Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-08-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON COOPERATION WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES

[02] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA CANNOT EXTRADITE CITIZENS

[03] BONN URGES CROATIA TO INFLUENCE MOSTAR CROATS TO ACCEPT POWER-SHARING

[04] CROATS EXPRESS READINESS TO STOP OBSTRUCTING UNIFICATION OF MOSTAR

[05] 800 CIVILIANS, 1,156 SOLDIERS ARE MISSING IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON COOPERATION WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES

A Yugoslav Government statement issued after the Thursday session said that the Government had described as very successful the participation of a Yugoslav delegation in an Economic Summit of Central and Eastern European Countries in Salzburg in July. Yugoslavia's participation in the Summit helped affirm the basic principles of its foreign policy, the statement said and added that the country's indispensable role in the Peace Process and readiness for and commitment to cooperation with all countries, including those in Central and Eastern Europe, were confirmed.

During the Yugoslav delegation's visit to Salzburg, delegation head Prime Minister Radoje Kontic had bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government of Austria, Ukraine, Poland and Hungary.

The Yugoslav Government also drafted a Bill on Inter-State Agreements, regulating this field in keeping with Yugoslavia's new Constitutional solutions, the statement said.

The Government also accepted a Yugoslav delegation's report on the talks on an Agreement on opening a Liaison Office of the International Criminal Tribunal in Belgrade.

Head of the Yugoslav Mission to the United Nations ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic is authorized to exchange letters with U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, confirming the Agreement on the Accord on opening a Tribunal's Liaison Office in Belgrade.

Under a decision on the setting up of a Yugoslav Government Commission for the Implementation of a Subregional Arms Control Agreement, it was established that the Commission would take care about the fulfilment of commitments undertaken under the Subregional Arms Control Agreement and coordinate the work of relevant Yugoslav organs in its implementation.

The Government has established a Platform for talks between Yugoslav Traffic and Communications Minister Zoran Vujovic and the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal this month, the statement said.

REPUBLICA SRPSKA - HAGUE TRIBUNAL

[02] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA CANNOT EXTRADITE CITIZENS

Arsovic was speaking at a news conference in Belgrade on return from a four-day visit to the Hague, where a RS delegation held talks with Tribunal's officials.

RS Deputy Justice Minister Goran Neskovic told reporters that Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic could not be extradited to the Tribunal since there was no legal basis for their extradition. Neskovic said that the indictment against Karadzic and Mladic was unfounded because it was based on the principle of objective responsibility. He said that such a principle did not exist in any of the Criminal Legislations around the world and that it had been made up for these cases. Neskovic said that extradition could be carried out only on the basis of a Law and that such a Law could be adopted only by the Assembly of the Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina which would be formed after the elections, scheduled for 1. September. Neskovic said he doubted that the Union would pass such a Bill because Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic would probably be indicted for war crimes. He said that legal proceedings had been initiated in Banja Luka, the largest RS city, against Izetbegovic, after an investigation, to be probably finalized before elections when an indictment will be issued against Izetbegovic, he added.

Neskovic said that Tribunal officials would visit Banja Luka in August and examine material evidence and meet witnesses who will testify on crimes against Serbs committed by the Muslim Army.

Belgrade lawyer Igor Pantelic, who was part of the RS delegation, said that preparations were being made for proceedings against one Croat and three Muslims for war crimes perpetrated in the Camp of Celebich, Southern Bosnia-Herzegovina.

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[03] BONN URGES CROATIA TO INFLUENCE MOSTAR CROATS TO ACCEPT POWER-SHARING

A statement released by the Foreign Ministry said Ischinger had told the Croatian diplomat that a failure to influence the Mostar Coats to agree to a unified city administration would reflect on the European Union's and Germany's relations with Croatia. The German side said the failure of Mostar Croats to reach a power-sharing agreement with Muslims could pose a heavy burden for the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia and threaten the general elections to be held in Bosnia in September.

[04] CROATS EXPRESS READINESS TO STOP OBSTRUCTING UNIFICATION OF MOSTAR

Kornblum said that the E.U. decision to recognize the election results had been appropriate.

[05] 800 CIVILIANS, 1,156 SOLDIERS ARE MISSING IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

The total of 695 Bosnian Serb troops have so far been released from prisons in the Muslim-Croat Federation and exchanged. Also, the bodies of 808 Bosnian Serb troops were handed over to the Republika Srpska.

Although the Dayton Agreement deadline for the exchange of POW's expired in late February, there are still 28 Bosnian Serb troops in Croat and Muslim prisons. The remaining missing persons are believed to have been buried in some of about 40 mass graves in the Muslim-Croat Federation. The biggest mass graves are around the Southwestern Bosnian town of Glamoc, where the exhumation started and was stopped on request by Croat authorities, in the village of Caprazlije between Grahovo and Livno, also in Southwestern Bosnia, near the Central Bosnian town of Jajce and on Mt. Ozren in Northeastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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