Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-02-12

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR REHN DUE IN CROATIA

[02] MOSTAR OFFICIALS DISAGREE ABOUT CAUSE OF CLASH IN MOSTAR

[03] PLAVSIC MEETS WITH BILDT IN BANJA LUKA

[04] SERBIAN VICE PREMIER SAYS PRIVATISATION LAW TO BE PASSED SOON MAYOR OF PRISTINA RECEIVES TURKISH AMBASSADOR

[05] HAGUE-BASED TRIBUNAL INVESTIGATES WAR CRIMES AGAINST SERBS

[06] KLEIN: MILOSEVIC URGES SECURITY AND RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN SREM-BARANJA

[07] SERBIAN MINISTER SAYS DRAFT LAW ON ELECTION RESULTS LEGITIMATE

[08] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES SPECIAL LAW

[01] U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR REHN DUE IN CROATIA

According to the announcement, Rehn will first focus on the situation in Krajina, the position of Serbs who have remained there and conditions for the repatriation of those who have fled the region.

Rehn is also to focus on the situation in Eastern Slavonia. She is expected to arrive in Vukovar on Sunday to get a first-hand knowledge about the developments in the region, especially about preparations for local polls.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[02] MOSTAR OFFICIALS DISAGREE ABOUT CAUSE OF CLASH IN MOSTAR

One Muslim civilian was killed, 21 Muslims and three Croat policemen were injured in the fighting which took place when 5,000 Muslims from eastern Mostar crossed the separation line in order to visit a cemetery in western Mostar.

The Croat radio reported that the Croat police prevented a group of unannounced Muslim extremists from provoking a conflict with the participants of a carnival held in the western, Croat part of Mostar.

Orucevic maintains, however, that the Muslim visit to the cemetery in western Mostar was announced in advance and approved by the International Police. Prskalo denied this and asked when had armed Muslims started visiting cemeteries in large numbers.

The Muslim extremists did not aim to visit the cemetery but to provoke clashes, Prskalo said. He accused his deputy Orucevic of being an accomplice because he led a group of Muslims who were, according to Prskalo, a disguised special task force.

Prskalo said that all this called to mind the refusal to recognize the Muslim-Croat Federation and served to deepen the divisions within the city.

Orucevic said that the Muslim side had always enabled the Croats to visit their cemeteries in eastern Mostar on All Souls Day.

Orucevic said that the Muslims had always offered protection to the Croats and tried to prevent all incidents, and that the Croats had now responded by attacking them with truncheons and guns. He said that over the past three years, the Croat extremists had been trying to undermine all processes aimed at uniting Mostar.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[03] PLAVSIC MEETS WITH BILDT IN BANJA LUKA

Bildt said a complex situation had been successfully dealt with, saying that was a good sign showing that even the most complex issues could be resolved in the spirit of compromise and through joint efforts.

Last week, Plavsic and Bildt held a series of talks in connection with an attempt by a group of Moslems to settle in the village of Gajevi near Lopari although they had not possessed necessary documents.

Meanwhile, tensions have eased and the R.S. police have begun patrolling the villages of Mahala, Dugi Do, Jusici and Gajevi.

Bildt said the meeting had also focused on other aspects of the Peace Process, in particular the issue of Brcko, because he said the Arbitration Tribunal was to decide on the issue late this week.

He said all parties were ready to accept the Tribunal's decision, saying after that it would be possible to focus on economic and social issues.

Bildt said the pace of preparations for a donor conference depended on the pace of setting up vital common institutions.

Plavsic said she hoped the carrying out of joint activities in inter-ethnic zones would go on, expressing fear however that these measures might be jeopardised by the Arbitration Tribunal's unfavourable decision on Brcko.

She said she was confident that the Tribunal's president Roberts Owen would not jeopardise his authority in this case, adding that the five-nation 'Contact Group' was not passive in the matter either.

Plavsic and Bildt said they had also discussed a speedy economic development once a decision on Brcko had been taken.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[04] SERBIAN VICE PREMIER SAYS PRIVATISATION LAW TO BE PASSED SOON MAYOR OF PRISTINA RECEIVES TURKISH AMBASSADOR

Speaking during a recess in the day's Parliament session, Vice Premier Svetozar Krstic told reporters that the proposed Law was the result of an orientation to take firmer steps towards reform.

Krstic added that the Bill had already been drafted, but was yet to be debated both in Parliament and by the Government.

He said he believed that time had 'made us quicker and more efficient' in the matter of privatisation.

Speaking about a Special Law (Lex Specialis) that should recognise November 17 municipal election second round results, Krstic said that the passing of the Law would mark 'the beginning of settling the crisis'.

He said that the document was a good basis for opening dialogue, conditions for which would be created after the setting up of new bodies of power in the municipalities listed in the Bill.

'After this, there can be serious talk about freedom of the media and electoral legislation, which was also recommended by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),' he added.

Krstic said that the newly-formed Ministry for economic and ownership transformation would not interfere in the jurisdiction of the federal state.

He explained that the Ministry would be in charge of privatisation, which was in the jurisdiction of the Republic, since only the basics of an ownership transformation had been defined at the federal level. (Tanjug, February 11, 1997)

Turkey's ambassador to Yugoslavia, who is on a visit to Serbia's southern Kosovo-Metohija province, visited on Tuesday the City Hall in the province's capital Pristina.

A statement released from the City Hall said that ambassador Alev Kilic had been received by Pristina mayor Dusan Simic, who expressed pleasure at the visit.

Simic said that inter-ethnic relations between the city's Serbs, Montenegrins and Turks were at an impressively high level, stressing that there was a 3,000-strong ethnic Turkish community in the city, who freely exercised all constitutional rights.

There are schools in the Turkish language, and the folk club 'Gercek' where ethnic Turks perpetuate their tradition and culture, he said.

There are also Turkish-language newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, which are received in the city and in all of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province of Kosovo-Metohija, Simic added.

Ambassador Kilic said that ethnic equality in Kosovo-Metohija was evident and did not need many words to describe it.

He said that the national cultural landmarks dating back to the Ottoman Empire had been preserved, the children had education in their mother- tongue, and there were publications and media in the languages of the ethnic minorities.

This, he added, spoke volumes about the world standards applied to the ethnic minorities in Kosovo-Metohija and in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The ambassador said that Turkey would insist that Turks, wherever they might live, should be loyal to their state of residence. This would certainly guarantee friendship and cooperation among states, he added.

Kilic said that Turkey was interested in peace and stability in these lands, because peace in Yugoslavia meant peace for all nations and all states in the region.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[05] HAGUE-BASED TRIBUNAL INVESTIGATES WAR CRIMES AGAINST SERBS

'Analysts of the Hague-based Tribunal reviewed at the Centre last October 109 accounts by witnesses of Croatian troops' atrocities during Operation Storm, and they heard the first testimonies in Belgrade two months ago,' Strbac said.

Last April, a Tribunal team informed "Veritas" officials in Banja Luka that it had been decided to launch an investigation into war crimes that Croats had committed against Serbs during Operation Storm. In this connection, Chief Prosecutor of the Hague-based Tribunal Louise Arbour and her deputy Graham Blewitt visited "Veritas" in late January. Arbour and Blewitt praised the Centre's professional attitude and the quality of the processed files, he said.

"Veritas" handed Arbour a list with the names of 92 Serbs accused by Croatian authorities allegedly of war crimes, of whom many have already received prison sentences. Of the 92 Serbs, 20 were granted amnesty late October only to be arrested again. Arbour was also presented with a list containing the names of 18 Serbs who were held prisoner in the Lora camp.

According to figures released by "Veritas", 2,985 persons went missing throughout Croatia between 1991 and 1995.

'Our files, based on precise data, show that 359 persons went missing during (the Croatian military Operation) Lightning, 1,725 during Operation Storm, while another 901 Serbs had gone missing before the two operations,' Strbac said.

Croatian authorities claim that only 188 persons went missing during Operation Lightning, of whom 79 have been identified, and 911 persons during Operation Storm, of whom 163 have been identified. Strbac said reports on when and where persons had gone missing and witnesses' accounts had been gathered while the Republic of Serb Krajina was under U.N. control.

'We presented them with files containing photographs and court documents on 90 persons killed at the Medak Pocket, 326 killed at Ravni Kotari, of whom 156 were killed while in flight, and 40 policemen killed at the Miljevac Plateau, and they got interested in them,' he said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[06] KLEIN: MILOSEVIC URGES SECURITY AND RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN SREM-BARANJA

Klein told reporters they were insisting on the same things and that was why they needed the help of President Milosevic.

He pointed out that the Erdut Agreement was the basic platform for solving the problems of the Srem-Baranja region and pointed to the importance of elections scheduled to be held next spring.

Klein declined to specify when the elections would be held, pointing out that the condition for that was that citizens of the Srem-Baranja be registered and obtain citizenship papers.

The UN administrator confirmed that a certain number of families were leaving the Srem-Baranja region and moving out their possessions to the FRY and that the process had been intensified lately. He said the reason for that was the atmosphere of tension and uncertainty prevailing in the Srem- Baranja region, but also the actions of the local leadership, which he accused of misinforming the population with respect to the content of the letter he brought from the United Nations.

Klein said he will recommend the holding of a meeting of foreign ministers of the FRY and Croatia, Milan Milutinovic and Mate Granic, to discuss matters concerning the borderline.

Klein said those issues were bilateral which are from his domain of action and which concern relations between Belgrade and Zagreb.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[07] SERBIAN MINISTER SAYS DRAFT LAW ON ELECTION RESULTS LEGITIMATE

The Special Law should recognise election second round results in keeping with recommendations of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Speaking at a special Parliament session, minister Arandjel Markicevic said that election results were being established on the basis of documents held by the electoral commissions, and not on the basis of OSCE reports and recommendations.

'The Bill declares as final the will of the people as expressed in the first and second rounds of voting,' Markicevic said.

He said the Bill would 'put an end to the painful social situation created by a protracted electoral procedure, in the interests of the Serbian state.'

Markicevic said he was sure the Bill would channel Serbia's vast energies and human and material potential in the direction of economic, social and legal reforms, which should alleviate the consequences of years of international sanctions.

He said all modern European states resorted to special laws in special circumstances, and that Yugoslavia had them from time to time, too, though not in this field.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

[08] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES SPECIAL LAW

The results of November 17 elections for deputies of the municipal assemblies of Pirot, Kraljevo, Uzice, Smederevska Palanka, Vrsac, Sokobanja, Pancevo, Jagodina, Zrenjanin, Lapovo, Sabac, Stari Grad, Vracar, Savski Venac, Zvezdara, Rakovica, Palilula, Cukarica and Vozdovac, and deputies for the city councils of Kragujevac, Nis and Belgrade, are proclaimed by this Law as final.

Constituent sessions of the municipal and city assemblies will be called by the President of the Republican Parliament within five days of the promulgation of the Law.

The election of deputies is established by municipal elections commissions, or city election commissions, within three days of the Law taking effect.

If the election commissions fail to comply within the mentioned period of time, the Ministry of justice will establish the individual election of deputies within the next 48 hrs.

The decisions of municipal and city election commissions or the rulings of the Ministry of justice cannot be appealed in a court of law.

The Law takes effect the day after it is published in the Serbian Official Gazette.

After nearly four hours of debate in principle, justice minister Arandjel Markicevic said those who took part in it did not challenge the Law.

The Law does not abolish court rulings and does not infringe on the constitutional principle on the division of power into Legislation, Government and the Judiciary, said Markicevic.

He said the election results were established according to the reports of election commissions, not on the basis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission report, and added that a suit could be filed with the Constitutional Court.

The Law, he said, does not amnesty transgressors against the Serbian Penal Code and the Law on territorial organization and local self-rule.

The Government asked the Public Prosecutor and all courts to speed up work on all pending cases.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1997-02-12 ; Tanjug, 1997-02-11

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