OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 83, 27 April 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] RUSSIA MAY PULL OUT OF BOSNIA IF FIGHTING RESUMES.

  • [02] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS SLAM WAR CRIMES CHARGES.

  • [03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT AND CROATIAN FORCES READY FOR NEW FIGHTING.

  • [04] OTHER DEVELOPMENTS ON THE WAR FRONT.

  • [05] MILOSEVIC REVIVING OLD GHOSTS?

  • [06] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS RALLY IN TETOVO.

  • [07] GENERAL STRIKE IN MACEDONIA.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 83, Part I, 27 April 1995

    RUSSIA

    [01] RUSSIA MAY PULL OUT OF BOSNIA IF FIGHTING RESUMES.

    Russia may withdraw its peacekeepers from Bosnia if large-scale fighting resumes, Interfax reported 26 April. Alexander Zotov, Russia's special envoy for the former Yugoslavia and representative to the international Contact Group, warned that an increase in hostilities "might create unbearable conditions for UN peacekeepers." Zotov criticized both sides, the Bosnia Serbs because they have not recognized the Contact Group's plan for settling the conflict and the Bosnian Muslims because they began their spring offensive before the truce officially came to an end. Russia will continue to pursue a solution through the contact group, Zotov said. -- Michael Mihalka, OMRI, Inc.

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 83, Part II, 27 April 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS SLAM WAR CRIMES CHARGES.

    Accused war criminal Dusan Tadic, a former guard at the notorious Bosnian Serb concentration camp at Omarska, told the Hague-based court investigating Yugoslav war crimes that he is innocent. International media on 27 April also reported that the Bosnian Serb Ministry of Information issued a statement brushing aside moves by the court to investigate civilian leader Radovan Karadzic and his military counterpart, General Ratko Mladic. The document claims- -incorrectly--that the court is ignoring war crimes committed by Croats and Muslims. The text also says that the charges lack proof and are the work of "countries historically hostile toward the Serbs." It notes the "undisputed military and political supremacy of the Serbs over the side which was predestined for destruction. The victory the Serbs gained through the regular means of a liberation struggle cannot be proof that [they] have committed a crime." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT AND CROATIAN FORCES READY FOR NEW FIGHTING.

    Radio Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 April quotes UN sources as saying that government forces in the Bihac enclave have taken two strategic heights and driven back the Serbian defenders. The mainly Muslim army also damaged a Serbian radar station in the Pljesevica mountain range, which runs from west of Bihac into Krajina. Oslobodjenje on 26 April quoted Bosnian army commander General Rasim Delic as saying his forces "are ready for the end of the cease-fire [on 30 April]. The aggressor will not be able to surprise us in any part of the country." Reuters added that Delic's men have used the four-month period to re-equip and to rethink strategy and tactics. They now make the most of their advantage in manpower and do not give the Serbs a chance to exploit preponderance in tanks and artillery. The news agency also reported the local Croatian forces in an upbeat mood, saying they are within easy striking distance of the Krajina capital Knin, as well as Glamoc and Bosansko Grahovo, which control access from Croat-held western Herzegovina to Serb- controlled western Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] OTHER DEVELOPMENTS ON THE WAR FRONT.

    UN officials have largely given up hope that talks with Bosnian Serb representatives will succeed in reopening Sarajevo airport. Reuters on 26 April said that Serbian civilian negotiators have been hamstrung by their own military, which wants a veto right over the passenger list for UN planes. Meanwhile, Nasa Borba reported that Karadzic, who recently visited front-line troops, paid a special Easter visit to Greek volunteers, whom he presented with a souvenir medal. Finally, the Krajina Serb government has rejected any new mandate for UN peacekeepers that includes the term "Croatia." This has been just one of several objections by Knin to the proposed mandate, but the Krajina parliament will have the final word. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] MILOSEVIC REVIVING OLD GHOSTS?

    The state-run Borba on 27 April runs astory claiming to demonstrate that the international sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia are robbing not just Serbia but the entire Balkans of their political and economic independence. The daily also resurrects the theme of the "satanization of the Serbs," employed periodically by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to shift attention away from Serbia's and Serbs' involvement in the wars of the former Yugoslavia. In other news, Nasa Borba reported that the governments of Serbia and Montenegro have voted to establish 27 April as an official state holiday to commemorate the founding of the present rump Yugoslav state on that day in 1992. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS RALLY IN TETOVO.

    Ethnic Albanians rallied in Tetovo on 26 April to protest the trial of Fadil Sulejmani, director of the self proclaimed Albanian-language university, Flaka reported the next day. Sulejmani is charged with instigating mass rebellion at the inauguration of the university in February 1995. Five minor parties-- including the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians, led by Arben Xhaferi--called for the 26 April rally. The Party for Democratic Prosperity, the government coalition partner headed by Abdurrahman Aliti, announced initially it would not support the demonstration. But on 25 April it gave its "unreserved support" to Sulejmani, MIC reported the following day. The party said it would attempt to institutionalize and legalize the Tetovo university through its parliamentary group and ministers. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] GENERAL STRIKE IN MACEDONIA.

    A general strike called by the League of Independent and Autonomous Trade Unions of Macedonia is scheduled for 27 April, the news agency MIC reported the previous day. The union is demanding improved social benefits and wages. If its demands are not met, the union will press for the government's resignation and early elections, Union Chairman Stojan Nikolov told the press. A number of opposition parties support the union's demands. But Nikolov, stressing that the strike is not political, said they will not be allowed to address protest meetings due to take place in Skopje and a number of other cities. Macedonian television cited a government official as saying that the government sees no reason for talks with the union. Meanwhile, the Macedonian Trade Union Association issued a statement saying it does not support the protest action, which it calls "purely political." The association is preparing its own general strike, which will take place if talks with government officials on the general situation of workers yield no results. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

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

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