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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 208, 25 October 1995
CONTENTS
[1] SERBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS NO PEACE CONFERENCE WITHOUT SANCTIONS SUSPENSION.
[2] BOSNIAN SERBS MEET WITH MILOSEVIC.
[3] CROATIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES RESTRAINT ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[4] ROMANIAN DEPUTIES AMEND CONTROVERSIAL LEGISLATION.
[5] ROMANIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN HELICOPTER DEAL.
[6] ROMANIAN STUDENTS ARE OPTIMISTIC BUT CONTINUE PROTESTS.
[7] MOLDOVAN STUDENTS TO SUSPEND PROTESTS?
[8] BULGARIA REFUSES TO SHUT DOWN NUCLEAR REACTOR . . .
[9] . . . BUT RECEIVES $103 MILLION ENVIRONMENT LOAN FROM WORLD BANK.
[10] FORMER ALBANIAN LAND OWNERS WANT 1945 LAND REFORM REVOKED.
[11] EU COMMISSION DROPS CASE AGAINST GREECE.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 208, Part II, 25 October 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] SERBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS NO PEACE CONFERENCE WITHOUT SANCTIONS SUSPENSION.
Tanjug on 24 October reported rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister
Milan Milutinovic as saying that Belgrade's participation in a peace
conference on Bosnia, slated to be held in Dayton, Ohio, on 31 October,
is conditional on the lifting of international sanctions against his
state. Milutinovic said that no conference can take place "without a
suspension of the sanctions." Meanwhile, AFP reported the same day that
a senior U.S. official has asked Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's
assistance in locating several hundred Bosnian Muslim and Croat
civilians in Bosnian Serb-occupied territory around Banja Luka. -- Stan
Markotich
[2] BOSNIAN SERBS MEET WITH MILOSEVIC.
Nasa Borba on 25 October reported
that a delegation of Bosnian Serbs arrived in Belgrade the previous day
for meetings with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Representing the
Bosnian Serbs was civilian leader Radovan Karadzic, who was accompanied
by Vic President Nikola Koljevic and speaker of the self-styled Bosnian
Serb parliament, Momcilo Krajisnik. Official rump Yugoslav media have
neither confirmed nor denied that such a meeting took place, while
independent sources stress that at the top of the agenda were proposals
and strategies for peace talks slated for 31 October in the U.S.
Meanwhile, AFP on 24 October reported that the Bosnian Serbs remain
adamant that Bosnia must be partitioned. The French news agency, citing
Pale television, quotes Krajisnik as saying that "victory for us is not
to defeat Moslems and Croats but to be divided from them." -- Stan
Markotich
[3] CROATIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES RESTRAINT ON EASTERN SLAVONIA.
Franjo
Tudjman has promised that Zagreb will not use force to retake Eastern
Slavonia from Serbs as long as the peace process is under way, AFP
reported on 24 October. He was speaking at a meeting in New York with
his Bosnian counterpart, Alija Izetbegovic, and U.S. President Bill
Clinton. Clinton urged both leaders "to be flexible, to seek formulas
that will work and to be very determined" at the negotiations scheduled
for Ohio on 31 October. He also called for unity between Croatia and
Bosnia. Earlier, Tudjman had been quoted as saying Croatia might use
force in eastern Slavonia before the end of the month. Izetbegovic,
speaking to before the UN General Assembly on 24 October, called for
"parity of Bosnian Serb and Bosnian government army forces," saying this
was the key to long-term stability. But he told CNN the same day that
the two sides remain "far apart from each other." -- Fabian Schmidt
[4] ROMANIAN DEPUTIES AMEND CONTROVERSIAL LEGISLATION.
The Romanian Chamber
of Deputies on 24 October deleted references to the media from penal
code articles allowing prison sentences for libel, Romanian media
reported. The amended legislation imposes prison sentences of up to two
years for libel and three years for calumny. In the original version,
journalists were put into a separate category and could have been
imprisoned for up to five years for libel. Romanian journalists and
opposition parties, together with international human rights and media
organizations, had sharply criticized the original legislation. --
Matyas Szabo
[5] ROMANIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN HELICOPTER DEAL.
The Romanian government
on 23 October denied any involvement in the purchase of 12 second-hand
helicopters from South Africa, Romanian media reported. The denial came
two days after ARMSCOR, the military equipment state agency in
Johannesburg, said the helicopters were ordered by the Romanian
government. The South African police launched an investigation into
reported financial irregularities in the transaction. The Romanian
government said the helicopters were ordered by the Brasov-based IAR
company, which intended to overhaul and re-export them. The Romanian
Defense Ministry also denied any involvement in the transaction. --
Matyas Szabo
[6] ROMANIAN STUDENTS ARE OPTIMISTIC BUT CONTINUE PROTESTS.
Cristian Urse,
leader of the Bucharest University Students League, on 24 October told
Radio Bucharest that he was "optimistic" about the outcome of
negotiations with the authorities on the students' demands. But he added
that the protests will continue in order to make sure that the
government honors its commitments. Government's secretary-general Viorel
Hrebenciuc told representatives of the striking students that the
authorities would meet their demands. The main bone of contention
remains students' proposals for amendments to the recently adopted
education law. In a veiled reference to the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania, Senate chairman Oliviu Gherman suggested that
changing the text of the education law might lead to a "Pandora's box of
revisions." He proposed that the students' claims be addressed in a
separate piece of legislation. -- Dan Ionescu
[7] MOLDOVAN STUDENTS TO SUSPEND PROTESTS?
Students and university teachingstaff continued their protests in Chisinau on 24 October by staging a
march in which workers and pensioners also participated, Infotag
reported. BASA-press later announced that student leaders had decided to
suspend indefinitely the protests beginning 25 October, following
negotiations with an ad hoc presidential commission. According to
Professor Anatol Petrencu, the leader of the strike committee, a final
decision is to be taken at a meeting on 25 October. -- Dan Ionescu
[8] BULGARIA REFUSES TO SHUT DOWN NUCLEAR REACTOR . . .
Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Trade Kiril Tsochev on 24 October said Bulgaria
will not temporarily shut down Reactor No. 1 at the Kozloduy nuclear
power plant, RFE/RL and Reuters reported the same day. The EU had handed
over a formal proposal urging Bulgaria to do so and had offered to
compensate the country with energy supplies. After meeting with the EU
environmental ministers during the Environment for Europe conference in
Sofia, Tsochev said it is "technically difficult" to ensure electricity
supplies from the EU to Bulgaria "for the whole winter." He added there
was no written offer from the EU. -- Stefan Krause
[9] . . . BUT RECEIVES $103 MILLION ENVIRONMENT LOAN FROM WORLD BANK.
World
Bank Vice President Rachel Lomax on 24 October said Bulgaria will
receive the Bank's first-ever loan for environmental purposes, AFP
reported the same day. Some $93 million are intended for upgrading the
country's electricity distribution system and $10 million for
reconstructing its polluting heavy industry. The World Bank will not
reward Bulgaria if it shuts down the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Lomax
said. Meanwhile, Kontinent on 24 October reported that Switzerland
agreed to write off Bulgarian debts totaling 20 million Swiss francs
($17.7 million), which Bulgaria will invest in ecological projects
instead. -- Stefan Krause
[10] FORMER ALBANIAN LAND OWNERS WANT 1945 LAND REFORM REVOKED.
More than
260,000 former land owners have signed a petition demanding that the
1945 land reform be revoked. The petition was organized by the Right
League of Albania, an organization made up of right wing parties, and
the Organization of Former Land Owners of Albania, the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung reported on 24 October. Since 1992, about 95% of the
country's farmland has been divided among the country's peasants. The
former owners received financial compensation. The Constitutional court
rejected their claims to their land last week. The organizers of the
petition said they will take the case to the European Court of Justice.
-- Fabian Schmidt
[11] EU COMMISSION DROPS CASE AGAINST GREECE.
The European Commission on 24
October withdrew its legal action against Greece over Athens' trade
embargo on Macedonia, Reuters reported the same day. A spokesman in
Brussels said legal action was taken in April 1994 to pressure Greece to
lift the embargo, which it imposed in February 1994. He added that there
are now "sufficient signs" that the embargo has been lifted. Greek
officials earlier had demanded that legal proceedings continue in the
hope that the European Court of Justice would rule in its favor. --
Stefan Krause
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
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