BosNet NEWS / March 12, 1996

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

Subject: BosNet NEWS / March 12, 1996

CONTENTS

[01] WISH OF ITALY: GIACOMELLI AS KOSCHNICK'S SUCCESSOR

Rome, March 12, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Italian daily "La Stampa" printed in Turin and owned by the sisters and brothers of the Agnelli clan (whose member is current Italian foreign minister, Susana), releases that Rome supports Giorgio Giacomelli leading the UN agency of their anti drug-league. Giacomelli does not belong to any party (Koschnic's membership in Social Democratic party caused fury of some extreme right Croats to Mostar), has been long in diplomacy (Koschnick was experienced only in German interior policy as the Bremen mayor). Besides, Giacomelli is a prominent expert in campaign against organized crime what shows how his proposers look at the main problem of Mostar.

Italian diplomacy confirms that the International Conference on B-H is to be held in Rome on June 13 and 14, to discuss the implementation of the London Conference decisions made late last year. That will occur three weeks before expiry of Italian six- month presiding over EU. Currently in the EU, Italy and specially Susana Agnelli are in the company of the states being tolerant towards Belgrade: mainly Britain, occasionally France. In the dispute over Mostar, Italy backed European permissiveness towards Zagreb encouraging Koschnic's resignation, causing displeasure of Germany. Due to the criticism of nuclear tests which France had made at the Pacific, Rome's relations with Paris were worsened so that J. Chirac avoided to meet with Italian authorities. Italy last presided at EU ten years ago, prior to firmer integration of EU in Maastricht (the Netherlands was presiding). Gianni de Michelis (Venetian socialist living in the family castle was accused of intriguing with Serbia against Croatia and Slovenia, what has never been proved. /end/ A.S.

[02] RECONSTRUCTION OF THE OLYMPIC OBJECTS IN SARAJEVO - SOON

Sarajevo, March 12, 1996 (Press TWRA)

President and the secr. general of the B-H Olympic Board Stjepan Kljujic and Izudin Filipovic, respectively and Bosnian prime minister H. Muratovic received the technical director of the International Olympic Committee who last week visited Sarajevo due to the IOC decision on allocating USD 1O mill. for reconstruction of the Olympic objects to Sarajevo, which was the host of the 15th, 1984 Winter Olympics. Miro visited the gymnasium Zetra and the Olympic stadium of Kosevo. Reconstruction of the stadium will be co -financed by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) planning to organize "Athletic meeting for peace". IOC and the Sarajevo authorities work out a study on the range of the damage, the aims of reconstruction, cost estimates and order of rebuilding. Early during the war, Bosnian authorities authorized Branko Mikulic (Bosnian Croat, ex-communist top official who organized the 1984 Olympics) to take charge of rebuilding the Olympic objects but Mikulic died during the siege of Sarajevo. /end/ A.S.

[03] R. COHEN CRITICIZES OWEN'S BOOK

Washington, March 12, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Correspondent of "The New York Times" Roger Cohen wrote in the weekly "The New Republic" a review of lord Owen's book "The Balkans Odyssey".

"Can Owen propose for Karadzic nothing more than to be banned his medical practice? (...) Owen was not able to realise the events in the Balkans. State of his mind is grey, pathetic and sick. He rejects the terms "victim" and "aggressor" losing the threads of the war essence. Terror, systematically conducted in achieving the project, had started at Kosovo and then destroyed Yugoslavia, is hidden behind his account of Serbs as the allies of the West in the past two woled wars. (...) The fact that Owen does not find Milosevic guilty is not accidental. Milosevic, who Owen can always find the common language with and whose views of the war Owen shares, is to blame for Vukovar, Dubrovnik, Zvornik, Sarajevo. Owen does not regard him a nationalist and Milosevic is a nationalist and above all, a coward. He enraged people, made them slaughter and then abandoned them in the middle of the slaughter... In his rotten heart, he is a communist apparatchik who wants to stay in the shadow, scared that might end as Ceausescu's did.(...) Vision of Owen's book is the vision of Milosevic apologists of the horror having been committed by Serbs. Spokesman of the Serb military in B-H, col. lieut. Milovan Milutinovic praised Owen's book to me.(...) The longer I reported on the war, the more I was convinced of Serb guilt and savagery and destructive plan behind all that. Attempt of Milosevic to impose hegemony on the most of south-Slav states has destroyed a fragile mosaic called Yugoslavia. Greater Serbia, which he tried to create, was not imagined as a safe port for the poor and scattered Serbs stuck somewhere among secessionist Bosniaks and Croats."

Cohen's article was reported in Croatian daily "Vecernji list" whose correspondent Vladimir Goss quotes a Croat-American scientist Stanimir Vuk Pavlovic saying: "Cohen's article shows a gap between the USA's and EU's view of ex-Yugoslavia. The USA made many mistakes during Bush's administration, Clinton was reluctant for long but the moral factor prevailed. Americans are protected from immorality of West Europe by the lack of centuries old diplomacy, tradition and culture, what Europe is proud of. Owen's book is a picture of West Europe's dirty business which continues being in conflict with the views of the USA./end/A.S.

[04] PARDEW ON THE US ASSISTANCE TO THE B-H FEDERATION ARMY

Brussels, March 12, 1996 (Press TWRA)

After NATO's meeting at which 16 ambassadors informed on the "Train and equip" project, the US envoy for military stabilization of the Balkans, James Pardew said the USA would allocate USD 1OO mill. of help to the B-H army. "We want to decrease the amount of arms to B-H, said Pardew rejecting the criticism of EU - "Our aid to the B-H army will not jeopardize the process of the arms supervision but is useful. /end/ A.S.

[05] COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN B-H - COMPOSITION

Sarajevo, Strasbourg, March 1O, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Council for human rights in B-H has 13 members - seven appointed by European Council and six by B-H. Council for human rights and ombudsman the Swiss, Gret Haller was appointed by OSCE on Dec 21, 1995. Commission for human rights was planned by the sixth annex of the Dayton accord. The commission has task to supervise the respect of 13 basic human rights (specially the right for life, freedom of movement and speech) prevention of discrimination due to race, language or being a member of a religious or minority group.

European Council appointed the following professors as the members of the Council for human rights in B-H: Rona Ayba (Turkey), Peter Germer (Denmark), Giovanni Grasso (Italy), Adam Zielinski (Poland), Michel Picard (France). Of Bosnain representatives, four are from Federation (Supreme Court judges Mehmed Dekovic, Hasan Balic, and Constitutional Court judges, Zelimir Juka and Vlatko Markotic), two from Republic od Srpska ("head of the Brcko county "Miodrag Pajic and professor of the Faculty of Law in Banjaluka, Vitomir Popovic. /end/ A.S.

[06] RUSSIAN-US TRAINING, FOUR BRITISH WOUNDED

Tuzla, Mrkonjic Grad, March 1O, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Three-day joint military training of the IFOR Russian and US troops in northeastern Bosnia started today. In Russian base in a Serb held town of Ugljevik, about 4O km north of Tuzla, about 5O US soldiers will spent next three days. British IFOR released they investigated the fire set on a house in also Serb-held Mrkonjic Grad. Four British soldiers were injured in the fire. /end/ A.S.

[07] JOHN KORNBLUM - SUCCESSOR OF ROBERT GALLUCI

Washington, March 1O, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Assistant of the US Secr. of State for Europe and Canada (position till recently hold by R. Holbrooke), John Kornblum travels today to the Balkans to visit Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade and stress unchanged strategic importance of the Dayton accord implementation, released the State Department spokesman N. Burns. Burns confirmed that Kornblum and his assistants Rudolf Perina and William Montgomery would take over the duties performed so far by the ambassador Robert Galluci in charge of the Dayton agreement implementation, specially in the part related to B-H. Namely, Bob Galluci abandoned State department on May 1, to take the chair of dean at the Faculty for foreign affairs, University of Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Meanwhile, the US media commented Galluci and Kornblum's successor "Dick" Richard Holbrooke's abandonment of the state Deprtment. Before leaving, Holbrooke underlined the annex of the Dayton agreement referring to the right of refugees for return what journalists connect with his parents' biography (both parents, a German Jewish woman and a Russain Jew were refugees from Europe to the USA where they got married taking new surname). Holbrooke claims he prefers the middle course in the US foreign policy avoiding idealism having been promoted by Woodraw Wilsoin ("too naive," says Holbrooke) and cold rational real-politics, typical of Kissinger ("excessive cynicism becoming suicidal", claims Holbrooke). Studying physics in his youth, Holbrooke was involved in Vietnam war 3O years ago, as a friend of David Rusk (ex-Secr. of State Dean Rusk's son) he entered the State Department very early, during Carter's administration. Many officials of that government were involved in diplomatic aspect of the B-H war - Carter on Serb side, ex-Secretary of State Cyrus Vance as the UN mediator in Croatia and B-H, Vance's assistant, current US Secretary of State Christopher Warren, Carter's ex - advisor for national security Zbigniew Brzezinski that time disagreed with Kissinger - Brzezinski supported active US aid to Bosnia while Kissinger was against. Holbrooke was the US mediator in the contact with ex-president of Philippine F. Marcos and by the time of his commitment in the B-H peace process had been the ambassador the Germany. He visited Banjaluka in August 1992 where "he could see with his own eyes all the insanity of drunk paramilitary Serbs who were raping and killing young Muslim women". Since then he used to keep on his working desk a wooden sculpture of a humiliated man that a concentration camp detainee had given to him. He brought Milosevic to Dayton offering him favourable conditions only to face him with their changes. He invited the families of the UN diplomats killed south of Sarajevo (Frasure, Drew, Kruzel) to the ceremony of signing the agreement.

On his Zagreb-Sarajevo-Belgrade tours Holbrooke says: "I have tons of good nerves, but the amount is decreasing fast when I arrive in the Balkans. I am glad they see me there like a bloodthirsty beast." The US commentators conclude-if Clinton loses this year elections, Holbrooke is not among losers. If Clinton wins, Holbrooke is a new Secretary of State. /end/ A.S.

[08] STOP EMIGRATION OF SERBS TO BRCKO

Sarajevo, March 11, 1996. (Press TWRA)

President of BH Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, in his letter to EU High Commissioner C.Bildt and Admiral L.Smith, condemned settling of Serbs from Sarajevo in the Brcko area. "Serbs have no right to settle Serbs escaping from Sarajevo in Brcko...", Izetbegovic says, adding that "this process presents a violation of the Dayton agreement for it aims to render difficult, by using the policy of fait accompli, efforts for finding a just solution to this very delicate problem." In his letter, President Izetbegovic requests from Bildt to "stop these illegal actions which present a violation of the agreement." <end> S.K.

[09] EU BOYCOTTS THE U.S.A.

Palermo, March 11, 1996. (Press TWRA)

EU Foreign Ministers condemned, on their meeting in Palermo, the United States of America for promising a military help to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ministers decided to boycott the international conference on military help to BH which is to be held in Ankara, on March, 15. "The last thing we need is a conference on arming. What we really need is a conference on disarming", Spain Foreign Minister, Carlos Westendorp stated. He was supported by a major part of the 15 Ministers, among whom by French Foreign Minister, H.de Charette who stated that for a peace-process implementation " an arm-decreasing is needed and not its increasing",adding that it is very dangerous to send a new arming to Bosnia and to prepare at the same time a withdrawal of 60.000 well-equipped international forces till the end of the year.<end>S.K.

[10] INCIDENT ON KULEN VAKUF TERRITORY

Sarajevo, March 11,1996 (Press TWRA)

IFOR today reported about the tension between Bosniak and Croatian side on Kulen Vakuf territory. According to IFOR report the incident broke out when two groups of Bosniak policeman tried to enter Kulen Vakuf territory which Croatian policemen did not allowed. IFOR as mediator recommended negotiation on this issue. The sides agreed that Bosniak police can make rounds in Kulen Vakuf on the river Una west bank and IFOR control while Croatian policemen agreed to withdraw to their barrack located in that town. (end) S.K.

[11] WAR CRIMINAL HIDING IN SERBIA

London, March 11,1996 (Press TWRA)

British newspaper "The Guardian" brought to public attention another Serbian war criminal - Milan Lukic, chief of group of Bosnian Serbs who were responsible for massacre of hundreds of Muslims on the bridge over river Drina near Visegrad in east B-H, during spring and summer, 1992. "The Guardian" emphasized that Lukic and his group systematically killed and mutilated Muslims, usually with the cold weapons and than throwed them to river Drina. Lukic was denounced by one Serbian solider who has been detained in Gorazde and was exchanged. M. Lukic is not on the Hague's Tribunal war criminals' list, and at present is in Serbia, in Obrenovac. (end) S.K.

[12] FRY - CROATIA TALKS

Zagreb, March 11,1996 (Press TWRA)

Bilateral talks between FRY and Croatia delegation have been held today in Zagreb. The two states foreign ministers Milan Milutinovic and Mate Granic headed the delegations. The most important subject on the schedule was signing of number of agreements on traffic: opening of Zagreb-Belgrade highway, opening of railway and air-traffic and establishing of flight control. But the main agreement on the schedule was related to normalization of relations between two states. The big surprise for the journalists was dividing the FRY foreign ministry press release talk on problem of Prevlaka and Serbia's exit to the sea. As soon as press release has been distributed, was withdrawn. (end) S.K.

[13] MURATOVIC'S INTERVIEW

Zagreb, March 8,1996 (Press TWRA)

The B-H Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic in an interview for Zagreb's "Vecernji list" commented among others the accusations on mujahidin in B-H and obstacles for implementation of Dayton agreement. TWRA reports part of the interview: "They all (mujahidin) left B-H. The international presence is such in Bosnia that nothing can be hidden. We fulfilled that obligation not in a month, but we fulfilled it in a very short time. And we made press release about it when there was no more foreign citizens in B-H. (...) The C. Bildt's office and UN made big omission when civilian police which had to take over very important work was in question. They left Serbian police in Sarajevo's suburbs. That was the signal for Serbs to completely plunder and destroy the whole economy infrastructure. They took all they could take from the factories and other institutions and they had no reason to stay. The Pale regime had the thesis that Serbs working places have been transferred to so called "serbian republic" and that they do not have reason to stay in Sarajevo. The international community in that way, consciously or not, helped implementation of decisions already made on Pale. (end) S.K.

[14] KOSCHNICK RESIGNED DUE TO THE LACK OF EUROPEAN SUPPORT

Mostar, March 8, 1996 (Press TWRA)

"I have resigned as the EU states did not endorse me in the conflict with Croat authorities in the town. European states' governments demanded too much, forcing me to continue cooperation with the Croat police commander in the western part of town who had been watching his policemen jeopardizing the lives of my policemen. Hanging the mayor was also public fun in the Middle Ages but I have never heard of policemen abandoning their colleagues. I expect my mandate to expire early this April and the farewell party on April 2," said H. Koschnick for ARD, the German TV Channel 1.

"Forthcoming elections will show if Mostar will be unified or the whole project will fail. The Dayton accord plans the elections for the Mostar authorities by the end of this May, at least. EUAM expects new nominations for the mayor and till then Koschnick will appoint members of electoral commissions. Koschnick has made a formal decision by which EUAM directly takes control over the town's central zone till elections. Amendment and decree on the people's right to occupy flats enabling the return of the flats' owners will be enforced. If the EUAM mandate is prolonged after establishment of new authorities in the unified Mostar, its role and function will change - it will be advisory body with regard to financial aid," said Koschnick's assistant Metscher. Croat authorities in Mostar oppose to the EU supervision over the whole central district under Croat control, to observing the pre-war composition of population and to giving the residents the right to return to their Mostar flats.

Vienna - In the talk with Austrian ex vice-chancellor, head of Austrian diplomacy W. Schuessel announced E. Busek as a likely new EU administrator for Mostar. Busek said he regarded it as the initiative of Schuessel, not of EU, adding he was not sure the EU wanted to have its administrator in Mostar any longer. EU might decide on Koschnick's successor at the next meeting. /end/ A.S.

[15] ROME-LJUBLJANA-ZAGREB: DISPUTE ON GENOCIDE IN ISTRIA

Ljubljana, Rome, Zagreb, March 9, 1996 (Press TWRA)

Deputy of Italian public attorney Giuseppe Pititto said for the paper "Promorske novice": "I have no choice. Those are criminal deeds whose validity, by Italian state law has no time limit. My duty is to continue the investigation. I received the documents from the Ministry of the Interior which can be used in proving the truth on foibas-karst pits which Slovenian and Croat partisans used as mass graves for the Italians killed in Istria, Promorje and Dalmatia between 1943 and 1945. Investigation is started against 82 suspects, ten among them accused of genocide. The only goal of my investigation is to find out the truth." Pititto previously announced he would demand extradition of the suspects from Croatia and Slovenia.

Slovenian Foreign Ministry soon publishes the White Book with the documents on the crimes of Italian fascism against Slovenians. The book is announced every time their relations with Rome deteriorate. "If politicaly motivated court proceeding escalates on Italian side, Slovenian state attorney might react using their sources which claim that UN has a list of 58O Italian war criminals from WW II who have never been put to trial," says Slovenian foreign minister Zoran Thaler. The leading Slovenian daily "Delo" alleges the possibility that Italians, in seeking for the guilty of Istrian genocide want to lessen the pressure on Serbs accused by ICTY. "There is much evidence on connections between Italian irredenta with Serbs," writes "Delo".

In the interview for Rome's "Republica,"Croatian vice-prime and foreign minister, Mate Granic said that Pititto's investigation was a pre-election campaign of neo-fascist forces. The same paper alleges that Granic, in a farewell visit of till recent Italian ambassador to Zagreb, Paolo Pens said that the court proceeding "is not the act of official Rome policy but the result of the most extreme irredentism in service of pre-election campaign."

Croat and Slovenian sources claim that in foibas were thrown between 3OO and 6OO people who were not exclusively Italians. Italian extreme right claims that up to 12,OOO Italians were killed, some of them were shot and thrown in the pits, some alive or half-dead. A map with 24 foibas in Istria and the greatest number of victims was in the village of Golji nearby Labin. The names of the killed in the foibas - infobats, have long been known and some were exhumed and burred somewhere else. Pressure of Esulas (Italian emigrants from Slovenia and Croatia to Italy) make Italian media disclose the infobators' names (executors) claimed to be mainly the members People's guard who operated along with the 9th Corps of Yugoslav (Tito's) army. Pititto says that most of them had already died. /end/ A.S.

[16] ICTY DEMANDS EXTRADITION OF ERDEMOVIC AND KREMENOVIC

The Hague, Paris, March 9, 1996 (Press TWRA)

ICTY demands extradition of D. Erdemovic and R. Kremenovic arrested in FRY. "They could help as witnesses in the process against Karadzic and Mladic charged of bloodshed in Srebrenica by our indictment," said R. Goldstone, whose deputy travels to Belgrade to repeat the demand to Milosevic. French paper "Le Figaro" released the interview which Drazen Erdemovic gave to the daily's journalist, Renaud Girard. Erdemovic claims to be a 25-year old Croat from Tuzla without saying how he had found himself in Serb militia in Bosnia. He does not state what made him admit Serb crimes he took part in. Yet, it is mentioned that three weeks ago in Bijeljina (pre-war Muslim majority town in north-east of Bosnia; Bijeljina was the first target in Serb aggression against B-H), he was expelled from the flat he had moved in.

Erdemovic and Girard talked in a castle turned into hotel near Becej in Vojvodina (Serbia's northern autonomous province) where Erdemovic was accommodated at the place of the ex-lieut. of Yugoslav army and a member of Serb paramilitary in B-H Radoslav Kremenovic. During the three-hour talk, Erdemovic described his engagement in three mass executions of Bosniaks from Srebrenica: first, when Serb commander Branko Gojkovic ordered a group of ten captives at the stadium of Nova Kasaba to turn their back to Serb soldiers and the Serb firing squad to kill them. "We all fired. So did I, targeting people. In a few seconds all of them were dead." It was July 11, 1995. Another massacre occurred nine days later, July 2O, after the fall of Srebrenica: "As a firing squad member I killed, with my own hands, 7O people at least. Captured Bosniaks were in plain clothes between the age of 17 and 5O. Some Serb marksmen were ready to spare those who can pay ransom, but gave up the idea and shot dead all of the captives on having learnt that Serbs in Zvornik had taken away all their money. As far as Erdemovic can remember "that day, 15-2O buses arrived there carrying 6O to 8O passengers each." Erdemovic says: "Those people did not want to flee but seeked refuge with "blue berets," naively believing in UN honesty, so they surrendered to them without resistance. Our commander Milorad Pelemis said that none must stay alive." As many of Serb marksmen were drunk and did not shoot accurately, they wounded instead. It was Stanko Sovanovic who killed all of them by a shot in the head from a short distance. After that, Erdemovic and Kremenovic refused to take part in mass killing, so it caused a "dispute" with M. Pelemis who seriously wounded Erdemovic by a pistol demanding his expulsion from his Bijeljina flat. Shooting remaining Bosniaks was executed by a Serb paramilitary firing squad from Bratunac. Erdemovic and Kremenovic offered their testimony in the Hague asking in return, a safe stay in the West. Girard lent them his car, but they did not turn up at the meeting the next day (March 3, 1996) - their house was searched, phone line cut off and they both driven away into the unknown by the Yugoslav police platoon from Belgrade and Novi Sad. /end/ A.S.

[17] LAZOVIC AND LJUBIC FINISHED THEIR VISIT TO CROATIA

Zagreb, March 9, 1996. (Press TWRA)

Delegations of parliaments of BH Republic & BH Federation finished last evening their several-day lasting visit to Croatia. Croatian President Tudjman received yesterday Miro Lazovic, President of the BH Assembly and M.Ljubic, President of the Constitutional Assembly of the BH Federation. During their talks, Tudjman stated Croatia wants the implementation of the Washington and Dayton agreements, because it means the realization of the interests of Croats and Bosniaks, as well as of Serbs, living in the BH Federation. Lazovic and Ljubic met afterwards with Croatian Prime Minister, Zlatko Matesa, who stated the important steps have been made towards the improvement of the relations between Croatia and the governments of the BH Republic and Federation, adding he informed Lazovic and Ljubic about that issue, making them familiar with the results of the recent Split meeting. A program of the new inter-governmental session, envisaged for March, 14 in Sarajevo, was also discussed. At the close of their visit, Lazovic and Ljubic held a press- conference assisted by their host, V.Pavletic, President of the Croatian Assembly, who judged the talks as very successful and announced their more frequent future contacts, needed for resolving of all indistinctness and realization of more useful relations. Thus,within some 40 days, an assembly delegation, composed of the experts for the constitutional and economical issues,is going to visit Sarajevo."I expect the problem of different interpretations of the so-far realized agreements, will be solved. The project of federation has no other alternative, so we sincerely accepted it. What follows is the political struggle for the reintegration of BH", Lazovic said. While asked whether legal BH authorities could improve the return of the Croats to Bugojno, Ljubic said:"The right for all displaced persons to return to their homes is the supposition for the creation of rightful relations." <end> A.S.

[18] INVESTIGATION ON DEPORTATION OF BOSNIAKS REQUESTED

Canberra, March 9, 1996. (Press TWRA)

BH Embassy in Australia requested the Hague International Tribunal (ICTY) to start an investigation on the deportation of Bosniaks (8OO persons) from Serbia to Australia and Europe in which, supposedly, UNHCR assisted, instead involving Bosniaks in the exchange of prisoners, esp. for they had been in the camps in Serbia which claimed not to be involved in the war in BH. The principal witness for the prosecution is Osmo Zimic,BH Army Officer, one who had been deported to Australia against his will. <end> A.S.