OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 129, 5 July 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] BOSNIAN SERBS THREATEN TO TAKE MORE HOSTAGES.

  • [02] SERBS FIRE ON PEACEKEEPERS FOR THIRD DAY.

  • [03] MILOSEVIC RUNS SERBIAN WAR MACHINE.

  • [04] CROATIA CLAIMS IT WILL NOT LAUNCH NEW ATTACKS.

  • [05] SERBIAN COURT REDUCES GENERAL'S SENTENCE.

  • [06] KOSOVAR ACTIVIST DIES AFTER POLICE TORTURE.

  • [07] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN BULGARIA.

  • [08] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS ILIR HOXHA'S SENTENCE.

  • [09] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 129, Part II, 5 July 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] BOSNIAN SERBS THREATEN TO TAKE MORE HOSTAGES.

    International media on 5 July reported that U.S. military personnel to support UN operations in Bosnia have begun arriving in Split. The International Herald Tribune wrote on 1 July, however, that the proposed Rapid Reaction Force may be little more than a cover for the withdrawal of all UN forces. One UN official said that "if we don't have the Serbs' strategic consent, we don't try" to open land corridors. The article notes that UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi is reluctant to do anything that "might anger the Bosnian Serbs," but AFP on 3 July suggests that the Serbs are not reciprocating. Their vice president told a Greek daily that "we have shown much patience [toward peacekeepers] whom we consider the aggressors. We will bother them again if necessary without hesitating." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] SERBS FIRE ON PEACEKEEPERS FOR THIRD DAY.

    Bosnian Serb forces on 4 July again shelled French peacekeepers using the precarious Mt. Igman supply route into Sarajevo. The BBC added that the French returned the fire. RFE/RL noted that the food situation in the besieged capital is critical, and Vjesnik writes that "Sarajevo is without food." Meanwhile, Bosnian Croat authorities confirmed that they will not allow British and French contingents slated for the new UN force to pass until its mission is clarified. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] MILOSEVIC RUNS SERBIAN WAR MACHINE.

    The International Herald Tribune on 4 July argued that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is not only no peacemaker but has actually tightened his grip on Serbian forces throughout Croatia and Bosnia. His claim to have cut off supplies to Bosnian Serbs is "a sham" since the goods are delivered via Krajina. Milosevic has shipped draft-age refugees back from Serbia to Bosnia and Krajina and denied draft-age young men from those areas access to Serbia. Pay records found by the Croats in western Slavonia two months ago show that Belgrade paid the salaries of at least 300 officers there, and the new Krajina commander appointed later in May was sent from Belgrade on Milosevic's orders. Moreover, the method the Serbs used in downing a U.S. F-16 on 2 June showed that all Serbian air defense systems are increasingly integrated. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] CROATIA CLAIMS IT WILL NOT LAUNCH NEW ATTACKS.

    Prime Minister Nikica Valentic said Operation Blitz on 1-2 May was a limited action and that the Croatian army will launch no fresh strikes against the Serbs, although it could easily do so. He tried to reassure the economically vital tourist industry that visitors need not fear being caught in a war zone, adding that he and his family will spend their vacation in Dubrovnik, Novi list reported on 1 July. Some opposition parties earlier demanded that the minister for tourism be sacked for saying that this year's picture is rosy. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] SERBIAN COURT REDUCES GENERAL'S SENTENCE.

    Nasa Borba on 4 July reported that the rump Yugoslavia's highest military court has reduced Maj. Gen. Vlado Trifunovic's jail term. Trifunovic was first sentenced in 1992 for allegedly undermining national security by surrendering weapons and refusing to fight Croatian forces during the war between Croatia and the Belgrade-backed Croatian Serbs. Trifunovic's original 11-year sentence was cut to seven years. Two of four fellow officers who appeared with Trifunovic in court also had their sentences reduced. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] KOSOVAR ACTIVIST DIES AFTER POLICE TORTURE.

    Shefki Latifi, a human rights activist from Kosovo, has died after being tortured by police, AFP reported on 4 July. According to the Kosovar Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Latifi was arrested in Podujevo on 4 July and "brutally beaten" at a police station. He died a few hours later at his home. Latifi is reported to be the 10th victim of Serbian police violence since the beginning of this year. Police harassment of ethnic Albanians in Podujevo has increased since the ethnic Albanian police officer Bejtush Beka was killed there in June. The circumstances of Beka's killing remain unclear. Freelance journalist Ramadan Mucolli claims he was arrested and tortured by police because of his report for Albanian Television about the Beka's death. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN BULGARIA.

    Suleyman Demirel arrived in Bulgaria on 4 July for an official three-day state visit, accompanied by a large contingent of business leaders and state officials, international media reported. He stressed that relations between Turkey and Bulgaria, strained severely after Sofia's efforts in the 1980s to forcibly Bulgarize its estimated 800,000-strong Turkish minority, were now cordial and improving. Demirel discussed, among other things, regional security issues and bilateral relations with Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev. "Turkey will back Bulgaria's candidacy for [membership] in NATO," Demirel was quoted as saying by BTA. The Turkish leader is also slated to meet with Bulgarian Premier Zhan Videnov and to address the Bulgarian parliament. -- Stan Markotich and Lowell Bezanis, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] ALBANIAN APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS ILIR HOXHA'S SENTENCE.

    The Albanian Appeals Court on 3 July upheld a one-year prison sentence handed down to Ilir Hoxha, Reuters reported. Hoxha, son of communist dictator Enver Hoxha, was sentenced on 8 June after being found guilty of "inciting national hatred by endangering public peace" and calling for vengeance and hatred against parts of the population" in an interview with Modeste in April (see OMRI Daily Digest, 9 June 1995). -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

    Gerassimos Arsenis, visiting Tirana from 3-4 July, met with his counterpart, Safet Zhulali, President Sali Berisha, and Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi, AFP reported. They discussed further military and political cooperation and signed a cooperation program on closer military contacts, including joint military exercises and support for Albania's military health service and arms industry. Arsenis said the talks had put an end to a difficult, tense year over the status of ethnic Greeks in Albania and Albanian immigrants working in Greece. He added that Greece was willing to help Albania seek integration into EU structures. -- 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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