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Serbia Today 96-07-19Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Serbia Today19 July 1996CONTENTS
[01] HOLBROOK ANNOUNCED REACHING OF AN AGREEMENT ON WITHDRAWAL OF KARADZICSpecial envoy of the U.S. President Clinton, Richard Holbrook, who talked for over 10 hours yesterday in Belgrade with the leadership of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, stated this morning that the agreement was reached on the withdrawal of Dr. Radovan Karadzic from the function of President of the Republic of Srpska, and freezing of all the functions of the offices of the president of the Serbian Democratic Party, as well as on the renouncement by Dr Karadzic to all political and public offices in future.In his address to the press in Belgrade "Hyatt" hotel, Holbrook announced that the United States are not fully satisfied with such a result of talks, but that this is in the interest of prompt holding of the elections and stabilization of the peace process to reach an agreement with the leadership of the Republic of Srpska, which in the American view, would make possible full implementation of the agreements reached in Dayton. (TANJUG, July 19, 1996) [02] DIFFICULT NEGOTIATIONSPresident of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic received Richard Holbrook who on Thursday afternoon with his associates arrived again in Belgrade. In an extensive discussion, in which took part also President of Montenegro Momir Bulatovic and the highest representatives of the Republic of Srpska - Momcilo Krajisnik and Aleksa Buha, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government Nikola Sainovic and the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Milan Milutinovic, the most important questions were discussed pertaining to the successful implementation of the peace plan on Bosnia, with special emphasis on the forthcoming elections.Upon his arrival in Belgrade, Holbrook gave a brief statement specifying some of the details of the forthcoming visit of the Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic to the FR of Yugoslavia. He said that the composition of the economic and trade delegation of Bosnia-Herzegovina which will arrive next week in Belgrade together with Ganic, was extended and that "it will contain businessmen and ministers from the sectors of telecommunications and transport". "This was proposed by President Milosevic, and the Bosnian Government has accepted the offer", said Holbrook. "We are of the view that this is a very important visit because it shows that the Dayton Agreement is functioning in many aspects, regardless of the fact that Bosnian Serbs are continuing to oppose it". (TANJUG, Nasa borba, July 19, 1996) [03] PREPARATIONS FOR THE LONDON CLUBCommission of the Federal Government for relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Council for application of peace and international financial and trade organizations, discussed and adopted the reports of the Group for Succession, so that during the 4th round of negotiations, scheduled for September, the stands of FR of Yugoslavia and of the former republics of the SFRY could be brought closer about the division balance.The platform was also discussed for continuation of the negotiations with the International Coordinating Committee of the commercial banks, which are to be held in London from July 24 to 26, 1996. It was concluded that the Yugoslav delegation will strive during the talks with the London Club, to provide that one of the models for reorganization of the external debt would be its conversion into the investments of foreign creditors, because in this way our economy after lifting of sanctions, would be faster equipped for normalization of production and thus for better servicing of foreign financial obligations. (Borba, July 19, 1996) [04] MEMORANDUM ON COOPERATION SIGNEDPresident of the Commission of the Federal Government for organizing participation of refugees in the FR of Yugoslavia at the elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bratislava Morina and the representative of the Supervising Committee of the OSCE Givola de Luca have signed yesterday a Memorandum on Cooperation and assistance to be rendered to refugees for the forthcoming elections.Memorandum is offering an opportunity to all the refugees from Bosnia to vote at the poll stations throughout Serbia, and the electoral lists will be prepared as soon as possible. (Borba, July 19, 1996) [05] MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS"In the name of those killed, missing, invalids and our children, we are demanding a piece of land where we can survive. The only thing that we still have is this corner of Krajina and they are pushing us also out of here now. Do we have the righ to a piece of land under God's heavens?" This was stated yesterday by women and mothers from Vukovar to the representatives of the UNTAS at a large rally gathered at the sports stadium in Vukovar.More than 3,000 women individually were asking questions of the representatives of the UN peace forces, answered by the deputy transition administrator of the UN, Derrick Butbill. Choosing to answer only some of the questions, Klein's deputy said that he will talk with the Croat authorities in order to put a stop to the night threats by telephone from Croatia, but there was no concrete answer either to the question how is it expected that Croats should return to this region when Serbs are being prevented from returning to their own homes. Butbill promised that all the requests and fears of the people will be communicated to the Security Council, and civilian structures of the UNTAS are continuing the dialogue with women on July 27, 1996. (Politika, July 19, 1996) [06] CROAT THREAT TO PEACEOn the pages devoted to articles by distinguished outside authors, "The New York Times" has published yesterday an article entitled "Croat Threat to Peace" by the author Samantha Power, an analyst in the International Crisis Group keeping a follow-up on the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. Commenting that Richard Holbrook is trying during this visit to the Balkans to "rejuvenate" the Dayton Agreement, Samantha Power recalls that Bosnian Serbs are not the only 'obstacle' to the implementation of Dayton, but that they are also the Croat President Franjo Tudjman and his allies - Bosnian Croats.The Government in Zagreb seems to believe that it will not be "reprimanded for bad behavior" because it considers itself an ally of the west against "Serbian aggression", so it is not respecting its obligation from Dayton and is neither constructing a democratic society. While describing events in Mostar after the elections of June 30, 1996, Mrs. Power reports that the Croat authorities, after having lost control over the city assembly, have decided not to accept the electoral results, justifying this by the lack of 28 votes from one polling station. Furthermore, even after the elections, persecution of Muslim families continues and their expulsion from the western sector of the city. "The climate is only slightly better in Croatia itself, in which last August more than 150,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes and where the authorities are still insisting that they did not do anything "bad", writes Samantha Power and quotes last week's Tudjman's explanation: "We did not ask for all Serbs to leave. The fact that 90 percent of them left is their problem". Mrs. Power knows also that the Croat delegation in the UN has recently sent a letter to the UN Secretary General Boutros Ghali in which it is advising that the Security Council devotes itself to peace and stability and not to deal in questions of the respect of human rights. Under the European pressure Croatia promised to extradite Bosnian Croat Zlatko Aleksovski to The Hague Tribunal, however, Dario Kordic is "untouchable" for the Croat authorities, although, writes the article, he was seating recently in the same row to the right of Tudjman at the concert of Hose Carreras. Mrs. Power is the supporter of the strong American pressure for purpose of elimination of Radovan Karadzic from power, but she underlined also "the urgency of a strong American response" to such behavior of Zagreb. (Politika, July 19, 1996) Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |