Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-11-11

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] PREMIER BULATOVIC: MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE AGREEMENT PROOF OF YUGOSLAVIA'S COMMITMENT TO PEACE

[02] ITALIAN DAILY ON ETHNIC ALBANIAN SEPARATISTS' FOUL PLAY

[03] STOJANOVIC: WAR-CRIMES TRIBUNAL SERVES POLITICAL GOALS

[04] UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTED COPIES OF HIS CREDENTIALS

[05] MIHAILOVIC: SIMPLIFICATION OF THE SUCCESSION ISSUE

[06] PREMIER BULATOVIC: BREAKAWAY REPUBLICS SMUGGLED DINARS

[07] U.S. VERIFIER RETURNS THE WITNESS OF A MALISEVO CRIME

[08] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR IN ADDIS ABABA PRESENTED HIS CREDENTIALS

[09] DEMACI ABOUT THE ABDUCTED TANJUG REPORTERS

[10] ALBANIAN TERRORISTS DO NOT ALLOW ICRC TO VISIT ABDUCTED REPORTERS

[11] PEC DISTRICT COURT SENTENCES ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS

[12] TERRORISTS IN DRENICA WOUND A POLICE OFFICER AND KIDNAP TWO CIVILIANS

[13] RAHMANIN: ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS ARE THE MAIN THREAT TO KOSOVO PEACE

[14] ANDJELKOVIC CONFERRED WITH UNHCR PRISTINA OFFICE CHIEF

[15] MINISTER MATIC RECEIVED WIMMER

[16] GREECE CONDEMNS DETENTION OF TWO TANJUG REPORTERS

[17] SERBIAN COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES RECEIVED WIMMER

[18] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. REPRESENTATIVE

[01] PREMIER BULATOVIC: MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE AGREEMENT PROOF OF YUGOSLAVIA'S COMMITMENT TO PEACE

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic said in the central Serbian town of Krusevac on Tuesday that the agreement reached by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke was one of the most important and strongest contributions to cementing the statehood of Yugos lavia and Serbia in their development.

In a talk with members of business-political party activists of the Rasi na district, Bulatovic said the reached agreement, regardless of criticis ms by certain political forces, showed in absolutely the best way that Yu goslavia is committed to peace and respect for the equal rights of all it s citizens and national communities.

[02] ITALIAN DAILY ON ETHNIC ALBANIAN SEPARATISTS' FOUL PLAY

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Commenting on the recent heinous murder of two Serbian policemen, the It alian daily "Il Manifesto" described Tuesday ethnic Albanian separatists' activity in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija as foul pl ay, saying they continued to provoke incidents and attack, kill and kidna p people. The paper said international verifiers' verbal warnings to eth nic Albanian representatives in Kosovo and Metohija and in particular to Adem Demaci had elicited no response. The paper said pressure by militan t ethnic Albanian groups had not lost in intensity, especially over the p ast few days that had been marked by the separatists' attempts to take ov er the areas whence Yugoslav Army and Serbian police special units had wi thdrawn and to eliminate the possibility of normalising fully the situati on in Kosovo and Metohija through peaceful and political means. Other It alian media also reported on the murder of the two police officers who we re abducted on Friday by members of the ethnic Albanian terrorist organis ation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army, saying that, lately, this wa s the greatest provocation that could undermine a recent agreement on the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija. Italy's ANSA news agency said Yugoslavia had strongly reacted to the killing of the tw o policemen voicing readiness and determination to tighten security measu res in the province if international observers proved to be unable to gua rantee safe routes there. ANSA also quoted Serbian police Col. Bozidar F ilic as saying that, if international representatives failed to secure sa fe routes by Wednesday, police patrols would be reinforced in order to en sure free movement of all citizens in the region.

[03] STOJANOVIC: WAR-CRIMES TRIBUNAL SERVES POLITICAL GOALS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The Hague war-crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is a framework f or the attainment of political goals of most powerful states, U.N. Securi ty Council members, and its work is an act of unnecessary interference in the war conflict in the interest of some sides involved in that conflict , Dr. Zoran Stojanovic, Belgrade Law School professor and Chairman of a Y ugoslav Committee for data on crimes, told Tanjug on Tuesday. The U.N. Se curity Council has set up ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (1993) and Rwanda (1994) on the basis of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter.

By really stretching the interpretation of the particular Chapter and fo rming the two tribunals, the Council members have assumed the right to ju dge the "guilt" of others and punish those others, with a view to achievi ng their own political interests, Stojanovic said. Stojanovic set out th at the alleged failure of Yugoslav authorities to cooperate with the Hagu e tribunal was above all due to the tribunal's shortcomings as a legal in stitution. "The cooperation has not been achieved only in regard to one, very important and sensitive issue, the extradition of one's own citizen s. It is only when other countries accept the obligation to extradite the ir own citizens and the tribunal's law is brought to the level of crimina l law of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and other European countries that there will exist legal arguments for a re-examination of the FRY pos ition, " Stojanovic underscored. Only 20 states have so far introduced new regulations with a view to "achieving cooperation" with the tribunal, bu t have shown no readiness to implement the tribunal's orders without dela y. For instance, Germany has passed a law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal, under which only foreign citizens can be extradited.

[04] UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTED COPIES OF HIS CREDENTIALS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Deputy Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zoran Novakovic received newly appointe d extraordinary and plenipotentiary Ukrainian Ambassador Furkalo Volodimi r Vasilyovich in Belgrade on Tuesday, who presented copies of his credent ials.

Talks covered concrete steps in the dynamization of political dialogue a nd promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries in keeping with the agreement reached during the September meeting of foreign minis ters Zivadin Jovanovic of Yugoslavia and Boris Tarasyuk of Ukraine during the U.N. General Assembly session.

[05] MIHAILOVIC: SIMPLIFICATION OF THE SUCCESSION ISSUE

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Head of the Yugoslav delegation to the talks on succession to the former Yugoslav federation Academician Kosta Mihailovic said on Tuesday evening that international negotiator Sir Arthur Watts had proposed a simplifica tion of the succession issue that would accelerate reaching an agreement. Following two days of talks with Watts in Belgrade, Mihailovic told Tanj ug that after seven years of failing to resolve the succession issue, one had to wonder whether the method of work was the reason for the lack of progress in the talks. This was the central question discussed with Watts , Mihailovic added. In a lively and fruitful exchange of views, Sir Watt s had proposed simplifying the succession issue that would accelerate and facilitate reaching an agreement, Mihailovic said. The Yugoslav delegat ion had described the proposed ideas as promising and paving the way for breaking the deadlock in the succession talks, Mihailovic said.

This is the first impression. The Yugoslav delegation will examine the p roposed ideas carefully and wait to hear the reactions of other delegatio ns before working out a more precise stance, Mihailovic said.

[06] PREMIER BULATOVIC: BREAKAWAY REPUBLICS SMUGGLED DINARS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Yugoslav Prime Minister said in Krusevac, central Serbia, on Tuesday tha t the country's "task force of experts on succession (to former Yugoslavia) is negotiating with international mediator Watts."

Meeting with the Rasina district's politicians and businessmen, Prime Mi nister Momir Bulatovic said that the task force, headed by Academician Ko sta Mihajlovic, had been negotiating for nearly seven years now.

"Under international law, when they seceded or, as they say, gained inde pendence from former Yugoslavia and issued their own currencies, the brea kaway republics should have returned their dinars (Yugoslav currency) to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. "They did not do so, of course, but c ontinued in their way of outlaws and brigands and sent that money by trai lers through smugglers' channels to our country. "In this way alone, acco rding to firm financial evidence and documents, Croatia owes the FR of Yu goslavia 2.4 billion dollars, Slovenia in excess of 300 million, and Bosn ia-Herzegovina, more than 70 million." "Only Macedonia went about it the right way," Bulatovic said.

"However," he added, "the documents and facts in support of this still h ave little acceptance, but let us hope that the time will come when the p rinciples of international law and justice will be applied equally to all , our country included."

[07] U.S. VERIFIER RETURNS THE WITNESS OF A MALISEVO CRIME

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

A U.S. verifier who on Monday took away Azren Mazreku, witness to the mu rder of two abducted police officers and of an attack on a police station in Malisevo, and left him with terrorists in the village of Banja on Tue sday, following warnings by investigative authorities that he had committ ed a serious offence, returned Mazreku to give a statement to the investi gating judge, police sources in Pristina told Tanjug. The same source sa id that the verifier, whose name has still not been revealed, was informe d by the police yesterday that he had committed a big and dangerous mista ke in taking a key witness from the crime scene and that he should return him. The verifier promised to comply and this morning returned Mazreku, whose wife was kidnapped by terrorists during Sunday night when the polic e was also attacked. The investigating judge of the Pristina District Cou rt, Danica Marinkovic, was in the field during the afternoon and unable t o give further details about this case. So far it is unknown what happene d to the witness. At the Pristina verification mission headquarters, no-o ne wanted to comment the case and referred inquiries to mission Spokesman Duncan Bulivant who, however, was in the field.

[08] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR IN ADDIS ABABA PRESENTED HIS CREDENTIALS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The newly-appointed extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the F ederal Republic of Yugoslavia in Addis Ababa, Vojislav Vucicevic, has pre sented his credentials to Ethiopian President Nagasu Gidada. A mutual wis h for the further strengthening of comprehensive friendly relations betwe en the two countries was expressed during the brief talk.

[09] DEMACI ABOUT THE ABDUCTED TANJUG REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The political representative of the ethnic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija, Adem Demaci, reiterated on Tuesday that the terrorist grou ps who admitted they are holding the two abducted Tanjug reporters will n ot allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to see them. Demaci said this was due to "technical questions which cannot be solved at this moment." Demaci told a press conference that "one should not pres s too hard" to see the kidnapped journalists because this "will only aggr avate their situation." He said that Tanjug's reporters Vladimir Dobricic and Nebojsa Radosevic are "being normally treated in the conditions in w hich they can be treated." Responding to remarks that the preventing of I CRC to visit the abducted reporters represents a serious violation of int ernational conventions, Demaci admitted this but added that the terrorist s "are not in the situation" to respect conventions.

Regarding the setting up of a mixed police in keeping with the agreement on the peaceful resolution of the problems in Kosovo and Metohija, Demac i came out against such a solution saying that the police can only be mad e up of "people who are currently fighting." This means members of the te rrorist gangs, whose representative Demaci is.

Demaci also set out that "many conditions should be met" for him to sit at the same table with Democratic Alliance of Kosovo leader Ibrahim Rugov a and to open talks.

[10] ALBANIAN TERRORISTS DO NOT ALLOW ICRC TO VISIT ABDUCTED REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Ethnic Albanian terrorists and their armed bands still do not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit abducted Tanjug reporters Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic, ICRC Pristina spokesma n Josue Anselmo told Tanjug on Tuesday. An ICRC team went to the villag e of Sedlare on Monday, taking a second package prepared by the families of the abducted reporters, as well as two new messages from their familie s, he said. We asked to see the imprisoned reporters, or at least to get answers to the family messages which we had conveyed some ten days ago, b ut they refused to comply with these requests, Anselmo said. At the ins istence of the ICRC that those who hold reporters, and the terrorist grou ps have admitted that they are holding them, must enable this humanitaria n organization to visit them, the local commandant replied this was impos sible at this time. The local terrorist group commander confirmed to the ICRC that the previous family message and package containing clothing ha d been given to Radosevic and Dobricic, but said it was not possible for them to answer that message, Anselmo explained. In spite of the failure to see the Tanjug reporters so far, the ICRC will continue efforts in th at direction, Anselmo said. The two Tanjug reporters were abducted near the village of Magura, some 15 km southwest of Pristina, on October 18 th is year. We will repeat our requests to Demaci to allow us access to the reporters and that we get their replies to the passed messages, Anselmo said.

[11] PEC DISTRICT COURT SENTENCES ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The five-judge panel of the Pec District Court has found guilty and sent enced to three years in prison, each, Mujo Tafiljaj and Sinan Tafiljaj of the village of Sicevo, the Klina municipality in Kosovo and Metohija, fo r plotting hostile activities. The court established that Mujo and Sinan Tafiljaj had joined the terrorist organization "Kosovo Liberation Army" in April this year and gave the organization the use of their three passe nger vehicles. They were also found guilty of participating in the diggi ng of trenches and building of fortifications in their village, where the y stood armed guard, with a view to checking the movement of vehicles and people and abducting Serbian civilians and ethnic-Albanians loyal to the Republic of Serbia.

[12] TERRORISTS IN DRENICA WOUND A POLICE OFFICER AND KIDNAP TWO CIVILIANS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Ethnic Albanian terrorists wounded a police officer in the region of Dre nica on Tuesday, and on Monday kidnapped two Serbs, Tanjug has learned fr om police sources in Pristina. About 11 a.m. today, a group of terrorist s opened fire near the village of Negrovac, Glogovac district, on a patro l of the Serbian police and lightly wounded officer Sreten Cvetanovic. T he police returned fire and killed a terrorist - Abedin Bujupi (37), from the village of Orlate near Malisevo. Bujupi was armed and had in his ruc ksack four uniforms with the insignia of the terrorist organization. Two Serbs - Zlatan Ivanovic (24) and Bojan Pavlovic (22), from the village of Josanica near Leposavic, disappeared in the region of Srbica on Monday. The two were on their way to the local market to sell wood and disappear ed about 10 a.m., after driving their truck towards the village of Poljan ice, 2 km from Srbica towards Glogovac. It is feared that they have been kidnapped by terrorists, many of whom, according to the Srbica authoritie s, have returned to the region. The disappearance of the two Serb civili ans has been reported to the police and an investigation has been mounted.

[13] RAHMANIN: ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS ARE THE MAIN THREAT TO KOSOVO PEACE

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday that the activities of et hnic Albanian extremists seriously threatens the peace process in Kosovo and Metohija. "We believe that in the new situation, the main threat to the process of political regulation of the situation in Kosovo primarily stems from the ethnic Albanian extremists who are trying to use the curre nt situation for their own goals," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vladimir Ra hmanin has said.

Rahmanin told a press conference at the Moscow press centre that the ter rorist groups in Kosmet have not yet publicly renounced their methods for the realization of political goals. According to Rahmanin, the conflict in Kosmet has now entered a very important stage of political solutions.

"We believe that there exist all possibilities for the deployment in Ko sovo of the OSCE mission, which is unprecedented in size, and for the str engthening of those positive political trends recorded in the resolution of the conflict," Rahmanin said.

[14] ANDJELKOVIC CONFERRED WITH UNHCR PRISTINA OFFICE CHIEF

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

President of the Provisional Executive Council of Kosovo and Metohija Zo ran Andjelkovic conferred in Pristina on Tuesday with UNHCR Pristina offi ce chief John Hagenauer on the joint engagement and measures taken by the council to repair houses damaged in terrorist actions. Andjelkovic said new houses would soon be built in Decani for those citizens whose houses had been totally destroyed, and that they would also receive financial as sistance, said a statement issued by the Information Secretariat of this southern Serbian province. The municipalities of Orahovac, Decani and Dj akovica have sufficient quantities of building materials, Andjelkovic sai d. He said villagers should be advised also by humanitarian organizations to proceed to these municipalities to pick up material for repairing the ir damaged houses.

The talks were attended also by UNHCR representatives stationed in other towns in the province. This humanitarian organization maintains good coo peration with state bodies, it was heard during the talks, the statement said.

[15] MINISTER MATIC RECEIVED WIMMER

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Yugoslav Information Secretary Goran Matic and U.N. official Javier Wimm er of Mexico conferred in Belgrade on Tuesday and agreed that the develop ments in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija were in the stage wh ere political wisdom was necessary, but also help from the international community, to settle the problem in keeping with the Yugoslav determinati on - peacefully and politically. Wimmer is a member of the Geneva-based s tanding commission of the United Nations Committee for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Matic said terrorism had been stoked among Kosovo an d Metohija (Kosmet) Albanians with the aid and political support of forei gn countries. Certain media, in violation of Security Council Resolution 1203 which clearly states that there is terrorism in Kosmet, call the sel f- styled OVK terrorist organization an alleged liberation movement, he sa id, adding that 2,200 foreign correspondents had reported from Kosmet dur ing the past 10 months. Matic said there were representatives of 26 inter national humanitarian organizations in Kosmet, and large numbers of diplo mats and observers from many countries. Kosmet is open, he said. Matic pr esented figures showing that Albanian terrorists have murdered 152 civili ans of different nationalities and over 110 policemen, abducted five repo rters, and committed 1,500 terrorist attacks on civilians, police, childr en, and objects. The minister pointed out that the Yugoslav side, which h as firmly opted for a peaceful settlement of the Kosmet issue, respects t he Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement. A problem occurs when the international community sets an endless list of demands to Yugoslavia, without any cle arly defined conditions for regulating its membership in certain internat ional organizations.

Presenting figures on the media war against Yugoslavia, doctoring of rep orts and photographs to show alleged Serbian aggression, Matic said repor ters from countries which are not members of the Contact Group had contri buted much to getting an objective picture of developments in Kosmet. Acq uainting Wimmer with the basic directions of the Yugoslav policy, Matic s aid that the priorities were normalization of relations with former Yugos lav republics and the quickest possible reintegration into international political and economic institutions, as well as the implementation of mar ket reforms. He said there were many obstacles in the way of reintegrtion . A discriminatory stand has been built regarding Yugoslavia, which is a source for the "creation of internal problems, strengthening terrorism and radical currents, because they thus get grounds for such an approach. " Matic said this was the very reason why one was forced to wonder wheth er the international community indeed cared that problems in Yugoslavia w ere settled. With an equal status of Yugoslavia in international organiza tions, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), it would accept the mechanisms of these organizations for eliminati ng internal conflicts and curb the sense of discrimination which Yugoslav citizens feel, he said. The minister said the demands set by the intern ational community to Yugoslavia in connection with the coordination of it s legal regulations and standards with those of the Council of Europe, OS CE, and other organizations, were justified. Yugoslavia is working on th is, he said, specifying that legal standards in the area of national mino rity rights exceeded the European. The so-called outer wall of sanctions and the discriminatory stand toward Yugoslavia are a way with which to c ontinue the further dissolution of Yugoslavia, because equal membership o n the U.N., OSCE, Council of Europe, or international financial instituti ons, would definitely be a recognition of the territorial integrity and s overeignty of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Mexican politician , who used to be his country's ambassador in Belgrade, showed interest in relations between Yugoslav Government representatives and the U.N. offic e in Belgrade. Matic said the relations were good and correct and that Yu goslavia was open to cooperation and establishing of constructive and coo perative relations. Wimmer said only the United States were acting like a power. Latin America and the European Union could jointly work on the r egulation of these relations, he said.

[16] GREECE CONDEMNS DETENTION OF TWO TANJUG REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

The Greek Foreign Ministry has voiced great concern over the fact that t wo reporters of the Yugoslav national news agency Tanjug are still being held captive by armed ethnic Albanians. A ministry statement carried by the press office of the Greek Embassy in Belgrade said that a detention a nd trial to Tanjug reporters, who were only doing their job, flagrantly c lashed with all valid international rules and must thus be condemned. Th e ministry hopes that those who abducted the reporters will soon realize that what they have done was unjustifiable, regardless of the motive, and that they will release the reporters soon, the statement said.

[17] SERBIAN COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES RECEIVED WIMMER

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Serbian Commissioner for Refugees Bratislava Morina met on Tuesday with the member of the Geneva-based standing commission of the U.N. Committee for Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, Javier Wimmer.

Wimmer was interested in the humanitarian and social problems in the Fed eral Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), recalling that today the refugee probl em is present in many countries, whether in the form of armed conflicts o r economic reasons resulting from huge population migrations. Wimmer exp ressed interest in the refugee issue and added that social problems are w ithin the activities of his committee and could be the starting point for future cooperation between the U.N. Committee and the Commissariat. Mor ina informed Wimmer that Serbia has in the past years provided for almost 700, 000 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, and in the past se veral months it has earmarked more than 150 million dollars to resolve th e humanitarian problems in Kosovo and Metohija. Recalling that FRY has f ulfilled all the obligations from the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement, Mori na warned that the terrorist gangs are continuing their provocations in t he field and that now in Kosmet, they are still kidnapping people under t he auspices of the international community.

Morina called on Wimmer to speak in the United Nations about the humanit arian and social problems in Yugoslavia faced not only by the refugees, b ut also by the domestic population, as these problems are the result of t he lengthy sanctions and unjust punishment of this country by the interna tional community.

Regarding Wimmer's visit to Kosmet on Wednesday, where he will meet with the political representative of the ethnic Albanian terrorist organizati on, the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA), Adem Demaci, Morina ask ed Wimmer to appeal to Demaci that all hostages held by KLA be released. Wimmer said that he would do this with pleasure because the issue of the release of the hostages is primarily a humanitarian and human problem.

[18] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. REPRESENTATIVE

Tanjug, 1998-11-10

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic on Tuesday conferred with me mber of the Geneva-based U.N. Committee for economic, social and human ri ghts Javier Wimmer, who is also general representative of Latin America a nd Mexico. During the talk, attended also by Yugoslav Parliament Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Ljubisa Ristic, Jovanovic informed Wimmer abou t priorities of the Yugoslav foreign policy, stressing Yugoslavia's openn ess to equal cooperation with other countries and international organizat ions, especially with the U.N. system. The parties to the talk highlight ed the importance of an agreement on a peaceful settlement of issues in t he Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo an Metohija province and noted ef forts the Serbian and Yugoslav governments were exerting toward a full no rmalization of the overall situation in the province and an immediate sta rt of unconditional dialogue. They most strongly condemned terrorism, abd uctions and killings of civilians, reporters and policemen, voicing expec tations that such crimes would be widely condemned by the international c ommunity.

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