GAZPROM CONFIRMS IT WILL TAKE OVER HALF OF SAKHALIN-2 FROM FOREIGN COMPANIES
Dmitry Medvedev, who is first deputy prime minister and chairman of the state-run monopoly Gazprom, told reporters in Moscow on December 12 that his company plans to buy about "50 percent or a little less" of the Sakhalin-2 gas project from Shell, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi, mosnews.com reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006). He added that "the talks are going quickly and we hope to close a deal soon.... We are looking at all options ranging from cash to an asset swap." The daily "Izvestia," which is owned by Gazprom, wrote on December 13 that the foreign companies "have given in." The paper added that "the foreign shareholders in Sakhalin-2 made their big mistake this summer, when they announced that project costs would more than double, from $10 billion to $22 billion. This struck directly at the Russian federal budget, since according to Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) terms, our state would only start receiving profits after the foreign companies had recovered all their costs. By inflating the sums involved, the foreign investors were postponing the happy day when Russia would receive its first dividends from the project." The paper added that when the Russian authorities then claimed that the project was inflicting unacceptable environmental damage, "the foreign companies tried to launch a campaign in the Western media and threatened legal action. But it soon became clear that our officials wouldn't back down." The daily noted that "Russia will gain substantial preferences in the long term. First, Gazprom will control exports of around 9.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year to Asia and North America, thus gaining access to attractive consumer markets. Second, the state will receive ready infrastructure for developing other Sakhalin fields. Finally, controlling the project operator company also means managing subcontracting orders. One of the state's complaints against Sakhalin-2 shareholders was the low proportion of Russian enterprises among subcontractors.... Thus, the benefits Russia derives from gaining control of the project will be significantly greater than its share of the profits." PM
PUTIN AIDE SAYS RUSSIA WILL NOT GIVE UP CONTROL OF ITS PIPELINES
Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who is President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to the EU, said in Berlin on December 11 that Russia will not ratify the EU's Energy Charter which it signed in 1994, the "International Herald Tribune" reported on December 13. The document would require Russia to open up access to its pipelines, which Gazprom now effectively controls as a monopoly, while seeking greater access to European markets for itself (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 27 and 29, and December 1 and 7, 2006). Yastrzhembsky told reporters that "we will not ratify the Energy Charter. It would be damaging for Russia if we ratified it." He stressed that Russia will not give up control of its pipelines. He was in Berlin to discuss Germany's upcoming EU presidency and chairmanship of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries, which begin on January 1. Iwona Wisniewska, who is a Polish expert on Russian energy policy, told the same paper that Russia is determined not to open up its state-owned monopolies to competition, which would cause them to "shrink." In Brussels, a spokesman for EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said that "we are still eager to get Russia to ratify the treaty." German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly called on Russia to ratify the document, but has also spoken of securing Russian adherence to its principles by incorporating them into a new EU-Russia comprehensive cooperation agreement to replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which runs out in 2007. A dispute between Moscow and Warsaw over Polish exports of agricultural products to Russia has led Poland to block the start of talks on the new pact. PM
RUSSIA TO INSIST ON BILATERAL MEAT AGREEMENTS WITH EU MEMBER STATES
Russian officials informed the EU in Brussels on December 12 that Moscow will seek separate bilateral agreements on meat imports with individual EU member states rather than with the bloc as a whole, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 27, 2006). The Russian delegation refused to discuss Russia's current ban on Polish agricultural products or its earlier threat to bar all EU meat imports when Romania and Bulgaria become members on January 1. An EU spokesman said that Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou "is very disappointed. The Russians told us face to face for the first time that they would be seeking additional measures on a bilateral basis, which is unacceptable to the EU. Russia showed that they have no political will to find a solution to this matter." The EU has criticized Russia's ban on Polish agricultural products, which Poland says is illegal. The EU has also dismissed Russian charges regarding Romanian and Bulgarian meat exports. Speaking on December 12 in Warsaw, Poland's former President Lech Walesa said that the Russian ban is politically motivated, and he called for a common European approach toward Russia. PM
RUSSIA TO TAX OIL EXPORTS TO BELARUS
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov approved a measure on December 12 to tax oil exports to Belarus at the same rate as those exports to other countries, the daily "Kommersant" reported on December 13. At present, no duties are paid. The stated aim is to "close the oil offshore in Minsk," which reexports some of the oil products but does not give Russia a share in the profits. The daily estimates that the change will "strip Belarus of $1.7 billion in taxes but give Russia $3.6 billion of additional revenues." The paper also notes that neither side considers the matter settled. The daily "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on December 13 that "economic relations between Russia and Belarus are coming to resemble a full-scale economic war, one that threatens to destroy the customs union set up in 1996 by five post-Soviet states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.... Belarus will be treated [according to the Russian government's decision] the same way as oil exports to non-CIS countries, and the corresponding export tariffs will apply." PM
RUSSIA PUTS OFF UN IRAN TALKS AFTER U.S. BRINGS UP BELARUS
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin objected on December 12 to a move by the United States to discuss in the Security Council the 54-day hunger strike of Belarusian opposition former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kozulin, news agencies reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 11 and 12, 2006). Churkin said that the matter has nothing to do with the council's business. Consequently, a planned discussion on Iran and possible sanctions in response to its nuclear program was postponed. Asked by reporters why the meeting was put off, Churkin replied: "Because I said so." PM
ESTONIA PROTESTS TO RUSSIA OVER FLAG BURNINGS
A spokeswoman for the Estonian Embassy in Moscow told dpa on December 13 that her government has formally protested to the Russian authorities over an incident on December 11 in which about 40 young Russian nationalists burned Estonian flags in front of the embassy. The demonstrators were protesting recent Estonian legislation outlawing the display of Nazi and Soviet symbols. Many Russian media outlets say that the law equates Nazi Germany with the Soviet Union and belittles the Red Army and its role in "liberating" Estonia at the close of World War II. Those Russian media outlets also accuse the Estonian authorities of having recently "glorified" the Waffen SS while taking down monuments to the Red Army. The Estonian view is that both Germany and the USSR forcibly occupied Estonian territory and that both were equally evil, which is a point enshrined in the new legislation. PM
BRITISH AMBASSADOR SAYS KREMLIN SHOULD CALL OFF STALKING CAMPAIGN
U.K. Ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton was quoted by the "Daily Telegraph" on December 13 as saying that the Kremlin has the power to call off the young nationalists belonging to the organization Nashi who have been stalking and harassing him for four months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 8, 2006). He said that "Nashi's links with the Kremlin are well enough known. Their leader has met with President Putin many times, and one of his advisers was known to have been involved in its creation. Even if one were to accept that they are not directly controlled by the Kremlin, this level of influence suggests that the Kremlin could stop them if it wanted to." PM
POLICE SEARCH OPPOSITION OFFICE
On December 12, police in Moscow searched the headquarters of the United Civil Front, an opposition group headed by former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. Police said they were looking for literature containing "extremist views." Kasparov told RFE/RL that "there is every reason to believe that this search and the seizure of literature and newspapers are linked to the attempts by the authorities to implement the infamous law on extremism. Just two days ago, Moscow Mayor [Yury] Luzhkov's spokesman, [Sergei] Tsoi, said that the organizers of the [March of Dissent to be held on December 16] should be warned of criminal responsibility. It is very revealing that law enforcement agencies launched such a psychological attack today" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 7, 2006). Marina Litvinovich, an aide to Kasparov, told RFE/RL that "15 people showed up and introduced themselves as [Federal Security Service (FSB)] and anti-organized crime agents. We know that they are seizing printed materials, in particular the newspaper that was printed ahead of the March of Dissent to be held on December 16 and some other documents that caught their attention which we don't yet know about." Organizers of the protest say they will go ahead with their plans despite attempts by authorities to stop it. Critics say that the "anti-extremism" law serves no role in dealing with real extremism but instead is geared to fighting the opponents of the current authorities. Some media outlets note that the law contains some vague provisions that would enable the authorities to ban people from political activity on the basis of dubious, Soviet-style charges. PM
DID VILLAGE PRIEST KILL HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY?
Investigators looking into the death of Andrei Nikolayev, a Russian Orthodox village priest in Pryamukhino in Tver Oblast, who died with wife and three children in a suspicious fire in their home on December 2, say they are leaning toward the explanation that he deliberately started the fire himself, news.ru and "Moskovsky komsomolets" reported on December 13 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 5, 2006). The investigators suggested that Nikolayev was mentally imbalanced. The fire at first was widely blamed on local alcoholics, who reportedly stole icons and other valuables from the local church and whom Nikolayev opposed. The incident led to considerable media coverage of the village itself and of problems related to alcohol and rural society in general. Villagers told reporters that they were being defamed, and that television crews came from Moscow, gave the locals vodka, and then filmed them drinking it. PM
OSSETIAN YOUTH LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES 'GENOCIDE' OF INGUSH
Chermen Tedeyev, head of the unofficial youth organization Sons of Ossetia, has addressed an open letter to the Ingush website ingushetiya.ru, posted on December 13, in which he apologizes in the name of the Ossetian people for what he terms the 1992 "genocide" of Ingush in North Ossetia's disputed Prigorodny Raion. Tedeyev wrote that he was 10 years old at the time of the 1992 fighting and like most Ossetians took at face value official claims of Ingush "aggression" against the Ossetians. He added that he has since spoken with eyewitnesses and studied documentation relating to the conflict, on the basis of which he concludes that although armed Ingush sought to reoccupy Prigorodny district, which was part of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR until 1944, they did not commit any "cruel crimes." He predicted that "if I am not killed," with time ever more Ossetians will come to realize the inevitability of transferring Prigorodny district to Ingushetian jurisdiction, and he appealed to the leadership of the Republic of North Ossetia to "admit that we are wrong" and agree to that territorial transfer. Tedeyev's organization began lobbying several months ago for the return of Prigorodny district to Ingushetia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," August 16 and October 2 and 23, 2006). Meanwhile, on December 8, 13 Ingush displaced persons from Prigorodny Raion addressed an open letter to Dmitry Kozak, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, protesting the violation of their constitutional rights and demanding the creation of a state commission to probe the North Ossetian authorities' failure to implement President Putin's instructions on expediting the return of Ingush displaced persons to Prigorodny Raion by the end of 2006, ingushetiya.ru reported on December 12. They noted that some 131 Ingush displaced persons are still in temporary accommodation in the settlement of Maysky, to which gas and electricity supplies were cut off on November 6. LF
U.S. SETS CONDITIONS FOR FURTHER AID TO ARMENIA
Speaking in Yerevan on December 12, U.S. Charge d'Affaires Anthony Godfrey said that disbursement of a further $236 million allocated to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge program is contingent on "a high level of performance in ruling justly, investing in people and promoting economic freedom," RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Godfrey stressed specifically that future funds will be forthcoming only if democratic reforms are continued and the run-up to and conduct of the parliamentary and presidential elections due in 2007 and 2008, respectively, are perceived as free and fair. The Millennium Challenge Corporation has already transferred to Armenia the first $1.4 million tranche to which it is entitled under the five-year program. Last month, the U.S. human rights watchdog Freedom House called on the U.S. government, in light of what it termed the Armenian government's "failure...to improve its institutional commitment to democracy," to withhold further Millennium Challenge funds (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 6 and 8, 2006). LF
GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH U.S. OFFICIALS
Zurab Noghaideli met in Washington on December 11 with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to discuss bilateral relations, Georgia's tense relations with Russia, and the prospects for Georgian NATO membership, and the following day with Vice President Dick Cheney to discuss energy security and possible solution to Georgia's conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian media reported. Noghaideli also discussed on December 12 with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab the possibility of a bilateral U.S. Georgian free-trade agreement and Georgia's opposition to admitting Russia to the World Trade Organization, Caucasus Press reported. LF
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SLAMS RUMORED RUSSIAN PEACE PLAN
Nino Burdjanadze dismissed on December 12 as unwarranted interference a report, published on December 12 by the daily "Kommersant," that Russia is currently drafting a new proposal for resolving the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts, Caucasus Press reported. That new Russian peace proposal is allegedly modeled on the leaked UN proposal for Kosova and envisages Georgia as a "common state" in the form of a confederation, within which the currently unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia would have the status of recognized sovereign states. Burdjanadze affirmed that it is for Georgia and the international community to determine how the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts should be resolved. She suggested that if Russia wishes to conduct "experiments" using the Kosova model, it should do so on its own territory. LF
EU ADVOCATES 'FAR-REACHING AUTONOMY' FOR ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA
On December 13, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" quoted South Ossetian Foreign Minister Murat Djioyev as saying the South Ossetian government has not received any proposal from Moscow on forming a confederation with Georgia, while Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba for his part told the Russian daily that Sukhum(i) would reject any such proposal. Speaking in Moscow on December 12, Ambassador Peter Semneby, EU special envoy for the South Caucasus, said in Moscow that while the conflicts in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia cannot be resolved without granting them "broad, far-reaching autonomy" within Georgia, diverging approaches are required that would yield the most appropriate solution for each of those two republics, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. But Murat Tkhostov, who is the North Ossetian representative on the Joint Control Commission tasked with monitoring the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, was quoted by regnum.ru on December 12 as saying that offers of "autonomy" for South Ossetia may have been appropriate and acceptable in the early 1990s, but that since 2004 -- presumably meaning since the advent to power in Georgia of Mikheil Saakashvili -- such offers "are nothing more than an attempt to camouflage" Tbilisi's desire to abolish South Ossetia as a separate entity. LF
ABKHAZIA SCHEDULES LOCAL, PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Sergei Bagapsh, president of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, signed separate decrees on December 12 scheduling local elections for February 11, 2007 and parliamentary elections for March 4, 2007, apsny.ru reported on December 12. LF
KAZAKHSTAN BOOSTS OIL PRODUCTION
Kazakhstan's oil production notched a 6.7 percent year-on-year increase in the first 11 months of 2006 to 49.37 million tons, Interfax reported on December 12, citing information from Kazakhstan's State Statistics Agency. Natural gas production also increased 1.2 percent for the period to 22.96 billion cubic meters. But gas condensate production fell 1.2 percent to 9.56 million tons. DK
PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER REELECTED HEAD OF KAZAKH JOURNALISTS' CONGRESS
Kazakhstan's Congress of Journalists in Astana on December 12 reelected Darigha Nazarbaeva, President Nursultan Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, as its chairwoman for another year, "Kazakhstan Today" reported. Nazarbaeva has been fighting government-sponsored draft changes to Kazakhstan's media law that, if adopted, would significantly reduce the number of press outlets by tightening registration procedures. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has voiced concern at the proposed changes, saying they threaten to impede independent journalism. While supporting her country's bid to chair the OSCE in 2009, Nazarbaeva on December 12 backed the organization in its criticism of the Kazakh government's media policy. "The government's eagerness to focus on its own interests while ignoring those [of journalists] and its attempts at restricting our rights from year to year will never bring any good," she said. Nazarbaeva said her association has drafted an alternative draft media bill and that it plans to send it to parliament for examination in January. JCP/DK
KYRGYZ STUDENTS PROTEST DEBT-REDUCTION PROGRAM
Approximately 300 people, mostly students, demonstrated in Bishkek on December 12 to protest Kyrgyzstan's possible participation in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt-reduction initiative, which is sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, akipress.org reported. The students marched through the capital and threw eggs at the World Bank's offices. Meanwhile, Economics and Finance Minister Akylbek Japarov told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service on the same day that talks between the Kyrgyz government and the two institutions are over. He said, "The government must now make a decision. We will inform our president about the conditions [of our entry] and, of course, our parliament will discuss this issue." HIPC has caused sharp debates in Kyrgyzstan, with proponents arguing that the program will help write off part of Kyrgyzstan's $2 billion external debt and critics -- among them a number of lawmakers -- warning that it might give the World Bank and the IMF too much influence over the national economy. JPC/DK
TAJIKISTAN REPORTS DETENTION OF NEARLY 90 EXTREMISTS IN 2006
Since the beginning of this year Tajik law-enforcement officials have arrested nearly 90 suspected members of the banned extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, Avesta reported on December 12. Interior Ministry official Iskandar Rozykov said that 56 suspected HT members and 30 suspected IMU members have been detained. Rozykov noted that many thousands of leaflets, hundreds of books and magazines, and 54 computer discs were confiscated from suspected HT members. DK
RUSSIAN EDUCATION OFFICIALS MEET WITH UZBEK PRESIDENT
A Russian delegation headed by Dzhakhan Pollyeva, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, met with President Islam Karimov in Tashkent on December 12 to discuss bilateral educational and cultural cooperation, the official news agency UzA reported. Moscow State University Rector Viktor Sadovnichy was also a member of the Russian delegation. Karimov called the visit "further confirmation of the dynamically developing cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia." DK
BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER RECEIVES SAKHAROV PRIZE
Former opposition presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in Brussels on December 12, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. "This is not only my prize. Together with me, this prize also goes to all those Belarusians who are struggling for freedom, all those who came to the square this spring [during and after the presidential election] to defend their dignity, all those who were and still are imprisoned, those who were expelled from universities and who were fired from their job," Milinkevich said in his acceptance speech. Milinkevich noted that the EU -- which is barred from funding activities in other countries not sanctioned by their governments -- lacks an efficient mechanism of assistance to pro-democracy movements under undemocratic regimes. Milinkevich advocated establishing a European "antidictatorship fund" to allow the EU to take direct action against authoritarian regimes. He pledged to donate his 50,000 euro ($65,900) check linked to the prize to the European Parliament to support victims of political persecution in Belarus. JM
FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ENDS HUNGER STRIKE
Another opposition presidential candidate, Alyaksandr Kazulin, on December 11 began to withdraw from his hunger strike, which he launched on October 20 in a correctional facility near Vitsebsk (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006), RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Belapan reported on December 12, quoting his wife Iryna Kazulina. Kazulina was allowed to speak with her husband by telephone on December 12. "I have learned that he is withdrawing from the hunger strike and feels satisfactory. We were allowed to talk only about stuff and food that he needs to withdraw from the strike," she told journalists. Kazulin, who is serving his 5 1/2 year prison term, demanded during his strike that the UN Security Council discuss the situation in Belarus. Reuters reported on December 12 that, earlier the same day, U.S. envoy to the UN William Brencick raised the issue of Kazulin's hunger strike at a closed-door UN Security Council session in New York. Brencick's motion reportedly angered Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin, who called off the UN Security Council's planned discussion on Iran's controversial nuclear program (see also Part I above). JM
EXILED BELARUSIAN UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $6 MILLION FROM EU, NORDIC COUNTRIES
The European Commission and the Nordic Council of Ministers have allocated 4.5 million euros ($6 million) to European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Belapan reported on December 12. EHU, a private institution established in Minsk in 1992, was stripped of its license by order of Belarusian Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkou in July 2004. It was reestablished in Lithuania in 2005 as European Humanities University in Exile. EHU Rector Anatol Mikhaylau told Belapan that the received aid will be spent to pay housing rents and allowances for Belarusian students admitted to EHU in 2005 and 2006. Mikhaylau said the average monthly student allowance at EHU amounts to 100 euros ($133). JM
BELARUSIAN, RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS ADOPT UNION STATE BUDGET FOR 2007
The Russian-Belarusian Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Russia-Belarus Union State's deficit-free budget for 2007 at a session held in Moscow on December 12, Belapan reported. The budget, amounting to 3.18 billion Russian rubles ($121 million), will finance 35 joint programs and projects in defense, economy, and law enforcement. JM
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS LAST WTO-RELATED BILL...
The Verkhovna Rada on December 13 passed a bill canceling the ban on exports of scrap metals and establishing duties on these exports within the six years following Ukraine's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ukrainian media reported. The bill is reportedly the last piece of legislation needed by Ukraine to bring its laws in line with WTO standards before joining this organization. Ukraine still needs to sign a bilateral trade accord with Kyrgyzstan in order to qualify for WTO entry. JM
...AND APPROVES NEW EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTER
The Verkhovna Rada on December 12 backed the appointment of Nestor Shufrych as emergency situations minister, Ukrainian media reported. Shufrych, a deputy in the Crimean autonomous legislature, was a lawmaker of the Social Democratic Party-united in the preceding Verkhovna Rada. He will replace Viktor Baloha, who was appointed as head of the Presidential Secretariat by President Viktor Yushchenko in September. JM
UKRAINIAN PREMIER INDIGNANT OVER PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON 2007 BUDGET
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said at a cabinet meeting on December 13 that he "practically" does not see any chance for a compromise with President Yushchenko regarding the latter's veto on the budget bill for 2007 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006), the "Ukrayinska pravda" website (http://www.pravda.com.ua) reported. "It has been proposed that we should find on paper 10 billion hryvnyas ($2 billion), but we know very well, and our citizens know very well, that money does not fall from the sky and that we need to earn it," Yanukovych said. "They [the pro-presidential opposition] hope that we will be patiently listening to the fairy tales they tell people. I have warned that I am going to work and not to talk much. This is going to be our style. There should be no populism here." JM
KOSOVAR PREMIER SAYS INDEPENDENCE GOOD FOR SERBIA
In a commentary published in the "Washington Post" on December 12, Kosovar Prime Minister Agim Ceku said an independent Kosova would benefit Serbia as well as ethnic Albanians. "Finalizing the status of Kosovo will bring an end to the uncertainty and hopelessness of the Kosovo Serbs -- and indeed of Serbia," Ceku wrote. "It will free Serbia of a mythological burden, and open the door to proper politics and economic development." Ceku added that "Modern Serbia...understands that Kosovo is moving on and has come to terms with this reality. This Serbia is focused on Europe and on reviving Serbia's economic potential and, with it, the well being of Serb citizens." Ceku added that "the old, nationalistic Serbia still clutches onto Kosovo," with no plan for its development. "The international community needs to find a way to stimulate democratic Serbia while sidelining the radicals. This is in our interest, as well," Ceku wrote. "Recognizing Kosovo's independence would close the dark chapters of Balkan history, and create the opportunity for a new and sustainable regional stability." BW
NGO SAYS SERBIA'S ROMA AT RISK
A minority-rights activist said on December 12 that nearly half the Roma in Serbia do not have full access to education, employment, or health care, B92 and UPI reported the same day. Petar Antic, of the Serbian Center for Minority Rights, said Serbia's Roma live in a parallel world, and he warned that if the issue is not addressed it could become a public-safety risk. A recent survey of 36,000 Roma cited by UPI showed that 46 percent could not register official addresses because they live in cardboard shanties, often with no electricity. Lacking an address means that they cannot acquire the national identification cards necessary to receive state services. BW
ANOTHER MASS GRAVE IN NORTHERN BOSNIA EXHUMED
Forensic experts in Bosnia-Herzegovina said on December 12 that they have found 114 complete bodies and 159 partial bodies in a mass grave near the northern town of Brcko, Reuters reported the same day. The victims are believed to be non-Serbs, mostly Bosnian Muslims, killed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The exact number will only be known after DNA analysis, Murat Hurtic of the Bosnia's Commission for Missing Persons said. "We found three documents belonging to Muslims who disappeared in the spring of 1992 and this indicates that all victims may be Muslims and Croats killed in Brcko, in the Luke detention camp or at other locations," Hurtic said. About 500 non-Serbs disappeared in Brcko after Serbian forces captured it in May 1992. More than 400 are still unaccounted for. The mass grave was the second to be exhumed in the area (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 8, 2006). BW
WAR DAMAGE TO SARAJEVO ESTIMATED AT $18.5 BILLION
The author of a study on war damage to Sarajevo said on December 12 that the Serbian paramilitaries' 1992-95 siege of the city caused 14 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in damages, Reuters reported the same day. "The focus of the study was visible wartime damage, what had been destroyed or taken away, and we have got a figure of 14 billion euros in direct war damages in Sarajevo in the period of 1992-95," Duljko Hasic, who works as an economics expert in Bosnia's Foreign Trade Chamber, told Reuters. Hasic is one of a multidisciplinary team of Bosnian experts who since 1996 have been collecting information on the 1,417-day siege of Sarajevo. He said the study's purpose is to establish a basis for possible reparations. Hasic added that the report does not represent the full extent of the damage as it does not include the impact on the national economy and the loss of cultural treasures such as the rare books lost when the National Library and the Institute of Oriental Studies were burned down. BW
SIX BALKAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET IN ALBANIA TO COORDINATE EFFORTS TO JOIN NATO
The defense ministers of six Balkan countries met in Tirana on December 12 to discuss plans to join NATO, AP reported the same day. Discussions among the officials from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia focused on promoting military, political, and economic cooperation. The defense ministers also discussed combating corruption and organized crime "to address fulfilling NATO standards," according to the group's final statement. Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia have signed a U.S.-backed agreement called the Adriatic Charter that outlines a common military strategy and promoting regional cooperation. The three countries hope to join the Western alliance by 2008. Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia are scheduled to join NATO's Partnership for Peace program this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 30 and December 7 and 12, 2006). BW
EU PLANS TO DOUBLE AID TO MOLDOVA
The European Union announced on December 12 that it plans to more than double aid to Moldova over the next four years, AP reported the same day. The EU said it will give Chisinau 209 million euros ($277 million) so it can take "decisive" steps to reform human rights, basic freedoms, the judicial system and the investment climate. Brussels also said it plans to give Moldova another 45 million euros ($60 million) in 2007 and 2008 to bail the government out of its current debt problems, bringing the total aid until 2010 to 254 million euros ($336 million). Ministers from the EU's 25 member states must sign off on the package before the donation is final. The EU has given Moldova more than 300 million euros ($397 million) since 1991. BW
MOLDOVAN-RUSSIAN RAIL TRAFFIC VIA TRANSDNIESTER SET TO RESUME
Moldovan Transportation Minister Miron Gagauz said on December 12 that rail traffic with Russia via the Transdniester region will be resumed this week, ITAR-TASS reported the same day. According to a Russian-Moldovan agreement, passenger trains will start making trips between Moscow and Chisinau via Tiraspol and Bendery on December 15. Railroad traffic will also fully resume through a Moldovan-Ukrainian border checkpoint. The agreement will be in effect until December 31, 2007. Rail traffic began detouring around Transdniester in March when Moldova and Ukraine instituted -- with EU assistance -- new customs regulations on the Transdniester section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 6, 2006). BW
THERE IS NO END NOTE TODAY
SIX KILLED IN SUICIDE ATTACK ON HELMAND GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
Six people were killed and eight were injured in a suicide attack inside the compound housing the office of Helmand's governor on December 12, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. Provincial security commander Nabi Jan Mullakhayl told AIP that four of those killed were policemen. President Hamid Karzai, who was visiting neighboring Kandahar at the time of the attack, strongly condemned the incident, saying that the "enemies of peace and security" in Afghanistan, in their terrorist attacks in which mostly civilians are killed, show their "inhuman and un-Islamic" character, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported on December 12. A website purporting to represent the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan -- the name of the country under the Taliban -- claimed on December 12 that a "mujahid of the Islamic Emirate" named Hafez Same'ullah carried out the terror attack inside the Helmand governor's compound, killing more than 10 soldiers and injuring 20. The website carried a photograph of the purported suicide bomber. AT
AFGHAN PRESIDENT TELLS CIVILIANS TO KEEP DISTANCE FROM MILITARY OPERATIONS
During a visit to his native province of Kandahar, President Hamid Karzai on December 12 told a gathering of local leaders from southern provinces to encourage civilians to keep their distance from military operations conducted by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) until ISAF comes up with better measures to avoid collateral casualties, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported. Karzai made the remarks at a gathering of elders of Kandahar, Oruzgan, Helmand and Zabul provinces where ISAF has been battling a resurgent neo-Taliban. AT
BRITISH MARINE KILLED IN HELMAND
A Royal Marine serving with ISAF was killed on December 12 in an exchange of fire with suspected Taliban militants in the Nawzad district of Helmand Province, the BBC reported on December 12. A website purporting to represent the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan claimed the same day that a British main battle tank was destroyed by a rocket. The website stated that there was no information on British casualties. AT
AFGHAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ASSAILS PAKISTAN
Sebghatullah Mojaddedi, the chairman of the Afghan National Assembly's Meshrano Jirga (Elders' Council), said during a meeting with representatives of southeastern Afghanistan in Kabul on December 12 that Islamabad is preventing the Taliban from joining the Kabul-sponsored reconciliation process, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Speaking with representatives of the Khost, Paktiya, and Paktika provinces, Mojaddedi -- who also heads the reconciliation program -- said that "senior Taliban members" have contacted him from Pakistan and have told him that "they are willing to join the reconciliation program, but Pakistan does not allow them" to do so. Mojadeddi, who briefly served as Afghanistan's first post-Communist president in 1992, has regularly accused Pakistan of interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs. AT
IRAN HOLDS REVISIONIST CONFERENCE ON HOLOCAUST AMID CONDEMNATIONS...
Iran held a conference in Tehran on December 11 and 12 to determine whether the Holocaust actually occurred, news agencies reported, as Western states denounced what is seen as another public denial by Iran of the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War II. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the meeting "shocking beyond belief," and a White House spokesman said it is "an affront to the entire civilized world," AFP reported on December 12. Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said at the opening of the conference that it is merely a forum for different views to be expressed on a historical subject, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on December 12. "If the issue [the Holocaust] and its historical nature are proven, those who make such claims [about the Holocaust] must answer why the real inhabitants of Palestine must pay the price for Nazi crimes," he said. He added that one of the problems researchers face is that academia is dominated by the Western interpretation of historical events. Participants at the seminar, who included revisionist academics, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and rabbis who don't support the existence of Israel, were later taken to meet Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, AFP reported on December 12. VS
...AS PRESIDENT INTERPRETS RECENT HISTORY
President Ahmadinejad told the visiting group of conference participants that "selfish and ambitious" people have throughout history and especially in the 20th century violated God's intentions for mankind that it live in justice and happiness, ISNA reported. These people are today armed with "lethal weapons," he warned. He said "certain powers" introduced a "particular discourse" after World War II to maintain their dominance, and have had an "active presence" in world conflicts in the past 60 years. The Holocaust, he said, "has become a great idol" for the "great powers." They tolerate people questioning God and the prophets in their lands, he said, but it is "an unforgivable crime" to question the Holocaust, ISNA reported. "Whether the Holocaust occurred or not, whether the incident was extensive or limited, it has become today an excuse to create a base for violating and permanently threatening...nations," he said. Israel's existence and its actions, he said, are a "violation of the rights not just of Palestine and Muslims, but of humanity." He said "I am sorry a small number of Zionists want to govern the whole world today. They have pressured all the European states. Why should the effects of the second World War still exist in the world?" VS
EU COURT RELEASES MILITANT ORGANIZATION'S ASSETS
The European Court of Justice ordered unfrozen the financial assets of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK), an Iranian opposition group considered by the EU, United States, and Iran to be a terrorist organization, AP reported on December 12. The EU froze the assets in 2002, but the court has ruled that the MEK's legal defense rights were not fully respected then. A court spokesman said the decision could lead to the group's removal from the EU terrorist list, AFP reported on December 12. MEK leader Maryam Rajavi welcomed the move as proving "the legitimacy of the resistance against religious fascism in Iran," AP reported. A judiciary official in Tehran immediately responded by denouncing the West's "double response" to terrorism and said the move showed "terrorists are an instrument in the hands of world arrogance," ISNA reported. Judiciary adviser Hojatoleslam Montazeri told ISNA that there is evidence the United States is supporting the MEK -- including the continued presence of its members in Iraq -- in spite of the dissatisfaction of Iraq's government. The group previously enjoyed support from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Montazeri said it hides behind "an anti-American mask" to deceive Iranian youngsters. He said Western powers use the MEK "for their own interests. They take them to parliaments to meet senior officials, and the day they do not want them, throw them away like used tissues," Montazeri said. VS
TEHRAN FACES RIGHTS ABUSE CHARGES
New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement on December 12 calling on Iran's judiciary to arrest officials responsible for the arrest and alleged physical abuse of web loggers -- or Internet columnists/diarists, aka bloggers -- instead of prosecuting them, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported the same day. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini rejected an unspecified statement by EU foreign ministers critical of the state of human rights in Iran, IRNA reported on December 12. He said the statement was "contrary to realities in Iran" and characterized by "political hostility." Hosseini said Western powers ignore rights violations in one place but use them elsewhere for their "political and publicity goals." Iran, he said, respects and promotes human rights on the basis of its religious and international commitments. Hosseini noted, instead, what he said was a rise in "antihumanitarian attitudes" in Europe, including racial discrimination, "hostility to Islam, racial discrimination...abuse of immigrants...by police," and the presence of secret detention centers in Europe, IRNA reported. VS
BAGHDAD BOMBINGS KILL SOME 70 IRAQIS
Two suicide bombings in central Baghdad on December 12 killed some 70 people and wounded around 230, international media reported the same day. The bombings targeted mostly Shi'ite day laborers gathering in Al-Tayaran Square in central Baghdad. Witnesses said that a pickup truck pulled up to a group of laborers and offered work, immediately attracting a large crowd, and the vehicle then exploded. Almost simultaneously, another bomb exploded in a car parked 30 yards away. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki described the attacks as a "horrible massacre" and placed the blame on Sunni Arab extremists linked to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Ba'ath Party. "These terrorist groups are trying to spread chaos by killing and fueling sectarian strife," al-Maliki said. Lieutenant Bilal Ali al-Majid of the Baghdad police said most of the laborers were from the Shi'ite neighborhood of Al-Sadr City. SS
SAUDI CLERICS CALL FOR SUPPORT FOR IRAQI SUNNIS
In a statement posted on a Saudi Islamist website on December 11, 38 prominent Saudi clerics praised the Iraqi insurgency and called on Sunni Arabs throughout the Middle East to mobilize against Iraq's Shi'as and to support the country's Sunni Arabs, international media reported on December 12. The clerics warned that Shi'as are rapidly taking control of Iraq in a conspiracy with the "Crusaders" and, as a result, are marginalizing the Sunni Arab population. "After almost four years of occupation, it is clear that the aim behind this occupation is for the Crusaders and Shi'as to take control of Iraq, paving the way to complete their control over the region," read the statement, which was dated December 7. Iraq's Sunni Arabs, including remnants of the disbanded Ba'ath Party, are widely believed to form the backbone of the Iraqi insurgency. SS
IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT
During an interview with Baghdad Television on December 11, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi criticized the Iraqi government's inability to rein in the Shi'ite militias and curtail sectarian violence. "Slow and inadequate action is a problem that we have been facing with this government since it was formed," he said. Al-Hashimi is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House on December 12 to discuss ways of helping the Iraqi government. This visit follows shortly after a December 4 meeting between Bush and the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 6, 2006). SS
IRAQI CHILDREN 'MOST DEPRIVED' IN THE REGION
A report released by UNICEF on December 11 found that Iraqi children are the most deprived in the Middle East, the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported the same day. The report, a global survey of 190 countries entitled "The State of the World's Children 2007," found that Iraq has the 33rd highest mortality rate in the world for children aged under five. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, in the years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, children have become more vulnerable to diseases owing to a deterioration in the country's infrastructure, the collapse of the economy, and a shortage of supplies. "Thousands of children are displaced nowadays without medical support. Diarrhea and dehydration have become common diseases among them and, with a lack of medicine, what could be considered acute before is chronic today," said Ahmad Walid, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, in comments quoted by IRIN. SS
Dmitry Medvedev, who is first deputy prime minister and chairman of the state-run monopoly Gazprom, told reporters in Moscow on December 12 that his company plans to buy about "50 percent or a little less" of the Sakhalin-2 gas project from Shell, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi, mosnews.com reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006). He added that "the talks are going quickly and we hope to close a deal soon.... We are looking at all options ranging from cash to an asset swap." The daily "Izvestia," which is owned by Gazprom, wrote on December 13 that the foreign companies "have given in." The paper added that "the foreign shareholders in Sakhalin-2 made their big mistake this summer, when they announced that project costs would more than double, from $10 billion to $22 billion. This struck directly at the Russian federal budget, since according to Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) terms, our state would only start receiving profits after the foreign companies had recovered all their costs. By inflating the sums involved, the foreign investors were postponing the happy day when Russia would receive its first dividends from the project." The paper added that when the Russian authorities then claimed that the project was inflicting unacceptable environmental damage, "the foreign companies tried to launch a campaign in the Western media and threatened legal action. But it soon became clear that our officials wouldn't back down." The daily noted that "Russia will gain substantial preferences in the long term. First, Gazprom will control exports of around 9.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year to Asia and North America, thus gaining access to attractive consumer markets. Second, the state will receive ready infrastructure for developing other Sakhalin fields. Finally, controlling the project operator company also means managing subcontracting orders. One of the state's complaints against Sakhalin-2 shareholders was the low proportion of Russian enterprises among subcontractors.... Thus, the benefits Russia derives from gaining control of the project will be significantly greater than its share of the profits." PM
PUTIN AIDE SAYS RUSSIA WILL NOT GIVE UP CONTROL OF ITS PIPELINES
Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who is President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to the EU, said in Berlin on December 11 that Russia will not ratify the EU's Energy Charter which it signed in 1994, the "International Herald Tribune" reported on December 13. The document would require Russia to open up access to its pipelines, which Gazprom now effectively controls as a monopoly, while seeking greater access to European markets for itself (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 27 and 29, and December 1 and 7, 2006). Yastrzhembsky told reporters that "we will not ratify the Energy Charter. It would be damaging for Russia if we ratified it." He stressed that Russia will not give up control of its pipelines. He was in Berlin to discuss Germany's upcoming EU presidency and chairmanship of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries, which begin on January 1. Iwona Wisniewska, who is a Polish expert on Russian energy policy, told the same paper that Russia is determined not to open up its state-owned monopolies to competition, which would cause them to "shrink." In Brussels, a spokesman for EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said that "we are still eager to get Russia to ratify the treaty." German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly called on Russia to ratify the document, but has also spoken of securing Russian adherence to its principles by incorporating them into a new EU-Russia comprehensive cooperation agreement to replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which runs out in 2007. A dispute between Moscow and Warsaw over Polish exports of agricultural products to Russia has led Poland to block the start of talks on the new pact. PM
RUSSIA TO INSIST ON BILATERAL MEAT AGREEMENTS WITH EU MEMBER STATES
Russian officials informed the EU in Brussels on December 12 that Moscow will seek separate bilateral agreements on meat imports with individual EU member states rather than with the bloc as a whole, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 27, 2006). The Russian delegation refused to discuss Russia's current ban on Polish agricultural products or its earlier threat to bar all EU meat imports when Romania and Bulgaria become members on January 1. An EU spokesman said that Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou "is very disappointed. The Russians told us face to face for the first time that they would be seeking additional measures on a bilateral basis, which is unacceptable to the EU. Russia showed that they have no political will to find a solution to this matter." The EU has criticized Russia's ban on Polish agricultural products, which Poland says is illegal. The EU has also dismissed Russian charges regarding Romanian and Bulgarian meat exports. Speaking on December 12 in Warsaw, Poland's former President Lech Walesa said that the Russian ban is politically motivated, and he called for a common European approach toward Russia. PM
RUSSIA TO TAX OIL EXPORTS TO BELARUS
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov approved a measure on December 12 to tax oil exports to Belarus at the same rate as those exports to other countries, the daily "Kommersant" reported on December 13. At present, no duties are paid. The stated aim is to "close the oil offshore in Minsk," which reexports some of the oil products but does not give Russia a share in the profits. The daily estimates that the change will "strip Belarus of $1.7 billion in taxes but give Russia $3.6 billion of additional revenues." The paper also notes that neither side considers the matter settled. The daily "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on December 13 that "economic relations between Russia and Belarus are coming to resemble a full-scale economic war, one that threatens to destroy the customs union set up in 1996 by five post-Soviet states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.... Belarus will be treated [according to the Russian government's decision] the same way as oil exports to non-CIS countries, and the corresponding export tariffs will apply." PM
RUSSIA PUTS OFF UN IRAN TALKS AFTER U.S. BRINGS UP BELARUS
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin objected on December 12 to a move by the United States to discuss in the Security Council the 54-day hunger strike of Belarusian opposition former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kozulin, news agencies reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 11 and 12, 2006). Churkin said that the matter has nothing to do with the council's business. Consequently, a planned discussion on Iran and possible sanctions in response to its nuclear program was postponed. Asked by reporters why the meeting was put off, Churkin replied: "Because I said so." PM
ESTONIA PROTESTS TO RUSSIA OVER FLAG BURNINGS
A spokeswoman for the Estonian Embassy in Moscow told dpa on December 13 that her government has formally protested to the Russian authorities over an incident on December 11 in which about 40 young Russian nationalists burned Estonian flags in front of the embassy. The demonstrators were protesting recent Estonian legislation outlawing the display of Nazi and Soviet symbols. Many Russian media outlets say that the law equates Nazi Germany with the Soviet Union and belittles the Red Army and its role in "liberating" Estonia at the close of World War II. Those Russian media outlets also accuse the Estonian authorities of having recently "glorified" the Waffen SS while taking down monuments to the Red Army. The Estonian view is that both Germany and the USSR forcibly occupied Estonian territory and that both were equally evil, which is a point enshrined in the new legislation. PM
BRITISH AMBASSADOR SAYS KREMLIN SHOULD CALL OFF STALKING CAMPAIGN
U.K. Ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton was quoted by the "Daily Telegraph" on December 13 as saying that the Kremlin has the power to call off the young nationalists belonging to the organization Nashi who have been stalking and harassing him for four months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 8, 2006). He said that "Nashi's links with the Kremlin are well enough known. Their leader has met with President Putin many times, and one of his advisers was known to have been involved in its creation. Even if one were to accept that they are not directly controlled by the Kremlin, this level of influence suggests that the Kremlin could stop them if it wanted to." PM
POLICE SEARCH OPPOSITION OFFICE
On December 12, police in Moscow searched the headquarters of the United Civil Front, an opposition group headed by former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. Police said they were looking for literature containing "extremist views." Kasparov told RFE/RL that "there is every reason to believe that this search and the seizure of literature and newspapers are linked to the attempts by the authorities to implement the infamous law on extremism. Just two days ago, Moscow Mayor [Yury] Luzhkov's spokesman, [Sergei] Tsoi, said that the organizers of the [March of Dissent to be held on December 16] should be warned of criminal responsibility. It is very revealing that law enforcement agencies launched such a psychological attack today" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 7, 2006). Marina Litvinovich, an aide to Kasparov, told RFE/RL that "15 people showed up and introduced themselves as [Federal Security Service (FSB)] and anti-organized crime agents. We know that they are seizing printed materials, in particular the newspaper that was printed ahead of the March of Dissent to be held on December 16 and some other documents that caught their attention which we don't yet know about." Organizers of the protest say they will go ahead with their plans despite attempts by authorities to stop it. Critics say that the "anti-extremism" law serves no role in dealing with real extremism but instead is geared to fighting the opponents of the current authorities. Some media outlets note that the law contains some vague provisions that would enable the authorities to ban people from political activity on the basis of dubious, Soviet-style charges. PM
DID VILLAGE PRIEST KILL HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY?
Investigators looking into the death of Andrei Nikolayev, a Russian Orthodox village priest in Pryamukhino in Tver Oblast, who died with wife and three children in a suspicious fire in their home on December 2, say they are leaning toward the explanation that he deliberately started the fire himself, news.ru and "Moskovsky komsomolets" reported on December 13 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 5, 2006). The investigators suggested that Nikolayev was mentally imbalanced. The fire at first was widely blamed on local alcoholics, who reportedly stole icons and other valuables from the local church and whom Nikolayev opposed. The incident led to considerable media coverage of the village itself and of problems related to alcohol and rural society in general. Villagers told reporters that they were being defamed, and that television crews came from Moscow, gave the locals vodka, and then filmed them drinking it. PM
OSSETIAN YOUTH LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES 'GENOCIDE' OF INGUSH
Chermen Tedeyev, head of the unofficial youth organization Sons of Ossetia, has addressed an open letter to the Ingush website ingushetiya.ru, posted on December 13, in which he apologizes in the name of the Ossetian people for what he terms the 1992 "genocide" of Ingush in North Ossetia's disputed Prigorodny Raion. Tedeyev wrote that he was 10 years old at the time of the 1992 fighting and like most Ossetians took at face value official claims of Ingush "aggression" against the Ossetians. He added that he has since spoken with eyewitnesses and studied documentation relating to the conflict, on the basis of which he concludes that although armed Ingush sought to reoccupy Prigorodny district, which was part of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR until 1944, they did not commit any "cruel crimes." He predicted that "if I am not killed," with time ever more Ossetians will come to realize the inevitability of transferring Prigorodny district to Ingushetian jurisdiction, and he appealed to the leadership of the Republic of North Ossetia to "admit that we are wrong" and agree to that territorial transfer. Tedeyev's organization began lobbying several months ago for the return of Prigorodny district to Ingushetia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," August 16 and October 2 and 23, 2006). Meanwhile, on December 8, 13 Ingush displaced persons from Prigorodny Raion addressed an open letter to Dmitry Kozak, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, protesting the violation of their constitutional rights and demanding the creation of a state commission to probe the North Ossetian authorities' failure to implement President Putin's instructions on expediting the return of Ingush displaced persons to Prigorodny Raion by the end of 2006, ingushetiya.ru reported on December 12. They noted that some 131 Ingush displaced persons are still in temporary accommodation in the settlement of Maysky, to which gas and electricity supplies were cut off on November 6. LF
U.S. SETS CONDITIONS FOR FURTHER AID TO ARMENIA
Speaking in Yerevan on December 12, U.S. Charge d'Affaires Anthony Godfrey said that disbursement of a further $236 million allocated to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge program is contingent on "a high level of performance in ruling justly, investing in people and promoting economic freedom," RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Godfrey stressed specifically that future funds will be forthcoming only if democratic reforms are continued and the run-up to and conduct of the parliamentary and presidential elections due in 2007 and 2008, respectively, are perceived as free and fair. The Millennium Challenge Corporation has already transferred to Armenia the first $1.4 million tranche to which it is entitled under the five-year program. Last month, the U.S. human rights watchdog Freedom House called on the U.S. government, in light of what it termed the Armenian government's "failure...to improve its institutional commitment to democracy," to withhold further Millennium Challenge funds (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 6 and 8, 2006). LF
GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH U.S. OFFICIALS
Zurab Noghaideli met in Washington on December 11 with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to discuss bilateral relations, Georgia's tense relations with Russia, and the prospects for Georgian NATO membership, and the following day with Vice President Dick Cheney to discuss energy security and possible solution to Georgia's conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian media reported. Noghaideli also discussed on December 12 with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab the possibility of a bilateral U.S. Georgian free-trade agreement and Georgia's opposition to admitting Russia to the World Trade Organization, Caucasus Press reported. LF
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SLAMS RUMORED RUSSIAN PEACE PLAN
Nino Burdjanadze dismissed on December 12 as unwarranted interference a report, published on December 12 by the daily "Kommersant," that Russia is currently drafting a new proposal for resolving the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts, Caucasus Press reported. That new Russian peace proposal is allegedly modeled on the leaked UN proposal for Kosova and envisages Georgia as a "common state" in the form of a confederation, within which the currently unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia would have the status of recognized sovereign states. Burdjanadze affirmed that it is for Georgia and the international community to determine how the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts should be resolved. She suggested that if Russia wishes to conduct "experiments" using the Kosova model, it should do so on its own territory. LF
EU ADVOCATES 'FAR-REACHING AUTONOMY' FOR ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA
On December 13, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" quoted South Ossetian Foreign Minister Murat Djioyev as saying the South Ossetian government has not received any proposal from Moscow on forming a confederation with Georgia, while Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba for his part told the Russian daily that Sukhum(i) would reject any such proposal. Speaking in Moscow on December 12, Ambassador Peter Semneby, EU special envoy for the South Caucasus, said in Moscow that while the conflicts in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia cannot be resolved without granting them "broad, far-reaching autonomy" within Georgia, diverging approaches are required that would yield the most appropriate solution for each of those two republics, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. But Murat Tkhostov, who is the North Ossetian representative on the Joint Control Commission tasked with monitoring the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, was quoted by regnum.ru on December 12 as saying that offers of "autonomy" for South Ossetia may have been appropriate and acceptable in the early 1990s, but that since 2004 -- presumably meaning since the advent to power in Georgia of Mikheil Saakashvili -- such offers "are nothing more than an attempt to camouflage" Tbilisi's desire to abolish South Ossetia as a separate entity. LF
ABKHAZIA SCHEDULES LOCAL, PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Sergei Bagapsh, president of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, signed separate decrees on December 12 scheduling local elections for February 11, 2007 and parliamentary elections for March 4, 2007, apsny.ru reported on December 12. LF
KAZAKHSTAN BOOSTS OIL PRODUCTION
Kazakhstan's oil production notched a 6.7 percent year-on-year increase in the first 11 months of 2006 to 49.37 million tons, Interfax reported on December 12, citing information from Kazakhstan's State Statistics Agency. Natural gas production also increased 1.2 percent for the period to 22.96 billion cubic meters. But gas condensate production fell 1.2 percent to 9.56 million tons. DK
PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER REELECTED HEAD OF KAZAKH JOURNALISTS' CONGRESS
Kazakhstan's Congress of Journalists in Astana on December 12 reelected Darigha Nazarbaeva, President Nursultan Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, as its chairwoman for another year, "Kazakhstan Today" reported. Nazarbaeva has been fighting government-sponsored draft changes to Kazakhstan's media law that, if adopted, would significantly reduce the number of press outlets by tightening registration procedures. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has voiced concern at the proposed changes, saying they threaten to impede independent journalism. While supporting her country's bid to chair the OSCE in 2009, Nazarbaeva on December 12 backed the organization in its criticism of the Kazakh government's media policy. "The government's eagerness to focus on its own interests while ignoring those [of journalists] and its attempts at restricting our rights from year to year will never bring any good," she said. Nazarbaeva said her association has drafted an alternative draft media bill and that it plans to send it to parliament for examination in January. JCP/DK
KYRGYZ STUDENTS PROTEST DEBT-REDUCTION PROGRAM
Approximately 300 people, mostly students, demonstrated in Bishkek on December 12 to protest Kyrgyzstan's possible participation in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt-reduction initiative, which is sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, akipress.org reported. The students marched through the capital and threw eggs at the World Bank's offices. Meanwhile, Economics and Finance Minister Akylbek Japarov told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service on the same day that talks between the Kyrgyz government and the two institutions are over. He said, "The government must now make a decision. We will inform our president about the conditions [of our entry] and, of course, our parliament will discuss this issue." HIPC has caused sharp debates in Kyrgyzstan, with proponents arguing that the program will help write off part of Kyrgyzstan's $2 billion external debt and critics -- among them a number of lawmakers -- warning that it might give the World Bank and the IMF too much influence over the national economy. JPC/DK
TAJIKISTAN REPORTS DETENTION OF NEARLY 90 EXTREMISTS IN 2006
Since the beginning of this year Tajik law-enforcement officials have arrested nearly 90 suspected members of the banned extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, Avesta reported on December 12. Interior Ministry official Iskandar Rozykov said that 56 suspected HT members and 30 suspected IMU members have been detained. Rozykov noted that many thousands of leaflets, hundreds of books and magazines, and 54 computer discs were confiscated from suspected HT members. DK
RUSSIAN EDUCATION OFFICIALS MEET WITH UZBEK PRESIDENT
A Russian delegation headed by Dzhakhan Pollyeva, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, met with President Islam Karimov in Tashkent on December 12 to discuss bilateral educational and cultural cooperation, the official news agency UzA reported. Moscow State University Rector Viktor Sadovnichy was also a member of the Russian delegation. Karimov called the visit "further confirmation of the dynamically developing cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia." DK
BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER RECEIVES SAKHAROV PRIZE
Former opposition presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in Brussels on December 12, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. "This is not only my prize. Together with me, this prize also goes to all those Belarusians who are struggling for freedom, all those who came to the square this spring [during and after the presidential election] to defend their dignity, all those who were and still are imprisoned, those who were expelled from universities and who were fired from their job," Milinkevich said in his acceptance speech. Milinkevich noted that the EU -- which is barred from funding activities in other countries not sanctioned by their governments -- lacks an efficient mechanism of assistance to pro-democracy movements under undemocratic regimes. Milinkevich advocated establishing a European "antidictatorship fund" to allow the EU to take direct action against authoritarian regimes. He pledged to donate his 50,000 euro ($65,900) check linked to the prize to the European Parliament to support victims of political persecution in Belarus. JM
FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ENDS HUNGER STRIKE
Another opposition presidential candidate, Alyaksandr Kazulin, on December 11 began to withdraw from his hunger strike, which he launched on October 20 in a correctional facility near Vitsebsk (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006), RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Belapan reported on December 12, quoting his wife Iryna Kazulina. Kazulina was allowed to speak with her husband by telephone on December 12. "I have learned that he is withdrawing from the hunger strike and feels satisfactory. We were allowed to talk only about stuff and food that he needs to withdraw from the strike," she told journalists. Kazulin, who is serving his 5 1/2 year prison term, demanded during his strike that the UN Security Council discuss the situation in Belarus. Reuters reported on December 12 that, earlier the same day, U.S. envoy to the UN William Brencick raised the issue of Kazulin's hunger strike at a closed-door UN Security Council session in New York. Brencick's motion reportedly angered Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin, who called off the UN Security Council's planned discussion on Iran's controversial nuclear program (see also Part I above). JM
EXILED BELARUSIAN UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $6 MILLION FROM EU, NORDIC COUNTRIES
The European Commission and the Nordic Council of Ministers have allocated 4.5 million euros ($6 million) to European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Belapan reported on December 12. EHU, a private institution established in Minsk in 1992, was stripped of its license by order of Belarusian Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkou in July 2004. It was reestablished in Lithuania in 2005 as European Humanities University in Exile. EHU Rector Anatol Mikhaylau told Belapan that the received aid will be spent to pay housing rents and allowances for Belarusian students admitted to EHU in 2005 and 2006. Mikhaylau said the average monthly student allowance at EHU amounts to 100 euros ($133). JM
BELARUSIAN, RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS ADOPT UNION STATE BUDGET FOR 2007
The Russian-Belarusian Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Russia-Belarus Union State's deficit-free budget for 2007 at a session held in Moscow on December 12, Belapan reported. The budget, amounting to 3.18 billion Russian rubles ($121 million), will finance 35 joint programs and projects in defense, economy, and law enforcement. JM
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS LAST WTO-RELATED BILL...
The Verkhovna Rada on December 13 passed a bill canceling the ban on exports of scrap metals and establishing duties on these exports within the six years following Ukraine's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ukrainian media reported. The bill is reportedly the last piece of legislation needed by Ukraine to bring its laws in line with WTO standards before joining this organization. Ukraine still needs to sign a bilateral trade accord with Kyrgyzstan in order to qualify for WTO entry. JM
...AND APPROVES NEW EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTER
The Verkhovna Rada on December 12 backed the appointment of Nestor Shufrych as emergency situations minister, Ukrainian media reported. Shufrych, a deputy in the Crimean autonomous legislature, was a lawmaker of the Social Democratic Party-united in the preceding Verkhovna Rada. He will replace Viktor Baloha, who was appointed as head of the Presidential Secretariat by President Viktor Yushchenko in September. JM
UKRAINIAN PREMIER INDIGNANT OVER PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON 2007 BUDGET
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said at a cabinet meeting on December 13 that he "practically" does not see any chance for a compromise with President Yushchenko regarding the latter's veto on the budget bill for 2007 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 12, 2006), the "Ukrayinska pravda" website (http://www.pravda.com.ua) reported. "It has been proposed that we should find on paper 10 billion hryvnyas ($2 billion), but we know very well, and our citizens know very well, that money does not fall from the sky and that we need to earn it," Yanukovych said. "They [the pro-presidential opposition] hope that we will be patiently listening to the fairy tales they tell people. I have warned that I am going to work and not to talk much. This is going to be our style. There should be no populism here." JM
KOSOVAR PREMIER SAYS INDEPENDENCE GOOD FOR SERBIA
In a commentary published in the "Washington Post" on December 12, Kosovar Prime Minister Agim Ceku said an independent Kosova would benefit Serbia as well as ethnic Albanians. "Finalizing the status of Kosovo will bring an end to the uncertainty and hopelessness of the Kosovo Serbs -- and indeed of Serbia," Ceku wrote. "It will free Serbia of a mythological burden, and open the door to proper politics and economic development." Ceku added that "Modern Serbia...understands that Kosovo is moving on and has come to terms with this reality. This Serbia is focused on Europe and on reviving Serbia's economic potential and, with it, the well being of Serb citizens." Ceku added that "the old, nationalistic Serbia still clutches onto Kosovo," with no plan for its development. "The international community needs to find a way to stimulate democratic Serbia while sidelining the radicals. This is in our interest, as well," Ceku wrote. "Recognizing Kosovo's independence would close the dark chapters of Balkan history, and create the opportunity for a new and sustainable regional stability." BW
NGO SAYS SERBIA'S ROMA AT RISK
A minority-rights activist said on December 12 that nearly half the Roma in Serbia do not have full access to education, employment, or health care, B92 and UPI reported the same day. Petar Antic, of the Serbian Center for Minority Rights, said Serbia's Roma live in a parallel world, and he warned that if the issue is not addressed it could become a public-safety risk. A recent survey of 36,000 Roma cited by UPI showed that 46 percent could not register official addresses because they live in cardboard shanties, often with no electricity. Lacking an address means that they cannot acquire the national identification cards necessary to receive state services. BW
ANOTHER MASS GRAVE IN NORTHERN BOSNIA EXHUMED
Forensic experts in Bosnia-Herzegovina said on December 12 that they have found 114 complete bodies and 159 partial bodies in a mass grave near the northern town of Brcko, Reuters reported the same day. The victims are believed to be non-Serbs, mostly Bosnian Muslims, killed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The exact number will only be known after DNA analysis, Murat Hurtic of the Bosnia's Commission for Missing Persons said. "We found three documents belonging to Muslims who disappeared in the spring of 1992 and this indicates that all victims may be Muslims and Croats killed in Brcko, in the Luke detention camp or at other locations," Hurtic said. About 500 non-Serbs disappeared in Brcko after Serbian forces captured it in May 1992. More than 400 are still unaccounted for. The mass grave was the second to be exhumed in the area (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 8, 2006). BW
WAR DAMAGE TO SARAJEVO ESTIMATED AT $18.5 BILLION
The author of a study on war damage to Sarajevo said on December 12 that the Serbian paramilitaries' 1992-95 siege of the city caused 14 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in damages, Reuters reported the same day. "The focus of the study was visible wartime damage, what had been destroyed or taken away, and we have got a figure of 14 billion euros in direct war damages in Sarajevo in the period of 1992-95," Duljko Hasic, who works as an economics expert in Bosnia's Foreign Trade Chamber, told Reuters. Hasic is one of a multidisciplinary team of Bosnian experts who since 1996 have been collecting information on the 1,417-day siege of Sarajevo. He said the study's purpose is to establish a basis for possible reparations. Hasic added that the report does not represent the full extent of the damage as it does not include the impact on the national economy and the loss of cultural treasures such as the rare books lost when the National Library and the Institute of Oriental Studies were burned down. BW
SIX BALKAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET IN ALBANIA TO COORDINATE EFFORTS TO JOIN NATO
The defense ministers of six Balkan countries met in Tirana on December 12 to discuss plans to join NATO, AP reported the same day. Discussions among the officials from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia focused on promoting military, political, and economic cooperation. The defense ministers also discussed combating corruption and organized crime "to address fulfilling NATO standards," according to the group's final statement. Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia have signed a U.S.-backed agreement called the Adriatic Charter that outlines a common military strategy and promoting regional cooperation. The three countries hope to join the Western alliance by 2008. Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia are scheduled to join NATO's Partnership for Peace program this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 30 and December 7 and 12, 2006). BW
EU PLANS TO DOUBLE AID TO MOLDOVA
The European Union announced on December 12 that it plans to more than double aid to Moldova over the next four years, AP reported the same day. The EU said it will give Chisinau 209 million euros ($277 million) so it can take "decisive" steps to reform human rights, basic freedoms, the judicial system and the investment climate. Brussels also said it plans to give Moldova another 45 million euros ($60 million) in 2007 and 2008 to bail the government out of its current debt problems, bringing the total aid until 2010 to 254 million euros ($336 million). Ministers from the EU's 25 member states must sign off on the package before the donation is final. The EU has given Moldova more than 300 million euros ($397 million) since 1991. BW
MOLDOVAN-RUSSIAN RAIL TRAFFIC VIA TRANSDNIESTER SET TO RESUME
Moldovan Transportation Minister Miron Gagauz said on December 12 that rail traffic with Russia via the Transdniester region will be resumed this week, ITAR-TASS reported the same day. According to a Russian-Moldovan agreement, passenger trains will start making trips between Moscow and Chisinau via Tiraspol and Bendery on December 15. Railroad traffic will also fully resume through a Moldovan-Ukrainian border checkpoint. The agreement will be in effect until December 31, 2007. Rail traffic began detouring around Transdniester in March when Moldova and Ukraine instituted -- with EU assistance -- new customs regulations on the Transdniester section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 6, 2006). BW
THERE IS NO END NOTE TODAY
SIX KILLED IN SUICIDE ATTACK ON HELMAND GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
Six people were killed and eight were injured in a suicide attack inside the compound housing the office of Helmand's governor on December 12, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. Provincial security commander Nabi Jan Mullakhayl told AIP that four of those killed were policemen. President Hamid Karzai, who was visiting neighboring Kandahar at the time of the attack, strongly condemned the incident, saying that the "enemies of peace and security" in Afghanistan, in their terrorist attacks in which mostly civilians are killed, show their "inhuman and un-Islamic" character, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported on December 12. A website purporting to represent the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan -- the name of the country under the Taliban -- claimed on December 12 that a "mujahid of the Islamic Emirate" named Hafez Same'ullah carried out the terror attack inside the Helmand governor's compound, killing more than 10 soldiers and injuring 20. The website carried a photograph of the purported suicide bomber. AT
AFGHAN PRESIDENT TELLS CIVILIANS TO KEEP DISTANCE FROM MILITARY OPERATIONS
During a visit to his native province of Kandahar, President Hamid Karzai on December 12 told a gathering of local leaders from southern provinces to encourage civilians to keep their distance from military operations conducted by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) until ISAF comes up with better measures to avoid collateral casualties, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported. Karzai made the remarks at a gathering of elders of Kandahar, Oruzgan, Helmand and Zabul provinces where ISAF has been battling a resurgent neo-Taliban. AT
BRITISH MARINE KILLED IN HELMAND
A Royal Marine serving with ISAF was killed on December 12 in an exchange of fire with suspected Taliban militants in the Nawzad district of Helmand Province, the BBC reported on December 12. A website purporting to represent the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan claimed the same day that a British main battle tank was destroyed by a rocket. The website stated that there was no information on British casualties. AT
AFGHAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ASSAILS PAKISTAN
Sebghatullah Mojaddedi, the chairman of the Afghan National Assembly's Meshrano Jirga (Elders' Council), said during a meeting with representatives of southeastern Afghanistan in Kabul on December 12 that Islamabad is preventing the Taliban from joining the Kabul-sponsored reconciliation process, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Speaking with representatives of the Khost, Paktiya, and Paktika provinces, Mojaddedi -- who also heads the reconciliation program -- said that "senior Taliban members" have contacted him from Pakistan and have told him that "they are willing to join the reconciliation program, but Pakistan does not allow them" to do so. Mojadeddi, who briefly served as Afghanistan's first post-Communist president in 1992, has regularly accused Pakistan of interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs. AT
IRAN HOLDS REVISIONIST CONFERENCE ON HOLOCAUST AMID CONDEMNATIONS...
Iran held a conference in Tehran on December 11 and 12 to determine whether the Holocaust actually occurred, news agencies reported, as Western states denounced what is seen as another public denial by Iran of the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War II. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the meeting "shocking beyond belief," and a White House spokesman said it is "an affront to the entire civilized world," AFP reported on December 12. Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said at the opening of the conference that it is merely a forum for different views to be expressed on a historical subject, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on December 12. "If the issue [the Holocaust] and its historical nature are proven, those who make such claims [about the Holocaust] must answer why the real inhabitants of Palestine must pay the price for Nazi crimes," he said. He added that one of the problems researchers face is that academia is dominated by the Western interpretation of historical events. Participants at the seminar, who included revisionist academics, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and rabbis who don't support the existence of Israel, were later taken to meet Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, AFP reported on December 12. VS
...AS PRESIDENT INTERPRETS RECENT HISTORY
President Ahmadinejad told the visiting group of conference participants that "selfish and ambitious" people have throughout history and especially in the 20th century violated God's intentions for mankind that it live in justice and happiness, ISNA reported. These people are today armed with "lethal weapons," he warned. He said "certain powers" introduced a "particular discourse" after World War II to maintain their dominance, and have had an "active presence" in world conflicts in the past 60 years. The Holocaust, he said, "has become a great idol" for the "great powers." They tolerate people questioning God and the prophets in their lands, he said, but it is "an unforgivable crime" to question the Holocaust, ISNA reported. "Whether the Holocaust occurred or not, whether the incident was extensive or limited, it has become today an excuse to create a base for violating and permanently threatening...nations," he said. Israel's existence and its actions, he said, are a "violation of the rights not just of Palestine and Muslims, but of humanity." He said "I am sorry a small number of Zionists want to govern the whole world today. They have pressured all the European states. Why should the effects of the second World War still exist in the world?" VS
EU COURT RELEASES MILITANT ORGANIZATION'S ASSETS
The European Court of Justice ordered unfrozen the financial assets of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK), an Iranian opposition group considered by the EU, United States, and Iran to be a terrorist organization, AP reported on December 12. The EU froze the assets in 2002, but the court has ruled that the MEK's legal defense rights were not fully respected then. A court spokesman said the decision could lead to the group's removal from the EU terrorist list, AFP reported on December 12. MEK leader Maryam Rajavi welcomed the move as proving "the legitimacy of the resistance against religious fascism in Iran," AP reported. A judiciary official in Tehran immediately responded by denouncing the West's "double response" to terrorism and said the move showed "terrorists are an instrument in the hands of world arrogance," ISNA reported. Judiciary adviser Hojatoleslam Montazeri told ISNA that there is evidence the United States is supporting the MEK -- including the continued presence of its members in Iraq -- in spite of the dissatisfaction of Iraq's government. The group previously enjoyed support from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Montazeri said it hides behind "an anti-American mask" to deceive Iranian youngsters. He said Western powers use the MEK "for their own interests. They take them to parliaments to meet senior officials, and the day they do not want them, throw them away like used tissues," Montazeri said. VS
TEHRAN FACES RIGHTS ABUSE CHARGES
New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement on December 12 calling on Iran's judiciary to arrest officials responsible for the arrest and alleged physical abuse of web loggers -- or Internet columnists/diarists, aka bloggers -- instead of prosecuting them, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported the same day. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini rejected an unspecified statement by EU foreign ministers critical of the state of human rights in Iran, IRNA reported on December 12. He said the statement was "contrary to realities in Iran" and characterized by "political hostility." Hosseini said Western powers ignore rights violations in one place but use them elsewhere for their "political and publicity goals." Iran, he said, respects and promotes human rights on the basis of its religious and international commitments. Hosseini noted, instead, what he said was a rise in "antihumanitarian attitudes" in Europe, including racial discrimination, "hostility to Islam, racial discrimination...abuse of immigrants...by police," and the presence of secret detention centers in Europe, IRNA reported. VS
BAGHDAD BOMBINGS KILL SOME 70 IRAQIS
Two suicide bombings in central Baghdad on December 12 killed some 70 people and wounded around 230, international media reported the same day. The bombings targeted mostly Shi'ite day laborers gathering in Al-Tayaran Square in central Baghdad. Witnesses said that a pickup truck pulled up to a group of laborers and offered work, immediately attracting a large crowd, and the vehicle then exploded. Almost simultaneously, another bomb exploded in a car parked 30 yards away. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki described the attacks as a "horrible massacre" and placed the blame on Sunni Arab extremists linked to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Ba'ath Party. "These terrorist groups are trying to spread chaos by killing and fueling sectarian strife," al-Maliki said. Lieutenant Bilal Ali al-Majid of the Baghdad police said most of the laborers were from the Shi'ite neighborhood of Al-Sadr City. SS
SAUDI CLERICS CALL FOR SUPPORT FOR IRAQI SUNNIS
In a statement posted on a Saudi Islamist website on December 11, 38 prominent Saudi clerics praised the Iraqi insurgency and called on Sunni Arabs throughout the Middle East to mobilize against Iraq's Shi'as and to support the country's Sunni Arabs, international media reported on December 12. The clerics warned that Shi'as are rapidly taking control of Iraq in a conspiracy with the "Crusaders" and, as a result, are marginalizing the Sunni Arab population. "After almost four years of occupation, it is clear that the aim behind this occupation is for the Crusaders and Shi'as to take control of Iraq, paving the way to complete their control over the region," read the statement, which was dated December 7. Iraq's Sunni Arabs, including remnants of the disbanded Ba'ath Party, are widely believed to form the backbone of the Iraqi insurgency. SS
IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT
During an interview with Baghdad Television on December 11, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi criticized the Iraqi government's inability to rein in the Shi'ite militias and curtail sectarian violence. "Slow and inadequate action is a problem that we have been facing with this government since it was formed," he said. Al-Hashimi is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House on December 12 to discuss ways of helping the Iraqi government. This visit follows shortly after a December 4 meeting between Bush and the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 6, 2006). SS
IRAQI CHILDREN 'MOST DEPRIVED' IN THE REGION
A report released by UNICEF on December 11 found that Iraqi children are the most deprived in the Middle East, the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported the same day. The report, a global survey of 190 countries entitled "The State of the World's Children 2007," found that Iraq has the 33rd highest mortality rate in the world for children aged under five. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, in the years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, children have become more vulnerable to diseases owing to a deterioration in the country's infrastructure, the collapse of the economy, and a shortage of supplies. "Thousands of children are displaced nowadays without medical support. Diarrhea and dehydration have become common diseases among them and, with a lack of medicine, what could be considered acute before is chronic today," said Ahmad Walid, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, in comments quoted by IRIN. SS