Author: Emil Lazarian

FOUR IRAQI-ARMENIANS ARE GOING TO VISIT ARMENIA FOR FIRST TIME
YEREVAN, August 24 (Noyan Tapan). Four Iraqi-Armenians Khachik
Movsisian, Vardges Minasian (secretary of the Kerkuk district
council), Hovhannes Chibukhchian (a Kerkuk sportsman) and Yurik
Ohannesian (a Baghdad citizen) visited the publishing house of the
“Alik” (“Wave”) daily newspaper of Tehran on August 22. According to
the “Alik” (“Wave”) daily newspaper of Tehran, the Iraqi-Armenians,
receiving visas from the Embassy of Iran in Baghdad, went to Iran by
land with the purpose of visiting their relatives there. During their
first visit they traveled over the city of Tehran, visited the
“Ararat” sport complex, the churches of St. Sargis and St. Virgin. “We
are going to visit our Homeland, Armenia, for the first time, and
Armenian Plenipotentiary Ambassador Mr. Gharibjanian supported us in
this issue…,” mentioned the Iraqi-Armenians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 25, 2004 Wednesday 8:34 AM Eastern Time
Fresh nuclear fuel delivered to Armenian plant
By Tigran Liloyan
METSAMOR /Armavir region in Armenia/, August 25 -Armenia’s Energy
Minister Armen Movsesyan said fresh nuclear fuel had been delivered
to the Armenian plant in advance for the first time, before the
beginning of repair works.
Movsesyan, who arrived at the plant to inspect the progress of
repairs, praised the Russian financial management which had made it
possible.
“Improvement of the nuclear plant’s safety remains our priority,” he
said, adding that the republic had spent on this purpose some 40
million dollars after de-mothballing the facility.
Safety measures are financed by international donor organizations,
the European Union and the U.S. energy ministry.
According to the minister, repair works are carried out according to
schedule. Half of all planned repairs have already been completed.
The nuclear plant will go on line on October 4, he said at a meeting
with the plant’s officials.
“We won’t talk about shutting down the plant until Armenia creates
alternative power generating capacities,” Movsesyan said.
The construction of a new nuclear power plant is under discussion.
The main problem is a lack of funding, as the project requires some
one billion dollars, he said.
The Armenian nuclear power plant, located 40 kilometers west of
Yerevan, was commissioned in 1979. It was shut down after a
devastating earthquake of 1989.
In 1996, Russian specialists helped Armenia de-mothball the plant and
launch its second reactor. The facility accounts for some 40 percent
of all electricity generated in Armenia.
However, the European Union is anxious to see the plant closed. Last
year, the financial management of the plant was handed over to a
daughter company of Russia’s RAO Unified Energy Systems.

11 SCHOOLS INCLUDING ARMENIAN TO BE REPAIRED BY DECISION OF TSALKA
REGIONAL SACREBULO
AKHALKALAKI, August 24 (Noyan Tapan). The regional budget of Tsalka
enriched itself with 100,000 lari in connection with granting some
constructions on lease to employees of the Baku-Tbilisi-Jeihan oil
pipeline construction. This sum will be used for the repairs of the
most accident-prone schools of the regions. According to Razmik
Hanesian, Chairman of the regional sacrebulo, the sacrebulo decided to
repair 11 schools, including schools of the Armenian villages of
Ayama, Odzni, Dashbash, Nardevan. According to the “A-Info” Agency,
the construction work started on August 23, and everything will
complete till the beginning of the new academic year, September 20.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Messenger.com.ge, Georgia
Aug 24 2004
OSCE is waiting for a meeting between Zhvania and Kokoiti
As reported in the newspaper Alia, “the leaders of CIS states will
try to convince Mikheil Saakashvili to sit at the same negotiation
table together with the so called leader of Ossetia,” declared the
President of Russia Vladimer Putin in Sochi at a meeting with
Armenian president.
According to them, neither Russia nor Armenia, is going to watch
indifferently while the current situation in the Caucasus escalates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Compensation row prompted violent pipeline protest in Georgia
A-Info news agency
20 Aug 04
AKHALKALAKI
On 20 August in the morning an extraordinary situation arose again in
the village of Tabatsquri in Georgia’s Borjomi District. Some
residents of the village, anti-Ceyhaners who oppose the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline , are demanding compensation and say that
compensation should be paid to all the villagers, so they tried to
obstruct construction work on the pipeline. The police who were there
used force against the villagers. In turn the villagers threw stones
at the policemen and BP cars.
The previous evening representatives of the district administration
handed to some villagers property certificates for their land used by
BP . The villagers who did not receive privatization certificates were
amazed that their fellow-villagers had been given the certificates
away from the village and outside working hours.
The employees of BP hoped that the problem had been resolved and they
could get back work, so they tried to move their equipment to
Tabatsquri. There they met resistance, resulting in the scandal.
Passage omitted

Athens 2004, Olympics Official Website
Aug 23 2004
Quarterfinals: 48kg; 60kg; 81kg.
ATHENS, 23 August – Fighters in the Light Fly Weight (48kg), Light
Weight (60kg) and Light Heavy Weight (81kg) categories are into the
quarterfinal stage on Tuesday, 24 August.
Teenage sensation Amir KHAN (GBR) will be fighting for a place in the
semifinals on the evening of Tuesday, 24 August, against Korean, BAIK
Jong Sub in the Light Weight division.
The world junior champion outclassed his first opponent, and then
demoralized Dimitar STILIANOV (BUL) in the round of 16, and is highly
fancied to reach the gold medal decider.
The first of the Light Weight (60kg) quarterfinals features two
boxers who had a bye in the preliminary round, Domenico VALENTINO
(ITA) and Serik YELEUOV (KAZ), with YELEUOV favoured to progress.
In the Light Fly Weight, southpaw Sergey KAZAKOV (RUS) should have
little trouble against Joseph JERMIA (NAM).
JERMIA was a late replacement in the Olympic Games tournament, while
KAZAKOV is the World Champion and three times European Champion.
Italian Alfonso PINTO meets Atagun YALCINKAYA (TUR) in the second
quarterfinal, with the Turkish boxer expected to be too strong for
PINTO.
World Championship silver medallist ZOU Shiming (CHN) has an awkward,
yet effective style and he face Armenian Aleksan NALBANDYAN in the
third quarterfinal, who eliminated Najah ALI (IRQ) in the round of
16, while ZOU accounted for Ethiopian Endalkachew KEBEDE.
In the last of the Light Fly Weight quarterfinals, HONG Moo Won (KOR)
does battle with Yan BHARTELEMY VARELA (CUB), with the Cuban expected
to win and qualify for the semifinals.
Mario Cesar KINDELAN MESA (CUB), then clashes with Rovshan HUSEYNOV
(AZE) in the third quarterfinal with the triple World Champion
expected to face a tough challenge from HUSEYNOV.
The last of the Light Weight quarterfinals features Ugandan Sam
RUKUNDO against Murat KRACHEV (RUS), with KRACHEV expected to reach
the semifinals.
The Light Heavy Weight (81kg) quarterfinals will bring the Greek
crowds to their feet, with the appearance of Elias PAVLIDIS (GRE)
against Ahmed ISMAIL (EGY), with PAVLIDIS seeking to become the first
Greek boxer to win an Olympic Games boxing medal.
The man expected to win gold in the Light Heavy Weight category,
Evgeney MAKARENKO (RUS) will clash with American Andre WARD, with the
vast experience and long reach of the Russian expected to see him
through to the semifinals.
The last of the Light Heavy Weight quarterfinals pits Yuping LEI
(CHN) against Magomed ARIPGADJIEV (BLR).
LEI upset the highly fancied Andriy FEDCHUK (UKR) in the round of 16,
while the boxer from Belarus scored a comfortable victory against
Edgar Ramon MUNOZ MATA (VEN).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Africa News
August 23, 2004 Monday
Equatorial Guinea;
No Translator for 14 Suspected Mercenaries As Trial Opens
by UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Fourteen foreigners went on trial in the tiny oil-rich state of
Equatorial Guinea on Monday, charged with plotting a mercenary
invasion to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, a government
official in the capital Malabo said.
The eight South Africans and six Armenians were arrested in Malabo on
6 March. They were charged with conniving with 70 South African
mercenaries who were arrested 24 hours later in Zimbabwe as they were
allegedly on their way to Equatorial Guinea to mount an invasion.
An Amnesty International observer at the trial reported that all 14
were charged with conspiracy to overthrow Obiang, who has ruled the
former Spanish colony since he ousted his uncle, Macias Nguema, in a
coup 25 years ago.
In addition, Nick du Toit, a South African accused of leading the
advance group inside Equatorial Guinea, was accused of treason, the
observer said, according to Amnesty International spokesman George
Ngwa in London.
Ngwa noted that treason carried a mandatory death penalty in
Equatorial Guinea. However, President Obiang Nguema said in a radio
broadcast on Sunday that none of the accused would face execution.
Ngwa told IRIN that at Monday’s opening session of the trial, the
charges were read out to the accused in Spanish. There were no
translation facilities available and the accused were not invited to
plead. The proceedings were then suspended until later this week when
the prosecution was due to cross-examine the accused, he added.
The court was expected to provide translators at that stage, the
Amnesty spokesman said.
A senior official at the Ministry of Information in Malabo, contacted
by telephone from Libreville in neighbouring Gabon, told IRIN: “The
Interior Minister of Equatorial Guinea has said that the presumed
mercenaries were planning to kill the entire family of President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema.”
“The mercenaries on trial in Malabo are mainly accused of planning a
coup d’etat against the head of state and of the illegal possession
of arms and ammunition. They risk a prison term of five to 15 years
if convicted,” he added.
Ngwa said the Equatorial Guinean government had invited Amnesty to
send an observer to the trial, indicating at the time that it
expected the trial proceedings to take about two weeks.
One suspect dead
The authorities originally arrested 15 foreigners in connection with
the alleged mercenary invasion plot, but one of them, a German called
Gerhard Eugen Nershz, died a few days later.
The government said he died from an attack of cerebral malaria.
Amnesty International quoted eye witnesses who had seen the German’s
corpse as saying he was tortured to death.
Du Toit, the alleged leader of the mercenary group inside Equatorial
Guinea, is a former South African military officer who was once
closely connected to the now defunct South African security company
Executive Outcomes. The company supplied private guards to
multinational oil and mining companies and mercenary combatants to
several governments, including Angola and Sierra Leone.
The six Armenians on trial are the flight crew of an Antonov 12 cargo
plane belonging to the small company Tiga Air, which operated in
several countries in Central Africa.
The group of suspected mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe was detained
after their Boeing 727 jet landed in Harare on the night of 7 March
to take on arms and ammunition purchased from the Zimbabwe state arms
factories.
The group, all of whom held South African passports, were led by
former British army officer Simon Mann, who co-founded Executive
Outcomes in South Africa in the late 1980s.
Executive Outcomes was officially dissolved at the end of 1998 after
South Africa passed a law banning mercenaries from operating from its
soil, but the company’s former staff have resurfaced in several other
private military companies such as Sandline and Northbridge Services.
All those arrested in Harare said they were on their way to protect a
mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Zimbabwean government, which has announced plans to try them
locally, has accused the group of preparing to invade Equatorial
Guinea to overthrow Obiang. The president of Equatorial Guinea said
in an interview with the magazine Jeune Afrique Intelligent earlier
this month that he would not seek their extradition.
The government of Equatorial Guinea, has accused Severo Moto, an
opposition leader who heads a government-in-exile based in Madrid, of
being behind the mercenary invasion plan.
It claims that the plot was financed by Greg Wales, a London-based
businessman with previous links to Executive Outcomes, and Elie
Khalil, an international oil dealer of Lebanese origin, who has close
links with Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville and who has been
implicated in a bribes scandal involving the French oil company Elf.
Oil puts country on map
Equatorial Guinea consists of a square of jungle covered territory
wedged between Cameroon and Gabon on the African mainland, plus the
volcanic island of Bioko, 200 km to the northwest in the Gulf of
Guinea, where the capital Malabo is situated.
The country has been ruled by Obiang’s family since independence from
Spain in 1968, but until oil was discovered offshore in the early
1990s it was a largely forgotten backwater.
Now, however, Equatorial Guinea produces 350,000 barrels of oil per
day and is gearing up to become a major exporter of liquefied natural
gas. It is Africa’s third largest oil exporter after Nigeria and
Angola and is regarded as strategically important by the United
States, which has undertaken most of the investment in the local oil
industry.
Although the country now boasts one of the highest per capita incomes
in Africa as a result of its new-found oil wealth, very little of
this money has been spent on improving the living standards of its
people.
Despite a per capita income of more than US $6,000 per year, which
puts the country in the same league as Malaysia or the Czech Republic
, Equatorial Guinea ranks 109th out of 177 on the United Nations
Human Development Index, behind Algeria and Cape Verde, which have a
per capita income of less than $2,000.
Obiang’s government has been widely criticised by western governments
and human rights organisations for rampant corruption and human
rights abuse. Suspected government opponents are frequently arrested
and held without trial and there have been numerous allegations of
torture and extrajudicial killings.
Last month, the US Senate published an investigation into Riggs Bank,
a Washington-based bank into which most of Equatorial Guinea’s oil
revenues were paid until recently. This showed that at least $35
million were siphoned off by Obiang, his family and senior officials
of his regime. The president has denied any wrongdoing.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Athens 2004, Olympics Official Website
Aug 22 2004
Men’s Greco-Roman 84kg : Abrahamian (SWE) seeking medal
ATHENS, 12 August – Ara Abrahamian (SWE) is ready to compete for his
first Olympic medal.
The Armenian born wrestler, made his international debut for his
homeland at the 1996 European Championships, still competed for
Armenia as late as the 1998 World Championships before moving to
Sweden and representing his adopted country at the 1999 World
Championships.
Abrahamian, who finished sixth at the Sydney 2000 Games in the now
discontinued 76kg class, has won two world championships since.

In 2001 he claimed the 74kg class title in Patra, Greece before
jumping up to 84kg class the following year and winning again.

At last year’s World Championships in France he won the silver medal.

The Men’s Greco-Roman 84kg competition begins on Tuesday 24 August at
the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 20, 2004 Friday 10:04 AM Eastern Time
CSTO wants UN stronger role in provision of peace
By Alexandra Urusova
MOSCOW
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) wants a stronger
role of the United Nations in the provision of peace, participants in
Moscow consultations of CSTO member countries said on Friday.
Diplomats of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and
Tajikistan attended the consultations.
“There was a detailed exchange of opinions on main items on the
agenda of the 59th session of the UN General Assembly,” a source in
the CSTO press service said. The delegates also discussed the CSTO
attitude to the Proliferation Security Initiative and a common
position in fundamental areas of the CSTO activities.
The delegates called for regular exchange of opinions about key
issues, concerning their interests and security.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 19, 2004 Thursday 5:19 AM Eastern Time
Baku to insist on peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict
MOSCOW
Azerbaijan will insist on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told a news
conference in the news agency Itar-Tass on Thursday.
According to him, the Karabakh conflict is “the biggest problem in
the region, and the conflict is the oldest.” The minister opposed
“the freezing” of the conflict. “We do not believe in an idea of
“frozen” conflicts,” he emphasized.
“The world community should realize that combat actions is not a
method of solving the issue. Armenian forces occupy territories,”
Mamedyarov pointed out. “Without the return of forced migrants it is
difficult to hope for the successful outcome of negotiations,” he
indicated.
“Such countries as the United States, France and Russia should say
their loaded word. The principle of territorial integrity is hard and
fast,” the Azerbaijani foreign minister remarked.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress