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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 224, 16 November 1995
CONTENTS
[1] CROATIA CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING ACCUSED WAR CRIMINAL. "
[2] TUDJMAN LEAVES DAYTON.
[3] U.S. REPORTER TELLS OF MORE MASS GRAVES.
[4] OGATA SAYS REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES MAY START IN SPRING.
[5] NATO COMMANDER VISITS SARAJEVO.
[6] SERBS STAND FIRM ON PARTITION OF BOSNIA.
[7] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY ENGAGED IN MANEUVERS.
[8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN FRANCE.
[9] HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR EVALUATES TIES WITH ROMANIA.
[10] SNEGUR'S PARTY PLEDGES TO PULL MOLDOVA OUT OF CRISIS.
[11] BULGARIAN LAW ON PRIVATIZATION FUNDS MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH PARLIAMENT.
[12] U.S. SPY PLANE MISSION SUSPENDED DURING WINTER.
[13] ALBANIAN DESERTER RECEIVES FIVE-MONTH JAIL TERM.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 224, Part II, 16 November 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] CROATIA CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING ACCUSED WAR CRIMINAL.
"I hope there is
an innocent explanation. It's difficult to imagine one," said South
African Judge Richard Goldstone in Washington. He was commenting on
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's promotion of General Tihomir Blaskic
just one day after Blaskic was indicted for war crimes by Goldstone's
tribunal in the Hague. AFP on 15 November also quoted a court spokesman
as saying that the promotion and transfer of Blaskic from Bosnia to
Croatia will make it easier to arrest him. U.S. Ambassador Peter
Galbraith called on Croatia to hand over all six men whom the tribunal
indicted. In Dayton, Ohio, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns
warned the Croats that "their ability to participate in international
organizations will be affected by their inclination to cooperate or not
with the tribunal." -- Patrick Moore
[2] TUDJMAN LEAVES DAYTON.
The Croatian president has again left the peace
talks in Ohio for Zagreb, although this time Hina gave no reason. It is
unclear if there is any connection between his departure on the 15th and
the Blaskic case (see "Top Story" above). AFP reported that Secretary of
State Warren Christopher did not raise the issue with Tudjman when they
met the previous day but that U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke would do
so. Other international agencies said that before leaving Tudjman signed
an agreement with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Croat-Muslim
Federation President Kresimir Zubak to help 20,000 Muslim refugees loyal
to deposed Bihac pocket kingpin Fikret Abdic to go home. Zubak also
issued a statement saying that the Bosnian Croats will not give up any
territory in the Posavina region enabling the Serbs to widen their
supply corridor, Vecernji list reported on 16 November. -- Patrick Moore
[3] U.S. REPORTER TELLS OF MORE MASS GRAVES.
David Rohde, the journalist
from the Christian Science Monitor whom Bosnian Serbs took prisoner on
29 October and held for ten days, says there are more fresh burial sites
in eastern Bosnia. He told a news agency on 15 November that he found
two graves large enough to hold 1,000 people in Sahanici before the
Serbs captured him. Rohde also spoke of an additional site but added
that the Serbs are "tampering with the evidence." Rohde has interviewed
survivors and reported extensively on the massacre of mainly Muslim male
civilians from Srebrenica in July, from which some 8,500 people remain
unaccounted for. -- Patrick Moore
[4] OGATA SAYS REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES MAY START IN SPRING.
UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, after meeting with other senior
UN officials to discuss post-war repatriation and human rights programs
in former Yugoslavia, said the region's refugees may be able to return
to their homes in the spring if political agreement is reached by the
end of the year, Reuters reported on 14 November. She also estimated
that two years and some $500 million were necessary to repatriate the 3
million or so displaced people from former Yugoslavia. The UNHCR
foresees three stages for the repatriation program, beginning with the
1.3 million displaced people within Bosnia. The second stage would focus
on the return of the 820,000 displaced people from other ex-Yugoslav
republics, and the third stage on the repatriation of the 700,000
refugees now in Western Europe. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[5] NATO COMMANDER VISITS SARAJEVO.
General Michael Walker, the commander of
NATO's Rapid Reaction Corps, held talks with top Bosnian military and
civilian officials in Sarajevo on 15 November to discuss NATO's possible
deployment in the former Yugoslav republic, Reuters reported the same
day. Walker would be the commander of 60,000 NATO ground forces expected
to replace UN troops in Bosnia if a final peace agreement is reached. A
NATO source described his visit to Bosnia as "routine [reconnaissance]
for planning purposes." Walker met with General Rasim Delic, commander
of the Bosnian army, and Vice President Ejup Ganic, who urged him to get
actively involved in Bosnia's problems in order not to repeat the UN's
mistakes. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[6] SERBS STAND FIRM ON PARTITION OF BOSNIA.
While peace talks in Dayton
continue under much secrecy--with some media reports suggesting that a
breakthrough is imminent and others contending the talks may be on the
verge of collapse--the Serb side appears to be pressing demands that may
preclude a just peace agreement being reached. Nasa Borba on 16 November
reported that the Serbian delegation continues to lobby for at least a
de facto partition of Bosnia, the division of Sarajevo, access to the
sea for the Republic of Srpska, and "the return of territories in
western Bosnia." -- Stan Markotich
[7] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY ENGAGED IN MANEUVERS.
AFP and Tanjug on 15 November
reported that troops from the rump Yugoslavia are engaged in maneuvers
in Montenegro's Mount Golija region. The purpose of the exercises is for
"the units to carry out complex operations." Official reports stress
that units have demonstrated a "high level of motivation and ability, in
difficult weather conditions." -- Stan Markotich
[8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN FRANCE.
Ion Iliescu, on an official visit to
France, met with his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, on 15 November,
Radio Bucharest and Western agencies reported. The two leaders discussed
a program for bilateral economic cooperation aimed at encouraging trade
and investments. Iliescu is scheduled to attend ceremonies marking
UNESCO's 50th anniversary on 16 November. Romanian Culture Minister
Viorel Marginean, Education Minister Liviu Maior, and Science and
Technology Minister Doru Dumitru Palade joined the Romanian delegation
in Paris to take part in the ceremonies. -- Dan Ionescu
[9] HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR EVALUATES TIES WITH ROMANIA.
Hungarian ambassador
to Romania Ferenc Szocs said at a 15 November press conference in
Bucharest that Hungary is prepared to respond next month to Iliescu's
call for a "historic reconciliation" and that negotiations may begin in
January, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. He added that Hungary will
ask for three joint commissions to be set up to negotiate a Hungarian-
Romanian basic treaty, a political declaration on intergovernmental
agreements, and another document on minority rights. -- Matyas Szabo
[10] SNEGUR'S PARTY PLEDGES TO PULL MOLDOVA OUT OF CRISIS.
The Party of
Revival and Conciliation in Moldova (PRCM), which supports President
Mircea Snegur, has declared itself the main force capable of pulling
Moldova out of its current economic and political crisis, Infotag and
BASA-press reported on 15 November. Snegur, who presided over a meeting
of the PRCM Executive Board the previous day, noted that reforms were
losing momentum and poverty was becoming more widespread. He stressed
that most public sector employees have not received wages for months.
Senior PRCM officials warned that "social unrest might arise" if the
parliament fails to approve Snegur's initiative to change the name of
the state language in the constitution. The PRCM was set up in July by
Snegur loyalists who quit the ruling Agrarian Democratic Party of
Moldova. -- Dan Ionescu
[11] BULGARIAN LAW ON PRIVATIZATION FUNDS MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH PARLIAMENT.
Bulgarian deputies on 15 November adopted on its first reading the
chapter of the Law on Privatization Funds dealing with control over
those funds, Pari reported the next day. The law is a key component of
Bulgaria's Czech-inspired mass privatization campaign. The Council of
Minister's Commission on Licensing of Funds will be able to confiscate
the licenses of funds found to violate the law, although only the
executive board can be fined (not the fund itself). A fund may transform
itself into a holding or investment company six months after the final
auction. Kalin Mitrev, executive director of the Center for Mass
Privatization, noted that citizens can register to take part in the
privatization process one week after the law's proclamation.
Registration will last three months, while the transfer of vouchers will
take one month. Auctions will then take place over eight months. --
Michael Wyzan
[12] U.S. SPY PLANE MISSION SUSPENDED DURING WINTER.
Koha Jone on 16 November
reported that the U.S. has suspended unmanned reconnaissance flights
over Bosnia. The three "Predator" spy planes that have been stationed at
the Gjader airbase in Albania since July have reduced their number of
flights recently. U.S. officials said plane missions cannot be conducted
during the winter months, but they did not rule out the possibility that
they might begin again next year, depending on the situation in Bosnia.
-- Fabian Schmidt
[13] ALBANIAN DESERTER RECEIVES FIVE-MONTH JAIL TERM.
Maiko Zace, an Albanian
sargeant who deserted his unit during a joint military exercise with
U.S. troops in Louisiana this summer, has been sentenced to five months
in prison by a military court, Zeri I Popullit reported on 16 November.
The exercise, codenamed "Eagle of Peace," was aimed at creating an
Albanian unit that could participate in future UN peacekeeping missions.
Five other soldiers who deserted the unit--two journalists from the
military newspaper Ushtria dhe Koha, one medical doctor, and two
squadron commanders--are still in the U.S. Albania is demanding their
extradiction. -- Fabian Schmidt
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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