OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 174, 7 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [01] YELTSIN SAYS RUSSIA MAY SUPPORT BOSNIAN SERBS.

  • [02] NATO AIR STRIKES AROUND SARAJEVO CONTINUE.

  • [03] SERBS REFUSE TO WITHDRAW HEAVY GUNS.

  • [04] IS THERE A RIFT BETWEEN KARADZIC AND MLADIC?

  • [05] DIPLOMATIC UPDATE.

  • [06] BULGARIA, EU SET UP JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE.

  • [07] WILL GREECE COMPROMISE ON NAME OF MACEDONIA?

  • [08] CONTROVERSY AT ALBANIAN SUPREME COURT.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 174, Part I,II, 7 September 1995

    RUSSIA

    [01] YELTSIN SAYS RUSSIA MAY SUPPORT BOSNIAN SERBS.

    Responding to the Duma, President Yeltsin complained to visiting Spanish Prime Minster Felipe Gonzales, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and European Commission President Jacques Santer, that NATO had unilaterally appointed itself "judge and executioner" in the former Yugoslavia, Western agencies reported on 7 September. Yeltsin also charged NATO with employing a "double standard" by punishing the Bosnian Serbs for attacks while doing nothing in response to aggression by Croat and Muslim forces. He added, "it might come to the Russian side taking an adequate response," suggesting some form of aid to the Bosnian Serbs. Yeltsin also warned that if unilateral NATO action continues, Russia would have to "reconsider relations" with the alliance, and noted that Russia must be given a bigger role in ongoing discussions of a new pan-European security system, saying that otherwise, Europe might "return to two camps which are at war with one another." -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] NATO AIR STRIKES AROUND SARAJEVO CONTINUE.

    International agencies on 7 September reported that NATO jets continued the air strikes they had resumed the previous day. NATO targeted military installations around Sarajevo, including barracks at Lukavica and Butila. NATO commander for Southern Europe Admiral Leighton Smith said reports indicated "very successful results" but gave no details. The UN. Rapid Reaction Force joined in the attacks with artillery and fired rounds at a Serbian mortar that opened fire on traffic on the Mt. Igman road. NATO insists on the complete withdrawal of Serbian weapons from the 20 kilometer exclusion zone around Sarajevo, the reopening of the airport, free movement for the UN and aid workers, and an end to all attacks on the capital as well as three other "safe areas." More than 1,500 sorties have been flown since 30 August, when NATO planes began their raids. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] SERBS REFUSE TO WITHDRAW HEAVY GUNS.

    The Bosnian Serb Army is quoted by Reuters as saying that NATO's "unscrupulous and barbaric" air strikes have killed about 100 civilians in the past week and wounded hundreds more. Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb chief of staff General Manojlo Milutinovic talked of "minor losses" among his soldiers and "several" civilian casualties, BBC reported on 7 September. UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko said that Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic is in a "defiant mood" but that he hopes he will start complying with UN demands. Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic called the raids a "terrible bombardment" of a magnitude that "hasn't been seen since the Second World War." However, he proposed only reopening Sarajevo airport to UN and humanitarian flights. Karadzic told reporters that "we have withdrawn as much as we could. But we can't withdraw (all) what we possess [since we have] to protect ourselves." The UN. says the Bosnian Serbs have made no substantial withdrawals. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] IS THERE A RIFT BETWEEN KARADZIC AND MLADIC?

    Karadzic has denied thatthere is a rift between himself and Mladic, insisting that he is running the self-declared "Republika Srpska." Karadzic is quoted as saying "I am in control" after being absent since 1 September, Reuters reported on 7 September. The Bosnian Serb leadership will meet in Pale the same day to discuss its strategy, the BBC reported. Meanwhile, the search continued for two French pilots shot down in the first round of the air strikes. NATO questioned Bosnian Serb allegations that the pilots were captured. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] DIPLOMATIC UPDATE.

    Representatives of the Conference of Islamic States and the Contact Group will meet in Paris on 7 September, international agencies reported. U.S. special envoy Robert Holbrooke will explain his peace proposal to the diplomats. The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia, and the former Yugoslavia are preparing to meet in Geneva the following day for preliminary peace talks. Holbrooke, continuing his shuttle mission, briefed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 6 September. He denied that Washington was deliberately using air power to bomb the Bosnian Serbs into taking their place at the negotiating table. "This has nothing to do with peace negotiations. It is related to the UN's attempt to enforce its mandate. . . . If it affects the negotiations, that's not its intent," Reuters reported him as saying on 6 September. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] BULGARIA, EU SET UP JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE.

    Bulgaria and the European Union on 6 September set up a joint parliamentary commission designed to forge closer ties on economic and political issues, Reuters reported the same day. The committee held its first session in Sofia that day, marking the official beginning of Bulgaria's EU associate membership, which came into effect on 1 February 1995. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski said his country will draw up a national strategy for its integration into the EU, while parliament chairman Blagovest Sendov said EU associate membership is a "fundamental and irreversible priority of the country in line with its national interests." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] WILL GREECE COMPROMISE ON NAME OF MACEDONIA?

    Greek Foreign MinisterKarolos Papoulias on 6 September hinted for the first time that Greece may compromise on the name of its northern neighbor Macedonia, AFP reported the same day. Asked if he were ready to discuss names including the word "Macedonia," Papoulias said "We have . . . some difficult negotiations in front of us and I cannot prejudge the results." He said the Greek side continues to be against the use of the name Macedonia but talks were continuing. Meanwhile, the business community in the northern Greek town of Thessaloniki welcomed the latest developments "with relief and satisfaction." Iordanis Adamidis of the Union of Greek Industrialists put the annual losses caused by Greece's economic blockade of Macedonia at $90 million. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] CONTROVERSY AT ALBANIAN SUPREME COURT.

    Chief judge Zef Brozi has challenged Justice Minister Hektor Frasheri, who fired three Supreme Court judges, arguing they were former agents of the communist-era secret police. The three judges deny the charges; but on 5 September, police surrounded the court, forcibly removed one judge, and prevented two others from entering. Brozi said he sought to intervene and was himself pushed away by the police. He argued that the justice minister cannot fire employees of the Supreme Court, international agencies and Koha Jone reported on 6 and 7 September. -- 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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