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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 67, 3 April 1996
CONTENTS
[1] SHALIKASHVILI SAYS U.S. TROOPS WILL NOT PURSUE WAR CRIMINALS.
[2] KARADZIC PICKED TO NEGOTIATE WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
[3] BILDT WARNS ABOUT SOCIAL UNREST.
[4] U.S. OFFICIAL URGES SERBIAN PRESIDENT TO SEND WAR CRIMINALS TO THE HAGUE.
[5] CROATIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES LAUNCH ELECTORAL PACT.
[6] VOJVODINA UPDATE.
[7] MACEDONIAN LIBERALS WANT DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.
[8] ROMANIA APPLIES FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP.
[9] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTS NEW POLICE CHIEF.
[10] THOUSANDS PROTEST BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO YELTSIN REMARK.
[11] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES CHANGES TO LAW ON NATIONAL BANK.
[12] U.S. TO GIVE MILITARY AID TO ALBANIA.
[13] ALBANIAN CENTRIST PARTIES REGISTER ON JOINT LIST.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 67, Part II, 3 April 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] SHALIKASHVILI SAYS U.S. TROOPS WILL NOT PURSUE WAR CRIMINALS. U.S.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili said he is
"comfortable" with NATO's planned withdrawal from Bosnia at the end of
the year. He added that one year will be enough to tell whether the
people in the area are serious about peace, AFP quoted the Washington
Post as saying on 3 April. A debate is taking place in the U.S. and
elsewhere as to whether the one-year mandate for IFOR will be
sufficient. The daily noted that the U.S. commander on the ground, Adm.
Leighton Smith, has not ruled out an extension. Shalikashvili also
opposed any American hunt for Bosnian war criminals. He said it is the
duty of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to bring the indicted
Bosnian Serbs to justice and that people like Radovan Karadzic will be
out of office after the upcoming elections. -- Patrick Moore
[2] KARADZIC PICKED TO NEGOTIATE WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
The Bosnian
Serb parliament wrapped up its latest session in the early hours of 3
April, AFP reported. It selected civilian leader Radovan Karadzic to
head a committee representing the Bosnian Serbs in talks with the
international community. He said the committee was "indispensable" due
to "the numerous attempts being made to interpret the Dayton accords to
the Serbs' detriment." He added that his heading the committee was "in
line with the constitution of the [Republika Srpska] under which the
president of the republic represents the state." The international
community does not, however, have anything to do with Karadzic, an
indicted war criminal. Under the terms of an agreement between Pale and
Belgrade last August, Milosevic alone represents the Bosnian Serbs in
such talks. -- Patrick Moore
[3] BILDT WARNS ABOUT SOCIAL UNREST.
The international community's High
Representative in Bosnia, Carl Bildt, said economic assistance will be
vital to curb unemployment, especially for tens of thousands of
demobilized men, AFP reported on 2 April. He also said that war
criminals must be brought to justice and the multi-ethnic nature of
Bosnia preserved, the International Herald Tribune and Nasa Borba added
on 3 April. In Strbac, Serbs and Croats exchanged a total of 31
prisoners, Croatian and Serbian radios noted. In Sarajevo, in a rare
display of unity, President Alija Izetbegovic and former Prime Minister
Haris Silajdzic issued a joint declaration saying that Bosnia must be "a
multiethnic community based on human rights and freedoms," Onasa news
agency said on 2 April. They were seconded by five political parties,
Vecernje novine reported. -- Patrick Moore
[4] U.S. OFFICIAL URGES SERBIAN PRESIDENT TO SEND WAR CRIMINALS TO THE HAGUE.
John Kornblum, U.S. envoy to the former Yugoslavia, met with
Slobodan Milosevic on 2 April and urged him to extradite war crimes
suspects to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, Reuters reported. Kornblum observed that while Serbia has
recently sent to the Hague two suspects implicated in the 1995 massacre
of Muslim civilians near Srebrenica, others remain at large in Serbia,
including three officers involved in the 1991 massacre of civilians in
the Croatian city of Vukovar. In a separate development, the U.S
Congress has passed a motion criticizing Belgrade for its recent
clampdown on independent media and humanitarian groups, notably the
Soros Foundation, Nasa Borba reported on 3 April. -- Stan Markotich
[5] CROATIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES LAUNCH ELECTORAL PACT.
Seven key parties
opposed to the governing Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) have signed
a declaration on joint action for the expected upcoming elections in
Zagreb, Novi list reported on 3 April. The signatories include the
Croatian Social-Liberal Party, which is the largest opposition grouping
and which has been criticized for its earlier reluctance to present a
united electoral front against the HDZ. The opposition currently has a
majority in the city council but its choice of mayor has been repeatedly
rejected by President Franjo Tudjman. Polls suggest that voters are fed
up with Tudjman's behavior and that the opposition will do even better
in the early vote. * Patrick Moore
[6] VOJVODINA UPDATE.
Nenad Canak, leader of the Social Democratic Party in
Vojvodina, has met with Hungarian President Gyula Horn to discuss
autonomy for the Serbian province, Nasa Borba reported on 2 April. Canak
is slated to present his views to the Hungarian government "in detail."
Before the collapse of socialist Yugoslavia Vojvodina had a population
of some 2 million, roughly 22% of whom were ethnic Hungarians. In a
separate development, Dragoljub Micunovic, former president of the
Serbian Democratic Party, has offered his support for Vojvodina's
autonomy. Micunovic, however, has stressed that he promotes cultural and
economic autonomy, Nasa Borba reported. -- Stan Markotich
[7] MACEDONIAN LIBERALS WANT DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.
The Macedonian
Liberal Party on 2 April announced it will submit a motion asking for
the parliament to be dissolved by 15 September, Nova Makedonija
reported. The Liberals claim that the parliament is no longer
representative since the coalition Union for Macedonia fell apart after
the formation a new government in February. That government does not
include the Liberals. The Union for Macedonia was composed of the Social
Democratic Union of Macedonia, the Liberals, and the Socialist Party.
Representatives of the Social Democrats and Socialists dismissed the
Liberals' claim that the parliament is not legitimate. -- Stefan Krause
[8] ROMANIA APPLIES FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP.
Romania on 2 April submitted
documents to NATO officials in Brussels designed to open discussions on
the country's membership in the alliance, an RFE/RL correspondent in
Bucharest and local media reported. The documents were approved last
month by the Supreme Council for the Country's Defense, chaired by
President Ion Iliescu. Romania is the fourth country--after Latvia, the
Czech Republic, and Slovakia--to submit such documents. It was also the
first to sign up for NATO's Partnership for Peace Program. -- Matyas
Szabo
[9] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTS NEW POLICE CHIEF.
Gen. Costica Voicu on 2
April was named the country's new police chief, Romanian media and
Reuters reported. Voicu, who was formerly deputy chief of police,
replaces Gen. Ion Pitulescu, who resigned in mid-February in protest
over alleged tolerance among judicial officials of crime and corruption.
Voicu is the seventh chief of Romania's General Police Inspectorate
since the fall of the Ceausescu regime in December 1989. -- Matyas Szabo
[10] THOUSANDS PROTEST BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO YELTSIN REMARK.
Thousands of people gathered outside the Bulgarian government building
on 2 April to protest the government's failure to clearly distance
itself from a recent remark by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, RFE/RL
reported. Yeltsin had said at the signing last week of the regional
integration agreement with Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan that
Bulgaria might also sign an integration agreement with Russia and other
former Soviet republics. Union of Democratic Forces Chairman Ivan Kostov
called on Prime Minister Zhan Videnov to "clearly and categorically"
reject Yeltsin's statement. Bulgarian Socialist Party caucus leader
Krasimir Premyanov accused President Zhelyu Zhelev of exploiting the
situation for his re-election goals. He added that the opposition's
protests might harm relations with Russia. Meanwhile, the government has
said it is trying to balance its foreign policy priorities between the
EU and the CIS. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES CHANGES TO LAW ON NATIONAL BANK.
The
Bulgarian parliament on 2 April amended the law on the national bank
giving the power to appoint and remove the governor and three deputy
governors to the legislature, Bulgarian media reported. The president
retains that power vis-a-vis the other five members of the executive
board. Deputies rejected a clause removing the president's right to veto
changes to the board proposed by the governor. A board member's mandate
may be terminated owing to his resignation, death, criminal conviction,
or inability to perform his duties for more than one year. -- Michael
Wyzan
[12] U.S. TO GIVE MILITARY AID TO ALBANIA. U.S.
Defense Secretary William
Perry said Washington will give military equipment worth more than $100
million to Albania, Reuters reported on 2 April. The package will
include anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and other military
supplies. Perry said the U.S. has no plans to set up a base in Albania
but pointed out it would support the building of a new training center
in Bize. Albanian President Sali Berisha awarded Perry the Order of
Skanderbeg, the highest decoration bestowed on foreigners, at the end of
his three-day visit. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] ALBANIAN CENTRIST PARTIES REGISTER ON JOINT LIST.
The Albanian
Democratic Alliance and the Social Democratic Party have registered as a
joint party for the upcoming elections in late May or early June, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 3 April. The two parties' leaders--Neritan Ceka
and Skender Gjinushihe--head the new group, which is called the Pole of
the Center. Neither has ruled out the possibility of a coalition with
the Socialist Party or the Party for Human Rights, which represents the
country's ethnic Greeks. -- 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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