European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The a and Al pm a vol. 50, no. 253 500 sunday december 22,1991 d 8693 soviet Union officially Dies with Rise of Commonwealth Alma Ata Kazakhstan apr leaders of 11 of the 12 former soviet republics signed agreements saturday proclaiming a new Commonwealth of Independent states putting a formal end to the soviet Union and paving the Way for Mikhail s. Gorbachev s resignation. A the soviet Union has ceased to exist said Sei Kazy Mataev a spokesman for Kazakhstan president Nur Sultan Naza Bayev. The Commonwealth was formed dec. 8 by the three slavic republics of Russia byelorussian and the Ukraine. The eight republics agreeing to join the Commonwealth saturday Are the five asian republics a Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Kirghizia and Kadzhi Kristan a plus Armenia Moldavia and Azerbaijan. Georgia is the Only Republic from the former soviet Union that did no to join. The 11 presidents agreed to name soviet defense minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov to be the interim head of a unified military command that would control All nuclear and conventional forces a spokesman said. They also agreed that Russia would take Over the soviet unions seat on the . Security Council Mataev said. Russia and the two republics already represented at the United nations the Ukraine and byelorussian will push for All the other participants in the Commonwealth to have seats As Well. Aides to Gorbachev have said the soviet presidents formal resignation might come soon after the Summit in the capital of Kazakhstan the second largest Republic. There was no immediate comment from Gorbachev who did not attend the meeting. His spokesman Andrei Grachev said Gorbachev most Likely would not make a decision saturday but would deliver a nationally televised address. He did not say when that would be. The 60-year-old soviet Leader came to Power in March 1985 and unleashed the most sweeping reforms in the nations history. The Republic leaders reached agreement on three key documents that will serve As the basis for the new Commonwealth Mataev said. A the first is a protocol that recognizes the 11 republics As entering the Commonwealth on an a equal basis As co founders he said. This was a principal demand of the leaders the five asian republics after the slavic republics formed the see soviet on Page 2 three key agreements will serve As a basis for the new Commonwealth the 11 republics will enter on an equal basis As co founders. The Alma Ata declaration will recognize the Independence of the republics and their current Borders. A temporary military command will be formed. Rapping with Santa Clauss amps gut Schuettler five year old Randie Morris chats with Santa via a radio supplied by the 36th comm so Mars station at the recreation Center at bit Uig a Germany. Assisting Randie is staff sgt Jerry k. Locke. Santa was talking to Randie from the Mars station at Rhein main a Germany. Baker seeks dec Aid in rescuing soviets Brussels Belgium up a Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii briefed leaders of the european Community on saturday about the crisis in the former soviet Union and a top european official warned of a possible explosion in the new republics. Baker who on Friday obtained agreement from the North Atlantic trea my a a. To organization to assist with humanitarian efforts in the Coll a a called for a worldwide Campaign to res soviet Union torts in the collapsing ice can.r_.0. A a Cue the soviet people from starvation and misery this Winter. Jacques Delors president of the european commission said the 12-nation Community will participate in new emergency Aid to the former soviet Union. A there is a real risk of a social crisis a Delors said at a joint news conference with Baker. He also raised a the pitiful example of Yugoslavia and civil  before leaving Brussels for Home Baker said there will be an emergency conference in Washington next month to coordinate soviet Aid in particular food and shelter. The United states already has pledged 54 billion in Aid to the collapsing nation. During the nato meeting Friday Baker urged the former soviet Union and its one time allies to join the West a in a common Circle built on shared Universal  Russia raised the question of eventual membership in the Alliance. In a speech at nato Headquarters it Baker said tie Alliance formed to deter communist aggression will extend its hand to the former East bloc nations As they Are trying to overcome political economic and Security problems. Baker attended a gathering of the North Atlantic cooperation Council a nato umbrella group. Also attending a for the first time a were the foreign ministers of Eastern european countries and the soviet ambassador to Belgium. Finding a vaccine to prevent his key to military s aids research by Janet Howells Tierney Washington Bureau Washington a military research labs Are in the forefront of developing a vaccine to prevent the initial infection that leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome or aids according to the Secretary of the army. A your primary goal is to reduce the incidence of new his infections to Zero to arrest and then reverse the progression of the disease in those already infected and to eliminate fatalities from his in military populations said or. Col Donald Burke chief of the aids program at the Walter Reed army Institute of research. Recent results have left military researchers optimistic that one of those goals May be within their grasp thanks to a vaccine that goes by the Humble name of gpl60. Three years ago a group of 30 service members and retirees who tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus were first inoculated with the vaccine. The group treated As outpatients continue to receive regular doses of gpl60 and so far none has developed full blown aids Burke said. A they Are All living Normal lives and beyond regular visits Here they show no signs of the disease and have had no significant Side effects a he said. The groups relative health seems to be linked to the to Helper cell which is the target of the deadly aids see aids on Page 2 he army is in the forefront of our National Effort to find a Means of fighting aids and As an Institute we constitute a research resource of immense  a Secretary of the army Michael  Slone