From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Subject: Romania/Moldova News from RFE/RL, 12 Jan 1993
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 15:44:42 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri-Rolla, Missouri's Technological University

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RFE/RL Daily Report                    No. 6 12 January 1993

ETHNIC INCIDENTS IN CLUJ. Several incidents have created ethnic
tensions in the Transylvanian capital as the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (HDFR) prepares for its upcoming congress,
Radio Budapest reported on 11 January. Nationalist Mayor Gheorghe
Funar seized 30,000 lei from the bank account of a
Hungarian-language high school as punishment for the display of
bilingual signs on the school building. Funar also asked the
editors of the Hungarian-language journal Korunk to vacate their
offices by 15 January; he wants to relocate them in a single room.
On 9 January unknown persons overpainted Romanian-language place
names with Hungarian and wrote obscene words in Hungarian on the
statue of a famous Romanian writer. The HDFR's national presidium
condemned the incident as "a destabilizing provocation" and
demanded that the perpetrators be called to account, Radio
Budapest and Radio Bucharest report.  Edith Oltay, RFE/RL, Inc.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER IN BUCHAREST. On 11 January Roland Dumas
held talks in Bucharest with Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor
Melescanu. He was also received by President Ion Iliescu and
Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu. Dumas told journalists afterwards that
Romania has taken great steps forward over the last three years.
He also praised Romania's efforts to help find a solution to the
Yugoslav crisis. At the same press conference, Iliescu said that
he does not believe military intervention can be a solution to the
Yugoslav problem. Radio Bucharest announced that Dumas and
Melescanu signed an accord aimed at promoting trade and other
contacts.  Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL, Inc.

ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT REPLIES TO OPPOSITION CRITICISM. In an
interview with Radio Bucharest broadcast on 11 January, cabinet
spokeswoman Doina Jalea replied to harsh criticism leveled by the
Democratic Convention of Romania, the country's main opposition
alliance, in a statement released to the press the previous day.
The strongly worded statement accused Vacaroiu's minority
left-wing government of incompetence and of trying to stall
economic reform. Jalea pledged that the cabinet will submit a
package of laws to assure continuing reform to Parliament before
the end of January. She also mentioned that the government is
preparing a four-year strategic program.  Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL,
Inc.

14TH ARMY RIFT WITH "DNIESTER" LEADERSHIP. The command of Russia's
14th Army in Moldova is stepping up a war of words against the
leadership of "the Dniester republic," accusing it of incompetence,
corruption, and complicity with the "mafia," Basapress has reported
in recent days from Tiraspol. Army commander Lt. Gen. Aleksandr
Lebed publicly supports a minority opposition faction (also made up
of Russian communists) among the Tiraspol authorities that demands
the resignation of "Dniester republic" president Igor Smirnov and
his principal ministers, Basapress reports. Lebed's stance is in
tune with his recent calls for military intervention in civil
affairs in the former USSR to stamp out official corruption and
mismanagement. It may well also reflect an intention by Moscow
government circles to replace the leadership in Tiraspol with one
less identified with hard-line communism and the ultranationalist
Russian opposition. Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL, Inc.

NO EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF 14TH ARMY. Interfax reported on 11 January
that Lebed told a news conference in Tiraspol the day before that
it would take at least 1015 years to pull the Russian 14th Army
out of Moldova. He claimed that approximately 60% of the army's
officers have apartments with modern conveniences in the region
and said that they would be reluctant to leave them. He also said
that the army's military equipment is outdated and meant primarily
for logistics.  Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc.

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