The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 8

THE YG-U A DI A Wednesday February 4 1987 MEP criticises wasteful Vienna's secret tests for Aids 9 Outspoken communications chief joins the exodus Another top official leaves Reagan team From Alex Brummer in Washington who briefly mounted a Buchanan for President campaign, Vh From Misha Glenny in Vienna Vienna's municipal council has been testing job applicants for Aids, without their knowledge, for the past three months. The admission by the council's spokesman on health, Mr Alois Stacher, came the day after it was revealed that all patients admitted to Viennese hospitals over the past year have been tested for Aids without their knowledge. About 300,000 people have been tested for Aids antibodies, and more than 200 have, been found to be positive. The organisation Austria Aids Help claims the testing is another example of the Austrian Government's mishandling of the disease. The state television service, ORF, started broadcasting Aids information this week, but it has banned the use of the word condom.

The magazine Der -Wiener claimed in its latest issue that Aids victims in Austria were spreading the disease intentionally. Advertising for the article refers to Aids victims as terrorists and murderers." Austria Aids Help has called for legislation preventing the defamation of Aids patients. Doctor Richard Brandstaetter, of Austria Aids Help, has rejected calls from politicians from the conservative People's Party (OVP) to designate Aids as an epidemic. Only 34 Aus-trians have died from the disease. Anyone promoting the introduction of the epidemic law is an idiot," Dr Brandstaetter said.

He claimed this would give the Government powers to impose Draconian Quarantine The turbulence in the upper reaches of the Reaaan Admin istration worsened yesterday when the combative and outspoken White House communications director, Mr Pat Buchanan a veteran of Richard Nixon's final days announced his resignation. His departure comes swiftly. on the heels of mat ot tne William CIA director. Mr Casey, the political director, Mr Mitch Daniels, and the White House spokesman, Mr Larry Speakes, all of whom seem to have given up on the prospects for the Reagan revo lution over tne next two years, "el? 'Sr3 Perle, the hardline arms guru, is also on the point ot leaving. President Reagan's loss of political prestige was on full display yesterday wwen tne Democratic-controlled House, A BRITISH MEP yesterday called for an inquiry Into a trip to Africa by 66 MEP'u accompanied by 127 officials'.

Senior EEC officials expect the trip to a meeting at Arnsta, Tanzania, this week to cost 420,000. The Birmingham West MEP, Mr John Tomlinson, won an assurance from the chairman of the European Parliament's budgetary control committee that the issue would be raised with the assembly's top management committee. "Every penny wasted on this trip means that policies we constantly proclaim as important get poshed farther and farther down the list of priorities," Mr Tomlinson said. He had protested earlier about "inexcusable waste" on the -visit He said 10 Danish linguistic staff were provided for two Danish members and four Greek interpreters for a Greek member. "All three Euro MPs speak other languages fluently and could do without interpretation" he said.

Mr Tomlinson said only 12 of the 66 MEPs caught a charter flight organised by the parliament to cut costs. The first-class return fare from Brussels to Tanzania is about 2,586, while a charter flight costs 862. Mr Tomlinson stressed the importance of this week's meeting held under an EEC trade and aid treaty with 66 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. But he said: "The inexcusable waste comes at a time when the European Community is in financial difficulties and does not have a budget" A Conservative MEP, Mrs Margaret Daly, said from Arasha Anyone who thinks this is some kind of junket ought to be here. A lot of hard work is being done and it Is a very important event for the Community and its trade links with African nations.

Spaniards want bases to be cut US back The anti-American sentiments' in Spain are perhaps not surprising when one in its first act of aenance "Vr since the mid-term elections, the loses from prepared to overturn Mr Reagan team have come more Reagan's veto of a $18 million and furious than might bill which will help pay for have been expected. Both the the clean-up of America's departure of Mr Buchanan and water supply. Last year, Mr that of the political director, Reagan successfully vetoed the Mr Daniels, can be directly same measure. related to Irangate Mr Bu- The departure of Mr Bu- chanan was clearly frustrated ohanan as communications by the hue and cry, while Mr chief seemed inevitable since iDaniels incurred the wrath of the pugnacious conservative his seniors when he called for decided on his own bat to the resignation of his boss, Mr launch a defence of President Don Regan. Reagan's Iran role, excoriating Clearly, the most Important Republican leaders for desert- departure is that of Mr Casey, ing their standard bearer in The choice of Mr Robert his hour of need.

At a hastily Gates, his deputy, as successor arranged rally at Lafayette will inevitably involve close Park, immediately opposite the scrutiny on Capitol Hill be-White House, Mr Buchanan cause of Mr Gates' knowledge sharpened his criticism, aiming of the Iran-contra link. All the it this time at the "liberal evidence has shown that the bias of the media. CIA was far more deeply in- The White House made If volved than at first thought, clear that Mr Buchanan was Nevertheless, the rash of speaking for himself. While Mr resignations has given Mr Reagan may have had some Regan an opportunity to reas-svmuathv for his views, it was sert himself as chfef-of-staff. From Jane Walker in Madrid More than two-thirds fcff American bases in Spain should be closed or drastically reduced, and fewer than 20 per cent believe they should remain at their current level.

At the same time, more Spaniards believe that the United States is a greater threat to security than the Soviet Union. These conclusions were ar rived at this week in a series of opinion polls taken to coin- cide with the latest round of negotiations between US and Spanish officials over the future of the four US bases in Spain, which began in Madrid yesterday. generally thought by the chief- of-staff, Mr Donald Regan, and others that Mr Buchanan's out- spoken comments did the Pres- ident more harm than good, His themes, however, were picked up by conservatives Go-ahead given for Contra case in US By a Correspondent A federal judge in Miami has given the go-ahead to a 23.8 million law suit against an alleged drugs and currency racket used to fund the contra war against Nicaragua. Among 29 defendants in the case are several of the key figures named in the Iranian arms scandal. They all face charges under US anti- racketeering laws.

The charges, which include drug smuggling, gun-running, communications chief threw his support behind Congress man Jack Kemp of New York. In a statement last night, President Reagan said Pat's communications skills and his commitment to conservative political beliefs have been an important part of my Administration for two years. I will nss his leadership and sup- pull, UUI J. wuut Uil -wv- to be a beacon for our political agenda." In his own resignation comments, Mr Buchanan hinted that he would be returning to the broadcasting and writing arenas wmcn were nroducine him an income of $400,000 a year before he took a salary cut to join the white House. While it is normal for there to be an exodus from administrations in their final years, as officials seek to cash in their He chose Mr Speakes's succes- sor as spokesman, Mr Marlin Fitzwalter, engineered Mr Casey's resignation and now has the opportunity to choose a new communications director.

chairman of the World Anti- Communist League, he is an outspoken proponent of the contra war and one of Its main tuna-raisers. On Friday, a US district court judge in Miami rejected appeals by the defendants for the charges to be dismissed. In Judge Lawrence King's 17-page court order, he accepted that there were legal grounds for the suit. He said there was sufficient evidence to suggest that the ings and assassinations. Two Costa Rican-based Jour- nalists, Tony Avirgan and Mar- tha Howey initiated the case.

It rests on the injuries suf- fered by one of the journalists in the May. 1984 bomb attempt on the life of the renegade contra leader. Eden Pastora, who resisted attempts to make- him unite with other cia- oackea contra groups. Their personal suffering then and later, during months of investigation into contra activities in Costa Rica, provide ttlP. HaSlK tHf IaWVefS 10 DriuK the case, seeking to expose il- legal aspects of the contra war and gain damages for their clients.

Colonel Bouterse stressed his plans for a return to constitutional government and said elections might be held at the end of this year. Suriname's two main political parties were last weekend allowed to hold their first public meetings since the army seized power seven years ago by overthrowing the leader of one of them, Mr Henck Arron, who was then Prime Minister. They said they were satisfied with Colonel Bouterse's reforms, which include more local democracy and a constitutional referendum in April. The politicians, as well as the trade unions and the business sector, say the rebels cannot solve the country's economic and political problems. The regime claims the rebels, led by Colonel Bouterse's former bodyguard, Mr Ronnie Brunswijk.

aged 25, have caused $65 million worth of damage, force schools catering for 9,000 children to close, and halted malaria and yellow fever vaccination programmes. They have also forced the country's main bauxite mine, at Moengo, to close The Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Ingvar Carlsson (right), talks to reporters before yesterday's meeting on the Palme murder investigation Deadline for inquiry on Palme Russians confirm arrest From Martin Walker in Moscow General Yuri Churbanov, the former Deputy Minister of the Interior and Leonid Brezhnev's son-in-law, has been arrested on charges of bribery and corruption, it was officially confirmed yesterday. Mr Churbanov, who was married to Brezhnev's only daughter, Galina, first met her when he was assigned to be her bodyguard. He swiftly rose from lieutenant colonel to general, and was promoted to deputy minister. Ten years younger than Galina.

tall and hanricoina Mr Churbanov was her third hus- oana. Her nrst was a circus trapeze artist, and the second a Jewish circus nprfnrmor with whom she eloped to the Crimea. Brezhnev had the second marriage annulled. Mr Churfoanov's meteoric rise In the Interior Ministry was organised by, the Minister, General NiHlal Scholokov. After Brezhnev's death, General Scholokov was stripped of his rank, expelled from the central committee and died, possibly by his own hand, shortly before he was due to go on trial.

The arrest of Mr Churbanov signals not only the determination of the Gorbachev administration to break completely with the corruption and nepotism that characterised Brezh nev last years it also shows that the former leader has no friends or protectors left in Gorbachev's Moscow. It will also send a powerful signal to the Soviet hierarchy about the extent of the new anti-corruption drive. In confirming that Mr Churbanov was under arrest yesterday, the official spokesman. Mr GennariV fl said he could give no details of when the arrest had been made, or where Mr Churnabov was being held. The Soviet Communist Partv newspaner Pravrfa voctoiiv introduced a new feature on international affairs and published the full text of an article by US Senator Robert Dole proclaiming the SALT-2 treaty dead.

Pravda said thn mitimn Looking from different angles," would appear regularly with comments by Western politicians on current affairs and replies from Soviet analysts. In recent months thp nnnr has increasingly given space to Western figures in a policy change, which reflects the Kremlin's glasnost (public openness) drive. Reuter. Duarte From Paul Eilman in San Salvador FOR a politician who likes to portray himself as the custodian of democratic institutions, the streets might appear an inappropriate place to stage a demonstration of popular support. However, President Josfi Napoleon Duarte has decided that on Saturday he will fill the streets of San Salvador with his supporters to demonstrate to his opponents that they enjoy no backing for their campaign against his government.

It is a measure of the cynicism that has come to surround the Duarte presidency that few doubt that he will secure a big turn-but because of pressure on civil servants and workers on state-owned cooperatives to take part in the marph. The immediate cause the demonstration is of the President's neert to ronlw tn the show of force staged by his conservative opponents who brought the entire country to a standstill on January zz inrougn a strike businessmen. by murder and banking ana cur- defendants had been involved rency violations, are to be in an enterprise "to use heard in a Florida district money from illegal gun-run-court, ning and drug-smuggling to The 29 include General Rich- further guerrilla opposition ard Secord, the retired US Air against the Sandinista govern-Force officer who was the Pen- ment and actually to engage in tagon's chief Middle East arms guerrilla activities by bomb- at the end of the Second World War." The Spanish Prime Minister, tained that Spain, as a full Mr reiipe uonzaiez, main- democracy, and a Nato mem ber, has the right to take the responsibility tor its own ue fence, and is demanding dras tic reductions in both US troons and installations. The United Mates currently maintains around 12.000 mili tary oersonnel in Spain 4,500 of them in the Torrejpn Dase ouisiae raaunu, considered to be one of the best equipped US military installa tions in southern Europe, There is strong pressure from the people to close this base, which is only 13 nines from the centre of Madrid. volved in the case had been unable to agree about what, to do and that he had therefore asked the director of.

public prosecutions and the national police commissioner to come up with a solution. Mr Carlsson said that all necessary resources for finding Palme's killer would be made available and that all leads considered valid by experienced investigators should be followed up. Swedish newspapers have speculated that both Mr Holmer and tne prosecuting team in the case will be replaced in the next few days in an attemot to break the deadlock. Reuter. brought into the open the failure of the Government to reverse the deepening economic crisis which has allowed the right to jeer at the President's portrayal of himself as the champion of the poor.

Th vast quantities of aid pumped into El Salvador by the United States has added to the cynicism since it appears to have had little effect on the grimy fabric of life in a countr here morew than hal the orkorce is unemwloed anyd7all have to grapple with inflation running at some 40 per cent a ear. A visit to San Salvador's Zona Rosa, a sprawl of highly priced restaurants, boutiques and discotheques offers not only a jarring contrast to the wrenching poverty of most of the country. It also raises questions concerning the uses to which the aid, due to total $770 million this year, equivalent to a fifth of the entire gross domestic product, is being put. The gross inequalities of Salvadorean society and the inertia of his administration Vd the right to the three ICUICUIUCIS 111 Llll. v- vamAMMliawp th.t hn TTC 10- airforce bases and one naval base, as well as a senes of communications and monitoring sites, under a bilateral treaty signed by General Franco in 1953, thereby giving the Spanish dictatorship a legitimacy in the eyes of the western worm Many Spaniards have never forgiven the Americans for bolstering up the franco regime, in its early fragile days," said one leading Spanish diplomat.

"Nor do they feel any gratitude to the United States because Spain did not benefit from the Marshall Plan tor's office over which lead to follow up. Police say thev want to con centrate on the possible involvement of an extremist Kurdish group, the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). Prosecutors last month cleared all the PKK suspects in the case. hHnein DOiice accusations of Theprosecutors. who Xrge of are the i lidrdism ss rThe' PKK line of inquiry as hopeless and hav, that Stock- holm's nnlice chief.

Mr Hans holm ponce cniet, mr Hans Holmer, should be replaced as head of the murder hunt team, The Prime Minister said that prosecutors and detectives in- a leader who, his critics maintain, has no programme except surviving his term, which is due to end in 1989. Efforts to open a dialogue with the leftwing guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) have been suspended. President Duarte accuses the left of seeking what he calls a tactical dialogue aimed only at bolstering their image. However, as he told a visitor recently, he has personally lost the political space which would allow him to pursue another round of talks. In part, this is because the guerrillas' demands for a slice of political power have made the military hierarchy suspicious of any negotiations.

However, the President is also keenly aware of the declining popularity of the Christian Democrats and fears that new talks could arouse hopes which he could not fulfil and so damage prospects of keeping his parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly elections due in March next year: The businessmen's strike laws on individual Aids victims and regions with a high inci- aence ox tne disease. Alex Scott adds from Brussels Common Market governments are to be asked to approve a plan to contribute us to 70 million to help African. Caribbean, and Pacific countries combat the spread of Aids. Tne pian would coordinate European research efforts with those in several African coun tries, a spokesman for the EEC Commission said in BrusseU yesterday. Key aspects of the nlan.

which has yet to be finalised, would include offers of help to monitor blood transfusion centres and provide medical equipment such as disposable syringes. The EEC Development Com. missioner, Mr Lorenzo Natali, told African, Caribbean and Pacific parliamentarians, who were meeting their European counterparts in Arusha, Tanzania, that he expected to present the plan to their ambassadors to the EEC in Brussels as soon as it had been finalised. "For some, years Aids has swept across all continents without distinction," Mr Natali told the meeting. "At present we are not able to stamp out this scourge.

We can only try" to prevent its spread bv means of information and preventative measures the very types of action that are most lacking in the health services of the developing countries." The response from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries has varied considerably. A commission spokesman said yesterday that countries like Kenya had expressed considerable enthusiasm, while others like Nigeria were more reluctant. At tne European level the spokesman could not confirm that blanket screening of visitors from Africa had been sug gested. Reports have circulated that this is being discussed at meetings of scientific exnerts coordinated by the Commission. Smog alert reduces output Hamburg: Officials in Lower Saxony and the northern port cities of Hamburg and Bremen issued smog alarms yesterday, ordering dozens of factories to cut production, and banning thousands of commuters from driving to work.

A Hamburg environmental ministry spokesman said most of the smog was being carried into the city on south-easterly winds bearing the pollution from East Germany. Emission controls In East Germany are considered lax by West German standards because of the extensive use of brown coal for heating and industry. Hambure officials banned the driving of all private cars lacking special emission-control devices until mid-afternoon. But authorities then asked that cars be used only for urgent trips. Commuters were advised to use trains, taxis and buses, that were exempted from the ban.

Schools in Hamburg started classes two hours late' The smog that had Dlaeued West Berlin since the weekend has eased, and authorities lifted a driving ban imposed on Sun day. Mucn of the smog came from East Germany, officials said. During the ban. West Berlin police said some 14,000 drivers were pulled over at special smog roadblocks and told to park their cars immediately. Another 1.150 drivers were fined 14 after they were found to have ignored the ban, police said.

In Bremen, private households and industrial plants were also asked to turn down thermostats and hcatins to ease the amount of pollutants being emitted into the air. AP. Stockholm: The Swedish Government yesterday gave police and prosecutors 24 hours to end their public bickering and relaunch the hunt for the murderer of the prime minister, Olof Palme, nearly a year after his death. in oniy tnree weexs to go to tne nrst. anniversary ot Palmels nSinan'Tiie.

Prime Minister, Mr Ingyar uarisson. saia ne was eivme ITI "Sff t0yPSMr? should Snntini should continue. A nnlice stinkesman mm. corn- plained yesterday that the mur- der hunt had ground to a complete standstill due to a bitter feud with the prosecu- The vote that really counts By Simon Tisdall A LONE voice of protest was detected yesterday when the results of parliamentary elections held on Sunday in the secretive, Stalinist state of Albania were announced by the official ATA news agency. There was of course no doubt about the winners: the hand-picked Communist Party candidates were returned to the People's Assembly in ail 250 constituencies.

ATA proudly proclaimed that "100 per cent of the electors voted for the candidates of the Democratic To ensure such an impressive turnout, polling booths were set up at Albania's embassies and merchant ships at sea. But the 100 per cent turnout claim Was not quite correct, closer scrutiny of the figures issued by the Central Election Commission revealed. Of 1,880,653 registered electors, 1330,652 voted for the party leaving one, lone dissident voice. ATA described the errant ballot as invalid, without further comment In a country closed to the western press, that appeared to be that. Analysts noted, however, that at Albania's last general election, four years ago, a single ballot was also cast against the party possibly by the same person, Whether this indicated that Albania's lone voice of opposition had changed his or her position from one of outright rejection to that of a "don't know" was not irfmediately clear nor likely to be, until the next polls in 1991.

have not turned into threats to President Duarte's survival. Only the military command, acting with the approval of the US embassy, could remove him from office and neither is willing to risk the political and diplomatic chaos which would ensue. The rightwing, which not so long ago would have resolved the problem through a telephone call to army headquarters, is no longer in a position to organise a coup. Vis aid has ensured that the military no longer serve as the watchdogs of the rich and has emerged as a power in its own right. Conservative politicians now believe In any case that their best bet is to leave Mr Duarte in office, struggling like a wounded bird to stay aloft.

By eschewing their traditional methods and abiding by the rules of the parliamentary game, they believe that President Duarte's failure will restore the right to its former pre-eminence. Only this time it will be through the ballot box instead of the death squads. sales negotiator from 1981 to 1983, and was a close associate of Lt-Col Oliver North in the arms-to-Iran controversy. Also named are Mr Theodor Shackley and Mr Thomas Clines. both former senior CIA officials, Mr Albert Hakim, an Iranian arms rloalpr and Mr Edwin P.

Wilson, a former CIA aeent now serving 52 vears in a maximum security prison in the US for conspiring to murder and selling arms to Libya. Another defendant is Maj rnn Tnhn Cinnlnntt tho fAKmov US army commander in South Korea sent into retirement by President Carter over foreign policy disagreemnts. A former plans show of force on the streets Suriname rebel attacks threaten export earnings Despite a display of indifference, the stoppage has clearly left President Duarte rattled at a time when the failure of his administration even to try to tackle El Salvador's deep-rooted problems has created widespread disillusionment. The businessmen were ostensibly protesting against a tax package aimed at raising some $27 million towards financing the war effort. But their action has brought a host of other issues bubbling to the surface, notably the failure of the Duarte Administration to halt the decline of the economy and offer some hope that the seven-year-old civil war will end.

Mr Duarte won the presidency in 1984, and secured a parliamentary majority for his Christian Democratic party 12 months later, largely on the promise that a cleanly-elected civilian government could end the poverty and brutality that had characterised El Salvador for most of this century. The optimism that prevailed two years ago has been stripped away to reveal By Greg Chamberlain Rebels in the Amazonian jungles of Suriname have partially cut electricity to the capital, Paramaribo, and forced an aluminium smelter which provides 80 per cent of the Country's export earnings to (lose. The Suriname leader, Colonel j)esi Bouterse, warned that the aynamiting. of three pylons near the Afobakka dam, which caused the US-owned smelter Paranam to shut, could de-irive the Government of half ts revenue. 1 i 1 -1 A 1 nil impunity aumiueu ian-iire of a drive against the rebels, who are Dacitea oy fightwing exiles in the Netherlands, and appealed to people tiot to be dragged into the six-Snontli revolt.

jL me reueis nave iijjaciteu planes, attacked army posts, blown up Bridges, ana Kia-Jhapped soldiers, during their iarapaign in the former Dutch olony. The Government has ordered hops in the capital to close fcarly to save energy after the gttack on the pylons, which will take several months to repair..