Informazione
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic
www.icdsm.org
=================================
Slobodan Milosevic's Cross-Examination of
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic: PART III
Because the transcript of the cross-examination is 150 pages long we
have broken it into 12 easy to read segments. If you wish to read the
whole thing at once go to: http://www.icdsm.org/more/mesic.htm
=================================
Page 10636
1 Q. You arrived on the 5th of December in the Croatian parliament.
2 You thanked them for their confidence. This was on the 5th of
December,
3 1991. And you made a notorious statement to the effect that you
thought I
4 have performed my task. Yugoslavia is no more. Is this so, Mr. Mesic?
5 We saw it on the video we played here a few days ago, and all of
6 Yugoslavia knows about this. You said: I think I have performed my
task.
7 Yugoslavia is no more.
8 A. An excellent question. I will explain what this was about. The
9 Croatian parliament elected me to be the Croatian member of the
Presidency
10 of Yugoslavia. I went to Belgrade, where first, for several months, I
was
11 not allowed to take up my duties because the Federal Assembly was
unable
12 to meet. After that, the Serbian bloc boycotted my election as
president
13 under --
14 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, let him finish. You've asked him a
15 question. Let him give his explanation.
16 A. Finally, under pressure from the international community, I was
17 elected president. Croatia adopted a decision on its independence.
18 Croatia, in agreement with the international community, postponed its
19 secession from Yugoslavia by three months. This time period had
elapsed.
20 Yugoslavia no longer existed. The federal institutions were no longer
21 functioning. I returned to Zagreb, and that's precisely what I said.
22 Because I did not go to Belgrade to open up a house-painting
business. I
23 went there as a member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia. Since
Yugoslavia
24 no longer existed and the Presidency no longer existed, I had
performed
25 the tasks entrusted to me by the Croatian parliament and was
reporting
Page 10637
1 back, ready to take up a different office. What was I to do in
Belgrade
2 when the Presidency no longer existed?
3 Q. Very well, Mr. Mesic. This is truly worthy of admiration, your
4 explanation of what you said, but you haven't told me whether you
actually
5 said: I have performed my task. Yugoslavia is no more.
6 A. The accused is a lawyer. He understands very well what I'm
7 talking about. My task was to represent Croatia in the Federal
8 Presidency.
9 Q. There is no need for you to repeat this. You said this in the
10 Croatian or Serbian language, or whatever you want to call it, and
11 everybody understood it. Your explanation now is obviously an attempt
to
12 make this statement relative, but this is no longer important.
13 [Trial Chamber confers]
14 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
15 Q. In your public statements, or rather, in Tudjman's public
16 statements on Ban Jelacic Square on the 24th of May, 1992, said
"There
17 would have been no war had not Croatia wanted it. But we thought that
it
18 was only by war that we could win the independence of Croatia. That's
why
19 we had a policy of negotiations behind which we were setting up
military
20 units. Had this not been so, we would not have reached our goal." Is
21 this correct, Mr. Mesic?
22 A. I think that this could have been reported only by the Serbian
23 press, because it simply does not correspond to the truth. We know
who
24 was in control of the press in Serbia. It was the accused, Slobodan
25 Milosevic.
Page 10638
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12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the
French and
13 English transcripts.
14
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18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 10639
1 Q. Unfortunately, a few days ago we watched a video of this, and we
2 saw this speech on Ban Jelacic square, taped on video. Tell me,
please:
3 Do you know that when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded
and
4 the new constituted was promulgated on the 27th of April, 1992, a
5 declaration was adopted on the goals of the new common state, that is,
the
6 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, according to which, and I quote
verbatim:
7 "Yugoslavia has no territorial pretensions towards any of the former
8 Yugoslav republics." Are you aware of this?
9 A. I don't know what the declaration on the establishing of the
10 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia says, but I do know everything that
was
11 done to cut off parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and annex
them
12 to Serbia.
13 Q. Mr. Mesic, you're telling us fairy tales about Karlovac, Karlobag
14 Virovitica boundary. When did you ever hear any official of the
Republic
15 of Serbia referring to this border, and when did any body or organ of
the
16 Republic of Serbia or anyone in Yugoslavia raise this issue and talk
about
17 such a boundary? This is a pure fabrication that you are launching
here.
18 Where did you get this idea?
19 A. It's quite understandable that those who perpetrated aggression
20 did not make such statements, but the Serbian minister, who was in
the
21 government, one of the ministers of Mr. Milosevic, visited this
boundary
22 with Vojislav Seselj, the Chetnik Vojvoda or leader, to show how far
the
23 interests of Serbia reached.
24 Q. What minister are you referring to? And if a minister visits a
25 spot, if he goes to a certain municipality, does he go to a boundary
or
Page 10640
1 does he mark a boundary? Was he marking a boundary there?
2 A. You understand very well that if someone visits Croatia,
3 especially an official, he should visit the official organs of the
4 Republic of Croatia.
5 Q. What municipal organs are you referring to if someone is visiting
6 a municipality? I didn't know you were a police state of that kind,
that
7 someone visiting a municipality in Croatia would have to report to the
8 police.
9 A. I was not paid to teach the accused Croatian laws. I was paid to
10 implement them.
11 Q. Mr. Mesic, you are a university graduate. Did you ever learn
12 about the rights of peoples to self-determination, and do you know
that
13 volumes and volumes of books have been written on this topic? Do you
know
14 about this?
15 A. I think this question is pointless. Of course I do. Of course I
16 know about the right to self-determination. This is going too far.
17 Q. Well, then answer me, please: Where did you get the idea that, as
18 you said, the Serbs in Croatia do not have a right to
self-determination?
19 Where did you get the idea, as you said on page 2 of your statement,
that
20 according to the constitution of 1974, Yugoslavia was a confederal
state?
21 You know yourself that this is untrue. Show me a single
constitutional
22 provision to this effect. Is this correct or not, Mr. Mesic?
23 A. The Presidency of Yugoslavia was established as a confederal
24 institution because all decisions were made for the most part by
25 consensus, and the accused knows this very well. He also knows very
well
Page 10641
1 that according to the constitution of 1974, the republics were called
2 states, and he also knows that, by virtue of their association into
3 Yugoslavia, they also had the right to disassociate themselves from
4 Yugoslavia. When a threat arose that Croatia and Slovenia might suffer
5 the same fate as Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro, Croatia made use
of
6 its right to disassociate itself, and the Badinter Commission
confirmed
7 this. Of course the Serbs have a right to their own state. That state
is
8 the Republic of Serbia. But it is well known that national minorities
9 cannot ask to secede from the Republic of Croatia. They could ask for
10 that but they could not realise it, because the Republic of Croatia
was
11 recognised in the borders established by Avnoj and the accused knows
this
12 very well.
13 Q. Do you know that according to the Yugoslav constitution, it was
14 the peoples and not the republics that had sovereignty? Do you
remember
15 that even the coat of arms of Yugoslavia had five torches,
represented
16 five peoples: The Serbs, the Croats, the Slovenes, the Macedonians
and the
17 Montenegrins, and then later on a sixth torch was added when the
Muslims
18 were declared a constituent people? Are you aware of this, Mr. Mesic?
19 A. The constituent elements of the Federation were the republics,
20 plus two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina, and Kosovo. Those were the
21 constituent elements of the Federation. Symbolism is one thing, but
22 constitutional provisions are quite another.
23 Q. You assert that in the constitutions of Yugoslavia and the
24 republics, it was not the sovereignty of peoples that was the
starting
25 point but the territory of the republics established in 1945; is that
what
Page 10642
1 you're claiming? I just want to be clear so as not to waste time.
2 A. I have said what I had to say about the constituent elements of
3 the Federation. Croatia had the right to self-determination, and the
4 Serbs in Croatia had the right to protection, to protection of their
5 collective rights and of their status as citizens of the Republic of
6 Croatia.
7 Q. Very well. Let us proceed, then. Let us proceed at a faster
8 pace, so please answer me yes or no: Is it correct that all the
9 constitutions of Croatia, until the amendments introduced by you in
1990,
10 had a provision about the Serbs as a constituent people, not a ethnic
11 minority, as you have just said? For example, the constitution of
1945,
12 1963, 1974, the constitutional amendments of July 1990. So these
13 amendments of July 1990 for the first time left out the Serbs as a
14 constituent element of the Republic of Croatia. I'm referring now to
the
15 constitution of the Republic of Croatia. Did all the constitutions
16 contain a provision about the Serbian people as a constituent people
in
17 Croatia; yes or no?
18 A. One cannot reply to this question with yes or no. The
19 constitutions were enacted in different periods of time, in different
20 situations, and in different international environments. The
21 constitution, therefore, had different provisions at different points
in
22 time. For example, the Yugoslav and the Croatian constitutions had a
23 provision which other constitutions, for example, do not contain,
that
24 there are two kinds of groups: Narodi and Narodnosti, two kinds of
25 peoples, plus ethnic groups. The constitution was further developed
up
Page 10643
1 until 1990.
2 Q. So the fact that the Serbs were left out of the constitution was
3 a development.
4 Do you know that on the 14th of May, 1887, the Croatian parliament
5 enacted a provision on the use of the Cyrillic alphabet? Are you aware
of
6 this?
7 A. I was not aware of that particular piece of information, but I do
8 thank the accused for having given me this piece of information. That
is
9 truly meaningful for me.
10 Q. And do you know about the rest, that what the constitution -- what
11 the assembly of Croatia adopted in 1887 was abolished in 1990 by your
12 parliament? They abolished the Cyrillic alphabet as an official
13 alphabet. Do you know about that? You went 150 years backwards. Do
you
14 know that?
15 A. Yet another piece of information, very important to me, as a
16 lawyer.
17 Q. All right, Mr. Mesic. Do you remember an entire series of laws,
18 not to mention taking over symbols, the symbols of the Nazi state of
the
19 independent state of Croatia, for example, the law on the Academy of
20 Sciences and Arts, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts? In
article
21 1 it says that it is the legal successor of the academy from the
period
22 from 1941 to 1945. The budget for 1991 does not envisage a single
dinar
23 for the schools of Serbs in Croatia, but it does envisage money for
24 Italians, Czechs, Ruthenians, and other national minorities. The law
on
25 the government allows the government to take measures against
so-called
Page 10644
1 disobedient municipalities. The only executive government in Europe
that
2 has the right to dissolve municipalities. The law on education refers
to
3 the Croatian language only, and so on and so forth?
4 JUDGE MAY: One thing at a time. What is the question,
5 Mr. Milosevic?
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. The question is -- the question is: Is it correct that not only
8 through this behaviour and also the combination of this ethnic
intolerance
9 towards the Serbs, but it is also through the adoption of many laws,
the
10 Croatian authorities instigated nationalism and chauvinism not only
in
11 Croatia but also a discriminatory, an insulting attitude towards
Serbs in
12 Croatia. Is that right or is that not right, Mr. Mesic?
13 A. Croatia adopted laws that gave equal rights to all its citizens
14 and protect national minorities, all vulnerable groups, actually.
15 National minorities are vulnerable groups, and that is why Croatia
favours
16 positive discrimination of all vulnerable groups.
17 Q. Very well. Then give me a comment with regard to these following
18 statements: There are many such laws, and of course they did have to
19 cause concern. For example, a meeting of the parliament on the 4th of
20 October, 1990, the 4th of October, 1990, your own assembly. Damir
Majovic
21 says: "Do not trust the Serbs even when they bring gifts." Stjepan
22 Sulimanac says: "Persons who moved in after 1918, who moved into
Croatia
23 after 1918, a law should be passed with regard to such persons and
there
24 should be protection from them." Then MP Ivan Milas says: "We are
going
25 to use a sword in respect of your rights. The day of a final showdown
is
Page 10645
1 getting near." Another MP says: "All Serbs should be isolated like
Iraq
2 isolated the Kurds. A ghetto should be established for the Serbs." And
3 Praljak, what's his name, one of the helmsmen of the HDZ said in April
4 1990: "Outside the boys are already singing we are going to slaughter
the
5 Serbs." And so on and so forth. Is that the right kind of atmosphere,
6 Mr. Mesic? Is that the atmosphere in which the Serbs were supposed to
7 view everything that was happening to them with confidence? And in the
8 meantime you dismissed practically all Serbs from the state
9 administration?
10 JUDGE MAY: One thing at a time. Now, you've read out a series --
11 you've read out a series of quotations which are said to have been
made in
12 the parliament.
13 Now, Mr. Mesic, you can deal with that. First of all, do you know
14 if these statements were made, or these sort of statements, and if
so, is
15 there anything that you can tell us about them?
16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] There were different statements that
17 will were impermissible, and it is certain that such statements
harmed
18 Croatia. As for Slobodan Praljak, I must say that he was never a
member
19 of the HDZ. When the HDZ was established, he was one of President
20 Tudjman's major critics. Now, why were such statements made? I say
today
21 as well that they did not work to Croatia's advantage but to its
22 disadvantage. There were rallies of Serbs in various places on the
4th of
23 February, 1990. On the 4th of March, 1990, there was a rally in
Petrova
24 Gora of people from Lika, Kordun, Banja Luka, Bosanska Krajina, and
also
25 Vojvodina in Serbia.
Page 10646
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French
and English transcripts.
* Continued at: http://www.icdsm.org/more/mesic-4.htm
***** Urgent Message from Sloboda (Freedom) Association and the
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic!
The Freedom Association in Belgrade and the ICDSM, based outside
Yugoslavia, are the two organizations formed at the request of Slobodan
Milosevic to aid in his defense.
Up until now our main work has been threefold. We have publicized the
truth about The Hague's phony trial. We have organized research to
help President Milosevic expose NATO's lies. And we have initiated legal
action in the Dutch and European Courts.
Now our job has increased. The defense phase of the "trial" starts in
May 2003. No longer will Mr. Milosevic be limited to cross-examining
Hague witnesses. The prosecution will be forced further onto the
defensive as victims of NATO's aggression and experts from Yugoslavia
and
the NATO countries tell what really happened and expose media lies.
Moreover, Mr. Milosevic will call leaders, from East and West, some
friendly and some hostile to the truth.
The controlled mass media will undoubtedly try to suppress this
testimony as they have tried to suppress Mr. Milosevic's
cross-examinations.
Nevertheless this phase of the "trial" will be the biggest international
forum ever to expose NATO's use of racism, violence and lies to
attack Yugoslavia.
We urgently need the help of all people who care about what is happening
in The Hague. Right now, Nico Steijnen , the Dutch lawyer in the
ICDSM, is waging legal battles in the Dutch courts and before the
European Court, about which more news soon. These efforts urgently
require
financial support. We now maintain a small staff of Yugoslav lawyers in
Holland, assisting and advising Mr. Milosevic full-time. We need to
expand our Dutch facilities, perhaps bringing in a non-Yugoslav attorney
full-time. Definitely we must guarantee that we have an office and
office manager available at all times, to compile and process evidence
and for meetings with witnesses and lawyers and as a base for
organizing press conferences.
All this costs money. And for this, we rely on those who want Mr.
Milosevic to have the best possible support for attacking NATO's lies.
************
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For now, you can contribute by credit card in two ways: *
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=================================
Slobodan Milosevic's Cross-Examination of
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic: PART III
Because the transcript of the cross-examination is 150 pages long we
have broken it into 12 easy to read segments. If you wish to read the
whole thing at once go to: http://www.icdsm.org/more/mesic.htm
=================================
Page 10636
1 Q. You arrived on the 5th of December in the Croatian parliament.
2 You thanked them for their confidence. This was on the 5th of
December,
3 1991. And you made a notorious statement to the effect that you
thought I
4 have performed my task. Yugoslavia is no more. Is this so, Mr. Mesic?
5 We saw it on the video we played here a few days ago, and all of
6 Yugoslavia knows about this. You said: I think I have performed my
task.
7 Yugoslavia is no more.
8 A. An excellent question. I will explain what this was about. The
9 Croatian parliament elected me to be the Croatian member of the
Presidency
10 of Yugoslavia. I went to Belgrade, where first, for several months, I
was
11 not allowed to take up my duties because the Federal Assembly was
unable
12 to meet. After that, the Serbian bloc boycotted my election as
president
13 under --
14 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, let him finish. You've asked him a
15 question. Let him give his explanation.
16 A. Finally, under pressure from the international community, I was
17 elected president. Croatia adopted a decision on its independence.
18 Croatia, in agreement with the international community, postponed its
19 secession from Yugoslavia by three months. This time period had
elapsed.
20 Yugoslavia no longer existed. The federal institutions were no longer
21 functioning. I returned to Zagreb, and that's precisely what I said.
22 Because I did not go to Belgrade to open up a house-painting
business. I
23 went there as a member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia. Since
Yugoslavia
24 no longer existed and the Presidency no longer existed, I had
performed
25 the tasks entrusted to me by the Croatian parliament and was
reporting
Page 10637
1 back, ready to take up a different office. What was I to do in
Belgrade
2 when the Presidency no longer existed?
3 Q. Very well, Mr. Mesic. This is truly worthy of admiration, your
4 explanation of what you said, but you haven't told me whether you
actually
5 said: I have performed my task. Yugoslavia is no more.
6 A. The accused is a lawyer. He understands very well what I'm
7 talking about. My task was to represent Croatia in the Federal
8 Presidency.
9 Q. There is no need for you to repeat this. You said this in the
10 Croatian or Serbian language, or whatever you want to call it, and
11 everybody understood it. Your explanation now is obviously an attempt
to
12 make this statement relative, but this is no longer important.
13 [Trial Chamber confers]
14 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
15 Q. In your public statements, or rather, in Tudjman's public
16 statements on Ban Jelacic Square on the 24th of May, 1992, said
"There
17 would have been no war had not Croatia wanted it. But we thought that
it
18 was only by war that we could win the independence of Croatia. That's
why
19 we had a policy of negotiations behind which we were setting up
military
20 units. Had this not been so, we would not have reached our goal." Is
21 this correct, Mr. Mesic?
22 A. I think that this could have been reported only by the Serbian
23 press, because it simply does not correspond to the truth. We know
who
24 was in control of the press in Serbia. It was the accused, Slobodan
25 Milosevic.
Page 10638
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3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the
French and
13 English transcripts.
14
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21
22
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24
25
Page 10639
1 Q. Unfortunately, a few days ago we watched a video of this, and we
2 saw this speech on Ban Jelacic square, taped on video. Tell me,
please:
3 Do you know that when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded
and
4 the new constituted was promulgated on the 27th of April, 1992, a
5 declaration was adopted on the goals of the new common state, that is,
the
6 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, according to which, and I quote
verbatim:
7 "Yugoslavia has no territorial pretensions towards any of the former
8 Yugoslav republics." Are you aware of this?
9 A. I don't know what the declaration on the establishing of the
10 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia says, but I do know everything that
was
11 done to cut off parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and annex
them
12 to Serbia.
13 Q. Mr. Mesic, you're telling us fairy tales about Karlovac, Karlobag
14 Virovitica boundary. When did you ever hear any official of the
Republic
15 of Serbia referring to this border, and when did any body or organ of
the
16 Republic of Serbia or anyone in Yugoslavia raise this issue and talk
about
17 such a boundary? This is a pure fabrication that you are launching
here.
18 Where did you get this idea?
19 A. It's quite understandable that those who perpetrated aggression
20 did not make such statements, but the Serbian minister, who was in
the
21 government, one of the ministers of Mr. Milosevic, visited this
boundary
22 with Vojislav Seselj, the Chetnik Vojvoda or leader, to show how far
the
23 interests of Serbia reached.
24 Q. What minister are you referring to? And if a minister visits a
25 spot, if he goes to a certain municipality, does he go to a boundary
or
Page 10640
1 does he mark a boundary? Was he marking a boundary there?
2 A. You understand very well that if someone visits Croatia,
3 especially an official, he should visit the official organs of the
4 Republic of Croatia.
5 Q. What municipal organs are you referring to if someone is visiting
6 a municipality? I didn't know you were a police state of that kind,
that
7 someone visiting a municipality in Croatia would have to report to the
8 police.
9 A. I was not paid to teach the accused Croatian laws. I was paid to
10 implement them.
11 Q. Mr. Mesic, you are a university graduate. Did you ever learn
12 about the rights of peoples to self-determination, and do you know
that
13 volumes and volumes of books have been written on this topic? Do you
know
14 about this?
15 A. I think this question is pointless. Of course I do. Of course I
16 know about the right to self-determination. This is going too far.
17 Q. Well, then answer me, please: Where did you get the idea that, as
18 you said, the Serbs in Croatia do not have a right to
self-determination?
19 Where did you get the idea, as you said on page 2 of your statement,
that
20 according to the constitution of 1974, Yugoslavia was a confederal
state?
21 You know yourself that this is untrue. Show me a single
constitutional
22 provision to this effect. Is this correct or not, Mr. Mesic?
23 A. The Presidency of Yugoslavia was established as a confederal
24 institution because all decisions were made for the most part by
25 consensus, and the accused knows this very well. He also knows very
well
Page 10641
1 that according to the constitution of 1974, the republics were called
2 states, and he also knows that, by virtue of their association into
3 Yugoslavia, they also had the right to disassociate themselves from
4 Yugoslavia. When a threat arose that Croatia and Slovenia might suffer
5 the same fate as Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro, Croatia made use
of
6 its right to disassociate itself, and the Badinter Commission
confirmed
7 this. Of course the Serbs have a right to their own state. That state
is
8 the Republic of Serbia. But it is well known that national minorities
9 cannot ask to secede from the Republic of Croatia. They could ask for
10 that but they could not realise it, because the Republic of Croatia
was
11 recognised in the borders established by Avnoj and the accused knows
this
12 very well.
13 Q. Do you know that according to the Yugoslav constitution, it was
14 the peoples and not the republics that had sovereignty? Do you
remember
15 that even the coat of arms of Yugoslavia had five torches,
represented
16 five peoples: The Serbs, the Croats, the Slovenes, the Macedonians
and the
17 Montenegrins, and then later on a sixth torch was added when the
Muslims
18 were declared a constituent people? Are you aware of this, Mr. Mesic?
19 A. The constituent elements of the Federation were the republics,
20 plus two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina, and Kosovo. Those were the
21 constituent elements of the Federation. Symbolism is one thing, but
22 constitutional provisions are quite another.
23 Q. You assert that in the constitutions of Yugoslavia and the
24 republics, it was not the sovereignty of peoples that was the
starting
25 point but the territory of the republics established in 1945; is that
what
Page 10642
1 you're claiming? I just want to be clear so as not to waste time.
2 A. I have said what I had to say about the constituent elements of
3 the Federation. Croatia had the right to self-determination, and the
4 Serbs in Croatia had the right to protection, to protection of their
5 collective rights and of their status as citizens of the Republic of
6 Croatia.
7 Q. Very well. Let us proceed, then. Let us proceed at a faster
8 pace, so please answer me yes or no: Is it correct that all the
9 constitutions of Croatia, until the amendments introduced by you in
1990,
10 had a provision about the Serbs as a constituent people, not a ethnic
11 minority, as you have just said? For example, the constitution of
1945,
12 1963, 1974, the constitutional amendments of July 1990. So these
13 amendments of July 1990 for the first time left out the Serbs as a
14 constituent element of the Republic of Croatia. I'm referring now to
the
15 constitution of the Republic of Croatia. Did all the constitutions
16 contain a provision about the Serbian people as a constituent people
in
17 Croatia; yes or no?
18 A. One cannot reply to this question with yes or no. The
19 constitutions were enacted in different periods of time, in different
20 situations, and in different international environments. The
21 constitution, therefore, had different provisions at different points
in
22 time. For example, the Yugoslav and the Croatian constitutions had a
23 provision which other constitutions, for example, do not contain,
that
24 there are two kinds of groups: Narodi and Narodnosti, two kinds of
25 peoples, plus ethnic groups. The constitution was further developed
up
Page 10643
1 until 1990.
2 Q. So the fact that the Serbs were left out of the constitution was
3 a development.
4 Do you know that on the 14th of May, 1887, the Croatian parliament
5 enacted a provision on the use of the Cyrillic alphabet? Are you aware
of
6 this?
7 A. I was not aware of that particular piece of information, but I do
8 thank the accused for having given me this piece of information. That
is
9 truly meaningful for me.
10 Q. And do you know about the rest, that what the constitution -- what
11 the assembly of Croatia adopted in 1887 was abolished in 1990 by your
12 parliament? They abolished the Cyrillic alphabet as an official
13 alphabet. Do you know about that? You went 150 years backwards. Do
you
14 know that?
15 A. Yet another piece of information, very important to me, as a
16 lawyer.
17 Q. All right, Mr. Mesic. Do you remember an entire series of laws,
18 not to mention taking over symbols, the symbols of the Nazi state of
the
19 independent state of Croatia, for example, the law on the Academy of
20 Sciences and Arts, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts? In
article
21 1 it says that it is the legal successor of the academy from the
period
22 from 1941 to 1945. The budget for 1991 does not envisage a single
dinar
23 for the schools of Serbs in Croatia, but it does envisage money for
24 Italians, Czechs, Ruthenians, and other national minorities. The law
on
25 the government allows the government to take measures against
so-called
Page 10644
1 disobedient municipalities. The only executive government in Europe
that
2 has the right to dissolve municipalities. The law on education refers
to
3 the Croatian language only, and so on and so forth?
4 JUDGE MAY: One thing at a time. What is the question,
5 Mr. Milosevic?
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. The question is -- the question is: Is it correct that not only
8 through this behaviour and also the combination of this ethnic
intolerance
9 towards the Serbs, but it is also through the adoption of many laws,
the
10 Croatian authorities instigated nationalism and chauvinism not only
in
11 Croatia but also a discriminatory, an insulting attitude towards
Serbs in
12 Croatia. Is that right or is that not right, Mr. Mesic?
13 A. Croatia adopted laws that gave equal rights to all its citizens
14 and protect national minorities, all vulnerable groups, actually.
15 National minorities are vulnerable groups, and that is why Croatia
favours
16 positive discrimination of all vulnerable groups.
17 Q. Very well. Then give me a comment with regard to these following
18 statements: There are many such laws, and of course they did have to
19 cause concern. For example, a meeting of the parliament on the 4th of
20 October, 1990, the 4th of October, 1990, your own assembly. Damir
Majovic
21 says: "Do not trust the Serbs even when they bring gifts." Stjepan
22 Sulimanac says: "Persons who moved in after 1918, who moved into
Croatia
23 after 1918, a law should be passed with regard to such persons and
there
24 should be protection from them." Then MP Ivan Milas says: "We are
going
25 to use a sword in respect of your rights. The day of a final showdown
is
Page 10645
1 getting near." Another MP says: "All Serbs should be isolated like
Iraq
2 isolated the Kurds. A ghetto should be established for the Serbs." And
3 Praljak, what's his name, one of the helmsmen of the HDZ said in April
4 1990: "Outside the boys are already singing we are going to slaughter
the
5 Serbs." And so on and so forth. Is that the right kind of atmosphere,
6 Mr. Mesic? Is that the atmosphere in which the Serbs were supposed to
7 view everything that was happening to them with confidence? And in the
8 meantime you dismissed practically all Serbs from the state
9 administration?
10 JUDGE MAY: One thing at a time. Now, you've read out a series --
11 you've read out a series of quotations which are said to have been
made in
12 the parliament.
13 Now, Mr. Mesic, you can deal with that. First of all, do you know
14 if these statements were made, or these sort of statements, and if
so, is
15 there anything that you can tell us about them?
16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] There were different statements that
17 will were impermissible, and it is certain that such statements
harmed
18 Croatia. As for Slobodan Praljak, I must say that he was never a
member
19 of the HDZ. When the HDZ was established, he was one of President
20 Tudjman's major critics. Now, why were such statements made? I say
today
21 as well that they did not work to Croatia's advantage but to its
22 disadvantage. There were rallies of Serbs in various places on the
4th of
23 February, 1990. On the 4th of March, 1990, there was a rally in
Petrova
24 Gora of people from Lika, Kordun, Banja Luka, Bosanska Krajina, and
also
25 Vojvodina in Serbia.
Page 10646
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French
and English transcripts.
* Continued at: http://www.icdsm.org/more/mesic-4.htm
***** Urgent Message from Sloboda (Freedom) Association and the
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic!
The Freedom Association in Belgrade and the ICDSM, based outside
Yugoslavia, are the two organizations formed at the request of Slobodan
Milosevic to aid in his defense.
Up until now our main work has been threefold. We have publicized the
truth about The Hague's phony trial. We have organized research to
help President Milosevic expose NATO's lies. And we have initiated legal
action in the Dutch and European Courts.
Now our job has increased. The defense phase of the "trial" starts in
May 2003. No longer will Mr. Milosevic be limited to cross-examining
Hague witnesses. The prosecution will be forced further onto the
defensive as victims of NATO's aggression and experts from Yugoslavia
and
the NATO countries tell what really happened and expose media lies.
Moreover, Mr. Milosevic will call leaders, from East and West, some
friendly and some hostile to the truth.
The controlled mass media will undoubtedly try to suppress this
testimony as they have tried to suppress Mr. Milosevic's
cross-examinations.
Nevertheless this phase of the "trial" will be the biggest international
forum ever to expose NATO's use of racism, violence and lies to
attack Yugoslavia.
We urgently need the help of all people who care about what is happening
in The Hague. Right now, Nico Steijnen , the Dutch lawyer in the
ICDSM, is waging legal battles in the Dutch courts and before the
European Court, about which more news soon. These efforts urgently
require
financial support. We now maintain a small staff of Yugoslav lawyers in
Holland, assisting and advising Mr. Milosevic full-time. We need to
expand our Dutch facilities, perhaps bringing in a non-Yugoslav attorney
full-time. Definitely we must guarantee that we have an office and
office manager available at all times, to compile and process evidence
and for meetings with witnesses and lawyers and as a base for
organizing press conferences.
All this costs money. And for this, we rely on those who want Mr.
Milosevic to have the best possible support for attacking NATO's lies.
************
Here's how you can help...
************
* You may contribute by credit card. By the end of September we will
have an ICDSM secure server so you can contribute directly on the
Internet.
For now, you can contribute by credit card in two ways: *
You can Contribute by Credit Card over the Telephone by calling:
ICDSM office, USA: 1 617 916-1705
SLOBODA (Freedom) Association office, Belgrade: 381 63 279 819
You can Contribute using PayPal at:
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=icdsm%40aol.com
PayPal accepts VISA and MasterCard
You can Contribute by mail to:
ICDSM
831 Beacon St., #295
Newton Centre, MA 02459 (USA)
- OR -
You can Contribute by wire transfer to Sloboda Association
Intermediary:
UBS AG
Zurich, Switzerland
Swift Code: UBSWCHZH
Account with:
/ 756 - CHF
/ 840 - USD
/ 978 - EUR
Kmercijalna Banka AD
SV. Save 14, 11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Swift Code: KOBBYUBG
Beneficiary: Account No. 5428-1246-16154-6
SLOBODA
Rajiceva 16, 11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Thank you!
http://www.icdsm.org
CONTRO LA GUERRA IMPERIALISTA
RESISTENZA CONTINUA!
Con l'imminente guerra all'Iraq, in continuità con quella del '91,
della Jugoslavia e dell'Afghanistan, è in atto un'operazione di
destabilizzazione dell'area mediorientale, condotta dall'imperialismo
USA, con il contributo determinante dello Stato sionista israeliano,
teso al controllo diretto delle risorse petrolifere dell'area e
relativi corridoi.
Tale guerra ne prepara altre, insieme alla definitiva soluzione del
problema palestinese con l'annessione israeliana di gran parte dei
territori occupati e il resto ridotto a regime di apartheid, come
riserva di manodopera a basso costo e senza alcun diritto.
Il carattere imperialista della guerra è nella necessità per gli USA
di mantenere la propria egemonia economica con la forza bellica,
rilanciando la spesa militare e la corsa al riarmo a sostegno del
ciclo economico, e pilotare così la fuoriuscita dalla recessione.
Infatti tutta l'economia americana si regge su un enorme processo di
indebitamento, finanziato da tutto il resto del mondo.
La strategia di guerra preventiva, che è anche la forma attuale dello
scontro interimperialistico USA-UE, implica per tutti i paesi, inclusi
quelli europei, la possibilità di essere colpiti dalle politiche di
destabilizzazione degli USA, che cercano di prevenire il formarsi di
potenze competitive o che possano sottrarsi al loro controllo.
Guerra preventiva significa anche un salto di qualità ulteriore nelle
politiche interne di attacco alle condizioni di vita e di lavoro dei
proletari (Precarietà, Patto per l'Italia, abolizione dell'articolo
18, Legge Bossi-Fini ecc.) e nelle misure repressive e di deriva
autoritaria col pretesto della "guerra al terrorismo" nel nostro Paese
come in tutto il mondo.
Come organismi di lotta intendiamo impegnarci nell'ampio movimento
contro la guerra che si va formando, sollecitando ad una presa di
coscienza ed alla resistenza antimperialista.
Proponiamo, in questo contesto, l'unità delle forze antimperialiste in
Italia, nella prospettiva dello sviluppo di un largo fronte
internazionale.
- Non un uomo, non un soldo, né una base per la guerra.
- Pieno sostegno al popolo iracheno, alla resistenza
palestinese e a tutti i popoli in lotta contro l'oppressione
imperialista
- Contro le polizie e gli eserciti dei padroni, le liste nere,
la criminalizzazione degli immigrati e delle lotte sociali, la
repressione dello Stato e il potere manipolatorio dei mass-media.
- Fuori l'Italia dalla Nato, fuori le basi Usa e Nato dal
nostro Paese
L'UNICA GUERRA CHE I POPOLI POSSONO ACCETTARE
È QUELLA PER LA LORO LIBERAZIONE
Domenica 10 novembre - Firenze
ASSEMBLEA
Via Pisana, 809 c/o Casa del Popolo Ponte a Greve
per dare vita ad un percorso stabile e unitario delle forze
antimperialiste
Promotori:
Coordinamento dei Comitati Antimperialisti ed Antifascisti della
Toscana
Assemblea Antimperialista
Comitati contro la guerra - Milano
Centro Popolare Occupato "La Fucina" - Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
Coordinamento Romagnolo contro le guerre e la Nato
Gruppo Zastava - Trieste
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
Comitato contro la guerra - Roma Sud
Compagne e compagni antimperialiste/i di: Bologna, Pordenone, Torino
Soccorso Popolare - Padova
G.A.MA.DI. - Roma
Comitato Provvisorio immigrati in Italia
--------------------------------------
PRAGA 20 NOVEMBRE 2002
Piazza della citta' vecchia (Staromestske Namesti) - ore 14:30
In occasione del vertice atlantico che si terra' il 21-22 novembre
nella capitale ceka per decidere un nuovo allargamento ad Est della
Nato e il suo coinvolgimento nella dottrina di Bush della "guerra
preventiva"
MANIFESTAZIONE EUROPEA
Contro la guerra all'Iraq, contro le guerre di Bush
Contro la NATO e il suo allargamento ad Est
Per un'Europa di pace, di giustizia sociale e di amicizia tra i popoli
Per un'Europa autonoma e neutrale, senza basi militari straniere
La manifestazione e' promossa da Partito comunista della Repubblica
Ceka (KSCM) con altre organizzazioni giovanili, pacifiste, sindacali
del paese, e dal Forum europeo per la pace, con l'adesione - per la
prima volta congiunta, dopo il 1989 - delle maggiori forze comuniste e
di sinistra alternativa di tutta l'Europa (dell'Est e dell'Ovest),
rappresentative di decine di milioni di cittadini europei. Hanno
aderito finora: BELGIO (Pc e Partito del lavoro), BIELORUSSIA (i due
partiti comunisti), BOSNIA (Pc dei lavoratori), BULGARIA (Pcb), CIPRO
(Akel), CROAZIA (Partito socialista operaio), DANIMARCA (i due partiti
comunisti), FINLANDIA (Pc), FRANCIA (Pcf), GERMANIA (Pds e Dkp),
GRECIA (Pc-Kke e Synaspismos), ITALIA (Rifondazione comunista, PdCI,
Rete dei comunisti), LETTONIA (Partito socialista), MOLDAVIA (Pc),
POLONIA (Unione comunisti polacchi - proletariat), PORTOGALLO (Pcp),
UNGHERIA (Partito del lavoro), YUGOSLAVIA (Partito socialista serbo,
Partito dei comunisti yugoslavi e Nuovo Pc yugoslavo)... Dagli STATI
UNITI aderisce l'International Action Center di Ramsey Clark. E le
adesioni continuano...
La manifestazione e' aperta a tutte le realta' politiche, sociali,
culturali, religiose, di movimento che si riconoscano nelle sue parole
d'ordine: contro la guerra, contro la NATO.
Per adesioni e maggiori informazioni, politiche e logistiche (viaggio
e alloggio a Praga) rivolgersi alle rispettive organizzazioni
nazionali
IL 9 NOVEMBRE TUTTI A FIRENZE
alla manifestazione contro la guerra del Forum Sociale Europeo
IL 20 NOVEMBRE TUTTI A PRAGA
(da: http://www.lernesto.it/ )
RESISTENZA CONTINUA!
Con l'imminente guerra all'Iraq, in continuità con quella del '91,
della Jugoslavia e dell'Afghanistan, è in atto un'operazione di
destabilizzazione dell'area mediorientale, condotta dall'imperialismo
USA, con il contributo determinante dello Stato sionista israeliano,
teso al controllo diretto delle risorse petrolifere dell'area e
relativi corridoi.
Tale guerra ne prepara altre, insieme alla definitiva soluzione del
problema palestinese con l'annessione israeliana di gran parte dei
territori occupati e il resto ridotto a regime di apartheid, come
riserva di manodopera a basso costo e senza alcun diritto.
Il carattere imperialista della guerra è nella necessità per gli USA
di mantenere la propria egemonia economica con la forza bellica,
rilanciando la spesa militare e la corsa al riarmo a sostegno del
ciclo economico, e pilotare così la fuoriuscita dalla recessione.
Infatti tutta l'economia americana si regge su un enorme processo di
indebitamento, finanziato da tutto il resto del mondo.
La strategia di guerra preventiva, che è anche la forma attuale dello
scontro interimperialistico USA-UE, implica per tutti i paesi, inclusi
quelli europei, la possibilità di essere colpiti dalle politiche di
destabilizzazione degli USA, che cercano di prevenire il formarsi di
potenze competitive o che possano sottrarsi al loro controllo.
Guerra preventiva significa anche un salto di qualità ulteriore nelle
politiche interne di attacco alle condizioni di vita e di lavoro dei
proletari (Precarietà, Patto per l'Italia, abolizione dell'articolo
18, Legge Bossi-Fini ecc.) e nelle misure repressive e di deriva
autoritaria col pretesto della "guerra al terrorismo" nel nostro Paese
come in tutto il mondo.
Come organismi di lotta intendiamo impegnarci nell'ampio movimento
contro la guerra che si va formando, sollecitando ad una presa di
coscienza ed alla resistenza antimperialista.
Proponiamo, in questo contesto, l'unità delle forze antimperialiste in
Italia, nella prospettiva dello sviluppo di un largo fronte
internazionale.
- Non un uomo, non un soldo, né una base per la guerra.
- Pieno sostegno al popolo iracheno, alla resistenza
palestinese e a tutti i popoli in lotta contro l'oppressione
imperialista
- Contro le polizie e gli eserciti dei padroni, le liste nere,
la criminalizzazione degli immigrati e delle lotte sociali, la
repressione dello Stato e il potere manipolatorio dei mass-media.
- Fuori l'Italia dalla Nato, fuori le basi Usa e Nato dal
nostro Paese
L'UNICA GUERRA CHE I POPOLI POSSONO ACCETTARE
È QUELLA PER LA LORO LIBERAZIONE
Domenica 10 novembre - Firenze
ASSEMBLEA
Via Pisana, 809 c/o Casa del Popolo Ponte a Greve
per dare vita ad un percorso stabile e unitario delle forze
antimperialiste
Promotori:
Coordinamento dei Comitati Antimperialisti ed Antifascisti della
Toscana
Assemblea Antimperialista
Comitati contro la guerra - Milano
Centro Popolare Occupato "La Fucina" - Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
Coordinamento Romagnolo contro le guerre e la Nato
Gruppo Zastava - Trieste
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
Comitato contro la guerra - Roma Sud
Compagne e compagni antimperialiste/i di: Bologna, Pordenone, Torino
Soccorso Popolare - Padova
G.A.MA.DI. - Roma
Comitato Provvisorio immigrati in Italia
--------------------------------------
PRAGA 20 NOVEMBRE 2002
Piazza della citta' vecchia (Staromestske Namesti) - ore 14:30
In occasione del vertice atlantico che si terra' il 21-22 novembre
nella capitale ceka per decidere un nuovo allargamento ad Est della
Nato e il suo coinvolgimento nella dottrina di Bush della "guerra
preventiva"
MANIFESTAZIONE EUROPEA
Contro la guerra all'Iraq, contro le guerre di Bush
Contro la NATO e il suo allargamento ad Est
Per un'Europa di pace, di giustizia sociale e di amicizia tra i popoli
Per un'Europa autonoma e neutrale, senza basi militari straniere
La manifestazione e' promossa da Partito comunista della Repubblica
Ceka (KSCM) con altre organizzazioni giovanili, pacifiste, sindacali
del paese, e dal Forum europeo per la pace, con l'adesione - per la
prima volta congiunta, dopo il 1989 - delle maggiori forze comuniste e
di sinistra alternativa di tutta l'Europa (dell'Est e dell'Ovest),
rappresentative di decine di milioni di cittadini europei. Hanno
aderito finora: BELGIO (Pc e Partito del lavoro), BIELORUSSIA (i due
partiti comunisti), BOSNIA (Pc dei lavoratori), BULGARIA (Pcb), CIPRO
(Akel), CROAZIA (Partito socialista operaio), DANIMARCA (i due partiti
comunisti), FINLANDIA (Pc), FRANCIA (Pcf), GERMANIA (Pds e Dkp),
GRECIA (Pc-Kke e Synaspismos), ITALIA (Rifondazione comunista, PdCI,
Rete dei comunisti), LETTONIA (Partito socialista), MOLDAVIA (Pc),
POLONIA (Unione comunisti polacchi - proletariat), PORTOGALLO (Pcp),
UNGHERIA (Partito del lavoro), YUGOSLAVIA (Partito socialista serbo,
Partito dei comunisti yugoslavi e Nuovo Pc yugoslavo)... Dagli STATI
UNITI aderisce l'International Action Center di Ramsey Clark. E le
adesioni continuano...
La manifestazione e' aperta a tutte le realta' politiche, sociali,
culturali, religiose, di movimento che si riconoscano nelle sue parole
d'ordine: contro la guerra, contro la NATO.
Per adesioni e maggiori informazioni, politiche e logistiche (viaggio
e alloggio a Praga) rivolgersi alle rispettive organizzazioni
nazionali
IL 9 NOVEMBRE TUTTI A FIRENZE
alla manifestazione contro la guerra del Forum Sociale Europeo
IL 20 NOVEMBRE TUTTI A PRAGA
(da: http://www.lernesto.it/ )
1. LINKS on the "Yugoslavia-to-Iraq equipment export" scandal
2. AFP dispatches
3. TANJUG and BETA dispatches
=== 1 ===
LINKS
COMMENTARY:
> http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m-col.html
Casus Belli: Balkans The Key To Iraq War? (by Nebojsa Malic)
NEWS AND ARTICLES:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2343355.stm
Sunday, 20 October, 2002, 00:45 GMT 01:45 UK
Bosnia firm 'sold arms illegally'
The Nato inquiry is expected to last several weeks
By Nick Hawton In Sarajevo
> http://breaking.examiner.ie/2002/10/22/story73662.html#
Yugoslav dealer exported equipment to Iraq
> http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/23/38546.html
Yugoslavia Accused of Weapons Sales to Iraq (by Sergey Yugov)
PRAVDA (RUSSIA) 13:53 2002-10-23
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2351795.stm
Wednesday, 23 October, 2002, 00:59 GMT 01:59 UK
Yugoslav officials sacked in arms row
Spare parts for Mig fighters are said to have gone to Iraq
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=
KUO1UKXX2FPY4CRBAEZSFEY?type=search&StoryID=1616602
NATO Gathers Proof of Bosnia Arms Export to Iraq
Last Updated: October 22, 2002 05:51 PM ET
SARAJEVO (Reuters)
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=
search&StoryID=1616531
Yugoslavia Sacks Minister over Arms-To-Iraq Charge
Last Updated: October 22, 2002 05:08 PM ET
By Will Hardie and Nedim Dervisbegovic
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/
20021022/ap_wo_en_po/bosnia_intelligence_service_1
Bosnia's top international official fires head of intelligence service
Tue Oct 22, 8:40 AM ET
By AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2549-2002Oct22.html
THE WASHINGTON POST
U.S. Says Two Serb Firms Are Helping Iraqis
Yugoslav, Bosnian Companies Accused of Repairing Fighters, Sharing
Technology
By Nicholas Wood - Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A24
> http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=345340
THE INDEPENDENT (London)
24 October 2002
Yugoslavia sacks minister in arms to Iraq scandal
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
> http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F
2002%2F10%2F24%2Fwirq324.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=496098
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (London) (Filed: 24/10/2002)
Serbian firms 'in arms deal with Iraq'
By Alex Todorovic in Belgrade
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=
O2LLZL1FLCQOKCRBAELCFEY?type=search&StoryID=1629406
Missile igniter smuggled towards Iraq
Last Updated: October 24, 2002 03:45 PM ET
RIJEKA, Croatia (Reuters)
> http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr2/bcr2_20021024_1_eng.txt
Kostunica Blamed for Iraq Debacle (by Aleksandar Radic)
MORE:
> http://www.vj.yu/english/index.htm
The Yugoslav Army's Official Site - News
=== 2 ===
AFP: NATO uncovers weapons exports by Bosnian company accused of links
to Iraq
SARAJEVO, Oct 19 (AFP) - The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) said
Saturday it uncovered evidence of unreported exports of weapons parts
by a Bosnian Serb military company earlier accused by the
United States of links to Iraq.
"SFOR's preliminary inspection results uncover the existence of a
contract linking the ORAO factory... to the unreported export of
weapons systems components," a press release issued by SFOR said. SFOR
spokesman Yves Vanier declined to provide details, saying more
information will become known in the coming weeks.
The United States informed authorities here in September of its
suspicions that the Orao company, based in the Serb-run part of
Bosnia, was supplying Iraq with spare aircraft parts and that its
staff was travelling there to help with airplane maintenance. The
Bosnian Serb government denied the allegations following an
investigation.
SFOR inspected Orao earlier this month in what they said was a regular
"periodic review and inspection" of the country's military capacities
to ensure compliance with the 1995 Dayton peace accords. It said at
the time that the investigation had nothing to do with the US
allegations.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-1995 war split the
country into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat
Federation. Both entities have separate governments, parliaments,
police and armed forces, and are linked by central institutions. ORAO
comes under the authority of Bosnian Serb military headquarters.
SFOR informed Bosnian Serb authorities of the initial findings and
will also notify the country's central institutions and international
community officials, Vanier said.
AFP Bosnian Serb company sold weapons parts to Iraq via Yugoslavia:
official
SARAJEVO, Oct 22 (AFP) - A Bosnian Serb military company sold weapons
parts to Iraq via a Yugoslav state-controlled company, the country's
top military body confirmed Tuesday.
Stjepan Pocrnja, secretary general of Bosnia's Standing Military
Committee, told Bosnian television that Washington had informed the
body of "illegal activities by Orao (a military company) and its
Yugoslav partner Jugoimport."
"They (the United States) provided us with numerous photos, various
materials ... and a contract confirming" illegal sales of weapons
parts, Pocrnja told Bosnian television.
If confirmed, the sale of weapons parts by Orao to Iraq in violation
of UN Security Council's resolutions would "seriously damage the
international reputation of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Paddy Ashdown, the
top international envoy here, told Bosnian television.
"I hope the Bosnian people will understand that if that was the case,
the most serious actions would need to be taken to protect the
reputation of this country," he added.
Ashdown has wide powers to implement the 1995 Dayton peace accords,
including the power to sack the country's officials.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
The two entities have separate governments, parliaments, police and
armed forces, and are linked by central institutions.
Ashdown's deputy, US diplomat Donald Hays, said earlier Tuesday that
an investigation by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had
revealed that weapons parts sold by Orao ended up in Iraq via a third
party.
"The results so far indicate that there were items shipped (by the
company) to a second party that ended up in Iraq," Hays told
reporters, without elaborating.
The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) earlier said it uncovered
evidence of unreported exports of weapons parts by Orao, saying more
details would become known in the coming weeks.
However, Hays could not say whether Orao intended to export the
weapons parts to Iraq, stressing that the investigation's findings
were not yet confirmed.
"I'm not sure that it is clear that this had any governmental
connection," Hays added.
The United States informed authorities here in September of its
suspicions that Orao (Eagle) -- based in the Serb-run part of Bosnia
and under the authority of the Bosnian Serb military headquarters --
was supplying Iraq with spare aircraft parts and that its staff was
traveling there to help with airplane maintenance.
The Bosnian Serb government denied the allegations following an
investigation.
Hays said that there were "ongoing discussions in various capitals"
about this "serious" issue.
The Serbian interior minister said earlier Tuesday that Serbia, which
along with Montenegro makes up Yugoslavia, has begun an investigation
into press reports that a state-controlled company was involved in
exporting military equipment from Bosnia to Iraq.
Minister Dusan Mihajlovic told Belgrade radio B92 that a "very
serious and thorough probe has been launched" into the reports.
Mihajlovic, who is also chairman of Jugoimport's managing board, said
he had no information on "any exports of weapons to Iraq."
Belgrade launches investigation into sale of military equipment to
Iraq.
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (AFP) - The United States Wednesday welcomed
measures taken by Belgrade to end the sale by a Yugoslav firm of
military equipment to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions, and is urging
the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina to do the same.
"We welcome the steps that were taken yesterday by the government of
Yugoslavia" State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, adding that
the measures were "significant".
He said Washington had offered "its full support and cooperation" to
Yugoslav authorities in the investigation of this case.
Belgrade dismissed two people allegedly involved in the military
transfers and ordered an investigation into Jugoimport, a
state-controlled company suspected of providing Iraq with military
aviation supplies and expertise.
The authorities in Belgrade acted in response to a request by
American
authorities to halt any ongoing cooperation with Iraq, investigate the
sales and prosecute those found responsible for them.
Washington has also asked the authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina to
look into the activities of the Arao Aviation firm in the Bosnian
entity Republika Srpska, also suspected of illegal sales to Iraq.
"We certainly expect the relevant authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina
to
undertake the necessary steps to immediately halt any ongoing
cooperation with Iraq, to conduct a through investigation and to hold
accountable those responsible" Mr Reeker said.
The official said the United States had told Bosnian authorities of
its suspicions in September that Arao -- which is operates under the
aegis of the Bosnian Serb military headquarters.
Boucher said that in addition to violating the UN sanctions, the sales
by Arao contravened the terms of the Dayton Peace Accord which
requires that the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) be informed
about military export activity in Republika Srpska.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
AFP Three Bosnian Serb officials sacked over weapons sales to Iraq
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Oct 24 (AFP) - Three high ranking
Bosnian Serb officials were sacked Thursday over the sale of spare
parts for Iraqi fighter jets in violation of a UN arms embargo,
officials said.
Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic voiced hope that the
dismissals would "prevent further negative consequences" for the
Serb-run entity of Republika Srpska and Bosnia, according to a
statement released after the government held an extraordinary session
over the matter.
The government fired the head of the Bosnian Serb military factory
Orao (Eagle) Milan Prica, Air Force chief Colonel Miljan Vlacic, and
the head of government's weapons trade office Spasoje Orasanin.
Earlier in the day Bosnian Serb authorities said that Orao sold the
parts to Iraq through a Yugoslav state-run company, shifting
attention in the probe to Belgrade.
The government ordered an urgent audit of Orao's finances, while the
defence ministry was told to conduct a thorough investigation into the
case.
Orao was supplying weapons parts to "a country under UN embargo," the
defence ministry admitted in a statement.
"The shipment of weapons parts was done through the (company)
Jugoimport and firms" that Jugoimport is working with in Yugoslavia,
the ministry added.
A Bosnian Serb commission began investigating the company in
September
after the United States alleged that Orao, operating under the
authority of the Bosnian Serb military, was supplying Baghdad with
spare aircraft parts.
The United States also said that Orao employees had travelled to Iraq
to help with airplane maintenance.
According to Nezavisne Novine daily, the NATO-led peacekeeping
Stabilisation Force (SFOR) found during a recent inspection of the
factory a copy of a contract which showed that Orao, based in the
northeastern town of Bijeljina, had shipped weapons parts to Iraq
through Jugoimport.
It was signed by Belgrade-based Jugoimport and Bagdad-based "Al
Bashair Trade Company," the paper reported.
The contract stated that Jugoimport would deliver to Iraq weapons
parts from the Orao aircraft firm and that Orao's employees would
conduct repairs on Iraqi MiG-21 and MiG-29 fighter aircraft in the
period between October 2000 and October 2005, the daily said.
The Bosnian Serb defence ministry said Thursday it was trying to make
a list of tools, spare parts and equipment, which had been delivered
to Jugoimport and its partners.
Belgrade has dismissed two people allegedly involved in the sales and
ordered an investigation into Jugoimport.
The government has said the defence ministry would also be probed
along with Jugoimport, while Serbian police and justice officials
have already launched a full-scale investigation.
Washington said earlier this week it expected both Yugoslavia and
Bosnia to stop the arms transfers, investigate the sales and
prosecute those responsible.
In addition to violating the UN sanctions, Orao's sales to Iraq
contravened the terms of the Dayton peace deal, which requires that
the peacekeepers be informed of all military exports from the
Republika Srpska, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Local analysts warned that the scandal was likely to have negative
consequences for both the Bosnian Serb entity and its army.
Due to the scandal "the reputation of Republika Srpska and its army
will be harmed," a military analyst, Ostoja Barasin, told AFP.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
The two entities, linked by weak central institutions, have separate
governments, parliaments, police and armed forces.
Barasin stressed that the affair could give ground to those political
groups who claim that Bosnia should have a unified army, an idea which
is strongly opposed by Bosnian Serbs.
=== 3 ===
http://www.beta.co.yu/e/
BETA DAILY NEWS
October 23, 2002
Yugoslav Government Holds Emergency Session Following
Reports of Illegal Arms Sale to Iraq -- Kosovo Serbs
from Five Municipalities to Vote in Election -- Hague
Prosecutor Announces Indictments for Crimes in Kosovo
-- Solana Envoys Visit Belgrade, Podgorica --
Montenegrin Legislature to Hold Inaugural Session at
Beginning of November
FR YUGOSLAVIA
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT MEETS ON IRAQI ARMS AFFAIR. The
Yugoslav government fired on Oct. 22 Jugoimport
company GM Jovan Cekovic and Assistant Yugoslav
Defense Minister Gen. Ivan Djokic.
After an emergency session following press reports of
illegal arms sales to Iraq through the Jugoimport
military equipment dealer, the government released a
statement saying that Djokic was dismissed "as the
person in charge of arms and military equipment
trading."
The government called on state institutions to
investigate Jugoimport's trade deals and other weapons
traders as well, to establish if anyone else was
involved.
The government demanded that Jugoimport close its
office in Baghdad.
The federal government also said it would create a
commission to investigate the issue of permits for
arms and military equipment exports.
---
No trade of weapons and military equipment with Iraq, Yugoslav DEFENSE
Ministry
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - Since the return of Yugoslavia into the
United Nations, the Yugoslav Defense Ministry has not received any
request to approve trade in weapons and military equipment with Iraq,
therefore, such trade has not been approved, the Ministry said in
Belgrade on Tuesday.
Regarding indications about the possible violation of the UN
sanctions, not only linked to Iraq, the federal Defense Ministry will
investigate each separate case with the aim of taking measures against
the possible perpetrators and reporting to the corresponding state
organs, the statement said.
The Ministry issued the statement following demands for its reaction
by several media regarding an article in today's issue of the Belgrade
daily Blic entitled "Yugoslav Experts in Iraq."
Yugoslav minister says Jugoimport SDPR scandal causes serious damage
BELGRADE, Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic
said late on Tuesday that the scandal with the SDPR Jugoimport
enterprise had caused a lot of damage to Yugoslavia.
"Just a suspicion that something has been done with Iraq, which is
under sanctions, is reason enough to jeopardize the top state
interests," Zivkovic told the Serbian state television's late night
news broadcast on Tuesday. "So far we have succeeded in finding some
confirmation of this suspicion," he said and added that an
investigation aimed at establishing all details would begin on
Wednesday.
Serbian interior minister denies allegations, announces investigation
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - President of the Jugoimport SDPR JP
company administration board and Serbian Minister of the Interior
Dusan Mihajlovic denied Tuesday allegations by some media on
violations of the UN embargo on exporting military equipment to Iraq,
and announced an investigation of the allegations and
consultations with Yugoslav Premier Dragisa Pesic and Deputy Premier
Miroljub Labus on future measures and activities regarding the affair.
Mihajlovic underlined that since he became Jugoimport SDPR board
president, the board has not discussed any documents containing
information on the export of military equipment to Iraq or on any
engagement of Yugoslav experts in the installation of such equipment
or in troop training in Iraq.
Mihajlovic expressed hope that the affair will soon be cleared up and
that it will not have a negative impact on relations with the UN and
the US in particular.
Jugoimport - SDPR company denies exporting weapons to Iraq
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - The Jugoimport - SDPR company on Tuesday
denied reports in the Belgrade press that it had mediated in the
export of weapons and military equipment to Iraq allegedly
manufactured by the Orao Aircraft Institute of Bjeljina, Republika
Srpska.
"We do not know what is in question because we have no outstanding
contracts for the delivery of goods and services which have the
character of weapons and military equipment to Iraq," a statement said
adding that this company has not signed such contracts since August
1990 when the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq.
"We have strictly adhered to all UN resolutions which introduce
sanctions against Iraq," the statement said.
Jugoimport - SDPR recalled that during the 1970s and 1980s it had
engaged in significant business deals with Iraq which also included
the export of weapons and military equipment, as well as construction
work. This operation was conducted by the Federal Directorate For the
Trade of Special Goods - the legal predecessor of Jugoimport - SDPR.
From that period, there remain debts amounting to 1.2 billion dollars
and very valuable equipment owned by Yugoslav construction companies,
and their protection required that our company retains its offices in
Iraq, the statement said.
Washington calls on Yugoslavia, Bosnia to stop selling arms to Iraq
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Washington on Tuesday called on the
authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia to forbid their
enterprises to sell military equipment to Iraq in violation of UN
sanctions against the country.
The US Administration accused the Orao air institute in Republika
Srpska and the Yugoslav company Jugoimport of supplying military
equipment to Iraq. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
that the US government had strong evidence that the Orao air institute
had been overhauling military aircraft for Iraq in cooperation with
Jugoimport.
The US State Department spokesman said that there were no elements to
indicate any involvement of the Yugoslav and Bosnian governments, or
the involvement of Bosnian Serb authorities.
---
http://www.beta.co.yu/e/
BETA DAILY NEWS
October 24, 2002.
Arms Trade Affair with Iraq Continuing -- USA Approves
Steps Taken By Yugoslav Government -- ICTY President
Reports Yugoslavia to U.N. Security Council -- Still
No Agreement on Constitutional Charter -- Serbian
Constitutional Court Discusses Kostunica Party
Mandates Today -- Incident during High School Student
Protest in Skopje
FR Yugoslavia
REPUBLIKA SRPSKA GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS SELLING WEAPONS
TO IRAQ. The government of Republika Srpska confirmed
on Oct. 23 that the Orao aircraft company from
Bijeljina had violated the embargo on exporting
military equipment to Iraq.
"On the basis of information provided by Republika
Srpska's defense ministry, the Republika Srpska
government has confirmed that the Orao aircraft
company has violated the embargo on exporting military
eqipment to Iraq," government PR Cvijeta Kovacevic
told reporters in Bijeljina.
She said that the government believed that the
responsible people in Orao, the Republika Srpska
general staff and the defense ministry must be
punished, which is under the authority of the
Republika Srpska's Supreme Defense Council.
The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia said that the U.S. has
clear proof that the company from Bijeljina together
with the Yugoslav company Yugoimport provided
maintenance for aircrafts exported to Iraq.
The U.S. Embassy delivered the information to senior
officials in Bosnia, Republika Srpska and Yugoslavia,
who have promised in turn to carry out a detailed
investigation into the issue.
The U.S. expect the relevant institutions in Bosnia
and Yugoslavia to take the necessary steps to
immediately stop any kind of cooperation with Iraq, to
conduct a detailed investigation and to bring the
persons responsible to justice.
The Belgrade daily Blic of Oct. 22 says that SFOR
members recently found ample evidence in the Orao
plant and the Obarska sugar plant in Bijeljina,
showing that despite the UN sanctions, a large
quantity of military equipment has been exported to
Iraq through the Belgrade-based export company
Jugoimport.
At a closed session last night, the Yugoslav
government dismissed Jugoimport's manager Jovan
Cekovic and Yugoslav defense ministry official, Gen.
Ivan Djokic.
KOSTUNICA ON ARMS TRADE WITH IRAQ. On Oct. 23,
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica described as
"unpleasant" the arms trade affair of the Yugoslav
Jugoimport SDRP company with Iraq. However, Kostunica
said that the affair "cannot cause drastic harm the
country's reputation."
"Unfortunately, this affair has been also used for
launching new attacks on the federal authorities, the
Yugoslav Army, and myself, which are as absurd as all
the previous ones," said Kostunica.
"The country's reputation cannot be drastically
affected by a case that has been discovered and
promptly been placed under investigation. However, the
country's reputation, or better to say, the remains of
that reputation, after what are mostly fabricated
affairs, can be harmed by the campaign of backbiting
and tale-bearing at the expense of the federal bodies,
in which both republics are directly involved in a
swift and synchronized fashion," stressed the Yugoslav
president.
DJINDJIC: IRAQ AFFAIR HARMFUL TO COUNTRY'S REPUTATION.
Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic said on Oct. 23 that
the affair concerning the export of weapons to Iraq
through the Jugoimport company was extremely harmful
to the country's international reputation, there being
no civilian control over the army in Yugoslavia.
Djindjic said that the country's international image,
which has been greatly enhanced over the last two
years, "can now be endangered."
"All those who spoil our image, are working against
the country's interests. What we least need at the
moment when the world is divided into countries who
are fighting against terrorism and those who cooperate
with terrorists, is to be grouped with the latter,"
said the Serbian premier.
He said that the President of Yugoslavia was
responsible for all issues connected with the army and
raised the question of civilian control over the army.
Member of the Atlantic Council of Yugoslavia steering
committee, Zoran Ostojic said on Oct. 23 that an
investigation should be carried out to establish
responsibility for the export of large quantities of
military equipment to Iraq.
"If we manage to react quickly and learn from this
experience, the consequences for the country's
international reputation does not have to be
devastating," Ostojic told BETA.
Asked whether "the Jugoimport affair" can slow down
Yugoslavia's admission to the Partnership for Peace,
Ostojic said that it depends on the state's stand on
the issue and other requirements of the partnership.
"Partnership means sharing the same values - respect
for human rights, adherence to UN resolutions
prohibiting trade with certain countries and respect
for commitments to The Hague Tribunal. We cannot say
that we have achieved anything significant in these
fields," said Ostojic.
---
YUGOSLAV LEFT OFFICIAL IS NOT ADVISOR AT YUGOSLAV EMBASSY IN IRAQ
BELGRADE, Oct 23 (Beta) - The Yugoslav foreign ministry stated on Oct.
23 that the former foreign trade minister, Borisa Vukovic, was not an
advisor at Yugoslavia's embassy in Baghdad.
The ministry views as necessary, for the sake of truth, to point out
that not only is Vukovic is not an advisor at our embassy in Iraq, but
also that his employment with this ministry was terminated in November
1992," it was said in the statement. Meanwhile, the Belgrade firm
Jugoimport closed down its office in Iraq, as the Yugoslav government
had ordered.
After the dismissal of Jugoimport's director and the official in the
Yugoslav Defense Ministry, the United States approved the steps the
Yugoslav government had taken regarding this affair.
According to reports in the Blic daily about illegal arms trade with
Iraq, Vukovic issued permits for such deals as an advisor at the
Yugoslav Embassy in Iraq. Vukovic is a member of the Yugoslav Left,
whose leader is Mirjana Markovic, the wife of the former Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic.
A Yugoslav Left official, Dragana Kuzmanovic, confirmed that Vukovic
was in Iraq, but said that she did not know what he was doing there.
2. AFP dispatches
3. TANJUG and BETA dispatches
=== 1 ===
LINKS
COMMENTARY:
> http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m-col.html
Casus Belli: Balkans The Key To Iraq War? (by Nebojsa Malic)
NEWS AND ARTICLES:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2343355.stm
Sunday, 20 October, 2002, 00:45 GMT 01:45 UK
Bosnia firm 'sold arms illegally'
The Nato inquiry is expected to last several weeks
By Nick Hawton In Sarajevo
> http://breaking.examiner.ie/2002/10/22/story73662.html#
Yugoslav dealer exported equipment to Iraq
> http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/23/38546.html
Yugoslavia Accused of Weapons Sales to Iraq (by Sergey Yugov)
PRAVDA (RUSSIA) 13:53 2002-10-23
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2351795.stm
Wednesday, 23 October, 2002, 00:59 GMT 01:59 UK
Yugoslav officials sacked in arms row
Spare parts for Mig fighters are said to have gone to Iraq
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=
KUO1UKXX2FPY4CRBAEZSFEY?type=search&StoryID=1616602
NATO Gathers Proof of Bosnia Arms Export to Iraq
Last Updated: October 22, 2002 05:51 PM ET
SARAJEVO (Reuters)
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=
search&StoryID=1616531
Yugoslavia Sacks Minister over Arms-To-Iraq Charge
Last Updated: October 22, 2002 05:08 PM ET
By Will Hardie and Nedim Dervisbegovic
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/
20021022/ap_wo_en_po/bosnia_intelligence_service_1
Bosnia's top international official fires head of intelligence service
Tue Oct 22, 8:40 AM ET
By AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2549-2002Oct22.html
THE WASHINGTON POST
U.S. Says Two Serb Firms Are Helping Iraqis
Yugoslav, Bosnian Companies Accused of Repairing Fighters, Sharing
Technology
By Nicholas Wood - Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A24
> http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=345340
THE INDEPENDENT (London)
24 October 2002
Yugoslavia sacks minister in arms to Iraq scandal
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
> http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F
2002%2F10%2F24%2Fwirq324.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=496098
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (London) (Filed: 24/10/2002)
Serbian firms 'in arms deal with Iraq'
By Alex Todorovic in Belgrade
> http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=
O2LLZL1FLCQOKCRBAELCFEY?type=search&StoryID=1629406
Missile igniter smuggled towards Iraq
Last Updated: October 24, 2002 03:45 PM ET
RIJEKA, Croatia (Reuters)
> http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr2/bcr2_20021024_1_eng.txt
Kostunica Blamed for Iraq Debacle (by Aleksandar Radic)
MORE:
> http://www.vj.yu/english/index.htm
The Yugoslav Army's Official Site - News
=== 2 ===
AFP: NATO uncovers weapons exports by Bosnian company accused of links
to Iraq
SARAJEVO, Oct 19 (AFP) - The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) said
Saturday it uncovered evidence of unreported exports of weapons parts
by a Bosnian Serb military company earlier accused by the
United States of links to Iraq.
"SFOR's preliminary inspection results uncover the existence of a
contract linking the ORAO factory... to the unreported export of
weapons systems components," a press release issued by SFOR said. SFOR
spokesman Yves Vanier declined to provide details, saying more
information will become known in the coming weeks.
The United States informed authorities here in September of its
suspicions that the Orao company, based in the Serb-run part of
Bosnia, was supplying Iraq with spare aircraft parts and that its
staff was travelling there to help with airplane maintenance. The
Bosnian Serb government denied the allegations following an
investigation.
SFOR inspected Orao earlier this month in what they said was a regular
"periodic review and inspection" of the country's military capacities
to ensure compliance with the 1995 Dayton peace accords. It said at
the time that the investigation had nothing to do with the US
allegations.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-1995 war split the
country into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat
Federation. Both entities have separate governments, parliaments,
police and armed forces, and are linked by central institutions. ORAO
comes under the authority of Bosnian Serb military headquarters.
SFOR informed Bosnian Serb authorities of the initial findings and
will also notify the country's central institutions and international
community officials, Vanier said.
AFP Bosnian Serb company sold weapons parts to Iraq via Yugoslavia:
official
SARAJEVO, Oct 22 (AFP) - A Bosnian Serb military company sold weapons
parts to Iraq via a Yugoslav state-controlled company, the country's
top military body confirmed Tuesday.
Stjepan Pocrnja, secretary general of Bosnia's Standing Military
Committee, told Bosnian television that Washington had informed the
body of "illegal activities by Orao (a military company) and its
Yugoslav partner Jugoimport."
"They (the United States) provided us with numerous photos, various
materials ... and a contract confirming" illegal sales of weapons
parts, Pocrnja told Bosnian television.
If confirmed, the sale of weapons parts by Orao to Iraq in violation
of UN Security Council's resolutions would "seriously damage the
international reputation of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Paddy Ashdown, the
top international envoy here, told Bosnian television.
"I hope the Bosnian people will understand that if that was the case,
the most serious actions would need to be taken to protect the
reputation of this country," he added.
Ashdown has wide powers to implement the 1995 Dayton peace accords,
including the power to sack the country's officials.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
The two entities have separate governments, parliaments, police and
armed forces, and are linked by central institutions.
Ashdown's deputy, US diplomat Donald Hays, said earlier Tuesday that
an investigation by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had
revealed that weapons parts sold by Orao ended up in Iraq via a third
party.
"The results so far indicate that there were items shipped (by the
company) to a second party that ended up in Iraq," Hays told
reporters, without elaborating.
The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) earlier said it uncovered
evidence of unreported exports of weapons parts by Orao, saying more
details would become known in the coming weeks.
However, Hays could not say whether Orao intended to export the
weapons parts to Iraq, stressing that the investigation's findings
were not yet confirmed.
"I'm not sure that it is clear that this had any governmental
connection," Hays added.
The United States informed authorities here in September of its
suspicions that Orao (Eagle) -- based in the Serb-run part of Bosnia
and under the authority of the Bosnian Serb military headquarters --
was supplying Iraq with spare aircraft parts and that its staff was
traveling there to help with airplane maintenance.
The Bosnian Serb government denied the allegations following an
investigation.
Hays said that there were "ongoing discussions in various capitals"
about this "serious" issue.
The Serbian interior minister said earlier Tuesday that Serbia, which
along with Montenegro makes up Yugoslavia, has begun an investigation
into press reports that a state-controlled company was involved in
exporting military equipment from Bosnia to Iraq.
Minister Dusan Mihajlovic told Belgrade radio B92 that a "very
serious and thorough probe has been launched" into the reports.
Mihajlovic, who is also chairman of Jugoimport's managing board, said
he had no information on "any exports of weapons to Iraq."
Belgrade launches investigation into sale of military equipment to
Iraq.
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (AFP) - The United States Wednesday welcomed
measures taken by Belgrade to end the sale by a Yugoslav firm of
military equipment to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions, and is urging
the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina to do the same.
"We welcome the steps that were taken yesterday by the government of
Yugoslavia" State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, adding that
the measures were "significant".
He said Washington had offered "its full support and cooperation" to
Yugoslav authorities in the investigation of this case.
Belgrade dismissed two people allegedly involved in the military
transfers and ordered an investigation into Jugoimport, a
state-controlled company suspected of providing Iraq with military
aviation supplies and expertise.
The authorities in Belgrade acted in response to a request by
American
authorities to halt any ongoing cooperation with Iraq, investigate the
sales and prosecute those found responsible for them.
Washington has also asked the authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina to
look into the activities of the Arao Aviation firm in the Bosnian
entity Republika Srpska, also suspected of illegal sales to Iraq.
"We certainly expect the relevant authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina
to
undertake the necessary steps to immediately halt any ongoing
cooperation with Iraq, to conduct a through investigation and to hold
accountable those responsible" Mr Reeker said.
The official said the United States had told Bosnian authorities of
its suspicions in September that Arao -- which is operates under the
aegis of the Bosnian Serb military headquarters.
Boucher said that in addition to violating the UN sanctions, the sales
by Arao contravened the terms of the Dayton Peace Accord which
requires that the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) be informed
about military export activity in Republika Srpska.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
AFP Three Bosnian Serb officials sacked over weapons sales to Iraq
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Oct 24 (AFP) - Three high ranking
Bosnian Serb officials were sacked Thursday over the sale of spare
parts for Iraqi fighter jets in violation of a UN arms embargo,
officials said.
Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic voiced hope that the
dismissals would "prevent further negative consequences" for the
Serb-run entity of Republika Srpska and Bosnia, according to a
statement released after the government held an extraordinary session
over the matter.
The government fired the head of the Bosnian Serb military factory
Orao (Eagle) Milan Prica, Air Force chief Colonel Miljan Vlacic, and
the head of government's weapons trade office Spasoje Orasanin.
Earlier in the day Bosnian Serb authorities said that Orao sold the
parts to Iraq through a Yugoslav state-run company, shifting
attention in the probe to Belgrade.
The government ordered an urgent audit of Orao's finances, while the
defence ministry was told to conduct a thorough investigation into the
case.
Orao was supplying weapons parts to "a country under UN embargo," the
defence ministry admitted in a statement.
"The shipment of weapons parts was done through the (company)
Jugoimport and firms" that Jugoimport is working with in Yugoslavia,
the ministry added.
A Bosnian Serb commission began investigating the company in
September
after the United States alleged that Orao, operating under the
authority of the Bosnian Serb military, was supplying Baghdad with
spare aircraft parts.
The United States also said that Orao employees had travelled to Iraq
to help with airplane maintenance.
According to Nezavisne Novine daily, the NATO-led peacekeeping
Stabilisation Force (SFOR) found during a recent inspection of the
factory a copy of a contract which showed that Orao, based in the
northeastern town of Bijeljina, had shipped weapons parts to Iraq
through Jugoimport.
It was signed by Belgrade-based Jugoimport and Bagdad-based "Al
Bashair Trade Company," the paper reported.
The contract stated that Jugoimport would deliver to Iraq weapons
parts from the Orao aircraft firm and that Orao's employees would
conduct repairs on Iraqi MiG-21 and MiG-29 fighter aircraft in the
period between October 2000 and October 2005, the daily said.
The Bosnian Serb defence ministry said Thursday it was trying to make
a list of tools, spare parts and equipment, which had been delivered
to Jugoimport and its partners.
Belgrade has dismissed two people allegedly involved in the sales and
ordered an investigation into Jugoimport.
The government has said the defence ministry would also be probed
along with Jugoimport, while Serbian police and justice officials
have already launched a full-scale investigation.
Washington said earlier this week it expected both Yugoslavia and
Bosnia to stop the arms transfers, investigate the sales and
prosecute those responsible.
In addition to violating the UN sanctions, Orao's sales to Iraq
contravened the terms of the Dayton peace deal, which requires that
the peacekeepers be informed of all military exports from the
Republika Srpska, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Local analysts warned that the scandal was likely to have negative
consequences for both the Bosnian Serb entity and its army.
Due to the scandal "the reputation of Republika Srpska and its army
will be harmed," a military analyst, Ostoja Barasin, told AFP.
The 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war split the country
into the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
The two entities, linked by weak central institutions, have separate
governments, parliaments, police and armed forces.
Barasin stressed that the affair could give ground to those political
groups who claim that Bosnia should have a unified army, an idea which
is strongly opposed by Bosnian Serbs.
=== 3 ===
http://www.beta.co.yu/e/
BETA DAILY NEWS
October 23, 2002
Yugoslav Government Holds Emergency Session Following
Reports of Illegal Arms Sale to Iraq -- Kosovo Serbs
from Five Municipalities to Vote in Election -- Hague
Prosecutor Announces Indictments for Crimes in Kosovo
-- Solana Envoys Visit Belgrade, Podgorica --
Montenegrin Legislature to Hold Inaugural Session at
Beginning of November
FR YUGOSLAVIA
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT MEETS ON IRAQI ARMS AFFAIR. The
Yugoslav government fired on Oct. 22 Jugoimport
company GM Jovan Cekovic and Assistant Yugoslav
Defense Minister Gen. Ivan Djokic.
After an emergency session following press reports of
illegal arms sales to Iraq through the Jugoimport
military equipment dealer, the government released a
statement saying that Djokic was dismissed "as the
person in charge of arms and military equipment
trading."
The government called on state institutions to
investigate Jugoimport's trade deals and other weapons
traders as well, to establish if anyone else was
involved.
The government demanded that Jugoimport close its
office in Baghdad.
The federal government also said it would create a
commission to investigate the issue of permits for
arms and military equipment exports.
---
No trade of weapons and military equipment with Iraq, Yugoslav DEFENSE
Ministry
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - Since the return of Yugoslavia into the
United Nations, the Yugoslav Defense Ministry has not received any
request to approve trade in weapons and military equipment with Iraq,
therefore, such trade has not been approved, the Ministry said in
Belgrade on Tuesday.
Regarding indications about the possible violation of the UN
sanctions, not only linked to Iraq, the federal Defense Ministry will
investigate each separate case with the aim of taking measures against
the possible perpetrators and reporting to the corresponding state
organs, the statement said.
The Ministry issued the statement following demands for its reaction
by several media regarding an article in today's issue of the Belgrade
daily Blic entitled "Yugoslav Experts in Iraq."
Yugoslav minister says Jugoimport SDPR scandal causes serious damage
BELGRADE, Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic
said late on Tuesday that the scandal with the SDPR Jugoimport
enterprise had caused a lot of damage to Yugoslavia.
"Just a suspicion that something has been done with Iraq, which is
under sanctions, is reason enough to jeopardize the top state
interests," Zivkovic told the Serbian state television's late night
news broadcast on Tuesday. "So far we have succeeded in finding some
confirmation of this suspicion," he said and added that an
investigation aimed at establishing all details would begin on
Wednesday.
Serbian interior minister denies allegations, announces investigation
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - President of the Jugoimport SDPR JP
company administration board and Serbian Minister of the Interior
Dusan Mihajlovic denied Tuesday allegations by some media on
violations of the UN embargo on exporting military equipment to Iraq,
and announced an investigation of the allegations and
consultations with Yugoslav Premier Dragisa Pesic and Deputy Premier
Miroljub Labus on future measures and activities regarding the affair.
Mihajlovic underlined that since he became Jugoimport SDPR board
president, the board has not discussed any documents containing
information on the export of military equipment to Iraq or on any
engagement of Yugoslav experts in the installation of such equipment
or in troop training in Iraq.
Mihajlovic expressed hope that the affair will soon be cleared up and
that it will not have a negative impact on relations with the UN and
the US in particular.
Jugoimport - SDPR company denies exporting weapons to Iraq
BELGRADE, Oct 22 (Tanjug) - The Jugoimport - SDPR company on Tuesday
denied reports in the Belgrade press that it had mediated in the
export of weapons and military equipment to Iraq allegedly
manufactured by the Orao Aircraft Institute of Bjeljina, Republika
Srpska.
"We do not know what is in question because we have no outstanding
contracts for the delivery of goods and services which have the
character of weapons and military equipment to Iraq," a statement said
adding that this company has not signed such contracts since August
1990 when the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq.
"We have strictly adhered to all UN resolutions which introduce
sanctions against Iraq," the statement said.
Jugoimport - SDPR recalled that during the 1970s and 1980s it had
engaged in significant business deals with Iraq which also included
the export of weapons and military equipment, as well as construction
work. This operation was conducted by the Federal Directorate For the
Trade of Special Goods - the legal predecessor of Jugoimport - SDPR.
From that period, there remain debts amounting to 1.2 billion dollars
and very valuable equipment owned by Yugoslav construction companies,
and their protection required that our company retains its offices in
Iraq, the statement said.
Washington calls on Yugoslavia, Bosnia to stop selling arms to Iraq
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Washington on Tuesday called on the
authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia to forbid their
enterprises to sell military equipment to Iraq in violation of UN
sanctions against the country.
The US Administration accused the Orao air institute in Republika
Srpska and the Yugoslav company Jugoimport of supplying military
equipment to Iraq. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
that the US government had strong evidence that the Orao air institute
had been overhauling military aircraft for Iraq in cooperation with
Jugoimport.
The US State Department spokesman said that there were no elements to
indicate any involvement of the Yugoslav and Bosnian governments, or
the involvement of Bosnian Serb authorities.
---
http://www.beta.co.yu/e/
BETA DAILY NEWS
October 24, 2002.
Arms Trade Affair with Iraq Continuing -- USA Approves
Steps Taken By Yugoslav Government -- ICTY President
Reports Yugoslavia to U.N. Security Council -- Still
No Agreement on Constitutional Charter -- Serbian
Constitutional Court Discusses Kostunica Party
Mandates Today -- Incident during High School Student
Protest in Skopje
FR Yugoslavia
REPUBLIKA SRPSKA GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS SELLING WEAPONS
TO IRAQ. The government of Republika Srpska confirmed
on Oct. 23 that the Orao aircraft company from
Bijeljina had violated the embargo on exporting
military equipment to Iraq.
"On the basis of information provided by Republika
Srpska's defense ministry, the Republika Srpska
government has confirmed that the Orao aircraft
company has violated the embargo on exporting military
eqipment to Iraq," government PR Cvijeta Kovacevic
told reporters in Bijeljina.
She said that the government believed that the
responsible people in Orao, the Republika Srpska
general staff and the defense ministry must be
punished, which is under the authority of the
Republika Srpska's Supreme Defense Council.
The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia said that the U.S. has
clear proof that the company from Bijeljina together
with the Yugoslav company Yugoimport provided
maintenance for aircrafts exported to Iraq.
The U.S. Embassy delivered the information to senior
officials in Bosnia, Republika Srpska and Yugoslavia,
who have promised in turn to carry out a detailed
investigation into the issue.
The U.S. expect the relevant institutions in Bosnia
and Yugoslavia to take the necessary steps to
immediately stop any kind of cooperation with Iraq, to
conduct a detailed investigation and to bring the
persons responsible to justice.
The Belgrade daily Blic of Oct. 22 says that SFOR
members recently found ample evidence in the Orao
plant and the Obarska sugar plant in Bijeljina,
showing that despite the UN sanctions, a large
quantity of military equipment has been exported to
Iraq through the Belgrade-based export company
Jugoimport.
At a closed session last night, the Yugoslav
government dismissed Jugoimport's manager Jovan
Cekovic and Yugoslav defense ministry official, Gen.
Ivan Djokic.
KOSTUNICA ON ARMS TRADE WITH IRAQ. On Oct. 23,
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica described as
"unpleasant" the arms trade affair of the Yugoslav
Jugoimport SDRP company with Iraq. However, Kostunica
said that the affair "cannot cause drastic harm the
country's reputation."
"Unfortunately, this affair has been also used for
launching new attacks on the federal authorities, the
Yugoslav Army, and myself, which are as absurd as all
the previous ones," said Kostunica.
"The country's reputation cannot be drastically
affected by a case that has been discovered and
promptly been placed under investigation. However, the
country's reputation, or better to say, the remains of
that reputation, after what are mostly fabricated
affairs, can be harmed by the campaign of backbiting
and tale-bearing at the expense of the federal bodies,
in which both republics are directly involved in a
swift and synchronized fashion," stressed the Yugoslav
president.
DJINDJIC: IRAQ AFFAIR HARMFUL TO COUNTRY'S REPUTATION.
Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic said on Oct. 23 that
the affair concerning the export of weapons to Iraq
through the Jugoimport company was extremely harmful
to the country's international reputation, there being
no civilian control over the army in Yugoslavia.
Djindjic said that the country's international image,
which has been greatly enhanced over the last two
years, "can now be endangered."
"All those who spoil our image, are working against
the country's interests. What we least need at the
moment when the world is divided into countries who
are fighting against terrorism and those who cooperate
with terrorists, is to be grouped with the latter,"
said the Serbian premier.
He said that the President of Yugoslavia was
responsible for all issues connected with the army and
raised the question of civilian control over the army.
Member of the Atlantic Council of Yugoslavia steering
committee, Zoran Ostojic said on Oct. 23 that an
investigation should be carried out to establish
responsibility for the export of large quantities of
military equipment to Iraq.
"If we manage to react quickly and learn from this
experience, the consequences for the country's
international reputation does not have to be
devastating," Ostojic told BETA.
Asked whether "the Jugoimport affair" can slow down
Yugoslavia's admission to the Partnership for Peace,
Ostojic said that it depends on the state's stand on
the issue and other requirements of the partnership.
"Partnership means sharing the same values - respect
for human rights, adherence to UN resolutions
prohibiting trade with certain countries and respect
for commitments to The Hague Tribunal. We cannot say
that we have achieved anything significant in these
fields," said Ostojic.
---
YUGOSLAV LEFT OFFICIAL IS NOT ADVISOR AT YUGOSLAV EMBASSY IN IRAQ
BELGRADE, Oct 23 (Beta) - The Yugoslav foreign ministry stated on Oct.
23 that the former foreign trade minister, Borisa Vukovic, was not an
advisor at Yugoslavia's embassy in Baghdad.
The ministry views as necessary, for the sake of truth, to point out
that not only is Vukovic is not an advisor at our embassy in Iraq, but
also that his employment with this ministry was terminated in November
1992," it was said in the statement. Meanwhile, the Belgrade firm
Jugoimport closed down its office in Iraq, as the Yugoslav government
had ordered.
After the dismissal of Jugoimport's director and the official in the
Yugoslav Defense Ministry, the United States approved the steps the
Yugoslav government had taken regarding this affair.
According to reports in the Blic daily about illegal arms trade with
Iraq, Vukovic issued permits for such deals as an advisor at the
Yugoslav Embassy in Iraq. Vukovic is a member of the Yugoslav Left,
whose leader is Mirjana Markovic, the wife of the former Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic.
A Yugoslav Left official, Dragana Kuzmanovic, confirmed that Vukovic
was in Iraq, but said that she did not know what he was doing there.
1. LET'S GO SHOPPING FOR SNIPER RIFLES (The New York Times)
2. THE ROMA AND "HUMANITARIAN" ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO (Dissident
Voice)
LINKS to documents and news on Kosmet's hell:
Source: UN Security Council - Date: 9 Oct 2002
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2002/1126)
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vID/1CCD470704F300FB85256C5600679068?OpenDocument
Source: Council of Europe
THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION in Kosovo-Metohija
http://www.commissioner.coe.int/docs/CommDH(2002)11_E.pdf
U.N. police in Kosovo make record drugs haul (Reuters, Sept 29, 2002)
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_30/21.html
U.N. police crack down on prostitution, drugs in Kosovo (AP 1/10/02)
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_30/24.html
Appeal of the expelled Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, OEA, October 1st
2002
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/October_01/5.html
RIA "Novosti": Everything`s Fine in Kosovo? (by Valentin Kunin)
http://www.artel.co.yu/en/izbor/jugoslavija/2002-10-19_2.html
Report: Church deeply hurt by the behavor or the U.S. KFOR
http://www.kosovo.com/rep191002.html
New pressures on Visoki Decani monastery
http://www.kosovo.com/news.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/opinion/20SULL.html
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Sunday, October 20, 2002
Shopping for Sniper Rifles
By STACY SULLIVAN
When a sniper began shooting down people in suburban Maryland and
Virginia earlier this month, followed by possible copycat shootings on
Long Island last weekend, I wondered why it hadn't happened sooner.
For the past three years, I have been doing research for a book on how a
group of Kosovar Albanian émigrés in New York City helped build a
guerrilla army by raising money and buying and shipping high-powered
rifles from the United States to the Balkans. In March 2001, I
accompanied one of the key fund-raisers for the Kosovo Liberation Army
to a gun show in suburban Pennsylvania. Sports utility vehicles with
"Sportsmen for Bush" bumper stickers lined the parking lot. Inside, a
throng of people - mostly young men, but also a surprising number of
families with children - strolled past tables laden with AK-47's, M-16
assault rifles, sniper rifles, handguns, flat and round bullets,
brochures for
the National Rifle Association, silencers, night scopes, knives,
Japanese
swords, muskets, daggers, even a couple of anti-aircraft guns, as well
as
paraphernalia from the Civil War, World War I and World War II.
One gun dealer showed me a .32-caliber Thompson automatic weapon that
shoots 32 rounds in less than 2.5 seconds. Another showed me a
.22-caliber
Bushmaster gun with a silencer that was described as "deadly quiet." The
most impressive gun, however, was the .50-caliber high-powered Barrett
sniper rifle. With the .50-caliber rifle, the dealer told me, a good
marksman can kill a large animal from two miles away and an amateur
could probably shoot a person from a mile away. He said he had armor-
piercing, tracer and incendiary .50-caliber bullets available that could
bring down a helicopter. The rifle was going for about $5,000.
As I looked at the gun, my K.L.A. companion beckoned me over to another
stand where a woman was selling a Barrett knock-off, a .50-caliber
sniper rifle made by Armalite that was selling for just $2,495. The
dealer
told me all I had to do was hand over my driver's license for an "Insta-
Check."
"They call this an Insta-Check, but really it takes about 15 minutes,"
she said, referring to the background check she would have to do. As
long
as I didn't have a criminal record or live in the "People's Republic of
New
York City," so called among gun dealers because it's one of the few
cities
where it is illegal to possess any kind of firearm without a permit, the
gun
would be mine. I told her I did live in New York City, but that my
driver's license was issued in California. In that case, she said, I'd
probably be fine.
The K.L.A. member bought a sniper rifle that day, along with a few other
guns. Those weapons were promptly shipped overseas to Kosovo and
Macedonia, another example of American gun laws inadvertently fueling
foreign conflicts.
Ever since that day at the Pennsylvania gun show, I've wondered how hard
it would be to use one of those high-powered sniper-rifles. Last week,
in
a Times report, a retired New York City police detective and security
executive, Richard Dietl, cleared that up a little. He said it took him
one afternoon to teach his 12-year-old son how to hit a target in the
torso from 200 yards away.
The ease with which one can buy weapons at gun shows has not gone
unnoticed by groups like Al Qaeda, which pointed this out in one of its
training manuals. According to the Violence Policy Center, a gun control
advocacy group, Osama bin Laden's agents in the United States purchased
25 high-powered sniper rifles to use in their war against the Soviets in
Afghanistan in the late 1980's. What would stop them from using the guns
against us at home?
We have no idea whether the suburban sniper on the loose inside the
Beltway is a foreign terrorist. It is clear, however, that our gun laws
not only inadvertently fuel foreign conflicts but also enable terrorists
to purchase guns to launch attacks against people on American soil.
Gun control advocates have called for the creation of a ballistic
imaging system to help law enforcement officers trace ammunition
to the guns used to fire them. However, such a high-tech system
would be of little use to law enforcement if the gunman bought his
weapon more than three months before using it. Federal law mandates
that background checks on gun buyers be kept on record for only 90
days, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has proposed shortening
that time to 24 hours. The ability to trace the sniper's 223-caliber
rifle and examine background-check records on the person who
purchased it would be invaluable to the police investigation. Without
it, I can't help wondering how many more victims there will be.
Stacy Sullivan is the author of the forthcoming "From Brooklyn to Kosovo
with Love and Guns."
letters@...
=== 2 ===
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Rifati_Kosovo.htm
The Roma and "Humanitarian" Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo
by Sani Rifati
Dissident Voice, October 13, 2002
I am a Rom (more commonly known as "Gypsy") who was born in
Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and lived in Pristina (the capital of the Kosovo
region) for 27 years. In the summer of 2000, ten years later, I was
only 30 miles away in Macedonia but I could not visit the town where
I lived most of my life. This was more than three years after the
"humanitarian bombing" by U.S.-NATO forces and escalation of
ethnic conflict began in Kosovo on March 24th, 1999.
But it was still too dangerous for me, as a dark-skinned "Madjupi"
(Albanian term connoting "lower than garbage"), to set foot inside of
Kosovo.
Finally, the day arrived (May 2nd, 2002) when I could visit my place
of birth, the place of so many memories from my youth. But that
place--where I grew up with my four brothers and one sister,
cousins, relatives, neighbors, friends--no longer existed. Everything
had been wiped away. The new and renovated houses, villas, gas
stations, motels, all built in the past three years by the triumphant
ethnic Albanians, made Kosovo look like a foreign country to me.
I didn't know what to feel in that moment of returning. Fear,
happiness, anger, sadness?
The paradox that crossed my mind was that all this rebuilding is
being sponsored by international relief agencies and financed by
development and investment companies with such well-known heads
as Dick Cheney and George Soros. Meanwhile the Roma, Serbs, Gorani,
Bosnians, Turks and other minorities in Kosovo are starving! While
most of these international institutions were bragging about "free and
democratic Kosovo," these peoples were forced to abandon their
homes, suffering a "humanitarian" supported ethnic cleansing
that has been virtually invisible to the rest of the world. The ironic
consequence of NATO/US rescue of oppressed Albanians is that they
then became oppressors themselves.
This May, as President of Voice of Roma (VOR), I led a trip to Kosovo
with delegates representing human rights, refugee assistance, and
peace groups from the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Holland. Most
people working in such organizations think that Kosovo is free
now, and that its people are living in harmony and peace. They are
surprised when I inform them that the ethnic minorities in Kosovo
are still fleeing. I wanted them to witness with their own eyes what
is going on there.
The delegates were housed in the Romani communities, south of
Pristina. Each family hosted two or more delegates. The delegates spent
time with and got to know people who had been caught in heavy crossfire
between Serbs and Albanians, suffered from the heavy bombing by
NATO's U.S.-led forces, and experienced discrimination by K-FOR
forces, the U.N. Police, international non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), and Western European foreign policies. The delegates were
appalled by the stories they heard and shocked at the conditions under
which the Kosovo Roma were living.
Since NATO's "peace-keepers" arrived in Kosovo, more than 300,000
ethnic minorities have been "cleansed" from the region by extremist
Albanians. It has been more than a year since the U.N. Interim
Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) or the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released any statements about
human rights abuses of minorities in Kosovo. Surprisingly, such
NGOs as Doctors Without Borders (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize),
the International Red Cross, Oxfam, and many more have failed the
ethnic minorities in Kosovo by not addressing their problems.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are alone in reporting
on minority human rights abuses in Kosovo.
My question is: If NATO's so-called humanitarian bombing was to
stop "ethnic cleansing," why are the same Western powers now so
unwilling to intervene on behalf of the actual ethnic cleansing of
Romani people and other minorities in Kosovo?
The ethnic cleansing of the Roma since U.N. peace-keepers arrived
in June 12th of 1999 has resulted in more than 75% of this population
(over 100,000 Romani people) fleeing Kosovo. Still the media and the
international "humanitarian" community are silent. U.S. and Western
media did not catch any of these events on their radar screens, or
rather
willingly ignored these horrors. (See our report The Current Plight
of the Roma in Kosovo, available from Voice of Roma, P.O. Box 514,
Sebastopol, CA 95473.)
[Foto: Crkvena Vodica village just outside the capital Prishtina.
94 Romani homes were destroyed by Albanians after the 1999 US-NATO
bombings.]
The majority of the Roma who are left in Kosovo (25,000 out of a
prewar population of 150,000) are internal refugees, but they do not
have the official status of refugees. Instead these Roma are labeled
"internally-displaced persons" (IDPs), with fewer recognized rights
than refugees, and are restricted to camps with very poor facilities.
Some Roma do live in Serbian controlled enclaves. No other ethnic
group is in the IDP camps, only Roma. Why is this? Only the Roma
have no safe haven country. Serbs flee to Serbia, Bosnians to Bosnia,
Turks to Turkey, and Gorani (who are Muslim/Slavs) to Macedonia or
Western Europe.
The poorest of the poor, in the IDP camps, the Roma face a remarkable
level of discrimination and oppression that is threatening their lives
and crippling their culture.
Just to give you an idea, the U.N. provides to each of the Roma in IDP
camps a monthly ration of eight kilos (17 pounds) of flour, two onions,
two tomatoes, a half-kilo (one pound) of cheese, and some fruit
(usually rotten). Beyond that, there is only three liters of cooking oil
per family, regardless of family size; no other supplies are available
(interviews with refugees in IDP camps in Kosovo and Macedonia).
If these people are struggling to survive physically, what then happens
to their culture?
For another example, when a U.N. representative was approached by
a VOR representative about providing cooking and drinking water to
Roma in one camp, his reply was, "Oh, the Gypsies know how to take
care of themselves. They're nomads; they've lived all their lives like
that." If the Roma are facing such dismissal from those on whom they
depend for their physical survival, how are they to survive either
physically or culturally?
This deeply-rooted stereotype, that the Roma are uncivilized
wanderers who don't have the same needs as members of "civilized"
societies is contradicted by the facts. In Kosovo, Roma have lived in
houses for over seven hundred years, and most of them have never seen
a wanderer's caravan. The effect of such stereotypes is to dehumanize
the Roma and destroy their cultural infrastructure.
In today's "free" Kosovo, no Rom can move freely; his children cannot
go to school, and cannot speak their mother tongue. Because they had
to leave their homes and now must stay in the camps, most of the Roma
still in Kosovo have not seen nearby family members in more than
three years. That means, among other things, that marriages cannot be
made according to Romani social rules. What happens to a society in
which new families cannot form?
How can we change the situation of Roma, wherever they may happen
to be? What is our responsibility to a people who have been so abused
and ignored for centuries?
Sani Rifati is a Romani activist, writer and lecturer from Kosovo,
now living in Graton, California. He is the President of Voice of Roma,
a non-profit advocacy group working on behalf of Roma in Kosovo
and Romani refugees living throughout Europe. Email:
staff@...
Glossary of Terms:
Rom= one person, (sing.), human being or husband in Romani language.
Roma= Gypsies (pl.)
Romani=Adjective (e.g. Romani language, history, culture, etc?)
Madjupi= Derogatory term in Albanian language for Roma.
Gorani= Ethnic group in Kosovo that are Slav Muslim
2. THE ROMA AND "HUMANITARIAN" ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO (Dissident
Voice)
LINKS to documents and news on Kosmet's hell:
Source: UN Security Council - Date: 9 Oct 2002
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2002/1126)
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vID/1CCD470704F300FB85256C5600679068?OpenDocument
Source: Council of Europe
THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION in Kosovo-Metohija
http://www.commissioner.coe.int/docs/CommDH(2002)11_E.pdf
U.N. police in Kosovo make record drugs haul (Reuters, Sept 29, 2002)
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_30/21.html
U.N. police crack down on prostitution, drugs in Kosovo (AP 1/10/02)
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_30/24.html
Appeal of the expelled Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, OEA, October 1st
2002
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/October_01/5.html
RIA "Novosti": Everything`s Fine in Kosovo? (by Valentin Kunin)
http://www.artel.co.yu/en/izbor/jugoslavija/2002-10-19_2.html
Report: Church deeply hurt by the behavor or the U.S. KFOR
http://www.kosovo.com/rep191002.html
New pressures on Visoki Decani monastery
http://www.kosovo.com/news.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/opinion/20SULL.html
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Sunday, October 20, 2002
Shopping for Sniper Rifles
By STACY SULLIVAN
When a sniper began shooting down people in suburban Maryland and
Virginia earlier this month, followed by possible copycat shootings on
Long Island last weekend, I wondered why it hadn't happened sooner.
For the past three years, I have been doing research for a book on how a
group of Kosovar Albanian émigrés in New York City helped build a
guerrilla army by raising money and buying and shipping high-powered
rifles from the United States to the Balkans. In March 2001, I
accompanied one of the key fund-raisers for the Kosovo Liberation Army
to a gun show in suburban Pennsylvania. Sports utility vehicles with
"Sportsmen for Bush" bumper stickers lined the parking lot. Inside, a
throng of people - mostly young men, but also a surprising number of
families with children - strolled past tables laden with AK-47's, M-16
assault rifles, sniper rifles, handguns, flat and round bullets,
brochures for
the National Rifle Association, silencers, night scopes, knives,
Japanese
swords, muskets, daggers, even a couple of anti-aircraft guns, as well
as
paraphernalia from the Civil War, World War I and World War II.
One gun dealer showed me a .32-caliber Thompson automatic weapon that
shoots 32 rounds in less than 2.5 seconds. Another showed me a
.22-caliber
Bushmaster gun with a silencer that was described as "deadly quiet." The
most impressive gun, however, was the .50-caliber high-powered Barrett
sniper rifle. With the .50-caliber rifle, the dealer told me, a good
marksman can kill a large animal from two miles away and an amateur
could probably shoot a person from a mile away. He said he had armor-
piercing, tracer and incendiary .50-caliber bullets available that could
bring down a helicopter. The rifle was going for about $5,000.
As I looked at the gun, my K.L.A. companion beckoned me over to another
stand where a woman was selling a Barrett knock-off, a .50-caliber
sniper rifle made by Armalite that was selling for just $2,495. The
dealer
told me all I had to do was hand over my driver's license for an "Insta-
Check."
"They call this an Insta-Check, but really it takes about 15 minutes,"
she said, referring to the background check she would have to do. As
long
as I didn't have a criminal record or live in the "People's Republic of
New
York City," so called among gun dealers because it's one of the few
cities
where it is illegal to possess any kind of firearm without a permit, the
gun
would be mine. I told her I did live in New York City, but that my
driver's license was issued in California. In that case, she said, I'd
probably be fine.
The K.L.A. member bought a sniper rifle that day, along with a few other
guns. Those weapons were promptly shipped overseas to Kosovo and
Macedonia, another example of American gun laws inadvertently fueling
foreign conflicts.
Ever since that day at the Pennsylvania gun show, I've wondered how hard
it would be to use one of those high-powered sniper-rifles. Last week,
in
a Times report, a retired New York City police detective and security
executive, Richard Dietl, cleared that up a little. He said it took him
one afternoon to teach his 12-year-old son how to hit a target in the
torso from 200 yards away.
The ease with which one can buy weapons at gun shows has not gone
unnoticed by groups like Al Qaeda, which pointed this out in one of its
training manuals. According to the Violence Policy Center, a gun control
advocacy group, Osama bin Laden's agents in the United States purchased
25 high-powered sniper rifles to use in their war against the Soviets in
Afghanistan in the late 1980's. What would stop them from using the guns
against us at home?
We have no idea whether the suburban sniper on the loose inside the
Beltway is a foreign terrorist. It is clear, however, that our gun laws
not only inadvertently fuel foreign conflicts but also enable terrorists
to purchase guns to launch attacks against people on American soil.
Gun control advocates have called for the creation of a ballistic
imaging system to help law enforcement officers trace ammunition
to the guns used to fire them. However, such a high-tech system
would be of little use to law enforcement if the gunman bought his
weapon more than three months before using it. Federal law mandates
that background checks on gun buyers be kept on record for only 90
days, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has proposed shortening
that time to 24 hours. The ability to trace the sniper's 223-caliber
rifle and examine background-check records on the person who
purchased it would be invaluable to the police investigation. Without
it, I can't help wondering how many more victims there will be.
Stacy Sullivan is the author of the forthcoming "From Brooklyn to Kosovo
with Love and Guns."
letters@...
=== 2 ===
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Rifati_Kosovo.htm
The Roma and "Humanitarian" Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo
by Sani Rifati
Dissident Voice, October 13, 2002
I am a Rom (more commonly known as "Gypsy") who was born in
Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and lived in Pristina (the capital of the Kosovo
region) for 27 years. In the summer of 2000, ten years later, I was
only 30 miles away in Macedonia but I could not visit the town where
I lived most of my life. This was more than three years after the
"humanitarian bombing" by U.S.-NATO forces and escalation of
ethnic conflict began in Kosovo on March 24th, 1999.
But it was still too dangerous for me, as a dark-skinned "Madjupi"
(Albanian term connoting "lower than garbage"), to set foot inside of
Kosovo.
Finally, the day arrived (May 2nd, 2002) when I could visit my place
of birth, the place of so many memories from my youth. But that
place--where I grew up with my four brothers and one sister,
cousins, relatives, neighbors, friends--no longer existed. Everything
had been wiped away. The new and renovated houses, villas, gas
stations, motels, all built in the past three years by the triumphant
ethnic Albanians, made Kosovo look like a foreign country to me.
I didn't know what to feel in that moment of returning. Fear,
happiness, anger, sadness?
The paradox that crossed my mind was that all this rebuilding is
being sponsored by international relief agencies and financed by
development and investment companies with such well-known heads
as Dick Cheney and George Soros. Meanwhile the Roma, Serbs, Gorani,
Bosnians, Turks and other minorities in Kosovo are starving! While
most of these international institutions were bragging about "free and
democratic Kosovo," these peoples were forced to abandon their
homes, suffering a "humanitarian" supported ethnic cleansing
that has been virtually invisible to the rest of the world. The ironic
consequence of NATO/US rescue of oppressed Albanians is that they
then became oppressors themselves.
This May, as President of Voice of Roma (VOR), I led a trip to Kosovo
with delegates representing human rights, refugee assistance, and
peace groups from the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Holland. Most
people working in such organizations think that Kosovo is free
now, and that its people are living in harmony and peace. They are
surprised when I inform them that the ethnic minorities in Kosovo
are still fleeing. I wanted them to witness with their own eyes what
is going on there.
The delegates were housed in the Romani communities, south of
Pristina. Each family hosted two or more delegates. The delegates spent
time with and got to know people who had been caught in heavy crossfire
between Serbs and Albanians, suffered from the heavy bombing by
NATO's U.S.-led forces, and experienced discrimination by K-FOR
forces, the U.N. Police, international non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), and Western European foreign policies. The delegates were
appalled by the stories they heard and shocked at the conditions under
which the Kosovo Roma were living.
Since NATO's "peace-keepers" arrived in Kosovo, more than 300,000
ethnic minorities have been "cleansed" from the region by extremist
Albanians. It has been more than a year since the U.N. Interim
Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) or the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released any statements about
human rights abuses of minorities in Kosovo. Surprisingly, such
NGOs as Doctors Without Borders (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize),
the International Red Cross, Oxfam, and many more have failed the
ethnic minorities in Kosovo by not addressing their problems.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are alone in reporting
on minority human rights abuses in Kosovo.
My question is: If NATO's so-called humanitarian bombing was to
stop "ethnic cleansing," why are the same Western powers now so
unwilling to intervene on behalf of the actual ethnic cleansing of
Romani people and other minorities in Kosovo?
The ethnic cleansing of the Roma since U.N. peace-keepers arrived
in June 12th of 1999 has resulted in more than 75% of this population
(over 100,000 Romani people) fleeing Kosovo. Still the media and the
international "humanitarian" community are silent. U.S. and Western
media did not catch any of these events on their radar screens, or
rather
willingly ignored these horrors. (See our report The Current Plight
of the Roma in Kosovo, available from Voice of Roma, P.O. Box 514,
Sebastopol, CA 95473.)
[Foto: Crkvena Vodica village just outside the capital Prishtina.
94 Romani homes were destroyed by Albanians after the 1999 US-NATO
bombings.]
The majority of the Roma who are left in Kosovo (25,000 out of a
prewar population of 150,000) are internal refugees, but they do not
have the official status of refugees. Instead these Roma are labeled
"internally-displaced persons" (IDPs), with fewer recognized rights
than refugees, and are restricted to camps with very poor facilities.
Some Roma do live in Serbian controlled enclaves. No other ethnic
group is in the IDP camps, only Roma. Why is this? Only the Roma
have no safe haven country. Serbs flee to Serbia, Bosnians to Bosnia,
Turks to Turkey, and Gorani (who are Muslim/Slavs) to Macedonia or
Western Europe.
The poorest of the poor, in the IDP camps, the Roma face a remarkable
level of discrimination and oppression that is threatening their lives
and crippling their culture.
Just to give you an idea, the U.N. provides to each of the Roma in IDP
camps a monthly ration of eight kilos (17 pounds) of flour, two onions,
two tomatoes, a half-kilo (one pound) of cheese, and some fruit
(usually rotten). Beyond that, there is only three liters of cooking oil
per family, regardless of family size; no other supplies are available
(interviews with refugees in IDP camps in Kosovo and Macedonia).
If these people are struggling to survive physically, what then happens
to their culture?
For another example, when a U.N. representative was approached by
a VOR representative about providing cooking and drinking water to
Roma in one camp, his reply was, "Oh, the Gypsies know how to take
care of themselves. They're nomads; they've lived all their lives like
that." If the Roma are facing such dismissal from those on whom they
depend for their physical survival, how are they to survive either
physically or culturally?
This deeply-rooted stereotype, that the Roma are uncivilized
wanderers who don't have the same needs as members of "civilized"
societies is contradicted by the facts. In Kosovo, Roma have lived in
houses for over seven hundred years, and most of them have never seen
a wanderer's caravan. The effect of such stereotypes is to dehumanize
the Roma and destroy their cultural infrastructure.
In today's "free" Kosovo, no Rom can move freely; his children cannot
go to school, and cannot speak their mother tongue. Because they had
to leave their homes and now must stay in the camps, most of the Roma
still in Kosovo have not seen nearby family members in more than
three years. That means, among other things, that marriages cannot be
made according to Romani social rules. What happens to a society in
which new families cannot form?
How can we change the situation of Roma, wherever they may happen
to be? What is our responsibility to a people who have been so abused
and ignored for centuries?
Sani Rifati is a Romani activist, writer and lecturer from Kosovo,
now living in Graton, California. He is the President of Voice of Roma,
a non-profit advocacy group working on behalf of Roma in Kosovo
and Romani refugees living throughout Europe. Email:
staff@...
Glossary of Terms:
Rom= one person, (sing.), human being or husband in Romani language.
Roma= Gypsies (pl.)
Romani=Adjective (e.g. Romani language, history, culture, etc?)
Madjupi= Derogatory term in Albanian language for Roma.
Gorani= Ethnic group in Kosovo that are Slav Muslim
