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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 214, 2 November 1995
CONTENTS
[1] BALKAN PEACE TALKS OPEN. U.S.
[2] DID CHIRAC PREVENT NATO AIR RAIDS IN SREBRENICA . . .
[3] . . . BUT ONLY AFTER SECURITY COUNCIL REACHED AGREEMENT?
[4] BOSNIAN SERBS HAND OVER EVIDENCE TO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.
[5] SERBIAN POLICE RAIDS IN KOSOVO.
[6] MACEDONIA ADMITTED TO PHARE PROGRAM.
[7] ROMANIAN REACTIONS TO BISHOP TOKES' "ALTERNATIVE RECONCILIATION" PROPOSALS.
[8] LEADER OF ROMANIAN EXTREMIST PARTY RESIGNS.
[9] BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION COUNCIL IN CHISINAU.
[10] ZHIRINOVSKY'S PARTY TO SUPPORT TRANSDNIESTRIAN INDEPENDENCE.
[11] TOP JUDGES SAY NO "VACUUM" IN BULGARIA'S LEGAL SYSTEM.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 214, Part II, 2 November 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BALKAN PEACE TALKS OPEN. U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher and
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke on 1 November convened
peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, bringing together Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, and Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic, international media report. Before the talks,
Holbrooke stressed at least a measure of success was imperative, as
failure may prove costly. "If we don't succeed, the war will resume and
it will resume at a higher level," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Christopher has said that any peace accord must enshrine four
basic principles: Bosnia's existence as a single state; a special status
for the capital, Sarajevo; protection of human rights and the bringing
to justice of those involved in war crimes and atrocities; and the
return to Croatian jurisdiction of rebel Serb-held Slavonia. -- Stan
Markotich
[2] DID CHIRAC PREVENT NATO AIR RAIDS IN SREBRENICA . . .
Die Tageszeitung
on 1 November carried a story, based on UN and French sources close to
the government, saying that on French President Jacques Chirac's orders,
UN commander General Bernard Janvier did not authorize air raids to
prevent the fall of Srebrenica. The paper said that Janvier rejected
five requests by the Dutch peacekeepers in Srebrenica for air support
after the Bosnian Serbs started attacking the town on 6 July. Die
Tageszeitung further said that Chirac gave the order not to fly air
raids at the beginning of July, even before the Serbian offensive, and
that the French and U.S. secret services were aware of Serbian plans. --
Fabian Schmidt
[3] . . . BUT ONLY AFTER SECURITY COUNCIL REACHED AGREEMENT?
At a UNSecurity Council meeting on 24 May, the three Contact Group members
Britain, France, and Russia called for abandoning Srebrenica Zepa and
Gorazde and the U.S. and Germany "tacitly consented," AFP and Die
Tagezeitung reported on 1 November. The French government has declined
to comment. Meanwhile, the rump Yugoslav government denied reports in
The Washington Post on 29 October saying that its troops were involved
in the conquest of Srebrenica. It also denied the existence of prison
camps for Bosnian Muslims on rump Yugoslav territory. -- Fabian Schmidt
[4] BOSNIAN SERBS HAND OVER EVIDENCE TO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.
The Association
Of Camp Detainees 1991 handed over dossiers, based on testimony given by
10 victims and witnesses to the International War Crimes Tribunal at The
Hague. The association says the documents reportedly attest to the
killing of 60 Serbs and the torture of many more. They also name "10 to
20 perpetrators," including "very high officials of the Bosnian and
Croatian governments," AFP reported on 1 November. -- Fabian Schmidt
[5] SERBIAN POLICE RAIDS IN KOSOVO.
Serbian police, including those from the
economics section, raided ethnic Albanian homes and shops in various
towns throughout October on the pretext of searching for arms, Kosova
Daily Report said on 1 November. According to Kosovar shadow-state
sources, police maltreated 34 Albanians in Urosevac alone and severely
beat up seven others. The government claims that the Serbian police
raided shadow-state schools and universities and "almost every Albanian-
owned shop and firm [in Urosevac] and the surrounding villages." --
Fabian Schmidt
[6] MACEDONIA ADMITTED TO PHARE PROGRAM.
The Foreign Ministers Committee of
the European Union has accepted the EU Commission's recommendation to
admit Macedonia to the PHARE program, Macedonian Radio reported on 1
November. The move was announced during a two-day visit to Macedonia by
a European Parliament delegation. The 13 September Greek-Macedonian
agreement has removed the last obstacle to Macedonia's admission, which
should unlock considerable financial assistance for the country. --
Michael Wyzan
[7] ROMANIAN REACTIONS TO BISHOP TOKES' "ALTERNATIVE RECONCILIATION" PROPOSALS.
Reacting to Reformed Bishop Lazslo Tokes' "alternative
proposal" for a Romanian-Hungarian reconciliation (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 1 November 1995), presidential spokesman Traian Chebeleu said
that the honorary chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of
Romania "lacks credibility" because of his repeated "anti-Romanian
attitudes" and his spreading "lies" abroad about the situation of the
Hungarian minority. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mircea Geoana told a
press conference in Bucharest that Tokes' proposal shows he was
demanding autonomy based on ethnic criteria, which, he said, is rejected
by all European states and "undermines stability in our region," Radio
Bucharest and Reuters reported. -- Michael Shafir
[8] LEADER OF ROMANIAN EXTREMIST PARTY RESIGNS.
Mircea Hamza, a deputy
chairman of the extremist Greater Romania Party (PRM), has resigned his
post. In an open letter to PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor published in
Evenimentul zilei on 2 November, Hamza said the PRM started out as a
patriotic party but has turned into one displaying "grotesque wholesale
attitudes against Hungarians, Jews, and Gypsies." Hamza denounced
Tudor's attacks on Romania's efforts to become integrated into European
structures, saying that "by implication" this amounts to opting for "the
zone represented by Russia." He added that Tudor has "blindly and
grossly" attacked President Ion Iliescu, thereby insulting all Romanians
who voted for him. -- Michael Shafir
[9] BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION COUNCIL IN CHISINAU.
A meeting of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council in Chisinau on 1 November decided
to speed up efforts to set up a Black Sea Trade and Development Bank.
The meeting was supposed to be attended by the foreign ministers of
member states, but only those from Moldova and Romania (which has taken
over the chairmanship for the next six months) were present; the
remaining countries sent their deputy foreign ministers, Infotag
reported on 1 November. The decision to set up the bank was taken in
early 1995 but has been ratified only by Albania and Greece. It was
agreed that Greece, Turkey and Russia will have 16.5% of the shares
each; Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria 13.5% each, and the remaining five
countries 2% each. -- Michael Shafir
[10] ZHIRINOVSKY'S PARTY TO SUPPORT TRANSDNIESTRIAN INDEPENDENCE.
Visiting
Russian State Duma deputy Nina Krivelskaya, addressing the parliament of
the breakaway Transdniestrian region, said that the Russian Liberal
Democratic Party, headed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky will offer all possible
assistance in promoting the recognition of Transdniestrian independence,
Infotag reported on 1 November. Krivelskaya, who is heading an
unofficial delegation of the State Duma, said her party's goal was to
restore a "unified state" within the "borders of the former Czarist
Russian Empire." Meanwhile, the Transdniestrian parliament on 1 November
voted to hold a referendum on joining the CIS, Infotag reported the same
day. The referendum will be held jointly with the parliamentary
elections, scheduled for 24 December. Voters will also be asked to
approve the recently passed Transdniestrian constitution. -- Michael
Shafir
[11] TOP JUDGES SAY NO "VACUUM" IN BULGARIA'S LEGAL SYSTEM.
The
Constitutional Court on 31 October ruled that there is no "vacuum" in
the country's legal system, 24 chasa reported the following day. The
court decided that if a law is declared unconstitutional, the previous
version of that law is to become valid again. In cases where there are
no earlier versions, the law is to be regarded as invalid, The judges
had been asked to rule on the question by Prosecutor-General Ivan
Tatarchev, who wanted to know the practical consequences of declaring a
law unconstitutional. -- Stefan Krause in Sofia
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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