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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 22, 31 January 1996
From: OMRI-L <omri-l@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>
CONTENTS
[1] NEW BOSNIAN PRIME MINISTER FACES DAUNTING TASKS.
[2] SREBRENICA WOMEN TEMPORARILY STOP DEMONSTRATIONS.
[3] ELECTION COMMISSION SET UP IN BOSNIA.
[4] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA ASKS FOR ASSETS TO BE UNFROZEN.
[5] SLOVENIAN MINISTERS TENDER RESIGNATIONS.
[6] ROMANIAN TELECOMMUNICATION MINISTER SUSPENDED.
[7] FRENCH MILITARY DELEGATION VISITS ROMANIA.
[8] MOLDOVAN-DNIESTER SUMMIT POSTPONED.
[9] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION WANTS PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRMAN TO RESIGN.
[10] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
[11] ALBANIAN ELECTION LAW OPPOSED BY TWELVE PARTIES.
[12] ALBANIA, ISRAEL SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS.
[13] GREECE, TURKEY WITHDRAW FORCES IN ISLET DISPUTE.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 22, Part II, 31 January 1996
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] NEW BOSNIAN PRIME MINISTER FACES DAUNTING TASKS.
After being named prime
minister on 30 January, Hasan Muratovic outlined the social and other
issues facing his administration, saying they would "frighten any
government in the world." Oslobodjenje on 31 January said he mentioned
huge social obligations to war refugees, the injured, and the families
of dead soldiers and missing persons. Pensioners, demobilized soldiers,
the police, the army, and the education system pose additional problems.
Muratovic noted that Bosnia wants to join both the EU and NATO, adding
that "as for . . . Croatia, we'll do our best to make that relationship
an example for good cooperation between countries in this region."
Regarding Serbia-Montenegro, the new prime minister said "we must
develop and normalize that relationship step by step." Earlier, Fifth
Corps commander General Atif Dudakovic said that the Bosnian army will
be reorganized along NATO lines. -- Patrick Moore
[2] SREBRENICA WOMEN TEMPORARILY STOP DEMONSTRATIONS.
Women refugees from
Srebrenica, who have staged demonstrations in Tuzla on 29-30 January,
have agreed to stop their protest until a 1 February meeting between the
Bosnian and Tuzla-Podrinje governments and the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC), Oslobodjenje reported on 31 January. Some 1,000
women and children have been demonstrating against the ICRC's
"passivity" over 8,000 missing men from Srebrenica. They have promised
to step up their action if more information on their relatives is not
provided by 1 February. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[3] ELECTION COMMISSION SET UP IN BOSNIA.
A commission responsible for
overseeing Bosnian elections under OSCE auspices was named on 30 January
in Sarajevo, international and local media reported. The seven-member
panel is composed of representatives from the United States, Canada,
Britain, Germany, and the three Bosnian factions. Under the Dayton peace
accords, elections must take place before September. Meanwhile, the
current, past, and future OSCE Chairmen-in-Office--Foreign Ministers
Flavio Cotti (Switzerland), Lazlo Kovacs (Hungary), and Niels Helveg
Petersen (Denmark)--met in Sarajevo on 30 January with Bosnian President
Alija Izetbegovic, vice president of the Moslem-Croatian Federation Ejup
Ganic, and vice president of the self-declared Republika Srpska Nikola
Koljevic. Cotti said the meeting was "extremely positive," but Koljevic
stressed that the issues of refugees, control over the media, and
Serbian control over Sarajevo may prove obstacles to holding elections
by September. -- Michael Mihalka
[4] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA ASKS FOR ASSETS TO BE UNFROZEN.
Nasa Borba on 31 January
reports that rump Yugoslav Premier Radoje Kontic has sent a letter to
his French, British, Swiss, and Danish counterparts, as well as to U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, asking that overseas assets of
Belgrade's national bank be unfrozen. Those assets were frozen in 1992,
following the introduction of sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia for
its role in supporting and fomenting the Bosnian Serb war effort. Kontic
reportedly wrote that "since sanctions have been suspended there is no
further need to block [rump Yugoslav] assets. . . . Continuation of the
embargo would call into question the principle of equal treatment of all
parties . . . of the former Yugoslavia." -- Stan Markotich
[5] SLOVENIAN MINISTERS TENDER RESIGNATIONS.
Four Slovenian ministers, all
members of the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD), handed in their
resignations on 30 January. This move follows in the wake of the ZLSD's
split with the governing coalition. The outgoing ministers held the
economics, labor, science, and culture portfolios, Reuters reported.
ZLSD secretary Dusan Kumer said both the resignations and the party's
split with the governing coalition were prompted by the ZLSD's
disapproval of government policy, which, he said, does not offer enough
help to underprivileged people and troubled companies. -- Stan Markotich
[6] ROMANIAN TELECOMMUNICATION MINISTER SUSPENDED.
Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu
on 30 January suspended Adrian Turicu as telecommunications minister,
Romanian media reported. Turicu is one four ministers appointed in
August 1994 by the chauvinistic Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR)
to the cabinet, which is dominated by the Party of Social Democracy in
Romania (PDSR). He was accused of having illegally replaced the director
of the Romtelecom company, a member of the PDSR, last autumn. A PDSR
official said the PUNR will continue to have the portfolio. But PUNR
Deputy Chairman Ioan Gavra was quoted by Jurnalul national as saying
that Turicu's dismissal may mean the end of the current cabinet.
Friction between the PDSR and PUNR has increased since PUNR Chairman
Gheorghe Funar attacked the ruling party in two letters to President Ion
Iliescu. -- Dan Ionescu
[7] FRENCH MILITARY DELEGATION VISITS ROMANIA.
A military delegation from
the French Defense Ministry's Strategic Affairs Department, led by
General Alain Faupin, has met in Bucharest with members of the bicameral
parliament's defense commissions, Romanian media reported on 30 January.
Faupin said Romania's integration into NATO will probably not take place
in the near future, since this move needed to be carefully prepared. --
Matyas Szabo
[8] MOLDOVAN-DNIESTER SUMMIT POSTPONED.
A meeting scheduled for 31 January
between Moldovan President Mircea Snegur and president of the self-
proclaimed Dniester republic Igor Smirnov has been postponed, BASA-press
and Infotag reported. According to Moldovan officials, the chief reason
for the postponement was Tiraspol's insistence that Chisinau allow the
delivery of Dniester bank notes printed in Germany through Moldovan
territory. At a 30 January meeting with the head of the OSCE mission in
Moldova, Snegur deplored the fact that the Dniester leadership was
setting pre-conditions for the dialogue with Chisinau. He also described
the idea of the Dniester's own currency as "inadmissible" and contrary
to the Moldovan constitution. -- Dan Ionescu
[9] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION WANTS PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRMAN TO RESIGN.
The Union
of Democratic Forces (SDS) on 30 January demanded that Blagovest Sendov
resign as chairman of the parliament, Pari reported. Sendov, meeting
with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow the previous day, had
said "there is no necessity for NATO expansion." The SDS issued a
declaration saying Sendov had violated the constitution by expressing a
position not approved by the parliament. On returning to Sofia, Sendov
did not deny having made the statement, but parliamentary Foreign Policy
Committee Chairman Nikolay Kamov said Sendov had told him in a telephone
conversation that he had not made it. -- Stefan Krause
[10] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
The SDS National
Coordinating Council (NKS) on 30 January proposed that preliminary
elections be held in order to find a joint opposition candidate for the
presidential elections scheduled for late 1996. The SDS candidate is to
be nominated by secret ballot at a national conference in March.
Standart reported that the NKS adopted another proposal stating that
anyone who has opposed SDS interests or has left the union cannot be
nominated as SDS candidate. This provision is directed against incumbent
President Zhelyu Zhelev. SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov will not be a
candidate, Standart added. Vasil Mihaylov, chairman of the New Social
Democratic Party and a member of the SDS leadership, told Trud it would
be "high treason" if the opposition did not nominate a joint candidate.
-- Stefan Krause
[11] ALBANIAN ELECTION LAW OPPOSED BY TWELVE PARTIES.
Twelve opposition
parties in Albania have opposed a new election law scheduled to reach
the parliament on 1 February, Reuters reported on 30 January. The
opposition argues that the law would favor the ruling Democratic Party
by increasing the number of direct candidates to the parliament from 100
to 115 and decreasing the number elected by proportional representation
to 25. Under this provision, smaller parties would have only a limited
chance to gain parliamentary representation, the opposition claims.
Elections are expected to take place in June. -- Fabian Schmidt
[12] ALBANIA, ISRAEL SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS.
Albanian President Sali
Berisha has signed two economic cooperation agreements with Israeli
Premier Shimon Peres, international agencies reported on 30 January. The
agreements establish "favored-nation-status" between the two countries
and provide for Albanians to be trained in Israel. Berisha urged Israeli
businessmen to invest in Albania. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] GREECE, TURKEY WITHDRAW FORCES IN ISLET DISPUTE.
The crisis over the
uninhabited islet of Imia eased on 31 January, as Greece and Turkey
started pulling back their naval forces following mediation by U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, Reuters reported the
same day. U.S. President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros Ghali urged the two sides to seek a peaceful solution. Greece
agreed to take down its flag from the disputed islet and withdraw its
soldiers, while Turkish troops will leave a nearby islet they landed on
last night. Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said a bilateral
agreement was reached and "the biggest units have already been
disengaged." But his Turkish counterpart, Deniz Baykal, denied the
existence of such an agreement, saying the withdrawal simply means a
return to the status quo ante. -- 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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