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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 90, 96-05-09
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 90, 9 May 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SNUBS SELEZNEV.
[02] PRIMAKOV'S KARABAKH DIPLOMACY.
[03] DEMIREL IN UZBEKISTAN.
[04] COCA-COLA EXPANDS PRODUCTION IN CENTRAL ASIA, TRANSCAUCASUS.
[05] CHANGES IN KAZAKHSTANI GOVERNMENT.
[06] VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN TAJIKISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] CROATIA DENIES REPORT OF SECRET MEETING.
[08] BOSNIAN ROUNDUP.
[09] LATEST KILLINGS IN BOSNIA.
[10] UN URGES BELGRADE TO ACT AGAINST WAR CRIMINALS.
[11] SERBIAN PRESIDENT URGED TO COMPLY WITH DAYTON ACCORD.
[12] U.S. APPOINTS TEMPORARY DIPLOMAT TO KOSOVO.
[13] CROATIAN WEEKLY WARNS OF "TOTALITARIANISM."
[14] SLOVENIA, U.S. SHORE UP DEFENSE TIES.
[15] COMMUNIST NOSTALGICS PLACE CROSS ON CEAUSESCU'S GRAVE.
[16] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS CABINET RESHUFFLE.
[17] MOLDOVA, RUSSIA TO SET UP JOINT COMMISSION ON TROOP WITHDRAWAL.
[18] BULGARIAN LEV PLUNGES AS IMF MISSION ARRIVES.
[19] ALBANIA MOURNS BOAT VICTIMS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SNUBS SELEZNEV.
After staying one day longer than planned in China, Armenian President Levon
Ter-Petrossyan stopped off in Moscow on 7 May for talks on bilateral relations
and the Karabakh conflict with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who is to visit Yerevan later this month,
Russian media reported. Ter-Petrossyan said it would be "neither wise nor
advantageous" for Armenia to join the CIS Customs Union at present, according
to RFE/RL. Meanwhile, a Russian State Duma delegation led by Speaker Gennadii
Seleznev was in Armenia for a two-day visit to meet with Armenian National
Assembly Chairman Babken Ararktsyan and Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan. The
issue of Karabakh was not on the agenda since in a previous interview with an
Azerbaijani journalist Seleznev had accused Armenia of "aggression," Noyan
Tapan reported. -- Liz Fuller
[02] PRIMAKOV'S KARABAKH DIPLOMACY.
Russia Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov traveled to Baku and then Yerevan on
8 May on what he termed "direct instructions from President Boris Yeltsin" in
an attempt to achieve at least minimal progress toward a political solution of
the Karabakh conflict, Russian and Western media reported. Following an
agreement between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the leadership of the self-
proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on an exchange of all prisoners of war,
Primakov brought 34 former Armenian prisoners and one ethnic Russian to
Yerevan; in exchange, Armenia is to release 11 Azerbaijanis, and Karabakh
Armenian authorities a further 59. -- Liz Fuller
[03] DEMIREL IN UZBEKISTAN.
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel concluded a three-day official visit to
Tashkent on 9 May during which he signed agreements on "eternal friendship and
cooperation," environmental protection, and double taxation with his Uzbek
counterpart, Islam Karimov, ITAR-TASS reported. In 1995, Turkish-Uzbek trade
was valued at $280 million, a 75% increase over the previous year, and
involves more than 200 joint ventures. This was Demirel's first visit to
Uzbekistan as Turkish president; Turgut Ozal visited in 1993. -- Roger
Kangas
[04] COCA-COLA EXPANDS PRODUCTION IN CENTRAL ASIA, TRANSCAUCASUS.
The Coca-Cola Company announced that it will invest an additional $200 million
into the region over the next three years, RFE/RL reported on 8 May. Calling
it the "next frontier opportunity for soft drinks," Neville Isdell, president
of the company's Greater Europe Group, announced the opening of a $15 million
bottling plant in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as part of a joint venture with the
Turkish Anadolu Group and the Kazakhstani bottler ToNus. Plants will also open
in Bishkek and Tashkent at the cost of $16 million and $10 million,
respectively. Plans are being drawn up for similar plants in Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The company already has plants operating in the
Georgian capital Tbilisi (opened in June 1993) and one in Tashkent (opened
March 1994). -- Roger Kangas
[05] CHANGES IN KAZAKHSTANI GOVERNMENT.
Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 8 May promoted Trade and
Industry Minister Garri Shtoik to the post of first deputy prime minister,
RFE/RL and Reuters reported. Shtoik replaces Vitalii Mette, who left office
recently. The choice of one ethnic German to replace another may not be
coincidental as Almaty appears anxious to have a German presence in the
government. Kazakhstan's sizable German population has the attention and
support of the German government. Nazarbayev also promoted Stepan Shutkin to
the post of head of the government apparatus. -- Bruce Pannier
[06] VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN TAJIKISTAN.
Border guards near the Tajik city of Khorog killed eight alleged rebels who
were attempting to cross over from Afghanistan, Russian TV (RTR) and Reuters
reported on 8 May. The "rebels" were using a route known to be a drug highway
from Afghanistan to destinations in the former Soviet Union and Europe. In the
capital, Dushanbe, Lt. Gen. Kurbon Cholov survived an assassination attempt in
his apartment on 7 May, according to ITAR-TASS. Gunmen using grenade launchers
and small arms fired upon the apartment killing Cholov's chief of staff and
wounding another officer, but Cholov was uninjured. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] CROATIA DENIES REPORT OF SECRET MEETING.
The Croatian Embassy on 7 May denied Bosnian media reports about alleged
secret talks between Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic, Onasa stated. According to a story run by the biweekly
magazine Slobodna Bosna, Karadzic had been smuggled into western Herzegovina
in a car with license plates issued by the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna.
The embassy said the reports are part of a local smear campaign against
Croatia's policy toward Bosnia and that the authors' ultimate goal is to
destroy the Croatian-Muslim federation. -- Patrick Moore
[08] BOSNIAN ROUNDUP.
Bosnian government forces freed two Serbs following a ruling by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that there is no
reason to hold them on suspicion of war crimes. The Serbs consequently
released three Muslims they had been holding, AFP reported on 8 May. Elsewhere,
IFOR commander U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith said that the Serbian people "as a
whole basically carries the blame for the atrocities that occurred in this
war. What the Serb population needs to do is to bring the people to justice
who were the cause of the atrocities, so that the blame is shifted from the
Serb population to the individuals who were responsible." IFOR has been
criticized for its reluctance to hunt down war criminals. -- Patrick Moore
[09] LATEST KILLINGS IN BOSNIA.
Following the killing of a Russian IFOR soldier in Bosnia on 6 May, another
IFOR soldier has been found dead from a gun shot wound in the head at Visegrad,
eastern Bosnia, AFP and Nasa Borba reported on 8 May. IFOR said there were
no suspicious circumstances surrounding the soldier's death. According to AFP,
IFOR has sustained 23 fatalities and some 140 injured soldiers in Bosnia to
date. Meanwhile, Nasa Borba reported that the Serbian police and the
International Police Task Force on 6 May found the bodies of four Serbian
civilians who were allegedly kidnapped and then killed by an unknown Muslim
terrorist group near Milici, eastern Bosnia. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] UN URGES BELGRADE TO ACT AGAINST WAR CRIMINALS.
The UN Security Council on 8 May urged Belgrade to arrest three men charged
with the 1991 killing of at least 260 civilians in the Croatian city of
Vukovar. The accused were named last month in a letter from The Hague-based
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Reuters reported.
The council has also issued a statement saying it "deplores the failure to
date of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to execute the arrest warrants
issued by the Tribunal against the three individuals." Meanwhile, Onasa on 8
May reported that Dusan Tadic, the first war crimes suspect to be on trial at
The Hague, has sent a letter to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic pleading
for help. -- Stan Markotich
[11] SERBIAN PRESIDENT URGED TO COMPLY WITH DAYTON ACCORD.
Reuters on 7 May quoted High Representative for Bosnia Carl Bildt as saying he
has "stressed to President Milosevic that he has a responsibility...in a
number of ways. He has an obligation under the peace agreement and we talked
about that." Bildt said that during his recent trip to Belgrade, he discussed
a number of issues with the Serbian president, including the war crimes
tribunal at The Hague. He declined to give details, however. -- Stan
Markotich
[12] U.S. APPOINTS TEMPORARY DIPLOMAT TO KOSOVO.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has assigned a U.S. diplomat to
Kosovo on a temporary basis as a first step toward opening a U.S. Information
Agency office in Pristina. According to the State Department, administrative
problems had delayed the appointment of such an official. Meanwhile,
Christopher discussed the Kosovo conflict with his Albanian counterpart,
Alfred Serreqi, on 8 May, AFP reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] CROATIAN WEEKLY WARNS OF "TOTALITARIANISM."
In the ongoing battle between the governing Croatian Democratic Community
(HDZ) and the independent media, the editor of the satirical weekly Feral
Tribune, Viktor Ivancic, has been charged with defaming Tudjman under a new
press law. Critics charge that the law is part of a package to muzzle press
freedom by enabling top officials to sue if they feel "insulted." Tudjman said
he was offended by materials in the 29 April issue of the Split-based weekly
that satirized his recent speech on national reconciliation and the Jasenovac
war memorial. The paper often tests the limits of good taste, but the
authorities' latest moves against Ivancic are part of a long-standing conflict
between the HDZ and the few remaining independent periodicals. Feral Tribune
announced in response that "totalitarian methods" are being used against
Ivancic in "the beginning of a final settling of accounts between President
Tudjman and all those who don't think like him," AFP reported on 8 May. --
Patrick Moore
[14] SLOVENIA, U.S. SHORE UP DEFENSE TIES.
Slovenian Premier Janez Drnovsek and U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry
on 8 May signed an accord on closer defense cooperation. The agreement
includes commitments to exchange classified military information, Reuters
reported . Drnovsek also met with Vice President Al Gore during his trip to
the U.S. -- Stan Markotich
[15] COMMUNIST NOSTALGICS PLACE CROSS ON CEAUSESCU'S GRAVE.
The Romanian Workers' Party (PMR), an extraparliamentary group composed of
"communist nostalgics," have erected a cross on the presumed grave of former
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in a Bucharest cemetery, Evenimentul zilei
reported on 8 May. The day marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of
the Romanian Communist Party. Although Ceausescu himself was an atheist, his
grave is now marked by a cross inscribed with his name and dates of birth and
death. The PMR also placed a cross on the grave of Ceausescu's predecessor,
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, whose body was removed from a pantheon to a regular
cemetery. -- Michael Shafir
[16] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS CABINET RESHUFFLE.
The Moldovan parliament on 8 May rejected President Mircea Snegur's proposal
to reshuffle the cabinet but urged the premier to consider whether some
government officials are suitable to hold office, Moldovan and international
agencies reported. The parliament said that the government is failing to carry
out its program on social security reform. It also ordered the cabinet to come
up with a plan over the next two weeks to deal with wage arrears. Two days
earlier, Snegur said on Moldovan TV that "many government members are simply
unable to carry out their constitutional obligations." He called upon the
parliamentary majority to cooperate with the president's office in reshuffling
the cabinet, and he threatened to call a national referendum if deputies
rejected his request. -- Matyas Szabo
[17] MOLDOVA, RUSSIA TO SET UP JOINT COMMISSION ON TROOP WITHDRAWAL.
Moldovan and Russian officials, meeting in Chisinau on 8 May, agreed to
establish a joint commission on procedures and deadlines for withdrawing
Russian troops from eastern Moldova, international agencies reported, quoting
ITAR-TASS. The decision came at the end of a two-day talks on the Russian
troop withdrawal from Moldova's breakaway Dniester region. The next round of
talks has been scheduled for the fall in Moscow, Infotag reported on 8 May. --
Matyas Szabo
[18] BULGARIAN LEV PLUNGES AS IMF MISSION ARRIVES.
IMF Bulgaria mission chief Ann McGirk arrived in Sofia on 8 May, just as the
lev "decided to demonstrate the desperate situation throughout the whole
country" by dropping significantly against the U.S. dollar, Pari reported
the next day. On the interbank market, the Bulgarian currency fell by another
30 leva, reaching 136.5 to $1 at one bank. The Bulgarian National Bank
acknowledges it is powerless to arrest the decline because of its tiny foreign
reserves ($670 million on 30 April) and massive imminent foreign debt
payments. On 9 May, it was offering an exchange rate of 112.84 lev to $1.
Dealers have observed that a reassuring announcement--either from the IMF on a
new credit or from the BNB on a policy change--is needed to calm the market. --
Michael Wyzan
[19] ALBANIA MOURNS BOAT VICTIMS.
Albanian President Sali Berisha announced a day of mourning on 9 May following
a boat accident in which 13 teenagers and one adult drowned, AFP reported. The
boat capsized on Lake Prespa, near the border with Greece and Macedonia, two
days earlier. Police suspect that the boat was overloaded. The youths, aged 17-
18, came from Starova and Pogradec and had planned to visit a church on
Maligradi Island. The boat was only some 100 meters from the shore when it
sank, but most of the youths could not swim. Four survived the accident. --
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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