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

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 229, 27 November 1995



BOSNIAN SERBS ACCEPT DAYTON AGREEMENT. Serbian President Slobodan

Milosevic gathered together top Serbian, Montenegrin, rump
Yugoslav, and

Bosnian Serb leaders outside Belgrade on 23 November. The
Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung wrote two days later that Bosnian Serb chief
Radovan

Karadzic and his associates accepted the Dayton agreement, which

parliamentary speaker Momcilo Krajisnik had earlier criticized.
Karadzic

said after the Belgrade meeting that the peace accord was
"painful" for

his people but that he would seek to obtain changes by "political

means," not military ones. According to the Dayton text,
Milosevic is

obliged to ensure that the Bosnian Serbs comply with it. --
Patrick

Moore



BOSNIAN SERBS THREATEN "A NEW BEIRUT." Bosnian Serbs, while
accepting

the Dayton peace plan, have recently staged protests against

establishing a unified city administration for Sarajevo.
Karadzic met

with Bosnian Serb leaders on 26 November, and international media

reported that the Serbs insisted that parts of the Dayton
agreement

dealing with Sarajevo and with the international peace force be

renegotiated. German media quoted him as saying his troops will
stay in

place until this happens. Karadzic told BBC TV that without his
approval

the treaty is "worth nothing," and he threatened that Sarajevo
could

become "a new Beirut in Europe." BBC Radio commented that he was
"trying

to scare the U.S. Congress" into blocking plans to send 20,000
troops to

Bosnia and thereby trying to upset the entire peace agreement.
Mlada

fronta Dnes wrote on 27 November that the Bosnian Serbs are
determined

not to yield on Sarajevo and will "defend every house" rather
than give

up some districts currently under their control. -- Patrick Moore



WHAT NOW FOR BOSNIAN SERBS? Top U.S. officials made it clear on
26

November that the Dayton agreement will not be renegotiated and
that

Karadzic, as an indicted war criminal, could face arrest if he
tries to

attend the signing in Paris. Madeleine Albright, the U.S.
ambassador to

the United Nations, told AFP: "If there is any kind of [armed]
action

[on the ground in Bosnia] by rogue elements, they are going to
get

whacked." Speculation has been rife that Milosevic might deal
with the

problem of war criminals by forcing Karadzic into retirement and

offering General Ratko Mladic a top post in the rump Yugoslav
army,

where he would still be in a position to influence Bosnian
affairs.

Milosevic might then offer formal leadership of the Bosnian
Serbs to

someone from Banja Luka or to Nikola Koljevic. The latter is a
professor

who is often portrayed as a moderate, but whom former U.S.
Ambassador

Warren Zimmermann described in Foreign Affairs as "directing
artillery

fire on the civilian population of Sarajevo." -- Patrick Moore



IS SERBIA STILL MANUFACTURING POISON GAS? The BBC, citing ITV's
program

"World in Action," reported on 26 November that Serbia is
continuing to

produce sarin, a poison nerve gas, raising questions about its
possible

future use and why Belgrade apparently did not make it available
to the

Bosnian Serbs. In other news, ultranationalist leaders in Serbia

continue to criticize Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic for
his role

at the Dayton peace talks. Nasa Borba on 24 November quoted
Vojislav

Seselj, leader of the Serbian Radical Party and accused war
criminal, as

dubbing the peace accord "the greatest sellout and the greatest
defeat

ever in history of our people." He added that Serbs were
"disappointed"

with the deal. -- Stan Markotich



CROATIAN TROOPS TORCHING MRKONJIC GRAD. The Frankfurter
Allgemeine

Zeitung on 27 November reported that uniformed Croats are
systematically

looting and burning properties in Mrkonjic Grad and surrounding
areas.

Croatian forces took the region in the weeks before the peace
conference

but will return it to the Serbs rather than yield land to them
along the

northern supply corridor. The daily also wrote about the
extensive

devastation of Roman Catholic churches and other property in
Croatia by

the Krajina Serbs during the four years of their uprising. --
Patrick

Moore



PREVLAKA PENINSULA AT CENTER OF CROATIAN CONTROVERSY. All local

opposition parties from the Dubrovnik region on 26 November
protested

that the possible swap of the Prevlaka peninsula, which controls
access

to Montenegro's Bay of Kotor, for the Serb-controlled Dubrovnik

hinterland, Nasa Borba reported the next day. Meanwhile,
Vecernji list

and Slobodna Dalmacija recently published interviews with
Minister of

Foreign Affairs Mate Granic saying that Croatia emerged from
Dayton with

its international borders intact, referring to Prevlaka and
eastern

Slavonia. He said that the Serbs and Montenegrins demanded
certain

"territorial swaps" but that no discussions can start before both

Croatia and rump Yugoslavia officially recognize each other. --
Daria

Sito Sucic



PERRY IN MACEDONIA. U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, during
his

visit to Macedonia on 23-24 November, said that 25 countries
have so far

offered to contribute troops to the 60,000-strong peacekeeping
force for

Bosnia, international agencies reported. He added that the
mainly NATO

force would be deployed very quickly after the signing of a peace

agreement in Paris in early December and that there would be
enough

troops in Bosnia within weeks to carry out essential tasks.
Perry also

met with Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov, who appeared in
public for

the first time since the assassination attempt on 3 October.
Perry was

accompanied by the defense ministers of Denmark, Finland,
Norway, and

Sweden, which have 1,100 peacekeeping troops deployed in
Macedonia. --

Fabian Schmidt



SLOVENIA TO BECOME MEMBER OF FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION. Ljubljana
on 25

November signed an agreement, to go into effect on 1 January,
whereby

Slovenia will become a member of the Central European Free Trade

Agreement. Slovenia joins the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and

Slovakia in CEFTA. Reuters quoted Slovenian Minister of Economic

Relations and Development Janko Dezelak as saying "we expect
trade with

CEFTA members will significantly increase as a result of the
agreement."

-- Stan Markotich





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

OMRI DAILY DIGEST 28 November 1995





CLINTON SAYS U.S. MUST LEAD IN BOSNIA. President Bill Clinton

made a 20-minute televized address on 27 November aimed at

securing popular and congressional support for his plans to send

20,000 troops to Bosnia. He acknowledged there would be losses
but

stressed that the U.S. was not trying to police the world but
rather

seeking to bring peace to the "very heart of Europe." The
president

argued that "in fulfilling this mission, we will have the chance
to help

stop the killing of innocent civilians, and especially children,
and, at

the same time, bring stability to central Europe, a region of
the world

that is vital to our national interests." Using a combination of
moral

and strategic arguments, he told his audience that the troops'
task

would be clear-cut, that America's friends and allies needed it
to

lead, and that worse conflicts would follow if the U.S. tried to
shirk

its responsibilities now. * Patrick Moore



KARADZIC WARNS THAT SARAJEVO WILL BE EITHER BERLIN OR

BEIRUT. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on 28 November that

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has said again that
partition of

the Bosnian capital is essential for peace. He argued that if it
were

not divided like Cold War-era Berlin, it would bleed like
Beirut. He

also warned that a "bloodbath" would result if anyone attempted
to

arrest him or other internationally wanted Bosnian Serb war

criminals. Nasa Borba quoted him as arguing that "the Dayton

conference recognized our struggle for freedom and our state as
well.

I am the legal and official chief of state." He also claimed
that he and

his people have nothing to do with war crimes: "At the beginning
of

the war I ordered my officers to uphold the Geneva conventions
[on

the conduct of war]. I am sure that my army did not commit
crimes."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung added that Bosnian Serb

commander General Ratko Mladic issued a statement that his army

"would not give up Sarajevo." * Patrick Moore



BOSNIAN PRESIDENT SAYS SERBIAN LEADER WANTS TO SPREAD

WAR. Hina on 27 November quoted Bosnian President Alija

Izetbegovic as saying that Karadzic was simply trying to scare
world

opinion with his threats. Izetbegovic added that "my opinion is
that

Karadzic is afraid of peace and wants to spread the war, but
this time

by using the Serbian people [whom he has brought out to

demonstrate]." Nasa Borba on 28tNovember cited Bosnian Foreign

Minister Muhamed Sacirbey as arguing that Karadzic's attitudes

could lead to a continuation of the war. * Patrick Moore



BITTERNESS IN CROATIA OVER DAYTON AGREEMENT. Nasa Borba on

28 November also reported on the general dissatifaction among

Croats with the treaty, which is widely seen as "legalizing [the
results

of] ethnic cleansing," as Cardinal Vinko Puljic put it. Vecernji
list

added that people in the Posavina region of northern Bosnia are

especially disappointed and that an assembly of refugees from
there

called the agreement "illegitimate and illegal." AFP reported
that

some 700 refugees have meanwhile "laid siege" to Zagreb city
hall in

protest and demanded that President Franjo Tudjman meet with

them. * Patrick Moore



REFUGEES RETURN TO VELIKA KLADUSA. Attempts are under way to

return the 20,000 refugees from Kuplensko in Croatia to the
Velika

Kladusa region in northwestern Bosnia. But there were only 600

takers by 26 November, when more than 200 people went, Vecernji

List reported next day. The refugees are followers of local
kingpin

Fikret Abdic and are unwelcome in Croatia and politically at odds

with the Bosnian authorities. The interior ministers of Bosnia,
Croatia,

and Turkey have agreed to work together to enable them to return

home safely. The ministers visited both Kuplensko and the Velika

Kladusa area to plan deployment of a joint police force. * Daria
Sito

Sucic



NATO MILITARY COMMITTEE DECIDES ON DEPLOYMENT PLAN. The

NATO Military Committee on 27 November decided on an operations

plan for the deployment of troops in Bosnia, Western agencies

reported. But France, which is not a member of NATO's integrated

military structure, is resisting turning over command of the

operation to U.S. General George Joulwan, NATO supreme commander,

until the promised 20,000-strong U.S. contingent arrives, the

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported the next day. This could

threaten the beginning of NATO deployment, which is scheduled to

take place after the formal signing of the peace treaty in Paris

probably in mid-December. The NATO foreign ministers are expected

to approve the operations plan at their meeting scheduled for 5-6

December. Under the plan, NATO forces will not be required to
wait

until being fired on before shooting. * Michael Mihalka.



FUEL PRICES DROPPING ON SERBIAN BLACK MARKET. Bulgarian

media on 28 November report that since sanctions have been eased

against the rump Yugoslavia, the black market rates for vital

commodities is tumbling. Most notably affected is the price of

gasoline, which now sells at the equivalent of $0.56. Rump
Yugoslav

media report that large quantities of domestic fuel products are
now

on sale, partly in response to an anticipated influx of nearly
50,000

tons of foreign fuel deliveries. * Stan Markotich





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

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 231, 29 November 1995



PRO-PALE SERBS TO LEAVE SARAJEVO? UN officials in Sarajevo said
tens of

thousands of Bosnian Serbs would rather leave than live in the
Muslim-

Croat Federation, Nasa Borba reported on 28 November. A UNHCR
spokesman

estimated that 40,000-60,000 Serbs live in the Serb-controlled
part of

the city (Bosnian Serb leaders put the figure at
120,000-150,000). He

added that they do not trust the Bosnian government, despite its
call

for Serbian civilians to stay in their homes. It is unclear how
the

Bosnian government intends to differentiate between those who
actively

participated in the war and those who did not. Meanwhile,
pro-government

Serbs in Sarajevo have urged fellow Serbs in the Pale-controlled
parts

of Sarajevo to accept the Dayton agreement and not be
manipulated by

Pale, the BBC reported, quoting Radio Sarajevo. -- Daria Sito
Sucic



KARADZIC SAYS HE BACKS DAYTON AGREEMENT. Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan

Karadzic told CNN on 28 November that he supports the peace
pact. He

added, however, that time would be needed for its implementation
and

that his government would have to build new housing for Serbs
from

Sarajevo and other areas assigned to the Croat-Muslim
federation. He

used a conciliatory tone and avoided the bluster and references
to

bloodbaths that characterized his spate of interviews in recent
days.

Karadzic said that U.S. troops did not have to worry about
"incidents"

if they "came as friends." -- Patrick Moore



GERMAN CABINET DECIDES TO SEND TROOPS TO BOSNIA. The German
cabinet on

28 November decided to send 4,000 troops to the former
Yugoslavia,

Western agencies reported the next day. The troops will consist
largely

of auxiliary personnel, including medical and transport units,
and for

the first time will be guarded by their own troops. To date,
Germany has

avoided sending combat troops to the former Yugoslavia because of

sensitivities over World War II. The troops will be based in
Croatia.

The Bundestag is expected to endorse the cabinet's decision next
week.

The opposition Social Democrats have said they will vote for the

deployment. -- Michael Mihalka



TURKISH PREMIER IN BOSNIAN CAPITAL. Tansu Ciller on 28 November
paid a

one-day working visit to Sarajevo aimed at investigating how
Turkey can

contribute to Bosnia's postwar reconstruction, international
media

reported. She noted that Turkey was prepared to help train
Bosnian

soldiers, and she opened a branch office of the Turkish Foreign

Ministry, to be run by the Turkish Cooperation and Development
Agency.

Her visit is part of an effort to highlight Turkey's ties to
Bosnian

Muslims in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for 24

December. -- Lowell Bezanis



SERBIAN PRESIDENT PURGES PARTY OF "HARDLINERS." Tanjug on 28
November

reported that a number of top-level nationalist leaders of the
ruling

Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) were removed from their posts on
the eve

of the rump Yugoslavia's national holiday. According to the news
agency,

three prominent hardliners were sacked from executive ranks to be

replaced by purported moderates. Mihailo Markovic and Borisav
Jovic,

long-time aides of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic who
helped found

the party, were removed as vice presidents, while Milorad
Vucelic was

ousted as leader of the SPS in the parliament. Replacing them are

Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, former Premier Nikola
Sainovic, and

federal President Zoran Lilic. AFP reported that Jovic said in an

interview with Radio B 92 that he had no idea what prompted the

dismissals. -- Stan Markotich



CROATIAN UPDATE. The Croatian Sabor (the lower house of the
parliament)

on 28 November unanimously elected Vlatko Pavletic as its
speaker,

Vjesnik reported. The new government won a vote of confidence by
77 to

five with 39 abstentions. Hina reported that opposition parties

criticized the government for failing to present its economic
program

and demanded that the Sabor discuss the Dayton peace agreement.
Also on

28 November, Pavletic received a delegation of Bosnian Posavina

expellees, who staged a protest rally outside Zagreb's town
hall. Some

170,000 Croats lived in Bosnian Posavina before the war; about
3,000

Muslims and Croats are estimated to have lost their lives in its

defense. -- Daria Sito Sucic



DID TUDJMAN SELL OUT POSAVINA CROATS? Evidence continues to
mount that

the Croats at the Dayton conference made little or no effort to
regain

the Posavina. Bosnian Croat leader Kresimir Zubak told Novi list
on 29

November that the delegation split over the Posavina question.
Zubak is

from northern Bosnia and opposes the agreement. Hina quoted
Bosnian

Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic as saying that Serbian President
Slobodan

Milosevic got up at the opening session and "in front of
everybody said

that there existed an agreement with the Croats about the area
and that

there was nothing left to discuss." Silajdzic added that the
Americans

provided the Croat-Muslim federation with crucial support on the

questions of Sarajevo, Gorazde, and the constitution, but "where
there

was no American support, we didn't get what we wanted." -Patrick
Moore



SLOVENIA OPPOSES BELGRADE'S ATTEMPTS TO ASSERT JURISDICTION OVER
ASSETS.

Hina on 28 November reported that representatives from Bosnia-

Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia met in Ljubljana to

discuss and coordinate strategies aimed at countering Belgrade's
efforts

to assert control over access to foreign assets once held by the
former

Yugoslavia. With the recent suspension of sanctions, Belgrade is

apparently attempting to gain control over foreign-currency and
gold

reserves. Slovenia's Foreign Minister Zoran Thaler said "the
succession

issue should be discussed apart from the peace process. It has
nothing

to with war in Bosnia." He also observed that all of the Yugoslav

successor states should have an equal say over the contested
assets. --

Stan Markotich



UKRAINE ON SENDING TROOPS TO BOSNIA, ANGOLA. Defense Minister
Valerii

Shmarov told a news conference on 27 November that Ukraine is
willing to

send Ukrainian peacekeepers to enforce the Dayton accord in
Bosnia, but

not under NATO command, UNIAN reported. He said Kiev has
proposed to

place Ukrainian troops under separate French command, although
NATO

would retain overall control of the mission. Shmarov also said
that

Ukraine has agreed to a UN proposal to send 1,200 engineers to
Angola.

Meanwhile, international agencies reported Shmarov as saying
Kiev would

follow Moscow's lead and seek relief from some restrictions in
the 1990

CFE treaty. While Ukraine has met most CFE targets in arms cuts
and

troop reductions, the defense minister hopes to strengthen its
military

presence on the southern flank, bordering the Black Sea,
Moldova, and

Romania. -- Chrystyna Lapychak



HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES TRANSIT OF NATO TROOPS. The
Hungarian

parliament on 28 November overwhelmingly gave its assent for the
Nato

Implementation Force (IFOR) to transit Hungarian territory,
establish

logistics bases, and use Hungarian airspace and designated
airports

before performing peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, Hungarian
media

reported. MTI quotes "reliable sources" as saying that a
technical team

of 200-300 Hungarian soldiers will take part in the peacekeeping

operations by building and guarding a bridge along a stretch of
the Sava

River. NATO requested the participation of Hungarian troops when
Foreign

Minister Laszlo Kovacs visited Brussels last week. In an opinion
poll

conducted in Hungary the same day, the majority of respondents
were

opposed to the idea. -- Zsofia Szilagyi



RUSSIA TO HAVE A VOICE IN NATO BOSNIAN DECISIONS. NATO agreed on
28

November to give Russia a voice--but not a veto--over the
political

control of the Bosnian peace implementation force, Western
agencies

reported. Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and his U.S.

counterpart, William Perry, unveiled the accord at NATO
headquarters in

Brussels. Vitalii Churkin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, has been

appointed Moscow's official liaison to the North Atlantic
Council, the

body that will make the political decisions. "Everything is all
right at

this stage," Grachev said. "Now all we need is the formal
approval by

the NATO council and the Russian political leadership. I have no
doubt

that these will be approved in due time." He said that Russia
would

contribute a brigade of about 1,500 soldiers to the force and
another

1,500 to participate in civil clean-up operations. -- Doug Clarke





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

                     B o s N e t  - Dec. 5, 1995

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



NYTimes 12/05/95

VANGUARD FORCES ARRIVING IN BALKANS



By CHRIS HEDGES



c.1995 N.Y. Times News Service



ZAGREB, Croatia - Vanguard units of the 60,000-man NATO force
that is to

enforce the American-brokered peace in Bosnia arrived in Croatia
and Bosnia

on Monday.



In Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, three camouflaged British
C-130 Hercules

transport planes descended from the gray, overcast skies on
Monday to deliver

the first 28 NATO soldiers, including two Americans, to the city.



"We'll be setting up the headquarters for the bigger force to
come down,"

said Sgt. Matthew Chipman, of Beardstown, Ill., who arrived with
Sgt. Todd

Eichmann, of Kansas City, Mo.



In the Croatian port city of Split, 56 British communications
experts arrived

from Brueggen, Germany. Some will remain in Split, a major
logistics base,

while others go on to Sarajevo and Tuzla in Bosnia.



The 2,600 multinational "enabling troops" will prepare
communications

systems, plan transportation and ready supply depots before the
main

60,000-man force begins to arrive, two days after the Dec. 14
signing of the

peace agreement.



But the troops' arrival coincides with continued protests by
Serbs who reject

the peace agreement hammered out last month in Dayton, Ohio. The
Serbs say

they will refuse to surrender the neighborhoods in Sarajevo
under their

control, as the agreement requires. An assembly of Sarajevo
Serbs said on

Monday that on Dec. 12 they will hold a referendum on the
agreement.



"The assembly does not accept Muslim-Croat rule over the
territory of the

Serb city of Sarajevo," said a declaration distributed after the
meeting.



Included in the current logistics force are 735 American troops
headed for

Bosnia and 730 for Croatia, NATO officials said. All will be in
place, or on

their way, by the end of the week, these officials said.



On Sunday, President Clinton cleared the way for the first
contingents of

American soldiers to leave for the Balkans, dismissing the
Bosnian Serb

criticism.



NATO will station 20,000 American combat troops in Bosnia. The
Americans will

have 7,000 support troops in Hungary and Italy and 5,000 in
Croatia, along

with troops involved in NATO air operations in Italy.



The deployment is part of the agreement reached in Dayton to end
nearly four

years of war. The force is scheduled to be deployed in Bosnia
for a year. It

will patrol a 2{-mile-wide corridor separating the Bosnian Serb
and Bosnian

government territory and enforce the new demarcation lines.



American troops did not participate in the peacekeeping
operation in Bosnia

during the war. But the American military ran a field hospital
in Zagreb,

assisted in logistics in Bosnia and sent a small contingent of
peacekeepers

to Macedonia.



The majority of the soldiers coming into Bosnia over the coming
days will be

"wire heads," Army slang for soldiers who string up telephone
lines and set

up communications equipment. The soldiers will work primarily in
Sarajevo and

Tuzla.



The 730 American troops for Croatia will also be deployed in the
coming days.



Some 3,000 Americans are also expected to arrive by rail this
week in

Kaposvar, Hungary, to establish a logistics center and transit
point.



But the focus of American activity will be Tuzla, where the 1st
Armored

Division will have its headquarters. The logistics specialists
and engineers

in Tuzla will accelerate the repair and expansion of the Tuzla
airport in the

coming days. The former Yugoslav air base can receive the huge,
lumbering C-5

Galaxy transport aircraft that ferry in supplies and troops.



The logistics teams will also build barracks and supply depots
for the

incoming troops.



As the soldiers prepare for the arrival of the main combat
force, tensions

have clearly risen within the Bosnian Serb community.



Serbian leaders, including the Bosnian Serb commander, Gen.
Ratko Mladic,

have promised to thwart plans to turn over Serbian neighborhoods
in Sarajevo

to the Bosnian government. There have been daily protests by
Serbs around the

Bosnian capital who want the agreement renegotiated. U.N.
officials have been

harassed and their vehicles attacked, and an aid worker has been
detained.



The dispute has also set off a diplomatic disagreement. The
United States,

angered over criticisms of the agreement made by the French
general in charge

of United Nations forces in Sarajevo, put pressure on France to
recall him,

U.N. officials said.



The French general said that Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Holbrooke,

the chief negotiator, cynically pushed through a hasty peace
accord to

promote President Clinton's re-election campaign.



Gen. Jean-Rene Bachelet, who was recalled on Monday to Paris,
also said that

the Dayton accord was unfair to Serbs in Sarajevo.



===



NY Times 12/05/95

CONGRESS, WHITE HOUSE BARTER OVER BOSNIA MISSION



By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE



c.1995 N.Y. Times News Service



WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration said on Monday that it
was willing to

accept a proposal from Congress that Washington provide for
training and

arming the Bosnian Muslims, as long as the United States does
not directly

provide the arms itself.



In preparation for debate in the Senate as early as Wednesday,
Senate

Republicans on Monday were hammering out a resolution that would
restrict

American involvement in Bosnia to military matters only and that
would

provide for the arming of the Bosnian Muslims by the time
American troops

withdraw from the NATO peacekeeping force in a year.



President Clinton does not need the support of Congress for the
mission, but

it would prefer to have it.



The Clinton administration is ready to support both
propositions, a White

House official said, provided the resolution does not commit the
United

States to arming the Bosnians directly, so that it can maintain
its position

of neutrality.



The White House official said the administration would assess
the relative

strength of the Bosnian Muslims 180 days after the peace accord
is signed,

which is scheduled to take place Dec. 14 in Paris.



"If the Bosnians are still in a catch-up situation, we will
assist them in

coordinating other nations to supply weapons and training," the
official

said. "Our assumption is that some of the training may be done
through

contractors, which would not exclude U.S. contractors."



As the first contingent of Americans began arriving in Bosnia on
Monday, it

was clear that Congress was virtually powerless to halt the
mission, and

pressure built on Capitol Hill to express support for the
troops. But Sen.

Bob Dole, the majority leader, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
said they

wanted to try to limit the mission as much as they could.



"We're going over the language now," McCain said. "We hope by
tomorrow

we'd have something we can shop around to Republicans, the
administration,

and Democrats."



He said "the most contentious" part of the resolution concerned
arming the

Bosnian Muslims, but he said he expected language could be
worked out to

accommodate both sides.



But a top Republican aide in the Senate said: "We need something
more than

these vague statements about unspecified third parties arming
and training.

Obviously, there are a lot of ways this can be done, but if the
United States

does not lead the effort, it's not going to happen."



The administration will press its case on Tuesday on Capitol
Hill, with

Richard Holbrook, assistant secretary of state, leading a
delegation to a

closed hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.



Sentiment in the House is more hostile to the overall
proposition of sending

American forces to the Balkans. The House is also more inclined
to follow the

Senate, which generally leads in foreign affairs.



"The mood here is to let the Senate go first, then act
accordingly," said a

Republican leadership aide.



Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said on Monday that, despite
earlier

statements from the leadership that there would be no vote
because House

opposition to American participation in the Bosnian mission was
so strong, he

expected a vote but was not sure when.



But even House Democrats have been reluctant to back the
president.



"At this point, I'm not sure where the votes are," said Rep.
James P.

Moran, D-Va., a member of the International Relations Committee.

_________________________________________________________________
_______



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

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

and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions.



              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>





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

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 236, 6 December 1995



NO NATO, EU ENLARGEMENT DISCUSSIONS BEFORE 1997. NATO foreign
ministers

on 5 December decided to move cautiously on enlargement, Western

agencies reported. They adopted a three-part plan providing for

extensive talks with potential applicants, strengthening the
Partnership

for Peace program, and reviewing internal changes necessary for

enlargement. No discussions on membership will take place before
1997

under this program, largely owing to concerns about control over
the

military in some potential member countries, relations with
Russia, and

the decision to proceed with the Bosnian operation (see below).

Meanwhile, President of the European Parliament Karl Haensch,
speaking

in Warsaw on 5 December, said negotiations on EU enlargement
will likely

begin in 1997, after the EU's intergovernmental conference. But
the

current holder of the EU's rotating Presidency, Spanish Prime
Minister

Felipe Gonzalez, warned the same day in London that the EU
currently has

no strategy for enlargement. -- Michael Mihalka



POLAND TO SEND BATTALION TO BOSNIA. The Polish government on 5
December

decided to send a 660-strong battalion of "Red Berets"
volunteers to

Bosnia at the beginning of January. The soldiers will be located
west of

Tuzla and will serve within the Nordic Brigade (Finland, Sweden,

Denmark, and Norway), which is to be under the First U.S. Armored

Division, Polish dailies reported on 6 December. -- Dagmar
Mroziewicz



NATO MINISTERS BACK BOSNIA PLAN. NATO foreign and defense
ministers,

meeting together for the first time since 1979, endorsed on 5
December

the plan to send 60,000 troops to Bosnia, Western agencies
reported. All

NATO countries and at least 14 non-NATO countries (Austria, the
Czech

Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan,

Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and Ukraine) are
expected to

participate. Talks are continuing with Bangladesh, Egypt, and
Malaysia.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said NATO forces will

apprehend war crime suspects "if they do something to obstruct
the

process" of ensuring peace in Bosnia, but he added NATO will not
seek

them out. Meanwhile, the British Defense Secretary Malcolm
Rifkind

echoed French concerns by noting that "practical measures"
should be

taken to meet the concerns of the Bosnian Serbs in Sarajevo,
which has

been assigned to the Bosnian-Croat federation. -- Michael Mihalka



MILOSEVIC TO DUMP KARADZIC SOON? Beta on 5 December quoted
Bosnian Serb

sources as saying that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will
oust

Radovan Karadzic from the Bosnian Serb leadership around the
time of the

Paris conference, which is slated for 14 December. The peace
accord

prohibits indicted war criminals like Karadzic and his military

commander Ratko Mladic from holding public office. Milosevic is
obliged

to carry out the agreement. Speculation on a successor for
Karadzic

centers on the Banja Luka leadership and on Karadzic's
vice-president,

Nikola Koljevic. The latter is a professor who is often
portrayed as a

moderate but whom former U.S. Ambassador Warren Zimmermann
described in

Foreign Affairs as "directing artillery fire on the civilian
population

of Sarajevo." -- Patrick Moore



UN WORKING TO REASSURE SARAJEVO SERBS. The UN has opened its
first

offices in Sarajevo suburbs now controlled by Pale but slated for

Bosnian government administration by the Dayton accord. Some
60,000-

70,000 Serbs will then join a similar number of Sarajevo Serbs
who spent

the war on the government side and at the receiving end of
Mladic's

guns. A UN spokesman said that the peace agreement is final and
that

Karadzic's planned referendum on 12 December will have no
bearing, Hina

reported on 5 December. The UN is trying to build confidence
among the

Serbs of Grbavica and Ilidza despite Pale's attempt to portray an

atmosphere of panic, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted.
Meanwhile

in Zagreb, Hina said that Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa met with
Jadranko

Prlic, prime minister of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna,
to

discuss the Dayton agreement and the role of Prlic's people in

implementing it. -- Patrick Moore



DEEP DIVISION WITHIN RANKS OF SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTY? BETA on 5

December reported on statements made at a press conference by
two ousted

high-profile members of the opposition Democratic Party (DS),
led by

Zoran Djindjic. Dragoljub Micunovic, former party president and
member

of the federal legislature, said his expulsion on 2 December,
along with

that of his colleague Velimir Simonovic, is unlikely to be
accepted

passively by the majority of the party's rank-and-file, who, he
said,

will "make their voices heard" on the issue. Micunovic added
that the

expulsions indicate Djindjic's resolve "to amputate the
peacemaking part

of the party." Simonovic also added that "Djindjic will not
succeed in

shutting [us] out of political life." Micunovic maintained that
DS

members have already approached him about founding a rival
party, but he

insisted that no exercise in "fragmenting" the DS will be
undertaken at

present. -- Stan Markotich



BUKOSHI INSISTS ON INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO. International
agencies on 5

December quoted Kosovar shadow-state Prime Minister Bujar
Bukoshi as

saying that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo will never give up their
demand

for independence and as rejecting the idea of reestablishing the

province's autonomy. Bukoshi noted that "there will be no change
in our

political attitude toward the future of Kosovo." He was
attending the

congress of the Albanian Christian Democratic Party in Tirana.
Bukoshi

stressed that impatience in Kosovo is growing and that if the
"Albanians

could see that the political means to change their destiny are
having no

effect, the situation might get out of control." -- Fabian
Schmidt



BATTLE OVER ZAGREB ASSEMBLY CONTINUES. Zdravko Tomac, elected
speaker of

the municipal assembly, and Goran Granic, elected mayor of
Zagreb, held

a press conference on 5 December at which they stressed their
resolve to

retain their posts by asking the Constitutional Court to
"protect their

rights," Hina reported. This latest action was prompted by the
Croatian

government's 4 December ruling that no decisions taken by the

opposition-dominated Zagreb city and county assemblies are valid
because

these bodies no longer had a two-thirds quorum when Croatian
Democratic

Community (HDZ) deputies filed out the municipal assembly on 1
December.

-- Stan Markotich





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

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 238, 8 December 1995



BOSNIAN SERBS TORCH, LOOT GORAZDE VILLAGES. Bosnian Serbs are
torching

and looting houses in an area near Gorazde slated to pass to
government

control, RFE/RL and Nasa Borba reported on 7-8 December. The BBC
on 8

December reported that about 200 Bosnian Serbs from Ustikolina,
outside

Gorazde, are moving to Foca rather than live under government
control.

Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb forces on 7 December agreed to permit
free

movement of traffic, after blocking UN-escorted civilian convoys
to

Gorazde earlier this week, Reuters reported the next day. The
move came

after the UNPROFOR commander had said he would consider the use
of Rapid

Reaction Force artillery if they continued to block traffic.
Access to

Gorazde is especially important since its 60,000 residents are

surrounded by Bosnian Serbs and are entirely dependent on
outside aid

for survival. -- Daria Sito Sucic



PERRY SAYS U.S. IS NOT NEUTRAL OVER BOSNIA. Secretary of Defense
William

Perry said "we believe that the Bosnian government and people
have

suffered atrocities and killings, and we don't approach
[implementing

the Dayton peace agreement] as psychologically neutral." He
added that

the U.S. will nonetheless try to be "evenhanded," the
International

Herald Tribune reported on 8 December. Monitor Radio the previous

evening said "thousands of Bosnian Serbs stomped on the American
flag"

in a demonstration that Nasa Borba on 8 December called "well

organized." The BBC reported that U.S. diplomats are urging the
Bosnian

government to send home the roughly 2,000 Islamic fighters from
around

the Muslim world. The tough irregulars are seen likely to cause
problems

for implementing the peace settlement. -- Patrick Moore



ARMING MUSLIMS IS CENTRAL TO U.S. STRATEGY IN BOSNIA. As the
deployment

of NATO troops in the former Yugoslavia gathers pace, the arming
of the

Bosnian government has become a central element in the Clinton

administration's strategy to gain U.S. congressional support for
the

deployment of American troops to the region, Western agencies
reported.

Addressing the U.S. Senate on 6 December, Assistant Secretary of
State

Richard Holbrooke said the U.S. has assured the Bosnian
government in

Dayton that the US "will lead an international effort to ensure
that the

Bosnians have what they need to defend themselves adequately
when IFOR

[the NATO implementation force] leaves." He added that the U.S.
will not

train troops but will rely on "third parties" such as the private

company MPRI, composed of retired U.S. officers, who helped train

Croatian forces. -- Michael Mihalka



SERBIA REJECTS FRENCH WARNING OVER PILOTS. The rump Yugoslav
Foreign

Ministry rebuffed the French demand that President Slobodan
Milosevic

ensure the quick return of the two downed aviators. The Serbian

statement rejected "all tendentious interpretations of the
incident."

The International Herald Tribune on 8 December also reported
that the UN

has protested the eviction of 60 Muslim families by the Serbs in

northern Bosnia. Hina the previous day said that a joint
commission for

missing persons has been set up by Belgrade and Zagreb and has
already

begun work. -- Patrick Moore



SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER BACKS PEACE ACCORD. Vuk Draskovic,
leader of

the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), has become the first head of
a major

Serbian opposition party to back the Dayton peace plan for
Bosnia. Nasa

Borba on 8 December published an article by Draskovic in which he

explained his position by saying "I do not want to be associated
with

the charges that in Dayton [Serbian President Slobodan]
Milosevic sold

out the Serbs on that side of the Drina and shamed the ones on
this side

of the Drina." He went on to write that the current peace "is
neither

righteous nor base. It is woven from blood and tears, from
illusions and

deceit . . . , from ideological and mafia-backed patriotism . .
. and

from wounds that will not be able to heal for a long time to
come. . . .

But this peace is the one outlet, the only hope and chance, that
our

future generations will not be born into a life [world] that
resembles

ours." -- Stan Markotich



RUGOVA ASKS U.S. FOR MEDIATION IN KOSOVO CONFLICT. Kosovar
shadow-state

President Ibrahim Rugova has asked U.S. secretary of State Warren

Christopher to mediate in the Kosovo conflict. After meeting with

Christopher in Washington on 7 December, Rugova said he had
received a

pledge of support. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns
pointed out

that the U.S. has pressed Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to

respect the rights of the Albanian majority and that "we have a
general

assurance from the Serbs that the rights of the Albanian
community will

be respected," Reuters reported on 7 December. -- Fabian Schmidt



"OIL MEN ARE FASTER THAN STATES." This is how Slobodna Dalmacija
on 7

December described a secretive meeting two days earlier between

representatives of the Croatian oil company INA and its Serbian

counterpart, Jugopetrol. The daily said that the two oil giants
are

anxious to start doing business again even before relations
between

Zagreb and Belgrade have been formally normalized. In
particular, the

firms want to see the Adriatic oil pipeline reopened "as soon as

possible." This quick readiness to do business suggests that the
war has

been not the inevitable result of "ancient hatreds" but rather
about

land, money, and power. -- Patrick Moore



CROATIA TO COOPERATE WITH HAGUE-BASED TRIBUNAL. Croatian
Minister of

Foreign Affairs Mate Granic has said that Croatia wants to
cooperate

with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia and

will act in accordance with its requests regarding Dario Kordic,
who has

been charged with war crimes. He added, however, that Croatia
will also

try to defend him, RFE/RL and BETA reported on 7 December.
According to

Granic, Kordic has shown his understanding of the seriousness of
the

charges by resigning as head of the Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ)

in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Granic added that he is negotiating with
Justice

Richard Goldstone on the possibility of Kordic's remaining in
Croatia

while defending himself. -- Daria Sito Sucic



BULGARIA WILL PROVIDE AID, BUT NO TROOPS TO EX-YUGOSLAVIA.
Bulgarian

Deputy Foreign Minister Stefan Staykov on 7 December said his
country

will provide medical and technical aid to the peacekeeping
forces in the

former Yugoslavia but has no plans to send military personnel,
Reuters

reported. Staykov also announced that Bulgaria and rump
Yugoslavia next

week will sign agreements on economic cooperation and air traffic

control. -- Stefan Krause





