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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 216, 99-11-05

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 216, 5 November 1999


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] NEW ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS INAUGURATED
  • [02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT PRESENTS NEW PREMIER TO CABINET
  • [03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION VOWS TO REVIVE NATIONAL RESISTANCE
  • [04] AZERBAIJAN VOICES OBJECTIONS TO RUSSIAN VISA PROPOSAL...
  • [05] ...WHILE GEORGIA SEES ADVANTAGES
  • [06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT DECLARES A NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN
  • [07] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT HOLDS OUT OLIVE BRANCH TO
  • [08] ...WHILE OPPOSITIONISTS CALL FOR NEW ELECTIONS
  • [09] BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT WRAPS UP VISIT TO KAZAKHSTAN
  • [10] KAZAKHSTAN SENDS MEDICS TO SITE OF PROTON ROCKET CRASH
  • [11] KYRGYZ FOREIGN MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO IRAN
  • [12] IMF DISCUSSES TERMS FOR NEW LOAN TRANCHE FOR TAJIKISTAN
  • [13] TURKMENISTAN'S CENTRAL BANK TO MAINTAIN TIGHT MONETARY

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [14] U.S., EU TO COORDINATE APPROACH TO YUGOSLAVIA
  • [15] EU OFFICIALS CALL FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA
  • [16] ALBRIGHT: U.S. HAS INTEREST IN MONTENEGRO'S SECURITY
  • [17] MONTENEGRIN PREMIER MEETS YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF STAFF
  • [18] SERBIAN OFFICIALS SAY MONTENEGRO'S CURRENCY CHANGE A NATO
  • [19] ...REJECT U.S. PLEDGE TO LIFT SANCTIONS FOR ELECTIONS
  • [20] POVERTY ON THE RISE IN YUG0SLAVIA
  • [21] NEW ORGANIZATION PAYS FINE FOR SERBIAN EDITOR
  • [22] STUDIO-B SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH BANJA LUKA STATION
  • [23] U.S. ASKS ISRAEL TO STOP BROADCASTING SERBIAN TV
  • [24] PETRITSCH DISAPPOINTED WITH FAILURE TO SECURE BORDER
  • [25] THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED IN MOSTAR CAR BOMB ATTACK
  • [26] DEL PONTE RAPS CROATIA FOR NOT COOPERATING WITH WAR CRIMES
  • [27] POLL: MOST CROATS SAY TUDJMAN SHOULD RESIGN FOR HEALTH
  • [28] OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATION HELD IN TIRANA
  • [29] ROMANIAN STUDENTS RENEW PROTESTS
  • [30] HISTORY TEXTBOOK SCANDAL TO BE DEBATED BY ROMANIAN
  • [31] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS BUDGET
  • [32] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT MANDATES GOVERNMENT TO NEGOTIATE
  • [33] BALKAN LEADERS URGE INVESTMENTS

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [34] RADIO LIBERTY'S PETER DORNAN

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] NEW ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS INAUGURATED

    Archbishop Garegin

    Nersisian, who was elected on 27 October to head the Armenian

    Apostolic Church, was inaugurated as 132nd catholicos in

    Echmiadzin on 4 November in the presence of senior clerics

    and members of the Armenian leadership, RFE/RL's Yerevan

    bureau reported. The former Archbishop of Armenia's largest

    diocese vowed during the ceremony to intensify cooperation

    between the Church and state. He also prayed that "the Lord

    keep the Armenian nation united and the state unshakeable,"

    according to Noyan Tapan. LF

    [02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT PRESENTS NEW PREMIER TO CABINET

    Robert

    Kocharian on 4 November presented newly appointed Premier

    Aram Sargsian to acting ministers, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

    reported. Sargsian is expected to name his new cabinet next

    week. Kocharian told journalists that most current ministers

    will retain their posts. LF

    [03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION VOWS TO REVIVE NATIONAL RESISTANCE

    MOVEMENT

    In a joint statement issued on 3 November, the

    leaders of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front, Musavat,

    Azerbaijan National Independence, and Azerbaijan Democratic

    Parties announced the establishment of a National Resistance

    Movement that will oppose what they termed the "defeatist"

    policy of the Azerbaijani leadership in conducting

    negotiations on a settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Turan

    reported. The signatories called for immediate compliance

    with four 1993 UN Security Council resolutions calling for

    the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied districts of

    Azerbaijan. They also demanded that the Azerbaijani

    leadership make public details of the ongoing peace

    negotiations. A similar national resistance movement was

    created following the signing of a ceasefire agreement in

    1994 (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2, No. 42, 21

    October 1999). LF

    [04] AZERBAIJAN VOICES OBJECTIONS TO RUSSIAN VISA PROPOSAL...

    Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said in Baku

    on 4 November that "it is hard to see the link between the

    Russian military action in Chechnya and the introduction of a

    visa regime on the border with Azerbaijan," Reuters reported.

    Azimov added that "Azerbaijan has active economic,

    humanitarian and cultural ties with Russia, and the

    introduction of a visa regime would undoubtedly hurt those

    contacts." Presidential staff official Novruz Mamedov told

    ITAR-TASS he considers the imposition of a visa regime

    unjustified and at variance with the emphasis laid on

    integration between CIS member states. During a cabinet

    meeting earlier that day, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir

    Putin had called for the introduction of visas for citizens

    of Azerbaijan and Georgia entering the Russian Federation,

    and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin

    said on 4 November that a note has been sent to Georgia

    proposing talks on the issue, according to ITAR-TASS. LF

    [05] ...WHILE GEORGIA SEES ADVANTAGES

    Georgian Foreign Minister

    Irakli Menagharishvili said on 4 November in Strasbourg that

    he considers the imposition of a visa requirement for persons

    wishing to cross the Russian-Georgian frontier unnecessary

    but noted that Tbilisi is ready to discuss the issue with

    Moscow, Caucasus Press reported. Menagharishvili added that

    the requirement should apply not only to Georgia's border

    with Chechnya but along the entire extent of its frontier

    with the Russian Federation, including Abkhazia. Russian

    Border Guard commander Lieutenant-General Valerii Chkheidze

    said the requirement "will help restore order" at the

    Russian-Georgian border and will serve as a reminder to

    Russia that Georgia is an independent state. But Abkhaz

    Prosecutor-General Anri Djergenia said he considers the

    requirement "unacceptable," explaining that it will hinder

    the entry into Russia of Abkhaz wishing to sell agricultural

    produce and who depend on that trade as their sole source of

    income. LF

    [06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT DECLARES A NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN

    Speaking at a cabinet meeting on 4 November, Eduard

    Shevardnadze gave the heads of government departments and

    regional administrations one month to draft plans for

    stamping out corruption and the shadow economy, ITAR-TASS and

    AP reported. Economics Minister Vladimir Papava estimated

    that the shadow economy currently accounts for 40 percent of

    the country's economic activity, compared with up to 80

    percent in the early 1990s. Shevardnadze had earlier declared

    1999 a year of active struggle against corruption. LF

    [07] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT HOLDS OUT OLIVE BRANCH TO

    OPPOSITION...

    Nursultan Nazarbaev on 4 November told state-

    owned Khabar TV, which is run by his daughter, that the OSCE

    employs "double standards" in its evaluation of the level of

    democracy in various countries, Interfax reported. The OSCE

    evaluated the conduct of the 10 and 24 October elections to

    the lower chamber of the parliament as falling short of OSCE

    commitments to free, fair, and accountable elections (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 October 199). But Nazarbaev added that

    he "does not want to divide society into winners and losers"

    after that poll. The Otan party, which unequivocally backs

    him, won a parliamentary majority in the elections. Nazarbaev

    said he is ready to cooperate with the opposition and that he

    would greet the return to Kazakhstan of former Premier

    Akezhan Kazhegeldin. Nazarbaev added that he does not think

    Kazhegeldin should be punished for "errors" made during the

    privatization process. LF

    [08] ...WHILE OPPOSITIONISTS CALL FOR NEW ELECTIONS

    Leaders of

    Kazhegeldin's Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan told

    journalists in Almaty on 4 November that opposition forces

    should unite to pressure the country's leadership into

    admitting that the outcome of the October parliamentary poll

    was falsified, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital

    reported. Ghaziz Aldamzharov, who is chairman of the party's

    executive committee and who failed in his election bid,

    argued that new parliamentary elections should be held next

    year and be followed by a presidential poll. LF

    [09] BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT WRAPS UP VISIT TO KAZAKHSTAN

    Alyaksandr

    Lukashenka ended a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan on 4

    November, having signed with his host, President Nazarbaev, a

    10-year economic cooperation agreement and a cultural

    agreement, Interfax reported. Lukashenka had told journalists

    on his arrival the previous day that a "large number" of

    agreements would be signed during his visit. Lukashenka

    reportedly expressed interest during his talks with Nazarbaev

    in buying crude oil and other minerals from Kazakhstan, while

    Nazarbaev said his country is ready to export grain to

    Belarus and buy tractors produced there. Nazarbaev also

    commented that Kazakhstan is prepared to "cooperate" with the

    envisaged Russia-Belarus union. On arriving, Lukashenka had

    expressed optimism that if that union materializes, both

    Kazakhstan and Ukraine will join it. He implied that such a

    fusion could form the nucleus of the Eurasian Union, for

    which Nazarbaev has been lobbying since 1994. LF

    [10] KAZAKHSTAN SENDS MEDICS TO SITE OF PROTON ROCKET CRASH

    A

    large group of medical personnel has been sent to the region

    of central Kazakhstan affected by the 27 October explosion of

    a Russian proton rocket shortly after blastoff from the

    Baikonur cosmodrome, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported.

    Those medical personnel will screen all local residents

    before the end of November. LF

    [11] KYRGYZ FOREIGN MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO IRAN

    Muratbek

    Imanaliev returned to Bishkek on 3 November following a two-

    day visit to Tehran, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital

    reported. Imanaliev met with President Mohammad Khatami,

    Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Mejlis speaker Ali Akbar

    Nateq- Nouri and discussed bilateral relations and Kyrgyz

    President Askar Akaev's upcoming visit to Iran. LF

    [12] IMF DISCUSSES TERMS FOR NEW LOAN TRANCHE FOR TAJIKISTAN

    IMF

    Second European Department Director John Odling-Smee held

    talks in Dushanbe on 4 November with President Imomali

    Rakhmonov on the possibility of further IMF support for the

    Tajik economy, Asia Plus- Blitz reported. Rakhmonov said such

    help is needed to reduce the country's budget deficit and

    strengthen the balance of payments. Odling-Smee said that the

    outcome of the upcoming elections and progress in

    implementing political reform will "only partially" influence

    the bank's decision on releasing the loan tranche, according

    to Interfax. Other IMF officials said the decision on doing

    so will be taken early next year. LF

    [13] TURKMENISTAN'S CENTRAL BANK TO MAINTAIN TIGHT MONETARY

    POLICY

    An unnamed Central Bank official told Interfax in

    Dushanbe on 4 November that in the coming years the bank will

    abide by its moderately strict monetary policy with the aim

    of reducing annual inflation to 6 percent by 2005 and to 4

    percent by 2010 and ultimately making the country's currency

    fully convertible. Inflation for 1999 is estimated at 40

    percent, double the figure for 1998. President Saparmurat

    Niyazov had harshly criticized the work of the Central Bank

    in September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 September 1999). LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [14] U.S., EU TO COORDINATE APPROACH TO YUGOSLAVIA

    U.S. Secretary

    of State Madeleine Albright and German Foreign Minister

    Joschka Fischer agreed in Washington on 4 November that the

    U.S. and the EU will coordinate their policies toward

    Yugoslavia, Reuters reported. The two sides said U.S. and EU

    officials will hold meetings in the coming weeks to work out

    a coordinated strategy. While German officials said the

    meetings will focus on deciding whether to lift the sanctions

    on Yugoslavia before or after elections in Serbia, U.S.

    officials said the meetings will focus merely on creating

    "common objectives." Fischer stressed that the U.S. and

    Germany see "eye to eye" on the need to remove Yugoslav

    President Slobodan Milosevic from power. VG

    [15] EU OFFICIALS CALL FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA

    Various European officials have recently called for the

    lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia as a means of easing

    the burden on average Serbs and supporting the opposition. On

    3 November, Hans Koschnik, the German emissary to Bosnia-

    Herzegovina, said the sanctions should be lifted and replaced

    with "intensive cooperation" with the Serbian opposition,

    "Die Woche" reported. Koschnik's call was supported by

    officials in the Social Democratic and Christian Democratic

    parties of Germany. On 4 November, French Foreign Minister

    Hubert Vedrine sent a message to his EU colleagues in which

    he called for gradual lifting of those sanctions that affect

    average Serbs. At the same time, Vedrine said the sanctions

    that "directly touch upon the leaders of the regime in

    Belgrade" should be maintained and even tightened. VG

    [16] ALBRIGHT: U.S. HAS INTEREST IN MONTENEGRO'S SECURITY

    U.S.

    Secretary of State Albright on 4 November said the U.S. has

    an "important interest" in the security of the Balkans,

    "including that of Montenegro," Reuters reported. A senior

    State Department official said the remark was a "carefully

    worded" and "direct message" to the Belgrade leadership.

    Albright also said the U.S. will seek new ways to offer

    economic aid to Montenegro without propping up the regime in

    Belgrade. On official suggested that the U.S. might allow

    flights to and from Montenegro, but bypassing Serbia. VG

    [17] MONTENEGRIN PREMIER MEETS YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF STAFF

    Filip

    Vujanovic on 4 November said he met with Yugoslav Chief of

    Staff Dragoljub Ojdanic in order to "establish an environment

    in which any incident will be avoided," Reuters reported. The

    meeting took place that day, despite Montenegrin President

    Milo Djukanovic's pledge that he will hand over any war

    criminal who happens to be on Montenegrin territory to the

    Hague based war crimes tribunal. The tribunal indicted

    Ojdanic for war crimes last May. Djukanovic said the arrest

    of war criminals such as Ojdanic is "linked to a high degree

    of risk, risk that the international community is cautioning

    Montenegro not to take." In Washington, State Department

    spokesman James Rubin expressed sympathy for Djukanovic's

    position, indicating that the Montenegrin leader is not "free

    to act" as he would like and that the U.S. believes his

    intention to cooperate with the war crimes tribunal is

    "genuine." VG

    [18] SERBIAN OFFICIALS SAY MONTENEGRO'S CURRENCY CHANGE A NATO

    PLOT...

    Ivan Dacic, the spokesman for Milosevic's Socialist

    Party, on 4 November described Montenegro's new currency

    policy as a "move carried out by NATO which is using this

    puppet creation only as a means to an end." Serbian Radical

    Party head Vojislav Seselj said Montenegro's leadership is

    heading for "all-out secession," which he called "a very

    dangerous direction." Meanwhile, the National Bank of

    Yugoslavia announced that it has halted transfers of funds to

    firms in Montenegro from accounts of firms in Serbia. The

    bank said it took the measure to prevent the "uncontrolled

    issue of money in the territory of Montenegro," Beta

    reported. VG

    [19] ...REJECT U.S. PLEDGE TO LIFT SANCTIONS FOR ELECTIONS

    Seselj

    dismissed the recent U.S. pledge to lift most sanctions in

    exchange for free and fair elections as an attempt by U.S.

    Secretary of State Albright to ensure that "her bootlickers

    will win" the vote. He described the strategy as "violence."

    The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug described the U.S.

    offer as "new tactics and tricks" being prepared by the

    Clinton administration. VG

    [20] POVERTY ON THE RISE IN YUG0SLAVIA

    The UN's humanitarian

    coordinator Steve Allen on 4 November said poverty has nearly

    doubled in Yugoslavia over the past year. Allen said the

    percentage of the population considered to be living in

    poverty increased from 33 percent in July 1998 to 63 percent

    in September 1999. The poverty level includes all people who

    have a monthly income equivalent to $60 or less. The figures

    do not include Kosova. Allen also noted that Yugoslavia's

    national health insurance fund is on the verge of collapse.

    VG

    [21] NEW ORGANIZATION PAYS FINE FOR SERBIAN EDITOR

    An

    organization calling itself Team 29 has paid the fine that

    Cedomir Jovanovic received for violating the media law in

    Yugoslavia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 October 1999),

    according to a Beta report monitored by the BBC. Jovanovic is

    the editor of the opposition Alliance for Change's

    publication "Promene." In a statement to the press, Team 29

    pledged to "continue to assist in the struggle for a

    democratic Serbia by the means which the regime of Slobodan

    Milosevic allows." The Alliance for Change told Beta it is

    not familiar with the new organization. VG

    [22] STUDIO-B SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH BANJA LUKA STATION

    Belgrade's

    independent Studio-B radio and television station has signed

    an agreement with independent Banja Luka Radio-TV to share

    news and cultural broadcasts, Studio-B reported on 4

    November. Meanwhile, Studio-B director Dragan Kojadinovic

    said some of his station's programs are still being jammed in

    Serbia. VG

    [23] U.S. ASKS ISRAEL TO STOP BROADCASTING SERBIAN TV

    The Israeli

    Spacecom company, which operates the Amos-1 satellite, has

    stopped allowing Serbian state television (RTS) to use its

    satellite for broadcasting. That move comes after the U.S.

    complained to Israel about the practice, AP reported. U.S.

    Secretary of State Albright had asked Israeli Prime Minister

    Ehud Barak at the recent Oslo summit to stop letting RTS use

    the Israeli satellite for broadcasts, the newspaper "Yedioth

    Ahronoth" reported. VG

    [24] PETRITSCH DISAPPOINTED WITH FAILURE TO SECURE BORDER

    AGREEMENT

    The international community's high representative

    in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, on 4 November said

    he is disappointed over the failure of the joint presidency

    of Bosnia to adopt a draft law on a multiethnic state border

    service, Reuters reported. Bosnian Muslim President Alija

    Izetbegovic said he supported the proposal but that his

    Croatian and Serbian counterparts disagreed on how wide the

    border under control of the state service should be. The

    proposal called for the border belt to be 30 kilometers wide.

    Last week, the head of the UN international police force in

    Bosnia, Detlef Buwitt, said Petritsch will impose a law if

    Bosnia fails to adopt one by December. VG

    [25] THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED IN MOSTAR CAR BOMB ATTACK

    A Zenica

    court handed down three foreign nationals prison sentences

    ranging from five to eight years for their roles in planting

    a car bomb that injured almost 50 people in Mostar in 1997,

    ONASA reported on 3 November. The three men were also

    sentenced to five years' expulsion from Bosnia following

    their release. VG

    [26] DEL PONTE RAPS CROATIA FOR NOT COOPERATING WITH WAR CRIMES

    TRIBUNAL

    The chief prosecutor of the Hague-based war crimes

    tribunal, Carla del Ponte, said on 4 November in Zagreb that

    she is "very disappointed" that Croatia is not cooperating

    fully with the tribunal. She was reacting to Croatia's

    refusal to hand over documents regarding Zagreb's Flash and

    Storm military operations in 1995. Del Ponte threatened to

    "report Croatia's noncompliance" with the UN Security Council

    unless it starts cooperating. Croatian Justice Minister

    Zvonimir Separovic said Croatia believes the tribunal has no

    jurisdiction over the operations, which he described as a

    "legitimate liberation of our land." Del Ponte said she is

    not questioning Croatia's right to carry out the operations.

    She said the tribunal wants to investigate whether war crimes

    were committed in the course of the operations, which sparked

    a mass exodus of Serbs from Croatia. VG

    [27] POLL: MOST CROATS SAY TUDJMAN SHOULD RESIGN FOR HEALTH

    REASONS

    More than 60 percent of Croats say President Franjo

    Tudjman should resign for health reasons, according to an

    Media Metar poll cited by AP on 5 November. VG

    [28] OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATION HELD IN TIRANA

    As Prime Minister

    Ilir Meta's cabinet outlined its priorities in the parliament

    on 4 November, some 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Tirana's

    main square to demand new elections, AP reported. Opposition

    Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha addressed the crowd,

    saying "new elections are the only way out of the deep crisis

    this country is in." In the parliament, Meta said the new

    government will focus on fighting corruption, stabilizing the

    country, and improving public order. The Democratic Party

    boycotted the session. VG

    [29] ROMANIAN STUDENTS RENEW PROTESTS

    Thousands of students again

    took to the streets in Bucharest and other towns on 4

    November to protest small grants and bad living conditions in

    dormitories. Prime Minster Radu Vasile met with Daniel

    Onisor, leader of the Students' League, and signed an

    agreement stipulating that grants will be increased by 10

    percent every month from January to May 2000 and by 50

    percent in October 2000. But two student organizations from

    Bucharest announced that the agreement does not meet their

    minimum demands and that they will picket university

    buildings and go on a strike as of 5 November, RFE/RL's

    Bucharest bureau reported. MS

    [30] HISTORY TEXTBOOK SCANDAL TO BE DEBATED BY ROMANIAN

    PARLIAMENT

    Democratic Party and independent deputies joined

    lawmakers from the nationalist Greater Romania Party and

    Party of Romanian National Unity on 4 November to initiate a

    motion for debate in the Chamber of Deputies of the dispute

    over the "de-mythicized" history textbooks (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 13 October 1999). The 55 deputies said in their

    motion that by allowing these optional textbooks to be used

    in classrooms, the Education Ministry condones "the gross

    affront of Romania's historical past, the trivialization,

    marginalization, and falsification of historical truth" and

    thereby risks "the danger of losing our national identity,"

    Romanian radio reported. MS

    [31] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS BUDGET

    The parliament on 4

    November approved the amendments to the 1999 budget that it

    had rejected one week earlier, Infotag reported. The amended

    budget increases the deficit from 383 to 583 million lei ($52

    million) and proposes covering the shortfall by borrowing on

    the international financial market, Infotag reported. Earlier

    on 4 November, Prime Minister Ion Sturza told legislators

    that they have 12 days to approve the amended budget and

    government-proposed privatization laws. He said he and his

    cabinet will resign if these changes are not approved. "The

    government needs a vote of confidence or one of no

    confidence. We are ready for any outcome," Reuters quoted him

    as saying. MS

    [32] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT MANDATES GOVERNMENT TO NEGOTIATE

    KOZLODUY SHUTDOWN

    The parliament on 4 November voted 146 to

    68 with five abstentions to mandate the government to

    negotiate the early closure of the Kozloduy nuclear plant.

    The legislators said that the government must seek EU

    compensation for the closure, AP reported. The same day,

    Guenter Verheugen, EU commissioner in charge of expansion,

    told Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova in The

    Hague that Sofia is in an "excellent position" to begin

    accession talks with the EU, BTA reported. Verheugen said

    Bulgaria "fully meets political criteria" for EU membership

    and has started the process of economic reform. MS

    [33] BALKAN LEADERS URGE INVESTMENTS

    Meeting in Borovets on 4

    November, the presidents of Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece

    urged the implementation of the Balkan Stability Pact,

    proposing that various projects be financed by international

    financial institutions. In a joint declaration, Petar

    Stoyanov, Emil Constantinescu, and Kostas Simitis pledged

    that "their countries will contribute to the substantiation

    [sic] of the Stability Pact." Simitis said Greece intends to

    mobilize over the next five years $500 million from the

    private sector to finance transport, energy, and

    telecommunication projects in the region, Reuters and AP

    reported. The three leaders urged the EU to raise funds to

    help remove from the River Danube debris from bridges bombed

    by NATO earlier this year. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [34] RADIO LIBERTY'S PETER DORNAN

    By Mario Corti

    On All Saints Day (1 November), in Springfield in the

    U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the former head of Radio

    Liberty's Samizdat Unit, Peter Dornan, died of cancer at the

    age of 76. He was the first editor of "Materialy Samizdata,"

    a weekly Radio Liberty publication that became the biggest

    collection of annotated documents on human rights violations

    in the Soviet Union.

    "Materialy Samizdata," originally created for internal

    use only, was soon made available to external subscribers. It

    became the main source of information for scholars and

    journalists interested in the subject of human rights

    violations in the USSR. It was also a key source on Soviet

    dissidents' struggle for their individual, political, social,

    national, and cultural rights.

    Dornan joined Radio Liberty in 1956 as a research

    analyst. He was instrumental in the creation of a samizdat

    archive at Radio Liberty in 1968 and was its custodian until

    1988, when he retired. He was also the author of the most

    exhaustive study on Andrei Sakharov at the beginning of the

    1970s (which was included in "Dissent in the USSR: Politics,

    Ideology, and People," ed. Rudolf Tokes, Johns Hopkins

    University Press). Thanks to Peter Dornan, samizdat documents

    played a key role in Radio Liberty broadcasts.

    Indeed, it was thanks to samizdat and the efforts of

    Dornan that Radio Liberty's broadcasts became a real

    "domestic" service, broadcasting to the Soviet Union

    documents about and authored by people living inside the

    country.

    Dornan also acted as a talent scout for other

    departments of Radio Liberty: it was on his initiative that

    the current editor of "RFE/RL Newsline," who began her career

    as a freelance translator of Georgian samizdat, was signed up

    in 1980 by Radio Liberty Research.

    The samizdat archive, comprising more than 5,000

    documents, is now housed at the Central European University

    in Budapest. Dornan recently donated his personal archive to

    the Drew University Library in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

    Mario Corti is acting director of RFE/RL's Russian Service.

    05-11-99


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


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