AZERBAIJAN CONCERNED OVER DELAY OF 907 SECTION REPEAL

BAKU, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS:A Baku-based daily Echo writes that Azerbaijan is concerned with the delay of the official repeal of the Section 907, which prohibits the US government from providing direct aid to Azerbaijan. "Though president Bush has been given the authority to waive the Section 907 and he was primarily expected to ratify the repeal before the end of 2001, but he does not seem to be hurrying to do it. Now the US administration says the Section will be repealed before the end of January 2002," it writes. Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the Azeri daily blames the delay on the OSCE parliamentarians, who demand that Azerbaijan should fulfil its commitments towards the Council of Europe, especially the one regarding political prisoners. Furthermore, the daily writes, some members of the OSCE suggest that Azerbaijan should be temporarily deprived of its Council of Europe mandate for refusing to meet its obligations. In a letter, sent to Azerbaijani president Aliyev, the Council of Europe secretary general Schwimmer writes that even one political prisoner is already a serious breach for a Council of Europe member country.