YDS 10/26

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

From: ddc@nyquist.bellcore.com (D.D. Chukurov)

BROJ: 1-845 26. OCTOBER 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY

CONTENTS:

FROM THE F.R. OF YUGOSLAVIA - YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER EXPECTS LIFTING OF SANCTIONS BY PEACE CONFERENCE - EUROPEAN INVESTORS EXPRESS INTEREST IN YUGOSLAV MARKET - YUGOSLAVIA WILL ASK U.N. TO HELP PROTECT PROPERTY OF EXPELLED SERBS

CROATIA - SERBS - DEFINITIVE DRAFT AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION EXPECTED FRIDAY

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA - ONE MORE BOOK OF DOCUMENTS ON PLIGHT OF BOSNIAN SERBS PRESENTED - MUDJAHIDEEN THREATEN BRITISH TROOPS

FROM THE F.R. OF YUGOSLAVIA

LIFTING OF SANCTIONS BY PEACE CONFERENCE

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - The Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Radoje Kontic said Wednesday that there was no valid alternative to a political solution of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia, and that the international community had invested too much in this to risk failure. At a meeting with members of the visiting French economic delegation, Kontic said Federal Government was optimistic regarding the holding of the international peace conference in Paris in November, in spite of the present critical stage of the peace process, and regarding the unconditional lifting of anti-Yugoslav sanctions at the same time. The Prime Minister told the visiting delegation he was happy that this historic event would take place in friendly France. Kontic also pointed to the symbolic importance of the visit of eminent French industrialists headed by the General Director of the telecommunications giant Alcatel Gerard Dega. Describing the talks between French and Yugoslav businessmen as the right way to prepare for the resumption of bilateral economic cooperation, Kontic said this cooperation was a strategic objective of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and among the chief priorities of Belgrade's foreign policy. Kontic noted that Federal Government was ready to provide maximum support to overall bilateral cooperation by drawing up programs and measures based on modern and stimulating legislation on foreign investments, free trade zones, etc. Kontic pointed to tremendous losses in all fields, especially in economy, that Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has suffered due to three and a half years of comprehensive and binding sanctions and the closeness of war, pointing out that recovery would take several years. The Prime Minister said that F.R. of Yugoslavia had initiated intensive preparations for the forthcoming stage of development and international cooperation, pointing out that this included a wide scale of measures regarding the change in ownership of enterprises and banks as well as production, management, organizational and financial transformation. At the same time, F.R. of Yugoslavia is preparing for the normalization of relations with international financial institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Kontic concluded.

EUROPEAN INVESTORS EXPRESS INTEREST IN YUGOSLAV MARKET

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - European investors are closely following peace talks in the hope of returning to a market that has been off limits since the outbreak of the war in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the imposition of the U.N. economic embargo, Reuters in Belgrade said quoting foreign economists. Analysts say agriculture, food processing, telecommunications, transport, copper mining, machinery, textiles and tourism are the most promising sectors for foreign investments in Yugoslavia's republics Serbia and Montenegro. Analysts say that Serbia can offer cheap, skilled labour, a market of 10,5 million people and a unique position in the heart of the Balkans. 'Investors will be looking for clear indications that free market reforms are under way and that the reforms will not be reversed,' Elizebeth Morrisey of Kleiman international consultants in New York said. Reuters said that once the Security Council votes to lift the sanctions, the government expects the World Bank and other international institutions to loan funds needed to finish a north-south highway linking Europe and the southern Balkans and overhaul the railway line connecting the rest of Europe with Greece. Diplomats in Belgrade say representatives from French and German transport companies have visited Serbia in the past year to investigate the high-speed railway project, manoeuvring for post-sanctions bidding, and that German and French and British telecommunications firms have expressed interest in upgrading the country's outdated telephone network as well. A new opportunity for investments may open up depending on the results of an oil exploration study on the Montenegrin coast. The state firm Jugopetrol plans to release results soon from the year-long study of on-shore and off-shore oil deposits.

YUGOSLAVIA WILL ASK U.N. TO HELP PROTECT PROPERTY OF EXPELLED SERB S

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia should turn to the U.N. and other international organizations for assistance in the protection of the property of Serbs expelled from the occupied parts of the Republic of Serb Krajina or from Croatia, a competent Yugoslav Government Commission decided Wednesday. The Commission set out that the attention of international institutions should be drawn to the fact that Croatia's law on a provisional taking over and management of Serbs' property was contrary not only to international law but also Croatia's constitution. The Commission for the property of Serbs who have been expelled from or have fled Krajina or Croatia decided to step up its work on collecting all relevant data.

CROATIA - SERBS

DEFINITIVE DRAFT AGREEMENT ON SREM-BARANJA REGION EXPECTED FRIDAY

E r d u t, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - U.S. Ambassador in Zagreb Peter Galbraith Wednesday said in Erdut he and U.N. peace mediator Torvald Stoltenberg would on Friday present the Serbs and Croatians with a definitive draft agreement for peaceful solution to the problem of the Srem-Baranja region. Galbraith told reporters he and Stoltenberg would in the process of working on the agreement proposal take into consideration the remarks from both sides. He said the agreement would not satisfy fully neither side but would be the best that could be produced given the authorization they had. Head of the Srem-Baranja negotiating team Milan Milanovic said the Serb side had objections to 4 of the total of 11 items of the draft agreement. The remarks to the remaining 7 items, as he said, would be submitted to Stoltenberg and Galbraith on Thursday by 10 a.m. He especially pointed out that much wisdom and tolerance of both sides was needed for a peaceful solution. 'To avoid war we must make a step backward and accede to being a region under U.N. administration. Although it is known that the people living here want to be part of Serbia, that is, Yugoslavia, we have made that step. Now it is Croatia's turn,' he said. Milanovic added that the signing of a definitive agreement, providing both sides accepted it, would take place as early as Sunday, Oct. 29.

BOSNIA - HERZEGOVINA

BOOK OF DOCUMENTS ON PLIGHT OF SERBS PRESENTED

B e l g r a d e, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - A book containing documents on the suffering of the Serbs in Bosnia in Muslim camps in Konjic and Tarcin (southwest of Sarajevo) was presented in Belgrade. The book, as well as the previous one 'suffering of Serbs in Sarajevo', was prepared by the Documentation Center of Serbia's Commissariat for Refugees which was already working on the third book on the suffering of Serbs in the Mostar area. Historian Dusica Bojic, who worked on preparing the book, said there were at this time more than 130 Serbs in the Muslim prison in Tarcin, near Konjic. From this prison, in which were detained during the war several hundred Serbs, 13 people were released a month ago. They confirmed that there were still prisoners left there. Bojic said that the International Committee of the Red Cross denied the existence of any prison in Tarcin. She also noted that 250 camps and prisons have been recorded in Bosnia-Herzegovina so far.

MUDJAHIDEEN THREATEN BRITISH TROOPS

L o n d o n, Oct. 25 (Tanjug) - The humanitarian mission of British troops within the U.N. Protection Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been suspended following threats by mudjahideen, the Defense Ministry confirmed Wednesday in London. This temporary measure was decided at U.N. suggestion, in the interest of the safety of British troops escorting convoys carrying humanitarian aid for the Muslim population of central Bosnia. British Defense Minister Michael Portillo said British troops would resume their humanitarian mission soon, as Britain does not intend to forgo its participation in U.N. activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Mudjahideen Sunday seized a humanitarian convoy and captured Norwegian peacekeepers escorting it. The captured UNPROFOR members were threatened with death, and were released only after they proved they were not British. It is supposed that mudjahideen are acting in revenge, as one of them was killed by a British soldier in self-defense two weeks ago near Donji Vakuf, town in central Bosnia. Mudjhahideen are fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the army of the Sarajevo Muslim government. The majority of them came from Afghanistan, according to British sources. Most of the mudjahideen are in Zenica and Travnik, towns in central Bosnia, although their main command is in Sarajevo, under the cover of humanitarian and information agencies from Arab countries.