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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 38, 22 February 1996

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] BOSNIAN SERBS RESTORE LINKS TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

  • [2] IFOR CERTIFIES COMPLIANCE WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT.

  • [3] SERBIAN EXODUS FROM SARAJEVO CONTINUES.

  • [4] BOSNIAN SHORT TAKES.

  • [5] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.

  • [6] BELGRADE SEEKS IMF MEMBERSHIP.

  • [7] CROATIA, BRITAIN SIGN AGREEMENTS.

  • [8] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.

  • [9] MOLDOVA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES.

  • [10] BELARUSIAN PRIME MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO SOFIA.

  • [11] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS RELEASED.

  • [12] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

  • [13] GREECE, ALBANIA AGREE ON PRISONER RETURN.

  • [14] GREEK-TURKISH NEWS.


  • OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 38, Part II, 22 February 1996

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] BOSNIAN SERBS RESTORE LINKS TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

    The Bosnian Serb leadership on 21 February announced it is "reestablishing full cooperation with representatives of the international community, in accordance with the Dayton agreement and the results of the Rome summit," SRNA reported. But it continued to protest the "unprincipled conduct" of the Bosnian government in what it called the "kidnapping of senior Serbian officers." The Bosnian Serb leaders demanded the immediate release of the officers. Meanwhile, Carl Bildt, the international community's chief envoy to Bosnia, met the same day with Bosnian Serb premier Rajko Kasagic, TANJUG reported. Bildt said he was pleased that dialogue with the Serbs has been restored, while Kasagic said the work of the joint commissions will be resumed. -- Michael Mihalka

    [2] IFOR CERTIFIES COMPLIANCE WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT.

    IFOR commander U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith on 21 February officially certified that the "parties to the General Framework Agreement for Peace to be in general compliance with the military aspects of the (Dayton) peace agreement," international media reported. According to UN Resolution 1022, sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs can be lifted the day after the IFOR commander informs the UN Security Council that the Serbs have withdrawn from the zones of separation laid down in the peace accords. -- Michael Mihalka

    [3] SERBIAN EXODUS FROM SARAJEVO CONTINUES.

    Despite bad weather and calls by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the anti-nationalist Serbian Civic Council for them to stay put, residents of five Serb-held suburbs slated to pass to government control continue to leave. The BBC on 22 February quoted UN sources as putting the number at 20,000. Two fires are burning out of control in Vogosca, but the fire department has apparently already left, Reuters said. "Nervous and upset" people blamed the mayor for not providing them with adequate transportation and confronted him in an ugly scene. Throughout the suburbs, banks and schools have closed or are shutting down. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and Nasa Borba blamed the Bosnian Serb leadership for forcing the exodus of ordinary Serbs. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has urged the residents to stay. -- Patrick Moore

    [4] BOSNIAN SHORT TAKES.

    Some 10,000 Croats and Muslims are expected to return to Vogosca after it reverts to federal control, Onasa reported on 21 February. A group of 50 federal experts will be sent there to clear mines. Oslobodjenje wrote on 22 February that many of the Sarajevo Croats who fled to Mostar and elsewhere during the war have begun to return. But a meeting of Croatian and Bosnian government officials slated for 26 February has been postponed. Onasa said that the problems are Bosnian access to the port of Ploce and the abolition of Croatian visas for Bosnian citizens. The news agency added that Bosnia's first postwar strike ended when miners accepted assurances that their January salaries of about DM 80 would finally be paid. -- Patrick Moore

    [5] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.

    The Orthodox bishop for northwestern Bosnia, Hrizostom, urged Serbs to return to their homes outside the Republika Srbska and reject attempts to settle them in dwellings of expelled Muslims and Croats. "This is the moment when we decide whether we will be the beggars of this world, or whether we will return to our homes as international accords and conventions foresee. [The Pale leaders] are cheating you when they tell you that they have solved our problems by giving us burnt and looted homes which belong to others, who are also refugees just as we are.... The Serb politicans...have used our trust against the interests of their people." Onasa carried the report on 21 February, citing Belgrade's Vecernje Novosti. -- Patrick Moore

    [6] BELGRADE SEEKS IMF MEMBERSHIP.

    The rump Yugoslavia is officially seeking membership in the IMF, Belgrade TV reported on 21 February. In a letter to IMF chief Michel Camdessus, rump Yugoslav National bank Governor Dragoslav Avramovic said "conditions for the normalization of relations between the IMF and [rump] Yugoslavia have been met.... We believe that we could benefit from the assistance, experience, and advice of international organizations, above all, from the IMF." Avramovic also wrote that the rump Yugoslav economy was undergoing reforms that would result in a broad privatization program and liberal, free market practices. -- Stan Markotich

    [7] CROATIA, BRITAIN SIGN AGREEMENTS.

    Croatia and Britain on 21 February signed agreements on cooperation in air traffic, culture, science, and education, Novi List reported. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said the agreements signaled "progress in bilateral relations," while British Foreign Ministry official Nicholas Bonsor said agreements would pave the way for the cooperation in tourism and the improvement of air traffic between the two countries. The situation in the region was also discussed, especially regarding the Rome agreements on Bosnia- Herzegovina. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [8] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.

    Members of The Hague International War Crimes Tribunal are in Timisoara to interview people from Serbia who were detained in Moslem camps during the war in the former Yugoslavia, Radio Bucharest reported on 21 February. The interviewees volunteered to testify. Timisoara was chosen "at the request of the Serbian citizens," who consider the Romanian town near the Serbian border to be "a safe place, where nothing can happen to them." The findings will be made public once the interviews are over. -- Michael Shafir

    [9] MOLDOVA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES.

    Death sentences passed on 19 people in Moldova have been commuted to life imprisonment to meet commitments made when that country joined the Council of Europe in July 1995, Moldovan and international agencies reported on 21 February. President Mircea Snegur signed a decree commuting the sentences. The Moldovan parliament abolished capital punishment in December 1995. Those to whom the decree applies were sentenced before then. -- Michael Shafir

    [10] BELARUSIAN PRIME MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO SOFIA.

    Mikhail Chyhir on 21 February concluded a two-day official visit to Bulgaria, Bulgarian and international media reported. Chyhir and his Bulgarian counterpart, Zhan Videnov, signed eight bilateral agreements on trade and industrial cooperation, including the mutual protection and promotion of investments. They said the agreements lay the foundation for broad cooperation in a number of areas and that they expect bilateral trade to increase. Belarus will export more butter, grain, and car tires to Bulgaria, while Bulgaria will increase its exports of vegetable oil and pharmaceuticals to Belarus. In 1995, bilateral trade turnover was $40 million. -- Stefan Krause

    [11] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS RELEASED.

    Dimitar Shtirkov and Valentin Hadzhiev, correspondents in Smoylan for Trud and 24 chasa, on 21 February were released from detention, 24 chasa reported. Legal proceedings against them will continue, however. The two journalists were arrested for libel on 20 February. Regional Prosecutor Slavcho Karzhev, who ordered the arrests, said he considers his action to conform with Bulgarian law and added that he will initiate proceedings against the local correspondents for Duma and Novinar who wrote similar reports. The Union of Bulgarian Journalists and Svobodno Slovo (Free Speech) have protested the arrests. Since the fall of the communist regime, several journalists have been charged with libel. This was the first time that journalists were arrested. -- Stefan Krause

    [12] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ALBANIA.

    Mate Granic arrived for a two-day visit to Tirana on 21 February, international agencies reported. Meeting with his Albanian counterpart, Alfred Serreqi, both sides agreed on the territorial integrity of all Balkan countries and the inviolability of present borders. Granic said that Croatia supported the rights of all ethnic minorities in the Balkans, while Serreqi stressed that the problem of Kosovo could not be reduced to a question of basic human rights and freedoms. He added that "Kosovo is [not] only an internal problem of Serbia [but a] a fundamental element of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia." The two sides agreed on increased economic and cultural cooperation. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, in Tirana on 21 February, told President Sali Berisha that Britain will raise its diplomatic representation in Albania from charge d'affaires to ambassador, AFP reported. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [13] GREECE, ALBANIA AGREE ON PRISONER RETURN.

    Albanian Justice Minister Hektor Frasheri and his Greek counterpart, Evangelos Venizelos, meeting in Athens on 21 February, agreed on the return of some 730 Albanians serving prison sentences in Greece, Reuters reported. Greece will now speed up the implementation of an agreement whereby prisoners will serve sentences in Albanian prisons. The first 70 inmates will be moved to Albania in the next two weeks. Some 130 of the inmates are juveniles, and another 400 are still awaiting trial. It is unclear whether the latter will be tried in Greece. There are no imprisoned Greeks in Albania. Greek prisons are overcrowded. and tensions between Greek and Albanian prisoners recently resulted in riots. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [14] GREEK-TURKISH NEWS.

    Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis on 21 February began a tour of EU capitals in a bid to rally support for his country in the dispute with Turkey over the islet of Imia/Kardak, AFP reported the same day. Simitis met with EU Commission President Jacques Santer and Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene in Brussels. He told a news conference that Turkey's position makes it "difficult for us to cooperate so that the customs union [between the EU and Turkey] functions freely." Meanwhile, Reuters cited EU sources as saying Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos has threatened to block a vote approving 375 million ECU ($487 million) in EU aid to Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal said Turkey has fulfilled its commitments vis-a-vis the customs union, and he called on the EU not to give in to "Greek blackmail." -- 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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