Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-05-12

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From: Tanjug, Yugoslavia, via Serbian Unity Congress <http://www.suc.org/>

May 12, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW

CONTENTS

[01] MUSLIM PARTIES NOT REGISTERED FOR ELECTIONS IN MOSTAR

[02] VISIT OF BOSNIAN CROATS TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PASSES WITHOUT INCIDENT

[03] BOOK PUBLISHED WITH TEXTS ON ESSAY JUSTICE FOR SERBIA

[04] BELGRADE ENGINE AND TRACTOR FACTORY WORKERS GO ON STRIKE

[05] BRITISH AMBASSADOR: YUGOSLAVIA'S RETURN TO EUROPE IN INTEREST OF ALL

[06] WASHINGTON POST: IRAN WAS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY TO ARM BOSNIAN MUSLIMS

[07] COMMENTS BY YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION

[08] CROATIA MANIPULATES MISSING PERSONS LIST, SAYS BELGRADE DAILY

[09] FOUR YEARS LATER WORLD REMAINS SILENT ABOUT BRUTAL ATTACKS ON FORMER YUGOSLAV ARMY

[10] CHINESE DAILY: BOSNIA WAS A LABORATORY FOR NEW U.S. WEAPONS

[11] EMBARGO COVER FOR SECRET ARMING OF OPPONENTS OF SERBS

[12] GERMANY EXTADITES BOSNIA SERB TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL

[01] MUSLIM PARTIES NOT REGISTERED FOR ELECTIONS IN MOSTAR

the radio stressed especially that the ruling muslim party, party of democratic action (sda), had not registered for elections in mostar, scheduled for may 31, although the deadline expired saturday.

the city council and six municipal councils have to be elected in mostar, city under eu administration.

representatives of the city electoral commission said, at a news conference, that no further electoral lists will be accepted and ruled out the possibility of subsequent registration.

electoral commission represnetatives confirmed that the ruling croatian democratic union (hdz) party and other croatian opposition parties in mostar will participate in the elections, croatian radio reported.

there are now only croats and muslims living in mostar, who had fought for nearly 12 months - up to march 1994 - for supremacy in that central bosnian city.

before that, croats and muslims, immediately after the outbreak of war in bosnia in april 1992 - expelled from mostar and its surroundings the entire serb population, or one third of the inhabitants. the 'ethnic cleansing' involved 42,000 serbs.

muslim radio sarajevo reported earlier that the muslim side had demanded that the elections be postponed, so that muslim refugees have more time to return from abroad.

over 180,000 muslims from central bosnia and the neretva valley were expelled during croat-muslim fighting in central bosnia.

eu legal counselor for mostar hans bifler said that he did not expect the eu ministerial council to grant the muslim demand to move the date of the elections.

[02] VISIT OF BOSNIAN CROATS TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PASSES WITHOUT INCIDENT

the u.s. ifor troops' information bureau said it was the first time since the end of the war in bosnia-herzegovina that a large group of people had been able to cross the former front line without encountering demonstrators, according to associated press.

commander of the 4th battalion, u.s. col. neal anderson said the visit was 'a superb precedent for future visits' and would help to build 'confidence that the local officials can work together.'

anderson said ifor would not have been able to force the republika srpska side and the muslim-croat federation side into enabling the visit to be successful if they had not been willing to do so.

the group reached the cemetary in open trailers driven by tractors.

the column was followed by a vehicle of the u.n. international police and another with ifor troops.

while a franciscan frier served mass at the cemetary, serb policeman stood alongside the u.n. policemen and u.s. ifor troops.

[03] BOOK PUBLISHED WITH TEXTS ON ESSAY JUSTICE FOR SERBIA

in addition to the essay 'justice for serbia -- a winter trip to the rivers danube, sava, morava and drina' by renowned austrian author peter handke, which has prompted extensive media reaction, the book also contains selected reviews, commentaries and criticisms by leading european and world papers.

handke's latest interviews in which he openly defends the truth and justice from media manipulation are printed at the end of the book and represent some kind of an answer to his fervent critics.

handke is not pro-serb oriented, serbian academician ljubomir tadic said in the preface and added that this was imputed to him by 'hatred-inspired critics.'

handke's essay appeals to the consience of intellectuals and journalists, a vast majority of whom became propagators of hatred of serbs, tadic said.

handke only wanted to make people think in order to reach the truth and justice and stop media pillory of an entire people, the preface said.

the texts were selected by zivota ivanovic, editor of tanjug's publishing department.

[04] BELGRADE ENGINE AND TRACTOR FACTORY WORKERS GO ON STRIKE

the strikers of this major belgrade plant gathered before the serbian government carrying placards demanding social justice and reforms, to be allowed to work.

the strikers' demands were supported by national bank governer dragoslav avromovic.

avramovic adressed the strikers saying that the resolution of the economic halt does not lie in the printing of money since this would, he said, result in an economic collapse within two weeks.

the organizers of the strike are imt's three trade unions: the trade union of smelters, the independent trade union 'solidarity' and the autonomous trade union.

[05] BRITISH AMBASSADOR: YUGOSLAVIA'S RETURN TO EUROPE IN INTEREST OF ALL

asked if he believed international sanctions could again be imposed against yugoslavia, roberts said the u.n. security council could at any time impose sanctions against any country for any reason.

however, if yugoslavia entirely fulfilled its obligations stemming from the dayton accords, he said, not only will no new sanctions be introduced, but the suspended ones will be lifted in their entirety.

before yugoslavia is reintegrated in international financial institutions, roberts told politika, there must be an improvement in the stabilization of the situation in serbia's southern province of kosovo and metohija. he said both the european union and the united states were in agreement on this point.

the condition set by the european union and the united states is that a solution acceptable to both sides in kosovo (serbs and ethnic albanians) must be found, roberts said, and added that it was now up to yugoslavia to make the next move.

roberts said yugoslavia's borders could not be changed unilaterally. this is an element of the helsinki accords and the u.n. charter so that we do not support any ideas on changing borders which are not based on agreement, he specified.

roberts said he believed the essence of the problem in this province was the loss of mutual confidence of serbs and ethnic albanians. he said he believed differences could be overcome through dialogue, without overdramatizing the problem.

the british ambassador said it was up to the belgrade government to try and create an atmosphere of trust and to take the first step in that direction. he said it should act in the spirit of broad-mindedness and flexibility.

great britain believes ethnic albanians in kosovo should end their boycot of state institutions and take full part in the political and social life of the province, roberts said.

there is a problem of human rights of ethnic albanians in kosovo, roberts said. it is not sufficient to have a constitution which protects these rights, he said, but their efficient implementation must be secured.

speaking about the situation in bosnia-herzegovina, roberts said words and actions of the leaders of both entities (the muslim-croat federation and republika srpska) were having a negative effect on developments. he especially mentioned bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic and rs president radovan karadzic.

roberts said that bosnian serbs should perhaps take the time to consider if the continued presence of karadzic at the head of their state was in fact a very negative thing, and would it not perhaps be better to persuade him to make the patriotic move for serbs in bosnia and withdraw from public life.

the british ambassador pointed out his country's stand that its forces would withdraw from bosnia-herzegovina at the same time as u.s. troops, by the end of december this year as envisaged by the dayton peace accords. he did not rule out the possibility, however, of a different agreement if it was assessed that the situation so dictated.

[06] WASHINGTON POST: IRAN WAS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY TO ARM BOSNIAN MUSLIMS

the u.s. daily washington post said this in the latest edition, which dealt extensively with the scandal involving secret shipments of iranian arms to the bosnian muslims.

the scandal broke out when the u.s. daily los angeles times recently claimed that iran had got the green light for arming the bosnian muslims directly from u.s. president bill clinton, despite the united nations embargo for all arms deliveries to the territory of the former yugoslavia.

the washington post, however, quoted u.s. sources as saying that a decision to that effect had not been made by clinton because arms shipments had started back in the autumn of 1992, i.e. at a time before clinton's appointment as president.

the paper said that the arms shipments had been agreed between bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic and iranian officials and that it had all been arranged with the help of croatia, which kept one third of the arms shipments for itself.

the first iranian boing 747 brought weapons to zagreb on september 4, 1992, while turkish and iranian planes carrying arms mostly flew at night to the airfield at the croatian island of krk, the washington post said. from there, croatian helicopter carried the arms to bosnia.

[07] COMMENTS BY YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ON U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION

the comments were circulated as an official document at le palais des nations in geneva on april 22, 1996.

'the government of the federal republic of yugoslavia is addressing the 52nd session of the commission on human rights, desirous to emphasize its sustained efforts to honour the commission as the most prestigious united nations body directly involved in the promotion and protection of human rights.

'the federal republic of yugoslavia has manifested its readiness to proceed with a most active and open cooperation with all those sincerely wishing to promote and ensure respect for human rights, as pointed out in the report of ms. elisabeth rehn. however, we must again reiterate our stand concerning the inappropriate and biased draft resolution, primarily in view of the spirit prevailing in it, discerned in the positions it reflects.

'the government of the federal republic of yugoslavia is profoundly concerned with the letter and spirit of the proposed draft resolution on the situation of human rights in bosnia and herzegovina, croatia and the federal republic of yugoslavia, which is far from reflecting and/or even taking into account the actual human rights situation in these territories.

'there is no mention of the positive developments and concrete results accomplished in inplementing the peace agreement. instead of being future-oriented, and making a contribution of its own to the peace efforts (in particular concerning respect and promotion of human rights), the resolution renders support to the forces which oppose reconciliation and building of confidence in these territories, by its resorting to biased, partial and politically motivated conclusions and allegations, in contravention of the 'spirit of dayton'.

'the government of the fry considers it inadmissible that the appraisals made by ms. elisabeth rehn in her reports (a/50/727-s/1995/933 and e/cn.4/1996/63), and heard in the discussions held in the commission on this issue virtually are not taken into account. we deem it necessary that the authors of the resolution give specific explanations, along with the reasoning behind such attitude. since, indirectly, the above-mentioned approach calls into question the need for pursuing activities of special rapporteurs, missions etc., whose task is to provide the commission with particular information.

'the fact that the resolution practically ignores massive, the most severe human rights violations committed against the serbs is an evidence of the extent to which the above approach is totally inappropriate.

'the most severe violations of human rights against serb civilans are being committed ever since croatia's aggression on western slavonia and krajina (in may and august 1995). this fact is not at all mentioned in the draft, despite the united nations official reports (secretary general, security council), as well as special repporteur ms. elisabeth rehn, the unhcr, the icrc and many other nongovernmental organizations. this time again, croatia is protected from the justified international public condemnation by shifting the public attention towards the allegedly 'grave situation' of human rights in the federal republic of yugoslavia.

'referring to alleged efforts aimed at fovouring the rights of minorities, democratic freedoms etc. in the federal republic of yugoslavia, while ignoring mass killings of serb civilians, setting ablaze of serb houses, expelling 400,000 serbs from croatia, evicting them from their dwellings throughout croatia, and bestowing with decorations the croats for the crimes committed on serbs, etc., is sheer cynicism.

'the resolution's double standards and partiality are also visible, on the one hand, by its reference to the unestablished evidence of mass graves in the places where, allegedly, croats and moslems have been buried (srebrenica, zepa, prijedor, sanski most and vukovar), and by its deliberate overlooking the mass graves of serb civilians, discovered in mrkonjic grad (bosnia and herzegovina), krajina, western slavonia (croatia) and elsewhere, on the other. (more to follow on tuesday) st/ms

[08] CROATIA MANIPULATES MISSING PERSONS LIST, SAYS BELGRADE DAILY

the list includes those who 'were killed, who had been returned dead or alive through exchanges, and croatian citizens who fled to yugoslavia from terrors in croatia. these manipulations are calculated to hide monstrous crimes against serbs, and the truth about the suffering of croatians,' said the daily.

after disclosing the list of 14,700 missing persons, croatia launched a strong propaganda campaign against yugoslavia, accusing it of keeping croatians as slaves in mines.

the croatian claims were officially repudiated by humanitarian organizations who visited the sites, which held not a single prisoner.

the daily said the new, reduced, list comprised croatians killed in the war, those whose deaths the authorities were concealing from their families, serbs delivered without trial to the croatian army and police and persons who went missing in croatian-held territories.

these people went missing after the croatian onslaughts on the republic of serb krajina in may and august last year, when more than 250,000 serbs were put to flight.

the daily said 324 croatians, inhabitants of vukovar, disappeared while croatian troops lay seige to the town, until nov. 18. when the town was taken over by troops of the former yugoslav people's army (jna), 279 persons went missing, according to information released by croatia.

vukovar is the biggest town in predominantly serb-populated eastern slavonia, barania and west srem, the only part of krajina not occupied by croatia.

croatia persists in demanding from krajina and yugoslavia 80 of its citizens who went missing - 16 in zagreb, 14 in osijek, 13 in sisak, others in split, karlovac and other towns that were never part of krajina or never controlled by the jna.

number 798 refers to one bogdan grujic who was killed in a car accident and buried in western slavonia, which was never part of the repubic of serb krajina.

number 2,221 refers to one djura slavojevic who was killed by croatian troops and his body handed over to the serb authorities in an earlier exchange.

croatia is also seeking branko and soka blagojevic, who fled ahead of croatian terror to yugoslavia and who do not want to return to croatia, and several persons who disappeared after talks with police in croatian-held towns.

[09] FOUR YEARS LATER WORLD REMAINS SILENT ABOUT BRUTAL ATTACKS ON FORMER YUGOSLAV ARMY

belgrade, may 13 (tanjug) - although four years have passed since an attack on and massacre of former yugoslav people's army (jna) soldiers who were peacefully pulling out of tuzla, the world has neither established the number of victims nor has shown any interest in that or another attack on jna in sarajevo that had preceded it.

the two attacks on jna, unprecedented in the history of the army that was a symbol of the former yugoslavia's unity, largely determined the course of civil war in bosnia-herzegovina that ended after the reaching of peace accords in dayton, ohio, in november 1995.

figures to date by the (bosnian serb state) republika srpska army, show that 172 jna soldiers were killed or burned to death in tuzla, a town in northeastern bosnia, while more than 100 were wounded and about 140 captured.

six jna soldiers were murdered in dobrovoljacka street in sarajevo on may 3, 1992, including an army physician and a woman civilian employed in the army, while about 40 were wounded and about 160 captured.

there is strong documentation on the brutal attack on jna soldiers leaving their barracks in tuzla that shows that the attack had been carefully planned. the withdrawal had been agreed on with selim baslagic, town mayor, and sead avdic, local moslem official.

under a decision by the then belgrade leadership, jna troops were withdrawing from bosnia-herzegovina that had been internationally recognised as a single state some four weeks earlier although, as such, it did not exist a single day.

a large number of states and their heads have admitted later on that the recognition of bosnia-herzegovina was premature and rash.

the deadline by which jna troops were to leave bosnia, which was torn apart by civil war among local moslems, croats and serbs that broke out in early april, was may 19, 1992.

the scenarios for the two attacks were almost identical -- jna troops had first been guaranteed safe conduct and then, when they were in no position to defend themselves, were attacked from all sides.

jna troops withdrawing from sarajevo had been guaranteed safe conduct by ranking moslem authorities as well as by u.n. protection force (unprofor) officials whose troops were to protect the front and the rear of lines of troops.

the attack on soldiers withdrawing from tuzla was still more brutal. the belgrade daily politika ekspres has recently reported that moslems separated the wounded from other soldiers and killed them on the spot, brutally abusing those they had captured.

those who have survived the attack say that moslems killed 17 wounded soldiers with hard objects while pretending to be transporting them by ambulance to hospital. the following day, they handed over their mutilated bodies to jna representatives in pozarevica near tuzla.

the victims, whose bodies were even burned, were buried at the tuzla cemetery or the town dump.

witnesses say that there were between 400 and 500 troops in about 200 vehicles. they were attacked by about 3,000 moslem 'green berets' as soon as they left the barracks.

the 'green berets' were the troops that the sarajevo government set up some six months before bosnia-herzegovina's violent secession from the former yugoslav federation.

the 'green berets' allowed one third of troops to pass, attacking the remaining troops in skojevska street. snipers opened fire on drivers, while the troops that could not defend themselves were the target of barrage fire.

moreover, jna vehicles were showered by molotov cocktails thrown from nearby buildings and blocks of flats, while the troops suffered great losses as fire was opened on them with shoulder grenade launchers.

the local tv station in tuzla provided live coverage of the attack, which was mounted about 6 p.m. local time and which ended about 11 p.m.

according to zoran bogdanovic, who was a traffic warden in tuzla from january to march 18, 1992, an order for the attack was issued by muhamed bajric, the then head of the public security department in the town.

the attack was planned by croat zeljko knez, 48, a former jna lieutenant-colonel.

moslem faruk prezic, director of the tuzla mining institute, organised obstruction of routes along which the troops were to pull out that included laying of wire entanglements and anti-tank mines.

moreover, trenches deep enough to stand in were dug along skojevska street.

evidence related to the two attacks has been systemitised but no legal proceedings have been instituted yet.

ejup ganic, vice-president of the moslem-croat federation who was then as is now bosnian moslem leader alija izetbegovic's deputy, was involved in the dobrovoljacka street attack.

[10] CHINESE DAILY: BOSNIA WAS A LABORATORY FOR NEW U.S. WEAPONS

the official daily of the people's liberation army in harsh tones accused the u.s., which calls for the prevention of weapons for mass destruction, of having used such weapons profusely in bosnia against serb civilian targets.

analyzing in detail the u.s. bombardments within nato's military actions, the daily said the u.s. used the most sophisticated aircraft, high-precision laser-guided rockets, tomahawk cruise missiles, radioactive weapons and poison gases in implementing the carpet bombing of serb regions in bosnia.

in addition to political reasons for achieving peace by employing force, the u.s. was testing the efficacy of the new weapons in the actual conditions of the bosnian war.

the u.s. also practiced this in the gulf war and with the air strikes on libya, said the daily.

'america is the only country that has carried out nuclear and chemical tests on living people after world war ii,' said the daily.

it said that by using the weapons that had been tested on the bosnian serbs, the u.s. was striving toward supremacy and domination over the world.

[11] EMBARGO COVER FOR SECRET ARMING OF OPPONENTS OF SERBS

'the u.n. security council's embargo on yugoslavia could decieve only the innocent,' the bulgarian paper said reacting to the latest reports from the united states on the secret arming of the muslims.

'while the west european alliance sent observers to spy on bulgarian barges on the danube like hyenas, rivers of weapons flowed via the southern turkish corridor,' the paper said.

the daily said that ankara took part in shipping iranian arms to the bosnian muslims, that guns came from all parts of the muslim world, but that no-one wanted to see this.

the 'secret door' for sending iranian weapons to the bosnian muslims was opened in washington, kontinent said and recalled that several parliamentary committees have recently interrogated president bill clinton for tacit agreement on the violation of the embargo.

the bulgarian daily said that as part of the election campaign, the republicans are blaming clinton for allowing iran's presence in the balkans, but his critics would have done the same.

underscoring the double standards of the international community and especially the united states, kontinent recalled that the embargo had caused the bulgarian economy to suffer direct losses exceeding two million dollars.

bulgaria, which had respected the embargo but had also advocated its lifting, has not received a single cent of compensation for losses sustained. end ms/jpe/mb

[12] GERMANY EXTADITES BOSNIA SERB TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL

the german news agency dpa said that lajic was handed over to the hague tribunal after being arrested on march 18 near nuremberg.

lajic allegedly agreed to go to hague, although his family and friends said after his arrest that the german police had made a mistake and that he had never been on duty in keraterum.

following the extradition of dusan tadic, a serb, whose trail has moved into its fifth day in the hague, germany has also sent there muslim zejnel delalic, to be now followed by another serb.

under the german law, only foreigners arrested in german territory can be handed over to the hague tribunal, while this does not apply to german citizens.

thus, the recent trial to two german mercenaries, who fought in bosnia for the croats, were tried for killing their german co-fighter for material gains. end mi/mb/mb

Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996

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