OMRI Daily Digst I,II, No. 146, 28 July 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] YELTSIN PROPOSES NEW BOSNIAN PEACE PLAN.

  • [02] MAZOWIECKI BLASTS INTERNATIONAL "HYPOCRISY" OVER BOSNIA.

  • [03] SERBSA SHELL MOSTAR, SARAJEVO.

  • [04] SITUATION AROUND BIHAC REMAINS TENSE.

  • [05] REACTIONS TO SENATE VOTE TO LIFT BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO.

  • [06] SERBIAN OPPOSITION THREATENS WALKOUT.

  • [07] BULGARIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.

  • [08] BULGARIAN TV BOSS SACKS TOP EXECUTIVES.

  • [09] ARSIDI TRIAL ENDS IN TIRANA.

  • [10] ALBANIA RESTRUCTURES FOREIGN DEBT.

  • [11] CLAES, GREECE CRITICIZE SENATE VOTE ON LIFTING BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 146, Part I, 28 July 1995

    [01] YELTSIN PROPOSES NEW BOSNIAN PEACE PLAN.

    In a response to NATO threats against the Bosnian Serbs, President Boris Yeltsin has sent a new Bosnian peace proposal to members of the Contact Group, Interfax reported on 28 July. The plan calls for direct talks between both sides in the conflict, after which UN sanctions against Serbia would be lifted, and rump Yugoslavia would recognize Bosnia in exchange. Western officials quoted by AFP described the plan as "not very realistic." Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, speaking in Hanoi, criticized the recent U.S. Senate vote to unilaterally lift the UN arms embargo against the Bosnian government, which he said is "totally incomprehensible." A Foreign Ministry spokesman later criticized UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali's decision to simplify the procedures for authorizing NATO air strikes in support of UN peacekeepers, saying that additional air strikes would only "lead to an escalation of violence." -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 146, Part II, 28 July 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] MAZOWIECKI BLASTS INTERNATIONAL "HYPOCRISY" OVER BOSNIA.

    Former Polish Prime Minister and Solidarity-era human rights activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki has released the text of the letter in which he resigned as UN special rapporteur for human rights in the former Yugoslavia on 27 July. He stressed that the UN's failure to defend Srebrenica and Zepa prompted his move. "One cannot speak about the protection of human rights with credibility when one is confronted with the lack of consistency and courage displayed by the international community and its leaders," the International Herald Tribune on 28 July quoted him as saying. He added that the "very stability of international order and the principle of civilization is at stake over the question of Bosnia." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] SERBSA SHELL MOSTAR, SARAJEVO.

    International media on 27 July reported that two people died in Serbian attacks on the Bosnian capital. Habena, the Herzegovinian Croat news agency, said that the Serbs fired on Mostar as well. AFP on 28 July quoted Auxiliary Bishop of Sarajevo Pero Sudar as calling on the West to end the conflict by destroying Serbian weapons, ammunition, and military infrastructure. "We must not hit them to kill them but hit them to make them understand that killing others is not allowed," Sudar said. Bosnian government sources reported that the Serbs were preventing 600 civilians from leaving Zepa by blockading their convoy at a checkpoint. In Srebrenica, retreating Dutch peacekeepers reportedly abandoned much of their military equipment to the Serbs. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] SITUATION AROUND BIHAC REMAINS TENSE.

    As Krajina and Bosnian Serbs, together with Muslim renegades, press their attack on the Bihac pocket and ultimately on the smaller "safe area" itself, the UN has hit on a way to "separate the warring parties." UNCRO's Canadian command wants to interpose its men on the border between Croatia and Bosnia, which the Croatian government has wanted for over three and a half years. "The conditions of war exist now," Canadian Colonel Norris Pettis said in Zagreb. "The plan is to move as quickly as possible to deter an outbreak of hostilities," AFP quoted him as saying on 27 July. The UN reported that 5,000 Serbian refugees are fleeing before the Croatian advance. In the northwest, where the Serbs are attacking, the UN reported 1,000 detonations in one hour alone on 28 July. Elsewhere, the Krajina Serbs' "parliament" has elected a new government headed by prominent hard-liner Milan Babic. The cabinet includes 16 holdovers from the previous one, as a concession to backers of deposed Prime Minister Borislav Mikelic. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] REACTIONS TO SENATE VOTE TO LIFT BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO.

    President Bill Clinton is at pains to portray the decisive Senate ballot not as a rebuke to him but to the UN for failing to protect Srebrenica and Zepa. The VOA reported on his 27 July press conference at which he stressed this message. Russia, France, the U.K., and various West European politicians have condemned the vote, with British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind calling it "bizarre." International media also noted that the Senate move was warmly welcomed throughout the Muslim world, notably by Turkey and Egypt. In Islamic countries, the belief is widespread that the West would never have tolerated the Serbian atrocities in Bosnia if they had been carried out against Christians or Jews rather than Muslims. (See related item in Russian section) -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] SERBIAN OPPOSITION THREATENS WALKOUT.

    Serbian opposition deputies on 27 July agreed to boycott the republican parliament if the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia's decision to halt live television coverage of the legislature remains in force, BETA reported the same day. The decision was handed down on 26 July, evidently in response to an incident that day in which a member of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) assaulted a journalist from Radio and Television Serbia in the parliament, Nasa Borba reported. SRS deputies, including party leader and accused war criminal Vojislav Seselj, have been involved over the past year in a series of assaults and near-brawls in the parliament. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] BULGARIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS UPDATE.

    Bulgarian newspapers on 28 July reported that after meeting with representatives of all caucuses on 26 and 27 July, President Zhelyu Zhelev has still not set a date for the local elections. They stated, however, that the elections will be held sometime in October. The opposition favors a date in late October, while the Bulgarian Socialist Party wants the elections to take place as early as possible. The Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) will ask the Constitutional Court to review certain parts of the local elections law that it considers unconstitutional, Demokratsiya reported. Other media say Zhelev will do the same. Meanwhile, the national leaderships of the SDS, the People's Union, and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom met on 27 July to discuss choosing a common mayoral candidate for Sofia. No agreement was reached, however. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] BULGARIAN TV BOSS SACKS TOP EXECUTIVES.

    Ivan Granitski, director-general of Bulgarian National TV (BNT), on 27 July fired a number of top officials, Standart reported the following day. Among them were BNT Executive-Director Kiril Gotsev and the heads of the two state TV channels. Granitski also dismissed four members of the board of directors. Parliamentary Chairman Blagovest Sendov ordered Granitski to return from a business trip to Moscow to explain the dismissals to the parliament's media commission, but the TV chief was apparently unable to do so. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] ARSIDI TRIAL ENDS IN TIRANA.

    An Albanian court has sentenced former central bank governor Ilir Hoti to six years in prison and three former directors of Albania's National Commercial Bank--Adrian Xhyheri, Agim Tartari, and Agron Saliu--to between four and seven years, Reuters reported on 27 July. Hoti and Xhyheri paid $1.6 million to the French citizen Nikolla Arsidi to negotiate Albania's foreign debts in 1991, but the negotiations never took place. The two men were found guilty of abuse of office for causing the state to lose 63 million leks ($630,000). Saliu and Tartari each accepted $160,000 in bribes, which they deposited in a Luxembourg bank. The court ruled that former Prime Minister Vilson Ahmeti, who had been accused of abuse of office for signing the authorization for Arsidi, was innocent. The prosecutor had demanded longer jail sentences and said he would appeal. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] ALBANIA RESTRUCTURES FOREIGN DEBT.

    Albanian Finance Minister Dylber Vrioni and Albania's creditors have agreed to cut the country's foreign debt and restructure the remainder. Commercial debts will be reduced from $500 million to $100 million. Banks now may swap their debts for 20% of the face value of the debt or exchange them at 100% of the face value for 30-year bonds without interest. The principle is backed by Zero-coupon 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds, which the Albanian government will buy in August, international agencies reported on 27 July. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] CLAES, GREECE CRITICIZE SENATE VOTE ON LIFTING BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO. F

    ollowing the U.S. Senate's vote in favor of lifting the UN arms embargo against Bosnia-Herzegovina, NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes, on a private visit to Athens on 27 July, said such a move would widen the Balkan conflict, international agencies reported. In such a case, he said, "the United Nations would lose its credibility" and 50,000 peacekeepers would be needed. "There is no military solution, negotiations are the only solution," Claes was quoted as saying. Government Spokesman Evangelos Venizelos the same day criticized the Senate vote, AFP reported. He said the war in Bosnia must be solved by long-term political and diplomatic means. Venizelos added that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic should not be excluded from the peace process, despite being indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, saying Karadzic has to remain a party to any talks seeking a settlement for Bosnia. -- 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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