OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 198, 11 October 1996

SLOVAK ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTIES CALL FOR COOPERATION. Hungarian minority
parties will submit a proposal for pre-electoral cooperation with the
recently created "blue coalition" of liberal-conservative opposition
parties, CTK reported on 10 October. "Hungarian minority parties have to
offer the Slovak opposition an acceptable solution to minority problems,
then strictly adhere to it, while at the same time abandoning the
autonomy rhetoric that is unacceptable for Slovak society," Hungarian
Civic Party Chairman Laszlo Nagy said. Nagy said the agreement will be
submitted before the November congress of the Christian Democratic
Movement, which of the three "blue coalition" partners has kept the
greatest distance from Hungarian minority parties. -- Anna Siskova

EXPLOSION NEAR BUDAPEST SYNAGOGUE. The explosion of a small, homemade
bomb near Europe's biggest synagogue on the evening of 9 October caused
concern among Hungary's Jewish community, Reuters reported the following
day. The bomb exploded in a trash can near the Dohanyi Utca Synagogue
and across the street from the smaller Heroes' Synagogue. The blast
caused no injuries or other damage. A letter was found in the trash can
near the bomb, specifying the date of the next explosion, Hungarian
media reported on 11 October. Another bomb exploded in late August near
a kosher restaurant in the center of the former Jewish quarter, but no
one claimed responsibility. -- Sharon Fisher

SERBIA AND CROATIA FIGHT OVER ETHNIC MINORITY IDENTITY. Hido Biscevic,
an aide to the Croatian foreign minister, protested Serbian Vice Premier
Ratko Markovic's recent statement that Backa Croats, known as Bunjevci,
"are neither Croats nor Serbs, but only Bunjevci," and would receive the
status of a nation in Serbia, Vjesnik reported on 11 October. Hungarian
Croats had earlier protested Markovic's statement that the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia was the "motherland" of Bunjevci living in
Hungary. Hungarian Croats issued a statement that the Bunjevci are
Croats and of the same origin as Croats in Lika, Croatian Primorje, and
Dalmatia, Hina reported on 4 October; they speak Croatian, use the Latin
script, and belong to the Roman Catholic Church. According to Hina,
Serbian authorities first devised the new national group "Bunjevci" for
a 1991 census. -- Daria Sito Sucic

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Tom Warner