Author: Frangulian Shushan

Civil.ge
May 1, 2004

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili participated in the
summit of the Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) member countries in Azerbaijani capital Baku on April 30.

11-member organization (Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria,
Romania, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey)
discussed regional cooperation.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Salome Zurabishvili will
hold talks during the visit with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and
with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamediarov, as well as with
other officials.

CENN – APRIL 30, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. NGOs Remains Final Opposition to Water Take-over
2. First case of human anthrax reported in Armenia
3. Design and Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Power Station
4. World Bank to Decide on Oil Investing by July

1. NGOS REMAINS FINAL OPPOSITION TO WATER TAKE-OVER

Source: The Messenger, April 29, 2004

After reassuring detractors by inviting a delegation from Tbilisi to its
headquarters in France, the French Compagnie Generale des Eaux (CGE) is
all but finally at the helm of the Tbilisi Water Supply Company
(Tbiltskal- kanali). Only a few non-governmental organizations and
analysts are fighting the company’s takeover of Tbilisi water’s
management. As they maintain, Tbiltskalkanali’s problems will remain
unsolved and the people of Tbilisi will be deceived.

The Tbilisi water supply system has long been in need of extensive
repairs. For this purpose, the World Bank allotted a EURO 25 million
credit, though it stipulated that the right to manage this sum be
granted to a company with experience in serving a city with over one
million residents and with assets worth over USD 50 million. The
tender’s results became known shortly after the Fall 2002 tender- the
French CGE prevailed.

The events that developed in Georgia at the end of last year stalled the
French company’s entrance into Tbiltskalkanali as did objections
launched by the Labor Party who claimed the company would jack up water
prices. But a recent visit of Tbilisi Sakrebulo (City Hall)
representatives to the company’s head office in Paris in April put an
end to the reservations of the city’s government.

According to Sakrebulo Head Zaza Begashvili, who was a member of the
delegation, the “French company does not plan to raise the tariff on
water consumption.” He also claims that if the French company receives
the management rights, the Tbilisi budget has the potential to save the
GEL 15 million annually that it spends on Tbiltskalkanali.

Begashvili said the government demands that the French company meet a
number of conditions after assuming management. Specifically it should
supply the capital’s population with 24-hour water and maintain the
minimal tariff on water consumption. If the Sakrebulo approves the
tender awarded to CGE in Georgia, the company will be obligated to
repair the capital’s water infrastructure, including, first of all,
changing the water pipes.

Now, the only voice protesting CGE’s takeover of Tbilisi water is the
NGO “Mental Development of Vake District” which claims that the
conditions of the tender will prove damaging to the Tbilisi population.
They recall when the American company AES came to town and managed the
local electricity distribution company Telasi. Such a comparison causes
concern among the population, as under AES electricity rates increased
quickly and electricity supply problems remained unresolved.

Opponents of CGE claim that the company’s plan will not improve the
quality of water, will not ensure 24-hour water supply and will not
repair the city’s water pipe network. Supporters of the French company,
however, disagree and point out that the total rehabilitation of the
Tbilisi water supply system will require a total of USD 300 million. The
company, meanwhile, will do the best it can with the funds allotted to
it by the World Bank.

In accordance with the terms of the tender, CGE will manage
Tbiltskalkanali for ten years. Of the WB’s EURO 25 million, 22 million
is foreseen for the rehabilitation of, the city’s water system. CGE
itself has said it will invest another USD 8 million of its own money in
the system. During the fIrst three years, the water rate will not change
and water consumption meters will be installed throughout the city,
though in apartment buildings a single common consumption meter will be
installed. Later on the rate will be gradually increased and reach GEL 2
per person per month (approximately 20 tetri per cubic meter of water
consumed) by the tenth year of CGE’s contract.

CGE management explains that they have proposed an operator tariff to
the Tbilisi government to compensate the water company for the new
operation, the investments, and improvements forecasted The Tbilisi
government should decide on the consumer’s tariff and then pay m receive
the difference As of now, the rate on water consumption is 90 tetri and
12 lari per person per month Furthermore, collection is less than 40
percent Not only individuals, but also businesses and organizations fail
to pay for their water. Total debts to the Tbilisi Water Supply Company
exceed GEL 40 million When the French company Generale des Eaux assumes
the management contract for the company, it will be responsible for
registration and fee collection This no easy task.

The issue of signing a contract with CGE is practically settled A draft
of the contract has been prepared and will be discussed by the NGO
sector, society at large and Sakrebulo commissions If their verdict is
positive, the contract will be signed by the city government,
Tbiltskalkanali and Generale des Eaux representatives.

2. DESIGN AND INSTALLATION OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER STATION

The American University of Armenia commenced implementation of the
project entitled Design and Installation of the Solar Photovoltaic Power
Station in Spring 2003. This project was brought into being due to close
cooperation of two leading entities in this field, namely the
Heliotechnics Laboratory of the State Engineering University of Armenia
(SEUA) and Viasphere Technopark -Transistor Plus.

The project was realized through generous funding by Mr. James
Turpanjian, Armenian benefactor living in USA. He is known in Armenia
for a number of financed projects.

This station has the highest capacity among similar systems functioning
in Armenia and the only one that is integrated into a solar driven
heating and cooling system. Since Spring 2002 the American University of
Armenia has been using solar water-heating panels for heating,
ventilation and cooling purposes of one of its large auditoriums through
the operation of special equipment. However, the electric portion of the
power supply of this equipment was taken from the electric grid. The new
solar electric power station will allow extracting the necessary power
for the above mentioned equipment also from solar radiation, thus making
the whole system independent of the external power supply.

The system is comprised of solar photovoltaic panels field, a solar
battery bank, and a three-phase DC/AC inverter.

The 72 solar photovoltaic panels are installed on a special seismic
isolated structure on the roof of the University. Each panel has
approximately 0.7 square meters of surface and has been produced at
Heliotechnics Laboratory of SEUA. Total surface of the panels is around
50 square meters with total peak power of 5 kilowatt. The photovoltaic
converter cells used in the solar panels were made by Krasnoye Znamye,
Russia.

The three phases DC/AC inverter has been designed and manufactured
specifically for this project by Transistor Plus thata is a part of
ViaSphere Technopark.

This project aims at demonstrating the feasibility of using the solar
energy as an alternative power source in Armenia.

Dr. Artak Hambarian,
Associate Director
Engineering Research Center
College of Engineering
American University of Armenia (AUA)
40 Marshall Bagramian Av., Yerevan, 375019, Armenia
fax: +(3741) 512 512
phone: +(3741) 512 631, 512 638 (AUA), 395 477 (home)
Internet:

3. FIRST CASE OF HUMAN ANTHRAX REPORTED IN ARMENIA

Source: Moscow Time, Apr 29, 2004

The first case of human anthrax has been registered in a village in the
Shirakskaya region of Armenia. As reported to a Rosbalt correspondent by
the Armenian Health Ministry, the infection originated in cattle, and
health workers do not exclude the possibility that the case will not be
the only one.

As of April 17, tens of cases of anthrax in cattle have been reported in
the region. The cause of the epidemic has been attributed to substandard
vaccine. The area has been quarantined, and health workers have reported
that the epicenter of the contamination has been localized.

4. WORLD BANK TO DECIDE ON OIL INVESTING BY JULY

Source: planetar, April 29, 2004

The World Bank will decide by July whether to keep investing in oil, gas
and mining projects, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said this
week, a subject of concern to environmental groups.

Wolfensohn commissioned an independent report in July 2001 to review the
bank’s role in so-called extractive industries.

Questions have been raised by environmental and global nongovernmental
groups whether the bank’s backing of such projects contributes to
development and lowering poverty in poor countries.

The Extractive Industries Review, led by former Indonesian environment
minister Emil Salim, recommended the bank cease funding oil and coal
projects because of environmental concerns.

In a draft response to the report in February, the bank said its absence
from these projects could result in lower quality projects and weaker
governance.

The bank’s most controversial oil projects, the Chad-Cameroon and
Caspian oil pipelines, were approved by the lender’s shareholders amid
fierce opposition by development groups, which said the projects would
do more harm than good.

But Wolfensohn said this week the bank first wanted to complete
consultations with industry and governments on the matter before it made
a final decision.

“I would guess you’re looking at a June or July date for something
definitive,” Wolfensohn told a Washington conference on energy sponsored
by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“In the meantime, dialogue is going along constructively,” he added.

Wolfensohn also said the oil and gas industry should pay attention to
the needs of the developing world, where demand for energy is set to
increase as populations grow.

In China energy demand is expected to triple in the next 20 years,
Wolfensohn said, adding: “And my guess is that’s a conservative
estimate.”

Magda Stoczkiewicz
Policy coordinator
CEE Bankwatch Network
c/o Friends of the Earth International
PO Box 19199
1000 GD Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone: +31 20 622 13 69, fax: +31 20 639 21 81
email: [email protected]

—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
May 3, 2004

His Holiness Karekin II Receives Armenian Ambassadors

On May 2, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, received the heads of the diplomatic corps and consulates of the
Republic of Armenia accredited in foreign states. Their delegation was led
by Mr. Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of
Armenia.

His Holiness welcomed the delegation of nearly 40 ambassadors and consuls to
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and noted with happiness their presence
and participation during the Divine Liturgy.

The Catholicos of All Armenians addressed the group of Armenian diplomats,
stating in part, “It is worthy of appreciation that as part of your annual
gathering, you have come to Holy Etchmiadzin to receive the blessing of the
Armenian Pontiff and our 1700 year-old Church. The ambassadors and the
consuls of our state accredited in foreign countries honorably represent our
state, but through their zealous activity, also greatly contribute to the
development of international relationships, and bring their benefit to the
solutions of various important problems facing our people.”

His Holiness noted with much satisfaction and happiness, that the
relationships which exist in foreign countries between the Armenian state
diplomats and the spiritual diplomats – Armenian Church Diocesan Primates
and clergymen, were very close and based upon a true spirit of cooperation
and love. The Catholicos stressed that due to combined efforts, they try to
fulfill all demands that are placed upon them, both from the state and the
Church.

On behalf of all the guests, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian expressed his
gratitude to the Pontiff of All Armenians for the audience, and noted, “Your
Holiness, I am confident that the visit to the Mother See was important for
all of us, as it will revive our sacred national feelings and emotions.
Filled with hope, we will continue on the realization of our mission with
more zeal, spiritually renewed and having received the blessing of Holy
Etchmiadzin.”

##

Reporters without borders, France
May 3 2004

Armenia – 2004 Annual report

Armenia

Area : 29,800 sq.km.
Population : 3,072,000.
Language : Armenian, Russian
Type of state : republic
Head of state : Robert Kocharian.

Armenia – 2004 Annual report

Many violations of press freedom occurred during the reelection of
President Robert Kocharian. A new law on freedom of information was
enacted but a new press law drew strong protests from the media.

President Robert Kocharian was reelected president in 2003 after a vote
(the first since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2001) that
was marred by irregularities and sharply criticised by observers from
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). For the
first time in the history of independent Armenia, a TV debate between
two of the candidates was shown live. But coverage of the two-stage
voting on 19 February and 5 March was obstructed in many places and
independent media journalists were harassed, set upon and physically
attacked.
State-run media did not give balanced coverage to all candidates and
openly backed Kocharian, while most independent media supported other
candidates. The two independent TV stations, A1+ and Noyan Tapan, whose
operating licences were cancelled in 2002 by the National Broadcasting
Commission, were unable to broadcast. The commission is not independent
and does not meet Council of Europe standards because all its members
are appointed by the president.
Conflicting measures were passed by parliament. A freedom of
information law was adopted on 23 September after two years of work
with Council of Europe experts and national and international NGOs. It
spelled out the rights of journalists and citizens to information and
required public bodies to supply it. But a few days later, parliament
approved on first reading a controversial press law that provoked sharp
reaction from the media, who said they would suggest detailed
improvements to it. The new criminal code that came into force on 1
August, included prison terms of up to three years for defamation.

New information on a journalist killed in 2002

The trial of 13 people accused of killing Tigran Naghdalian, head of
the council of public TV and radio, in Yerevan on 28 December 2002,
opened on 29 July 2003. They included businessman Armen Sarkisian, who
is the brother of two former prime ministers (opposed to Kocharian) –
Aram Sarkisian and Vazgen Sarkisian, who was killed in a commando
attack on the parliament building in October 1999. The public
prosecutor suspected Armen, who had been held since 15 March, of
ordering the murder because he believed the journalist was involved in
the attack that killed his brother. The other brother, Aram, charged
that Armen’s trial was a bid to discredit the opposition in the run-up
to the parliamentary and presidential elections. Naghdalian, a major
supporter of the president and a key figure at the TV station since
1998, was shot dead in front of his parents’ home by a mystery gunman.
The authorities immediately called the murder political because the
journalist had often criticised the opposition in a current affairs
programme he presented.

Five journalists physically attacked

During the first round of the presidential election on 19 February
2003, an official at the Nar-Dos School polling station 356/16 in
Yerevan seized the camera and injured the hand of freelance journalist
Susanna Pogosian, who was there with reporter Gideon Lichfield of the
British weekly The Economist.
The same day, Goar Verziryan, of the opposition National Democratic
Union’s weekly paper Aizhm, was thrown against a wall at the
Shirvanzade School polling station in Yerevan by people who seized a
tape recording she was making about defects in the voting procedure.
Others hit two journalists from the TV station Shant and took away
their videotapes as they were filming a man putting several voting
slips into a ballot box.
Mher Galechian, of the twice-weekly opposition paper Chorrord
Ishxanutiun, was beaten up on 29 April by two men who came to the
paper’s offices in Yerevan. He was hospitalised with head injuries and
an investigation was launched. The men had come to the offices three
days earlier to complain about a 25 April article that accused Karlos
Petrosian, head of the state security service, of building himself a
villa in shady circumstances. The day of the attack, the paper had
printed an article reporting the earlier visit.
Gayaneh Mukoyan (editor) and Rafael Hovakimyan (managing editor) of the
weekly Or, were attacked in front of Mukoyan’s home by four thugs who
boxed in their car, said they were police, ordered them to get out and
then hit them. Ms Mukoyan said the attack was probably linked to
articles the previous month about organised crime.

New information about a journalist attacked in 2002

Investigative journalist Mark Grigorian, former correspondent in
Armenia for Reporters Without Borders and deputy head of the Caucasus
Media Institute, received a letter from the prosecutor-general’s office
in late February 2003 saying the case file on a grenade attack that
seriously wounded him in a street of the capital on 22 October 2002 had
been closed since no suspect had been found four months after the
attack. Grigorian had blamed the attempt to kill him on people opposed
to his enquiry into the 27 October 1999 commando attack on parliament,
in which eight people were killed.

A journalist threatened

Freelance journalist Vahagn Ghukasian announced on 24 January 2003 he
was leaving the country because of police harassment after he found
“definitive proof” that top officials were involved in the October 1999
commando attack on parliament. He later left the country.

Harassment and obstruction

The central elections board refused to accredit any online media during
the two-stage presidential and parliamentary elections in February,
March and May 2003. It had ruled on 22 August 2002 that only media
registered with the justice ministry could be recognised. But since
websites are not legally considered media, online newspapers are not
obliged to register.
Lilit Vardanian, an official of polling station 073/26 in Eshmiadzin
(20 km from Yerevan), refused to allow Karina Asatrian, of the
independent TV station A1+, and her cameraman Robert Kharazian to film
the first round of voting in the presidential election on 19 February.
The journalists were then attacked by people who damaged their camera
and chased them out of the polling station.
Diana Markosian, also of A1+, was stopped the same day by the head of
polling station 0391/17 in Yerevan, Ararat Rshtubi. Police helped him
remove the journalist.
Relay transmission of the Russian station NTV by the firm Paradise was
suspended between 26 February and 17 March, officially for technical
reasons. But opposition activists suspected it was cut off because the
station had shown opposition demonstrations against election
irregularities.
Nane Adjemyan, of the TV station Kentron TV, was victimised in late
February because President Kocharian’s campaign officials did not like
her impartial coverage of the campaign. After she reported on a press
conference by opposition candidate Stepan Dermichian, who highlighted
violations of election rules, the station’s news editor, Nikolaï
Grigorian, asked the journalist to take some time off. When she found
out that one of Kocharian’s election team had earlier called the
station management to complain about her coverage, she resigned on 26
February.
Only two state-run TV cameramen were allowed to film live Kocharian’s
swearing-in for another term as president on 9 April. All other
journalists, pro-government or independent, were forced to cover it
from a TV screen elsewhere in the building.
Parliament amended the criminal code on 18 April to further restrict
press freedom. Articles 135 (defamation) and 136 (insults) now provide
up to three years imprisonment and fines equivalent to between 100 and
200 times a person’s minimum monthly salary (between 750 and 1,500
euros). Article 318 calls for two years in prison and a fine equal to
between 200 and 400 minimum salaries (between 1,500 and 3,000 euros).
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), along
with diplomats, human rights organisations and journalists, sent an
open letter of concern on 19 June to the new spokesman for parliament,
Arthur Baghdasarian, who said on 25 June the code should be amended
because it was unfair that penalties for defaming government officials
and ordinary citizens were different. But no action had been taken by
the end of the year.
Officials of the state telecommunications authority in Alarverdi (Lori
region) cut off broadcasts of the local TV station Ankyun+3 on 20 May
officially because it had not complied with technical requirements and
not broadcast government programmes. The station’s editor, Hrachya
Papinyan, said the cut-off came five days before parliamentary
elections and was for political reasons, since the station had not
supported candidate Hovhannes Qochinyan, brother of the regional
administrator. A week earlier, tax officials began inspecting the
station’s accounts. It was able to resume broadcasting on 21 May.
The National Broadcasting Commission refused once again, on 18 July, to
grant operating licences to the country’s two main independent TV
stations, A1+ and Noyan Tapan, after bids had been received for
frequencies to serve the Yerevan region, on grounds that their
programme proposals were not good enough. The two general-interest
stations, which provide a balanced alternative to pro-government and
state-run stations, have not been able to broadcast since 2 April 2002,
when the commission refused to renew their licences. They had also been
unsuccessful in an earlier round of bidding for seven-year licences.
Police seized a videotape on 30 July from ALM TV cameraman Narek
Martirosyan, who had just filmed them roughing up a woman who had been
demonstrating in front of the presidential palace in Yerevan.
Parliament approved on first reading on 24 September a controversial
new press law, which obliges media to declare their funding sources
(article 13) and limits the shareholding in them of commercial
companies and foreigners and restricts the distribution of foreign
newspapers in the country (article 9).
These clauses were seen by journalists as weapons for the government to
use against media it did not like. The law also curbs press freedom in
time of war, if there is a threat to national security and if a state
of emergency is declared. The new law drew strong reactions from
several journalists’ organisations, which decided to suggest amendments
to the measure.

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press
freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public
and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without Borders has nine
national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in
Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and
Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

Contact: Ardashes Kassakhian
Telephone: 818.500.1918

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER PROCLAIMS APRIL 24 DAY OF
REMEMBRANCE FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Sacramento, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America Western
Region (ANCA-WR) reported today that newly elected California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an Executive Proclamation designating
Saturday, April 24, 2004, as a “Day of Remembrance for the Armenian
Genocide.” The language of the proclamation addressed the historical
facts of the Genocide and commended Armenian Americans for retaining
their `distinct heritage,language and religion, and bringing rich
cultural diversity to the Golden State.’

`We are very pleased to have Governor Schwarzenegger proclaim April
24th as a California Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide,’
commented ANCA-WR Government Relations Director, Armen Carapetian,
`Designating April 24th as a special day means a great deal to the
children and grandchildren of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
even the survivors who were able to make it to California and called
this great state their home.’

On Saturday, April 24th, 2004, California State Senator Charles
Poochigian, the legislature’s highest ranking Armenian, will present
the proclamation to the ANCA-WR and the Armenian community at a
special ceremony to be held at the Armenian Martyrs Monument in
Montebello, California. The event will begin at 1 P.M. and will
include special messages from Senator John Kerry, Governor
Schwarzenegger in addition to speeches from various other California
State and federal public officials.

——————–EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT——————————

STATE OF CALIFORNIA P R O C L A M A T I O N

by the

Governor of the State of California

On April 24, 1915, in Constantinople, the Ottoman Turkish government
arrested and murdered several hundred Armenian religious, political
and intellectual leaders, beginning a campaign of terror known as the
Armenian Genocide.

From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire executed a systematic
destruction of Armenian culture through the forced exile, imprisonment
and annihilation ofmen, women and children of Armenian descent. More
than 1.5 million Armenians perished, and 500,000 survivors were forced
to leave their ancestral homeland in Turkey. Whole villages were
massacred and many people died of exposure and starvation during
forced death marches in the desert.

Despite this great tragedy, the Armenian people have persevered and
today are striving to build a free and proud nation, based on the
principles of democracy and a free-market economy. California is home
to 700,000 Armenians – the largest Armenian community outside the
Republic of Armenia. Throughout the decades, the Armenian-American
community has contributed to California agriculture, business,
education, public service and the arts. They have retained their
distinct heritage, language and religion, bringing rich cultural
diversity to the Golden State.

On this 89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we join with
Armenians around the world to mourn the loss of so many innocent
lives. In remembering this great human tragedy, we rededicate
ourselves to combat injustice, and we honor the triumphant spirit of
the Armenian people.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor of the State of
California, do hereby proclaim Saturday, April 24, 2004, as a “Day of
Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have here unto set my hand and caused the Great
Seal of the State of California to be affixed this the twenty-second
day of April 2004.

/s/ Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor of California

#####

Armenian rights champion describes attack on himself as “state terror”

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
23 Apr 04

YEREVAN

The chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association, Mikael Danielyan,
said in Yerevan today that he regarded the recent attack on himself as
a manifestation of “state terror directed against the activities of
our organization”.

On the morning of 30 March, unknown people beat Danielyan up outside
his house. On 31 March Armenian President Robert Kocharyan instructed
Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan to examine all circumstances
regarding the attack on Danielyan and hunt down the perpetrators.

Danielyan told a briefing in Yerevan that Kocharyan’s directive “was
still in the air”. According to Danielyan, “it is no coincidence that
the Prosecutor-General’s Office is taking this case superficially
because the incident was a state directive”.

Danielyan said that “the Armenian authorities do not want to change
their approach to the protection of human rights and do not honour
their international commitments”.

U.S. Newswire (press release), DC
April 20 2004

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Samantha Power to Keynote April 23
Commemoration of Rwandan Genocide Anniversary

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: NCC Media, 212-870-2252 or [email protected]

News Advisory:

An April 23 event at the Fowler Museum, on the campus of the
University of California at Los Angeles, will commemorate the 10th
anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, in which more than 800,000 died.

The National Council of Churches (NCC) is sponsoring the event,
“Remembering Rwanda – Ten Years After the Genocide.”

A 6 p.m. premiere screening of the film “God Sleeps in Rwanda” will
precede the 7 p.m. keynote address by Samantha Power, Lecturer in
Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She
won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for her book “A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide.”

Also speaking: NCC General Secretary Robert Edgar; Dr. Richard Hrair
Dekmejian, Professor of Political Science at the University of
Southern California and an expert on the Armenian Genocide, and Rabbi
Allen I. Freehling, Executive Director of the Los Angeles City Human
Relations Commission.

The program will include testimonies by Rwandan Genocide survivors
and will close with a presentation of Rwandan music and dance.

Samantha Power is a leading authority on genocide. In “A Problem from
Hell,” she analyzes the genocides of the 20th century and the failure
of the international community, including the United States, to
prevent them.

She writes: “No U.S. president has ever made genocide prevention a
priority, and no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his
indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that
genocide rages on.”

In The New York Times April 6, Power warned, “On this anniversary,
Western and United Nations leaders are expressing their remorse and
pledging their resolve to prevent future humanitarian catastrophes.
But as they do so, the Sudanese government is teaming up with Arab
Muslim militias in a campaign of ethnic slaughter and deportation
that has already left nearly a million Africans displaced and more
than 30,000 dead. Again, the United States and its allies are
bystanders to slaughter, seemingly no more prepared to prevent
genocide than they were a decade ago.”

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, NCC associate general secretary for
international affairs and peace, said identifying proactive steps to
prevent such horrors “is crucial for all of us, especially at a time
when, in places like Sudan, the situation is looking alarmingly
familiar. Can we afford not to learn the lessons of Rwanda?”

-0-

ARMENIA FIRM IN KARABAKH ISSUE

YEREVAN, APRIL 15. ARMINFO. The Armenian authorities are strong and
unchangeable in the Karabakh problem, Armenia’s DM Serzh Sargsyan says
in an interview with Golos Armenii. Asked if domestic political
tension can negatively affect foreign policy objectives of the
country, in particular the diplomatic settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, Sargsyan says: “It is clear that there is no benefit of this
situation. During any talks our positions will be stronger if there
are not such kind of situations. It is no secret that solidity of any
country especially of a country that is in “neither war nor peace”
state, solidity of any army mostly depends on solidity of its rear.”

There three known principles about impossibility of subordination of
Artsakh Karabakh

to Azerbaijan, about impossibility of an enclave existence of Artsakh
and security guarantees. We have neither desire nor potential to give
up something more and we shall to stand up for our position. It is
also known that today the negotiation process has become slower by an
initiative of Azerbaijan.

Commenting on the statement of Azerbaijan’s new foreign minister
Sargsyan says that such kind of statements are first of all directed
to local usage, as it is known that the Azerbaijani like to boast not
only of this. Sometimes they liberate some villages, sometimes
something else. No serious leader of a secret service of a serious
country will not say openly that his secret service is acting in
another country. Such kind of boyishness is not fitting to a leader of
secret service.

The Jordan Times
Thursday, April 15, 2004

Easter week – the other snapshots of the Holy City

Christians, Muslims were unable to enter city after the assassination of
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

By Omar Karmi

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre – Photo

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Anywhere else in the world it would have been an
unseemly melee. But in the Old City of Jerusalem, the sight of robed
Armenian youths scuffling with robed Assyrian youths at the entrance to
Christianity’s holiest site, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just seemed
par for the course.

Easter has just passed in Jerusalem, and a city already groaning under
multiple strains was visited by a whole new set of complications.

There were the thousands of tourists that, despite reams of travel warnings,
descended upon the Old City, much to the elation of shopkeepers in the midst
of a fourth lean year.

There was the coincidence with the Jewish Passover holiday, bringing suited
and extravagantly hatted Orthodox Jews into the streets along with the robed
monks and covered nuns of all denominations.

Some tourists carried large wooden crosses on Good Friday to emulate the
last day of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Jews carried the Torah. In the
background, the sounds of ringing church bells mixed with the calls to
prayer from the mosques.

But the multiethnic Technicolour appearance of inter-religious tranquillity
was only that. Jews walked in groups accompanied by armed guards. Muslim men
under 45 were barred from Friday prayers at the Aqsa Mosque, and on April 9,
Good Friday for Christians, they prayed instead outside the walls of the Old
City in front of Damascus Gate.

Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem and Ramallah were largely unable to
enter Jerusalem due to the closure enforced by the Israeli army since the
assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and tightened
during the Passover holiday. Palestinian Muslims, needless to say, had no
chance.

Meanwhile, Christians of various denominations are locked in a continual
battle over control of the Holy Sepulchre and other sites that are held in
uneasy check by the so-called Status Quo, based on agreement between the
denominations reached back in 1767. The result is that processions and
ceremonies are very tightly regulated, and any deviation is pounced on by
other denominations.

April 10 marked the biggest day on the Orthodox calendar, the Day of the
Holy Fire, traditionally believed to be the day of resurrection, and
protocol is observed at every turn. The entrance to the Holy Sepulchre is
divided into two. On the left, Armenians, Assyrians and the Copts enter in
that order in their respective processions, the Armenians, entrusted with
the responsibility to open the doors of the church on this day in the year
alone, also guarding the doors. The right, meanwhile, is reserved for the
Arab and Greek Orthodox processions, which entered in that order. Anyone not
respecting the order, or not part of the congregations, will be turned away,
probably the cause of the above-mentioned melee.

The height of the Holy Fire ceremony comes when a light is passed by the
Greek patriarch and an Armenian bishop from inside the supposed Tomb of
Christ to members of their respective congregations waiting outside the
tomb, the Armenians on the north side and the Greeks on the south. The light
gets passed on to the other orthodox communities and is taken to other
Palestinian cities including Bethlehem and Ramallah – that is if they are
allowed across the checkpoints – and by private plane to Greece and Russia.
The light, of course, signifies the resurrection, and how it is lit is a
secret.

But here too there is controversy. The Greek Orthodox believe they should
have exclusive access to the Tomb on this day, and this year it took
intervention from the Israeli authorities to maintain the status quo and
ensure that an Armenian bishop gained entrance as per tradition. The
controversy is an old one, and some think it is the friction between the two
clergymen that creates the spark for the candles.

Even tourists are not immune or spared the idiosyncrasies of this city. One
moneychanger on the Via Dolorosa, traditionally believed to be the route
Jesus carried the cross, did not seem too concerned with garnering business.
On a newly printed sign hung prominently outside the door of his shop, he
had written: `All currencies welcome, EXCEPT the USA dollar. We do not
exchange the money of the people who kill our prophets.’

A small group of young American-sounding tourists paused outside the shop
for a while, looking somewhat taken aback. Soon they regained their
composure, however, and started snapping away with their cameras.

A Polish tourist outside the Garden Tomb on Nablus Road – believed by some
to be the true site of the crucifixion (as opposed to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre) – lost his composure with a persistent postcard salesman who
apparently saw no reason why carrying a large, wooden cross across town on a
hot, sunny day should preclude one from wanting to buy postcards.

Had it not been for the intervention of other cross-bearers, that point
might have been made in a rather un-Christian manner.

Not exactly the stoic example set by Jesus, at least not as depicted by Mel
Gibson in his movie, `The Passion of the Christ.’ But then, anyone hoping to
have watched the movie in Jerusalem over Easter would have been
disappointed. While, contrary to some reports, the movie has not been banned
in Israel, no Israeli distributor has picked it up, and as a result it has
not been shown in the cinemas.

That is not to say it can’t be seen. DVD copies are widely available in the
Old City shops, and, according to one shopkeeper, they are selling like hot
bread. One East Jerusalem hotel based its Easter charity drive around
charging to show the movie (and raised around two-thirds of their target of
$1,800 that way), but advertised only through Christian missions and
word-of-mouth.

With no theatre licence, an illegally copied DVD sent from the US by a
friend of the deacon of a local church, and under the impression that the
film had been banned by the Israeli authorities, the manager was adamant
that neither his name nor the name of the hotel be mentioned, lest he incur
a penalty.

As for the film, on April 8 only four people were in the audience, three of
them journalists.

The fourth, Irene, a born-again Christian from Bulgaria, declared herself
`inspired’ when she was encountered 24 hours later at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. `I have been filled with the spirit all day,’ she said, `except
for a brief period when I needed a rest.’

Three Armenian opposition officials arrested as suspects, prosecutor says

Mediamax news agency
14 Apr 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan said today that “if the
police, having acted in full accord with the letter and spirit of the
law, had not prevented the further development of illegal actions of
demonstrators on the night of 12-13 April, we would have to apply
severer official enforcement measures against the violators”.

Agvan Ovsepyan said this today at a meeting with the special
representative of the Council of Europe secretary-general in Armenia,
Natalya Vutova, the press service of the Prosecutor-General’s Office
told Mediamax today.

The prosecutor-general told Natalya Vutova that about 100 participants
in the events had been taken to police and questioned as witnesses,
among them [opposition MPs] Shavarsh Kocharyan, Aleksan Karapetyan,
Arshak Sadoyan and Vardan Lazarian. Agvan Ovsepyan pointed out that
after the questioning, all the four MPs had been set free. He also
said that members of the Republic Party’s political council Vagarshak
Arutyunyan and Gegam Arutyunyan, and Armenian People’s Party press
secretary Ruzanna Khachatryan had been detained as suspects.

Agvan Ovsepyan stated the readiness to regularly meet the special
representative of the Council of Europe secretary-general and provide
her with detailed information about the investigation.