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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 218, 8 November 1995
CONTENTS
[1] SERBS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA READY TO FIGHT.
[2] KARADZIC'S "CONTRIBUTION" TO PEACE TALKS?
[3] UNHCR WORRIES ABOUT PLIGHT OF REFUGEES.
[4] CROATIA GETS NEW GOVERNMENT.
[5] ROMANIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES AMENDS EDUCATION LAW.
[6] HUNGARIAN TV BROADCASTS BANNED IN ROMANIA.
[7] CHINA TO OPEN MARKET TO ROMANIAN PRODUCTS.
[8] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES GOVERNMENT REPORT.
[9] ETHNIC TURKISH PARTY IN BULGARIA CLAIMS POLICE THREATENED ITS VOTERS.
[10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT COMPLAINS HE WAS CENSORED ON TV.
[11] UPDATE ON ALBANIAN BOMB ATTACK.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 218, Part II, 8 November 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] SERBS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA READY TO FIGHT.
Serb-held eastern Slavonia
returns to the agenda at the Dayton peace conference following the local
Serbs' rejection of the latest proposal by international mediators. AFP
on 7 November said that the issue "could become the linchpin of an
overall solution to the Balkan crisis." The Serbs wrote UN Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros Ghali that the proposed plan offered them only
the choice of "losing their identity or leaving the region." Reuters
reported that the Serbs are still willing to talk, but their demand for
a referendum is unacceptable to Zagreb. "The morale of our soldiers is
high," Major-General Dusan Loncar, commander of Serbian forces in
eastern Slavonia, told a news conference in Vukovar. He added that "no
one should be in any doubt about their willingness to fight." Earlier
this year, Serbian forces in western Slavonia and in Krajina melted away
before advancing Croatian troops. -- Patrick Moore
[2] KARADZIC'S "CONTRIBUTION" TO PEACE TALKS?
SRNA reported on 7 Novemberthat Bosnian Serbs are continuing to hold David Rhode, a correspondent
for The Christian Science Monitor, who investigated the Serbian
massacres of Muslim male civilians at Srebrenica. He was charged with
illegal entry into Serbian territory and with falsifying documents, but
now he is also accused of "the most serious form of espionage," which
carries a jail sentence of between three to 15 years. SRNA added,
however, that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has received an
appeal from Rhode's father and "is considering the possibility of
pardoning [the journalist] as a sign of good will and as a contribution
to the peace talks in Dayton." Meanwhile, the rift between Karadzic and
his military continues. Politika on 8 November reported that a top
Bosnian Serb commander, General Manojlo Milovanovic, has publicly called
Pale "the only government in history that attacks its own army." --
Patrick Moore
[3] UNHCR WORRIES ABOUT PLIGHT OF REFUGEES.
A UNHCR spokesman in Sarajevo
called the Croatian authorities' "voluntary" return of 11,000 refugees
to western and northwestern parts of Bosnia a forcible relocation
motivated by political and military reasons, AFP reported on 7 November.
Mainly Croats evicted from Serb-held northern Bosnia were resettled to
territories recaptured by allied forces in September and October, thus
creating "ethnically pure ghettos, which is a total mockery of the
commitments to multiethnicity." Accusing the Croatian government of
ignoring international criticism about human rights abuses, a draft UN
resolution has been amended to warn the Croats, AFP reported the next
day. The UNHCR also says that Muslims and Croats recently evicted from
their homes around Banja Luka by the Serbs are forced to sleep in the
open, despite heavy snow, Reuters reported on 7 November. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[4] CROATIA GETS NEW GOVERNMENT.
Croatian and international media on 7
November reported that Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa has announced his
new cabinet, which he called "a government of continuity." Foreign
Minister Mate Granic and Defense Minister Gojko Susak both keep their
jobs. The only changes are at the ministries of the economy, culture,
agriculture, and justice, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted the
following day. Matesa's predecessor, Nikica Valentic, reportedly
resigned mainly for personal reasons. He is credited with bringing down
the annual inflation rate from 2,000% to 2%, as well as with doubling
the average monthly wage from about DM 250 to DM 500. Croatia has a
presidential system of government, and prime ministers have changed
fairly frequently under President Franjo Tudjman. -- Patrick Moore
[5] ROMANIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES AMENDS EDUCATION LAW.
The Chamber of
Deputies on 7 November approved several amendments to the education law.
Cristian Urse, leader of the Students' League at Bucharest University,
told Romanian TV that the amendments do not meet all the students'
demands. He said some taxes to which the students object have been
retained, campus premises have not been declared out of bounds for
police authorities, and their demand for representation on the
universities' councils and senates has been rejected. The students, Urse
said, are now waiting for the Senate to pass its own version of the
amended law. If their demands are not met in that version either, they
will resume protest actions, he warned. -- Michael Shafir
[6] HUNGARIAN TV BROADCASTS BANNED IN ROMANIA.
Hungarian media on 8 November
reported that Romania's National Media Council has decided to ban
broadcasts by Duna TV, a Hungarian satellite program on cable network.
The head of the council told ethnic Hungarian deputy Ferenc Baranyi that
no license will be issued to cable television companies "for a certain
period of time." He said that according to information received by the
council, Duna TV broadcasts create suspicion between ethnic minorities
and the majority and are capable of "whipping up artificial tension." --
Zsofia Szilagyi
[7] CHINA TO OPEN MARKET TO ROMANIAN PRODUCTS.
Hu Jintao, a member of the
Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, has said in Bucharest that
China will give priority to the import of Romanian products, Romanian
media reported on 7 November. The Chinese delegation was received by
Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu and President Ion Iliescu. Iliescu
said economic ties between the two countries could be further expanded
and that bilateral trade could reach some $1 billion per year. -- Matyas
Szabo
[8] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES GOVERNMENT REPORT.
The Moldovan parliament
on 7 November approved the government's report on its activities between
April 1994 and September 1995, Radio Bucharest reported the same day.
Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli said the executive was successful in
ensuring macroeconomic stability, improving the tax system, and
expanding foreign trade. Over 1,200 enterprises were privatized,
together with 70% of state-owned housing, Sangheli said. -- Michael
Shafir
[9] ETHNIC TURKISH PARTY IN BULGARIA CLAIMS POLICE THREATENED ITS VOTERS.
The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS) on 6 November
accused the police of threatening its voters in the town of Kardzhali,
Standart reported the following day. DPS deputy Remzi Osman said police
threatened party members and told them not to be "too active" in the
local elections run-off. The DPS candidate in Kardzhali is leading the
field after the first round. Police said the accusations are unfounded
and that they were only making "routine controls." Meanwhile, five
people admitted that they have received money from DPS activists. A DPS
spokesman said that the party distributed money to "socially weak
families." -- Stefan Krause in Sofia
[10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT COMPLAINS HE WAS CENSORED ON TV.
Zhelyu Zhelev said
his statement expressing his outrage over the assassination of Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was censored by state-run TV, 24 chasa
reported on 7 November. Zhelev said he made the statement in his
capacity as head of state and thus no editor or media chief has the
right to cut his statements. The president called the incident "a
scandal" and said it was a sign that there is censorship on Bulgarian
TV. One minute was cut from Zhelev's three-minute statement. The
president has not yet decided whether he will appeal to the
Constitutional Court about the matter. -- Stefan Krause in Sofia
[11] UPDATE ON ALBANIAN BOMB ATTACK.
Nikolle Lesi, chief editor of Koha Jone,
who survived a bomb attack on his house in Lezha on 1 November, has met
with Attorney-General Alush Dragoshi and Deputy Interior Minister Agim
Shehu, Koha Jone reported on 8 November. Dragoshi and Shehu assured Lesi
of their determination to speed up the investigation into the attack.
Meanwhile, Neritan Ceka, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance,
discussed with Dragoshi the role of the Prosecutor-General's Office, the
secret service, and other state bodies in the upcoming elections.
According to Ceka, the discussion focused on the relationship between
the state and opposition journalists. -- 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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