OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 160, 17 August 1995
CONTENTS
[01] RUSSIAFOREIGN MINISTRY CALLS FOR COORDINATION OF PEACE EFFORTS.
[02] CROATS PRESS TOWARD DRVAR.
[03] ARE THE CROATS ABOUT TO END THE THREAT TO DUBROVNIK?
[04] SERBS TREAT CROAT AND MUSLIM EXPELEES "WORSE THAN CATTLE."
[05] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
[06] MAYOR OF SUBOTICA PROTESTS ETHNIC CLEANSING.
[07] WHY THE CHANGE IN THE RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTRY?
[08] MONTENEGRIN UPDATE.
[09] REFUGEES CONTINUE TO ARRIVE IN KOSOVO.
[10] ROMANIA CURBS YUGOSLAV FLIGHTS.
[11] UNEMPLOYMENT RISES IN BULGARIA.
[12] NEW ALBANIAN INDUSTRY MINISTER APPOINTED.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 160, Part I,II, 17 August 1995
[01] RUSSIAFOREIGN MINISTRY CALLS FOR COORDINATION OF PEACE EFFORTS.
Alexander
Gorelik, head of the International Organizations Department of the
Russian Foreign Ministry, told Interfax on 16 August that Russia could
reach consensus with the U.S. on a single peace plan for former
Yugoslavia. Gorelik said recent Russian and U.S. initiatives have much
in common, although he noted that Russia opposed parts of the American
proposal that reportedly call for the use of military force against any
of the warring parties that refuse to accept a peace plan. Gorelik's
comments represented a step back from President Yeltsin's failed bid
last week to mediate a resolution of the Yugoslav conflict unilaterally.
Also on 16 August, a convoy of 49 trucks loaded with 150 tons of
humanitarian aid left the Moscow suburb of Noginsk, Russian and Western
agencies reported. The convoy is the second of three planned shipments
of Russian aid for Croatian Serb refugees. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[02] CROATS PRESS TOWARD DRVAR.
Bosnian Croat forces (HVO) "stand before
Drvar," Vecernji list wrote on 17 August. The apparent aim of the drive
is to link up with the Bosnian government's Fifth Corps in Bihac and
join up with HVO and government pincer movements from the north and
south, all of which are moving in the general direction of Banja Luka.
The International Herald Tribune said that military-aged men in Banja
Luka are wearing uniforms in hopes of not being pressganged into the
army, and that "fear and mistrust grip every quarter of the city." As to
Dvar, some Croatian reports that the town has fallen have not been
confirmed. AFP quoted Bosnian Serb sources to the effect that "the Serb
defense lines are holding," but also that the 4,000 civilians there are
being evacuated. News agencies cited Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic as saying that "the town must be defended at any cost." --
Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[03] ARE THE CROATS ABOUT TO END THE THREAT TO DUBROVNIK?
Regular Croatiantroops (HV) are massing around Dubrovnik for what appears to be a thrust
into eastern Herzegovina and the Serb stronghold of Trebinje. The
immediate purpose is to remove the threat to the medieval city and its
environs posed by Serbian artillery in the surrounding heights. Over the
weekend the Serbs gave the area its worst bombardment since 1991,
although Dubrovnik itself apparently was not hit, the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on 17 August. Forest and brush fires are
burning as a result of the shelling. UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi
said that "there seem to be movements of Croatian troops in that
direction so we may expect some intensification of fighting in the
Dubrovnik area." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[04] SERBS TREAT CROAT AND MUSLIM EXPELEES "WORSE THAN CATTLE."
JacquesMilano, the head of the Dutch branch of Medecins sans Frontieres,
blasted the Serb treatment of Croats and Muslims being deported from
Banja Luka to Croatia. "The transport of cattle is done better than
this," Reuters quoted him as saying on 16 August. "We urgently appeal to
the local authorities that if they are to indulge in 'ethnic cleansing',
which we strongly disagree with, at least they do it with a little
dignity." Elsewhere, the International Herald Tribune said on 17 August
that the UN is concerned about the fate of around 20,000 Muslim refugees
loyal to Bihac-area kingpin Fikret Abdic. They have been trapped in
Croatia for about a week and the UN does not have access to them. The UN
fears that they will be sent back to Bihac, which is under Bosnian
government control, against their will. Nasa Borba wrote that similar
concern surrounds the fate of a column of 10,000 Krajina Serb refugees
whose situation remains unknown. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[05] BOSNIAN UPDATE.
International media on 17 August reported much confusion
over the secret peace plan being promoted by U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State Richard Holbrooke in the former Yugoslavia. Bosnian Foreign
Minister Muhamed Sacirbey denied earlier accounts that the Muslims would
have to give up Gorazde under the plan, but Bosnia's ambassador to
Britain nonetheless called the project "legalizing Serbian crimes." The
VOA said that President Bill Clinton wants a major diplomatic
breakthrough lest the conflict spread elsewhere in the Balkans, although
it is not clear just where he thinks that would be and how such a
conflict would arise. Many remain suspicious of the diplomatic
initiatives, and Vecernji list ran the headline: "the spirit of Yalta
[hangs] over Bosnia." Meanwhile on the ground, the Rapid Reaction Force
on Mt. Igman does not inspire much confidence in the UN's own Belgian
and Dutch military drivers, who refuse to use the road under the present
circumstances, AFP reported. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[06] MAYOR OF SUBOTICA PROTESTS ETHNIC CLEANSING.
Nasa Borba on 16 August
reported on an open letter by Mayor Jozsef Kassa to Serbian Prime
Minister Mirko Marjanovic to protest forced changes in the local
demographic structure since 1990. He noted that 2,000 new settlers had
arrived before 1995 and a further 10,000 have come this year. Some
10,000 Hungarians and Croats have left in the meantime and the entire
ethnic map of northern Backa is being changed. Another article in the
same paper said that the new refugees are "occupying the empty homes of
Hungarians." Meanwhile in Montenegro, the head of the People's Party,
Novak Kilibarda, said that the Krajina refugees should be sent to Kosovo
or to Vojvodina. The latter area has a Serbian majority but before the
Serbian authorities launched ethnic cleansing it had strong minorities
of Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, and other Central Europeans as a result
of Habsburg colonizing policies when the area was part of the Kingdom of
Hungary. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
[07] WHY THE CHANGE IN THE RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTRY?
BETA reported on16 August on Belgrade-watchers' interpretations of Vladislav Jovanovic's
sudden removal as foreign minister the previous day. According to one
line of thought, Jovanovic had to be removed because of his "hardline"
position on Krajina. While Jovanovic is a staunch ally of Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic, the argument goes, his political leanings
may entice other malcontents within Milosevic's Socialist Party of
Serbia to manipulate Jovanovic into becoming the foil for their
opposition to Milosevic's handling of developments in Krajina. According
to another interpretation, Jovanovic's removal is mere coincidence, and
facilitated by circumstances. Jovanovic's replacement, Milan
Milutinovic, was allegedly considered for the job at least two years
ago, but could not be moved into the post, largely because of opposition
by then federal President Dobrica Cosic. BETA also comments that
Milosevic and Milutinovic are long-time friends. -- Stan Markotich,
OMRI, Inc.
[08] MONTENEGRIN UPDATE.
Montena-fax reported on 16 August that the number of
Krajina refugees in the republic has climbed to at least 700. The agency
also reports that ultranationalist, pro-Serbia politicians and groups in
the republic continue their public condemnations of rump Yugoslavia's
federal and republican governments for their refusal to defend alleged
Serbian national interests in Krajina. On 16 August the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS) in Montenegro reiterated its now familiar charge that
Krajina would still be under Serbian control were it not for "the
cowardly behavior of the regimes in Belgrade and Podgorica." -- Stan
Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
[09] REFUGEES CONTINUE TO ARRIVE IN KOSOVO.
About 2,000 refugees from Krajina
have so far arrived in Kosovo and another 1,300 are expected on 17
August, including the majority of the 800 who refused for two days to go
to the region (see OMRI Daily Digest 16 August 1995). Serbian officials
estimate that about 5,000 hectares are needed to accommodate altogether
10,000 refugees in Kosovo. In one case, a Serbian refugee family
reportedly occupied an Albanian house, but no other incidents have been
reported. Meanwhile, Kosovar shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova
repeated charges that Serbia plans to colonize Kosovo with refugees
against their will. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
[10] ROMANIA CURBS YUGOSLAV FLIGHTS.
Romania has limited Yugoslav state
airlines (JAT) flights following accusations Belgrade was using the
trips to break UN sanctions against it, Reuters reported on 16 August.
According to a Timisoara airport official, Romania's Transport Ministry
has decided that JAT will operate only one flight a day from Belgrade to
Bucharest, instead of two. The move followed an official inquiry into
media reports that Romania was allowing Yugoslav passenger jets to
overtank copiously during stopovers at Timisoara airport. The rump
Yugoslav federation is under a fuel embargo as part of a UN economic
sanctions package. Also on 16 August, a spokesman for the Romanian
Foreign Ministry said that his country would "actively support any
realistic proposal or action aimed at reactivating the peace process" in
the region. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.
[11] UNEMPLOYMENT RISES IN BULGARIA.
Ilcho Dimitrov, director of the National
Employment Service and deputy social minister, on 16 August said that
unemployment increased in July for the first time in 1995, Bulgarian
media reported the same day. Some 415,438 people were registered with
the service, markedly less than the 499,176 registered at the beginning
of the year. The reports do not give figures for June. Dimitrov
attributed the rise to the fact that many young people finished their
education recently, and have not yet found a job. The number of people
under 30 who are entitled to social benefits was given as 22,112. In
other news, the National Statistical Institute announced that industrial
production in July was 9% higher than the same month last year. For the
first seven months of 1995, the growth rate was 2% compared to 1994. --
Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
[12] NEW ALBANIAN INDUSTRY MINISTER APPOINTED.
President Sali Berisha has
appointed Suzana Panariti as the new minister for industry, transport
and trade. Panariti replaces Albert Brojka, who was elected as the head
of the Tirana branch of the Democratic Party on 9 August. Panariti
previously worked as Brojka's deputy and is not a member of any
political party. -- Fabian Schmidt, 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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