OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 159, 16 August 1995
CONTENTS
[01] FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES U.S. PEACE PROPOSAL.
[02] KARADZIC CALLS EXPULSIONS FAMILY REUNIFICATION.
[03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS U.S. PARTITION PLAN . . .
[04] . . . BUT THE SERBS LIKE IT.
[05] CROATIA GIVES WARNING ON DUBROVNIK.
[06] MILOSEVIC ORCHESTRATES REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.
[07] KRAJINA REFUGEES REFUSE TO GO TO KOSOVO.
[08] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF BROADENING CONFLICT . . .
[09] . . . AND ROMANIAN RULING PARTY ON SITUATION.
[10] TWO SPY PLANES FAIL TO RETURN FROM BOSNIA TO ALBANIA.
[11] NEW RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 159, Part I,II, 16 August 1995
RUSSIA
[01] FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES U.S. PEACE PROPOSAL.
Russia welcomes recent
U.S. efforts to promote a political settlement in the former Yugoslavia,
but U.S. and Russian approaches to a resolution of the conflict "do not
correspond in all respects," Mikhail Demurin, a spokesman for the
Russian Foreign Ministry, told ITAR-TASS on 15 August. Russia considers
the "military aspects" of the latest U.S. proposals, which Russian
Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev recently discussed with U.S. National
Security Adviser Anthony Lake, as "unacceptable," Demurin noted. He also
reiterated Moscow's view that lifting UN sanctions against rump
Yugoslavia would be an important step towards resolving the conflict, a
view the U.S. does not share. The same day, President Boris Yeltsin sent
a letter to Arab leaders in which he denied that race or religion play a
role in Russian policy on the Yugoslav conflict. Arab nations have
frequently expressed concern that Russia favors the Orthodox Serbs in
their conflict with the Bosnian Muslims. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[02] KARADZIC CALLS EXPULSIONS FAMILY REUNIFICATION.
The International Herald
Tribune on 16 August said that 1,000 Bosnian Croat refugees arrived in
Davor from Banja Luka on 14 August as did 1,200 on the 15th, while
similar numbers are expected in coming days. A UN spokesman noted that
the Bosnian Serb "authorities are putting out the word to all village
heads to tell all minorities in their areas to assemble and prepare to
leave." AFP quoted a spokeswoman for Medecins sans Frontieres as calling
it "a perfect working system to get all those people out. It's scary."
In contrast to the Krajina Serb refugees, who left in well-loaded
columns of vehicles, the Croats can take only what they can carry and
must pay at least DM 100 as a fee. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic
said that "the world is trying now to move Muslims and Croats [out of
Banja Luka]. I will not cause columns of refugees- But if somebody wants
to leave and rejoin one's family, that is one's right." Bosnian Prime
Minister Haris Silajdzic said he feared that the military-age men being
detained will wind up in "mass killings and mass graves." -- Patrick
Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS U.S. PARTITION PLAN . . . U.S.
Undersecretary
of State Richard Holbrooke continues to travel around the former
Yugoslavia with what a State Department spokesman called "fresh ideas."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 16 August wrote that Holbrooke's
package is a partition plan despite all assurances to the contrary, and
the Wall Street Journal added that details are deliberately being kept
vague and out of the public eye so that Washington can distance itself
from the project if it proves unworkable. The International Herald
Tribune said that "fog" is preventing Holbrooke from going to Sarajevo
for two or three days. Bosnia's ambassador to Switzerland said that the
plan "is only to buy time for the Serbs. We will never trade with our
country." The project reportedly would require the government to swap
Gorazde for land around Sarajevo. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[04] . . . BUT THE SERBS LIKE IT.
The VOA on 16 August said that Bosnian Serb
leaders are pleased with the plan sponsored by Holbrooke, who was known
last January as "the architect" of the short-lived policy of directly
negotiating with Pale despite a UN ban on such contacts. Bosnian Serb
"Foreign Minister" Aleksa Buha told news agencies that if the details of
the plan that he has read in the press are true, "then we can look to
the future with greater confidence." Senior Bosnian Serb officials are
said to be in Geneva for the first time in about a year. Parliament
speaker Momcilo Krajisnik and Karadzic spokesman Jovan Zametica are
reportedly holding talks with mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg and Carl
Bildt. Karadzic himself wants a new international conference, saying
that "the time is ripe for a conference which would bring a solution."
SRNA also quoted him as saying that he expects "important political
initiatives" by the end of August. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[05] CROATIA GIVES WARNING ON DUBROVNIK.
The UN's "rapid reaction force" is
having problems getting the Bosnian government and the Croats to agree
to its deployment. Both suspect that the British and the French favor
the Serbs and have come to prevent the Croat-Muslim federation from
consolidating itself politically and from winning on the battlefield. A
British spokesman with the 24th Air Mobile Brigade stuck on the coast
noted that things are "not moving very swiftly." Meanwhile, Croatia's
ambassador to the UN told Vjesnik on 16 August that Croatia will give a
firm response if the Serbs continue shelling the Dubrovnik area from the
nearby heights. Reuters added that army commander General Zvonimir
Cervenko warned that, if the Serbs do not desist, "we shall very soon
take measures to make them give up such actions." UN sources said that
Croatian troops have been moving in the area, and that the UN is
watching to see if a brigade on standby in Split starts moving south. --
Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[06] MILOSEVIC ORCHESTRATES REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.
Reuters on 15 August
carried a report explaining that police authorities in Belgrade have
formed a tight cordon around the capital in order to keep most of the
flood of Krajina refugees from entering the city. The report suggests
that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has identified the refugees as
a potential source of opposition to his regime, and is acting therefore
"to disperse them [under police escort and throughout towns and
villages] as quickly as possible." One Western diplomatic source is
quoted as saying the "refugees will move the political agenda back to
the right, back towards the nationalist rhetoric Milosevic has been
trying to dump . . . That's why they cannot be allowed to stay together
in large numbers." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[07] KRAJINA REFUGEES REFUSE TO GO TO KOSOVO.
Some 800 refugees from Krajina
have refused to board trains that would take them to Kosovo for two
days, AFP and Reuters quote Radio B 92 as reporting on 15 August. Police
are preventing the people from leaving the train station in Kusadak near
Smederevska Palanka, south east of Belgrade, and are supplying the
refugees only with water. Authorities reportedly also hindered local
people from helping the refugees, or letting them use the telephone.
Despite the strong attachment Serbian nationalists claim for Kosovo,
only a few Serbs are willing to live in the impoverished region that has
an Albanian majority. According to the Red Cross, only 1,180 out of
130,000 refugees who have crossed the border into Serbia since last week
have reached Kosovo. Serbian authorities plan to settle 6,000 refugees
in Kosovo immediately and another 10,000 subsequently. -- Fabian
Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[08] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF BROADENING CONFLICT . . .
In a letter
sent to the UN Security Council and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Contact Group, Albanian Foreign
Minister Alfred Serreqi called on the organizations to take measures to
prevent the extension of the war into the south of the Balkans. Serreqi
said that Belgrade plans to colonize Kosovo with refugees and to indulge
in more "ethnic cleansing". Serreqi warned that Kosovo could become
"another Bosnia" and added that Albania will not stand passively on the
sidelines if the conflict in former Yugoslavia extends to the province,
Reuters reported on 15 August. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[09] . . . AND ROMANIAN RULING PARTY ON SITUATION.
In a communique broadcast
by Radio Bucharest on 15 August, the ruling Party of Social Democracy in
Romania (PDSR) deplored the loss of human lives and the "dramatic fate"
of the Krajina refugees. The PDSR expressed concern over a possible
spill over of the conflict in former Yugoslavia as a consequence of the
Croatian offensive and the resumption of armed actions in Bosnia. The
party called on all sides involved to show restraint and return to the
negotiating table in order to find a solution to the conflict. -- Dan
Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.
[10] TWO SPY PLANES FAIL TO RETURN FROM BOSNIA TO ALBANIA.
Two unmanned
Predator spy planes deployed to monitor troop movements in Bosnia have
not returned to their base in Gjader in northern Albania. According to a
statement from the Pentagon, one plane crashed due to a motor defect and
there is no confirmation whether the other was shot down or had a
technical failure. The US had sent four Predator planes to Albania to
take video pictures of Bosnia in support of NATO operations. The value
of one plane is about $2 million. BETA carried the story on 15 August.
-- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[11] NEW RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED.
Tanjug on 15 August reported
that rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic has been
replaced by Milan Milutinovic. Belgrade's ambassador to Greece,
Milutinovic is reportedly a close personal friend of Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic. No official explanation has been offered for the
change. Meanwhile, Jovanovic, who has also been a close political
confidant of the Serbian president, is expected to be named as
ambassador to the UN by federal President Zoran Lilic. -- Stan
Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to [email protected]
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