YDS 12/28

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

28. DECEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT, PREMIER, MEET TAJIK PREMIER - TAJIK COMPANIES EXPRESS INTEREST IN YUGOSLAV TECHNOLOGY - ITALY LIFTS ANTI-YUGOSLAV TRADE EMBARGO

REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA - CHINA DONATES MEDICINE WORTH 500,000 DOLLARS - HOW TO SECURE RETURN OF REFUGEES FROM TERRITORY OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA - IFRC APPEALS FOR AID TO REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA NEXT YEAR

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - FRANCE HAS UNDERSTANDING FOR SARAJEVO SERBS' DEMAND - GEN.JACKSON POINTS OUT GOOD RECEPTION IN SERB PART OF BOSNIA - MUSLIMS AND CROATS CONTINUE HIDING IMPRISONED SERBS

CROATIA - KRAJINA SERBS - CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP DISAPPOINTED IN CROATS OVER CONDUCT IN KRAJINA

*YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT, PREMIER, MEET TAJIK PREMIER B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - The President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zoran Lilic said Yugoslavia's principal goals were to develop relations of good neighborliness in all fields, contribute to peace and prosperity in the Balkans and Europe, and rejoin all international organizations as a full member. At a meeting with Tajik Prime Minister Dzhamshat Karimov Wednesday in Belgrade, Lilic said Yugoslavia would provide its full support to the activities of the IFOR and all countries and institutions involved in the implementation of the Dayton agreement. Peace and human dignity are priority goals of both countries, it was noted during the meeting. The strategic position of both Tajikistan and the Federal Repubic of Yugoslavia has made the international commnity realize that without peace in these two countries, there can be no peace in their respective regions. Karimov expressed gratitude to Lilic for Yugoslavia's full support to the preservation of Tajikistan's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, and for its readiness for economic cooperation which should lead to a more successful economic development of both countries. Lilic and Karimov expressed the wish for further strengthening of the already good bilateral relations, especially in the economic field. At a separate meeting Wednesday in Belgrade, Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic and Karimov expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral cooperation so far, and pointed to great prospects for its further development and promotion, especially in the economic field. It has been agreed that the two Governments work for the promotion of economic and financial cooperation, as well as of cooperation in culture, education, science and technology, especially as regards the transfer of technology from Yugoslavia to Tajikistan, the Federal Information Secretariat said in a statement. Both countries will provide special support to joint investment projects in Tajikistan. They also expressed readiness to speed up the drawing up of documents on the development of bilateral cooperation, the statement says.

TAJIK COMPANIES EXPRESS INTEREST IN YUGOSLAV TECHNOLOGY B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - Tajik Prime Minister Jamshet Karimov said Wednesday he hoped joint ventures with Yugoslav companies would enable the transfer of their very advanced technology to Tajikistan. Karim, who heads a Tajik delegation on a visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia made the statement in a meeting with Minister Coordinator in the Serbian Government Dragan Tomic in Belgrade. The statement said that two dozen companies from Yugoslavia and Tajikistan were currently negotiating joint ventures.

ITALY LIFTS ANTI-YUGOSLAV TRADE EMBARGO R o m e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - Italy has decided to lift its embargo on trade with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Foreign Trade Ministry's decree lifting barriers to trade with Yugoslavia has appeared in the latest issue of the official gazette. The Ministry said in a statement that the U.N. Security Council's Resolution suspending sanctions against Yugoslavia and the corresponding decisions taken by the E.U. states had created the necessary conditions for lifting the Italian embargo.

*CHINA DONATES MEDICINE WORTH 500,000 DOLLARS B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - The Office of the Commissioner for refugees of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia received on Wednesday a shipment of medicine valued at half a million dollars, a donation by the Government of the People's Republic of China. On this occasion, the Republican Commissioner for refugees Bratislava Morina and Ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (F.R.Y.) Vladimir Sultanovic received in Belgrade representatives of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China headed by Charge d'affaires Zhi Zhao Lin. The Government of the P.R. of China had taken a decision on aid before the sanctions against Yugoslavia were suspended. Ambassador Lin emphasized that the shipment was the reflection of the Chinese people's understanding for the difficult situation in which Yugoslavia and refugees in it find themselves. Ambassador Sultanovic recalled that Yugoslavia appreciated the principled stand of the P.R. of China in the period when it was under the sanctions of the international community, and expressed hope that the two countries' universal cooperation would be more intensive following president of the F.R. of Yugoslavia Zoran Lilic's visit to Beijing.

*HOW TO SECURE RETURN OF REFUGEES FROM TERRITORY OF FORMER YUGOSLAV IA B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - Serbian Commissioner for refugees Bratislava Morina said on Wednesday she hoped that the Dayton, i.e. Paris accords would create conditions for the return in 1996 of the hundreds of thousands of refugees to their ancestral lands. 'I believe that in 1996, for the first time after almost five years, the refugees will go in the opposite direction, towards the territories where they have lived previously and Serbia will fully support them and aid the reconstruciton of these regions,' Morina said. She also said that the suspension of the international sanctions has put the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into a more favourable political position, thus creating better conditions for the more active engagement of the Commessariat for Refugees of Serbia and its activities abroad. Morina said that an opportunity for this will be a meeting of the working group for humanitarian issues, to be held in Geneva on January 16, which will continue operating within the Council for the Implementation of the Bosnia Peace Agreement. On that occasion, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata will for the first time inform the Yugoslav delegation about the plans for the return of the refugees. In Geneva the Yugoslav delegation will present its stands on the humanitarian refugee programs in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because certain international humanitarian organizations have announced they would stop their activities there in the second half of 1996, Morina said. She said that these organizations justified this by the suspension of the sanctions and the start of the program for the return of the refugees. We believe that regardless of the tempo of the return of the refugees, which will be neither fast nor easy, humanitarian programs should continue in keeping with needs and priorities. Morina said that the Commessariat for Refugees of Serbia and the Commessariat for Displaced Persons of Montenegro will insist that a census is conducted, in cooperation with UNHCR, of all refugees and displaced persons in order to make official the real figures.

*IFRC APPEALS FOR AID TO REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA NEXT YEAR B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) has appealed to the world to provide 31.2 million German marks in aid to the refugees and the needy in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (F.R.Y.) in 1996, the IFRC announced on Wednesday. Aid has been calculated for 410,000 users, or the number of refugees as recognized by the International Community according to its sources. Officially registered in the F.R.Y., there are about 500,000 refugees from an earlier period and 200,000 expelled from the Republic of Serb Krajina who arrived during Croatia's August aggression.

*FRANCE HAS UNDERSTANDING FOR SARAJEVO SERBS' DEMAND P a r i s, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - Spokesman for the French NATO contingent in Sarajevo said Wednesday that the operation of taking over control in the Serb part of Sarajevo was proceeding satisfactorily and without incidents. The local Serbs are trustful and willing to cooperate, said the Spokesman. In connection with estimates that tens of thousands of Sarajevo Serbs are determined to leave the city, France believes that, if their departure is inevitable, at least they should be given an opportunity to withdraw in peace, which would be possible only under an altered timetable of steps as agreed under the Dayton agreement. French Foreign Minister Herve De Charette said that the local Serbs had to be guaranteed safety. The French Government showed understanding for the Bosnian Serb's demand that the timetable for Sarajevo's re-unification, agreed under the Dayton agreement, be changed and adjusted.

*GEN.JACKSON POINTS OUT GOOD RECEPTION IN SERB PART OF BOSNIA L o n d o n, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - A British force for the implementation of the peace accord for Bosnia and Herzegovina has been received with understanding and welcome in the Serb territory, British media stressed on Wednesday. British officers and Gen. Michael Jackson, who commands the force of the United Kingdom, were quoted by the BBC network as pointing out the good reception accorded them in Banja Luka (western Bosnia). Gen. Jackson told british reporters that the main task of the United Kingdom's soldiers was to help people living in Bosnia establish peace.

*MUSLIMS AND CROATS CONTINUE HIDING IMPRISONED SERBS B e l g r a d e, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - The Croats and Muslims are still holding a large number of captured and arrested Serbs in camps in the territory of Bosnia where they are being tortured, the Yugoslav Committee for gathering data on crimes committed against humanity and the international law said on Wednesday. The Committee informed a delegation of the ICRC in Belgrade about this on Wednesday. Under the Dayton agreement, all prisoners held captive in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina must be released until Jan. 19 1996, but many Serbs remain in Croat and Muslim camps and prisons. According to the latest data which the Commitee has at its disposal, in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina there are as many as 394 camps for Serbs, but it is feared that even this figure is not final. The Committee said that the Croatian and Muslim authorities are concealing these places from ICRC due to the bad living conditions of the imprisoned Serbs, and even when visits are allowed, a part of them are previously hidden away. Thus the Committee has information that 150 Serbs are being held captive in the country prison of the town of Tuzla, northeastern Bosnia, where the ground and first floors are officially used as a military jail, and the second floor as a jail for civilians. The Serbs are held on the ground floor, the so-called pavillion, and their existence is concealed from ICRC (the Committee has a partial list containing the names of 54 Serbs). The inmates of the Tuzla jail are forced to dig trenches on Mt.Majevica, northeastern Bosnia, the Committee said in a report. The Committee said that another camp is located in the vicinity of Travnik, western Bosnia, in a warehouse of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in Sljemeni and which is under the command of the Sarajevo Government Muslim Army's Fifth Corps. From this camp only 12 young prisoners were exchanged on December 24, and the majority of them were not on ICRC lists. The Committee said that of the 140 Serbs held in this camp, ICRC has registered only a few, because when ICRC representatives visit the camp, its commander either hides the prisoners. The Committee gave a list of the name of 62 prisoners of the Sljemeni camp.

*CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP DISAPPOINTED IN CROATS OVER CONDUCT IN KRAJINA Z a g r e b, Dec. 27 (Tanjug) - Archbishop of Belgrade Franc Perko has expressed disappointment in Croats over their conduct following the August military offensive on Krajina. Speaking in an interview with the Zagreb weekly Panorama on Wednesday, he said that it was a big moral taint both on the Croatian state and on the Croat people. Perko said he did not believe that the course of events that had been taken could not have been avoided. 'Some international diplomats in Belgrade have told me that this is Croatia's secret plan, and that such activities go not only unprevented but are even stimulated in a way,' Perko said. The Archbishop expressed a wish that Croats, as a Catholic community, should act as an evangelical people and not like barbarians. 'What happened (in the offensive) is their worst humiliation,' Perko said. It is clear that all refugees will not return to their former homes but at least they should be given a chance to do so, said Perko, adding that a failure to achieve this would provoke another war. He said Croatia too should make possible the return of refugees. Perko said it was time for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches to establish new relations in talks between their high representatives, and that Protestants, and possibly Muslims, should also be included. The Balkan nations will have no future unless they are prepared to live peacefully side by side, and Serbs, Croats and Muslims are no exception to that, said Catholic Archbishop Perko.