YDS 9/14

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: [email protected] (D.D. Chukurov)

14. SEPTEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

CONTENTS:

FROM THE F.R. OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ASKS U.N. TO PREVENT CROATIA'S AGGRESSIVE POLICY - MILOSEVIC, HOLBROOKE: PROGRESS WAS MADE IN BRINGING CLOSER STANDS - RUSSIAN MPS CONCERNED ABOUT NATO ATTACKS ON BOSNIAN SERBS

NATO AIR STRIKES - MORE NATO STRIKES ON BOSNIAN SERB REPUBLIC

MUSLIM-CROAT OFFENSIVES IN BOSNIA - SECURITY COUNCIL DEMANDS URGENT END TO MILITARY ACTIVITIES - BOSNIAN SERB ARMY DENIES LOSS OF TERRITORY - BOSNIAN MUSLIM COMMANDER ASKS ISLAMIC COUNTRIES FOR ARMS

YUGOSLAVIA - HUMANITARIAN AID - INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS TO SEND MORE AID - RUSSIA TO SET UP MOSCOW-BELGRADE AIR BRIDGE

FROM FOREIGN PRESS - LE MONDE: WEST COULD GET STUCK IN BOSNIA WAR

FROM THE F.R. OF YUGOSLAVIA

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ASKS U.N. TO PREVENT CROATIA'S AGGRESSIVE POLICY

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic on Wednesday requested that the U.N. take urgent steps to prevent Croatia's further aggressive policy and ethnic cleansing of Serbs. Kontic asked the U.N. Security Council to prevent the implementation of a Croatian government decree which on an ethnic basis allowed the confiscation of property belonging to Serbs who had fled the Republic of Serb Krajina ahead of Croatia's aggression. In a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kontic said the decree on the temporary confiscation and administration of property, dated Aug. 31, 1995, was just another way to implement Croatia's policy of ethnic cleansing with the ultimate goal of eliminating the Serbs from Krajina and Croatia. Kontic expressed deep concern over Croatia's destruction and pillaging of Serb property. He said the decree was in direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1009 dated August 10, 1995. The resolution demands that the Croatian government respect the rights of the local Serb population, including their right to a safe return, to leave or remain. The decree is an unprecedented flagrant violation of the generally accepted rule of the inviolability of private property in case of territorial alterations, said Kontic. He said it will have far-reaching consequences on the peace process, particularly for the return of the expelled Serbs from Krajina. Kontic demanded that the Council take urgent steps to protect the immovables of the Serbs who had fled Krajina and Croatia and property belonging to Yugoslav citizens. He asked that the Council extend the U.N. mandate in Croatia to cover the protection of Serb property until a final settlement was reached for the former Yugoslavia. Kontic also asked that the Council establish the obligations of the Croatian authorities for indemnifying the Serbs for all the property that had been destroyed or plundered since 1990.

PROGRESS WAS MADE IN BRINGING CLOSER STANDS

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 14 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and a delegation of senior U.S. officials, headed by Assistant State Secretary Richard Holbrooke, have held talks to discuss the peace process. The Serbian President's Cabinet said that during the lengthy and detailed exchange of views on the intensive activities for speeding up the peace process and reaching a final political solution, progress was made towards bringing closer stands on the remaining elements of a comprehensive political solution which will also soon be discussed during direct talks between all the sides. The meeting was also attended by Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic.

RUSSIAN MPS CONCERNED ABOUT NATO ATTACKS

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - A delegation of the State Duma arrived here on Wednesday and expressed grave concern over NATO's aggression and genocide against Serbs in Bosnia. In talks with a Yugoslav parliament delegation headed by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Borisav Jovic, the Russian deputies said the plight of the Serbs in the Republika Srpska and Yugoslavia was a humiliation to the Russian Federation as well. Head of the Russian delegation Sergei Alexandrovich Glotov said official Russian parliamentary delegations would visit the Bosnian Serb republic and Belgrade on a weekly basis because of the situation in Bosnia. Jovic informed the Russian delegation of Yugoslavia's position on settling the crisis in Bosnia and its commitment to reach agreement peacefully. He said Yugoslavia was particularly concerned over the escalation of NATO attacks on Serbs in Bosnia, especially as they followed fabricated accusations against the Serbs. Jovic said it was clear the attacks aimed to improve the position of the Muslims, although everyone knows a solution cannot be arrived at by war.

NATO AIR STRIKES

MORE NATO STRIKES ON BOSNIAN SERBS

Belgrade, Doboj, Banja Luka, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Five civilians were killed and more than ten seriously wounded Wednesday in a coordinated attack of NATO bombers and Muslim artillery on Doboj outskirts of Potocari and Bare, Bosnian Serb Army sources said. Because of the very difficult situation in Doboj due ruthless NATO and Muslim actions, the local authorities appealed on the representatives of the International Red Cross organization to visit the town and see for themselves the high extent of destruction and fires as a result of the bombings. NATO warplanes have since 1500 gmt Wednesday been pounding unselectively Banja Luka and Serb-held parts of Sarajevo with bombs weighing 250, 500 and 1,000 kg, missiles, guns and artillery, the Bosnian Serb Command said in a statement. There were casualties and huge material damage was done. Buildings are aflame in Sarajevo, and frequent air and artillery attacks by the Rapid Reaction Force prevent the fire department from putting out the fires. Nearly all road communications have been destroyed. The statement said epidemics might break out in Serb-held parts of Sarajevo as the dead cannot be buried and civilians lying for days under the rubble cannot be drawn out because of the attacks. Water and power supplies have been scant for days in Serb-held parts of Sarajevo. NATO warplanes on Wednesday afternoon bombed the Prijedor region in the Northwest of the Bosnian Serb republic and the broader area around the Eastern Bosnian Serb-encircled Muslim enclave of Gorazde. The General Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army said in an announcement that the number of dead and injured in these attacks was not yet known because of disrupted communication links. Damage was great, said the announcement monitored by the Bosnian Serb Srna news agency. It added that NATO targets again were the vital economic and transport facilities, like telecommunications, electric power supply lines, water supply systems, roads and different installations.

MUSLIM-CROAT OFFENSIVES IN BOSNIA

SECURITY COUNCIL DEMANDS URGENT END TO MILITARY ACTIVITIES

London, Geneva, New York, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - The U.N. Security Council late on Wednesday demanded all warring sides in Bosnia immediately stop offensive military operations and other hostile acts. Current Council President Paolo Falci of Italy, who gave reporters a written presidential statement, did not mention to which warring sides this pertained, although throughout the day the renewed offensive of the Muslims and Croats was being discussed at the U.N. headquarters. Commenting the latest reports that Croatian and Muslim forces were launching new offensives in Bosnia, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Wednesday Russia insisted that what had been agreed in Geneva last Friday at the ministerial meeting be respected. He reiterated that this meant neither side in Bosnia was allowed to make use of the present NATO military action for its own ends. Great Britain has condemned a joint Bosnian Muslim-Croat offensive and Croatian regular troops' attacks in central and western Bosnia, the British Foreign Office said in a statement released in London on Wednesday.

SERB ARMY DENIES LOSS OF TERRITORY

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb military sources Wednesday night denied reports that the Muslim-Croat forces had occupied part of the Bosnian Serb republic. As part of the operation to destroy the Bosnian Serb republic, a misinformation had been launched from the seat of the United Nations, the Pentagon, Zagreb and Sarajevo saying that Muslim-Croat forces in cooperation with NATO forces have occupied part of the Bosnian Serb republic, a statement of the Bosnian Serb Army said. This misinformation, the statement said, was part of the media operation to destabilize certain parts of the Republika Srpska, especially the municipalities in the Western part of republic's territory. The truth is that the units of the Bosnian Serb Army on this section of the front hold firmly their positions and are inflicting high losses on the enemy each day, said the statement.

MUSLIM COMMANDER ASKS ISLAMIC COUNTRIES FOR ARMS

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslim Commander General Rasim Delic asked the islamic countries Wednesday to send arms to Bosnia. Ahead of the organisation of the islamic conference ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur Delic told reporters that the Sarajevo Muslim government pitted all its hopes in islamic countries for the strengthening of its army. According to sources close to the organisation, Delic met with military representatives of 13 out of 52 countries members of the organisation and talked with them about what types of weapons his army needed, Agence France Presse said.

YUGOSLAVIA - HUMANITARIAN AID

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS TO SEND MORE AID

G e n e v a, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - UNICEF will on Friday call on the world to help the children of Serb Krajina who fled to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the Croatian aggression, UNICEF Director for Urgent Operations Moira Hart said. Hart told a Yugoslav government delegation, which is in Geneva to meet with the representatives of international humanitarian organizations, that UNICEF has earmarked an additional 3.5 million dollars for the education of Krajina children in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav delegation, headed by Federal Minister Tomica Raicevic, on Tuesday also met with the representatives of the World Health Organization. WHO Deputy Director D.G. Atkin said his organization's delegation would soon leave for New York to demand that the U.N. lift all sanctions against Yugoslavia in the humanitarian sphere. He also said that the issue of the suspension of Yugoslavia's who membership would also be discussed. At a meeting with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala Lasho, the Yugoslav delegation said that Serb human rights had been violated in Serb Krajina during the Croatian aggression and afterwards for those Serbs who remained in their homes and lands. Speaking about human rights in Yugoslavia in conditions of sanctions, the Yugoslav delegation said that the U.N. resolution on the imposition of the sanctions had punished an entire nation thus violating human rights in the most brutal way. The World Food Programme and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent have full understanding for difficulties in which Yugoslavia found itself, due to sanctions imposed on it and because of sheltering a large number of refugees. Ranking officials of both international organizations on Wednesday said in a talk with the Yugoslav delegation.

RUSSIA TO SET UP MOSCOW-BELGRADE AIR BRIDGE

M o s c o w, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday that Russia was planning to set up an air bridge to fly into Belgrade relief aid supplies intended for people in war-torn areas of the former Yugoslavia. Shoigu said that 15 cargo planes would be flying between Moscow and Belgrade in few days' time.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

LE MONDE: WEST COULD GET STUCK IN BOSNIA WAR

P a r i s, Sept. 13 (Tanjug) - Paris-based daily Le Monde Wednesday warned that Western countries could very soon get stuck in the war in Bosnia. 'A few weeks more, and we will be at war,' Le Monde cited a statement of an unidentified French senior officer in Sarajevo. Writing about the escalation of NATO attacks on the Serbs in Bosnia, the daily assessed with concern that 'Westerners will very soon find themselves facing a choice: either to give in (to the Serbs) or take the step now dividing them from a direct and fierce war.' 'The Western operation against the Serb army in Bosnia-Herzegovina ended without success the first stage and is entering the stage of military escalation. The conflict has not turned into war, primarily because the Serbs did not respond by retaliating against the blue helmets,' said Le Monde.

- I speak for no one and no one speaks for me --