Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-07-02

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER RECEIVED ICRC OFFICIALS

[02] YUGOSLAV CENTRAL BANK IS NOT CONSIDERING CHANGES IN THE DINAR RATE

[03] YUGOSLAVIA AND MACEDONIA SHOULD SET UP A FREE TRADE ZONE BY EARLY 1999

[04] RUSSIAN MEDIA ABOUT THE SITUATION AROUND KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[05] ITALY IS AGAINST THE U.S. STAND

[06] PRO-SERBIAN DEMONSTRATIONS STAGED OUTSIDE U.S. EMBASSY IN MOSCOW

[07] YUGOSLAV CITIZENS STAGE PROTESTS IN AUSTRIA

[08] REPORTERS VISIT THE VILLAGE OF ADE IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[09] WEBER: CULTURAL MONUMENTS IN KOSOVO ARE IN DANGER

[10] KOSOVO DISTRICT HEAD MEETS THE VISITING US CONGRESS DELEGATION

[11] SERBIAN AND UNHCR OFFICIALS MEET

[01] SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER RECEIVED ICRC OFFICIALS

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic received the International Committee of the Red Cross General Envoy for Europe Angelo Nedinger and head of the ICRC Belgrade mission Thomas Merkelbach.

A Serbian Interior Ministry statement said the two sides had agreed that the ICRC's activities in Yugoslavia were constantly promoted in the mutu al interest and with the creation of full mutual trust.

Nedinger thanked Yugoslav authorities for ensuring full freedom of movem ent of the ICRC throughout Yugoslavia, especially in Kosovo and Metohija, and for an unimpeded access and realisation of humanitarian deliveries.

In keeping with the decisions and measures aimed at creating conditions for unimpeded return of all people who have temporarily left their homes and implementation of an assistance programme in Kosovo and Metohija, whi ch includes concrete cooperation with humanitarian organisations, Stojilj kovic underscored that ICRC activities should remain within the humanitar ian sphere, that it must prevent the abuse of humanitarian assistance and ensure that it is delivered to civilians, regardless of their nationalit y and especially prevent any deliveries of assistance to terrorists.

Stojiljkovic voiced dissatisfaction with ICRC's activities directed towa rds the release of Serbs, Montenegrins, ethnic Albanians, Romanies and po licemen, kidnapped and kept in captivity by terrorists.

The ICRC has no other priority or more humane task than to release the k idnapped and imprisoned people, the statement quoted Stojiljkovic as sayi ng.

[02] YUGOSLAV CENTRAL BANK IS NOT CONSIDERING CHANGES IN THE DINAR RATE

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

The National Bank of Yugoslavia has full control of all monetary aggrega tes and the money supply has not increased by a single dinar since the ad option of the program of operational measures for the establishment of a macro-economic balance, the office of Central Bank Vice Governor Ratko Ba novic said on Wednesday.

Quite the contrary, the money supply is below the level of April 1 this year, the issued statement said. Therefore, the current trends on the pa rallel foreign-currency market are not due, as claimed by some media, to an additional money issue, as is best illustrated by the fact that the ba nking system's state of liquidity is far lower than in early April, accor ding to the statement.

The office of the Ventral Bank Vice Governor said that the structure of the money supply had not changed, there had been no increase of the cash in circulation, and the primary money had decreased compared with March 3 1 of this year.

The statement set out that the National Bank of Yugoslavia would continu e pursuing a restrictive monetary policy and keeping under daily control all monetary aggregates.

Consistently implementing measures of the economic policy for this year, the National Bank is not considering or preparing any proposal for a cha nge in the policy of the dinar's exchange rate, the statement said.

[03] YUGOSLAVIA AND MACEDONIA SHOULD SET UP A FREE TRADE ZONE BY EARLY 1999

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Yugoslav and Macedonian businessmen urged at a meeting in the Yugoslav C hamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the two countries set up a free trad e zone by January 1 next year, as envisaged under the Free Trade Agreemen t they had signed.

The two sides assessed that good economic cooperation between the two co untries could reach the annual value of 700-800 million dollars and be di versified with long-term technological and co-production links.

The Macedonian businessmen, who are paying a two-day visit to Yugoslavia headed by Macedonian Chamber of Commerce President Dusan Petreski, parti cularly insisted that as much red tape as possible be eliminated in the mutual trade and the agreed quotas for individual products be respected.

Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce President Mihailo Milojevic underscored tha t there were no major problems in economic cooperation between the two co untries and no disagreements which could not be eliminated.

Yugoslav-Macedonian trade has been on a steady upturn, Milojevic pointed out.

In 1996, when the inter-state Agreement on Free Trade was signed, the va lue of the mutual trade stood at 244 million dollars. In 1997, it rose to 510 million dollars, with Yugoslav imports exceeding by 68 million dolla rs the exports to Macedonia. According to figures for the first five mont hs of this year, Yugoslav exports to this neighbouring country stood at 9 4 million dollars.

Petreski pointed out that Yugoslavia was Macedonia's leading trade partn er and said that the Free Trade Agreement opened new possibilities for it s promotion.

Members of the Macedonian delegation stressed that partners from the ter ritories of today's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Macedonia had annu ally exchanged as much as 2.5 billion dollars worth of products at the be ginning of the decade.

The Yugoslav and Macedonian Chambers of Commerce said they would do more to help attain the desired goals, which will be facilitated by the found ing of a Yugoslav-Macedonian Chamber, a protocol on which was signed on W ednesday by Milojevic and Petreski.

[04] RUSSIAN MEDIA ABOUT THE SITUATION AROUND KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

The West has no right to make decisions about a NATO pact military opera tion in Kosovo without the previous approval of Russia, German Foreign Mi nister Klaus Kinkel said on Wednesday in a statement for the German radio , as reported by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

If not, Kinkel said, "that will destroy partnership relations developed between us for years."

The German Foreign Minister said that the West must first try to use all possible political and economic means for influencing the parties in con flict in Kosovo to reach a compromise. "In any case, a NATO intervention plan would have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council, whose member is also Russia," the German Foreign Minister said.

Kinkel said that Kosovo now needed autonomy and international guarantees , and indicated that plans to set up an international protectorate in the province stood no chance of being carried out.

The daily Sevodnya assessed that the West could prevent bloodshed in the Balkans by stationing troops in northern Albanian and cutting off the fl ow of arms into Kosovo. "That would force the separatists to start seriou s talks about autonomy," the daily said. "But, officials in Washington co ntinue to talk only about air strikes against Serbs," the daily concluded.

An encouraging signal, the daily said, is the statement of U.N. Secretar y Genetral Kofi Annan that a NATO intervention without a Security Council decision would be a dangerous precedent for other states and other regio ns in the world.

The daily Pravda assessed on Wednesday that the benevolent attitude of t he West towards Albanian separatists was uncomprehensible and pointed out that the latest moves of U.S. politicians constitute "open blackmail of Belgrade, humiliation of the Kremlin and an attempt to paralyse Russian p eace efforts."

The daily also quoted Greek Foreign Minister Teodoros Pangalos as saying that enough blood has been shed because of immoderate and unprofessional western politicians.

[05] ITALY IS AGAINST THE U.S. STAND

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini told Rai Tre on Tuesday evening t hat it was a mistake that U.S. envoys had met with members of the so-call ed "Kosovo Liberation Army" and that they now try to officially include t hem in the talks for overcoming the Kosmet crisis.

"By so doing they push aside moderate representatives of the Albanian na tional minority in Kosovo and Metohija, in the first place Ibrahim Rugova , " Dini said.

The Italian Foreign Minister underlined that the smuggling of arms and a mmunition across the Albanian border into Kosovo and Metohija was continu ing unabated. There are several armed groups of ethnic Albanians and it i s increasingly difficult to determine who should get down to negotiations with Belgrade, Dini said.

Speaking about possible NATO actions, the Italian Foreign Minister empha sized that his country will not allow the use of military bases of the We stern Alliance in Italy without a decision of the U.N. Security Council.

"We are ready to allow the use of the bases only if the Security Council adopts a resolution in that sense," Foreign Minister Dini specified.

[06] PRO-SERBIAN DEMONSTRATIONS STAGED OUTSIDE U.S. EMBASSY IN MOSCOW

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

"Hands off Serbia!" was the slogan most frequently chanted by protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Wednesday. Most of the several hun dred demonstrators were members of the Russian* Serbian Brotherhood and the Orthodox Christian Brotherhood, which organised the rally together wi th a dozen other organisations. The rally was joined by a large number of young people, sympathizers of several patriotic movements.

The protesters had gathered outside a subway station in the afternoon an d marched to the U.S. Embassy on Moscow's main street, carrying icons and other Eastern Church insignia. Outside the Embassy, which was closely gu arded by Russian police, speakers followed each other for more than 90 mi nutes, with a single message for the West, specifically the United States * do not interfere in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's internal affairs.

President of the Orthodox Christian Brotherhood Georgy Kopelev proposed that the protesters send a letter to the Russian leadership demanding mil itary and technical assistance and diplomatic support for Yugoslavia.

The rally ended with the adoption of a resolution protesting against the gross interference of the European Union, the United States and the NATO military and political bloc in the internal affairs of the Federal Repub lic of Yugoslavia. The resolution gave an extensive history of Serbia's p rovince of Kosovo and Metohija as the cradle of the Serbian nation and an inseparable part of Serbia, and protested against the policy of double s tandards which is being applied to Yugoslavia. It also asked why the West is keeping quiet on the subjects of human rights and democracy where the Irish Republican Army is concerned and why does not the principle of sel f- determination of a nation apply in the case of the Basques.

The protesters demanded an end to military pressure on Yugoslavia and to the demonisation of the Serbs in the mass media, a chance for the Serbs to put forth their positions in an open debate, and the lifting of all sa nctions against Yugoslavia.

President of the Russian-Serbian Brotherhood Constantine Yershkov handed the resolution to a representative of the U.S. Embassy.

[07] YUGOSLAV CITIZENS STAGE PROTESTS IN AUSTRIA

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

The Union of Communities of Yugoslav and Serb clubs and associations in Austria on Wednesday sent a letter to Austrian President Thomas Kloestil, Austrian Chancellor Victor Klima, and OSCE Chairman Bronislaw Goeremeck, asking that the crisis in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet, 1998) pr ovince be resolved exclusively by peaceful means.

The Union also expressed protest against the new punitive measures by th e international community against Serbia and Yugoslavia.

In spite of efforts by Yugoslav and Serbian legitimate state authorities to settle the problem in Kosmet peacefully and through dialogue, the sit uation there is constantly deteriorating, said the letter.

Yugoslavs temporarily employed in Austria are against NATO's military en gagement in the territory of the sovereign state of Yugoslavia, said the letter which was signed by Union President Trivun Stanic.

A NATO military intervention in Kosmet would aggravate the situation in the entire region, said the letter.

Yugoslavs in Austria are against changes of borders because that would a ffect the Balkans and even other parts of Europe, they said.

The Union said the reimposing of sanctions against Serbia and Yugoslavia did not contribute to resolving the existing problems, but was aimed aga inst innocent civilians in Yugoslavia, and even against those temporarily employed abroad.

Pointing out to the fact that Austria was E.U. Chairman, the Union asked the Austrian President and Chancellor to receive a delegation of Yugosla v citizens, who would express their stands and proposals regarding the re solution of the Kosmet crisis through direct talks.

[08] REPORTERS VISIT THE VILLAGE OF ADE IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

In the organisation of the Pristina Media Centre, about 40 domestic and foreign reporters on Wednesday visited the village of Ade, which had been placed under police protection on Tuesday after being held by ethnic Alb anian terrorists for a week.

Ethnic Albanian terrorists used Ade, near Obilic, to shoot at the Belace vac and Dobro Selo coal mines' security guards and policemen and hamper t he coal deliveries to the Obilic thermo-electric power plants. Terrorists kidnapped 13 plant workers in the area in the past two weeks.

The police operation was aimed at improving the safety of the coal mine workers, Lt. Zoran Janjic of the police has said. Terrorists dug hundreds of metres of linked trenches at the entrance to the village from the dir ection of the Dobro Selo coal mine. The trenches are about one metre deep with ramparts and several spacious and well-camouflaged bunkers. The Obi lic thermo-electric power plants can clearly be seen from the trenches.

One of the policemen said that the trenches had been made well, that "wh oever ordered their digging has a lot of experience and knowledge," and t hat this was probably one of the former Yugoslav People's Army officers.

Lt. Janjic said that only the houses near the trenches, from which terro rists fired at the police, had been damaged. Reporters could also see the houses where a pharmacy, offering bandages, medicines, and first aid equ ipment, and a canteen had been situated.

During the clashes with police in the area of Ade, members of the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, u sed Chinese-made 60-mm mortars, bombs, machine-guns and small arms, Janji c said.

There are no information about the terrorists' casualties, but if there were any, they were probably taken towards Drenica.

The village of Ade, which has about 250 houses inhabited only by ethnic Albanians, was deserted on Wednesday. Police representatives said that se veral Ade inhabitants had come to retrieve their cattle and food on Tuesd ay and that police had not prevented them from doing so.

Interior Ministry representatives invited the Ade inhabitants to freely return home, guaranteeing them full safety.

[09] WEBER: CULTURAL MONUMENTS IN KOSOVO ARE IN DANGER

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Prominent ecologist Franz Weber, who is the President of the Weber Found ation, called on Wednesday upon UNESCO General Director Federico Mayor to use his authority to place under UNESCO protection the masterpieces of S erbian culture in Kosmet.

In a letter to Mayor sent from Montreaux, Switzerland, Weber set out tha t the monuments in Kosovo and Metohija should immediately be placed under UNESCO protection. He underscored that the Serb people would never agree to be separated from their religious monuments because they represent th eir roots, culture and identity.

"Unless this reality is taken into consideration, it could result in a h undred-year war also involving Greeks, Turks, Russians ...," Weber said i n the letter which was also forwarded to Tanjug.

Weber added that by including the masterpieces in Kosovo as part of the world heritage, UNESCO can help Serbs and Muslims to overcome past differ ences and redirect their efforts towards reconciliation.

"The urgent dispatching to Kosovo and Metohija of a team of art and hist ory experts, would make an efficient counterbalance to the warmongers and arms smugglers," said the President of the Weber Foundation which aims to protect the environment and cultural monuments.

Weber was in Kosmet from June 25-28 to visit numerous monasteries and cu ltural monuments.

Speaking about the fact that ethnic Albanian terrorists are increasingly attacking Serb cultural monuments, Weber recently told Tanjug that this is the reason for the visit of more than 20 journalists from Switzerland , France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Russia and Greece to Kosmet. The aim w as for them to see the Serbian cultural monuments in Kosmet thus enabling them to present another side of Kosovo, apart from the current political ly- motivated one.

[10] KOSOVO DISTRICT HEAD MEETS THE VISITING US CONGRESS DELEGATION

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Head of the Kosovo District Veljko Odalovic received on Wednesday in Pri stina a delegation of the US Congress headed by Richard Geron.

Odalovic explained in detail the current situation in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija and pointed to the serious effects of the aggressive terrorist acts, in order to enable the US delegation to infor m the Congress of the developments in the province, the provincial Inform ation Secretariat said in a statement.

Odalovic expressed his dissatisfaction with the meeting between US envoy s Richard Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard and members of the terrorist organ ization so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, pointing out that this was not the appropriate way of resolving the situation but constituted a support to terrorist gangs.

The need for finding a peaceful solution to the crisis and for joint end eavours for putting an end to violence was underlined during the meeting.

The US delegation hailed the cooperation between official institutions a nd non-governmental humanitarian organizations.

The joint statement of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Russian President Boris Yeltsin was endorsed during the meeting.

The state institutions are acting in line with their legal prerogatives in protecting state interests and will continue doing everything they can to curb all terrorist and illegal activities, the statement says.

[11] SERBIAN AND UNHCR OFFICIALS MEET

Tanjug, 1998-07-01

Coordinator of the work of State bodies in Kosovo and Metohija Andreja M ilosavljevic met in Pristina on Wednesday with the head of UNHCR's Belgra de office Margaret O'Keefe.

Good cooperation was stressed with representatives of the UNHCR and othe r humanitarian organisations in the region.

The talks dealt with the return of citizens who had temporarily left the ir homes and the people who found refuge in Kosovo and Metohija after bei ng expelled from Serb Krajina, the provincial Information Secretariat sai d in a statement.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with cooperation between the UNHCR and Serbian Government representatives in the organisation of humanitarian a id. It was also said that efforts should be made in finding out the fate of the people kidnapped by ethnic Albanian terrorists, the statement said.

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