OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 176, 11 September 1995
CONTENTS
[01] YELTSIN DENOUNCES NATO.
[02] DUMA PASSES RESOLUTION ON YUGOSLAV CONFLICT.
[03] NATO HITS SERBS WITH CRUISE MISSILES.
[04] "BOSNIAN ALCHEMY."
[05] SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY?
[06] CROATIA REMAINS FIRM ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[07] BULGARIAN POLITICAL ROUNDUP.
[08] GREECE, RUSSIA ON BOSNIA.
[09] GREEK-MACEDONIAN UPDATE.
[10] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN ALBANIA.
[11] FORMER LEADER OF ALBANIAN YOUTH FORUM RELEASED FROM PRISON.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 176, Part I,II, 11 September 1995
RUSSIA
[01] YELTSIN DENOUNCES NATO.
On the eve of a special session of the Duma to
discuss the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, President Boris Yeltsin
lashed out at NATO but also criticized Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev,
international media reported on 8 August. Calling NATO's airstrikes on
Bosnian Serb positions "unacceptable," Yeltsin said Russia might send
assistance other than humanitarian aid to Serbia if the airstrikes
continued, and he renewed his call for an international conference on
the Yugoslav conflict in Moscow in October. The president reiterated
Russian opposition to NATO's expansion to the "borders of Russia," which
he said would "light the fires of war all over Europe." By its actions
in Bosnia, he said, NATO "showed what it is capable of." Anticipating
criticism of Kozyrev, Yeltsin noted his "dissatisfaction," with the
ministry, saying that if its work did not improve, he would draw "the
appropriate conclusions." -- Scott Parrish
[02] DUMA PASSES RESOLUTION ON YUGOSLAV CONFLICT.
At its special session on 9
September, the State Duma criticized Yeltsin, Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev, and NATO, Russian and Western agencies reported. After a heated
debate, during which extreme proposals to dispatch troops to Serbia and
recall all ambassadors from NATO countries were discussed, the Duma
passed a resolution calling on Yeltsin to fire Kozyrev, withdraw Russia
from UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia, impose a trade embargo
against Croatia, and suspend Russian participation in NATO's Partnership
for Peace program. The resolution, which is not binding on the
president, passed 258-2 with 3 abstentions. Many liberal deputies
boycotted the session. -- Scott Parrish
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[03] NATO HITS SERBS WITH CRUISE MISSILES.
International media on 10
September reported that 13 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from
the USS Normandy in the Adriatic against the Bosnian Serb air defense
system around Banja Luka. NATO air strikes were suspended for a few
hours earlier in the day while UN commander General Bernard Janvier met
with the Serbs' General Ratko Mladic. The latter again refused to agree
to the UN's key demand that he take heavy weapons outside the 20 km
exclusion zone around Sarajevo. He had earlier claimed that the
artillery is necessary "to protect the Serbian population," the VOA
said. This marks the first use of the missiles in the Yugoslav conflict,
a step taken because piloted aircraft have had difficulty operating in
the current bad weather conditions. A NATO spokesman denied Serbian
charges that the use of the Tomahawks constituted an escalation. The
extent of the damage the missiles caused is not yet clear. -- Patrick
Moore
[04] "BOSNIAN ALCHEMY."
This is how Nasa Borba on 11 September described thebrief document signed in Geneva on 8 September by the foreign ministers
of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and rump Yugoslavia. The text is the
result of weeks of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State Richard Holbrooke, who called it "an important milestone in the
search for peace." The International Herald Tribune on 9 September also
quoted him as saying that "significant differences exist between the
sides." Among the unresolved points of contention is mutual diplomatic
recognition, particularly that of Bosnia by rump Yugoslavia. -- Patrick
Moore
[05] SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY?
The accord is sufficiently broad and vague asto allow mutually contradictory interpretations. The Bosnian government,
for example, might stress the point that the country will remain one
state, while the Serbs would point to the provision for "parallel
special relationships" with neighboring countries. That clause opens the
way for the Bosnian Serbs to have links to Belgrade similar to those the
Croat-Muslim federation will have to Zagreb. Novi list on 11 September
cited Oslobodjenje's paradoxical headline that "Bosnia [remains] whole
in two parts." The agreement does not even begin to deal with the thorny
issue of territorial divisions, except to take the Contact Group's 51-
49% figure as a starting point. It also allows for the possibility that
the results of "ethnic cleansing" will become permanent by stipulating
that displaced persons may either go home or receive compensation for
what they lost. -- Patrick Moore
[06] CROATIA REMAINS FIRM ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate
Granic said in Geneva on 9 September that Serbia is trying to "buy time"
and keep control of prosperous eastern Slavonia by not recognizing
Croatia. Ranking diplomat Miomir Zuzul told news agencies that Zagreb
wants a peaceful solution to the problem but that it is prepared to wait
only two or three more months. Reuters reported the following day that
there was no sign of Croatia or Serbia implementing an agreement to
withdraw heavy weapons from the confrontation line there. Slobodna
Dalmacija on 11 September quoted Health Minister Andrija Hebrang as
saying that some 70% of the Croatian medical personnel, who fled Krajina
following the Serbian conquest of it in 1991, now refuse to go back.
Nasa Borba reported on the pilot project for Donji Lapac of the Serbian
Community in Croatia's Commission for Human Rights. The aim is to
encourage Krajina Serbs to return home, but the Serbs fear their
property has been destroyed and that they will not enjoy full rights. --
Patrick Moore
[07] BULGARIAN POLITICAL ROUNDUP.
The Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) on 8
September announced it will ask for a vote of no confidence in the
government, Standart reported the following day. The SDS said it was
responding to Prime Minister Zhan Videnov's refusal to dismiss Interior
Minister Lyubomir Nachev and Transport Minister Stamen Stamenov, whom
the opposition blames for the death of 14 soldiers in a road crash (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 14 and 25 August 1995). In other news, about 15,000
people demonstrated in Sofia on 9 September to mark the 51st anniversary
of the communist accession to power in 1944, which they described as the
"victory over fascism," AFP reported the same day. Some 5,000 SDS
supporters staged a demonstration to commemorate the victims of the
communist regime. -- Stefan Krause
[08] GREECE, RUSSIA ON BOSNIA.
Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev on 8
September met with Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and Foreign
Minister Karolos Papoulias in Thessaloniki, AFP reported the same day.
Both sides criticized the NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs and
once again called for a political solution to the crisis. Kozyrev told a
news conference that Russia and Greece will begin joint efforts to end
the crisis. The three leaders also reached a verbal agreement to go
ahead with the construction of a $1 billion oil pipeline from the
Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna to Alexandroupolis, in northern
Greece, international agencies reported the same day. -- Stefan Krause
[09] GREEK-MACEDONIAN UPDATE.
The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia,
Karolos Papoulias and Stevo Crvenkovski, on 9 September left for New
York, where they are expected to sign a bilateral agreement on 14
September, AFP reported. Before leaving Athens, Papoulias said the small
number of problems to be settled are no obstacle to signing the accord.
He described the agreement as "a historical accord...that at last frees
[Greek] foreign policy." Greek media suggested that Greece will propose
that the name issue be resolved by Macedonia's using two or even three
names--one for internal use and one or two for international and Greek
use. -- Stefan Krause
[10] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN ALBANIA.
At the end of his two-day visit to
Albania, Romanian Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca was received by
President Sali Berisha, Radio Bucharest announced on 9 September, citing
ATA. Tinca and his Albanian counterpart, Safet Zhulali, signed a joint
declaration on cooperation. Tinca said talks focused on the exchange of
information about the two countries' armies, cooperation possibilities,
participation in the Partnership for Peace program, and the two
countries' membership in NATO. -- Michael Shafir and Fabian Schmidt
[11] FORMER LEADER OF ALBANIAN YOUTH FORUM RELEASED FROM PRISON.
Arben Lika,
former leader of the Albanian Youth Forum and parliamentary deputy for
the Democratic Party, has been released from prison after serving about
10 months for smuggling cigarettes worth some $30,000 and forging
documents, Koha Jone reported on 9 September. The 27-year-old Lika was
arrested at the end of October 1994 and sentenced to ten years in prison
by a Tirana court. The First Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to
three years and Supreme Court Chief Judge Zef Brozi subsequently gave
him a 14-month sentence. Koha Jone noted that there are no legal
obstacles preventing Albania's youngest legislator from returning to the
parliament. -- Fabian Schmidt
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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