Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-07-05

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From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

CONTENTS

[01] LILIC: BOSNIA INSTITUTIONS CANNOT REPRESENT INTERESTS OF ITS PEOPLES

[02] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES ACTING REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT

[03] PLAVSIC SAYS SHE HAS TAKEN OVER ALL PRESIDENTIAL POWERS IN RS

[04] THERE ARE NO CAMPS WITH CROATIAN POWS IN YUGOSLAVIA

[05] NEW MASS GRAVES OF SERBS UNEARTHED IN CROATIA

[01] LILIC: BOSNIA INSTITUTIONS CANNOT REPRESENT INTERESTS OF ITS PEOPLES

Speaking at a central event marking July 4, Veterans' Day, held on Mt. Cakor near Andrijevica, Lilic said it was evident that the existing institutions in Bosnia could not represent interests of its three constituent peoples - Serbs, Moslems and Croats - as long as elections were not held in the former Yugoslav republic.

Lilic said the implementation of the civilian and the political aspect of the Dayton Peace Accords had been slowed down although he said holding elections by the set date, September 14, was regarded to be a major condition for a full implementation of the Agreement.

Yugoslavia has made a great contribution by meeting fully all obligations assumed under the Dayton Accords and continues to play an active role in helping fully implement the Agreement, he said.

He said the future of the Republika Srpska as well as peace in the region depended on a successful outcome of Bosnia's elections.

'The Peace Agreement and its implementation have laid the foundations for fulfilment of Yugoslavia's basic strategic goals - stable peace in the former Yugoslavia, the country's economic development, reintegration into the international community, normalisation of relations and promotion of cooperation with old as well as new foreign partners,' he said.

Referring to the normalisation of relations with the former Yugoslav republics, which he described as a priority, Lilic said the signing of an agreement between Yugoslavia and Macedonia on regulating relations had laid the foundations for the two states' future cooperation. Lilic said, 'further normalisation of relations with Croatia is of utmost importance both in bilateral terms and in terms of a successful implementation of the peace process.' He said he expected all outstanding issues that were an obstacle to full normalisation of relations between Yugoslavia and Croatia to be solved in the spirit of goodneighbourly relations and in keeping with agreements that had been reached. Peace and a chance to prosper in peace is in Yugoslavia's as well as Croatia's interest, he said.

Lilic listed as the country's foreign policy priority turning the Balkans into a zone of peace, stability and goodneighbourly cooperation. He said Yugoslavia had no terroritorial claims, saying it had informed foreign partners about its position on the matter in a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings. He said Yugoslavia was determined to defend its integrity and sovereignty, and said the respect of independence and territorial integrity was in the interest of every Balkan state as well as in the interest of the entire region.

He said he hoped Yugoslavia's contribution to the reaching of the Peace Agreement and its implementation would adequatly be reflected in the country's immediate and full reintegration into international organisations. In this connection, he said it was Yugoslavia's legitimate right that these organisations secure it a place which rightly belonged to it.

[02] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES ACTING REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT

President Milosevic assessed as positive the hitherto implementation of the Peace Accords in Republika Srpska. He stressed the significance of all-round cooperation of the Republika Srpska leadership with the factors engaged in the successful implementation of the Peace Plan, especially in preparations for the September 14 elections.

Milosevic pointed up the importance of the freedom of movement and free election campaign activities of all political parties. He said it was in the greatest interest of Republika Srpska citizens to have democratically and legally elected institutions, which would no doubt help reaffirm the Bosnian Serb entity. Milosevic said the legally elected institutions were to secure life in freedom and peace for all citizens, the full equality of citizens and economic and cultural progress.

[03] PLAVSIC SAYS SHE HAS TAKEN OVER ALL PRESIDENTIAL POWERS IN RS

'We are now trying to include all institutions and all Republika Srpska departments so as to make up for the lost time and to have the Dayton Accords implemented in the envisaged order,' Plavsic said. 'We are intensively working on that in Republika Srpska now,' she said.

[04] THERE ARE NO CAMPS WITH CROATIAN POWS IN YUGOSLAVIA

Todorovic said International Committee of the Red Cross representatives had visited all places in Yugoslavia that had been specified by Croatia but had found no prison camps with Croats. Judicial authorities have established that no persons from a list submitted by Croatia are in Yugoslav prisons, and it would only be fair to make that known to their families, Todorovic said.

He said the Yugoslav and Croatian Commissions for missing persons would meet in Belgrade on July 5, when the issue of the identification of 350 bodies in the city of Vukovar would be raised. We have offered twice to the Croatian side to participate in the identification of the bodies, but have received no reply, Todorovic said. He specified that 50 bodies had been identified and that the names would be given to the Croatian side at the Belgrade meeting.

MASS GRAVES OF SERBS IN CROATIA

[05] NEW MASS GRAVES OF SERBS UNEARTHED IN CROATIA

Although the Croatian Army expelled from Krajina about 250,000 Serbs, a small number, for the greatest part elderly and incapacitated people, has remianed in the region. The Croatian Helsinki Council gave the latest concrete examples of attacks on themand on their property.

In the village of Trnavac near Vrhovina, in Lika, an elderly couple, Rade and Anka Uzelac, have disappeared, and in April in the village of Zelengrad near Obrovac in Dalmatia, two villagers were found with their throats slit.

In the village of Pisaca in Krbavsko Polje, Dusan Cvijanovic was killed by a landmine on June 25 in his field. Although the police report said the mine was placed during the war, the Croatian Helsinki Council said it was absurd that a farmer was killed while working in a potato field and not when he ploughed and planted the same potato field. That can only mean that the mine was placed afterwards in his field, the Croatian Helsinki Council said.

In Korenica, four persons were killed in a cemetary by a mine hidden in a grave.

Council members gave concrete examples from the village of Kricka near Drnis, where on March 27 this year the house of the couple Milka and Petar Gakic was blasted and on May 6 two more Serb houses were burned. From one of these houses, an invalid old woman, Stoja Popac, was saved at the last moment. According to the precise data given by Council members, three houses were blasted in the same village on May, and another one on June 30.

Some Catholic priests are publicly preaching that Serbs should be expelled and call on Croats who came from Bosnia not to leave Serb houses into which they moved. In that context, the Croatian Helsinki Council specifically named the Parish Priest from Vrginmost and a friar from Knin who are spreading religious hatred. Information about the two has been conveyed to the Council by believers - Croats who said: 'We are Catholics, and not criminals.'

In Knin, workers are being fired, even though there is need for more manpower, only because they are Serbs or come from mixed marriages, Councl members said.

The Croatian authorities do not recognize the power of attorney granted by refugee Serbs to lawyers to help them obtain Croatian citizenship. They are asking these citizens to come in person, creating a barrier to their return since refugee Serbs without papers cannot enter Croatia.

Cicak said that the Croatian Helsinki Council for human rights will soon open representations in Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and West Srem.

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