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Ambassador Kovanda criticised
The situation in Yugoslavia and the NATO attacks there have
an impact on various aspects of the international scene and on the
internal political situation as well. That is certainly the case
here, in the Czech Republic, says Olga Szantova.
Yes, you'll probably recall that Czech politicians were not
unanimous in their attitudes towards the NATO air raids on
Yugoslavia. The strongest, most outspoken support came from
president Havel and foreign minister Jan Kavan . The government's
official statement stressed that the decision to strike had been
made before the Czech Republic joined NATO. Speaker of the House
Vaclav Klaus was quite outspoken about his reservations towards
military action and other politicians took a similar, if not as
strongly expressed stand. On Wednesday the Czech ambassador to
NATO Karel Kovanda publicly criticised the lack of unity in the
political representatives' attitudes and said it was harming our
reputation in Brussels, where they are finding it hard to
understand the attitude taken by some Czech politicians. Kovanda's
statement, in turn, met with criticism among Czech politicians,
the general attitude being that as ambassador he represents the
state and its interests, and is in no position to publicly voice
any private opinions. Some members of the cabinet feel that the
ambassador should be recalled from his post, and premier Zeman
has said any such step was for the foreign minister to take.
President Havel has expressed his view on the matter, too.
As I see it, said president Havel, it is the duty of our
ambassador to NATO to inform about the situation and the attitudes
within the Alliance. The issue isn't that he gave information, the
issue is that he should have reported to his superiors and the
cabinet before talking about it in public. Nevertheless I consider
the matter closed, said president Havel, referring to the fact
that Karel Kovanda had been reprimanded by his superior, foreign
minister Jan Kavan. The head of state was speaking after a meeting
with premier Milos Zeman on Thursday which showed, it has been
announced, that they both share the same view on the aims NATO
should achieve in Yugoslavia, namely, the renewal of negotiations.
Czech defense ministry says Serbs may have Tamara radar
The Czech military intelligence service is trying to trace dozens of
surplus Czech made Tamara anti-aircraft radar systems after Germany's
ZDF television cited US intelligence sources as saying that a Tamara
system which the former Czechoslovakia sold to Russia prior to 1990
may have been passed on to Yugoslavia. Daniela Lazarova has the story.
Challenged to comment on this claim the Czech defense ministry said
such a scenario could not be ruled out.
The defense ministry spokesman there, Milan Repka admitting that
Yugoslavia may have one of the powerful Tamara radar systems at its
disposal. Tamara experts have expressed the view that a Tamara radar
can be moved and re-installed within a matter of 48 hours. However
they point out that to their knowledge no Serbs have been given
technical schooling which would allow them to operate it. If there is
a Tamara radar in operation out there then it must be operated by
Russians, one expert noted. He added however that the news from
Yugoslavia did not suggest the Serbs had the advantage a Tamara radar
would give them.
The Tamara, a web of electronic cylinders usually carried in heavy
trucks can detect the US radar-evading Stealth fighters which are
being used in the air campaign against Yugoslavia. One US F 117
stealth fighter crashed during a raid last weekend, but it is still
not clear whether the aircraft was shot down or crashed in an
accident. While the Czech intelligence service insists that post-
revolution arms export controls will have prevented potential enemy
armies from obtaining the Tamara radar, tracing the Tamaras sold
abroad and possibly re-sold during the years of a communist government
as well as dozens of surplus Tamaras is no easy task. The
investigation is expected to take weeks .
Dienstbier condemns NATO's Air Strikes
Former Czech Foreign Minister and current UN envoy for Human
Rights, Jiri Dienstbier, announced on Monday that in his mind
the NATO air strikes on Kosovo should be viewed as "the
biggest mistake since the Vietnam War". Dita Asiedu has the
details:
Last week, in an interview with Radio Prague, Jiri Dienstbier
noted that air strikes will only strengthen the Serbian leader
and will not cause him to bend since he knows that he himself
will not be bombed and does not mind sacrificing his own
people. This week, he continued to express his lack of
confidence in NATO's move and noted that the alliance should
have threatened Milosevic with the use of ground forces
instead. But he added that it's too late for that now. "The
ground forces would have to be assembled for two or three
months and we have the situation in which we can expect parts
of Kosovo will be empty", he told journalists on Monday.
Dienstbier, who has visited Kosovo several times after having
been assigned by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to
watch the developments in human rights issues in former
Yugoslavia, repeatedly tries to stress that any loss of
innocent lives caused by the North Atlantic Alliance is wrong
and notes that such cases have already taken place. In the
Kosovo capital of Pristina, for example, NATO bombs have hit
school premises.
"The bombing is the latest mistake the international community
made in good will in the past ten years. You cannot fight for
human rights by killing people", Dienstbier noted during a
news conference on Monday in Geneva, where he is currently
attending an annual session of the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights.
Czech house approves stricter anti-bribery measures
The House of Deputies -- the lower chamber of the
Czech Parliament -- has approved stricter penalties
for those who bribe civil servants, and for
officials who accept handouts for various favours.
Libor Kubik has the story.
The new law, which still has to be approved by the Senate,
stiffens the maximum punishment for civil servants caught
taking bribes as well as those who attempt to pay them.
Those convicted of accepting bribes would face a maximum of
eight years in jail, up from five years currently, while those
caught attempting to pay bribes could be jailed for not more
than five years instead of three.
Communist MP Zuzka Rujbrova explains the purpose of the new
amendment:
"We must distinguish between attempts to bribe a person who is
discharging a public duty, and those paid to or accepted by
someone who is clearly after his or her personal profit..."
The amendment approved in the lower house calls for the courts
to be more severe if the bribery involves high state
officials, or foreign citizens representing another country.
The Czech Republic, which has been selected for fast-track
talks for European Union membership, has been frequently
criticised by Western diplomats and foreign investors for what
is seen as an often corrupt investment environment.
The only major conviction of a senior public official came
when Jaroslav Lizner, the head of the early nineties'
vouchers-for-shares privatisation programme, was caught red-
handed, taking an eight million crown bribe to manipulate a
stock deal in 1994.
Lizner was released last year after serving half of a six-year
sentence that included a conviction for abuse of official
powers.
The new amendment is connected with the Social Democrat
government's Clean Hands programme, which became a major
campaign theme in last year's general elections after frequent
allegations of corruption in the privatisation process set up
by the previous centre-right governments.
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