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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 38, 22 February 1996
CONTENTS
[1] BOSNIAN SERBS RESTORE LINKS TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
[2] IFOR CERTIFIES COMPLIANCE WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT.
[3] SERBIAN EXODUS FROM SARAJEVO CONTINUES.
[4] BOSNIAN SHORT TAKES.
[5] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.
[6] BELGRADE SEEKS IMF MEMBERSHIP.
[7] CROATIA, BRITAIN SIGN AGREEMENTS.
[8] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.
[9] MOLDOVA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES.
[10] BELARUSIAN PRIME MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO SOFIA.
[11] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS RELEASED.
[12] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.
[13] GREECE, ALBANIA AGREE ON PRISONER RETURN.
[14] GREEK-TURKISH NEWS.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 38, Part II, 22 February 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] BOSNIAN SERBS RESTORE LINKS TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
The Bosnian Serb
leadership on 21 February announced it is "reestablishing full
cooperation with representatives of the international community, in
accordance with the Dayton agreement and the results of the Rome
summit," SRNA reported. But it continued to protest the "unprincipled
conduct" of the Bosnian government in what it called the "kidnapping of
senior Serbian officers." The Bosnian Serb leaders demanded the
immediate release of the officers. Meanwhile, Carl Bildt, the
international community's chief envoy to Bosnia, met the same day with
Bosnian Serb premier Rajko Kasagic, TANJUG reported. Bildt said he was
pleased that dialogue with the Serbs has been restored, while Kasagic
said the work of the joint commissions will be resumed. -- Michael
Mihalka
[2] IFOR CERTIFIES COMPLIANCE WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT.
IFOR commander
U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith on 21 February officially certified that the
"parties to the General Framework Agreement for Peace to be in general
compliance with the military aspects of the (Dayton) peace agreement,"
international media reported. According to UN Resolution 1022, sanctions
against the Bosnian Serbs can be lifted the day after the IFOR commander
informs the UN Security Council that the Serbs have withdrawn from the
zones of separation laid down in the peace accords. -- Michael Mihalka
[3] SERBIAN EXODUS FROM SARAJEVO CONTINUES.
Despite bad weather and calls by
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the anti-nationalist Serbian
Civic Council for them to stay put, residents of five Serb-held suburbs
slated to pass to government control continue to leave. The BBC on 22
February quoted UN sources as putting the number at 20,000. Two fires
are burning out of control in Vogosca, but the fire department has
apparently already left, Reuters said. "Nervous and upset" people blamed
the mayor for not providing them with adequate transportation and
confronted him in an ugly scene. Throughout the suburbs, banks and
schools have closed or are shutting down. NATO Secretary-General Javier
Solana and Nasa Borba blamed the Bosnian Serb leadership for forcing the
exodus of ordinary Serbs. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has
urged the residents to stay. -- Patrick Moore
[4] BOSNIAN SHORT TAKES.
Some 10,000 Croats and Muslims are expected to
return to Vogosca after it reverts to federal control, Onasa reported on
21 February. A group of 50 federal experts will be sent there to clear
mines. Oslobodjenje wrote on 22 February that many of the Sarajevo
Croats who fled to Mostar and elsewhere during the war have begun to
return. But a meeting of Croatian and Bosnian government officials
slated for 26 February has been postponed. Onasa said that the problems
are Bosnian access to the port of Ploce and the abolition of Croatian
visas for Bosnian citizens. The news agency added that Bosnia's first
postwar strike ended when miners accepted assurances that their January
salaries of about DM 80 would finally be paid. -- Patrick Moore
[5] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.
The
Orthodox bishop for northwestern Bosnia, Hrizostom, urged Serbs to
return to their homes outside the Republika Srbska and reject attempts
to settle them in dwellings of expelled Muslims and Croats. "This is the
moment when we decide whether we will be the beggars of this world, or
whether we will return to our homes as international accords and
conventions foresee. [The Pale leaders] are cheating you when they tell
you that they have solved our problems by giving us burnt and looted
homes which belong to others, who are also refugees just as we are....
The Serb politicans...have used our trust against the interests of their
people." Onasa carried the report on 21 February, citing Belgrade's
Vecernje Novosti. -- Patrick Moore
[6] BELGRADE SEEKS IMF MEMBERSHIP.
The rump Yugoslavia is officially seeking
membership in the IMF, Belgrade TV reported on 21 February. In a letter
to IMF chief Michel Camdessus, rump Yugoslav National bank Governor
Dragoslav Avramovic said "conditions for the normalization of relations
between the IMF and [rump] Yugoslavia have been met.... We believe that
we could benefit from the assistance, experience, and advice of
international organizations, above all, from the IMF." Avramovic also
wrote that the rump Yugoslav economy was undergoing reforms that would
result in a broad privatization program and liberal, free market
practices. -- Stan Markotich
[7] CROATIA, BRITAIN SIGN AGREEMENTS.
Croatia and Britain on 21 February
signed agreements on cooperation in air traffic, culture, science, and
education, Novi List reported. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic
said the agreements signaled "progress in bilateral relations," while
British Foreign Ministry official Nicholas Bonsor said agreements would
pave the way for the cooperation in tourism and the improvement of air
traffic between the two countries. The situation in the region was also
discussed, especially regarding the Rome agreements on Bosnia-
Herzegovina. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[8] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.
Members of The Hague
International War Crimes Tribunal are in Timisoara to interview people
from Serbia who were detained in Moslem camps during the war in the
former Yugoslavia, Radio Bucharest reported on 21 February. The
interviewees volunteered to testify. Timisoara was chosen "at the
request of the Serbian citizens," who consider the Romanian town near
the Serbian border to be "a safe place, where nothing can happen to
them." The findings will be made public once the interviews are over. --
Michael Shafir
[9] MOLDOVA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES.
Death sentences passed on 19 people in
Moldova have been commuted to life imprisonment to meet commitments made
when that country joined the Council of Europe in July 1995, Moldovan
and international agencies reported on 21 February. President Mircea
Snegur signed a decree commuting the sentences. The Moldovan parliament
abolished capital punishment in December 1995. Those to whom the decree
applies were sentenced before then. -- Michael Shafir
[10] BELARUSIAN PRIME MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO SOFIA.
Mikhail Chyhir on 21
February concluded a two-day official visit to Bulgaria, Bulgarian and
international media reported. Chyhir and his Bulgarian counterpart, Zhan
Videnov, signed eight bilateral agreements on trade and industrial
cooperation, including the mutual protection and promotion of
investments. They said the agreements lay the foundation for broad
cooperation in a number of areas and that they expect bilateral trade to
increase. Belarus will export more butter, grain, and car tires to
Bulgaria, while Bulgaria will increase its exports of vegetable oil and
pharmaceuticals to Belarus. In 1995, bilateral trade turnover was $40
million. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS RELEASED.
Dimitar Shtirkov and Valentin Hadzhiev,
correspondents in Smoylan for Trud and 24 chasa, on 21 February were
released from detention, 24 chasa reported. Legal proceedings against
them will continue, however. The two journalists were arrested for libel
on 20 February. Regional Prosecutor Slavcho Karzhev, who ordered the
arrests, said he considers his action to conform with Bulgarian law and
added that he will initiate proceedings against the local correspondents
for Duma and Novinar who wrote similar reports. The Union of Bulgarian
Journalists and Svobodno Slovo (Free Speech) have protested the arrests.
Since the fall of the communist regime, several journalists have been
charged with libel. This was the first time that journalists were
arrested. -- Stefan Krause
[12] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.
Mate Granic arrived for a two-day
visit to Tirana on 21 February, international agencies reported. Meeting
with his Albanian counterpart, Alfred Serreqi, both sides agreed on the
territorial integrity of all Balkan countries and the inviolability of
present borders. Granic said that Croatia supported the rights of all
ethnic minorities in the Balkans, while Serreqi stressed that the
problem of Kosovo could not be reduced to a question of basic human
rights and freedoms. He added that "Kosovo is [not] only an internal
problem of Serbia [but a] a fundamental element of the crisis in the
former Yugoslavia." The two sides agreed on increased economic and
cultural cooperation. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Malcolm
Rifkind, in Tirana on 21 February, told President Sali Berisha that
Britain will raise its diplomatic representation in Albania from charge
d'affaires to ambassador, AFP reported. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] GREECE, ALBANIA AGREE ON PRISONER RETURN.
Albanian Justice Minister
Hektor Frasheri and his Greek counterpart, Evangelos Venizelos, meeting
in Athens on 21 February, agreed on the return of some 730 Albanians
serving prison sentences in Greece, Reuters reported. Greece will now
speed up the implementation of an agreement whereby prisoners will serve
sentences in Albanian prisons. The first 70 inmates will be moved to
Albania in the next two weeks. Some 130 of the inmates are juveniles,
and another 400 are still awaiting trial. It is unclear whether the
latter will be tried in Greece. There are no imprisoned Greeks in
Albania. Greek prisons are overcrowded. and tensions between Greek and
Albanian prisoners recently resulted in riots. -- Fabian Schmidt
[14] GREEK-TURKISH NEWS.
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis on 21 February
began a tour of EU capitals in a bid to rally support for his country in
the dispute with Turkey over the islet of Imia/Kardak, AFP reported the
same day. Simitis met with EU Commission President Jacques Santer and
Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene in Brussels. He told a news
conference that Turkey's position makes it "difficult for us to
cooperate so that the customs union [between the EU and Turkey]
functions freely." Meanwhile, Reuters cited EU sources as saying Greek
Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos has threatened to block a vote
approving 375 million ECU ($487 million) in EU aid to Turkey. Turkish
Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal said Turkey has fulfilled its commitments
vis-a-vis the customs union, and he called on the EU not to give in to
"Greek blackmail." -- Stefan Krause
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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