Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-05-29

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

May 29, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW

CONTENTS

[01] BOSNIAN MUSLIMS MAKE ELECTIONS CONDITIONAL ON KARADZIC'S ARREST

[02] MUSLIMS SAY MORE THAN 40,000 REFUGEES RETURN TO BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

[03] REGISTRATION OF VOTERS TO BEGIN IN BOSNIA ON JUNE 3

[04] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PRIMAKOV WARNS THE WEST

[05] BUSINESS GUIDE OF BELGRADE PUBLISHED

[06] YUGOSLAVIA DOES NOT WANT ITS IMF MEMBERSHIP INTERRUPTED

[07] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADOPTS REPORT ON HABITAT II

[08] OPPOSITION NOT HAPPY WITH WEEKEND MEETING ORGANIZED BY TUDJMAN

[09] HELSINKI COMMITTEE SAYS CROATIA STILL HARASSES SERBS IN SERB KRAJINA

[10] BILDT: IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

[11] ITALIAN, RUSSIAN MINISTERS SAY FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S SITUATION IMPROVES

[12] IFOR TACTICAL COMMAND MOVES TEMPORARILY TO BOSNIAN SERB TOWN PRIJEDOR

[13] U.S. ENVOY KORNBLUM DUE IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ON THURSDAY

[14] GOTOVAC SAYS THINGS ARE WORSE AND WORSE WITH DEMOCRACY IN CROATIA

[15] E.U. ADMINISTRATOR CASADO TO ANNOUNCE NEW ELECTION RULES IN MOSTAR

[16] DIVISION OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S ASSETS POSSIBLY BY END OF YEAR

[17] FEDERATION MINISTER SAYS MUSLIM ARRESTS ARE ACT OF VIOLENCE

[18] WASHINGTON TO RETAIN KEY ROLE IN THE BALKANS

[19] FAMILIES OF IMPRISONED BOSNIAN SERBS PROTEST WITH ICRC

[20] CROATIA'S HELSINKI COMMITTEE ORGANIZES MEETING ABOUT SERBS IN CROATIA

[21] BILDT WARNS ABOUT ETHNIC DIVISION IN BOSNIA

[22] NEW SILENCE ON OLD UNTRUTHS ABOUT MARKALE

[23] TURKISH-CROATIAN MILITARY COOPERATION

[24] YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER: PEACE AND NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH WORLD ARE A PRIORITY

[25] GEN. WALKER MEETS BOSNIAN SERB ARMY COMMANDERS IN BANJALUKA

[26] MINISTER PRIMAKOV ARRIVES IN BELGRADE

[01] BOSNIAN MUSLIMS MAKE ELECTIONS CONDITIONAL ON KARADZIC'S ARREST

muslim prime minister hasan muratovic has said in the muslim parliament that conditions for holding 'free and democratic' elections in bosnia-herzegovina will not be met for as long as 'war criminals exert great influence in the political life.'

news agencies report that the muslim government takes the position that the international community's high representative carl bildt has failed to reduce karadzic's influence, and is demanding his arrest.

the hague-based international tribunal for war crimes in former yugoslavia has indicted karadzic for crimes against humanity.

vice president of the (bosnian serb state) republika srpska nikola koljevic said on sunday that karadzic had retired from public life.

two weeks ago, karadzic authorised vice president biljana plavsic to negotiate with international officials and organisations.

muslim premier muratovic makes the holding of elections conditional also on the freedom of movement being established in the whole territory of bosnia-herzegovina, and demands also independent media and the right to create new parties in the republika srpska.

muratovic obviously has in mind the setting up of muslim media and muslim parties in the republika srpska, news agencies report from sarajevo.

[02] MUSLIMS SAY MORE THAN 40,000 REFUGEES RETURN TO BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

reuters quoted minister for refugee affairs nudzeim recica as saying in sarajevo on tuesday that this was only the number of registered repatriates, and that the actual number was considerably higher.

recica told the muslim parliament that 5,000 refugees would now be returning each month from malaysia, norway, turkey, macedonia, pakistan, hungary, sweden, slovenia, croatia and the united states of america.

germany, austria, slovenia, croatia and, probably, switzerland should sign documents in the next 20 days allowing free transit of bosnian refugees, recica said.

reuters said that about one million people are believed to have fled bosnia-herzegovina since civil war broke out in that former yugoslav republic in april of 1992.

the u.n. high commissioner for refugees (unhcr) plans to repatriate more than 800,000 refugees to bosnia-herzegovina in the course of 1996.

of this number, half a million are displaced persons inside bosnia-herzegovina and 170,000 are in the former yugoslav republics, 80,000 of them in the federal republic of yugoslavia, and 200,000 in european countries.

[03] REGISTRATION OF VOTERS TO BEGIN IN BOSNIA ON JUNE 3

agence france-presse (afp) quoted osce as saying in a statement the registraion of voters in municipalities where local electoral commissions had been set up would begin on monday.

a list issued by osce shows that electoral commissions have been set up in two thirds of municipalities. most of the municipalities where electoral commissions have not been formed are in the territory of the moslem-croat federation.

osce said electoral commissions should be set up by june 8 at the latest and that local authorities were responsible for it.

voters have the right to check if their personal data have been registered correctly.

afp said osce was to decide in june whether elections would be held in september, and said it appeared that they would be held by the set date.

[04] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PRIMAKOV WARNS THE WEST

primakov warned that relations between the west and russia do not depend only on russia. 'in the west there are forces which want to dominate russia. this will not happen regardless of who wins the june 16 presidential elections,' he said.

primakov said that 'the cold war is over, but russia will never agree to be viewed as the side which lost it.'

regarding the spreading of nato, primakov said that the west does not show a wish to negotiate, and everyone keeps repeating that 'the decision about this is irrevocable, but 'we refuse to accept this,' he said.

'i have told the pope that russia will not veto poland's joining nato, but is, however, entitield to protect its own interests. i do not want to mention military countermeasures, but it should be clear that, if nato spreads, russia will respond in an adequate manner,' primakov said.

regarding the signing of the ceasefire agreement in chechnya, primakov said that grozny could be given all forms of autonomy, but that it should be clear that 'chechnya will remain within russia.'

'what would you italians say if sicily were to express a wish to go its own way,' primakov said.

on wednesday primakov ends a two-day official visit to italy and leaves for belgrade on an official visit to the federal republic of yugoslavia. end bk/mb

[05] BUSINESS GUIDE OF BELGRADE PUBLISHED

institute director novica bojovic said tuesday at a press conference in belgrade that the guide contained addresses and telephone and fax numbers of companies and institutions, and that hospitals, pharmacies, post offices, hotels, museums, theaters, cinemas, churches, police stations, gas stations and large trade centers were marked on the plan using appropriate symbols.

the guide also contains the list of all streets in belgrade.

[06] YUGOSLAVIA DOES NOT WANT ITS IMF MEMBERSHIP INTERRUPTED

'yugoslavia is one of the founders of the imf and we do not want its membership to be interrupted for a single day,' kovac told reuters.

the government invited imf experts to visit belgrade at the end of may or early june but has not received an answer yet.

kovac said the future talks with the imf should be conducted only on economic aspects of yugoslavia's membership because the issue of who should inherit the former yugoslavia was in the competence of the united nations not of the fund.

'there is no need to discuss with the imf whether yugoslavia is recognised or not, whether it is a u.n. member or not. switzerland is not a u.n. member but is a member of the imf', kovac said.

belgrade will try to convince the imf to accept that yugoslavia has assumed all economic obligations for regulating its membership in the fund, kovac said.

[07] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADOPTS REPORT ON HABITAT II

the report will be sent to the u.n. organization for human settlements to be distributed at a conference in istanbul on july 3-14 this year, said the statement released by the yugoslav secretariat of informartion. a yugoslav delegation will take part in the istanbul conference.

the report was made by a yugoslav national committee headed by prof.dr. branislav ivkovic, serbian mninister for urban planning, communal activities, and construction.

[08] OPPOSITION NOT HAPPY WITH WEEKEND MEETING ORGANIZED BY TUDJMAN

at the meeting attended by 150 top state and party officials, including opposition representatives, tudjman said european union countries were resorting to pressure by postponing croatia's admission to the council of europe in order to 'influence croatia's foreign and internal policies.'

statements by opposition leaders carried by the rijeka novi list daily on tuesday underscored that 'tudjman wanted the entire nation to share the mistakes of the ruling party.'

croatian peasant party leader zlatko tomcic said tudjman 'tried to justify croatia's non-admission to the council of europe, but also to create fears that a great danger threatened croatia from outside enemies.'

'it was not, however, possible to discuss the elements of that danger, (elements) to which croatia had itself contributed with its moves,' tomcic said.

croatian people's party leader radomir gacic said the meeting had been useless because there had been no essential debate on the mistakes of the ruling party.

the leader of the strongest opposition party, the croatian social liberal union, vlado gotovac said he had expected a constructive debate, but 'realized there was no place for me at that meeting' as soon as tudjman finished his opening speech. gotovac has announced he would run for president and oppose tudjman at the next presidential elections.

vice-president of the social democratic union of croatia antun vujic said the meeting with tudjman had not included dialogue, but had advocated the official policy of a continued 'anti-croatian conspiracy.'

the istrian democratic assembly released a separate statement following the meeting, which was not attended by its representatives, warning that it most bitterly rejected tudjman's 'inappropriate and unnecessary accusation that the idea on istria's transregional linking might destabilize croatia.'

istria has been a member of the regions of europe since 1994 and it has met all the high european criteria and standards of democracy, media freedoms, and protection of human rights, contrary to croatia as a state, the istrian democratic assembly statement said.

[09] HELSINKI COMMITTEE SAYS CROATIA STILL HARASSES SERBS IN SERB KRAJINA

dragutin hlad of the committee is quoted by news agencies as saying at a press conference in zagreb that terrible things were still happening to serbs in croatia after croatia's violent secession from former yugoslavia.

hlad said that there were villages in serb krajina where gangs were nightly raiding serb homes, beating up the residents and stealing their food, and that some of the serbs had succumbed to the brutalities.

international red cross figures show that 9,000 serbs remain in croatia after croatia invaded western slavonia in may 1995 and the north and south of serb krajina in august 1995, of an original serb community of several hundred thousand before the war of 1991.

at the time of the invasion, western slavonia and the north and south of serb krajina were part of the republic of serb krajina and were under the protection of the united nations.

chairman of the helsinki committee in croatia ivan zvonimir cicak said that a report on the position of the remaining serbs in croatia would soon be published.

the report will be terrible, because the number of those murdered since the end of the august 1995 military operation is very high, cicak said.

u.n. officials were already in august 1995 reporting about crimes committed against krajina serbs, mostly old men who had stayed behind after more than 250,000 serb civilians had fled.

cicak criticised numerous administrative obstacles erected by the croatian government in the way of the serb refugees' return.

more than 20,000 krajina serb refugees have applied to the government in zagreb to be allowed to return, but only one application in ten has been granted.

the helsinki committee describes the position of serbs in croatia as alarming.

[10] BILDT: IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

he made this statement after meeting the chairman of the european union ministerial council, italian foreign minister lamberto dini.

dini said the talks with bildt focused on the situation in the former yugoslavia and on preparations for the forthcoming conference on bosnia to be held on june 13 and 14 in florence to discuss the progress achieved in implementing the dayton peace accord over the past six months.

much has been done during this period since the dayton accord was signed, but many problems and challenges remain, bildt said.

way must be paved for elections and for the establishment of stable institution, he said.

using rather harsh terms in referring to bosnian serb leader radovan karadzic, bild described as a provocation karadzic's intention to keep all his official functions, regardless of the peace accord provisions.

bildt said he had made it clear that this would not be tolerated.

bildt also met russian foreign minister yevgeny primakov who arrived in rome tuesday for a two-day official visit, but no statement was issued on his talks there.

[11] ITALIAN, RUSSIAN MINISTERS SAY FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S SITUATION IMPROVES

primakov is on a two-day official visit to italy.

dini told a joint news conference that many things remained to be done in order for the peace accords for bosnia to be implemented in full.

dini and primakov agreed that the forthcoming conference on bosnia-herzegovina in florence, italy, on june 13-14 would be an opportunity to do this.

dini said that the participants should come prepared in order for the action targets by the end of the year to be successfully defined.

primakov leaves rome for belgrade on wednesday afternoon, for a two-day official visit to the federal republic of yugoslavia.

[12] IFOR TACTICAL COMMAND MOVES TEMPORARILY TO BOSNIAN SERB TOWN PRIJEDOR

meeting with prijedor mayor milomir stakic, walker said that the command would be stationed in prijedor in the next few days, in order to come out of central bosnia-herzegovina for a spell.

stakic said that now that the war was almost over, efforts must be made to maintain the peace and hold elections.

walker said that many questions needed to be discussed further.

[13] U.S. ENVOY KORNBLUM DUE IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ON THURSDAY

kornblum will visit belgrade, zagreb and sarajevo within prearations for a summit of the signatories of the dayton peace accords for bosnia-herzegovina, in geneva on sunday, the u.s. state department has said.

the summit will be attended by president slobodan milosevic of serbia, president franjo tudjman of croatia, bosnian moslem leader alija izetbegovic, u.s. secretary of state warren christopher and high representative for bosnia carl bildt.

the summit is aimed towards speeding up the implementation of the civilian aspect of the dayton accords, the state department said.

it will deal with preparations for september's elections in bosnia-herzegovina, freedom of movement, a set of issues concerning war crimes and the work of the hague-based international war crimes tribunal, and strengthening the moslem-croat federation.

[14] GOTOVAC SAYS THINGS ARE WORSE AND WORSE WITH DEMOCRACY IN CROATIA

gotovac, introduced by the weekly as a candidate of the united opposition for presidential elections this year, said 'the middle class has fared the worst in croatia in the past several years.'

'when such a thing happens, democracy goes downhill because the middle class is in fact the protagonist of the most dynamic political and economic ideas,' the croatian opposition leader said.

gotovac met with czech president vaclav havel during his recent several-day stay in prague.

he said the upper class in croatia comprised 'the nouveau riche who are not capitalists because they create no value.'

gotovac said croatian president franjo tudjman had even publicly proclaimed that the goal was to create influential families which would rule the country.

'there are about 50 or so such families in croatia and if the ruling croatian democratic union was somehow to lose elections, it would still have the economic hold on croatia,' according to gotovac.

gotovac said he feared that in view of the situation in zagreb, where the opposition was not being permitted to take over the city administration although it had carried off elections, the croatian president would not hand over power if he was to lose elections.

gotovac said if the opposition won elections, it would first depoliticalize the army, police, judiciary and media.

[15] E.U. ADMINISTRATOR CASADO TO ANNOUNCE NEW ELECTION RULES IN MOSTAR

the local croat radio said wednesday that authorities in the eastern, moslem section of mostar had requested that casado deny the right to vote to croats in the western, croat section of mostar who have croatian citizenship.

croat authorities rejected the request as groundless, explaining that dual citizenship did not rule out the status of citizen in the case of croats residing in western mostar, the radio said.

the mostar-based office of the croatian democratic union said moslems' request was aimed at yet another postponment of elections.

elections were postponed after moslems and croats had failed to reach agreement on election rules.

international mediators say mostar will be a test of the stability of the moslem-croat federation, formed in washington in march 1994 following nearly a year of bitter fighting for control of territories with mixed population.

even after the setting up of the federation that has largely remained a dead letter, mostar has remained divided into the eastern and the western section. before they began fighting each other, moslems and croats had expelled about 45,000 serbs from the town.

[16] DIVISION OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S ASSETS POSSIBLY BY END OF YEAR

after meeting with the slovenian delegation in charge of succession, watts on tuesday evening left for skopje.

he is also expected to meet by the end of the week with officials of yugoslavia, croatia and the bosnian muslim-croat federation in belgrade, zagreb and sarajevo to hear their stands on the issue.

slovenia again demanded that, despite its unilateral and violent secession from the former federation, it be treated as a party with an equal status in the division of assets.

the slovenian political leaders have estimated the value of former yugoslavia's assests at between 90 and 100 billion dollars, and expect slovenia to receive a 16.5-percent share.

the slovenian delegation proposed to the international mediator that facilities abroad, foreign currency reserves, gold and funds on clearing accounts be divided first.

head of the slovenian delegation miran mejak said slovenia had on tuesday sent to the yugoslav delegation for succession its own draft concept for the division of assets.

[17] FEDERATION MINISTER SAYS MUSLIM ARRESTS ARE ACT OF VIOLENCE

muslim sarajevo radio said the muslim military police had arrested the eight croats in the town of fojnica in central bosnia on may 25, a day after a vehicle with two muslim soldiers had disappeared in nearby kiseljak.

soljic, who is also the defense minister of the bosnian croat republic of herceg-bosna, said he doubted the story about the disapperance of the two muslim soldiers.

after a year of mutual fighting in central and western bosnia, bosnian croats and muslims signed the agreement on their federation under u.s. pressure in march 1994.

[18] WASHINGTON TO RETAIN KEY ROLE IN THE BALKANS

washington, may 29 (tanjug) - the goal of the geneva meeting to gather signatories of the bosnia peace agreement and u.s. secretary of state warren christopher is a specific 'intialling' of the dayton agreement and of the time frame of its implementation.

this was recently confirmed by president bill clinton, who said that there will be no changes in the dayton timetable, meaning that elections will be held in september and that u.s. troops will begin withdrawing from there by the end of the year, as scheduled.

the meeting to be held in geneva on june 2 will be attended, besides serbian president slobodan milosevic, croatian president franjo tudjman and bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic, by secretary of state christopher and foreign ministry officials of contact group members (russia, britain, france and germany).

the fact that foreign secretary christopher did not invite to the geneva meeting anybody from the foreign ministers of countries members of the contact group is interpreted in washington by a desire of the clinton administration to retain a key role, in an election year, in bosnia and in the balkans.

the holding of elections in september is one of the priorities in the implementation of dayton, state department spokesman nicholas burns said.

burns said the united states want to make it completely clear that elections will be held next fall and that they will give a 'new legitimate government', which will take upon itself the obligations under dayton.

commenting some suggestions made here that elections be pushed back, because appropriate conditions for holding them cannot be created by september, burns said that it was never intended at dayton that perfect, ideal conditions had to be created before elections could take place.

the holding of elections in bosnia by september is one of the priorities of the clinton administration in this election year, since any departure from the dayton agreement would cast a shadow on clinton's 'balkan peace operation', which is certainly the biggest achievement of his foreign policy since he entered the white house.

[19] FAMILIES OF IMPRISONED BOSNIAN SERBS PROTEST WITH ICRC

icrc offices have presented the working group of carl bildt, the international high representative for the implementation of the dayton agreement, with information serving only for the search of missing croats and muslims, while 'serbs don's seem to exist as a nation even for the icrc,' an association of families of imprisoned bosnian serb soldiers said in a letter.

about 1,300 serbs were missing in fighting last august, september and october, the letter said, adding that 'it is sad and shameful for the world's oldest humanitarian organization to succumb to ethnic discrimination.'

the letter said that a large number of bosnian serb solders were in prisons of the muslim-croat federation in bosnia-herzegovina and croatia, and that the icrc office in banjaluka was expected to provide considerable help in that respect.

[20] CROATIA'S HELSINKI COMMITTEE ORGANIZES MEETING ABOUT SERBS IN CROATIA

the committee said it had invited 300-odd domestic and foreign participants, including representatives of croatia's authorities, foreign embassies, the roman catholic church, the serbian orthodox church, scientists and other public figures.

it said the purpose of the round-table was to establish possibilities for the return of serb refugees to croatia.

the intention is to open a discussion which 'will help the domestic and world public understand that the existing ethnically pure areas are not normal and must not be for ever,' helsinki committee official ivo banac told a news conference.

he said attacks on the round-table organizers had already started in some croatian newspapers

'the instigators of ethnic cleansing are trying to prevent the opening of discussions on the return of serbs,' banac told the news conference.

according to figures of the international committee of the red cross, only about 9,000 serbs remained in croatia after croatia's aggressions on west slavonija and the knin krajina in the then republic of serb krajina in may and august 1991 respectively.

u.n. reported numerous crimes committed against krajina serbs who stayed behind.

of the more than 250,000 who had to flee, more than 20,000 have requested to return but only one in ten have been given a green light by croatia's authorities.

croatia's helsinki committee terms the position of serbs in croatia 'alarming.'

[21] BILDT WARNS ABOUT ETHNIC DIVISION IN BOSNIA

the parts of the muslim-croat federation in bosnia controlled by bosnian croats are considered to be an extended territory of croatia, which has prompted the bosnian muslim government of alija izetbegovic to urge the international community to exert far greater pressure on croats to accept the dual federation, bildt said.

the sides to the bosnian crisis are inclined to different interpretations of the civilian provisions of the peace agreement, ranging from a full ethnic division within the framework of a bosnia-herzegovina confederation to a federal state, bildt said in a report submitted to the just ended may session of the western european union (weu), the european union's military wing.

despite bildt's report, it was heard at the weu meeting that pessimism should by no means prevail as long as there is a possibility for forming a state of bosnia-herzegovina, which will d3:8d3d 8, 5#3 3)3:589,' ':#3d7)3d !94 '3053.?34 14.

the weu said the forthcoming european council sessiocn ve should deal particularly with the problem of preventing a deterioration of the situation and increasing chances for implementing the dayton agreement.

the weu also said the nato council should discusses the situation in bosnia at a session in berlin next week.

[22] NEW SILENCE ON OLD UNTRUTHS ABOUT MARKALE

belgrade, may 29 (tanjug) - reporting on monday on the commemoration held in the center of sarajevo, foreign media also listed two massacres on the markale market failing to mention that late french president francois mitterrand had confirmed the mortar shell on the market had been fired by muslim government troops.

some 200 relatives, friends and acquaintances attended on monday the unveiling of a memorial plaque to victims of the mortar shell which was fired on a bread line in the center of sarajevo on may 27, 1992.

several people were killed on the spot, 119 injured and others succumbed to their injuries later. television reports showing the picture of the area in front of the bakery, full of dismembered bodies, blood and people with maimed extremities were aired around the world.

of course bosnian serbs were blamed for this massacre.

not mentioning that the massacre prompted the introduction of the most severe international sanctions against the federal republic of yugoslavia, foreign agencies said the international community had examined the possibility of military intervention in bosnia at the time but had interrupted the talks follwoing the visit of the then french president francsois mitterand to sarajevo in june 1992.

the agencies implied that the late french president had played a negative role by preventing as early as 1992 nato's military intervention against bosnian serbs.

a book was recently published in france in which mitterrand was quoted as saying that in 1994 u.n. secretary-general boutros-boutros ghali had confirmed the projectile on markale was fired by muslim government troops in sarajevo.

officially, u.n. experts concluded the serbs had been responsible for firing the mortar shell.

another mortar attack on markale in 1995 had provoked another massacre and served as false justification for nato's indiscrimante bombing of serb civilian targets in republika srpska.

[23] TURKISH-CROATIAN MILITARY COOPERATION

croatian defense minister gojko susak will soon visit ankara to talk with his hosts about forms of military cooperation between the two countries.

anadolia did not reveal the details but only pointed out that the croatian foreign minister mate granic, when he recently visited ankara, said his country wanted to sign a defense agreement with turkey to include the training of troops.

turkey has a lot of experience in that area because it has trained members of the macedonian and of the albanian armies on the basis of an agreement with the united states. turkey also started training last week the first group of 200 muslim troops from bosnia and herzegovina, within the strengthening of the army of that former yugoslav republic.

after the break-up of the former yugoslav federation and the cessation of hostilities between mulsims and croats in bosnia, ankara and zagreb hold frequent meetings at the highest level.

in turkey they are counting on croatia to help make the muslim-croat federation finally work in bosnia and herzegovina, which would, according to ankara, form the basis of a single state in bosnia and herzegovina to include also serbs.

the foreign ministers of turkey, croatia and bosnia and herzegovina, who met at the beginning of this week in ankara, said they would invest fresh efforts to overcome problems between muslims and croats in bosnia and herzegovina.

the foreign ministers of the three countries agreed to hold soon, before the elections in bosnia scheduled for september, a summit meeting between suleyman delirel, franjo tudjman and alija izetbegovic.

[24] YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER: PEACE AND NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH WORLD ARE A PRIORITY

speaking to the participants from 25 countries of the 34th international conference of journalists in belgrade, kontic said the peace process would be secured only on condition that all signatories apply the provisions of the dayton agreement and the agreement on the srem-baranja region, and if the inernational community treats equally all sides involved in the crisis in the territory of the former yugoslavia.

'although the sanctions have been suspended, yugoslavia continues to be surrounded by an outer wall of sanctions which prevents its participation in internatonal political, financial and trade organizations,' kontic said. he said that the federal government's aim is the lifting as soon as possible of all forms of sanctions.

kontic warned that no additional conditions and blackmail of the federal republic of yugoslavia are acceptable, especially since all reasons 'which served as an excuse for the imposition of the sanctions in the first place' have long since been overcome.

'yugoslavia is ready to fulfill all economic conditions necessary for the normalization of relations with world trade and financial organizations, with political issues being resolved in corresponding international institutions and forums,' kontic said.

he also recalled that 'yugoslavia has affirmed itself as a factor of peace and stability in the region, and after the suspension of the sanctions, numerous bilateral agreements with other countries have been renewed and diplomatic relations with belgrade elevated.'

[25] GEN. WALKER MEETS BOSNIAN SERB ARMY COMMANDERS IN BANJALUKA

gen. walker decided to move as of tuesday his tactics command to the town of prijedor, in the northwest of the republika srpska (rs), the serb entity in the former yugoslav republic of bosnia-herzegovina.

speaking after a talk with rs army generals, gen. walker said that the meeting had dealt with several issues important both to ifor and the rs army. he said that the involvement by ifor and the rs army in the implementation of the military aspect of the peace agreement was progressing very well.

the commander of the rs army 1st krajina corps, gen. momir talic, welcomed the meeting with gen. walker and said that he had asked him to invest his authority and help resolve the problem of the release of detained rs soldiers.

the implementation of that part of the dayton accord is at a standstill. while we discussed the freedom of movement, we determined how to concretely deal with the problem, gen. talic said.

gen. talic said that the military aspect of the peace accord had been implemented satisfactorily and voiced hope that the rs army and ifor would continue their good cooperation.

after separate meetings, gen. walker and rs army air-force commander gen. zivomir ninkovic, said that they had discussed the reopening of banjaluka airport for civilian aviation, concentration of anti-aircraft weapons and guarantees for civilian use of airspace.

ninkovic said that the training of soldiers at radar and rocket systems had also been discussed.

[26] MINISTER PRIMAKOV ARRIVES IN BELGRADE

in a brief statement to the press primakov said he was visiting belgrade for the first time in his capacity as foreign minister and that he was looking forward to dialogue with yugoslav officials.

primakov is on a two-day official visit to fry at the invitation of yugoslav foreign minister milan milutinovic.

the russian minister was welcomed at the airport by his host milutinovic and yugoslav deputy foreign minister zivadin jovanovic.

official talks between primakov and milutinovic are to start immediately, and primakov will also be received by yugoslav prime minister radoje kontic.

on thursday, primakov will be received by the presidents of yugoslavia zoran lilic, of montenegro momir bulatovic and of serbia slobodan milosevic.

Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996

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