OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 175,  10 September 1996


HUNGARIAN DEFENSE ROUNDUP. Defense Minister Gyorgy Keleti on 9 September
announced that 40 overhauled T-72 tanks purchased from Belarus will
arrive in Hungary on September 20 as part of Russia's repayment of its
state debt to Hungary, Hungarian dailies reported. Another 60 T-72 tanks
and 30 new armored personnel carriers will also arrive soon in Hungary.
In other news, Magyar Hirlap reported that Defense Ministry State
Secretary Laszlo Borsits will resign soon over the uproar that followed
the participation in May of Hungarian MiG-29 fighters in a training
exercise in Poland, without parliamentary authorization. Meanwhile,
Keleti has proposed reducing the term of basic military service from 12
to 9 months, starting next August, Nepszabadsag reported on 10
September. -- Ben Slay

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Sharon Fisher

OMRI SPECIAL REPORT: PURSUING BALKAN PEACE
Vol. 1, No. 36, 10 September 1996


GOVERNMENT THREATENS TO CLOSE DOWN ARIZONA MARKET. Bosnian Trade
Minister Nikola Grabovac said the illegal trade at the market in the zone-
of- separation at Porebrice, north of Tuzla, was seriously endangering
official sources of revenue, AFP reported on 3 September. Arizona market,
named after the U.S. army's term for the route north from Tuzla, in the
past months became a place where Bosnian Muslims, Serbs, and Croats met
and conducted large-scale trade. Izet Hadzic, the governor of Tuzla
canton, said the market is costing the state $67,000 a day in unpaid
taxes. He said the law being flouted was initially tolerated because the
market proved to be an example of ethnic tolerance. But as more traders
started to come from Serbia, Hungary, and Macedonia, discussions began
about closing down the market. Hadzic said other markets should be opened
in the region's towns instead, because "it's time for people to be together
in (local towns) and not in a zone-of-separation," AFP quoted him as
saying. In other news, a strategic 500 meter-long bridge across the Sava
River, linking the Croatian town of Slavonski Brod with the Serb-held
Bosnian town of Srpski Brod (former Bosanski Brod) was reopened on 7
September, AFP reported . -- Daria Sito Sucic and Stan Markotich

BOSNIAN, SERBIAN PRESIDENTS TO MEET? At some point next week, Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic is to meet face to face with Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic, Nasa Borba, citing the Slovenian daily Delo, reported
on 4 September. The purpose of that meeting, notes the report, is to move
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the SRJ toward mutual recognition. For security
reasons, it reportedly "remains unknown where the meeting will take place,
but it will in no way be held in Athens, where Milosevic [on 7 August]
talked with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman." Turkey, Hungary, and
Slovenia are being mentioned as the likeliest meeting venues. However,
SRNA reported that no time or place has been set for such a meeting.--
Stan Markotich