Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-11-23

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Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] SERBIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR THE RESUMPTION OF DIALOGUE

[02] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL ADDRESSED THE PEACE IMPLEMENTATION COUNCIL

[03] TERRORISTS KILL TWO AND WOUND FOUR POLICE OFFICERS

[04] TOURIST INDUSTRY ACTS TO MEET REQUIREMENTS OF VERIFIERS IN KOSMET

[05] RAKHMANIN: OSCE ALONE SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFETY OF VERIFIERS

[06] SECURITY COUNCIL APPEARS TO TAKE A MORE OBJECTIVE STANCE ON KOSMET

[07] SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMED THE IMPROVED SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[08] VICTIM OF AN ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORIST ATTACK WROTE TO SOLANA AND WALKER

[09] ALBRIGHT WARNED KOSOVO ALBANIANS TO STOP ATTACKS

[10] ABNA CALLS FOR THE RELEASE OF ABDUCTED REPORTERS

[11] AMBASSADOR KIKIC RECEIVED NORWEGIAN AND SPANISH AMBASSADORS

[12] DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SAINOVIC RECEIVED PELLNAS

[13] MILUTINOVIC: MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE AGREEMENT BINDS ALL TO A DIALOGUE

[14] SERBIA PRESIDENT MILUTINOVIC CONFERRED WITH PARTY REPRESENTATIVES

[01] SERBIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR THE RESUMPTION OF DIALOGUE

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic has issued an invitation to a resump tion of dialogue on a political resolution of problems in Serbia's southe rn province of Kosovo and Metohija for Wednesday, November 25 in Pristina , the Presidential Office said in a statement on Friday. The meeting wil l focus on a joint draft agreement on the political framework for self-ad ministration in Kosovo and Metohija, drawn up by representatives of ethni c communities and political parties which took part in meetings held in P ristina on November 18 and in Belgrade on November 19. Invitations conta ining the text of the draft joint agreement were sent to representatives of political parties which did not take part in the November 18 meeting. They were again invited to attend the meeting on Wednesday.

[02] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL ADDRESSED THE PEACE IMPLEMENTATION COUNCIL

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Head of a Yugoslav delegation to a meeting of the Peace Implementation C ouncil working group for humanitarian affairs Bratislava Morina on Friday informed the Council about the current situation in Yugoslavia, saying t hat the humanitarian situation had not improved since the last working gr oup meeting. Morina, who is also Commissioner for refugees of the Yugosl av republic of Serbia, said that Yugoslavia was currently providing for a bout 700,000 refugees, who are legally entitled to full medical and socia l care and education and are also provided with accommodation and food.

She said that Serbs account for 85 percent of the total number of refuge es, while the remaining 15 percent are Muslims, Croats, Jews and others. She added that more than 50 percent of refugees are the sick, the elderly , women and children and all of them need complete social care. The Fede ral Republic of Yugoslavia has upheld conclusions of the working group fo r humanitarian affairs that an implementation of a lasting settlement of the refugee problem in the region should begin. However, conditions for t his have not yet been created and a commitment to repatriate refugees fro m Yugoslavia to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina has not been fulfilled, Mo rina said. A considerable number of refugees want to return to their anc estral homes, but there are still major difficulties and obstruction by l ocal authorities in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Efficient repatriatio n is being hampered also by a lack of safety conditions and guarantees fo r returnees' personal property and exercise of human rights in these terr itories, she said. Furthermore, a silent exodus of Serbs from the Srem-B aranja region in Croatia continues before the indifferent eyes of the int ernational community in the year which the international community and th e U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have declared the year of r efugee repatriation, said Morina. She said that there can be no integrat ion of refugees without international economic assistance, because Yugosl avia is in a grave economic situation as a result of several years under economic sanctions.

Morina also said that the situation is especially difficult because some international fora are preventing Yugoslavia from participating in the w ork of international economic and financial institutions. Referring to S erbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, Morina said that, after the reaching of agreements and accord on the deployment of a verificatio n mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the situation has completely stabilized and there are no serious huma nitarian problems. She stressed that terrorist activities of ethnic Alba nian extremists and a refusal by ethnic Albanian political parties to sta rt dialogue with representatives of the state are the only obstacles to f urther stabilization of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. Morina sai d that various foreign missions and international organizations in Kosovo and Metohija, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's November 12 report to the U.N. Security Council, have shown that major headway has be en made in the return of displaced persons after the signing of an agreem ent between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy to the B alkans Richard Holbrooke and also that humanitarian organizations' access to the displaced persons has generally improved.

Serbian and Yugoslav authorities are exerting maximum efforts toward sen ding relief aid where necessary on a daily basis. According to our estima tes, there have been about 30,000 internally displaced persons in Kosovo and Metohija to-date and they are staying mostly with their relatives. Th e number includes also non-ethnic Albanians - Serbs, Romanies and ethnic Turks, who have fled before ethnic Albanian terrorists, she said. Morina said that the Serbian Government and local authorities have opened 17 hu manitarian centers and more than 100 distribution centers in Kosovo and M etohija. She added that 150 million U.S. dollars have been spent on suppl ying the centers with basic foodstuffs over the past three months. She s aid that, in order to improve coordination, local authorities will draw u p a program of humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons in Koso vo and Metohija, which will also be presented to international humanitari an organizations.

[03] TERRORISTS KILL TWO AND WOUND FOUR POLICE OFFICERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Ethnic Albanian terrorists killed two and seriously wounded three police officers in an attack on a police patrol near Decani early on Friday, po lice sources told Tanjug in Pristina, centre of Serbia's province of Koso vo and Metohija.

Zoran Vrbaski (25) and Janos Cizmadija (45) were killed and Aleksandar S tojanovic, Igor Bus and Goran Borovica were seriously wounded in the atta ck which the terrorists launched at the village of Prilep at around 6.45 a.m. local time. The three police officers who were seriously wounded an d Caba Pakai, a reserve police officer who sustained light injuries, were transferred to Pristina's clinical centre. The terrorists first fired a t the police patrol car with a hand-grenade launcher after which they ope ned fire with automatic rifles.

[04] TOURIST INDUSTRY ACTS TO MEET REQUIREMENTS OF VERIFIERS IN KOSMET

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

The Managing Board of the Yugoslav Centre for the Development of Tourism (SACEN) on Friday obliged the centre's members to assist hotels and rest aurants in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija in extending hospitality to the OSCE verifiers. It was set out that the standards of tourist facilities needed to be improved to meet the requirements of the 2, 000 verifiers and 6,000 auxiliary personnel. The SACEN has reached ag reement with the Kosovo and Metohija Secretariat for Tourism that the lat ter financially assist the undertaking.

[05] RAKHMANIN: OSCE ALONE SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFETY OF VERIFIERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Russia voiced on Friday its opposition to any institution other than the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe taking decisions con cerning the safety of the OSCE verification mission to Kosovo and Metohij a. Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Rakhmanin told a n ews conference that Russia was confident that the mission alone should de cide on all issues concerning the verifiers' safety. Decisions to this en d should be taken within the OSCE through consensus, he said. Moscow has practically distanced itself from NATO's position to unilaterally decide whether the verifiers' lives are in jeopardy and whether it should inter vene. Rakhmanin said Russia was also interested in the verifiers' safety but said his country believed that guarantees offered by Yugoslavia for the verifiers' safety were absolutely solid. He said Russia had already sent 10 observers to Serbia's southern province, saying it was ready soon to contribute between 60 and 70 verifiers to the mission.

[06] SECURITY COUNCIL APPEARS TO TAKE A MORE OBJECTIVE STANCE ON KOSMET

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

The U.N. Security Council members appear to have become increasingly awa re of the need for taking a more comprehensive and objective stand on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and for clearly differentiating between forces trying to normalise the situation and those provoking incidents. Such atmosphere could be felt in the Security Council's consultations beh ind closed doors on Thursday on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report on the latest developments in Serbia's southern province. Assessments inclu ded in the report are far more impartial than those included in previous analyses, which is believed to have to do with a U.N. mission's visit to Serbia's southern province following Annan's report of several weeks ago. What Staffan de Mistura, Annan's envoy, saw in the province evidently ha d a bearing on the assessments in Annan's report. Irrefutable evidence t hat ethnic Albanian terrorists are still trying to strain tensions by pro voking incidents prompted Annan to voice great concern about ethnic Alban ian paramilitary units seizing areas whence state security forces have wi thdrawn. Annan voiced concern also about ethnic Albanian paramilitary fo rces attacking police and civilians. He said that ethnic Albanian paramil itary units must end all actions aimed at provoking Yugoslav security for ces, warning ethnic Albanian terrorists that they must stop with abductio ns and violence immediately.

He also called for the respect of an agreement on the peaceful resolutio n of the Kosovo and Metohija crisis that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milo sevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke signed in Belgrade on October 13.

He said all parties concerned must consistently honour this as well as o ther agreements that have contributed to the easing of tensions and creat ion of conditions for the immediate opening of political dialogue. The di alogue should lead to a solution guaranteeing rights to all living in Kos ovo and Metohija, he said. Annan also called for the immediate deploymen t of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) verif ication mission to Kosovo and Metohija. The Security Council members acc epted Annan's conclusions, position and recommendations, supporting and w elcoming his report. A number of Security Council members proposed that a statement to be released by the Security Council should name those respo nsible for provocation of incidents and jeopardising the normalisation of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. Consequently, China's delegation said that, for the sake of objectiveness and truth, a finger should be cl early pointed at ethnic Albanian terrorists who are continuing to attack police and civilians. This as well as positions by a number of other Sec urity Council members led to a more balanced statement that did not inclu de unilateral and biased assessments as previous statements. The Securit y Council is soon to discuss the Kosovo and Metohija issue again and to r elease a statement containing key assessments of the latest developments in the province.

[07] SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMED THE IMPROVED SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

The United Nations Security Council welcomed the improvement of the situ ation in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province and described as positive the efforts currently being invested into promoting political dialogue, i t was heard at council consultations held behind closed doors late on Thu rsday. The council heard a report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan o n the latest developments in Kosovo and Metohija. he report said that th e general situation had improved, but clearly warned that there were dang erous activities by "Albanian paramilitary units" which are being infiltr ated into areas from which state security forces had withdrawn. The units are attacking law enforcement authorities and civilians, the report said , describing these developments as disturbing. During the consultations, the council expressed concern over the fact that there was still tension in certain regions of this southern Serbian province. Welcoming the lat est efforts to open political dialogue, the council members urged the soo nest possible start of work by the verification mission of the Organizati on for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCE). After the consultations , council President, U.S. Ambassador Peter Barley briefly addressed repor ters. He pointed out that the positive developments in Kosovo and Metohij a were a result of the agreement on a peaceful and political settlement o f the crisis. He said everyone was expected duly to implement that agreem ent. The Ambassador emphasized that the council members had confirmed su pport to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republi c of Yugoslavia.

[08] VICTIM OF AN ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORIST ATTACK WROTE TO SOLANA AND WALKER

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

A Serbian woman who has sustained serious injuries when ethnic Albanian terrorists recently opened fire on her car with three children aboard, on Friday wrote to NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and chief of the Or ganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) verification mis sion to Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija William Walker.

The woman, Oliver Simic, urged NATO and the OSCE to deny support to eth nic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija. It is your duty to inform the world about the crimes of ethnic Albanian terrorists and to deny sup port to criminals attacking innocent people, women and children, Simic sa id in her letter. She said that she was in hospital in Belgrade where sh e underwent surgery after being shot by masked ethnic Albanian terrorists , whom she labelled as proteges of these international organizations. Si mic said that she was happy her children were not hurt in the attack that took place on the road linking the Kosovo and Metohija towns of Pristina and Pec. She said that the doctors were trying to save her leg, as the thigh injury was caused by soft-nosed bullets. Simic said she blamed NAT O and the OSCE for their support to ethnic Albanian terrorists who shot a t her, her children and other people, too. She urged these organizations to stop supporting the criminals, adding that they had no right to preven t the state from protecting its people.

[09] ALBRIGHT WARNED KOSOVO ALBANIANS TO STOP ATTACKS

Tanjug, 1998-11-21

United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright late on Friday warne d ethnic Albanian separatists in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province to stop attacking Serbian security forces. Speaking at a press conference in Washington together with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, Albrigh t said the self-styled Kosovo Liberation Army (OVK) should refrain from r epression and actions aimed at intimidation. Clearly describing the sepa ratists' actions as provocations, she said ethnic Albanians must adhere t o the agreement on a peaceful settlement of the Kosovo crisis. Albright and Solana reiterated that everyone must adhere to and respect the agreem ent reached in Belgrade on October 13.

She said there were still incidents and ceasefire violations, but failed to mention and condemn the latest terrorist actions - the terrorist atta cks on Friday when two policemen were killed. She also failed to mention, let alone condemn, the persistent refusal of the leaders of political pa rties of Kosovo Albanians to start negotiations and accept a political di alogue to settle the crisis. The Secretary of State made certain objecti ve assessments, but, unfortunately, again presented some familiar one-sid ed stands which do not reflect the actual situation in this southern Serb ian province.

[10] ABNA CALLS FOR THE RELEASE OF ABDUCTED REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

The Association of Balkan News Agencies (ABNA) on Friday evening urged t hat ethnic Albanian terrorists in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosov o and Metohija province release Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reporters Neb ojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic, whom they have been holding captive for several weeks now.

At its 7th conference in Sofia, ABNA, which was founded in 1994, joined a request by the international and Yugoslav public for the release of Tan jug reporters. It also sought information about the fate of Radio Pristin a reporter Djuro Slavuj and driver Ranko Perinic, who have also been abdu cted by ethnic Albanian terrorists.

Director-General of the Albanian news agency ATA Frok Chupi joined the A BNA appeal. Albania will preside over ABNA for the next six months. Chup i said that he agreed with a proposal of a Tanjug delegate to the confere nce that an ethnic Albanian terrorist organization calling itself the Kos ovo Liberation Army immediately release the reporters of the Yugoslav nat ional news agency, an ABNA co-founder. No one has the right to hold repo rters captive beyond a country's law, said Chupi, adding that he joined t he protest against all those who disregarded basic rights of journalists. He also said that he called for a free movement of journalists. The req uest for an urgent release of the Yugoslav reporters was backed also by o fficials of the Rompress news agency of Romania, the BTA of Bulgaria, the ANA of Greece, the Macedonia Press (MPA) of Macedonia and Anatolia of Tu rkey. Participants at the conference adopted a special declaration to be sent to all governments in the world. The declaration seeks full media f reedom and free movement for reporters. ABNA members condemned every use of force against journalists and urged the governments not to prevent re porters in doing their job.

[11] AMBASSADOR KIKIC RECEIVED NORWEGIAN AND SPANISH AMBASSADORS

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Yugoslav Assistant Foreign Minister, Ambassador Zlatan Kikic has receive d Ambassadors Jon Atle Gaarder of Norway and Joaquin Perez Gomez of Spain at their request. The two ambassadors conveyed a message from the NATO Council, in which a series of incorrect, arbitrary and unacceptable posit ions were presented, ones alleging that the situation in Kosovo and Metoh ija was deteriorating and that state authorities were responsible for the incidents and mounting tensions, that is, that they reportedly did not h onour the reached accords. Ambassador Kikic underscored that Yugoslavia was not a member of either the civilian or military NATO structures and t hat such a form of addressing the Yugoslav authorities was unacceptable. He underscored that even more unacceptable was the aspiration of the NATO Council to assume the powers of the U.N. Security Council. Ambassador K ikic most energetically rejected the allegations presented in the message as totally incorrect and unacceptable. Ambassador Kikic set out that a normalization process was under way in Kosovo and Metohija, humanitarian and all other issues were successfully being resolved, the police and oth er state authorities were carrying out their regular duties and consisten tly implementing all elements of the reached accords. He said that state authorities guaranteed full freedom of movement, accessibility and securi ty of representatives of the OSCE and international humanitarian organiza tions, as he said was obvious from their own statements and reports.

The Yugoslav Assistant Foreign Minister voiced astonishment at the NATO Council's attempts to draw an equation mark between the legitimate activi ties of state authorities and actions of terrorist gangs, which he said w ere trying to cause tensions and insecurity and obstruct the normalizatio n process by abductions and killings of civilians, the ambushing of polic e and Army of Yugoslavia members and other daily provocations.

It is absolutely clear to citizens of Yugoslavia, the governments of man y countries and increasingly so to the international public that all inci dents and shameless provocations are solely the work of bandits and terro rists, whose aim is to prevent dialogue and a political solution and to b ring about pressures on Yugoslavia, Ambassador Kikic said.

He stressed that it was absurd and cynical of NATO representatives to ca ll on Yugoslav state authorities to open dialogue, when it was quite obvi ous to every well-meaning person who was for unconditional dialogue and a peaceful solution and who employed the tactic of procrastination and pro vocations.

To remind Yugoslav state authorities of the need for dialogue only a day after Serbia President Milan Milutinovic held talks in Pristina with rep resentatives of all national and ethnic communities, including quite a fe w ethnic-Albanian representatives - absent were only representatives of s ome ethnic-Albanian political parties, means not only to knock on open do ors but is an attempt at causing confusion and taking under one's protect ion the separatists and terrorists, Ambassador Kikic pointed out.

The contacts and talks which representatives of some countries are havin g with ethnic-Albanian terrorists and their mouthpieces, either in Kosovo and Metohija or abroad, are nothing other than the encouraging of their criminal activities, which is contrary to the spirit and provisions of bo th U.N. Security Council resolutions and the signed agreements, Ambassado r Zlatan Kikic set out.

[12] DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SAINOVIC RECEIVED PELLNAS

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic on Friday received the he ad of the OSCE mission office in Belgrade Bo Pellnas, with whom he discus sed the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, a governmental statement said.

Deputy Prime Minister Sainovic presented detailed information about the activities of ethnic-Albanian terrorist gangs in the province - killings and abductions of Serbian and ethnic-Albanian civilians and repeated atta cks on the police - which he said clearly reflected the wish of the terro rists to thwart the recently intensified political process.

A stop must be put to the protagonists of hatred and terror in the inter est of all citizens in Kosovo and Metohija, Sainovic stressed. The NATO attempt to create a false balance in terms of violations of the accepted agreements has been received by the ethnic-Albanian terrorists as an ince ntive and act of protection, and, just as well, meetings between represen tatives of Contact Group member-countries and terrorists in Kosovo and Me tohija and abroad have served as an encouragement to the unscrupulous ter rorist attacks, whose victims are citizens of all nationalities in the pr ovince.

The Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister said he had on Thursday asked to meet with the head of the OSCE verification mission, Ambassador William Walke r in order to lodge a demarche in connection with the inadequate reaction to the criminal activities of the terrorists, but was informed that the Ambassador was out of the country. Yugoslavia and Serbia will in full ho nour the accepted agreements and give priority to the political process, but will, at the same time, energetically protect the lives of their citi zens, the statement said.

[13] MILUTINOVIC: MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE AGREEMENT BINDS ALL TO A DIALOGUE

Tanjug, 1998-11-21

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic said on Saturday that in the past fe w months in Kosovo and Metohija we faced an escalation of extreme ethnic Albanian separatism and terrorism. Speaking at a ceremony for promoting the second generation of graduate officers in to second lieutenant at the Police Academy in Belgrade, Milutinovic said that Serbia has implemented all state, security, economic, social and other measures to break up the ethnic Albanian separatist terrorist gangs and increase the security of all citizens regardless of their nationality. He added that the defence forces had carried out all their obligations honourably, responsibly and professionally coupled with great self-denial, personal bravery and sacri fice. He said that our strength lies in the adherence to the policy of pe ace, equality, the preservation of the sovereignty and integrity of this country and its equal cooperation with other countries and peoples.

"Problems in Kosovo and Metohija should be resolved solely through peace ful and political means within the Republic of Serbia and in keeping with the principles of equality of all citizens and national communities livi ng in this region, without outside interference and military threats. The future of Kosovo and Metohija lies in peace, equality, integrations, eco nomic prosperity and a free life, rather than in ethnic, religious, cultu ral and other kinds of divisions and isolation," Milutinovic said. He add ed that this orientation resulted in the agreement between Yugoslav Presi dent Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and that th is document received huge support of the public and brought relief to Kos met.

"The agreement obliges all national communities to search through a dial ogue and peaceful means, for a solution for the Kosovo and Metohija probl ems. This is why last week we opened the dialogue with the representative s of political parties and national communities from Kosovo and Metohija, " Milutinovic said.

"We also carried out consultations with all parliamentary parties in the Serbian Parliament about the principles and institutional solutions, i.e.. political framework for self-rule in Kosmet," Milutinovic said.

[14] SERBIA PRESIDENT MILUTINOVIC CONFERRED WITH PARTY REPRESENTATIVES

Tanjug, 1998-11-20

Serbia President Milan Milutinovic on Friday separately conferred with S ocialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Secretary-General Gorica Gajevic and Execu tive Committee member Milomir Minic, Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Presiden t Vojislav Seselj and Vice President Tomislav Nikolic, Yugoslav Left (JUL) President Ljubisa Ristic, Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) President Vuk Draskovic, New Democracy (ND) President Dusan Mihajlovic and Vice Preside nt Radomir Lazarevic, and Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) Presiden t Jozef Kas, the Presidential Office said.

The talks pertained to the represented parties' positions and proposals which are to help define, as soon as possible, a comprehensive platform f or a political solution to problems in Kosovo and Metohija. It was set o ut in the talks that a political solution must fully be based on the acco rd reached by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. Ambassador R ichard Holbrooke and the Serbia Government's 11-item document. It was est ablished in the consultations that peace and life together in Kosovo and Metohija are possible only if there is a genuine equality of all national communities. It was underscored that the form for the resolution of pro blems in the province was democratic self-government within the constitut ional systems of Serbia and Yugoslavia, coupled with respect for the basi c principles of the equal rights and duties of all citizens and the equal ity of all national communities, on condition that no national community exercises its extra rights at the expense of the other national communiti es.

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