Serbia Today, 97-05-19

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

Serbia Today

CONTENTS

[01] EUROPEAN NATIONAL PARKS MEETING ON MT. KOPAONIK

[02] BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: EXPULSION OF SERBS - A PREMEDITATED AND DANGEROUS ACT

[03] IVANOV: YUGOSLAVIA SHOULD RE-ENTER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

[04] YUGOSLAV BUILDERS PRAISED

[05] OPENING FOR HIGHER FORMS OF COOPERATION

[06] GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR PUBLIC STATEMENTS

[07] VERY GOOD RELATIONS BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA AND ROMANIA

[01] EUROPEAN NATIONAL PARKS MEETING ON MT. KOPAONIK

Ekspres, 1997-05-19

Members of the National Chapters Council of the European Natural Parks Federation have convened on Mt. Kopaonik - our greatest winter resort - to discuss joint activities to be carried out by October next year, when the European National Parks General Assembly will be held. The two-day meeting involving representatives of all the chapters from Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and Yugoslavia, as well as Mr. Atkin Clark - Federation Chairman and Coordinator of cooperation projects with South America - will be used to discuss attentively the realization of the program for the harmonization of two basic concepts - environment protection and tourism development. At the meeting, the Mt. Kopaonik National Park has officially submitted its candidacy for the European National Parks Federation General Assembly - EuroPark 98, due next October. The Council members have praised what they have seen on Mt. Kopaonik, stressing that this is one of the most attractive tourist centers on the continent.

[02] BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: EXPULSION OF SERBS - A PREMEDITATED AND DANGEROUS ACT

Politika, 1997-05-19

Several days ago nine Serbian refugees - all in possession of valid Croatian documents - returned to the village of Gornji Bjelovac (near the town of Kostajnica) - where less than a dozen Croats and 133 Serbs lived before the 1995 exodus. When they stopped to rest in the house of elderly Milka Tufegcic they were suddenly attacked by more than 200 Croatian refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, that have settled Serbian houses in the villages. The group that broke into the house tied a rope around the neck of the old woman, dragged her down the stairs and threw her to the lynch mob in the yard. Then they returned and beat up all they found inside. Then they set fire to the furniture and then set out to lynch other Serbs in the village who had repatriated earlier. Many of the local Serbs were heavily beaten and some three dozen houses demolished. The mob attacks continued tomorrow, culminating with the assault on an elderly couple in the near-by village of Knezovljani. The 70-years old woman was stripped naked and beaten and when her 75 year-old husband tried to escape he was malleted over the head. A rally of Croatian refugees was then staged in the town of Kostajnica, where the "zupan" (county superintendent) of Sisak - Djuro Brodarac, tried to justify the violence - something that did not surprise those that are acquainted with the events and his activities in Sisak and the Banija region in the past several years.

The Serbian Democratic Forum in Zagreb indicates that the growing number of attacks and harassment directed against Serbian refugees returning to Croatia have assumed such dimensions and frequency that one can not come to the conclusion that given centers that direct these "activities" exists, determined to prevent the return of Serbs. Forum Chairman - Mr. Veljko Dzakula and Forum Secretary Petar Ladjevic stated at a press conference that they seriously doubt the possibility of peaceful re-integration of eastern Croatian territories. They also warned against the latest attacks on Serbian refugees in Western Slavonia, where similar incidents were previously far less frequent.

Refugees from Kistanje launched an appeal to the domestic and foreign public asking to be helped to return to their home town, that they were forced to leave during the Croatian military operation "Storm". Reminding that Kistanje is "a centuries old Serbian ethnic center, as numerous cultural and religious monuments confirm" the refugees insist that their town was deliberately colonized by ethnic Croatians "that came to Croatia from the village of Janjevo in Kosovo - after being falsely presented as refugees by the Croatian authorities". These unfortunate people have been manipulated by Croatian leaders ever since the crisis in former Yugoslavia started", reads the appeal signed by the Serbian refugees from Kistanje. The document further states that according to international law the Croats from Janjevo can not be treated as refugees, because they left their homes before the war, and also because "the Serbian state still is still guarding their houses" whilst the Croats plundered Kistanje and burned it to the ground.

After a plenary session, the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) also issued a detailed statement regarding the mob attacks on Serbian refugees in the villages around Kostajnica. The same organization invited NGO representatives, international observers and Croatian government institutions to jointly carry out a thorough investigation. According to HHO sources, in the attacks organized in past few days by Croatian refugees in the area, about a hundred Serbian homes have been demolished and burned, and at least three dozen Serbian refugees have been heavily beaten. The HHO statement indicates that Croatian settlers from the Bosnian towns of Orasje and Samac took part in the lynching. The same document indicates that the incidents started "according to a well defined scenario" in the village of Gornji Bjelovac, where hundreds of Croatian settlers attacked a dozen Serbian refugees that had just returned to their village, and that the lynching then spread to the rest of the village and other localities around Kostajnica. "The events that took place in the Kostajnica zone constitute a decisive test both for the return of displaced persons and refugees, and for the peaceful re-integration of the Croatian territories in the Danube basin" - concludes the HHO communiqu‚.

Circles at the Palace of Nations in Geneva observe that the latest events in Kostajnica constitute a "premeditated and dangerous act". Western diplomats in Geneva also gloomily admit for the first time that the incidents in the zone of Kostajnica, as well as the confiscation of Serbian houses in Krayina, systematically conducted by Croatian authorities who are determined to settle ethnic Croatians there, lead to the conclusion that the Croatian regime is actually giving the "green light" to all Croats to persecute and chase out the remaining Serbs in Croatia. The same sources indicate that Croatia is thus flagrantly breaching the Dayton Peace Document, which gives some 500.000 Serbian refugees the right to return home. According to a western diplomat, the initial Croatian animosity against the return of the Serbs was maybe "spontaneous", but the events in Kostajnica and the surrounding villages clearly indicate that a well organized action has been staged, with the objective to terrorize the small number of remaining Serbs and run them out of Krayina. The general opinion is that the present policy pursued by the Croatian Government constitutes a major threat for Eastern Slavonia, because Serbs living in that area can deduce from current Croatian attitude how much they are desirable.

[03] IVANOV: YUGOSLAVIA SHOULD RE-ENTER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Politika, 1997-05-19

Russia endorsed and will continue to support the return of Yugoslavia into international organizations, including the European political structures, said the Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister - Mr. Igor Ivanov, upon arriving in Belgrade. "The isolation of Belgrade is not a correct policy", Mr. Ivanov told the Russian reporters at the Belgrade Airport, adding that the reinstatement of EU trade preferentials for FR Yugoslavia is a first step in the right direction. During his stay in Belgrade, the high Russian diplomat will have talks with the top officials in Serbia and Yugoslavia, and after the Yugoslav capital he will visit Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia.

[04] YUGOSLAV BUILDERS PRAISED

Borba, 1997-05-18

Serbian Minister of Construction - Mr. Branislav Ivkovic, visited a number of building sites in Moscow where Yugoslav construction companies are involved, and expressed great satisfaction for their achievements. Mr. Ivkovic was particularly interested in the works on the reconstruction and expansion of the "New Opera House" in downtown Moscow, handled by the Belgrade companies "Trudbenik" and "Svetlost Teatar", in cooperation with a number of other Yugoslav firms. Together with the majestic Church of Christ the Savior and the enormous shopping center near-by, this is one of the most prestigious buildings currently under construction in the Russian capital. This is best confirmed by the fact that the Mayor of Moscow has already visited the building site four times, displaying each time great appreciation for the efforts of the Yugoslav builders. Minister Ivkovic is visiting Russia on behalf of the Federal Government and will sign the Yugoslav-Russian Agreement on Cooperation in Construction, which will raise the existing collaboration on a higher, international, level.

[05] OPENING FOR HIGHER FORMS OF COOPERATION

Politika, 1997-05-17

All Yugoslav companies having business relations with EU firms, can do business under new, privileged conditions starting on May 14th, when the decision on trade preferentials for FR Yugoslavia adopted by the EU Council of Ministers - has become effective - said Mr. Vladimir Jovanovic, head of the Yugoslav Mission to the EU. Yugoslav companies can already operate in a way that EU partners expect them to, just as they did according to the Agreement on Trade and Cooperation between SFR Yugoslavia and the European Community between April 2, 1980 and November 25, 1991 when the embargo was introduced. "Practically this is an introduction for the next phase (bilateral agreements on trade cooperation), clarified Mr. Jovanovic, since there can be no direct access to higher forms of cooperation until the new partner proves to be capable of exchanging goods with the EU. The present opening means that the Yugoslav partner "has to have quality goods, respect deadlines and have institutions which warrant investment safety." "The first general condition for the evolution of economic relations - one that must be met by all countries in the world is the harmonization of the economic and political system, but in the case of Yugoslavia there is another concrete condition - namely the solution of the question, i.e. of the status, of Kosovo" remarked Mr. Jovanovic.

[06] GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR PUBLIC STATEMENTS

Politika, 1997-05-17

"Our law on Public information has been submitted for Government procedure yesterday, and it to be expected that it will be placed on the agenda for the next Serbian Parliament session", said republican Minister of Information - Prof. Dr. Radmila Milentijevic during a meeting with the Managing Board of the Serbian Journalist Association. Association Chairman - Mr. Milorad Komrakov indicated that the 6000 members of the organization endorse the second draft version of the Law on Public Information, especially the articles concerning the increased responsibility for public statements - both by reporters or sources of information. The Association also accepts the responsibilities listed by the Law. The Journalist Code of Serbia will be also formulated with the greatest attention. In accordance with its openness for all professionals in journalism, the Association will make the greatest possible efforts to rally the most eminent journalistic figures for the preparation of the Code, regardless of their membership in various professional associations.

Minister Milentijevic thanked on the Association support to the efforts to give Serbia a modern law on public information, and agreed to take part next month in the regular Association conference on the position of journalists and journalism today. The Ministry of Information will continue its endeavors to help find a suitable location for the Museum of Journalism, Press, Radio and Television, secure subsidized retirement for reporters, place the Serbian Journalists' Hall under state protection etc.

[07] VERY GOOD RELATIONS BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA AND ROMANIA

Borba, 1997-05-17

Upon an invitation extended by the Federal Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, his Romanian colleague - Mr. Adrian Severin has arrived in Vrsac. The two foreign ministers have exchanged the Agreement on Friendship, Neighborliness and Cooperation between FR Yugoslavia and Romania - signed last May, and the Bilateral Agreement on mutual Promotion and Protection of investments - signed last November. Today's talks constitute a further step towards the enhancement of the good relations between FR Yugoslavia and Romania - said Minister Milutinovic and added: "We have agreed with satisfaction that FRY and Romania - i.e. our nations are tied by long - I'd say centuries old - friendship and closeness, forcing today's generations to carefully preserve and enhance this precious heritage. This meeting represent a continuation of political contacts and dialogues on all levels." We have agreed that joint efforts should be made to enhance this cooperation to a far greater level, remarked Mr. Milutinovic underscoring the stand that all initiatives regarding regional cooperation should be complementary and equally open for all regional countries. After the meeting the head of Romanian diplomacy - Mr. Severin remarked: "In spite of various difficulties Romania intends to promote and continue good relations with Yugoslavia. The fact that we are living in difficult times but we are determined to face them overcome the challenges that are putting to the test the true friendship between Romania and Yugoslavia."

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