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PAGEA-10 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15,1995 INTERNATIONAL PRESS-REPUBLICAN PITTSBURGH, N.Y. NATO chief may resign post By RAF CASERT Associated Press Writer BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO Sec- retary General Willy Claes said Saturday he is considering resigning over a corruption scandal, a decision that could shake the alli- ance as it faces challenges in Bosnia and eastern Europe. A Belgian parliamentary commission recommended early Saturday that Claes be tried for fraud, forgery and abuse of office in connection with bribery scandal that took place in 1988 when hie was Belgium's economy minister. The full Parliament is expected to accept the recommendation in a closed-door vote, probably on Thursday. Claes, who denies the allegations, has ac- knowledged that it would be impossible to function as NATO chief if he is indicted. But on Saturday he said he was not willing to cede his year-old job just yet. \I want to think about that and conduct the necessary consultations within NATO,\ he told the BRTN public radio. \It is too early.\ A NATO source said Claes had not plann- ed any formal talks with alliance officials but he was expected to have phone conversations with important member delegations. The moves against Claes come at a sen- sitive time for NATO, which is assembling a multinational army of some 50,000 soldiers to enforce peace in Bosnia and is seeking to expand NATO eastward to the borders of a wary Russia. So far the 16 NATO member states have stood firmly behind Claes. The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Robert Hunter, said earlier this week that \Claes led the al- liance successfully from beginning to end.\ But as the bribery allegations have inten- sified over the past month, so has talk of potential replacements. They include former British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurtf, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek, former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, Norway's Thorvald Stoltenberg and former Danish Foreign Minister Uffe EUemann-Jensen. 'CAP Photo Willy Claes Iraqi referendum seen as ploy by Saddam By THOMAS WAGNER Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Like many Iraqis asked about Sun- day's presidential referendum, the shop owner looked over both his shoulders before answering in a low voice. \Sure I will vote 'yes.' There is no other choice,\ he said with a nervous smile outside his run- down store in the back streets of Baghdad. But doesn't the ballot allow people to vote \no\ and say they don't- want President Saddam Hussein to remain in power? \People will be afraid to vote 'no.' Sometimes, people just can't say what they want to say,\ he said. \But please don't use my name in your article. I don't want to be arrested.\ It is hard to imagine anything that the hard-pressed Iraqis need less than a presidential referen- dum in a country that Saddam has ruled with an iron fist since 1979. Nearly five years after Irag was crushed in the Gulf War, rAe Bosnians claim offensive halted By JULIJANA MOJSILOVIC Associated Press Writer BANJA LUKA, Bosnia- Herzegovina (AP) — The Bos- nian government claimed it had halted an offensive near this Serb stronghold Saturday amid reports that Serbia's powerful president had threatened to send in troops. Battered by territorial losses and struggling to cope with a flood of refugees, Bosnian Serb leaders debated whether they should adhere to or abandon a nationwide truce that began Thursday. In Sarajevo, the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili, met with government and military leaders to review NATO plans to send troops, including 25,000 Ameri- cans, to police any peace settle- ment. The U.S.-brokered truce has quieted fighting throughout Bosnia except in the hotly con- tested northwest, where the Serbs have suffered substantial losses. Muslim-led government and allied Croat, troops have ad- vanced on the Serbs' most vital city of Banja Luka and the near- by town of Prijedor. The fall of Banja Luka would be tanta- mount to total defeat for the Bosnian Serbs, and direct at- tacks on it would almost cer- tainly lead to Yugoslav army in- tervention. Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic said the fighting sub- sided Saturday because Serbs \are slowing their attacks down.\ The Serb military claimed the government was still attacking west of Banja Luka. U.N. observers arrived on the Serb side of the front line at the invitation of Serb leaders, who demanded the world determine who breached the truce. U.N. officials have said they could not judge the level of fighting nor who initiated it because they were barred from the area. U.N. spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Vernon warned the government that if it did not allow similar in- spections on its side, \people will conclude that you are not ad- hering to the cease-fire.\ In Banja Luka, Serb leaders discussed whether to stick with the U.S.-led peace process. They had reluctantly signed up for talks at the behest of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, but also would depend on his troops to hit back with any real force on the battlefield. Bosnian Serb army command- er Ratko Mladic called all Serbs to the \decisive battle ... to de- fend what has been ours for cen- turies,\ the Yugoslav news agen- cy Tanjug reported. \Our enemies do not respect the cease-fire,\ said Momcilo Krajisnik, a Serb leader. \We find ourselves in the position to either have the peace process collapse, or to make it crystal clear that we shall not accept such a false cease-fire and such an approving attitude of the in- ternational community toward the Muslim and Croat behavior.\ Chinese dissident stages hunger strike By CHARLES HUTZLER Associated Press Writer BEIJING (AP) - A veteran dissident whose last hunger strike landed him in jail has begun another one in hopes of getting out, at least long enough, to get treatment for cancer, his wife said Saturday. Chen Ziming has been held in Beijing's No. 2 Prison for 3V2 months, during which his health has deteriorated, Wang Zhihong said. \He has headaches, eats little and is nauseous,\ she said. \The fast will further hurt his health.\ Wang said her husband told her to release a letter announc- ing the hunger strike if she didn't hear from him by Friday. That was Sept. 25, the last time Wang was able to visit Chen. \I am fasting to express pro- test and call for the immediate halting of these illegal actions, for my release on medical parole, the immediate return of my il- legally held personal property and frozen savings and the resto- ration of the rights to dignity and legal protection my family and I should have,\ the letter said., Wang discovered three weeks ago that authorities had frozen the couple's savings account — her sole means of income because authorities have prevented her from working by harassing pro- spective employers. The couple also needs the. money to buy medicine for Chen, since prison officials have ref- used to give him any, Wang said. Chen published an underground journal during the short-lived Democracy Wall movement in 1979. In the 1980s, he founded a private organiza- tion that conducted research on social and political issues. Authorities sentenced Chen to 13 years- in prison, claiming he masterminded the massive democracy protests centered on Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was paroled in May 1994 to get treatment for cancer of the testi- cles, hepatitis and other ail- ments. Chen defied warnings from police and staged a one-day hunger strike on June 4 to com- memorate the military slaughter of protesters that ended the 1989 protests. He was rearrested on June 25. Wang was allowed to visit Chen for several days a month ago., to keep her from speaking with delegates or reporters at a U.N.-backed international con- ference on women in Beijing. economic sanctions that the world imposed on this oil-rich na- tion of 20 million people have left 1 many of them poor and hungry. U.N. officials say that 4 mil- lion Iraqis are completely destitute, compared to last year's 2 million. Medicines as simple as antibiotics are hard to find, even in hospitals. The Iraqi dinar is worth so lit- tle now that people can be seen taking out large wads of money in marketplaces to buy items as small as a bag of fruit or a pack of cigarettes. While many adults earn about 4,000 to 5,000 dinars (about $2) a month in their jobs, apples in the marketplace sell for about 1,000 dinars a pound and oranges for about 500 dinars a pound. Products such as Pepsi Cola that are smuggled in from neighboring Jordan sell for as much as 1,700 dinars a can. Some families have had to pull their children out of school to help earn enough money to buy food. Others sell their furniture in marketplaces. .\• .- Muslim plan to bomb, Indian capital foiled SRINAGAR, India (AP) - The Indian aiih^said Saturday it foiled a plot by Muslim militants to bomb the; iMjan capital New Delhi during a Hindu festival later this month. JLt. Gen. J^S. Dhillon said his troops arrested four people on Friday and confiscated a large quantity of explosives. He said the militants planned to bomb New Delhi, a city of 10 million people, during the Diwali festival of lights on Oct. 23. The festival is a major Hindu celebration. Dhillon said they were also planning to bomb a state-run hostel in Srinagar where visiting state officials and legislators stay. \It is a major finding as the terrorists had made all plans to mount the attacks,\ said Dhillon, an army commander in Srinagar, capital of Jammu-Kashmir state in northern India. . . • • Gore to visit Haiti to mark Aristide's return PO^iWJiplipS^,^jrMil;^):— Haiti celebrates the anniversary ' of its/ return, to. q^mpcragy Sunday under a shadow of uncertainty -about presideniial elections and the expected resignation of its premier. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return from exile a year ago ended three; years of terror, under military rule, during which as many as 4,000 civilians were killed. But Aristide is preparing to leave office, and it appears presidential elections scheduled for December will be delayed. Many fear a new president won't be installed before the Feb. 7 constitutional deadline. Moreover, Prime Minister Smarck Michel is expected to resign Monday because of legislative opposition to his plan to sell off state-run enterprises. American buys Hitler art by fax TRENTO, Italy (AP) — An American bidding by fax bought a watercolor painting by Adolf Hitler on Saturday while European col- lectors snatched up clothes and personal items that belonged to the Nazi dictator's mistress Eva Braun. The auction house Czerny opened the bidding at $13,000 for the painting of a Vienna street scene. The American buyer, who asked to remain anonymous, sent the winning bid of $14,500 by fax. \That's how most things are sold in auctions nowadays. It's the modern age,\ said auction house president, Michael Czerny. The watercolor, painted around 1910, shows Vienna streets on a sunny day. Hitler twice failed admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. 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