OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 93, 15 May 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] FIGHTING CONTINUES IN THE POSAVINA REGION.

  • [02] KRAJINA SERB LEADER PRAISES RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.

  • [03] WHAT ROLE FOR THE U.S. IN WESTERN SLAVONIA?

  • [04] ORDERLY EVACUATION OF SERBIAN REFUGEES CONTINUES.

  • [05] SERBIAN UPDATE.

  • [06] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WARNS OF RECOMMUNIZATION.

  • [07] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION TO COOPERATE.

  • [08] ETHNIC GREEKS UNDER PRESSURE TO LEAVE ALBANIAN PUBLIC LIFE.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 93, Part II, 15 May 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] FIGHTING CONTINUES IN THE POSAVINA REGION.

    The narrow corridor linking Serbia with its conquests in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia continued to be the main theater of fighting in Bosnia over the past few days. The Serbs stepped up pressure on the Croatian-held enclave of Orasje on the Bosnian side of the Sava River. Hina on 15 May reported that tanks and artillery were involved in the attack and that fighting in one village in particular was hand-to-hand. Nasa Borba noted the same day that the Croats responded by shelling Serbian-occupied Brcko. The UN said the Bosnian fronts were otherwise relatively quiet. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] KRAJINA SERB LEADER PRAISES RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.

    Rajko Lezajic, president of the Krajina Serb legislature, said that Belgrade's policies are aimed at promoting peace in the region, Nasa Borba reported on 15 May. The 13 May Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung discussed at length the "division of roles" among the various Serbian factions and spokesmen: Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his supporters in Krajina were said to be currently taking the part of peacemakers, while Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and other Krajina officials follow a more bellicose line. Meanwhile, the BBC on 15 May said Croatian forces that had infiltrated into UN-controlled buffer zones in the Krajina's Sector South have generally withdrawn but that some units in the Gospic area are staying put. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] WHAT ROLE FOR THE U.S. IN WESTERN SLAVONIA?

    Novi list on 13 May and NasaBorba two days later reported on remarks by Washington's influential Ambassador to Zagreb, Peter Galbraith. He warned against violations of the current mandate for UN peacekeepers and called Croatia's reoccupation of western Slavonia earlier this month a dangerous precedent. Galbraith pointed out that neither the Krajina Serb leadership nor the Bosnian Serbs "lifted a finger" to help the Serbs of western Slavonia. He also commented that Croatia received "not a green light but a red light" from the U.S. regarding the move. The Voice of Russia in Serbian, however, hinted on 14 May that Washington may have been behind the armed action, quoting British newspapers to the effect that the only man in Croatia more powerful than Galbraith is President Franjo Tudjman. The broadcast also carried stories that may reinforce Serbian fears that the Croatian government is fascistoid and bent on destroying Serbian national identity. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] ORDERLY EVACUATION OF SERBIAN REFUGEES CONTINUES.

    Serbian civilians continue to leave western Slavonia for Bosnian Serb-held territory under UN supervision. The monitors said it was probably the most orderly transfer of refugees in the Yugoslav conflict to date. International media also reported that Croatian officials have tried to convince Serbs that it is safe to remain. Many elderly people have no intention of leaving. Nasa Borba on 13 May said that a UN commission has begun work on investigating reports of massacres of Serbian civilians and that some Croatian military authorities were cooperating. Previous reports by Serbs of wholesale atrocities in western Slavonia have largely proven unsubstantiated. But this has not been the case with accounts of Bosnian Serb attacks on Croats and Roman Catholic centers in the Banja Luka area. In one such incident, a church was destroyed with monks still inside. Novi list on 13 May carried the text of the local bishop's formal protest letter to Karadzic. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] SERBIAN UPDATE.

    Nasa Borba on 15 May reported that its chief editor, Gordana Logar, has been elected president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia. Logar defeated Radio B 92 candidate Dusan Masic at a convention of association members, netting 71 votes to Masic's 44. In other news, the UN Security Council on 11 May approved a resolution allowing rump Yugoslav ships to pass through Romainian locks along the River Danube while the locks on the rump Yugoslav side undergo repairs. The vessels had previously been barred from doing so by the international sanctions imposed against Belgrade. The resolution is slated to remain in effect for 60 days, but that period may be extended upon recommendation of sanctions inspectors. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WARNS OF RECOMMUNIZATION.

    Zhelyu Zhelev, at a press conference on 12 May, said the "real threat [for Bulgaria] is...the restoration of communism," Pari reported the following day. But he refused to blame the Socialist-led government directly, saying it is responsible to the parliament and that he will address the National Assembly if it wishes him to do so. Zhelev stressed that he is determined to exercise his constitutional rights, which include appointing ambassadors and vetoing laws. In response to government accusations that he ignores the people's will by vetoing laws, Zhelev noted that the total votes for him in the presidential elections exceeded the number who voted for the Socialist parliament majority and government by 600,000. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION TO COOPERATE.

    Ivan Kostov, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces, and the co-chairmen of the People's Union, Stefan Savov and Anastasiya Dimitrova-Mozer, announced on 12 May that they will cooperate in the forthcoming local elections, Demokratsiya reported the following day. They agreed to nominate joint candidates, grant local organizations a large degree of autonomy, and require candidates to adhere to the local election platform. Extra-parliament opposition groups will also be invited to cooperate, but according to Dimitrova- Mozer, it is unclear which these will be. Talks are scheduled with the Movement for Rights and Freedom, which is supported mainly by ethnic Turks. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] ETHNIC GREEKS UNDER PRESSURE TO LEAVE ALBANIAN PUBLIC LIFE.

    Five ethnic Greek Albanians who are members of the minority organization Omonia and have been sentenced to suspended prison terms for separatism and espionage are under pressure from the ethnic Greek Albanian Party for the Defense of Human Rights (PBDNJ) to leave public life. The PBDNJ was founded after a court ruled that Omonia could not run as an ethnically defined party in the 1992 elections. PBDNJ leader Vasil Melo was quoted by Gazeta Shqiptare on 14 May as saying that "it would be better for [Omonia], if the five disappear from political life." -- 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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