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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 165, 96-08-26
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 165, 26 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] TAJIKISTAN'S NEIGHBORS WORRIED ABOUT SITUATION.
[02] CABINET RESHUFFLE IN TURKMENISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[03] ARE 8,000 CANDIDATES TO BE DROPPED FROM BOSNIAN BALLOTS?
[04] CROATS, SERBS, MUSLIMS ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
[05] ZAGREB, BELGRADE SIGN NORMALIZATION ACCORD.
[06] SLOVENIAN COURT RELEASES SERBIAN GENERAL.
[07] SLOVENIA, HUNGARY TO ABOLISH PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS.
[08] NEW CABINET APPOINTMENTS IN ROMANIA.
[09] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES TREATY TALKS WITH HUNGARY.
[10] BULGARIAN AGRARIANS SACK LEADER . . .
[11] . . . AND CAST DOUBT OVER OPPOSITION COOPERATION.
[12] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS DROP MARXIST DOCTRINE FROM PARTY PROGRAM.
[13] U.S. CALLS FOR BROADER POLITICAL DIALOGUE IN ALBANIA.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] TAJIKISTAN'S NEIGHBORS WORRIED ABOUT SITUATION.
Although ITAR-TASS reported on 23 August that Tavil-Dara has been recaptured
by Tajik government troops, officials from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan have met to discuss the Tajik conflict. The presidents of the three
countries met in Almaty on 24 August to discuss economic cooperation and the
creation of a common economic space by the end of 1997, according to ITAR-TASS
and RFE/RL. Prior to the meeting, Kazakstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev
met with his Tajik counterpart Imomali Rakhmonov to emphasize the need for a
peaceful solution to the conflict. Nazarbayev also sent letters to United
Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri and Afghan President Burhanaddin
Rabbani expressing the same. There is speculation Nazarbayev warned Nuri and
Rabbani that Kazakstan will not remain idle should the situation in Tajikistan
worsen. -- Bruce Pannier
[02] CABINET RESHUFFLE IN TURKMENISTAN.
President Saparmurat Niyazov relieved Valery Otchertsov, Minister of Economy
and Finance as well as deputy chairman of Turkmenistan's cabinet, of his
duties on 22 August, RFE/RL reported the next day. He was appointed economic
counselor to Turkmenistan's embassy in Moscow and granted what were termed
emergency powers as an envoy to Russia. Otchertsov's replacement as Minister
of Economy is Matkarim Rajapov. Russian agencies noted that Otchertsov was
shifted "at his own request" due to matrimonial problems. -- Lowell
Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[03] ARE 8,000 CANDIDATES TO BE DROPPED FROM BOSNIAN BALLOTS?
A statement issued by the OSCE says that the status of 8,000 out of the 28,000
declared candidates for the 14 September elections is in doubt because the
individuals' names do not appear on the election rolls. Those rosters are
based on the 1991 census, and it thus appears that the 8,000 may have
subsequently come to Bosnia from elsewhere. The OSCE did not identify the
names of the candidates or their parties but said it was working to clarify
matters. Two of the candidates are ineligible because they are indicted war
criminals, AFP noted on 25 August. Meanwhile, the OSCE's election supervisor,
Robert Frowick, is consulting with all three sides about postponing the
municipal elections, which are one of the seven components of the 14 September
vote. A postponement seems likely after it came to light that the Serbs were
registering voters on a massive scale in key strategic towns, although all
three nationalist parties have engaged in the practice to at least some
extent. -- Patrick Moore
[04] CROATS, SERBS, MUSLIMS ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
The Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) officially launched its campaign on 25
August in Sarajevo, AFP reported. The party is the leading Croatian party in
both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Bosnian federal President Kresimir Zubak
told 1,000 supporters at the local sports center that Bosnia must be the home
of Croats, Serbs, and Muslims alike. Meanwhile in Banja Luka, Bosnian Serb
acting President Biljana Plavsic argued for "a single Serb state" and ruled
out any union with other nationalities. She slammed the idea of "unification
with the Muslims and Croats," claiming that Bosnian Serbs "want the
unification of all the Serbs of the Balkans in a single state called Serbia."
Plavsic added that "there is an alternative to peace. . . . The Serb nation
and its state are more sacred than any peace." In Croat-held Capljina, a local
imam told a rally of the Muslim Party for Democratic Action (SDA) on 24 August
that "the Koran is our constitution. Jihad is our path, our salvation." --
Patrick Moore
[05] ZAGREB, BELGRADE SIGN NORMALIZATION ACCORD.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and his rump Yugoslav (SRJ) counterpart,
Milan Milutinovic, have signed an agreement on the normalization of bilateral
relations, Tanjug reported. The two leaders met in Belgrade on 23 August.
While parts of the text remain open to interpretation, the document notes that
the two countries will establish "full diplomatic and consular relations . . .
within 15 days of the signing." Tanjug noted that Zagreb has accepted the
continuity between the SRJ and the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and that the outstanding issue of succession is to be resolved by
consensus. Outstanding territorial questions, such as the Prevlaka peninsula,
are to be considered within "the framework of negotiations and in the spirit
of the UN Charter and good-neighborly relations." Nasa Borba reported that
Western diplomats have praised the accord for its importance to regional peace,
while the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party dubbed it "the biggest
treason and capitulation." -- Stan Markotich
[06] SLOVENIAN COURT RELEASES SERBIAN GENERAL.
A Ljubljana district court on 23 August found Gen. Milan Aksentijevic not guilty of serving "an enemy army," Delo reported. Aksentijevic was indicted in September 1995 on charges related to his leading Yugoslav army forces against Slovenia during the 1991 war. He was detained on 12 July while visiting relatives in Slovenia (see ). The court ruled that the Yugoslav army had not been formally designated an "enemy" before the war; and, on these grounds, it decided in the general's favor. -- Stan Markotich
[07] SLOVENIA, HUNGARY TO ABOLISH PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS.
Hungarian President Arpad Goncz met with his Slovenian counterpart, Milan
Kucan, in the Slovenian town of Prosenjakovci on 25 August, AFP reported,
citing Hungarian radio. They agreed to abolish passport requirements for
citizens crossing the Hungarian-Slovenian border. Hungary will now have to
make some legislative changes enabling its citizens to cross the border with
only an identity card. -- Stan Markotich
[08] NEW CABINET APPOINTMENTS IN ROMANIA.
Two new ministers were appointed on 23 August to replace those who resigned
earlier last week, Radio Bucharest reported. Daniela Bartos, a 44-year-old
cardiologist, is the new health minister and the first woman to be given a
portfolio since the end of Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. She pledged to continue
reforming the health system in Romania, saying she will ask for more funding
for the sector. Grigore Zanc, a university professor and a former prefect of
Cluj County, was appointed culture minister. He said he plans to reform the
department's structures. A government spokesman announced further personnel
changes, including the replacement of two secretaries of state at the Industry
Ministry and one at the Health Ministry. -- Dan Ionescu
[09] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES TREATY TALKS WITH HUNGARY.
The cabinet on 23 August discussed progress to date in the negotiations over
the basic treaty with Hungary, Radio Bucharest reported. Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu said the current draft was a "reasonable compromise," and he
suggested that the text could be signed in the first half of September.
Melescanu's remarks were made after a two-day meeting of experts in Budapest
designed to put the finishing touches to the treaty. Also on 23 August,
Gheorghe Funar, chairman of the chauvinistic Party of Romanian National Unity,
asked for an extraordinary meeting of the parliament's two chambers to debate
the treaty, which he described as "crucial for Romania's future." Corneliu
Vadim Tudor, leader of the Greater Romania Party, said his party "vehemently
opposes" the inclusion in the treaty of the "villainous" Recommendation No.
1201 of the Council of Europe. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] BULGARIAN AGRARIANS SACK LEADER . . .
The Governing Council of the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union (BZNS), meeting
in an extraordinary session on 24 August, dismissed Anastasiya Dimitrova-Mozer
as the BZNS chief secretary, Demokratsiya reported. Party speaker Georgi
Pinchev has been appointed to replace her. The council said Dimitrova-Mozer
will no longer represent the party within the People's Union, a coalition of
the BZNS and the Democratic Party. She was blamed for "the deep organizational
crisis" within the BZNS and for trying to usurp the party's name. Her
dismissal follows long-standing conflicts within the party in which she has
been directly involved. Dimitrova-Mozer, who is currently in the U.S., said
she will not accept her dismissal. She called the present Governing Council
"illegitimate," arguing that procedures for a party congress are under way and
that calling a council meeting now thus contravenes the BZNS statutes. --
Stefan Krause
[11] . . . AND CAST DOUBT OVER OPPOSITION COOPERATION.
President Zhelyu Zhelev on 23 August warned that Dimitrova-Mozer's sacking
will inevitably lead to breakups of both the BZNS and the People's Union,
RFE/RL and Bulgarian newspapers reported. He said her dismissal means that one
of the signatures to the opposition agreement on a common presidential
candidate is no longer valid and thus the agreement as a whole has been
"nullified." Under that agreement, Zhelev will not run in the 27 October
presidential elections after losing in the primaries to Petar Stoyanov of the
Union of Democratic Forces (SDS). Zhelev did not say whether he will run after
all. SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov criticized Zhelev's statement, saying the
agreement was signed by political forces and not by individuals. But Kostov
and many other opposition leaders, including People's Union Co-Chairman Stefan
Savov, were critical of Dimitrova-Mozer's dismissal shortly before the
presidential elections and in her absence. -- Stefan Krause
[12] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS DROP MARXIST DOCTRINE FROM PARTY PROGRAM.
The Socialist Party, convening for its annual congress in Tirana on 25 August,
officially condemned the former Stalinist dictatorship and dropped all
references to Marxist philosophy from its program, Reuters reported. The move
is seen as the biggest push for reform since the fall of communism in 1990.
The congress voted for the party program to be reformed to embrace social
democratic elements and expressed its commitment to stimulate the private
sector. Delegates re-elected imprisoned party leader Fatos Nano, who
previously had rallied for such reform and had criticized the current
leadership for resisting change. Servet Pellumbi, acting party leader,
resigned, saying that his viewpoints differ too much from those of Nano. The
Socialists also decided to continue their boycott of the parliament, which
they started after the elections because of alleged fraud. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[13] U.S. CALLS FOR BROADER POLITICAL DIALOGUE IN ALBANIA.
The U.S. State Department has called for "broadening the political dialogue in
Albania between the ruling and opposition parties as the first step toward
holding free and fair local elections," Reuters reported. The statement also
called for adopting a new constitution and holding new parliamentary elections
"at the earliest opportunity." The Democrats should offer the opposition a
substantive role in preparing local elections and in the electoral commission,
the statement continued. It called on the opposition to participate fully in
the election process. The opposition has threatened to boycott a new ballot,
saying the makeup of the electoral commission is no better than it was during
the parliamentary elections. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle 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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