Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-06-23
From: Tanjug, Yugoslavia, via Serbian Unity Congress <http://www.suc.org/>
Jun 23, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW
CONTENTS
[01] SERBIAN PATRIARCH TRAVELLING TO SERB MONASTERY NEAR CHICAGO
[02] BANJALUKA MAYOR TO RUN FOR RS PRESIDENCY
[03] CONFLICT BETWEEN CROAT AND MUSLIM REFUGEES IN SOUTHERN BOSNIA
[04] CZECH REPUBLIC JOINS EU IN ENFORCING ARMS EMBARGO
[05] EVEN AFTER DAYTON ETHNICALLY PURE AREAS CREATED IN BOSNIA
[06] SERBS WILL NOT RETURN TO MOSTAR EN MASSE
[07] FLAVIO COTTI ARRIVES IN SARAJEVO
[08] HERCEG-BOSNA REJECTS ACCUSATIONS DIRECTED AGAINST BOSNIAN CROATS
[09] ARMED ATTACKS IN KOSMET: WARNING TO POLICE
[10] CROATIAN NEWSPAPER: PRESIDENT TUDJMAN PLAYS HOST IN BOSNIA
[11] BOSNIAN TERRITORY USED FOR ARMS TESTING
[01] SERBIAN PATRIARCH TRAVELLING TO SERB MONASTERY NEAR CHICAGO
belgrade, june 22 (tanjug) - patriarch of the serbian orthodox
church pavle is leaving for the united states on monday where he will
be replacing metropolitain irinej in the nova gracanica monastery
near chicago.
the holy synod of the serbian orthodox church has recently
appointed patriarch pavle adminstrator of nova gracanica, to stand in
for the ailing metropolitain irinej.
the patriarch will contact the clergy and the congregation of the
nova gracanica church where he will serve with the approval of the
ranking church officials of the serbian orthodox church in the u.s.
and in canada.
he is due to return in belgrade on july 12.
[02] BANJALUKA MAYOR TO RUN FOR RS PRESIDENCY
bijeljina, june 23 (tanjug) - the democratic patriotic bloc of
the republika srpska (rs) has nominated banjaluka mayor predrag radic
for the rs presidential election, the bloc's coordinating committee
said after a session in bijeljina on sunday.
the democratic patriotic bloc, which is a coalition of center
parties in the serb entity in bosnia-herzegovina, will nominate
mladen ivanic for the bosnian presidency, ljubisa savic-mauzer as the
principal nominee for the rs assembly and dragomir grubac as the
principal nominee for the bosnian assembly.
the democratic patriotic bloc deems it necessary to hold the
elections as scheduled to ensure the international legitimacy of the
republika srpska and allow authentic representatives elected by the
people to safeguard the rs interests in joint bosnian bodies, the
statement said.
[03] CONFLICT BETWEEN CROAT AND MUSLIM REFUGEES IN SOUTHERN BOSNIA
belgrade, june 22 (tanjug) - a conflict broke out between croat
and mulsim refugees on saturday on the approaches to capljina in
southern bosnia-herzegovina, muslim radio sarajevo said.
local croat police stopped four buses with some 200 muslim
refugees and prevented them from entering capljina to visit their
houses, the radio said.
after that, a group of croat refugees from central bosnia
surrounded the buses and threw stones at them breaking windows, it
said adding that one person was injured.
the behaviour, to which local croat police did not react,
provoked revolt and bitterness of muslim refugees and unpleasant
incidents, the radio said.
the statement issued by the muslim refugees from capljina and
quoted by radio sarajevo does not specify what the incidents were.
'this is yet another proof about the situationin the muslim-croat
federation' the radio said.
croats and muslims in bosnia signed an agreement on the
establishment of a joint federation in the former yugoslav republic
at the beginning of 1994, at the insistence of the united states, but
the federation still only exists on paper.
before the bi-national federation was formed muslims and croats
fought a 14-month war and carried out reciprocal ethnic-cleansings,
especially in central and southern bosnia.
[04] CZECH REPUBLIC JOINS EU IN ENFORCING ARMS EMBARGO
prague, june 23 (tanjug) - the czech republic joined the eu in
continuing the embargo on arms exports to the federal republic of
yugoslavia, croatia and bosnia-herzegovina, the national foreign
ministry said.
the zemske novini daily reported in its sunday issue that
following the recent u.n. lifting of the arms embargo against
countries of the former yugoslavia this decision froze until further
notice exports of arms and military equipment to three of the
countries while possible exports to slovenia and macedonia would be
decided on a case by case basis.
the weakness of the eu embargo, which the czech republic joined
as its associate member, lies in the uncertainty in the action that
would be taken by other large arms exporters such as first of all the
u.s. and russia, the czech foreign ministry assessed.
[05] EVEN AFTER DAYTON ETHNICALLY PURE AREAS CREATED IN BOSNIA
by zdravko milanovic
sarajevo, june 23 (tanjug) - the present migrations of serbs,
croats and muslims in bosnia-herzegovina towards their own national
community confirms that even after the dayton agreement ethnically
pure areas are being formed in both the entities - the muslim croat
federation and republika srpska.
'changing flat in area under control of the hvo (bosnian croat
army) for a flat in area under muslim army control', 'swapping flat
in trebinje for sarajevo', 'swapping flat in sarajevo for banja
luka', are only some of the ads that can be seen in the sarajevo
press to illustrate this.
it is assessed that at least 90,000 persons moved in this and
other ways since the signing of the dayton agreement at the end of
last year.
according to information of the office of the international
community's high representative for bosnia carl bildt only 100,000
refugees out of 2.5 million returned to their homes.
bildt's deputy michael steiner assessed these trends as extremely
alarming and described the present situation as 'worse' than at the
time of the singing of the agreement.
he said the trend was noticable in both entities and asked for
radical steps to be taken to change the situatin at a recent meeting
of the joint civlian commission of the federation and repbulika
srpska.
steiner asked the participants to legally regulate the property
of refugees and displaced persons from both entities, and a joint
declaration was adopted while new laws are expected to bring a series
of new regulations regarding private and state-owned homes.
suggestions and advice given by high international
represnetatives indicate that europe is not willing to see bosnia
entrenched in the entity divisions defined by the war.
[06] SERBS WILL NOT RETURN TO MOSTAR EN MASSE
belgrade, june 23 (tanjug) - mostar is strictly divided between
muslims and croats and for now there is no possibility for the return
of the 40,000 mostar serbs, a serb refugee official said after his
return from a visit to the southern bosnian town.
milorad muratovic, the president of the association for aid to
refugees and expelled persons in yugoslavia spent five days in mostar
with a group of mostar refugees in the organisation of the u.n. high
commissioner for refugees (unhcr) belgrade office.
'hate between muslims and croats has resulted in the total
division of the town in which several hundred serbs now live, and
there is no question of the return of serb refugees en masse,'
muratovic said after his return.
the refugee delegation made up of about ten serbs, including the
former mostar mayor and deputy in the former yugosalav parliament
radmilo andric, stayed only on the muslim side of the town and
talked with rerpesentatives of the european adminstration and muslim
authorities.
the croat authorities did not wish to join the talks and did
not allow the belgrade delegation to visit the croat side of the
town, muratovic said.
muratovic said that the division of the town is absolute. croats
have their television, radio, press, universities as do the muslims.
everything is separate and there is no communication between them
other than through the eu office which each side presents with its
own information and its own truth.
during talks with mostar's european adminstrator, spaniard
ricardo perez casado, the delegation udnerscored that the serbs did
not leave mostar voluntarily as claimed by croats and muslims.
perez casado said that the eu was interested in seeing serbs in
mostar also.
muratovic said that in mostar, which had been the scene of fierce
fighting between the muslims and the croats in 1993, about 70 percent
of the orthodox cemetary had been destroyed and graves of more
prominent serbs desacrated and looted.
he also said that once the most beautiful orthodox church in the
balkans was totally destroyed and that only outer walls remained of
a second, smaller and older church.
[07] FLAVIO COTTI ARRIVES IN SARAJEVO
sarajevo,june 23 (tanjug) - flavio cotti, the current president
of the organistion of security and cooperation in europe and swiss
foreign minister, arrived in sarajevo on sunday on a fourth visit to
bosnia since the beginning of the year.
this is also cotti's last visit to bosnia-herzegovina before his
scheduled announcement tuesday about whether conditions have been met
for holding the first post-war elections in the former yugoslav
republic.
immediately after his arrival cotti started talks with
representatives of political parties participating in the elections,
following which he is due to talk to the prime minister of the
sarajevo government hasan muratovic.
after sarajevo, cotti will go to banja luka, the largest town in
republika srpska, the bosnian serb entity where he will also talk
with political leaders.
under the dayton peace agreement elections are to be held by
september 14 at the latest. osce representative in sarajevo american
diplomat robert frowick suggested in his report that the elections
should be held as scheduled.
[08] HERCEG-BOSNA REJECTS ACCUSATIONS DIRECTED AGAINST BOSNIAN CROATS
belgrade, june 23 (tanjug) - the president of the croat republic
of herceg-bosna ivan bender rejected all the accusations of the
muslim side and the international community regarding the reactivated
government of the bosnian croat state, croat rado reported on sunday.
bender said that the government of herceg-bosna had always
existed and that it had actually been reduced now by abolishing
certain ministries which is in the spirit of the 1994 washington
agreement and the dayton accords signed at the end of last year.
the republic of herceg-bosna was declared by bosnian croats in
july 1922 and mostar was to be its capital.
the muslim side said that since the singing of the dayton
agreement herceg-bosna shoud have started closing down its functions
which should have been taken over by the muslim-croat federation.
the federation, created in march 1994 under the pressure of
washington, still only exists on paper.
muslim radio sarajevo reported that croatian foreign minsiter
mate granic accused the muslim side of allegedly blocking the setting
up of the federation.
in talks with ambassadors of the bosnia contact group member
countries granic said that the muslim side was preventing the
adoption of a law on joint defense of the federation.
the muslim radio criticised granic for failing to mention
anything about the federation being blocked by actions of the
government of herceg-bosna in western mostar which had been condemned
by the entire world and called separatism.
bender, who is chairman of the herceg-bosna presidential council,
admitted that the muslim-croat federation had been created under
pressure but added that it could not operate under pressure but only
with the agreement of the two equal peoples.
[09] ARMED ATTACKS IN KOSMET: WARNING TO POLICE
jagodina, june 23 (tanjug) - deputy speaker of yugoslavia's upper
house radmilo bogdanovic said on sunday that the armed attacks
against the police in the southern serbian province of kosovo and
metohija (kosmet) were a serious warning to the police.
i am confident that they will find a solution to that, primarily
by controlling those who bear and use weapons and by supervising more
tightly those steeped in separatism, bogdanovic told tanjug.
one policeman was killed and three were wounded last week in the
latest attack against serbian police in kosmet, where there is a
strong separatist movement of ethnic albanians.
through violence, ethnic albanians will only embitter honest and
moderate people, said bogdanovic, who is also the chairman of the
security committee in the yugoslav lower house.
he said that time had come for real dialogue with ethnic
albanians in kosmet but not with the leaders of extreme and
separatist parties but with ethnic albanians who respect the laws of
the state in which they live.
ethnic albanians should take part in the elections and exercize
their rights which are guaranteed by the laws, take active part in
serbia's political, economic and cultural life and forget illegal
institutions and everything else with which extremists are trying to
trick them, he added.
[10] CROATIAN NEWSPAPER: PRESIDENT TUDJMAN PLAYS HOST IN BOSNIA
zagreb, june 23 (tanjug) - a croatian daily newspaper said on
sunday that, during his recent visit to the medjugorje shrine in
bosnia-herzegovina, croatian president franjo tudjman had behaved as
though he had been the host and not a guest.
the daily novi list of rijeka said that tudjman's visit to the
shrine last friday to attend a fund-raising concert at which spanish
tenor jose carreras had performed, among others, had had primarily a
political message.
'the entire infrastructure of that musical spectacle treated
medjugorje as part of croatia,' novi list said and added that there
had been no sign to show that the concert was actually taking place
in neighbouring bosnia-herzegovina.
the commentator said that the croatian president had been
'surrounded by his entourage as if he was visiting the (croatian)
dalmatian coast... and gave no sign that he was in a foreign country,
not his own.'
tudjman, 'disregarding the rules of behaviour proper to a head of
state when visiting another state, did not even call at sarajevo,'
novi list said and added that the concert had been abused for
political purposes.
the article is another in a series of criticisms addressed to
tudjman, even by official u.s. and german circles, for encouraging
and supporting separatists among the bosnian croats who are striving
to annexe the bosnian croat state of herceg-bosna to croatia.
[11] BOSNIAN TERRITORY USED FOR ARMS TESTING
london, june 23 (tanjug) - the multi-national peace
implementation force (ifor) in bosnia-herzegovina are using this
former yugoslav republic for testing new weaponry, the london weekly
observer said on sunday, quoting intelligence imparted by the british
labor party.
british ifor forces are using deserted serb villages in the area
of the southwestern town of glamoc, which is now controled by bosnian
croats, for testing and excercises with live ammunition of warrior
armored vehicles and a new cannon, the as-90, and for air shooting at
ground targets.
french forces are also using this region to test the action of
their armored vehicles.
near, u.s. forces are training shooting at ground targets from
apache helicopters, the weekly said.
the british army does not have any space for military excercises
in britain because of opposition from the home public, so that it
rents testing grounds in poland, the czech republic, slovakia, and
romania, the weekly said.
diplomatic and military circles in london have long since
suspected that nato forces in bosnia are testing also certain banned
weapons. they claim even that there is evidence to substantiate these
claims.
Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996
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