Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-04-16

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

16 April 1996

CONTENTS

[A] THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] PRESIDENT LILIC: YUGOSLAVIA RETURNS COMPLETELY TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

[02] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STRESSES THE F.R.Y HAS THE RIGHT TO CONTINUITY

[03] IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEVER KOSOVO AND METOHIJA FROM SERBIA

[04] YUGOSLAV CONSULATE IN MILAN ATTACKED, MUSLIM ORGANIZATION SUSPECTED

[05] YUGOSLAVIA LODGES PROTESTS OVER ATTACKS ON ITS MILAN CONSULATE

[06] YUGOSLAV CONSUL GENERAL'S STATEMENT IN MILAN

[B] INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE F.R. YUGOSLAVIA

[07] DENMARK, NETHERLANDS RECOGNIZE FR YUGOSLAVIA

[08] PORTUGAL RECOGNISES YUGOSLAVIA

[09] ITALY NORMALIZES RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA

[C] BOSNIA - BRUSSELS' CONFERENCE ON RECONSTRUCTION

[10] YUGOSLAVIA TO GIVE 10 MILLION DOLLARS FOR BOSNIA

[D] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[11] LAWYER: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE AGAINST COLONEL KRSMANOVIC

[A] THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] PRESIDENT LILIC: YUGOSLAVIA RETURNS COMPLETELY TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

'The sovereignty and state and legal continuity of Yugoslavia are no longer disputable' said Lilic in an interview to Radio Kragujevac, adding that there were already 17 ambassadors in Belgrade. He said every day announcements on normalization of relations were coming from the European Union and other countries. Lilic said these recognitions were the result of Belgrade's principled and consistent peace-making policy, which has reaffirmed Yugoslavia as a key factor of stability in the Balkans and southeastern Europe.

'Peace is necessary in order for us to get moving and use our developmental potential... but also to efficaciously protect the legitimate rights of Serbs in the former Yugoslavia,' said Lilic.

He said the role of the international community in the crisis in The former Yugoslavia 'has not always been positive'. The mistakes that were made, the biased and protective attitude toward the seceded republics and their leaders on the one hand, and the punishment and demonization of Yugoslavia and the Serbs on the other, stirred up the crisis and precipitated civil war, he said.

Lilic said that with the signing of the Dayton (Bosnia) Accord and the Erdut (eastern Slavonia) Agreement, the international community had for the first time begun to apply principles of equal treatment to all sides and confirmed the legitimacy of the interests and rights of Serbs outside Serbia. 'The result of this is the recognition of Republika Srpska as one of the two entities in Bosnia' he said and added that Yugoslavia was the only signatory to the Dayton Accord that had fulfilled all its commitments.

Lilic said Yugoslavia was open and prepared for cooperation with all countries that wanted equal and mutually beneficial relations. 'We have no need to use cheap political promotions to make certain countries or groups 'like us'', he said and added that Yugoslavia had no reason to be on the 'side of the East' or on the 'side of the West.' Full normalization of relations with former Yugoslav republics is an essential precondition for consolidating the peace process, said Lilic. He said the process of normalization with certain former Yugoslav republics, such as Macedonia, for instance, went faster, while with others it was slower.

'Where there remain open issues, such as in the case of Croatia, owing to the question of the (disputable border peninsula) Prevlaka, normalization will proceed gradually, until issues of dispute are settled and problems resolved,' said the President.

He said solving the crisis in the former Yugoslavia gave impetus to strengthening cooperation and reviving inter-Balkan cooperation. Yugoslavia is equally interested in the so-called 'Black Sea Initiative' and in the creation of a free trade zone between central and eastern European countries, he said.

However, said Lilic, there were 'unfortunately other initiatives' that were opposed to peace, such as the recent meeting of ministers of certain Balkan countries and the United States in Tirana. 'I am convinced that the meeting was an attempt to make new divisions in the cramped Balkans' said Lilic.

[02] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STRESSES THE F.R.Y HAS THE RIGHT TO CONTINUITY

The Yugoslav mission to the United Nations in Geneva issued the commentary on Monday as an official document to the current 52nd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

The key conclusion in Rehn's report is that human rights are not fully protected anyhwere in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

In its commentary the Federal Government supported efforts deployed so far by Elisabeth Rehn to look into the human rights in the F.R.Y. and acknowledged her assessments on the Yugoslav authorities' openness and readiness to cooperate with her. 'There is no discrimination of ethnic or religious groups in Kosovo and Metohija,' the Federal Government said in response to the Rapporteur's comments and added that a foreigner could get the wrong impression 'because most of the members of the Albanian national minority boycott and fail to recognise the state of Serbia and refuse to exercise the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution'.

In response to objections about an alleged change of the ethnic structure of the population in Kosovo the Government noted that out of 180,000 Krajina Serbs who fled to the F.R.Y. some 12,000 have been settled in Kosovo, which is less than one percent of the ethnic Albanian population there. The general situation in Kosovo and Metohija is better than in the previous years and an increasing number of ethnic Albanians are addressing Serbian authorities to regulate their committments, the Federal Government said.

Yugoslavia, just like many other countries, does have some problems, but these problems can be overcome with the cooperation of certain U.N. institutions, including the Special Human Rights Rapporteur, the Yugoslav Government said.

[03] IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEVER KOSOVO AND METOHIJA FROM SERBIA

'Secessionist ethnic-Albanian leaders, who are devising new formulations, are prisoners of promises to their fellow-countrymen, and it would be better if they told them the truth, that it is impossible to sever Kosovo from Serbia, instead of deluding them and offering false promises,' said Jokanovic.

Speaking about those who call for the return of the Constitution of 1974, Jokanovic said the constitutional changes were made legally and without any pressure, and that they had averted war in Kosovo. He said fear of majorization among the Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo was understandable as it brought back the past with the various forms of pressure, persecution and migration. Therefore it is necessary to build mechanisms that develop democracy in Serbia, and prevent majorization, said Jokanovic.

[04] YUGOSLAV CONSULATE IN MILAN ATTACKED, MUSLIM ORGANIZATION SUSPECTED

Consul Micic said nobody in the building had been injured and the Consulate was working normally.

Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the consulate building at dawn on Thursday but they did not explode. The same happened at dawn on Friday, when one of the two Molotov cocktails did explode, slightly damaging a terrace and the facade. Shortly after the attack on Friday, an anonymous caller, speaking in Italian, informed the police in Milan that Molotov cocktails had been thrown at the Yugoslav Consulate.

The police found on the wall of the building traces of a poster with 'Free Bosnia' written on it.

Yugoslav diplomatic sources here said the attacks were the work of forces opposed to the international community's increasingly positive stance towards Yugoslavia, including the upgrading of diplomatic relations to the ambassadorial level by E.U. countries.

[05] YUGOSLAVIA LODGES PROTESTS OVER ATTACKS ON ITS MILAN CONSULATE

Italian authorities were asked to take prompt and decisive measures to guarantee the full security of Yugoslav diplomatic and consular missions and those working in them, in keeping with the Vienna conventions on diplomatic and consular relations. It had also been requested that Italian authorities immediately conduct an investigation and punish the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks.

An identical protest was delivered by the Yugoslav Embassy in Rome to the Italian Foreign Ministry Friday.

[06] YUGOSLAV CONSUL GENERAL'S STATEMENT IN MILAN

According to the police, which arrived after the first attack, when the incendiary bottles did not explode, words 'Free Bosnia', a five-pointed star and the letters ar were seen on the wall of the building written in red lacquer paint.

Micic was quoted by the news agency Ansa as saying that the 'redlacquered words had not been there before, as claimed by the police, but were written in the night of April 11 when the first attack on the Consulate was carried out' and added they were probably written by the perpetrator.

[B] INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE F.R. YUGOSLAVIA

[07] DENMARK, NETHERLANDS RECOGNIZE FR YUGOSLAVIA

Dutch Foreign Ministry announced the recognition of the F.R.Y. in the Hague. A statement to this effect says that the decision was taken Friday by the Council of Ministers (Government) at its regular weekly session. Dutch Government said the relations with the F.R.Y. would be normalized at the level of ambassadors and that Foreign Minister Hans Van Mierlo would inform Belgrade in writing during the day.

[08] PORTUGAL RECOGNISES YUGOSLAVIA

[09] ITALY NORMALIZES RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA

[C] BOSNIA - BRUSSELS' CONFERENCE ON RECONSTRUCTION

[10] YUGOSLAVIA TO GIVE 10 MILLION DOLLARS FOR BOSNIA

The Yugoslav delegation expressed its regret because an agreement was not reached on the participation of Republika Srpska representatives in the Conferece, but said that it was satisfied because despite this fact, most of the participants stressed the need for the reconstruction of the Bosnian Serb entity.

[D] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[11] LAWYER: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE AGAINST COLONEL KRSMANOVIC

Pantelic said investigations had been extended against Bosnian Serb Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic and that he was being charged within human treatment of prisoners, under Art. 144 of the Criminal Law of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Pantelic said the article dealt with cases of violation of the Geneva conventions. He said the 'inquiry has feet of clay' and that the Court in Sarajevo was obviously 'seeking space for maneuver, in order to gain time'. 'So far some prosecution witnesses have been heard, but there is no material evidence, nor anything concrete justifying the demand for continuing the investigation,' he said. .