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Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-11-04Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Yugoslav Daily SurveyCONTENTS
[01] YUGOSLAVIA AND RUSSIA DEVELOP SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL COOPERATIONTanjug, 1998-11-03The Yugoslav-Russian Commission for Scientific-Technical Cooperation is holding its second session in Belgrade, the Serbian Academy of Arts and S ciences said on Tuesday. The texts of ten projects in the domains of medicine, laser technologies , biophysics and biotechnology for 1999 and the year 2000 are to be adjus ted at the session, which ends on November 6. [02] VUKOVAR HOSPITAL FIRES 150 SERBSTanjug, 1998-11-03A total of 150 Serbs have been fired from the Vukovar hospital, Tanjug w as told in Vukovar on Tuesday. They worked under contracts for a specifie d period, concluded in 1997, when the hospital was reintegrated into the Croatian health care system during the UNTAES mandate. Half of them are medical workers who were employed in medical centres in Osijek, Vinkovci, Knin and Pakrac before the war and the other half are non- medical workers, who also worked somewhere else before the war. When the Croatian health care service was reintegrated, it was believed that these people would be allowed to return to their homes and get back their old jobs. In keeping with the two-way return policy, the Croatian Health Ministry recommended them to address the institutions they worked at before the wa r. However, minimum conditions have not been secured * nobody guarantees that these people will get back their old jobs, tenancy right or private property and they came upon a hostile reception in their new environments Some of them addressed the medical institutions where they worked before the war and came upon a cold and unfriendly treatment. For example, 15 n urses from the Vukovar hospital addressed a health centre in Vinkovci whe re they worked before, and though they all got jobs, seven of them left a fter a few days because of an extremely unfriendly atmosphere at work. The non-medical workers' situation is even worse. Most of the firms in w hich they worked no longer exist and their replacements at the Vukovar Ho spital are Croatian repatriates who never worked in a medical institution It is especially worrying that 10 specialists, who are Serbs, now work a s GP's because the Croatian ministry does not recognise the specialisatio n diplomas issued by the Belgrade University's School of Medicine because of alleged differences in programmes. Serb medical workers and patients in the region have been alarmed by thi s situation, because the region is still mostly populated by Serbs. The office of the President of the Independent Democratic Serb Party Voj islav Stanimirovic, MP, said that representatives of the regional Serb le adership would ask to be received by Croatian Health Minister Zeljko Rajn er and that they would propose a six-month extension of the Vukovar hospi tal workers' contracts. Attempts will be made to resolve all their indivi dual problems during this period. Tanjug has learnt that the office of the OSCE observer mission in Vukova r has sent a similar proposal to the Croatian Health Ministry. [03] YUGOSLAV AND INDIAN MINISTERS OF AGRICULTURE DISCUSS COOPERATIONTanjug, 1998-11-03Yugoslav Minister of Agriculture Nedeljko Sipovac met his Indian counter part Som Pal on Tuesday in New Delhi, the first day of his official visit to India. India firmly opposes foreign interference in internal affairs of soverei gn states, Pal said referring to the situation in Serbia's southern provi nce of Kosovo and Metohija. India is convinced that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is completely ready to resolve its internal problems on its own, the minister said. The two ministers discussed the prospects of intensifying cooperation be tween Yugoslavia and India, especially as regards agriculture, genetic en gineering and seed production. Joint production for third markets was als o discussed. The meeting was attended by the Director of the Yugoslav Institute for p lant and animal genetic resources Jan Kisgeci and the Yugoslav Ambassador to India Cedomir Strbac. The Yugoslav delegation visited on Tuesday the Indian institutes for see d control and intensification of agricultural production, and discussed f uture cooperation between Yugoslav and Indian institutes. [04] SELEZNYOV: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT INVITATION TO YUGOSLAVIATanjug, 1998-11-03Russian State Duma President Gennady Seleznyov, who is also the Presiden t of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Alliance of Russia and the Belarus , said on Tuesday in Yaroslavl' that he does not exclude the possibility for the FR of Yugoslavia (FRY, 1998) to join this Alliance. Seleznyov said that the invitation to FRY to seriously consider this, is extremely important in itself. "This has great prospects, and is not an issue to be debated today," Seleznyov set out. He expressed hope that thi s issue will receive the go ahead at the next Alliance meeting in May 199 9. "The political invitation to FRY to seriously consider joining the dual Alliance is of extreme importance," Seleznyov said. Today the Alliance's Parliamentary Assembly continued its two-day sessio n in Yaroslavl' with the participation of the FRY delegation, headed by S erbian Radical Party (SRS, 1998) whip in the Federal Parliament's Chamber of Citizens, Vojislav Seselj. At a press conference today Seselj reiterated his address from Monday's plenary session when he urged close cooperation between FRY and the Allia nce of Russia and the Belarus. "We are ready to enter a closely-knitted alliance with Russia and the Be larus," Seselj set out and added that most probably the next Alliance Par liamentary Assembly session would consider granting the status of permane nt observer to a Yugoslav parliamentary delegation. This issue should fir st be discussed by the Yugoslav Parliament and it is expected to be inclu ded in the agenda shortly. Seselj stated that closer cooperation between Slav countries is necessar y for creating the balance of power in the world in the political, econom ic, cultural and other spheres. Asked by journalists about military cooperation, Seselj said that it exi sts between Yugoslavia, Russia and the Belarus and that it has never stop ped. [05] RUSSIAN MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION IS DUE TO VISIT BELGRADETanjug, 1998-11-03Russian Federation Transportation Minister Sergei Frank is due on an off icial visit to Yugoslavia, a statement released by the Yugoslav Secretari at of Information said on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Frank will confer with Yugoslav Transportation Minister De jan Drobnjakovic on the promotion of cooperation between the two countrie s in this branch of the economy. The two ministers are expected to sign an Agreement on international roa d transport of passengers and goods, which will organize traffic between Yugoslavia and the Russian Federation in a modern manner, the statement s aid. [06] MINISTER ZELENOVIC CONFERRED WITH DEPUTY MINISTER KNYAZHEVTanjug, 1998-11-03Yugoslav Minister for Development, Science and the Environment Jagos Zel enovic received on Tuesday Russian Federation Deputy Minister for Science and Technology Vladimir Knyazhev, who is heading a delegation to the sec ond meeting of the Yugoslav-Russian Mixed Commission for Scientific-Techn ological Cooperation in Belgrade, November 2-6, the Yugoslav Information Secretariat said. In a lengthy and friendly talk it was mutually assessed that between the two states and the two spiritually and historically close peoples exists a long tradition of friendly relations and cooperation in all fields. Zelenovic expressed gratitude to the Russian people, the Russian leaders hip and Embassy in Belgrade for everything they have done to preserve the sovereignty, territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , and peace in the Balkans. Zelenovic pointed to the importance of developing cooperation between th e FRY and the Russian Federation in the political, economic, cultural, sc ientific-technological and other spheres. He informed the Russian delegat ion about the development and scientific-technological priorities of the FRY and pointed to the exceptional importance of such cooperation with th e Russian Federation. A mutual readiness was expressed to continue the realization of research projects, of interest for future bilateral cooperation, particularly for the development of the economies of the two countries. Taking part in the talks was also Russian Federation Ambassador in the F ederal Republic of Yugoslavia Youri Kotov, the statement said. [07] INTERNATIONAL SESSION OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE ENDS IN BELGRADETanjug, 1998-11-03A two-day session of the Council of Eastern and Central European and Cen tral Asian Chambers of Commerce, which rallied representatives of the cha mbers of commerce and embassies of 15 countries, ended in Belgrade on Tue sday with a forum on the exploitation of economic resources. All participants in the session presented their states' economic possibi lities and need for closer cooperation and joint investments in the field of agriculture, the power industry and computer science, as well as for a greater influx of foreign capital, growth of industrial production and an increase of trade with the world. At the opening of the session, Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce President Mi hailo Milojevic said that since 1994, the Yugoslav economy had been regis tering a 6-10% growth and a constant growth of exports, which had risen b y 7% this year. Milojevic voiced hope that the economy would keep this pace next year an d informed the participants in detail about Yugoslav economic possibiliti es and the need for an influx of foreign investment capital. New investments would improve the exploitation of the existing economic capacities and professional staff and enable an increase of the employmen t rate, he said. Kazakhstan's Chamber of Commerce President Khamit Rakishev invited Yugos lav businessmen to cooperate with Kazakhtan's 20 regional chambers. He sa id that he had signed an Agreement on Economic Cooperation with the Yugos lav Chamber of Commerce before the session. According to a decision made at the Belgrade session, Kazakhstan's chamb er will host the next meeting of the Council in Alma-Ata in 1999. Kyrgyzstan's Chamber of Commerce Boris Vasilyevich also called for coope ration with Yugoslav businessmen, especially in the field of agriculture. He said that Yugoslav experts' experiences would be very valuable. Russian Chamber of Commerce Vice President Sergei Bednov said that more than 3,000 foreign companies wishing to cooperate with the Russian econom y were accredited to his country and proposed to the present businessmen to join the investment and other economic programmes under the same condi tions. Hungarian Chamber of Commerce Vice President Jene Radecki spoke about th e example of the town of Szekesfehervar as an interesting experience in t he engagement of foreign capital. He said that owing to foreign investmen ts, the employment rate in this centre rose from 30% in 1989 to 100% in 1 997. Presently, there are more vacancies than people in this town, he sai d. Milan Hrovat of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce informed the particip ants about the five-year preferential export agreements his country had s igned with E.U. countries and the United States. He praised an agreement on economic cooperation with Yugoslavia, which should enable free two-way trade as of 1999. This was the 5th session of the Council, which was se t up in Moscow in 1994. Economic representatives from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Republika Srpska, A ustria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Greece, Italy and Yugoslavia particip ated in the session. [08] SERBIAN MINISTER OF FAITHS MEETS WITH ROMANIAN OFFICIALTanjug, 1998-11-03Serbian Minister of Faiths Milovan Radovanovic received on Tuesday Roman ia's State Secretary in charge of religious affairs Gheorghe Angelescu. A statement issued by the Serbian Ministry of Faiths said the talks had dealt with the two countries' state bodies' attitude to religious communi ties and cooperation between the Ministry and Romania's State Secretariat in charge of religious affairs. Radovanovic stressed efforts made by the Serbian Government and relevant bodies to solve all open issues in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija through peaceful methods and within Serbia's constitutional and legal system. He said the vicarage of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Banat, Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, had all conditions for its activity, desc ribing cooperation between Serbian state bodies and the vicarage as succe ssful. Radovanovic also stressed that all issues concerning the status and acti vity of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Romania and the Romanian Orthodox Church in Serbia should be dealt with by the two countries' top state and church bodies on the principle of reciprocity. Also present were Radovanovic's deputy Radoslav Racic and Romanian Charg e d'Affaires in Belgrade Gabriel Branzaru, the statement said. [09] SERBIAN REFUGEES COMMISSIONER RECEIVED U.S. OFFICIALTanjug, 1998-11-03U.S. Assistant Secretary of State in charge of population, refugees and migrations Julia Taft, who is on her second visit to Yugoslavia in three months, on Tuesday met with Serbian Commissioner for Refugees Bratislava Morina, the office of the Serbian Commissioner for Refugees said in a sta tement. Taft said that she was to assess the humanitarian situation in Kosovo an d Metohija after the adoption of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1199 an d to learn about the needs of about 700,000 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegov ina and Croatia in Yugoslavia. She praised the efforts of the Serbian and Yugoslav governments regardin g the return of internally displaced persons to their homes and announced an additional 6 million dollars, which the U.S. Administration had alloc ated for refugees in the region. Assessing the humanitarian situation in Kosovo and Metohija as stable, o wing to the Serbian Government's assistance of more than 150 million doll ars and opening of all commodity reserves of food, footwear and construct ion material, Morina categorically denied the number of internally displa ced persons presented by international humanitarian organisations and sai d that they had been inflated and did not correspond with the facts. Responding to Taft's question about the realisation of lasting solutions to the refugee issue, Morina said that despite the fact that refugees ha d voiced their readiness to return, a very small number of them had actua lly returned because of the unwillingness of the authorities of the Musli m- Croat Federation and Croatia to guarantee them a safe return. The integration of refugees who wish to remain in Yugoslavia is slow des pite favourable conditions offered by all municipalities in Serbia, becau se there is no will for a timely realisation of funds given by donors for this purpose. Morina received assurances from Taft that the United States would make n o differences among people who need humanitarian assistance in Yugoslavia , the statement said. [10] ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS CONTINUE KILLING AND ABDUCTING THEIR OWN PEOPLETanjug, 1998-11-03The ethnic-Albanian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija, who continue kill ing and abducting their own people of different political convictions, th ree days ago killed one ethnic Albanian and abducted three at Podujevo, t he Albanian-language daily "Koha Ditore" reported on Tuesday. Terrorist groups killed Ragip Ibrahimi at Mavricka Dzamija on October 31 , and abducted Man Avdili, Muhamet Halilaj and a minor, claiming that the y were "bandits who cooperate with the Serbian police." Ethnic-Albanian terrorists have in the past seven days killed several of their own people, who were loyal citizens of Serbia. They have still not released Jakup Kastrati and Cen Desku, officials of the ethnic-Albanian Democratic League for Kosovo (DSK, 1998) organization for Malisevo, whom they abducted several days ago, which has revolted th e local ethnic-Albanian population. The daily "Informatori", published by the "Kosovo Information Centre," w hich is close to DSK President Ibrahim Rugova, on Tuesday said that the l eadership of this largest ethnic-Albanian party in Kosovo and Metohija ha d not received any information about the two party activists abducted on October 30. "Informatori" said the families of the abducted ethnic Albanians and oth er residents of the Malisevo municipality were revolted by the action, an d it stigmatized the political leader of the terrorist organization "Koso vo Liberation Army," Adem Demaci, for not helping secure the release of t he two DSK activists, although urged to do so, and not having even sent a ny reply to date. The DSK leadership has issued a statement saying that the abductions, wh ich were becoming a regular practice of the "Kosovo Liberation Army," wer e "impermissible, unjustified and harmful...". The statement called for the release of Kastrati and Desku and said that "nobody has the right to obstruct others in their organized political ac tivities." [11] DEMACI: NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO VISIT TANJUG REPORTERSTanjug, 1998-11-03Spokesman for the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation Kosovo Liberati on Army (KLA, 1998) Adem Demaci said on Tuesday that the KLA would allow no one to visit two Tanjug reporters that were abducted near Pristina on October 18. Speaking at a news conference in Pristina, Demaci said not even official s of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC, 1998) had the right to visit Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobri cic because of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. "One should not ask too much and especially not to visit the reporters b ecause that is very complicated at this point," he said adding that he ha d not been allowed to see them either. He said he was concerned about the abduction of Radosevic and Dobricic b ecause prison was no place where people could improve. He said that it wa s a good thing that the two reporters were in the right hands. He said Radosevic and Dobricic had been sentenced by the KLA to 60 days' imprisonment for trying to conceal their identity and for entering the t erritory without a permit for movement, which he said was a sin. Demaci said he had been told that the two reporters had received food an d clothes sent by their families through the IFRC. [12] ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS WOUND THREE COAL MINE WORKERSTanjug, 1998-11-03Ethnic Albanian terrorists wounded three coal mine workers in the Yugosl av republic of Serbia's troubled Kosovo and Metohija province on Tuesday, according to police sources in the province's chief city of Pristina. Engineer Desimir Prodanovic and driver Dragisa Stepanovic were seriously wounded and Slavoljub Tanaskovic sustained light injuries when the terro rists attacked vehicles transporting the workers to the Belacevac mine ne ar Obilic at about 6 p.m. local time. The attackers ambushed the two vehicles at the village of Donji Grabovac , opening fire from automatic weapons. The injured workers have been hosp italised in Pristina, and their lives are not in danger. [13] TERRORISTS WOUND A COMPATRIOTTanjug, 1998-11-03Members of the ethnic Albanian terrorist organization, the so-called "Ko sovo Liberation Army" (KLA, 1998) on Monday at 8.30 p.m. attacked and ser iously wounded their compatriot Fehim Sopa in front of his house in the v illage of Malo Gacko, near Lipljani, police sources in Pristina said on T uesday. Sopa was transferred to the Pristina hospital where he remains in critic al condition. Sopa's family said that four persons in uniforms bearing th e insignia of the terrorist KLA fired at him from automatic guns. The Lipljani authorities said that the Sopa family was attacked because they did not hide their loyalty to the Republic of Serbia. [14] SLAV COMMITTEE LENDS SUPPORT TO SERBIAN PEOPLETanjug, 1998-11-03The International Slav Committee on Tuesday urged all Slav and other pea ce- loving peoples in the world to lend support to Yugoslavia in its effor ts to preserve its integrity and sovereignty and protect its citizens aga inst terrorists. In a resolution adopted at a session held in Prague October 30-31, the S lav Committee, comprising representatives of ten Orthodox countries, cond emned NATO's aggressive intentions against Yugoslavia in connection with the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. It said that Kosovo and Metohija was the cradle of the Serbian people, i ts culture and statehood, and that the crisis there had been artificially provoked by ethnic-Albanian nationalist circles and their foreign helper s. [15] STATE DEPARTMENT MONITORING REPORTS ON ABDUCTION OF TANJUG REPORTERSTanjug, 1998-11-03The U.S. State Department has been informed about the latest development s concerning the abduction of two Tanjug reporters, for which ethnic Alba nian terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija have claimed responsibility. A State Department official in charge of Balkan affairs told Tanjug's Ne w York correspondent that the State Department had obtained the latest in formation about the fate of Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic throu gh media and press reports. The official said the State Department was now reviewing the matter. Failing to comment in detail on yet another act of terrorism in Serbia's southern province, the official said Washington had warned ethnic Albani ans that they must refrain from all activities that might jeopardise a re cent agreement on the peaceful resolution of the Kosovo and Metohija issu e and its implementation. The official, however, did not condemn unequivocally ethnic Albanian ter rorists' continual attempts to provoke clashes. He also failed to give a straight answer to the question why U.S. officials had not condemned the abduction of the two reporters immediately, saying this was a question th at one had every right to ask. [16] U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS HUMANITARIAN DISASTER IN KOSMET HAS BEEN AVERTEDTanjug, 1998-11-03U.S. Assistant Secretary of State in charge of population, refugees and migrations Julia Taft told a press conference in Belgrade on Tuesday that the humanitarian disaster in Kosovo has been averted and that the situat ion was much better than two months ago. Asked whether there was any information about the fate of Serbs, includi ng reporters, kidnapped by ethnic Albanian separatists' terrorist gangs, Taft said that there were no good news for the time being but that she wo uld continue to be engaged on the issue. At the reporters' astonishment, the U.S. official drew the equation mark between the kidnapping of innocent civilians and people lawfully arreste d by Serbian authorities for crimes of terrorism. Taft said that 121 Serbs had been kidnapped so far and tried to downplay this crime by saying that Serbs were holding about 800 ethnic Albanians in prison. She thus not only tried to deny a sovereign state's right to d efend itself from terrorism but also supported the spearheads of this evi l. Taft quoted well-known figures about U.S. humanitarian assistance to Kos ovo and Metohija and the locations and numbers of displaced ethnic Albani ans, but said that she did not have exact information about displaced Ser bs from Kosovo and Metohija, though she had heard that they existed. In order not to leave an impression that the United States is not intere sted in the fate of Serbs, Taft said that additional funds had been secur ed for assistance to refugees from Krajina and Bosnia who are in Serbia. She said that "independent" media in Yugoslavia were their mainstay thro ugh which they can put pressure aimed at resolving the crisis. [17] THERE ARE NO RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS IN KOSMETTanjug, 1998-11-03Problems in Kosovo and Metohija are not of religious nature, and are in no way related to Islam, Serbian Assistant Information Minister Miodrag P opovic said in an interview to the Jordanian daily "Al Aswaq". Religious differences are not the cause of the conflict in Kosovo and Me tohija and that is "proven by the fact that Muslims, Turks, Romanies and members of other ethnic groupings in the Southern Serbian province are op enly against Albanian separatism and terrorism," Popovic said. He underlined that Yugoslavia has traditionally friendly relations with countries of the arab and Islamic world, which have been developed for de cades on the basis of mutual respect. Popovic pointed out that the situation in Kosovo and Metohija was good a nd almost fully normalized, to what has greatly contributed the accord si gned by the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Ambassado r Holbrooke. "Serbia is firmly committed to resolving existing problems in its provin ce of Kosovo and Metohija by democratic and political means," Popovic sai d. [18] MINISTER MATIC ON "SENTENCING" OF TANJUG'S REPORTERSTanjug, 1998-11-03By sentencing the abducted Tanjug reporters, Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladi mir Dobricic, the ethnic Albanian terrorist organization, the so-called " Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA, 1998), has struck yet another serious blow to the efforts of the international community and the Yugoslav and Serb a uthorities to resolve the Kosovo and Metohija issue through political and diplomatic means, Federal Information Secretary Goran Matic has said in a statement. The criminal act of passing a "sentence" ahead of the continuation of a political dialogue, has shown that KLA urges a "parallel" government, rat her than autonomy in keeping with top international standards. The conduct of the Kosovo terrorists towards Tanjug's reporters, who wer e kidnapped while on assignment, is yet another proof that KLA has no int ention of giving up separatist aspirations for the violent secession of K osovo and Metohija from Serbia and Yugoslavia. This confirms that the separatist-terrorist forces in Kosmet are not in the least ready to use political means to overcome the situation in Serbi a's southern province. By illegally sentencing Tanjug's reporters, KLA is also provoking the in ternational community * to see whether it will tolerate such actions, whi ch the ethnic Albanian extremists are conducting prior to the Serb-ethnic Albanian dialogue, in an attempt to prejudge the political solutions on the status of Kosovo and Metohija, Matic said. Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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