Sept 18 MOSCOW
(AP )
The government of Kazakhstan plans to allocate about $14.8 million to buy pesticides to prevent another onslaught of locusts, a news report said Friday.
The funding, announced by Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev, will more than triple the $4.7 million spent this year, when a locust invasion destroyed more than a quarter of the crops in the former Soviet republic, the Interfax news agency said.
Farmers usually spray pesticides to kill the locusts early in the summer, before the bugs can do serious damage, but agricultural officials have acknowledged that the effort came too late this year.
The locust swarms devoured 27 percent of crops in Kazakhstan, officials said, before spreading north into neighboring Russia, and south into the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan.
Erkanat ABENI
ALMATY, Sept 17
(THE GLOBE)
In the fourth quarter of 1999 prices of natural monopolists will not grow, the head of the Agency on Antimonopoly Policy announced on Friday in Almaty.
Nikolai Rodostovets believes that due to this decision the inflation will be not high till the end of this year. �Rumours that prices will abruptly grow from October 1 are not grounded,� he said. According to Mr. Rodostovets, prices of power transportation through networks of the national company KEGOC, as well as prices of oil transportation through pipelines will not increase. Mail charges, telephone fee, cost of intertown and international telephone talks also will not change. Though water and canalisation services in Astana will somehow go up.
Mr. Rodostovets stated that the Antimonopoly Agency of RK also had rejected to increase heating and power tariffs of the subsidiary of the Belgian company Almaty Power Consolidated by 20%. To the announcement by APC that if the tariffs are not increased, this will lead to a critical situation, Mr. Rodostovets responded in the following way: �This is their problem. I think all their grounds insignificant to raise the tariffs.�
The chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee said that to support natural monopolies the government had abandoned VAT on extra losses. Besides, the government had granted enterprises rendering public services a delay for 60 days to pay taxes.
Nikolai Rodostovets said that the Antimonopoly Committee had rejected to grant the American company AES the exclusive right for realisation, transportation and distribution of power. �This would limit the competitiveness of other enterprises producing cheaper electricity,� he emphasised.
ASTANA, Sept 17
The Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance (FOMI), which was recently reorganised to the Centre of Payment for Medical Services (CPMS), was liquidated. This was announced by the chairman of the Health Committee announced on September 17 in Astana.
Tolebai Rakhypbekov said that if before medical institutions had been financed according to the scheme: financial organisations � CPMS � regional health departments and medical institutions, �now functions of financing, control and quality are transferred directly to the state managerial organisations, to the regional health department, town departments and district heath departments.�
According to the chairman, having analysed the present situation in the branch, they took a decision to liquidate the link in the movement of the financial means. On September 10 the government issued the decree on creation of the RSE �Densaulyk� by means of a merge of CPMS and the Republican Centre of Medical and Economic Problems of Healthcare. This decree stipulates that from January 1, 2000 the financing functions of the Healthcare will be transferred to the local independent organisations. �This is supposed to strengthen the independence of medical institutions,� Mr. Rakhypbekov stated.
As far as 7 cases of plague in the republic are concerned, the chairman of the Health Committee said that all seats had been localised and the damage of one cases of plague had been calculated, if that would happen in so big cities as Astana and Almaty. A town is to be closed for 10 days, and US$ 1 million will be required to liquidate a seat of plague.
As far as rumours that doctors conceal a real reason for a young woman�s death in Taldykorgan are concerned, (we remind you that initially, local doctors diagnosed it as a bubonic plague, then specialists of the centre rejected this version), Mr. Rakhypbekov said that �the healthcare statistic is not a subject to secrets, and there are no juridical reasons to conceal this, as we have announced to the world that we have both epidemic of tuberculosis and plague. Moreover, why should doctors conceal this, as due to this we receive additional financial aid. There was no plague in Taldykorgan. We took all epidemiological measures, plague was not confirmed.�
As far as the epidemic of fleas, which are the main carriers of plague, in Almaty is concerned, the chairman affirmed that everything happened due to the lack of financial means in the local executive organisations required to liquidate rodents and to process basements of houses.
Mr. Rakhypbekov announced that plague seats are characteristic for the following regions of the republic: Atyrau, Mangistau, Kzylorda, Zhambyl regions and the southern districts of Aktyubinsk regions. Today the main prophylactic works are being conducted in these regions.
Marat DANAI
ALMATY, Sept 15
(Specially for THE GLOBE)
�Akhmad Shah Masud declared the new doctrine of the Northern Coalition: in reply to the military actions of the Talib � not to give them a moment�s peace,� Mr. Abdulla announced in his special interview to me on September 14.
Mr. Abdulla is the Speaker and the deputy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (ISA). The ISA authorities consider the present phase of the Afghan war as a hidden aggression by Pakistan. According to the data of Masud�d intelligence, approximately 3500 to 4000 of Pakistani servicemen and about ten thousand of Pakistani Talibs are constantly in the Afghan territory and take part in the military campaign against ISA. Besides, temporarily, for the period of military operations, additional forces are dislocated from Pakistan.
According to the Conception of the new doctrine, Masud�s Mojaheds conducted an operation, in the result of which the motorway from Pakistan to Kabul was cut off. �Thus we demonstrated them, that communications captured by the Talibs are vulnerable to our attacks, and may be cut off at any moment.�
The Afghan diplomat said that at the present time there were battles in the province of Kunar, which bordered on Pakistan. Some part of the Pushtuns is still supporting the Northern Coalition.
He also narrated about some previous unrest of people in the provinces of Harat, Farah and even in the region of Argandab in the province of Kandagar.
Well, it seems that the Afghans again apply to the probated tactics of partisan operations, as well as public and secret protest actions of the population in provinces. That means that in fact the declared �new doctrine� is not new. This doctrine was successfully used in the past. That time neither soviet army nor the Afghan army of the President Najibulla could overcome the partisan movement organised by Masud.
The return to the former methods is predetermined by the situation. It is considered that 85% of the country�s territory are under control of the Talibs. However, what is the attitude of the population from central and northern provinces, which were captured by the Talibs in autumn 1998, to the new authorities? As the determining factor in Afghanistan is the population�s mood.
When in CIS, former soviet servicemen give interview to journalists and speak as experts on Afghanistan, that Talibs would not be able to seize Pandjsher, as it was well-fortified, and the Talibs had not such force as the soviet army had had, I can state that these servicemen did not understand properly the people against which they struggled. In Afghanistan the military force cannot be a guarantor of the central power in Kabul!
Indeed, the soviet troops repeatedly captured the valley of the Pandjsher gorge. And what? A part of the population went to the mountains with the Mojaheds to attack the enemy again. The rest population began to sabotage the power, which was strange to them.
By the moment of the withdrawal of the soviet troops, the President Najibulla had an army, which was more than the withdrawn one. His army was well equipped, including with a big number of low-flying attack aircrafts. That means that Najibulla had enough military chances to capture Pandjsher, but he did not do this, as he knew the mood of the population of the north-east provinces. These are the same people, with which the Talibs� problems are connected now.
And in 1995 to 1996 the Talibs� success was predetermined by a support of a significant part of the country�s population, especially in the south-east and southern provinces. Pakistan helped, but successes of the Islamic Movement Taliban during the above-mentioned period were also guaranteed by the people�s support. I wrote about this in October 1996.
Mr. Abdulla in his interview to me stated that, initially the population had supported the Taliban movement, but now the population�s resentment was observed. His information about unrest in the Argandab region, seems especially interesting, as the province Kandagar is the platform of the Talibs.
At the photo by the author of the article, the motor way to Jelalabad, which was cut off by Masud�s Mojaheds.
Nikolai DOMBROVSKY
Sept 18 (THE GLOBE)
Recently, being at a party devoted to an event; I had a chance to talk with a diplomatic representative of one of the European countries. Having learnt that I am from the newspaper, the diplomat carefully asked what was my attitude to Mr. Kazhegeldin. I did not bet about the bush, and said everything what I thought about the ex-PM. After this the diplomat talked more frankly and shared his doubts regarding the real plans of Mr. Kazhegeldin. During the conversation, I had an impression that some circles had had such doubts for a long time. As I understood, these circles thought that Mr. Kazhegeldin was not going seriously to deal with the political activity in Kazakhstan and that having such profits it was very comfortable for him to sit abroad and to pretend to be a democrat widely supported in his native country.
By a strange coincidence, soon after our talk Mr. Kazhegeldin was arrested in the Moscow airport, and this led to the well-known events. Now, when Mr. Kazhegeldin had happily returned to the initial point, London, I had a picture of the happened events. Possibly, Mr. Kazhegeldin received some rumours, mentioned by the diplomat. Possibly, he was pressed to impel him to be more active. Then he left for Moscow and the events developed according to the plan. He was arrested, then the party demanded his discharge, but he was not discharged, he was moved to the President�s sanatorium, after which Mr. Kazhegeldin returned to London with triumph.
Everybody won in the result: the government of Kazakhstan, which had demonstrated its resolution but at the same time had avoided those unpredictable consequences, which would arouse for sure, if the arrest were not fast, and the ex-PM were arrested in Atyrau or Ural regions, where he was going to. RPPK also won, as it attracted everybody�s attention with the help of ballyhoo around the event, with arrests of persons who took part in the demonstrations, hunger strikes, etc. This will increase the party�s rating for sure. Mr. Kazhegeldin also won, as he gained the halo of a martyr and the grounds to be abroad as long as he wishes.
Possibly, it is only the image of the state which has lost, but who remembers it now.
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