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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 196, 96-10-09
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 196, 9 October 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
[02] AZERBAIJAN "COUP" TRIALS POSTPONED.
[03] KITOVANI SENTENCED.
[04] NAZARBAYEV SEES LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL.
[05] MAYLI-SUU CLEANUP PLANNED.
[06] PAKISTANI ENVOY IN TURKMENISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] EASTERN SLAVONIA UNDER CROATIAN ADMINISTRATION IN EARLY SPRING.
[08] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER READY TO COOPERATE?
[09] BOSNIAN SERB UPDATE.
[10] FIRST TRAINING CENTER FOR MUSLIM-CROAT ARMY OPENS.
[11] THE "OTHER SERBIA" ADDRESSES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
[12] POLL SHOWS SNEGUR AHEAD IN PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
[13] UPDATE ON BULGARIAN "CREDIT MILLIONAIRES."
[14] MACEDONIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS BELGRADE.
[15] ALBANIAN RIGHT FORMS COALITION BEFORE ZOGU'S 101 BIRTHDAY.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
Ruben Hakobyan, the only parliamentary deputy for the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun party, was beaten and seriously injured after his
arrest on 26 September by a group of men that included Defense Minister Vazgen
Sarkisyan, Noyan Tapan and Groong reported on 8 October, citing Hakobyan's
defense attorney, Tigran Janoyan. Janoyan also said he has not been allowed to
meet with his client since 30 September. He described the official charges
against Hakobyan and other opposition members arrested following the 25
September attack on the parliament building in Yerevan as "absurd" and
"politically motivated." -- Emil Danielyan
[02] AZERBAIJAN "COUP" TRIALS POSTPONED.
Azerbaijan's Supreme Court has again postponed the trial of some 37 members of
the OPON special police charged with treason in connection with the March 1995
standoff between the OPON and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, because the
defense lawyers of some of those accused are not yet familiar with the case,
ITAR-TASS and Turan reported on 8 October. The Supreme Court will, however,
proceed with the trial of two former Azerbaijani generals charged with
plotting to shoot down President Heidar Aliev's plane in the summer of 1995. --
Liz Fuller
[03] KITOVANI SENTENCED.
Former Georgian Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani was sentenced on 8 October to
eight years in prison on charges of organizing an illegal armed formation and
of unlawful possession of weapons, Reuters and Russian TV (RTR) reported.
Kitovani was arrested in January 1995, when he and former Prime Minister
Tengiz Sigua attempted to launch a military campaign to bring the breakaway
region of Abkhazia back under Tbilisi's jurisdiction. Valerii Fisyun and
former Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Irakli Surguladze, charged together with
Kitovani, were sentenced to six and two years in prison, respectively.
Kitovani denounced the court proceedings as a show trial staged by Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze in order to neutralize a political opponent. --
Liz Fuller
[04] NAZARBAYEV SEES LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL.
Kazakstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev told a national television audience
on 7 October that the country is emerging from its economic crisis, according
to a Kazakstani TV report monitored by the BBC. In the address, which was
published in Kazakhstanskaya pravda the next day, Nazarbayev said that
privatization and financial and industrial reforms would be completed by early
1998. He also said he wanted annual inflation cut in half by the end of the
decade. Inflation has dropped from 2,200% in 1993 to a predicted 30% for 1996,
Reuters reported on 8 October. Nazarbayev promised to press the government to
pay overdue wages and pensions. The Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic
of Kazakstan and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakstan still
plan to hold demonstrations over that issue next week. -- Bruce Pannier
[05] MAYLI-SUU CLEANUP PLANNED.
Kyrgyz and Uzbek environmental agencies have agreed to cooperate to reduce the
danger at more than 20 radioactive waste sites near the Kyrgyz town of Mayli-
Suu, according to a report in Aziya- Ekonomika i zhizn [No. 40] monitored by
the BBC. Successive heavy rains and mudslides have meant that the dump sites
may be contaminating the Mayli-Suu River and through it various canals that
irrigate the Ferghana Valley. -- Lowell Bezanis
[06] PAKISTANI ENVOY IN TURKMENISTAN.
Following talks between a special envoy from Pakistan, Ijlal Haider Zaidi, and
Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov on 7 October both sides agreed on the
preservation of Afghanistan's territorial integrity and noninterference in its
internal affairs, Turkmen and Russian media reported. Zaidi's visit to
Ashgabat was presumably intended to reassure Turkmenistan about Pakistan's
intentions and to suggest that Taliban does not pose a security threat to
Afghanistan's neighbors. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] EASTERN SLAVONIA UNDER CROATIAN ADMINISTRATION IN EARLY SPRING.
Jacques Klein, the UN transitional administrator for eastern Slavonia, the
last Serb-held area in Croatia, said on 8 October he hoped the disputed area
would return under the Croatian authority administration in spring next year
at the latest, Hina reported. "Our aim is next spring and then terminate
the mandate by early summer," Klein said after a meeting with Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman, adding he always considered the six-month extension
of the UNTAES mandate as reasonable. Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica
Kostovic said the Croatian government would cooperate with UNTAES and fulfill
its financial obligations until the spring, while expecting the UN forces to
enable the repatriation of displaced persons to the villages included in the
return pilot-project. Klein said he wished elections in eastern Slavonia to
"take place as soon as possible" on the basis of pre-war lists of registered
voters. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER READY TO COOPERATE?
The Serbian member of the Bosnian presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, said he is
ready to take part in joint institutions with the Muslims and the Croats,
Nasa Borba reported on 9 October. He added that he is willing to sign a
declaration of loyalty to the Bosnian Constitution and recommend to the
Bosnian Serbs elected to the joint legislature that they do the same.
Krajisnik maintained that he did not attend the opening session of the
presidency and legislature in Sarajevo purely out of concern for the Serbs'
safety and not for political reasons, a point that many observers would
dispute (see Pursuing Balkan Peace, 8 October 1996). He called for a new
ceremony to be held in the Republika Srpska and he added that it is now up to
the international community's High Representative, Carl Bildt, to make the
next move. Oslobodjenje pointed out that Serbian participation will be
necessary for the legislature to function legally. -- Patrick Moore
[09] BOSNIAN SERB UPDATE.
The government of the Republika Srpska (RS) met in Pale and called for special
relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Montenegro, as
is allowed by the Dayton agreement. The government also wants to close the
refugee centers in Zvornik, Bratunac, and Visegrad, Nasa Borba reported on 9
October. Meanwhile in Mostar, a delegation of ethnic Serb refugees arrived
from Belgrade to discuss plans for their permanent return to their hometown.
On Mt. Jahorina, the opening session of the new Academy of Sciences of the
Republika Srpska is slated for 11 October. There will be a four-person
Executive Committee and Presidency, which will include the historian and
nationalist ideologue, Milorad Ekmecic. Meanwhile, near the "zone of
separation" between the two entities, RS police will patrol jointly with their
UN counterparts in three villages near Zvornik. Muslim refugees have begun
returning to their homes in the area as they are allowed to do under the
Dayton agreement, much to the consternation of IFOR and the Serbs. -- Patrick
Moore
[10] FIRST TRAINING CENTER FOR MUSLIM-CROAT ARMY OPENS.
Military Professional Resources Inc., a company run by retired U.S. Army
generals, opened the first military training center on 7 October for the joint
Muslim-Croat Army in Pazaric, south of Sarajevo, Oslobodjenje reported. The
opening ceremony was attended by Defense Minister Vladimir Soljic, a Bosnian
Croat, and his Muslim deputy Hasan Cengic. Gen. Rasim Delic, who will command
the joint forces, said: "From this moment, I am not a general without an army,
" while his Croat deputy, Gen.-Col. Zivko Budimir said the center might well
become the future Bosnian Military Academy. The $400 million U.S.- sponsored
program is aimed at establishing a balance between the federal army and
Bosnian Serb forces. It also intends to help merge Muslims and Croats into a
united force under civilian control. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[11] THE "OTHER SERBIA" ADDRESSES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
Leaders of the opposition Zajedno coalition parties addressed the European
Parliament on 8 October, Nasa Borba reported. Vuk Draskovic from the Serbian
Renewal Movement, Zoran Djindjic from the Democratic Party and Vesna Pesic
from the Citizen's Union, presented their platform to European legislators.
They said their coalition represented a democratic and pro-European Serbia and
pointed out it was the first time that representatives of the "other Serbia"
were invited to Brussels. They stressed that only establishing democratic
institutions and a state based on the rule of law can bring about peaceful
solutions to pending problems in the region, such as the Kosovo dispute. --
Fabian Schmidt
[12] POLL SHOWS SNEGUR AHEAD IN PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
A public opinion poll conducted by the Moldova Moderna Research Center jointly
with the Russian-German Sinus Institute of Sociological Research shows
incumbent President Mircea Snegur is backed by 34.3% of the voters.
Presidential elections are scheduled for 17 November. According to BASA-press,
second after Snegur is parliamentary Chairman Petru Lucinschi with 22%. Prime
Minister Andrei Sangheli is backed by only 6.9%. The other candidates
registered even less support than Sangheli. -- Michael Shafir
[13] UPDATE ON BULGARIAN "CREDIT MILLIONAIRES."
The government's intention to publish a list of "credit millionaires"--people
who took big bank loans and did not repay them--before the 27 October
presidential elections continues to stir political controversy. Standart on
9 October reported that the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is
preparing amendments to the banking law after Bulgarian National Bank
officials said the publication would contravene present legislation. Some
bankers have objected to the publication, saying it could result in "an action
to settle political and business accounts," Trud reported. Union of
Democratic Forces caucus leader Yordan Sokolov said that if such a list
already exists, it indeed violates current legislation. BSP faction leader
Krasimir Premyanov said he had not seen the list, but was sure that no BSP
deputies were on the list, since "BSP party and [faction] statutes bar [them]
from...such activities." -- Stefan Krause
[14] MACEDONIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS BELGRADE.
Blagoje Handziski met with his federal Yugoslav counterpart, Pavle Bulatovic,
in Nis on 8 October, Nasa Borba reported. The defense ministers were
accompanied by high-ranking military delegations. Both sides agreed to quickly
resolve open border disputes and to open mutual military representation
offices in the respective capitals as a first step towards deepening military
cooperation. They also agreed on the exchange of documents concerning the
pensions of Yugoslav Peoples Army officers. MILS, however, indicated that the
sides also discussed a Macedonian request for federal Yugoslav military
equipment, which Belgrade is obliged to destroy following the Dayton
agreement. Serbian capacities for arms destruction are limited to one factory
in Smederevo and observers doubt that Belgrade will be able to fulfill its
obligations, BETA reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
[15] ALBANIAN RIGHT FORMS COALITION BEFORE ZOGU'S 101 BIRTHDAY.
The National Front party and the Legality movement, celebrated King Ahmet
Zogu's 101st birthday on 7 October by forming a coalition for the upcoming
local elections, Koha Jone reported. During a rally in Shkoder, the head of
a former landowners association denounced Albanian President Sali Berisha as
a "communist," while the head of the local Association of the Politically
Persecuted charged the Democrats with planning election fraud. In other news,
the Center Pole coalition sent a protest letter to the German embassy
condemning the participation of German Christian Democratic party officials in
the election campaign in support of the Democratic Party as a violation of the
electoral law. Dita Informacion on 10 October pointed out that this
could be punishable by up to three years in prison. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Chrystyna Lapychak and Victor Gomez
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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