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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 69, 5 April 1996
CONTENTS
[1] IFOR SAYS NO MORE FIXED CHECKPOINTS IN BOSNIA.
[2] REACTIONS TO U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE'S DEATH IN CROATIA.
[3] KARADZIC TURNS DOWN OFFER OF ASYLUM IN MONASTERY.
[4] ANOTHER OPPOSITION LEADER FALLS FOUL OF SERBIAN PRESIDENT?
[5] GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER REPLIES TO SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER.
[6] CROATIA WANTS NO REGIONAL GROUPINGS.
[7] ROMANI ELECTION ALLIANCE FORMED IN ROMANIA.
[8] MOLDOVAN COURT RULES AGAINST SNEGUR.
[9] ROVER CLOSES BULGARIAN PLANT.
[10] BULGARIAN PRIVATIZATION DEADLINE EXTENDED.
[11] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN GREECE.
[12] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT KICKS OFF ELECTION CAMPAIGN.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 69, Part II, 5 April 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] IFOR SAYS NO MORE FIXED CHECKPOINTS IN BOSNIA.
NATO peacekeepers have
said that all fixed control posts have been removed in northwestern
Bosnia around Banja Luka, Prijedor, and Bihac, and in central Bosnia
around Travnik. Mobile checkpoints are still allowed, provided they do
not stay in one place for more than 30 minutes, Onasa news agency
reported on 4 April. It is unclear what has happened to the control
posts around Mostar in Herzegovina. The Dayton treaty is quite specific
about the need for freedom of movement across Bosnia, but IFOR at first
said it would not do "police work," even though the international police
force was greatly understaffed and unable to do its job. IFOR recently
changed its position and has removed checkpoints. -- Patrick Moore
[2] REACTIONS TO U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE'S DEATH IN CROATIA.
Bosnian
media responded to Ron Brown's death in a plane crash outside Dubrovnik,
Croatia, on 3 April by noting he was at the center of reconstruction
efforts and that it will not be easy to find someone to replace him. The
Croatian government ordered flags flown at half-mast and entertainment
shows canceled following the crash, in which 35 people are reported to
have died. The Bosnian and Croatian prime ministers said their
respective countries had lost a friend, local news agencies reported.
The crash in heavy rain may have been caused by the malfunction of a
rudder, which has happened before on Boeing 737s. Croatian officials
said that the crash could not be blamed on air safety standards in their
republic, Slobodna Dalmacija wrote on 5 April. The Serbian daily Nasa
Borba said that pilot error was the most likely cause and that gunfire
could be ruled out. -- Patrick Moore
[3] KARADZIC TURNS DOWN OFFER OF ASYLUM IN MONASTERY.
Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic has declined an offer of refuge by the Serbian Orthodox
Shilandar monastery on Mt. Athos, which enjoys extraterritorial status.
The leadership of the church proposed that the internationally wanted
war criminal become a monk there, AFP on 5 April quoted the Montenegrin
weekly Monitor as saying. Karadzic, a licensed psychiatrist, said he
intends to set up a private mental hospital with his wife, who is a
doctor, and his daughter, who studies medicine. -- Patrick Moore
[4] ANOTHER OPPOSITION LEADER FALLS FOUL OF SERBIAN PRESIDENT?
ZoranDjindjic, leader of the Democratic Party, appears to be the latest
target of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on the
opposition. Tanjug on 3 April reported that the Belgrade District Public
Prosecutor's Office has requested that an investigation be launched into
Djindjic in connection with a short piece he placed in the daily
Telegraf accusing Serbian government ministers of abusing their official
position to buy wheat at very low prices and then sell it for a huge
profit. The prosecution claims that Djindjic committed a "criminal
offense against the reputation of the Republic of Serbia." -- Stefan
Krause and Stan Markotich
[5] GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER REPLIES TO SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER.
Klaus
Kinkel, in a reply to a letter sent by Serbian Renewal Movement leader
Vuk Draskovic to several foreign ministers (see OMRI Daily Digest, 27
March 1996), said the democratization of rump Yugoslavia is a
precondition for its readmission into European structures, Nasa Borba
reported on 4 April. He said that it was particularly important that
democratic institutions be established and human and minority rights
respected. Klaus also noted that Germany and its EU partners see certain
developments in rump Yugoslavia as "incompatible with the obligations
your country undertook within the framework of the peace and
stabilization process." -- Stefan Krause
[6] CROATIA WANTS NO REGIONAL GROUPINGS.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate
Granic told his visiting Albanian counterpart, Alfred Serreqi, that
Croatia wants good relations with all countries in the region, including
rump Yugoslavia. He stressed, however, that Zagreb does not want "any
[regional] association, nor will [it] join any kind of Balkan
conferences," Vecernjli list reported on 4 April. Croatia, like
Slovenia, has repeatedly pointed out since 1991 that it wants nothing to
do with any grouping that smacks in any way of being some kind of new
Yugoslavia. Granic added that Croatia's "basic strategic goal is to join
the Euro-Atlantic political and security associations." It also wants
"direct relations with the EU" rather than any regional grouping, which
Croatia regards as a half-way house. The two men discussed bilateral
relations, with Serreqi paying "special attention to the Kosovo
question." -- Patrick Moore
[7] ROMANI ELECTION ALLIANCE FORMED IN ROMANIA.
The Roma Party of Romania
announced last week that it and 11 other Romani organizations have
agreed to run on joint lists in the local elections, Radio Bucharest
reported on 2 April. The groups will compete as the Roma Alliance.
Gheorghe Raducanu, executive chairman of the Roma Party, said that any
other Romani parties who wish to join have until 9 April to do so. The
local elections are expected to take place in May. -- Alaina Lemon
[8] MOLDOVAN COURT RULES AGAINST SNEGUR.
Moldova's Constitutional Court has
ruled that President Mircea Snegur's dismissal of Defense Minister Pavel
Creanga last month was illegal, international agencies reported on 4
April. Under the constitution, cabinet members can be fired only by the
premier or through a vote in the parliament. Snegur's legal adviser said
after the court's ruling that Creanga was now "free to return to
office." Creanga said the decision was a "victory of the truth." Prime
Minister Andrei Sangheli commented that he thanked God that no bloodshed
was caused by Snegur's decision, although "we were only inches away from
it." -- Michael Shafir
[9] ROVER CLOSES BULGARIAN PLANT.
Rover Group on 4 April announced that it
will stop assembling automobiles at its Bulgarian plant, RFE/RL and
Reuters reported. Rover owns a 51% stake in Rodacar, Bulgaria's only car
maker. The other 49% is held by Daru Group, which has been experiencing
severe financial difficulties. The plant, located in Varna, was opened
less than seven months ago. Rover was the biggest foreign investor in
Bulgaria outside the food sector. A Rodacar spokesman said, "We were led
to believe that we could rely on government support in setting up our
plant here, but that support failed to materialize." -- Stefan Krause
[10] BULGARIAN PRIVATIZATION DEADLINE EXTENDED.
The Bulgarian parliament on 4
April voted to extend the deadline for selling privatization vouchers,
RFE/RL reported. The initial deadline was 8 April, but legislators
decided to extend it by one month because so far vouchers have been
bought by only 18.4% of those eligible to do so. Some 1,063 companies
are to privatized. Also on 4 April, Industry Minister Kliment Vuchev
returned from a three-day visit to Slovenia where he signed a protocol
on economic and trade cooperation. Other economic agreements with
Slovenia will be signed soon, Vuchev said. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN GREECE.
Georgi Pirinski, on an official
visit to Athens, held talks with his Greek counterpart, Theodoros
Pangalos, on 4 April, RFE/RL reported. Pirinski also met with Prime
Minister Kostas Simitis, President Kostis Stephanopoulos, and Parliament
President Apostolos Kaklamanis. Pirinski and Pangalos discussed the
Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, the proposed meeting of Balkan
foreign ministers in Sofia, and closer economic cooperation. Pirinski
said he believes Greece and Bulgaria are ready "to discuss [the
pipeline] constructively." Pangalos assured Pirinski that the Greek
parliament will ratify bilateral accords on the use of water from the
River Mesta/Nestos and on the opening of new border crossings, which the
Bulgarian parliament ratified last month. -- Stefan Krause
[12] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT KICKS OFF ELECTION CAMPAIGN.
Sali Berisha on 4 April
kicked off the parliamentary election campaign by addressing a congress
of his Democratic Party, Reuters reported. Berisha urged Albanians to
support the Democrats, which he called "the locomotive of the
development of democracy, a market economy, and the country's
integration in Europe." He said that if the Democrats win the elections,
they will cut taxes and privatize banks, mines, the oil sector,
hydroelectric power stations, and telecommunications within two years.
-- Stefan Krause
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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