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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 51, 12 March 1996
CONTENTS
[01] ILIDZA CHANGES HANDS.
[02] BOSNIAN SERBS CLAIM NATO USED NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
[03] EU TO OVERSEE MOSTAR CENTRAL DISTRICT.
[04] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
[05] RUMP YUGOSLAV BUSINESS LEADERS PROMISE TO HELP REBUILD REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
[06] REFUGEES IN MONTENEGRO.
[07] CROATIA, RUMP YUGOSLAVIA SEEK TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS.
[08] U.S., MACEDONIA HOLD FIRST JOINT MANEUVERS.
[09] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT GIVES SUBWAY WORKERS ULTIMATUM.
[10] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION TO BILATERAL TREATY WITH UKRAINE.
[11] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES MESSAGE FROM YELTSIN ON TRANSDNIESTER.
[12] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION ON JOINT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
[13] ALBANIAN UPDATE.
[14] GREEK DEVELOPMENT MINISTER PROPOSES BALKAN COUNCIL.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 51, Part II, 12 March 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] ILIDZA CHANGES HANDS.
A Bosnian government multi-ethnic police force
entered Ilidza on the morning of 12 March, making it the fourth of
five suburbs to be transferred from Pale's control. CNN said that
gangs of arsonists and thieves submitted the few remaining mainly
elderly residents to a final night of terror. One Serbian woman said
she was glad the federal police would arrive because IFOR refused to
protect her building. The police station, hospital, and a major
factory went up in flames, despite last-minute attempts by IFOR and
the Sarajevo fire department to end the blazes. Departing Serbian
police fired pistols and grenades as IFOR troops scattered for cover.
It was difficult to escape the impression that "once again thugs had
made fools out of what is supposed to be the most professional army in
the world," a BBC reporter said on 11 March. The UN's Kris Jankowski
said that a prominent local Serb, Danilo Staka, disappeared with his
daughter after urging other Serbs to stay, Onasa reported. -- Patrick
Moore
[02] BOSNIAN SERBS CLAIM NATO USED NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Soldiers of the
Atlantic alliance may now be reluctant to protect pensioners in
Sarajevo suburbs, but Bosnian Serb TV claims that last year NATO
planes used nuclear weapons in the air strikes on Serb positions that
helped make the Dayton conference possible. "In their combat assaults
on Serb defence positions and Serb villages, the NATO air force and
rapid reaction force used the most modern combat weapons including low
intensity nuclear weapons that caused a certain degree of long-term
radiation. In the course of their investigations, teams [of experts
from Pale and Belgrade] detected symptoms of radiation-linked diseases
in several dozen people and unusual behavior in cattle," AFP on 12
March quoted the broadcast as saying. -- Patrick Moore
[03] EU TO OVERSEE MOSTAR CENTRAL DISTRICT.
Mostar EU administrator Hans
Koschnick announced that the EU will take over administration of the
central Mostar district until new city authorities and a mayor for the
whole of Mostar have been appointed, Oslobodjenje reported on 11
March. Mijo Brajkovic, mayor of the Croatian-held part of Mostar, said
the Croatian side had not agreed to this decision, Nasa Borba and
Vjesnik reported the next day. Meanwhile, La Stampa announced that a
possible replacement for Koschnick, who is leaving his post at the end
of April, is Giorgio Giacomelli, a UN official known for his
diplomatic experience and expertise in fighting organized crime. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[04] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
General Jovo Maric, a senior Bosnian Serb air force
commander, died in a road accident near Rogatica the previous week,
AFP reported on 11 March. In Belgrade, the deputy prosecutor from the
Hague-based war crimes tribunal has arrived to seek the extradition of
two witnesses to the massacres at Srebrenica. They disappeared
following their recent arrest by Serbian police (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 11 March 1996). In Sarajevo, the canton assembly held its
opening session but without deputies from the Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ), Oslobodjenje reported on 12 March. The HDZ and its
Muslim counterpart, the Party of Democratic Action, have been engaged
in a running power struggle within the federation. -- Patrick Moore
[05] RUMP YUGOSLAV BUSINESS LEADERS PROMISE TO HELP REBUILD REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
A delegation
of businessmen from Serbia and Montenegro are
currently in Banja Luka to meet with ranking political officials of
the Republika Srpska, Television Serbia reported on 10 March. The main
item on the agenda was economic cooperation between rump Yugoslavia
and the Bosnian Serbs. SRNA quoted Mihajlo Milojevic, head of rump
Yugoslavia's Chamber of Commerce, as saying that "Serbia and
Montenegro have no plans to abandon our [Bosnian Serb] brethren." He
added that "with its rich resources and our aid, the Republika Srpska
will become a modern state." -- Stan Markotich
[06] REFUGEES IN MONTENEGRO.
International Red Cross sources reported that
some 200 refugees arrived in Podgorica last month, including some 53
families from the Republika Srpska and 16 from territories once held
by rebel Croatian Serbs. An estimated 12, 500 refugees are now in
Podgorica, Montena-fax reported on 11 March. -- Stan Markotich
[07] CROATIA, RUMP YUGOSLAVIA SEEK TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS.
Croatia and the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 11 March signed memoranda on opening
an Adriatic oil pipeline, a Zagreb-Belgrade highway, railroad and air
links, and consular offices in Belgrade and Zagreb, Croatian media
reported. The previous day, Croatian and rump Yugoslav delegations,
led by Foreign Ministers Mate Granic and Milan Milutinovic, had met
for one-day talks. Granic said the main goal is to reach an agreement
on normalizing bilateral relations as soon as possible, Hina reported.
Croatian President Tudjman said that to speed up the normalization
process, eastern Slavonia into Croatia must be returned to Croatian
control and the division of former Yugoslav assets expedited. -- Daria
Sito Sucic
[08] U.S., MACEDONIA HOLD FIRST JOINT MANEUVERS.
The U.S. and Macedonia on
11 March began their first joint military maneuvers, international
agencies reported. The exercises were held on the Sar Planina
mountains, and a special U.S. elite unit from Colorado took part. The
U.S. and Macedonia previously signed a military cooperation agreement.
Macedonia will participate in joint NATO military exercises in Albania
in July. -- Fabian Schmidt
[09] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT GIVES SUBWAY WORKERS ULTIMATUM.
The Romanian
government on 11 March gave Bucharest's subway workers until midnight
to end a week-old wildcat strike or face instant dismissal, RFE/RL's
correspondent in Bucharest and international media reported. OMRI was
informed on 12 March that the strikers had not returned to work. In a
related development, dock workers at six ports on the Danube went on
strike for two hours in demand of more pay and threatened to launch a
general strike later this week. -- Michael Shafir
[10] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION TO BILATERAL TREATY WITH UKRAINE.
Nine cultural
and other organizations on 11 March sent an open letter to President
Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, Foreign Minister Teodor
Melescanu, and the parliament demanding that Romania not sign the
basic treaty with Ukraine, Radio Bucharest reported the next day. The
signatories said the treaty should not be approved unless territories
incorporated into the Soviet Union after World War II and now in
Ukraine are returned to Romania. Among the organizations that signed
the letter was Vatra Romaneasca (Romanian Cradle), whose political
arm, the Party of Romanian National Unity, is a member of the ruling
coalition. -- Michael Shafir
[11] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES MESSAGE FROM YELTSIN ON TRANSDNIESTER.
Yurii
Karlov, envoy to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, has handed
Mircea Snegur a message on ways to solve the conflict in the breakaway
region of Transdniester, Radio Bucharest reported quoting Moldpres.
The message proposes a summit meeting at which an intermediary
agreement would be signed on the basic principles for solving the
dispute. -- Michael Shafir
[12] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION ON JOINT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
The Union of
Democratic Forces (SDS) still has not clarified its position on how
the opposition to the Socialists should elect a joint candidate for
president. Kontinent on 12 March quotes an unnamed source within the
SDS leadership as saying that some SDS leaders are against preliminary
elections among opposition party members unless "all conditions for
the SDS candidate to win exist." Opinion polls suggest that none of
the three SDS contenders for the post of presidential candidate--Petar
Stoyanov, Asen Agov, and Aleksandar Yordanov--would win primaries
against incumbent President Zhelyu Zhelev. Most SDS politicians are
opposed to his candidacy. The SDS National Coordinating Council is to
ask for guarantees from SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov that "Zhelev will not
win the primary elections," Trud reported. -- Stefan Krause
[13] ALBANIAN UPDATE.
The Democratic Alliance, the Social Democratic Party,
the Party of Human Rights, and the Christian Democrats have decided to
form a coalition for the upcoming elections, Koha Jone reported on 12
March. The centrist coalition is to be known as the "Pole of the
Center" and will challenge the two main parties, the Democrats and the
Socialists, who are expected to run a close race. Meanwhile, unknown
assailants have broken into the offices of the Democratic Party of the
Right, but they apparently stole only protocols and a list of speakers
at party meetings. The party accused the ruling Democrats of
involvement in the incident. In unrelated news, the monarchist
Legality Party has collected 100,000 signatures since November 1995
calling for a referendum on a constitutional monarchy, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 12 March. -- Fabian Schmidt
[14] GREEK DEVELOPMENT MINISTER PROPOSES BALKAN COUNCIL.
Vaso Papandreou on
11 March proposed the formation of a Balkan council to encourage
regional cooperation and help Balkan countries make good use of EU
funds, AFP reported. Papandreou said such a body could gradually widen
its activities to include industry, infrastructure policy, and,
eventually, "political cooperation and preventive diplomacy for
defusing crises." She said that, within such a framework, Greece would
support other Balkan countries in their dealings with the EU.
Papandreou added that the EU should send a representative to the
council. -- 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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