OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 188, 27 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] BOSNIAN POLITICAL AGREEMENT REACHED . . .

  • [2] . . . BUT PROBLEMS GALORE REMAIN.

  • [3] GENERAL MLADIC REAPPEARS.

  • [4] TUDJMAN INSISTS ON REFUGEE REPATRIATION.

  • [5] BOSNIAN PREMIER ON NEED FOR BETTER RELATIONS BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND CROATS.

  • [6] SLOVENIAN PREMIER ON EUROPEAN UNION ISSUES.

  • [7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH CLINTON.

  • [8] ROMANIA LAYS DOWN CONDITIONS FOR RUSSIA'S ADMISSION TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE.

  • [9] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT TO AMEND PROPERTY RESTITUTION LAW.

  • [10] MOLDOVA PROTESTS RUSSIAN-BACKED ARRESTS IN TIRASPOL.

  • [11] AMMUNITION DESTRUCTION TO RESUME IN MOLDOVA.

  • [12] GERMANY SAYS BULGARIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR MUST NOT REOPEN.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 188, Part II, 27 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] BOSNIAN POLITICAL AGREEMENT REACHED . . .

    The foreign ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and rump Yugoslavia approved a plan in New York on 26 September to provide a postwar constitutional framework for Bosnia. The republic will have free and democratic elections under OSCE supervision 30 days after monitors in major towns confirm that freedom of movement, speech, and the media have been restored, as well as basic human rights and the right of the refugees to return home or receive compensation for their property. Voting will take place in both the Croat-Muslim federation and the Bosnian Serb republic, Hina reported. A parliament, presidency, and Constitutional Court will be set up, with two-thirds of the legislature and presidency elected from the federation and the remaining third from among the Serbs. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] . . . BUT PROBLEMS GALORE REMAIN.

    The agreement leaves open a host of questions, including the composition of the government and the control of foreign policy, defense, and the police. It also sounds very similar to the arrangement that was in place when the Serbs launched the war in 1992 and that was a recipe for gridlock. The question of territorial divisions remains unsolved, and the Bosnian government has been charged by some of its own citizens with having agreed to partition the country with war criminals. It is also unclear who will represent the 150,000 or so "forgotten Serbs," who refuse to recognize Radovan Karadzic's authority and remain loyal to a multiethnic Bosnia. U.S. President Bill Clinton nonetheless said "we are making progress and we are determined to succeed," the International Herald Tribune reported on 27 September. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] GENERAL MLADIC REAPPEARS.

    The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 27 September said that Croatian and Bosnian Serb forces exchanged artillery fire across the border region between Slavonski Brod and Novska. The International Herald Tribune and Nasa Borba reported that the Bosnian Serb commander, General Ratko Mladic, resurfaced at a press conference in Banja Luka after having been out of public view for some time. He said that he feels "better than most people my age" and endorsed solving "disputed questions by diplomatic means." But he warned that "if war continues, even greater suffering will be produced, not only in this area but wider as well." The indicted war criminal also blasted an "armed media and diplomatic war going on against the Serb people, the purpose of which is to demonize and deprive them of their legitimate rights." -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] TUDJMAN INSISTS ON REFUGEE REPATRIATION.

    Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has announced that Croatia will continue repatriating refugees on territories recaptured from Bosnian Serbs during the recent Croatian- Bosnian government offensive in western Bosnia, despite UN warnings not to do so, Reuters reported on 25 September. Under Tudjman's plan, out of a total of 200,000 Bosnian Croat and Muslim refugees in Croatia, 100,000 will be returned to "liberated" areas of Bosnia. Croatian officials claim that the Bosnian government has agreed to this decision, but Bosnian Minister for Refugees Muhamed Ceric told the Onasa news agency that his government was not consulted on the issue. UNHCR officials in Zagreb say that if refugees are repatriated close to the current front lines, their safety cannot be guaranteed. -- Daria Sito Sucic, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] BOSNIAN PREMIER ON NEED FOR BETTER RELATIONS BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND CROATS.

    Haris Silajdzic has stressed the importance of improving relations between Bosnia's Muslims and Croats to facilitate the distribution of territories taken by the allies. He said that differences are being overcome through dialogue, Nasa Borba reported on 25 September. International media say the relationship between the allies is tense due to the lack of agreement over who will control which territories. Meanwhile, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic has written a letter to Tudjman protesting that the Bosnian Muslim minority in Croatia--which was the second largest national minority there after the Serbs, according to the 1991 census--does not have guaranteed representatives in the parliament, unlike some other minority groups. -- Daria Sito Sucic, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] SLOVENIAN PREMIER ON EUROPEAN UNION ISSUES.

    Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek, in an interview with Vienna's Der Standard on 23-24 September, reaffirmed Slovenia's commitment to joining and backing the EU, observing that membership is a priority for Slovenia. But he added that "we are trying to broaden our trade relations with other groups of countries." He also discussed Italian-Slovenian bilateral ties, suggesting that what appear to be Rome's efforts to impede, if not altogether block, Slovenian moves to join the EU may be placing renewed strain on relations that have seemed to be improving since early 1995. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH CLINTON.

    Ion Iliescu met with U.S. President Bill Clinton in the White House on 26 September, international agencies reported. They discussed, among other things, bilateral economic relations, the granting of permanent most-favored-nation status to Romania, and the prospects for its admission to NATO. Iliescu said after the talks that Clinton praised Romania's economic reforms so far, its democratization process, and its initiative for a "historic reconciliation" with Hungary. But a senior U.S. official was quoted by Reuters as saying that while the White House's attitude on MFN was "positive," the granting of permanent status was still conditional on continued progress on several issues, including fair treatment of the country's Hungarian minority. Defense Secretary William Perry stressed after meeting with Iliescu that one of the five conditions for the former communist countries' admission to NATO was the settlement of conflicts with neighbors. -- Michael Shafir and Matyas Szabo, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] ROMANIA LAYS DOWN CONDITIONS FOR RUSSIA'S ADMISSION TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE.

    The Romanian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has laid down three conditions for Russia's admission to the council, Radio Bucharest reported on 25 September. It said that Russia should return Romanian state treasures that Russia failed to return after WW I; the former 14th army contingents should be withdrawn from Moldova; and the European Parliament should declare the Ribbentrop- Molotov pact of 1939 "null and void." That agreement led to the annexation of large chunks of Romanian territories that are now part of Ukraine and the Moldovan Republic. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT TO AMEND PROPERTY RESTITUTION LAW.

    The Chamber of Deputies on 26 September voted to accept a Constitutional Court ruling that two articles of the property restitution law passed by the parliament earlier this year violate the country's basic law. Radio Bucharest reported that the Liberal Party '93 and the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania did not vote in protest at what they called the Constitutional Court's muted criticism of the law. The court ruled that the article limiting restitution to Romanian citizens resident in the country restricted the freedom of movement. It also objected to an article that made no distinction between property legally or illegally confiscated. In the case of the latter, the property would have to be returned to the owner after the parliament reformulated the law. While the legislation now extends the right of compensation to all Romanian citizens, regardless of where they reside, it limits restitution to one apartment and provides only minimal compensation for other confiscated property. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] MOLDOVA PROTESTS RUSSIAN-BACKED ARRESTS IN TIRASPOL.

    The Moldovan delegation to the Joint Control Commission for Transdniestrian Conflict Settlement protested on 26 September that Lt.-Gen. Valerii Yevnevich, commander of the Russian forces, had supported the arrest of two Moldovan policemen, Infotag reported the same day. The delegation termed the arrest an "undisguised provocation by the Tiraspol secret services" aimed at "undermining the negotiation process and destabilizing the situation in the region." Yevnevich declared that the two were arrested "as Transdniestrian citizens for crimes committed while serving in the region's militia." The Moldovan delegation responded that the statement indicated the Russian commander's support for the "illegal, groundless and provocative action." -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] AMMUNITION DESTRUCTION TO RESUME IN MOLDOVA.

    The Russian Group of Forces in Moldova (formerly the 14th army) will resume destroying obsolete ammunition next week, Lt.-Gen. Valerii Yevnevich told ITAR-TASS on 26 September. The destruction was suspended on 17 August after local authorities complained about the danger the operation posed to the local environment. Yevnevich indicated that money was now the local authorities' most pressing concern and said if the situation continued to develop along these lines "the only thing left for me to do will be to send a bill to the local authorities for the blasting operations." He indicated that 5,600 pre-WWII mines and shells have been destroyed and that another 4,000 await destruction. -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.

    [12] GERMANY SAYS BULGARIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR MUST NOT REOPEN.

    German Environment Minister Angela Merkel on 26 September urged Bulgaria not to put back into service Unit 1 of the Kozloduy nuclear reactor, Reuters reported the same day. Merkel said everything must be done "to prevent this reactor starting up without sufficient safety precautions." Unit 1 was shut down in February for refueling, repairs, and inspections; it is scheduled to be brought back on line in the next few weeks. Bulgaria so far has rejected pleas to close down any of the four units at Kozloduy because the reactor provides around 40% of Bulgaria's electricity. Merkel said that "Bulgaria's energy worries ahead of the forthcoming winter are understandable but safety must have priority." -- Stefan Krause, 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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