RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 220, Part II, 11 November 1999

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 220, Part II, 11 November 1999

A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern
Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia prepared by the
staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

This is Part II, a compilation of news concerning Central,
Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Part I covers Russia,
Transcaucasia and Central Asia and is distributed
simultaneously as a second document. Back issues of RFE/RL
Newsline and the OMRI Daily Digest are online at RFE/RL's Web
site: http://www.rferl.org/newsline

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Headlines, Part II

* UKRAINE'S SYMONENKO WINS SUPPORT OF PROGRESSIVE SOCIALISTS

* CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH TAKING TURN FOR WORSE?

* MONTENEGRIN DAILY SAYS YUGOSLAV COMMANDER SLAMMED
GOVERNMENT

End Note: UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF: KUCHMA VERSUS
COMMUNISM
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EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE

U.S. CRITICIZES BELARUS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD. U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh told a legal
conference at Raubichy near Minsk on 10 November that the
U.S. is deeply concerned about the human rights situation in
Belarus. Koh mentioned the disappearance and arrests of
prominent Belarusian oppositionists as the reason for that
concern. "Belarus is being left behind at a time when the
rest of Europe is seeking to build a common foundation of
democratic governance," Koh noted. He said the return of
Ambassador Daniel Speckhard to Minsk after a 15-month absence
does not mean that the U.S. is ready to normalize relations
with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government. Those
relations, he added, will normalize only after the Belarusian
government shows respect for human rights and the rule of
law. JM

LUKASHENKA THREATENS TO FIRE FINANCIAL OFFICIALS. The
Belarusian president harshly criticized the government and
central bank on 10 November for failing to curb inflation,
stop the devaluation of the national currency, halt price
hikes, replenish the state treasury, and introduce a single
exchange rate. "I warn you that if you, together with the
government, do not heed my demands, other people will be
handling these problems instead of you," Lukashenka told the
bankers and financial officials. He ordered them "to stop the
negative processes in the economy" by the end of the year. "I
feel the population has approached the line after which it
will make a decision most likely without us," Belarusian
Television quoted Lukashenka as saying. JM

UKRAINE'S SYMONENKO WINS SUPPORT OF PROGRESSIVE SOCIALISTS.
The Progressive Socialist Party of Natalya Vitrenko, who came
fourth in the 31 October ballot with 10.97 percent backing,
has thrown its support behind Communist leader Petro
Symonenko in the 14 November runoff. The party said on 10
November that it favors Symonenko because he "stands for
changing the course of economic and political reforms," AP
reported. Besides Vitrenko, Symonenko is supported by six
former presidential candidates: Oleksandr Moroz, Oleksandr
Tkachenko, Volodymyr Oliynyk, Mykola Haber, Oleksandr
Bazylyuk, and Yuriy Karmazin. JM

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT EXPECTS SUPPORT FROM MARCHUK'S
ELECTORATE. After nominating Yevhen Marchuk secretary of the
National Security and Defense Council (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
10 November 1999), President Leonid Kuchma said he expects
Marchuk's electorate to support his bid in the 14 November
runoff, Kuchma's spokesman Oleksandr Martynenko told Reuters
on 10 November. Martynenko added that Kuchma and Marchuk "are
already one team." Marchuk said his appointment will allow
him to crack down on corruption and crime in Ukraine, while
Kuchma commented that Marchuk is an "expert in this field,"
adding that "together we shall deal with [corruption and
crime] so that somebody's bones will crack," AP reported.
Besides Marchuk, Kuchma is supported by four former
presidential candidates: Yuriy Kostenko, Hennadiy Udovenko,
Vitaliy Kononov, and Oleksandr Rzhavskyy (see also "End Note"
below). JM

UKRAINIAN HRYVNYA MOVES OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT-SET TRADING BAND.
The hryvnya on 10 November moved outside the government-set
exchange corridor of 3.4-4.6 hryvni to $1, AP reported. The
National Bank set its exchange rate at 4.613 to $1. On the
interbank currency exchange, which is seen by experts as a
more accurate indicator of the currency's real value, some 5
hryvni were offered for $1. Economy Minister Vasyl Rohovyy
said the previous day that the hryvnya will return to the
official exchange band if Kuchma wins the presidential
ballot. Symonenko's victory, he said, would "significantly
destabilize the situation on the currency market." JM

DRUG ABUSE GROWING IN ESTONIA. A report released by the
Estonian Social Ministry suggests that drug abuse is becoming
a major problem in Estonia. Among the population aged 18-70,
5.7 percent of ethnic Estonians and 7.7 percent of non-ethnic
Estonians have tried some illegal drugs, BNS reported. The
rates are much more alarming among those aged 18-24: 15
percent of ethnic Estonians and 21 percent of non-ethnic
Estonians have tried illegal drugs. And among those 15 or 16
year old, 4.5 percent of students in Estonian-language
schools and 16 percent of students in Russian-language
schools have tried drugs. The ministry insisted that drug
abuse is not as widespread as press reports have suggested,
BNS commented. MH

LITHUANIAN OIL REFERENDUM CANCELED. The parliament on 10
November declared void the petition to hold a referendum over
the sale of the country's oil industry. The planned
referendum, which would question the sale of a majority stake
of Mazeikiai Oil to US-based Williams International, became
contentious when one supporting parliamentary deputy removed
his name from the petition (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 November
1999). The ruling stated that it was the right of
parliamentary deputies to remove their names from the
petition, pushing the number of signatories below the
necessary 48, BNS reported. Though later three other
parliamentary deputies added their names to the list, making
a total of 50, the board ruled that the petition must be
circulated anew. Parliamentary Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis,
a key supporter of the oil deal, called the referendum idea
"a puppet show." MH

NATO DESCRIBES LITHUANIAN MILITARY PLAN AS 'MODEL.' NATO
officials have praised Lithuania's development and called its
military development plan a "model," ELTA reported That
statement came during a meeting in Brussels on 10 November
between the NATO political committee, representing all 19
member states, and a Lithuanian delegation to discuss the
Membership Action Plan submitted by Lithuania earlier this
year. MH

POLAND NEEDS $6 BILLION TO MAKE FARMS READY FOR EU.
Agricultural Minister Artur Balazs said on 10 November that
only 800,000 or so of Poland's 2 million farms can afford the
modernization and restructuring necessary to compete against
their counterparts in the EU when customs barriers on food
are lifted. According to Balazs, Polish agriculture needs up
to 26 billion zlotys ($6 billion) over the next three years
to adjust to EU standards. The government intends to spend
5.5 billion zlotys, while the EU is expected to provide
another 3 billion zlotys and private investors 17.5 billion
zlotys. Balazs said the best solution for Polish farmers
would be rapid EU entry without a transitional period. He
added that Poland is considering increasing customs duties on
many agricultural imports because the government is unable to
subsidize agricultural production to the same degree as the
governments of EU countries. JM

CZECH PARLIAMENT GIVES FIRST APPROVAL TO BILL CURBING
PRESIDENTIAL POWERS. The lower house of the parliament
approved the first reading of a bill on 10 November that
would limit the powers of the presidency, Reuters reported.
Czech President Vaclav Havel said the measure would make him
a puppet of the legislature. The sponsors of the bill, the
Social Democrats and the Civic Democratic Party, said the
bill would make the government "more transparent." The
measure would give the leader of the winning party in a
general election the right to form a cabinet. Currently, the
president decides who will be the designated prime minister.
The bill also would take away the president's prerogative to
appoint the board of the Central Bank. PB

EU OFFICIAL MEETS WITH ROMANY OFFICIALS, CRITICIZES WALL.
Guenter Verheugen, the European Commissioner for EU
Enlargement, said after meeting with Czech Romany
representatives on 11 November that the controversial wall
erected in Usti Nad Labem to separate ethnic Czech homeowners
from a Romany-populated apartment block is a "symbol of
separation" and seriously damages the image of the country,
CTK reported. Verheugen, who met with the Romany officials in
Prague, said that a wall in Central Europe cannot be
tolerated. He added that the problem is social, not racial,
and that long-term social programs are needed to end the
problem and improve the situation of Roma in the Czech
Republic. PB

SLOVAK PREMIER UPBEAT ON EU CHANCES. Mikulas Dzurinda said on
10 November in Berlin that despite its exclusion from the EU
enlargement process from 1996-1998, Slovakia has made great
strides in its efforts to join the union, TASR reported.
Dzurinda, speaking at a panel discussion with the premiers of
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, said his country's
main goal is fulfilling the economic criteria necessary to
join the EU. He added that he is pleased that a majority of
Slovaks support the country's joining the EU and NATO, saying
that some 65 percent of citizens favor EU entry and only 25
percent are opposed. PB

SLOVAKIA TO SPEND $1.5 BILLION ON NATO PREPARATIONS. Foreign
Minister Eduard Kukan told journalists on 9 November that in
2000-2001, Slovakia will spend nearly $1.5 billion during the
preparations for NATO membership, CTK reported. He said
Bratislava views the process of NATO enlargement as a
"crucial condition for broadening the zone of stability and
peace in Europe." He also said that until Slovakia becomes a
"de jure" NATO member, it will behave as a "de facto" member,
as evidenced by its participation in peace-keeping missions
such as KFOR. Prime Minister Dzurinda, who met in Washington
with U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright on 8 November, said the next day that the
U.S. administration regards Slovakia as one of the countries
best-prepared for joining NATO as well as a "driving engine"
in the organization's expansion, SITA reported. MS

HUNGARIAN PREMIER IN BERLIN. Viktor Orban failed to persuade
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer to specify a timeframe for Hungary's
accession to the EU during meetings in Berlin on 11 November,
Hungarian media reported. Laying the foundation stone of a
new Hungarian embassy in Berlin, Orban said Hungary can be
considered a "full EU member economically, if not
politically." His hosts assured Orban that Germany supports
the admission of Hungary at the earliest possible date. MSZ

COURT PUTS HUNGARIAN VANDALS ON PROBATION. The Municipal
Court of the western Hungarian town of Szombathely on 10
November found two youths guilty of desecrating graves in a
Jewish cemetery. The court found that the two men had
intended to disrupt 3 July events commemorating the Holocaust
and had daubed Swastikas and Stars of David on several
tombstones the previous day. The court sentenced the first
defendant to one year in prison and the second to eight
months. The sentences were commuted to three years and two
years on probation, respectively. MSZ

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH TAKING TURN FOR WORSE? The state-
run Hina news agency quoted Franjo Tudjman's doctors as
saying on 11 November that the Croatian president suffered a
"capillary hemorrhage of internal organs" the previous night.
The doctors added that they have changed his treatment for
complications following his recent surgery for "a rupture of
his large intestine." Tudjman is widely believed to have
suffered from cancer since 1996. The state-run media have
provided no pictures of him in the hospital, while official
information on the state of his health has been sparse. PM

CROATIAN SERB LEADER URGES SERBS TO VOTE. Milorad Pupovac,
who heads the Serbian National Council and is a member of the
Croatian parliament, urged Serbs to vote in the 22 December
legislative elections. He stressed that Serbs can help end
the rule of Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community only if
they vote, the Frankfurt-based Serbian daily "Vesti" reported
on 11 November. Some other leaders of the small Serbian
minority have called for a boycott of the elections. PM

NATO: CROATIAN SECURITY FORCES INVOLVED IN BOSNIAN CRIME.
Reuters on 10 November quoted unnamed Western diplomats in
London as saying that NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina have
found extensive evidence that Croatian security forces have
been undermining the Bosnian peace settlement. NATO kept
Croatian and Bosnian Croat security forces under close
observation for one year in a project called Operation West
Star. NATO "hit the jackpot," a diplomat added. The evidence
"provides conclusive proof of the continuing role of the
Croatian intelligence service in Bosnia. It points the finger
directly at Zagreb," he said. Reuters noted that "Croatian
security services were involved in everything from running
paramilitary gangs to money laundering and dealing in
pornography." PM

HAGUE COURT GIVES SERB ANOTHER 25 YEARS. Outgoing President
of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal Gabrielle Kirk
McDonald handed down on 11 November an additional sentence of
up to 25 years on Bosnian Serb defendant Dusan Tadic. Tadic
will serve that sentence consecutively with the 20-year term
he received earlier. McDonald suggested that the court did
not give Tadic the maximum penalty, which is life
imprisonment, because he has become a "model detainee" and
because of considerations regarding "the effect of the length
of the sentence" on his family, AP reported. His trial on
charges of atrocities against Muslims and Croats during the
1992-1995 Bosnian war began in May 1997. PM

UN HAS EXHUMED MORE THAN 2,000 BODIES IN KOSOVA. Carla del
Ponte, who is the Hague court's new chief prosecutor, told
the UN Security Council on 10 November that international
investigators have unearthed the bodies of 2,108 persons in
Kosova. She noted that some bodies may never be found
"because we have discovered evidence of tampering with
graves," Reuters reported. Forensics experts have exhumed 195
graves and hope to investigate an additional 334 in the year
2000. Serbian Deputy Information Minister Miodrag Popovic
told the BBC on 11 November that most of the 2,108 people
probably "died of natural causes." A forensics expert
responded that he and his colleagues can easily prove that
most of the victims died violently and in some cases in
rather grisly circumstances. PM

SOME 379 KILLED IN KOSOVA SINCE JUNE. A KFOR spokesman said
in Prishtina that 135 Serbs, 145 ethnic Albanians, and 99
people of other or undetermined nationalities have been
murdered in Kosova since NATO took control of the province,
London's "The Guardian" reported on 11 November. The daily
added that criminal rather than purely ethnic considerations
appear to have been involved in many of the deaths. For
example, some Albanians killed numerous elderly Serbs in
order to take their property. PM

SERBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES CURBS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The
legislature passed a bill on 10 November giving the central
government greater control over local administrations.
Opposition parties, who are in power in more than 30
municipalities, say the bill is aimed at undermining their
political base. Vladan Batic, who is a leader of the Alliance
for Change, said that opposition-run municipalities should
organize themselves in "self-governing clusters," "Vesti"
reported. PM

CLAIMANT TO SERBIAN THRONE URGES OPPOSITION TO UNITE. Crown
Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic said that the opposition
must unite and work together to oust the regime, Belgrade's
"Danas" wrote on 11 November. He also urged the Serbian
people to support the opposition. Aleksandar spoke on the eve
of a conference in Budapest that brings together leaders of
the opposition and the diaspora. PM

MONTENEGRIN DAILY SAYS YUGOSLAV COMMANDER SLAMMED GOVERNMENT.
The editors of the Podgorica daily "Vijesti" said on 10
November that they stand by their story that Chief of the
General Staff General Dragoljub Ojdanic recently criticized
top government officials during a visit to Montenegro.
Ojdanic subsequently denied the report, which claimed he
criticized Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, Deputy
Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, and Defense Minister Pavle
Bulatovic for what Ojdanic allegedly called the poor state of
affairs in the army. In addition to their response to
Ojdanic's denial, "Vijesti" editors also published on 10
November remarks the army chief had made in Montenegro that
they had previously withheld from publication. Among other
things, Ojdanic allegedly commented that he intends to cut
the size of the navy and the air force, which he considers
much less important than the army. He added that most
officers are interested primarily in their pay and that he
will raise their salaries soon. PM

MACEDONIA, GREECE START PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION. Work began on
10 November on an oil pipeline that will link Macedonia's
sole refinery with the port of Thessaloniki. Greece will bear
most of the $90 million costs. Its state-run oil company
recently acquired a majority stake in its Macedonian
counterpart. PM

ITALY, ALBANIA STEP UP COOPERATION AGAINST MIGRANTS. Albanian
Prime Minister Ilir Meta said in Tirana on 10 November that
Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Foreign Minister
Lamberto Dini promised him more assistance to help prevent
the smuggling of goods and people across the Strait of
Otranto. Meta had returned from a brief trip to Rome, which
was his first trip abroad since his recent election as prime
minister. Traffic in illegal migrants from Albania to Italy
continues unabated, dpa noted. Drug smuggling from Albania is
on the increase, despite the presence of Italian forces in
Albania and in Albanian territorial waters. PM

TIRANA MAYOR CRITICIZES OLDER GENERATION OF POLITICIANS.
Albert Brojka, who belongs to the opposition Democratic
Party, told Vienna's "Die Presse" of 11 November that the
Democrats' Sali Berisha and the Socialists' Fatos Nano "have
an old communist mentality" that has led to political
polarization. Brojka stressed that Albania instead needs a
"European mentality" that allows people to differ on
political issues without regarding one another as enemies. He
said that he believes Nano's recent victory over former Prime
Minister Pandeli Majko for the leadership of the Socialists
will only make the political climate worse. Majko favored a
policy of rational political dialogue and reconciliation
between the two rival parties, Brojka added. He expressed
regret that Berisha has retained control over the Democrats,
despite a short-lived challenge from the younger Genc Pollo.
PM

RAIL TRAFFIC RESUMES AFTER WORKERS END BLOCKADE. Railway
traffic in Romania was back to normal early on 11 November
after hundreds of railway workers ended a blockade of trains
at Bucharest's main train station to protest low wages, AP
reported. Trains were delayed for up to five hours after the
workers had taken over the North Train Station the previous
day. They want their wages doubled and the plan to
restructure and downsize the national rail system to be
scrapped. Transportation Minister Traian Basescu, whom the
workers want sacked, said he is happy the situation was
resolved peacefully, but he called the protest a "serious"
violation of the law. He said the ministry will file an
official complaint. Negotiations between the ministry and
union leaders are due to begin on 11 November. PB

BULGARIAN DOCUMENTS ON ZHIVKOV OUSTER MISSING. The head of
Bulgaria's government archives, Panto Kolev, said on 10
November that documents related to the coup that ended the
35-year rule of Communist leader Todor Zhivkov have
disappeared, AP reported. Kolev said the minutes from the
Communist Party meeting at which he was dismissed are among
those documents missing, as are those detailing Bulgaria's
role in the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of the former
Czechoslovakia. Former Interior Minister Atanas Semerdzhiev
is currently awaiting trial for allowing secret police
officials to destroy files in 1990. In other news, the 10th
anniversary of Zhivkov's ouster, which fell on 10 November
1989, was not officially marked in Bulgaria. PB

BULGARIA'S POPULATION SHRINKING FASTEST. With a negative
growth rate of minus 6.4 people per 1,000, Bulgaria's
population is shrinking faster than that of any other country
in East-Central Europe, AP reported on 9 November, citing
BTA. The data were included in a paper delivered at an
international demographic conference in Sofia. Since 1989,
Bulgaria's population has sunk by 1 million owing to
emigration, which was reported at 700,000, and because of a
high mortality rate. MS

END NOTE

UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF: KUCHMA VERSUS COMMUNISM

by Askold Krushelnycky

	The first round of Ukraine's presidential elections on
31 October left incumbent Leonid Kuchma in the lead and his
Communist rival, Petro Symonenko in second place. Under
Ukraine's electoral rules, if no candidate receives more than
half the vote, then the two with the highest share of the
vote go on to a run-off.
	Kuchma seemed comfortably ahead in the first round with
36 percent of the vote, compared with Symonenko's 22 percent.
But Kuchma has been criticized throughout his term in office
for the troubled state of the economy, for failing to
introduce major market reforms, and for presiding over a
government riddled with corruption. Critics say that Kuchma
is now playing on the fears of a communist return to power in
order to win second-round votes from many who intensely
dislike him.
	Symonenko has openly acknowledged he favors a return to
Soviet-style government and wants a new Soviet Union, with
Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan as initial members.
He has also said he will reverse those market reforms Kuchma
has introduced.
	Ahead of the second round of voting on 14 November,
Symonenko has been trying to gather support from some of his
former rivals among the 12 other opposition hopefuls who
competed in the first round. Symonenko has put together a
loose coalition of three leftist and three centrist former
candidates in the hope that their supporters will vote for
him on 14 November. He has the backing of the leader of the
Peasant Party and parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko.
But his support from the two candidates who took third and
fourth places in the first round is clearly less than whole-
heated.
	Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, the third-place
candidate, has said he will support Symonenko--but he has
given that support only grudgingly. Moroz notably failed to
turn up beside Symonenko on 7 November for Communist Party
commemorations in Kyiv of the October 1917 Bolshevik seizure
of power in Russia.
	Like Moroz, ultra-Marxist Natalya Vitrenko scored some
11 percent of the vote in the first round to come in fourth.
Some analysts believe Vitrenko's popularity was boosted by an
apparent assassination attempt against her during the
campaign. Vitrenko has since said she will give her blessing
to Symonenko only if he promises her the prime minister's
job. That is a promise the communist leader has not been
willing to make. However, Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist
Party announced on 10 November it will throw its support
behind Symonenko because he "stands for changing the course
of economic and political reforms."
	Mary Mycio, the Ukraine correspondent for the "Los
Angeles Times," told RFE/RL that she does not believe the
people who support Symonenko can deliver votes. "They can
basically only provide him with their own personal support,"
she argues. "In the case of Vitrenko, I think that a lot of
her votes were very emotional and based perhaps on her
popular slogans and not necessarily on any program or
proposals that she was making."
	At the 7 November rally in Kyiv, attended by some 3,000
mostly elderly party faithful, Symonenko toned down his
rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to a wider range of voters.
His supporters have sought to dispel fears of a communist
comeback, presenting Symonenko as a moderate who would take
care of Ukraine's sluggish economy and its people and even
restore churches now in disrepair.
	But analyst Mycio does not think Symonenko will be able
to persuade enough voters of his new-found moderate views to
win the run-off. She believes Kuchma could have been defeated
only if Symonenko had stepped down in favor of another
candidate, as is allowed under Ukraine's electoral law.
"Ironically," she added, "I think that the only person in the
election, in the stable of candidates, who could deliver
votes would be Symonenko.... If Symonenko told the members
and supporters of the Communist Party to vote for a
candidate, they would."
	Kuchma has dismissed the alliance backing Symonenko,
saying he is "not afraid, even if they are joined by several
more candidates." But he and his supporters have also sought
help from former first-round rivals. And they have stepped up
efforts to portray a potential communist victory as a
national disaster. State-controlled television, moreover, has
been showing grim film footage of Soviet atrocities in
Ukraine.
	Among Kuchma's democratic opponents in the first round,
the candidate who did best was Yevhen Marchuk. On 10
November, Kuchma named Marchuk to head the National Security
Council, a presidential body with sweeping powers in security
matters. The move is seen as a clear attempt to win over the
some 8 percent of voters who backed Marchuk in the first
round.
	Meanwhile, Kuchma has won support from the Green Party,
whose leader was also one of the first-round losers. And a
faction of the divided nationalist Rukh movement said it will
back the president on condition that Ukraine seeks membership
in NATO. Like many who will support Kuchma in the second
round, Rukh sympathizers will vote for him only because they
fear the alternative more than the incumbent.
	In fact, it is this sentiment that Mycio and some other
analysts believe will allow Kuchma to pull off a victory on
14 November--barring any unexpected developments during the
last days of campaigning.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague and
currently covering the Ukrainian presidential election from
Kyiv.
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