The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 8 2005
Baku: Kars-Akhalkalaki railway to be built by 2007
By M. Alkhazashvili
The Kars-Akhalkalaki railway project connecting Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan via rails has been a long lasting topic for discussion,
but only recently became an issue of serious proposals.
Now the Azerbaijan Ministry of Transport has stated that
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway will be opened in a year and a
half and will cost USD 400 million, the paper Rezonansi reports.
Project feasibility studies will be ready by the end of the year and
Turkey has announced a tender on the studies. Within the framework of
the project Azeri, Georgian and Turkish transportation officials will
meet in Istanbul in August.
Already officials say that connecting Turkey’s railway with the South
Caucasus railway system will be profitable not only for Turkey,
Georgia and Azerbaijan, but also for the countries that could use the
line for transit. And despite the profitability of the line, the
construction of the small length of track (98 km, 68 in Turkey and 30
in Georgia) has been delayed for many years.
The main reason for this is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
fact that an operating line once existed between Turkey and Armenia.
A group of U.S. congressmen are arguing that ignoring this line would
be a major setback for the treatment of Armenia and for the peace
process.
As a result, they have proposed a bill titled South Caucasus
Integration and Open Railroads Act of 2005. The U.S. Congressmen who
submitted the bill, Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
and George Radanovich (R-CA), argue that no U.S. aid should be given
to the rail project precisely because it excludes Armenia from the
East-West corridor.
The stated goal of the bill (H.R. 3361) is “To prohibit United States
assistance to develop or promote any rail connections or
railway-related connections that traverse or connect Baku,
Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Kars, Turkey, and that specifically
exclude cities in Armenia.”
Despite the censure by the American legislators, officials in Baku,
Tbilisi and Ankara appear unfazed. At present, the railway
construction is slated to be conducted in two rounds. First one track
will be built and later when the railway starts operations, a second
track will be constructed.
Georgian papers state that according to estimates over the first year
of operation, 10 million tons of cargo will be transported and later
the figure will rise to 50 million tons. It is also forecast that the
line could be used for oil shipping that is today is transported by
sea through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.

Gulf Times, Qatar
Aug 8 2005
Azerbaijan relaunches opposition crackdown
Published: Monday, 8 August, 2005, 12:16 PM Doha Time

BAKU: The arrest of an opposition leader in former Soviet Azerbaijan
over an alleged coup plot hatched by Armenian secret police and a US
democracy group reactivates an opposition crackdown in the oil rich
republic ahead of parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors on Thursday announced the arrest of Ruslan Bashirli, the
leader of the Yeni Fikir youth group modelled on movements that
helped topple regimes in Ukraine and Georgia recently, on charges of
attempting `to take power by force’.
His detention came just two months after the Azerbaijani authorities
had lifted a ban on public demonstrations that had been in place
since the contested 2003 presidential elections which ended in
rioting and hundreds of arrests.
The two days of rioting that enveloped the capital Baku in 2003 put
Azerbaijan in the international headlines. Since then, the
authorities have clamped down on dissent, loosening the unspoken ban
on rallies only in June after heavy Western diplomatic pressure.
Prosecutors accuse Bashirli of accepting money from Armenian
operatives posing as democracy activists from Georgia and Armenia in
order to finance a revolt planned by the US-based National Democratic
Institute (NDI).
While in Georgia in July, Bashirli told the Armenians that he
represented forces `acting on the instructions of the National
Democratic Institute of the USA’, according to a prosecutors’
statement.
He said he had received `specific instructions from representatives
of this organisation to prepare a revolution in Azerbaijan’, the
statement said.
Azerbaijan fought and lost a bitter war with Armenia over the
mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s and the two
former Soviet republics have yet to sign a formal peace deal.
Both Yeni Fikir and NDI denied they were plotting to oust the regime
of president Ilham Aliyev, with the US group’s Azerbaijan director
Christy Quirk saying the allegations `just aren’t true’.

UNPO, Netherlands
Aug 8 2005
Abkhazia and Georgia: Ready to ride on the Peace Train?
Spanning the Inguri River near Zugdidi are the rusty remains of the
Sochi-Tbilisi railway bridge. For 13 years, its demolition has meant
the severance of economic and communicative ties between Georgia and
the breakaway territory of Abkhazia, as well as the disruption of
rail trade between Armenia and Russia. Talks about reopening the line
between Tbilisi and Abkhazia’s capital, Sokhumi, first started seven
years ago, but only recently have both sides earnestly engaged in
discussions to make these plans a reality.
In Abkhazia, the restoration of the railway is viewed with hope,
doubt and fear. De facto Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Shamba
believes in the best-case scenario: a railway completion agreement
could be reached at the end of 2005 — providing “conflicts of
interest in Tbilisi don’t prevent it,” he stated in an interview with
EurasiaNet. “There are political forces in Tbilisi who would not like
to see the railway project be completed,” Shamba stated. “But I feel
[Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution] Giorgi Khaindrava
is a man we can talk with.”
Under the terms of a July 19 agreement reached in Sokhumi by Georgia,
Abkhazia and Russia, a 41-person commission will begin inspecting the
condition of the railway on August 9 as a first step toward reopening
the line. A full report on the commission’s work is slotted for
October 1.
Relations between Georgia and Abkhazia appear to be slowly warming.
United Nations-mediated talks held in Tbilisi on August 4 between
Abkhazia and Georgia were deemed “constructive” by both sides. The
discussions reportedly covered only general topics, but were
presented as a potential launch pad for more detailed negotiations in
future. “A constructive dialogue between Tbilisi and Sokhumi should
be continued,” the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Khaindrava as
saying.
Much touted in Georgia as a potential benefit of rapprochement, the
railway project appears to have much support in Sokhumi, too, but
according to Shamba, there are people who feel the railway could be a
threat to national security. Securing and protecting the railroad was
Georgian Defense Minister Tenghiz Kitovani’s pretext for sending the
Georgian National Guard into Abkhazian territory in 1992 while
fighting a civil war with forces loyal to deposed Georgian President
Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
“We remember how Georgia had planned to use the railway in 1992 to
deploy troops and equipment overnight to three locations into
Abkhazia and seize it,” commented Shamba. “If the Zviadists hadn’t
blown the bridge, they may have succeeded.”
A series of explosions in Ochamchira, a Black Sea port city between
Gali and Sukhumi, on March 24, 2002 has kept that nervousness alive.
The blasts destroyed a commuter train and the rail station, killing
three people and wounding 28. The explosions were blamed on Georgia,
which categorically denied them.
To secure the safety of the railway, initial plans would have Halo
Trust, a British non-governmental organization that removes
unexploded ordnance and clears landmines, complete de-mining the
line. Abkhazia would guarantee security from Ochamchira north to the
Russian border and Russian peacekeepers from Ochamchira to Gali, at
the border with Georgia.
At this point, only freight will be transported. Among numerous other
issues, carrying passengers would require rebuilding the destroyed
stations of Gali and Ochamchira. Before the war, both stations were
bustling with activity. Today, the Ochamchira station is in the same
state as it was after the 2002 bombing, while Gali is a
post-apocalyptic testament to the ravages of war.
In addition, 60 kilometers of track, between Zugdidi, administrative
center of the Georgian region of Samegrelo, and Ochamchira have been
removed from the railroad and sold for scrap metal. One hundred
million dollars will be needed to repair the stretch, according to
Georgian and Abkhazian officials’ estimates.
If and when completed, the railroad will comply with the 2003 Sochi
agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, which calls for the return of
Georgian refugees to the Gali region, modernization of the Ingurhesi
hydroelectric plant and reopening of the railroad. While negotiators
are addressing all three issues, some modifications have been made.
Georgia, for one, has agreed to repudiate its condition of a
simultaneous return of Georgian refugees to the Gali region.
Customs issues have also been discussed, but not yet resolved. In his
interview, Shamba dismissed this obstacle by focusing on the benefits
the railway will provide. ” We have been cut off from each other for
too long. Communication links will resume. We will be able to start
reconciling the conflicts in the Caucasus. And as the world is now
connected, we, too, must consider the economic development for the
Caucasus. The railway will create an entrepreneurial zone.”
Both Georgian and Abkhaz residents of Abkhazia appear to support this
idea. “Any means to develop a bridge of communication is a good
thing,” said one Georgian from Gali who gave his name as Besik B. “We
want peace. The railroad is a link to peace.”
That view was echoed by de facto Deputy Foreign Minister Maxim
Gunjia, who described the railway as an option for greater regional
cooperation. “We wouldn’t need the EU [European Union] or the CIS
[Commonwealth of Independent States] if we had a Transcaucasus
Federation where borders would be open, electricity shared — an
economically united union.”
Others see a restored railroad as essential if Abkhazia will not fall
even further behind into economic isolation. “It’s the 21st century
and look at how we have to transport ourselves!” exclaimed one man as
he crossed the railroad bridge between Georgia and Abkhazia.
The decrepit bridge across the Inguri has been rigged with planks and
cables, providing residents with a precarious, yet unrestricted means
for travel between the two territories. With the exception of the
Russian peacekeeping forces, there are no border checkpoints.
Nevertheless, some Abkhazians like Nugzar O., a resident of Gali, see
the railway as just another political promise. “They say the railway
will help the country . . . we’ll see if they ever build it or not.”

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
The Jamestown Foundation
Aug 8 2005
THE CONSPIRATOR AS BRAGGART
By Vladimir Socor
Monday, August 8, 2005

Azerbaijani opposition movement leaders under pressure On August 4
and 5, Azerbaijani television channels screened a videotape of a
meeting held on July 29 in Tbilisi between Ruslan Bashirli, leader of
the Baku-based Yeni Fikir (New Thinking) youth association, and two
Georgians who claimed to represent a youth group supporting regime
change in Azerbaijan and offered clandestine assistance to that end.
Yeni Fikir itself seeks to spearhead an “orange-revolution”-type
movement in Azerbaijan and has clad its followers in orange shirts,
preparatory to street demonstrations in connection with the upcoming
parliamentary elections. The group is affiliated with (though not a
part of) the People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party (PFAP). Yeni Fikir
activist Osman Alimuradov, who accompanied Bashirli to Tbilisi,
promptly reported to the Azerbaijani authorities and turned over the
videotape, which he said had been made by the Tbilisi hosts who
retained a copy. Bashirli was detained on August 4 on criminal
charges of conspiring to overthrow the constitutional order.
Bashirli, who is 27 years old, has been interrogated by a Baku court
in the presence of his lawyer, Elchin Gambarov. The lawyer as well as
PFAP leader Ali Kerimli, Musavat Party leader Isa Gambar, and others
seek to mobilize political support for Bashirli. Official media,
using the case to discredit PFAP, accuse Bashirli and other
opposition members of working with Armenia’s intelligence services,
but they adduce no evidence other than the Armenian names of some of
Bashirli’s alleged contacts in Tbilisi. Bashirli’s defenders suggest
that the videotape was doctored.
Beyond the welter of far-fetched mutual accusations in the media,
however, Bashirli and his defenders have admitted to the accuracy of
at least some of the content of the videotape. Thus, they concede
that Bashirli has accepted a $2,000 donation — the receipt for which
he is seen signing and heard confirming on the videotape — and a
promise for a further $20,000 donation later this month. By way of
mitigating circumstances, they cite Bashirli’s assertion — on tape
and again to the court — that he would use the initial donation to
buy technical equipment for Yeni Fikir and to cover expenses for his
wedding party.
Kerimli told a news conference that the case is a provocation by the
authorities “aiming to discredit Yeni Fikir, [out of] fear that the
movement will grow in the run-up to the election.” Bashirli “should
be held responsible morally, not criminally. He makes incorrect and
inappropriate statements that the United States is preparing a
revolution in Azerbaijan … He wants to present himself as a more
important figure [than he is] in order to impress his interlocutors.
All this is of course regrettable and makes him responsible before
his comrades-in-arms,” Kerimli stated. He cautioned PFAP members to
refrain from attending dubious meetings or drinking alcohol, and
generally to control their emotions (ANS TV, Turan, August 5).
For his part, Gambarov told a news conference that the donation was
part of a grant received via Georgian non-governmental groups.
Bashirli was to have spent part on it on his wedding party planned
for August 10 (ANS TV, August 6; Turan, August 6, 8). Yeni Fikir’s
vice-chairmen, Said Nuriev and Fikret Faramazoglu, while defending
Bashirli, told their press conference that their leader was “drunk
and bragging” (AFP, August 5). In fact, drink was a topic of
discussion several times on the videotape — an element seized on by
the authorities to discredit an opponent in this Muslim nation.
On the tape, Bashirli is seen and heard saying that the
Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) is instructing
Yeni Fikir about organizing mass protest rallies and “preparing for
revolution.” In Washington, NDI’s Eurasia regional director, Nelson
Ledsky, responded in a statement that NDI does not support any party
or individual candidate in the parliamentary elections. NDI’s Baku
office in turn responded that allegations that NDI is funding a
revolution are untrue, as NDI cooperates with all political parties
to promote free and fair elections (Turan, August 5, 6).
The flap over Yeni Fikir and Bashirli, while overblown, seems to
demonstrate the immaturity and volatility of some of the opposition
circles.

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
The Jamestown Foundation
Aug 8 2005
ARMENIAN NUCLEAR PLANT TO FUNCTION FOR ANOTHER DECADE
By Emil Danielyan
Monday, August 8, 2005
Armenia appears to have decided to keep its vital nuclear power
station at Metsamor operational for another decade, despite
persisting Western concerns about the safety of the Soviet-built
facility. The authorities in Yerevan, reluctant to set a date for the
plant’s inevitable closure until recently, have deferred the decision
over the past few months.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, ascertained their intentions during a
recent visit to Yerevan. “I think the Armenian authorities would like
to continue to operate the reactor for around ten years,” El Baradei
said after talks with President Robert Kocharian and other senior
Armenian officials on July 28.
This will hardly please the United States and especially the European
Union. They have for years been pushing for a quick decommissioning
of Metsamor, saying that it is located in a seismically active region
and that its sole operating reactor is inherently flawed. But the
United States and the EU seem to have no option other than continuing
to work with Yerevan in further boosting the plant’s safety during
its final years of operation. They are also clearly conscious of the
fact that it meets as much as 40% of Armenia’s energy needs.
Built 35 kilometers west of Yerevan in 1977, the nuclear plant was
promptly shut down by Soviet authorities following the December 1988
earthquake that devastated much of northern Armenia. Metsamor’s
closure was hardly felt until the collapse of the Soviet Union and
the outbreak of wars in Karabakh and elsewhere in the South Caucasus.
Those events plunged Armenia into a crippling energy crisis that
forced its first post-communist government to reactivate one of the
plant’s two reactors in 1995. The move, coupled with a radical reform
of the Armenian energy sector, not only ended the power shortages but
also enabled the landlocked, resource-poor country to export to some
of its neighbors.
The West opposed Metsamor’s reactivation from the outset, but
eventually had to come to terms with it. The Americans and Europeans
have each spent tens of millions of dollars on measures to improve
the plant’s operational safety over the past decade. In return for
the large-scale assistance, the administration of Armenia’s former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian reportedly promised to decommission it
in 2004. However, Kocharian never felt bound by that pledge and his
government insists that Metsamor is safe enough to continue its
operations.
Kocharian told El Baradei that his administration is committed to
further improving safety standards at Metsamor. The Vienna-based IAEA
has regularly inspected the plant and has not reported serious
violations so far. El Baradei commended the Armenian authorities for
their “good” cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
Armenian energy officials say Metsamor’s VVER-440 light-water reactor
is more advanced than any of the RBMK-1000 reactors of the Chernobyl
nuclear station that exploded in 1986. Their European counterparts,
however, believe VVER-440 is one of the most dangerous facilities of
its kind in the world. The European Commission said in a report last
March that the closure of all Soviet-built nuclear facilities remains
“a key EU objective.”
The Armenian government may have coped with Western pressure well,
but it clearly cannot avoid setting a date for the nuclear plant’s
closure anymore. Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstian told
journalists on June 23 that the government is already preparing for
the start of the decommissioning process, which he said would be
complete before 2016. The process promises to be very costly.
According to Galstian, its first stage alone requires $44 million
worth of expenditures. That includes the construction of a second
storage site for nuclear waste.
Yerevan hopes that Western donors will foot most of the
multimillion-dollar bill. It has contended all along that Armenia
cannot afford to halt the Metsamor reactor before developing
alternative sources of power generation. Yet it appears that the
problem is not so much the availability of those sources as their
production costs. Thermal power plants already account for 40% of
electricity production in Armenia and can substantially increase
their output at any moment. The problem is that the electricity
generated by them is much more expensive than nuclear energy.
The Armenian authorities borrowed $150 million from the Japanese
development agency last March for a complete reconstruction of an old
thermal plant in Yerevan. Its production costs are due to fall
dramatically as a result. The authorities are also looking for a
foreign investor to complete the protracted construction of a new
gas-powered plant in the central town of Hrazdan. The two facilities
are expected to be the main recipients of Iranian natural gas that
will be delivered to Armenia through a pipeline currently under
construction.
The pipeline is a key component of a 20-year energy sector
development plan that the Armenian government approved on June 23.
The plan also envisages the construction of new hydroelectric
stations across the country.
The government’s decisions on the issue are also bound to be
influenced by the fact that Metsamor’s finances are managed by
Russia’s state-owned power monopoly, Unified Energy Systems, in
accordance with a 2003 swap agreement that settled the plant’s $40
million debt to Russian nuclear fuel suppliers. The deal enabled
Metsamor to balance its books and secure fresh fuel deliveries. It
remains to be seen at what cost.
(Hayastani Hanrapetutyun, July 29; Statement by the Armenian
president’s press service, July 28; RFE/RL Armenia Report, July 28,
March 28; Haykakan Zhamanak, June 24)

Turkish Press
Aug 8 2005
Press Review
AKSAM
SWISS SENATE: `DEBATING GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS ISN’T OUR JOB’
The Swiss Senate decided over the weekend not to debate the so-called
Armenian genocide issue. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted
against considering the issue in the full Senate, saying that the
issue should instead be discussed between Turkey and Armenia. Peter
Briner, head of the committee, said that the third countries should
not point the finger at Turkey 90 years after the events. Briner also
said that Turkey has to look into the Armenian issue if it wants to
join the European Union, though Switzerland itself is not a member of
the bloc. Under Swiss law, denying any genocide is a crime. Ankara
recently criticized the Swiss canton of Vaud for recognizing the
so-called genocide and cancelled a planned visit by Swiss Foreign
Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. /Aksam/

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 8 2005
Opposition Party Leader Calls Youth Movement Chair’s Arrest `Subversion’
Baku Today / AssA-Irada 08/08/2005 17:17
Popular Front Party (PFPA) chairman Ali Karimli has refuted reports
on the Yeni Fikir (New Thought) youth movement chairman’s Ruslan
Bashirli’s cooperation with the Armenian secret service.
`The reports and relevant TV broadcasts are another subversion of
Azerbaijani secret service’, Karimli told a news conference.
The Prosecutor’s Office issued a report on Thursday saying that while
visiting Tbilisi, Bashirli plotted with the Armenian secret service
to stage a coup and provoke stand-off in Azerbaijan. It also said
that the chairman and another representative of Yeni Fikir went to
the Georgian capital on Karimli’s instruction.
Karimli said that the individuals that spoke with Bashirli during the
visit presented themselves as representatives of Georgian
non-government organizations.
The PFPA chair said that a while ago, one of these persons, who are
now known to serve Armenian secret service, visited Baku, presenting
himself as a businessman, and met with him.
`If he works for Armenian secret service, how did he manage to enter
the city? Where were government agencies then?’
Karimli went on to say that after Bashirli returned from Georgia, he
met with him in Baku. Bashirli then said that while in Tbilisi, a
Georgian businessman offered him money, but he refused.
`I am not sure now – either Bashirli was not saying the truth or this
part was removed from the TV footage’, the PFPA chair said.
Karimli noted that he was disappointed with some statements by
Bashirli.
`I was frustrated by what he said about the Upper Garabagh conflict
and the US plans to stage a revolution in Azerbaijan….He was in a
drunken state when he made those statements.’
Karimli also said that he believes that various psychotropic
substances were mixed in the drinks that Bashirli had with the
mentioned individuals.
The PFPA chairman did not rule that Russian secret service agencies
may be involved in the incident, as the reports on the matter and the
video-tape showing the conversation Bashirli had in Tbilisi were
submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office by a Russian citizen. Bashirli
bears not criminal but `moral responsibility’ for the incident, said
Karimli.
The PFPA chairman added that the incident is aimed against him and
his party and expressed confidence that he will `succeed in
disclosing it’.

Baku Today
Aug 8 2005
No Talks Held on US military Bases in Washington – Azeri Official
Baku Today / Assa Irada 08/08/2005 17:10
No talks were held or agreements signed on the stationing of US
military bases in Azerbaijan during Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov’s meetings in Washington, he told a meeting arranged at
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Thursday.
Mammadyarov, who has completed his four-day visit to the United
States, said in his report on Azerbaijan’s foreign policy that the
integration into European organizations is a part of the country’s
foreign political course.
The Minister noted that Azerbaijan, which is successfully
implementing projects on production and transportation of Caspian
natural resources, will spend its oil revenues to develop the non-oil
sector.
Mammadyarov said that during his meetings at the White House and
Pentagon, American officials welcomed President Ilham Aliyev’s policy
based on democratic and economic reforms. `The fruitful discussions
reaffirmed that US and Azeri governments have common positions on a
number of issues,’ he said.
The Minister elaborated on the course of peace talks on settling the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh. The negotiations are
held in very challenging conditions. Azerbaijan will always adhere to
the principle of territorial integrity, he said.
`Armenians residing in Upper Garabagh are full-fledged citizens of
Azerbaijan. As citizens of a democratic country, they will be able to
benefit from revenues acquired through energy projects after the
Upper Garabagh conflict is settled peacefully.’
Mammadyarov said US officials highly appreciate President Aliyev’s
decree on parliamentary elections. 3,000 observers, with half of them
being foreigners, will observe the poll in November.
`We do not back away from such transparency, as democracy is
Azerbaijan’s own choice.’
In reply to a question about Azerbaijan’s future relations with Iran,
Mammadyarov said Iran’s main political course is determined by
Ayatollah Khomeini. Azerbaijan therefore does not expect any changes
in this country’s foreign policy.
On the last day of his visit, the Minister held an informal meeting
with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
Mammadyarov also met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
deputy national security adviser Jack Crouch. He also addressed a
roundtable attended by representatives of the National Democratic
Institute, International Republican Institute, International
Foundation for Election Systems, Department of State and National
Security Council as well as businessmen at the Washington-based U.S.
Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.

BBC News
Aug 8 2005
34.stm
Profile: Benon Sevan

Benon Sevan headed the oil-for-food programme from 1997
As former director of the UN’s oil-for-food programme, Benon Sevan is
now caught up in the scandal surrounding the programme for Iraq.
The 67-year-old’s resignation on Sunday ahead of expected allegations
of corruption brings to an end four decades of service with the UN.
Posted to some of the world’s major hotspots, Mr Sevan, who was born
in Nicosia and is of Armenian ancestry, has had a string of key
positions.
In 1988, he was sent to Afghanistan and Pakistan as a special
adviser, monitoring the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan after
nearly a decade of conflict.

The charges are false and you, who have known me all these years,
should know they are false
Benon Sevan
Q&A: Oil-for-food
The following year, he was promoted to assistant secretary general
and the secretary general’s personal envoy to the region, later
heading the humanitarian effort there.
He had also worked extensively in the Middle East, before being
appointed head of the oil-for-food programme in 1997.
In 1985, he was sent on special mission to examine the fate of
prisoners on both sides in the Iran-Iraq war.
And from 1992, as well as his other duties, Mr Sevan served as the
special envoy for missing persons in the Middle East.
Danger postings
His first senior posting to a trouble spot came soon after he joined
the UN Secretariat in 1965.

Mr Sevan was caught up in the UN HQ bombing in Baghdad
>From the end of 1968 to the summer of 1969, he served as an observer
of the controversial final stage of the decolonisation of West Irian
(now Irian Jaya) and its incorporation into Indonesia.
He subsequently worked for two years on the UN development fund for
the region.
And Mr Sevan’s work as the oil-for-food boss also brought danger,
with the official halfway through a televised news conference at the
UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 when a truck bomb
devastated the building, killing 22 people.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among the
dead.
Mr Sevan, speaking at a ceremony in Baghdad as Mr Mello’s body was
about to be flown out, quoted a US soldier who said the envoy, dying
under the rubble, had told him: “Don’t let them pull the mission
out.”
Oil-for-food accusations
The oil-for-food programme was wound up at the end of 2003, and Mr
Sevan retired in May 2004.
By that time, he had agreed to continue on the UN payroll on a salary
of $1 a year and co-operate with the investigation into corruption in
the programme.
In February, an interim report by Paul Volcker’s panel into the
scandal said Mr Sevan had tried to allocate oil sales from Iraq.
Payments of $160,000, which Mr Sevan said came from his aunt in
Cyprus, have been questioned. The bureaucrat has said the notion he
would risk his career over such a sum when he was administering
billions is incredible.
His resignation ends 40 years of a plethora of roles within the UN,
which also included appointments in the 1990s as deputy head of the
Department of Political Affairs, and assistant secretary general in
the Department of Administration and Management, in charge of the
restructuring of the UN.
Mr Sevan was educated at the Melkonian Institute in Cyprus, and then
studied history and philosophy at Columbia University in New York,
eventually doing a post-graduate degree at the school of
international and public affairs there.
He is married and has a daughter.

Azeri, Georgian leaders reportedly discuss opposition activist’s arrest
Yeni Musavat, Baku
8 Aug 05

Text of M. Hacibayli’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on
8 August headlined “Are Aliyev and Saakashvili in talks?” and
subheaded “President reportedly asked his Georgian counterpart for
softening an expected statement on the Basirli incident”
Official Tbilisi will comment on a claim of the Azerbaijani
Prosecutor’s Office that the Armenian special services have allegedly
recruited Ruslan Basirli, a citizen of Azerbaijan [and leader of the
Yeni Fikir youth movement], in Georgia.
The Georgian special services have already launched a relevant
investigation into the incident. It is expected that a relevant
statement will be issued soon.
According to unofficial information we obtained from diplomatic
sources, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Georgian
counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had twice telephone conversations
over the Ruslan Basirli incident.
Saakashvili first telephoned Aliyev to get additional information
about the statement issued by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s
Office. Second time Aliyev telephoned his Georgian counterpart and
asked him to relatively soften Georgia’s expected statement on the
incident. Aliyev also came up against damaging the ties between the
two countries over this incident.