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<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="7">Events of August
1996 </FONT></FONT></P>
<HR SIZE="1">
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="6">Anne D. Baylon</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center"><I><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4">with Deb
Hammels</FONT></FONT></I></P>
<DIV ALIGN="center">
<CENTER><ADDRESS> <FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>CENTRAL
EUROPE </I></B></FONT></FONT></ADDRESS> </CENTER> </DIV>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Poland
</I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 30</B>
Despite objections by the Catholic church, parliament votes to liberalize
Poland’s abortion law by allowing women to end a pregnancy before the
12</FONT><SUP><FONT SIZE="3">th</FONT></SUP><FONT SIZE="3"> week for
personal or financial difficulties. The present law only allows abortions
in case of rape, health threats, or if the fetus is injured. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center">
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>EASTERN EUROPE
</I></B></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Russia
</I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 6</B> The
Russian Communist Party meets for the first time since its leader, Gennadi
Zyuganov, was defeated in the presidential elections. The stated purpose
of the meeting is to ”plan the Communist approach to the new
Government” of Mr. Yeltsin, but its actual goal is to assign or avoid
the blame for the Communist defeat at the polls. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 9</B>
President Yeltsin is inaugurated as the first democratically elected
President of an independent Russia. The inauguration is toned down,
however, due to President Yeltsin’s failing health, Russia’s
poor economic state, and the vicious fighting between Chechens and
Russians in Grozny. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 10</B>
Parliament reappoints Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 15</B>
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announces a new cabinet, although its
only newcomer is Vladimir Potanin, the president of Oneximbank, one of
Russia’s largest and most powerful banks. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 16</B> Gen.
Lebed demands the ouster of Interior Minister Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, one of
the two top Russian generals leading the Chechnya war, blaming him for the
“bloodshed and military bungling in the separatist republic.”
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><STRONG>A</STRONG><B>ug.
17</B> Gen. Kulikov offers to resign but President Yeltsin asks him to
stay in the job. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B>Russia/Chechnya
</B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 6</B>
Chechen rebels storm Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, killing 23 Russian
soldiers and wounding 91 others. While the rebels claim that the offensive
was “intended to force Moscow back to the negotiating table,” a
senior Russian official calls the rebels “international terrorists”
who ruined the chances of any talks between Chechnya and Russia. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 7</B> In an
audacious raid, Chechen rebels take control of Grozny, killing and
wounding scores of Russian soldiers on the eve of President Yeltsin’s
inauguration. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 9</B>
Chechen rebels lure 7,000 Russian soldiers into Grozny’s center,
surround them, and bombard them with grenades, mortars, and automatic
weapons. The attack is timed to coincide with President Yeltsin’s
inauguration. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 10</B>
Supported by air strikes and helicopter fire, Russian troops attempt to
regain control of strategic positions in Grozny. The Kremlin announces the
appointment of Gen. Alexandr Lebed, President Yeltsin’s national
security adviser and a noted critic of the war in Chechnya, as
presidential envoy to Chechnya. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 11</B>
Desperate Russian soldiers fight unsuccessfully to regain Grozny. Russian
military officials report at least 200 casualties and 800 wounded since
the Chechen offensive started on Aug. 9. President Yeltsin sends Gen.
Lebed to the fighting zone for consultations and orders Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin to assess the “gross miscalculations” that
led to the success of the Chechen offensive. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 12</B> Gen.
Lebed meets Chechen military leader Aslan Maskhadov and both parties agree
that the fighting must stop. Back in Moscow, Mr. Lebed criticizes Russian
bureaucrats for the conditions in Chechnya in which Russian troops are “hungry,
lice-infested, and underclothed.” </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 13</B>
Despite the announcement of a cease-fire, to begin on Aug. 14, the
fighting continues. Chechen commanders say that they intend to remain in
control of Grozny and the other cities they captured until the Russians
withdraw from Chechnya. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 14</B>
Minutes after the start of the truce, two Russian attack planes fire
rockets at Chechen refugees who are attempting to flee Grozny during the
cease-fire. President Yeltsin gives Gen. Lebed broad powers to stop the
Chechen crisis and dissolves the State Commission on Settlement of the
Crisis that was headed by Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 20</B> Gen.
Lebed questions the source of a series of contradictory orders that would
potentially intensify the war in Chechnya and claims that President
Yeltsin (who has not been seen in public since July 3) did not issue them.
In Chechnya, Gen. Konstantin Pulikovsky, the commander of Russian forces,
says that the use of force is the only way to deal with the crisis.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 21</B>
Without authorization from Moscow, Russian military leaders in Chechnya
launch an assault with planes and artillery on Grozny. Promising to defuse
the crisis, Gen. Lebed arrives in Grozny; after meeting with Chechen
leader Aslan Maskhadov, he announces a new cease-fire. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 22</B> Gen.
Lebed and his Chechen counterpart sign a detailed peace agreement calling
for an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from
Grozny. Ultimately, the plan is intended to bring about the surrender of
Chechen weapons and the Russian troops’ complete withdrawal from the
region. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 23</B>
Russian newspapers describe the truce agreement as a victory for the
Chechen rebels. Mr. Yeltsin congratulates Gen. Lebed by telephone, calling
the cease-fire a “first step” but warning that it cannot lead to
Chechen independence. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 25</B>
Accusing “unnamed enemies in Moscow” of wanting to “torpedo
the peace process,” Gen. Lebed cancels an important meeting with
Aslan Maskhadov and flies back to Moscow to discuss with the Kremlin
details of Chechnya’s autonomy. (Among Gen. Lebed’s opponents in
Moscow are nationalists who denounce the peace plan as a sellout and those
who fear that his ability to successfully end the conflict in Chechnya
would make him President Yeltsin’s likely successor.) </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 26</B>
While the truce continues in Chechnya for a fourth day, Gen. Lebed meets
with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to enlist his support for the
compromise he hammered out with Aslan Maskhadov. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 27</B>
Russian and Chechen military commanders sign an agreement to withdraw both
Russian and Chechen rebel troops from Grozny by Sept. 1 and form joint
units to patrol the city after the pullout. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 28</B>
Although the military agreement is being implemented peacefully and troops
are withdrawing from around Grozny, Gen. Lebed is still waiting in Moscow
to get President Yeltsin’s approval before returning to Chechnya and
sealing the peace. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 29</B> The
withdrawal continues: 4,000 Russian troops and 2,000 rebels have now left
Grozny, with an additional 4,200 troops pulling out of Chechnya’s
mountainous regions. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 30</B> Gen.
Lebed and top Chechen commander Aslan Maskhadov meet in Dagestan to sign
the peace agreement and postpone for five years a decision on Chechnya’s
status. Gen. Lebed declares the war ended. Yet, despite Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin’s claims that President Yeltsin has endorsed the
peace agreement, Mr. Yeltsin has not personally approved it. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center">
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
</I></B></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Bosnia
</I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 1</B> In
Mostar, the showcase city of the Bosnian-Croat Federation that was created
in 1994 under the aegis of the Clinton Administration as the basis for a
multi-ethnic Bosnia, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum meets
with Croats who are refusing to honor results giving Muslims a slim
majority in June municipal elections. The Croats, who insist on
maintaining political and economic power, want Mostar to be the “ethnically
pure capital” of their self-declared mini-state of Herzeg-Bosna,
which, under the Dayton Accord, cannot coexist with the Bosnian-Croat
Federation. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 2</B> Under
pressure from Washington, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman accepts the
results of the local elections in Mostar and agrees to exert his influence
on Bosnian Croats to convince them to accept the elections. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 4</B>
Mediated by the European Union, Bosnian Croats and Muslims discuss a
compromise solution for the election results. The European Union, which
has been administering Mostar for two years and has spent over $200
million repairing its war damages, is hoping to preserve the peace effort
in Bosnia and the September national elections. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 12</B>
After initially refusing to cooperate, Bosnian Serbs reluctantly comply
with the Dayton Peace Accord (which permits the inspection of all military
posts) by allowing NATO troops to inspect what is believed to be the
former headquarters of Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 13</B> NATO
troops inspect Gen. Mladic’s bunker but do not find anything that
would violate the Dayton accord. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 14</B> U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher announces that Bosnian President
Alija Izetbegovic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman have agreed to
create a federation to “jointly govern Muslims and Croats in half of
Bosnia” (Bosnia’s other half being a Bosnian Serb republic). The
Muslim-Croat Federation is to be formally established on August 31.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 16 </B>According
to NATO officers, agents of the Bosnian Muslim government are terrorizing
and beating members of the opposition in a campaign of intimidation prior
to the Sept. 14 local and parliamentary elections. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 22</B> New
reports indicate that the Serbs are manipulating voter registration for
the elections by assigning Bosnian Serb refugees to register in
communities where Muslims made up the majority prior to being killed or
expelled during the war. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 27</B>
Robert Frowick, the representative of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe who is overseeing the September elections in Bosnia,
announces that, due to widespread irregularities (especially by Bosnian
Serbs), municipal elections will be postponed, although national elections
will go ahead on Sept. 14 as planned. The announcement raises concern
among NATO commanders that the delay will affect the withdrawal of 53,000
peacekeeping forces scheduled for the end of December, but Mr. Frowick
says that the municipal elections are likely to take place before the
planned withdrawal. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Aug.
28</B> “Fierce opposition” from the Bosnian government hinders
efforts to create an independent television network that would provide “propaganda-free”
information to Bosnians before the elections (instead of the tightly
controlled broadcasts by each region’s ethnic group). According to
some diplomats, Bosnian leaders may still be Communist authoritarians who
object to “the idea of a free media.” </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Aug.
29</B> Since elections are the only means Bosnian citizens have to legally
change things, the postponement of municipal elections is a setback for
many Bosnian towns that are still run by people who took control during
the war. This is the case for Capljina, a Croatian-dominated town whose
current leaders came to power without being voted into office. According
to a Capljina store owner, “voting here means trying to get criminals
out of city hall.” </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 29</B>
Bosnian Serbs attack Muslim refugees attempting to return to their former
homes in Mahala, a Serb-controlled village located in the demilitarized
separation zone between Serbian and Muslim-Croat sectors. The Serbs are
arrested by U.S. peacekeeping troops, disarmed, and quickly released.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Aug.
31</B> Herzeg-Bosna, the self-proclaimed republic of about 400,000 Bosnian
Croat nationalists whose “capital” is Mostar, stands in the way
of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The agreement requires that Herzeg-Bosna be
absorbed by the Muslim-Croat Federation but, so far, Herzeg-Bosna has
resisted international pressure to reconcile with the Bosnian government.
The republic’s leaders contend that Croats are a small minority in
Bosnia and could lose their rights if forced to be part of a central
government dominated by Muslims. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Serbia/Croatia
</I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 7</B> In
surprise talks at Vouliagmeni, Greece, President Slobodan Milosevic of
Serbia and President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia agree to establish
diplomatic relations between their two countries. The agreement, to be
officialized this month, will try to resolve key points in the Dayton
Agreement such as a dispute over territory at the southern end of Croatia’s
Adriatic coast that borders Montenegro. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 8</B> The
U.N. Security Council warns Serbia and Croatia that their failure to
surrender “suspects indicted by the war crimes tribunal at The Hague”,
i.e., to arrest Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, may result in new
economic sanctions. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 23</B>
Based on the agreement struck by Serbian President Milosevic and Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman in Greece, Croatia and Yugoslavia (Serbia plus
Montenegro) sign an accord to reestablish full diplomatic relations,
trade, and transportation links that will end five years of hostilities
between the two nations. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center">
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>WESTERN EUROPE / EASTERN
EUROPE
</I></B></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>International
Monetary Fund/Russia </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 21</B> As
Russia’s program of economic reform achieves its July goals, the IMF
grants Russia $330 million of the $10 billion three-year loan that was
approved in February. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 30</B> In
order to help President Yeltsin deliver on his electoral promises, the IMF
decides to relax the conditions of its $10 billion loan to Russia by
increasing the limit for Russia’s budget deficit from 4% to 5.25% of
its gross domestic product. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B>Turkey/Iran</B>
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Aug. 12</B> In a
growing trend of cooperation between Turkey and Iran, Turkish Prime
Minister Necmettin Erbakan signs a $23 billion, 23 -year agreement with
Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani to purchase natural gas from Iran.
</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A HREF="august96.htm">Go to top of page</A></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="left"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A HREF="96timelines.htm">Return to 1996
Timeline Table of Contents</A></FONT></P>
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<P ALIGN="left">Copyright © Center for Strategic Decision Research
1997</P>
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