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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 124, 96-06-26
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 124, 26 June 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] UZBEK PRESIDENT MEETS BRIEFLY WITH CLINTON.
[02] KAZAKHSTANIS URGED TO GATHER THEIR OWN FUEL.
[03] TAJIK GOVERNMENT FORCES TAKE LOSSES.
[04] GEORGIA TO RETURN WAR TROPHIES TO GERMANY.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BOSNIAN ELECTIONS TO GO AHEAD ON 14 SEPTEMBER...
[06] ...WHILE DOUBTS REMAIN.
[07] BOSNIAN SERB SPEAKER SUGGESTS KARADZIC WILL STEP DOWN...
[08] ...AS BELGRADE GIVES BOSNIAN SERB LEADER ULTIMATUM.
[09] BOUTROS-GHALI CRITICIZES CROATIA ON HUMAN RIGHTS.
[10] SLOVENIA'S POLICE CITED FOR BRUTALITY.
[11] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN GERMANY.
[12] MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION PARTY GEARS UP FOR ELECTIONS.
[13] RECORD HIGH NUMBER OF ABORTIONS IN BULGARIA.
[14] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS TO STAND TRIAL.
[15] MOUSE CAUSES POWER OUTAGE IN TWO ALBANIAN CITIES.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] UZBEK PRESIDENT MEETS BRIEFLY WITH CLINTON.
After meeting with the presidents of the three Baltic States, U.S. President
Bill Clinton had talks with visiting Uzbek President Islam Karimov in
Washington on 25 June, Reuters and AFP reported. White House Press Secretary
Mike McCurry said later the two discussed "key political, economic, and
security issues of mutual interest, including progress in political and
economic reform." Before the presidents met, McCurry told a press conference
that human rights would be a topic but downplayed the issue. Uzbekistan
attempted to improve its poor image on human rights by announcing at the start
of June that it would release some 80 political prisoners. However, the
Washington Post noted in a 25 June article that only a handful had been
freed and Radio Liberty could confirm the release of only five. -- Bruce
Pannier
[02] KAZAKHSTANIS URGED TO GATHER THEIR OWN FUEL.
Kazakhstan's chief energy inspector, Yeset Zhumabekov, has urged its citizens
to collect their own winter fuel--including dung--given the inability of the
country's power sector to meet consumer demands, a BBC monitoring of a 20 June
article in Karavan-Blitz reported. Kazakhstan's power sector is bankrupt and
has no prospects of collecting the $1 billion debt owed by its consumers.
Kazakhstan's debt to CIS countries for electricity exceeds $400 million. --
Bhavna Dave
[03] TAJIK GOVERNMENT FORCES TAKE LOSSES.
A 24 June report from ITAR-TASS quoted the Tajik opposition press service as
saying its forces had "resolutely rebuffed the Dushanbe elite troops" in
fighting near Tavil-Dara and Sagirdasht in central Tajikistan. The opposition
claimed to have killed at least 21 government soldiers. Meanwhile, as many as
70 opposition fighters attacked a police station in Komsomolabad, a town on a
strategic road linking the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, to the eastern regions of
the country, according to Reuters. During the 12-hour attack, the opposition
killed five militiamen before retreating into the hills. -- Bruce
Pannier
[04] GEORGIA TO RETURN WAR TROPHIES TO GERMANY.
The Georgian government is preparing to return to Germany some 120,000 books
from the 1600-1900s that were confiscated from libraries in Bremen and
Magdeburg by Soviet troops in 1945, Die Welt reported on 26 June, quoting
the Georgian Ambassador to Germany, Konstantine Gabashvili. He said that
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze had wanted to give several of the most
valuable volumes to his German counterpart Roman Herzog during the latter's
visit to Tbilisi earlier this month, but had been pressured not to do so by
Moscow. -- Liz Fuller
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BOSNIAN ELECTIONS TO GO AHEAD ON 14 SEPTEMBER...
OSCE chairman Flavio Cotti announced on 25 June that the Bosnian general
elections will take place on the last possible date set down in the Dayton
peace agreement. The elections have been described as the most complicated in
history and will take place on seven different levels in the Croat-Muslim
federation and in the Republika Srpska. An OSCE diplomat told the BBC that the
upcoming elections will give an impetus to all sides to respect the civilian
provisions of the treaty, such as freedom of movement and open media. But to
date such provisions have largely been ignored, and, as long as IFOR refuses
to enforce them, they are likely to be ignored in the future. -- Patrick
Moore
[06] ...WHILE DOUBTS REMAIN.
Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic welcomed the announcement of the vote,
saying: "we think the elections will reinforce the stability of Bosnia-
Herzegovina." But his government also stressed that the Serbs' non-compliance
with the civilian aspects of Dayton threatens to render the electoral process
meaningless. Cotti himself added that the vote could face "serious problems"
if Serbian war criminals remain in power, AFP reported on 25 June. The Clinton
administration and some other Western governments have been pressuring the
OSCE to press ahead with the elections regardless. The White House wants the
vote out of the way before the U.S. elections in November. -- Patrick
Moore
[07] BOSNIAN SERB SPEAKER SUGGESTS KARADZIC WILL STEP DOWN...
The Bosnian Serb parliament in Pale debated the fate of Republika Srpska
President and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, AFP reported on 26 June.
Parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik said the deputies debated Bosnian Serb
officials' recent talks with High Representative Carl Bildt and rump Yugoslav
officials. Bildt threatened Krajisnik the day before that sanctions would be
reimposed on the Bosnian Serbs if Karadzic was not removed. Krajisnik said
Karadzic would be ready to step down from office "if it was in the interest of
the Serb people," and that parliament deputies had decided to eliminate "all
obstacles" to holding elections. BBC reported on 25 June that Karadzic will
resign as the Bosnian Serb leader at a 28 June congress of his Serb Democratic
Party (SDS), while Belgrade media reported that Karadzic has hired a Belgrade
lawyer to advocate his interests in The Hague. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] ...AS BELGRADE GIVES BOSNIAN SERB LEADER ULTIMATUM.
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, along with his federal counterpart Zoran
Lilic and Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic, have delivered Karadzic an
ultimatum demanding his immediate departure from the Bosnian Serb presidency,
Nasa Borba reported on 26 June. According to the ultimatum, Karadzic's
noncompliance with the terms of the Dayton deal warrants his ouster, and his
failure to leave office would result in a renewed round of sanctions against
the Republika Srpska by rump Yugoslavia. Reuters observed that the ultimatum
"came after months of lobbying by U.S. and European officials who believe
Karadzic's continued presence in office is a threat to the Bosnian peace
process," and adds that with Karadzic's ouster, other Bosnian Serb hardliners
may become easier to prosecute at The Hague. -- Stan Markotich
[09] BOUTROS-GHALI CRITICIZES CROATIA ON HUMAN RIGHTS.
UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has submitted a report to the
Security Council that criticizes the human rights situation in Croatia, AFP
reported on 25 June. Since the UN's last critical report on the situation in
Croatia, published in February, Ghali has said that there has been no
improvement either in investigating numerous human rights violations,
particularly in sectors formerly held by Serbs, or in the repatriation of the
200,000 Croatian Serbs who fled to rump Yugoslavia after the Croat offensive
in Krajina in summer 1995. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] SLOVENIA'S POLICE CITED FOR BRUTALITY.
The Council of Europe condemned alleged brutality on the part of Slovenia's
police on 26 June, Reuters reported. According to a report from the council's
Committee for the Prevention of Torture, "a number of people have stated that
they have been subjected to excessive force, in particular baton blows, from
the police when they were arrested." The council also requested the Slovenian
government to assert authority over the country's police forces. -- Stan
Markotich
[11] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN GERMANY.
Ion Iliescu was received by his German counterpart Roman Herzog on 25 June at
the start of a four-day state visit to Germany, Western and Romanian media
reported. On the same day, he met with Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who stressed
Germany's support for Romania's bid for closer ties to Euro-Atlantic
structures and asked Bucharest to continue its course of democratic, legal,
and economic reforms. Iliescu, who described Germany as a key trade and
security partner for Romania, is also scheduled to meet with German Foreign
Minister Klaus Kinkel, Finance Minister Theo Waigel, Bundestag President Rita
Suessmuth, and other senior German officials and businessmen. The two sides
are due to sign accords on investment protection, transportation, and war
graves. -- Dan Ionescu
[12] MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION PARTY GEARS UP FOR ELECTIONS.
The Party of Democratic Forces (PFD) claimed to be the first organization to
officially announce its participation in the upcoming presidential elections
and to have already nominated its candidate, Infotag reported on 25 June. The
statement was made at a press conference staged by the PFD two days after its
national congress, which nominated party chairman Valeriu Matei as the party's
candidate for the November presidential elections. PFD deputy chairman
Alexandru Mosanu said his party's stance is that Moldova should quit the
structures of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He also criticized a
draft memorandum for the settlement of the Dniester crisis for allegedly
"creating a state within a state," which he said could lead to the
"Dniesterization" of the entire Republic of Moldova. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] RECORD HIGH NUMBER OF ABORTIONS IN BULGARIA.
A record high 120,000 women in Bulgaria had an abortion in the first five
months of 1996, Trud and Kontinent reported on 26 June, of which 100,000
were legal and the rest illegal. According to official data, 150,000
pregnancies were interrupted in 1995, while only 72,000 babies were born.
Sociologists believe that within a few years, one out of four families will
have only one child. Among the educated, the young, and the rich, the desire
to have children is constantly declining. -- Stefan Krause
[14] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS TO STAND TRIAL.
A Tirana court charged ten people with taking part in a 28 May rally, Reuters
reported on 25 June. The Socialists, the Social Democrats, the Democratic
Alliance, and the Party for National Unity had called the rally to protest
election fraud. The rally was quickly and bloodily broken up by police, who
severely injured many demonstrators. The protesters are now charged with
ignoring "numerous and continuous warnings made by the Interior Ministry" and
with provoking the police. OMRI correspondents at the scene of the
demonstration saw no provocation by the demonstrators other than their meeting
in Tirana's main square. The government news agency ATSH called the defendants
"Socialist Party militants and ex-employees and collaborators of the communist
secret police." They face penalties of up to 200,000 leks ($2,000) or up to
three months in jail. -- Fabian Schmidt
[15] MOUSE CAUSES POWER OUTAGE IN TWO ALBANIAN CITIES.
Two Albanian towns were blacked out when a mouse caused a short circuit and
sparked a $10,000 power-plant blaze, Reuters reported on 25 June. The fire
burned down a high-voltage distribution center in Kruja, causing a second
blaze at a power station in Fushe-Kruje. Local power supplies were cut for
several hours and bread supplies were subsequently disrupted. The power-plant
machinery was designed to shut down in the event of a short circuit to stop
power surges but there was a technical fault and the machinery went up in
smoke. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle and Tom Warner
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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