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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 32, 14 February 1996
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE BOYCOTT.
[2] NATO TO RECEIVE BETTER INFO ON INDICTED WAR CRIMINALS.
[3] SLOVENIAN PRESIDENT IN SARAJEVO.
[4] BELGRADE REACTS TO EXTRADITION OF WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS.
[5] PRESSURE ON ZAGREB OVER CROAT-MUSLIM FEDERATION.
[6] HERZEGOVINIAN-BASED CROAT COUNCIL ABOLISHES QUASI-STATE.
[7] CROATIAN DEPUTY PREMIER WAVES GUN AT JOURNALIST.
[8] UN CHANGES UNPREDEP MANDATE.
[9] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RESUME BASIC TREATY TALKS.
[10] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN MINORITY CONCERNED ABOUT DRAFT LAW ON POLITICAL
PARTIES.
[11] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON REASONS FOR SEEKING RE-ELECTION.
[12] DID ALBANIAN FINANCE MINISTER ORDER INDEPENDENT DAILIES CLOSED?
[13] GREECE WILL NOT TAKE ISLET CASE TO COURT.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 32, Part II, 14 February 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE BOYCOTT.
Bosnian Serbs are continuing their
boycott of dealings with international agencies, international media
reported on 14 February. A NATO spokesman in Sarajevo said that contacts
with Bosnian Serb army officers are "non-existent" at the most senior
level and "spotty" lower down. The Bosnian Serb army seems to be
complying with an order by its commander Ratko Mladic on 8 February to
break contacts with NATO over the Bosnian government's detention of
several Bosnian Serb soldiers. Meanwhile, the OSCE said that Bosnian
Serb representatives did not attend arms control talks in Vienna on 13
February. Robert Frowick, head of the OSCE mission in Bosnia, said in
Sarajevo that the Bosnian Serbs were also boycotting the talks on
elections. Frowick maintained, however, that the boycott was not harming
preparations for the elections. -- Michael Mihalka
[2] NATO TO RECEIVE BETTER INFO ON INDICTED WAR CRIMINALS. U.S.
Defense
Secretary William Perry has said IFOR will receive better information
and photographs on indicted war criminals, international media reported.
But he added that "we are not going to do manhunts." His statement comes
in the wake of reports that Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war
criminal Radovan Karadzic passed unhindered through IFOR checkpoints. A
U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the U.S. could not confirm those
reports, which, he said, came from Bosnian Serb officials. The spokesman
stressed that the purpose of the checkpoints was to control the movement
of arms and military personnel, not civilians. -- Michael Mihalka
[3] SLOVENIAN PRESIDENT IN SARAJEVO.
International media on 13 February
reported that Milan Kucan arrived in Bosnia the same day in an effort to
"reconstitute good [bilateral] economic ties." Kucan also said he fully
supported Bosnia's "multicultural, multinational, and multireligious
society." He was accompanied by Economy Minister Janko Dezelak. -- Stan
Markotich
[4] BELGRADE REACTS TO EXTRADITION OF WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS.
Belgrade has said
that the extradition to the Hague of Bosnian Serb Gen. Djordje Djukic
and Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic for questioning has put a severe strain on
the regional peace process. Federal rump Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic
said the move was "one-sided and biased" and was aggravating the Bosnian
Serbs, who, he added, may become irreversibly distrustful of both The
Hague and the NATO presence in Bosnia. He added that "we are now just a
step away from a more dangerous reaction or incident." Meanwhile,
international media reported that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic
met with a delegation of Bosnian Serbs on 13 February. No details of the
meeting have been revealed. -- Stan Markotich
[5] PRESSURE ON ZAGREB OVER CROAT-MUSLIM FEDERATION.
German Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel, meeting with his Croatian counterpart, Mate Granic, in
Zagreb, said Bonn's support is not unconditional and that Croatia must
help reunify Mostar in keeping with the Dayton accords. Granic replied
that his country is not willing to do so under the arbitration package
drawn up by the EU's German administrator in Mostar, Hans Koschnick,
which Croatia and the local Croats say favors the Muslims. International
media on 13 February added that President Bill Clinton's envoy, Robert
Galucci, stated his support for Koschnick. Croatian Defense Minister
Gojko Susak, who is also the most influential Herzegovinian Croat, seems
to be getting a similar message during his current visit to Washington.
Meanwhile in Zagreb, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke
arrived for talks with President Franjo Tudjman aimed at shoring up the
shaky Federation, Onasa reported. It quoted him as calling the situation
in Mostar "quite serious" and warning that "we need to make the
federation work or else there is going to be a disaster in Bosnia." --
Patrick Moore
[6] HERZEGOVINIAN-BASED CROAT COUNCIL ABOLISHES QUASI-STATE.
The
Presidential Council of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna met in
Mostar on 13 February and approved measures to transform itself from a
quasi-state into a political organization. Croats regard the entity as a
form of protection against their being dwarfed by the more numerous
Muslims in the Federation, while the Muslims see it as secessionist. The
Council also voted to resume contacts to the EU to seek a settlement in
Mostar, Onasa quoted Habena as reporting. -- Patrick Moore
[7] CROATIAN DEPUTY PREMIER WAVES GUN AT JOURNALIST.
The Croatian
Journalists' Association has protested over the government's silence
following an incident in which Deputy Prime Minister Borislav Skegro
brandished a pistol in the face of a journalist from Novi list, the
country's only independent daily. Her paper on 14 February also ran an
article on the press conference of Milorad Pupovac, who heads the
Independent Serbian Party of Croatia. Pupovac warned against tendencies
to equate calls for protecting minority rights with treason. -- Patrick
Moore
[8] UN CHANGES UNPREDEP MANDATE.
The UN Security Council on 13 February
unanimously approved changes in the mandate of the UNPREDEP forces
stationed in Macedonia, Reuters reported the same day. The council
agreed to allow UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali to appoint an
UNPREDEP force commander, in effect making UNPREDEP an independent
mission reporting directly to New York. So far, it was part of UNPROFOR
and reported to its headquarters in Zagreb. The Security Council also
approved sending another 50 soldiers to join the 1,100-strong force. --
Stefan Krause
[9] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RESUME BASIC TREATY TALKS.
Romania and Hungary on 13
February agreed to resume talks on a basic treaty at the beginning of
March and on Romanian President Ion Iliescu's reconciliation initiative
later this month, Romanian and international media reported. Romanian
Deputy Foreign Minister Marcel Dinu told his visiting Hungarian
counterpart, Ferenc Somogyi, that Romania's 1996 presidential and
parliamentary elections will not influence the talks. Somogyi said
Iliescu's proposed meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn in
March could result in the signing of the basic treaty. He added,
however, that it was not necessary for the two countries to join NATO at
the same time and that Hungary's earlier admission would not have a
destabilizing effect on the region. US Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Holbrooke, in Bucharest on 13 February, urged the two countries
to sign the treaty if they wanted to be admitted into NATO. -- Matyas
Szabo
[10] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN MINORITY CONCERNED ABOUT DRAFT LAW ON POLITICAL
P
ARTIES. A spokesman for the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania
(UDMR) told OMRI on 14 February that the draft law on political parties,
currently being debated in the Senate, is causing concern within the
UDMR. Anton Niculescu said this was due to provisions requiring
political parties to have branches in at least 21 of the 41
administrative counties and allowing minority ethnics to set up their
own organizations or become members of political parties but forbidding
them to set up ethnic political formations. The UDMR--defined as an
umbrella organization of political, cultural, and professional
organizations of the Hungarian minority open to all nationalities--would
not be prevented from running in the elections under the new law.
Nonetheless, Niculescu said, the new regulations pose a potential
danger. -- Michael Shafir
[11] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON REASONS FOR SEEKING RE-ELECTION.
Zhelyu Zhelev,
responding to questions posed by a group of intellectuals a month ago,
on 13 February summed up what he considers his main achievements as
president to date and his reasons for seeking re-election, Standart
reported. Zhelev singled out the peaceful transition from communism to
democracy, the absence of ethnic strife, and continued unity within the
army. With regard to his credentials as president, Zhelev said he took
his work seriously, did not seek personal gain from his office, and
always put Bulgaria above party interests. Asked about his role in the
fall of the government of the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) in
October 1992, for which the SDS blamed mainly him, he said neither he
nor the SDS had wanted it to happen but that he takes his "share of the
responsibility." -- Stefan Krause
[12] DID ALBANIAN FINANCE MINISTER ORDER INDEPENDENT DAILIES CLOSED?
KohaJone on 13 February reports that Finance Minister Dylber Vrioni last
week signed an official document ordering the director of the printing
house Demokracia not to print 14 periodicals beginning on 23 February.
According to Koha Jone, Vrioni argued that the periodicals were
registered at the Tirana Licensing Court as magazines or weeklies but
are in fact regular newspapers. The order affects, among others, Koha
Jone, Albania, Dita Informacion, Populli Po, Aleanca, and AKS. Koha Jone
called the order "absurd," saying it has registered all its publications
properly and calling Vrioni's move a "war against the independent
press." Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Alliance leader Neritan Ceka
has predicted that the Democratic Party will abuse its power to make
unfair use of public Radio and Television in the upcoming election
campaign. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] GREECE WILL NOT TAKE ISLET CASE TO COURT.
Foreign Minister Theodoros
Pangalos on 13 February said that Greece will not take the case of a
disputed islet to the International Court of Justice in the Hague,
international agencies reported the same day. Both Athens and Ankara
claim the islet, which the Greeks call Imia and the Turks Kardak.
Pangalos said the Greek government "will not seek recourse anywhere
because it does not contest or doubt anything." But it added that "if
someone else goes to the Hague, then we will deal with it." -- 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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