Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-08-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] ITALIAN PREMIER RECEIVES YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER

[02] MILUTINOVIC AND DINI CONFER ON CRISIS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, BILATERAL RELATIONS

[03] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER SEES YUGOSLAV-ITALIAN DIALOGUE AS POSITIVE

[04] MILUTINOVIC SAYS HE HAD CONSTRUCTIVE TALKS IN ROME AND THE VATICAN

[05] BOSNIAN REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA START VOTING ON WEDNESDAY

[06] EVERYTHING READY IN YUGOSLAVIA FOR BOSNIA'S ELECTIONS

[07] YUGOSLAV BODY SEEKS INDEMNITY, RETURN FOR BOSNIAN AND CROATIAN REFUGEES

[08] YUGOSLAVIA - MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION WANT ECONOMIC COOPERATION

[09] YUGOSLAV MILITARY MONITORS IN CROATIA

[10] YUGOSLAVIA AND TURKEY SET TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC COOPERATION

[11] YUGOSLAVIA AND SLOVAKIA DISCUSS COOPERATION IN TRANSPORTS

[12] RUSSIA HAILS NORMALIZATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA AND CROATIA

[13] OSCE PUTS OFF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

[14] R.S. DISAPPOINTED WITH OSCE DECISION TO POSTPONE LOCAL ELECTIONS

[15] U.S. UPHOLDS OSCE DECISION DELAYING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

[16] KINKEL ON POSTPONEMENT OF MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

[17] PULJIC SAYS CROATS WILL VOTE IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONS

[18] FIRST SHIPMENT OF U.S. MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO BOSNIA

[19] RUEHE SAYS BUNDESWEHR WILL SEND FIGHTING TROOPS TO BOSNIA

[20] REHN BLASTS CROATIAN GOVERNMENT

[21] PILOT PROJECT FOR RETURN OF SERB AND CROAT REFUGEES

[22] INTERNATIONAL AID FOR REFUGEES IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[23] SERBS DEMAND OPENING OF MASS GRAVES IN CROATIA

[01] ITALIAN PREMIER RECEIVES YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER

They expressed hope that bilateral relations would be raised to the highest possible level and to continue high-level political dialogue.

[02] MILUTINOVIC AND DINI CONFER ON CRISIS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, BILATERAL RELATIONS

Milutinovic, who arrived on a one-day visit to Italy, and his host discussed during one-hour meeting the tasks facing the International Community and concerned parties to resolve the crisis in former Yugoslavia and fully stabilize the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and primarily to hold elections.

The two Ministers devoted special attention to bilateral relations, and mutually assessed that Rome and Belgrade were greatly interested to raise the relations to the level they had before the crisis in former Yugoslavia.

[03] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER SEES YUGOSLAV-ITALIAN DIALOGUE AS POSITIVE

Speaking to reporters after the talks and a working luncheon given by Dini, Milutinovic said that the purpose of the visit was to strengthen over-all Yugoslav-Italian relations. He said that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia took the view that bilateral relations must be returned to their former high level.

Milutinovic praised the well-balanced and principled position maintained by Italy throughout the Yugoslav crisis. He supported Dini's statement that the coming elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina had been a central topic of their discussions.

Dini, for his part, said that special attention in the talks had been devoted to the stabilization of the Bosnian situation and to Italian-Yugoslav relations. He said that Bosnian elections were very important for the future course of the Peace Process and that the efforts of all parties involved, and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as well, were of special importance in this context.

Dini said that Yugoslavia was particularly interested to see that the Bosnian elections were carried out successfully, because they should be followed by the lifting of the International anti-Yugoslav sanctions.

He said that both Italy and Yugoslavia were interested in seeing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia back in all international bodies. Rome will uphold Belgrade's efforts to be fully reintegrated in all world financial and political bodies, and to find a place in the European Integration Processes and the European Union, he added. The existing conditions are conducive to this end, Dini said, adding that he hoped that the situation would soon develop to enable Yugoslavia to resume its pre-crisis place in international political and financial bodies.

Dini said that talks about bilateral affairs had encompassed the renewal of Agreements on Investment Protection in bilateral dealings, Avoidance of Double Taxation, and Transport.

The matter of visas for Yugoslav citizens travelling to Italy was also touched upon, with special emphasis on the need for simplifying the procedure as soon as possible to smooth the path for bilateral, economic and tourist exchanges, he added.

Dini said his talks with Milutinovic were a good foundation for continued Italian-Yugoslav dialogue at a very high level. Top-ranking Italian officials are expected to visit Yugoslavia shortly to this end.

[04] MILUTINOVIC SAYS HE HAD CONSTRUCTIVE TALKS IN ROME AND THE VATICAN

Milutinovic conferred Tuesday with his Italian counterpart, Lamberto Dini, and Prime Minister Romano Prodi and with The Holy See Secretary of State Mgr. Giovanni Batista Re.

The visits came at a right time in view of Yugoslavia's efforts for an end to the crisis in the Region and for its own full integration in the International Community, Milutinovic told Tanjug and TV Serbia after an hour-and-a-half meeting with Prodi.

The Yugoslav Foreign Minister said a series of details had been agreed, which he noted would impart an impulse to overall Yugoslav-Italian relations which were expected by Belgrade to reach the once enviable level.

Milutinovic said Yugoslavia was trying to renew ties with The Holy See, since the ties were important both in bilateral and international terms.

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[05] BOSNIAN REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA START VOTING ON WEDNESDAY

Morina, who chairs the Government's Commission for assisting refugees in the Bosnian elections, said that 85,000 of the refugees would cast their ballots in 60 towns in Yugoslavia, and the other 135,000 had said they wished to travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina to vote.

Morina and Chief of the Belgrade Office of the OSCE Zivota De Luca briefed the Yugoslav and Foreign Press at Tanjug's International Press Centre in Belgrade on Tuesday about the voting procedure. The voting in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia begins on Wednesday.

Morina said that the refugees would vote in the places of their choice in both Entities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska, and that transportation, food and medical help would be provided.

She said that the OSCE's Tuesday decision to postpone Bosnia's Municipal elections, announced by OSCE Mission Chief in Bosnia Robert Frowick, meant returning 'to square one', i.e., bringing unrest back to the Region. Morina said she still had no explanation for the move, adding she knew only that the decision had been taken by Frowick himself, without the consent of the other members of the Sarajevo-based OSCE Provisional Election Commission.

Asked to comment on Frowick's decision, De Luca said he did not know what had been agreed at Sarajevo, but that as far as he knew there were complaints of voter registration irregularities in the Republika Srpska.

De Luca said that cooperation between the OSCE's Temporary Office and the Yugoslav Government's Commission for assisting refugees in the exercise of their rights in September 14. elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina had been very good from the start. There has been no pressure either from the Government or from the Commission, he added.

[06] EVERYTHING READY IN YUGOSLAVIA FOR BOSNIA'S ELECTIONS

The Yugoslav Information Secretariat released a statement saying that the monitors had arrived, as well as supervisors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Reports from the field say that the hosts and supervisors had established good relations.

The supervisors alone have the right to receive complaints in regard with the vote, and then hand them over to the President of the Elections Commission. For purposes of building confidence and consolidating peace in Bosnia, the Commission is expected to hold United Elections, as envisaged by the Dayton Accord, said the statement. Otherwise, tensions would mount and mistrust arise in the former Yugoslavia, plus additional expenses, said the statement.

The Commission has drawn a report on its work to be submitted to the Government for examination, said the statement.

[07] YUGOSLAV BODY SEEKS INDEMNITY, RETURN FOR BOSNIAN AND CROATIAN REFUGEES

Association President Milorad Muratovic told a News Conference in Belgrade that the Association's Delegation would attend an International Conference in Sarajevo on September 3-5, on the repatriation of refugees and conditions for achieving this. He added that the Association's Delegation would make clear its position that without creating these conditions there could be no comprehensive settlement of the refugee problem in Yugoslavia.

Muratovic said it would also insist on regulating the question of pensions, children's and disability benefits for about 250,000 beneficiaries. He quoted the Association's figures to show that not a single Bosnian Serb refugee had yet returned to Sarajevo because Muslims had moved into Serb homes, which was a reason for calling the Conference at the initiative of High Representative Carl Bildt.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - BOSNIA

[08] YUGOSLAVIA - MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION WANT ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Serbia's Chamber of Economy President Stojiljkovic told Tanjug that the Yugoslav chamber of economy was to open its office in Sarajevo in fifteen days or so and the Chamber of Commerce of the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in Belgrade.

The Yugoslav Delegation discussed Monday economic cooperation with representatives of the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Government in Sarajevo, who visited Belgrade a month ago.

Stojiljkovic said the talks with Federation businessmen were focused on the restoring of railway, road, air and PTT links. He noted that Yugoslav companies were interested in participating in the reconstruction and development of the Muslim-Croat Federation, for which he said they had great possibilities.

Stojiljkovic said work was under way on restoring payments transactions with the Muslim-Croat Federation.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - CROATIA

[09] YUGOSLAV MILITARY MONITORS IN CROATIA

The group of Yugoslav Army Monitors, who will carry out the first of seven inspections envisaged under the Agreement on Subregional Arms Control signed in Florence in mid-June, is headed by Col. Cedomir Gilanovic.

The Florence Agreement was signed in keeping with the Dayton Peace Accords by Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, i.e., the latter's two entities Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

The first inspection will cover the Military Barracks in Varazdin, the Zagreb daily "Vjesnik" reported and noted that the Yugoslav side was entitled to chose the inspection site itself.

Yugoslav and Croatian Military Monitors are scheduled to make inspection in the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina next week, as reported.

Croatian Military representatives are next to travel to Yugoslavia.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - TURKEY

[10] YUGOSLAVIA AND TURKEY SET TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Trade Djordje Siradovic and Turkish Minister of Industry and Trade Jalim Erez assessed in talks in Izmir that a comprehensive development of bilateral economic relations would largely contribute to the stability and friendship in the Region.

Siradovic heads a Yugoslav Delegation on a visit to the Izmir Fair at Erez's invitation. This is the first contact of the two countries at the Ministerial level in several years, except for brief meetings of their Foreign Ministers during International Conferences.

The two countries' Delegations voiced readiness to support direct contacts of Turkish and Yugoslav businessmen and to this effect Erez urged for encouraging Turkish companies to take part in Yugoslav Fairs.

Siradovic said he was confident that Turkish State bodies, in keeping with their own and international regulations, would nullify the retroactive decision on the re-registration of Yugoslav Airlines JAT Boeing 737 and enable it finally to fly to Yugoslavia.

This plane has been grounded at the Istanbul Airport since the introduction of U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia in May 1992, which were suspended in November last year.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - SLOVAKIA

[11] YUGOSLAVIA AND SLOVAKIA DISCUSS COOPERATION IN TRANSPORTS

They are expected to draw up Agreements on cooperation in road and air traffic, Yugoslav Information Secretariat said.

REACTIONS TO THE NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SRY AND CROATIA

[12] RUSSIA HAILS NORMALIZATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA AND CROATIA

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mikhail Demurin said the Agreement was an important development and a key factor in the process of settling the situation in the former Yugoslavia.

The document demonstrates the principled agreement reached between the two countries regarding all problems that emerged between them following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Demurin said.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

[13] OSCE PUTS OFF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

Foreign News Agencies quoted Frowick as telling reporters that the Municipal Elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina might be held in April or May next year.

Announcing recently the possibility of the postponement, Frowick had said that it would be due to disregard for the freedom of movement, manipulations in voter registration, the obstruction of the opposition, and the usurping of Media by Governing parties.

The OSCE, which is in charge of organizing and monitoring the elections, confirmed that the elections at the other levels would be held on September 14, as scheduled.

[14] R.S. DISAPPOINTED WITH OSCE DECISION TO POSTPONE LOCAL ELECTIONS

Krajisnik said he did not know the reasons for this decision but expressed concern at seeing that one side, Muslims, can make OSCE Mission Chief in Bosnia Robert Frowick change his earlier decision.

R.S. had believed that Frowick was exerting all efforts to ensure regularity and organize elections at all levels, Krajisnik said, adding that people in both Entities, R.S. and Muslim-Croat Federation, were ready for elections.

[15] U.S. UPHOLDS OSCE DECISION DELAYING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

'It's a very clear and a very decisive step by the OSCE... to demonstrate that there are clear rules for holding these elections and that violation of them in their letter, or, in this case, in their spirit will not be tolerated,' Reuters quotes U.S. Chief Negotiator on Bosnia John Kornblum as saying at the State Department.

OSCE Mission Chief in Sarajevo Robert Frowick said earlier on Tuesday that Municipal elections in Bosnia, originally scheduled for September 14, were being postponed, probably until April or May of 1997, because of irregularities.

The OSCE, which is in charge of organising and supervising the voting, has confirmed that elections at other levels will be held on September 14, as scheduled.

[16] KINKEL ON POSTPONEMENT OF MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Kinkel said that the OSCE was obviously resolved to do the job given it by the International Community of organising and controlling free and democratic elections in Bosnia. However, he added, it is not in a position to do so because of manipulations and abuses.

Kinkel stressed that Bonn was interested in the elections being held, noting that a stabilisation of the political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina would create conditions for the repatriation of more than 320,000 Bosnian refugees at present living in Germany.

[17] PULJIC SAYS CROATS WILL VOTE IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONS

'We are in the game, we have accepted the elections, we are aware of the risks, and Croats throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina will vote in the September 14. elections,' Puljic told Croatian Radio late on Monday.

Puljic said the Muslims' threat to boycott the elections, unless they were postponed, was an unreasonable ultimatum. 'This is another one of their tricks,' said Puljic, adding that all three sides in Bosnia had pledged to vote in the elections.

[18] FIRST SHIPMENT OF U.S. MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO BOSNIA

Associated Press quoted a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying that, according to the document, the first consignment includes M-60 tanks, M-16 rifles and communications equipment. The rest of the equipment will be delivered by mid-October, the official added.

The 400-million-dollar training and equipment Programme for Bosnia should turn the Army of the Muslim-Croat Federation into a force capable of defending its half of Bosnia, AP explained.

The European Union has disassociated itself completely from the U.S. Administration's Programme as running counter to the policy of stabilising the situation in the Region.

'There is a very distinct effort to be seen to be hands-off with this because it obviously benefits two sides of the three parties involved,' AP quotes Maj. Brett Boudreau, Spokesman for the International Peace Force in Bosnia, as saying.

Under the Programme, the United States will supply the Muslim-Croat Federal Army with weapons and equipment worth 100 million dollars. The other countries involved in the Programme, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates and Brunei, will supply another 140 million dollars in ready money and equipment.

About 170 U.S. instructors will train the Federation's officers and men in the use of the arms and equipment.

[19] RUEHE SAYS BUNDESWEHR WILL SEND FIGHTING TROOPS TO BOSNIA

This practically means that the Bundeswehr will have both logistic and fighting troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to Ruehe.

Bundeswehr troops serving with IFOR have so far been deployed mostly along the Croatian Adriatic Coast, and have had logistic duties, and the engineering troops have been repairing roads and bridges in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the new Mission, however, the Germans will be equal with the other Nations, such as the French, British and Americans, who are deployed and operate in Bosnia-Herzegovina itself, Ruehe specified in an interview with the RTL Television Network.

This means that, at the expiry of IFOR's Mission on December 20, the Bundeswehr will send its fighting troops to the Balkans, instead of just its medical, engineering and transport corps.

Ruehe said that German troops had won the confidence of all parties in Bosnia, the Serb side included, and described this as a magnificent achievement by the German soldiers that could now be carried on.

CROATIA - SERBS

[20] REHN BLASTS CROATIAN GOVERNMENT

Elizabeth Rehn expresses deep concern about this state of affairs in her latest report, sent in the form of a letter to Chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Commission Gilberto Saboia.

This kind of behaviour on the part of the Croatian Authorities might decide the refugees from the Republic of Serb Krajina never to return to their homes, warns Rehn.

Rehn made the report after touring Sectors North and South on August 3-11, a year after the Croatian Army stormed those Serb territories. She says that the 1995 Croatian offensives displaced about 200,000 Serbs, and were immediately followed by flagrant violations of the human rights of the remaining Serbs, in many instances by the Croatian Authorities.

Rehn says that, during her tour of the former Republic of Serb Krajina, she received the impression that far less Serb refugees have returned from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia than the 9,253 claimed by the Croatian Authorities. Barely a thousand or two Serb refugees have returned to the region, insists Rehn, and says that a large number of Croats, mostly refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina, have moved into the Serb houses there.

In the part of the report dealing with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rehn expresses deep concern over the deterioration of the human rights situation in both the Muslim-Croat Federation and Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska. Rehn says she is concerned about the human rights of the minority populations in all Bosnian regions during the forthcoming elections. She says that special hotspots are the Southern city of Mostar, Sarajevo where the remaining Serbs are still being harassed, and the Banja Luka area in Republika Srpska.

[21] PILOT PROJECT FOR RETURN OF SERB AND CROAT REFUGEES

Vesna Petkovic of the Press Department of the UNHCR Belgrade Office told Tanjug the Project envisaged the return of a total of 5,000 refugees. Refugee Serbs are to return to the territory of Western Slavonija and Croats to Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and West Srem.

The UNHCR Project covers five villages in the area of Slavonija. The first to return should be Serbs to the village of Kusonje in Western Slavonija and Croats to the villages of Ernestinovo and Antunovac in Eastern Slavonija. The UNHCR has earmarked 600,000 dollars for this project.

The villages Kusonje and Brusnik, near the town of Pakrac, have been demined. Twenty-one houses were selected when the villages were toured. The houses will be repaired and adapted as soon as possible so that the first Serb refugees could return there before the Winter sets in, the Belgrade UNHCR office said.

[22] INTERNATIONAL AID FOR REFUGEES IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

The funds will be used exclusively for humanitarian aid to the Bosnian Serb Entity, except for 400,000 dollars to be used to cover transport costs, Nyberg told a Press Conference in Banja Luka.

Nyberg hailed the talks held the day before by representatives of the towns of Prijedor (R.S.) and Sanski Most (Muslim-Croat Federation) on the freedom of movement on Election Day and on the prospects of opening a UNHCR bus service between the two towns.

Spokesman of the IFOR Sector South-West Paul Brook said the state of alert in force during the destruction of ammunition in Margetic near Sokolac, Eastern R.S., had been lifted. Brook added that IFOR had seized Monday evening in Prozor, Central Bosnia, six rocket systems and a large quantity of side arms from Bosnian Croats, and that the weapons would be destroyed in line with the Dayton Agreement. The same day, IFOR had inspected two helicopters carrying 30 Muslim troops and consequently banned all flights.

[23] SERBS DEMAND OPENING OF MASS GRAVES IN CROATIA

The opening of the Ovcara grave in the Serb region of East Slavonia, Baranya and West Srem is set for September 1. The principle of simultaneous exhumation of Serb and Croat graves was agreed at Geneva in 1993 by Head of the U.N. expert team Sherif Bassouni and Director of the Serbian Council Information Centre Vojin Dabic, the letters said.

There are more than 100 Serb mass graves registered in Croatia, the Association said, adding it had submitted to the Hague-based Tribunal extensive documentation about Croatian crimes in Vukovar and its environs.

The Association is asking for an investigation first of crimes against Serbs committed before the outbreak of war in 1991, when 200 Vukovar Serbs disappeared, and during war operations, when 80 Serb bodies were fished out of the Danube River alone.

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