OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 119, 20 June 1995
CONTENTS
[01] SERBS REJECT SARAJEVO' S CEASE-FIRE OFFER.
[02] BOSNIAN CROATS BACK ALLIANCE WITH MUSLIMS.
[03] RUSSIAN EMISSARY MAKES LOW-KEY VISIT TO BELGRADE AND PALE.
[04] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.
[05] SERBIAN GUARD SHOOTS ALBANIAN CHILD IN KOSOVO.
[06] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT IN PARIS.
[07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.
[08] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER IN ATHENS.
[09] ALBANIAN COURT REJECTS APPEAL BY SOCIALIST LEADER.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 119, Part II, 20 June 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] SERBS REJECT SARAJEVO' S CEASE-FIRE OFFER.
The Bosnian Serbs have turned
down an offer by President Alija Izetbegovic on 18 June to end the
government' s current offensive. The condition was that the Serbs
respect the 20-km-wide heavy weapons exclusion zone around Sarajevo, the
BBC and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said on 20 June. The
International Herald Tribune added that UN sources have confirmed
Serbian claims that the strategic Pale-Lukavica road remains in Serbian
hands. The Serbs have launched a counter-offensive and announced that
victory would be theirs. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[02] BOSNIAN CROATS BACK ALLIANCE WITH MUSLIMS.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung on 20 June quotes Bosnian Croat leader Kresimir Zubak as saying
his side will back the government forces and continue the offensive to
stop the blockade of Sarajevo "to the end." A top Bosnian Croat defense
official told Vecernji list that the two sides will continue to stage
coordinated actions to defeat the common Serbian enemy. Meanwhile in
northern Bosnia, the Serbs have stepped up artillery pressure on the
Croat-held territories on the Bosnian side of the Sava River. Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman, for his part, has begun a visit to Australia,
which has large emigre communities from throughout the former
Yugoslavia. Nasa Borba reported his arrival touched off noisy protests
by the local Serbs, but the Zagreb dailies note that Australian Croats
gave him a rousing welcome. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[03] RUSSIAN EMISSARY MAKES LOW-KEY VISIT TO BELGRADE AND PALE.
Former
Russian special envoy Vitaly Churkin has visited Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in a
previously unannounced visit. Western and Serbian media on 20 June noted
that the official purpose of the trip was simply to "exchange ideas" and
that Churkin brought along no new proposals. France, meanwhile, has
urged the new EU negotiator, former Swedish Prime Minister Karl Bildt,
to make fresh efforts to relaunch the peace process. It said the release
of the last hostages provides a good opportunity for such an initiative.
The International Herald Tribune notes that the Bosnian government
suspects the West of wanting to make a quick peace deal with the Serbs
that would give the Serbs far more than offered by the existing peace
plan. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[04] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.
Georgi Pirinski on 19 June met
with his rump Yugoslav counterpart, Vladislav Jovanovic, and Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic, Demokratsiya reported the following day.
After the meetings, Pirinski confirmed the Bulgarian government' s
position that a peaceful solution to the Yugoslav crisis can be reached
only by political means and a gradual lifting of UN sanctions against
rump Yugoslavia. While he stressed that Bulgaria is not violating the
embargo, he said he agrees with Milosevic on strengthening "bilateral
political and economic relations." Pirinski is slated to meet with other
ranking officials on 20 June, including rump Yugoslav Premier Radoje
Kontic. -- Stefan Krause and Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[05] SERBIAN GUARD SHOOTS ALBANIAN CHILD IN KOSOVO.
A Serbian guard shot and
killed a 10-year-old ethnic Albanian in Hani i Elezit, near the
Macedonian border, while he was herding sheep, Kosova Daily Report said
on 19 June. The child reportedly walked into the courtyard of the army
barracks, about 70 meters from his home, to round up a stray sheep. The
army has not officially admitted any involvement in the incident but
informed the boy' s family that his body is in Pristina' s main
hospital. The incident brings the number of Albanians killed in Kosovo
by Serbian police and military in 1995 to 17. More than 100 Albanians
have been killed in Kosovo since the abolition of Kosovar autonomy in
1989. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[06] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT IN PARIS.
Nasa Borba on 20 June reported that
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov is in Paris together with an official
Macedonian delegation. Gligorov is slated to address a plenary session
of the Western European Union, meeting from 19-22 June in the French
capital. Observers believe this is a sign that Macedonia may soon be
granted associate membership in the European defense body. Meanwhile,
Macedonian Premier Branko Crvenkovski returned from a state visit to
Turkey, where he met with Premier Tansu Ciller and President Suleyman
Demirel. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.
The Constitutional
Court on 19 June rejected an amendment to the land restitution law as
unconstitutional, Bulgarian Radio reported the same day. The law, which
restricts the rights of land owners to freely sell their plots and
favors the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, was adopted by
the Socialist majority on 14 April and vetoed by President Zhelyu Zhelev
two weeks later. After parliament overruled his veto on 10 May, Zhelev
asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the
amendment. Constitutional Court Judge Georgi Markov said the law
contradicts the inviolability of property guaranteed by the
constitution. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[08] BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER IN ATHENS.
Zhan Videnov arrived in Athens on 19
June on a two-day official visit, international agencies reported the
same day. He met with President Kostis Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister
Andreas Papandreou, and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias to discuss
the planned trans-Balkan oil pipeline. Also on the agenda were the
opening of new border checkpoints, the easing of visa requirements for
Bulgarians, and increased Greek investment in Bulgaria. Both premiers
stressed that relations between the two countries were good. Papandreou
said the planned pipeline is of greatest strategic economic importance
for Greece. An agreement between Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece to
construct a pipeline from the Bulgarian port of Burgas to
Alexandroupolis, in Greece, was signed in Moscow on 15 June. The
pipeline, which will have a daily capacity of 600,000 barrels, will give
Russia access to Western markets without having to ship its oil through
the Bosporus. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[09] ALBANIAN COURT REJECTS APPEAL BY SOCIALIST LEADER.
A court in Tepelena
on 19 June rejected an appeal by Socialist Party leader and former Prime
Minister Fatos Nano to review his trial. Nano was sentenced to 12 years
in prison in April 1994 on charges of misappropriating state funds and
forging documents. His sentence has been reduced in various amnesties
and under the new penal code, which took effect on 1 June. Defense
lawyers argued that Nano should receive a milder sentence under the new
penal code and be freed until then. Nano has claimed that the trial is
politically motivated, Populli PO reported on 20 June. -- Fabian
Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
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