From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Moldova leader suggests uniting army with rebels CHISINAU, July 31 (Reuters) - The president of impoverished Moldova said on Tuesday he would slash the tiny country's armed forces and proposed uniting the army with rebel troops in the breakaway Dnestr region. President Vladimir Voronin, who led his Communist Party to a landslide election victory earlier this year, has said ending the simmering decade-long conflict with Dnestr is a priority. There was no immediate reaction to Voronin's proposal from the Dnestr capital Tiraspol, the centre of a self-styled state which fought a short but bloody war against Moldova in 1992. "I will very soon send the Dnestr leadership a proposal to unite the armed forces of Moldova and Dnestr into one organ," Voronin told a news conference in the capital Chisinau. He said he had decided to cut the country's 10,000-strong army to just 3,000. The move is aimed at building confidence with Dnestr but also reflects Moldova's woeful finances. Parliament gave its approval on Monday to the sale of the former Soviet state's last six MiG-29 warplanes, as well as 13 surface-to-surface missile launchers. Defence Minister Viktor Gaiciuc said Moldova had no need of aviation or artillery. Russian-speaking Dnestr broke away from Moldova, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, in 1990 over fears that an independent Moldova might unite with ethnic kin in Romania. Since taking office in February, Voronin has been much more active than his predecessors in pursuing reconciliation with Dnestr although the separatists' reaction has to date been lukewarm. Dnestr maintains its own army of about 10,000 and regularly stages military parades in Tiraspol to showcase its helicopters, armoured vehicles and artillery. "It will become clear that Chisinau requires more confidence building measures than Tiraspol, although they are the ones who constantly demand such things," Voronin said. 06:36 07-31-01 _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
