ELECTRONICAL BULLETIN OF VEXILLOLOGY from CATALONIA

By JAUME OLLE.

No spanish version is available.

BRIEFS (SEVERAL SOURCES)

13-7-98.- Supporters of leader Foundi Abdallah Ibrahim foiled an attempt to take over the leadership of the secessionist government on Anjouan island in the Comoros, witnesses said. The coup bid, led by former Comoros army chief of staff Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Hazi, was aborted Saturday when thousands of Ibrahim's backers confronted Hazi and his supporters in the center of Mutsamudu, the Anjouan capital. The bid to oust Ibrahim followed his dismissal of Prime Minister Chamassi Said Omar last week. Chamassi was accused of leading a faction calling for a return to French rule, which ended when the Comoros declared themselves independent in 1975.

ARMENIA'S ASSYRIANS STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE IDENTITY. Speaking at a press conference on 12 August, a spokeswoman for the Assyrian community greeted the introduction of a class with Aramaic-language instruction in one of Yerevan's schools. But at the same time, she called for the reinstatement of an Armenian-Assyrian teacher fired from a school in one of three predominantly Assyrian-populated villages near the capital, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The spokeswoman said that the Assyrian community has shrunk in recent years from 9,000 to approximately 4,000, as many of its members have been forced to emigrate for economic reasons. She stressed that "the Armenian state does everything for us not to leave the country."

5-8-98.- A legal aid group in Indonesia's Aceh province said Wednesday 10 mass graves had been found at three sites in the north Sumatran region, with victims apparently killed by troops suppressing an insurgency in the early 1990s. An official said one site was near the town of Pidi, 46 miles southeast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, and the other two sites were located in east and north Aceh. A long-running insurgency against Indonesian rule in Aceh, which has about 170,000 people, reached a peak in the early 1990s before the army suppressed it with strong-arm tactics and dispersed its leaders.

23-7-98.- Up to 3,000 people fled fighting Wednesday between Hutu rebels and government forces in the countryside around the Burundian capital Bujumbura, an official said. The governor of rural Bujumbura, Stanislas Ntahobari, said the fighting was between the National Front for Liberation, the armed wing of the Palipehutu party, and the government army. Ntahobari added he believed that the chief of the zone of Mubone, south of Bujumbura, had been killed Monday by rebels who accused him of collaborating with the army. The fighting takes place as Burundi's Tutsi government and Hutu rebel groups are holding peace talks in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha in an effort to end the ethnic conflict.

23-7-98.- A self-styled king was jailed for 20 years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Wednesday and nine of his followers were sentenced to death on charges of plotting to overthrow President Laurent Kabila. The military tribunal, which conducted the two-week trial in Kinshasa also formally, banned Bernard Mizele's self-proclaimed "Congo Kingdom." The trial took place in a former theater building in the capital's dilapidated zoo. After the hearing, Mizele, 62, said he was determined to continue to serve the kingdom of Congo should he survive his 20-year sentence. The tribunal sentenced dozens of suspected followers to prison terms ranging from one to 20 years, but over 50 were acquitted

COMMUNISTS LOSE IN CHUVASH LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS. In the 12 July elections to the 87-seat legislature of Chuvashiya, only eight members of the Communist Party were elected. Communists previously held more than 30 seats in the old 47-member house. One member of Our Home is Russia and 55 independents were also elected. Elections in the remaining 23 districts were not valid because turnout was less than the required 25 percent. New elections will be held in those districts. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, 15 July) Reform-minded Chuvashiya President Nikolai Fedorov, who was re-elected on 28 December 1997, has long battled the republican legislature. When he tried to disband it in 1995, the legislature called a referendum that nearly succeeded in abolishing the office of republican president. The new legislature is likely to be more willing to cooperate with Fedorov.

DAGESTAN'S ISLAMIC RADICALS DECLARE INDEPENDENT TERRITORY. Three villages in Dagestan's Buinak Raion that have repeatedly been identified as a hotbed of Wahhabism declared the district an independent Islamic territory on 17 August, Interfax reported. They are refusing to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the republican authorities. The villages' inhabitants have clashed several time with local police since June 1997. Meeting in Nazran on 17 August, the muftis of Dagestan, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Ingushetia decided to form a Coordinating Council of the Muslims of North Caucasus, Caucasus Press reported. The aim of the council is to promote the revival of Islam, combat "harmful trends," including Wahhabism, and contribute to the stabilization of the North Caucasus.

MAKHACHKALA--On 20 August the spiritual leader of Dagestani Muslims, 39-year old Mufti Saiid-Mukhamad Abubakarov, was killed in the center of Makhachkala. He was with his brother and a driver, returning from a Friday prayer service, when a bomb attached to the bottom of his vehicle exploded, tearing the car apart and killing its passengers. But given recent events in Dagestan, one could have predicted the mufti's execution.

Following the 21 May temporary capture of government building in Makhachkala (see IEWS Russian Regional Report, 21 May), three villages in the Buinaksk raion of Dagestan (Karamakhi, Chabanmakhi, and Kadar) staged something like a coup d'etat. A group of 400 Wahhabis residing in those villages, many with military training from Chechnya, clashed with the police, killing several officers, and successfully expelled law enforcement and government officials from the building. Attempts by the police and para-military volunteers from neighboring villages to restore constitutional order in the mutinous settlements were foiled: the Wahhabis were better organized and armed with superior military equipment, including radar-guided rocket launchers. Thus, a portion of Dagestani territory and, more significantly, a key highway connecting the highlands with the valley, came under the control of the separatist rebels. The separatists did not make any political demands and even met with members of the parliament, but at the same time would not allow any police or military personnel to enter their territory. The government in Makhachkala, its authority shattered by the 21 May events, made careful warning statements and asked the separatists to back down. Yet on the eve of the 25 June elections, nobody wanted to force the issue.

Meanwhile, residents of the rebellious territory established their own form of government. Over 7,000 people came under the jurisdiction of Shariah law, and according to Islamic tradition, men began wearing beards and women started to cover their faces. Prayers five times a day became a norm, and crime went down considerably, probably out of fear of public execution or the limb amputations prescribed by Islamic law for serious crimes. A general assembly of villagers became the main governing body, with voting rights reserved for men. However, relations with the Dagestani authorities worsened by the week, especially after Magomed Talboev, who had managed to engage in some constructive dialogue with the Wahhabi community, resigned as the head of the Security Council.

By mid-August, law enforcement agencies began concentrating their forces on the borders of the rebellious territory. In response, the Wahhabis strengthened their outposts and their leaders proclaimed the creation of an "independent Islamic territory" in the very heart of Dagestan. At the 19 August joint emergency session of the State Council (collective executive), the cabinet, and the Popular Assembly, Dagestani leaders passed a resolution warning of the impending danger of religious extremism and civil war in the republic. The resolution called for further dialogue with the extremists, but, at the insistence of Mufti Saiid-Mukhamad Abubakarov, emphasized readiness to use force if necessary to solve the problem.

However, the problem remained of who exactly was going to disarm the Wahhabis? The police are obviously powerless, and using the Russian army would immediately incite anti-Russian nationalist sentiment, only helping the extremists. The day after the 21 August murder of the mufti, thousands of his followers came to Makhachkala, armed and demanding revenge. They staged a rally on the city's central square and expressed their willingness to help the republican government punish the guilty. The mufti had consistently criticized the Wahhabis, rejecting any chance of compromise. He even openly advocated armed persecution of the Wahhabis, especially when he said in one interview: "Every Muslim killed by a Wahhabi will be in paradise, as will any Muslim who kills a Wahhabi." His tragic death, therefore, makes it possible to channel the wrath of his spiritual followers toward the Wahhabis, thus throwing Dagestan into the throes of a civil war.

GEORGIA'S ARMENIAN MINORITY WANTS AUTONOMY. Yervan Sherinian, one of the leaders of the "Djavakhk" movement representing the overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population of four raions in southern Georgia, said the movement's main objective is to compel the Georgian authorities to create an Armenian autonomous region within Georgia on the territory of Akhalkalaki Raion, Caucasus Press reported on 22 August. Sherinian said that the local Armenian population has the right to autonomous status, and he explicitly denied any intention of lobbying for unification with Armenia. Sherinian said he could not understand why the Georgian authorities do not allow the teaching of Armenian history in the region's schools, or why Georgia, unlike France, declines to recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide. He added that the Armenian population of Akhalkalaki opposes the planned construction of a railroad from Kars in eastern Anatolia via Akhalkalaki to Tbilisi.

Government leader Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won the country's July 26 election according to preliminary results issued Wednesday, but officials from opposition parties contesting the result remained skeptical. The results show the ruling CPP won more than 41%, or 2,030,802 of the valid votes cast, compared with around 32%, or 1,554,374 votes, for the FUNCINPEC party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whom Hun Sen toppled last year. The Sam Rainsy Party came third, winning 699,653 of the 4,902,488 valid votes cast, according to the official results issued by the National Election Committee.

KRASNOYARSK, KHAKASIYA TO CREATE UNITED LEBED REPUBLIC? The Republic of Khakasiya, which split from Krasnoyarsk Krai in 1992 in the hope of receiving larger subsidies from the federal center as a separate subject of the Russian Federation, now wants that decision reversed, according to "Tribuna" of 7 August. The governors of the two regions, brothers Aleksei and Aleksandr Lebed, are reportedly holding talks on a series of economic agreements intended to improve economic conditions in Khakasiya.

5-8-98.- Lesotho's king urged to intervene in election row.- More than 1,000 demonstrators in the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho camped in front of the monarch's palace Wednesday after an all-day, all-night vigil protesting against recent election results. The protesters are supporters of three opposition parties that hardly made a showing in the May 23 general election, won in a landslide by the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy. The Basotholand Congress Party, the Basotho National Party and the Marematlou Freedom Party have taken their allegations of vote-fixing to Lesotho's High Court in an attempt to have the results declared null and void.

A long-awaited vote on whether the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis should secede from its union with St. Kitts and become one of the world's smallest nations will be held Aug. 10, the local assembly has decided. Nevis legislators set the referendum date late Tuesday following debate that rehashed the issue of whether Nevis, population 10,000, should break from the Federation of St. Kitts-Nevis. Nevis residents have complained that St. Kitts dominates its resources and has tried to hijack its thriving off-shore financial industry. Politicians have argued the issue for years, but now Nevisians will have the chance to decide whether they want to form the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The Vote for seccesion was the 62%, but less that 2/3 requested.

6-8-98.- China's sovereignty over the Spratly Islands is "indisputable" but Beijing has offered foreign fishermen the use of shelters it built on a Philippine-claimed reef as a humanitarian gesture, state media said Thursday. Foreign ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang made the statement Wednesday in response to a query about the previous day's rejection by the Philippines of China's offer for joint use of shelter and weather tracking facilities built by the Chinese on the Manila-claimed Mischief Reef in the Spratlys. Beijing's offer to share with Filipino fishermen the facilities China built on Mischief Reef was made by Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in talks in Manila last week, Philippine officials said.

In September Vietnam send troops to some small islands.

2-7-98.- A Sudanese official was quoted Thursday as saying Egyptian forces were harassing Sudanese citizens and beating up tribal chiefs in the disputed Halaib border triangle on the Red Sea coast. The independent Khartoum daily Al-Usbou quoted Nafie Ali Nafie, commissioner of Halaib province, as saying Egypt's actions in the area were a form of pressure on Khartoum. Earlier this year Cairo and Khartoum were seeking to improve their strained ties, but negotiators failed to reach agreement on the return of Egyptian property seized in Sudan.

3-9-98.- Meanwhile the acting mayor of Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tyva, explained to "Noviye izvestiya" on 3 September that the city has asked to secede from Tyva and join neighboring Krasnoyarsk Krai as the only way to coerce the republic's government into paying the 19 million rubles it owed the city as of 1 August. The Republic of Khakasiya, which also borders on Krasnoyarsk, is similarly debating rejoining that krai, from which it separated in 1992.

2-7-98.- Ugandan politicians described as a joke Thursday rebel demands for the secession of northern Uganda, but urged the government to pursue peace talks. Rebels fighting the Ugandan government said in demands made public on Wednesday they wanted to see northern Uganda secede. They also accused the government of unleashing a secret army on the population of the north. Member of Parliament Aggrey Awori described the rebels' separatist bid as a public relations "joke," but said it should not prevent the government from engaging in peace talks.

Kony Wants Uganda Not Nile Republic (frica News Service 04-JUL-98) Kampala (The Monitor - Kampala, July 4, 1998) - Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, has denied fighting for the secession of northern Uganda saying he wants "the whole thing." Press reports this week quoted Kony as saying in a letter to the minister of state for the North, Owiny Dollo, that LRA rebel group would create a new country called Nile Republic.
However, the LRA disowned the said letter in a statement issued, July 2, and declared that they are not interested in dividing up Uganda. "We want the whole thing ... We also want to feel how nice it is to take the whole thing," they added. The rebels sneered at the UPDF version of the battle which led to the rescue of the abducted 39 Kalongo girls as reported by the BBC, calling it "stupid".

"This is even a more far-fetched story than the birth of Jesus Christ. Who in his right mind would bomb a position of civilians and expect the civilians to escape from the hell alive, well and hobbling?" LRA spokesman, Ladit Balgara said in a statement. "To make the matter even more stupid is that not a single LRA soldier is killed or captured. The girls just come out." LRA charged that the abduction was stage-managed on the eve of UNICEF'S two-day conference in London so as to discredit them. They also prided in having staged a "very successful" conference in London during which they claim, UNICEF and Amnesty International were challenged to prove their allegations against LRA and they reportedly failed. The rebels further claimed that it was because of that failure to isolate LRA on the international scene that Kampala came up with ideas that "not even other commanders but Kony has written letters; not just a letter but letters."

They dismissed the alleged letter recipients as "third class ministers and leaders that the NRM does not think highly of." Commenting on Chief of Staff, Brig. James Kazini'ss recent posting to western Uganda as Second Division commander, the LRA vowed to assist fellow rebels, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) to rout the brigadier. "We are happy that the terrorists have brought back Kazini in the field. We are going to send to ADF our best unit 'Atyer wek Aywer' to hunt down Kazini," they threatened. Kazini was until recently the Fourth Division commander in the north.

22-7-98.- Yemen says forces retake Red Sea island from Saudi.- Yemeni forces regained control Wednesday of a disputed Red Sea island which Sanaa had accused Saudi Arabia's troops of attacking, Yemeni officials said. The officials said that Yemeni naval forces landed on Duwaima island Wednesday. They did not say if fresh clashes had erupted after fighting on Sunday which killed three Yemenis. The officials said the Yemeni military operation started at dawn to wrest control of the small island at the center of a territorial dispute. Yemen on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of aggression and said the attack by Saudi navy and artillery on Sunday had killed three Yemenis.

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ARTICLES: JAPANESE MILITARY FLAGS PRIOR THE WWII - THE PALIO OF SIENA

by Nozomi Kariyasu

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By Ivan Sache

ARTICULOS: BANDERAS MILITARES JAPONESAS ANTES DE LA II GUERRA MUNDIAL - EL PALIO DE SIENA.

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my e-mail: jolle@ctv.es