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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 46, 97-03-06
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 46, 6 March 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MANUKYAN TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR POST-ELECTION UNREST IN YEREVAN.
[02] RUSSIAN WEAPONS TO ARMENIA VIA IRAN?
[03] TBILISI JUDGE FOUND DEAD IN HIS APARTMENT.
[04] KYRGYZ PLANT TO REFINE KUMTOR GOLD.
[05] ROUTING PROBLEMS FOR TURKMEN GAS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] IS ALBANIAN CRISIS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL?
[07] DEATH TOLL RISES.
[08] BOSNIAN SHADOW GOVERNMENT FORMED.
[09] COHEN MAKES CLEAR U.S. TROOPS WILL NOT PROLONG STAY IN BOSNIA.
[10] BOSNIAN CROATS SUSPENDED MOSTAR POLICE CHIEF, THREE POLICEMEN.
[11] BOMB BLASTS IN KOSOVO.
[12] TUDOR TO SAVE HIS PARLIAMENTARY IMMUNITY?
[13] KING MIHAI ENDS VISIT TO ROMANIA.
[14] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS CHAIRMAN.
[15] PARTIES PREPARE FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS IN BULGARIA.
[16] STRENGTHENING OF BULGARIAN LEV CAUSING CONCERN.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] MANUKYAN TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR POST-ELECTION UNREST IN YEREVAN.
Opposition leader and former presidential candidate Vazgen Manukyan has
said in a letter addressed to the procurator-general that he was
responsible for the 25 September attack on the parliament building, Ekho
Moskvy reported on 5 March. The attack followed reports of widespread
election-rigging in favor of incumbent President Levon Ter-Petrossyan.
Manukyan argued that it would be "logical" to conduct criminal proceedings
against him but not against the rank-and-file opposition activists who went
on trial last month on charges of inciting mass disorder. Manukyan demanded
the release of the defendants and expressed readiness to testify "only in
court." -- Emil Danielyan
[02] RUSSIAN WEAPONS TO ARMENIA VIA IRAN?
Top security officials told the Azerbaijani parliament on 4 March that Iran
is the conduit for Russian weapon supplies to Armenia, Russian media
reported. They claimed that heavy arms, 30 anti-aircraft systems, and 1,000
Strela-2 and Strela-3 missiles have been transported by ship across the
Caspian Sea and over land from Iran to Armenia. Last week, Yerevan denied
earlier charges of illegally receiving weapons from Russia. In related news,
the Azerbaijani parliament has drafted a statement calling on the Russian
Duma to identify and punish those responsible for weapons transfers. --
Lowell Bezanis
[03] TBILISI JUDGE FOUND DEAD IN HIS APARTMENT.
Vakhtang Alania, the 43-year-old chairman of a Tbilisi district court, was
found shot dead in his apartment, ITAR-TASS reported on 5 March.
Investigators suggest that the judge committed suicide but do not discount
other scenarios. Georgian media reports that Alania had debts totaling $5,
000 and had recently said he wanted to commit suicide. -- Emil Danielyan
[04] KYRGYZ PLANT TO REFINE KUMTOR GOLD.
Jalgap Kazakbayev, director of the Kara-Balta state mining company, and
Leonard Homenyuk, president of Kumtor Operating Company, have signed an
agreement whereby gold extracted at Kumtor will be refined at the Kara-
Balta complex, RFE/RL reported on 5 March. KOC is a joint venture between
the Kyrgyz government and the Canadian company CAMECO. Some 12 tons of gold
are expected to be refined at Kara-Balta this year. There are believed to
be 500 metric tons of gold at the Kumtor site. Earlier reports that gold
would be refined abroad led to an outcry from opposition groups in
Kyrgyzstan. -- Naryn Idinov
[05] ROUTING PROBLEMS FOR TURKMEN GAS.
The U.S. is attempting to foil plans, initialed last year, to transport
Turkmen natural gas to Turkey across Iran, AFP reported on 5 February.
Washington has threatened to impose an embargo on Botas, Turkey's state
pipeline company, if it goes ahead with the deal. The U.S. has also
declared its support for an alternative plan to transport natural gas
beneath the Caspian Sea to Turkey and European markets via Azerbaijan and
Georgia. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan is pressuring Kazakstan to repay $24
million in debts for electricity supplied in 1995-96, ITAR-TASS reported on
5 March. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] IS ALBANIAN CRISIS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL?
Armed revolt against the government of President Sali Berisha continues
throughout southern Albania, with violence and armed clashes reportedly
escalating in frequency and intensity. In one episode on 5 March,
government MiG-15 warplanes released at least several bombs near a house in
the village of Delvina, situated in a predominantly ethnic Greek region of
the country, international media reported. While casualty estimates were
unavailable, the event prompted officials in neighboring Greece to urge the
Albanian authorities to refrain from using force against Albania's ethnic
Greek community. For their part, Albanian Defense officials have
categorically denied the charge that any order was given to bomb
protesters. -- Stan Markotich
[07] DEATH TOLL RISES.
Meanwhile in Vlora, a rebel stronghold, at least another seven people have
been killed in shooting incidents since early on 5 March, AFP reported the
next day. The death toll in that town now stands at 25 since violence
erupted on 28 February when rioters looted a military depot. In another
serious development, a steady stream of people is moving from the south to
the north in an effort to escape the violence. Pitched battles of short
duration have been reported in several locations, such as a 5 March
incident near the Vjosa River, where rebels, situated on a mountain ridge,
pounded government troops with heavy artillery. In another development,
some members of the military have been seen defecting to the rebel side,
CNN reported on 6 March. Dutch Foreign Minister and current European Union
President Hans van Mierlo is slated to travel to Tirana on 7 March for
meetings with government and opposition officials. -- Stan Markotich
[08] BOSNIAN SHADOW GOVERNMENT FORMED.
Bosnian opposition parties and political associations from both Bosnian
entities -- the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Bosnian (Muslim-Croat)
Federation -- on 4 March formed a shadow government in a bid to offer a
political alternative to the paralyzed central institutions, international
and local media reported. The shadow government premier, Sejfudin Tokic, a
Muslim from the Union of Bosnia's Social-Democrats, said the five ministry
cabinet will try to convey a message to ordinary Bosnians that there is an
alternative to nationalism, Reuters reported. Tokic' s deputies are Miodrag
Zivanovic from the RS Social-Liberal Party and Zeljko Ivankovic from the
Croatian Peasant Party. Zivanovic rejected criticism that it was too early
to start an alternative government at the time when the official one has
not yet begun to really work, Oslobodjenje reported on 5 March. -- Daria
Sito Sucic
[09] COHEN MAKES CLEAR U.S. TROOPS WILL NOT PROLONG STAY IN BOSNIA.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said on 4 March that American soldiers
would leave Bosnia-Herzegovina for good in mid-1998, Reuters reported. "I
can't make it any clearer," Cohen said, adding that the U.S. was determined
to leave even if war breaks out again. But he underscored that strong
police forces and an intensified civilian effort will be needed in Bosnia.
Meanwhile, deployment of an international police force in the disputed town
of Brcko in northern Bosnia will be discussed at a meeting of key nations
in Vienna on 7 March, AFP reported. Countries involved in the discussions
favored increasing the numbers of the existing UN police force, although
its mandate so far has proved to be insufficient to enforce political
decisions. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] BOSNIAN CROATS SUSPENDED MOSTAR POLICE CHIEF, THREE POLICEMEN.
The Interior Minister of the Herzegovina-Neretva canton, Valentin Coric,
suspended west Mostar police chief Marko Radic for obstructing the
investigation into the 10 February incident that resulted in one death and
more than 30 injuries, Hina reported on 5 March. Coric also temporarily
suspended the three police officers singled out in the UN report for
participating in a shooting at an unarmed Muslim crowd. The UN has
requested that the three men be arrested. "Suspension alone is not good
enough," said the UN police spokesman in Bosnia, Liam McDowall. -- Daria
Sito Sucic
[11] BOMB BLASTS IN KOSOVO.
Four persons were reportedly injured in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on 5
March when a bomb exploded, Nasa Borba reported the following day.
According to eyewitnesses, the device was placed in a garbage container
beside a monument to Serbian language reformer Vuk Karadzic, near the local
university. A second bomb was disarmed without incident, Tanjug reported,
but Reuters quoted a local Serbian official saying another device went off
in Prizren, and that it too was in a garbage container beside a monument to
a Serbian national icon (King Dusan). Police authorities have said they
suspect the Kosovo Liberation Army as being behind the incidents. -- Stan
Markotich
[12] TUDOR TO SAVE HIS PARLIAMENTARY IMMUNITY?
By a vote of seven to six, the judicial commission of the Senate on 5 March
recommended that the parliamentary immunity of the leader of the extreme
nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM), Corneliu Vadim Tudor, should not
be lifted, Radio Bucharest reported. Tudor lost his immunity in the former
legislature, but was re-elected a senator in November. The Party of Social
Democracy in Romania (PDSR), which had then been the main promoter of
lifting Tudor's immunity for "insult to authority" in denigrations
targeting former President Ion Iliescu, is now opposing the initiative,
courting the collaboration of the PRM in the opposition. The lifting of the
immunity was requested by Minister of Justice Valeriu Stoica because of a
libelous article published by Tudor some years ago, that targeted
practically all prominent personalities in the democratic opposition. One
member of the ruling coalition on the commission voted against the
recommendation in the secret vote. The final decision is to be reached by
the Senate plenum, but without the support of the PDSR the coalition falls
short of the two-thirds majority needed for lifting the immunity. --
Michael Shafir
[13] KING MIHAI ENDS VISIT TO ROMANIA.
King Mihai on 5 March ended his first visit to Romania since regaining his
citizenship, Radio Bucharest reported. Before leaving the country, Mihai
met with Foreign Minister Adrian Severin, who said the former monarch's
mission to support Romania's NATO integration bid is to be considered as
"official, but not formal." Mihai's visit stirred widespread controversy in
Romania, with opposition parties warning that the constitutional order was
in danger. Some analysts, however, interpreted the public's mild reaction
as dismissing any possibility of a return to a monarchy in Romania. --
Zsolt Mato
[14] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS CHAIRMAN.
The leader of the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova, Dumitru Motpan, on
5 March was elected chairman of the parliament, Moldovan and Western
agencies reported. Motpan, who ran unopposed, was supported by 55 of 104
deputies; of the 76 deputies who cast a ballot, 21 deputies voted against
him. He replaces Petru Lucinschi, who was elected president in January.
Following Lucinschi's election, Motpan stood for the post but at that time
(also in January) he failed to garner the minimum 53 votes and had a
counter-candidate, Dumitru Diacov, the legislature's deputy chairman and a
supporter of Lucinschi. Motpan's mandate runs out in early 1998, when new
parliamentary elections are due. -- Michael Shafir
[15] PARTIES PREPARE FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS IN BULGARIA.
The Central Electoral Commission on 4 March opened the procedure for
registration for the 19 April parliamentary elections, RFE/RL and local
media reported. All 205 sanctioned parties are eligible to compete, but it
is expected that no more than 60% of them will register. The first
registration day began with a "scandal," as three parties wanted to have
green ballot paper. In other news, after almost a month of intensive
debates, the anti-communist Union of Democratic Forces and People's Union
managed to come to an agreement for having a joint list of candidates,
RFE/RL reported on 5 March. The mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights
and Freedom -- the third member of the formation that ousted Socialists
from power with street demonstrations in January -- has not yet signed the
agreement, but is expected to do so on 7 March. -- Maria Koinova
[16] STRENGTHENING OF BULGARIAN LEV CAUSING CONCERN.
The Bulgarian National Bank raised its official fixing for the lev to 1,
667.1 per dollar on 6 March from 2,045.5 the day before and as high as 2,
936.7 on 14 February. Businessmen are criticizing the lev's rejuvenation,
arguing that it is wreaking havoc with contracts that assumed a weaker
currency, according to Trud on 6 March. The newspaper's economic
commentator argued that the rise in the lev results from administrative
measures. He said a further collapse is inevitable once large buyers of
hard currency like the Neftohim refinery return to the foreign-exchange
market to repay the debts they are building up. Meanwhile, the daily Pari
reported that an agreement with the IMF will be ready on 6 March. --
Michael Wyzan
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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