OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 118, 19 June 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] BOSNIAN ARMY ADVANCES ON FOUR FRONTS.

  • [02] IZETBEGOVIC SAYS BOSNIANS WILL FREE SARAJEVO.

  • [03] SERBS DECLARE SPECIAL MOBILIZATION, CONTINUE PRESS-GANGING.

  • [04] SERBS FREE LAST UN HOSTAGES.

  • [05] SERBIAN SANCTIONS UPDATE.

  • [06] SERBIAN RADICAL RALLY FAILS TO MEET EXPECTATIONS.

  • [07] ARE RELATIONS BETWEEN ALBANIA AND MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN PARTIES IN CRISIS?

  • [08] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION UPDATE.

  • [09] COMMUNIST PARTIES MEET IN ATHENS.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 118, Part II, 19 June 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] BOSNIAN ARMY ADVANCES ON FOUR FRONTS.

    International media reported over the weekend that Bosnian forces were advancing near Tuzla, to the north and south of Sarajevo, and to the south of that city. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said on 19 June that key Serbian supply routes to the north and south of the capital had been cut, leaving the Bosnian Serbs attacking Sarajevo from the west under siege. The International Herald Tribune noted on 17 June that it was the government army' s best performance since the Serbs launched the war in the spring of 1992 and that for the first time Croatian artillery was backing the mainly Muslim army on the Sarajevo fronts. The Serbs responded by shelling the city, killing two in a hospital and seven at a water distribution center. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] IZETBEGOVIC SAYS BOSNIANS WILL FREE SARAJEVO.

    Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic said over the weekend that the capital will be free sooner or later and that the current offensive will not stop until the Serbs' strangle-hold has been eased. He noted appeals from the international community for a cease-fire but added that the world has done nothing for Sarajevo and that his government does not feel obliged to listen to such pleas. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the BBC, and the VOA carried the stories. -- Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.

    [03] SERBS DECLARE SPECIAL MOBILIZATION, CONTINUE PRESS-GANGING.

    The BBC on 18 June said that Bosnian Serb authorities proclaimed a special mobilization of civilians and declared a "state of war" in the Sarajevo area. Nasa Borba notes on 19 June the continuing roundup of draft-age Serbian males from Bosnia and Krajina in Belgrade' s student center, in Valjevo, and elsewhere. Vreme adds that those in charge of the project have a list of 18,000 "deserters" they want to round up and send back to the front. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] SERBS FREE LAST UN HOSTAGES.

    The last group of 26 peacekeepers held by Bosnian Serbs was released via Novi Sad on 18 June, just hours before the Serbs' own deadline of midnight for resolving the crisis. Serbian intelligence chief Jovica Stanisic was again present among Bosnian Serb leaders, as he was when the three previous large groups of hostages were freed. International media also reported that UNPROFOR has effectively withdrawn its peacekeepers from all Serb-held territory, including four heavy weapons collection points near Sarajevo. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] SERBIAN SANCTIONS UPDATE.

    European Commission reports on sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia indicate that violations, especially stemming from Albania and Macedonia, continue to take place, Reuters reported on 18 June. The reports, which cover the first four months of 1995, also implicate Greek and Italian groups in the practice of funneling contraband fuel shipments to Albania, from where they are transported to the rump Yugoslavia. "Significant quantities of oil products, including thousands of tonnes of A1 aviation fuel declared ' for heating purposes' have been arriving in Albania during the reported periods," according to one report. It is also suggested that the 3,050 officially reported cases of sanctions violations by Macedonia "represent only a fraction of the consignments that have crossed the border in violation of the sanctions." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] SERBIAN RADICAL RALLY FAILS TO MEET EXPECTATIONS.

    A 17 June rally sponsored by the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) attracted an estimated crowd of 5,000, Reuters reported the same day. SRS supporters had planned a massive ultranationalist, anti-Milosevic rally, but public interest did not meet expectations. Other major opposition parties-- including the Democratic Party (DS), the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO)--refused to endorse the rally. Organizers also attributed the low attendance to the fact that SRS leader and accused war criminal Vojislav Seselj was unable to attend because he is serving a two month sentence for a 2 June incident in which he clashed with the police. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] ARE RELATIONS BETWEEN ALBANIA AND MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN PARTIES IN CRISIS? Koha Jone on 14 June claimed that relations between Albania and Macedonian ethnic Albanian parties have deteriorated since the opposition Albanian Socialist Party met with the Macedonian ethnic A

    lbanian Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD) earlier this month. According to sources within the PPD, Shaban Murati, the Albanian ambassador to Skopje, was upset by "the warm reception and extensive publicity" the PPD gave to the Socialists. Meanwhile, AKS carried a report on 18 June stressing that the Albanian government has consistently supported the Albanian-language University in Tetovo and that Albanian President Sali Berisha repeatedly called for it to be established. It added, however, that Albania has recently changed its policy toward Macedonia to one of restraint. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION UPDATE.

    The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Union of Macedonian Associations (VMRO-SMD) on 18 June decided to support the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) mayoral candidates in those areas where the SDS has signed no agreement with the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF), Demokratsiya reported the following day. In these constituencies, the VMRO-SMD will either nominate its own candidates or join forces with other "opposition patriotic formations." Alliances with the Bulgarian Socialist Party were categorically ruled out. VMRO-SMD local council candidates may run on joint tickets with the SDS anywhere in the country, since the agreement between the SDS, MRF, and the People' s Union (see OMRI Daily Report, 16 June 1995) concerns only joint candidates for mayor. In other news, Demokratsiya reported that Ivan Kurtev was reelected chairman of the Social Democratic Party on 18 June. -- Stefan Krause , OMRI, Inc.

    [09] COMMUNIST PARTIES MEET IN ATHENS.

    Representatives of 25 communist and leftist parties met in Athens on 17-18 June to discuss perspectives of communism and the reasons for the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, AFP reported on 17 June. The conference was organized by the hard-line Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and attended by representatives from the Balkans, Russia, North Korea, Iraq, Canada, Australia, and several European and Middle East countries. The French, Portuguese, Cuban and Chinese parties failed to send delegates. Opening the session, KKE member Makis Mailis called the fall of communism in Eastern Europe a "step backwards for humanity" and urged delegates to fight "for the final victory of communism over capitalism." -- Stefan Krause , OMRI, Inc.

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

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