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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 35, 19 February 1996

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [01] MIXED EVALUATIONS OF BOSNIAN SUMMIT.

  • [02] IFOR RELEASES SUSPECTED TERRORISTS.

  • [03] IFOR GAINS ACCESS TO BOSNIAN SERB WEAPONS DEPOTS.

  • [04] IFOR AT FULL STRENGTH.

  • [05] UPDATE ON STUDIO B TAKEOVER BID IN BELGRADE.

  • [06] KOSOVO TERRORIST GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR REFUGEE CAMP BOMBING.

  • [07] HOLBROOKE SAYS KOSOVO OF "HIGHEST IMPORTANCE".

  • [08] GOVERNMENT PAPER SAYS TUDJMAN IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH POLITICAL REALITY.

  • [09] ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN ROMANIA.

  • [10] UPDATE ON RUSSIAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM MOLDOVA.

  • [11] BULGARIAN ETHNIC TURKS PROTEST ANNULMENT OF KARDZHALI ELECTIONS.

  • [12] OIL THIEVES POLLUTE DRINKING WATER IN BULGARIAN TOWN.

  • [13] RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

  • [14] UPDATE ON GREEK-TURKISH DISPUTE OVER ISLET.


  • OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 35, Part II, 19 February 1996

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] MIXED EVALUATIONS OF BOSNIAN SUMMIT.

    Outgoing U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said he was pleased with the results of the Rome gathering, saying it served to smooth out the "bumps in the road" that had emerged and presented the Dayton process with its first serious crises, the BBC reported on 19 February. Leading Bosnian Serb politicians responded differently to the provisions dealing with the future of the Serbs in Sarajevo, and Nasa Borba noted that 800 Serbs left the suburb of Hadzici for Branunac in eastern Bosnia even as the summit was taking place. -- Patrick Moore

    [02] IFOR RELEASES SUSPECTED TERRORISTS.

    IFOR on 16 February handed over to Bosnian government authorities 10 people detained in a raid on an alleged terrorist camp the same day, international media reported. Eight of the detainees were Bosnian and had documents identifying them as employees of the Bosnian Interior Ministry. The remaining two were Iranian nationals whom, according to the Iranian government, were on a humanitarian mission. Another Iranian national with a diplomat's passport was released after questioning. -- Michael Mihalka

    [03] IFOR GAINS ACCESS TO BOSNIAN SERB WEAPONS DEPOTS.

    Following the use of anti-tank aircraft and helicopter gunships in a show of force, IFOR gained access to two Bosnian Serb weapons depots on 17 February, international media reported. IFOR has twice been prevented from entering the depots, near Han Pijesak and Han Kram, in eastern Bosnia. Some 25 tanks and 13 armored fighting vehicles were discovered. Meanwhile, the Bosnian Serbs have pulled back 10 tanks from the 20-km exclusion zone separating the Bosnian entities. IFOR on 16 February said it will destroy all unreported weapon systems in the zone. -- Michael Mihalka

    [04] IFOR AT FULL STRENGTH.

    IFOR has reached its full strength of 60,000 troops, according to U.S. General George Joulwan, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe. International media quoted him as saying on 18 February that the movement of IFOR forces into Bosnia was "the biggest and most complex in Europe since World War II." Some 50,000 troops from 16 NATO states and 10,000 from 16 non-NATO states make up the force. Negotiations are still under way with Albania, Bulgaria and Bangladesh about contributing troops to IFOR. -- Michael Mihalka

    [05] UPDATE ON STUDIO B TAKEOVER BID IN BELGRADE.

    Some 20 journalists working for independent Studio B Television were fired on 17 February for refusing to cooperate with a new editorial board appointed by the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, Serbian media reported. This development came one day after a Belgrade court ruled that Studio B had been improperly constituted. Leaders of most major parties called press conferences on 16 February to criticize the SPS and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Serbian Renewal Movement leader Vuk Draskovic said the latest bid to take over Studio B underscores Milosevic's fundamental lack of commitment to democracy, free speech, and freedom of the press. The government's action also prompted public protests in Belgrade on 16 February. -- Stan Markotich

    [06] KOSOVO TERRORIST GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR REFUGEE CAMP BOMBING.

    A previously unknown terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the bombing of Serbian refugee camps in Kosovo on 11 February (see OMRI Daily Digest, 13 February). The Kosovo Liberation Army sent a letter to Rilindja saying the attacks were only a "first warning" to the Serbs, whom it accused of wanting to "colonize" the province, AFP reported on 17 February. The group called on the international community to recognize the self-declared independence of the province. Meanwhile, an unidentified leader of the National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo, told Gazeta Shqiptare on 18 February that the group is preparing for a guerrilla war. Neither of these groups are supported by the main political formations in the province. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [07] HOLBROOKE SAYS KOSOVO OF "HIGHEST IMPORTANCE". U.S.

    Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke has renewed the commitment to open a U.S. Information Agency office in Kosovo "in the very near future." Holbrooke stressed that there has been no "meeting with the Yugoslav leadership in which [he has] not discussed this issue." He added, however, that "I'm not going to go into the nature of the confidential diplomatic exchanges on issues like this because they don't serve the purpose," AFP reported on 18 February. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [08] GOVERNMENT PAPER SAYS TUDJMAN IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH POLITICAL REALITY.

    Slobodna Dalmacija on 19 February reported that Vlado Gotovac has replaced Drazen Budisa as head of the Croatian Social and Liberal Party- -the country's largest single opposition grouping--following the party's poor showing in last October's parliamentary elections. The Croatian opposition has failed to offer a serious presidential alternative to Franjo Tudjman and, above all, has been unable to present a united front against the governing Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ). It has nonetheless managed to win control of the city and county of Zagreb, although Tudjman has blocked its first candidate for mayor and now plans to veto the second one and thereby force new elections. News agencies on 18 February quoted the government-controlled daily Vjesnik as saying that HDZ party professionals expect their party to lose Zagreb by an even bigger margin in a fresh vote but have found Tudjman unwilling to listen. In its virtually unprecedented criticism of the chief executive, the paper suggested that the president was "out of touch with political reality." -- Patrick Moore

    [09] ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN ROMANIA.

    The Socialist Party on 18 February chose chairman Tudor Mohora as its candidate in the fall presidential elections, Romanian TV announced on the same day. Incumbent President Ion Iliescu has not yet officially declared his intention to run again but is widely expected to do so. Among the other declared contenders are Chairman of the Democratic Convention of Romania Emil Constantinescu, Chairman of the Democratic Party--National Salvation Front, former Premier Petre Roman, leader of the extremist Greater Romania Party Corneliu Vadim Tudor, and Radu Campeanu, the leader of a group that split away from the National Liberal Party. Also on 18 February, former international tennis star Ilie Nastase was named the Party of Socialist Unity in Romania's candidate for mayor of Bucharest. Local elections will probably take place in May. -- Michael Shafir

    [10] UPDATE ON RUSSIAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM MOLDOVA.

    Valerii Yevnevich, commander of the operational group of Russian forces stationed in the breakaway Dniester region, has said the withdrawal of the troops is being hindered by Moldovan, Ukrainian and Dniester authorities, Romanian TV reported on 16 February, citing international agencies. According to Yevnevich, only two out of 19 rail convoys have left the region, since the Moldovan authorities have failed to provide rail cars. Chisinau says Moldova's share of the military equipment should be transported back to Moldova by the Russians, while Yevnevich claims the Moldovans should fetch it themselves. He also said there are problems with transit because Dniester custom officials are demanding a share of armaments in exchange for allowing the rail cars to transit the region. Ukrainian custom officials want "alcohol and $20 per rail-car." -- Matyas Szabo

    [11] BULGARIAN ETHNIC TURKS PROTEST ANNULMENT OF KARDZHALI ELECTIONS.

    Some 6,000 ethnic Turks on 17 February demonstrated against the annulment of the local elections in Kardzhali, AFP reported the same day. The election of both the city council and Rasim Musa from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS) as mayor was declared invalid on 5 February after the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) charged there had been irregularities. DPS Chairman Ahmet Dogan warned that "If this house catches fire, everything will burn down." He told demonstrators that pressure should be exerted on the government by all legal means. By- elections in Kardzhali have been called for May. In other news, Reuters reported that BSP parliamentary deputy and chairman of the parliament's Agriculture Committee Todor Todorov, who was found shot at his house on 5 February (see OMRI Daily Digest, 7 February 1996), died on 19 February without regaining consciousness. -- Stefan Krause

    [12] OIL THIEVES POLLUTE DRINKING WATER IN BULGARIAN TOWN.

    Thieves who tried to siphon diesel oil from a pipeline in Varna on 16 February polluted the drinking water of the Black Sea town and eight surrounding villages, Bulgarian and Western media reported. The oil from the underground pipeline connecting Varna with the Neftohim oil refinery soaked into water supplies and leaked into a nearby river. Water tankers carried emergency supplies to Varna over the weekend. Neftohim spokeswoman Tatyana Hadzhieva said 60 similar thefts were registered last year. She added that Neftohim in 1995 invested 80 million ($1.1 million) leva for changing pipelines for environmental reasons and another 13 million leva ($175,000) to have Interior Ministry troops guard pipelines. Meanwhile, Bulgarian media on 19 February reported that the situation is "normalizing" itself but that drinking tap water is still forbidden. -- Stefan Krause

    [13] RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

    Sergei Krylov arrived for a two-day official visit to Tirana on 16 February, international agencies reported the same day. The two sides pledged to try to find a political settlement to the Kosovo conflict but could not agree about how to negotiate an end to the conflict. Russia rejected Albania's demand that Serbia's admission to international organizations be linked to solving the conflict in Kosovo. They also disagreed about whether Serbia should be forced to accept mediation by a third party. Krillov was received by President Sali Berisha. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [14] UPDATE ON GREEK-TURKISH DISPUTE OVER ISLET.

    The European Commission on 16 February confirmed its "solidarity" with Greece in the dispute over the Imia/Kardak islet, Reuters reported. But at the same time, it stressed this did not mean it was taking a stand on the "legality of either the Turkish or Greek positions." Meanwhile Athens has called for an EU-Turkey ministerial meeting scheduled for 25 March to be postponed because it coincides with the Greek national holiday marking the beginning of the insurrection against the Ottoman Empire in 1821. -- Lowell Bezanis and 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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