OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 121, 22 June 1995
CONTENTS
[01] AKASHI REASSURES KARADZIC OF UN'S GOOD INTENTIONS.
[02] UN REFUSES TO AUTHORIZE AIR STRIKES AGAINST SERBS.
[03] SERBS ALLOWED TO ESCORT SARAJEVO CONVOY.
[04] CROATIA HOLDS FIRM WITH SERBS.
[05] BELGRADE CONTINUES ROUNDUP FOR MILITARY SERVICE.
[06] RED CROSS VISITS IMPRISONED POLICEMEN IN KOSOVO.
[07] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SETTLEMENT WITH GREECE.
[08] ILO CRITICIZES BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT.
[09] BULGARIAN PREMIER ENDS VISIT TO ATHENS.
[10] POLICE ARREST ALBANIAN VILLAGERS WHO TOOK HOSTAGES.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 121, Part II, 22 June 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] AKASHI REASSURES KARADZIC OF UN'S GOOD INTENTIONS.
The UN's special
envoy to the former Yugoslavia, Yasushi Akashi, has written Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic, the International Herald Tribune reported on 22
June. Akashi reassured Karadzic that he feels that "all sides" have
caused problems for UNPROFOR. He did not mention the recent hostage
crisis. Above all, the envoy said that the projected Rapid Reaction
Force will not take sides, will not act differently from UNPROFOR, and
will not engage in peacemaking such as blasting open corridors to enable
relief convoys to get through. A UN spokesman said that "the Serbs were
worried and Mr. Akashi felt it appropriate to calm their fears." --
Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[02] UN REFUSES TO AUTHORIZE AIR STRIKES AGAINST SERBS.
General Bernard
Janvier, commander of UN forces in the Balkans, refused a request by
U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith to authorize NATO air strikes on the Banja
Luka airport. AFP said on 21 June that the plea was in response to the
violation of the UN's own "no fly zone" over Bosnia by two Serbian
aircraft the previous day. A BBC report on 22 June said, however, that
UNPROFOR is under growing pressure to respond in a "more robust" fashion
to Serbian provocations. The International Herald Tribune suggested that
Janvier may not have wanted to use sufficient force to deal with the
anti-aircraft missile batteries surrounding the airport, like those that
downed a US F-16 on 3 June. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[03] SERBS ALLOWED TO ESCORT SARAJEVO CONVOY.
In another example of UN
deference to Bosnian Serb sensitivities, UNPROFOR troops were replaced
by Serbian police as a UN convoy passed through Serb-held territory on
the way to Sarajevo. The trucks with 600 tons of food arrived in the
capital on 21 June, the first such shipment the Serbs have let through
in some time. Serbs, meanwhile, killed six with a shell on a Sarajevo
suburb. The 22 June Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Bosnian Croat
military sources as saying that the Bosnian government's current
offensive has been briefly halted after taking heavy casualties. The
Muslim-Croatian alliance seeks to reopen roads to Visoko, Mostar, and
Kiseljak. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[04] CROATIA HOLDS FIRM WITH SERBS.
The Zagreb government has rejected
Krajina Serb preconditions for resuming talks. Reuters said on 21 June
that the Serbs insisted that Croatian forces withdraw from western
Slavonia, which they retook at the start of May, or at least from the
Dinara heights overlooking Knin and its road communications with Banja
Luka. In Australia, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said that the army
will return Krajina to Zagreb's control if talks fail to do so within a
year. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[05] BELGRADE CONTINUES ROUNDUP FOR MILITARY SERVICE.
Nasa Borba on 22 June
reported that Serbia's police force is continuing its roundup of ethnic
Serbs for military service in Serb-conquered territories outside the
rump Yugoslavia. The roundup began on 11 June among ethnic Serbian
refugees from Krajina residing in the northern Vojvodina region and is
now reportedly widening, with police officials press-ganging ethnic
Serbs born in Belgrade and Sumadija who have "at one time worked in
Bosnia or Croatia." The daily also reported that Bosnian Serb
authorities have issued a statement calling on all Bosnian Serb refugees
in the rump Yugoslavia to return and report to their units by 5 July.
Meanwhile, General Vlado Trifunovic, who, together with four colleagues,
faces charges of undermining the Yugoslav military and compromising
national defense, has appeared for a fourth time before a military
tribunal. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[06] RED CROSS VISITS IMPRISONED POLICEMEN IN KOSOVO.
The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has visited former Kosovo policemen
jailed on charges of separatism, AFP reported on 21 June. A total of 32
former policemen have already been sentenced to prison terms of between
one and six years, and 116 have been on trial since the beginning of
June. The policemen were dismissed after the abolition of the province's
autonomy by Belgrade in 1989. Authorities in Belgrade allowed the ICRC
to visit the policemen in the presence of prison officials to examine
under what conditions they are being detained. Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary
of State Warren Christopher on 21 June assured Kosovar shadow-state
president Ibrahim Rugova, who was in Washington, that "Kosovo is not
being ignored or forgotten." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[07] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SETTLEMENT WITH GREECE.
Kiro Gligorov,
during an official visit to Paris, called for a quick settlement of the
Greek-Macedonian dispute, Reuters reported on 21 June. After meeting
with French President Jacques Chirac that day, Gligorov said it is in
both Greece's and Macedonia's interest to settle their differences "so
that we can act together on the European scene." He said it is
paradoxical that while Macedonia prevented the war in the former
Yugoslavia from spreading southward, it is the only European country
that is not a member of the OSCE and has yet to sign an accord with the
European Union. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[08] ILO CRITICIZES BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT.
The International Labor
Organization has strongly criticized the Bulgarian government for its
decision on who to send to the ILO's 82nd session, Standart reported on
22 June. Social Minister Mincho Koralski included representatives of the
Association of Free Trade Union Organizations (OSSOB) in the official
delegation but failed to invite the two biggest unions, Podkrepa and the
Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB). The ILO's
Accreditation Committee issued a declaration stating that the OSSOB is
not representative of Bulgarian trade unions and is unable to give
reliable figures on its membership. The official Bulgarian delegation
will attend the meeting, but the ILO statement said there are "serious
reasons" to exclude Bulgaria, since it has violated the organization's
statutes. Meanwhile, Podkrepa and the KNSB will attend the session as
delegates of the international trade union organizations. -- Stefan
Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[09] BULGARIAN PREMIER ENDS VISIT TO ATHENS.
Zhan Videnov ended his first
official visit to Greece on 20 June, international agencies reported the
same day. Videnov and his Greek counterpart, Andreas Papandreou, signed
a joint statement stressing that relations between the two countries are
good. The statement said Athens and Sofia "will work together to
consolidate peace, stability, and security in the Balkans [and] to
secure the social and economic development of the region." It also calls
for international sanctions against rump Yugoslavia to be lifted. Greece
and Bulgaria agreed to increase defense cooperation, improve trade
routes through their countries, and improve business and other contacts.
Greece has been one of the largest investors in Bulgaria since the
demise of communism. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[10] POLICE ARREST ALBANIAN VILLAGERS WHO TOOK HOSTAGES.
Albanian police have
arrested 13 villagers who took the mayor of their village and an
Agriculture Ministry official hostage over a land feud, international
agencies reported on 20 June. About 30 peasants began a hunger strike in
Laknas, 13 kilometers northwest of Tirana, three weeks ago to protest
the privatization of a former state farm where they have worked for
years. The hostages were set free after police surrounded the house on
19 June, but police returned later to detain the group's leaders and to
disperse the other hunger strikers. The Interior Ministry described them
as "terrorists." The peasants claim that they have been cheated out of
their property. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a Prague-based nonprofit organization.
HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute
news2html v2.09c run on Thursday, 22 June 1995 - 16:22:23