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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 172, 96-09-05
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 172, 5 September 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON EMIGRATION OF DRAFT AGE MEN.
[02] BOMB ATTACK IN GORNO-BADAKHSHAN.
[03] RUSSIAN TROOPS OUT OF KAZAKSTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] IZETBEGOVIC: SDA WILL BOYCOTT VOTE IF HERCEG-BOSNA REMAINS.
[05] PLAVSIC WARNS FEDERATION DELEGATION NOT TO VISIT BRCKO.
[06] OSCE FUNDS PARTY OF ETHNIC CLEANSING.
[07] SERB POLICE, MOB BLOCK BRITISH TROOPS.
[08] NEW ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA.
[09] DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA SNUBS "TOGETHERNESS."
[10] SKOPJE, BELGRADE SIGN TRADE AGREEMENTS.
[11] SNEGUR PROPOSES RESUMPTION OF TALKS ON DNIESTER STATUS.
[12] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UPDATE.
[13] BIG BREAKTHROUGH IN ALBANIAN DOMESTIC POLITICS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON EMIGRATION OF DRAFT AGE MEN.
The Armenian Defense Ministry has called for closer monitoring of all men aged
18-30 who wish to leave the country in order to prevent them from avoiding the
draft, Ekho Moskvy reported on 2 September. The call comes after a 22 August
Armenian government decree on drafting first category reserve officers in
September 1996. Armenian officers who graduate from military academies in
Russia are increasingly seeking postings at the two Russian military bases in
Armenia in order to avoid service in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turan reported on 28
August. Russian-Armenian joint military maneuvers have been scheduled for 23-
27 September, immediately after the Armenian presidential election, according
to Noyan Tapan. -- Liz Fuller
[02] BOMB ATTACK IN GORNO-BADAKHSHAN.
A bomb exploded in front of the regional administration building of Gorno-
Badakhshan on 4 September, ITAR-TASS reported. Russian border guards claimed
that local drug rings planted the bomb as a reaction to an official crackdown
on narcotics trafficking, a curfew in force in some border areas, the
tightening of passport controls, and Russian efforts to cooperate with Afghan
border troops to prevent Tajik opposition from making an incursion from
Afghanistan into Tajikistan. The explosion reportedly occurred minutes after
regional officials and police chiefs had concluded a meeting in the building.
It may have been intended to dynamite Russian efforts to pacify the Pamir
region. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] RUSSIAN TROOPS OUT OF KAZAKSTAN.
Russia is currently withdrawing two divisions of Strategic Rocket Troops from
Kazakstan that had been stationed in the Turgaisk and Semipalatinsk regions,
ITAR-TASS reported on 4 September. The last Russian strategic missile nuclear
warheads were pulled out of Kazakstan in April 1995. The joint Russian-
Kazakstani commission dealing with the withdrawal met in Almaty on 4
September. In future meetings, they plan to discuss the work of destroying the
SS-18 missile silos and the transfer of military infrastructure and equipment
to Kazakstan. -- Doug Clarke
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] IZETBEGOVIC: SDA WILL BOYCOTT VOTE IF HERCEG-BOSNA REMAINS.
Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian president and leader of the ruling Muslim Party
of Democratic Action (SDA), on 4 September said his party will boycott
the forthcoming Bosnian ballot if the Bosnian Croat para-state of Herceg-Bosna
is not dissolved, AFP reported the next day. Izetbegovic also said he would
not recognize the Serbian entity in Bosnia unless 600,000 non-Serbs expelled
during the war return there. Speaking to a meeting of 20,000 SDA supporters in
the southern town of Jablanica, Izetbegovic threatened for the second time
this week that the largest Muslim party might boycott the 14 September
poll. According to a U.S.-brokered agreement, Herceg-Bosna should have
been dismantled on 31 August (see ). But as
of 4 September its government was still working, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[05] PLAVSIC WARNS FEDERATION DELEGATION NOT TO VISIT BRCKO.
Acting Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic on 4 September informed Roberts
Owen, the Brcko arbitration group chairman, that the Republika Srpska has not
approved an announced visit by a federal delegation to this northern Bosnian
town, Nasa Borba reported. Owen had earlier said a delegation from the
Bosnian federation should come to Brcko to inspect the town's infrastructure.
But Plavsic warned that if the federal delegation tries to enter Brcko--which
both entities claim--they will be stopped, and if incidents develop, those
who authorized the arrival will bear the responsibility. Plavsic also said
Owen does not have "jurisdiction" to give permission for inspection, and
only Republika Srpska authorities have such powers. Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs,
Muslims and Croats agreed on 4 September to allow the exhumation of alleged
mass graves in territories they control, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[06] OSCE FUNDS PARTY OF ETHNIC CLEANSING.
The OSCE, which is supervising the 14 September Bosnian elections, has paid
$222,000 to the Party of Serbian Unity (SSJ) out of a $3.4 million fund to
help political parties. The SSJ is headed by Zeljko Raznatovic, better known
as Arkan, who is an internationally wanted felon and a suspected war criminal.
His paramilitary gangs are generally believed to have committed some of the
worst atrocities associated with ethnic cleansing in the wars in Bosnia and
Croatia. German taxpayers provide over half the funds, AFP reported on 5
September, quoting The Guardian. The OSCE's Jean Ouellet defended the
payment, saying, "The political campaign funding is basically for all
political parties to get their message across. We may not agree with some of
them, but we cannot censor them. There is still the right to free speech in
this particular country." -- Patrick Moore
[07] SERB POLICE, MOB BLOCK BRITISH TROOPS.
Bosnian Serb police and--in a now familiar pattern--"a typical Balkan mob" of
300 civilians blocked British IFOR soldiers who were attempting to remove
illegal weapons near Banja Luka. The NATO troops left only after taking
shelter at a Bosnian Serb army base, the BBC reported on 5 September. In Bihac,
the trial in absentia of local kingpin and accused war criminal Fikret Abdic
began on 4 September, Oslobodjenje reported. In Sarajevo, the OSCE has
confirmed 3,398 candidates for the 14 September elections. -- Patrick
Moore
[08] NEW ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA.
Ethnic-related incidents continue as the 14 September elections approach, news
agencies reported on 3 September. The common denominator seems to be the
determination of nationalists to consolidate "ethnically pure" regions as a
prelude to a possible breakup of the country along ethnic lines. In a Banja
Luka suburb, some of the town's few remaining Muslims were driven from their
homes by Serbs and had to be evacuated by the UN. In Croatian-held west Mostar,
a gang tried to throw a Muslim woman from her balcony, while other Croats
succeeded in driving an ethnically mixed couple out of town. In the strategic
Serbian-held town of Brcko, a series of incidents has taken place against
Muslim property. In Muslim-held Bugojno, former Croat residents returning for
an election meeting were pelted with stones by Muslims, although the rally
nonetheless took place, Vecernji list reported on 4 September. -- Patrick
Moore
[09] DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA SNUBS "TOGETHERNESS."
Vojislav Kostunica, head of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), said 4
September that his party would not accept an invitation to join several other
opposition parties in a grand coalition aimed at ousting the ruling Socialists
in the 3 November elections. Nasa Borba on 5 September reported that
Kostunica said one major point of contention with the "Zajedno" (together)
coalition agreement is that it bars signatories from joining with non-
signatories in a postelection coalition. We're going to the polls by ourselves,
" Kostunica said. The leaders of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), the
Democratic Party (DS), and the Serbian Civic League (GSS)--Vuk Draskovic,
Zoran Djindjic, and Vesna Pesic--on 2 September signed the agreement, which
gives the SPO 54% of allotted federal list seats, with 41% for the DS and 5%
for the GSS. -- Stan Markotich
[10] SKOPJE, BELGRADE SIGN TRADE AGREEMENTS.
Visiting Prime Minister Radoje Kontic of rump Yugoslavia and his Macedonian
counterpart Branko Crvenkovski on 4 September signed seven trade and economic
agreements aimed at liberalizing bilateral trade, Reuters and Nova
Makedonija reported. Kontic said the agreements "envisage [a total of] $1
billion [in bilateral trade] over the next year." The documents include
agreements on protection of investments, against double taxation, on customs
cooperation, and on the regulation of air and rail traffic. In 1989, trade
between the then-Yugoslav republics of Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro totaled
$2.5 billion. -- Stefan Krause
[11] SNEGUR PROPOSES RESUMPTION OF TALKS ON DNIESTER STATUS.
In a letter addressed to the leader of the breakaway Dniester region, Igor
Smirnov, Moldovan President Mircea Snegur proposed the resumption of talks on
the region's special status, Moldovan agencies reported on 4 September. Snegur
said after the two sides' teams meet to discuss the negotiation process, a
summit of the two leaders should have on its agenda "the current situation and
the most urgent economic issues." He denied accusations that a "standstill"
had been reached on the special status talks. The two leaders had agreed in
June on a memorandum on normalizing relations, but Snegur later refused to
sign the document, saying it would legitimize the separate existence of the
Dniester region and infringe on Moldovan sovereignty. The leadership in
Tiraspol reacted by calling the proposal "one more change" in Snegur's stance
and said there was "no hope for the resumption of negotiations before the
Moldovan presidential elections" scheduled for 17 November. -- Michael
Shafir
[12] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UPDATE.
The Supreme Court on 4 September overruled the Central Electoral Commission
and ordered it to register the presidential and vice presidential candidates
of the united opposition, Petar Stoyanov and Todor Kavaldzhiev, Demokratsiya
reported. The decision of a five-member magistrate was unanimous. It is final
and cannot be appealed. Meanwhile, Prime Minister and Bulgarian Socialist
Party Chairman Zhan Videnov called on his party's followers over the national
media to support the Socialist team: Culture Minister Ivan Marazov and Deputy
Foreign Minister Irina Bokova. -- Stefan Krause
[13] BIG BREAKTHROUGH IN ALBANIAN DOMESTIC POLITICS.
A round table of 13 political parties and President Sali Berisha agreed to
change various procedures to ensure fair local elections on 20 October, Koha
Jone reported on 5 September. The agreement is the first step toward ending
a political deadlock after the disputed parliamentary elections in May.
The agreement foresees that the deputy chairmen of the permanent central
election commission and all local election commissions including the polling
stations come from the Socialist Party. The only exception are electoral zones
in which the ethnic Greek Human Rights party gained a majority before. The
duties and rights of the deputy chairmen and the Democratic Party appointed
chairmen are equal. The agreement also rules that the opposition gets equal
airtime on television and that a disputed screening law, banning former
communist official from running, would be changed. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Janet Hofmann
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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