YDS 12/29

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov)

29. DECEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - GEN.JOULWAN THANKS MILOSEVIC FOR HOSPITALITY TO NATO TROOPS - PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, GEN. JOULWAN CONTENT WITH PEACE IMPLEMENTATION AGREEMENT - HEAD OF YUGOSLAV ARMY GENERAL STAFF MEETS WITH GEN. JOULWAN - JOULWAN: FIRST VISIT TO BELGRADE - GREAT SIGN FOR FUTURE - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADOPTS ECONOMIC PLAN FOR 1996 - YUGOSLAV GNP RISES BY SIX PERCENT IN 1995

SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA - ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS WORK HAVOC WITH PEOPLE'S HEALTH - OFFICIAL - CLINTON SIGNS DECREE ON SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS AGAINSTYUGOSLAVIA

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - R.S. VICE-PRESIDENT - PLAN FOR BOSNIA'S RECONSTRUCTION IS UNFAIR - BADINTER: EARLIER PEACE PLANS FOR BOSNIA WERE BETTER - EGYPTIAN MINISTER: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD RUN TERRORIST CAMPS IN BOSNIA - BOSNIAN SERBS SAVE U.S. TROOPS FROM FREEZING

SREM - BARANJA REGION - U.N. SEES DANGER IN DELAY OF PEACE MISSION TO SREM-BARANIA REGION

FROM FOREIGN PRESS - BOSNIA PEACE AGREEMENT DEPENDS MOSTLY ON CROATIA, SAYS PAPER - WASHINGTON POST: TURKEY MUST NOT GET DEEPER INTO BOSNIA

*GEN.JOULWAN THANKS MILOSEVIC FOR HOSPITALITY TO NATO TROOPS B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - NATO forces Commander in Europe U.S. Gen. George Joulwan Thursday said it was a great privilege for him to come to Belgrade at the time of joint efforts to restore peace. At a news conference on arrival, Gen. Joulwan expressed his thanks to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic for enabling NATO troops to use Belgrade airport as a transit station en route to Bosnia where they were to join multi-national forces of IFOR. He said this was a sign of good cooperation that existed with Belgrade and that he hoped it would be so also in Bosnia. In his view, IFOR's mission would be ended in a year's time and that the multi-national force has no mandate to search for suspected war criminals. Greeting the citizens of Yugoslavia and the region, Joulwan said NATO has come solely to bring peace and assessed that the reception of IFOR in Bosnia has so far been very good.

*PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, GEN. JOULWAN CONTENT WITH PEACE IMPLEMENTATIO N AGREEMENT B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic and NATO European Commander in Chief Gen.George Joulwan at their talk in Belgrade on Thursday expressed content with the successful implementation of the peace agreement on Bosnia. This, as was assessed at the talk, fulfills the planned prerequisites for the strengthening of peace in the areas ridden by the civil war and for the stabilization of the entire situation in the region, it was announced by President Milosevic's Office. President Milosevic and Gen. Joulwan, who arrived in Belgrade on Thursday morning, expressed confidence that a lasting peace would enable citizens in the Republika Srpska (R.S., the state of Bosnian Serbs) as well as in the Muslim-Croat Federation to again have dignified life and to turn themselves to work, building a more tranquil future. Stressed at the talk was that without an impartial stand of the international force toward all the sides, a successful implementation of the agreement and the realization of a stable peace could not be imagined. To this end, as appraised by President Milosevic, it is of utmost importance to achieve the substantial military disengagement of all the sides. Also taking part in the talk were Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic and Chief of the General Staff of the Army of Yugoslavia Gen. Momcilo Perisic.

*HEAD OF YUGOSLAV ARMY GENERAL STAFF MEETS WITH GEN. JOULWAN B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - Head of the Yugoslav Army General Staff Col.-Gen. Momcilo Perisic met Thursday with a delegation of the NATO force in Europe, led by its Commander, U.S. Gen. George Joulwan. Perisic and Joulwan discussed cooperation between the Yugoslav Army and the NATO Command in view of the implementation of the Bosnia agreement and some other issues that are expected to help stabilize security in the Balkans and the whole of Europe.

*JOULWAN: FIRST VISIT TO BELGRADE - GREAT SIGN FOR FUTURE B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - Commander of NATO forces in Europe Gen. George Joulwan said Thursday that his first visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and his meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic were a great sign for the future. After meeting Milosevic, Joulwan told the press that the transit of NATO troops through Yugoslavia was an important first step towards the success of the NATO-led peace mission in Bosnia. Joulwan said they had a very productive meeting focusing on several issues, expressing gratitude to President Milosevic for allowing transit to IFOR though Serbia to Bosnia. Joulwan was optimistic also regarding the future development of the mission. Gen. Julwan said he had discussed with President Milosevic the initial phase of implementing the peace plan and deploying IFOR, adding that after only one week, he thought that conditions for establishing peace were excellent. IFOR was very well received by all sides in Bosnia so far, he said. Joulwan said his talk with Milosevic also focused on Sarajevo, and said it was very good news that 20 important military positions on each side were opened for international control seven days after IFOR took over from the U.N. He expressed hope that the peacekeepers would be met with an equal cooperation in the future too, referring to the D Day Plus 30 - i.e. deadline for the voluntary pullout of military forces from separation zones. Joulwan also told the press he had discussed with Serbian President the relations between Yugoslavia and NATO regarding cooperation in implementing the peace plan and the transit of NATO troops through Serbia on their way to Bosnia.

*YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADOPTS ECONOMIC PLAN FOR 1996 B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government Thursday adopted an Economic Plan for 1996 and several other documents that have strategical importance for the country's economic and overall development. The uppermost commitment is to maintain stable prices and foreign currency exchange rates by way of different measures, instruments and mechanisms based on market principles, the Federal Information Secretariat said in a statement. Stable prices and exchange rates will have positive influence on the process of stepping up overall economic activities, primarily export, the statement said. The suspension of U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia, the normalization of relations with international financial organizations, the strengthening of foreign cooperation and bilateral relations and the implementation of old and new foreign trade contracts will make a favorable ground for an increase in production and export, the statement said. The main characteristics of the country's foreign trade policy in 1996 is further liberalization of export-import policy, in keeping with the standards determined by the world trade organization and with an adequate system of protecting domestic production, the statement said. The program opens door to formation of free prices on the market and more competition with foreign firms. The Yugoslav Government also adopted a foreign exchange policy and Budget for 1996, and a platform for restoration and improvement of cooperation with the E.U., the statement said. The Government also appointed a committee for cooperation with the U.N. peacekeeping force and the international implementation force (IFOR) for Bosnia-Herzegovina and put Prime Minister Radoje Kontic at its helm.

*YUGOSLAV GNP RISES BY SIX PERCENT IN 1995 B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav GNP rose by six percent in real terms in 1995, which is a considerable success since the economy was hampered by the U.N. sanctions and limited financial capabilities, Yugoslav Statistics Bureau Director Milovan Zivkovic said on Thursday. Zivkovic told a press conference in Belgrade that according to the economic growth rate, the European Economic Bureau at the U.N. had ranked Yugoslavia fourth among the countries with a high GNP increase. Industrial production, which rose by four percent, and agricultural production, which rose by about three percent in 1995 in comparison with 1994, contributed most to the GNP increase. Zivkovic said that inflation, expressed in terms of retail prices, would be 120 percent in december 1995 in comparison with December 1994, and that costs of living would be about 117 percent. Speaking about expected economic trends in 1996, Zivkovic said that commodity exports might increase to about 3.5 billion dollars.

*ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS WORK HAVOC WITH PEOPLE'S HEALTH - OFFICIAL B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - A Yugoslav Health Institute official said on Thursday that the international sanctions against Yugoslavia had had disastrous effects on the people's health, which would be felt for years to come. Yugoslav Health Protection Institute Director Todor Bakovic was speaking at a news conference in Belgrade. Bakovic said that in 1991, the year before the sanctions' imposition, the birth rate in Yugoslavia had stood at 14.6 per one thousand, and in 1994, it had dwindled to 12.8. During the three and a half years of the sanctions, the number of infants born in Yugoslavia every year was 12,000 down on the year before, he added. The death rate rose from 9.8 per one thousand in 1991 to 10.2 in 1993, and during the years under sanctions there were about 16,000 deaths more than the average number for the years before the sanctions, said Bakovic. The population growth rate fell from 4.9 per one thousand in 1991 to 3 in 1994, he added. The death rate among infants rose sharply from 20.9 per one thousand in 1991 to 23.3 in 1994, Bakovic said. A shortage of medicaments, medical supplies, proper food and heating in 1994 resulted in 28 percent more deaths among hospital patients than in 1991, and in a rise of 57 percent in fatalities from infectious diseases, he added. Bakovic said that the figures had been submitted to the U.N. Security Council, Geneva-based humanitarian organisations, diplomatic missions to Yugoslavia, media abroad and foreign delegations visiting Yugoslavia.

*CLINTON SIGNS DECREE ON SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA N e w Yo r k, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - U.S. President Bill Clinton has signed a decree under which the U.S. will suspend all sanctions against Yugoslavia as of Thursday. Clinton informed Congress about the suspension and said that his Administration had taken this step in keeping with the Nov. 22 U.N. Security Council resolution on suspending the sanctions against Yugoslavia. Clinton said in the letter that the decree had already been delivered to the treasury and transport departments, instructing them to immediately suspend the sanctions. The decree should be followed by the restoration of economic, cultural, sports and other forms of cooperation between Yugoslavia and the U.S.

*R.S. VICE-PRESIDENT - PLAN FOR BOSNIA'S RECONSTRUCTION IS UNFAIR B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - The Vice-President of Republika Srpska (R.S - Bosnian Serb State) Nikola Koljevic said that the plan for Bosnia's post-war reconstruction, which favors the Muslim-Croat Federation, represented a serious threat to peace. Koljevic told Reuters he feared that Serbs would not get a fair share of the aid earmarked for Bosnia's reconstruction. Koljevic said that according to World Bank documents he had seen, Serbs were not treated equally as regards reconstruction plans. If this is not a technical error, if the Muslim-Croat Federation gets much more moneay than Republika Srpska, there will be a great political problem, Koljevic said.

*BADINTER: EARLIER PEACE PLANS FOR BOSNIA WERE BETTER B r u s s e l s, Dec 28 (Tanjug) - The President of the Arbitration Court of the OSCE Robert Badinter said that earlier peace plans for Bosnia, starting with the one proposed by Lord Carrington, were better than the one initialled in Dayton and signed in Paris. In an interview published by Brussels daily Le Soir Thursday, Badinter said that the need for American participation in the settlement of the Bosnian crisis was a cause for pessimism in Europe regarding its own capability to resolve its own problems. Europe should seek to create its own mechanism for resolving situation such as in the former Yugoslavia, Badinter said.

*EGYPTIAN MINISTER: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD RUN TERRORIST CAMPS IN BOSNI A C a i r o, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - Egyptian Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi has accused the Egyptian organization Muslim Brotherhood of financing and running terrorist camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In an interview published by the Cairo daily Al-Gomhouriya on Thursday, El-Alfi accused the Muslim Brotherhood of using the Egyptian Doctors' Trade Union Assistance Committee for this purpose. El-Alfi said that the Doctors' Trade Union was the cat's paw of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were sending terrorists to Bosnia under the guise of assistance. El-Alfi spoke about the illegal sending of Egyptian terrorists, who were being trained in Bosnia to use arms and explosives and said that these cases had been proved and that some of them were already being tried by Egyptian courts, while others were being investigated. The Minister said that the Muslim Brotherhood were also acting under the cloak of other terrorist groups such as Jihad and Gama Alislamia. The majority of branch trade unions in Egypt have been controlled by Islamic Fundamentalists for at least two years and the Doctors' Trade Union has organized many anti-Serb rallies in Cairo and Alexandria. In a recent review of troops, Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic welcomed a unit of Mujaheddin, some of whom were Egyptians, according to news agencies.

*BOSNIAN SERBS SAVE U.S. TROOPS FROM FREEZING B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb farmers have saved the crew of a U.S. helicopter from freezing near the northern Bosnian village of Sibovska, where the craft had to land on Monday, after developing transmission problems. The Reuter news agency said that the Black Hawk helicopter was carrying IFOR (Bosnia Implementation Force) Commander U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith. Smith continued his trip in another helicopter, but the Black Hawk crew remained with their helicopter until they were taken by helicopters that brought infantry guards. 'This guy is a hero,' U.S. Captain Bill Burleson of the 3-325th Airborne said pointing at Bosnian Serb Farmer Vladimir Usorac, who was standing beside the Black Hawk. 'We were out here ready to freeze and he took us into his barn,' Burleson said. 'You hear bad things about Serbs on TV, but they are nice people. They took us in and assisted us,' Sergeant First Class Isaia Vimoto said.

*U.N. SEES DANGER IN DELAY OF PEACE MISSION TO SREM-BARANIA REGION B e l g r a d e, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - U.N. Special Envoy to former Yugoslavia Kofi Annan told Western Nations on Thursday that any delay in deploying the U.N. peace mission to the Srem-Baranja region might rekindle the Serb-Croat war. Speaking for the Reuter news agency at his seat in Zagreb, Croatia, Annan also criticised efforts that were being made to scaledown the U.N. peacekeeping force for the region (former U.N.-protected Sector East). Top-level contacts are under way to recruit troops for the mission, Annan said and added he was disappointed that the U.S. had refused to give troops to serve on the U.N. force in the region. 'Those governments who brokered the agreement have a responsibility to work towards the implementation, just as we do,' Annan said. He was referring to the agreement signed on Nov. 12 by the local Serbs in Erdut and by the Croatian regime in Zagreb, in whose negotiation the U.S. had actively mediated. Annan criticised the efforts of some countries in the U.N. Security Council to reduce the size of the force from the originally planned 9,000-plus to 5,000. He explained that U.N. military experts had estimated that the force should number 9,300 troops if it was to do a good job. 'If we were to be given only 5,000 there are certain things we cannot do... So we will have to make clear what these forces will do and what they will not do,' Annan said.

*BOSNIA PEACE AGREEMENT DEPENDS MOSTLY ON CROATIA, SAYS PAPER N e w Y o r k, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - The New York Times wrote on Thursday that although the Americans had blamed the Serbs for the war in Bosnia, it had become quite evident that the future of the Bosnia peace agreement reached in Dayton, Ohio, depended mostly on the conduct of Bosnian Croats and Croatia. Washington should therefore make it clear to Croatia that its future position in the West depended on its compliance with the obligations stemming from the Dayton agreement, the paper wrote editorially. The New York Times noted that the Clinton Administration was particularly responsible for Croatia's behaviour because it had helped built Croatia's military power. Later, when Croatian troops committed crimes against Serbs and Muslims, they went almost unnoticed in the U.S. Administration, it added.

*WASHINGTON POST: TURKEY MUST NOT GET DEEPER INTO BOSNIA N e w Y o r k, Dec. 28 (Tanjug) - The U.S. should take care that Turkey, where Islamic Fundamentalists scored heavily in last week's elections, should not get any deeper into Bosnia-Herzegovina, lest it produce grave results, the Washington Post said on Thursday. The daily said that President Bill Clinton and his chief opponent, Republican Senator Bob Dole, should be aware that the Turkish Islamic Fundamentalists' election coup had reverberated in Bosnia, and should learn from it. Although they did not win the election outright, Turkish Fundamentalists have nevertheless emerged as a force to be reckoned with and one with a pronounced anti-American programme, the daily said. The Washington Post said that the election results had cast a shadow of doubt on Clinton's strategy in Bosnia, especially the current peace operation. Both the Administration and Senator Dole must now, after the elections, be more careful about the role of U.S. troops and the U.S. in Bosnia, the daily said. It said that U.S. political leaders had regarded Turkey both during the cold war and since as a very important country which the West had endeavoured to draw as close to itself as possible. The recent elections have shown how much harder these efforts will be in future, said the daily. The Washington Post said that as regards Bosnia, the Clinton Administration must think of Europe and not of the Middle East, because Bosnia is not vital to Turkey or another Islamic state, but it is vital to Europe. The daily warned President Clinton, and especially Senator Dole, that the arming of Bosnian Muslims through Turkey would be frought with grave political risk for them in 1996, the year of elections in the U.S., and further endanger the U.S. troops in Bosnia. Clinton and Dole should look for a common ground, bearing in mind that both their political interests and the national interests dictate the need for avoiding unnecessary risks in Bosnia, the Washington Post said.