SNEGUR’S NEW PARTY ATTACKS PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT.

The founding congress of President Mircea Snegur’s new Party ofRebirth and Conciliation sharply attacked the parliamentary majorityand the government as "extremist" and "anti-democratic,"documents from the session released to Moldpres August 28 show.Until recently, both groups were Snegur’s close allies. Moreover,the documents show that Snegur’s party seeks to retreat from his past program of economic reform and will now increase supportfor collectivized agriculture, and seeks to ban the distributionof publications "intended for illicit and unjustified profit,"an undefined but chilling notion. According to the reports, allthe documents were approved "unanimously." Now supportedby only 11 out of 104 deputies in the parliament and by almostno minister, Snegur appears set to try to force new parliamentary elections before the 1996 presidential poll. Parliamentary leaderstold Basapress August 28 that they believed the presidentialcamp was even planning to encourage street demonstrations againstthe parliament and the government.

Abkhazia Shifts Negotiating Strategy.