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Serbia Today 96-04-08
8 April 1996
In This Edition
MEDIA REPRIMANDED ONLY AFTER THE END OF WAR
THE HAGUE KNOWS BUT IS SILENT
Supplement to the News Briefs: CROATIA CREATED AN ARMY BY VIOLATING THE UN EMBARGO
CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC RECEIVES U.S. SENATORS
[02] RETURN TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
[03] THE THIRD CONVENTION OF HUMANITARIAN AID DONORS ADJOURNED
[04] SPREADING HATRED AGAINST THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
[05] GOVERNMENT DECISION WITH NAZI ELEMENTS
[06] SERBS SUBMIT FILES ON 16 PRISONERS
[07] THE LARGEST SERBIAN EXECUTION GROUNDS IN THE PAST WAR
[08] UN AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE FALSEHOODS ABOUT MARKALE
[09] MEDIA REPRIMANDED ONLY AFTER THE END OF WAR
[10] THE HAGUE KNOWS BUT IS SILENT
[11] IRONY OF THE AMERICAN ARMING OF MUSLIMS
[12] CROATIA CREATED AN ARMY BY VIOLATING THE UN EMBARGO
[01] PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC RECEIVES U.S. SENATORS
President of the Republic Slobodan Milosevic received the
delegation of the U.S. senators composed of Thomas Deshl, a
Democrat from South Dakota, Orin Hatch, a Republican from Utah
and Harry Raid, a Democrat from Nevada. Senators expressed
special interest in the implementation of the peace agreement on
Bosnia and the most important aspects of the political situation
in the region. During the talks, attention was focused also on
the further development of bilateral relations between the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the United States. President
Milosevic expressed his condolences to the senators on the
tragic death of the U.S. Trade Secretary Ronald Brown and
members of the American delegation who have perished in the
plane crash. (Politika, April 6, 1996)
[02] RETURN TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Yugoslavia will return to the World Health Organization (WHO)
automatically, as soon as its return to the UN membership is
resolved, which is expected to take place at the next session of
the UN General Assembly in May, said the WHO representative in
Belgrade, Dr. Rista Tervahauta. According to him, the
cooperation between WHO and Yugoslavia in the realization of
many health programs even during sanctions was not abandoned,
but was taking place, although under difficult conditions. He
said that the Federal Ministry for Labor, Health and Social
Policies has accepted that Yugoslavia takes an active part in
the realization of six priority programs of the WHO, immediately
upon its return to the membership of this organization.
(Politika ekspres, April 8, 1996)
[03] THE THIRD CONVENTION OF HUMANITARIAN AID DONORS ADJOURNED
The third convention of the humanitarian aid donors - assistance
by the Yugoslav citizens and migrants, which has gathered last
weekend in Belgrade more than 100 participants from Europe,
Canada, United States and Australia, has adjourned its work by
the appeal to intensify humanitarian and all other forms of
assistance to the destitute persons in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and in the Republic of Srpska. The Federal
Coordination Board for humanitarian aid and the Yugoslav Red
Cross will directly cooperate with the associations of the
Yugoslav citizens and migrants and the international
humanitarian organizations. Participants of the convention have
called upon the donors to take part in the project of
construction and equipping of the facilities for permanent
accommodation of refugees, and especially have recommended
sheltering of school-age children who have lost their parents
during the war. (Borba, April 8, 1996)
[04] SPREADING HATRED AGAINST THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
From certain circles in Croatia often the ungrounded accusations
and falsehoods are launched against the Serbian Orthodox Church,
in the attempt to present this religious community as the
initiator of the brutal civil war and the cause of all evil in
these areas. All this in turn is to serve as an excuse for the
conclusion that the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia should be
transformed into the Croat Orthodox Church, just as was
attempted at the time of Pavelic's Independent State of Croatia
(NDH). Several days ago, in the Croat TV program "TV
Parliament", participants were talking along these lines, which
was the cause for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Zagreb
Eparchy to send a letter of protest. In the letter it is said
that together with the data on destroyed Catholic churches and
mosques in Bosnia-Herzegovina, there was no mention at all of
the destruction of churches and sacral buildings of the Serbian
Orthodox Church. About the alleged "occupation of space" by the
Serbian Orthodox Church, Archierarcal deputy Milenko Popovic
says that together with the Orthodox population in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, several eparchies have
disappeared which have existed there for centuries. "Forcing the
Serbian Orthodox Church, the Church of Serbs in Croatia, to
change its name, would be a violence and pressure on it to
renounce on its people. And it has never done this. Serbs in
Croatia can not be disputed the right to belong to their mother
Orthodox Church", concludes the letter. (Politika, April 8,
1996)
[05] GOVERNMENT DECISION WITH NAZI ELEMENTS
The recent decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
on the sale of apartments owned by the Republic of Croatia,
which are managed by the Ministry of Defense, is the most
serious violation of human rights and basic freedoms guaranteed
by the Constitution, because the right to the ownership of
property is not only conditioned by Croat citizenship, but also
by nationality. This is the fact that is pointed out in the
latest declaration for the public by the Croat Helsinki Board
for human rights in Zagreb, and it is underlined that "this
decision contains elements of Nazism" and is opposed to the
relevant provisions of the international norms and treaties.
(Politika, April 8, 1996)
[06] SERBS SUBMIT FILES ON 16 PRISONERS
Authorities of the Republic of Srpska have submitted files with
evidence for 16 imprisoned Muslims and Croats whom they have
detained in prison on charges of war crimes committed against
Serbs in Bosnia. This was reported by the offices of the high
envoy Carl Bildt. It is not stated, however, whether
representatives of Serbs in Bosnia will now be allowed to attend
the conference of donors for reconstruction and development of
Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is to start on April 12, 1996 in
Brussels. This has confirmed what the authorities of the
Republic of Srpska have already reported that they have
fulfilled the obligation on the release of all prisoners.
President of the state commission of the Republic of Srpska for
the exchange of the prisoners of war Dragan Bulajic said that
Croats and Muslims did not respect the Dayton Agreement, because
they are still holding 19 registered and a large number of
unregistered Serbian prisoners. (Borba, April 8, 1996)
[07] THE LARGEST SERBIAN EXECUTION GROUNDS IN THE PAST WAR
The mass grave in Mrkonjic Grad where Serbian soldiers and
civilians are buried, is one of the largest Serbian execution
grounds in this war, when killing was done after the
Muslim-Croat aggression, said in Banja Luka the leader of the
forensic medical team of experts, pathologist Dr. Zoran
Stankovic. He said that from the 181 victims found in the mass
grave, 89 of them are identified, mostly elderly persons. About
the identification and exhumation of the victims from the mass
grave in the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjic Grad, Dr. Stankovic
will speak on Monday at the press conference for local and
foreign reporters in Banja Luka. (Vecernje novosti, April 7,
1996)
[08] UN AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE FALSEHOODS ABOUT MARKALE
The renown Rumanian daily newspaper "Curierul Nacional" writes
today that Serbs were victims of a great injustice, and this
with the knowledge of the UN, when they were accused of the
massacre at the Sarajevo Markale market place on February 5,
1994. Quoting the contents from the book by the former French
President Mitterrand and his claims that the UN Secretary
General Ghali knew the real truth about Markale, the newspaper
is pointing out that Muslims in Markale have killed their own
people in order to give cause to NATO to bombard Serbs. The
dirty face of the Bosnian war is slowly surfacing to the light
of day, says the newspaper, recalling that the media,
intoxicated with anti-Serbian hysteria, have not only refused to
listen to the declaration of the Bosnian Serbs about Markale,
but have also focused their anger on the only reporter, the
Frenchman Bernard Valker, who reported that the massacre was
committed by the Muslims. Mitterrand's manuscripts and the court
decision to free Valker from all charges "are a small step in
the penetration of the truth through the cobweb of mystification
about the terrible war years of Bosnia", writes the Rumanian
newspaper. (Vecernje novosti, April 7, 1996)
[09] MEDIA REPRIMANDED ONLY AFTER THE END OF WAR
In the program broadcasted two nights ago in the Serbian
language, BBC investigated the statement made by the one time
UNPROFOR spokesman Chris Gunness, that reporters did not gain
much glory while reporting from the hot Balkan grounds.
Gunness's statement was quoted, given during the radio academy
program in London, that the reporters had an anti-Serbian
attitude and that they did not understand and have neither even
tried to understand the complexities of the problem. "At the
very beginning of war it was decided that Serbs are the bad guys
and that Muslims and Croats are the victims, and to quote only
one example, when the offensive on Krajina took place, it was
very difficult for the media to understand that those who were
proclaimed to be victims for years, have now become the
aggressors, while Serbs who were always pictured as aggressors,
now are the victims", said Gunness. "It was very difficult for
me, as the spokesman of the UNPROFOR, to explain to the
reporters, and through them to the public, that this one and the
same Croat Army, presented for so long as the poorly armed
victim of powerful Yugoslav People's Army, has in fact aimed its
weapons on the Serbian minority, having thus become an
aggressor", explained Gunness. Accusations that in the press
reports the facts were intentionally misrepresented and that
reporters were often working at the orders not of their
conscience but of some other factors, was stated also by the
high representatives of the international community who were
mediating in the solution of the Yugoslav conflict, recalls the
BBC. Among them is also the former UNPROFOR Commander, General
Michael Rose who upon his return from Bosnia stated the
following: "It is quite understandable that the government
fighting for its survival will use a propaganda machinery, but
it is not understandable that the international media have
become a part of this machinery". (Politika, April 8, 1996)
[10] THE HAGUE KNOWS BUT IS SILENT
Indictments of the Prosecutor of the International Tribunal in
the Hague Richard Goldstone, are primarily a political act and
for this reason no member of the armed forces of the Republic of
Croatia is on the list of persons suspected of war crimes. If it
was not so, claims the director of the documentation and
information center "Veritas" Savo Strbac, Goldstone would raise
his voice on the basis of 13 files about crimes committed by the
Croat armed forces against Serbian population, which we have
submitted to him. Among the documents are also the facts about
crimes committed by the Croat forces in Gospic, Pakrac Plain,
Marino Selo, Miljevacki Plateau, Maslenica, Medak and Mirlovica
Plain. Croat army and police have attacked areas under UN
protection, but in spite of all this, Security Council as the
founder of the International Tribunal, in its condemnation of
Croatia did not go beyond a presidential statement, says Strbac.
UN Security Council and the Tribunal in the Hague know precisely
the scope of crime committed by the Croat army and police
against the people and the army of the Republic of Serbian
Krajina, but are behaving as if all this did not happen at all.
If it was not so, the official contacts of "Veritas" with the
representatives of the International Tribunal would not be
terminated at the intervention of Prosecutor Goldstone, says
Strbac. (Vecernje novosti, April 8, 1996)
[11] IRONY OF THE AMERICAN ARMING OF MUSLIMS
The latest discovery that the official Washington D.C. was
practically arming Bosnian Muslims through Iran, according to
the British BBC, is yet another sign of "irony" of the U.S.
policy in Bosnia. The United States have allowed arming of
Muslims and have even taken part in this through Iran, the
country which according to the British press, is officially its
"greatest enemy". The discovery of "The Los Angeles Times" that
Bill Clinton's Administration in spite of the UN embargo both
knew and approved of the clandestine operations by Iran, for
British analysts is not a surprise and they recall that during
the civil war in Bosnia Britain and France were giving public
warnings about this. Therefore, the official ally, Washington
D.C., allowed arms supplies which could be used against British
and French soldiers who were at that time 'blue helmets' in
Bosnia. For the irony to be even greater, Croatia kept one third
of these weapons for itself, so that it could now be used
against Muslims themselves, in case of possible new Croat-Muslim
conflicts. (Politika, April 7, 1996)
[12] CROATIA CREATED AN ARMY BY VIOLATING THE UN EMBARGO
The UN embargo on the arms sales to former Yugoslavia, was
violated with the knowledge and in front of the very eyes of the
western countries, as is being revealed these days by the U.S.
press. The foremost role in this had Croatia which during the
embargo has created a real army, comments the AFP.
Arming of the Muslims in Bosnia from the year 1992, with the
silent consent of Washington D.C., presented by "The Los Angeles
Times" as a discovery, was a public secret at least for those
who were on the ground, says the French news agency. Muslims in
spite of the embargo were supplied with light armament and all
the necessary military equipment, but they were not allowed to
create the air force or a respective artillery, concludes the
AFP. President of Croatia Tudjman made on May 30, 1995 a
military parade near Zagreb and in front of the foreign
ambassadors and military attaches presented the most
sophisticated armament. It was obvious that the times were past
when the Croat general Spegelj by trucks (illegally while
Croatia was still within the former Yugoslavia) was importing in
a clandestine way Kalashnikovs from Hungary. Military parade
demonstrated MIG-21 aircrafts, helicopters MI-24 "tank killers",
tanks T-55 and M-84. "Stabilization of the situation in Croatia
with the UN mandate of February 1992, made it possible for
Croatia to create an army. Croatia should thank us", said one UN
officer in January this year, while leaving Zagreb.
But the entire world, or at least those in charge of the embargo
control, have already known that because it is not possible to
hide such a growth of military power. In Croatia armament was
arriving through many channels, especially from the countries of
the former Warsaw Pact, claims the agency. An extremely active
channel was leading through Argentine, and was established by
the ultra-nationalistic (Ustashi) Croat immigration. Arms from
Europe were initially exported to that country and then,
violating the UN embargo, were sent to Croatia. The responsible
politicians of the western countries, in order to show that they
are decisive in striving for the respect of the embargo on the
sale of arms to former Yugoslavia, were quoting the mission of
strict control conducted by NATO in the Adriatic. However,
convoys of arms were coming by land and with the consent of the
surrounding countries, were ending up in Croatia, concludes the
AFP. (Tanjug, April 8, 1996) .
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