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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 206, 96-10-23
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 206, 23 October 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] VERDICT IN GEORGIAN ANTI-SEMITISM CASE.
[02] UN CALLS ON ABKHAZ LEADERSHIP TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS.
[03] FINAL RESULTS OF ARMENIAN ELECTIONS.
[04] LEADER OF RULING PARTY ON ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER.
[05] KARABAKH ELECTION RUMPUS.
[06] AID FOR RECONSTRUCTION, REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN.
[07] UZBEK YOUTH ORGANIZATION STARTS PAPER.
[08] JAPAN TO LOAN TURKMENISTAN $120 MILLION.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[09] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER SIGNS OATH TO BOSNIA.
[10] BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY ON TRACK?
[11] MORE THAN 700 BODIES EXHUMED BY CROATIAN AUTHORITIES.
[12] UN PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE SERB EXODUS FROM EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[13] TRADE SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA TO CONTINUE INTO 1997.
[14] SLOVENIAN CLAIM ON FORMER YUGOSLAV ASSETS NOW IN COURT.
[15] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES ACCUSE GOVERNMENT OF PLANNING ELECTION FRAUD.
[16] MOLDOVA RATIFIES CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES.
[17] DNIESTER AUTHORITIES TO BUILD AMMUNITION RECYCLING PLANT.
[18] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES ON UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
[19] BULGARIAN GRAIN CRISIS UPDATE.
[20] BULGARIAN HIGH OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION.
[21] EUROPEAN, U.S. INSTITUTES CALL ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS "FREE AND FAIR."
[22] TWO ALBANIAN PRISON OFFICIALS ARRESTED IN ALLEGED TERRORIST CONSPIRACY.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] VERDICT IN GEORGIAN ANTI-SEMITISM CASE.
Givi Alaznispireli, owner and editor of the newspaper Noe, has been
sentenced to one year's imprisonment "for violating national and racial
equality," BGI reported on 19 October. Alaznispireli was arrested in August
after publishing a virulently anti-Semitic article in his paper. -- Liz
Fuller
[02] UN CALLS ON ABKHAZ LEADERSHIP TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS.
The UN Security Council on 22 October called on the leadership of the
breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia to postpone parliamentary elections
scheduled for 23 November until a political settlement is reached on
Abkhazia's status vis-a-vis the Tbilisi government, Reuters reported. The
statement contradicts the opinion expressed two weeks ago by UN Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's special envoy for Abkhazia, Swiss diplomat
Edouard Brunner, who told Abkhaz Radio that a new parliament should be elected
given that the term of the existing one was due to expire. Also on 22 October,
the UN Security Council passed a resolution (despite Chinese objections) to
establish a two-person office in the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, to monitor human
rights violations, according to AFP. Abkhaz Security Service head Astamur
Tarba denied Georgian TV reports that Abkhaz militants had attacked a village
in Abkhazia's Gali raion and abducted four ethnic Georgians, ITAR-TASS
reported on 22 October. Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba accused the
Georgian authorities of launching a campaign of "terror and sabotage" in order
to prevent the elections. -- Liz Fuller
[03] FINAL RESULTS OF ARMENIAN ELECTIONS.
The Armenian Central Election Commission released the final results of the 22
September presidential polls, confirming the victory of the incumbent Levon
Ter-Petrossyan with 52.75% of the vote, ITAR-TASS reported on 22 October. The
opposition, whose candidate, Vazgen Manukyan, won 41.3% of the vote, has
accused the authorities of election rigging and plans to appeal the official
results to the Constitutional Court. -- Emil Danielyan
[04] LEADER OF RULING PARTY ON ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER.
The chairman of Armenia's ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement party (HHSh),
Ter-Husik Lazaryan, in an interview with RFE/RL on 22 October, called on Prime
Minister Hrant Bagratyan to step down. Lazaryan claimed that Bagratyan is to
blame for the country's economic hardships that resulted in the poorer than
expected performance of Ter-Petrossyan in the disputed 22 September election.
Lazaryan's statements follow similar comments by other HHSh leaders. In his
first post-election speech Ter-Petrossyan promised a "serious reshuffle" of
the government. -- Emil Danielyan
[05] KARABAKH ELECTION RUMPUS.
Azerbaijan's Central Electoral Commission on 22 October issued a statement
condemning as "an attempt to legalize a puppet regime" the presidential
elections scheduled for 24 November by the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-
Karabakh, Turan reported. The agency also quoted the U.S. Ambassador to Baku,
Richard Kauzlarich, as stating that the U.S. government does not recognize the
legitimacy of the elections. To date four presidential candidates have been
registered: incumbent Robert Kocharyan, former parliament deputy speaker Boris
Arushanyan, Nagorno-Karabakh Communist Party head Hrant Melkumyan, and the
head of the Control Inspection of the government of the RNK, Albert Ghazaryan,
Noyan Tapan reported on 22 October. -- Liz Fuller
[06] AID FOR RECONSTRUCTION, REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN.
Representatives of the World Bank, the UN Development Program, and the
Azerbaijani government signed an agreement in Baku on 22 October on financial
aid for reconstruction work in seven raions of Azerbaijan destroyed by
fighting in 1993, ITAR-TASS reported. The estimated cost of reconstruction is
$22 billion; the World Bank will provide $50 million. Donor countries provided
$7.6 million towards the cost of UNHCR programs for reconstruction in 1996,
according to Turan on 22 October, quoting the head of the UNHCR program for
Azerbaijan, Ann Howard-Whiles. -- Liz Fuller
[07] UZBEK YOUTH ORGANIZATION STARTS PAPER.
The youth organization Kamolot (Perfection) sent to press the first issue of
its independent newspaper, Uzbek radio reported on 20 October. Also called
Kamolot, the newspaper will begin service in the Namangan region and will
partially act as a promotional vehicle for the organization. Founded in the
summer of 1996, Kamolot is a government-funded "non-governmental organization"
which is supposed to fill the role of the Soviet-era Komsomol. Unlike that
entity, however, Kamolot is allowed to court Western companies for financial
assistance which can be matched by government contributions. -- Roger
Kangas
[08] JAPAN TO LOAN TURKMENISTAN $120 MILLION.
The Export-Import Bank of Japan, after consulting with Japanese commercial
banks, announced that a loan of $120 million would be extended to Turkmenistan,
according to Reuters and RFE/RL. The money is slated to be used in upgrading
the oil refining industry with the hope of diversifying the economy and
reducing pollutants. The Export-Import Bank will put up 60% of the loan (about
$73 million) and the remainder will be co-financed by three Japanese banks. --
Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[09] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER SIGNS OATH TO BOSNIA.
The Serbian member of the three-man presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, on 22
October signed a "solemn declaration" promising to "uphold and defend" the
Bosnian constitution, international and local media reported. The Bosnian
constitution, which was contained in the Dayton agreement, defines Bosnia-
Herzegovina as a unitary state consisting of two "entities." By taking this
oath, Krajisnik appears to have abandoned formal claims to independence for
the Republika Srpska, which is, however, still a major policy goal of his
party. It seems that Bosnian Serb leaders have decided at least to pay lip
service to the Dayton system while still seeking independence and unity with
other Serbian lands in the long run. -- Patrick Moore
[10] BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY ON TRACK?
Krajisnik was attending the second full meeting of the presidency, which took
place in Sarajevo's National Museum under the auspices of U.S. envoy John
Kornblum. The next session of that body has been set for 25 October in a Serb-
held school in nearby Lukavica, while the fourth meeting will take place on 29
October back in the museum, Oslobodjenje noted on 23 October. A six-month
deadline has been set to draw up "a long-term arrangement dealing with the
goals, meeting places, and functioning" of the various joint institutions,
Dnevni avaz added. This marks a breakthrough in that the parties have agreed
to a concrete timetable. -- Patrick Moore
[11] MORE THAN 700 BODIES EXHUMED BY CROATIAN AUTHORITIES.
The Croatian authorities have exhumed more than 700 bodies from mass graves in
the formerly Serb-controlled regions of western Slavonia and Krajina, AFP
reported on 21 October. Ivan Gruic, head of the Croatian commission for
prisoners and displaced people, said 80% of those exhumed were civilians; six
were children. International organizations have not confirmed these figures.
Gruic also said that 90% of the bodies have been identified. Meanwhile, the
Croatian government has announced that its experts will begin on 1 December
identifying bodies exhumed by international experts from a mass grave near the
town of Vukovar, in eastern Slavonia. Gruic said he expected mass graves there
to yield several thousand more bodies than had been unearthed so far. -- Daria
Sito Sucic
[12] UN PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE SERB EXODUS FROM EASTERN SLAVONIA.
UN intelligence services in eastern Slavonia are preparing contingency plans
to cope with a possible exodus of Serbs from this last Serb-held region of
Croatia, AFP reported on 22 October, citing Le Monde. According to the
French daily, a confidential UN document says the return of Croats next spring
to the area from which they were forcibly expelled in 1991 could prompt the
130,000 Serbs now living there to leave for Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. UN
officials in New York said there was "nothing secret" about making contingency
plans for such a scenario and that it was customary to prepare for all
eventualities in such cases, AFP reported. A UN spokesman in eastern Slavonia
said he did not believe that a massive exodus would take place. In other news,
Serbs in eastern Slavonia have called again for a "special status," AFP
reported. The UN dismissed the request when it was first made in June. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[13] TRADE SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA TO CONTINUE INTO 1997.
The last session of the U.S. congress has passed legislation extending into
1997 trade sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, despite a
recent UN resolution providing for the embargo to be lifted. Nasa Borba on
23 October said Washington's action amounted to enforcing the "outer wall" of
sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. It reported that the extension of the
embargo is linked to an improvement in internal conditions in Serbia's
predominantly ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo, including the renewal of
autonomy, improved human rights, and the return of international observers. --
Stan Markotich
[14] SLOVENIAN CLAIM ON FORMER YUGOSLAV ASSETS NOW IN COURT.
Hearings to determine the status of assets held by the Cyprus branch of
Belgrade's Beobanka resumed in a Nicosia court on 21 October, Radio Slovenija
reported. Ljubljana has laid claim to a portion of those assets. Borka Vucic,
the director of the Cyprus branch, says, however, that Slovenian officials
have no proof that between 1978 and 1988, any Slovenian commercial bank made
deposits with the former National Bank of Yugoslavia. Thus, he argues, they
cannot prove that any assets have come to be held by Beobanka. Vucic also
alleged that Slovenia owes Beobanka some $2 billion withheld since the
collapse of socialist Yugoslavia. Earlier this year, Slovenia succeeded in
having Beobanka's assets in Cyprus frozen by court order. -- Stan
Markotich
[15] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES ACCUSE GOVERNMENT OF PLANNING ELECTION FRAUD.
Romania's opposition parties have accused the government of planning to
falsify the results of the 3 November presidential elections, AFP and Romanian
dailies reported on 22-23 October. They say the ruling Party of Social
Democracy in Romania (PDSR) has violated the election law by appointing
several hundreds of its members as chairmen of polling stations. Meanwhile,
President Ion Iliescu has added to the anti-Semitic statements against his
rival, Petre Roman, who is partly of Jewish descent. Iliescu told a meeting in
Olt County that Roman "does not really have roots in our people." Corneliu
Vadim Tudor, the presidential candidate of the Greater Romania Party and a
notorious anti-Semite, told Jurnalul national that if there is a
presidential runoff, he will ask his electorate to vote for Romania's wartime
Hitler ally, Marshal Ion Antonescu. -- Michael Shafir
[16] MOLDOVA RATIFIES CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES.
The parliament on 22 October ratified the Council of Europe's Convention on
the Protection of Ethnic Minorities, Infotag reported the same day. Heated
debates preceded the passage of the law ratifying the convention, primarily
because of an article aimed at defining what constitutes an "ethnic minority."
Deputies decided to avoid interpreting the term, allowing the convention to be
ratified. -- Zsolt Mato
[17] DNIESTER AUTHORITIES TO BUILD AMMUNITION RECYCLING PLANT.
The leaders of the breakaway Dniester republic have reached an agreement with
an unspecified "foreign country" on building a plant to recycle ammunition
belonging to the former Russian 14th Army, Infotag reported on 22 October,
citing Prosecutor General Victor Zakharov. Thousands of tons of ammunition
have been kept for decades in Russian depots in the region. -- Zsolt
Mato
[18] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES ON UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
The Constitutional Court has decided that a minimum turnout is not required in
the first round of the 27 October presidential elections, RFE/RL reported on
22 October. The court noted that under the constitution, a president is
elected in the first round if he receives more than half of the valid votes
cast and if turnout is more than 50%. The court ruled that if one or both
conditions are not met, the vote is valid but the two best-seeded candidates
are to take part in a second round. It explicitly stated that a second round
must take place if turnout is less than 50% in the first round. There had been
speculation that the election would be postponed in the event of low voter
turnout. -- Stefan Krause
[19] BULGARIAN GRAIN CRISIS UPDATE.
Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) Deputy Chairman Vasil Gotsev and SDS caucus
leader Yordan Sokolov have said that the EU has turned down a Bulgarian
government request for financial and humanitarian aid to help alleviate the
ongoing grain crisis, Demokratsiya reported on 23 October. Prime Minister
Zhan Videnov reportedly asked last month to import grain from EU countries.
But the government denied those reports, saying Videnov received a private
letter from EU Commission President Jacques Santer that, according the
government press office, promised Bulgaria 40 million ECU ($30 million). The
office did not specify, however, whether this sum was a credit for grain
imports. Gotsev claimed that Videnov had deliberately hidden the letter
because of the impending presidential elections. In other news, Deputy Prime
Minister and Economic Development Minister Rumen Gechev said Bulgaria will
barely be able to service half its foreign and domestic debt in 1997. --
Stefan Krause
[20] BULGARIAN HIGH OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION.
Union of Democratic Forces deputy Edvin Sugarev on 22 October published an
open letter to Prosecutor-General Ivan Tatarchev claiming that high officials
close to the government and to Prime Minister Zhan Videnov are involved in
shady banking, privatization, and telecommunications deals, Bulgarian media
reported. Sugarev said the National Security Service and Central Office for
Fighting Organized Crime launched separate anti-corruption investigations that
were halted. He also alleged that former Prime Minister Andrey Lukanov was
murdered because he had gathered similar information. Meanwhile, government
Committee for Post and Telecommunications Chairman Lyubomir Kolarov has asked
Parliamentary Chairman Blagovest Sendov to lift Sugarev's parliamentary
immunity because he wants to take the UDF deputy to the court for "lies and
slanders" against both the Bulgarian Socialist Party and him personally. --
Maria Koinova
[21] EUROPEAN, U.S. INSTITUTES CALL ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS "FREE AND FAIR."
The International Republican Institute has concluded that in the 20 October
local elections "none [of the incidents] appears to have threatened the
legitimacy of the election." The U.S. National Democratic Institute on
International Affairs called the vote "a significant improvement from the May
elections." The Council of Europe said it was "satisfied with the way the vote
was carried out, but regrets a few cases of irregularities serious enough to
warrant careful examination by the Central Electoral Commission," AFP
reported. A Socialist Party spokesman, however, called the ballot "another
farce following the legislative elections of 26 May." He pointed out that
monitoring missions had visited only 263 of the 4,665 polling stations. --
Fabian Schmidt
[22] TWO ALBANIAN PRISON OFFICIALS ARRESTED IN ALLEGED TERRORIST CONSPIRACY.
A Tirana court has arraigned two high-ranking Tepelena prison officials
on charges of abuse of office, ATSH reported on 22 October. Gribes Licaj
is accused of allowing illegal meetings between late communist dictator
Enver Hoxha's son-in-law Klement Koloneci and communist secret police chief
Hajredin Shyti, who is serving an 18-year-prison term in Tepelena for
involvement in the killing of pro-democracy demonstrators in Shkoder in April
1991. Licaj is also accused of allowing letters by Shyti containing
instructions for the Revenge of Justice terrorist group to leave the jail.
Those letters were found in the possession of Shyti's son. Robert Kazanxhiu is
accused of falsifying Koloneci's name so that he could enter the jail. So far,
20 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy. --
Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle and Susan Caskie
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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