YDS 12/22

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

22 DECEMBER 1995 YDS-1044

C O N T E N T S:

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT LILIC VISITS XIANMEN

O P I N I O N S - CROATIA NOT ABIDING BY ACCORD ON PREVLAKA - FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: IDEA TO ARM BOSNIAN MUSLIMS INSANE

REPUBLIKA SRPSKA - REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT SAYS ALL PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED

SERBS IN CROATIA - THROUGHOUT KRAJINA, OLD PEOPLE COUNT THEIR LAST DAYS

YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT LILIC VISITS XIANMEN Xianmen, Dec 21 (Tanjug) - On the fourth day of his official visit to China President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zoran Lilic Thursday visited the Xianmen special economic zone. Lilic and members of the Yugoslav delegation met with the leadership of Xianmen's Fujian province. Lilic said that the traditional friendship between Yugoslavia and China was confirmed in talks with the highest Chinese officials. There are no obstacles for Yugoslavia to embark on the same road of progress and market economy, Lilic said and added that Yugoslav businessmen looked forward to cooperating with friendly countries.

O P I N I O N S

CROATIA NOT ABIDING BY ACCORD ON PREVLAKA by Diplomatic Editor Zoran Jevdjovic Belgrade, Dec 21 (Tanjug) - Croatia is not abiding by the Dayton agreement - is the conclusion which can be drawn with certainty from the answers given to numerous questions in the past few days with regard to the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Zagreb. As far as the position of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is concerned, there isn't any significant factor on the international scene which could, in any way, call into question the readiness of official Belgrade to comply with all the obligations assumed under the agreement signed a month ago in Dayton. Yugoslavia has proved that it is a solid partner in international affairs, turned to peace and political solutions. The result is an improved position of Yugoslavia, including its image in the world media. Concrete changes can be seen in a series of examples, including the latest demand made by French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette that the ambassadors of eu member countries return to Belgrade as soon as possible, after three and a half years. Even German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, at a meeting with his Yugoslav counterpart Milan Milutinovic earlier this week in Bonn, acknowledged that the constructive, peace policy of Belgrade enabled the reaching of the agreement in Dayton. It can thus be expected that German officials will keep their principled position when it comes to Croatia's obligations to comply with the accords accepted by the country's highest representatives. In any case, Yugoslavia's peace policy has showed who is abiding by accords and for whom peace and stabilization in the former Yugoslavia is a priority. Croatia's domestic difficulties, used to explain its moves, are understandable to some extent, in view of the unrealistic promises about the outcome of the Yugoslav crisis lavishly made by Zagreb. The question remains if hiding behind the Prevlaka affair are in fact some dissatisfied international factors, who do not want to see the calming down of the Yugoslav crisis and the full affirmation of Yugoslavia and its peace policy. Prevalaka is a strategic peninsula on the border between Yugoslalvia and Croatia, under U.N. control since 1992. The control of the peninsula indicates control of the entrance into the bay of Kotor and the territorial waters of Yugoslavia. The President of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, Momir Bulatovic said on Thuesday, and Foreign Minister Milutinovic on Wednesday, that Croatia was hindering mutual recognition between Yugoslavia and Croatia, by not complying with the Dayton agreement. Bulatovic said that Croatia had accepted in Dayton that the Prevlaka peninsula becomes part of Yugoslavia, but is now refusing to comply with the accord. As long as Croatia does not comply with the Dayton agreement, there will be no recognition of Croatia, he said. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has sent a message to Croatian President stressing the position of official Washington about the need for normalizing relations between Yugoslavia and Croatia and for the two countries to recognize each other. It should be expected that the U.S., with whose help the Dayton agreement was reached, will support the position of Yugoslav diplomacy that accords must be observed. All pertinent international factors have also pointed to the need, after Dayton and the Paris peace conference, that the signed agreement be implemented as soon as possible, in the interest of peace and stability in the region. Any other reasoning, in Zagreb or elsewhere, could sideline and delay the implementation of the peace agreement.

FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: IDEA TO ARM BOSNIAN MUSLIMS INSANE Belgrade, Dec 21 (Tanjug) -Former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger described as insane the idea that American peace-keeping troops in Bosnia should at the same time arm and train Bosnian Muslim troops in Sarajevo. Speaking Wednesday in the foreign correspondents' club in Washington Eagleburger said that this would bring Congress into an impossible contradiction of being an impartial guardian of peace on the one and arming and training one of the warring sides on the other hand. Western European leaders had made a fatal mistake when they asked the U.S. to allow them to play the leading role in the settlement of the Balkan issue, Eagelburger said. He said the tragedy of war could have to a large extent been avoided if Washington had been able to convince German leaders on time that it was necessary for the U.S. to take the lead in the resolution of the Balkan issue. Eagleurger considers it wrong to limit peace-keeping efforts in Yugoslavia to one year.

REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT SAYS ALL PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED Belgrade, Dec 21 (Tanjug) - President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic said on Thursday that the Bosnian Serb side would release all prisoners by Jan. 20, in compliance with the Dayton peace accord. The Russian Itar-tass news agency quotes Karadzic as making the promise in a meeting with Angelo Gnadiger, representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross for central Europe and the Balkans.

SERBS IN CROATIA

THROUGHOUT KRAJINA, OLD PEOPLE COUNT THEIR LAST DAYS Zagreb, Dec. 20 (Tanjug) - Snow has blocked the roads to distant villages of Serb-populated regions of Croatia - Lika, Kordun, and Banija, where feeble elderly Serb men and women are counting their last days. International humanitarian organizations have lists showing that about 4,000 Serbs now live in Krajina, but there are no reliable figures on how many old people are stranded in their homes. Before the onslaught of the Croatian army, about 250,000 Serbs fled from Krajina in early August. Only feeble old people who had lived alone stayed behind. At the time, international non-government organizations and representatives of the UNCRO said six Serbs were killed daily on the average, mostly the elderly. The number of unregistered killings far exceeded this number. Secretary-General of the Serb Democratic Forum Veljko Dzakula said the Serbs who stayed behind have no water of electricity in their villages and that the question of food is a true humanitarian disaster. 'Practically all their cattle have been taken away, and even the aid that arrives from humanitarian organizations is taken from them. The population is faced with the most difficult form of survival. Old people are prone to diseases, but they cannot ask for help because of difficulties in communications. If they manage somehow to ask for help, they find that those who should help are less than willing. There are now 1,600 people in 370 villages. It is a matter of few people in a large area, and most of them require special attention and care,' he said. This dark picture painted by Dzakula is confirmed by statements from Sabina Slottke, Coordinator for Social Work of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Slottke said these people were more than 65 years old, most of them in poor health, as they would have fled with their families had they been well. We find them ill, helpless, some have cancer, there are also invalids, she said. They used to live with their families, they had cattle, but since August they have been living alone. A village once had a population of 1,700, but today there is just an old woman living there, Slottke said. Provided weather conditions are good, red cross activists can daily visit 5-8 villages, which means they can see 5-15 people. Estimates are that there are currently 300-600 elderly people who should be hospitalized or placed in homes for senior citizens. Moreover, there are about 400 people who need fuel because they will freeze and die if they do not get it. It happens that we visit an old person and see that there is wood for fire which just needs to be chopped, Slottke said. We come the next day to chop the logs, but there are none. Somebody stole them. People drive around in automobiles with trailers, she said. Red cross teams entered the areas of the towns of Dvor and Kostajnica only in early December. The situation there is terrible, Slottke said. The people we find have not seen a human being since August, they are in a very bad condition and we also expect to find some dead, Slottke explained.