YDS 9/28

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov)

28. SEPTEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

CONTENTS:

BOSNIA PEACE PROCESS - MILOSEVIC, STOLTENBERG WELCOME BIG STEP TOWARD PEACE - YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER POINTS OUT READINESS FOR PEACE CONFERENCE - YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER: TWO INDEPENDENT ENTITIES IN BOSNIA - BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT: AGREEMENT GUARANTEES EQUALITY - TALKS ON RECONSTRUCTION OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER'S CONTACTS IN UN

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - U.N. CONFIRMS INCIDENTS BETWEEN MUSLIM AND CROATIAN FORCES

FROM FOREIGN PRESS - GERMAN NEO-NAZIS LEAVING CROATIA

BOSNIA PEACE PROCESS

MILOSEVIC, STOLTENBERG WELCOME BIG STEP TOWARD PEACE

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - The adoption of the basic principles regulating relations between the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is a big step in the direction of finally establishing peace in Bosnia, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Co-Chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia Thorvald Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. Milosevic and Stoltenberg agreed that this had made an important contribution to a comprehensive political settlement for the crisis in Bosnia and to an acceleration of the peace process in an effort to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible at an international conference. Both sides expressed satisfaction with headway made at meeting in New York between the foreign ministers of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia and the Muslim government in Sarajevo. The New York accord, it was stressed, is an encouraging sign that undoubtedly affirms the policy of peace and the consistent efforts of the FRY and representatives of the international community to end the protracted crisis in the war-torn areas by political means - through talks - in a victory for the forces of peace.

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER POINTS OUT READINESS FOR PEACE CONFERENC E

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic said the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was ready for a peace conference on Bosnia-Herzegovina even if it should be held tomorrow. He told a press conference at UN headquarters in New York that first an agreement should be reached on total ceasefire in Bosnia-Herzegovina, enmeshed in three and a half years of war. Milutinovic assessed that he and the foreign ministers of Croatia and the Sarajevo Muslim government agreed on a good paper resolving some of the key issues for ending the drama in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was perhaps more difficult to do than drawing the maps of the two future entities in this former Yugoslav republic. According to Milutinovic, the two entities - the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat federation - were put under the same roof, which was thin but was nevertheless a roof. Whether one or the other entity would incline to one or the other side, time would show as well as the will of the people in Bosnia-Herzegovina and those who could join them in confederal relations, he said. He pointed out clearly that both entities in Bosnia-Herzegovina have received equal rights. That which has been given the Muslim-Croat federation by the Washington agreement in March 1994, that is, that it could have confederal ties with Croatia, was given also to the Republika Srpska as regards the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he said. Milutinovic, however, noted that implementing the peace agreement would be hard and complex, especially as regards composition, mandate and coordination of action of the new peace forces that were being announced for Bosnia-Herzegovina. This, he said, depended most what type of peace would be concluded. If just peace was concluded, then it would be easy also to preserve and maintain it, he said. The minister set out that the lifting of comprehensive and binding sanctions of the international community against Yugoslavia was part of the package which would appear at the peace conference, when all issues would jointly be resolved. In the context of everything that Yugoslavia has done in the way of resolving the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, sanctions not only should have been lifted long ago but there had not in fact been any justification in their imposition, he said. In the end, Milutinovic said that Yugoslavia had the same attitude towards war criminals as any other country that respected law and international norms. But it must be remembered that there have been war criminals on all sides, but that Serbs alone have been singled out, concluded Milutinovic.

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER: TWO INDEPENDENT ENTITIES IN BOSNIA

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - The New York agreement has once again confirmed the existence of two independent state entities in Bosnia, and Republika Srpska was also acknowledged as regards the distribution of power in this former Yugoslav republic, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic said Wednesday. Summing up for Radio Belgrade the results of the talks on constitutional arrangements for the future Bosnian state, Milutinovic said that according to the agreement, the serb side in Bosnian presidency would have the right of veto. Milutinovic explained that the same principle would also be applied to the future Bosnian parliament, so that the affairs of Bosnia as a whole would be limited to foreign relations. This means, he added, that the Republika Srpska representative can - any time he feels it necessary - halt any decision and request for this the support of the Republika Srpska parliament. Altogether, the foundations of the peace process were laid in Geneva and New York, and - in line with all these principles - it is therefore impossible to go back, Milutinovic stressed. However, a complex process of negotiating a lasting cessation of hostilities still remains to be initiated, probably by the end of this week, the Minister said. This will be followed by negotiations on maps, though this process has already been initiated in a way, Milutinovic said. He believes that this task should from now on be less painful than in the past. Although the 51:49 ratio for territorial division remains valid, we shall endeavour to establish some form of correlation between quality and quantity, which means that quality and compactness of territories will take precedence over quantity, the Yugoslav Minister said. Milutinovic noted that all these processes would be followed by a conference, not only to celebrate but also to continue discussing the peace process. This is an opportunity for a concrete discussion on bilateral issues, provided it is understood that the holding of such a conference would mean the lifting of anti-Yugoslav sanctions, Milutinovic concluded. Speaking for a BBC programme in English, monitored in Belgrade on Wednesday, Milutinovic said the bosnian serbs would now be granted a high degree of independence because they would have the right to block all decisions they believed to be against their interests. Serbia will exert pressure as much as it can on the Bosnian Serbs to honour the agreement, he said. He added that the largest pressure would be if the process that had begun in Geneva and New York continued. Milutinovic said if all parties to the conflict were equally treated as regards maps which he said were in their true interest, then no pressure would be necessary.

BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT: AGREEMENT GUARANTEES EQUALITY

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska Vice President Nikola Koljevic said that the Serb side had fought for an equal status in Bosnia from the very beginning. Expressing his satisfaction with the decisions from Geneva and New York, Koljevic said that the thesis of the Yugoslav diplomacy - that a peaceful solution should be sought through an equal treatment of all three nations in Bosnia - had been accepted at the talks. Republika Srpska Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha, who was in the Yugoslav delegation together with Koljevic, said that the peace process was heading in the right direction despite all difficulties and that this was the only way to end the war.

TALKS ON RECONSTRUCTION OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - The foreign ministers of Yugoslavia, Croatia and the Sarajevo Muslim government conferred on Wednesday with their counterpart from Spain, the current EU chair-country, on the reconstruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The starting idea at the meeting between Milan Milutinovic, Mate Granic, Muhamed Sacirbej and Javier Solana is that reconstruction programs be made on time so that their realization could begin immediately after a peace agreement is signed, EU Foreign Policy Commissioner Hans Van Den Brooke said. Preparations, which are already under way, are proceeding on three levels, it was heard at the meeting. The first covers material reconstruction of the infrastructure, towns and cities, roads, bridges and other objects. In the second sector, attention will be paid to the question of refugees, their return to their homes, the reconstruction of their homes, compensation and similar matters. The third issue pertains to the coordination of all these activities within the EU which should be the principal factor in the reconstruction and renewal program. Milutinovic said care should be taken to avoid a politization of the entire process, because if that way is taken, it can not only slow down the mentioned programs, but even provoke new disagreements and discord among those who will use that aid. Milutinovic also warned that the problem of refugees and displaced persons must be resolved immediately and without delay, because there can be no postponements of that issue.

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER'S CONTACTS IN UN

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic had many contacts at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday and talks with foreign ministers who rallied in large numbers for the U.N. General Assembly session. Milutinovic conferred with Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the EU, on the engagement of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the current stage of the peace process on Bosnia-Herzegovina and on bilateral relations. Milutinovic spoke with Hungarian Foreign Minister Laslo Kovacs about the further strengthening of bilateral relations between the two neighbouring states. Milutinovic also had a lengthy conversation with Foreign Minister Teodor Malescanu of, also neighbouring, Romania. With a review of the achievements so far of the peace process, the two sides also considered current issues regarding bilateral relations. Milutinovic also met during the day with his counterparts from Luxembourg Jacques Posse, and Sweden, Len Hjelm. On Tuesday evening, Milutinovic had met with Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias.

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

U.N. CONFIRMS INCIDENTS BETWEEN MUSLIM AND CROATIAN FORCES

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 27 (Tanjug) - Sources of the UN Zagreb-based mission confirmed on Wednesday that quarrels broke out between Muslim troops and the forces of Bosnian Croats supported by regular Croatian troops. The quarrels occur along the boundaries of the territories taken by Muslim and combined Croat troops in their separate offensives against the Bosnian Serbs, the French AFP agency said. The newly-created situation seriously worries the USA at the time the peace process is progressing, another and also unnamed source of the UN said, suggesting that what is involved nonetheless is a rather serious conflict. The AFP said that Sarajevo and Zagreb tried last week to peacefully resolve the future of the territories seized from the Serbs. Quoting unconfirmed sources, the agency said that fighting took place between Muslim and Croat forces, notably in Jajce, Kljuc and Bosanski Petrovac.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

GERMAN NEO-NAZIS LEAVING CROATIA

A m s t e r d a m, Sept. 22 (HET PAROOL) - "Croatia disbanded a combat unit comprising German neo-Nazis. But, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, out of 150 German neo-Nazis, there are dozens of rightist extremists fighting on the side of the Bosnian Croats", said the spokesman of the German state security service. The German authorities fear that the neo-Nazis who have returned home will engage in terrorist activities. At present, German neo-Nazis are not yet engaged in terrorist activities. But, this is possible. Spokesman Hans Gert Lange said that they would certainly take certain measures. Experts say that recourse to terrorism is contemplated in neo-Nazi circles. Since 1993, the authorities have brought great pressure to bear on the extreme rightist movement. Not only have some groups been prohibited, but arms and propaganda material are regularly seized. German neo-Nazis consider themselves allies of Croatia where the Ustasha regime cooperated with Hitler during the last war.

- I speak for no one and no one speaks for me --