OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 124, 27 June 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] EUROPEAN UNION LEADERS ON BOSNIA.

  • [02] BOSNIAN SERBS STEP UP VIOLENCE.

  • [03] GERMANY POISED TO SEND TROOPS TO BOSNIA.

  • [04] OPPOSITION SAYS BULGARIA TURNS INTO POLICE STATE.

  • [05] BULGARIAN SKINHEAD FINED FOR DESECRATING SOVIET GRAVES.

  • [06] DID THE ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS DRAW UP "DEATH LISTS" IN 1990?

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 124, Part II, 27 June 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] EUROPEAN UNION LEADERS ON BOSNIA.

    The BBC on 27 June reported that European Union leaders meeting in the French resort city of Cannes have reached consensus on a new five-point "action plan" for Bosnia which recognizes an ostensibly beefed-up role for the rapid reaction force that consists largely of French and British peacekeepers. According to Reuters, the European leaders have, among other things, called for the immediate lifting of the siege of Sarajevo and the opening of a land corridor to the Adriatic. French President Jacques Chirac maintained that the peacekeepers will have greater leeway in confronting force, the BBC reported. Nevertheless, newly appointed EU mediator Carl Bildt has been mandated to press ahead with diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflicts in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina. When queried as to how the latest plan, with its emphasis on diplomatic solutions, differs from previous efforts, Chirac, harkening back to the UN peacekeepers taken hostage by Bosnian Serb forces in the wake of the 25-26 May NATO airstrikes on Bosnian Serb targets, stressed that the new initiative is buttressed by a new European resolve to avoid being compromised and humiliated. "Military firmness must be accompanied by firmness on the diplomatic level," he was quoted by Reuters as saying. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] BOSNIAN SERBS STEP UP VIOLENCE.

    Reuters on 27 June also reported that Bosnian Serb forces launched several mortar attacks in and around Sarajevo the previous day, resulting in at least one death and eight people wounded. Two French peacekeepers were among the casualties. On 26 June, AFP reported that Bosnian Serb troops had fired rounds at a UN convoy using the Mount Igman route into Sarajevo. French peacekeepers reportedly fired warning shots in response to continuing Serb attacks. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] GERMANY POISED TO SEND TROOPS TO BOSNIA.

    The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and other leading German dailies report on 27 June on the cabinet decision to send some 1, 500 German troops and fighter planes as support for the international peacekeeping effort in Bosnia-Herzegovina. According to the accounts, the parliament is slated to vote on the cabinet's resolution on 30 June, and despite anticipated opposition from left-wing members, the plan is expected to pass. On 26 June the rump Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reported that news of Germany's expected contribution to peacekeeping is being greeted negatively in Belgrade, which has condemned the German initiative. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] OPPOSITION SAYS BULGARIA TURNS INTO POLICE STATE.

    Vasil Gotsev, deputy chairman of the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), on 26 June distributed a memorandum accusing the government of turning Bulgaria into a police state, Demokratsiya reported the following day. The memorandum was handed to deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and was signed by SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov and caucus leader Yordan Sokolov. The document focuses on recent amendments to the criminal law and the Code of Criminal Procedures, which allow wiretapping and "other forms of secret control of the citizens' private life." According to Duma, the memorandum also accuses the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) of stopping the transition to democracy and of subjugating the country's economy to economic groups close to the BSP. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] BULGARIAN SKINHEAD FINED FOR DESECRATING SOVIET GRAVES.

    A court in Ruse on 23 June found Anton Rachev, a local skinhead leader, guilty of disseminating fascist propaganda by inciting teenage followers to paint swastikas and Nazi slogans on Soviet military graves in the local cemetery in April, international agencies reported on the same day. Rachev was fined 25,000 leva ($380), while the teenagers were not tried because they are minors. On 10 June, a dormitory for ethnic Turkish students in Ruse was attacked, apparently in an attempt to stop the trial of Rachev. Rachev's prosecutor and local media had received letters threatening new attacks if he was convicted. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] DID THE ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS DRAW UP "DEATH LISTS" IN 1990?

    RilindjaDemokratike on 23 June carried a story that the ruling Communists drew up death lists of political opponents as late as 1990, a few months before the collapse of the old system. According to the report, up to 80,000 people rated as "dangerous elements" were to be executed without trial. The newspaper accused Secretary General of the Socialist Party Gramoz Ruci of having approved the plans. Ruci, who at that time was interior minister, did not comment on the accusations. Meanwhile, Albanian television reported that only a small portion of the files still exists, and that Ruci had ordered their destruction in early 1991. -- 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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