 |
Compact version |
|
 |
        |
|
 |
||
|
Thursday, 21 November 2024
|
||
 |
 |
|
|
|
OMRI: PURSUING BALKAN PEACE, V1,#6, Feb. 13, 1996From: OMRI-L <omri-l@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>Open Media Research Institute: Pursuing Balkan Peace DirectoryCONTENTS[01] A TALE OF TWO CRISES.[02] TWO SERBIAN OFFICERS SENT TO THE HAGUE.[03] "THE HAGUE'S SEAL OF APPROVAL AS A COMPROMISE."[04] BOSNIAN SERB RIFT OVER THE ARRESTED OFFICERS?[05] KARADZIC ALLEGEDLY PASSES IFOR CHECKPOINTS.[06] U.S. REBUKES IFOR.[07] KINKEL WANTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC AND MLADIC.[08] ICRC: 3,000 DEAD FROM SREBRENICA; FATE OF 5,000 OTHERS STILL UNKNOWN.[09] IZETBEGOVIC MEETS SREBRENICA REFUGEES.[10] NATO WILL PROTECT EU ADMINISTRATION IN MOSTAR.[11] SILAJDZIC TO FORM NEW POLITICAL PARTY.[12] MUSLIM POLITICS IN FULL GEAR.[13] BOSNIAN INDEPENDENT INTELLECTUALS VISIT RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.[14] SERB POLICE BAR UN ENVOY FROM WEAPONS FACTORY.[15] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT SUBMITS A BILL ON WAR CRIMINALS' EXTRADITION.[16] MONTENEGRIN VIEWS OF DAYTON.[17] "THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WILL INSIST ON SOLVING THE SANDZAK, KOSOVO AND VOJVODINA ISSUES."[18] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER CALLS FOR DAYTON-STYLE INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO . . .[19] . . . WHILE SOME PROMINENT KOSOVARS CALL FOR "AN INTIFADA."[20] WAS THERE TERRORISM IN KOSOVO AFTER ALL?OMRI SPECIAL REPORT: PURSUING BALKAN PEACEVol. 1, No. 6, 13 February 1996[01] A TALE OF TWO CRISES.The news from Bosnia in recent days has been dominated by two stories that have profound implications for the future of the entire Dayton peace process. The first case involves the government's arrest in a Sarajevo suburb of eight Serbs. Two of the men, General Djordje Djukic and Colonel Aleksa Krsmanovic, are suspected of war crimes that include many murders in eastern Bosnia and around Sarajevo itself. The Serbian military authorities led by General Ratko Mladic demanded that they be freed and broke off contacts with the government, the international community's representatives, and with NATO so long as they remain in custody. The government, for its part, said that it is enforcing the Dayton provisions calling for bringing war criminals to justice; and in this it has been seconded by Justice Richard Goldstone of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, based in the Hague. The Serbs responded that they are insisting on freedom of movement, which is also set down in the peace accords. The matter was put aside for the time being through a compromise aimed at meeting both sets of concerns (see below).The second story centers on arbitration by the EU administrator in Mostar, Hans Koschnick, of the internal boundaries within a reunited city. The rejoining of Croatian-controlled western Mostar and the Muslim east is overdue according to the Dayton timetable. The formerly multiethnic city now consists of a dynamic Croatian part that in practice acts as though it were -- together with the rest of western Herzegovina -- an extension of Croatia, while the Muslim section is packed with thousands of impoverished refugees caught between the Croats and the Serbs farther east. Koschnick's decision followed the failure of the two sides to agree on an administrative plan. He established a large, ethnically mixed central district, which the Croats say is too big, creates an artificial Muslim majority, and is in violation of a series of agreements besides Dayton. The Croats have also called Koschnick's impartiality into question. Following the announcement of his decision on 7 February, violent demonstrations took place in which Croats ransacked EU offices and battered Koschnick's car. Some observers suggested that the protests were not entirely spontaneous; and Bosnian Croat leader and Bosnian Federation President Kresimir Zubak declared that Koschnick's judgment was no valid arbitration but rather "an act of self-will." Zubak has been supported by the government in Zagreb and by a broad front of Croats at home. Both of these crises can be seen as operating at three levels, all of which bear strongly on the future of the Dayton process. The first is that of immediate issues at hand, which in the one case means keeping the Sarajevo Serbs participating in the meetings and other contacts specified in the treaty. In the other, the question is the reunification of Mostar and the preservation of the authority of its EU administration, both of which are similarly included in the peace documents. The second level involves somewhat broader political issues that are vital to the Dayton agreement. Where Sarajevo in concerned, the problem centers on keeping the Serbs as part of a government-controlled multiethnic capital within a multiethnic republic. This is anathema to the nationalist Serbs under President Radovan Karadzic and probably to some nationalist Croats or Muslims as well. It also reflects an inherent contradiction in the treaty and in previous Bosnian peace plans: on the one hand it calls for a multiethnic state with freedom of movement and the right to return to one's home; and on the other it sets down boundaries of zones controlled by one ethnic group or another, and thus seems to consolidate four years of "ethnic cleansing." The question of Mostar also contains wider political implications. It involves the future of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which, together with the Republika Srpska, is one of the two pillars of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. If the federation collapses thanks to lingering animosities from the 1993 Croat-Muslim war, or thanks to sabotage by extremists on either side, the entire Dayton structure would come into question. The ultimate result could well be the establishment of a greater Serbia and a greater Croatia, with a tiny but angry rump Muslim state in between. The Muslims would regard themselves as victims of injustice and could become a a source of future instability. The third level involving the two crises is more abstract but deals with fundamental principles of the Dayton process as a whole. The Sarajevo developments raise the question of bringing war criminals to justice and its relative importance for the future. Many feel that this is the key to real peace, and that it should take precedent over issues like freedom of movement. Such observers would also argue that obtaining justice is more crucial than observing the exact letter of IFOR's mandate, and that NATO should be more assertive in going after war criminals and in preventing evidence of atrocities from being destroyed. The Mostar crisis raises the question of whether parties to the conflict will be able to resist or wiggle out of supposedly binding arbitration if they so choose. To be fair to Zubak and his supporters, it also raises questions about the role of the mediators, their impartiality, and precisely what is to be decided. These issues could also arise in talks over limitations of arms and troops, and over setting down the borders of the Brcko corridor. And finally, central to all this is the question of enforcing compliance with the Dayton treaty. UNPROFOR and the international community until 1995 had a poor record in Bosnia because they were unable or unwilling to set down clear principles and back them up with force. That is no longer the case, since the Dayton treaty is very explicit and IFOR has a much tougher mandate than UNPROFOR ever did. But Dayton is a "voluntary peace" agreed to by three sides, none of which had been decisively defeated on the battlefield and all of which continue to take the advantage whenever they can. It thus remains to be seen whether the international community and NATO have the will to act consistently, which includes persuading the signatories in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo to bring their local subordinates to heel. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke was able to defuse the Sarajevo crisis by taking such action, but failure by the international community and IFOR to act decisively in other cases could still lead to the collapse of the entire peace. -- Patrick Moore [02] TWO SERBIAN OFFICERS SENT TO THE HAGUE.Djukic and Krsmanovic were, in fact, extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 12 February "for questioning," the BBC reported. The move followed Holbrooke's compromise, according to which the two would be sent to the court but the Bosnian government in the future would arrest for war crimes only persons against whom the tribunal had already issued a warrant. Holbrooke said that his visit to Sarajevo and Belgrade in recent days set down "new rules of the road." -- Patrick Moore[03] "THE HAGUE'S SEAL OF APPROVAL AS A COMPROMISE."This is how Nasa Borba on 13 February summed up the result of Holbrooke's diplomacy. Bosnian government envoy Muhamed Sacirbey said that he is convinced that the questioning of the two officers "will show that the source of the war is in Belgrade," the BBC reported. Onasa quoted him as saying that the government is preparing new rules for arresting war criminals in keeping with the compromise. U.S. human rights envoy Richard Shattuck said that he is sure that most Bosnian Serbs will be pleased with the result since they are anxious to separate themselves from war criminals and get on with their lives. IFOR, however, said that it will not become more deeply involved in catching war criminals and that it has only fuzzy photos of 15 suspects. It is still not clear why IFOR allowed Karadzic to pass through several checkpoints (see below), since his face is well known. -- Patrick Moore[04] BOSNIAN SERB RIFT OVER THE ARRESTED OFFICERS?In any case, it appearsthat the two best known indicted war criminals -- Karadzic and Mladic -- may be feuding in public again. The Bosnian Serb political leadership has disavowed the order by Mladic to sever ties with IFOR until the two senior officers are released. According to international media, Pale's prime minister, Rajko Kasagic, called the order "invalid" and added that "President Karadzic has warned the army chief of staff that he was not in a position to take such a decision" after a meeting of the government in Pale on 11 February. Meanwhile, the Bosnian government released four of the eight Bosnian Serb soldiers. On 9 February, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Shalikashvili, reacting to the Bosnian Serb cutoff of contacts, warned that any threats against IFOR would be dealt with harshly. -- Michael Mihalka[05] KARADZIC ALLEGEDLY PASSES IFOR CHECKPOINTS.But IFOR may be falling into a trap that UNPROFOR encountered, namely the temptation to make deals with war criminals to secure immediate dividends. In response to a report in the Washington Post on 10 February that Karadzic had passed through several IFOR checkpoints recently, an IFOR spokesman said that the force lacks the mandate to pursue war criminals. He declined to confirm or deny the reports. Although Dayton peace accords stipulate that "IFOR is not obliged to arrest criminals of war," the IFOR commander, U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith, has repeatedly said that IFOR would detain any war criminals it encountered. Some observers have speculated that IFOR fears reprisals should it arrest indicted war criminals; but the recent Karadzic decision to overrule Mladic also suggests that IFOR may believe that the political leadership also acts as a restraining influence on the military. -- Michael Mihalka[06] U.S. REBUKES IFOR.Washington, however, was not impressed. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns called the reports about Karadzic "disturbing," international media reported on 13 February. Although acknowledging it is not NATO's primary mission, Burns stressed that if IFOR troops "come across suspected indicted war criminals in the conduct of their normal operations, then they are bound ... to detain them" and turn them over to The Hague. IFOR said that there are only patrols to ensure freedom of movement and not checkpoints along the route Karadzic was likely to have taken from Pale to Banja Luka over the weekend. -- Michael Mihalka[07] KINKEL WANTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR KARADZIC AND MLADIC.Germany's foreign minister, for his part, has other ideas about dealing with war criminals. Onasa reported on 10 February that Klaus Kinkel has called on the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal to issue arrest warrants for the top Bosnian Serb civilian and military leaders for genocide. Karadzic told the Sunday Times the next day that he had given strict orders at the beginning of the conflict to protect human rights, that there were no mass killings, and that "had there been I would have known about it." The Bosnian news agency added that the Serbs still hold 700 slave laborers according to the Red Cross. AFP noted that the government is still keeping 88 Serbian POW's in Tuzla and it is not clear when they will be freed. -- Patrick Moore[08] ICRC: 3,000 DEAD FROM SREBRENICA; FATE OF 5,000 OTHERS STILL UNKNOWN.One thing that does seem clear is that there can no longer be any doubt about the dimensions of the Srebrenica massacre, which some have dubbed the biggest single atrocity in Europe since 1945. An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said on 7 February that he believed that the 3,000 Muslims retained by the Bosnian Serbs in July 1995 after Srebrenica's fall were killed, international media reported. Jean de Courten, ICRC director of operations, said the fate of an additional 5,000 others who tried to flee the area needed to be "urgently settled." This was the first time the ICRC, known for its caution, admitted the 3,000 Srebrenica Muslims may be dead. An ICRC spokesman said that several thousand Muslim men had crossed over into government territory last July after Srebrenica's fall but the ICRC was unable to register them. De Courten added that more prisoners were being discovered each day but that the Bosnian factions were violating the Dayton peace accords by denying ICRC full access to them. The Serbs had earlier indicated that the missing Srebrenica men were dead (see OMRI Special Report, 6 February 1996). -- Michael Mihalka[09] IZETBEGOVIC MEETS SREBRENICA REFUGEES."I must say to you the situation is not good and very difficult," Bosnian television on 10 February quoted President Alija Izetbegovic as telling some 3,000 Srebrenica refugees. In recent weeks these desperate women have staged sometimes violent protests in Tuzla to protest the continued silence over the fate of their men. He said that hundreds of people might still be found, "but thousands will be hopeless," AFP reported. The president announced that a commission would be set up to look into the disappearances. It would consist of a delegate from the Bosnian government, one from the Muslim-Croat federation, two refugee leaders, and one Tuzla region representative. Some of the women refugees believe that their husbands might still be alive in labor camps in Serbia; but the Serbs have already admitted the deaths to Elizabeth Rehn, the UN's rapporteur on human rights in the former Yugoslavia (see above). Meanwhile, the New York Times, citing the ICRC, reported on 10 February that hundreds of Muslims and Croats are being forced into slave labor in remote towns and villages under Serb control. Red Cross officials have identified seven hundred such cases, but there was no evidence to confirm that Muslims and Croats already listed as missing by the Bosnian government might be among them. -- Daria Sito Sucic[10] NATO WILL PROTECT EU ADMINISTRATION IN MOSTAR.Meanwhile in Mostar, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, accompanied by General George Joulwan, arrived on 12 February to talk with Koschnik, international and local media reported. He also met Zubak and Federation Vice President Ejup Ganic, as well as the mayors of both halves of the city. Solana said that NATO will not tolerate threats to Koschnik because he has the support of the EU and the international community. Solana also stressed the need for Croat-Muslim reconciliation and for cooperation between IFOR and the local police forces, Hina reported. Zubak told Slobodna Dalmacija on 13 February that the only result of the talks was that the Croat mayor agreed to reestablish contacts with Koschnik. Meanwhile, on 11 February, a senior aide to Croatia's president, Ivo Sanader, said after talks with an Italian envoy that Zagreb will help solve the dispute between the EU and the local Croats. Zubak, for his part, sent a letter to the political mediator in Federation disputes, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, to inform the German parliament and public about the situation in Mostar. Zubak charged that there was a "real anti-Croat campaign" in Germany because of a lack of information, Hina reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic[11] SILAJDZIC TO FORM NEW POLITICAL PARTY.Turning to politics, former Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic announced at a 8 February press conference he would form a new political party, Oslobodjenje and Onasa reported. He did not want to talk about details, but told reporters they will have them "pretty soon." Commenting on the situation in Mostar, he stressed that nobody talks openly about maintaining a division of Bosnia, yet there are no signs of its uniting. "It looks like everyone is for the Federation..., but the system of cantons does not work as agreed." Commenting on the statement by the Croatian mayor of west Mostar, Mijo Brajkovic, that "Silajdzic is responsible for Koschnik's decision," the former premier said he is willing to accept guilt for not letting Mostar be divided, Oslobodjenje reported. He also stressed the importance of both reintegration and democratization to prevent the continuation or establishment of ethnic ghettos. This goes also for Serbia and Croatia, "because Bosnia cannot be an island or democratic oasis." -- Daria Sito Sucic[12] MUSLIM POLITICS IN FULL GEAR.Oslobodjenje also ran a commentary on Silajdzic's new party, which he is expected to launch in ample time for the elections slated for later this year. The paper noted that the party can be expected to be centrist and civic -- as opposed to nationalist or religious -- and would have much appeal to foreign publics by combining Muslim tradition with a modern European outlook. The editorial added, however, that Silajdzic may have tougher going on the home front. He could do well if few other new parties appear on the scene; but, if many emerge, the machine of the governing Party of Democratic Action (SDA) could prove decisive over "the quality of programs and individuals" offered by the others. The nationalist parties of the Muslims, Serbs, and Croats are practically the only ones organized among the diaspora, whose members have the right to vote. President Izetbegovic, however, said on the 11th that his SDA may have a hard time in the elections. The Muslim leader noted that this is "not because [the SDA] has not carried out its tasks successfully, but because it is facing terrible problems. . . . Opposition parties always speak of what has not been done" and not of the government's achievements. Izetbegovic noted that the authorities now have their hands full with huge numbers of refugees slated to return and with soldiers facing demobilization but no job. Ganic, however, took a tough stand on the 10th. He said he was confident that Muslim voters would back "those who will secure [the Muslims'] survival" and warned against "those who break [Muslim] unity from the inside." -- Patrick Moore[13] BOSNIAN INDEPENDENT INTELLECTUALS VISIT RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.But anti-nationalist spokesmen were out on the stump, too. Members of Circle 99 from Sarajevo and Citizens' Forum from Tuzla (the two associations of independent intellectuals from Bosnia) visited all major cities in Serbia and Montenegro to inform the public on Bosnian issues. Nasa Borba, Vreme and Monitor -- the rump Yugoslav independent daily and weeklies -- reported extensively on the visitors' activities and statements, while the government media were quiet. In each city forums were organized where two major issues were discussed: the future of Bosnia and the ethics of Serbian intellectuals in war, Vreme reported. The most common question from the hosts was whether a multicultural Bosnia is possible, to which the visitors replied that in Sarajevo and Tuzla they don't ask this question but simply live together. The visitors said they were surprised how little people from rump Yugoslavia knew about events in Bosnia, besides what they would have picked up from war propaganda. Stojan Cerovic reminded listeners that this was an opportunity to hear voices of intellectuals about Bosnia's future, but he added that the politicians are those who make decisions. The major conclusion from this visit was that contacts among all people who support civic initiatives in the former Yugoslavia should be reestablished in order to oppose to nationalist parties and leaders. -- Daria Sito Sucic[14] SERB POLICE BAR UN ENVOY FROM WEAPONS FACTORY.Meanwhile in the Serbian-held suburbs of Sarajevo, news of a different kind was being made. The UN Special Coordinator for Sarajevo William Eagleton wanted to visit the Pretis industrial complex in Vogosca on 7 February, but was turned back by Bosnian Serb police. AFP quoted the Serbs as saying that nobody goes into the area without their permission until 19 March, despite Eagleton's protests that the suburb came under government authority on 3 February. The international community's Carl Bildt had given the Serbian police the right to stay on in the interim. The plant produces weapons, ammunition, and cars, and before the war employed 12,000. Dnevni avaz reported on 8 February that the Serbs warned that there could be incidents with unpleasant consequences if the foreigners pressed their case. Eagleton and his group returned to government territory. -- Patrick MooreDAYTON-RELATED ITEMS FROM AROUND THE REGION[15] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT SUBMITS A BILL ON WAR CRIMINALS' EXTRADITION.It is the question of bringing war criminals to justice that will affect the international community's relations with Zagreb and Belgrade. Croatia's government on 9 February introduced draft legislation to allow the extradition of suspected Croat war criminals, signaling its intention to cooperate with the tribunal, Reuters reported. The bill will amend current constitutional law that bans the extradition of Croatian citizens. The Hague court has indicted seven Bosnian Croats, one of whom is General Tihomir Blaskic, whom President Franjo Tudjman promoted to a senior administrative post in the regular Croatian army the day after his indictment. The other prominent Croat is Dario Kordic, an ultra-nationalist leader of the Bosnian wing of Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community. Meanwhile, Belgrade officials, who had refused to recognize the Tribunal's authority, have recently allowed its prosecutor to open an office in Belgrade, Hina reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic[16] MONTENEGRIN VIEWS OF DAYTON.There was news back in Montenegro, too. On 7 February Nasa Borba reported statements made by Slobodan Bujosevic, a high-ranking official of the leading opposition People's Party of Montenegro (NSCG), dealing with his party's perceptions of Belgrade's relations with the international community since Dayton. Bujosevic suggested that since the signing and implementation of the accord, Milosevic has been in a weakened bargaining position. "Milosevic has been forced up against the wall and the international community won't permit him to fall out of their grasp," he said. Meanwhile, Montenegrin Premier Milo Djukanovic said at a 9 February press conference that Karadzic is welcome to visit Montenegro anytime, SRNA reported that same day. Djukanovic said that since Karadzic has visited rump Yugoslavia a number of times in the past, "there is no reason for anyone to try to now keep him out of Montenegro." Djukanovic also spoke on a number of other key issues relating to the Dayton accord, including prospects for mutual recognition between rump Yugoslavia and Croatia. He observed that such an eventuality could follow only after Zagreb was prepared to fully honor the Dayton accord. This seems to be a hint that rump Yugoslavia still harbors claims to Croatia's strategic Prevlaka peninsula, which Serbian officials claim that Tudjman promised them at Dayton. He also remarked that Montenegro's ongoing aid program for Herzegovinian Serbs "was not motivated by political interests." -- Stan Markotich[17] "THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WILL INSIST ON SOLVING THE SANDZAK, KOSOVO AND VOJVODINA ISSUES."This is what the head of the working group for ethnic minorities at the Geneva Conference Gert Ahrens told the Muslim National Council of Sandzak (MNVS), Onasa reported on 7 February. Sandzak is divided between Serbia and Montenegro and is important in a discussion about the region after Dayton because just over half of its population is Muslim and feels close to the Bosnian Muslims. Ahrens pointed out that the admission of rump Yugoslavia to international organizations -- which Belgrade seeks as part of the Dayton package -- will depend on how it solves the status of its non-Serbs. Ahrens discussed possibilities for cooperation between Sandzak Muslim officials and the Belgrade government. He also urged the international community to intensify mediation efforts concerning ethnic minorities in rump Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, the leader of the Sandzak SDA, Rasim Ljajic, said that everything must be done to keep the Muslim population in Sandzak, arguing that an exchange of houses with Serbs from Bosnia would be "irrational." He implied that such swaps would contradict the principles of Dayton. -- Fabian Schmidt[18] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER CALLS FOR DAYTON-STYLE INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO . . .Concern for the Dayton model and its possible application outside Bosnia has attracted attention in Albania and in Kosovo as well. Albanian Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi urged the United States and the other Western powers to press for mediated peace talks between Pristina and Belgrade, KIC reported on 8 February. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Meksi told Carl Bildt that the world should act promptly, adding that "the situation in Kosovo is imbued with dangers for peace in the Balkans." According to Meksi, Bildt agreed in principle with his remarks. Meanwhile, Albanian President Sali Berisha welcomed the decision of the U.S. government to open an information office in Kosovo. International agencies the same day quote him as saying: "I warmly thank President (Bill) Clinton and the American government for this very important decision, which clearly expresses the U.S. commitment to a settlement of the Kosovo question." -- Fabian Schmidt[19] . . . WHILE SOME PROMINENT KOSOVARS CALL FOR "AN INTIFADA."On the other hand, some prominent Kosovar Albanians are increasingly calling for other kinds of measures to help Kosovo gain independence. The influential head of the Kosovo human rights council Adem Demaci rejected the idea of autonomy, calling it unacceptable. He added that "no one is going to give freedom to the Albanian people as a gift; it must win it on its own," Reuters reported on 6 February. Demaci added: "we have seen how Slav states won their independence [from Belgrade] even though they had thousands of reasons to stay [in the former Yugoslavia]," pointing out that "seeing the danger from the hegemonist regime in Belgrade, they won their independence by war." Demaci, who spent 28 years in prison, called nonetheless for non-violent resistance. He compared his new strategy with the Palestinian Intifada, which, however, did use violence. Demaci, for his part, seemed to be stressing instead the Intifada's aspects of massive civil disobedience. On 26 January the head of the Forum of Albanian Intellectuals, Rexhep Qosja, at a meeting with the International Commission on the Balkans, had also mentioned that a new strategy would include an Intifada, but he added there would be no terrorism. -- Fabian Schmidt[20] WAS THERE TERRORISM IN KOSOVO AFTER ALL?Some in Kosovo, however, justmay think otherwise, but exactly who is not quite clear. Tanjug reported explosions at refugee camps in Vucitrn, Kosovska Mitrovica, Pec, Pristina, and Suva Reka on 11 February, AFP and Reuters noted the next day. Conflicting reports range from the use of "home made explosives" to statements by police that the blasts were caused by hand grenades thrown within one hour at the different locations. The explosions reportedly caused serious damage but no casualties or injuries. The camps house between 10,000 and 12,000 Serb refugees from Croatia. Tanjug added that the refugees were "seriously upset." -- Fabian SchmidtCompiled by Patrick MooreCopyright (c) 1996 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
All Rights Reserved.