An electronic newsletter

Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center

31 August 1996

31 August 1996, Voice of America

30 August 1996, Voice of America

29 August 1996, Voice of America

27 August 1996, OMRI Daily Digest

26 August 1996, OMRI Daily Digest

26 August 1996, Reuters

26 August 1996, Monitor

25 August 1996, CND-Global

24 August 1996, Voice of America

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=     

(1) AN END TO THE WAR IN CHECHNYA

31 August 1996, Voice of America

Russian security chief Alexander Lebed has announced an end to the war in Chechnya. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the crucial issue of Chechen independence has been put

off for at least five years.

Mr. Lebed emerged early Saturday from a nearly nine-hour meeting with Chechen rebel negotiator Aslan Maskhadov saying "the war is over". A crowd waiting outside erupted in cheers.

The deal signed at the tiny village of Khasavyurt, just outside the Chechen border in neighboring Dagestan, calls for significant concessions by both sides. The Chechens agreed to give up their demand for immediate independence, and the Russians agreed not to completely rule out independence at some future date.

The compromise calls for the issue to be deferred, at least until the year 2002.

The Russian security chief, appointed earlier this month as president Boris Yeltsin's envoy to Chechnya, said a joint commission would be set up to monitor the complete withdrawal of

Russian troops.

The rebel negotiator, Mr. Maskhadov, praised his Russian counterpart's peacemaking efforts, saying he had finally found someone who wanted to end the war.

The peace deal seemed in doubt earlier in the week, when president Yeltsin refused Mr. Lebed's request for a meeting to discuss a draft proposal offered by the rebels. But the

vacationing president signaled his approval in a telephone call, clearing the way for Saturday’s agreement

(2) MICE SUICIDE.

30 August 1996, Voice of America

Three years ago herdsmen in xinjiang, in china's far northwest, were startled to see thousands of mice jumping into a lake and drowning. Since then, chinese scientists have been trying to find a reason for the phenomenon. The china daily newspaper says mice, which grow up to

26 centimeters long, propagate at astonishing speed. Three years ago their population increased 40 times in the grasslands of xinjiang. But in a few months, they disappeared. Mass suicide is suspected. In the course of studying the mice, a researcher with the locust and mouse control office ni yunhao, happened to have set a record, according to the china daily -- he performed 2000 mouse autopsies in one week.

(3) CHINESE CRITICIZM OF JAPAN

29 August 1996, Voice of America

China has continued its strong criticism of Japan for, in Beijing’s view, failing to acknowledge Japanese aggression in World War Two. Beijing has again sharply criticized Japan for actions it says show a disregard of Japanese aggression against China in World War Two. The fiftieth anniversary year of the end of World War Two saw almost daily verbal attacks on Japan’s wartime actions. Recently Beijing has resumed the attack. The focus has been a visit made by prime minister Hashimoto to a shrine to Japan’s war dead, including those executed as war criminals.

(4) NAZARBAYEV AND KAZAKSTAN'S FUTURE

27 August 1996, OMRI Daily Digest

In an interview on Kazak TV on 21 August monitored by the BBC, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he would like to see more ethnic Kazaks return to Kazakstan and called

upon the government and the people to help "to return our brothers living abroad." He said some 200,000 people had returned to Kazakstan in the last 2 to 3 years. The issue of resettlement of Kazaks was being discussed with Mongolia and Karakalpakistan and the Kazakstani president said he had also broached the question with Chinese President Jiang Zemin during the latter's visit to Almaty in July. – Bruce Pannier

(5) U.S. STUDY SAYS RUSSIAN MILITARY CAPACITY MUCH DIMINISHED

26 August 1996, OMRI Daily Digest

In a report submitted to the U.S. Congress, the Defense Intelligence Agency depicts the Russian military as a dilapidated force that will not be capable of mounting effective offensive operations against China or deep into Europe for at least 10 years, AFP reported on 23 August. The same day Reuters quoted Gen. Eugene Habiger, head of U.S. nuclear forces, as saying that budgetary cutbacks would bring Russia down to the START-2 level of less than 3,500 nuclear weapons by 2005 whether or not Russia ratified the treaty. He said Russia was making some progress towards developing a new single-warhead Topol ICBM, and slower progress with a new submarine-launched missile. -- Peter Rutland

(6) CHINA SAYS BOOK THAT SLAMS U.S. IS BEST-SELLER

26 August 1996, Reuters

BEIJING -- China said Sunday a collection of patriotic essays urging its people to just say "no" to the United States has climbed to the top of the Asian nation's best seller list.

"China Can Say No," written by a group of young journalists and scholars, reached the top of the list over the last month according to a survey of bookstores in 30 major cities, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The book contends that China has uncritically absorbed Western values and it should take its place as a world power and say "no" to America.

The second and third best-selling books were said to be "Stories on the Return of Hong Kong" -- describing the return of the British colony to Beijing rule next year -- and "The Situation and Predictions of the Chinese Economy."

(7) RUSSIA DEFENDS SOVIET DEMOGRAPHIC POLICY

26 August 1996, Monitor

At a regular session in Geneva of the UN Subcomission on Prevention of Discrimination and protection of ethnic minorities, Russian delegate Sergey Berezny attacked Estonia and Latvia for denying automatic citizenship to their "Russian-speaking populations." This policy "aims to eliminate the consequences of the natural labor migration which took place in the former USSR," Berezny maintained. (Itar-Tass, August 24). Berezny was speaking in Geneva on the anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact (August 23, 1939) which led to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.

During the Soviet era, it was Moscow's policy to dilute the native populations of non-Russian "republics" by exporting Russian settlers. Estonia and Latvia were among the most heavily affected.

Last week, the Latvian parliament adopted a declaration on the Soviet occupation, noting inter alia that Moscow had "sent hundreds of thousands of settlers into Latvia in an effort to destroy its national identity. As a result of this policy the share of Latvians in the country's population

dropped from 77 to 52 percent." The declaration also expressed concern – as has Estonia's government -- that Russia continues to recognize the fact of the Soviet occupation. Russian statements such as the one just made in Geneva inevitably reinforce that concern.

(8) TWO DISCOVERIES OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN XINJIANG

25 August 1996, CND-Global

China disclosed two discoveries of natural resources in Xinjiang, with some 30 million tonnes estimated reserves in a new oil field in the Tarim Basin, and 20 billion toones gas reserve in a gas field in the Junggar Basin.

(9) ECONOMIC FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AND PROSPERITY

24 August 1996, Voice of America

Earlier this year, Freedom House published a report on economic freedom around the world. The human rights group surveyed eighty-two countries and rated them on the amount of

economic freedom enjoyed by their people. The ratings were based on the degree to which governments respected the rights to hold property, earn a living, operate a business, invest one's earnings, trade internationally and participate in the market

Economy without discrimination. Freedom house found that the twenty-seven countries rated highest in terms of economic freedom produce eighty-one percent of world output -- even though they have only seventeen percent of the world's people. On the other hand, the twenty countries rated lowest have more than a third of the world's people, yet they account for only about five percent of world production.

In addition to the obvious connection between economic freedom and prosperity, the freedom house survey shows a close connection between economic freedom and political freedom. All of the countries rated high in terms of economic freedom are democracies. And only a few well established democracies missed the top rating on the economic freedom scale. One of them is Israel, which was founded by democratic socialists in the late 1940s and still retains some vestiges of that era. But even in Israel, there has been a dramatic move toward more economic freedom in recent years. As a result, Israel’s growth rate was one of the highest in the industrial world last year.

Two democracies that were part of the soviet union have already made it to the top category on the economic freedom scale. They are Estonia and Latvia. Also in this group are the formerly communist Czech republic and Poland. And several other countries that had socialist or communist systems are making progress on economic liberalization. There are few people left in the world who believe the way to prosperity or freedom is through state-run economies.

Prepared by:

Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu)

WUNN newsletter index

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues.

Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China.

The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community.

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER

Director: Abduljelil Karkash

Lindwurmstr 99, 80337 Munich, Germany

http://www.uygur.com

Fax: 49-89-54 45 63 30 Phone: 49-89-54 40 47 72

E-mail: etic@uygur.com