Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-05-25

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From: Tanjug, Yugoslavia, via Serbian Unity Congress <http://www.suc.org/>

May 25, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW

CONTENTS

[01] BRITAIN'S MAJOR FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS TO BE HELD IN SEPTEMBER

[02] OSCE CONDEMNS MUSLIM RULING PARTY FOR THREATS TO OPPOSITION

[03] MAJOR: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S ROLE IN BOSNIA WILL BE LONG-TERM

[04] CALCULATED DESTRUCTION OF SERB CHURCHES

[05] FLOWERS LAID AT TITO'S GRAVE

[06] DREYER: REGULARITY OF ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA TO BE ENSURED

[07] U.N. SPOKESMAN SAYS JORDANIAN TROOPS ANSWERED FIRE IN EAST SLAVONIJA

[08] JOBERT: WEST BLUNDERED IN INTERPRETING EVENTS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA

[09] YUGOSLAVIA VOICES SUPPORT FOR OAU

[10] VICE-PRESIDENT OF CROAT-PART OF MOSTAR: ELECTIONS STILL DISPUTABLE

[11] ABOUT 400,000 REFUGEES SO FAR REPORT FOR CENSUS IN SERBIA

[12] CHIRAC, BILDT: ALL PROVISIONS OF DAYTON ACCORDS MUST BE IMPLEMENTED

[01] BRITAIN'S MAJOR FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS TO BE HELD IN SEPTEMBER

news agencies quote major as telling british soldiers serving with the multi-national peace implementation force (ifor) in bosnia-herzegovina that he wished to see them back home in december, when ifor's one-year mandate expires.

serbs gathered in the town square in sipovo, 30 km south of banja luka, the biggest town in the (bosnian serb state) republika srpska, told foreign reporters accompanying major that they were happy about his visit and the presence of british troops in their town.

sipovo was overrun by the muslim-croat federal army in august 1995, but has since been returned to the republika srpska, though only after much devastation.

while in banja luka, where the british bosnia command is headquartered, major met with republika srpska's former premier rajko kasagic, banja luka mayor predrag radic and what he described as other democratic and opposition politicians.

after meeting in sarajevo in the evening with bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic and prime minister hasan muratovic, major stressed that elections must be held by mid-september as envisaged under the dayton accords.

in the past week, the muslim leadership has cast a shadow of doubt over the holding of the elections, announcing its intention to boycott them unless their demands are met, reuters said.

[02] OSCE CONDEMNS MUSLIM RULING PARTY FOR THREATS TO OPPOSITION

the sarajevo daily oslobodjenje carried a recent statement by sda vice-president edhem bicakcic that his party would take certain measures against the opposition and that it would not have mercy.

the osce, charged under the dayton accord with the organisation of elections in bosnia-herzegovina, issued a statement expressing special concern over such threatening statements and called on all the parties to respect democratic norms necessary for democratic elections.

elections in both the entities in bosnia-herzegovina - republika srpska and the muslim-croat federation - are due to be held by mid-september.

[03] MAJOR: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S ROLE IN BOSNIA WILL BE LONG-TERM

the reuters news agency from london quoted major as saying in an interview to bbc radio after a one-day trip to bosnia on friday, that more had to be done to enable refugees to return home and to repatriate people driven from the country to the territory of the former yugoslavia and to european countries.

according to major, the long-term task of the international community is to build up confidence among the sides in bosnia to encourage people to return.

in bosnia, major visited some of the british troops serving in the nato-led international peace implementation force (ifor).

[04] CALCULATED DESTRUCTION OF SERB CHURCHES

politika ekspres quoted the director of the museum of the serbian orthodox church as saying that over 70 percent of serb sacral monuments had been destroyed by actions other than the war.

the first wave of destruction involved serb churches and monasteries in five eparchies of the serbian chruch in the territory of the former yugoslav republic of croatia in the regions of baranja, slavonija, lika, banjia, kordun, dalmatinska zagora, bukovica and other serb regions, mileusnic said.

serb churches and historical monuments in bosnia-herzegovina received almost identical treatment with the episcopal residencies in the city of mostar, sarajevo and tuzla either being demolished or seriously damaged, mileusnic said.

the serbian orthodox church and its museum have provided testimonies about such conduct towards serb sacral monumants by holding an exhibition titeled 'spiritual genocide from 1991-1995,' politika ekspres said.

[05] FLOWERS LAID AT TITO'S GRAVE

'tito was the leader and hero of the liberation war and the driving force behind the socialist development, as well as a citizen of the world because he advocated freedom and just and equal relations between peoples and states,' the delegation of the society for the truth about the anti-fascist struggle wrote in the visitors' book.

the memorial centre josip broz tito announced that flowers were also laid by tito's wife, jovanka, the family of his son zarko, delegations of the communist partis of the federal republic of yugoslavia and over 350 individuals, including many young people.

during world war two, tito lead the yugoslav partizans in the struggle against the nazis and their allies. after the end of the war in 1945, he was declared president for life of the then yugoslavia.

[06] DREYER: REGULARITY OF ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA TO BE ENSURED

in the municipalities which have completed preparations, the registering of voters will begin on june 3, and in others on june 8. the registration of voters is scheduled to be ended by july 19, dreyer told a news conference.

the voters who have not changed the localities of their permanent residence since 1991, and those who have subsequently been enfranchised, will vote in these localities, said dreyer.

the expelled people and refugees who want to vote, as dreyer said, may either return to their previous places of residence or vote in absence by mailing their ballots.

dreyer said that the refugees abroad, who want to vote in person in places of their earlier residence, will not lose their refugee status and the entire electoral procedure would be controlled by osce representatives.

[07] U.N. SPOKESMAN SAYS JORDANIAN TROOPS ANSWERED FIRE IN EAST SLAVONIJA

arnold told a news conference here that it was not known who had opened the fire.

he said u.n. troops had the right to use weapons to protect themselves and secure the freedom of movement.

the serb region of east slavonija, baranja and west srem is the only part of the republic of serb krajina not occupied in croatia's aggressions last year.

the region's representatives and croatia reached agreement in november last year on a transitional u.n. administration for a period of one year or two at the most.

arnold said the demilitarization had started well and could be completed in 30 days as scheduled.

the u.n. spokesman said significant headway had been made in the peace process in the past several weeks, when the zagreb-belgrade motorway and an oil pipeline were reopened and telephone links restored.

according to arnold, the zagreb-belgrade railway could reopen in mid-june under a decision to be taken in talks between croatia and yugoslavia.

[08] JOBERT: WEST BLUNDERED IN INTERPRETING EVENTS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA

jobert wrote this in an article in the latest issue of the paris weekly le point in his review of the book false brothers by the paper's famous commentator kosta hristic.

the united states first armed the croatian army and later the (muslim-croat) army in bosnia, which was a wrong move in searching a way out of the balkan blind alley, jobert said.

he said that there was an atmosphere of incertitude around the dayton peace and that it remained to be seen whether the international peace force would stay in bosnia after the u.s. presidential election.

the bloody fog which has been hovering over the balkans for over three years has not dispersed yet, jobert said.

jobert also reacted to the secessionist dismemberment of the former six-member yugoslav federation and pointed to the role played by the then president of the collective presidential body, stipe mesic, a croat.

jobert recalled that in 1992 mesic wrote a book entitled -- how we destroyed yugoslavia.

[09] YUGOSLAVIA VOICES SUPPORT FOR OAU

assistant yugoslav foreign minister zivadin jovanovic said that the member-states of this continental organisation were facing numerous challenges today.

among these challenges, jovanovic said, are regional and global integration processes, efforts to develop the economy and promote the medical services, and other problems weighing down on africa today.

in this context, yugoslavia wants further to promote bilateral cooperation with countries on the continent, he added.

jovanovic was speaking to african diplomats accredited to the federal republic of yugoslavia, at a reception at belgrade's museum of african art given on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the oau.

the assembled functionaries were greeted by nigerian ambassador in belgrade ezekiel dimka.

ambassador dimka said that african countries had in the past years witnessed terrible developments in former yugoslavia, and welcomed the establishment and consolidation of peace with the federal republic of yugoslavia's constructive participation.

[10] VICE-PRESIDENT OF CROAT-PART OF MOSTAR: ELECTIONS STILL DISPUTABLE

croatian radio carried on saturday the response of the vice-president of the municipal council of the croat part of the town mile puljic to statements of the european mostar adminsitrator ricardo perez casado the previous day that the parties in mostar had agreed on the postponement of the elections and on the election rules.

'we can talk about a possible delay of the elections only on condition that agreements and election laws are respected,' puljic said.

he said the croatian side was for the respect of the elections and would ask of perez at a joint meeting on saturday to clearly identify the side which had breached the dayton agreement.

'it is incomprehensible that the mostar muslims can vote in bonn and stockholm while mostar serbs cannot vote in banjaluka or bijeljina,' puljic said.

the president of the bosnian muslim-croat federation kresimir zubak announced on friday in a statement to the same radio that an accord between croats and muslims on elections in mostar could be signed on saturday after an agreement is reached on the voting of refugees from the town in the southern part of bosnia-herzegovina.

european mostar adminsitrator ricardo perez casado will announce the new election date since the muslim side has rejected may 31.

the ruling muslim party of democratic action and a number of opposition parties said they would boycott the elections if people who had left mostar were not allowed to vote.

[11] ABOUT 400,000 REFUGEES SO FAR REPORT FOR CENSUS IN SERBIA

the census will provide precise data both on the number of refugees and where they want to live, saturday's belgrade daily politika quoted morina as saying.

official estimates are that in serbia there are about 700,000 refugees, of whom 130,000 are non-serbs. the census in serbia began on april 15 and will last until the end of may.

information gathered so far shows that many people want to return home, morina said giving the example of 18,000 refugees from dravar and its surroundings who signed statements to that effect.

the dayton agreement placed the town of drvar, in northwest bosnia, within the muslim-croat federation despite the fact that almost 98 percent of its population were serbs. after the signing of the dayton agreement, the majority of them left the area.

morina said that after the census is completed, the serbian government would adopt a program containing permanent solutions for the status of the refugees and ask the international community to aid their reintegration.

the census in montenegro will last from may 27 - june 15.

[12] CHIRAC, BILDT: ALL PROVISIONS OF DAYTON ACCORDS MUST BE IMPLEMENTED

chirac and bildt said this also included the removal from office of president of the (bosnian serb state) republika srpska radovan karadzic and r.s. army commander general ratko mladic.

commenting on one-hour talks between chirac and bildt, spokesperson of the elysee presidential palace catherine colonna said the peace plan for bosnia-herzegovina must be fully implemented.

colonna said it was vital that elections in bosnia-herzegovina be held by mid-september, as provided for by the dayton accords.

bildt warned all three formerly warring parties -- moslems, croats and serbs -- that it was vital that all provisions of the dayton accords be complied with, and said none of the parties honoured the peace agreement fully.

bildt listed as major problems securing freedom of movement, enabling the hague-based international war crimes tribunal for the former yugoslavia to carry out its activity and securing election of local authorities in mostar, centre of herzegovina.

bildt is attending a closed-door meeting of the steering board of the peace implementation council that opened in paris on friday.

the board voiced the international community's determination to step up efforts for the economic recovery of bosnia-herzegovina, which, according to bildt, was crucial for securing peace.

chirac backed bildt's efforts to help implement civilian aspects of the dayton accords.

he stressed the need for balancing financial efforts for bosnia's recovery, since the european union has earmarked 800 million u.s. dollars for the purpose, which is a four times higher sum than that contributed by the united states.

Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996

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