|
Central Asia / Siberia
NEWSLINE: Central Asia, Transcaucasia and RussiaRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Kurdish protests continue in several CIS states
Ethnic Kurds in several CIS states continue to protest the arrest of Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and to demand his release. Some 30 Kurds, including an 11-year-old girl, are continuing a hunger strike outside the UN building in Yerevan, which they began on 19 February, Noyan Tapan reported on 23 February. In Tbilisi, several hundred Kurds staged a protest march, bringing traffic in the city center to a standstill, and then demonstrated outside the Turkish embassy to demand a fair trial for Ocalan, AP and ''Rezonansi'' reported. In Kazakhstan, some 200 ethnic Kurds began a hunger strike in the city of Taraz on 23 February, Interfax reported. (Liz Fuller/Bruce Pannier)
Tajik president warns of new threat from Afghanistan
Imomali Rakhmonov, speaking on 23 February at a ceremony marking Defenders of Fatherland Day, warned that he had information about a threat from terrorists training in Afghanistan, RFE/RL correspondents in Dushanbe reported. Rakhmonov said there are some 400 people undergoing sabotage training in various areas of Afghanistan, with the goal of ''creating chaos'' in parts of Tajikistan. He did not elaborate. (B.P.)
Iran, Russia need to play 'key role' in Tajikistan
UN special envoy to Tajikistan Jan Kubis told journalists in Tehran on 23 February that Iran and Russia have been active participants in establishing peace in Tajikistan. He called on both countries now to play a ''key role'' in speeding up the peace process there. And he thanked Iranian officials for their help in seeking a ''full and final normalization of the situation in Tajikistan,'' ITAR-TASS reported. (B.P.)
Karimov reveals more details of bombings
Uzbek President Islam Karimov, addressing diplomats and journalists in Tashkent on 23 February, revealed more details of the 16 February terrorist bombings. One of the primary suspects, Ulughbek Babajanov, had visited government headquarters six times before the bombings, he said. Babajanov, who is still at large, obtained permission to enter the building from a deputy prime minister whom Karimov did not name. That official was guilty of negligence and poor judgment rather than complicity in the attack, the president argued. Karimov also said that not only Wahhabis but members of Hezbollah were involved in planning the attack. According to AP, Karimov said the attacks were planned in a foreign country, but he did not name which one. (B.P.)
Local officials help in Uzbek investigation
ITAR-TASS reported on 22 February that passport control in Uzbekistan has been tightened and the government has asked local officials and committees to help in the investigation of last week's bombings. The news outlet quotes a ''high official in the country's passport agency'' as saying these local officials and committees are, in effect, carrying out a census in order to identify suspicious individuals. Crime has reportedly decreased dramatically in Uzbekistan since the attacks, and while no curfew has been imposed, the streets of Tashkent are reportedly almost deserted after 9:00 p.m. local time. (B.P.)
Foreign loans for Kyrgyz agriculture embezzled
The Kyrgyz Agricultural Ministry on 23 February announced that last year's agricultural output totaled 19.6 billion som ($654 million), RFE/RL correspondents reported. Prime Minister Jumabek Ibraimov noted that most of the money from foreign loans for agriculture has been embezzled, and he advised more stringent control over such funds. He added that agriculture is the only sphere of the Kyrgyz economy that can ensure ''real growth'' of GDP in 1999-2000, Interfax reported. (B.P.)
Armenia floats regional cooperation initiative
Armenian parliament chairman Khosrov Harutiunian has written to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Murtuz Alesqerov, to solicit the latter's support for Harutiunian's proposal to convene a meeting of Transcaucasus parliamentary chairmen under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Noyan Tapan reported on 23 February. The letter stresses the importance of peaceful dialogue in seeking a solution to the region's problems. It also proposes conducting seminars on regional cooperation under PACE auspices. A spokesman for the Azerbaijani parliament told Turan on 23 February that Alesqerov has not yet received the missive, which Armenia's ambassador in Moscow was to deliver to his Azerbaijani counterpart (Armenia and Azerbaijan have no diplomatic relations). (L.F.)
Azerbaijan president calls for resolute action on Karabakh
In a letter addressed to the French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Heidar Aliev urged those officials to ''act resolutely'' to find a solution to the Karabakh conflict, Interfax reported on 23 February. Aliev said that his country's position is ''constructive,'' but he repeated that Azerbaijan ''flatly rejects'' the most recent peace plan proposed by the Minsk Group. He said that plan, which advocates a ''common state'' comprising Azerbaijan and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, ''pushes the peace process back and reduces the chance of a settlement.'' But the Russian co-chairman, Yurii Yukalov, has denied that the Minsk Group will deviate from its most recent peace proposal, Turan reported on 23 February, citing Snark. (L.F.)
Shevardnadze clarifies position on CIS security treaty
Eduard Shevardnadze's press service issued a statement on 23 February denying that Shevardnadze stated unequivocally that Georgia will not renew its membership in the CIS Security Treaty after that treaty expires in April, ITAR-TASS reported. The statement quoted Shevardnadze as having said the previous day that the treaty has not benefited Georgia and that he intends to coordinate with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov his position on whether to recommit Georgia to membership. Karimov has said his country will not renew its membership in the treaty. Shevardnadze said on 8 February that Georgia would renew its membership in the treaty ''if our interests are taken into consideration'' with regard to the Abkhaz conflict and the continued presence of Russian military bases in Georgia. (L.F.)
Russian foreign minister visits Mongolia . . .
During a one-day visit to Ulan Bator on 23 February, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov met with President Natsagiin Bagabandi, to whom he handed a letter from Yeltsin, ITAR-TASS reported. In that letter, the Russian president wrote that Moscow wants to continue strengthening traditional bilateral ties in the spirit of the 1993 agreement on friendly relations and cooperation. Ivanov said his conversation with Prime Minister Zhanlavyn Narantsataralt was ''concrete and constructive,'' noting that they discussed, among others, boosting trade between Mongolia and Russian regions bordering the Asian country. A protocol on cooperation between the two countries' Foreign Ministries was signed, as was an agreement on cooperation in the use of diplomatic archives. (B.P.)
Governors cool toward Primakov proposal
Russian Prime Minister Primakov's call for an amendment to the constitution providing for governors to be appointed rather than elected drew a cool response from Russia's regional heads (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 22 and 23 February 1999). According to ''Kommersant-Daily'' on 23 February, governors were ''outraged'' at Primakov's suggestion, and following his speech to the Sever-Zapad interregional association, Novgorod Oblast Governor Mikhail Prusak, Murmansk Oblast Governor Yurii Yevdokimov, and Republic of Karelia Chairman Yurii Katanandov all harshly criticized federal government policy on various issues. However, Carnegie Moscow Center analyst Nikolai Petrov told the ''Moscow Times'' that Primakov's proposal should prove appealing to governors because they would get to appoint mayors, who can be their biggest headaches, and avoid the risk of not being re-elected. He predicted that ''the elite--federal, regional, and local--is close to reaching a deal at the expense of the electorate.'' (Julie A. Corwin)
Russian govt. says U.S. steel issue is unresolved
The Russian government says that the Russian-U.S. steel agreement concluded by its trade negotiators in Rome on 23 February is not yet a done deal. First Deputy Prime Minister Yurii Maslyukov told reporters that the government has not yet reached a final decision on the agreement and that doing so ''will be very difficult.'' Also on 23 February, Vladimir Ponomarev, the head of exports at Severstal, one of Russia's largest steel producers, told Bloomberg that the minimum price set by the agreement is too high and will shut his company's goods out of the U.S. market. But Magnitogorsk Director-General Viktor Rashnikov told ITAR-TASS that he approves in principle of the agreement. (J.A.C.)
Germany reluctant to write off debt
Russia's Ministry of Finance has postponed until 1 March announcing the terms it is offering foreign holders of defaulted short-term treasury bonds. First Deputy Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said foreign investors will be allowed to buy shares on the secondary market using ruble proceeds from exchanging defaulted bonds. Meanwhile, German government officials and bankers are opposed to writing off Russia's debts inherited from the former Soviet Union, ''Segodnya'' reported. According to the newspaper, Germany would be satisfied with payments in oil, gas, and gold, as proposed by Commerzbank, but ''sober financial logic'' dictates that Germany, which holds 40 percent of the Soviet Union debt, must insist on repayment. Earlier, former Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko, who met with German creditors in Bonn at the Primakov government's request, had suggested that the Soviet debt be written off. (J.A.C.)
Only five regions have paid wages in full
Russian regions were allotted 30.4 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) during 1998 for the payment of wages and reduction of debts from the federal budget, according to a State Duma press release, Interfax reported. During the same period, regions also received 2.5 billion rubles in loans from the center. At present only five regions do not have outstanding debts to state workers: the cities of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and the Yamalo-Nenetsk and Taimirskii Autonomous Okrugs. (J.A.C.)
(c)1998 RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
________________________________________________
CURRENT AND BACK ISSUES ON THE WEB
Back issues of RFE/RL Newsline and the OMRI Daily Digest are online at:http://www.rferl.org/newsline/search/
To receive reprint permission, please contact Paul Goble via email at GobleP@rferl.org or fax at 1-202-457-6992
_________________________________________________
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
|
February 26, 1999
