1 O' Associated Press
1 li. f 1 IJ i—^ lC|VL7lr Edited by Brandon Loomis
Secession bill advances as Lithuanian standoff continues
MUbLUW - A delegation from
the rebellious Baltic republic of Lithu
ania met Tuesday with a major ad
viser to President Mikhail S. Gor
bachev, and a Lithuanian legislator
later called it a sign of hope in the
confrontation.
“We are very, very encouraged,”
legislator Egidius Bickauskas, Lithu
ania’s representative in Moscow, told
The Associated Press. “If there are
people who at least want to listen to
us, it’s very good.”
He earlier told reporters a three
member delegation, including Dep
uty Premier Romualdas Ozolos of
Lithuania, was meeting with Alexan
der N. Yakovlev, a Politburo member
recently appointed to Gorbachev’s new
Presidential Council.
Also Tuesday:
•The Supreme Soviet parliament
approved a bill setting procedures for
secession from the Soviet Union. The
law, which goes into effect when it is
published in the Soviet press, requires
approval by a two-thirds vote in a
referendum and a waiting period of
up to five years. Lithuania, forcibly
incorporated into the Soviet union in
1940, declared its independence on
March 11. The Moscow government
refused to recognize this and a crisis
ensued.
•The Kremlin restricted traffic at
Lithuania’s border with Poland, the
republic’s only border that docs not
adjoin Soviet territory. Soviet offi
cials told Polish border officials the
crossing from Ogrodniki, Poland, to
Lazdijai, Lithuania, was “temporar
ily” closed, the Polish news agency
PAP said.
•Lithuania’s chief diplomat in
Washington, Stasys Lozarailis Jr., told
reporters there he believes the Soviet
army may have taken the lead role
from Gorbachev in dealing with the
crisis. He said the Soviet military
show of force in Lithuania made him
more pessimistic than before about
his homeland’s fate.
•Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
A. Shevardnadze arrived in Wash
ington for talks with President Bush
and Secretary of State James A. Baker z
III, pledging to hold “honest dia- r
logue” with secessionist Lithuani
Shevardnadze promises ‘honest dialogue’ with Lithuania
♦
WASHINGTON - Soviet For
eign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze
arrived Tuesday for wide-ranging
talks with President Bush and Sec
retary of State James Baker III and
pledged to hold an “honest dia
logue” with secessionist Lithuani
ans.
Shevardnadze is expected to give
Bush and Baker a message from
Soviet President Mikhail Gor
bachev. Administration officials
hope it will spell out Moscow’s
promise to deal peacefully with the
independence movement in the
Baltic republic.
While Shevardnadze’s remarks
on arriving at Andrews Air Force
Base had a conciliatory ring, the
foreign minister emphasized the
significance the Kremlin attaches
to the Soviet Constitution and laws
in the face of the Lithuanian chal
lenge.
r‘You must understand the
importance of that question for the
Soviet Union and the Soviet
people,” Shevardnadze said as he
set the stage for talks with Baker
beginning Wednesday afternoon and
with Bush on Friday.
“Our main weapon in resolving
any issue ... is dialogue, honest
dialogue,” he said. “And this is
the dialogue we are looking for
ward to with the Lithuanian people
and the Lithuanian leadership.”
Shevardnadze was met at An
drews by Deputy Secretary of State
Lawrence Eagleburger.
The foreign minister’s agenda
here reaches beyond Lithuania to
the war in Angola between U.S.
and Soviet-backed forces, to ways
of limiting cruise missiles in a U.S.
Soviet arms control treaty nearing
completion in Geneva and to trying
to set a date for Gorbachev’s sum
mit meeting here with Bush in June.
Bush and Gorbachev hope to
sign an accord at that meeting to
limit their long-range nuclear mis
siles, bombers and submarines.
However, claims that the overall
cutback would amount to 50 per
cent were being challenged.
A senior Bush administration
official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told The Associated
Press that the United States would
wind up with only slightly fewer
deployed warheads tnan in the
current arsenals.
When warheads kept in storage
are taken into account, he said, tne
U.S. total actually would exceed
today’s level.
The official said the principal
virtue of the treaty from the U.S.
standpoint would be to force a
reduction in long-range Soviet SS
18 missiles.
Meanwhile, Margaret T utwiler,
the State Department spokeswoman,
said the treaty would cut the SS-18
force in half and reduce the total
deployed Soviet missiles by roughly
50 percent.
“The treaty is based on equal
ity,” she said, reading from a state
ment. “Since Soviet force levels
exceed our own in the most dan
gerous and destabilizing systems,
their reductions will be somewhat
larger.
Still, Tutwiler said Soviet ac
tions in Lithuania were at the top of
the agenda for Baker’s sessions
with Shevardnadze.
When they met last month in
Namibia at independence ceremo
nies for the new African nation,
Shevardnadze offered assurances
the conflict in Lithuania would be
dealt with peaceably.
Baker subsequently sent a mes
sage to Shevardnadze and Bush
wrote Gorbachev. Neither has re
ceived a reply, but U.S. officials
said that was not a cause for con
cern.
“They may have felt it was not
necessary in view of Shevardnadze’s
visit coming up so soon,’’ an offi
cial said.
Bush told reporters during a
Republican fund-raising trip to the
Midwest on Tuesday that his Fri
day meeting with Shevardnadze
‘ ‘will be the chance... to see how
that message went down in
Moscow.”
ans. Administration officials hope he :
brought a message from Gorbachev -
:hat will spell out Moscow’s promise I
:o deal peacefully with Lithuania’s
ndcpcndencc movement. <
Yakovlev is seen as a key aide to I
Dorbachcv and is considered the archi- *
ect of his policy of glasnost, or greater
ipenness. 1
Yakovlev led a parliamentary <
:ommission that last year reviewed «
he secret Sovict-Nazi pact under which i
he three Baltic republics - Lithuania,
Estonia and Latvia - were absorbed i
nto the Soviet Union. The commis- t
ion’s work led the Soviet Congress >
>f People’s Deputies in December to
ondemn the 1939 pact.
Tuesday marked the first high-level '
ersonal contact between Lithuania *
nd Moscow since just after Lithu
nia declared itself independent last t
nonth. <
The talks, which Bickauskas dc- t
►cribed as “consultations ... a con
versation,’ ’ lasted for more than three
lours. He could provide no details.
“It is likely there would be no
:oncretc decisions but the very fact
hat they heard us is very good,” he
aid.
Gorbachev says he will not nego
latc with Lithuania, but will hold
liscussions on any topic as long as the
epublic renounces the declaration of
ndcpendcnce.
“Independent states arc not crc
itcd in such a way in an overnight
akcover,’’ presidential spokesman
Arkady Maslennikov told reporters
ruesday.
The meeting came amid incrcas
ng conciliatory signals from the two
ides.
The clash of wills included Gor
iachev’s orders to Lithuanians to hand
iver their weapons; the arrest by Soviet
roops of some Lithuanian deserters;
takeover of several buildings in Vilnius
the Lithuanian capital, by Soviet sol
diers; movements of army reinforce
ments, and a war of words.
Bickauskas said Lithuania had n<
means of implementing its proclaimct
independence if Soviet soldiers con
tinuc to interfere in the republic.
“We have declared independcnct
but we very well know that tanks art
moving on our soil every day ant
night,and they takeover one buildinj
after another,” he said.
“We realize the Soviet Union ha.'
economic, political and military inter
csts in Lithuania that cannot be cut al
at once. These problems involve no
only the Soviet Union and Lithuania
but Europe and the whole world. Sc
we need to talk. We want somebod)
to hold a dialogue with us.”
Anatoly I. Lukyanov, chairman ol
the Supreme Soviet Parliament, spoke
, of “friendly tics’* with Lithuania and
said Moscow does not question its
right to secede, as long as the republic
follows proper constitutional proce
j dures.
I But Gorbachev also met Tuesday
■ with a leader of Lithuania’s 35,000
member Communist Youth movement,
. who urged him to impose presidential
. rule in the republic. The appeal was
I broadcast on Soviet TV’s national
- news.
Soviet news media continued sup
porting attempts by Lithuania’s mi
nority pro-Moscow Communist Party
to halt the printing of at least four pro
independence newspapers at Vilnius’
i central printing plant.
Lithuanian journalists said the
newspapers appeared as usual Tues
day, despite the building’s being
controlled by Soviet Interior Ministry
troopers.
Israelis rocket satellite into orbit,
deny charges of spying on Arabs
JERUSALEM - Israel sent its
second experimental satellite into
orbit Tuesday and showed off its
advanced rocket technology at a
time of rising Middle East ten
sions.
Israel denied the Ofek-2 satel
lite was part of a program to spy on
its Arab neighbors, but Israeli lead
ers boasted that the launch showed
the country’s scientific and mili
tary superiority over Arab coun
tries.
Military analysts have long noted
that Israel’s space program could
give it immediate intelligence on
Arab m i 1 itary moves and the rocket
technology involved also could carry
more lethal payloads.
Witnesses said the rocket that
hefted the 352-pound satellite into
space lifted off at 3:02 p.m. (8:02
a.m. EDT). The Ofck-2 - “Ofek ’ ’
is Hebrew for “horizon” — was
launched from an undisclosed site
in the center of the country and
entered orbit 90 minutes later.
It was fired westward over the
Mediterranean to avoid giving Arab
countries a look at the rocket Despite
the secrecy of the launch, civilians
including a busload of school chil
dren stopped to watch the rocket
arch into partly cloudy skies.
Israeli officials refused to dis
cuss the rocket involved in the
launch.
The satellite’s orbit will range
from 130 miles at its lowest point
to 923 miles at its highest, accord
ing to Israel Aircraft Industries,
which developed the satellite.
The launch came a day after
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq
threatened that any Israeli assault
on his country would prompt a
chemical warfare attack that would
“make fire cat half of Israel.”
But Israel Space Agency direc
tor Yuvaal Neeman denied the long
rumored launch was a response to
the Iraqi warning.
“We don’t send satellites be
cause of threats,” he said.
He described the new satellite
as experimental and similar to the
Ofck-1 launched aboard a three
stage rocket Sept. 19, 1988.
“The only difference is that we
can call the satellite and send it
messages and receive answers
back,” Neeman said, adding: “It
is not a spy satellite and has no
military significance.”
Neeman said on Israel televi
sion that Ofck-2 would remain in
orbit for two months, adding there
is “no reason for it to stay longer
because it has no real purpose.’’
Ofek-1 remained lour months
in orbit although it was scheduled
to spend only a month in space.
Neeman said Tuesday’s launch
was expected to lead to a third test
launch in 1992 and an eventual
communications satellite that would
remain in space for 10 years.
The purpose of the program is
to build a scientific satellite “to
sec stars, galaxies . . . and black
holes, with detectors for X-rays,
ultraviolet rays,” said Akiva Bar
Nun, the space agency’s coordina
tor.
He and Nccman said the ad
vances in Ofek-2 over the previous
craft included an improved gyro
scope, better protection against
cosmic rays, a larger computer
memory and the ability to both
send and receive messages.
While space officials always
discuss the Ofck program in terms
of scientific and commericial pos
sibilities, Israeli politicians were
quick to point out the political and
military significance of Tuesday’s
launch.
“I think the proof for the high
level of technology in Israel was
given today, with the launching of
Ofck-2,” Foreign Minister Moshc
Arens said on Israel television.
“I think the Israeli public knows
that Israel’s security technology is
on a much higher level Uian that of
Iraq,” added Arens, a former de
fense minister.
Shimon Peres, the Labor Party
leader who has been picked to form
Israel’s new government, told re
porters the launch should remind
Iraq’s president “that if he wants
to deal with Israel, he should look
for other means than the military
one.”
-1
House approves $270 million
to aid Panama and Nicaragua
WASHINGTON - The House on
Tuesday approved a S2.4 billion spend
ing bill lhal includes money President
Bush is urgently seeking for new
democracies in Panama and Nicara
gua.
The bill, with S720 million for the
twoCentral American nations, would
mark the first use of a “peace divi
dend ’ ’ from reduced Pentagon spend
ing. It still needed Senate action, which
appeared unlikely by the Thursday
deadline Bush had set for completion
of the measure.
Lawmakers approved the bill on a
vote of 362-59 after defeating a series
of amendments that would have cut
foreign aid amounts in the bill. Those
amendments brought caustic reactions
from the bill’s supporters.
“I am amazed at the number of
flat-headed members in this House
who are all too happy to spend what
ever it takes” to support wars “but
wouldn’t spend a penny to prevent
the necessity to fight those wars in the
first place,” said Rep. David Obey,
D-Wis.
Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio,
sought to cut 5 percent from the for
eign aid portions of the bill, charging
the measure was “busting the bank..
. . Before we ship money overseas,
let’s take care of our own country
first”
Countered Rep. Mickey Edwards,
R-Okla.: “This amendment shows w hy
people arc fed up with Congress --
because we’re looking at the little
bitty ‘Did I get mine’ . . . instead of
taking care of the security of our
people.”
The Senate’s Democratic leaders
had not yet scheduled consideration
for the money bill, and it was unlikely
Bush would get the money he sought
for the two fledgling Central Ameri
can governments before Congress
leaves Thursday for a 12-day Easter
recess.
Because of budget rules, most new
spending added during a fiscal year
must be made up by cutting else
where in the budget. This spending
measure is counterbalanced by Sl.K
billion in cuts in Pentagon spending
agreed to by Bush and House leaders.
Nebraskan
Editor Amy Edwards Professional Adviser Don Walton
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