Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-05-16

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT HOLDS SESSION

[02] CROATIA CONFISCATES SERB HOUSES IN KRAJINA

[03] WASHINGTON STRONGLY CRITICISES CROATIA

[04] ELECTIONS IN SERBIA WILL BE HELD WITHIN TIME FRAME DEFINED BY LAW

[05] FOREIGN PARTNERS' INTEREST IN YUGOSLAVIA GROWS

[06] YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF SAYS BORDER WITH ALBANIA SAFE

[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT HOLDS SESSION

Tanjug, 1997-05-15

The Yugoslav Government held a session on Thursday, chaired by Prime Minister Radoje Kontic, at which it decided to send humanitarian aid to Iran to help alleviate the consequences of May 10 disastrous earthquake in that country.

Through the Yugoslav Red Cross organisation, aid in medicine and food will be sent to the town of Mashhad in east Iran, which suffered heavy casualties and extensive damage in the quake, the Government said in a statement.

The Government laid down the groundwork for negotiations and an eventual Accord on social security with Hungary, and on negotiations and an Agreement on the mutual stimulation and protection of investment and avoidance of double taxation with Angola.

Economy Minister Rade Filipovic will represent the Government at a ceremony in Turnu Severin, Romania, on May 16, to mark the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of the Iron Gate I hydro-electric power plant and navigation system, it was decided at the session. Yugoslavia and Romania share the facility on the Danube river.

The Government approved the setting up of a free zone in Backa Palanka, north Yugoslavia, on the bank of the Danube river between the port and the road to Novi Sad.

The Backa Palanka free zone will have production facilities non-existent in the other free industrial zones on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

[02] CROATIA CONFISCATES SERB HOUSES IN KRAJINA

Tanjug, 1997-05-15

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe claim that the Croatian authorities have prevented Serb refugees from entering their homes in Krajina in more than 90% of cases.

Diplomatic sources in Geneva see Croatia's conduct as the beginning of a process of silent confiscation of Serb-owned property in Krajina.

The sources claim that the Croatian Government has drafted a plan, supposedly costing several million dollars, for the settlement of Croats from Bosnia and Serbia on Serb property in Krajina. There are also plans for the settlement of bosnian Croat refugees currently in Western Europe, largely about 100,000 Croats in Germany.

The sources see these actions as moves taken to prevent about 350,000 Serb refugees in Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska from returning to their homes. Only about 2,000 Serbs have returned to this part of Croatia so far.

The anti-Serb campaign is perhaps the most evident in the town of Kistanja, which was populated by 1,980 Serbs and 9 Croats in the former Yugoslavia, according to the figures of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Now only a few elderly Serbs live in Kistanja, and most of the houses have been looted or razed to the ground.

Kistanja has become 'an exhibit' of the Croatian Government, which began late last year the reconstruction of about 200 Serb-owned houses intended for the settlement of Croats from Serbia's Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

The few Serb refugees who had returned to their homes were forced by the authorities to move out.

The West agrees that such behaviour by Croatia, a member of the Council of Europe, is insufferable, but Zagreb persistently defies their warnings and threats.

[03] WASHINGTON STRONGLY CRITICISES CROATIA

Tanjug, 1997-05-16

Washington has strongly criticised Croatia for not observing the Dayton Peace Accords and violating the rights of Serbs in Croatia.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright unexpectedly strongly criticised Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic during a brief meeting in Washington on Thursday.

According to U.S. State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns, Albright voiced concern over terrible violence against Serbs in Croatia.

Burns said that the meeting was also attended by U.N. Transitional Administrator of Eastern Slavonia Jacques Klein, who listed numerous cases of maltreatment of Serbs.

Burns told reporters that Serbs were barred from returning to their homes from which they had been expelled by Croatians.

Reporting about the Albright-Granic meeting, the Associated Press News Agency said that the Croatian Minister had arrived with a bouquet of birthday flowers. However, the flowers did not humour Albright who conferred with Granic in a sharp tone.

Burns said that Albright had made it clear that Croatia could not be treated as a friend so long as it did not abide by the Dayton Accords.

Albright also criticised Croatia for its lack of cooperation with the Hague- based Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Burns said.

[04] ELECTIONS IN SERBIA WILL BE HELD WITHIN TIME FRAME DEFINED BY LAW

Tanjug, 1997-05-15

Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Spokesman Ivica Dacic said on Thursday that the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Serbia will be held on time, within the regular time frame by the end of the year, and that there was not reason for talk about early elections.

The election of the new President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) will also be conducted within the time frame defined by law, and SPS, Dacic said at a news conference, has not yet taken up the issue of candidate for President of Serbia or for President of the FRY, or has the SPS Main Council discussed the date of elections.

The SPS Spokesman said that three newly-elected SPS Vice-Presidents were Dusan Matkovic in charge of economic and social issues, Milorad Vucelic in charge of relations with other parties and movements, and Zivadin Jovanovic in charge of international, political issues.

Dacic said that the fourth SPS Vice-President, Zoran Lilic, was not given new responsibilities as he is performing the duties of FRY President, and that SPS Secretary General Gorica Gajevic will be in charge of organizational and personnel issues.

Dacic said that the SPS Executive Council of the Main Council had decided to set up a Council for economic reforms, headed by Matkovic.

It was also decided, Dacic said, that Executive Council member Zeljko Simic be in charge of theoretical work, the university, education and science, Ratomir Vico of information, propaganda and inter-ethnic relations. Goran Percevic of the legal system and international cooperation, and Dacic, besides the duties of Spokesman, will be in charge of culture and sports.

SPS Executive Council member Nikola Stanic will be in charge of the economy and macro-economic policy, and Mirjana Dragas of social policy and health.

Asked by reporters to comment on developments in the top leadership of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro, Dacic said that they were an internal party issue. He said that SPS considered those developments will result in greater stability of Montenegro and a stronger FRY.

Asked to comment on the already announced candidacies for the office of President of Serbia, Dacic said that they were also the expression of fear of those people that their place would be taken by somebody else within the coalition.

He said that the three-party coalition should first of all organize an internal round table, and only after that demand from others to organize them, adding that SPS has no remarks on election conditions and that it has not received any proposals for changes in that sphere.

Elections conditions were determined back in 1992, during Milan Panic's government which, Dacic said, was 'never pro-socialist,' and in SPS there have never been initiatives to change the Electoral Law and rules on presenting parties in the media.

'Existing rules provide for equal presentation of parties,' Dacic said, pointing out that SPS does not have favourite media, and that the relation of socialists towards the media depended on their relation towards SPS.

'Some media consider that they are independent only if they are independent from the ruling party, and SPS has no reason to hide anything from the public', Dacic said, recalling that SPS Main Council 'was dealing with global policy pursued in the country.'

Only SPS has won in all electoral systems - majority, mixed and proportional - and announcements by certain opposition parties that they will boycott elections are threats heard since 1990, Dacic said.

He said it would be positive if the Albanian minority took part in parliamentary and presidential elections.'

On the issue of the Croatian authorities' proposal for the demilitarization of the Danube region, the SPS Spokesman said he hoped the international community will do its utmost to preserve peace in Eastern Slavonia and make sure that the Erdut Agreement is observed.

For SPS are unacceptable demands which violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, Dacic said, adding that the region of Eastern Slavonia was in no way threatened by the FRY.

Dacic repeated that 'all our efforts' were aimed at the integration of the FRY into the international community and that he expected talks with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank would be concluded without any political conditioning.

SPS is determined to pursue economic reforms, Dacic said, adding that the best models were sought in order to avoid mistakes.

[05] FOREIGN PARTNERS' INTEREST IN YUGOSLAVIA GROWS

Tanjug, 1997-05-15

Yugoslavia's Assistant Foreign Minister said in the central Serbian town of Varvarin on Thursday that foreign partners' interest in cooperation with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was growing.

Zivadin Jovanovic, who is also Vice President of Serbia's ruling Socialist Party (SPS), said that foreign capital was looking for investment in Yugoslavia and that demand for Yugoslav goods, equipment and technology abroad was on the increase.

Jovanovic explained that major barriers to trade with the European Union had been removed, which had opened scope for greater export to the E.U. market and greater export earnings.

Meeting with officials of the Varvarin Town Council, Jovanovic said that the governments of Yugoslavia and its Republic of Serbia were taking steps to stimulate export. The meeting was attended by Serbian Minister of local self-rule Zoran Modrinic.

Speaking about Yugoslavia's international position, Jovanovic said that the country was already fully included in all forms of regional economic cooperation. He explained that these were based on an open-borders concept and full freedom, without administrative and other restrictions, for the passage of people, goods, capital, information and cultural values.

He said that Yugoslavia was committed to further developing conditions for economic linkage in its immediate neighbourhood on the basis of common interests, gradually going towards a kind of a free trade zone, on the lines of those existing elsewhere in Europe.

Yugoslavia's policy of peace, neighbourliness and equality-based cooperation with all who accept it as an equal partner had brought the country recognition and a wide acceptance by the neighbours and other European countries, he added.

[06] YUGOSLAV CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF SAYS BORDER WITH ALBANIA SAFE

Tanjug, 1997-05-15

All measures necessary to secure the State border with Albania are being carried out effectively, and the border is safe, Yugoslav General Staff Chief Gen Momcilo Perisic said on Thursday.

Gen Perisic said this after assessing the activities of the Yugoslav Army since security of the border with Albania had been stepped up by order of the Supreme Council of Defense.

There are fewer incidents at the border now than before the crisis broke out in Albania, said Perisic.

Perisic visited troops deployed on the border with Albania and Macedonia, said a statement released by the Army Information Service.

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