Events of December 1996
Anne D. Baylon
Bulgaria
Dec. 21 (Reported in NY Times, Dec. 23) Prime Minister Zhan Videnov resigns. For the past three years, the former Communists--renamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party--have ruled Bulgaria, but they have refused to carry out market reforms and have been accused of corruption for allowing “politically connected banks to drain the country’s hard currency reserves.” Under Mr. Videnov’s government, the economy has come close to collapsing, with inflation close to 300% and an uncontrolled currency depreciation.
Czech Republic
Dec. 2 President Václav Havel undergoes surgery for lung cancer. According to his surgeon, Dr. Pavel Pafko, the prognosis for the President’s recovery is “good.”
Romania
Dec. 1 President Emil Constantinescu ends decades of official atheism under Communism with an Orthodox ceremony that supplements his civil inauguration on Nov. 29. Talking about the future, the President says that it “depends on leaders who have to sacrifice and citizens who don’t have to be sacrificed anymore.”
Slovakia
NY Times, Dec. 17 Elected twice as Prime Minister, Vladimir Meciar has tightened his powers by controlling the secret service, the privatization process, the media, and the universities. Unlike the rest of Central Europe, which is geared toward democracy, Mr. Meciar is turning away from democracy. He has curbed the rights of ethnic Hungarians (10% of the Slovak population), enriched his loyal political allies through the privatization of industry, and even been accused of arranging the kidnapping of the son of his chief political rival, President Michal Kovac.
EASTERN EUROPE
Chechnya
Dec. 17 In a sign of “the lawlessness and violence that rule Chechnya,” six Red Cross workers are killed by masked gunmen in their guarded compound at the hospital of Novye Atagy, causing the Red Cross and the few relief organizations still operating there to withdraw from Chechnya.
Dec. 22 A remote-controlled mine kills five boys near Grozny. The killing is one in a series of terrorist acts intended to derail the peace process in Chechnya, where the separatists have taken charge and presidential and parliamentary elections have been scheduled for Jan. 27.
Dec. 30 Russian officials say that they will end their troop withdrawal from Chechnya before the Jan. 27 elections.
Russia
Dec. 3 Over 400,000 Russian coal miners, teachers, and power plant workers go on strike, all demanding back pay. Many miners and workers have not been paid for months.
Dec. 6 Employees of a St. Petersburg nuclear power plant take over the control room and threaten to shut down the plant—which supplies most of the city’s power—unless they receive months of back pay. The crisis is resolved when the government pays a billion rubles ($200 per worker) and promises to deliver the rest within a week.
Dec. 11 Russian coal miners end their strike after the government agrees to pay back wages before the new year.
Dec. 23 Looking fit, President Yeltsin returns to work in the Kremlin.
NY Times, Dec. 25 Tens of millions of workers have not received their salaries for months. The delay in wage payments (estimated at $9.3 billion) has forced people to borrow from their parents’ pensions. The government has promised to pay all wage arrears in December, but 80% of the debt is owed by failing companies and not by the state.
Dec. 27 Former national security adviser Gen. Aleksandr Lebed announces that he has formed a new political party—the Russian Popular Republican Party—to seek the presidency. The party will offer voters a third choice in addition to the Communists and the party of Mr. Yeltsin.
Dec. 28 In an unusual show of cooperation, the Communist-dominated parliament agrees with Mr. Yeltsin’s government to adopt the 1997 budget (about $98 billion).
Tajikistan
Dec. 20 Civil war flares up as rebels loyal to Rizvon Sadirov, a mercenary opposition leader, seize 23 hostages, including 8 U.N. military observers, about 90 miles east of the capital of Dushanbe. Civil war started after the Soviet Union’s collapse as a fight among regions for control of the country. While President Imomali Rakhmanov’s Government won four years ago, the opposition kept fighting from Afghanistan and has now captured more than half the country. The rebels are demanding safe passage for Mr. Sadirov’s Afghan-based fighters into Tajikistan.
Dec. 21 The Tajik rebels free 21 hostages and 7 U.N. observers.
Dec. 23 President Imomali Rakhmonov signs a cease-fire with the leading opposition leader, Sayed Abdullah Nuri, under the mediation of Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. (Russia, which maintains 25,000 troops in Tajikistan, has repeatedly encouraged the Tajik government to make peace.) The agreement requires both sides to restore peace by July 1997.
Dec. 25 Despite the cease-fire, Russian troops stationed on Tajikistan’s southern border are fired upon from the Afghanistan side of the border.
THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Bosnia
Dec. 3 According to Jane’s Intelligence Review reports, the Bosnian military produced chemical arms during the war, namely chlorine gas. Chemical weapons will be banned in 65 countries by next April, when the Chemical Weapons Convention comes into effect.
Dec. 17 NATO Defense Ministers give the “final go-ahead” for a scaled-down U.S.-led force that will keep the peace in Bosnia for the next 18 months. The force, composed of 31,000 men from the U.S., Russia, and 23 NATO or NATO-allied countries, will replace the existing 60,000-troop force.
Dec. 20 NATO terminates its 60,000-men mission in Bosnia and replaces it with the new mission.
Dec. 23 Bosnian Serb leaders announce that they will not participate in the new national government of Bosnia. Without a national government, however, Bosnia remains divided, with a Serbia state controlling half of Bosnia and a Muslim-Croat Federation controlling the other half.
Serbia
Dec. 1 Opposition leaders who have led two weeks of street protests in major Serbia cities against the government’s nullification of local elections won by the opposition say that in order to drive Mr. Milosevic out of power, they need the support of the mining communities in the south. But the miners have been threatened with immediate dismissal if they strike.
Dec. 2 While rallies calling for Mr. Milosevic to step down continue, the government is jamming “B-92,” the only independent radio station left in Serbia. The station, which was founded in 1989 and has always reported on the opposition, has constantly been threatened with closure.
Dec. 3 The government shuts down the “B-92” radio station, blocks busloads of protesters, and arrests 32 students for “brutal attacks on people’s property.” In response, the opposition leaders call for nationwide strikes.
Dec. 4 Protests enter their 17th day. The U.S. State Department reports a promise by Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic “that the Serbia Government will not use force to disrupt those demonstrations.” The government shuts down a second radio station critical of Mr. Milosevic.
Dec. 5 President Milosevic makes several concessions, allowing radio “B-92” to resume broadcasting, promising to pay overdue pensions and student loans, and announcing the resignation of some unpopular party leaders.
Dec. 6 Politicka—the largest state-run newspaper in Yugoslavia—is angering its Serbian readers by not covering the daily street protests. The chief editor is a friend of the President.
Dec. 7 When radio station “B-92” was shut down by the government on Dec. 3, its Web site took over the reporting of street protests. The station now has a deal with an Amsterdam-based access service to broadcast over the Internet 24 hours a day and thus bypass government transmitters.
Dec. 8 Blocking a possible compromise with the opposition, the Serbian supreme court upholds the government’s annulment of local elections (that had given control of Belgrade to the opposition), in effect granting the governing Socialist Party control over the city’s government. At the same time, plainclothes police arrest young anti-Government leaders and beat them up.
Dec. 9 Anti-government student protests are increasingly colored with a virulent Serbian nationalism. Although the students say that their movement is apolitical, they attack President Milosevic, not for starting the war in Croatia and Bosnia but for failing to create a Greater Serbia.
Dec. 10 Boycotting the opening of the federal Yugoslav parliament, 15 parliament members and 22 others representing parties of the opposition coalition join the street protests.
Dec. 11 Claiming to represent the student majority, representatives of Belgrade University student unions (which are under Mr. Milosevic’s grip) demand to return to class and ask the protesters to join them.
Dec. 12 So far, Serbia’s factory workers have ignored pleas for walkouts by the opposition leaders. As one labor leader puts it, “If you strike in Serbia, you have just signed up for unemployment.”
Dec. 14 While the government has promised to pay long overdue pensions, salaries, student grants, and social welfare, it has begun to print money without having the corresponding reserves in order to fulfill its promise.
Dec. 15 Eager to quell anger over the local elections’ annulment, Mr. Milosevic turns over to his opponents the control of Nis, Serbia’s second largest city. But opposition leaders say that they “don’t want to bargain away their election victories.” Mr. Milosevic also invites the OSCE to examine the election results.
Dec. 22 Opposition leaders join forces by forming a coalition of the 30 towns and villages they already govern, while about 100,000 protesters demonstrate in Belgrade’s streets.
Dec. 24 For the first time since demonstrations started in November, opposition protesters clash with government supporters after President Slobodan Milosevic buses hundreds of riot policemen and thousands of his supporters to Belgrade. The clashes leave 58 people wounded.
Dec. 25 President Milosevic’s supporters call for “tough action” against opposition demonstrators. Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro (Serbia’s junior partner in the Yugoslav Federation) warns that Montenegro is prepared to have its own foreign policy if Serbia cannot “work harder to rejoin the international community.”
Dec. 27 Former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales, head of the OSCE international mission in charge of examining the election results, delivers a report that recommends reinstating rightful winners of the elections and encourages Mr. Milosevic to “use the crisis as an opportunity to move toward democracy.”
Dec. 28 Thousands attend the burial of Predrag Starcevic, the first protester to be killed in the anti-government demonstrations. Mr. Starcevic was beaten to death during the Dec. 24 clashes.
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)
Dec. 18 While Yugoslavia has fulfilled its promise to destroy 80 tanks by year’s end as part of an arms control treaty signed in June, Washington, which promised Yugoslavia $2 million to help with the demolition program, is delaying its payment. Washington’s stalling is due to its unhappiness with Mr. Milosevic’s handling of the elections in Serbia.
WESTERN EUROPE / EASTERN EUROPE
Boeing/McDonnell Douglas
NY Times, Dec. 16 The Boeing Company announces its plans to acquire the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, the biggest merger in the aerospace industry. The deal would make Boeing the world’s largest aerospace company and the only manufacturer of commercial jets in the U.S.
France/U.S.A./NATO
Dec. 2 The disagreement between France and the U.S. over whether a European or an American commander should lead the major NATO command in Naples (traditionally lead by an American) is causing a delay in the plans for the military reorganization of NATO. The restructuring, which must be finished before the NATO summit meeting in early July, is intended to provide better security and stability in Europe in the new post-Cold War environment.
France/U.S.A./U.N.
Dec. 10 France and the U.S. are split over the election of a new U.N. Secretary General. Two candidates have emerged: Kofi Annan of Ghana, an insider who is Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping, and Amara Essy, who is the Ivory Coast’s Foreign Minister. France opposes Mr. Annan as too American (Mr. Annan was educated in the U.S.).
Dec. 13 France joins the consensus and the Security Council chooses Kofi Annan to head the U.N.
Dec. 17 Kofi Annan becomes the new Secretary General. Mr. Annan will officially take over on Jan. 1.
Germany/Czech Republic
Dec. 10 German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and his Czech counterpart Josef Zieleniec will meet in Prague on December 20 to initial a joint declaration that will end a 50-year dispute between the two countries. Germany will apologize for the invasion of the former Czechoslovakia during World War II and the Czech Republic will express regrets for the postwar expulsion of millions of Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia.
Dec. 20 In Prague, Minister Kinkel and Minister Zieleniec initial the reconciliation declaration between their two countries. The document will require parliamentary approval on both sides.
Germany/NATO
Dec. 13 The German parliament approves the deployment of 2,000 peacekeeping soldiers in Bosnia, reflecting growing self-confidence that German soldiers can contribute fully to Allied operations outside the NATO region (no German ground troops have been deployed outside NATO borders since World War II).
IMF/Russia
Dec. 15 The International Monetary Fund resumes payment of a three-year $10.1 billion loan to Russia it had suspended because of the Russian government’s failure to raise taxes and collect revenues. Russia’s recent push to step up tax collection has prompted the IMF to revive the loan.
NATO/Eastern Europe
Dec. 10 In Brussels, NATO foreign ministers formally approve expanding the Alliance to include former Eastern European Communist countries and say that they will announce the new members at a July 8/9 meeting in Madrid. The most likely candidates are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovenia. NATO also offers to negotiate a special charter with Russia and pledges that the Alliance will not move nuclear weapons on the territory of new members. Finally, NATO proposes to develop a “distinctive relationship” with Ukraine.
Russia/NATO
Dec. 11 Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov accepts NATO’s offer to negotiate a separate charter with Russia although Russia still opposes expansion. Cooperation would cover general areas such as military training, peacekeeping, equipment, and tactical weapons.
Seven European States/U.N.
Dec. 15 The Defense Ministers of Austria, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden sign an agreement to set up the U.N. Standby High Readiness Brigade, a permanent 4,000-member force that can be called upon by the U.N. Security Council for peacekeeping or preventive operations with two to four week’s notice and be deployed for up to six months.
Turkey/European Union
Dec. 10 Complaining that the European Union does not recognize Turkey’s strategic importance, Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan refuses to attend a dinner at the EU summit meeting in Ireland. Turkey, which turned down a chance at EU membership in 1977, has since reapplied, but it is facing resistance due to its economic underdevelopment and its human rights record.
U.S.A.
Dec. 5 President Clinton chooses Czech-born Madeleine Albright, currently the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., as his Secretary of State and retiring Republican Senator William Cohen as Secretary of Defense.
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