Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Kosovo Serbs mav be allowed to vote by Merita Dhimgjoka Associated Press PRISTINA, Yugoslavia — Caught between the United States and European powers, Kosovo’s chief U.N. administrator consulted with Western diplo mats Thursday on President Slobodan Milosevic’s surprise plans to allow Kosovo Serbs to vote in Yu goslav elections. Milosevic’s plans added a new element of volatil ity to already high political tensions and security concerns in the province. >\hshington opposes including Kosovo in the Sept. 24 elections, while European governments are not as adamant, pointing out that Kosovo for mally remains part of Yugoslavia, even if present ly run by NATO and the United Nations, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials did not specify why the Ameri cans were opposed, but security concerns were one possible reason — the province remains a violent place, more than a year after Milosevic’s forces pulled out and NATO and the United Nations moved in, with politically and ethnically motiyated killings a daily occurrence. With Kosovo Albanians rejecting any associa tion with Yugoslavia, any plans to include the province in the Yugoslav parliamentary and presi dential elections is a sure recipe for violence against Serbs and voting facilities. Additionally, the move by Milosevic could be an attempt to gain popularity by showing Serbs out side the province that Kosovo remains part of their republic, which makes up Yugoslavia along with Mon tenegro. Many Serbs blame the Yugoslav president for losing Kosovo to the United Nations and NATO. Despite widespread opposition to Milosevic among Kosovo Serbs, it is feared that — in the absence of independent monitors — he could ma nipulate results in his favor. The plan would open about 500 polling stations in the troubled southern province for the Sept. 24 elections. Tire United Nations is preparing to hold local elections in Kosovo on Oct. 28. In a further attempt to show Kosovo remains part of Serbia, and Yugoslavia, a top aide to Milo sevic said the president planned to visit Kosovo. Milosevic, who is wanted on war crimes charges, would face immediate arrest if he were to travel to the province. The aide, Nikola Sainovic, declined to tell reporters when Milosevic planned to go. The loss of Kosovo is believed to be one of the reasons for the reported decline in Milosevic’s pop ularity. He faces a strong challenge in the presi dential race from an opposition candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, who has a strong lead in opinion polls. Commenting on the Yugoslav election plan Wednesday, U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchn er said he had not received any notice from Bel grade. And he suggested that any vote would have to be Kosovo-wide, including majority ethnic Al banians, all Milosevic opponents. “Do they want to have elections only in Serb enclaves? That is impossible,” he said. Thousands of Serbs fled the province when Yu goslav troops and police withdrew in June 1999 af ter NATO’s 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia. The Serbs who stayed have been attacked by armed ethnic Albanians seeking to drive the re maining 100,000 Serbs from the province. A visiting top European Union diplomat said on Thursday that in principle, the elections could be held, but also expressed concern about security. “The principle of elections is a principle we defend,” Javier Solana, Secretary General of the European Union Council, told reporters in Pristi na. “Everybody has the right to vote, and of course we are not going to oppose anybody to vote.” U.N. spokeswoman Susan Manuel said Kouch ner was expected to announce a decision Friday. Both Kosovo Albanian politicians and moderate Kosovo Serbs opposed to Milosevic denounced the election plans. “We are not going to support this elections be cause we think that they are going to be manipu lated by Milosevic’s regime,’’Sava Janjic, an Or thodox monk and moderate leader of Kosovo Serbs told a reporte. Tapes reveal Putin lashing out in public by Vladimir Isachenkov ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW-In a rare public display of anger, President Vladimir Putin accused business tycoons and independent media of ruining the country’s military and sought to distance himself from the legacy of his predecessors. Putin’s remarks, made at last week’s closed meeting with relatives of 118 seamen who died when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank, were his strongest criticism yet of the so-called oligarchs — the magnates who acquired their fortunes thanks in part to close links with the Kremlin during Boris Yeltsin’s rule. “They have embezzled enough, bought up the media, and are now manipulating public opinion,” Putin said, according to the Vlast weekly. The magazine belongs to the most politically aggressive of all Russia’s tycoons: Boris Berezovsky. Putin’s government has been harshly criticized in Russia and abroad for its initial reluctance to ac cept foreign aid, which was offered immediately after the Kursk exploded and sank in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12. Russia’s own rescue efforts were bungled by the lack of deep-sea divers, but the au thorities agreed to invite British and Norwegian rescue teams only after a four-day delay. Facing tears and angry shouts at the Aug. 22 meeting at the Vidyayevo submarine base, Putin defended himself and the military, saying the au thorities had done all they could. He quickly blamed the failure of the salvage efforts on the economic turmoil that resulted from the chaotic reforms of his predecessors — Mikhail Goibachev and Yeltsin. “I’m ready to account for the 100 days that I have been president. As for the previous 15 years, I’m ready to sit on the same bench with you and pose these questions to others.” The president’s statements appeared aimed at deflecting criticism rather than signaling a new at tack on the oligarchs or an attempt to sever his links with Yeltsin’s era. “Putin owes his election victory to Yeltsin’s team,” said Yevgeny Volk, the director of the Her itage Foundation’s Moscow office. “His statement is no more than a public rela tions effort, an attempt to shift the blame.” Pressed with questions about the Russian Navy’s bungled rescue effort, Putin said the answer lies in the pitiful state of the military, which is strug gling to survive a drastic funding shortage. “As for rescue equipment, it has been ruined and there isn’t a fig left,” he said. “There isn’t a fig left in the country.” He said that the nation could no longer afford a huge army and should drastically cut the number of men and weapons in order to increase military wages and the army’s combat effectiveness. Putin pointed at the tycoons as the culprits for Russia’s economic and military decay, saying they had their media “lie” about the disaster in order to blackmail the government. “The people on television,... who for 10 years were destroying the army and the navy where peo ple are now dying, are the first among the army’s defenders,” Putin said. “Their goal is to discredit and completely ru in the army and navy.” He wouldn’t name names, but he was clearly referring to both Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusin sky — the owners of Russia’s largest media em pires. “They want to influence the mass audience in order to show the military an political leadership that we need them (the media), that we are on their hook and must fear and obey them and let them further rob the, country, the army and the navy.” Putin said. Putin has previously sought to distance him self from the oligarchs, and the authorities earlier this year took action against some of the nation’s largest companies, accusing them of tax evasion or illegal privatization. Gusinsky, whose media outlets have repeat edly criticized the Kremlin, spent several days in jail in June on charges of defrauding the state. The charges were later dropped—but the case had already provoked international concern about media freedom in Russia. Postal Offices are safe to work in, report says by Randolph E. Schmid Associated Press WASHINGTON —Postal workers havegot ten a "bad rap" from widespread reports of vi olence at post offices, says a new report from an independent commission that concludes the agency is actually one of the safest places to work in this country. “Going postal is a myth, a bad rap, non sense,” commission chairman Joseph Califano said Thursday. “Postal workers are no more likely to physically assault, sexually harass or verbally abuse their co-workers than employ ees in the national workforce.” And, he added, “postal workers are only a third as likely as those in the national work force to be victims of homicide”— 0.26 per 100,000 versus 0.77 per 100,(XX). Concern about postal violence lias risen with a series of 29 incidents dating to 1986 in which 54 people were killed. “I didn’t want to go to one more postal fa cility and explain why some father or mother was murdered” Postmaster General William Henderson said of his decision to ask the in dependent commission to analyze the prob lem. While Califano’s group determined that the rate of violence was actually lower in postal facilities than elsewhere, it did note that the post office has a high rate of grievances and made recommendations for reducing labor management tension. “The major findings, we’re in absolute agreement with, and will take steps,” said Hen derson. He said some of the suggestions, including incentive pay, will be brought up in negotia tions with the postal service’s major labor unions, and he will take steps to modernize the ser vice's grievance process. While the instances of violence in recent years included many other businesses, in the vernacular, a violent attack in the workplace became known as “going postal.” Califano reported that workers at private postal services are twice as likely to be mur dered on the job than federal postal workers, and retail clerks are eight times more likely. The highest murder rate, he noted, was for taxi drivers. Nonetheless, he said the past reports about going postal have caused “unnecessary ap prehension and fear among 900,000 postal workers.” Mary Elcano, former general counsel for the post office, agreed, commenting that “what concerned me is the sensationalism that sur rounded the coverage of Postal Service events has done violence to Postal Service employ ees, in their view of the security that they have in the workplace.” The study surveyed 12,000 postal work ers and 3,000 employees in other jobs around the country and concluded that there is an un acceptable level of violence in the American workplace. Among the findings: — One in 20 workers was physically assault ed on the job in the past year, 5 percent each for postal workers and others. — More than one in six people were sexual ly harassed at work. 14 percent for postal work ers, 16 percent in other jobs. —About one-third of workers said they were verbally abused on the job, 36 percent of postal workers, 33 percent elsewhere. —The chance of physical assault by co-work ers was 4 percent for postal employees, 3 per cent for others. —But postal workers were less likely to face physical assault from outsiders, 0.4 per cent versus 2.3 percent. Postal seervges Pentagon divulges military readiness by Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON — Most U.S. combat forces are ready to perform wartime missions, but if the country had to fight two major conflicts at the same time it would run a high risk of increased casualties because of shortfalls in the ability to move, sup ply and protect troops, the Pentagon said Thursday. In an assessment required by Congress every three months, the Pentagon said the military ser vices are facing training problems, personnel short ages and aging equipment. Even so, it concluded that “America’s armed forces remain capable of ex ecuting” the military strategy of the Clinton ad ministration. The report comes amid growing debate between the presidential campaigns of Vice President A1 Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush about whether the Clinton administration has sapped the U.S. mil itary of the strength it needs to maintain the na tion’s status as the world’s lone remaining super power. Just last week, Defense Secretary William Co hen disagreed with Bush’s assertion that the mili tary is “in decline” and that morale is low. “Things are on the upswing,” Cohen said Aug. 21, noting recent improvements in the ser vices’ ability to recruit and retain troops. “While there’s always room for improvement, we’ve got the best in the world.” Thursday’s Pentagon report to Congress was a summary of a classified report and covered the period April-June 2000. It includes an assessment of the Pentagon’s ability to execute a notional sce nario in the context of U.S. military commitments as of March 15, which included peacekeeping op erations in Bosnia and Kosovo, plus Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps air patrols over northern and southern Iraq. The scenario postulated that war broke out be tween North and South Korea, followed by war in the Persian Gulf. The conclusion drawn was that “most major combat and support forces are ready to meet as signed taskings under this scenario, although there are force readiness and capability shortfalls that in crease risk in executing operations.” The term “risk” in this context means the risk of not meeting field commanders’ timetables for moving forces to a theater of war and executing the war plan. It does not mean the risk of failing to win the war, but rather the risk that longer timelines for starting combat operations would mean higher U.S. casualties. The assessment said there was a “moderate” risk associated with responding to the first war — in Korea, under the scenario — and a “high” risk for the second war, in the Gulf. The report of fered no more precise definition of these ratings. Congress was given more detailed assessments in the classified version of the report. The non-classified report cited several areas of “strategic concern,” all related to the military’s abil ity to build up forces where war had broken out and to initiate a counteroffensive. These include shortfalls in mobility and logistics; deficiencies in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; lim its in dealing with threats from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction, and the vulnerability to cy berattacks. The report included specific assessments for each service, including: —Army personnel readiness is a concern. It has shorta^'-s in some critical enlisted skills and at the rank of captain, but it has shown recent improve ment in retaining soldiers and finding new recruits. —The Navy’s limited aviation equipment is a con cern. It would experience shortfalls if its air wings and carriers had to support the second of two near ly simultaneous major theater wars. Also of concern is the availability in sufficient numbers of the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare planes that jam enemy radars. —The Marines are meeting their recruiting goals. Its land warfare equipment is ready for operation, but there are questions about its abili ty to sustain that equipment in the longer term be cause of aging and corrosion. —The Air Force faces shortages in many critical job skills. Shortages of spare parts and skill-level mismatches in many personnel areas are creating problems that hurt the Air Force’s bility to train, j 4 ‘While there’s always room for improvement, we’ve got the best in the world.’ William Cohen Defense Secretary News Briefs ■ Albright calls on Myanmar to free opposition leader WASHINGTON (AP)— Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Myan mar’s military government Thursday to immediately allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to travel outside the capital on a political organizing trip. “I am appalled at the actions of the Burmese regime in denying Suu Kyi the freedom to travel in her own country.” Albright said in a statement. “Freedom of movement and freedom of speech are fundamental, internationally recognized human rights.” Suu Kyi, 55, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democ racy campaign in Myanmar — also known as Burma — was stopped along with 14 members of her party on Aug. 24 as they attempted to travel outside the capital, Yangon, to carry out politi cal organizing. ■ Diana anniversary marked quietly LONDON (AP) — On the third an niversary of Princess Diana’s death, her sons remembered her in private, far from the gates of Kensington Palace, where a devoted core of admirers gathered Thursday with flowers, candles and an impromptu religious service. “Wfe come each year because she was human,” said Dottie O’Connell, 63, from Buckinghamshire in southern England. “She touched people and made them feel special. She sat with children who were dying and held their hands.” There were prayers at Westminster Abbey, where Diana’s funeral service took place a week after her death. Memo rial displays were arranged at Harrods, the London department store owned by Mohamed A1 Fayed, whose son Dodi, died with Diana. And in Paris, admirers stopped at the Flame of Liberty, the un official shrine above the traffic tunnel where Diana died in a car crash on Aug. 31,1997. ■ French fishermen end protests PARIS (AP) — French fishermen on Thursday called an end to a nationwide wave of protests, including an hours-long traffic blockade of the Channel Tunnel, after the Agriculture Ministry promised to offset the costs of rising fuel prices. Earlier Thursday, fishermen had lined up cars to form a picket line at the Channel Tunnel terminal at Coquelles, near the northern port city of Calais, leaving hun dreds of tourist buses and other vehicles unable to board the trains that pass un der the English Channel. ■ German state official fired ERFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of a state office for monitoring neo Nazis has been fired following criticism over the revelation that he paid $ 11,500 to a known neo-Nazi forinformation on radical rightists, the Thuringia state in terior minister said Friday. Interior Minister Christian Koeck ert said at a news conference that he had relieved Helmut Roewer, head of the state Office for Protection of the Con stitution, of his job. The minister did not give his reasons for firing the interior intelligence chief because a report on an investigation of Roewer still has to be presented to the Thuringia state’s parliamentary security committee. ■ Ukraine region declared disaster KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — President Leonid Kuchma on Thursday declared four southemUkrainian villages an eco logical disaster zone, following an out break of a mysterious illness some have blamed on leaks of Soviet-era rocket fu el. \