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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 209, 96-10-29
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 209, 29 October 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MASS RALLY IN YEREVAN.
[02] DIVERGING VIEWS OF GEORGIAN ECONOMY.
[03] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SLAMS PLANNED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN
NAGORNO-KARABAKH.
[04] TURKMENISTAN CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE.
[05] POLITICAL HEADS ROLL IN UZBEKISTAN.
[06] TAJIK POLICEMEN TAKEN HOSTAGE.
[07] PAKISTANI PRESIDENT IN KYRGYZSTAN, KAZAKSTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[08] NATO TO TRY TO COUNTER BOSNIAN BOMBINGS, ARSON.
[09] HAGUE BOSNIAN TRIBUNAL UNDER A CLOUD?
[10] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
[11] SERBS THREATEN TO BAN FEDERATION PARTIES FROM MUNICIPAL POLLS.
[12] BOSNIAN SERBS ACCUSED OF INTIMIDATING INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
[13] SERBIAN OPPOSITION OFFICIALS STAGE HUNGER STRIKE.
[14] BELGRADE TRANSIT WORKERS STRIKE.
[15] POLICE ARRESTS 30 KOSOVO ALBANIANS AFTER KILLING OF TWO SERBS.
[16] CROATIA BURIES WW2 FASCISTS AND COMMUNISTS TOGETHER.
[17] RUSSIA WANTS LARGE CUT IN MACEDONIAN PEACE KEEPING.
[18] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS SENTENCED FOR LIBEL.
[19] SNEGUR URGES RUSSIA TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM MOLDOVA.
[20] UNITED OPPOSITION CANDIDATES WIN FIRST ROUND OF BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTIONS ...
[21] ...CASTING DOUBTS ON PRIME MINISTER'S FUTURE.
[22] ALBANIAN DEMOCRATS CLAIM VICTORY IN LOCAL ELECTION SECOND ROUND.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MASS RALLY IN YEREVAN.
The opposition National Accord bloc (AHD) held a rally in Yerevan on 25
October, the first since the government lifted a ban on public gatherings in
the capital, Armenian and Western media reported on 25 October. An estimated
40,000 people participated in the sanctioned demonstration. Vazgen Manukyan,
the defeated presidential candidate and leader of the opposition, reiterated
charges that the 22 September election results were falsified and said the
opposition "will continue to struggle to replace the current government"
through legal means. Manukyan called for a boycott of the local elections
scheduled for 10 November. -- Emil Danielyan
[02] DIVERGING VIEWS OF GEORGIAN ECONOMY.
Economics Minister Lado Papava predicted on 27 October that the country would
experience an "economic miracle," with an annual increase in output of over
12%, ITAR-TASS reported. Papava added that some 110,000 jobs had been created
since the beginning of 1996 and that it was hoped that unemployment would be
reduced to 5-6% by 2000. The leader of the United Georgian Communist Party,
Panteleimon Giorgadze, told delegates to the party's fourth congress on 27
October that the economic situation is catastrophic and that some 775,000
people are unemployed (from a population of some 5 million), according to BGI
and ITAR-TASS. -- Liz Fuller
[03] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SLAMS PLANNED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN
NAGORNO-KARABAKH.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned as "a challenge to the
international community" the decision by the parliament of the self-proclaimed
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh to hold presidential elections on 24 November
while "up to one third of the enclave's population are living as refugees
beyond its borders", Radio Mayak reported on 26 October quoting ITAR-TASS. The
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan discussed the Karabakh peace process
during the Black Sea Economic Cooperation heads of state summit in Moscow on
25 October. A further round of talks on the Karabakh conflict under the aegis
of the OSCE Minsk group opened in Moscow on 28 October. -- Liz Fuller
[04] TURKMENISTAN CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE.
A military parade highlighted the 27 October ceremonies commemorating the
fifth anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence, Russian and Turkmen
sources reported. According to ITAR-TASS, Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov
met with Russian and Iranian officials in the days leading up to the
celebration, concluding a series of bilateral accords with both states that
underscore the country's "permanent neutrality." The Turkmen Press Agency
reported on 23 October that in the week before the anniversary a monument
to Gurbansoltan-edzhe, Niyazov's mother, was unveiled in Chardjui. --
Roger Kangas
[05] POLITICAL HEADS ROLL IN UZBEKISTAN.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov dismissed the Hokim (Governor) of Syrdarya
region on 28 October, Uzbek TV reported. Ghulomqodir Khasanov was officially
relieved of his duties because of his failure to meet grain and cotton harvest
targets. He will be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Utkam Ismailov. Karimov
dismissed the Hokim of Jizzak region, Alisher Toshkenboev, on 25 October for
the same reason. The firings follow a pattern of Hokim replacements that began
after last fall's poor grain harvest. -- Roger Kangas
[06] TAJIK POLICEMEN TAKEN HOSTAGE.
Forces of Tajik opposition field commander Mullo Abdullo surprised two
busloads of Tajik policemen on 24 October taking all 37 of them hostage near
the town of Komsomolabad, Russian and Western sources reported. The captors
demand the dismantling of all checkpoints along roads in the Karateginskaya
valley because, according to the opposition, they are a violation of the truce
signed by opposition and government commanders on 17 September. -- Bruce
Pannier
[07] PAKISTANI PRESIDENT IN KYRGYZSTAN, KAZAKSTAN.
Pakistani President Farooq Leghari made a three-day stop in Kyrgyzstan to hold
talks with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, RFE/RL reported. During the 25-27
October visit agreements were signed on cooperation between interior
ministries and fighting drug trafficking. Leghari left on 27 October for the
Kazakstani capital Almaty to meet President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The two
presidents discussed Afghanistan but found little common ground. Leghari did
find Nazarbayev supportive on the issue of Kashmir. -- Bruce Pannier and Naryn
Idinov
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[08] NATO TO TRY TO COUNTER BOSNIAN BOMBINGS, ARSON.
IFOR commander Adm. Joseph Lopez met on 26 October with the Bosnian Serb
member of the collective presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik. On 28 October, Lopez
also spoke to the Croatian representative Kresimir Zubak and with the Muslim
Alija Izetbegovic, news agencies reported. The purpose of the discussions was
to end a recent spate of attacks on buildings, which are apparently aimed at
intimidating refugees from returning to areas from which they have been
"ethnically cleansed." At issue especially were the systematic blasting of
more than 90 Muslim homes and two mosques near Serb-held Prijedor, as well as
the torching of 65 Serbian houses in Croat-held Drvar. The Dayton agreement
guarantees refugees the right to go home, and since August, groups of Muslims
have been trying to return to their villages just inside the Serbian side of
the inter-entity frontier in northeast Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore
[09] HAGUE BOSNIAN TRIBUNAL UNDER A CLOUD?
Dusan Tadic, a Bosnian Serb on trial in The Hague for war crimes, denied that
he was ever in two of the three concentration camps where he is accused of
abusing and murdering Muslim or Croatian prisoners, the VOA reported on 28
October. The case of Tadic was weakened considerably on 25 October when the
judge told the tribunal to disregard testimony from the Serb who had been the
main witness against the indicted man. Dragan Opacic admitted that he had been
forced into taking the stand against Tadic by the Bosnian authorities, who
coached him daily on how to testify. -- Patrick Moore
[10] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
IFOR opened a rebuilt railway bridge at Bosansko Petrovo Selo near Doboj on 28
October to reconnect Bosnian lines with Western Europe, the VOA reported. It
is now possible to travel by train from Zagreb to Belgrade, too, Onasa added.
Meanwhile at Ploce on the Adriatic, the U.S. ship bringing arms for the
Bosnian army has left its moorings and headed out to sea to await further
instructions from Washington, Nasa Borba and Oslobodjenje wrote on 28
October. The Americans are making delivery contingent on the sacking of a top
Bosnian Muslim commander, whom Washington feels is the main obstacle to integrating the Muslim and Croat armies (see ). -- Patrick Moore
[11] SERBS THREATEN TO BAN FEDERATION PARTIES FROM MUNICIPAL POLLS.
Dragan Kalinic, head of the Bosnian Serb parliament, threatened on 26 October
to ban parties from the Muslim-Croat Federation from taking part in
municipal elections in the Republika Srpska (RS), AFP quoted BETA reports.
Kalinic said the Federation parties must be registered according to the RS
laws defining the rights of national minorities, which include Muslims and
Croats. Kalinic criticized the new electoral registration rules for the
municipal elections, saying they disqualify over 300,000 Serbs living abroad
or in Serbia-Montenegro as refugees. The OSCE recently announced that refugees
could no longer register to vote in places they "intended" to live, owing
mainly to the Bosnian Serb registration manipulations during Bosnia's general
elections. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[12] BOSNIAN SERBS ACCUSED OF INTIMIDATING INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
The OSCE has started an investigation into Bosnian Serb authorities'
intimidating the independent media in the Republika Srpska, AFP reported on 28
October. Several independent papers have stopped publishing after being denied
access to the Glas Srpski printing house controlled by the ruling Serbian
Democratic Party (SDS). Two reporters of the weekly Alternativa are being
sued by senior SDS journalists over an article that linked the two men to
attempts during recent elections to prevent meeting of opposition parties.
OMRI reported Alternativa's editor was told that the Glas Srpski's printing
ban was for publishing a protest to a similar ban imposed on the only
independent daily, Nezavisne Novine. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[13] SERBIAN OPPOSITION OFFICIALS STAGE HUNGER STRIKE.
Three members of the Zajedno or Together coalition (consisting of the Serbian
Renewal Movement, the Democratic Party, the Democratic party of Serbia, and
the Serbian Civic League) competing in the upcoming 3 November elections
staged a hunger strike and demanded that they be permitted to monitor election
returns, Belgrade's Radio B 92 reported on 28 October. One of the protesters
vowed that "we will stay until our demands are met, or until the police
[forcibly] evict us." The three reportedly locked themselves in at election
headquarters in Nis in order to protest a decision by the ruling authorities
barring them from monitoring returns. Earlier, on 25 October, the coalition
said it might boycott the elections if independent monitors were not allowed
to observe on polling day. -- Stan Markotich
[14] BELGRADE TRANSIT WORKERS STRIKE.
Bus and tram drivers in Belgrade nearly halted commuter traffic in that city
on the morning of 28 October before the transit authorities could muster more
vehicles, local and international media reported. Slobodan Vucenovic, a local
dispatcher told Reuters "there [were] only 483 vehicles on the street...out of
1,009 scheduled." Two of six transport unions staged the strike, demanding
unpaid back wages. -- Stan Markotich
[15] POLICE ARRESTS 30 KOSOVO ALBANIANS AFTER KILLING OF TWO SERBS.
Serbian police arrested 30 ethnic Albanians in Surkis near Podujevo after a
police officer and a civil servant were killed there in an ambush with
automatic weapons on 25 October, Reuters reported. Funerals for the victims
were held on 27 October in Surkis and Velika Reka with a heavy Serbian police
presence, AFP reported. Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Nikola Sainovic and Serbian Interior Minister Zoran Sokolovic
visited representatives of the Serb community in Podujevo the previous
evening. Sokolovic promised that a police intervention unit be stationed in
the town, and said he would ask the federal government to set up a Yugoslav
army garrison in Podujevo. -- Fabian Schmidt
[16] CROATIA BURIES WW2 FASCISTS AND COMMUNISTS TOGETHER.
Croatian authorities on 27 October in the Adriatic town of Omis reburied
together the bodies of World War II fascist soldiers and the remains of
communist partisans they had fought, AFP reported. Of 112 bodies, 104 were
remains of soldiers from marionette fascist Independent State of Croatia, six
were former Ustashi troops--equivalent of the Nazi SS--and two were the bodies
of partisans. Vice Vukojevic of the ruling Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ)
said the ceremony was "a symbol of the reconciliation of the Croat people,"
AFP quoted him as saying. Jewish communities in Croatia and abroad and former
partisans protested the ceremony. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[17] RUSSIA WANTS LARGE CUT IN MACEDONIAN PEACE KEEPING.
Russia's UN representative Sergei Lavrov on 28 October stated in Skopje that
"Russia believes the [UNPREDEP] mandate should stay the same but with a major
reduction in troops," AFP reported. Lavrov met with President Kiro Gligorov
and Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frckovski. The mandate of the 1,100 troops runs
out on 30 November, but Skopje has asked for an extension because of the
weakness of its own army. Meanwhile, the defense ministry said it will buy
arms for $200 million over the next five years. NATO had asked that the
weapons comply with Western standards but Skopje made it clear that Macedonia
was under no obligation to buy Western-made weapons. -- Fabian Schmidt
[18] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS SENTENCED FOR LIBEL.
A Bucharest court sentenced two journalists on 25 October for "offending the
authorities," Romanian media reported. Sorin Rosca Stanescu, editor of the
daily Ziua and Tana Ardeleanu, a Ziua reporter, were handed down prison
sentences of one year and 14 months respectively for a series of articles
suggesting that President Ion Iliescu had been recruited by the KGB in his
youth. The prosecution requested a minimum 6-month suspended sentence, but the
court ignored the request and also banned the two to work as journalists in
the future. The journalists will appeal the decision. The timing of
the verdict--just one week before general and presidential elections--has
been interpreted by the independent media as a warning addressed to
journalists criticizing Iliescu. -- Zsolt Mato
[19] SNEGUR URGES RUSSIA TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM MOLDOVA.
Moldovan President Mircea Snegur on 25 October told journalists in Moscow that,
if he is reelected, he would insist that Russian troops be withdrawn from
eastern Moldova by late 1997, Infotag reported on 28 October. Snegur made the
statement after meeting Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin during a
Black Sea Economic Cooperation summit. He further reiterated earlier
statements that Moldova, whose constitution provides for neutrality, does not
plan to join any military alliance, including NATO. -- Dan Ionescu
[20] UNITED OPPOSITION CANDIDATES WIN FIRST ROUND OF BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTIONS ...
Petar Stoyanov and his running mate, Todor Kavaldzhiev received 44.09% of the
vote in the first round of the Bulgarian presidential elections on 27 October,
24 chasa reported, based on preliminary figures released by the Central
Electoral Commission. The candidates of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party
(BSP), Culture Minister Ivan Marazov and Deputy Foreign Minister Irina Bokova,
trailed with 26.98%, followed by Bulgarian Business Bloc leader Georges
Ganchev and Arlin Antonov with 21.86%. Aleksandar Tomov and Gen. Lyudmil
Marinchevski received 3.18%, and the comedians Hristo Boychev and Ivan Kulekov,
1.34%. Other candidates received less than 1 percentage point. Voter turnout
was 62.7%, or 12-15 points less than at the previous presidential and
parliamentary elections. A runoff between the top two will take place on 3
November. -- Stefan Krause in Sofia
[21] ...CASTING DOUBTS ON PRIME MINISTER'S FUTURE.
Meanwhile, Marazov's and Bokova's poor showing prompted speculation about the
future of Prime Minister and BSP Chairman Zhan Videnov. During a BSP plenary
meeting on 28 October, leading BSP members demanded Videnov resign as premier
and party leader, Kontinent and Standart reported. Sociologist Andrey
Raychev, a leading member of the Alliance for a Social Democracy, the most
important reformist faction within the BSP, did not rule out a party split.
Union of Democratic Forces Chairman Ivan Kostov, Ganchev, and the leader of
the mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom, Ahmed Dogan, ruled
out a coalition with the BSP in the present parliament, in which the BSP holds
an outright majority. Meanwhile, Ganchev's driver was killed and his bodyguard
seriously injured in a road accident on 28 October. Ganchev, who was not in
the car, said the crash "was not an accident." -- Stefan Krause in
Sofia
[22] ALBANIAN DEMOCRATS CLAIM VICTORY IN LOCAL ELECTION SECOND ROUND.
Foreign Minister and party leader Tritan Shehu said the Democrats won 21 out
of 22 town halls and 73 out of 96 communes in the second round of local
elections on 27 October. That would give the Democrats 90.6% of town halls and
86.7% of communes all over the country. The opposition Socialists reportedly
gained only 6.25% of the city halls and 4.5% of the communes, down from 51%
and 59.8% respectively in 1992, Reuters reported. Official results are
expected later. Council of Europe observers said they noted "serious
deficiencies" in the second round "caused by individual errors and ... the
consequence of certain traditions," AFP reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Pete Baumgartner and Valentina Huber
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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