Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-09-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER HOLDS TALKS IN NEW YORK

[02] 646,000 REFUGEES AND DISPLACED IN YUGOSLAVIA

[03] YUGOSLAVIA ORIENTED TOWARDS REGIONAL COOPERATION

[04] ISLAMIC CHANNELS TO SARAJEVO

[01] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER HOLDS TALKS IN NEW YORK

Milutinovic said after the meetings that his contacts with his two European counterparts had been substantial and good, and had focused on topical questions of the peace process in the Balkans. Special emphasis in this context was laid on the projected lifting of the anti-Yugoslav sanctions, he added.

During the meetings, Kinkel and Dini showed a high level of understanding for the efforts of the F.R.Y. to be reintegrated in international organisations and to rid itself of the burden of economic sanctions. Both Kinkel and Dini believe that the question of lifting the anti-Yugoslav sanctions should be settled without delay, that it had been agreed under the Dayton accords and written down in the relevant Security Council Resolution. They believe that Bosnia's Sept. 14 elections, the holding of which was a condition for lifting the sanctions, were regular and successful and have de facto been verified by the international community.

It had been announced at the U.N. that the Security Council would be meeting in this connection on Tuesday, ten days after the Bosnian elections. This would have been in keeping with the relevant Security Council Resolution, which specifies that the anti-Yugoslav sanctions should be lifted ten days after the holding of elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Reports on Monday indicate, however, that the session has been postponed.

Meanwhile, the Russian U.N. delegation has drafted a resolution on lifting the anti-Yugoslav sanctions, and an interpretation is now being awaited as to whether the ten-day deadline should start with the elections, or with their verification. A possibility is being mentioned of the Security Council convening a day after the official verification of the Bosnian election results to formally lift the sanctions.

Milutinovic met also with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen to discuss the present moment in the peace process in former Yugoslavia.

YUGOSLAVIA - REFUGEES

[02] 646,000 REFUGEES AND DISPLACED IN YUGOSLAVIA

Presenting to a news conference the official results of the registration of refugees performed in the F.R.Y. between April 15 and June 30 of this year, UNHCR Office Chief Margaret O'Keeffe and Serbia's Commissioner for Refugees Bratislava Morina said that there were 617,728 refugees in Serbia and 28,338 refugees in Montenegro.

The registration figures showed that more than 60 per cent of the total (or around 340,000) refugees had decided in favour of integrating themselves into local environments, while 23 per cent were either 'undecided', 'uncertain' or had 'no answer'.

This means that the F.R.Y., with its enfeebled economy and exhausted households, should absorb near under half a million homeless, which, as O'Keeffe said was 'unthinkable'. This was why, O'Keeffe said, the UNHCR would go on assisting these people and would also have to appeal on the international community, agencies and donors to extend a broad-based financial support to the integration of as many refugees as this.

The UNHCR held that the question of the property of Serbs expelled from Croatia should be resolved in the same way as that of the property of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, because Croatia did sign the Dayton agreement the provisions of which should therefore be applied to Croatia too.

Morina hoped that the recent normalization of relations between the F.R.Y. and Croatia and the successful elections in Bosnia would encourage the return of refugees and the resolution of the question of their legal property and status.

YUGOSLAVIA - E.U.

[03] YUGOSLAVIA ORIENTED TOWARDS REGIONAL COOPERATION

The E.U. does not want these countries to shut themselves within new borders or within some Balkan alliance, Kovac said. He explained that a regional approach would be E.U.'s basic principle in planning and developing relations in the Balkan region. This is why countries which want closer ties with the E.U. should first create forms of regional cooperation between themselves, which is also E.U.'s general strategy, Kovac said.

He underscored that this new E.U. regional approach has received full support only in Yugoslavia, while the former Yugoslav republics mainly have a negative position saying they will accept it only if they are forced to.

The international community and the E.U. are, in fact, presenting two political and economic priorities in this respect. 'The first refers to the establishment of democracy and the rule of the law, while the second to the reconstruction of economies and the transition to a market economy,' Kovac said.

The E.U. has the strategic economic interest to secure through the territory of the former Yugoslavia the free transit of traffic, and the flow of goods, people and capital from its own markets and from Central and Eastern Europe, to the Middle East.

If this region were to remain closed, E.U.'s longterm strategic interest would be impossible to realize and huge capital invested in the construction of the Rhine-Meine-Danube canal would become a failed investment.

Kovac said that the E.U. and NATO aim to control the strategic corridors between the Balkans and Central Europe. He added that Yugoslavia is not interested in routes through Slovenia, and that NATO is but only if this country is linked to the Balkans. This is the main reason why Europe considers this ex-Yugoslav republic a Balkan country, despite its protests, Kovac said.

On the other hand, the so-called Pannonia Corridor links the majority of Central and East European countries to the E.U. and for Yugoslavia this is a shorter and more reliable way towards the world, rather than via Croatia and Slovenia, Kovac said.

The third, Morava-Vardar Corridor is, according to Kovac, a kind of defense against Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and drug trafficking routes, and it is in the joint interest of Yugoslavia and Macedonia, on the one hand, and the E.U., on the other, to transform this corridor into a region of cooperation rather than a crisis spot.

Kovac said that, the fact that both the E.U. and Yugoslavia, as the two major subjects, are oriented towards regional cooperation in this part of Europe, shows it has a chance of becoming a reality. He added that Yugoslavia believes that the linking up of all former Yugoslav republics with the E.U. represents the interest of all countries in the region.

Kovac said he expected the E.U. to confirm the special status for industrial goods from Yugoslavia, which was granted to the former Yugoslavia in 1980, and which has already been done with some ex-Yugoslav republics. He said that the E.U. would also insist on crating a free trade zone between the former Yugoslav republics.

Underscoring that Yugoslavia is interested in taking part in trans-European infrastructure networks and in multistate projects in many spheres, Kovac said that full regional cooperation cannot be possible as long as the E.U. discriminates against Yugoslavia as compared to the other states created from the former Yugoslavia.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

[04] ISLAMIC CHANNELS TO SARAJEVO

Arms were smuggled into Bosnia at the time of the U.N. embargo on sales of arms anywhere in the territory of the former Yugoslav Federation.

Washington Post last spring uncovered a channel which served for smuggling weaponry from Iran to the Bosnian Muslims, with the tacit approval of the White House.

The main role in this latest scandal was played by the Vienna-based Agency for Aid to Third-World Countries, which was founded by Elfatih Hasanein of Sudan.

In the seventies, Hasanein studied medicine at the University of Belgrade and started a long-term friendship with Izetbegovic.

This agency mediated in shipping about 350 million dollars' worth of alleged aid to Bosnia, with weaponry accounting for over half the sum, Washington Post said. The agency also worked with Islamic activists in Bosnia itself. Some of these men hold high-ranking positions in the Bosnian Government. Hasan Cengic, for instance, is Deputy Defense Minister and he was a member of the Vienna agency's board of managers.

During the Bosnian war, Hasanein was appointed Sudanese Culture Attache in Vienna. His diplomatic passport conveniently enabled him to transfer large quantities of cash not only to Sarajevo, but also to Slovenia and Croatia to oil the local channels for the smooth passage of arms.

Sensing that an investigation was about to uncover his shady deals involving arms smuggling, Hasanein moved from Vienna to Istanbul in 1994.

Hasanein still has close relations with Izetbegovic. In August this year, the Bosnian Government awarded a gold medal to Hasanein's Viennese agency. Last month, Izetbegovic was Hasanein's guest in Istanbul. After that, Hasanein paid a return visit to the Bosnian President, Washington Post said.

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