YDS 11/2

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov)

02. NOVEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

PEACE CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA IN DAYTON - TALKS ON BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA OPEN AT DAYTON - MILOSEVIC EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ABOUT SUCCESS OF BOSNIA TALKS - MILOSEVIC MEETS CHRISTOPHER IN DAYTON - MILOSEVIC AND TUDJMAN ON NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SERBIA AND CROATIA - CROATIAN TV: MILOSEVIC ALONE MENTIONED BY NAME ON ARRIVAL TO DAYTON

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV PREMIER ASKS U.N. FOR PERMISSION TO IMPORT GAS - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT: YUGOSLAV ARMY DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN BOSNIA WAR

SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA - MOSCOW FAVOURS LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - ACCUSATIONS AGAINST SERBS TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH DAYTON TALKS, SAYS BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL - BRIDGE LINKING SERB AND MUSLIM PARTS OF SARAJEVO OPEN

ICRC - REFUGEES - ICRC: OVER 7,000 OLD AND FEEBLE PEOPLE REMAIN IN SERB KRAJINA

THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL FOR WAR CRIMES - BOSNIAN SERBS SUBMIT EVIDENCE OF MUSLIM, CROAT CRIMES AT THE HAGUE

ELECTIONS IN CROATIA - OSCE OBSERVER FINDS IRREGULARITIES GALORE IN CROATIAN ELECTIONS

PEACE CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA IN DAYTON

TALKS ON BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA OPEN AT DAYTON D a y t o n, Ohio, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - U.S. State Secretary Warren Christopher stressed Wednesday that the goal of the talks on Bosnia-Herzegovina was to secure peace in this former Yugoslav republic and thus prevent the war in the Balkans from spreading. He opened the peace talks at the Wright-Patterson air force base near Dayton, Ohio, with the participation of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic. 'We are here to give Bosnia and Herzegovina a chance to be a country at peace, not a killing field... we are here to prevent a wider war that could undermine European security,' Christopher said. Addressing the three heads of delegation, he said: 'Only you can ensure that this process will succeed.' He said that the U.S., the E.U. and Russia, indeed the entire international community, would help them achieve this end. 'I do know that negotiations can work when people persevere and are determined to make them work,' Christopher said and added that the talks would go on until agreement was reached. Christopher set out that Bosnia-Herzegovina within its internationally-recognized borders must remain a single state with a democratic order, on the basis of the principles agreed on in the negotiations so far. He underlined the need to respect human rights and to return displaced persons as well as to hold elections under international control as soon as possible. The U.S. State Secretary noted also the need to normalize by peaceful means the situation in eastern Slavonia, that is, the Srem-Baranja region, the so-called U.N. Sector East. Christopher said U.S. engagement in Bosnia-Herzegovina was necessary because the crisis in this region jeopardized stability in the world. He concluded that NATO was the only organization that could secure peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that its re-building must be carried out with the assistance of the E.U. E.U. mediator Carl Bildt set out that the international community was doing all it could to secure peace in Bosnia and also that it expected normalization of relations throughout the territory of former Yugoslavia. Head of the Russian negotiating team Igor Ivanov pointed out that this was a decisive meeting that should enable reaching accord as the four years of war have only served to bring suffering and destruction in a conflict that has no winner.

MILOSEVIC EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ABOUT SUCCESS OF BOSNIA TALKS D a y t o n, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic said on arriving at Wright-Patterson air force base outside Dayton, Ohio, late on Tuesday local time that he was optimistic about the outcome of Bosnia peace talks opening on Wednesday. 'I believe the talks will succeed. We attach great importance to the peace initiative of the U.S. ... and we are here to join the effort to bring peace to the Balkans,' Milosevic said. Milosevic, who heads the Yugoslav delegation to the talks, was met at the airport near Dayton by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and a number of his associates as well as by E.U. mediator Carl Bildt.

MILOSEVIC MEETS CHRISTOPHER IN DAYTON D a y t o n, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic held a meeting Wednesday with the U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. During the meeting held in a frank atmosphere, Milosevic and Christopher discussed the most important issues regarding peace in the Balkans, especially the steps to be taken for the progress of the peace process. The meeting was attended by Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, the Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and the Charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Rudolf Perina.

MILOSEVIC AND TUDJMAN ON NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SERBIA AND CROATIA D a y t o n, Nov. 2 (Tanjug) - Presidents Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia agreed on Wednesday to work on the full normalization of relations between their countries. Milosevic and Tudjman met at the Wright-Patterson air force base near Dayton, Ohio, at the request of U.S. Secretar of State Warren Christopher. The two Presidents support a peaceful settlement of the problem of eastern Slavonija, Baranja and western Srem (Sector East, or the Srem-Baranja region), on the basis of talks between the Croatian Government and representatives of the Serb people of that region. Milosevic and Tudjman asked international mediators, U.N. representatives Thorvald Stoltenberg and U.S. Ambassador in Zagreb Peter Galbraith to return to that region on Thursday to continue their mediation even more intensely. Milosevic and Tudjman agreed that the normalization of relations between the two States be based on full respect of internationally recognized human rights for all citizens of their respective countries. The two Presidents agreed, also, that the normalization be based also on the right of all refugees and displaced persons in the two countries to return to their homes, recover their property, or begiven just compensation. The Milosevic-Tudjman meeting was attended by Warren Christopher and Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic.

CROATIAN TV: MILOSEVIC ALONE MENTIONED BY NAME ON ARRIVAL TO DAYTO N Z a g r e b, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Croatian Television Wednesday night with a dose of outrage complained that the Dayton talks' hosts singled out and welcomed by name only Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. When the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, headed by the Serbian President, landed at the Wright-Patterson Tuesday evening local time the big electronic display wrote out a welcome to Milosevic. However, the display failed to light up with their respective names when the leaders of Croatia - Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian Muslims - Alija Izetbegovic arrived. Croatian Television for this reason rebuked Americans for 'unequal treatment' of the talks' participants.

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

YUGOSLAV PREMIER ASKS U.N. FOR PERMISSION TO IMPORT GAS B e l g r a d e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Premier Radoje Kontic has asked the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee to allow the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to import fuels from Russia. In a letter presented to Committee Chairman Emilio Cardenas by Yugoslav Ambassador to the U.N. Vladislav Jovanovic, Kontic once again said that the U.N. sanctions had caused a difficult situation in Yugoslavia. Kontic also said in his letter that he had already appealed on August 12 to the U.N Security Council Chairman to bring about a lifting of the sanctions. A maintaining of the sanctions will cause unforeseeable economic, demographic, health, social and development consequences in Yugoslavia, Kontic said. The humanitrian situation in Yugoslavia has further been aggravated by an influx of 200,000 refugees from the Republic of Serb Krajina which has brought the total number of registered refugees in Yugoslavia to 640,000, Kontic said in his letter. Yugoslav premier said that the sanctions had forced his country to find ways to meet minimum needs in medicines, energy and food because its own resources were not sufficient for overcoming the humanitarian tragedy. Kontic underscored that Yugoslavia was forced to pay the import by exporting wheat and corn to Russia and that he had already asked the U.N. Security Council to allow the export. I am convinced, Excellency, that you are aware of the responsibility lying with the U.N. Sanctions Committee and that you will do everything to approve our demand for fuel imports, Kontic said in his letter to Cardenas.

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT: YUGOSLAV ARMY DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN BOSNIA W AR B e l g r a d e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government on Wednesday denied claims by some western countries that the Yugoslav Army had participated in military operations in the former Yugoslav republic Bosnia-Herzegovina. Claims that the Yugoslav Army had either directly or indirectly taken part in the operations for the liberation of the Muslim military stronghold Srebrenica in July 1995, are completely unfounded, the Yugoslav Government said and added that such lies aim to pressure the Serb side during the peace talks in Dayton, Ohio. The Yugoslav Government said that not a single member of the Yugoslav Army had participated in the battles for Srebrenica and that such untrue accusations and false claims about the existence of powcamps for Muslims in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are a part of well-known campaigns which are always launched at crucial moments for reaching a peace in the war-torn regions of the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia urges and supports the discovery and punishment of all war crimes and criminals wherever they may be and regardless of which side they belong to, the Yugoslav Information Ministry said in a statement. The latest campaign by some western media which are accusing only the Serbs without any proof, does not contribute to this aim and transparently aims to wage a propoganda war, which is hardly necessary for the peace talks in Dayton. Lacking the opportunity to stage a third Merkale, the powers which clearly do not want a peace are spreading this disinformation with the aim of drawing the attention of the world public from Yugoslavia's constructive and peaceful policy and thus reducing the chances for a positive outcome of the talks, the statement said. Yugoslavia once again wants to draw the attention of the international public to the drama of the remaining Serbs in the Republic of Serb Krajina who have for months paid for their nationality with their own lives every day. We expect the international community to react to the biggest ethnic cleansing carried out so far in the territory of the former Yugoslavia following Croatia's brutal aggression on Serb Krajina and after joint Muslim-Croat attacks on traditional Serb ethnic territories in western and northwestern Bosnia, even after a ceasefire was signed, the statement said. Testimonies and proof about this tragedy, which continues, cannot be compared to the untrue claims by certain intelligence and propaganda centres which want the war to continue, the statement said.

SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

MOSCOW FAVOURS LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA M o s c o w, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Russian diplomats favour the earliest possible lifting of the international sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Grigory Karasin said on Wednesday. In a statement to Itar-Tass, Karasin said that Russia was willing immediately after a lifting of the sanctions, which have been in force over three years and a half, to move towards full-scale cooperation with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Karasin warned against attempts to edge Russia out of the Balkans and said that the attempts 'make themselves felt already now' while preparation are made for the economic restoration in the region. 'They won't be able to do without Russia there because this will involve a priority restoration of areas in which our country has been traditionally present - gas supplies and the modernization of the power infrastructure,' he said. 'Our partners in that region are also interested in military cooperation,' Karasin said and added that specific steps would be taken only after the international arms embargo is lifted.

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

ACCUSATIONS AGAINST SERBS TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH DAYTON TALKS, SAYS BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL B a n j a l u k a, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Army Assistant Commander-in-Chief Lt.-Gen. Milan Gvero said on Wednesday that the latest allegations of ethnic cleansing of Srebrenica from Muslims had been calculated to weaken the position of the joint negotiating team of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb State), headed by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, at the Dayton talks. Gen. Gvero told Tanjug that the Dayton talks were a comprehensive attempt on the part of the international community to help reach peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the absence of arguments for new accusations against the Serbs, some international power-wielders are still trying to impose something that, according to their assessments, might be harmful to Serb positions, he said. This would not be the first time for some powerful international factors to fabricate a new 'case' ahead of important meetings and decisions on peace in Bosnia to lay the blame on Bosnian Serbs and hamper their negotiating position or influence the outcome of the peace process, like it was done this time with Srebrenica. The massacre in Vaso Miskin street and two explosions at the Markale market in Sarajevo had been originally blamed on the Serbs without any proof, but it was subsequently confirmed that they had been committed by Bosnian Muslims, Gvero said. Gvero said that the issue of Srebrenica, like the eastern Bosnian town of Zepa, had been resolved militarily and everything that the RS Army was doing at the time was done in the presence and in the sight of many international arbitres. Even Muslim commanders themselves have denied the present accusations against the RS Army in their statements, Gvero said.

BRIDGE LINKING SERB AND MUSLIM PARTS OF SARAJEVO OPEN B e l g r a d e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - A bridge in central Sarajevo linking the Serb and Muslim parts in the capital was opened on Wednesday. The bridge had been closed since May 16. its opening is in keeping with article eight of a ceasefire agreement which came into effect on October 12. Only five civilians from both sides crossed the bridge, instead of 16 civilians as previously agreed, the news agency of the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb State). Muslim police could process only five crossing applications per day. The AFP news agency quoted U.N. sources as saying that everything had been ready for the opening of the bridge on Saturday but that the Muslim side had not presented a list of civilians who had obtained permission to cross the bridge.

ICRC - REFUGEES

ICRC: OVER 7,000 OLD AND FEEBLE PEOPLE REMAIN IN SERB KRAJINA B e l g r a d e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - After the Croatian Army's August offensive on the Republic of Serb Krajina, in the region of Banija, Kordun, Lika and Dalmacija (former Sectors North and South) there remain 7,339 Serbs, the majority of whom are old and feeble, the Belgrade Bureau of the ICRC said on Wednesday. ICRC is the only international humanitarian organization operating in this region where it is visiting more than 470 villages to determine how many of the remaining Serbs there need aid. ICRC representatives have so far visited 4,787 people in the most remote villages and hamlets in Serb Krajina, and mobile ICRC teams have daily toured the region bringing food and necessary aid and Red Cross messages to enable the remaining old people to contact their families who fled before the Croat offensive. ICRC in Zagreb said that the situation among the remaining Serb population in Serb Krajina is critical because these people are completely isolated in remote villages. The majority of them are extremely poor without any means for survival, and they are sufferring badly because they have been separated from their families. The head of the ICRC delegation in Zagreb, Alex Brownvalder, said that his people were 'shocked by the dramatic situation' and that the need for speedy and efficient action should not be ignored because it is 'necessary to prevent these people from dying this winter.' Lists with the names of these old people have been presented to the Croatian Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent socities which will, under the auspices of ICRC, carry out the winter aid program, the Belgrade ICRC Bureau said.

THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL FOR WAR CRIMES

BOSNIAN SERBS SUBMIT EVIDENCE OF MUSLIM, CROAT CRIMES AT THE HAGUE B e l g r a d e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - A group of Bosnian Serbs presented on Wednesday to the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes committed in former Yugoslavia evidence of crimes perpetrated by Muslims and Croats. The documents submitted to the Chief Prosecutor contain evidence of the murder of 60 Serbs and numerous cases of torture, as well as the names of between 10 and 20 perpetrators, including high-ranking Muslim and Croat officials, news agencies reported. Most of the crimes were committed between 1992 and 1994, according to the AP. The evidence was submitted by Serbs who were either victims or witnesses of crimes committed in Croat - and Muslim - run camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Association of Camp Inmates 1991 said that there were about 500 camps for Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, mostly in its central parts and in the areas of Mostar, Zenica and Tuzla. A statement released in the Hague quotes Chief Prosecutor Richard Goldstone as saying he would study the evidence which he felt would facilitate investigations into crimes committed against Serbs. He welcomed cooperation with the Serb Association as a positive step which would broaden the scope of his operations. 'Nobody's hands are clean in the Yugoslav conflict. Muslims and Croats are not the only victims,' the AFP quotes the Association's President as saying. 'It is necessary to give the world a more realistic picture of the conflict,' Association President Slavko Sibalija said at a press conference in the Hague. The Belgrade-based apolitical and non-governmental association has 500 members, 'mostly, but not only Serbs' who were detained in camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina and are now refugees in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

ELECTIONS IN CROATIA

OSCE OBSERVER FINDS IRREGULARITIES GALORE IN CROATIAN ELECTIONS P r a g u e, Nov. 1 (Tanjug) - Sunday's early parliamentary elections in Croatia abounded in irregularities, an observer from the OSCE said on Wednesday. Czech m.p. Josef Jezek told the National CTK news agency that the Croatian Constitution provides for a secret ballot, but that the provision was wholy ignored, with no booths or screens provided to give privacy to the voters. Jezek said that those who wanted to vote for a Serb minority candidate had had to fill out a special questionnaire, thus providing the Croatian state with information about all Serbs who voted fortheir minority candidates. Jezek said that information given in the electoral rolls differed substantially from the actual state of affairs. In illustration, he said that in Korenica, for instance, in former Sector North of the UNPA, the electoral rolls listed 3,500 voters, only 19 of whom were actually there to cast their votes, and another five who were not listed at all. Jezek, who monitored the elections in Sibenik, Split, Knin and Korenica, said that Croatia has no law regulating the disposal of unused ballots after an election, which opens scope for abuse. Everything in the elections indicated an intention on the part of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to win a two-thirds majority as soon as possible after the invasion of Serb Krajina, Jezek said.