Subject: YDS 8/31 From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov) 31. AUGUST 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY C O N T E N T S : FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - MILOSEVIC RECEIVES HOLBROOKE - MILOSEVIC, HOLBROOKE END SECOND ROUND OF TALKS - YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENTARIAN UPHOLDS U.N. AGENDA FOR PEACE - ICRC SHOULD HELP DETERMINE FATE OF MISSING SERB REFUGEES NATO BOMBING OF BOSNIAN SERBS - NATO, RRF ATTACK SERB CIVILIAN TARGETS TOO - DEATHS OF FIVE E.U. OBSERVERS CONFIRMED - GEN. MLADIC: NATO MEDDLING DANGEROUS TO PEACE - NATO PLANES BOMB HOSPITAL IN SERB PART OF SARAJEVO - BOSNIAN SERBS EXPECT MORE NATO STRIKES - NATO PLANE DOWNED - BOSNIAN SERB ARMY DOWNS SECOND NATO PLANE - FRENCH NATO FIGHTER-BOMBER SHOT DOWN OVER BOSNIA REACTIONS OF NATO BOMBING BOSNIAN SERBS - YELTSIN CONDEMNS NATO'S 'CRUEL BOMBARDMENT' OF SERBS - RUSSIA REQUESTS SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING - RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR IN BELGRADE CONDENMS NATO BOMBING OF BOSNIAN SERBS - LOBOV: RUSSIA DOES NOT APPROVE RAIDS AGAINST THE BOSNIAN SERBS O P I N I O N S - EYAL: NATO STRIKES IN BOSNIA MIGHT ENCOURAGE MUSLIMS TO CONTINUE WAR SERB KRAJINA-CROATIA - WITHDRAWAL OF HEAVY WEAPONRY IN SECTOR EAST - CROATIA PERSECUTES SERBS IN OCCUPIED PARTS OF SERB KRAJINA - TORCHING OF HOUSES, PLUNDERING UNDERWAY IN KRAJINA, CROATIAN OPPOSITION OFFICIAL SAYS FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA MILOSEVIC RECEIVES HOLBROOKE B e l g r a d e, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic here on Wednesday received head of the U.S. negotiating table Richard Holbrooke. Before the talks commenced, Holbrooke said U.S. President Bill Clinton had sent a negotiating team for talks on reaching a peaceful settlement at a time of war, as the latter described it. Holbrooke said time was more precious than ever and added the talks with Muslim leaders in Paris were constructive, adding he hoped the talks in Belgrade would be productive. MILOSEVIC, HOLBROOKE END SECOND ROUND OF TALKS B e l g r a d e, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the U.S.' negotiators for former Yugoslavia, headed by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, ended their second round of talks in Belgrade late on Wednesday. Milosevic and the U.S. team are to resume talks on Thursday, while Holbrooke will travel to Zageb to review the details of his Belgrade talks with Croatian and Bosnian Muslim leaders. Speaking after the meeting with Milosevic, Holbrooke said that the subjects of discussion had included the agreement between the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs and the Yugoslav Federation of Serbia and Montenegro on a coordinated approach to the peace process. The agreement contains promising elements which indicate that there is a chance for peace in the region, Holbrooke said. He would not give details of the talks, however, saying that they must remain confidential at this stage in the proceedings. YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENTARIAN UPHOLDS U.N. AGENDA FOR PEACE N e w Y o r k, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia fully upholds the U.N.'s agenda for peace, which aims to deal with conflicts on the basis of preventive diplomacy and a firm peace protection policy, a Yugoslav official said at U.N. Headquarters in New York on Wednesday. Speaking at a special session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Council, Yugoslav delegation head Milos Radulovic said that Yugoslavia believed that, if peace were to be protected and consolidated, there must be no use of force or pressure in any form. Radulovic, Speaker of the Yugoslav Parliament's Chamber of Republics (Upper House), said the U.N. had the great responsibility to protect world peace and security in an efficacious, just and unbiased way on the principles set down in the U.N. Charter. He said he felt convinced that the U.N. should give priority to peaceful and political methods in dealing with international problems and conflicts and, especially, the elimination of their causes. Ihe IPU Council's special session on Wednesday is marked by the 50th anniversary of the U.N., and is devoted to a parliamentary vision of international cooperation in the 21st century. ICRC SHOULD HELP DETERMINE FATE OF MISSING SERB REFUGEES B e l g r a e, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Foreign Ministry has called on the ICRC to do its utmost to determine the fate of 10,000 missing Serbs from the Republic of Serb Krajina. During a meeting in Belgrade on Wednesday, Head of the Foreign Ministry Department for International Organizations Branko Brankovic and ICRC representative Francois Stamm agreed that the issue, besides its humanitarian weight, had political importance. The fate of the refugees, if fears are confirmed, would be another tragic proof that mass crimes are being perpetrated again, similarly to the crimes committed by the ustashi during World War Two, and that nazism and fascism are being restored in Croatia. About 250,000 Serbs fled the Republic of Serb Krajina after the beginning of the Croatian aggression on August 4. a convoy of 10,000 refugees, which left Topusko (Sector North) disappeared on the Zagreb-Belgrade highway on August 13. Vladislav Jovanovic, in his capacity as Yugoslav Foreign Minister, and Yugoslav Ambassador to the U.N. Dragomir Djokic, have already urged the international community to determine the fate of the missing refugees. Brankovic also called on the ICRC to prevent the U.N. peacekeeping force from handing over 62 Serbs to Croatia in Knin. Croatia requests their extradition claiming, without documents or evidence, that they are war criminals. Brankovic urged the ICRC to act within its mandate and demand that Croatia fully respect the international humanitarian law. NATO BOMBING OF BOSNIAN SERBS NATO, RRF ATTACK SERB CIVILIAN TARGETS TOO D o b o j, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - NATO planes and international RRF are attacking civilian targets in Bosnian Serb Republic, Bosnian Serb Television reported Wednesday afternoon. There has been wide-scale destruction, and the precise number of civilian casualties is unknown at the moment, the TV said, adding that air raid alert remained in force as NATO planes continued flying over Serb territories. NATO planes, which carried out four massive air strikes throughout Bosnian Serb Republic by Wednesday afternoon, even targetted the orthodox cemetery in Hadzici, near Sarajevo, Bosnian Serb Radio reported. Taking advantage of NATO air raids and RRF attacks, Muslims in the Sarajevo area attempted to break through Serb defense lines, but were repulsed. The greatest destruction was observed in the Sarajevo area, to the south and the south-east, Bosnian Serb media reported. The situation is the most serious in the Kasindol Hospital which has been under constant fire, due to which adequate medical treatment cannot be provided to the injured. Rockets and artillery shells rained on the Sarajevo Serb suburb of Vogosca several times, launched from Mt. Igman, where both RRF and Muslim forces are stationed. The Television said that Serb suburbs of Sarajevo - Vogosca, Novo Sarajevo and Ilidza - were the targets of the fiercest attacks. They were hit by over 600 shells, while over 2,000 shells of over 120 mm were fired from the enemy base at Mt. Igman. Reuters reports from Sarajevo that at hearing the news of airstrikes on Serb positions around Sarajevo, Muslims celebrated, danced with joy and feasted in the streets in an improvised carnival. By Wednesday afternoon, NATO planes had bombed Serb areas in Sarajevo, Pale, Sokolac, Gorazde area, Mt. Majevica area, Cajnice and Srbinje (formerly Foca). There were four strikes by that time - at 02h00 (45 minutes), 04h45, 09h20 and slightly after 14h00 (local times). Bosnian serb military sources said three NATO planes were downed in the attacks, but NATO admitted to losing only one aircraft, a french Mirage 2000, in the Pale area. DEATHS OF FIVE E.U. OBSERVERS CONFIRMED B e l g r a d e, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - The Head of the E.U. Observer Mission Spaniard Fernando Sanchez Rau and four other members of the Mission were killed Wednesday near Pale during NATO raids on Bosnian Serbs, it was confirmed Wednesdy afternoon in the E.U. Office in Podgorica. AFP reports that Spanish General Jose Luis Garcia Esponela and Major Luis Zenon Crinfan, Briton James Fitzgibbon and Dutchman Pieter Schoonenwolf were the other members killed. The translator and driver of the Mission were also killed in the vehicle carrying the observers early morning Wendesday in the Pale area, AFP quotes the E.U. Mission in Podgorica as saying. The observer mission was heading in the night Tuesday to Wednesday from Trebinje, in the south of the Bosnian Serb Republic, to Pale, after mediation talks between Trebinje and Dubrovnik authorities, the agency said. GEN. MLADIC: NATO MEDDLING DANGEROUS TO PEACE B a n j a L u k a, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Army Commnader Gen.Ratko Mladic Wednesday night said on Bosnian Serb Television that NATO air strikes were a 'flagrant interference in a civil war', which was 'dangerous to peace - not only in this region.' Gen. Mladic said the bombing by NATO planes caused great damage to certain economic facilities, private property, and that especially in Sarajevo, there were casualties, mostly among the civilian population. 'There are many wounded. I have visited some of the wounded, both soldiers and civilians, in one of our hospitals, 'he said. Gen. Mladic said NATO planes 'fired on everything - from barns to military targets' in the area of Sarajevo, Srbinje, Pale, Sokolac, Rogatica, Han Pijesak, Bijeljina and Mt Ozren. Mladic once again strongly denied that it was the Serbs who two days ago caused the death of 37 persons at a market place in Sarajevo. 'We have seen at certain places hit by bombs of up to 1,000 kilos and we sustained, unfortunately, from one such attack in the Rogatica region ten wounded soldiers and civilians and five wounded. Now, imagine, just one mortar mine - of which we have been accused to have come from our side - was supposed to have killed 37 and wounded more than 80 people,' Mladic pointed out. he assessed that the rapid reaction force did not come to thesarajevo area to create peace but to 'attain their own goals' andthat infantry activity of these units was to be expected. He added that the first obvious goal of these forces was to open a corridor towards Sarajevo. Mladic explained that U.N. Commander for Bosnia British Gen.Rupert Smith told him the RRF were brought without his knowledge. 'He was assuring me that they (the RRF) were brought in without his knowledge and that he could only do as much to keep them on the territory controlled by the Croats and Muslims,' he said. Gen. Mladic recalled that U.N. Commander for former Yugoslavia Gen. Bernard Janvier, as he said, demanded 'some sort of retreat of our weapons.' Mladic's comment to this was that for the U.N. even mortars and rocket-propelled grenades if they were in the hands of the Serbs were described as heavy weapons. 'About such things there can be no question by way of fax messages,' said Mladic. 'We remain in our positions. We will not open fire first, but will respond strongly to any fire,' concluded the Bosnian Serb Army Commander. NATO PLANES BOMB HOSPITAL IN SERB PART OF SARAJEVO B a n j a l u k a, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Minister for Health, Labour and Social Policy Dragan Kalinic addressed a strong protest to the Head of the Office of the ICRC in Pale Sandro Barana because of NATO and Rapid Reaction Force strikes on civilian targets and a hospital in the Serb part of Sarajevo. Kalinic asked Barana to inform the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva about the UNPROFOR violation of humanitarian law and to publicly condemn this henious act. Bosnian Serb Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha said Wednesday that in today's aggression on the Serbs NATO had overstepped its powers and violated all international resolutions. The reason given for this attack, the alleged Serb bombing of a market place in the Muslim part of Sarajevo, is not the real reason for such a senseless act by the international community, Buha said. He expressed indignation because the international community had refused to form a mixed commission to investigate the massacre of civilians near the Sarajevo Markale market where 37 people were killed and a hundred injured in a mortar attack Monday. BOSNIAN SERBS EXPECT MORE NATO STRIKES D o b o j, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - An air-raid alert is still in effect in the Serb-held part of Sarajevo for fear of more air strikes in the afternoon, the Tanjug correspondent from Doboj quoted Bosnian Serb Radio. The population are in shelters, as civilian targets had also been hit, said the Serb Radio reporter. The hospital in Kasindol was attacked, and it is feared that there are civilian casualties, though there were no confirmed reports on these bestial attacks, said the reporter. He said material damage was heavy. NATO jets and French-British RRF artillery deployed within UNPROFOR on Wednesday morning launched three separate attacks on Bosnian Serb positions around Sarajevo and in Serb-held parts of the city. NATO planes also attacked Serb positions and civilian targets in southeastern Bosnia, around Gorazde, and Serb villages on Mt.Majevica, northern Bosnia. The reporter said RRF artillery deployed on Mt.Igman was still pounding Serb-held parts of Sarajevo. He said Muslim forces on Mt.Igman were acting in concert, launching missiles on Serb districts in the southern part of the city. The war presidency of the Srbinje municipality (formerly Foca) confirmed that NATO planes on Wednesday morning twice bombed civilian and military targets in Srbinje and Cajnice, southeastern Bosnia. In the first attack, six NATO jets bombed the transmitter on Kmur hill and civilian targets around Cajnice. In the second attack, missiles and heavy bombs hit civilian targets in the village of Ustikolina on the road between Srbinje and Gorazde. Several buildings were hit, going up in flames. NATO PLANE DOWNED B a n j a l u k a, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - The Bosnian Serb republic anti-aircraft defense downed a NATO plane Wednesday, Bosnian Serb Radio reported in a short bulletin. NATO plane was downed at around 11.00 local time near Pale. The same source said that 10 civilians were injured, three of whom seriously, in the Wednesday NATO raids. The Bosnian Serb Radio said that Wednesday morning some 2,000 different artillery projectiles were fired on Serb parts of Sarajevo. BOSNIAN SERB ARMY DOWNS SECOND NATO PLANE B a n j a l u k a, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Army anti-aircraft guns downed a second NATO plane Wednesday at 14:50 local time which fell in the Sarajevo valley, Bosnian Serb Radio reported. The downed bomber was flying together with two other bombers which returned to their base. FRENCH NATO FIGHTER-BOMBER SHOT DOWN OVER BOSNIA B e l g r a d e, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - A French Mirage 2000 fighter-bomber was shot down southeast of Sarajevo on Wednesday afternoon, NATO's southern command has confirmed in Naples. Reuters quoted NATO Spokesman in Naples Major Panagiotis Theodorakidis as saying it was not clear whether the two crew had survived. 'I can confirm that a French Mirage 2000 aircraft operating over Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of operation deny flight was reported downed southeast of Sarajevo at 1730 central european time,' Theodorakidis said. He added that the fate of the crew and the cause of the downing were being investigated. An unnamed U.S. Administration official had said earlier that the French plane was shot out of the sky by Bosnian Serb forces and that two parachutes were noticed in the sky at the time, according to THE AP. REACTIONS OF NATO BOMBING BOSNIAN SERBS YELTSIN CONDEMNS NATO'S 'CRUEL BOMBARDMENT' OF SERBS M o s c o w, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - Russian President Boris Yeltsin denounces NATO's 'cruel bombardment' of the Bosnian Serbs, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Yeltsin's Spokesman Sergei Medvedev as saying on Wednesday. Yeltsin denounces all acts of violence on the territory of former Yugoslavia. This concerns both the shellings by the Serbs of peaceful regions and NATO's cruel bombardment and artillery shellings of Serb positions,' Medvedev specified. Medvedev said Yeltsin reiterated his proposal to hold an international conference on the former Yugoslavia with the participation of the warring parties and mediators in order to make a final decision in the settlement of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. Yeltsin proposes that the meeting be held not later than in October in an European country, Itar-Tass said. RUSSIA REQUESTS SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING M o s c o w, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Russia Wednesday requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on NATO air strikes on Serbs in Bosnia, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Grigory Karasin said in Moscow. Karasin told Interfax news agency that the world community or its individual members must not be allowed to wage a war against only one of the warring sides in Bosnia, because all of them are responsible. Russia has requested that the Security Council 'immediately evaluate the situation in Bosnia and step up political process as the only way to stop bloodshed'. 'The situation when a strike responds to strike leads to a vicious circle. Any use of force, including NATO air strikes, does not lead to a resolution of the problem' in Bosnia, Karasin said. RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR IN BELGRADE CONDENMS NATO BOMBING OF BOSNIAN SE RBS B e l g r a d e, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - The Russian Ambassador in Belgrade Gennady Shikin on Wednesday condemned the NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs. In a statement to the Interfax news agency, Shikin said NATO had reacted hastily in bombing Serb positions in Bosnia. 'It is difficult to speak about any peaceful settlement when bombs and shells are falling.' 'I am more than certain that the use of violent methods is an additional stimulus to radical elements to continue the war,' Shikin said. Shikin added that NATO had blamed Bosnian Serbs too soon for the massacre of civilians in Sarajevo on Monday. He pointed out that there had been no complete investigation into the mortar attack which killed 37 people. LOBOV: RUSSIA DOES NOT APPROVE RAIDS AGAINST THE BOSNIAN SERBS B e l g r a d e, Aug 30 (tanjug) - Oleg Lobov, a close aide of Russian President Boris Yeltsin said Wednesday that Russia's position on foremr Yugoslavia had not changed and that Moscow saw no need for NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs. 'Russia's position is that we consider, and will consider it unnecessary to carry out bombing,' Lobov, who is secretary of the Yeltsin's Security Council, Russia's most important political body, said. Lobov told reporters in Moscow that today's NATO raid on Bosnian Serbs was not a settlement of the conflict and that Moscow favoured the settling of the conflict peacefully, Reuter said. O P I N I O N S EYAL: NATO STRIKES IN BOSNIA MIGHT ENCOURAGE MUSLIMS TO CONTINUE W AR L o n d o n, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - London's Royal Institute Studies Director Jonathan Eyal on Wednesday warned that NATO air strikes against Serbs in Bosnia might be a signal for Muslims to continue the war and encouragement that they might be able to realize their goals, with the help of the international community. In a statement to BBC Television, Eyal said Muslims evidently presently had no interest to accept a peaceful settlement. Air strikes against Serb positions in Bosnia, in spite of official explanations, are not the way to reach a peaceful settlement and can seriously jeopardize the renewed peace initiatives, Eyal underscored. Regardless of the fact that NATO and the U.N. simply had to do something after the tragedy in Sarajevo on Monday, because of their own positions, massive air strikes might fan the war and not encourage a peaceful settlement, Eyal said. Assessments by the BBC commentator were along the same lines. He said he believed so far the biggest military action undertaken in Bosnia by the West, might mean that NATO and the U.N. had finally placed themselves fully at the service of Bosnian Muslims and opted for one side in the civil war. SERB KRAJINA-CROATIA WITHDRAWAL OF HEAVY WEAPONRY IN SECTOR EAST E r d u t, Aug. 30 (Tanjug) - Croatian and Serb heavy guns should be pulled back to at least 10 km from the line of separation in eastern Slavonija, Baranja and western Srem by Sept.4 at the latest, it was announced at the U.N. Command for Sector East in Erdut on Wednesday. The agreement for these regions of the Republic of Serb Krajina was reached on Tuesday at a meeting of the commanders of the Serb Krajina Army's Slavonija-Baranja Corps Major Gen.Dusan Loncar and the Croatian Army's Osijek region Gen. Djuro Decak, the statement said. It was also agreed at the meeting that U.N. observers be allowed to recover their positions in the zone of separation and that freedom of movement be re-established for the peace force. Representatives of the Serb and Croatian sides agreed to meet again on Sept. 4 in order to confirm the results of the reached agreement. At that time, they will also discuss the withdrawal of the heavy weaponry to outside a 20 km-zone and the withdrawal of troops outside the zone of separation, the U.N. Command statement said. CROATIA PERSECUTES SERBS IN OCCUPIED PARTS OF SERB KRAJINA B e l g r a d e, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - The Croatian Army and police are still persecuting and killing Serbs in the occupied area of the Republic of Serb Krajina and destroying Serb property, the Serb Krajina Information centre 'Veritas' said on Wednesday. According to the latest figures, 71 fresh graves have been discovered in Gracac and only 10 bodies identified, Veritas said. Old people who stayed in villages around Knin are still harried and villages are torched despite a pledge made by Croatian Gen.Cermak to international officials that all similar actions would cease. Veritas officials also said that all 300 houses in the village of Raduc, near Gracac, had been burnt down. Out of four old women, who had not fled the village, one has been killed while the fate of the other three is still unknown, Veritas said. Veritas President Savo Strbac expressed fear for the fate of the civilians remaining in villages around Knin and Benkovac because their relatives living in other European countries had learnt that the civilians had been executed by Croatian soldiers several days after being released from a detention camp. We hope that some of the international organizations will shortly investigate these reports, Strbac said. The Croatian Army has torched more than 4,000 Serb houses (between 75 and 80 percent) in Knin and its surrounding area (UNPA Sector South), the Croatian Helsinki Committee said in its report on Monday. The organization has drawn a list of 243 killed people, out of whom 107 civilians, 156 soldiers and policemen. Croatia claims that only 82 persons have been killed in the area. TORCHING OF HOUSES, PLUNDERING UNDERWAY IN KRAJINA, CROATIAN OPPOSITION OFFICIAL SAYS Z a g r e b, Aug 30 (Tanjug) - Vice-President of the opposition Parliamentary party of the Social-Democratic Union of Croatia Vladimir Bebic said on Wednesday that after the Croatian military action a strategy of 'burnt soil' is carried out in Krajina, where torching of Serb houses and plundering of Serb property is underway. At a press conference in Zagreb, Bebic said that now 'all of Croatia has become a military krajina', with the militarization of the society. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, Bebic added, can now really speak only to 'Croatian women and men', while Croatia is being turned into an 'ethnically clean state.' After the latest Croatian aggression on northern and southern parts of the Republic of Serb Krajina, launched on August 4, 250,000 Serbs have fled the region, and Croats have continued to kill Serb civilians and torch Serb houses, as has been confirmed by the U.N., so that the Serb population would not have where to return. The Serb people in Krajina was not against Croatia, but against the current authorities, Bebic said in conclusion. =============================================================== -- I speak for no one and no one speaks for me -- D. D. Chukurov ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com ===============================================================