RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 3, 3 April 1997

HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT ORDERS INVESTIGATION
INTO INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. The government last week
ordered an investigation into the Information Office,
Hungarian media reported. Several office members are
reported to have gathered information on a number of
parliamentary deputies, including Environment Minister
Ferenc Baja and parliamentary speaker Zoltan Gal, without
seeking prior authorization. Minister without portfolio Istvan
Nikolits, who is in charge of the civilian secret services, is to
lead the investigation and will brief the government within two
weeks. The cabinet agreed that those deputies targeted in so-
called Operation Birch should be given the opportunity to
study the data gathered on them.

INTERNATIONAL MISSION APPROVED FOR ALBANIA. The
UN Security Council on 29 March voted in favor of an OSCE
proposal to ensure aid deliveries and help the Albanian
government restore order before the June elections. The
Albanian parliament gave its consent the following day.
Deployment is expected to begin as early as this week. The
force is expected to consist of some 2,500 troops, with a
similar number held in reserve. Countries mentioned as
definite or possible participants include Italy, France, Greece,
Spain, Portugal, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and
Slovenia. The Italians have been ready since mid-March for
such an operation, but their role may have to be reviewed in
the aftermath of the incident on the Adriatic. Rebels in the
southern port of Vlora have threatened to kill any Italian
soldiers who arrive there with the mission.

NO PROGRESS IN ROMANIAN-UKRAINIAN TALKS ON
 ROMANIAN-RUSSIAN PARLEYS. Following talks in
Moscow, a Romanian Foreign Ministry official said Russia
wants the basic treaty with Romania to be based on a text
agreed upon in April 1996. That text makes no mention of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. But Romania want the text to be
supplemented by "ideas reflecting the contemporary situation
in Europe...and provisions included in similar treaties"
concluded by Bucharest. This is apparently a reference to
Security Council Recommendation 1201, which the treaty with
Hungary mentions. Romania also wants to discuss the issue of
the state treasures deposited in Moscow during the First World
War, Radio Bucharest reported on the weekend.


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