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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 30, 12 February 1996
CONTENTS
[1] KINKEL WANTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC AND MLADIC.
[2] BOSNIAN SERBS TO MAINTAIN CONTACTS WITH IFOR.
[3] CROATIA AGREES TO HELP SOLVE MOSTAR DISPUTE.
[4] MOSTAR EU ADMINISTRATOR WILL NOT RESIGN.
[5] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER A WELCOME GUEST IN MONTENEGRO?
[6] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION BRACES FOR LOCAL, GENERAL AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
[7] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS LANGUAGE RENAMING INITIATIVE.
[8] FORMER BULGARIAN LEADER CLEARED OF EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES.
[9] MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTER PROPOSES NEW GOVERNMENT . . .
[10] . . . PRESIDENT EXPRESSES SKEPTICISM.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 30, Part II, 12 February 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] KINKEL WANTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC AND MLADIC.
Onasa reported on
10 February that German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel has called on the
Hague-based international war crimes tribunal to issue arrest warrants
for the top Bosnian Serb civilian and military leaders for genocide.
Karadzic told the Sunday Times the next day that he had given strict
orders at the beginning of the conflict to protect human rights, that
there were no mass killings, and that "had there been I would have known
about it." The Bosnian news agency added that the Serbs still hold 700
slave laborers, according to the Red Cross. AFP noted that the
government is still keeping 88 Serbian POW's in Tuzla and it is not
clear when they will be freed. -- Patrick Moore
[2] BOSNIAN SERBS TO MAINTAIN CONTACTS WITH IFOR.
The Bosnian Serb political
leadership has disavowed an order by the army commander, Ratko Mladic,
to sever ties with IFOR until two senior officers are released by the
Bosnian government. According to international media, the self-styled
Bosnian Serb prime minister, Rajko Kasagic,called the order "invalid"
and added that "President [Radovan] Karadzic has warned the army chief
of staff that he was not in a position to take such a decision" after a
meeting of the Bosnian Serb government in Pale on 11 February.
Meanwhile, the Bosnian government released four of the eight Bosnian
Serb soldiers detained on 30 January. On 9 February, chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Shalikashvili, reacting to the
Bosnian Serb cutoff of contacts, warned that any threats against IFOR
would be dealt with harshly. -- Michael Mihalka
[3] CROATIA AGREES TO HELP SOLVE MOSTAR DISPUTE.
Ivo Sanader, a senior aide
to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, said on 11 February after talks
with Boris Biancheri, an Italian foreign ministry envoy, that Croatia
had agreed to help solve a dispute between EU mediators and Bosnian
Croats over the future administration of the divided Bosnian town of
Mostar, Hina reported. As an immediate result, the mayor of the Croat-
held part of the city said he was prepared to negotiate a new solution
after rejecting the EU administrator's plan to redraw boundaries in
Mostar. He told the German weekly Der Spiegel that Bosnian Croatians are
ready to talk, "but not on the basis of the Koschnik's decree," and on
that they won't budge a single millimetre, Reuters reported. The Bosnian
Croatians want the borders between Croatian and Muslim parts of the city
to be identical to the military lines of separation. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[4] MOSTAR EU ADMINISTRATOR WILL NOT RESIGN.
Hans Koschnik said he will not
resign and will keep his post as long as EU wants him to, Nasa Borba
reported on 12 February. During his visit to Sarajevo on 11 February,
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke underscored
America's support for Koschnik's proposal for Mostar, Hina reported.
That same day Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic held talks with his
Bosnian counterpart Jadranko Prlic, and agreed on the necessity of
settling the Mostar crisis. Meanwhile, Bosnian Federation President
Kresimir Zubak sent a letter to the political mediator in Federation
disputes, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, to inform the German parliament
and public of all the facts regarding Mostar, since he claimed it was
owing to their being "insufficiently informed" that they started the
"real anti-Croat campaign," Hina reported on 11 February. In another
development, the arrival of Croatian police to Mostar as agreed by
Dayton accord has been postponed, Nasa Borba reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[5] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER A WELCOME GUEST IN MONTENEGRO?
Montenegrin PremierMilo Djukanovic said at a 9 February press conference that Bosnian Serb
civilian leader and accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic is welcome to
visit Montenegro anytime, SRNA reported that same day. Djukanovic said
that since Karadzic has visited the rump Yugoslavia a number of times in
the past, "there is no reason for anyone to try to now keep him out of
Montenegro." Djukanovic also spoke on a number of other key issues
relating to the Dayton accord, including prospects for mutual
recognition between rump Yugoslavia and Croatia. He observed that such
an eventuality could follow only after Zagreb was prepared to fully
honor the Dayton accord, hinting that rump Yugoslavia still harbored
claims to Croatia's strategic Prevlaka peninsula. He also remarked that
Montenegro's ongoing aid program for Herzevinian Serbs "was not
motivated by political interests." -- Stan Markotich
[6] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION BRACES FOR LOCAL, GENERAL AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
Meeting in Bucharest on 9 February, the National Council of
the main opposition alliance, the Democratic Convention of Romania
(CDR), chose Victor Ciorbea as its candidate for mayor of Bucharest in
the local elections due to be held in the spring. Ciorbea is the
chairman of the Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions. The incumbent
mayor, Crin Halaicu, was elected in 1992 on the CDR lists, but is no
longer backed by it, after accusations of incompetence and corruption.
Domestic media reported on 9-10 February that at the urging of the
National Liberal Party, the CDR decided it will not enter into any
"understanding agreements" with the ruling Party of Social Democracy of
Romania before or after the general elections scheduled for autumn. It
also ruled out an understanding with the Democratic Party-National
Salvation Front for backing that party's candidate in the presidential
elections in a second round of elections. Earlier, the chairman of the
National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, Ion Diaconescu, said that
the CDR might back Petre Roman in a second round of elections, if the
CDR candidate, Emil Constantinescu, does not make it to that round
against incumbent president Ion Iliescu. In another development, Horia
Rusu was elected executive chairman of the opposition Liberal Party '93.
-- Michael Shafir
[7] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS LANGUAGE RENAMING INITIATIVE.
Moldova's
parliament on 9 February rejected by a 58 to 25 vote President Mircea
Snegur's legislative initiative on renaming the official language from
Moldovan to Romanian, Moldovan and international media reported. Victor
Cecan, head of the parliament's Legal Committee, said the proposal "does
not correspond to the political will of the population," and the name
could be changed only if people decide to do so in a referendum.
According to parliament chairman Petru Lucinschi, who submitted a
rejected compromise draft resolution of his own that would have allowed
the use of both language names, some think that legalizing the term
"Romanian language" improves the chances of possible unification with
Romania, while others believe using only "Moldovan language" offers
extra guarantees for the country's independence. Snegur submitted the
initiative in April last year after a series of student protests against
the constitution which designates the official language as Moldovan. --
Matyas Szabo
[8] FORMER BULGARIAN LEADER CLEARED OF EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES.
On 9 February
Todor Zhivkov, hardliner and last communist ruler of Bulgaria, was
acquitted of charges of embezzling the equivalent of some $21 million in
state funds, AFP reported that same day. Some four years earlier Zhivkov
had been sentenced to seven years in prison on the same charges. Zhivkov
said after this latest reversal by the country's Supreme Court, "I am
happy...This disgraceful seven-year trail has discredited the Bulgarian
people." Bulgarian dailies on 10 February reported that Milko Balev,
former Zhivkov aide and Politburo member, was also acquitted. -- Stan
Markotich
[9] MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTER PROPOSES NEW GOVERNMENT . . .
Premier Branko
Crvenkovski fired four Liberal Party cabinet ministers on 10 February,
international agencies reported the same day. Former deputy Premier and
Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski will be replaced by former Interior
Minister Ljubomir Frckovski. Former Economics Minister Risto Ivanov's
position will be taken by former Development Minister Beqir Zhuta, who
will also keep his position as vice premier. The new Interior Minister
will be Tomislav Cokrevski, and Taki Fiti will replace Jane Miljovski as
Finance Minister. The latter will also become deputy premier. The
reshuffle also affects six other ministries. Branko Crvenkovski asked
parliament to approve the new cabinet on 13 February. -- Fabian Schmidt
[10] . . . PRESIDENT EXPRESSES SKEPTICISM.
President Kiro Gligorov criticized
the government reshuffle, saying it "no longer represents the political
formation which brought me to the head of the country and for which the
electorate voted." Out of 20 new ministers, 13 will belong to the Social
Democratic Union of Macedonia, five to the ethnic Albanian Party of
Democratic Prosperity (PPD) and two to the Socialists. The conflict
between the former communist Social Democrats and the Liberals sharpened
over the privatization of industry since mid 1995. Analysts, suggest
that Liberal Party Leader Stojan Andov became rich over privatization.
Meanwhile, rump Yugoslav Deputy Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic said
that "the normalization of relations [with Macedonia] will soon be
formalized," MIC reported on 9 February. -- Fabian Schmidt
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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