Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-10-23

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS LAUNCH ANOTHER ATTACK

[02] "DELO": SLOVENIAN ARMY OFFICERS MEMBERS OF THE KLA TERRORIST ORGANISATION

[03] OSCE: DONOR CONFERENCE DEPENDS ON FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPATRIATION PLAN

[04] YUGOSLAV AND ITALIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE DISCUSS COOPERATION

[05] SESSA CONCERNED FOR THE FATE OF MISSING REPORTERS

[06] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR APPEALS FOR RELEASE OF ABDUCTED REPORTERS

[07] WARNINGS TO ETHNIC ALBANIAN SEPARATISTS TO HONOUR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA TRUCE

[08] IVANOV ANNOUNCES FIRM WARNING BY THE CONTACT GROUP

[09] RUGOVA SUPPORTS MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE ACCORD

[10] HILL: KLA'S COMPLIANCE WITH THE AGREEMENT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

[11] HILL HOPES ABDUCTED REPORTERS WILL BE RELEASED

[12] RUSSIA DEMANDS FROM NATO TO END MILITARY THREATS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

[13] SERBIAN OFFICIAL MEETS US ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE

[14] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES OSCE MISSION CHIEF

[01] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS LAUNCH ANOTHER ATTACK

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Members of the ethnic Albanian terrorist organization, the so-called "Ko sovo Liberation Army" (KLA, 1998) from the region of Salja launched on We dnesday evening, at 10.15 p.m. another attack on the security guards of t he Trepca mine in Stari Trg and on members of the Serbian police who were on duty.

The attack lasted more than two hours and the terrorists used all types of light weapons and fired from all directions.

No-one was hurt among the security guards and the police, who did not re spond to the attack.

[02] "DELO": SLOVENIAN ARMY OFFICERS MEMBERS OF THE KLA TERRORIST ORGANISATION

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Several Slovenian army officers and non-commissioned officers, who are e thnic Albanians, are in Kosovo and Metohija to reinforce the terrorist or ganisation, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Ljubljana daily "Delo" report ed on Thursday.

Although the exact number of Slovenian army members in Kosovo and Metohi ja was not given, the daily said that they had taken their holiday to go to Serbia's southern province.

"Delo" said that officers, who left three months ago, had not returned t o their units. However, the daily did not say whether a disciplinary proc edure had been launched against them.

The Slovenian Defence Ministry's Information Service said that it had no information that any Slovenian army officer or non-commissioned officer had fought with the so-called KLA.

The ministry's silence can be interpreted as tacit agreement, the daily said and added that it was hard to believe that something could happen in a legal state without the control and knowledge of competent state autho rities.

This can also be seen from the recent incident with the Sova secret serv ice, whose operational documents said that the Social Democratic Party of Janez Jansa was assisting the terrorist OVK. Instead of discussing the c ontroversial assistance, the competent committee discussed why the Sova d ocuments described the OVK as a terrorist organisation if this was not th e stand of Slovenian authorities.

[03] OSCE: DONOR CONFERENCE DEPENDS ON FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPATRIATION PLAN

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

A consistent and full implementation of a plan for the repatriation of S erbs to Croatia is a condition for a donor conference, Spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE, 1998) Mark Tho mpson has said.

The conference has been postponed twice because of the Croatian Governme nt's obstruction of the repatriation of Serb refugees, which the internat ional community has refused to tolerate.

Speaking at a regular news conference in Zagreb, Thompson listed objecti ons to the government's attitude. The U.S. ambassador in Zagreb handed ov er a list of objections to the government earlier in the week.

The plan provides also for securing alternative accommodation for refuge es and speeding up the procedure of returning property to them, Thompson said, adding that the government had failed to comply with these two prov isions of the plan.

He said the government had assumed the obligation to amend relevant regu lations in the next three months in order to ensure equal rights for refu gees returning home.

[04] YUGOSLAV AND ITALIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE DISCUSS COOPERATION

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

President of the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce Mihailo Milojevic and Pres ident of the Union of Italian Chambers of Commerce Danilo Longhi discusse d in Rome the prospects for long-term business deals, joint investments a nd technology transfer in which Yugoslav companies are particularly inter ested.

Milojevic said that a wider and better cooperation among Yugoslav and It alian companies would make the value of bilateral trade exceed one billio n dollars already this year.

Business contacts among Yugoslav and Italian companies should be intensi fied in order to examine prospects for fresh business deals, Milojevic an d Longhi said.

Milojevic invited Longhi and an Italian business delegation to visit Yug oslavia shortly, and his invitation was accepted. The Union of Italian Ch ambers of Commerce will also attend the forthcoming meeting of the Intern ational Council of Chambers of Commerce on November 2 and 3 in Belgrade, organized by the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce.

Milojevic will attend the second session of the Euro-Mediterranean Confe rence on trade and services being held on Thursday and Friday in Messina.

[05] SESSA CONCERNED FOR THE FATE OF MISSING REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Italian Ambassador to Belgrade, Ricardo Sessa, expressed on Thursday con cern for the fate of Tanjug's two reporters who disappeared on Sunday whi le on assignment near Pristina and appealed for their immediate release.

I appeal to whoever is responsible for the disappearance of the two repo rters, to release them as soon as possible and enable them to return to t heir families and jobs, Sessa told Tanjug.

"Journalism is one of the fundamentally major professions. In all countr ies, the press serves to transfer thoughts and information. Journalists m ust have conditions and possibilities to do their job without any obstacl es and restrictions," Sessa said.

"The very thought that two reporters went missing while on assignment, a nd about whom there have been no news for several days, deeply concerns m e and I believe that such an act deserves to be strongly condemned," Sess a said.

[06] YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR APPEALS FOR RELEASE OF ABDUCTED REPORTERS

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Yugoslav Ambassador to Greece Dragomir Vucicevic on Thursday wrote to Gr eek Information Minister Dimitris Repas to inform him about the case of Y ugoslav national news agency Tanjug reporters who went missing near Prist ina in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province on Sunday.

In his letter, Vucicevic said that there were grounds to believe that th e reporters, Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic, had been abducted b y members of the ethnic Albanian self-styled Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, 1998) terrorist organization in a clear attempt to destabilize and under mine a recently reached agreement on a peaceful and political resolution of problems in Kosovo and Metohija.

He said that, in August, ethnic Albanian terrorists had abducted Radio P ristina reporter Djuro Slavuj and his driver Ranko Perinic, who were stil l unaccounted for.

The ambassador said he believed that Repas was aware of the fact that et hnic Albanians had abducted more than 249 Serbs, Montenegrins and ethnic Albanians over the past few months in an effort to stop and hinder a peac eful co-existence of different ethnic communities in Kosovo and Metohija.

Vucicevic urged the minister to personally exert efforts toward a condem nation from Greece and Greek journalists' association of this gross act o f kidnapping and their calling for the reporters' immediate release.

He said that considering Greece's undoubtable importance and influence i n the region and its principled and constructive involvement in the settl ement of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija so far, he was sure that Greec e and all Greek journalists would help obtain an immediate release of the abducted reporters.

[07] WARNINGS TO ETHNIC ALBANIAN SEPARATISTS TO HONOUR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA TRUCE

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

The world community has issued a clear warning to ethnic Albanians in Ko sovo and Metohija and the terrorist organisation calling itself Kosovo Li beration Army (KLA, 1998) that they must respect truce and peace accords, London reports said on Thursday commenting on Foreign Secretary Robin Co ok's visit to Balkan states. British diplomatic circles said the warning was serious and in the form of an ultimatum.

Speaking on behalf of Britain and its NATO allies in Macedonia's capital of Skopje on Wednesday, Cook said ethnic Albanian separatists and the KL A would face international consequences if they failed to honour the truc e and accords reached between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U 2ES. envoy Richard Holbrooke.

If ethnic Albanian extremists continue armed actions and their programme of killing, they will only prolong the plight of their own people, he sa id.

Cook's warning is believed to be a sign of the international community's fear that ethnic Albanian separatists could take advantage of negotiatio ns and drafting of peace solutions and launch new attacks removing Kosovo and Metohija further away from peace.

British analysts say, however, that the international community will not give up the accords reached in Belgrade and the peace process for the pr ovince.

Britain and its allies will make a serious effort to sever channels of K LA financing and arming in which Germany, Switzerland, Albania and Croati a are mainly involved, the reports said.

[08] IVANOV ANNOUNCES FIRM WARNING BY THE CONTACT GROUP

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Thursday that the Contact G roup would firmly warn all those who want to undermine the peace agreemen ts on Kosovo and Metohija.

"Today we intend to send serious warnings, on behalf of the Contact Grou p, to all forces, especially the ethnic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo, wh o want to undermine the peace agreements," Ivanov told a joint press conf erence with Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.

Russia is "genuinely very concerned over the renewal of the actions of t he Kosovo combatants," Ivanov said.

"We are aware that there are those who are trying to undermine the effor ts of the international community aimed at the peaceful resolution of the situation," he added.

Ivanov recalled that on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Huber Vedrine , on behalf of the Contact Group, sent to Ibrahim Rugova a letter demandi ng compliance with all peace agreements.

Ivanov underscored that the U.N. Security Council Resolution on Kosovo " was fully addressed both to Belgrade and to the ethnic Albanians."

Pointing out that the regulation of the situation in Kosmet is determine d by agreements, the U.N. Security Council Resolution, and that now the O SCE mechanism is being put into motion, Ivanov called on all interested p arties to make use of these political channels for the resolution of prob lems in this Serbian province.

Greek Foreign Minister Pangalos set out that responsibility for the curr ent situation in Kosmet lies with those who had a one-sided approach to t he resolution of the problem.

Pangalos said that Greece, both within NATO and the European Union (EU, 1998), has always stated that initiatives for the regulation of the situa tion in Kosmet should be balanced and not be directed towards only one si de. Pangalos strongly criticized the application of double standards in t he resolution of the Kosovo problem.

Following the joint press conference, Pangalos met with Russian Prime Mi nister Yevgeni Primakov who said at the start of the talks that Russia an d Greece have a united approach to many political problems.

"We are very satisfied with the development of relations between our two countries in the economic sphere, while in the political we have paralle l and, it can be said, the united approaches to many issues," Primakov sa id.

[09] RUGOVA SUPPORTS MILOSEVIC-HOLBROOKE ACCORD

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

The leader of the ethnic Albanians in Kosmet, Ibrahim Rugova, said after talks in Pristina on Thursday with the ambassadors of three Contact Grou p countries and with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill, that he supports t he accord reached by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and special U. S. envoy Richard Holbrooke.

Rugova called on the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija to uphold the accor d and demanded from the armed groups of Albanians, as he called them, to refrain from actions and provocations. Apart from Hill, also present at t he talks with Rugova were the ambassadors of Austria, Great Britain and G ermany in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Wolfgang Petrisch, Brian Do nelly and Wilfred Gruber.

Rugova said that in the next few days he would "continue working with Hi ll in order to reach a transitional solution for Kosovo."

As a representative of the current country chairing the European Union ( E.U., 1998), Petrisch set out that he "is satisfied that Rugova is aware of this historical moment" for Kosovo and Metohija. He denounced violence and expressed hope that it would stop and that all unresolved issues in Kosovo and Metohija would be resolved through peaceful means. Petrisch sa id that there had been progress in the U.S. initiative which the E.U. sup ports.

[10] HILL: KLA'S COMPLIANCE WITH THE AGREEMENT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

U.S. envoy to Yugoslavia Ambassador Christopher Hill said on Thursday th at it was absolutely necessary that an ethnic Albanian terrorist organiza tion that calls itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, 1998), too, shoul d honour the agreement on a peaceful resolution of problems in the Yugosl av republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, refrain from milita ry operations and comply with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1199.

Hill told a news conference after meeting ethnic Albanian political repr esentatives in Kosovo and Metohija that the international community wante d to see a full compliance with the Security Council resolution as soon a s possible, as it was not being fulfilled in a satisfactory manner.

Hill met ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and his team for talks. H e also met Hidajet Hiseni and Mehmet Hajrizi, the associates of KLA's pol itical spokesman Adem Demaci. He said he was due to meet Demaci in the ev ening.

He said that a point that required the strengthening of political approa ch had been reached. He stressed that efforts would be directed mainly to ward the compliance with the U.N. resolution, including the implementatio n of the accord recently reached between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milo sevic and U.S. special envoy to the Balkans Richard Holbrooke.

Hill announced that compliance verifiers of the Organization for Securit y and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE, 1998) would arrive in Kosovo and Metoh ija very soon. He also said he hoped that once the first 1,500 members of the mission arrive, they would soon be able to check on the compliance w ith the resolution and the implementation of a political agreement.

To this effect, U.S. State Department legal expert Jonathan Lewinsky wou ld stay in Pristina for a week to work on a political agreement whose dra ft would be disclosed very soon and which would speed up the negotiating process, he said.

Hill said that State Department official Mark Sheenen was in Belgrade an d Pristina to work on the police-related aspects of the agreement and con fer with Serbian and ethnic Albanian representatives.

[11] HILL HOPES ABDUCTED REPORTERS WILL BE RELEASED

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

The US envoy to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ambassador Christophe r Hill said on Thursday that holding journalists in captivity was inadmis sible and expressed hope that abducted Tanjug reporters Vladimir Dobricic and Nebojsa Radosevic would be released immediately.

Asked by a Tanjug reporter whether he knew that the self-styled Kosovo L iberation Army had admitted on Thursday afternoon that it was holding the two reporters, Hill said he was not aware of this, but that the US had r aised the issue with all parties it could reach to obtain the release of the reporters.

All reporters must enjoy the freedom of movement and must not be held up or attacked, Hill said.

[12] RUSSIA DEMANDS FROM NATO TO END MILITARY THREATS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Russia has demanded from NATO to stop threatening to apply force against Yugoslavia, Itar-Tass said on Thursday quoting diplomatic sources.

Moscow made the demand on Wednesday evening at a regular session of the Joint Permanent Russian-NATO Council in Brussels, Itar-Tass said.

Russia told the session that, following the signing of the Belgrade agre ements, aimed at the peaceful resolution of problems in Kosmet, the threa ts to use the NATO military power have become absolutely counterproductiv e.

Russia added that it would send its observers to Kosovo within the OSCE verification mission and stressed that it does not want Russian monitors there to have to face the threat of airstrikes.

[13] SERBIAN OFFICIAL MEETS US ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Head of the Kosovo District of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija Veljko Odalovic and US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Shee nan discussed on Thursday in the provincial capital Pristina the current situation in the province, the provincial Information Secretariat said in a statement.

The US official expressed concern over the attacks on police officers, t he abduction of reporters and the killings of civilians, especially follo wing the conclusion of the accord on peaceful resolution of the Kosovo an d Metohija problem by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and US envoy Richard Holbrooke.

It is imperative that all citizens of Kosovo and Metohija should feel sa fe now, Sheenan said.

Odalovic said that the accord confirmed the territorial integrity and so vereignty of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavi a and noted that state authorities were doing their best to normalize the situation in areas where terrorist actions had taken place and to resolv e humanitarian problems in the province.

Terrorist gangs of ethnic Albanian separatists are trying to prevent the implementation of the accord, Odalovic said.

Members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE , 1998) mission who are arriving in Kosovo and Metohija will be able to w itness the situation on the ground, Odalovic said and added that state au thorities were ready to provide full assistance to them and to cooperate with the mission, the statement says.

[14] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES OSCE MISSION CHIEF

Tanjug, 1998-10-22

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic received on Thursday Ambassa dor William Walker, chief of the civilian mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE, 1998) to Kosovo and Metohija.

Jovanovic and Walker discussed questions of cooperation in the process o f emplacing and operating the mission in accordance with the recently sig ned agreement.

Commitment was confirmed to a consistent implementation of the accord be tween Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbro oke, with the aim of achieving a peaceful and stable resolution in Kosovo and Metohija.

The meeting was attended by Polish Ambassador to Yugoslavia Slawomir Dab rowa, representative of the Chairman of the OSCE.

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