[Nettime-bold] Crisisweb News

[ICG Email <ICG@tmg.co.uk> (by way of richard barbrook)]

C R I S I S W E B   N E W S
Thursday May 5, 2000

ICG SOUTH BALKANS
-------------------------
ICG's latest report "Serbia's Grain Trade: Milosevic's Hidden Cash
Crop"(2 May 2000)investigates how Milosevic has successfully managed to
sustain himself in power, purchase the loyalties of opportunistic
businessmen, and manipulate the Serbian population. ICG has examined the
mechanics of grain from farm gate to foreign market. This paper
discusses the regime's decade-long exploitation of the farmers of
Vojvodina, a traditional breadbasket of central Europe; the arrangements
with Montenegro and the implications of the current blockade of Serbian
foodstuffs on that dissident, democratising Yugoslav republic; and the
activities of the international humanitarian assistance programs which,
by providing wheat to a wheat-surplus nation, are not only giving
Belgrade the fodder to manipulate its vulnerable refugee population, but
are assisting the cash-strapped regime in exporting its own strategic
reserves in exchange for a critical supply of fuel and foreign exchange.
In early April the European Union refined and more sharply focused its
own sanctions program against the Belgrade regime, in an effort to
clarify to the Serbian people that Milosevic, not the population itself,
is the intended target of the international community's punishing
strategy, which will remain in place until he is out of power. The
inclusion of the Serbian grain trade in this more refined application of
sanctions can significantly enhance the program's effectiveness in
constricting the financial resources available to Milosevic. ICG's
recommendations are directed at further strengthening this potentially
powerful tool.
--> See http://www.crisisweb.org for the full report

The International Crisis Group's report "Montenegro's Socialist People's
Party: A Loyal Opposition?" (28 April 2000) focuses on Montenegrin
politics. Montenegro continues to be a possible flash point in the
Balkans, and this report is intended to clarify the role in the
continuing Balkan crisis of its main opposition party - the pro-Belgrade
Socialist People's Party (SNP).
--> See http://www.crisisweb.org for the full report


ICG BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
-------------------------
The international community can draw a degree of comfort from the
results of Bosnia's 8 April 2000 municipal elections. Overall, the
voting was more free and fair than any previous election held in Bosnia.
Nationalism may not be on the run yet, but moderate leaders are making
inroads and increasing numbers of voters seem to be paying attention to
their messages.
ICG presents an analysis of the elections in its latest Bosnia report
"Bosnia's Municipal Elections 2000: Winners and Losers"(27 April 2000).
--> See http://www.crisisweb.org for the full report

Recent changes in the Bosnian and Croatian political landscape have
significantly improved prospects for uniting the divided city of Mostar,
according to ICG's Bosnia report, entitled "Reunifying Mostar:
Opportunities for Progress" (19 April 2000).
The future of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, and to a certain extent the
future of the wider peace process in Bosnia, lies in Mostar, the
ethnically-divided city that serves unofficially as the capital of
Herzeg-Bosna, the illegal Croat third entity within Bosnia. If the
international community can successfully unite Mostar, the Federation
will function. If not, serious efforts to integrate the Bosnian Croats
into the Federation will fail.
--> See http://www.crisisweb.org for the full report



ICG CENTRAL AFRICA
-------------------------
The peace process in war-ravaged Burundi has entered a crucial new stage
- according to ICG's latest Central Africa report. The report, entitled
"L'Effet Mandela - Evaluation et perspectives du processus de paix
burundais" (18 April 2000) examines the impact of the appointment of
former South African President Nelson Mandela as mediator in December
1999 on prospects for peace between Burundi's warring Tutsi and Hutu
factions.
(An English translation of the report will be available soon.)
--> See http://www.crisisweb.org for the full report


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