OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 100, 24 May 1995
CONTENTS
[01] BOSNIAN SERB LEGISLATURE VOTES FOR UNION WITH KRAJINA.
[02] UN SAYS SOME CROATS AND SERBS REMAIN IN BUFFER ZONE.
[03] MAZOWIECKI CASTS DOUBT ON SERBIAN CHARGES AGAINST CROATS.
[04] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE FROM BIHAC.
[05] SERBIAN UPDATE.
[06] ALBANIAN LEADER CONVICTED IN MACEDONIA.
[07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.
[08] BULGARIA, TURKEY WILL COOPERATE TO FIGHT TERRORISM.
[09] ALBANIA TO CLAMP DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO ITALY.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 100, Part II, 24 May 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] BOSNIAN SERB LEGISLATURE VOTES FOR UNION WITH KRAJINA.
Parliamentary
speaker Momcilo Krajisnik said that deputies voted "by acclimation" to
unite with Croatian Serbs, Nasa Borba reports on 24 May. Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic is quoted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
as saying that the new western Serbian state would be formed "very soon"
and would have to be a unitary one "because federations are unworkable."
It remains unclear, however, what such a new entity would mean in
practice. Both Knin and Pale have suffered recent reverses on the
battlefield and have witnessed strains in their relations with Serbia.
But both have pushed for a greater Serbia since Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic began to engineer the destruction of the former
Yugoslavia, even before launching his war in 1991. -- Patrick Moore ,
OMRI, Inc.
[02] UN SAYS SOME CROATS AND SERBS REMAIN IN BUFFER ZONE.
A spokesman for the
world body stated in Knin that some 100 Croatian and 50 Serbian soldiers
remain in what are supposed to be UN buffer zones in the Dalmatian
hinterland. Nasa Borba on 24 May says he added that 11,000 Serbs have
fled western Slavonia since the Croats retook it on 1-2 May. Some 4,000
of them have gone to eastern Slavonia; and a similar number remain in
western Slavonia, of whom 1,800 have applied to leave. The Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, however, cites UN officials in Zagreb as saying that
the Croatian evacuation of the buffer zones is largely complete. --
Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.
[03] MAZOWIECKI CASTS DOUBT ON SERBIAN CHARGES AGAINST CROATS.
The Frankfurt
Allgemeine Zeitung also reports that the UN special envoy for human
rights, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, says it is unclear whether the Croatian army
deliberately fired on civilians during this month's Operation Blitz or
whether the 20 or more dead civilians were caught in crossfire. The
Serbs have repeatedly charged the Croats with these and similar human
rights violations in western Slavonia. UN spokesmen have called the
evacuation of the area probably the most orderly such procedure in the
history of the Yugoslav conflict. A CIA study earlier this year and
numerous other reports have stressed that the Serbian side alone has
used "ethnic cleansing" in a systematic and deliberate fashion to
achieve political goals, making the Serbs responsible for at least 90%
of the atrocities in Bosnia. Hina quotes a Croatian government
spokeswoman as calling the latest charges "greater Serbian propaganda."
-- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.
[04] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE FROM BIHAC.
Encircled government
troops have pushed Serbian forces out of several villages in the Bihac
pocket. Pressure on the Serbs was intensified thanks to an offensive by
Bosnian Croat and regular Croatian forces in the Livno valley, the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on 24 May. Meanwhile, Vecernji
list says that the Roman Catholic bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica,
has entered the seventh day of his hunger strike to protest Serbian
abuses and has sent a long and urgent plea to Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[05] SERBIAN UPDATE.
US envoy Robert Frasure left Belgrade on 23 May after
failing to secure Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's agreement to a
deal that would have lifted some sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia
in exchange for Belgrade's recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nasa Borba
reports on 24 May that Russian envoy Alexander Zotov, due to arrive in
Belgrade the same day, will also try to persuade the Serbian leader to
reach an agreement on the issue. The newspaper also carried excerpts of
a press conference held by Vuk Draskovic, leader of the opposition
Serbian Renewal Movement, who stressed that Serbian unity cannot be
achieved through "war and against the will of the [rest of] the world."
-- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[06] ALBANIAN LEADER CONVICTED IN MACEDONIA.
Arben Rusi, a leader of the
Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians, was sentenced to eight
months in jail on 23 May, Flaka reported the following day. Rusi was
convicted on charges of obstructing the police during riots that broke
out when thousands of people tried to prevent policemen from closing
down the self-declared Albanian-language university in Tetovo. Rusi was
the fourth Albanian sentenced in connection with the riot, in which one
Albanian died. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.
The Constitutional
Court on 23 May ruled that an amendment to the land restitution law
passed by the Socialist majority contravenes the constitution, Radio
Sofia reported the same day. The law was passed on 14 April and vetoed
by President Zhelyu Zhelev two weeks later. After the parliament
overruled his veto on 10 May, Zhelev and 51 deputies from the Union of
Democratic Forces asked the Constitutional Court to declare the law
void, saying the new amendment contradicts the principle of the
invulnerability of private property. According to the amendment, land
owners wishing to sell their plot must first offer it to their neighbors
and then to the state, which has to decide within two months whether to
buy it. The parliament, government, and Ministry of Agriculture have two
weeks to respond to the court's decision. -- Stefan Krause , OMRI, Inc.
[08] BULGARIA, TURKEY WILL COOPERATE TO FIGHT TERRORISM.
Turkish Interior
Minister Nahit Mentese, during his visit to Sofia on 23 May, said that
the Bulgarian government has agreed to prevent the Kurdish Workers Party
(PKK) from operating on Bulgarian territory, international agencies
reported the same day. Mentese said the Turkish government has
information that the PKK is attempting to set up organizations in
Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. He added that the group's activities
"could harm Bulgarian-Turkish relations, if not checked." Bulgarian
Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev stressed that the PKK is currently not
operating in Bulgaria. About 9,000 people of Kurdish origin are living
in Bulgaria, most of them citizens of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.
Bulgaria and Turkey will also cooperate to fight drug trafficking and
organized crime. Mentese was the first Turkish interior minister to
visit Bulgaria in 10 years. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[09] ALBANIA TO CLAMP DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO ITALY.
Albanian Prime
Minister Aleksander Meksi on 23 May assured Italian Deputy Interior
Minister Luigi Rossi that his government will take measures against
illegal Albanian immigrants who are smuggled to the Italian coast in
motor-boats, Reuters reported the same day. Rome has been under pressure
from its European partners to impose stricter controls on the EU's
external borders. Meksi also pressed for liberalization of the Italian
visa regime, the opening of Albanian consulates in Italy, the
legalization of Albanian refugees in Italy, and seasonal jobs for
Albanian workers. Rossi, who was heading a delegation to Tirana to
discuss Albanian President Sali Berisha's upcoming visit to Italy,
assured Meksi of his "government's intention to solve the issue of
immigration." Italy has employed 700 policemen and soldiers to guard the
coast of Puglia against illegal immigration. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI,
Inc.
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