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OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 59, 22 March 1996

From: OMRI-L <omri-l@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>

Open Media Research Institute: Daily Digest Directory

CONTENTS

  • [01] ALBRIGHT STONED IN VUKOVAR.

  • [02] WAR CRIMES HEARINGS ON VUKOVAR HOSPITAL MASSACRE BEGIN...

  • [03] ...AS RUMP YUGOSLAVIA STILL SHIELDS ITS WAR CRIMINALS.

  • [04] TUDJMAN VETOES YET ANOTHER OPPOSITION CANDIDATE IN ZAGREB.

  • [05] SLOVENIAN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ON STRIKE.

  • [06] ROMANIA'S DEFENSE COUNCIL ON NATO INTEGRATION.

  • [07] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT MAY BE IMPEACHED.

  • [08] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT, MINERS REACH SETTLEMENT.

  • [09] GERMAN PRESIDENT ENDS VISIT TO BULGARIA.

  • [10] ALBANIA, GREECE SIGN FRIENDSHIP TREATY.


  • OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 59, Part II, 22 March 1996

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [01] ALBRIGHT STONED IN VUKOVAR.

    U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright was jeered by Serbs yelling "you fascist" during her visit to Vukovar to discuss the future of eastern Slavonia with Serb rebel leaders. Serbs then pelted her motorcade with rocks, damaging the vehicles but causing no injuries to Albright or her party, the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes reported on 22 March. She played down the incident but reminded the rebel leaders that all sides are expected to respect the conditions of the agreement reached last fall in Dayton between the Serbian and Croatian presidents, Nasa Borba noted. That pact provides for a return of the last rebel-held part of Croatia to Zagreb's sovereignty within two years. Local Serb leaders have been encouraging Serb refugees to settle there and hinting that they will hold a referendum on any return to Croatian authority, all of which is counter to the agreement. -- Patrick Moore

    [02] WAR CRIMES HEARINGS ON VUKOVAR HOSPITAL MASSACRE BEGIN...

    Croatian media reported that the war crimes hearings against three ex-Yugoslav army officers by The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia began on 20 March. Mile Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin are charged over ordering the deaths of 261 non-Serb patients in a Vukovar hospital in November 1991. However, they cannot be tried in absentia. In another development, the war crimes tribunal announced the opening of offices in Belgrade and in the area of Republika Srpska, to enable its prosecutors to interview victims and witnesses in Serb areas, AFP and Onasa reported. Meanwhile, war crimes tribunal said it would make important announcements on 22 March, signaling new indictments, Onasa reported a day earlier. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [03] ...AS RUMP YUGOSLAVIA STILL SHIELDS ITS WAR CRIMINALS.

    Despite insisting that it intends to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, mounting evidence continues to suggest that Belgrade is providing refuge for suspected war criminals. On 21 March Belgrade's independent Radio B92 reported that not only is Veselin Sljivancanin, one of three Yugoslav army officers indicted in November 1995 for allegedly playing a role in the shooting killings of at least 260 civilians in the Croatian city of Vukovar in 1991, sheltered by rump Yugoslav authorities, but that he has been rewarded. According to the report, Sljivancanin was recently promoted from major to colonel and re-posted in Belgrade. -- Stan Markotich

    [04] TUDJMAN VETOES YET ANOTHER OPPOSITION CANDIDATE IN ZAGREB.

    Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 21 March blocked a third nominee for mayor of Zagreb put forward by the opposition-dominated city council. The council had earlier passed a vote of no-confidence in Tudjman's own appointee, and now has nominated its fourth candidate, former Liberal leader Drazen Budisa, Novi list reported the next day. The imbroglio is seen as a test case for Croatian democracy, since the seven-party opposition coalition controls 60% of the council, Nasa Borba noted. Tudjman argues that he cannot tolerate "enemies of state policy" running Zagreb and that he has the right to confirm the mayor in office. Tudjman's own party has warned him to be more reasonable, however, since the deadlock will force new elections that polls suggest will make the opposition even stronger despite a government attempt at gerrymandering, Reuters said. Novi list added that opposition leader and council president Zdravko Tomac has written the Council of Europe calling for Croatia's admission to that body, but that Tudjman's party has objected to this letter and called for Tomac to go. -- Patrick Moore

    [05] SLOVENIAN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ON STRIKE.

    Slovenia's doctors and dentists went out on strike on 21 March, demanding a 25% wage hike. Union officials have pledged that the job action will continue until the demand is met, Reuters reported. A specialist currently earns an average monthly salary of 114, 000 tolars ($860). The doctors' and dentists' strike started one day after journalists from the state-supported Radio and Television Slovenija company ended their walk-out. -- Stan Markotich

    [06] ROMANIA'S DEFENSE COUNCIL ON NATO INTEGRATION.

    President Ion Iliescu on 21 March presided over a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council (CSAT), Romania's main security watchdog, Radio Bucharest reported. The CSAT examined the pace of a sweeping reform of the national army aimed at making it more compatible with NATO standards. It also approved that a Romanian delegation discuss the possible expansion of the alliance at NATO's headquarters in Brussels later this year. An Iliescu spokesman on the same day described Bucharest's efforts to join NATO as Romania's "only strategic option." In a related development, Radu Timofte, the chairman of the Senate's defense commission, stated that, under the current political and economic circumstances in Europe, Romania's failure to join NATO would amount to "a disaster." -- Dan Ionescu

    [07] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT MAY BE IMPEACHED.

    Infotag on 21 March quoted Nicolae Andronic, deputy chairman of the Party of Revival and Conciliation in Moldova, as saying that the parliamentary majority is considering the possibility to impeach President Mircea Snegur. Andronic suggested that the current majority, dominated by the Agrarian Democratic Party, was posing a threat to the Moldovan society by fostering political instability. The statement is part of a war of words triggered by the dismissal of Defense Minister Pavel Creanga last week. Snegur's military adviser Alexandru Gorgan denied on 20 March that a split occurred in the army following Creanga's dismissal and accused Premier Andrei Sangheli of instigating Creanga to disobey the president, who is also supreme commander of the army. -- Dan Ionescu

    [08] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT, MINERS REACH SETTLEMENT.

    A two-day strike in the Maritsa Iztok coal mines ended on 21 March after the government's Energy Committee and the Confederation of Labor "Podkrepa" agreed to higher wages and other benefits, Duma reported. The miners in Bulgaria's biggest mine will receive at least 35% higher wages in 1996 than in 1995. and those in other mines would obtain a 30% increase. They had demanded a 60% raise. Earlier that day, Energy Committee Deputy Chairman Rumen Ovcharov said electricity rationing would have to be introduced by the end of the week if the strike continued. He called the strike "politically motivated." Standart, citing a secret service report to Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, alleged that the influential business conglomerate Multigroup was behind the strikes, hoping to profit from eventual imports of Russian electricity, but "Podkrepa" leader Konstantin Trenchev dismissed the charges and said the strike was a strictly unionist matter. -- Stefan Krause

    [09] GERMAN PRESIDENT ENDS VISIT TO BULGARIA.

    Roman Herzog on 21 March ended a three-day official visit to Bulgaria, Western media reported. He pledged support for Bulgaria's economic reforms, but urged Sofia to create favorable conditions for foreign investment. Herzog also called on Bulgaria to close down the nuclear power plant at Kozloduy, saying "reactors which can not be modernized should be closed down as soon as possible," while Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev stressed Bulgaria's wish to modernize the reactors and asked for EU help. Herzog said Germany and NATO are opposed to a new defense pact in Eastern Europe as proposed by Russia last year. The same day in a radio address, Zhelev said restoring the Soviet Union would be dangerous for Russia and the rest of the former East Bloc. He said Bulgaria "must finally submit its application for [NATO] membership." -- Stefan Krause

    [10] ALBANIA, GREECE SIGN FRIENDSHIP TREATY.

    Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos and his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha signed a friendship and cooperation treaty on 21 March, international agencies reported. They pledged to "respect human rights and those of minorities." Stephanopoulos, who is scheduled to visit the Greek minority on 22 March said Athens "does not want to use it to attack Tirana." Berisha said he had received "assurances" that Athens would consider legalizing the status of 300,000 illegal Albanian immigrants to Greece as soon as possible. Both sides also decided to boost their military and economic ties and to open new border crossings. Greece will open a consulate in Korca and Stephanopoulos inaugurated a new department of Greek literature at the Albanian national library in Tirana. Greece also pledged to support Albania's EU association and both sides will cooperate in environmental protection and the fighting organized crime. -- Fabian Schmidt

    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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