Weekend Australian
June 3, 2006 Saturday
NSW Country Edition

Moldovan enclave wants independence

by Jeremy Page, Richard Beeston

MOST people would struggle to point out Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya
Respublika on a map, let alone pronounce it.

Those who can, know it as a hotbed of smuggling, the site of a vast
Soviet-era weapons dump, or perhaps the home of Sheriff Tiraspol
football club.

However, this tiny sliver of land, known in English as Transdniestr,
is the latest European enclave to make a bid for independence
following Montenegro’s decision to declare statehood last month.

Igor Smirnov, Transdniestr’s ”President”, has announced that its
550,000 people will vote in a referendum in September on whether to
seek formal independence from Moldova.

”The recent example of Montenegro proves that a referendum is
becoming a norm for solving conflicts,” said Mr Smirnov, 64, a
former metalworker.

In the unlikely event that Transdniestr wins independence, it would
become Europe’s 19th new country since the collapse of communism in
1989.

Montenegro’s example has kindled hopes that even tiny enclaves in
Europe’s forgotten corners can still become viable states. The fear
is that declarations of independence by mini-states could spark fresh
instability in unstable regions.

In the Balkans, Montenegro’s independence drive is likely to be
followed by Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian province of
Serbia. That could spark moves by the ethnic Serb Republika Srpska to
break away from Bosnia, and Herceg-Bosna’s Croats to join Croatia.

In the Caucasus, Russia is still struggling to contain the separatist
rebellion in Chechnya. Georgia is split by breakaway regions in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There is still no resolution to
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave in Azerbaijan that is controlled
by Armenia.

Transdniestr broke away from Moldova in 1990 and the two sides fought
a war in 1992 that left more than 1500 people dead. Although never
recognised internationally, it has close ties to Russia, which helped
the ethnic Russians in the war and has maintained 1500 troops there.

Officially, they are there to keep the peace and guard a stockpile of
40,000 tonnes of weapons stored there in case of a NATO invasion. In
reality, this remains Moscow’s westernmost strategic outpost — a
bulwark against the expanding European Union and NATO.

It is also a haven for money-laundering, smuggling and illegal
weapons sales.

Mr Smirnov runs it as a personal fiefdom, financed by local oligarchs
and propped up by nostalgia for the Soviet Union. It has its own
currency based on the old Soviet rouble, uses the old Soviet Moldovan
flag and stages annual Soviet-style military parades. Shop windows
display tawdry goods from the 1970s and 1980s. The only redeeming
feature is Moldova’s only FIFA-approved football stadium, home to the
country’s top football club, Sheriff Tiraspol.

Peace talks, mediated by the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, have stalled over Transdniestr’s refusal to
accept autonomy within a Moldovan state. Russia has backed the
referendum.

Karel De Gucht, the Belgian Foreign Minister and OSCE chairman, has
said there is no legal basis for a referendum and urged both sides to
negotiate.