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Serbia Today 96-04-01
1 April 1996
In This Edition
SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO THE WORLD MARKET
PAVELIC'S TRIUMPHANT COMEBACK
CONTENTS
[01] SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO THE WORLD MARKET
[02] THE CONTINUITY OF THE COUNTRY - A POLITICAL AND LEGAL ISSUE
[03] SCIENCE - A TICKET TO THE WORLD
[04] COL. KRSMANOVIC TRANSFERRED FROM THE HAGUE TO SARAJEVO
[05] ZAGREB'S LIST OF MOSLEM CRIMINALS
[06] THE PEACE PROCESS IN BOSNIA DELAYED
[07] THE MASS GRAVE IN MRKONJIC GRAD IS BEING EXHUMED
[08] UNPUNISHED VIOLENCE
[09] PAVELIC'S TRIUMPHANT COMEBACK
[01] SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO THE WORLD MARKET
Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic inaugurated the 35th car
exposition at the Belgrade Fair. The traditional venue
represents the major fair this year and encompasses some 350
domestic and foreign exhibitors, the best known domestic and
global companies producing automobiles, trucks, special vehicles
and ancillary components. Exhibitors from all over the world,
both numerous and reputable, clearly indicate that our country
has returned to the world market - said Prime Minister
Marjanovic, remarking that the production in the sector will
quickly manage to attract foreign partners and investors with
successful and high quality operation. "We give particular
attention to the strengthening of the ties between domestic and
foreign makers, including higher forms of cooperation. The
Serbian Government is resolute to continue its policy ensuring
equal market conditions for all, as well as its policy to open
the economy to the world. The laws and regulations on foreign
investments are being amended, which will additionally alleviate
the input of foreign capital and motivate investors to support
financially our economy." - Mr. Marjanovic anticipated.
(Politika, March 30, 1996)
[02] THE CONTINUITY OF THE COUNTRY - A POLITICAL AND LEGAL ISSUE
Yugoslavia accepts all conditions which will allow it to
normalize its relations with all international institutions and
neighboring countries in level-field conditions. Our full return
to the world market and in the various organizations, represents
a pre-condition for the revitalization of our economy and its
intensive growth. However, FR Yugoslavia is not prepared to
renounce to the continuity of preceding country, because this is
not an economic but a political and legal issue. Furthermore, we
can not accept the fact that unprecedented criteria and
conditions be applied to us, having rather political than
economic grounds." This was stressed by Yugoslav Prime Minister
- Dr. Radoje Kontic, during his recent visit to the industrial
center of Nis. He also repeated that the coherent implementation
of the Dayton Agreement is a condition for peace in the Balkans,
and that FR Yugoslavia is opposed to any revisions of its
articles as well as contrary to further delays. (Borba, March
30, 1996)
[03] SCIENCE - A TICKET TO THE WORLD
Thanks to the determination of the Serbian Government to
allocate major funding for science and help it maintain the
position it deserves, significant results have been achieved in
scientific research in our country, said Serbian Deputy Premier
and Minister of Science and Technology - Prof. Dr. Slobodan
Unkovic. "Considering the technological achievements and the
overall level of development, Yugoslavia and Serbia are among
the leading medium-developed countries, and in certain areas -
such as bio-technical sciences - we can are leveled with the
most developed countries." - Dr. Unkovic remarked. This
justifies the interest displayed by certain western countries
for the solutions that our scientists have come up with. We have
16.500 scientists and experts in Serbia, and this major
scientific potential, if given adequate support by the state,
can greatly contribute to the affirmation of our country in the
world. (TANJUG, April 4, 1996)
[04] COL. KRSMANOVIC TRANSFERRED FROM THE HAGUE TO SARAJEVO
By April 3rd, Colonel Aleksa Krsmanovic of the Republic of
Srpska Army (VRS), will be transferred from custody in the Hague
to Sarajevo from where he was originally sent to the Hague. The
Hague Tribunal made this decision in lack of evidence for the
indictment of Col. Krsmanovic, and he refuses to testify which
is why he was transferred to the Hague in the first place. And
whilst the tribunal prosecutor - Mr. Goldstone affirmed that
there are no grounds for indictment, the representative of the
Bosnian Moslem Government to the Hague Tribunal - Ms. Vasvija
Vidovic - "clarified" that colonel Krsmanovic is "suspected of
genocide and war crimes not only against civilians in Sarajevo
but also for crimes he committed in the town of Sokolac." Mr.
Igor Pantelic - representing Col. Krsmanovic - asked how is it
that the Hague Tribunal has kept silent about the Krsmanovic
case for 47 days, and the Sarajevan court has such ample
evidence on alleged crimes. (Vecernje novosti, March 30, 1996)
[05] ZAGREB'S LIST OF MOSLEM CRIMINALS
Since the Moslems did not desist from prosecuting more than 150
Croats accused of war crimes, the Croatian side returned the
blow by forming a list of 687 Moslems accused of being war
criminals. The indictment itself came from Travnik, but there
are no doubts that it originated in Zagreb. According to the
Croats, the Moslems passed the limit - in the latest issue of
"Sloboda" a Moslem newspaper published in Mostar, Croatian
President Tudjman and several of his closest collaborators have
been personally accused of war crimes committed in the town of
Stolac. Croatian political circles took this as a "stab in the
back" by the Moslems. If the Croatian leader is a war criminal -
as the Moslems affirm - how can a confederacy and cooperation be
established with such a nation? Consequently the Croats
"retaliated" with a long list of Moslem war criminals. The
highest commanders of Mr. Izetbegovic's army have been accused
of ethnic cleansing in the zone of Zenica and Travnik and
included in the list. (Vecernje novosti, March 31 1996)
[06] THE PEACE PROCESS IN BOSNIA DELAYED
There is an evident delay in the peace process in Bosnia, and
its effects might jeopardize the entire course of the peace
operation - stress EU circles in Brussels. The evaluation is
confirmed by the obviously nervous actions by Washington that
sent the head of the Pentagon - Mr. William Perry to Zagreb and
Sarajevo, in an attempt to salvage the Moslem-Croatian
federation. The cracks are visible along all the borders running
across the "allied" territory in Bosnia. "Both federation
members have reason to doubt the true intentions of the other
side" - remarks the Brussels newspaper "Le Soir" quoting a
diplomat from the Contact Group for Bosnia. The Moslems are
protesting against the fact that the Croats are reinforcing
Herzeg-Bosnia, whilst the Croats object to the way the Moslem
Presidency in Sarajevo is building up its centralized state.
(Politika, March 31, 1996)
[07] THE MASS GRAVE IN MRKONJIC GRAD IS BEING EXHUMED
The exhumation and the post-mortem of the bodies buried in the
mass grave at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjic Grad is
proceeding slowly. The tomb contains the remains of the
civilians and Bosnian Serb Army soldiers killed last autumn
during the Croatian-Moslem joint offensive on the western border
of the Republic of Srpska. The initial findings made by the
expert team of pathologists from the Military Medical Academy in
Belgrade - headed by Prof. Dr. Zoran Stankovic, revealed that
the graves contain the remains of both civilians and soldiers
and the identification will be very difficult. The exhumation is
monitored by the representative of the Hague International
Tribunal for Crimes of War - Mr. John Gems, as well as by
observers from the EU Mission, the International Police forces
and from the Fund for Humanitarian Rights from Belgrade.
(Politika, April 4, 1996)
[08] UNPUNISHED VIOLENCE
The position and the rights of the Serbian population in
Croatia, in the zones that the Croatian military seized last
year, are still quite uncertain - states UN Reporter for Human
Rights - Ms. Elisabeth Renn in her last report from the field.
After visiting former Yugoslav countries at the end of the last
year and the beginning of this year, Ms. Renn expressed
particular alarm for the robberies, harassment and
discrimination of Serbian population in former UNPA zones. In
her report, she indicates that most of the Serbs have left
Croatia, and expresses concern for the return of the Serbian
refugees and the progressive reduction of the remaining Serbian
population in the existing conditions. Under international
pressure, Croatian authorities have applied certain measures to
improve the situation, but they are insufficient - states the UN
Special Reporter on Human Rights in Former Yugoslavia.
(Politika, April 4, 1996)
[09] PAVELIC'S TRIUMPHANT COMEBACK
Ante Pavelic (leader of the Ustashi - Croatian Fascists during
WW II) will return to Croatia through the front door - remarks
the Rijeka daily "Novi List" - in a commentary about President
Tudjman's decision to bury the dead Ustashi along with their
victims in the Jasenovac extermination camp. The same newspaper
reminds that the transformation of Jasenovac into a "memorial
park for all Croatian victims of war" has been chosen by Tudjman
as a national priority. The idea of the Croatian President has
not been yet discussed by the Croatian Parliament, although the
US Congress already had a debate in this regard. Whilst the
American Congressmen are appalled by the idea to transform the
Jasenovac camp, certain members of the Croatian Parliament
affirm that "there has never been a fascist movement in Croatia,
nor were there supporters of Fascism, but merely fighters for
the Croatian state." The same daily observes that at the same
time, Pavelic has returned to Croatia through the front door:
his books are being published and not as critical editions
(which could be understood) but rather as "fundamental literary
works, that should be used to educate the youth". (Borba, April
4, 1996) .
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