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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 239, 11 December 1995
From: "Steve Iatrou" <siatrou@cdsp.neu.edu>
CONTENTS
[1] FRANCE'S ULTIMATUM ON PILOTS RUNS OUT.
[2] OSCE APPROVES BOSNIAN MISSION.
[3] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERSHIP WANTS KARADZIC IN PARIS.
[4] IZETBEGOVIC REASSURES SARAJEVO'S SERBS.
[5] BELGRADE MINISTER INTENSIFIES INTEGRATION EFFORTS.
[6] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON UKRAINE, BOSNIA.
[7] HUNGARIANS PROTEST ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW.
[8] MOLDOVA ABOLISHES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
[9] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS FORM UNION.
[10] SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER IN BULGARIA.
[11] BULGARIAN BUDGET DEFICIT EXCEEDS PROJECTION.
[12] BERISHA PARDONS JOURNALIST IN SLANDER CASE.
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 239, Part II, 11 December 1995
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[1] FRANCE'S ULTIMATUM ON PILOTS RUNS OUT.
The London meeting on the
reconstruction of Bosnia was overshadowed by a French demand that the
Bosnian Serbs free the two downed airmen by 10 December or face
unspecified consequences. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the next
day said that his colleagues were supportive of the French foreign
minister, and Germany's Klaus Kinkel pointed out that 50 of the 200
foreign casualties in the conflict have been French. The French have
used tough but vague language to describe what they would do if the
Serbs did not comply. CNN said that the Serbs remained silent as the
deadline went past, and AFP noted that the usually loquacious Bosnian
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused to give an interview. -- Patrick
Moore
[2] OSCE APPROVES BOSNIAN MISSION.
The OSCE, at a two-day meeting of its
foreign ministers in Budapest on 7-8 December, has taken on its greatest
challenge in its 20-year history by agreeing to oversee elections, arms
control, and human rights in Bosnia, Western agencies reported. But it
failed to agree on an individual to head its mission, with France
opposing the U.S candidate. Many delegates expressed doubts as to
whether the OSCE, which has few resources of its own, is up to the job.
"Even if the military operation succeeds to the extent that you can
establish security on the ground, it will not succeed if you don't
manage to get elections going, to get the reconstruction of civil
society," OSCE Secretary-General Wilhelm Hoynck said. -- Michael Mihalka
[3] BOSNIAN SERB LEADERSHIP WANTS KARADZIC IN PARIS.
Speaker of the Bosnian
Serb legislature Momcilo Krajisnik said in Banja Luka on 9 December that
the leadership of the Republika Srpska insists that its head, Radovan
Karadzic, attend the peace conference in Paris on 14 December and sign
the final peace agreement, AFP and Nasa Borba reported on 11 December.
He said that his government's delegation has not been consulted about
the final version of the Dayton treaty and has not signed it. He also
said that "no integral Bosnia" will exist after Dayton, claiming that
the "full political independence" of the Republika Srpska has been
agreed to. Meanwhile, Karadzic again warned the international community
that having Sarajevo's Serbs under Moslem authorities would create "a
Beirut," the BBC reported on 11 December. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[4] IZETBEGOVIC REASSURES SARAJEVO'S SERBS.
Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic promised that all foreign Islamic fighters in his country
will be sent home within 30 days, the International Herald Tribune
reported on 11 December. He added that his government will work to
reassure the 60,000-70,000 Sarajevo Serbs who will pass from Pale's to
government control under the Dayton agreement. He added that the anxious
population "is not fully informed of the provisions" of the treaty. Nasa
Borba noted that the Croats and Muslims under Pale's rule have not asked
for special guarantees, and that General Ratko Mladic offered none for
the 70,000 Bosnian Serbs who remained loyal to the Bosnian government
when Mladic's men shelled the city. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
pointed out that traditionally Sarajevo has not had ethnic ghettos,
which are a concept of the nationalists. Elsewhere, Hina said on 10
December that the Bosnian Croat parliament approved the Dayton treaty,
albeit with misgivings over northern Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore
[5] BELGRADE MINISTER INTENSIFIES INTEGRATION EFFORTS.
BETA on 9 December
quoted Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic as saying at the London
Conference on Bosnia-Herzegovina that Belgarde has given "a big boost to
the [Balkan] peace process" and for that reason should have "the right
to suitable relations with the EU, the International Monetary Fund, the
World Bank, and other institutions." Milutinovic also used the
opportunity to aruge once again that Belgrade was a victim of
circumstances and not involved in instigating and supporting the war. "I
would say that [the rump] Yugoslavia, because of the war in its
neighborhood and because of the sanctions it was subjected to, has
endured serious economic hardships," he added. -- Stan Markotich
[6] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON UKRAINE, BOSNIA.
Returning from London,
where he participated in the international conference on the Dayton
agreement, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu told Radio Bucharest on 9
December that he and his Ukrainian counterpart have decided to prepare a
summit meeting between the two countries' prime ministers to discuss
"steps that may be conducive to the conclusion of the bilateral treaty"
between the two countries. Melescanu added that Romania has expressed
its readiness to contribute to the NATO peacekeeping force with non-
combat units. NATO's secretary-general approved his proposal and details
are to be worked out soon, he said. Melescanu also noted that Romania
wanted to contribute to the group of experts that will oversee the
implementation of the human rights provisions of the Dayton agreements.
-- Michael Shafir
[7] HUNGARIANS PROTEST ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW.
Thousands of ethnic Hungarian
high-school students protested Romania's controversial education law,
which, they say, discriminates against their language, Romanian and
international media reported on 8 December. An estimated 3,000 pupils
from the Transylvanian town of Sfantu Gheorghe demanded equal rights,
equal chances, and education in [their] mother tongue." The protesters
also demanded the return of Church property seized by the communists.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian minority announced it will suspend its protest
actions, started at the beginning of the school year, until after the
winter holidays. -- Matyas Szabo
[8] MOLDOVA ABOLISHES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
The Moldovan parliament on 8
December voted unanimously to abolish the death penalty, Moldovan and
international agencies reported. Sentences ranging from 25 years to life
will be meted out for such crimes as high treason, murder, terrorism,
desertion during war, and rape of minors. "This is an important step
toward bringing Moldovan legislation in line with that of other European
countries," Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Dumitru Diacov said. Since
1991, 21 death penalties have been handed out. None has been carried out
in Moldova, but an unknown number of people have been sent to Russia and
Ukraine for execution. -- Matyas Szabo
[9] BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS FORM UNION.
Some 64 journalists working for
Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on 7 December formed a trade union called
Svobodno Slovo (Free Word), Demokratsiya reported. Most belong to the
group of journalists who have accused BNR's management of censorship
(see OMRI Daily Digest, 27 November 1995). Representatives of the new
union met with BNR Director-General Vecheslav Tunev to talk about
procedural rules under which they will hold talks with the BNR
management. Tunev on 8 December declared on BNR that the dissenting
journalists have no desire for a constructive dialogue and that they
have served the interests of all systems--from the communist era to the
present day--"with the same servility." -- Stefan Krause
[10] SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER IN BULGARIA.
Vladimir Meciar, on a visit to Sofia
from 7-8 December, met with his Bulgarian counterpart, Zhan Videnov, and
parliamentary chairman Blagovest Sendov, RFE/RL reported. The two
premiers signed five bilateral agreements, including one calling for the
elimination of tariffs between the two countries within three years.
Videnov and Meciar told the press that they have agreed on coordinated
efforts toward European integration. During a visit to Slovenia earlier
last week, Meciar won Slovenian support for Bulgarian membership in the
Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). On returning to
Bratislava, Meciar said that as a result to his visit to Ljubljana and
Sofia, his country now has "an open road to three seas"--the Baltic, the
Adriatic, and the Black Sea. -- Stefan Krause
[11] BULGARIAN BUDGET DEFICIT EXCEEDS PROJECTION.
By the end of November,
Bulgaria's budget deficit had reached 54 billion leva ($766 million), as
compared with the projected deficit of 48 billion leva ($681 million),
Leff Information Service quoted Finance Minister Dimitar Kostov as
saying on 7 December. This puts the deficit at close to 7.5% of GDP.
Kostov also predicted that December-to-December consumer price inflation
for 1995 would be 35%. In a commentary in 24 chasa on 11 December, the
opposition deputy Ventsislav Dimitrov pointed out that the increase in
the deficit is due to the government's decision in April to help improve
the balance sheets of two ailing state commercial banks. -- Michael
Wyzan
[12] BERISHA PARDONS JOURNALIST IN SLANDER CASE.
Albanian President Sali
Berisha has pardoned Aleanca chief editor Blendi Fevziu, who was found
guilty of slander, Koha Jone reported on 9 December. Fevziu was fined
$2,000 for publishing an article that suggested that the head of the
State Control Commission was involved in corruption (see OMRI Daily
Digest, 6 December 1995). Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court has ruled
that the protocols of Supreme Court Chief Judge Zef Brozi's trial will
be made available to the parliament. Deputies from the Democratic
Alliance and the Socialist Party had demanded to see the documents. --
Fabian Schmidt
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to info@omri.cz
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