NEWSBRIEFS (04/28/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Dudayev killed; Yandarbiev takes over

MOSCOW - Conflicting reports appeared on April 23 over whether or not Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev had been killed in a rocket attack on the village of Gekhi-Chu southwest of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, during the night of April 21-22. Khodzh-Akhmed Yarikhanov, who initially represented the Dudayev government at last summer's Chechen-Russian peace talks, told ITAR-TASS that Gen. Dudayev had been killed, but later on April 23 a Chechen (Dudayev camp) government official said in Istanbul that he had spoken to the president by telephone that day. On April 24, Agence France Presse reported that Chechen military commander Shamil Basayev had confirmed the reports of Gen. Dudayev's death and had told Interfax that Vice-President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev had assumed the presidency. This report was confirmed on April 25 by the New York Times and National Public Radio, which added that a funeral had been scheduled. Mr. Yandarbiev, 44, is a writer who founded the Vainakh Democratic Party in May 1990. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Constitutional debate continues

KYIV - Parliament continues to debate the draft constitution, Ukrainian media reported on April 23. Last week, the body rejected the first reading of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee's draft and has now received five alternative drafts for review. The Communists' draft preserves the system of local councils and rejects the institution of the presidency. The Christian Democrats' draft is almost identical to the one prepared by the parliamentary committee, except that it balances power among the elected assemblies, the president and the country's courts, where the committee's draft allocates more power to the president. The 1993 draft constitution also is up for consideration. (OMRI Daily Digest)

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