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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 224, 16 November 1995

From: "Steve Iatrou" <siatrou@cdsp.neu.edu>

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] CROATIA CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING ACCUSED WAR CRIMINAL. "

  • [2] TUDJMAN LEAVES DAYTON.

  • [3] U.S. REPORTER TELLS OF MORE MASS GRAVES.

  • [4] OGATA SAYS REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES MAY START IN SPRING.

  • [5] NATO COMMANDER VISITS SARAJEVO.

  • [6] SERBS STAND FIRM ON PARTITION OF BOSNIA.

  • [7] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY ENGAGED IN MANEUVERS.

  • [8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN FRANCE.

  • [9] HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR EVALUATES TIES WITH ROMANIA.

  • [10] SNEGUR'S PARTY PLEDGES TO PULL MOLDOVA OUT OF CRISIS.

  • [11] BULGARIAN LAW ON PRIVATIZATION FUNDS MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH PARLIAMENT.

  • [12] U.S. SPY PLANE MISSION SUSPENDED DURING WINTER.

  • [13] ALBANIAN DESERTER RECEIVES FIVE-MONTH JAIL TERM.


  • OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 224, Part II, 16 November 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] CROATIA CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING ACCUSED WAR CRIMINAL.

    "I hope there is an innocent explanation. It's difficult to imagine one," said South African Judge Richard Goldstone in Washington. He was commenting on Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's promotion of General Tihomir Blaskic just one day after Blaskic was indicted for war crimes by Goldstone's tribunal in the Hague. AFP on 15 November also quoted a court spokesman as saying that the promotion and transfer of Blaskic from Bosnia to Croatia will make it easier to arrest him. U.S. Ambassador Peter Galbraith called on Croatia to hand over all six men whom the tribunal indicted. In Dayton, Ohio, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns warned the Croats that "their ability to participate in international organizations will be affected by their inclination to cooperate or not with the tribunal." -- Patrick Moore

    [2] TUDJMAN LEAVES DAYTON.

    The Croatian president has again left the peace talks in Ohio for Zagreb, although this time Hina gave no reason. It is unclear if there is any connection between his departure on the 15th and the Blaskic case (see "Top Story" above). AFP reported that Secretary of State Warren Christopher did not raise the issue with Tudjman when they met the previous day but that U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke would do so. Other international agencies said that before leaving Tudjman signed an agreement with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Croat-Muslim Federation President Kresimir Zubak to help 20,000 Muslim refugees loyal to deposed Bihac pocket kingpin Fikret Abdic to go home. Zubak also issued a statement saying that the Bosnian Croats will not give up any territory in the Posavina region enabling the Serbs to widen their supply corridor, Vecernji list reported on 16 November. -- Patrick Moore

    [3] U.S. REPORTER TELLS OF MORE MASS GRAVES.

    David Rohde, the journalist from the Christian Science Monitor whom Bosnian Serbs took prisoner on 29 October and held for ten days, says there are more fresh burial sites in eastern Bosnia. He told a news agency on 15 November that he found two graves large enough to hold 1,000 people in Sahanici before the Serbs captured him. Rohde also spoke of an additional site but added that the Serbs are "tampering with the evidence." Rohde has interviewed survivors and reported extensively on the massacre of mainly Muslim male civilians from Srebrenica in July, from which some 8,500 people remain unaccounted for. -- Patrick Moore

    [4] OGATA SAYS REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES MAY START IN SPRING.

    UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, after meeting with other senior UN officials to discuss post-war repatriation and human rights programs in former Yugoslavia, said the region's refugees may be able to return to their homes in the spring if political agreement is reached by the end of the year, Reuters reported on 14 November. She also estimated that two years and some $500 million were necessary to repatriate the 3 million or so displaced people from former Yugoslavia. The UNHCR foresees three stages for the repatriation program, beginning with the 1.3 million displaced people within Bosnia. The second stage would focus on the return of the 820,000 displaced people from other ex-Yugoslav republics, and the third stage on the repatriation of the 700,000 refugees now in Western Europe. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [5] NATO COMMANDER VISITS SARAJEVO.

    General Michael Walker, the commander of NATO's Rapid Reaction Corps, held talks with top Bosnian military and civilian officials in Sarajevo on 15 November to discuss NATO's possible deployment in the former Yugoslav republic, Reuters reported the same day. Walker would be the commander of 60,000 NATO ground forces expected to replace UN troops in Bosnia if a final peace agreement is reached. A NATO source described his visit to Bosnia as "routine [reconnaissance] for planning purposes." Walker met with General Rasim Delic, commander of the Bosnian army, and Vice President Ejup Ganic, who urged him to get actively involved in Bosnia's problems in order not to repeat the UN's mistakes. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [6] SERBS STAND FIRM ON PARTITION OF BOSNIA.

    While peace talks in Dayton continue under much secrecy--with some media reports suggesting that a breakthrough is imminent and others contending the talks may be on the verge of collapse--the Serb side appears to be pressing demands that may preclude a just peace agreement being reached. Nasa Borba on 16 November reported that the Serbian delegation continues to lobby for at least a de facto partition of Bosnia, the division of Sarajevo, access to the sea for the Republic of Srpska, and "the return of territories in western Bosnia." -- Stan Markotich

    [7] RUMP YUGOSLAV ARMY ENGAGED IN MANEUVERS.

    AFP and Tanjug on 15 November reported that troops from the rump Yugoslavia are engaged in maneuvers in Montenegro's Mount Golija region. The purpose of the exercises is for "the units to carry out complex operations." Official reports stress that units have demonstrated a "high level of motivation and ability, in difficult weather conditions." -- Stan Markotich

    [8] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT IN FRANCE.

    Ion Iliescu, on an official visit to France, met with his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, on 15 November, Radio Bucharest and Western agencies reported. The two leaders discussed a program for bilateral economic cooperation aimed at encouraging trade and investments. Iliescu is scheduled to attend ceremonies marking UNESCO's 50th anniversary on 16 November. Romanian Culture Minister Viorel Marginean, Education Minister Liviu Maior, and Science and Technology Minister Doru Dumitru Palade joined the Romanian delegation in Paris to take part in the ceremonies. -- Dan Ionescu

    [9] HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR EVALUATES TIES WITH ROMANIA.

    Hungarian ambassador to Romania Ferenc Szocs said at a 15 November press conference in Bucharest that Hungary is prepared to respond next month to Iliescu's call for a "historic reconciliation" and that negotiations may begin in January, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. He added that Hungary will ask for three joint commissions to be set up to negotiate a Hungarian- Romanian basic treaty, a political declaration on intergovernmental agreements, and another document on minority rights. -- Matyas Szabo

    [10] SNEGUR'S PARTY PLEDGES TO PULL MOLDOVA OUT OF CRISIS.

    The Party of Revival and Conciliation in Moldova (PRCM), which supports President Mircea Snegur, has declared itself the main force capable of pulling Moldova out of its current economic and political crisis, Infotag and BASA-press reported on 15 November. Snegur, who presided over a meeting of the PRCM Executive Board the previous day, noted that reforms were losing momentum and poverty was becoming more widespread. He stressed that most public sector employees have not received wages for months. Senior PRCM officials warned that "social unrest might arise" if the parliament fails to approve Snegur's initiative to change the name of the state language in the constitution. The PRCM was set up in July by Snegur loyalists who quit the ruling Agrarian Democratic Party of Moldova. -- Dan Ionescu

    [11] BULGARIAN LAW ON PRIVATIZATION FUNDS MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH PARLIAMENT.

    Bulgarian deputies on 15 November adopted on its first reading the chapter of the Law on Privatization Funds dealing with control over those funds, Pari reported the next day. The law is a key component of Bulgaria's Czech-inspired mass privatization campaign. The Council of Minister's Commission on Licensing of Funds will be able to confiscate the licenses of funds found to violate the law, although only the executive board can be fined (not the fund itself). A fund may transform itself into a holding or investment company six months after the final auction. Kalin Mitrev, executive director of the Center for Mass Privatization, noted that citizens can register to take part in the privatization process one week after the law's proclamation. Registration will last three months, while the transfer of vouchers will take one month. Auctions will then take place over eight months. -- Michael Wyzan

    [12] U.S. SPY PLANE MISSION SUSPENDED DURING WINTER.

    Koha Jone on 16 November reported that the U.S. has suspended unmanned reconnaissance flights over Bosnia. The three "Predator" spy planes that have been stationed at the Gjader airbase in Albania since July have reduced their number of flights recently. U.S. officials said plane missions cannot be conducted during the winter months, but they did not rule out the possibility that they might begin again next year, depending on the situation in Bosnia. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [13] ALBANIAN DESERTER RECEIVES FIVE-MONTH JAIL TERM.

    Maiko Zace, an Albanian sargeant who deserted his unit during a joint military exercise with U.S. troops in Louisiana this summer, has been sentenced to five months in prison by a military court, Zeri I Popullit reported on 16 November. The exercise, codenamed "Eagle of Peace," was aimed at creating an Albanian unit that could participate in future UN peacekeeping missions. Five other soldiers who deserted the unit--two journalists from the military newspaper Ushtria dhe Koha, one medical doctor, and two squadron commanders--are still in the U.S. Albania is demanding their extradiction. -- 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 info@omri.cz

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