Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-01-17

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

17 January 1996

CONTENTS

[A] YUGOSLAVIA - DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

[01] RETURN OF AMBASSADORS TO FRY - STEP TOWARD NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - REFUGEES

[02] YUGOSLAVIA READY TO GRANT CITIZENSHIP TO 40,000 REFUGEES

[C] SARAJEVO SERBS

[03] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA OFFICIAL DEMANDS WORLD ARBITRATION IN SARAJEVO

[D] SREM - BARANJA REGION

[04] DEMILITARIZATION TO FOLLOW PEACEKEEPERS' DEPLOYMENT

[A] YUGOSLAVIA - DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

[01] RETURN OF AMBASSADORS TO FRY - STEP TOWARD NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS

The French Charge d'Affaires in Belgrade, Gabriel Keller, said Sunday that Paris will be the first to raise the level of relations with Belgrade to the level of ambassadors, following the suspension of international sanctions against Yugoslavia, the daily said.

The French diplomat also said that the reintegration of the F.R.Y. into the world community will be the subject of discussions in the Political Committee of the European Union, and that after that other west European countries will probably return their ambassadors to Yugoslavia.

Politika said that the normalization of relations with the European fifteen will probably mean the full reintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into the world.

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - REFUGEES

[02] YUGOSLAVIA READY TO GRANT CITIZENSHIP TO 40,000 REFUGEES

The plan will be put forward to a meeting of the group for humanitarian questions in Geneva on Tuesday by a Yugoslav delegation headed by Minister Tomica Raicevic.

We sincerely wish the international community will force the appropriators of the property of those who fled their homes to alter their decisions, and we expect physical protection for refugees and villages, not only individual protection on a case to case basis, said Ivkovic, the Serbian Minister for Urbanism.

There are about 700,000 refugees in Yugoslavia, of whom 250,000 are from Krajina, whose property has been appropriated by Croatia.

We have no definite plan for the return of refugees yet, but we are working together with U.N. agencies on housing projects for those who will stay here, said Ivkovic.

Head of UNHCR's Belgrade office Margaret o'Keefe said the construction of housing projects for 30,000 refugees is planned for 1996, as the first step to further cooperation with the Serbian Ministry for Urbanism.

A representative of the U.N. Habitat who came for the occasion from the body's seat in Nairobi, Baris Petrishian, said the aim of his visit was to gather as much information on the refugees in Yugoslavia in order to raise more funds from donators.

[C] SARAJEVO SERBS

[03] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA OFFICIAL DEMANDS WORLD ARBITRATION IN SARAJEVO

The Bosnian Serb news agency Srna quoted Buha as telling leaders of the Republika Srpska in a meeting in Pale late monday that the Dayton peace accord allowed for the status quo until new elections were held in September.

Buha said, 'the status quo implies the current borders among the Sarajevo districts as well as current municipal authorities, police included.' 'Bildt has been asked to confirm the correctness of such interpretation of the Dayton accord,' he said. 'If he cannot do it, we demand an international arbitration that would have a final say as regards the status of Serb Sarajevo,' he said.

Bildt was requested to act in a similar manner as Hans Koschnick, E.U. administrator in Mostar, which is to be referred to international arbitration if the situation there does not stabilise within two weeks.

Buha said, 'the situations in Mostar and Sarajevo are identical and we therefore do not see why the same standards should not be applied.'

[D] SREM - BARANJA REGION

[04] DEMILITARIZATION TO FOLLOW PEACEKEEPERS' DEPLOYMENT

After a meeting with head of the Serb delegation to talks with Croatia Milan Milanovic, Fisher described the demilitarization of the Srem-Baranja region as one of the most difficult tasks, because in affected both the troops and civilians.

The demilitarization of the Srem-Baranja region should start right after the deployment of the 5,000-strong U.N. transitional administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) and should be completed in 30 days.

Fisher said he believed in the success of the new U.N. peacekeeping mission and added that it was most important that all people remain in the region, with full respect of their security, human rights and dignity.

Milanovic reiterated after the talks that the Serb side was ready to cooperate in the implementation of the Serb-Croatian agreement and said that the latest U.N. Security Council Resolution was made in keeping with the agreement.