Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-05-04

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: Yugoslavia http://www.yugoslavia.com

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV PREMIER KONTIC ANNOUNCES STRENGTHENED FUNCTIONS OF THE FEDERATION

Kontic, in an interview to the Novi Sad paper Poljoprivrednik on Friday, explained that, in the days the former Yugoslavia was being fragmented by the secessionist republics, certain primarily federal functions simply had to be taken over by Serbia and Montenegro. Kontic said that 'institutions, instruments and resources, just as habits, have been formed. In the meantime, after the Federal Constitution was promulgated, there has been no necessary readiness, nor resolve to have the functions returned to the level of the Federation.'

Kontic announced that one of the first domains in which the Federation's competences would be strengthened was the agrarian policy, because, like in the practice of the well developed economies, it was absoutely necessary to have steps to support and protect agriculture - subsidies, warranted prices, and certain measures of customs protection and export incentives.

Nearly all agrarian policy, said Kontic, was now the competence of the Republics, 'which cannot be a contribution to the efficient development of a single market, of the contemporary economic system and of the economic policy as a whole.'

In explaining the Government's decision to reinstitute a Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Kontic said that 'just as the practice of sanctions and isolation had forced reduced functions, so the practice of an open market and normalized relations with the world is imposing contemporary and well developed functions of the state.'

[02] YUGOSLAVIA ASKS WORLD COURT TO ABANDON CASE AGAINST IT

The World Court has no jurisdiction in this case, because this is not a dispute between states, for the settlement of which the Court was set up. It has to do with internal relations in Bosnia-Herzegovina in whose civil war Yugosalvia took no part and can therefore be neither sued nor a party in the dispute, Yugoslavia said in its demand for the proceedings to be dropped.

Yugoslavia's demand was explained before the Court by Chief Legal Adviser of Yugoslavia's Foreign Minstry Rodoljub Etinski, expert for internatinal law and professor of the Novi Sad Law School.

The genocide convention is applied territorially and each country answers for its implementation in relation to events on its own territory, Professor Etinski said. At the time of the breakout of the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and during it, Yugoslavia had no authority in the territory of that country and cannot be a party in the case, Etinski said.

Even if the Court determined there are grounds for going ahead with the case under the suit filed from Sarajevo, the charges brought against it cannot refer to a date prior to December 14, 1995 when the two countries recognised each other after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in Paris.

Etinski said that the judges of the World Court had to see themselves that the suit was of a political nature and that it was filed under the pressure of the public opinion of states which had from the outset of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia been on the side of the Muslim Sarajevo Government and against the intersts of the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Etinski said in conclusion that it was clear to everyone that the dispute would lead nowhere and could only obstruct the ongoing peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina which will continue to be in a sensitive phase while elections are prepared and refugees repatriated.

[03] YUGOSLAVIA, MONGOLIA CONFIRM READINESS TO PROMOTE BILATERAL COOPERATION

Jovanovic and the Mongolian delegation said that the process of economic and social reforms in Mongolia opens up possibilities for Yugoslavia's bigger engagement there.

The Mongolian delegation includes the representatives of the Mongolian National Revolutionary Party headed by its General Secretary Jondon Badragcijan, and the members of the Mongolian Parliament.

[04] U.N. RAPPORTEUR DEMANDS REMOVAL OF CAUSES OF POSSIBLE CONFLICTS IN KOSOVO

Rehn said that it would not be good if the situation in nearby Bosnia-Herzegovina were 'to push Kosovo aside and if any conflicts were to take place here.'

Asked by newsmen if she shared the view of the international community that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Rehn said that 'under the Constitution, Kosovo is a part of Yugoslavia.' She added that she 'cannot get involved in the interpretations of the constitution' because she 'is in charge of human rights only.'

Rehn said that on Thursday she had conferred with the President of the Democratic Allaince of Kosovo (DSK), Ibrahim Rugova, as well as with the Chairman of the Pristina Human Rights Board Adem Demaci and the representatives of other ethnic Albanian political parties.

[05] U.N. RAPPORTEUR CONFERS WITH KOSOVO OFFICIAL

The Provincial Information Secretariat said in an announcement that in their talk, Nesovic and Elisabeth Rehn stressed that all problems had to be resolved through dialogues within the framework of the existing constitutional and legal provisions. Regret and concern was expressed about the recent tragic events in Kosmet (Kosovo and Metohija) where one ethnic Albanian and five Serbs were killed. Mutual confidence was voiced that such events would not take on broader proportions.

It was pointed out that the education of members of the Albanian national minority had to comply with the verified program of the Education Ministry of the Republic of Serbia, and that there were no problems, except for those of financial nature, in the domain of health and medical services.

This was what Elisabeth Rehn could see for herself from the lists of the patients and medical personnel when she toured the Children and Maternity Hospital in Pristina. Elisabeth Rehn voiced there satisfaction with what she had seen, adding that she had been misinformed about the situation at the hospital.

Elisabeth Rehn toured the Sports Centre Boro i Ramiz in Pristina, where around 100 refugees from the Republic of Serb Krajina were accommodated. She inquired about the life of the expelled in their new environment.

At the close of her stay in Pristina, Elisabeth Rehn conferred also with Colonel Miroslav Mijatovic, Head of the Staff of the Serbian Interior Ministry for Kosmet.

[06] NEW INITIATIVE FOR NORMALISATION OF RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA

Pupovac handed over a written proposal to Knezevic for the signing of the document and asked him to hand it over to the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic.

Knezevic supported the initative stressing that Yugoslavia urged full respect of national rights in line with the highest international standards.

Pupovac said he welcomed efforts invested so far for the normalisation of relations between Yugoslavia and Croatia which was of great importance for Serbs in Croatia. He added that about half a million Serbs had fled Croatia and that most of them are now in Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity. It was of utmost importance now to secure their right to return which is now very limited and strictly controlled by Croatian authorities, he said.

Equally important is the Serbs' right to remain in their homes in Croatia and the right to express their national identity, Pupovac said.

[07] NATO WAS USING RADIOACTIVE AMMUNITION AND WAR GASES AGAINST SERBS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The paper that NATO had hit both military and civilian targets, houses, hospitals, kindergartens, factories, and bridges, taking a toll of 152 dead and 272 injured civilians.

In their investigation, military experts noted extreme efficiency of the projectiles of great penetrating force and weight and so doubted that these were the conventional types. The fragments of projectiles, obtained from the R.S. military police, showed that civilian targets were hit by special 30-mm bullets shot from seven-barelled guns mounted on A-10 aircraft. The special ammunition, manufactured by the airjet ordnance company U.S.A. and fired from Gau/A gelting type guns, is intended for the destruction of armoured vehicles, concrete-made bunkers and other fortifications.

In investigating the great destructive power of the projectiles, experts found that their core was made predominantly of uranium with proportionally low iron, titanium, nickel, zinc, and copper content. Physical-chemical tests showed that the cartridges were made of an aluminium alloy and the rings of a polyamide mass, Politika said.

Military experts also noted that the core of projectiles was made of nuclear waste and hence concluded that radiological arms had been used in raiding serb targets.

Tests showed that NATO forces, in retaliating against Serb targets, also used war gases to temporarily put troops out of action and lower their morale, as was witnessed to by R.S. Army officers, Politika said.

In recalling that five years after 'operation desert storm', the war in Iraq was still taking a toll of victims to the hitherto unknown and mysterious illnesses, like the Gulf Syndrome which troubles allied soldiers as well as their descendants - Politika said that only in a few years will more details be known about the experiments with perilous arms in Bosnia and Herzegovina.