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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 205, 20 October 1995
CONTENTS
[1] TUDJMAN PROMISES NO ATTACK ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[2] WAR CRIMES UPDATE.
[3] FRENCH UNIMPRESSED WITH KARADZIC'S STORY ON PILOTS.
[4] BELGRADE AUTHORITIES BAN SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY RALLY.
[5] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES TO RENEW ATTACK ON INDEPENDENT MEDIA?
[6] GLIGOROV LEAVES HOSPITAL.
[7] ROMANIAN COALITION SPLITS.
[8] ROMANIAN STUDENTS TO CONTINUE PROTESTS . . .
[9] . . . WHILE MOLDOVAN STUDENTS ANNOUNCE INDEFINITE STRIKE.
[10] BULGARIAN AIR CARRIER SUSPENDS INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS.
[11] BULGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN GREECE.
[12] ALBANIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN GETS UNDER WAY.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 205, Part II, 20 October 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] TUDJMAN PROMISES NO ATTACK ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
International media on
19 October reported that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman told U.S.
envoy Richard Holbrooke that he would seek the return of eastern
Slavonia by peaceful means. Slobodna Dalmacija the following day noted,
however, that Croatia reserves the right to use whatever means necessary
to recover the last Serb-held area on its territory if talks prove
useless. Washington, Bonn, and London have repeatedly threatened Zagreb
with sanctions and with restrictions on access to Western institutions
should force be used. Croatian Television on 17 October ran footage from
rebel Serbian TV in Vukovar, which included the message: "Brother Serbs!
The moment for the final reckoning with the Ustashe [pejorative for
Croats] has come! We will free this Serbian land. We have enough
weapons. . . . We will fight to the end . . . and win!" -- Patrick Moore
[2] WAR CRIMES UPDATE.
Hina on 18 October carried a statement from Croatian
Interior Minister Ivan Jarnjak, who reported on investigations of
murders of Serbian civilians in the former Krajina. Some 25 suspects
have been arrested, including persons with police records. The minister
said they are "just vultures." Novi list on 20 October reported that the
Serbs held 350 Muslims from Bosanski Novi for five days without food or
water in a bus depot before expelling them. The Serbs also murdered
about 100 local Muslims who had refused to leave their homes. The
International Herald Tribune added that Western diplomats report that
some 2,000 Muslim men are still unaccounted for in northern Bosnia and
that it is feared they have been killed or are about to be. The U.S.
State Department has "gathered evidence of widespread killings of
civilians by Serbian forces" in the area recently. -- Patrick Moore
[3] FRENCH UNIMPRESSED WITH KARADZIC'S STORY ON PILOTS.
Paris continues to
reject Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's claim that the two downed
French airmen have been kidnapped by mysterious abductors. French and
international media quote officials as saying that they suspect the
pilots have been killed. Meanwhile in Sarajevo, French troops detained
EU mediator Carl Bildt at the Sarajevo airport. The furious Bildt
screamed "this is absolutely intolerable" when he was finally allowed to
leave the dugout, the International Herald Tribune said on 20 October.
Bildt has been tipped to replace outgoing UN mediator Yasushi Akashi. --
Patrick Moore
[4] BELGRADE AUTHORITIES BAN SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY RALLY.
The Serbian
Interior Ministry has issued a ban on a Serbian Radical Party (SRS)
rally scheduled for 20 October, Nasa Borba reported. Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, leader of the Russian Liberal-Democratic Party, was
expected to take part in the rally. SRS party leader and accused war
criminal Vojislav Seselj on 18 October told BETA that the meeting "would
be held at all costs." Nasa Borba reported on 20 October that he
announced a "walk down the Belgrade streets" as a demonstration of
"national dissatisfaction with the current regime." Seselj and
Zhirinovsky also have meetings scheduled for the following day with the
Bosnian Serb and Croatian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo
Krajisnik, and Milan Martic. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[5] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES TO RENEW ATTACK ON INDEPENDENT MEDIA?
BETA on 19October reported that Belgrade's Center for Anti-War Action has warned
that a renewed regime attack on independent media in the rump Yugoslavia
may be in the offing. According to the report, the likeliest targets of
any renewed campaign are small local media voices. BETA reports that the
editor of Borskih novina recently received a six-month prison sentence
for publishing an unflattering caricature of several political leaders
from the former Yugoslavia. It suggests that other editors may be
subject to the same treatment. -- Stan Markotich
[6] GLIGOROV LEAVES HOSPITAL.
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov was
released from hospital on 18 October and is now continuing his
recuperation at home, the Bulgarian daily 24 chasa reported on 20
October, citing the independent Macedonian TV station A1. Gligorov's
doctors said his condition is stable and good and that he has not
completely lost vision of his right eye, as stated earlier. It was also
reported that Gligorov did not meet with outgoing UN Special Envoy for
the former Yugoslavia Yasushi Akashi. Instead, Akashi met with
Gligorov's wife, Nada. -- Stefan Krause
[7] ROMANIAN COALITION SPLITS.
The Central Executive Bureau of the ruling
Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) on 19 October decided to
sever ties with its long-time ally, the extreme nationalist Greater
Romania Party (PRM), Radio Bucharest reported. PDSR Executive Chairman
Adrian Nastase explained the decision by the PRM's refusal to disavow
attacks on President Ion Iliescu in its weekly. Nastase further said
that the PRM has failed to respect the protocols of the alliance, which
forbid "any manifestation of racism, anti-Semitism, extremism, and
totalitarianism." Romanian media noted that the split leaves the
coalition with only 45% of the vote in the parliament and may herald the
fall of Nicolae Vacaroiu's cabinet. -- Dan Ionescu
[8] ROMANIAN STUDENTS TO CONTINUE PROTESTS . . .
Following discussions with
government officials, leaders of the Bucharest Students' League have
decided to continue their protests, Romanian media reported on 19
October. More than 15,000 students protested in Bucharest the same day,
demanding, among other things, the reversal of the government's recent
decision to impose university fees. "Our protests will continue until
all our demands are met," Cristian Urse, leader of the student league,
was quoted as saying. -- Matyas Szabo
[9] . . . WHILE MOLDOVAN STUDENTS ANNOUNCE INDEFINITE STRIKE.
Thousands of
students and teaching staff on 19 October participated in a rally in
Chisinau for the second consecutive day, Moldovan agencies reported.
They demanded the resignation of the government, which they hold
responsible for deteriorating living conditions in the country. They
also insisted that Romanian be reinstated as the state language instead
of "Moldovan," as specified in the 1994 constitution. Protest leaders
announced that a general strike will be staged until all demands are
met, despite police threats that the strike's organizers will be
prosecuted. President Mircea Snegur, in a message addressed to students,
tried to convince them to stop their protest. -- Matyas Szabo
[10] BULGARIAN AIR CARRIER SUSPENDS INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS.
State-run Balkan
Airlines is to suspend a number of international flights, RFE/RL
reported on 19 October, citing Transportation Minister Stamen Stamenov.
The minister said that Balkan lost more than 800 million leva ($11.8
million) during the first nine months of 1995 "due to unprofitable
flights." Some 39 out of Balkan's 59 international routes make losses,
but some will be retained due to the "political and economic importance"
of the travel links, including the flight to New York. Procedures for
privatizing Balkan began in 1992 but were suspended earlier this year,
due to a lack of investors. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN GREECE.
Dimitar Pavlov arrived in Athens
on 18 October on a three-day visit. Greek and Bulgarian media reported
that he held talks with his Greek counterpart, Gerasimos Arsenis,
parliamentary speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, and Deputy Foreign Minister
Georgios Romaios. Pavlov and Arsenis discussed prospects for further
cooperation in foreign and defense policy and possible ways to
consolidate peace in the Balkans. With regard to Greek press reports
that NATO is developing scenarios to grant Western Thrace autonomy if
ethnic tension breaks out there, Arsenis said that they had not talked
about "non-existing scenarios" but that he had briefed Pavlov on the
repercussions of the reports in Greece. Kaklamanis said Greece will
promote tighter relations between Bulgaria and the EU. In other news,
Slovenian Foreign Minister Zoran Thaler was in Sofia on 18 and 19
October to discuss bilateral and regional issues, Bulgarian radio
reported. -- Stefan Krause
[12] ALBANIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN GETS UNDER WAY.
Skender Gjinushi, leader of
the Albanian Social Democrats, and Arben Imami, head of the Democratic
Alliance, kicked off with their joint election campaign in Kukes. Both
parties declared they do not intend to form an election coalition but
want to cooperate during the election campaign under the name "Pole of
the Center." They also announced the creation of an office intended to
protect them and their members from political intrigues, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 20 October. The office is also to defend the
interests of both parties in legal proceedings against the law on
genocide at the European Court in Strasbourg (see OMRI Daily Digest, 25
September 1995). -- 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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