Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-07-10

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] JOVANOVIC RECEIVES AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SECRETARY-GENERAL

[02] CROATIA EXPECTED TO PROVIDE 600 PROTOCOLS ON MISSING SERBS

[03] PEC PUBLIC PROSECUTOR REQUESTS INVESTIGATION AGAINST TERRORISTS

[04] ICRC DELEGATION HEAD: ETHNIC ALBANIAN SIDE IMPEDES ICRC OPERATIONS

[05] POLICE CUT OFF SEVERAL ILLEGAL ARMING CHANNELS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA

[06] POLICE INTERCEPT ARMS SMUGGLE ATTEMPT

[07] WASHINGTON CALLS FOR PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO KOSOVO PROBLEM

[08] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON CONTACT GROUP SESSION IN BONN

[09] OSCE ASSEMBLY DISPUTES SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[10] FOREIGN DIPLOMATS TOUR KOSMET

[11] MINISTER SEDLAK RECEIVES ROMANIAN MPS AND REPORTERS

[12] REGIONAL COOPERATION IN TRANSPORT

[01] JOVANOVIC RECEIVES AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SECRETARY-GENERAL

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic on Thursday received Aus trian Foreign Ministry Secretary-General AlLbert Rochan, who is visiting Yugosl avia. Views were exchanged in matters of bilateral relations and cooperation, a s well as questions of the normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and the European Union, which Austria chairs as of this month. The results of th e recent visit by Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel were assessed as po sitive. It was underscored that a lasting democratic solution to all issues in Se rbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet) can be achieved only through unconditional dialogue, with respect for the integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and Yugoslavia, the equality of all citizens and national communities, an d the implementation of international standards. Such dialogue rules out any bias, pressures, or attempts to impose ready- made solutions. The immediate resumption and success of dialogue, which is the option of the state, requires that international factors clearly understand the causes for its current interruption and approach terrorism and separatism in Kos ovo and Metohija as a wide-scale danger in Europe. Austrian Ambassador to Yugosl avia Wolfgang Petrich also took part in the talks.

[02] CROATIA EXPECTED TO PROVIDE 600 PROTOCOLS ON MISSING SERBS

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Yugoslav Government Commission for humanitarian issues and missing p ersons President Maksim Korac received Sarajevo ICMP Office head Laura Bowman in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss the upcoming visit to the region by ICMP President Bob Dole. The Yugoslav Commission said Bowman was especially interested in the promise by top Croatian official that they would presen t the remaining protocols for Serbs killed in Croatian army and police 1995 ope rations Flash and Storm by the end of May 1998. The Commission President informe d the official of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) that Croatia had not met this promise, but that he had been told by the head of the Cr oatian Commission that the two Government Commissions would meet in Zagreb on Ju ly 20-21 this year and that the remaining protocols would then be presented to the Yugoslav side. The Yugoslav Commission expects to receive about 600 proto cols. At the Belgrade meeting, Bowman was given a letter for ICMP President Dol e, asking him to intercede personally with the Croatian side, in keeping wit h the signed Agreements and Protocol on cooperation between the Government Comm issions, and the promises of top Croatian officials, to settle this issue and secu re protocols for former Yugoslav army JNA pilots, a group of soldiers of Don je Kolibe, reserve troops of the Nisic and Savnik groups, and other individu al requests. Dole was also asked to see that the Croatian side, before his visit to the region, present all remaining protocols for Serbs killed in operat ions Flash and Storm in 1995, and deliver the remains of 47 JNA troops killed in barracks in Croatia in 1991. Bowman said international and Yugoslav exper ts on forensic medicine would meet in Belgrade in late July to discuss helping Yugoslavia secure and use instruments for DNA analysis for identification of human remains, which was a subject of interest of the Yugoslav Commission in the past period, said the statement by the Yugoslav Government Commission.

[03] PEC PUBLIC PROSECUTOR REQUESTS INVESTIGATION AGAINST TERRORISTS

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

The Office of the Pec Public Prosecutor has called on the District C ourt to open an investigation against four etnic Albanians suspected of engagi ng in anti-state activities. Agim Buze, 32, Fleurent Lipoveci, 32, Ardjent Pulj ani, 22, and Enver Lesi, 30, all four of Djakovica, in early July recruited ethnic Albanians for the terrorist organization "Kosovo Liberation Army" and the n took them to the terrorist base in the village of Glodjane. They were apprehe nded on July 3 while trying to get eight terrorists to Glodjane, using a passenge r automobile and a van, owned by Lesi. The Public Prosecutor's Office has also requested an investigation against Nazim Zejnaj, 28, of the village Rznic near Decani, on suspicion of having committed the crime of terrorism. Zejnaj, as a member of the terrorist organization KLA, participated, together with a l arger group of terrorists, in an armed attacked on a column of police vehilces in the Decani municipality on May 23. In the four-pronged attack, seven policem en were wounded and considerable damage was caused on the vehicles. An investiga tion has also been requested against Met Ademaj, 50, of the village Rausic in the Pec municipality, on suspicion of having aided a perpetrator of a crime. Zej naj and Ademaj, who have police records, are in detention.

[04] ICRC DELEGATION HEAD: ETHNIC ALBANIAN SIDE IMPEDES ICRC OPERATIONS

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegati on in Belgrade Thomas Merkelbach told Tanjug on Thursday that the ethnic Albani an side was making difficulties to the ICRC operations in Kosovo and Metohija. In the past four weeks, our operations in Kosovo have been hampered by th e ethnic Albanian side and greater problems come from that side, Markelbach said a nd added that there were currently no problems with Serbian authorities and that everything in communication with them was clear because it was known who was in charge of what. Recalling that the ICRC's general activity in Kosovo is t he protection of the population, primarily the issue of kidnapped people, h e said that in the past month, the ICRC had difficulties in reaching the "person in charge" among the ethnic Albanian leaders with whom they could discuss th e kidnapping on the ground. He said that there were so-called conventional cases of kidnapping, like the abduction of four people from a bus about ten day s ago, including a father and a son, who are refugees from Serb Krajina with tem porary residence in Djakovica, and cases when several people of Serb nationality or a small group for whom relatives are concerned because of severed contacts remain in villages taken by the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo. The ethnic Albanian side does not always let us pass their check- points and visit th e people who remained in the villages presently controlled by ethnic Albanians. Th e responsible person with whom we talk, if such a person exists, changes ev ery day. We try to persuade them to let us see the abducted people and they tell u s to come the next day and on the next day this person is no longer present at talks, which has a frustrating effect on the delegates, Markelbach said. He sai d that the ICRC was not talking only to local ethnic Albanian politicians whom t hey told that the problem of kidnapping was increasingly worrying and that there e xisted the Geneva Conventions, but that it was trying to use the Albanian channe ls abroad, without being certian whether the true channel had been found. A sked about the position of Serbs who remained in the villages controlled by et hnic Albanian terrorists, Markelbach said that they had told the ICRC teams th at they were not in a direct danger, that those who had seized their village were not threatening them, but that the care of their families was understandable because these were mostly the elderly. According to him, refugees are in a speci ally difficult situation, because they were already expelled from their homes and were now victims of a new danger. The Yugoslav Red Cross and the Internationa l Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies are supplying refugees in collection centres with food, but in the places they cannot do so for safety reasons, the ICRC takes over the despaches and delivers assistance to the local Red Cross. Asked whether he was delivering reports about the situation a nd problems the ICRC encounters in Kosovo and Metohija to relevant internati onal bodies, Markelbach said that he was doing so regularly in contacts with t heir representatives. We are informing the Western embassies and are very clea r in stating who blocks our work, that is that the problems presently lie on t he ethnic Albanian side, he said and added he hoped that this was taken into account and that those who should be pressurised were pressurised.

[05] POLICE CUT OFF SEVERAL ILLEGAL ARMING CHANNELS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Police have lately successfully organised and carried out several operations aimed at cutting off channels of illegal arming of ethnic Alba nian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian Interior Ministry said ina statement. On July 6, a big group of ethnic Albanian terrorists, who had a large amo unt of hard currencies for the purchase in Albania of arms for terrorist operati ons, were captured in the municipality of Pec while going towards the state bo rder. In Djakovica on July 8, police arrested haulier Podrimja Hajdar, born in 1968, and his brother Vlaznim (1972), housewife Memaj Djuke (1955) and Saljiuka Arben (1974), who is unemployed, who were acting against the state and penly as sisting terrorist gangs in the municipalities of Djakovica and Decani. They carr ied out the organised collection of arms and equipment and food and medical equip ment and delivered them to terrorists, the statement said.

[06] POLICE INTERCEPT ARMS SMUGGLE ATTEMPT

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Two Albanians were killed and one wounded on Wednesday night at abou t 2.30 am (0030 GMT) south of Djakovica while attempting to smuggle arms from Al bania into Yugoslavia, the Media Center reports, quoting army sources. The Alba nians opened fired when Yugoslav border guards ordered them to lay down their a rms, sources at the Yugoslav Army Pristina Corps Command said. Military sourc es said the local Mixed Border Commission had been informed of the incident and t hat the Albanian side admitted the culprits were Albanian nationals.

[07] WASHINGTON CALLS FOR PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO KOSOVO PROBLEM

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Washington has reiterated its stand that tensions in Kosovo and Meto hija must be eased peacefully, with a higher degree of autonomy for Serbia's s outhern Province. State Department Spokesman James Rubin said in a news briefing on Wednesday that the United States favored a diplmatic solution to the prob lem, as the only way to satisfy the interests of both sides. The U.S. and the international community do not support the independence of Kosovo and Met ohija, he added. Asked about the Contact Group meeting in Bonn on Wednesday, Ru bin said the international community was seeking principles that would lead to som e kind of extended autonomy that would satisfy the needs and legitimate rights o f ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija. Rubin warned of the danger of opinions in favor of independence for Kosovo and Metohija, saying those who voiced th em lived in illusions. Rubin attempted to explain Washington's inconsistency rega rding the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army organization. Washington is concerne d about the organization, he said. The KLA is part of the problem, which the Cont act Group assessed as well, he said. Rubin said Washington condemned the acti ons committed by people connected with the KLA. He added a confusing and contradictory definition of terrorism according to the United States. In the case of terrorists attacks in general, we condemn them, said Rubin. But t hat does not mean the United States considers the KLA as a terrorist organization, he added. We do not consider them as such, he reiterated, adding that they w ere merely a loosely connected group. In an attempt to clarify the stand, Rub in said Washington considered the group as rebels who were using force as a react ion to being deprived of their autonomy. This prompted some critical remarks. I n a general discussion that followed, whether the United States was trying to bring terrorists to the negotiating table, one American journalist said Washint on was leading a zigzag policy where Kosovo and Metohija was concerned.

[08] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON CONTACT GROUP SESSION IN BONN

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the document whic h the Contact Group had adopted in Bonn was on the whole meaningful and balance d. The important thing is that the document makes recommendations both to Belgra de authorities and Kosovo Albanian leaders, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesm an Vladimir Rakhmanin told a regular news conference on Thursday. He said the Ministry hoped that both sides would accept the Contact Group's recommend ations and make a positive influence on the regulation of problems in Kosovo and Metohija. Rakhmanin informed reporters in detail about the statement rel eased after the Wednesday session in Bonn. Asked about the contents of a text which was also adopted at the Wednesday session but has not been made public, R akhmanin said that this was a small document which expressed Contact Group's stand on the resolution of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija.

The two sides should be the first to be informed about the contents of the document and only then will it be presented to the public, Rakhmanin said.

[09] OSCE ASSEMBLY DISPUTES SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE is examining a draft resoluti on on Kosovo and Metohija proposed by 16 of the 50 member states, Serbian Radio and Television reported on Thursday. Without an analysis of the real situatio n in Serbia's Province, deputies merely stated events that are obsolete, the r eport said. Chairman Bruce George gave the floor to an alleged Albanian who re ad a proclamation to the effect that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija w anted an independent state, with the help of NATO, and rigorous punishment for Serbia and Yugoslavia. The speaker's name and nationality remained unknown, as t he chairman would not let it be revealed, despite the insistence of some delegations. The Yugoslav delegation, which is participating in the sess ion at the invitation of Parliamentary Assembly President Javier Ruperes, refuse d to take part in the farce. The Yugoslav delegation requested of Ruperes not to give equal treatment to representatives of legitimate states and bullies who s ow misunderstanding and discord. Deputies from Britain, Russia, Armenia, Rom ania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kazakhstan and Hungary were heard to speak reasonably, which gives some hope, the report said. The Yugoslav delegation, headed by Low er House Foreign Affairs Committee President Ljubisa Ristic, is helping to create a climate of good will and understanding despite ever present pressures and intolerance shown by some delegations, the report said.

[10] FOREIGN DIPLOMATS TOUR KOSMET

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

The accredited diplomats of five countries took off on Thursday on a tour of parts of Serbia's southern Province of Kosovo and Metohija, as the U.S Information Centre in the Provincial capital confirmed. The group of dipl omats is made up of representatives of the U.S., Russia, Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands and are to visit the areas of Djakovica, Prizren and Pec. T he diplomats are not this time accompanied by press representatives, due to some risk being involved, but the presence of journalists is not ruled out for future tours, according to the U.S. Information Centre.

The tours are in keeping with the Moscow agreement reached by Presid ent Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and Boris Yeltsin of Russia. After the t our Director of the U.S. Information Center in Pristina Richard Huckby told r eporters that free passage had been secured and described work in the field as suc cessful.

[11] MINISTER SEDLAK RECEIVES ROMANIAN MPS AND REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Serbian minister Ivan Sedlak, in charge of human rights and rights o f national minorities, on Thursday received a group of MPs and reporters fr om Romania. Sedlak informed the visitors about the position of national min orities in Serbia and Yugoslavia, and in particular about the situation in Serbia 's Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet). He pointed out that Kosmet was the site of a struggle of the national minority for territory, using radical metho ds which have created the most extreme form of terrorism in Europe. Minister Sedl ak indicated Serbia's readiness for dialogue with political representatives of Kosmet Albanians on the use of the most modern world models of autonomy w ithin the republic. The Kosmet crisis can be resolved only with an objective st and of the international community and without the use of double standards, he s aid. Speaking about other national minorities in Serbia and Yugoslavia, Sedlak underscored that they were realizing all civil and national rights within the state's political and economic systems. The Romanian MPs said their mino rity in Yugoslavia and the Serbian minority in Romania were an example of a bridg e between two nations. They said it was necessary that all problems of nati onal minorities, which exist in a certain form in other countries as well, as in Romania, should be resolved through political systems of the state and us ing top international standards. They voiced support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and Yugoslavia and its full reintegration into the international community.

[12] REGIONAL COOPERATION IN TRANSPORT

Tanjug, 1998-07-09

Two-day official talks started in Belgrade on Thursday between Yugos lav Traffic Minister Dejan Drobnjakovic and Greek Minister of Transport and Communications Anastasios Mantelios. Proceeding from the Crete Statement by heads of state or government of southeastern European countries, the Ministers will consider the most important issues concerning regional cooperation in the area of transport. The Ministers will also discuss in detail overall relations in transportation between the two friendly countries, particularly in road, railway, and air traffic. The talks will also cover join activities on promoting Corridor X of the European traffic network on the route Salzburg - Ljubljana - Zag reb - Belgrade - Skopje - Salonika, and its Branch B from Belgrade to Budapest. Possibilities will be considered for the engagement of Greek companies in the construction of the highway section from Nis to the Macedonian border. T he Greek minister will also meet with other Yugoslav officials and visit some comp anies.

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