YDS 10/17

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

17. OCTOBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S:

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT: WORLD COMMUNITY WILL STOP MUSLIM-CROATIAN OFFENSIVE IN BOSNIA

SPECIAL U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR - U.N. RAPPORTEUR SAYS CROATIAN AUTHORITIES TREAT KRAJINA SERBS CRUELLY

TRAGEDY OF REFUGEES IN BANJA LUKA - FOUR SERB REFUGEE CHILDREN DIE EN ROUTE TO BANJA LUKA - SINCE MAY 1ST 465,000 REFUGEES HAVE PASSED THROUGH BANJA LUKA

THE REPUBLIC OF SERB KRAJINA - CROATIA - SERB SIDE SHOWS READINESS TO RESUME TALKS WITH CROATIA

FROM FOREIGN PRESS - NEW YORK TIMES CALLS FOR BOMBING OF BOSNIAN MOSLEM, CROAT TROOPS - WESTERN MEDIA APPALLED AT CROATIA'S 'SCORCHED EARTH CAMPAIGN' IN KRAJINA - SWISS PAPER: AMERICANS HELPING MUSLIMS AND CROATS - CROATIA BECOMES NEST OF FASCISM WITH THE WEST'S BLESSING

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT: WORLD COMMUNITY WILL STOP MUSLIM-CROATIAN OFFENSIVE IN BOSNIA

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic Monday stated the conviction that the international community, in keeping with the assumed obligations and given guarantees, would stop the Muslim and Croatian sides in their violations of ceasefire in Bosnia. This was a condition without which it was impossible to go to a peace conference, Bulatovic said in an interview to Belgrade's Politika TV station. He said ceasefire was being violated at the Serb side's expense and that there were again long lines of refugees. Bulatovic assessed that the international community has on this occasion, too, demonstrated its policy of double standards because, as he pointed out, at the same time the arrival of gas for Sarajevo was being made an issue of no one even mentioned the humanitarian disaster in Banja Luka. He set out that peace was in the interest of the entire region and all the countries that came into being on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and it was in particular in the interest of the Serb people in the Bosnian Serb republic. Asked about the role of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in the peace process, Bulatovic replied that Milosevic was the most authoritative figure and the most competent negotiator. He stated satisfaction with the fact that the U.S. has decided at this time to decisively contribute to peace and to finding a sensible compromise. This, he said, has strengthened the position of U.S. mediator Richard Holbrooke, who appears in the name of the world's most powerful country and the 'only force that (now) promotes rules of conduct.' Responding to the question about the role of NATO, Bulatovic stated the hope that it would 'complete the period of searching', because, he warned, it was very dangerous if NATO established 'something that resembles conquest and not rule of law.' 'I hope it would be possible for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to adopt a position towards this global military organization, which is currently one of the major instruments for the realization of the goals and principles of the United Nations,' noted Bulatovic.

SPECIAL U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR

U.N. RAPPORTEUR SAYS CROATIAN AUTHORITIES TREAT KRAJINA SERBS CRUELLY

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - Special U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur for the former Yugoslavia Elisabeth Rehn criticized in Helsinki on Sunday Croatian authorities' cruel behaviour towards the remaining Serb population of Krajina. On return from her first tour of the former Yugoslavia since she took over in late September, Rehn said she deplored Croatians' extremely nationalist stand on different issues and cruel treatment of the Serbs, the AFP news agency reported. Rehn said that Croatian troops were firing at old and weak Serbs and listed a number of such examples, registered by U.N. observers. Rehn said that it was important to bring to light all Croatian atrocities in Krajina, because this was the only way to gradually take control of the situation.

TRAGEDY OF REFUGEES IN BANJA LUKA

FOUR SERB REFUGEE CHILDREN DIE EN ROUTE TO BANJA LUKA

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - More than 50,000 Serbs from the towns of Sanski Most and Prijedor who fled from a Croat-Muslim offensive in northwestern Bosnia are staying in the open in Banja Luka and four children have died on the way to this town, the Yugoslav Red Cross said Monday. A Yugoslav Red Cross team which recently returned from the area said long lines of tractors with trailers and carts were moving toward Banja Luka with 20 or more people on each vehicle. They said they also saw long lines of people traveling on foot, with no belongings at all, lost and desperate. Red Cross reports said there were also about 30,000 refugees staying in the open in Omarska, near Sanski Most.The situation is difficult also in other towns of Republika Srpska - in Doboj, Teslic, Brod, Vukosavlje (formerly Odzak), Samac, Derventa, Modrica, and Prnjavor. There are very many refugees in these towns and there are no elementary conditions there for finding them accommodation. The situation is very difficult also in the area of Banja Luka since local authorities and humanitarian organizations are unable to help, and the Yugoslav Red Cross is doing its best to help the local red cross. These refugees need immediate aid. There are shortages of water and water disinfectants, blood, medical supplies, food, plastic foil, articles for hygiene, baby food, tents, ready-made food rations, canned food, warm clothing and footwear, underwear, and mattresses. That is why the Yugoslav Red Cross has appealed to all foreign governments, international humanitarian organizations, individuals and institutions to send aid to the serb population and displaced persons in Banja Luka.

SINCE MAY 1ST 465,000 REFUGEES HAVE PASSED THROUGH BANJA LUKA

B a nj a L u k a, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - The Parliament of Republika Srpska said at a session on Monday that since May 1st 465,000 refugees had passed through this city. The president of the headquarters for the reception and accomodation of the Bosnian Serb and Serb Krajina refugees, Gojko Klikovac, said that his organization's basic goal had been to help the 235,000 Serb Krajina refugees arrive in Serbia. Klikovac said that almost all refugees from Republika Srpska had remained in the region of Banja Luka. Bosnian Serb commissioner for refugees Ljubisa Vladusic said that currently about 166,000 people were on the move and that 97,767 remained without accomodation. Vladusic warned that a genuine humanitarian catastrophe would take place unless these people are provided with accomodation and heating fuel before the start of the winter.

THE REPUBLIC OF SERB KRAJINA - CROATIA

SERB SIDE SHOWS READINESS TO RESUME TALKS WITH CROATIA

E r d u t, Oct 16 (Tanjug) - Chief Serb Krajina negotiator in talks with Croatia Milan Milanovic said on Monday that the Serb side was ready to resume talks with Croatia. Milanovic, who heads the negotiating team of the Republic of Serb Krajina's Srem-Baranja region, said that the Serb side had met in Erdut on Monday with U.N. Envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg and U.S. Ambassador in Zagreb Peter Galbraith. The Serbs proposed some dates and venues for resuming the talks, which were interrupted in Zagreb last Monday, Milanovic said.'As different from the Croatian side, we think it is far more important what we talk about than where,' Milanovic said.'Croatia's arbitrary setting of the time and place for the resumption of the talks was clearly intended to cause another interruption in the talks and blame it on the Serbs,' he added. Milanovic said that Russian and Belgian peacekeepers should remain in the Srem-Baranja region under U.N. Command, and rejected Croatia's request that they be replaced by NATO troops.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

NEW YORK TIMES CALLS FOR BOMBING OF BOSNIAN MOSLEM, CROAT TROOPS

N e w Y o r k, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - The New York Times daily on Sunday urged that NATO air strikes be used against Moslem and Croat troops that have continued attacks despite the Bosnia ceasefire agreement, the way they have been used against Bosnian Serbs. The paper said Washington as the undisputed international leader in a diplomatic settlement of the Bosnian conflict must at this point preserve its credibility as regards all warring parties.Consequently, Washington must not turn a blind eye to the latest Moslem-Croat offensive in northwestern Bosnia, the paper said. Times said western air forces should not be used to change the situation in the field. It would be sensible, however, to employ NATO air strikes around Banja Luka, the biggest town in the Republika Srpska, because of a critical humanitarian situation, as it was done in the case of Sarajevo several weeks ago.Times warned the U.S. administration that now that it had taken the fate of war and peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina in its hands, it was under a moral obligation to bring the peace process to an end.

WESTERN MEDIA APPALLED AT CROATIA'S 'SCORCHED EARTH CAMPAIGN' IN K RAJINA

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 16 (Tanjug) - Quoting a report by a local U.N. Commander Gen. Alain Forand of Canada, Reuters said that 'the most disturbing trend of all is the ongoing killing of Serb civilians who have remained, the majority of them elderly.' The report said that 'out of 21,744 houses observed, 16,578 were destroyed by fire or severely damaged, predominantly those of Serbs.' During Croatia's large-scale offensive on U.N.-protected Serb Krajina in early August, almost the entire Serb population, or 250,000 people, fled the region, leaving behind about 120,000 homes. The Observer of London wrote in dramatic tones about massacres of Krajina Serbs by Croatian troops, and said that an elderly woman had been burned to death after first being tied with a fishnet. The paper said there were practically no Serbs left in Croatia, although more than 300,000 of them had lived there before the Croatian offensive. The Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson said that Croatians were leaving a bloody trail behind them. Since August 5, U.N. observers have registered massive looting, torching and killing in Krajina, the paper said and added that officials of human rights organizations accused the Croatian Government of tolerating the crimes in order to discourage the Serbs from returning. The Boston Globe said the proof of premeditated ethnic cleansing was evident in the policy pursued by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. The paper said that most of Krajina was in flames by August 12. The Zagreb newspaper Panorama said that Tudjman's most difficult task would be to stop the barbarity of his forces in the area. The Zurich daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung said that the expulsion of Serbs would have unforeseeable political and economic consequences. Croats who argue that the loss of the compact Serb minority is also a loss for Croatia are widely condemned by their fellow Croats, the daily said.

SWISS PAPER: AMERICANS HELPING MUSLIMS AND CROATS

G e n e v a, Oct 16 (Tanjug) - The latest military successes of Croatian and Muslim forces in Krajina and in Bosnia, or the defeats of Serbs, are the result, today all too cleaer, of direct U.S. engagement on the side of the new 'winners', the Swiss daily Le Nouveau Quotidien said on Monday. 'Washington has undertaken everything to reinforce the Croatian war machinery', the daily said and added that it was done through the mediation of private individuals. The paper said that those private inidividuals are a group of U.S. generals, some of whom are already retired and gathered around the firm military professions resources in Alexandria, Virginia. Their engagement on Croatian and Bosnian territory started after the creation of the Muslim-Croat federation in 1994, the daily said and added that the head of that 'private' U.S. group is U.S. general Frederic Kreser, former Commander of the 82nd U.S. airborne division. The Swiss paper stressed that different fields of engagements of those 'private individuals' from the U.S. are training Muslim and Croatian troops, their arming, planning concrete military opertations, as the one in Krajina. Under the circumstances, the commentator said, Serbian forces in Krajina, in western and central Bosnia, did not have a chance to defend themselves.

CROATIA BECOMES NEST OF FASCISM WITH THE WEST'S BLESSING

B e l g r a d e, Oct 16 (Tanjug) - The Danish daily Politiken warned recently that what is now happening in Croatia with open or covert support of the West, threatens to become a nest of fascism in the Balkans. 'It is tragic that only foreign pressure can prevent the military, and in some aspects fascist line, adopted by the present Croatian Government,' Croatian professor Nikola Viskovic, Deputy Dean of the Split Law School said quoted by the Danish daily. In an article titled 'Fascism Threatens the Balkans' the daily listed examples of evictions of some 10,000 Serbs and other non-Croat citizens. One thousand such cases were registered in Split alone,it said. In the article published on October 6 the Danish daily said that events in today's Croatia resemble those during nazi Germany. Despite evictions of non-Croats, pillage of their property, rapes and other forms of violence the victims' neighbours act as if they heard or saw nothing and refuse to testify. Writing about people who were sacked just because they belonged to a certain ethnic group the paper lists the example of the Split bank in which 71 women were recently fired, all of whom were either Serbs themselves or married to Serbs. The paper said that professor Viskovic protested over Croatia's recently adopted law which virtually confiscates all the property of Serbs who fled from Krajina at the beginning of August this year, adding that it denied them the possibility of recovering their houses and the property that remained after the systematic pillage and torching. The paper quoted in that context the Split professor who said Croatian President Tudjman showed real hypocrisy when he claimed that Krajina Serbs 'can return'.