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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 61, 97-03-27
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 61, 27 March 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA TO FREE ALL AZERBAIJANI POWs.
[02] MORE DEMONSTRATIONS IN KAZAKSTAN.
[03] HOUSING LOANS FOR UZBEK CITIZENS.
[04] AKAYEV CLAIMS ECONOMIC SUCCESS FOR KYRGYZSTAN IN 1996.
[05] OPERATION CONTINUES AGAINST TAJIK OUTLAWS.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] DEATH TOLL RISES IN ALBANIA.
[07] OSCE FAILS TO ISSUE MANDATE FOR MILITARY ACTION.
[08] 'SPECIAL FORCES' TO HUNT WAR CRIMINALS IN BOSNIA?
[09] UN OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF FINDING MISSING YUGOSLAV WAR VICTIMS QUITS.
[10] UNHCR BLASTS GERMAN DEPORTATION OF BOSNIANS.
[11] ROUNDUP FROM THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
[12] MACEDONIAN LONDON CLUB DEAL SIGNED.
[13] KING MIHAI PLEADS FOR ROMANIAN NATO MEMBERSHIP.
[14] NEW DEMAND FOR ANTONESCU'S REHABILITATION.
[15] OSCE MOLDOVAN REPRESENTATIVES NOT ADMITTED TO COMMISSION.
[16] MOLDOVAN PARTY MOVES INTO 'CONSTRUCTIVE OPPOSITION.'
[17] HEAD OF BULGARIAN PRIVATIZATION AGENCY SACKED.
[18] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO SUBSIDIZE BULGARIAN WAGES, PENSIONS.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA TO FREE ALL AZERBAIJANI POWs.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry on 25 March issued a statement saying Yerevan
will unilaterally free all Azerbaijani prisoners of war held on its
territory in order to create a favorable atmosphere for the upcoming
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Moscow,
international agencies reported. The statement said the move is a gesture
of goodwill and a manifestation of Yerevan's "constructive position" at the
OSCE-sponsored negotiations on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to the statement, Armenian authorities are in touch with Red
Cross representatives to organize the return of the unspecified number of
prisoners. In related news, Yurii Yukalov, the Russian representative to
the Minsk group, told Turan on 25 March that the OSCE-sponsored talks on
Nagorno-Karabakh will resume on 1 April in Moscow. -- Emil Danielyan
[02] MORE DEMONSTRATIONS IN KAZAKSTAN.
The coordinating council of opposition movements and trade unions in
Kazakstan, Respublica, has called on all the country's citizens to join
with those of neighboring Russia and participate in mass protests on 27
March, RFE/RL reported the previous day. The demonstration would be the
second in less than a week; miners from the Kentau area marched on the
Kazakstani capital on 23 March but were stopped about 15 kilometers from
Almaty. General Procurator Stepan Shutkin, in a statement carried by mass
media, warned that such protests are illegal and those participating them
should be treated as criminals. Payments to some citizens are more than
half a year in arrears. In related news, AFP on 26 March carried a story
originally run in the weekly Kazak Express K concerning a former worker
who retired because of health reasons more than one year ago. He had not
been receiving pension payments but was sent a coffin as compensation. --
Bruce Pannier
[03] HOUSING LOANS FOR UZBEK CITIZENS.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov issued a decree on 26 March on long-term
credit for individual housing, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL reported. The credit
will be issued against housing bonds which will be made available by the
government in the near future. The state will repay 50% of construction
costs and the credit will be repayable over a 10-year period at 20%
interest annually. -- Bruce Pannier
[04] AKAYEV CLAIMS ECONOMIC SUCCESS FOR KYRGYZSTAN IN 1996.
At a joint session of the Kyrgyz parliament President Askar Akayev noted
improvements in the national economy during 1996, RFE/RL reported on 26
March. Akayev said GNP had increased by 5.6%, industrial output by 10.8%,
and agricultural output by 13.1%. Akayev said the country's goals for 1997
would be to reduce the trade deficit: in 1996 Kyrgyzstan imported 1.7 times
more than it exported. Another goal is to bring inflation down to 17% and
cut unemployment, which according to government figures is running at 20%. -
- Bruce Pannier and Naryn Idinov
[05] OPERATION CONTINUES AGAINST TAJIK OUTLAWS.
Tajik government troops along with fighters from the United Tajik
Opposition (UTO) are rounding up the remnants of the Sadirov brothers' gang
still led by Rezvon Sadirov, Reuters reported on 25 March. Gafur Mirzoyev,
the commander of the presidential guards, said so far eight outlaws had
been killed in the fighting and five more had been captured in the battle,
about 80 kilometers east of Dushanbe. The government and UTO forces have
each lost three. The Sadirov brothers and their followers were responsible
for two hostage-taking incidents, one in December, the other in February
and involving UN employees. Mirzoyev said he expects the operation will be
concluded within 48 hours. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] DEATH TOLL RISES IN ALBANIA.
A 35-year-old man was killed on the spot and a six-year-old child died
later in hospital when a gunman opened fire on a public bus on 26 March
near the village of Sauk, just south of Tirana, AFP reported. Six others
were wounded. The motive for the attack was unknown. The Interior Ministry
said violence throughout the country that day left 11 people dead, most
killed by stray bullets or in vendetta attacks; a five-year-old child was
killed while playing with a grenade that exploded. The death toll for the
unrest has now reached over 160. In Vlora, the national bank was ransacked
and blown up; the building was empty after the bank was closed down last
month. Meanwhile, Italy deported around 200 Albanian "undesirables,"
bringing the total number of deported suspected criminals to 900. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[07] OSCE FAILS TO ISSUE MANDATE FOR MILITARY ACTION.
Six EU nations, who have sent military experts to Albania to spearhead work
for a possible security force to protect aid, suffered a setback after they
failed to secure an international green light for their plan. The OSCE
failed to approve a mandate for a military mission at talks in Vienna on 26
March. Reuters quoted one diplomat as saying "the meeting ended in
disarray." France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Greece may now get
bogged down in seeking authority from the UN or take the riskier step of
going in alone. Turkey and Romania have also expressed willingness to take
part. Prime Minister Bashkim Fino insisted that any foreign forces would be
"very small" and would help keep open the ports of Vlora and Durres and
protect Rinas airport. -- Fabian Schmidt
[08] 'SPECIAL FORCES' TO HUNT WAR CRIMINALS IN BOSNIA?
The current chair of Bosnia's joint presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, said
after meeting in Washington with U.S. President Bill Clinton: "We received
clear assurances that the war criminals will be brought to justice." He
said his impression is that "special forces" will be used, international
media reported on 26 March. Izetbegovic once again raised his concerns
about poor implementation of the Dayton agreement, including the failure to
arrest war criminals. SFOR and the international police have avoided
arresting war criminals lest the NATO forces suffer casualties. -- Patrick
Moore
[09] UN OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF FINDING MISSING YUGOSLAV WAR VICTIMS QUITS.
Austria's Manfred Nowak, the head of the UN Working Group on Enforced
Disappearances, resigned on 26 March to protest a lack of cooperation with
his office, international media reported. He said that, while most of the
missing in Croatia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina are presumed dead, it is
necessary to clarify their fates for the sake of their families and of long-
term peace. Nowak found, however, that the international community has
failed to come up with sufficient money for his group to continue its work,
and that Belgrade, Pale, and SFOR are less than cooperative. The Austrian
jurist added that there are still 20,000 missing in Bosnia, most of whom
are Muslim men and boys. In Croatia, 5,000 persons are unaccounted for from
the 1991 war, plus 1,000 federal Yugoslav soldiers from that same time as
well as 2,000 Serbs from the time of the 1995 Croatian offensives. --
Patrick Moore
[10] UNHCR BLASTS GERMAN DEPORTATION OF BOSNIANS.
The UN's main refugee agency criticized Bavaria for sending 44 people back
to Bosnia with little or no concern for their well-being, Reuters reported
on 26 March. A UNHCR statement said that "some of these people were woken
up in the middle of the night and forced onto the flight back to Sarajevo,"
where nine of them had to sleep at a transit center since they have no
relatives there. Bosnian officials said that Germany was treating refugees
like criminals and showing no concern for what awaited them back in Bosnia.
The Bavarian government and the Berlin authorities have been particularly
zealous in seeking to deport the refugees because of domestic political
considerations. During the war, Germany took in more refugees from the
former Yugoslavia than did any other EU country. -- Patrick Moore
[11] ROUNDUP FROM THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
An ethnic Serbian family was expelled over the weekend from their home in
Croatia's Knin area. VOA reported on 26 March that an angry crowd and a
local official forced the recently returned refugees out despite pledges by
President Franjo Tudjman to protect Serbs. Elsewhere in Croatia, the
exhumation of mass graves has begun again with the return of spring
weather. In Belgrade, taxi drivers and truckers blocked roads for seven
hours to protest high income taxes and vehicle import duties, Nasa Borba
wrote. -- Patrick Moore
[12] MACEDONIAN LONDON CLUB DEAL SIGNED.
The debt-reduction and -rescheduling agreement between Macedonia and the
London Club of commercial creditors--reached on 24 October 1996--was signed
in London on 26 March, Nova Makedonija reported. According to Finance
Minister Taki Fiti, the deal reduces Macedonia's obligations from $644
million to $228.7 million. The reduction is larger than the $364 million
envisioned in October because of the strengthening of the dollar since then
and because some of the debt has been repurchased by federal Yugoslavia's
national bank. Macedonia accepted 5.4% of the principal on former
Yugoslavia's debt to the club (3.7% of the interest); in earlier agreements,
Slovenia had accepted 18% and Croatia 29.5%. The agreement reschedules the
debt over 15 years with a four-year grace period. -- Michael Wyzan
[13] KING MIHAI PLEADS FOR ROMANIAN NATO MEMBERSHIP.
In London on 25 March, former King Mihai said Romania meets all NATO
membership criteria and warned that excluding it from the alliance's first
expansion could provoke problems throughout Eastern Europe, Reuters
reported. The former monarch said that admitting Hungary while leaving out
Romania could lead to the deterioration of ties between the two countries
and jeopardize Bucharest's efforts to conclude with Ukraine a similar
treaty as that concluded with Budapest. On a related matter, Foreign
Minister Adrian Severin, paying a two-day visit to Portugal, discussed
Romania's quest for admission to NATO in the first wave with his Portuguese
counterpart, Jaime Gama. Portugal is the seventh NATO country to express
support for Romania's admission, Romanian television reported. -- Michael
Shafir
[14] NEW DEMAND FOR ANTONESCU'S REHABILITATION.
Justin Tambozie, a senator representing the Party of Romanian National
Unity (PUNR), asked Prosecutor General Nicolae Cochinescu to begin
procedures for the rehabilitation of Romanian wartime fascist leader
Marshal Ion Antonescu, who was executed in 1946, Romania libera reported
on 26 March. A similar demand was repeatedly made by PUNR deputy Petre
Turlea. Tambozie also demanded that the government erect a commemorative
statue of Antonescu. Three such statutes have already been erected by
private sponsors. -- Michael Shafir
[15] OSCE MOLDOVAN REPRESENTATIVES NOT ADMITTED TO COMMISSION.
Police in the Transdniester breakaway region banned representatives of the
OSCE mission from entering the town of Tighina-Bendery to attend the
sitting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC), which includes Moldovan,
Transdniester, Russian, and OSCE representatives. The Transdniestrian
representatives said the OSCE representatives do not have a mandate, as the
agreement on cooperation between the JCC and the OSCE expired on 7 February,
BASA-press and Infotag reported on 25 March. However, the agreement
provides for automatic extension if the sides do not suggest modifications
or completion. The meeting was canceled. -- Michael Shafir
[16] MOLDOVAN PARTY MOVES INTO 'CONSTRUCTIVE OPPOSITION.'
The Socialist Unity-Edinstvo faction in the Moldovan parliament announced
on 26 March that it was moving into "constructive opposition," Infotag
reported. The faction was the second largest represented in parliament
after the 1994 elections but it shrank after several deputies joined other
parties. The announcement did not specify what will happen with the
Socialist Unity-Edinstvo representatives in the executive. Reflecting the
discontent of the party's many ethnic Russians, it said that the
government's "once-promised principle of professionalism has been replaced
by an ethnocratic approach." It also criticized President Petru Lucinschi
for refusing to sign the memorandum for the settlement of the
Transdniestrian conflict. -- Michael Shafir
[17] HEAD OF BULGARIAN PRIVATIZATION AGENCY SACKED.
The board of the Privatization Agency on 26 March dismissed the agency's
executive director, Veselin Blagoev, Kontinent reported. Chairman of the
board Yosif Iliev said Blagoev, who was appointed by the previous Socialist
government, "lacked sufficient initiative and flexibility." Blagoev's
deputy, Iliya Dimov, will fill in until a successor is named next week,
Iliev said. In other news, Demokratsiya reported that President Petar
Stoyanov said the interim government has "not yet fulfilled its task of
purging corrupt officials." He said he will bring up the matter at his next
meeting with Prime Minister Stefan Sofiyanski. Socialist Party leader
Georgi Parvanov had complained to Stoyanov about "illegal dismissals" of
officials in the state administration and the state-owned industry. --
Stefan Krause
[18] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO SUBSIDIZE BULGARIAN WAGES, PENSIONS.
Bulgaria's interim government has agreed to create by the end of June a
system for social protection with expenditures subsidized by the budget,
IMF, World Bank, and EU, Demokratsiya reported. A donors conference in
Brussels on 8-9 April will come up with a figure for such assistance.
Bulgaria has agreed that all subsidies will go to households, not
enterprises or budgetary organizations, and it has agreed to ensure
sufficient budget revenue to increase wages, pensions, and social payments.
The average monthly wage is to reach $72 in April and $112 in December, the
average pension $22.5 in April and $34 in December. The only international
assistance provided so far for Bulgaria's social-protection system as its
government introduces radical reforms has been ECU 22 million ($25.5
million) from the EU. -- 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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