OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 186, 25 September 1995

From: "Steve Iatrou" <[email protected]>

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] BOSNIAN FORCES FIND MASS GRAVE.

  • [2] FIGHTING CONTINUES AROUND BANJA LUKA . . .

  • [3] . . . AND IN THE POSAVINA AREA.

  • [4] DIPLOMATIC SHADOW BOXING PRECEDES PARTITION CONFERENCE.

  • [5] SERBIAN MINISTER WARNS OF WAR.

  • [6] KOSOVARS DEMONSTRATE IN SWITZERLAND.

  • [7] SLOVENIA, CROATIA MOVE CLOSER TO SOLVING PROBLEMS.

  • [8] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT VISITS ROMANIA.

  • [9] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON NATO PROSPECTS.

  • [10] LEFT-WING RADICALS DEMONSTRATE IN TIRASPOL.

  • [11] ALBANIA BARS FORMER COMMUNISTS FROM PUBLIC OFFICE.

  • [12] FLOODING IN ALBANIA KILLS FOUR.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 186, Part II, 25 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] BOSNIAN FORCES FIND MASS GRAVE.

    Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic announced that government soldiers had discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of some 540 people in the village of Krasulje. The International Herald Tribune on 25 September quoted him as saying that "Serbian terrorists killed the Bosnians of the town of Kljuc and buried them in a mass grave--that is genocide." Silajdzic added that the massacre probably took place soon after the Serbs launched the war in 1992. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] FIGHTING CONTINUES AROUND BANJA LUKA . . .

    The Bosnian Serbs have rejected the government's call for the demilitarization of Banja Luka. The BBC on 24 September quoted Silajdzic as saying that Bosnian forces will therefore continue to put pressure on the Serbian stronghold. AFP cited Fifth Corps Commander General Atif Dudakovic as telling reporters that he will "pursue the Chetniks [Serbs] as long as they remain" in northwestern Bosnia. He added that his goal is still to link up with the Seventh Corps as they converge on Banja Luka. Vreme on 25 September stated that a "Saigon atmosphere" prevails among the Serb refugees crowded into that town. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] . . . AND IN THE POSAVINA AREA.

    Serbian media said over the weekend that Bosnian Serb forces had launched a counteroffensive, while Western news agencies suggested that government troops backed by Croatian artillery were holding their own. Fighting was intense around Brcko, Doboj, and elsewhere along the Posavina corridor, with Bosnian Radio saying that the Serbs flew 80 helicopter sorties there. There has been little independent confirmation of the often highly contradictory reports coming from the front. The International Herald Tribune on 25 September stated that the internationally wanted war criminal Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan" was active around Sanski Most to the west of Banja Luka. That same paper on 21 September had noted the close links between Arkan and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] DIPLOMATIC SHADOW BOXING PRECEDES PARTITION CONFERENCE.

    Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic announced that his government would not attend the conference slated for 26 September in New York. The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia, and rump Yugoslavia have been invited by U.S. diplomats to discuss Washington's latest project to carve up the republic. Reuters on 24 September quoted Silajdzic as saying that "the Serb terrorists and the regime in Belgrade wanted actually to partition Bosnia, to make a Greater Serbia at the expense of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Partition is our main concern and main problem." Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey later said, however, that he might attend if certain unspecified constitutional demands were met. Nasa Borba on 25 September quoted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as stating that nothing concrete has been agreed regarding borders. He received a delegation from the Russian Duma and told them that peace cannot be established in Bosnia without Russia and that "we are aware of all that Russia has done to defend Serbian interests." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] SERBIAN MINISTER WARNS OF WAR.

    Rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, during a visit to France, on 22 September suggested that the eventuality of Belgrade's involvement in regional conflict could not be ruled out. According to Reuters, he said "There are many who would really like to see Serbia in this war . . . if the call is made it would no longer be a war of bows and arrows--I am speaking figuratively--all means would be used." He alleged that "Yugoslavia is at least 10 times, even 20 times, stronger from a military point of view than all the states around it." The same day, Serbia's first lady, Mirjana Markovic, delivered a different message through state-run media, saying Belgrade should stay clear of military conflict in Bosnia and the regime should add greater distance between itself and "ultranationalist extremists." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] KOSOVARS DEMONSTRATE IN SWITZERLAND.

    An estimated 20,000 people from Kosovo demonstrated outside of the UN in Geneva on 23 September, protesting "ethnic cleansing" and "colonization" of Kosovo by Serbian authorities, AFP reported the same day. Demonstrators filed a petition urging UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to help "stop police and military violence" in Kosovo, and also called for Kosovo's independence. Most of the participants came from Switzerland, with large contingents from neighboring countries also represented. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] SLOVENIA, CROATIA MOVE CLOSER TO SOLVING PROBLEMS.

    Croatian radio reported on 20 September that meetings between Croatian Premier Nikica Valentic and his Slovenian counterpart Janez Drnovsek in Maribor have resulted in both sides agreeing that outstanding problems, particularly those revolving on border questions, are nearing a resolution. For his part, Valentic observed that on "all outstanding border issues [there are only] questions of nuance left open." He did, however, add that the differences over the Gulf of Piran are "important" and "major." A Croatian consulate-general is slated to be opened in Maribor sometime in early 1996. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT VISITS ROMANIA.

    Momir Bulatovic on 22 September paid a one-day official visit to Romania, Radio Bucharest reported. According to both Romanian and Yugoslav media, the visit permitted a continuation of a top-level dialogue initiated during Romanian President Ion Iliescu's visit to Belgrade in May 1993. Bulatovic's talks with Iliescu focused on the Bosnian crisis, as well as on ways to restore and boost traditional bilateral relations--especially in the economic field- -after the UN embargo against Serbia and Montenegro would be lifted. Bulatovic was quoted as praising Romania's diplomatic role in the Balkans. At a joint conference, Iliescu spoke of a "new favorable moment" in the Yugoslav negotiations, and said that he noticed that the Yugoslav side was positively assessing the U.S. involvement in efforts to settle the crisis. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON NATO PROSPECTS.

    Gheorghe Tinca on 22 September told Radio Bucharest that Romania had several "trumps" in its efforts to join NATO. According to Tinca, Romania and Poland have the largest populations in Eastern Central Europe, have considerable economic potential, and significant armies. Besides, Romania has "clearly expressed its will" to join the alliance, a determination which the minister described as a further trump for his country. Tinca also said that the countries which joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program do not consider that form of military cooperation as a substitute for full-fledged NATO membership. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] LEFT-WING RADICALS DEMONSTRATE IN TIRASPOL.

    Over 1,000 people on 23 September protested in Tiraspol against the economic policies of the local authorities, BASA-press and Infotag reported. The rally was staged by the Coordinating Council of several radical left-wing organizations in the self-styled "Dniester Moldovan republic." The council's chairman, Vasilii Yakovlev, criticized the current Tiraspol leadership and demanded a stop to privatization plans and the setting up of a single Dniester bank to replace the existing flurry of commercial banks. The organizers of the rally asked Russia to admit the "Dniester republic" into the ruble zone. A leader of the young Communists in the region called former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev "a Judas," accusing him and other former Soviet officials of having "destroyed the USSR." -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] ALBANIA BARS FORMER COMMUNISTS FROM PUBLIC OFFICE.

    The parliament on 23 September passed a law on "genocide and communist crime," which effectively bars thousands of former Communists form seeking public office until 2002, Western agencies reported the same day. The law applies to members of the former Party of Labor of Albania's Politburo and Central Committee, ministers, parliamentary deputies, presidents of the Supreme Court, and former secret police agents and informers, who are not allowed to hold posts in the government, parliament, judiciary, and mass media. The law was passed by 74 of the 140 legislators. Socialist and Social Democrat politicians denounced it as "revenge" and an attempt to hit the opposition before the general elections next year. At least seven of the 11-member presidency of the Socialist Party are affected by the law, including chairman Fatos Nano, as is Social Democratic Party chairman Skender Gjinushi. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [12] FLOODING IN ALBANIA KILLS FOUR.

    Heavy flooding across much of Albania claimed four lives and caused considerable damage, Reuters reported on 22 September. Interior Ministry spokesman Nikolin Thana said that helicopters, special troops, and engineers were deployed to rescue people in isolated areas. Three people drowned in the northeastern district of Has, and a fourth person was killed in Tirana. The northern town of Shkoder and several districts in the northeast, and the district of Lushnje south of Tirana, were hit hardest. Thana said authorities were mobilized to provide tents and first aid to people whose houses were destroyed, and that road repairs are underway. Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi and Interior Minister Agron Musaraj traveled to the flooded areas to consult with local authorities. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    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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