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BosNet NEWS - June 6, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY POSTPONED TILL JUNE, 12
[02] SIGNING OF AGREEMENT ON DISARMING, TODAY OR TOMORROW ?!
[03] EXCAVATION OF COLLECTIVE GRAVES STARTED
[04] M. STEINER CRITICIZED MILOSEVIC
[06] BEKIC ON VIENNA'S NEGOTIATIONS
[07] LAW ON DEFENSE ON FB-H ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE
[08] IFOR STILL DID NOT RECEIVE NEW INSTRUCTIONS
[09] CASSESE IN BELGRADE
[10] AUSTRIAN PARLIAMENT: APPLAUSE FOR GREAT SERBIA PROPAGANDA
[11] NATO - FRY
[01] CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY POSTPONED TILL JUNE, 12
Sarajevo, June 6, 1996 (Press TWRA)
BH Federation Constitutional
Assembly, by accepting 23 amendments, brought into accord
Constitution of the Federation with BH Constitution. Another four
questions, related to the division of responsibility between BH
Federation and the Republic of BH, concerning customs, foreign
trade, nomination of officials to diplomatic missions, FA officers
and resolving of the status of Sarajevo, which should be
harmonized by Constitutional commission in cooperation with BH
Federation President and Vice-President within ten days, have
still remained disputed. A report of the Commission for
disappeared persons in the territory of BH Federation and R BH was
examined as a special issue. According to the report, in the time
of the HVO-BH Army conflicts, 2.145 BH citizens, mostly Bosniaks,
disappeared in the territory under the control of HVO, while 216
Croats disappeared in the time of HVO attack upon BH Army. New
proposals for the BH Federation coat of arms and flag were
exposed during the session. The Assembly has not succeeded to
reach the consensus regarding all proposals, so passing of the Law
on coat of arms and flag was postponed. The session was
interrupted and postponed till June 12, when the continuation of
the discussion and possible passing of the Law on defense, which,
however announced, was not on this session agenda, is foreseen. BH
Federation Prime Minister, I. Kapetanovic, denied journalists'
statements claiming an agreement was made between Minister of
defense, Soljic and Assistant Minister Cengic, regarding some
disputed questions. (end) S.K.
[02] SIGNING OF AGREEMENT ON DISARMING, TODAY OR TOMORROW ?!
Vienna, June 6, 1996 (Press TWRA)
As envisaged by the Dayton
accord, an agreement on limitation of the conventional arming,
should be concluded today, after six months of long negotiations.
Two important issues remained controversial till the last day:
five equal sides or three states (BH, Croatia and Serbia) and tow
entities (BH Federation and Republic of Srpska). According to the
today's proposal of the Croatian side, it was precized three
states Croatia, FRY and BH and two entities BH Federation and
Republic of Srpska are the sides involved in the agreement. It was
also proposed a period of disarming should start on July 1, of the
sides having too much weapons and filling of the capacity of
armies in the region possessing the right to purchase the arms.
This period should last for 16 months and the sides possessing too
much arms could sold it within an eight-month-period. It was found
out, the sides have generally accepted this proposal, except the
Republic of Srpska that officially rejected it. Bosnian Serbs cite
1 B annex of the Dayton accord, mentioning five sides involved in
the process, while, however, three Presidents ( BH, Croatia and
Serbia) are signatories of the accord. BH Government was opposed
to using of the name "Republic of Srpska" in order to prevent
Serbs to see the territory under their control as a separate
country instead as a part of BH. (end) S.K.
[03] EXCAVATION OF COLLECTIVE GRAVES STARTED
Nova Kasaba, June 6, 1996 (Press TWRA)
ICTY experts started to
excavate collective graves in Nova Kasaba (Srebrenica area). As
reported by leader of excavation J. Guerns, the excavations take
place in the area shown on satellite photos presented by U.S.
Ambassador to U.N., M. Albright. Their first finding is related to
bodies of six grown-up persons, dressed in civilian uniforms. One
body had a smashed crane while the other two had their hands tied
on their back: the one with a wire and the other with a cord.
Guerns informed the investigators also saw other bodies in a 7-
meter-long grave that has not yet been fully investigated.
Jajce - 63 victims of the Serb crime committed in 1992 wereexcavated in Jajce area - location of Kravlje Koze (Carevo Polje).
Among them, there are 51 civilians of the Bosniak and Croat
nationality. The major part of their relatives succeeded to
identify them on first sight which would help the identification
procedure on the Split Institute for juridical medicine. One more
grave should still be investigated in Carevo Polje. (end) S.K.
[04] M. STEINER CRITICIZED MILOSEVIC
Sarajevo, June 5, 1996 (Press TWRA)
"Serbian President Milosevic
did not do all he could to remove the Bosnian Serbs leader Radovan
Karadjic from his position", stated the PIC high representative
deputy M. Steiner and called Serbian population in B-H to stop
supporting Karadjic against whom ICTY raised inducement for war
crimes. (end) S.K.
[06] BEKIC ON VIENNA'S NEGOTIATIONS
Vienna, June 5,1996 (Press TWRA)
According to diplomatic circles
in Vienna tomorrow could end the six months long negotiation
process on disarmament issues, in other words it will be decided
how big will be the allowed amount of tanks, war planes and
cannons for Croatia, Serbia and the two entities inside B-H.
According to Dayton agreement it is planned that the agreement
will be reached by tomorrow, June 6. According to one OESS
official there should be no major obstacles for conclusion of the
agreement by tomorrow. The major problem is the political issue,
in other words, how to identify Republic Srpska entity in the
official documents because B-H Government is against the use of
Republic Srpska name.
However, the chief of Croatian negotiation team dr. D. Bekicestimated the situation in Vienna in the following way: "Situation
is far from reaching solution and at least one delegation is
obviously disinclined to reaching the agreement and signing the
agreement". Croatian side, emphasized Bekic, insist on the demands
for limit of five types of weapons, which is the standard for
necessary defense, and that cannons caliber be divide to those of
75 to 100 mm and 100 and more millimeters, which other sides do
not support. "The most important issues are still without
consensus and the possibility of not reaching the agreement by
the dead line is becoming very real", claims Bekic. "The reduction
of the armament will be in the first place on Republic Srpska
side, and to some extent in FRY -Serbia and Monte Negro. The
special problem is with Republic Srpska which insists, taking into
account that the reduction will be quite considerable, that it is
done through a rather long period, even up to sixty month, which
is unrealistic", stated the Croatian Foreign vice-minister I.
Simonovic emphasizing the one of the most important problems in
the negotiations. (end) S.K.
[07] LAW ON DEFENSE ON FB-H ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE
Sarajevo, June 5,1996 (Press TWRA)
The B-H Federation
Constitutional Assembly today should discuss the law on defense.
The Prime Minister of B-H Federation Goverment I. Kapetanovic
stated that V. Soljic defense minister and his Vice-Minister H.
Cengic agreed on controversial details on the law proposal and
that Federation Government is ready to confirm their proposal and
present it to Federation Assembly for adoption. (end) S.K.
[08] IFOR STILL DID NOT RECEIVE NEW INSTRUCTIONS
Sarajevo, June 5,1996 (Press TWRA)
"The IFOR still did not
receive new instructions which would increase the chances for
arrest of war criminals", stated IFOR spokesman in Sarajevo S.
Haselock, commenting the State Department spokesman statements
according to which IFOR was ordered to increase the number of
patrols and extended them to Pale area. "Yesterday's incident on
the access to Sarajevo was not connected with the attempt to
arrest the person whom B-H Government keeps responsible for war
crimes", added Haselock reporting on incident in which IFOR
military policeman near Lukavica stooped the vehicle in which was
Slavko Aleksic who commanded Serbian forces on Grbavica, Sarajevo
settlement, and whom the local non-Serbian population blames for
killings and plunders. "Members of IFOR only wanted to disarm
Aleksic's driver because he was in the no-arms area", stated
Haselock and added that Serbian policemen and the local Serbian
population opposed disarming so that the special French forces
unit members had to help. The driver managed to escape, and
Serbian police turned over his weapons to IFOR. (end) S.K.
[09] CASSESE IN BELGRADE
Belgrade, June 5, 1996 (Press TWRA)
ICTY President, Cassese,
arrived to Belgrade in order to discuss the cooperation of FRY
with the Hague Court. Cassese had to meet today with Serbian
Foreign Minister, Milutinovic, Prime Minister, Kontic and other
high officials. Cassese requested in Strassbourg, on April 25
sanctions against Belgrade and Republic of Srpska due to their
refusal to cooperate with the Hague Court. (end) S.K.
[10] AUSTRIAN PARLIAMENT: APPLAUSE FOR GREAT SERBIA PROPAGANDA
Vienna, June 5, 1996 (Press TWRA)
Austrian writer, Peter Handke,
read on Monday, in front of the Austrian Parliament, paragraphs
from his book entitled: tWinter journey along the rivers of Drina,
Sava, Danube and Morava - Justice for Serbiav. The mentioned
writer has already organized speeches on the same topic in many
towns, including Vienna, Ljubljana and Belgrade. He was sincerely
welcomed in Belgrade, for he described Serbs as blasphemed heroes
and victims of the merciless world, who unjustly showed them as
criminals. The real criminals are, according to the Handke book,
peoples living in the vicinity of Serbs: Albanians, Bosniaks,
Croats, Slovenians ... Extreme Serb nationalists attended his
gatherings and provided him a great support. When he is
criticized, Handke usually responds violently, offends and curses.
Hankde was supported in Belgrade both, by regime and opposition
parties. Only the rare, such as President of the Helsinki
Committee for Serbia, Sonja Biserko, criticized him for ridiculing
the evident facts, such as crimes of ethnical cleansing and
genocide. When his speech in Austrian Parliament was announced
last month, former Austrian Foreign Minister, A. Mock, expressed a
violent protest, saying tJustice for Serbia is a shame for
Austriav. However, President of the National Committee, Heinz
Fischer, former President of Austria-Yugoslavia society, did not
want to change his decision and called Handke to speak. Protesting
letters to Fischer, Chancellor Vranitzky and Vice-Chancellor W.
Schuessel were also sent by President and Vice-President of the
Society for threatened peoples (GBV), T. Zuelch (Gottingen) and A.
Rollinger (Luxembourg). They warned Austrian officials: tIf You
let Handke speak in the Parliament, than You put in question
resolutions of the Nuremberg process.v Zuelch and Rollinger
reminded S. Wiesenthal stated that many horrible elements of the
holocaust were repeated in Bosnia. Handke speech in the Parliament
is an offense for the victims of Srebrenica massacre, for
international justice, for those brave Serbs who refused to
participate in aggression and crimes. After all, the same chance,
after Hankde, should also be given to the other side, GBV stated.
Handke spoke in the Parliament in front of Fischer,Vranitzky, H. Schmidt (President of Liberal forum). Nobody opposed
to him and even majority of them applauded. Just few
representatives, among whom Voggenhuber (tGreenv representative)
and M. Sunjic (UNHCR official) said tJustice for Serbiav reminds
of 1942 nazi German apology, but they were interrupted by Handke
who screamed saying thattthey bahave shamelesslyv. (end) S.K.
[11] NATO - FRY
Belgrade, June 5, 1996 (Press TWRA)
Belgrade newspaper
tPolitikav (tPoliticsv) reported about Yugoslav Army officials who
finished in NATO military school in Oberamergau (Germany), by the
end of April, education for instructors of arms-control.
tPolitikav informs these officers will form a nucleus for a team
of experts for military control and inspection, in accordance with
the Dayton accord, of tinstalling mechanism to support peace and
mutual trust between the countries of the ex-Yugoslaviav.
tPolitikav also mentions eight representatives of Yugoslav and
Croatian army were attendants of the education-course. (end) S.K.
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