OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 187, 26 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] BOSNIAN TALKS OPEN IN NEW YORK.

  • [2] UN TELLS SERBS NOT TO ATTACK GORAZDE.

  • [3] CHIRAC MEETS TUDJMAN.

  • [4] BONN, WASHINGTON WARN CROATIA OVER SERBS.

  • [5] YUGOSLAV AND GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET.

  • [6] ILIESCU BEGINS U.S. VISIT.

  • [7] MELESCANU ON "HISTORIC RECONCILIATION" WITH HUNGARY.

  • [8] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS PROTEST AGAINST PENAL CODE PROVISIONS.

  • [9] YEVNEVITCH AGAIN DENIES TRANSFER OF ARMAMENT TO TIRASPOL AUTHORITIES.

  • [10] BULGARIAN TECHNOLOGY FAIR OPENS.

  • [11] GREEK PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH MACEDONIA.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 187, Part II, 26 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] BOSNIAN TALKS OPEN IN NEW YORK.

    International media report on 26 September that the U.S.-sponsored meeting of the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia, and rump Yugoslavia is set to open. Bosnia agreed to drop its threatened boycott once it was reassured that the Serbs would not be allowed to secede. AFP noted that guarantees were also given on the right of refugees to return to their homes and property, on the holding of new elections, and on the stationing of OSCE monitors in the republic's major towns. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that no settlement would be acceptable that undermines Bosnia's territorial integrity. The current plan, however, like the previous ones, is based on the premise of partitioning an ethnically mixed country into ethnically based districts. It thus tends to invite and sanction "ethnic cleansing." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] UN TELLS SERBS NOT TO ATTACK GORAZDE.

    AFP on 25 September reported that UN spokesman Chris Vernon said the Serbs had shelled Gorazde the previous day and warned they would be "mad to attack" it. Rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic was quoted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 23 September as saying that Belgrade's army might intervene in the conflict outside its borders, but a Bosnian Croat (HVO) spokesman told AFP on 25 September that the Croatian and Bosnian allies are ready for them. "Bosnian army and HVO units are capable of confronting Serb forces even if Serbia enters the war." The BBC on 26 September reported that press gangs visit Croatian Serb refugee camps in rump Yugoslavia "on a daily basis" and that the victims are sent to eastern Slavonia under the command of internationally wanted war criminal Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan." When Serbian authorities are confronted by journalists with cases of press ganging, they call it "a small, simple problem." But the men are taken away before any investigation can start, the broadcast noted. Nasa Borba added that Sanski Most is now under Arkan's control. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] CHIRAC MEETS TUDJMAN.

    The presidents of France and Croatia met in Paris on 25 September, international media reported. Jacques Chirac told Franjo Tudjman that France opposes any moves that could generate new waves of refugees. Chirac stressed "his refusal to allow movements of people which are against our values," AFP said. The French and Croatian presidents agreed that Bosnia must not be allowed to become a radical Islamic state, a charge that the government in Sarajevo has long dubbed a red herring. Tudjman stressed the need for Croatian-Serbian reconciliation on the German-French model as the key to peace in the Balkans. The Croatian ambassador to France told the VOA that Zagreb is increasingly looking to Paris as an important partner in the future. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] BONN, WASHINGTON WARN CROATIA OVER SERBS.

    Tudjman is basking in the success of the his military's virtual elimination of the Krajina Serb state, and new parliament elections are slated for 29 October. Novi list on 26 September quoted Tudjman as saying: "I promise today that we will soon enter Ilok and Vukovar," a reference to east Slavonian towns still under Serb control. German media on 22 September, however, quoted Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel as warning the Croats to respect abandoned Krajina Serb property and not to do anything that would hinder Serbs from returning. Kinkel said that Croatia would jeopardize its relations with Germany and the EU if it did otherwise. Germany has already excluded the Bosnian Serbs from any postwar German reconstruction aid because of their behavior. Reuters on 24 September cited the U.S. ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, as similarly warning the Croats that postwar aid will be linked to Zagreb's policy toward its Serbian minority. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] YUGOSLAV AND GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET.

    Deutsche Welle on 26 September reported that on the previous day rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic met with his German counterpart, Klaus Kinkel. It was the first such high-level meeting between Belgrade and Bonn since the beginning of the wars in the former Yugoslavia in 1991. According to the report, what made this meeting possible for the German side was the break between Belgrade and the authorities in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale. This, however, begs the question of why such a meeting did not take place earlier, since Belgrade and Pale split publicly in August 1994; and indeed in recent weeks the ties between Belgrade and the Bosnian Serbs have been underscored by rump Yugoslavia seemingly having emerged as negotiator for Pale. Observers have remarked that Bonn may be motivated to reestablish contact with rump Yugoslavia in anticipation of relations in a post-war setting. -- Patrick Moore and Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] ILIESCU BEGINS U.S. VISIT.

    President Ion Iliescu on 25 September began a one-week working visit to the U.S., Romanian and international media reported. His schedule includes talks with President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and other members of the administration. Iliescu will also meet members of the Congress and American businessmen, as well as the presidents of the World Bank and the IMF. Before departing, Iliescu said that one of the main aims of the visit is to have the Most Favored Nation status, now granted to Romania on a yearly basis, extended without time limitation. Iliescu referred to his visit as an "official" one, which is in fact not the case -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] MELESCANU ON "HISTORIC RECONCILIATION" WITH HUNGARY.

    In an interview with MTI, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said the Romanian initiative for a "historic reconciliation" with Hungary includes meetings of heads of states every six months and monthly discussions of officials from the two countries' foreign ministries to monitor the implementation of points agreed on, Radio Bucharest reported on 25 September. The concrete proposals of the Romanian initiative were handed over to the Foreign Ministry in Budapest by Romania's ambassador to Hungary on 22 September. Melescanu also said Romania rejected criticism regarding the law on education and legislation forbidding the hoisting of foreign flags. He reiterated Romania's opposition to a basic treaty with Hungary that should follow the model of the Hungarian-Slovak treaty. -- Michael Shafir and Matyas Szabo, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS PROTEST AGAINST PENAL CODE PROVISIONS.

    Romanian television reported on 25 September that prominent journalists from seven leading dailies sent a protest to President Ion Iliescu and to the Constitutional Court against the Chamber of Deputies' decision to stiffen penalties provided for libel, insult and offending public officials by journalists. The protest says articles 205 and 206 of the Penal Code, as passed by the chamber, infringe on the constitutional article stipulating the equality of all citizens, as well as limit the freedom of the press. Ion Diaconescu, the deputy chairman of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, said his formation was against the "strangulation of the press," Reuters reported on 25 September. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] YEVNEVITCH AGAIN DENIES TRANSFER OF ARMAMENT TO TIRASPOL AUTHORITIES. L

    t. Gen. Valerii Yevnevitch, the commander of Russian troops in the Transdniester region, denied again that parts of the Russian armament had been transferred to the Tiraspol authorities. In an interview with the daily Dnestrovskaya pravda, Yevnevitch said, however, that while "we do not sell our armaments and combat machinery to anybody," neither is the armament "evacuated to Russia." Infotag reported on 25 September that Yevnevitch explained that the withdrawal agreement had not yet been ratified, and "hence is not in force." The future of the breakaway region had not been clarified either, he added. At this point, "we are preparing to send to Russia only non-military engineering machinery." He also said that, following an agreement with the Tiraspol authorities, some 5,600 mines and shells dating from before WWII had been destroyed, and some 4,000 have still to be disposed of. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] BULGARIAN TECHNOLOGY FAIR OPENS.

    The 51st International Technology Fair opened in Plovdiv on 25 September, RFE/RL reported the same day. The fair is divided into three sections--transport and automobile industry, building and construction machinery, and telecommunications and office equipment. The 1,508 companies present at the fair account for 80% of Bulgaria's exports and 90% of imports. More than half of them are Bulgarian, followed by Germany with more than 200, Austria with 76, and Italy with 54 companies. Participation from East Central and Eastern European countries has also increased over the past years. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] GREEK PREMIER ON RELATIONS WITH MACEDONIA.

    In an interview with the daily Ta Nea on 25 September, Andreas Papandreou described the Greek- Macedonian accord signed on 13 September as "a good beginning" to bilateral relations between Athens and Skopje. According to Papandreou, "normalization of relations with our northern neighbor" will open up economic opportunities for Greece. He said a "solution can be found" in the dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the latter's name, although there is "significant disagreement" on it. Greece will uphold its decision not to tolerate any name including the term "Macedonia" or any derivative, the premier said. -- Stefan Krause, 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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