<nettime> 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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