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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 7,10 January 1996
CONTENTS
[1] ARE SERBS TESTING IFOR?
[2] SERBS KEEP UP CAMPAIGN OVER SARAJEVO.
[3] FIREFIGHTS IN MOSTAR.
[4] NATO TO AID UN IN CROATIA.
[5] UPDATE ON IFOR DEPLOYMENT.
[6] SERBIAN CHURCH LEADER WRITES TO U.S. PRESIDENT.
[7] BBC LAUNCHES MACEDONIAN SERVICE.
[8] HEAD OF ROMANIAN SECRET SERVICE ADDRESSES PARLIAMENTARY PANEL.
[9] YELTSIN APPOINTS NEW SPECIAL ENVOY TO MOLDOVA.
[10] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES NO CONFIDENCE MOTION.
[11] BULGARIAN DEPUTY PREMIER DENIES RESIGNATION REPORTS.
[12] ANOTHER FIVE ALBANIAN COMMUNIST OFFICIALS TO BE ARRESTED.
[13] GREEK PARLIAMENT DEBATES NO CONFIDENCE MOTION.
[14] TURKISH ISLAMIST LEADER MANDATED TO FORM GOVERNMENT.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 7, Part II, 10 January 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] ARE SERBS TESTING IFOR?
The Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes, reporting onthe 9 January tram attack in Sarajevo, suggested that the Serbs are
testing the limits of IFOR's patience. The Bosnian Serb command denied
that their side was responsible, and Tanjug claimed that the Bosnian
government forces have shelled Serbian positions elsewhere in the
republic. Hina quoted Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic as warning IFOR
that it stands to find itself in the same hapless role as UNPROFOR if it
does not make a quick and strong response to Serbian provocations. He
stressed that the indicted war criminals Radovan Karadzic and General
Ratko Mladic were personally responsible for the attack and that they
are trying to rekindle the fighting in order to scuttle the Dayton peace
agreement. Reuters reported that average Sarajevans were scorning NATO
and saying it is no better than UNPROFOR. -- Patrick Moore
[2] SERBS KEEP UP CAMPAIGN OVER SARAJEVO.
Bosnian Serb leaders are
continuing their efforts to force a change in the Dayton agreement,
which specifies an early return of Serb-held parts of Sarajevo to
government control. Nasa Borba on 10 January reported that Karadzic held
a meeting with Sarajevo Serbian intellectuals who said that they wanted
to remain in the town but under Serbian authority. Pale's parliamentary
speaker Momcilo Krajisnik wrote to the international community's Carl
Bildt to ask for a postponement of the transfer until 15 September. He
claimed that his government had so far prevented Serbs from starting "a
mass exodus or burning [their] houses." Rumors have been rife for some
time that the Serbs plan to torch their suburbs rather than hand them
over intact. Reuters reported that the Serbs are preparing to transfer
Odzak in northern Bosnia to the government but have stripped it bare and
are leaving "a ghost town." -- Patrick Moore
[3] FIREFIGHTS IN MOSTAR.
The situation remains tense in Mostar as well as
in Sarajevo. Reuters reported on 10 January that the Croats the previous
night fired two rifle-propelled grenades into a Muslim army camp, ending
a three-day lull in the fighting. Mutual shelling followed that
incident. The situation was quiet but tense on 10 January, and EU
officials were pleased that the Croats called off a demonstration slated
for that day. The U.S. is particularly worried that the situation in
Mostar could thwart its efforts to shore up the Croatian-Muslim state.
Slobodna Dalmacija and Vecernji list in recent days have suggested that
the Muslims are making life difficult for the Croats in central Bosnia
and preventing refugees from returning. Die Welt reported that the
military, crime, and smuggling are heavily intertwined on both sides of
the divide in Mostar. -- Patrick Moore
[4] NATO TO AID UN IN CROATIA.
NATO will aid the UN force expected to be
deployed in eastern Slavonia, The New York Times reported on 10 January.
The relationship will resemble the much-criticized one between NATO and
the UN in Bosnia before IFOR took over the mandate there. The U.S. had
long resisted any role for NATO in Croatia. A former US diplomat,
Jacques Klein, who is also a major general in the U.S. Air Force
reserve, will head the UN mission in Croatia. The 5,000-strong force
reflects a compromise between UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros
Ghali, who wanted 9,000 troops, and the U.S., which was in favor of a
much smaller contingent. -- Michael Mihalka
[5] UPDATE ON IFOR DEPLOYMENT.
Almost 60% of IFOR has arrived in the former
Yugoslavia, international agencies reported on 9 January. Of the
expected total of 60,000, about 31,000 troops are in place in Bosnia and
another 4,000 are in Croatia and Hungary providing logistic support.
About 5,000 of the expected 20,000 U.S. troops have arrived. Abut 11,000
of the planned 13,000 British troops and 7,500 of the 10,000 French
troops are in position, although many of the these were previously
assigned to the UN force. IFOR is tasked to begin patrolling the line
separating the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-Croatian federation by 19
January. -- Michael Mihalka
[6] SERBIAN CHURCH LEADER WRITES TO U.S. PRESIDENT.
Nasa Borba on 10 January
reported that Patriarch Pavle has written to Bill Clinton to express
dissatisfaction over the "redrawing" of the map of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
According to Pavle, a large number of monasteries and territories
belonging to the Serbs of Herzegovina are to fall under the jurisdiction
of the Muslim-Croatian Confederation. "It is entirely unacceptable that
after Dayton, in a secretive manner and to the detriment of the Serbs,
the Dayton map is changing so as to take away from the Serbian people a
significant portion of territory in Herzegovina," he commented. -- Stan
Markotich
[7] BBC LAUNCHES MACEDONIAN SERVICE.
The BBC World Service on 9 January
launched a news service in Macedonian under the direction of Southeast
European specialist Stephen Ashley, Reuters reported the same day. News
bulletins, features, and English lessons will be broadcast on state-run
Macedonian Radio and on local radio stations. BBC World Service Managing
Director Sam Younger said the service has around 2 million potential
listeners in Macedonia and neighboring districts in Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, and Serbia. -- Stefan Krause
[8] HEAD OF ROMANIAN SECRET SERVICE ADDRESSES PARLIAMENTARY PANEL.
The joint
parliamentary commission supervising the activity of the Romanian
Intelligence Service (SRI) on 9 January began hearings on the recent
publication of the Securitate file of SRI head Virgil Magureanu,
Romanian media reported. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, leader of the extremist
Greater Romania Party, reiterated earlier accusations against the SRI
chief and asked the parliament to dismiss, or at least temporarily
suspend, Magureanu for alleged serious failings. A former SRI deputy
director, Gen. Victor Marcu, told the commission that Magureanu's
publication of the file infringed legislation stipulating that personal
files of the former communist secret police are to remain classified for
40 years. Magureanu described his action as a defensive step aimed at
preempting Tudor, who was planning to publish the same file in his
weekly Romania mare. -- Dan Ionescu
[9] YELTSIN APPOINTS NEW SPECIAL ENVOY TO MOLDOVA.
Russian President Boris
Yeltsin has appointed Yurii Karlov as his new special envoy to the
negotiations on settling the Dniester conflict, BASA-press and Infotag
reported on 9 January. The 59-year-old Karlov is a career diplomat who
worked at the Soviet embassy in Bucharest and in the Soviet Foreign
Ministry. In a recent interview, Karlov pleaded for "maintaining
Moldova's territorial integrity while granting the Dniester region as
broad authority as possible." Together with the head of the OSCE Mission
in Moldova and an Ukrainian special envoy, Karlov will act as a mediator
in the talks between the authorities in Chisinau and Tiraspol. Those
talks are currently frozen following an unsuccessful Moldovan-Dniester
summit in September. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES NO CONFIDENCE MOTION.
The Bulgarian
National Assembly on 9 January discussed a no confidence motion in the
government of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, Bulgarian newspapers reported
the following day. The motion was submitted by the Union of Democratic
Forces (SDS) because of the ongoing grain crisis, for which it holds the
cabinet as a whole responsible. Opposition deputies said the government
was "hostage to economic groups" and accused it of irresponsible
policies. They argue that the shortage was caused by excessive grain
exports. Some Socialist deputies argued that the grain crisis can be
solved but concrete measures have to be taken, including possible
personnel changes. Trud reported that 18 Socialist deputies have
demanded the government's resignation. The parliament is to vote on the
motion on 10 January. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN DEPUTY PREMIER DENIES RESIGNATION REPORTS.
Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Trade Kiril Tsochev on 9 January denied reports
that he had handed in his resignation to Prime Minister Zhan Videnov,
Bulgarian media reported. Government Parliamentary Secretary Plamen
Valkanov said neither the government nor the BSP caucus is in possession
of any documents confirming the rumors. -- Stefan Krause
[12] ANOTHER FIVE ALBANIAN COMMUNIST OFFICIALS TO BE ARRESTED.
Tirana's
Municipal court has ordered the arrest of another five former communist
officials, bringing the number of those to be arrested for alleged
crimes against humanity to 21. The Forum of Albanian Intellectuals has
accused a total of 36 people of violating communist-era law. Among those
whose arrests were most recently ordered are former communist party
Central Committee member Sulejman Bushati and former Deputy Interior
Minister Zylyftar Ramizi, ATSH reported on 9 January. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] GREEK PARLIAMENT DEBATES NO CONFIDENCE MOTION.
The Greek parliament on 8
and 9 January debated a no confidence motion filed by the conservative
New Democracy (ND) party, Greek and Western media reported. ND Chairman
Miltiadis Evert called the motion an "initiative of institutional
responsibility" with the goal of giving "the nation once again...a
government." Interior Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos accused Evert of
seeking "petty party benefits" instead of helping solve Greece's
problems. The small nationalist Political Spring party support the ND,
while the Communists say they "refuse to be an accomplice" to the
motion. The parliament is expected to vote on the motion on 10 January.
-- Stefan Krause
[14] TURKISH ISLAMIST LEADER MANDATED TO FORM GOVERNMENT.
President Suleyman
Demirel on 9 January mandated Islamist Welfare Party Chairman Necmettin
Erbakan to form a new government, Reuters reported the same day.
Following the December 1995 elections, his party's caucus is the largest
in the parliament, with 158 seats out of 550. Erbakan says there is a
"100% chance" that his party be included in a coalition, but the four
secular parties represented in the parliament have ruled out such a
possibility. Erbakan is Turkey's first Islamist prime minister-
designate. -- Stefan Krause
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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