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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 171, 01-09-10

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. 5, No. 171, 10 September 2001


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES DEMAND PRESIDENT'S IMPEACHMENT...
  • [02] ...CONVINCING HIM TO SEEK RE-ELECTION
  • [03] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT OUTLINES PRIORITIES
  • [04] AZERBAIJAN, RUSSIA TO SIGN AGREEMENT ON CONTROVERSIAL RADAR
  • [05] AZERBAIJANI SECURITY MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO IRAN
  • [06] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN OFFERS TO RESIGN
  • [07] FORMER GEORGIAN COMMUNIST PARTY BOSS FORMS NEW POLITICAL
  • [08] OSCE TO EXPAND MONITORING OF GEORGIA'S BORDERS WITH NORTH
  • [09] AUDIT CHAMBER DETAILS FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT IN GEORGIAN
  • [10] GEORGIA REGISTERS 5 PERCENT GDP GROWTH
  • [11] OSCE QUERIES LEGALITY OF SENTENCE ON FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER
  • [12] IMPRISONED FORMER KYRGYZ OFFICIAL TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST
  • [13] NEW HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOUNDED IN KYRGYZSTAN
  • [14] MINISTER'S ASSASSINATION, BOMB BLAST CAST PALL OVER TAJIK
  • [15] IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CUTS SHORT VISIT TO TAJIKISTAN

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [16] EU BACKS NEW PLAN FOR MACEDONIA...
  • [17] ...BUT NOT ON ITS FORM
  • [18] PUTIN, CHIRAC DISCUSS MACEDONIA
  • [19] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS RETURN HOME
  • [20] MOLOTOV COCKTAIL BLASTS SERBIAN POLITICIAN'S CAR
  • [21] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES FIND ANOTHER MASS GRAVE
  • [22] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES NEW CABINET
  • [23] ROMANIAN PREMIER EXPOUNDS ON AGREEMENT WITH IMF
  • [24] ROMANIA ENDS COMMEMORATION OF UNIFYING PRINCE
  • [25] ROMANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS ROYAL RESTITUTION CLAIM IS 'NO
  • [26] OSCE CONFERENCE ON ROMA DISCRIMINATION OPENS IN BUCHAREST
  • [27] ROMANIAN PREMIER SIGNALS CHANGE IN POLICY ON MOLDOVA
  • [28] MOLDOVAN NEGOTIATORS IN KYIV RETURN EMPTY-HANDED
  • [29] MOLDOVAN MAJOR DISMISSED FROM JCC
  • [30] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER OPTIMISTIC ON NATO, EU MEMBERSHIP
  • [31] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH SUPPORTS EFFORTS TO MEND BULGARIAN
  • [32] BULGARIAN MUSLIM LEADER PRAISES COUNTRY'S TOLERANCE
  • [33] STATUE HONORING FORMER COMMUNIST LEADER REERECTED IN

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [34] CZECH REPUBLIC MOVES TO ABOLISH CONSCRIPTION, JOINS EUROPEAN

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES DEMAND PRESIDENT'S IMPEACHMENT...

    As anticipated (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September 2001), on

    7 September the leaders of the People's Party of Armenia,

    Hanrapetutiun, and the National Accord Front issued a joint

    statement calling for the impeachment of President Robert

    Kocharian, whom they accuse of violating the Armenian

    Constitution, condoning terrorism, and precipitating the

    country into a deep political, moral, psychological, and

    socioeconomic crisis, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The

    statement also repeated earlier allegations that Kocharian

    sought to sabotage the investigation into the October 1999

    parliament shootings in order to prevent the identity of the

    organizers from becoming known. The joint statement was read

    by Artashes Geghamian, a leading member of the AHCh, at

    Hanrapetutiun's first congress in Yerevan at which one of the

    party's leaders, former Yerevan Mayor Albert Bazeyan,

    declared that "the removal of the Kocharian regime and the

    formation of a legitimate government is the main precondition

    for the development of our country." Bazeyan stressed,

    however, that Kocharian's ouster must be accomplished "by

    constitutional means." LF

    [02] ...CONVINCING HIM TO SEEK RE-ELECTION

    Visiting a Yerevan

    factory on 8 September, Kocharian announced that the

    opposition statement released the previous day had served to

    demolish his earlier doubts over whether to seek re-election

    in 2003, and that he has made up his mind to do so, RFE/RL's

    Yerevan bureau reported. Kocharian criticized the

    opposition's challenge as "filled with malice," adding that

    "people with so much malice endanger the country by seeking

    [to come to] power." LF

    [03] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT OUTLINES PRIORITIES

    During an Internet

    forum on 7 September moderated by the Russian electronic

    daily gazeta.sng, Kocharian listed as his top priority

    creating "an economically strong Armenia," RFE/RL's Yerevan

    bureau reported. But he acknowledged that it will not be

    possible to achieve that objective without large-scale

    foreign investment, according to Noyan Tapan. Kocharian

    claimed that the economic climate has improved markedly over

    the past two to three years, although he admitted that many

    people have not yet experienced an improvement in their

    living conditions. Kocharian stressed the importance for all

    three South Caucasus states of ending ongoing conflicts. He

    also said Armenia supports any steps aimed at establishing

    civilized and good-neighborly relations with Turkey, Noyan

    Tapan reported. LF

    [04] AZERBAIJAN, RUSSIA TO SIGN AGREEMENT ON CONTROVERSIAL RADAR

    FACILITY

    During talks in Moscow on 7 September, Russian

    Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and his visiting Azerbaijani

    counterpart Colonel General Safar Abiev succeeded in

    narrowing outstanding differences over the terms and duration

    for which Russia's radar facility at Gabala in Azerbaijan

    will continue to operate, Russian agencies reported. The two

    sides will sign an agreement formalizing those conditions

    during President Heidar Aliev's upcoming visit to Moscow,

    which is planned for late November. Ivanov told journalists

    that it does not make sense to extend the lease for Gabala

    only for a period of three to five years, as Baku has

    proposed, according to AP. Russia wants the lease extended

    for 20 to 25 years. Ivanov also said a joint Azerbaijani-

    Russian commission has evaluated, and is inclined to reject,

    allegations that the radar station poses a serious ecological

    hazard. Ivanov also told journalists after his meeting with

    Abiev that Russia is ready to help modernize Azerbaijan's

    Soviet-era military hardware and to train Azerbaijani

    servicemen "on easy terms." Abiev for his part said agreement

    was reached on cooperation between the two countries' air

    defense systems, Turan reported. LF

    [05] AZERBAIJANI SECURITY MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO IRAN

    Namig

    Abbasov returned to Baku on 8 September after meeting in

    Tehran on 6 September with Iranian President Mohammad

    Khattami, Turan reported. Khattami affirmed his conviction

    that "with understanding and mutual respect," it will prove

    possible to resolve all contentious issues between the five

    Caspian littoral states without infringing on their

    legitimate interests. He also expressed satisfaction over the

    visit, scheduled for 17 September, of President Aliev. An

    Azerbaijani delegation made up of several government

    ministers and oil and transport sector officials arrived in

    Tehran on 8 September to prepare for that visit, during which

    a total of 10 agreements are to be signed, according to ITAR-

    TASS. LF

    [06] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN OFFERS TO RESIGN

    Following the

    failure of the majority Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK)

    parliament faction to elicit support for an open letter to

    President Eduard Shevardnadze calling for more effective

    measures to counter corruption (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31

    August 2001), parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania offered to

    resign if 100 of the total 235 parliament deputies sign a

    statement calling on him to do so, Caucasus Press reported on

    7 September. Both opposition and SMK deputies rejected that

    proposal (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 4, No. 31, 10

    September 2001). LF

    [07] FORMER GEORGIAN COMMUNIST PARTY BOSS FORMS NEW POLITICAL

    ALLIANCE

    Djumber Patiashvili, who in 1985 succeeded

    Shevardnadze as first secretary of the Communist Party of

    Georgia and ran unsuccessfully against him in the

    presidential elections of 1995 and 2000, has joined forces

    with Aleksandre Chachia, who in 1999 headed a political party

    intended to revive the west Georgian region of Mingrelia (see

    "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2, No. 13, 31 March 1999), to

    form the Unity alliance, Caucasus Press reported. Patiashvili

    was elected chairman at the movement's founding congress in

    Tbilisi on 7 September. He told journalists its objectives

    are restoring Georgia's territorial integrity and promoting

    social equality. LF

    [08] OSCE TO EXPAND MONITORING OF GEORGIA'S BORDERS WITH NORTH

    CAUCASUS

    The OSCE has agreed "in principle" to a request by

    the Georgian government to deploy observers on Georgia's

    borders with Daghestan and Ingushetia, in addition to those

    who since early last year have been posted along Georgia's

    border with Chechnya, but the technical issues involved have

    not yet been resolved, AP quoted Georgian Foreign Ministry

    spokesman Kakha Sikharulidze as telling journalists in

    Tbilisi on 7 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 March 2001).

    Also on 7 September, new accommodation for the OSCE monitors

    on the Georgian-Chechen border was opened in the village of

    Shatili. LF

    [09] AUDIT CHAMBER DETAILS FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT IN GEORGIAN

    DEFENSE MINISTRY

    Following an audit of the Georgian Defense

    Ministry's financial transactions during the first six months

    of this year, the press service of Georgia's Audit Chamber

    said on 7 September that the ministry currently owes some

    42.7 million laris ($20.6 million), including 17.3 million

    laris in wage arrears, Caucasus Press reported. Defense

    Minister Davit Tevzadze told a parliament committee on 6

    September that the armed forces need a minimum of 71 million

    laris ($34.3 million) in funding for 2002 (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 7 September 2001). Parliament deputy Koba

    Amirkhanishvili said the same day he will resign his mandate

    if the Finance Ministry does not accede to that demand,

    "Akhali taoba" reported on 7 September. LF

    [10] GEORGIA REGISTERS 5 PERCENT GDP GROWTH

    Georgia's GDP

    increased by 5.4 percent during the first six months of 2001

    compared with the corresponding period for last year,

    Caucasus Press reported on 7 September, but industrial output

    during the period January-July 2001 fell by 2.6 percent

    compared with 2000. LF

    [11] OSCE QUERIES LEGALITY OF SENTENCE ON FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER

    The OSCE office in Kazakhstan issued a statement in Almaty on

    7 September expressing doubt that the jail sentence handed

    down the previous day to former Prime Minister Akezhan

    Kazhegeldin conforms to international standards of justice,

    Russian agencies reported. Kazhegeldin was sentenced in

    absentia to 10 years imprisonment on charges of abuse of

    office, tax evasion, taking bribes, and illegal possession of

    weapons (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 September 2001). The OSCE

    noted that trying a defendant in absentia may violate the

    principle of equality before the law, and that "there are

    certain doubts" that the presumption of innocence was fully

    observed during the trial. LF

    [12] IMPRISONED FORMER KYRGYZ OFFICIAL TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST

    PRESIDENT

    Former Kyrgyz Vice President and opposition Ar-

    Namys Party leader Feliks Kulov has brought a lawsuit against

    President Askar Akaev and is demanding that the president

    publish an apology for branding him as a person who

    "disappointed him" and "who loved power too much," RFE/RL's

    Bishkek bureau reported on 8 September. That characterization

    appears in Akaev's book "The Memorable Decade," which was

    formally launched on 24 August. Kulov was sentenced in

    January to seven years imprisonment on charges of abuse of

    power while serving as national security minister in 1997-

    1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 January 2001). LF

    [13] NEW HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOUNDED IN KYRGYZSTAN

    Representatives of the Asaba, Ata-Meken, Erkindik, Kairan-El

    and Communist parties, together with several NGOs, attended a

    meeting in Bishkek on 8 September to mark the foundation of

    the Independent Commission for Human Rights, RFE/RL's Bishkek

    bureau reported. Recently released Erkindik party leader

    Topchubek Turgunaliev was elected chairman of the commission.

    LF

    [14] MINISTER'S ASSASSINATION, BOMB BLAST CAST PALL OVER TAJIK

    INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS

    Tajikistan's Minister of Culture

    Abdurahim Rahimov was shot dead outside his home in Dushanbe

    early on 8 September by a lone gunman who then escaped. It

    was the third such killing of a senior government official so

    far this year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 April and 18 July

    2001). Law-enforcement officials described the shooting as "a

    terrorist act," while President Imomali Rakhmonov condemned

    the unknown perpetrators as "enemies of the Tajik people." On

    9 September a young man was killed when a homemade bomb he

    was carrying exploded some 500-1,000 meters away from a

    stadium in Dushanbe where Rakhmonov and other senior

    officials were attending festivities to mark the 10th

    anniversary of Tajikistan's independence. LF

    [15] IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CUTS SHORT VISIT TO TAJIKISTAN

    Kamal Kharrazi left Dushanbe prematurely after a 3 1/2 hour

    meeting and dinner with Rakhmonov on 7 September, saying that

    unspecified "important matters" required his presence in

    Tehran, AP reported the following day. Kharrazi was to have

    met on 8 September with his Tajik counterpart Talbak Nazarov

    and to have taken part in the independence day celebrations

    the following day. During his 7 September meeting with

    Rakhmonov, the two men discussed bilateral relations and the

    situation in Afghanistan. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [16] EU BACKS NEW PLAN FOR MACEDONIA...

    Meeting in Genval,

    Belgium, on 9 September, EU foreign ministers endorsed a

    proposal by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to

    provide an armed Western presence to protect OSCE monitors

    after the end of NATO's Operation Essential Harvest on 26

    September, RFE/RL reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7

    September 2001). The force could be NATO-led but would

    include Russian, Ukrainian, and other non-NATO forces.

    Fischer stressed that "we must avoid a vacuum" after NATO's

    arms-collection program is completed. His French counterpart

    Hubert Vedrine said that "we cannot purely and simply leave"

    after Operation Essential Harvest. Fischer noted that

    Macedonia faces three potential threats: a security vacuum,

    the rise of "a silent coalition of extremists on both sides,"

    and an ethnic division of the small republic, Deutsche Welle

    reported. The ministers agreed that the mission would be part

    of a larger program that includes economic assistance. PM

    [17] ...BUT NOT ON ITS FORM

    The EU foreign ministers meeting in

    Genval on 9 September agreed on Fischer's recommendations but

    did not endorse any specific operational plan, "The

    Independent" reported. Vedrine noted that the proposed EU

    security and defense "arrangements" are not "quite ready

    yet," and that consequently "it is more sensible, easier, and

    more practical to act in a NATO framework." Some EU countries

    -- notably Finland, Sweden, and Ireland -- feel that such a

    mission should also have a UN mandate, but others -- such as

    the U.K. -- argue that a UN-sponsored arrangement would "give

    a lot of people the opportunity to make mischief," meaning

    primarily Moscow and Beijing. Russian Foreign Minister Igor

    Ivanov and Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski want a UN

    mandate for any new force, such as the former UNPREDEP had.

    On 10 September, Reuters quoted unnamed Macedonian government

    "sources" as saying that the government would probably yield

    to outside pressure and accept a long-term, foreign military

    presence. An international donors conference is slated for 15

    October. Ethnic Albanian guerrillas insist that they trust

    only NATO. PM

    [18] PUTIN, CHIRAC DISCUSS MACEDONIA

    Quoting a Kremlin statement,

    Reuters reported from Moscow on 10 September that French

    President Jacques Chirac and his Russian counterpart Vladimir

    Putin discussed Macedonia in a telephone conversation. It is

    not clear which man initiated the contact. PM

    [19] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS RETURN HOME

    Some 8,000 ethnic Albanians

    from Macedonia have returned to that country from Kosova in

    recent days at the Blace border crossing alone, RFE/RL's

    South Slavic Service reported on 9 September. PM

    [20] MOLOTOV COCKTAIL BLASTS SERBIAN POLITICIAN'S CAR

    Unidentified persons destroyed the car of Slobodan

    Vuksanovic, vice president of the Movement for Democratic

    Serbia (PDS), with a Molotov cocktail in Belgrade on 7

    September, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The DPS is

    part of the governing Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS)

    coalition. Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said

    the next day that Vuksanovic had recently received telephone

    threats urging him to stop working with Yugoslav President

    Vojislav Kostunica. Mihajlovic stressed that the attack on

    the car of Vuksanovic, who was elsewhere at the time, is part

    of an ongoing campaign aimed at intimidating the public, and

    must be stopped. Vuksanovic is a rival of Serbian Prime

    Minister Zoran Djindjic. PM

    [21] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES FIND ANOTHER MASS GRAVE

    Serbian police

    said in a statement on 9 September that they have found "26

    unidentified bodies and body parts near Lake Perucac, not far

    from the town of Uzice," AP reported from Belgrade. The

    bodies are believed to be those of Kosova Albanians dumped in

    the lake from a freezer truck in 1999. An unidentified police

    official told the news agency that "after locals noticed

    floating corpses in April 1999, the bodies...were removed

    from the lake and transferred to a mass grave." This is but

    the latest in a series of grisly discoveries by the Serbian

    police since the ouster of former President Slobodan

    Milosevic in October 2000 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 May

    2001). PM

    [22] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES NEW CABINET

    Rexhep Meidani

    formally approved the 22-member government of Prime Minister

    Ilir Meta in Tirana on 7 September, AP reported. The new

    cabinet includes four carryovers from the previous one

    including Interior Minister Ilir Gjoni, and Finance Minister

    Anastas Angjeli. Arta Dade becomes Albania's first woman

    foreign minister. Former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko

    received the defense portfolio. PM

    [23] ROMANIAN PREMIER EXPOUNDS ON AGREEMENT WITH IMF

    Adrian

    Nastase and Neven Mates, chief IMF negotiator for Romania, on

    7 September told journalists that the agreement included in

    the "letter of intent" agreed upon earlier that day (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September 2001) provides for

    accelerating the privatization program, reining in salaries

    in the public sector, and adjusting electricity prices, AFP

    reported. The agreement foresees a 22 percent annual

    inflation rate, 5 percent economic growth, a 6 percent

    deficit in the current account, and a 3 percent budget

    deficit. Meanwhile, a study released on 7 September by the

    Romanian Center for Economic Policy said that 31 percent of

    Romania's GDP in 2000 was produced by underground economic

    activity. A study conducted by the UN Development Program in

    July estimated Romania's underground economy at between 20

    and 30 percent of GDP. MS

    [24] ROMANIA ENDS COMMEMORATION OF UNIFYING PRINCE

    President Ion

    Iliescu, former King Michael, former President Emil

    Constantinescu, as well as Premier Nastase and other

    officials participated on 8 September in Targoviste in a

    ceremony to unveil an equestrian statue of Prince Michael the

    Brave, who briefly unified the three Romanian principalities

    in 1601, Romanian radio reported. The ceremony marked the

    ending of a series of events honoring Prince Michael on the

    400th anniversary of his assassination. Iliescu said in his

    speech that "no one should underestimate the virtues of the

    Romanian people...whose historic destiny has not ended."

    Former King Michael called for unity among Romanians in the

    service of their country. MS

    [25] ROMANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS ROYAL RESTITUTION CLAIM IS 'NO

    PRIORITY'

    n Among the officials who attended the ceremony in

    Targoviste was Serban Mihailescu, secretary of the

    government, who told journalists that the restitution of the

    Peles castle to the former king "is not a priority for the

    government" and that the cabinet has no intention to conduct

    "special negotiations" with the former monarch on the

    castle's restitution. Mihailescu added that a special

    governmental office will be set up to deal with "unforeseen

    problems" relating to restitution claims. He said some of the

    property whose restitution is now demanded "has been

    mortgaged." MS

    [26] OSCE CONFERENCE ON ROMA DISCRIMINATION OPENS IN BUCHAREST

    An

    international conference held under OSCE auspices on the

    struggle against discrimination of Roma opened in Bucharest

    on 10 September, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The

    four-day conference is being attended by some 300

    participants, including nongovernmental organizations working

    with Roma and representatives of the community. Speaking in

    his capacity as OSCE rotating chairman, Foreign Minister

    Mircea Geoana on 9 September said the OSCE intends to "take a

    series of concrete measures" to improve the Roma's situation

    and added that solutions "necessitate an overall European

    approach, beyond national efforts." MS

    [27] ROMANIAN PREMIER SIGNALS CHANGE IN POLICY ON MOLDOVA

    Nastase

    on 7 September reiterated his "dismay" at Moldova's

    cancellation of a tender for the sale of two Moldovan

    electricity companies on the grounds that one of them is

    heavily indebted to Ukrainian electricity suppliers and its

    shares may have to be taken over by the Ukrainian utility,

    RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Nastase said that he

    "wonders" whether Romania should use similar methods to

    ensure the payment of the $32 million Moldova owes Romania

    for electricity supplies. The Romanian premier said Romania

    has provided $3.5 million for various projects in Moldova,

    but does not know "where the money goes." Nastase said that

    from now on, priority in relations with Moldova should be on

    the economic aspects and particularly in bilateral

    collaboration between border-adjacent counties. MS

    [28] MOLDOVAN NEGOTIATORS IN KYIV RETURN EMPTY-HANDED

    After four

    days of negotiations in Kyiv on the customs checkpoints

    established by Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on

    Ukrainian territory, the Moldovan delegation headed by First

    Deputy Premier Dimitrii Todoroglo on 7 September returned

    home without having succeeded to obtain the accord of the

    authorities in Kyiv, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The

    Ukrainian side is insisting that representatives of the

    separatists take part in the negotiations. A new round of

    parleys will be held on 11 September, also in Ukraine.

    Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev earlier said that Kyiv

    had agreed to the joint customs posts but later ordered its

    customs officers to detain the Moldovan customs officials if

    they step on Ukrainian territory. Separatist leader Igor

    Smirnov on 7 September met with the Ukrainian and Russian

    ambassadors to Moldova as well as with the OSCE head of

    mission William Hill, and reiterated that Chisinau is setting

    up an "economic blockade" of the Transdniester by having

    withdrawn permission from Tiraspol to use the Moldovan

    customs seals. MS

    [29] MOLDOVAN MAJOR DISMISSED FROM JCC

    The joint Control

    Commission on 7 September dismissed Major Iurie Cheibas from

    the staff of the commission's military observers, RFE/RL's

    Chisinau bureau reported. Cheibas was detained on 2 September

    by the authorities in Tiraspol for having allegedly engaged

    in spying activities during the celebrations of the

    separatists' 11th independence anniversary. He was freed last

    week on "humanitarian grounds." The commission's Russian

    commander of the observer force said that an investigation

    revealed that Cheibas had left his post without the knowledge

    of his superiors and without their permission. Cheibas will

    continue to serve in the Moldovan military forces. MS

    [30] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER OPTIMISTIC ON NATO, EU MEMBERSHIP

    Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi, in an interview with Reuters

    on 7 September, said he believes "NATO would not make the

    mistake of leaving the Balkans out of its future expansion."

    Pasi said that "Bulgaria is fully prepared for NATO

    membership. It acted as a de facto NATO ally during the

    Kosovo crisis and ever since it has acted as a functioning

    member of the alliance." Pasi also said that Bulgaria "has a

    strong intention of completing EU talks in 2004 and joining

    as a full member in 2006." Gaining NATO membership, he added,

    would bolster Bulgaria's EU accession bid. Pasi acknowledged

    that "Bulgaria has the image of a laggard," but said this

    image "has to be overcome" and that it would be "fair to

    recognize" that the country has "made significant progress in

    the past few years." He also said that it would be more

    "cost-effective" for the West to "invest in building

    infrastructure in the Balkans, rather than having to sustain

    numerous peacekeeping operations" as a result of ethnic

    conflicts that arise due to "fragmentation, bad

    infrastructure, and poverty." MS

    [31] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH SUPPORTS EFFORTS TO MEND BULGARIAN

    ORTHODOX CHURCH CONFLICT

    Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew II

    on 8 September joined Patriarch Maxim in saying mass in

    Sofia's Sveta Nedelya (St. Dominique) cathedral and said

    afterward that he strongly supports the Bulgarian patriarch's

    efforts to mend the rift in the country's Orthodox Church, AP

    reported. The dispute began a decade ago, when dissenting

    clergymen demanded that Maxim step down, accusing him of

    having cooperated with the communist regime. Prime Minister

    Simeon Saxecoburggotski attended the mass and consulted with

    both patriarchs after the service. AP said Saxecoburggotski's

    presence signals a turnaround in the government's policy

    toward Maxim. Former Premier Ivan Kostov was at odds with

    Maxim, silently supported his opponents, and refused to

    attend masses served by him or by prelates under his

    jurisdiction. MS

    [32] BULGARIAN MUSLIM LEADER PRAISES COUNTRY'S TOLERANCE

    Chief

    Mufti Selim Mehmed, the spiritual leader of Bulgaria's Muslim

    community on 8 September, praised that Balkan country for its

    ethnic and religious tolerance amid a conflict-ridden region,

    AP reported. Mehmed told journalists that "against the

    background of everything happening in the Balkans, we, in

    Bulgaria, have succeeded in building a model for ethnic and

    religious tolerance and peace." He also said that "in

    contrast to other countries, Muslims in Bulgaria are widely

    open to the Eastern Orthodox community." At the same time,

    Mehmed urged the government to speed up restitution of Muslim

    community property. MS

    [33] STATUE HONORING FORMER COMMUNIST LEADER REERECTED IN

    BULGARIA

    Some 3,000 people on 7 September attended a

    ceremony for the unveiling of a statue of Bulgaria's

    communist leader Todor Zhivkov on what would have been his

    90th birthday, AP reported. The statue was reerected on its

    former site in Zhivkov's birthplace in Pravets, some 60

    kilometers northeast of Sofia. The monument had been

    dismantled at Zhivkov's own orders, after Soviet leader

    Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on the perestroika course. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [34] CZECH REPUBLIC MOVES TO ABOLISH CONSCRIPTION, JOINS EUROPEAN

    TREND

    By Jeremy Bransten

    Since the fall of the Iron Curtain a decade ago,

    countries across Europe have reduced the size of their armed

    forces from 10 percent to as much as 50 percent.

    Most military strategists no longer see the need for

    large standing armies that are capable of repelling a massive

    land invasion. Instead, the emphasis has shifted to having

    smaller, more mobile units that can be rapidly deployed in

    crisis situations.

    The Czech Republic recently became the first former

    Communist state in Europe to attempt to reform its armed

    forces along these lines when the cabinet approved a bill

    that will lead to a smaller, all-professional army in six

    years.

    For Dan Smith, a retired U.S. army colonel and currently

    head of research at the Washington-based Center for Defense

    Information, this shift makes perfect sense.

    "Peace-keeping operations, peace enforcement,

    humanitarian relief, the evacuation of citizens caught in

    areas of crises, these are missions far different from the

    old linear style of warfare," Smith said. "So, the premium is

    really on being adaptable, being able to think on one's feet

    and to recognize situations as they start to evolve. And

    again, a well-trained professional force, I think, is better-

    suited to these kinds of missions."

    British-based military analyst Charles Heyman edits

    Jane's World Armies, a biannual survey of global armed

    forces. He points to another advantage of having professional

    soldiers versus conscripts.

    "If you want to involve yourself in out-of-area

    operations and you want to put troops into Macedonia or

    Kosovo or somewhere like that, then you need volunteers and

    probably, the best people are professionals as opposed to

    conscripts," Heyman said.

    The new military thinking coincides with a growing

    reluctance among young people in Europe to serve in the

    military. Each year, more and more draft-age young men opt

    for alternative civilian service. In Spain, to cite one

    example, fully three quarters of those eligible for military

    duty now choose this option.

    These factors prompted Spain to announce the abolishing

    of conscription less than two months ago. The country's last

    draftees will be released from duty by the end of the year.

    France is to follow the same course and end conscription by

    November 2001. Italy will abandon its draft by the end of

    2005. France's northern neighbors Belgium and the Netherlands

    ended compulsory service in 1992 and 1996 respectively. They

    in turn followed Britain's lead, which abolished conscription

    back in 1962. The world's leading military superpower, the

    United States, ended its call-up in 1973.

    The Czechs, it seems, have joined a well-established

    trend. In Western Europe, only Germany has stayed on the

    sidelines of the conscription debate, continuing to see the

    call-up as an important element of its inclusive, democratic

    ethos.

    Among the former Warsaw Pact states, the Czechs -- who

    are now fully fledged NATO members -- are the first to

    announce a definitive end to conscription.

    But Timothy Edmunds, a military expert at King's College

    in London, is not sure the Czech reform is the right course

    to follow.

    Edmunds said that NATO has been trying to sell a "one-

    size-fits-all" model of military reform to Central and

    Eastern European countries. And the post-Communist states,

    driven by a desire to join the alliance, have been eager to

    be seen to comply.

    "NATO, or the West in general, has a very particular

    model of what modern armed forces should look like and they

    are all-volunteer, they are professional, they are flexible,

    they are expeditionary and so on. And they've promoted this

    model very, very strongly in Central and Eastern Europe,"

    Edmunds said. "Now, I would argue that actually, in doing so,

    they've not really considered the drivers and implications of

    change in the Central and East European region and that

    they've not necessarily got to grips with the facts that

    perhaps Central European security and defense demands are

    quite different to those pressures facing the UK or the

    United States."

    Although experts generally agree that in the long run

    having an all-professional military ends up being cheaper

    than a conscript army, the switch-over is costly.

    Edmunds said budget-conscious Central and East European

    states cannot meet those costs. Instead, in their attempt to

    meet NATO's criteria, the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Baltic

    states and others have created hybrid militaries, consisting

    of a few professional elite units that are sent on prestige

    peace-keeping missions abroad, while the bulk of the

    military, made up of conscripts, suffers from under-funding.

    Edmunds said the Czechs' announcement that they will fully

    switch over to the Western, all-professional model is to a

    large extent driven by politics rather than military or

    budget considerations.

    "Military reform has been driven by foreign policy

    rather than by defense policy, so to an extent you see all

    the military reform budget go into elite cadres that fulfill

    this NATO idea of what a military should look like, almost as

    a sort of down-payment on NATO accession and I would argue to

    the detriment of the ability of the military to provide a

    national defense role," Edmunds said.

    In both Eastern and Western Europe, Edmunds said there

    has been too little fundamental debate about what role a

    country's military should perform in the post-Cold-War era.

    The post-Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe,

    because of budget constraints, may have to choose between

    training only rapid reaction professional units, that could

    be farmed out to NATO for specific missions but could not

    assure full territorial defense, or maintaining a standing

    conscript army capable only of territorial defense. They will

    likely not be able to afford the luxury of both.

    Edmunds said the rapid reaction model could work, but it

    would require a major rethink by the alliance, whose

    generals, while promoting the rapid reaction model, remain

    wary of forsaking territorial armies.

    "There is beginning to be a discussion in NATO about

    appropriate military reform and in doing so, role

    specialization among the Central and East Europeans. So

    rather than trying to provide a traditional national army

    that does everything, because of shrinking defense budgets

    and so on, [the idea is] to try to provide a military

    structure and a set of military institutions that can fulfill

    particular roles within NATO very well and particular

    alliance roles very well. But I think there's still a great

    deal of discomfort, both within the military itself and

    within NATO about the idea of giving up traditional military

    roles."

    Charles Heyman, of Jane's World Armies, notes that all

    countries moving to smaller all-professional forces must bear

    in mind that in times of crisis, it is essential to be able

    to call on reserves.

    "The Czechs always have to remember that you have to

    have the ability to expand your army, overnight, in a crisis,

    in an emergency," Heyman said.

    In earlier days, the major crisis never came, but both

    sides were theoretically prepared for it. Now, small-time

    emergencies seem to crop up with increasing frequency but

    they are less predictable. And national interests have become

    murkier to define -- a tough brief for any military planner.

    Jeremy Bransten is an RFE/RL correspondent.

    10-09-01


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


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