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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 168, 96-08-29
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 168, 29 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] DIVERGING VIEWS ON REPATRIATION TO ABKHAZIA.
[02] RUSSIA TO EXTEND NEW LOAN TO ARMENIA.
[03] WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN TAJIKISTAN?
[04] UZBEK DISSIDENT RETURNS TO TASHKENT.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] SERBS APPEAR TO ACCEPT POSTPONEMENT OF BOSNIAN VOTE.
[06] CONFUSION REIGNS OVER BOSNIAN REFUGEE VOTING.
[07] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
[08] SERBIAN UPDATE.
[09] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY OFFICERS INSPECT CROATIAN ARMS.
[10] WERE POWS, REFUGEES FROM SREBRENICA FORCED TO WORK IN KOSOVO MINES?
[11] POLICEMAN SHOT DEAD IN KOSOVO.
[12] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT FORMALLY ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY.
[13] SENIOR NATO OFFICIALS PRAISE ROMANIA.
[14] NEW-OLD BANKNOTES TO CIRCULATE IN THE DNIESTER REGION.
[15] FORMER BULGARIAN DICTATOR CLEARED OF ABUSE OF OFFICE.
[16] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.
[17] COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCUSSES ALBANIAN DEADLOCK WITH POLITICAL PARTIES.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] DIVERGING VIEWS ON REPATRIATION TO ABKHAZIA.
On 28 August Russia's representative to the UN, Sergei Lavrov, reported to the
Security Council on last week's tour of Abkhazia by UN, Abkhaz, Georgian and
Russian representatives, including Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister
Boris Pastukhov, ITAR-TASS reported. Lavrov echoed Pastukhov's positive
assessment, given to Georgian and Russian media on 24 August, of the situation
in Gali raion, the predominantly Georgian population of which was forced to
flee in 1992-93. Pastukhov estimated that over 50% of the ethnic Georgian
residents of Gali have returned home; the Abkhaz government puts the figure at
60%, while the Georgian government in Tbilisi claims no more than 33% have
returned, according to the Iprinda news agency. Georgian First Deputy Minister
of State Security Avtandil Ioseliani told ITAR-TASS that there are no
mechanisms either to guarantee the repatriants' safety or to enable them to
earn a livelihood. -- Liz Fuller
[02] RUSSIA TO EXTEND NEW LOAN TO ARMENIA.
Under the terms of an agreement signed last week in Moscow by Russian First
Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Bolshakov and Armenia's Minister for Relations
with the CIS, Gagik Shahbazyan, Russia will provide Armenia with a 100 billion
ruble ($20 million) loan to finance safety procedures at the Medzamor nuclear
power station and the purchase of nuclear fuel, according to Noyan Tapan on 27
August and Nezavisimaya gazeta on 28 August. In 1994, Russia provided
Armenia with a 60 billion ruble credit towards the cost of restarting the
power station, which was closed in 1989. It was successfully reopened a year
ago, but maintenance work scheduled for July 1996 was postponed because of
lack of funds. -- Liz Fuller
[03] WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN TAJIKISTAN?
Military sources in Dushanbe claim government troops in central Tajikistan
have consolidated and expanded their positions, freeing a stretch of road
northwest of the town of Tavil-Dara, ITAR-TASS reported on 28 August.
Government forces retook Tavil-Dara on 23 August but sources in Dushanbe say
the town is deserted after three months of fighting in the area. The
opposition's Radio Voice of Free Tajikistan reported on 28 August that
opposition fighters hold the northern road from Faizabad, 70 kilometers east
of Dushanbe, to Jirgatal, 80 kilometers from the Kyrgyz border. The report
admitted that opposition fighters held the road only "partially" during the
daytime but "completely at night." The report also claimed government forces
could only reach the Tavil-Dara area via a southern route through Kulyab and
the Karnak Pass. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] UZBEK DISSIDENT RETURNS TO TASHKENT.
Human rights campaigner Abdulmanop Pulatov returned to Tashkent last week, AFP
reported on 28 August. Pulatov, who has been living in Washington, D.C., since
1993, returned following the visit of Uzbek President Islam Karimov to the
United States in June. According to Pulatov, Karimov "personally guaranteed"
his safety and assured him he could continue his political activities in
Uzbekistan. The softening of Karimov's line comes at a time when Uzbekistan is
trying to improve relations with the U.S. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] SERBS APPEAR TO ACCEPT POSTPONEMENT OF BOSNIAN VOTE.
The acting leader of the governing Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) of the
Republika Srpska, Aleksa Buha, said in Doboj on 28 August that it is "very
probable" that his party will accept the OSCE's postponement of the municipal
elections until next spring, Nasa Borba reported. Parliamentary Speaker
Momcilo Krajisnik went on, however, to accuse the OSCE of siding with the
Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in making the decision, AFP noted,
quoting SRNA. "The postponement of local elections . . . is a desperate
attempt to postpone the final defeat of the Muslims. . . . But whether [the
elections are held] in September 1996 or in April 1997, the . . . SDS will
repeat the results of all the Serb plebiscites and win the support of 90% of
the electorate," he said. -- Patrick Moore
[06] CONFUSION REIGNS OVER BOSNIAN REFUGEE VOTING.
The two leading Muslim parties have called for a suspension of voting by
Bosnian refugees abroad until the issue of widespread fraud in voter
registration is clarified, the BBC reported on 28 August. The SDA and former
Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic's Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina were
seconded by the small Bosnian Patriotic Party, led by Muslim wartime Gen.
Sefer Halilovic. Onasa reported from a refugee camp in Hungary that voting is,
in any event, confused. Hungarian camp director Lajos Horvath said of the
balloting to date: "For the most part, [the refugees] really didn't understand
what was going on. It was confusing, they had no experience of voting,
many...are only semi-literate, and none of them knew anything about the
candidates. They just voted along ethnic lines where they could." Meanwhile in
Serbia, refugee voter turnout is low, Reuters noted. -- Patrick Moore
[07] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
Some 5,000 U.S. troops have begun training in Germany to assist in the
eventual withdraw of IFOR from Bosnia, news agencies reported on 28 August. In
Washington, the State Department supported complaints by senior international
officials in Bosnia-Herzegovina that the government there is obstructing the
launching of independent television, despite promises by President Alija
Izetbegovic to get it started, Reuters and Oslobodjenje said. The wife of
indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic told a Serbian weekly that the
Americans also asked her husband to leave Pale for Montenegro but that he
refused, the BBC noted on 29 August. -- Patrick Moore
[08] SERBIAN UPDATE.
Nasa Borba on 29 August ran the headline "An eighth day of protest, a first
day of hunger strike" in reference to the growing labor action at the Zastava
arms plant, the linchpin facility of Serbia's arms production and output. The
plant's workers are striking over unpaid wages and are demanding the sacking
of the general manager, who on 27 August had told some 3,500 workers to take
forced leave until 2 September, when the plant's problems are to be discussed
with officials in Belgrade. In other news, Slavko Milosavlevski arrived in
Belgrade on 28 August to become Macedonia's first ambassador to the former
Yugoslavia. -- Stan Markotich
[09] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY OFFICERS INSPECT CROATIAN ARMS.
A team of five army officers from the SRJ arrived in Croatia to inspect that
country's artillery stocks, Reuters reported on 27 August, citing local
Croatian media, The officers' visit was in accordance with a clause on
"subregional arms control" in the Dayton accord, Croatian TV reported. The
Serbian officers' inspection tour began at a barracks in the town of Varazdin.
A team of Croatian officers is slated to arrive in the SRJ for a similar
inspection tour in mid-September. -- Stan Markotich
[10] WERE POWS, REFUGEES FROM SREBRENICA FORCED TO WORK IN KOSOVO MINES?
Kosova Communication on 28 August reported that more than 350 Bosnian POWs
and refugees from Srebrenica were forced to work in the Trepca mines. It also
quoted Deutsche Welle's Serbian department as saying that an additional 1,500
POWs and refugees from other regions worked there. The report has allegedly
been confirmed by the Bosnian government's Commissioner for Refugees and the
Serbian Helsinki Committee. First reports suggesting forced labor in Trepca
date back to 25 January, when AIM noted that work had resumed at Trepca and
that the Serbian government had claimed 280 "ethnic Albanians" were employed
there. AIM, however, suggested that the workers were prisoners from
Srebrenica. The mines stopped working in February 1989 when Albanian employees
staged a strike to protest the abolition of the province's autonomy. The
International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia has set up a
commission to investigate the case. -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] POLICEMAN SHOT DEAD IN KOSOVO.
Two gunmen on 28 August killed an ethnic Turkish police officer in Donje Lupce,
30 km north of Pristina, AFP reported. The previous night three hand grenades
were thrown at a police station in Celopek, near Pec. Nobody was injured in
the explosion, which caused damage to the building. The Liberation Army of
Kosovo has claimed responsibility for earlier similar attacks. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[12] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT FORMALLY ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY.
Ion Iliescu on 28 August announced he will be seeking a third term in office,
Romanian and Western media reported. The 66-year-old incumbent president is
running in the November elections as a candidate for the ruling Party of
Social Democracy in Romania. Addressing a gathering of several thousand
politicians, government officials, and supporters, he vowed to continue
reforms, encourage economic recovery, and fight both corruption and the
country's "unscrupulous" economic mafia. Iliescu also pledged to improve
social protection for workers, pensioners, and other disadvantaged groups. The
opposition has argued that the constitution bars a person from seeking more
than two terms in office as president. But supporters contend that Iliescu's
first term (1990-1992) should not be taken into consideration since the new
constitution was not adopted until 1991. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] SENIOR NATO OFFICIALS PRAISE ROMANIA.
General Klaus Naumann, head of NATO's Military Committee, on 28 August ended
an official visit to Romania, Radio Bucharest reported. Naumann, who met with
President Ion Iliescu, Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca, Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu, and other high-ranking Romanian officials, praised Romania
for its active participation in the alliance's Partnership for Peace (PfP)
program. On the same day, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter, currently in
Bucharest, described Romania's PfP record as "superb." He further hailed the
recent agreement between the Romanian and Hungarian governments over the text
of a bilateral basic treaty. -- Dan Ionescu
[14] NEW-OLD BANKNOTES TO CIRCULATE IN THE DNIESTER REGION.
Tiraspol has announced that "new" bank notes will go into circulation on 29
August, BASA-press and Reuters reported. The new banknotes are, in fact, the
old 1, 50, and 100 Dniester ruble notes on which extra zeros have been stamped
to make them worth 10,000, 50,000, and 100,000 Dniester rubles, respectively.
The local currency traded at 257 to $1 when it was introduced in January 1994;
today, the exchange rate is 520,000 to $1. Experts believe that the exchange
rate will now soar to between 600,000 and 1 million rubles to $1. -- Dan
Ionescu
[15] FORMER BULGARIAN DICTATOR CLEARED OF ABUSE OF OFFICE.
Todor Zhivkov on 28 August was acquitted of charges of abuse of office, Pari
reported. The Supreme Court ruled that under the present constitution, Zhivkov
cannot be held accountable because as head of state he enjoyed immunity. It
argued that while communist Bulgaria formally had no head of state, Zhivkov
was the unchallenged state leader in his capacity as chairman of the State
Council from 1971-1989. Charges relating to his term as prime minister in 1962-
1971 are barred by the statute of limitations, the court ruled. Zhivkov was
sentenced in 1992 to seven years in prison on those charges. He was acquitted
earlier this year pending a special judicial review. Zhelev remains under
house arrest because three cases against him are still pending, including the
forceful Bulgarization of the country's ethnic Turks in the 1980s. -- Stefan
Krause
[16] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.
The presidential and vice presidential candidates of both the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party and the united opposition have appealed the Central Electoral Commission's refusal to register them for the upcoming elections (see ). The Supreme Court has three working days to issue binding decisions on the rulings. -- Stefan Krause
[17] COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCUSSES ALBANIAN DEADLOCK WITH POLITICAL PARTIES.
A delegation of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly on 28 August
held round-table talks with the ruling Democrats and the opposition to discuss
the current political deadlock. The council had suggested that the parties
hold a dialogue, but they have so far failed to do so. Domenic Columberg from
the council's Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee said the aim of the
visit was to prepare the ground for 20 October's local elections,
international agencies reported. The council pledged to send monitors to the
ballot. According to ATSH, the Socialists disputed a call by the delegation to
take up its seats in parliament. -- 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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