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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 137, 96-07-17
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 137, 17 July 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] KYRGYZSTAN, MALAYSIA SIGN GOLD DEAL.
[02] TAJIK GOVERNMENT PUTS FORTH A NEW CONDITION.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[03] UN GIVES UP ON BOSNIAN REFUGEES' GOING HOME.
[04] MUSLIMS FORTIFY VILLAGE IN SERB-HELD AREA.
[05] HOLBROOKE, NATO WARN SERBS.
[06] RUMP YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT PASSES CONTROVERSIAL CITIZENSHIP LAW.
[07] KOSOVO UPDATE.
[08] SIX CROATS ACQUITTED OF MURDERING SERBS, TWO CONVICTED.
[09] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST IMPRISONMENT OF DEAN OF TETOVO UNIVERSITY.
[10] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN U.S.
[11] UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR ON TREATY WITH ROMANIA.
[12] NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCE IN ROMANIA.
[13] DNIESTER SEPARATISTS WANT DEMILITARIZED MOLDOVA.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT, SOCIALISTS CLASH AGAIN.
[15] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[16] ALBANIAN PROSECUTOR-GENERAL INTERROGATES SOCIALIST LEADERS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] KYRGYZSTAN, MALAYSIA SIGN GOLD DEAL.
Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia signed an agreement on joint exploration of the
Taldybulak gold mines in the in the Issyk kul region in northern Kyrgyzstan,
ITAR-TASS reported on 16 July. The deal between the head of a Malaysian mining
corporation and Kyrgyz mining officials was concluded on the heels of a three-
day visit to Bishkek by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed. In the
joint venture Taldybulak Mining Corporation, Kyrgyzstan will have a 52% share
of profits and Malaysia 48%. Malaysia is to provide technical assistance for
the project and has promised to spend $80 million by the end of the year on
gold exploration. Gold reserves in the region are estimated at 76 metric tons.
-- Bhavna Dave
[02] TAJIK GOVERNMENT PUTS FORTH A NEW CONDITION.
With peace negotiations continuing in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and an impending
extension of the ceasefire agreement nearly ready for signing, the Tajik
government on 16 July demanded that opposition forces in Tavil-Dara return to
the positions they occupied prior to January 1996, according to ITAR-TASS.
Tajik presidential press secretary Zafar Saidov said that a return to the
former positions would be "a tangible contribution to confidence building
between the two sides." Saidov mentioned that opposition combat operations in
central Tajikistan represent a violation of the Tehran ceasefire agreement.
The leader of the United Tajik Opposition delegation in Ashgabat, Ali Akbar
Turajonzoda, said the UTO is prepared to sign the extension of the ceasefire
but only on the condition that both sides maintain their present positions. --
Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[03] UN GIVES UP ON BOSNIAN REFUGEES' GOING HOME.
The UNHCR has accepted that Bosnia-Herzegovina will remain "ethnically
cleansed" and divided into three distinct entities, AFP quoted The
Independent as saying on 17 July. An unpublished report concluded that only
refugees who want to go to areas in which their ethnic group will form the
majority should be given assistance. This will mean scaling down considerably
projected budgets to help displaced persons go home. The UNHCR's own target
will also be reduced from assisting 870,000 people down to 135,000. The study
noted that virtually no refugees have gone home to areas outside their own
group's control. The UN's conclusions reflect the unraveling of the Dayton
agreement stemming from the international community's refusal to enforce the
key principles of freedom of movement, the right of refugees to go home, and
the endorsement of Bosnia as a single multi-ethnic state. -- Patrick
Moore
[04] MUSLIMS FORTIFY VILLAGE IN SERB-HELD AREA.
The UN's International Police Task Force (IPTF) has discovered 250 military-
age Muslim men in the village of Dugi Dio in northeastern Bosnia, AFP and
Onasa reported on 16 July. The number is about twice that of such men living
in the village before the war. The Muslims abandoned the front-line village
during the conflict but have now returned and engaged in what UN spokesman
Alexander Ivanko called "preparations for combat. Vegetation has been cut away
to give a clear line of sight, wrecked cars have been moved into strategic
positions as barricades or firing points, and buildings bricked except for
small holes." The Serbian police expressed concern but have stayed out of Dugi
Dio. In yet another case of the Dayton agreement's unravelling, the IPTF has
started night patrols in Stolac in Herzegovina to prevent Croats from damaging
the repaired homes of Muslim refugees. Despite pleas from the UN, the Croats
have neither let Muslims come back nor prevented vandalism to their homes. --
Patrick Moore
[05] HOLBROOKE, NATO WARN SERBS.
The Bosnian Serbs have been told they will face severe consequences if they
carry out their threats to harm international personnel (see ). U.S. envoy
Richard Holbrooke said that "if [the Serbs] take any action against IFOR,
they'll be met with swift military action," the International Herald Tribune
reported on 17 July. He also said in Sarajevo that the Serbs are the main
culprits in violations of the Dayton accord, AFP added. IFOR spokesman Lt.
Col. Max Marriner stated: "We've listened to the threats. In return, the
message going back is: don't try messing. We have a very strong mandate." --
Patrick Moore
[06] RUMP YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT PASSES CONTROVERSIAL CITIZENSHIP LAW.
The rump Yugoslav legislature on 16 July passed a law stating that only
individuals registered in rump Yugoslavia from March 1992, when Serbia and
Montenegro declared the present federation, are entitled to citizenship, Beta
reported. The legislation seems intended to bar the country's roughly 700,000
refugees from voting in upcoming elections, since it is expected that they
would vote against President Slobodan Milosevic. Opposition politicians have
roundly condemned the law. Tanjug on 16 July quoted a Milosevic supporter as
saying "the refugees' problems should not be taken up by Yugoslavia; rather,
they should be the international community's [problem]." -- Stan Markotich
[07] KOSOVO UPDATE.
Kosovar shadow state President Ibrahim Rugova and Albanian President Sali
Berisha, meeting in Tirana on 14-15 July, stressed the need for a mediated
dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, KIC reported. They also discussed
Rugova's meeting with German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel but reportedly once
again declined to address the differences between Germany, Albania, and the
Kosovars over independence for Kosovo. Rugova called the Albanian elections "a
historical victory for the Albanian nation." Meanwhile, the Kosovar Human
Rights Council's monthly report for June lists 511 cases of police brutality,
81 arbitrary arrests and 74 cases police interrogations. Seventy-three homes
were raided under the pretext of arms searches. -- Fabian Schmidt
[08] SIX CROATS ACQUITTED OF MURDERING SERBS, TWO CONVICTED.
A Croatian court has found no evidence to incriminate six former Croatian army
soldiers who are accused of killing 18 Serbian civilians following the
military campaign last summer in the former Serb-held enclave of Krajina,
Novi List reported on 16 July. But one man accused of murdering a Serbian
civilian in August 1995 was sentenced to six years in jail, and another,
charged with armed robbery and attempted murder, 18 months. In other news, 20
Serb refugees who escaped last year to the rump Yugoslavia have returned to
Croatia to a family reunion organized by the UNHCR, Vecernji List reported
on 17 July. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST IMPRISONMENT OF DEAN OF TETOVO UNIVERSITY.
Some 3,000 ethnic Albanians demonstrated in Skopje on 16 July to protest the
impending imprisonment of the dean of the banned Tetovo University and four
other ethnic Albanian activists, MILS reported. All five are to start serving
sentences soon for instigating riots in the vicinity of the university in May
1995. Arben Xhaferi, leader of the Party for Democratic Action of the
Albanians, has threatened that both his group and the Democratic Peoples'
Party will boycott the parliament if the sentences are not lifted. Macedonian
media described the rally as part of the campaigning for the fall local
elections. -- Fabian Schmidt
[10] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN U.S.
Teodor Melescanu met with U.S. Defense Minister William Perry in Washington on
16 July to discuss Romania's application for NATO membership, Radio Bucharest
reported on 16-17 July. Melescanu described the talks as "positive." Chief of
Staff Gen. Dumitru Cioflina is also in the U.S. to seek support for Romania's
admission to the alliance. Melescanu, who is on a five-day official visit to
the U.S., also met with U.S. Congress members to discuss granting Romania
permanent most-favored-nation status in trade with the U.S. A vote in Congress
on this issue was postponed for 17 July after debates in which some
congressmen expressed harsh criticism of President Ion Iliescu and the
Romanian government. -- Michael Shafir
[11] UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR ON TREATY WITH ROMANIA.
Ukrainian ambassador to Bucharest Oleksander Cheli told a seminar on mass
media at the Black Sea resort of Eforie Nord that Ukraine will agree to
denouncing the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact in a Ukrainian-Romanian basic treaty if
Romania agrees to denounce the pact between its wartime leader, Marshal Ion
Antonescu, and Adolf Hitler, Romanian media reported on 16 July. Cheli noted
that the latter pact had caused widespread suffering to the Ukrainian
population after Hitler and Antonescu invaded their country in 1941. --
Michael Shafir
[12] NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCE IN ROMANIA.
The Democratic Agrarian Party of Romania (PDAR) and the extra-parliamentary
Romanian Humanist Party have formed an electoral alliance, called the National
Centrist Union, Romanian agencies reported on 16 July. The two parties said
the Romanian Ecologist Movement (MER) may also join the alliance, but a
decision has been postponed owing to the MER's "internal problems." It is
unclear what will now happen to the National Unity Bloc, which includes the
PDAR, MER, and the Party of Romanian National Unity. -- Michael Shafir
[13] DNIESTER SEPARATISTS WANT DEMILITARIZED MOLDOVA.
Valerii Litskai, foreign minister of the breakaway Dniester region, has said
all troops in the region must be withdrawn or disbanded after the conclusion
of the peace memorandum scheduled for signing next month in Moscow, Reuters
reported on 16 July. Litskai added that all Moldova should be demilitarized
and that neither Chisinau nor Tiraspol should have armies. He said Tiraspol
would agree only to troops carrying light arms, and he demanded international
guarantees "similar to those Ukraine received in order to rid itself of
Ukrainian weapons." -- Michael Shafir
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT, SOCIALISTS CLASH AGAIN.
Another conflict between Zhelyu Zhelev and the ruling Bulgarian Socialist
Party (BSP) broke out on 16 July, when two presidential decrees were pulled
from the parliamentary newspaper Darzhaven Vestnik, Bulgarian and Western
media reported. The decrees, appointing the heads of the Supreme Administrative
Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, appeared only in a part of the print-
run that was not circulated. The appointments are controversial (see ), and
Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov refused to countersign Zhelev's decree as
required. Zhelev said he might ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the
"BSP's constitutionality." The editor of Darzhaven Vestnik said the issue was
changed for technical reasons. The Prosecutor-General has launched an
investigation to establish who pulled the decrees. -- Stefan Krause
[15] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
The U.S. is to grant Bulgaria $100,000 to improve safety at the Kozloduy
nuclear power plant, AFP reported on 16 July. It will also give the Bulgarian
Transport Ministry $2.5 million in aid to modernize its railways, including
building a link from Radomir to the Macedonian border. In other news, the BSP
proposed that the first round of presidential elections be held on 27 October,
Duma reported. The date has to be set by the parliament. Meanwhile,
Standart published a poll indicating that the BSP and opposition
presidential candidates, Georgi Pirinski and Petar Stoyanov, have an equal
chance of winning the Presidency. Finally, a bomb exploded in an underpass at
the Palace of Culture in Sofia shortly after midnight on 17 July, causing
considerable damage but no casualties or injuries, Reuters reported. -- Stefan
Krause
[16] ALBANIAN PROSECUTOR-GENERAL INTERROGATES SOCIALIST LEADERS.
The Prosecutor-General's Office on 15 July interrogated Socialist leaders
Servet Pellumbi, Pandeli Majko, and Ndre Legisi in connnetion with a protest
rally in central Tirana on 28 May. The government had banned the demonstration,
and police brutally dispersed the protesters. Ten people were charged with
taking part in the rally, but the prosecutor-general now seems to be looking
for the organizers, ATSH reported. Meanwhile, the Tirana-based Society for
Democratic Culture has issued a report saying that the Albanian elections were
marred by irregularities and did not meet democratic standards, Reuters
reported on 16 July. The Central and Eastern Europe Committee of the
Socialist International also criticized the ballot at a meeting in Bratislava
on 16 July, Poli I Qendres 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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