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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 156, 96-08-13
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 156, 13 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MORE ON RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN ABKHAZIA.
[02] MKHEDRIONI LEADER SENTENCED.
[03] AZERBAIJANI COUP-PLOTTERS ARRESTED IN DAGESTAN.
[04] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON KAZAKHSTAN PRISONS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BOSNIAN SERBS GIVE IN TO NATO FIRMNESS.
[06] CROATIAN PRESIDENT AGREES TO 3-MONTH EXTENSION OF UN MANDATE.
[07] SUPPORTERS OF BOSNIAN MUSLIM RULING PARTY DISRUPT OPPOSITION RALLY.
[08] REFUGEES IN SERBIA-MONTENEGRO REGISTER TO VOTE IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
[09] AMMUNITION CACHE FOUND IN DNIESTER REGION.
[10] PEACETIME NAVAL EXERCISE OFF BULGARIAN COAST.
[11] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT REDUCES SENTENCES OF COMMUNIST OFFICIALS.
[12] MILITARY EXERCISES IN ALBANIA.
[13] CRIME IN ALBANIA DECREASING.
[14] ALBANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT PROSTITUTION ABROAD.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MORE ON RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN ABKHAZIA.
The Russian Federation Council has agreed to double the number of troops in
the Russian-dominated CIS peacekeeping force in Abkhazia to 3,000 and expand their operations to cover all of the Gali District, according to a 9 August Georgian Radio report monitored by the BBC. The council had earlier decided to extend the force's mandate until 31 January 1997 (see ). Russia's ambassador to Georgia described the new policing functions as a breakthrough. Although the expanded mandate partially meets a key Georgian demand, it is only a cosmetic change since it does not state how and when the peacekeepers will be able to ensure the return of Georgian refugees to their homes in Abkhazia. Several Georgian politicians, including the chairman of the Georgian National Democratic Party and the Georgian United Republican Party, have strongly criticized the decision to extend the mandat e. -- Lowell Bezanis
[02] MKHEDRIONI LEADER SENTENCED.
One of the former leaders of the Mkhedrioni (Centurions) paramilitary group,
Alexandre Bochorishvili, has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment,
according to a 9 August Kontakt news agency report monitored by the BBC.
Bochorishvili, a former security adviser to Georgian President Eduard
Shevardnadze, was found guilty of possessing large amounts of arms and drugs
with the intent of selling them. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] AZERBAIJANI COUP-PLOTTERS ARRESTED IN DAGESTAN.
Three men wanted in Azerbaijan in connection with the March 1995 coup-attempt
were arrested in a joint Russian-Azerbaijani operation in Dagestan, according
to an 8 August Interfax report monitored by the BBC. -- Lowell Bezanis
[04] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON KAZAKHSTAN PRISONS.
Amnesty International (AI) has released a report on the grim conditions in
Kazakhstani prisons, RFE/RL reported on 12 August. At the beginning of 1996,
Kazakhstan, a country of 17 million people, had 78 prisons holding 94,000
people, 20,000 of whom were awaiting trial, according to the report. In June,
the country's government amnestied 20,000 prisoners convicted of non-violent
crimes. An estimated 10,000 inmates in the prison system are suffering from
tuberculosis. Amnesty estimates that 1,270 prisoners died of the disease last
year and 450 have died so far this year. Kazakhstan ranks fourth in the world
in terms of the number of executions carried out every year. In 1995, 110
people were sentenced to death and 101 executions were carried out. Deputy
Interior Minister Nikolai Vlasov told AI that the death penalty is less cruel
than life in a Kazakhstani prison. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] BOSNIAN SERBS GIVE IN TO NATO FIRMNESS.
The Pale leadership on 12 August agreed to allow IFOR to inspect sites at Gen.
Ratko Mladic's headquarters, located at the mountain stronghold of Han
Pijesak. The Serbs had blocked NATO inspectors two days earlier, and IFOR had
responded with the unprecedented step of pulling its liaison officers out of
Pale (see ). NATO the same day activated "Operation Fear Naught," which placed
its own forces in the Republika Srpska on a higher state of alert,
consolidated them in more readily defendable positions, and effectively
ordered civilian aid workers to leave. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana
and NATO's commander in Europe, Gen. George Joulwan, met with Republika Srpska
Acting President Biljana Plavsic and other Serbian officials, who then said
that the inspection could go ahead. On 13 August, IFOR commander Gen. Sir
Michael Walker flew his helicopter from Sarajevo to Pale to collect Plavsic en
route to Han Pijesak to ensure that all went smoothly, international media noted. -- Patrick Moore
[06] CROATIAN PRESIDENT AGREES TO 3-MONTH EXTENSION OF UN MANDATE.
Franjo Tudjman on 12 August told Jacques Klein, UN administrator of eastern
Slavonia, that Croatia will agree to have the UN's mandate extended by three
months, Hina reported. Serbs living in the region have said they would like a
one-year extension, and UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali has
supported that view (see ), while Tudjman said that he
would request that during the period of extension, local government elections
take place on the basis of the 1991 census and that the UN create the
conditions for the return of refugees. But Klein said those requests could not
be met before Croatia issued an amnesty for rebel Serbs. Meanwhile, a Croatian
government team on 12 August began excavating mass graves in the Plitvice
region, central Croatia, that are thought to contain the bodies of Croats
killed by rebel Serbs, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] SUPPORTERS OF BOSNIAN MUSLIM RULING PARTY DISRUPT OPPOSITION RALLY.
A Bosnian opposition rally on 10 August in Gradacac, northern Bosnia,
was disrupted by a group of supporters of the ruling Muslim Party of
Democratic Action (SDA), Onasa reported on 12 August. Youths wearing SDA T-
shirts caused a commotion and broke up the meeting, organized by the
opposition Joint List, which consists of anti-nationalist parties and one
Croatian group. The Joint List has accused the SDA of wanting the Muslim-
Croatian federation to be controlled by ethnic Muslims. The rally was staged
in Gradacac because Muslims and Croats have never stopped cooperating in that
city and because their respective parties -- the SDA and the Croatian
Democratic Community -- have only limited support there. Meanwhile, Sejfudin
Tokic, vice president of the Union of Bosnian Social Democrat, has said he is
concerned about the lack of neutrality among police officials at campaign
rallies, Onasa and AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] REFUGEES IN SERBIA-MONTENEGRO REGISTER TO VOTE IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
An OSCE representative has said that 220,640 refugees have registered with
his organization to vote in the 14 September elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Beta reported on 12 August. Of those, 97,636 have opted to cast their ballots
in Serbia-Montenegro and the remainder will vote in Bosnia, with the
majority expected to do so in the Republika Srpska. Polling in Serbia-
Montenegro will take place between 28 August and 3 September and will be
supervised by OSCE monitors. Beta reported that there are 450,000-480,000
Bosnian refugees in Serbia-Montenegro and that 633,584 refugees in a total of
28 countries have registered to vote in the elections. -- Stan Markotich
[09] AMMUNITION CACHE FOUND IN DNIESTER REGION.
An ammunition cache has been discovered in Colbasna, a village in Moldova's
breakaway Dniester region near the Ukrainian border, BASA-press reported on 12
August. The discovery follows the arrest in a nearby town of several Ukrainian
teenagers who were in possession of ammunition from the former 14th Russian
army depositories. The Russian command in Tiraspol was quoted as saying that
the military of the self-declared Dniester Moldovan Republic may have hidden
the ammunition in 1995. The Dniester military has insisted that it have
control over the equipment and ammunition slated for liquidation by the
Russian troops. Up to 100,000 tons of ammunition are believed to be in the
Colbasna cache. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] PEACETIME NAVAL EXERCISE OFF BULGARIAN COAST.
Vessels from eight nations--the U.S., Russia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Romania,
Ukraine, and Bulgaria--gathered off the Bulgarian coast on 10 August to take
part in a six-day peacekeeping naval exercise. According to a statement issued
by the Bulgarian Defense Ministry, Bulgaria's contingent consists of nine
ships, six planes, and two helicopters. Bulgarian media reported that the
exercise would focus on communication drills and damage-control maneuvers. --
Stan Markotich
[11] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT REDUCES SENTENCES OF COMMUNIST OFFICIALS.
The Tirana appeals court on 12 August reduced the life sentences of former
party chief ideologue Foto Cami, former Defense Minister Prokop Murra, and
regional party leader Muho Asllani, Reuters reported. Cami's sentence was
commuted to a five-year suspended jail term, while Murra and Asllani received
20- and 18-year terms respectively. The court upheld the sentences handed down
to former party secretary Gaqo Nesho, national Police Chief Dilaver Bengasi,
and Tirana secret police chief Zef Loka, who were sentenced in May to between
16 and 20 years. All were charged with crimes against humanity and deportation
of dissidents. -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] MILITARY EXERCISES IN ALBANIA.
U.S. and Albanian troops on 12 August began a joint military exercise in
Albania. Code-named "Salvation Eagle 96," the maneuvers will focus on
peacekeeping and search-and-rescue operations, ATSH reported. Over the past
four years, Albanian troops have taken part in more that 20 joint exercises
with armies of NATO countries and member states of the Partnership for Peace
program. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] CRIME IN ALBANIA DECREASING.
Deputy Interior Minister Agim Shehu has announced that crime in Albania is
down 45% compared to 1992, ATSH reported. Shehu argued that the decrease is
largely due to reforms, adding that the per capita level of crime is now
comparable to that of major Western countries such as France, Italy, and
England. Crime began to increase in 1990 and 1991, when the transition to
democracy got under way. -- Fabian Schmidt
[14] ALBANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT PROSTITUTION ABROAD.
The Albanian Helsinki Committee has expressed concern about the increase
in prostitution among Albanian women living in neighboring states, Poli
i Qendres reported on 13 August. The group estimates that about one-third
of female prostitutes in Italy are from Albania and that the majority
were smuggled into that country by criminal gangs who then force the women to
engage in prostitution. Stranded abroad, the women become dependent on
criminal organizations and, as illegal immigrants, are deprived of legal
protection and human rights. -- Ismije Beshiri
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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