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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 161, 96-08-20
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 161, 20 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01]
PENSIONERS IN KAZAKHSTAN CHEATED.
[02] TAVIL-DARA IN OPPOSITION HANDS.
[03] KYRGYZSTAN SEEKS TAJIK COOPERATION IN REFUGEE PROBLEM.
[04] VELAYATI IN ASHGABAT.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] OSCE OFFICIAL SAYS ELECTIONS MUST GO ON.
[06] TUDJMAN AND BOSNIAN CROATS DISCUSS ABOLITION OF HERCEG-BOSNA.
[07] CROATIA VIOLATES ITS OWN CONSTITUTION, DAYTON ACCORD.
[08] HAVE ZAGREB-BELGRADE TALKS HIT AN IMPASSE?
[09] CROATIAN AUTHORITIES ARREST WAR-CRIMES SUSPECT.
[10] BOSNIAN FEDERATION'S VICE PRESIDENT IN SLOVENIA.
[11] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES DRAFT LOCAL-ELECTION LAW.
[12] ROMANIAN NATIONALISTS STEP UP ATTACKS ON TREATY WITH HUNGARY.
[13] MOLDOVAN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN OFFICIALLY STARTS.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION UPDATE.
[15] RUSSIAN ADMIRAL OBJECTS TO U.S. PRESENCE IN BLACK SEA.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01]
PENSIONERS IN KAZAKHSTAN CHEATED.
The Kazakhstani Prosecutor General's office discovered that pensioners and
invalids have not been receiving all the money allocated for them, ITAR-TASS
reported on 19 August. President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree years
ago, calculated on rising monthly wages, which raised the pensions of persons
who retired prior to 1 January 1992. However, the Ministry of Social
Maintenance was short of funds and slashed payments to pensioners and invalids
to make up the difference. Instead of receiving 700 tenge ($10) per month,
people were getting 307 tenge. Back payments owed to pensioners and invalids
currently amount to more than 7 billion tenge. -- Bruce Pannier
[02] TAVIL-DARA IN OPPOSITION HANDS.
Opposition forces occupied the central Tajikistan town of Tavil-Dara on 17
August, Reuters reported. This was admitted by a Tajik government
representative to the group, Zafar Ikromov, who is monitoring the ceasefire
agreement. The Tajik Defense Ministry claims its forces withdrew in order to
prevent losses among the civilian population of the town. -- Bruce
Pannier
[03] KYRGYZSTAN SEEKS TAJIK COOPERATION IN REFUGEE PROBLEM.
The Kyrgyz government has asked Tajik authorities to speed up the repatriation
of Tajik refugees in Kyrgyzstan, ITAR-TASS reported on 19 August. Kyrgyz
Minister of Labor and Social Security Zafar Khakimov stated there are 15,000
Tajik refugees registered in Kyrgyzstan, mainly in the Osh and Jalalabad
areas. Khakimov said the concentration of Tajik refugees in Kyrgyzstan's
southern regions was creating tensions, specifically in the Betken district,
an area already possessing a Tajik majority and still claimed by Dushanbe as
belonging to Tajikistan. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] VELAYATI IN ASHGABAT.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati held talks with his Turkmen
counterpart Boris Shikhmuradov in Ashgabat on 19 August, IRNA reported the
same day. The two discussed the intensified conflict in Tajikistan and ways to
boost bilateral and regional cooperation. Velayati also announced Tehran's
plans to host a regional, foreign minister-level, peace conference on
Afghanistan tentatively scheduled for 28-29 October. Earlier this week the
beleaguered government in Kabul rejected a proposal submitted to the UN
Security Council by Pakistan and Uzbekistan to embargo the sale of arms to any
of the factions fighting in Afghanistan. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] OSCE OFFICIAL SAYS ELECTIONS MUST GO ON.
The head of the OSCE office in Sarajevo, Robert Frowick, said Bosnia's
elections should go ahead as planned, despite problems and appeals, Onasa
reported on 16 August. Frowick's statement came after the International Crisis
Group, an international monitoring team, had recommended postponement of the
September elections because conditions for free and fair voting are not yet in
place. But Frowick on 19 August warned that the OSCE "reserves the right to
invalidate electoral results" in areas where local officials fail to comply
with the Dayton accord, AFP reported. Frowick warned that if government
officials continue discouraging or prohibiting freedom of movement, the return
of refugees and displaced persons to their homes, freedom of the press, and
freedom of expression, they will face "serious consequences," according to the
20 August Oslobodjenje. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[06] TUDJMAN AND BOSNIAN CROATS DISCUSS ABOLITION OF HERCEG-BOSNA.
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 19 August held talks on Brioni Island
with senior Bosnian Croat officials to discuss the phased abolition of the
Croatian ministate of Herceg-Bosna, international and local media reported.
Kresimir Zubak, the president of the Muslim-Croat federation, said the Bosnian
Croats will respect the 31 August deadline for Herceg-Bosna's dissolution, as
agreed with their Muslim partners over the weekend. Following talks with
Tudjman, Zubak said that "the ball is now in our [Muslim] partners' court."
Meanwhile, Bosnian Premier Hasan Muratovic, on an official visit to The Hague,
said the Bosnian general elections would be compromised if Herceg-Bosna is not
dissolved by 14 September, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] CROATIA VIOLATES ITS OWN CONSTITUTION, DAYTON ACCORD.
Kasim Trnka, the Bosnian ambassador to Zagreb, reproached the Croatian
government for allowing election propaganda for the Bosnian branch of the
Croatian Democratic Community and Fikret Abdic's Democratic People's Union on
its territory, thus violating the Croatian constitution, the Dayton peace
agreement, and a memorandum signed with the OSCE, Onasa reported on 18 August.
Abdic, a Muslim rebel kingpin who found a safe haven in Croatia after his
forces were defeated by the Bosnian army last summer, was granted Croatian
citizenship by President Franjo Tudjman. He registered his political party in
the Croatian portion of the Bosnian city of Mostar. Trnka complained about the
OSCE decision to approve Abdic's election registration. The organization had
noted that Abdic has not been accused by the war-crimes tribunal. A court in
the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac, though, indicted Abdic for war crimes
on 10 August, Onasa reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] HAVE ZAGREB-BELGRADE TALKS HIT AN IMPASSE?
Ivan Simonovic, Croatia's deputy foreign minister, met in Belgrade on 19
August with rump Yugoslavia's foreign minister, Milan Milutinovic, and emerged
from talks observing that a number of issues, including a dispute over
jurisdiction of the strategic Prevlaka peninsula, may delay the signing of a
mutual-recognition agreement between Zagreb and Belgrade, Nasa Borba
reported on 20 August. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic was to travel to
Belgrade on 23 August to participate in a signing ceremony, but Simonovic has
now hinted that the signing may be postponed. "As far as Croatia is concerned,
the quality of any agreement is much more important than the date when an
accord on the normalization of relations is reached," Simonovic said on
Croatian radio. -- Stan Markotich
[09] CROATIAN AUTHORITIES ARREST WAR-CRIMES SUSPECT.
Police arrested a 29-year-old man identified only as "Goran V." near Osijek,
Croatia, on 17 August, Hina reported on 19 August. According to Croatian
authorities, the suspect, an ethnic Serb allegedly involved in supporting
Croatia's rebel Serbs in 1991 and 1992, faces war-crimes charges that include
armed insurrection. In May, Croatia passed amnesty legislation, but on 19
August AFP reported that Croatia's Ministry of Justice has not said how many
individuals remain on its wanted list for war crimes. -- Stan Markotich
[10] BOSNIAN FEDERATION'S VICE PRESIDENT IN SLOVENIA.
Ejup Ganic met Slovenian President Milan Kucan on 19 August for discussions on
bilateral relations and regional political developments. Onasa quoted Ganic as
saying that "Bosnia is prepared to step up contacts with Slovenia to the
maximum, from sports to science and politics." For his part, Kucan predicted
that the 14 September elections in Bosnia will be a watershed, saying he hopes
the balloting will "affirm Bosnia as an independent state." -- Stan
Markotich
[11] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES DRAFT LOCAL-ELECTION LAW.
The Macedonian government on 19 August approved the draft version of the local-
election law, Nova Makedonija reported. According to the draft, municipal
councils would be elected by a proportional system and mayors by majority
vote. The term for both council members and mayors would be four years. The
first local elections are to be called by the president of the Macedonian
parliament and subsequent ones by the mayors. The government also discussed
the draft law on the administrative division of Macedonia, which is to define
the territories of individual communities. The parliament is expected to vote
on both laws soon. -- Stefan Krause
[12] ROMANIAN NATIONALISTS STEP UP ATTACKS ON TREATY WITH HUNGARY.
Gheorghe Funar, leader of the chauvinistic Party of Romanian National Unity,
on 19 August continued to attack the recent agreement on a Romanian-Hungarian
basic treaty. In a statement broadcast by Radio Bucharest, Funar rejected
accusations by President Ion Iliescu's spokesman that he was "grossly
misinforming" the public about the meaning of key clauses in the treaty. Funar
also claimed that the negotiation of the treaty lacked transparency. He said
the draft has remained unknown to the government, political parties,
parliamentary commissions, and the media. Funar challenged Iliescu to take
part in a public debate on national TV. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] MOLDOVAN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN OFFICIALLY STARTS.
The run-up to the 17 November presidential election in the Republic of Moldova
formally opened on 19 August, Infotag reported the same day. Out of the
country's population of 4.5 million, 2.4 million are entitled to take part in
the vote (of whom some 150,000 reside in Moldova's breakaway Dniester region).
Ten candidates have announced their intention to run for the presidency.
Initiative groups (of which four had already registered with the Central
Electoral Commission on 19 August) are busy seeking the 20,000 signatures
required by law to validate a presidential candidacy. -- Dan Ionescu
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION UPDATE.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) believes that the registration of its
candidate, Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski, with the Central Electoral
Commission will be challenged and consequently annulled, Kontinent reported
on 20 August. Pirinski's eligibility is in question after the Constitutional
Court effectively ruled that he is not a "Bulgarian citizen by birth" as
required by the constitution (see ). A leading BSP member said a plenary
meeting that will nominate a new candidate is already being prepared. Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP) and of the Communist International, Vladimir Spasov, on 19 August said he hopes to register two women as the BKP's presidential and vice presidential candidates. -- Stefan Krause
[15] RUSSIAN ADMIRAL OBJECTS TO U.S. PRESENCE IN BLACK SEA.
On a visit to Bulgaria, the Russian Black Sea Fleet commander, Adm. Viktor
Kravchenko, said Moscow does not approve of the presence of U.S. Navy vessels
in the Black Sea, 24 chasa reported. "It is funny that the States claim that
the Black Sea is a zone of strategic interest for them," Kravchenko said. He
said the presence of U.S. ships in Bulgarian territorial waters contravenes
the 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates the presence of military ships
of non-Black Sea countries. In 1995, 25 such ships passed through
Bulgarian waters, and 20 have done so thus far in 1996. Kravchenko said
Turkey's navy is the strongest in the Black Sea at present, both in terms of
quantity and quality. Kravchenko admitted that the Soviet Union in 1945-50
dumped "small quantities" of chemical weapons in the Black Sea, but he said
"they pose no danger." -- Stefan Krause
Compiled by Steve Kettle and Tim Rostan
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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