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Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-08-06Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Yugoslav Daily SurveyCONTENTS
[01] EU TEAM DID NOT FIND EVIDENCE OF MASS GRAVES IN ORAHOVACTanjug, 1998-08-05EU officials, who today visited Orahovac, Kosovo and Metohija, could not confirm the existence of a mass grave in the town, said the EU official W alter Edenberg to the American TV network CNN, Reuter reports. "We were on site with one of our field teams. We cannot confirm the existence of mass graves. T here are individual graves with names inscribed (on them), but there are no mass g raves", said Edenberg in Pristina in an interview to CNN.EU observers visited Ora hovac today to verify the news published in some German, Austrian and Swedish newspapers about an alleged mass grave containing more than 500 bodies of Kosovo ethnic Albanians. [02] YUGOSLAV EXPORT UP 6.2 PERCENT IN 1998Tanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslavia's foreign trade in the first seven months of 1998 stood a t 4, 179 million dollars, 1,363 million of it export which was 6.2% more than in the same period of 1997, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Import in t he period amounted to 2,816 million dollars, or 3.6% more than in the first seven months of 1997, which puts the trade deficit in the January-to-July perio d at 1,463 million dollars. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia traded goods w ith more than 100 countries in the period. Most of the trade, approximately 85%, w as with European countries - the Republika Srpska, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Russia. The statement further said that the highest import was from Germany, wort h 323 million dollars, and the highest export to the Republika Srpska, worth 27 7 million dollars. [03] YUGOSLAV DEPUTY MINISTER RECEIVES IOM BELGRADE OFFICE CHIEFTanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslav Deputy Labour, Health and Social Policy Minister Mirjana Dr agas on Tuesday received the outgoing International Organisation for Migration s (IOM) Belgrade office chief Edwin McKlein and Regina Bordognia, who will replac e him in September, a Yugoslav Government statement said. During the cordial a nd friendly meeting, McKlein and Dragas reaffirmed joint stands on the futur e cooperation between Yugoslavia and the IOM and supported IOM programs in Yugoslavia, including the program on securing lasting settlement for refu gees in keeping with the Dayton Accords. They also discussed joint operations aimed at stopping the economic migration from Yugoslavia, especially the program for the return of young people and experts. [04] YUGOSLAV THIRD ARMY STATEMENT ON ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORIST ATTACKSTanjug, 1998-08-05The Yugoslav Third Army Command Press Service said on Wednesday even ing that on August 4-5, ethnic Albanian terrorists in the Yugoslav republic o f Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province had repeatedly opened fire on Yugos lav Army units, especially in the area of the Kosare border post on the Yugoslav-A lbanian border. Pristina Corps border units efficiently prevented attempts of fo rcible crossing from and into Yugoslavia and funnelling arms and ammunition to w hat has been left of ethnic Albanian terrorist gangs, said the statement. Profes sional soldier Dalibor Dimov (22), of the town of Bela Palanka, was killed in th e operation of preserving the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and protecting the state border. Ethnic Albanian terrorists s uffered massive casualties. Bodies of 12 terrorists have been found so far. Duri ng the skirmishes, the Yugoslav border guards seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and military supplies. The search of the ground is underway. [05] AFANASYEVSKY: SITUATION IN KOSMET SHOULD BE SETTLED AS SOON AS POSSIBLETanjug, 1998-08-05Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Nikolai Afanasyevsky told radio Voic e of Russia on Tuesday that his country was taking steps, in coordination with Contact Group partners and the U.N. Security Council, toward the imminent settlin g of the situation in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet) province. Afanasyevsk y said work was under way on securing the soonest possible end to all hostilitie s in Kosmet, a condition for the renewal of dialogue. There can be no militar y victory on either the Serbian or ethnic Albanian side, he said. Asked to comment reports that NATO had completed contingency plans for an action in Kosmet , Afanasyevsky said foreign forces could not impose law and order in this S erbian province. Russia believes that the situation in Kosovo can be settled on ly through negotiations, he said. An agreement to resume dialogue will contr ibute to an end to hostile actions in Kosmet, and the main efforts are aimed in this direction, he said. Much depends on Kosovo Albanians at this time, said Afanasyevsky, adding that their political leaders should unequivocally co nfirm their readiness to resume dialogue, something they have not done yet. Russia and its partners are trying to set up a constructive platform on which Ko sovo Albanians would begin dialogue, he said. The framework for this platform is known. It is a high degree of autonomy for Kosmet, but without any possib le secession, which is what not only members of the terrorist organization Liberation Army of Kosovo insist on, but even most Kosmet Albanian politi cal leaders. Afanasyevsky said that an arms embargo had already been imposed against Belgrade, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution. The resolut ion also pertains to Kosovo, so that it is necessary to prevent arms shipments fro m reaching the terrorist extremists in Kosovo, he said. This is the main c ondition which would enable an end to combat activities and prevent the problem of Kosovo becoming a source of major conflicts which would inevitably spill to the entire Balkans, said Afanasyevsky. [06] AUTHOR OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA MASS GRAVE LIE CLAMS UP TO COLLEAGUESTanjug, 1998-08-05The correspondent for the Berlin "Tageszeitung" newspaper who has al legedly found a mass grave in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province refused on We dnesday to join his colleagues on a trip to the site to investigate the report. The correspondent Erich Ratfelder, who has alleged that he had "disc overed" a mass grave with 576 bodies of murdered ethnic Albanians at the town of Orahovac, refused in the provincial chief city of Pristina today to lead his colleagues to it. The author of the so-far biggest fabrication about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija would not say a word to explain his acti on, and when asked by the other correspondents why he would not show them his "discovery," he said that he had "better things to do." Ratfelder, who i s a regular at the Pristina Media Centre, would not say this morning where hi s information about the alleged mass grave had come from, or who had led hi m there. After the return of a large group of journalists from Orahovac, where the y had easily disproved his report, he refused to meet most of them, ignoring al l questions and saying only that he had "better things to do." Ratfelder, like most of the other correspondents, was staying at Pristina's Grand Hotel u ntil a few days ago, when he checked out and was reported to have moved into pri vate accommodation in the home of an ethnic Albanian. Tuesday's publication o f Ratfelder's "sensational" report in the German media attracted great atte ntion, so that nearly all foreign media that have reporters in Pristina were on the phone all last evening and night, ordering them to Orahovac at once. Aft er visiting the area, where they saw the facts at first hand and interviewed local ethnic Albanians, most correspondents agreed that this was no more than a hoax designed to discredit the Serbs and for which the author was well paid. Ratfelder's colleagues have nick-named him "the body counter," because he not only had the exact number of the alleged bodies in the grave pat, but wen t so far as to specify that 430 of them were children. The publication of this de spicable lie has caused indignation among the local Serbs in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija, especially among the Serbian In terior Ministry employees. No less indignant are the numerous correspondents an d news teams in Pristina, who see Ratfelder's lie as a heavy blow to the journal istic profession. Ratfelder's lie was short-lived, however, thanks to the Serb ian Interior Ministry's prompt action in providing immediate access to Orahov ac for all journalists to investigate the affair at first hand. [07] ETHNIC ALBANIANS HAND OVER WEAPONS TO SERBIAN POLICETanjug, 1998-08-05Roman Catholic ethnic Albanians in the village of Ramoc near Djakovi ca, Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija, on Wednesday handed over to Ser bian police weapons they had received from the terrorist organization that cal ls itself Liberation Army of Kosovo. The ethnic Albanians in Ramoc surrende red 32 automatic rifles and several mortars explaining that they neither wanted clashes nor to be members of a terrorist or separatist organization. [08] SERBIAN OFFICIAL DENIES FALSE REPORTS ON MASS GRAVES TO ICRC AND UNHCRTanjug, 1998-08-05Coordinator of activities of Serbian state bodies in the southern pr ovince of Kosovo and Metohija Andreja Milosavljevic told representatives of international humanitarian organizations on Wednesday in Pristina that th e false reports on alleged mass graves of ethnic Albanian civilians were loathsom e lies launched in the West in order to trouble the public opinion. The diplomat s who visited the area on Wednesday without any hindrances will certainly deter mine that such tendentious false reports are senseless, Milosavljevic told hea d of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office Beatrice Weber and head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office Thomas Vargas. ICRC and UNHCR representatives were interested in the activities of the Serbian Government aimed at ensuring the return of displaced persons to their homes. The government remains committed to its policy of ensuring the con ditions for the return of all persons who had left their homes fleeing from terro rism, Milosavljevic said. Milosavljevic pointed to the great humanitarian probl em of citizens kidnapped by terrorists as their fate remains unknown. Despite r epeated urgings by the Serbian Government that international diplomatic and human itarian representatives endeavour to resolve the problem of abducted persons, the re have been no results yet, Milosavljevic said. [09] INFORMATION SECRETARY MATIC DENOUNCED NEWEST ALLEGATIONSTanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslav Information Secretary Goran Matic said on Wednesday that Tu esday's allegation by some foreign newspapers about a mass grave of ethnic Albani an bodies is another campaign to demonize the Yugoslav republic of Serbia. Matic said that this is an instance of the mentors of political independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija resorting to senseless and shameless lies to gain time and shock the world public, bec ause terrorism in the province is facing defeat. The latest protagonists of t he media war published in "Die Presse" and "Tageszeitung" newspapers and other mos tly German and Austrian media that 567 bodies of murdered ethnic Albanians ha ve been found in a mass grave at Orahovac in Kosovo and Metohija, Matic said. Sp eaking for Serbian state Radio and Television, he said that "Tageszeitung" corre spondent Erich Ratfelder floated the allegation without a shred of evidence or a single witness to support his claim. Matic drew an obvious parallel with a simi lar report about 60,000 Muslim women raped in Bosnia, for which U.S. journali st Roy Gutman won a Pulitzer prize and which has subsequently been refuted, and said this is all part and parcel of the same anti-Serbian media war. The same media war is now being fought in Kosovo and Metohija, but this time the media i n Yugoslavia are ready for it and their reaction and that of the officials is strong, he added. He said that all correspondents for foreign news agenci es in the province visited the site of the alleged mass grave on Wednesday, wit h the exception of Ratfelder, who refused to go, as he knew he could not defend his lie. Matic said that some of the journalists who have played a key part in fabricating lies about and demonizing the Serbs are in the country illega lly. He explained that they did not enter as journalists, did not apply to Belgra de for their accreditation and visa, but entered as tourists via the Yugoslav re public of Montenegro's towns of Tivat, Podgorica and other places. Matic said that Gutman is at present in Podgorica as a businessman, and that there is information to show that Ratfelder, who is not on any list of journalists, came in via Tivat. Obviously, Yugoslavia's liberal attitude to tourist visits is being abused to get media riff-raff into the country, M atic said. [10] STEPS ARE UNDERWAY TO NORMALIZE THE SITUATION IN ORAHOVACTanjug, 1998-08-05Head of the Prizren district of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Ko sovo and Metohija province Branislava Furjanovic said on Wednesday that Serbia n state bodies were taking all necessary steps to normalize life for all the peop le in and around the town of Orahovac. Furjanovic was speaking to a large grou p of domestic and foreign reporters who visited Orahovac on Wednesday. She sa id that, after ethnic Albanian terrorists had been banished, the situation in the town was normalized. She added that regular power, water and food supplies had bee n restored and that all conditions for the return had been created. Furjano vic said that, following Serbian Government and Interior Ministry summons, people who had fled due to terrorist onslaught were returning to Orahovac. She urged international humanitarian organizations to mediate in the release of peo ple abducted by terrorists and also to call upon the displaced persons to ret urn home. Referring to German media reporting on alleged mass graves in Orah ovac, Furjanovic said that this was a lie pure and simple, fabricated by somebo dy who wanted to create chaos and stoke passions. Mayor of Orahovac Andjelko Ko lasinac said, for his part, that Serbian refugees, who had fled the ethnic Albani an terrorist occupation of the villages of Retinje, Opterusa and Zociste in the Orahovac municipality were unable to return. Kolasinac said that ethnic A lbanians were daily returning to Orahovac. He added that almost 4,000 of them had returned so far. [11] MILOSAVLJEVIC MEETS ITALIAN DIPLOMATTanjug, 1998-08-05Coordinator of activities of Serbian state bodies in the southern pr ovince of Kosovo and Metohija Andreja Milosavljevic met on Wednesday in Pristina the head of the Italian Embassy office for humanitarian activities Rossario M icciche, the provincial Information Secretariat said in a statement. The Italian official informed Milosavljevic of the measures taken by the Italian governmental humanitarian organization for providing humanitarian aid to displaced per sons in Kosovo and Metohija. Micciche hailed Serbian Government's endeavours for the conclusion and implementation of the agreement with ethnic Albanians on normalizing education in the province. All state institutions duly abide by the joint statement issued by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Russi an President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow, which provides for free access and ac tivities of international humanitarian organizations and missions in Kosovo and Me tohija, it was noted during the meeting. The Italian Embassy intends to open an o ffice in Pristina for humanitarian activities, Micciche said. Milosavljevic poi nted to Yugoslavia's priorities as regards humanitarian activities and expressed readiness for full cooperation with the Italian office, the statement say s. [12] MILOSAVLJEVIC CONFERRED WITH GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN AMBASSADORSTanjug, 1998-08-05Coordinator of state bodies' activity in Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija Andreja Milosavljevic discussed on Wednesday with German Ambassa dor in Belgrade Wilfried Gruber and his Austrian colleague Wolfgang Petritsch th e fate of displaced persons and the state bodies' measures for their return. A s tatement issued by the provincial Information Secretariat said Milosavljevic had s tressed that tracking down and releasing Serbs, ethnic Albanians and other person s abducted and held prisoner by ethnic Albanian terrorists constituted a gr ave problem. He said international humanitarian organizations should make a g reater effort and help solve the problem as much as they could. Milosavljevic s aid the Serbian Government was ready to cooperate maximally with humanitarian organizations and that it was making a great effort to give safe conduct to relief aid trucks. He said Serbia had repeatedly called on ethnic Albani ans to return home guaranteeing them full safety, saying food, medicine and buil ding material were delivered to all in Kosovo and Metohija, regardless of thei r ethnic origin. The statement said it had been agreed that the international com munity should exert pressure on leaders of ethnic Albanian parties to give up th eir goal of independence for Kosovo and Metohija and to accept dialogue unconditio nally, this being the only way of resolving problems in the province. [13] SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY URGES ETHNIC ALBANIANS TO RETURN HOMETanjug, 1998-08-05Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs urged on Wednesday ethnic Alban ians in the southern province of Kosovo and Metohija to return to their homes and villages as the Serbian police would guarantee them full safety. A leafle printed in Serbian and Albanian languages air-dropped on Wednesday over K osovo and Metohija urges ethnic Albanians to return to their homes and village s with full safety guarantees. The Serbian Government makes a clear distinction between its ethnic Albanian citizens and terrorists, the leaflet says. Peace in K osovo and Metohija, peace in villages and towns, peace for families, women and children, is in the interest of all citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, the leaflet says. Terrorists can bring nothing good. They only bring evil wherever t hey may be. They take your villages, put guns in your hands, dishonour your women and girls, take your money for the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo, block roads, the leaflet says. The leaflet also urges returnees to take the police-controlled roads and report to police checkpoints and stations, an d underlines that the police would help them reach their homes in full safe ty. [14] YUGOSLAV DEFENCE MINISTER VISITED BORDER GUARDS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJATanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic on Wednesday visited the a rmy's Pristina Corps in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija p rovince who guard the state border in the area. At the Morina border outpost, th e commanding officers of the Pristina Corps briefed Bulatovic about the sit uation in the area and about measures being taken to secure this section of the state border and the border belt. On the state line, the minister inspected a part of the 11-km section of the state border controlled by the Morina outpost an d lying on the most convenient route for the infiltration of terrorists and armam ent from neighbouring Albania. As many as 20 grave border incidents were reported in the area in April and May of this year. Bulatovic praised the border guar ds of the Pristina Corps for their highly professional, responsible, efficient and sensible discharge of duties in protecting and defending the state border in difficult conditions. After touring the border to Albania, Bulatovic wen t to Djakovica, where he discussed topical political and security problems and measures for their settlement with the leaders of the province's Pec and Prizren districts. Bulatovic said that the state is doing everything in its p ower for problems in Kosovo and Metohija to be settled by political methods, throu gh dialogue, but that ethnic Albanian terrorists want a republic of Kosovo, which the state can not allow. The people in the region have every confidence in the army and the police, and the morale is rising, it was noted at the meetin g. [15] FOUR ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS RECEIVE PRISON SENTENCESTanjug, 1998-08-05The military court in Nis, southern Serbia, on Wednesday passed sent ences on four ethnic Albanians charged with terrorist activity. Fadilj Dabicaj (39), Bedri Kukoljaj (35), and Hisen Ljatifaj (34), were sentenced to 13 years in prison, while A.M. (17), is to serve eight years in a juvenile correction al institution. The four ethnic Albanians tried to cross illegally from Alb ania into Yugoslavia late on April 26 and to smuggle a large quantity of weapo ns for ethnic Albanian terrorist organizations in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija. During the trial, it was established that they had spent s ome time in the Albanian town of Tropoje together with about 1,000 other ethnic Al banians from Kosovo and Metohija that were to be armed for terrorist actions in t he province. [16] YUGOSLAV DEPUTY PREMIER MEETS RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTERTanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic received on Wednesday the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolai Afanasyevsky, the Federal Information Sec retariat said. The talk focused on issues of joint interest to the two friendly co untries. Afanasyevsky was especially interested in Yugoslavia's views on the situa tion in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija. Serbian and Yugoslav authorities, in cooperation with international humanitarian organizations , have undertaken intensive measures to alleviate the consequences of terrorist acts and provide humanitarian aid. The return of many people who were forced to ab andon their homes under pressure by terrorists demonstrates the trust of Kosovo and Metohija citizens in the measures taken by the authorities, the statement says. Sainovic said that Yugoslavia and Serbia were seeking a solution that wou ld ensure full equality to all citizens and ethnic communities in the provin ce, and expressed readiness for pursuing the dialogue with the ethnic Albanian si de. A political solution based on such principles is the only way of ensuring l asting stability in Kosovo and Metohija. Terrorism must be firmly prevented and a chance must be given to dialogue, it was underlined during the meeting, the stat ement says. [17] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES U.S. ENVOY HILLTanjug, 1998-08-05Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic received on Wednesday afternoon U.S 2E envoy Christopher Hill. The talks, which dealt with peace and stability in the region, focused on the situation in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Met ohija. The need was stressed for enabling civilians to return to their homes as well as for stepping up the process and normalizing the situation in areas where state security forces had intervened against terrorist gangs that had been acti ve under the name of Liberation Army of Kosovo. President Milosevic stressed that both state bodies as well as Yugoslav citizens in general clearly differentiat ed between ethnic Albanians on one hand and terrorists and criminals, on th e other, and that all measures to be taken would be aimed at aiding civilians, pro tecting their property and ensuring their safety, regardless of their ethnic orig in. He said calls to civilians to return home were accompanied by adequate mater ial assistance. Problems burdening the life in Kosovo and Metohija can be res olved through political means only and not through violence. In this connection , it was stressed that contacts between the state delegation and representatives o f ethnic Albanian parties in the province should be immediately renewed. Also pres ent was the President's foreign affairs advisor, Ambassador Bojan Bugarcic. Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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