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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 43, 97-03-03

Open Media Research Institute: Daily Digest Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>

Vol. 3, No. 43, 3 March 1997


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] AIOC FUNDS BAKU-SUPSA PIPELINE.
  • [02] CENTRAL ASIAN HEADS OF STATE DISCUSS ARAL SEA . . .
  • [03] . . . AND WARN OF TALIBAN SPRING OFFENSIVE.
  • [04] TAJIK UPDATE.

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [05] STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN ALBANIA.
  • [06] VIOLENCE REACHES ALBANIAN PRESIDENT'S DOORSTEP.
  • [07] EASTERN SLAVONIAN SERBS ARE MOVING TO SERBIA, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
  • [08] BOSNIAN CROATS REJECT UN REPORT ON MOSTAR INCIDENT.
  • [09] YUGOSLAVIA AND REPUBLIKA SRPSKA SIGN SPECIAL TIES.
  • [10] IS MILOSEVIC PLAYING HIS OLD TRICKS AGAIN?
  • [11] KING MIHAI IN ROMANIA.
  • [12] POLICE SHAKE-UP CONTINUES IN ROMANIA.
  • [13] MOLDOVA, UKRAINE TO SET UP CUSTOMS UNION.
  • [14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT IN PRAGUE.
  • [15] BULGARIAN PREMIER COMMENTS ON HIS FRENCH VISIT.

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] AIOC FUNDS BAKU-SUPSA PIPELINE.

    The Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) will spend $315 million on the construction of a pipeline from Baku to Supsa on the Georgian Black Sea coast, Russian and Western media reported on 28 February. Construction is to begin immediately and is scheduled to be completed by December 1998. The pipeline will carry an estimated 115,000 barrels a day of so-called early oil. Early oil is supposed to start flowing through the "northern route" to the Russian port of Novorossiisk in 1997. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [02] CENTRAL ASIAN HEADS OF STATE DISCUSS ARAL SEA . . .

    The presidents of all five Central Asian States met in Almaty on 28 February to discuss the desiccation of the Aral Sea, RFE/RL reported the same day. Following the summit, Kazakstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the World Bank will spend $2.5 million on a pilot project to help persons living near the sea. Each republic will allocate 0.3% of its national income to the International Aral Sea Salvation Fund. Uzbek President Islam Karimov is to head the fund over the next three years. It was also agreed in Almaty to urge the UN to proclaim 1998 the year of environmental protection in Central Asia. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [03] . . . AND WARN OF TALIBAN SPRING OFFENSIVE.

    The Central Asian presidents also discussed Afghanistan, although Nazarbayev stressed "no special decision" was taken. They expressed concern over developments there, while Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, went further, saying they feared a Taliban spring offensive that could destabilize Central Asia, international media reported. Karimov was quoted by AFP as saying the Uzbek military has been put on alert. The five leaders also unanimously urged all interested countries to support their concept of a nuclear weapon-free Central Asia, Russian media reported on 28 February. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [04] TAJIK UPDATE.

    Tajik government and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) representatives remain "far apart" on key military problems, Russian media reported on 2 March. The key sticking point in the Moscow talks is the size of the opposition forces to be integrated with those of the Tajik government. The UTO wants platoons and companies integrated, while the government wants groups of only 5-10 men. Meanwhile, owing to a lack of ammunition and food, fighting between UTO and pro-Sadirov forces in the Ramid Gorge seems to have temporarily ceased, RFE/RL reported. The Tajik Foreign Ministry has protested to Russia over what it called the anti-Tajik campaign waged by the Russian media, ITAR-TASS reported on 1 March. Dushanbe called on Moscow to curb the campaign of "purposeful disinformation." Finally, the death toll from the typhoid fever outbreak in Tajikistan has risen to over 80, Reuters reported on 28 February. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [05] STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN ALBANIA.

    The Albanian government declared a state of emergency on 2 March in response to the violence that erupted throughout the country after 28 February, when protests against the collapse of several get-rich-quick pyramid schemes turned violent. At least 14 people have been killed, and an estimated 150 were injured, international media reported. The hardest hit region was the southern part of the country, and shooting broke out in several cities as protesters continued their calls for the resignation of President Sali Berisha and his government and early elections. Rampaging protesters ransacked symbols of authority, plundered arms depots, and publicly destroyed police property. According to some eyewitness reports, local civilian police offered little resistance, themselves possibly big losers in pyramid scheme investments. -- Stan Markotich

    [06] VIOLENCE REACHES ALBANIAN PRESIDENT'S DOORSTEP.

    Sali Berisha's summer residence in Vlora was the site of mass looting over the weekend, CNN reported on 3 March. An announcement that the government of Premier Alexander Meksi would tender its resignation failed to calm the public ire. And in the latest development, AFP, citing local reports, said on 3 March that the country's parliament has ordered "armed rebels" to surrender their weapons by 2 p.m. CET that same day or face reprisals from the country's security forces. The decision follows the 2 March declaration of a state of emergency and also includes a provision for press censorship. -- Stan Markotich

    [07] EASTERN SLAVONIAN SERBS ARE MOVING TO SERBIA, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.

    The UN spokeswoman in Belgrade, Susan Manuel, said on 28 February that more than 1,800 Serb families have reportedly left eastern Slavonia for Serbia in February, AFP reported. The Association of Serb refugees in Banja Luka said that around 800 eastern Slavonian Serbs moved to the Bosnian Serb entity last month, Oslobodjenje reported on 3 March. Most were Croatian Serbs who fled to eastern Slavonia from other parts of Croatia. They are now settling in the Brcko area in northern Bosnia, which is a matter of dispute between Bosnian Serbs and the Croat-Muslim federation. Meanwhile, Serb officials in eastern Slavonia said they will hold a referendum on 6 April over the Croatian government's plans to divide the territory into two administrative districts once it returns to Zagreb's control, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [08] BOSNIAN CROATS REJECT UN REPORT ON MOSTAR INCIDENT.

    The Mostar branch of the ruling Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) in Bosnia- Herzegovina on 2 March rejected the UN police report on violent Muslim- Croat clashes earlier this month, saying it was "incomplete, one-sided and tendentious," Oslobodjenje reported. Mostar Croat authorities also repeated that they will not arrest the three police officers named by the UN as suspects in the 10 February shooting of unarmed Muslims, AFP reported. According to Colum Murphy, a spokesman for the High Representative's office, one of the suspects is missing. Mostar Croat claims to have detained 19 other suspects in the Mostar incident. But no international official has seen any of the allegedly arrested criminals. Meanwhile, Croatia said it had arrested a second suspected gangster leader from Mostar, Vinko Martinovic, following last week's arrest of former Bosnian Croat warlord Mladen "Tuta" Naletilic. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [09] YUGOSLAVIA AND REPUBLIKA SRPSKA SIGN SPECIAL TIES.

    The president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Zoran Lilic, and the Serb member of Bosnia's three-man presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, signed a pact on 28 February establishing "special ties" between Belgrade and Pale, local and international media reported. Under the agreement, the two parties are to establish a joint council in charge of economic cooperation and creating a single market. The council will also deal with regional security, crossing of state borders, citizenship, and coordinating foreign policy. The agreement said the two parties will not allow a third party to use their territories to conduct acts of aggression against the other. Bosnia's presidency chairman Alija Izetbegovic strongly criticized the pact and accused Krajisnik of overstepping his authority by signing it. Izetbegovic said the agreement shows the Belgrade regime "has not given up its claims on Bosnia-Herzegovina," AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [10] IS MILOSEVIC PLAYING HIS OLD TRICKS AGAIN?

    On 28 February the board of the independent weekly NIN voted to oust its editor in chief, Dusan Velickovic, local independent media reported. NIN, which broke with the pro-regime Politika publishing house in 1994, and whose market share has been rising steadily, may be the latest target in a government offensive to reassert its control over the media. Velickovic has remarked "my replacement reminds me of the stealing of votes in the last [17 November] local elections." Finally in other news, over 1,000 instructors, professors, and researchers formed an alternative administration of higher education on 2 March in Belgrade, the latest step in their campaign for academic freedom. -- Stan Markotich

    [11] KING MIHAI IN ROMANIA.

    Visibly overwhelmed by emotion, King Mihai, who was forced to abdicate in 1947, on 28 February began a six-day visit to his country one week after his Romanian citizenship was restored. At the airport he was handed his new passport in the presence of several government members who welcomed him "privately." International media reported that the crowds welcoming the former monarch were substantially smaller than those during his 1992 visit. On 1 March he was received by Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea, whom he told the occasion was "not merely a visit, but a return home." The former monarch said that the government's economic measures were painful but absolutely necessary. On 2 March he attended a church service conducted by Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist. A spokesman for the king said he intended to move back to Romania but he must "enjoy all the advantages that he had had in the past." For that purpose, talks are underway with the authorities on providing him with a residence. -- Michael Shafir

    [12] POLICE SHAKE-UP CONTINUES IN ROMANIA.

    Some 20 generals and other high police officers were replaced on 28 February following the dismissal of Gen. Costica Voicu as head of police the previous day, Romanian media reported on 1 March. In an interview for Romanian national television on 28 February, Interior Minister Gavril Dejeu said the changes were needed because the officers had failed to properly fight corruption and organized crime. He said not all the officers replaced were considered incompetent -- some will be serving in other posts -- but all had obviously failed in their primary task. -- Michael Shafir

    [13] MOLDOVA, UKRAINE TO SET UP CUSTOMS UNION.

    The joint Moldovan-Ukrainian commission on economic and commercial cooperation agreed at its 27-28 February meeting in Chisinau to draft a list of "principles" for setting up a customs union between the two states at an unspecified date in the future. Moldovan agencies reported on 28 February that the document also deals with the avoidance of double taxation and with facilities for transiting goods. The commission also approved a number of accords for cooperation on border-zone settlements, joint controls at the border crossings, as well as a protocol on Moldovan property in Ukraine. The documents will be signed during President Leonid Kuchma's visit to Moldova on 11-12 March. -- Michael Shafir

    [14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT IN PRAGUE.

    Petar Stoyanov on 28 February met his Czech counterpart Vaclav Havel in the latter's first official function since undergoing a lung cancer operation in December, international media reported. Referring to the Czech Republic's economic reforms, Stoyanov said "Your success is an inspiration for us." During his two lectures later that day Stoyanov said that the country's interim government will break with the communist past and will deepen the structural reforms to "the point of no return." Concerning the government's statement that Bulgaria is determined to join NATO, Stoyanov pointed out that despite Bulgarians' very "deep emotional relationship" with Russians, Bulgaria's policy will be decided in Sofia and in no other capital in the world. -- Maria Koinova

    [15] BULGARIAN PREMIER COMMENTS ON HIS FRENCH VISIT.

    Upon his return from France, Interim Premier Stefan Sofiyanski told reporters on 2 March that he has won a commitment from Paris to support Bulgaria's request for rescheduling its debt to the Paris Club of government creditors, AFP reported. Sofiyanski also added that he had asked the Paris Club to roll over about $50 million owed this year, saying Bulgaria's payments had been timely until recently, but that the current economic crisis has prevented it from meeting the latest deadlines. Sofiyanski added that French Premier Alain Juppe said he would help Bulgaria win new credits with the Paris Club and the International Monetary Fund. -- Stan Markotich

    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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