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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 222, 14 November 1995
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS SAY KARADZIC WILL STAY ON.
[2] CROATS WORRIED ABOUT EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[3] SERBIAN RADICAL DENOUNCES MILOSEVIC.
[4] SERBIAN OPPOSITION DIVIDED.
[5] MONTENEGRIN JOURNALIST ARRESTED.
[6] ROMANIA'S KING MICHAEL REFUSED ENTRY VISA.
[7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN EGYPT.
[8] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT, DEPUTIES DISCUSS LANGUAGE ISSUE.
[9] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DELINQUENCY IN CHISINAU.
[10] INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED INTO BULGARIAN TV BOSS.
[11] FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE LEAVES ALBANIA.
[12] ALBANIAN JOURNALISTS PROTEST PRESSURE ON MEDIA.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 222, Part II, 14 November 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS SAY KARADZIC WILL STAY ON.
The Pale leadership
issued a statement to SRNA denying reports that its civilian and
military leaders will resign in a deal to escape prosecution for war
crimes. AFP on 14 November quoted the text as saying that "President
[Radovan] Karadzic is president of the Serbian Democratic Party, a
powerful political force, and even if he wanted to, he could not retire
from politics because of his party obligations. The resignation of
General [Ratko] Mladic is also ruled out and cannot be demanded by
anyone from the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina or the international
community." Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns
noted that "there's no question in our minds that Mr. Karadzic and
General Mladic, as leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, are responsible,
individually, for the massacres at Srebrenica and Zepa, for the
massacres at Banja Luka and for many, many other massacres in years
past." -- Patrick Moore
[2] CROATS WORRIED ABOUT EASTERN SLAVONIA.
Praise has come from U.S.
President Bill Clinton, as well as from Belgrade and Moscow, for the
peace agreement on eastern Slavonia (see OMRI Daily Digest, 13 November
1995), but many Croats are not happy. AFP on 14 November reported that
some refugees fear that Serbs who chased them from their homes will now
be able to stay and consolidate their demographic and political
positions. "Once more, we have been sacrificed by our president {Franjo
Tudjman}," grumbled one man. "He's the one that should be sent to live
there with the Serbs who massacred us." Local Croatian kingpin Branimir
Glavas told Reuters on 13 November that he sees trouble ahead if the
Serbs try to establish their own fiefdom. Vjesnik reported the next day
that the Serbs have pumped out at least half a million tons of oil from
the area since they took it in 1991. -- Patrick Moore
[3] SERBIAN RADICAL DENOUNCES MILOSEVIC.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung on 14
November reported that ultranationalist leader of the opposition Serbian
Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Seselj has denounced Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic for presiding over what he called the greatest defeat
of Serbia since the massive battlefield losses inflicted by the Ottoman
armies at Kosovo Polje in 1389. Seselj was referring to Milosevic's
recent role in the Dayton talks. He described the president's
participation in drawing up a pact that may provide for transferring
rebel Serb-held parts of eastern Slavonia to Croatian control as one of
the "biggest-ever sell-outs" of Serbian national interests. Nasa Borba
on 14 November quotes the SRS leader as suggesting that no part of
Serbia is safe from Milosevic and that "next in line are the Republic of
Srpska, Montenegro, Kosovo, Sandzak and Vojvodina." -- Stan Markotich
[4] SERBIAN OPPOSITION DIVIDED.
Nasa Borba on 14 November reported that
recent efforts by the Serbian opposition Democratic Party (DS) to forge
an alliance with the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) are floundering.
The larger DS alleges that two mainstream "democratic" parties are
fragmenting the electorate and thereby weakening the opposition vis-a-
vis the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia. But Milorad Jovanovic,
spokesman for the DSS, urged the DS to concentrate on unifying its own
membership before talking about unity with other parties. Despite
describing themselves as "democratic," both the DS and DSS have curried
favor with accused war criminal and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic. -- Stan Markotich
[5] MONTENEGRIN JOURNALIST ARRESTED.
Montena-fax on 10 November reported
that Vladimir Jovanovic, a journalist for the Montenegrin independent
weekly Monitor, has been barred from leaving the country to attend a
media workshop in Ljubljana. He has been detained on charges of having
false documents. Reporters without Borders wrote a letter of protest to
Milosevic in which they expressed the suspicion that Jovanovic has been
arrested because of his statement suggesting that the attempted
assassination of the Macedonian president was orchestrated by Serbian,
Russian, and Bulgarian mafias, Beta reported on 11 November. -- Daria
Sito Sucic
[6] ROMANIA'S KING MICHAEL REFUSED ENTRY VISA.
Romania's exiled King Michael
has been refused an entry visa to attend the funeral of opposition
leader Corneliu Coposu, Radio Bucharest reported on 13 November.
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said Michael would be granted
a visa only if he unequivocally recognized Romania's current
constitutional order. Michael's wife, Ana de Bourbon Parma, and one of
their daughters, Princess Margareta arrived in Bucharest the same day.
Michael, who was forced into exile in 1947, has been allowed to visit
his native country only once (in 1992) since the demise of the communist
regime. -- Matyas Szabo
[7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN EGYPT.
Romanian President Ion Iliescu on 13
November began a two-day official visit to Egypt, Romanian and Western
media reported. He met with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, to
discuss ways to boost bilateral political and economic relations. They
also discussed the situation in the former Yugoslavia and the prospects
for NATO's expansion in Eastern Europe. Iliescu is also scheduled to
debate the conflict in Bosnia with the head of the Cairo-based Arab
League, Esmat Abdel Meguid. Also on 13 November, Romania and Egypt
signed three protocols on cooperation in foreign affairs, health, and
labor. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa told journalists that Egypt
hoped to double the volume of its trade with Romania to $1 billion in
the coming years. -- Dan Ionescu
[8] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT, DEPUTIES DISCUSS LANGUAGE ISSUE.
Mircea Snegur on 13
November discussed with a group of deputies his legislative initiative
to amend the constitution to state that the country's official language
is Romanian, BASA-press and Infotag reported. Snegur rejected
accusations that he was driven by political ambitions when he launched
the initiative in April. He also made clear that he opposed the idea of
a referendum on the language issue. Most of the deputies attending the
meeting supported his standpoint and spoke out in favor of a compromise.
-- Dan Ionescu
[9] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DELINQUENCY IN CHISINAU.
An international
conference on crime and public security in the Black Sea region ended in
Chisinau on 11 November, BASA-press and Radio Bucharest reported. The
participants--who included including experts from the region as well as
from Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S.--discussed the social problems
that have arisen from "post-Soviet militarism." They also considered the
risk of the region becoming a buffer zone between the Balkans and flash
points east of the Black Sea. The participants appealed to the countries
surrounding the Black Sea to create a regional security system. --
Matyas Szabo
[10] INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED INTO BULGARIAN TV BOSS.
An investigation has been
launched into the activities of Ivan Granitski, director-general of
Bulgarian National TV, Demokratsiya reported on 11 November. The Union
of Democratic Forces has accused Granitski of repeatedly denying its
representatives access to air time and has asked that he be suspended
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 17 October 1995). Deputy Prosecutor-General
Vladislav Spasov confirmed that an investigation has begun, saying there
is already enough material to prove Granitski violated the provisional
statute on the state-run media. Granitski could be dismissed legal
proceedings get under way. If convicted, he would face up to five years
in prison. -- Stefan Krause
[11] FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE LEAVES ALBANIA.
Zef Brozi, the former head of
the Albanian Supreme Court, has left Albania for the U.S., the newspaper
Albania reported on 14 November. In September, Brozi was dismissed by
the parliament, despite the lack of a quorum. He was replaced by his
deputy, Avni Shehu. Since then, Brozi has expressed fears of political
persecution. Albania speculates that Brozi took the decision to leave
the country after police surrounded his house on 4 November and
confiscated his diplomatic passport. The paper also quotes him as saying
that "the state is preparing something against me." Meanwhile, ATSH
quotes Shehu as saying that the courts "have never before been more
independent than now." -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] ALBANIAN JOURNALISTS PROTEST PRESSURE ON MEDIA.
The Albanian Association
of Professional Journalists on 11 November issued a statement expressing
concern about the frequent pressure put on journalists by the judiciary
and other public bodies. The association reported cases of journalists
who, it claimed, have been illegally detained by the police. It appealed
to the government to take measures against the "repression on the
freedom of press and journalists." In particular, the association
mentioned Blendi Fevziu, chief editor of Aleanca, who has been charged
with slander for linking the head of the State Control Commission to a
corruption affair. It also charged that the police has not properly
investigated the bombing of Koha Jone chief editor Nikolle Lesi's house
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 3 and 7 November 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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