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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 9, 12 January 1996
CONTENTS
[1] ARE SERBS PREPARING SOMETHING IN SARAJEVO?
[2] CROATIA OFFERS POLICE FOR MOSTAR.
[3] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S "HISTORIC" VISIT TO BELGRADE.
[4] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
[5] SERBIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY FALLING APART?
[6] TUDJMAN REFUSES TO CONFIRM ZAGREB MAYOR.
[7] ROMANIAN MOCK COURT CALLS FOR CEAUSESCU RETRIAL.
[8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE.
[9] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON DNIESTER ELECTIONS, REFERENDUM.
[10] BULGARIAN TRADE MINISTER RESIGNS.
[11] ATTACK AGAINST OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER IN ALBANIA.
[12] GREECE WELCOMES LIFTING ALBANIAN VISA REQUIREMENTS.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 9, Part II, 12 January 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] ARE SERBS PREPARING SOMETHING IN SARAJEVO?
Nasa Borba on 12 Januaryreported that Radovan Karadzic led a Bosnian Serb delegation to Belgrade
and that parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik warned that the Serbs
might resume fighting. The BBC reported on 12 January that Serbs in the
Sarajevo suburbs slated to return to government control are moving out
valuable property and exhuming coffins of their dead. Some abandoned
military posts and buildings have been torched, but most people are
staying put to see what happens. AFP the previous day said that the
Serbs are still holding five captives, including a Serb serving in the
Bosnian government army. Reuters noted that the first advance parties of
the new UN police force have begun to arrive but that their role would
not involve ensuring freedom of movement. A spokesman said they would
simply "be monitoring, reporting, training and advising." -- Patrick
Moore
[2] CROATIA OFFERS POLICE FOR MOSTAR.
Defense Minister Gojko Susak said in
Mostar on 11 January that his country would provide police "if
necessary" to restore calm and order to the tense divided city. Susak is
himself the most prominent Herzegovinian Croat; and he and President
Franjo Tudjman, who offered the deployment, seem sensitive to demands
from Croatia's allies that the federation of the Croats and Muslims
start to function effectively. Susak did not specify how many police
would be sent, but he did note they would be under international
command, Hina reported. -- Patrick Moore
[3] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S "HISTORIC" VISIT TO BELGRADE.
Mate Granic on
10 January visited Belgrade--the first such visit by a Croatian foreign
minister since the outbreak of hostilities in 1991. He met with Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic and Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic to
discuss the normalization of relations. Politika on 11 January quoted
Milutinovic as saying the rump Yugoslavia was committed to honoring the
Dayton accords. Two days earlier, however, AFP reported that Belgrade
has proposed "a three-way land swap" whereby land near the Croatian city
of Dubrovnik would be ceded in return for Croatia's giving up control
over the strategic Prevlaka peninsula. Hina on 11 January reported that
Croatia has asked for the extended presence of UN monitors on the
disputed peninsula while differences with Belgrade are resolved. -- Stan
Markotich
[4] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
Javier Solana, speaking in
Zagreb on 11 January, said he had received a pledge from Croatian
President Franco Tudjaman to help calm the situation in Mostar,
international agencies reported. Solana called the Muslim-Croatian
federation the "key element of the peace process." After meeting with UN
special envoy to former Yugoslavia Kofi Annan, he stressed the "good
cooperation" so far between NATO and and that the NATO-led IFOR would
complete its mission "on time." Before his departure from Brussels,
Solana said NATO was prepared to use force to ensure that the mission
succeeded. Meanwhile, General Sir Michael Walker, NATO ground commander
in Bosnia, said after a meeting with Mostar's EU administration that
NATO was not "a force for law and order" and should concentrate on
implementing the military provisions of the Dayton peace accords.--
Michael Mihalka
[5] SERBIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY FALLING APART?
Radio Serbia on 9 Januaryreported that the opposition Democratic Party appears to be coming apart
at the seams. Membership is dwindling, and five members of major party
committees as well as four members of local party organizations have
recently resigned from the party. Some of those who resigned said they
did so to protest the fact that the party has abandoned its democratic
principles and to register disapproval of the top leadership's failure
to support the peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They also wanted to protest
the 2 December expulsion of former party President Dragoljub Micunovic.
-- Stan Markotich
[6] TUDJMAN REFUSES TO CONFIRM ZAGREB MAYOR.
The Croatian president on 11
January for a second time formally blocked Goran Granic of the
opposition coalition from taking over as mayor. The opposition-dominated
city council is in turn likely to oppose any appointee of Tudjman's,
thereby forcing new elections. Slobodna Dalmacija on 12 January carried
a joint declaration by Granic and council head Zdravko Tomac condemning
Tudjman's veto. Globus on 5 January ran a poll that suggested an
opposition landslide in any new vote. Tudjman has said he will not let
"enemies of state policy" run the capital, but the opposition feels that
he is concerned not only with power but with revelations that a new
government could make about "financial irregularities" of its
predecessor. -- Patrick Moore
[7] ROMANIAN MOCK COURT CALLS FOR CEAUSESCU RETRIAL.
A self-styled court
convened by an independent newspaper has called for a posthumous retrial
of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, saying his 1989 conviction and
execution were illegal, Romanian and international media reported. "The
current regime took its legitimacy from this show trial," a spokesman
told Reuters. Journalist Razvan Saviliuc said the purpose of the court
was to save the honor of the justice system and of Romanians. The
organizers of the mock court have accused President Ion Iliescu of using
the revolt to stage a coup. Iliescu himself admitted that "it would have
been good to have caught Ceausescu and his wife and to have held a trial
under normal conditions, but the tension in Bucharest [at that time]
rose and there was the danger of a general civil war." -- Matyas Szabo
[8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE.
Ion Iliescu on 11
January told journalists that Virgil Magureanu, head of the Romanian
Intelligence Service, had acted "correctly" by publishing his own
Securitate file, Radio Bucharest reported the following day. Iliescu
expressed the hope that the recent press scandal over the publication
would not overshadow the achievement of Magureanu, whom he presented as
a victim of repression under the former regime. Meanwhile, Romanian
media continued to report extensively on the joint parliamentary
commission's hearings devoted to the "Magureanu case." -- Dan Ionescu
[9] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON DNIESTER ELECTIONS, REFERENDUM.
Russian
Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on 11 January that the 24
December elections and referendum in Moldova's breakaway Dniester region
are "a domestic problem" of the Republic of Moldova, BASA-press reported
on 11 January. The statement stressed that the region was "a component
part of Moldova..., a sovereign and independent country." It further
suggested that the Dniester referendum on joining the Commonwealth of
Independent States was superfluous, since the region had "sufficient
possibilities to participate in the CIS activities" as part of Moldova,
which already is a CIS member. Russia's has often been criticized for
applying double standards in its policy toward Moldova, with the
Presidency and the Foreign Ministry issuing statements different from
those of the State Duma. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] BULGARIAN TRADE MINISTER RESIGNS.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Trade Kiril Tsochev on 11 January announced his resignation, Reuters
reported the same day. In an interview with state-run TV, Tsochev said
that "there was an atmosphere of constant checks, suspicions,
duplication of actions" throughout the Socialist government. He hinted
that his resignation is linked to the ongoing grain shortage but
stressed he bears no direct responsibility. Duma reported that the
cabinet is likely to discuss the resignation in an extraordinary meeting
on 15 January. Meanwhile, Bulgarian papers speculate that Tsochev is
Prime Minister Zhan Videnov's first scapegoat in attempts to silence
critics within the Socialist party after the recent no confidence
motion. -- Stefan Krause
[11] ATTACK AGAINST OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER IN ALBANIA.
Aleanca, reporting on
the attack last weekend on the journalist Gjergj Zefi, said that three
unknown people surrounded Zefi in Shkoder and beat him up. Zefi, who is
also one of the leaders of the Aleanca Demokratike party, is still
receiving hospital treatment for head injuries. Aleanca suspects that
the culprits have close links with smuggling gangs who want to
intimidate the local government opposition. It notes that the attack is
only one in a series of incidents since March 1994, including attempted
murders, aimed at frightening off investigative journalists and the
opposition. Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office in Lezha has wound up
investigations into the bombing of Koha Jone Chief Editor Nikolle Lesi
on 1 November (see OMRI Daily Digest, 3 and 8 November 1995). No
conclusions were reached, Koha Jone reported on 12 January. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[12] GREECE WELCOMES LIFTING ALBANIAN VISA REQUIREMENTS.
The Greek Foreign
Ministry on 11 January has welcomed the Albanian decision to lift visa
requirements for Greek citizens (see OMRI Daily Digest, 11 January
1995). A Foreign Ministry statement cited by Reuters said this move
"ends discriminatory treatment and [facilitates] contacts and especially
economic cooperation between the two countries." Greeks were the only EU
citizens to require a visa after Tirana imposed the requirement in
September 1994 during a crisis in Greek-Albanian relations. -- Stefan
Krause
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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