OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 121, 22 June 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] AKASHI REASSURES KARADZIC OF UN'S GOOD INTENTIONS.

  • [02] UN REFUSES TO AUTHORIZE AIR STRIKES AGAINST SERBS.

  • [03] SERBS ALLOWED TO ESCORT SARAJEVO CONVOY.

  • [04] CROATIA HOLDS FIRM WITH SERBS.

  • [05] BELGRADE CONTINUES ROUNDUP FOR MILITARY SERVICE.

  • [06] RED CROSS VISITS IMPRISONED POLICEMEN IN KOSOVO.

  • [07] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SETTLEMENT WITH GREECE.

  • [08] ILO CRITICIZES BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT.

  • [09] BULGARIAN PREMIER ENDS VISIT TO ATHENS.

  • [10] POLICE ARREST ALBANIAN VILLAGERS WHO TOOK HOSTAGES.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 121, Part II, 22 June 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] AKASHI REASSURES KARADZIC OF UN'S GOOD INTENTIONS.

    The UN's special envoy to the former Yugoslavia, Yasushi Akashi, has written Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the International Herald Tribune reported on 22 June. Akashi reassured Karadzic that he feels that "all sides" have caused problems for UNPROFOR. He did not mention the recent hostage crisis. Above all, the envoy said that the projected Rapid Reaction Force will not take sides, will not act differently from UNPROFOR, and will not engage in peacemaking such as blasting open corridors to enable relief convoys to get through. A UN spokesman said that "the Serbs were worried and Mr. Akashi felt it appropriate to calm their fears." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] UN REFUSES TO AUTHORIZE AIR STRIKES AGAINST SERBS.

    General Bernard Janvier, commander of UN forces in the Balkans, refused a request by U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith to authorize NATO air strikes on the Banja Luka airport. AFP said on 21 June that the plea was in response to the violation of the UN's own "no fly zone" over Bosnia by two Serbian aircraft the previous day. A BBC report on 22 June said, however, that UNPROFOR is under growing pressure to respond in a "more robust" fashion to Serbian provocations. The International Herald Tribune suggested that Janvier may not have wanted to use sufficient force to deal with the anti-aircraft missile batteries surrounding the airport, like those that downed a US F-16 on 3 June. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] SERBS ALLOWED TO ESCORT SARAJEVO CONVOY.

    In another example of UN deference to Bosnian Serb sensitivities, UNPROFOR troops were replaced by Serbian police as a UN convoy passed through Serb-held territory on the way to Sarajevo. The trucks with 600 tons of food arrived in the capital on 21 June, the first such shipment the Serbs have let through in some time. Serbs, meanwhile, killed six with a shell on a Sarajevo suburb. The 22 June Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Bosnian Croat military sources as saying that the Bosnian government's current offensive has been briefly halted after taking heavy casualties. The Muslim-Croatian alliance seeks to reopen roads to Visoko, Mostar, and Kiseljak. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] CROATIA HOLDS FIRM WITH SERBS.

    The Zagreb government has rejected Krajina Serb preconditions for resuming talks. Reuters said on 21 June that the Serbs insisted that Croatian forces withdraw from western Slavonia, which they retook at the start of May, or at least from the Dinara heights overlooking Knin and its road communications with Banja Luka. In Australia, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said that the army will return Krajina to Zagreb's control if talks fail to do so within a year. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] BELGRADE CONTINUES ROUNDUP FOR MILITARY SERVICE.

    Nasa Borba on 22 June reported that Serbia's police force is continuing its roundup of ethnic Serbs for military service in Serb-conquered territories outside the rump Yugoslavia. The roundup began on 11 June among ethnic Serbian refugees from Krajina residing in the northern Vojvodina region and is now reportedly widening, with police officials press-ganging ethnic Serbs born in Belgrade and Sumadija who have "at one time worked in Bosnia or Croatia." The daily also reported that Bosnian Serb authorities have issued a statement calling on all Bosnian Serb refugees in the rump Yugoslavia to return and report to their units by 5 July. Meanwhile, General Vlado Trifunovic, who, together with four colleagues, faces charges of undermining the Yugoslav military and compromising national defense, has appeared for a fourth time before a military tribunal. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] RED CROSS VISITS IMPRISONED POLICEMEN IN KOSOVO.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has visited former Kosovo policemen jailed on charges of separatism, AFP reported on 21 June. A total of 32 former policemen have already been sentenced to prison terms of between one and six years, and 116 have been on trial since the beginning of June. The policemen were dismissed after the abolition of the province's autonomy by Belgrade in 1989. Authorities in Belgrade allowed the ICRC to visit the policemen in the presence of prison officials to examine under what conditions they are being detained. Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher on 21 June assured Kosovar shadow-state president Ibrahim Rugova, who was in Washington, that "Kosovo is not being ignored or forgotten." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SETTLEMENT WITH GREECE.

    Kiro Gligorov, during an official visit to Paris, called for a quick settlement of the Greek-Macedonian dispute, Reuters reported on 21 June. After meeting with French President Jacques Chirac that day, Gligorov said it is in both Greece's and Macedonia's interest to settle their differences "so that we can act together on the European scene." He said it is paradoxical that while Macedonia prevented the war in the former Yugoslavia from spreading southward, it is the only European country that is not a member of the OSCE and has yet to sign an accord with the European Union. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] ILO CRITICIZES BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT.

    The International Labor Organization has strongly criticized the Bulgarian government for its decision on who to send to the ILO's 82nd session, Standart reported on 22 June. Social Minister Mincho Koralski included representatives of the Association of Free Trade Union Organizations (OSSOB) in the official delegation but failed to invite the two biggest unions, Podkrepa and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB). The ILO's Accreditation Committee issued a declaration stating that the OSSOB is not representative of Bulgarian trade unions and is unable to give reliable figures on its membership. The official Bulgarian delegation will attend the meeting, but the ILO statement said there are "serious reasons" to exclude Bulgaria, since it has violated the organization's statutes. Meanwhile, Podkrepa and the KNSB will attend the session as delegates of the international trade union organizations. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] BULGARIAN PREMIER ENDS VISIT TO ATHENS.

    Zhan Videnov ended his first official visit to Greece on 20 June, international agencies reported the same day. Videnov and his Greek counterpart, Andreas Papandreou, signed a joint statement stressing that relations between the two countries are good. The statement said Athens and Sofia "will work together to consolidate peace, stability, and security in the Balkans [and] to secure the social and economic development of the region." It also calls for international sanctions against rump Yugoslavia to be lifted. Greece and Bulgaria agreed to increase defense cooperation, improve trade routes through their countries, and improve business and other contacts. Greece has been one of the largest investors in Bulgaria since the demise of communism. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] POLICE ARREST ALBANIAN VILLAGERS WHO TOOK HOSTAGES.

    Albanian police have arrested 13 villagers who took the mayor of their village and an Agriculture Ministry official hostage over a land feud, international agencies reported on 20 June. About 30 peasants began a hunger strike in Laknas, 13 kilometers northwest of Tirana, three weeks ago to protest the privatization of a former state farm where they have worked for years. The hostages were set free after police surrounded the house on 19 June, but police returned later to detain the group's leaders and to disperse the other hunger strikers. The Interior Ministry described them as "terrorists." The peasants claim that they have been cheated out of their property. -- 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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