YDS 11/27

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

27. NOVEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAVIA SATISFIED WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT - F.R.Y.'S AIM: DEMOCRATIC, ECONOMICALLY WELL-DEVELOPED CIVIL STATE

YUGOSLAVIA - SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS - WORLD POSITIVELY RESPONDS TO SUSPENSION OF ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS - SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS RESULT OF YUGOSLAVIA'S POLICY OF PEACE - GERMANY OFFICIALLY SUSPENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA - BULGARIA SUSPENDS ALL RESTRICTIONS IN TRADE WITH YUGOSLAVIA

YUGOSLAVIA - NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM - NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM BUILDS UP COMPETITIVENESS OF YUGOSLAV ECONOMY - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT SETS DINAR'S NEW RATE

THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA - DAYTON AGREEMENT - PRESIDENT KARADZIC SAYS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ACCEPTS PEACE - BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT KOLJEVIC: GOAL ACHIEVED IN DAYTON

BOSNIA - AFTER DAYTON'S AREEMENT - U.N.: CROATS BURN AND LOOT HOUSES IN TOWNS TO BE HANDED BACK TO SERBS

FROM FOREIGN PRESS - BELGIAN PRESS SAYS SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS IS VICTORY OF MILOSEVIC'S POLICY - NEW YORK TIMES SAYS DAYTON PEACE DEAL IS CLINTON'S GREATEST SUCCESS

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

YUGOSLAVIA SATISFIED WITH DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT B e l g r a d e, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic said Sunday that the Dayton talks and the suspension of anti-Yugoslav sanctions marked the recognition of Yugoslavia's peaceful policy. Speaking in an interview with Belgrade Radio, Lilic said that the participants in the talks had accepted all that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had been advocating all the time - the continuity of Yugoslavia, peaceful policy, cooperation among peoples and good-neighborly relations. 'I am deeply confident that Yugoslavia will soon be back in all international forums and institutions that it had been suspended from,' Lilic said. 'We have many reasons to be satisfied and to remember with pride the day when the peace agreement was initialed in Dayton and when the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, headed by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, practically brought Yugoslavia back to its place in the world,' Lilic said. He said that the Yugoslav delegation had re-affirmed in the best possible way its foreign policy goals in Dayton. The negotiating position was extremely difficult but a satisfactory result was achieved nevertheless, said Lilic. He stressed that the policy pursued by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had preserved peace in its territory as well as its economic resources. The Yugoslav President said it was very important that the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Republic) was practically formed and legalized in half of Bosnia-Herzegovina's territory. He said that equal treatment had been secured for the Serbian people, which would surely be confirmed in Bosnia's future constitution. Lilic said that future would certainly depend primarily on the Serb people in the Bosnian Serb Republic and its leadership. He said that the meeting of the Bosnian Serb and Yugoslav (Serbian and Montenegrin) delegations near Belgrade on Thursday, after the return from Dayton, had been necessary in order to show a high degree of unity. The meeting showed that the Bosnian Serb leadership has accepted all that was agreed in Dayton and the task to implement the agreement, Lilic said. Lilic said that all Bosnian Serb interests certainly could not be met but that efforts would be made to correct what was not good over the coming period. 'It is now most important not to allow anybody to even try, let alone carry out, any kind of sabotage in implementing the Dayton agreement,' Lilic said in the interview.

F.R.Y.'S AIM: DEMOCRATIC, ECONOMICALLY WELL-DEVELOPED CIVIL STATE

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (F.R.Y.) Zoran Lilic stated on Sunday that a democratic and economically well-developed civil state is the objective of the current policy. With the suspension of international sanctions against the F.R.Y. and with the forthcoming signing of the peace agreement in Paris, the two key prerequisites were being created to achieve this objective, said Lilic to Radio-TV Serbia in an interview. Lilic voiced confidence that the country's economy, which had been quite damaged in the years of sanctions, would recover through the appropriate economic measures and discipline. Lilic called for privatization and en actment of a bill on the transformation and democratization of property relations to enable investment activity for those who have an interest in investing in individual enterprises. This transformation, said Lilic, should in fact be the 'formation of an additional capital for the development of these enterprises' and not 'a privatization from the cadre list' as it had been done in certain parts of eastern Europe following the collapse of certain states. 'The biggest economic systems in these countries have been bought up for small amounts of money precisely by those who had been employed in them, or they have been sold abroad, allowing a very large outflow of capital,' said Lilic. This is what the F.R.Y. would not allow to happen and the state should enable all those who have interest in this, both at home and abroad, to invest in certain systems and to develop these systems here rather than to take them abroad and shut them down, Lilic pointed out. Lilic pointed out that recently the F.R.Y. has been visited by a number of foreign delegations which are keenly interested in investing capital in the different projects, and this country, in compliance with its interests, will know how to appreciate this. The F.R.Y. has a strategical position impossible to be bypassed and this should be well utilized and charged, said he. 'We shall have the possibility of signing very soon also the contracts on foreign trade cooperation with the world's biggest countries,' Lilic announced. Lilic said that 'it is certain that the F.R.Y. on the economic plane ought to and must cooperate with all the republics of former Yugoslavia. We do not have to live together but it is possible, necessary and realistic that we help one another on the economic plane.' Lilic recalled that during the sanctions the F.R.Y. suffered damage exceeding 100 billion U.S. dollars, while the neighbouring countries had losses amounting to some 50 billion dollars.

YUGOSLAVIA - SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS

WORLD POSITIVELY RESPONDS TO SUSPENSION OF ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 25 (Tanjug) - Initial reactions show that most of the countries are ready to immediately start implementing the U.N. Security Council Resolution on suspending the sanctions against Yugoslavia, Deputy Foreign Minister Radoslav Bulajic said Saturday. Bulajic said reports by Yugoslav diplomatic offices that had contacted officials of different governments on the matter said all countries that had not taken special decisions regarding the Security Council Resolution under which sanctions had been imposed on the country in late May 1992 - would immediately start implementing the Resolution on the suspension of the sanctions adopted on Wednesday. Of a dozen of countries that have already responded to the suspension, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria and some Latin American countries have said that they will immediately start implementing the resolution, thus removing all obstacles to trade, traffic of goods and exchange of services, he said. Bulajic said he had already received reports that international observers who had monitored the respect of the international embargo against Yugoslavia had withdrawn from the borders of Yugoslavia's neighbours. Moreoever, the Romanian Government stopped monitoring the Danube and the border with Yugoslavia already on Thursday, he said. Switzerland has announced that it will pass a special regulation regarding the suspension of the sanctions, while Spain that presides over the E.U. has announced that the resolution has already gone into force in that country, he said. Some other E.U. member countries, including Germany, Sweden and Austria, have stated that they are bound by the E.U. decision on the imposition of the sanctions and that their governments cannot pass regulations to this effect until the E.U. takes a decisionon the suspension, he said. 'We have received reports, however, that the E.U. will respond to it immediately,' he said. Bulajic said German Government officials had already pledged that Bonn would lift the sanctions banning air traffic that had been imposed before the U.N. Security Council resolution on imposing sanctions against Yugoslavia had taken effect.

SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS RESULT OF YUGOSLAVIA'S POLICY OF PEACE

K r a g u j e v a c, Y u g o s l a v i a, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Ambassador to the U.N. Vladislav Jovanovic said Sunday that the suspension of the sanctions against Yugoslavia followed years of the country's policy of peace. Speaking for the local Radio in Kragujevac, Jovanovic said the end of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina had come as a relief not only for the peoples of the former Yugoslav republic and Yugoslavia, but also for the entire world which he said had had enough of countless scenes of killing. The U.N. Security Council unanimous decision to suspend the sanctions against Yugoslavia eliminates the bad picture created about Yugoslavia, marking the beginning of an era of its full respect and speedy return to the international community, he said.

GERMANY OFFICIALLY SUSPENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

B o n n, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - The suspension of sanctions against Yugoslavia is applied in Germany immediately and without limitations, the German Foreign Ministry said Sunday. The Ministry said in an official explanation delivered to the Yugoslav Embassy in Bonn that certain restrictions existed only in the disposition with the bank accounts and property of the former Yugoslav Federation. The respective bank accounts and property will remain blocked if 'there is a complaint by a third party', meaning primarily former Yugoslav republics which are now independent states, the document specified. It appears from the official explanation provided by the German Foreign Ministry that the parties which have no problems with 'third persons' can immediately go ahead and do business or start receiving German pensions. At Yugoslavia's request for clarification of future relations in transportation, the German Ministry replied that 'a full normalization in the field will take place only after bilateral expert contacts between the respective ministries are established.' The German Government has thus confirmed that it, too, will carry out the provisions of a respective U.N. Security Council Resolution but in 'a German version,' meaning at a slower pace. The German Foreign Ministry confirmed that approval from the U.N. Sanctions Committee would no longer be required for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia, since the Security Council Resolution did not limit the duration of the sanctions' suspension.

BULGARIA SUSPENDS ALL RESTRICTIONS IN TRADE WITH YUGOSLAVIA

S o f i a, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - The Bulgarian Government decided in an emergency session late Sunday to suspend all restrictions in trade with Yugoslavia. The Bulgarian Government Press Section reported that under the decision, the Government had suspended all previous decisions concerning import, export and transit of goods through Serbia and Montenegro. Decisions on liberalisation of trade and traffic with Yugoslavia will enter into force the day they are published by Bulgaria's state gazette. The Press Section said only arms and military equipment deliveries to Yugoslavia would be controlled in future.

YUGOSLAVIA - NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM

NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM BUILDS UP COMPETITIVENESS OF YUGOSLAV ECONOMY

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - Governor of the Yugoslav National Bank Dragoslav Avramovic has stressed that a build-up of competitiveness of the country's economy is the gist of his 'Program 2' which has just taken effect. 'We now have the possibility of increasing the competitive ability, due to extraordinary circumstances related to the removal of the sanctions. With the removal of the sanctions there are no barriers in the way of our exports any longer, and hence it is possible to use the capacities much more than during the blockade,' said Avramovic on Serbian Television on Saturday. Governor Avramovic assessed that it was solely on the basis of increased competitiveness that the needed foreign capital could be attracted, whereas increased competitiveness presumed at least two new key points - liberalization of the market and the convertibility of the currency. On a proposal by the Yugoslav National Bank, the Federal Governmet carried on Saturday a package of measures, among which also the decision to liberalize the import-export regime cutting down the duties and tariffs drastically, and the decision to set the national currency rate of exchange at 3.3 dinars to one German mark. The market should be liberalized in three directions: relative to the world, within the country, and towards the elimination of the administrative system which 'suffocates our economy,' Avramovic said. The Governor emphasized that the state had reserves to maintain the new exchange rate of the dinar. 'Our reserves today are tantamount to half the total primary money and half the total money in circulation,' said he. Moreover, the F.R.Y. would receive a certain amount of reserves on the basis of decisions made in Ohio where 'a certain freedom has been restored to mobilize the resources that had been blocked,' said Avramovic.

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT SETS DINAR'S NEW RATE

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 25 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government decided Saturday to set the national currency's new rate at 3.3 dinars per one German mark. The Yugoslav dinar's previous official rate, introduced in January 1994, was on a par with the German mark. The dinar, however, eventually got a parallel rate which varied in order to end up as the new official rate recommended by the National Bank of Yugoslavia. The Federal Government adopted a package of measures relating to monetary, foreign-currency, import and export policies, which are to take effect on Nov. 26. It defined, among other things, the mechanisms of the foreign-currency market, which are to secure the implementation of the defined policy of the dinar's rate and its uniform implementation. The Government adopted a series of radical measures in the domain of imports and exports, an official statement said. A decision on the liberalization of the import and export regimes will take effect Sunday. Customs and other duties are being drastically reduced and set between 3 percent and 30 percent. The export of domestic goods will practically be free and the quota regime will cover only 2 percent of products. The import of goods is also being significantly liberalized in keeping with principles of market economy. The main goal of the latest measures adopted by the Yugoslav Government is the economy's more effective performance, its greater competitiveness on foreign markets and the creation of an open market economy. The Government has decided to pursue a policy of a stable dinar, with a view to checking increases in prices, raising production and exports and stimulating the influx of foreign capital.

THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA - DAYTON AGREEMENT

PRESIDENT KARADZIC SAYS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ACCEPTS PEACE

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 24 (Tanjug) - President of the (Bosnian Serb State) Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic said late on Friday that the Serbs in their state in Bosnia-Herzegovina accepted peace. 'We have fought so far by military means and achieved many of our goals. We continue now with a political struggle,' Karadzic told Republika Srpska TV, the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported from the Bosnian Serb centre of Pale. Karadzic said he hoped that there were enough Serbs in the Republika Srpska capable of waging such a struggle with success. He stressed that the Republika Srpska had been internationally recognised as an entity, as part of the future union of Bosnia-Herzegovina,' which is a step away from full international recognition.'

BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT KOLJEVIC: GOAL ACHIEVED IN DAYTON

K r a g u j e v a c, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Vice President Nikola Koljevic said Sunday that the Dayton talks had placed 'in a peace-making position those who were not sincerely for peace.' The Republika Srpska (RS) official said on Radio Kragujevac (local radio station in the town of the same name in central Serbia) that the outcome of the Dayton peace talks was an 'immense' success because peace was reached through compromise. Koljevic, RS Assembly Speaker Momcilo Krajisnik and Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha represented the RS as part of the Yugoslav delegation at the Dayton talks. The goal of the Bosnian Serbs was to avoid becoming a national minority, koljevic said and set out that 'this foremost political goal has been achieved.' 'More than that has been achieved - the territorialization of our (Bosnian Serb) political rights, which is not at all insignificant,' Koljevic stated on Radio Kragujevac. 'We have been also given the possibility of further linking up with the mother country,' the RS Vice President said. 'I think that we will have normal relations in peacetime also with other peoples for the simple reason that people when angry do not take rational decisions and when they calm down they realize that rights can be given to others too,' Koljevic said.

BOSNIA - AFTER DAYTON'S AREEMENT

U.N.: CROATS BURN AND LOOT HOUSES IN TOWNS TO BE HANDED BACK TO SE RBS

B e l g r a d e, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Croat Militia forces a retorching and looting houses in Sipovo and Mrkonjic Grad, towns in central Bosnia that are to be given back to Serbs under the Dayton peace deal, U.N. officials said Sunday. Reuters quoted U.N. Spokesman in central Bosnian town of Gornji Vakuf, Maj. Alastair Ross, as saying, 'we saw about 10 houses burning altogether. Our assessment is that the HVO (Bosnian Croat forces) could be setting fire to the houses,' said Ross, adding that a U.N. reconnaissance team of armoured vehicles had been able to move into the Mrkonjic Grad area late on Saturday. Ross said it was too early to tell whether Croats would block U.N. movement, as they have done in the past. BBC reporter Kate Adie, who entered Mrkonjic Grad with British peacekeepers, the first U.N. personnel to reach the town, said it was evident that the destruction had been agreed to and had been organised despite the denials by Bosnian Croat commanders. 'There were no civilians doing the looting, it was only men in uniform,' she said and added that, 'they were going from house to house, street to street.' Reuters said Television pictures showed palls of smoke above Mrkonjic-Grad and near by Sipovo. Civilian and military trucks keep arriving in Mrkonjic Grad to take furniture and fittings from houses that are then torched, Reuters said.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

BELGIAN PRESS SAYS SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS IS VICTORY OF MILOSEVIC 'S POLICY

B r u s s e l s, Nov. 24 (Tanjug) - Since the moment when the U.N. Security Council decided to suspend sanctions against Yugoslavia, Belgian media have been saying that this represents the victory of the peace policy pursued by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Quoting Tanjug's report about Milosevic's meeting in Belgrade with leaders of the (Bosnian Serb State) Republika Srpska and their acceptance of the Dayton agreement, the Belgian daily La Libre Belgique said that this is another proof of the Serbian President's influence and reputation in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Belgian expert on the former Yugoslavia Michel Rosten said in the editorial that the Bosnian Serb acceptance and fulfillment of conditions set under the Dayton agreement and future Paris peaceaccord could very quickly show the weaknesses of the other party to the conflict, the Muslim-Croat Federation, which is breaking apart at it seams. This is an 'unnatural marriage' which has no chance of surviving without abundant assistance from the outside, Rosten said. The editorialist of the daily Le Soir said that the suspension of the sanctions against Yugoslavia represented a triumph of Milosevic and his policy, a triumph which is praised by the opposition too. The brussels daily believes that Yugoslavia is facing a quick economic recovery.

NEW YORK TIMES SAYS DAYTON PEACE DEAL IS CLINTON'S GREATEST SUCCES S

N e w Y o r k, Nov. 26 (Tanjug) - A peace agreement for Bosnia which was initialled in Dayton, Ohio, last Tuesday is U.S. President Bill Clinton's biggest success since assuming office nearly three years ago, The New York Times daily reported on Sunday. The paper said that, at first, the U.S. had hesitated a lot to join efforts to settle the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, taking the view that Europe could handle the matter alone because it no longer depended on the U.S. leadership so much. That was all a delusion, because the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the war in the Balkans had revealed all the European Union's weak points and had shown to what extent Washington was irreplaceable in Eruope, the paper said. The E.U. is a trade giant, but a political and military dwarf, the paper was straight forward. The New York Times said the U.S. had managed to bring about peace in the Balkans because it alone was capable of doing that. The paper also said Clinton was well on the way of securing a leading role to the U.S. in world affairs and international relations within the new world order which it said was frequently referred to in the U.S. as the one-power order.