Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-04-04

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 04/04/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Tsohatzopoulos: Ethnic cleansing aims at changing borders in region
• Second bomb targets PASOK
• Blue bus stoppage Monday
• Inflation dropping
• 2004 Olympics accomodations
• OTE tender for consultant
• US's Talbott in Greece
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

National defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos was categorical in his condemnation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, charging that the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo is aimed at changing borders in the region and making all the peoples of the Balkans hostage to the problem.

Speaking to reporters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Tsohatzopoulos said Greece was "entitled" to make such charges "because it has been at the receiving end of such a policy with the persecution by the Turks in the Black Sea region and Asia Minor in 1922 and in Cyprus in 1974".

Then too, he continued, the objective was to change existing borders.

Asked to comment on NATO's bombing of the centre of Belgrade, Tsohatzopoulos said it did not matter what he believed.

"The Yugoslav leadership must take a position about how to bring an end to this situation," he added.

Tsohatzopoulos stressed the urgent need for humanitarian aid to be sent to refugees leaving Kosovo and commented ironically on the fact that European Union services were closed yesterday because of the Easter holiday.

"The bombing couldn't stop for Easter, but they have a public holiday when it comes to humanitarian aid," he said.

Tsohatzopoulos reiterated his opposition to any use of NATO ground forces in Kosovo.

Tsohatzopoulos' remarks in Skopje were strongly criticised by Greek opposition parties.

"The despicable statements by the defence minister, with which he attributes responsibility to the leadership of New Yugoslavia for the war, absolves NATO and the EU, the real culprits, of their responsibility for the crime being committed," the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said in a statement.

The KKE said Tsohatzopoulos' statements "confirm that Greece has an extremely dangerous government, which is participating in the slaughter of the neighbouring people while at the same time hypocritically and cravenly maintaining the opposite".

Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) leader Dimitris Tsovolas described Tsohatzopoulos' references to "ethnic cleansing" as "unacceptable" and "abject".

"Contrary to what the government and Prime Minister Costas Simitis were hypocritically declaring in public until just yesterday, (the minister's statements) in effect provide complete justification for the inhuman NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and our friends, the Serb people, which completely violates all rules of international law," Tsovolas said.

The Coalition of the Left and Progress expressed deep concern "that we are at the beginning of a new period in the Balkans, in which the problem of borders may arise at any moment and the problem of minorities may worsen".

Addressing the Coalition's central committee, party leader Nikos Konstantopoulos also charged that the Greek government bore heavy responsibility for the situation "because it added its signature at all the stages so far of NATO's intervention against Yugoslavia".

Second bomb targets PASOK

A makeshift explosive device exploded early Saturday morning outside a branch office of the ruling PASOK party in the Athens suburb of Galatsi, causing some damage to the building but no injuries.

The bomb, which had been placed just outside the entrance to the office, consisted of a small quantity of dynamite, a detonator, two clocks and a battery.

No warning was given prior to the blast and no group has yet claimed responsibility.

Officers of the anti-terrorist squad said however they suspected the November 17 terrorist group was behind the attack. The officers based their suspicions on the way the bomb had been wired.

PASOK's headquarters in downtown Athens were the target of a failed rocket attack on Thursday morning.

Blue bus stoppage Monday

Athens blue buses will not be running Monday from 5-9pm as bus drivers hold a four-hour stoppage to attend their general assembly and decide on further protests against government changes in working schedules.

Inflation dropping

Core inflation, which does not include fresh fruit and vegetables, will drop 3.8-4.0 percent in March from 4.5 percent the previous month, according to banking circles.

2004 Olympics accomodations

The hotels currently operating in the greater Athens area are sufficient to accomodate visitors' needs during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and in the eventuality that problems arise, they can easily be solved through temporary accommodation such as cruiseships, the Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasting said in a report.

OTE tender for consultant

OTE, the national telecoms of Greece, has announced a tender for a financial consultant to provide technical and financial advisory services on management of its large real estate holdings near Athens new international airport being built at Spata. The deadline for bids is May 5.

US's Talbott in Greece

Foreign Minister George Papandreou will hold talks with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott tonight.

Talbott arrives in Athens tonight as part of his tour of Balkan capitals at the head of a U.S. delegation to Tirana, Skopje and other countries affected by the Kosovo crisis.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Monday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          300.576
Pound sterling       481.874
Japanese yen (100)   249.151
French franc          49.346
German mark          165.500
Italian lira (100)    16.717
Irish Punt           411.001
Belgian franc          8.024
Luxembourg franc       8.024
Finnish mark          54.441
Dutch guilder        146.883
Danish kr.            43.642
Austrian sch.         23.523
Spanish peseta         1.945
Swedish kr.           36.436
Norwegian kr.         38.819
Swiss franc          202.983
Port. Escudo           1.615
Aus. dollar          190.464
Can. dollar          199.432
Cyprus pound         560.361
Euro                 323.690

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