OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 191, 2 October 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

[1] BOSNIAN ARMY READY FOR BANJA LUKA.

[2] CEASEFIRE ELUDES HOLBROOKE. U.S

[3] CARDINAL KUHARIC CONDEMNS EXCESSES IN KRAJINA...

[4] ...AS DO U.S. AND OTHERS.

[5] VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS TO WORK OUT AUTONOMY CONCEPT.

[6] SLOVENIA'S RELATIONS WITH NORTHERN, SOUTHERN NEIGHBORS.

[7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN U.S.

[8] ROMANIAN, CZECH INTERIOR MINISTERS DISCUSS COOPERATION.

[9] MOLDOVAN SECURITY MINISTER ON INTERNATIONAL CRIME.

[10] UPDATE ON EU-BULGARIAN RELATIONS.

[11] GREECE CRITICIZES TURKEY OVER TERRITORIAL WATERS.

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 191, Part II, 2 October 1995

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[1] BOSNIAN ARMY READY FOR BANJA LUKA.

Bosnian troops in Kljuc told AFP on 1 October that they are eager for a fight and to take the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka. Bosnian Serb commander General Ratko Mladic told the French news agency that Serbs and Muslims might someday be able to live together "like French and Germans" but that for now, he knew of "no Serb man, woman, or child" who would live on "the same street" as Muslims. From Sarajevo, the BBC on 30 September said that the road from there to nearby Croatian-held Kiseljak would take about two weeks to open because the Serbs had mined and booby-trapped it in preparation for blowing it up. AFP on 1 October quoted UN sources as standing by their report that the Bosnian Serbs fired the shell that hit a Sarajevo market on 28 August. The Sunday Times and Voice of Russia had questioned that finding. -- Patrick Moore

[2] CEASEFIRE ELUDES HOLBROOKE. U.S.

mediator Richard Holbrooke spent the weekend shuttling between Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sofia, and back to Sarajevo. The BBC reported on 30 September that he looked "tired and frustrated." Holbrooke himself said that "all fundamental issues-- Sarajevo, Gorazde, constitutional questions--remain unresolved...[and the sides are] very far apart." He noted that the Serbs and the Bosnian government even have very different concepts of a ceasefire. The BBC on 2 October suggested that he encountered differences in Zagreb as well. The VOA added, however, that Holbrooke at least publicly acknowledged one of Croatia's main concerns--that eastern Slavonia is a key issue in a complex peace process. Hina said that Foreign Minister Mate Granic brought this point home to the UN on 30 September. -- Patrick Moore

[3] CARDINAL KUHARIC CONDEMNS EXCESSES IN KRAJINA...

"Those who did it have offended Croatia and the Croatian army" is how Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, the primate of Croatia, responded to reports of killings, lootings, and torchings by Croatian troops in the former Serbian Krajina. Reuters on 1 October said he addressed an open-air mass for 3,500 soldiers and officers at Marija Bistrica, adding that nothing justifies harming a human being, regardless of his ethnic origin. The cardinal is highly respected and was an outspoken critic of the war with the Muslims in 1992. Vecernji list the same day noted that three-quarters of the Roman Catholic churches in Krajina were destroyed during Serbian rule, while only 2.5% of Orthodox buildings met such a fate. -- Patrick Moore

[4] ...AS DO U.S. AND OTHERS.

Mlada fronta dnes on 2 October said that the EU has issued a report condemning "terror against civilians" by Croatian troops in Krajina. Western news agencies reported that the Croatian Helsinki Committee accused Croatian troops of killing 12 elderly Serbs in the village of Varivode. Hina added on 30 September that John Shattuck, U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights issues, called for an end to the "climate of impunity" in Krajina and "major human rights abuses." He warned of "the imperative of ending all forms of ethnic cleansing as part of this peace process." Croatian Interior Minister Ivica Kostovic noted "isolated cases of burning and looting and reports of the killings of civilians," adding that "Croatia will take the most energetic steps without delay." -- Patrick Moore

[5] VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS TO WORK OUT AUTONOMY CONCEPT.

The Federation of Vojvodina Hungarians and the Democratic Community of Vojvodina Hungarians--following a meeting with Hungarian Premier Gyula Horn, President Arpad Goncz, and State Secretary Csaba Tabajdi on 29 September--have decided to work out a concept for autonomy, Magyar Nemzet reported on 30 September. Horn said his government will raise problems faced by the 300,000 ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina at all possible international forums to make sure their minority rights are not neglected in the upcoming settlement of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. To date, disagreements between the two parties in Vojvodina have blocked progress toward defending Hungarian minority rights in the province. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[6] SLOVENIA'S RELATIONS WITH NORTHERN, SOUTHERN NEIGHBORS.

The Slovenian parliamentary Committee for International Relations has claimed that owing to the deterioration in Slovenian-Italian relations, Slovenian minority rights are endangered in Italy, Nasa Borba reported last week. Meanwhile, Slovenia still has not resolved the demarcation of Adriatic maritime borders with Croatia. Globus on 28 September reported that Slovenia has proposed that it have complete control of the Gulf of Piran, which would give it access to the sea. In return, Slovenia would be prepared to make concessions in other Slovenian-Croatian disputes. It has set 5 October as a deadline for Croatia to make a decision on the proposal, but Zagreb is unlikely to agree in view of Croatian fishing and shipping interests. -- Daria Sito Sucic

[7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN U.S.

Ion Iliescu on 29 September was received in Washington by U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Radio Bucharest reported. The two leaders discussed bilateral relations, the situation in the Balkans, and ecological issues. At the Romanian ambassador's residence in Washington, Iliescu met with representatives of big commercial and industrial firms. The next day, he visited the Boeing and Microsoft companies in Seattle. Iliescu said he hoped Romania's partner firms in the U.S. would lobby for his country to be granted permanent most- favored-nation status. -- Dan Ionescu

[8] ROMANIAN, CZECH INTERIOR MINISTERS DISCUSS COOPERATION.

Doru Ioan Taracila and Jan Ruml on 29 September met in Bucharest to discuss police cooperation in combating organized cross-border crime, Romanian Television and CTK reported. Ruml said the number of illegal immigrants in the Czech Republic from Romania has dropped sharply since 1992 and that his ministry gives credit to the Czech-Romanian readmission agreement, which allows for illegal immigrants to be returned to their country of origin. Ruml was received the same day by Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, who noted that good relations between the two countries are reflected in the economic sphere. -- Matyas Szabo

[9] MOLDOVAN SECURITY MINISTER ON INTERNATIONAL CRIME.

Gen. Vasile Calmoi has said that Moldova is becoming a crossroads for illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, and mercenaries heading to the former Yugoslavia, Reuters reported on 28 September. According to Calmoi, about 5,000 people, mainly illegal immigrants from Islamic countries, were arrested this year while trying to cross the Moldovan-Romanian border. He said that a "big criminal syndicate" with connections in Russia, Ukraine, and Romania is helping illegal groups to cross the Moldovan frontiers. Calmoi said his ministry would strengthen ties with other former Soviet republics to fight organized crime more efficiently. -- Matyas Szabo

[10] UPDATE ON EU-BULGARIAN RELATIONS.

According to Duma on 2 October, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov rejected opposition accusations that his cabinet had not made enough efforts to prevent Bulgaria from being included on the EU's blacklist of countries posing a security or immigration threat (see OMRI Daily Digest, 28 September 1995). According to Videnov, EU diplomats had assured Sofia that Bulgaria's inclusion on the list was "not acute for our country." Spain's ambassador to Bulgaria, Jorge Fuentes, was quoted as saying that Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez has urged that Bulgaria be dropped from the list. Fuentes said "there is no political or practical reason" for Bulgaria to be on the list. -- Stefan Krause

[11] GREECE CRITICIZES TURKEY OVER TERRITORIAL WATERS.

Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias on 29 September accused Turkey of "attempting to intimidate Greece" over the issue of the country's territorial waters, Reuters reported the same day. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Papoulias said Turkish threats of war if Greece extends its territorial waters from six to 12 miles are a direct violation of the UN charter, which forbids the use of threats or force. He said that the guiding principle of Greek foreign policy is to establish of good-neighborly relations with all countries of the region but that Turkey "is following a different approach in her policies vis-a-vis [Greece]." -- Stefan Krause

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