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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 4, 5 January 1996
CONTENTS
[01] SARAJEVO ABDUCTIONS IMBROGLIO CONTINUES.
[02] CROATIA, BOSNIA SIGN PACT.
[03] UNHCR RESUMES AID CONVOYS.
[04] VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS SUPPORT AMNESTY.
[05] ROCKY START TO OSCE ARMS CONTROL TALKS.
[06] MACEDONIA, TAJIKISTAN ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
[07] FLOODS IN ROMANIA.
[08] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT IN ROMANIA.
[09] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT, INTELLECTUALS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
[10] WILL BULGARIAN MINISTERS RESIGN?
[11] COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETS ALBANIAN JOURNALISTS.
[12] ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO ALBANIA ANNOUNCES EU ASSOCIATION TALKS.
[13] BOMB ATTACK ON TIRANA JUDGE'S HOUSE.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 4, Part II, 5 January 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] SARAJEVO ABDUCTIONS IMBROGLIO CONTINUES.
International media on 4
January reported that Bosnian Serbs released the 16 Muslims they had
been holding in Ilidza. The first three men freed said they had been
held in a converted toilet and kicked and beaten. The BBC added that
some of the 16 blamed IFOR for leaving them in the lurch. AFP noted
that the Serbs appear to have achieved at least one thing; namely,
intimidating other Muslims into not entering their territory despite
the Dayton agreement's stipulations on freedom of movement. Civilian
affairs coordinator Carl Bildt held talks with the Serbs on the
evening of 3 January. The BBC on 5 January quoted a Bosnian official
as saying that three more persons have been captured and held by the
Serbs. AFP said they were a Croat, a Muslim, and a Serb. -- Patrick
Moore
[02] CROATIA, BOSNIA SIGN PACT.
Presidents Franjo Tudjman and Alia
Izetbegovic signed a cooperation agreement in Sarajevo on 4 January,
Hina reported. The Bosnian leader said the meeting was at times "loud
and polemical but certainly very useful." Tudjman added that "there is
no more opposition but there are still problems to be solved." A joint
cooperation council was set up and will meet in a month to iron out
some remaining problems. Croatian-Muslim relations remain tense in
Mostar, however. AFP said on 5 January that two Muslim policemen were
wounded when their car was sprayed with machine gun fire from the
Croatian sector of the divided town. -- Patrick Moore
[03] UNHCR RESUMES AID CONVOYS.
UN relief officials have returned to their
mission in central Bosnia after Herzegovinian Croat officials agreed
not to try to tax their vehicles, Reuters reported on 5 January.
International media added that both President Bill Clinton and Pope
John Paul II plan to visit Bosnia soon. Nasa Borba on 4 January
wondered what the Americans will do about investigating the reported
massacre of 6,000 Muslims by the Serbs in Srebrenica, which is in the
U.S. sector. British media said that the U.S. military have yet to
arrive in Srebrenica and are less than enthusiastic in becoming
involved in what they regard as a political issue. -- Patrick Moore
[04] VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS SUPPORT AMNESTY.
Nasa Borba on 5 January reported
that Andras Agoston, leader of the Democratic Community of Hungarians
in Vojvodina, has pledged he and his party will back proposed federal
legislation offering an amnesty to individuals who fled the country
rather than fight in the wars throughout the former Yugoslavia. The
previous day, the daily had reported that Srdjan Darmanovic, vice
president of the Social Democratic party of Montenegro, had endorsed
such legislation, saying conscientious objectors were "not deserters,
but the genuine patriots." -- Stan Markotich
[05] ROCKY START TO OSCE ARMS CONTROL TALKS.
Scheduled to begin on 4
January, the OSCE arms control talks in Vienna did not get under way
until 5 January after a disagreement over how the participatants were
to be designated, international media reported. The BBC reported that
the Bosnians objected to the nameplate given to the Bosnian Serbs,
which, they said, implied that the Serbs were a separate polity and
not part of a common Bosnian state. Vigleik Eide, who is chairing the
talks, found a solution acceptable to the five parties (rump
Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Muslim-Croatian
federation, and the Republika Srpska) by designating each as a
representative to the "negotiations among the parties to the Dayton
agreement Annex 1b, Article 4." VOA's Croatian Service quoted the
Croatian ambassador to the OSCE as noting that the Bosnian Serbs could
not be put on the same diplomatic level as the internationally
recognized Bosnian government. -- Michael Mihalka and Patrick Moore
[06] MACEDONIA, TAJIKISTAN ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
The Macedonian
and Tajik ambassadors to Turkey on 4 January signed a protocol
establishing diplomatic relations between their countries, MIC
reported the same day. Meeting in Ankara, they stressed the need to
examine the possibilities of economic cooperation. -- Stefan Krause
[07] FLOODS IN ROMANIA.
Cornel Mitoiu of the State Waters Inspectorate on 4
January told Rompres that the current floods in Romania are worse than
those in 1970. He said 25 counties (out of 40) have been affected,
with thousands of hectares of farmland under water and several
thousand homes destroyed. Mitoiu added that it was too early to
evaluate the overall damage but suggested it may reach tens of
billions of lei (tens of millions of US dollars). Only two persons
have so far died as a result of the floods, which Mitoiu attributed to
the precautionary measures and the population's response. -- Dan
Ionescu
[08] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT IN ROMANIA.
Mircea Snegur on 3 January started a
ten-day vacation in the Romanian resort of Slanic Moldova, Radio
Bucharest reported. Snegur, who is accompanied by members of his
family, is expected to meet with representatives of the local
authorities, the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania, and the
Romanian government. His bodyguards, however, have been instructed to
keep journalists away from his residence. Meanwhile, a spokesman for
the Moldovan Foreign Ministry on 4 January praised Romania's
"consistent stance over the Dniester issue" and support for Moldova's
search for a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Dniester region.
-- Dan Ionescu
[09] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT, INTELLECTUALS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
Zhelyu Zhelev
is to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on what constitutes
censorship of the media and what the legal consequences are, Pari
reported on 5 January. He will also ask the court to decide what the
lack of a media law means in constitutional terms. Zhelev called on
the journalists from Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) who were dismissed
following their protest against BNR's management (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 27 November 1995 and 19 December 1995) to appeal to European
institutions. Zhelev on 4 January took part in an round-table
discussion among intellectuals and writers on freedom of speech, 24
chasa reported. The participants called on citizens to defend freedom
of speech. -- Stefan Krause
[10] WILL BULGARIAN MINISTERS RESIGN?
Unnamed leaders of the rulingBulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) are demanding a cabinet reshuffle, 24
chasa reported on 5 January. According to Standart, Interior Minister
Lyubomir Nachev and Agriculture Minister Vasil Chichibaba are ready to
hand in their resignations, but the BSP daily Duma denied those
reports. Nachev is under fire because of the high crime rate and
Chichibaba because of the ongoing grain shortage. Trud names Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Trade Kiril Tsochev and Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Economic Development Rumen Gechev as likely
victims of a cabinet reshuffle. Meanwhile, Chichibaba said in an
interview with RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service on 4 January that there is a
grain crisis but rejected any personal responsibility. -- Stefan
Krause
[11] COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETS ALBANIAN JOURNALISTS.
Albanian journalists,
meeting with the heads of the Council of Europe's Legal and Human
Rights Commission and Political Commission, have expressed concern
about the freedom of the media in Albania. Meanwhile, the Socialist
Party and Democratic Alliance have submitted documents to the council
that, they say, prove "Albanians are going to the next general
elections this year with fewer freedoms and guaranties than in 1992 or
in the 1994 popular referendum on the constitution." They argue that
two recently approved laws on opening former communist files and
banning high communist officials from running for public office
violate citizens' rights. CE officials will issue a report to the
council after their visit, Albanian newspapers reported on 5 January.
-- Fabian Schmidt
[12] ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO ALBANIA ANNOUNCES EU ASSOCIATION TALKS.
Paolo
Foresti has said that Italy will use its EU Presidency to play a
leading role in helping Albania integrate into the EU, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 5 January. Speaking at a conference titled
Albania's Atlantic Association, he noted that a meeting is scheduled
on 23-24 January in Rome to begin the process of negotiating Albania's
EU association. The conference focused on Albania's relations with
NATO as well as with Italy. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] BOMB ATTACK ON TIRANA JUDGE'S HOUSE.
A bomb attack on the house of
Qazim Gjonaj destroyed an armored door and parts of the wall, Albania
reported on 5 January. Nobody was injured in the attack, which was
carried out with industrial dynamite, normally used for mining. Police
have launched an investigation but did not speculate on possible
motives for the bombing. Gjonaj, however, said it might be related
either to trials against former communist officials or to criminal
cases, including disputes over land restitution. -- 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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