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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 242, 96-12-17
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 242, 17 December 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ANOTHER POLITICAL CASUALTY IN UZBEKISTAN.
[02] STATE ENTERPRISES TO BE AUCTIONED IN TURKMENISTAN.
[03] DEMIREL IN KAZAKSTAN.
[04] CONCERN OVER PKK ACTIVITIES IN KAZAKSTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER REJECTS OPPOSITION'S CONSENSUS FORMULA.
[06] SERBIAN OPPOSITION TAKES A SECOND TOWN . . .
[07] . . . AND VOWS TO CONTINUE WITH MASS DEMONSTRATIONS.
[08] PLAVSIC WARNS OF WAR OVER BRCKO.
[09] OPPOSITION PARTIES FROM BOTH BOSNIAN ENTITIES TO FORM SHADOW-
GOVERNMENT?
[10] CROAT REFUGEES FROM SERBIA RESETTLE FORMER SERB-HELD AREA IN CROATIA .. .
[11] . . . WHILE SERBS RETURN TO MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION.
[12] SHALIKASHVILI CALLS FOR NEW FORCE TO ARREST WAR CRIMINALS.
[13] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES DETAIN RETURNING KOSOVO ALBANIANS.
[14] CONSTANTINESCU VOWS TO FIND 1989 REVOLT TRUTH.
[15] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT DISMISSES STATE TELEVISION HEAD.
[16] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES IN SNEGUR'S FAVOR.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ANOTHER POLITICAL CASUALTY IN UZBEKISTAN.
The regional governor of the Bukhara region, Mavlon Rahmonov, asked to be
relieved of his duties on 14 December, Uzbek Radio reported. Current Deputy
Finance Minister Samoiddin Husinov, has been nominated by President Islam
Karimov to replace Rahmonov, who is the fourth regional governor to lose
his job this year. Poor harvest figures were cited as the reason for
Rahmonov's departure. While still incomplete, figures on Uzbekistan's grain
harvest reveal that, on average, less than 80% of the expected quota was
attained. Poor weather and mismanagement at the regional level have been
blamed for the shortfall. And, as in 1995, the result has been a
reshuffling of key positions in the government. -- Roger Kangas
[02] STATE ENTERPRISES TO BE AUCTIONED IN TURKMENISTAN.
Foreign and domestic investors will be offered an equal opportunity to buy
100 state enterprises specializing in sales before the end of the year,
Finansovye izvestiya reported on 17 December. According to unnamed
sources in Turkmenistan's ministries of economics and finance, more than 2,
000 enterprises involved in public catering and the retail trade are to be
privatized over the next two years. Meanwhile, the Turkish firm Artpaper
has won a tender to build a cellulose plant in Turkmenistan, ITAR-TASS
reported on 16 December. The plant is to begin production in 1998 and will
produce 32,000 tons of various cellulose products. The project is worth
$110 million and is being financed by the Turkish side. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] DEMIREL IN KAZAKSTAN.
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel completed a two-day visit to Almaty on
17 December, Western and Russian agencies reported. The visit coincided
with celebrations of the country's fifth year of independence and was
designed to highlight Turkish-Kazakstani relations, which Demirel described
as "eternal." Demirel and his Kazakstani counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev,
discussed expanding bilateral trade and utilization of a $300 million line
of credit from Turkey. According to the Turkish Daily News, Demirel also
presented a list of complaints from Turkish investors operating in
Kazakstan. Over 200 Turkish firms have invested an estimated $1.2 billion
in the country. -- Lowell Bezanis
[04] CONCERN OVER PKK ACTIVITIES IN KAZAKSTAN.
The Turkish daily Yeni Yuzyil on 17 December used Demirel's visit to
focus attention on the activities of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in
Almaty. The paper claimed that the group was causing distress to Turkish
students and businessmen in Almaty because of its alleged involvement in
protection rackets. One business was reportedly bombed and a businessmen
kidnapped. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER REJECTS OPPOSITION'S CONSENSUS FORMULA.
Zhan Videnov on 16 December said at a meeting with local Bulgarian
Socialist Party (BSP) leaders in Vratsa that the currency board--proposed
by the IMF as a "key element" in Bulgaria's economic stabilization--should
be introduced by his government and passed by the present parliament,
Duma and Standart reported. Videnov's statement amounts to a rejection
of the United Democratic Forces' (ODS) proposal that the board be created
only if a consensus is reached in parliament on early elections and the
resignation of the Bulgarian National Bank's current executive board.
Videnov said the cabinet will publish a document on the country's financial
stabilization--including stringent financial discipline and a fixed
exchange rate--before the 21-22 December extraordinary BSP congress.
Videnov apparently aims to use the document to shore up his leadership
before the congress, at which many observers believe he will either lose
his position as BSP leader or prime minister. -- Maria Koinova in Sofia
[06] SERBIAN OPPOSITION TAKES A SECOND TOWN . . .
A court in the Serbian town of Smederovska Palanka on 16 December ruled
that the local electoral commission must turn over the municipal council to
the opposition Zajedno coalition, thereby recognizing the opposition's
victory in the 17 November municipal elections. It was the second such
ruling in two days (see OMRI Daily Digest, 16 December 1996). For his
part, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said that "recognition of
second round [17 November] elections is the best solution," Nasa Borba
reported on 17 December. Finally, in another sign that Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic may be willing to make concessions and amid growing
trade union support for the daily mass demonstrations across Serbia, the
Serbian government announced it would not debate an unpopular labor bill
that could throw as many as 800,000 people out of work, Reuters reported on
17 December. -- Stan Markotich
[07] . . . AND VOWS TO CONTINUE WITH MASS DEMONSTRATIONS.
Opposition leaders have pledged to continue with peaceful mass rallies at
least until Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in all 12 of Serbia's
largest municipalities, where the Zajedno coalition scored second-round
victories. On 16 December, the 27th consecutive day of peaceful rallies in
Belgrade, an estimated 100,000 people demonstrated, Nasa Borba reported.
Zoran Djindjic, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, told the crowd
that the opposition coalition would continue to back nationwide protests
and encourage groups from all across Serbia to trek to Belgrade in
solidarity with protesters in the capital. Reuters quoted him saying: "One
thousand people from each of 30 towns in Serbia will walk to join us here
in Belgrade in the new year, we will be world champions in protest
marathons." -- Stan Markotich
[08] PLAVSIC WARNS OF WAR OVER BRCKO.
Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic said on 16 December that the
contested strategic town of Brcko is and will remain Serb. She warned that
there will be war if international arbitration takes it away from the Serbs,
VOA reported. "Through its force and its good organization, the army must
show that Brcko is a territory which is inviolable and dangerous for all
enemies," Plavsic told the local military contingent. The formerly mainly
Muslim town controls the key land corridor that links the eastern and
western halves of Republika Srpska. It is the only territorial issue that
was not resolved at Dayton. Mediation was to have settled the matter by 14
December, but the deadline was moved to 15 February after the Serbs refused
to attend meetings. Plavsic may be trying to repair links to the army,
whose leadership she purged in November. -- Patrick Moore
[09] OPPOSITION PARTIES FROM BOTH BOSNIAN ENTITIES TO FORM SHADOW-
GOVERNMENT?
The Sarajevo-based Union of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Social-Democrats (UBSD)
and the Banja Luka-based Liberal Socialist Party on 15 December proposed
the formation of an alliance of non-nationalist parties to try to resolve
various disputed issues and prevent the country from falling apart, Onasa
reported. The Democratic Alternative Forum (FDA) alliance would stand
against nationalists who are working for Bosnia's division. Miodrag
Zivanovic, head of the Liberal Socialist Party, said the opposition in both
entities is long overdue in creating a reconstruction project to improve
living conditions in all of Bosnia. He added that the situation in
Republika Srpska is critical because no foreign aid is coming in. "The
isolating policy of the current Bosnian Serb leadership jeopardizes the
population," international agencies quoted him as saying. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[10] CROAT REFUGEES FROM SERBIA RESETTLE FORMER SERB-HELD AREA IN CROATIA . . .
Croats from Serbia's province of Kosovo, forced to leave Serbia in 1991,
are resettling in the small town of Kistanje located in the Krajina area,
which was held by Croatian Serbs for four years, AFP reported on 16
December. Kistanje is at the heart of a pilot scheme designed to encourage
the repopulation of a region that became a wasteland after some 180,000
Serbs fled into Serbia or Bosnia during the Croatian army offensive last
year. Croatian authorities hope to move in more than 1,000 Croats from
Kosovo by 1 January. Employment for several hundred people will be provided
by the rehabilitation of a local metal works, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[11] . . . WHILE SERBS RETURN TO MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION.
In a rare experiment, Serbs from the village of Krtova, located in a
demilitarized zone near Tuzla, have returned to their homes in the Bosnian
Federation, international agencies reported on 16 December. About half of
the 1,150 people who fled in September 1995, when the Bosnian army
recaptured the area, have returned. While attempts by Muslims to move back
to their homes in a demilitarized zone of the Bosnian Serb entity have
encountered resistance, these Serbs have had no problems with Muslim-Croat
federation officials. Meanwhile, the Bosnian Federation is demanding the
release of 40 people arrested by Serbs this year while practicing their
right to freedom of movement, which is guaranteed under the Dayton peace
accords, Oslobodjenje reported on 16 December. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[12] SHALIKASHVILI CALLS FOR NEW FORCE TO ARREST WAR CRIMINALS.
The head of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili,
visited Bosnia and praised IFOR, international and regional media reported
on 16 December. The peacekeepers' mandate ends on 20 December, but the
smaller SFOR will then take over IFOR's duties and facilities. The U.S.
general said that IFOR could be proud of its work but regretted that more
was not done to arrest indicted war criminals, which IFOR and the general
call "police work." NATO claims that responsibility for arresting war
criminals lies with the various former Yugoslav civilian authorities, but
critics charge that IFOR has deliberately turned a blind eye toward war
criminals in order to avoid violence. Shalikashvili said that "a way must
be found for an international police force to be constituted" and arrest
suspects. The UN's International Police Task Force has long been in place
but, like IFOR, it also keeps away from touchy situations involving war
criminals. -- Patrick Moore
[13] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES DETAIN RETURNING KOSOVO ALBANIANS.
Serb police on 7 and 14 December detained 14 Kosovo Albanians, including a
mother with two children, at the Pristina Airport as they returned from
Switzerland, ATSH reported on 16 December. The Pristina based Council for
the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms said all of the detained Albanians
had valid travel documents. Meanwhile, shadow-state President Ibrahim
Rugova left the U.S. for Paris on 14 December, after meeting with U.S.
senior officials, including Secretary of State Warren Christopher. The
official announcements after the meeting gave no indication, however, that
any concrete steps or substantial diplomatic efforts would be undertaken on
the Kosovo issue. -- Fabian Schmidt
[14] CONSTANTINESCU VOWS TO FIND 1989 REVOLT TRUTH.
President Emil Constantinescu has pledged to uncover and reveal the truth
about the events of December 1989, which toppled dictator Nicolae Ceausescu,
RFE/RL and Radio Bucharest reported on 16 December. Speaking in Timisoara,
at ceremonies marking the beginning of the 1989 events, Constantinescu said
it is the duty of the country's new leaders to investigate allegations that
hundreds died as a result of confusion purposely sowed by those who
succeeded Ceausescu and his team to leadership positions. The crowd,
estimated at some 15,000, cheered and chanted "the truth, the truth," and
waved flags with the center torn out--the symbol of the 1989 revolt. His
predecessor, Ion Iliescu, who had never participated in ceremonies marking
the revolt in Timisoara, sent a message to the gathering. -- Michael Shafir
[15] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT DISMISSES STATE TELEVISION HEAD.
Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea's government on 16 December announced the
dismissal of Dumitru Popa, widely regarded as a partisan of the previous
executive, as head of Romanian state television. The decision was, however,
explained in legalistic terms. The communique said that since Popa was not
a member of the television administration's board, he was legally barred
from staying in the position. Popa was "temporarily" replaced by film
director Stere Gulea. The head of the Free Trade Unions in Radio and
Television, Dumitru Iuga, protested against the dismissal and said he is
disappointed that the new government behaves just as its predecessor did,
Radio Bucharest reported on 17 December. -- Michael Shafir
[16] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES IN SNEGUR'S FAVOR.
Moldova's Constitutional Court on 16 December ruled against an appeal
launched by the country's prosecutor general, who had contested outgoing
President Mircea Snegur's assumption of direct control over the Defense
Ministry last April. Snegur's decision followed fruitless attempts to
dismiss Defense Minister Gen. Pavel Creanga, whom Snegur had accused of
corruption. The parliament and government did not back the attempt to
dismiss Creanga, and the Constitutional Court then ruled that Snegur could
not dismiss him without the legislature's consent. In response, Snegur
assumed direct control over the ministry and the court has now confirmed
that the measure was in line with the constitution, which defines the
president as commander in chief and grants him the right to directly
command the armed forces, Infotag and BASA-press reported on 16 December. --
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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