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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 32, 14 February 1996

From: OMRI-L <omri-l@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE BOYCOTT.

  • [2] NATO TO RECEIVE BETTER INFO ON INDICTED WAR CRIMINALS.

  • [3] SLOVENIAN PRESIDENT IN SARAJEVO.

  • [4] BELGRADE REACTS TO EXTRADITION OF WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS.

  • [5] PRESSURE ON ZAGREB OVER CROAT-MUSLIM FEDERATION.

  • [6] HERZEGOVINIAN-BASED CROAT COUNCIL ABOLISHES QUASI-STATE.

  • [7] CROATIAN DEPUTY PREMIER WAVES GUN AT JOURNALIST.

  • [8] UN CHANGES UNPREDEP MANDATE.

  • [9] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RESUME BASIC TREATY TALKS.

  • [10] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN MINORITY CONCERNED ABOUT DRAFT LAW ON POLITICAL

    PARTIES.
  • [11] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON REASONS FOR SEEKING RE-ELECTION.

  • [12] DID ALBANIAN FINANCE MINISTER ORDER INDEPENDENT DAILIES CLOSED?

  • [13] GREECE WILL NOT TAKE ISLET CASE TO COURT.


  • OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 32, Part II, 14 February 1996

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE BOYCOTT.

    Bosnian Serbs are continuing their boycott of dealings with international agencies, international media reported on 14 February. A NATO spokesman in Sarajevo said that contacts with Bosnian Serb army officers are "non-existent" at the most senior level and "spotty" lower down. The Bosnian Serb army seems to be complying with an order by its commander Ratko Mladic on 8 February to break contacts with NATO over the Bosnian government's detention of several Bosnian Serb soldiers. Meanwhile, the OSCE said that Bosnian Serb representatives did not attend arms control talks in Vienna on 13 February. Robert Frowick, head of the OSCE mission in Bosnia, said in Sarajevo that the Bosnian Serbs were also boycotting the talks on elections. Frowick maintained, however, that the boycott was not harming preparations for the elections. -- Michael Mihalka

    [2] NATO TO RECEIVE BETTER INFO ON INDICTED WAR CRIMINALS. U.S.

    Defense Secretary William Perry has said IFOR will receive better information and photographs on indicted war criminals, international media reported. But he added that "we are not going to do manhunts." His statement comes in the wake of reports that Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic passed unhindered through IFOR checkpoints. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the U.S. could not confirm those reports, which, he said, came from Bosnian Serb officials. The spokesman stressed that the purpose of the checkpoints was to control the movement of arms and military personnel, not civilians. -- Michael Mihalka

    [3] SLOVENIAN PRESIDENT IN SARAJEVO.

    International media on 13 February reported that Milan Kucan arrived in Bosnia the same day in an effort to "reconstitute good [bilateral] economic ties." Kucan also said he fully supported Bosnia's "multicultural, multinational, and multireligious society." He was accompanied by Economy Minister Janko Dezelak. -- Stan Markotich

    [4] BELGRADE REACTS TO EXTRADITION OF WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS.

    Belgrade has said that the extradition to the Hague of Bosnian Serb Gen. Djordje Djukic and Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic for questioning has put a severe strain on the regional peace process. Federal rump Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic said the move was "one-sided and biased" and was aggravating the Bosnian Serbs, who, he added, may become irreversibly distrustful of both The Hague and the NATO presence in Bosnia. He added that "we are now just a step away from a more dangerous reaction or incident." Meanwhile, international media reported that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic met with a delegation of Bosnian Serbs on 13 February. No details of the meeting have been revealed. -- Stan Markotich

    [5] PRESSURE ON ZAGREB OVER CROAT-MUSLIM FEDERATION.

    German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, meeting with his Croatian counterpart, Mate Granic, in Zagreb, said Bonn's support is not unconditional and that Croatia must help reunify Mostar in keeping with the Dayton accords. Granic replied that his country is not willing to do so under the arbitration package drawn up by the EU's German administrator in Mostar, Hans Koschnick, which Croatia and the local Croats say favors the Muslims. International media on 13 February added that President Bill Clinton's envoy, Robert Galucci, stated his support for Koschnick. Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak, who is also the most influential Herzegovinian Croat, seems to be getting a similar message during his current visit to Washington. Meanwhile in Zagreb, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke arrived for talks with President Franjo Tudjman aimed at shoring up the shaky Federation, Onasa reported. It quoted him as calling the situation in Mostar "quite serious" and warning that "we need to make the federation work or else there is going to be a disaster in Bosnia." -- Patrick Moore

    [6] HERZEGOVINIAN-BASED CROAT COUNCIL ABOLISHES QUASI-STATE.

    The Presidential Council of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna met in Mostar on 13 February and approved measures to transform itself from a quasi-state into a political organization. Croats regard the entity as a form of protection against their being dwarfed by the more numerous Muslims in the Federation, while the Muslims see it as secessionist. The Council also voted to resume contacts to the EU to seek a settlement in Mostar, Onasa quoted Habena as reporting. -- Patrick Moore

    [7] CROATIAN DEPUTY PREMIER WAVES GUN AT JOURNALIST.

    The Croatian Journalists' Association has protested over the government's silence following an incident in which Deputy Prime Minister Borislav Skegro brandished a pistol in the face of a journalist from Novi list, the country's only independent daily. Her paper on 14 February also ran an article on the press conference of Milorad Pupovac, who heads the Independent Serbian Party of Croatia. Pupovac warned against tendencies to equate calls for protecting minority rights with treason. -- Patrick Moore

    [8] UN CHANGES UNPREDEP MANDATE.

    The UN Security Council on 13 February unanimously approved changes in the mandate of the UNPREDEP forces stationed in Macedonia, Reuters reported the same day. The council agreed to allow UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali to appoint an UNPREDEP force commander, in effect making UNPREDEP an independent mission reporting directly to New York. So far, it was part of UNPROFOR and reported to its headquarters in Zagreb. The Security Council also approved sending another 50 soldiers to join the 1,100-strong force. -- Stefan Krause

    [9] ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RESUME BASIC TREATY TALKS.

    Romania and Hungary on 13 February agreed to resume talks on a basic treaty at the beginning of March and on Romanian President Ion Iliescu's reconciliation initiative later this month, Romanian and international media reported. Romanian Deputy Foreign Minister Marcel Dinu told his visiting Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Somogyi, that Romania's 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections will not influence the talks. Somogyi said Iliescu's proposed meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn in March could result in the signing of the basic treaty. He added, however, that it was not necessary for the two countries to join NATO at the same time and that Hungary's earlier admission would not have a destabilizing effect on the region. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, in Bucharest on 13 February, urged the two countries to sign the treaty if they wanted to be admitted into NATO. -- Matyas Szabo

    [10] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN MINORITY CONCERNED ABOUT DRAFT LAW ON POLITICAL P

    ARTIES. A spokesman for the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) told OMRI on 14 February that the draft law on political parties, currently being debated in the Senate, is causing concern within the UDMR. Anton Niculescu said this was due to provisions requiring political parties to have branches in at least 21 of the 41 administrative counties and allowing minority ethnics to set up their own organizations or become members of political parties but forbidding them to set up ethnic political formations. The UDMR--defined as an umbrella organization of political, cultural, and professional organizations of the Hungarian minority open to all nationalities--would not be prevented from running in the elections under the new law. Nonetheless, Niculescu said, the new regulations pose a potential danger. -- Michael Shafir

    [11] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON REASONS FOR SEEKING RE-ELECTION.

    Zhelyu Zhelev, responding to questions posed by a group of intellectuals a month ago, on 13 February summed up what he considers his main achievements as president to date and his reasons for seeking re-election, Standart reported. Zhelev singled out the peaceful transition from communism to democracy, the absence of ethnic strife, and continued unity within the army. With regard to his credentials as president, Zhelev said he took his work seriously, did not seek personal gain from his office, and always put Bulgaria above party interests. Asked about his role in the fall of the government of the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) in October 1992, for which the SDS blamed mainly him, he said neither he nor the SDS had wanted it to happen but that he takes his "share of the responsibility." -- Stefan Krause

    [12] DID ALBANIAN FINANCE MINISTER ORDER INDEPENDENT DAILIES CLOSED?

    KohaJone on 13 February reports that Finance Minister Dylber Vrioni last week signed an official document ordering the director of the printing house Demokracia not to print 14 periodicals beginning on 23 February. According to Koha Jone, Vrioni argued that the periodicals were registered at the Tirana Licensing Court as magazines or weeklies but are in fact regular newspapers. The order affects, among others, Koha Jone, Albania, Dita Informacion, Populli Po, Aleanca, and AKS. Koha Jone called the order "absurd," saying it has registered all its publications properly and calling Vrioni's move a "war against the independent press." Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Alliance leader Neritan Ceka has predicted that the Democratic Party will abuse its power to make unfair use of public Radio and Television in the upcoming election campaign. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [13] GREECE WILL NOT TAKE ISLET CASE TO COURT.

    Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos on 13 February said that Greece will not take the case of a disputed islet to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, international agencies reported the same day. Both Athens and Ankara claim the islet, which the Greeks call Imia and the Turks Kardak. Pangalos said the Greek government "will not seek recourse anywhere because it does not contest or doubt anything." But it added that "if someone else goes to the Hague, then we will deal with it." -- 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 info@omri.cz

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