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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 73, 12 April 1996
CONTENTS
[1] CROATIAN-MUSLIM FEDERATION NEEDS INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT.
[2] FIRST MEETING OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS FROM BOSNIAN FEDERATION, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
[3] INDEPENDENT CROATIAN DAILY TO FIGHT MOVE TO SHUT IT DOWN.
[4] RUMP-YUGOSLAV INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS WRAP-UP.
[5] SERBIAN NATIONAL BANK GOVERNOR WARNS OF HYPERINFLATION.
[6] POLICE DETAIN KOSOVAR WEEKLY'S MARKETING DIRECTOR.
[7] HIGH-LEVEL DEFENSE MEETINGS IN BUCHAREST.
[8] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN CHIEF OF STAFF STATEMENTS.
[9] ROMANIAN ELECTIONS TO TAKE PLACE ON SCHEDULE AFTER ALL?
[10] MOLDOVAN FRONTIER GUARDS DETAIN BANGLADESHI CITIZENS.
[11] BULGARIAN PREMIER LAUNCHES ATTACK AGAINST PRESIDENT.
[12] LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT IN BULGARIA.
[13] SIX ALBANIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATES BANNED FROM RUNNING IN ELECTIONS.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 73, Part II, 12 April 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] CROATIAN-MUSLIM FEDERATION NEEDS INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT.
Federal
President Kresimir Zubak told parliament that the federation is in its
"most critical period ever" because of "essential differences" between
the Croatian and Muslim sides. He called for greater involvement by the
international community to shore up the shaky federation, which is one
of the cornerstones of the Dayton agreement, AFP reported on 11 April.
Vice President Ejup Ganic also stressed that problems are numerous. The
legislative session has a large agenda, including adopting a new flag
and state emblem. -- Patrick Moore
[2] FIRST MEETING OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS FROM BOSNIAN FEDERATION, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
The OSCE and OMRI on 10 April sponsored the first
meeting of independent newspapers from both the federation and the
Republika Srpska. The journalists met in Banja Luka and will hold their
next session in Sarajevo, Onasa reported. The agency also said that
David Rohde of the Christian Science Monitor won the Pulitzer Prize for
International Reporting for his work in investigating mass graves of
Muslims murdered after the fall of Srebrenica. In that same area, UN
investigators have found evidence of additional mass graves, Reuters
noted. Serbian authorities freed 211 Muslims from Srebrenica who had
been held as prisoners at Sljivovica in rump Yugoslavia, but they
continue to detain 13 others as possible war criminals. The UNHCR has
protested, saying that all 224 people should have been freed, Nasa Borba
reported on 11 April. Meanwhile in Sarajevo, the young Serbian man and
his Muslim girlfriend who were killed as they tried to cross front lines
in 1993 were reburied in the main cemetery in an atheist ceremony,
international media noted on 10 April. -- Patrick Moore
[3] INDEPENDENT CROATIAN DAILY TO FIGHT MOVE TO SHUT IT DOWN.
Rijeka's Novi
list--Croatia's third-largest and only independent daily paper--will pay
a $2.5 million fine to prevent its assets from being frozen but will
also fight the charges in court. Editors said that they regard the fine
as an attempt to close the paper by bankrupting it, a technique that the
governing Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) has already used against
the independent media. The fine allegedly stems from back taxes and from
having imported printing equipment from Italy at a low rate reserved for
publications for ethnic minorities, Reuters reported on 11 April. The
HDZ lost the October 1995 legislative elections in Rijeka and is
unpopular in nearby Istria, where it is regarded as the party of
centralized rule from Zagreb. The editors noted that the current move
against the paper comes with local elections due this summer. -- Patrick
Moore
[4] RUMP-YUGOSLAV INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS WRAP-UP.
Following visits to Croatia
and Bosnia, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy arrived in the rump
Yugoslavia on 11 April. He met with President Slobodan Milosevic and
Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic to discuss rump Yugoslavia's
cooperation with the international war crimes tribunal and bilateral
economic cooperation such as opening new airline links. Meanwhile,
Sweden and Norway gave full diplomatic recognition to rump Yugoslavia,
Nasa Borba reported on 12 April. -- Fabian Schmidt
[5] SERBIAN NATIONAL BANK GOVERNOR WARNS OF HYPERINFLATION.
Dragoslav
Avramovic has warned Serbian President Milosevic that rump Yugoslavia is
again facing hyperinflation. He has threatened to stop issuing credits.
According to Avramovic, foreign-currency reserves are currently falling
by $1 million a day, Nasa Borba reported. Avramovic clashed earlier with
Milosevic over relations with the IMF. He also urged the government to
sign an agreement on new IMF loans, warning that the country otherwise
faced "new inflationary suicide." Membership talks between rump
Yugoslavia and the IMF at the end of March in Paris failed to achieve
any results because the former insisted it is the sole legal successor
to the former Yugoslavia. -- Fabian Schmidt
[6] POLICE DETAIN KOSOVAR WEEKLY'S MARKETING DIRECTOR.
Koha editor in chief
Veton Surroi has told OMRI that Serbian police on 11 April detained
Ahmet Kurtolli, the weekly's marketing director. Kurtolli was questioned
about the latest issue of the weekly, which was originally banned by the
police but appeared in kiosks with one week delay on 10 April. Following
international protests, the Pristina prosecutor-general revoked an
earlier order stating that the paper cannot be published unless censored
by him. -- Fabian Schmidt
[7] HIGH-LEVEL DEFENSE MEETINGS IN BUCHAREST.
German Defense Minister Volker
Ruehe, speaking in Bucharest on 11 April, said that Romania and Hungary
have an equal chance of joining NATO, Romanian and international media
reported. Ruehe met with his Romanian counterpart, Gheorghe Tinca, and
Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu. He is scheduled to meet with President
Ion Iliescu. Meanwhile, Hungarian Chief of Staff Sandor Nemeth is also
in Bucharest. At a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart,
Gen. Dumitru Cioflina, he said Hungary will back Romania's quest for
NATO membership because it would be detrimental for security in Europe
and the region if countries belonged to different security systems.
Nemeth and Tinca also signed two military accords. -- Michael Shafir
[8] CONTROVERSY OVER ROMANIAN CHIEF OF STAFF STATEMENTS.
Meanwhile, Gen.
Cioflina denied having said that if the Russian elections are won by the
Communists and if Romania is not "co-opted by NATO," the former Warsaw
Pact countries (presumably excluding Moscow) will have to set up an
alliance "to counterbalance Soviet influence in this part of Europe."
This statement was reported by the daily Evenimentul zilei on 11 April.
Presidential spokesman Traian Chebeleu the same day said that the
statements reported by Romanian and international media were taken out
of context and harmed Romania's image abroad, Radio Bucharest reported.
Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca said Cioflina's comment was simply a
"reaction by a [member of the] military" to a "hypothetical scenario."
-- Michael Shafir
[9] ROMANIAN ELECTIONS TO TAKE PLACE ON SCHEDULE AFTER ALL?
TheConstitutional Court on 11 April ruled that the recent laws on public
administration and local elections are constitutional, Romanian media
reported. Nicolae Manolescu, leader of the Party of Civic Alliance,
rejected the Party of Romanian National Unity's claim that elections
will have to be postponed as a result of the Constitutional Court's
examination of the legislation. He said the local election campaign will
be shortened from 45 to 30 days so that the ballot can be held on 26
May. -- Michael Shafir
[10] MOLDOVAN FRONTIER GUARDS DETAIN BANGLADESHI CITIZENS.
Moldovan frontier
guards detained 14 Bangladeshi citizens who were trying to cross the
border into Romania, BASA press reported on 11 April. The 14 had hidden
in a truck container driven by a Moldovan citizen. Last year, 3,356
Asians were detained while trying to illegally cross the Moldovan-
Romanian border, apparently on their way to the West. -- Michael Shafir
[11] BULGARIAN PREMIER LAUNCHES ATTACK AGAINST PRESIDENT.
Bulgarian Prime
Minister Zhan Videnov has accused President Zhelyu Zhelev of trying to
"provoke a catastrophe" in the country, Reuters reported on 11 April.
Videnov said that Zhelev is blocking laws, enflaming the war between
state institutions, and "mocking our national prosperity, dignity and
security." Zhelev recently tried to block controversial tax law
amendments that, he argues, will damage small businesses and stifle the
country's fragile private sector. Zhelev can veto legislation only once.
The amendments were upheld by the parliament on 11 April and will
shortly become law. -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT IN BULGARIA.
Algirdas Brazauskas arrived in Sofia
on 11 April, Reuters reported. His visit was overshadowed by the long-
running feud between Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev and Premier Zhan
Videnov. Atanas Pavlov, the government's chief of protocol, criticized
Zhelev for failing to schedule a meeting with Videnov during Brazauskas'
two-day visit. Lithuanian journalists have interpreted Videnov's failure
to attend a speech given by Brazauskas in the Bulgarian parliament as a
snub against Zhelev. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] SIX ALBANIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATES BANNED FROM RUNNING IN ELECTIONS.
An
election commission has banned six candidates from the opposition
Democratic Alliance from running in the 26 May elections, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 12 April. The controversial screening law, which
was adopted last fall, prohibits all former high-ranking communist
officials from running for public office until 2005. Among those banned
are Prec Zogaj, the editor-in-chief of Aleanca (the party mouthpiece)
and former Defense Minister Perikli Teta. Democratic Alliance leader
Neritan Ceka and Secretary General Arben Imami are both allowed to run.
The composition of the commission, which is dominated by the ruling
Democratic Party and the government, was severely criticized by the
opposition. -- 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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