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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 244, 18 December 1995
CONTENTS
[1] UN, NATO APPROVE NATO-LED DEPLOYMENT.
[2] BOSNIAN SERB PARLIAMENT REJECTS DAYTON MAPS.
[3] KARADZIC CLINGS TO POWER.
[4] SERBIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE ACCUSES BELGRADE OF OPPRESSING MINORITIES.
[5] RUMP-YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT IN CHINA.
[6] CROATIAN OPPOSITION FILES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT.
[7] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RECONCILE IN SPRING?
[8] ACUTE FOOD SHORTAGES IN MOLDOVA'S BREAKAWAY DNIESTER REGION.
[9] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION TO ASK FOR NO CONFIDENCE VOTE.
[10] BULGARIA TO RESTITUTE JEWISH PROPERTY.
[11] BULGARIAN BANK CHIEF ON IMF LOAN.
[12] ALBANIAN COMMUNIST OFFICIALS CHARGED WITH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 244, Part II, 18 December 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] UN, NATO APPROVE NATO-LED DEPLOYMENT.
The UN Security Council on 15
December authorized the deployment of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in
Bosnia, Western agencies reported. Shortly thereafter, NATO commander-
in-chief George Joulwan issued the order to begin deploying troops,
saying "the mission is clear: limited in time and scope and with robust
rules of engagement." The UN resolution authorizes deployment for
approximately one year and allows the troops to use "all necessary
force" to implement the Dayton peace accord. Acting NATO Secretary-
General Sergio Balanzino noted "this is a historic moment for the (NATO)
alliance. It is the first ground operation, the first operation out of
area." Meanwhile, bad weather slowed deployment of troops into the
region. -- Michael Mihalka
[2] BOSNIAN SERB PARLIAMENT REJECTS DAYTON MAPS.
The Bosnian Serb
legislature met in Jahorina on 17 December and "took note" of the Dayton
treaty while rejecting the maps and territorial settlement, Nasa Borba
and news agencies reported. It singled out the return of Sarajevo
suburbs to Bosnian government control and the setting up of a corridor
to Gorazde as particularly unacceptable. The parliament set down its
views in ten points that included limiting opposition to the agreement
to peaceful means and urging the population to stay put, the BBC said.
Civilian leader Radovan Karadzic called the pact "a general defeat for
the Serbs" because of the territorial provisions. The assembly demanded
that the Serbs get an outlet to the sea at Neum, as well as Croatia's
Prevlaka peninsula that controls access to Montenegro's Bay of Kotor. --
Patrick Moore
[3] KARADZIC CLINGS TO POWER.
The legislators meeting in Jahorina on 17
December called for the right to unite with rump Yugoslavia in a single
state, even though several speakers implied that Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic had betrayed the Serbs of Bosnia and Croatia. The
assembly also authorized its leaders to negotiate a deployment agreement
with NATO, news agencies reported. The Dayton agreement bans the Bosnian
Serb civilian leader and his military counterpart, General Ratko Mladic,
from public office as indicted war criminals. Karadzic nonetheless
showed no sign of preparing to abandon power willingly, and reshuffled
his cabinet to strengthen the position of his hard-line loyalists. New
appointees include Velibor Ostojic, who has been linked to "ethnic
cleansing," as deputy prime minister, and security chief Dragan Kijac as
interior minister. -- Patrick Moore
[4] SERBIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE ACCUSES BELGRADE OF OPPRESSING MINORITIES.
The Serbian Helsinki Committee, in its annual report released on 15
December, concludes that minorities in Serbia are subject to repression,
discrimination, and "ethnic cleansing," according to AFP on 18 December.
The report charges Serbian authorities with maltreatment, torture, and
hostage-taking. It also accuse them of staging political trials in
Kosovo, while noting that residents are also subject to pressure from
the Kosovar shadow state. With regard to Vojvodina, the report concludes
that the ethnic Hungarian community may eventually disappear due to
discrimination. Some 30,000 young Hungarians have fled the country to
avoid the military draft, while dozens of families have been turned out
of their homes to make room for Croatian Serb refugees. Of the 250,000
Croats living in Vojvodina, 45,000 have been expelled since 1991. The
report adds that Croatian Serb refugees have not been treated in
accordance with international conventions. -- Fabian Schmidt
[5] RUMP-YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT IN CHINA.
Zoran Lilic arrived in China for a
six-day visit on 17 December, AFP reported the next day. Lilic is quoted
as saying that he hoped the visit will "mark the opening of doors to
Yugoslavia." He met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin to discuss
"bilateral ties and issues of common interest." Lilic will also meet
with Prime Minister Li Peng. -- Fabian Schmidt
[6] CROATIAN OPPOSITION FILES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT.
Some 45 members of
Croatia's seven opposition parties have sent a request to the
Constitutional Court to determine if decisions taken by government on
the constituent session of the Zagreb city and county assemblies were in
accordance with the constitution. They have also filed a suit asking the
court to annul those decisions, Hina reported on 16 December. The
government earlier this month declared that the opposition-dominated
assemblies had not been properly constituted; and it claimed the
measures they passed were illegal because there was no quorum following
the boycott by deputies from the ruling party. President Franjo Tudjman
at a 16 December press conference said the state authorities could not
allow the Zagreb government to fall into the hands of enemies of state
policy. The opposition leaders rejected his accusations and signed a
joint statement on what they called the political crisis in Zagreb. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[7] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RECONCILE IN SPRING?
Romanian President Ion Iliescuand Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, attending the EU summit in
Madrid on 16 December, said the two sides want to finalize negotiations
on Iliescu's proposal for a historic reconciliation with Hungary by
March 1996, Romanian media reported. Romanian Ambassador to Budapest
Ioan Donca said Hungary's official response to the proposal, which was
supposed to be given on 15 December, has yet to be discussed with the
six parliamentary parties. Its response is thus likely to be delayed
until after Christmas, he said. -- Matyas Szabo
[8] ACUTE FOOD SHORTAGES IN MOLDOVA'S BREAKAWAY DNIESTER REGION.
Igor
Smirnov, president of the self-proclaimed Dniester republic, and
Grigorii Marakutsa, chairman of the region's Supreme Soviet, left for
Moscow to ask for urgent economic assistance, BASA-press reported on 16
December. According to an official at the Agriculture Ministry in
Tiraspol, the region has run out of food and cash, and its cereals
reserves are enough for only ten days. Local bakeries are reportedly
short of flour supplies and operating at reduced capacity. Daily bread
rations were recently cut by half but had to be restored to their full
level of 500 grams following protests from the population. -- Dan
Ionescu
[9] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION TO ASK FOR NO CONFIDENCE VOTE.
The Union of
Democratic Forces, the People's Union, and the ethnic Turkish Movement
for Rights and Freedom on 15 December agreed to request a vote of no
confidence in the government, Demokratsiya reported the following day.
The three leaderships have decided to form a working group to draft a
joint motion. The reason for the no confidence vote is the ongoing grain
shortage (see OMRI Daily Digest, 28 November 1995). Flour and bread are
either unavailable in the shops or have been pushed up in price. The
opposition blames the crisis on the government, which controls some 40%
of the grain supplies. The opposition will meet on 20 December with the
trade unions to discuss joint action. -- Stefan Krause
[10] BULGARIA TO RESTITUTE JEWISH PROPERTY.
President Zhelyu Zhelev on 15
December said "the Jews will receive everything that was taken away from
them," 24 chasa reported the following day. Their property will be
returned to the organization Shalom, which is the successor to the
Jewish community in Bulgaria and defends the interests of some 50,000
Jews who were forced to leave Bulgaria. According to Shalom, the
property in question is worth about 1 billion leva ($14.2 million). The
organization has waived its claims on a building in Varna that is the
navy's headquarters but insists that other property be returned. --
Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN BANK CHIEF ON IMF LOAN.
Bulgarian National Bank governor Todor
Valchev on 15 December said that the IMF will probably accept the
projected 1996 budget deficit of 4.8% of GDP if progress is made on
structural reform, Pari reported the next day. He asserted that a lower
deficit will hurt health, education, and the legal system. Agreement
with the IMF on a new stand-by loan is crucial because Bulgaria's
foreign reserves stand at $1.4 billion while debt payments in 1996 will
be $1.25 billion. Meanwhile, Pari on 18 December reported that the
ruling Socialists are considering four candidates to replace Valchev
early next year. They include Atanas Paparizov, a former deputy minister
in the last communist government; Lyubomir Filipov, head of the BNB's
lev operations; and Chavdar Kanchev, head of the state bank for foreign
economic relations and a former negotiator with the London Club. --
Michael Wyzan
[12] ALBANIAN COMMUNIST OFFICIALS CHARGED WITH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
An
Albanian court has ordered the arrest of 14 communist-era officials on
charges of sending dissidents into internal exile for political reasons,
Reuters reported on 16 December. Those accused include Haxhi Lleshi,
president of the parliament from 1953 until 1982; former first party
secretary in Tirana Pirro Kondi; and former Defense Minister Prokop
Murra. Lleshi, who is 82 years old, has been confined to house arrest.
Four suspects, including former Prosecutor-General Qemal Lame, have fled
abroad. Prosecutors launched investigations after the National Forum of
Intellectuals filed a lawsuit charging the officials with violating
communist-era legislation. About 100,000 people were sent into internal
exile; of these, some 5,100 are estimated to have been executed. --
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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