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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 54, 97-03-18
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 54, 18 March 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIA DENIES ABKHAZ ALLEGATIONS OF TROOP DEPLOYMENTS.
[02] BIBLES CONFISCATED IN UZBEKISTAN.
[03] PENSIONERS DEMONSTRATE IN KAZAKSTAN.
[04] TAJIK TROOPS CLOSE IN ON TERRORIST.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] NEW ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER TO MEET REBEL LEADERS.
[06] EU MISSION IN TIRANA.
[07] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT PRAISES TREATY WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
[08] BOSNIAN POLICE RETURN KURDS TO ISTANBUL.
[09] LOYALIST DAILY CONFIRMS MILOSEVIC'S DESIGNS ON FEDERAL PRESIDENCY.
[10] OSCE CALLS ON SERBIA TO OPEN UP TO OPPOSITION.
[11] ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPS BACK FROM HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY PROMISE.
[12] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PROTESTS IN DEFENSE OF EXTREMIST.
[13] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER PRESENTS STABILIZATION PROGRAM.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GEORGIA DENIES ABKHAZ ALLEGATIONS OF TROOP DEPLOYMENTS.
The Foreign Ministry of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia told ITAR-
TASS on 17 March that Georgia had violated the 1994 ceasefire agreement by
deploying six tanks and 100 military personnel in Georgia's Zugdidi raion,
which is currently controlled by CIS peacekeeping troops. The Georgian
Interior, Defense and State Security Ministries issued a denial. Also on 17
March, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba sent a letter to Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze warning that unless the latter takes measures
to halt ongoing terrorist activities by Georgian saboteurs on Abkhaz
territory, hostilities may erupt and the progress already achieved in
mediated talks on a settlement of the Abkhaz conflict will be demolished. --
Liz Fuller
[02] BIBLES CONFISCATED IN UZBEKISTAN.
Uzbek customs officials confiscated 25,000 copies of the bible's New
Testament sent to Uzbekistan by the Russian Bible Society, according to a
BBC-monitored 14 March ITAR-TASS report. The Uzbek authorities regard the
Russian Bible Society's action as missionary activity, which is banned. --
Lowell Bezanis
[03] PENSIONERS DEMONSTRATE IN KAZAKSTAN.
About 300 pensioners held a demonstration in front of the Kazakstani
parliament building on 17 March commemorating the six-year anniversary of
the all-Union referendum on preserving the Soviet Union, Reuters reported.
Leaflets were distributed which said that 95.6% of participants six years
ago, "including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, voted for the socialist
development" of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. An elderly woman at
the demonstration was quoted as saying a return to the past was out of the
question but "it is also impossible to suffer any longer." Pensioners
receive about 2,800 tenge per month ($37), often too little to provide for
basic necessities. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] TAJIK TROOPS CLOSE IN ON TERRORIST.
Special units of the Tajik Security Ministry have closed in on Rezvon
Sadirov near the village of Chormagz, about 100 kilometers southeast of
Dushanbe, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on 18 March. Sadirov's brother
Bahrom was apprehended near Obigarm on 14 March in an attack by government
troops allied with fighters of the United Tajik Opposition. Rezvon and
about 40 others are expected to be in custody soon. The Tajik opposition is
not engaged in this action as it "falls outside their zone of influence."
Rezvon had been in contact with the government until he broke off radio
communications on 16 March. The Sadirovs and their group are wanted by both
the government and opposition for two hostage taking episodes, one in
December, the other in February. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] NEW ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER TO MEET REBEL LEADERS.
Bashkim Fino announced he will visit insurgent leaders in southern Albania,
after they threatened to march on Tirana demanding President Sali Berisha's
immediate resignation. The insurgents, meeting in Belci--a small town near
Fier--had delivered an ultimatum to Berisha demanding his resignation by 18
March. They also said that "Fino, whose authority we recognize, must not
cooperate with the arrangements made by Berisha or we will withdraw our
confidence in him," Reuters reported. Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros
Pangalos said Berisha's resignation would be "the simplest way" to resolve
the crisis. Meanwhile, over 700 Albanian refugees arrived in Puglia on 17
March and more vessels were heading for the Italian coast the following day,
Italian border guards told AFP. The latest arrivals bring the total number
of refugees to land in Italy since 13 March to around 7,000. One ship with
487 people on board berthed at Brindisi with some difficulty after
encountering engine trouble. Reception facilities in southern Italy are
overfilled. -- Fabian Schmidt
[06] EU MISSION IN TIRANA.
The UN Security Council on 17 March urged Albanian authorities to cooperate
with a EU fact-finding mission that arrived in Tirana the same day. The 11-
member team was mandated by a meeting of EU foreign ministers the previous
day in Apeldoorn which ended without agreement on sending troops to
Albania. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini estimated that assistance
to Albania would be carried out by "between 100 and 150 civilians." German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl also ruled out military intervention. The mission's
findings are to be presented to EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 24
March. Meeting the EU team, Berisha said rapid assistance, mainly in food
and medicine, was vital to restore order. Meanwhile, life in Tirana
returned to near-normal on 17 March, with shops open, public transport
running, and civil servants back in offices. Schools, however, stayed
closed, an overnight curfew and strict controls on the press remained in
effect, and Rinas airport stayed shut. -- Fabian Schmidt
[07] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT PRAISES TREATY WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
The Serbian parliament on 17 March adopted a declaration supporting the
treaty signed last month aimed at strengthening ties between the Bosnian
Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
local media reported. Some deputies questioned the purpose of the
declaration, since the pact is between the Republika Srpska and the federal
Yugoslav state. The pro-government daily Vecernje Novosti wrote that the
declaration was meant as a show of support for the "spiritual unification
of Serbian people and erased borders." The Serbian parliament also
recommended that the federal parliament ratify the pact later this week.
But French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette asked federal Yugoslav
authorities to delay ratification until the High Representative for Bosnia,
Carl Bildt, confirms the agreement conforms with the Dayton peace accords,
Nasa Borba reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOSNIAN POLICE RETURN KURDS TO ISTANBUL.
Some 100 Kurds from Turkey were arrested by Bosnian police in Sarajevo on
17 March under suspicion of trying to reach Western countries illegally and
were deported the same day, Oslobodjenje reported. An anonymous caller
had informed the police that a local tourist agency was smuggling Kurds to
Germany via Bosnia-Herzegovina for a price up to $2,500, international
agencies reported. Turkish citizens can enter Bosnia and stay up to three
months without a visa. Police confirmed an increased inflow of Kurds with
legal Turkish documents to Sarajevo; Oslobodjenje put the number in the
city before the arrests at 400-500. In other news, Berlin authorities said
on 17 March they would step up the forced repatriation of Bosnian refugees
unless they started returning home voluntarily, Reuters reported. But
Berlin's Interior Minister Joerg Schoenbohm said they rule out the forcible
return of Muslims who were expelled from Serb areas, and of traumatized
refugees. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] LOYALIST DAILY CONFIRMS MILOSEVIC'S DESIGNS ON FEDERAL PRESIDENCY.
For the first time, pro-regime media have said Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic is likely to run for the federal Yugoslav presidency, AFP
reported. Vecernje Novosti wrote on 14 March that he "very probably" will
seek the post. The pro-government daily thereby seemed to confirm long-
standing speculation among observers of Serbian politics that Milosevic
intends to beef up the powers of the federal presidency and then obtain the
office for himself. The federal parliament, which is dominated by
Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, will elect the president in June.
Milosevic is constitutionally barred from seeking a further term as Serbian
president. Current Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic is widely regarded as
Milosevic's loyal follower. -- Patrick Moore
[10] OSCE CALLS ON SERBIA TO OPEN UP TO OPPOSITION.
Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen, the current chair of the
OSCE, met with Serbian opposition leaders Vuk Draskovic and Vesna Pesic in
Copenhagen on 17 March, international news agencies reported. Following the
talks with them and with student leader Ivan Pravdic, Helveg Petersen told
the press: "It is tremendously important that the upcoming elections are
well-prepared and that the opposition has free access to the media ... I
believe the government now should establish a dialogue with the opposition
and give [it] real access to the media." The OSCE has made recommendations
on democratization to the regime of President Slobodan Milosevic in recent
weeks, but the opposition leaders said the government is dragging its feet.
-- Patrick Moore
[11] ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPS BACK FROM HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY PROMISE.
Victor Ciorbea, after promising shortly before his visit to Budapest
earlier this month to reopen the Hungarian-language Bolyai University in
Cluj, now says the final say will depend on the existing Babes-Bolyai
University's faculty senate, because universities enjoy autonomy, Radio
Bucharest reported on 17 March. Ciorbea and President Emil Constantinescu
had earlier clarified that the Hungarian university, closed in 1958, would
re-open as a Hungarian section within the unified Babes-Bolyai university
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 14 March 1997). Ciorbea's recent statement was
made at a meeting with the university's two ethnic Romanian deputy rectors,
who oppose the move and have threatened to resign in protest. Ciorbea added
that a separate, independent Hungarian-language university could be set up
elsewhere, provided it respected relevant laws. On 18 March, Romania
libera printed a declaration of the Cluj branch chairman of Ciorbea's
party, the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, opposing any change
in the Babes-Bolyai University status quo. -- Michael Shafir
[12] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PROTESTS IN DEFENSE OF EXTREMIST.
Senators representing the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, the Party
of Romanian National Unity, and the Greater Romania Party (PRM) walked out
of Senate debates on 17 March, announcing they would not participate in the
house's work before meeting with President Emil Constantinescu, Romanian TV
reported. The three opposition parties, which are protesting the manner in
which PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor was stripped of his parliamentary
immunity (see OMRI Daily Digest, 14 March), said the ruling coalition had
turned down a "compromise proposal," according to which the Constitutional
Court would be asked to express its opinion. On 18 March, however, Senate
Chairman Petre Roman said he had decided to ask the court's opinion
himself. Radio Bucharest reported that the three factions are also likely
to boycott debates in the Chamber of Deputies, the other house of the bi-
cameral parliament. -- Michael Shafir
[13] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER PRESENTS STABILIZATION PROGRAM.
Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Sofiyansky presented on national television
on 17 March the main measures of a program aimed at stabilizing the
country's economy. He called for understanding and support, admitting the
program could cost as many as 58,000 people their jobs. Sofiyansky said the
government would compensate them and strive to create new jobs rather than
continue subsidizing failing industries. All prices would be fully
liberalized except for temporary continuation of subsidies for bread, milk,
white cheese, and chicken. Wages would be increased by 70 percent starting
1 April, and a new social-security system would be created. Earlier, RFE/RL
reported that Bulgaria had reached a tentative agreement with key IMF
officials to create a national finance board with power to introduce tough
austerity measures to rescue the economy. Sofianski and Anne McGuirk, head
of an IMF mission to Bulgaria, announced plans by the IMF to provide
Bulgaria with credits totaling about 700 million dollars. The accord still
needs formal IMF approval. The finance board is be set up in Bulgaria
before the end of June. -- Michael Shafir
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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