Yugoslav Daily Survey, 96-11-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPROVED A REPORT ON ZEBIC'S VISITS TO LATIN AMERICA

[02] SERBIAN RED CROSS APPEALS FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

[03] SHATTUCK SAYS PRIORITY TO BE GIVEN TO PEACE PROCESS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA

[04] YUGOSLAVIA WILL FULFIL ARMS CONTROL OBLIGATIONS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

[05] OSCE OFFICIAL: SUB-REGIONAL DISARMAMENT IN THE BALKANS IS A LENGTHY PROCESS

[06] YUGOSLAVIA AND GERMANY DISCUSS PROMOTION OF BILATERAL COOPERATION

[07] PRESIDENT ARAFAT RECEIVES SERBIAN DELEGATION

[08] YUGOSLAV ASSISTANT MINISTER SAYS U.N. SANCTIONS LEFT DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

[09] UN SANCTIONS MONITORING COMMITTEE TO BE DISSOLVED

[10] CONFERENCE ON SANCTIONS STARTS AT CRANS-MONTANA FORUM

[11] NATO CHIEF SAYS DECISION IMMINENT ON FORCE TO REPLACE IFOR IN BOSNIA

[12] BILDT CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ON BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS

[13] OSCE CALLS FOR BOSNIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD

[14] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DIGNITARIES MEET WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT

[01] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPROVED A REPORT ON ZEBIC'S VISITS TO LATIN AMERICA

The Federal Government approved a report on Zebic's visits to the three Latin American countries. It said the held talks had marked a resumption of a high-level dialogue with the three countries, which have recorded significant political stability in the more recent years and embarked on a road of stepped-up economic development after a lengthy period of stagnation.

The talks have shown that, despite an anti-Yugoslav media campaign in the past several years and intensive activity of political emigrants from the former Yugoslav republics, a marked readiness exists to strengthen and promote the traditional friendship and cooperation with Yugoslavia, a Government statement said.

The Government assessed as very significant the unreserved support lent by the three Latin American countries to Yugoslavia's reintegration into the U.N. and other international organizations and financial institutions.

The talks held by Deputy Prime Minister Zebic have helped define the great possibilities and potentials for the promotion of economic and financial cooperation, joint projects and joint ventures in third countries, the Government statement said.

[02] SERBIAN RED CROSS APPEALS FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

Cetkovic was speaking in Zajecar, in the east of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia, at a consultation aimed at aiding refugees accommodated in refugee camps and with families in the Zajecar area and in the areas of Boljevac and Jagodina in central Serbia.

She said that years of effort under sanctions, imposed by the United Nations in the period from May 1992 to November 1995, had drained Yugoslavia's coffers and that international aid was therefore sorely needed.

Cetkovic thanked Switzerland's Disaster Relief Agency for offering to donate aid to ease the plight of 1,660 refugees in Zajecar, 500 in Boljevac and 3,500 in Jagodina. However, efforts should still centre on integrating the refugees in the country's labour system, because world experience teaches that only one-fourth of all refugees return to their countries of origin, it was said at the consultation.

[03] SHATTUCK SAYS PRIORITY TO BE GIVEN TO PEACE PROCESS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for human rights John Shattuck, who has come to Belgrade after visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, told reporters that his talks had touched also on promoting cooperation with the Hague War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Shattuck, who came to Belgrade so as to consult with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic on matters concerning cooperation and joint efforts for strengthening the Peace Process and stability in the Region, was received on Thursday by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

[04] YUGOSLAVIA WILL FULFIL ARMS CONTROL OBLIGATIONS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Gen. Radojica Kadijevic received on Thursday foreign Military Attaches and informed them about the implementation of the Sub-regional Arms Control Agreement signed in Florence in the summer.

Gen. Kadijevic told the foreign Military Attaches that the combat preparedness of the Army of Yugoslavia would be fully preserved, in keeping with the country's defense needs.

The foreign Military Attaches toured an Army of Yugoslavia facility, where they were able to see that Yugoslavia was consistent and determined in the fulfilment of its arms-control obligations.

[05] OSCE OFFICIAL: SUB-REGIONAL DISARMAMENT IN THE BALKANS IS A LENGTHY PROCESS

Eide chaired the Conference on Sub-regional Arms Control in the Balkans held earlier this year at the Vienna OSCE Headquarters as part of the Dayton Peace Process. Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation participated in the January-June talks.

Eide said Yugoslavia and Croatia had begun reducing their military potentials and the arms reduction in the Muslim-Croat Federation was to begin in a few days. The implementation of the Arms Control Agreement, which has practically just begun, will be a lengthy and not at all easy process, but must be completed, Eide said. He said the greatest difficulties were created by the different interpretations of definitions in the Sub-regional Arms Control Pact.

[06] YUGOSLAVIA AND GERMANY DISCUSS PROMOTION OF BILATERAL COOPERATION

Jovanovic and Ischinger gave positive marks to the development to date of political dialogue opened with a recent meeting in Belgrade between Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel.

Both sides said they would like to intensify dialogue in order to create the best possible conditions for developing economic, scientific, technical and other forms of cooperation. They agreed to reinforce the existing Accords and sign new ones if necessary in the near future.

The talk touched on a need to promote cooperation between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the European Union on the basis of partnership and common interest.

It was hoped that, in view of political talks to date, favourable conditions would soon be created for resuming and expanding this cooperation. It must be kept in mind here, it was said, that this was an important prerequisite for promoting regional and bilateral cooperation in the implementation of the Dayton/Paris Accords.

[07] PRESIDENT ARAFAT RECEIVES SERBIAN DELEGATION

Arafat was meeting in Nablus on the West Bank with a Serbian Construction Ministry Delegation, which is on a several-day tour of the Palestinian Autonomous Areas. He said he felt that the Accord would inaugurate a greater presence of Yugoslav builders on reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip that was given autonomy in May 1994.

Belgrade Deputy Mayor Slobodan Drobnjakovic, who heads the delegation from the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia, conveyed to the Palestinian President his impressions from the visit to Gaza. In the course of the visit, the delegation has had talks at three Palestinian Ministries - of construction, public works and planning, and international cooperation.

Drobnjakovic said he hoped that the success of the visit would signal the beginning of Yugoslav builders' participation in the economic reconstruction of Gaza, especially the building of a port, an airport, infra-structural and housing facilities.

[08] YUGOSLAV ASSISTANT MINISTER SAYS U.N. SANCTIONS LEFT DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

The United Nations clamped comprehensive and mandatory sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on May 30, 1992, on the allegation of its involvement in civil war in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina, and lifted them on October 1, 1996.

Cicanovic was speaking at an International Conference on sanctions held within the Crans-Montana Forum, a Special Session which was devoted to the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

He said that Yugoslavia was a case in point that proved that sanctions could not be a means for dealing with conflicts or preventing a conflict from happening. Quite the contrary, he added, sanctions were counter-productive, and punished the people instead of solving problems.

Cicanovic said that the FRY's direct losses from the sanctions stood at 80 billion dollars, and indirect losses were double this amount. The sanctions halved the domestic product per capita, which had amounted to 2,500 dollars in 1990, and left about one million people, or 10% of the population, jobless, he added. The sanctions affected the most sensitive strata of society - children, elderly people and refugees - the hardest, Cicanovic said.

In addition, the U.N. Sanctions Committee had long blocked Yugoslavia's import of the necessary raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry and medical equipment, playing havoc with the public health, he said.

Illustrating the absurdity of the sanctions, Cicanovic said that in the 1992 - 1996 period, Yugoslavia had supported all initiatives for ending the Bosnian civil war and had made invaluable contribution to the Dayton Peace Accords. Also, he added, there was the normalisation of relations with Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Despite all this, some forms of unequal treatment and discrimination against the FRY were still present in the actions of individual international factors, Cicanovic said.

He stressed that the FRY supported the European Union's regional approach to cooperation with former Yugoslavia, as well as all initiatives for strengthening cooperation, neighbourly relations and stability in the Region.

He further said that Yugoslavia expected support and help, international capital investment and stepped-up infra-structural development. Without this and without an equal treatment of all, there could be no better future for the Region, Cicanovic stressed.

[09] UN SANCTIONS MONITORING COMMITTEE TO BE DISSOLVED

Addressing the international conference on sanctions of the Crans-Montana Forum, he said a report on the Committee's work was being drawn up and would be submitted to the Security Council and UN General Assembly.

Ilitchev said he wished upon no country to be subjected to sanctions such as those imposed by the Security Council on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in an attempt to counter criticism addressed to the Committee at the Conference. He however did not answer why the Committee had taken months during the period under sanctions to authorize Yugoslavia's humanitarian imports and why permits for essential medicines and medical equipment had been so late.

[10] CONFERENCE ON SANCTIONS STARTS AT CRANS-MONTANA FORUM

Opening an International Conference on sanctions within the framework of the Crans-Montana Forum, Berthelot said that the UN should discuss the possibility of applying other, different measures in case of violations of the UN Charter.

In most cases, sanctions represent a punishment for entire peoples, which means that they do not serve the purpose defined by the Security Council, Berthelot said and suggested that the World Organization be very rigorous and cautious in resorting to this instrument.

[11] NATO CHIEF SAYS DECISION IMMINENT ON FORCE TO REPLACE IFOR IN BOSNIA

The talk is reported to have touched on the questions of IFOR's replacement and NATO's further military presence in the Region. After the meeting, Solana told reporters that several options were being considered about a force to replace IFOR, but that NATO would not be leaving Bosnia-Herzegovina.

[12] BILDT CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ON BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of his office in Brussels, Bildt described as positive the initial activity of the Bosnian Presidency, which has held several successful meetings and is expected to reach agreement in a few days on creating a Council of Ministers. The establishment of Bosnian Government will be a key factor for the functioning of new joint authorities of the two Bosnian Entities, Republika Srpska and Muslim-Croat Federation, he said.

At the meeting attended also by the UN High Commissioner for refugees Sadako Ogata, Bildt also spoke of measures undertaken to stop the torching and destruction of houses in both Entities aimed at preventing the return of refugees.

The Executive Committee also discussed the agenda of the Ministerial Conference of the Contact Group for Bosnia scheduled for next Sunday in Paris, which will focus on the results achieved in Bosnian Peace Process after one year. The Conference, to be attended also by the members of Bosnia's Collective Presidency, might also result in a definite decision on the continuation of IFOR's mission, that Bildt believes should be extended by at least two years until the second Federal elections in Bosnia scheduled for the fall of 1998.

[13] OSCE CALLS FOR BOSNIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD

Cotti was speaking to reporters in Copenhagen after this year's last Ministerial Session of the OSCE troika (Hungary, Switzerland, Denmark), according to the Agence France Presse. The troika Foreign Ministers - Laszlo Kovacs, Niels Helveg Petersen and Flavio Cotti - urged all interested parties to cooperate in the holding of the elections as set down in the Dayton Peace Accords, stressing that the OSCE was ready to supervise and organise them.

[14] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DIGNITARIES MEET WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT

'President Tudjman has pledged that the Serbian Orthodox Church will receive equal treatment as other religious communities in the adoption of a Law on the religious communities' legal status and the restitution of property,' Bishop Sava of Sumadija told Tanjug.

Bishop Sava discussed with Croatian Cardinal Franjo Kuharic in Zagreb on Tuesday the return of Serbs to their ancestral lands, as well as of the episcopate, clergy and monks. They also discussed ways of employing Serbs who decide to return to Croatia and of giving back the Serbian Orthodox Church its property.

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