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Yugoslav Daily Survey 96-06-13Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>CONTENTS
[01] ROBERT MUGABE ARRIVES IN BELGRADEBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived here early on Wednesday for a three-day official visit to Yugoslavia. Mugabe was welcomed at Belgrade airport by President Zoran Lilic, Prime Minister Radoje Kontic and other senior officials, as well as the heads of African diplomatic missions in Belgrade.Mugabe and Lilic will start official talks and afterwards give a statement to the press. [02] YUGOSLAV, ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENTS GIVE HIGH MARKS TO WEDNESDAY TALKBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic and visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe gave high marks late on Wednesday to their Belgrade talk held earlier in the day. Meeting the press after the three-hour talk, Lilic said that Zimbabwe was the only country to have supported the Federal rRpublic of Yugoslavia in its hour of need and the only one to have voted in the U.N. Security Council against imposing sanctions on Yugoslavia.Speaking about Yugoslavia's place in the United Nations, Lilic said that Yugoslavia had never been excluded from the World Organisation, and that no additional requirements were necessary for its return. President Mugabe told reporters in his turn that he fully supported this position and urged Yugoslavia's return to all international organisations. He said that Zimbabwe was against Bosnia-Herzegovina becoming a member of the Non-Aligned Movement until the matter of Yugoslavia's status in the Movement had been settled. [03] YUGOSLAV, ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENTS STRESS TRADITION OF FRIENDSHIPBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav and Zimbabwean Presidents stressed a tradition of friendship in bilateral relations, as they exchanged toasts at a formal dinner in Belgrade on Wednesday. Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic thanked visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his principled and objective attitude to the crisis in former Yugoslavia and to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Yugoslavia can never forget that Zimbabwe was among the few states that resolutely opposed and voted against the U.N. Security Council's unjust resolutions about the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Lilic said, toasting President Mugabe. He said that Mugabe's visit came at a time of intensive work on stabilising peace and beginning a process of reconstruction in the region of former Yugoslavia. By suspending anti-Yugoslav sanctions, normalising relations and resuming cooperation with Yugoslavia, the world has given recognition to the country's peaceful policy and constructive contribution to ending the Bosnian war and creating conditions for peace, he said. Lilic again expressed special pleasure at the successful development of political and economic relations between Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe, especially through Yugoslav firms' participation in the development of the Zimbabwean economy. He said that the big changes that had occurred in international relations in the past years had not removed the vast discrepancies in cooperation between the rich North and the poor and underdeveloped South. Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe have always been in the forefront of the struggle for equality-based international relations, especially international economic relations, he added. Speaking about years of Yugoslav-Zimbabwean cooperation in the Non-Aligned Movement, Lilic said that the world's sanctions and other anti-Yugoslav measures caused by the crisis in former Yugoslavia had regrettably caused Yugoslavia's status in the Movement to be frozen. He said that his talks with Mugabe earlier in the day had shown that the two countries still shared greatly similar and close views on the most important international questions. Returning the toast at a dinner given in his honour, President Mugabe said it was heartening to see that one-half of former Yugoslavia had remained untouched by the secession of some of its parts. He said he was aware that Yugoslavia had been made to suffer unnecessarily under the unjust sanctions clamped on it on the pretextof its aggression on Bosnia, a pretext which was clearly untenable today. Mugabe said that Zimbabwe had strongly opposed the sanctions which had dealt a heavy blow to the Yugoslav economy, and added that the situation in Yugoslavia had been further aggravated by a tidal wave of refugees from war-zones in former Yugoslavia. In this context, he stressed he respected the Yugoslav Government's determination to safeguard the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by taking no part in the war. Mugabe said that Yugoslavia had helped Zimbabwe not only at the time of its liberation war, but also after the war ended, playing an active part in Zimbabwe's development, especially developing its infrastructure, building hospitals, roads and other vital facilities. For many years, Zimbabwe has been receiving Yugoslav assistance in personnel training, Mugabe said, adding that many students from Zimbabwean had studied in Yugoslavia such important subjects as medicine, natural sciences and civil engineering. He said that Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe had always consistently cherished and advocated the principles laid down in the U.N. Charter, and had always striven to promote international peace and a peaceful settlement of disputes under the aegis of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is, therefore, Zimbabwe's hope that the Yugoslav region will enjoy peace and stability, in order that the people might have the chance to devote themselves to social and economic problems with aview to progress, Mugabe said. He said he hoped that his visit to Yugoslavia would pave the way for a greater bilateral exchange and lead to the finalization of talks on the promotion and protection of investments and cooperation in air transport. Mugabe invited Yugoslav businessmen to invest in Zimbabwe, explaining that Zimbabwe offered excellent terms for investment in many industries, specifically mining, industrial production and tourism. He also invited joint ventures between the two countries' businessmen. [04] YUGOSLAV PREMIER RESHUFFLES GOVERNMENTBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Prime Minister announced the appointment of five new Ministers at a Government session in Belgrade on Wednesday. A Goverment statement said that Prime Minister Kontic had appointed Minister Without Portfolio Tomica Raicevic, 53, as Finance Minister, and Vladimir Krivokapic, 56, Professor at the Police Academy, as Justice Minister. Rade Filipovic, 56, Director of the Yugoslav Electric Power Company, is the new Economy Minister, and agricultural expert Tihomir Vrebalov, 72, is Minister of Agriculture. Radonja Minic, 50, so far Deputy Minister of Development, Science and Environmental Protection, has been appointed Minister Without Portfolio.Government composition after the Wednesday changes: Prime Minister: Radoje Kontic Deputy Premiers: Jovan Zebic Uros Klikovac Nikola Sainovic Ministers: Foreign Affairs: Milan Milutinovic Defence: Pavle Bulatovic Internal Affairs: Vukasin Jokanovic Finance: Tomica Raicevic Justice: Vladimir Krivokapic Economy: Rade Filipovic Agriculture: Tihomir Vrebalov Transport and Communications: Zoran Vujovic Trade: Djordje Siradovic Labour, Health and Welfare: Miroslav Ivanisevic Development, Science and the Environment: Janko Radulovic Ministers Without Portfolio: Zoran Bingulac Vuk Ognjanovic Margit Savovic Radonja Minic [05] MILOSEVIC, BILDT DISCUSS DAYTON PEACE ACCORDS IMPLEMENTATIONBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic discussed Wednesday the Dayton Peace Accords implementation with the International Community's High Representative for Bosnia Carl Bildt. A statement from Milosevic's Cabinet said that special stress was laid on the implementation of the civilian and political aspects of the Peace Plan.Milosevic and Bildt focused on the preparation of upcoming elections in Bosnia and on securing the necessary conditions for normal life and for economic recovery, the statement said. In this context, the importance was stressed of international factors synchronizing their measures and activities for securing full compliance with the commitments stemming from the Peace Accords. The talk was attended by Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, the statement said. [06] MONTENEGRIN PREMIER MEETS WITH U.S. PRESIDENTPodgorica, Yugoslavia, June 12 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin Premier Milo Djukanovic met in Los Angeles on June 10 with U.S. President Bill Clinton, the Premier's Cabinet said on Wednesday.According to the statement, Djukanovic was paying a working visit to the U.S. on the initiative of the U.S.-Montenegrin Chamber of Commerce in order to give concrete form to agreements reached during a previous visit. Djukanovic and Clinton exchanged views on the implementation of the Peace Accord for Bosnia-Herzregovina and other questions of topical importance to overall stability in the Balkan region, the statement added. Both sides expressed the conviction that early democratic elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina would consolidate peace and create conditions for a speedier economic and democratic development of the entire region of former Yugoslavia. The Premier of the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro met also with U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Cantor and had successful business meetings with executives of U.S. corporations interested in appearing on the Montenegrin market, the statement said. [07] ICRC APPEALS FOR ASSISTANCE IN SEEKING MISSING PERSONSBelgrade, June 12 (Tanjug) - The ICRC has started a campaign of collecting information about persons registered as missing in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, ICRC official Francois Bellon said here on Wednesday. Bellon, the Head of the ICRC delegation for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said that the Organization had so far collected abut 15,000 requests from the families of missing persons. Of that number, about 12,000 are from Bosnia-Herzegovina, including 6,000 from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. A total of 3,211 persons were missing in conflicts in Croatia in 1991, while more than 500 people were missing during Croatian military offensives on the Republic of Serb Krajina in May and August 1995, Bellon said.The ICRC has prepared a publication with 11,000 names of missing persons, which will be distributed to all ICRC offices in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia, as well as in countries which accepted refugees, Bellon said. He appealed to the families of missing persons who have not yet reported it to do so as soon as possible. Bellon said that information about the fate of the missing persons was very important for reaching a comprehensive and lasting peace. Bellon said that the ICRC believed all sides had at least some information about missing persons and that there were also individuals who knew a lot. He said that, from the point of view of his organization, it was unacceptible that the question of missing persons still be politicized six months after peace was signed. EASTERN SLAVONIA, BARANIA, WEST SREM[08] U.S. OFFERS GUARANTEES TO EASTERN SLAVONIA, BARANIA, WEST SREMErdut, June 12 (Tanjug) - The U.S. is ready to give special guarantees to the people in the region of Eastern Slavonia, Barania and West Srem who might wish to stay on in the region, according to the Region's President. Region's President Goran Hadzic was speaking after meeting on Wednesday with a delegation of the U.S. State Department. Hadzic said that his talks with officials of the U.S. Foreign and Defence Ministries and the White House had convinced him that they did not share the Croatian side's view that the process must end speedily and at all costs.Hadzic said that he had drawn the U.S. delegation's attention to the fact that Croatia's amnesty and territorial organisation legislations clashed directly with some parts of the November 1995 Agreement, specifically its Article 12, which gives the local Serbs the right to organise municipal councils in Eastern Slavonia, Barania and West Srem. On behalf of the U.S. delegation, Roger Crasy, representative of U.N. Administrator Jacques Klein, expressed satisfaction that the November 1995 Agreement and the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1,037 were being implemented. [09] CROATIAN DEMILITARIZATION GOES AS PLANNED - U.N. SAYSVukovar, June 12 (Tanjug) - A UNTAES Spokesman said Wednesday that the demilitarization of the region of Eastern Slavonia, Barania and West Srem was going fine and would be completed by June 21, as planned. Spokesman Philip Arnold told reporters in the Serb-populated region's town of Vukovar that Serb heavy weapons had already been displaced and that small arms were now being turned in. Arnold added that all barracks and other military facilities would be placed under UNTAES control in the next few days.He said that next on the agenda was forming a joint police force, launching a pilot-program for the return of refugees and settling the status of the region's population and the problem of the region's currency. On the subject of Croatia's amnesty legislation, Arnold said that some questions needed to be clarified and the legislation, which he said was too generalised, made to conform more to international laws. He said that talks between the region's U.N. Administrator Jacques Klein and Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and President Franjo Tudjman in Zagreb on Wednesday and Thursday would focus on amending the legislation. Asked by Croatian reporters if there was a chance that UNTAES might oust the current Serb authorities once it had finished demilitarization and turned to civilian affairs, Arnold said that UNTAES had no direct impact on the election of local authorities. He praised the cooperation of the Serb side, especially in the past two weeks. Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |