Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-04-17

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] SADAKO OGATA VISITS REFUGEE CENTER IN YUGOSLAVIA

[02] STATEMENT: FOREIGN MINISTER MILUTINOVIC TALKS TO THE UNHCR, MRS. OGATA

[03] THE NEW YORK TIMES: BACK FROM THE GRAVE

[04] BELGRADE FACTOR OF STABILITY IN BALKANS

[05] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA RESPECTED AND HONORED

[01] SADAKO OGATA VISITS REFUGEE CENTER IN YUGOSLAVIA

Talks on resolving the problem of refugees and displaced persons are underway with refugee commissioners in all parts of the former Yugoslavia, Ogata said visiting a refugee accommodation center in Sremski Karlovci. She was accompanied by Serbian Commissioner for Refugees Bratislava Morina and special envoys for the former Yugoslavia Frederic Flaubert and Margaret o'Keefe.

Ogata's visit demonstrates that UNHCR will do all it can to resolve the tragic situation of people who were forced to abandon their homes, Morina said.

Welcoming his guests, Sremski Karlovci Municipal Assembly President Miladin Kalinic said one third of the town's population were refugees in great need of aid.

During her visit to the center which accommodates 102 refugees, Ogata was informed of their extremely difficult living conditions.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-04-17 ; Tanjug, 1997-04-16

[02] STATEMENT: FOREIGN MINISTER MILUTINOVIC TALKS TO THE UNHCR, MRS. OGATA

The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs commended the past efforts of Mrs. Ogata and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and repeated the readiness of the FR of Yugoslavia for the continuation and further promotion of cooperation.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-04-17 ; Belgrade, 1997-04-17

[03] THE NEW YORK TIMES: BACK FROM THE GRAVE

They are returning, 50 years later, from what should have been their eternal grave, the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Western allies who dug that grave with the bodies of their servicemen have the power to stop them, but do not.

Croatian Fascists, known as the Ustashe, fought alongside German troops against Serbs, Muslims and Croats trying desperately, and vainly, to block the Nazi conquest of Yugoslavia. In 1941 Hitler rewarded Croatian Fascists by carving out a Croatian state and letting them run it. They did not let him down.

The Ustashe slaughtered Serbs, Jews and non*Fascist Croats * and with such glee and such cruelty that their name became a terror and stench throughout Europe.

Croatia disappeared with Hitler's annihilation in 1945. A half*century later the West created a new Croatia, by recognizing the secession from Yugoslavia of Croatian nationalists, led by one Franjo Tudjman.

Not all were Fascists, by any means, but now the Ustashe is running in elections, brutalizing its enemies * Croat, Serb or Jew. Mr. Tudjman is giving them what they need most * presence, and the rewriting of history.

Two documents are a short course on the Ustashe. To honor the murdered and protect the future, read them. From pages 323*328 of the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (Macmillan): "More than a half million Serbs were killed, a quarter million expelled, 200,000 forced to convert to the Catholicism of the Croatian Fascists.

"Thousands were hurled from mountain tops, others were beaten to death, entire villages were burned down, women raped, people sent on death marches in the middle of winter, still others starved to death."

Jews? Ante Pavelic, the Ustashe leader, announced that the Jews would be "liquidated within a very short time." They were, most of the 40,000.

But some chosen as victims did survive. Study the picture of the children after the camps were freed. They wear only bones and tightened skin. Serbs? Jews?

The second document is a fine piece of journalism from Croatia by the New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges (April 12) about the rebirth of Fascism there *the bullying, the sieg*ing and heil*ing in Croatian, the whole nastiness. Most important is the increasing work of Mr. Tudjman * a long time Holocaust denier * to recast the Fascists as patriots and founders of the new Croatia.

This man likes to talk about how he himself fought German soldiers. Now a major political, military and financial beneficiary of the West, he permits pictures of Fascists dead and alive to be plastered around the country. He gives special status and pensions to Ustashe veterans. He tried to get the body of the killer*chief Pavelic returned from Spain, where he had fled, and buried with honor in Zagreb * like reburying Himmler under the linden. The family objected. So he brought back another Ustashe killer, this one alive, and made him a member of Parliament.

Western recognition of Mr. Tudjman's Croatia was pushed hardest by Germany despite warnings from Bosnian Muslims that the timing could set off war among themselves, Serbs and Croats.

Franjo Tudjman is now ours. The West cannot evade responsibility for the rebirth of Fascism in Croatia, Peter Galbraith, U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, told me he had denounced Croatian ethnic cleansing of Serbs last year, and considered the glorification of the Ustashe an insult to Croats who fought Nazis, and to American veterans of World War II.

Mr. Tudjman and his Fascist proteges brush off ambassadorial protest with insult. Would he brush off the Presidents of the U.S. and France, the British Prime Minister * or the Chancellor of Germany * if they took action to stop Croatian Fascism? Such as denouncing the Tudjman buildup of the Ustashe, then reducing Western representation to sub*ambassadorial and slashing economic help to Croatia * the Whole list?

That won't change the Ustashe or improve Mr. Tudjman's sickness of body and character. But it could force him to end Fascist rehabilitation work. Or has the West become so sick itself that it will permit, Croatian Fascism to live on beyond the grave?

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-04-17 ; The New York Times, 1997-04-15

[04] BELGRADE FACTOR OF STABILITY IN BALKANS

Belgrade is an essential factor of stability and security in the Balkans and southeastern Europe, Kotov said underscoring that it is necessary for FRY to be included in the work of the OSCE.

Speaking about the economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and FRY, Kotov said that the 1997 bilateral economic trade would exceed last year's 800-million-dollar trade.

Kotov pointed out that the legal framework had been established for the further development of bilateral relations. He recalled that in 1996 signed had been nine inter-government agreements, including the protocol on the delivery of Russian oil and gas to Yugoslavia.

The agreement on the construction of the gas pipeline will give new impetus to the firmer economic linking of Russia and FRY, Kotov said. This network will pass close to southern Serbian cities, and near Dimitrovgrad it will join the Bulgarian branch of the pipeline. The value of the operation is 270 million dollars and the realization of the first stage is expected next year, Kotov said.

Yugoslavia will have much opportunity to take part in the realization of a number of construction projects whose entire value amounts to ten billion dollars, Kotov said speaking about the forthcoming ceremonies marking the 850th anniversary of the founding of Moscow.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-04-17 ; Tanjug, 1997-04-16

[05] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA RESPECTED AND HONORED

Milutin Stojkovic, the party whip of the Socialist Party of Serbia, said the Yugoslav delegation was 'respected and honored by all the participants' of the six-day conference.

Stojkovic said that the delegation had three expositions - in the general debate, which discussed economic policy and the world social situation, and in the boards on security and environment protection.

'The expositions were assessed positively and met with understanding,' said Stojkovic.

They 'laid out to all the participants the actual situation in Yugoslavia and our stands and views on the situation in the world,' he said.

Stojkovic said the Yugoslav delegation met with other delegations - the Russian, British, Greek, Danish and Korean.

'We briefed them about Yugoslavia's wish to return to international organizations, as we have met all the required conditions,' said Stojkovic.

'I expect Yugoslavia will soon be among other world states,' he said and added he hoped that would be confirmed at the 98th IPU conference in Egypt in September.

'The general impression we created is that we are a true state in every way, we advocate peace, equality and desire admission into the international community,' said Stojkovic.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-04-17 ; Tanjug, 1997-04-16

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