Field Reports
News Bites
BIWEEKLY BRIEFING
Wednesday/September 12, 2001
NEPHEW OF PRO-MOSCOW CHECHEN LEADER
MURDERED
11 September
Lecha Kadyrov, a 28-year-old nephew
of Chechen administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, and three of his friends were killed
on 10 September when unknown assailants opened fire on his car with a grenade launcher and
flamethrower, Russian agencies reported. Several other close relatives of Kadyrov have
been killed since his appointment in June 2000; another nephew died earlier this summer
fighting on the side of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. (RFE/RL)
EXPLOSION KILLS ARMENIAN PREMIER'S
ADVISER
11 September
Gagik Poghossian, an adviser to
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, was killed in Yerevan early on 11 September by
a hand grenade attached to the front door of his apartment. Poghossian served from May to
October 2000 as minister for tax returns, and in July 2001 was appointed head of
Markarian's oversight committee. (RFE/RL)
ARMENIAN OPPOSITION POSTPONES LAUNCH
OF CAMPAIGN TO IMPEACH PRESIDENT
11 September
The three opposition parties that
issued a statement in Yerevan on 7 September demanding the impeachment of President Robert
Kocharian, on 10 September decided to postpone beginning the collection of deputies'
signatures in support of that demand. Hanrapetutiun leader and former Prime Minister Aram
Sargsian said his party, together with the People's Party of Armenia and the National
Accord Front, is still working on the text of the draft demand listing alleged violations
of the constitution by Kocharian. Those alleged violations include the sacking in May 2000
of Defense Minister Vaghashak Harutiunian. (RFE/RL)
KYRGYZSTAN CLAIMS PROGRESS IN
DELIMITATION OF BORDER WITH UZBEKISTAN
11 September
Talks in Tashkent on 5-8 September
on the delimitation of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border made some headway, the head of the Kyrgyz
delegation, Salamat Alamanov, told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 10 September. He said 290
kilometers of the 700-kilometer border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan's Djalalabad
Oblast have been delimitated. The total length of the two countries' shared border is
1,300 kilometers. (RFE/RL)
FSB SAYS CHECHEN FIELD COMMANDERS
PLAN TO MEET IN BAKU
11 September
Unnamed Russian Federal Security
Servce (FSB) officials claimed that Chechen President Maskhadov and prominent field
commanders including Shamil Basaev and Ruslan Gelaev plan to convene in Baku in
mid-September in order to discuss preparations for embarking on peace talks with Moscow.
(Caucasus Press)
AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA HOLD LONDON
TALKS ON GAS PIPELINE DISPUTE
11 September
Azerbaijan and Georgia were starting
talks in London Tuesday over a tariffs dispute that has been holding up agreement on a multibillion dollars pipeline to
ship gas from the Azeri offshore field of Shah
Deniz to Turkey. The delay is threatening Azerbaijan's agreement signed earlier this year
to supply some 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to Turkey
starting in 2004-2005 and rising to 6.6 bcm by around 2008. According to the Financial
Times Tuesday, Azerbaijan thought it sealed a deal on transit fees with Georgia when
offering a rate of Dlrs 2 per 1,000 cubic meters and was preparing a signing ceremony with President Edward Shevardnadze in Baku at the
end of July. But Georgia was reported now to be insisting that it should receive at least
Dlrs 5 per 1,000 cubic meters to correspond with international rates, recommended by the
World Bank. The Financial Times said that the operator of Shah Deniz, BP, which is sending
a representative to the London negotiations, was warning
that that the pipeline through Georgia could be seriously delayed if an agreement is not
reached by the end of September. (IRNA)
PUTIN READY TO TALK
WITH CHECHENS -- IF THEY SURRENDER WEAPONS AND GIVE UP DRIVE FOR INDEPENDENCE
10 September
Responding to repeated proposals by
Boris Nemtsov, the leader of Union of Rightist Forces (SPS), which called for the
launching of negotiations on ending the war in Chechnya, President Putin on 7 September
said that he agrees that "talks are always better than the use of force,"
Russian and Western agencies reported. But, he added that Moscow will talk with
"anyone" if they agree that the Russian Constitution applies in Chechnya just as
it does elsewhere, and if the "rebel formations" unconditionally and immediately
disarm themselves and surrender to the federal authorities those "especially
notorious rebels whose arms are stained up to their elbows with the blood of Russian
people." If Nemtsov or anyone else can "guarantee" those conditions, Putin
said, then "let them do it" within a month. But if they cannot, the Russian
president added, "let them stop hustling and bustling on the country's political
scene and give up their Duma deputy mandates." (RFE/RL)
ARMENIAN OPPOSITION
PARTIES DEMAND PRESIDENT'S IMPEACHMENT
10 September
As anticipated 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 bureaureported.
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." (RFE/RL)
OSCE QUERIES LEGALITY OF SENTENCE ON
FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER
10 September
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. Kazhegeldin was sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment on
charges of abuse of office, tax evasion, taking bribes, and illegal possession of weapons.
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. (RFE/RL)
IMPRISONED FORMER KYRGYZ OFFICIAL
TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST PRESIDENT
10 September
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." 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. (RFE/RL)
NEW HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOUNDED IN
KYRGYZSTAN
10 September
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. Recently released Erkindik party leader Topchubek Turgunaliev was
elected chairman of the commission. (RFE/RL)
MINISTER'S ASSASSINATION, BOMB BLAST
CAST PALL OVER TAJIK INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS
10 September
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. 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. (RFE/RL)
30,000 RUSSIAN SOLDIERS SAID BEATEN
EACH YEAR
9 September
According to estimates by the
Soldiers' Mothers' Committee, approximately 30,000 Russian soldiers are beaten by their
officers or fellow soldiers every year. Officials of the committee said that in the past
year alone, 15,000 soldiers and their parents have appealed to the committee for
assistance. (Interfax)
IRAN REJECTS CLAIMS OF VIOLATING
AZERI AIR SPACE
8 September
An informed source at Foreign
Ministry on 8 September dismissed as `sheer lie' the claim that Iranian planes have
violated Azeri air space. The source, who was
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the flight
of Iranian planes over the Caspian sea is for mere surveillance according to the legal
regime based on 1921 and 1940 Iran-Russia protocols.
According to the source, as in the past, the flights are regular and the `new and irresponsible' claims by certain
Azeri officials are `astonishing'. Azeri
Defense Minister had in an interview at the end of his visit to Moscow on Friday claimed
that Iranian military planes had, on and off,
violated Azeri air space. (IRNA)
IRANIAN FM WINDS UP CENTRAL ASIAN
TOUR, RETURNS HOME
8 September
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi
wound up his four-day Central Asian tour which took him to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and returned home on 7 September
evening. Expansion of bilateral economic
cooperation, establishment of regional security, settlement of Afghan crisis and anti-drug
campaign were among major topics discussed by the Iranian foreign minister and senior
officials of the three Central Asian states. Kharrazi
arrived in Dushanbe after a two-day visit to Uzbekistan where he and his Uzbek counterpart
Abdulaziz Kamilov called for a more serious international approach to resolve the conflict
in Afghanistan. The Iranian foreign minister
and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmanov echoed previous calls that negotiations between the
warring factions are the only solution to the ongoing conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.
Earlier, Kharrazi and Uzbek President Islam Karimov on 6 September called for further
expansion of economic and political cooperation between the two countries. Kharrazi and Uzbek Prime Minister and Minister of Macro
economy and Statistics Rostam Azimev explored new ways of boosting Iran-Uzbekistan
bilateral ties particularly in the economic field. The Uzbek premier called for
cooperation with Iran in building factories to produce pharmaceuticals, construction
materials and textiles in his country. (IRNA)
UZBEKS TO HAVE SPECIAL BAZAAR IN
MOSCOW
8 September
Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov promised
his Uzbek hosts in Tashkent on 8 September that he will open a special Uzbek bazaar in
Moscow. Luzhkov said that his visit went well but acknowledged that he had lost a tennis
match to Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Luzhkov noted that it was "not a political or
diplomatic loss." (Interfax-Moscow)
IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CUTS SHORT
VISIT TO TAJIKISTAN
8 September
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. 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. (AP)
RUSSIA, CHINA REACH BROAD AGREEMENT
8 September
Prime Minister Kasyanov signed seven
accords with his visiting Chinese counterpart Zhu Rongji in St. Petersburg on 8 September
concerning cooperation in a wide variety of areas. Among the most important are
commitments to explore construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries and a
Chinese agreement to buy five new Tu-204 passenger aircraft with an option to buy 10 more.
That will increase the Russian share of the Chinese aircraft market to 10 percent and
reduce Chinese purchases of U.S. Boeing planes. (RIA)
AZERBAIJANI SECURITY MINISTER ENDS
VISIT TO IRAN
8 September
Namig Abbasov returned to Baku on 8
September after meeting in Tehran on 6 September with Iranian President Mohammad Khattami.
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 upcoming visit of President Aliev, scheduled for 17 September. 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. (Turan)
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN OFFERS
TO RESIGN
7 September
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, parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania offered to resign if 100 of the total
235 parliament deputies sign a statement calling on him to do so. Both opposition and SMK
deputies rejected that proposal. (Caucasus Press)
OSCE TO EXPAND MONITORING OF
GEORGIA'S BORDERS WITH NORTH CAUCASUS
7 September
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, Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kakha Sikharulidze told
journalists in Tbilisi on 7 September. Also on 7 September, new accommodation for the OSCE
monitors on the Georgian-Chechen border was opened in the village of Shatili. (AP)
ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES MULL NEW
ALLIANCE
7 September
Members of the People's Party of
Armenia (HZhK), Hanrapetutiun, and the National Accord Front (AHCh) said that the leaders
of the three parties are holding talks on the text of a planned joint declaration calling
for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian. Artashes Geghamian, one of the leaders
of the AHCh and an outspoken critic of Kocharian, is believed to be pushing for a formal
alliance between the three parties. Talks a year ago between Geghamian and HZhK Chairman
Stepan Demirchian on forming an opposition alliance proved inconclusive. (RFE/RL)
PRESIDENTIAL PARTY CLAIMS VICTORY IN
KARABAKH LOCAL ELECTIONS
7 September
Candidates representing the
Democratic Artsakh Union (ZhAM) that supports Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the
unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, were elected to head local government bodies in at
least 140 of the unrecognized enclave's 223 towns and villages in the 5 September
elections, ZhAM Chairman Ashot Gulian told RFE/RL's on 6 September. ZhAM candidate Hamik
Avanesian was elected mayor of Stepanakert with some 53 percent of the vote; his closest
rival, Maksim Mirzoyan of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun (HHD),
polled 20 percent. The HHD won control of some 20 communities, mostly in the southern
district of Hadrut, and endorsed independent candidates elected in a dozen other villages.
Voter turnout was estimated at 60 percent. (RFE/RL)
ANOTHER AMMUNITION DEPOT FIRE
REPORTED IN KAZAKHSTAN
7 September
An ammunition store at a military
test site near Almaty was destroyed by fire during the night of 6-7 September. No one was
injured in the blaze, the cause of which has not yet been established. A major blaze
destroyed a huge munitions depot in Kazakhstan's northern Qaraghandy Oblast last month.
(RFE/RL)
ADB REVIEWS JOINT PROJECTS IN
KAZAKHSTAN
6 September
Toqaev met in Astana on 6 September
with a team of experts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who are reviewing the
progress of joint projects in Kazakhstan that the bank is cofinancing. Those projects
include reconstruction of the Almaty-Bishkek highway, which is being jointly funded by the
ADB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Kazakh government. The
ADB has made loans totaling about $460 million to Kazakhstan over the past decade and
plans to lend a further $120 million annually over the next three years. (Interfax)
KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT INAUGURATES
NEW CASPIAN FERRY SERVICE
6 September
Nursultan Nazarbaev attended a
ceremony in the port of Aqtau on 6 September to mark the beginning of ferry services
linking Kazakhstan with the ports of Olia (Russia), Baku (Azerbaijan), and Nowshahr
(Iran). He stressed the importance of those transport links for Kazakhstan's role as a
transit country. The new ferry lines are part of the TRACECA transport network
intended to link Central Asia and Europe via the Caucasus. (Interfax)
AZERBAIJANIS PROTEST KARABAKH
ARMENIAN DELEGATION'S BAKU VISIT
6 September
The leaders of the opposition
Musavat, Azerbaijan National Independence, and Azerbaijan Popular Front parties on 6
September cancelled a scheduled meeting with 11 members of the Karabakh NGO Helsinki
Initiative-92 who arrived in Baku on 4 September. They were reportedly incensed by a
statement made on his arrival in Baku by Karen Ohandjanian, the head of Helsinki
Initiative-92, that Nagorno-Karabakh is an independent state. On 5 September, members of
Azerbaijan's Organization for the Liberation of Karabakh staged a protest against the
Armenians' presence in Baku outside the Azerbaijan NGO Helsinki Civil Assembly, which
co-organized the Armenians' visit. (Turan)
NEMTSOV, AUSHEV DISCUSS CHECHEN
PEACE TALKS
6 September
Following his visit to Chechnya, SPS
leader Nemtsov traveled to Magas on 5 September to meet with Ingushetia's president,
Ruslan Aushev, to discuss the optimum format for talks on ending the war in Chechnya.
Nemtsov told Interfax after that discussion that both he and Aushev agree that Chechen
President Aslan Maskhadov ought to be a party to those
talks. But in view of the Russian leadership's rejection of Maskhadov as a negotiating
partner, Nemtsov proposed that the Chechen people elect delegates to represent them at
peace talks. Neither Aushev nor Nemtsov named any Russian politician whom they consider
qualified to represent Moscow in peace talks, but they agreed that ideally the Russian
representative "should not be someone who took part in hostilities against
Chechnya." (Interfax)
SENTENCE PASSED ON FORMER KAZAKH
PREMIER
6 September
Kazakhstan's Supreme Court sentenced
Akezhan Kazhegeldin in absentia on 6 September to 10 years imprisonment on charges of
abuse of his official position, tax evasion, and illegal possession of arms. The
prosecution had demanded a 12-year sentence. Kazhegeldin's property in Kazakhstan has been
confiscated, and he has been ordered to pay 1 billion tenges ($6.8 million) in
compensation for "damage inflicted on the state." Kazhegeldin has lived in
Europe and the U.S. since leaving Kazakhstan in 1999. The prosecution has sent special
letters of warning to several current and former senior Kazakh government officials whose
testimony failed to substantiate the charges against Kazhegeldin. (RFE/RL)
TAJIK PRESIDENT ACKNOWLEDGES DEBT TO
RUSSIA
6 September
In an extensive interview published
in "Trud" on 5 September and pegged to the 10th anniversary of Tajikistan's
independence, Imomali Rakhmonov admitted that it is not certain whether Tajikistan would
have survived 10 years as an independent state without Russian assistance. He added that
preserving "Tajikistan's sovereignty and self-sufficiency depends first and foremost
on geopolitical priorities." As he has done in several earlier interviews this year,
Rakhmonov also expressed his hope of raising economic cooperation with Russia to the level
of military cooperation. He denied that the opposition or the independent media in
Tajikistan are subjected to any restrictions. (RFE/RL)
DALAI LAMA 'REFUSED' RUSSIAN VISA
4 September
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama, has cancelled a visit to Mongolia after Russia refused to grant him a transit
visa, a senior Tibetan official has said. The Dalai Lama had been due to visit Mongolia,
which has a large Buddhist community, between 3 and 17 September. He needed a visa to fly
via Russia on his way from India to the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator. Foreign Ministry
officials in Moscow said they were unaware of the visa request, but a Tibetan spokesman in
Moscow said Russia must have been afraid of upsetting China. "Ministry officials
informed us that the time wasn't suitable, because several visits by Chinese leaders were
scheduled for the same time," Tibetian spokesman Gelek Ngawang said. (BBC)
RUSSIA OFFERS ANOTHER REACTOR TO
IRAN
4 September
The Russian deputy minister for
atomic energy says Moscow will propose building further nuclear reactors in the southern
Iranian port of Bushehr. Russia is already constructing a nuclear power plant there, but
the deputy minister, Yevgeny Reshetnikov, said Tehran could order at least one more
reactor from the Russians. The announcement comes as the Israeli prime minister, Ariel
Sharon, who is in Moscow, is expected to ask Russia to scale down its military and nuclear
exports to Iran. Both Israel and the United States fear that Iran could use Russian
nuclear technology for military purposes. (BBC)
IRANIAN MINISTER POSTPONES RUSSIA
VISIT
3 September
The official Iranian news agency
says the Iranian defence minister, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, has postponed a visit to Russia
because it would coincide with a visit to Moscow by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel
Sharon. A senior Foreign Ministry official in Tehran, Firouz Dowlatabadi said Admiral
Shamkhani would not now be going to Moscow on Wednesday as planned but said he hoped the
visit would take place soon. According to the news agency, Admiral Shamkhani was due to
discuss increasing military cooperation. Last November Russia said it intended to renew
arms sales to Iran, breaking an agreement with the United States which banned the delivery
of Russian arms to Iran. (BBC)
KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT AIMS TO
DOUBLE GDP
3 September
In his annual address to both houses
of Kazakhstan's parliament on 3 September, Nursultan Nazarbaev said the country must
double GDP by 2010 from last year's level of 2.59 trillion tenges ($13.8 billion). Noting
that GDP growth during the first six months of 2001 amounted to 14 percent, he stressed
that Kazakhstan must preserve its "leading position" among CIS members states in
terms of economic growth. Nazarbaev also called for increased domestic investment in the
economy as a means of improving living standards, and pledged to raise the pensions of
persons who retired before 1994 by 25 percent next year. He pledged to continue the
process of democratization, including delegating greater powers to regional government.
(Interfax)
GEORGIA TURNS DOWN CIS DEFENSE POST
31 August
U.S.-trained Georgian Defense
Minister Davit Tevzadze has rejected the post of deputy head of the Coordinating Staff of the CIS Armed Forces.
Tevzadze reportedly said that he sees no point in multilateral military cooperation
between CIS states. Tevzadze also reportedly criticized the CIS antiaircraft maneuvers in
Astrakhan as modeled on a traditional scenario that does not correspond to current
threats. (Caucasus Press)
RUSSIA OPPOSES IMMEDIATE
DEMILITARIZATION OF CASPIAN
31 August
Viktor Kaluzhnii, the deputy foreign
minister and presidential representative for Caspian issues, told Azerbaijani President
Heidar Aliev on 30 August that Moscow does not support Aliev's recent proposal to
demilitarize the Caspian in the immediate future. (RIA)
CHINA WILL RENT LAND IN RUSSIA IF IT
CAN'T PURCHASE IT
31 August
Chinese embassy officials met with
Tatarstan officials on 29 August to express their interest in purchasing land in that
republic for Chinese to farm, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reported. When told they
cannot purchase land there, the Chinese said that they are willing to rent land, since
that is possible. (RFE/RL)
KADYROV CRITICIZES RUSSIAN FORCES
FOR ABUSING CHECHENS
31 August
At a Moscow news conference on 30
August, Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, the head of the Moscow-backed administration in Chechnya,
said that Russian forces abused people in their recent sweeps through villages. While
conducting such sweeps, Kadyrov said, Russian troops "take away things they like from
the people and hit those who look askance." He said that such actions "incite
the people against the authorities." He also asked rhetorically: "Why it has
taken so long with 80,000 or 90,000 soldiers [that the Russian forces have] and all their
hardware, including satellites which can see everything from space" to capture or
destroy the leaders of the Chechen militants? Kadyrov suggested that the main task of his
administration now is to secure the return of displaced persons, but that this will only
be possible when the authorities are able to ensure their safety, something "no one can guarantee them
today." Kadyrov also sharply criticized the position of Ingushetian President Ruslan
Aushev as being "pro-Maskhadov" because Aushev has called for negotiations with
the Chechen president. (RFE/RL)
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN CALLS
FOR INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES.
30 August
Parliament Chairman Zurab Zhvania
told deputies on 30 August that corruption has undercut public trust in both the executive
and legislative branches and that institutional changes and not just ministerial shifts
are needed to recover that trust and make progress possible, Georgian TV reported. In
other comments, he said that President Eduard Shevardnadze and the country have to make a
serious decision about the kind of country they want and that the ruling party may split
over this choice between reform and the continuation of current policies. Meanwhile, the
parliamentary majority has decided to send yet another letter to the president. (Caucasus
Press)
AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DIFFER OVER OIL
TARIFFS
30 August
Ilham Aliev, the first deputy
president of SOCAR oil company and the son of President Heidar Aliev, said on 30 August
that Baku does not want to increase the tariffs it will pay Georgia for the transit of
oil, but that it understands the pressure Georgia is under from the World Bank to get more
and will seek a negotiated settlement. At the same time, Ilham Aliev said that "the
World Bank should not interfere in the relations of the two friendly states." (Turan)
OIL CONSORTIUM BOOSTS PRODUCTION IN
AZERBAIJAN
30 August
The Azerbaijani Government has given
the formal go-ahead to the next stage of a major oil production agreement with an
international oil consortium led by the British oil company, BP. The head of Azerbaijan's
state oil company Socar signed the agreement, allowing the consortium to increase
production at the three offshore oil fields - Chirag, Azeri and Guneshli - it operates.
The consortium says within four years it aims to produce three times the amount of oil it
does now, from 100,000 barrels to 350,000 barrels a day. The consortium will be investing
more than $3bn in building oil platforms and a new underwater pipeline to meet the new.
(BBC)
OIL PIPELINE IN DAGHESTAN BURSTS
30 August
Interior Ministry officials in
Daghestan said on 29 August that an oil pipeline there burst following an explosion,
Russia and Western news agencies reported. The officials said that the most likely
explanation for the leak is "a terrorist act," but they indicated that it might
have been caused by criminals seeking to divert oil from the pipeline without paying for
it. No oil was being pumped through the pipeline at the time of the blast -- Azerbaijan
had already filled its quota for August -- and as a result, there was only a minor spill
of oil into the Caspian Sea. (RFE/RL)
MOSCOW SEEKS TO CALM NORTH
OSSETIA-INGUSH TENSIONS
30 August
Interior Ministry Major General
Yakov Stakhov, the special Russian presidential representative on the regulation of the
Ossetian-Ingush conflict, told that he and his colleagues are working to prevent any
further exacerbation of tensions between the two ethnic communities. Meanwhile, officials
in North Ossetia said that they are taking special measures to prevent any terrorist
actions there, even as the Ingush government released a statement in Moscow accusing North
Ossetia of "crude violation of human rights" against Ingush nationals. (RFE/RL)
ALIEV TO GO TO TEHRAN AT LAST
29 August
President Heidar Aliev will make an
official visit to Iran on 17 September, Iranian officials said in Baku on 29 August. Aliev
on 28 August had complained to visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani about
the fact that his visit has been delayed several times. But he said he looks forward to
discussing all issues with Iranian leaders. (ITAR-TASS)
SHEVARDNADZE TO MEET U.S. PRESIDENT
BUSH IN OCTOBER
29 August
The White House announced on 29
August that President George W. Bush will meet with visiting Georgian President Eduard
Shevardnadze on 5 October. (Caucasus Press)
GEORGIA SAID THREATENED BY
DEMOGRAPHIC CATASTROPHE
29 August
Toma
Gugushvili, a Georgian expert on migration, told Interfax that Georgia has entered into a new phase of
demographic catastrophe. Over the last decade, he said, the population of his country had
declined by 20 percent. Most of the decline reflects the departure of working-age people,
Gugushvili said. He said that emigration is increasing this year and that the population,
which now stands at 4.6 million, will decline by another 300,000. (Interfax)
ETHNIC KAZAKHS WANT TO LEAVE
UZBEKISTAN
29 August
Kazakhstan's ambassador in Tashkent,
Umarzak Uzbekov said on 29 August that 3,000 families of ethnic Kazakhs living near the
Aral Sea want to leave Uzbekistan and resettle in Kazakhstan, and that they are seeking
financial help to do so. There are approximately 1.2 million ethnic Kazakhs in Uzbekistan
at present, he said, and recently the desire to emigrate to Kazakhstan has "somewhat
increased." (Interfax)
GEORGIA ANGRY AT MOSCOW FOR NOT
INFORMING ABOUT MOVEMENT OF RUSSIAN TROOPS IN ADJARIA
29 August
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has prepared a protest note concerning
Russia's failure to inform Tbilisi about the movement of Russian troops in and around
Adjaria. Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vladimir Gudev said he is surprised by
the Georgian reaction and urged them not to impute political meaning to a tactical
relocation. (Caucasus Press)
