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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 10, 15 January 1996
CONTENTS
[1] SERBS WITHDRAW ARMOR, BUT GOVERNMENT UNHAPPY. AF
[2] SARAJEVO SERBS REJECT MILOSEVIC'S PLEA.
[3] THREE MORE PRISONERS FREED.
[4] BELGRADE TO LIFT EMBARGO AGAINST BOSNIAN SERBS?
[5] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INCREASES PRESSURE ON MOSTAR.
[6] KOSOVAR SHADOW-STATE PRESIDENT ASKS FOR HOLBROOKE'S MEDIATION.
[7] UNPREDEP MISSION IN MACEDONIA TO BECOME INDEPENDENT.
[8] NEW EVIDENCE ON CEAUSESCU'S MISSING FORTUNE.
[9] DNIESTER REGION IMPOSES STATE OF "ECONOMIC EMERGENCY."
[10] ANOTHER MOLDOVAN JOURNALIST BEATEN UP.
[11] ANOTHER BULGARIAN MINISTER RESIGNS.
[12] GREEK-MACEDONIAN TALKS "FRUITFUL."
[13] GREECE DECLINES TO EXTRADITE SERBIAN MURDER SUSPECT TO BELGIUM.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 10, Part II, 15 January 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] SERBS WITHDRAW ARMOR, BUT GOVERNMENT UNHAPPY.
AFP reported on 14 January
that Bosnian Serb forces are pulling big guns and armor out of Sarajevo
suburbs slated to pass to government control. The Bosnian government,
however, argued that the materiel had been in the heavy weapons
exclusion zone and should have been destroyed. An IFOR spokesman
admitted that the British had even supplied the Serbs with fuel. It also
seems clear that the Serbs are not removing thousands of land mines as
the Dayton agreement obliges them to do and that this task will probably
fall to the French. The Serbs have been trying in a variety of ways to
test how far they can violate or bend provisions of the treaty.
Elsewhere, IFOR troops defused tensions on 13 January between Croatian
and government forces near Doboj. -- Patrick Moore
[2] SARAJEVO SERBS REJECT MILOSEVIC'S PLEA.
Milosevic on 12 January appealed
to Serbs in the Sarajevo suburbs to stay put, but one of them told AFP
that Milosevic's plea "was the best reason to leave." Many Serbs from
Bosnia and Croatia are bitter at the Belgrade leader, whom they feel
sold them out. Some have already transferred their most valuable
property to Serb-held areas. Persistent but unconfirmed reports from
Sarajevo suggest that tough police units have been moved in from
Bijeljina and elsewhere to intimidate those Serbs taking a wait-and-see
attitude. People are reportedly being pressured into joining a mass
exodus that would wind up in Brcko to consolidate the Serbian hold on
the disputed supply corridor there. -- Patrick Moore
[3] THREE MORE PRISONERS FREED.
As moves proceed toward a major exchange
this week of prisoners between the Bosnian government and Serb sides,
the Serbs freed three civilians on 14 January. Two civilians remain in
their custody in a continuing violation of the guarantee of freedom of
movement set down in the Dayton agreement. Reuters said that the two
Serbs and one Muslim were freed after pressure from international
representatives, including the UN civil affairs chief Antonio Pedauye.
One of the two Serbs chose to remain on Bosnian Serb territory. Pedauye
had been speaking to Bosnian Serb parliamentary speaker Momcilo
Krajisnik about the incident on 9 January in which a Serb bazooka hit a
tram. Oslobodjenje said two days later that the Bosnian Serb leadership
must not be allowed to evade responsibility for the act by blaming it on
rogue units. -- Patrick Moore
[4] BELGRADE TO LIFT EMBARGO AGAINST BOSNIAN SERBS?
Serbian PresidentSlobodan Milosevic and a Bosnian Serb delegation met in Belgrade on 11
January to discuss lifting Belgrade sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs
and to begin the process of re-establishing bilateral economic ties,
Nasa Borba reported on 15 January. The report notes that it is unclear
when the Drina border will be re-opened but suggests it may take place
in the near future. In the past, the Bosnian Serbs have demanded
political, economic, and cultural ties with Belgrade that mirror
Croatia's relations with the Muslim-Croatian federation in Bosnia-
Herzegovina. -- Stan Markotich
[5] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INCREASES PRESSURE ON MOSTAR.
German Foreign
Minister Klaus Kinkel on 14 January was promised by his Croatian
counterpart, Mate Granic, that Croatia will try to restrain Croatian
extremists. Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey also attended the
meeting in Mostar, Western and local media reported. Granic said after
the meeting that "overall relations between Bosnians and Croats are
good, and there are difficulties only in the field." Meanwhile, Mijo
Brajkovic, mayor of the Croatian sector of Mostar said he will continue
to resist efforts to unify the city, which, under the terms of the
Dayton accords, must take place by 20 January. Brajkovic said Croats
want to remain in "ethnically pure" neighborhoods. -- Michael Mihalka
[6] KOSOVAR SHADOW-STATE PRESIDENT ASKS FOR HOLBROOKE'S MEDIATION.
Ibrahim
Rugova said he expects and wishes U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Holbrooke to mediate in solving the Kosovo problem,
international agencies reported. Rugova also welcomed the planned
opening of a Kosovar shadow-state office in Washington by the end of
January. Holbrooke has asked Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic for
permission to open a U.S mission in the Kosovar capital, Pristina. --
Fabian Schmidt
[7] UNPREDEP MISSION IN MACEDONIA TO BECOME INDEPENDENT.
As of 1 February,
the UN Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) mission in Macedonia will
be independent of the UN command in the other parts of former Yugoslavia
and will report directly to the UN headquarters in New York, MIC
reported on 12 January. The decision was announced by UN special envoy
Kofi Annan before he ended a two-day visit to Macedonia. Annan
emphasized that the UNPREDEP mission was a success for the UN. He said
that UNPREDEP's mandate has been extended for another six months and
will most likely be extended after that. -- Fabian Schmidt
[8] NEW EVIDENCE ON CEAUSESCU'S MISSING FORTUNE.
Valentin Gabrielescu, head
of a parliamentary inquiry into the December 1989 uprising against
Nicolae Ceausescu, was quoted by the Romanian media on 12 January as
saying that there is new evidence supporting old allegations that the
dictator frittered away more than $1 billion. According to Gabrielescu,
former Premier Theodor Stolojan, who is currently working at the World
Bank, has provided evidence that the money was held at the Romanian Bank
for Foreign Trade in two accounts used in the past mainly by Dunarea, a
company controlled by the former Securitate. During the Ceausescu era,
Stolojan, who could not be reached for comment, headed a government
department in charge of hard currency transactions. -- Dan Ionescu
[9] DNIESTER REGION IMPOSES STATE OF "ECONOMIC EMERGENCY."
Igor Smirnov,president of the self-styled Dniester republic, on 12 January issued a
decree declaring a state of "economic emergency" in the region for six
months, Infotag reported. But the measures are primarily administrative
and may be intended as an excuse for political repression. Smirnov's
decree provides for stricter control over public order; a special regime
for entry and exit from the region; traffic restrictions and more checks
on local roads; immediate expulsion of foreigners who disturb public
order; strict control over copy machines and radio transmitters; and
censorship of the media. The administration is also empowered to suspend
the activities of political parties and public organizations that
"hinder the normalization" of public life. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] ANOTHER MOLDOVAN JOURNALIST BEATEN UP.
A reporter for Mesagerul, the
mouthpiece of the opposition Party of Democratic Forces, has been beaten
up by four unidentified men in a Chisinau street, BASA-press and Infotag
reported on 12 January. Ilie Lupan is the third Mesagerul journalist to
fall victim to such an attack over the past two weeks (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 8 January 1996). The assailants took only his brief case, which
contained a file. Lupan said the police were slow to react to his call
and, in a protest addressed to the authorities, has accused the Ministry
of Security of involvement in the attack. -- Dan Ionescu
[11] ANOTHER BULGARIAN MINISTER RESIGNS.
Agriculture Minister Vasil
Chichibaba on 12 January handed in his resignation to Prime Minister
Zhan Videnov, Bulgarian and Western media reported. He is the second
member of the Socialist cabinet to resign in two days. Videnov said he
will accept the resignation of both Chichibaba and Deputy Prime Minister
and Trade Minister Kiril Tsochev, who resigned last week. Both ministers
have been blamed for the ongoing grain crisis. Videnov admitted that
they "had not received a sufficient amount of trust and assistance from
within the governing party." -- Stefan Krause
[12] GREEK-MACEDONIAN TALKS "FRUITFUL."
Greece and Macedonia on 12 Januarybegan a second round of UN-sponsored talks in New York under the
mediation of UN negotiator Cyrus Vance, AFP reported the same day. The
talks are aimed at finding a permanent solution to the disputed issue
over the name of the former Yugoslav republic. A statement issued on 12
January said the talks were "fruitful" and were conducted in a "cordial
atmosphere." No other details were given. In related news, Nova
Makedonija on 12 January reported that the head of the Greek liaison
office in Skopje handed his credentials to the Macedonian foreign
minister. Under the September 1995 interim accord, both sides are to set
up liaison offices in each other's capital by the end of January. --
Stefan Krause
[13] GREECE DECLINES TO EXTRADITE SERBIAN MURDER SUSPECT TO BELGIUM.
Greek
Justice Minister Jannis Pottakis decided that a Serbian man accused of
killing a Kosovo Albanian leader will be extradited to rump Yugoslavia
and not to Belgium, AFP reported on 13 January. Darko Asanin is accused
of taking part in the murder of Enver Hadri in Brussels in 1990 and of
murdering one of his suspected accomplices in Germany a year later. A
Greek court ordered Asanin's extradition to Belgium, but Pottakis
overruled the decision. -- 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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