Serbia Today, 97-05-09

Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Serbia Today

CONTENTS

[01] THE PLAN TO START THE DISINTEGRATION OF SERBIA AND YUGOSLAVIA IN KOSOVO HAS BEEN PREVENTED

[02] US AMBASSADOR NEWLY CRITICIZED ZAGREB

[03] NEW ATTACKS ON SERBIAN REFUGEES IN DRVAR

[04] CIVIL WAR RAGED IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

[05] AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT - A STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

[06] EVEN NAZIS WERE APPALLED BY JASENOVAC

[07] THE REINSTATEMENT OF YUGOSLAV TRADE PREFERENTIALS - A MAJOR DECISION

[08] YUGOSLAVIA GAVE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFEAT OF FASCISM

[01] THE PLAN TO START THE DISINTEGRATION OF SERBIA AND YUGOSLAVIA IN KOSOVO HAS BEEN PREVENTED

Politika, 1997-05-09

Serbian Minister of Information - Prof. Dr. Radmila Milentijevic said yesterday in Gnjilane that various international centers of power planned to use Kosovo to set off the disintegration of Serbia and Yugoslavia, but failed because our people headed by President Slobodan Milosevic prevented such an attempt. Peace has been preserved on Kosovo and Metohija, no destruction took place nor were there any victims, and this is Mr. Milosevic}s greatest achievement, said Ms. Milentijevic remarking that the Serbian Constitution allows all the citizens in the province to live as equals - regardless of their ethnic origin.

[02] US AMBASSADOR NEWLY CRITICIZED ZAGREB

Politika, 1997-05-09

As Yugoslav-Croatian talks on the return of Serbian refugees to Croatia as part of the agreement on the normalization of relations signed by the two countries were taking place in Zagreb yesterday, the US Ambassador to Croatia - Mr. Peter Galbraith visited the coastal town of Rijeka where he delivered a lecture entailed "Croatia and the West" in which he made some considerations about the refugees. Stating that the principal US stand is to fight for the return of all refugees to their homes, he observed that "Croatia, lamentably, is obstructing the return of refugees from Yugoslavia. "We are aware of the fact that not all the effect of the war can be healed quickly, but we expect the government not to breach human rights and not to adopt laws that are in contrast with the human rights codes." - said Mr. Galbraith.

[03] NEW ATTACKS ON SERBIAN REFUGEES IN DRVAR

Ekspres Politika, 1997-05-09

The UN Spokesman in Sarajevo - Alexander Ivanko revealed that yesterday, a group of Croats from Drvar attacked three Serbs escorted to the Croatian controlled town by the UN to visit their homes and the graves of their relatives. Mr. Ivanko stressed that the incident indicates that "local authorities in Drvar are doing nothing to stop the harassment and attacks against ethnic minority members and refugees." The local Croatian authorities repeatedly prevented Serbian refuges to return to their homes in Drvar, where they represented 97.3% of the population before the war - reminds Associated Press.

[04] CIVIL WAR RAGED IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Politika, 1997-05-09

The armed conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina had all the characteristics of a civil war - concluded two out of three Council members of the International Criminal Court for War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia. This position is an element of the verdict in the trial against Dusan Tadic, referring to the part of the indictment to which the Geneva Convention articles on the protection of the conflicting sides in a war could were deemed inapplicable. Two Council members reached the conclusion that there is no evidence that members of the Republic of Srpska Army operated as an integral part of the former Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA), an subsequently of the Yugoslav Army (i.e. the armed forces of FR Yugoslavia) and that war involved citizens of a single state. Judging by these stands, this is the first time that an international institution dealing with the Bosnian conflict agrees with the qualification constantly insisted upon by FR Yugoslavia in attempt to prove that it was not involved in those events. This is and extremely important "confession" said Mr. Milorad Starcevic - a Yugoslav expert in international war codes - who went to the Hague to present our arguments to the Tribunal that insisted for a long time on the stand that only the Republic of Srpska Army was the aggressor. The international community obstinately refused to justly qualify the war in Bosnia as part of its pressure on FR Yugoslavia. back in the summer of 1992, The New York Times wrote that the UN confirmed that Yugoslav Army units - which were not from Bosnia - had been withdrawn to Serbia and Montenegro, confirming the Yugoslav non-involvement. On the other hand, in that same period, one third of the Croatian armed forces fought in Bosnian territory, as numerous documents prepared by international peace mediators confirmed. Nevertheless, sanctions were introduced against FR Yugoslavia, and actions against Croatia were limited to verbal admonishments. Obviously, the Hague Tribunal avoided taking a definite stand regarding the conflict in Bosnia for a long time, and this is best confirmed by the numerous changes of judges and prosecutors. The Yugoslav side repeatedly insisted that the responsibility for war operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be shared by all three sides involved in the conflict, and Lord Carrington - the first High Representative of the international community in former Yugoslavia initially sustained the same stand. After numerous false and fabricated accusations, raised immediately after the Srebrenica incident, the Yugoslav Government issued a statement that the Yugoslav Army was not involved in the operations either directly or indirectly. On that same occasion FR Yugoslavia proposed that war criminals should be discovered and punished "whichever side they might be on".

[05] AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT - A STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

Vecernje Novosti, 1997-05-09

Serbian Minister of Agriculture Dr. Jovan Babovic announced yesterday that within a few days the long term strategy for the development of agriculture, rural areas and agricultural industries will be presented to the public, since these represent strategic objectives for both Serbia and FR Yugoslavia. This is the first time in Serbian history that a long-term policy for the agricultural and rural development is being formulated, bearing in mind that these two sectors, together with the food-processing industry, constitute the backbone of the Serbian economy. According to analyses of existing potentials, global market needs, production of agricultural and food products and profit rates for given production areas, several priorities have been defined, remarked Mr. Babovic. The development of livestock breeding and increase of production of all types of meat and processed meat products are just one of the spheres listed by Dr. Babovic.

[06] EVEN NAZIS WERE APPALLED BY JASENOVAC

Politika, 1997-05-09

In memory of the desperate attempt of the inmates to break out of the extermination camp on April 22, 1945, the Genocide Victims Museum (Belgrade) opened a special exhibition entitled "Jasenovac - The Ustasha Death-Camp System". According to Museum associate - Ms. Ana Pozar - the exhibition represents only partially the horrors and the Ustasha inferno that generated one of the largest mass graves in Europe. Although it has been established that some 500.000-600.000 people have been liquidated in the Jasenovac camp (even by the Croatian National Commission for Nazi and Quisling crimes - formed immediately after the war), The Concentration Camps and War Criminals Archives in New York contain no data on the Ustasha death factory in Jasenovac. Monstrous murderers such as Maks Luburic, or Andrija Artukovic are not listed either. Thus, the exhibition represents another appeal to save the entire Jasenovac memorial grounds. As the exhibition catalogue says, ] Jasenovac was the first in horrors and the third in the number of victims among concentration camps in occupied Europe between 1941 and 1945. The sadism and the pathology displayed by the Ustashas in Jasenovac surpassed by far that of their masters - the Nazis." In fact, even the Nazis were appalled by the horrors that were taking place in Jasenovac. In 1942, Hitler's representative in Zagreb - General Glese fon Horstenau wrote down in his diary that the Ustasha camps are "supreme horror". That same year, Arthur Heffner, a German officer in charge of work- force transportation to Germany, wrote that Jasenovac is "the worst kind of concentration camp, that can be compared only to Dante"s Inferno." Genocide Museum Director - Dr. Milan Bulajic says that ever since it rose to power in 1990, the "young Croatian democracy" (as the present Croatian regime likes to define itself), by assuming Ustasha symbols and tolerating Ustasha ideology, clearly showed that it pursues the same policy as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during WW II. Dr. Bulajic reaffirmed the Yugoslav position that an international expert committee should be formed urgently to establish the exact number of victims murdered in Jasenovac camp which has been demolished and desecrated by Croatian troops in the recent war. According to Dr. Bulajic, Dr. Michael Bernabaum, Director of the Holocaust Museum in New York, already promised all possible help in this international effort.

[07] THE REINSTATEMENT OF YUGOSLAV TRADE PREFERENTIALS - A MAJOR DECISION

Tanjug, 1997-05-09

Serbian Minister of Trade - Mr. Srdjan Nikolic, said that the European Union decision to reinstate trade preferentials for FR Yugoslavia primarily means that our country is being re-admitted into the international trade environment under equitable conditions. "The essential thing is that our manufacturers will now be able to appear on the EU market, without the pressure of additional levies that were imposed during the sanctions. Consequently, this is a formula for the return of FRY into other international institutions and associations." Mr. Nikolic also indicated hopes that after this decision the process for the re-admission of Yugoslavia into the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and other associations will be intensified, giving our companies an equitable status compared to that enjoyed by companies from EU member countries. "The decision will also have major financial effects, but they will depend upon the readiness of our firms to meet and fulfill the price and quality criteria on the European market." stressed Mr. Nikolic.

[08] YUGOSLAVIA GAVE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFEAT OF FASCISM

Borba, 1997-05-09

On the occasion of Victory Day - May 9., the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - Mr. Zoran Lilic, received a delegation of the Liberation War Veterans Association. During the meeting he underscored that our people often had to fight defensive and liberation wars. ] Yugoslavia gave a major contribution to the Allied struggle against Fascism in WW II, and suffered great human and material losses. This is a fact listed in all history books, and no shameful attempts to reformulate and re-interpret history can change it" said Mr. Lilic and added: "Today, we face the great challenge to reconstruct the national economy and improve the living standard of all citizens. These objectives can be realized only with dedicated work and general endorsement of political stability in the country and in the region".

Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article