ALMATY, March 31
(THE GLOBE)
March 1
The Constituent Congress of the republican party �Otan� (�Fatherland�) was held in Almaty. The new party was established on the basis of pre-election headquarters supporting Nursultan Nazarbaev, a candidate to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Party of People�s Unity of Kazakhstan (PNEK), the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, the Liberal movement of Kazakhstan and the movement �For Kazakhstan-2030� joined the �Otan� party. Nursultan Nazarbaev was chosen a leader of the party at this congress.
The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan basing on the treaty �On collective security in the frame of CIS� took a decision to reduce the army strength by 50% within the next months.
This reduction is a sequence of the cardinal army reform, which objective is to create a small in number, technically well-equipped professional army.
March 2
In Astana the agreement between the national oil company �Kazakhoil� and the Japan national corporation (JNOC) was signed regarding the prospecting of perspective hydrocarbon deposits in Kazakhstan. In autumn 1998 prior to this agreement, the Kazakhstan share equity in the Northern-Caspian project was sold to the Japan company INPEKS. Prospecting hydrocarbons is supposed to be executed in three Western regions in Kazakhstan: in Mangystau region, on the North-Eastern Caspian beach and in the basin of the Aral sea.
In Paris the representative of the French Institute of Security of the Nuclear Objects declared, that this institute will render Kazakhstan the technical assistance in dismantling of the nuclear reactor in Aktau working on BN-350 rapid neutrons. That will be an assistance in the frame of TACIS program rendered by the French party and the British specialists.
March 3
The Conception of strengthening the state control for production and turnover of ethyl spirit and alcohol products for 1999 to 2000, was considered at the meeting of the Kazakhstan government. In accordance with the conception, a corresponding program, which will create economic conditions required for production of competitive products based on the complete legalization of the alcohol turnover and an increase of effectiveness of the local plants, should be prepared in the nearest future. According to the press-service of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the conception is based on a principle of economic regulation, not on the state monopoly.
March 4
The first general census of the population in the independent Kazakhstan was completed. 88 thousand specially trained people (including the reserve) were took part in the census. These people will have to make a careful study of 30 million blank forms.
March 10
The Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan ratified the two �Additional agreements� dated 24th September 1997 and 4th July 1998, determining the state border between Kazakhstan and China, and signed by the President Nursultan Nazarbaev during his visit to Peking in the last year. In accordance with the ratified agreements a bordering territory of 407 square kilometers was shifted to jurisdiction of China. The rest 537 square kilometers out of the total 944 arguable square kilometers still belong to Kazakhstan. The ratio of arguable bordering lands distributed between the countries are as follows: China � 43,1%, Kazakhstan � 56,9%.
March 15
Kazakhstan recommenced the transportation of oil to the world market by Trans-Caucasian corridor, which was broken off on 1st February. It was possible after the government of Azerbaijan agreed to reduce oil transportation charges within its territory from US 12,3 t� US$ 11,5 per ton. Oil is dispatched by the American company �Chevron�, which is exploiting the biggest Tengiz deposit. In 1999 Kazakhstan plans to transport abroad by the Trans-Caucasian corridor 5 million tons of oil, that is 2.5 times more than in the last year.
In Kazakhstan in the result of the operative investigation 7 persons concerned in the blows in Tashkent on 16th February 1998. All the arrested men are activists and followers of the extremist Islamic movement �Vahhabi� and its branch �Uzbekiston Islam Harakti�.
March 16
By his decree the President of Kazakhstan instituted one more position of Deputy the Prime-Minister. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasymzhomart Tokaev will combine these two posts. According to the information of the President�s press-service, institution of the new post is initiated by necessity to coordinate external economic links.
March 17
The President Nursultan Nazarbaev resigned his commission of the chairman of the Supreme Court Council of Kazakhstan. For three years of its work, he was the chairman of the Council. In the last year some changes were made in the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to which the position of the chairman should be occupied not by the President, but by a person appointed by him. In connection with this, Nursultan Nazarbaev resigned his commission to his legal advisor Igor Rogov.
March 19
In Kazakhstan a tax in amount of 0.3% for purchase of foreign currency was introduced. This tax is a result of the corresponding amendment to the law �About the budget system� approved by the Parliament of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan government expects the new tax to contribute annually to the budget additionally 2 billion tenge (approximately US$ 23 million).
March 22
Kazakhstan recommenced supplies of coal to Omsk region, Russia. Dispatch of coal to Siberia and to the other Russian regions, broken off by Kazakhstan initiative, when the debt of the coal mine �Severnyi� at the Ekibastuz deposit (Pavlodar region) belonging to the JSC �E�� Russia� amounted up to 5.8 billion tenge (about US$ 66.5 million), and the heads of the mine �Severnyi� declared, that they were not in a position to repay the total amount due to incomplete payment by �Omskenergo�, �Sverdvovskenergo� and �Chelyabenergo�. The dispatches were recommenced as the heads of Omsk and Pavlodar regions managed to find a compromise, and the problem of non-payments was transferred to the interregional level.
March 24
The Advocates� Union of Kazakhstan appeared with notice to the government, the court and right-enforcement institutions of the country, as the debt of the state budget before its members for their defense services is 80 million tenge (about US$ 920 thousand).The President of the Advocates� Union Kenzhegali Karchegenov informed, if no measures are taken regarding repayment of this amount, the regional and town legal boards will start mass actions rejecting defense without prior payment, that my paralyze the court system of the republic.
March 25
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan assessed the NATO actions in Yugoslavia. The official declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states, that Kzakhstan interprets the NATO thrusts of the Yugoslavian territory as force methods to settle the crisis in Kosovo, which led to the international tension. Kazakhstan is a supporter of the coordinated international efforts required to guarantee stabilization in Yugoslavia and in Balkans
March 26
The Kazakhstan government introduced the new excise rates for oil products. From this day the excise rate for the all grades of petrol realized in the domestic market, is 50% instead of former 64%, in case of export to the CIS countries it is 20%. The Kazakhstan government took this step to support 3 local oil-processing plants, which products lost their competitiveness for the last month. At present these plants have to stop production or to use their industrial capacity partially
March 27
The functional responsibilities and directions of activity of the Kazakhstan Security Council (SC) were changed. According to the press-secretary of the President Asylbek Bisenbaev, from that time onwards the SC headed by the President of Kazakhstan, will consist of the constant members: the Prime-Minister, the head of the President�s administration, the secretary of SC and the chairman of the Committee of the National Security. Except them separate ministers, members of the government and functionaries of the power institutions, whose rights will be equal to the ones of the constant members of the SC. The Security Council should concentrate its work on the strategic problems, as from this moment it is empowered to work out provisions concerning guarantee defense of the Constitutional system, the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, as well as it will be responsible for monitoring of usage of the strategic resources of the country.
March 29
Kazakhstan joined to the International Convention on trade of flora and fauna disappearing from the face of the earth. For Kazakhstan having about 400 sorts of plants and more than 200 animals in the Red Book, joining to this Convention means preservation of its national wealth.
March 30
The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev received the Ministry of Oil and Gas of India Rammurati, who expressed his country�s willingness to exploit the Kazakhstan oil fields. According to the press-service of the President of Kazakhstan, the national oil company �Kazakhoil� and the Indian oil company �Oinjisi� have agreed to negotiate this matter.
By Julie Moffett
Washington, 25 March
(RFE/RL)
An independent U.S. organization says only a handful of countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union offered any meaningful protection for journalists and the independent media in 1998.
The conclusion comes from the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called �Attacks on the Press.� The Committee is a private, non-profit group dedicated to promoting freedom of the press worldwide and protecting journalists.
According to the CPJ survey, among the worst offenders against the press in the region during 1998 were Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
All of these countries are cited by the survey for practicing censorship and enacting or maintaining restrictive legislation against the media. The survey also charges many of these countries with officially sanctioning arrests, harassment, beatings, detentions, bombings, and using legal and financial pressures as means of intimidating journalists.
The survey singled out the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Belarus as the two worst offenders of press freedoms in the region in 1998.
Ann Cooper, executive director of CPJ, told RFE/RL on Wednesday that overall, it is discouraging how little press freedom there is today in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Cooper said: �A few years ago we thought there was a lot of promise. Communism was ending and we did see the rise of independent media in many places. But what we see now is many leaders cracking down, and nowhere are they cracking down harder than in Belarus and Yugoslavia. Those are the two most dire situations at the moment in that region.�
In regards to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the survey said the war in Kosovo generated a fresh wave of Serbian government repression against the independent media in 1998 that dared to �challenge the hate speech and nationalist policies of President Slobodan Milosevic�s regime.�
The survey also said that in September when NATO forces threatened air strikes against Belgrade to force Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, the Serbian government turned on independent journalists with a vengeance.
The survey explained: �A series of government statements in early October accused independent journalists of being spies, and on October 5, the Serb information minister ordered independent stations to stop rebroadcasting Serb-language programs from the Voice of America and other foreign services.�
The survey said that Milosevic continued to harass the independent media by tightening administrative controls, set crippling fines for violations of media laws, and eliminated the basic judicial rights for those accused of violations.
Belarus came under strong criticism as well. According to the survey, in 1998 Belarus President Alyksandr Lukashenka increased the �already onerous� restrictions on the media.
The survey explained: �With free enterprise stifled, opposition activists detained, and independent media restricted, the Soviet-style rule of President Lukashenka continued to have disastrous effects on Belarus� economic and political life.�
The survey cited Lukashenka�s banning of the distribution of official documents to independent media and forbade state agencies from advertising in non-state media. In May, the CPJ named Lukashenka as one of the world�s 10 worst �Enemies of the Press� for the second year in a row.
Azerbaijan was seen by the survey as not having moved far from the old Soviet-era model of dealing with the media. For example, the survey said that while President Heydar Aliyev dropped formal censorship in August, officials have actually increased the use of criminal libel statutes to suppress critical reporting about the president.
In Bosnia, the survey criticized local officials for increasingly using criminal defamation laws, which permit imprisonment for up to three years as an instrument of media intimidation.
In Croatia, the survey says that in 1998, the government stepped up its already vigorous use of criminal and civil law suits to keep the independent press in check. By the end of the year, says the survey, independent newspapers in Croatia were facing more than 600 civil lawsuits, with another 300 or so criminal libel cases filed against individual journalists.
Georgia was also cited as having major problems with the media in 1998, a setback from some of the progress made in 1997. At least one journalist was killed reporting on the fighting in Abkhazia, says the survey, while other independent journalists were targets of violent attacks. The survey adds that journalists in Georgia continue to face serious obstacles to their work, including the denial of access to public information by authorities and �overzealous� tax inspections and other abuses of regulatory procedures.
The five Central Asian nations � Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan � were all cited for government censorship, harassment, intimidation and repression of journalists and the independent media.
According to the survey: �Tajikistan and the other former Soviet republics in Central Asia are ruled by men who show little interest in democratic principles or free press guarantees.�
The survey went on to say that even Kazakhstan�s President Nursultan Nazarbayev � viewed by many in the West as progressive in the Soviet era � has �turned on the country�s independent media, apparently fearing that vigorous public scrutiny would jeopardize his re-election.�
In Russia, the survey says that early promises of democratic reform remain unfulfilled for the press as for other sectors of society. The survey says that although the press is �diverse, irreverent and lively,� the media is controlled largely by moguls who use these holdings to leverage political power. The result is a pattern of self-censorship among the editors of newspapers and broadcast outlets, it said.
The survey also said investigative reporting is a dangerous profession in Russia. Two Russian journalists were assassinated in 1998, both of whom were outspoken editors known for their investigative coverage of local officials.
The survey said there some improvement in Russia with no new kidnappings of journalists in Chechnya in 1998, where 21 journalists were captured in 1997.
On a positive note, the Czech Republic and Hungary were praised as offering �meaningful protection� and support to their media.
The survey concluded that by the end of 1998, at least 118 journalists were in prison in 25 countries; and 24 journalists in 17 countries had been murdered during the year in reprisal for their reporting.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.