OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 159, 16 August 1995

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES U.S. PEACE PROPOSAL.

  • [02] KARADZIC CALLS EXPULSIONS FAMILY REUNIFICATION.

  • [03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS U.S. PARTITION PLAN . . .

  • [04] . . . BUT THE SERBS LIKE IT.

  • [05] CROATIA GIVES WARNING ON DUBROVNIK.

  • [06] MILOSEVIC ORCHESTRATES REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.

  • [07] KRAJINA REFUGEES REFUSE TO GO TO KOSOVO.

  • [08] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF BROADENING CONFLICT . . .

  • [09] . . . AND ROMANIAN RULING PARTY ON SITUATION.

  • [10] TWO SPY PLANES FAIL TO RETURN FROM BOSNIA TO ALBANIA.

  • [11] NEW RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 159, Part I,II, 16 August 1995

    RUSSIA

    [01] FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES U.S. PEACE PROPOSAL.

    Russia welcomes recent U.S. efforts to promote a political settlement in the former Yugoslavia, but U.S. and Russian approaches to a resolution of the conflict "do not correspond in all respects," Mikhail Demurin, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told ITAR-TASS on 15 August. Russia considers the "military aspects" of the latest U.S. proposals, which Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev recently discussed with U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, as "unacceptable," Demurin noted. He also reiterated Moscow's view that lifting UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia would be an important step towards resolving the conflict, a view the U.S. does not share. The same day, President Boris Yeltsin sent a letter to Arab leaders in which he denied that race or religion play a role in Russian policy on the Yugoslav conflict. Arab nations have frequently expressed concern that Russia favors the Orthodox Serbs in their conflict with the Bosnian Muslims. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] KARADZIC CALLS EXPULSIONS FAMILY REUNIFICATION.

    The International Herald Tribune on 16 August said that 1,000 Bosnian Croat refugees arrived in Davor from Banja Luka on 14 August as did 1,200 on the 15th, while similar numbers are expected in coming days. A UN spokesman noted that the Bosnian Serb "authorities are putting out the word to all village heads to tell all minorities in their areas to assemble and prepare to leave." AFP quoted a spokeswoman for Medecins sans Frontieres as calling it "a perfect working system to get all those people out. It's scary." In contrast to the Krajina Serb refugees, who left in well-loaded columns of vehicles, the Croats can take only what they can carry and must pay at least DM 100 as a fee. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that "the world is trying now to move Muslims and Croats [out of Banja Luka]. I will not cause columns of refugees- But if somebody wants to leave and rejoin one's family, that is one's right." Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic said he feared that the military-age men being detained will wind up in "mass killings and mass graves." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS U.S. PARTITION PLAN . . . U.S.

    Undersecretary of State Richard Holbrooke continues to travel around the former Yugoslavia with what a State Department spokesman called "fresh ideas." The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 16 August wrote that Holbrooke's package is a partition plan despite all assurances to the contrary, and the Wall Street Journal added that details are deliberately being kept vague and out of the public eye so that Washington can distance itself from the project if it proves unworkable. The International Herald Tribune said that "fog" is preventing Holbrooke from going to Sarajevo for two or three days. Bosnia's ambassador to Switzerland said that the plan "is only to buy time for the Serbs. We will never trade with our country." The project reportedly would require the government to swap Gorazde for land around Sarajevo. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] . . . BUT THE SERBS LIKE IT.

    The VOA on 16 August said that Bosnian Serb leaders are pleased with the plan sponsored by Holbrooke, who was known last January as "the architect" of the short-lived policy of directly negotiating with Pale despite a UN ban on such contacts. Bosnian Serb "Foreign Minister" Aleksa Buha told news agencies that if the details of the plan that he has read in the press are true, "then we can look to the future with greater confidence." Senior Bosnian Serb officials are said to be in Geneva for the first time in about a year. Parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik and Karadzic spokesman Jovan Zametica are reportedly holding talks with mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg and Carl Bildt. Karadzic himself wants a new international conference, saying that "the time is ripe for a conference which would bring a solution." SRNA also quoted him as saying that he expects "important political initiatives" by the end of August. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] CROATIA GIVES WARNING ON DUBROVNIK.

    The UN's "rapid reaction force" is having problems getting the Bosnian government and the Croats to agree to its deployment. Both suspect that the British and the French favor the Serbs and have come to prevent the Croat-Muslim federation from consolidating itself politically and from winning on the battlefield. A British spokesman with the 24th Air Mobile Brigade stuck on the coast noted that things are "not moving very swiftly." Meanwhile, Croatia's ambassador to the UN told Vjesnik on 16 August that Croatia will give a firm response if the Serbs continue shelling the Dubrovnik area from the nearby heights. Reuters added that army commander General Zvonimir Cervenko warned that, if the Serbs do not desist, "we shall very soon take measures to make them give up such actions." UN sources said that Croatian troops have been moving in the area, and that the UN is watching to see if a brigade on standby in Split starts moving south. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] MILOSEVIC ORCHESTRATES REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.

    Reuters on 15 August carried a report explaining that police authorities in Belgrade have formed a tight cordon around the capital in order to keep most of the flood of Krajina refugees from entering the city. The report suggests that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has identified the refugees as a potential source of opposition to his regime, and is acting therefore "to disperse them [under police escort and throughout towns and villages] as quickly as possible." One Western diplomatic source is quoted as saying the "refugees will move the political agenda back to the right, back towards the nationalist rhetoric Milosevic has been trying to dump . . . That's why they cannot be allowed to stay together in large numbers." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] KRAJINA REFUGEES REFUSE TO GO TO KOSOVO.

    Some 800 refugees from Krajina have refused to board trains that would take them to Kosovo for two days, AFP and Reuters quote Radio B 92 as reporting on 15 August. Police are preventing the people from leaving the train station in Kusadak near Smederevska Palanka, south east of Belgrade, and are supplying the refugees only with water. Authorities reportedly also hindered local people from helping the refugees, or letting them use the telephone. Despite the strong attachment Serbian nationalists claim for Kosovo, only a few Serbs are willing to live in the impoverished region that has an Albanian majority. According to the Red Cross, only 1,180 out of 130,000 refugees who have crossed the border into Serbia since last week have reached Kosovo. Serbian authorities plan to settle 6,000 refugees in Kosovo immediately and another 10,000 subsequently. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF BROADENING CONFLICT . . .

    In a letter sent to the UN Security Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Contact Group, Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi called on the organizations to take measures to prevent the extension of the war into the south of the Balkans. Serreqi said that Belgrade plans to colonize Kosovo with refugees and to indulge in more "ethnic cleansing". Serreqi warned that Kosovo could become "another Bosnia" and added that Albania will not stand passively on the sidelines if the conflict in former Yugoslavia extends to the province, Reuters reported on 15 August. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] . . . AND ROMANIAN RULING PARTY ON SITUATION.

    In a communique broadcast by Radio Bucharest on 15 August, the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) deplored the loss of human lives and the "dramatic fate" of the Krajina refugees. The PDSR expressed concern over a possible spill over of the conflict in former Yugoslavia as a consequence of the Croatian offensive and the resumption of armed actions in Bosnia. The party called on all sides involved to show restraint and return to the negotiating table in order to find a solution to the conflict. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] TWO SPY PLANES FAIL TO RETURN FROM BOSNIA TO ALBANIA.

    Two unmanned Predator spy planes deployed to monitor troop movements in Bosnia have not returned to their base in Gjader in northern Albania. According to a statement from the Pentagon, one plane crashed due to a motor defect and there is no confirmation whether the other was shot down or had a technical failure. The US had sent four Predator planes to Albania to take video pictures of Bosnia in support of NATO operations. The value of one plane is about $2 million. BETA carried the story on 15 August. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] NEW RUMP YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER NAMED.

    Tanjug on 15 August reported that rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic has been replaced by Milan Milutinovic. Belgrade's ambassador to Greece, Milutinovic is reportedly a close personal friend of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. No official explanation has been offered for the change. Meanwhile, Jovanovic, who has also been a close political confidant of the Serbian president, is expected to be named as ambassador to the UN by federal President Zoran Lilic. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
    For more information on OMRI publications please write to info@omri.cz

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