RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 18, 00-01-26

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. 4, No. 18, 26 January 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN TERRORIST GROUP MARKS ANNIVERSARY

[02] AZERBAIJAN PRISON MUTINY TRIAL BEGINS

[03] AZERBAIJAN TO RATION ELECTRICITY

[04] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA FAIL TO AGREE ON OIL TRANSPORT TARIFFS

[05] MORE SHOOTINGS IN WESTERN GEORGIA

[06] TWO MORE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES NOMINATED IN GEORGIA

[07] KAZAKH OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FINED

[08] LOCAL NEWSPAPER IN KAZAKHSTAN LINKED TO SEPARATISTS

[09] AILING KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN BROUGHT TO TRIAL

[10] TAJIK INSURRECTION PARTICIPANTS ON TRIAL

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] SFOR ARRESTS SERBIAN WAR CRIMES SUSPECT...

[12] ...AND COURT CUTS TADIC'S SENTENCE

[13] BOSNIAN MUSLIM LEADER CALLS FOR REVISING DAYTON

[14] KOSOVA'S SERBS TO ENTER UN-BACKED COUNCILS?

[15] SERBIAN WRITERS' GROUP ELECTS KOSOVA ACTIVIST MEMBER

[16] DJUKANOVIC SAYS NO REFERENDUM YET

[17] SERBIAN OPPOSITION SAYS WEST MISSED OPPORTUNITY

[18] BALKAN WINTER WRECKS HAVOC IN SERBIA...

[19] ...AND ALBANIA

[20] CROATIAN DEFENSE MINISTER'S AIDE ASKED TO QUIT

[21] ROMANIAN RAILWAY WORKERS SUSPEND STRIKE

[22] ROMANIAN PREMIER URGES PEOPLE TO REFRAIN FROM PROTEST

[23] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS ALBRIGHT

[24] MOLDOVAN, RUSSIAN LEADERS MEET IN MOSCOW...

[25] ...AS CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT SUBMITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON

[26] BULGARIA DECLARES FLU EPIDEMIC

[C] END NOTE

[27] SUBDUING THE PARLIAMENT WITH A REFERENDUM

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN TERRORIST GROUP MARKS ANNIVERSARY

issued in Yerevan on 20 January to mark the 25th anniversary

of its inception, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation

of Armenia (ASALA) vowed to continue its fight "to liberate

western Armenian territories in Turkey," AFP and Noyan Tapan

reported on 22 and 25 January, respectively. The

organization, founded by young diaspora Armenians in the

Middle East, mounted a terrorist and bombing campaign in the

late 1970s and early 1980s with the objective of coercing the

Turkish government to officially acknowledge as genocide the

deaths of an estimated 1.3 million Armenians in Turkey in the

early years of the century, and to cede territory in Eastern

Anatolia claimed as Armenian. The 20 January statement

conceded that it is "naive" to continue to hope for an

acknowledgement by the the present Turkish leadership that

the killings constituted genocide. LF

[02] AZERBAIJAN PRISON MUTINY TRIAL BEGINS

January of 23 prisoners and one guard charged with high

treason, theft of weapons, and attempted murder in connection

with the January 1999 mutiny at the high security Gobustan

prison near Baku, Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8

and 11 January 1999). A group of prisoners overpowered their

guards and seized hostages, demanding transportation to leave

the country, but were subsequently disarmed when Interior

Ministry troops stormed the jail. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN TO RATION ELECTRICITY

Azerbaijan's state power generating company Azenergo,

announced on 25 January that effective immediately,

electricity supplies will be cut daily between the hours of

7-9 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to midnight, Turan reported. The

cuts will apply nationwide except for Baku, where they will

be timed from noon-5 p.m. and from 1-6 a.m. Hospitals,

schools, kindergartens, and TV and radio companies will not

be affected. The rationing has been made necessary by the

failure of up to 70 percent of all customers to pay their

electricity bills. The resulting shortage of funds, in turn,

had precluded badly needed repairs to transmission lines and

transformer stations. Many rural areas of Azerbaijan have

already received only sporadic power supplies for months,

leading to repeated popular protests. LF

[04] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA FAIL TO AGREE ON OIL TRANSPORT TARIFFS

Georgian representatives failed to resolve their dispute over

transit tariffs that Georgia will receive from the export of

oil via the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, Caucasus Press

reported. Nor did the Azerbaijani side agree to the Georgian

demand that it be allowed to keep 2-3 percent of the crude

transitting its territory for domestic use. Also on 25

January, Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze told

Ukrainian Premier Viktor Yushchenko in Moscow that Georgia

will support the proposed export of some Caspian oil via the

Odesa-Brody pipeline, ITAR-TASS reported. LF

[05] MORE SHOOTINGS IN WESTERN GEORGIA

were shot dead on 25 January in the village of Saberio in

Abkhazia's Gali Raion, Caucasus Press reported citing Abkhaz

Interior Minister Amazbei Kchach. The same day,

representatives of the ethnic Georgian Abkhaz government-in-

exile told Caucasus Press that three Abkhaz guerrillas had

been killed and one wounded in a shootout in the village of

Rukhi in Zugdidi Raion, close to the border between Abkhazia

and the rest of Georgia. LF

[06] TWO MORE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES NOMINATED IN GEORGIA

Progressive Party of Georgia on 26 January nominated as its

candidate for the 9 April presidential poll Vazha Zhghenti,

who is 62 and unemployed, Caucasus Press reported. Two days

earlier, the political union Mdzleveli nominated 42-year old

architect Avtandil Djoglidze as its candidate. Mdzleveli

polled less than 1 percent of the vote in the 31 October

parliamentary election. Both candidates must collect 50,000

signatures in their support by 29 February. LF

[07] KAZAKH OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FINED

on 25 January found Bigeldy Gabdullin guilty of obstructing a

police officer and fined him 5,075 tenges ($36), RFE/RL's

Almaty bureau reported. Gabdullin had attempted last month to

prevent a police officer from making an unsanctioned video

recording of the proceedings of a meeting last month of a

session of the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan

Executive Committee, of which Gabdullin is vice chairman (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2000). Gabdullin said he will

appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court as it sets a

precedent for allowing police to attend meetings of any

political party without obtaining prior permission to do so.

LF

[08] LOCAL NEWSPAPER IN KAZAKHSTAN LINKED TO SEPARATISTS

court in Ust-Kamennogorsk, the capital of East Kazakhstan

Oblast, on 25 January suspended for three months publication

of the local independent commercial newspaper "HBC-Press,"

for having published materials undermining the independence

and sovereignty of Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau

reported. On 25 November the paper had published an appeal by

Viktor Kazimirchuk, the leader of a group of 22 ethnic

Russians arrested several days earlier for having allegedly

planned to attack and occupy administrative buildings in Ust-

Kamennogorsk and proclaim an independent Russian Altai

Republic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 and 24 November 1999). LF

[09] AILING KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN BROUGHT TO TRIAL

chairman Daniyar Usenov was taken from a Bishkek hospital to

a district court in the city on 25 January to face charges of

assault in a case closed last year and recently reopened,

RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 21 and 25 January 2000). The court proceedings

were interrupted when Usenov's condition deteriorated, and he

was taken back to the hospital and is now in intensive care.

Under Kyrgyz law, as a parliament deputy and registered

candidate for the 20 February parliamentary elections, Usenov

theoretically has immunity from arrest and legal proceedings.

LF

[10] TAJIK INSURRECTION PARTICIPANTS ON TRIAL

Dushanbe on 25 January of 66 people accused of participating

in an abortive armed insurrection led by former Tajik army

Colonel Mahmud Khudoiberdiev in Tajikistan's northern

Leninabad Oblast in November 1998, ITAR-TASS reported. Over

150 people were arrested for their role in that insurrection,

of whom some 50 have already been tried and sentenced on

charges of treason, murder, terrorism, and banditry. Two of

those accused have been sentenced to death. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] SFOR ARRESTS SERBIAN WAR CRIMES SUSPECT...

Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said in a

statement in The Hague on 25 January that French peacekeepers

arrested Mitar Vasiljevic and sent him to the Dutch city.

NATO troops captured him in the eastern Bosnian town of

Visegrad, where he allegedly "participated in the mass

murder, torture, and other cruel treatment of the Bosnian

Muslim population, including women, children and the elderly"

between May 1992 and October 1994. Charges against him

include "extermination...of a significant number of Bosnian

Muslim civilians...[as well as] inhumane acts and violence to

life and person," AP reported. At the time, Vasiljevic

belonged to a notorious paramilitary group called the White

Eagles. PM

[12] ...AND COURT CUTS TADIC'S SENTENCE

based tribunal cut the sentence of Bosnian Serb war criminal

Dusan Tadic from 25 to 20 years. The presiding judge ruled

that "although the criminal conduct underlying the charges of

which the appellant now stands convicted was incontestably

heinous, his level in the command structure, when compared to

that of his superiors, or the very architects of the strategy

of ethnic cleansing, was low," AP reported. This is the last

step in the long-running court case of the former police

chief convicted of the murder of Muslim civilians in 1992.

Tadic's trial began in May 1996 and was the first and longest

one of an individual for war crimes since the Nuremberg and

Tokyo trials at the end of World War II. PM

[13] BOSNIAN MUSLIM LEADER CALLS FOR REVISING DAYTON

Silajdzic, who is the Muslim co-chair of the joint Bosnian

government, unveiled his Memorandum on Changes at a press

conference in Sarajevo on 25 January. He called for a

revision of the Dayton peace agreement on the grounds that it

preserves the results of ethnic cleansing rather than

reversing them. Silajdzic wants Bosnia's administration to be

based on a system of cantons rather than on the current two

entities, "Oslobodjenje" reported (see "RFE/RL South Slavic

Report," 13 and 20 January 2000). Bosnian Serbs have demanded

that Silajdzic be sacked for opposing Dayton (see "RFE/RL

Balkan Report," 25 January 2000). PM

[14] KOSOVA'S SERBS TO ENTER UN-BACKED COUNCILS?

leader Momcilo Trajkovic said at Gracanica monastery that his

Serbian National Council is getting closer to an agreement

with the UN's Bernard Kouchner on Serbian participation in

the UN's provisional administrative system. Trajkovic

stressed that he is negotiating Serbian participation on the

local, regional, and provincial levels as a package, "Danas"

reported on 26 January. Observers note that the key provision

of any deal between the Serbs and the UN is a wide degree of

self-rule for largely or purely Serbian communities. "Danas"

reported that the Serbs will police their own "enclaves" and

that the Kosova Protection Corps, which is composed largely

of ethnic Albanian veterans of the former Kosova Liberation

Army, will not be allowed to enter them. The UN still retains

its formal opposition to the Serb demand for a

"cantonization" of the province on ethnic lines. PM

[15] SERBIAN WRITERS' GROUP ELECTS KOSOVA ACTIVIST MEMBER

of the independent Serbian Writers' Forum voted on 25 January

to elect imprisoned Kosovar poet and rights activist Flora

Brovina an honorary member (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 November

1999). The group condemned "political trials," of which hers

is one, AP reported. Writers and writers' organizations

traditionally enjoy immense prestige in the Balkans. PM

[16] DJUKANOVIC SAYS NO REFERENDUM YET

January, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said that it

is too early to hold a referendum on independence from the

federal Yugoslav state headed by President Slobodan

Milosevic. Djukanovic warned, however, that Montenegrins'

"patience is not without limits," the "Financial Times"

reported. British Prime Minister Tony Blair stressed the

importance of Montenegrin reforms for the democratization of

Serbia, "Danas" noted. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook

praised Montenegrin reforms and pledged support for them. But

he "pointedly declined" to offer any defense guarantees to

the mountainous republic when journalists pressed him to do

so, the "Daily Telegraph" added (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25

January 2000). PM

[17] SERBIAN OPPOSITION SAYS WEST MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Party leader Zoran Djindjic said in Belgrade on 25 January

that he regrets the EU foreign ministers did not agree the

previous day to end at least the international flight ban

against Serbia. A spokesman for the nationalistic Serbian

Renewal Movement of Vuk Draskovic charged that Western

governments in practice support the Milosevic regime because

they do not lift sanctions that affect primarily ordinary

Serbs, "Danas" reported. Opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica

added that the EU's failure to override British and Dutch

opposition to lifting sanctions showed the Serbs that they

"can rely only" on themselves, Reuters reported. PM

[18] BALKAN WINTER WRECKS HAVOC IN SERBIA...

pleasant time in the western Balkans, where cold winds and

often poor heating facilities can make for chilly times. This

year, heavy snowfalls and a flu epidemic have added serious

additional problems. In Belgrade, Serbian power company

officials called on citizens on 25 January to save

electricity and specifically to turn off electric heaters, AP

noted. The company introduced two-hour power cuts in the

capital and other major towns. Furthermore, ice and snow on

Belgrade streets brought traffic to a virtual halt.

Milosevic's Socialist Party said in a statement that the

opposition-run city government is to blame. The Socialists

suggested that, while the opposition leaders are on their

"frequent trips abroad, they have completely forgotten that

something has to be done in Belgrade." PM

[19] ...AND ALBANIA

on 25 January because of heavy snows and failures of the

power grid, which is often unreliable even in good weather,

dpa reported. Most of Tirana has power cuts of two to three

hours per day. Heavy snows have cut off road communications

in much of northern Albania. The southern port of Vlora had

its first snow in 20 years. PM

[20] CROATIAN DEFENSE MINISTER'S AIDE ASKED TO QUIT

president Vlatko Pavletic called on General Ljubo Cesic-Rojs

to resign his post in the Defense Ministry following his

public criticism of opposition presidential candidate Stipe

Mesic. The general had suggested that he and some other

hardline military officers would not accept Mesic's election

as commander in chief. Mesic has been critical of some of the

military and of hardliners among the Herzegovinian Croats.

Pavletic made his appeal to Cesic-Rojs after discussing the

matter with Mesic, "Jutarnji list" reported on 26 January. PM

[21] ROMANIAN RAILWAY WORKERS SUSPEND STRIKE

workers suspended their strike on the evening of 25 January,

just a few hours after launching it, Rompres reported. The

railway worker representatives said they decided to suspend

the strike in the face of threats from Transport Minister

Traian Basescu that they would face sanctions. Earlier, a

Bucharest district court on 25 January declared the current

railway strike illegal and requested workers to resume work

immediately, Romanian Radio reported. VG

[22] ROMANIAN PREMIER URGES PEOPLE TO REFRAIN FROM PROTEST

Isarescu said on 25 January in a live television broadcast

that Romanians must endure the hardships of the reforms

necessary for the country's accession to the EU, Reuters

reported. He urged the people to refrain from protests rather

than calling on "the government to spend money

irresponsibly." He added: "we don't have the right to miss

the chance Romania has got by being invited to start

accession talks." In other news, the IMF negotiator for

Romania, Emanuel Zervoudakis, on 25 January announced he will

extend his stay in Bucharest by at least one day, Rompres

reported. The current round of talks between the IMF and

Romania on a $547 million standby agreement were due to end

on 25 January. VG

[23] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS ALBRIGHT

Washington, D.C. on 25 January for talks with U.S. Secretary

of State Madeleine Albright, Romanian Radio reported. The two

agreed that Romania should speed up its military and economic

reforms. In other news, the National Office of the Trade

Register on 25 January announced that Romania received $256.2

million in foreign direct investment in 1999, up by almost

$28 million over 1998 but still far below investment in the

early to mid-1990s, Mediafax reported. Also, Romanian

Transport Minister Basescu on 25 January told the

parliamentary Economic Committee that $1.2 billion worth of

foreign credits which Romania has received have gone unused

because of the country's inability to drawup projects

required by the loans or live up to the terms imposed by

foreign banks, Mediafax reported. VG

[24] MOLDOVAN, RUSSIAN LEADERS MEET IN MOSCOW...

President Petru Lucinschi told his acting Russian

counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on 24 January during a meeting

on the sidelines of the CIS summit in Moscow, that he is

confident the recent changes in the Moldovan government will

allow for "a more efficient solution" of the two countries'

bilateral problems, particularly in the areas of trade and

the economy, Infotag reported. The two also reportedly

discussed the withdrawal of Russian troops from the breakaway

Transdniester and additional bilateral measures for settling

the dispute in the region. They also discussed questions

related to Moldova's debt for Russian natural gas. VG

[25] ...AS CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT SUBMITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON

the CIS Executive Secretariat submitted on 25

January its recommendations for settling the Transdniester

conflict to the visiting heads of state and government in

Moscow. For the first time ever, the Moldovan delegation at

the CIS summit included a representative from Tiraspol, the

deputy prime minister of the breakaway region, Victor Sinev.

Also, a Spanish military delegation arrived in Transdniester

to inspect Russian army depots as part of the CFE onventional

Forces Treaty in Europe signed last November, BASA-Press

reported. VG

[26] BULGARIA DECLARES FLU EPIDEMIC

on 25 January declared a nationwide flu epidemic and closed

schools across the country, BTA reported. Health officials

have reported 329 cases of influenza for every 10,000 people

in the country. In other news, the Foreign and Security

parliamentary committees on 25 January approved a Bulgarian

contingent for the KFOR operation in Kosova, BTA reported.

The Bulgarian contingent will consist of 40 troops, and will

be part of the Dutch KFOR contingent. VG

[C] END NOTE

[27] SUBDUING THE PARLIAMENT WITH A REFERENDUM

Russia resolved its parliamentary crisis in 1993 with

tanks. Ukraine, in a similar situation, opted for a

referendum. Nonetheless, the parliament fiercely opposes this

choice. That's how the pro-presidential Kyiv-based "Segodnya"

commented on President Leonid Kuchma's decree to hold a

constitutional referendum on 16 April, which may result in

the ouster of the current uncooperative legislature. The

implication of the comment is obvious: Ukraine is far more

moderate than Russia regarding its choice of methods for

developing democracy, so there is no ground for

apprehensions. However, one almost automatically starts

having such apprehensions as soon as one recalls the 1996

constitutional referendum held by Belarusian President

Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Will Kuchma follow in Lukashenka's

footsteps?

Taken at face value, the constitutional referendum--

decreed by the president following the collection of some 4

million signatures by citizens--is aimed at creating a

legislature with a workable majority. The government needs

such a majority very urgently. First, the parliament must

pass an austerity budget, which is a necessary condition for

the IMF and other Western lenders to resume providing credits

to Kyiv. Ukraine is obliged to repay more than $3 billion

this year and another $3 billion next year, and faces an

immediate default without Western money. Second, Kuchma wants

to capitalize on his recent election success by introducing

as soon as possible the market-oriented reforms he had long

pledged to the West. Again, this can be done only with prompt

and reliable legislative support.

Ukrainians on 16 April will be asked as many as six

questions. Each of those questions, if answered in the

affirmative, will entail essential changes in the

constitution. The first question will be a vote of no

confidence in the current parliament. Ukrainians will also be

asked to give the president the right to disband the

parliament if it fails to form a majority within a month or

adopt a budget in three months; to abolish lawmakers'

immunity from criminal prosecution; to reduce the 450-seat

parliament to 300 seats; to create a second chamber; and to

provide for the possibility to adopt a constitution via a

referendum.

All Ukrainian commentators tend to agree that Kuchma

will win the referendum on all points, including the question

about a bicameral parliament, which is an almost completely

mystifying idea for the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians.

The government-controlled media, those commentators argue,

have already ingrained the conviction in the broad masses

that the current Supreme Council is a hotbed of unpunished

"thieves and bandits." There will be no difficulties for

those media--as last year's presidential elections amply

testified--to air more messages favorable to Kuchma and

detrimental to his parliamentary foes, notably to speaker

Oleksandr Tkachenko and the Communist Party parliamentary

caucus led by Kuchma's presidential rival, Petro Symonenko.

Anticipating the president's move, more than 300

parliamentary deputies voted to introduce a temporary ban on

referendums in Ukraine, but Kuchma paid no attention to it.

Then 241 deputies from center and right-wing caucuses and

groups formed a majority, claiming that they will support the

government. This move sparked a full-scale parliamentary

crisis and a split of the legislature into two irreconcilable

factions. Some 180 leftist deputies remain loyal to

Tkachenko, while the 261-strong majority is temporarily

coordinated by former President Leonid Kravchuk. Both

factions already held parallel sessions, claiming to be

legitimate parliaments, and no immediate resolution of the

impasse is in sight. Such a situation benefits primarily the

president.

Kuchma told the 15 January "Zerkalo nedeli" that he is

not interested in dissolving the parliament if it proves to

be "able to function" [deesposobnyi]. However, some Ukrainian

political analysts argue that following the referendum, which

is expected to overwhelmingly endorse the vote of no

confidence in the Supreme Council, the parliament will be

doomed. The president will be carried away by the course of

events and will have to dissolve the legislature that is not

trusted by the people. What is more, some analysts even say

that Ukraine's current constitution may be called into

question if the decreed referendum provides a yes answer to

the question about approving the country's basic law via a

referendum. Thus, Ukraine may likely face early parliamentary

elections and a referendum on approving a new constitution

following the 16 April plebiscite.

Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz called Kuchma's

referendum decree a "constitutional coup d'etat." It should

be noted that a similar view is shared not only by Kuchma's

leftist foes, but also by many politicians far from the left.

When the opposition is deprived of free access to the media

(as was the situation in Belarus's notorious referendum of

1996), the parliament may be easily made the only scapegoat

for the failures of socioeconomic policies in Ukraine under

Kuchma and, as a consequence, popularly voted out.

Consequently, the balance of power in Ukraine may be

irreparably damaged or even eliminated, confirming many

pessimists' much-publicized belief that democracy is good for

the West, while the East prefers autocracy. Ukraine--after

what seemed to be a nine-year period of trudging toward

Western democratic values--now appears to be taking a step

backward.

26-01-00

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

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