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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 55, 18 March 1996
CONTENTS
[1] ARSON AND LOOTING IN GRBAVICA.
[2] DIVISIONS DEEPEN IN BOSNIA.
[3] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
[4] SERBIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT SKOPJE.
[5] RUMP YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL'S 'SUCCESS' WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
[6] COUNCIL OF EUROPE SETS CRITERIA FOR CROATIA'S ADMISSION.
[7] PRESIDENTS OF BOSNIA, CROATIA, SERBIA MEET WITH CHRISTOPHER.
[8] ZHELEV WANTS HEADS OF BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK EXECUTIVES.
[9] BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN, GREEK FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET.
[10] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY, NEO-COMMUNISTS END ALLIANCE.
[11] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS IN TRANSYLVANIA CELEBRATE 1848 REVOLUTION.
[12] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT CANCELS FINE FOR KOHA JONE EDITOR.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 55, Part II, 18 March 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] ARSON AND LOOTING IN GRBAVICA.
Bosnian Serbs continued over the weekend
to torch and trash the last of the Sarajevo suburbs slated to pass to
federal control on 19 March. In an apparently unique move against the
vandals, IFOR soldiers detained a total of 12 suspected arsonists. The
peacekeepers then handed them over to Serbian police, however, and the
police released the men, Reuters reported on 17 March. Federal
firefighters who had come to Grbavica to control the blazes were forced
out by Serbian grenade attacks on 16 March. Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic condemned the destruction and called for protection for
Serbs wanting to stay in their homes. In any event, Onasa said on 17
March that Serbs will be able to return to their government-owned flats
any time up to six months after fleeing them. -- Padraig O'Moore
[2] DIVISIONS DEEPEN IN BOSNIA.
Former Bosnian Prime Minister Haris
Silajdzic said on 17 March that the work of the international community
in Bosnia to date was actually helping to reinforce divisions rather
than promote a unified state. The previous day, the international
community's high representative, Carl Bildt, had also pointed out the
dangers of increasing ethnic polarization. News agencies further
reported that Muslims have been preventing Croatian refugees from
returning to their homes in Bugojno. Federal President Kresimir Zubak
said that it will take three to four years to make the federation work,
Reuters noted on 17 March. Western officials, moreover, are concerned
about recent moves by the Muslim leadership that seem aimed at setting
up a Muslim ministate rather than a real multi-ethnic polity, the
International Herald Tribune reported on 16 and 18 March. -- Padraig
O'Moore
[3] BOSNIAN SHORTS.
Near Mostar, Croatian police allowed Muslims to visit
graves on Croat-held territory, ending a blockade, news agencies
reported on 17 March. Meanwhile, IFOR is preparing across Bosnia for the
last stage of mutual land transfers between the Muslim-Croat federation
and the Republika Srpska on 19 March. In Ankara, the Bosnia "Train and
Equip" Donors Conference ended with only the U.S. and Turkey pledging
definite amounts to build the federal army. Washington offered $100
million and Ankara $2 million, the Turkish Daily News reported on 16
March. -- Padraig O'Moore
[4] SERBIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT SKOPJE.
Slobodan Milosevic will visit Skopje
on 20 March to announce diplomatic recognition of Macedonia,
international media reported on 17 March, based on Vecer and Foreign
Ministry sources.Vecer reported that during his visit Milosevic will
"announce the normalization of relations" between rump Yugoslavia and
Macedonia, while Foreign Ministry sources said Macedonian Foreign
Minister Ljubomir Frckovski will visit Belgrade on 21 March to sign
documents on mutual recognition. -- Stefan Krause
[5] RUMP YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL'S 'SUCCESS' WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
Mihailo
Milojevic, the head of rump Yugoslavia's chamber of commerce, has said
that his recent visit to the Republika Srpska was "most successful" and
that there would in the very near future be development of economic
links between Belgrade and the Bosnian Serbs. While declining to give
many specifics, Milojevic did say that his Bosnian Serb hosts were
interested in reopening the Bijeljina-Sid and Ruma-Sabac-Zvornik railway
links with rump Yugoslavia as well as establishing regular flights
between Belgrade and Banja Luka. No concrete agreements on restoring the
communication links were reached, but Milojevic stressed that they would
be "soon," SRNA reported on 15 March. -- Stan Markotich
[6] COUNCIL OF EUROPE SETS CRITERIA FOR CROATIA'S ADMISSION.
The Council of
Europe's Political Committee has sent Croatia a 21-item list of
admission criteria that is to be signed by Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman and Croatia's parliamentary chairman by 19 March if Croatia is
to enter the organization in April, Croatian media reported on 14 and 15
March. The list was detailed and specific, including references to
freedom of the media and democracy in electing the mayor of Zagreb. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[7] PRESIDENTS OF BOSNIA, CROATIA, SERBIA MEET WITH CHRISTOPHER.
U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher is to chair a meeting of the five-
nation Contact Group on Bosnia on 18 March in Geneva, also to be
attended by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic; his Croatian
counterpart, Franjo Tudjman; and Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic,
representing President Alija Izetbegovic, Nasa Borba and AFP reported.
Russia's mission spokesman on 16 March said a Russian representative
would not attend the U.S.-convened meeting in Geneva ahead of the Moscow
Contact Group meeting next week, calling it hastily arranged and
unnecessary. Christopher confirmed that Russia would not take part in
the Geneva meeting but played down the importance of its absence, AFP
reported. Christopher reportedly was set to discuss with the Balkan
leaders the forthcoming elections in Bosnia, issues of free movement,
and the prosecution of war criminals, as well as the presence of foreign
forces on the ground. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[8] ZHELEV WANTS HEADS OF BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK EXECUTIVES.
Bulgarian
President Zhelyu Zhelev, at a meeting on 14 March with newly appointed
Bulgarian National Bank Governor Lyubomir Filipov, demanded that four of
the bank's top executives be replaced. The most prominent names
mentioned were Kamen Toshkov, head of banking supervision, and Stoyan
Shukerov, chief of foreign-currency operations. Zhelev charges these
figures with exercising little control over the banking system and
lending large amounts of money to selected struggling banks,
contributing to the decline of the lev. In other economic news, the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank concluded a round of talks
with the government on 14 March without agreement on a new standby loan,
Duma reported. However, the government is taking measures to demonstrate
its seriousness on structural reform, announcing the official closing of
30-40 loss-making enterprises. According to the World Bank, losses at
state enterprises are 20% of GDP. -- Michael Wyzan
[9] BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN, GREEK FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET.
Georgi Pirinski,
Teodor Melescanu, and Theodoros Pangalos met in Varna on 16-17 March,
Bulgarian and Western media reported. The three officials discussed the
location of a second Danube bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania but
failed to reach a decision. The EU is willing to finance the
construction, but Sofia and Bucharest cannot agree on a site. They also
talked about transport, telecommunication, and energy projects,
including the planned oil pipeline from Burgas in Bulgaria to
Alexandroupolis in Greece, and agreed to set up a regional center for
coordinating infrastructure projects in the Balkans. Melescanu and
Pangalos backed a Bulgarian initiative to host a meeting of all Balkan
foreign ministers aimed at promoting regional cooperation and stability.
Greece said it will support Bulgaria's and Romania's wishes for parallel
negotiations for EU membership with all associated members from Eastern
Europe. -- Stefan Krause
[10] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY, NEO-COMMUNISTS END ALLIANCE.
The ruling Party of
Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) and the Socialist Labor Party on 16
March formally ended their political alliance, Romanian and Western
media reported. The announcement came after a meeting of the parties'
chairmen, Oliviu Gherman and Ilie Verdet, respectively. The two leaders
were quoted as saying that they parted because their alliance did not
work anymore. The PDSR, which denounced its alliance with the
ultranationalist Greater Romania Party in October last year, has only
one ally left, the Party of Romanian National Unity, but relations
between the two are also deteriorating. Observers of the Romanian scene
see the PDSR's efforts to rid itself of its former nationalist and neo-
communist allies as aimed at improving the party's image both at home
and abroad. -- Dan Ionescu
[11] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS IN TRANSYLVANIA CELEBRATE 1848 REVOLUTION.
Some 8,000
ethnic Hungarians on 15 March gathered in the town of Sfantu Gheorghe to
mark the anniversary of a short-lived anti-Austrian revolution in 1848,
Radio Bucharest and Western media reported. The meeting was attended by
leaders of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR),
representatives of the Hungarian Embassy in Bucharest, and guests from
Hungary. Similar rallies took places in several towns in Transylvania,
where most of Romania's 1.6 million Hungarians live. Meanwhile, Romanian
Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu was quoted as saying that Romania
wants to get a long-delayed treaty with Hungary signed before this
year's presidential and general elections. A bilateral treaty is vital
to both countries' ambitions of joining Euro-Atlantic structures. -- Dan
Ionescu
[12] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT CANCELS FINE FOR KOHA JONE EDITOR.
Sali Berisha has
canceled a court fine imposed on Koha Jone Editor in Chief Aleksander
Frangaj, international agencies reported on 17 March. Frangaj was fined
$1,000 for publishing a false report under a disputed press law (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 15 March 1996). In unrelated news, Human Rights Watch
published its annual report on Albania. It concludes that, five years
after the first free post-communist elections, the citizens of Albania
are still plagued by serious human rights violations, such as
restrictions on freedom of expression and association, manipulation of
the legal system, and violence by the police. -- 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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