Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-02-20

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

20 February 1996

CONTENTS

[A] FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES SERBIAN PRESIDENT'S PEACE EFFORTS

[02] BULATOVIC: EXTRADITION OF CITIZENS CONTRARY TO YUGOSLAV CONSTITUTION

[03] DEPUTY YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER RECEIVES DEPUTY RUSSIAN MINISTER

[04] YUGOSLAVIA AND BRAZIL INTERESTED IN PROMOTING COOPERATION

[05] BONES OF VICTIMS AND THEIR KILLERS SHOULD NOT BE MIXED TOGETHER IN JASENOVAC

[B] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[06] GUARANTEES TO SARAJEVO SERBS MUST BECOME CONCRETE MECHANISMS

[07] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL MAKES NO MORE STATEMENTS TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

[A] FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES SERBIAN PRESIDENT'S PEACE EFFORTS

Voronin, who met Monday with a visiting delegation of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), said that Ukraine firmly supported the implementation of the Dayton accords and advocated Yugoslavia's reintegration in all important international organizations and forums.

Both sides agreed that there were excellent prospects for an overall and rapid promotion of political and economic relations between Ukraine and Yugoslavia, and that the Yugoslav-Ukrainian trade exchange could soon exceed one billion and a half dollars per year.

Ukraine will work for a final lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia and its reintegration in all important international organizations and institutions.

The Ukrainian official pointed out the importance of an unbiased approach by the international community to the implementation of the Dayton accords and all other agreements on a settlement of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.

[02] BULATOVIC: EXTRADITION OF CITIZENS CONTRARY TO YUGOSLAV CONSTITUTION

Bulatovic said Yugoslavia did not refuse to cooperate with the Hague-based International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but acted in line with its Constitution and laws that banned extradition of its citizens. He said Yugoslavia was ready to gather necessary information, documentation and alike for the Tribunal.

Asked how Yugoslavia would respond to the indictment by the Hague Tribunal of three officers of the former Yugoslav People's Army who had taken part in the fighting in Baranja, eastern and western Slavonia, Bulatovic said if the Tribunal presented to Yugoslavia documentation on the strength of which it had indicted a Yugoslav citizen, that citizen would be tried at home in line with the country's laws.

Stressing that Yugoslavia's border was safe, Bulatovic said, 'Yugoslavia has managed with its well-conceived and principled policy to prevent war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia from spreading to its territory.' He said the position by the Yugoslav Government, republican leaderships, the Yugoslav Army General Staff and a large number of political parties had been that the Yugoslavia must not enter the war unless it was absolutely necessary.

Asked if Yugoslavia should join NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme, Bulatovic said the country's priority was to return to the organisations whose member it used to be like the U.N., the OSCE, the IMF and the IBRD. 'Only then can we discuss whether we are for the Partnership for Peace Programme or not,' he said.

Bulatovic said the issue affected national security, so that it had to be tackled in a serious and analytical manner and without what he called 'political emotions.' Decisions of the kind are crucial for a country's future so that they must not be taken rashly, he said.

Commenting on the amnesty of conscripts who have refused to serve their military term, Bulatovic said the amnesty should not include officers and non-commissioned officers who were in active service because he said the state had paid for their education and they had taken an oath. Moreover, this is a matter of officer's honour, pride and dignity, he said.

[03] DEPUTY YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER RECEIVES DEPUTY RUSSIAN MINISTER

Shapovalyants is a Co-Chairman of the Committee.

[04] YUGOSLAVIA AND BRAZIL INTERESTED IN PROMOTING COOPERATION

Bulajic and Jonqueiro also discussed the stepping up of the level of diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level.

Yugoslav-Brazilian political consultations at the level of ambassadors were held on Monday at the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry.

Jonqueiro's visit to Belgrade is the first from South America at this level since the suspension of the U.N. sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in late Novemebr 1995.

[05] BONES OF VICTIMS AND THEIR KILLERS SHOULD NOT BE MIXED TOGETHER IN JASENOVAC

The WWII vets and the Jewish Community in Novi Sad, capital of Serbia's northern Vojvodina Province, recall that the ustashas (Croatian fascists) killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War Two about 600,000 Serbs, 30,000 Gypsies, 20,000 Jews and 50,000 anti-fascist Muslims, Croats and members of other nations.

The appeal said that 'Tudjman wants to bury in and alongside the graves of the victims, 50 years after they were killed, the bones of their murderers collected from everywhere. The Croatian President is literally applying the policies of Ante Pavelic, the leader of the fascist puppet state, the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH),' the appeal said.

The WWII vets and the members of the Jewish Community recall that Tudjman in his 'scientific work' claims that in this concentration camp only 20,000-50,000 people were killed and even fails to mention the death of 11,5000 Serb children from Mt. Kozara, western Bosnia, aged between 1-7 years, about whose death there exist all relevant data in historical archives.

The appeal said that in the spring of 1991, at the start of the war caused by Croatia's secession from the former Yugoslav Federation, Tudjman's army forced its way into the Jasenovac memorial complex, desacrated the graves and monuments and destroyed or took away the exhibits and the documentation 'with the aim of erasing all traces of the ndh crimes.'

The WWII vets and the Jewish Community warn that Tudjman's 'young democracy, is taking the ustasha symbols, restoring the good standing and decorating prominent NDH ustashas, passing various laws similar to those in Pavelic's time, applying a genocide policy against the Serbs, just like in NDH.'

In the secession war, the current Croatian authorities reduced the number of Serbs in Croatia, who had made up one third of the population until then, to a meagre two percent, the appeal warned.

[B] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[06] GUARANTEES TO SARAJEVO SERBS MUST BECOME CONCRETE MECHANISMS

Stanisic said he welcomed all measures agreed at the enlarged meeting of the Contact Group in Rome last weekend which would secure the full equality of Serbs in districts of Sarajevo which will be part of the Muslim-Croat Federation. Nevertheless, he pointed out that it would be difficult for people who until recently pointed guns at each other to sit at the same table and share the business of managing the city.

[07] BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL MAKES NO MORE STATEMENTS TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

Fila told Tanjug after the visit that no formal charges had been brought against his client. Fila said his client had no complaints about his treatment in prisone but added that Djukic was in poor health and had to be taken for regular checkups to one of the Hague hospitals. Djukic, 61, was operated for prostate cancer some months ago.

Fila lodged a verbal protest with three investigative judges against the way the high-ranking officers of the Bosnian Serb Army had been arrested and transferred to the Hague by IFOR. Under anglo-saxon law, the two officers could not have been arrested without being read their charges and their rights, which was not the case here, he said.

Fila refused to be served with the documents concerning his client on the grounds that the Tribunal's rules of procedure had been violated.

Danish lawyer Jan Sjocrona, appointed by the Tribunal to defend Col. Krsmanovic, said that he had talked to his client on Monday. Counsel said that charges against his client were vague and that he had requested urgent clarification from the prosecutor.