OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 170, 31 August 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [01] NATO BLASTS BOSNIAN SERBS . . .

  • [02] . . . AND PROMISES FURTHER ATTACKS.

  • [03] BOSNIAN SERBS REMAIN DEFIANT.

  • [04] SERBIA CONDEMNS AIR STRIKES.

  • [05] HOLBROOKE MEETS WITH MILOSEVIC.

  • [06] ALBANIA DENIES ROLE IN YUGOSLAV BORDER KILLINGS.

  • [07] ALBANIA PRESIDENT WELCOMES NATO OFFENSIVE.

  • [09] ALBANIANS SHOPPING FOR ARMS IN UKRAINE?

  • [10] KARADZIC AGREES TO "HARMONIZE" BOSNIAN SERB POLICY WITH BELGRADE.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 170, Part II, 31 August 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] NATO BLASTS BOSNIAN SERBS . . .

    International media on 31 August reported that by sundown the previous day, there were four waves of attacks by at least 60 NATO planes belonging to five countries in Operation Deliberate Force. Their targets were Bosnian Serb military installations around Sarajevo, Gorazde, Tuzla, and Mostar in the largest such operation in NATO's history. The British, French, and Dutch artillery of the Rapid Reaction Force on Mt. Igman pounded targets nearby. Only one plane--a French Mirage 2000--was downed. Its two pilots parachuted into Bosnian government territory, the BBC said. Some five EU monitors were killed, but it is not clear how they died. Bosnian Serb Radio said that damage was "massive" and that seven civilians were killed, but the VOA correspondent in Sarajevo noted that one has to take "anything the Bosnian Serbs say with a grain of salt." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] . . . AND PROMISES FURTHER ATTACKS.

    The International Herald Tribune on 31 August said that U.S., British, and French commandos operating behind Bosnian Serb lines prepared for the attacks for months by identifying targets. It appears that the first day's strikes largely succeeded in attaining their initial goal of taking out Serbian anti-air defenses and the radar system. The VOA on 31 August spoke of the ground in Pale shaking. NATO spokesmen made clear that the raids will not be proportionate to previous actions of the Serbs and that the attacks will not be limited in scope or area. The goal is to force the Serbs to modify their behavior while denying them the means to continue their aggression. State Department official Nicholas Burns told CNN that "the Bosnian Serbs . . . ought to have concluded that there is no military victory in sight for them. The tide of the war has turned against them. Their dream of a greater Serbia is no more [and] it's time to face the responsibility of peace." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] BOSNIAN SERBS REMAIN DEFIANT.

    The BBC on 31 August quoted the Bosnian Serb military command as saying that they will not withdraw their heavy weapons and will resist future NATO attacks. Pale's "foreign minister," Aleksa Buha, gave the first public reaction from the Bosnian Serb leadership. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 31 August quoted him as saying the attacks had nothing to do with the shelling of the Markale market on 28 August. He suggested that some broader plot was unfolding. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that if the West thinks it can intimidate the Serbs, then its "calculations . . . are wrong." Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic praised the attacks and French President Jacques Chirac's role in organizing them, but said they were long overdue. He stressed that the Serbian heavy weapons must be destroyed and that it will not be enough to secure the Serbs' signature on yet another demilitarization agreement. Favorable reactions to the strikes also came from London, Bonn, Paris, Ankara, and Zagreb. NATO Secretary- General Willy Claes said that "the attacks will not end until the Serbs change." Vjesnik ran the headline: "The Blue Helmets Neutralize Serbs." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] SERBIA CONDEMNS AIR STRIKES.

    The rump Yugoslav government has condemned the NATO air attacks and UN artillery strikes against the Bosnian Serbs, Tanjug reported on 30 August. It demanded that the military action be halted immediately and negotiations resumed "as the only way to reach a lasting and just peace in Bosnia." The ruling Socialist Party of Serbia joined the chorus, denouncing both the air raids and the massacre at the Sarajevo market place, Nasa Borba reported on 31 August. But Vojislav Kostunica, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, compared the attacks to bombardments by Nazi Germany during World War II, while Vojislav Seselj, alleged war criminal and leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), called for a "heavy counteroffensive." According to Montena-fax, the leader of the SRS branch in Montenegro called Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic an "enemy of the Serbian people" and part of a "communist-Ustasha coalition." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] HOLBROOKE MEETS WITH MILOSEVIC. U.S.

    envoy Richard Holbrooke held urgent talks with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade after meeting with Bosnian President Alia Izetbegovic in Paris. Holbrooke described their four-hour discussions about the U.S. peace plan as "important and productive," the International Herald Tribune reported on 31 August. BETA also reported that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is in Belgrade and is "almost certain" to meet with Holbrooke. It speculated that such a meeting may take place in the presence of Milosevic and may result in the "signing of some kind of document" accepting U.S. proposals for an end to the war. Holbrooke had previously threatened that the Bosnian Serbs will be exposed to heavy air strikes if the peace initiative "does not show any progress," adding that the Serbs are "the main obstacle to peace." The U.S. peace plan has not yet been published but reportedly grants the Serbs "local self-rule," within a Bosnian federation. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] ALBANIA DENIES ROLE IN YUGOSLAV BORDER KILLINGS.

    The Albanian Interior Ministry has said that no Albanian citizens were involved in the attack on a Yugoslav border patrol on 29 August, Reuters reported the next day. The ministry accused the Serbian authorities of "killing and sacrificing their own uniformed people only to accuse Albanians." It described claims that a group of ethnic Albanians fled to Albanian territory after shooting dead a rump Yugoslav soldier near the border at Djakovica as "irresponsible" and having been "invented" by the Serbian authorities. Tirana also accused Belgrade of creating "tension and hostility toward Albanians." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] ALBANIA PRESIDENT WELCOMES NATO OFFENSIVE.

    Sali Berisha praised the NATO attacks on Bosnian Serb positions as a "direct response to the massacre committed in Sarajevo by Serbian terrorists [and] an honorable answer to all the criminal acts, including genocide, they have committed during the war in the former Yugoslavia," Zeri i Popullit reported on 31 August. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi arrived in Greece to meet with top officials to discuss improving bilateral relations and the Balkan crisis, international agencies reported. German and U.S. military delegations traveled to Tirana to discuss military cooperation with Defense Ministry and military officials and to prepare for a U.S.- Albanian military exercise called "Peaceful Albania," scheduled to begin in September. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] ALBANIANS SHOPPING FOR ARMS IN UKRAINE?

    Col. Bektesh Kolasi, head of theAlbanian Ministry of Defense's Armaments Directorate, is heading a delegation visiting Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reported on 31 August. The press service of the Ukrainian military said the Albanians will visit a military unit "to acquaint themselves with weaponry used by the Ukrainian Land Forces." They were also scheduled to visit two defense factories and discuss "military and technical cooperation." -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] KARADZIC AGREES TO "HARMONIZE" BOSNIAN SERB POLICY WITH BELGRADE.

    Bosnian Serb and rump Yugoslav leaders, meeting in Belgrade on 29 August, signed an agreement on coordinating their positions at peace negotiations, BETA reported two days later. According to the International Herald Tribune on 31 August, the agreement means that "the Bosnian Serbs let the [rump] Yugoslav government speak for them in the Bosnian peace process." BETA argued that Milosevic was not anxious to sign the agreement since it "means taking responsibility for what happens in Bosnia." The groundwork for the agreement may have been laid at a meeting in Belgrade on 27 August between Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament Momcilo Krajisnik, and Milosevic. BETA reported that at that meeting, Milosevic "talked the hard-core Bosnian leaders into at least formally accepting the peace initiative." But the news agency added that "it is unclear . . . what concessions [they are] prepared to make in practice." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    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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