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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 236, 6 December 1995
CONTENTS
[1] NATO MINISTERS BACK BOSNIA PLAN.
[2] MILOSEVIC TO DUMP KARADZIC SOON?
[3] UN WORKING TO REASSURE SARAJEVO SERBS.
[4] DEEP DIVISION WITHIN RANKS OF SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTY?
[5] BUKOSHI INSISTS ON INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO.
[6] BATTLE OVER ZAGREB ASSEMBLY CONTINUES.
[7] WINTER HAVOC IN ROMANIA.
[8] MOLDOVA, U.S. SIGN MEMORANDUM ON MILITARY COOPERATION.
[9] CONTINUED TENSIONS OVER ETHNIC TURKISH MAYOR IN BULGARIA.
[10] BULGARIA TO INTRODUCE VISA APPLICATION FEE.
[11] ALBANIAN CHIEF EDITOR FINED $2,000.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 236, Part II, 6 December 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] NATO MINISTERS BACK BOSNIA PLAN.
NATO foreign and defense ministers,
meeting together for the first time since 1979, endorsed on 5 December
the plan to send 60,000 troops to Bosnia, Western agencies reported. All
NATO countries and at least 14 non-NATO countries (Austria, the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and Ukraine) are expected to
participate. Talks are continuing with Bangladesh, Egypt, and Malaysia.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said NATO forces will
apprehend war crime suspects "if they do something to obstruct the
process" of ensuring peace in Bosnia, but he added NATO will not seek
them out. Meanwhile, the British Defense Secretary Malcolm Rifkind
echoed French concerns by noting that "practical measures" should be
taken to meet the concerns of the Bosnian Serbs in Sarajevo, which has
been assigned to the Bosnian-Croat federation. -- Michael Mihalka
[2] MILOSEVIC TO DUMP KARADZIC SOON?
Beta on 5 December quoted Bosnian Serbsources as saying that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will oust
Radovan Karadzic from the Bosnian Serb leadership around the time of the
Paris conference, which is slated for 14 December. The peace accord
prohibits indicted war criminals like Karadzic and his military
commander Ratko Mladic from holding public office. Milosevic is obliged
to carry out the agreement. Speculation on a successor for Karadzic
centers on the Banja Luka leadership and on Karadzic's vice-president,
Nikola Koljevic. The latter is a professor who is often portrayed as a
moderate but whom former U.S. Ambassador Warren Zimmermann described in
Foreign Affairs as "directing artillery fire on the civilian population
of Sarajevo." -- Patrick Moore
[3] UN WORKING TO REASSURE SARAJEVO SERBS.
The UN has opened its first
offices in Sarajevo suburbs now controlled by Pale but slated for
Bosnian government administration by the Dayton accord. Some 60,000-
70,000 Serbs will then join a similar number of Sarajevo Serbs who spent
the war on the government side and at the receiving end of Mladic's
guns. A UN spokesman said that the peace agreement is final and that
Karadzic's planned referendum on 12 December will have no bearing, Hina
reported on 5 December. The UN is trying to build confidence among the
Serbs of Grbavica and Ilidza despite Pale's attempt to portray an
atmosphere of panic, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted. Meanwhile
in Zagreb, Hina said that Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa met with Jadranko
Prlic, prime minister of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, to
discuss the Dayton agreement and the role of Prlic's people in
implementing it. -- Patrick Moore
[4] DEEP DIVISION WITHIN RANKS OF SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTY?
BETA on 5December reported on statements made at a press conference by two ousted
high-profile members of the opposition Democratic Party (DS), led by
Zoran Djindjic. Dragoljub Micunovic, former party president and member
of the federal legislature, said his expulsion on 2 December, along with
that of his colleague Velimir Simonovic, is unlikely to be accepted
passively by the majority of the party's rank-and-file, who, he said,
will "make their voices heard" on the issue. Micunovic added that the
expulsions indicate Djindjic's resolve "to amputate the peacemaking part
of the party." Simonovic also added that "Djindjic will not succeed in
shutting [us] out of political life." Micunovic maintained that DS
members have already approached him about founding a rival party, but he
insisted that no exercise in "fragmenting" the DS will be undertaken at
present. -- Stan Markotich
[5] BUKOSHI INSISTS ON INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO.
International agencies on 5
December quoted Kosovar shadow-state Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi as
saying that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo will never give up their demand
for independence and as rejecting the idea of reestablishing the
province's autonomy. Bukoshi noted that "there will be no change in our
political attitude toward the future of Kosovo." He was attending the
congress of the Albanian Christian Democratic Party in Tirana. Bukoshi
stressed that impatience in Kosovo is growing and that if the "Albanians
could see that the political means to change their destiny are having no
effect, the situation might get out of control." -- Fabian Schmidt
[6] BATTLE OVER ZAGREB ASSEMBLY CONTINUES.
Zdravko Tomac, elected speaker of
the municipal assembly, and Goran Granic, elected mayor of Zagreb, held
a press conference on 5 December at which they stressed their resolve to
retain their posts by asking the Constitutional Court to "protect their
rights," Hina reported. This latest action was prompted by the Croatian
government's 4 December ruling that no decisions taken by the
opposition-dominated Zagreb city and county assemblies are valid because
these bodies no longer had a two-thirds quorum when Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ) deputies filed out the municipal assembly on 1 December.
-- Stan Markotich
[7] WINTER HAVOC IN ROMANIA.
Heavy snow and storms have blocked Romania's
roads, railways, and airports, Romanian and international media reported
on 5-6 December. Nine people died in car accidents, while at least 10
froze to death. The harsh weather left some 600 towns and villages
without electricity and 38 without telephone lines. A total of 1,100 km
were closed on the national roads and 45 trains have been canceled.
Domestic flights were suspended at all regional airports, and some
international flights were diverted to Sofia. Homes in most cities have
only minimal heating, and primary schools in Bucharest will be closed
for the rest of the week. -- Matyas Szabo
[8] MOLDOVA, U.S. SIGN MEMORANDUM ON MILITARY COOPERATION.
Moldova and the
U.S. have concluded a memorandum on military cooperation, RFE/RL's
correspondent in Washington and Infotag reported on 5 December. The
document was signed in Washington by Moldovan Defense Minister Pavel
Creanga and U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry. It envisages
information exchanges, visits by delegations, and training of Moldovan
military personnel in the U.S. Perry said the signing of the memorandum
reflects the U.S.'s policy of supporting the independence, sovereignty,
and territorial integrity of Moldova. -- Michael Shafir
[9] CONTINUED TENSIONS OVER ETHNIC TURKISH MAYOR IN BULGARIA.
The dispute
over the election of Rasim Musa as mayor of Kardzhali continues to spark
political controversy and fuel ethnic tension, Reuters reported on 5
December. Musa is a member of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and
Freedom (DPS) and was elected mayor by a margin of 658 votes. He has
been unable to take office because his election is contested by the
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and because the provincial governor
refuses to accept his election or call a session of the municipal
council. (see OMRI Daily Digest, 20 and 29 November 1995). DPS Chairman
Ahmet Dogan, speaking at a press conference on 5 December, said this
showed that some Bulgarian politicians "are prepared to play the
nationalist card." He also accused the BSP of exploiting the fears of
ordinary Bulgarians to achieve its political goals. -- Stefan Krause
[10] BULGARIA TO INTRODUCE VISA APPLICATION FEE.
The Bulgarian government on
5 December announced it will introduce a visa application fee of $20 in
addition to existing visa charges, Reuters reported the same day.
Nationals who do not need a visa, such as U.S. citizens, will also have
to pay a fee of $20. Foreign Ministry official Nikolay Kaludov said the
fee was introduced in an attempt to raise money for Bulgarian citizens
"who have been robbed or have lost their documents abroad" and also to
modernize equipment for passport and visa services. -- Stefan Krause
[11] ALBANIAN CHIEF EDITOR FINED $2,000.
Aleanca chief editor Blendi Fevziu
has been fined $2,000, Koha Jone reported on 6 December. According to
Human Rights Watch, earlier reports that Fevziu's case had been dropped
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 5 December 1995) were wrong. Fevziu was
convicted of slander for publishing a list of alleged corrupt
politicians that included the name of the State Control Commission head
Blerim Cela. The list had previously been read out in the parliament. --
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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