OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 165, 24 August 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [01] SOSKOVETS PROPOSES OIL SHIPMENT TO YUGOSLAVIA.

  • [02] SUSAK SAYS CROATIA CAN RETAKE EASTERN SLAVONIA . . .

  • [03] . . . WHILE HERZEGOVINIAN SERBS SEAL THE MONTENEGRIN BORDER.

  • [04] KARADZIC WANTS 64% OF BOSNIA.

  • [05] MAZOWIECKI DESCRIBES SERB ATROCITIES IN SREBRENICA.

  • [06] CROATIAN UPDATE.

  • [07] MONTENEGRO UPDATE.

  • [08] SITUATION IN KOSOVO IS A "SERIOUS PROBLEM."

  • [09] ROMANIA WANTS END TO SANCTIONS ON RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.

  • [10] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT DRAFTS LAW ON RESTITUTION.

  • [11] U.S. MILITARY DELEGATION IN ALBANIA.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 165, Part I,II, 24 August 1995

    RUSSIA

    [01] SOSKOVETS PROPOSES OIL SHIPMENT TO YUGOSLAVIA.

    Following a meeting with rump Yugoslav Trade Minister Djordje Siradovic, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets asked the ministries of Fuel and Energy and Foreign Economic Relations to draft proposals for the shipment of an unspecified quantity of natural gas to rump Yugoslavia, Interfax reported on 23 August. Soskovets also asked the Ministry of Emergency Situations to prepare a proposal to ship 5,000 tons of fuel oil to rump Yugoslavia. Both shipments are intended as "humanitarian aid." Soskovets asked the Foreign Ministry to draw up a corresponding proposal for consideration by the UN International Sanctions Committee. Siradovic said a protocol calling for rump Yugoslavia to sell Russia 2 million tons of wheat and 1 million tons of corn is ready for signing, adding that "sanctions must be lifted from Yugoslavia as soon as possible" because of the influx of refugees from Krajina. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] SUSAK SAYS CROATIA CAN RETAKE EASTERN SLAVONIA . . .

    Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak warned that his forces could push Serbian troops out of eastern Slavonia, AFP reported on 23 August. He said they would do this in less time than Operation Blitz took in western Slavonia in May if the international community does not secure the peaceful reintegration of the area into Croatia. Rump Yugoslavia, however, seems bent on holding onto the prosperous region. Nasa Borba reported on 24 August that an EU representative is nonetheless in Serb-held Vukovar in an effort to restart talks between Croatia and its rebel Serbs. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] . . . WHILE HERZEGOVINIAN SERBS SEAL THE MONTENEGRIN BORDER.

    AFP on 23 August also quoted Susak as saying that his government can no longer tolerate Serbian shelling of the Dubrovnik area. For some days observers have been expecting a push by some 10,000 Croatian troops into the Trebinje region of eastern Herzegovina behind Dubrovnik. Montena-fax said that the local Serbian authorities have banned all people from Trebinje from leaving the district without special permission. Many had been fleeing into Montenegro, including military-aged men. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] KARADZIC WANTS 64% OF BOSNIA.

    AFP on 23 August quoted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as saying that the Serbs must have 64% of the land in any settlement because that is the amount they legally own. He did not mention the land taken violently, and one of his statements in particular suggested a hearty appetite: "Our territory must be integral, it must have territorial continuity. It is of vital importance that our borders be on the Sava and Una Rivers, that the Drina River is ours, that we have a part of Sarajevo." His "foreign minister," Aleksa Buha, praised the "U.S.-Russian" peace project, while Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey said that there is "no American plan, but an initiative." Elsewhere, U.S. President Bill Clinton named a new team of envoys to the former Yugoslavia. Meanwhile in Jakarta, Indonesian officials on 24 August announced that the Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian presidents had agreed "in principle" to meet in Indonesia, which currently chairs the Non-Aligned Movement. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] MAZOWIECKI DESCRIBES SERB ATROCITIES IN SREBRENICA.

    The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the former Yugoslavia has presented his final report, international media said on 23 August. The former Polish prime minister resigned in disgust last month over the international community's inaction in the face of Serbian atrocities in the UN-declared "safe havens" in eastern Bosnia. He said that "there is significant direct and circumstantial evidence indicating that summary executions took place, both of individuals and small groups of people. On the question of mass executions of large numbers of people at one time, the evidence so far obtained leads to the chilling conclusion that these may have occurred." He also noted that Serbian civilians came in to loot and burn homes and shops, and to destroy mosques. Meanwhile the new Serbian "mayor" of Srebrenica has invited anyone interested to visit. "The whole world can come and investigate, film in Srebrenica," Miroslav Deronjic told AFP, regretting that until now "nobody has made such a request." In another "safe area," Gorazde, the Serbian authorities have given the peacekeepers permission to leave. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] CROATIAN UPDATE.

    Vjesnik on 24 August reported on the government's plans to return the Croatian population to areas of the former Krajina from which the Serbs had "ethnically cleansed" them since 1991. The resettlement will take place in approximately three waves, depending on the availability of accommodation in the various parts of the region. The government also said it plans to have the vital Zagreb-Knin-Split railway running by 28 August, which would be the first time in over four years. Roman Catholic church sources in Zagreb quoted the bishop's office in Banja Luka as saying that on 19 August the Serbs dynamited a church in Sanski Most, making this the 43rd church in the bishopric to be deliberately destroyed. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] MONTENEGRO UPDATE.

    BETA reported on 23 August that on the same day the Montenegrin republic's legislature met in special session to discuss the prospects for peacefully resolving the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The session was called after opposition parties' lobbying efforts, which have also recently revolved around calls for a peaceful resolution of outstanding regional differences. On the previous day, President Momir Bulatovic appeared on Montenegro Television and lashed out against the Krajina Serb leadership and Orthodox Church officials. According to Bulatovic, Croatia's reclaiming of Krajina amounted to "a tragedy" but Krajina leaders were to blame since "they did not defend Krajina." He also remarked that the Orthodox Church had recently become overtly politicized by de facto defending the Krajina Serb leadership and thereby "demonstrating its [political] amateurishness." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] SITUATION IN KOSOVO IS A "SERIOUS PROBLEM."

    That is how EUnegotiator Carl Bildt described the situation in the mainly ethnic Albanian province and added that he would soon visit rump Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Albania, BETA reported on 23 August. According to the Albanian-language service of Deutsche Welle, 3,600 Serbian refugees have so far arrived in Kosovo. BETA, however, says that another 4,500 are expected to arrive soon in Pristina alone. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] ROMANIA WANTS END TO SANCTIONS ON RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.

    Following the visit to Belgrade of Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu (see OMRI Daily Digest, 23 August 1995), Romania reiterated its call for UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia to be lifted. At a press conference carried by Radio Bucharest on 23 August, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mircea Geoana said the "lifting of the embargo in the context of negotiations could work as a stimulating element for all the sides" involved in the conflict. He said Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had raised the issue in the talks with Melescanu. The conflict in former Yugoslavia will also figure prominently at the meeting due to be held between the Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian foreign ministers over the weekend in Greece, Geoana said. In other news, the Croat ambassador to Bucharest, Nikola Debelic, said in an interview with the RFE/RL Romanian service that the recent Croat offensive in Krajina has established a "military balance" allowing for "negotiations on an equal basis." He expressed the hope that Romania will use its influence on Belgrade to persuade Serbia to give up its "aggressive politics and its territorial claims on neighboring countries." -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT DRAFTS LAW ON RESTITUTION.

    The Macedonian government approved a draft law on the restitution of real estate that was nationalized between August 1944 and February 1968, MIC reported on 23 August. The Ministry of Finance has registered 37,000 hectares of agricultural land, 16,000 hectares of forest, 21,000 hectares of pasture, 285 apartment buildings and 169 business objects and various herds of cattle and sheep that will be affected by the law. Finance Minister Jane Miljovski said that it is the government's aim to give back all property that physically exists, or to provide compensation. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] U.S. MILITARY DELEGATION IN ALBANIA.

    Secretary of the Army Togo West is leading a U.S. military delegation to Albania on 24 August, Rilindja Demokratike reports the same day. West will meet with President Sali Berisha and Defense Minister Safet Zhulali and visit U.S. army units deployed to reconstruct a hospital in Tirana in the framework of a military-medical exercise called "Crystal Water 95." West brings with him a donation of medical supplies worth $500,000. Elsewhere, deputy Chief of the General Staff Armand Vincani received the commander of an Italian frigate that will participate in joint exercises with the Albanian navy beginning on 26 August. -- 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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