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Serbia Today 96-04-24
Serbia Today
24 April 1996
In This Edition
TUDJMAN'S ANTI-CIVLIZATIONAL ACT
MINIMUM OF SERBIAN REQUESTS - AN EQUAL TREATMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA AND THE B&H FEDERATION
WHITE HOUSE FEARED SERBIAN MILITARY SUPREMACY *
CONTENTS
[01] RESOLUTION ADOPTED ON THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND CROATIA
[02] FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN FR OF YUGOSLAVIA AND CHINA
[03] TUDJMAN'S ANTI-CIVILIZATIONAL ACT
[04] AN INTENSIFIED MUSLIM VIOLENCE
[05] MINIMUM OF SERBIAN REQUESTS - AN EQUAL TREATMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA AND THE B&H FEDERATION
[06] PROTEST OF FAMILIES OF MISSING FIGHTERS
[07] WHITE HOUSE FEARED SERBIAN MILITARY SUPREMACY
[01] RESOLUTION ADOPTED ON THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND CROATIA
At the 52nd session of the UN Commission for Human Rights in
Geneva, last night a resolution was adopted on the state of
these rights in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Parts of the resolution which
pertain to the FR of Yugoslavia are considerably more favorable
than in the previous similar documents, because the strongest
accusations are now deleted, such as aggression, genocide,
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija and serious and mass
violations of human rights. The key participants in the debate,
such as the special UN rapporteur for human rights Elizabeth
Ren, the Italian Foreign Minister Susana Agnelli who spoke on
behalf of the European Union and many others, did not place the
FR of Yugoslavia in a negative context. During the drafting of
the resolution (there were seven versions of the text) the
Islamic countries who are having as the sole criteria in the
respect of human rights the religion, have constantly demanded
new accusations of Yugoslavia. Dissatisfied was also the
representative of Croatia, demanding for the resolution to
contain accusations against Yugoslavia for all the trouble
caused in this world, accusing even Elizabeth Ren for
"equalizing the guilt". But the essence of strives of Elizabeth
Ren is that the same criteria be applied to all the sides.
Therefore, she had specially elaborated the crimes which Croats
have committed in Krajina and Western Slavonia and the crimes
committed against Serbs in Bosnia. In spite of an undoubtedly
more favorable resolution this year while speaking of the FR of
Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Mission at the UN, immediately after
the document was presented, has submitted its objections to it.
One of the main remarks is that the serious violations of human
rights against Serbs are practically completely ignored. It is
recalled that there was a Croat aggression on Western Slavonia
and Krajina in May and August last year, which is not even
mentioned in the resolution, in spite of several reports about
this aggression submitted even by the UN Secretary General, by
the Security Council, special envoy of the UN High Commissariat
for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In the comments of our Mission it is also stated that there are
listings of the yet undiscovered mass graves in Srebrenica,
Zepa, Prijedor, Sanski Most and Vukovar, while there is no
mention at all of the already discovered mass graves in Mrkonjic
Grad, Krajina, Western Slavonia and in other places where the
assassinated Serbs are buried. Special chapter of the comment
pertains to Kosovo and Metohija. According to the Yugoslav
assessments, the manner in which this Serbian province is
treated in the resolution means a call for the Albanian
separatists to intensify their efforts for the secession.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia categorically refuses all
accusations for the violation of the minority rights in its
territory and recalls that it is the state of all of its
citizens, which is clearly defined in its Constitution.
(Politika, April 24, 1996)
[02] FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN FR OF YUGOSLAVIA AND CHINA
Yugoslavia is interested to achieve with China a high level of
cooperation in the economic, cultural and sports fields, which
already exists on the political level, stated Slobodan Unkovic
Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to China, at
the press conference for Chinese reporters. Ambassador Unkovic
especially informed the press about the actual events taking
place in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and underlined the
return of our country to the international institutions and full
lifting of sanctions, as one of the priorities of the politics
and economic strategies of Belgrade at present. He thanked China
for its principled stand during the time of crisis in former
Yugoslavia and for the understanding for the difficulties of the
FR of Yugoslavia. (Politika, April 24, 1996)
[03] TUDJMAN'S ANTI-CIVILIZATIONAL ACT
Croat President Franjo Tudjman in his interview two days ago for
the Croat press, reiterated his earlier intention for Jasenovac,
the largest Serbian execution grounds in World War Two, to be
desecrated by burying the executioners by the side of their
victims. In this way he has proved that he is ignoring the
warnings of the U.S. Congress and objections coming from all
over the world. "In Croatia and in the world, some circles and
individuals have raised their voice against the idea on
rearrangement of Jasenovac, but I think that we have many
reasons for carrying the idea into life of transforming
Jasenovac into a memorial complex for all the war victims,
because in the location of the present-day Jasenovac not only
the victims of Fascism are buried".
Tudjman is avoiding the historical facts that Jasenovac, the
largest concentration camp in the Balkans in the World War Two
and the execution grounds of over 700,000 Serbs, Jews and
Gypsies, after World War Two was erased to the ground, just
because of "eliminating the traces of the Ustashi crime of
genocide".
"Jasenovac, the way it is today, for the majority of Croat
people can not represent a place which the Croat people can
accept", says Tudjman, continuing in his re-tailoring of
history, in a vain attempt to prove to the world that further to
Serbs, Jews and Gypsies as the most numerous victims of genocide
of the Ustashi regime, to the same extent have also perished the
others, even those who have committed the crimes". (Politika,
April 24, 1996)
[04] AN INTENSIFIED MUSLIM VIOLENCE
Several hundreds of militant Muslims from the direction of
Kalesija for the third day now are trying to enter by force the
Serbian villages of Kitovnice, Desice and Djetice, in the
north-west of Zvornik. Muslim group has tried by shouting,
voicing threats and the use of force to seize the part of
territory of the Republic of Srpska. The Command of the Zvornik
garrison of the Republic of Srpska Army, whose members have, in
accordance with the Dayton Agreement scheduled dynamics,
withdrawn from the previous separation lines, is saying the
following: "The entrance of Muslims by forcible way into the
territory of the Republic of Srpska is unpermissible and
practically means the violation of the territory which
undisputably according to the Dayton Agreement belongs to Serbs.
The worst part is that these groups are headed by the war
criminals among Muslims, who have taken part in the mass and
most brutal murders of Serbs in these villages". The Serbian
side is pointing out that the members of the International
Police did not show any serious readiness to prevent incidents
on the border line between the Republic of Srpska and the
Muslim-Croat Federation. (Vecernje novosti, April 24, 1996)
[05] MINIMUM OF SERBIAN REQUESTS - AN EQUAL TREATMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA AND THE B&H FEDERATION
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Rajko Kasagic and
the Minister of Foreign Affairs Aleksa Buha have received in
Pale the French Ambassador in Sarajevo Iv Goden and informed him
of the stand of their government - that the minimum of Serbian
requests is for an equal treatment of the Republic of Srpska and
the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Federation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina has received from the international community
200,000 US dollars for development and reconstruction. Republic
of Srpska did not receive anything, and the international
community, if it wishes to help in the reconstruction and
revitalization of the Republic of Srpska should allocate its
fund for it, on equal footing as for all the other areas in
former Yugoslavia", said Kasagic. The French Ambassador said
that his country will strive for the international aid to be
allocated to both entities in former Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Borba,
April 24, 1996)
[06] PROTEST OF FAMILIES OF MISSING FIGHTERS
The protest rally of the Association of Families of Missing
Fighters of the Republic of Srpska Army held yesterday in Banja
Luka is so far the most massive appeal sent both to the local
and the world public for the liberation of all those who are
still detained in various prisons. It is obvious that the
international community is not willing to make pressure on all
the sides so that all the prisoners would be released, and the
dead be given a dignified burial, said the president of this
Association Branko Panic. He also said that so far the
Association has registered 47 mass graves of Serbian people and
95 prisons, but that the International Committee of the Red
Cross visited only one fifth of them. In the letter of protest
sent from this rally to Carl Bildt and presidents of the major
countries of the world, it is also said the following: "All
deadlines when the prisoners should have been released have
already passed, and our sons, fathers and brothers are still
kept in the jails of the Muslim-Croat Federation, or maybe the
hardest destiny has befallen them. About those missing from the
Federation there is a constant talk, while you are not
interested in the fate of Serbs. This we can tolerate no
longer". (Vecernje novosti, April 24, 1996)
[07] WHITE HOUSE FEARED SERBIAN MILITARY SUPREMACY
Clinton Administration decided not to oppose Iranian arming of
the Muslims in Bosnia two years ago, because it was afraid of
the military defeat of the government in Sarajevo. This was the
justification stated yesterday before the Committee of the House
of Representatives for foreign relations of the U.S. Congress,
by the Under-Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff, refusing the
accusations by the Republicans that the White House had given
"the green light" to Croatia for the delivery of Iranian arms to
its Muslim war ally. This was happening at the time when the
White House was publicly attacking Republicans for their demands
to lift the embargo on the arms deliveries to Bosnia. The anger
of the Republicans is now alleviated in the manner judged to be
the best - by an explanation that everything that was done was
aimed against Serbs. "In view of the urgency of the military
situation on the ground and the shifts in the balance in favor
of the Bosnian Serbs, Administration did not oppose possible
arming of Muslims through Croatia. We decided neither to approve
not to oppose such armament", said Tarnoff. At the same time, he
tried to convince the Congressmen that such a play with the UN
Resolution for whose strict respect the United States were
publicly striving, was in no case a violation of "the letter of
the law". (Politika ekspres, April 24, 1996)
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