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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 236, 96-12-09
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 236, 9 December 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] TENGIZ PIPELINE DEAL FINALIZED.
[02] DEMONSTRATION IN KAZAKSTAN.
[03] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER'S PLANE FORCED DOWN.
[04] RUSSIAN BORDER TROOP COMMANDER IN ARMENIA.
[05] RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ TALKS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] SERBIAN COURT BACKS MILOSEVIC.
[07] PROTESTS CONTINUE THROUGHOUT SERBIA.
[08] KRAJISNIK SAYS BOSNIAN SERBS CANNOT ACCEPT LOSS OF BRCKO.
[09] CROATIA'S TUDJMAN BLASTS ENEMIES . . .
[10] . . . AND DECORATES INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL.
[11] DONORS PLEDGE OVER $30 MILLION FOR EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[12] SLOVENES REJECT ELECTORAL REFORM.
[13] ROMANIAN PARTIES SIGN RULING COALITION ACCORD.
[14] DNIESTER MEDIATORS WELCOME LISBON DOCUMENT.
[15] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR NATIONAL CONSENSUS.
[16] MOSQUE IN BULGARIA DAMAGED IN EXPLOSION.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] TENGIZ PIPELINE DEAL FINALIZED.
Meeting in Moscow on 6 December, participants in the Caspian Pipeline
Consortium signed an agreement finalizing their respective stakes in the
project, AFP reported. Fifty per cent of the project will be divided
between the governments of Russia (24%), Kazakstan (19%), and Oman (7%);
the remaining 50% will be divided between Lukoil (12.5%), Rosneft (7.5%),
Chevron (15%), Mobil (7.5%), Italy's Agip (2%) British Gas (2%),
Kazakstan's Munaigas (1.75%) and the U.S. firm Oryx (1.75%). Construction
of the pipeline, which will initially transport 28 million tons of oil
annually from Kazakstan's Tengiz field to the Black Sea port of
Novorossiisk, will begin in 1997 and take an estimated two years at a cost
of $1,500 million, according to Russia's deputy minister for oil and energy,
Anatolii Shatalov. The pipeline will be operated by Russia's Transneft. --
Liz Fuller
[02] DEMONSTRATION IN KAZAKSTAN.
Over 3,000 people gathered in front of the Academy of Sciences in Almaty on
8 December to protest living conditions, international media reported.
Signs with the words "Salaries," "Pensions," "Free Press," and " Democracy"
were burned and symbolically placed in small caskets. People shouted
slogans such as "Nazarbayev (the Kazakstani president), you are our Hitler,
" "President Nazarbayev's credit with the people is finished" and most
alarmingly, "Remember what happened to Najibullah" alluding to the former
Afghan leader who was dragged from the UN compound in Kabul, killed, and
hung in public. There are chronic energy shortages in the country and wage
and pension arrears, by some accounts, stand at $500 million. -- Bruce
Pannier
[03] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER'S PLANE FORCED DOWN.
A plane taking United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Said Abdullo Nuri to
his scheduled 9 December meeting with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov in
northern Afghanistan was forced down by aircraft of the Taliban movement,
Russian and Western sources reported. Taliban sources say Nuri is a "guest"
and they will allow him to continue on to the meeting point in Kunduz.
Rakhmonov, in Dushanbe, is waiting for word of Nuri's arrival at Kunduz
before leaving for the meeting. Fighting inside Tajikistan is at its worst
since the civil war of 1992. Government forces are reported to be
assaulting Komsomolabad (135 km east of Dushanbe), which fell to the
opposition in October. Fighting is also reported in the Tavil-Dara area
(200 km east of Dushanbe) and in the village of Chinor (60 km east of
Dushanbe) near the Nurek hydro-electric plant. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] RUSSIAN BORDER TROOP COMMANDER IN ARMENIA.
Gen. Andrei Nikolaev completed a one-day visit to Armenia after holding a
long private meeting with President Levon Ter-Petrossyan, ITAR-TASS and
RFE/RL reported on 8 December. Nikolaev said that the Armenian leadership
supports the presence of Russian troops on its borders with Turkey and Iran,
and that he is satisfied with the results of the visit. According to
Nikolaev, Ter-Petrossyan called for "additional measures" to strengthen the
CIS's external borders. Nikolaev ruled out the possibility of a withdrawal
of the Russian border troops from Georgia, arguing that all the problems
with the latter "have been settled" during his recent visit to that country,
Noyan Tapan reported on 6 December. -- Emil Danielyan
[05] RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ TALKS.
Russian, Georgian, and Abkhaz representatives agreed at talks in Moscow on
4-7 December to continue work on a draft document on the foundations for
regulating the conflict, confidence-building, and the repatriation of
ethnic Georgian refugees, ITAR-TASS reported. Georgian Foreign Minister
Irakli Menagharishvili met in Moscow on 6 December with his Russian
counterpart Yevgenii Primakov to discuss various aspects of bilateral
relations, including the division of the Black Sea fleet, Russia's military
bases in Georgia, joint patrolling of the Georgian-Turkish frontier, and
the Abkhaz conflict, Russian media reported. At a subsequent press
conference Primakov announced that ethnic Georgian refugees from Abkhazia
will begin returning to their homes in January. During several days of
simultaneous talks in Moscow, Georgian Interior Minister Shota Kviraya
solicited the assistance of his Russian counterpart Anatolii Kulikov in
preventing the creation of an Islamic Republic in the Caucasus that would
include Abkhazia, according to NTV. -- Liz Fuller
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] SERBIAN COURT BACKS MILOSEVIC.
Amid continuing daily mass protests across Serbia, the Serbian Supreme
Court rejected an appeal by Belgrade's electoral commission to have the 17
November local election results -- in which the Zajedno opposition
coalition won a majority -- recognized, Beta reported on 8 December. The
court ruling has effectively upheld a third round of balloting that awarded
the ruling Socialists 66 of 110 seats in the Belgrade municipal assembly.
Electoral commission head Radovan Lazarevic has taken up a further appeal
with the federal supreme court, the federal public prosecutor and the
republic's public prosecutor. -- Stan Markotich
[07] PROTESTS CONTINUE THROUGHOUT SERBIA.
On 8 December the demonstration in Nis attracted some 50,000 participants,
many of whom smashed television sets in protest of the regime's biased
media coverage, Reuters reported. Opposition leaders have also told the
international press that police harassment and arrest of peaceful
demonstrators continues, with at least 40 persons having been apprehended
so far. For his part, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, in the face of
growing demands for both a recognition of opposition victories in local
polling and calls for his own resignation, tore up a draft memorandum on
press freedom presented by a member of the U.S.-based Committee to Protect
Journalists. Finally, Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Tijanic
formally tendered his resignation on 6 December, Tanjug reported. -- Stan
Markotich
[08] KRAJISNIK SAYS BOSNIAN SERBS CANNOT ACCEPT LOSS OF BRCKO.
The Serb representative of Bosnia's three-member presidency, Momcilo
Krajisnik, said the key Bosnian town of Brcko must be made an integral part
of the Bosnian-Serb entity, AFP reported on 7 December. Krajisnik said he
is opposed to any move that would put the town under international
administration. Brcko is claimed by both Muslims and Serbs. The town had a
Muslim majority before the war. Today, Brcko is the only link between the
eastern an western parts of Serb-held territory in northern Bosnia. Under
the Dayton peace accord, control of Brcko should be decided by an
arbitration commission by 14 December, but Serb Prime Minister Gojko
Klickovic said the Serbs would pull out and ignore the ruling of the
commission because they distrust its chairman, Roberts Owen. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[09] CROATIA'S TUDJMAN BLASTS ENEMIES . . .
President Franjo Tudjman again warned that those who complain about human
rights and media freedom in Croatia are really seeking to subvert the
Croatian state, Slobodna Dalmacija reported on 8 December. He said these
critics are enemies of Croatian independence or "communist remnants." In a
tirade to the governing Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), he especially
blasted the Open Society Institute, which supports independent media like
the Feral Tribune and some NGOs; prominent critics like Ivo Banac, Chris
Cviic, Slavko Goldstein, and Vlado Gotovac; and the BBC, VOA, and Radio 101,
as well as the only independent daily, Novi List. Tudjman warned that
these enemies "have spread their tentacles throughout our society." --
Patrick Moore
[10] . . . AND DECORATES INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL.
The next day, Tudjman presented a number of military medals, including one
to Gen. Tihomir Blaskic for his role in retaking the Knin region in 1995,
Reuters said. Blaskic's wife accepted the award, since he is voluntarily
appearing before the Hague-based war crimes tribunal on charges of having
committed atrocities against Muslims. Tudjman's statement and presentation
of the medal are classic examples of his insensitivity to foreign and
domestic public opinion, which has long earned him the nickname "Mr. Own-
goal." They also reflect his understanding of democracy and the uneasiness
of the regime amid recent unrest and reports that Tudjman has cancer. --
Patrick Moore
[11] DONORS PLEDGE OVER $30 MILLION FOR EASTERN SLAVONIA.
The UN said on 6 December that international donors have pledged over $30
million to help rebuild the last Serb-held part of Croatia, Eastern
Slavonia, international and local media reported. Organizers of the donors'
conference in Zagreb originally hoped to raise $1.2 billion. But Derek
Boothby, deputy to Jacques Klein, head of the UN Transitional
Administration for Eastern Slavonia, said the money promised was a "very
good start," according to AFP. Boothby said that foreign money would
encourage the Serbs to stay and the Croats to return. Meanwhile, top local
Serb representative Vojislav Stanimirovic said the Serbs want to have their
own county in Croatia, where they would be a majority, Novi List reported
on 7 December. Under Croatian law, the region would be split into two
counties. Stanimirovic called for a referendum on the region's
administrative status, AFP reported on 6 December. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[12] SLOVENES REJECT ELECTORAL REFORM.
Preliminary returns from a nationwide ballot held in Slovenia on 8 December
show the vote was met with apathy and tacit support for the status quo, STA
reported. According to returns, only an estimated 35% of the electorate
voted and none of the three proposed packages for fundamental changes in
the national voting system received the requisite minimum 50% to become
binding. Final results are expected on 12 December. -- Stan Markotich
[13] ROMANIAN PARTIES SIGN RULING COALITION ACCORD.
On 6 December, the victorious parties in the November general elections
signed a coalition accord aimed at giving parliamentary support to the new
government, Romanian media reported. Leaders of the Democratic Convention
of Romania, the Social Democratic Union, and the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (UDMR) signed the document in President Emil
Constantinescu's presence. The coalition thus holds a majority 287 of the
parliament's 486 seats. According to Constantinescu, the "solid
parliamentary majority" resulting from the accord will back "a strong
government set up to solve Romania's big problems." UDMR Chairman Bela
Marko described his party's participation in the government as "natural" in
view of the support it gave to democratic forces. Designated Prime Minister
Victor Ciorbea will seek parliamentary approval for his cabinet on 10
December. -- Zsolt Mato
[14] DNIESTER MEDIATORS WELCOME LISBON DOCUMENT.
The mediators brokering a settlement in the Dniester conflict welcomed on 6
December the stance of the OSCE Lisbon Summit on the issue, Infotag
reported. At a briefing in Chisinau, the three mediators -- Donald Johnson,
head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, and special presidential envoys Yurii
Karlov of Russia and Evgenii Levitsky of Ukraine -- praised the section
devoted to Moldova in the Lisbon document. The document expressed concern
over the lack of progress in implementing the October 1994 Moldovan-Russian
agreement on the withdrawal of Russian troops from eastern Moldova. It also
reiterated OSCE's commitment to assist in achieving a final solution to the
dispute. The mediators stressed that the key to settlement lies in granting
a special status to the Dniester region within a sovereign and independent
Moldova. -- Dan Ionescu
[15] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR NATIONAL CONSENSUS.
Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) Chairman Ivan Kostov said on 8 December
that the opposition will support the establishment of a currency board if
an agreement with the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party for calling early
elections and changing the Bulgarian National Bank's Executive Board can be
reached, Pari and Duma reported. However, Kostov's proposal must first
receive the backing of the extraordinary SDS National Coordinating Council
meeting on 9 December. The council must also decide on Kostov's other idea -
- to turn the SDS into a single party before early elections. Over the
weekend, 3 parties already backed him, while 6 others rejected the idea,
albeit "ambiguously." -- Maria Koinova
[16] MOSQUE IN BULGARIA DAMAGED IN EXPLOSION.
An explosive device went off in the Great Mosque in Kazanlak on 6 December,
causing damage but no injuries, Duma and Novinar reported. Motives and
perpetrators remain unknown. A bomb had been discovered and defused in the
same mosque earlier this year, while mosques in Varna and Shumen were
targets of arsonists in 1996. In other news, the EU said Bulgaria can
restart the controversial reactor No. 1 at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant
but should close the whole plant down as soon as it finds alternative forms
of energy, Reuters reported. EU and Bulgarian experts said tests showed
that "the material of the pressure vessel ... allows the [reactor's] safe
operation." -- Stefan Krause
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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