YDS 9/29

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

29. SEPTEMBER 1995 YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

CONTENTS:

BOSNIA PEACE PROCESS - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT FULLY SUPPORTS NEW YORK AGREEMENT - YUGOSLAV MINISTER MILUTINOVIC MEETS WITH BOUTROS-GHALI - YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER'S ACTIVITY IN NEW YORK

S A N C T I O N S - UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS - RYBKIN: SANCTIONS ARE UNREASONABLE

CROATIA - KRAJINA SERBS - UN: SITUATION IN KRAJINA NOT IMPROVED - CROATIA OPPOSED TO RETURN OF KRAJINA SERBS

BOSNIA PEACE PROCESS

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT FULLY SUPPORTS NEW YORK AGREEMENT

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 29 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government expressed its full support to the New York agreement on the basic principles of the constitutional organization of Bosnia-Herzegovina and said that the lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia represented an unavoidable part of the peace process. The statement released after a session at which the Federal Government reviewed topical issues of the Bosnian peace process said that the 'New York agreement is in accordance with the strategic commitments of the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its policy regarding the global aspects of the crisis' in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Describing the New York agreement as a big step towards the strengthening of the peace process, the Government said that with this agreement, Republika Srpska was recognized as an equal political entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the same rights which were recognized to the Muslim-Croat federation. The Yugoslav Government believes that a cessation of hostilities represents an absolute condition for a successful continuation and ending of the peace process. It is of crucial importance that intensive talks about the remaining unresolved issues continue without hesitation, the statement said. The Yugoslav Government will continue to concentrate its strongest efforts on achieving a further progress in talks, so that the necessary conditions for a successful ending of the negotiating process and holding an international conference at the highest level could be fulfilled in the next few weeks, the statement said. The Government said that the international community had accepted Yugoslavia as an unavoidable factor of peace, security and cooperation in the region, and that its stands and activities were of crucial importance for overcoming the crisis in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. An urgent lifting of the U.N. Security Council sanctions against Yugoslavia represents an unavoidable part of the current peace process, which cannot be brought to an end without it, the statement said and added that a further implementation of the sanctions was groundless and counter-productive.

YUGOSLAV MINISTER MILUTINOVIC MEETS WITH BOUTROS-GHALI

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic agreed in New York late on Thursday that talks on Bosnia-Herzegovina should continue without armed pressure. Milutinovic and Boutros-Ghali said it was necessary to agree a general and lasting ceasefire throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina and that the war in that former Yugoslav republic should finally end in a peace accord. Boutros-Ghali said the peace process was moving in the right direction and that the chances of peace were now probably better than ever before. In case a peace accord is struck, the new peace-keeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina will not bear UN insignia, but will have no financial troubles either, he said. Boutros-Ghali spoke also about the role of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in stability in the Balkans, highlighting Belgrade's active efforts for peace in the current phase of the peace process for Bosnia-Herzegovina. The end of the Bosnian war and of the crisis in former Yugoslavia should be accompanied by Yugoslavia's integration in international institutions and the United Nations, it was said during the meeting. Minister Milutinovic met at UN headquarters later on Thursday with the current president of the UN General Assembly, Portuguese diplomat Diego do Amaral.

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER'S ACTIVITY IN NEW YORK

N e w Y o r k, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic conferred on Thursday with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the current peace process for Bosnia-Herzegovina. In a talk of some length, they discussed the wider political developments and processes in this region of Europe, while Kissinger showed particular interest in Belgrade's role in the efforts to stabilize the overall situation in the Balkans. Milutinovic on Thursday morning met with US negotiator for Bosnia Richard Holbrooke who on Thursday evening leaves for Sarajevo, and then for Belgrade and Zagreb. During the meeting, views were exchanged on next peace moves for Bosnia, especially related to the soonest possible signing of a ceasefire agreement throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. Milutinovic met in New York with his counterparts from Turkey, Bulgaria, Peru, Slovakia and Colombia. Commenting on his intensive political contacts, Milutinovic said that the political climate at UN headquarters where Yugoslavia was concerned had changed perceptibly. He said this was to be felt in direct contacts with his counterparts and also in speeches made during the General Assembly's general debate. "It has not been difficult to arrange meetings with ministers and other ranking officials, but to make time for them all," said Milutinovic.

S A N C T I O N S

UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Gennady Udovenko on Thursday called for the lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia, saying that Belgrade had shown its readiness to help restore peace in the Balkans. "The embargo regime against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia today has shown its counterproductiveness and has not reached the main objective - promoting peaceful settlement of the conflict," Udovenko said in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

RYBKIN: SANCTIONS ARE UNREASONABLE

M o s c o w, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - The speaker of the Russian State Duma Ivan Rybkin Thursday pointed to the great importance of the decision of Russian President Boris Yeltsin to raise the issue of lifting the anti-Yugoslav sanctions in his telephone conversation Wednesday with US President Bill Clinton. At a press conference in Moscow on his return from a visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the head of a State Duma delegation, Rybkin said that Russian parliamentarians had concluded on the basis of their talks with Yugoslav leaders that Russia should no longer apply the anti-Yugoslav sanctions. Rybkin said it had now become obvious that the sanctions were unreasonable, adding that peace in the former Yugoslavia can be established only provided that the interests of all parties to the conflict are taken into account.

CROATIA - KRAJINA SERBS

UN: SITUATION IN KRAJINA NOT IMPROVED

B e l g r a d e, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - UN spokesman in Belgrade Susan Manuel said on Thursday that the plundering and torching of Serb houses was continuing, as well as the mistreatment of remaining Serbs in Krajina. At a press conference, Manuel specified that a team of UN military monitors investigated 240 villages in the former Sector South and determined that 73 percent of houses had been torched. Manuel announced that next week the UN will finish determining the exact number of Serbs who stayed behind in Krajina, adding that there were approximately 1,000 Serbs and that most of them had expressed a desire to leave. The spokesman said that UN personnel was encountering difficulties in determining the number of people killed and missing during the Croatian aggression because the Croatian authorities are denying "blue helmets" access to the region. Manuel said that the situation in Sector East, in the East of the Republic of Serb Krajina, was improving. The withdrawal of heavy weapons from the zone of confrontation in Eastern Slavonija is drawing to a conclusion, Manuel said.

CROATIA OPPOSED TO RETURN OF KRAJINA SERBS

Z a g r e b, Sept. 28 (Tanjug) - The Human Rights Organization in Croatia has accused the Croatian government of being opposed to a return of expelled Krajina Serbs and said in substantiation that not one refugee had returned with the help of Croatia. In a letter published by the Croatian daily Novi List, the organization said that those few refugees who had returned had entered Croatia thanks to the good will of border services and not by respecting the procedure. Refugees are not returning because there are no formal technical possibilities for entering Croatia which shows that the Croatian government is opposed to a return of Krajina Serb refugees, the Human Rights Organization from the Croatian towns of Zagreb, Osijek, Karlovac, Porec, Pula, Rijeka and Pakrac said in the letter.