|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/roger.dnai/ |
Upload File : |
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//SoftQuad//DTD HoTMetaL PRO 4.0::19971010::extensions to HTML 4.0//EN"
"hmpro4.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Mozilla/4.03 (Macintosh; I; 68K) [Netscape]">
<TITLE>March</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" BGPROPERTIES="FIXED">
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+4">Events
of March 1997</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">Anne
D. Baylon</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CENTRAL
EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Albania</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
2</B> In an effort to end the rioting and violence that followed the
collapse of pyramid schemes, President Sali Berisha accepts the
resignation of Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi and his cabinet. He also
declares a state of emergency which bans meetings of more than four people
and authorizes the use of "all force" by the army, police, and
secret police. The coastal towns of Vlore and Sarande in southern Albania
are now major centers of unrest.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
3 </B>President Berisha reappoints himself as President for a five-year
term. He enforces the state of emergency which imposes an 8 P.M. to 7 A.M.
curfew and allows the police to shoot armed protesters.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
4 </B>The city of Vlore prepares for a confrontation with government
troops, capturing tanks and armored personnel carriers from deserted army
barracks. Worried about a wave of Albanian refugees, Greece reinforces its
troops along the border with Albania.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
5 </B>Government troops move closer to Vlore and Sarande. In Tirana, the
government rejects a mediation offer from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of which Albania is a member.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
6</B> In their first collaboration since last May's contested elections,
President Berisha and the opposition parties call on the rebels in the
south to stop fighting. The rebels have 48 hours, during which the
government will halt military operations, to turn in their arms.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
8 </B>The rebels ignore the amnesty period, holding on to weapons seized
from deserting troops in Sarande.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
9 </B>Making concessions, President Berisha proposes a plan for a
transitional government of "national unity" and for new
elections to be held within two months. He also extends the amnesty period
another week.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
12 </B>Anti-government rebels take more towns in southern Albania and the
armed revolt in Vlore edges toward anarchy, with gangsters and thugs,
armed with machine guns and large stocks of ammunition, ruling the
streets. President Berisha announces the appointment of Bashkim Fino, a
Socialist Party member, as the new Prime Minister.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">The
insurrection moves toward Tirana, with gangs seizing weapons from military
barracks around Tirana. Western embassies start evacuating their
personnel. A caretaker government is appointed: Belul Cela, of President
Berisha's Democratic Party, becomes Interior Minister while Sheqir Vukaj,
a Socialist, becomes Defense Minister.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
13</B> President Berisha still refuses to resign; his police and army
disband and the authorities open weapons warehouses in Tirana to arm
civilians, with the hope that they will help defend the government.
Prisoners are released, including Fatos Nano, the Socialist Party leader
who was jailed after a political trial, and Ramiz Alia, the last Communist
leader of Albania. Mr. Berisha calls on NATO and the EU to send
peacekeeping troops to restore order.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
14 </B>The President's close associates flee the country and a tide of
Albanian refugees flood the Italian port of Brindisi. Anarchy spreads to
the east near the Macedonian border, where a new cigarette plant is burnt
to the ground, and to the north in Shkoder, where government buildings are
set on fire and the armory is emptied. Prime Minister Bashkim Fino meets
with an OSCE delegation headed by former Austrian Chancellor Franz
Vranitzky.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
16</B> Over 4,000 Albanians have now fled to southern Italy, stretching
resources in the ports of Brindisi and Bari. The European Union agrees to
send a mission of military and police advisers to Tirana to help restore
order.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
20 </B>Closed for eight days, Tirana airport reopens. Prime Minister
Bashkim Fino rebuffs Mr. Berisha's attempts to steer the government while
rejecting rebel demands that Mr. Berisha step down before the June
elections.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
23 </B>With the southern ports of Sarande and Vlore still in rebel hands,
the coalition government of Prime Minister Bashkim Fino controls little
outside of Tirana.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
28 </B>The U.N. Security Council authorizes the dispatch of a temporary
(up to three months) multinational force of about 2,500 soldiers, led by
Italy, to protect the delivery of humanitarian assistance against gangs
and mafiosi.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
30 </B>Albanian officials accuse the Italian navy of deliberately sinking
a refugee boat near Bari and causing the death of as many as 79 Albanians.
Thirteen thousand Albanian refugees have reached Italy in recent weeks.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
31</B> Italian authorities order a search for the remains of the sunken
boat in order to "cast light" on the event, but Prime Minister
Romano Prodi says that the Italian navy will continue patrolling the
shoreline on account of reports that criminal organizations in Albania are
behind the refugee flow.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Macedonia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 19 </B>A country of about two million, Macedonia has succeeded
in escaping the violence that engulfed Yugoslavia. But unrest in
Albania--Macedonia's neighbor to the west--has caused Macedonians to worry
about their country's ethnic Albanian minority. Ethnic Albanians, about
one-quarter of the population, are mostly Muslim, do not intermarry with
Macedonians, and have a very conservative tradition. The resulting gulf
between the Albanian and Macedonian cultures has led some to predict
future violence.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 30</B> Although the Government, dominated by the former
Communists, vows to maintain ethnic tolerance in Macedonia, the
reemergence of a nationalistic movement antagonistic to ethnic minorities
has groups such as Muslims, Gypsies, and Catholics worried that they have
no future in Macedonia. Ethnic Macedonians who are Slavs and Orthodox
Christians make up 70% of the population.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Poland</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
6 </B>The last 3,800 workers at the bankrupt Gdansk shipyard, where former
President Lech Walesa rose to become the leader of the Solidarity Labor
Union 17 years ago, are notified that they will lose their jobs.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
12 </B>About 2,000 workers from the Gdansk shipyard block roads and
demonstrate in Gdansk. In Warsaw, Solidarity's national committee
announces plans for a nationwide campaign against the government's policy.
(The government refused to subsidize the bankrupt shipyard, although it
offered partial loan guarantees if a bank would lend money to keep it
afloat. But the Polish Pekao Bank refused a $100 million loan for
construction of five ships for a German shipowner, prompting the
government's decision to close down the shipyard.)</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Romania</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 28 </B>Romania has started a campaign to be included in the
countries entering NATO this year. With 90% of the population in favor of
joining NATO, Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea has made entry into NATO the
top national priority and has appointed ex-King Michael as a special
ambassador to promote Romania's cause. Romania has also taken required
steps to join: it has improved its relations with Hungary and Ukraine, and
its armed forces, now under civilian control as mandated by NATO, are
being trained according to NATO procedures.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">EASTERN
EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Belarus</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
15 </B>Thousands of protesters demonstrate in Belarus against hard-line
President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr. Lukashenko is opposed by a mix of
liberals, nationalists, intellectuals, and students.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
20</B> Authorities clamp down on the opposition, giving a fine to a
prominent politician for organizing a rally banned by Mr. Lukashenko that
attracted 10,000 people and arresting 20 people at a peaceful protest.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
23</B> Serzh Alexandrov, an ethnic Belarussian who is also the first
secretary of the U.S. embassy in Minsk, is asked to leave Belarus after
participating in an anti-government rally.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
26</B> In retaliation for the ouster of the American diplomat, the U.S.
orders the expulsion of a Belarussian diplomat. Recently, Mr. Lukashenko
has resisted economic and political reform, cracked down on the
opposition, and expelled the executive director of the Belarussian Soros
Foundation, which supports independent media.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Chechnya</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
19</B> President Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected in January, names a new
government in which he includes several allies of guerrilla leader and
runner-up for the presidency Shamil Basayev. He also creates a new
national guard from the ranks of the "most active participants in the
war" against Russia.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
6</B> On television, President Yeltsin promises to "clean house in
his administration and speed up free-market reform" by putting "new
faces in power." Mr. Yeltsin is expected to call back to his Cabinet
Anatoly Chubais, the architect of his first privatization program, who is
highly respected in the West.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
7</B> President Yeltsin appoints Anatoly Chubais as First Deputy Prime
Minister, giving him economic control. Mr. Chubais is the "most hated
public figure in Russia," viewed as having given away the country's
factories, stores, and natural resources for almost nothing during the
initial effort to introduce privatization.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
17</B> In a government shakeup, President Yeltsin appoints economic
reformers to his Cabinet. Boris Nemtsov, the governor of the Nizhni
Novgorod region--a showcase of economic reform--becomes First Deputy Prime
Minister, overseeing with Mr. Chubais the economic and social policy of
Russia. Mr. Yeltsin also abolishes several ministries, such as the
Industry Ministry, which had obstructed economic reform.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 24</B> Within the Russian Federation, which is composed of 89
regions (21 of which are classified as republics), tensions have risen
dramatically between the center and the regions. The regions, which have
not received the federal money they need to pay pensions and salaries,
have in turn refused to deliver their required share of tax revenue to
Moscow.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
27</B> Russia's workers stage the largest strike against the government
since the dissolution of the Soviet Union to protest against deepening
hardships resulting from months of unpaid wages.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Ukraine</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
18</B> Tens of thousands of unpaid workers and pensioners demonstrate,
asking for a return of the Communists.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Uzbekistan</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 5</B> A country of 23 million that was called the "best
long-term investment in the former Soviet Union," Uzbekistan lured
investors in 1996 by opening its market to Western goods and improving its
economy and human rights record. But after a short economic boom set in
motion by President Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan has reverted to Soviet-style
habits. Combined losses from a bad cotton harvest and a small wheat crop
have prompted Mr. Karimov to print money, buy dollars at high black market
rates, and prevent foreigners from converting their local earnings into
dollars, in effect depriving them of their profits since the value of the
local money dropped by half. As a result, many small and midsize companies
have now pulled out of Uzbekistan.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">THE
FORMER YUGOSLAVIA</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Bosnia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
4</B> On his first overseas trip as U.S. Defense Secretary, William Cohen
warns European allies that U.S. peacekeeping troops will not remain in
Bosnia after June 1998. He also raises the possibility that the U.S. might
yield or share the NATO southern command--traditionally held by a U.S.
officer.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">Mar.
6</FONT></FONT></FONT></B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">The
OSCE announces that the Bosnian municipal elections they are in charge of
will be postponed until September in order to raise more money to pay for
them and better organize international teams of monitors. The elections
are now lagging one year behind their original schedule.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Mar. 11</B> Under the Dayton Accord, Bosnia was to include two
political entities--a Muslim-Croat coalition and a Serb entity--with a
national structure linking the two. But the Bosnian Serb entity has
refused to honor many Dayton provisions; cut off from international aid,
it has steadily declined politically and economically. Unable to attract
foreign investments, factories are idle, and unemployment has reached 90%.
No longer financed by Serbia, the Bosnian Serb Army has shrunk from 40,000
to 12,000 men. NATO strategists now worry that the Bosnian Government will
increasingly see the Serb zone as an easy military objective after NATO
peacekeepers withdraw.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
27</B> According to the Human Rights Watch Arms Project, a prominent human
rights group, the Yugoslav Army (i.e., the military force of Serbia and
Montenegro) might possess huge stores of chemical weapons.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">WESTERN
EUROPE/EASTERN EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Germany/Bosnian
War Refugees</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
13</B> The city of Berlin orders the deportation of two Bosnian war
refugees to Sarajevo. Although a symbolic gesture, the expulsions announce
a larger forced exodus. Germany has put increasing pressure on the 320,000</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">predominantly
Muslim Bosnian war refugees on its soil to return home voluntarily.
Between 25,000 and 30,000 people have done so, but at least half of the
refugees still in Germany are Muslims who have no place to go because
their homes are in what are now Serb-controlled areas.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia/European
Union</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
22 </B>President Boris Yeltsin indicates that "Russia wants to be
recognized as a full European state," and wishes to join the European
Union. Russia and the EU have signed an agreement to foster commercial
links and liberalize trade, but the agreement has not been ratified and
Moscow has not formally applied to join the organization.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia/NATO</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
3 </B>With NATO's expansion now inevitable, Russia's strategy is to make
the process "as diplomatically painful as possible" in order to
obtain more concessions. The goal is to convince NATO to stop the
expansion after admitting Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and
Hungary and "slam the door shut" on the Baltic States.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
14</B> In a concession to Russian concerns, the Alliance declares that it
has no present or future plans to station foreign ground-combat forces on
the territory of member-nations that do not already have them. Earlier,
NATO had assured Russia that it would not put nuclear weapons on the
territory of new members.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Turkey</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
1</B> Concerned that the government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan is
trying to impose religious fundamentalism in Turkey, the Turkish military
issues a warning that "no steps away from the contemporary values of
the Turkish Republic" will be tolerated. Alluding to Turkey's efforts
to become a European Union member, the communiqué also stresses
that whatever might cause damage to "Turkey's image and prestige
abroad" must stop.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
10</B> In Brussels, a group of influential European leaders strongly
express their conviction that Turkey should not become part of the
European Union. Some European leaders cite Turkey's lack of development,
human rights track record, and Muslim religion as reasons for denying
Turkey admission into the EU.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
26</B> Turkey's candidacy for EU membership is "dealt a fatal blow"
when German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel asserts that Turkey "will
not become a member.. in the foreseeable future."</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Turkey/Greece</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
26</B> In a thaw of relations between Turkey and Greece, Turkish chief of
defense Gen. Ismail Hakki Karadayi attends a reception at the Greek
embassy in Ankara for Greece's independence day and declares the Turkish
army's intent to "end the deep mistrust that exists between the two
countries." Recently, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos
strongly criticized suggestions by European leaders that Turkey could not
join the European Union.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">United
Nations</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
4</B> The U.N. announces that its expenditures will be under budget for
1998 and 1999 if the dollar remains stable (both expenditures and member
assessments are in dollars and thus affected by the dollar's
fluctuations). Efforts to reduce the costs are intended to persuade the
U.S. to pay its share of arrears since the U.S. Congress has declared it
will allow payment only if it is convinced that the U.N. is "becoming
leaner."</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
17</B> U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan outlines a plan to eliminate
waste. The U.N. will cut by one- third the share of its $1.2 billion in
annual spending that goes for administration and shift it to development
aid programs. It will also reduce budget and staff levels in parts of the
U.N. directly under Mr. Annan's authority.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">United
States/Russia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
8</B> Hoping to ease Russia's concerns that the West seeks military
advantage, Washington tells Moscow that it is prepared to negotiate a
reduction of long-range nuclear arms to about 2,000 and 2,500 nuclear
warheads for each side.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
20 </B>President Clinton and President Yeltsin begin a two-day summit
meeting in Helsinki.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Mar.
21</B> Emphasizing cooperation, the two presidents "agree to differ"
over NATO's expansion and to speed negotiations between NATO and Russia on
a new charter that would give Russia "a voice in NATO policy but not
a veto." President Yeltsin pledges to ask Parliament to ratify the
Start II treaty, signed in 1993, that calls for the elimination of
land-based multiple-warhead missiles by 2003. In exchange, Washington
agrees to extend by a year the deadline for dismantling nuclear warheads
and to 2007 the deadline for destroying missiles and silos.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P></P>
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<P><BR>
<FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="-2">Copyright @ Center for Strategic
Decision Research 1998</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="-2">Strategic Decision Press</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A HREF="mar.htm">Return to Top
of Page</A></FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A HREF="index.html">Return to
NATO Workshop Homepage</A></FONT></FONT> <BR> <BR> </P>
</BODY>
</HTML>