Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-05-22

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] SERBIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVED GREEK DEFENCE MINISTER

[02] WIESENTHAL ACCUSES CROATS OF HORRENDOUS CRIMES DURING WORLD WAR II

[03] 117 SERBS STILL HELD IN CROATIAN PRISONS

[04] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

[05] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

[06] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

[01] SERBIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVED GREEK DEFENCE MINISTER

Tanjug, 1997-05-22

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic received Greek Defence Minister Akis Cohatsiopoulos and his host Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic in Belgrade on Thursday.

It was emphasized during the talks that developed bilateral relations and the mutual closeness and traditional friendship of the two peoples provide a significant contribution to stability in the region, said a communique on the talks.

These relations are an example for building confidence, mutual respect, equality and ties among Balkan states and peoples, the sides were quoted as saying.

Both sides said they were strongly determined to continue the successful cooperation between Yugoslavia and Greece, in which scientific-technical and military-economic cooperation have an important place.

[02] WIESENTHAL ACCUSES CROATS OF HORRENDOUS CRIMES DURING WORLD WAR II

Tanjug, 1997-05-21

Director of the Jewish Documentation Centre in Vienna Simon Wiesenthal has accused Croats of crimes against Serbs and Jews during World War Two. "The ustasha committed horrendous crimes. No one knows exactly how many thousands of Serb civilians, innocent people, were killed by the ustasha at Jasenovac (death camp)," Wiesenthal told the Independent Sarajevo review Slobodna Bosna.

"Serbs saved Jews many times, Croats did not, i know that. We have always had sympathies for Serbs. They have written to me from the society of Serbian*Jewish friendship in New York, saying they could not understand why the whole world held only Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic responsible for crimes in Bosnia," Wiesenthal told the review.

In the interview headlined "American Jews cannot believe Karadzic and Mladic are chief criminals," Wiesenthal rejected the accusations that Serbs had started the latest war. "There were factories of military ammunition and weapons throughout the country, and when the war in Yugoslavia started, everybody had ammunition and weapons, everybody was armed,", Wiesenthal set out.

He holds the view that it was wrong of Germany, Austria and the Vatican and also a large part of Europe to recognize Croatia and Slovenia as Independent republics. "They were provinces in Yugoslavia before the war, and boundaries between provinces cannot be the same as state borders," Wiesenthal told Slobodna Bosna.

"The Serbian Army fought against nazis in World War Two, the majority of the Yugoslav partisans were Serbs. There were a few Croats. Nazis immediately created the "Independent state of Croatia" which was ruled by the ustasha and Ante Pavelic. They fought together with nazis against Serbs and Yugoslavia," Wiesenthal said in conclusion.

[03] 117 SERBS STILL HELD IN CROATIAN PRISONS

Tanjug, 1997-05-21

As many as 117 Serbs from the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serb Krajina are still held in Croatian prisons, Secretary of the Yugoslav Government Commission for humanitarian issues and missing persons Maksim Korac said Wednesday after two days of talks with representatives of the Croatian Government Commission for prisoners of war and missing persons.

The Yugoslav Commission communicated the dissatisfaction of citizens and, especially, of the large number of relatives of killed or missing persons and refugees who are in Yugoslavia, Korac said.

Besides the 117 incarcerated Serbs, in the camp Lora there are also 16 soldiers and officers of Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serb Krajina, held without charges, as prisoners of war, Korac said.

Among the prisoners is an FRY national, Ivica Vuletic, a young soldier who was arrested in a third country and transferred to Croatia, where he has been held in prison for over three years, without any charges.

Besides the 80 prisoners charged with alleged war crimes and the list for the region of Eastern Slavonia, Croatia has issued 2,000 other indictments, primarily for Serbs from the Republic of Serb Krajina, Korac said.

In that connection, Korac said that despite the fact that in the region of Croatia around 7,000 people have been killed or disappeared, and over 10, 000 maimed, the Croatian authorities have not issued any indictments against Croats.

In the operation Storm, according to Croatian data, 788 persons were killed, of which only 163 have been identified, speaking for itself about the manner in which these people were killed, Korac said. According to Yugoslav data, 1,775 people have disappeared in operation Storm.

'We have also voiced dissatisfaction over the prevention of Serbs to return and the destruction of their property, all in violation not only of the Dayton Agreement and Geneva conventions but also of the Agreement on the normalization of relations signed by the Yugoslav and Croatian Governments last year,' Korac told journalists.

'We view the meeting as successful, since answers were obtained in the two days of work to more than 200 requests, and since both sides presented more than 200 identification data and took decisions on measures and activities which are to enable the agreed work to be done at the next meeting in Zagreb,' Korac said.

Chairman of the Croatian Commission for prisoners of war and missing persons Ivan Grujic set out that the meeting was a follow up in the work of the commissions, which he said dealt with an extremely difficult humanitarian issue. He noted that the meetings were strictly of a humanitarian nature.

Grujic noted that the Croatian side had also had a series of objections, but said 'that did not affect the professional part of the meeting, in which a large number of data was exchanged, which will help families find out about their missing.'

'We expect that the continuity of the meetings will go on and in that sense assess the latest meeting as successful,' Grujic said.

[04] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1997-05-22

In the wake of the news which appeared in some media to the effect that the former Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko may temporarily find a refuge in Igalo, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to state that these rumours are totally baseless, particularly the speculation that the initiative was allegedly advanced by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[05] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1997-05-22

The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Milan Milutinovic received Ambassador Robert Frowick, head of the OSCE Mission for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the talks, they considered the issues related to the holding of elections for local government bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled for 13 and 14 September 1997.

Minister Milutinovic informed Ambassador Frowick that in the FR of Yugoslavia the process of the registration of voters is under way, conducted in cooperation with the OSCE Office in Vienna.

They both noted that after the September elections the process of constituting local government bodies at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be completed which represents a further major step in the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

[06] STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 1997-05-22

The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Milan Milutinovic held talks with Defence Minister of the Greek Republic Akis Cohatsiopoulos, who is paying an official visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In cordial and friendly talks they expressed satisfaction over the positive development of traditionally friendly relations between the FR of Yugoslavia and Greece and emphasized the need to invest joint efforts towards further promoting comprehensive cooperation.

In the exchange of views on the situation in the region, they underscored the importance of further strengthening the peace process and the consistent implementation of the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement as well as the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem including the need to vigorously oppose all attempts at revising or questioning their fundamental principles.

They confirmed join interest for further strengthening of the stability in the region, promotion of trust and good*neighbourly relations and voiced support to the processes of democratization, economic cooperation and the promotion of market economy. They underscored the interest for the development and further promotion of all forms of regional cooperation among the Balkan countries which should accelerate and facilitate the region's inclusion into contemporary economic processes. In this respect, it was assessed that the forthcoming meeting of the minsters of foreign affairs of South*Eastern European countries in the beginning of June in Thessaloniki, is of particular importance and they confirmed the readiness of the FR of Yugoslavia and Greece to contribute by their activities to the meeting's success.

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