Voice of America, 00-02-05

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From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] CROATIA PRESIDENT (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (ZAGREB)

[02] KOSOVO-VIOLENCE (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA, ALBANIA)

[01] CROATIA PRESIDENT (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (ZAGREB)

INTRO: Croats return to the polls Monday to vote for the third time in little more than one month - this time to decide a runoff election for president. As Ron Pemstein reports from Zagreb, the two candidates have similar views of the future, but the disagree about the past.

TEXT: Stipe Mesic and Drazen Budisa agree: Croatia's second president should do everything to help the country enter the European Union and NATO. They agree Croatia should help the Bosnian peace process. At home, they agree Croatia needs to reform its economy and eliminate corruption to encourage foreign investment. In their final nationally televised debate, their disagreements centered over which man disagreed more or sooner with Croatia's first president. Franjo Tudjman died in December and the two men trying to succeed him are running as fast as they can away from his authoritarian legacy. The 51-year-old Mr. Budisa accuses Mr. Mesic of doing nothing to stop President Tudjman from splitting up Bosnia in 1993 when Mr. Mesic was part of a Croatian government. Mr. Mesic responds "I had no access to that information." Mr. Budisa counters, "Why did you stay?" Mr. Mesic left the Croatian government in 1994 because of his disagreements with President Tudjman's interference in Bosnia. Mr. Mesic makes a point of emphasizing his role as the last president of Yugoslavia in 1991. He says he went to Belgrade with the goal of winning Croatia's independence. In important moments, he says, "I made decisions without fear. I negotiated with the Yugoslav army." Mr. Budisa scoffs, "You were president of a country that occupied one-third of Croatia. He's the candidate of the Social Liberals." Mr. Budisa points out that his Social Liberal Party opposed President Tudjman's ruling party for 10 years. Mr. Budisa tells V-O-A through an interpreter he blames the media for forcing the candidates to discuss history.

[02] KOSOVO-VIOLENCE (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA, ALBANIA)

INTRO: At least six people have been killed and up to twenty injured after violent clashes between opposing ethnic groups in northern Kosovo (Friday). Tim Belay reports from the neighboring Balkan country of Albania.

TEXT: Hundreds of ethnic Albanians threw stones and bottles at French soldiers Friday, charging that Nato-led peacekeepers failed to prevent the deaths of at least six Kosovo Albanians. Two dozen Serbs were also injured in the violence in Mitrovica, Kosovo's third largest city. Tensions between Serbs and Albanians remain very high, despite the presence of peacekeepers. The latest round of violence started after a rocket attack Wednesday killed two elderly serbs on a bus run by the U.N. refugee agency. Serbian leaders in Kosovo say the attack destroyed what little faith minority serbs had in the power of U.N. peacekeepers to protect them from violence by ethnic Albanians. Thursday night, violence broke out in the Serb- controlled northern side of the city. two ethnic Albanian men were shot to death. Half an hour later, a grenade was thrown into a Serb cafe, wounding up to 15 people. an ethnic Albanian woman was then shot and killed, and another grenade was tossed into another Serb cafe, wounding 10. At least three other ethnic Albanians who were injured in the shootings reportedly died Friday. The United Nations said 10 of its vehicles were burned, including seven police cars and three from the U.N. refugee agency. (signed)
NEB/TB/PT 04-Feb-2000 20:44 PM EDT (05-Feb-2000 0144 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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