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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 134, 96-07-12
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 134, 12 July 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION FIGURE RELEASED FROM PRISON.
[02] FATAL SHOOTING ON ABKHAZ-RUSSIAN BORDER.
[03] CHINESE AUTHORITIES DENY MASS ARRESTS IN XINJIANG.
[04] KYRGYZ JOURNALIST SENTENCED.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] KARADZIC'S PARTY ALLOWED TO RUN IN ELECTIONS?
[06] HAGUE TRIBUNAL ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC, MLADIC.
[07] SREBRENICA SURVIVORS MARK ANNIVERSARY.
[08] IT WILL NOW COST MORE TO LEAVE RUMP YUGOSLAVIA...
[09] ...AND TO BUY A LOAF OF BREAD.
[10] KOSOVAR LEADER MEETS GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER.
[11] ROMANIAN COALITION WILL NOT BE DISMEMBERED.
[12] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS SENTENCED FOR LIBEL.
[13] TINCA ON ROMANIAN EFFORTS TO JOIN NATO.
[14] GENERAL LEBED SUMMONS COLONEL FROM MOLDOVA.
[15] BULGARIA PROMISES IMPROVED ECONOMY.
[16] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW GOVERNMENT.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION FIGURE RELEASED FROM PRISON.
The deputy leader of the Azerbaijani Popular Front, Arif Pashayev, was
released from prison on 11 July, international media reported. Pashayev was
initially jailed for his role as a military unit commander in the surrender of
the town of Lachin to Armenian forces in May 1992. A September 1994 prison
escape and subsequent recapture resulted in a five-year sentence. An amnesty
signed by President Heidar Aliev combined with the president's personal
meetings with Pashayev's family members are cited as the reasons for the
release. Pashayev, though, still believes that he could be imprisoned again,
noting that certain members of the government "want him out of the way." --
Roger Kangas
[02] FATAL SHOOTING ON ABKHAZ-RUSSIAN BORDER.
One of a group of four Abkhaz was shot dead by Russian border guards during
the night of 11-12 July while attempting to cross illegally from Abkhazia into
the Russian Federation, ITAR-TASS reported. Russia closed its border with
Abkhazia at the time of the Russian military intervention in Chechnya in
December 1994 in order to preclude the channelling of weapons and mercenaries
to fight on the Chechen side. -- Liz Fuller
[03] CHINESE AUTHORITIES DENY MASS ARRESTS IN XINJIANG.
Yusupbek Mukhlissi, the exiled leader of the Uighur separatist group United
National Revolutionary Front (UNRF) based in the northwestern Chinese region
of Xinjiang, told AFP on 11 July that Chinese authorities have arrested 10,000
people in the village of Aqsu, near the Kyrgyz border and another 8,000 in the
capital Urumqi. A Chinese government spokesman denied these claims as "mere
rumors," and said that there were only "several thousand" arrests, AFP
reported on 12 July. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have consistently pledged
support for China's efforts to control cross-border separatist activities.
Kazakhstani authorities prevented Uighur leaders from staging a public protest
during the Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Almaty last week. --
Bhavna Dave
[04] KYRGYZ JOURNALIST SENTENCED.
Another journalist from the Kyrgyz independent weekly newspaper Res Publica
has been jailed, Radio Mayak reported on 11 July. Yrysbek Omurzakov was
sentenced to two years in a penal colony for slandering President Akayev,
though the report did not mention what was said or written about Akayev.
Omurzakov, who is appealing the decision, has already spent two months in
solitary confinement. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] KARADZIC'S PARTY ALLOWED TO RUN IN ELECTIONS?
The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) can stand in the vote, said the OSCE's
supervisor of the Bosnian elections, Nasa Borba reported on 12 July.
Superivisor Robert Frowick said Serbs should be able to vote on 14 September
for whomever they want, including the SDS, Onasa reported on 11 July. An OSCE
spokesman in Sarajevo told OMRI, however, that Frowick still believes that the
SDS should not run if headed by indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic. The
international community's High Representative Carl Bildt again said the SDS
should be allowed to run even if Karadzic is still in charge. The U.S. and its
allies appear to be content simply with Karadzic's "marginalization," Nasa
Borba reported. In Sarajevo, however, Haris Silajdzic of the Party for Bosnia
and Herzegovina said his group probably will boycott the elections unless war
criminals such as Karadzic are out of public office, Onasa reported on 10
July. -- Patrick Moore
[06] HAGUE TRIBUNAL ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC, MLADIC.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia put out
international arrest warrants for Karadzic and his military counterpart, Gen.
Ratko Mladic, Nasa Borba and Oslobodjenje reported on 12 July. The move
is expected to have few practical consequences and is largely a political
and psychological attempt to keep up pressure on the Serbs and on the
international community. The two men have already been indicted twice for war
crimes and have publicly visited Serbia, although existing warrants are
theoretically valid there. Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic said
Karadzic and Mladic are still free on Bosnian Serb territory despite the
presence in Bosnia of 60,000 NATO troops. He said the two men's freedom shows
a "lack of determination of the international community," AFP reported on 11
July. -- Patrick Moore
[07] SREBRENICA SURVIVORS MARK ANNIVERSARY.
Some 5,000 Muslim former inhabitants of Srebrenica rallied in Tuzla on the
first anniversary of the town's capture by Gen. Mladic's forces, Oslobodjenje
reported on 12 July. The meeting was intended as a gathering of women, with
foreign guests, but some of the few hundred males who escaped the massacres
also showed up, turning it into what the BBC called "a gathering of the
survivors." The Serbs, meanwhile, held a rally in Srebrenica to mark its
"liberation." -- Patrick Moore
[08] IT WILL NOW COST MORE TO LEAVE RUMP YUGOSLAVIA...
The federal government on 11 July hiked its departure tax, Tanjug reported.
The new rates are slated to come into effect on 20 July. Individual citizens
crossing the border must then pay 100 dinars (about $20) instead of 60, and
cars will be obliged to hand over 200 dinars, up from 150. The move is
intended to stem the outflow of hard currency. -- Stan Markotich
[09] ...AND TO BUY A LOAF OF BREAD.
The price for basic bread will rise an average of 30%, said Serbia's Trade
Minister Srdjan Nikolic on 10 July, Nasa Borba reported. The increases,
expected on or shortly after 13 July, will up the price of a loaf of "prime-
grade" white bread to about 2.4 dinars or 50 cents; "second-grade" bread will
retail for about 1.8 dinars or 35 cents. Nikolic said the government will
require bakeries to produce at least 30% of their bread output as "second-
grade," in order to cushion the poorest segments of the population. -- Stan
Markotich
[10] KOSOVAR LEADER MEETS GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER.
Ibrahim Rugova met Klaus Kinkel in Bonn on 11 July and said he was ready for
talks with Belgrade, Nasa Borba and AFP reported. Kinkel said Serbia's ties
with the EU depended on settling the Kosovo issue, Reuters reported. The
German foreign ministry said the situation in Kosovo is marked by fear and
discrimination against the Albanian majority there, adding that Germany's ties
with Belgrade would be affected by how fully Belgrade respects human and
minority rights in the region. Rugova repeated the Kosovars' demand for
independence. Meanwhile, a Serbian policeman was injured in a shootout in
Podujevo, Tanjug reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] ROMANIAN COALITION WILL NOT BE DISMEMBERED.
The Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) and its extremist anti-
Hungarian coalition ally, the Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR), agreed
to continue their partnership in the government coalition, Romanian media
reported on 11-12 July. In May, the PDSR had announced it intended to end the
cooperation. Observers attribute the reversal to the PUNR's electoral success
in June's local elections and to the PDSR's apprehension that it might be left
without potential allies after the general elections scheduled for early
November. The two sides agreed to draft "a non-aggression pact" for the
electoral contest. -- Michael Shafir
[12] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS SENTENCED FOR LIBEL.
Two journalists from the Constanta daily Telegraf were sentenced for libel
to seven months in prison, local and international media reported on 11-12
July. That was the first such conviction in the post-communist era. In 1993,
the two reported on corruption cases in the Constanta city council. The city's
deputy mayor was dismissed, but a council official on whom they had reported
was made a judge. The Supreme Court on 11 July ruled against the journalists'
appeal and ordered them to pay 25 million lei ($8,200) in damages. President
Ion Iliescu said he cannot intervene in the case. -- Michael Shafir
[13] TINCA ON ROMANIAN EFFORTS TO JOIN NATO.
Romania hopes its new military reforms will boost its chances of NATO
membership, said Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca, local and international
agencies reported on 11-12 July. Tinca was speaking in advance of Romania's
second round of individual talks with NATO in Brussels, due to be held on 15
July. He said his country was aiming to create a core of 20,000 army
professionals by the end of the year 2000. He said dropping compulsory
military conscription was not yet possible, but the army now has 17,000
professionals. Romania has pledged to cut its 230,000-strong force to 190,000
over the next four years. Tinca denied local media reports of a rise in the
number of suicides and desertions among the conscripts. -- Michael
Shafir
[14] GENERAL LEBED SUMMONS COLONEL FROM MOLDOVA.
Colonel Mikhail Bergman, former Tiraspol military commander, left for Moscow
on 11 July, where he was convoked by Russian Security Council Secretary Gen.
Alexandr Lebed. Bergman will likelybe re-appointed to the post from which he
was dismissed eight months ago by Gen. Valerii Yevnevich, commander of the
Transdniester-based Russian troops, at the order of former Defense Minister
Pavel Grachev, BASA-press reported. In an interview with BASA-press, Bergman
said Yevnevich will be transferred to China as military attache. -- Michael
Shafir
[15] BULGARIA PROMISES IMPROVED ECONOMY.
In an economic policy memorandum to the IMF, the Bulgarian government pledged
that all enterprises not privatized by September 1997 will be included in mass
privatization, Sega reported on 11 July. It also said foreign reserves--
currently $600 million--will rise to $1.3 billion by end-1996 and $1.7 billion
by end-1997. The lev is to stabilize at 150/dollar in the second half of 1996,
(though it is already at 184.6.) Inflation will be reduced to 2.5% monthly by
December 1996 (vs. 20.3% in June) and 1.5% by December 1997. The budget
deficit will be 3.1% of GDP in 1997, falling from 5.4% this year. However, by
3 July, that deficit was already 66.7% of the planned annual figure. The IMF's
Executive Board will consider the memo on 19 July. -- Michael Wyzan
[16] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW GOVERNMENT.
Sali Berisha on 11 July officially announced Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi's
new government, Reuters reported. The Democratic Party (PD) holds 22 of 25
posts in the new cabinet, with the remainder going to small coalition
partners. Democratic Party Leader Tritan Shehu was named deputy premier and
foreign minister, Dylber Vrioni heads the new privatization ministry, Ridvan
Bode is the new finance minister, and Halit Shamata is new interior minister.
Safet Zhulali kept the defense portfolio. Teodor Laco of the Social Democratic
Union stays on a culture minister, Arjan Madhi of the Republican Party was
appointed secretary general of the council of ministers, and Arben Babameto is
state secretary for transport. Bamir Topl became agricultural minister, and
Kristofor Peci is justice minister. The PD-dominated parliament is expected to
approve the new government next week. -- Stefan Krause and Fabian
Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Maura Griffin Solovar
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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