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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 228, 96-11-25
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 228, 25 November 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] KOCHARYAN REELECTED PRESIDENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH.
[02] HIGH TURNOUT IN ABKHAZ POLL, GEORGIAN REFERENDUM.
[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION DEMANDS FRESH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
[04] KAZAKSTANIS RESIST CHANGE OF CAPITAL.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] SERBIA'S ZAJEDNO TO BOYCOTT NEXT ROUND OF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN
BELGRADE.
[06] DRASKOVIC'S WIFE FREED FROM POLICE CUSTODY.
[07] TUDJMAN SLAMS OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE.
[08] PLAVSIC MOVES ARMY COMMAND CENTER.
[09] NATO CONFISCATES WEAPONS IN BOSNIA.
[10] UN FORCE IN MACEDONIA TO BE EXTENDED AT REDUCED STRENGTH?
[11] DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE OVER BULGARIAN CURRENCY BOARD.
[12] UPDATE ON BULGARIAN BUGGING SCANDAL.
[13] NEGOTIATIONS ON NEW ROMANIAN CABINET.
[14] MOLDOVAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] KOCHARYAN REELECTED PRESIDENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH.
The presidential election in Nagorno-Karabakh took place on 24 November
despite its condemnation by Azerbaijan, Russia, and major Western countries,
Western agencies reported. According to the Central Electoral Commission in
Stepanakert, 76% of the region's 89,000 voters turned out. Robert Kocharyan,
the incumbent president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,
who was opposed by two other candidates, won a decisive victory, Radio
France Internationale reported on 25 November. Meanwhile, mass rallies were
held in Azerbaijan to protest the election, ITAR-TASS reported on 24
November. Turan quoted Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliev as saying that
his country will never recognize the vote. Aliev said that besides Armenia
some unspecified countries also "support separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh." -
- Emil Danielyan
[02] HIGH TURNOUT IN ABKHAZ POLL, GEORGIAN REFERENDUM.
Parliamentary elections were held in Abkhazia on 23 November despite an
appeal by the EU on 22 November for their cancellation and the resumption
of talks on a political solution to the Abkhaz conflict, Russian and
Western agencies reported. Eighty-one candidates, including 65 ethnic
Abkhaz and three Georgians, contended the 35 seats; 30 deputies were
elected in the first round. Voter participation among the 219,000
electorate was estimated at over 80%, according to AFP. Speaking at a press
conference on 24 November, a spokesman for the Unrecognized Nations and
Peoples Organization (UNPO) characterized the elections as "the free
expression of the people's will," ITAR-TASS reported. Voting was marred by
a series of explosions in Gali raion, home to some 40,000 repatriated
ethnic Georgians; an Abkhaz Interior Ministry spokesmen blamed the
incidents on Georgian saboteurs, ITAR-TASS reported. Between 18 and 23
November some 230,000 ethnic Georgians who fled Abkhazia during the
fighting in 1992-93 voted in a counter-referendum organized by the Georgian
authorities and overwhelmingly registered their condemnation of the Abkhaz
poll. -- Liz Fuller
[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION DEMANDS FRESH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
The leader of the opposition National Democratic Union, defeated
presidential candidate Vazgen Manukyan, has demanded a fresh election
following the decision by the Constitutional Court to reject the
opposition's appeal of the results of the 22 September presidential polls
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 22 November 1996), Noyan Tapan reported on 22
November. Manukyan called on the international community to exert pressure
on the Armenian government to make the latter respect democratic
principles. -- Emil Danielyan
[04] KAZAKSTANIS RESIST CHANGE OF CAPITAL.
With the first transfer of ministries due to take place after the New Year,
the Giller Institute conducted a poll which found only 5.6% of respondents
would move from Almaty to Akmola, the future capital, according to a 24
November report from ITAR-TASS. Akmola lies on the steppe in the north of
the country and has much colder winters and hotter summers than Almaty. The
ministries of agriculture, transportation, and communications are the first
of 26 ministries scheduled to move in 1997, but presently the Kazakstani
government has only about one-tenth of the money it needs to complete the
first stage of the transfer. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] SERBIA'S ZAJEDNO TO BOYCOTT NEXT ROUND OF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN
BELGRADE.
Leaders of the opposition Zajedno coalition have asked voters to boycott
a third round of municipal balloting in Belgrade, slated for 27 November.
Earlier, Belgrade's First District Court had declared void the returns in a
number of local constituencies where opposition candidates won majorities
following the 17 November run-offs. At mass rallies over the weekend,
opposition leaders warned that the ruling Socialists' tactic in the third
round of voting would be to overturn opposition wins by nullifying the
results of the second round and falsifying those of the third. Early
returns in the second round of voting had shown that Zajedno won at least
60 of the 110 seats in the Belgrade council. Meanwhile, the ultranationalist
Serbian Radical Party (SRS), led by accused war criminal Vojislav Seselj,
will take part in the third round, Nasa Borba reported on 25 November. --
Stan Markotich in Belgrade
[06] DRASKOVIC'S WIFE FREED FROM POLICE CUSTODY.
Danica Draskovic, wife of Serbian Renewal Movement leader Vuk Draskovic,
was freed from police custody on 22 November. She had disappeared the
previous day, prompting her husband to express concern that she had been
kidnapped. After her release, she told Nasa Borba that she was shanghaied
by police and questioned about a public remark calling on violence to
address regime repression. "They put a knife to my throat, pistol in my
mouth, and they pulled my hair," she said. She added that the police had
wanted to her to call her husband to say "they want to kill me if you don't
stop the demonstrations ... and [concede] that the returns in Belgrade are
nullified." -- Stan Markotich in Belgrade
[07] TUDJMAN SLAMS OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE.
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman returned to Zagreb on 23 November after
spending just over a week in Washington's Walter Reed Army Hospital,
Croatian and international media reported. His office said the stay there
was because of an ulcer and swollen lymph nodes, but unnamed U.S. and
Croatian told CNN that he has terminal cancer. Television footage showed
the president gaunt and weakened. He nonetheless attended a social function
in the company of hard-line Minister of Defense Gojko Susak soon after
returning home. He also made a tough speech in which he used communist-era
language to blast unnamed sinister "European and trans-Atlantic powers" who,
he alleged, are meddling in Croatia's affairs even though they "are not
able to solve their own minority, racial or social problems." The address
came in the wake of the 21 November demonstration in which 100,000 people
in Zagreb protested in favor of independent Radio 101. -- Patrick Moore
[08] PLAVSIC MOVES ARMY COMMAND CENTER.
Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic announced on 22 November that
the army's command center will be moved from ousted Gen. Ratko Mladic's
base at Han Pijesak to the northeastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, Reuters
reported. World Bank officials that same day pointed out that the Republika
Srpska has received only 2% of the $900 million in reconstruction aid
earmarked for all of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bank blamed a number of
factors but singled out a lack of cooperation from local officials, the VOA
noted. All of Bosnia suffers not only from wartime devastation but also
from massive unemployment aggravated by the demobilization of tens of
thousands of soldiers. -- Patrick Moore
[09] NATO CONFISCATES WEAPONS IN BOSNIA.
IFOR troops and UN police took a number of mortars, rocket-propelled
grenades, and other weapons "one would not ordinarily expect to find in a
police station" from Muslim police in Sanski Most, the BBC said on 24
November. The northwest Bosnian town was held by the Serbs for most of the
war but captured by the Bosnian and Croatian armies in their fall 1995
offensive. Meanwhile in Mostar, the international community's Michael
Steiner took part in the organizational meeting of a refugee group called
Road to Return. -- Patrick Moore
[10] UN FORCE IN MACEDONIA TO BE EXTENDED AT REDUCED STRENGTH?
UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali on 22 November recommended that
the mandate of the UN force stationed in Macedonia be extended by six
months at a reduced strength, Reuters reported. Under the proposal , the UN
Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) will be gradually reduced from 1,100
to 800 troops by 1 April. Boutros-Ghali, in a report to the UN Security
Council, said recent developments in the region and Macedonia's increased
international standing have made the possibility of a spread of violence
from other parts of the former Yugoslavia less likely. He added that "the
primary threat ... may come from internal tensions." -- Stefan Krause
[11] DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE OVER BULGARIAN CURRENCY BOARD.
Bulgarian Premier Zhan Videnov on 24 November urged the heads of radio and
television stations and news agencies as well as newspaper editors to help
in gaining public support for the introduction of a currency board, RFE/RL
and Pari reported the next day. The IMF has stipulated that such a board
be established as a condition for the release of installments of a loan.
Videnov said such a board would enforce "iron financial discipline" by
preventing the national bank from lending freely to banks and firms and by
putting a stop to large budget deficits. Depositors fearing bank failures,
lay-offs, and cuts in social benefits after the board's introduction are
withdrawing leva from the banks and converting them into dollars at an
accelerating rate. -- Michael Wyzan
[12] UPDATE ON BULGARIAN BUGGING SCANDAL.
Interior Ministry Secretary Ivan Boyadzhiev told Bulgarian National Radio
on 24 November that there was no motivation for bugging the headquarters of
the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), the Bulgarian press reported. His
statement was in response to SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov's claim that the SDS
premises were bugged before the presidential elections (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 13 November 1996). Boyadzhiev acknowledged that in theory, some
ministry employees could have placed the microphones in return for bribes
and without authorization. Demokratsiya claimed that Boyadzhiev's wife
heads an "informal" eavesdropping group and that materials were directly
handed to Boyadzhiev and then passed onto the Bulgarian Socialist Party
headquarters. Even if Interior Minister Nikolay Dobrev gave no written
authorization, it does not mean that he did not know about the "criminal
eavesdropping," the daily added. -- Maria Koinova
[13] NEGOTIATIONS ON NEW ROMANIAN CABINET.
Representatives of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR)
participated in negotiations over the weekend on the new Romanian cabinet,
Romanian media report. It is now considered certain that the UDMR will be
included in the new government. According to some reports, the UDMR's
Gyorgy Frunda will be minister of tourism and the National Liberal Party
will have five ministers in the cabinet. Radio Bucharest reported on 23
November that during the negotiations, it was decided to restore the
traditional designation "chairman of the Council of Ministers" to replace
"prime minister." The new cabinet will have 27 members, of whom 23 will be
in charge of portfolios. In other news, the Constitutional Court on 23
November confirmed Emil Constantinescu's election as the country's new
president. -- Michael Shafir
[14] MOLDOVAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE.
Parliamentary chairman Petru Lucinschi on 22 November said that if he is
elected president on 1 December, he will implement a change of government,
Infotag reported the same day. He dismissed "rumors," reportedly spread by
incumbent President Mircea Snegur's supporters, that he intended to keep
Andrei Sangheli's unpopular cabinet. He also accused Snegur of being
responsible for the growing wage and pension arrears, which, he claimed,
had grown most rapidly between 1991 and 1994, when Snegur had extraordinary
powers. Meanwhile, Snegur appealed to Moldova's national minorities to
support him, saying his adversary's allegations that he intended to limit
the rights of minorities were "absurd." -- Michael Shafir
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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