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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 162, 96-08-21
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 162, 21 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARDZINBA REITERATES READINESS TO MEET WITH SHEVARDNADZE.
[02] ARMENIAN DEMOGRAPHIC UPDATE.
[03] CORRECTION:
[04] TAJIKISTAN SAID TO BE ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE.
[05] KAMILOV IN NEW DELHI.
[06] FBI IN TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07]
'OPERATION VOLCANO' CONTINUES, AS DOES CRITICISM.
[08] IFOR STEPS UP CONTROL IN BRCKO REGION.
[09] SERBIA SENTENCES ITS 'SPIES.'
[10] MONTENEGRIN PARTIES PLAN, CONSIDER ELECTION BOYCOTT.
[11] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER'S PRO-MONARCHY STATEMENT.
[12] ROMANIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS.
[13] CIS OFFICIAL VISITS MOLDOVA.
[14] BULGARIAN PREMIER CRITICIZES FARMERS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARDZINBA REITERATES READINESS TO MEET WITH SHEVARDNADZE.
Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba, responding on 20 August to his Georgian
counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze's call for a resumption of talks on resolving
Abkhazia's future status, reiterated his readiness for a face-to-face meeting
if there is a real chance of reaching a settlement, but insisted that there
could be no revision of the principles outlined in the UN-mediated statement
of April 1994 on repatriation, AFP and ITAR-TASS reported. The most recent
round of talks on a political settlement of the Abkhaz conflict, held in
Moscow in late July, failed to make any progress. -- Liz Fuller
[02] ARMENIAN DEMOGRAPHIC UPDATE.
The total number of Armenians in the world exceeds 10 million, Noyan Tapan
reported on 20 August. Of these, 3.5 million live in Armenia, 2.5 million in
the Russian Federation, and almost 1.5 million in the U.S. At the time of the
1989 Soviet census, the total population of the Armenian SSR was 3,304,800, of
whom approximately 90% were Armenians. The figure cited for the number of
Armenians currently living in Armenia is difficult to reconcile with reports
that some 800,000 people, or 17% of the total population, have left Armenia
since 1991, and that the sterility rate in Armenia is 20-25%, which is 10%
higher than the world average. -- Liz Fuller
[03] CORRECTION:
Vahan Hovanessyan, one of the leading members of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsyutyun) arrested on 29 July 1995 on charges of terrorism
and planning a coup, was erroneously referred to in the OMRI Daily Digest of
16 August as the ARFD candidate for next month's Armenian presidential
elections. The ARFD has not in fact nominated a candidate.
[04] TAJIKISTAN SAID TO BE ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE.
The Russian newspaper Segodnya on 16 August reported Tajikistan as being on
the verge of collapse. The article claimed the Tajik economy is in ruins due
to corruption and the emigration of both the Russian and local population,
which has drained Tajikistan of qualified specialists. It also said that the
Tajik government is not interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict with
religious and political opponents, and that despite trade agreements with
Russia only 6% of Tajikistan's goods go there, the bulk of the rest going to
Western countries. The article also charged that paramilitary formations from
the Popular Front, which helped the present government come to power in 1992,
have formed criminal bands which virtually occupy Dushanbe, and that half of
the Tajik militia are former criminals, the paper said. -- Bruce Pannier
[05] KAMILOV IN NEW DELHI.
Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov held talks with Indian Prime Minister
H.D. Deve Gowda in New Delhi on 21 August, ITAR-TASS reported the same day.
The report emphasized that New Delhi and Tashkent's positions coincide on key
regional issues, particularly the need to find a peaceful resolution of the
civil war in Afghanistan. Both also stressed their commitment to fighting all
forms of international terrorism, including what was termed religious
extremism, and to further enhance bilateral ties. Trade between India and
Uzbekistan reportedly reached $20 million in 1995. -- Lowell Bezanis
[06] FBI IN TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to double it overseas offices
from 23 to 46 over a four-year period, AFP reported on 20 August. Among other
countries, the agency plans to establish a presence in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
and Georgia in 1998. This is part of the FBI's effort to create a "first line
of defense" or early warning system to cope with what it considers to be the
growing internationalization of crime and crime threats to the U.S. The
report detailing these plans stressed that the agency, whose mission has been
confined to domestic law enforcement and counter-intelligence, would not be
engaged in espionage but would liaise with its foreign counterparts. -- Lowell
Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07]
'OPERATION VOLCANO' CONTINUES, AS DOES CRITICISM.
IFOR went ahead on 20 August with Operation Volcano, its destruction of
unauthorized Bosnian Serb munitions discovered in Margetici two weeks ago (see
). According to Onasa reports on 20 August, IFOR that day destroyed 36 tons of
anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and other munitions in pits 27 meters wide
and 7 meters deep. Also continuing are Bosnian Serb protests against the IFOR
operation. Acting President Biljana Plavsic, complaining that the arms are
being destroyed at the same time as the Muslims and Croats in the Bosnian
federation are being armed, proposed that IFOR instead sell the weapons or
transfer the depot, AFP reported. As part of an aggressive media campaign, the
Pale-based news agency SRNA alleged that the detonations have caused cracks in
the walls of "the region's oldest church." Bosnian Serb officials' litany of
complaints against Operation Volcano also includes allegations that the
operation is jeopardizing underground water supplies and that IFOR has been
dumping radioactive waste materials. Responding to the allegations, IFOR
spokesman Maj. Max Marriner has said water sources are in no danger and IFOR is "not in the business of dumping radioactive waste," Onasa reported. -- Stan Markotich and Daria Sito Sucic
[08] IFOR STEPS UP CONTROL IN BRCKO REGION.
IFOR troops have increased their control over goods and passengers and set up
new checkpoints around the northern Bosnian town of Brcko, Onasa reported on
19 August. Brcko is becoming an increasingly important issue for both the
Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-Croat federation. While Bosnian Serb leaders have
said that "Brcko is more important for Serbs than peace," Bosnian federation
officials and parties also underscore its significance for their side. The
status of Brcko is to be decided by 14 December through arbitration. The only
traffic artery connecting Bosnian Serbs in western parts of the country with
those in eastern areas and with Serbia runs through Brcko. Bosnian federation
Vice President Ejup Ganic stressed that 56% of Brcko's prewar population was
Muslim and that those forcibly expelled by Serbs should return to their homes.
Ganic said the subject of arbitration is the whole area, including the town
itself, and not just the contentious line of separation around the town, as
Serbs claim. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] SERBIA SENTENCES ITS 'SPIES.'
Four people have been sentenced by a military court in the Serbian city of Nis
on charges of participating in criminal activities against the state,
including spying and compromising military secrets, Politika reported on 21
August. According to the report, Marjan Cop has received one and a half years'
imprisonment, Ankica Brckovic five years in prison, and Zeljko Medic a two-and-
a-half-year term, with each being sentenced for spying. The fourth, Josip
Baric, received one year in prison for compromising military secrets. -- Stan
Markotich
[10] MONTENEGRIN PARTIES PLAN, CONSIDER ELECTION BOYCOTT.
Two of Montenegro's main opposition parties failed to attend a 19 August
meeting in Belgrade at which participating parties signed an accord on media
coverage of the run-up to the 3 November federal elections. A representative
of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro explained his party's absence by noting
that it was not concerned with how the state-backed media especially would
provide coverage, since his party "will not be taking part in the elections,"
Beta reported on 19 August. In a related development, Dragisa Burzan, a
representative of the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro, said that party
"has yet to decide whether to run." -- Stan Markotich
[11] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER'S PRO-MONARCHY STATEMENT.
The Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) on 20 August charged
the presidential candidate of the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR),
Emil Constantinescu, with endangering national security. The PDSR statement
was triggered by an interview with Constantinescu reprinted in the
daily Jurnalul national on the same day. Constantinescu said in the
interview (which was originally given to a Romanian-language U.S. publication)
that he hoped for a hand-off of power to the country's "lawful leader," King
Michael, after a referendum on the monarchy. The CDR said in reaction to the
PDSR attack on Constantinescu that it reflected the ruling party's panic in
view of its likely electoral defeat, which makes it resort to "insult and
calumny" instead of rational argumentation. -- Michael Shafir
[12] ROMANIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS.
International financial experts and U.S. officials say Romania has virtually
emptied its foreign-exchange reserves, has stopped paying its oil-import bills,
and faces a winter without adequate fuel to heat homes or keep factories
working. An RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported on 20 August that the
"grave" Romanian situation has been triggered by the government's move last
November to "artificially" freeze the exchange rate at around 3,000 lei to the
U.S. dollar. The move was designed to hold domestic energy prices and
inflation down until after the November 1996 presidential and parliamentary
elections. It has, however, drained the country's foreign-currency reserves,
leaving importers unable to pay for the needed crude oil. -- Michael
Shafir
[13] CIS OFFICIAL VISITS MOLDOVA.
The executive director of the CIS, Ivan Karatchenya of Belarus, on 20 August
met with Moldovan President Mircea Snegur, Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli, and
parliament Chairman Petru Lucinschi. BASA-Press quoted Snegur as telling
Karatchenya that Moldova aims at "integration into European structures" but
will pay special attention to "mutually advantageous bilateral ties" with many
of the former Soviet republics. Lucinschi told the guest that, in CIS activity,
emphasis should be laid on economic, rather than political, issues. Moldova is
a founding member of the CIS but participates only in the economic functions
of the organization, refusing to join its political-military structures. --
Michael Shafir
[14] BULGARIAN PREMIER CRITICIZES FARMERS.
Prime Minister Zhan Videnov in an interview with the Socialist daily Duma
published on 21 August blamed the present grain crisis largely on producers.
Videnov said farmers have not fulfilled their obligations under contracts
signed with the state, for which they received money from the state
agricultural fund. Videnov said the farmers tend to hold back grain in
expectation of rising prices and thus threaten the living standard of the
population. He said that the state would have to get more involved in pricing.
Videnov admitted that the import of grain will not solve the problem and that
"grain production must be stimulated by higher domestic prices, ... and on
this basis we must steadily liberalize foreign trade--not just imports but
also exports." Government policy aims to keep domestic prices under world
market prices and at the same time tightly restricts exports of foodstuffs. --
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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