Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-06-24

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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

official yugoslav-finnish talks open on monday, a government statement said.

[02] YUGOSLAVIA, FINLAND CALL FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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