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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 49, 97-03-11
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 49, 11 March 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SARKISYAN RESIGNATION UPDATE.
[02] SHEVARDNADZE ON RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS.
[03] TALIBAN ACCUSES TAJIKISTAN OF MEDDLING.
[04] RED CROSS RETURNS TO TAJIKISTAN.
[05] KAZAKSTANI PRIME MINISTER FACES DEADLINE.
[06] RESULTS IN GEHRING MURDER INVESTIGATION.
[07] TURKMENISTAN'S OIL AND GAS LAW.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[08] ALBANIAN SITUATION REMAINS TENSE.
[09] INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR BERISHA.
[10] MACEDONIA ASKS UN NOT TO WITHDRAW TROOPS.
[11] TRIAL OPENS ON WAR CRIMES AGAINST BOSNIAN SERBS.
[12] NEW MEDIA LEGISLATION IN SERBIA?
[13] CROATIA WANTS TO RESUME ARMS SALE TO KUWAIT.
[14] ROMANIAN PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH HUNGARY.
[15] ROMANIAN BISHOP ADMITS COOPERATION WITH SECURITATE.
[16] TIRASPOL SUSPENDS COLLABORATION WITH OSCE MISSION.
[17] INFLATION IN BULGARIA CONTINUES TO SKYROCKET.
[18] SEPARATE ELECTORAL LISTS FOR BULGARIAN PARTIES.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SARKISYAN RESIGNATION UPDATE.
Armenian presidential spokesman Levon Zurabian told journalists on 10 March
that President Levon Ter-Petrossyan would not yet accept the resignation,
tendered on 6 March, of Prime Minister Armen Sarkisyan, ITAR-TASS reported.
Sarkisyan, who is recuperating from surgery in London, is reportedly
determined to step down as he considers that the state of his health
precludes his continuing to discharge his duties. -- Liz Fuller
[02] SHEVARDNADZE ON RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, in his regular Monday radio
broadcast on 10 March, said that relations with Russia "remain, as before,
the key question for Georgian foreign policy," ITAR-TASS reported.
Shevardnadze professed incomprehension at Russian opposition to the
burgeoning Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Ukraine axis, arguing that
cooperation between CIS member states benefits the CIS as a whole. He also
pleaded yet again that the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping troops in
Abkhazia, which expired on 31 January and is due to be renewed at the CIS
summit later this month, should be amended to allow the force's deployment
throughout Gali raion, home of many of the ethnic Georgians who fled
Abkhazia in 1993, and as far north as the river Galidzga. -- Liz Fuller
[03] TALIBAN ACCUSES TAJIKISTAN OF MEDDLING.
The Taliban religious movement in Afghanistan sent a note to the UN
complaining of rival military factions using bases in Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS
and Reuters reported on 10 March. According to the Taliban, Afghan Gen.
Ahmad Shah Masoud, the right-hand man of ousted President Burhanaddin
Rabbani, has established a safe haven at the southern Tajik city of Kulyab.
The Taliban claim helicopters ferry weapons from this base into Afghanistan
to help in the fight against Taliban forces which are slowly moving
northward. According to a 10 March broadcast from the Kabul Voice of Radio
Shari'a, Tajikistan is working in coordination with the Russian Federation
"for the purpose of intensification of the war against the Islamic State of
Afghanistan." Tajik presidential spokesman Zafar Saidov dismissed the
allegations, saying the government of Tajikistan has never allowed foreign
forces to use its country as a base. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] RED CROSS RETURNS TO TAJIKISTAN.
Just over one month after the organization pulled out most of its workers
from the country, the Red Cross began operations in Tajikistan again,
according to a 10 March report from ITAR-TASS. Workers delivered food to
people in the Vanch Valley and set out for the Tavil-Dara area, the scene
of intense fighting during most of 1996. The Red Cross announced its
temporary departure in early February when two of its employees were taken
hostage along with UN workers and Russian journalists. -- Bruce Pannier
[05] KAZAKSTANI PRIME MINISTER FACES DEADLINE.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 10 March issued a deadline for Prime
Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin to solve the wage and pension arrears problem,
RFE/RL and Reuters reported. "I give April 10 as the deadline," Nazarbayev
said at a meeting of the government; by then Kazhegeldin must "tell how he
will resolve the problem--or leave." Arrears amount to well over $500
million, which Nazarbayev feels is contributing to his unpopularity.
Nazarbayev also promoted the head of the Semipalatinsk region, Galymzhan
Zhakiyanov, to the new post of head of the Agency for Control of Strategic
Resources. Zhakiyanov will keep track of trade in oil, grain, ferrous and
non-ferrous metals, and the pipeline network. In another appointment,
former oil and gas minister Nurlan Balgimbayev now heads the new state
Kazak Oil company. Both Balgimbayev and Zhakiyanov are seen as opponents of
Kazhegeldin. -- Bruce Pannier
[06] RESULTS IN GEHRING MURDER INVESTIGATION.
Russia's NTV on 10 March released the details of the investigation of the
murder of American journalist Chris Gehring in the Kazakstani capital
Almaty on 8 January (see OMRI Daily Digest ,10 January 1997). The report
claimed the perpetrators made a video confession of the crime. The three
men said they stole Gehring's key and entered his apartment looking for
hard currency. When they were unable to find any money they decided to wait
for Gehring to return. They admitted to torturing Gehring, tying him up and
cutting his throat, then stealing a telephone answering machine and
computer. One of the criminals was apprehended as he attempted to sell the
answering machine. Gehring was working for Internews, helping independent
media in Central Asia. -- Bruce Pannier
[07] TURKMENISTAN'S OIL AND GAS LAW.
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov signed what was termed the Republican
Law on Hydrocarbon Resources on 7 March, ITAR-TASS reported the same day.
The document defines the republic's hydrocarbon resources as national
property; the right to own and manage them belongs to the Cabinet of
Ministers. It also recognizes the validity of contracts for production
sharing, defines ownership rights for trunk pipelines, and sets out
financial and tax regulations, according to a BBC-monitored Turkmen
Television report. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[08] ALBANIAN SITUATION REMAINS TENSE.
Rebels in parts of southern Albania are continuing to demand the
resignation of President Sali Berisha as a precondition for calling a halt
to the fighting. Greek TV on 10 and 11 March reported that since Berisha
offered to form a government of reconciliation and to make other
concessions, including an extension of the general amnesty, several more
towns in southern Albania have fallen to the rebels. Berat, Kelcyra, Kucova,
Permeti, Polican, and Skrapar are now in rebel hands, while some
unconfirmed reports say fighting has broken out in Lushnja and Gramsh. But
rebel leaders controlling the port of Vlore have reportedly accepted
Berisha's concessions, following what may have been mediation and
encouragement from Rome. Meanwhile, Berisha continues to meet with
opposition leaders in an effort to find a candidate for the premiership
acceptable to all parties. -- Stan Markotich
[09] INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR BERISHA.
Meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen, who is currently
head of the OSCE, said the president's concessions are "a resolute and
positive response," AFP reported on 11 March. He urged rebel fighters to
turn in their weapons immediately. U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas
Burns commented, "We join our European partners in welcoming the agreement
between President Berisha and the opposition in Albania." Inside the
country, one unidentified official of the Socialist Party predicted that
the danger of civil war has passed. He said the rebels are tiring and are
now "waiting to see the make-up of the new government," AFP reported. --
Stan Markotich
[10] MACEDONIA ASKS UN NOT TO WITHDRAW TROOPS.
Pointing to the dangers posed by the ongoing turmoil in Albania, the
Macedonian government on 10 March asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
stop withdrawing UN soldiers from the country's border with Albania, Nova
Makedonija reported. The first of three UN observer posts on that frontier
was closed on 3 March as part of the reduction of soldiers in Macedonia
from 1,050 to 750 (see OMRI Daily Digest, 5 March 1997). Meanwhile, Sonja
Nikolovska--owner of Bitola-based TAT, Macedonia's largest savings house--
was arrested on 7 March and charged with forging documents, tax evasion,
and abuse of office. Last week, the national bank suspended the operations
of TAT, which had DM 104 million in deposits--some DM 40 million of which
has disappeared--and at least 23,000 clients. -- Michael Wyzan
[11] TRIAL OPENS ON WAR CRIMES AGAINST BOSNIAN SERBS.
The UN Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia on 10 March began its first
case involving alleged offenses against Serbs during the Bosnia war, AFP
reported. Three Muslims and one Croat were charged with murdering and
torturing Serb prisoners at the Celebici camp near Konjic, southern Bosnia,
between May and December 1992. Zejnil Delalic, Hazim Delic, and Zdravko
Mucic, who were supervising camp guards and others in a position to ill-
treat detainees in Celebici, did nothing to stop the atrocities. The fourth
man, Esad Landzo, has been charged with carrying out five murders and with
torturing a number of prisoners. In other news, tribunal spokesman
Christian Chartier said the verdict on Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic, the first
suspect tried for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, will be delivered the
last week of April. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[12] NEW MEDIA LEGISLATION IN SERBIA?
Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic has proposed new legislation
regulating media, Vecernje novosti reported on 11 March. Under the new
bill, no more than 20% of all dailies could be privately owned and private
television and radio stations would be allowed to broadcast only to 25% of
the population. State-run television and radio, which remain firmly in the
grip of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, will continue to broadcast to
the entire population. Milentijevic defended her legislative proposal,
saying it meets "European standards." -- Stan Markotich
[13] CROATIA WANTS TO RESUME ARMS SALE TO KUWAIT.
Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa was in Kuwait last weekend where he
began talks on resuming sales of Croatian-made military hardware to Kuwait,
Hina reported on 9 March. Defense Minister Assistant Vladimir Zagorec said
Kuwait was interested in resuming cooperation in tank and ship
construction. Croatia exported arms to Kuwait when it was part of former
Yugoslavia. As such, it also inherited a $200 million debt to Kuwait.
Matesa proposed that Croatian debts to Kuwait be transformed into Kuwaiti
investment in Croatian economy, in line with an agreement with the Paris
Club. Croatia and Kuwait on 8 March signed an agreement on boosting and
protecting foreign investment. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[14] ROMANIAN PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH HUNGARY.
Victor Ciorbea, on the eve of his visit to Hungary, said he expects
legislation on local administration and education to be amended soon to
meet Hungarian ethnic demands, Radio Bucharest reported on 10 March.
Ciorbea said the local administration law should provide for bilingual
signs and the education law should lift "restrictions" on instruction in
national minority languages. Ciorbea also said that Gyorgy Tokay, a member
of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) and the head of
the department for national minorities within the premier's office, will be
among the visiting Romanian delegation. He added that the UDMR's
participation in the government coalition is "necessary and useful" and
"contributes to internal stability." -- Michael Shafir
[15] ROMANIAN BISHOP ADMITS COOPERATION WITH SECURITATE.
Orthodox Bishop of Banat Nicolae Corneanu, in an interview with the daily
Romania libera on 10 March, admitted he cooperated with Nicolae
Ceausescu's secret police, international media reported. He said that,
under pressure from the Securitate, he signed an order in 1981
excommunicating five dissident priests, Since the fall of communism,
Corneanu has been considered one of the more courageous bishops. He often
adopted positions that opposed Ion Iliescu's regime, including favoring
extending an invitation to former King Mihai to visit Timisoara. -- Michael
Shafir
[16] TIRASPOL SUSPENDS COLLABORATION WITH OSCE MISSION.
The Tiraspol authorities have suspended collaboration with the OSCE
permanent mission in the separatist Transdniester region, Infotag reported
on 10 March. Valerii Litkai, who is "foreign minister" in the region, told
the agency that the decision follows a report by Donald Johnston, head of
the mission, submitted to the OSCE council in Vienna in February. He said
that, in the wake of the report, the mission's activities in the
Transdniester has become "inexpedient." Earlier this month, the breakaway
region's delegation to the Joint Control Commission refused to participate
in a commission meeting to protest criticisms made by Johnston in his
report (see OMRI Daily Digest, 5 March 1997). -- Michael Shafir
[17] INFLATION IN BULGARIA CONTINUES TO SKYROCKET.
The consumer-price index rose in February by 242.7%, Bulgarian newspapers
reported on 11 March. Inflation for the first two months of 1997 amounts to
almost 393%, compared with 311% for 1996 as a whole. Prices of imports are
decreasing, as the lev continues to strengthen (the exchange rate today is
1646 lev to $1). The IMF is projecting 1,150% inflation and an average
exchange rate of 2,000 lev to $1 for 1997, Duma reported. The fund
insists that the budget deficit should not exceed 2% of GDP, while the
government argues for 5-6%. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar
Bozhkov said on 10 March that Bulgaria will not agree to granting Russia a
concession to build a gas pipeline through Bulgaria, RFE/RL reported. The
government argues that the previous government's decision to grant such a
concession was made in haste. -- Michael Wyzan
[18] SEPARATE ELECTORAL LISTS FOR BULGARIAN PARTIES.
Ahmed Dogan, leader of the predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights
and Freedoms (DPS), and Ivan Kostov, head of the Union of Democratic Forces
(SDS), agreed on 10 March to have separate electoral lists in the April
general elections, Trud reported on 11 March. The SDS and the People's
Union, the other major anti-communist grouping, agreed last week on a
common list (see OMRI Daily Digest, 6 March 1997). Dogan argues that it
would be better if the SDS did not have an absolute majority in the next
parliament, lest it become intoxicated with its success and suffer the same
fate as the Socialists, who ruled until February. Meanwhile, a Gallup poll
conducted earlier this month revealed that 81% of respondents had
confidence in President Petar Stoyanov, while 68% backed Premier Stefan
Sofiyanski. -- Michael Wyzan
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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