OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 3, 4 January 1996

HUNGARY'S IMMIGRATION OFFICE OPPOSES ASYLUM FOR MORE REFUGEES. The
Office of Refugees and Migration Affairs on 3 January advised the
government not to accept any more asylum seekers from the Balkans,
Hungarian media reported. Bela Jungbert, head of the office, said that
"since there is no war, the status does not make sense any longer." But
he added that those seeking political refugee status would not be
affected. Jungbert noted that as of 1 January 1996, Austria and Germany
stopped accepting asylum seekers from the former Yugoslavia. Between
1991 and 1995, some 75,000 refugees sought temporary asylum in Hungary;
8,500 are currently still in Hungary. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

OSCE TALKS ON ARMS CONTROL BEGIN. OSCE talks on arms control and
confidence-building measures got under way in Vienna on 4 January,
international agencies reported. The negotiations fulfill requirements
laid down in the Dayton peace accords. Hungary's Istvan Gyarmati is
chairing the talks on confidence-building measures, which are scheduled
to finish on 26 January. Vigleik Eide from Norway is presiding over the
talks on arms control, to be completed no later than 6 June. At a news
conference in Vienna on 3 January, Gyarmati said the first aim of the
confidence-building talks is to exchange military data and set up
military liaisons between the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-Croatian
federation. He added that this task would prove "politically and
psychologically difficult." -- Michael Mihalka

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave