IHF Calls for Support to and Monitoring of Montenegro Elections

Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:10:35 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: IHF Calls for Support to and Monitoring of Montenegro Elections

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]> 

Original sender: Panayote Elias Dimitras <[email protected]>

IHF Calls for Support to and Monitoring of Montenegro
Elections


Open Letter to the Contact Group and the OSCE on the Need for
Supporting and Monitoring the Election Process in Montenegro -
Initiative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee
 
Vienna, Oslo, 24 April 1998
 
On the eve of the meeting of the Contact Group - and following the
Serbian referendum on mediation in Kosovo, the IHF and the Norwegian
Helsinki Committee would like to call some issues of concern to the
attention of the Contact Group and the Organization of Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
 
During the last months we have witnessed the rise of increasingly
confrontational policies from the FRY by Serbian authorities in
Belgrade. To what end President Milosevic is aiming is at this point
unclear, but if recent developments are to be taken seriously as
indicators of what is to come, the FRY authorities may use any means
available to: 1) bring about a division of Kosovo which would entail
ethnic cleansing, and 2) discipline Montenegro in order to extract a
favorable result from the upcoming Montenegrin parliamentary
elections, which are due at the end of May.
 
The large-scale operations of Serbian special police units with
logistical support from the Yugoslavian army (JNA) in the
Drenica-region of Kosovo in March was the first in a series of moves
by the Belgrade regime aimed at crushing dissenting forces within the
FRY (and indeed within the Serbian sphere, which also includes the
Serbian entity of Bosnia and Hezegovina) and consolidating President
Milosevic's hold on power. Since then President Milosevic has pulled
the Radical Party and its extremist leader Vojeslav Seselj into
government in order to create political room for devaluating the Dinar
and persevere with the conflict with the international community.
 
Not only have the FRY authorities rejected all the core demands of the
Contact Group formulated at the London meeting on 9 March, but it has
done so in an open and provocative manner, of which the Serbian
referendum is evidence. The referendum is evidently designed to make
the Serbian people complicit in Serbia's isolation and plight, and
inspire nationalist fervor. The purpose is yet again to create
political room for continuing on the repressive and confrontationalist
course undertaken by the authorities.

At the same time, President Milosevic attempts to pressure Prime
Minister Dodik of Republika Srpska to include Serbian radicals in his
government, in order to ensure that the Bosnian Serbs do not break
ranks with Belgrade, and the tone has become increasingly harsh
between Milosevic and Montenegro's President Djukanovic, who at this
stage is a key enemy of the Belgrade regime. It is very likely that
the nationalist momentum gained from the referendum in the first
instance will be used to influence the election process in Montenegro
leading up to the parliamentary elections on 31 May, as the
composition of the Montenegrin Parliament to a degree determines the
support President Milosevic has in the federal parliament of the FRY.
 
On this basis, the IHF fears that the integrity of the election
process in Montenegro is in jeopardy: Belgrade and its Montenegrin
allies are likely to use any form of pressure to reverse the
republic's development away from the fold of President Milosevic.

We appeal to the Contact Group and the OSCE to take this into
consideration and invest heavily in the upcoming election monitoring
mission of the OSCE in Montenegro. In this respect, it is important
that the Contact Group makes clearly known to President Milosevic that
he cannot create obstacles to the international monitoring of the
Montenegrin elections without facing serious consequences. By
conducting a large scale monitoring mission and supporting independent
domestic election observation initiatives, the international community
will give a strong signal of support to the democratic forces in
Montenegro and the FRY. Moreover, if the monitoring mission is
established in force at an early stage, it can contribute to deterring
attempts at vote manipulation.
 
__________________________________
 
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is a
non-governmental organization which monitors compliance with the human
rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its follow-up
documents. In addition to supporting and providing liaison among 34
Helsinki committees, the IHF has direct links with human rights
activists where no Helsinki committee exists. It criticizes human
rights abuses regardless of the political system of the state where
these abuses occur.
 
_______________________________________
 
Greek Helsinki Monitor &
Minority Rights Group - Greece
P.O. Box 51393
GR-14510 Kifisia
Greece
Tel. +30-1-620.01.20
Fax +30-1-807.57.67
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
________________________________________

-- 
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe

Submissions: [email protected]  
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected] 
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================