YDS 10/13

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

11. OCTOBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

CONTENTS:

YUGOSLAV DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES - MILOSEVIC-BONSOR: PREVENT ANY OBSTRUCTION OF PEACE PROCESS IN BOSNIA - BONSOR: MEETING WITH MILOSEVIC WAS PARTICULARLY CONSTRUCTIVE - YUGOSLAV-CHINESE TALKS

CEASEFIRE IN BOSNIA - KARADZIC: THE SERB SIDE WILL STRICTLY RESPECT THE CEASEFIRE - BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL PROTESTS TO UNPROFOR OVER CROATIAN ATTACKS

S A N C T I O N S - UKRAINE URGES LIFTING OF SANCTIONS - ITALIAN DIPLOMAT: SANCTIONS TO BE LIFTED IN NOVEMBER

YUGOSLAVIA - INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION - END TO SANCTIONS UNAVOIDABLE PART OF PEACE PROCESS

R E F U G E E S - GREATER INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR REFUGEES

CROATIA - SREM-BARANJA REGION - SERBS READY TO RESUME TALKS

FILE CROATIA - UN REQUESTS PUNISHMENT FOR PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES IN SERB KRAJINA - CROATIA CONTINUES EVICTING SERBS

FROM DOMESTIC PRESS - KILLERS FROM THE CROATIAN DEFENCE COUNCIL

YUGOSLAV DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES

PREVENT ANY OBSTRUCTION OF PEACE PROCESS IN BOSNIA

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and State Minister in the British Foreign Office Nicholas Bonsor assessed on Tuesday that the current peace process in Bosnia should be resolutely encouraged and that any obstruction, with a view to continuing the war, should be prevented energetically. The talks between Milosevic and Bonsor, currently visiting Yugoslavia, focused on moving forward the peace process to the final stage, and on meeting necessary conditions for normalizing life in the war-ravaged areas, the Serbian President's Office said. At the present hour, it is of paramount importance to accept and confirm the opinion that peace in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be secured by a normalization of life, and that the agreed principles, or political settlement, represented a turnaround from a warlike to a pacific way of looking at life and at relations between citizens and peoples. At the talks was also present Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, the statement said.

BONSOR: MEETING WITH MILOSEVIC WAS PARTICULARLY CONSTRUCTIVE

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - The Secretary of State at the Foreign Office Nicholas Bonsor told the press Tuesday that his meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was particularly constructive. Bonsor thanked Milosevic for his leading role in the process aimed at establishing peace in Bosnia, and expressed conviction that this process would continue moving forward. Britain will continue doing all it can for finding a peaceful settlement, Bonsor said, pointing out that London was in full agreement with Belgrade's stances. An extraordinary conference might be held in the beginning of November in London, focusing on the implementation of the peace agreement, he said. Such a conference would also provide an opportunity to reach an agreement on actions to be undertaken for Bosnia's reconstruction, Bonsor noted. British Government is waiting with impatience for conditions to be laid for the lifting of sanctions and Yugoslavia's return to international scene, he said. Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic said the British Minister's visit was well-timed, prior to the ceasefire coming into force and before the great peace conference to be held at the end of this month. Yugoslavia also appreciates the role played by Britain, which has been present in the peace process from the very beginning, as today's visit confirms, Milutinovic said.

YUGOSLAV-CHINESE TALKS

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia and China both believe that international anti-Yugoslav sanctions will soon be removed because of positive developments in the peace process, a Yugoslav official said after talks with a Chinese functionary on Tuesday. The two countries feel that the establishment of peace will be a chance for bilateral relations to return to their original level, Yugoslav Deputy Foreign Minister Radoslav Bulajic said after meeting Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Deguang in Belgrade. Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference, Bulajic said that some agreements had been signed and some initialed in Belgrade and Peking which largely paved the way for the time after the sanctions. Zhang spoke about the principled and constructive role of the FR of Yugoslavia in the effort to settle the Balkan crisis, role for which it had already received recognition from the international community. He stressed that China had always been against imposing sanctions on Yugoslavia, and that their perpetuation was harmful to stability and peace in the region. In a separate meeting with Vice Premier and Economy Minister Nikola Sainovic, Zhang said that Yugoslavia was an important political and economic factor in this part of Europe and that its economic potential was huge and of interest to China. It is necessary to intensify Yugoslav-Chinese contacts at all levels, including the economic, it was noted during the talk, according to a statement released by the Yugoslav Information Secretariat.

CEASEFIRE IN BOSNIA

THE SERB SIDE WILL STRICTLY RESPECT THE CEASEFIRE

L o n d o n, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic said in a special interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation Monday evening that the Serb side would strictly respect the ceasefire. 'Events before the commencement of the ceasefire clearly show that the Muslim and Croat sides do not consider there will be a political settlement and think they should grab as much territory as possible by military means,' Karadzic said. He added that the Republika Srpska considered the international community, and especially the US, were responsible for and capable of bringing the war to an end and securing an effective ceasefire. 'On the other hand, we will not accept the results of the joint aggression of Croatia and the Bosnian Croat and Muslim armies against the Republika Srpska under NATO patronage and following NATO strikes, especially after our acceptance of the Geneva and New York papers,' the Bosnian Serb leader said.

SERB GENERAL PROTESTS TO UNPROFOR OVER CROATIAN ATTACKS

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Lieut.Gen. Manojlo Milovanovic, the Chief of the Bosnian Serb Army headquarters, asked the UN Tuesday to urgently halt regular Croatian army attacks saying that if it didn't the Army of Republika Srpska would have a legitimate right to self-defence. In a protest letter to the UN Protection Force Commander for the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina Gen. Rupert Smith Milovanovic said that 'Croatia was not respecting any ceasefire accord in Bosnia-Herzegovina'. The Croatian army overnight on October 9 opened constant artillery fire on Mrkonjic Grad and surrounding settlements and sent 'a number of its brigades towards the town to occupy this ancient Serb territory', Milovanovic said.

S A N C T I O N S

UKRAINE URGES LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

K i e v, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Gennady Udovenko said Tuesday that Ukraine strongly backed the current Bosnia peace process and urged the lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia. Udovenko told reporters that his speech at the UN headquarters in New York in September had for the largest part dealt with reasons why it was vital to lift the sanctions against Yugoslavia.

ITALIAN DIPLOMAT: SANCTIONS TO BE LIFTED IN NOVEMBER

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Italian Charge d'Affaires in Belgrade Francesco Bascone said Tuesday that the signing of a Bosnia peace agreement and complete lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia were expected in November. He said that Italy had been Yugoslavia's second biggest Western European trade partner and that Italian businessmen were still very interested in this region.

YUGOSLAVIA - INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION

END TO SANCTIONS UNAVOIDABLE PART OF PEACE PROCESS

B u c h a r e s t, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Speaker of the Yugoslav Parliament's Upper House Milos Radulovic said Tuesday that Yugoslavia would continue making the greatest possible contribution to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Speaker of the Chamber of Republics said at a session of the Interparliamentary Union that the lifting of the UN sanctions against Yugoslavia was a vital and unavoidable element of the Bosnian peace process. The Yugoslav delegation head reiterated that sanctions were counter-productive and their further implementation only suited forces which were against peace and political dialogue. He expressed conviction that the international community was truly determined to restore peace in the region and would put pressure on the sides which did not abide by the latest ceasefire agreement. The Yugoslav delegate underscored that air strikes against Bosnian Serbs were not in line with hopes for peace. He said the strikes were a violation of the agreed principle of equal treatment of all warring sides and an encouragement to the advocates of war. Yugoslavia joins the UN Security Council condemnation of the Croatian massacre against Serbs in Krajina and the plundering of their property, Radulovic stressed. He set out that the problem of the position and rights of Serbs in Croatia was an important issue for the resolution of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.

R E F U G E E S

GREATER INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR REFUGEES

G e n e v a, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - The international community is aware of the acute refugee problem and is ready to provide greater assistance so as to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in former Yugoslavia, the working group for humanitarian issues of the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia said on Tuesday. Two programmes are being mapped out to this effect - a relief programme for almost 3.5 million refugees and a programme for their return to their homes, the working group said in a statement after a session. At the meeting, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia urged the international community to provide greater assistance in order to alleviate problems caused by the exodus of Serbs from the Republic of Serb Krajina. The Yugoslav delegation, led by the Commissioner for Refugees of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, Bratislava Morina, said that the FR of Yugoslavia was facing the greatest humanitarian crisis since its foundation. Yugoslavia has spent one billion dollars for the basic care of refugees and the international community has participated in the overall relief for refugees with between eight and 15 percent, the delegation said. The humanitarian situation is particularly aggravated by the sanctions against Yugoslavia. As an illustration of the inflexible position of the UN Sanctions Committee, the Yugoslav delegation said that Yugoslavia had asked the Sanctions Committee in May last year to allow the import of raw materials for the production of medicines but that, despite strong support by the World Health Organization, the Committee had failed to give an answer. The delegation also expressed Yugoslavia's deep concern about Croatia's moves aimed at preventing a return of Serb refugees. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata officially opened the meeting and said that the humanitarian situation in the former yugoslavia had dramatically deteriorated. Ogata accused Croatia of flagrant violation of human rights in Serb Krajina, and denounced Croatia for laws on the appropriation of Serb property by the Croatian state.

CROATIA - SREM-BARANJA REGION

SERBS READY TO RESUME TALKS

E r d u t, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Head of the negotiating team of the Srem-Baranja region Milan Milanovic said Tuesday that the Serb side was ready to resume talks with the Croatian government. He said the date of the resumption of the talks would be known after talks with Co-Chairman Thorvald Stoltenberg and US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith in Erdut in the next few days. Milanovic set out that the Serb side did not know why the Croatian delegation had refused to resume the talks on the basic principles for a peaceful settlement of the Srem-Baranja region's future at the US Embassy in Zagreb on Monday. 'We arrived at the US Embassy in Zagreb as agreed in Erdut a week ago with head of the Croatian negotiating team Hrvoje Sarinic and mediators Stoltenberg and Galbraith,' Milanovic said. 'However, Croats did not want to negotiate there and insisted that we move to the Palace hotel, which we declined to do in keeping with the earlier agreement on the venue of the talks,' he specified. Milanovic said he had requested of Croatia to guarantee more effectively the security of the Serb negotiators than it had done in Zagreb on Monday, when there were incidents.

FILE CROATIA

UN REQUESTS PUNISHMENT FOR PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES IN KRAJINA

N e w Y o r k, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - The UN has requested that Croatian authorities punish perpetrators of crimes in Serb Krajina and prevent further torching and looting of Serb houses. A statement released by the UN Press Department in New York said UN reports from the field confirmed that Croatian troops and civilians continued to plunder and set fire to Krajina Serbs' houses. The statement, which also contains a report by a UN human rights team, said UN observers had seen devastation, houses that had been broken into and left completely empty in the village of Vrpile near Korenica, a town in Western Serb Krajina, while in a nearby village more than half the houses had been burnt to the ground. UN observers also reported that there had been some confusion regarding the information that Croatian authorities had arrested 375 persons suspected of plunder and torching of Krajina Serbs' houses. Relevant Ministry in Zagreb, however, has denied a statement to this effect by a Knin-based Croatian official.

CROATIA CONTINUES EVICTING SERBS

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 10 (Tanjug) - Croatia continues evicting non-Croats, mostly Serbs, despite Croatian top leaders' promises to protect all citizens under equal standards. This is illustrated by a case of Zorica Peric of Zagreb. A group of Croatian soldiers, uttering most serious threats and insults, have evicted Peric, whose husband has been drafted and sent to the front, and her two children, the Belgrade daily Politika said Tuesday. Peric had lived in an apartment which belonged to the former Yugoslav People's Army and her father was a tenancy right holder. After her father retired from the Army in 1988, he went back to his native village in Montenegro and his daughter was now the tenancy right holder under the tenancy law. Peric has recently applied to the Croatian Defense Ministry to buy out the apartment and transfer it into her own name. She had all the necessary papers but instead of the Ministry decision she faced a group of bullies in army uniforms. Croatian soldiers broke into Peric's apartment while she was out on the market and when she returned, she found also a civilian policeman there who promised her protection. 'The apartment was crowded, uniformed people were everywhere. They were all yelling, calling us names. A soldier said: 'Kill her now if she is a Serb.' Another soldier reloaded his gun and levelled it at me and the children,' Politika quoted Peric as saying in an interview with the Rijeka daily Novi List. The civilian policeman sent Peric to her neighbour's apartment and called back-up. Military police came later and removed bullies in military uniforms. However, a new tenant was moved into Peric's apartment and Peric was out in the street. Peric's lawyer pressed charges of trespassing, but the court procedure is unfolding very slowly. 'This man (the new tenant) is said to receive a temporary tenancy right from Defense Ministry's Housing Committee until the lawsuit has been resolved,' Peric was quoted as saying. She said she did not expect very much from the Committee. She also said that when she had phoned the Committee for help, they called her a 'chetnik woman,' a usual Croat term used to denote Serbs.

FROM DOMESTIC PRESS

KILLERS FROM THE CROATIAN DEFENCE COUNCIL

B e l g r a d e, Borba, 9 October - Tanjug reports that the Muslim radio from Zenica said yesterday that the persons of Croatian nationality are responsible for the murder of Serbian journalist Jadranko Bozanovic, the local radio editor at Zavidovici, while the act of murder was characterized as a heinous crime. Bozanovic was killed in his apartment by three members of the Croatian Defence Council on 12 September 1995. Two nights ago the Serbian Civic Society of Bosnia- Herzegovina, whose member Bozanovic had been, protested the murder on the Sarajevo Muslim television. Before the war in former Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jadranko Bozanovic was the spokesman of the Democratic Socialist Alliance (the former Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Bosnia- Herzegovina).