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FBIS3-40602_1 | Bhutto Warned Nuclear Roll-Back Would Cause Dismissal | opposition insists (actually accuses) that Madam Bhutto's earlier statement was not just a statement, but an admission. Still, this question is very important, and it requires an explanation: who committed the condemnable act of freezing the peaceful nuclear program, which symbolizes our nation's security and pride, at the July 1990 level? We do not have to elaborate on the fact that the United States of America and European nations openly provide technology, advice, equipment, and other things to nuclear programs all over the world, earning billions of dollars in doing so. The nuclear programs of Israel, India, Japan, Argentina, and South Africa come under this category. But they do not object to these programs. If there are any objections in this context, they are limited to opposition to the Islamic world, and Pakistan is a chosen target, because Iraq's military and nuclear capabilities were destroyed in the Gulf war. The U.S. opposition to Pakistan has reached the point where it does not give permission to Pakistani students in the United States to register for classes in nuclear technology and related subjects. Military and economic aid to Pakistan was stopped three years ago under the notorious Pressler Amendment. The F-16 planes, which were already paid for according to the agreement, were not supplied to us, and even some U.S. circles have admitted that Washington's unfair treatment of Pakistan has now reached extremes. Soon after Benazir Bhutto's statements in July 1990 about freezing the nuclear program, we received news from Washington which clearly and simply indicated that the Pressler Amendment will end now. Michael McCurry, a U.S. State Department spokesman, went as far as implying that aid to Pakistan would be reinstated. Benazir herself has said, "We cannot get rid of the Pressler Amendment without rolling back our program." Against this background, a worrisome question emerges. How can the Pressler Amendment, which was very effective until a few days ago, suddenly become useless? Why has the White House decided to take it back? What are the circumstances that have forced the United States, even after seeing the Kahuta plant in operation, to reinstate aid to Pakistan? In this context, the concern of our fellow citizens that there is something suspicious about the present nuclear policy is valid (to an extent). We believe that Madam Benazir Bhutto should complete her five-year term in the Prime Minister's house, because this is necessary to encourage |
FBIS3-40617_1 | Editorial: `Growing Problem' of Debt Servicing | According to reports Pakistan repaid $508 million in principle and interest on foreign debt only during the first three months of the current fiscal year. This indicates the growing problem of our debt servicing liability at a time when not only our exports have begun to stagnate but remittances from overseas Pakistanis -- once a major redeeming feature of our external budget -- are also shrinking substantially. Here is a problem which now requires special attention and careful handling. An update on the 1992-93 Economic Survey has recorded that debt service payments for that whole year totalled $1.645 billion of which $646 million were only interest payments. If total debt servicing liability is deducted from the year's disbursements in foreign assistance, that net external flow is around $800 million. Looked at from another angle, debt servicing was more than 24 percent of our export receipts, more than 15 percent of all foreign exchange earnings and more than three percent of our Gross National Product (GNP). Remittances, which in 1982-83 soared to more than $2.8 billion, have now slumped to about $1.5 billion. In case of major donors like the US, Japan, Germany and two international financial institutions -- the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank -- repayments pre-empt a big portion of new inflows. In case of the US, which has suspended new loans or concessional credits, we are perhaps exporting capital rather than importing it. Annual repayments to the US in 1992-93 were around $350 million -- much more than what is still flowing from the pipeline as economic assistance. If repayments on military purchases are added, the scenario becomes more worrisome. Pakistan has so far scrupulously avoided any default or sought any new debt relief or re-scheduling. But it is perhaps time to review the whole situation more comprehensively. It is unlikely that in the immediate future there will be any dramatic upturn in our exports. We seem to have good case for seeking rescheduling or debt relief of some kind to tide over the present situation. IMF assistance, now under negotiation, may not be adequate for a year or two. The forthcoming Donors meeting this spring may be the right forum to stimulate some dialogue on this issue. In the meantime, Pakistan should, in concert with other developing countries, press for a new North-South settlement on the debt problem for the third world as a whole. |
FBIS3-40626_5 | Dunkel's Acceptance Seen Impoverishing | years instead of for 10 years, then our government should kick that stubbornness away. Make these Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and Colgate people scram from here. The 900 million Indian people have tolerated a lot. The multi-national companies are showing up here to exploit India's cheap labor, ample energy sources, and abundant raw materials and efforts are being made to bind India into the GATT trap. The pitcher is fraught with the sins of conspiracies of foreigners, particularly Americans such as the trick of not organizing the G-7 nations meeting along with the G-15 nations meeting, Mallot, Clinton, and Robin Raphael's tactics over Kashmir, interference in the cryogenic engine deal, spewing poison over the humans rights issue, improper pressure to sign the "shylock-type" NPT, intrusion into the kitchens of the people to sell their products, and first offering the tent of economic incentives and then putting on a military umbrella to protect their interests. Vodka and wine from Russia is obtained and sold here, and the Russian companies are minting money by sending food and even pumpkins to Russia in exchange. Many foreign companies are processing mushrooms and making sea food for export. Pepsi has taken the lead in making profit by increasing the production of tomatoes. A company called Coopen Ritgeld is making agreements with farmers to grow cucumbers. The ITC has made an agreement with Geneva about developing seeds. It is the major export hordes, in whose laps these politicians born of the poor peoples' votes prosper, who are in a hurry to have the GATT agreement signed. Where can an average man stand in this equation of political leaders, stock brokers, black marketeers, corrupt officials, intellectuals who are the slaves of multi-national companies, the CIA, journalists, and experts? Unemployment and prices of necessary items, illiteracy, and poverty are on the rise, and the value of humans is decreasing. In this situation, stop and think about what GATT will give you! What will it take back in return? What is this open market? These are the efforts to steal our literature, tradition, sciences, herbs, living organisms, knowledge, and trying to loot us by making the patent laws. We have been using the neem tree for thousands of years before America was discovered. Now, in the name of patents and intellectual properties, the neem in our backyard will become a U.S. property. What worse form of slavery is there? |
FBIS3-40630_3 | Opening of Market to Multi-Nationals Feared | the westernized modern beliefs. The extraordinary era of creativity and thinking led by Dadabhai Nauroji, Tilak, Bipin Chander Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Arvind, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Ravinder Nath, Jai Shankar Prasad, Lohia, and Narender Dev is neglected now. The whole system got engrossed in the illusion of inhuman, barren, and parodoxical pandemonium of modernism. In Hindi literature, Bhartendu who had started the new literature and started the swadeshi movement, Mahavir Prasad Divavedi, Prem Chand, Ram Chander Shukla, Maithilisharan Gupta, Makhan Lal Chaturvedi, and Nirala who had followed him could not even imagine how the swadeshi movement would be destroyed on such a large scale under an organized plan after the independence. Our builders worked hard sacrificing their body, soul, and property for nationalism and worship to get rid of western slavery. They never once thought that their whole work could be ground to dust after independence. We remember a line from Jaya Shankar Prasad's KAMAYNI over this tragedy, "All the invaluable stars were decomposed in the dark gale." The situation is now that "this crazy society is running around in the dark." In our craziness, we had insulted Gandhi so much that he was ready to let a foreign company take over the job of making salt in Gujrat. The crocodiles of international economic organizations and multi-national companies have surrounded us to devour India's swadeshi movement. Our government, in the name of economic liberalization and foreign investments, is conspiring to invite those notorious foreign companies that have been causing havoc by exploiting poor nations. The mask from the face of a government that chants the mantra of progress through development plans with foreign loans and economic slavery is easily lifted; it cannot be self-dependent and proud. "My great India" is not eager to accept the slavery of economic imperialism and be their agent, but is mentally preparing itself. The conspiracy to expand the open plan of looting by inviting the multi-national companies is being hatched. The fact is that under the pressure of U.S. multi-national companies, natural seeds from all over the world are being researched and developed using biotechnology and "new artificial seeds" are being created and forced on all developing countries. U.S. companies have developed such seeds and they want markets for it. These markets are poor nations such as India where the swadeshi movement led by Nauroji, Tilak, and Gandhi has lost its direction. The United States imposes |
FBIS3-40645_5 | GATT Antithesis to National Interest Reiterated | get manufactured in foreign countries, will sell in India for the equivalent of their price. The removal of mandatory licensing and relaxing of import restrictions are going to result in drug manufacturers not worrying to sell for lesser price in India. Manufacturing patents will also restrict the methods of production, even if we should be able to produce drugs locally. Indian industry will suffer thus. Our health and welfare program will remain so only on paper. In the event of a ten-twenty fold increase in life-saving drugs, who will be able to procure medicines for supplying to government hospitals? Even as it is, we are unable to give free medicines in our public hospitals, and with these developments, it is going to become difficult to even run these hospitals. The effects of TRIPS won't stop with just seeds, or drugs. It will affect our whole scientific research and industry. Our space and atomic programs, as well as our laboratory experiments will be affected. The genetic, and biochemical research projects will suffer. India will fall back in scientific achievements. In the area of public service, foreign banks have already infiltrated to quite an extent. Most of our businessmen prefer to keep their wealth in foreign banks. If allowed to enter the life-insurance scene, these foreign financial institutions have the opportunity to walk away with huge amounts of money. Since there is no mandatory seniority requirements anymore, such an entry will affect our developmental programs. Our backward areas will suffer even more. By accepting intellectual property revisions, we will also have to overhaul our existing patent laws. This is an attack on constitutional sovereignty. The Constitution recognizes our right to make indigenous laws, but now we will have to adopt them to fit those laws made under GATT. What will happen then to our parliament and assemblies? The whole responsibility for agriculture, and pharmaceuticals rest with state governments in our country. But the right to revise many of their laws has now been given to GATT. This is an impingement of the basic rights of Indian citizens to food, livelihood, health, autonomy, and democracy. Signing this agreement amounts to ignoring the treaty-precedents of our country, which is the backbone of our Constitution. This international agreement has far reaching implications, and the effects are not yet completely known. It will impact such rudimentary things as our culture, consumption, and habits. It will affect |
FBIS3-40646_1 | Indigenous Laws Suggested for Safeguarding Rights | of the total in developing countries. In these countries, farmers play an important role in conserving local plant genetic resources and restrictions on free access to these will reduce global biological diversity. Farmers are informal plant breeders and patents on plants are likely to restrict access to a common pool of plant genetic resources, essential to plant breeding. Western experts, barring those employed by biotechnology and seed companies, take a cautious view of the consequences of the extension of intellectual property protection to plant genetic resources for farmers as producers and conservers of biodiversity. They have been pointing out the irony of developing countries being confronted with a system which maintains open access over their genetic resources while establishing private property rights for improved products based on those resources. They wonder whether developing countries could use the patent system to protect their "unimproved" genetic resources and use them as a tool in biodiversity conservation. In the furious debate over GATT in India, perhaps no one suggested that the government could at least do what the state of Queensland in Australia has done. It has passed its own legislation giving it intellectual property rights over genetic information embodied in the animals and plants found in the state. India and other developing countries could use the argument that if genes, gene constructs and genetic characteristics can be patented in industrialised countries, developing countries could also patent their own genetic resources. Of course, there are potential problems, claiming patent rights over genes or genetic characteristics which occur in the wild or in farmers' varieties would give rise to the problem of ownership and if that was vested in the sovereign state, competing claims might be made by other states. The wild plant varieties as well as `landraces' and other farmers' varieties also will not meet the criteria that varieties must be distinct, uniform and stable for protection under plant breeders' rights. But then the system could be adapted. And despite such problems, it is not a developing country but the state of Queensland that has taken as initiative.[Sentence as printed] A study by the Overseas Development Institute points out that pressures towards the wider granting of intellectual property rights over genetic material originate within industrialised countries and the benefits will accrue primarily to companies located there. The erosion of biodiversity in developing countries will continue as commercial agriculture expands into these areas. The |
FBIS3-40651_7 | Uruguay Round Issues Relevant to India Discussed | entirety has informed policy changes by other developing countries. One by one, countries earlier opposed to a product patent regime have already made changes. Mexico, Brazil and China have all embraced product patents and longer protection regimes. Their perspective has been one of signalling to foreign investment. Patenting of micro-organisms Also in the tentative TRIPS agreement is the proposal to patent micro-organisms which, if implemented, could have far reaching effects in the future. The Director-General of GATT, Mr. Peter Sutherland, has often said that under the Dunkel Draft the discovery of a micro-organism cannot be patented but only an invention. This is an extreme simplification of the TRIPS proposal. In the GATT proposal, tabled by the U.S., a mere discovery of a naturally occurring gene sequence cannot be patented. But if it is purified and multiplied and is of possible commercial value then a patent can be taken out on the micro-organism, even if there is no alteration of the gene sequence. The defining difference is the order of human intervention. If it is high--irrespective of whether or not the result is man-made cloning as in biotechnological research--then the micro-organism can be patented. This particular TRIPS proposal, which is being opposed by India, could mean that a company from one country that finds use for a micro-organism naturally occurring in another can, after suitable human intervention, obtain a patent. This could impinge on customary uses of the micro-organism in the home country. The ambiguity in TRIPS is how to decide what is a high order of intervention and what is novel about the invention. The latter, sui generis protection, that is on the cards is the subject of controversy. There are four broad issues raised by farmers' organisations and the Gene Campaign. First, the traditional practice of farmers retaining a part of their produce for seed will no longer be possible nor will they be able to exchange seeds among themselves or modify them for use. Second, domestic research will be affected. Third, there will be an increase in seed prices. Fourth, multinational companies will take over the Indian seed market. All these issues are linked to the provisions of plant breeders' rights (PBRs) contained in one kind of sui generis form of protection that is prevalent in western Europe and the U.S. and which could be the model for legislation in all countries. This is the Union Pour le |
FBIS3-40654_1 | Commerce Parliamentary Committee Recommends GATT | sovereign economic space of developing countries was safeguarded by making common cause with other developing countries. The committee is of the view that with ratification of the present round of GATT negotiations, the option now available with the US to clamp Super 301 of their trade laws unilaterally against any country should also cease to operate. However, it urged Indian negotiators to obtain specific clarifications to that effect. Referring to individual issues that have a bearing on the country's economic well-being, the committee said a witness deposing before it stated he did not think that Indian agriculture would gain the export market due to reduction in subsidies made by the developed countries. This is because the liberalisation in agriculture would be limited and the international support levels for their agricultural products would be reduced by 20 per cent only. Besides, the witness argued the Dunkel text provided for very strict phytosanitary standards to be observed for agricultural exports. India and other developing countries would hardly be able to meet these standards, resulting in rejection of their exports. The committee said the Dunkel proposals would discriminate against Indian agriculture as the subsidies have to be limited to an upper bound of ten per cent of the value of the output for developing countries. This might have grave implications for the poor resource farmers because with increasing cost of energy and other inputs the sectorwise subsidy might exceed this limit. The committee opined that contrary to the avowed object of including agriculture in GATT, the result of complying with the Dunkel draft proposal could enable the developed countries to capture the food markets to developing countries and also to control the gene sequences, microbiological resources and genetic engineering. It was of the view if the Dunkel draft was accepted at its face value, the public distribution system could come under severe strain and jeopardy and as such a clear understanding must be obtained from the GATT secretariat that the country's PDS [Production Distribution Sector] would not be hit in any way -- presently or in future. Taking exception to an informal understanding that the traditional rights and practices of Indian farmers for preservation, sale and free exchange of seeds must remain unaffected, the committee said this might not serve the purpose in days to come and said these safeguards must find `specific mention' in the GATT. Referring to trade-related intellectual property rights |
FBIS3-40673_3 | Former Foreign Secretary Says Government Confused | runs on the following lines. "We have been given a transitional period of 5 to 10 years. We can maintain our present regime for the time being. No changes need be made in our present policies." This is good as far as it goes. But should we not pay greater attention to the new international regimes that have been established or would emerge and see how we are going to fare under them rather than harping on the temporary relief or reprieve that we have been given? The most dismal part of the score card is TRIPS. Here we have gained nothing and lost everything that we could have. In 5-10 years time, India will no longer be able to manufacture life-saving drugs based on process-patent. All these drugs will have to be imported. Statistical figures relating to some 30 drugs in the category show that today the United States prices are 2.63 times to 71.29 times costlier than those prevailing in India and the U.K. prices are 2.45 times to 47.88 times costlier. On what basis can then the Government say that the price increase will be only by 20 to 60 per cent. Apparently, they are quoting the average figure, taking into account all drugs--life-saving or otherwise, and patented as well as unpatented. The measures the Government is talking about for keeping the prices at a reasonable level are in the nature of bravado. The Drug Control Rules will not help because there is no way the importers can be forced to sell the drugs they import at a price 5-10 times lower than what they paid. Of course, the Government can subsidise; but this will be at the cost of the exchequer. The Government will also find itself helpless in getting the drugs manufactured in the country because, according to the Dunkel Text on TRIPS, for the application of the patent "importation" is as good as "local production." Moreover, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the Government to ensure the working of the patent. There is no provision in the Dunkel Text on "compulsory licensing" of the kind provided in the Indian Patent Act of 1970. The provision for "other use without the authorisation of the right holder" contains so many safeguards--such as offer of "reasonable terms and conditions," payment of "adequate remuneration," and all these--that it will be well nigh impossible to oblige |
FBIS3-40678_6 | Far-Reaching Implications of GATT Viewed | propagating material." There are three exceptions to the breeder's Rights: (a) acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes; (b) acts done for experimental purposes; and (c) acts done for the purpose of breeding other varieties. The effect of these provisions in conjunction with Dunkel Proposals could be stated in the following way. For example, if a farmer gets a seed in the initial stages, he cannot legally sell that produce to a co-farmer. Therefore, every year each farmer will have to buy seeds. In order to overcome these difficulties in any system of protection following features should be incorporated: (a) free flow of genetic resources between public and private sectors; (b) compulsory release and certification of varieties even for public agencies to check spread of unadapted varieties; (c) companies to compensate the public sector for the use of genetic stock cultivated by them; and (d) the farmer's rights and breeder's rights not to be changed in any way. The apprehensions as regards the operative styles of multinational seed companies in India should also be addressed and proper legal mechanism should be formulated to check their uncontrolled growth. It is necessary in the interest of hundreds of indigenously managed seed companies whose priority is to supply uncontaminated and viable seeds. The system envisaged by the Dunkel proposal will inevitably force most of these companies to close down or be bought over by the big companies. The role of these small comapnies in collaboration with growing co-operative sector in the arena of farming and effective distribution of seeds should 'be considered in greater detail'. In the area of gene sequences, Ministry of Commerce has stated that it would not allow the patenting of "naturally occurring genes." On the other hand, genetic material which has been evolved by human intervention would be allowed to get the protection of patents. However, the Ministry should construe strictly the operational part of this mechanism while differentiating naturally occurring genes from artificial year. A condition should be strictly imposed by calling for payment in commercial terms for the uses of genetic resources extracted from the Indian territory. These resources constitute the source material for the development of biotechnology and other related fields. In conclusion, it should be stated that with the completion of these negotiations the global trade will enter into a new phase which may not be in the interest of developing countries. Multilateralism, for majority |
FBIS3-40686_4 | Reaction to GATT Agreement Seen Negative | the question of whether or not we should have signed it is hypothetical. We never tried to find an alternative. We could have stood firm on the question of intellectual property rights and could have got the support of countries like Argentina and Brazil. They cannot impose a so-called uniform multilateral trading order, when the global world order is not uniform." There is widespread concern about GATT's adverse impact on different sectors of the economy--agriculture, textiles, services, and a large, uncharted area where intellectual property rights will unfairly restrict growth--but most persons admit to not being clear about the exact ramifications of the various clauses in the text. Most of the scientists whom FRONTLINE spoke to, for example, while careful not to overreact on an issue which they all claimed they did not know enough about, expressed their reservations about the scope of the agreement, particularly its implications for the future of Indian science and technology. D. Balasubramaniam, Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, drew attention to the lack of "public documentation" and the Government's failure to ascertain public opinion on such an important issue. But his main concern is about India's self-reliance in the field of science and technology. "Are we closing our gates to ourselves?" This is really what is worrying me. Any nation for its well-being must be self-reliant. This doesn't mean that it must be self-sufficient in everything, although self-sufficiency is a good goal for important areas, like food. People seem to forget that technology moves fast, it leaps across boundaries. To restrict technological growth is to impose an economic burden on an otherwise radiating field. We in India are concerned about health care, the use of genes, particularly gene therapy. Patents can restrict our access to technology. Any nation's long term goal in scientific research is that it will lead to a greater amount of awareness and prosperity. In an economic crisis, 'luxuries' such as science, education and health are hit first. Under GATT it may become easier and/or more cost effective to import products from outside. But this will certainly lead to the scientific and technological aspects of Indian economic development taking a back seat." The problem is not merely the use of patents as an instrument of unfair leverage. The prohibitive costs of international patents will also deter even those individuals/research establishments that may wish to get into the |
FBIS3-40686_7 | Reaction to GATT Agreement Seen Negative | the Government must consider what safeguards it can give local producers. We have both manpower and technical capabilities." It is in the area of health that the new intellectual property regime will perhaps make the most palpable impact. Drug prices are predicted to rise steeply. "Yesterday was the saddest day in my life," Dr. Y.K. Hameid, managing director of Cipla, an Indian owned pharmaceutical company, told FRONTLINE. "By accepting the TRIPS part of the Dunkel Draft, we have compromised on two crucial areas of the country's well-being--food and health. What we have done is to put ourselves at the mercy of multinationals. The impact on drug prices will be felt in the next five to 10 years. Ultimately our companies will be forced to sell out." Cipla is the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in India, with an expected turnover of Rs. 250 crore in 1994. It exports bulk drugs and formulations to Europe, America and other countries. "Articles 27 and 28 of the Dunkel Text will allow the patent holder both to produce and import. MNCs prefer to import rather than produce locally, and they do not allow their local units to export to overseas markets. What guarantees have we obtained against such practices?" asks B.K. Chandrashekhar, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and co-editor of the book, The Dunkel Draft: Design for Disaster (Navakarnataka Publications, Bangalore). The contradictory statements made by the Government and its attempt to obfuscate an already confusing document, which, as Balasubrananiam says, "binds our national endeavours not in terms of global trade but in terms of global restrictions," has been criticised sharply. Chandrashekhar says: "First Pranab Mukherjee says farmers' interests will be protected. The next minute he says farmers must pay a one-time royalty for seeds. It is not clear whether exchange of seeds will be a part of the sui generis form of protection for seeds as required by GATT. And what are the actual provisions in the sui generis system that will be offered as an alternative to patents?" But, despite the pessimism the GATT agreement has generated, there is the stated confidence that a nation of India's size and capabilities cannot be browbeaten. As one commentator observed, "After all, the GATT agreement is not the Indian Constitution, and if its implementability becomes a serious problem, there will be a demand for changes in the agreement by political and economic forces in the |
FBIS3-40690_2 | GATT Seen Opening Markets for Developing Countries | the GDP. However, an increase in the volume of trade by $200 million annually does not mean much unless it goes towards improving India's trade balance. So when Mr Pranab Mukherjee assures a baying Opposition that India's share of the increased action would be in the region of $200 million, nothing is actually being said. There is no attempt to explain how India expects to climb out of its consistent trade deficit. Since 1950, the country has had trade surpluses in only two years. And trade models have very little to offer by way of optimism for Indian exports. The GATT edifice is built around Ricardian comparative advantage. The "I make gin you make rum and we trade" principle. Comparative advantage would imply that India exports labour intensive goods and services to buy capital intensive imports. But while India has an overabundant labour supply there is very little evidence that it is cheap. Low productivity, a narrow skill base and government induced wage distortions makes Indian labour a costly proposition. Since capital too is scarce, the Indian trade experience falls into that arcane extreme of theory--that of absolute advantage. India has an absolute disadvantage in labour, as well as capital intensive exports. Forty years of trade deficits bear this out. With absolute disadvantage, a country has little reason to trade. But this is without taking technology into consideration. As a theory, factor intensive comparative advantage is constrained by a set of extremely restrictive assumptions. Benefit to trading partners accrues if technologies are assumed identical and static, there are no economies of scale and products and factors are undifferentiated. The real world is not so rarefied. Expansions of Exxon and Mitsubishi contradict the economies of scale assumption. And growth rates of the Asian tigers shows how futile it would be to ignore technology in a trade model. Efforts have been made to incorporate technological dynamics into trade theory. The techno-economic models are based on the mushrooming of sunrise industries in the Pacific Rim. But Nehruvian isolation kept India blissfully unaware of last decade's information revolution. The share of new technology imports in India's total import bill is now around 64 per cent. This ratio is increasing. Only 19 per cent of Indian exports are in these areas, that too in the lower market segments such as software programming and computer peripherals. With economic restructuring exports may have picked up, but India |
FBIS3-40691_0 | Benefits in International Trade Foreseen From GATT | Language: English Article Type:CSO [Article by Anjan Roy: "Little Brother Does Get a Share"] [Text] The ruckus in Parliament this week over India acceding to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) treaty (the Dunkel final draft) can be understood only in terms of political parties adopting positions of tactical advantage. They could not have meant it, after all. For, it is difficult to believe that those who are aware of the mores of international trade could seriously oppose the decision. India accounts for less than 0.6 per cent of current international trade, whereas the European Community and the US share 40 per cent of world trade. Had India abstained, it would have made little difference to the proceedings, except that the marginal gains it has made would not have been available either. In fact, staying out of the GATT negotiations would have created many other problems for India. For example, it would have meant India's withdrawal from the economic mainstream of today's world which was not feasible as it does not have the capacity to withstand such isolation. Thus, joining the negotiations and trying to wrest the maximum advantage out of it was the most sensible step on India's part. The biggest advantage of acceding to the GATT treaty is that a multilateral trading organisation (MTO) has at last been formed to conduct international trade. In the absence of such a framework, trade would have to be conducted bilaterally between two countries in which the junle [as printed] law of "might is right" would inevitably prevail. Trade can now be conducted on the basis of well-defined rules which have to be followed by both strong and weak trading partners. A rule-based system is by and large predictable and this should stabilise international trading. So far, so good. However, while arriving at these broad parameters, certain interests have been sacrificed which many believe smacks of colonialism. The two biggest economic powers in the world, the US and the EC, have virtually dictated terms. The weakest economic entities, namely the developing world, have had to concede the most. This was painfully apparent in the penultimate stages of the Uruguay Round of negotiations. Till the very last moment, the fate of the talks was uncertain because the US and the EC could not agree on some point. But once the two Big Brothers hammered out a solution, the agreement was pronounced |
FBIS3-40703_1 | Minister Sets Conditions for GATT Acceptance | effect of the UAE's entry into GATT on UAE ready-made clothing exports to the United States would not be quickly felt, because the transition to implementation of the agreement regarding clothes and textiles will last 10 years. He said that the export of ready-made, UAE-made clothes to the United States will be governed by a bilateral agreement between the two countries. He added that it was decided to extend this agreement for two years as of 1 January 1994 following negotiations between the Economy and Trade Ministry and the U.S. trade office. The UAE Cabinet has approved a memorandum of understanding stipulating an extension of the agreement with the United States. This approval was conveyed to the U.S. Ambassador in Abu Dhabi early this week. Ghabbash told AL-HAYAH that he expects a memorandum of understanding exchange between the ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi next week. He said that the agreement will regulate new quotas of ready-made clothing exports to the United States, and that it includes joint measures to stop producers outside of the UAE from circumventing the provisions of the agreement. Ghabbash stressed that the Economy and Trade Ministry will cooperate with the Finance and Industry Ministry and pertinent UAE customs authorities to establish regulations that provide for effective supervision, ensure compliance by economic units in the UAE with decrees concerning the export of ready-made clothes, and eliminate the circumvention practiced by exporters to the United States. An U.S. delegation recently visited ready-made clothing factories in the UAE with a view toward ascertaining their capabilities and production capacities and stopping violations regarding the export of their products to the United States. Ghabbash said that the UAE will demonstrate greater concern with stopping erroneous practices on the part of foreign exporters of ready-made clothes through the UAE. He added that the ministry held a course last October on "Controlling Export Operations" for representatives of the Economy and Trade Ministry, Finance and Industry Ministry, and other pertinent agencies in the UAE. Economic circles indicate that, as of June 1993, the spun thread, textiles, and clothing sector had the fourth-largest number of factories registered in the UAE (116 factories or 12.8 percent of the total number of factories in the UAE). In addition, factories have been built in the Jabal 'Ali free zone to enjoy the advantages which this zone offers to exporters. The Finance and Industry Ministry recently |
FBIS3-40705_17 | Reasons for Constitutional Amendments Discussed | This article should be rephrased so that it will make it clearly understood that no penal law may be issued with a retroactive effect. - Article 32. It is required to amend this article so as to eliminate the contradiction in some of its paragraphs, to achieve a clearer and more realistic definition of the authorities concerned, to underline the public prosecution's authority to keep somebody detained for a maximum period of seven days, and to make the law spell out the maximum duration of precautionary detention. - Article 33. It is required that this article be amended so that any ambiguity regarding its intent will be eliminated. Amendment should be done by rephrasing the article to make it clear that its intent is to ensure that the execution of penalties is carried out with proper means and that no laws to the contrary may be passed. - Article 37. It is required to amend this article by adding to it a provision stating that education shall be compulsory in the basic phase and that the state shall exert efforts to eliminate illiteracy and to expand technical and vocational education. In a related area, some provisions must be added to some articles of this section of the constitution in order to fill the gap it contains and to underline a number of the citizen's fundamental rights that haven't been stipulated by this constitution and that are no less important than the right to education, which is stipulated by the constitution. These rights must be stipulated by amendments that add to this Section 4 articles that cover the following: - an article that ensures the right to defense directly or indirectly throughout the phases of interrogation and litigation before all courts and that makes certain that the state provides legal aid to those who are financially incapable; - an article on the right of all citizens to health care--an article that calls for a law to regulate the medical profession, for expanding free medical services, and for spreading health awareness; - an article to ensure that the government provides the citizens with social guarantees in cases of sickness, disability, unemployment, and old age, as well as guarantees for martyrs' families; - an article on the citizens' right to vote, to run for election, and to express their opinion in referendums. The law should regulate the rules governing the exercise of this |
FBIS3-40706_1 | Causes of Poor Economic Growth Examined | GDP was 11 percent, but in 1990 it went down to 10 percent. The contribution of the manufacturing sector to the GDP is 20 percent in India, 24 percent in Thailand, and 16 percent in Pakistan. In Bangladesh it is only 9 percent. Apart from the poor industrial growth, losses in the industrial sector have become routine. In 1992, industrial units in the nationalized sector incurred losses amounting to 20 billion taka. The losses suffered by the industrial sector are partly responsible for the slow growth in direct foreign investment. This discourages foreign investors and impedes development. We are not only unable to attract overseas investors, but have also failed to protect the interests of foreign companies already operating in the country. Several foreign companies including Philips, Glaxo, Bangladesh Tobacco Company, ICI, and Dhaka Match Company have already concluded their business and left the country. Business circles have expressed dissatisfaction over the privatization move initiated by the government. They say that since the time of the Ershad government, it has been said that the Telephone and Telegraph Board will be converted into a holding company. So far the government has failed to do so due to threats by the workers' union. During the past three years, the government has failed to privatize even one large industrial unit from the nationalized sector. About a year ago, the state minister for textiles, Abdul Mannan, announced that 60 to 70 billion taka would be spent to set up about 1,000 industrial units in the textile sector. Nothing has been done so far. It has been learned that the government has not yet approved the proposal by the minister for the development of the textile sector. The government says that foreign investors are discouraged by the frequent strike calls. Foreigners believe that the deteriorating law and order situation and a weak administration are particularly responsible for scaring investors away. A similar sentiment was also expressed by Mr. Milam, the former U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh. In this regard, several foreign missions in Dhaka have cited the recent murder of an eminent industrialist named Humayun Zahir. Campus violence and killing has become routine. The labor union leaders do not hesitate to hold the mill managers hostage to press their demands. These factors not only deter foreign investors from coming, but also discourage local entrepreneurs. Due to this, there has been no development in the microeconomic sectors. |
FBIS3-40708_2 | Correspondent Reports U.S. Arms for Pakistan | last summer. But they are unwilling to comment on the exact value of that transfer. The Clinton Administration's plans to provide arms to Pakistan through the U.N. peace-keeping route has angered the U.S. Congressional leadership. In a letter sent last week to the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Warren Christopher, a group of Senate Republicans, led by minority leader Bob Dole and Jesse Helms, have criticised the Administration's proposal to provide military assistance to the U.N. forces in Somalia. The Senators said they were "deeply troubled" by the Administration's plans to transfer weapons to the Pakistani contingent in Somalia. The Republican Senators said such a transfer would circumvent the 1985 Pressler Amendment, which bars economic and military assistance to Pakistan because of its nuclear weapon programme. But the Administration insists that such arms transfers to Pakistan do not violate the Pressler law. Since early 1992, when it presented a new interpretation of the Pressler Amendment, the State Department has been arguing that only direct government-to-government military sales are prescribed by the Pressler law. They have suggested, in a clever but tortuous legal argument, that commercial sales of military equipment to Pakistan do not come under the ambit of the Pressler Amendment. The Congress in general and Senator Larry Pressler, in particular, have objected to this interpretation of the non-proliferation law; but the Administration has stuck to its guns. Liberating itself from the constraints of American non-proliferation law, the U.S. Government has resumed the sale of military spare parts and other equipment to Pakistan since 1992. But the administration told the Congress, notwithstanding its new interpretation of the Pressler Amendment, that it will be cautious in considering arms transfers to Pakistan. The U.S. Government says all such transfers will be on a case-by-case basis, and Washington will not let Pakistan enhance its military capabilities either through upgradation of the military equipment or an increase in its numbers. However, the Administration has often said that it will not allow a deterioration in Pakistan's military capabilities. The military significance of the proposed American arms transfers to Pakistan is clearly limited. The political message emanating from Washington may be more important. That Washington is prepared to find any means--including the United Nations peace-keeping operations--to launder military equipment to Pakistan, signals a new political resolve in the Clinton Administration to revive the strategic relationship with Islamabad and reinvigorate its ties with the military in Pakistan. |
FBIS3-40736_13 | Economic Council Member Criticizes 'Arafat | give us written approval because he is a "democratic man who deals through the institutions and has to present the formula to the Executive Committee." He added that they had created a Higher Palestinian National Committee--of whose members only the chairman has been appointed to date--and that the formula had to be presented to this committee before it is given written approval. I told the World Bank that we had not yet obtained written approval but that there was oral approval. World Bank officials literally told us that they wished to see such a formula but they did not demand it explicitly so they would not look like teachers and we like students. Our formula was identical to their vision. The aid-granting countries and the World Bank approved it unanimously. Moreover, the working team concerned with the region's affairs at the State Department, headed by Ross Kurtzer and including others, invited me for a discussion on the development program and our vision of how to implement it. The U.S. Treasury Department, represented by Under Secretary Summers, and Mrs. Spero, under secretary for economic affairs at the U.S. State Department, also met with me and supported my program. The 40 aid-granting countries also supported it fully on 27 September. [AL-SAFIR] Did they support the mechanism? [Sayigh] They supported the mechanism, the concept, and the projects. [AL-SAFIR] You proposed this formula on the basis of an economic logic. But Washington has its political reasons also. If the PLO's political authority in Gaza-Jericho is limited; if its security authority is inadequate; and if the political authority is stripped away from it; then the PLO will be left practically naked. Is this not Washington's political goal? [Sayigh] We did not forget the political aspect. This is why we proposed creation of the higher council under Abu-'Ammar's chairmanship. [AL-SAFIR] The West and the aid-granting countries propose the formation of an independent commission which would have political independence. [Sayigh] Yes, this is what they want. I explained our proposal to them and told them that it has to be approved by the Executive Committee and other institutions. [AL-SAFIR] Where the Gaza-Jericho accord is concerned, perhaps this point has the greatest degree of overlap between economics and politics? [Sayigh] We, too, realize that people have to see economic benefits in the accord. Otherwise they will rebel against it. I am not opposed to the presence of economic |
FBIS3-40743_0 | Oran: Twelve Reported Dead in Landslide | Language: French Article Type:CSO [Article by Razik Remila: "Tragedy in Oran Substandard Housing: 12 Dead, 46 Injured"--first paragraph is LIBERTE introduction] [Text] During the night of Saturday (around 2230), the people of the old district of El-Bahia awoke to the height of tragedy. According to sources very close to the Oran governorate, 12 dead were reported yesterday around 1800, while the injured numbered 46, including four in critical condition who were taken to the Oran University Hospital Center where special medical teams were formed. On the other hand, yesterday at 1327, press agencies reported 15 dead and 62 injured. In addition, civilian rescue services estimated at 130 the number of housing units that were completely destroyed, and close to 400 buildings in the area are in danger of collapsing. For its part, the crisis center set up at the Oran DEC [expansion not given] indicated that two people who were buried under the rubble were found alive and rescued yesterday, early in the afternoon. Following the landslide, the Ras El-Ain region was declared a disaster area and a civil emergency plan was therefore decreed. The buildings destroyed did not withstand the landslide because they were built on a hillock: "It is a difficult clay soil that can be cleared only with shovels and cranes for fear of touching neighboring buildings." Another information from local officials indicated that "all the buildings involved were illegal constructions." Add to this the very violent wind that blew in the area and contributed to the collapse of some buildings. Since Saturday evening, two crisis centers have been set up, and two land sites have been cleared to relocate disaster-stricken families, who were also provided with tents and food. Soon afterward, we learned that yesterday morning the Orolait Company distributed 1,500 liters of milk and 1,050 rations of pasta with cheese to the victims of the disaster. In closing, we would like to mention that, in the middle of the night, the Oran governor visited the site of the disaster where rescue operations were still in progress. |
FBIS3-40750_2 | Government Said Unable to Fight Off Foreign Economic Domination | new GATT regime will have on India's pharmaceutical industry. Already Zeneca, a drugs MNC, is talking of the money it would recover from Third World "imitators." When France threatened to block the Dunkel proposals on farming the US made concessions and the European Community loosened the purse strings to give more subsidy to French farmers. When Portugal said that it [would] walk out rather than endanger its uncompetitive textiles industry, the EC allayed Portugese opposition by guaranteeing $455 million as compensation for five years. The Indian defenders of Dunkel have not said how the Geneva meeting has met India's grievances concerning farm produce, compulsory food import, patenting of seeds, cut in fertiliser and electricity subsidies and the continuance of non-tariff protectionist measures affecting low-cost, labour-intensive commodities export. While non-tariff measures will continue to deter India's export of textiles and stitched garments, European manufacturers of better quality clothes will benefit because the raw material prices will decline and the Europeans will gain access to the US market. If the protectionist wall favouring Europe's chemicals MNCs like BASF AG, ICI of the UK, and DSM NV of the Netherlands is lowered, these large firms might be persuaded to relocate their production units to low-income countries where anti-pollution laws are lax, wages low and the governments are bending over backwards to please the large foreign companies. A similar propulsion for relocation of manufacturing business of labour-intensive industrial products may be generated in other areas also. Illustratively, textiles unit may move out of Europe to seek relocation in Afro-Asia. Some "dirty" industries currently under pressure of Europe's anti-pollution laws would probably seek new homes in Third World countries. In a world without the cold war and the developing countries, including the newly industrialised nations, in no position to put up a common front against a global trade regime tooled largely to favour the OECD countries of the northern hemisphere, India alone cannot tilt against the windmills. But what is expected of the government of the day is not adventurism but frankness--the gumption to tell our people that these are the areas where GATT is going to be inequitous to the less developed countries, especially India. If the Indians have decided that discretion is the better part of valour, the French suffer from no such demoralisation. Without the Soviets' shadows over West Europe, the Europeans are able to stand up to the US to say |
FBIS3-40760_4 | Official Interviewed on Petroleum Minister's Tour | setting of a date or the timing of an announcement to cut output to the relevant parties. They will engineer the timing, declaration, effective date, and implementation of this policy. ['Abd-al-Ghani] Were the GCC countries led to support the Omani initiative by the economic difficulties and hardships they are experiencing because of the drop in oil prices? [Sha'ban] Without labelling, the GCC countries no doubt rely greatly on oil revenues, as do all producer countries, especially the developing countries among them. All of them share an interest in improving oil prices, because oil revenues finance their development plans. All of the GCC countries rely on oil revenues to finance all of their development programs and to meet their financial obligations. The drop in prices is having an adverse effect on these countries' economies. The GCC countries are not the only ones suffering from this problem and these hardships. But some of the GCC countries are perhaps more able and prepared than other oil producing countries inside and outside OPEC to endure and cope with this oil crisis, regardless of its intensity. ['Abd-al-Ghani] Will there be a meeting of the oil ministers or deputy oil ministers of the GCC countries after Minister al-Shanfari's current tour? [Sha'ban] I can say that there will be a meeting. I do not know at what level it will be. However, coordination and contacts among the GCC countries are certainly ongoing. And the GCC countries will be evaluating the results of the tour and the OPEC countries' position. ['Abd-al-Ghani] There have been recurring reports that Oman may call for meetings between OPEC producers and non-OPEC producers in the IPEC [Independent Petroleum Exporting Countries] group to study the position of the oil market after Minister al-Shanfari's tour. Are these reports correct? [Sha'ban] I cannot rule out such a possibility, but I cannot confirm it. It will depend greatly on the results of the tour. Thus, this subject could be studied by Oman together with its brothers in the GCC. ['Abd-al-Ghani] When do you expect the initiative to bear results and oil prices to improve? [Sha'ban] That depends on the producer countries' willingness to lower prices [as published]. No one can predict precisely when prices will improve, because a multiplicity of intermeshed factors underlies the current oil situation. Consequently, an improvement in prices depends on the elimination of all of these causes, or at least some of them. |
FBIS3-40761_8 | Minister Discusses Communication Expansion Plans | about which I have talked are made available. Overlapping of Lines [al-Qadi] Some people complain of the overlapping and jamming of lines when calls are made. What is Your Excellency's opinion? [Kayyal] The ministry is aware of this problem, and it is exerting maximum efforts and using all the resources it can to eliminate or reduce this problem. It hopes that the problem will disappear completely when the modernization and expansion programs to which I have referred previously are completed. This problem is due to some outdated equipment in the communication network. This equipment has reached the end of its operational lifespan; part of it has been in operation for more than 20 years and needs to be replaced. The problem is also due to the extreme pressure experienced by the network as a result of the ever-growing use of this network. Complaints [al-Qadi] How does Your Excellency view the complaints published in the press about communication services? [Kayyal] I see them as a healthy phenomenon, even though some people exaggerate the matter and some superficialize it. One finds people who say that the service standard has deteriorated to a level that makes it impossible for one to make any call. Is this true? One finds others who say that all that is needed to solve the problem is to get a small part from some country and all that it takes to get this part is the signature of an individual who does not report to his work. This is a form of superficiality that is devoid of the simplest rules of logic. We at the Ministry of Posts, Telephones, and Telegraph do not deny that there are some negatives. But these negatives amount to nothing when compared with the positives. If it were not for the positives in work, any work, nobody would mention the negatives. Anyway, it is a human tendency to talk about the negatives. Those who do are the ones who get criticized. Those who do not do are mentioned by nobody. [al-Qadi] There are some base-minded people who eavesdrop on mobile [car] telephone conversations. What has the ministry done about this phenomenon and about protecting conversations? [Kayyal] The current mobile [car] telephone system will be scrambled in the near future, and then the base-minded will not be able to engage in their disgraceful curiosity. Moreover, the expanded mobile telephone system will be totally scrambled. |
FBIS3-40763_2 | Al-Zandani's Past, Future Relationships Analyzed | Council appointment, which received support in advance from all parties, came as a sign of the extent to which positions in Yemen have changed. Yesterday's enemies are today's allies. The many lines of contact among the three main political parties prevent any analyst from drawing easy inferences, however logical they may seem. However, al-Zandani's election will not be the end of the road for the main leader of Yemen's Islamic movement, who began his political life with "the free Yemenis" (Ahrar al-Yaman) in Cairo. The project of an Islamic state is the movement's goal, although it does not say so explicitly, contenting itself with allusive language about an "Islamic society" and an "Islamic constitution." One recalls that Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, chose the land of Yemen as a model land for his dream. He might have succeeded in the matter, had it not been for the English presence and the Arab League. Yemen's Islamic movement has learned much from its accumulated experiences, which began with the 1948 revolution, when a Hashimite nominee for the imamate, 'Abdallah ibn al-Wazir, attempted to take over the government by force and implement a reform program with the assistance of the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter had no Yemeni organizations at the time, but were represented by an Algerian adventurer named al-Fadil al-Wartani. The movement failed, having established in Yemen a bad precedent of change by violence and bloodshed. The present-day movement traces its ancestry to the former in some of its reform ideas and is linked to it by the historic figure of "Abu al-Ahrar" (Judge Muhammad al-Zubayri). However, it became separated from it in name after the inheritance of their grandfather's movement was left to the al-Wazir family. The new movement, which will soon be able to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of its founding, was characterized by its having been started by Yemeni youths who formed the first nucleus of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, they never surfaced publicly with their organization, but preferred to take cover in the shadow of powerful figures, foremost among them Judge al-Zubayri. These young people were active in Yemeni expatriate communities in the fifties, especially in Egypt, where they became disciples of the Muslim Brotherhood's first generation and carried their ideas to imamist Sanaa with returning students. Shaykh 'Abd-al-Majid ibn 'Aziz al-Zandani was one of the latter. He taught pharmacy in the fifties in Cairo |
FBIS3-40763_9 | Al-Zandani's Past, Future Relationships Analyzed | from the leadership (Yasin 'Abd-al-'Aziz took his place) and returned to working behind the scenes--this time in the Ba'dan area where he had grown up. A second, peaceful coup then took place. Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi, who took power, extended the hand of peace to the Islamic movement and allowed the establishment of an office of direction and guidance, headed by al-Zandani. During the period of bloody coups, with the murder of al-Hamdi and of (al-Ghashmi) and the coming to power of President 'Ali 'Abdallah Salih, the situation in the north was unfavorable, especially with the increasing influence of the National Front, a leftist opposition movement armed by "comrades" in the south. The front almost created a state for itself inside Yemen in the Khubban region, which it made its base and whence it began expanding, with Sanaa, naturally, as its goal. The undeclared Yemeni civil war began in the late seventies. President 'Ali 'Abdallah Salih untied the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood in the confrontation. They declared a jihad and embarked on a real war against the communists. Yemenis still have a legacy of heroic songs and stories they tell about the battles. The reward consisted of 370 Brotherhood-run institutions throughout Yemen with an independent budget and permission for Muslim Brothers to infiltrate education, the army, and the police. They participated strongly in drafting the national covenant, an Islamic constitution that was never implemented. After these gains, al-Zandani again left the scene in a voluntary emigration lasting about 10 years. There are two versions of why he emigrated. The first is that relations between him and the leadership soured, so that it became necessary for him to leave. The second is that the movement, no longer able to tolerate the shaykh's fanaticism and the disagreements it caused the movement with government agencies, asked him to leave. He spent most of his years of emigration in Saudi Arabia, either in Mecca or in Jeddah, where he was active with the Islamic World League. He devoted his attention to the Afghan jihad, becoming one of its proponents. He made long trips to Afghanistan and entered front-line areas with Arab mujahidin, among whom Yemenis formed the second largest group, after Saudis. He became an adviser and mediator acceptable to most of the Afghan leaders. The present Afghan president and his prime minister are considered to be his personal friends. His appointment to |
FBIS3-40764_1 | One Hundred to Appear at Court For Economic Sabotage | abroad. Among the persons arrested was the director of the Foreign Exchange Division of the Bank Tejarat [Commerce], the third-largest government bank in Iran, which administers more than 60 percent of the currency transactions in the private sector. It is believed that two prominent deputies of the above-mentioned director were also arrested. The revolution judge had issued warrants for the arrest of a number of bank officials who work in various foreign capitals. However, it is not yet clear how many of these officials have actually agreed to return to Tehran to appear before the revolution courts. These arrests are part of an emergency plan established by the Iranian Government for the purpose of putting a stop to the sharp decline in the value of the Iranian rial[R] vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies. It should be mentioned that the value of the Iranian rial, at the present time, is only one-thirtieth of what its value was before the mullahs came to power in 1979. Furthermore, Iran's currency has lost about 10 percent of its value during the past three weeks. One of the reasons for the rapid decline in the value of the Iranian rial is the fact that many Iranian merchants are scrambling to purchase as much foreign merchandise as they can before the coming into effect of the new restrictions on imports at the beginning of next March. Recently long convoys of trucks have been seen heading south where Iranians can buy foreign goods in the "free-trade areas" on the islands of Kish and Qeshm and in the Bishin [name as transliterated] area near the border with Pakistan. The Iranian Government has permitted each person to purchase $2,000 worth of goods manufactured abroad, which are exempt from import taxes, provided that the purchase transaction takes place in foreign currency. However, the Iranian Government has recently undertaken to lower this limit to $200 and to impose more severe restrictions for the purpose of preventing organized gangs from buying foreign merchandise offered wholesale. One of the plans being studied by the government at the present time is the imposition of a total ban on numerous imported items, especially electrical and electronic equipment, for a period of at least three years, as a means to alleviate the crisis of the deficit in the balance of payments which Iran is suffering from right now. Iran needs at least $18 |
FBIS3-40773_1 | Panel Comments on GATT Membership Effects | The committee said that with the ratification of the present round of GATT negotiations, the option now available with the United States to clamp Super 301 unilaterally against any country should also cease. However, it urged Indian negotiations to obtain specific clarifications to that effect. Referring to individual issues that have a bearing on the country's economic well-being, the committee said a witness deposing before it stated he did not think that Indian agriculture would gain the export market due to reduction in subsidies made by the developed countries. This was because liberalisation in agriculture would be limited and the international support levels for their agricultural products would be reduced by 20 per cent only. Besides, the witness argued the Dunkel text provided for very strict phytosanitary (plant related) standards to be observed for agricultural exports. India and other developing countries would hardly be able to meet these standards, resulting in rejection of their exports. The committee said the Dunkel proposals would discriminate against Indian agriculture as the subsidies have to be limited to an upper bound of 10 percent of the value of the output for developing countries. This might have grave implications for the poor resource farmers because with increasing cost of energy and other inputs the sectorwise subsidy might exceed this limit. The committee was of the opinion that contrary to the avowed object of including agriculture in GATT, the result of complying with the Dunkel draft proposal could enable the developed countries to capture the food markets of developing countries and also to control the gene sequences, microbiological resources and genetic engineering. Threat to PDS [public distribution system]: The committee said if the Dunkel draft was accepted at its face value, the public distribution system could come under severe strain and jeopardy and as such a clear understanding must be obtained from the GATT Secretariat that the country's PDS would not be hit in any way now or in future. Taking exception to the informality of the understanding that the traditional rights and practices of the Indian farmer for preservation, sale and free exchange of seeds must remain unaffected, the committee said this might not serve the purpose in the days to come and wanted these safeguards given "specific mention" in the GATT. Referring to Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the committee viewed with grave concern the impact the proposed patent regime would have on India's |
FBIS3-40774_0 | Paper Gives Details on Pact With European Union | Language: English Article Type:CSO [Text] Brussels, Dec. 20 (UNI)--A major milestone was achieved in the relations between India and the European Union [EU] when the two sides granted each other the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status on Monday and pledged to reinforce and diversify cooperation in agriculture, transport and communication, health, banking and promoting scientific and technological development. The EU countries are Belgium, Denmark and Greece. An agreement was signed by Commerce Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Commissioner for developing countries of the EU, Mr Manual Marin, and Belgian Foreign Minister Willy Claes. The agreement will also facilitate India to have better access to the European Union technology and promote commercial exchanges. The 30-article agreement provides for setting up of a joint commission to establish priorities in relation to the objectives and examine ways and means of enhancing the partnership in almost all spheres of economic, technical and industrial cooperation. In a joint statement following the signing of the agreement, the two sides expressed their resolve to reinforce and intensify their mutual relations in the political, economic, technological and cultural fields. The EU is India's largest trading partner with a share of 25 percent of Indian exports and 33 percent of its imports. The two sides attach importance to the principles of respect for human rights and democratic rights. Article I of the agreement states "respect for human rights and democratic principles is the basis for the cooperation between the contracting parties." Under the agreement, the two sides committed themselves to improve the access for their products in each other's market. The acceleration of the pace of India's economic development by supporting its efforts in building up its economy would get priority. Another area was the development of existing and new forms of economic cooperation to facilitate exchanges and contacts between the business communities of the two sides to encourage investment. Support of environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources would be a focal area. The agreement has two main parts--economic and development cooperation. Under the agreement economic cooperation is structured to encourage the private sector with the expectation of resulting multiplier effects. It will involve three broad fields: --Improving the economic environment by facilitating access to European knowhow and technology. --Facilitating contacts between economic operators and other measures designed to promote commercial exchanges and investment. --Reinforcing mutual understanding of their respective economic, social and cultural environment as a basis for |
FBIS3-40791_2 | Hamas Receives Major Aid Increase | the newspaper JOMHURI-YE ESLAMI, which is published by Khamene'i, the Hamas leader expressed his belief that the PLO and Israel would not be able to accomplish the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho by the 13 December deadline. Abu-Marzuq hinted that the agreement would fail because of the contradictions inherent in it. He also expected that U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher's current mission to the Middle East would be a failure. The Hamas leader's point of view is close to that of Syria, which is that it is necessary to remain uninvolved in the agreement between the PLO and Israel and thus allow it to fail. However, Iran believes that it is necessary to take additional measures in order to guarantee that this agreement fail. These measures, according to statements by the Iranian media, should include escalation of the armed conflict and intensification of the intifadah. But Abu-Marzuq is apparently convinced that the agreement still has the support of the Palestinians and that any parties attempting to blow it up might thus be risking their political positions. Hamas leaders also affirm that it is necessary not to provide Israel and the PLO with a pretext for holding Hamas and other hard-line groups responsible for the "inevitable failure" of their agreements. In his interview, Abu-Marzuq said the plan for autonomy, no matter how limited, can never work as long as the Israeli settlers do not withdraw from the occupied territories. Khamene'i had decided to call for the holding of an international conference to be attended by the parties and nations opposed to the agreement. But he failed to obtain the support of Syria and the Palestinian groups for such a conference. Apparently the idea of forming a new "rejectionist front" has been delayed until next year. One of the reasons for the delay has been Syria's wish to bide its time in order to see what can be achieved by means of U.S. mediation. Another reason is the fact that the hard-line Palestinian groups believe that Palestinian leader Yasir 'Arafat, during the next few months, will exhaust his supply of good intentions and thus pave the way for the emergence of a new leadership that will be more of the hard-line type. The final reason is that the Arab hard-liners are reluctant to hand over the reins of control of an Arab issue to a non-Arab country, that is, Iran. |
FBIS3-40801_4 | Population Growth of 16 Million Projected by 2000 | are still high rates that warn of danger. Perhaps the comparison here is significant. In the United States, the average number of childen born to one woman is two; in 1980 it was 1.8. Possible Dangers Egypt has had significant experience in birth control, one which has drawn many and varied criticisms since it began in the 1960s. It has encountered warfare, as well, from various quarters, and clashed with the customs and traditions of the majority of Egyptians, who view the process of birth control as forbidden. The agencies entrusted with birth control campaigns have endured much in their efforts to change this idea. Despite all the criticisms and obstacles, it may be said that positive results have begun to appear, as seen in a drop in the recent rates of population growth. The question of population growth, however, remains a grave one for Egypt and its development plans. The government relies primarily on awareness campaigns in all available agencies and media: television, radio, and posters which portray the benefits that may be reaped by families that use birth control, especially palpable economic benefits in the family's life, and positive health and beauty results for women who use birth control. Many methods for handling the problem have been suggested, and are still being proposed. The recommendations of a group of housing experts in Egypt will not be the last. Most notable among these was a recent study by the Consultative Council. One of the most important of these recommendations was was emphasis on improving conditions for women and supporting their participation in a variety of activities. Society strove for an increased rate of women's participation, from about 11 percent in 1987, to about 20 percent by the beginning of the next century, by preparing the proper environmental conditions so that women may play their role. Legislation that could limit women's positive initiatives should be amended; men should be prepared mentally and psychologically to accept women's role in society, with an end, in particular, to the exploitation of children and women; provisions of the labor code that limit the working age to be no less than 12 should be enforced; and a strict minimum should be imposed on the current marriage age. In the health field, the study proposed action to decrease the death rate among nursing children by 50 percent from its current level, in line with the official |
FBIS3-40807_1 | Commentator Discusses Relations With U.S. | with a new comprehensive foreign aid law that will apply the Pressler-type restrictions to all non-NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) countries and even those signatories (read China) that are seeking to expand their nuclear arsenals. India will, of course be included in the first category. And, as if our cup of woe was still not full we had to listen to Mr. Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Human rights, who told an Indian newsman that the U.S. disapproved of India's Human rights record in Kashmir, and did not believe that a nation's right to put down insurgency excused, let alone justified, some abrogation of these rights. At any normal time, such sustained, public arm-twisting, would have signalled a deliberate decision by the U.S. to replace cooperation with pressure as the basis of dealing with India. But are these times normal in the U.S.? Are the postures it is adopting, not only towards India, but towards China, Japan, the EEC, and the United Nations on various issues, sustainable? Above all, do the pronouncements coming out of Washington reflect carefully worked out foreign policy positions, or are they products of `Gung Ho activists in the foreign policy establishment shooting from the hip'? The truth lies somewhere in between. And this is presenting New Delhi with a foreign policy dilemma that it may understand but has, clearly, not been able to resolve. So far New Delhi has carefully refrained from any public posturing and its communications with the U.S. have been carried on strictly within diplomatic channels, (although paraphrased in the press). The tone of its communications, except on the issue of the Instrument of Accession, has also been markedly moderate. This would have been the correct response, had the U.S. got its foreign policy act together. But if its policy is being made largely by individuals shooting from the hip, then moderation is just the wrong attitude to have adopted, for it has made India appear defensive on issues like Human rights, Kashmir and to a lesser extent, NPT, and has encouraged activists like Ms. Raphel and Mr. Shattuck to think that they can push this country around, a belief that Ms. Raphel has not bothered to hide. The truth is that just at this moment the U.S. does not have a clearly articulated foreign policy, except in one or two areas such as supporting economic reform in Russia, de-nuclearisation (again mainly in |
FBIS3-40807_5 | Commentator Discusses Relations With U.S. | while he was out buying his lunch, the U.N. command said `Guerillas fire from crowds. They use women and children as human shields. There are bound to be civilian casualties when U.N. troops fire back in self-defence.' Does that sound familiar Mr. Shattuck? On the role of the U.N. as a world policeman, realism, burst the media's pipe-dream of a new world order when none other than President Clinton decided to pull U.S. troops out of Somalia after the killing of 18 soldiers, and to start political talks with Aideed and the other warlords. Within the U.N. Secretariat, disillusionment with the forward policies that have been thrust on the organisation by the rich nations in the heady afterglow of the Gulf War is complete. There is a total consensus that the U.N. must not undertake any more military actions under the mandatory chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, and that even supervisory or humanitarian actions under chapter 6, will not be possible if national contingent commanders do not place themselves unreservedly under the U.N. commandant. Ms. Madeleine Albright's September dream of U.S.-U.N. partnership is already light years out of date. The administration's lack of commitment reflects an even more profound lack of interest in the American public. In civilised drawing rooms from Washington to Cambridge, no one is talking about foreign policy. What true American liberals are appalled about is the crime bill that has been rushed through Congress. Children over 13 will now be treated as adults and can be sentenced to death mandatorily on as many as 19 (or is it 29) counts. The passage of this bill has focussed attention as nothing else could have on the internal social problems of the country -- the growing racial divide, the violence, crime and decay in the inner cities; the growing inequalities in health care, the fact that a large part of the population has grown poorer in the Eighties and Nineties; the rise in highly educated white collar unemployment, and the deterioration in the status of blue collar workers all over the country. These are Mr. Clinton's real worries, and he has unabashedly little time to spare for a foreign policy that is no longer rooted in an acute sense of national insecurity. But the foreign policy establishment is a leftover of the old days when this was where the best and the brightest went. Activism is therefore |
FBIS3-40809_2 | Correspondent on U.S. South Asia Policy | people" and its willingness to help resolve (in other words, "mediate") the problem if desired by the two sides. The debate over the possible scrapping of the Pressler Amendment is summed up thus: "Another U.S. policy that is likely to provoke regional opposition but remain unchanged is the suspension of U.S. aid to Pakistan. The 1985 Pressler Amendment to U.S. law requires that aid to Pakistan be withheld unless the U.S. President can certify that Islamabad does not possess nuclear weapons capability. The Bush administration revoked Pakistan's certification in 1990, and the aid cutoff has remained in effect ever since. Although the Clinton White House indicated in 1993 an interest in removing `country-specific' language from the foreign aid law to allow presidential discretion in such decisions, the principle that underlines the Pressler Amendment continues to be upheld. As a result, the aid cutoff can be expected to continue until Pakistan's nuclear programme ceases to be of international concern." Priority for non-proliferation: Citing Mr. Clinton's address to the U.N. General Assembly that he had "made non-proliferation, one of our nation's highest priorities," the review describes how that official message was brought home during an October State Department briefing, with the statement that the U.S. was "particularly concerned" about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in regions such as South Asia. "We have ongoing, senior-level discussions on this issue with the Governments of Pakistan and India and we will continue to urge both Governments to undertake direct, high-level discussions on this and other issues dividing them, including Kashmir." Among the "good news" were the decision by India and Pakistan to resume official talks and the elections in the two countries, according to the official document. The Pakistani elections, according to the review, were widely hailed as having been the freest and fairest in its history with some observers suggesting that the process may have given birth to a genuine two-party system. The significance of the Assembly elections in India was spelt out thus: "Hindu-Muslim tensions heated up with the December 1992 destruction by Hindu nationalists of the historic mosque of Ayodhya, and riots which left hundreds dead. Tensions were further heightened by a bomb attack in downtown Bombay and the siege by Indian security forces of the sacred Hazratbal mosque in Kashmir, where Muslim militants had barricaded themselves. Those and other events led many to predict that Indian politics would become |
FBIS3-40814_3 | Parliament Debates Securities Scam Report 30 Dec Session Described | country gone bankrupt. The ruling party in the Rayja Sabha launched a direct attack on the JPC report in the face of vociferous demand from the Opposition for the resignation of all the Ministers against whom adverse comments have been made in the Committee report. Barring the melodrama towards the end that centred around the remarks made by Mr. Ram Jethmalani (JD) (Janata Dal) on the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and the Prime Minister which led to adjournment of the House and walkout by the Opposition demanding reply from the Prime Minister, proceedings in the Upper House were lack-lustre. The Left members who stayed in the House kept shouting, even as Dr. Singh rounded-off the debate in a brief speech which could not be heard in the din. What began as a veiled criticism of the contents of the report by the Power Minister, Mr. N.K.P. Salve, during the day became a full-fledged attack by his party colleague, Mr. R.K. Dhawan, who spoke towards the far-end and accused the committee of having shown "total lack of respect for rules and regulations." The Opposition members on their part while reiterating their demand for the head of all the Ministers indicted by the committee, took serious exception to the description of the JPC report by the Congress(I) members and Ministers. Mr. Salve was repeatedly interrupted by the Opposition, when he sought to convey his "distress and dislike" over the debate and maintained that the committee report was not entirely "impartial." The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Sikandar Bakht, and Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy (JD) were on their legs immediately after Mr. Salve took the position that the debate was devoid of merit and objectivity and wanted to know if he was speaking in his capacity as a member or a Minister. If it was the later what he said amounted to virtual denigration of the committee report. Undeterred by the interruptions, Mr. Salve dealt at length on what he termed as informities in the contents of the committee report and the constitutional position on issues like collective responsibility and sustainability of the comments in the report against the Finance Minister and his Ministry, Mr. N. Giri Prasad (CPI) (Communist Party of India) contended that argument of systemic failure cannot hold water, as no system worked without individuals who were responsible for its functioning. In his intervention, the Commerce Minister, Mr. Pranab |
FBIS3-40822_3 | Article Argues for Right of Return | right" represents a complete negation of true humanitarian criteria. Of all Palestinian rights, the right of return is the one that most inspires the dreams of afflicted Palestinians. It will turn out to be an outrageous crime if the United States feigns inability to help us respond to this political and humanitarian need. This we say, having been taught by the experience of international politics that a major power's announced political commitment on an issue can for practical considerations turn into a political deception that its authors usually categorize as part of what they like to call "the political game." Tutweiler's statement, which was in response to a journalist's question, was followed by an American official's admission that the administration preferred not to answer "questions of this kind." The officially announced reason was that the American administration preferred to avoid raising difficult problems, such as the right of return for Palestinians, at the beginning of the talks, because raising them could lead to "the collapse of the house of cards" in which the peace negotiations are taking place. Signaling that the United States would adhere to an interpretation of Resolution 194 that evaded the essence of the resolution, the American assistant secretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs, Ambassador Edward Djerejian said: "The matter (Tutweiler's statement) has been magnified and given more importance than it really has. You know the United States' position on Jerusalem. That is a good example of how the matter can be twisted." It is indeed a good example. Resolution 194 also speaks about putting Jerusalem under United Nations custody, whereas the American position (which until the other day supported this resolution) leaves the destiny of Jerusalem to the negotiations and supports the city's continued unity. How does the United States now justify its new position of abstaining from voting? Explaining the reasons for his country's abstention, George Sherman, the American representative, said: "We want at this important moment to avoid problems that might cause division; for the positions of the parties in the region differ in important respects on the refugee issue, and these differences must be settled at the negotiating table." After renewing America's strong commitment to "a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace," he expressed his government's hope that this peace would include a satisfactory settlement of the refugee problem. As for the "philosophical principles" of this American view, they are: "not showing partiality |
FBIS3-40826_0 | Opposition Parties Call for More Democracy Text of Opposition Manifesto | Language: Arabic Article Type:CSO [Text] On the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the 11 January manifesto demanding independence, the three national democratic parties--the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, Istiqlal, and the Organization of Popular Democratic Action--issued a historic statement demanding that democracy be strengthened in the country by implementing a series of political points and reforms. The following is the text of the historic statement: In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate. The 50th anniversary of the presentation of the manifesto demanding independence and democracy falls on 11 January 1994. It is an occasion on which the three democratic parties--Istiqlal, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, and the Organization of Popular Democratic Action--stand up to evaluate the conditions that Morocco faces in future years as it stands on the threshold of the 21st century after a half-century during which its people have continued the struggle to realize their goals of liberation, democracy, and social justice in the full sense. While recognition of political independence was achieved due to the struggle of the king and the people in full harmony, building a free national state in the framework of constitutional monarchy and on the principles of political, economic, social, and cultural democracy is still faltering 38 years after the declaration of independence and has not taken a decisive course toward concrete realization. Sensing their responsibilities after the crisis through which Morocco has been passing, with the tremendous challenges this has presented, the three democratic parties renew their pledge to continue the struggle to fulfill the goals of the National Charter (the manifesto of 11 January 1944) in its spirit and aspirations, to embark forcefully to save the country from the dangers that threaten it, and to establish conditions for democratic change in the framework of a sincere national agreement that lays the foundation for the elements of a modern democratic state, embodies the principle of popular sovereignty, and lays a firm basis for a strong, progressive Morocco. True democracy can free the country from perversions such as widespread injustice, corruption, bribery, exploitation of influence, illegitimate wealth, and plundering of the people's money, land, and resources. True democracy can end human rights violations, protect public and private freedoms, guarantee citizens' rights to free and fair elections and their right to food, work, education, medical care, and housing, and provide equal opportunity for all to raise the physical and spiritual |
FBIS3-40829_3 | Impact of GATT on Economic Development Viewed | of fruits and vegetables, modernize cereal growing, and develop our fishing and stockraising potential to increase production and the profitability of farming in order to feed a steadily growing and ever-more demanding population and improve the food trade balance. Our agriculture must modernize its structures and increase its ability to withstand foreign competition through an increase in added value. The state has done a great deal to improve the infrastructure, and private operators must assume their responsibilities and take advantage of the state's incentives. Our Industry and GATT The gradual disappearance of the MFA [Multifiber Agreement], which provided the rich countries with artificial protection from the commercial aggressiveness of textiles from the Third World, will open up the markets in those countries to us. They are big consumers of all kinds of clothing. But production costs in our country are too high for us to compete with the four "dragons" of Southeast Asia (where the hourly cost of manpower is $2.60, compared to $12 in Tunisia). Provided that our firms are able to grow and restructure rapidly, modernize their equipment, and achieve more integrated production, our salvation lies is specializing in the upscale end of the market through the use of more capable and skilled manpower. We find, however, that our industrial firms continue to be small, family-scale enterprises with financial resources and especially capital funds that are limited by the refusal to open up their family capital to the public and other investors, the reason being their fear of losing majority control on the boards of directors. We have few PME [small and medium-size businesses] and no Tunisian multinationals, but what we do have mostly is microbusinesses lacking the resources to stand up to the big international financial groups. It is true that they have management flexibility, but that is not enough to ensure competitiveness. GATT and Services It is true that we have great potential in the field of services: tourism, engineering, commercial companies, advertising firms, banks, insurance, and so on. But we must restructure our firms so that they will have the size, managerial staff, and "sales strength" of the big firms as well as the necessary management and marketing. Our building and public works industry, which lost 50 percent of its potential in 1986, must modernize in order to export. There are not several ways to go about it: the only solutions are partnerships and a |
FBIS3-40865_0 | New Income Tax Law Regulations Clarified | Language: Arabic Article Type:CSO [Interview with Fathi 'Abd-al-Baqi, tax authority chairman, by 'Ala'-al-Din Mustafa; place and date not given] [Text] Now that unified tax law No. 187 of 1993 has been promulgated, its provisions will go into effect as of 1 January 1994. A major question arises here: How will this law apply to wages and the like? AKHIR SA'AH has interviewed Muhammad Fathi 'Abd-al-Baqi, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance and Tax Authority chairman, and addressed to him this and other important questions: What are taxable revenues? What are the exemptions listed by the law? What about pensions? The interview has asked these and numerous other questions. To start, Fathi 'Abd-al-Baqi pointed out that the unified tax law will be implemented as of January 1994. This law was issued to amend some provisions of income tax law No. 157 of 1981. With the promulgation of the unified tax law, the general income tax, with all its pros and cons, has been abolished. Moreover, the unified tax has alleviated the tax burden for employees. An employee with a gross income from his job amounting to 800 pounds monthly will not be subject to any tax, meaning that nearly 9,600 pounds will not be taxable. Moreover, pensioners will not be subject to the tax. 'Abd-al-Baqi also pointed out that the executive regulations will be issued within three months as of the date of publication of the law in the Official Gazette. [Mustafa] How will the income tax on salaries and the like be calculated under the unified tax law? ['Abd-al-Baqi] The Tax Authority has issued circular No. 1 of 1994 on the provisions governing salaries and the like in law No. 187 of 1993, which amends some provisions of the income tax law promulgated by law No. 157 of 1981. The circular states that the provisions of this law shall apply to salaries and the like as of 1 January 1994. As for applying provisions of the law, this law has maintained all the objective and executive regulations and procedures enacted in the income tax law promulgated by law No. 157 of 1981 on salaries and the like, adding to them the following: - Law No. 187 of 1993 treats non-shareholder members and chairmen of the executive boards of the public business sector companies the same as members and chairman of executive boards of public sector companies, subjecting the salaries |
FBIS3-40882_4 | Prominent People Oppose Nuclear Power Plant | of a PLTN for a nation. Djali Ahimsa's answer and attitude demonstrates the arrogance of power, as though he knows best what this nation needs. I am anti-PLTN 200 percent, in fact, 1,000 percent. There is no further doubt about its danger. From the aspect of culture, I do not believe that the technological discipline of Indonesians is sufficient for handling PLTN technology. There is still human negligence even in France, the United States, and Russia, where there is discipline. I also do not believe Indonesians are able to handle modern technology. What I know is that Indonesian engineers can only connect cables and wires. I recommend that the people be the ones to decide the need, or lack of it, for PLTN construction. This should be done through a referendum. Whether the people approve or not is up to them. Aburizal Bakrie, businessman, president commissioner of the Bakrie Group: I have two contradictory views in reaction to the building of a PLTN. As general chairman of the Indonesian Association of Engineers, I agree. Nuclear power is a clean technology, and we have mastered the technology. The price, too, is reasonable. However, my question is, for what are we going to use the large coal assets in Kalimantan? As a businessman, I naturally prefer coal-fired PLTU's [steam-powered electric power plants]. The point is, I have a coal mining business. Ha, ha, ha. There are other concerns as to PLTN operation. The cheap electricity will interest industrialized countries in relocating their industries to Indonesia. Those industries that will be relocated reportedly will be those that pollute the environment. That can be overcome by environmental protection, however. Environmental protection can also be applied to coal-fired PLTU's. Why, then, not do it to coal-fired PLTU's? Besides being an abundant natural resource, it is readily available and does not need to be imported. Kwik Kian Gie, a director of the PDI [Indonesian Democratic Party] DPP [Central Executive Council]: "I have delegated discussion of the PLTN to Kwik. He represents me, as well as the PDI DPP," PDI DPP General Director Megawati Sukarnoputri told KOMPAS. Therefore, Kwik was the one to respond. With regard to the PLTN, the PDI DPP focuses attention on its safety. I am very doubtful. Just look at the case of the Cernobyl disaster. There has never been a detailed and open explanation about PLTN technical questions or economic aspects, either. |
FBIS3-40893_0 | Official Discusses Role of Labor Unions | Language: Vietnamese Article Type:CSO [Article by Nguyen Van Tu, member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and president of the Confederation of Vietnamese Workers] [Text] In the movement to renovate socialist construction, along with the formation of a multifaceted economy and the reorganization of production, the Vietnamese working class is undergoing many important structural, ideological, and psychological changes and changes in labor style. Above all, because of the changes in occupational patterns, along with the ranks of workers who have a long tradition of revolutionary struggle, ranks of workers have appeared in new occupations that use modern technology, that have foreign investment, and that are expanding rapidly. This includes the oil and gas, information, electronics, posts and telecommunications, and service sectors. A number of these sectors are quickly moving to the forefront: the shipping, aviation, electric power, and light industrial production sectors. These changes have in turn led to changes in the value rankings of the sectors. Because of the growth of the world economic structure and because of their technological backwardness, many sectors that were once viewed as "key" sectors no longer enjoy that status. Along with this process has been the appearance of more and more young and healthy workers who have high educational standards, who can assimilate modern technology quickly, and who are working in electronic control and microcomputer offices, shuttle-less textile mills, and varied labor services networks. The changes in the structure of the economic elements has been devastating to those production and commercial installations that have clung to the state subsidies mechanism. During that period, many enterprises and production and commercial installations in the state sector operated at a loss and production was stagnant. The workers were not very interested in productivity, the quality of the products, or the economic results. Tens of billions of dong in commodities stagnated and could not be sold because of poor quality and high production costs. In the wake of the reorganization of production and commerce, at present only about half of the state enterprises are regarded as stable and have been issued permits to resume operations. About 19 percent of the enterprises have been disbanded. Along with this situation is the decline in the ranks of state workers and the movement of state-sector production chains to other economic elements (about 700,000 people). At the same time, the ranks of workers in the nonstate sector have expanded |
FBIS3-40909_0 | Clinton, Yeltsin Sign Agreements After Tripartite Deal Settled Statement on Export Controls Joint statement on issues of export controls and policy in the area of transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use technologies | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] [no dateline as received] Joint statement on issues of export controls and policy in the area of transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use technologies [Text] The secretary of state of the United States of America and the minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation underscored the staunch commitment of their countries to efforts to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to enhance global and regional stability. In keeping with the spirit of the new strategic partnership between the United States and Russia the ministers have agreed on development of wide-ranging cooperation in the field of export control. Moreover, they have agreed that all necessary steps in this field be taken expeditiously, and have established a senior-level working group for this purpose, as well as to initiate bilateral cooperation in the areas specified in a memorandum of intent signed this day in Moscow. The ministers expressed satisfaction with steps taken since the last meeting of the President of the United States and the president of the Russian Federation to eliminate the vestiges of the Cold War, such as the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), which according to the understanding reached by COCOM members will be terminated not later than March 31, 1994. They also welcomed the decision to establish a new multilateral regime for enhancing responsibility and transparency in the transfers of armaments and sensitive dual-use technologies. This new arrangement would not be directed against any state or group of states, and would prevent the acquisition of such items for military end uses if the behavior of a state is or becomes a cause for serious concern as determined by the participants of the new multilateral regime. The United States and Russia, as leading exporters of conventional weapons, military equipment and dual-use technologies, are convinced that additional measures are needed on an international basis to increase responsibility, transparency and, were appropriate, restraint in this area. They expressed their willingness to work with other countries in bringing about the early establishment of a new multilateral regime in order to achieve these objectives, which would supplement existing non-proliferation regimes, in particular through arrangements to exchange information for the purpose of meaningful consultations. |
FBIS3-40910_0 | Russian Views of the Tripartite Agreement Deal Criticized | Language: Russian Article Type:CSO [Article by Pavel Felgengauer: "Choosing an Objective American Style"] [Text] Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin have agreed that the strategic nuclear missiles of the United States and Russia will now be trained in not on the territory of the "probable enemy," but instead--on the empty regions of the world ocean. Now if something were to happen, the combined megatonnage of the two superpowers would merely slaughter fish and, perhaps, a couple of unfortunate fishermen. This, of course, is a large step forward compared to Cold War times when, at the beginning of the eighties, on both sides of the ocean fingers were literally quivering over the launch buttons. The re-aiming of the strategic missiles was possibly the last in a long list of peaceful initiatives of Gorbachev, Reagan, and Bush, which made the beginning of the nineties quite different from the beginning of the eighties. In this case, the initiative came from the American military. The Pentagon was concerned about reductions of staff and combat readiness in the Russian Army, about which there were many reports last year, and also the general crisis in our country, as a result of which, as they think there, there was a greater probability of unsanctioned or accidental launching of missiles. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs was happy to support the new peace initiative, and the Ministry of Defense and General Staff had no objections. The agreement was signed, but neither in the United States nor in Russia was there any possibility of monitoring compliance. All questions of controlling strategic nuclear forces (SYaS) are a carefully kept state secret. Nothing is known specifically--all one can do is guess. But one can assume with a certain amount of confidence that the Russian (Soviet) missiles were not aimed anywhere in particular anyway. There are various possible versions of their application and, correspondingly, a set of flight assignments. The order to launch and, correspondingly, the number of the flight assignment come from Moscow at the same time, and the team on duty in the underground command point in a standard situation does not participate in the launch at all. It merely echoes the commands from Moscow in the event of a possible failure of the electronic system, but itself can launch nothing without an order from Moscow granting permission. When a year and a half ago President Yeltsin spoke about the fact that |
FBIS3-40919_3 | Need for Agreement on Missile Warning System Cited | to expand the radar field by including stations in the polar region, Latvia, and Ukraine. A plan was then developed for total, continuous OTH coverage in the missile-vulnerable western, southwestern, southern, and northeastern sectors. At the same time work was also under way on a fundamentally new phased-array OTH radar station called "Daryal".... As we can see, the system was progressively built in missile-vulnerable areas. Needless to say, at the time no one thought that the Union would break up and that the radar field erected would be bisected by the national borders of sovereign states. Or that they would de facto end up under Russia's "nuclear umbrella." However, now the question is this: Do the republics need these services today? And, if so, on what terms? If not, what is to be done with the stations? Regrettably these are not idle questions, since there are still no clear accords in this sphere or clear prospects. Admittedly there is the Treaty on Collective Security signed by six CIS states. But "nothing is forever".... Remember the promises about the unified ruble, economic, and information area. What has happened to all that? Is it true that the future of these stations and maybe the future of the MAEW is today being decided not only in Moscow but also in the CIS nation states? ...The Balkhash area, where an MAEW unit is stationed, greeted us with cold gusts of wind and snow. A strange building like a gigantic hut rose above the wild semidesert. "Our new `Daryal' looks strange and, you'll agree, impressive," Colonel G. Kozlyuk, deputy commander for work with personnel, broke into my thoughts. "The only thing is that the construction workers and fitters are unable to hand it over. So at the moment we are working with a `Dnepr.'" Vast sums of money at the old prices have been invested in the station -- around 1 billion rubles. It is a reliable radar. It has triple-redundant technological apparatus, several independent power sources, and space, radio, and facsimile communications.... It provides highly important information about ballistic missile launches, identifies objects during the booster phase of their flight path, and can instantly compute warheads' launch and landing sites as well as their flight time.... "We provided backup for the `Soyuz-Apollo' flight and all flights from Baykonur and obtained information on `Ferret' [as transliterated], `Columbia,' and the shuttle," Colonel N. Buchuk, deputy commander |
FBIS3-40922_6 | Cash Shortage Hits Arms Destruction Program | would certainly be worth raising the question of postponing the destruction of weapons and spreading the schedule over several months or even over a year or so. In what, ultimately, does the West have a vested interest? In a country crushed by the weight of its economic problems, but with not a single superfluous tank left exactly 40 months from now and not a day later? Or in a country with a more or less acceptable economy and, consequently, political stability, but with a superfluous 200-300 armored vehicles, which will nevertheless be cut into pieces, albeit not immediately, but after a small delay? The fact that Belarus takes extremely seriously the commitments made on its behalf by others is not in any doubt. I think this is partly the reason why only Minsk, apart from Moscow, features on the itinerary of President William Clinton's forthcoming visit to the former Soviet Union in January. But the United States is not top of Belarus' list of foreign policy priorities. Russia comes first. This is clear from a draft of the republic's basic foreign policy concepts, a document which must be discussed in the Supreme Soviet in the very near future. At the moment, it is stamped "secret," the point of which no one I spoke to could explain, apart from one, perhaps, who said: "If the discussion were conducted openly and broadcast live, we would distract and agitate people. Then parliamentarians could say such slanderous things about other countries during the debates that it would cause a scandal." I did nevertheless manage to find out something about the secret document's contents. First, the list of priorities. It is as follows: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Austria, Scandinavia, China, India, Japan, and the gas- and oil-extracting CIS countries. I was told that, a year ago, the Supreme Soviet would not have placed Russia at the top of the list: Europe would have been there instead. Second, the document confirms the provision of the Belarusian Constitution which states that the Supreme Soviet determines the direction taken by foreign policy and adopts decisions on fundamental issues. This means that the government and, in particular, the Foreign Ministry are assigned a subsidiary role. Be that as it may, the draft of the basic concepts has in fact survived all the various stages of coordination and agreement, including in the |
FBIS3-40931_1 | Ukraine Maneuvers Before 14 January Agreement Is Signed Foreign Ministry Statement 11 January | between the U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian presidents -- as hastily reported by Ostankino Television -- and on a bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents, Yuriy Serheyev, chief of Foreign Ministry Information Department, in particular said: [Begin Serheyev recording] As of today, I cannot say that a final document has already been drafted; I cannot say what form this document will take. That is why the scheduled tripartite conference in Moscow may have any form. If the final [draft] of the document is not completed, the Moscow conference is likely to be of consultative nature and aimed at coordinating aspects which still need to be coordinated. If the Moscow meeting manages to resolve uncoordinated issues, the document should take some form. I want to draw your attention to [word indistinct] commentaries, or I would rather say biased commentaries regarding the translation of Mr. Gore's statement which can be interpreted as an agreement or a treaty. As you see, at this stage, it is better to speak about a document rather than agreement or treaty. [Serheyev continues] Discussions over the form and essence of this document are still continuing, in Ukraine's governing circles as well. I want to stress that the Moscow summit will be preceded by a short meeting in Kiev. The possibility and likeliness of such a meeting were discussed very thoroughly through diplomatic channels. I also want to point out that as stated in yesterday's declaration by the Council of Ministers' and presidential press service, the main theme of the meeting will be the discussion of a wide range of issues concerning bilateral relations. This is very essential. Moreover, this statement is not unilateral; it was coordinated. There is a mutual desire on both sides to discuss bilateral relations at this meeting. This is not a bad example and not a bad result demonstrating that prospects are opening for a more constructive dialogue and more constructive relations with the United States in the spheres discussed in the course of Mr. Christopher's visit to Kiev. In particular [we should] balance our relations, direct them into the stream of military-political cooperation, and in the first place, economic cooperation. This visit once again emphasizes the attention paid Ukraine and importance of developing bilateral relations with her. Naturally, in the course of the [Kiev] meeting, issues tackled in Brussels and those to be tackled in Moscow will be discussed. [end recording] |
FBIS3-40946_2 | Various Reactions to Tripartite Agreement Benefits Questioned | Friday [14 January] about Moscow's pledges of fair play in negotiating the $2-billion indebtness with Kiev have not borne out entirely. Looming ahead is the perspective of endless blanket-pulling and difficult inter-governmental talks. According to a dark vision by government officials, instead of the entire debt, Russia will agree to forgive only its small portion. The point is that structures with looser dependence from the state, such as the "Gazprom," were also engaged in energy supplies. This kind of "debt canceling" is more profitable for them. Support of International Financial Organizations This support is possible only when Ukraine devises clear-cut plans for getting out of an economic crisis. In other words, only staunch optimists can count on it at the present time. For example, propped up by the United States, Russia is expecting $1.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund and $500 billion from the World Bank. This is a modest sum considering the size of Russia, and would remain so if allocated to Ukraine. Hypothetically, even with credits on hand, Ukraine should be prepared for high interest rates. Tactical Weapons This appears to be the biggest "white spot" in all this nuclear business. The agreement does not offer a clear statement on compensation for tactical weapons removed from the three ex-Soviet republics to Russia. Officials warily say that "experts are now working on this issue." Support for Weapons Destruction Process This support was offered by the Nunn-Lugar plan initiated in December 1991 and will be financed by U.S. Defense Department resources. The plan's basic provisions envisioned for 1993 fiscal year spendings for dismantling and destruction of nuclear weapons, establishing aid funds for disarming CIS countries, and humanitarian aid, which is $800 million, $100 million, and $410 million, respectively, for all nuclear successors of the Soviet Union. Of this amount, $175 million for technical assistance in weapons destruction was promised to Leonid Kravchuk by then-President Bush in December 1992. This promise was also confirmed by Bill Clinton at the meeting with the Ukrainian president in Kiev. The American side is relying on its experience of scraping similar 300-missile complexes in 1992 that needed $300 billion for destruction. Foreign Ministry officials claim that if the process "gets rolling," Americans are ready to provide additional funds to Ukraine. On the other hand, the Nunn-Lugar program contains quite a few discriminative limitations. One of them, for instance, says that the CIS country receiving |
FBIS3-40947_3 | Various Reactions to Tripartite Agreement Interview With Tarasenko | after its parameters are specified. Ostapenko: I am sorry to interrupt you. You have just read out the item that has to do with all sides without exception. But nothing is said here about the Supreme Council resolution on the ratification of START I with reservations. It clearly stipulates that 36 percent of launcher vehicles and 42 percent of warheads are subject to elimination today. That is to say, these parameters have been extended to all nuclear [word indistinct]. Tarasenko: Absolutely. They run contrary to the Supreme Council resolution. The Supreme Council resolution and START I envisage percentage and here is says about the complete elimination. In this connection I would like to say the following, so that our radio listeners and our compatriots, our half-brothers, as they say, would know it: All those strategic nuclear systems located on the territory of Ukraine are targeted at certain objectives in the United States of America and relevant bases beyond the borders of the U.S. Correspondingly, approximately the same number of nuclear weapons are targeted at our territory. Well, this is military strategy and tactics and there is nothing incomprehensible here. Everybody understands this: If you target me, then I target you. But this document should also envisage adequate moves on the part of the United States of America, and our control over this, because everyone will control us, control how we eliminate nuclear weapons, remove nuclear warheads, transfer them from Ukraine to Russia. The only thing envisaged here is that Ukraine will have the possibility to control Russia neutralizing the nuclear warheads. However, this agreement does not envisage what the United States will do with that quantity of strategic nuclear weapons that are targeted at us, and what will be Ukraine's role in carrying out control over this process, as far as the actions of the United States are concerned. Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin declared that they would decode their missiles, which would then be retargetted at some deserted islands, or something like that. Ukraine's participation here is not envisaged, is that right? Tarasenko: Ukraine's participation here is not envisaged. Moreover, I disagree with such a stand, just as a citizen and just as an inhabitant of this planet Earth. If Ukraine eliminates these weapons, the former weapons of the Soviet Union, as is known, then the United States of America should eliminate and neutralize the same quantity of weapons. |
FBIS3-40962_4 | Nuclear Control Said `Technically Possible' | yes, the decree is at variance with some articles of the Lisbon Protocol under which our president's signature appears; yes, the document itself, from the point of view of politicians, contains rather naive points regarding security guarantees for Ukraine. However, it is pointless to assert either the wisdom or worthlessness of that document, proceeding from immediate considerations alone: Doubtless the future, perhaps, not so distant, will provide such an assessment. Let me remind you that the deputies almost unanimously (what a surprise!) approved the reduction, over seven years, of 36 percent of launch vehicles and 42 percent of warheads. They [the deputies] advanced conditions to the world: Never use nuclear weapons against Ukraine; do not use conventional armed forces against it, and do not resort to the threat of force; refrain from exerting economic pressure for the purpose of resolving any disputes; respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. By the time the decree was adopted, Ukraine had 176 vertical-launch installations with 1,240 nuclear warheads and 43 heavy bombers with 372 nuclear warheads. That the position of the Ukrainian parliament should not be characterized in categorically negative terms was soon confirmed by the Russian elections in which Zhirinovskiy, a "sincere friend" of the former imperial colonies, triumphed. Anti-Ukrainian articles on nuclear topics immediately disappeared from Moscow newspapers (apparently, not for long). The world became concerned and a question arose: Is it generally safe to transfer the Union's nuclear weapons to Russia? At any rate, the warheads of 17 missiles that were deactivated by Ukraine at the end of December have remained "at home." At other times, this would have given rise to certain emotions in Russia. Now, there is complete tranquility. Maybe, the United States will also revise its policy with regard to Ukraine. So far, it only listened to what Russia was saying. According to [Ukrainian President] Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine will continue to adhere to its decision to become a nuclear-free state, but we will demand that a tripartite agreement be concluded with Russia and the United States. Meanwhile, an opinion is being formed among Ukrainian parliamentarians on the need for Ukraine to gain full control of its missiles: Such control on the part of Russia is dangerous for our country. It is significant that there is no nonaggression agreement between the two states. Besides, Russia's military doctrine envisages a preventive nuclear strike against nuclear countries. Technically speaking, |
FBIS3-40966_0 | Plans To Ease Arms Export Restrictions Internal Debate | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] New details have been revealed today of Bonn's efforts to change the guidelines on German arms exports. According to these details, the government, too, is seeking to make arms exports easier. According to information obtained by our Bonn office, talks on this have been conducted between the Defense, Economics, and Foreign Ministries. Yesterday the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union [CDU/CSU] parliamentary group spoke in favor of easing the export provisions. The Social Democratic Party [SPD] announced its resistance to this. Gerd H. Pelletier reports. Pelletier: One day after the move forward by CDU deputies toward relaxing the arms export provisions, today it was revealed that the ministries concerned -- defense, economics, and foreign -- have been dealing with the European harmonization of the tricky issue for weeks already. The confidential file has lain at the Federal Chancellery since before the Christmas period. It says that a ruling on dual-use exports is urgent. For example, we have the case of the Libyan toxic gas factory in Rabta, which the German company Imhausen Chemie claimed was a fertilizer plant. When the deal was uncovered, company head Hippenstiel was sentenced and regulations on granting export permits were tightened drastically. All-European guidelines are being called for in this area. But Ruehe's Defense Ministry also wants to make it easier for the arms industry to export. Kinkel's Foreign ministry, however, would prefer to adhere to the Arms Export Control Act of 1982. For example, if the British partners require the future Eurofighter to be desertworthy, the German manufacturing partners will know that it was to be sold outside the NATO area. Must our arms export restrictions be relaxed for that reason? [Begin Kinkel recording] For some time we have been considering in the responsible ministries -- in cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry -- how we can deal with this sticky issue. We mustn't rush at it. We will look at the CDU/CSU proposals, which have now been submitted, in addition to our own ideas, and then decide in good time. [end recording] Pelletier: The arms industry does not want to wait that long. European reality: The company Eurocopter is a DASA enterprise with French majority ownership. The German partners cannot and do not want to know where the French parent company, Aerospatiale, is selling the combat helicopters. Whatever happens, it is thought less likely that the |
FBIS3-40967_0 | Plans To Ease Arms Export Restrictions Opposition To Plan | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["K.B." report: "Unexpected Protest Against Easier Arms Exports"] [Text] Bonn, 5 January -- Several leading members of the Christian Democratic Union [CDU]/Christian Social Union [CSU] Bundestag group have criticized foreign policy spokesman Lamers for his statements on arms export controls. Lamers had demanded the establishment of common European export rules. This would make arms exports easier than they are in line with the current German regulations. The Federal Government, too, is skeptical about this suggestion. So far, it has been assumed that a memorandum of the Foreign Policy Working Group, headlined "Common European Defense -- Common Arms Market -- Common Arms Export Policy," which was drawn up with Lamers' participation, meets with approval by the Bundestag group. This memorandum, which was published at the end of November, is now causing excitement with some delay. On Wednesday deputy group chairman Gerster came out against loosening the German export rules. Before one can think of approving regulated arms exports along broader lines and for larger areas, one must emphatically counteract excessive illegal deliveries of armament materiel in an internationally coordinated action. CDU Deputy Eppelmann, the former GDR defense minister, thinks that it is rather necessary to tighten the arms export rules instead of loosening them. In order to combat illegal arms trade, Gerster demands additional legal regulations. It must be possible to use findings by the Federal Intelligence Office [BND] gained from monitoring against German arms dealers in court. Germany must not become the turntable for weapons from the former East Bloc. Therefore, checks at the borders must be tightened not only by the Customs Administration and the Federal Border Police, but also with the help of the Bundeswehr. Eppelmann criticized the proposal by Lamers and the Foreign Policy Working Group for not aiming at solving conflicts. Lamers does not speak of disarmament. The working group seems to want to resign itself to the current conditions. As was confirmed on Wednesday, the Federal Government does not intend to follow the demand for loosening the export guidelines and export control regulations. However, there are indications of considerations to change the examination and licensing procedures with the final decision in the Federal Security Council. This is aimed at making the German armament industry more able to cooperate in Europe. This would be a reaction to complaints from the armament industry that purely private cooperation projects between German and European companies |
FBIS3-40975_0 | Editorial on Regional Disarmament | Language: Arabic Article Type:BFN [Text] Cairo, 25 Jan (MENA)--AL-AHRAM writes that the United Nations' efforts to disarm Iraq, which are part of the preparations to implement long-term monitoring of Iraq's armament, again raise the issue of controlling nuclear, conventional, and nonconventional armaments in the Middle East. The paper recalls the Security Council resolutions that said disarming Iraq should be part of a process to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction and to establish a new security order in the region. While acknowledging that the effort to control armaments in the region is primarily linked with an Arab-Israeli settlement, the paper, in its editorial today, adds that the part of these resolutions that has been implemented involves Iraq alone. AL-AHRAM stresses that the Iraqi threat, which some parties used as an excuse in the past, no longer exists. It adds: Further, achieving progress in the efforts to control armaments will necessarily create a better climate for boosting the overall settlement process. |
FBIS3-40990_1 | Disagreements With UN Over Weapons Monitoring | clause provides for the lifting of the international oil embargo against Iraq once Baghdad has honoured UN resolutions calling for the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Ekeus said he tried to emphasise in his talks with Iraqi leaders the "political ambiance" surrounding the clause. He was referring to the position of certain UN Security Council members, notably the United States, which oppose any lifting of the oil embargo until Baghdad recognises the sovereignty of Kuwait and improves its policy toward the Moslem Shiite and Kurdish minorities in Iraq. Iraqi Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Riyad al-Qaysi, who spoke at a news conference with Ekeus Sunday, said Iraq had "implemented all that is required" under the clause. However, last week U.S. President Bill Clinton said Iraq still had a long way to go toward compliance with the Gulf war ceasefire conditions, despite Baghdad's acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 715 in November, which called for long-term weapons monitoring. The joint statement issued by Ekeus and 'Aziz said the "intense phase" of UN inspections would continue, and Iraq had "indicated that it would welcome all such inspection teams and facilitate their tasks." The two sides discussed technical matters in a "professional and business-like manner," the statement said, and their talks "yielded positive results." They agreed to hold a further round of talks in the first half of March to maintain the momentum in the disarmament process. In the hope of obtaining an end to the embargo, Baghdad is cooperating with efforts to dismantle programmes for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, which are banned under the UN resolutions ending the 1991 Gulf war. UN sanctions, including an oil embargo, were imposed four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. On Friday, IAEA officials said they would remove the last batch of Iraq's irradiated fuel next week and start setting up cameras at former nuclear sites. The joint statement said Iraq and the United Nations had "built on the significant progress" made since last July, when the two sides discussed the possibility of lifting the oil embargo. Iraq meanwhile reiterated its rejection of a plan to sell some of its oil under UN control. Under UN Security Council Resolutions 706 and 712, Iraq is allowed to sell up to 1.6 billion dollars' worth of oil for six months under international supervision. The proceeds must be used to buy food and medical supplies, |
FBIS3-41070_1 | 1993 Drug Seizures Three Times Higher Than Previous Year | and Bolivia, a big producer. All of them take advantage of the lack of surveillance and of border posts, especially in the Amazon Region, to transport the coca base. In 1993, the DRE intensified its cooperation with international organizations and foreign governments for the purpose of controlling drugs. Thanks to exchanges with Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, Federal Police agents have been attending advanced training courses abroad, and foreign experts have visited our country. In Sergio Sakon's opinion, the results are visible in the considerable number of "mules"--independent couriers--arrested in 1993 before they boarded aircraft at the international airports in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Operations Cover Entire Country Inroads into gangs of drug traffickers in 1993 were not restricted to just one region. The various operations resulted in the seizure of coca base and cocaine from north to south: two metric tons in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), 90 kg in Mato Grosso, 1,100 kg in Belem (Para), 220 kg in Fortaleza, 550 in Manaus, and 200 kg in the Mato Grosso town of Nova Olimpia. And in Amazonas, Federal Police destroyed 80,000 epadu (Brazilian coca) plants growing on four plantations. The choice of Amazonas for planting Brazilian coca is explained by the region's climatic conditions and the area's large expanse, which makes access and policing difficult. The various operations taking place in 1993 included the destruction of 2,139,000 marijuana plants in the Sao Francisco Valley and the Pernambuco back country--the equivalent of a little over two metric tons of the drug. Those operations, known as "Monte Santo," "Ouricuri," and "Independence," took place with the cooperation of the Army, whose troops helped eradicate the plantings discovered in the Northeast Region. Amphetamines Gaining Ground A growing concern among authorities in 1993 was the appearance of large amounts of amphetamines in the drug market. Although centers of use were detected in most regions of the country, the southern states seem to have the largest number of laboratories. Following an exhaustive investigation lasting more than three months, the Federal Police succeeded in closing two illegal laboratories, one in Campinas in Sao Paulo State and the other in Florianopolis. The largest seizure of amphetamines involved 300 kg of MDA, whose effects are not well known but which can be manufactured on a large scale at a reasonably low cost. Closing down the laboratory in the capital of Santa Catarina |
FBIS3-41076_5 | Gaviria Interviewed on U.S. Troop Presence, Cali Cartel | more professional. Not only that, but we would end cooperation, equipment supply, maintenance, and intelligence that allow us to fight crime. [EL TIEMPO] President, but Juanchaco is not the only case. What were the U.S. planes that overflew Barranquilla this weekend up to? [Gaviria] According to what the Military Forces General Command and the FAC [Colombian Air Force] reported to me, the weekend Barranquilla overflights had been legally authorized earlier. The Civil Aeronautics Board, through the Directorate of Air Operations, had information on the Atlantic coast areas that this type of aircraft was going to overfly. Colombia, in its fight against drug trafficking, receives support from the United States and other countries. We do not have all the equipment or the required technology to support with technical intelligence the struggle against drug trafficking. On the basis of current agreements that seek to repress illegal drug trafficking, the Defense Ministry requests, when conditions warrant, the support of U.S. planes that are specially equipped to detect airplanes that have not filed a flight plan. It is worth mentioning that overflights by U.S. airplanes are authorized by Decree No. 1692 of 1992. The overflights are to inform the Colombian authorities on the presence of unauthorized planes and that any other measure, such as chasing these airplanes, is exclusively the responsibility of the FAC and other national authorities. You might be asking yourselves why the air traffic controllers did not know? Because there are ongoing investigations of air controllers involved in drug trafficking. There are also people who are interested in stirring up false sovereignty debates, encouraged by a dark sponsor. If we are concerned about defending our air space sovereignty, the true threat does not lie in joint operations with the help of friendly countries. Danger to sovereignty, to Colombian society, and air security arise with the hundreds of illegal flights, without flight plans, and with perverse motivations, carried out by gun runners and drug traffickers over our territory. The authorized overflights are precisely an act of sovereignty to prevent our air space from being used with impunity by Colombia's true enemies. [EL TIEMPO] How many air surveillance radars has the United States installed in Colombia? Who operates them and who uses the information they collect? [Gaviria] Currently, the United States has installed four radars. The locations, facilities, and equipment are under the command, operation, and responsibility of Colombian military authorities. Some operate |
FBIS3-41078_3 | Deputy Prosecutor General Discusses Negotiated Criminal Penalties | as direct." According to Sintura, the early verdict procedure has enabled society to convict a number of criminals against whom the state had no evidence. The Ochoas and Urdinola Of the 12,000 hearings held by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the deputy prosecutor's office has handled the eight most sensitive cases. Sintura conducted the sentence negotiation procedures with Ivan Urdinola Grajales, Gonzalo Mejia Sanin, Fabio and Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, and some others as well. "In some of these cases we had no solid evidence, and if not for the criminals' confession, which grants them some benefits, it would not have been possible to win a conviction," said the official. "This office has conducted eight early verdict hearings. The most difficult to date was Urdinola's case, as we knew that the automatic sentence reductions provided by the law would not let us put him away for many years, and second, because the evidence we had against this man was quite rudimentary," added Sintura. Sintura says that the sentence of four years and seven months (the actual time) that Urdinola has to serve was "essentially based on his own confession and on some documents U.S. officials provided. If we had taken this case to court without his confession, we could not have gotten a verdict." He explained that a negotiated penalty also offers the prosecutor's office the advantage of the possibility of conducting other investigations against persons with whom penalties are being or have been negotiated. "We conduct very specific negotiations with very well-circumscribed charges so that we can pursue other investigations; for example, Jorge Luis and Fabio Ochoa confessed to cocaine trafficking between 1974 and 1990." "If the prosecutor's office demonstrates that between 1991 and 1993 they distributed more cocaine, we can bring another case against them that has nothing to do with the negotiated penalty," says Sintura. "In Urdinola's case," he added, "charges and penalties were arranged for drug trafficking, and he was told that a homicide charge against him was not included in this negotiation." "He obviously always wanted the homicide charge to be included in the negotiation. But the position of the Office of the Prosecutor General was clear: homicide charges were not negotiable unless he made a confession; as he did not confess to the homicide charges and claimed to be innocent, we are now moving forward with that case," said the deputy prosecutor general. |
FBIS3-41109_0 | Justice Ministry's Investigations Bureau Uncovers Amphetamine Factory | Language: Chinese Article Type:BFN [Article by reporter Huang Chingwei from Keelung: "Tucheng Amphetamine Factory Raided, International Drug Cache Captured; Suspect Big Brother' Shao Yuanlai, Founding Member of Narcotics Mob, Distribution Network in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Den Caught in Midst of Operations"] [Text] The Ministry of Justice Investigations Bureau's Maritime Investigations Office, under the supervision of Keelung District Chief Inspector Kuo Wentung, uncovered and raided an amphetamine factory in Tucheng in Taipei County at one o'clock yesterday morning. At the scene trafficking in amphetamines they caught red handed the international drug kingpin and general sleaze Shao Yuanlai, along with Tang Mingkuei and Chen Chialong, a foreign-born laborer who was helping manufacture the amphetamines. They seized 150 kilograms of amphetamines and partially finished products and expanded the continuing investigation into the international amphetamine distribution network. For the amphetamines seized by the Maritime Investigations Office in this raid, the raw materials had been smuggled in from Mainland China; the smuggling pipeline consisted of shipment by fishing boat to the coast of 400 kgs of raw material which could produce 200 kgs of amphetamines. In yesterday's raid only 150 kgs of amphetamines and partially manufactured drugs were seized, so some 30 kgs [sic] had already slipped the net. Some of the amphetamines are sold in Taiwan, but the majority are sold in Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, and the suspect Shao Yuanlai is one of the "founding members" of the amphetamine manufacturing and selling ring in this country and could have been engaged in such activities for a long period of time. In June of this year Keelung District Investigations Office Deputy Prosecutor Wang Chintsung, while investigating an amphetamine ingestion case discovered that the amphetamine raw material was smuggled in by fishing boat and that the final amphetamine products were also smuggled abroad by fishing vessels, and so handed the case over to the Maritime Investigations Office for handling. In September the Investigations Office discovered that Shao Yuanlai (age 54) was involved in the smuggling of ephedrine hydrochloride from which amphetamines are produced for sale throughout the country and in Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia and that he had close connections with international underworld organizations. Considering the situation critical, they mobilized a stakeout and search for evidence against the criminals. Two nights ago they received information that Shao Yuanlai and T'ang Mingkuei (age 42) who acts as a large scale drug dealer, were |
FBIS3-41158_2 | Army Chief: 30 Officers Faced Drug Charges in 1993 | are close allies of the Shining Path." Gen. Rodriguez added that the Army is currently using electronic devices that are used in times of war to investigate, identify, and rigorously and forcefully bring to trial--just as it does with terrorists--any officers engaged in crime. Gen. Rodriguez said the Army Inspector's Office is using taped reports and all other evidence available in intelligence work to identify those officers who may be involved in this serious crime. Gen. Hermoza noted that in the past there was only one inspector handling this type of problem in the Huallaga Front. Hermoza added: Today I have assigned four colonel-inspectors with their respective aides to monitor the activities of military personnel assigned to that zone. Hermoza emphatically stated that military criminals will be punished as severely as common criminals. Hermoza also briefly commented on a document recently published by LA REPUBLICA containing a message from Abimael Guzman to his followers. Gen. Hermoza ruled out the possibility that the Shining Path will hold its Second National Congress. Hermoza stated that when communists analyze both objective and subjective conditions they will realize that they have no chance of winning. He added: Besides, they have already lost international support and are lacking what they call "leadership" because their leaders, who are imprisoned at the Callao Naval Base, now have no control over their followers. This is why, he said, through an adequate intelligence work, our security forces have managed to arrest more terrorists. He said the "Peace Accord" between the government and Shining Path is a political subject. Hermoza added that a political war is now being waged. He said every sector of national life is participating in this war, which should be named "Pacification." Hermoza reiterated that the Shining Path extremist organization has absolutely no chance of carrying out an activity like its Second National Congress. Commenting on the presentation to the media of 18 "confirmed terrorist criminals" at the Huanuco-based "Los Avelinos" barracks, Hermoza emphasized that these criminals were unharmed, that they do not have a single scratch. Raising his voice, Hermoza rhetorically asked: Where are the human rights organizations? Why have they not commented on the number of skilled terrorist criminals who have been arrested in the past two years without having suffered a single scratch? This, he said, is one of the many indicators of the way human rights is being respected in the country. |
FBIS3-41202_0 | Mentese Has `File' Listing PKK Members Involved in Drug Trade | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Strasbourg, Feb 4 (A.A) -- Interior Minister Nahit Mentese presented a file of the outlawed separatist terrorist PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] organization which included the organization's relations with drug traffic, it was reported on Friday. Mentese who is currently attending a Council of Europe ministerial meeting on drugs said the file showed that PKK had links with 53 drug traffic incidents which happened between 1990-1993 adding that nearly four tonnes of heroin were seized during this time. Mentese said European security officials also confirmed the organization's activities on drug traffic. The file gives the names of the terrorists from the outlawed separatist PKK organization who were earlier caught together with large quantities of narcotics in several countries of the world and in Turkey. Meanwhile, a document published at the end of the meeting, with Turkey's initiatives, said "European countries strengthen their commitment that they will work together against terror organizations who have links with drug traffic." |
FBIS3-41211_0 | Role of Fundamentalists in Global Drug Trade Examined | Language: Arabic Article Type:CSO [Article by Sa'id al-Qaysi in Kabul and Nayil Mukhaybir in Paris: "The `Golden Crescent' Outstrips the `Golden Triangle' in Opium Production; Triangle Sides Are Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran"] [Text] Where do the extremist Islamists get the money to cover the cost of their operations, to fund their networks throughout the world, and to buy their weapons? How can leading figures like Ayman al-Zawahiri live in Geneva, one of the world's most expensive cites, Rabeh Kabir in Bonn, Rachid Ghannouchi in London, and Anwar Haddam in Chicago--without known sources of income? The Iranian role in funding the many fundamentalist movements no longer requires evidence: it is officially acknowledged. The latest information, however, indicates that Tehran, which is going through a severe economic crisis, has initiated a policy of austerity towards the support of these movements, forcing them to seek out financial sources besides Iranian support. What are these sources? Who are the extremists' new backers? A few weeks ago, Western and Arab security reports spoke of alternative funding networks used by the fundamentalists. In this investigation, AL-WATAN AL-'ARABI exposes the secrets and details of these globally organized and coordinated networks. The most dangerous of these is an international fundamentalist network that trafficks in drugs and smuggles them, in cooperation with global mafias; the role of the Golden Crescent (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran); of Golboddin Hekmatyar and American intelligence; and the evidence of a new and dangerous leadership for fundamentalist extremism based in Afghanistan. Two months after the raid carried out by the French authorities against the Algerian fundamentalist network and one month after a similar operation on a smaller scale against the Tunisian fundamentalist network, French investigators uncovered first-hand information about the facts of the North African fundamentalist networks and their connections and branches. While Paris ended up releasing all the detainees, it confirmed the presence of an infrastructure for turning France into a terrorist base behind the lines. However, the most important thing the investigations have uncovered so far, and to which they still accord the greatest importance in following up its European and global tentacles, relates to the North African fundamentalist movements' funding networks. AL-WATAN AL-'ARABI has learned that French security agencies discovered, during their raids on some of the Algerian and Tunisian Islamists' homes and headquarters, huge sums of money, in the millions of dollars, and a complex, secret, and organized movement for transferring funds |
FBIS3-41211_8 | Role of Fundamentalists in Global Drug Trade Examined | requires many times what Tehran is offering, particularly as their activities and ambitions are constantly on the rise; money, too, is an important and vital resource for persuading the poor and deprived to join them, for building secret networks and training camps, arms purchases, and logistics. Sudan, which carries aloft the banner of pan-Islamism, cannot even feed itself. Some Arab regimes, such as Iraq and Libya, offer support, but it is conditional and linked to a specific tactic for a limited time, restricted to meager material capabilities of these two countries, bearing in mind that Libya recently opened a channel of aid to the Islamists, offering especially to the North Africans among them material and military support to damage the West. Therefore it was necessary to find an alternative to Iranian funding, but in such a way as to please and placate Iran, as it still refuses to turn over its control of the "global Islamic revolution" to anyone else. Thus Iran took it upon itself to secure an alternative, and to help establish a new funding network for the fundamentalists, whose tentacles have been clearly exposed for months, to the surprise of many global observers, Arabs, and Muslims--including some of the Islamists. The "Golden Triangle" Network What is the new network for funding the fundamentalists? How does it work? Who controls it? The information obtained by AL-WATAN AL-'ARABI was gathered from diverse sources, and drawn from secret reports recently prepared by Interpol, U.S. intelligence, the U.S. counter-narcotics bureau, and Arab and Western security agencies that have monitored this network for months. These reports all agree that the principal sources of funding for the extremist Islamic movements today is drugs and smuggling. The information confirms that the pan-Islamist leadership has in the past--since the early 1970s, to be exact--been able to establish an international funding network combining terror, the drug mafia, and linked to at least one international mafia in relations to cooperate, coordinate, and swap expertise. While Peshawar today is a primary gathering point for the terrorists of the Muslim world, especially the Afghan Arabs, it is also an important center for the funding of this terror, and for supplying the world's fundamentalist networks with the funds they need for their activities. The information on funding sources for the extremist fundamentalists uncovered by the investigations of more than one Western and Arab security agency indicates that the Golden Crescent |
FBIS3-41234_0 | U.S. Objectives in Aiding Country's Antinarcotics Effort Scrutinized | Language: Spanish Article Type:BFN [Article by Mauricio Schvartzman entitled "Computer Problems"] [Text] It is said that a former president of a small and poor country travelled to the United States last December. Arriving in Miami, an immigration department agent--after looking through the passenger's passport and consulting the computer--asked him to wait, ordered a [member of] customs personnel to bring his suitcases and invited him to a nearby office. The visitor, somewhat alarmed, asked: "What is wrong?" The customs official explained: "Your name coincides with that of another person who appears on the screen. Moreover, he is your age--the customs official complicated matters even more so--and he is registered as a drug trafficker." The foreign visitor indignant, surprised, and desperate protested: "That cannot be." He complained: "I was president of the republic and fought drug trafficking with the U.S. Government's cooperation. Let me phone the U.S. ambassador in my country." The former president managed to get through: "Ambassador, I am being delayed here in Miami because the computer registers a drug trafficker with my name." He explained his problem sounding rather terrified. The ambassador confirms: "Yes, they have informed me that your name appears in the computer. It is a computer problem." The ambassador promises to do his best, saying: "We will resolve the problem." It is said that finally after 40 minutes, or after some 90 minutes according to more exaggerated witness reports, the former president was able to comply with the immigration red tape and visit the United States under the uneasy impression that the incident, caused by who knows what, was a warning. This anecdote is an example of the political language of "demonstrations," like military maneuvers, street demonstrations, cabinet changes, retirements, etc., whose goals--which exceed their disclosed purposes--are uncovered, sometimes correctly and others erroneously, through analysis or speculation. The case of the former president delayed by an immigration agent reminds us of the unfulfilled promises General Andres Rodriguez--who perfectly fits the anti-hero in the anecdote--made to the U.S. Government about handing over the protectors of drug trafficking and dismantling their infrastructure. If for the political process the transition meant building the legal framework of democracy to assure the free action of the political institutions and elect--based on these conditions--the first civilian president, for the U.S. Government it also meant eliminating the protection system for drug traffickers. The United States was especially concerned about this because the transition |
FBIS3-41235_5 | Involvement of Vaticano's Family in Drug Trafficking Detailed | has told "LA REPUBLICA" that she did not know he was wanted by justice. "He never told me that," she said. But that was not the only amorous relationship she had with people linked with the drug trafficking business. According to the Dirandro [Antidrug Division] she also lived with Colombian citizen Jorge Rodriguez, a drug trafficker with whom she had two sons and who died as consequence of a vendetta in Cali in 1980. Personal documents belonging to "Vaticano" were also found in the home of Bertha Chavez Penaherrera. These documents include his voting document, his birth certificate, and a false penal certificate in which he appears clean from any police record. "La Calena" told our newspaper that she has not seen her brother Demetrio Limonier for 10 years and Jose Humberto for eight years and that a stranger had left "Vaticano's" documents in her house although she refused to receive them. In the same Dirandro report of March 1993, Bertha Chavez is linked with the activities of her brother Demetrio. Army sources state that she "moved nearly 500 kg of cocaine base every 15 days, taking the drug from one place to another, but within the same zone, in an operation which drug traffickers call `disorientation'" [trasteo]. According to the same information obtained in the Upper Huallaga region, Saposoa was the operations center of "La Calena" who competed in the area with drug trafficker "Lucho Culon," of Cajamarca, "Nino" and "Clavo," of Pucallpa, and "Tolima," "Azul," and "Leo," of Colombia. In a paid ad published only a few weeks ago in some Lima newspapers, Bertha Chavez denied any link with the drug trafficking business and maintained that the Dirandro had forged this lie about her by inventing information linking her with "Vaticano." She said that if she were wanted by justice "I would present myself immediately" but "La Calena" has left Lima and her family will not provide any information about her current whereabouts. Bertha Chavez, who upon being arrested was transferred to the Iquitos prison because she had been summoned by the court of Maynas, was released on 26 November 1993. Prosecutor Teresa Porras Carrion and Maynas Provincial Judge Jaime Cardenas Fonseca agreed that the testimony of Colombian citizen Cruz Ayala was "not enough evidence" to keep her under arrest, so she was released. But the documents that were found with her provided the police with more details |
FBIS3-41237_5 | Air Force's Antidrug Efforts Viewed | the tops of the forest trees to avoid being spotted; they fly zig-zag along the rivers and leave in groups of three in different directions to avoid being intercepted. At night they also light up three or four airstrips at a time in various points of Huallaga to confuse FAP. Besides, FAP pilots do not have radars in their aircraft. They depend on information supplied by U.S. air and land radars. This hinders their autonomy and the speed with which they intercept the drug traffickers. The Tucano pilots use night vision systems at night. Experts on antidrug operations have commented that never before in Peru has such important progress been made in the interdiction of drug trafficking, despite the fact that the struggle is carried out with a deficient infrastructure and a meager budget. The tents in which FAP personnel live in the area are proof of this. Uncertainty has spread among the drug traffickers in the Upper Huallaga. Even more so with the recent arrest of the greatest drug trafficker Peru has ever had; Demetrio Limonier Chavez Penaherrera, aka Vaticano. The coordinated action of all the security forces, that is, the Army, Navy, Air Force, police, and DEA, is beginning to yield results in the Upper Huallaga. Drug traffickers are extremely nervous. They no longer enjoy the influence they did in the past. During the past few months many drug traffickers have ended as they started: in misery. The new anti-narcotics strategy in the area is proving fruitful. Consequently, drug traffickers are trying to use new, uncertain routes still not controlled properly. Coca is currently planted and harvested in La Mar (Ayacucho), Andahuaylas (Apurimac) and La Convencion (Cusco) Provinces. The New Map of Drug Trafficking in Peru The drug traffickers' "firms" operated like any enterprise but clandestinely; they finance the purchase in bulk of drugs (stock), they make cocaine base paste, and act as bridges for the Colombian cartels. Their hierarchy structure is vertical, ranging from the "patron" [boss] or "duro" [strongman] to the "burro" [mule] or "traquetero" [middleman]. These firms finance the maintenance of the clandestine airstrips. Currently, about 50 "firms" operate in the Upper Huallaga. "Vaticano," who was arrested by Colombian police as a result of a coordinated effort with the national intelligence service, according to President Alberto Fujimori, is regarded as the most powerful drug trafficker Peru has ever had. His organization traded approximately $900 million |
FBIS3-41246_0 | Officials' Talks With U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Gelbard Detailed | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Unattributed article: "China, U.S. Team Up in Drug Control"] [Text] China and the United States have agreed to join efforts to fight drug trafficking and illegal immigration, according to officials of the Ministry of Public Security. The agreement was signed by Bai Jingfu, vice-minister of Public Security and vice-director of the National Narcotics Control Committee and Robert Gelbard, the US Assistant Secretary of State for international narcotics affairs. Through their talks on January 25 in Beijing, Bai and Gelbard exchanged views on how to solve the international narcotics problems, especially the sources in Asia, such as the notorious "Golden Triangle." The two sides agreed on the need to strengthen their cooperation in fighting drug crimes. The Chinese side expressed its hope that the United States would remove barriers impeding the two nations from working together to stop the international drug trade. Gelbard said the United States needs to work out new laws for curbing the increasing drug crimes. During his stay in Beijing, Gelbard also held talks with Zhang Hongxi, director of the Consular Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry, on illegal immigration. While briefing Gelbard on various factors that cause smuggling and illegal immigration and the steps China has taken to combat these kinds of illegal activities, Zhang reiterated China's opposition to such activities. He also asked the United States to clamp down on the "snakeheads," who have been found to be involved in smuggling Chinese people to the United States. He added that while the United States grants asylum to these smugglers who falsely claim that they are fleeing political persecution in China, it is encouraging such kind of smuggling. Gelbard said his talks with the Chinese officials on both problems were satisfactory, and he and his Chinese counterparts' opinions on the matter were "very much along the same line." Gelbard also visited China's Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan provinces after leaving Beijing. |
FBIS3-41283_0 | Cabinet Given Statistics on Youth Crime, Addiction Rates | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["Welt-Nachrichtendienst" report: "Fewer Youths Sentenced"] [Text] Bonn -- The number of minors sentenced for theft and embezzlement has declined by 60 percent in 10 years. In a response to a grand inquiry by Christian Democratic Union [CDU]/Christian Social Union [CSU] and Free Democratic Party of Germany [FDP] on the topic "situation of Young People in Germany," approved by the Cabinet in Bonn yesterday, FRG Youth Minister Angela Merkel said that, on the one hand, this is due to the demographic development. On the other, the youth courts refrain from sentencing the culprits in particular in case of less serious crime and use other kinds of punishment. According to the criminal prosecution statistics, the number of young people sentenced for theft and embezzlement declined from 41,809 in 1982 to 16,528 in 1991. The number of young people sentenced for acts of violence has also declined--from 8,799 by one-third to 5,937. FRG Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) expressed concern about the "alarmingly high involvement of young people in acts of violence with right-wing extremist motives and xenophobic crimes." The share of young people up to 20 years of age in acts of violence with proven or suspected right-wing extremist motives amounted to about 69 percent in 1991 and 67 percent in 1992. From January 1991 to April 1992 alone this share amounted to 75 percent, the minister reported. She stressed that, from the viewpoint of the Federal Government, the current criminal law relating to young offenders is sufficient also to punish right-wing extremist violent crimes. A general tightening of the law is not intended. For serious crimes committed by young people a prison term of up to 10 years is possible. However, this statutory punishment is hardly ever imposed. The Cabinet was also presented with figures on young drug addicts and alcoholics. The proportion of young alcoholics between 18 and 24 years of about 2.5 million alcoholics is 4.6 percent among men and 3.7 percent among women in the old laender. For the new laender there is information available only on the proportion of male alcoholics in this age group, which is 3.1 percent. The proportion of opiate-addicted young people in the old laender is 30 percent of all drug addicts among men and 4 percent among women. For young people addicted to pharmaceuticals the figures are 23 and 14.7 percent respectively. |
FBIS3-41291_0 | Health Official Gives Statistics on Country's Growing Drug Woes | Language: Latvian Article Type:BFN [Article by Agita Berzina: "Number of Drug Addicts Rising in Latvia"] [Text] Riga, 29 Jan -- The death rate among drug addicts in Latvia has increased, the number of drug-related crimes and the number of drug seizures have also risen, and drugs which were previously not available have now appeared on the streets of our country--such were the gloomy facts given to journalists today by Janis Stradins, the chief drug expert at the Health Department. The most worrying fact--confirmed by statistical data on the problem of drug abuse in Latvia--is the high death rate from willful drug indulgence, explained J. Stradins. Last year, 47 drug addicts died, in 1992--27 died, in 1991--nine. Most of them died from drug overdoses. In 20 cases, experts could not determine precisely which drug had caused death since several narcotics had been used simultaneously. The number of crimes related to drug use, storage, and trafficking has also increased. In 1993, 269 people were prosecuted on criminal charges, in 1992--156. Last year, 320 drug dens were discovered, in 1992--210. The quantity of confiscated drugs is also rising. Last year, 166.2 kg of poppy straw were confiscated, in 1992--114.8 kg. Given our circumstances, these are the most dangerous cases, stated J. Stradins, because addicts, by using relatively simple technology, can extract heroin from the straw. At present, the greatest share of drugs reaching Latvia come from Lithuania, Russia, and southern Ukraine. Thus, poppies from the south, containing more heroin than locally grown ones, are making their way into Latvia. Another substance widely used by addicts is efedron, which is extracted from medicine already containing the narcotic. It is a very effective drug which creates distinct addiction. Heroin is usually injected one to three times a day, whereas it is necessary to inject efedron as many as 15 times a day. Marijuana and hashish are being found less and less frequently. But, as J. Stradins stated, there is presumably still quite a considerable volume of trade in these substances. The most alarming aspect today is the appearance of cocaine. The appearance of this drug is linked primarily with the stabilization of the lat, and there is good reason to think that when the lat becomes convertible, it will be possible to purchase any drug in any amount throughout Latvia. A letter has been sent to the prime minister, in which he was asked to |
FBIS3-41312_1 | Rio Police Allegedly `In League' With Drug Traffickers | game lords take their positions, give orders, and revoke them, counting on the complicity of the police. In last week's bloodbath, in which 12 people were killed after 30 traffickers arrived by truck and vans, armed with machine guns and grenades--there is, as always, a suspicion that the police were involved. Before the violence broke out, three [police] vehicles had driven through the favela, as if casing the area. Traffickers identify police from the Drug Enforcement Division as being associates of Parazao. Thus accused of corruption and complicity, the Rio de Janeiro police are once again the focus of attention, in a privileged position alongside the traffickers in their fury. That is where one finds the examples of insubordination, corruption, abuse of power, violence, and promiscuous collusion with organized crime. The police complain about low wages--a pretext for under-the-table actions. But money is not their only problem. The cancer originates in poor training, of both civil and military police. Society itself, at the mercy of organized crime and corrupt policemen, has contributed to the spread of the outrages. When the three police forces--federal, civil, and military--work together under pressure from public opinion, we get some results. But normally they are rivals, very often pursuing the same booty. The drug traffic should long ago have been made the number one priority of the police because of its toxic effects, the violence, its tremendous power to fragment a society. What characterizes the Brazilian police is precisely its failure to set priorities: its activities dissolve into indecision, into lack of purpose. The result is a disproportion that is less and less perceived, between the ability of the police to curb delinquency and the increase in the security crisis. The Acari favela is a typical example: the police know the gangs are there, know who the leaders are, know their hideouts, and know what territories they are fighting over. But the police cannot manage to get organized--or do not want to organize--to combat them. The dispute has become so acrimonious that it has been suggested that the army intervene to battle the traffic in the shantytowns. Political considerations have killed that initiative. After the massacre, the police visited the favela. Strategically, organized crime waited for them to leave before going back into action. It is a vicious circle. It has come to the point where violence not associated with any spiritual principle has degenerated |
FBIS3-41331_0 | Reinstatement of `Mobile Units' Proposed | Language: Spanish Article Type:CSO [Article by Ignacio Gutierrez A.] [Text] In order to improve the results of drug seizures on the nation's highways, consideration is being given to the feasibility of using "mobile units," under the supervision of an agent from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. The proposal was made yesterday, during the first meeting held by the PGR's [Office of the Attorney General of the Republic] assistant attorney for local offices and inspections, Alfonso Cabrera Morales, with Federal Judicial Police [PJF] deputy commissioners from all parts of the country. At this meeting, the official also called upon the PJF personnel to redouble their efforts in the battle against those committing federal crimes, and stressed the courage and loyalty of those risking their lives in every operation. He cited the need for more animals in the force's canine unit, engaged in detecting drugs, as well as an increase in the number of federal forces in areas requiring greater attention. In the name of the attorney general of the republic, Diego Valades, he confirmed that the PGR had continued confidence in public servants, and support for their work. At the same time, he reminded them of their commitment to overcome the delay in the implementation of court orders throughout the country, to pursue their investigations of the drug traffic, and to dismantle criminal organizations operating in various villages and towns of the respective federative states. He noted that, starting yesterday, constant patrols were established by air and on land to prevent the landing of planes on natural runways in several of the country's states. He also announced a heightening of the surveillance on coasts and docks, and at bus, air, and railroad terminals. The PJF's state deputy commissioners, as well as the force's operational, technical, and intelligence directors, submitted detailed reports of their activities throughout the Mexican Republic. They cited the feasibility of putting the "mobile units" into operation. It should be mentioned that this practice was discontinued some time ago, owing to the excesses committed at the time by bad members of the Federal Judicial Police. Therefore, to prevent abuses now, it has been proposed that these operations be headed by agents from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. Preventing Drug Addiction At the meeting, Cabrera Morales discussed the need for continuing talks with local and municipal authorities to prevent drug addiction among youth. He claimed that, to date, this has |
FBIS3-41338_0 | Foreign Minister Protests Statements | Language: Spanish Article Type:BFN [Article by Carmen Elida Contreras] [Text] Yesterday, Panamanian Foreign Minister Jose Raul Mulino rejected statements made in Washington by Robert Gelbard, U.S. assistant deputy secretary for inter-American affairs. Gelbard warned the United States could reduce its aid to countries, like Panama, which have not curbed drug trafficking. "Expressing criticism that does not seriously reflect the true attitude and determination of the Panamanian Government in its fight against this powerful and international network of crimes is unacceptable," Mulino warned in a note sent to Deane Hinton, U.S. ambassador to Panama. On 10 February, Gelbard told the international press that the Clinton administration is studying the possibility of cutting aid to countries like Panama, Bolivia, Peru, and other drug-producing countries or countries where drug traffickers operate and where they have not been punished. Mulino recalled that since 1990, the Panamanian Government has been taking "serious and decisive" actions to fight the laundering of drug money. "I reiterate my concern for the inexplicable delay the U.S. Senate has experienced in ratifying the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on penal matters, signed by the United States and Panama in April 1991," and which has been approved by the Panamanian Legislative Assembly. According to the diplomat, all these years of postponements with respect to this important legal instrument "undermines your government official's authority to criticize." In his letter, the foreign minister chronologically recounts at least 12 measures Panama has taken against drug trafficking as well as the agreements and treaties signed with other countries. Mulino adds that "not even the United States, with all its resources, has been able to effectively control drug consumption. But this real impossibility is not an excuse to carelessly say that this government is not working to control" this problem. |
FBIS3-41350_0 | Narcotics Roundup for 14-20 February Two Americans, Five Others Arrested on Heroin Charges in Bangkok | Article Type:BFN [Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of reports on narcotics developments in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific monitored by Bangkok Bureau between 14 and 20 February 1994. Source information is given in parentheses after each item. SOUTH ASIA Pakistan Karachi Police Seize Narcotics, Arrest 90 On 14 February, Karachi Police arrested 90 people throughout the city on various charges. They recovered 60.50 kg of hashish, 19 grams of heroin, 11 pistols, five revolvers, a dagger, two stolen motorcycles, and other goods from 33 of the suspects. (Islamabad THE NATION in English 15 Feb 94 p 12) PNCB Seizes Heroin, Rocket Launcher in Panjgur Mountains A Pakistan Narcotics Control Board [PNCB] raiding party has seized 480 kg [of] heroin, a rocket launcher, and five shells hidden by smugglers in the mountains near Panjgur, Mekran Division. The smugglers escaped by "firing indiscriminately." The drugs were destined to be smuggled out of the country via the Balochistan coast. (Islamabad THE NEWS in English 16 Feb 94 p 1) SOUTHEAST ASIA Burma Authorities Seize 10.12 Kg of Opium, Arrest Four On 24 January--acting on a tip--members of the Defense Services Intelligence Unit, the antidrug squad, and the People's Militia searched a Mohnyin house belonging to U Tin Htwe, 40. Officials found five packets of opium weighing 10.123 kg belonging to Khun Ba Maung, 28, and Htein Lin, 23. It was later discovered that Win Pe, 32, had paid the homeowner to hide the drugs. All four were arrested. (Rangoon THE NEW LIGHT OF BURMA in English 3 Feb 94 p 7) Two Arrested, 2.31 Kg of Heroin Seized in Lashio On 30 January--acting on a tip--members of the Defense Services Intelligence Unit and Lashio special antidrug squad arrested Daw Tin Kyi, 45, and Daw Kyi Win, 42, as they were about to take a train to Mandalay. The two women were found in possession of 2.3109 kg of heroin hidden in beer bottles and four plastic containers. (Rangoon THE NEW LIGHT OF BURMA in English 6 Feb 94 p 7) Authorities Seize 8.16 Kg of Opium in Mogaung Acting on a tip, members of the Defense Services Intelligence Unit and Mogaung antidrug squad searched Daw Tein Yi Kawt's house on 30 January. They found 20 packets of opium weighing 8.16 kg hidden in a plastic basket. (Rangoon THE NEW LIGHT OF BURMA in English 9 Feb 94 p 7) |
FBIS3-41386_0 | Europol Chief Hopes To Go Beyond `Mere Surveillance' of Drug Traffickers | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Report by Barbara Smit: "Europol To Stretch Arm of the Law Over Borders"] [Text] Amsterdam -- A prototype European Community police force was launched yesterday, with officers from the 12 member states making no secret of their ambition eventually to enforce the law across the EC, ignoring borders. In a sleek building formerly occupied by the Dutch secret service in The Hague, the first chief of Europol, Herr Jurgen Storbeck, said he hoped to move rapidly beyond mere surveillance of drug traffickers. Task forces or even multinational police squads should be set up, he said--a scheme long demanded by Chancellor Kohl of Germany, but which causes shudders in London and some other European capitals. "I think governments will agree to this federal ideal. What was unthinkable 10 years ago has now become thinkable," said Herr Storbeck, former German head of Interpol in Wiesbaden. For now, British Tory nightmares of multilingual officers roaming the continent are some way from reality. Yesterday, as a launch ceremony was held, intelligence officers sat at computer monitors, checking the cross-border activities of drugs smugglers. More direct action against crime will have to wait until October, while EC countries wrangle over the legal convention establishing the force under the Maastricht Treaty. Herr Storbeck said the agency could gather detailed information on the movements and criminal records of citizens around Europe in less than three hours. Since mid-January, 19 "liaison officers" representing the 12 EC member states, including two Britons, have handled about 20 cases, supplying relevant data gathered from their national police services. This is only the first step towards the planned creation of Europe-wide databanks on crime and terrorism. However, there could be stumbling blocks ahead over privacy rules and a lack of trust between national intelligence services. "The national services have an obligation to provide us with information, but we don't have any powers to force them if they are reluctant," said Herr Storbeck. |
FBIS3-41387_2 | Interpol Director General Discusses Drug Situation in West, East Europe | entire idea is--in essence--new. First of all, it is necessary for government and political officials to understand the seriousness of the threat represented by organized crime in the drugs trade and to be aware of the kind of resources that it is necessary to use. I think, however, that they are aware of the benefit that will arise from combining efforts in an assault on these criminal organizations. Then, it is necessary to put the security services--this massive apparatus for acquiring and analyzing information--at the immediate disposal of the authorities involved in the struggle against drugs. [Sevela] Some politicians maintain, however, that the security and information services are already being used for this purpose.... [Kendall] Yes, but intelligence centers always have a tendency to act independently. According to my proposal, they should not operate separately and in isolation. They should be subordinate to the people supervising the struggle against drugs-related crime. [Sevela] Is it possible somehow to prevent corruption in the offices intended to combat the drugs trade? [Kendall] Your question touches upon one of the biggest problems. Organized crime is a source of huge profit and brings with it the possibility of corruption among officials in all posts, including the most senior ones. Therefore, it is important for all countries--but mainly those whom corruption most concerns--to introduce specific measures. [Sevela] You yourself are an advocate of balance between repression and prevention in the drugs sphere. You have proposed orienting efforts toward restricting the demand for narcotics. Should Eastern Europe proceed differently from Western Europe? [Kendall] No, this problem is the same everywhere. Despite this, the countries of the former Eastern bloc are--to a certain extent--lucky, because the majority of people there cannot afford the prices that the traffickers demand for drugs. Another aspect is that many things from Western Europe--including drugs--are attractive, especially to young people. Of course, it is possible to avoid the problems that afflict us by means of prevention. It is enough to learn from our experience, first and foremost, in restricting the demand for drugs and to try to stop them infiltrating into the country--something that is on the increase--until your economy improves. [Sevela] In what direction should prevention be oriented? [Kendall] It is simply necessary to explain to people that drugs are bad. It is necessary to explain the health risks from these dangerous toxic substances as is being done for tobacco and alcohol. |
FBIS3-41389_0 | Drug Policy Team Leader Comments on Issue of Legalization | Language: Finnish Article Type:CSO [Article by Timo Rautava: "Europe Has To Suffer More Damage From Drugs"] [Excerpts] The problems are so deep-seated that a more permissive approach for drug-control policies is not anticipated. [passage omitted] "Antidrug goals are so profoundly a part of UN principles that we will have to work at it for many years before the present drug control structures can be substantially changed," said Chief Inspector Tapani Sarvanti of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the head of the drug policy team. He has participated in the planning of drug control as Finland's representative on the Council of Europe, in the United Nations, and on the Nordic Council of Ministers. They began to control drugs manufactured in the developing countries at the start of this century, and the general international agreement on them goes back to 1961. In 1971 control was extended to drugs manufactured in the industrial countries and in 1988 to the international trade in drugs and money laundering. A debate on their legalization is currently in progress in the area covered by the former Soviet Union and the East European countries, Estonia and Hungary, for example. "Once a debate is engaged in, control settles on some point or other. Under the Soviet system, the whole issue was banned. The socialist countries' drug problems could not be publicly discussed since drugs went hand in hand with capitalism and a bygone age. Drugs were combated with official actions kept concealed from the public. Nevertheless, they got better results with this dishonest strategy than we in the Western countries did. Now that capitalism is being introduced into the former socialist countries, drug use in them is clearly on the increase," Sarvanti said. In Sarvanti's opinion, many symbolic values are associated with drugs in the Western countries. "And the more we make a mystique of drugs, the more they are also used as a channel for rebellion. The drug problem in the slums of the United States has gotten out of hand. There are many subcultures there that have gotten involved in crime." "They have gotten so deeply entangled in drugs that they can no longer legalize them. They don't dare do anything radical about them since they cannot predict what that would result in," he said. Absolute Ban or Unrestricted Use? In Western Europe legalization has been discussed rather extensively, in addition to Spain, in Switzerland, |
FBIS3-41393_0 | Police Seize 6.5 Kg of Heroin in Stuttgart | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Stuttgart -- Police have seized 6.5 kilograms of heroin and over 30,000 German marks [DM] in drug money in a Stuttgart apartment. An arrest warrant has been issued against three Turkish citizens, whom the land criminal investigation department considers to be "members of a Kurdish group." The men, who are between 19 and 30 years old, were already arrested in the last week of January. The heroin, packaged ready for sale, is estimated to be worth some DM500,000. |
FBIS3-41404_0 | Bristol Police Seeking Dealers of `Purer Than Usual' Heroin | Language: English Article Type:CSO [Article by Michael Prestage: "Police Close in on Dealers at Heart of Fatal Operation"] [Text] Police believe they know the identity of the dealers selling a purer than usual form of heroin in the St Paul's district of Bristol, which may have claimed the lives of eight addicts. A senior Avon and Somerset officer said that although the purer form was available from a number of sources at street level, it was thought that further up the drug-dealing chain one or two individuals were responsible for distribution. He said; "We have good intelligence linking us to one or two names and one or two addresses. We know these dealers have been particularly active in recent months.'' "I cannot give too much away, but it is safe to say there is an ongoing operation to stop them." Recent high-profile police activity in the area has produced 40 arrests in 17 days and raids on a number of drug dens. In the latest raid last Thursday evening, seven people were arrested and released on police bail. Forensic scientists are analysing 20 "wraps" of a substance found during the raid at a high rise flat, on an estate on the outskirts of Bristol. The police source said officers were liaising with other forces. There are also links with Customs aimed at identifying the source of the drug. The heroin trade in the city is largely handled by white dealers--crack is considered a black drug--but further up the heroin chain, there is believed to be an Asian connection. In Bristol heroin is in plentiful supply, despite police efforts. The wholesale street price has dropped by 50 per cent, from £32,000 a kilo to £21,000. A fix can be had for £10. Heroin as pure as 80 per cent has been recovered in the Avon and Somerset force area in recent months. Three deaths have already been confirmed as involving a form of the drug which has been analysed as being 63 per cent heroin, rather than the usual 40 per cent. The death of a 17-year-old, Ross Hamblin, as well as four deaths last year, is also likely to be linked to the purer heroin. There are 450 registered addicts in the Bristol area, but a recent survey has shown the true figure of addicts to be around 1,500. Casual users will push the number still higher. |
FBIS3-41406_1 | Undercover Reporter Blasts Earlier Decision To Decriminalize Drug Use | office to write about how they had ended up there and how they feel in the "loony bin." Why did the newspaper need this particular crime report? The words "drug business" are used with increasing frequency in presentations by lawyers and employees of the prosecutor's offices and the militia. Some 1.5 million Russians use narcotics permanently. Specialists project that this number will double in five to six years. The prospects are dismal, especially if we take into account the fact that in the last 10 years narcotics-related crime has increased by a factor of three. So far, our situation has been different from that in the region of the so-called "golden triangle" (Burma, Laos, Vietnam). The domestic drug business is not yet on a par with the Medellin cartel from South America. However, there is enough reason to worry because on issues of crime we frequently also find ourselves "ahead of the entire planet." What influenced my roommates in deciding "to get hooked," join the "sniffers," or pop "pills" and do "grass?" The 30-year-old cardiologist injected himself with promedol while still a student. Why? His colleague from the institute had promised unheard-of bliss. Then he injected himself another time, and rolled downhill. He could no longer do without two injections a day. Meanwhile, life went on. He graduated from the institute and got married. However, on learning that her husband was a drug addict, his wife took their 1-year-old daughter along and left. His father got sick.... The guy from the vocational technical school painted a generally familiar picture. Up to 20 boys got together, poured a solvent into plastic bags and, putting in their heads, inhaled for several hours until they were spaced out. None of the passers-by who are scared of our present-day life and who saw them sitting on stairways or in the hallways of homes got outraged, tried to stop them, or reported them to the militia. The befuddled youths who inhaled poison engaged in wild carnage right there, in front of the houses. Their confused minds did not understand that they were beating to death their own best friend.... The third one, with tattoos, looked askance at the newcomer. He just did not want to acknowledge me as a drug addict who was brought in for compulsory treatment. Likewise, I was not particularly eager to converse, having learned from the physicians the biographic details about |
FBIS3-41415_0 | Ministries, Agencies Map Biological Diversity Strategy | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Tokyo, Jan 12 KYODO -- Officials of nine ministries and agencies met Wednesday [12 January] to begin planning Japan's response to the convention on biological diversity, an international legal instrument for the conservation and use of the earth's biological resources. The coordinating committee will meet regularly to develop a national strategy to maintain biodiversity domestically and overseas. It will also discuss proposals to take to the first conference of countries which are parties to the treaty scheduled for November. That conference will consider ways to fund developing countries' efforts to maintain biodiversity as well as consider policy on the transfer of biotechnology. The treaty, which came into effect last year, was drawn up at the United Nations-sponsored earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in June, 1992. Forty-nine countries have signed the treaty. Policy measures developed by the committee will be combined with measures adopted at the November conference for incorporation in an overall national strategy by the end of the year. The treaty covers the protection of endangered species, access to biological resources for commercial use, and the maintenance of the world's species' genetic pool. |
FBIS3-41425_1 | Ambassador to Burma Clarifies Impact of Dam Projects | feasibility study an environmental impact assessment. Even now, there exists no agreement between the two countries on the implementation of a feasibility study of this project. 3. If and when there is a mutual agreement between Thailand and Myanmar regarding the Salwin hydroelectric project, the aforementioned environmental impact assessment will definitely take into consideration any impacts on the peoples living along that river, be they Karens, Shans, Paos, Was and many other ethnic groups. The dams, should they be built, may not even be located in the areas where some of the Karens are living along the Thai-Myanmar borders since there are several possible sites along this long river. 4. The present Government of the Union of Myanmar is just as environmentally conscious as the Thai Government. The decision of the Government of the Union of Myanmar to terminate timber concessions along the Thai-Myanmar border is based on its concern to conserve the forests along the border which happen also to be watersheds for several of Thailand's own rivers. Although this decision has caused pain to many Thai logging companies, the Government of Myanmar also sacrifice revenues of more than two hundred million dollars per year in order to conserve these forests. We should respect their decision and should realize that a government that is willing to sacrifice such large revenues given its relatively small foreign exchange reserves for the sake of preserving its environment is unlikely to agree to any hydroelectric projects without undertaking prior environmental impact assessment and securing environmental safeguards. 5. As for the Karens living along the Thai-Myanmar borders, their fate is not limited to being, as THE NATION puts it, ``forced into making a terrible choice between living in Slorc [State Law and Order Restoration Council] concentration camps or Thai refugee camps.'' First of all, there are more Karens living in other parts of Myanmar such as the Ayeyarwaddy Division than along the Thai-Myanmar border and they are living not in ``concentration camps'' but in towns and villages similar to other 135 ethnic groups that comprise the people of Myanmar. Second, they can enter into negotiations with the Government of the Union of Myanmar as other ethnic groups such as the Kachins, the Was and the Kokangs have done so successfully in securing their autonomous areas and their ways of life. I sincerely hope that they will choose this option of negotiations instead of prolonging |
FBIS3-41438_1 | U.S. Antipollution Law on Ships Decried | in mitigating the problem as pollution related claims, not only accounted for a sizeable part of the total P&I claims but also because the wide publicity that is being given to the incidents of pollution affected the professional image of the shipping industry, he said. The clubs cover claims against their members for loss damage and expense arising from pollution caused by an escape or discharge of oil from their vessels including fines, up to a limit, at present, of $500 million per accident or occurrence. Dr. I.C. White, managing director of the International Tanker Owners' Pollution Federation, the UK, gave details about the federation's computerised oil spill response database and said it also provided practical information on oil spill response techniques. He said the incidence of oil spills greater than 5,000 barrels (about 700 tonnes) from vessels had come down from an average a year in the 1970's to nine in 1980's, spills of the size resulting from recent accidents involving the Nagasaki Spirit, Aegean Sea, Braer and Maersk Navigator being exceptional. The ``entry into force'' provisions of the conventions and their protocols have, therefore, been amended so that they will take effect without the U.S. support. One of them is the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (CLC) and the other International Convention on the establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971 (the Fund Convention), established to provide additional compensation in cases where the damage claims exceeded the shipowners' liability under the CLC or where the case fell within one of the exceptions of defences under the CLC. CLC is funded by the tanker owners through their insurers, where the Fund Convention is funded by contributions levied on crude and fuel oil cargo receivers who get more than 15,000 million tonnes of oil by sea in any one year. The main amendments to them adopted by the protocols have increased the limits of liability under CLC and Fund Convention, taken into account not only actual pollution but also pure threat situations, extended the geographical scope of the conventions and amended the definition of pollution. The CLC is now applied in 79 countries, excluding the U.S., and 56 of them have adopted the Fund convention. The protocols have yet to come into force. Anticipating delays in the ratification of international conventions, the tanker and oil industries established voluntary agreements such |
FBIS3-41446_1 | Official Views Results of Caspian Bioresources Conference | a scientifically substantiated system was worked out for reproduction, conservation, and rational fishing of the sturgeon family under conditions of regulated rivers and a deterioration in the ecological condition of the water systems. It is based on prohibition of sea fishing, restriction of river fishing, controls over fishing and a complex of reproductive measures. Unfortunately this system which was operating successfully for more than 30 years, started disintegrating. There is a tumultuous increase in sea poaching since funds for protection services are lacking in the new states, and even Russia eased control over its own fishing operations because of financial difficulties, inadequacies of the legislative basis, creation of numerous owners, and for other reasons. In addition to that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan want to fish independently in their fishery zones, as formerly done by Iran, at the same time cooperating with Russia in the conservation, reproduction, and rational utilization of sturgeon reserves. Thus, in the past cooperation was organized between two states--USSR and Iran, whereas at present there is the task of reaching agreement on equal and mutually advantageous cooperation in the conservation of Caspian Sea bioresources of five states. It was for that purpose that the third and final round of negotiations took place in Ashgabat (previous talks were held in Astrakhan and Enzeli (Iran). In the course of the Ashgabat talks (and they were difficult!), with the exception of two points, it was possible to reach agreement among all the Caspian delegations with regard to the text of the agreement on conservation and utilization of Caspian Sea bioresources. This agreement provides for the creation of a reliable legal basis for broad mutual cooperation among all Caspian Sea states in rational fishing on the Caspian Sea exclusively on the basis of scientific data and appropriate international control over fishing. It is planned to create an international organ--the committee for conservation and utilization of bioresources of the Caspian Sea, in which representatives of Caspian Sea states will be able to discuss and adopt decisions on issues of interest to them dealing with conservation of reserves and fishing. An international inspection service is also being created. With respect to the sturgeon family all delegations agreed in principle to the prohibition of fishing at sea with the exception of special cases under the control of an international organ and the inspection service. Fishing for sprat, however, will be continued in areas of |
FBIS3-41458_1 | Yablokov at Odds With Environment Minister Over State of Ecology | state of the environment is responsible for approximately 30 percent of our health, one year out of the three years of decline in average life expectancy in 1993 is accounted for by the environment. Soil-degradation processes are intensifying. The scale of the country's radiation contamination has not been reduced. Each year in Moscow and other large and small cities there are hundreds of sources of dangerous radiation. Among the reasons for the radiation contamination are the accidents at sites of radiation danger, the unthinking use of radioactive materials, the destabilization of the work of the radioactive waste burial services, and the penetration of our territory by foreign waste. The ozone hole over the country is getting larger. Last year it was the largest in all the years of observation. This means thousands of additional deaths and dangerous consequences for agriculture and live nature. The expanding poaching has brought the Amur tiger and a whole number of other protected animals to the brink of extinction. The state of fish resources is characterized by a single word: plunder. The poaching of sturgeon in the Caspian and the Volga, which has exceeded all conceivable bounds, is making realistic the complete termination of their catch within two years and the destruction of a number of sturgeon as species within a few years. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has not yet complied with President Yeltsin's instructions of more than a year ago that sturgeon be accorded the status of federal natural resource (some attempt at protecting them, at least!). The broad-based contamination of the country as a result of breaks in the oil and gas pipelines continues. The area of forest is being reduced, and serious pollution of Baykal continues. The destruction of the sites of the traditional use of natural resources of the small peoples of the North is not being reduced but expanded. The scale of the rise of ground water on the country's territory is increasing (40 percent of the territory is threatened with rising ground water in Moscow). I have listed far from all our ecological disasters. But even this is sufficient for evaluating the words of the gentleman minister quoted above as being very far from reality. ``Neither I nor the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources have yet been defeated on a single matter of principle,'' the minister maintains. How much self-deception there is in this claim |
FBIS3-41462_0 | Nuclear Waste Processing Plant Being Built on Credit | Language: Russian Article Type:BFN [From the ``Vesti'' newscast: Video report by A. Peslyak, identified by caption; figures in brackets denote broadcast time in GMT in hours, minutes, and seconds] [Text] [110735] [Peslyak over video of Japanese, Moscow street scenes, Vladivostok harbor including warships and port installations] We are very grateful to Japan for its offer to cooperate in nuclear ecology, I was told by a ranking official of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Unfortunately, the inspection of a Japanese tanker has revealed that it cannot be used to store liquid nuclear waste safely. And secondly, we fill up one tanker, and then what? So the main burden will have to be borne by our own resources. A Russian vessel, the ``Pinega,'' which can take 1,000 cubic meters of liquid waste, has been found in the Vladivostok area. There is also a system for processing this waste. Allow me to remind you that ``Vesti'' has already reported on our technologies for processing liquid waste from nuclear-powered vessels in the North. Now a similar enterprise is being built in the Far East. Thanks to Japanese credit, it has to be admitted. Coping with nuclear waste single-handedly is expensive and difficult. We were told at the Foreign Ministry that in the spring a Russian research vessel, together with Japanese and South Korean experts, will be studying possible dumping grounds for solid nuclear waste in the depths of the Pacific. This means that clean, economical, and long-term solutions to dirty problems can be found by pooling efforts. [110842] [video shows Japanese, Moscow street scenes, Vladivostok harbor with warships and harbor installations, map, submarines in harbor] |
FBIS3-41463_4 | Krasnoyarsk-26 Installation Pollutes Yenisey | nuclear production located in the vicinity of the pipeline. All these constitute additional risk factors. On the whole, it is obvious to the independent investigators of ``Severnyy'' that it should stop operating. More up-to-date methods should be used to recycle radioactive waste. Yenisey's Nuclear Spoor In a climate of absolute secrecy, the lucid minds of the Soviet defense industry have been destroying the mighty Yenisey for over 30 years. Water from the great river -- the ``hub of Russia'' -- was cleansed of suspended particles and used to cool the radioactive parts of nuclear reactors, after which it was returned to the Yenisey. Recently a number of expeditions have studied the state of the river. Radioactive contamination of the Yenisey floodplain can be traced from the point where waste has been discharged along the course of the river to the Yenisey Gulf; the contamination occurs in patches. Plutonium-238 and -239, cobalt-60, cesium-134 and -137, strontium-90, and other isotopes have all been found in riverbed sediment, algae, sections of river bank washed by floodwater, shoals, sandbars, and islands. Fish containing man-made [tekhnogennyy] radionuclides have been found both downstream of Krasnoyarsk-26 -- at distances of many hundreds of miles -- and upstream, in the vicinity of Greater Krasnoyarsk. The investigators caught one fish which positively ``glowed'' at 580 microcuries per hour. The plutonium content of the soil in some areas of the floodplain is tens of times higher than the total level of contamination. According to data presented by specialists from the Applied Geophysics Institute and the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the concentration of plutonium in riverbed sediment and this sort of soil is so large that chance wind-borne transfer of contaminated earth and inhalation of the dust by a human being would be equivalent to the maximum permitted annual intake of plutonium into the human organism. The decades of the Cold War have poisoned this mighty river for a long time to come: Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years, and according to scientists, it remains dangerous for 10 times the length of this half-life, that is to say for 240,000 years. It makes no sense to blame anybody for the madness that has occurred. But it is hard to understand why the tradition of secrecy is being maintained to this day. Even now it is unclear how many curies of long-life |
FBIS3-41465_0 | Expert Views Ecology, Plans To Open Toxic Waste Dump | Language: Russian Article Type:BFN [Interview with N. Sakharnykh, chairman of the Kaliningrad Oblast Ecology and Natural Resources Committee, by S. Tribunko; place and date not given: ``Ground -- for Dessert to Mother Nature''] [Excerpts] Tribunko: How serious is the ecological situation in Chernyakhovskiy rayon? Sakharnykh: The situation is very grave. The city's water-supply and sewage enterprise is the main polluter. This enterprise yearly discharges more than 6 million cubic meters of untreated sewage into water reservoirs, causing 2 billion rubles [R] worth of damage in 1993 alone. In 1993, the maximum acceptable level of nitrous ammonia in water exceeded the norm by 71 times, that of phosphorus -- by 37 times, and of oil products -- by 100 to 300 times. Tribunko: One gets the impression that there are no sewage treatment plants in the rayon. Sakharnykh: Such plants exist, but their number is insufficient. For example, out of 11 treatment plants not a single one functions in accordance with its planned operating schedule. Only four plants provide the mechanical treatment of sewage, while the remaining seven provide no treatment at all. The situation is aggravated by all kinds of accidents at city enterprises. Tribunko: Could you cite any examples? Sakharnykh: I will only cite the most serious ones. In 1993, the engine house discharged more than a tonne of oil products into the Angrapa river, causing damage estimated at more than a R1 million. There were similar accidents accompanied by discharging industrial oil at joint-stock enterprises ``Molochnyy Zavod,'' ``Chernyakhovskmebel,'' and ``Tekhmash.'' On 12 January, an industrial oil spill occurred at ``Tekhmash'' through negligence. [passage omitted] Tribunko: I would like to know your opinion regarding the building of the facility for processing toxic waste. Sakharnykh: This is not a bad idea. If everything goes according to plan, and all the technological requirements are observed, the functioning of the facility will not aggravate the ecological situation in the region. However, we cannot disregard the notorious ``what if'' factor which can bring about big trouble, including deaths. Besides, I do not understand the haste with which this idea is being implemented. Geologic research has not been completed, there has been no independent experts' evaluation of the project, nor its technical and economic justification. Thus, I believe that it is too early to speak about the facility at this point. |
FBIS3-41467_2 | Official Analyzes Ecological Situation | that nature suffers most of all. The main polluter of our rivers is ... oil! If in southern Belarus -- where oil lies close to the surface -- the outer surface is polluted due to the oil's outlet to the surface, the oil pollution of our remaining areas is caused by the improper use of oil resources. Our water purity records usually exceed normal levels from one- two to 40 points, like in Soligorsk. Verkhnedvinskiy, Nesvizhskiy Rayons, and some rayons of Brest and Grodno Oblasts suffer from a high level of water pollution as well. Further, some 3 million tonnes of polluted substances are discharged in the air. This equals the amount of toxic substances polluting the air of Zaporozhie and Krivoy Rog taken together. Maybe this is not much, but Belarus, located in a specific geographical zone, is to a greater extent polluted by transferred air masses from other territories. If we are to believe West European experts, the Belarusian atmosphere is polluted in 18-20 percent by its own sources and in 80-82 percent -- by someone else's. From all the Belarusian cities, Novopolotsk is in an extremely serious ecological situation. However, in 1993, air pollution in Novopolotsk was decreased by 22 percent. This time, it is connected not to the upgrading of the production capacity, but to the fall of the economy. The Kuybyshev factory in Mogilev is very harmful from an ecological standpoint. To my regret, we cannot do anything to improve the situation because this factory is located in the center of the city. We cannot move people, or this enterprise, or close this dangerous giant producing one of the most poisonous chemical substances. In addition, there is not enough room to build effective purifying stations. Many years ago, Belarus signed a range of international agreements, one of which stipulates specific amounts of nitrogen oxides discharged into the air. These agreements hamper the development of our power industry. These agreements do not allow operating the new electric power plant No. 5 which was built in Minsk. At the same time, the Republic badly needs electric energy. We cannot afford to buy a good purifying installation from Japan or Germany. Power engineering in Belarus is going to ask the international community for permission to temporarily sidestep the above-mentioned agreements until the Republic stabilizes the work of power engineering. Recently, Portugal has received such permission. By the way, |
FBIS3-41467_5 | Official Analyzes Ecological Situation | and they had prognosticated much of what we are experiencing today. However, nobody wanted to listen to them then. We have interesting research projects. It is essential to find such economic levers that could make our producers use natural resources rationally. It sounds incredible, but our legislation has no notion of the so-called ``ecological crime.'' Following is one of many examples. In Novopolotsk, around 90,000 tonnes of high toxic substances have been spilled into the Dvina river. Later, they reached the Baltic Sea and caused the death of fish. The operator and the security engineer were tried for violation of security rules but not for any serious ``ecological crime.'' Violators of ecological laws are fined for polluting water or for poaching. So, what about the land and air? Currently, an ecological code of laws including 16 laws is being drafted. We have adopted the ``Law on the Protection of the Environment,'' ``On Ecological Examination,'' ``On Ecological Taxation,'' ``On Waste.'' The laws ``On Protected Territories,'' ``On Ecological Education,'' and ``On Regulation of the State Control System'' are being drafted. We should create a single system of state control. Just at the moment, the state control system is split. The State Committee for Protection of the Environment, the State Committee for Land Reform, the Ministry of Forestry controlling the use and protection of forests, the Chief Department of Belarusian Fish Industry, the Chief Committee for Water, Meteorology [Belhidramet], and various sanitary services do not cooperate. None of these institutions has enough powers. We should also speak about the examination of projects by state experts, the system for the ecological education of experts, the ecological culture of the population, and the use of international experience. Hyerasimaw: Yes, there are a lot of problems. However, can we hope that they will be resolved? Matsyasovich: In my opinion, we will be able to resolve them. In the spring of 1993, the Belarusian Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decree stipulating the upgrading of the monitoring system. This decree will be implemented in 1994-95. The decree on the introduction of regular land surveys has also been adopted. This means that the use of all natural resources will be strictly controlled, and the natural resources will be subject to normative use. If we consider forestry, I can say the following. The corresponding laws that had been adopted are being currently implemented in this sphere. Felling does not exceed |
FBIS3-41477_1 | Minister Cites Lack of Progress on Environment | in Ukraine as in the United States at the end of the 1980s, as well as somewhat less coal than in Great Britain, France and the FRG taken together; as much steel as the FRG and France taken together was smelted every year. We have all always taken pride in that, and few gave any thought to the harm being done to nature. But here are even ``better'' data. The imperfect technologies for the production and processing of raw minerals that are used in Ukraine lead to losses of up to 70 percent for oil, 50 percent for salts, 40 percent for coal, and 2--5--with some even 10--13 times--more than is required by contemporary technologies for metals. Close to 1.5 billion tonnes a year of natural substances are involved in the process of social production across Ukraine as a whole. More than half are them returned to the natural environment in the form of wastes that poison the surroundings. But even that is not all. We are continuing to augment power capacity, in particular nuclear, forgetting both the lessons of Chornobyl and the fact that the share of this sector is reaching 30 percent of the total emissions of harmful substances today. At the very same time, the overconsumption of energy at the enterprises of ferrous metallurgy alone in Ukraine, owing to their technical backwardness, is equivalent to the quantity of electric power generated by all the AESs [nuclear electric-power plants] of the former USSR. The energy-intensiveness of our output as a whole is six to eight times greater than the analogous measures for the leading Western countries. The list of this economic self-cannibalism could be continued a great deal longer. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, understanding of the fact that the non-ecological development of the national economy, with sweeping and profound negative effects on the environment, could surpass the consequences of any aggression is still lacking in our society. Backward ecological thinking is unfortunately being demonstrated at all levels of the power structures. A review that was conducted recently has shown that the specially created extra-budgetary environmental-protection funds of the Soviets of People's Deputies, which are responsible under prevailing legislation for the state of the environment within the bounds of their territories, are not being used primarily for their intended purposes. A whole series of cities in the Donetsk-Dnieper region, where only 20--30 percent of the fund is being |
FBIS3-41478_13 | Pollution Caused by Black Sea Fleet Detailed | washed. But while flights are coordinated with the military and the papers signed, the spill moves into the resort area, which are under special security protection and where environmentalists are not allowed within a rifle shot. Today, with the excuse of an ``unhealthy political situation surrounding the Fleet,'' ships have become completely off limits to environmental inspections; Sevastopol captains have now been given a unique opportunity to paint the Black Sea an oil-black color. In the early days of the Russian Navy, legendary Admiral Sinyavin issued a strict order forbidding the pollution of the Don with refuse and sewerage. He understood that defense cannot be the used as an excuse for spoiling the environment. His modern heirs on the Black Sea, while constantly talking about building up the glorious traditions of the Russian Navy, in reality act differently. Dolphins as Torpedoes The No.7 bus goes to Khersones, to Kazachya Bukhta. There, at the outskirts of Sevastopol, a supersecret Navy installation is located, a dolphin aquarium. It opened in 1966. No money was spared: a villa was built and imported equipment was installed. The installation had two goals: two teach military science to dolphins and to entertain the powers that be. The Fleet commander had his private yacht and dacha here. Next door was the Central Committee's resort Foros. Brezhnev and Ustinov came regularly, with their kids, friends and grandchildren, to admire the dolphins. Very exotic. The military goal presented greater difficulties. Dolphins were drafted into military service by certain fishing boats which received the sanction of local fishing inspections. Their catching methods were barbaric, causing great losses. Sometimes up to 80 percent of the catch was lost. At the Sevastopol aquarium, some 50 dolphins, beluga whales and sea lions began guarding navy bases and anchorages against enemy commandos, clearing sea lanes of mines, searching and lifting weapons from the bottom of the sea, destroying ships and commandos and repairing river dams. The imperialist tricks had to be guarded against not only on the ground and in the air, but under water, as well. The idea was as follows. Special buoys would be installed along the perimeter of the base. A dolphin would swim to it, press a button, get a fish and continue on. If it noticed enemy divers, it would shoot at them with an explosive packet and get away. An explosion--and the enemy commandos are no more. And |
FBIS3-41491_0 | Large Companies Try to Monopolize Trash Market | Language: German Article Type:CSO [Article by Lutz Bloos: ``Large Outfits Play Monopoly in Waste Market''; [Subhead lines: ``Federal Monopolies Commission Criticizes Increasing Concentration Within Waste Management Sector''; ``Federal Association of German Waste Management Willing to Withdraw Again from DSD'']] [Text] Hamburg, 22 October 1993 (VDI-N)--Is waste management henceforth only something for large outfits? Last Friday in Hamburg, the yearly meeting of the Federal Association of German Waste Management [BDE] focused on the concentration in the waste management sector and energy supply firms' commitment to this market. There is more of a market for waste than ever before. Hellmut Trienekens, president of BDE, estimates that by the year 2005 there will be surge in Germany's market from the current approximately DM75 billion to nearly DM200 billion. This includes building rubble, crushed road surface and industrial waste. It is large companies that are increasingly engaged in this lucrative business. In the past, the monopolies commission, the top watchdog over the market economy and competition, repeatedly voiced sharp criticism of the process of concentration in the sector. The monopolies commission's president, Dieter Wolf, did not even refrain from criticism in Hamburg. According to Wolf, it is, above all, the activity of the large energy supply firms in taking over the numerous small and mid-size waste companies that constitutes a threat to competition. In Wolf's words: ``More and more I get the impression that monopoly yields on the protected energy supply markets are henceforth being applied profitably to other markets.'' Hence, at present, of nearly 1,000 waste management firms, only 10 large ones are getting half of the turnover in the waste management sector. Nor did Wolf spare criticism of environmental minister, Klaus Toepfer, who was in attendance and who previously had eloquently supported his recycling model. Wolf lamented: ``As early as the introduction of the packaging ordinance, many of the monopolies commission's misgivings were not taken into consideration.'' Without the restrictions on competition, it is impossible to give practical application to the ordinance. Accordingly, the Dual System Germany [DSD] is a demand monopoly. Wolf was unable to recognize any kind of advantage compared to the government waste management monopoly that prevailed earlier. As a consequence, business is stocking almost exclusively products with the green dot. That is tantamount to a restriction on a company's freedom of organization since no merchant has any other choice should he be unwilling to take back the packaging |
FBIS3-41492_0 | Status of Wind Power Generation in Germany Summarized Investment in Wind Generation | Language: German Article Type:CSO [Text] By the end of 1992, there were 1,200 wind power installations in Germany. Rated output: 180 MW. Since 1974, the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology [FMRT] has promoted the use of wind energy, about 30 million marks are made available for this purpose annually. [This makes] a total of about 300 million German marks thus far--120 marks for large and 100 for small and mid-size installations, the remainder for R&D projects. Goals: acceptable costs for energy production with wind power, a noticeable contribution to the supply of electricity, reduction in energy imports, a broadening of the foundation of the energy supply, and a search for alternatives for the Third World. Through continued development in the technology of [wind power] installation, wind power generated current should become competitive by the end of the millennium. Improvement in the technical availability of wind power installations is at the heart of the federal promotional program offered by the FMRT since 1989--``250 MW Wind.'' A good half of the installations within the scope of this program are operated by commercial enterprises, 30% by private investors, almost 15% by farmers and 3.5% by local authorities and associations. Together with a scientific measurement and evaluation program (SMEP), the data from the promoted installations will be collected for ten years and evaluated. As an incentive for their participation in the general test, operators of the windmills will receive from the FMRT a subsidy of six to eight pfennigs per kWh, plus 16.6 pfennigs for wind power generated current. Because of this promotional program, in 1992 growth in wind power installations was for the first time greater in Germany than in Denmark, the European leader (320 MW from nearly 2,300 installations). Worldwide about 2,300 MW are currently generated by from wind power. The USA has 15,000 wind installations with 1,600 MW in operation. In the EC countries the wind capacity is currently about 1,000 MW. The EC demonstration program THERMIE--which runs from 1991 to 1994--places emphasis on those energy technologies which would counteract the looming greenhouse effect through a reduction in CO[.sup]2[/] emissions. It is supposed to promote the market introduction of improved energy technologies and encourage cooperation across [national] borders. The energy research program JOULE II (Joint Opportunities for Unconventional or Long Term Energy Supply) also runs until the end of 1994. Within the scope [of this program], a new generation of |
FBIS3-41492_1 | Status of Wind Power Generation in Germany Summarized Investment in Wind Generation | for Research and Technology [FMRT] has promoted the use of wind energy, about 30 million marks are made available for this purpose annually. [This makes] a total of about 300 million German marks thus far--120 marks for large and 100 for small and mid-size installations, the remainder for R&D projects. Goals: acceptable costs for energy production with wind power, a noticeable contribution to the supply of electricity, reduction in energy imports, a broadening of the foundation of the energy supply, and a search for alternatives for the Third World. Through continued development in the technology of [wind power] installation, wind power generated current should become competitive by the end of the millennium. Improvement in the technical availability of wind power installations is at the heart of the federal promotional program offered by the FMRT since 1989--``250 MW Wind.'' A good half of the installations within the scope of this program are operated by commercial enterprises, 30% by private investors, almost 15% by farmers and 3.5% by local authorities and associations. Together with a scientific measurement and evaluation program (SMEP), the data from the promoted installations will be collected for ten years and evaluated. As an incentive for their participation in the general test, operators of the windmills will receive from the FMRT a subsidy of six to eight pfennigs per kWh, plus 16.6 pfennigs for wind power generated current. Because of this promotional program, in 1992 growth in wind power installations was for the first time greater in Germany than in Denmark, the European leader (320 MW from nearly 2,300 installations). Worldwide about 2,300 MW are currently generated by from wind power. The USA has 15,000 wind installations with 1,600 MW in operation. In the EC countries the wind capacity is currently about 1,000 MW. The EC demonstration program THERMIE--which runs from 1991 to 1994--places emphasis on those energy technologies which would counteract the looming greenhouse effect through a reduction in CO[.sup]2[/] emissions. It is supposed to promote the market introduction of improved energy technologies and encourage cooperation across [national] borders. The energy research program JOULE II (Joint Opportunities for Unconventional or Long Term Energy Supply) also runs until the end of 1994. Within the scope [of this program], a new generation of large wind turbines of optimal size and technology is supposed to be developed. Seven projects, two of them German, have gearless 1 MW installations as their goal. |
FBIS3-41493_0 | GDR Documents Reveal New Findings on Seveso | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Report by Andreas Forster: ``Was a Skillful Game of Confusion Staged Concerning 41 Barrels With Poison From Seveso?''] [Text] Documents that are available to BERLINER ZEITUNG show that at least 47 tonnes of dioxin-containing waste from Seveso were stored at the special waste dump in Schoenberg in Mecklenburg. The quarrel over the poisonous barrels from Seveso dramatically exacerbated once again in Schwerin last Friday [14 January]. At a mammoth meeting, at which 20 witnesses were heard, the members of the Schoenberg investigation committee wanted to finally clarify the question as to whether dioxin waste from the Italian town of Seveso reached the waste dump in Mecklenburg or not. The atmosphere became solemn when the representative of the Swiss chemical concern, Hoffmann LaRoche, to which the Seveso factory ICMESA [expansion unknown] belonged, raised his hand to swear an oath. The 41 barrels with the deadly poison were incinerated in his presence in Basel in 1985. Thus, they can never have been buried at the Schoenberg dump ground, Heinz Hollinger, who is responsible for environmental protection at Hoffmann LaRoche, swore. Belgian member of the European Parliament Paul Staes, from the group of the Greens, and his aide, the spokesman of the Greens in Luebeck, Guenter Wosnitza, presented a chain of evidence based on statements of eyewitnesses and hints in documents. Staes remembered documents from the Environment Ministry of the former German Democratic Republic [GDR] that he saw in 1990. They showed that the dioxin-containing waste from Seveso really did reach Schoenberg. Yet Staes was not able to present a single document proving the transportation or the storage in Schoenberg. BERLINER ZEITUNG is now able to furnish this document. It has received documents from the former GDR Environment Ministry on the basis of which it can be proven for the first time that poison from Seveso did arrive in Schoenberg after all and that even more arrived than the supposed 6.5 tonnes of reactor waste in 41 barrels. In January 1982, the Mannesmann Italia company, a subsidiary of the Mannesmann concern in Germany, inquired with the German authorities whether it was possible to store a larger quantity of waste at the Mecklenburg dump. It claimed that metal parts contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachloride benzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most poisonous dioxin, were involved. Even the smallest dose of TCDD may cause genetic deviations over several generations. The inquiry from the Italian Mannesmann company |
FBIS3-41496_0 | Institutes Improve Solar Cell Efficiency | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] All over the world, great efforts are being made in various directions to make wider use of solar power. In addition to solar heat collectors, which are primarily used to heat water, solar cells also make it possible to generate electrical current directly from sunlight (photovoltaics). Photovoltaics is already being widely used to generate electricity in remote areas and for small- scale applications in appliances. Photovoltaics is also being used in numerous demonstration plants in conjunction with mains electricity. The electricity from main-connected photovoltaic systems still costs about 10 times as much as conventionally generated mains electricity. Of the several approaches being explored in an attempt to lower the cost of photovoltaics, it is considered that the scientific quest for more effective solar cell materials and the development of cheaper production methods hold out the best prospects. High-absorption thin-film solar cells and novel production processes involving cost-saving material deposition onto a substrate take on particular significance in this respect. The Berlin-based Hahn-Meitner Institute, working with the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Physical Electronics, has recently achieved a significant improvement in efficiency in a thin-film solar cell made of copper, indium, and sulfur. This sulfurous material is largely environment-compatible. The efficiency of this novel solar cell was raised to 10.2 percent -- in natural daylight and without further optimization in the form of, for example, an antireflection coating. This material's theoretical efficiency exceeds the maximum performance of silicon. The thickness of the absorber layer, which has a direct bearing on production costs, needs to be only three-thousandths of a millimeter, so copper-indium disulfide has great development potential. It was possible to raise the degree of efficiency in the new cells because the vapor deposition process produces copper-rich photoactive material with a high sulfur surplus. An improved ``window material'' used as a transparent, conductive contact layer also contributed to this positive result. |
FBIS3-41497_0 | Wind Energy Bureau To Open | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Text] Next year the Netherlands will have a National Bureau for Wind Energy. This independent institution will promote the application of wind energy and provide scientific information. A location for the bureau has not yet been decided. The initiative comes from the Organization for Lasting Energy [ODE], the Netherlands Association for Wind Energy [Newin], and the Netherlands Energy and the Environment Company [Novem]. ``The Bureau should partly assume the work which was formerly done by Newin and ODE separately,'' says Mirjam Tielen, staff member from ODE. Novem, together with industry, supplies the funding of the bureau. |
FBIS3-41498_1 | Energy, Environmental Aid Provided to Bulgaria | aid for Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past few days, he has established contacts for projects concerned with the improvement of gas supplies, the generation of electricity, coal vaporization, the cleaner combustion of lignite, and technological training in his country. Bulgaria relies heavily on Russian supplies of natural gas, nuclear energy, and lignite for its energy requirements. Lignite is the only energy source that is amply available in Bulgaria, but the processing and combustion thereof cause tremendous environmental pollution, forming dust and emitting sulfur into the atmosphere. Consequently, Deputy Minister Angelov is enthusiastic about the new technology that the Rotterdam-based company Ecofire is implementing at a lignite mine to the northwest of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, following arbitration by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and E&EN. ``The pilot project that Ecofire is putting into practice in conjunction with us is working superbly. I hope that it will rapidly be extended on a commercial scale, because we want to comply with Western environmental standards as soon as possible.'' [passage omitted] Over the past few days, Angelov has also signed a contract with several Netherlands companies covering technological training for Bulgarians who are going to set up a gas distribution system in his country. A next step, which could also mean orders for the Netherlands, will involve the construction of pipelines, control equipment, pumps, and compressors. The engineer Hans de Ruiter, the CEO of E&EN, believes that Netherlands energy companies like Gasunie, and the major distribution companies in this sector can do far more to conquer a share of the East European market. ``Look at what British Gas, Gaz de France, and German companies are doing in Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. They pay for the first feasibility studies and then receive contracts as a matter of course.'' De Ruiter believes that the shareholders of Gasunie -- Shell and Esso -- are clinging to the brakes. As a result, the ideal envisioned by Prime Minister Lubbers, who saw a leading role being set aside for Netherlands companies with his energy plan for Eastern Europe, is only materializing slowly. Probably together with the Delft-based company Hagoort, Gasunie will advise Bulgaria on the storage of natural gas in an empty gas field to the north of Sofia. Bulgaria urgently needs a buffer of this kind, because the supply of Russian gas is being interrupted due to technical or political problems. [passage omitted] |
FBIS3-41501_0 | Toxic Waste From Continent Greatest Threat | Language: Norwegian Article Type:CSO [Article by Ole Mathismoen: ``SFT Fears Hidden Environmental Catastrophe''] [Text] Norway's Pollution Authority [SFT] fears that the tolerance threshold for environmental toxins will soon be reached in Norway. ``We are concerned. There are enormous gaps in our knowledge about the effects of environmental toxins. We know they are extremely toxic even in small quantities and that they become concentrated in the food chain and in nature because they fail to break down,'' said SFT Director Harald Rensvik. Yesterday SFT published its new comprehensive report on environmental toxins in Norway. The previous one came out six years ago. The main conclusions are clear: Norwegian emissions have been radically reduced since 1985. In the case of many environmental toxins, industrial spillage into the waterways has been reduced by more than 90 percent. Nevertheless, environmental toxins are a greater threat to nature and the health of Norwegians than ever before. The problem is that, once emitted, pollutants remain in nature, and with the constant influx of toxins from abroad, environmental authorities fear that the tolerance threshold will soon be reached. Although unable to predict what will happen, where it will happen, or when, environmental authorities know that serious environmental problems are developing in the natural world around us. We receive greater quantities of many of the most dangerous environmental toxins from abroad than we produce ourselves. The major portion is carried on the air and wind from power plants and industries on the continent. Some also come on the ocean currents. ``Approximately four tons of cadmium is dumped on the Norwegian environment each year. Three of these come from other countries, while our own emissions account for just one ton. The proportions are similar for other toxins,'' said Rensvik. SFT says in its report that the work of reducing Norwegian emissions must continue. ``We used the easiest and cheapest methods. The percentage that remains must also be eliminated if the fjords and nature areas ruined by Norwegian pollution are to be completely restored. There is still a long way to go before crabs can be fished out of the Frie Fjord. But it is entirely within the realm of possibility to get there,'' Rensvik said. While most Norwegian toxic waste has a concrete source that can be identified and cleaned up, it is harder in the case of foreign pollutants. Norwegian pollutants harm one end of a fjord or |
FBIS3-41501_2 | Toxic Waste From Continent Greatest Threat | to go before crabs can be fished out of the Frie Fjord. But it is entirely within the realm of possibility to get there,'' Rensvik said. While most Norwegian toxic waste has a concrete source that can be identified and cleaned up, it is harder in the case of foreign pollutants. Norwegian pollutants harm one end of a fjord or the flora and fauna of a limited region. Pollutants from abroad are spread over the entire country by means of rain, wind, and ocean currents. This means that the authorities have limited knowledge of how long it will be until nature's tolerance threshold is reached: ``In terms of climate, the Norwegian environment is in grave trouble. We fear that unforeseen harm can arise as a result of constantly increasing amounts of cadmium, mercury, and other environmental toxins that are out there,'' said Rensvik. The director of SFT points out that scientists know too little to say what will happen on the day the tolerance threshold is exceeded. But Rensvik can mention several possibilities: severe poisoning, species that become extinct, species that have problems with reproduction, mutations, injury to the nervous system. Because substances are concentrated in the food chain, they can affect people through eating such things as reindeer meat. ``We conclude that Norway must continue to work for further reductions both at home and abroad. Because even though our own emissions have been cut down, the danger to Norway's natural resources has not been dramatically reduced,'' said Rensvik. The report reveals that scientists have discovered disturbing amounts of the environmental toxins PCB [polychlorinated biphenyl] and PAH [expansion unknown] in the Skagerrak trough and the Norwegian channels, in addition to the known quantities of imported pollutants. Recent investigations have also evidenced high concentrations of PCB's in the fatty tissues of polar bears and Arctic foxes on Spitzbergen. It is believed that PCB's can lead to a reduced capacity to breed, a weakened immune system, and behavioral disturbances--especially in sea mammals. The toxins congregate far from the source, and the effects of this are unclear. The reason why advisories have been issued to those who eat fish and shellfish caught in the fjords is because of earlier toxin emissions from Norwegian industries. For some of these fjords, the restrictions have been reduced. In the meantime, they have been expanded somewhat in other areas because new and better studies have been done. |
FBIS3-41503_1 | Spanish Company Begins Complete Recycling of Cars | system at the Reyfra (Recycling and Wrecking) firm in Mejorada del Campo (population 16,000). It is estimated that from 700,000 to 800,000 vehicles are scrapped every year in our country. After being stripped of their marketable parts and components, those vehicles undergo a partial recycling process that leaves behind a large amount of scrap, with the further difficulty that since the vehicle was not decontaminated first, it becomes a source of pollution. The complete recycling of automobiles that is now being offered includes the stages of collection, decontamination, disassembly, and crushing. Each of those stages has in view certain objectives which, depending on economic profitability and technical possibilities, may or may not be incorporated into future practice and habits. For example, a basic feature of the first phase is the establishment of an automobile collection system that will eliminate the current practice of removing cars after they have been crushed, since that makes it impossible to extract various usable components. To begin with, it will be necessary to adopt regulations requiring that the final owner turn in his vehicle at one of a number of specific locations. Those locations will be the only ones authorized to issue the ``delivery certificate'' enabling the owner to stop paying taxes on the car. Aladro says that for decontamination, Reyfra ``uses a system never before seen in Spain: one that eliminates the pollutants (oils, brake fluid, CFC's, and so on) and keeps them from entering the atmosphere. Those pollutants are then recycled or processed by authorized agents.'' Once decontaminated, the vehicle enters the disassembly phase. The glass could be reused, resulting in an estimated savings of 130 kg of fuel oil per metric ton of recycled glass. The sulfuric acid from batteries is converted into lead-free calcium sulfate, thus becoming a nonpolluting waste product. The scrap, with the acid removed, is broken down into its component parts by crushing. The final result is inert slag and lead that is pure enough to enter the production cycle of that metal. Lastly, the car is broken up and the various metals are separated and sent to the steel industry for reuse. This pilot experiment differs from those carried out in Europe in that it is the first to include all automobile manufacturers and has the cooperation of associations in that industry. Those associations are very necessary, since the networks for reuse and marketing depend upon them. |
FBIS3-41511_1 | Article on Environment Protection Successes China's Environmental Protection Achievements Attract Worldwide Attention Our Country Still Faces Grim Environmental Protection Prospects At a Time of Rapid Economic Development The Entire Country Was Buffeted by the Environmental Protection Wave in 1993 | The agricultural department began experimenting on pollution-free production and made new progress in afforestation on plains and along coastal regions. In particular, the shelter-forest project in the northeast-north-northwest region is known as ``the world's best ecological project.'' -- Success has been achieved in preventing industrial pollution. A large number of industrial pollution control facilities built in our country in the 1980's have successively yielded results, raising the rate of disposal of three wastes [waste gas, waste water, and industrial residue], as well as the up-to-standard rate, remarkably. -- China's urban environmental situation has improved remarkably. As a result of the comprehensive efforts to improve the environment, the environmental quality of many cities has become better to varying degrees. Despite large increases in the urban population and energy consumption, urban atmospheric conditions have basically not worsened and the amount of some pollutants in the atmosphere have even decreased, thanks to various urban air pollution control measures. China's environmental protection has unique features, which have attracted the attention of the Third World. Our Country Still Faces Grim Environmental Protection Prospects At a Time of Rapid Economic Development According to relevant departments, our country should soberly assess its current status of environment protection, despite its tremendous achievements in preventing and controlling industrial pollution. In the past year, some newly-launched projects, especially ``wholly or partly foreign-owned'' construction projects in development zones, continued to develop new pollution sources because they failed to strictly implement relevant state regulations mandating environmental impact assessments, and the ``simultaneous construction of projects and facilities to control three wastes.'' Pollution in village and town enterprises worsened with each passing day, and the general level of industrial pollution increased. In 1992, 36.6 billion tonnes of waste water was released across the country, up 9 percent from 1991; this figure does not cover village and town enterprises. The amount of waste water released last year was significantly higher than that discharged in the preceding year. Although the water quality in the main course of the Chang Jiang is good, pollution is quite serious near the river banks in sections that run through the major cities of Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai. Only 41 percent of the 38,000 km stretches of the seven major rivers and inland rivers subject to water quality tests measure up to first- and second-class water quality standards, whereas 48 percent indicate fairly serious pollution. Surface water pollution is serious |
FBIS3-41538_0 | Water Resources Seminars Held With Kazakhstan | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Urumqi, Nov 14 (XINHUA) -- Scientific institutes based in China and Kazakhstan recently held joint seminars on water resources and the environment of Central Asia. The seminars were sponsored by the Xinjiang Geographic Institute, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan. The seminars focused on two subjects: use of water resources and control of mud-rock flow. The seminars were held in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan. Scientist attending the meetings visited water conservancy and mud- rock flow control projects in the autonomous region. Xinjiang and Kazakhstan are neighbors in the desert area of Central Asia. Two rivers flow from Xinjiang into Kazakhstan, which are major water sources for Kazakhstan's inland areas. The two rivers are fed by melting glaciers. As the globe becomes warmer, glaciers have been shrinking faster rising to higher altitude, while the rivers have seen less water flow. This phenomenon poses a serious threat of water shortages in the region. At the same time, mud-rock flows have caused large losses of life and property in the area. The seminars were attended by 74 scientists from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan, Russia, Japan and Germany. Participants put forward 83 theses on rational tapping of water resources and control of mud-rock flow. |
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