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Serbia Today, 96-12-25
CONTENTS
[01] ETHNICALLY RESISTANT BUILDINGS
[02] MILOSEVIC: NO ONE SHALL DIVIDE AND DESTABILIZE SERBIA
[03] THE TRIAL AGAINST IZETBEGOVIC STARTED IN BANJALUKA
[04] WE NEED COOPERATION AND NOT FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
[01] ETHNICALLY RESISTANT BUILDINGS
Witty legal "solutions" that surprise the world often come from Croatia.
This time it's about houses being earthquake resistant depending on the
ethnic origin of the owner. This is the only logical interpretation of the
events in the small settlement of Slano near Dubrovnik after the recent
earthquake. The local Committee for earthquake aftermath elimination,
bulldozers were sent to flatten "for security reasons" some two dozen
summer-houses owned by non Croatian proprietors. This would not be so
unusual if the following discrimination were not made: None of the houses
owned by Croats were demolished, in fact they still stand and the official
explanation is that they were not damaged by the earthquake and thus do not
constitute a "safety hazard". The phenomenon was made public by the
Croatian Helsinki Committee in a letter sent to the Croatian Government.
"All the houses that have been demolished, were built in accordance with
the quake-zone building code, and were actually undamaged by the
earthquake." - stress the authors of the letter and conclude that the
"situation created by the earthquake has been abused to destroy buildings
owned by non-Croats."
Serbia Today, 1996-12-25 ; Vecernje Novosti, 1996-12-25
[02] MILOSEVIC: NO ONE SHALL DIVIDE AND DESTABILIZE SERBIA
Yesterday, in the very center of Belgrade, a large rally was held with the
motto "For Serbia", where people from Belgrade and all over Serbia (about
500.000 of them), expressed their support to the policy of peace, freedom,
dignity, independence and autonomy pursued by our country, and conducted by
the President of the Republic - Slobodan Milosevic. The people gathered
were addressed by Mr. Milosevic who said: "Just a year ago we came out of
the direst period of our recent history. Our country has suffered enormous
difficulties that would have brought to the knees even far more developed
and larger countries. At the same time we went through a change of system,
and the break-up of the former state, and a war in the immediate
neighborhood, that brought in a million refugees. Each of these troubles,
each of these blows alone would have destabilized any country, but not our
country that came out of it upright." Not only have we overcome all these
difficulties with success, but we have even started - just a year since the
lifting of the sanctions - to reconstruct and develop our country" - said
President Milosevic and stressed: "A strong Serbia is in contrast with the
ambitions of numerous powers abroad. This is why they rely on the fifth
column - they've been forming here, in their efforts to destabilize and
weaken our country. We will not allow this." "The objective of all the
recent demonstrations is primarily to slow down our economic development,
and secondly to weaken us to the point of jeopardizing the integrity of new
Yugoslavia and Serbia" - remarked Mr. Milosevic and added - " I exempt from
this the young people that want to remove whatever injustice might have
been committed in the local elections, and therefore I've promised to the
university students that I will do all I can to help establish the complete
truth. But I have also told them that the complete truth and any problem
has to be settled within the existing institutions of our country."
Serbia Today, 1996-12-25 ; Politika, 1996-12-25
[03] THE TRIAL AGAINST IZETBEGOVIC STARTED IN BANJALUKA
The reading of the indictment against Alija Izetbegovic accused of war
crimes against civilians, wounded, sick and prisoners of war, marked the
beginning of the trial before the Banjaluka Court yesterday. The indictment
states that between May 1, 1992 and December 14, 1995, Mr. Izetbegovic -
acting as the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Supreme Commander of
the armed forces - and inspired by the idea of creating an Islamic state,
ordered his troops to systematically persecute and liquidate Serbs. Mr.
Izetbegovic is particularly charged with founding about a hundred camps
where Serbs were held prisoners, tortured and murdered, the most notorious
ones being Silos in u Tarcin, Majevica in Visoko, the Central camp set up
in the former "Victor Bubanj" barracks in Sarajevo, Musala and Celebici
near Konjic. Mr. Izetbegovic is also accused of ordering systematic and
planned shelling of Serbian towns and villages with civilian population.
The indictment also charges him with staging the shelling of Moslem-held
boroughs in Sarajevo, leading to massacres like the one in Vasa Miskin St.
and in the Markalle bazar.
Serbia Today, 1996-12-25 ; Borba, 1996-12-25
[04] WE NEED COOPERATION AND NOT FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
At the session of the Serbian parliament, held yesterday, Prime Minister
Mirko Marjanovic presented his expos in view of the debate on the Draft
Serbian Budget for 1997. The Premier announced that the Serbian Government
will conduct a policy of peace, security of the country and of every
individual, modern and free economic and cultural development, and
equitable links with the rest of the world. "Before us lies a time for
major and organized efforts to renew our society both economically and in
general, re-establish the severed ties with the world and allow our society
and it's every member to live peacefully and safely. I believe that this
view of the present and future of Serbia is shared by the greatest majority
of the citizens, and consequently, by most of the political parties as
well." "However" - remarked The Serbian Premier - " there are parties in
our democratic society, lying on the extreme right of our political reality,
that are dissatisfied with the results achieved in the elections. They are
now resorting to various expedients: causing disorders in the streets of
Belgrade and other cities throughout Serbia, calling for political
terrorism, threatening the authorities and innocent passers-by,
manipulating school children and youths, invoking foreign assistance,
spreading lies about their own country." "Some time ago, when the embargo
on Yugoslavia was lifted, the heads of certain opposition parties appalled
not only the Yugoslav public, but the public worldwide, with the protests
they made abroad against the lifting of the sanctions. The world history of
national treason offers no similar example of such hatred towards one's own
country" - said Mr. Marjanovic. "Serbia and Yugoslavia are in favor of all
forms of cooperation with the neighbors, with Europe and with the entire
world. Cooperation is for Serbia the precondition for economic and cultural
revitalization. However, cooperation is one thing, and inviting foreign
countries to become involved in Yugoslav and Serbian political and social
issues, is something quite different", remarked Mr. Marjanovic in his
expose.
Serbia Today, 1996-12-25 ; Politika, 1996-12-25
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