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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 195, 6 October 1995
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIAN CEASE-FIRE SIGNED.
[2] CLINTON TO SPONSOR PEACE TALKS.
[3] UPBEAT REACTIONS TO CEASE-FIRE.
[4] OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS.
[5] CONTRADICTORY REPORTS ON GLIGOROV'S CONDITION.
[6] MACEDONIA CHANGES FLAG.
[7] OPPOSITION COALITION TO FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY IN CROATIA.
[8] ROW CONTINUES OVER ILIESCU'S REMARKS IN U.S.
[9] ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS ROMANIA.
[10] ROMANIAN, HUNGARIAN NEWS AGENCIES TO COOPERATE.
[11] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PROTESTS INCLUSION ON EU BLACKLIST.
[12] BULGARIAN BUSINESS BLOC FALLS APART.
[13] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ADDRESSES UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
[14] TURKISH PREMIER-DESIGNATE ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 195, Part II, 6 October 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIAN CEASE-FIRE SIGNED.
International media on 6 October reported
that an American-mediated cease-fire was signed the previous day. The
latest in a series of at least 35 truces was approved by Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic in Sarajevo and by Bosnian Serb leaders
Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic in Belgrade, with Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic as a witness. Croatia is not a party but
accepted it. Fighting for last-minute advantages can continue until the
pact comes into force, which will be at 12:01 a.m. on 10 October, or, if
full gas and electricity supplies have not been restored to Sarajevo by
then, at 12:01 a.m. on the day after their restoration. It remains in
effect for 60 days or until a peace conference concludes, whichever is
later. Clear orders for implementation must be given to men in the
field, and civilians must be treated well and prisoners released. Roads
connecting Gorazde with Sarajevo and Belgrade will be reopened. --
Patrick Moore
[2] CLINTON TO SPONSOR PEACE TALKS.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 6
October reported that the Bosnian government made a key concession by
abandoning its demand that Banja Luka be demilitarized. The
International Herald Tribune said that President Bill Clinton announced
"proximity talks" would begin in the U.S. on 25 October. Delegations of
"the warring parties" will sit in separate rooms while American
diplomats shuffle back and forth between them. The purpose will be to
finalize a settlement, including what amounts to a partition of the
ethnically mixed republic. A final treaty would then be signed in Paris.
-- Patrick Moore
[3] UPBEAT REACTIONS TO CEASE-FIRE.
Clinton on 5 October said that pact
marks "another solid step on the hard and hopeful road to peace,"
international media reported. Tanjug quoted Karadzic as saying it was
"another big step toward peace" and that, if it holds, it is "the
beginning of the end of the war." The International Herald Tribune cited
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic as commenting "we will respect it,
and I also think the Serb side will respect it." Russian President Boris
Yeltsin pledged "active support for efforts at reaching a peace
settlement." -- Patrick Moore
[4] OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS.
Even before the cease-fire comes into
effect, representatives of the Contact Group, plus Italy, Spain, the
Netherlands, and Canada, meet in Rome on 6 October with delegates from
Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia to discuss postwar reconstruction. The
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that Canada intends to withdraw its
peacekeeping contingent by the end of November. The UN Security Council
on 5 October warned both Croatia and Bosnia to provide better treatment
to Serbian civilians. And the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported
that Bosnian Serb troops have recaptured Kljuc, but there is no
independent confirmation of the story. -- Patrick Moore
[5] CONTRADICTORY REPORTS ON GLIGOROV'S CONDITION.
Macedonian Radio on 5
October quoted the doctors attending Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov
as saying his condition is stable, Reuters reported the same day. Vecher
quoted one of the doctors as saying the results from the X-rays are good
and no operations are planned for the moment. Meanwhile, Bulgarian
Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev said Gligorov's condition is "more
serious than has been officially announced and it is getting worse,"
according to RFE/RL. He added that Gligorov "is already blind in one eye
and his right arm has been amputated." "A tragic end is possible,"
Nachev commented following a meeting with Bulgarian intelligence chief
Brigo Asparuhov. -- Stefan Krause
[6] MACEDONIA CHANGES FLAG.
The Macedonian parliament on 5 October voted to
change the country's flag, international and Macedonian media reported.
The new flag, which depicts a sun with eight broad rays instead of the
16-point Star of Vergina, was approved by 110 legislators, with one vote
against and four abstentions. The nationalist Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National
Unity called the adoption of the new flag "illegal." Under the Greek-
Macedonian accord signed on 13 September, Macedonia agreed to change its
flag and clarify parts of its constitution. Greece, for its part, will
lift its blockade on Macedonia. Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou
expressed his satisfaction at Macedonia's decision, saying he hopes
talks between Athens and Skopje will lead to closer ties. -- Stefan
Krause
[7] OPPOSITION COALITION TO FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY IN CROATIA.
Croatian media
have been reporting extensively on the election coalition of five
opposition parties, described by their leaders as "purely centist." The
coalition aims at protecting political pluralism and preventing only one
party--the ruling Croatian Democratic Unity (HDZ)--from running the
country (see OMRI Daily Digest, 29 September 1995). The coalition has to
receive at least 11% of votes to win seats in the parliament but its
leaders believe it will win at least 20%, Vjesnik reported on 4 October.
It is the first time that a key regional party, the Istrian Democratic
Union (IDS), has joined a national coalition. The IDS, which is highly
popular in Istria, previously rejected forming a coalition with the HDZ.
-- Daria Sito Sucic
[8] ROW CONTINUES OVER ILIESCU'S REMARKS IN U.S.
Presidential spokesman
Traian Chebeleu has rejected as "disqualifying, absurd, and trivial" the
attacks launched by Greater Romania Party (PRM) Chairman Corneliu Vadim
Tudor against Ion Iliescu (see OMRI Daily Digest, 5 October 1995). Radio
Bucharest quoted Chebeleu as saying that Tudor's overreaction was based
on misinterpreted and unverified reports in the U.S. press. He also said
that the president could not demean himself to respond to Tudor's
attacks. But he added that Romania's judicial organs have the duty to
defend the presidential institution. Also on 5 October, Tudor's party
expressed "stupefaction over the ultimatum" sent by the ruling Party of
Social Democracy in Romania that the PRM clarify its position. It also
threatened to denounce the alliance protocols with the ruling party. --
Dan Ionescu
[9] ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS ROMANIA.
Susanna Agnelli, on an official
visit to Romania on
4-5 October, discussed bilateral cooperation with her Romanian
counterpart, Teodor Melescanu, and met with President Ion Iliescu,
Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu, and the chairmen of the two houses of the
parliament, Radio Bucharest reported. The Romanian officials praised
Italy's support for Romania's admission into European structures. But
they raised the question of visa requirements for Romanian citizens
visiting Italy. Agnelli and Melescanu exchanged the instruments of
ratification for a Friendship and Cooperation Treaty between their
countries. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] ROMANIAN, HUNGARIAN NEWS AGENCIES TO COOPERATE.
The state-run new
agencies Rompres and MTI have signed in Bucharest a cooperation
agreement, Radio Bucharest reported on 5 October. The agreement provides
for the exchange of news and services as well as professional assistance
to correspondents. MTI director-general Karoly Alexa said the Hungarian
public is interested in all news about Romania, not just that concerning
the Hungarian minority. He stressed that for this reason, it is
important to have a Hungarian correspondent in Bucharest and a Romanian
one in Budapest. The two news agencies are not allowed to interfere in
each other's reporting and, where necessary, will cite each other as
primary sources. -- Matyas Szabo
[11] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PROTESTS INCLUSION ON EU BLACKLIST.
Bulgarian
deputies on 5 October protested the EU's decision to include Bulgaria on
the so-called "blacklist" of 101 countries for which visas are required,
RFE/RL and Reuters reported the same day. In an official declaration,
they said the decision was "discriminatory." Former Prime Minister Filip
Dimitrov of the Union of Democratic Forces said introducing such
requirements "is unfair and penalizes ordinary Bulgarians." He added
that including Bulgaria on the blacklist "only plays into the hand of
those skeptical about our integration into the EU." Bulgaria and Romania
are the only two East European countries with associate EU membership
that are on the list. -- Stefan Krause
[12] BULGARIAN BUSINESS BLOC FALLS APART.
Three parliamentary deputies from
the Bulgarian Business Bloc on 5 October officially left the party and
its parliamentary caucus, Standart reported the following day. The BBB
has thus lost the status of parliamentary faction, since, with only nine
deputies, it is one short of the required minimum of 10 legislators. The
three deputies said they disagreed with the politics of the party's
leadership and accused their colleagues of "infantilism and immorality."
Over the past few months, BBB deputies had repeatedly threatened to
leave the caucus. -- Stefan Krause
[13] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ADDRESSES UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
Alfred Serreqi,
speaking at the 50th session of the UN General Assembly on 3 October,
focused most of his remarks on the conflicts in the Balkan region, ATA
reported the same day. "The tragedy of the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina
is due to Belgrade's desire for the creation of a greater Serbia," he
said. Serreqi also condemned Serbian police terrorism against the
majority Albanian population of Kosovo. "A tragedy of unprecedented
scale will erupt in Kosova unless Belgrade authorities are subjected to
international pressure to halt their policy of confrontation," he noted.
He praised Kosovar Albanian leaders, saying it was their policy of
peaceful resistance that had largely succeeded in so far averting
conflict in the province. -- Stan Markotich
[14] TURKISH PREMIER-DESIGNATE ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET.
Tansu Ciller on 5
October won presidential approval for a minority government
conditionally supported by two small right-wing parties, the Nationalist
Action Party (MHP) and Democratic Left Party (DSP), international and
Turkish media reported the same day. In order to win a vote of
confidence, Ciller is counting on the support of nine independent
deputies and 14 renegades from the Motherland Party and Republican
Peoples Party, Milliyet reported the next day. The new cabinet is drawn
entirely from the ranks of Ciller's True Path Party. Both the MHP and
DSP have made their support conditional on Ciller's successful
resolution of an ongoing strike by 350,000 public sector workers. --
Lowell Bezanis
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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