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Serbia Today, 97-03-24
Serbia Today
CONTENTS
[01] NEW TRAFFIC LINK WITH EUROPE
[02] MILENTIJEVIC: OPPOSITION MEDIA ARE NOT OBJECTIVE
[03] POLITICAL LIST IN THE FUNCTION OF ETHNIC CLEANSING
[04] THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL COMPLETES INVESTIGATION OF CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN
VUKOVAR
[05] MUSLIMS DEMAND NEW TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF THE FEDERATION
[06] THE FIRST AGREEMENT WHICH IS UNITING SERBIAN PEOPLE
[07] 6,000 PRODUCTS SUBSTITUTED
[08] NATIONAL PLAN FOR SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF REFUGEES
[09] PROMOTION OF THE LAW ON OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION
[01] NEW TRAFFIC LINK WITH EUROPE
Republican Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic yesterday, by symbolically
pushing the laser button, marked the commencement of construction of the
highway Horgos-Subotica-Feketic. At the same time this was the commencement
of works on the trans-Yugoslav master highways which as capital
infrastructure investments, should bring about the faster development of
the entire economy of Serbia. The important master highway line is making
possible exploitation in the best way of all of our geographic advantages.
"Under our present economic conditions, investments into highways, railways
and telecommunication are important because they provide for additional
employment of our capacities and our work force. In the construction of the
master highways local civil engineering operational force is being employed,
our road design firms and their suppliers. "This is an important
instigation for the local economy in the process of its dynamic
development. Infrastructure, or its modernization and construction are at
the same time a condition and good basis for venturing into development
projects in the other fields as well", said Prime Minister Marjanovic. The
stretch of the highway Horgos-Subotica-Feketic is the first in the series
of capital investment projects for which the Government was preparing over
the past three years. "We have started our term of office at the time of
the most severe sanctions of the international community and of an almost
total collapse of economy. We have succeeded in reversing the negative
economic trends, in making possible economic recovery and for the first
time, after a long period, we have achieved a significant growth of
production, of exports and real personal incomes of the population",
recalled the Republican Prime Minister.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika, 1997-03-24
[02] MILENTIJEVIC: OPPOSITION MEDIA ARE NOT OBJECTIVE
Minister of Information in the Government of the Republic of Serbia,
Prof.Dr. Radmila Milentijevic, in her interview for the Novi Sad "Nedeljni
dnevnik", while speaking of the media situation in the country, stated that
the opposition "is not a credible alternative". Now that it has taken the
power into its hands and media in the cities in which it has won the
elections, opposition is constantly criticizing the Socialist Party of
Serbia for "controlling the media" and especially Radio Television Serbia,
but has shown that her own media "are absolutely not objective", said
Minister Milentijevic. Radio Television Serbia is a state television and
has the obligation to serve the entire public and interests of all the
citizens, said Minister Milentijevic and added that this media house is
doing a lot of good things, and that only one small part of its program,
political and information part, is not in accordance with what it should do
in its service to the people. "When you look to the other side, however,
Independent Television Studio B, you are seeing a completely different
Serbia. They are showing only what the opposition is doing, so you get the
impression that in Serbia there is no government which is doing anything",
commented Minister Milentijevic. While striving for further democratization
in all the fields of life, Minister Milentijevic said the following: "It
does not mean that we should all think alike, but we must have a common
goal, each one of us in his own way, for a better future of the republic
and its citizens".
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika, 1997-03-23
[03] POLITICAL LIST IN THE FUNCTION OF ETHNIC CLEANSING
While commenting on the list of the Croat Government with the names of 150
Serbs not covered by the Law on Amnesty, Serbs from the Srem and Baranja
Region accused of war crimes, Prof.Dr. Vojin Dabic who is together with The
Hague Tribunal for War Crimes investigating crimes against Serbs committed
in former Yugoslavia, underlined that it is a question of the list for "the
simplest possible political deportation". It will come out that there are
more perpetrators than victims, says Dabic and adds that it is especially
indicative and disquieting that, although Administrator Klein announced
that the list is final, Croat Minister of Justice declared that the list
may be revised and supplemented. "This is a list for deportation of Serbs,
in the function of ethnic cleansing. If he is to accept this list, and if
on it even one single man is found to be innocent, and most of them
certainly are, then General Klein will himself also participate in the
ethnic cleansing. In this case, I shall personally submit a complaint and
bring charges to The Hague Tribunal against General Klein", said
categorically Prof.Dr. Vojin Dabic.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika, 1997-03-23
[04] THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL COMPLETES INVESTIGATION OF CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN
VUKOVAR
"Vukovar was a pilot model for the ethnic cleansing of Serbs for purpose of
creation of an independent state of Croatia without Serbs and this is where
everything started and where terrible crimes were committed against Serbs.
The Hague Tribunal, on the basis of the investigation conducted by its
investigators in Vukovar over ten months, has undeniable proof and evidence
of the organized state terror against Serbs. We are expecting that the
first indictments will be filed soon. Because if nothing is done against
the perpetrators, the so-called peaceful reintegration of this region into
Croatia will only become a synonym for the new ethnic cleansing and for the
new crimes, since the possibilities are left open for the perpetrators to
return and complete their crimes". This was stated at the press conference
in Vukovar. Director of the information center of the Serbian Alliance of
Belgrade Prof.Dr. Vojin Dabic specified the following: "For the first
ethnic cleansing and crimes the one responsible is the Croat state, but for
all eventual new ethnic cleansing and everything that will happen, the
responsible will be the international community and General Klein". Dabic
added that The Hague Tribunal has undeniable proof and evidence that Croat
state leadership organized and conducted terror against Serbs and that
President Tudjman himself was informed of everything. Information center
also has documents and proof for over ten thousand Serbs killed by the
Croats, but it is a question whether it will be ever known precisely how
many of them have been killed.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Vecernje novosti, 1997-03-23
[05] MUSLIMS DEMAND NEW TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF THE FEDERATION
In the top circles of the Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) there is
an intensified debate about the new territorial division of the Muslim-
Croat Federation in order to form a separate Muslim state, write the
independent Sarajevo media. The same media claim that the SDA has prepared
various alternative offers for the exchange of territories and for
relocation of the population - with both the Serbian and the Croat sides.
High Muslim official Rusmir Mahmutcehajic confirmed that among the Muslim
politicians there are supporters of the final division of Bosnia-
Herzegovina and creation of the three national states. According to the
latest public opinion survey, more than one half of the interviewed said
that it has no confidence in the option of survival of the Muslim-Croat
Federation and is seeing the only solution in the division. The growlingly
frequent demolition of religious buildings in the Federation, both Catholic
and the Islamic ones, can no longer be ascribed to individual terrorist
attacks, write the independent media, but are the work of organized crime
which is showing that life together of Muslims and Croats is not possible.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika ekspres, 1997-03-24
[06] THE FIRST AGREEMENT WHICH IS UNITING SERBIAN PEOPLE
The Agreement on Special Parallel Relations between the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and the Republic of Srpska is the first agreement which is
uniting Serbian people and this is one of the most appropriate moments for
passing of such a document, said member of the Presidency of Bosnia-
Herzegovina from the Republic of Srpska, Momcilo Krajisnik. What is
especially important and what is perhaps not seen at the first glance is
that the agreement is giving a psychological strength to the Serbian people,
the feeling that it is united and not divided in the hard times of
international influences, said Krajisnik."We have nothing against if the
advantages of these relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and the Republic of Srpska be to the benefit of the Federation of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, because the laws of economics are unavoidable and stronger
that the natural barriers and attempts to prevent linking in the areas of
former Yugoslavia", said Momcilo Krajisnik.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika ekspres, 1997-03-23
[07] 6,000 PRODUCTS SUBSTITUTED
Yugoslav economy ever since the year 1991 has succeeded in substituting or
in finding the substitute for some 6,000 products which it used to supply
from the former Yugoslav republics and abroad, many of them now being sold
on the world market. This was stated by the Vice President of the Chamber
of Economy of Serbia Momir Pavlicevic. It is a question of the most diverse
products - from the consumer goods up to telecommunication equipment and
devices for thermo and hydro electric power plants. Chambers of economy,
governments and enterprises after the disintegration of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, have drafted the feasibility program on
substitution of products, most of all those of strategic importance. This
plan has shown itself to be economically justified, because it implied
venture into "development substitute" based on market principles, without
doubling up of capacities, and significant part of these products which in
most cases were both cheaper and of a higher quality than the previous one,
was successfully placed also on the foreign market, says Pavlicevic. He
quoted the examples of "Sever", "Gosa" and "Lola" which in this period
succeeded jointly in completing several types of bulldozers and fork-lifts
in the value of some 100 million DEM.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Tanjug, 1997-03-24
[08] NATIONAL PLAN FOR SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF REFUGEES
Federal Government will draft a national plan for a lasting solution of the
problem of refugees, who are some 700,000 of them residing in Yugoslavia
now. This was stated in Geneva by the chief of the Yugoslav delegation at
the regional meeting organized by the UN High Commissariat for Refugees
(UNHCR). This plan could be presented to the broad international public in
one month's time. We are yet to see how much the international community
will respect our views in the solution of the refugee problems, said Morina
and warned that there are already "strong tendencies to suspend all the
humanitarian aid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia". "We have clearly
stated that suspension of the humanitarian aid is unacceptable until the
lasting solution is found for the refugees. We have also stated that the
responsibility for their accommodation can not be transferred exclusively
on to Yugoslavia", warned Morina. Between the Yugoslav side and the UNHCR
there were substantial differences regarding the priorities in the process
of a lasting solution of the problems of refugees. "Our priority is the
return of refugees, and for the UNHCR it is the local integration, which
means that the refugees are to stay in Yugoslavia. We do not have the
conditions for the local integration and therefore we have clearly said in
Geneva that if the international community wishes this integration, then it
must finance it and support it", said Bratislava Morina.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Borba, 1997-03-24
[09] PROMOTION OF THE LAW ON OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION
Draft republican Law on Ownership Transformation will be presented today in
the Chamber of Economy of Serbia in the presence of representatives of both
the federal and the republican governments, National Bank of Yugoslavia,
chambers of economy, trade unions and a large number of managers of
companies from all the industrial branches. Republican Minister for
Economic and Ownership Transformation, Milan Beko, announced that the Law
will have an emphatic reform character, that it will be comprehensive and
just and that in the process of its adoption the principle of transparency
will be adopted. Government of Serbia gave its support to the basic
principles of this draft law, judging it to have an emphatically reform
character and unambiguously leading towards modernization of the ownership
relations in Serbia. In the drafting of this law participated the experts
of the Institute of Economics, lawyers, economists, professional services
of the competent ministries, representatives of chambers of economy and
trade unions. In the opinion of the Government, this law and other already
adopted regulations will create a suitable framework for free market
operation, which will be an important additional impetus to the foreign
investments.
Serbia Today, 1997-03-24 ; Politika, 1997-03-24
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