OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 135, 13 July 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] "ETHNIC CLEANSING IS APPARENTLY UNDER WAY."

  • [02] REACTIONS TO THE FALL OF SREBRENICA.

  • [03] "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FAILED THE TEST."

  • [04] BOUTROS GHALI IN FAVOR OF MORE NEGOTIATIONS.

  • [05] UN SECURITY COUNCIL APPROVES RESOLUTION.

  • [06] EU ADMINISTRATOR IN MOSTAR CALLS RESOLUTION "BALONEY."

  • [07] SERBS POUND ZEPA AND SARAJEVO.

  • [08] ALBANIAN DEPUTIES IN MACEDONIA.

  • [09] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS CONSTITUTION, CRITICIZES SOCIALISTS.

  • [10] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN ALBANIA.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 135, Part II, 13 July 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] "ETHNIC CLEANSING IS APPARENTLY UNDER WAY."

    This is how the VOA on 13July described the Bosnian Serbs' expulsion of 5,500 Muslim refugees from Srebrenica. Some 30,000 tired and frightened people sought shelter at the Dutch UN base at Potocari, which has been used by 200 peacekeepers. A UN spokesman said there is a "stable refugee situation" at the base, with 10,000 people inside and 20,000 outside, AFP reported. The Serbs on 12 July brought up nearly 50 trucks and busses under the personal supervision of General Ratko Mladic. Male Muslims aged between 16 and 50 were sent to Bratunac for "examination." Others were taken to Tuzla, where 2,000 have arrived, or to Kladanj, where 3,500 people were dumped near the front lines and forced to walk for two hours across no man's land to Bosnian government positions. Many had bribed Serbian soldiers to be allowed on buses. The Serbs hold some 48 Dutch peacekeepers hostage. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] REACTIONS TO THE FALL OF SREBRENICA.

    Reuters on 13 July quoted British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind as urging Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to make the Bosnian Serbs "behave in a more civilized fashion." The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung cited remarks by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic that his government probably will ask UNPROFOR to leave when its mandate runs out in November. The local Croats seem to be warming to the UN, however, with Hina saying their leader Kresimir Zubak has given the UN Rapid Reaction Force permission to use Croatian territory. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic warned that "the longer the war lasts, the more inflexible the Serbs will become." He said that Srebrenica had been freed of "Muslim terrorists" and that "order and calm" now prevail in the former east Bosnian enclave, AFP noted. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote that Srebrenica may prove to be a decisive event "like Waterloo or Stalingrad" in determining "the kind of world we live in." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FAILED THE TEST."

    This is how Vesna Pesic,president of the Citizen's Union of Serbia, described the developments in Srebrenica, sharply criticizing the Bosnian Serbs, Nasa Borba reported on 13 July. But Vojislav Kostunica, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, said the Bosnian Serb army's latest move was an "act of self-defense." He claimed that NATO air strikes provoked the annexation of the enclave, adding that the peace mediators were trying to "extinguish fire with fuel." State-run Borba, however, claims that UN peacekeepers consider that the occupation of Srebrenica has freed them from a nightmare. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] BOUTROS GHALI IN FAVOR OF MORE NEGOTIATIONS.

    UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, on the last day of his visit to Athens, said that despite continuing Bosnian Serb aggression, negotiations and maintaining the UN presence in former Yugoslavia is the only road toward solving the crisis, international agencies reported on 12 July. He said it is important "that we are condemning the offensive of the Bosnian Serbs against...Srebrenica and the violation of [UN] resolutions." Boutros Ghali added that a solution has to be found both for the problems of the refugees and "for the problem as a whole." He said he does not know if UN troops are in a position to take Srebrenica back from the Serbs or to defend the safe areas of Zepa and Gorazde, adding this has to be thought out by UN military officials in the area. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] UN SECURITY COUNCIL APPROVES RESOLUTION.

    The world organization's leading body on 12 July unanimously adopted a text calling on "both sides" to withdraw their armed forces from Srebrenica. Secretary-General Boutros Ghali has been authorized to use "all resources available" to reestablish the "safe area." The VOA suggested on 13 July that the resolution outlines no clear course of action and was passed simply because it was seen as "better than doing nothing." It may lead to more futile efforts at diplomacy and subsequent humiliation for the UN. The BBC reported that there is no political will in the Security Council to evict the Serbs by force and that some UN officials are privately saying the fall of Srebrenica may help speed up a peace settlement. French tough talk is seen largely as posturing, despite Prime Minister Alain Juppe's comment to AFP on 12 July that "we cannot leave Srebrenica with our tail between our legs." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] EU ADMINISTRATOR IN MOSTAR CALLS RESOLUTION "BALONEY."

    Hans Koschnicksaid "this resolution is again nothing but baloney which nobody takes seriously," according to AFP on 13 July. "We're lying to ourselves day after day with these resolutions and it makes me sick," he said. "We cannot defend such enclaves so far into Serb territory without war, and if we don't want that we should retreat. The UN and NATO should finally say what they really want and define a policy." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] SERBS POUND ZEPA AND SARAJEVO.

    Bosnian Serb forces continue to put pressure on two other "safe areas," namely Zepa and Sarajevo. The Serbs shelled the capital's historical Turkish quarter at dawn on 13 July and later fired on a UN relief truck as it entered their territory, wounding the Russian driver. Vecernji list quoted Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljic as complaining about the lack of a strong Bosnian Croat political presence in Sarajevo, noting that local Croats are psychologically tired of constantly living in uncertainty. Meanwhile in Serb-held eastern Slavonia, pro-Belgrade Serbs prevented politicians from Knin from entering from Serbia and thereby scuttled chances for a legislative session to form a new government. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] ALBANIAN DEPUTIES IN MACEDONIA.

    A delegation of Albanian deputies, led by head of the Albanian parliamentary commission on foreign policy Eduard Selami, have held talks with Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski and Minister for Education and Sports Emilia Simoska, Flaka reported on 13 July. They discussed the rights of Macedonian Albanians to higher education in their mother tongue, minority rights, and the abolition of entry visas for Macedonians and Albanians wanting to visit each other's country. The legislators also met with Macedonian deputies. Selami had said before the visit that developing relations and future cooperation between Macedonia and Albania would depend on the outcome of the Albanian deputies' visit. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS CONSTITUTION, CRITICIZES SOCIALISTS.

    Zhelyu Zhelev on 12 July said the Bulgarian Constitution remains the best guarantee of democratic stability, Reuters reported the same day. Addressing the parliament on the fourth anniversary of the constitution's adoption, Zhelev said everybody must "look beyond narrow party interests" to uphold it. He went on to attack the Socialist majority, saying "we are all wary about the resurrection of a one-party state." Socialist deputies jeered him when he commented that "calls for a war against the Constitutional Court are calls for war against the constitution itself." The court recently ruled that several laws passed by the Socialists were unconstitutional. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN ALBANIA.

    Suleyman Demirel arrived in Tirana for a two-day visit on 12 July, international agencies reported. He held talks with Albanian President Sali Berisha on improving economic, military, and cultural relations. The talks also focused on the Bosnian crisis and the capture of Srebrenica. Demirel is to travel to Macedonia, where he is expected to sign a "friendship, good-neighborly, and cooperation" agreement. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

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

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