OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 106, 1 June 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] BOSNIAN SERBS STEP UP ATTACKS ON SARAJEVO AND GORAZDE.

  • [02] AKASHI REASSURES IZETBEGOVIC ABOUT BRITISH TROOPS.

  • [03] BOUTROS GHALI PRESENTS NEW PLANS FOR BOSNIA.

  • [04] CLINTON OFFERS U.S. GROUND TROOPS FOR BOSNIA.

  • [05] NEW TRIALS IN KOSOVO.

  • [06] SUSPECT CHARGED IN BULGARIAN INVESTMENT SCANDAL.

  • [07] GREECE RATIFIES UN SEA CONVENTION LAW DESPITE TURKISH OBJECTIONS.

  • [08] BULGARIA' S LARGEST TRADE UNIONS TO BOYCOTT ILO SESSION.

  • [09] ALBANIA' S NEW PENAL CODE TAKES EFFECT.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 106, Part II, 1 June 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] BOSNIAN SERBS STEP UP ATTACKS ON SARAJEVO AND GORAZDE.

    Bosnian Serb forces shelled Debelo Brdo on the Sarajevo front on 31 May and increased their attacks on the mainly Muslim enclave of Gorazde, in eastern Bosnia. Nasa Borba the following day noted that similar Serb shelling in Sarajevo on 24 May prompted NATO air strikes. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that the Serbs have captured a total of 36 UN vehicles, including six light tanks. They have begun cruising around government- held portions of Sarajevo using the vehicles with their original markings and intimidating UN staff. The Serbs called for direct talks with the Contact Group to discuss freeing the approximately 370 hostages, but the UN says that the Serbs must unconditionally release their prisoners now. -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [02] AKASHI REASSURES IZETBEGOVIC ABOUT BRITISH TROOPS.

    The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 1 June reports that UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi told the Bosnian president that the approximately 6,000 British soldiers currently arriving will be under UN command. The Bosnians refused to let the contingent proceed beyond Gornji Vakuf to the British base at Vitez, in central Bosnia, until it was made clear that they were not part of any British effort to withdraw peacekeepers. Meanwhile, the EU mediator in the Yugoslav crisis for the past three years, Lord Owen, has announced he will step down at the end of June. He said the move was unrelated to the latest developments but added that he feared Britain was increasingly being sucked into a Balkan war, the BBC reported on 31 May. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] BOUTROS GHALI PRESENTS NEW PLANS FOR BOSNIA.

    UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali has issued a paper stating that the present concept for UNPROFOR is untenable and suggested some alternatives. One proposal would involve reduced operations and concentrates on humanitarian aid and simply "monitoring" the UN-declared "safe areas" rather than trying to defend them. The other proposal would scrap UNPROFOR as an international peace-keeping mission and replace it with a more active multinational force under individual national commands, apparently on the model of the Gulf War. The world body is to debate the suggestions, international media reported on 31 May. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] CLINTON OFFERS U.S. GROUND TROOPS FOR BOSNIA. U.S.

    President Bill Clinton, addressing the Air Force Academy on 31 May, for the first time raised the possibility that U.S. ground troops would be sent to Bosnia. The measure would be "temporary" and only if the allies requested the soldiers to help UNPROFOR. He attached several additional conditions, including the need to consult an increasingly isolationist Congress. The VOA quoted Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole as saying that the U.S. should drop the UNPROFOR concept entirely and concentrate on arming the Bosnian government instead. -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [05] NEW TRIALS IN KOSOVO.

    The trial of 72 ethnic Albanian former policemen charged with separatist activities began in Pristina on 29 May, AFP reported the same day. The policemen are charged with setting up a shadow-state Interior Ministry, stockpiling large amounts of weapons and equipment, and spying on Serbian police and the Yugoslav army. They face up to 10 years in prison. The trial raises the number of former ethnic Albanian policemen tried on the same charges to 160. Meanwhile, at a trial in Gnjilan of ethnic Albanian policemen accused of "hostile activities," the prosecutor submitted a "decree of the government of Kosovo" allegedly signed by Prime Minister in exile Bujar Bukoshi in 1991. Defense lawyers, however, argued that the document was forged, pointing out that it was in Serbian and that Bukoshi was not prime minister in 1991, according to Kosova Daily Report on 31 May. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] SUSPECT CHARGED IN BULGARIAN INVESTMENT SCANDAL.

    An investment fund clerk was charged with embezzlement on 31 May, international agencies reported the same day. Desislava Chaneva was arrested on 30 May as she tried to flee to Greece with 20 million leva ($310,000) belonging to shareholders of the Alba Bul investment fund, based in Varna. Alba Bul was the fourth fund in Varna within one week to stop paying dividends and close. At least 15 other such schemes are still operating in Varna. Investments in Alba Bul are estimated at $4.5 million. If convicted, Chaneva faces up to 10 years in prison. * Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] GREECE RATIFIES UN SEA CONVENTION LAW DESPITE TURKISH OBJECTIONS.

    The Greek parliament on 1 June unanimously ratified the UN Law of the Sea Convention, Reuters reported the same day. The treaty allows Greece to extend its territorial waters from the present six to 12 miles at a moment' s notice. Turkey opposes the treaty, saying an extension of Greece' s water would seal off its Aegean coastline and turn the Aegean into a Greek lake. Ankara has said any extension will be "cause for war," and Turkish diplomatic sources have been cited as saying Ankara will send warships down the Aegean if Greece implements the 12-mile zone. Athens has not said it will enforce the treaty, but Deputy Foreign Minister Georgios-Alexandros Mangakis commented that "Greece will exercise its rights whenever its interests dictate." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] BULGARIA' S LARGEST TRADE UNIONS TO BOYCOTT ILO SESSION.

    Podkrepa and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria will boycott the 82nd session of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Standart reported on 31 May. The decision was made after Labor Minister Mincho Koralski named the Association of Free Trade Union Organization as Bulgaria' s official delegate. According to the two unions, Koralski' s move contravenes the ILO statutes, which state that trade unions are to hold consultations over which representatives to send to ILO sessions. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] ALBANIA' S NEW PENAL CODE TAKES EFFECT.

    Populli PO reported on 31 May that the new penal code, which takes effect on 1 June, will open "one of the doors to the Council of Europe." The council demanded that Albania abolish the death penalty and ratify the European convention on safeguarding minority rights before it decides on Albanian membership on 29 June. The new penal code enables communist party leader Fatos Nano to bring his case to an appeals court. Nano is serving a prison term for embezzlement and forging documents. His case has been treated as a human rights issue by various opposition parties. -- 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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