Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-02-06

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] ASSISTANT FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES BELARUS DELEGATION

[02] POLICE DETAINS 19 PEOPLE OVER TWO DAYS OF INCIDENTS IN BELGRADE

[03] MONTENEGRIN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER VISITS GREECE

[04] YUGOSLAVIA TO CONTINUE COOPERATION WITH UN PEACE TROOPS

[05] OPPOSITION LEADER DEMANDS STEP-BY-STEP SYSTEM CHANGE

[06] ALBANIAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY

[07] DESTABILIZATION OF YUGOSLAVIA WOULD NEGATIVELY AFFECT BALKANS

[01] ASSISTANT FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES BELARUS DELEGATION

The two sides exchanged views on important matters of bilateral cooperation and on steps to be taken towards promoting dialogue and overall relations between the two friendly states, the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[02] POLICE DETAINS 19 PEOPLE OVER TWO DAYS OF INCIDENTS IN BELGRADE

The 19 have been detained for disrupting law and order and jeopardising the security of person and property in Belgrade. Of them, 17 have been charged with misdemeanours and 2 with criminal offenses, the Ministry's statement said.

The statement said that on Tuesday, February 4, a violent group had stayed on in Belgrade's central Trg Republike Square after a protest rally organised by the Serbian opposition Zajedno (Together) Coalition.

The group behaved aggressively and their vandalism disrupted traffic and disturbed law and order in the capital, the statement said.

The vandals stopped cars and harassed the drivers, the statement said, adding that among the stopped cars was one belonging to the French Embassy, whose French diplomat driver was pulled out from behind the wheel and beaten up and the car pounded with rocks.

An off-duty police officer who was on the spot stepped into the breach and, identifying himself as an officer of the law, fired a few warning shots in an effort to protect the driver, who was obviously a foreign diplomat.

Later the same night, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., vandal groups of mostly young people damaged several public transport, private and police vehicles, throwing rocks at them, breaking windows and windscreens.

The previous day, Monday, February 3, large groups of young people had also stayed behind after a Zajedno rally in downtown Belgrade, wielding clubs and throwing rocks, disturbing law and order and jeopardising the safety of people and property, the statement said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[03] MONTENEGRIN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER VISITS GREECE

The visit ended with the initialling in Athens of a contract between the Montenegrin Government and Greece's huge Apostolopoulos Corporation for the building of a diagnostic centre and day hospital in Montenegro's capital Podgorica.

The Montenegrin delegation was headed by Parliament Speaker Svetozar Marovic, and the contract was signed by Health Minister Miomir Mugosa for Montenegro, and Iorgos Apostolopoulos, owner of the Greek company, for the Greek partner.

During the Athens visit, Marovic met also with Greek Parliament Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Minister without portfolio Vasso Papandreou, Athens Mayor Dimitros Avramopoulos and other ranking officials.

The meetings reaffirmed the friendly bilateral relations and mutual readiness to develop all-round cooperation between Greece, on the one hand, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its Republic of Montenegro, on the other.

A concrete contribution to this end, it was noted, should be made by opening a Montenegrin representation in Salonika, Greece, and a Greek representation in Podgorica, whose speedy opening was discussed during the visit.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[04] YUGOSLAVIA TO CONTINUE COOPERATION WITH UN PEACE TROOPS

The Committee and relevant federal and republican organs will continue cooperation with SFOR according to the obligations which Yugoslavia accepted in Dayton and the agreement with IFOR.

The Committee adopted changes in the border crossing procedure in order to facilitate the entry and transport of members of U.N. peace missions in the region of former Yugoslavia via the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[05] OPPOSITION LEADER DEMANDS STEP-BY-STEP SYSTEM CHANGE

The leaders again vowed that Zajedno would not abandon the protest until the results of Serbia's November 17 municipal election second round had been recognised in keeping with recommendations of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

They also demanded that municipal councils be constituted.

Draskovic, who heads Zajedno's Serbian renewal movement (SPO), said he did not believe that the competent Serbian authorities would heed President Slobodan Milosevic's recommendation and recognise the election results.

If they did, however, the Coalition would accept the OSCE's other recommendation and open dialogue, which he explained should take the form of a round-table discussion in parliament, and its decisions should be binding, being made in parliament and not in the streets.

Draskovic added another condition for opening dialogue - release of all those arrested in the demonstrations.

Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party (DS), another Zajedno coalition partner, said that the nation was in a deep crisis and made a series of accusations against state policy in the past six years.

He said that this policy had left the Serbian people and Serbia without a state and without state institutions, and that the people in Serbia were defending themselves by resorting to self-organisation.

Pesic of Zajedno's Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS) repeated the Coalition's demands and said that the entire system must change, step by step, to be replaced by the rule of law, economic reforms and social democracy.

The rally was addressed also by the mayors of the Serbian cities of Kragujevac and Nis, Veroljub Stevanovic and Zoran Zivkovic. They vowed that protests in their cities where Zajedno had won the election would not stop until the opposition's victory in Belgrade was recognised.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[06] ALBANIAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY

The latest statement by this extremist organization, carried on Wednesday by the Albanian-language paper Bujku, said that Hakif Zejnulahu, Zahir Pajaziti and Edmond Hodza, claimed they had accidentally run into the Serbian police on their way to a 'special assignment,' i.e. a new terrorist action.

The Serbian police said that the three terrorists opened fire at the police, who were forced to return fire.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

[07] DESTABILIZATION OF YUGOSLAVIA WOULD NEGATIVELY AFFECT BALKANS

In an interview to Wednesday's edition of Moscow daily Nezavisimaja Gazeta, Ivanov said his mission to Yugoslavia was not as mediator, as the political situation was an internal affair of a sovereign country.

He said that a way out must be sought via a Serb - Serb dialogue, without mediation.

He said that Felipe Gonzalez, who headed a delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, did not act as mediator either.

Gonzalez's mission was to assess the situation and make recommendations, said Ivanov and added that many had not read Gonzalez's report and commentary carefully.

He said everyone had focused on the spot that examined municipalities of dispute, losing sight of Gonzalez's assessment that the elections in Serbia 'enabled the majority of citizens to freely express their will.'

Gonzalez wrote that the way out of the situation can be brought about only by Serbs, through an open and sincere dialogue, based on democratic principles, said Ivanov.

He said certain western politicians were attempting to score political points by visiting Yugoslavia.

'We do not need to score points on Yugoslavia,' said Ivanov, and added that the Russian and Yugoslav leaderships maintained regular contacts and an 'active correspondence.'

Ivanov denied comments that Belgrade was distancing itself from Moscow. He said Russia was important for Yugoslavia, but not because it was trying to dictate its own terms, but because 'we have too many mutual links - historical, cultural, economic, political, geopolitical, strategic...'

In talks with the other members of the contact group (United States, Britain, France and Germany), Ivanov said he had expressed his 'profound conviction that an artificial increase in tensions over Yugoslavia would be counter-productive ... because any destabilization in the country would affect the Balkans and Europe as a whole.'

Ivanov urged Yugoslavia's return to international institutions, and said it was absurd that institutions of which Yugoslavia was not a member should make demands.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-06 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-05

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