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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 200, 13 October 1995
CONTENTS
[1] SHAKY BOSNIAN CEASEFIRE ENDS ITS FIRST DAY.
[2] BOSNIANS FIND ANOTHER MASS GRAVE.
[3] WESTERN OFFICIALS ON RELATIONS WITH RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.
[4] MACEDONIA ADMITTED INTO OSCE.
[5] ROMANIAN NATIONALIST LEADER BLACKMAILS POLITICAL PARTNER.
[6] RELIGIOUS ASSISTANCE REINTRODUCED INTO ROMANIAN ARMY.
[7] ROMANIAN PYRAMID SCHEME BOSS TO STAY IN JAIL.
[8] MOLDOVAN-GERMAN DECLARATION.
[9] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT SENDS PRIVATIZATION PLAN TO PARLIAMENT.
[10] BULGARIAN SOCCER PLAYERS SET UP PRIVATE BANK.
[11] BERISHA IN BRUSSELS.
[12] TURKISH-GREEK DISPUTE.
[13] TURKISH POLICE TO BIHAC.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 200, Part II, 13 October 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] SHAKY BOSNIAN CEASEFIRE ENDS ITS FIRST DAY.
The guns fell silent
throughout much of Bosnia on 12 October as the latest ceasefire came
into effect. UN observers said implementation was reasonably good,
considering that it involved disengaging large bodies of fighters who
had been in combat for some years. The BBC quoted Bosnian Prime Minister
Haris Silajdzic as saying the Serbs have finally realized that their
attempts to set up a greater Serbia have failed. Most problems centered
on the area around strategic Sanski Most in the northwest. Allied forces
are trying to press the Serbs back toward Prijedor and Banja Luka, while
the Serbs would like to retake Sanski Most itself. Meanwhile, the UN
expressed concern for the safety of 40,000 Serbian civilian refugees,
who are stranded in open country without water or medical supplies. --
Patrick Moore
[2] BOSNIANS FIND ANOTHER MASS GRAVE.
AFP reported on 12 October that
Bosnian government forces have discovered a grave containing 15 bodies
in the village of Kokic, near Jajce, which the allied armies recently
captured. The apparent murders took place in 1992, when the Serbs took
the area and then burned and destroyed all the nearby villages.
Meanwhile in New York, the Security Council has condemned the latest
Serbian wave of "ethnic cleansing" directed against the few remaining
Muslims and Croats in northern Bosnia. It asked about the fate of most
of the males, who are unaccounted for and presumed to have been killed.
-- Patrick Moore
[3] WESTERN OFFICIALS ON RELATIONS WITH RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.
German Foreign
Minister Klaus Kinkel on 12 October suggested that ties between Germany
and Serbia ought to improve once a peace settlement is reached in the
Balkans, AFP reported the same day. "No people in the former Yugoslavia
must be excluded from such ties, Kinkel reportedly observed in a foreign
policy speech delivered in Berlin. Meanwhile, Montenegrin President
Momir Bulatovic and British Minister of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs Nicholas Bonsor met in Podgorica on 11 October to
discuss the regional peace process. Bonsor also used the opportunity to
remark that relations between Belgrade and London might be "restored"
once sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia were lifted, Tanjug reported.
Finally, BETA on 12 October reported that EU mediator Carl Bildt has
observed that sanctions against Belgrade can be suspended once a peace
accord is signed. -- Stan Markotich
[4] MACEDONIA ADMITTED INTO OSCE.
Macedonia has been admitted as a member of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, RFE/RL
reported, citing a statement by the Macedonian Information Ministry on
12 October. Its membership, which becomes effective on 14 October,
follows Macedonia's admission into the Council of Europe earlier this
month. -- Stefan Krause
[5] ROMANIAN NATIONALIST LEADER BLACKMAILS POLITICAL PARTNER.
Corneliu Vadim
Tudor, leader of the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM),
has threatened to reveal "illegalities" committed by the leadership of
the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), if the PDSR decides to
put an end to its partnership with the PRM because of Tudor's attacks on
President Ion Iliescu. Gheorghe Funar, leader of the extreme nationalist
Party of Romanian National Unity, called on all members of the so-called
"red-quadrangle" coalition to put an end to disputes among them.
Evenimentul zilei on 13 October reported that the PRM has invited the
recently retired nationalist General Paul Cheler to join its ranks.
Cheler has publicly protested the recent decision to place him on
reserve. Meanwhile, Nicolae Manolescu, leader of the opposition Party of
Civic Alliance, told the Senate that Tudor's parliamentary immunity
should be lifted. -- Michael Shafir
[6] RELIGIOUS ASSISTANCE REINTRODUCED INTO ROMANIAN ARMY.
Romanian Patriarch
Teoctist and Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca have signed an agreement on
reintroducing permanent religious assistance for soldiers and officers
serving in the army, Radio Bucharest reported on 11 October. The
agreement between the Orthodox Church and army states that soldiers of
all confessions have a right to religious assistance from the church to
which they belong. At the same time, it prohibits any form of
proselytism. -- Matyas Szabo
[7] ROMANIAN PYRAMID SCHEME BOSS TO STAY IN JAIL.
Prosecutors on 12 October
appealed against a court ruling to cut the jail sentence of Ioan Stoica
from six to two years, Reuters reported the same day. Stoica, who headed
the Caritas pyramid scheme that collapsed in 1993, would have been
released within days if the Cluj court's decision to reduce his sentence
had not been appealed. He has spent more than a year in jail awaiting
trial and would have been eligible for parole. Stoica was convicted in
June of fraudulent bankruptcy and defrauding investors, although the
conviction was based on only a tiny proportion of the equivalent of
millions of US dollars invested in his "get-rich" scheme. -- Michael
Shafir
[8] MOLDOVAN-GERMAN DECLARATION.
A declaration signed in Bonn by visiting
Moldovan President Mircea Snegur and Chancellor Helmut Kohl states that
Moldova and Germany undertake to develop bilateral relations on the
basis of the principles of international law, equality of rights,
sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, and
respect for human rights, including those of national minorities.
Infotag on 12 October reported that the two sides also signed agreements
on cultural cooperation, taking care of graves of German soldiers killed
in action on Moldovan territory during World War II, and transportation.
Snegur, in a meeting with Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, expressed
willingness to back Germany's efforts to become a permanent member of
the UN Security Council and to secure German as one of the working
languages of the Council of Europe. -- Michael Shafir
[9] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT SENDS PRIVATIZATION PLAN TO PARLIAMENT.
The
socialist-led government on 12 October endorsed and submitted to the
parliament its latest plan for mass privatization, RFE/RL and Bulgarian
media reported. The plan, modeled on the Czech voucher privatization
system, is expected to be approved by the parliament in the next few
weeks. The cabinet draw up a list of 1,227 enterprises in which
Bulgarians will be able to invest. According to the plan, the state will
retain control over large enterprises, since only 25% of their shares
will be privatized. Up to 65% of the shares in medium-size enterprises
and up to 90% in small enterprises will be offered to investors. --
Stefan Krause
[10] BULGARIAN SOCCER PLAYERS SET UP PRIVATE BANK.
Bulgarian top soccer
players announced on 12 October that they will set up a private bank,
Reuters reported the same day. Lyuboslav Penev of Atletico Madrid, who
is the chairman of the bank's founding committee, said "instead of
investing our money in banks based abroad, we prefer to invest and work
with our money in Bulgaria." The bank will be called National and is
expected to have the 500 million leva ($7.35 million) needed for a
domestic license within a few months. The license can than be issued six
months after application documents are submitted to the Bulgarian
National Bank. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BERISHA IN BRUSSELS.
Albanian President Sali Berisha, during his visit
to Brussels on 12 October, met with NATO ambassadors and Secretary-
General Willy Claes, Gazeta Shqiptare reported on 13 October. Berisha
told the ambassadors that a solution to the Kosovo crisis must be found
within the framework of any peace settlement in the former Yugoslavia
and demanded it should be put on the Contact Group's agenda. Berisha
also expressed his country's desire to become a full member state of
NATO. Claes praised Albania for playing "an active and positive role by
respecting the embargo" against the rump Yugoslavia. He also noted the
fast-growing cooperation between the Albanian military and NATO. On 13
October, Berisha began a three-day visit to Italy. -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] TURKISH-GREEK DISPUTE.
The foreign ministries of Greece and Turkey have
exchanged strongly worded protests over the education of ethnic Turks
dwelling in Greece's region of western Thrace, the Turkish Daily News
reported on 12 October. Students in three towns in the region have not
been attending lessons for the past week in protest at a Greek
government decision to revise the educational system. Ethnic Turks and
the authorities in Ankara suspect the Greeks will attempt to replace
teachers sent over from Turkey or local ethnic Turks serving as
teachers. The Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Greece of violating the
Lausanne Treaty, which governs the status of minorities in both
countries. In other news, Athens and Ankara traded charges concerning
their respective Aegean Sea policies at the UN General Assembly, the
Turkish Daily News reported the next day. -- Lowell Bezanis
[13] TURKISH POLICE TO BIHAC.
At the request of the Bosnian and Croatian
government, Turkey will send 50 policemen to Bihac to help organize and
oversee the return of displaced Bosnians, AFP reported on 11 October,
citing Turkish police and foreign ministry sources. -- 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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