Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-06-03

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From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

CONTENTS

[01] PREPARATIONS FOR BOSNIA ELECTIONS AND THEIR HOLDING PRIMARY TASK

[02] MILOSEVIC, CHRISTOPHER: DAYTON AGREEMENT MOSTLY IMPLEMENTED

[03] MILOSEVIC: GENEVA MEETING IS STIMULUS TO IMPLEMENTING DAYTON

[04] MILOSEVIC, KORNBLUM CONFER ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS

[05] U.S. SEEKS WAYS OF UNFREEZING YUGOSLAVIA'S ASSETS

[06] PRESIDENT OF GROUP ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA SUCCESSION VISITS BELGRADE

[07] ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING ATTEMPTS FOILED

[08] PLAVSIC URGES CONSISTENT IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON AGREEMENT

[09] MUJAHEDDIN STILL IN BOSNIA, SAYS U.S. DAILY

[10] NEW YORK TIMES: BOSNIAN MUSLIMS PRACTICE ETHNIC CLEANSING IN SARAJEVO

[01] PREPARATIONS FOR BOSNIA ELECTIONS AND THEIR HOLDING PRIMARY TASK

All participants in the meeting fully supported efforts to hold the elections and create conditions for them to be fair and free, said a statement released from the meeting and presented to a press conference after the talks by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

The statement said the participants of the Geneva meeting consider elections would enable the creation of democratic institutions both in the entities and at the level of the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It stressed the establishment of the institutions was very important for building a democratic society which will be supported by the entire population of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The statement said that Serbian and Croatian Presidents Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman, Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic and representatives of the entities - the Muslim-Croat Federatioan Kresimir Zubak and of Republika Srpska Aleksa Buha - agreed that it was necessary to take a series of steps for the acceptance of standards and regulations established by the OSCE.

This is related to forming a transitional electoral commission and creating conditions for the elections.

The rules and standards comprise the engagement to cooperate with the Hague tribunal, enable the freedom of movement, create conditions for the return of refugees, enable free and safe movement through Bosnia-Herzegovina for everyone. These are the foundations for elections and for lasting peace in Bosnia.

Arbitrage for the Brcko region is listed among the rules and standards. The importance of concluding talks on arms control and realisation of the post-war Bosnia reconstruction is also emphasised.

[02] MILOSEVIC, CHRISTOPHER: DAYTON AGREEMENT MOSTLY IMPLEMENTED

They also said that some problems in implementing the civilian segment of the agreement could be settled through joint efforts in the near future. Milosevic and Christopher discussed all essential issues relating to the implementation of the peace agreement, reached in Dayton last November.

The Yugoslav side stressed the need for holding elections in Bosnia as early as possible and for setting up legitimate bodies that would make it possible for the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia to open a process of stabilization on an entirely new basis.

Milosevic and Christopher especially focused on relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the United States, i.e. possibilities for promoting their ties.

[03] MILOSEVIC: GENEVA MEETING IS STIMULUS TO IMPLEMENTING DAYTON

'We had very intensive talks with the entire US team, led by Secretary of State Christopher, representatives of the Contact Group member-states, High Representative for Bosnia Carl Bildt, President Izetbegovic and President Tudjman,' Milosevic said. The talks stressed the need for all sides to secure the freedom of movement and equality of political forces participating in the elections, in keeping with democratic rules, said Milosevic.

He said he believed the elections would be held by mid-September, as planned.

'The meeting clearly showed that the United States, as the country which has played a crucial role in the peace agreement, as well as all the member-states of the Contact Group and the sides in Bosnia-Herzegovina wish the Dayton agreement to work.' Most of the attention and time were therefore devoted to the question of preparations for free and democratic elections, Milosevic said.

FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

[04] MILOSEVIC, KORNBLUM CONFER ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS

It was agreed that the peace process was proceeding in a positive direction and that the implementation of the Dayton accords should be successful.

[05] U.S. SEEKS WAYS OF UNFREEZING YUGOSLAVIA'S ASSETS

Froman said that his country was willing to help Yugoslavia rejoin international financial institutions and bring about the unfreezing of its assets abroad. He said that the United States was seeking legal ways of unfreezing Yugoslavia's assets.

Both sides agreed that Yugoslavia's reintegration into international financial insitutions was crucial to ensure an inflow of foreign capital and an increase of production in Yugoslavia and enable it to honour its obligations.

[06] PRESIDENT OF GROUP ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA SUCCESSION VISITS BELGRADE

Academician Kosta Mihailovic, who heads the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said that the talks had been substantive and had touched on all aspects of the problem of succession. 'We explained in great detail the Yugoslav position, which is of importance for the drafting of an informal text which we hope will be reviewed in early summer,' Mihailovic said.

[07] ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING ATTEMPTS FOILED

As a result of repeated illegal crossings of the Yugoslav border by Albanian citizens, state organs will deliver to the Albanian side a warning to prevent such incidents in the future.

REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[08] PLAVSIC URGES CONSISTENT IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON AGREEMENT

It is thanks to the efforts of key international factors, of all formerly warring sides and the great contribution made by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that significant results have been recorded so far in the implementation of the peace agreement, Plavsic said. She said Republika Srpska wholeheartedly supported the meeting in Geneva Sunday.

A further impulse to the agreement's implementation will be provided by the upcoming elections, for which preparations are under way, and Republika Srpska will act constructively all the way to that end, Plavsic said.

She said it was necessary that all sides display an equal sense of responsibility and international factors, impartiality and a principled approach in the treatment of both entities - Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Republika Srpska will do everything for the elections to be held in line with the envisaged rules, for all necessary conditions to be created, for the full freedom of the press, movement and assembly of people, Plavsic said.

She said Republika Srpska had formed electoral commissions in all municipalities.

FROM FOREIGN PRESS

[09] MUJAHEDDIN STILL IN BOSNIA, SAYS U.S. DAILY

There were at least 500 Iranian 'volunteers' in Bosnia during the war and there are scores of them there now, US Ambassador in Bonn Charles Redman, former US envoy to Bosnia, told Congress on Thursday at a hearing about a scandal with secret deliveries of Iranian arms to Muslims in Bosnia.

According to US intelligence services, mercenaries are trying to stay in Bosnia by 'integrating' into the local society in different ways.

Some of them received new documents marrying Bosnian women, others started to work in different humanitarian organizations and still others are temporarily employed in civilian companies in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Sources here have reiterated there are indications that Muslim Sarajevo authorities are trying to help mercenaries to remain in Bosnia. Following persistent claims by Muslim Sarajevo authorities that no mercenaries have left in Bosnia, the US State Department recently made a list of names of mercenaries who are still there.

[10] NEW YORK TIMES: BOSNIAN MUSLIMS PRACTICE ETHNIC CLEANSING IN SARAJEVO

Practicing a policy which international observers have described as ethnic cleansing, which directly clashes with the Dayton agreement, the Muslim Government in Sarajevo has expropriated at least 70,000 homes from Sarajevo residents, mostly Serbs and Croats who left the city during the war or immediately after the end of fighting, the paper's correspondent in Sarajevo said. The daily said such policy primarily aimed to prevent the return of Serbs and Croats to Sarajevo, adding that the few of those who had attempted to go back had come to closed doors both when the local authorities and the new tenants were concerned.

At the beginning of the war, Muslim authorities expropriated apartments belonging to former Yugoslav Army officers, the paper said.

About 130,000 people, mostly Serbs, have been left homeless in Sarajevo and the surrounding area owing to the legal provisions that allow a silent campaign of ethnic cleansing, the paper said.

It said that international observers had repeatedly interceded with Muslim authorities, telling them that their policy was contrary to the Dayton peace agreement and international humanitarian law, but all intervensions produced no effect whatsoever.

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