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Ssssu- NEWS DIGEST World leaders give Russia $28.4 billion I Nations hope package boosts Yeltsin’s chances TOKYO — Russia’s foreign min ister on Thursday praised a S28.4 billion aid package that the seven richest democracies hope will boost President Boris Yeltsin’s chances in a leadership referendum in nine days. Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev said the Group of Seven plan showed Moscow and its former enemies are meeting “each other midway in an effort to win a democratic peace, as democrats on both sides won the Cold War.” The aid will come from develop mentagcncies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are financed mainly by the industrial powers. It is in addition to individual aid packages announced by several nations during the two days of talks on emergency aid for Mos cow. Earlier this month, major donor nations also agreed to make it easier for Russia to repay SIS billion in debts of the former Soviet Union. Although there is no formal link between the money and the referen dum, some Russians worry the Group of Seven could reconsider the pack age if Yeltsin loses. Some of the loans require proof that Russia is undertaking corrective Aid to Russia Breakdown of the aid package to Boris Yeltsin, following the Group of Seven meeting in Tokyo, in billions of dollars: Total: $28.4 billion . $4.1 $10.1 $14.2 $15 $18 Initial Full Structural Group of U.S. support stabilization reform and Seven debt aid program essential rescheduling imports -—-- ' AP economic measures. But others' will require little more than a promise by Yeltsin and his government to do their best. The financial help is intended to boost Yeltsin’s program to transform the Russian economy to free markets and private ownership, an effort that is being fought by hard-line lawmak ers elected before the Soviet collapse. It also is an attempt to persuade Yeltsin’s countrymen to support him in an April 25 referendum with prom ises that their lives will be better after infusions of Western assistance and advice. “We have united behind reforms in the new Russia,” Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher said. “The degree of unanimity among us in this effort has been extraordinary.” Christopher also said the United States would add S1.8 billion toa $ 1.6 billion U.S. aid program pledged by President Clinton earlier this month. The additional aid includes $500 million for a new fund to finance the conversion of state-run Russian in dustries to private ownership. Christopher urged the other Group of Seven nations — Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada, France and Italy — to put $ 1.5 billion in the privatization fund and said international agencies would provide a matching $2 billion. Most nations said they needed time to study the proposal. Russian chiet plans to demote I veep before April referendum I MOSCOW — Anxious about his grip on power, Boris Yeltsin said Thursday he is demoting his rebel lious vice president and will change the rules for Russia’s April 25 refer endum in his favor. The president said he would strip control over agriculture from his one time ally, Vice President Alexander Rutskoi. Innewspapcr article,Rutskoi fought back by blaming “demagogic politicians” for the abysmal state of farming in Russia. If defeated in the nationwide ballot on his leadership and economic poli cies, Yeltsin could be severely weak ened and even forced from office, leaving Rutskoi in charge. Rutskoi,a former pro-reform Com munist who defended the presidential headquarters during the attempted hard-line coup in 1991, has become a main opponent of Yeltsin and has repeatedly tried toundercuthis politi cal and economic reforms. Yeltsin and Rutskoi ’ s term expires in 1996, but earlier elections are pos sible if voters support that idea in the referendum. Rutskoi cannot be fired by Yeltsin. At a meeting with representatives of democratic groups, Yeltsin said he would take the agriculture portfolio away from Rutskoi before the end of the week, the Interfax news agency said. Later, Yeltsin told a group of art ists: “With the honor of an officer, he should have left his post long ago if he disagreed with the president.” Writing in the opposition newspa per Pravda, Rulskoi avoided criticiz ing Yeltsin directly. Instead, he blamed the pricing, credit, tax and investment policies of the government for putting farming “in the humiliating position of being bankrupt.” The article was a veritable report card - filled with F’s — on Russia’s agriculture. Crackdown may occur in S. Africa PRET6RIA, South Africa — The government threatened a security crackdown and urged swifter progress toward ending apartheid Thursday after nationwide violence during me morials for slain black leader Chris Hani. Senior government ministers said multiparty talks on sharing power with the black majority must proceed as quickly as possible. But they said further unrest would not be tolerated. “The current wave of violence. . .should immediately come to a stop,” said Constitutional Affairs Minister Roelf Meyer. “Violence can make no contribution to the achievement of solutions.” Government officials said extra troops would be deployed and police would be given expanded powers of detention in areas hit by violent pro tests Wednesday. At least seven people died and hundreds were wounded, many by police gunfire. Further violence is feared during weekend protests and at Hani’s fu - (4 The current wave of violence.. .should immediately come to a stop. -Meyer constitutional affairs minister -—-44 - neral in Johannesburg on Monday. The African National Congress condemned the looting and violence, blaming it on “unruly elements.” “No region had actually antici pated the massive tumoutand in many instances our preparations were inad equate,” said ANC spokesman Pallo Jordan. Black and white leaders are strug gling to prevent anger over Hani s killing from derailing the talks to end apartheid. The talks have been suspended for a week while the ANC copes with the killing of Hani, one of its top leaders and head of the Communist Party. But the government and the AflC have said they will press ahead with the power-sharing negotiations. Meyer urged all political parties to tackle the talks with renewed /cal. “It is the government’s serious in tention that a successful outcome to the negotiations should be made as ,soon as possible,” he said. A white right-wing extremist has been charged with killing Hani last Saturday in the driveway of his subur ban home. The violence hit five cities, with some protesters attacking and looting businesses and shops. World Wire Sick juror returns; no verdict reached LOS ANGELES — A iuror whose illness had halted delibera tions in the federal Rodney King beating trial rejoined the panel Thursday for a sixth day of talks. The jury reached no verdict by day’s end. The federal jury now has delib erated longer than a state jury did last year before acquitting four Car bomb kills 7, inju BOGOTA, Colombia — A car bomb exploded Thursday at a crowded shopping mall, killing at least seven people, injuring more than 100 people and heavily dam aging about 30 businesses. There was no claim of responsi bility for the blast, the latest in a wave of car bombings that have rocked Bogota and other Colom bian cities this year. Police have blamed the fugitive police officers of most assault charges in King’s beating. Since Saturday, the federal panel has de liberated for 33 hours, an hour more than the state jury spent. Wednesday ’ s deliberations were cut short when a juror fell ill and went to a doctor. No information about the illness was disclosed, and the jurors haven’t been identified. res 100 Colombians head of the Medellin cocaine car tel, Pablo Escobar, for 10 previous car bombings this year. Fifty people died and more than 600 were wounded in the previous explo sions. Police said at least seven people were killed in Thursday’s blast at the Centro 93 shopping center, five miles north of downtown Bogota. But some officers at the scene said as many as eight died. Clinton compromises, trims jobs bill [ WASHINGTON — President Clinton began pruning billions of dol lars from his S16.3 billion jobs bill Thursday to make it more acceptable to filibustering Senate Republicans, whom he urged to help shape the package. “I.am willing to compromise so long as we keep the focus on jobs, keep the focus on growth, and keep the focus on meeting unmet national needs,” Clinton said at a Rose Garden ceremony. But as Clinton reached out to the GOP, there were new threats of Demo cratic defections that clouded his chances. Sens. Russell Fein^old and Herbert Kohl, both from Wisconsin, raised their own objections to the program. Two other Democrats, Sens. Rich ard Shelby of Alabama and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, also have declared their opposition. “Our opponents have been asking for a smaller package,” Clinton said of the Senate Republicans. “And to day I ask them to join me in determin ing exactly what kind and what size package Congress can approve that actually meets the needs of the Ameri can people.” Hoping to avoid his first major defeat in Congress, Clinton asked Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine and Senate Appro priations Chairman Robert Byrd, D W.Va., to open talks with Senate Re publican Leader Bob Dole. Dole and Clinton talked twice by telephone on Wednesday. The sena tor said he told the president the two sides had "a fundamental difference." Clinton wants to borrow the money, thus boosting the budget deficit, but Republicans want to pay for it by cutting other programs. Evacuation fails as Serbs resume bombing TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Local commanders barred the United Nations on Friday from evacuating hundreds more Muslims from Serb ringed Srebrenica, and insisted that wounded soldiers be flown out first. Despite harsh criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, Bosnian Serbs rained more shells on the eastern Bosnian enclave where dozens died Monday. And Croat-Muslim clashes in cen tral Bosnia were reported raging for a second day. U.N. aid officials said a humani tarian convoy of five trucks brought aid into Srebrenica but left with only five elderly women, who were placed on board a truck that headed toTuzla, 35 miles to the northwest. The original plan, as in past mis sions, had been to pluck hundreds of Muslim civilians to safety from the govemment-held town. But John McMillan, a representa tive for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, said Srebrenica officials had blocked the evacuation until 500 wounded Muslim soldiers could be airlifted out. “They wouldn’t let us load,” McMillan said. McMillan said the agency would send no more convoys to Srebrenica for several days. The town’s Muslim-led defenders have blocked evacuations before, say ing the U.N. trucks were open to Serb attack and that an exodus would weaken the town's defense. Srebrenica is one of three eastern Bosnian enclaves still under the con trol of the Muslim-led government, and its fall would be a devastating blow to the government cause. 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