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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 112, 96-06-10
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 112, 10 June 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN COSSACKS CALL FOR PROTECTION OF RUSSIANS IN ABKHAZIA.
[02] TAJIK GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE ON TAVIL-DARA.
[03] KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA CASE RESCHEDULED IN KAZAKHSTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] SERBS TO RETURN TO MOSTAR?
[05] IZETBEGOVIC LINKS RETURN OF SERBS, MUSLIMS.
[06] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
[07] SERBIAN PRESIDENT QUESTIONS IMPARTIALITY OF WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.
[08] AGREEMENT BETWEEN CROATIAN RULING PARTY AND OPPOSITION?
[09] CROAT WAR CRIMES SUSPECT ARRESTED.
[10] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.
[11] MOLDOVAN PARTY FAVORING REUNIFICATION HOLDS CONGRESS.
[12] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLED...
[13] ...AS POPULAR PROTESTS CONTINUE.
[14] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT ORDERS ELECTION RERUN...
[15] ...BUT OPPOSITION SAYS IT IS NOT ENOUGH.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIAN COSSACKS CALL FOR PROTECTION OF RUSSIANS IN ABKHAZIA.
The Union of Cossacks of Georgia has sent a letter to President Yeltsin and
his Georgian counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, protesting reprisals by Abkhaz
separatist elements against ethnic Russians in Abkhazia and calling for
measures to protect them, according to Georgia's Kontakt News Agency on 6 June
and Radio Rossii on 7 June. The Russian population of Abkhazia numbers between
70,000 and 80,000 people. -- Liz Fuller
[02] TAJIK GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE ON TAVIL-DARA.
Government forces are closing in on the town of Tavil-Dara, which has been in
rebel hands since early May, ITAR-TASS reported on 7 June. In a two-pronged
attack, government troops have pushed to Chil-Dara, about 25 km west of Tavil-
Dara, and have occupied Kalai-Khussein, 20 km east of Tavil-Dara. The
opposition Voice of Free Tajikistan reported on 8 June that almost 60
government soldiers were killed in the drives, the government confirmed five
dead but gave no casualty figures for the opposition. Meanwhile, in the town
of Obigarm, 80 km east of Dushanbe, opposition fighters attacked a checkpoint
on 8 June; one government soldier was killed and four wounded before the
rebels fled, leaving seven of their own dead, AFP reported. -- Bruce
Pannier
[03] KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA CASE RESCHEDULED IN KAZAKHSTAN.
A Kazakhstani court on 7 June approved a postponement of the litigation case
against the newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL reported
the same day. The paper's editors had claimed that due to a heavy workload
surrounding the upcoming Russian election, they would be unable to send a
representative to court until after 16 June. The court has now set the trial
for 21 June. The paper was banned in Kazakhstan after it printed an article by
Nobel Prize winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on 23 April in which he
argued that parts of Kazakhstan naturally and historically belong to Russia.
Eleven members of the Kazakhstani Writers' Union filed a suit against the
paper, saying the article was an infringement on "the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of our state." -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] SERBS TO RETURN TO MOSTAR?
Leading officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church visited Mostar on 7 June and
held a service in the ruined church building to launch its reconstruction,
Onasa reported. Bishop Atanasije Jevtic thanked the Muslim mayor of eastern
Mostar, Safet Orucevic, for everything going smoothly. The bishop said that
his visit could mark the beginning of the return of Mostar's Serbs, most of
whom live nearby in eastern Herzegovina. Jevtic added that the church does not
have much influence on the Serbs, but he hoped that "reasonable people" would
prevail. Oslobodjenje commented on 9 June, however, that the church has been
a staunch backer of Serbian nationalism and has not sufficiently distanced
itself from war crimes. -- Patrick Moore
[05] IZETBEGOVIC LINKS RETURN OF SERBS, MUSLIMS.
President Alija Izetbegovic on 8 June addressed a rally to mark the capture of
Zuc hill during the war. He linked the return of Serbs to Sarajevo with that
of Muslims to their homes in eastern Bosnia. "We need our expelled citizens to
return to their homes so that Bosnia can be Bosnia again. In order to have
[Muslims] returning to Podrinje [the Drina valley] Serbs must return to
Sarajevo too. Not Chetniks [Serb extremists], but Serbs. I can put this in the
opposite order too. In order to have the Serbs returning to Sarajevo--
something they have been asking for--the [Muslims] must return to Foca,
Visegrad, Rogatica, Prijedor," AFP quoted him as saying. To date, few, if any,
refugees have returned to their homes in territories under the control of
another ethnic group. -- Patrick Moore
[06] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
British UN peacekeepers testified to the international war crimes tribunal
that they were tortured by Serb captors last year, the BBC reported on 9 June.
In Vienna, the Bosnian government said it is working on a solution to the
impasse that is blocking the signing of the arms control agreement, which is
required by the Dayton agreement and was concluded last week. The Serbs insist
on signing separately, while the government demands that they sign as part of
the Bosnian delegation, AFP reported on 9 June. Dayton specifies that foreign
relations are the responsibility of the national government, but the Serbs
want to be treated as an independent state. -- Patrick Moore
[07] SERBIAN PRESIDENT QUESTIONS IMPARTIALITY OF WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.
Slobodan Milosevic, in an interview with Der Spiegel published on 10 June,
responded to mounting international calls for his help in apprehending accused
war criminals by questioning the impartiality of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Reuters on 8 June quoted him as saying: "I
do not believe that this tribunal is an institution for defamation, but it is
completely clear from its public conduct up to now that it is a political and
not a legal institution....Justice can only be done when the same standards
apply for all. Unfortunately, the work of the tribunal in The Hague has until
now offered no basis for such an impression." -- Stan Markotich
[08] AGREEMENT BETWEEN CROATIAN RULING PARTY AND OPPOSITION?
Negotiations began between the ruling Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) and
the opposition Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), Croatian media reported
over the weekend. The HSLS presented on 9 June a list of their requests,
including a change in the constitution concerning the powers of the parliament,
government, and president, Slobodna Dalmacija reported on 10 June. HSLS also
requests a fulfillment of commitments towards the Council of Europe, some
short-term and momentary measures, and changes in media policy and staff.
Leaders from other parties expressed disappointment that they were not
informed of the negotiations. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] CROAT WAR CRIMES SUSPECT ARRESTED.
Croatian police on 8 June arrested Zlatko Aleksovski, who has been indicted by
the International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia for allegedly
participating in a massacre of Muslims in the Bosnian village of Ahmici in
November 1993, AFP reported. The Croatian Justice Ministry said Aleksovski
would be "treated in accordance with Croatian law and with the war crimes
tribunal's demand for extradition." Aleksovski is kept in custody in the
Croatian port town of Slit and will be dealt with according to the amended law
which allows the extradition to The Hague of those wanted for war crimes. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[10] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.
Results of local elections held on 2 June do not provide conclusive evidence
as to what is likely to happen in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 3
November. The main coalition formation, the Party of Social Democracy in
Romania (PDSR) won most of the votes for mayor (21.8%) and was first in the
ballot for local councils (19.1%). But in the ballot for county councils,
considered a more accurate gauge of electoral trends at national level, the
opposition Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) scored higher (17.8%) than
the PDSR (16.9%). An alliance of the democratic opposition headed by the CDR
would, according to these results, have a larger share of the vote (43.4%)
than the PDSR and its prospective allies in the already disbanded "red
quadrangle" coalition (31,8%). Meanwhile, President Ion Iliescu has given his
approval to the PDSR to start gathering the necessary 100,000 signatures of
support for his candidacy for president, although he has not officially
announced that he will run, Radio Bucharest reported on 8 June. -- Michael
Shafir
[11] MOLDOVAN PARTY FAVORING REUNIFICATION HOLDS CONGRESS.
The fifth congress of the Christian Democratic Popular Front (FPCD), which
supports reunification with Romania, reiterated this option on 10 June, Radio
Bucharest reported on the same day. The FPCD said it wanted reunification to
follow the German or "other peaceful" model and added that it was the only
political formation in Moldova to pursue the country's integration into
European and Euro-Atlantic structures. The party deferred a decision on which
candidate to support in the presidential election scheduled for November. --
Michael Shafir
[12] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLED...
An extended plenary meeting of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) on 9 June
decided on structural and personnel changes in Prime Minister Zhan Videnov's
government, which the parliament approved the next day, Bulgarian media
reported. Montana region Governor Krastyu Trendafilov took over the
Agriculture Ministry from Svetoslav Shivarov, who stays on as deputy premier.
Deputy Education Minister Lyubomir Dachev replaced Kliment Vuchev as industry
minister. The state Energy Committee was transformed into a ministry under its
present Deputy Chairman Rumen Ovcharov. Ivan Marazov took over the Culture
Ministry from Georgi Kostov. A proposal by Videnov to close down the Ministry
of Economic Development headed by Rumen Gechev, who is also deputy prime
minister, was voted down. According to Demokratsiya, Videnov's concrete
proposals--aimed at getting his government out of its grave crisis--took both
the party leadership and the BSP's coalition partners by surprise. -- Stefan
Krause
[13] ...AS POPULAR PROTESTS CONTINUE.
Days before the ruling BSP plenary meeting, about 1 million people took to the
streets on 7 June to protests the government's economic and social policy,
Reuters and Trud reported. Protest meetings took place in many towns, and
workers went on warning strikes throughout the country, demanding salary
increases and the government's resignation. The government last month
announced strict austerity measures and price and tax hikes agreed on with the
IMF. Incidents were reported between police, opposition deputies, and taxi
drivers, when the latter staged a demonstration outside the parliament
building and tried to pass police-guarded fences put up by order of Parliament
President Blagovest Sendov. In other news, former Tsar Simeon II on 9 June
visited Plovdiv, where he was enthusiastically welcomed by some 200,000
people. -- Stefan Krause
[14] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT ORDERS ELECTION RERUN...
Sali Berisha has decreed that the parliamentary elections be held again in 17
out of 115 electoral districts, Reuters reported on 8 June. Berisha said the
new voting would take place on 16 June and called on all political parties to
participate. The Central Electoral Commission had earlier acknowledged that
"serious irregularities influenced the final result of the voting" in the 17
districts. The U.S. and the EU had advised the government earlier to redo
elections in an unspecified number of districts. Meanwhile, the International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Albanian Helsinki Committee
called on the Albanian government, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the
United Nations to declare the elections invalid and said that human rights had
been violated before, during, and after the polls on 26 May. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[15] ...BUT OPPOSITION SAYS IT IS NOT ENOUGH.
The Socialists, the Social Democrats, and the Democratic Alliance said they
would boycott the re-run and demanded full new elections with international
monitoring. Democratic Alliance leader Neritan Ceka said: "We are absolutely
not interested in this type of election," and Socialist leader Servet Pellumbi
added that the "opposition cannot be included in such kinds of ploys,"
pointing out that "the decree was a challenge to the EU, U.S. and the OSCE,
because all of them are waiting for the OSCE's final report on the elections."
Social Democrat leader Skender Gjinushi said: "We cannot accept a partial re-
run if there is no general recognition of all the violations. Berisha's decree
is not the solution. This is the president's ploy to hide (the manipulations)
from the world," Reuters reported. The Socialists say they have prepared
evidence of irregularities and manipulation in 107 districts. -- Fabian
Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez 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 info@omri.cz.
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