OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 181, 18 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] NATO GIVES SERBS 72-HOUR REPRIEVE.

  • [2] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT, CROATS PRESS ON IN CENTRAL BOSNIA.

  • [3] BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES URGE REFUGEES TO COME HOME.

  • [4] CROATS TO HAND OVER INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL.

  • [5] ANOTHER ANTI-NATO RALLY IN BELGRADE.

  • [6] PERRY PRAISES SLOVENIA.

  • [7] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY.

  • [8] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIANS STAGE SCHOOL PROTEST.

  • [9] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OVERRULES DISMISSALS.

  • [10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR "MINI-MARSHALL PLAN".

  • [11] ALBANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER OFFERS BASES FOR STEALTH BOMBERS.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 181, Part II, 18 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] NATO GIVES SERBS 72-HOUR REPRIEVE.

    International media on 18 September reported that the Atlantic alliance the previous night agreed to continue suspending its air attacks on Bosnian Serb positions until 10:00 p.m. on 20 September. The decision came after the Serbs pulled some 150 of 300 pieces of heavy weaponry out of the Sarajevo exclusion zone by the 17 September deadline and said that the rest would go shortly. The VOA reported that the Rapid Reaction Force will nonetheless stay to reassure the Bosnian government because mortars smaller than 82 mm or anti-aircraft guns may remain. Sarajevo airport has reopened, as have at least some land supply routes. It is unclear what the Serbs are doing with the artillery they remove, and the BBC said they may need the guns in the west of the republic. There Serbian forces are apparently in full retreat and are abandoning their big guns. -- Patrick Moore

    [2] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT, CROATS PRESS ON IN CENTRAL BOSNIA.

    Sanski Most, Bosanska Krupa, and possibly Prijedor have fallen to the advancing allies over the weekend, the BBC said on 17 September, quoting Belgrade media. The Bosnian Serbs at first denied the reports, but their leader, Radovan Karadzic, later conceded "big losses," although he claimed his new front was holding, Nasa Borba reported on 18 September. He also sent his "foreign minister" to Moscow for "military assistance." Mlada fronta dnes said that 100,000 Serbs have fled toward Banja Luka, and the VOA noted that they are clogging roads in what appears to be a rout and a humanitarian crisis. The panicked Serbs are abandoning even positions assigned them by the current partition plans, and Mlada fronta dnes reported that their losses now amount to 3,000 sq km. The road to Banja Luka seems open, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that the allies are only 50 km from that goal. -- Patrick Moore

    [3] BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES URGE REFUGEES TO COME HOME.

    Bosnian Television on 17 September continued to run footage of victorious Bosnian and Croatian forces on the move as well as of happy refugees going home. General Mehmed Alagic told viewers: "Dear Bosnians, come home! The time has come, your homes are free and waiting for you," news agencies noted. Silajdzic defended the offensive, saying "this is the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and we are entitled to liberate our territory." British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, however, condemned the advance after meeting on 18 September with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. Rifkind said only a negotiated settlement is possible, while rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic told AFP that "we are very concerned about this offensive and that is not part of the peace process." But his Bosnian counterpart, Muhamed Sacirbey, told VOA that "the best diplomacy is created on the ground." -- Patrick Moore

    [4] CROATS TO HAND OVER INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL.

    The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 18 September reported that the Bosnian Croats will deliver Ivica Rajic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. He is wanted in conjunction with the massacre of Muslim civilians in Stupni Do on 23 October 1993. The same paper on 15 September quoted the head of the tribunal, Judge Richard Goldstone, as warning against granting immunity to any internationally wanted war criminals as part of a peace package. The Serbs have charged him with partisanship because virtually all of the indicted men are Serbs, including Karadzic, his military commander General Ratko Mladic, and Krajina leader Milan Martic. -- Patrick Moore

    [5] ANOTHER ANTI-NATO RALLY IN BELGRADE.

    As many as 3,000 people gathered outside the U.S. embassy building in Belgrade on 15 September to protest NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs and the U.S.'s backing of NATO, international media reported the same day. Protesters "besieged" the embassy, shouting abuse aimed at various political leaders and members of the NATO alliance. This latest rally comes on the heels of a similar event on 13 September, which attracted only several hundred participants. -- Stan Markotich

    [6] PERRY PRAISES SLOVENIA.

    US Secretary of Defense William Perry, at the start of his tour of Central Europe, said on 17 September in Ljubljana that Slovenia is just as qualified as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join NATO, international media reported. "Of all of these countries, I believe that Slovenia has made perhaps the greatest progress in the transition to democracy, the transition to a market economy and the smooth turnover of the military to civilian control," he commented. Perry the previous day expressed "cautious optimism" that the arms embargo against Slovenia will be lifted this year. -- Michael Mihalka

    [7] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY.

    The National Council of the extremist Greater Romania Party has nominated party chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor as its candidate for the 1996 presidential elections, Radio Bucharest reported on 16 September. Tudor said that, if elected, he would oppose alleged plans to turn Romania "into a colony of occult forces worldwide." He also promised to become a second Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century Wallachian prince notorious for his cruelty. Tudor the previous day had demanded the removal of head of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) Virgil Magureanu, whom he accused of having established a "political police [force]." He also blamed the SRI for allegedly allowing Hungarians "to buy up Transylvania through all kinds of private companies." Tudor's attacks against the SRI come in the wake of the recent publication of documents showing he was a Securitate informer. -- Dan Ionescu

    [8] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIANS STAGE SCHOOL PROTEST.

    Some 8,000 pupils, teachers, and parents on 15 September rallied in Sfantu Gheorghe, a Transylvanian town where ethnic Hungarians are in an overwhelming majority, to protest the education law adopted this summer. Romania's Hungarians see the legislation as discriminating against ethnic minorities. Romanian media, however, reported on 16 September that, despite calls by the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania, there were no similar protests in other Transylvanian towns. President Ion Iliescu, speaking in Oradea at a ceremony marking the beginning of the new school year, appealed to Romanian and Hungarian pupils and teachers to support his initiative for a "historic reconciliation" between the two countries. Iliescu launched the initiative at a meeting with political leaders on 14 September. -- Dan Ionescu

    [9] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OVERRULES DISMISSALS.

    Moldova's Constitutional Court overruled the parliament's decision to dismiss parliament deputy chairman Nicolae Andronic, chairman of the Law Committee Eugen Rusu, and chairman of the State Security and Public Order Committee Ion Ungureanu, Infotag and BASA-press reported on 15 September. The three were fired in late July following their resignation from the ruling Agrarian Democratic Party of Moldova. The court said the dismissals were anti-constitutional and amounted to political persecution. Members of the parliamentary majority criticized the court's decision as "hasty and violating parliamentary regulations." -- Dan Ionescu

    [10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR "MINI-MARSHALL PLAN".

    Zhelyu Zhelev on 15 September called for a program funded by the West to help Balkan states recover from the losses suffered during the former Yugoslav conflict, Reuters reported the same day. Meeting with the ambassadors to Bulgaria of the EU and NATO member countries, Zhelev said a "mini-Marshall plan should include all Balkan states which have suffered economic losses from the Yugoslav conflict, among which is Bulgaria." Standart on 16 September reported that the government supported Zhelev's position. International institutions estimate Bulgaria has lost trade worth $1.4 billion as a result of the sanctions. -- Stefan Krause

    [11] ALBANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER OFFERS BASES FOR STEALTH BOMBERS.

    Alfred Serreqi has offered air bases for stealth fighter-bombers that the U.S. wants to use in Bosnia, AFP reported on 14 September. Italy earlier refused to provide bases for the F-117 jets, demanding that Rome be allowed to participate in the Bosnian peace process. Three U.S. reconnaissance planes have been based at the Gjader base since mid-July. Elsewhere, Albanian and U.S. military units on 14 September started their seventh joint military exercise, code-named "Peaceful Eagle," Reuters reported. The exercise aims at training Albanian units to be deployed in future UN peacekeeping missions. -- 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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