OMRI Daily DIgest I, II, No. 138, 18 July 1995
CONTENTS
[01] KOZYREV ON BOSNIA.
[02] WHERE ARE THE MISSING 15-20,000 MUSLIMS?
[03] SERBS CLOSE IN ON ZEPA.
[04] BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS UN MUST GO.
[05] WASHINGTON, LONDON BLOCK PARIS'S PLAN TO HALT SERBS.
[06] FIGHTING CONTINUES AROUND OSIJEK.
[07] ARKAN DENIES POLITICKING IN KRAJINA.
[08] LARGEST TRIAL EVER ENDS IN KOSOVO.
[09] MONTENEGRIN WEEKLY'S ADS CENSORED.
[10] BULGARIA, TUNISIA SIGN TRADE AGREEMENT.
[11] RUSSIAN ARMS FOR BULGARIAN PROPERTY?
[12] U.S.-ALBANIAN MILITARY EXERCISES.
[13] BOSNIAN SERB HEALTH MINISTER IN GREECE.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 138, Part I, 18 July 1995
[01] KOZYREV ON BOSNIA.
Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev said on 17
July that Russia continues to support a political solution to the
Bosnian conflict, saying that the Contact Group, the UN Security
Council, and other international actors "are far from having exhausted
their diplomatic potential in Bosnia," Russian and Western agencies
reported. Kozyrev criticized French suggestions that in the wake of
recent Bosnian Serb actions, UN peacekeepers must be dramatically
reinforced or else withdrawn altogether. He stressed the Russian
preference for an alternative policy between those two extremes, and
repeated Russian concerns about the possibility of a military escalation
of the conflict. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 138, Part II, 18 July 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[02] WHERE ARE THE MISSING 15-20,000 MUSLIMS?
The Guardian on 18 July and AFPthe previous day say that some 15-20,000 Muslims from Srebrenica remain
missing. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said the Serbs
should clarify the fate of the refugees, most of whom are civilian
males. She noted that from the onset, Serbian war crimes have been
committed systematically as part of a definite strategy. Reuters on 18
July reported that some 4,000 Bosnian government soldiers out of a group
of 10,000 survived a Serbian ambush, mine fields, and a 12-hour battle
to complete a six-day trek across Serbian territory to reach Tuzla.
Refugees described hysteria and suicides among people who feared falling
into Serbian hands. But Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's adviser,
Jovan Zametica, said that "allegations of torture, murder, rape, and
deportation of Muslim civilians are made repeatedly without any
independent verification. The truth is that none of these things have
happened." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[03] SERBS CLOSE IN ON ZEPA.
Bosnian Serb forces have moved to within about 1
kilometer from the center of the "safe area" at Zepa and launched a
major mortar attack at mid-morning on 18 July. Nasa Borba said that the
Serbs threaten to attack Ukrainian peacekeepers unless NATO stops its
overflights. The Ukrainians, Reuters added, are making their weapons
inoperative to prevent the Bosnian government soldiers from using them
against the Serbs. Government troops last weekend took some of the
peacekeepers' weapons in order to defend the UN-declared "safe area"
themselves. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[04] BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS UN MUST GO.
The VOA on 18 July quotes
Mohamed Sacirbey as saying that the UN's role has come to an end in his
embattled republic and that it should go voluntarily or be shown the
door. He did not explicitly rule out the UN's remaining under a changed
mandate, however. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic meanwhile offered
Bosnian Serbs direct talks on evacuating the sick and wounded from Zepa.
Momcilo Krajisnik, the number three man in Karadzic's team, said "we
will answer this in an official way." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[05] WASHINGTON, LONDON BLOCK PARIS'S PLAN TO HALT SERBS.
A meeting of the
international Contact Group's foreign and defense ministers will take
place on 21 July in London, following the failure of the British,
French, and U.S. military leaders to work out a joint strategy for
Bosnia. The International Herald Tribune on 18 July wrote that France
wants "a bold military initiative" to stop the Serbs from taking Gorazde
and to open a supply road to Sarajevo but that Britain and the U.S. are
opposed. AFP noted that the White House fears involvement on the ground
but admits it will have to provide some "non-combat" ground forces if
U.S. helicopters are used to ferry in British and French units.
Washington is also against continuing the cumbersome joint UN-NATO
command system, while France wants it kept since Paris does not belong
to NATO's command structure. France, meanwhile, has accused the Bosnian
government of "sabotaging" the Rapid Reaction Force by attaching too
many conditions to its deployment. (See related item in Russian
section.) -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[06] FIGHTING CONTINUES AROUND OSIJEK.
Serbian forces over the weekend
attacked Croatian troops and UN peacekeepers near Osijek, in eastern
Slavonia, killing two. Nasa Borba and Croatian media on 18 July reported
that the combat is continuing. Osijek is not far from Serbian-held
Slavonian territory that Belgrade is believed to want to keep at any
cost because of its oil and agriculture. * Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[07] ARKAN DENIES POLITICKING IN KRAJINA.
Zeljko Raznatovic, alias Arkan, the
internationally wanted war criminal and leader of the notorious
paramilitary Tigers, has denied allegations in Nasa Borba on 18 July
that his fighters are in Serb-occupied Croatia at the behest of Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic. In response to suggestions that his forces
have intervened in the Republic of Serbian Krajina's political affairs,
Arkan observed: "We are no political police, [and] we are here
voluntarily and our mission is to defend the Serbian people from
genocide . . . not to mix in politics." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[08] LARGEST TRIAL EVER ENDS IN KOSOVO.
The trial of 72 ethnic Albanian
former policemen ended in Kosovo on 17 July with the sentencing of 69
defendants to between one and eight years in prison, Kosova Daily Report
said the same day. The policemen were accused of forming an "Interior
Ministry of the Republic of Kosovo" as part of an effort to separate the
southern Serbian region from rump Yugoslavia. The trial brings the
number of former policemen sentenced on the same charge to 101. The
defendants denied the charges, saying they formed an independent police
union to protect their rights after 3,500 policemen were fired in 1991.
Some 44 ethnic Albanian policemen are still on trial in Prizren, while
32 have been sentenced to prison terms in Pec and Gnjilan. -- Fabian
Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[09] MONTENEGRIN WEEKLY'S ADS CENSORED.
Zoran Jocovic, director-general of
Radio and TV Montenegro, has banned the broadcasting of advertisements
by the independent Montenegrin weekly Monitor, Montena-fax reported on
14 July. Jocovic reportedly defended the decision on the grounds that
the advertisement contains objectionable material. Monitor has suggested
that the decision was motivated by political considerations and that
Jocovic wants to improve his own political fortunes. This latest move
may be a renewed attempt to put the weekly out of commission. The
government has already jailed several Monitor journalists (see OMRI
Daily Digest, 16 May 1995). -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[10] BULGARIA, TUNISIA SIGN TRADE AGREEMENT.
Bulgaria and Tunisia on 15 July
signed a trade accord, AFP reported the same day. Tunisian Foreign
Minister Habib ben Yahia, the first Arab foreign minister to visit Sofia
since 1990, met with Prime Minister Zhan Videnov and Trade Minister
Kiril Tsochev to discuss boosting bilateral trade, which fell from an
estimated $45 million in 1990 to $10.4 million in 1994 but, according to
Tsochev, increased in the first half of 1995. Cultural, scientific, and
technical accords were also signed, as well as an agreement between the
two countries' foreign ministries. Ben Yahia requested that Bulgarian
engineers and doctors go to work in his country. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI,
Inc.
[11] RUSSIAN ARMS FOR BULGARIAN PROPERTY?
Russia is reported to have offeredBulgaria 360 T-72 tanks and 12 MiG-29 jet fighters in return for
Bulgarian bonds exchangeable for property, according to 24 Chassa on 17
July. The paper said MiG-MAPO--the Moscow company that builds the MiG-
29--wants to acquire hotels on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast and is
offering planes worth $500 million. The value of the tanks is still
being negotiated. Russia last month agreed to give Bulgaria 100 T-72
tanks and other military equipment to avoid having to destroy them to
comply with the European conventional arms treaty. -- Doug Clarke, OMRI,
Inc.
[12] U.S.-ALBANIAN MILITARY EXERCISES.
As part of the U.S.-Albanian military
exercises that will continue until 8 September, a coastal exercise
codenamed Sarex 95-2 began on 18 July, Koha Jone reported the same day.
Albanian and U.S. military officials claim that the maneuvers have a
humanitarian character only. Koha Jone, however, noted that the
maneuvers may be regarded as practice for stationing US troops in Bosnia
and for possible evacuations from the area. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI,
Inc.
[13] BOSNIAN SERB HEALTH MINISTER IN GREECE.
Dragan Kalinic has arrived in
Athens to appeal for food and medical resources, AFP reported on 17
July. He said that more than 300 doctors have left hospitals on Bosnian
Serb territory and that fuel and food are increasingly rare. In an
interview with the Greek daily Elevtheropypia, Kalinic said he favored
"a fair division of the territory and the population [in Bosnia] because
there is no longer any possibility of Muslims, Croats, and Serbs living
together." With regard to the fall of Srebrenica, he said that the
enclaves "were safe areas only on paper" and that the "majority of
attacks against Serbs took place from them." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI,
Inc.
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