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Serbia Today 96-01-30
Serbia Today
30 January 1996
In This Edition
RECOGNITION OF YUGOSLAVIA - A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL DECISION
ETHNIC CLEANSING ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN SCENARIO
'WE SHALL ALL BE MUSLIMS'
CONTENTS
[01] MUTUAL INTEREST FOR INTENSIFIED CONTACTS
[02] PROMOTION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND YUGOSLAVIA
[03] RECOGNITION OF YUGOSLAVIA - A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL DECISION
[04] HUNGARY IN FAVOR OF RECOGNITION OF YUGOSLAVIA
[05] WITH MORE PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS TO BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING
[06] FRONTIER TRIANGLE LINKS BUSINESSMEN
[07] NEIGHBORLY EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
[08] ETHNIC CLEANSING ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN SCENARIO
[09] MUSLIMS ARE BURNING CROAT HOUSES
[10] 'WE SHALL ALL BE MUSLIMS'
[01] MUTUAL INTEREST FOR INTENSIFIED CONTACTS
President of the Republic of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic
received the Prime Minister of Slovakia Vladimir Mechiar who
is heading the government delegation on an official visit to
our country. During the talks, views were exchanged about the
development of bilateral relations and it was stated that
there is a great mutual interest for an overall
intensification of contacts and links especially for
extension of economic cooperation between the two countries.
It was pointed out that besides the classic goods exchange
and production cooperation, special importance is devoted to
linking and joint venture of Yugoslavia and Slovakia in the
West and 'the third world' countries. During the meeting it
was also emphasized that the presence and life of the Slovak
minority in Serbia is strengthening and enriching friendly
relations and cooperation of our country with Slovakia. It
was stated that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia highly
appreciates activities of Slovakia and its support to the
peace process in the Balkans, as well as its readiness to
help reintegration of Yugoslavia in the international
institutions.
During the talks with the press after his meeting with
President Milosevic, Mechiar stated that special attention is
devoted to the cooperation in central Europe and the access
of Yugoslavia to the Central European free trade zone OEFTA.
Joint interest was expressed for the project of the free
trade zone from the Baltic, through the Mediterranean up to
the Black Sea. Mechiar said that Milosevic supported the
agreement of businessmen to increase the scope of trade
exchange between the two countries from the present 23
million US dollars to some 400 million USD. Mechiar also
expressed special thanks to President Milosevic for the
principled policy which Serbia and Yugoslavia are conducting
regarding the national minorities. (Politika, January 30,
1996)
[02] PROMOTION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND YUGOSLAVIA
President Slobodan Milosevic received the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Switzerland and chairman of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, Flavio Cotty who arrived
on a visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Special
attention was devoted to the development of bilateral
relations between Yugoslavia and Switzerland and the actual
questions pertaining to the OSCE activities in former
Yugoslavia and participation of our country in these
activities. Joint interest was expressed for promotion of
mutual relations between Switzerland and the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia, where the dominant place will be occupied by
the development of economic cooperation. The belief was
expressed that the status of the FR of Yugoslavia in the OSCE
will be normalized, since our country is one of its founding
members. After the talks with President Milosevic, Cotty said
that preparation of free and democratic elections in
Bosnia-Herzegovina is the most important task of the OSCE.
The topic of talks, said Cotty, was also the status of the FR
of Yugoslavia in the OSCE. "There is no agreement as yet of
all the members on the return of Yugoslavia, but in any case,
there is a wish for Yugoslavia to be reintegrated in the
OSCE", said Cotty. He also said that he discussed with his
host briefly Kosovo, saying that "we think that this question
should be solved within the territorial integrity of
Yugoslavia". (Politika, January 30, 1996)
[03] RECOGNITION OF YUGOSLAVIA - A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL DECISION
Heads of diplomacies of European Union have agreed to leave
it up to every member-country to decide for itself whether to
recognize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or not.
According to the Spanish Minister Carlos Westendorpf, the
Council of Ministers discussed "extensively and profoundly"
the eventual recognition of the FR of Yugoslavia and
concluded that this recognition "will soon take place".
British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind stated that the
general stand of the EU is "to go for recognition", and that
recognition should not be linked with the question of Kosovo,
as is being requested by some in the European Union. The same
stand was reiterated by the French Foreign Minister Herve de
Charrette who said that France "has no problem with
recognition of Belgrade, with which it had always maintained
relations. The only thing that remains to be done is elevate
the relations to the level of ambassadors". The return of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Europe is in the interest
of Germany and of Europe, said the German Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel. (Politika, January 30, 1996)
[04] HUNGARY IN FAVOR OF RECOGNITION OF YUGOSLAVIA
Hungary will be among the first countries to fully normalize
its relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
including its official recognition and in the near future
will elevate its diplomatic relations with Belgrade to the
ambassadorial level. This was stated yesterday in Budapest by
the Deputy Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Hungary Janosh Tot, during his talk with the
director of Tanjug news agency and chairman of the Foreign
Policy Committee of the Assembly of Serbia, Slobodan
Jovanovic. It was mutually stated that all conditions have
been created for fruitful bilateral cooperation in all the
fields, which was disturbed by the sanctions of the
international community. Hungary has respected the Security
Council resolutions, but over the past years has made
possible the PTT links of Yugoslavia with the world, did not
introduce visas for our citizens and within its possibilities
was allowing free across the border trade and traffic, said
Tot. (Politika ekspres, January 30, 1996)
[05] WITH MORE PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS TO BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING
"Government of Serbia over the past two years in cooperation
with the Federal Government and the National Bank of
Yugoslavia, has achieved a lot in stabilizing conditions of
earning and revival of economic activities, in the increase
of real earnings and standard of living of population, in
re-employing the work force and in providing social security
of population. Social product, industrial and agricultural
production have registered even under sanctions a high growth
rate, even when measured by the international criteria, and
the main burden was suffered by the agrarian fields and power
sector which are relying mostly on the domestic resources",
said the Prime Minister of Serbia Mirko Marjanovic during his
visit yesterday to the public enterprise Oil (Petrol)
Industry of Serbia in Novi Sad. In the opinion of Prime
Minister Marjanovic, now is the right time to talk about the
development perspectives of public enterprises, which make
for 37 percent of the total economic potential of the
Republic, to talk about creating conditions for high market
value of their business and the efficient internal
organization. (Politika, January 30, 1996)
[06] FRONTIER TRIANGLE LINKS BUSINESSMEN
Lifting of international sanctions on Yugoslavia has created
conditions for the cooperation in the field of economics of
the frontier regions of our country, Romania and Hungary to
be revived and promoted. Over the past few days several
meetings were held between the most responsible
representatives of Vojvodina, Hungarian county of Congrad and
Rumanian counties of Temish and Arad. With the Rumanian
counties it was agreed to establish immediately the most
direct cooperation in agriculture, food industry, petrol and
chemical industries. Rumanians have announced that they will
ask from their Government opening of the new border crossings
for purpose of promotion cooperation. In the agreement on the
joint production of seed maize for west-European market
probably the maize breeders from Bulgaria will also join in.
Since the economies of all the three countries are in the
process of ownership transformation, it was pointed out that
this fact is opening possibilities for incorporating in the
realization of the economic programs also the businessmen
from the developed European countries. (Politika, January 30,
1996)
[07] NEIGHBORLY EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
Agreement on cooperation between the Tanjug news agency and
the Hungarian telegraph agency MTI was signed in Budapest by
the director of Tanjug Slobodan Jovanovic and the director of
MTI Karolj Aleksa. By specifying all forms of information
exchange traditionally good cooperation between the two
agencies is renewed through this document. Special part
pertains to the cooperation in the field of economic
information because it is expected that in future business
partners from the FR of Yugoslavia and Hungary will be very
much interested in this type of information. (Borba, January
30, 1996)
[08] ETHNIC CLEANSING ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN SCENARIO
After the recent appeals of the Banja Luka bishop Komarica
for Croats who are living in the area of Mrkonjic Grad and
which according to the Dayton Agreement after February 3,
1996 is to belong to the Serbian side, should not leave their
homes, this was commented in the Rijeka "Novi list" by the
Vicar of Banja Luka bishoprics Miljenko Anicic. The majority
of population of the old Croat village of Majdan with some
one hundred houses, wished to remain, but these days the
trucks of the HVO (Croat Defense Council) arrived to the
village to relocate them to Glamoc, which was seized from
Serbs. The entire Dayton Agreement is a nonsense if people
who are willing to remain must be relocated, says Anicic, and
adds that the HVO members were making a panic among people
saying that there is no future for them in Majdan once the
Serbs arrive. Anicic was especially shocked when he learned
that his warnings about what is really happening with Croats
in the area of Mrkonjic Grad all the Croat newspapers refused
to publish, except for the "Novi list", the only newspaper
which is not under the control of the ruling HDZ (Croat
Democratic Community) party. (Politika, January 30, 1996)
[09] MUSLIMS ARE BURNING CROAT HOUSES
Muslim authorities in Bugojno are not permitting the return
of Croats and have started burning their houses, reports
Radio of the Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. "Over the past
seven days eight Croat houses were burnt-down in Bugojno, and
the Muslim authorities are giving for hire the arable Croat
lands", the Radio quotes vice president of the HDZ in Bugojno
Ivo Mrsa. (Vecernje novosti, January 30, 1996)
[10] 'WE SHALL ALL BE MUSLIMS'
"Come and see for yourselves - there is a danger in Sarajevo
that all of us shall become Muslims". This warning was sent
to the mass public by the Sarajevo Bishop Pero Pranjic, while
speaking for the Italian newspaper "Corierre dela sera" about
what some others both do not wish and do not dare talk. He
recalls the words of the Sarajevo Archbishop Cardinal Vinko
Puljic to the Vatican Cardinal Camilo Ruini that "the war is
over, but for the Church another war is beginning, the hard
clash with Islam". The journalist himself Fracesco Batistini
states with surprise that "Sarajevo Catholics today are
speaking the same thing as the Orthodox". "Islamic fanaticism
has grown and we are afraid", says Pranjic and adds: in the
past meetings were starting with 'good morning', and today
with the prayer to Allah. In schools there were never
prayers, and now professors in class are reading Koran. There
is no pork meat in the shops, prescriptions for medicaments
are written in Arabic, and women who are dressing in the
Islamic style receive 200 DEM per month. Pranjic concludes:
"It is a falsehood that the mujjahedins have returned to
their homes, because many of them are changing names and
obtaining passports". While stating many examples of their
aggression, Pranjic is mentioning also the recent threat of
assassination to the group of boys attending Catholic school.
(Vecernje novosti, January 30, 1996)
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