Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-01-05

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

5 January 1996

YDS-1052

CONTENTS

[A] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[01] BILDT SATISFIED WITH DEVELOPMENTS IN BOSNIA

[02] BOSNIAN SERBS RELEASE 13 PEOPLE DETAINED IN SARAJEVO

[B] OSCE - BOSNIA

[03] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA SEEKS MORE EVEN BALANCE IN ARMING

[C] YUGOSLAVIA - ECONOMY

[04] YUGOSLAV VICE-GOVERNOR: YUGOSLAV BANK HAS STRENGTH TO UPHOLD DINAR

[D] FROM FOREIGN PRESS

[05] IZETBEGOVIC CRITICIZES BOSNIAN MUSLIMS FOR YIELDING TO EUROPEAN VICE

[A] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[01] BILDT SATISFIED WITH DEVELOPMENTS IN BOSNIA

The key to peace in Bosnia lies with the people and leaderships of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, said Carl Bildt after meeting with Republika Srpska Vice President Biljana Plavsic and Prime Minister Rajko Kasagic.

The international community and the European Union can help, but peace has to be made here, he said.

Bildt also said that although mistrust was still running high, he was moderately optimistic regarding the organization of elections, return of refugees and creation of a normal political climate.

Enormous economic and political tasks that lie ahead should enable erstwhile enemies to become partners, he added.

The international community will give economic assistance to the process of Bosnia's reconstruction if a sound monetary system is created and customs and other barriers are lifted, Bildt said.

Plavsic said that building trust among peoples was of primary importance and that international factors could help a lot in the process.

Kasagic said he expected that sanctions against the Republika Srpska would be lifted in keeping with the Bosnia peace agreement and that it was now of paramount importance to establish cooperation between the Bosnian entities, especially in the economic sphere.

This will not be an easy task, because the damage that the Republika Srpska sustained in the war amounts to 15 billion dollars, he explained.

[02] BOSNIAN SERBS RELEASE 13 PEOPLE DETAINED IN SARAJEVO

Bosnian Serbs detained the 16 Muslims, Croats and Serbs after they had crossed into the Serb settlement of Ilidza from the Muslim section of Sarajevo. The release followed a meeting between Bosnian Serb and Muslim government representatives at Sarajevo Airport, which was organized by IFOR.

One of the released, Muslim Enef Huskic, told the Associated Press news agency that the detainees had been given firewood and blankets in the Kula prison. 'Had someone told me about this, I wouldn't have believed it,' he said.

News agencies quoted Abaz Hordo as saying that food was good and that none of the detainees had been touched or harmed in any way.

[B] OSCE - BOSNIA

[03] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA SEEKS MORE EVEN BALANCE IN ARMING

Republika Srpska Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha, who heads the Bosnian Serb delegation, asked at the opening for a change in the borders separating the armed forces as well as a more just military balance between Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, because the Dayton agreement envisages a 2:1 advantage in the federation's favour.

The Bosnian Serb delegation wants the fact that all military factories were situated on the territory of the Muslim-Croat federation to be taken into consideration.

It also insists on lifting of sanctions against their entity, demand status in the OSCE and even-handed treatment of all conference participants.

It was expected in Vienna that by Jan. 26 an accord would be reached, that is, that liaison officers would be exchanged as well as that an exchange of information on the quantity and positions of heavy weapons would also begin.

Another conference in Vienna - on the control of military potentials and disarmament in the Balkans - in which the three sides from Bosnia-Herzegovina were to participate was also be attended by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia, has not opened on Thursday as planned. The meeting was deferred until Friday, as unofficially learned due to a dispute whether the Bosnian Serbs should have a sign and if so how should the sign read.

[C] YUGOSLAVIA - ECONOMY

[04] YUGOSLAV BANK HAS STRENGTH TO UPHOLD DINAR

Zarko Trbojevic said only a month after the implementation of program 2, framed by NBJ Governor Dragoslav Avramovic, there were signs that the desired results were being achieved, especially on the foreign exchange level.

He said the program had made official the real market course of the dinar (1 DM = 3.3 dinars) and enabled the circulation of foreign currency in bank channels.

The foreign exchange market has revived, meeting the legitimate demands of the economy and banks, and the NBJ with its interventions appears more often in the role of the buyer of foreign currency.

On the foreign exchange market, it sold a total of 3.7 million dollars, and bought about 14.9 million dollars, which means its net purchase reached 11.2 million dollars. At the same time, banks purchased 12 million marks from citizens, with the net purchase at 10.9 million marks.

Trbojevic said the purchased foreign currency went to production, as envisaged by program 2. This is also a source for dinar funds, as the dinar mass could be enlarged on the basis of foreign currency covering, he said.

He said this brought an influx of foreign currency from abroad, as anticipated by the NBJ, and that exports should be the source and cover for ensuring dinar funds.

Owing to the suspension of the sanctions and the new program, the economy and banks are making contacts worldwide, said Trbojevic.

He said new deals had already been contracted and guarantees of Yugoslav banks accepted (for instance, the Union Bank, behind the guarantees of which stands an Italian credit worth 40 million marks, and Jugobanka, whose guarantees to Trepca are ensured by a Greek credit of 50 million dollars).

He said Yugoslavia's status in the International Monetary Fund could be resolved before June, and expressed optimism that membership could be settled in the first quarter of this year. He added this did not mean there would be credits from the IMF right now, but perhaps in the final quarter of the year.

Good and profitable projects and commercial deals, however, can always find financiers in the world, to which testify credit offers of private capital which range from 500 to 700 million dollars, said Trbojevic.

He said he was certain in the positive outcome of the talks on reprogramming foreign debts as Yugoslavia was prepared to settle its financial obligations within its limits.

Owing to the heavy damages done to the Yugoslav economy after three-and-a-half years of sanctions, Yugoslavia has the right to ask its creditors to seriously examine writing off part of the debts and offering some other benefits so that we could meet the payments, said Trbojevic. He set out that the creditors were aware of this and had already made some acceptable proposals.

[D] FROM FOREIGN PRESS

[05] IZETBEGOVIC CRITICIZES BOSNIAN MUSLIMS FOR YIELDING TO EUROPEAN VICE

The Rome daily La Repubblica said on Thursday that thanks to Izetbegovic a large number of paramilitary islamic groups had come to Bosnia during the war and Bosnia received considerable financial assistance from the richest islamic countries.

In a letter to reporters and TV crews who covered the atmosphere in the Muslim section of the city on new year's eve, Izetbegovic said that the celebration had an anti-islamic character.

'What we have seen is strange to our people. European vice such as alcohol, drugs, pornography and even decorated christmas trees were presented, which is incompatible with the Muslim people,' Izetbegovic said. He criticized those who had 'dared to get drunk or grin before the cameras without any shame or feelings, as if nothing had happened and the wounds were not still fresh.'

La Repubblica said that Izetbegovic was a fervent Muslim and that he had spent some time in prison during the rule of (former Yugoslavia's President) Tito because he extolled the islamic ideology and urged an islamic rule in Bosnia.

During the Bosnian war, Izetbegovic made several pilgrimages to mecca 'to get a new inspiration at the holiest islamic place.'