Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-05-22

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] RUSSIA: APPOINTMENT OF YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER IN LINE WITH CONSTITUTION

[02] DIALOGUE ON KOSOVO*METOHIA ISSUE

[03] SERBS FROM CROATIA PROTEST DECISION OF CROATIAN AUTHORITIES

[04] BRCKO SUPERVISOR SAYS NO REFUGEE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE TOWN

[05] TERRORISTS ASSAULT REPORTERS

[06] ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS INTERCEPT KYODO NEWS AGENCY REPORTER

[07] TERRORISTS MURDER 15-YEAR-OLD BOY

[08] RUSSIA WARNS NATO OVER KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[09] KOSOVO DISTRICT CHIEF HOLDS TALKS WITH SPANISH AMBASSADOR

[10] ETHNIC ALBANIANS CONFIRM PARTICIPATION IN PRISTINA TALKS ON FRIDAY

[11] SERBIA'S VICE PREMIER MARKOVIC: FIRST MEETING IN PRISTINA ON FRIDAY

[12] SERBIAN PREMIER RECEIVES FRENCH COMPANY DELEGATION

[13] VOJVODINA, HUNGARIAN COUNTY CHAMBERS OF TRADE SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

[01] RUSSIA: APPOINTMENT OF YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER IN LINE WITH CONSTITUTION

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Russia said on Thursday that the appointment of the new Yugoslav Prime Minister was Yugoslavia's internal affair. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vladimir Rahmanin told a news conference that the replacement of the former Yugoslav Prime Minister had been in line with the constitution.

Rahmanin also said Russia had good relations with the Yugoslav leadership.

[02] DIALOGUE ON KOSOVO*METOHIA ISSUE

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

The meeting of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with representative of the Albanian national minority in Kosovo and Metohija Ibrahim Rugova has opened the door to genuine dialogue on problems in Serbia's southern Province, which is due to open in the provincial capital of Pristina Friday.

The international community welcomed the Belgrade meeting as an outstanding contribution to the resolution of problems in Kosovo and Metohija by peaceful means and on the basis of the principles of the OSCE and the U.N. Charter.

The meeting was received as a result of "the international community's careful work and joint efforts of the Contact Group member-countries."

The Belgrade meeting was no doubt devoted to efforts to establish direct dialogue and find ways to resolve problems in Kosovo and Metohija and it produced agreement on regular consultations between the delegations of the two sides to be held in Pristina as of May 22.

The Serbian state delegation, as it was announced after the Belgrade meeting, will be headed by Serbian Deputy Premier Ratko Markovic and its members will be Serbian Deputy Premiers Tomislav Nikolic and Milovan Bojic, Serbian Minister Ivan Sedlak, Federal Deputy Prime Minister Vladan Kutlesic and Assistant Minister Radoslav Rajakovic.

The delegation of the Albanian national minority in Kosovo and Metohija will be made up of Pajazit Nusi, Mahmut Bakali, Fehmi Agani, Veton Suroji and two other members who were to be chosen subsequently, as it was announced after the meeting.

The leaders of the eight leading industrial countries in the world welcomed at their summit in Birmingham Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's meeting with the representative of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija as the "first positive step" in the quest of a peaceful solution. The G8 stressed their readiness to enable Yugoslavia's full integration into the international community.

Obviously only direct dialogue between the Serbian and ethnic-Albanian sides can secure peaceful, humane, equitable and lasting solutions to the existing problems.

The Belgrade meeting, as it is set out, opened prospects for the elimination of confrontations in the province, no doubt against the will of the ethnic-Albanian ultra-nationalists, whose slogan is "independent Kosovo."

The armed operations of ethnic-Albanian terrorists, as it is pointed out, are designed to increase tensions on the eve of the resumption of the talks, to at least seriously complicate matters and if possible undermine the dialogue, as it is obviously in collision with the logic of the advocates of the Albanization of Kosovo and Metohija and creation of "Greater Albania."

Ethnic-Albanian terrorists, whose guiding principle is that the worst things get the better it is, do not heed the consequences of their terrorist activities for either the Serbian or ethnic-Albanian inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija.

Fehmi Agani has confirmed that members of Ibrahim Rugova's negotiating team will confer with the Serbian Government delegation in Pristina on Friday.

The statement indicates that members of Rugova's negotiating team are clearly determined through dialogue to seek answers to questions raised by the Kosovo and Metohija reality.

Quite strangely, however, Agani invoked the ethnic Albanians' commitment to "independence," expressed in the 1991 "referendum."

Agani's stance may have something to do with the mounting accusations by the radical ethnic-Albanian wing, which "categorically" demands that the province "immediately" get a fully independent status.

The advocates of these options, whom U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke has described as dangerous people in a CNN interview, have publicly threatened more than once of late to physically liquidate Rugova for "treason" and "collaboration with the Serbian regime."

Holbrooke also warned of the great danger of the smuggling of arms from Albania into Yugoslavia, which Tirana has been trying inaptly to deny with the help of foreign assistants and sponsors.

Holbrooke said that the situation was particularly disturbing because Albania did not have control of its northern territory, which authorities in Tirana have openly conceded.

The co-author of the Dayton Agreement also warned of the activities of ethnic-Albanian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija and called on the leaders of the Albanian national minority in the province to understand that they had the support of the U.S. and Europe for dialogue with President Milosevic, i.e., the Serbian side, and that the U.S. and Europe would have no understanding if the dialogue was to be boycotted.

[03] SERBS FROM CROATIA PROTEST DECISION OF CROATIAN AUTHORITIES

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

The regulations issued by the Croatian Government on the individual return of persons who had left the Republic of Croatia constitute one more way of misleading the world public opinion and prevent the repatriation of Serb refugees and expelled persons, the Yugoslav-based Association of Serbs from Croatia said in a statement on Thursday.

The complicated and unclear procedure for getting the necessary documents takes a long time, which demonstrates that Croatia pursues its policy of ethnic cleansing as it is unwilling to accept any mass repatriation of Serb refugees, the statement says.

The real intention of Croatian authorities is demonstrated by the wording of the regulations which refer to the "individual return of persons having left Croatia voluntarily", not to the exodus of the Serb population during the Lightning and Storm military operations.

The regulations on individual return practically hinder the entire process and the term voluntary departure is used to deny military operations and mass crimes perpetrated against innocent civilians during the exodus, and the mass destruction of Serb villages, the statement says. The Croatian authorities are doing nothing the prevent Serbs from leaving Eastern Slavonia, and the international community should react more strongly to this, the statement says.

[04] BRCKO SUPERVISOR SAYS NO REFUGEE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE TOWN

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Supervisor for the disputed town of Brcko Robert Farrand addressed town residents through the local radio on Thursday, voicing satisfaction with being back in the town after three and a half months of absence due to illness.

Farrand said the international community would never insist that refugees return to their pre-war places of residence, saying everybody would decide for themselves whether they wanted to return to Sarajevo or remain in Brcko.

He also said it was vital that the international community invest in the recovery of Brcko's economy in order to create conditions for the town residents to live and work.

[05] TERRORISTS ASSAULT REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-05-22

Eight ethnic Albanians in two cars stopped a Croatian and Czech reporter on the Pristina-Pec highway on Thursday, Media Center has reported.

The terrorists pointed kalashnikovs to their heads, took 300 German marks and a tape recorder from the Croatian reporter.

Near the village of Iglarevo, on the Pristina-Pec road, terrorists stopped a vehicle of the Reuters news agency.

They seized some video tapes and slides, and let them go, warning them "not to go through Albanian territory until war for the liberation of Kosovo is going on." The incident was reported to the police.

[06] ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS INTERCEPT KYODO NEWS AGENCY REPORTER

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

An armed group of ethnic Albanians intercepted the car of a reporter of the Japanese news agency Kyodo on the Pristina-Pec road in Kosovo and Metohija, three kilometers west of Komorani, at 11:20 a.m. local time on Thursday, the Media Centre in the provincial capital of Pristina said.

The terrorists took the flek jackets of the Kyodo reporter and a local translator who was in the car with him.

According to the accounts given by the reporter and the traslator, there were eight terrorists who wore the symbols and said they were members of the terrorist organization "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA).

The Japanese journalist and his translator were not maltreated and were allowed to procede after about ten minutes.

[07] TERRORISTS MURDER 15-YEAR-OLD BOY

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Ethnic Albanian terrorists killed a 15-year-old boy in an assault around midnight on Wednesday on the village of Veliko Krusevo, near Klina, in Kosovo and Metohija.

Dalibor Lazarevic was killed, whereas Dragomir Miljanovic, 24, and Slavisa Miljanovic, 27, suffered heavy injuries. They underwent surgery at the hospital in Pec, and their conditions are no longer critical.

Ethnic Albanians on Wednesday night attacked the Arsovic, Slavkovic and Karavelic families in the village of Budisavci, near the town of Klina. No casualties were reported.

[08] RUSSIA WARNS NATO OVER KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Russia warned on Thursday that the U.N. Security Council or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) alone could take a decision on the use of force by NATO.

Vladimir Rahmanin, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a news conference that Russia's principled stand was that a decision to this effect could only be taken by the Security Council or the OSCE.

Commenting on reports on plans for the deployment of NATO troops to Albania and Macedonia, Rahmanin said Russia was interested in the sealing of the border between Albania and Serbia's southern Province of Kosovo and Metohija because terrorists and militants with weapons were illegally crossing the border.

[09] KOSOVO DISTRICT CHIEF HOLDS TALKS WITH SPANISH AMBASSADOR

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Head of the Kosovo district Veljko Odalovic discussed with Spain's Ambassador in Belgrade Joquin Perez Gomez on Thursday the situation in Serbia's Province of Kosovo and Metohija, said a statement issued by the provincial information secretariat.

Odalovic and Gomez agreed that recent talks between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova should help solve problems in Kosovo and Metohija through peaceful means and that talks to follow would lead to the calming of the situation in the province.

Gomez said neither the Spanish Government nor the international government backed the retailoring of Yugoslavia's and Serbia's borders, saying a solution to the issue could only be found within the existing state. He said Spain was faced with terrorism as well, stressing that such tendencies should be eradicated because they were extremely dangerous.

[10] ETHNIC ALBANIANS CONFIRM PARTICIPATION IN PRISTINA TALKS ON FRIDAY

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Representatives of Kosovo-Metohija's ethnic Albanian political parties Thursday decided, following two meetings of their negotiating team, to take part in talks with Serbian state negotiators in Pristina Friday.

The Friday's talks will also mark the beginning of the implementation of an agreement recently reached in Belgrade between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova.

Spokesman for the ethnic Albanian negotiating team Bljerim Salja said that the team would include coordinator Fehmi Agani, as well as Mahmut Bakali, Veton Suroji and Pajazit Nusi, who had also been present at the Belgrade talks with President Milosevic, and Bajram Keljmendi and Salja, himself.

[11] SERBIA'S VICE PREMIER MARKOVIC: FIRST MEETING IN PRISTINA ON FRIDAY

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

The first meeting of Serbian state negotiators and a delegation of Kosovo- Metohija's ethnic Albanian political parties will be held in Pristina on Friday, according to a statement from the Serbian Vice Premier's Cabinet on Thursday.

The Serbian state delegation to the meeting, to open at 10 a.m., will be headed by Vice Premier Ratko Markovic, and the delegation of ethnic Albanian political parties in this province of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia, by Fehmi Agani, the statement said.

[12] SERBIAN PREMIER RECEIVES FRENCH COMPANY DELEGATION

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

Serbian Premier Mirko Marjanovic on Thursday received a delegation of one of the world's major construction companies, the BUIK of France, led by company co-owner Olivier Buik, the Serbian Information Ministry said in a statement.

The two parties to the talk discussed projects for a construction of highways linking Belgrade and the Hungarian border, Nis and Dimitrovgrad and Nis and the Adriatic coast via Pristina and Pec, including a project for processing water for Belgrade.

The talk focused especially on the construction of the underground railway system in Belgrade since the BUIK boasts vast experience in this domain.

Marjanovic welcomed BUIK's readiness to invest in the Serbian economy, saying he was convinced that this cooperation would yield fruitful results.

Taking part in the talk were also Serbian Construction Minister Dejan Kovacevic, Finance Minister Borislav Milacic and representatives of the Ineks-Intereksport export-import company of Belgade, the statement said.

[13] VOJVODINA, HUNGARIAN COUNTY CHAMBERS OF TRADE SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Tanjug, 1998-05-21

The Chamber of Commerce of the Serbian northern Province of Vojvodina and the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Hungarian Hajdu-Bihar county signed a long-term cooperation agreement in Novi Sad on Thursday.

The Agreement was signed by Vojvodina Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Spaso Komad and Hajdu-Bihar Chamber of Trade and Industry official Gyula Siteri.

Also present were representatives of a dozen companies of the Hajdu-Bihar county, mostly from the agricultural, food-processing and metal-processing sectors.

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