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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 64, 29 March 1996
CONTENTS
[01] WASHINGTON MAY BE "HIDING EVIDENCE" OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMES.
[02] UN FINDS MASS GRAVES IN SARAJEVO SUBURB.
[03] "WAR AGAINST CROATIA PLANNED IN BELGRADE."
[04] CROATIA'S SERBS ORGANIZE.
[05] FORMER CROATIAN MINISTER KILLED.
[06] WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR CALLS BELGRADE A CRIMINAL REGIME.
[07] SERBIAN PRESIDENT HONORED ON "NATIONAL DAY."
[08] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES LAW, BLOCKS PETITION DRIVE FOR EARLY ELECTIONS.
[09] ROMANIAN ARMS INDUSTRY WORKERS PROTEST DEFENSE BUDGET.
[10] ROMANIANS, ITALIANS DISCUSS ORGANIZED CRIME.
[11] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT TO FIGHT CRIME, CORRUPTION.
[12] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES WATER, BORDER TREATIES WITH GREECE.
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[14] ALBANIAN ILLEGAL EMIGRANTS PERISH IN ADRIATIC.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 64, Part II, 29 March 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[01] WASHINGTON MAY BE "HIDING EVIDENCE" OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMES.
Bosnia's UN
Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey said that the US is concealing evidence
linking Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic -- a signatory to the
U.S.-sponsored Dayton agreement -- to indicted war criminal Zeljko
Raznatovic, known as "Arkan." Sacirbey claimed that former U.S. envoy
Richard Holbrooke gave Milosevic a whole file of evidence on Arkan,
Nasa Borba reported on 29 March. Sacirbey added that the U.S. has not
made the evidence public or brought charges against Milosevic for his
ties to the man widely believed responsible for some of the most
grisly war crimes. -- Patrick Moore
[02] UN FINDS MASS GRAVES IN SARAJEVO SUBURB.
International police
confirmed on 29 March that five graves in Hadzici contain at least 20
bodies, AFP reported. The return of the area to Bosnian government
control and the arrival of spring weather has enabled investigators to
look for evidence of atrocities by Serbs against their Muslim and
Croat neighbors at the start of the war four years ago. Police
spokesman Alexander Ivanko said that this was not the first, but
certainly the largest of such finds. The biggest single grave held at
least ten corpses. -- Patrick Moore
[03] "WAR AGAINST CROATIA PLANNED IN BELGRADE."
Testimony continues before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The
Hague regarding three officers of the rump Yugoslav army. They are
charged in connection with the massacre of Croats, including hospital
patients, after Vukovar fell to the Serbs in November 1991. The
hearings clearly indicate that that war was planned and directed from
Belgrade, Novi list reported on 29 March. In Washington, the State
Department said it would protest plans by President Franjo Tudjman to
re-bury Croatian soldiers from World War II at the site of the
Jasenovac concentration camp, news agencies noted on 28 March. A
spokesman likened this to honoring murderers along with their victims.
-- Patrick Moore
[04] CROATIA'S SERBS ORGANIZE.
The mass exodus of Serbs from formerly
Serb-held Croatian territories in 1995 reduced the republic's Serbian
minority from about 12% of the population to only perhaps 2-3%. Those
remaining Serbs insist nonetheless that the government guarantee their
rights. The Supreme Council of the Community of Serbs of Croatia (ZSH)
met and called upon the government to guarantee funds to ensure the
Serbs' "civil, cultural, and national rights," including cultural
autonomy, Slobodna Dalmacija said on 29 March. In Zagreb,
representatives of the Serbian Democratic Forum, the Prosveta cultural
society, and some regional Serbian groups founded the League of
Serbian Organizations (SSO). Spokesmen said that no political parties
have been included at this stage to underscore the SSO's non-party
character. Its chairman is nonetheless likely to be the prominent
Serbian political figure Milorad Pupovac, Novi list reported on 29
March. The SSO stresses the traditional Austro-Hungarian concept of
"personal ethnic autonomy" as opposed to group territorial autonomy,
which is realistic given that the remaining Croatian Serbs live widely
dispersed. -- Patrick Moore
[05] FORMER CROATIAN MINISTER KILLED.
Anton Marcelo Popovic was shot dead
outside his home in Vrsar, Istria, on the night of 27 March, Hina
reported the next day. He had been minister of tourism in 1991-1992
and most recently was director of the Anita-Vrsar hotel chain.
Interior Minister Ivan Jarnjak said that the killing had been planned
and that "there are indications that it was the work of a professional
killer." An investigation has been launched, but persons close to
Popovic ruled out any political motive for the killing, Vjesnik noted
on 29 March. Popovic belonged to the governing Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ) and was active in sports as well as in politics and
business, Vecernji list said. -- Patrick Moore
[06] WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR CALLS BELGRADE A CRIMINAL REGIME.
Prosecutor
Clint Williamson concluded before the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia that the rump Yugoslav authorities are a
"criminal" government, AFP reported on 28 March. Prompting the
justice's remark was the fact that Belgrade has refused to extradite
the three officers of the Yugoslav army (JNA) involved in the Vukovar
massacre (see above). "When a government gives refuge and support to
criminals in the eyes of the world that government then too becomes
criminal.... And that is exactly what the Belgrade government has done
in this case, "Williamson said. Not only has Belgrade failed to
extradite the accused war criminals, but the independent Radio B92 on
21 March reported that one of the suspects, Veselin Sljivancanin, was
even promoted recently from major to colonel. -- Stan Markotich
[07] SERBIAN PRESIDENT HONORED ON "NATIONAL DAY."
Most high-ranking
political and military officials in rump Yugoslavia extended Serbian
President Milosevic "congratulations" on the occasion of the 28 March
national day, Tanjug reported the previous day. On that date in 1989,
the Serbian legislature passed amendments to the republic's
constitution that revoked the political autonomy of Vojvodina and
Kosovo. What characterized this year's "national day" was the somewhat
toned-down, albeit far from absent, nationalistic rhetoric. Serbian
Premier Mirko Marjanovic's message to Milosevic observed that "owing
to a persistent policy of peace, Serbia's people have secured a place
in the international community... [something] to which Serbia's unity
and stability had contributed." -- Stan Markotich
[08] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES LAW, BLOCKS PETITION DRIVE FOR EARLY ELECTIONS.
The
Macedonian parliament on 28 March voted in favor of a
law governing citizens' petition drives for parliamentary elections.
The law carried with 53 deputies for, 15 against, and one abstention,
according to Nova Makedonija. It invalidated a four-day petition drive
for early parliamentary elections mounted by the largest opposition
bloc, made up of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity and the
Democratic Party. The bloc was able to garner a reported 162,000
signatures from voters seeking early parliamentary elections,
according to Dnevnik and Nova Makedonija. A Liberal Party initiative
to have the law exclude the current petition drive failed. The law
seems to guarantee the continuation of the seated parliament in office
through the conclusion of its term in 1998. -- Duncan Perry in Skopje
[09] ROMANIAN ARMS INDUSTRY WORKERS PROTEST DEFENSE BUDGET.
Five trade
union organizations on 28 March staged a rally in Bucharest to protest
what they described as insufficient budgetary allotments for their
industry, Radio Bucharest reported. The protesters asked that their
demand for increases be discussed with cabinet members in the presence
of President Ion Iliescu. They threatened to stage a further rally on
3 April in case negotiations failed. Romania's arms industry has been
in a deep crisis in recent years. -- Dan Ionescu
[10] ROMANIANS, ITALIANS DISCUSS ORGANIZED CRIME.
An Italian delegation of
experts in Mafia-style organizations visited Romania between 27 and 29
March, Radio Bucharest reported. The delegation discussed ways to step
up the exchange of information on organized crime with senior Romanian
officials from the Interior Ministry. Romanian Interior Minister Doru
Ioan Taracila said that the two countries plan joint actions in
combating trans-border crime. -- Dan Ionescu
[11] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT TO FIGHT CRIME, CORRUPTION.
The Moldovan
government on 28 March ordered the Interior Ministry to form a
department to fight crime and corruption, Moldovan agencies reported.
It also announced that inspections at some 100 financial institutions
revealed hard-currency revenues totaling $18 million and DM 6.3
million that have illegally been kept abroad. Foreign Affairs Minister
Mihai Popov noted that almost half of the diplomatic passports issued
since 1993 have gone to people not entitled to such documents. Justice
Minister Vasile Sturza said that despite decentralization, many state
organs and civil servants still have the authority to issue permits.
The government also decided that within three months, all civil
servants will have declare revenues, bank accounts, and other assets.
-- Matyas Szabo
[12] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES WATER, BORDER TREATIES WITH GREECE.
The
Bulgarian parliament on 28 March ratified an accord with Greece on the
use of water reserves, ending a long-standing dispute between Sofia
and Athens, Reuters reported. Under the accord, Greece is guaranteed
29% of the average annual water flow of the River Mesta/Nestos,
totaling 1.5 billion cubic meters, over the next 35 years. The
opposition refused to vote on the agreement and accused the government
of betraying national interest by agreeing to deprive some Bulgarian
communities in the area of needed water. -- Stefan Krause
[13] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
Officials from nine Balkan countries agreed on 28
March to hold a conference on regional security and cooperation in
Sofia, AFP reported. The conference is likely to take place in June
and will be attended by the foreign ministers of Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania,
Turkey, and rump Yugoslavia. In other news, 24 chasa reported that the
Bulgarian government called on former Tsar Simeon II to renounce all
claims to the throne before visiting Bulgaria. Government spokesman
Nikola Baltov said Simeon is expected to "make a clear public
statement that he is a loyal citizen of the Republic of Bulgaria who
obeys...the constitution and laws of the country." The government also
said it will ask President Zhelyu Zhelev to recall the ambassador to
Spain, Mihail Petkov, for inviting Simeon to a National Day reception
at the embassy on 3 March. -- Stefan Krause
[14] ALBANIAN ILLEGAL EMIGRANTS PERISH IN ADRIATIC.
Some 29 illegal
emigrants perished in the southern Adriatic Sea in an attempt to reach
the Italian coast, international media reported on 28 March, citing
Albanian state radio. The emigrants, among them women and children,
had left the Albanian port of Vlora in one of several boats. Italian
coast guards found the bodies of two Albanians. Illegal traffic to
Italy is in the hands of the local Albanian mafia, which reportedly
asks up to $600 for the passage. -- 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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