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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 187, 96-09-26
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 187, 26 September 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS STORM ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT.
[02] MANUKYAN ARRESTED.
[03] AZERIS DISTURBED BY JOINT RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN EXERCISE.
[04] ELECTION OUTCOME IN ADZHARIA, GEORGIA.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] IZETBEGOVIC WARNS OF NEW WAR IN BOSNIA.
[06] NATO PLANS FOR NEW ROLE IN BOSNIA.
[07] CONTINUING IMBROGLIO OVER MUSLIM REFUGEES.
[08] COLD WEATHER FORCES END TO BOSNIAN EXHUMATIONS.
[09] UN REFUSES TO LIFT SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA.
[10] SERBIAN UPDATE.
[11] TWO CROATIAN JOURNALISTS ACQUITTED IN KEY RIGHTS CASE.
[12] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT OFFERS NEW PAY INCREASE.
[13] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT, DEFENSE MINISTER RESUME HOSTILITIES.
[14] BULGARIA'S MASS PRIVATIZATION TO START.
[15] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[16] ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTION WRAPUP.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS STORM ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT.
Following a session of the Central Electoral Commission on 25 September, four
commission members issued a statement rejecting as inaccurate the preliminary
presidential election returns released on 24 September by CEC Chairman
Khachatour Bezirjian. The four claimed that opposition candidate and National
Democratic Union Chairman Vazgen Manukyan polled 55% of the vote as opposed to
37% for incumbent Levon Ter-Petrossyan, Western agencies reported. Some 10,000
Manukyan supporters marched to the building housing the CEC and the Armenian
parliament, which was cordoned off by special police. Some 45 minutes after
Manukyan entered the building, Paruir Hairikyan, chairman of the radical Union
for National Self-Determination and one of three presidential contenders who
withdrew to support Manukyan, announced (mistakenly) that the latter had been
arrested, whereupon demonstrators broke through the perimeter fence and forced
their way into the building. Riot police used water cannon and fired over the
heads of the demonstrators; parliament Chairman Babken Ararktsyan and his
deputy were hospitalized after being beaten by demonstrators. According to
Noyan Tapan, Western agencies, and The New York Times of 26 September, one
person was killed in the clashes and up to 50 others, including former
presidential candidate Lenser Agahalovyan, were injured -- Liz Fuller
[02] MANUKYAN ARRESTED.
Presidential spokesman Shahen Karamanukyan and Interior Minister Vano
Siradeghyan denounced the attack on the parliament building as "an attempted
fascist coup ordered by one of the leaders of the National Democratic Union,"
Reuters and AFP reported. ITAR-TASS quoted Siradeghyan as stating that three
organizers of the protest had been arrested; Prosecutor General Artavazd
Gevorkyan announced that the organizers would be charged with attempting to
stage a coup d'etat and the attempted murder of the parliament speaker and his
deputy, according to AFP. Speaking on state television on the morning of 26
September, President Ter-Petrossyan imposed a ban on all unsanctioned meetings
and demonstrations. Early the same day, riot police surrounded the
presidential palace, which is close to the parliament building, and tanks and
armored personnel carriers cordoned off Yerevan's main square and the nearby
headquarters of the NDU. On the morning of 26 September, the Armenian
parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to lift Manukyan's immunity. He
and several other opposition leaders were subsequently arrested, Western
agencies reported. -- Liz Fuller
[03] AZERIS DISTURBED BY JOINT RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN EXERCISE.
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry on 25 September expressed concern at the
recent joint Russian-Armenian military exercises, ITAR-TASS reported. A
ministry statement charged that the maneuvers were aimed at enhancing the
combat effectiveness of the "Armenian occupation forces" in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azeris were particularly concerned that officials from Nagorno-Karabakh
attended the exercises, as did the Armenian president and Russian Chief of
Staff Col.-Gen. Mikhail Kolesnikov. -- Doug Clarke
[04] ELECTION OUTCOME IN ADZHARIA, GEORGIA.
According to the Central Election Commission in Batumi, 93.8% of the
electorate voted in the 22 September parliamentary elections in Adzharia, ITAR-
TASS reported on 25 September. As widely predicted, the ruling coalition and
election bloc composed of the All-Georgian Revival Union, led by parliamentary
chairman Aslan Abashidze, and the ruling party in Georgia led by President
Eduard Shevardnadze, the Union of Georgian Citizens, secured 83% of the vote.
One seat each is known to have been secured by the Union of Georgian
Traditionalists and the Tavisupleba [Freedom] bloc. The number of seats
secured by the Adzharian regional branch of the United Communist Party of
Georgia, which took over 5% of the vote, is still unclear. -- Lowell
Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] IZETBEGOVIC WARNS OF NEW WAR IN BOSNIA.
President Alija Izetbegovic warned the UN General Assembly that the conflict
could resume in Bosnia-Herzegovina if the Dayton peace accord is not enforced.
He argued that an international military presence will be necessary "for a
certain and limited period of time" and criticized the local Croats for
maintaining their para-state of Herceg-Bosna, despite numerous promises to
dissolve it. Izetbegovic singled out the Bosnian Serbs for criticism because
they block Muslim and Croatian refugees from going home and because they
refuse to hand over indicted war criminals to the Hague-based tribunal.
Oslobodjenje on 26 September quoted him as saying that "if genocide without
punishment is possible, then Bosnia and Herzegovina is not possible." With
regard to the new government for the entire country, he said that it should
include representation from the opposition and seek to enforce the Dayton
agreement and promote media freedom. -- Patrick Moore
[06] NATO PLANS FOR NEW ROLE IN BOSNIA.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, who is currently in New York, has
rejected any extension of the one-year mandate for UN peacekeepers in eastern
Slavonia, Vjesnik reported on 25 September. The local Serbs want the foreign
troops to stay on for at least another year. In Bergen, Norway, NATO defense
ministers announced for the first time that the alliance will start planning a
possible role in Bosnia after IFOR's mandate expires at the end of the year.
No concrete measures are likely to be announced until after the U.S. elections
in November, the BBC reported. British Defense Secretary Michael Portillo said
that "we can't abandon the investment we've made there" in promoting peace and
stability. In Paris, Foreign Minister Herve de Charette announced that a major
international meeting on Bosnia will take place in early November to deal with
the future of Bosnian state institutions, AFP reported on 26 September. --
Patrick Moore
[07] CONTINUING IMBROGLIO OVER MUSLIM REFUGEES.
Tensions continue to run high over the village of Jusici on Bosnian Serb-held
territory, where armed Muslims have returned to rebuild their homes. The UNHCR
is expected to clarify the matter soon, Oslobodjenje reported on 25
September. But U.S. General George Casey said later that day that the Muslims
must first leave and process the necessary paperwork before they can live
there. Nasa Borba stated on 26 September that Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan
Muratovic has agreed to this formula. It appears, however, that the Muslims
are determined to force the issue of their right to go home, as specified in
the Dayton agreement, and that the original number of returnees has grown from
100 to 300, Reuters said. A UN police spokesman accused the Muslims of
taunting the local Serbian police. -- Patrick Moore
[08] COLD WEATHER FORCES END TO BOSNIAN EXHUMATIONS.
International experts have suspended their excavation of mass graves in
eastern Bosnia until next spring. They have uncovered nearly 500 bodies this
year, virtually all of whom are Muslim males from Srebrenica who appear to
have been executed, international news agencies noted on 25 September. The
experts stressed that it is necessary for Bosnians to know the truth about war
crimes if they are to begin looking toward the future. Izetbegovic recently
made the same point at the UN. -- Patrick Moore
[09] UN REFUSES TO LIFT SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA.
The UN Security Council on 24 September decided not to lift sanctions against
the rump Yugoslavia, AFP reported. But diplomats said they expected Washington
and Moscow to agree on a solution shortly. Russian UN Ambassador Sergei Lavrov
has drawn up a document that, in accordance with the Dayton agreements, ends
sanctions 10 days after the elections take place. He argues that since the
ballot took place on 14 September, the sanctions should have been lifted on 24
September. The U.S., however, has rejected his plan, saying the election
results have not yet been validated. -- Fabian Schmidt
[10] SERBIAN UPDATE.
The strike at the Kragujevac Zastava arms and automobile works has entered its
29th day. Workers demonstrating in front of the local municipal parliament on
25 September demanded back wages and talks with the government and the plant
management. Former Central Bank governor Dragoslav Avramovic has announced he
will visit the factory on 26 September to talk to the strikers. Meanwhile, Vuk
Draskovic, leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), has denied earlier
reports that Avramovic is planning a political career with the SPO and other
opposition parties in the Zajedno (Together) coalition. Draskovic claims the
report was "part of a plan to discredit" Avramovic and the leaders of
Zajedno, Nasa Borba reported on 26 September. -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] TWO CROATIAN JOURNALISTS ACQUITTED IN KEY RIGHTS CASE.
Judge Marin Mrcela on 26 September acquitted editor in chief Viktor Ivancic
and journalist Marinko Culic on charges of slandering President Franjo Tudjman
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 25 September 1996), AFP reported. The two men work
for the outspoken Split-based satirical weekly Feral Tribune, which has
often been a thorn in the side of the government and the governing
Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ). The acquittal signals a major victory for
freedom of the press because it is the first such case under a new media law
aimed at silencing critics of the government and HDZ. Croatia has been warned
by the Council of Europe and other international bodies that the new law
is unacceptable if that country wants to join European institutions. --
Patrick Moore
[12] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT OFFERS NEW PAY INCREASE.
Romania's cabinet on 25 September announced a 6% increase in state employees'
wages as of 1 October, Radio Bucharest reported. The hike in the average wage
amounts to 23,600 lei (some $7). Employees will also receive the second
tranche, worth 6,000 lei (less than $2), of compensation for energy, fuel, and
bread price increases. Finance Minister Florin Georgescu said the move will
help compensate for most of this year's inflation, which he estimated at about
30%. But domestic media expressed doubts over the minister's statement,
suggesting that the real reason for the increase was to gain electoral support
for the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT, DEFENSE MINISTER RESUME HOSTILITIES.
Defense Minister Gen. Pavel Creanga has rejected the "serious accusations"
brought against him by President Mircea Snegur in late June as "groundless,"
BASA-press reported on 25 September. Creanga said Snegur had asked the
prosecutor-general to investigate his actions under the suspicion that he was
trying to split the army and destabilize the political situation in the
country. Snegur had also accused him of disseminating confidential information
and of conspiring against the president. Creanga demanded that the results of
the prosecutor's investigation be made public. A presidential spokesman said
that most of the accusations against Creanga have proven valid but that the
president does not intend to discuss the matter with Creanga through the
media. -- Dan Ionescu
[14] BULGARIA'S MASS PRIVATIZATION TO START.
The government has announced<strong> </strong>that the long-delayed mass
privatization will begin on 7 October, RFE/RL reported on 25 September. Some 3
million Bulgarians are expected to bid for shares in 968 out of a total of 1,
063 state companies up for sale. Under the mass privatization scheme, the
state will continue to exert control over "strategic companies" such as oil
refineries and tourist offices; only 25% of their shares will be offered to
investors. Banks, arms factories, railroads, power plants, and companies
offering services will not be privatized. About 65% of shares in medium-sized
companies and 90% in small ones will be privatized. Results of the bids will
be announced by the end of November. -- Maria Koinova
[15] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
Ivan Marazov, the Democratic Left's presidential candidate, said in Bonn on 25
September that Bulgarian institutions are "at war," international agencies
reported. He blamed President Zhelyu Zhelev for making too liberal use of his
right to veto bills passed by the parliament. During his visit to Bonn,
Marazov met with German government officials and deputies. In other news, two
tons of hashish have been seized at the Bulgarian-Greek border checkpoint of
Kulata, Reuters reported on 24 September. The drugs were hidden in a truck
containing marble slabs on its way from Greece to Bulgaria. -- Maria
Koinova
[16] ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTION WRAPUP.
The opposition on 25 September expressed concern for the local elections next
month, most of the international monitors will come from the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly and not from the OSCE, Koha Jone reported on
26 September. The latter had issued a more critical report on the May
parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the Center Pole coalition has sent a
protest letter to the Central Election Commission saying that President Sali
Berisha and government members have violated the electoral law by
participating in the election campaign. It also argued that the municipality
of Tirana should not be allowed to organize the ruling Democratic Party's
public rallies, as was the case on 22 September, Poli i Qendres reported on
26 September. -- 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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