OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 182, 19 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] SACIRBEY OFFERS BANJA LUKA "DIALOGUE."

  • [2] SERBS FLEE BANJA LUKA.

  • [3] CROATIAN, MUSLIM CIVILIANS "IN GRAVE DANGER."

  • [4] "THE PEACE PLAN FALLS WITH BANJA LUKA."

  • [5] LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT IN ROMANIA.

  • [6] ROMANIA WANTS TO JOIN NATO AT SAME TIME AS HUNGARY.

  • [7] NEW RESTRICTIONS ON ROMANIAN MEDIA.

  • [8] SEPARATISTS HINDERING 14TH ARMY AMMUNITION DESTRUCTION.

  • [9] BULGARIA WILL NOT HELP RUSSIA TO BREAK SANCTIONS AGAINST FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.

  • [10] BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY GAINS MAJORITY SHARE IN DUMA.

  • [11] ALBANIA UPDATE.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 182, Part II, 19 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] SACIRBEY OFFERS BANJA LUKA "DIALOGUE."

    As Croatian and Bosnian forcesclose in on Banja Luka, Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey has offered to talk with Serb leaders there. AFP on 18 September quoted him as calling this "an opportunity to set an example of mutual coexistence for the future of how the entire peace process should go ahead. We are trying in fact to create the symbol of a Bosnian southern breeze, rather than a Bosnian storm." British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind agreed to help find Serbian leaders willing to talk. "We hope it could provide the basis for a ceasefire throughout the country," he said. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] SERBS FLEE BANJA LUKA.

    Nasa Borba on 19 September reported that a column of refugees 70 km long is moving from the threatened Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka toward Derventa and Serbia beyond. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung added that the lightning offensive by allied forces has left the Serbs with only 50% of the republic's territory, and that figure appears to be shrinking rapidly. Tanjug reported unsuccessful Croatian and Bosnian advances near Mostar, but there has been no independent confirmation of the story. The VOA said that Bosnian Serb commander General Ratko Mladic is in a Belgrade hospital recovering from surgery to remove a kidney stone, and that his civilian counterpart, Radovan Karadzic, is largely ignored by fellow Bosnian Serbs. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] CROATIAN, MUSLIM CIVILIANS "IN GRAVE DANGER."

    The Banja Luka Serbs arereported to have been particularly ruthless and systematic in their "ethnic cleansing," which was extended to the complete destruction of historic mosques and other monuments. The BBC on 19 September quoted international monitors as saying that the few remaining Croatian and Muslim civilians now face special peril from the fleeing Serbs. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 18 September noted the same about the non-Serbs in Donji Vakuf. The BBC on 17 September, however, reported that Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic refused to comment on accounts of atrocities against 6,000 Serbs trapped in that area. British and Serbian papers, moreover, continue to carry articles about sinister behavior by Croatian forces in Krajina, including grisly murders of the few, mainly elderly and infirm Serbian civilians who stayed behind. Croatia denies the stories and accuses some of the journalists of long- standing bias. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] "THE PEACE PLAN FALLS WITH BANJA LUKA."

    This is how Nasa Borba on 19September sums up the relationship between developments on the ground and diplomacy. The International Herald Tribune quoted Sacirbey as adding that "military pressure has been an effective force" in the peace process. The VOA reported that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has urged the international community to use its influence in Zagreb and Sarajevo to halt the offensive. Following the killing of a Danish peacekeeper near Bihac, the UN Security Council demanded the Croatian and Bosnian forces stop fighting. A State Department spokesman insisted that the current peace plan remain the basis of future talks. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said "the light here is red. It's a red stoplight. Stop the fighting. Go back to the negotiating table," AFP reported from Moscow on 18 September. Meanwhile in New York, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali said that time has come to replace UN forces in Bosnia with "regional" ones. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT IN ROMANIA.

    Algirdas Brazauskas on 18 September began a two-day official visit to Romania, Radio Bucharest reported. Brazauskas, who is returning Romanian President Ion Iliescu's visit to Vilnius in March 1994, is the first Lithuanian head of state to visit Romania. Brazauskas' talks with Iliescu the same day focused on ways to coordinate the countries' efforts to join Euro-Atlantic structures. Addressing a joint session of Romania's two-chamber parliament, Brazauskas defined his country's "main [foreign policy] goal" as joining NATO. He said a selective admission to that organization would create the "emergence of gray zones in which a vacuum of security would prevail." Brazauskas also met with Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu and the chairmen of both houses of the parliament. The two countries are expected to sign accords on culture, health, and Interior Ministry cooperation. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] ROMANIA WANTS TO JOIN NATO AT SAME TIME AS HUNGARY.

    Evenimentul zilei on 18 September quoted Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca as saying his country wanted "to join NATO at all costs at the same time as Hungary." Budapest has already set 1997 as a deadline for joining the Western military alliance. Romania and Hungary have been negotiating a bilateral basic treaty since 1991 but have been unable to reach agreement on the final wording. The main stumbling block is the treatment of the large Hungarian minority in Romania. Tinca also commented that military relations with Russia were in "poor shape." He rejected Russian objections to Romania's plans to join NATO and suggested that Russia was "isolating itself" from the rest of Europe. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] NEW RESTRICTIONS ON ROMANIAN MEDIA.

    The Chamber of Deputies on 18 September adopted Article 206 of the new Penal Code on "defamation through the media." According to the article, Journalists using the electronic media and press for the purpose of calumny are liable to jail terms of between six months and three years. The opposition National Peasant Party-Christian Democratic denounced the legislation as curtailing freedom of expression and jeopardizing democracy in general. Meanwhile, two journalists who wrote that President Ion Iliescu worked for the KGB went on trial on 18 September for having "offended the authorities." If found guilty, the two could be sentenced to up to three years in prison. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] SEPARATISTS HINDERING 14TH ARMY AMMUNITION DESTRUCTION.

    Authorities in the breakaway Transdniester region in Moldova are obstructing efforts to destroy ammunition of the former 14th Army, the deputy commander of Russian troops in the region told Interfax on 18 September. The officer said that at the end of the previous week, the arms depots and testing ground near the village of Kolbasna had been blocked by units of the breakaway republic's armed forces. -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] BULGARIA WILL NOT HELP RUSSIA TO BREAK SANCTIONS AGAINST FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.

    Bulgarian deputies on 18 September rejected a call by a visiting delegation from the Russian State Duma to help create a land corridor to supply fuel to rump Yugoslavia, international agencies reported the same day. Chairman of Bulgaria's parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee Nikolay Kamov said there was a consensus [among committee members] on not breaking the UN sanctions and "no opportunity for Bulgaria to oppose unilaterally the sanctions or stop enforcing them." The Russian delegation had asked for a corridor through Bulgaria to deliver fuel to rump Yugoslavia as humanitarian aid. Standart on 19 September reported that the Russian deputies threatened serious consequences if Bulgaria did not comply. Gen. Leonid Mayorov, an adviser to Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin, was quoted as saying the first Russian air planes with humanitarian aid for the Bosnian Serbs will leave Russia on 19 September. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY GAINS MAJORITY SHARE IN DUMA.

    Businessman Nikolay Krivoshiev, in a letter published in 24 chasa on 19 September, announced he will hand over his 49% stake in the Bulgarian Socialist Party's newspaper Duma to the party's Supreme Council, bringing the BSP's stake up to 51%. The remaining 49% is held by the newspaper's staff. Krivoshiev took his share in 1994 in order to "save the newspaper" and help the party, as he said in his letter. He accused Duma's editor in chief, Stefan Prodev, of working against the BSP's interests and its leadership, saying that handing over his shares to the party leadership will help the necessary "clarification process." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] ALBANIA UPDATE.

    The Albanian government has asked the Constitutional Court to rule that the country's Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to hear an appeal by jailed Socialist leader and former premier Fatos Nano, international media reported on 18 September. Should the Constitutional Court rule in the government's favor, Nano, who was jailed for 12 years in April 1994 on charges of falsifying documents and misappropriating aid money, is likely to remain in prison. In other news, Republika on 14 September reported that Ramiz Alia, Albania's last communist ruler, has joined the Socialist Party. Alia, who had been serving a prison sentence for various crimes, including corruption, was released in July 1995. At the time, Socialist leaders vowed that Alia would not be welcome to join their ranks. -- Stan Markotich, 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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