Experts meet on war crimes
By Matt Prodger

BBC Correspondent in Dubrovnik
3 Sept 04

Legal experts from around the world have gathered in the Croatian coastal
city of Dubrovnik to compare notes on prosecuting war criminals Dubrovnik was
almost destroyed during the Balkan wars and is a symbolic location

These are not easy times for war crimes prosecutors.

The Slobodan Milosevic trial has been anything but smooth. Bosnian Serb
leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic continue to evade the prosecutors.

Likewise former Liberian President Charles Taylor and several senior
Indonesian soldiers wanted for war crimes in East Timor.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has completed only a handful
of trials and in Sierra Leone little more than a dozen people have been
indicted.

The keynote speaker at this United Nations conference, Geoffrey Robertson QC,
is however upbeat.

”We have come a long way,” he says.

“We have now established that nobody responsible for war crimes anywhere is
beyond the reach of the law.”

Uncooperative countries

David Cohen from the War Crimes Studies Centre in Berkeley is more cautious.

”If you look at the conviction rate of the war crimes tribunals it has
actually been pretty high,” he says.

“The trouble is that in many cases, such as East Timor, the courts haven’t
been able to go up the chain of command and get senior leaders.

“If individual countries, like Indonesia, won’t co-operate then there’s not
much the courts can do by themselves.”

Doubts over court

There is pessimism too over the future of the new International Criminal
Court.

It is meant to have a global remit, but the United States is unwilling to
co-operate with it.

”Undermined from the beginning,” says David Cohen.

On the day this conference opened, the Hague appointed defence lawyers to
Slobodan Milosevic against his will.

”The right decision,” according to Belgrade delegate Dusan Ignjatovic.

”He should have had one from the beginning. If he were on trial in Serbia,
the court would have forced one on him. I do not know if it will speed the
trial up, but it may stop him making a fool of himself.”

Prosecutors hope the lengthy delays of the Milosevic case will not be
repeated in the upcoming trial of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

At least he will be tried in his own country, a good thing think most legal
experts, but there are doubts over the ability of an Iraqi court to handle a
difficult and big case like this one.

Poignant venue

The location of this conference, Dubrovnik, is poignant.

This beautiful walled city on the Dalmatian Coast was almost destroyed by
Yugoslav artillery in the early 1990s.

It has been rebuilt and there is little evidence of the destruction now.

But one legacy of the Balkan wars is apparent elsewhere: the Hague War Crimes
Tribunal set up more than a decade ago and the predecessor to other tribunals
around the world.

There should be no turning back, says Geoffrey Robertson, recalling that in
1939 Adolf Hitler, in reference to the Jews, reassured his commanders with the
words “Who now remembers the extermination of the Armenians?”.

He was referring to their slaughter and deportation from Anatolia in 1915-17.

“We are making sure that such an event if it should happen again would never
be allowed to fade into obscurity,” says Mr Robertson.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Arabic News
Sept 3 2004

Damascus international fair opens today
Syria, Local, 9/3/2004

The 51st session of Damascus International Fair opens on Friday with
the participation of 55 countries and scores of Arab and foreign
companies. The session of this year is distinguished by the return
of some countries after an absence for several years including India
and Armenia, and other countries which participate for the first time
such as Nigeria and Iraq.

PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN TO VISIT POLAND ON SEPTEMBER 5

ArmenPress
Sept 3 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
will visit Poland from September 5 to 7. The invitation was extended
by his Polish counterpart Alexander Kwasniewski. In the course of the
visit the Armenian president is scheduled to meet with the leadership
of the Polish Sejm (lower parliament chamber), the Senate and the
prime minister. Two agreements on military cooperation and fighting
against organized crime and a memorandum on cooperation between
Armenian trade and economy development ministry and Polish Union of
Small and Medium-Sized Businesses will be signed in Warsaw.

According to Kocharian’s press office, the main goal of the visit is
to enhance inter-state ties, to outline economic cooperation priorities
and exchange views on issues of reciprocal interest.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Poland were established
in 1992, February. The Armenian embassy in Warsaw began functioning
in 1998. In 1999 president Kocharian paid a state visit to Poland.
The Polish embassy opened in Yerevan in 2001 and in the same year
Alexander Kwasniewski paid a state visit to Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA HAS BEEN AND WILL BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR OF IRAN, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR SAYS

ArmenPress
Sept 3 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Mohammad Khatami, the president
of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will pay a two-day state visit
to Armenia on September 8. The newly appointed Iranian ambassador
to Armenia, Alireza Haqiqian, told today reporters that this is a
response visit to Armenian president Robert Kocharian trip to Tehran
in 2001. “The September 8 visit is actually going to be an important
event in relations of the two countries and will recap all previous
developments in bilateral relations. The visit of president Mohamad
Khatami is an evidence that the two countries are determined to take
forward their relations,” the ambassador mentioned. He recalled words
by Khatami during Kocharian’s visit that “Armenia is a good neighbor
of Iran.” “By confirming these words of Khatami, I would like to
add that Armenia has been and will be a good neighbor of Iran,”
the ambassador noted.

The Iranian president will be accompanied by the ministers of foreign
affairs, economy and finance, and trade ministers. According to
the ambassador, the entire diversity of bilateral relations will
be discussed in the course of the meeting and the sides will sign
documents on energy, transport, customs cooperation, trade and culture
sectors. On the sidelines of the visit the 5-th sitting of a joint
inter-governmental commission will take place. The presidents of the
two countries as well as other highly- ranking officials will exchange
ideas of regional and international significance. Concurrently,
the transport ministers of the two countries will participate in the
opening of a transport terminal on the cross border, in the vicinity
of Iranian Norduz settlement.

Responding to a question about an Iranian credit to Armenia for
building the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline, ambassador Haqiqian mentioned
that the issue is in the phase of discussion and voiced his hope that
the final agreement will be reached during the president’s visit.

Speaking on Iran-Armenia bilateral political ties, the ambassador
mentioned that they are on a good level in all spheres. “Concurrently,
we think that there are still many possibilities to even more deepen
and develop bilateral relations. We think that we can uncover the
unused potential, bring it to life and focus on the implementation of
all our fundamental plans,” he stated. “I am sure that Khatami’s visit
will open a new page in bilateral relation and will be beneficial
to the people of both countries. I pin hopes that the growth and
development of relations between the two countries will go on,”
the ambassador said.

FAO DIRECTOR VISITS ARMENIA

ArmenPress
Sept 3 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: The visiting Director General of the
UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf, met today
in Yerevan with senior officials of the Armenian agriculture ministry
to discuss ways of stepping up cooperation between the organization
and the government of Armenia. Minister David Lokian commended FAO
for implementing a string of development projects and releasing funds
to fight rodents and locusts that damaged last year’s crop.

FAO is also helping the government to get prepared for AgriForum
international conference, slated for October 28-30 in Yerevan and
Armprodexpo fair-2004.

Before 2003 FAO worked in Armenia as part of the UNDP, but decided
to set up its own office in Yerevan in 2003 November to step up
cooperation with its government.

Jacques Diouf said today that FAO is well aware of Armenia’s
agriculture problems and stands ready to help the government to resolve
them by providing it with relevant information and technical support.

ARMENTEL GETS PREPARED FOR EMERGENCE OF A RIVAL COMPANY

ArmenPress
Sept 3 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Out of $106.3 million investments
to Armenia’s economy in the first half of 2004 $41.5 million were made
by ArmenTel telephone operator in the telecommunications sector. Some
$21 million of this money were direct investments.

According to deputy trade and economic development minister Tigran
Davtian, ArmenTel’s investment this year were 41 percent higher
than in 2003. He attributed the increase to the operator’s plans
to get prepared for emergence of a rival company which is likely to
enter the mobile phone market next year in line with the government’s
resolute to strip ArmenTel of its exclusive rights in cellular phone
and Internet markets.

The deputy minister also said that $2 or $3 million were invested
in the same time span in Armenia’s information technology sector.
“Though this is not a big figure, this sector allows good returns
on small investments,” he said, adding that the sector is being now
diversified and unlike some years ago when the main focus was on
programming and orders used to come from abroad, now there are new
development directions.

The deputy minister said a delegation of Intel company, one of the
leading manufacturers of computer processors, is coming to Armenia on
September 14 to look into possibilities of starting a business here.
He reiterated that liberalization of telecommunications market would
result in a swift development of the sector.

The negotiators: ‘Peace doctor’ respected by rebels, officials

Agence France Presse
Sept 4 2004

MOSCOW – Children’s doctor Leonid Roshal, who was attempting to mediate
a way out of the hostage crisis at a school in southern Russia before
it came to a bloody end yesterday, is a veteran of tense situations who
enjoys the trust of both Chechen rebels and the Russian authorities.

Dr Roshal, who arrived in the North Ossetian town of Beslan on
Wednesday and held several sessions of telephone talks with the
hostage-takers before the siege ended, negotiated the release of eight
children during the siege of a Moscow theatre in October 2002, after
a Chechen commando took some 800 theatre-goers and performers hostage.

‘The situation is serious. We have come up against very cruel people,’
Dr Roshal told relatives just hours before Russian special forces
stormed the school.

His worst fears came true later.

The white-haired doctor, aged 71 and known to the Russian media as the
‘peace doctor’, won the respect of Chechen rebels during the first
separatist war of 1994-96 when he provided medical care to wounded
Chechen children.

The media speculated that the hostage-takers in Beslan had called
specifically for Dr Roshal to mediate.

During the Dubrovka theatre crisis, in which he persuaded the
hostage-takers to allow water and medication into the building,
he operated on one of the rebels who had received a wound to the hand.

After working with the victims of the massive Armenian earthquake of
1988, Dr Roshal set up a team of doctors to work in war and natural
disaster zones.

He and his colleagues have provided care for children in war zones
in the former Yugoslavia (1991), Georgia (1991-92), Nagorno Karabakh
(1992) and Chechnya (1995).

Last year, during the US-led invasion of Iraq, he proposed a ‘green
corridor’ to evacuate children from the cities of Baghdad and Basra.

Dr Roshal, who was decorated by President Vladimir Putin for his
mediation efforts during the Dubrovka crisis, during which at least
129 hostages died, is also a member of the presidential commission
on human rights.

Poland to withdraw its troops from more of Iraq: Defence Minister

Agence France Presse
Sept 3 2004

WARSAW (AFP) Sep 03, 2004 — Poland will hand over another part of the
zone it administers in Iraq under a planned reduction of its forces
next year, Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said in an interview
published Friday. The key US ally, which heads a multinational force
of 6,500 administering a swathe of south central Iraq to which it
sent more than 2,500 of its own troops, will hand over control of
the province of Karbala, he said.

“We will leave the province of Karbala. The contingent will remain
deployed in the provinces of Babil, Wasit and Al-Qadisiyah,” the
defence minister said in an interview with the daily Trybuna.

He did not specify which forces would assume responsibility in
Poland’s place.

Last month, Polish troops in Iraq already handed over some of the
zone they control to US forces, including the province of Najaf,
the scene of fierce fighting with Shiite militiamen.

Szmajdzinski confirmed that Poland was expecting to reduce troop levels
in Iraq after the Iraqi elections in January and also announced that it
will hand over its troops’ headquarters in the Iraqi city of Babylon
to the Iraqis.

“We have decided to hand over Babylon to the Iraqis. The headquarters
will probably move to the province of Al-Qadisiyah (south of Baghdad),”
he said.

His comments came as Warsaw hosted a two-day conference of military
experts from the 11 nations in the Polish-led sector and the United
States to thrash out plans to cut back the Polish military presence
in Iraq.

“We are not in a position today to determine the size of the next
contingent (which will take over in January). This will depend on
the situation in Iraq, on the political process and the progress in
forming an Iraq army, which is due to replace us,” Szmajdzinski said.

“I remain moderately optimistic about the months ahead. We should
have the chance to reduce the contingent,” he added.

Amid strong popular opposition to the Polish troop deployment and
continued unrest in the embattled country, the government in Warsaw is
under domestic pressure to significantly scale back Poland’s military
involvement in Iraq.

Despite the Polish reduction, one more country will contribute a small
number of troops to the multinational force, the Polish deputy chief
of staff, General Mieczyslaw Cieniuch, said.

The former Soviet republic of Armenia will send at the end of November
or early December a contingent of “several dozen military personnel,
specialists in logistics, bomb disposal experts and doctors,” he told
a press conference.

Armenia gathers donor blood for Beslan hostages
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 3, 2004 Friday

YERVAN, September 3 — Armenia has appealed to the country’s blood
donors to give blood for the hostages held in the North Ossetian town
of Beslan.

The Armenian Health Ministry has announced that any person willing
to donate blood will be welcome at the Yerevan Research Institute
of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, and Armenian Public Television
has shown the address and telephone number of the Institute, where
physicians are on duty round the clock.

Ararat Gomtsian, Head of the Armenian Consulate-General in
Russia’s Southern Federal District, told ITAR-TASS by telephone
from Rostov-on-Don on Friday that he would travel to North Ossetia
on Saturday.

If need be, he intends to organize the airlifting of the victims to
Yerevan for treatment. According to preliminary data, there were five
Armenians – four children and their mother – among the hostages taken
in Beslan.

It transpired on Friday that the hostage takers were also holding an
Armenian family of three or four people.

CIS leaders condemn terrorist act in N Ossetia

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 3, 2004 Friday

MOSCOW, September 4 – Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich
condemned the hostage-taking in Beslan, North Ossetia, and said it was
“an inhuman example of terrorism”.

“This is one of the examples of terrorism, unfortunately a terrible
one not only for Russia but for the whole world,” he said on Friday.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sent condolences to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and all Russian people in connection with
the tragedy in Beslan.

“Please convey our sympathies to the families who lost their beloved
ones,” he said.

Earlier, Lukashenko offered support to Putin and the people of Russia
in connection with the “inhuman actions of terrorists”.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said “Georgians have taken
the events in Beslan as their own anguish and tragedy”.

“I have sent a letter to the president of Russia and expressed
condolences in connection with the tragedy in Beslan. No one is insured
against such phenomena. Terrorism has no borders or nationality. This
is a problem for the whole world,” he said in his message.

In his words, Georgian authorities “have done much in the last few
months to prevent terrorists from entering the country” and will
“continue efforts in this direction”.

Armenia has begun collecting donor blood for the former hostages.

In his appeal to the Russian people and the leadership of the country,
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia said, “Everyone holding
the reins of ower, every person in this country has a duty of doing
everything he or she can do to alleviate the suffering of the innocent
people, who have gone through the terrorist captivity.”

“The news of the unprecedented cruelty of the bandits who captured
peaceful citizens, women and children in a school in Beslan shocked
the international community. Having shed all masks, terrorism showed
its satanic face by having trampled upon all sacred things,” the
document said.

“With no fear of God and shame the so-called ‘freedom fighters’
raised their blood-stained hands at children. There is no and can be
no justification for their insane actions,” the patriarch said.

The patriarch instructed all Orthodox churches to hold religious
services on Sunday for the victim.

“Prayers will be offered for those killed as well as those who are
in hospital, who are wounded, and who need support,” the patriarch
said in his decree.

“While mourning for those killed in this tragedy, the Russian Orthodox
Church offers prayers for the repose of their souls. At the same time,
we are praying for the recovery of those wounded. May God help them
go through this ordeal with dignity,” Alexy II said.

The Russian Jewish Congress has expressed condolences to the people
of North Ossetia in connection with the loss of life in Beslan.

The head of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yevgeny Satanovsky, sent a
message of condolences to North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov
on Friday.

“The events in North Ossetia show once again that terrorism has become
the main threat of the new century,” he said in the message.

“Unfortunately, experience shows that no country in the world has a
universal means for fighting this evil. It has already become clear
that only jointly can all progressive-minded forces resist this common
enemy,” he said.

“There can be no justification for the terror against peaceful
citizens, even if some try to motivate it by noble goals, and there
must be no mercy for terrorists,” Satanovsky said.

Russia’s chief rabbi Berl Lazar asked Moslems to pray on Saturday for
the recovery of those wounded in Beslan. “The killing of children is
an atrocity. The actions of the militants once again show the degree
to which these people have lost their human face, the ability to take
the situation adequately and reasonably,” he said.