Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-08-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON COMING INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

[02] KOSOVO - TERRORIST ATTACKS

[03] YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF RECEIVES AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR

[04] YUGOSLAVIA WILL GIVE PRIORITY TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT

[05] INTEREST REVIVES FOR RENEWING ECONOMIC TIES WITH YUGOSLAVIA

[06] BOSNIAN SERB SOCIALISTS URGE REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA TO VOTE

[07] BOSNIAN REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA START VOTING

[08] AUSTRIAN ANTI-FASCIST VISITS SERBIAN WW II VETERANS

[09] YUGOSLAVIA AND TURKEY READY FOR ECONOMIC, TRADE COOPERATION

[10] YUGOSLAV-POLISH COOPERATION IN CULTURE AND EDUCATION

[11] OSCE: BOSNIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS POSTPONED

[12] BOSNIAN SERB PARTIES DISSATISFIED WITH LOCAL ELECTIONS POSTPONEMENT

[13] IZETBEGOVIC'S PARTY CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF BOSNIA ELECTIONS

[14] BOSNIAN CROATS DISSATISFIED WITH POSTPONEMENT OF LOCAL ELECTIONS

[15] MOSCOW WORRIED ABOUT POSTPONEMENT OF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

[16] POSTPONEMENT OF MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS WILL NOT CHANGE BOSNIAN REALITY

[17] MUSLIMS OBSTRUCT SETTING UP OF INDEPENDENT TV NETWORK IN BOSNIA

[18] IFOR ABANDONS PLAN TO SET UP BASE IN BOSNIAN SERB REFINERY

[19] UNITED AND MULTINATIONAL BOSNIA IS AN UTOPIA

[20] GENOCIDE COMMITTED OVER SERBS IN CROATIA

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON COMING INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Kontic will pay the official visit to Macedonia at the invitation of Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski. This is the first Yugoslav Prime Minister's visit to Macedonia and the first official visit after the signing of an Agreement on Regulating and Promoting Cooperation between Yugoslavia and Macedonia on April 8, 1996.

The meeting in Skopje will define a long-term basis for the Yugoslav-Macedonian relations and open a process of legal regulation of certain fields of cooperation. A number of Inter-State Agreements on cooperation in different fields, including economic and financial relations and transport, are expected to be signed during the visit.

An economic Delegation organized by the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce will accompany the Yugoslav Prime Minister on his visit to Skopje.Yugoslav and Macedonian businessmen will also discuss possibilities for promotion, broadening and upgrading of concrete economic cooperation.

The Government drew up a Platform for talks between Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic and his Polish counterpart Darius Rosati during the latter's official visit to Yugoslavia in early September. The two Foreign Ministers will discuss restoration and promotion of dialogue and cooperation between Yugoslavia and Poland.

The Government drew up a Platform for talks between Yugoslav Agriculture Minister Tihomir Vrebalov and his Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Lakas, who will discuss the promotion and possible forms of cooperation in the field of agriculture in Budapest on August 29.

[02] KOSOVO - TERRORIST ATTACKS

Two unidentified assailants opened fire from automatic rifles on the officer, Ejup Bajgora, as he got off the bus on his way home in the village of Donje Ljupce near Podujevo, according to reliable sources. The assailants are in hiding.

Early on Wednesday morning, persons unknown threw grenades on the Police Precinct in the village of Celopek near Pec in Kosovo-Metohija. The blasts caused some damage, but no casualties.

These are the latest of increasingly frequent terrorist attacks carried out in the past months against Police facilities and officers and against Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo-Metohija.

A strong ethnic Albanian Separatist Movement has been operating in Kosovo-Metohija for decades. Separatists have proclaimed an illegal Republic of Kosovo, and strive to detach it from Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and annexe it to Albania.

[03] YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF RECEIVES AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR

Perisic and Weninger agreed that the normalization of the situation and peace in the former Yugoslavia were of outstanding importance for the stabilization of the situation in the Region and Europe as a whole, the Army of Yugoslavia General Staff said.

Perisic and Weninger exchanged views on the current situation in the Region and possibilities for cooperation and the further development of the bilateral relations in some areas of joint interest, a released statement said.

[04] YUGOSLAVIA WILL GIVE PRIORITY TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Serbia's Development Plan for the period until 2011 adopted by its Parliament this year includes a Policy of encouraging manpower to remain in rural areas, Vrebalov said. Village inhabitants must be enabled to produce enough to make profit, which would give them economic security, activate local resources, raise the standard of living and draw people away from overcrowded towns and cities, the Minister said.

Experts from Yugoslavia, Britain, Greece, Russia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Rumania and Poland will discuss problems encountered by farmers and rural recovery and development.

[05] INTEREST REVIVES FOR RENEWING ECONOMIC TIES WITH YUGOSLAVIA

The Daily cited visits by economic Delegations from Bosnia, efforts at establishing a Free Trade Zone between Yugoslavia and Macedonia, deals with Egypt and Macedonia by the "Zastava" automobile manufacturer, deals with Chinese businessmen, plans for cooperation with Rumania in banking and the visit of a Bundestag team.

Politika said Yugoslavia was in the process of fully normalizing relations with the former Yugoslav Republics and intensifying bilateral relations with important former and future partners, such as Italy, Germany, Russia and Yugoslavia's neighbouring countries.

It said Yugoslavia would soon have normalized Membership with the International Monetary Fund and other economic and financial institutions.

There were at lease five reasons why foreign businessmen were eager to renew ties with Yugoslavia - firstly, the fact that Yugoslavia, with a population of ten million, was a medium-sized European country. Secondly, Yugoslavia's economy was recovering and expanding, after a standstill of nearly four years owing to the economic sanctions, and needed many goods, services and investments. Thirdly, the fact that Yugoslavia had to exchange 50% of its production with foreign markets, made it an open country.

Despite the years of interruption, Central European countries have not forgotten the highly developed cooperation they had with Yugoslavia. Also, Yugoslavia's geographic position was important for road, rail and river communications and telecommunications, said Politika.

[06] BOSNIAN SERB SOCIALISTS URGE REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA TO VOTE

The official, Dusko Bajic, was speaking at a refugee meeting in Jagodina, Central Serbia, organized by the Local Board of the Socialist Party of Serbia. Bajic said that the refugees had the duty to vote in the elections, and that 'those who do not do so will be answerable before history, as then we might lose what we have now.' 'we have won the Republika Srpska thanks to the peaceful policy and personal efforts of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic,' Bajic said. 'If it had not been for Milosevic's decisive moves at the right time, we would have lost what we have now, and that is territory, resources, the know-how and the power to give the people back their confidence and their dignity,' he added.

Serbian Parliament official Radmilo Bogdanovic, who attended the meeting, said that Serbia and its parent Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were behind the Republika Srpska and were doing everything to secure stable peace and enable the refugees' safe repatriation.

Bogdanovic, who chairs Parliament's Committee for Relations with Serbs Outside Serbia, said that Yugoslavia, as a signatory to the Dayton Accords, would respect the refugees' freedom to decide where they want to live. 'But Serbia will also give the maximum help to create conditions for the refugees repatriation,' he added.

[07] BOSNIAN REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA START VOTING

Although the OSCE Central Electoral Commission in Sarajevo has postponed Local elections, 84,781 refugees in Yugoslavia will cast all five ballots by September 3, De Luca said. He said that the Electoral Commission in Sarajevo would not take into account ballots with votes for Local elections.

[08] AUSTRIAN ANTI-FASCIST VISITS SERBIAN WW II VETERANS

The Association's statement quoted Gerstl, Deputy Speaker of the Austrian Parliament, as saying he was happy to have the opportunity to meet his fellow fighters from the Anti-Fascist Liberation War.

Gerstl was persecuted during the War, and found refuge with Yugoslav Partisans with whom he fought in Styria, the statement said.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

[09] YUGOSLAVIA AND TURKEY READY FOR ECONOMIC, TRADE COOPERATION

Siradovic visited an International Fair in Izmir at the invitation of Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Yalim Erez.

The two countries' Delegations said that they would support direct contacts between Turkish and Yugoslav businessmen, which had been severed following the outbreak of conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

At the Fair, the Yugoslav Delegation had many contacts with Turkish businessmen, especially from the Aegean region.

Siradovic also had contacts and discussed bilateral cooperation with colleagues from Moldova, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Nigeria and Macedonia.

[10] YUGOSLAV-POLISH COOPERATION IN CULTURE AND EDUCATION

The Programme was signed by Stanislav Stojanovic, Yugoslav Ambassador and the Director of the Section for International Cooperation in Culture, Education and Sports on behalf of the Yugoslav Government, and on behalf of the Polish Government by Raphal Marshalek, the Assistant Director of the Department for Promotion and Information at the Polish Foreign Ministry.

The full understanding demonstrated by the two parties during their work has confirmed the mutual interest and readiness of the two countries to renew and promote cooperation in education and culture.

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[11] OSCE: BOSNIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS POSTPONED

Frowick said the OSCE Provisional Election Commission had discussed great difficulties in the election process, which he noted had been most pronounced in Brcko, Srebrenica, Bihac, Bugojno, Mostar and Solat.

He noted that the postponement was not due only to problems created in Republika Srpska with the registration of voters on the basis of the P-2 ballot-form which entitles refugees to vote in the place where they currently reside and, in exceptional cases, where they wish to live.

Frowick said significant problems existed also in the Croat-dominated Herzegovina, where Croats did not permit Muslims to return home. He said serious problems were to be found in the Bihac municipality, where the candidacy of Muslim politician Fikret Abdic was negated.

Frowick said he had taken the decision on the postponement of the Municipal elections after extensive discussions in the OSCE Provisional Election Commission, in which many different opinions were presented. When he announced his decision Tuesday, Frowick said the Municipal elections might be held in April or May next year.

[12] BOSNIAN SERB PARTIES DISSATISFIED WITH LOCAL ELECTIONS POSTPONEMENT

President of the Serb Peasants' Party Gordana Vidovic told a Press Conference in Banja Luka that the decision represented a concession to the Muslim side. 'It is incomprehensible and illogical to postpone Local elections because of alleged omissions in the registration of voters, while the same voters can vote for higher organs of power,' Vidovic said.

A statement by the Serbian Radical Party of the Republika Srpska expressed great dissatisfaction with OSCE representative Robert Frowick's decision, saying that Serb and Croat members of the OSCE Provisional Electoral Commission had opposed the postponement of elections. The Party called for the holding of elections on all levels, landed its full support to the Republika Srpska Government for Local elections in keeping with the Dayton Agreement and said that the postponement was 'all the more astonishing because refugees abroad have already started voting.'

The Prijedor Municipal Committee of the Socialist Party of the Republika Srpska said that the several-month postponement of Local elections would have a negative effect on the revival and restoration of the economy of the Republika Srpska.

Mayor of the Eastern Bosnian Serb town of Visegrad Aleksandar Savic described the postponement of elections as a non-democratic act, which clashes with the Dayton Agreement.

Mladen Ivanic, nominated by the Republika Srpska Patriotic Bloc and the Alliance for Peace and Progress Coalition, said that the postponement of Local elections resulted from the dissatisfaction of Muslim parties with the number of voters in the Republika Srpska. Ivanic said that the explanation for the postponement was unconvincing and that it showed the International Community's biasness in favour of the Muslim side.

[13] IZETBEGOVIC'S PARTY CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF BOSNIA ELECTIONS

The Party called on its supporters not to vote until it was clear whether the decision on the postponement of Local elections implied the cancellation of the P-2 ballot, under which refugees were to vote in places where they presently live in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Party of Democratic Action has previously called on the OSCE to cancel the P-2 ballot, saying that it 'made ethnic cleansing possible.'

Party Spokesman Halid Genjac told a Press Conference that Izetbegovic had supported the Party Election Campaign Headquarters' stand.

The Muslim Opposition Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina of former Muslim Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic and the Bosnian Patriotic Party also called for the boycott of elections, which started in 25 countries where about 500,000 refugees should vote.

[14] BOSNIAN CROATS DISSATISFIED WITH POSTPONEMENT OF LOCAL ELECTIONS

Rajic said in a statement carried by Croatian Radio that the postponement of elections was not good and that it 'opens the process of alteration of what was signed in Dayton' and 'encourages the forces that avoid their obligations.' 'The decision by OSCE representative Robert Frowick has worried us because of complications that may arise primarily in the implementation of the most sensitive issues of the Dayton Agreement,' Rajic said.

The Zagreb daily Vijesnik said in a commentary that the postponement of elections undermined the Dayton Agreement. By siding with the Muslims, the OSCE has 'created preconditions for new tension in the Peace Process,' said the pro-government Daily.

[15] MOSCOW WORRIED ABOUT POSTPONEMENT OF LOCAL ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

A statement released by the Foreign Ministry and carried by ITAR-TASS News Agency on Wednesday, said the decision by the Provisional Elections Committee was a confirmation of the size of obstacles to the Peace Process in Bosnia.

The development of the Peace Process, including the lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia and the Bosnian Serbs, depended on the way in which the elections were held, the statement said.

The elections were scheduled for September 14, and should not be put off, said the statement. The Ministry called on all three sides in Bosnia to comply with their obligations under the Dayton Peace Accord.

Any attempts at arbitrary behaviour threaten to undermine the creation of a new Bosnia-Herzegovina, made up of two Entities.

[16] POSTPONEMENT OF MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS WILL NOT CHANGE BOSNIAN REALITY

According to the Guardian, the postponement has dealt a serious blow to the International Community's Bosnia policy, despite the statement of Head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia Robert Frowick that the decision was not contrary to the Dayton Accords. The Daily said the postponement surely meant that possible conflicts among voters would be avoided but it raised the question of how long will the Implementation Force (IFOR) have to be deployed in Bosnia.

British newspapers reported that the Bosnian Serbs were dissatisfied with the OSCE decision and the Municipal elections would most likely be held in Republika Srpska, which they said would make things even more complicated in view of Frowick's statement that no such balloting would be recognized.

The Daily Telegraph said the decision to postpone the Municipal elections had mainly been taken under pressure from the Muslim Democratic Action party (SDA). The Daily said the SDA had threatened to boycott the elections but it was still not clear whether it would go ahead and do so despite the postponement.

According to British diplomatic sources, Britain maintains that it is of the utmost importance to hold the elections for the Government institutions in the two Bosnia Entities.

[17] MUSLIMS OBSTRUCT SETTING UP OF INDEPENDENT TV NETWORK IN BOSNIA

News Agencies quote the Office of the International Community's High Representative Carl Bildt on Wednesday as saying that a letter to this effect has been sent to Izetbegovic. The letter was signed by Bildt, IFOR Commander Admiral T.Joseph Lopez and Chief of Mission in Bosnia of the OSCE Robert Frowick.

The planned Network should give television time to the opposition in all of Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead of September 14. General Elections.

Bildt's Spokesman Duncan Bullivant said that the 'strongly worded' letter expressed the High Representative's determination to see the Project go forward. The letter said that the International Officials overseeing the elections 'would not take 'no' for an answer' to their demands that the Sarajevo Government honour its undertaking to allow the Open Broadcasting Network Project to go ahead.

The Network, financed by grants by foreign Governments and the Foundation of Hungarian-born financier George Soros, should comprise several independent Local Television Stations Bosnia wide.

[18] IFOR ABANDONS PLAN TO SET UP BASE IN BOSNIAN SERB REFINERY

Last month, IFOR had tried to set up a base within the refinery's compound, but was opposed by the Republika Srpska's Government which saw the step as unnecessary.

Ninkovic said he had met with IFOR Operative Group Commander General William Nash in Srpski Brod earlier on Wednesday and discussed IFOR's setting up base on some other location in the town on which the Republika Srpska Parliament would have the final say.

[19] UNITED AND MULTINATIONAL BOSNIA IS AN UTOPIA

The Daily said that given the tension between the political forces and the general atmosphere in the country, Bosnia did not stand a chance for independence.

The resistance of the Serb and Croat Entities against a unitary Bosnia is encouraged by the Muslim Party for Democratic Action, strongest Muslim party whose leader Alija Izetbegovic often speaks of a democratic and multinational Bosnia, freedom of religion, separation between the State and the Church, the Czech Daily said. However, Izetbegovic's supporters behave in the way that has little to do with democracy, the Czech Daily said.

Other nations and political parties in Bosnia are being harassed and threatened by the Party for Democratic Action which is the Muslim counterpart for Serb and Croat National Parties.

The vision of a unitary and multinational Bosnia is increasingly becoming an utopia now that there is no influential force that could integrate all the nations and religious groups, the Czech Daily said.

CROATIA - SERBS

[20] GENOCIDE COMMITTED OVER SERBS IN CROATIA

An entire minority has been displaced and expelled out of national and religious hatred and intolerance, he said, while the remaining Serbs are being terrorized and their properties sacked.

Djukic told reporters in Zagreb that 917 Serbs have been murdered following last year's Croatian Army attacks on Krajina, and that not a single person responsible for the crimes had been brought to justice.

Following the Croatian Army aggressions in May and August last year on the Western, Northern and Southern parts of the Republic of Serb Krajina, approximately 250,000 Serbs were forced to leave their homes and their properties have been destroyed. Serbs, who before the war accounted for 12 to 13 percent, now make only three percent of the population.

Serbs are being prevented from subsisting in the worst possible manner, and at the same time the official authorities are openly calling on Croats to settle the Region.

Despite three U.N. Security Council Declarations, Croatia has not yet passed a Law on Total Amnesty for all Serbs who have not committed crimes, Djukic cautioned.

The President of the Serb Popular Party hailed the Agreement on the Normalization of Relations between the FR of Yugoslavia and Croatia and stressed that it could bring peace to this part of Europe. The Agreement provides mechanisms for solving problems, Djukic said, and added that the Croatian Authorities must protect Serbs and their property and call to account all those responsible for terror, because, he stressed, only that way can lead to real normalization.

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