Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-07-22

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV JUSTICE MINISTER ASKS FOR EXTRADITION OF NADA SAKIC

[02] THREE STRONG BLASTS SHAKE MACEDONIA

[03] YUGOSLAVIA HAS HONOURED ALL ITS COMMITMENTS ON MISSING PERSONS

[04] ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUEST WORKERS IN AUSTRIA COLLECT AID FOR TERRORISTS

[05] COURT SEEKS INQUIRY AGAINST ALBANIAN TERRORIST

[06] TREPCA MINE SECURITY REPEL ANOTHER ATTACK BY ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS

[07] CONTACT GROUP EXPERTS DISCUSS KOSOVO AND METOHIJA'S FUTURE STATUS

[08] SOLANA: NATO OPPOSES "GREATER ALBANIA"

[09] RUSSIAN AND GERMAN MINISTERS: NO MILITARY SOLUTION FOR KOSMET

[10] RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR: OSCE'S CHIEF TASK IS TO RENEW DIALOGUE

[11] WASHINGTON OPPOSES "GREATER ALBANIA"

[12] FOREIGN DIPLOMATS ON A VISIT TO KOSMET

[13] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND

[14] PRESS RELEASE

[01] YUGOSLAV JUSTICE MINISTER ASKS FOR EXTRADITION OF NADA SAKIC

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Yugoslav Justice Minister Zoran Knezevic has requested of Argentina the extradition of Nada Sakic who is suspected of genocide and war crimes com mitted in World War Two. Yugoslavia is in possession of documents and evidence that Sakic, as warden of the Stara Gradiska camp and the women's prison of the Jasenovac concentration camp, had committed acts of genocide and war cri mes, thereby violating International Law. The victims were Serb, Jewish and G ypsy women from the former Yugoslavia, the statement said.

[02] THREE STRONG BLASTS SHAKE MACEDONIA

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Three heavy blasts were registered in Macedonia's capital of Skopje and the town of Kumanovo early on Tuesday. An unidentified explosive device went off on the railway line linking Kumanovo and Presevo, only 6 km away from a cros sing on the Macedonian-Yugoslav border, at around 2.50 a.m. local time on Tuesday 2E The device went off during the passage of the Bucharest- Athens international express train, damaging the locomotive. There were no casualties on the train, an d railway traffic was suspended for several hours. Just 30 minutes later, an explosion went off near central Kumanovo, in the yard of the barracks Hri stijan Todorovski - Karpos. There were no casualties, but the blast broke window panes on all neighbouring buildings. At exactly three hours after midnight, a third blast went off in the heart of Skopje, near the Prosvetno Delo publishing house and the first precinct police station. There were no casualties. The plan ted explosive device damaged buildings throughout the Beko district, shatteri ng all window panes up to the sixth floors. The Skopje police officially confir med the explosions but did not give any details about the possible perpetrators. The latest series of explosions is linked with the activities of the OVK terr orist organization, the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo, which assumed responsibility for similar explosions in Skopje, Kumanovo and Prilep this spring. The terrorist organization announced in May that Macedonia was the "Numbe r Two Zone" of its activities and that a complete organization for launching te rrorist actions was already present in Macedonian territory.

[03] YUGOSLAVIA HAS HONOURED ALL ITS COMMITMENTS ON MISSING PERSONS

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has honoured all its commitments in line with the Protocol signed by the Yugoslav Commission for Humanitarian Issu es and Missing Persons and the Croatian Commission for Captives and Missing Pers ons, it was underlined on Tuesday in Zagreb at the end of the two-day meeting of the two commissions. The Yugoslav Commission was headed by Maksim Korac and the Croatian Commi ssion by Ivan Grujic. The Croatian side has so far presented to the Yugoslav Co mmission 660 files on persons missing since the "Lightning" and "Storm" military operations. Of the remaining 600 files it was due to present to the July 20-21 meeting, it has only presented 225 files on Serbs killed in the two opera tions, and has thus not abided by its commitment. The Yugoslav Commission is se eking another 120 files on unidentified victims. As regards the list of missin g persons believed to be alive today, the Yugslav Commission was informed t hat two of them were alive and in contact with their relatives, while some others , mostly elderly persons, have died meanwhile according to the Croatian Commission 2E The Croatian Commission has not yet provided any information on the "Savnik" and "Niksic" groups of reservists of the former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) reported missing in the territory of the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia-Herzego vina, and the Yugoslav Commission consequently asked the Croatian counterpart t o urge the Federation authorities to disclose their fate as soon as possible.

The two commissions agreed to carry out another investigation in the Posavina area to determine the fate of former JNA pilot Medic, whose MIG- 21 had crashed near the Sava river. According to the Protocol, the Croatian Com mission still has to present the files on 47 former JNA soldiers stationed in Cro atia and killed in 1991, when the JNA should have been allowed to safely withdraw from Croatia in line with an agreement with its authorities. The Yugoslav Com mission has therefore fully complied with the Protocol, but the Croatian Commissi on has not yet done so despite promises it made last year to the President of th e International Commission for Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia Bo b Dole.

[04] ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUEST WORKERS IN AUSTRIA COLLECT AID FOR TERRORISTS

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

The latest issue of the Vienna weekly "Profil" wrote about the "humanitarian" fund collection among Kosovo and Metohija Albanian guest w orkers in Austria for the terrorist organisation, the self-proclaimed "Liberatio n Army of Kosovo."

"Profil" said that Kosovo Albanians, who live and work in Vienna, ha d paid 20 million shillings (about 3 million German marks) into a gyro account w ith the Oberbank in Vienna for the "Fatherland Calls" fund. The funds are regula rly delivered to the terrorists, ethnic Albanian guest workers told "Profil". According to the weekly, Austrian police know that the "Fatherland Calls" fund's gyro account exists, but have issued only one warning to Albanian Associa tion members against the payment of funds into the account. According to offi cial figures, about 25,000 ethnic Albanians live in Austria, most of them in V ienna. The ethnic Albanian community in Austria had just 3,000 members in 1991. This year alone, 1,000 new guest workers arrived in Austria from Kosovo and Me tohija.

[05] COURT SEEKS INQUIRY AGAINST ALBANIAN TERRORIST

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

The District Attorney's Office in Pec submitted to court on Tuesday a request for an inquiry against Isuf Varlosi who is suspected of infiltrat ing armed fighters into Yugoslavia. Varlosi (39), an Albanian national, is a lso charged with illegal entry into Yugoslavia. Earlier in July, Varlosi all egedly smuggled arms and ammunition from Albania to the village of Zab, for the terrorist organization so*called Liberation Army of Kosovo. He is in cust ody.

[06] TREPCA MINE SECURITY REPEL ANOTHER ATTACK BY ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Gangs of ethnic Albanian terrorists launched yet another attack on t he Trepca lead and zinc mine in Stari Trg, Serbia's province of Kosovo and M etohija, late on Monday. The terrorists opened machine-gun and small arms fire fo r over an hour. The Trepca security guards strongly responded to the attack. The y reported no casualties. The mine re-opened on Tuesday after security mea sures had been tightened.

[07] CONTACT GROUP EXPERTS DISCUSS KOSOVO AND METOHIJA'S FUTURE STATUS

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Experts of the six-nation Contact Group met in London on Tuesday to review elements of the future status of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, a French Foreign Ministry Spokesman said. The Spokesman said t he Contact Group comprising the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germ any and Italy was continuing consultations on a draft resolution that should be submitted to the U.N. Security Council. In a meeting in Bonn, Germany, o n July 8, the Contact Group officials adopted a joint declaration calling for ce ssation of hostilities and resumption of dialogue on the province's autonomy. Th e Contact Group also announced in Bonn that the Security Council would subm it a draft resolution calling for cessation of hostilities as well as the poss ibility of another draft resolution being submitted that would include also actio ns that must be approved by the Security Council, if hostilities did not cease. The Spokesman said developments in Kosovo and Metohija did not signal a cease fire, voicing France's concern over such a state of affairs.

[08] SOLANA: NATO OPPOSES "GREATER ALBANIA"

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana has said that NATO will not sup port the creation of a "greater Albania" or an independent Kosovo. Speaking i n an interview to the Macedonian daily "Nova Makedonija" prior to his Wednesda y visit to Macedonia, Solana said that NATO was not considering a military interv ention in Kosovo and that it was expecting a political solution to this issue. In his interview, Solana ruled out the possibility of replacing U.N. peacekeeper s with NATO troops on the Macedonian borders towards Albania and Yugoslavia. He said that UNPREDEP was presently a better solution and that this would not cha nge.

[09] RUSSIAN AND GERMAN MINISTERS: NO MILITARY SOLUTION FOR KOSMET

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and his German counterpart Vo lker Ruehe said in Sochi on Tuesday that there was no military solution for th e Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province. Sergeyev and Ruehe held a joint news conference focusing on results of their two-day informa l meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The situation in Kosovo and Metohija is very complex and there is no military solution either for Belgrade or for Kosovo and Metohija's ethnic Albanians, Ruehe said. He added that it was necessary to proceed to a pol itical settlement as soon as possible. Sergeyev, for his part, stressed that he agreed with Ruehe on that point, saying that the situation in Kosovo and Metohij a was developing "extremely unfavourably". He also said that now, the most impo rtant thing was to take representatives of the conflicting sides to the negotia ting table.

[10] RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR: OSCE'S CHIEF TASK IS TO RENEW DIALOGUE

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

The chief task of an OSCE delegation visiting Yugoslavia is to contr ibute to renewal of dialogue between Belgrade and ethnic Albanian leaders, with out interfering in Yugoslavia's internal matters. Vladimir Shustov, Russian Ambassador with special authority, told the Itar-TASS news agency on Tues day. The delegation is visiting Yugoslavia at the invitation of Belgrade, said Shustov and added that tensions in Kosovo and Metohija had reached a critical sta ge where renewal of dialogue is vital in preventing escalation of conflict. Asked what role the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would ascrib e to the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo in calming clashes in the province, S hustov said that representatives of the LAK could be contacted "only on the ques tion of cessation of hostilities."

Shustov highly assessed the importance of the visit to Kosovo by ambassadors in Belgrade and members of the Contact Group, and expressed t he conviction that objective reports by diplomats on what was really going o n in the province would be conducive toward a balanced approach in overcoming the crisis. Shustov said he had never before been in a situation where the work of di plomats was accompanied by continual shooting and unpredictable road-checks, carr ied out by armed ethnic Albanians. He linked the escalated belligerence of terro rists to the arrival of the OSCE delegation, assessing it was a "reaction of fo rces uninterested in making peace."

[11] WASHINGTON OPPOSES "GREATER ALBANIA"

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Washington has expressed its opposition to the creation of a so-call ed 'Greater Albania' sought by militant separatists in Serbia's Kosovo and M etohija province. "As far as the question of a greater Albania is concerned, and who is for it and who is against it, let me start by saying we are against it an d that this would be a very dangerous development that could affect the stabilit y of the region," the AP quoted State Department Spokesman James Rubin as saying i n a briefing on Monday. The separatists are aiming for an independent Kosovo and Metohija, which would then be united with neighbouring Albania, possibly while absorbing other territories, the AP said. Washington reiterated its stan ce that the solution to the crisis was in granting autonomy for the province. As ked about the latest attempts of separatists to cross from Albania into Yugos lavia, Rubin confirmed the information indirectly, saying the developments were not linked to refugees, but fighters trying to get into Kosovo.

[12] FOREIGN DIPLOMATS ON A VISIT TO KOSMET

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

The heads of missions of the Contact Group embassies, the European U nion Presidency and the OSCE Chairman in office visited Serbia's Kosovo and Me tohija (Kosmet) province last week and the Embassy of Austria, the E.U. Chairman , on Tuesday presented to Tanjug their report on the visit. The diplomats sai d they had conducted 40 missions during their visit to Kosmet and that the missi on's security had been "generally adequate" and freedom of movement and freedo m of access "generally unhampered", the report said. The report said, however , that freedom of access had on occasion been hindered due to road blocks placed by members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (OVK) and clashes between Serbian security forces and the illegal OVK. Regarding the situation in Kosmet, the report said there was an "influx" of armed OVK members into the provincia l territory from Albania, and the mission observed fighting in and around t he town of Orahovac. The diplomats said the population of Kosmet had expressed " their concern regarding the question of abducted persons" and the scarcity of m edicine and certain basic commodities.

[13] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND

Tanjug, 1998-07-21

Yugoslav Ambassador to Australia Dragan Dragojlovic has presented credentials appointing him non-residential Ambassador to New Zealand to t he Governor-General Michael Hardie Boys. A statement released by the Yugosl av Foreign Ministry said diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and New Zea land had thus been renewed and upgraded to the ambassadorial level.

[14] PRESS RELEASE

Belgrade, 1998-07-22

The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Zivadin Jovanovic recei ved yesterday the delegation of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe after its one*week visit to the FR of Yugoslavia. The delegation h as, in addition to Belgrade, visited Pristina and Montenegro where it had talks with the representatives of the official State authorities, as well as with other persons they have chosen themselves. The head of the OSCE delegation, the German ambassador Mr. Hansjorg Aif and ambassadors from other countries permanen tly accredited to the OSCE in Vienna, have expressed their pleasure over the visit and a possibility to visit, during a seven*day sojourn, different parts o f Yugoslavia and meet numerous officials at federal, republican and local l evel, deputies, representatives of political parties, journalists and ordinary people. The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs expressed his confidence that th is visit will contribute to a more objective perception of an overall development of FRY and a better understanding of its major internal and foreign policy eleme nts, and particularly of Yugoslavia's role in securing stability, development and good*neighbourly relations in the region of South*Eastern Europe. It was emphasized that problems in Kosovo and Metohija can be solved solely by unconditional dialogue respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty o f Serbia and the FR of Yugoslavia, equality of all citizens, national and ethnic minorities and by implementing international standards on human and minor ity rights.

The confidence was expressed that this visit will contribute to a be tter mutual understanding and thus encourage normalisation of the status and membership rights of the FRY within the OSCE, which is in mutual interest.

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