Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-04-17

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

17 April 1996

CONTENTS

[A] THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] YUGOSLAV PREMIER: IRREPLACEABLE ROLE OF F.R.Y. IN RESOLVING REGIONAL CRISIS

[02] AUSTRIA NORMALIZES RELATIONS WITH FR YUGOSLAVIA

[03] DANUBE SHOULD BECOME RIVER OF COOPERATION AND INTEGRATION

[04] ATTACK ON BELGRADE MOSQUE - INSANE ACT

[B] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[05] U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR DEMANDS EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL IN BOSNIA

[A] THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] YUGOSLAV PREMIER: IRREPLACEABLE ROLE OF F.R.Y. IN RESOLVING REGIONAL CRISIS

This return should be quick, to the best interests of the F.R.Y. and the Balkans, although 'certain external factors are trying to slow it down, primarily for political reasons,' said Kontic and emphasized the indispensability of the F.R.Y.'s complete reintegration into the world structures, institutions and forums so that this country could remain a factor of peace and stability in the Balkans.

'Our goal is the normalizaiton of relations with neighbours and with all the states we once used to cooperate with, Poland included,' Kontic stressed.

He disagreed with a Polish journalist's appraisal that the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) had disintegrated, and stressed that this was the 'conventional secession by certain former Yugoslav republics.'

Said Kontic, 'nonetheless, the F.R.Y., sincerely committed to the normalization of relations with all these new states, is pursuing in this direction its intensive diplomatic activity, while expecting from the international community a just and equal treatment and its respect of the legitimate interests of all the parties. 'The world cannot question the continuity of the Yugoslav state, the country that exists today in the form of the F.R.Y.,' said Kontic and underscored that the F.R.Y. was recognizing to the states formed in the areas of former SFRY their economic rights deriving from the succession which would be solved by the division of assets and liabilities of their former union.

The Yugoslav Premier pointed out that the normalization of relations with the former Yugoslav republics was continuing successfully, although individual problems did exist, such as the border dispute with Zagreb over Prevlaka, the Adriatic promontory on the border between the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro and Croatia.

Replying to the Polish journalist, who referred to the Bosnian Serb Republika srpska (R.S.) as 'so-called', Kontic told him he was wrong because the R.S. was the Serb entity in Bosnia, officially recognized by the international community in Dayton, and with which, as Kontic said, the F.R.Y. would establish full cooperation in the interest of peace and stability in the Balkans.

Asked about the situation in the southern Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija, Kontic stated that members of the Albanian minority were equal with all the other citizens of the F.R.Y., but the problems appeared because 'one part of the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija renounce loyalty to their state of Serbia' and were committing themselves to secession.

Kontic recalled that members of the Albanian minority, who contribute approximately one-seventh to the total population of the F.R.Y., had not wanted to turn out at the parliamentary elections in Serbia. He added that their participation in elections would mean their big influence on the overall political life at all the levels, from municipalities to the Federation.

[02] AUSTRIA NORMALIZES RELATIONS WITH FR YUGOSLAVIA

The Austrian Government has acted in line with the European Union and recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because of Belgrade's constructive role in the Bosnian peace process and its mutual recognition with Skopje, Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel said after a Cabinet session on Tuesday. The Austrian Foreign Minister announced that the two sides would soon start negotiations on bilateral documents and that certain Austrian-Yugoslav bilateral agreements would remain valid while others would have to be concluded again.

Schuessel said that he would propose to the Government in the following days to appoint Austria's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

[03] DANUBE SHOULD BECOME RIVER OF COOPERATION AND INTEGRATION

The regular annual session of this international association also unanimously supported the nomination of Branislav Novakovic, Charge d'Affaires of the Yugoslav Embassy in Budapest, for Commission Vice-President.

Commission President Gyoergy Misur of Hungary pointed out that the past years had been the most difficult in the history of the Danube Commission because of the U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia. However, conditions have now been created for traffic to be reestablished once again on this waterway from German ports to the Black Sea, Misur said.

Yugoslavia should especially contribute to this, whose active participation in the work of the Danube Commission is extremely important, it was heard at the session.

The Danube Commission was founded by Danube basin countries after the First World War with the objective of securing safe navigation on the Danube. It was reaffirmed in Belgrade in 1948, and, as of the year 1954, it has been based in Budapest.

[04] ATTACK ON BELGRADE MOSQUE - INSANE ACT

Belgrade police said early Tuesday that the explosion outside the Mosque damaged the fasade of the building and broke windows on nearby objects. The explosion was caused by a device activated on the sidewalk outside the mosque, and it also damaged three automobiles parked in the vicinity. There were no casualties, the police report said.

The City Hall statement quoted Covic as saying this act of aggression was not only harmful to Muslims, but, primarily to the Serb people. Covic said he believed every Belgrader was disgusted with this act and condemned it most severely. The Belgrade Mayor said he hoped this 'attempt to cause badblood' would not succeed in damaging the well-known Belgrade spirit and richness of life which is a result of the palette of different religions.

[B] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[05] U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR DEMANDS EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL IN BOSNIA

Asked about the (Bosnian Serb State) President and Army Commander, Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, respectively, Rehn said they could not be treated as war criminals, saying that people were innocent until proven guilty. She suggested that the two Bosnian Serb leaders should go to the Hague and prove their innocence before the International Tribunal for War Crimes in former Yugoslavia. However, she stressed, they cannot occupy governing positions in the Republika Srpska, as that would run counter to the Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Rehn said that she was focusing at present on questions relating to the missing persons, minority rights in former Yugoslavia and the refugee problem, and singled out in this respect the repatriation of Serb refugees to Serb Krajina. She said that the question of the repatriation of displaced Krajina Serbs was of her agenda, and explained that Croatia had so far replied in the affirmative to only several thousand Serb requests for return. Croatia often speaks about and promises the right to return, but this is not happening in practice, she added.

Speaking about Sarajevo, Rehn said that Serbs had left the city primarily because of a lack of trust in the Bosnian Muslim-Croat Government and because of a very understandable fear of revenge.

Asked about the situation in Serbia's southern Province of Kosovo-Metohija, Rehn said that the only certainty there was that neither the ethnic Albanians nor the Serbs trusted each other. This is a problem that breeds other problems, she said and added that she had recently discussed the matter with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and had received support for her activity as Special U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur.