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Serbia Today, 97-03-11Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Serbia TodayCONTENTS
[01] WHOLE PAGE FOR THE PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC INTERVIEWThe Swiss daily in French "Nuveau Quotiden" dedicated an entire page yesterday to the interview President Milosevic recently gave to the reporter of the Greek "To Vima" newspaper. This is the first time that a Swiss newspaper publishes the integral version of the statements Mr. Milosevic made for a foreign magazine. The importance of the quoted interview lies in the fact that it has been given without any additional commentaries, leaving to the Swiss public to independently draw the conclusions about what the President of Serbia said. The "Nuveau Quotiden" merely underscored some of the answers, and prime attention is thus given to those parts of the interview which refer to the current political situation in FR Yugoslavia and Serbia, to the economic growth, democratization of the society, and the functioning of the federal units. President Milosevic's remarks about the origin of the crisis in former Yugoslavia and the causes of the civil war in the area have also been stressed. Judging by the way the interview has been presented, a central position has been given to the evaluations the President of Serbia gave about the responsibility for the outbreak of the crisis, and particularly to the observation - quoted in the header - that the "involvement of foreign factors was the actual cause of the crisis".Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Tanjug, 1997-03-11[02] BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: TESTIMONIES ABOUT DECEPTIONS THAT TURNED THE WORLD AGAINST THE SERBSVideo tapes made by the British ITN network in August 1992 in Trnopolje - showing a close-up of a starving Moslem behind a wire fence - represent one of the great media manipulations that turned the world against the Bosnian Serbs, German publicist and publisher Thommas Deichmann said yesterday in Bonn.His remarks at the press conference caused strong reactions by those that endorsed or took part in such reporting - German journalist that "covered" the war from Sarajevo and the Moslem lobbyist in Germany - Mr. Tillmann Zilch. Resorting to an avalanche of provocations and disturbing the press conference, the group recruited by Zilch - still failed to "undermine" the gathering. Displaying utter lack of democratic spirit and desperately trying to prevent the revealing of the truth even though five years have passed, these characters merely made evident their involvement in the activities organized (and financed) by propaganda war headquarters. Mr. Deichmann countered the provocation with authentic images that were never published, because they would provide a completely different setting than the image that then suited the West in the campaign against the Bosnian Serbs. The picture of the starving Moslem (Deichmann proved that the TV crew was behind the wire, and those they were filming were strolling freely in the yard) was expertly managed and "sold" politically in a clever way, to provoke a general anger in the West against Bosnian Serbs for "organizing concentration camps.". The story about the campaign was personally explained by former US diplomat George Kenny, who left the State Department because of the American "insufficiently strict policy regarding the Serbs", and then changed his stands when he realized that the US policy is based on media campaigns like the one carried out by the British ITN network or the ill-famed reporter Roy Gattman. Providing ample evidence, Kenny explained how the US :entered" the Bosnian war in just a few days, allegedly forced to react to the horrible images provided by ITN or Gattman about the "bad guys (Serbs) and good guys (Moslems)". The same former US diplomat calmly remarked that - at the time - the Washington Administration should have pacified the war in Bosnia, instead of basing its foreign policy decision on a media campaign full of exaggerated images and figures (like the one on 200.000 dead). Mr. Kenny also said that the premature German recognition of Slovenia and Croatia, "drew" the US later on, after causing the crisis. "It was a big mistake" - affirmed the former US diplomat. At the press conference held at the Bonn Press Club yesterday, Mr. Tillmann Zilch had a "joker" up his sleeve. This Moslem lobbyist, beaten up by Croats when he tried to stage demonstrations in the center of Zagreb, brought in from Denmark the famished Bosnian war refugee taped by the ITN crew - Fikret Alic. He tried to justify his travel expenses by testifying that the tapes shown by Mr. Deichmann (and denying all allegations on concentration camps) were made by Television Belgrade, and that they were edited into the original video material made by the British crew. This thesis was immediately denied by the statement made by the third participant of the press conference - Ms. Helen Sirlz - a media law expert from London. She stressed that ITN never denied the authenticity of the tape Deichmann has, but has even initiated an internal investigation to discover who gave the German publicist the incriminating sequences that unveiled the great media swindle. About three dozen reporters attended Mr. Deichmann's press conference in Bonn, and over 200 were present at a similar gathering organized in London several days earlier. Mr. Deichmann revealed that the British reporters old him that his story about the con-operation of the famous TV network "...is great, but that they dare not publish it." It remains to be seen how will this testimony be treated in Germany, but the anxiety and the aggressiveness of those that tried to break-up the press conference clearly shows that Deichmann's story has hit the target. It reveals certain issues to the world that the Serbs have been trying - during the war years - to give their interpretation of, but were always "covered" by the media clamor of the powerful western networks. Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Politika, 1997-03-11[03] KLEIN DECIDES TODAYToday, UN Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem - US general Jacques Klein, will officially call the elections in the region under UNTAES protection. It is expected that the elections will be scheduled for April 13th, together with the elections in all Croatia. The delay in scheduling the elections is due to the negotiations on territorial organization, i.e. the definition of electoral constituencies in the region. The Croatian side not only atomized the Serbian population in the region, by splitting the territory into two new Croatian counties, but also prevented the existence of any form of Serbian majority and administration on any level including the lowest local self- administration. The new territorial arrangement of counties completely disintegrated the Serbian majority in the region, introducing new borders that integrate Serbian villages into groups of several Croatian majority villages. This prevents the creation of Serbian municipalities which are the prerequisite for a Common Council of Serbian counties, envisaged by the Erdut Agreement and the Letter of Intentions of the Croatian government. International Community representatives finally realized that Serbian demands are more than justified, and before the elections they made efforts to re-organize the counties. The Serbian side has been pleased to see that the question of most municipalities within the Region has been solved, except for the two largest Serbian villages - Tenja and Mirkovac - "incorporated" into near-by Croatian towns. Regardless of the talks between the Serbian and Croatian side, the final decision on the county borders is to be made by Jacques Klein, and it will be binding for both sides. However, the Croatian side is still threatening the public with alleged Serbian autonomy - a state within the state - and uses this pretext to obstruct any form of closer cooperation of Serbian communities in the Region. General Klein's decision will be made public today. It will be binding and final, but also decisive for the electoral response and the survival of over 150 thousand Serbs in the region - representing the last remains of the Serbian community in Croatia.Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Politika, 1997-03-11[04] A LONG LIST OF CRIMESThere are no more dilemmas about the perpetrators of terrorist attacks in Kosovo and Metohija. After the arrests of the members of two terrorist organizations in Kosovo and Metohija - the "Kosovo Liberation Army" and the "National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo" - investigators have discovered that that since 1992, these two organizations staged almost a hundred terrorist attacks against Ministry Of Interior officers, Yugoslav Army soldiers, and in the past two years against civilians as well, without making distinction whether they were Serbs or ethnic Albanians. In May 1993. the first serious attack was carried out in the locality of Glogovac, when Albanian terrorists opened fire on a van full of police officers - using automatic weapons. On that occasion two policemen died and five were wounded. Soon after in the town of Podujevo, Serbian Ministry of Interior Inspector Ejup Bajgoru was killed in a similar ambush, and after him, Inspector Bejtush Beka was shot in the back in broad daylight. Not long ago, terrorists assassinated Socialist Party deputy Malic Sheholi in front of his home. According to the orders issued by Nait Hasani - one of the leaders of the terrorist organization recently arrested - police officer Predrag Djordjevic was assassinated by terrorists in the village of Shipolje, and that same day they wounded several other persons in similar attacks. Last April in Decani, one of the bloodiest attacks was staged, and three workers were killed in a local coffee house. At the beginning of this year, ethnic Albanian terrorists renewed their attacks, the novelty being that the "Kosovo Liberation Army" publicly assumed the responsibility for the raids. Among other things, in one of the communiqu‚s the organization confessed the bomb-attack staged on January 16th '97 against Radivoje Papovic, Rector of the Pristina University. Only four days later, the terrorists killed Zejna Durmishi, and seriously wounded his son in the village of Raketnica, issuing the statement that these two "were plotting with the Serbian authorities", and thus "justifying" their subsequent attacks against fellow Albanians as well.Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Politika, 1997-03-11[05] FIRST DRAFT OF THE SERBIAN NEW MEDIA LAW PROMOTEDNo monopoly in public information will be allowed, and the individual owner can not own more than 20 per cent of all daily newspapers printed in the Republic of Serbia, nor can he control radio and television broadcasts covering more than 25% of the audience in the Republic, though this limitation does not apply to media financed by the state budget. This is one of the novelties promoted by the first draft of the new Serbian Media Law, prepared by the Ministry of information, and presented at the press conference held yesterday by Deputy Premier Prof. Dr. Ratko Markovic, Minister of Information Prof. Dr. Radmila Milentijevic and Minister without Portfolio Mr. Ratomir Vico. The Law also states that public information is free and that the media are not subject to censorship. It also introduces new regulations regarding foreign financial support and professional ethics, without rejecting the independence of the media, the critical approach in reporting and other issues. The Law is intended to protect the human and civil rights from state involvement, but also to prevent such liberties from obstructing some other freedoms, and one monopoly being replaced by another political monopoly - Prof. Ratko Markovic said. In no country - ours included - The Law on Public Information must should be formulated under the dictate and the pressure of the current political constellation - the Deputy Prime Minister added. Minister Radmila Milentijevic invited all interested parties, relevant institutions and the complete public opinion to take part in the broadest possible dialogue concerning the proposed solutions, because - as she remarked - this particular law is based on the Constitution warranting the freedom of thought, expression and absolute liberty of the media. "Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and I want to hear what Serbia thinks, before we submit the law to the Parliament. Besides, I have accepted this office because I am deeply convinced that President Milosevic is determined to lead Serbia towards further democratization, in the economic, political and public information sphere" Ms. Milentijevic stressed.Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Politika, 1997-03-11[06] CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL EXPORTS CAN BE DOUBLEDAt the session of the Serbian Government Coordinating Committee for the production of construction material, the current situation in this industrial sector has been analyzed as well as the participation of these companies in a number of important infrastructure project and business arrangements with foreign partners, affecting the entire national economy. It has been remarked that the production of construction material is one of the industrial branches that maintained a high level of operation of production plants, even during the international sanctions. After the embargo was lifted, in 1996 production volume grew 25 per cent, and exports are 55% greater than in 1990. This industrial branch has enormous reserves of high quality raw materials, as well as competitive prices on the world market, giving it a major comparative advantage. It is also very important for the construction material industry that by the end of the month the realization of the Trans-Yugoslav Highway Project will begin and that export deals have been signed by 16 companies from this sector - amounting to some 24 million German marks.Serbia Today, 1997-03-11 ; Politika, 1997-03-11Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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