAYEDThree people were injured on 17 December when a bomb exploded in a passenger train in Abkhazia's Ochamchire Raion, Russian agencies reported. Abkhaz Security Minister Astamur Tarba blamed "Georgian sabotage groups" for the incident. The same day, adverse weather conditions prevented the Georgian delegation from flying to Sukhumi for talks with Russian, Abkhaz, U.S., and European representatives on implementing the decisions of the November UN-sponsored talks on establishing working groups on security issues in the border region and on repatriating Georgians forced to flee Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 hostilities, Caucasus Press reported. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said in Tbilisi on 16 December that he has received a letter from U.S. President Clinton expressing the U.S.'s readiness to play a more active role in mediating a political settlement of the Abkhaz conflict, according to ITAR-TASS. LF[05] FORMER AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCYIn an interview with Turan on 17 December, former Azerbaijani parliamentary speaker Rasul Guliev announced his candidacy for the 1998 presidential elections. Guliev said he is not intimidated by the parliament's 16 December decision to strip him of his deputy's mandate. He charged that violations of the constitution "have become the norm rather than the exception." Guliev did not say when he plans to return to Azerbaijan from the U.S., where he currently lives. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[06] SFOR ARRESTS TWO WAR CRIMINALSNATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said in a 18 December statement released in Sarajevo that Dutch peacekeepers in Vitez the previous day "detained two Bosnian Croats, Vlatko Kupreskic and Anto Furundzija, who are indicted for war crimes by the [Hague-based] International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia." Kupreskic resisted and was wounded in the ensuing gunfight. SFOR sent both men immediately to The Hague. NATO has rarely arrested indicted war criminals, although its mandate allows it to do so if it comes into contact with them. Critics charge that the peacekeepers willingly turn a blind eye to war criminals in order to avoid violence and possible casualties. Meanwhile in Brussels, Canadian officials said that Ottawa will give an additional $600,000 to the tribunal in addition to the $1.8 million it has already supplied (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 17 December 1997). PM[07] CLINTON TO KEEP TROOPS IN BOSNIAPresident Bill Clinton has decided to extend the mandate for U.S. peacekeepers in Bosnia beyond the current June 1998 expiration date, unnamed government officials said in Washington on 17 December. He is expected to announce his decision before departing for a brief visit to Bosnia on 21 December. NATO will not make a final decision on a new mandate until 1 March, but the peacekeepers are likely to stay if the U.S. is willing to remain part of the mission. In Brussels, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov said on 17 December that Russia intends to be part of any renewed international peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. PM[08] FRESH EFFORTS FOR BOSNIAN REFUGEE RETURNThe European Commission announced in Brussels on 17 December that it has approved a $34 million aid package to provide housing and jobs for returning refugees, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the Belgian capital. In Geneva, Sadako Ogata, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, said she will give priority in 1998 to helping 50,000 refugees return to homes in areas now controlled by an ethnic group other than their own. To date, very few refugees have done so. The UNHCR plans to resettle 220,000 refugees throughout Bosnia annually. Since the Dayton agreement was concluded in November 1995, the UNHCR has helped 194,000 people return to their homes. In Belgrade, UNHCR officials announced on 17 December that Mrkonjic Grad is the first "open city" for refugee return on Bosnian Serb territory. Five cities on Muslim or Croatian territory are "open" to returning refugees. PM[09] KOSOVAR LEADER WARNS OF WARAdem Demaci, who heads both the Parliamentary Party and a new coalition of Kosovar political parties and NGOs, told Belgrade's "Dnevni telegraf" on 17 December that there will be war in Kosovo unless the Serbian authorities end their repressive policies toward the ethnic Albanian majority. Demaci's warning of armed conflict in Kosovo follows similar messages from Albania and Croatia as well as from the Serbian province (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 and 16 December 1997). PM[10] ITALY'S MIXED MESSAGE FOR CROATIAItalian President Luigi Scalfaro left Zagreb on 17 December after a two-day visit that included meetings in Pula with representatives of the 21,000- strong Italian minority and talks with top Croatian officials. He told his hosts that Europe counts on Croatia as a factor in promoting regional stability, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Zagreb. Scalfaro promised to help integrate Croatia into European structures but added that Europe also expects Croatia to meet European norms in all fields of public life. PM[11] SLOVENIA TO LIMIT DUAL CITIZENSHIPSlovenian officials said in Ljubljana on 17 December that they have prepared agreements on dual citizenship for consideration by Macedonia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Under those accords, some 180,000 Slovenian citizens with family roots in other former Yugoslav republics would be ineligible for citizenship in those republics, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Ljubljana. PM[12] ALBANIAN PARLIAMENT GUNMAN SENTENCED TO 11 YEARSA Tirana court on 17 December sentenced Socialist legislator Gafur Mazreku to 11 years in prison for attempted murder, "Koha Jone" reported. Mazreku shot and wounded Democratic Party deputy Azem Hajdari in the parliament in mid-September (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 19 September 1997). The prosecutor had demanded a 16-year sentence. Mazreku argued that he fired the shots in an act of revenge after Hajdari verbally assaulted and punched him in the parliament. Hajdari, however, claimed the attack was politically motivated. FS[13] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER SIGNS OIL AGREEMENT IN BRITAINFatos Nano and representatives of Premier Oil signed an agreement for oil exploration on 18 December in London, Albanian Television reported. Premier Oil expects to invest $270 million in Albania, which will be the country's largest single foreign investment. The company received drilling licenses in the southern areas of Patos and Marinza. During Nano's talks with members of the British government, London offered to sponsor a roundtable on Balkan cooperation after it takes over the EU presidency in January 1998. FS[14] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ON EURO-ATLANTIC SCHEDULEEmil Constantinescu on 17 December said he expects his country to become a NATO member by 2001 and to join the EU by 2005. Constantinescu said Romania will "without any doubt" begin negotiations on joining NATO in 1999. He spoke in Bonn during his official visit to Germany, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. In an interview with RFE/RL the same day, Foreign Minister Adrian Severin said Romania considers the recent meeting of NATO foreign ministers to be of "utmost importance" because the forum has repeated the intention to continue NATO expansion. MS[15] ROMANIA'S ILIESCU SPEAKS OUTIn an open letter to Constantinescu, former President Ion Iliescu demands that his successor "make public" the understandings reached between the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) and other coalition members in the 3 December protocol that preceded the government reshuffle. And in open letters to Ion Diaconescu, the chairman of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic and to UDMR leader Bela Marko, Iliescu refers to "occult understandings" reached behind closed doors on amending the education law by government regulation. Iliescu also protested the intention to "violate the will of the parliament" and interfere with its work. Meanwhile, the Party of Romanian National Unity announced on 17 December that it "does not recognize" the amendments by government regulation of the education and local government laws, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS[16] ROMANIAN PRESS ON "CEAUSESCU-CARLOS" CONNECTIONCiting Romanian media on 17 December, AFP reported that Romania's late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu hired international terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" to kill General Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Securitate general, who defected to the West in 1978. MS[17] TENSIONS RESURFACE OVER RUSSIAN GAS DELIVERIES TO BULGARIATensions have resurfaced over the delivery of Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria, despite earlier reports that the dispute has been resolved (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 21 November 1997). An RFE/RL Sofia correspondent reported on 17 December that the Multigroup conglomerate, which owns 50 percent of the Topenergy company, is refusing to sell its shares to the state-owned Bulgargaz. The other half of the shares is owned by Gazprom. Bulgarian negotiator Antoine Nikolov accused Topenergy's Russian executive manager, Sergei Pashin, of deliberately stalling the restructuring of Topenergy in order to benefit unnamed private interests. Nikolov said Bulgaria will now deal directly with Gazprom rather than with Topenergy officials. He also said Bulgaria will try to form a new joint venture with Gazprom that involves neither Topenergy nor Multigroup. MS[18] BULGARIAN JOURNALIST REQUESTS CANADIAN ASYLUMEleonora Gountcheva, a journalist working for a Sofia sports weekly, on 17 December requested asylum in Canada, dpa reported. She asked to be granted the status of a political refugee because of threats made on her life and bomb threats at her place of work after she published investigative articles on corruption and fraud in Bulgarian sports. MSREGIONAL AFFAIRS [19] RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES IN AZERBAIJAN...In Azerbaijan, the temperature has fallen to minus 50 degrees Celsius, the lowest recorded in that country for 25 years, ANS Press reported on 18 December. All the country's airports were closed the previous day because of heavy snow and high winds. State Committee for Refugees chairman Gulabbas Gakhramanov said the adverse weather has not affected conditions in the 12 refugee camps where families made homeless by the Karabakh conflict are spending their fifth winter in tents. Meanwhile, storms off the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk have delayed the loading of tankers with the first consignment of Azerbaijan's Caspian oil, Caucasus Press reported on 18 December. LF[20] ...AND IN RUSSIARecord-breaking cold temperatures in Moscow have killed 22 people in recent days, Reuters reported on 17 December. A state of emergency was declared in Krasnodar Krai when a winter storm brought down power lines and shut off electricity supplies to many cities, ITAR-TASS reported. Schools have been closed in many other Russian regions as temperatures dropped below minus 40 degrees Celsius. LB[21] FREEZING WEATHER CREATES HAVOC IN EASTERN EUROPESnow, ice, and temperatures below minus 10 degrees Celsius have disrupted traffic in several parts of Serbia and severely strained power supplies, local media reported on 17 December. Twenty people were reported dead in Poland. Thirteen homeless persons were reported to have frozen to death in Bucharest and four people were reported dead in Bulgaria. PM/MS[C] END NOTE[22] CZECH BANKER STEPS INTO POLITICAL ROUGH AND TUMBLEby Breffni O'RourkeCzech prime minister-designate Josef Tosovsky has the reputation of being a strong and determined man, just like his predecessor, Vaclav Klaus. But the two are dissimilar in that Tosovsky shuns publicity and lacks the headstrong arrogance that many felt marked Klaus in office. President Vaclav Havel asked Tosovsky to take the premiership on 16 December, and his formal appointment came one day later. Havel noted that, as a non-partisan figure to lead what will likely be an interim government, Tosovsky has the support of the main parties of the center, right, and left in the parliament. As governor of the National Bank since 1989, Tosovsky has had a powerful role in shaping what was initially seen as the Czech economic miracle. Later, when that miracle began to fade, Klaus the politician was blamed for errors in political and economic policy, while Tosovsky, the independent central banker, suffered no damage to his reputation. Havel's appointment of Tosovsky can be seen as a move to calm the country's frayed nerves following the recent collapse of Klaus's three-party governing coalition. Prague-based economic analyst Radomir Jac, of Woods investment brokers, says Tosovsky's appointment sends a positive signal of steadiness and continuity to both international and domestic investors. But he questions whether the move brings any real change for the better to the Czech political scene. Even if Tosovsky manages to put together a government in the next few weeks, no one expects it to last beyond six months. The next scheduled elections are in 2000, but the main Social Democrat opposition says it will not throw support behind Tosovsky unless early elections are held in 1998. Certainly, the country is in the doldrums economically, and until a strong government takes office, the situation can hardly improve. In the third quarter of this year, economic growth slowed to a meager 0.8 percent, giving just over 1 percent growth for the year overall. This is the worst growth rate in Central Europe. In addition, key areas like privatization, already in disarray, will be stalled in the short term. And although foreign investors may view Tosovsky's appointment benignly, they will not be tempted back in large numbers until real political stability is in sight. A major question mark hangs over the intentions of Klaus's Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the main partner in the outgoing coalition. Klaus has said he prefers the ODS to go into opposition, presumably to bide its time until the elections, which might open the road for him to return to power. Klaus won re-election as party chairman by a wide margin at the 13-14 December congress, beating off a challenge by party members disenchanted with his autocratic style and with the thickening allegations of irregularities in party funding. Immediately after his re-election, Klaus said he considered the controversy over funding to be closed. He thereby sidestepped allegations about slush funds and a secret party bank account in Switzerland. Despite his solid win inside the party, a split in ODS ranks remains a possibility, as members of the anti-Klaus faction see their career opportunities in the party evaporate. Klaus has not been driven from the Czech political stage, despite the rising tide of opposition to him inside and outside his party. He has proved a political survivor, but most people feel his star is waning, at least as a future national leader. For his part, Tosovsky is about to leave the world of professional banking for the rougher and messier life of politics. If he can lead the country though the coming period without major upsets, he will have achieved at least something. The author is an RFE/RL senior correspondent. 18-12-97 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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