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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 146, 96-07-30
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 146, 30 July 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN PROCURATOR ON "ABUSE OF POWER".
[02] NEW RUSSIAN MEDIATOR FOR KARABAKH TALKS.
[03] U.S. CONGRESS DEBATES AID TO ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN.
[04] GOVERNMENT IN CONTROL OF TAVIL-DARA.
[05] TAJIK ACADEMICIAN GUNNED DOWN IN DUSHANBE.
[06] ALUMINUM PROJECT FOR KAZKAKHSTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS WILL MAKE NO MORE CONCESSIONS...
[08] ...NOR WILL BOSNIAN CROATS.
[09] BLASTS IN CENTRAL BOSNIA.
[10] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA RESPONDS TO GENOCIDE CHARGES.
[11] ROMANIAN UPDATE.
[12] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT URGES SIGNING OF DNIESTER MEMORANDUM.
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[14] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT REVISES 1996 BUDGET.
[15] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP.
[16] ALBANIAN PRISONERS IN GREECE GO ON STRIKE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN PROCURATOR ON "ABUSE OF POWER".
Georgian procurator- general Djamlet Babilashvili, in an interview with the
official government newspaper Sakartvelos respublika on 29 July, charged
that senior officials, including prime ministers and their deputies, passed 1,
500 decrees and instructions between 1991 and 1995 that were detrimental to
the country's interests, ITAR-TASS reported. Some decrees were illegal, he
said. Babilashvili chairs a state commission investigating the financial
activities of the Georgian cabinet; he hinted that its findings could form the
basis for initiating criminal proceedings. Babilashvili's statement could
herald the arrest of former Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua, who was dismissed by
President Eduard Shevardnadze in 1993 and was compromised by his support in
early 1995 for the abortive crusade by former Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani
to reconquer the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Also on 29 July, in his
weekly Georgian radio interview, Shevardnadze again reiterated that there are
no political prisoners in Georgia. -- Liz Fuller
[02] NEW RUSSIAN MEDIATOR FOR KARABAKH TALKS.
Yurii Yukalov, the former ambassador to Zimbabwe, will replace Vladimir
Kazimirov as chief Russian mediator in talks over the Karabakh conflict, Noyan
Tapan reported on 29 July. Baku was reportedly unhappy with the work of
Kazimirov. On 26 July a mission from the Azerbaijan Milli Majlis (parliament)
led by Zakhid Garalov concluded its visit to Georgia. Among the issues
discussed was the possible creation of a joint force to guard the oil pipeline
across Georgia. It was agreed to form a standing conference between the
Georgian and Azerbaijani parliaments. -- Peter Rutland
[03] U.S. CONGRESS DEBATES AID TO ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN.
On 26 July the U.S. Senate approved a $95 million aid bill for Armenia, the
largest since independence, Groong reported on 29 July. The Senate also
approved a continuation of the ban on U.S. aid to the government of Azerbaijan,
which was introduced in 1992 in response to its blockade of Armenia. The House
version of the bill included for the first time provision for aid for the 115,
000 refugees in Nagorno-Karabakh, but this was absent from the Senate draft.
Remaining differences between the two bills will be reconciled on 31 July. --
Peter Rutland
[04] GOVERNMENT IN CONTROL OF TAVIL-DARA.
An ITAR-TASS correspondent was allowed into the town of Tavil-Dara on 27-28
July. The unnamed correspondent confirmed that Tajik government forces had
regained control of the town on 12 July. The date has been disputed by the
opposition which claims the government launched an offensive to reclaim the
town after a ceasefire agreement had been signed in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
There has been no other independent confirmation of the situation in Tavil-
Dara. Fighting continues in many of the villages surrounding the town. --
Bruce Pannier
[05] TAJIK ACADEMICIAN GUNNED DOWN IN DUSHANBE.
Mohammed Osimi, the 76-year-old former president of Tajikistan's Academy of
Sciences, was shot and killed near his home by an unidentified assailant on 29
July, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL reported. Osimi was the leader of the Payvand
organization which keeps in touch with Tajik communities around the world. He
was not known to have been involved in any political activity. Security
services in Tajikistan speculate the murder was aimed at further destabilizing
the situation in the country but have no leads to the murderer. -- Bruce
Pannier
[06] ALUMINUM PROJECT FOR KAZKAKHSTAN.
At a ceremony at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in
London on 29 July, Western investors signed off on a seven-year, $1.5 billion
plan to develop the aluminum industry in Kazkahstan, RTR reported. The project
includes the development of a new bauxite deposit in Kostanai and new
processing facilities at the main Pavlodar plant. -- Peter Rutland
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS WILL MAKE NO MORE CONCESSIONS...
Gojko Klickovic, prime minister of the Republika Srpska, has said the Bosnian
Serbs are fed up with the international community's "permanent pressure" on
them and will make "no more concessions," AFP reported on 30 July, citing SRNA
reports. The hard-line premier has repeatedly opposed any steps aimed at
"reuniting [the republic] with Bosnia-Herzegovina," thereby violating the
Dayton peace accords, which define the Republika Sprska as one of the two
entities composing a single Bosnian state. Meanwhile, the U.S. is expected to
continue exerting pressure on Bosnian Serbs to deliver indicted war criminal
Radovan Karadzic to The Hague-based war crimes tribunal. Biljana Plavsic,
acting president of the Republika Srpska, noted last week that Karadzic and
his military counterpart, Ratko Mladic, "will definitely not be going to The
Hague," Nasa Borba reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] ...NOR WILL BOSNIAN CROATS.
Mile Puljic, head of the Bosnian branch of the ruling Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ), has said the Bosnian Croats will not yield to "international
blackmail" to accept the results of the elections in Mostar, AFP reported on
29 July. Puljic added that those results "harm the interests of the Croats."
Mijo Brajkovic, the Croatian Mostar mayor, confirmed that the Croats will
continue to boycott the city council, Slobodna Dalmacija reported on 30
July. Both Croatian officials were responding to Michael Steiner, the deputy
of the High Representative to Bosnia, who on 28 July said the international
community will not allow to be blackmailed by a "small group of mafiosi
figures" in Mostar. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] BLASTS IN CENTRAL BOSNIA.
Two blasts on 29 July rocked the Croat-held town of Livno, AFP reported,
quoting UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko. The bomb attacks wrecked two Muslim-
owned vehicles and damaged a UN car, but no casualties were reported. Ivanko
pointed out that the recent escalation of violence indicates a rise in
tensions between Muslims and Croats. In other news, a bridge near Velika
Kladusa, in northwestern Bosnia, was damaged in an explosion on 29 July, AFP
reported. The town was the base of Fikret Abdic, the Muslim kingpin, who sided
at various times with both Serbs and Croats fighting against the Bosnian
government. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA RESPONDS TO GENOCIDE CHARGES.
The Hague-based war crimes tribunal has announced that rump Yugoslavia will
have until 23 July 1997 to prepare a defense against charges of genocide, AFP
reported on 29 July. The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina first contacted The
Hague in March 1993, alleging Belgrade was involved in genocide against
Bosnia's Muslims and Croats. Several months later, Belgrade issued counter-
charges, alleging that the Bosnian authorities were responsible for anti-
Serbian atrocities. Meanwhile, rump Yugoslav Justice Minister Vladimir
Krivokapic, in an interview with Vecernje novosti on 29 July, said Belgrade
had already answered The Hague in the form of "a counter-plea in which [we]
deny the charges." He added that "it was the Serbian people who were the
victims." -- Stan Markotich
[11] ROMANIAN UPDATE.
British Defense Minister Michael Portillo on 28 July began a three-day
official visit to Romania, local and Western media reported. Portillo and his
Romanian counterpart, Gheorghe Tinca, signed agreements on military relations,
joint exercises, exchanges, and cooperation in arms production, Portillo was
also received by Romanian President Ion Iliescu and is scheduled to meet with
Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu and Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu. In
other news, a July poll conducted by the Center for Urban and Rural Sociology
and sponsored by the Soros Foundation shows a drop in the popularity of both
the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) and President Ion
Iliescu, Cotidianul reported on 27 July. Of the respondents, 33% said they
would vote for the opposition Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR), 29% for
the PDSR, and 12% for the Social Democratic Union (USD). Iliescu won 40% of
the vote (down 7 percentage points on previous polls), Emil Constantinescu
(CDR) 28%, and Petre Roman (USD) 20%. -- Dan Ionescu
[12] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT URGES SIGNING OF DNIESTER MEMORANDUM.
The parliament on 29 July appealed to President Mircea Snegur to sign the
memorandum on the basic principles of normalizing relations between the
Republic of Moldova and its breakaway Dniester region. The appeal pointed to
the joint declaration signed in January by Snegur, Russian President Boris
Yeltsin, and the Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on the reaching a political
settlement to the Dniester conflict as soon as possible. Two deadlines for
signing the agreement have already been missed. In early July, Snegur
suggested that the signing should be postponed until after the Moldovan
presidential election, scheduled for 17 November. The parliament criticized
him for failing "to speed up the [peace] process" in the region. -- Dan
Ionescu
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
Interior Minister Nikolay Dobrev on 29 July met with parliamentary caucus
leaders to ask for support for extraordinary measures to deal with terrorism,
Bulgarian newspapers reported. Recently, there has been an outbreak of
terrorist activities and bomb threats in Bulgaria. Among other things, Dobrev
proposed increasing police presence on the streets. Meanwhile, Ivan Georgiev,
leader of the tiny ultra-nationalist Bulgarian National Radical Party, fired
five shots at the building of the Ministry for Economic Development on 28 July,
Standart reported. Georgiev claimed he wanted to test the precision of his
weapon on an improvised target in his apartment, which is located across from
the ministry. But it is speculated that Georgiev deliberately fired at the
ministry for political or personal reasons. The BNRP dismissed such
speculation as provocation by "certain anti-nationalist circles" aimed at
discrediting the party. -- Stefan Krause
[14] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT REVISES 1996 BUDGET.
The Bulgarian parliament has passed a revised 1996 budget on its second
reading, Bulgarian and international media reported. The budget deficit has
been increased by 38% to 80.7 billion leva ($431.5 million) or 4.8% of GDP.
Almost 53% of expenditures will be used to service domestic and foreign debt.
Meanwhile, Kalin Mitrev, director of the Center for Mass Privatization,
announced on 29 July that the deadline for voucher holders to transfer their
vouchers to investment funds or to relatives will be extended from 31 July to
15 August. Some 1 million people have transferred their vouchers to funds and
500,000 to relatives. -- Michael Wyzan
[15] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP.
Nine high-ranking former communist officials went on trial in Tirana on 29
July, AFP reported. The nine are accused of genocide and crimes against
humanity and face prison terms ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment or
the death penalty. The main charge against them is mass deportations "for
political, ideological, and religious reasons." It is Albania's fourth trial
against former leading communists. So far, 15 former Communists have been
sentenced to terms ranging from 16 years to life imprisonment. Defendants in
the latest trial include former Politburo members Lenka Cuko and Llambi
Geoprifti, other top party members, and former secret police officials. In
other news, President Sali Berisha has set the date of the local elections for
20 October. -- Stefan Krause
[16] ALBANIAN PRISONERS IN GREECE GO ON STRIKE.
Some 250 Albanian inmates of the Larisa prison have been on strike since the
end of last week, Poli i Qendres reported on 30 July. They are demanding to
be transferred to Albanian prisons in accordance with a bilateral convention
signed in August 1995. Albanian prisoners in other prisons in Greece have
joined the strike. The inmates say they want to serve the remainder of their
sentences in Albania because they are systematically mistreated by Greek
prison personnel. Secretary-General of the Greek Justice Ministry Georgios
Pavleas commented that bureaucratic obstacles in Tirana are delaying the
transfer, while the Albanian Embassy in Athens said the new government will
solve the problem soon. -- Ismije Beshiri and Stefan Krause
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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