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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 97, 96-05-20
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 97, 20 May 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING MANDATE IN ABKHAZIA EXTENDED.
[02] GEORGIAN COMMUNISTS UNITE.
[03] RUSSIAN-AZERBAIJANI BORDER AGREEMENT.
[04] CONFUSION CONTINUES IN TAJIKISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] IS KARADZIC STEPPING DOWN?
[06] HARD-LINER ENDORSED AS BOSNIAN SERB PREMIER.
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS PLAY FOR TIME.
[08] SERBS FACE HURDLES IN GOING HOME TO SARAJEVO.
[09] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL DIES IN BELGRADE.
[10] POPE'S VISIT TO SLOVENIA.
[11] BULGARIA'S "BLACK FRIDAY."
[12] ALBANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN GREECE.
[13] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER CAMPAIGNS FROM JAIL CELL.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING MANDATE IN ABKHAZIA EXTENDED.
Participants in the CIS summit in Moscow on 17 May endorsed the agreement
taken on 16 May by CIS foreign ministers to extend for a further two months
the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping troops currently deployed along the
border between the breakaway republic of Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia,
Western agencies reported. The Georgian parliament has for months demanded,
without success, that the peacekeepers' mandate be broadened to enable them to
defend ethnic Georgian refugees who wish to return to their homes in Abkhazia.
-- Liz Fuller
[02] GEORGIAN COMMUNISTS UNITE.
The Stalinist Communist Party of Georgia decided on 18 May to unite with the
Georgian Communist Party, led by Ivane Tsiklauri, and part of the United
Communist Party, led by Panteleimon Giorgadze, Iprinda news agency reported
same day. The Stalinist party's plenary session also decided that its leader,
Grigol Oniani, would work as acting first secretary of the new party's central
committee until its first congress, scheduled for 6 September. -- Irakli
Tsereteli
[03] RUSSIAN-AZERBAIJANI BORDER AGREEMENT.
President Yeltsin and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, signed an
agreement in Moscow on 17 May aimed at strengthening border controls between
Dagestan and Azerbaijan, AFP reported, citing Interfax. The agreement covers
information exchanges; joint measures to fight terrorism, arms and drug
trafficking, and illegal immigration into Russia; and the joint training of
border troops. It is not clear whether the agreement provides for the
deployment Russian troops on Azerbaijani territory. -- Liz Fuller
[04] CONFUSION CONTINUES IN TAJIKISTAN.
Sixty-four government soldiers are reported to have been killed during heavy
fighting near the town of Komsomolabad in the Tavil-Dara region on 15-16 May,
according to NTV. Tajik Interior Ministry troops and members of the CIS
peacekeeping force have set up checkpoints on the road from Komsomolabad to
Dushanbe. Meanwhile, the demonstrations in the northern Tajik cities of
Khojent, Ura-Tyube, Shakhristan, and Isfana appear to have ended, RFE/RL
reported on 18 May. The protesters demanded the equal distribution of
humanitarian aid, an adequate supply of food, and the removal of local
government officials. About 75 officials in the north are reported to have
been replaced already. In other news, AFP reported on 19 May that the Tajik
opposition has agreed to extend the ceasefire that was due to expire on 26
May. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] IS KARADZIC STEPPING DOWN?
Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic announced this
weekend that he was giving up some of his duties as Bosnian Serb president to
concentrate on such domestic issues as refugees and the economy, international
and local agencies reported on 19 May. Karadzic delegated some of his powers,
including contacts with the international community, to Vice President Biljana
Plavsic, a hard-liner known as the "Iron Lady of the Bosnian Serbs." While the
rump Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reported that Karadzic has stepped down as
Bosnian Serb president, the Bosnian Serb agency SRNA reported that he has only
delegated some of his functions. Meanwhile, the international community's High
Representative for Bosnia Carl Bildt visited Pale on 19 May to clarify
controversial reports on Karadzic's resignation. He noted that Karadzic
appeared to be withdrawing from "public life," AFP reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[06] HARD-LINER ENDORSED AS BOSNIAN SERB PREMIER.
The Bosnian Serb parliament on 18 May endorsed Karadzic's dismissal of Rajko
Kasagic, the moderate Bosnian Serb prime minister supported by the
international community (see OMRI Daily Digest, and ). Deputies also approved
his replacement by Gojko Klickovic, a hard-liner who oversaw the exodus
earlier this year of the Sarajevo Serbs, which was marred by massive looting
and arson, AFP reported on 18 May. In his first statement to reporters,
Klickovic opposed setting up a single Bosnian state, which is stipulated in
the Dayton peace accord. AFP on 19 May quoted him as saying that "integration
within Bosnia is out of the question." Klickovic also said that the Bosnian
Serb people will "never allow" Karadzic to be sent for trial to The Hague-
based war crimes tribunal because "there is no reason for him to go there." --
Daria Sito Sucic
[07] BOSNIAN SERBS PLAY FOR TIME.
The scenes of the past weekend were familiar to those who have long followed
the Bosnian conflict: an international negotiator met in a series of sessions
with Bosnian Serb leaders, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and then the
Bosnian Serbs again. He never received a direct answer to his main demand--in
this case, that Karadzic be dumped as president--but rather a series of
promises that seemed to go at least part way to achieving that end. Bildt was
told, among other things, that Karadzic would "be neither seen nor heard,"
that a referendum would be held, and that Plavsic would take over his
international obligations. Karadzic, however, has no foreign duties because no
representative from abroad is supposed to meet with the indicted war criminal.
The Dayton agreement, moreover, says clearly that he has no political future
and that Milosevic is obliged to help hunt him down and bring him to justice.
Much of Bosnian opinion regards the latest moves from Pale as "cosmetic,"
Oslobodjenje reported on 20 May. -- Patrick Moore
[08] SERBS FACE HURDLES IN GOING HOME TO SARAJEVO.
The anti-nationalist Serbian Civic Council (SGV), which remained loyal to the
Bosnian government throughout the war, says that several legal difficulties
stand in the way of Serbs wanting to live in Sarajevo again. Many of these
people were among the 60,000 who were pressured by the Bosnian Serb
authorities into abandoning their flats and houses earlier this year but who
now want to go back after spending months in makeshift camps. The SGV says
that they have difficulty in obtaining Bosnian passports and that their flats
have been occupied by Muslim refugees from Srebrenica and Zepa, Onasa noted on
18 May. A group of independent intellectuals charged that all three sides are
practicing "silent ethnic cleansing" and point to Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and
both parts of Mostar as examples, Oslobodjenje noted on 20 May. Elsewhere,
the SGV joined Muslim parties in criticizing the current election rules for
Mostar, saying that they make it impossible for 90% of the Serbs from there to
vote because refugees are barred from the ballot. -- Patrick Moore
[09] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL DIES IN BELGRADE.
Bosnian Serb Gen. Djordje Djukic died in Belgrade's military medical academy
on 18 May. According to a statement issued by the Bosnian Serb military
authorities, Djukic died after "being ill and exhausted by the trial in The
Hague," Reuters reported. He was 62 years old and had appeared before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on charges relating
to his role in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. The general, who had pleaded
not guilty, was released by The Hague on compassionate grounds and allowed to
return to his family in Belgrade. A doctors' report concluded that Djukic's
terminal pancreatic cancer had reached an advanced stage. Djukic, a logistics
officer, was captured by the Bosnian government on 30 January 1996. -- Stan
Markotich
[10] POPE'S VISIT TO SLOVENIA.
John Paul II concluded his first-ever visit to Slovenia on 19 May by
celebrating Mass in Maribor with an estimated 120,000 worshippers. The
previous day, he celebrated his 76th birthday in the nation's capital.
Slovenian political leaders thanked the pontiff for supporting Slovenia's
independence, noting that the Vatican was among the first states to recognize
Slovenia as an independent country. Finally, John Paul donated $50,000 to the
Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia to enable it to assist refugees from the
wars throughout the former Yugoslavia, international media reported on 18 May.
-- Stan Markotich
[11] BULGARIA'S "BLACK FRIDAY."
Bulgaria's ongoing financial and economic crisis peaked yet again on 17 May
when two banks were placed under the Bulgarian National Bank's administration,
Bulgarian media reported. BNB Governor Lyubomir Filipov announced that the
First Private Bank and the state-controlled Mineral Bank were being "placed
under special supervision owing to the real possibility of insolvency."
Meanwhile, local media reported that consumers triggered a panic on what was
dubbed "Black Friday," trying to withdraw all assets from the defunct banks.
The following day, Kontinent reported that following the banks' insolvency,
a major restructuring of the banking system cannot be avoided. Premier Zhan
Videnov, speaking on state TV and radio, pledged financial reforms and asked
for "backing from the whole of society." The government has already drawn up a
plan for economic reform, including the closure of some 64 unprofitable firms.
-- Stan Markotich
[12] ALBANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN GREECE.
Safet Zhulali arrived in Athens on 19 May for talks with his Greek counterpart,
Gerassimos Arsenis, and President Kostis Stephanopoulos, AFP reported. The
talks are to focus on military cooperation within the framework of NATO's
Partnership for Peace. Zhulali will also visit Greek military facilities.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Albanian immigrants began returning from Greece to vote
in the 26 May elections; their number is expected to increase by the
thousands. The Greek police have supplied them with special border-crossing
permits, and travel agencies have increased the number of buses traveling to
Albania and reduced fares. Some 250,000 Albanian immigrants are currently
working in Greece. Finally, Albania and Greece on 17 May signed a framework
agreement on legalizing the status of the mostly illegal immigrants. It will
take effect in September, after four Greek-language schools have opened in
southern Albania. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER CAMPAIGNS FROM JAIL CELL.
Albanian Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano has sent a letter to Albanian
dailies urging voters to oust the Democratic Party in the elections, Reuters
reported on 19 May. Nano said the Socialists will guarantee "liberty and
security." He accused President Sali Berisha of abusing his powers and of
running a "banana republic." Nano still has three years to serve for
misappropriating funds, but the Socialists say he is a political prisoner.
Meanwhile the Democratic Party organized a pop music and fashion show
spectacle for 30,000 people at a Tirana stadium on 19 May. The same day, the
road to Shkoder was blocked for hours by demonstrators hoping to prevent
Socialist leaders from going there, but none of those leaders showed up. --
Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
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 info@omri.cz.
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