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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 39, 23 February 1996
CONTENTS
[1] "PALE SPREADS PANIC."
[2] IZETBEGOVIC'S LIFE NOT IN DANGER.
[3] IFOR ASKS DELAY IN LIFTING SANCTIONS.
[4] BELGRADE, PARIS RENEW DIPLOMATIC TIES.
[5] SERBIAN RADICAL DENIED VISA TO VISIT THE HAGUE.
[6] EASTERN MOSTAR OFFICIALS RESIGN.
[7] STRIKES IN CROATIA.
[8] MACEDONIAN PREMIER DEFENDS GOVERNMENT'S RECORD.
[9] EIGHT DEAD IN ROMANIAN PLANE CRASH.
[10] RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER LOSES COURT CASE IN TIRASPOL.
[11] BULGARIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY RELEASES LIST OF ALLEGED CRIMINALS.
[12] ALBANIA GETS ITS GOLD BACK.
[13] FRANCE DONATES WHEAT TO ALBANIA.
[14] GREECE SEEKS TO BLOCK EU AID TO ANKARA.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 39, Part II, 23 February 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] "PALE SPREADS PANIC."
This is the headline in Oslobodjenje on 23February describing the continuing exodus of Serbs from the Sarajevo
suburbs amid brutal winter conditions. The anti-nationalist Serbian
Civic Council (SGV) the previous day appealed to the German ambassador
to ask the Contact Group countries to send its five ambassadors to the
suburbs to try to stop the flight. Onasa also quoted SGV President Mirko
Pejanovic as saying that the council has sent representatives to talk to
people and dissuade them from leaving. Nasa Borba on 23 February
reported a declaration by the Bosnian state presidency urging the Serbs
to stay, but Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic told Vecernje novine that
the Bosnian government should have passed an amnesty law earlier to
reassure the Serbs. Nasa Borba also quoted Pale's Radovan Karadzic as
blaming the international community for not giving the Serbs sufficient
guarantees, including their own government and police. -- Patrick Moore
[2] IZETBEGOVIC'S LIFE NOT IN DANGER.
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic
continues to be hospitalized for an unspecified heart problem, but a
spokesman for his political party said that the 70 year-old leader's
life is not threatened, Onasa reported on 22 February. The authorities
appealed for calm and urged people not to go to the hospital where the
president is staying. There has been speculation about Izetbegovic's
health since he disappeared from view for about a week last year at the
height of the allied military offensive against the Serbs. AFP added
that Izetbegovic will now take a medically supervised rest and not do
any hard work. -- Patrick Moore
[3] IFOR ASKS DELAY IN LIFTING SANCTIONS.
IFOR commander
U.S. Admiral
Leighton Smith on 22 February asked the UN not to lift sanctions against
the Bosnian Serbs until they resume contacts with the international
community, international media reported. Under the Dayton peace accord,
sanctions should have been lifted one day after the IFOR commander
certified that the Bosnian factions have complied with the military
aspects of the accord. Smith certified this was the case on 21 February.
Meanwhile, the Russians have protested to the UN that sanctions should
have been lifted "days ago." -- Michael Mihalka
[4] BELGRADE, PARIS RENEW DIPLOMATIC TIES.
France has said it will appoint a
new ambassador to the rump Yugoslavia, Nasa Borba reported on 23
February. The French Foreign Affairs Ministry announced the previous day
that Gabriel Keller, currently charge d'affaires in Belgrade, will be
upgraded to ambassador. Bogdan Trisunovic has already been approved as
Belgrade's ambassador to Paris. France is expected to become the first
Western country to appoint an ambassador to the rump Yugoslavia. -- Stan
Markotich
[5] SERBIAN RADICAL DENIED VISA TO VISIT THE HAGUE.
Vojislav Seselj, leader
of the Serbian Radical Party and accused war criminal, has been denied a
visa to visit Holland to testify at The Hague, Nasa Borba reported on 21
February. Seselj has said several times in recent weeks that he wishes
to go The Hague to give testimony against Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic. He told the press that he had to be officially invited by The
Hague to receive a visitor's visa for Holland. The Hague war crimes
tribunal has said that it will listen to anyone who wants to testify but
that it does not issue invitations. -- Stan Markotich
[6] EASTERN MOSTAR OFFICIALS RESIGN.
Two Muslim municipal officials have
resigned in protest over the Rome agreement and changes in EU
administrator Hans Koschnick's proposal for the administrative
reorganization of the city, Tanjug reported on 22 February, citing the
eastern Mostar radio station. Their decision follows the recent
resignation of the eastern Mostar mayor Safet Orucevic. Koschnick
initially proposed that Mostar consist of three Muslim, three Croatian,
and one jointly administered central zone. Croats, however, protested
this proposal. The new plan foresees a small central zone. Meanwhile,
Mostar radio reported that full freedom of movement has not been
implemented because the Croats have not removed barricades and check-
points from the streets. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[7] STRIKES IN CROATIA.
Railway workers in Croatia on 22 February went on
strike to press for a 100% wage increase, Novi list reported. The
government has offered a 7.3% hike. The protest came one day after
unsuccessful attempts by the Association of Independent Workers' Union
to negotiate a new labor contract with government officials. The head of
the union has announced a general strike at the beginning of March, Hina
reported. Croatian post and telecommunications workers on 20 February
staged a one-day warning strike. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[8] MACEDONIAN PREMIER DEFENDS GOVERNMENT'S RECORD.
Branko Crvenskovski,
addressing the parliament on 22 February, defended the recently formed
coalition government, which excludes the Liberal Party, (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 12 February 1996), MILS reported the same day. The Liberals
belonged to the government formed after the October 1994 elections He
criticized the Liberals for not exhibiting "a spirit of team work and
mutual confidence" and responded to President Kiro Gligorov's criticism
of the Liberals' absence by saying that Gligorov was entitled to his own
views. Crvenskovski also revealed that foreign-currency reserves totaled
$274 million at the end of 1995. He praised Macedonia's relations with
the IMF and Paris Club, the low inflation rate, and progress on
privatization, stressing the need to arrest the decline in production.
-- Michael Wyzan
[9] EIGHT DEAD IN ROMANIAN PLANE CRASH.
A Romanian Antonov-24 aircraft on 22
February crashed near the northwestern town of Baia-Mare, killing all
six crew members on board and two workers on the ground, Romanian and
international media reported. The aircraft, owned by the Romanian Civil
Aviation Authority, was on a test flight. It took off from Bucharest's
Baneasa domestic airport and crashed two hours later into a stone quarry
15 km from the Baia-Mare airport control tower. The Romanian Transport
Ministry last December ordered checks on the country's aging AN-24s
after one crashed in Italy, killing all 49 on board. -- Matyas Szabo
[10] RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER LOSES COURT CASE IN TIRASPOL.
Pavel Grachev has
lost a court case to Col. Mikhail Bergman, former commander of the
Tiraspol military garrison, Moldovan and Russian agencies reported on 21
February. The military tribunal of the Russian units stationed in
Tiraspol ruled that Grachev's October 1995 order to dismiss Bergman was
illegal. It decided that Bergman should be reinstated in his post and
that Grachev should pay some 19 million rubles ($4,100) to cover
Bergman's expenses and in compensation for "moral prejudice." Grachev's
lawyer said he would appeal the decision at the Moscow military
tribunal. Bergman, who was one of the closest associates of former 14th
Russian Army commander Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, claimed his dismissal was
an act of "political revenge." -- Matyas Szabo
[11] BULGARIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY RELEASES LIST OF ALLEGED CRIMINALS.
The
Bulgarian Interior Ministry on 22 February released a list of 2,797
people against whom legal proceedings are pending, Kontinent reported
the following day. Of these, 482 have already been arrested. Interior
Minister Lyubomir Nachev said the list signals his ministry's will to
cooperate with the judiciary in the fight against crime. The ministry
was asked for such a list by Prosecutor-General Ivan Tatarchev, the
National Investigation Service, and the police. Standart reported that
police last week started arresting people whose names appear on the
list. Meanwhile, former Tsar Simeon II on 22 February told Deutsche
Welle that he intends to visit Bulgaria in spring and that he does not
rule out running in the presidential elections later this year. --
Stefan Krause
[12] ALBANIA GETS ITS GOLD BACK.
French and Albanian officials on 22 February
signed an accord allowing the return of gold worth $30 million to
Albania, Reuters reported. The gold was first looted by the Nazis and
later seized by the allies to stop it falling into communist hands at
the end of World War II. It has since been held at the Bank of England
in London under the trusteeship of an Anglo-American-French commission.
Albanian Finance Minister Dylber Vrioni said he expected the 1.5 tons of
gold ingots and coins to be back in Albania in March. Albania had signed
accords with Britain and the U.S last year and had needed only Paris's
signature. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] FRANCE DONATES WHEAT TO ALBANIA.
The French government will donate 3,000
tons of wheat to Albania to prevent a food crisis, Reuters reported on
22 February. Albania's wheat crop in 1995 fell by 35,000 tons to 420,000
tons, half its annual demand. In addition price increases on the world
marked have resulted in a shortage of cheap wheat on the Albanian
domestic market. The wheat will be shipped to Durres in March. Romania
has already donated 10,000 tons of wheat and is expected to send another
24,000 tons by early March. -- Fabian Schmidt
[14] GREECE SEEKS TO BLOCK EU AID TO ANKARA.
Greece on 22 February
effectively stalled a 375 million ECU ($485 million) aid package to
Turkey, Western media reported. Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros
Pangalos said voting on the package has been taken off the agenda of the
EU foreign ministers' council meeting scheduled for 26 February. Greek
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, meeting with German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl in Bonn on 22 February, sought German support in Greece's dispute
with Turkey over an uninhabited islet. Meanwhile, Ankara responded by
recalling its ambassador to Greece, Western agencies reported. Turkish
caretaker Prime Minister Tansu Ciller called on countries friendly with
Athens and Ankara to dissuade Greece from pursuing the "dangerous path"
it has embarked upon. -- Stefan Krause and Lowell Bezanis
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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