
=====================================================

OMRI Daily Digest 

13.11.1995



CROATIAN-MUSLIM AGREEMENT SIGNED. Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic and

his Croatian counterpart Franjo Tudjman  signed a new document
in Dayton on

10 November. The pact will strengthen the Croat-Muslim
federation in

Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was established with American
mediation in early

1994. The alliance has proven highly effective in recent months
on the

battlefield, but results have otherwise been slim. There remains
much

mistrust from the 1993 internecine war, and local kingpins on
both sides

are reluctant to share power. International media said that the
new

agreement allows for the return of some 100 refugee families
from each

side, the reuniting of divided Mostar, and the setting up of a
customs

union. Slobodna Dalmacija and Novi list reported on 13 November
that

Izetbegovic had ordered officials to begin work immediately on
the return

of refugees to Bugojno, Travnik, Jajce, and Stolac. * Patrick
Moore



A PEACEFUL SOLUTION IN EASTERN SLAVONIA? International media
reported on 12

November that representatives of the Croatian government and its
rebel

Serbs at separate ceremonies signed an agreement to return
eastern Slavonia

to Croatian control. The pact was drawn up by Tudjman and
Serbian President

Slobodan Milosevic in Dayton and mediated by U.S. Ambassador
Peter

Galbraith and UN negotiator Thorvald Stoltenberg. Its 14 points
provide for

a transition period of one year with a possible extension for
another year;

demilitarization of the region; UN supervision; local elections
before the

end of the transition; full human rights for all nationalities;
and the

right of all refugees to return to their homes and property. It
comes into

effect as soon as the UN Security Council endorses it. Galbraith
said that

the pact marks the return of the region's multi-ethnic
character, but

Reuters reported that local Croats are sceptical. A BBC
commentator said

that the Serbs "caved in" in the face of superior Croatian
military might.

* Patrick Moore



DAYTON CONFERENCE CONTINUES. As to the Dayton conference itself,
the

International Herald Tribune  on 10 November quoted a diplomat
as saying

that the Americans are keeping up the pressure on all sides. The

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung  added that "the atmosphere at the

conference is highly geared toward getting results, and all
sides are

showing great flexibility." Vreme  on 13 November wrote,
however, that

"nothing will come" of the conference as a whole. The
independent Belgrade

weekly is also sceptical of the agreement on eastern Slavonia,
adding that

Croatian and Serbian "interests are completely different."  *
Patrick Moore



DID KARADZIC TRY TO MAKE A DEAL WITH WASHINGTON? Dpa and the
Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung  reported on 13 November that Bosnian Serb
leader

Radovan Karadzic and his military counterpart General Ratko
Mladic offered

to leave public office in return for not being extradited to The
Hague. The

two internationally wanted war criminals reportedly made the
offer through

Milosevic in Dayton, but dpa quoted the Serbian weekly NIN as
saying that

U.S. diplomats refused it. An existing draft agreement on
Bosnia's

constitutional future would ban indicted war criminals from
holding office.

It is not clear whether Karadzic and Mladic offered to withdraw
from public

life altogether. * Patrick Moore



SHATTUCK PLEASED WITH BANJA LUKA TALKS. John Shattuck, assistant
U.S. state

secretary for human rights, said after his 10 November talks
with Banja

Luka's mayor that for the first time, Bosnian Serb authorities
have

admitted to arresting Muslim civilians, some of whom have not
been

accounted for, Reuters reported the next day. He estimated that
nearly

1,400 Banja Luka Muslims have been either arrested or taken to
forced labor

camps. However, he underscored that there is no evidence of mass
killings

in the area, unlike in Srebrenica. The mayor promised that
Muslims and

Croats wanting to leave the area will be allowed to do so  and
that their

property will not be confiscated. Meanwhile, the UN sanctions
committee has

authorized the rump Yugoslavia to import natural gas, liquid
petroleum gas,

and heating oil from Russia-on condition that the gas flow to
Sarajevo not

be interrupted, Reuters reported the same day. * Daria Sito Sucic





-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------

                     B o s N e t  - Nov. 14, 1995

==========================================

Nov, 14 1995

VIENNA, Austria



Karadzic and Mladic Will Not Resig...



	Nationalist Bosnian Serbs have denied that their political and

military leaders will resign once a peace agreement is reached
for Bosnia

and Herzegovina. In a statement reported by their news agency,
the

nationalist Bosnian Serbs say their political leader, Radovan
Karadzic,

and their military commander, General Ratko Mladic, will not
voluntarily

resign.

	The Serb news agency rejects what it calls "speculation" that
the

two men will step down as part of a deal with the Serbian
President,

Slobodan Milosevic.



***********

Nov, 14 1995

THE HAGUE, Netherland



..But Goldstone Will Resigne



	In the Hague, the War Crimes Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor,
Richard

Goldstone of South Africa, says he might resign if Karadzic and
General

Mladic avoid prosecution in return for accepting a Bosnian peace

agreement.

	Mr. Goldstone told reporters politicians do not have the moral,

legal, or political right to forgive people charged with
genocide and

crimes against humanity without the victims' consent. Mr.
Goldstone says

he must accept assurances from the US that the indictments of
the Serb

political and military leaders are not negotiable.

	The Chief Prosecutor adds that if a permanent member of the
United

Nations Security Council was involved in such a tradeoff, all
those at the

Tribunal would question whether it was worthwhile to pursue
their work.



***********

Nov, 14 1995

DAYTON, Ohio



Top Bosnian officer may be indicted for war crimes



	A Bosnian government commander of military operations in an

eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica is expected to be indicted
for war

crimes, an official close to the Balkan peace talks in Dayton,
Ohio said

Monday.

	 The source said that Naser Oric could be indicted ``within a
day

or two'' by the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague in

connection with killings of Serb civilians in the area during
1993.

	 There was no official confirmation that an indictment was

being planned, but the source had accurately reported earlier

indictments including that of six Bosnian Croat officers Monday.

A source close to the Bosnian delegation could not confirm the

indictment.

	 If indicted, Oric would be the first Bosnian government

official to be charged with war crimes since the tribunal was

set up in 1993 by the United Nations. It has now indicted 52

suspects of whom seven are Croats and 45 Serbs.

	 Oric's indictment would be a surprise because Bosnian Serbs

have been accused of massacring 5,000 Muslims fleeing the

Srebrenica area in July in the worst single atrocity in Europe

since the end of the Second World War.



***********

Nov, 14 1995

DAYTON, Ohio



Peace Talks



	US Secretary Of State Warren Christopher said he is prepared to
in

stay Dayton until midnight (Tuesday) in an effort to break the
deadlock

between Bosnia and Serbia about the division of territory
between the

Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbian entity.

	The current plan on the table divides the territory 51 to 49

percent in favor of the Federation but the two sides cannot
agree on how

those proportions translate on the ground.  The Bosnian
Government wants a

unified capital but the Bosnian Serbs want to hold on to the
areas of

Sarajevo they control today.  The Bosnian Government wants a
corridor to

the eastern enclave of Gorazde through territory held by the
Serbs. The

nationalist Bosnian Serbs refuse.

	The Serbs want a wider corridor in the north connecting the city

of Banja Luka with Serbia and the Federation is resisting that.
Also left

to be determined are the powers of the central Government and
those to be

reserved for the Bosnian Serbs.



***********

Nov, 14 1995

Plan for Refugees

GENEVA. Switzerland



	The UN High Commissioner For Refugees Sadako Ogata and other

humanitarian agencies are beginning to make plans for the return
of people

displaced by conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia.

	UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond says it will be an extremely complex

and fragile operation -- no matter what agreement emerges from
the peace

talks in Ohio.

	The UNHCR currently plans a three-phase process.  It would focus

first on the 1,500,000 people displaced inside Bosnia and
Herzegovina;

then on the more than 800- thousand refugees in surrounding
countries,

principally Croatia and Serbia, and finally on the 700-thousand
Balkan

refugees living outside the region, mainly in west European
nations.

	Mr. Redmond says the entire process is expected to take about
two

years, at a cost of 300-million to 500-million dollars.

	The spokesman says UNHCR will compile detailed lists of the

refugees and displaced, noting their original places of
residence and

whether they wish to return to their homes. But he added that
"whether

they are going to be able to go back to their original homes,
however, is

another story."

	Many analysts question whether repatriation will be feasible for

some of the largest groups of refugees such as the
hundreds-of-thousands

of Muslims and Croats expelled in brutal circumstances from the
Serb

strongholds of Northern and Eastern Bosnia.

	Mr. Redmond acknowledges repatriation may also prove difficult,
if

not impossible for the bulk of the 200-thousand Croatian Serbs
who fled

the Krajina region after it was retaken by Croatian Government
troops last

August.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------

                     B o s N e t  - Nov. 16, 1995

==========================================



Nov 16, 1995

ZAGREB, Croatia



US Criticize Croatian Government



	The United States has criticized the Croatian Government for

appointing an alleged Bosnian Croat war criminal Tihomir Blaskic
to a

position in the Croatian army.

	The American Ambassador in Zagreb, Peter Galbraith, says he is

surprised by this appointment and adds that the only appointment
General

Blaskic can, legally, have is with the International War Crimes
Tribunal.

	Officials of the Bosnian Government in Sarajevo have also

criticized General Blaskic's new assignment with Croatia's army.

 	The US Ambassador to Croatia says Croatia, like other
countries, is

obligated to hand over to the International Tribunal indicted war

criminals who are on their territory. He said that cooperation
on the

issue of war criminals will affect relations between the US and
countries

in the Balkans.



***********

Nov 16, 1995

WASHINGTON, United States



Perry: "Russian Force Will Have to Obey the Rules"



	US Defense Secretary William Perry says Russian forces would
have

to leave a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia -- if they
refused to

accept orders from the US General who would oversee the Russian

contingent.  His statement came after Russian Defense Minister
Pavel

Grachev said Wednesday Moscow would have the right to veto
orders.

	"If the national command felt that an order was not in their

national interest they could pull their troops out. That's true
not just

of the Russian force, but any force that's there," said Perry.

	At least one thousand Russian troops are to participate in the

60-thousand member implementation force, which is to begin
deploying in

Bosnia immediately after a peace accord.



***********

Nov 16, 1995

WASHINGTON, United States



2 Billion Dollars for Bosnia?



	US President Bill Clinton has told Congress he believes the
United

States should be prepared to contribute at least two billion
dollars in

peacekeeping and reconstruction once a peace agreement is
reached in

Bosnia and Herzegovina.

	In his letter, the President pledged to submit a request for a

congressional expression of support for US participation in a
NATO-led

Bosnia peacekeeping force once a peace agreement is signed. The
President

repeated his view that, under the Constitution as
Commander-in-Chief, he

does not need Congressional approval for a deployment. However,
Congress

could withhold funds from the operation. Mr. Clinton estimated
the cost of

20-thousand US troops in a peacekeeping role for one year at 500
to

600-million dollars. In addition, he says the US should be
prepared to

contribute one and one-half billion dollars in reconstruction
aid over

several years.

	One of Mr. Clinton strongest critics on Bosnia, Colorado

Republican Congressman Joel Hefley, says there is no money:

	"We're at a time of trying to get our own financial house in
order

and tightening up on spending everywhere you look; to have two
billion, or

one and one-half billion to go over there and pour it into
Bosnia, I just

don't think it's there."



-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------

                     B o s N e t  -  Nov. 17, 1995

==========================================



"Negotiations are in their final phase... It is like conquering
a mountain

top. The higher you climb the more dangerous the cliffs
remaining," said

Bosnia President Alija Izetbegovic about the negotiations in
Dayton, OH.



Bosnian  radio said Bosnia's delegation was holding firm for a
unified Bosnia,

a land link to the eastern enclave of Gorazde and an undivided
capital,

Sarajevo.



"It is all going to be over on Saturday or Sunday," a source
close to

one of the Balkan delegations said.



"Secretary Christopher is returning to Dayton to put the full
weight behind

the peace talks," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns
said. Christopher

would return to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in time for
dinner meetings

with the parties to the peace talks.



In Osaka, Japan, earlier, Christopher told a news conference:
"The likelihood

of our return is probably for (Bosnia peace talk) meetings
sometime on

Saturday. My hope is that my presence there (in Dayton, Ohio)
will move the

issues along. I hope that in my meeeting with the parties we
might continue

to make progress."



Christopher is expected to stay a few days in Dayton, where a
peace deal

would be initialled. The U.S. negotiating team would join
President Clinton

at the White House on Monday or Tuesday to put the formal U.S.
seal on the

deal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
----------



 War crimes prosecutor Judge Richard Goldstone said on Thursday:
"I'm

cautiously optimistic that they'll stand trial sooner or later,"
after

the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague brought
additional

charges against Bosnian nationalist Serb leaders Karadzic and
army chief

Mladic. The charges are connected to the slaughter of up to
6,000 Moslems

after the fall of "safe-haven" Srebenica.



"I would find it objectionable" if Karadzic and Mladic were
permitted to

step down from their positions but were not prosecuted,
Goldstone said. He

also announced the detention in the Netherlands of a former
Croatian Army

officer, a Bosnian Muslim, on basis of "strong evidence" of
murder of a

large number of Bosnian Serbs.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
----------



 White House spokesman Mike McCurry commented about the recent
developments

in Republican dominated Congress and the deadlock in the
negotiations in

Dayton, Ohio. "The parties themselves have said publicly and
privately that

American participation in an implementation force is a condition
of reaching

an agreement. For that reason, they find some of the comments
they're hearing

from (Capitol Hill) disconcerting."



President Bill Clinton wants to contribute 20,000 U.S. troops to
a NATO

force of 60,000, while House of Representatives Speaker Newt
Gingrich has

said congressional support for such a deployment is "virtually
nil."



============================================================



OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 225, Part I,II 17 November 1995



CROATIA DUCKS ON WAR CRIMINALS. The Guardian on 16 November
reported

that Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa has indicated he has
no

intention of handing over the six Bosnian Croats indicted on 13

November. Reuters quoted him as saying the charges have not been

substantiated and that Croatia must "abide by procedure." The

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 17 November quoted Croatian
spokesmen

as calling General Tihomir Blaskic's transfer back to Zagreb a
rotation

rather than a promotion, as it has widely been viewed. Globus
asked

Matesa why another of the six, Dario Kordic, recently got a
medal for

promoting Croatia's reputation abroad. The newly appointed
premier

replied: "It is not my job to give views on why Dario Kordic
received

that medal. He was most probably given this medal by the
president

himself." Elsewhere, Novi list wrote on 17 November that the
Bosnian

army has been guilty of "genocide" against the Bosnian Croats.
Slobodna

Dalmacija said that Blaskic is a professional who could not have

committed war crimes. -- Patrick Moore



PERRY: RUSSIANS IN BOSNIAN FORCE MUST OBEY OR WITHDRAW.
Contradicting

Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev's claim that Moscow could
veto

any order given to its troops in a Bosnian peace implementation
force

that it did not like, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry on 16

November said the Russians must either obey all orders by an
American

commanding general or withdraw. Western agencies quoted him as
saying

the Russians could not "pick and choose" which orders to carry
out.

Perry conceded that any national military force could disregard
an order

if they felt it was contrary to their national interest, but
their only

other option would be to withdraw from Bosnia. -- Doug Clarke

Compiled by Pete Baumgartner



U.S., GOLDSTONE AGREE THAT WAR CRIMINALS MUST FACE JUSTICE.
Richard

Goldstone, chief justice of the war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, said

there cannot be real peace in the Balkans as long as war
criminals go

unpunished, the BBC reported on 16 November. The Independent
also quoted

him as saying that diplomats have no right to offer war
criminals deals

as part of a peace settlement. The State Department stressed
that there

can be no peace without justice and said that it expects Bosnia,

Croatia, and Serbia to cooperate with the tribunal,
international media

noted. To date, Belgrade has been unwilling to hand over
Karadzic,

Mladic, or any other of the 45 indicted Serbs. No Muslims have
yet been

indicted. -- Patrick Moore



BOSNIAN CROAT LEADER DISSATISFIED WITH DAYTON TALKS. Kresimir
Zubak, in

a letter sent to U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke on 15
November, said

he cannot sign the proposed peace agreement because it does not

sufficiently take Bosnian Croat interests into account, the BBC
reported

on 17 November, quoting Radio Herceg-Bosna. Zubak added that he
had

expected to be more actively involved in drawing up the text,
especially

with regard to the maps but that he had been informed via
intermediaries

only. Meanwhile, a UN spokesman in Sarajevo complained that
despite a

recent agreement, Bosnian government and Bosnian Croat forces are

denying the UN free movement, Nasa Borba reported on 17
November. --

Daria Sito Sucic



BOSNIA, CROATIA AGREE TO LINK CURRENCIES. Bosnia's
Muslim-Croatian

Federation and the Croatian government agreed on 16 November to
link the

Bosnian dinar and the Croatian kuna, German media reported on 16

November. The link will be based on the Deutsche mark and will
go into

effect on 20 January 1996. The agreement was worked out with the

assistance of officials from the IMF and World Bank. -- Michael
Wyzan



KOSOVAR HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP WANTS MILOSEVIC INDICTED. Kosovo's
Council

for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms has said it will
hand over

documents to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former

Yugoslavia that could lead to an indictment of Serbian President

Slobodan Milosevic. International agencies on 16 November
reported that

the council has charged Milosevic, former Serbian police chief
Zoran

Sokolovic, and other police officials with responsibility for
crimes

against humanity and genocide, including the killing of about 150

Albanians since 1989. It also points to some 300,000 cases of
harassment

and torture. According to Kosova Daily Report, the council said
that in

October 188 persons were arbitrarily arrested or detained and 123

Albanian households raided. It also reported cases of plundering,

torture, and forcible induction into the army during that
period. --

Fabian Schmidt



MONTENEGRIN PREMIER'S U.S. VISIT. BETA on 16 November reported
that

developments surrounding the official recent visit to the U.S.
by a

Montenegrin delegation, led in part by Premier Milo Djukanovic,
may be

unnerving some officials in Belgrade. Djukanovic, who was in the
U.S.

from 5-13 November, met with top U.S. administration staff for

discussions over NATO's possible use of the port of Bar. Tanjug
on 15

November reported that Djukanovic discussed using Bar as a
transit point

for personnel and equipment that may be involved in enforcing a
peace

for Bosnia. The premier was quoted as stressing that "this was
not a

matter of...installing NATO forces in Montenegro but of
transportation."

BETA reported, however, that Djukanovic held the talks "without

consulting Belgrade." -- Stan Markotich





=======================================================

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 226, 20 November 1995



LAST DAY FOR DAYTON TALKS. International media on 20 November
reported

that a "public event" would take place at 15:00 GMT in Dayton,
Ohio, the

same day. The BBC said there would be either a signing of a draft

Bosnian peace agreement or a press conference to announce why
the talks

had failed. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman returned to Dayton
from

Zagreb and told reporters before leaving that he expected there
would be

something to sign. Croatian Television on 19 November also said
that a

constitutional agreement had been reached in Dayton to allow the
Croats

and Muslims ties with Croatia, while the Bosnian Serbs could have

"parallel links" to Serbia but could not secede from the Bosnian
state.

The BBC quoted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as saying
that his

people would demand either independence or incorporation into a
greater

Serbian state, but AFP cited him as being more resigned to a
less than

"full realization of our objectives." -- Patrick Moore



ZUBAK, SACIRBEY OFFER RESIGNATIONS. But it appears to be
territorial

rather than constitutional questions that have been blocking a

breakthrough--including the status of Sarajevo and the Muslim
enclaves

of eastern Bosnia and especially the widening of the Posavina
corridor

linking Serbia with its conquests in the Banja Luka area. Croats
and

Muslims demonstrated in Sarajevo on 19 November to oppose any

concessions, but international media stated that Bosnian
President Alija

Izetbegovic is under intense pressure from Washington and its
allies to

yield. Novi list on 20 November reported that Croat-Muslim
federation

President Kresimir Zubak has offered his resignation in a bitter
protest

at what he and his fellow Bosnian Croats consider a sellout by
Zagreb

and the Herzegovinian Croats. CNN stated on 18 November that
Bosnian

Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey has submitted his resignation
to make

room for a Croat in that post, but the BBC said he wanted to
protest

what he considered to be too many concessions at Dayton on
Bosnia's

unity and sovereignty. -- Patrick Moore



BELGRADE HELPS REBUILD BOSNIAN SERB MILITARY. Belgrade appears
to have

reneged on a promise not to help the Bosnian Serbs rebuild vital

military infrastructure destroyed by NATO air raids, according
to The

New York Times on 18 November. Rump Yugoslav military personnel
have

reportedly helped reconstruct communications links and rebuild
air

defense systems. AFP, citing confidential reports dated 30
October,

noted that UN military observers have detected "regular flights
of

military transport aircraft and helicopters into Banja Luka at
night."

Meanwhile, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has reiterated
at the

Dayton talks that his intention was and is to end assistance to
the

Bosnian Serbs in exchange for the lifting of international
sanctions

against the rump Yugoslavia. -- Stan Markotich



IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR KOSOVO IN THE OFFING? Gazeta Shqiptare
on 18

November quoted the Kosovar weekly Bujku as reporting that a
plan is

circulating among European diplomats that foresees the
demilitarization

of Kosovo, the withdrawal of Serbian police, and the
organization of

democratic elections under international supervision. The first
stage of

the plan foresees an international conference on Kosovo. Kosovar
shadow-

state President Ibrahim Rugova has proposed a similar plan, but
it is

unclear if Belgrade would agree to it. Meanwhile, Albanian
President

Sali Berisha said there can be no just and stable peace in former

Yugoslavia without a solution for Kosovo. International agencies
quoted

him as saying on 17 November that "ignoring the issue of Kosovo
means

that we shall face a permanent danger of explosion in the
southern

Balkans." -- Fabian Schmidt



MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT RETURNS TO WORK. AFP on 17 November
reported that

Kiro Gligorov held talks with Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski
and

parliamentary speaker Stojan Andov, who had been acting
president since

the assassination attempt on 3 October. Gligorov, who sustained
serious

injuries in the attack, is continuing his rehabilitation at
home. But

according to the President's Office, he "is already carrying out
part of

his current duties." -- Fabian Schmidt





==========================================================

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 227, Part II, 21 November 1995





DAYTON DEADLINES COME AND GO. Two "last-chance" deadlines
declared by

the U.S. State Department came and went on November 20-21, and
still no

peace agreement was announced. The BBC said that the three
groups of

"Yugoslavs called the Americans' bluff." Regional and
international

media stressed that the problem remains territorial issues,
specifically

the Posavina corridor in the north and the status of Sarajevo.
The

Bosnian and Serbian delegations at different points each had
their

respective aircraft's engines started, and German media said
that only a

telephone call from President Bill Clinton dissuaded his Croatian

counterpart, Franjo Tudjman, from leaving as well. The final
deadline

passed after a late night marathon session. -- Patrick Moore



HAVE THE TALKS DIED? State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns
said that

"these talks have not failed. The negotiators continue to
negotiate."

Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey, however, said the
talks had

indeed collapsed. Off the record, unnamed U.S. officials also
told news

agencies they were pessimistic. The BBC quoted Bosnian President
Alija

Izetbegovic as telling Bosnian Radio on 21 November that the
talks were

in a crisis but had not failed. Speculation now centers on the

possibility of continuing discussions in Dayton for an
unspecified

length of time or holding them at some future date elsewhere,
such as

Paris. The Dayton round has dragged on for three weeks amid
Spartan

living conditions and a virtual news blackout. Tudjman has twice
left on

business and returned. The problem remains that core issues are

unsettled and that no side has been totally defeated on the
battlefield

and hence forced to negotiate a settlement. -- Patrick Moore



FIRST MUSLIM ARRESTED, CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES. Nasa Borba and
Novi list

reported on 21 November that an unidentified Bosnian Muslim was
arrested

in the Netherlands on 15 November at the request of the
Hague-based

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The
man is

suspected of having killed a large number of Bosnian Serb
civilians

while serving with the Bosnian Croat army, and he is expected to
be

formally charged within a month. Of the 52 men indicted for war
crimes

to date, 45 are Serbs, including Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan
Karadzic

and General Ratko Mladic. The remaining seven are Croats; but to
date,

apart from the unidentified Bosnian Muslim, only one of the 52
has been

arrested, namely the Serbian prison guard Dusko Tadic. Croatia
wants

some Muslims charged with war crimes for atrocities committed
against

Croatian civilians in 1991 when the Muslims in question were
serving

with the rump Yugoslav army. -- Patrick Moore



CROATIA, RUMP YUGOSLAVIA AGREE ON PRISONERS, MISSING PERSONS. The

Croatian and Serbian foreign ministers have signed an accord in
Dayton

on the immediate release of all detainees as a part of a general

agreement on prisoners and missing persons, Reuters reported on
20

November. According to unofficial estimates, more than 10,000
Croats

have been missing since 1991. An investigation is to be launched
into

the fate of those still unaccounted for. In another development,

Minister for Refugees Adalbert Rebic announced his resignation
owing to

"numerous obligations elsewhere," Slobodna Dalmacija reported
the next

day. -- Daria Sito Sucic



BELGRADE OFFICIAL SAYS NO EXTRADITION FOR WAR CRIMINALS. The
Bosnian

Serb news agency SRNA on 19 November reported that Borisav
Jovic, the

chairman of the rump Yugoslav legislature's Foreign Policy
Committee,

said Belgrade is not prepared to turn over accused war criminals
to the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Jovic
said

that sending accused criminals to the Hague to face charges would

violate the rump Yugoslav constitution, which purportedly
stipulates

that rump Yugoslav nationals may not be handed to a "foreign"
tribunal.

Jovic did, however, reiterate Belgrade's official line on war
crimes,

observing that "we oppose them, and we will prosecute criminals
if there

are any." * Stan Markotich





=======================================================

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 228, 22 November 1995



CLINTON ANNOUNCES "HISTORIC AND HEROIC" BOSNIAN PEACE AGREEMENT.
The

presidents of Bosnia-Herzergovina, Croatia, and Serbia on 21
November

initialed a text in Dayton consisting of 10 articles, 11
annexes, and

102 maps. It will come into force after the formal signing,
which is

expected to take place soon in Paris. The Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung

wrote that it provides for "one state with one capital" and a
central

government. The latter will include a presidency, parliament, and

constitutional court, with familiar Tito-era legal mechanisms,
such as

rotating chairmanships and the assignment of posts according to

nationality. The Bosnian state will consist of the Croat-Muslim

Federation and the Serbian Republic and will remain
internationally

recognized within its present borders. Free, democratic, and

internationally supervised elections will take place; refugees
can go

home; human rights will be independently monitored; war
criminals will

be banned from public life and there will be "full cooperation"
with the

international war crimes tribunal; and some 60,000 NATO troops
are

expected to separate the hostile forces. The status of Brcko
along the

Serbian supply corridor will be decided by international
arbitration. --

Patrick Moore



QUESTIONS ABOUND OVER BOSNIAN PEACE AGREEMENT. While the
agreement has

been widely hailed in the "international community," there are
ample

grounds for skepticism as well. The three sides signed the
document only

after an exhausting three-week marathon under intense American
pressure.

What everyone does when they go home may be another matter,

international media noted on 22 November. Croatia can be
satisfied

because it has achieved most of its aims and could try to
distance

itself from any future conflict, as Slovenia did after July
1991. Serbia

can expect to have most sanctions lifted and will then be free
to go its

way and claim it has no control over the Bosnian Serbs. The
Muslim-

dominated government can look forward to the lifting of the arms

embargo, albeit in stages. It might not be too far-fetched to
imagine a

future Serbian-Muslim conflict breaking out once Belgrade has

successfully distanced itself from Pale and once Sarajevo has
acquired

more heavy weapons. -- Patrick Moore



ANGRY MEN OF PALE. It remains to be seen whether the pact will
come into

force, since controlling local warlords has been a problem for
all

sides. Slobodna Dalmacija on 22 November, moreover, foresaw
political

difficulties involving the Croats and their role in the unified
state.

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic told his domestic media that
an

unjust peace was at least better than war. But the big hurdle
seems to

be the Bosnian Serbs, whom U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke on
CNN

called the "big losers." Their parliamentary speaker, Momcilo
Krajisnik,

told international media that "the agreement that has been
reached does

not satisfy even a minimum of our interests." The BBC reported
that

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic frequently overruled
Bosnian Serb

members of his delegation during the talks, and the Bosnian Serbs

claimed that Milosevic showed them the final maps only 10minutes
before

the pact was initialed. Krajisnik called the maps "blackmail"
and denied

that Milosevic could speak for the Bosnian Serbs. It may be that

Belgrade is ready to abandon Pale to its fate (as it did in the
case of

Knin) or that, having just refurbished the Bosnian Serb military

infrastructure, it is simply performing a ruse to get the
sanctions

lifted. -- Patrick Moore



PEACE IN OUR TIME? The agreement also contains a number of weak
or

unclear points. Not everyone agrees with the Americans that
there has

been a "fair division of territory," in which the Federation
took 51.4%.

It is doubtful that most "ethnically cleansed" refugees will go
home,

particularly Muslims who lived in Serb-controlled eastern
Bosnia. The

pact calls for a unitary state, but it still sounds very much
like a

partition along ethnic lines. There is no guarantee that the
complex

Tito-era constitutional mechanisms will work any better than
they did

when the Serbs sabotaged them in 1992. It is not evident what
the future

armed forces and police units will look like or whether the
region will

be demilitarized. Germany has recognized this problem and called
for a

Bosnian disarmament conference. Nor is it clear what "full
cooperation"

with the Hague-based tribunal will mean. Implementation talks
are to be

held soon in London, and moves are under way to put together a
NATO

force as soon as possible. Vecernji List quoted a Russian
general as

effectively saying that Russia would control the Brcko corridor.
--

Patrick Moore



SERBIAN PRESIDENT SAYS DAYTON DEAL IS "JUST." Slobodan Milosevic

described the peace deal negotiated at Dayton as "a just
solution."

Speaking in an interview broadcast by rump Yugoslav state
television,

Milosevic added "the war is now definitely over." He observed
that the

Bosnian Serbs were the big winners, noting that they have been

apportioned "a far better" share of Bosnian territory than under

previous peace proposals. Land and strategic towns previously
slated for

the Muslim-Croat confederation were now to come under Bosnian
Serb

control, he added. Milosevic also observed that accompanying
peace would

be a lifting of the international sanctions against the rump
Yugoslavia.

The UN Security Council is "already moving to put an end to all

sanctions," he said. Meanwhile, the Serbian media hailed
Milosevic as

the catalyst behind the achievement of peace. -- Stan Markotich



"WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED HERE IS A REAL PEACE." This is how Croatian

President Franjo Tudjman described the outcome of the Dayton
talks, Hina

reported on 22 November. He said that the results confirmed
Croatia's

international position and that all media agreed that Croatia has

defended its national interests and emerged a winner at the
conference.

Various opposition parties, however, issued critical statements,

charging Tudjman with giving away too much in the dispute over
the

northern Bosnian Posavina region (the justice minister recently
resigned

over the issue). Tudjman explained that Croatia had to give up

territories it recently took in western Bosnia in order to get
what it

wanted in the Posavina. He denied there had been discussion in
Dayton of

exchanging Croatia's Prevlaka peninsula for the Serb-controlled

Dubrovnik hinterland. -- Daria Sito Sucic



WILL THE SDA SANDZAK PARTICIPATE IN A CENTER COALITION? This
question

was posed by Nasa Borba on 21 November after a meeting of the
Muslim

National Council of Sandzak. The meeting, attended by
representatives of

19 Muslim political organizations, concluded that the Muslims of
Sandzak

should seek a solution to the minority conflict in the region in

accordance with international law and with respect for the
integrity of

international borders. The council thus demanded to be
represented at

international conferences on former Yugoslavia. Rasim Ljajic,
leader of

the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), said he is conducting
talks with

Belgrade, adding that his party will in the future participate
in the

political life of Serbia. The SDA did not run in the last
parliamentary

elections but might form a coalition with the moderate Serbian

opposition or other minority parties. -- Fabian Schmidt



ALBANIA OFFERS FACILITIES FOR NATO FORCES IN BOSNIA. President
Sali

Berisha, in an interview with Albanian TV, repeated earlier
offers to

provide NATO troops with access to Albanian airports and harbors.

Berisha also expressed the hope that the Dayton agreement will
offer

"real prospects for the solution of the Balkan crisis, including
its

most delicate problem--the Kosovo question," Rilindja Demokratike

reported on 22 November. -- Fabian Schmidt



POLAND SENDS BATTALION TO BOSNIA. A 600-strong Polish battalion
is to

leave for Bosnia, Chief of the Polish General Staff Tadeusz
Wilecki said

on 21 November, after talks with Commander of NATO Forces in
Europe

George Joulwan, Gazeta Wyborcza reported the next day. The
battalion is

to join the multinational Nordic Brigade, which will operate
alongside

American forces. Poland is financing the operation but will have
access

to NATO's logistics, communications, and transportation
facilities. --

Dagmar Mroziewicz



HUNGARY TO PROVIDE NATO SUPPLY BASE FOR BOSNIA. Hungarian Defense

Ministry and NATO officials are considering establishing a
supply base

for NATO peacekeeping forces on Hungarian territory,
international and

Hungarian media reported on 20 November. Hungarian Defense
Minister

Gyorgy Keleti said "Hungary is ready to help implement what is
to be

agreed on at peace talks." He added, however, that the UN
Security

Council must first grant a mandate for peacekeeping in Bosnia.
Forty

U.S. experts have visited Hungary this week to examine
facilities and

sites in the south of the country where troops could be stationed

initially before moving into Bosnia. They are considering
establishing a

military logistics base for peacekeeping troops in Bosnia and
arranging

the passage of U.S. troops through Hungary. Foreign Ministry
Political

State Secretary Istvan Szent-Ivanyi said Hungary could have NATO
forces

on its territory in the second half of December. -- Zsofia
Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]



YELTSIN HAILS BOSNIA AGREEMENT. President Yeltsin praised the
Dayton

agreement as a "big step" towards resolving "the most tragic
conflict in

Europe since WW II," Western and Russian agencies reported on 21

November. The hospitalized president called on the warring
parties to

"strictly abide" by the terms of the agreement, and urged the
immediate

lifting of UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia. Yeltsin added,
however,

that Russia would decide "later" whether to participate in a
NATO-led

peace implementation force in Bosnia. Russian Col.-Gen. Leontii

Shevtsov, who is slated to command the Russian contingent in the
force,

had said earlier that his troops would be assigned to guard the

strategic Posavina corridor, which links Serb-held territory in
eastern

and western Bosnia. -- Scott Parrish



Compiled by Penny Morvant



_________________________________________________________________
________



      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



      Copyright (C) 1995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc.

                All rights reserved. ISSN 1211-1570



_________________________________________________________________
_______



Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT
necessarily

always reflect the views of (any/all of the members of)
Editorial Board,

and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions. No
commercial

redistribution of any materials (articles published "for fair
use only")



              Zeljko Bodulovic <ZelB@dwe.csiro.au>

              Dzevat Omeragic <Dzevat@ee.mcgill.ca>

              Davor  Wagner  <DWagner@mailbox.syr.edu>

              Nermin Zukic  <N6Zukic@sms.business.uwo.ca>





-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------

                  B o s N e t  - November 22, 1995

==========================================



NY TIMES...11/22:

COMMENTARY: NOW FOR THE HARD PART



By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN



c.1995 N.Y. Times News Service



-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

And no wonder. Croatia and Serbia, ... got virtually everything
they

wanted out of this deal - international recognition for the
slices of

Bosnia they have seized. It is the Muslims who wanted a
reunified Bosnia,

but got far less...

.. To make it a success will require you to exhibit something
that you

have never exhibited before ...



But first, you have to tell us exactly what you're selling.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------



WASHINGTON - In announcing the Bosnian peace accord, President
Clinton

declared that the role of U.S. troops in implementing this
agreement will be

``a clear, limited, achievable mission,'' with minimal risks. I
think that

such a minimalist mission - but only such a minimalist mission -
can be sold

to the American public and Congress.



But before we can judge whether that is really the mission
Clinton is

dispatching U.S. forces on, we need to know not only the fine
print of this

agreement, but what has not been printed at all, only whispered
to the

parties in the hallways of Dayton. There was obviously a lot of
11th-hour

horse-trading.



When American diplomats were negotiating the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from

Vietnam they accepted a lot of ambiguity in the accord, and told
different

things to different people - but that was in order to get U.S.
troops out. It

would be very worrying if we have adopted the same sort of
diplomacy in

Dayton to get U.S. troops in.



Here are the questions Congress should be asking:



1. Initial reports suggest that this deal came about as a result
of a

Croatian-Serbian squeeze play on the Bosnian Muslims. And no
wonder. Croatia

and Serbia, the two big powers in this theater, got virtually
everything they

wanted out of this deal - international recognition for the
slices of Bosnia

they have seized. It is the Muslims who wanted a reunified
Bosnia, but got

far less. The question is: What has the United States promised
the Muslims in

terms of military support and training for their army? And does
Washington

have the backing of the Serbs and the Croats for playing the
role of

peacekeeper with one hand while arming the Muslims with the
other?



The United States has to be very careful that it is not drawn
into a process

whereby the Muslims use the U.S. Army to get for them on the
ground in Bosnia

what they could not get at the negotiating table in Dayton. This
is also a

crucial point to sort out with our allies, because the Germans,
British and

French have never liked the idea of the United States upgrading
the Muslim

army while also serving as peacekeepers. Do Paris, Bonn, London
and

Washington share the same objectives under the NATO umbrella?



2. This agreement states that while Bosnia is being divided into

self-governing Serbian and Croatian-Muslim states, these two
halves are

supposed to be united under an ``effective'' umbrella central
government,

central bank, national parliament and constitutional court. Also
all refugees

are to be allowed to return home. What role will the U.S.
military play in

achieving those difficult goals? What if the Serbs and Croats
drag their feet

in participating in these federal institutions or in letting
refugees return?





3. How will we know when this mission has succeeded? Will we
declare victory

and bring the troops home only after all-Bosnian elections and a
return of

refugees to their original homes? Will we declare victory and
bring the

troops home after 12 months in which we have given the parties a
legitimate

breathing space to solidify peace, whether they have done so or
not? Or will

we declare victory after we have built up the Muslim army enough
so that

there will be a stable balance of power among the three parties?
There has

always been a trade-off in the Balkans between stability and
justice. Which

is our objective?



Finally, a question for Clinton: In traveling around this
country I am sure

you have noticed that not only is there no public enthusiasm for
this

mission, there is virtually no public understanding of it. Even
those

inclined to support you on this aren't quite sure why.



The stakes for you could not be higher. If this peace mission
succeeds, your

whole foreign policy will be judged very differently than it has
been up to

now. But if you can't get the public's support for this mission,
or if this

mission fails on the ground because it turns out not to have
been either

limited or clearly defined, everything else you've achieved in
foreign policy

will be forgotten.



Putting 20,000 U.S. troops into a risky peacekeeping role in the
Balkans,

with relations with NATO and Russia on the line, is a major
foreign policy

endeavor. To make it a success will require you to exhibit
something that you

have never exhibited before - a sustained, personal involvement
with foreign

policy. That is the only way you can sell this.



But first, you have to tell us exactly what you're selling.







-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------

                  B o s N e t  - November 22, 1995

==========================================



NY TIMES...11/22:

EDITORIAL: PEACE IN BOSNIA



c.1995 N.Y. Times News Service



If the commitments made Tuesday in Ohio are honored in Balkan
cities and

villages in the months ahead, Europe's worst conflict since
World War II will

come to an end. It will not be a moment too soon. As President
Clinton said

in announcing a peace agreement, ``the people of Bosnia finally
have a chance

to turn from the horror of war to the promise of peace.''



A brutal war it has been. During 43 months of combat and ethnic
violence,

over a quarter of a million people died, and 2 million were
forced to flee

their homes. Thousands of civilians were killed or tortured in a
succession

of sickening atrocities.



The peace initialed Tuesday by the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and
Croatia was

not easy to reach and will be difficult to enforce.



It represents the imperfect political resolution of a conflict
that, while

launched by cynical politicians, quickly brought into play
ancient ethnic

animosities. As such it is a fragile peace, one that will
require the support

not only of the peoples of Bosnia but of America and the rest of
the world.



Though Bosnia nominally remains a unified country within its
previous

borders, it has in effect been sliced into two or more pieces.



Half its territory will remain for now under the control of the
Bosnian Serb

forces that seized it early in the war. The other half is
allocated to an

unstable federation of Muslim-led government forces and Croatian
militias

that have been at odds in the past and could become so again.



The best hope is that given time, and the removal from the
political scene of

the indicted war criminals who have now been barred from office,
the country

could eventually be united again.



The Bosnian presidency, parliament and other institutions of
national

government that now exist mainly on paper might then exercise
real power. It

is just as likely that the fragmentation of Bosnia will worsen.
But that

would not necessarily mean a resumption of warfare.



Americans can take justified pride in Washington's leading role
in bringing

about a settlement. By deciding earlier this year to commit its
prestige and

power to achieving the peace that had for so long eluded
European mediators,

the Clinton administration has reclaimed leadership in Atlantic
affairs.



Special credit in the diplomatic endgame goes to Assistant
Secretary of State

Richard Holbrooke, who seized on a turn in military fortunes to
get the

parties into serious negotiations, and Secretary of State Warren
Christopher,

who shepherded this month's peace conference in Dayton, Ohio, to
a successful

conclusion.



There is little time for congratulations. Difficult and
dangerous tasks lie

ahead, beginning with the issue of sending American ground
troops to help

enforce the peace. Logistically, this deployment could begin as
soon as 96

hours after the peace agreement is signed, most likely in Paris
next month.



But before any troops are sent, Clinton must make the case to
Congress and

the American people that this mission is necessary and prudent.



It is both. Having brought the combatants this far, Washington
cannot now

walk away from the peace it brokered. NATO should help secure
the peace. The

mission the president has in mind would operate under unified
NATO command,

with an American general at the head. The force would consist of
at least

60,000 well-armed NATO troops, about 20,000 of them American.



The rules of engagement would permit firm and immediate
responses to any

threat. Nation-building tasks are wisely not included. There
would be a

December 1996 target date for withdrawal.



Before proceeding, the president has promised to consult with
Congress and

seek its support. That is not quite enough. Formal congressional
approval

must be a condition for American participation. It would
undermine the peace,

and be unfair to the American troops, to send them to Bosnia
without

congressional authorization.



The initial response of congressional leaders has been cautious.
But even

skeptics suggest they are ready to listen seriously to the
president's

arguments. It is up to Clinton to be as persuasive to the
American people as

his diplomats proved to be with the Balkan leaders.





