Subject: BosNet REPORT - Balkan Institute: Balkan Watch From: Nermin Zukic ------------------------------------------------------------------------- B o s N e t - July 11, 1995 ========================================================================= To subscribe to BosNet-B (in Bosnian language), please send a message to LISTSERV@novell.business.uwo.ca, containing: SUB BOSNET-B _________________________________________________________________________ BosNet in English is also available on Usenet as BIT.LISTSERV.BOSNET To unsubscribe send mail to LISTPROC@DOC.IC.AC.UK, WITHOUT the subject: UNSUB BOSNEWS. DIGEST is default, report problems to BosNews@doc.ic.ac.uk _________________________________________________________________________ [01] BOSNIAN SERB FORCES THURSDAY LAUNCHED A NEW OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE [02] MAJORITY LEADER BOB DOLE ANNOUNCED on the Senate floor today that he intends [03] U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY William Perry Friday approved the use of radar jammers [04] BOSNIAN SERB FORCES continued assaults against civilian centers across [05] THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION continued to deteriorate throughout the country. [06] THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL Wednesday approved a 75-day extension of its [07] THE U.N. IS EXPECTED to release this week a report charging Croatian Army [08] CHIEF INVESTIGATOR Al Milroy of the U.N. Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal [09] LEADERS OF THE TEN-MEMBER STATES of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation [10] TURKEY'S FOREIGN MINISTRY announced Wednesday it possesses proof that Greece ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BALKAN WATCH The Balkan Institute July 10, 1995 A Weekly Review of Current Events Volume 2.26 Week in Review July 3-9, 1995 [01] BOSNIAN SERB FORCES THURSDAY LAUNCHED A NEW OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE U.N.-DECLARED SAFE AREA OF SREBRENICA. Bosnian Serb forces overran several U.N. positions over the weekend. The assault continued today. The Serbian assault on Srebrenica in April 1993 led the U.N. to create six "safe areas" in Bosnia. The U.N. subsequently de-militarized the enclave but has failed to fulfill its mandate to protect its civilian population. The city is now largely defenseless, except for a Dutch UNPROFOR unit and a small, lightly armed Bosnian Army force. The U.N. announced Sunday night in a letter to Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic that NATO airstrikes against the Bosnian Serb forces had been authorized if the assault progressed or U.N. troops came under attack again. Bosnian Serb forces have taken 32 Dutch troops hostage. The U.N. letter demanded that Serbian forces withdraw from the demilitarized zone around Srebrenica and release all hostages. Dutch UNPROFOR troops in the city have redeployed to block further Serbian advances. Humanitarian conditions in the enclave are increasingly desperate. The mayor of Srebrenica reported Friday that eight residents had died of starvation. [02] MAJORITY LEADER BOB DOLE ANNOUNCED on the Senate floor today that he intends to bring the Dole-Lieberman bill to terminate the arms embargo to a vote late this week or next week. The bill would lift the arms embargo against the Bosnian Government no later than twelve weeks after an UNPROFOR withdrawal begins or is requested by the Bosnian Government. [03] U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY William Perry Friday approved the use of radar jammers by U.S. planes over Bosnia. Earlier, the Pentagon had rejected the jammers as faulty. The jammers, which will be used by U.S. Marine F/A-18 Hornets, failed Pentagon tests for general use three times. Navy officials believe, however, that they will be more effective than current equipment against Russian-supplied SA-6 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Bosnian Serb forces and Yugoslav Army used an SA-6 to shoot down a U.S. F-16 aircraft last month. [04] BOSNIAN SERB FORCES continued assaults against civilian centers across Bosnia, and escalated attacks against U.N. personnel. A Bosnian Serb plane fired rockets at the only power plant still controlled by Government forces in the Bihac region on Wednesday. NATO aircraft responsible for enforcing the no-fly-zone over Bosnia did not respond. Bosnian Serb planes have become increasingly bold in their violations of the zone as the U.N. has refused to allow NATO to strike their airfields. However, NATO does not require U.N. permission to attack planes in the air. Bosnian Serb forces Thursday attacked a convoy in which EU mediator Carl Bildt was traveling into Sarajevo, and later fired on his helicopter as it left the city. He escaped unharmed. Bildt met with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade Friday. French President Jacques Chirac later called Milosevic directly to plead with him to use his influence to open a safe supply route into Sarajevo. Bosnian Serb forces continued to attack U.N. vehicles crossing Mt. Igman in and out of Sarajevo. [05] THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION continued to deteriorate throughout the country. The UNHCR reported that less than eight percent of needed humanitarian assistance reached Sarajevo in June. Forty-two percent reached the city in May. The civilian death toll from Serbian sniping and shelling in Sarajevo doubled in June to 144. Also in June, 608 persons were wounded, versus 245 in May. Water supplies remain cut, leading to a four-fold increase in hospitalizations for diarrheal disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that nine million water purification tablets were needed monthly, but that only 2.5 million had reached the capital through the hazardous Mt. Igman supply route. The WHO also reported that Bosnian Serb forces continue to target Sarajevo's main hospitals, which have been hit by heavy artillery 500 times since the war began. Following the known deaths of two people by starvation in Bihac last week, the Bosnian government reported that the daily food ration in the enclave decreased to 25 grams per person, compared to an average of 51 grams for the first five months of 1995. [06] THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL Wednesday approved a 75-day extension of its suspension of certain sanctions against Serbia. The U.S. voted in favor of the extension in spite of new evidence and U.S. officials' admissions that Milosevic continues to resupply his proxies in Bosnia and Croatia and therefore has not earned the extension. The Croatian Government issued a strong protest to the Security Council regarding the June 28 report by the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia (ICFY), which is charged with monitoring the border between Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The report declared that Belgrade was continuing to honor its commitment to close the border. Zagreb cited voluminous evidence to contrary. [07] THE U.N. IS EXPECTED to release this week a report charging Croatian Army forces with six instances of "serious" human rights abuses in its liberation of Western Slavonia in early May. The report alleges that Army personnel killed many more civilians than the Croatian Government has acknowledged. The report, which is primarily based on "unidentified" sources whose credibility may be questionable, has evoked controversy even before its release. During and after the Croatian Army counter-offensive, U.N. spokespersons had made announcements regarding extreme atrocities committed by Croatian Army troops. The statements were later retracted after being proved false by journalists and diplomatic observers. A Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch report this past week found that the statements were based on "inconclusive evidence." The human rights monitors also found that, while some serious abuses occurred during the operation, they were not "widespread or systematic." [08] CHIEF INVESTIGATOR Al Milroy of the U.N. Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal resigned Tuesday. Milroy is the third major official to resign from the Tribunal, which has been chronically underfunded by the U.N. Security Council since its inception. Milroy will resume a police job in his native Australia. [09] LEADERS OF THE TEN-MEMBER STATES of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization (BSEC) Friday held their second summit in Bucharest. The BSEC includes Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. Members hope the BSEC will evolve into an economic community along the lines of the former European Community. [10] TURKEY'S FOREIGN MINISTRY announced Wednesday it possesses proof that Greece is supporting the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK), a terrorist organization that is waging a war against the Turkish state in southeastern Turkey. The Turkish media have displayed film of six Greek Members of Parliament meeting with PKK leaders in one of their training facilities in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. -------------------------- QUOTES OF THE WEEK "The United Nations has seen its position deteriorate steadily in the past few days. It is trying to maintain the status quo, not to ignite the situation by challenging the Serbs. But is seems harder and harder now for the U.N. to hold its ground. The whole mission is coming close to unraveling." Anonymous senior diplomat (New York Times 7/10/95) "If Srebrenica falls, that will be the end of the U.N. mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina." Bosnian Permanent Representative to the U.N. in Geneva Mustafa Bijedic (Los Angeles Times 7/10/95) "What would the Bosnian Serbs do with 40,000 Muslims?" Anonymous U.N. official wondering why the Bosnian Serb forces, which have "ethnically cleansed" hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats from more than 70% of Bosnia's territory, are attacking Srebrenica (Reuters 7/10/95) ------------------------ CALENDAR Aug. 3: Second anniversary of NATO's first threat of air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs for attacks on civilians in Sarajevo. Aug. 5: First anniversary of pinprick NATO airstrikes against Bosnian Serb targets in Sarajevo. Aug. 20: Second anniversary of Owen-Stoltenberg Plan to partition Bosnia-Herze-govina into three cantons, with Bosnian Serb forces controlling 52% of the country, Bosnian Government 30%, and Croatian nationalists 18%. Balkan Watch is a publication of the Balkan Institute. The Institute is affiliated with the Action Council for Peace in the Balkans. P.O. Box 27974, Washington, DC 20038-07974 Phone: (202) 737-5219 Fax: (202) 737-1940 E-mail: BalkanInst@aol.com