YDS 12/25

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

25. DECEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SAYS HIS VISIT TO CHINA HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL - YUGOSLAVIA, TAJIKISTAN EXPAND ECONOMIC COOPERATION

YUGOSLAVIA - FYROM - GLIGOROV FAVOURS NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA

SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA - AUSTRALIA SUSPENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - BILDT MEETS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA LEADERS - U.S. WANTS TURKEY TO ARM AND TRAIN BOSNIAN MUSLIM ARMY - SERBS, MUSLIMS EXCHANGE POW'S - ICRC OFFICIAL SAYS ALL BOSNIA CAPTIVES MUST BE RELEASED BY JANUARY 19

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL - CROATIA - SERB REFUGEES - U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL WARNS CROATIA ABOUT SERB REFUGEES - BOUTROS-GHALI ACCUSES CROATIA OF MASSIVE CRIMES AGAINST SERBS - CROATIA DOES NOT WANT TO SEE SERB REFUGEES COMING BACK

SREM - BARANJA REGION - SERBS ACCEPT U.S. GENERAL AS SREM AND BARANJA REGION ADMINISTRATOR

* YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SAYS HIS VISIT TO CHINA HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL X i a m e n, Dec. 23 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic said Saturday that his visit to China had opened door to further political and economic cooperation between the two countries. The Chinese leadership supported the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in its effort to be re-admitted to international organizations, Lilic told reporters at the end of his six-day official visit to the Chinese capital of Peking, the city of Shanghai and the special economic zone of Xiamen. Political relations between Yugoslavia and China are traditionally good, Lilic said, adding that the two countries held similar or identical stands on many aspects of international relations. The Yugoslav President said that top Chinese leaders, led by President Jian Zemin, had stressed Belgrade's peace policy. The Chinese officials offered assurances that Peking would urge Yugoslavia's return to all international institutions, primarily the U.N. General Assembly, and to major financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Lilic said that his hosts had accepted a proposal for organizing in Yugoslavia a Chinese economic and cultural exhibition.

* YUGOSLAVIA, TAJIKISTAN EXPAND ECONOMIC COOPERATION B e l g r a d e, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Zebic and a visiting Tajik state and economic delegation noted Friday that bilateral cooperation could be expanded through signing of inter-state agreements. They also noted that the economies of the two countries were complementary and that both countries would benefit from cooperation in the fields of energy, agriculture, textile and chemical industries, construction and metal industries, Yugoslav Information Secretariat said in a statement. The Yugoslav-Tajik Central Bank, with 65 percent Yugoslav capital, will from now on follow up business deals between the two countries, Tajik delegation head said. The two countries will mainly trade in raw matarials and some finished products, he said. Tajikistan can export silver, bismuth, antimony, marble and aluminum and wants to import furnishing fabrics and furniture, equipment for textile industry ind cables from Yugoslavia.

*GLIGOROV FAVOURS NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA S k o p j e, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Kiro Gligorov believes that the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia is a 'common interest and the best alternative.' Gligorov, in an interview published Friday in the Skopje Daily Nova Makedonija (his first after an assassination attempt on him on October 3), set out that he had announced a speedy normalization of FYROM-Yugoslav relations after he had met with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on October 2. 'Full normalization of the relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has great significance for the two countries, their peoples and stability in the region,' Gligorov said. He added that after the disintegration of the S.F.R.Y. (former Yugoslavia) there had been no hostilities and territorial disputes between the two countries, Macedonia did not participate in the war, and the former Yugoslav People's Army had left Macedonia by consent. Gligorov pointed to the fact that 'immediately after the Second World War, Serbia's and Montenegro's Assemblies had recognized the statehood to the Republic of Macedonia and existence of the Macedonian people, which was the basis for half-a-century-long life in the the common federation.' Thence, Gligorov believes, 'there really exist no good reasons for mutual recognition to be put off any further.' Assessing positively the Dayton and Paris peace accords as historical, Gligorov said that Macedonia was holding to its well-known and firm stand. He specified that FYROM is an 'independent, sovereign state oriented towards European integrations and, on the basis of equidistance, it is firmly committed to full cooperation with all its neighbours.' Gligorov assessed that FYROM 'remains on its position of one of the six equal successors to the former S.F.R.Y.'

*AUSTRALIA SUSPENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA B e l g r a d e, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - Australia on Friday suspended the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has said. Canberra will, however, maintain sanctions on Yugoslav property in Australia until the succession issue is resolved between the new states created in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Gareth said. The sanctions against the Bosnian Serb state Republika Srpska will remain in force.

*BILDT MEETS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA LEADERS B e l g r a d e, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - The High Representative in Charge of overseeing the implementation of civilian provisions of the peace agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina Carl Bildt and Republika Srpska (R.S.) leaders discussed Friday in Pale the future cooperation between R.S. and the Muslim-Croat Federation, reconstruction of the country and future life of Serbs, Muslim and Croats in Sarajevo. Following a meeting with R.S. Deputy Prime Minister Velibor Ostojic during this, his first visit to Pale in his new capacity, Bildt pointed to the need for restoring trust among Serbs, Muslims and Croats in Sarajevo, AFP reports. It is imperative that united Sarajevo be a city in which Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats can live, work and have a future, Bildt said. This will necessitate in the coming weeks and months a series of confidence-building measures, he said. Bildt said he had discussed the condition of Serbs in Sarajevo several times in the past few months with R.S. Parliament Speaker Momcilo Krajisnik. Ostojic said the R.S. Government had promised to Bildt help in implementing the Dayton agreement as it guarantees to the Serbs the realization of many of their interests. Referring to Serb Sarajevo, Ostojic said the democratic world had a moral obligation to take into account the referendum of Serbs in Sarajevo.

*U.S. WANTS TURKEY TO ARM AND TRAIN BOSNIAN MUSLIM ARMY B e l g r a d e, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - Yhe U.N. wants its NATO ally Turkey to take the leading role in arming and training the Bosnian Muslim Government Army, U.S. State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said Thursday. He said negotiations between the two countries on the issue were already under way. 'Given Turkey's geographic proximity, given Turkey's historical and cultural links to the Bosnian people and given the fact that Turkey is a valued NATO ally, we wound expect that Turkey would play a role,' news agencies quoted Burns at saying at a press conference. He said the U.S.-Turkish action would primarily be aimed at upgrading the Bosnian Muslim military capability for a time after NATO's withdrawal from Bosnia. Burns said negotiations were under way with some European and other countries to raise funds for arms and military equipment for the federal army of the Bosnian Muslims and Croats. 'We're looking to Turkey for ideas, for leadership and for partnership in this effort,' Burns said.

*U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL WARNS CROATIA ABOUT SERB REFUGEES N e w Y o r k, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - The U.N. Security Council on Friday strongly demanded of Croatia immediately to lift all time-limits on the return of Serb refugees to their homes in Serb Krajina and other Serb lands invaded by Croatian forces in the summer. The body further requested in a Presidential Statement the Croatian Government to set no deadlines for the Serb refugees' reclaiming their property or obtaining compensation. The Council put the matter on the agenda out of turn, on the recommendation of U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, after it had reviewed it several times in October and November.

*BOUTROS-GHALI ACCUSES CROATIA OF MASSIVE CRIMES AGAINST SERBS N e w Y o r k, Dec. 23 (Tanjug) - U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has accused Croatia of massive violations of Serb human rights and stressed a highly alarming position of Serbs. In a report to the U.N. Security Council on Friday evening, Boutros-Ghali said that cases of human rights violations against Serbs in Croatia in the past few months were counted by thousands. Boutros-Ghali criticized Zagreb of having done almost nothing to stop the killings and beatings of Serbs, and arson attacks on their properties, particularly those that had remained in the territoryseized by the Croatian Army in its August offensive. Croatian troops have committed or tolerated many of such crimes, while Croatian police mostly showed indifference, and in many cases took no step whatsoever to prosecute persons responsible for crimes committed during the military operation in Krajina, the report said. U.N. officials in Sectors North and South of what was then a U.N. Protected Area in Krajina saw more than 150 bodies of killed people, many of them with bullet wounds in their backs or heads. Sixty-four people in their 60s or older were killed in Sector South alone, and Croatian authorties have still not provided access to records about persons buried in more than 750 freshly dug graves that the U.N. personnel discovered in August, the report said. It spoke of killings, deliberate arsoning, massive looting, arbitrary arrests, beatings and intimidation of Serbs, as well as of the prevention of Serb refugees' return. There is a considerable discrepancy between the number of perpetrators that have so far been brought to justice and the number of reported violations of human rights, Boutros-Ghali said. Over 5,000 Serb houses have been burned down in the Serb Krajina, and not more than 11 persons have been charged as responsible for it, said the U.N. Secretary-General. He said individual actions of plunder could be measured by thousands, while U.N. teams had received reports of hundreds of cases of beatings and intimidation of Serbs by Croatian troops, police and civilians. Boutros-Ghali said 16,857 homes in 389 villages had been destroyed or damaged in one region alone, and added that the true proportion of arson attacks exceeded by far the figures presented by Croatian officials. Of the estimated 200,000 Serbs who fled Krajina and now live in Yugoslavia, more than 20,000 have expressed a wish to return home but many practical, legal and administrative obstacles stand in their way, Boutros-Ghali said. He said Serbs encounter the same problem in efforts to secure their property rights in Krajina. Furthermore, over 700 Serbs have been detained in Croatian prisons without fair trial, Boutros-Ghali said. Particular concern focused in the report on the position of the remaining Serb population on those areas, especially the old and the disabled, who suffer neglect and very little medical attention and are exposed to beatings and other forms of harassment by looters. The U.N. Security Council, acting on the basis of Boutros-Ghali's report, on Friday evening demanded that Croatia declare null and void all deadlines it had set to the Serb Krajina refugees for reclaiming their property, and condemned Croatia for massive violation of Serb human rights.

*CROATIA DOES NOT WANT TO SEE SERB REFUGEES COMING BACK Z a g r e b, Dec. 23 (Tanjug) - Vice-President of the Serb People's Party (SNS) in Croatia Veselin Pejanovic said Saturday that Croatian authorities viewed with disfavor the idea of a massive return of expelled Krajina Serbs. Pejanovic told a press conference in Zagreb that Croatian authorities were trying to make sure that only a very small number of Serb refugees would return before April's population census in Croatia. He called the expelled Krajina Serbs to settle in the region of eastern Slavonia and Baranja (formerly U.N. Sector East) and appealed to them not to do any harm to Croats, Hungarian and others who also wish to return to the region. He said that Serbs could get a maximum political autonomy in the region - one of the former four regions protected by the U.N. and the only one that is still controlled by local Serbs. Another SNS leader, Milan Djukic, said Croatia should adopt a law on general amnesty because massive return of Serbs would not be possible without it.

*SERBS ACCEPT U.S. GENERAL AS SREM AND BARANJA REGION ADMINISTRATOR E r d u t, Dec. 22 (Tanjug) - Serbs in the Srem and Baranja region have accepted a U.S. Government proposal that Jean-Paul Klein, a retired U.S. general, be appointed U.N. Administrator in the region. The Administrator will be in charge of both civilian and military affairs during a transitional period in which the Serb-populated region (formerly U.N. Sector East) will be under U.N. administration. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has already accepted the proposal and has forwarded it to the U.N. Security Council for consideration. Klein will be formally appointed U.N. Administrator in a Security Council session in two to three days, Milan Milanovic, head of the Serb negotiating team, said referring to the talks with Klemp. Milanovic said the Serb side had offered to fully cooperate with Klein because 'the details of the November 12 agreement should be jointly worked out, which is a serious job.'