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Serbia Today 96-04-05
5 April 1996
In This Edition
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR THE UNDERDEVELOPED REGIONS
INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES LAUNCHED
CONTENTS
[01] GREATER SUPPORT FOR THE UNDERDEVELOPED REGIONS
[02] GREEK REPORTERS VISITING YUGOSLAVIA
[03] CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC EASTER
[04] INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES LAUNCHED
[05] THE SECURITY COUNCIL IS SATISFIED WITH MILITARY SOLUTIONS
[06] MOSLEMS DEMAND THE URGENT LIFTING OF THE ARMS EMBARGO
[07] THE SLOVENIAN-CROATIAN BORDER IS TO BE ALTERED
[01] GREATER SUPPORT FOR THE UNDERDEVELOPED REGIONS
In spite of the extreme reduction of development potentials, the
Serbian Government has been making efforts to prevent any
further deepening of inter- regional differences, and in future
it plans to stimulate even more the under- developed regions, in
accordance with the policy of regional development of Serbia -
said Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic during his meeting
yesterday with the managers of the Serbian Development
Institute. Stressing that the Government followed an active
development policy right from the start and that it has shown by
implementing the program for the revitalization of the national
economy without foreign aid that it can incite production and
increase the living standard, Mr. Marjanovic observed that his
cabinet based such strategy on expert analyses and projects. The
Government has instructed the Institute to draft development
projects for 24 most underdeveloped counties in Serbia, as well
as for other such regions that show interest for these plans.
This will complete the system of incentives, mechanisms and
measures intended to stimulate investments in these regions, and
harmonize the living and working conditions in Serbia.
(Politika, April 5, 1996)
[02] GREEK REPORTERS VISITING YUGOSLAVIA
Serbian Minister of Information - Mr. Ratomir Vico met with a
group of reputable Greek journalists who are visiting our
country as part of the campaign preparing the Yugoslav
exposition due to take place in Athens at the end of April. Mr.
Vico informed the reporters about the current political and
economic situation in Serbia as well as about the media
pluralism and freedom of the press in the Republic. He also
judged highly the reporting of the Greek media during the
international blockade characterized by false representation of
the events in former Yugoslavia.
The Greek reporters were also received by the Chairman of the
Yugoslav Chamber of Economy - Mr. Mihailo Milojevic, who
stressed that the Yugoslav exhibition in Athens constitutes an
important chance to present the potentials of the national
economy to the Greek partners. The Greek journalist - who are
returning the visit of Yugoslav reporters to Athens - and who
will tour Belgrade and Novi Sad , showed particular interest for
the measures taken to urge foreign financiers to invest in the
Yugoslav economy. (Politika, April 5, 1996)
[03] CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC EASTER
His Holiness - the Serbian Patriarch addressed a traditional
felicitations message for the great Christian holiday of Easter
to Dr. France Perko - Catholic Archbishop of Belgrade.
Expressing hope that "men will answer with love to God's love",
Patriarch Pavle sent his congratulations to the Archbishop of
Belgrade and to all Roman Catholics in our country.
Congratulating Easter to the believers and the clergy of the
Catholic, Christian Reformist and Slovak Evangelist Church,
Serbian Minister of Religious Affairs - Mr. Dragan Dragojlovic -
stressed the importance of "persevering in religious tolerance,
inter-ethnic confidence and promoting all those things that
bring us together and are common to all of us." (Politika, April
5, 1996)
[04] INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES LAUNCHED
Captain Borisa Ilic - Investigative Judge of the Banjaluka
Military Court, submitted a request to the investigative bodies
to gather data on the state of the family homes of all those
whose remains have been identified after being exhumed from the
mass grave at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjic Grad. There are
justified suspicions that the homes have been destroyed and that
this along with the massacre constitutes a crime of war against
civilian population, said Cap. Ilic. From the two mass graves,
181 corpses have been exhumed. They were all victims of the
Moslem-Croatian terror during their offensive on western parts
of the Republic of Srpska last autumn when Mrkonjic grad was
occupied. Many of them were civilians, prevalently women and
elderly persons - said the head of the team of pathologists -
Prof. Dr. Zorana Stankovic, adding that most of them have been
brutally killed - usually with a blow of a blunt object in the
head. There are indications that a certain number of victims
were mental patients - and such individuals are protected by
international laws. (Politika, April 5, 1996)
[05] THE SECURITY COUNCIL IS SATISFIED WITH MILITARY SOLUTIONS
The UN Security Council is pleased with the military solutions
achieved until now, and the international communities and the
sides in conflict should now turn to the "civilian aspects of
the agreement". The Presidential Statement issued yesterday by
the Security Council, instructed all sides to immediately and
unconditionally release all prisoners, ensure the freedom of
movement of all civilians, cooperate with the Hague Tribunal and
become involved in the repatriation of refugees and the respect
of human rights. Criticizing and giving out instructions to all
the Security Council did not mention in particular any of the
sides, except at the end of the statement where it invited all
three nations to fight against populism and divisions and to
rebuild a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Sarajevo, ensuring a
safe life for all in the city. A single polite sentence at the
end of the document indicates "deep concern" for the recent
events in the Sarajevo region which forced "thousands of Serbian
civilians to abandon their homes". The Council did not quote the
figure of 60.000 Serbs that have been ethnically cleansed from
this area. (Vecernje Novosti, April 5, 1996)
[06] MOSLEMS DEMAND THE URGENT LIFTING OF THE ARMS EMBARGO
General Rassim Delic - Chief of Staff of the Moslem-Croatian
Federation Army, endorsed the urgent arming of the Bosnian Army,
in spite of the fact that negotiations on disarmament in the
region are in course in Vienna. In an interview for the Istanbul
newspaper "Zaman", general Delic admitted that he is in a rush
and that the arms embargo should be lifted completely and
urgently, and not gradually and in phases. Delic justified his
demand with the need to balance the power of the Serbs in Bosnia
- i.e. to allow the Moslems to defend themselves from an
imaginary aggressor, once the NATO troops leave Bosnia. (Borba,
April 5, 1996)
[07] THE SLOVENIAN-CROATIAN BORDER IS TO BE ALTERED
Mr. Zmago Jelincic - President of the Slovenian National Party,
stated that the border between Slovenia and Croatia should be
moved in favor of Slovenia. Stressing that the former
Austrian-Hungarian Empire border between Slovenia and Croatia
should be kept in mind - which went southward all the way to the
coastal town of Rijeka - Jelincic accused Croatia of altering
the maps in school books at the expense of Slovenia. "Ever since
1949, Croatia has been deliberately moving the border. Each new
geography book showed a larger Croatia and a smaller Slovenia.
According to the latest map, presented at the tourism fair in
Berlin, Croatia and Italy are neighboring countries with no
Slovenia between them." - said Jelincic. (Politika, April 5,
1996) .
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