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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 141, 96-07-23
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 141, 23 July 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] COMPROMISE REACHED ON RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN ABKHAZIA.
[02] FIFTH ROUND OF INTER-TAJIK TALKS ENDS.
[03] ELECTRICITY NO LONGER FREE IN TURKMENISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] U.S. TO KEEP UP PRESSURE ON KARADZIC.
[05] BOSNIAN SERB ARMY WOULD NOT REACT TO KARADZIC'S ARREST?
[06] INVESTIGATION BEGINS AT LARGEST MASS GRAVE.
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS USE AID TO BLACKMAIL VOTERS.
[08] BOSNIAN CROATS BOYCOTT FIRST SESSION OF MOSTAR CITY COUNCIL.
[09] RUMP YUGOSLAV OFFICER SENTENCED FOR SPYING.
[10] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.
[11] ROMANIA SEEKS TO MODERNIZE ITS ARMY.
[12] CHISINAU-TIRASPOL TALKS POSTPONED.
[13] MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION FORMATIONS CONCLUDE ALLIANCE.
[14] BULGARIA GETS ARMS FROM RUSSIA.
[15] PIRINSKI OUT OF BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE?
[16] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST AGAINST ARREST OF UNIVERSITY LEADERS.
[17] ALBANIAN COMMUNIST ERA OFFICIALS SENTENCED FOR 1991 SHOOTING.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] COMPROMISE REACHED ON RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN ABKHAZIA.
At the ongoing quadripartite talks in Moscow on a political settlement of the
Abkhaz conflict, agreement was reached on 22 July on broadening the mandate
(which expired on 19 July) of the Russian peacekeeping forces now deployed
there, ITAR-TASS reported. Russian troops stationed in Gali raion, to which
tens of thousands of ethnic Georgian refugees aspire to return, will be
granted police powers to enable them to protect Georgian repatriants against
possible reprisals by Abkhaz militants. In his traditional Monday radio
interview Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze proposed that future
relations between the Georgian government in Tbilisi and the Abkhaz leadership
in Sukhumi should be modeled on the draft agreement on relations between
Moscow and Chechnya, Western agencies reported. ITAR-TASS reported on 22 July
that three people have been killed in the past few days in a series of bomb
explosions in Abkhazia's Ochamchire raion. -- Liz Fuller
[02] FIFTH ROUND OF INTER-TAJIK TALKS ENDS.
The fifth round of negotiations in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan between the Tajik
government and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) has adjourned, ITAR-TASS and
ORT reported on 22 July. The two sides agreed on an exchange of prisoners at
the border city of Khorog sometime before 20 August. Opposition leader Ali
Akbar Turajonzoda, however, said the UTO plans to hand over all remaining
prisoners from the government forces shortly after the official exchange in
Khorog. The agreement on a cessation of hostilities in the Tavil-Dara area
receives its first test on 23 July. Under the accord, a team of UN observers
is to be permitted access to the Tavil-Dara in order to fix the positions of
each side at the time the ceasefire was signed. No outsiders have had access
to the region for months and the opposition is already charging that
government forces launched an offensive to capture the area's regional center
after the agreement was in effect. -- Bruce Pannier
[03] ELECTRICITY NO LONGER FREE IN TURKMENISTAN.
Turkmen residents are now required to pay for electricity used above a certain
limit, according to a 12 July article in Turkmenistan, monitored by the BBC
on 23 July. Since independence in 1991, President Saparmurat Niyazov has
declared electricity to be free to domestic consumers. They will now be
charged for using electricity above the free limit at the rate used in
industry. -- Bhavna Dave
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] U.S. TO KEEP UP PRESSURE ON KARADZIC.
Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum will return to Belgrade this
weekend, he told the BBC on 22 July. Kornblum's aim will be to convince
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic that Bosnian Serb civilian leader and
indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic must be clearly "out of power, out of
influence." The diplomat added that Karadzic will have to leave Bosnia and
eventually wind up in The Hague, and that the new nominal Bosnian Serb leaders
must be more cooperative with the international community than Karadzic was.
While in keeping with the Dayton agreement, this goes well beyond the deal
U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke clinched the previous week. Washington may well
be lucky to get Serbian cooperation in carrying out Holbrooke's package, let
alone getting Karadzic to The Hague. -- Patrick Moore
[05] BOSNIAN SERB ARMY WOULD NOT REACT TO KARADZIC'S ARREST?
Gen. Zdravko Tolimir, deputy to Serb army chief Gen. Ratko Mladic, told NATO
Commander Michael Walker that the army has been indifferent to Radovan
Karadzic's replacement as the Republika Srpska (RS) president, and it would
not react by force if NATO attempts to arrest Karadzic, Nasa Borba reported
on 23 July citing the London-based Times. The RS army delegation
underscored the fear that the Serb military would seek revenge for its former
president's capture has not been justified. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[06] INVESTIGATION BEGINS AT LARGEST MASS GRAVE.
UN forensics and archeological experts began exhuming a huge burial site at
the Nova Kasaba soccer field near Srebrenica on 22 July, Onasa stated. U.S.
spy satellite photos had shown large amounts of disturbed earth in the area
where survivors had reported mass executions a year ago. American diplomats
said that as many as 2,500 Muslim males might be buried there, Nasa Borba
noted, but the UN was reluctant to discuss figures at such an early stage. The
experts nonetheless discovered bodies at the site almost immediately, the BBC
reported. The soccer field could prove to be the largest mass grave in eastern
Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS USE AID TO BLACKMAIL VOTERS.
UNHCR spokesman in Republika Srpska (RS) reported the Serb authorities are
using humanitarian aid to blackmail voters to register in certain areas,
Onasa reported on 22 July. Mans Nyberg warned that refugees from the Bosnian
federation in the RS will be deprived of their right to relief aid if they
register to vote as residents of their former towns. An unnamed UN official
said documents seen by UN workers indicated instructions for the policy had
come from the ruling Serb nationalist Serbian Democratic Party (SDS). The SDS
policy is to create RS as a Serb-only state, and votes cast in the places of
refugees' former residency would be wasted votes for the party. Nyberg said
this abuse of aid for political reasons was "scandalous and unacceptable," and
if the practice was not halted, "alternative means of distributing
humanitarian assistance would be adopted." -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOSNIAN CROATS BOYCOTT FIRST SESSION OF MOSTAR CITY COUNCIL.
Deputies from the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) did not participate in
the constituent session of the Mostar city council on 23 July, Reuters
reported. West Mostar Mayor Mile Puljic earlier warned that the Croats would
"not accept the final election results because they were not published by the
local electoral commission." The EU declared the elections valid after a
continuing Croat blockade in the electoral commission following minor voting
irregularities. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic criticized the HDZ's
boycott and appealed to Dick Spring, the chairman of the EU Council of
Ministers, to intervene, saying that it "blocks the entire process of the
democratic settlement of the crisis in Mostar." -- Fabian Schmidt
[09] RUMP YUGOSLAV OFFICER SENTENCED FOR SPYING.
Lt. Col. Nedeljko Varicak has been sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment for
allegedly spying for an unspecified but "newly-formed neighboring state,"
Politika Ekspres reported on 22 July. The daily described Varicek as a high-
ranking security officer operating near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina,
in the town of Uzice. AFP reported, however, that officials in Belgrade have
yet to confirm the story. -- Stan Markotich
[10] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.
The Socialist Labor Party (PSM) on 22 July announced that it has gathered the
100,000 signatures in support of Senator Adrian Paunescu, its candidate in the
November presidential elections, Radio Bucharest announced on the same day.
Paunescu, a former Ceausescu "court-poet," is the first candidate to have
fulfilled this legal requirement. In other developments, on 19 July the
chairman of the Agrarian Democratic Party (PDAR), Victor Surdu, told a press
conference that his party's alliance with the Party of Romanian National Unity
(PUNR) has "practically ceased to exist" because the PUNR has decided to run
alone in the parliamentary elections, also scheduled for November. In turn,
PUNR chairman Gheorghe Funar said in an interview published in the daily
Cronica romana on 23 July that the alliance known as the National Unity Bloc
ended because the PUNR had proposed the merging of its members (PUNR, PDAR and
the Ecological Movement), but the PDAR "prefers a perpetual affiance to a
marriage." -- Michael Shafir
[11] ROMANIA SEEKS TO MODERNIZE ITS ARMY.
Romania is seeking up to $ 400 million in loans to buy military technology
needed to boost its NATO admission chances, Reuters reported on 22 July,
quoting a Defense Ministry press release. The government has allowed the
ministry to "prospect international markets" for credits in order to finance
projects ranging from weapon acquisition to restructuring of its own arms
industry. The statement said the loans would be guaranteed by the Romanian
government. -- Michael Shafir
[12] CHISINAU-TIRASPOL TALKS POSTPONED.
The new round of talks between Chisinau and Tiraspol, scheduled to take place
on 23 July, has been indefinitely postponed, according to a press release of
the Moldovan presidency cited by BASA-Press on 22 July. The statement said the
postponement was due to the vacation of "certain Moldovan and Transdniestrian
officials" and to the need to address unresolved social and economic problems.
The postponement, however, appears to fall in line with President Mircea
Snegur's new tactics of delaying the signing of the memorandum between the two
conflicting sides. Presidential advisor Victor Josu was quoted by Infotag on
the same day as saying that the idea of signing the memorandum on normalizing
relations "has lost its immediacy." Josu said the memorandum, as drafted, has
many faults, among them failure to mention the preservation of Moldovan
territorial integrity and was of "too general a character." -- Michael
Shafir
[13] MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION FORMATIONS CONCLUDE ALLIANCE.
The opposition Christian Democratic Popular Front, the main pro-Romanian
political formation, and the Alliance of Democratic Forces, an umbrella
organization uniting six political organizations, on 22 July signed an
agreement on a political alliance, Moldovan press agencies reported on the
same day. The signatories said the alliance reflected the groups' similar
political platforms and their rejection of the "anti-national, anti-social and
anti-democratic policy" of the Agrarian-Democratic Party of Moldova and its
allies. -- Michael Shafir
[14] BULGARIA GETS ARMS FROM RUSSIA.
The first shipment of a total of 100 tanks and 100 armored vehicles that
Russia agreed to give to Bulgaria in June 1995 arrived on 22 July, Reuters
reported. Some 25 T-72 battle tanks and 50 BMP-1 combat vehicles were
delivered to Varna, and Bulgaria in turn will decommission an equal amount of
older hardware. Under the CFE treaty, Russia must either destroy the arms or
give them away. Observers say the hardware is a reward for the Bulgarian
government's reluctance to apply for full NATO membership. Under another
agreement, Russia will also provide spare military parts to repay part of its
$100 million debt to Bulgaria. In other news, two Interior Ministry officials
and two policemen were arrested for illegal arms trade. It is the first case
in which Interior Ministry officials have been charged with illegal trade of
machine guns. -- Stefan Krause
[15] PIRINSKI OUT OF BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE?
The Constitutional Court on 23 July will decide whether the presidential
candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski,
fulfills the constitutional requirement that the president must be Bulgarian
by birth, Bulgarian newspapers reported. Many dailies reported that the court
will prevent Pirinski from running. According to Kontinent, nine of the 12
judges maintain that Pirinski does not fulfill the requirement because he was
not a Bulgarian citizen when he was born in New York in 1948 to a Bulgarian
emigre. Some 54 opposition deputies had asked the court to clarify what the
term "Bulgarian by birth" means. A simple majority of the Constitutional Court
judges in need to rule on the case. -- Stefan Krause
[16] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST AGAINST ARREST OF UNIVERSITY LEADERS.
Macedonian police on 22 July broke up a demonstration of some 2,000 ethnic
Albanians protesting against the jailing of Tetovo University Dean Fadil
Sulejmani and four other university activists, Reuters reported. According to
local radio, one police car was wrecked during clashes that broke out near
Tetovo prison but no injuries were reported. Sulejmani began serving his 18-
month jail sentence the same day. Other, unconfirmed reports, suggest the
clashes erupted while police arrested Sulejmani, however. AFP reports that the
demonstrators dispersed after an appeal by Sulejmani, but vowed to take their
protest further to the U.S. embassy in Skopje, the OSCE and the UN. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[17] ALBANIAN COMMUNIST ERA OFFICIALS SENTENCED FOR 1991 SHOOTING.
Communist-era Defense Minister Kico Mustaqi was sentenced to five years in
prison on charges of inciting cadets at the military academy to open fire on
demonstrators in 1991. Five people were killed and 37 wounded. The Tirana
court, led by Shyqyri Dylgjeri, also sentenced Ksenofon Ceni and Arseni Stroka,
two directors of the academy, to three and four years, respectively, on 19
July. All three fled Albania five years ago and were sentenced in absence,
Reuters reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle 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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