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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 36, 97-02-20
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 36, 20 February 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE IN BAKU.
[02] PRO-GOVERNMENT DAILY CLOSES DOWN IN ARMENIA.
[03] BOWING TO BEIJING OVER XINJIANG?
[04] CENTRAL ASIAN ECONOMIC UPDATE.
[05] TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES BANNED IN NETHERLANDS.
[06] ASSASSINATIONS, TYPHOID FEVER IN TAJIKISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] U.S. PROPOSES 'SPECIAL' POLICE FORCE IN BRCKO.
[08] BOSNIANS GAVE WORLD BANK MONEY TO TOWN ON AID BLACK LIST.
[09] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.
[10] SERBIA'S HARDLINERS ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAIN?
[11] JAIL STRIKE BROADENS IN ROMANIA.
[12] MOLDOVA ATTACKS RUSSIAN DUMA'S DECISION TO SET UP DNIESTER PANEL.
[13] BULGARIAN ENERGY MINISTER ON DANGERS OF NUCLEAR POWER.
[14] BULGARIAN TRADE MINISTER TAKES STEPS TO BOOST EXPORTS.
[15] ALBANIAN UPDATE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE IN BAKU.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze arrived in Baku on 18 February for a
three-day visit intended to open what he termed a "new stage" in the
"strategic partnership" between the two countries, Russian and Western
agencies reported. Following a three-hour meeting during which Shevardnadze
and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, signed more than 20
bilateral cooperation agreements, including one on the export of Caspian
Sea oil and gas via Georgia, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to
finding a peaceful solution to all conflicts in the region, according to
ITAR-TASS. Addressing Azerbaijan's Milli Mejlis (parliament) on 19 February,
Shevardnadze criticized the inability of the CIS to safeguard the
territorial integrity of its member states, and argued that integration
within the CIS should not impede the desire of some of its members to join
unspecified "European structures." -- Liz Fuller
[02] PRO-GOVERNMENT DAILY CLOSES DOWN IN ARMENIA.
The editorial board of the Yerevan-based Aravot daily newspaper decided
on 15 February to cease publication, Armenian media reported. The paper's
editor-in-chief and former spokesman for President Levon Ter-Petrossyan,
Aram Abrahamyan, claimed that "the daily has fulfilled its mission as a
free media outlet and exhausted its resources as such." He denied rumors in
Yerevan that it was closed down for "political reasons." Nominally
independent, Aravot largely supported the government's policies and is
believed to have been heavily financed by former Interior Minister and
current Yerevan Mayor Vano Siradeghyan and his associates. -- Emil
Danielyan
[03] BOWING TO BEIJING OVER XINJIANG?
Kazakstan has officially stated its resolute opposition to any kind of
separatism in China, according to a 19 February Xinhua report monitored by
the BBC. The statement comes in the wake of Uighur protest rallies in
Kyrgyzstan and Turkey following Beijing's suppression of violent riots
staged in early February by the Uighur minority in the western Chinese
province of Xinjiang. On 18 February, the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan
described a demonstration that took place outside its offices in Bishkek as
an act of interference in China's domestic affairs, ITAR-TASS reported on
18 February. On 17 February, Turkey officially apologized for the burning
of Chinese flags by protesters but also declared its intention to "maintain
an interest" in the people of the Xinjiang region, AFP reported. -- Lowell
Bezanis
[04] CENTRAL ASIAN ECONOMIC UPDATE.
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov signed a $580 million agreement with
three Japanese concerns -- Itochi, JGC, and Nissho Iwai -- to build
Turkmenistan's first polypropylene plant in Turkmenbashy (formerly
Krasnovodsk) on 18 February, RFE/RL reported the next day. The Japanese
government will reportedly extend a $400 million credit to the plant which
will produce 90,000 metric tons of polypropylene annually. The U.S. firm
CCL has won a tender for a three-year concession to run the Pavoldar oil
refinery in Kazakstan, RFE/RL reported the same day. The terms of the deal
have yet to be disclosed; the idle plant previously produced more than half
of Kazakstan's gasoline needs. Local officials in the Gorno-Badakhshan
region of Tajikistan are negotiating with China to open a border trading
zone in the Mugab district, according to an 18 February Tajik Radio report
monitored by the BBC. -- Lowell Bezanis
[05] TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES BANNED IN NETHERLANDS.
Dutch Transport and Water Management Minister Annemarie Jorritsma-Lebbink
has banned Turkmenistan Airlines (TA) from landing at Amsterdam's Schiphol
Airport, ITAR-TASS reported on 19 February. The decision comes after a TA
flight chartered in Dubai made an unauthorized landing at the airport on 17
February. The flight was carrying 173 Sri Lankan Tamils who asked for
asylum in the Netherlands. No details on whether the Tamils will be allowed
to stay in the Netherlands have been released. -- Lowell Bezanis
[06] ASSASSINATIONS, TYPHOID FEVER IN TAJIKISTAN.
Unidentified assailants killed seven people in different residential areas
of Dushanbe within a 30-minute period on the evening of 18 February,
Reuters reported on 19 February. Among those killed were two U.S. Embassy
guards waiting at a bus stop, a Russian serviceman, and an ethnic Uzbek
scientist. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the killings as anti-
Russian; the U.S. called on the Tajik authorities to apprehend the
perpetrators. One of the other victims was a Tajik policeman who worked at
a psychiatric hospital; he was killed when a "patient," reputedly connected
with the pro-opposition Sanginov brothers, was freed by his associates. In
other news, international aid officials in Tajikistan say that at least 10
people have died and thousands have been infected in an outbreak of typhoid
fever in the capital Dushanbe, RFE/RL reported on 20 February. Some 3,000
cases of typhoid fever have already been reported. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] U.S. PROPOSES 'SPECIAL' POLICE FORCE IN BRCKO.
Washington will back an initiative to create a UN-mandated police force to
help an international supervisor in the disputed Bosnian town until March
1998, when a final decision on Brcko will be made, AFP reported on 19
February. Arbitrators decided on 14 February to postpone for another year
the decision on who should control the town claimed by both Serbs and
Muslims. The U.S. is ready to contribute personnel to the police force,
which would be separate from the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) but--
in contrast to the existing UN police force--would be armed and authorized
to use force. The existing UN police could not cope with incidents that
might occur if thousands of Muslims and Croats try to return to Brcko. In
other news, James Pardew, a senior U.S. envoy in charge of the military aid
program for Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation, said that efforts to merge
the Bosnian Muslim and Croat armies are in danger due to the inter-ethnic
clash in Mostar, Reuters reported on 19 February. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOSNIANS GAVE WORLD BANK MONEY TO TOWN ON AID BLACK LIST.
The World Bank said on 19 February that Bosnian Muslim authorities
illegally allocated some $200,000 to Bugojno, a town in central Bosnia that
is under an aid embargo by the World Bank and the high representative for
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Carl Bildt, AFP reported. Bugojno is embargoed for all
but humanitarian aid because its Muslim authorities refuse to allow the
minority Croat population representation on the local council. The money
came from a $100 million loan from the Dutch government and the World Bank.
The Dutch ambassador to Bosnia, Valerei Sluyter, said she did not know what
the money was used for or whether the Bosnian government has fulfilled its
promise to take the money back from Bugojno. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.
Mate Granic and his Yugoslav counterpart Milan Milutinovic met on 19
February to push ahead with normalizing relations between their countries,
international and local media reported. While peaceful reintegration of the
last Serb-held region of eastern Slavonia into the rest of Croatia
dominated their agenda, they reached agreement on nearly 18 other issues,
including citizenship, frontier trade and traffic, border crossings,
cooperation between interior ministries, and the rights of Croats in
Yugoslavia and of Serbs in Croatia. The two are expected to sign agreements
in a few months on transportation, succession talks, missing persons, and
refugees and property issues. Meanwhile, Serb leaders in eastern Slavonia
warned that 50% of Serbs in the area will leave by the end of the spring as
they are being treated unfairly, AFP reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] SERBIA'S HARDLINERS ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAIN?
Mirjana Markovic, wife and main political ally of Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic, on 19 February lambasted the opposition Zajedno
coalition. In the state-run Borba, Markovic alleged that the opposition
wants only to seize power and behaves like "diseased animals." In other
news, Radio Index on 19 February reported that local Socialist Party
officials in Leskovac are refusing to remove the local sacked party boss
from his mayor's post, apparently in defiance of opposition wins in the
locality following 17 November municipal runoff elections. Elsewhere on 19
February, protests by teachers and students continued and Zajedno formally
agreed that Zoran Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party, will stand as
mayor of Belgrade. -- Stan Markotich
[11] JAIL STRIKE BROADENS IN ROMANIA.
Inmates in a Craiova prison launched a sympathy protest with fellow inmates
of the Jilava prison in Bucharest who have been on a hunger strike since 17
February, Reuters reported on 19 February. The Jilava prisoners asked
authorities to improve living conditions and speed up cases delayed in the
courts. The prison holds 3,500 inmates, more than double its capacity.
Chief Warden Ion Parjol said that while most of the prisoners' complaints
were justified, conditions cannot be improved due to lack of funds.
Gheorghe Lazaroiu, warden at the Craiova prison, warned of the possibility
of a chain reaction. Romanian judicial sources reported that more than 45,
000 inmates are being held in 35 prisons, about three times the acceptable
capacity. -- Zsolt Mato
[12] MOLDOVA ATTACKS RUSSIAN DUMA'S DECISION TO SET UP DNIESTER PANEL.
Members of the Moldovan parliament denounced as "interference in Moldova's
domestic affairs" a decision of the Russian State Duma to set up a
commission to deal with the Dniester region, BASA-press reported on 19
February. The newly created panel is to tackle the political and economic
problems of Moldova's breakaway region as well as the issue of the presence
of Russian troops there, Dniester media reported on 18 February. The 12-
member board is headed by Adrian Puzanovski, an active supporter of
Dniester interests in the Russian legislature. Deputies in the Dniester
legislature welcomed the Duma panel as a step from "declarations to
concrete actions." -- Dan Ionescu
[13] BULGARIAN ENERGY MINISTER ON DANGERS OF NUCLEAR POWER.
Georgi Stoilov on 19 February became the first Bulgarian top official to
discuss safety lapses in the country's energy program, AFP reported.
Stoilov, a member of Ecoglasnost who was appointed minister with the rest
of the interim cabinet on 12 February, said on state radio that the
country's controversial Kozlodui nuclear power plant is "very dangerous"
and a serious public health threat. "In my opinion, the danger exceeds an
acceptable level of risk," he said. -- Stan Markotich
[14] BULGARIAN TRADE MINISTER TAKES STEPS TO BOOST EXPORTS.
Daniela Bobeva, caretaker minister of Trade and Foreign Economic
Cooperation, has created an off-budget Center for Encouraging Exports and
begun talks with the EBRD for assistance in creating a facility to provide
export credits, insurance, and guarantees, Pari reported on 20 February.
Bobeva stressed the importance of signing agreements on the protection of
investment and of joining CEFTA. Meanwhile, food prices have risen by 30%
in the last week, with local economists predicting 100% inflation in
February, 24 chasa wrote on 19 February. Those economists noted that the
1996 budget deficit was 11.2% of GDP--despite large cuts in spending on
defense and social welfare--due to soaring interest expenditures. Finally,
the Energy Ministry has proposed raising electricity and heating prices by
3.5 times effective 1 March. -- Michael Wyzan
[15] ALBANIAN UPDATE.
President Sali Berisha visited stricken towns on 19 February to shore up
support for his administration and for his handling of the crisis triggered
by the recent collapse of several pyramid investment schemes. Berisha told
an estimated 1,500 "hand-picked supporters" in Elbasan: "We cannot pay
their debts but we can intervene to speed up growth and ensure the economic
recovery of the people," Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Vehbi Alimucaj,
director of VEFA Holding (one of the investment firms), said on 19 February
that his company will reimburse investors. The company's repayment strategy
will take about three months, Alimucaj said. -- Stan Markotich
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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