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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 52, 13 March 1996
CONTENTS
[01] ILIDZA AFTERMATH.
[02] SARAJEVO BECOMES CANTON, DESPITE CROATIAN DISAPPROVAL.
[03] NATO CONCERNED ABOUT RISING CROAT-MUSLIM TENSIONS...
[04] ...WHILE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL WARNS OF CROATIAN-RUMP YUGOSLAV CLASH.
[05] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL SLAMS KARADZIC.
[06] BELGRADE TO COOPERATE ON WAR CRIMES ISSUE?
[07] SERBIA OPPOSES SLOVENIA'S DEAL WITH CREDITORS.
[08] MACEDONIA CONTINUES TO CLAIM YUGOSLAV INHERITANCE.
[09] UPDATE ON BUCHAREST SUBWAY STRIKE.
[10] ROMANIAN POLITICAL LEADER CALLS FOR TALKS WITH HUNGARY TO BE SUSPENDED.
[11] SNEGUR, SMIRNOV MEET AGAIN.
[12] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ATTACKS GOVERNMENT.
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[14] GREECE TO MEDIATE IN BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN BRIDGE DISPUTE.
[15] ALBANIAN JOURNALIST FINED FOR INCITING TERRORISM.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 52, Part II, 13 March 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] ILIDZA AFTERMATH.
Bosnian federal officials on 12 March followed their
police into the fourth formerly Serb-held Sarajevo suburb to change
hands. They were joined by hundreds of Croats and Muslims who had been
expelled from their homes during the war, the BBC reported. These
ordinary citizens often found their dwellings destroyed and protested
to the international community's High Representative Carl Bildt that
nothing had been done to guard their property, Oslobodjenje added on
13 March. The UN police reported complaints "every five minutes" of
looting and intimidation directed against the few remaining Serbs.
IFOR earlier refused to help protect those Serbs against Serbian gangs
and arsonists, but it is now sending in additional forces to help the
police. -- Patrick Moore
[02] SARAJEVO BECOMES CANTON, DESPITE CROATIAN DISAPPROVAL.
Sarajevo
authorities on 11 March set up the Transitional Assembly of the
Sarajevo Canton without the consent of Croatian Democratic Community
(HDZ) councilors Oslobodjenje reported. The HDZ councilors said they
did not want the Sarajevo canton to be established without
consultations at the federal level, Hina reported on 12 March.
Sarajevo Mayor Tarik Kupusovic adjourned the council session when he
realized the federal partners were opposed to setting up the canton,
but 37 councilors went ahead and set it up in his absence. Kupusovic
said that he could not accept such a canton neither as mayor nor as a
Sarajevo citizen. The new canton governor argued that it had been
necessary to set up a functioning city structure in time for the
elections. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[03] NATO CONCERNED ABOUT RISING CROAT-MUSLIM TENSIONS...
NATO spokesman
Brigadier Andrew Cuming has warned of serious problems in the valleys
of central Bosnia. He noted that a situation is emerging there similar
to that which preceded the internecine conflict of 1993. Muslims and
Croats are setting up checkpoints in places like Jajce, Vitez, and
Kiseljak, AFP reported on 12 March. Such controls violate both the
letter of the Dayton treaty and the spirit of the federation. Cuming
added that IFOR commander Admiral Leighton Smith "read out the riot
act" to Croatian leader and Federation President Kresimir Zubak and to
Federation Vice President Ejup Ganic to urge them to defuse the
tensions. -- Patrick Moore
[04] ...WHILE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL WARNS OF CROATIAN-RUMP YUGOSLAV CLASH.
Boutros
Boutros Ghali on 12 March said he is worried about a possible
military clash between Croatia and the rump Yugoslavia over the
Prevlaka peninsula, Nasa Borba reported. The two countries have been
disputing ownership of the peninsula. Boutros Ghali said it was
important for both sides to strengthen their cooperation with UN
Military Observers (UNMOP) on the ground to enable the latter to
monitor the demilitarization of Prevlaka. He added that many
violations of the Prevlaka agreement have been reported and are
threatening to increase tension. Boutros-Ghali underscored the need to
have UNMOP remain on the peninsula until the two sides are cooperating
better or some other organization takes over monitoring the
demilitarization operation. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[05] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL SLAMS KARADZIC.
General Milan Gvero, deputy
commander of the Bosnian Serb army (VRS), has sharply attacked the
civilian chief, Radovan Karadzic, Nasa Borba reported on 13 March. In
the latest installment of public in-fighting between Pale and its
generals based at Han Pijesak, Gvero claimed that Karadzic tried "to
undermine" the VRS command structure but did not succeed. Karadzic was
allegedly preparing for the eventuality that his party would lose in
the upcoming Bosnian elections. The general also accused Pale of a
series of grave mistakes, such as courting the political opposition in
Belgrade at a time when the Bosnian Serbs were financially dependent
on the Belgrade government. Gvero argued that Pale neglected the
financial needs of the military and favored the civilian police at the
army's expense. -- Patrick Moore
[06] BELGRADE TO COOPERATE ON WAR CRIMES ISSUE?
U.S. war crimesinvestigator John Shattuck on 12 March met with Radoslav Kremenovic
and Drazen Erdemovic, the accused war criminals who were arrested by
Serbian police in Novi Sad on 3 March (see OMRI Daily Digest, 8 March
1995), Nasa Borba reported. Shattuck, who also met with Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic, said he believed that rump Yugoslavia
was growing more cooperative on the war crimes issues and that
Kremenovic and Erdemovic would be turned over to the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, the tribunal's
chief prosecutor, Justice Richard Goldstone, told Reuters Television
that "We seem to be getting assistance [from Belgrade] more than
obstruction at the moment." -- Stan Markotich
[07] SERBIA OPPOSES SLOVENIA'S DEAL WITH CREDITORS.
Belgrade has said it is
fully prepared to launch a legal challenge to a recent deal between
Slovenia and its private creditors, Reuters reported on 12 March.
Under the terms of the deal, Slovenia has agreed to pay 18% of the $4
billion commercial debt incurred by Yugoslavia prior to its breakup.
Serbia's objections center on the allegation that the deal excludes
rump Yugoslav creditors. Reuters quoted one banker involved in
negotiating with Slovenia as saying that "If Serbia pursues this
challenge, I think they can say good-bye to relations with the
international financial community for a very, very long time." -- Stan
Markotich
[08] MACEDONIA CONTINUES TO CLAIM YUGOSLAV INHERITANCE.
Macedonian Foreign
Minister Ljubomir Frckovski has said it is "unacceptable" that
Belgrade is trying to secure Macedonian agreement that the two states
have no financial claims on each other, AFP reported on 12 March.
Frckovski noted "that would mean Macedonia renouncing its share of the
heritage of the previous (Yugoslav) state which is its by right." He
added that the problem of succession rights was complicating mutual
recognition and normalization of relations between Belgrade and
Skopje. Belgrade has recognized Slovenia and Bosnia but still refuses
to recognize Croatia and Macedonia. In January, it adopted a tentative
outline agreement on recognizing Macedonia but said it would fix a
later date for signing an accord. -- Fabian Schmidt
[09] UPDATE ON BUCHAREST SUBWAY STRIKE.
The Romanian government has begun
firing those Bucharest subway employees who have not signed a
declaration of intent to return to work, Romanian media reported on 12
March. More than 800 workers have signed the government ultimatum, but
the rest are intent on continuing the strike and continue to block
tunnels. The government said the dismissed personnel will be replaced
by trained railroad workers who lost their jobs earlier. It has also
taken measures to improve the Bucharest bus transportation system. --
Michael Shafir
[10] ROMANIAN POLITICAL LEADER CALLS FOR TALKS WITH HUNGARY TO BE SUSPENDED.
Gheorghe
Funar, leader of the Party of National Unity of
Romanians (PUNR), has called for the suspension of parleys with
Hungary on the pending basic treaty, Radio Bucharest reported on 12
March. His appeal came after a meeting between the PUNR leadership and
Virgil Magureanu, director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).
Magureanu told the PUNR that the Hungarian Democratic Federation of
Romania has made all the necessary preparations for declaring
autonomy. The meeting was criticized by Senator Vasile Vacaru,
chairman of the parliamentary commission supervising SRI activities,
who said Magureanu should report only to the commission. -- Michael
Shafir
[11] SNEGUR, SMIRNOV MEET AGAIN.
Moldovan President Mircea Snegur and the
leader of the breakaway Transdniester region, Igor Smirnov, held
further talks in Tiraspol on 11 March on granting the region a special
status. Radio Bucharest, citing Chisinau TV, said Snegur accepted
Smirnov's demand for independent foreign economic relations, a
separate constitution and separate state symbols, and three state
languages (presumably Russian, "Moldovan," and Ukrainian). But the
talks on the special status of the Transdniester have not been
concluded, and Chisinau continues to demand the sole right to
representation in foreign relations. -- Michael Shafir
[12] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ATTACKS GOVERNMENT.
Zhelyu Zhelev on 11 March
accused the government of communist-era secrecy and an arrogant
disregard of other state institutions, Reuters reported the following
day. He added that Prime Minister Zhan Videnov had a Stalinist notion
of the state being identical with his Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Zhelev was responding to the closed-door plenary meeting of the BSP
and its coalition partners on 10 March (see OMRI Daily Digest, 11
March 1996), at which Zhelev was described as an "anti-state symbol."
The president noted that important economic ties with foreign
countries have been neglected because Videnov has banned his ministers
from joining Zhelev's delegation on visits abroad. Presidential
advisers say the lack of ministers in Zhelev's entourage is
undermining Bulgaria's bid to participate in the reconstruction of the
former Yugoslavia. -- Stefan Krause
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski on 12 March
responded to Greek Development Minister Vaso Papandreou's proposal to
establish a Balkan council by saying it is "a bit premature" to talk
about institutionalizing Balkan cooperation, Bulgarian media reported.
Slovenian President Milan Kucan arrived in Sofia on 12 March for a
two-day official visit. He called on all sides in the former
Yugoslavia to work for the full implementation of the Dayton accords
and to "realize the necessity to live in peace," international
agencies reported. Bulgaria and Slovenia are preparing accords on
trade cooperation, mutual protection of investments, and avoiding
double taxation. Meanwhile, Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) Chairman
Ivan Kostov on 12 March was authorized by the SDS National
Coordinating Council to sign an agreement with other opposition forces
on primary elections aimed at finding a joint presidential candidate,
Trud reported. -- Stefan Krause
[14] GREECE TO MEDIATE IN BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN BRIDGE DISPUTE.
Greece will
mediate in the dispute between Bulgaria and Romania over the location
of a second Danube bridge linking the two countries, Reuters reported.
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Construction Minister Doncho
Konakchiev on 12 March told an economic forum in the Greek city of
Thessaloniki that the foreign ministers of the three countries will
meet in the Bulgarian town of Varna on 16-17 March. Greece
unsuccessfully tried to broker a compromise in August 1995. Sofia and
Bucharest so far have failed to agree on a site for the bridge (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 12 June 1995 and 10 August 1995). Konakchiev said
Bulgaria has proposed to Romania that two bridges be built, but he did
not say how they would be financed. The cost of constructing one
bridge is estimated at $320-445 million. -- Stefan Krause
[15] ALBANIAN JOURNALIST FINED FOR INCITING TERRORISM.
Populli Po
journalist Ylli Polovina has been fined 30,000 lek ($300) by a Tirana
court for inciting terrorism, Reuters reported on 12 March. Polovina
was arrested after the fatal Tirana car bombing on 26 February.
Severel months earlier, he had written an article in November 1995
saying terrorist attacks such as that which injured Macedonian
President Kiro Gligorov on 3 October, could also happen in Albania.
Polovina said he will appeal the sentence and claimed he was the
"victim of a political scheme." Three international journalists'
organizations and the Association of Professional Journalists had
called for Polovina's release. -- Fabian Schmidt
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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