OMRI Daily Digest, No. 29, Part II, 9 Feb 95 [**]

Ta nea ths hmeras, apo to OMRI:

  • . Se stratiwtikh epifylakh oi Serboi ths Krainas, diakoph twn epafwn me to Zagkremp.
  • . Newtera gia thn Serbikh bohqeia pros toys Serboys ths Bosnias.
  • . Janarxisan oi sidhrodromikes metafores sto Saragiebo.
  • . H kybernhsh ths Serbias prospaqei na kleisei kai allon anejarthto thleoptiko kai radiofwniko staqmo.
  • . Gia thn elleich neroy sthn Sofia, kai gia diadhlwseis kata toy neoy agwgoy neroy gia thn polh [den dieykrinizei ta aithmata twn diadhlwtwn].
  • . Allagh ston nomo poy apagoreyei kommoynistes akadhmaikoys na katexoyn ychlobaqmes qeseis sthn ekpaideysh ths Boylgarias.
  • ** Eleyqeroi oi 4 ellhnes ths "Omonoias".

    Dhmhtrhs Paneras

    Boston, MA

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 29, Part II, 9 February 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • KRAJINA SERBS CALL MILITARY ALERT, BREAK CONTACTS WITH ZAGREB. The BBC reports on 9 February that the Krajina Serb legislature has set up a military alert and that observers in the area have already detected signs of mobilization. A correspondent noted the "fear of a drift toward war." The government-controlled Belgrade press already seems to have started a campaign promoting war hysteria. One headline in the pro- Milosevic Borba reads: "Germany prepares for war." The Krajina legislature also suspended all political and economic contacts with Zagreb either until Croatian President Franjo Tudjman takes back his decision to cancel UNPROFOR's mandate or until the UN finds a way to keep on UNPROFOR with or without Tudjman's approval. Economic contacts between the two sides have been increasingly promising, but neither party is happy with the current political agenda, which is topped by a plan from international mediators. Both Zagreb and Knin will probably be glad if it now dies a quiet death. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

  • MORE ON SERBIAN MILITARY HELP FOR BOSNIAN SERBS. Newsday reports on 9 February that U.S. officials are continuing to show great concern over UN accounts of some 62 military helicopter flights from Serbia to Bosnian Serb forces at Srebrenica last week. The newspaper also notes that Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic has charged that Serbia recently sent some 90 tanks and 8,000 "volunteers" to help its beleaguered allies. Newsday also reports on the French proposal for an international conference on the Yugoslav crisis, which has drawn mixed responses from around the globe. One French diplomat said in its defense: "If not this, what else can we propose?" Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is quoted in the Belgrade dailies as saying that his side will not be bound by any decisions of the conference if he is not invited. French officials deliberately left him off the guest list in a move to increase his isolation because of his continued refusal to accept the current peace plan. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

  • SARAJEVO TO REOPEN RAILWAY LINKS. The BBC's Serbian Service reports on 9 February that railway transport has restarted in the Bosnian capital for the first time in almost three years. A German locomotive pulled two cars into the city the previous day, but plans are under way to reopen soon the key route running south to Mostar and on to Ploce on the Adriatic. Elsewhere, UN spokesmen reported alarm at what they said was an increase of fighting in the Bihac area. Agencies quoted them as calling troop movements of hundreds of Krajina Serbs "alarming." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

  • SERBIAN AUTHORITIES CRACK DOWN ON STUDIO B. Nasa Borba on 9 February reports that the independent Belgrade-based Studio B, which has both radio and television broadcast facilities, may become the latest victim in the Serbian government's crackdown on the free media. The daily notes that the same pattern is evident as in other recent cases, including that of the independent daily Borba (reincorporated last month as Nasa Borba). The authorities on 8 February challenged Studio B's legal status or incorporation in what appears to be the first step in a takeover bid. Studio B director Dragan Kojadinovic remarked that his company may exist for no more than 20 days. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

  • BULGARIAN POLICE BREAK UP PROTESTS AGAINST WATER PIPELINE. Bulgarian police dispersed about 200 protesters who blocked work on a water pipeline project in the town of Sapareva Banya, Reuters reported on 8 February. Some 21 demonstrators were arrested. Construction of the pipeline, linking rivers in the Rila Mountains to the Iskar dam, has been stopped since residents of the Sapareva Banya region formed a human chain on 23 December and prevented workers from entering the construction site. The government on 6 February ordered work on the project to be continued. Meanwhile, international news agencies reported on 7 February that the persisting water shortage in Sofia is severe enough to justify evacuation of some of the capital's residents. A government spokesman said "the introduction of a state of emergency in Sofia and surrounding areas" cannot be excluded, since the shortage "threatens the health of the 1.5 million Sofia residents." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

  • BULGARIA TO REHABILITATE EX-COMMUNIST ACADEMICS. Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science Ilcho Dimitrov announced on 8 February that the government plans to revise a law barring former communists from higher academic posts, Reuters reported the same day. Under the present law, introduced in 1992, former senior communist functionaries are barred from governing bodies of universities, research institutes, and the Central Examination Board. Dimitrov called the law "absurd" and fascist." He added that he is allowed to be minister and run the whole educational system but cannot be a member of his university's faculty council. The law has been criticized by international human rights organizations. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

  • ALBANIAN SUPREME COURT FREES ETHNIC GREEKS. Albanian Chief Supreme Court Judge Zef Brozi has suspended the prison terms of four ethnic Greeks sentenced to between six and eight years by a lower court last summer, international agencies reported on 8 February. They were found guilty of espionage and illegal possession of firearms, but their terms were later reduced. A fifth was released in an amnesty last fall. The Prosecutor- General's Office immediately protested the court ruling to release the four prisoners. As a result, they were freed only some nine hours after the ruling. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Jan Cleave