9 May 2003 Afternoon Edition

Regional News

Serbia Montenegro

· Police minister denies execution of gang leaders (Beta)
· INTERVIEW-Serbia to give NATO full account on fugitive Mladic (Reuters)
· Serbia's Economic Perspective (S.E Times)

Albania

· Albanian parliament acknowledges existence of royal descendants (AP)

Other News

· Peace Institute Suddenly at Center of Controversy (LA Times)
· Tough talk ahead on UN sanctions (BBC)
· Reviving NATO (Washington Post)
· Sars 'here to stay' (BBC)

Police minister denies execution of gang leaders Beta

VALJEVO -- Friday - Zemun Gang leaders Dusan Spasojevic and Mile Lukovic, shot while allegedly resisting arrest, were not executed to prevent them spilling the beans on links with Cabinet members, Serbia's police minister said last night.

Dusan Mihajlovic told media that the pair had been potentially priceless witnesses who could have supplied information on the political patrons of the Djindji9c assassination.

He added that it was hoped that this information would be obtained once the fugitive mastermind of the assassination, Milorad "Legija" Lukovic, was captured.

The police minister claimed that his department had been about to swoop on the Zemun Gang in March, when, warned by their people inside the government the gang moved to show its strength by murdering the prime minister.

INTERVIEW-Serbia to give NATO full account on fugitive Mladic

By Gordana Kukic

BELGRADE, May 9 (Reuters) - Serbia will tell NATO soon what it knows about the last reported whereabouts of fugitive Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic, Serbia's defence minister said in an interview.

``I will get information in the next couple of days on which military officials, when and where, last had contact with Mladic, and I will inform NATO,'' said Boris Tadic, who took office in the reshaped Union of Serbia and Montenegro in March.

The eight-year hunt for Mladic, accused of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Bosian Muslims, was among issues discussed by Tadic during a session in Brussels with NATO's North Atlantic Council on Wednesday.

Mladic and former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic are the most wanted suspects still at large since NATO intervention ended the three-and-a-half year conflict in 1995.

Karadzic is believed to have remained in hiding somewhere in Bosnia or Montenegro for years, whereas there have been numerous unconfirmed sightings of Mladic in Serbia itself.

Ever since former President Slobodan Milosevic was sent to the U.N.'s war crimes tribunal in The Hague two years ago, the tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte has repeatedly accused Serbian military authorities of sheltering Mladic.

They have always denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.
Mladic's handover to the tribunal and that of a top war crimes suspect from the 1991 war with Croatia are key conditions for joining NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme, which may open the door to alliance membership.

The army and police were conducting parallel probes to trace Mladic and former Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin, one of the so-called Vukovar Three, the defence minister said.

SERBIA WORRIED
But ``what I am seriously worried about,'' he added, was what would happen if investigations showed neither man was still in the country, meaning Belgrade would not be able to meet the West's handover demands.

Tadic said he told NATO officials Sljivancanin -- the best known of three ex-Yugoslav army officers charged with killing 200 civilians near Vukovar in Croatia in 1991 -- was last seen in mid-January in a military barracks. His two co-accused have already surrendered.

NATO has praised a new drive to reform the army, which had changed little since reformers came to power in October 2000.

The assassination in March of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who sent Milosevic to The Hague, seemed to have ``galvanised the forces of reform,'' a NATO official said this week.

After Djindjic's murder, the government launched a campaign to drive Milosevic loyalists from the military.

Serbia's Economic Perspective

By Dejan Grastic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade - 08/05/03

During the state of emergency in Serbia, more than 1,000 people were arrested. Zoran Djindjic's alleged assassins are in custody, and officials say the murders of Ivan Stambolic and Milan Pantic have been solved. Other crimes perpetrated during the regime of Slobodan Milosevic have been uncovered, and members of the police and judiciary with alleged links to organized crime have been sent to jail. It is widely recognized that the murder of Djindjic is a reason to hasten economic reforms, and many officials realize that they have a stake in the vision that Djindjic struggled to achieve.

According to Serbian Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic, there will be no exceptions in arrangements and all agreed credits will be realized. EU government leaders have promised help with the balance of payments, by means of the CARDS programme and all other forms of support associated with the process of stabilization.
On Wednesday (7 May), the European Agency for Reconstruction announced it has approved an aid package, totaling 229m euros, for Serbia-Montenegro in 2003. Richard Zink, the head of the agency, said the lion's share of the funds would go for economic reforms and reconstruction.

As predicted by economic experts, the final clash with the mafia has greatly encouraged foreign investors. During a visit to Washington by Serbian officials, the IMF board approved a loan of $137m. Goran Pitic, the minister for economic relationships with foreign countries, announced that a new sponsors conference could be held in Belgrade this autumn. Pitic believes $1m could be raised for the construction of institutions, and for energy, traffic, health services and education.

Vesna Kostic, a spokeswoman for the Belgrade office of the World Bank, confirmed that her institution is prepared to provide financial help to Serbia. That help would come in the form of a $540m credit through 2004. She also said that the payment could be delivered quickly.

Meanwhile, the announcement of tenders for the tobacco industry in Nis and Vranje are expected soon and should attract many of the world's leading companies. Minister of Economy and Privatization Aleksandar Vlahoviæ confirmed that the announced participants in the tenders are willing to continue co-operation. All see Serbia as an attractive investment destination, he said.

Mladjan Dinkic, governor of the Central Bank in Serbia, said that combating economic crime is a logical continuation of the clash with organized crime. "It is time for a complete renaissance. If we establish a legal state and form a strong police force, we will have a chance to create stable conditions for rapid economic reforms."

Albanian parliament acknowledges existence of royal descendants

TIRANA, Albania (AP) _ The Albanian parliament has recognized the Zogu family as descendants to the family that held the abolished royal throne, an official said Friday.

Parliament on Thursday passed a law that acknowledges that Leka Zogu and his family are inheritors of Ahmet Zogu, a Muslim chieftain who declared himself king of Albania in 1928 and ruled until the Italian army invaded the country in 1939. Albania's monarchy was abolished by the country's communist rulers in 1946.

The law, which passed 72-3 with six abstentions, gave Leka Zogu, his wife and their son the right to carry diplomatic passports and participate in official ceremonies. It also said the family would have no special rights in property claims. Leka Zogu is the son of Ahmet Zogu.

The parliamentarians also decided to bring to Albania the remains of Ahmet Zogu, who died in 1961 in Paris.
Leka Zogu, 64, returned to Albania last year after living in exile since 1939, when the royal family fled the country. He has said he will not get involved in Albanian politics unless the population votes to reinstate the monarchy.

The law also said police should return a weaponry collection they seized from Leka Zogu when he entered the country.

Peace Institute Suddenly at Center of Controversy

Bush's nominee for the board meets with opposition because of his views on Muslims.

By Johanna Neuman

WASHINGTON - At the U.S. Institute of Peace, veterans of the Middle East peace process from several administrations recently sat around brainstorming about lessons learned in their grueling negotiations with the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The session, designed to offer advice to the White House on the eve of new peace talks, is a favored new program at the institute - a research center, with federal funding of $16.2 million a year, that is dedicated to promoting "the prevention, management and peaceful resolution of international conflicts."

Now this quiet haven of foreign policy advisors is at the center of conflict.

President Bush has nominated to the institute's board Daniel Pipes, a neoconservative Middle East scholar whose writings and sound bites have inflamed Muslim leaders. The nomination has sparked a new war between hawks and doves, complete with charges of Muslim-baiting and whispers of Jewish influence.

Pipes directs the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia think tank that publishes the Middle East Quarterly. A scholar with a doctorate in history from Harvard who has studied Islam for 30 years, he has long warned of the dangers of Islamic extremism, predicting a war of terror against the United States.

Pipes, 53, son of Soviet scholar Richard Pipes, has been outspoken about Muslims. In his work, which includes 11 books, numerous journal and newspaper articles and a variety of television appearances, Pipes has compared Islam with fascism. He has urged more security profiling of Muslims and has argued that the increased Muslim populations in the United States, France, Holland and elsewhere around the world are a danger to Jews.

He also started Campus Watch, which describes itself as a "review and critique" of professors specializing in Middle Eastern studies, to monitor academic work for alleged pro-Arab bias.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations calls Pipes "the premier anti-Muslim attack dog since 9/11." Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the council, said the nomination is disturbing in light of Bush's visit to a mosque in the days after Sept. 11 to preach religious tolerance. "It sends an enormous message of insensitivity to Muslims," Hooper said. The council is lobbying Capitol Hill to kill the nomination.

The institute's 12 board members include representatives of the State Department, the National Defense University and the Pentagon. The other nine members are nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate, with the party in the White House controlling the swing seat.

Many on both sides of the debate agree that the controversy is largely symbolic, as the power of one board member probably would be tethered to the policies and direction of the institute, which primarily gives awards to scholars studying conflict resolution.

Beyond the controversy over Pipes, however, is a larger issue of what the Institute of Peace should do at a time of unrivaled U.S. military power. Some see Pipes' nomination as an attempt by the Bush White House to shift the focus of the institute from research on peaceful conflict resolution to advocacy of activist military policy - particularly in Israel.

"This is a sad gesture by an administration influenced by far-right, pro-Likud neoconservative," said Hussein Ibish, communications director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Citing Pipes' well-known view that Israel must defeat the Palestinians in order to secure its own peace, Ibish added that Pipes is almost "uniquely disqualified" for the board. "Anyone with views like this has no business being on the Institute of Peace," he said. "Possibly the Institute of War."

Pipes declined an interview on the specifics of his nomination, pending the decision by the Senate. But when asked about his views on peace, he said, "The strength of the U.S. military is the greatest peacekeeping force in the world. Peace is not achieved through weakness."

The president of the institute, Richard Solomon, is a former ambassador to the Philippines and a former State Department official. He said the institute, once almost exclusively a research organization, is expanding its mission - for example, by training civilian police officers to stabilize Kosovo and sending advisors to the reconstruction effort in Iraq.

"The world has changed, and we have the flexibility to innovate," he said. "We like to think of ourselves as more of a 'do tank' than a think tank."

Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel research organization, is a friend and colleague of Pipes. He noted that when Pipes served on the Fulbright Scholarship board, he did not prevent Muslims from entering the United States. And Clawson marveled that, even under attack, Pipes keeps stoking the fires - in a column that appeared in the New York Post, he argued that a newly liberated Iraq is not suited culturally for democracy and that what is needed is "a democratically minded Iraqi strongman."

Clawson said he believed that Solomon's observation - that the institute is becoming more of a "do tank" - was all the more reason to include conservatives on the board. "What's the point of becoming a 'do tank' if you don't have people on the board who reflect the opinions of U.S. policymakers?" he said.

Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director for Physicians for Human Rights, has been on the board since 2000. A Clinton appointee, she said she had not previously spoken out on Pipes' nomination, believing that his political leanings were not an issue. "There is a wide range of views on the board, and we make a wide range of grants," she said. "Our only litmus test is that the scholarship be excellent."

Her concern, she said, is that Pipes is "well-known for having made a career of imposing a different kind of litmus test, an ideological purity movement." Bringing that kind of tactic to the Institute of Peace, she said could have "a chilling effect" on scholarship.

Tough talk ahead on UN sanctions

The United Nations Security Council is to discuss ending 12 years of sanctions on Iraq on Friday.

BBC News

The United States is to present a draft resolution - co-sponsored by Britain and Spain - which would immediately lift all restrictions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, apart from an arms embargo.

However, there are divisions within the council over the role the United Nations should play in post-war Iraq.

Under the US proposals, a new body comprising Britain and the United States - known as The Authority - would decide how income from the sale of Iraqi oil would be spent.
The UN, which currently controls Iraq's oil revenue, would be confined to an advisory role. The BBC UN correspondent, Greg Barrow, says it is by no means certain that other council members like France and Russia will give unreserved support to the US vision and there is every indication that negotiations over this draft resolution will be difficult.
The Security Council is scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting in New York at 1030 local time (1430 GMT).

Convincing Russia
For the resolution to pass, it needs the support of nine of the 15 members of the council, and must not be vetoed by any one of the five permanent members, which include France and Russia.

Russia wants to see a strong role for the UN to give any US-chosen Iraqi authority international legitimacy.

Russia and France also want the UN to follow procedures - opposed by Washington - which would require UN arms inspectors to declare Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction before sanctions are removed.

The draft resolution does not mention the return of UN weapons teams.

US Assistant Secretary of State Kim Holmes met Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday hoping to get Russia's support.

Afterwards he said he was "very pleased", but indicated no agreement had been reached.
France - which angered Washington before the war by threatening to block any resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq - has declined to make any comments ahead of the UN debate.

European Union aid commissioner Poul Nielson, for his part, has made clear his opposition to the resolution.

"They [the Americans] will appropriate the oil," he told Danish radio on Friday.

"It is very difficult to see how this would make sense in any other way."

Swift action
The White House has expressed confidence that the draft resolution would face few obstacles.

"The president wants the Security Council to act quickly and there is no need for a lengthy debate," spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.

He said the resolution would "lift sanctions on Iraq, wind down the oil-for-food programme, provide for an appropriate administration to help provide security and rebuild Iraq, and encourage international participation in this effort".

The resolution would apparently allow some contracts concluded by the old Iraqi regime under the oil-for-food programme to be honored - a move designed to please the Russians, correspondents say.

Reports say the council is unlikely to make a decision before 24 May.

Reviving NATO

Washington Post

THE GOOD NEWS for seven countries of Central and Eastern Europe is that the Senate today is likely to overwhelmingly approve their entrance into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been the foundation of Western security for more than a half-century. The bad news is that they have real reason to worry whether the exclusive club they are joining will survive much longer. The end of the Cold War weakened NATO's cohesion and sense of purpose; the war in Iraq threatened to shatter it altogether. France's obstruction of a NATO decision to defend Turkey, a member, against possible attack raised the question of whether the alliance's 19 members still have a common vision of security, much less the ability to agree on concrete actions. The danger that the alliance could dissolve, formally or as a practical matter, still exists. But the U.S. ratification of membership for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania offers reminders of why a NATO with 26 members is needed -- and why the Bush administration should be working to save it.

NATO's best advertisement is the presence in Washington this week of democratic leaders from states that endured authoritarian or totalitarian rule for much of the 20th century. For these nations, the embrace of democracy and free-market economies was not by any means automatic after liberation from the Soviet bloc. That they all now swear by elections, civilian control of the military, acceptance of Europe's existing borders and fair treatment of their ethnic minorities has much to do with NATO. All sought membership in the alliance as a guarantor of their independence and security, and as a way of bonding with the United States. NATO's leaders wisely responded by opening the door while setting strict requirements. The alliance has thereby played a vital role in stabilizing and democratizing the eastern half of Europe -- but the job is not yet done. More than a half-dozen European countries, including giant Ukraine and volatile Serbia, still lie outside NATO. None is yet a stable democracy, but most would like to join the alliance. That gives NATO another valuable mission of tutelage for the next few years, one that is surely security-centered if not purely military, and one the Bush administration and "old Europe" can agree on.

The swift U.S.-led victory in Iraq has also given NATO a chance to revive itself as a military alliance and instrument of transatlantic partnership. Despite the lingering bitterness over the Iraq debate, the allies managed to agree two weeks ago that NATO would take over the peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan, a vital mission and one that, in its reach far beyond Europe, would have been inconceivable a few years ago. Even more significant are the discussions now quietly taking place in Brussels about a possible NATO role in Iraq -- an operation that would greatly relieve the postwar burden on the United States and go a long way toward overcoming the split over the war. If well managed, a NATO mission in Iraq could be the beginning of a larger collaboration between Europe and the United States to promote stability and democracy in the greater Middle East. The manifest success of Central Europe should encourage NATO to take on that challenge.
Sars 'here to stay'

The Sars virus could pose a threat to humans for many years to come, research suggests.

BBC News

Scientists have compared samples of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus from Singapore with samples from other countries where it has struck.

They have found that the main components of the virus have remained unchanged as infection has spread across different countries.

Scientists say the finding suggests that it is well adapted to resisting attack by the human immune system - and so does not need to evolve rapidly.

But the stability of the virus also means that any vaccine that is developed may remain effective against Sars for a long period.

Scientists have identified the virus that causes Sars as a new member of the Corona family. It has been dubbed Sars-CoV.

Usually human corona viruses have a high rate of genetic mutation which can lead to new strains.

Vaccine hopes?
Researchers led by Dr Edison Liu, from Singapore's Genome Institute, studied the genetic make-up of cultured Sars viruses from five different sources.

They found only a handful of mutation differences between the samples - and it was thought these probably resulted from the virus adapting to laboratory conditions.

The findings were published in an on-line report from the Lancet medical journal.

BBC science correspondent Richard Black says that if the human immune system is good at fighting a viral infection that usually produces changes over time in the genes of that particular virus.

But that is not happening in the Sars corona virus - suggesting our immune systems are not very effective at producing defenses to it.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the study, but says it is too early to tell whether significant mutations are occurring.

Other scientists comment that if the virus is relatively stable, that may make it easier to design a vaccine.
However, they also warn that vaccines against animal corona virus diseases have often been unsuccessful.

In other developments:
· China reports six new Sars deaths and 118 new cases on Friday - bringing the nationwide death toll to 230 and the overall number of cases to 4,805
· Taiwan's state oil company suspends an exploration project with its Chinese counterpart because Sars is preventing its officials from traveling to China
· Russia takes additional measures to prevent to spread of Sars, including ordering airlines not to sell tickets for China and closing some border checkpoints
· The WHO's director general nominee, Jong-Wook Lee, is in China for talks on Sars with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing
· Authorities in Beijing will go ahead with next month's university entrance exams for 80,000 students, as officials say the number of new Sars cases is declining.
·
Meanwhile another study - also published on The Lancet website - concludes that much of the lung damage associated with Sars is in fact caused by the body's own response to infection.

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong found a common pattern of illness among 75 patients who were admitted to hospital following an outbreak of Sars at Amoy Garden, a Hong Kong high-rise housing estate.

For the first week after admission, symptoms gradually improved, but deterioration set in during the second week of the hospital stay.

Some 85% of the patients developed recurrent fever after nine days.

This delayed deterioration suggests that damage is being inflicted on the lungs not by the continued spread of the virus, but by an overblown immune response.