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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 207, 96-10-24
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 207, 24 October 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ABKHAZ ELECTION UPDATE.
[02] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SACKED.
[03] TURKEY TO OPEN BORDER WITH ARMENIA.
[04] UZBEKISTAN TIGHTENS CURRENCY CONTROLS.
[05] HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER OPENS IN TURKMENISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] BOSNIAN SERBS WILL NOT EXTEND OSCE MANDATE.
[07] BILDT REASSURES NATO AFTER POSTPONEMENT OF BOSNIA VOTE.
[08] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES ARREST "FIVE TERRORISTS."
[09] SERBIA, MONTENEGRO ELECTION UPDATE.
[10] W.H.O. FINDS NO EXPLANATION FOR MYSTERIOUS DISEASE AMONG ALBANIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MACEDONIA.
[11] POLLS ON ROMANIAN ELECTIONS.
[12] OPPOSITION PARTIES AGREE ON ANTI-FRAUD PACT.
[13] RUSSIAN TROOP COMMANDER OPPOSES DNIESTER AMMUNITION RECYCLING.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.
[15] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCES FOR COMMUNIST PARTY FOUNDERS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ABKHAZ ELECTION UPDATE.
Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili said on 23 October that the
Georgian leadership is appealing to Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba to
abide by the 22 October statement of the UN Security Council and cancel the
parliamentary elections scheduled for 23 November, ITAR-TASS reported. The
chairman of the Abkhaz Central Election Board, Vyacheslav Tsugba, told ITAR-
TASS that 90 candidates of various nationalities, including three ethnic
Georgians, had registered to contend the 35 seats in the new parliament. --
Liz Fuller
[02] ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SACKED.
Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan has sacked three top government officials,
including Deputy Minister of Science and Education Ashot Bleyan. Bleyan used
to be a leading figure in the ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement party. He
became notorious for controversial plans to reform Armenia's secondary
education system and after a 1992 visit to Azerbaijan, where he called for
unilateral concessions by Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. -- Emil
Danielyan
[03] TURKEY TO OPEN BORDER WITH ARMENIA.
Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller said on 23 October that Turkey will open
its border with Armenia "after overcoming a few difficulties," AFP reported.
The border has been closed since 1992. Turkey was set to open the border in
March, but backed down at Azerbaijan's request. Ciller's statement may sour
Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan. -- Emil Danielyan
[04] UZBEKISTAN TIGHTENS CURRENCY CONTROLS.
In response to the recent drop in the value of the som, only two banks -- the
Bank for Foreign Economic Activities and the Uzbek Industry and Construction
Bank -- will be allowed to trade in hard currencies, Savdogar reported on 22
October, as monitored by the BBC. Previously, 12 had been able to do so. In
addition, the number of licensed exchange offices has been reduced from 95 to
39, 23 of which are located in Tashkent. ITAR-TASS reported on 22 October that
the Uzbek government has also signed a currency and export control agreement
with Russia in an effort to prevent the circulation of "dirty" money. -- Roger
Kangas
[05] HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER OPENS IN TURKMENISTAN.
President Saparmurat Niyazov officially opened the Democracy and Human Rights
Institute in Ashgabat on 23 October, ITAR-TASS reported. The institute will
handle complaints from citizens about human rights and democratic freedoms and
will work closely with the UN. Its opening appears to be a gesture to the
international community after Turkmenistan received the lowest rating for
political rights from the Freedom House organization last December. Niyazov
said the purpose of the institute is to protect the presidency "from the
influence of other branches of power," and warned citizens not to take their
complaints too far. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] BOSNIAN SERBS WILL NOT EXTEND OSCE MANDATE.
Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic told U.S. envoy John Kornblum that
Pale will not agree that the OSCE's mission for organizing elections be
extended into next year for the local vote, Nasa Borba reported on 24
October. Kornblum said he will nonetheless try to persuade the Serbs to change
their mind, adding that he is also concerned "about a continuing record of
less than full implementation of the [peace] process" by the Republika Srpska,
Reuters noted on 23 October. Plavsic also met with Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Nikolai Afansievskii and the head of the Russian mission to Bosnia,
Yakov Gerasimov. Afansievskii said that "Russia has a positive stance toward
the Republika Srpska's efforts to settle relations with the Bosnian Federation
peacefully," while Plavsic praised "our traditional friends, the Russians,"
Onasa stated. Finally, Nasa Borba discusses widespread but unconfirmed
reports that Plavsic has sacked Gens. Ratko Mladic, Milan Gvero, and Momir
Talic, together with some 80 other top officers, in the latest chapter of the
long-standing dispute between the Bosnian Serb civilian and military
leaderships. -- Patrick Moore
[07] BILDT REASSURES NATO AFTER POSTPONEMENT OF BOSNIA VOTE.
High Representative for Bosnia Carl Bildt told NATO on 23 October that the
postponement of the Bosnian municipal elections does not mean that IFOR needs
to remain at full strength beyond the end of its mandate on 20 December, AFP
reported. Bildt mentioned the possibility of bringing in some troops for a
limited period. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on 22 October that the U.S.
forces plan to pull out of Bosnia by mid March, despite the vote postponement.
A Pentagon spokesman said that since the elections will not be held in
November, as previously scheduled, it is possible that the withdrawal of U.S.
forces will be accelerated. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said NATO
will stay at full strength in Bosnia until the end of the year. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[08] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES ARREST "FIVE TERRORISTS."
Five members of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) have been
arrested on charges of arms and munitions possession, Tanjug reported on 22
October. They are also suspected of carrying out terrorist acts, including the
November 1994 bombing of a bridge on the Sombor-Bezdan road. Four of the five
are from Sombor, in Vojvodina, and were apprehended in possession of a large
number of weapons, including a hand-held rocket launcher and 55 land mines.
Until mid-1993, the SRS and the ruling Socialists were political allies.
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had called SRS leader and accused war
criminal Vojislav Seselj "my favorite opposition leader." -- Stan
Markotich
[09] SERBIA, MONTENEGRO ELECTION UPDATE.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's electoral commission says a total of 7,
597,504 voters have registered to take part in the 3 November elections, Nasa
Borba reported on 23 October. Of those, 448,325 are registered in Montenegro.
A total of 812 candidates are vying for 138 seats in the federal legislature.
Meanwhile, Beta on 22 October reported that Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic
has requested that OSCE election observers register with Yugoslav embassies by
30 October. -- Stan Markotich
[10] W.H.O. FINDS NO EXPLANATION FOR MYSTERIOUS DISEASE AMONG ALBANIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MACEDONIA.
A group of WHO experts has issued a report on its investigation into a
mysterious illness contracted by 1,000 ethnic Albanian school children in
Tetovo. Some 600 had to be hospitalized for up to three days. The team
conducted various tests but found no evidence of infection or poisoning to
explain the illness, which causes headaches, stomach and muscle pains,
breathing difficulties, and dizziness, AFP reported. Albanian political
parties have alleged that Macedonians tried to poison the children. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[11] POLLS ON ROMANIAN ELECTIONS.
An opinion poll conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology
(CURS) on 22 October shows incumbent President Ion Iliescu in the lead before
the 3 November presidential elections. Iliescu has 33.5% of popular support,
the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) candidate Emil Constantinescu 27%,
and the Social Democratic Union (USD) candidate Petre Roman 22.5%. The CURS
poll shows the opposition CDR leading in the parliamentary contest, with 31.%.
The ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) follows with 27.2%, and
the USD with 18.1%. But a poll conducted by the rival IRSOP institute suggests
the PDSR is ahead in the parliamentary race (31%), followed by the CDR (21%)
and by the USD (13%). It also says Iliescu has 36% of popular support,
Constantinescu 21%, and Roman 19%. Cronica romana explains the divergence by
noting that the CURS poll was financed by the Soros Foundation and the IRSOP
poll secretly commissioned by the PDSR. -- Michael Shafir
[12] OPPOSITION PARTIES AGREE ON ANTI-FRAUD PACT.
Several opposition parties are to sign a pact aimed at preventing electoral
fraud by the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania, Romanian TV reported
on 23 October. The signatories will be the Democratic Convention of Romania,
the Social Democratic Union, the National Liberal Alliance, the Liberal-
Ecologist Alliance, the National Centrist Union and the National Party of Car
Drivers. Other formations are welcome to join, according to a statement by the
pact's initiators. -- Michael Shafir
[13] RUSSIAN TROOP COMMANDER OPPOSES DNIESTER AMMUNITION RECYCLING.
Lt. Gen. Valerii Yevnevich, commander of the Russian troops deployed in the
breakaway Dniester region, has said the building of an ammunition recycling
plant is not economically expedient, Infotag reported on 23 October. Yevnevich
proposed instead that the ammunition stock be transferred to Russia and sold
to "interested countries." The earnings, he added, should be shared
between Moldova, the "Dniester Republic," Russia, and, as a transit country,
Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moldovan Premier Andrei Sangheli on 23 October met
Dniester leader Igor Smirnov in Tiraspol, BASA-Press reported. The two
discussed the possible participation of Dniester residents in the 17 November
Moldovan presidential elections, which Tiraspol has so far opposed. -- Zsolt
Mato
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.
Novinar, citing three opinion polls, has predicted that the united
opposition candidate, Petar Stoyanov, will be Bulgaria's next president. The
daily said on 23 October that Stoyanov will win if he runs against the
Bulgarian Socialist Party's presidential candidate, Cultural Minister Ivan
Marazov, in a second round. The polls predict a turnout of more than 50% in
the first round on 27 October. Meanwhile, Trud commented on the performance
of the major candidates in the last three debates broadcast on state TV. It
argued that the BSP's vice presidential candidate, Deputy Foreign Minister
Irina Bokova, was "most adequate" in terms of professionalism, polemics, and
politics, while Stoyanov behaved like a "typical lawyer" and Marazov failed to
rid himself of his "professorial attitude." Meanwhile, Kontinent reported
that former Tsar Simeon II told the Spanish newspaper ABC that if a
socialist wins the presidential elections, there could be "negative
consequences" for Bulgaria. -- Maria Koinova
[15] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCES FOR COMMUNIST PARTY FOUNDERS.
An appeals court on 23 October upheld jail sentences of between one
and two-and-a-half years for four Albanians who formed a communist party,
Reuters reported. The men, aged between 45 and 73, pleaded guilty but appealed
the length of the sentences on grounds of old age and alleged irregularities
during the investigation that led to their trial. The parliament outlawed
all communist organizations in July 1992 as anti-constitutional. --
Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle 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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