Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-03-25

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory

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

25 March 1996

CONTENTS

[A] MOSCOW CONTACT GROUP MEETING

[01] MEETING ANOTHER KEY STEP IN BOSNIA DEAL IMPLEMENTATION

[02] ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE FOR PEACE PROCESS

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - U.S.A.

[03] ASSISTANT FOREIGN MINISTER CONFERS WITH AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

[C] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[04] RS PREMIER FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN TWO ENTITIES

[D] YUGOSLAVIA -IMF - WORLD BANK

[05] PLATFORM FOR TALKS WITH IMF AND WORLD BANK

[E] SREM-BARANJA REGION

[06] SERBS APOLOGIZE TO U.S. ENVOY ALBRIGHT

[A] MOSCOW CONTACT GROUP MEETING

[01] MEETING ANOTHER KEY STEP IN BOSNIA DEAL IMPLEMENTATION

Addressing the meeting, Milutinovic stressed Yugoslavia's readiness to cooperate and its respect of all the annexes of the accord.

Milutinovic said Yugoslavia's strategic commitments were peace, stability, overall development and goodneighbourly relations in the region.

Acting in line with its commitments, Yugoslavia has met all obligations it assumed under a peace accord for Bosnia struck in Dayton and has continued to take active measures towards its full implementation, he said.

He said peace had been going on in Bosnia-Herzegovina for three months already, and said the NATO-led peace Implementation Force was successful in seeing to it that the peace be stable.

He said, however, the Dayton accord made it imperative for the participants in the Moscow meeting to focus on the implementation of civilian and political components, which he said had been slowed down, as well as on concrete problems that had arisen in the meantime.

Milutinovic said it was vital that all parties - the Republika Srpska as well as the Moslem-Croat federation - be treated equally.

He said Bosnia's future depended a great deal on free and democratic elections that should be held as soon as possible, which he said was one of the major conditions for enlivening the Dayton accord.

Yugoslavia strongly backs the international community's engagement in the sphere and expects the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to carry out its mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina successfully, he said. 'As long as elections are not held, institutions in Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot be legitimate and cannot represent interests of all three constituent peoples,' he said.

Yugoslavia believes the issue to be crucial for securing a lasting peace and stability not only in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also in all of the former Yugoslavia, he said.

This meeting could be considered successful if it at least provisionally set the date of the elections that should be held at both the state level and the entity level, he said.

Milutinovic said all efforts should be directed towards solving the refugee issue. 'The right to free and safe return must not be restricted in any way, and it is impermissible that it be hampered through administrative measures,' he said.

'Yugoslavia has backed this course from the very start and has consistently implemented it, opposing any exertion of pressure on those who live at this point in Bosnia-Herzegovina or used to live there in deciding where they want to settle down permanently,' he said.

The international community has not offered sufficient guarantees for Sarajevo's Serbs to remain in the city, he said.

Milutinovic listed as yet another vital condition for securing a stable peace in the region reconstruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as of other parts of the former Yugoslavia.

'In order to secure a true balance, confidence and a quicker pace towards Europe as well as to overcome all that was bad in the past, it is necessary to secure a greater economic assistance, investments and modern technology rather than weapons,' he said. 'It is beyond comprehension that it is possible to provide funds for the import of weapons, while there are no funds for development,' he said.

Milutinovic praised Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov for the well-organised meeting that dealt with the implementation of the civilian aspect of the Dayton accord.

[02] ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE FOR PEACE PROCESS

That conclusion reached by the participants in the Contact Group meeting is the essential result, Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic said.

In a statement to Tanjug and the Serbian Radio and Television, Milutinovic said that the results of the meeting did not seem too impressive at first sight but that it was the first meeting of the Contact Group at a ministerial level since the signing of the peace agreement in Paris and that it had mainly focused on the civilian aspect of the Dayton peace accord for Bosnia.

Milutinovic also said that the meeting had dealt with rebuilding Bosnia, the return of refugees and especially the holding of elections.

The holding of free and democratic elections as soon as possible would mean that all structures in Bosnia would assume legality in both entities and that parts of the Dayton peace accord on the constitutional organization of Bosnia could be implemented, the Yugoslav Minister said.

That would restore confidence among citizens and all people in Bosnia, particularly refugees to return as soon as possible, he said.

All sides have pledged to immediately release all prisoners, which is another important result of the Moscow meeting, Milutinovic said.

'All three sides detain about 220 prisoners which is intolerable. The war is over and everyone should be released. That is one of the crucial conclusions reached at the meeting,' Milutinovic said.

The Yugoslav Foreign Minister said that during his bilateral meetings in Moscow, expectations had been expressed that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would continue to contribute to the peace process. Of course, there was a lot of discussions on bilateral problems for each country separately. The meetings were very fruitful, Milutinovic said.

Milutinovic also said that he had discussed with Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli cooperation between Yugoslavia and the European Union and that their meeting had been very interesting and important.

[B] YUGOSLAVIA - U.S.A.

[03] ASSISTANT FOREIGN MINISTER CONFERS WITH AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

The Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that during the talk in the eastern Bosnian locality of Pilici, which passed in an open and constructive atmosphere, views were exchanged on a continuation of the current cooperation between the F.R.Y. and the U.S. in the comprehensive and consistent implementation of the Dayton Bosnia peace agreement as well as in bilateral relations.

[C] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

[04] RS PREMIER FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN TWO ENTITIES

Asked whether the R.S. would cooperate with the Hague War Crimes Tribunal, Kasagic said the R.S. was the signatory to all the Dayton documents which obliged it to cooperate with institutions dealing with war crimes.

'I think it is not in the interest of any nation that war criminals exist in its rank and to stay unpunished. Under our constitution, however, not one of them can be extradited, but the process of conforming the constitution is under way,' Kasagic said.

[D] YUGOSLAVIA -IMF - WORLD BANK

[05] PLATFORM FOR TALKS WITH IMF AND WORLD BANK

The Yugoslav delegation will be headed by Dragoslav Avramovic, the Governor of the Yugoslav National Bank, the Yugoslav Ministry of Information said in a statement.

Yugoslavia wishes to speedily reach agreement on the reactivation of its membership in the IMF and resumption of financial cooperation with this institution in creating an open and market-oriented economy.

A resumption of Yugoslavia's membership is a precondition for reactivating its membership in the World Bank. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as the successor state to the former Yugoslavia, is a co-founder and signatory of the documents of the Bretton Woods Conference on the setting up of the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in December 1945.

Yugoslavia's maintains that, as the successor state, it should resume its membership in the IMF and the World Bank. The U.N. International Law Commission has stated that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is the successor after the secession of some of the territories of the former Yugoslavia.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is willing to meet its obligations towards the Fund as soon as they normalize their relations. After that, new talks are expected with creditors on a consolidation and rescheduling of the foreign debt of the F.R. of Yugoslavia, the statement said.

Yugoslav Vice Premier Jovan Zebic stated Saturday that the F.R. of Yugoslavia was not submitting an application for the admission to the IMF but that it would negotiate on the normalization of relations with this international financial institution.

Zebic and member of the Yugoslav Government Commission for Relations with the IMF Oskar Kovac presented to newsmen a document which is the general platform of the F.R.Y. for negotiations with the IMF.

The document contains five programs which relate to the stabilization policy, consolidation and reorganization of the external debt of the F.R.Y., the restructuring of the economy and the restructuring of enterprises, the financial rehabilitation and restructuring of the banking system, and the social welfare policy.

[E] SREM-BARANJA REGION

[06] SERBS APOLOGIZE TO U.S. ENVOY ALBRIGHT

Several hundred people in Vukovar shouted protests when Albright and those who accompanied her, including a group of Croatian and other foreign reporters, arrived at the city market place. The car convoy was later stoned while leaving the area.

The serb authorities said in a statement that Croatian journalists had provoked the citizens at the Vukovar market place by asking them what they were doing there and by displaying a Croatian red-checked flag in a car.

The Executive Council of the Srem-Baranja area said that the UNTAES had been duly warned against possible provocations by Croatian journalists.