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

TODAY'S ISSUES==> TOPIC: MILITARY & ARMS      Ref: CGAK1473
Date: 12/06/95 From: STEVE SCHULTZ (Leader)                     
          Time: 04:24pm \/To: ALL                               
                 (Read 0 times) Subj: OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR
UPDATE

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole yesterday postponed until
next week a debate on a resolution supporting U.S. troop
deployment to Bosnia. Dole has so far been unable to convince
about two dozen senators to support the resolution. Among them
are Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.),
and the leader of the group, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

Two U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III aircraft from
Charleston A.F.B., S.C., flew to Germany and Italy Monday in
support of Operation Provide Promise. On board were 35 aerial
port specialists and more than 104,000 pounds of support
equipment. It is likely that after supporting the airlift, the
personnel and aircraft will operate as part of Operation Joint
Endeavor. The aircraft and personnel are from the 437th Airlift
Wing, 15th Air Force. (A.F.N.S. and Katharine Q. Seelye/N.Y.T.)

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

TODAY'S ISSUES==> TOPIC: MILITARY & ARMS      Ref: CGAK2082
Date: 12/06/95 From: STEVE SCHULTZ (Leader)                     
          Time: 04:34pm \/To: ALL                               
                 (Read 0 times) Subj: FRANCE REJOINING N.A.T.O.
MILITARILY

France said yesterday that it would resume active participation
in N.A.T.O.'s military wing almost 30 years aafter Charles de
Gaulle pulled the country out of the military command and
ordered U.S. forces out of France. In effect, France's position
in N.A.T.O. is now close to Spain's. Spain is fully involved in
military planning, but does not place its forces under N.A.T.O.
command in peacetime. France does not participate in the Nuclear
Planning Group, and it seems that will remain so.

France recently has said that the European unified defense force
should be embodied in the W.E.U., but now is chaning that stance
and intends to move closer to N.A.T.O. if yesterday's
announcement goes through. French Foreign Minister Herve de
Charette said that France wants to establish in N.A.T.O. "a
European pillar of defense." The W.E.U. would be "the European
pillar of the Alliance." (Roger Cohen/N.Y.T.)





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

                            [OMRI Daily Digest]

                      Vol. 1, No. 237, 7 December 1995



DEPLOYMENT OF NATO TROOPS IN BOSNIA GETS UNDER WAY. The first
U.S. military

flight landed in Tuzla on 6 December, bringing a 12-member
liaison team

tasked with maintaining a permanent link with UN troops on the
ground until

they are replaced by NATO forces, Reuters reported. According to

international media on 7 December, 10 planes arrived in Sarajevo
the

previous day, despite delays owing to heavy snow. Of the more
than 700

military personnel the U.S. is contributing to NATO's vanguard
in Bosnia,

only 41 had arrived by 6 December--the delay being explained by
the

political sensitivity of having U.S. troops arrive before the
Bosnia peace

accord is signed and before UN peacekeepers are officially
replaced by NATO

troops. British soldiers arrived in Sarajevo on 6 December and
headed to

Gornji Vakufas, where the 13,000 British contingent will patrol
central and

western Bosnia. AFP on 7 December quoted Pentagon officials as
saying that

mines, snipers, and the cold weather will be the main obstacles
that NATO

troops face in Bosnia. A British officer told news agencies that
the new

rules of engagement will be very different from UNPROFOR's and
that he

intends to take firm action against Bosnian Croat soldiers who
torch and

loot Serbian villages. -- Daria Sito Sucic



CHIRAC WARNS MILOSEVIC OVER FATE OF PILOTS. At a time when
Serbian

President Slobodan Milosevic seems eager to make domestic and
international

political capital out of his new-found role as a man of peace,
French

President Jacques Chirac reminded him in a telephone call on 6
December of

his obligations stemming from the Dayton treaty. That document,
plus an

earlier agreement between Belgrade in Pale, makes Milosevic
responsible for

the conduct of the Bosnian Serbs. Chirac warned Milosevic that
if the two

pilots shot down in August "were not released in the coming
days, France

would be forced to draw all the appropriate conclusions," the
International

Herald Tribune and Nasa Borba reported on 7 December. The
Bosnian Serbs

originally said they were holding the two men and providing
medical

treatment, but later Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic
claimed they had

been "kidnapped" by unknown abductors. -- Patrick Moore



BOSNIAN SERBS DENY KARADZIC'S IMMINENT DISMISSAL. After several
days of

speculation that Milosevic was about to remove Karadzic from
power (see

OMRI Daily Digest, 6 December 1995), Karadzic's colleagues have
formally

denied the rumors. Pale's SRNA news agency said that the
leadership "is

absolutely united on all the essential matters" and that the
report, first

carried by the independent Beta agency, "is just another attempt
to cancel

out the results of four years' struggle by the Serb people for
their basic

right to liberty in their own country and in their own state.
This manner

of proceeding has no chance of succeeding, because the people
and the army

are backing [their] leaders, despite attempts to sow dissension
among

them." -- Patrick Moore



GERMAN PARLIAMENT VOTES TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO BOSNIAN FORCE. By
a

surprising vote of 543 to 107, the German parliament on 6
December voted to

send 4,000 troops to participate in the NATO force in the former

Yugoslavia, Western agencies reported. Even half of the deputies
belonging

to the leftist Green party voted for the resolution, signaling a

considerable turnaround in German policy toward the region. As
recently as

June, the Bundestag agreed by a vote of 386 to 258 to send
Tornados to

support UN peacekeepers in Bosnia. Meanwhile, NATO officials are
expressing

concern that the deployment of the civilian administration
provided for by

the Dayton peace accord is not keeping pace with that of its
military

counterpart. -- Michael Mihalka



SLOVENIA ENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST RUMP YUGOSLAVIA. STA reported on
6 December

that Slovenia has become the first former Yugoslav republic to
lift

sanctions regime against the rump Yugoslavia. The announcement
followed in

the wake of a parliamentary vote held the previous day. Despite
the

decision to lift sanctions, Ljubljana is to continue to insist
that all

assets from the former Yugoslavia remain frozen until their
distribution

can be negotiated. According to Ljubljana, its share of assets
includes at

least $2 billion worth of property that remains in the rump
Yugoslavia. --

Stan Markotich



SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES FORM "DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE." BETA on 6
December

reported that Milorad Jovanovic of the Democratic Party of
Serbia announced

that his party has reached an agreement with the Democratic
Party, the

Serbian Liberal Party, and the Parliamentary People's Party to
forge a

coalition--the Democratic Alliance--in the near future. While
the objective

is to coordinate efforts in upcoming electoral contests,
Jovanovic stressed

that each party will "retain its full autonomy." Jovanovic also
remarked,

presumably only on behalf of his own party, that the presence of
NATO

troops in Bosnia amounts to "a [foreign] invasion." Meanwhile,
Nasa Borba

on 7 December reported that Milos Minic, former minister of
foreign

affairs, is appealing for the release of General Vlada
Trifunovic and

several of his co-defendants. Trifunovic and other officers are
currently

serving sentences for undermining national security. In 1991,
the Varazdin

corps, which at the time were under their command, fled from
advancing

Croatian troops. -- Stan Markotich





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

TODAY'S ISSUES==> TOPIC: MILITARY & ARMS      Ref: CGBM1646 Date: 12/07/95
From: STEVE SCHULTZ (Leader)                                Time: 06:27pm
\/To: ALL                                                 (Read 0 times)
Subj: OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR UPDATE

The first U.S. Air Force aircraft arrived in Tuzla yesterday. The C-130
series Hercules from the 86th Airlift Wing, 16th Air Force, Ramstein A.B.,
Germany, carried COL Neal Patton, 16th Air Force Vice Commander, and a
team of engineers who will prepare the airfield. The first job will be to
restore lighting, followed by deciding how best to use the facility and
installation of navigational landing aids. Patton will be the local Air
Force commander and will oversee airfield operations with about 300
personnel, while the U.S. Army will handle base support. (A.F.N.S.)

==========================================================================
The Economist 
12/9/95

The Atlantic alliance

A NEW NATO

   BRUSSELS -- The end of the war in Bosnia is bringing more changes to 
the way the Atlantic alliance works than anything in its 46-year 
history. A meeting Of NATO'S foreign and defence ministers in Brussels 
on December 5th agreed to send a 60,000-strong Implementation Force 
(IFOR) to Bosnia to police the Dayton peace agreement, a task well 
beyond the alliance's old purpose of defending NATO'S own members. In 
all, about 100,000 men and women will be involved, including those 
working on ships, aircraft and logistics outside Bosnia. Americans
and Russians, Turks and Greeks, Germans and French will operate side by 
side in this 29-country but firmly NATo-led army.
      
   Two arguments about NATO'S relations with its neighbours have taken 
a clearer shape. The long search fbr a "special relationship" between 
NATO and Russia has now produced an arrangement by which Russia will put 
at least 1,500 of its troops into Ifbr, not technically under NATO 
command but -- what symbolism -- under an American general. The western 
alliance has also been trying to get closer, through "partnership for 
peace" agreements, to many of the smaller ex-communist countries that
would like tojoin it. The fact that 13 of these partners have agreed to 
send troops to Bosnia will do more to tighten east-west ties than years 
of abstract negotiations. The Czechs, fbr instance, are contributing a 
battalion to IFOR's British-led division. Even more important, the 
denouement in Bosnia is helping France to sort out its relations with the 
rest of the alliance. In 1966, in a bid to assert France's independence 
from America, General de Gaulle took France Out Of NATO'S integrated 
military structure. President Jacques Chirac has now decided that France 
cannot be a semi-detached ally. His foreign and defence ministers 
announced in Brussels that the French will rejoin NATO'S military 
committee (where service chiefs get together) and attend meetings of 
defence ministers, and French officers will work more closely with
SHAPE, the alliance's European military headquarters at Mons, in 
Belgium.
    
   To be sure, France will neither submit its military plans to its 
partners' review nor, in peacetime, put its forces under NATO command. 
Yet its apparent change of direction has still delighted its partners. 
And it was no coincidence that the French announcement came on the day 
NATO authorised the deployment of IFOR.
    
   The war in ex-Yugoslavia has helped the French to realise that, in 
military matters, Europe cannot do much without American help; that 
making NATO strong is the best way ofkeeping America engaged in Europe;
and that it is neither feasible nor economic to try to duplicate NATO's 
military structure with some vague new "European defence identity". 
France had already put some of its ships and aircraft under American 
control in the Balkans. Now, with IFOR, it has put units of its army 
into a NATO force. Herve de Charette, the French foreign minister, 
explained in Brussels that France was rejoining parts Of NATO "because it
wants to take part actively in the alliance's renovation and 
reconstruction and the development of its European pillar."Indeed, 
France's rapprochement with NATO could go further. Some of its diplomats 
say that, if the first steps prove successful, it could in time fully 
rejoin the alliance's military structure.
    
   Where does this french move leave the Western European Union (WEU), the 
group of ten European countries that the French have for years seen as the 
potential embodiment of that "European defence identity"? Roughly where 
the British and Americans have always wanted it to be -- not in rivalry
to NATO, but as a vehicle fbr modest military operations in which the 
Americans do not wish to take part.
    
   The French presumably hope that, by nestling Up to NATO, they will 
earn a reward in the arcane but important debate about 11 combined joint 
task-forces". The idea is that, for military operations outside the 
territory Of NATO members, either NATO or the WEU could send forces made 
up by ad hoc coalitions of willing countries. lfbr is, in practice, a 
NATo-led task-force for Bosnia. Yet an argument rumbles on about the 
extent to which a WEU-led task-force would be able to use NATO'S planners 
and equipment.
   
   The French argue that the Americans should be ready to lend such things 
to taskforces that are run by a headquarters outside NATO'S integrated 
structure, such as the Eurocorps (which is dominated by France and 
Germany). The Americans will not agree to the automatic provision of 
these 11 NATO assets" for an operation managed by a headquarters they do 
not control. Malcolm Rifkind, Britain's foreign secretary, hopes that 
France's decision to move closer to NATO Will lead to an agreement on the
matter within weeks.
    
   The Brussels meeting also agreed on the appointment as NATO'S 
secretary-general of Javier Solana, the Spanish foreign minister. A year 
or two ago, it would have been unthinkable for a Spaniard to hold the top 
civilian job at NATO, since Spain (like France) was outside the integrated 
military structure. Now that France is cosying up, Spain's odd status no 
longer matters so much. Mr Solana was asked about the fact that he once
campaigned against Spanish membership Of NATO. "Those who are not 
extremely conservative, and I am not, must be ready to change with the 
times," he replied. He already seemed to be speaking for NATO.

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

TODAY'S ISSUES==> TOPIC: MILITARY & ARMS      Ref: CGDP3290 Date: 12/09/95
From: STEVE SCHULTZ (Leader)                                Time: 08:54pm
/\To: ALL                                                 (Read 16 times)
Subj: OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR UPDATE

France said yesterday it had given the Bosnian Serbs until tomorrow to
clarify the fate of two French pilots shot down more than three months
ago, and return them if they are alive. French Foreign Minister Herv de
Charette also said at a rebuilding conference on Bosnia in London that
France had made clear the consequences to those involved if they failed to
answer the request. (N.Y.T.)

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

                            [OMRI Daily Digest]

                     Vol. 1, No. 239, 11 December 1995



RUSSIA ASKS THE HAGUE TO FREEZE CASES AGAINST KARADZIC AND
MLADIC. Russian

Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told journalists that Russia has
asked the

International Tribunal in The Hague to put its cases against
Radovan

Karadzic and Ratko Mladic on hold, ITAR-TASS reported on 10
December.

Kozyrev also said that the Bosnian Serbs had asked Moscow to
make the

appeal. Russia called upon the tribunal to carefully re-examine
the

problem, taking all circumstances and facts into consideration.
At the same

time, Kozyrev said that Serbia should explain the fate of French
pilots

downed over Serbia if Belgrade does not want to find itself in

international isolation. -- Constantine Dmitriev



CZECHS APPROVE TROOPS FOR BOSNIA, NATO TRANSIT. The Czech
parliament on 8

December agreed to send a Czech military unit to join the NATO
peace

implementation force (IFOR) in Bosnia, as well as approving the
transit of

NATO and other foreign troops across the Czech Republic, Czech
media

reported. Government and opposition deputies voted for the
proposals, which

were opposed only by the extreme left and extreme right. The
Czechs intend

to send an 850-man mechanized battalion that will be part of the
Canadian

brigade in the British sector in Bosnia. More than 1,000 Czech
soldiers

have already volunteered to serve in the battalion. By 10
December, four

NATO trains from Germany had crossed the Czech Republic and
Slovakia and

entered Hungary, where troops and equipment will gather before
going to

Bosnia. The Slovak parliament approved the transit on 7
December. -- Doug

Clarke and Steve Kettle



FIRST U.S. TRANSPORT PLANES LAND IN HUNGARY. The first Hercules
C-130

transport planes, carrying 115 U.S. soldiers, landed in
southwestern

Hungary's Taszar air base on 9 December, Hungarian media
reported.

Meanwhile, Col. Jozsef Ronkovics, a department head at
Budapest's Lajos

Kossuth Military College, has been appointed commander of
Hungary's

500-strong technical contingent that will be part of the Bosnian

peacekeeping forces. Defense Minister Gyorgy Keleti said the
Hungarian

contingent will be under British command and will help build and
maintain

roads and bridges, carrying weapons to be used in self-defense
only, Magyar

Nemzet reported. -- Zsofia Szilagyi



LONDON CONFERENCE DISCUSSES BOSNIA. Some 52 countries and
international

organizations took part in the meeting on 8-10 December to plan
the

reconstruction of the war-torn republic. The Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung

reported on 11 December that the session approved a 47-point
document

setting down the broad guidelines that will have to be fleshed
out. A

steering committee has been set up and chief EU negotiator Carl
Bildt will

serve as its head. Bildt's first task centers on Sarajevo. He
told Nasa

Borba that "the civilian [reconstruction] aspect is the real key
to a

lasting peace." -- Patrick Moore



FRANCE'S ULTIMATUM ON PILOTS RUNS OUT. The London meeting on the

reconstruction of Bosnia was overshadowed by a French demand
that the

Bosnian Serbs free the two downed airmen by 10 December or face
unspecified

consequences. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the next day
said that his

colleagues were supportive of the French foreign minister, and
Germany's

Klaus Kinkel pointed out that 50 of the 200 foreign casualties
in the

conflict have been French. The French have used tough but vague
language to

describe what they would do if the Serbs did not comply. CNN
said that the

Serbs remained silent as the deadline went past, and AFP noted
that the

usually loquacious Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused
to give an

interview. -- Patrick Moore



OSCE APPROVES BOSNIAN MISSION. The OSCE, at a two-day meeting of
its

foreign ministers in Budapest on 7-8 December, has taken on its
greatest

challenge in its 20-year history by agreeing to oversee
elections, arms

control, and human rights in Bosnia, Western agencies reported.
But it

failed to agree on an individual to head its mission, with
France opposing

the U.S candidate. Many delegates expressed doubts as to whether
the OSCE,

which has few resources of its own, is up to the job. "Even if
the military

operation succeeds to the extent that you can establish security
on the

ground, it will not succeed if you don't manage to get elections
going, to

get the reconstruction of civil society," OSCE Secretary-General
Wilhelm

Hoynck said. -- Michael Mihalka



BOSNIAN SERB LEADERSHIP WANTS KARADZIC IN PARIS. Speaker of the
Bosnian

Serb legislature Momcilo Krajisnik said in Banja Luka on 9
December that

the leadership of the Republika Srpska insists that its head,
Radovan

Karadzic, attend the peace conference in Paris on 14 December
and sign the

final peace agreement, AFP and Nasa Borba reported on 11
December. He said

that his government's delegation has not been consulted about
the final

version of the Dayton treaty and has not signed it. He also said
that "no

integral Bosnia" will exist after Dayton, claiming that the
"full political

independence" of the Republika Srpska has been agreed to.
Meanwhile,

Karadzic again warned the international community that having
Sarajevo's

Serbs under Moslem authorities would create "a Beirut," the BBC
reported on

11 December. -- Daria Sito Sucic



IZETBEGOVIC REASSURES SARAJEVO'S SERBS. Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic

promised that all foreign Islamic fighters in his country will
be sent home

within 30 days, the International Herald Tribune reported on 11
December.

He added that his government will work to reassure the
60,000-70,000

Sarajevo Serbs who will pass from Pale's to government control
under the

Dayton agreement. He added that the anxious population "is not
fully

informed of the provisions" of the treaty. Nasa Borba noted that
the Croats

and Muslims under Pale's rule have not asked for special
guarantees, and

that General Ratko Mladic offered none for the 70,000 Bosnian
Serbs who

remained loyal to the Bosnian government when Mladic's men
shelled the

city. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung pointed out that
traditionally

Sarajevo has not had ethnic ghettos, which are a concept of the

nationalists. Elsewhere, Hina said on 10 December that the
Bosnian Croat

parliament approved the Dayton treaty, albeit with misgivings
over northern

Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore



BELGRADE MINISTER INTENSIFIES INTEGRATION EFFORTS. BETA on 9
December

quoted Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic as saying at the London

Conference on Bosnia-Herzegovina that Belgarde has given "a big
boost to

the [Balkan] peace process" and for that reason should have "the
right to

suitable relations with the EU, the International Monetary Fund,
the World

Bank, and other institutions." Milutinovic also used the
opportunity to

aruge once again that Belgrade was a victim of circumstances and
not

involved in instigating and supporting the war. "I would say
that [the

rump] Yugoslavia, because of the war in its neighborhood and
because of the

sanctions it was subjected to, has endured serious economic
hardships," he

added. -- Stan Markotich





==========================================================================        
USA Today        
12/11/95
        
MILITARY MOVES INTO HIGH GEAR

By Steve Komarow

   STUTTGART, Germany - The U.S. military is picking up the pace in 
advance of Thursday's anticipated signing of a Bosnia peace agreement in 
Paris.
     
   Trainloads of equipment from U.S. bases in Germany are en route to 
Hungary and Croatia, while airplanes are bringing troops and gear into
Sarajevo and Tuzla, Bosnia.
     
   The Air Force put its new $300 million C-17 transports into a hostile 
environment for the first time in the delivery to Sarajevo.
     
   Underscoring safety concerns, the C-17, carrying humanitarian aid, and 
a C-130, carrying U.S. Marines, dropped flares on final approach to 
Sarajevo's airfield to ensure security on a landing strip new to U.S. 
pilots.
     
   Trains and planes loaded with troops are expected to depart today.  
Many soldiers enjoyed their last Sunday home with their families for up to 
a year.
     
   "Things are ramping up," said Army Col.  Robert Mirelson, spokesman for 
the U.S. European Command.
     
   "A lot of things are moving."
     
   What's moving now is what the U.S. led alliance calls its "enabling 
force" -- more than 2,000 troops, including hundreds of Americans, skilled 
in communications, engineering and other such specialties.

   With Sunday's arrivals, close to 100 U.S. troops are now in Bosnia.
     
   By Thursday's scheduled signing of the peace pact in Paris, U.S. 
commanders want command posts operating in Bosnia so troops can be 
inserted quickly and safely. 
   
   While airplanes are carrying out many of the early deliveries, most of 
the 20,000 U.S. troops destined for Bosnia will travel in armored convoys 
from a staging area the United States is building in Hungary.
     
   They'll drive from there to the U.S. sector in northeast Bosnia.
     
   Also, five trains bearing 3,600 tons of heavy equipment and 25 soldiers 
left Germany for Zagreb, Croatia, late Saturday, said U.S. spokesmen in 
Mannheim, Germany.
     
   The bulk of U.S. aarmored forces aren't scheduled to depart for Bosnia 
until at least early January, officers in Germany said Friday.
     
   That could leave relatively few, lightly armed troops to monitor the 
early stages of the U.S.-brokered peace agreement. 

   "We'll have bits and pieces in there in the next few weeks, but we 
anticipate the preponderance won't go until after the first of the year,"
said Lt.  Col.  Tom Stott commander of a U.S. armored support battalion.

---

Contributing: Kirk Spitzer at Camp Baumholder, Germany

==========================================================================
USA Today
12/11/95

SERBS THREATEN TO DESTROY UTILITIES IN SARAJEVO -- DEMAND PEACE PACT BE 
MODIFIED
 
By Tom Squitieri

   SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Bosnian Serbs warned Sunday that they 
will destroy vital utility lines in their neighborhoods if the Bosnian 
peace accord is not amended to protect them.
    
   In response to the threat U.N. officials have begun identifying key 
choke points in the Serb suburbs where troops might have to be deployed 
to prevent any such sabotage.
    
   "There is a certain degree of military planning under way to secure the 
facilities," said Lt Col. Chris Vernon, U.N. military spokesman. He said 
U.N. and NATO officials were "aware of the significance" of the Serb tactic.
    
   An attempt to destroy utilities serving Sarajevo would be a major 
challenge to NATO patience in these opening days of the peace process.
Sarajevo, the once-proud capital of a multiethnic country, could go dark 
again.
    
   Utilities were restored in October to war-torn Sarajevo, one of the 
conditions to a cease-fire and, eventually, the negotiations in Dayton,
Ohio.
   
   But ever since the Dayton plan, Serbs in the suburbs of Sarajevo have 
expressed defiance about having to live under the Muslim-Croat federation.
   
   Under the plan, Serb military troops must be withdrawn from the suburbs 
45 days after the peace treaty is signed in Paris Thursday.
   
   Serb leaders want the Dayton plan modified to better assure the human 
rights of Serbs in and around Sarajevo.
   
   Over the weekend, sniping returned to Sarajevo as tensions continued to 
rise. More Serb protests are expected this week.
   
   "Today in the Balkans, we don't have war but we don't have real peace," 
said U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, who visited Sarajevo; Belgrade, 
Yugoslavia; and Zagreb, Croatia, over the weekend to keep the peace 
process moving.
   
   Vernon also had a warning for NATO troops who will soon replace the 
U.N. force. "We would say to NATO you must not underestimate the hatred, 
mistrust and enmity on all three sides," he said.
   
   In Sarajevo, advance NATO forces plan to set up their headquarters in 
Hotel Ilidza, said U.S.Army Maj. Thomas Moyer, 35, of Reading Pa.

   That is the same hotel where Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand stayed 
the night before he was assassinated in 1914, the shot that triggered 
World War I.
   
   Moyer, who also served in Beirut said he feels safer in Sarajevo.
   
   "A smile, from what I've seen, will take you anywhere in Bosnia," Moyer 
said.
   
   As their official stay in Bosnia draws nearer to a close, U.N. 
officials are becoming less diplomatic.
   
   For example, Vernon dismissed suggestions from some Bosnian government 
officials that U.N. funds be used to pay for damages caused when U.N. 
troops cut a road through a park in order to open up an unhindered supply 
route into the city.
   
   "It seems very absurd," Vernon said. "Perhaps we should send in a bill 
from (the U.N.) and for NATO. That would far exceed" the damage to the 
environment."
========================================================

                            [OMRI Daily Digest]

                     Vol. 1, No. 240, 12 December 1995



BOSNIAN SERBS TO RELEASE FRENCH PILOTS. Two downed French pilots
are to be

freed by their Bosnian Serb captors on 12 December,
international media

reported the same day. Reuters, citing "Serbian security
sources," said the

pilots were slated to cross the River Drina and into Serbia
sometime

between 10:00 and 10:30 CET on 12 December. Their freeing is
expected to

eliminate the last potential barrier to the 14 December signing
of a peace

treaty in Paris ending over three years of war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. It

seems that officials in Serbia brought decisive pressure to bear
on the

Bosnian Serbs. Rump Yugoslav Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic on
11

December hinted to a visiting NATO delegation that the Bosnian
Serbs would

soon issue "positive" news about the pilots. -- Stan Markotich



BOSNIAN SERBS CARTING OFF FACTORIES FROM SARAJEVO TO SERBIA. The
Pale

authorities on 12 December are to hold a referendum on the
Dayton agreement

among the Serbs of Sarajevo under their control. U.S. and other
officials

have called the treaty a done deal and refuse to recognize the
ballot.

RFE/RL said on 11 December that some Bosnian Serbs have already
begun

fleeing the suburbs slated to pass to government rule. The
broadcast added

that the Pale authorities are allowing the people to leave for
Serbia but

strictly controlling how much of their property they can take
along. The

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the next day wrote that the
Bosnian Serb

authorities have begun carrying off industrial units and other
equipment to

Serbia. The International Herald Tribune reported on a
multiethnic

demonstration in government-held parts of Sarajevo to urge the
suburban

Serbs to stay. -- Patrick Moore



GOLDSTONE REFUSES TO GRANT KARADZIC A REPRIEVE. AFP on 11
December reported

that Justice Richard Goldstone of the Hague-based International
Criminal

Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia immediately turned down a
Russian

request to "suspend legal action" against the top indicted
Bosnian Serb war

criminals. The Russians apparently wanted a reprieve for Radovan
Karadzic

and General Ratko Mladic to enable at least Karadzic to attend
the Paris

meeting on 14 December. The Pale authorities called over the
weekend for

Karadzic to represent them in Paris, but Karadzic's presence
would be

odd--to say the least--because the treaty to be signed there
bans war

criminals from public office. Meanwhile in Zadar, a Croatian
military court

sentenced 16 Krajina Serbs to prison terms for war crimes. The
only accused

who was actually present was given ten years. -- Patrick Moore



ARE THE CROATS HIDING SOMETHING IN MRKONJIC GRAD? Bosnian Croat
forces

blocked the movement of five British armored personnel carriers
in central

Bosnia on 10 December, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
reported two days

later. They had previously pledged to allow the British to pass.
Croatian

police also escorted journalists out of the city, which was
taken by

Croatian forces in the wake of Operation Storm but which goes
back to the

Serbs under the terms of the Dayton agreement. The UN and others
have

charged the Croats with conducting a "scorched earth" policy in
the area.

In this latest incident, reporters counted four burning houses
before they

were forced to leave. -- Patrick Moore



CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON DAYTON ACCORD. Mate Granic told a
joint

session of the parliament on 11 December that with the signing
of the

Dayton agreement, the biggest achievement for Croatia was the
affirmation

of its territorial integrity, Novi List reported the next day.
Granic

explained that if Croatia had refused to sign, sanctions would
have been

imposed because of its military presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He also

revealed that Croatian troops had been within two or three days
of taking

the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka but had held back
because of

international concern over a new flood of refugees. In other
news, Granic's

first aide said that at the London conference, the Croatian
delegation had

forced a debate on eastern Slavonia, although the agenda did not
include

it. The delegates had insisted that no solution for Bosnia could
be found

without a settlement in eastern Slavonia, the BBC reported on 12
December.

-- Daria Sito Sucic



RUMP YUGOSLAVIA, BULGARIA TO RESUME TRADE RELATIONS. The
Bulgarian daily

Duma on 12 December reported that a visit to Belgrade by a
Bulgarian trade

delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister
Kiril

Tsochev, will result in the restoration of "normal trade"
between the two

Balkan states. During his visit, Tsochev signed a protocol with
Belgrade

authorities on restoring trade and economic relations. Tsochev
and his team

met with Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
Jovan Zebic.

Zebic greeted his guests by thanking Bulgaria for its "objective
approach"

to relations with Belgrade during the wars throughout the former

Yugoslavia. -- Stan Markotich



KOSOVAR SHADOW STATE TO OPEN OFFICE IN WASHINGTON. The Kosovar
shadow state

government announced it will open an information office in
Washington,

Reuters reported on 11 December. The State Department welcomed
the decision

but said it would not constitute a diplomatic mission. The
Kosovar shadow

state so far has offices in Bonn, Brussels, Geneva, London, and
Tirana.

Meanwhile the UN human rights committee approved a resolution,
to be voted

on by the General Assembly next week, condemning human rights
violations in

Kosovo. -- Fabian Schmidt



BULGARIA SAYS MACEDONIA STIRS UP ANTI-BULGARIAN FEELINGS.
Bulgarian Deputy

Foreign Minister Ivan Hristov on 8 December accused the
Macedonian

authorities of using the 3 October attempt on the life of
Macedonian

President Kiro Gligorov as a pretext to stir up anti-Bulgarian
feelings in

Macedonia. Reuters cited Hristov as saying that "impermissible
forms of

pressure" were being exerted on "people who consider themselves
to be

Bulgarian." He added that some people were detained for days
without

charges being brought against them. Macedonian police on 9
December

continued their raids of Skopje suburbs in connection with the

assassination attempt, Vecher reported on 11 December. -- Stefan
Krause





==========================================================================
BOSNIA BRINGS BUCKS FOR DEPLOYED GI'S AND THEIR KIN

Policy pays daily expenses
without cutting food money

Army Times, 12/18/95
By Neff Hudson

   WASHINGTON - Service members assigned to keep the peace in Bosnia 
won't have to worry about losing their meal money.
   
   In fact, single enlisted members living in barracks will see a 
substantial increase in their pay -- about $314 a month in food 
allowances alone.
   
   At the urging of Army ofricwls, service members sent to Bosnia will be 
on temporary duty status, which allows them to retern all their monthly 
allowances plus qualify for daily expense payments.
   
   The decision marks the latest attempt by defense officials to ensure 
that deployments do not cause financial hardships for military families.

Policy protects family income

   During earlier operations, some enlisted members and officers actually 
received less monthly pay than they did when they were home.
   
   Enlisted members lost money because they no longer qualified for the 
monthly food allowance during deployments. They were given their meals 
for free in government mess halls, a status known as "essential unit 
messing." Officers were allowed to keep their food allowances but were 
charged for mess-hall meals, which effectively wiped out the allowances.
   
   In technical terms, the changes made sense: Enlisted members who get 
their meals for free should not be given an allowance to buy them; and 
officers given an allowance to pay for meals should forfeit them when       ed to eat
in mess halls.
   
   But try explaining that logic to military families forced to make due 
with smaller paychecks even though their main breadwinners were in the 
field.

   After enduring years of complaints, personnel officials finally forced 
a change to the policy in 1994. Now, field commanders are instructed to 
put their troops on temporary duty status whenever possible, which 
actually gives their paychecks a boost in troubled times.
   
   "We think we've got compensation down about right," said Lt. Gen. 
Theodore G. Stroup Jr., the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel. 
"We should not have soldiers losing money unless there's a mistake in the 
pay system."

   Here's how the system will work in Bosnia:
   
   * Enlisted members already authorized to eat meals outside of mess 
   halls will continue to receive $209.40 monthly allowance. They also 
   will get $8.25 temporary duty allowance for meals and incidentals -- 
   $4.75 of which will be deducted for their meals. Their net increase 
   will be $3.50 per day, or $105 per month.
   
   * Enhsted members who are required to eat in mess halls because they 
   live in barracks will start collecting the $209.40 monthly food 
   allowance, or $6.98 per day. They too, will get the $8.25 temporary 
   duty allowance of which $4.75 will go for meals. Their net increase 
   will be per day, or $314.40 per month.
   
   * Officers will continue to collect their monthly allowance of $146.16. 
   They also will get the same temporary duty allowance and pay the same 
   $4.75 for meals. Their net increase will be $3.50 per day, or $10 
   month.

Danger pay authorized

   In addition to food allowances, all service members sent to Bosnia will 
receive $150 each month in danger pay. Members with dependents also will
qualify for the $75 monthly family separation allowance after they have
been deployed for more than 30 days.

   Enlisted members also will qualify for certain places pay, which ranges 
from $8 to $22.50 per month on rank.
   
   The area is not expected to be declared a combat zone, which would 
entitle wmee members to special tax breaks.
==========================================================================
PLAN HINGES ON BEING BIG, STRONG READY

Army Times, 12/18/95
By William Matthews

   WASHNGTON - When Pentagon planers were designing the U.S. portion of 
a peacekeeping force for Bosnia, they first thought 10,000 troops would 
be adequatte.
   
   The plan was to "send in reinforcements if there was trouble," 
according to Defense Secretary William Perry. 
   
   But that scenario conjured up unpleasant memories of Somalia, where 
U.S. troops requested reinforcements but were denied them just days 
before 18 Army Rangers were killed in an ambush in Mogadishu.
   
   So the size of the force was doubled.

   "If we're making a mistake, it is that the force is too large," Perry 
said in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies 
here Dec. 7.

   In addition to bulking up the force, Perry said, the 20,000 troops 
headed for Bosnia "Are very well trained." They received a week of 
refresher training in basic combat skills and a week of special peace 
implementation training at a "mini-Bosnia" training ground set up in 
Germany, he said.

Training made difficult

   "We made it difficult so we would learn to do it right. I am 
confident of the training and skills of the troops," Perry said.
   
   Perry also insisted that unlike in Somalia, where peacekeeping turned 
into nataon building, the military mission in Bosnia is strictly limited.
   
   During the yearlong peace mission, warring troops will be kept 
separated territory will be divided according to the peace agreement and 
fighting will be prevented. "The cycle of violence will be broken for a 
year," Perry said.
   
   But he acknowledged that longer term prospects for peace depend on 
creating a military balance between the Serbs and the Bosnian Muslims. The 
country's fate also depends on efforts to begin rebuilding Bosnian 
society -- the economy, resettling refugees and preparing for free 
elections.

   The U.S. military will undertake none of those tasks. The military's 
only job in Bosnia is to provide a stable enviromnent in which civilian 
organizations can begin rebuilding the country, he said.
   
   Perry's speech was part of an extensive sales campaign Perry has 
launched to generate support for the mission, dubbed Operation Joint 
Endeavor by the Pentagon.

Hill, public still skeptical
   
   But it has been an uphill battle. A skeptical Congress and a dubious 
public are unconvinced that American troops should risk their lives to 
restore peace in the Balkans.
   
   Polls indicate two out of three Amencans opposed the mission a week 
before it was to get under way. Despite support from some prominent 
Republicans, it was uncertain a resolution supporting the nussion could 
pass in the Senate, so a vote was postponed.
   
   The House voted its disapproval twince. On Dec. 7, 184 members sent 
Clinton a one-sentence letter saying, "We urge you not to send ground 
troops to Bosnia."
   
   Nevertheless, Perry keeps trying.

   He traveled from Capitol Hill to NATO headquarters in Belgium to Navy 
ships on the Atlantic Ocean, delivering the same message: If the United 
States does not lead the peace implementation effort in Bosnia, war will 
return, the killing will resume, atrocities will recommence.
   
   Perry warns of the possibility of a bigger Serb-Croat war "that would 
dwarf" the Bosnian conflict. War could spread to Greece and Turkey and 
require U.S. intervention in combat, rather than participation in a peace
operation.
    
   The reality is that Operation Joint Endeavor is proceeding despite the 
ambivalence.
    
   Scores of American soldiers already have crossed into Bosnia as part of 
an enabling force that is establishing headquarters in Tuzla, setting up 
communications networks and establishing contact with local officials.
    
   Troops, tanks and other heavy equipment are arriving by the trainload 
in Hungary and preparing to head into Bosnia after the Dec. 14 signing of 
the peace agreement.
    
   "We're going to go in fast," Perry has said in public appearances. Ten 
thousand troops will be in place within three weeks; the other 10,000 in 
six to eight weeks, he said.

A polyglot force
    
   The U.S. Ist Armored Division from Bad Kreuznach, Germany, will be 
augmented by a Nordic Battalion comprised of troops from Scandinavian 
countries, some 2,000 Russian troops and a Turkish unit. In all, there 
will be 28,000 troops under U.S. command.
    
   One of the first assignments for Arnencan troops will be to erect a 
pontoon bridge over the Sava Raver so tanks, trucks and other vehicles can 
cross from Hungary to Croatia and proceed into Bosnia.
    
   There are no bridges across the ziver, according to Defense Department 
officials. A bridge is essential to link the American force in Tuzla with 
supply depots being estabhshed in Hungary.
    
   As U.S. troops move into Bosnia on Dec. 14 or 15, they will drive in 
ready to fight, Perry said. But he said he did not expect to encounter 
substantial resistance. The warring parties have signed a peace agreement 
and asked the United States and NATO to help implement it, he said.
    
   But there may be individuals and "gangs," that don't like the agreement 
and may harass the troops carrying out the peace.
    
   He noted that in the past, Serb troops have shelled the Tuzla airport, 
where the U.S. headquarters is being established. When Americans control 
the airport, "we won't permit that to happen," he said.
    
   U.S. forces will be equipped with artillery-tracking radars. As soon as 
a shell is fired, before it hits the ground, U.S. radars will have tracked 
it to its origin. There will be counter-battery fire, Perry said. "Anyone 
who shells Tuzla will find that it is non-habit-forming," he said.

==========================================================================
SMALL THINGS KEY TO MORALE

Army Times, 12/18/95
By Patrick Pexton
 
   WASHINGTON - The 20,000 troops heading to Bosnia should handle their 
peacekeeping duties just fine, new Army research says, if military leaders 
keep a few things in mind:
   
   * Feed them an occasional hot meal and make sure they can shower.
   * Give them a bit of personal time each day, an occasional night off 
    and a periodic phone call to family.
   * Make sure they have competent leaders and a definite date when 
    they'll return home.
   
   Those were the conclusions of a study of 3,200 soldiers deployed to 
Haiti peacekeeping operations last year. Army psychologists asked 
in-depth questions about the attitudes and physical and mental health of 
soldiers assigned to peacekeeping there.
   
   In general, they found that soldiers in Haiti were less stressed than 
those in operations Desert Shield and Storm or in Somalia, missions where 
the threat of physical harm was greater.

Hurtful details

   But the study also revealed that often the seemingly small things can       morale most.
damage morale the most.

   Maggot-infested toilets, infrequent showers and inadequate drinking 
water were sources of complaints and stress in Haiti, said the study by
a team of psychologists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research 
here.
   
   In fact, 84 percent of the soldiers interviewed said lack of 
sanitation created some stress. More than 40 percent said sanitation was 
a source of extreme stress, creating worries about contracting diseases 
from dirty water and contaminated supplies. There were many reports of 
soldiers stealing water from other units.
   
   Officers reported that sanitation did not improve until civilian 
contractors took over operation of latrines in Haiti, according to the 
study, conducted in December 1994 by Army Capts. Ronald R. Halverson, 
Paul D. Bliese and Carl A. Castro; and researcher Sgt. Robert E. Moore.
   
   The most cited source of extreme stress was the uncertainty of the 
return date. Not that soldiers asked to get home before a specific date 
-- they just wanted certainty. They got tired of being yanked like 
"yo-yos," one soldier said, when the date changed.
   
   Undesirable food -- particularly eating Meals, Ready to Eat three times 
a day for six weeks -- was a morale-buster. When hot food was delivered 
-- by private contractors spirits lifted considerably, NCOs said. 

   A lack of rest and relaxation bothered soldiers, too. Many who deployed 
to Haiti lived side by side, barely eight inches between cots, with no 
days off for weeks. An occasional day or overnight trip away from the 
duty station would have helped, soldiers said.
   
   On the other hand, receiving mail and better access to telephones for 
troops to call home were huge stress relievers, helping make Haiti less 
stressful than Somalia or Kuwait.

Separation is troubling
   
   Family separation was the third most stressful factor for troops in 
Haiti, about half of whom were married. Common complaints were missing 
the births of children or being deployed just after arriving at a new 
duty station, leaving little time to adjust.
   
   But soldiers said just thinking about their families, or getting to 
talk with them, was the best way to cope with the stress of deployment.

   Leadership also stood out as one of the strongest predictors of how 
soldiers viewed their peacekeeping mission. If they felt they were led 
well, by officers and enlisted leaders, and fed a steady diet of 
information, they felt good about their jobs and mission.
   
   Complaints about officers were frequent among the study participants, 
most of whom were junior enlisted. Among the 3,000 soldiers interviewed, 
NCOs were consistently rated higher than officers, and the leadership 
style of the officer corps was described by many as "micromanaging" 
and "overeentralized".
   
   Others complained that officers frequently did not follow their own 
rules. Some said officers seemed concerned more about their careers and 
less about their soldiers' personal welfare. One staff sergeant said: 
"It is believed that everyone from battalion to division level are just 
pretty much worried about that next rank or position that they'll get, if 
they'll look good, and damn what the soldier has to do to get them there."

