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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 88, 96-05-06
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 88, 6 May 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] UN STUDY ON POPULATION SHIFTS IN FORMER SOVIET STATES.
[02] MOBIL OIL GAINS SHARE OF TENGIZ OIL FIELDS.
[03] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES IN TASHKENT.
[04] PROTESTS, TERROR, MISTAKES IN TAJIKISTAN.
[05] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER DENIES PERSONALITY CONFLICTS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] BILDT SAYS PARTITION OF BOSNIA MUST BE PREVENTED.
[07] MUSLIMS DENIED FREE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
[08] BOSNIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES ALL BOSNIA WILL "BE LIBERATED."
[09] ATTACKS ON CROATIAN OPPOSITION INTENSIFY.
[10] BELGRADE TO DELAY REPAYING INTERNATIONAL LOANS.
[11] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BUCHAREST.
[12] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST PARTY ADOPTS "BLITZ STRATEGY."
[13] THREE BULGARIAN POLICE OFFICERS KILLED, INTERIOR MINISTER OFFERS RESIGNATION.
[14] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS STONED ON WAY TO RALLY . . .
[15] . . . WHILE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS' MEETING BANNED.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] UN STUDY ON POPULATION SHIFTS IN FORMER SOVIET STATES.
Approximately 9 million people have changed their place of residence in the
former Soviet Union since 1989, with the most traffic running between the
Central Asian states and Russia, RFE/RL reported on 6 May, citing a recently
released UN study. The figure does not include military transfers or voluntary
migration. Noting that the definition of the term 'migrants' is subjective,
the report focuses on the plights of "punished peoples"--the Stalin-era
victims of mass-deportation such as the Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans--and
the "homeless refugees" fleeing from conflicts in areas ranging from the North
Caucasus to Tajikistan. In addition, "ecological migrants" are a growing
problem, with at least 700,000 people forced to leave an estimated 300 "lethal
environments," including parts of Chornobyl and Lake Baikal, Semipalatinsk,
and the Aral Sea region. -- Roger Kangas
[02] MOBIL OIL GAINS SHARE OF TENGIZ OIL FIELDS.
The Mobil Oil Corporation and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on 3 May giving
the U.S. company a 25% share of the joint venture set up to develop the Tengiz
oil fields, Russian and Western media reported. Chevron will retain its 50%
control and Kazakhstan's share will be reduced to 25%. However, Kazakhstani
Oil Minister Nurlan Balgmbayev told Reuters that after royalties, fees, and
taxes, Kazakhstan will have a 72% share of the profits. This agreement follows
on the heels of the 27 April Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) accord that
reorganized the venture's ownership (see OMRI Daily Digest, 29 April 1996).
Mobil owns a 7.5% share of the CPC, in addition to a 50% share of the Tulpar
Munai Ltd. oil field, also in Kazakhstan. -- Roger Kangas
[03] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES IN TASHKENT.
The five Central Asian foreign ministers on 4 May signed a memorandum on
mutual cooperation in fighting drugs smuggling at the close of an
international symposium in Tashkent, RFE/RL and Russian TV (RTR) reported (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 3 May 1996). The conference outlined a three-year, $3.38
million drug prohibition program in the region. In a speech, Uzbek President
Islam Karimov highlighted the connection between weapons sales in Afghanistan
and drug money. Tashkent hosted two other international conferences over the
weekend: a four-day international transportation seminar that focused on the
need to develop an effective transport corridor linking Europe with Central
Asia, and a UN seminar on refugees, ITAR-TASS reported on 5 May. -- Roger
Kangas
[04] PROTESTS, TERROR, MISTAKES IN TAJIKISTAN.
United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Said Abdullo Nuri sent a protest to UN
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali claiming that the Tajik government is
refusing to abide by the ceasefire agreement, Radio Mayak reported on 3 May.
Nuri said the government has poured some 4,000 additional troops into the
Tavil-Dara region where opposition forces re-established bases in October
1995. ITAR-TASS and NTV reported on 5 May that a car carrying members of the
Tajik Security Ministry was attacked in the Tavil-Dara area; three people are
reported dead and a fourth wounded. The opposition's Radio Voice of Free
Tajikistan reports that Russian aircraft and Tajik government artillery are to
blame for the deaths of eight government soldiers who were being held captive
in the same region. -- Bruce Pannier
[05] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER DENIES PERSONALITY CONFLICTS.
United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Said Abdullo Nuri and the opposition's
chief negotiator Ali Akbar Turajonzoda dismissed a 1 May Tajik government
radio report that they are engaged in a power struggle, according to a 2 May
Radio Voice of Free Tajikistan report monitored by the BBC. Both Nuri and
Turajonzoda said the government radio report contained "slander" and "lies"
dreamed up by the "puppet" regime of Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and his
"Kremlin protectors." -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] BILDT SAYS PARTITION OF BOSNIA MUST BE PREVENTED.
The international community's high representative to Bosnia has said the
ethnic partition of Bosnia must be prevented if "an endless succession of
Balkan wars" is to be avoided, Reuters reported on 5 May. Carl Bildt said
partition may achieve short-term stability in Bosnia but is "a recipe for long-
term turmoil in an important part of Europe." He added that Radovan Karadzic,
president of Republika Srpska and an indicted war criminal, is the single
greatest obstacle to reintegration. Meanwhile, George Mitchell, a member of
the International Crisis Group charged with monitoring the implementation of
Dayton peace accord, said the presence in Bosnia of war criminals is the
biggest obstacle to peace, Reuters reported on 4 May. In an unrelated
development, Republika Srpska Premier Rajko Kasagic said Bosnian Serb
authorities will allow an investigation into war crimes in the Bijeljina area,
Nasa Borba reported on 6 May. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] MUSLIMS DENIED FREE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
NGOs in rump Yugoslavia have protested discriminatory actions by the Republika
Srpska and rump Yugoslavia authorities against Muslims who want to travel in
the Bosnian Federation, Nasa Borba reported on 6 May. Muslims from rump
Yugoslavia transiting the Republika Srpska have either been sent back to
Serbia or taken away for interrogation. Serbs need only identification cards
to travel to the Bosnian Federation, where they enjoy free movement. Meanwhile,
rump Yugoslavia has introduced visas for Bosnian citizens at a fee of DM 50,
Dnevni Avaz reported on 3 May. * Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOSNIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES ALL BOSNIA WILL "BE LIBERATED."
Alija Izetbegovic, speaking in Gorazde on 4 May for the first time since
the beginning of the war, said that "history has taught us that not a single
honest man of ours can be unarmed; every single one will have a rifle to
defend himself," the BBC reported the next day. The president also pledged to
retake lands lost to the Serbs: "They have not and they will not expel us; we
will return to all the places they have expelled us from and our struggle will
not be over until the whole of Bosnia is free. Our children will liberate the
whole of Bosnia." The speech took place against the background of the
ongoing election campaign and growing anger and frustration among Muslims over
IFOR's reluctance to make the Serbs implement key parts of the Dayton
agreement, such as freedom of movement and the right of refugees to return
home. -- Patrick Moore
[09] ATTACKS ON CROATIAN OPPOSITION INTENSIFY.
Croatian police on 3 May interrogated Viktor Ivancic--editor of the satirical
weekly Feral Tribune, one of the few independent mass circulation
periodicals in Croatia, Novi list and Nasa Borba. The move appears to be
yet another effort by President Franjo Tudjman and his governing Croatian
Democratic Community (HDZ) to silence criticism. The authorities earlier tried
to shut down Feral Tribune by imposing a "pornography tax," which they
were later forced to drop under international pressure. Officials have
recently levied punitive tax payments against the country's sole independent
daily, Novi list. A new press law passed in March threatens punitive action
against journalists inclined to criticize top officials or investigate abuse
of power and corruption. The offices of the independent weekly Panorama were
sealed on 30 April, and two days later, Tudjman gave a speech lambasting
the opposition as a "threat from within." The president on 30 April dissolved
the opposition-dominated Zagreb City Council but is delaying calling new
elections. The HDZ would likely lose the ballot, the International Herald
Tribune wrote on 2 May. -- Patrick Moore
[10] BELGRADE TO DELAY REPAYING INTERNATIONAL LOANS.
The federal rump Yugoslav authorities on 4 May resolved not to pay some $20
million in financial obligations to the IMF and the World Bank, Nasa Borba
reported on 6 May. This decision is regarded as another challenge to National
Bank Governor Dragoslav Avramovic, who has advocated meeting obligations to
international financial institutions. -- Stan Markotich
[11] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BUCHAREST.
Javier Solana on 3 May paid a brief visit to Romania on the last leg of his
East European tour, Romanian and Western media reported. Solana met with
Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu, Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu, Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca, and the chairmen of the
parliament's two chambers, Oliviu Gherman and Adrian Nastase. The two sides
discussed cooperation and Romania's prospects for full membership in the
alliance. Western agencies noticed that Solana tried to reassure Bucharest
that it has not been forgotten in the alliance's eastward expansion plans. He
thanked Romania for its participation in the international peacekeeping force
in Bosnia, recalling that it was the first country to sign up for NATO's
Partnership for Peace program. -- Dan Ionescu
[12] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST PARTY ADOPTS "BLITZ STRATEGY."
The chauvinistic Greater Romania Party (PRM), at its third national convention
in Bucharest on the weekend, unanimously adopted a "blitz strategy" in the
event that it comes to power after the fall general elections, Romanian media
reported. The party's top priority would be to change the country's
constitution to allow for "the confiscation of property improperly acquired."
It would also seek to exert strict control over foreign investors and to
outlaw the "anti-Romanian" Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania. The PRM
protested alleged pressures on party chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor to withdraw
his candidacy for the Romanian Presidency. Tudor's parliamentary immunity was
recently lifted by the Senate for offending the authorities (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 23 April 1996). -- Matyas Szabo
[13] THREE BULGARIAN POLICE OFFICERS KILLED, INTERIOR MINISTER OFFERS RESIGNATION.
Two armed men gunned down three police officers in the Bulgarian capital on 3
May, Bulgarian Radio reported the same day. Eye witnesses said the men were
dressed in dark suits and wore black masks. They brandished Kalashnikov
automatics and made their escape by car. Reuters reported that the two gunmen
may have been resisting arrest just before the shooting. Meanwhile, Premier
Zhan Videnov on 4 May announced that Lyubomir Nachev has tendered his
resignation as interior minister in the wake of the killings. He added that he
plans to ask the parliament to replace Nachev with Nikolai Dobrev, chairman of
the parliamentary National Security Commission, AFP reported on 4 May. Since
January 1995, 15 Bulgarian police officers have been killed. -- Stan
Markotich
[14] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS STONED ON WAY TO RALLY . . .
Unknown culprits attacked a car convoy carrying Albanian Socialist Party
leaders to a rally in Burrel, Reuters reported on 4 May. The Socialists
accused plain-clothes policemen of carrying out the attack, saying the local
police chief had headed it. Police "grabbed the camera with which the rally
was going to be filmed and attempted to hit the party leaders," the Socialists
claimed. The government has denied the charges, saying the police intervened
to calm down an escalating situation after the Socialists "behaved arrogantly,
" broke traffic rules, and insulted passers-by, Rilindja Demokratike
reported on 5 May. Windows of cars in the convoy were smashed and several
people injured. One driver's condition remains serious. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[15] . . . WHILE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS' MEETING BANNED.
Local police outlawed a meeting by the Social Democrats in Kavaja on the
weekend, saying it had been announced too late, Poli i Qendres reported.
Party leader Skender Gjinushi had planned to address local citizens. Meanwhile,
the Albanian Helsinki Committee has protested a speech by French Gaullist
politician Michel Pericard at a Democratic Party rally in Tirana, also
attended by President Sali Berisah. The committee argued that the election law
prohibits non-Albanian citizens from participating in an election campaign,
Koha Jone reported on 5 April. Pericard responded by saying that "democracy
means respect and tolerance and this means that no one can be banned from
speaking," Reuters reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
News and information as of 1200 CET
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media
Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in
Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to [email protected].
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