Subject: YDS 9/8 From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov) YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY CONTENTS: GENEVA MINISTERIAL MEETING - YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER CONFERS WITH U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY NATO AIR STRIKES -YUGOSLAVIA DEMANDS IMMEDIATE END OF NATO AIR RAIDS (STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT) - YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT REQUESTS END TO BOMBINGS ON BOSNIAN SERB REPUBLIC - YELTSIN CONDEMNS NATO AIR STRIKES - SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CONDEMNS NATO BOMBING - 15 CIVILIANS KILLED IN NATO AIR STRIKES ON DOBOJ - BOSNIAN SERB COMMANDER ACCUSES NATO, U.N OF USING TOXIC WEAPONS S A N C T I O N S - RUSSIA UNILATERALLY EASES SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA YUGOSLAVIA - CZECH REPUBLIC - YUGOSLAVIA SENDS PROTEST NOTE CROATIA - KRAJINA - SECURITY COUNCIL URGES CROATIA FULLY TO RESPECT SERB RIGHTS FROM FOREIGN PRESS - U.N. PEACE FORCE IN BOSNIA SIDES WITH MUSLIMS GENEVA MINISTERIAL MEETING YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER CONFERS WITH U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY G e n e v a, Sept 8 (Tanjug) - A preparatory meeting between Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milan Milutinovic and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke was held at the U.S. mission at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva Friday morning. The dominating topic was preparations for the meeting between the foreign ministers of Yugoslavia, Croatia and the Muslim government in Sarajevo. This was the second meeting between Milutinovic and Holbrooke since the arrival to Geneva of the Yugoslav delegation Thursday night. Milutinovic and Holbrooke discussed principles of division of the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina between the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serb Republic. Other disputed issues, on the territory of the former Yugoslavia which could be resolved according to general conviction through political talks alone, were also discussed. Yugoslav Foreign Minister said on Thursday evening on his arrival in Geneva that he expected the meeting of foreign ministers of Yugoslavia, Croatia and the Muslim-Croat federation would be successful, but that this nevertheless depended on the other participants. The joint delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian Serb Republic includes also Assistant Yugoslav Foreign Minister Nikola Cicanovic, Bosnian Serb Vice-President Nikola Koljevic and Bosnian Serb Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha. NATO AIR STRIKES STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia demands energetically from the Security Council of the United Nations to immediately stop the bombing of the Serbian positions and other targets in the Republic of Srpska, whereby the danger of a possible escalation of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina would be eliminated, as well as the danger for international peace and security in the entire region, which is a direct responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter of the United Nations. The continuation of NATO air strikes and of the actions of the United Nations rapid reaction forces are a direct attack on the on-going negotiations and announced peace initiatives, supported and accepted by the Republic of Srpska, and endanger the steps taken so far towards finding a peaceful and just solution to the crisis in former Bosnia-Herzegovina and in the former Yugoslavia. The continuation of air and other attacks with simultaneous calls for negotiations and peace is unacceptable and incomprehensible, when it is known that the leadership of the Republic of Srpska has accepted negotiations and shown readiness to resume, together with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the efforts aimed at finding a solution acceptable to all parties in the conflict. Certainly, these military actions do not contribute to peace. The military actions of the United Nations and NATO exclusively against one side encourage the other parties in the conflict to take military actions, which is grist to the mill of the advocates of the war option and open the gates to chain actions which are difficult to stop. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia demands from the Security Council of the United Nations to take most resolute and urgent measures to end NATO air and other attacks and thus ensure the conditions for the continuation of negotiations and the return to so much needed peace. Belgrade, 7 September 1995 YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT REQUESTS END TO BOMBINGS B e l g r a d e, Sept. 8 (Tanjug) - President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zoran Lilic said Yugoslavia's immediate priorities included stopping NATO bombing of towns in the Bosnian Serb Republic and speeding up of the peace process in this former Yugoslav republic. President Lilic, who Thursday received a delegation of the Supreme Court of Cyprus comprising President Georgos Pikis and judge Petros Artemis, informed the guests about the current developments in the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and about the present situation concerning the peace process. The international community, Lilic said, must take into account the fact that durable and stable peace in this region could only be achieved through equal treatment of all sides and unconditional lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia. He set out that force and threats never produced peace, had a limited range and that there was a limit to which a people could tolerate them, after which the only course the events could take was an escalation and spreading of war to the entire region. YELTSIN CONDEMNS NATO AIR STRIKES M o s c o w, Sept 7 (Tanjug) - Russian President Boris Yeltsin strongly condemned the West for its use of double standards in Bosnia and for ignoring Russia's opinion while designing the concept of European security. In a meeting with Spanish Premier Felipe Gonzalez and E.U. Commission President Jacques Santer in Kremlin on Thursday, Yeltsin demanded: 'how can we conclude a deal with NATO when nato is bombing the Serbs' in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 'How is it that when the Muslims attack, no sanctions are applied against them. The same thing happens when the Croats are on the offensive.' Yeltsin said and added that when the Serbs responded they were immediately bombarded. Yeltsin accused the European Union of using double standards in Bosnia. Earlier in the day, Yeltsin demanded in a statement an end to NATO bombardments against Bosnian Serbs and warned that the continuing of the air strikes and shelling would force Russia to consider thoroughly its strategy, including its approach to relations with the NATO. Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Sergei Lavrov conveyed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday evening his government's protest against NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs and its call for their end. SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CONDEMNS NATO BOMBING B e l g r a d e, Sept. 7 (tanjug) - The Serbian Orthodox Church strongly condemned Thursday NATO military action against the Bosnian Serb people. 'The merciless bombing of the army and people of the Bosnian Serb Republic is accompanied by a hypocritical platitude about the implementation of U.N. principles and general norms of humanity, while it is actually pouring more oil to the great fire of war,' the Patriarch's statement conveyed to Tanjug said. Instead of reaching the proclaimed peace and reconciliation the omnipotent of the world have succeeded in the past four years in extending and intensifying an inter-ethnic war, which is cruel in itself - a war that they spurred publicly while hiding the real truth about it, the statement said. 'These are not words of protest but words of testimony, there is no address to which we could send our protests now. It is time for prayer. We pray for our Serb brothers and sisters... for all Serb, Croat and Muslim victims,' the statement said. 15 CIVILIANS KILLED IN NATO AIR STRIKES ON DOBOJ B a nj a l u k a, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - NATO planes have continued their attacks on Thursday on civilian targets in the Bosnian Serb Republic. In Doboj, a city in the North of the Bosnian Serb Republic, the bodies of 15 civilians have been extracted up to now from under the rubble, including four children under five. In an official statement, the Bosnian Serb Army headquarters said it was impossible to identify many of the killed civilians as a result of the enormous destructive force of bombs of over a 1,000 kilograms. NATO planes targeted on Wednesday between 16 and 17 hours (local time) the electric power station in Visegrad, a city in the East of the Bosnian Serb Republic, cutting off a 110 kilowatt power line. Reports about casualties are still not available. The official statement said that Kalinovik (in South-East Bosnian Serb Republic) also came under the attack of NATO bombers on Wednesday at 1700 hours. Several residential buildings, the water supply system, a communications transmitter and a humanitarian aid storehouse were destroyed in the air strike, while the population is in bomb shelters. The Bosnian Serb Army said the army's anti-aircraft defense on Thursday downed a NATO plane in the region of Han Pijesak, Northeast of Sarajevo. In the area of Serb Sarajevo, the suburbs of Lukavica and Pavlovac came under attack. Several residential buildings have been destroyed, and there is no water or electricity. Rescue teams for clearing up and putting out fires are working non stop under constant air raids, and in the Sarajevo area under the fire of the Rapid Reaction Forces, the statement said. The Bosnian Serb general headquarters pointed to the high morale of the population and fighters and their resolution to defend the Bosnian Serb Republic, despite the brutality of the enemy and their instructors, whose goal is to destroy everything Serbian and secure supremacy for Muslims by force. NATO CONTINUES AIR STRIKES AGAINST SERB REPUBLIC B a nj a l u k a, Sept. 8 (Tanjug) - The Press Service of the Bosnian Serb Army headquarters said that NATO warplanes continued bombing civilian targets and infrastructure in the Serb Republic, the state set up by the Bosnian Serbs. Powerful bombs and rocket missiles repeatedly pounded Serb localities in the Sarajevo area - Lukavica, Vrace, Hadzici, Pale and villages on mount Igman. Scores of houses, three transformer stations two water reservoirs and four food warehouses were destroyed in the bombing, the Bosnian Serb Army said in a statement released on Thursday evening. The statement said that the Rapid Reaction Force shelled Ilidza and Hadzici. The statement said that great material damage had been caused and that the work of relief teams (firemen and medical and rescue teams) was seriously impeded. A refugee centre, a farm and waterworks were hit in the attacks. The number of casualties in Han Pijesak is unknown. The town has been left without water and power and the population has sought refuge in shelters, the bosnian serb army said. The sources said that several air strikes had been performed in the area of Srbinje (formerly Foca), in the Southeast of the Serb Republic. NATO jets targeted building-material warehouses, a PTT relay, the Miljevina mining facility and communications. Two bridges were torn down. SERB COMMANDER ACCUSES NATO, U.N OF USING TOXIC WEAPONS B e l g r a d e, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Army Chief Ratko Mladic has accused NATO and the U.N Rapid Reaction Force in Bosnia of bombing Serbs with toxic and radioactive shells and urged the creation of a special commission to investigate the matter. The demand was voiced in a letter forwarded to the U.N. Command in Zagreb, ITAR-TASS reported from Athens on Thursday. The agency said it received a copy of the letter from Mladic's Greek lawyer Alexandros Lukeresos who had just returned from Bosnia. Mladic claimed that nearly 1,000 shells containing radioactive uranium had been fired at Bosnian Serbs by French, British and Dutch RRF troops. NATO planes are bombing military and civilian targets alike, including residential quarters, schools, churches and hospitals, he said and argued that NATO had not been authorized by the U.N to attack immobile targets and military facilities far from Sarajevo which pose no danger to safe havens. 'I propose that ultimatums be replaced by talks and bombings by an agreement which would ensure equal guarantees to the Serb and Muslim population of Sarajevo,' Mladic said. 'There is no danger to Sarajevo from the Serb Republic,' he stressed. S A N C T I O N S RUSSIA UNILATERALLY EASES SANCTIONS B e l g r a d e, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday signed a decree on the unilateral easing of the sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, thus creating a legal basis for the export of humanitarian goods and services to Yugoslavia 'within the existing sanctions.' The ITAR-TASS news agency said that this law allows Russian businessmen to sign trade agreements with Yugoslav partners and send humanitarian aid and provide humanitarian services to Yugoslavia. The law, passed by the State Duma lower house of parliament on Aug. 12, is called the law 'on measures to render humanitarian aid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in connection with the mass violation of human rights and the rights of the Serbian people in the Croatian republic.' YUGOSLAVIA - CZECH REPUBLIC YUGOSLAVIA SENDS PROTEST NOTE B e l g r a d e, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Foreign Ministry on Thursday sent a note to Czech Embassy Charge d'Affaires Vaclav Dobes, protesting over a staging of an event titled 'one month of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Czech Republic.' The protest said that a political motive of the event was hiding behind culture and aiming at stoking anti-Serb atmosphere in the Czech public. The event, held under the patronage of Czech President Vaclav Havel, is being staged at the time of fierce NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb Republic, an act supported by statements of high-ranking Czech officials, the protest said. The protest also said such a stand encouraged those who favoured war and countered the traditional friendship between the Yugoslav and Czech peoples. CROATIA - KRAJINA SECURITY COUNCIL URGES CROATIA FULLY TO RESPECT SERB RIGHTS N e w Y o r k, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - The U.N. Security Council on Thursday asked the Croatian government fully to respect the rights of the local Serb population in Krajina, including the right of people to remain in their homes, or, if they have fled, to return to them safely. In a presidential statement adopted at the end of a two-day debate on the humanitarian situation in the territory of former Yugoslavia, the Council appealed to all member-states of the U.N. to send emergency humanitarian aid, having in mind the grave humanitarian situation of refugees from Krajina, in order to ease this serious problem. The Council is concerned at reports on torchings of Serb houses, looting of property, killings, and urges Croatia to take adequate measures to investigate these crimes and stop the violence. FROM FOREIGN PRESS U.N. PEACE FORCE IN BOSNIA SIDES WITH MUSLIMS B e l g r a d e, Sept. 7 (Tanjug) - Russian officers on the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and some of their colleagues from other countries believe the peacekeepers' command has sided with Bosnian Muslims, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS said on Thursday. 'The blue flag of the U.N. is thus used as a convenient camouflage, and the entire international contingent is at the service of a group of western politicians,' the agency said. Saying that what was happening in 'Sarajevo at present looks increasingly as a political farce,' and that the military situation in that town had become 'absurd,' TASS said Muslims had on Tuesday evening placed several 120mm-calibre cannon at the U.N. headquarters and from there opened fire at Serb districts. Even then, Serbs did not open fire at the U.N. general headquarters in Sarajevo, the Russian agency said. It is understandable that Serbs halted the withdrawal of their heavy guns from around Sarajevo, because hardly any commander would decide to redeploy troops and equipment under NATO air fire and artillery attacks from the U.N. Rapid Reaction Force, ITAR-TASS said. The agency especially warned that there was a great possibility that 'sooner or later, NATO bombs may hit the Russian battalion, the only unit of the U.N. forces deployed in the Serb part of the Bosnian capital.' TASS said the situation in the battalion was now stable, but pointed out that several aviation bombs exploded near Russian positions on Thursday. The Russian military command is taking measures to protect the personnel, the agency said. =============================================================== -- I speak for no one and no one speaks for me -- D. D. Chukurov ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com ===============================================================