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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 163, 96-08-22
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 163, 22 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] NOTE TO READERS:
[02] MKHEDRIONI ACTIVIST EXTRADITED TO GEORGIA.
[03] KAZAKSTANI NATIONAL AIRLINE BANKRUPT.
[04] KAZAKSTAN RESPONDS TO RUSSIAN ELECTRICITY CUTS.
[05] NO EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS BETWEEN TAJIK FACTIONS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] OSCE PENALIZES BOSNIAN CROAT PARTY.
[07] WHAT WILL BE DONE WITH ALL THE BOSNIAN SERB MUNITIONS?
[08] LOCAL ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED IN SERBIA.
[09] SLOVENIAN CONSUL TO LIBERIA INVOLVED IN ARMS TRADE?
[10] ROMANIAN MINISTERS RESIGN.
[11] ROMANIAN COALITION THREATENED BY TREATY WITH HUNGARY.
[12] MONARCHY CONTROVERSY--AN ELECTORAL MANEUVER?
[13] IS PIRINSKI NOT A BULGARIAN CITIZEN?
[14] IMF MISSION IN BULGARIA.
[15] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] NOTE TO READERS:
In accordance with the preferences of the Kazakstani government and several international media sources, OMRI has decided to change the spelling of Kazakhstan, a Russian-derived transliteration, to Kazakstan.
[02] MKHEDRIONI ACTIVIST EXTRADITED TO GEORGIA.
Temur Kurdiani, a member of the Mkhedrioni informal paramilitary formation,
has been detained in Moscow and handed over to the Georgian Ministry of
Internal Affairs, ITAR-TASS reported on 21 August. He has been charged in
connection with a series of political assassinations in Georgia in 1994-95. --
Liz Fuller
[03] KAZAKSTANI NATIONAL AIRLINE BANKRUPT.
The Kazakstani government declared the national airline Aue Zholy bankrupt on
20 August, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL reported. As of mid-August the airline's debt
was 19 billion tenge ($180 million), and it has already been denied access to
airports in Western Europe, Israel, and Turkey because of failure to finance
new insurance agreements. The most valuable assets of the company are to be
handed over to a new company, still being formed, Air Kazakstan. The remaining
assets are to be sold off to government agencies and local authorities at
auctions or assigned to them for management. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] KAZAKSTAN RESPONDS TO RUSSIAN ELECTRICITY CUTS.
Taking an "analogous measure," Kazakstan cut off shipments of coal to the Omsk
Oblast, RTR reported on 22 August. Russia had stopped supplying northern
Kazakstan with electricity on 15 August, citing nonpayment of $420 million
(see ). All the cities of Omsk Oblast are dependent on coal from Kazakstan's
Ekibazstuz mine. Officials of the Omsk Oblast administration are trying to
enlist aid from the private company Moskenergo, but supplying the 14 power
stations in the region will require time. Industry in the area is reported to
be at a standstill. -- Bruce Pannier
[05] NO EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS BETWEEN TAJIK FACTIONS.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed regret that neither
the Tajik government nor the Tajik opposition has fulfilled its promise to
trade prisoners, ITAR-TASS reported on 21 August. Under the terms of the
Ashgabat agreement, signed on 20 July, exchanges of those held by the two
sides should have been completed by 20 August, but as of 21 August neither
side had even presented a list of detained persons to the ICRC. Meanwhile,
Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov met with Russian First Deputy Foreign
Minister Boris Pastukhov on 21 August in Moscow and repeated the Tajik
government's willingness to settle the Tajik conflict by peaceful means.
According to the ITAR-TASS report, Nazarov said the Tajik government would
"agree to give the opposition seats in the apparatus of the president, the
government, and all structures of management from rural regions to the
center." -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] OSCE PENALIZES BOSNIAN CROAT PARTY.
The OSCE said on 21 August that the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) has
"seriously violated" the voter-registration procedure, Oslobodjenje reported
the next day. The OSCE's Mostar office reported that an HDZ official had
illegally taken forms filled in by voters in Jasenica, south of Mostar,
possibly intending to tamper with them. An OSCE appeals board had ordered the
removal from office of the local electoral commission president, Vlado Bevanda,
who had denied HDZ involvement in the matter despite evidence to the contrary.
It also ordered the removal of Bevanda's name from the HDZ party list and the
immediate termination of his candidacy for public office. The OSCE also fined
the HDZ $10,000. That same day, officials from the two ruling parties in the
Bosnian federation agreed that obstacles to the revival of the Bosnian
federation have been removed, Onasa reported. The Muslim Party of Democratic
Action and the HDZ agreed to a more rapid institution of cantonal authorities
and transitional municipal councils, but they failed to agree on a federal
finance system and the status of the controversial state Agency for Research
and Documentation. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] WHAT WILL BE DONE WITH ALL THE BOSNIAN SERB MUNITIONS?
Operation Volcano, the destruction by IFOR of some 400 tons of contraband
Bosnian Serb munitions found in Margetici, continues, with some 130 tons
disposed of to date, but questions have arisen over what to do about an
additional 16 sites declared by the Bosnian Serbs. Reportedly 10 of those
sites contain some 2,600 tons of munitions similar to those discovered at
Margetici. Suggesting that the additional munitions deposits may not be
destroyed, Maj. Brett Boudreau has said that "all options are under
consideration," Reuters reported on 21 August. Some speculation already
centers on the possibility that IFOR might allow the Bosnian Serbs "to move
the contraband to an already approved storage site," added Reuters. -- Stan
Markotich
[08] LOCAL ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED IN SERBIA.
Serbia's local elections have been called and are to be held on 3 November,
Radio and Television Serbia reported on 21 August. Federal elections, as well
as balloting in Montenegro, are to take place the same day. The leader of the
opposition Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, welcomed news of the
Serbian local elections, observing that they may provide opposition parties
the opportunity to challenge the governing Socialist Party of Serbia power
base in local constituencies, Beta reported on 21 August. Reuters, however,
provided an analysis suggesting that with local, one set of republican, and
federal elections taking place at the same time, the opposition parties may
find their resources and organizational abilities spread too thin, with the
ruling parties ultimately posting gains. -- Stan Markotich
[09] SLOVENIAN CONSUL TO LIBERIA INVOLVED IN ARMS TRADE?
Nicholas Oman, Slovenia's honorary consul to Liberia, was dismissed from his
post on 21 August, some two months after an Italian prosecutor issued an
arrest warrant accusing Oman of smuggling arms to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
and Slovenia. Ljubljana offered no details of why it removed Oman from the
post he has held since 1993, Reuters reported on 21 August. In other news,
Oslobodjenje on 22 August reported that a member of the Bosnian presidency,
Ivo Komsic, and Nijaz Skenderagic, a member of the leadership of the
opposition Social Democratic Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina, were in Ljubljana on
21 August but were barred by Interior Ministry officials from speaking at a
"promotional gathering" of five Bosnian opposition parties. -- Stan
Markotich
[10] ROMANIAN MINISTERS RESIGN.
Minister of Health Iulian Mincu and Minister of Culture Viorel Marginean have
submitted their resignations, Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu told Radio
Bucharest on 21 August. He said Mincu was resigning for personal and health
reasons, as well as due to the fact that his work in the Senate took up much
of his time. According to the AFP correspondent, however, Mincu, who was once
Nicolae Ceausescu's personal nutritionist, has been implicated in several
scandals since his appointment in 1992, including mismanagement of a World
Bank loan to improve the health-care system. The resignations come against the
background of the executive's efforts to rid itself of its corruption-
tarnished image on the eve of elections. Marginean, Vacaroiu said, wished to
return to his work as a painter. Reuters reported that he also came under
attack in the media for having spent large amounts of public money to organize
exhibits of his paintings abroad. He did not rule out other changes in the
government. On 10 August, Vacaroiu had denied reports in the press that a
reshuffle of his cabinet was in the offing. -- Michael Shafir
[11] ROMANIAN COALITION THREATENED BY TREATY WITH HUNGARY.
The chairman of the Party of Romanian National Unity, Gheorghe Funar, said in
an interview with Radio Bucharest on 21 August that he does not believe his
party will continue to be a member of the coalition if the text of the basic
treaty with Hungary is signed in the form agreed upon in Bucharest last week.
Funar spoke after a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Marcel Dinu.
President Ion Iliescu will meet with representatives of parliamentary
political parties next week in order to consult them on the treaty, a
spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in Bucharest on the
same day. -- Michael Shafir
[12] MONARCHY CONTROVERSY--AN ELECTORAL MANEUVER?
Following the controversy that erupted over the pro-monarchy statement
attributed to the Democratic Convention of Romania's presidential candidate,
Emil Constantinescu (see ), the daily Evenimentul zilei revealed on 22
August that the interview granted by Constantinescu to the U.S. Romanian-
language publication Micro-Magazin had been tampered with. The journalist
who interviewed Constantinescu admitted that he had "mended it," allegedly to
reflect the views of American readers. Evenimentul zilei concluded that this
was an electoral maneuver. The interview had been printed in Micro-Magazin
as far back as 25 July, but there had been no reaction to it till the daily
Jurnalul national reprinted it on 20 August. The Party of Social Democracy
in Romania, Evenimentul zilei noted, then reacted to the Constantinescu
interview with a speed that cannot be otherwise explained but by a plan to
stage an electoral coup. Meanwhile, in an interview with Jurnalul national
published on 22 August, Constantinescu said he "could not be a supporter of
the monarchy," since he is a candidate for the presidential office. He said he
told Micro-Magazin that former King Michael should be able to take up
residence in Romania "like any other citizen of the country" and that he would
"accept the people's decision if it opted for a monarchy in a referendum." -- Michael Shafir
[13] IS PIRINSKI NOT A BULGARIAN CITIZEN?
Union of Democratic Forces Deputy Chairman Vasil Gotsev on 21 August said
there is no documentation in the Central State Archives proving that Foreign
Minister Georgi Pirinski--the presidential candidate of the ruling Bulgarian
Socialist Party--ever acquired Bulgarian citizenship, Demokratsiya reported.
Gotsev said no state decree on the New York-born Pirinski's naturalization has
been located and noted that if no such document exists, Pirinski is not
formally a Bulgarian citizen. He added that Pirinski's mother, a U.S. citizen,
acquired Bulgarian citizenship based on a certificate by the Sofia
administration of the Interior Ministry, which had no authority to change her
citizenship. Gotsev said the opposition may ask the Constitutional Court to
rule on the case when the new parliamentary session begins in September.
Pirinski and the Socialists have not commented. -- Stefan Krause
[14] IMF MISSION IN BULGARIA.
An IMF team headed by Anne McGuirk arrived in Sofia on 21 August for a regular
review of the country's economic stabilization and reform program, RFE/RL and
Bulgarian media reported. The mission "will review progress under the [reform]
program" in connection with Bulgaria's next scheduled drawing from its current
$580 million standby loan. Talks between the mission and the government will
focus on monetary and fiscal policy, McGuirk said. She added that the
government must continue its present course of reform. -- Stefan Krause
[15] ALBANIAN ROUNDUP.
President Sali Berisha on 21 August urged the opposition to participate in
local elections on 20 October, international media reported. He said that the
elections will be "free and fair" and that the election law is "of European
standards." Berisha said the elections would he held even if the Socialists--
the biggest opposition party--boycott them. He said the Socialists "have
chosen the boycott because they know they would be defeated in any elections."
Berisha did not comment on opposition demands to reshuffle an electoral
commission that was formed recently by presidential decree. The previous day,
Berisha's Democratic Party had announced it would adopt a law preventing
opposition representatives from pulling out of electoral commissions in the
upcoming local elections by making it a punishable offense to do so, ATSH
reported. -- Stefan Krause
Compiled by Steve Kettle and Tim Rostan
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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