OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 78, 20 April 1995

From: "Steve Iatrou" <[email protected]>

CONTENTS

  • [01] SERBS SHELL SARAJEVO IN BOSNIA . . .

  • [02] .. . . AND DUBROVNIK IN CROATIA.

  • [03] CAN THE CROATS SHELL KNIN?

  • [04] MILOSEVIC OFF THE HOOK?

  • [05] UPDATE ON KOSOVO TRIALS.

  • [06] NEW SLOVENIAN-ITALIAN ROW?

  • [07] ANTI-SEMITES DEFACE BULGARIAN SYNAGOGUE.

  • [08] NEW ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKES IN BULGARIA IMMINENT.

  • [09] FIRST ARRESTS IN ALBANIAN PRINTING MACHINE SCANDAL.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 78, Part II, 20 April 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] SERBS SHELL SARAJEVO IN BOSNIA . . .

    News agencies reported on 19 April that Bosnian Serb forces shelled Sarajevo with heavy weapons placed in UN monitoring sites. The Serbs ignored shots fired by Ukrainian peacekeepers and verbal threats by French soldiers, but an overflight by NATO aircraft apparently prompted them to cease shelling. Meanwhile in New York, the UN Security Council unanimously passed French-backed Resolution 987, which condemns recent attacks on UNPROFOR and calls on the secretary-general to prepare recommendations on new measures to promote the peacekeepers' safety. Hina added that the text also urges an extension of the current Bosnian cease-fire after it expires on 30 April. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] .. . . AND DUBROVNIK IN CROATIA.

    Hina reported on 19 April that Serb forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina fired a mortar shell at the runway of the new Dubrovnik-Cilipi airport, which replaced the airport destroyed in the 1991 Serbian-Croatian conflict. Prime Minister Nikica Valentic, who had just arrived to dedicate the new terminal, called the attack "another proof of how unscrupulous our enemy is." He added that "this attack is aimed at provoking a conflict. Croatia will not tolerate such provocations anymore . . . If needed, we are ready to respond faster and stronger than [the Serbs] would expect." Croatia's ambassador to the UN, Mario Nobilo, sent a letter to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali condemning "such terrorist acts." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] CAN THE CROATS SHELL KNIN?

    UN sources have said that Croatian andBosnian Croat forces are now ensconced on Mt. Dinara to the east of the Krajina capital and that from that position they can hit Knin itself, Reuters reported on 18 April. The report points out that Croatian forces have been encroaching on the rebel Serbs' territory since UNPROFOR's mandate ran out at the end of March. The 19 April Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung adds that UN negotiators are far from hammering out a new mandate acceptable both to Zagreb and to Knin and are unlikely to meet their 21 April deadline. A central Croatian demand, which the Serbs reject, is that UN monitors be stationed on Croatia's frontiers with Serbia and Bosnia to monitor about two dozen major crossing points and scores of minor ones. Nasa Borba says that the UN already has 200 vehicles in place along the Croatian-Serbian border. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] MILOSEVIC OFF THE HOOK?

    Reuters reported on 19 April that the head ofthe UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has said that documents brought to public attention in a 13 April New York Times article do not in fact link Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Chief Prosecutor Richard Goldstone said: "The documents referred to in the article were found by my office to be [of] no evidentiary or other value." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] UPDATE ON KOSOVO TRIALS.

    The local court of Pec on 19 April sentenced nine former ethnic Albanian policemen to between one and five years in prison, international agencies reported the same day. The policemen were charged with creating a shadow Kosovar Interior Ministry of the Republic of Kosovo. According to the Serbian authorities, the ministry was set up in 1992 to "create the conditions for the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia." Also on 19 April, the trial of another seven ethnic Albanian policemen began, Politika reported the next day. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] NEW SLOVENIAN-ITALIAN ROW?

    Italy's Foreign Ministry on 19 April summonedSlovenia's senior diplomat for discussions about remarks allegedly recently made by Slovenian Foreign Minister Zoran Thaler, Reuters reported. The Ljubljana daily Delo quoted Thaler as saying that Slovenia's borders were "unjust," prompting Rome to respond by suggesting that the minister's statements amounted to claims against Italian territory. But Thaler, at a press conference on 19 April, said he had been misquoted by the daily and that his comments dealt only and specifically with Slovenia's borders with Croatia. Recently, Ljubljana's relations with Rome have been warming, following Italy's decision in early March to halt efforts at blocking Slovenia's negotiating associate member status in the EU. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] ANTI-SEMITES DEFACE BULGARIAN SYNAGOGUE.

    Anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas have been sprayed on the walls of the Sofia synagogue and a Jewish primary school, Reuters reported on 19 April. Eddie Schwartz, chairman of the Jewish Organization in Bulgaria, said the incident, which took place on the night of 18-19 April, showed that neo-nazi groups exist in Bulgaria. Reuters quoted Schwartz as saying that while the attack is "the work of a marginal group in society . . . , it does not mean that we should ignore what has happened." Mihail Ivanov, presidential adviser on ethnic issues, told a news conference that President Zhelyu Zhelev condemned such "anti-Semitic and racist actions." The incident coincided with the 106th anniversary of Hitler's birthday on 20 April and with the visit of an Israeli delegation to Sofia. A similar act of vandalism took place on 16 April in the northern town of Ruse. A neo-nazi organization calling itself "Brannik" (Warrior) after a World War II fascist group claimed responsibility for the desecration of a Russian military cemetery there. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] NEW ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKES IN BULGARIA IMMINENT.

    Demokratsiya on 20 April reported that electricity prices will increase by 65%, from 1.95 cents to 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. John Wilton, representative of the World Bank in Bulgaria, was quoted as saying that the government, while acknowledging that the increases are necessary, is trying to postpone their implementation because of a lack of protection for the socially weak. Wilton said that a group of World Bank experts has presented a mechanism to protect the poor from the price hikes. Electricity prices went up by 47% for private households and by 28.4% for industry on 1 March. The World Bank has repeatedly criticized the Bulgarian government for keeping electricity prices below the cost of production. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] FIRST ARRESTS IN ALBANIAN PRINTING MACHINE SCANDAL.

    Perparim Xhixha, former chief editor of the Socialist Party newspaper Zeri i Popullit, has been put under house arrest in connection with the disappearance in 1991 of $400,000 from a communist solidarity fund, Gazeta Shqiptare reported on 20 April. The money was allegedly used to buy a printing machine in Canada for Zeri i Popullit, but the machine never materialized. Xhixha's arrest has diverted suspicion away from Socialist Party deputy leader Namik Dokle, who was chief editor of Zeri i Popullit before Xhixha. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a Prague-based nonprofit organization.

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