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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 119, 96-06-19
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 119, 19 June 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GAMSAKHURDIA ASSOCIATE SENTENCED TO DEATH.
[02] TURKMENISTAN RATIONS GASOLINE, DIESEL.
[03] KAZAKHSTAN TAKES RUSSIAN NEWS PROGRAM OFF THE AIR.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] ARMS EMBARGO ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ENDS.
[05] BOSNIAN SERB WOMEN HOLD OSCE REPRESENTATIVES CAPTIVE.
[06] TUDJMAN SKEPTICAL BOSNIA WILL SURVIVE AS STATE.
[07] MORE FALLOUT OVER HERZEGOVINIAN CROAT "GOVERNMENT."
[08] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA PARDONS DRAFT DODGERS.
[09] INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SEMINAR CLOSES IN BELGRADE.
[10] SHOOTING INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO.
[11] CROATIA, BULGARIA SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT.
[12] ROMANIA'S RULING PARTY CONCEDES LOSS OF VOTES IN TOWNS.
[13] SOME 3 MILLION BULGARIANS BUY PRIVATIZATION VOUCHERS.
[14] ALBANIAN MEDIA CAMPAIGN AGAINST OSCE.
[15] TURKEY UPSET WITH GREEK-ARMENIAN ACCORD.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] GAMSAKHURDIA ASSOCIATE SENTENCED TO DEATH.
Badri Zarandia, who was involved in late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia's
unsuccessful attempt to regain power in 1993, was sentenced to death by a
Georgian court on 17 June on charges of treason, banditry, and murder, ITAR-
TASS and Reuters reported. -- Liz Fuller
[02] TURKMENISTAN RATIONS GASOLINE, DIESEL.
Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov announced that subsidies on gasoline and
other fuels will be cut on 1 July, and car owners will be limited to 100
liters of gas a month, Reuters reported on 19 June. The rationed fuel will
cost 200 manats ($0.05) a liter. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] KAZAKHSTAN TAKES RUSSIAN NEWS PROGRAM OFF THE AIR.
The state television news agency Khabar took the Russian language news
analysis program "Nedelya" off the air on 16 June after the program featured
an election appeal by Russia presidential candidate Aleksandr Lebed without
the agency's knowledge, according to a Kazakhstani TV report monitored by the
BBC. Khabar claimed that the unauthorized broadcast had compromised the agency
in the eye's of its viewers. A replacement program in Kazakh and Russian is
scheduled to begin broadcasting on 23 June. -- Bhavna Dave
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[04] ARMS EMBARGO ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ENDS.
International restrictions on the export of weapons to the former Yugoslavia became history on 18 June, AFP reported. The move was made possible in accordance with the terms of the Dayton agreement following the signing of a regional arms control agreement on 14 June (see ). Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina will now enjoy parity in heavy weapons in a ratio of 5:2:2. Within the Bosnian allotment, the Croatian-Muslim federation will be allowed more weapons than the Bosnian Serbs. The embargo went into effect on 25 September 1991 following Serbia's invasion of Slovenia and Croatia. The ban served to preserve Belgrade's existing military preponderance, but all sides found ways of circumventing the restrictions, the BBC noted. It is unlikely that the latest arms control agreement will be any more water-tight than was the embargo. -- Patrick Moore
[05] BOSNIAN SERB WOMEN HOLD OSCE REPRESENTATIVES CAPTIVE.
Dozens of Bosnian Serb women who wanted help in finding relatives missing
since last summer surrounded the OSCE offices in Banja Luka on 17 June,
preventing staff from leaving the building, AFP reported. Twenty-four hours
later, they left the area outside the building, following talks with Michael
Steiner, deputy of the High Representative for Bosnia. Leader of the Bosnian
Serb missing persons' group said the women's action was "political" and aimed
at diverting the attention of UN organizations to the problem of missing Serbs
in Bosnia. But Alexandar Ivanko, UN spokesman in Sarajevo, said the UN
international police consider it "not a political but a criminal action." --
Daria Sito Sucic
[06] TUDJMAN SKEPTICAL BOSNIA WILL SURVIVE AS STATE.
NATO diplomatic sources in Brussels describe the recent talks between NATO
Secretary-General Javier Solana and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman as
having been "extremely difficult," Nasa Borba reported on 19 June. The NATO
official was "not impressed" by Tudjman's readiness to cooperate in solving
Bosnian problems. Moreover, he was discouraged to find out that Tudjman does
not believe that Bosnia-Herzegovina will survive as a single state and that
the Dayton peace accord is valid only temporarily. Tudjman believes that in
the long run, Bosnia will be divided between Serbs and Croats, Nasa Borba
reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] MORE FALLOUT OVER HERZEGOVINIAN CROAT "GOVERNMENT."
The Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), the leading Croatian political party
in both Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, denied on 18 June that recent
political changes in the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosna are
a breach of the Dayton agreement (see ). The HDZ's Bozo Rajic
said that the changes involve only reorganizing an existing cabinet and that
the republic remains legal until the Croatian-Muslim federation comes into
effect. The Muslims charge that the quasi-state should have been disbanded
long ago. Federal Vice President Ejup Ganic has demanded the recall of federal
Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic, a Croat, since his appointment was
conditional on the disolution of Herceg-Bosna, Onasa reported. The Russian
Foreign Ministry has also protested the Croatian moves, Nasa Borba wrote on
19 June . The Muslim position seems to be the one most in keeping with Dayton,
but western Herzegovina functions in any event as a part of Croatia. -- Patrick Moore
[08] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA PARDONS DRAFT DODGERS.
The rump Yugoslav parliament on 18 June approved an amnesty for some 12,500
conscripts who avoided military service or deserted during the wars in Croatia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995, Reuters reported. The law does
not apply to professional soldiers and active officers. Previously, draft
dodgers and deserters faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Tens of
thousands of young men fled rump Yugoslavia to avoid having to fight in the
war. Rump Yugoslav authorities repeatedly rounded up men born in Croatia and
Bosnia and sent them to fight there, according to human rights monitors. --
Stefan Krause
[09] INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SEMINAR CLOSES IN BELGRADE.
A three-day seminar on media freedom, organized by London's Article 19 and
Belgrade's Media Center, ended in the Serbian capital on 18 June. Journalists
from all parts of the former Yugoslavia and all neighboring Balkan countries
took part in the meeting to discuss the role of the independent media in a
post-conflict environment, journalistic ethics, and how to deal with the
"advocacy of national, religious, racial, and religious hatred." Igor Mekina
of the Slovenian weekly Mladina said a relatively good legal framework in
Slovenia did not prevent the courts and political structures from being
insensitive to the need to promote media freedom, Nasa Borba reported on 18
June. B-92 Director Veran Matic said that since Dayton, the number of free
media organizations in Serbia has been reduced owing to the regime's
machinations. -- Stanko Markotic in Belgrade
[10] SHOOTING INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO.
One Serbian policeman was killed and two wounded in separate shooting
incidents on 16 and 17 June in Kosovska Mitrovica and Podujevo, Reuters
reported. Unidentified gunmen also opened automatic gun fire and threw a hand
grenade at the police station in Luzane. Kosovo's Albanian-language media
reported that police began harassing and beating Albanians following the
incidents. In similar incidents earlier this year, five Serbs were killed
within a few days. The Liberation Army of Kosovo, which was previously unknown
claimed responsibility for those attacks. No group has yet owned up to these
most recent attacks, which, the Socialist Party said, "undermine all efforts
to restore a lasting peace in the province." -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] CROATIA, BULGARIA SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT.
Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak and his Bulgarian counterpart, Dimitar
Pavlov, signed a military cooperation agreement in Zagreb on 18 June, Hina
reported. Susak said the agreement provides for close military cooperation
once the arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia is lifted. He noted that it is
"no secret" that Croatia is interested in buying anti-armor rockets and
possibly producing them in cooperation with Bulgaria. Pavlov proposed that
Croatian officers attend training courses at Bulgarian military academies. --
Stefan Krause
[12] ROMANIA'S RULING PARTY CONCEDES LOSS OF VOTES IN TOWNS.
Adrian Nastase, executive chairman of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in
Romania (PDSR), on 18 June conceded that his party lost most big towns--
including Bucharest--in local elections held on 2 and 16 June, Reuters and
Romanian media reported. Nastase said voter frustration with the ongoing
reforms were responsible for his party's poor showing. He also claimed that
"We lost the battle at the mass media level," saying that in the big towns,
the press waged a campaign against the party. But Nastase praised the loyalty
of the rural electorate toward his party, whose nationwide performance he
described as "a success." Preliminary results show that the PDSR won nearly
32% of the 2,610 mayoralties. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] SOME 3 MILLION BULGARIANS BUY PRIVATIZATION VOUCHERS.
The Center for Mass Privatization on 17 June announced that just over 3
million people--or 48.7% of those eligible--have bought privatization vouchers,
Bulgarian media reported. Of those who bought vouchers in the second round of
purchasing, roughly two-thirds paid the full price of 500 leva ($3.50) for one
voucher, whose nominal value is 25,000 leva. The rest paid the reduced price
of 100 leva intended for pensioners, students, and soldiers. In other news,
the National Statistical Institute announced that the prices of goods
monitored by the government went up by 10.8% in the first half of June. This
is twice the increase predicted by economists and statisticians. -- Stefan
Krause
[14] ALBANIAN MEDIA CAMPAIGN AGAINST OSCE.
The daily Albania has published a series of articles alleging a conspiracy
between Norwegian, Danish, Bulgarian, and German OSCE monitors. The newspaper,
which backs the government, claims the monitors were either old friends of
late communist dictator Enver Hoxha or spies. It adds that they were therefore
biased in their report on the recent elections, which pointed to irregularities
and manipulation. Among those accused by Albania is the head of Deutsche
Welle's Albanian Service, a Danish sociologist, who himself was banned from
Albania beginning in the 1970s, and a senior German judge. Most allegations
are based on their having spent time in Albania during the communist era.
Radio Tirana recently stopped rebroadcasting Deutsche Welle programs on short
wave because of its criticism of the elections. -- Fabian Schmidt
[15] TURKEY UPSET WITH GREEK-ARMENIAN ACCORD.
Ankara has reacted angrily to a military cooperation accord signed by Armenia
and Greece in Athens on 18 June, the Turkish Daily News reported. Turkish
Defense Minister Oltan Sungurlu commented that Turkey is in a position to
"have such an agreement cancelled." He also said that no threat was posed to
Turkey by Greece's stated desire to establish a "defense forum" among
countries known to harbor strong misgivings about Turkey's intentions. Those
countries, he said, include Greece, Armenia, Iran, Syria, "certain Arab
countries," and Georgia. -- Lowell Bezanis
Compiled by Victor Gomez 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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