OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 177, 12 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] "WAVES OF PLANES" HIT PALE.

  • [2] KARADZIC THREATENS TO LEAVE PEACE PROCESS.

  • [3] BOSNIAN SERBS APPEAL TO RUSSIA.

  • [4] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT SECURES TUZLA-ZENICA ROAD.

  • [5] SERBIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY CRITICIZES NATO.

  • [6] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS PROTEST ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW.

  • [7] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT EASES BAN ON HOMOSEXUALITY AMID PROTESTS.

  • [8] MOLDOVA PROTESTS SMIRNOV'S SPEECH TO RUSSIAN DEPUTIES.

  • [9] BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT IN MOLDOVA.

  • [10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES YELTSIN STATEMENT ON NATO EXPANSION.

  • [11] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT IN U.S.

  • [12] GREEK, MACEDONIAN REACTIONS TO DIRECT TALKS.

  • [13] RUSSIAN OBJECTIONS TO NATO AIRSTRIKES INTENSIFY.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 177, Part I,II, 12 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] "WAVES OF PLANES" HIT PALE.

    AFP on 12 September reported that NATO air attacks are continuing around the Bosnian Serb capital. The BBC noted that the recent cruise missile attacks on the Serbs' air defense system at Banja Luka resulted in "severe damage," and that further strikes may be in the offing. The VOA added that Stealth aircraft would soon arrive in Italy to take part in the Bosnian operations as needed. The broadcast pointed out that the air defense system has not yet been put totally out of commission, adding there is no confirmation of Serbian reports that the attacks have caused civilian casualties. The International Herald Tribune quoted NATO sources as saying more strikes will be needed, but AFP cited UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi as saying he and Secretary- General Boutros Boutros Ghali are opposed to adding targets of civilian importance to the list. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] KARADZIC THREATENS TO LEAVE PEACE PROCESS.

    Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has sent a message to Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin and to Prime Minister John Major setting down his position in the wake of the cruise missile attacks. He lamented that the new moves have come after a major "breakthrough" was achieved in the peace process in Geneva, the BBC reported on 12 September (see OMRI Daily Digest, 11 September 1995). The internationally sought war criminal said it is "incomprehensible" that NATO has "taken sides with our enemies" and "declared war against the Serbs." Karadzic called the attacks "unjustified and truly barbaric," Nasa Borba reported. Most important, he added that "faced with continuing attacks, [the Bosnian Serbs] could be forced to reconsider further participation in peace negotiations." It is unclear whether Belgrade, with which Pale now forms a joint delegation at the peace talks, supports him on this issue. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] BOSNIAN SERBS APPEAL TO RUSSIA.

    Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA carried a message from the Pale leadership to the "Russian people, President Boris Yeltsin and the Duma to demand in the form of an ultimatum an end to the NATO operations." AFP on 12 September cited the statement as saying that "the NATO action deprives of sense the peace process that has scarcely begun and its initial results, although the Serb people are prepared to compromise." Russia has already pledged additional humanitarian aid for the Bosnian Serbs. The history of Russia's relations with the Serbs over the centuries has been checkered, however, with Russian policy based on hard calculations rather than on sentimentality. At times, St. Petersburg or Moscow has openly favored Sofia over Belgrade. An Izvestiya analyst recently told the BBC that Russia should now concentrate on its main interest in Europe, which is the EU and not Serbia. (See related story in the Russian section.) -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT SECURES TUZLA-ZENICA ROAD.

    Reuters on 11 September said Bosnian government forces may have not taken advantage of the Serbs' current troubles in the Sarajevo area but that they are pressing their enemy elsewhere. The town of Voguca fell to government troops, thereby consolidating their hold on the key all-weather road connecting Tuzla and Zenica. Vjesnik on 12 September spoke of Croatian and Bosnian government forces' success to the north as well. Vecernji list added that Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, who is visiting Washington, said again that eastern Slavonia must be returned to Croatia as part of a comprehensive regional settlement. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] SERBIA'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY CRITICIZES NATO.

    BETA on 12 September reported that Serbia's opposition Democratic Party (DS), led by Zoran Djindjic, has issued its sharpest verbal attack against NATO. The DS said that NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs amount to "a shameful, terrorist attack." The party pledged to hold "peaceful protests" against the international organization. In another development, BETA reported the same day that the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) has published a book arguing that a famous and controversial 1986 memorandum was "not a blueprint for war and ethnic cleansing." The SANU Memorandum- -Replies to the Critics has been released to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the document's contents being made public. Observers point out that in 1986, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who then was beginning his rise to power, used the notorious SANU Memorandum as the basis for his ultranationalist policies and to whip up ethnic hatred against Serbia's minorities. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS PROTEST ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW.

    Members of the Federation of Hungarian Democratic Youth of Romania--a component member of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR)--left on bicycles for Strasbourg on 8 September to protest to the European Council against Romania's new controversial education law, Radio Bucharest announced the same day. Reuters on 11 September reported that the group was received that day at the Hungarian parliament. The UDMR on 8 September organized a meeting to protest the law in the Transylvanian town of Miercurea Ciuc. Local UDMR branch leader Erno Borbely said that although there will be no boycott of the opening of the new school year, the UDMR will initiate other protests. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT EASES BAN ON HOMOSEXUALITY AMID PROTESTS.

    The Chamber of Deputies on 12 September voted to ease Penal Code provisions on homosexual acts, Romanian media reported. These will now be punished only if they are committed in public, in cases of rape, or in incidents involving those under the age of consent. The opposition was split on the vote, with the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic opposing the amendment. The daily Curierul national on 12 September reported that the Association of Christian Orthodox Students in Romania pledged to continue a drive to gather signatures opposing homosexual relationships among consenting adults. It has so far gathered nearly 200,000 signatures and needs 500,000 to have the matter submitted to a national referendum. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] MOLDOVA PROTESTS SMIRNOV'S SPEECH TO RUSSIAN DEPUTIES.

    The Moldova's Foreign Ministry on 11 September said the Russian State Duma committed an "unfriendly act" toward Moldova two days earlier "by giving the floor" to Igor Smirnov, leader of the Transdniester breakaway region, BASA-press and Infotag reported. The ministry said the Duma "brutally violated international law, norms, and principles" and breached Moldova's "sovereignty and territorial integrity." Smirnov, in fact, did not address the State Duma but rather a meeting of the Agrarian Party faction in the parliament building. He called on the Russian deputies to "promote Transdniestrian statehood or to make the region part of Russia." Smirnov said NATO was "slowly approaching the borders of Transdniester, a truly Russian land," and that Russia was "the only power that can defend us." -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT IN MOLDOVA.

    Alyaksandr Lukashenka, beginning a two- day visit to Moldova on 11 September, criticized NATO's air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs, Western agencies reported. He said the protests against the bombings will not bear fruit unless the former Soviet republics "attain unity in the military-political sphere. Ten years ago, such bloodshed would have been impossible, because the USSR acted as guarantor of stability." -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES YELTSIN STATEMENT ON NATO EXPANSION.

    Zhelyu Zhelev, reacting sharply to Russian President Boris Yeltsin's remarks that an eastward NATO expansion may lead to war in Europe (see OMRI Daily Digest, 11 September 1995), has told Russia to mind its own business. In a statement presented by his spokesman Valentin Stoyanov on 11 September, Zhelev said that "Bulgaria is an independent state that conducts its own foreign policy, taking only its national interests into consideration, and it will not allow anybody--in the East or the West-- to decide questions related to its national security and sovereignty." At the same time, Zhelev expressed understanding for Yeltsin, noting that he was the first to support Yeltsin during the August 1991 coup, Demokratsiya reported on 12 September. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT IN U.S.

    Sali Berisha, speaking on 11 September at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said his country is prepared to offer NATO more military bases, Reuters reported the same day. The U.S. army already uses bases in northern Albania for unmanned spy planes flying over Bosnia. Berisha said the sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia should remain in place until a solution to the Kosovo crisis has been found, adding that the issue should be put on the agenda of the Contact Group. He added that "failure to give this issue a solution will be disastrous." Berisha met with Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Defense Secretary William Perry. He is due to hold talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore on 12 September. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [12] GREEK, MACEDONIAN REACTIONS TO DIRECT TALKS.

    Only days before the Greek and Macedonian foreign ministers start direct talks in New York, opinion polls and statements show that this move is controversial in both countries. A poll published in the Athens daily Ethnos on 11 September indicated that more than 60% of those questioned are against signing an agreement with Macedonia. Some 28% said the government would be "selling out" to the U.S. if it negotiated any deal, while 32% said the proposed accord would inevitably lead to the recognition of Macedonia under that name. Only 18.5% said the name does not matter. Meanwhile, Macedonian Orthodox Church communities in Australia protested the changing of the flag and the constitution in a letter sent to the political leadership on 10 September calling it "not acceptable at all," MIC reported the following day. They joined the nationalist opposition, which has accused the government of preparing a "non-legitimate compromise" with Greece. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc. RUSSIA

    [13] RUSSIAN OBJECTIONS TO NATO AIRSTRIKES INTENSIFY.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry again demanded a halt to the airstrikes in Bosnia and said NATO's cruise missile attacks on the Bosnian Serbs had undermined the ongoing peace talks, demonstrating that NATO was more interested in asserting its "new role" in Europe than in promoting a settlement, Russian and Western media reported on 11 September. Meanwhile, at the UN, Russia said the use of American naval forces to launch missile attacks against the Bosnian Serbs "grossly violated" existing UN mandates. -- Scott Parrish, 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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