Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-06-24
From: Tanjug, Yugoslavia, via Serbian Unity Congress <http://www.suc.org/>
Jun 24, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW
CONTENTS
[01] FINNISH FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN BELGRADE
[02] YUGOSLAVIA, FINLAND CALL FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS
[03] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT RECEIVES POLISH PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL ENVOY
[04] PROSPECTS OF FACILITATED ENTRY OF YUGOSLAVS INTO ITALY
[05] PRIVATE SECTOR SQUEEZES PUBLIC SECTOR OUT OF MONTENEGRIN TOURISM
[06] BRITAIN READY TO ASSIST YUGOSLAVIA'S SPEEDIER DEVELOPMENT
[07] RS PRIME MINISTER: NO REASON TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA
[08] EVIDENCE AGAINST TUDJMAN, IZETBEGOVIC PRESENTED TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL
[09] OSCE PRESIDENT WILL ANNOUNCE DATE FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS ON JUNE 25
[10] SERBIAN PATRIARCH LEAVES FOR UNITED STATES
[11] BELGRADE DAILY: THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL HAS POLITICAL BACKGROUND
[12] HERZEG-BOSNIA COULD BE THE CAUSE OF A SPLIT IN THE BOSNIAN FEDERATION
[13] YUGOSLAVIA VIEWS PREVLAKA PROMONTORY AS MAIN OBSTACLE TO ESTABLISHING
LINKS WITH CROATIA
[14] BOSNIAN SERB PARLIAMENT SPEAKER AND IFOR COMMANDER ON DAYTON ACCORD
[01] FINNISH FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN BELGRADE
belgrade, june 23 (tanjug) - finnish foreign minister tarja
halonen arrived on sunday on an official visit to the federal
republic of yugoslavia, on the invitation of yugoslav foreign
minister milan milutinovic.
official yugoslav-finnish talks open on monday, a government
statement said.
[02] YUGOSLAVIA, FINLAND CALL FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS
belgrade, june 24 (tanjug) - yugoslav and finnish foreign
ministers milan milutinovic and tarja halonen in their talk here
monday reaffirmed joint commitment to the consistent and full
implementation of the dayton peace accords.
the foreign ministry of the federal republic of yugoslavia
(f.r.y.) said in an announcement that the ministers emphasized the
necessity to respect the equality of all parties in the process of
implementing the peace accords as well as in the materialization of
the plans to renew and reconstruct bosnia and herzegovina (bih).
the accords, made in dayton, ohio, in november 1995, prescribe
that the bih is made up of two entities: the republika srpska and the
muslim-croat federation.
ministers halonen and milutinovic pointed out the significance of
intensifying preparations and holding elections as scheduled, and, in
this reference, securing the freedom of movement, return of refugees
and equal access to the media.
at the talks, which marked the renewal of the two countries'
political dialogues, the ministers laid emphasis also on the feasible
expansion of their traditionally good ties following the
normalization of diplomatic relations. they expressed interest in
promoting economic, cultural-educational, scientific-technical and
other cooperation.
the two sides agreed to analyze and amend the current legal
framework of relations and cooperation, and to go on encouraging
direct contacts between protagonists of economic and other
cooperation between the f.r.y. and finland.
minister milutinovic was looking forward to finland's upholding
the restitution of the f.r.y.'s membership in international
organizations and financial institutions.
the f.r.y., it was said at the talks, was helping realize the
regional concept of the european union (e.u.) on cooperation with
countries in europe's southeast by means of normalizing relations
with former yugoslavia's republics and through the planned
modernization of principal trunk communications and infrastructure in
general.
finland was asked to help the f.r.y. by making the e.u. introduce
as soon as possible the positive measures towards the f.r.y. along
the line of equal treatment of all the states in the area of former
yugoslavia, the announcement said in the end.
[03] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT RECEIVES POLISH PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL ENVOY
belgrade, june 24 (tanjug) - yugoslav president zoran lilic
received here on monday maciej siwiec, who is state secretary and a
special envoy to polish president alexsander kwasniewski.
the yugoslav president's information service said that the brief
meeting focused on the promotion of bilateral cooperation, especially
strengthening the two countries' economic ties.
siwiec arrived in belgrade earlier during the day with andrzej
wieczorkiewicz, who is state undersecretary and an envoy of polish
prime minister wlodzimierz cimoslewicz, the yugoslav foreign
secretariat said.
[04] PROSPECTS OF FACILITATED ENTRY OF YUGOSLAVS INTO ITALY
podgorica, june 24 (tanjug) - politicians and businessmen from
the southern italian province of apulia and its capital bari have
been urging the rome government to grant facilities for yugoslavs
travelling to italy, a montenegrin daily has learned.
the pobjeda daily from podgorica, the capital of the yugoslav
republic of montenegro, reported from bari that the italian foreign
ministry would soon settle the demands for easier terms in obtaining
entry visas for crossing the border at bari.
pobjeda learned from high apulia officials that the ministry
would clarify its stand towards this question already later this
week.
on certain days, 48-hour passes would be issued to 'border
inhabitants' by italian officials in bari as well as in the
montenegrin adriatic port of bar.
the yugoslav side had already simplified entry procedure by
introducing free of charge passes for italian and other
montenegro-bound holiday makers.
these days the mixed italian-yugoslav rigel company will engage
the zenith ship on the bari-bar-bari route.
the rigel-owned italian-flagged zenith will greatly help increase
visits by tourists from italy to the montenegrin seaboard, the
company said.
[05] PRIVATE SECTOR SQUEEZES PUBLIC SECTOR OUT OF MONTENEGRIN TOURISM
by ivica seferovic
podgorica, yugoslavia, june 23 (tanjug) - the private sector has
virtually squeezed the public sector out of the tourist industry in
the yugoslav republic of montenegro.
the enterprising private businessmen rent practically all
available capacities - hotels, restaurants, office space, sports
grounds, beaches, post offices...
an intensive privatisation of the montenegrin tourist industry
began two years ago, with large-scale leasing of hotels on the
littoral.
the republic's biggest hotel chain, budvanska riviera, leased out
most of its hotels to private firms, mostly on ten-year leases.
the famous hotels mogran in budva, splendid, mediterranean and
belvue in becici, castel lastva and riviera in petrovac, ace in
perazica do, all have passed into private hands.
but, the newly-emerged businessmen have not been satisfied with
hotels alone. they have rented also restaurants, beaches, public
phones, harbours...
most beaches on the montenegrin coast will again this year be
maintained by private firms. fourteen public phone booths in coastal
resorts will be auctioned off to private entrepreneurs.
rents for a four-month period range form 2,000 dinars to 28,000
dinars (roughly 5 dinars to 1 u.s. dollar), depending on the facility
and its location, but the new owners are sure to get a handsome
profit on their investment.
in almost all coastal resorts, day trips to nearby scenic spots
and beaches are organised by private entrepreneurs, who make a dozen
trips a day. a simple calculation will show that they make in a day
what it would take them a month to earn in a public firm.
how lucrative this line of business is can be seen from the
private caterers, who have improvised stands on the beaches in order
to 'spare the patrons the effort' of going back to the hotels for
refreshment.
they sell chilled soft drinks at twice the prices charged in the
shops, but still do a brisk business.
add to this the taxi and mini-bus services, always ready to do
the customers' bidding at a price, and you get a fair picture of how
the public sector, which has ruled supreme for ages, has been pushed
to the margins by the private entrepreneur.
[06] BRITAIN READY TO ASSIST YUGOSLAVIA'S SPEEDIER DEVELOPMENT
nis, june 24 (tanjug) - great britain is ready to assist
yugoslavia's speedier development and it did much on this programme
in the past few months, first secretary of the trade department of
the british embassy in belgrade david slinn said on monday.
slinn, who heads a british delegation on a visit to the nis
economy, said that great britain saw yugoslavia as the natural
continuer of regional development activities.
he said that during the four-day visit the delegation would tour
fifty companies and try to promote bilateral cooperation.
slinn said that many british banks had already identified
projects in which they would like to participate. he stressed
yugoslavia's membership in the international monetary fund as very
important for medium- and long-term development plans.
vice president of the regional chamber of commerce zivota
markovic said that the regional companies had been exporting an
annual 8.2-million-dollars' and importing an annual
3.2-million-dollars' worth of goods before the sanctions.
markovic said that this part of serbia would be present its
industrial and agricultural possibilities at an exhibition in london
in october.
markovic said that the tigar factory of pirot had sold
1.9-million-dollars' worth of tyres on the british market this year
and that this and many other companies worked according to the iso
9000 standards, which confirmed the european production quality.
[07] RS PRIME MINISTER: NO REASON TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA
belgrade, june 23 (tanjug) - the prime minister of the republika
srpska, the serb entity in bosnia-herzegovina, gojko klickovic, said
on sunday that there was no reason to postpone elections in bosnia
because the implementation of the dayton peace accords may be
jeopardized.
we are fully prepared. we have created a democratic atmosphere in
the republika srpska. all parties will be given access to media under
equal conditions. we will allow foreign media to follow the
elections. we hope that observers will come and see the preparations
made for the elections and witness that nothing will be done
surreptitiously, klickovic said in an interview with radio
kragujevac.
we ask the muslim-croat federation not to make any additional
conditions but to take part in the elections instead, since it is the
only way for them to show that they want to cooperate in the
implementation of the dayton agreement, klickovic said.
it is important to hold the elections in order to set up joint
bodies -- parliament, presidency, constitutional court and everything
else stipulated by the dayton accords, he added.
in that way we may resolve some matters which will have to be
resolved jointly, klickovic said, adding that now
t was being done
through commissions which were rather inefficient.
(ed) rg-bk/dr
[08] EVIDENCE AGAINST TUDJMAN, IZETBEGOVIC PRESENTED TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL
novi sad, yugoslavia, june 23 (tanjug) - the serbian council
information center has presented to investigators of the hague
tribunal for war crimes in former yugoslavia sufficient evidence for
raising indictments against croatian president franjo tudjman and
bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic.
center director dr. vojin dabic said in an interview published by
the novi sad daily "dnevnik" on sunday that the evidence was presented
to the investigators when they were recently visiting the town of
vukovar in the serb region of eastern slavonija, baranja and west
srem.
dabic, however, said he believed the documents would rather be
used as a means for exerting political pressure on tudjman and
izetbegovic than as evidencve.
dabic said the center had proved that tudjman had known of the
camp in the marino selo village near the town of pakrac in western
slavonija and of the crimes committed there. enough evidence has been
accumulated for izetbegovic to be indicted for war crimes in the
celebici case, he said.
in the camp in marino selo, local serbs were tortured and
executed by a group headed tomislav mercep, at the time a senior
official in tudjman's croatian democratic union. the serbs were then
buried in mass graves.
celebici is a muslim camp in southern bosnia-herzegovina where
local serbs were tortured and murdered. testimonies by surviving camp
inmates have already been made public.
speaking about investigations of crimes committed in vukovar,
dabic said: 'so many crimes have been committed against serbs by the
croatian army that the hague tribunal could deal with them for the
next ten years.'
the series of crimes against serbs in vukovar in july and august
1991 committed by mercep and his group, and then the crimes which
followed in october and november of the same year when fighting began
between croatian forces and the local serbs and members of the former
yugoslav people's army (jna) 'clearly indicate that they were
committed by the croatian state and its institutions, and not
abnormal individuals,' dabic said.
hague tribunal investigators have been presented with concrete
evidence on all this, dabic said. it stems from the evidence that
'serbs in vukovar had been forced into armed resistance, which annuls
part of the indictments raised by hague prosecutor goldstone in the
case against (jna officers) sljivancanin, mrksic and radic on an
armed serb revolt.'
dabic spoke about the case of the vukovar hospital which was run
by dr. vesna bosanac and crimes committed by croatian forces against
serbs, but also croats. he said these crimes ranged from taking blood
from the wounded and executions of captured jna and territorial
defence troops to 'burying people that were still breathing.'
dabic said about 50 of the 520 people buried by a group
especially formed for that purpose by croatian police had still been
alive.
'these people who were buried while still alive were mostly
croats of different ages and it has not been established yet why they
were eliminated from the vukovar hospital in that way,' dabic said.
dabic said the 'file on crimes committed by vesna bosanac is
getting thicker and it is possible that the hague tribunal might
raise an indictment against her for war crimes, which would, on the
grounds of evidence gathered by the center, bring into question her
right to testify on war crimes.'
bosanac testified against the three jna officers at a public
hearing in the hague earlier this year.
[09] OSCE PRESIDENT WILL ANNOUNCE DATE FOR BOSNIAN ELECTIONS ON JUNE 25
banja luka, june 23 (tanjug) - the president of the organisation
for security and cooperation in europe (osce) said late on sunday
that he would announce the date for bosnian elections on tuesday,
june 25.
osce president flavio cotti was speaking in the (bosnian serb)
republika srpska's biggest city of banja luka after meeting with
officials of the local coalition of leftist and centrist parties and
the serbian unity and serbian radical parties.
cotti, the swiss foreign minister, expressed satisfaction with
their stands and positions, and said that the date for the elections
had been set under the dayton peace accords, negotiated in late 1995.
asked if elections in divided mostar in the bosnian muslim-croat
federation would affect those in the rest of bosnia-herzegovina,
cotti said that they would not, but would provide valuable
experience.
asked further if he thought that radovan karadzic would contest
the elections, cotti said he had no information on that point, but
that this would be a negative step to take.
the closed-door talks in banja luka, where cotti came from
sarajevo, were attened by osce mission chief in bosnia-herzegovina
robert frowick of the united states and by associates of the
international community's high representative in bosnia carl bildt.
[10] SERBIAN PATRIARCH LEAVES FOR UNITED STATES
belgrade, june 24 (tanjug) - serbian patriarch pavle on monday
left for the united states to officiate in the monastery of nova
gracanica (new gracanica) until july 12.
the patriarch will be officiating instead of ailing metropolitan
irinej, tanjug learns from the patriarchate of the serbian orthodox
church.
the holy synod has designated patriarch pavle as the
administrator of the metropolitan of nova gracanica, near chicago,
and appointed bishop sava of australia and new zealand as his
assistant.
bishop irinej of nis is escorting the patriarch.
[11] BELGRADE DAILY: THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL HAS POLITICAL BACKGROUND
belgrade, june 24 (tanjug) - the international public must become
aware of something that professional circles have been mentioning
with caution -- that the hague tribunal for war crimes in former
yugoslavia is a court with a political background and, as such, lacks
legitimacy, head of the bar association of the yugoslav republic of
serbia milan vujin told the belgrade daily politika ekspres.
recent statements by chief prosecutor richard goldston and court
president antonio cassese came as a confirmation that the tribunal
was formed to put pressure on the serb side to make certian political
decisions, the paper quoted vujin as saying.
goldstone and cassese have complained about uncooperativeness of
the federal republic of yugoslavia and the (bosnian serb) republika
srpska, calling on the united nations security council to re-impose
sanctions against them.
yugoslav institutions must resist such pressures because the
tribunal was formed to serve as a political instrument, and not as a
court, said vujin.
this is evident from the cases of late bosnian serb general
djordje djukic and bosnian serb goran lajic, in which the
prosecutor's office and the court made some impermissible mistakes,
breaching even their own rules of procedure, which are legally and
technically terribly lame, vujin said.
the hague tribunal had accused and put on trial seriously ill
gen. djukic, an assistance commander for the rear, providing no solid
evidence against him whatsoever.
what's worse, goran lajic was accused on the basis of mistaken
identity.
all this, and some other reasons, forced vujin to step out of a
team of legal counsels to dusan tadic, the first serb standing trial
for war crimes in bosnia.
vujin said that the court statute and the principle of individual
responsibility had to be respected by all means.
it means that the court has to establish whether a defendant has
made an offence or not, he said, adding that assessments of the
situation in the territory of the former yugoslavia, such as those
included in the indictment against tadic, were a matter of history,
sociology and other scientific branches, and not something a court
should be dealing with.
'even if i remained on the team, i would not participate in the
farce the prosecutor has prepared,' vujin said.
he said he expected many of his french, british and u.s.
colleagues to show professionally and publicly that the international
court in the hague was indeed contrary to international documents.
[12] HERZEG-BOSNIA COULD BE THE CAUSE OF A SPLIT IN THE BOSNIAN FEDERATION
by miodrag djundjerovic
belgrade, june 24 (tanjug) - the muslim-croat gap is widening
with the nearing of the deadline for fixing the date of elections in
bosnia and it is uncertain whether there will be subsantial progress
on the issue by september, possible time for elections.
those following closely developments in bosnia have established
that not a single agreement or law in the muslim-croat federation has
been implemented and that widening disputes could lead to a total
split and the creation of three separate ethnic communities in
bosnia.
the biggest danger for the muslim-croat federation, the council
of europe has assessed, represents the recent revival of structures
of power in herzeg-bosnia which is nothing else but an attempt to
divert the federation, the muslim side has also observed.
some contact group representatives have reacted even more
sharply, and the high representative for bosnia, carl bildt,
threatened with punitive measures and assessed that the formation of
the government of herzeg-bosnia was illegal and unacceptable under
the provisions of the dayton agreement which have clearly determined
that the bosnian-croat 'creation' must enter the muslim-croat
federation.
at the same time, u.n. spokesman in belgrade susan manuel is
convinced that the choice of the new prime minister of herzeg bosnia
proved that everything was running counter to the dayton agreement
that provided for the putting into practice of the joint federation,
created 18 months ago at the initiative of the united states.
manuel said it represented a direct blow to dayton and a clear
indication that there will be three entities in bosnia and
herzegovina.
meanwhile, france has officially called on zagreb to put pressure
on bosnian croats to dissolve the so-called republic of
herzeg-bosnia, unilaterally declared on june 15.
we expect that the authorities in zagreb will use their influence
with bosnian croats so that they reexamine their decision, a
spokesman for the french foreign ministry said. he specified that
under the peace agreement, although it recognizes the existence of
three communities in bosnia and herzegovina, the state of bosnia and
herzegovina is made up of only two entities, the muslim-croat
federation and the republika srpska.
bosnian croats are not heeding those warnings and will not give
up 'their republic', and the authorities in zagreb are not doing
anything to prevent their ambitions, described recently by the
parisian liberation as the 'creation of a greater croatia.'
the opposition press in croatia has also noticed that official
zagreb will not renounce herzeg-bosnia. the presence of president
franjo tudjman, in medjugorje last friday, at a concert with a
political message, and at which tudjman behaved as if on his own
territory, clearly indicates zagreb's policy, the rijeka novi list
said.
herzeg bosnia has its own symbols and attributes of power in
zagreb, from the flag, to the army. while some deputies of herzeg
bosnia sit in the croatian parliament, representatives of croatian
and muslim interests in bosnia are exchanging grave accusations,
breaking some publicly made promises and agreements. president of the
muslim-croat federation kresimir zubak has accused the muslim side of
blocking the work of federal organs 'because it has not yet given its
approval for the law on defense', and vice-president ejup ganic said
that the revival of the government of herzeg-bosnia had dealt a heavy
blow to the federal organs.
the law on defense, as suggested, is not in the spirit of the
peace agreement. there will be no joint army, as provided by the
peace agreement. there is only talk about 'two armies' that are to
unite in the next three years, while draftees will have the right to
chose where they will serve their military service, in croatian
defense council units or in the muslim army.
due to a total lack of trust neither side wants the
300-million-dollar aid in arms offered by america, only because the
other side would also be arming itself.
[13] YUGOSLAVIA VIEWS PREVLAKA PROMONTORY AS MAIN OBSTACLE TO ESTABLISHING
LINKS WITH CROATIA
podgorica, june 24 (tanjug) - montenegrin premier milo djukanovic
said on monday that the issue of the strategically important prevlaka
promontory, on the border between the federal republic of yugoslavia
and croatia, is the main obstacle for establishing mutual links.
a new solution for prevlaka can only be a final one, meaning that
it should belong to montenegro, i.e. yugoslavia, djukanovic told a
press conference in podgorica, montenegrin capital.
djukanovic said that the demilitarization of prevlaka, now
mentioned in croatia, had already been proposed. 'this represents the
knocking on already opened doors. this is not a solution because the
cosic-tudjman agreement called for demilitarization,' djukanovic
said.
he said it was another matter that croatia had failed to fulfill
its demilitarization obligations.
prevlaka, which was located within the administrative borders of
the former yugoslavia, is a strategically major promontory at the
entrance of the bay of kotor on montenegro's adriatic coast.
since the second half of 1992, prevlaka has been under the
control of the united nations.
[14] BOSNIAN SERB PARLIAMENT SPEAKER AND IFOR COMMANDER ON DAYTON ACCORD
pale, june 24 (tanjug) - the speaker of the parliament of the
bosnian serb state republika srpska, momcilo krajisnik, met on monday
with the commander of the international peace implementation force
(ifor) for bosnia, u.s. admiral leighton smith, to discuss the
implementation of the dayton peace agreement.
after the talks in pale, bosnin serb administrative seat, admiral
smith said that the talks had been sincere and had covered a number
of issues, especially conditions which should be met before the
elections.
'i expressed disatisfaction over the treatement of the citizens
in the entire country, especially regarding the limiting of the
freedom of movement,' smith said.
he said that he had 'accepted krajisnik's concern' over how the
police of the muslim-croat federation are treating serbs in sarajevo.
he added that he had also expressed concern over the treatment of
muslims in certain parts of republika srpska.
admiral smith, who recalled he would remain ifor commander until
july 31, expressed hope in the realization of the part of the dayton
agreement referring to the freedom of movement in order to enable all
citizens to return home.
smith said that with krajisnik he had discussed the need for
republika srpska to cooperate with the hague war crimes tribunal for
the former yugoslavia.
krajisnik said that the agenda had mainly included the
organization of the elections and the respect of human rights in the
entire bosnia-herzegovina. he added that it is best to see on the
spot how human rights and the freedom of movement are respected, and
who the abusers are.
krajisnik said that the serb side is actively taking part in the
implementation of the dayton agreement and added that the serbs are
often blamed for certain oversights. he said that the international
community should pay more attention that the other side also respects
the provisions of the dayton agreement.
krajisnik said that smith had assured him he would do everything
in his power that the elections be held and that no-one has the right
to undermine this process.
Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996
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