OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 108, 4 June 1996

NATO EXERCISES IN UKRAINE. Ukrainian Defense Minister Valerii Shmarov,
Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, and U.S. Secretary of Defense
William Perry attended NATO exercises in Ukraine on 3 June,
international agencies reported. The exercises, called Peace Shield '96,
are organized within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program.
They are being held at the Yavorsky testing range in Western Ukraine and
will bring together for 10 days 1,300 troops from Ukraine, Russia, the
U.S., Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania,
and Slovakia. Perry said NATO no longer threatens any former Warsaw Pact
country and enhances European stability. Grachev commented that such
exercises help familiarize relations between Partnership for Peace
countries, but he was more reserved when asked about NATO expansion and
Russia's attitude toward Ukraine's inclusion in the organization. --
Ustina Markus

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES MEMORIAL BILL. The parliament on 3 June
began a heated debate on a bill proposing an official commemoration in
honor of former Prime Minister Imre Nagy, Hungarian dailies reported.
Nagy held office during the 1956 Revolution and was executed in 1958 for
his leading role in the uprising. The bill was put forward by a junior
coalition partner the Liberal Democrats (SZDSZ) deputy and a number of
Socialists. However, the SZDSZ is opposed to the bill, saying it is not
the legislature's task to make historical judgments and that the bill
recalls a 1953 law memorializing Joseph Stalin. The party believes a
more fitting gesture would be to clarify Nagy's historical role by
making a film about his trial. SZDSZ leader Ivan Peto said, "The
legislature cannot be the historical judge of the state." While all
opposition parties oppose the bill as well, the Socialists continue to
push for its approval. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

COALITION PARTIES DIVIDED OVER "CONFLICT OF INTEREST" LAW. A conflict of
interest bill continues to divide Hungary's coalition partners,
Hungarian dailies reported on 4 June. The SZDSZ insists that strict
conflict of interest rules be set out for deputies at the earliest
possible date, while the Socialists appear set to postpone consideration
of the law until after the 1998 elections. The debated bill would limit
the jobs that deputies could hold outside their legislative duties or
require stricter reporting by deputies of their outside incomes.
Currently, many deputies hold positions on the boards of state
companies. The SZDSZ plans to propose its own bill on the matter if no
agreement is reached with the Socialists. Prime Minister Gyula Horn has
recently expressed doubt that any of the three top-priority items of
legislation--the conflict of interest law, the election law, and the new
constitution--can be passed before the elections. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

ROMANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS UPDATE. Romanian media on 4 June continued to
comment on the outcome of the 2 June local elections whose final returns
are expected to be released on 6 June. In Bucharest, the candidate of
the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania, former tennis star Ilie
Nastase, lost to Victor Ciorbea from the opposition Democratic
Convention of Romania (CDR). But a run-off seems unavoidable since
Ciorbea reportedly failed to pass the 50% threshold required by law. CDR
candidates appear to have won the race for the mayoral offices in all
six Bucharest districts. Cluj's controversial mayor Gheorghe Funar from
the chauvinistic Party of Romanian National Unity qualified for another
four-year term. Most analysts predict the elections will have to be
repeated on 16 June due to the low turnout. -- Dan Ionescu

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Deborah Michaels


OMRI SPECIAL REPORT: PURSUING BALKAN PEACE
Vol. 1, No. 22, 4 June 1996

GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF RESETTLING MUSLIM REFUGEES IN SARAJEVO . . . Dayton
guarantees freedom of movement, the right of refugees to go home, and the
multiethnic character of the republic, but none of these principles seems to be
much respected. At a time when some Bosnian Serbs who fled the Sarajevo suburb
of Vogosca are applying to return, the Bosnian government has decided to
resettle there about 8,000 Muslims from the Serb-held town of Doboj,
Oslobodjenje reported on 29 and 30 May. The decision was allegedly taken at a
secret meeting at the Ministry for Refugees in the first half of May. Refugees
from Doboj living abroad have been contacted and invited to come and live in
Sarajevo, Oslobodjenje quoted Doboj's former municipal authorities as saying.
Ekrem Ajanovic, an PM from Tesanj, south of Doboj, criticized the government in
the legislature on 28 May. He pointed out that the latest moves run counter to
official policy and to the right of refugees to return to their homes. In
another development, Refugee Minister Nudzeim Recica said that more than 40,000
people have been registered to come back to Bosnia-Herzegovina over the
past six
months, Onasa reported on 28 May. Recica said some 15,000 Bihac pocket refugees
returned from the Kuplensko refugee camp in Croatia, while the remaining 2,000
there are also expected to return soon. The ministry also registered a
number of
refugees coming back from Malaysia, Turkey, Slovakia and Hungary. -- Daria Sito
Sucic

Compiled by Patrick Moore