Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-06-30

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV CONSULATE GENERAL IN SHANGHAI OPENS ON JULY 3

[02] TERRORISTS IN U.S. AND GERMAN UNIFORMS

[03] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ABDUCT FOUR BUS PASSENGERS

[04] TERRORISTS SURROUNDED IN BELACEVAC MINE

[05] ARMED ETHNIC ALBANIANS ATTACK COMPANIES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

[06] SERBIAN HOUSES BURNED DOWN

[07] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ATTACK A VILLAGE NEAR THE TOWN OF KLINA

[08] EU CONCERN OVER THE SITUATION IN KOSMET, INDEPENDENCE IS REJECTED

[09] ANNAN AGAINST MILITARY INTERVENTION WITHOUT U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MANDATE

[10] THE SERBIA GOVERNMENT ON THE PROBLEM OF TERRORISM

[11] ANTI-NATO DEMONSTRATIONS OUTSIDE U.N. HEADQUARTERS

[01] YUGOSLAV CONSULATE GENERAL IN SHANGHAI OPENS ON JULY 3

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

Yugoslav Foreign Ministry Secretary General Radovan Matovic, visiting Ch ina, talked in Beijing on Monday with the directors of Yugoslav business representations in the country.

During the meeting, hosted by the Yugoslav Ambassador in PR China Slobod an Unkovic, the organization and access of Yugoslav firms on the Chinese market was discussed.

It was pointed out that good cooperation of the Yugoslav Embassy and tra de representatives contributed to the successful realization of business contacts and to the promotion of economic cooperation between the two cou ntries.

The importance of the opening of the Consulate General of the Federal Re public of Yugoslavia in the largest Chinese business, trade and financial centre, Shanghai, on July 3, was emphasized.

[02] TERRORISTS IN U.S. AND GERMAN UNIFORMS

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

Terrorists of the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo wear military unif orms of U.S. and German origin, the "New York Times" said on Monday in a report from Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet, 1998). The report described the resolve of terrorists to secure their goal with weap ons * the independence of Kosmet and the creation of a Greater Albania.

Members of ethnic Albanian terrorist units told the correspondent that t hey were fighting for a higher goal than the mere liberation of Kosmet. T heir goal is the liberation of all Albanians, including those in Macedoni a, Montenegro and other parts of Serbia, they said.

The paper once again failed to criticize the terrorists, unfortunately, or point out that these terrorists who so openly speak of their destructi ve goals are in fact responsible for the tensions and crisis in Kosmet. I nstead, the report described as something perfectly normal how terrorists are organized at the local level and trained for new actions.

The correspondent pointed out that U.S. diplomat Robert Gelbard had desc ribed the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo as a terrorist organization just a few months ago, in February, but that he had met with alleged rep resentatives of this terrorist organization somewhere in Switzerland last weekend.

[03] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ABDUCT FOUR BUS PASSENGERS

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

Armed ethnic Albanian terrorists on Monday hijacked a bus and abducted f our passengers in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province of Kosovo an d Metohija. According to the Media Centre in the province's chief city of Pristina, the incident occurred when the terrorists hijacked a Djakovica Prevoz bus at around 2 p.m. local time at the village of Crnoljevo on th e Prizren-Stimlje road.

They abducted Stamen Genov, Vojko Bakrac, Ivan Bakrac and an unidentifie d 20-year-old.

The hijackers, identifying themselves as members of the terrorist organi sation calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, 1998), armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, allowed other passengers * all ethnic Albania ns * to continue their journey.

Over the past two months, armed groups of ethnic Albanians have abducted more than 40 Serbs in the areas of Drenica and Metohija.

[04] TERRORISTS SURROUNDED IN BELACEVAC MINE

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

Police surrounded on Monday morning groups of armed ethnic Albanian terr orists, who took over a week ago the Belacevac coal mining complex, Prist ina Media Centre has learnt.

A part of the armed ethnic Albanians withdrew to the villages of Ade and Belacevac from where they opened automatic gun fire at the police, the M edia Centre has learnt from municipal authorities in Obilic.

No-one was hurt in the incidents, the same source said.

A group of armed terrorists holed in the buildings of the Belacevac mine opened fire, around 14:00, at the police.

Early Monday, one group of armed ethnic Albanians which withdrew from th e mine attacked the house of the Ristic family near the village Crkvena V odica. Serbs from that village returned fire. No-one was hurt in the atta ck.

A week ago, a group of armed ethnic Albanians kidnapped nine miners and then took over the buildings of the mine from which workers, both Serbs a nd ethnic Albanians, withdrew.

Municipal authorities in Obilic have confirmed to the Media Centre that the goal of the police action was to normalize production in the coal min e which supplies thermo-electric power plants in Kosovo.

[05] ARMED ETHNIC ALBANIANS ATTACK COMPANIES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

A group of armed ethnic Albanians attacked security workers at Kosovo Mi trovica's company Kosmetput at about 11 p.m. (2100 GMT, 1998) on Sunday, Tanjug has learnt. The terrorists beat up and stabbed a guard Petar Djord jevic, who is being treated at the Kosovska Mitrovica health centre. The terrorists took Djordjevic's service gun. The main door of the clothes ma nufacturer Jumko-Mitrovcanka was crashed late on Sunday and the company r egards this as an open threat to employees who are coming to work.

[06] SERBIAN HOUSES BURNED DOWN

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

In the village Veliki Djurdjevik, armed groups of ethnic Albanian terror ists set fire on Sunday night to four Serbian houses, property of the Dob ric family, Pristina Media Centre has learnt. Serbs from that village, du e to frequent attacks of armed ethnic Albanians, fled to Klina several da ys ago.

[07] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ATTACK A VILLAGE NEAR THE TOWN OF KLINA

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

A large group of ethnic Albanian terrorists attacked the village of Dren ovac near Klina, Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, at ar ound 7 p.m. local time on Sunday. The villagers, mainly Serbs and Montene grins, managed to repel the attack after several hours of fighting. No ca sualties were reported after the attack, local authorities in Klina said.

[08] EU CONCERN OVER THE SITUATION IN KOSMET, INDEPENDENCE IS REJECTED

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

The European Union (E.U., 1998) on Monday expressed concern over growing tensions in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet, 1998) province and onc e again rejected the idea of its independence, agencies said, carrying a statement released in Luxembourg following regular consultations by E.U. foreign ministers.

All leading figures in the community of Kosmet Albanians should unite an d clearly demonstrate that they are for dialogue and a peaceful solution and that they reject violence and terrorism, the statement said.

The E.U. is still firmly opposed to the independence of Kosmet, which is the official goal of ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and ethnic Al banian separatist groups, said Reuters.

The Luxembourg meeting was quite sceptical regarding the U.S. proposal t hat the terrorist so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo be included in the negotiations on a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis.

Deputy Greek Foreign Minister Georg Papandreau said he believed any sup port to separatist movements would undermine general security in the regi on, so that great caution was required.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who chaired the meeting for the la st time before Austria takes over chairmanship of the E.U., said it was very important primarily to secure a period of peace in Kosovo, which wou ld enable a resumption of the negotiations. Cook pointed out that the Uni on's partner in the dialogue on Kosmet was Rugova, the chosen representat ive of Kosmet Albanians.

In the meantime, the E.U. continues to exert pressure on Yugoslavia to w ithdraw its special police forces from Kosmet, Reuters said. It decided t o ban Yugoslav Airlines JAT from flying to and from E.U. countries. It is not clear, however, when the ban will take effect, and whether all fligh ts will be covered.

The German agency DPA said the ban would not be effective immediately si nce lawyers have to study the contracts on landing rights in Yugoslavia o f E.U. member-countries' airlines. This is a very complicated matter, the agency quoted German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel as saying.

The E.U. ministers also discussed sending a large number of diplomats to Yugoslavia to monitor the situation in Kosmet. Their reports from the fi eld would considerably clarify the picture of the situation in that regio n.

[09] ANNAN AGAINST MILITARY INTERVENTION WITHOUT U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MANDATE

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday reiterated his opposition to NATO military action in Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija without a mandate from the U.N. Security Council.

Speaking at a news conference at the Vienna-based U.N. headquarters, Ann an said that, after a recent meeting between President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia, Moscow had said tha t diplomatic efforts for the resolution of the crisis in the province had not been exhausted.

Annan said he believed that yet another attempt should be made to resolv e the issue of Kosovo and Metohija through diplomatic means.

He said he had informed NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana about his p osition on the matter at a meeting in Rome several days ago. He further s aid that he hoped that NATO would find another way of helping defuse the crisis in the province, saying a decision on military intervention in the province could only be taken by the Security Council. He added that a dr aft resolution to this end was already in circulation at the U.N. headqua rters, saying a debate on the issue had been put off because of the recen t Milosevic-Yeltsin meeting in Moscow.

Annan described the situation in the province as critical urging the int ernational community to act immediately.

Annan also said he had no immediate plans to visit Belgrade or Pristina, centre of Kosovo and Metohija.

[10] THE SERBIA GOVERNMENT ON THE PROBLEM OF TERRORISM

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

The Serbian Government has placed on the Internet a text on the problem of terrorism, in which it draws a parallel between the United States' tre atment of terrorists in its territory and what it prescribes for others. In the text, Serbian Minister of Information Aleksandar Vucic says that t hree U.S. citizens have recently been sentenced to a total of 290 years i n prison for their political view that one of the United States * viz., T exas * should have wider autonomy.

Regrettably, there is a wide discrepancy between what the United States preach and what they practices in combatting terrorism, which is one of t he worst criminal offenses under all international conventions, Serbian s tate radio and television reported on Monday.

The text goes on to quote a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, 1998) analysis of a recent meeting of the U.S. envoys Robert Gelbard and Richa rd Holbrooke with ethnic Albanian terrorists of the separatist organisat ion calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, 1998). The BBC said i n its report that, barely a few months before, Gelbard had described the KLA as a terrorist organisation, saying that he could recognise a terrori st at a glance, and KLA members were definitely terrorists.

Apparently forgetting what he said about them, he now accepts these same ethnic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija, who have meanwhile c ommitted numerous crimes, as a key factor in talks on the future of this province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia.

Just a month ago the British Foreign Minister Robin Cook also said that there could be no talks with terrorists, says the Serbian Government text placed on the Internet.

[11] ANTI-NATO DEMONSTRATIONS OUTSIDE U.N. HEADQUARTERS

Tanjug, 1998-06-29

Demonstrations were held outside the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday in protest against the U.S. and NATO policies in the Balka ns, in particular on Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet, 19 98). The protest was organized by the U.S. anti-war movement for internat ional action, whose members warned against the dangers of interference in the internal affairs of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia du ring the two-hour protests. Neither the United States nor NATO should int erfere in the resolving of problems in Kosovo and Metohija, the protester s said. They also spoke about the dangers of the international community supporting terrorists and militant separatists in Kosmet.

One of the speakers, anti-war movement protest organizing committee memb er Sara Flaunberg said the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo was a merc enary, terrorist organization which is terrorizing the population and mur dering civilians, both Serbs and Kosmet Albanians.

The international community must condemn terrorist activities and suppor t exclusively a political solution to the problems in Kosmet * it was hea rd at today's demonstrations in New York against the interference of the United States and NATO in developments in the Balkans.

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