Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-01-09

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

9 January 1996

YDS-1054

CONTENTS

[A] FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT EXTENDS CONDOLENCES ON MITTERRAND'S DEATH

[02] PRESIDENT OF SERBIA FELICITATES REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ON ITS DAY

[03] KOSOVO OFFICIAL EXPRESSES HOPE IN DIALOGUE WITH ETHNIC ALBANIANS

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - CROATIA

[04] AHEAD OF GRANIC'S VISIT TO BELGRADE, by Zoran Jevdjovic

[C] YUGOSLAVIA - MEDIA

[05] BRITISH EXPERT SAYS SERBS HAVE LOST MEDIA WAR

[D] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[06] BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT: THE WEST HAS ACTED DEMOCRATICALLY

[07] JOINT COMMISSION SAYS BOSNIAN SERBS DID NOT FIRE AT IFOR TROOPS

[08] IFOR WILL IN FUTURE RESPOND SEVERELY TO ATTACKS ON ITS TROOPS

[09] TENSION MOUNTS IN DIVIDED CITY OF MOSTAR

[E] MOVING OF THE SERBS FROM SARAJEVO

[10] KARADZIC: IZETBEGOVIC TO TURN SARAJEVO INTO A EUROPEAN TEHRAN

[11] KINKEL SAYS SERBS MUST NOT LEAVE SARAJEVO

[12] IFOR SAYS IT WILL NOT STOP SERBS MOVING PROPERTY OUT OF SARAJEVO

[F] UN - CROATIA

[13] U.N. STRONGLY CONDEMNS CROATIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

[A] FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[01] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT EXTENDS CONDOLENCES ON MITTERRAND'S DEATH

Francois Mitterrand will be remembered as an exceptional figure, a prominent politician in France and Europe, and a fighter for peace and greater equality among nations, Lilic said in the telegram.

Lilic expressed special appreciation for Mitterrand's role in the difficult moments in the Yugoslav crisis, when he had shown great wisdom and ability to prevent a worse bloodshed among the Bosnian warring parties.

[02] PRESIDENT OF SERBIA FELICITATES REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ON ITS DAY

'To the citizens of Republika Srpska, I cordially felicitate on the Day of the R.S., the first they are welcoming in peace, with the best wishes for as successful as possible economic and cultural recovery and overall progress of the R.S.,' it is said in the felicitations.

[03] KOSOVO OFFICIAL EXPRESSES HOPE IN DIALOGUE WITH ETHNIC ALBANIANS

The Serbian Constitution provides ample space for 'a normal communication and mutual appreciation,' Drobnjak told reporters in Pristina.

Drobnjak said it was certainly a good sign that the Albanian-language papers, which are being printed in the Province's centre of Pristina, had started to change their anti-Serb and anti-Yugoslav phraseology and accept realities.

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - CROATIA

[04]AHEAD OF GRANIC'S VISIT TO BELGRADE

(by Zoran Jevdjovic)

During the crisis in the former Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia has shown that it does not want formal reasons to prevent a dialogue between Belgrade and Zagreb. Two visits to Zagreb by high-ranking Yugoslav officials were aimed at achieving this goal, despite the fact that Croatian return visits were announced and repeatedly postponed. During both visits to Zagreb, the Yugoslav officials tried to find what they may have in common as regards an otherwise complex crisis which had been a stumbling block for many a world diplomat and politician.

The Yugoslav side insisted on a policy of taking small steps which would ensure a better climate as a precondition for an overall normalization of the situation not just in the former Yugoslavia, but also in all of the Balkans.

These successful and desirable developments require a principled approach to the problems and, certainly, a fulfillment of obligations which the negotiators have voluntarily taken in the course of negotiations so far.

Analysts draw attention to the fact that this is not about the two countries' interests but also about very serious expectations and strong intentions of the most important international factors to put an end to the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.

Croatia may have been able to use a certain privileged position so far, bearing in mind the interests and behaviour of its patrons. However, big powers' initiatives and stands show that this obviously belongs to the past.

[C] YUGOSLAVIA - MEDIA

[05] BRITISH EXPERT SAYS SERBS HAVE LOST MEDIA WAR

John Burns of the London-based British-South Slav Society, who occasionally advises the British Government on the Balkans, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, made the statement in an interview published by the Belgrade daily Nasa Borba on Monday.

The distorted image of the war in the former Yugoslavia in which the Serbs were labelled main culprits and aggressors was very difficult to change once it has been firmly established in the western media, explained Burns. He listed dozens of examples substantiating his claim.

Although more than 250,000 Serbs fled Croatia in 1991-1992 and this was reported in great detail by the U.N. Secretary General in March 1993, the exodus went totally unnoticed by the western media. On 28 July 1995, the Croatian Army seized the Bosnian towns of Glamoc and Grahovo, forcing about 13,000 Serbs to flee their homes. The BBC world service, however, ignored their plight and devoted its attention solely to the Muslims in Zepa.

Croatia's military operations were referred to by the BBC as 'the Croatian Army advance', said Burns. He also said that the Independent daily wrote on 22 Aug. 1992 about an unpublished report on the Sarajevo bred queue massacre denying Serb responsibility for the incident. The Time magazine also carried a story about the report on Aug. 24.

The U.N. Security Council decided to impose sanctions on Yugoslavia immediately after the massacre.

The Sunday Times agreed on 1 Oct. 1995 with former E.U. negotiator Lord David Owen that Serbs had not caused the carnage at Sarajevo's Markale marketplace, which prompted NATO to carry out massive air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions.

Inexperienced reporters, lack of real knoweldge about the situation and one-sidedness all contributed to the anti-Serb propaganda, said Burns and added that the Serbs now had to be much wiser in resisting this kind of media pressure.

[D] BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

[06] BOSNIAN SERB VICE PRESIDENT: THE WEST HAS ACTED DEMOCRATICALLY

He noted that the peace solution for Bosnia was enabling the Serb, Muslim and Croat sides to decide on their fate by political means without interference on the part of those 'who have arrived to establish peace. This is democratic...', said Koljevic.

He called the Muslim and then also the Croat side to halt the media war if they wanted to establish cooperation and 'if they wanted some future' and the beginning of joint parliamentary life.

Koljevic assessed that this was one of the things overlooked by Dayton, because, as he put it, people could not call one another aggressors while working in the same parliament or in the same presidency.

Koljevic appraised that the Drina river, which flows between the R.S. and the F.R.Y., would in time turn into an administrative border.

He said that this Serb entity wanted also to cooperate with the Muslims and Croats in Bosnia on the footing of equality, entitling the Serb side to the right of veto and providing for consensus in making decisions on common questions.

'If the Muslim-Croat side wants lower-cost nutrition, without intending to import grains from Pakistan, then it will have to cooperate economically with the R.S.,' said Koljevic.

'Our goal has been limited: not to dominate over the Muslims, while theirs was unlimited: a single and unitary Bosnia under their command. They have not achieved this goal, and it is up to themselves alone how soon this creation is to fall apart...'

Koljevic stressed that President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic, representing the Serb side at the peace talks, had done his utmost by the mere fact that he had, within one package, to solve the question of the sanctions, and the question of the R.S. and that of eastern Slavonija.

[07] JOINT COMMISSION SAYS BOSNIAN SERBS DID NOT FIRE AT IFOR TROOPS

IFOR officers, who had initially been unable to say with certainty what had happened, agreed with the report.

The commission also established that no Serb troops had been present in the region at the time of shooting.

Local civilians told the commission that they had not shoot at the multinational force and that they regarded IFOR troops as their protection, since Serb units were deployed two km from their homes.

Regarding the other incident which took place on Jan. 6, when a rocket was allegedly fired from a hand rocket launcher, the commission established that a land mine had accidentally been activated.

[08] IFOR WILL IN FUTURE RESPOND SEVERELY TO ATTACKS ON ITS TROOPS

The decision was reached after two gunshots were fired at the French Falcon-50 while it was approaching Sarajevo airport. Rayner said the attacks had been sporadic, and none of the parties were blamed, but NATO would not wait for incidents to grow into a menacing danger.

Two Apache helicopters, equipped with guns, television cameras and heat sensors, on Monday patrollied the skies over Sarajevo.

[09] TENSION MOUNTS IN DIVIDED CITY OF MOSTAR

Mayor of the Croat, western, section of Mostar Mijo Brajkovic appealed through the Croat Radio of Herceg-Bosna to the citizens to remain calm, cautious and not to allow to be provoked. Brajkovic termed the killing of Croat policeman Zeljko Dubic on Saturday, as Croat policemen claim apparently committed by Muslim extremists, a 'terrorist act.'

'It is dramatic in Mostar,' news presenter of the Muslim Radiotelevision assessed, adding that everything that had been patiently built in Muslim-Croat relations for almost two years since the Washington agreement, all subsequent federal agreements and the authority of the U.S. and Europe, are put to the great test.

E.U. Administrator of Mostar Hans Koschnick turned down on Sunday Croats' demands for an official division of this city. He warned that the E.U. could withdraw unless Croats and Muslims showed more willingness to cooperate.

[E] MOVING OF THE SERBS FROM SARAJEVO

[10] KARADZIC: IZETBEGOVIC TO TURN SARAJEVO INTO A EUROPEAN TEHRAN

Karadzic said the 'Serb Sarajevans cannot free themselves of a feeling of insecurity, so we must devise a solution together'. He said if the Serbs were to leave, Izetbegvic would settle a million to 1.5 million Muslims in Sarajevo and the nearby town of VisokO.

'We will not leave and we do not accept Muslim authority, and the international community is obliged to settle the problem,' said Karadzic.

[11] KINKEL SAYS SERBS MUST NOT LEAVE SARAJEVO

Kinkel is quoted by the German DPA news agency as making the statement in Sarajevo, where he discussed the country's reconstruction with Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic and other officials.

Kinkel told a news conference that Germany would take an active part in the rebuilding of Bosnia and would give troops for the planned international police force in that former Yugoslav Republic.

[12] IFOR SAYS IT WILL NOT STOP SERBS MOVING PROPERTY OUT OF SARAJEVO

The (Bosnian Serb State) Republika Srpska's news agency SRNA quotes Adm. Smith as making the statement after meeting with Republika Srpska Parliament Speaker Momcilo Krajisnik at the State's centre of Pale.

Smith said that the IFOR would in no way obstruct the lawful movement of any citizen or deprive them of the right to take out any personal property.

Krajisnik again conveyed to Smith the Bosnian Serbs' concern about the world's turning a blind eye to the problem of the Serbs in Sarajevo. He stressed that the Serbs want a political settlement, because they want to stay on in the city, but will not accept Muslim authority. Krajisnik said that the international community had been protecting the Muslims in Sarajevo for three and a half years, but was now deaf to the Serbs' pleas in their hour of need.

Krajisnik and Smith agreed that the Kiseljak-Sarajevo road via Sarajevo's Serb Ilidza suburb should be opened to traffic.

[F] UN - CROATIA

[13] U.N. STRONGLY CONDEMNS CROATIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Aa declaration read to the Council by Chairman John Weston contained an explicit condemnation of Croatia, the AFP news agency reports. The Council condemns the violation of international human rights (committed in Krajina over the past six months), particularly the massacres of hundreds of civilians, plunder and systematic arson and other forms of destruction of property, the declaration read.

The Council requested that Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali compile a new report on the issue and warned the Council would act unless progress was made by the set deadline.

About 4,000 Serbs were killed and 250,000 put to flight in Croatia's aggressions on the northern and southern parts of the Republic of Serb Krajina last August. Their villages were torched and sacked.

U.N. peacekeepers have witnessed murders of elderly Serbs who remained in Krajina and blamed the Croatian Army and police.