Category: News

RosBusiness Consulting, Russia
March 31 2004

Armenian parliament ratifies agreement on legal status of NATO armed
forces

RBC, 31.03.2004, Yerevan 13:43:05.The Armenian parliament has
ratified the agreement on legal status of the armed forces of NATO
and of the members of the Partnership for Peace Program. This
legislation is aimed at defining the legal status of the armed forces
acting under the Partnership for Peace Program, Armenian Deputy
Defense Minister Artur Agabekian reported. Increasing cooperation
with NATO urged Armenian lawmakers to ratify the agreement. This
agreement is “an important political component of bilateral
cooperation,” Agabekian stressed.

Armenian parliament ratifies NATO agreement on status of armed forces

Mediamax news agency
31 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian National Assembly has ratified a multilateral agreement
“On the status of the armed forces” within the framework of NATO’s
Partnership for Peace programme (PfP Status of Forces Agreement-PfP
SOFA).

Mediamax news agency recalls that Armenia joined the agreement “On the
status of the armed forces” last year. The Armenian ambassador to the
USA, Arman Kirakosyan, signed the agreement in Washington on 28
October 2003.

The Constitutional Court of Armenia recognized this agreement on 10
February this year as it meets the requirements of the country’s basic
law. Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan who had submitted the
document to the Constitutional Court noted that Armenia’s signing of
the agreement “On the status of the armed forces” will simplify the
participation of Armenian servicemen in multinational exercises under
the aegis of NATO.

The multilateral agreement “On the status of the armed forces” within
the framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme will regulate
issues of the presence of the armed forces of the allies and their
partners on the territory of the Partnership for Peace member states.

Armenian parliament adopts bill on rallies in its first reading

Mediamax news agency
31 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian National Assembly adopted a draft law “On the procedure
of staging meetings, rallies, marches and demonstrations” in its first
reading today.

Armenian Justice Minister David Arutyunyan who had submitted the
document announced this week that the draft law will be sent to the
Venice Commission of the Council of Europe for examination. He said
that the proposals of European experts will be examined during the
discussion of the draft law in its second reading.

David Arutyunyan stressed that the document had earlier been submitted
to the Armenian National Assembly by the government and its discussion
was not connected to the opposition’s plans to organize an action in
the near future and demand the resignation of the country’s
leadership.

Channel News Asia, Singapore
March 31 2004

Armenia’s opposition announces plans to overthrow president

YEREVAN : Armenian opposition deputies, who had boycotted parliament
since February to protest against the rule of President Robert
Kocharyan, returned there to announce that they intended to
peacefully overthrow the head of state.

“A few days ago, the leaders of the Justice opposition bloc and the
National Unity party, Stepan Demirchyan and Artashes Geramyan,
announced they had started a process to topple Kocharyan’s regime,”
said Viktor Dallakyan, a deputy with the Justice opposition party.

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“To that end, popular meetings will be organized. The opposition is
beginning a democratic revolution,” Dallakyan added as he was
addressing parliament.

The opposition had boycotted sessions of the parliament after it
failed to pass changes that would have allowed for a national vote of
confidence in Kocharyan.

Dallakyan said the opposition wanted to force Kocharyan to resign and
then intended to organize a new presidential election.

Armenia’s ruling coalition accused the opposition of trying to
destabilize the country.

“These calls for disobedience, which may bring about destabilization,
are unacceptable,” the Republican party, which belongs to the ruling
coalition, said in a statement.

In neighboring Georgia, mass rallies organized by US-educated
opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili late last year resulted in the
peaceful overthrow of veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze, following
controversial parliamentary elections.

Saakashvili was then elected president by an overwhelming majority of
voters in January, and his party went on to win parliamentary
elections held last Sunday.

Armenia’s opposition had contested Kocharyan’s April 2002 re-election
to the small Caucasus nation’s Constitutional Court. The court ruled
the election valid but, after mass demonstrations, suggested that a
confidence referendum be held.

Kocharyan’s re-election as president was marred by fraud, according
to international observers, and was followed by near-daily street
protests.

The tiny former Soviet republic of Armenia, in the Caucasus
mountains, was left impoverished after a war with neighboring
Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. It is heavily reliant on aid from the
West, which has taken a skeptical view of Kocharyan’s rule.

Defenselink.mil
March 31 2004

Change Only Constant in European Command, General Says
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2004 – Change is the only constant in U.S.
European Command — that’s the not-so-subtle message of the
organization’s commander in prepared testimony for the House Armed
Services Committee March 24.

Marine Gen. James L. Jones said that the command has been involved in
the overall war on terrorism. It also is positioning itself to
provide support in the future and help allies counter the growing
terror threat.

“EUCOM’s greatest contribution to security and stability lies as much
in preventing conflict as it does in prevailing on the battlefield,”
Jones said in written testimony. “This is accomplished through
influence and engaged leadership, and is sustained only through our
enduring and visible presence and commitment.”

Change is the constant. The general said many of the issues that now
drive events in the region were impossible to predict. “Expanding
theater security- cooperation requirements, an expanding NATO,
instability in Africa and Eastern Europe and the global war on
terrorism largely define ongoing changes and require a comprehensive
review of EUCOM’s theater strategy,” he said. “Today’s security
environment has been fundamentally changed by enemies without
territory, without borders and without fixed bases.”

At the same time, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is changing
also. Not only is the alliance expanding, but it is also seeking new
capabilities – many tied to U.S. capabilities. “A transformed NATO,
with greater agility, capability, and a new vision for engagement
outside its traditional area, will be an essential and more capable
partner for the United States,” he said. “We should welcome and fully
support this historic change in the alliance.”

Jones said the command must become more agile, lethal and responsive
to face the threats of the 21st century. “(European Command) is
ideally positioned to engage, disrupt, dismantle and prevent
terrorists from using their lines of communication and methods of
resourcing which are critical to their ability to both operate and
sustain themselves,” he said.

European Command’s Strategic Theater Transformation Plan – part of
DoD’s Global Posture Review – will permit the command “to transform
itself in such a way as to be better able to meet the diverse
challenges of this new century,” Jones said.

At its base, the plan calls for a fundamental realignment of basing
concepts, access and force capabilities. The changes in both NATO and
the command are needed and are mutually supporting, Jones said. “By
its leadership and example, (European Command) supports both the
alliance in its transformation as well as NATO member nations
undergoing their own internal transformation.”

In his testimony, Jones said the command will continue studies to
reduce and realign “legacy” infrastructure in Europe. Many bases are
leftovers of the Cold War, well suited for defending Western Europe,
but for little else. Jones said the command also reassessed “the
manner in which our forces are deployed and assigned to this theater
from the United States.”

This last included reorienting U.S. forces toward the southeast and
south to more suitably reflect the command’s expanding strategic
responsibilities. “In addition to being joint, agile, sustainable and
highly mobile, future forces operating in our region will be a
combination of both permanently based and rotational units,” he said.

The command is also looking at concepts that capitalize on innovation
to maintain old capabilities and create new ones. “Simply put, the
traditional military principle of ‘mass’ no longer equates to
commitment or capability,” the general said. “We will continue to
re-tailor our forces based on an expeditionary model much better
suited to meet the demands of the 21st century.”

An expeditionary approach means new manning models. At its heart, the
general foresees a series of smaller forward operating bases and
forward operating locations strategically located throughout the
region. “Such bases will be anchored to several existing joint main
operating bases, which are of enduring strategic value and remain
essential to theater force projection, throughput and sustainment,”
he said.

Prepositioning equipment and supplies will be a part of this effort.
“This will augment this basing plan by allowing units to ‘fall in’ on
essential equipment that will capitalize on the strategic advantage
of being an ‘ocean closer’ to engagement, influence and conflict,” he
said. “This new basing plan … will help effectively posture our
forces, in order to counter current and future threats.”

Of concern to the command are not only ongoing operations in Iraq,
but the so- called “arc of instability” in its area of operations.
Efforts may prevent terrorists from using the nations of that area as
a safe haven. These include the Caucasus states, such as Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia. Another such area is the Levant region: Cyprus,
Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories and Syria. The third
is “ungoverned” regions of North and West Africa. –

Jones said due to successful operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,
terrorists “are moving into regions where nations already struggle
with explosive population growth, resource scarcity, weak national
institutions and ineffective militaries.”

New York Times
March 31 2004

Starved for Safety
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

DRÉ, Chad – So why is Africa such a mess?

To answer that question, let me tell you about a 34-year-old man who
limped over to me at this oasis in eastern Chad. “My name is Moussa
Tamadji Yodi,” he said in elegant French, “and I’m a teacher. . . . I
just crossed the border yesterday from Sudan. I was beaten up and
lost everything.”

Mr. Yodi, a college graduate, speaks French, Arabic, English and two
African languages. During the decades of Chad’s civil war, he fled
across the border into the Darfur region of Sudan to seek refuge.

Now Darfur has erupted into its own civil war and genocide. Mr. Yodi
told how a government-backed Arab militia had stopped his truck – the
equivalent of a public bus – and forced everyone off. The troops let
some people go, robbed and beat others, and shot one young man in the
head, probably because he was from the Zaghawa tribe, which the Arab
militias are trying to wipe out.

“Nobody reacted,” Mr. Yodi said. “We were all afraid.”

So now Mr. Yodi is a refugee for a second time, fleeing another civil
war. And that is a window into Africa’s central problem: insecurity.

There is no formula for economic development. But three factors seem
crucial: security, market-oriented policies and good governance.
Botswana is the only African country that has enjoyed all three in
the last 40 years, and it has been one of the fastest-growing
economies in the world. And when these conditions applied, Uganda,
Ghana, Mozambique and Rwanda boomed.

But the African leaders who cared the most about their people, like
Julius Nyerere of Tanzania or Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, tended to adopt
quasi-socialist policies that hurt their people. In recent decades,
Africans did much better ruled with capitalism than with compassion.

These days, African economic policies are more market-oriented, and
governance is improving. The big civil wars are winding down. All
this leaves me guardedly optimistic.

Yet Africa’s biggest problem is still security. The end of the cold
war has seen a surge in civil conflict, partly because great powers
no longer stabilize client states. One-fifth of Africans live in
nations shaken by recent wars. My Times colleague Howard French
forcefully scolds the West in his new book, “A Continent for the
Taking,” for deliberately looking away from eruptions of unspeakable
violence.

One lesson of the last dozen years is that instead of being purely
reactive, helpfully bulldozing mass graves after massacres, African
and Western leaders should try much harder to stop civil wars as they
start. The world is now facing a critical test of that principle in
the Darfur region of Sudan, where Arab militias are killing and
driving out darker-skinned African tribespeople. While the world now
marks the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and solemnly
asserts that this must never happen again, it is.

Some 1,000 people are dying each week in Sudan, and 110,000 refugees,
like Mr. Yodi, have poured into Chad. Worse off are the 600,000
refugees within Sudan, who face hunger and disease after being driven
away from their villages by the Arab militias.

“They come with camels, with guns, and they ask for the men,” Mr.
Yodi said. “Then they kill the men and rape the women and steal
everything.” One of their objectives, he added, “is to wipe out
blacks.”

This is not a case when we can claim, as the world did after the
Armenian, Jewish and Cambodian genocides, that we didn’t know how bad
it was. Sudan’s refugees tell of mass killings and rapes, of women
branded, of children killed, of villages burned – yet Sudan’s
government just stiffed new peace talks that began last night in
Chad.

So far the U.N. Security Council hasn’t even gotten around to
discussing the genocide. And while President Bush, to his credit,
raised the issue privately in a telephone conversation last week with
the president of Sudan, he has not said a peep about it publicly.
It’s time for Mr. Bush to speak out forcefully against the slaughter.

This is not just a moral test of whether the world will tolerate
another genocide. It’s also a practical test of the ability of
African and Western governments alike to respond to incipient civil
wars while they can still be suppressed. Africa’s future depends on
the outcome, and for now it’s a test we’re all failing.

Pasadena Star-News, CA
March 31 2004

Community reaches out to Marshall
Students urged to work toward ending racial violence

By Gretchen Hoffman , Staff Writer

PASADENA — Community members urged students to open their minds to
diversity and take control of their school at cultural awareness
assemblies held Tuesday in response to fights earlier this month at
Marshall Fundamental High School.

A dozen students were suspended then transferred out of Marshall
after fights broke out March 5 and three students were injured . Nine
of the students were also cited by Pasadena Unified School District
police, and the school was locked down for hours.

The altercations started with a fight between two students, an
Armenian American and an African American who had been suspended
earlier in the week for fighting, and expanded to include others.

Students, parents and school officials have repeatedly stressed that
it was a fight between individuals rather than a racial issue, but
community meetings since then have stressed the need for better
interracial relations at the school and in the community at large.

“We’re very concerned when you draw lines and say, ‘ I’m on this
side, you’re on that side,’ ‘ PUSD Assistant Superintendent George
McKenna said at the assembly.

“If two people fight and 10 people watch, 12 people are guilty,’
McKenna said. “They’re participating and permitting the existence of
violence.’

McKenna said community leaders have been meeting and will form a
coalition to focus on events at the school. Leaders will return to
the school in two weeks after spring break to solicit input from
students, he said.

Krikor Satamian, chairman of the Pasadena Armenian Police Advisory
Council, told students to embrace the diversity found at Marshall.

“This is the time for you to learn about other people,’ Satamian
said. “Get along with people that’s your advantage here and that’s
what will help you when you leave here.’

Local real estate broker Aaron Abdus Shakoor told students to
remember that, despite racial or ethnic differences, everyone comes
from “one family.’

“When you’re talking and the conflict arises, try to sit down,’ Abdus
Shakoor said. “It’s very difficult to fight when you’re sitting
down.’

The school is continuing its conflict- resolution programs, which
were in place before the recent fights, and officials urged students
to take responsibility for keeping the peace at Marshall.

“I think there are too many young people going to jail and I want it
to stop,’ PUSD Police Chief Mike Trevis said. “You’ve got the power
to make it stop. You see people dogging each other, say ‘Hey, stop it
now.’ ‘

Suzanne Berberian, a community liaison specialist with the PUSD, said
bridges have been built between various segments of the community
over the past few weeks.

“I see a bright future because I see us as a school community coming
together,’ Berberian said. “It brought us together and made all of us
pay attention to each other.’

Interfax
March 31 2004

Deno invests $3 mln in Armenian mine

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Deno of Switzerland invested $3 million in the
first stage of an investment program for the Kapan Ore- Dressing
Plant or GOK in Armenia.

The money was spent on acquiring materials and on repairs, the
plantTs general director, Martun Akopyan, told Interfax.

The second stage of the program will need about $7.5 million and is
to take two years, during which a processing factory will be built.

After privatization, Kapan GOK tripled ore production and processing
to 30,000 tonnes a month.

Kapan GOK produced 300,000 tonnes of ore in 2003, and plans to
produce 450,000 tonnes in 2004. It exports concentrates to processing
companies in China and Belgium. Output totaled $4.5 million in 2003
and is planned at $12 million in 2004.

Transitions Online, Week in Review
23 – 29 March 2004

ARMENIA: A GATHERING STORM?

As the opposition prepares to challenge the president, Kocharian and his
government play the good cop/bad cop routine.

YEREVAN, Armenia–An increasingly defiant, more unified opposition, a
government out on the road meeting the people, and a president changing
senior figures in law-enforcement agencies: these three recent developments
are being taken as signs that, a year after deeply flawed presidential
elections, Armenia may be on the cusp of a fresh, large-scale political
battle.

The battle will become a little clearer on 31 March, when the opposition is
expected to announce that it will hold a rally in mid-April with the aim of
forcing President Robert Kocharian to step down.

This will be days after a demonstration on 2 April to mark the second
anniversary of Armenia’s leading independent TV channel A1 Plus. Despite its
popularity and international calls for greater media plurality, A1 Plus has
repeatedly been refused a TV license, with the government-appointed
commission usually opting to give licenses instead to new or inexperienced
producers. A1 Plus has said it may hold rolling demonstrations unless the
government meets its demands for the license tenders to be re-opened, with
civil-society members on the selection commission.

The demonstrations represent a gamble by the opposition. It has a record of
disunity and question marks hang over the size of the crowds that it will
draw. While the A1 Plus issue has angered many and while the station was
very popular, demonstrations two years ago garnered between 5,000 and
10,000. Crowds of up to 40,000 protesters gathered after the presidential
elections in 2003.

The opposition, however, is showing more unity than in the past. The joint
organizers of the mid-April demonstration, Artarutyun and National Unity,
have in the past accused each other of working with the government and were
widely seen as rivals. Both parties are big players on the political scene:
the rally will bring together the supporters of the man who came second in
the presidential elections, Artarutyun’s Stepan Demirchian, and the man who
came third, National Unity’s Artashes Geghamian.

Moreover, since the presidential elections in 2003, there has been a potent
demonstration of street power in Georgia in the form of the “rose
revolution,” which toppled the country’s long-time president, Eduard
Shevardnadze. In the immediate aftermath of Georgia’s revolution, there was
speculation about whether Armenia might follow Georgia’s lead, but there
were no major demonstrations. That may largely have been due to the wintry
weather, which is a factor in the timing of the new wave of protests.
National Unity had initially been thinking of holding off on demonstrations
until the arrival of warm weather in May.

A FRIENDLIER FACE, BUT A STRONGER HAND

The opposition also are taking hope from the actions of the government and
the president.

In recent weeks, senior ministers have been going out into the provinces and
countryside in a move interpreted as a bid to bolster public support for the
government. It also may be a direct response to ongoing nationwide tours by
members of the opposition.

There also has been some signs of a slightly milder tone by some members of
the governing coalition. In a joint statement on 26 March, representatives
of the three coalition parties–the Republican Party of Armenia, Orinats
Erkir (Country of Law), and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun)–poured some ash on their heads by acknowledging the
existence of many problems (though mainly social) and indicated that 2004
would be a crucial year for the government to deliver on its promises.

The appointment to senior posts of relatives of members of the coalition
might also suggest a rebalancing of power within the coalition.

However, Kocharian himself has struck a harsher tone, attacking the
opposition for having “a tramp’s mentality.” He also has showed a strong
hand. In a move that seems designed to show the opposition that he is firmly
in command of the security services, he fired four district prosecutors on
22 March. The clear-out affected seven of Yerevan’s 11 districts.

On 17 March, he had dismissed Armenia’s prosecutor-general, and sacked or
moved over a dozen senior police officials.

The country’s new prosecutor-general, Aghvan Hovsepian, is a Kocharian
loyalist.

Moreover, the government is not relenting to criticism about its policies
toward the opposition. During the week, the government also presented a
revised draft law to parliament that would in some instances enable the
police to arrest the organizers of mass rallies and would limit the right to
hold demonstrations. The government says the bill matches Council of Europe
standards. However, according to a 26 March report in the opposition daily,
an Armenian delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), which Armenia joined in 2001, says that the bill falls short of
European standards.

Armenia has a poor record on political tolerance. After unsanctioned
opposition demonstrations over alleged electoral fraud in 2003, according to
RFE figures, police rounded about 400 supporters of the Artarutyun leader,
Stepan Demirchian. Many were sentenced to 15 days in prison, and reports
suggest that many were denied access to lawyers and their trials were held
behind closed doors.

Armenia’s current criminal code allows the security forces to jail people
briefly without a particular reason.

Fears that similar measures could be taken after the A1 Plus and opposition
demonstrations were heightened on 25 March when a leading member of the
opposition, Victor Dallakian, claimed to have been attacked on 23 March by
three men.

The police have already called the planned 2 April rally illegal.

THE UNDERCURRENT OF VIOLENCE

Kocharian also has demonstrated that he is unconcerned about allegations
regarding the violent nature of some of his appointees, choosing as governor
of the southern Syunik region a man who is accused of being the head of a
criminal gang.

Two nephews of Surik Khachatrian, a leading veteran of the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh, are currently being investigated for murder. RFE reported
that Khachatrian denied any role in the killing, though he did not deny the
guilt of his nephews.

Khachatrian’s appointment is just one of several recent examples of a
violent undercurrent in Armenian politics and among its political elite.

That was shown most explosively on 12 March. Kocharian and his Georgian
counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, were having dinner together when a
gunfight erupted in the next-door café. Five men were taken to the hospital.
Among them was the son of the minister for urban development, Ara Aramian.
The minister confirmed that his son had been involved.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the son of the minister for local
government, Hovik Abrahamian, also was involved.

–by Anna Hakobyan
From: Baghdasarian

A1 Plus | 18:00:04 | 30-03-2004 | Politics |

AUTHORITIES RESORTED TO PROVOCATIONS

Justice opposition bloc representatives Albert Bazeyan, Victor Dallakyan and
Grigor Harutyunyan spoke mainly about Sunday’s incident in Gyumri.

The politicians are sure that the incident occurred at a rally held Sunday
in Armenian town of Gyumri is nothing more than provocation orchestrated by
the republic’s authorities. The police appeared as a conflicting side
instead of fulfilling their direct duty of keeping order, they said.

The opposition activist said no investigation has been launched into the
police conduct so far but a series of raids on some Gyumri residents’
houses. Nine people are already arrested in the raids. It is not ruled out
the police to charge them.

Bazeyan said there are video record of the incident and witnesses testifying
that eggs and explosives were given by policemen and municipality officials.

Justice bloc members say the city bosses staged fake funeral in an apparent
attempt to bar them from conducting their meeting with their constituents.
Cortege and all funeral attributes but the dead were used.

—