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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 29, 00-02-10

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. 29, 10 February 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION DECIDES ON MASS PROTESTS
  • [02] ARMY COLONEL ARRESTED IN AZERBAIJAN
  • [03] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT
  • [04] CIS PEACEKEEPING COMMANDER ACCUSES GEORGIA OF VIOLATING
  • [05] ELEVENTH PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL IN GEORGIA
  • [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT ENUMERATES GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES
  • [07] TAJIK FIRST DEPUTY PREMIER'S CAR COMES UNDER FIRE

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [08] WASHINGTON, LONDON BACK LIFTING SERBIAN FLIGHT BAN...
  • [09] ...AND NEW MEASURES TARGETING BELGRADE REGIME
  • [10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS MILOSEVIC TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY
  • [11] HAGUE COURT TO NAME BULATOVIC, TUDJMAN IN INDICTMENTS
  • [12] UN POLICE SEIZE HERZEGOVINIAN ARMS
  • [13] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT ENDORSES GOVERNMENT PROGRAM
  • [14] MACEDONIA EXPECTS SIGNIFICANT HELP
  • [15] KOUCHNER BANS INCITEMENT IN KOSOVA
  • [16] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SATISFIED WITH U.K. VISIT
  • [17] ROMANIAN PREMIER APPEALS TO STRIKING TEACHERS
  • [18] FORMER ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PREMIER DEAD
  • [19] NATO WILL NOT GET INVOLVED IN TRANSDNIESTER SETTLEMENT
  • [20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BULGARIA
  • [21] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY JAILED
  • [22] BULGARIAN MEDICAL STAFF TO BE TRIED IN LIBYA

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [23] CHARISMA, MISTRUST DECIDE CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION DECIDES ON MASS PROTESTS

    Meeting in

    Baku on 9 February, the 10 opposition parties aligned in the

    Democratic Congress decided to launch mass protests to demand

    the resignation of the government, Turan reported.

    Participants also adopted a statement addressed to the U.S.

    State Department, international human rights organizations,

    and NGOs protesting the 7 February attack on the headquarters

    of the Musavat Party and the newspaper "Yeni Musavat." LF

    [02] ARMY COLONEL ARRESTED IN AZERBAIJAN

    Police on 9 February

    arrested Colonel Rasim Alekperov, commander of an army

    brigade stationed in Geranboi Raion, and his brother Agasy,

    Turan and Interfax reported on 9 February. Citing Azerbaijani

    press reports, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reported that on

    5 February Azerbaijani special forces units had advanced on

    the Geranboi base in order to apprehend Rasim Akperov, who is

    a self-declared opponent of President Heidar Aliev. According

    to a subsequent statement issued by the National Security

    Ministry, a search of the home of their father, a former

    police chief in Geranboy, yielded an arms cache. LF

    [03] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT

    In his annual

    address to the Georgian parliament, Eduard Shevardnadze

    predicted on 9 February that within four or five years

    Georgia will succeed in making the transition from a

    recipient of international aid to a strong state and reliable

    partner, Caucasus Press and ITAR-TASS reported. He added that

    this year will prove crucial for that transition. At the same

    time, Shevardnadze conceded that Georgia faces serious

    economic problems, as demonstrated by the failure to meet

    last year's budget targets. He also said that Georgia has

    drafted and will soon adopt a new national security concept.

    Responding to Shevardnadze's address, opposition faction

    leaders Djemal Gogitidze and Gogi Topadze criticized

    Tbilisi's policy toward Georgia's autonomous Republic of

    Adjaria and the refusal of the parliament majority to agree

    to amendments to the election law (see "RFE/RL Caucasus

    Report," Vol. 3, No. 5, 4 February 2000). LF

    [04] CIS PEACEKEEPING COMMANDER ACCUSES GEORGIA OF VIOLATING

    CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT

    Major-General Sergei Korobko, who

    commands the CIS peacekeeping force deployed along the border

    between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, has accused Georgia

    of violating the Abkhaz cease-fire agreement concluded in May

    1994, Caucasus Press reported on 9 February. Under that

    agreement, Georgia is allowed to station 367 police in

    Zugdidi Raion, while Abkhazia may deploy 320 militiamen in

    neighboring Gali Raion. Korobko claimed that under pressure

    from the radical Abkhaz government in exile, Georgia

    currently has an entire Interior Ministry battalion in

    Zugdidi. Under an agreement signed last week, both Georgia

    and Abkhazia undertook to reduce the number of their forces

    in the conflict zone to the maximum permitted (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 4 February 2000). Georgian Interior Ministry

    forces commander Giorgi Shervashidze rejected Korobko's

    allegation as untrue but declined to give the precise number

    of Interior Ministry troops currently in Zugdidi. He added

    that the battalion in Zugdidi is guarding strategic

    locations. LF

    [05] ELEVENTH PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL IN GEORGIA

    The president of

    the Corporation of Independent Lawyers, Kartlos

    Gharibashvili, announced on 9 February that he intends to run

    in the 9 April presidential election, Caucasus Press

    reported. Gharibashvili, 46, was one of six candidates in the

    November 1995 presidential election but garnered only 0.4

    percent of the vote. LF

    [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT ENUMERATES GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES

    Addressing an expanded cabinet meeting on 9 February,

    Nursultan Nazarbaev said that the government formed last

    October must set about solving "systemic problems" it

    inherited from previous cabinets, Interfax reported. Among

    those problems, Nazarbaev named improving the social climate,

    making management more efficient, eliminating disparities in

    the level of economic development between the country's

    oblasts, and restructuring the economy to give precedence to

    the processing sector rather than the extraction of raw

    materials. Qasymzhomart Toqaev told the same cabinet session

    that the government plans to make 2000 a year of "intensive

    privatization," Interfax reported. He added that only key

    companies and national monopolies will remain state-owned,

    including the power transmission grid KEGOC, the railways,

    Kazakhoil, and Kaztransoil. LF

    [07] TAJIK FIRST DEPUTY PREMIER'S CAR COMES UNDER FIRE

    Unidentified persons opened fire from two unmarked cars on

    the motorcade of First Deputy Premier Ali Akbar Turadjonzoda

    as it traveled from Dushanbe to Turadjonzoda's hometown of

    Kofarnihon, 20 kilometers east of the capital, on 7 February,

    Asia Plus-Blitz reported three days later. No one was

    injured, but two cars in Turadjonzoda's motorcade were

    damaged. The agency quoted the first deputy premier as saying

    he believes the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [08] WASHINGTON, LONDON BACK LIFTING SERBIAN FLIGHT BAN...

    British

    Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the BBC on 9 February that

    the U.K. and U.S. have agreed to a long-standing request by

    the Serbian opposition to lift the ban on civilian flights to

    Serbia. "In response to [the Serbian opposition's]

    approaches, we, like the United States, are willing to look

    at the suspension of the flight ban for a period of six

    months, [so that] the opposition can demonstrate to the

    people that we are willing to listen to those who represent

    the forces of democracy and future within Serbia," he said.

    The opposition has argued that some sanctions, like the

    flight ban, hit primarily ordinary Serbs and not the regime.

    Opposition leaders have also appealed to the EU and U.S. to

    lift some sanctions so that the opposition can demonstrate to

    voters that it is capable of delivering concrete benefits of

    importance to most Serbs. PM

    [09] ...AND NEW MEASURES TARGETING BELGRADE REGIME

    U.S. Secretary

    of State Madeleine Albright said at a press conference with

    Cook in Washington on 9 February that the U.S. is willing to

    consider a partial "suspension" of sanctions. The move would,

    however, be conditional on the EU's agreeing to "other

    measures to strengthen, expand, and focus those sanctions

    which most effectively target the regime and its supporters,"

    Reuters reported. The suspension will affect flights by

    European carriers but not flights by Serbia's airline JAT.

    The Belgrade daily "Danas" reported on 8 February that the EU

    will soon expand from 600 to 850 the number of names on its

    list of top Serbian and Yugoslav personalities banned from

    receiving visas for EU countries. Several EU governments have

    long been willing to ease sanctions but have encountered

    stiff opposition from the Netherlands, the U.K., and the

    U.S.. PM

    [10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS MILOSEVIC TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

    FOR KILLING

    Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement said in

    a statement in Belgrade on 9 February that the regime of

    Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and his wife, Mira

    Markovic, is "omnipotent" and therefore must accept

    responsibility for the recent murder of Defense Minister

    Pavle Bulatovic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 February 2000).

    The opposition Democratic Alternative said in a statement

    that "in a state in which residents drown in misery and

    crime, the last word has long belonged to one man and one

    woman. Only their exit...can solve problems in Serbia." PM

    [11] HAGUE COURT TO NAME BULATOVIC, TUDJMAN IN INDICTMENTS

    A

    spokesman for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal said that

    Pavle Bulatovic and late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman

    will be named as "accomplices" in some unspecified future

    indictments for war crimes against third parties, the Rijeka-

    based daily "Novi List" reported on 10 February. The

    spokesman ruled out any indictment of Bulatovic or Tudjman

    themselves on the grounds that the tribunal does not carry

    out posthumous legal proceedings against individuals. PM

    [12] UN POLICE SEIZE HERZEGOVINIAN ARMS

    An unspecified number of

    UN police confiscated illegal arms and telephone tapping

    equipment at police stations in Glamoc and Livno on 9

    February. The raids yielded a "large quantity of weapons,"

    RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

    [13] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT ENDORSES GOVERNMENT PROGRAM

    The

    parliament approved the government's four-year program aimed

    at promoting far-reaching changes in several areas of

    government and within society (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9

    February 2000). Key points include fostering economic growth,

    cutting state expenditures, promoting employment, and

    reorganizing the intelligence services. PM

    [14] MACEDONIA EXPECTS SIGNIFICANT HELP

    Speaking in Ottawa on 9

    February, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said that his

    country expects a large influx of Western assistance

    following its support for NATO during the 1999 Kosova

    conflict. He said Macedonia took in 360,000 ethnic Albanian

    refugees, which led to expenses totaling $660 million,

    Reuters reported. "Unfortunately, [only] a very small amount

    of money has been donated to Macedonia, but we still hope

    that the international community will take care of this

    region," Trajkovski added. He argued that the EU's Balkan

    Stability Pact needs to assume the role of a "catalyst and

    coordinator" to promote regional reconstruction and

    development. PM

    [15] KOUCHNER BANS INCITEMENT IN KOSOVA

    Bernard Kouchner, who

    heads the UN's civilian administration in Kosova, issued a

    decree in Prishtina on 9 February prohibiting any activity

    aimed at promoting ethnic or religious intolerance, violence,

    or hatred. Those found violating the decree face stiff fines

    or jail sentences of up to 10 years, "Vesti" reported. PM

    [16] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SATISFIED WITH U.K. VISIT

    Wrapping up his

    three-day visit to the U.K. on 9 February, Emil

    Constantinescu said the two countries have "established a

    real and secure partnership." He said Premier Tony Blair and

    other officials with whom he met "re-confirmed" their support

    for Romania's integration into the EU and expressed readiness

    to help Bucharest achieve this goal. Among other things, they

    proposed "investments in strategic sectors of Romanian

    economy," an RFE/RL correspondent in London reported. MS

    [17] ROMANIAN PREMIER APPEALS TO STRIKING TEACHERS

    In an open

    letter to teachers, whose strike has entered a third week,

    Mugur Isarescu said the state of the economy is such that it

    is not possible to meet the teachers' demands for wage hikes,

    even if those demands are justified. Isarescu said there is

    little possibility that 4 percent of GDP can be allocated to

    education, as provided for by law. The government is meeting

    on 10 February to discuss allocations from the 2001 budget.

    With elections looming later this year, political parties

    ranging from the ruling National Peasant Party Christian

    Democratic to the opposition Party of Social Democracy in

    Romania (which is threatening to boycott parliamentary

    debates unless the 4 percent quota is met), have expressed

    support for the teachers' demands. Meanwhile, Education

    Minister Andrei Marga on 9 February said he will not withdraw

    his resignation unless 4 percent of GDP is allocated to

    education. MS

    [18] FORMER ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PREMIER DEAD

    Ion Gheorghe Maurer,

    who was prime minister from 1961 to 1974, died on 9 February,

    aged 97, Romanian media reported. MS

    [19] NATO WILL NOT GET INVOLVED IN TRANSDNIESTER SETTLEMENT

    NATO

    does not intend to become involved in the settlement of the

    Transdniester conflict and will not use the Marculesti air

    base in Moldova, a NATO representative in Brussels told

    Infotag on 9 February. The representative spoke ahead of the

    planned visit to Moldova of NATO Secretary-General Lord

    Robertson on 10-11 February. Also on 9 February, Moldova's

    representative to the Partner for Peace program, Colonel

    Nicolae Turtureanu, rejected allegations by the separatist

    leadership in Tiraspol that the Marculesti base will be used

    by NATO, saying Moldova's offer to that effect was confined

    to the partnership's peace keeping and humanitarian

    activities. Turtureanu also said NATO has not responded to

    Moldova's offer to allow it to use the base, knowing that the

    reconstruction of the facility would be very costly and its

    use by the alliance "presumably too sensitive politically."

    MS

    [20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BULGARIA

    Beginning a Balkan tour

    that will also take him to Bucharest and Chisinau, Lord

    Robertson said in Sofia on 9 February following talks with

    President Petar Stoyanov that Bulgaria is "an important

    strategic partner of NATO" but there is still "a long way to

    go" before it can achieve NATO membership. Robertson told

    journalists that Bulgaria and Romania should not see

    themselves as competing for membership in the alliance. "NATO

    membership is not some prize in a competition, but is a very

    tough test," he commented. Robertson added that Bulgaria has

    taken a step toward membership by reforming its armed forces

    and participating in the Partnership for Peace program,

    Reuters reported. Robertson is to meet with Premier Ivan

    Kostov and address the parliament on 10 February, before

    departing for Bucharest. MS

    [21] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY JAILED

    A Bulgarian court on 9

    February sentenced Tsvetelin Kanchev, a parliamentary deputy

    from the Euroleft Party, to six years in jail. Kanchev had

    been charged with extorting $2,000 by means of intimidation

    and use of force, Reuters and AP reported. He was also fined

    6,000 leva ($3,000) and will have half of his property

    confiscated. The parliament lifted Kanchev's immunity last

    July. MS

    [22] BULGARIAN MEDICAL STAFF TO BE TRIED IN LIBYA

    Foreign

    Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov told journalists on 9

    February that six Bulgarian medical staff detained in Libya

    last year have been charged with spreading the HIV virus,

    which causes AIDS, and will be put on trial, Reuters

    reported. The five nurses and a doctor were detained in

    February 1999, together with 13 other Bulgarians who had

    worked in a Benghazi hospital and who were later freed.

    Vlaikov said that the Bulgarian authorities will try to

    secure defense lawyers, who, under Libyan law, must be Libyan

    citizens. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [23] CHARISMA, MISTRUST DECIDE CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

    By Andrej Krickovic

    On 7 February, voters elected Stipe Mesic of the

    governing small four-party coalition to succeed the late

    President Franjo Tudjman. Mesic defeated Drazen Budisa, who

    was the candidate of the two-party coalition of the Social

    Democrats and Social Liberals, which is the larger partner in

    the new government. Mesic's victory is one of the biggest

    surprises in a campaign cycle that has transformed the

    Croatian political landscape and seen the country's

    electorate turn its back on the Tudjman legacy.

    When the presidential campaign began, Mesic was an

    outsider whom many Croats considered a man from the past. He

    played a key role in the events leading up to the breakup of

    the former Yugoslavia in 1990-1991, but in subsequent years

    he became a minor political figure. He now belongs to the

    tiny Croatian People's Party. Most popularity polls in early

    or mid-December gave him only 10 percent of the vote.

    How was Mesic able to pull off this spectacular victory

    with more than 56 percent of the vote? There were little

    differences in the two candidates' platforms. Both promised a

    clean break from Tudjman's authoritarian and nationalistic

    legacy. Both vowed to reduce the powers of the presidency in

    favor of the parliament and the government, and both centered

    their campaign on promoting the country's entry into the EU

    and NATO.

    But the two differed considerably in personality and

    style, and this was one of the keys to Mesic's victory.

    Budisa has excellent opposition credentials. Throughout his

    political career, he had been a political opponent of

    Tudjman's, while Mesic spent three years in Tudjman's

    Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) before breaking with his

    former boss. Budisa's seriousness and his tendency to lecture

    voters, however, reminded many of Tudjman. Some commentators

    even went so far as to call Budisa "Tudjman with a smile."

    Mesic's easygoing attitude and his penchant for telling jokes

    and stories appealed to voters because they were such a stark

    contrast to Tudjman's dour manner and stiffness.

    The last two weeks of the election campaign, following

    the first round on 24 January, were particularly dirty. Most

    of the mudslinging came from the Budisa camp. Media close to

    him questioned the origins of Mesic's campaign financing and

    alleged that he had worked with the communist secret police.

    None of these accusations has held up to scrutiny.

    Nevertheless, Budisa seized on this chance to attack his

    opponent. He continually harped on those accusations--even

    though voters did not seem particularly interested. In the

    end, this negative campaigning backfired on Budisa because it

    reminded many of the tactics that Tudjman had employed

    against his political opponents.

    Just as the two candidates differed little in their

    platforms, so they held similar positions on the three issues

    that most concern Croatia's Western partners. Both men

    promised to abandon support for Croatian separatists in

    Bosnia-Herzegovina, to cooperate with the Hague-based war

    crimes tribunal, and to support the return of ethnic Serbian

    refugees who fled Croatia during the 1991-1995 war.

    Budisa, however, has been more reserved on these issues

    than has Mesic. To some extent, he has adopted the former HDZ

    government's position by saying that he will not send to The

    Hague those documents relating to offensives that Croats

    carried out against rebel Serbs in 1995 and that he deems

    "vital to national security." He has also stopped short of

    making a clean break with Herzegovinian Croats, as Mesic has

    done. Instead, Budisa promised to continue to finance the

    Herzegovinians' military. These differences failed to attract

    much attention during the campaign--except among the

    Herzegovinians, who voted for Budisa en masse. But Budisa's

    stands on Herzegovina and The Hague could easily have led to

    serious problems in Croatia's relations with the

    international community.

    One of the major issues now facing Croatia will be

    relations between the president and the new government. The

    country faces serious economic and social problems, as both

    governing coalitions pointed out during the election

    campaign. Croatia simply cannot afford a constitutional

    crisis or a delay in the government's reform efforts just

    because the president and government cannot work well

    together. Many Croatian opinion-makers chose to endorse

    Budisa precisely because he is from the larger coalition and

    would presumably cooperate with a cabinet dominated by that

    alliance.

    Many voters, however, chose to support Mesic precisely

    because he is not affiliated with the large coalition. They

    are still skeptical about the new government's ability not to

    become corrupted by power. For that reason, they voted for

    Mesic from the smaller coalition because they did not want to

    recreate the monopoly of power that they previously gave

    Tudjman and the HDZ.

    In the end, voters chose Mesic because of his charisma

    and his promise to keep the new government in check. Whether

    this turns out to be a wise choice will depend on Mesic's

    willingness to accept cuts in the powers of the presidency--a

    move that all parties support--and on his ability to

    cooperate with the government in dealing with the serious

    social and economic problems the country faces.

    The author is a Zagreb-based writer (akrickovic@aol.com.)

    10-02-00


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


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