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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 86, 2 May 1996
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIAN REFUGEE INCIDENT TO BE INVESTIGATED.
[2] ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED FOR MOSTAR.
[3] BELGRADE RELEASES MUSLIM PRISONERS.
[4] BOSNIAN UN AMBASSADOR SAYS BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL PROVIDES LINK TO BELGRADE.
[5] MONTENEGRIN PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH BELGRADE.
[6] U.S. OFFERS MEDIATION IN KOSOVO ESCALATION. A U.S.
[7] MACEDONIA, RUMP-YUGOSLAVIA SIGN AIR TRAFFIC ACCORD.
[8] ROMANIA WARNS AGAINST IMPORTED TERRORISM.
[9] BULGARIANS RALLY FOR, AGAINST GOVERNMENT ON MAY DAY.
[10] PREMIER ADMITS BULGARIA NEEDS IMF CREDITS TO REPAY DEBTS.
[11] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS ALBANIA.
[12] ALBANIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE.
[13] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS SAY THEY HAD WARNED WESTERN LEADERS.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 86, Part II, 2 May 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIAN REFUGEE INCIDENT TO BE INVESTIGATED.
Bosnian Prime Minister
Hasan Muratovic and the speaker of the Bosnian Assembly Momcilo
Krajisnik agreed to begin a criminal investigation into the killing of
two Muslim refugees, who were killed after entering Serbian held
territory on 29 April. The meeting was mediated by the international
community's High Representative Carl Bildt, Onasa reported on 1 May.
Bildt's office and the international police deployed in Bosnia will meet
with interior ministers from both sides. Muratovic and Krajisnik also
agreed to give the UNHCR full support to organize visits of refugees to
their respective hometowns. IFOR, meanwhile, said that freedom of
movement is one of the crucial segments in the Dayton peace accord and
its obstruction constitutes a violation of human rights. -- Fabian
Schmidt
[2] ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED FOR MOSTAR.
The EU administrator for Mostar Ricardo
Perez Casado announced that town elections will be held 31 May, Onasa
reported on 1 May. Lists of candidates are to be finalized by 10 May.
Elsewhere, the International Federation of Journalists has pledged
financial aid to the independent media in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina
to ensure accurate information during the pre-election period later this
year. The federation's General Manger Aidan White said that the
elections will be the best test of the quality of Bosnian journalism.
Aid will consist of technical equipment and seminars. Meanwhile, the
Reporters Without Borders has protested an incident in late April when
two journalists from Austria and Novi Sad were restricted in the
Republika Srpska. -- Fabian Schmidt
[3] BELGRADE RELEASES MUSLIM PRISONERS.
Belgrade authorities finally
released five Muslim refugees on 1 May, following a series of protests
from the international community, Reuters reported the same day. The
five were among some 800 refugees who fled to Serbia from Bosnia after
Bosnian Serb forces captured the Bosnian Muslim "safe havens" of
Srebrenica and Zepa in the summer of 1995. According to rump Yugoslav
authorities, the refugees were war crimes suspects, and thus were
incarcerated. With the release of the five, rump Yugoslavia reportedly
no longer detains any Bosnian Muslims who fled to Serbia following the
collapse of Srebrenica and Zepa. Reuters also noted that the UN High
Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) chartered the plane that flew the five
freed refugees home. -- Stan Markotich
[4] BOSNIAN UN AMBASSADOR SAYS BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL PROVIDES LINK TO BELGRADE.
Muhamed Sacirbey said before the International Court of
Justice on 1 May that Bosnian Serb logistics General Djorde Djukic is a
"smoking gun" between Belgrade and its involvement in Serb genocide
campaigns conducted in Bosnia, Reuters reported the same day. According
to Sacirbey, Djukic, who was held at The Hague on war crimes charges but
released because of ill-health, is "the connection between the Belgrade
regime and the so-called Bosnian Serb army." Belgrade continues to
assert that it was never involved in the Bosnian conflict, and that the
court should drop Bosnia's case against Belgrade. The Bosnian
government, however, asserts that Belgrade violated the 1948 Genocide
Convention by arming and encouraging Bosnian Serbs' efforts. -- Stan
Markotich
[5] MONTENEGRIN PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH BELGRADE.
After his visit to the
U.S., Milo Djukanovic gave an interview to Montenegrin state radio and
TV in which he indicated a desire to mend relations between his republic
and Belgrade. Montena-fax on 30 April reported that Djukanovic approved
of, what he dubbed, a change in Belgrade's position vis-a-vis the IMF.
Relations with the IMF has been one issue of public disagreement between
Djukanovic and the federal authorities under Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic's control. -- Stan Markotich
[6] U.S. OFFERS MEDIATION IN KOSOVO ESCALATION.
A U.S. State Department
delegation visited Kosovo on 1 May offering to mediate in the Kosovo
conflict, ATSH reported. The delegation was headed by Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for former Yugoslavia Rudolph Perina and met with
Kosovar shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova. Perina expressed concern
about recent shoot-outs in which six people died and five were injured
and stressed the need for a non-violent solution. He added that since
the Dayton agreement was signed, Kosovo has priority on the U.S.
diplomatic agenda in the Balkans. Negotiations between Belgrade and the
shadow-state remain in a deadlock due to the Serbs' rejection to
negotiate under international mediation. -- Fabian Schmidt
[7] MACEDONIA, RUMP-YUGOSLAVIA SIGN AIR TRAFFIC ACCORD.
Rump Yugoslav
Minister of Transport Zoran Vujovic and his Macedonian counterpart,
Dimitar Buzlevski, signed and agreement resuming air traffic between
both countries beginning this month. Following both countries' mutual
recognition on 8 April, Macedonia will take full control of the air
space above its territory from 7 November this year. The agreement will
be finalized in Belgrade on 20 May. -- Fabian Schmidt
[8] ROMANIA WARNS AGAINST IMPORTED TERRORISM.
A senior security force
official warned that Romania is being increasingly used as a channel for
"terrorists" from the Middle East and Asia, Reuters reported on 30
April. Gen. Gheorghe Aradavoaice, deputy head of the Protection and
Guard Service (SPP), told journalists that "Romania has become a bridge
between terrorist organizations in Asia and the Arab world and their
branches in some western European countries." The statement, made on
SPP's sixth anniversary, echoes warnings from the annual report of the
Romanian Intelligence Service that Kurdish and Islamic extremists are
based in Romania. However, Reuters quoted Western diplomats as saying
that the country has a plethora of security services that suffer from
inter-agency competition and are striving to justify their existence. --
Dan Ionescu
[9] BULGARIANS RALLY FOR, AGAINST GOVERNMENT ON MAY DAY.
Around 12,000
supporters of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) on 1 May
rallied in support of the government, Bulgarian and Western media
reported. Prime Minister and BSP Chairman Zhan Videnov at the rally
accused President Zhelyu Zhelev, the opposition, and the trade unions of
destabilizing the country and leading it into a new economic crisis.
Also in central Sofia, several thousand people attended an anti-
government rally organized by the Confederation of Independent Trade
Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB) and the Confederation of Labor "Podkrepa."
KNSB Chairman Krastyo Petkov called on the cabinet to "stop the anti-
social policy" and resign. Podkrepa leader Konstantin Trenchev at a
rally in Kazanlak said Bulgaria "is facing a national catastrophe." --
Stefan Krause
[10] PREMIER ADMITS BULGARIA NEEDS IMF CREDITS TO REPAY DEBTS.
Zhan Videnov
on 30 April said Bulgaria needs a new debt agreement with the IMF in
order to meet foreign debt payments due in three months, RFE/RL and AFP
reported. Following a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky
in Vienna, Videnov said Bulgaria "will be able to meet its repayments
this year" but added that it needs an agreement on stand-by credits from
the IMF. Bulgaria and the IMF have failed to reach an agreement so far
this year, mainly because of Sofia's failure to resolve the problems of
unprofitable state enterprises and insolvent state and private banks.
Videnov conceded that Bulgaria will have to "drastically reduce the
number of unprofitable state enterprises." Bulgaria's external debt
totals nearly $11 billion. More than $1 billion is due this year, but
Bulgaria's foreign currency reserves only hold $720 million. -- Stefan
Krause
[11] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS ALBANIA.
Javier Solana called Albania a
"very important" part of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, after
arriving in Tirana for a two-day visit on 1 May, AFP reported. Solana
discussed deepening Albanian NATO cooperation with President Sali
Berisha, who repeated his country's determination to become a full NATO
member. Berisha said Albania was a small but determined and
strategically important ally. Both men expressed concern over
developments in Kosovo, and Berisha called this "the most serious crisis
facing the Balkans." Solana stressed the need for OSCE monitors in the
region, who were expelled by Belgrade in summer 1993. Berisha, after the
meeting announced that some 40 Albanian soldiers will join German IFOR
units in Croatia. Albanians have trained in the U.S. for peacekeeping
missions since summer 1995. -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] ALBANIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE.
A dispute has developed between the
opposition and the ruling Democrats about TV broadcasting time given to
the respective parties before the 26 May elections. The electoral
commission has allotted the the ruling Democrats with as much
broadcasting time as all other opposition parties received together. The
opposition complained that state TV covered the Democrats' election
rallies in-depth for 30 minutes, while a comparable Socialist rally only
received 30 seconds of air-time. Earlier this week, police broke into a
Socialist party office in Tepelena removed the party's flag from the
balcony and tore down posters. Elsewhere, police detained two people in
Cerrik for writing Socialist slogans inside their shop, Koha Jone
reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS SAY THEY HAD WARNED WESTERN LEADERS.
The Socialist
Party published a letter its imprisoned leader Fatos Nano wrote to world
leaders in October 1995. In the letter, Nano claims that "the
government's arbitrary actions against the opposition and the
independence of the courts have increased so much that they actually
threaten the process of the free, democratic elections." In other news,
German former President Richard von Weizsaecker during a visit to
Albania praised the country's success in developing democracy and market
reforms, Reuters reported on 1 May. -- 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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