OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 100, 24 May 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] BOSNIAN SERB LEGISLATURE VOTES FOR UNION WITH KRAJINA.

  • [02] UN SAYS SOME CROATS AND SERBS REMAIN IN BUFFER ZONE.

  • [03] MAZOWIECKI CASTS DOUBT ON SERBIAN CHARGES AGAINST CROATS.

  • [04] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE FROM BIHAC.

  • [05] SERBIAN UPDATE.

  • [06] ALBANIAN LEADER CONVICTED IN MACEDONIA.

  • [07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.

  • [08] BULGARIA, TURKEY WILL COOPERATE TO FIGHT TERRORISM.

  • [09] ALBANIA TO CLAMP DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO ITALY.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 100, Part II, 24 May 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] BOSNIAN SERB LEGISLATURE VOTES FOR UNION WITH KRAJINA.

    Parliamentary speaker Momcilo Krajisnik said that deputies voted "by acclimation" to unite with Croatian Serbs, Nasa Borba reports on 24 May. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is quoted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as saying that the new western Serbian state would be formed "very soon" and would have to be a unitary one "because federations are unworkable." It remains unclear, however, what such a new entity would mean in practice. Both Knin and Pale have suffered recent reverses on the battlefield and have witnessed strains in their relations with Serbia. But both have pushed for a greater Serbia since Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic began to engineer the destruction of the former Yugoslavia, even before launching his war in 1991. -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [02] UN SAYS SOME CROATS AND SERBS REMAIN IN BUFFER ZONE.

    A spokesman for the world body stated in Knin that some 100 Croatian and 50 Serbian soldiers remain in what are supposed to be UN buffer zones in the Dalmatian hinterland. Nasa Borba on 24 May says he added that 11,000 Serbs have fled western Slavonia since the Croats retook it on 1-2 May. Some 4,000 of them have gone to eastern Slavonia; and a similar number remain in western Slavonia, of whom 1,800 have applied to leave. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, however, cites UN officials in Zagreb as saying that the Croatian evacuation of the buffer zones is largely complete. -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [03] MAZOWIECKI CASTS DOUBT ON SERBIAN CHARGES AGAINST CROATS.

    The Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung also reports that the UN special envoy for human rights, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, says it is unclear whether the Croatian army deliberately fired on civilians during this month's Operation Blitz or whether the 20 or more dead civilians were caught in crossfire. The Serbs have repeatedly charged the Croats with these and similar human rights violations in western Slavonia. UN spokesmen have called the evacuation of the area probably the most orderly such procedure in the history of the Yugoslav conflict. A CIA study earlier this year and numerous other reports have stressed that the Serbian side alone has used "ethnic cleansing" in a systematic and deliberate fashion to achieve political goals, making the Serbs responsible for at least 90% of the atrocities in Bosnia. Hina quotes a Croatian government spokeswoman as calling the latest charges "greater Serbian propaganda." -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [04] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES ADVANCE FROM BIHAC.

    Encircled government troops have pushed Serbian forces out of several villages in the Bihac pocket. Pressure on the Serbs was intensified thanks to an offensive by Bosnian Croat and regular Croatian forces in the Livno valley, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on 24 May. Meanwhile, Vecernji list says that the Roman Catholic bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica, has entered the seventh day of his hunger strike to protest Serbian abuses and has sent a long and urgent plea to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] SERBIAN UPDATE.

    US envoy Robert Frasure left Belgrade on 23 May after failing to secure Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's agreement to a deal that would have lifted some sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia in exchange for Belgrade's recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nasa Borba reports on 24 May that Russian envoy Alexander Zotov, due to arrive in Belgrade the same day, will also try to persuade the Serbian leader to reach an agreement on the issue. The newspaper also carried excerpts of a press conference held by Vuk Draskovic, leader of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement, who stressed that Serbian unity cannot be achieved through "war and against the will of the [rest of] the world." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] ALBANIAN LEADER CONVICTED IN MACEDONIA.

    Arben Rusi, a leader of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians, was sentenced to eight months in jail on 23 May, Flaka reported the following day. Rusi was convicted on charges of obstructing the police during riots that broke out when thousands of people tried to prevent policemen from closing down the self-declared Albanian-language university in Tetovo. Rusi was the fourth Albanian sentenced in connection with the riot, in which one Albanian died. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] BULGARIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS LAND LAW.

    The Constitutional Court on 23 May ruled that an amendment to the land restitution law passed by the Socialist majority contravenes the constitution, Radio Sofia reported the same day. The law was passed on 14 April and vetoed by President Zhelyu Zhelev two weeks later. After the parliament overruled his veto on 10 May, Zhelev and 51 deputies from the Union of Democratic Forces asked the Constitutional Court to declare the law void, saying the new amendment contradicts the principle of the invulnerability of private property. According to the amendment, land owners wishing to sell their plot must first offer it to their neighbors and then to the state, which has to decide within two months whether to buy it. The parliament, government, and Ministry of Agriculture have two weeks to respond to the court's decision. -- Stefan Krause , OMRI, Inc.

    [08] BULGARIA, TURKEY WILL COOPERATE TO FIGHT TERRORISM.

    Turkish Interior Minister Nahit Mentese, during his visit to Sofia on 23 May, said that the Bulgarian government has agreed to prevent the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) from operating on Bulgarian territory, international agencies reported the same day. Mentese said the Turkish government has information that the PKK is attempting to set up organizations in Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. He added that the group's activities "could harm Bulgarian-Turkish relations, if not checked." Bulgarian Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev stressed that the PKK is currently not operating in Bulgaria. About 9,000 people of Kurdish origin are living in Bulgaria, most of them citizens of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey. Bulgaria and Turkey will also cooperate to fight drug trafficking and organized crime. Mentese was the first Turkish interior minister to visit Bulgaria in 10 years. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] ALBANIA TO CLAMP DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO ITALY.

    Albanian Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi on 23 May assured Italian Deputy Interior Minister Luigi Rossi that his government will take measures against illegal Albanian immigrants who are smuggled to the Italian coast in motor-boats, Reuters reported the same day. Rome has been under pressure from its European partners to impose stricter controls on the EU's external borders. Meksi also pressed for liberalization of the Italian visa regime, the opening of Albanian consulates in Italy, the legalization of Albanian refugees in Italy, and seasonal jobs for Albanian workers. Rossi, who was heading a delegation to Tirana to discuss Albanian President Sali Berisha's upcoming visit to Italy, assured Meksi of his "government's intention to solve the issue of immigration." Italy has employed 700 policemen and soldiers to guard the coast of Puglia against illegal immigration. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a Prague-based nonprofit organization.

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute
    news2html v2.09c run on Wednesday, 24 May 1995 - 16:49:13