OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 131, 7 July 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] HEAVY FIGHTING AROUND SREBRENICA.

  • [02] ZUBAK GIVES THE RAPID REACTION FORCE A DEADLINE.

  • [03] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT SINGLES OUT SERBS.

  • [04] CROATIAN JOURNALISTS DEFEND FERAL TRIBUNE.

  • [05] BILDT IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.

  • [06] MONTENEGRIN HOTEL CHAIN REWARDS ANTI-GREEK VACATIONERS.

  • [07] RUGOVA MEETS WITH GLIGOROV.

  • [08] DEMIREL ENDS VISIT TO BULGARIA.

  • [09] U.S. PREPARES DEPLOYMENT OF SPY PLANES FROM ALBANIA.

  • [10] ALBANIAN SUPREME COURT, JUSTICE MINISTRY DISCUSS COURTS' BUDGET.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 131, Part II, 7 July 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] HEAVY FIGHTING AROUND SREBRENICA.

    International media on 7 July reported that tank, mortar, and artillery fire erupted the previous day between Serbian attackers and Muslim defenders of the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. Government spokesmen said it was the heaviest Serbian attack since the UN declared the place a "safe area" in 1993. The BBC reported that a UN relief convoy was shot at near Tuzla, apparently from Bosnian Serb lines., while the International Herald Tribune noted a similar attack on relief vehicles heading into Sarajevo across Mt. Igman. Vjesnik quoted UN sources as reporting successes by the Bosnian army around Bosanska Krupa near Bihac, while Novi list reported that Krajina Serb forces are grouping around Knin. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [02] ZUBAK GIVES THE RAPID REACTION FORCE A DEADLINE.

    Bosnian Croat leader and president of the Croatian-Muslim federation Kresimir Zubak has told the Rapid Reaction Force that it must leave Herzegovina by the end of the month if his questions regarding its mission have not been satisfactorily answered by then, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 7 July. Reuters the previous day noted that the UN has stated that the British and French commanders will have tactical control over any RRF missions but that each action must be approved by the cautious UN civilian bureaucracy. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT SINGLES OUT SERBS.

    The VOA on 7 July said that Amnesty International has issued a report on human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia. The study argues that the Serbs are responsible for most, if not all, of the atrocities in Bosnia but that all sides hold prisoners of conscience or have sent prisoners to work under dangerous conditions. The Serbs press-gang young men in Serbia on behalf of the Krajina and Bosnian Serb armies. They have also tortured or otherwise ill-treated ethnic Albanian former policemen in Kosovo. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] CROATIAN JOURNALISTS DEFEND FERAL TRIBUNE.

    Novi list on 7 July carried a statement by the Croatian Journalistic Society criticizing the recent attacks by thugs on the independent satirical weekly Feral Tribune. The declaration argues that one may think whatever one wants of that particular paper but that nobody has the right to use violence against freedom of expression. In other developments, AFP on 5 July reports on growing social unrest in Croatia. Some 140,000 out of 760,000 workers have not been paid in months, and the situation of the 800,000 pensioners and 385,000 refugees is also precarious. Protests by unpaid workers have taken on political overtones, as the demonstrators argue that the elite of the ruling party are enriching themselves while ordinary people face hard times. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] BILDT IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.

    Nasa Borba on 7 July reported on European Union mediator Carl Bildt's arrival in Sarajevo the previous day. Bildt's visit is intended to revive the peace process, but he has already expressed doubts over prospects for lasting peace. AFP quoted him as saying there will be "more war in Bosnia rather than peace. . . . There might be a solution, but it is not immediately at hand." Bildt also noted that negotiations with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic are key to facilitating the peace process. Milosevic on 6 July met with Alvaro de Soto, UN deputy secretary for political affairs, but De Soto gave few details about the discussions. The VOA said that journalists asked Bildt if he planned to visit Bosnian Serb headquarters at Pale but that he replied he is "not a tourist" and has no need to go there. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] MONTENEGRIN HOTEL CHAIN REWARDS ANTI-GREEK VACATIONERS.

    Montena-fax on 6 July reported that the rump Yugoslavia's Maestralturs hotel chain is involved in the continuing controversy over the rump Yugoslavia's 2 July European basketball championship win in Athens. When the rump Yugoslav national anthem was played, Greek fans, who had seen their team lose to the rump Yugoslav team in an earlier game, booed. Now as a reward to vacationers who can prove they have canceled vacations to Greece in protest at the fans' behavior, Maestralturs is offering a 20% discount. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] RUGOVA MEETS WITH GLIGOROV.

    Ibrahim Rugova, president of the Kosovar shadow state, met with Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov in Skopje after visiting the U.S., Spain, and Albania, according to the Kosovar Daily Report and MIC on 6 July. The two leaders discussed the situation in Kosovo and Macedonia, as well as bilateral relations. There was no official statement on the disputed Albanian-language university in Tetovo, but both sides confirmed that "peace and stability in the Balkans can be guaranteed only by settling [outstanding] issues through talks and political means and by strengthening the European option [for] the Balkan states." Elsewhere, Fehmi Agani, deputy leader of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, said after meeting with representatives of the ruling Serbian Democratic Party in Belgrade that "the atmosphere was surprisingly cordial," Politika reported on 7 July. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] DEMIREL ENDS VISIT TO BULGARIA.

    Turkish President Suleyman Demirel on 6 July concluded an official three-day visit to Bulgaria, international media reported. On the last day of his visit, he spoke to the predominantly ethnic Turkish population of a town some 400 kilometers northeast of Sofia. He described his audience as "good citizens of Bulgaria," remarking that in recent years, the Bulgarian government has demonstrated a sound record of protecting the Turkish minority's rights. He also described Bulgaria's Turkish community as a "bridge" between Bulgaria and Turkey. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] U.S. PREPARES DEPLOYMENT OF SPY PLANES FROM ALBANIA.

    The U.S. army's first shipments of equipment for deploying unmanned Predator spy planes arrived in Gjader on 6 June. The unmanned planes will be operated by remote control over Bosnia-Herzegovina by about 100 U.S. military and civilian staff, Reuters reported on 6 June. Information gathered by the system will be passed onto NATO and the UN command for Bosnia. The first military operation to use the Predator system is also the first time the U.S. has conducted a key military operation in Albania. The operation is scheduled to last for 60 days but may be extended. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] ALBANIAN SUPREME COURT, JUSTICE MINISTRY DISCUSS COURTS' BUDGET. Albanian Supreme Court Judge Zef Brozi and Minister of Justice Hektor Frasheri have begun discussing the budget of the country's courts, G

    azeta Shqiptare reported on 7 July. Brozi had earlier criticized Frasheri's plans to subordinate the courts' budget to the ministry's authority. He claimed that a bill proposed by the ruling Democratic Party in June was designed to undermine the independence of the courts, which had a separate budget in 1994. The democrats withdrew the bill after Brozi strongly protested it. -- 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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