Epilogh OMRI Daily Digest, No. 40, Part II, 24 Feb 95 [**]

1. * MACEDONIAN STUDENTS PROTEST AGAINST ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY.
2. . WASHINGTON ANNOUNCES THE "FRIENDS OF THE FEDERATION."
3. . CROATIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SLAMS GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO CO-OPT IT.
4. . HELP FOR NASA BORBA.
5. . BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RESTITUTION LAW.
6. ** GREEK POLICE DETAIN ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS.

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 40, Part II, 24 February 1995

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

1. MACEDONIAN STUDENTS PROTEST AGAINST ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY. Around 2,000 Macedonian students demonstrated in front of the parliament building in Skopje on 23 February against higher education being taught in the Albanian language, AFP reported the same day. The students argued that teaching in Albanian serves as a pretext for the breakup of Macedonia. Following the police crackdown on a self-proclaimed Albanian-language university on 17 February, police arrested more Albanian activists on 22 February. The former leader of the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PPD) and a founder and current leader of the Party for the Peoples Union, Nevzat Halili, and a professor at the Albanian-language university, Musli Halimi, were arrested, the Macedonian-Albanian newspaper Flaka reported on 23 February. Meanwhile, the current leader of the PPD, Abdurrahman Aliti, met with British ambassador to Macedonia Tony Milson, Flaka reported on 24 February. Milson stressed that a policy of dialogue will bring results and praised the contribution of the PPD in averting the conflict. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

2. WASHINGTON ANNOUNCES THE "FRIENDS OF THE FEDERATION." U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said that a new international group has been set up to support the joint Croat-Muslim federation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Nasa Borba reported on 24 February. The "Friends of the Federation" will have their work cut out for them, and Novi list cites Bishop Pero Sudar as saying that Croats are being driven from their apartments in Sarajevo by Muslims and not given new housing. The Muslims are also having problems with the UN, which has now accused their military of conducting "an orchestrated campaign of harassment" against UNPROFOR, although government forces have not been as obstructive as the Serbs. News agencies also report that government and Serb officials met at Sarajevo airport on 23 February for a second day of apparently inconclusive meetings about humanitarian and other practical questions, as well as about the fighting in the Bihac pocket. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

3. CROATIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SLAMS GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO CO-OPT IT. Novi list on 24 February reprints a commentary from the latest issue of the Roman Catholic Church's weekly Glas Koncila. The editorial takes to task unnamed officials of the government or the ruling Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) for trying to use Catholicism as part of a "state ideology." The author notes that Christianity cannot be a political ideology and that democratic countries do not need official ideologies. The commentary particularly takes issue with those who have said that the church should not preach "love thine enemy" under the present circumstances in Croatia. On the contrary, while Croatian Catholics should defend their country out of patriotism, the article continues, they must never hate their enemies but rather love them as brothers. The commentary reflects views typical of Pope John Paul II and especially of Croatia's Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, who has kept a healthy distance from the government and openly criticized its war against the Muslims in 1993. The HDZ's attempts to use Catholicism for its own ends have struck many observers as bizarre, since President Franjo Tudjman is not know to be a particularly religious man and since his party contains agnostics, atheists, Jews, Muslims and others who reject the idea of making the HDZ a Christian democratic party. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

4. HELP FOR NASA BORBA. Nasa Borba reported on 23 February that on the previous day the Executive Commission of the European Union allocated some $120,000 in assistance to Nasa Borba, an independent daily, so that it may acquire much-needed newsprint. The aid is slated to be directed through the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), headquartered in Brussels. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

5. BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RESTITUTION LAW. The National Assembly on 23 February passed an amendment to the restitution law, which provides that tenants can stay another three years in restituted property, Demokratsiya reported the following day. Some 130 of the 240 deputies voted for the bill. The amendment had already been passed on 9 February, but President Zhelyu Zhelev had rejected it on 22 February (see 23 February OMRI Daily Digest). Demokratsiya wrote that the Socialist Party "blocks restitution for three more years," while Trud assesses that "the new prolongation of the restitution law does not solve the problem." -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

6. GREEK POLICE DETAIN ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS. Greek border guards detained and expelled 2,929 illegal Albanian immigrants between 17 and 21 February, Western agencies reported on 22 February. That is an average of some 600 Albanians expelled every day. According to Greek officials the expulsions are a reaction to an increased influx of illegal Albanians via the snowbound mountainous area since milder weather allowed people to cross the unmarked border. According to Greek estimates about 300,000 Albanians work illegally in Greece. Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias is expected to discuss a possible regulation of seasonal work for Albanians in Greece with his Albanian counterpart, Alfred Serreqi, during his visit to Albania in March. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

[As of 12:00 CET] Compiled by Pete Baumgartner