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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 75, 16 April 1996
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIA BEGINS FORMAL PAYMENTS TO SOLDIERS.
[2] BIHAC KINGPIN LAUNCHES NEW PARTY.
[3] BOSNIA'S EX-COMMUNISTS APPEAL FOR ANTI-NATIONALIST VOTE.
[4] PALE LEADERSHIP TEST TERMS OF PEACE TREATY.
[5] SLOVENIA AND CROATIA PLEDGE AID FOR BOSNIA.
[6] SLOVENIAN--RUMP YUGOSLAV RELATIONS REMAIN STRAINED.
[7] MOLDOVA: A CROSSROADS FOR ILLEGAL MIGRATION.
[8] UPDATE ON EBRD MEETING IN SOFIA.
[9] KIRO GLIGOROV REJECTS EARLY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.
[10] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES ELECTION COMMISSION.
[11] MONTENEGRIN SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW LAW ON LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT?
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 75, Part II, 16 April 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIA BEGINS FORMAL PAYMENTS TO SOLDIERS.
Bosnian authorities held
official ceremonies to start paying soldiers, invalids, and families of
dead soldiers for their contributions during the war, Oslobodjenje
reported on 16 April. The problem is that the government has little or
no money to meet its obligations, so instead of paying in cash it is
issuing "bank books" that show exactly how much each man earned, Onasa
noted. The average salary for soldiers is DM 400 per month, which is
still a princely wage by Bosnian standards. The authorities expect to
distribute up to 3,000 of the bank books daily. It is not clear exactly
when and how the men or their families can convert the paper payments
into hard cash. All three sides in Bosnia face huge problems connected
with the demobilization of tens of thousands of soldiers. -- Patrick
Moore
[2] BIHAC KINGPIN LAUNCHES NEW PARTY.
Fikret Abdic, one of the country's
most controversial figures, has launched a new party, the Democratic
People's Community (DNZ), Nasa Borba reported on 16 April. The Bihac-
area kingpin has been living in Croatia since his Serb-backed empire
fell to joint Croatian and Bosnian government forces last fall. Among
his enemies are Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic. However, thousands
of people from the Bihac region, refer to Abdic as "Babo," or "Daddy,"
crediting him with bringing prosperity and peace. He appears to have
exchanged Serbian for Croatian backing, and some observers have
suggested that the Croats' recent arrest of five Muslims allegedly sent
to kill Abdic was merely a publicity stunt on Abdic's behalf, Novi list
and Politika noted. The renegade Muslim politician himself said that he
"was not surprised" that assassins were sent to kill him, claiming that
Izetbegovic cannot tolerate the presence of a politican who got more
votes than he did in the 1990 elections. -- Patrick Moore
[3] BOSNIA'S EX-COMMUNISTS APPEAL FOR ANTI-NATIONALIST VOTE.
The Union of
Bosnian Social Democrats (UBSD) is the successor to the former communist
and reformist party that took only 10% of the vote in the parliamentary
elections, but it held on to the mayor's seat in multi-ethnic Tuzla
throughout the war. Mayor Sejfudin Tokic has launched the UBSD's
republic-wide electoral campaign by stressing that his party seeks to
represent all Bosnians, which, he claims, Izetbegovic never did, Nasa
Borba reported on 16 April. Tokic claims that his party has 40,000
members, including some from Serb-held regions. He stated that the
Serbian and Croatian nationalist parties will fall apart under internal
pressures, but that Izetbegovic's Muslim nationalist party will be a
tougher nut to crack because of its radical populist profile. -- Patrick
Moore
[4] PALE LEADERSHIP TEST TERMS OF PEACE TREATY.
Vice President Nikola
Koljevic, whom some see as a possible successor to the indicted war
criminal and civilian leader Radovan Karadzic has publicly stated views
that are openly at variance with the Dayton peace accord. Koljevic told
Nasa Borba on 16 April that "boundaries no longer matter" between the
Bosnian Serb state and rump Yugoslavia. He also said that it is not
permissible that Muslims and Croats return to their homes on Serb-held
territory until Serbian refugees there have been settled. Koljevic noted
that the major European powers are coming to accept the Serbian view
that Bosnia has no multi-ethnic future. The Economist also said that
Europe is rejecting the American and Dayton concept of a multi-ethnic
state in favor of a more "evenhanded" approach. -- Patrick Moore
[5] SLOVENIA AND CROATIA PLEDGE AID FOR BOSNIA.
The war-torn republic's two
northern neighbors have promised financial backing for Bosnia through
the World Bank, Onasa noted on 15 April. Ljubljana is offering $3.5
million to repair the homes of 18,000 Bosnian refugees living in
Slovenia on the condition that they return to Bosnia. Zagreb will make
available a total of up to $20 million by 1999 to rebuild the port at
Ploce, reconstruct the Sava bridge at Orasje, and develop waterworks. --
Patrick Moore
[6] SLOVENIAN--RUMP YUGOSLAV RELATIONS REMAIN STRAINED.
A normalization of
mutual relations between Ljubljana and Belgrade remains unlikely. The
Slovenian foreign ministry announced that it is still waiting for a
response to its recognition of rump-Yugoslavia, pointing out that this
would be a precondition for establishing diplomatic ties. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[7] MOLDOVA: A CROSSROADS FOR ILLEGAL MIGRATION.
Moldova has detained 500
illegal migrants this year, Reuters reported on 15 April. Moldova's
border with Romania has become a crossroads for illegal migrants from
Southeast Asia, according to a National Security Ministry statement
aired on national TV on 14 April. -- Michael Shafir
[8] UPDATE ON EBRD MEETING IN SOFIA.
EBRD President Jaques de Larosiere
urged Eastern European Banks to strengthen banking regulation, Bulgarian
Economic Review reported on 16 April. He said governments should focus
on "macroeconomic stabilization, bank rehabilitation and banking
supervision." Larosiere noted bank debts and failure of private banks to
stick to basic banking principles as the main problems. Meanwhile,
Bulgarian Deputy Premier and Minister of Economic Development Rumen
Gechev estimated that Bulgaria may be legislatively and economically
ready for EU membership in eight years. Gechev added that 106 state-
owned companies were listed for liquidation, but pointed out that
Bulgaria attracted $60 million in foreign investment in the first
quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov promised
tax concessions for companies, more than 66% of which are privately
owned, Demokratsiya reported. -- Fabian Schmidt and Miat Sadiku
[9] KIRO GLIGOROV REJECTS EARLY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.
In an interview
given to the Croatian daily Vecernji List, Macedonian President Kiro
Gligorov ruled out early parliamentary elections in Macedonia, Politika
reported on 16 April. Politika claims that Gligorov's ruling angered
organizers of a citizen's initiative which collected 220,000 signatures
demanding new elections. Gligorov defended his objections to early
elections arguing that "there is no [democratic] country with
regulations that allow early elections based on a citizens' initiative,"
MILS reported. Meanwhile, Gligorov said in an interview to Oslobodjenje
on 16 April that he and Bosnian President Alia Izetbegovic planned to
establish an association of the Yugoslav republics before the breakup of
the state, but were blocked by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and
his Croatian counterpart Franjo Tudjman's oppositions. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[10] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES ELECTION COMMISSION.
The Albanian
opposition has criticized the commission which approves candidates for
the upcoming May elections. The commission has banned more than 42
candidates from running, charging them with either holding high
government office in communist times or with collaboration with the
former secret police. Socialist Party Deputy Leader Namik Dokle accused
the Democratic Party government of arbitrarily changing laws in order to
keep party leader Fatos Nano in prison. He also accused the government
of changing electoral districts to increase the electoral chances of its
own party. -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] MONTENEGRIN SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW LAW ON LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT?
The Montenegrin Helsinki Committee for Human Rights filed an appeal with theConstitutional Court, demanding a review of a law on local self-
administration, Beta reported on 15 April. The law was decreed by the
Montenegrin government on 1 April and the Helsinki Committee argues that
it unconstitutionally increases central authorities' power to interfere
in local affairs. The new law practically suspends a number of rights
that had been guaranteed to the mainly ethnic Albanian community of
Ulcinj. -- 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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