YDS 11/14

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

14. NOVEMBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

C O N T E N T S :

THE SREM-BARANJA REGION - CROATIA AGREEMENT - YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION AGREEMENT - ALL NEGOTIATORS GIVE UP MAXIMUM DEMANDS

AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION - FOREIGN REACTIONS - SECURITY COUNCIL HAILS AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION - STOLTENBERG: ACCORD MARKS BEGGINING OF END TO WAR IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA WELCOMES SREM-BARANJA REGION AGREEMENT - AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION SEEN AS IMPORTANT TO OVERALL PEACE - CROATIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION

WORLD MEDIA ON SERB-CROATIAN AGREEMENT - WORLD MEDIA HAIL SERB-CROATIAN AGREEMENT

THE INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE - TOP BOSNIAN OFFICER MAY BE INDICTED FOR WAR CRIMES

UNPROFOR - BOSNIAN CROAT LEADERS CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES - U.N. CONTINUES TO WORK WITH BOSNIAN CROATS CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES

THE SREM-BARANJA REGION - CROATIA AGREEMENT

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION AGREEM ENT B e l g r a d e, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia said on Monday that the basic agreement on the region of eastern Slavonia, Baranja and West Srem was of prime importance for peace, stability and normalization of the situation and relations in the former Yugoslavia and this part of Europe. The Yugoslav Information Secretariat in Belgrade said in a statement that Prime Minister Radoje Kontic and his Cabinet had described the agreement signed in Erdut and Zagreb on Sunday as an important contribution to the establishing of a just and lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia. The agreement is a result of talks between the leaders of the mostly Serb-populated Srem-Baranja region and Croatian Government representatives as well as a great engagement of the U.N. and U.S. mediators. The Government said that the agreement represented a victory on the part of the forces of peace and reason and efforts to use political means and compromise to solve extremely complex problems created after Croatia carried out a unilateral and forcible secession from the former Yugoslavia in mid-1991. The Yugoslav Government believes that as an international document, the agreement represents a solid basis for a full honouring and protection of rights of the region's Serb population, by ensuring them peace, freedom and equality, the statement said. The Federal Government especially pointed out the fact that the U.N. Security Council was taking the responsibility for peace and stability in the region and safety and equality of its citizens, including refugees who fled there and repatriates. According to the statement, the Yugoslav Government expects that the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution and constantly monitor the implementation of the agreement to ensure all conditions for lasting security and free development of the Serb people and all the region's citizens in peace, freedom and democracy. A transitional U.N. Administration and international force will certainly have a decisive role in this and they are expected to be principled, because this is a basic precondition for the citizens'trust and support, the statement said.

ALL NEGOTIATORS GIVE UP MAXIMUM DEMANDS E r d u t, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - An agreement on a peaceful solution to the problem of the Srem-Baranja region was signed on Sunday as all negotiating sides had backed down and given up their maximum demands, head of the Serb negotiating team Milan Milanovic said here on Monday. Milanovic said the Serb side had not insisted on immediately becoming part of Serbia and Yugoslavia, while the international community had given up its explicit demand that Serbs agree to a peaceful reintegration into Croatia without any delay. Although its media are celebrating the signing of the agreement as a historic victory, Croatia actually gave up two of its demands - that reintegration be carried out immediately and that its police and customs officers be deployed immediately along the border with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Milanovic said. He said that the principal goal of the Serb people in the Srem-Baranja region, i.e. that they live in Yugoslavia, remained, but 'because of strong international pressure, this goal could not be achieved at this moment.' 'With this agreement, we got the most of what can be got at this moment. The agreement does not prejudice a final political solution, and there are no Croatian official signposts on the borders or in theregion,' Milanovic said. In practice, a U.N.-administrated 'blue zone' would be established and it would last for two years, Milanovic said. According to him, these two years should be used wisely and the goal should be reached with political means, 'because there is always time for war.' Milanovic said that by reaching a decision about the signing of the agreement, the members of the Serb negotiating team primarily had in mind the interests of the population of the area, as well as the 'interests of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb State).' Commenting on the contents of the agreement, Milanovic said that it contained many provisions that were still to be worked out in detail, such as the structure of an interim administration, structure and authorization of the international force and modalities for the return of refugees. 'This should all be defined in annexes to the agreement, with our consent, of course,' he said. It is very important that the agreement take effect only after the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution to this end, Milanovic said and added that this meant that its 'permanent members - the U.S., Russia, China, France and Great Britain - will be the guarantors of safety of the Srem-Baranja region, peace and tranquility of the people.'

AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION - FOREIGN REACTIONS

SECURITY COUNCIL HAILS AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION N e w Y o r k, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - The U.N. Security Council at its Monday session hailed the agreement on the peaceful resolution of the status of the Srem-Baranja region (U.N. Sector East). The Council sees in this agreement a way for a general peaceful settlement for the entire Balkans, its Chairman Omani Ambassador Salim Bin Muhamed Al Kushabi said after the session. The Security Council will immediately initiate preparations for the adoption of a relevant resolution to define interim adiministration in the region, and of a decision on forming a special international peace force for the transition period in the region. The agreement on a peaceful resolution of the crisis was signed Sunday in Erdut and Zagreb, introducing international administration for the region. The U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali Monday hailed the conclusion of this agreement, describing it as an encouraging step towards a peaceful resolution of all issues in the former Yugoslavia.

STOLTENBERG: ACCORD MARKS BEGGINING OF END TO WAR IN FORMER YUGOSL AVIA O s l o, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - Co-Chairman of the Peace Conference on the former Yugoslavia Thorvald Stoltenberg said Monday he believed that Sunday's accord on Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem had marked the beggining of an end to the war in the Balkans. Stoltenberg made a statement to the Norwegian news agency NTV saying that he believed that peace in Croatia would have a positive contagious effect and that an accord on Bosnia would follow shortly. He said that after spending two months in the disputed area, he had the impression that the people were tired of war. He said he did not believe that the Serbs wanted to fight any longer. After the war in the former Yugoslavia ends, Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem could potentially become a model for the multicultural coexistence in the Balkans, said Stoltenberg. The front page of the Oslo daily Aftenposten carried on Monday an interview with Stoltenberg headlined peace in the Balkans in sight together with a report on the signing of the accord and a commentary on the accord on the Srem-Baranja region. Stoltenberg said that last Sunday had been of a tremendous importance for the peoples that would live together in the Srem-Baranja region. The daily said that the accord had thwarted a Croatian invasion on the region at the time of high tensions and great danger of a war between Croatia and Yugoslavia. Stoltenberg did not specify whether U.N. peacekeepers or a multinational force would monitor the implementation of the accord. He said that partners in the talks had expressed a wish that the Russian and Belgian battalions already stationed in the area should be joined by U.S. troops.

RUSSIA WELCOMES SREM-BARANJA REGION AGREEMENT M o s c o w, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - Russia welcomed again on Monday the signing of the agreement on a peaceful settlement for the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and West Srem. The agreement's implementation will give guarantees of security to the entire population and equal rights to the Croats, Serbs and members of other nations living in the region, Itar-Tass news agency quotes the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement. The Russian Ministry's statement said that the agreement removed major obstacles in the way to a full normalisation of relations between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was of importance for regulating the Yugoslav crisis as a whole.

AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION SEEN AS IMPORTANT TO OVERALL PEAC E B e l g r a d e, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - Bonn said on Monday that the agreement on a peace settlement for the Srem-Baranja region was an important breakthrough on the way to peace in the entire territory of former Yugoslavia. Foreign Miniter Klaus Kinkel hailed the agreement as a document that eliminating the danger of more war, a statement released by the German Foreign Ministry said. This shows that difficult problems existing in former Yugoslavia can be solved only at the conference table, Kinkel said. Greek diplomatic sources in Athens said on Monday that the signing of the agreement for the Srem-Baranja region had eliminated the danger of the outbreak of a new war in former Yugoslavia. The question of the status of the region is crucial for settling the entire Yugoslav crisis, which Athens believes is undoubtedly embarking on a stage where a final solution is imminent.

CROATIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION Z a g r e b, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - As different from the Croatian Government, which has hailed the agreement on the Srem-Baranja region as a step in the direction of peace, opposition leaders have their reservations, saying it falls short of the people's expectations. Secretary-General of Croatia's ruling Democratic Union Zlatko Canjuga told Croatian Radio on Monday that the accord was a 'good way to achieve the neccessary dialogue.' The Croatian Democratic Union will therefore support the Government's effort to enable as painless a return of the refugees as possible, Canjuga said. Drazen Budisa, who heads Croatia's biggest opposition Social Liberal Party, said that the agreement 'has not fulfilled the expectations of the Croatian public.' 'While preventing a war and saving human lives,' the agreement, from its very title, shows that it is not a document on 'principles of reintegration, but one that places the region under temporary international protection,' Budisa said. Ivica Racan, leader of the Social Democratic Party, said he supported the agreement, and objected to the part that allows the Serb settlers from other parts of Serb Krajina and Croatia to remain in the Srem-Baranja region. Racan believes that this 'will substantially change the ethnic structure (of the region) and make the Croatians a minority.' This view is supported by Zlatko Tomicic of the Croatian Peasants' Party, who demands that electoral rolls in future local government elections be based on the 1991 census. The biggeest reservations about the agreement have been expressed by the Croatian Party of Law, whose leaders still believe that the war option is 'the best.'

WORLD MEDIA ON SERB-CROATIAN AGREEMENT

WORLD MEDIA HAIL SERB-CROATIAN AGREEMENT N e w Y o r k, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - U.S. daily the Washington Post writes Monday that the signing of the agreement on the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem represents another important step towards achieving a general peace agreement on the former Yugoslavia. An end to the crisis in the former Yugoslavia is most certainly now near, the London media believe, and The Guardian daily writes that the peace force in charge of ensuring the implementation of the agreement would not necessarily have to be under the U.N. flag, and that both sides would be most glad to see U.S. troops. The Paris daily Le Monde describes the agreement as a convincing testimony that progress is being made towards peace and that this paves the way also for a normalization of relations between Serbia and Croatia. The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel calls on the Zagreb regime to show wisdom in this stage and the Ulm daily Suedwest-Presse points out that the agreement represents one of the first positive results of the peace talks which have been underway in Dayton, Ohio, for 12 days, noting that chances are good for calming the situation in the Balkans. Spanish daily El Pais writes that for the first time since war broke out in the former Yugoslavia, an issue was resolved at the negotiating table. The paper points to the incontestable peacemaking role of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in the peace process. Brussels daily La Libre Belgique notes that the agreement has removed the threat of a war option in resolving the problem of this region. Austrian media point out that the signing of the agreement in a peaceful manner has resolved an extraordinarily difficult and complex problem in the former Yugoslavia, attributing the greatest merit for the peaceful settlement to Washington's strong pressure on negotiators in Dayton. In their first comments, Bulgarian National Radio and TV note that peace reigns again in the Balkans, as political reason has prevailed in resolving the dispute over the Srem-Baranja region. Italian media underline that this agreement paves the way for closing the Bosnian file in Ohio, where the negotiators still have to resolve the main issues for settling the crisis in the former Bosnia. Greek media point to the importance of the agreed transition period during which the U.N. will be in charge of security and human rights respect.

THE INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE

TOP BOSNIAN OFFICER MAY BE INDICTED FOR WAR CRIMES

D a y t o n, Nov. 13 (Reuter) - A Bosnian government commander of military operations in an eastern Moslem enclave is expected to be indicted for war crimes, an official close to the Balkan peace talks in Dayton, Ohio said on Monday. The source said that Naser Oric, commander of the Srebrenica enclave, could be indicted "within a day or two" by the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague in connection with killings of Serb civilians in the area during 1993.

UNPROFOR - BOSNIAN CROAT LEADERS CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES

U.N. CONTINUES TO WORK WITH BOSNIAN CROATS CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES B e l g r a d e, Nov. 13 (Tanjug) - The UNPROFOR will continue to work with Bosnian Croat leaders charged with war crimes against Muslims in central Bosnia-Herzegovina and with crimes against humanity, U.N. Spokesman in Sarajevo Alexander Ivanko said Monday. The stand of the U.N. is that it should continue to work with leaders of the sides to the conflict so as to secure a stabilization of the situation on the ground, the AFP news agency in Sarajevo quoted Ivanko as saying. Ivanko was commenting on an indictment brought Monday by the International War Crime Tribunal against six military and political officials of Herceg-Bosna, the Bosnian Croats' state in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The group includes current president of the Croatian Democratic Union Party (HDZ) in Bosnia-Herzegovina Dario Kordic and head of the Bosnian Croat Army General Staff, Gen. Tihofil Blaskic. Foreign news agencies said that at the time of the crimes and a systematic ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the period between May 1992 and May 1993, Kordic had been Deputy President of the HDZ for Bosnia, a party sponsored by Croatia's ruling party of the same name whose President is Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. So long as Kordic and Blaskic represent the Croat minority in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we will continue to deal with them, Ivanko said.