Informazione

REUTERS 20/2/2000 ------------------------------------------

AEREI NATO VIOLANO LO SPAZIO AEREO JUGOSLAVO SUL MONTENEGRO?

NATO Denies Role In Yugoslav Airspace Mystery, Near-Miss With Slovenian
Plane
BRUSSELS, Feb 20, 2000 -- (Reuters) NATO on Friday denied charges by
Belgrade that alliance military aircraft violated Yugoslav air space
twice in the past week and put civilian airliners at risk over
Montenegro's Adriatic coast.
"On those dates and at these times there were no NATO aircraft in that
area. There were no near-misses and there was no NATO air exercise,"
spokesman Lee McClenny said.
McClenny said officials at NATO southern command in Naples had carefully
examined the detailed charges and established NATO was not in any way
involved in the alleged incidents.
Yugoslav Transport Minister Dejan Drobnjakovic said on Wednesday illegal
NATO air activity forced it to close Tivat airport on the Adriatic coast
of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro.
The closure raised fears in pro-Western Montenegro of a fresh
confrontation over airport control, as happened last December when
federal troops loyal to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic faced off
with Montenegrin police.
Tivat was closed again on Friday. Yugoslav officials said it was due to
high winds - a frequent local problem in winter.
CYPRUS, SLOVENIA
FLIGHTS CITED
Drobnjakovic said NATO had caused a "classic near-miss" with an airliner
of Slovenian carrier Adria Airways on February 10 as it flew over the
area on a journey from Ljubljana to Tirana.
On February 14, he said, a Cyprus Airlines flight from London to Larnaca
reported unidentified aircraft in its vicinity. In Nicosia, Cyprus
Airways told Reuters its crew had reported unidentified aircraft, but no
safety hazards. Radar readings showed them about 300 meters (1,000 feet)
below the airliner's altitude, and on the limits of its radar range.
In Ljubljana, an Adria Airways spokeswoman said captain Andrej Travnik
reported that he was informed by air traffic control of another aircraft
flying below 9,000 meters (29,700 feet) in his vicinity on the flight to
Tirana.
PLANE NOT IN SIGHT
Travnik, however, said the plane was not visible and the crew had no
idea whether it was military or not.
Military sources said they could think of a few possible explanations
for the mystery encounters above Montenegro. There could be confusion
between air controllers in the area, which includes Croatia, Montenegro,
Belgrade and Bosnia. Or there was the possibility that military aircraft
were indeed operating in the space - in a secret Yugoslav Air Force
exercise which required the closure of Tivat airport under some other
pretext. Yugoslav flight control director Miodrag Hadzic told Reuters in
Belgrade on Wednesday that NATO had broken a fundamental rule of
aviation by not reporting its activities 48 hours in advance in a
so-called NOTAM, or Notification to Airman.
Belgrade authorities insisted they told the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) in Paris of the complaints. ICAO could not be
immediately contacted for comment

B92 19/2/2000 ---------------------------------

L'OPPOSIZIONE FILO-OCCIDENTALE SERBA A ZAGABRIA
INCONTRA LA ALBRIGHT, FISCHER E LA NUOVA DIRIGENZA CROATA

Opposition holds successful talks in Zagreb

CROATIA, Saturday - Serbian opposition representatives, in Zagreb for
the
inauguration of President Stipe Mesic, met American State Secretary
Madeleine
Albright and German Foreign Minister Joscha Fischer yesterday.
Opposition
representative Zarko Korac told B2 92 that they had discussed the
further
lifting of sanctions on Serbia and that the opposition had been invited
to
attend the next meeting of European Ministers scheduled to take place in
Lisbon at the beginning of March.

The Serbian opposition also met new Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan
and
talks were reported to be friendly. The main subject on the agenda was
the
return of Serbian refugees to Croatia.

ANCORA DUE PERSONE UCCISE IN KOSOVO DA ESTREMISTI PAN-ALBANESI

Two Serb males killed in Gornja Gusterica

KOSOVO, Saturday -- Two Serb males, Zoran Zivic and Radojica Trajkovic,
were
killed last night near the village of Gornja Gusterica in Kosovo, radio
amateurs report today. According to the same resource, UNMIK
representatives
did not allow local Serbs to approach the scene of the crime. After the
bodies were handed over, the families of the victims said that the men
had
been shot in the back while chopping wood.

KFOR spokesman Philip Anido today confirmed two Serb killings in Gornja
Gusterica and reported a further murder in Podujevo. Anido did not
release
the identity of the victims but reported that ten Albanians had been
arrested
in connection with the murders in Gornja Gusterica.

SOTTO INCHIESTA IL SOLDATO USA PER STUPRO ED OMICIDIO

Rangy hearing resumes today

KOSOVO, Saturday - The hearing in connection with the case of the
American
KFOR soldier, Frank Rangy will resume today in the American military
camp
near the town of Urosevac. Rangy has been charged with the rape and
murder of
an eleven-year-old Albanian girl. His lawyers told the press today that
the
evidence so far does not point to premeditated murder.

A ZAGABRIA LA ALBRIGHT INCONTRA I SECESSIONISTI
MONTENEGRINI E PROMETTE AIUTO

Albright: The security of Montenegro is in the interests of the US

CROATIA, Saturday - The security of Montenegro is in the interests of
the US,
American State Secretary Madeleine Albright told the press in Zagreb
after
meeting the Montenegrin Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic today. Vujanovic
said
that they had discussed the current state of relations between Serbia
and
Montenegro and Albright had agreed that Montenegro should act with
caution so
as to avoid provoking any conflict with Serbia. Vujanovic added that
Albright
had also expressed the intention of the US to provide Montenegro with
financial aid on the same level as last year and to back democratic
changes,
reforms and the integration of the republic into the international
community.

B92 18/2/2000 -------------------------

ANCORA TENSIONE ALL'AEREOPORTO DI TIVAT
PER GLI SCONFINAMENTI DEGLI AEREI NATO

Belgrade closes Montenegrin airport again

PODGORICA, Friday - The airport in the Montenegrin coastal town of Tivat
was
closed again yesterday after being opened only fifteen hours earlier.
Air
traffic control supervisor Mijat Petric told B292 that the airport had
been
closed because of poor weather conditions. Earlier in the week Yugoslav
air
traffic control was quoted as saying that the airport would close for
two
days because traffic was endangered by NATO aircraft over the Adriatic.
Petric told B292 today that the federal flight control had announced
that it
would close the airport in future as and when it needed to.

L'OPPOSIZIONE SERBA A LEZIONE DI DEMOCRAZIA IN CROAZIA

Serbian opposition in Zagreb

ZAGREB, Friday - A number of representatives of the Serbian opposition
are
this evening holding discussions with US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and German Foreign Minister Joscha Fischer in Zagreb. The
opposition
leaders, who were in Zagreb today for the inauguration of President
Stipe
Mesic, are also expected to meet Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan.
They
are expected to discuss the effects of the abolition of sanctions with
Albright and Fischer.

TOLTO L'EMBARGO SUI VOLI CIVILI

JAT back in the air

BELGRADE, Friday - The Yugoslav national airline, JAT, is to return to
the
European skies on February 22. A ban on JAT landings in European
airports was
lifted this week along with the air traffic embargo on Yugoslavia. The
company announced today that it will begin flying to Zurich five times a
week
from next Tuesday. Flights to other European destinations are expected
to
follow in the near future.

ANCORA IN SCIOPERO GLI INSEGNANTI SERBI PER
OTTENERE UN AUMENTO DEL SALARIO

Teachers refuse pay offer, continue industrial action

BELGRADE, Friday - The Serbian Education Union today declined an offer
from
the Serbian government and announced it would continue industrial
action.
Education Minister Jovo Todorovic offered a basic pay rate for teachers
of
305 dinars - below the union's demands. Union President Branislav
Pavlovic
told media today that if agreement were not reached the union would call
a
total strike.

CLARK: "LA NATO NON SI MUOVERA' DAI BALCANI FINCHE' C'E' MILOSEVIC"

US and NATO to stay while Milosevic in power: Clark

WASHINGTON, Thursday - US and NATO troops in Bosnia and Kosovo would
probably
stay as long as Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic remained in power,
NATO
European Commander Wesley Clark said today. Clark emphasised that it was
crucial that economic measures against Yugoslavia be targeted carefully
at
Milosevic and his authorities, not ordinary Serbs. "NATO has never been
against Serbs. We're against Milosevic," Clark told the US Congress
Committee
for Military Affairs. Clark was replying to members of the committee who
had
expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress by the international
community
in Kosovo and Bosnia.

IVANOVIC: "GLI ALBANESI-KOSOVARI STANNO PREPARANDO FUTURI ATTACCHI"

Albanians planning major attacks in Kosovo: Ivanovic

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Friday - Albanians in the southern part of the
divided
town of Kosovska Mitrovica are visibly arming themselves and regrouping
in
preparation for attacks, the president of the local Serb National
Council,
Oliver Ivanovic, warned today. Ivanovic told media in Bosnia that
serious
attacks on the northern, Serbian, zone of Mitrovica could be expected
soon.
The Mitrovica Serb leader added that he hoped that the international
community and KFOR would react in time to prevent such attacks. In any
case,
said Ivanovic, Serbs would not sit in the northern zone and wait for
Albanians to come and slaughter them.

IWPR #117, 18/2/2000 ------------------------------

MILOSEVIC STA AGGIRANDO L'EMBARGO ATTRAVERSO L'IRAQ

MILOSEVIC BREAKS FINANCIAL BLOCKADE

Western counties are undermining their own efforts to starve Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic of cash.

By Laura Rozen

Western countries seeking to deprive Slobodan Milosevic of hard currency
are
sanctioning multi-million dollar trade deals between Yugoslavia and
Iraq.

The United States, Britain and France, which are supposed to be trying
to
limit Milosevic's access to foreign capital, are represented on a UN
committee which has allowed him to earn millions of US dollars in trade
with
Baghdad.

The revelation comes as the European Union is considering ways of
tightening
so-called "smart-sanctions" aimed at hurting leading members of the
Belgrade
regime.

Milosevic is profiting from the UN's Oil-for-Food programme, which
enables
Iraq to sell oil on the open market and use the proceeds to buy
UN-approved
supplies in order to alleviate the humanitarian problems caused by years
of
economic sanctions.

The UN's 661 committee, which overseas the Oil-for-Food programme, has
over
the past few years approved several lucrative deals between the Yugoslav
government-owned company the Federal Directorate of Supply and
Procurement
(FDSP), known in Serbia as Yugoimport, and the Iraqi authorities. Any
member
of the UN committee can veto these contracts.

The UN approved two FDSP deals with Baghdad in 1998 worth $3.8 million
and
$18.3 million, respectively, the latter given the go-ahead just as NATO
threatened to intervene to thwart a Yugoslav military onslaught in
Kosovo.
Last month Yugoimport announced it had received permission for a $20
million
contract - and boasted its value would increase to $100 million by
year's
end.

The UN said no FDSP contracts had been approved this year. "It could
well be
that Yugoimport has signed a contract for further sale of wheat, but we
cannot confirm that they have submitted a contract to the UN for
approval,"
a UN spokesman said. "The other two contracts were approved quickly."

The 661 committee has put on hold three other contract applications
filed by
Yugoslav companies in 1999, to sell pitch, hydrocortisone, tyres tubes
and
flaps under Oil-for-Food. The US has faced criticism from Baghdad
officials
in the past month for blocking several other Iraqi contracts The
apparent
clampdown on Yugoslav-Iraq business may well have been prompted by
concerns
over the UN loophole in the financial sanctions regime against Belgrade.

There are some suggestions that it may also have come about as a result
of
fears that Milosevic is using the Oil-for Food programme as a front to
provide military support for Iraq. The 661 committee is obliged to block
any
deal that it suspects involves the sale to Baghdad of dual-use
technology
which might be used to enable Saddam Hussein to build weapons of mass
destruction. Although there is no direct evidence, there's mounting
suspicion that Yugoimport may be involved in such trade.

FDSP's own literature suggests that it might be in a position to help
Baghdad with its military goals. The company's website says that it
alone
accounts for just over 10 per cent of Yugoslav's exports and that its
activities include trade in defence equipment, technology transfer, and
the
construction of fortifications for military bases and airports.
Yugoimport's
military and economic role was underlined when it was targeted during
the
NATO bombardment of Belgrade last year.

In the past, Yugoslav companies have been instrumental in building much
of
Iraq's military infrastructure, according to William Arkin, a consultant
to
the arms division of campaign group Human Rights Watch. And recent
high-level discussions between Belgrade and Baghdad officials have
stressed
the importance of Iraqi security.

Following a meeting between Serbian interior ministry officials and the
Iraqi ambassador to Yugoslavia, Sami Sadun, the Yugoslav news agency,
Tanjug, reported that Sadun had said the preservation of economic
stability
and security in the country were priorities.

Laura Rozen, a regular contributor to IWPR, is a journalist specialising
in
the Balkans.

B92 17/2/2000 -----------------------------------

IL PORTAVOCE NATO CHIEDE SCUSA PER I SUOI ECCESSI
DI CATTIVO GUSTO SUI "DANNI COLLATERALI", NON PER
LE OPERAZIONI DI CARATTERE GENOCIDA CONTRO IL
PETROLCHIMICO DI PANCEVO...

Shea regrets using "collateral damage"

BONN, Thursday - NATO spokesman Jamie Shea told a German magazine today
that
he regretted using the term "collateral damage" during the NATO
intervention
in Yugoslavia. Shea told Stern that the euphemism for civilian
casualties was
"a really bad syntagm". The term was voted the ugliest word of 1999 by
German
linguists who explained it as NATO wanting to present the death of
civilians
as an unwanted side effect.

Shea also said today that he had never announced something deliberately
untrue during the war, adding that his denial of a NATO attack on a
civilian
convoy had been "a true mistake".

LE RICHIESTE DEL SINDACATO DEGLI INSEGNANTI IN SERBIA

Teacher's union in final demand

BELGRADE, Thursday - The president of the Serbian Education Union,
Branislav
Pavlovic announced today that the union would propose a minimum
teachers'
salary rise of 44 per cent, which would bring the average salary in
schools
to 1,800 dinars or about 90 DM. Pavlovic announced that the teachers'
industrial action would continue, saying that he was sceptical about the
government accepting the pay demand. Teachers in about 870 schools in
Serbia
are currently reducing class times from 45 to 30 minutes in support of
their
claims.

IMPORTAZIONE DI FARMACI DALLA CINA PER AGGIRARE L'EMBARGO:
IL PARTITO DEMOCRATICO DI DJINDJIC SI OPPONE

Chinese drug warning: Democratic Party

BELGRADE, Thursday - The Democratic Party has reacted with a warning to
yesterday's announcement that Serbia and China are about to reach
agreement
on import of pharmaceutical products to ease Serbia's acute shortage of
medicines. A statement from the party today said that the drugs from
China
were of questionable quality and carried no certificates of analysis. A
particular danger lay in the repackaging of drugs, the party warned.

Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Milovan Bojic yesterday told media that
the
deal on medicines from China would be completed within days and that the
crisis in Serbia's pharmacies would be solved very soon..

ANCORA BOMBE A MITROVICA CONTRO LE ABITAZIONI DEL SETTORE NORD

Bombs, no casualties in Mitrovica

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Thursday - Grenades were thrown in two separate
incidents
in the divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica. KFOR announced today that a
grenade
landed on a house occupied by a Serb family failed to explode. Another
Serb
family in the northern part of the town escaped injury in an explosion
when
their house was hit by a grenade.

B92 18/2/2000 -------------------------

AEREI NATO NELLO SPAZIO AEREO JUGOSLAVO

NATO aircraft in Yugoslav air space

BELGRADE, Wednesday - The airport in the Montenegrin coastal resort of
Tivat
has been closed for two days this week because international pilots
reported
seeing NATO aircraft in the area, Belgrade daily Glas javnosti writes
today.
According to the report, Belgrade air traffic control closed the airport
after pilots from Adria and British Airways reported the sightings,
because
the NATO aircraft could have endangered civilian flights. According to
sources quoted by Glas, NATO was probably using traffic zones they
themselves
had proclaimed without asking permission for the flights.

NATO yesterday denied having asked Belgrade to clear air space so that
it
could hold military manoeuvres after state radio in Montenegro reported
that
the closure had been agreed to by Belgrade flight control for that
reason.

IN ARRIVO / DALLA CINA / MARMELLATE / ED ASPIRINA...

Jam - and aspirin - tomorrow

BELGRADE, Wednesday - Serbia's acute shortage of medicines will be
solved
soon by imports from China, Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Milovan Bojic
promised today. Bojic told selected media today that the government had
struck a major deal with the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and it was
now
only a matter of days before supplies began arriving. The deputy prime
minister also said that an investigation was underway to discover who
was
responsible for the drug shortage and that nobody would escape
responsibility. When the investigation bore results the public would be
notified, said Bojic, at a press conference which Radio B292 was barred
from
attending.

SERBO ASSASSINATO A GNJILANE

Serb killed in Gnjilane

PRISTINA, Wednesday - A sixty-year-old Serb man was killed yesterday
when an
unknown gunman opened fire on a house in Gnjilane, a KFOR spokesman said
today. Although KFOR troops arrived quickly at the scene, the assailant
escaped capture.

REUTERS 17/2/2000 ---------------------------

TRUPPE GRECHE PER FRONTEGGIARE GLI ESTREMISTI
PAN-ALBANESI A MITROVICA

Greek troops reinforce French soldiers in Kosovo

ATHENS, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Greek troops from the NATO-led
peacekeeping force in Kosovo have been sent to reinforce French
soldiers in the volatile city of Mitrovica, a Greek official said
on Thursday.
"After orders from (the peacekeeping force) KFOR and its commander
General (Klaus) Reinhardt, a Greek company, consisting of about 100
men, has been sent to Mitrovica to temporarily reinforce French
forces in the region," the Greek foreign ministry official said.
The official said there was no special significance behind the
decision to send Greek troops to the northern city, where ethnic
violence between Serbs and Albanians has been rising.
Many within the minority Serb population, traditionally close to
fellow Orthodox Greeks, say they have been terrorised by extremist
elements of the Albanian majority in Kosovo.
"We urge the Albanian-speaking leadership in Kosovo to isolate all
terrorist units. The future of Kosovo lies within the democratic
republic of Yugoslavia, with a respect for human and minority rights,
and for the Serbian people in Kosovo," the Greek official added.

REUTERS 17/2/2000 ---------------------

LA NATO VIOLA LO SPAZIO AEREO JUGOSLAVO

http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/newsphp3?=135475
YUGOSLAVIA NEWS
Yugoslavia Says NATO Planes Violated Its Airspace

BELGRADE, Feb 17, 2000 -- (Reuters) Yugoslavia accused
NATO on Wednesday of violating its airspace twice this
month, prompting it to temporarily close a Montenegrin
airport.

Yugoslav Transport Minister Dejan Drobnjakovic said
alliance planes had been spotted on February 10 and
February 14.

Yugoslav flight control closed the Tivat airport in
southern Montenegro on Monday, the day of the second
sighting, out of concern about safety. Montenegro and
Serbia together form Yugoslavia.

The airport was reopened on Wednesday, Drobnjakovic
told a news conference.

"On February 10, a pilot of Adria Airways flying from
Ljubljana to Tirana reported a presence of another
aircraft at a height of 8,200 metres in the zone of
Budva, Montenegro. That was NATO's plane. It was a
classic near-miss," he said.

"That was a flagrant violation of regulations and of
Yugoslavia's territory, endangering the safety of
Montenegro."

"On February 14, a pilot of Cyprus Airlines, flying
from London to Larnaca reported a presence of several
unknown aircraft around the point KONU, covering the
area between Dubrovnik (in Croatia) and Herceg Novi
(in Montenegro)."

Drobnjakovic said Croatian flight control had
confirmed the aircraft reported were NATO planes.

He said the decision to reopen the airport was based
on a response from the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), which he said had contacted NATO
on the issue.

Montenegrin state radio reported on Tuesday that
Yugoslav flight control had closed the airport after
NATO asked it to do so because of planned exercises.

A NATO spokesman in Brussels denied on Tuesday that
any such exercises were being held in the region.

A Yugoslav flight control official said the airport
had been closed because of NATO activity, but added
that the alliance had not informed Belgrade about its
plans.

"According to civil aviation rules, NATO was obliged
to report its activities 48 hours before their start
in the form of a NOTAM - notification to airman. They
never sent a NOTAM," flight control director Miodrag
Hadzic told Reuters.

He said the civilian planes that had reported the
incidents had the evidence recorded on a tape.

REUTERS 16/2/2000 ------------------------------

I BATTELLIERI RUMENI FARANNO CAUSA ALLA NATO ED
AL PROPRIO GOVERNO PER AVERE UCCISO OGNI SCAMBIO
COMMERCIALE VIA DANUBIO

http://www.centraleurope.com/news.php?id=134927
Romania Danube Shippers To Sue Government, NATO

BUCHAREST, Feb 16, 2000 -- (Reuters) The association
of Romanian river shippers said on Tuesday it would
sue the Romanian government and NATO over a total
estimated loss of $90 million because of the Kosovo
conflict.

Association president Mircea Toader said the losses
had been caused by the embargo on Yugoslavia after the
Kosovo war and by the blockage of the Danube.

Toader, who was speaking at the end of a meeting in
the Danube port town of Galati, said the association -
representing 95 percent of Romania's river shippers -
voted to ask the Romanian state for damages worth $5.4
million for lost crude oil transport contracts during
the embargo.

The association also announced plans to sue the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization over alleged losses
indirectly caused by the bombing of Yugoslav bridges.

River traffic on the Danube is running at less than 25
percent of its full capacity at present, latest
association data showed.

YDS 15/2/2000 --------------------------

NIKITA MIKHALKOV IN VISITA IN JUGOSLAVIA

PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES MIKHALKOV AND BURLYAYEV
BELGRADE, February 14 (Tanjug) - President Slobodan Milosevic received
on
Monday the famous Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov and the famous actor
Nikolai Burlyayev, who have arrived for a visit to Yugoslavia.
Greeting one of the greatest world directors, Mikhalkov, and Burlyayev,
as
great friends of Yugoslavia, President Milosevic stressed the huge
importance of artistic creation and the affirmation of the highest human
values, in what the efforts of Mikhalkov have universal importance.
In a cordial and friendly conversation was expressed a high level of
proximity of views about developments in Yugoslavia and in Russia,
Europe
and the world, politics and culture.
The interest of the Yugoslav public and the reception reserved for films
directed by Mikhalkov in Yugoslavia demonstrate the identity of cultural
points of view that exist in the publics of the two countries.
The famous Russian artists expressed admiration for the struggle of the
Yugoslav peoples for their freedom and independence and expressed
sincere
support for their goals.
The reception was attended also by Serbian Minister of Culture Zeljko
Simic, and Jakov Gerasimov, Russian Embassy Charge d'Affaires in
Yugoslavia.

SOSPESO L'EMBARGO SUI VOLI DA E PER LA JUGOSLAVIA

EUROPE - YUGOSLAVIA - SANCTIONS
E.U. SUSPENDS EMBARGO ON AIR LINKS WITH YUGOSLAVIA
BRUSSELS, February 14 (Tanjug) - The E.U. Council decided on Monday to
suspend for six months the ban on air links with Yugoslavia including
international flights by national carrier JAT, Portuguese Foreign
Minister
Jaim Gama said on Monday.
The E.U. Foreign Ministers also agreed to set up temporary military and
political organs of the European Rapid Reaction Force.
Last year in Helsinki it was concluded that the European Corps should
consist of 50,000 - 60,000 troops.
YUGOSLAV AIRLINES JAT READY FOR EUROPEAN FLIGHTS
BELGRADE, February 14 (Tanjug) - Today's decision by European Union
(E.U.)
Ministers to suspend the ban on international air traffic with
Yugoslavia
is merely a realization of their political decision of July last year,
Yugoslav Airlines JAT Director General Zika Petrovic said on Monday.
In a statement to Tanjug, Petrovic said JAT expected the official
announcement of this decision in the E.U. official gazette, which will
precisely define all the conditions of the suspension.
It is still not clear if the sanctions are lifted automatically for all
European countries, or if the E.U. states will each do so individually,
Petrovic said.
Petrovic said JAT was ready immediately to join European international
flights.
BELGRADE AIRPORT COMPLETELY READY
BELGRADE, February 14 (Tanjug) - Belgrade Airport is completely ready to
take on major international traffic, as it has been modernized with a
new
automatic system for passenger registration, airport Director General
Ljubomir Acimovic said on Monday.
Acimovic said Yugoslav Airlines JAT would most probably start flying to
certain European destinations already in the second half of February,
and
that interested European Union airlines should start flying to Belgrade
in
about 10 days. "We expect our national airline will soon fly to Germany,
Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Italy," he said.
The first foreign aircrafts to arrive in Belgrade should be from
Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic, and in March from Italy and
some other European countries, he said.
Acimovic said certain other European airlines would be arriving in
Belgrade as of March 26, when the international flights timetable will
be
ready.
Until March 21 last year, in addition to Aeroflot of Russia, 11 foreign
airlines used Belgrade Airport, he said.
Acimovic said today's decision by European Union Ministers to suspend
the
flights ban on Yugoslavia was an implementation of their decision of
July
19 last year, which had been blocked by political reasons.

CONTRASTI TRA KOUCHNER ED IL GOVERNO FRANCESE

MINISTER CHEVENEMENT CONTRADICTS KOUCHNER
PARIS, February 15 (Tanjug)- French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre
Chevenement on Monday countered the criticism of head of the U.N. Civil
Mission in Kosovo and Metohija Bernard Kouchner that not enough French
policemen have been sent to Serbia's southern province.
"When soldiers are shot at," the sending of more policemen "cannot be a
solution," Chevenment said during a visit to the National Police School
in
Roubaix.
"When our soldiers are being fired at, I am not sure that the sending of
a
number of more policemen, who are more useful here in Roubaix, would be
a
solution," he specified.
Ethnic-Albanian sniper shooters fired at French KFOR troops in the town
of
Kosovska Mitrovica on Sunday, wounding two.
In statements made to the French press of late, Kouchner has criticized
France for having only about 30 policemen, instead of 80, in Kosovo and
Metohija. Minister Chevenement specified that there were 37 French
policemen in the Province, who he said were training the local police.

GRAVE INQUINAMENTO DEL DANUBIO PROVENIENTE DALLA ROMANIA

SERBIA - TISZA RIVER - POLLUTION
BAN ON USE OF WATER, FISH FROM DANUBE RIVER
BELGRADE, February 14 (Tanjug) - Pollution which reached the Danube from
the Tisza peaked at 8 p.m. on February 13, and cyanide was still above
permitted levels along the Danube's left bank in Zemun and Pancevo on
February 14, the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water
Resources said on Monday. The Ministry warned all those along the Danube
east of Belgrade not to use its waters. The Ministry banned fishing and
sales of fish in the territory of Serbia, with the exception of products
of
fisheries, the statement said.
Fish died on a smaller scale in Pancevo and Smederevo. Measures have
been
taken to collect and remove the dead fish.
According to the latest results, cyanide content in the Tisza is below
permitted levels, the Ministry statement said.
ROMANIA MINIMIZES POLLUTION OF SOMES AND TISZA
BUCAREST, February 14 (Tanjug) - Romania deployed on Monday near
Djerdap,
at the entrance of the Danube into its territory, teams of experts for
measuring water pollution, because also expected to reach there is a
part
of the cyanide that spilled over from the waste material reservoir of
the
gold mine in Transylvania.
Hungary and Romania plan to demand aid from the European Union to remove
the consequences of the damages caused by the spilling of the poison
into
the river Somes, a tributary of Tisza, that carried the cyanide also
into
the Danube. Besides Romania, also affected by the pollution are Hungary
and
Yugoslavia, through which Tisza flows along some one hundred kilometres
and
then, at Slankamen, into the Danube.
Official Bucarest kept silent for almost two weeks about the incident
that
only last week-end Premier Mugur Isaresku demanded that an investigation
into the causes of the pollution which has acquired the proportions of
an
ecological disaster.
The disaster occurred when, because of melting snow, the reservoir of
the
gold mine in Transylvania near Baia Mare spilled over its banks. Around
100,000 cubic meters of water polluted with cyanide then spilled over
into
the stream Lapos, and then into the river Somes.
The owner of the mine is the company Aurel, which was formed last year
by
the Romanian firm Remin and the Australian company Esmeralda.
The Romanian press ignored the incident, only electronic media carried
reports of foreign news agencies, including the Yugoslav news agency
Tanjug, and showed footage of Hungarian television.
CNN: FROM ROMANIA - ECOLOGICAL DISASTER
NEW YORK, February 14 (Tanjug) - From Romania has originated an
ecological
disaster which has caused unforeseeable consequences for plants and
animals
along the Tisza river (Tisa in Yugoslavia), all the way to the Danube,
said
on Monday the U.S. TV network CNN that gave wide coverage to the tragedy
caused by the spillage of cyanide from the Romanian mine near Baia Mare
in
Transylvania.
CNN has been repeating for several days reports about dead fish in Tisa,
in Yugoslavia, and about the efforts of Yugoslav officials and
ecologists
to stop and cleanse the polluted water.
Carried was the statement of the Serbian Minister for the Protection of
the Environment, Bratislav Blazic, who described the situation as a big
ecological disaster and that Yugoslavia will demand from the
international
court in The Hague to punish the perpetrators who must compensate for
the
damages.
Yugoslav officials are taking measures to destroy the poisoned fish and
also by other measures reduce the consequences, CNN said.
CNN carried also Hungarian statements and assessments that the cyanide
concentration in the Tisa river was the worst ecological disaster since
Chernobil.
U.S. media reports, however, ignore the fact that also responsible for
the
tragedy is an Australian company from Perth - Esmeralda Exploitation
which
is a co-owner of the Romania company from whose waste material spilled
cyanide, used in the process of separating gold from the ore.
The Australian firm claims that its experts are investigating the
pollution of the river into which the poison spilled because of apparent
carelessness and regulation breaches, and that the results of the
investigation will be known next week.

B92 15/2/2000 -------------------------------

DOPO L'ASSASSINIO BULATOVIC, NUOVO MINISTRO E
NUOVO CAPO DI STATO MAGGIORE DELL'ESERCITO

Army chief appointed defence minister

BELGRADE, Tuesday - The head of the Yugoslav Army Headquarters, General
Dragoljub Ojdanic was today appointed Federal Defence Minister, the post
left
vacant after the murder of Pavle Bulatovic earlier this month. The
commander
of the Third Yugoslav Army, Lieutenant General Nebojsa Pavkovic was
appointed
to replace Ojdanic at the helm of the Yugoslav Army.

Military political analyst Ljubodrag Stojadinovic told B292 today that
both
decisions were predictable, adding that Pavkovic had long been seen as a
future army chief because of his enormous popularity and the confidence
placed in him by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Milosevic today met Ojdanic, and senior military commanders to discuss
the
current political situation of the army and its combat readiness.
Federal
Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic and Serbian President Milan Milutinovic
were
also present at the meeting.

YDS 13/2/2000 ----------------------------------

LETTERA DEL GOVERNO JUGOSLAVO ALL'ONU
SULLE CONTINUE VIOLAZIONI DELLA RISOLUZIONE 1244

SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT LETTER TO THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL
REGARDING VIOLATIONS OF RESOLUTION 1244
NEW YORK, February 13 (Tanjug) - The international community is well
aware
that the grave situation in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province is a
consequence of the failure of the local United Nations mission, since
facts
which indicate this are more than obvious.
Consequently, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has yet again reacted
by
pointing out who is violating Resolution 1244, and how.
The latest government letter to the U.N. Security Council lists
precisely
and with irrefutable arguments all the resolution points which have been
violated most grossly.
The letter was sent by head of the Yugoslav Permanent Mission to the
U.N.,
Ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic, to U.N. Security Council President
Arnoldo
Listre and Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Saturday.
It unequivocally states that leading figures of the U.N. mission are
responsible for the chaos in this southern Serbian province, in
particular
the Secretary-General's High Representative Bernard Kouchner.
Point by point, the letter shows the disastrous steps taken by the
international community which have led into chaos - from failing to meet
its obligation to disarm the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, to the
complete failure to establish a secure environment for all Kosovo
citizens.
"As a result, terrorism in the province has escalated at an
unprecedented
pace, so that the number of terrorist attacks since the arrival of KFOR
and
UNMIK increased 11-fold. 4,249 terrorist attacks, mainly against Serbs
and
other non-Albanians have been committed in the period since June 12,
1999
to date, in which 889 persons have been killed, 784 wounded and 834
abducted," said the letter.
The letter gives details and facts about brutal terrorist attacks in the
latest period when they have launched a new wave of terror.
By turning a blind eye to everything the terrorists did and are doing in
Kosovo and Metohija, the international security and civilian missions
have
not escaped responsibility. On the contrary, such actions have
contributed
to the expulsion of 350,000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Romanies, Muslims,
ethnic
Turks, Goranians, and other non-Albanians from the province.
The letter proceeds to give a long list of mistakes made by Kouchner and
descriptions of his unprecedented actions, showing that the mission head
is
the most responsible for developments in the province.
The series of so-called regulations which he has imposed are aimed at
separating Kosovo and Metohija from the constitutional, legal, economic,
customs, monetary, and banking systems of Yugoslavia and Serbia.
Kouchner
has thus acted contrary to the stand clearly taken by U.N. Security
Council
members - to preserve and respect the sovereignty and territorial
integrity
of Yugoslavia.
By constructing military bases and conducting military exercises in the
sovereign territory of Yugoslavia without the consent of the Yugoslav
government, the KFOR is in flagrant violation of the relevant resolution
and provides support to Kosovo terrorists and separatists, destabilizing
in
that way the entire region, the letter said.

ATTACCATE ABITAZIONI SERBE NEL SETTORE NORD DI MITROVICA

ETHNIC ALBANIANS ATTACKED SERB HOUSES
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, February 12 (Tanjug) - Ethnic Albanian extremists
attacked Serb houses in northern Kosovska Mitrovica during curfew late
on Friday.
Two bombs were thrown at the Milutinovic family home in the Bosnjacka
Mahala district at midnight, and automatic fire riddled their windows.
None
of the occupants were injured in this terrorist attack.
Terrorists also showered the house of Serb Dragi Jovanovic with rocks
and
stones in another district, near the hospital.
Dragica Jerotijevic, a Serb woman, was stoned at 4.30 p.m. Friday in the
Bosnjacka Mahala district, where only four Serb houses remain.
The perpetrators of these terrorist attacks have not been caught, even
though strong forces of the KFOR and UNMIK police have been protecting
the
Bosnjacka Mahala district round the clock, not just during curfew, since
it
was introduced on February 4.

NUOVE MISURE DI SICUREZZA A MITROVICA

NEW SECURITY MEASURES IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, February 12 (Tanjug) - UNMIK head Bernard Kouchner
has
decided about new security measures in Kosovska Mitrovica which will
take
effect next week.
A statement distributed to Serb reporters late on Saturday said that the
number of international police would be doubled. Three hundred new
policemen will be deployed within the six municipalities of this region,
the statement said.
Most policemen will be stationed in Kosovska Mitrovica itself. The first
100 policemen will arrive next week. They will cooperate closely with
KFOR
troops, the statement said.
The security zone established on both sides of the bridge over the Ibar
River will be expanded. The established checkpoints on both sides and
mobile police teams will be manned by KFOR troops as well - French,
Danish,
German and English.
Among the new measures which should contribute to a calming of the
situation in this town in Kosovo and Metohija province is the
proclamation
of a no-demonstrations zone.
The monitoring and control of the administrative border with Serbia
proper
will also be stepped up, the statement said.

SERBI SOTTO ATTACCO AD OBILIC

ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ATTACKED SERBS IN OBILIC
OBILIC, February 13 (Tanjug) - A Serb-populated district of Obilic was
attacked with automatic firearms late on Friday, but there were no
casualties, radio amateurs reported from this part of Serbia's southern
Kosovo and Metohija province.
The attack went on for 20 minutes, resulting in shattered windows and
riddled walls. International force KFOR troops simply observed the
brutal
attack on the remaining Serbs in this district.
The Obilic KFOR command said it was continuing an intense search for the
perpetrators and that it believed, on the grounds of certain
intelligence,
that the perpetrators are from the territory of Obilic.

VOCI CONTRO L'EMBARGO ALLA RFJ DALLA REPUBBLICA CECA

ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
TV SHOW PARTICIPANTS CALL FOR LIFTING OF ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS
PRAGUE, February 12 (Tanjug) - Participants in a popular Czech TV show,
Kotel (The Cauldron), have urged the soonest possible help for Yugoslav
citizens and the Czech government's contribution to this as a call for
the
lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia.
The demand voiced by ruling Social Democrat MP Jaroslav Foldina was
welcomed with loud applause from the audience.
Foldina asked Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, another guest on the
show
of the private TV station Nova, to urge such actions with the
government,
since "it is not democratic to bomb someone, starve them, or make them
freeze to death". Yugoslavia and its citizens need immediate help,
Foldina
said.

SUMMIT BALCANICO A BUCAREST CON L'ESCLUSIONE DELLA RFJ

THE BALKANS - REGIONAL COOPERATION
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPEAN SUMMIT WITHOUT YUGOSLAVIA
BUCHAREST, February 12 (Tanjug) - Government representatives of several
southeastern European countries signed a Charter on good-neighborly
relations, regional stability, security and cooperation in Bucharest on
Saturday, showing open awareness that these plans cannot be realized
without the participation of Yugoslavia.
At the third top-level meeting within the process of cooperation of
southeastern European countries, the Yugoslav flag was displayed at the
conference table, but the chairs for a Yugoslav delegation remained
vacant.
Opening the meeting, Romanian President Emil Constantinescu said
Yugoslav
representatives were absent because of restrictions enforced by the
European Union, practically confirming that he had yielded to the
interests
of extra-regional factors, and accepted interference in what are
exclusive
affairs of the regional countries.
And yet, Constantinescu had to face reality. He said no concrete
structures could be set up in the region without the participation of
the
Serbian people.
Today's one-day meeting was attended by prime ministers Costas Simitis
of
Greece, Ivan Kostov of Bulgaria, Ljupco Georgijevski of Macedonia,
Bulent
Ecevit of Turkey, Ilir Meta of Albania, and the Romanian head of state.

DOPO TRE ANNI LIBERATO IN CECENIA UNO JUGOSLAVO RAPITO A MOSCA

F.R. YUGOSLAVIA - CHECHNYA
RUSSIAN SPECIAL TROOPS LIBERATED A YUGOSLAV HELD CAPTIVE IN CHECHNYA
MOSCOW, February 13 (Tanjug) - Members of Russian special police units
for
fighting organized crime have liberated Yugoslav citizen Stanimir
Petrovic
from captivity in Chechnya, it was announced in Moscow on Sunday.
Petrovic worked in Moscow for the German firm Albana Export Import, and
was abducted together with his boss Rudolph Klaus Schmidt on August 2,
1997. They were intercepted at Slepcoski Airport in Ingushetia by armed
attackers and taken in an unknown direction.
No details about Petrovic's liberation were revealed, but it is known
that
no ransom has been paid and that the action was carried out by special
police units from the northern Caucasus regional administration for
combatting organized crime.

YDS 11/2/2000 -----------------------------------------------

ANCHE DALLA SLOVACCHIA VOCI CONTRARIE ALLA POLITICA CRIMINALE
DELLA NATO NEI CONFRONTI DELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA

F.R.YUGOSLAVIA - SLOVAKIA
NATO CONTINUES AGGRESSION IN EFFORT TO BREAK UP YUGOSLAVIA
BRATISLAVA, February. 11 (Tanjug)- Yugoslav ambassador to Slovakia
Veljko
Curcic has set out that, although morally defeated, the NATO countries
which had participated in the March-June, 1999 aggression on Yugoslavia
were still trying to achieve their goal -- to break up Yugoslavia --
through efforts "illegitimately to change the authorities in
Yugoslavia."
"The pressures continue in the period of Yugoslavia's reconstruction
above
all through the imposition of unjust economic and other sanctions. The
unscrupulous pressures are designed to prevent the reconstruction and
development of Yugoslavia, which they have devastated with their rockets
and bombs," ambassador Curcic said in an interview to the Slovak daily
Novy
Den.
When the policy of open aggression failed, aggression continued through
sanctions, blackmail, and the granting of more dollars for continued
efforts to topple the authorities in Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav ambassador
specified.
The Slovak daily said that Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and
Metohija was being ethnically cleansed by ethnic-Albanian terrorists and
separatists under the "patronage" of NATO troops.
It set out that the ethnic cleansing did not imply just the elimination
of
Serbs and their expulsion from the "heart" of Yugoslavia but also the
elimination of any trace of Serbs and Christians in general.
Ambassador Curcic said that the expulsion of Serbs, Montenegrins and
other
non-Albanians from the province, with the tacit consent of the KFOR and
UNMIK, was organized ethnic cleansing.

LA KFOR NON VEDE LA PULIZIA ETNICA IN ATTO NEL KOSMET?

KFOR OVERLOOKS ETHNIC CLEANSING OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
BONN, February. 11 (Tanjug)- The Berlin Junge Welt Friday carried an
article written by British Member of Parliament Alice Mahon, a
Labourite,
in which she said that Yugoslavia had a genuinely multi-ethnic society,
and
a large-scale operation of ethnic cleansing in Serbia's southern
province
of Kosovo and Metohija by ethnic-Albanian terrorists and separatists was
being overlooked by the KFOR international peace force.
Mahon, who chairs the British Parliament's Committee for the Balkans,
visited Kosovo and Metohija last autumn as a member of the so-called
North
Atlantic Assembly, an institution which is to exercise parliamentary
control of NATO.
Mahon said in the article that it did not take her long to realize what
was happening and subsequent reports of the OSCE and international human
rights organizations, including Amnesty International, had confirmed
that
Serbia's southern province was being ethnically cleansed by the KLA
while
the U.N. mission (UNMIK) and the KFOR did not show the slightest
readiness
to take legal action against them.
The British politician said that Serbs, Slavs of Muslim faith
(Goranacs),
Romanies, ethnic Turks and other non-Albanians were victims of daily
harassments, intimidation, abductions and torching.
Mahon cited the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry figures that 350,000 people
have
been forced to leave Kosovo and Metohija since the KFOR deployment in
June
last year.

MANIFESTAZIONE DEI SERBI-KOSOVARI A ZVECAN PRESSO PRISTINA

PROTEST RALLY IN ZVECAN
ZVECAN, February. 11 (Tanjug) - Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are the
teachers of patriotism and united they can realize their joint goal -
survival and preservation of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia and
Serbia
within its southern province, is the message of several thousand Serbs
gathered at a protest rally on Friday in Zvecan, close to Pristina.
The president of the Serbian National Forum of Zvecan, Dragisa Milovic,
said that Kosovo and Metohija "is a blot in the heart of Europe because
is
it rife with chaos, anarchy, violence, arms trading and white slavery
carried out by the masters (UNMIK head Bernard) Kouchner and (Hashim)
Thaqi."
"We only want to live in peace and in dignity and we demand security for
ourselves and our children, the return of the displaced and of our army
and
police," Milovic stated.
The speakers at the rally, often interrupted by shouts "Long Live
Serbia"
and "Long Live Yugoslavia", called for "all Serbs in these hard times to
form one party."
"We will not allow Kouchner to create another Albanian state based on
the
misfortune of the Serb people, nor will a single Serb enter his and
Thaqi's
government," the protesters said.
Deputy director of the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, Dr. Milan
Ivanovic,
stated that "the Serbs would prevent Kouchner from carrying out
experiments
on them 'in vivo', just those performed by Nazi doctor Mengele."
"Kouchner cannot chose a Serb who is convenient for his government
because
we will chose our own representative if the conditions for this arise,"
Ivanovic set out.

ANCHE L'ITALIANO "PANORAMA" RICONOSCE CHE IN KOSOVO COMANDA L'UCK

KLA, NOT KFOR, IS IN COMMAND IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, ITALIAN PANORAMA
ROME, February. 11 (Tanjug)- The so-called ethnic-Albanian KLA is in
command in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia's southern province, despite the
presence of the KFOR international forces, the Italian weekly Panorama
said
Friday, commenting the continued violence against the non-Albanian
population in the province.
Citing the OSCE report for December, Panorama said the violence was
organized by militant KLA separatists.
"The doubtful guerrilla movement has been accused also of cooperating
with
the Kosovo and Metohija mafia," the Milan weekly set out.
The Human Rights Watch shares the opinion that orders for the violence
in
Serbia's southern province come from the militant KLA and KLA members
are
the perpetrators of the most brutal crimes there.
"The anti-democratic and violent KLA, which is now unpopular among
Kosovo
and Metohija Albanians, themselves, is stronger than ever before," the
weekly Panorama said.

B92 11/2/2000 ------------------------------

SEMPRE PIU' VICINE LE MANOVRE NATO IN KOSMET

No reaction to NATO "provocation": Yugoslav Army

BELGRADE, Friday - The head of the Third Yugoslav Army, Vladimir
Lazarevic,
said today that the Army would not react to NATO military manoeuvres
planned
for Kosovo next month. Lazarevic, speaking to Belgrade news magazine
NIN,
said that the manoeuvres could represent an attempt by NATO to provoke
the
Yugoslav army.

YDS 10/2/2000 -----------

L'ASSASSINIO DI BULATOVIC

FR YUGOSLAVIA - TRAGIC DEATH OF DEFENCE MINISTER
ZIZIC: MONSTROUS SHOTS FIRED ON BULATOVIC WERE AN ATTACK ON YUGOSLAVIA
PODGORICA, February 9 (Tanjug) - Montenegro's Socialist People's Party
(SNP) held a commemoration meeting late on Wednesday in the presence of
more than 1,000 people following the assassination of Yugoslav Defence
Minister and top SNP official Pavle Bulatovic late on Monday.
The commemoration, held at the Yugoslav Army club, was attended by
Bulatovic's family and relatives as well as top SNP officials including
Momir Bulatovic, Srdja Bozovic, Predrag Bulatovic and Zoran Zizic,
Yugoslav
government ministers, representatives of the Yugoslav Second Army
command,
other party leaders and officials of various organisations and
associations.
Addressing those attending the commemoration, Zizic, SNP Vice-President,
said that the monstrous shots fired on Bulatovic were an attack on the
country, the SNP and the Yugoslav people's unwavering determination to
be
their own masters.
"Animosity towards our people and state and the atmosphere created by
those who spread hatred and divisions, in any case that what is terrible
and fatal for Montenegro, have caused the death of innocent Pavle
Bulatovic," he said.
Bulatovic's sudden and tragic death is a great loss for the SNP but it
also puts a major obligation before the party to continue his commitment
to
brotherly ties between Montenegro and Serbia, he said.
Thousands of people from all over Montenegro paid their last respects to
Bulatovic at the chapel at the Podgorica cemetery on Wednesday.
MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT OFFERED CONDOLENCES TO MINISTER BULATOVIC'S FAMILY
PODGORICA, February 10 (Tanjug) - President of the Yugoslav republic of
Montenegro Milo Djukanovic on Wednesday offered condolences to the
family
of assassinated Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic, the
Presidential
Cabinet said late on Wednesday.
MINISTER MATIC: MURDER OF BULATOVIC IS PART OF ORGANISED TERRORISM
ORCHESTRATED FROM ABROAD
BELGRADE, February 9 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Information Minister Goran
Matic
said on Wednesday that the assassination of Yugoslav Defence Minister
Pavle
Bulatovic was a part of the chain of organised terrorism orchestrated
from
abroad, and that the security of state officials in no way differed from
the security of other citizens.
Matic told the Belgrade 'Danas' newspaper that the state would do all
within its power to find murderers in each and every case and that state
authorities would put an end to terrorism and crime that were being used
as
an instrument for destabilising the country.
Matic had stated that a chain of subversive and terrorist actions was
being planned abroad and stimulated from abroad also at a session of the
Yugoslav Left (JUL) Directorate's Information Committee last October.
He had warned that subversive and terrorist actions were being planned
abroad in order to destabilise and destroy the country's political and
economic system.
He had also said that, after all its defeats, Washington's policy was
increasingly nearing actions based on subversive and destructive illegal
activities and military provocations and relying on a real network of
secret agents.

SULLE RELAZIONI TRA RFJ E ROMANIA

F.R. YUGOSLAVIA - ROMANIA
DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATION BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA AND ROMANIA
BUCHAREST, February 10 (Tanjug) - An international symposium on the
development and reconstruction of the Romania/Banat-Yugoslavia region
was
held in Timisoara, Romania, on Wednesday.
The symposium was organised by Pro Liberts Co. of Timisoara and
Germany's
Ostimpex of Hanau, one of Europe's biggest manufacturers of gas
installations equipment.
The Yugoslav side was represented by Termoelektro of Belgrade and
Inzenjering Biro of Novi Sad, as well as by designers of gas
installations.
Also attending were 30 or so Romanian businessmen.
Yugoslav businessmen had highly profitable talks with the Ostimpex
representatives, with both sides expressing a willingness to set up a
joint
venture in Timisoara.

==================================================================

NOTA DEL CRJ: Le notizie in lingua straniera sono introdotte da un
nostro titolo in italiano per facilitarne la consultazione.
La nostra selezione di notizie contiene brani da fonti diverse:

YDS - e' la "Yugoslav Daily Survey" del Ministero degli Esteri della
RFJ (cfr. http://www.mfa.gov.yu/ ).

B92 - sono le notizie che provengono dalla mailing list di RadioB2-92,
di orientamento antigovernativo e filo-occidentale:
> freeb92-e is an open mailing list for distribution of news by Radio
> B2-92. News bulletins are updated at 19.00 CET Monday to Friday and
> at 23.00 CET on Saturday and Sunday.
> For more information on FreeB92 and Radio B2-92, visit:
> http://www.freeb92.net/

REUTERS - sono i dispacci della omonima agenzia di informazione

IWPR - e' il bollettino dell'Institute for War & Peace Reporting
<info@...>
> Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for International
> Development, European Commission, Swedish International Development and
> Cooperation Agency, MacArthur Foundation, Press Now and the Carnegie
> Corporation. IWPR also acknowledges general support from the Ford
Foundation.
> *** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net ***

Tanjug - e' l'agenzia di stampa jugoslava: http://www.tanjug.co.yu

--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
QUARTO CONGRESSO DEL PARTITO SOCIALISTA DELLA SERBIA (SPS)

Il sito del IV Congresso dell'SPS:
http://www.sps.org.yu/kongresi/k4.html

La relazione introduttiva del presidente dell'SPS Slobodan Milosevic:
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Bilteni/Srpski/si170200_s.html
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Bilteni/Engleski/si170200_e.html

Il sito internet dell'SPS:
http://www.sps.org.yu/index-ne.htm

La cronaca della prima giornata del Congresso:
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Bilteni/Engleski/b180200_e.html

---

SINTESI DELL'INTERVENTO DI MILOSEVIC (Beta/AIM)

BELGRADE, February 18, 2000 (Beta)
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was
re-elected Socialist Party president on this party's
fourth congress, said on Feb. 17, that Yugoslavia is
being attacked by "a new fascism" and accused the
opposition of being in the service of the West.

"We have no intention of distancing ourselves from
any wrong moves we made, but let it be known that we
have no intention of distancing ourselves from the
impressive balance of good that this party has done
for the Serbian state, for all citizens in it and for
the entire Serb people," Milosevic pointed out in a
speech which ended the congress of the socialists.

According to him, this positive balance includes "not
only freedom and independence but also impressive
development."

He said that this did not fit "into the picture of
the future intended for this part of the world which
envisages a disunited society, a humiliated state, a
puppet government, disorientated people, accepting the
fact that the world is run by one government,
readiness to serve this government and also live in
this condition in happiness."

He said that for her "creative emancipated response"
to this picture Serbia was rewarded with NATO air
raids.

"The genocide against Albanians was fabricated to
serve as a pretext for genocide against a disobedient
European people. The entire world knows that we stood
up to this war in any way we could, with arms, media
and morally and that we were superior in all three,"
Milosevic said.

The "fascist textbook is not over yet. Undoubtedly,
the finest pages in this book should be written about
the experience of exterminating Serbs. In 1999, the
new fascism focused on Serbia."

"Thus, I believe in rebellion, resistance, protest,
because this message is not being conveyed only to one
people, that it will be exterminated if it is not
obedient. It is universal and it is being sent to
all," Milosevic said.

According to him the only obstacle to this goal can
be reason, "the reason of mankind, because this time
mankind is the target."

"This party and this country say to mankind that it
possesses the most powerful weapon - reason, the only
weapon which can save the world and the human race,
not only from the total colonization that is being
prepared, but also from the tragic illusion that evil
happens to others and that it will bypass them."

Regarding the political scene in Serbia, Milosevic
said that the Socialist Party of Serbia still believes
that "all war and other hatchets should be buried in
reform," and that common ground cannot be found with
those "who do not speak their mother tongue, but the
language of force which has frightened them and
humiliated them."

"Actually, we have no opposition in Serbia, we have a
group which is manipulating with emotions and needs,
and is lying that there is no solution to hardship
when faced with a force that has conquered the world."


Referring to Kosovo, he said that Serbia had
confidence in the peace agreement and the guarantees
of the U.N., "but nothing had come of peace, much less
of order, while there is no trace of normal life."

"Albanian terrorism has been legalized, Serbs have
mostly fled Kosovo. This shameful mission of the
so-called international community should end as soon
as possible and our country's authorities should take
over all functions on this sovereign part of
our territory," Milosevic said.

========
THE NEWS
========

Morning news edited by Rade Kuzmanovic

AIM, Belgrade, February 18 12:30

---

MESSAGGI DELLE DELEGAZIONI INTERNAZIONALI

THE FOURTH SPS CONGRESS - BILATERAL CONTACTS

JOVANOVIC RECEIVES DOUBRAVA OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOHEMIA
AND MORAVIA

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - Socialist Party of Serbia
(SPS) Vice-President and Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin
Jovanovic on Thursday received Senator Jaroslav Doubrava, the
head of the delegation of the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia.

Talks covered directions for the further strengthening of
cooperation between parties and parliaments, as well as prospects for
promoting overall relations and cooperation between Yugoslavia
and the Czech Republic, said a statement by the federal Foreign
Ministry.

PERCEVIC RECEIVES PASOK DELEGATION

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - Socialist Party of Serbia
(SPS) Main Board Executive Council member Goran Percevic
received on Thursday a delegation of PASOK, which is attending
as a guest the 4th SPS Congress, said the information service of
SPS main board.

The PASOK delegation was headed by Alternative Int. Secretary
Jannis Nikolaou.

In the talks it was stressed that the traditional friendship
of the two peoples and the two parties will continue to give an
important
contribution to peace, stability and cooperation in the entire
region.

THE FOURTH SPS CONGRESS - FOREIGN DELEGATIONS' STATEMENTS

SERBIAN SOCIALISTS WIN THROUGH UNITY - UKRAINE'S OLEYNIK, M.P.

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - Visiting Ukrainian writer and
academician Boris Oleynik, M.P., praised on Thursday the
work and programme of, and especially the atmosphere of
optimism pervading the current 4th congress of the Socialist Party of
Serbia (SPS).

According to Oleynik speaking for TANJUG, the congress has
rallied people who wish to win, united, against the infernal concepts
of the global power-wielders.

NATO IS A MILITARY, IMPERIALIST PACT - SLOVAK COMMUNISTS

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - A Slovak communist party
official said on Thursday the party's delegation was attending the
4th congress of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in order
to show solidarity with the brave Serbian people, who offered
resistance to NATO's barbaric aggression last year.

Ivan Hopta said the Communist Party of Slovakia was the first
party in Slovakia to organise protest rallies outside the U.S.
Embassy and outside other NATO countries' embassies in
Bratislava on the second day of NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia
last spring. Nearly 90 percent of the Slovaks opposed the
aggression and felt embarrassed by their government's opening its air
space to NATO planes for air strikes on Yugoslavia, said
Hopta, first vice president of the Communist Party of Slovakia.

He said his party was for disbanding NATO because its history
shows it is not working for peace, but is a military and imperialist
pact defending the interests of international capital,
primarily U.S.

He said he had assured himself that the Socialist Party of
Serbia (SPS) is a united, popular party which defends the interest of
all
people regardless of national or religious affiliation.

The Slovak party is also preparing for its 4th congress,
slated for September, he said, adding it would be an honour to welcome
the
SPS.

CHILEAN COMMUNISTS URGE COOPERATION, MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

BELGRADE, February 18 (Tanjug) - It is the first time that a
delegation of the Communist Party of Chile is attending a Socialist
Party of Serbia (SPS) Congress, the purpose of which is to get
acquainted with the organization of your governing party's work and
possibilities for cooperation, member of the Communist Party
of Chile Central Committee Ricard Sole said on Thursday.

The people of Chile does not have genuine information about
Yugoslavia because the information comes from NATO through the
media in the United States. One purpose of our visit is to get
acquainted with the actual situation in Yugoslavia and go back and
tell our people about it, Solo said.

It must not be allowed in the third millennium that problems
be resolved through the use of force and wars and that one group of
bigger countries influences the developments in smaller
countries, Solo set out.

The Communist Party of Chile is for cooperation and mutual
assistance between countries and against aggression and wars, the
Chilean guest underscored.

NEW IMPERIALIST POWERS DESTABILIZE EUROPE - ALBANIA

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - Representative of the
Ecological Party of Albania Hamik Hoti at the 4th Congress of the
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) said that new imperialist
tendencies of the great powers are leading to the destabilization of
Europe, and one of those attempts was the aggression on FR
Yugoslavia.

Hoti underlined that his party's position was extremely
anti-imperialist and anti-American.

A senior officer of that Albanian party said that he was
impressed by the very good organization of the 4th Congress of SPS and
confirmed that his positive position towards the principles of
that party had remained unchanged.

Hoti said he considered Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
a friend and courageous figure.

HEGEMONICAL TENDENCIES PREVAIL IN WORLD - AUSTRALIA

BELGRADE, February 17 (Tanjug) - The world is in an extremely
difficult situation because in it prevail hegemony, imperialism
and antagonism, said a representative of the Communist Party
of Australia, Rob Gowland, guest of the 4th Congress of the
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

Gowland told Tanjug that his party "opposes most strongly the
aggression of imperialist forces" on the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.

Gowland assessed that the problem in Kosovo and Metohija had
been fabricated, and then used for the intervention of the great
powers and the realization of their interests in the region.

Western powers impose sanctions on countries that resist
hegemonical tendencies, Gowland said, and added that they want to
warn in that way the others not to attempt to oppose their
intentions.

He said that the Communist Party of Australia "condemned
sharply sanctions, that are a punishment of the innocent and constitute
a violation of the international convention on human rights,
and the principles of the United Nations" and that is why sanctions
against Yugoslavia "will have to be lifted urgently."

The Australian delegate predicted that in the future there
will be more wars, whose goal will be to establish control over regions
possessing a specific mineral wealth, as the region of central
Asia.

---

INDIRIZZO DI SALUTO DAL PARTITO DEL LAVORO DELLA COREA

Greetings to 4th congress of Socialist Party of Serbia

Pyongyang, February 17 (KCNA) -- The Worker's Party of Korea Central
Committee yesterday sent a message
of greetings to the 4th congress of the Socialist Party of Serbia.
The message expressed conviction that the 4th congress of the party
would mark an important occasion in the
party's activities to strengthen itself, defend the independence,
dignity
and sovereignty of the country and build a
prosperous nation.
Expressing belief that the traditional friendly and cooperative
relations between the two parties and peoples of
the two countries would further develop in the joint struggle for
independence against imperialism and for peace in
the future, the message wholeheartedly wished the congress of the party
great success in its work.

Salutations nord-coréennes au 4e congrès du Parti socialiste de Serbie

Pyongyang, 18 février (KCNA) -- Le Comité central du Parti du Travail de
Corée a envoyé hier un message de salutations au 4e congrès du Parti
socialiste de Serbie.

Le message exprime la conviction que le 4e congrès du Parti marquera une
importante occasion dans les activités du Parti pour se renforcer,
défendre
l'indépendance, la dignité et la souveraineté du pays et bâtir une
nation
prospère.

Exprime l'espoir que l'amitié traditionnelle et les relations de
coopération
entre les peuples des deux pays se développeront encore dans la lutte
commune pour l'indépendance contre l'impérialisme et pour la Paix dans
le
futur.

Le message souhaite de tout coeur grand succès au Parti dans son
travail.



--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
L'ANOMALIA DI MITROVICA, ULTIMA CITTA'
"MULTIETNICA" DEL "KOSSOVA"

Giriamo in lista un nuovo contributo apparso sul sito "Emperors
Clothes", che da molti mesi ormai riporta le analisi piu' brillanti e
significative sulla situazione in Jugoslavia e sulla disinformazione a
riguardo vigente nei paesi occidentali.

Nel contributo - che purtroppo e' ancora una volta in lingua inglese:
non riusciamo a tradurre tutto il materiale che accumuliamo, ma se
qualcuno fosse disponibile ad aiutarci ce lo faccia sapere - si spiegano
le ragioni della continua tensione e degli scontri nella citta' di
Mitrovica, a pochi chilometri dalla zona mineraria piu' ricca della RF
di Jugoslavia. Dopo una serie di innumerevoli attentati, comprese bombe
sulle linee ferroviarie e missili sparati contro gli autobus, da qualche
giorno si verificano persino sparatorie tra irredentisti albanesi da una
parte e soldati delle truppe occupanti (essenzialmente francesi, e non
per caso) dall'altra. Che questi episodi continuino, ccme gli attentati
e le violenze a danno della popolazione ortodossa in tutta la provincia,
ed anzi aumentino in presenza della KFOR (cioe' della NATO) appare
strano agli ingenui... Meno strano e' per chi conosce i rapporti
strutturali tra dirigenza UCK (oggi "Corpo di Protezione del Kosovo") e
strutture militari della NATO (specialmente i servizi segreti USA,
tedeschi e britannici), dei quali abbiamo avuto tante volte occasione di
parlare.

L'anomalia di Mitrovica consiste nell'esistenza di un settore
settentrionale, dove insieme alla popolazione serba vivono altre
nazionalita' ed anche tanti albanesi che non hanno mai avuto problemi
con i vicini di casa... Oggi questi ultimi sono bersaglio dell'UCK
insieme ai serbi. Accrescere la tensione serve da una parte a spingere
questa popolazione non secessionista ad andarsene, dall'altra a
giustificare la presenza continua, e magari in forze sempre maggiori,
delle truppe KFOR.
Questa situazione e' trattata spesso in maniera insufficiente sui media,
talvolta i fatti vengono semplicemente capovolti. Ci capita di ascoltare
o di leggere che "gli albanesi del settore nord di Mitrovica hanno
paura" perche' "sono soggetti a minacce e violenze" e "chiedono aiuto".
Naturalmente, la aggressione di UCK e NATO contro la Repubblica Federale
di Jugoslavia, che ha avuto il suo culmine con i bombardamenti della
scorsa primavera, ha determinato ulteriori difficolta' nella convivenza
tra nazionalita' diverse, ed episodi di violenza o ritorsione avvengono
in entrambi i campi; tuttavia, solo un esercizio di estrema malafede
consente di equiparare quello che sta succedendo ormai da giugno 1999
(il repulisti della provincia da parte degli alleati UCK e KFOR a danno
di tutta la popolazione jugoslavista, non solo serba) con pochi episodi
di segno opposto, a danno di albanesi. Comunque, ormai anche i sassi di
Campo dei Merli hanno capito che la menzogna e' uno strumento di guerra,
e che fino alla ulteriore frantumazione della Repubblica Federale di
Jugoslavia, la guerra non sara' finita. CRJ


---


WHY IS THE KLA SHOOTING AT KFOR?
by Nebojsa Malic, Max Sinclair and Jared Israel (2-17-00)

www.tenc.net [emperors-clothes]

What is happening in Mitrovica?

Last weekend the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) launched coordinated
attacks on
KFOR troops in this northern Kosovo town.

You remember the KLA. According to KFOR (NATO in Kosovo) it has ceased
to
exist. KFOR and the UN bureaucrats achieved this miracle by allowing the
KLA
thugs to be Kosovo's police force and government. New title, new uniform
and
voila! - new man.

The regulation targets for KLA snipers have been Serbs, Roma ("Gypsies")
Gorani (Slavic Muslims) Turks, non-KLA Albanians and Jews. But last
weekend
the snipers were shooting at NATO. Why? The KLA and other secessionists
have
been NATO's protégés and wards since the late 1980s. Do they shoot their
Masters?

At first glance, the shooting appears to have unhinged the leaders of
the
NATO establishment. Or perhaps not. Perhaps these gentlemen have simply
chosen to lie.

AN ISLAND OF MULTIETHNIC LIFE

Under NATO occupation, most potential opponents of the KLA have been
driven
from Kosovo. But in northern Mitrovica, thousands remain in their
ancestral
homes. Reinforced by a flood of anti-KLA refugees from elsewhere in
Kosovo,
the forces of the old Kosovo, that is of normal, multiethnic life, have
been
holding their own.

The KLA has no will to fight when people defend themselves. Hence they
have
chosen to avoid a frontal assault on northern Mitrovica. Instead, last
weekend, KLA operatives staged a provocation. They shot at French KFOR
troops
from positions on the non-KLA (that is, northern) side of the Ibar
River, as
if to make it appear that the shooting was the work of Serbs. The KLA
propaganda machine then kicked in with claims that hundreds of Albanians
had
been "ethnically cleansed" from the north.

Based on public statements by KLA leader Hacim Thaqi, the attacks were
not
the work of some rogue faction; Thaqi, who is closely allied with the
U.S.
military machine, warned that if the secessionists didn't get what they
wanted, more and worse attacks would follow.

The KLA is shooting at KFOR? As if that weren't unusual enough, KFOR
shot
back, killing one KLA sniper. Almost fifty more KLA types were arrested.
KFOR
troops fired warning shots to stop KLA supporters from crossing the
Ibar.

Meanwhile the UN actually contradicted and discredited the "ethnic
Albanian
[read: KLA] human rights center" by saying that not one ethnic Albanian
had
registered as expelled from northern Mitrovica last week.

What is going on?

THE NEW MATH: ONE PLUS ZERO EQUALS...2

Commenting on last weekend's firefight, State Department spokesman James
Rubin blamed "both ethnic Albanians and Serbs for incidents in the
city."
[AP, U.S. Condemns Violence in Kosovo, February 14]

Rubin admitted that the snipers were Albanian (read: KLA) yet he
concluded
that: "It should be very clear that the confrontation is coming from
both
sides." In a dazzling display of Slobophobia, Rubin added:

"We need to impress upon the parties their responsibility to deal with
the
hatreds and animosities that have been built up" and stoked by Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade.

"When things go bad, he feels like he had a good day," said Rubin. [AP,
2/14/00]

So according to the State Department, when Albanian secessionists shoot
at
KFOR the blame lies with Milosevich. Hmmm. Is this like original sin?

{James Rubin recently announced his resignation. Hopefully soon.}

Rubin was not the only American who presented the situation in Mitrovica
in a
totally illogical fashion, whether intentionally or due to some
unfortunate
disability. In Tuesday’s New York Times, he was joined by Carlotta Gall,
a
reporter with years of experience portraying the KLA snakes in a
flattering
light.

In her article "Kosovo Peacekeepers Warn That Extremists ‘Want Peace to
Fail’", NY Times, Feb. 15, 2000, Gall blamed faceless "extremists" for
the
fighting. Given the Times' constant attacks on Serbs, readers would find
it
easy to deduce whom Gall means. She cited the fears of senior UN and
KFOR
officials that "ethnic relations will be poisoned permanently."

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"General de Saqui de Sannes, [French commanding officer] who has blamed
the
violence on both sides, said individuals were instigating attacks
purposely
to escalate the violence and to destroy the last multiethnic town in
Kosovo
where Serbs and Albanians are still living side by side, if uneasily.

'"There are extremists who want the peace to fail,' he said in an
interview
at his headquarters. While the violence consists of 'isolated acts,' he
said,
the strategy is to escalate tensions and intolerance. 'I am worried that
we
may be in the process of an escalation of intolerance,' he said.

'"Some Albanians have wanted to push the Serbs in northern Mitrovica and
beyond out of Kosovo, and some Serbs have wanted to do the opposite—to
push
the Albanians remaining among them south of the Ibar river, which
divides
Mitrovica, in order to create a pure Serbian area in northern Kosovo,'
he
said. 'The people are hostages to this,' he said." (NY Times, Feb. 15,
2000)
(END OF EXCERPT)


Has Gen. de Sannes been on another planet? Back on Planet Earth, it's
too
late for "an escalation of intolerance": approximately 350,000
non-Albanians
and anti-KLA Albanians have already been forced out of Kosovo by KLA
terror.
Were all these people victims of "isolated" incidents? And how does
Albanians
firing on KFOR constitute Serbs trying to create an ethnically pure
zone? And
if they are trying to create such a zone, how come the UN says no
Albanian -
not one - has been forced out of the Northern side of town?

And what does "ethnic relations" have to do with KLA snipers shooting at
KFOR
anyway?

This is all rather dizzying.

Is the man deranged? Or is there method in his madness?

NEVER GIVE A SERB AN EVEN BREAK

Mitrovica is the last multiethnic town in Kosovo for two reasons: the
Serbs
and other anti-secessionists have fought eviction and the French troops
have
actually held the KLA in check. This as opposed to what's happened in
areas
under US, British and Dutch control. For example, British troops marched
into
Pristina alongside the KLA and oversaw the eviction of literally
thousands of
non-secessionist residents. (See Note 1). Similarly, Dutch troops have
given
the KLA free reign to terrorize and control Orahovac. (Note 2)

Clearly, if the Serbs and their allies would just leave Mitrovica, peace
would follow: no Serbs = no ethnic violence. Are Serbs then to blame
because
their very existence frustrates and provokes a faction of Albanians
beyond
endurance?

Along these lines, UN high official Mr. Marcone noted that although
Monday
was a "bad day for the Albanians," some Serbs will soon be arrested as
well.
For what? Since KFOR admits the violence derives entirely from the KLA
side,
is the unnamed crime for which the Serbs are to be punished existential:
"One
is a Serb; one exists; therefore, one is bad"?

Through the fog of misleading writing that is Ms. Gall's hallmark, some
light
filters. Consider the following:

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"…Thousands flocked today to the burial of the one man killed by French
troops during the fighting Sunday.

"Avni Haradinaj, 35, a former guerrilla fighter of the Kosovo Liberation
Army
and a local hero, was buried with full honors by his former comrades in
arms.
His coffin, draped in the red Albanian flag, was carried up the hill to
the
edge of a wood outside the city, through a crowd of some 3,000 mourners.

"The Albanian mayor of Mitrovica, Bajram Rexhepi, who said he had been a
good
friend of the dead man, said Mr. Haradinaj was unarmed when he was shot
by
French soldiers and was in Mitrovica visiting his sisters. "There were
four
people with him and they explained that he had no weapon at the moment
he was
killed," he said.

"General de Saqui de Sannes insisted that Mr. Haradinaj was armed and
was
shooting at the soldiers when he was shot.

"The general tried to reassure the Albanians of French neutrality. 'If
we
were shot at by Albanians, it is difficult to arrest Serbs,' he said."
(ibid.) (END OF EXCERPT)

The French General is apologetic: he wishes to arrest Serbs, alas they
aren't
doing the shooting. Then why the apology?

WHY WOULD A FRENCH GENERAL APOLOGIZE TO TERRORISTS WHO ARE TRYING TO
KILL HIS
TROOPS?

Therein lies the question. In this world it is customary for people to
kiss
up to those more powerful than they. But why is this General currying
favor
with...the KLA, an organization which never won a battle against the
Yugoslav
Army, an organization which is only good at terrorizing old people,
shooting
farmers from the woods, ransacking apartment buildings and driving out
school
teachers and electrical engineers?

Perhaps the General isn't really bowing before the KLA. But if he isn't
really bowing before the KLA, then before whom is he bowing?

Let's assemble some facts, and let's think it over.

1) Last weekend's fighting was clearly an organized KLA operation. While
snipers shot at KFOR their compatriots tried to cross the Ibar River.
Forty-five Albanians were arrested, all men of fighting age. The KLA
sniper
whom the French troops shot was A. Haradinaj, age 35. Was he one of
Ramush
Haradinaj's five brothers? Ramush Haradinaj is a deputy of KLA boss
Hacim
Thaqi in the Kosovo Peace Corps, set up by…KFOR.

2) On Tuesday, Feb. 15, French KFOR troops found an ambulance abandoned
near
a checkpoint in south Mitrovica, i.e. the KLA side of the Ibar. In it
was a
huge stash of deadly weapons.

"Among the stash were 14 anti-tank rocket launchers, more than 180
high-explosive grenades, and more than 3,000 cartridges for guns,"
(Bergen
County Record, Feb. 16, 2000, from various wire services)

The ambulance had been donated by an Italian aid organization
(Cooperazione e
Sviluppo) to a KLA-controlled town.

3) In a rather surprising move, none less then Gen. Henry H. Shelton,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a statement about the
ambulance.

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"[Gen. Shelton] said today in Washington that the incident underscored
the
difficulty faced by the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force in stopping
arms
from entering the province illegally.

"Getting weapons in (illegally) is no hard task," Shelton said. "You've
got a
fairly porous border. You've got everything from backpacks to mules that
can
bring in weapons, but you've got Lord knows how many thousands of
weapons
that may have been cached in the local area as (the Serbs) pulled out of
there." (AP Online Feb. 15, 2000) (END OF EXCERPT)

Is General Shelton suffering from some malfunction? First of all, the
administrative border between the Province of Kosovo (legally part of
Serbia)
and inner Serbia is quite well policed by Yugoslav troops. The truly
porous
border is between Kosovo and KLA-infested northern Albania; that border
is
porous precisely because Yugoslav border guards were forced to depart
under
the June peace agreement. So why is Shelton, who is responsible for the
absence of border guards, going on about Serbian weapons?

Indeed, why is he talking about borders and arms caches at all? A KLA
ambulance full of tactical weapons just got seized on its way to arm KLA
forces attacking French troops who are being shot by the KLA. The KLA
are
American proxies. Shouldn't Shelton use this opportunity to say to his
proxies: "We backed you up until now but if you pick on the French
troops and
try to destroy a multiethnic community, you're through!"? He does not.
Instead he talks wistfully about the difficulties of stopping illegal
arms;
he laments; he, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff laments; he
suffers
ennui; he speaks wistfully of mules and the impossibility of trying to
stop
the flow of arms as if it were arms and not the men, the KLA men, who
were
shooting at those French troops.

4) The ambulance full of weapons was driving towards Mitrovica from the
south, from a KLA controlled town. The deadliest weapon in that
ambulance was
a six-shot grenade launcher along with 180 high-explosive grenades,
usable
with devastating effect against, let us say, French troops guarding a
bridge.
That weapon did not come from hidden caches of Serbian weapons. It is
state
of the art. And as the Agence France Presse (but NOT the American
Associated
Press or British Reuters!) pointed out:

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"Police intercepted a shipment of arms hidden in an ambulance heading
for
Mitrovica, including a US-made "street sweeper" grenade launcher..."
(AFP,
Feb. 156, 2000) (END OF EXCERPT)

U.S.-made.

5) Meanwhile, US-made allies have joined the fray. Dutch and special
British
troops, the so-called Royal Green Jackets previously assigned to Ulster,
arrived in Mitrovica, ostensibly to back up the French. The English and
Dutch
governments are the main US ally in Europe, often opposed by France and
Germany. For example, when Greece, Italy and Germany attempted to relax
the
sanctions that have kept heating fuel out of Serbia in this harshest of
winters, the Dutch and British delegates, acting on orders of the State
department, vetoed the measure. (Note 3)

Perhaps "US ally" is a mistaken way to describe the British, and
especially
the Dutch governments. A more accurate term might be "US servants." The
US
elite does not think along egalitarian lines. By way of illustration,
consider this comment made at a Senate hearing by Michael Short, the US
General who ran NATO's bombing campaign against the Serbs. Referring to
the
difference in status between the U.S. and "allied" forces, Short
testified
that:

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"Our allies recognize that. They recognize that they are small dogs, but
they
want to have a seat at the table. I would use the Dutch as the prime
example.
A small air force, a proud air force, a competent air force. They have
bought
their own tankers. They have two modified DC-10s with the Israeli system
in
the front with mirrors to allow them to refuel their own airplanes. They
have
lantern pods. You'll remember on the first night of the war, a Dutch
F-16
shot down a MiG-29? A small air force, but a seat at the table.

"And I knew I could send the Dutch anyplace I had to send them and
they'd
salute and say, 'Yes, Boss, we'll be there.' "(Gen. Michael Short,
testifying
at the Oct 21, 1999 Senate Military Hearings) (END OF EXCERPT)

6) While Gen. Shelton was avoiding any criticism of his dear KLA, the
leader
of that non-existent organization, Hacim Thaqi, made his position on the
KLA-French conflict perfectly clear. Here's Thaqi:

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE)
"Hasidim Thaqi, co-chairman of Kosovo's Temporary Administrative
Council,
also told Koha Jone newspaper that French troops of the NATO-led KFOR
peacekeeping force must shoulder some blame for the gun battles that
erupted
on Sunday because they had allowed Serbs to control half of the town.

'"It is paramount the (U.N.) institutions be more active to solve the
situation in Mitrovica otherwise they will have to face bigger
problems,''
said Thaqi, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas.

'"`I also cannot exclude that such developments could spread to other
parts
of Kosovo,'' he went on.

"Fighting in Serb-dominated northern Mitrovica drew in Serbs, ethnic
Albanians and KFOR troops. Two French peacekeepers were wounded by
sniper
fire and one ethnic Albanian -- identified by KFOR as a sniper -- was
shot
dead by KFOR troops.

"Thaqi accused international peacekeepers of doing a '`weak job in
Mitrovica
and allowing terrorist groups and Belgrade institutions to function
freely
there.'' '

''These phenomena should be eliminated in order to solve the problem of
the
city as soon as possible,'' he added." ( Feb 15 ,2000, AFP) (EXCERPT
ENDS
HERE)

Conclusion

At first glance the KLA attacks on KFOR seem crazy, suicidal. But the
KLA has
a history of carrying out apparently crazy actions which are not really
crazy
at all but which are coordinated with covert operations by NATO,
especially
the US.

In this case, we think the KLA is acting as a proxy for the US which
cannot
itself attack French KFOR troops. The US (and its British and Dutch
servants)
is engaged in a struggle with the French and German elites - that is,
with
Europe. The US Empire is trying to consolidate its strength in Kosovo to
prepare for further attacks on Yugoslavia, with important geopolitical
goals.
Basically what is at stake here is a) gaining control of the formerly
Socialist East and b) preventing a unified and effectively powerful
Europe
(i.e., competition) from emerging.

To this end, one US goal is to put control of all Kosovo in the hands of
the
KLA, its proxy. The French have been resisting this - not out of any
love of
justice, but because the French elite sees the US as a serious menace.
Hence
the KLA attacks, the "reinforcement" by US servant troops, the official
endorsement of the attacks by Thaqi, with its threat of more unless the
French let the KLA take over northern Mitrovica and get rid of the
Serbian
terrorists (for which read: multiethnic society), the statement by Gen.
Shelton which, by not denouncing the KLA made it clear to the French
that the
US supports the attacks (though of course not publicly) and finally, the
weird statement by Gen. de Saqui de Sannes. At least now we can solve
the
puzzle: why was the General simultaneously resisting the KLA's
aggressive
stance and at the same time kissing up to the KLA? The answer is: he
wasn't
simultaneously resisting the KLA's aggressive stance and kissing up to
the
KLA. He was simultaneously resisting and kissing the ass of the USA.

And after all, isn't that what the French elite always does?

*****

NOTES

Note 1 - For an eye-witness account of British complicity in the KLA
rape of
Pristina this past July, see the interview with Cedda Prlincevic. Mr.
Prlincevic was the chief archivist of Kosovo and President of the Jewish
Community in Pristina. Click on Driven From Kosovo
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/prlincevic.htm

Note 2 - The Dutch have performed shockingly in Orahovac, where they
have
brought sheer terror to the Serbian and Roma ("Gypsy") communities.
Emperors-Clothes has run a number of articles on this subject. In
chronological order:

Save the Families: the Women of Orahovac Speak
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/misc/savethe.htm

The Women of Orahovac Answer the Colonel
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/trouw.htm

'Can children be war criminals?' Interview in a Dutch newspaper, Trouw.
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/can.htm

'Time is so Short' - an Interview with Simca Kazazic
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/simca.htm

Note 3 - Concerning the Dutch & British government's shameful veto of a
measure intended to alleviate Serbian suffering this winter, see
Europeans
Bow to U.S. Pressure, Extend Yugoslav Sanctions
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/Johnstone/monsters.htm

* To browse articles at Emperors-clothes please go to
http://www.emperors-clothes.com

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http://www.iacenter.org

>
> Is the CIA Murdering Yugoslav Leaders?
> IAC Condemns Bulatovic Assassination
>
> The International Action Center condemns the murder of Yugoslav
> Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic. The minister was gunned down in a
> Belgrade restaurant Feb. 7. The assassination was "part of a chain of
> organized terrorism orchestrated from abroad," Yugoslav Information
> Minister Goran Matic charged at a Feb. 9 press conference. It
> coincided with a new wave of terror against Serbs who have refused
> to leave their homes in the NATO-occupied province of Kosovo.
>
> Over the past three years at least a dozen Yugoslav officials have
> been assassinated. Most were members of the Yugoslav United Left
> or the Serbian Socialist Party. Is this a CIA "executive action"
> campaign to destabilize the government of Yugoslavia?
>
> Last October, at a session of the information committee of the United
> Yugoslav Left, Goran Matic had "warned that subversive and terrorist
> actions are being planned abroad in order to destabilize the country's
> political and economic system," the Yugoslav press agency Tanjug
> reported. He charged that Washington's policy would "increasingly
> rely on destructive and illegal activities ... relying on an existing
> network of secret agents."
>
> During the US-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia last spring, US missiles
> destroyed the bedroom of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic,
> and the Pentagon openly declared Yugoslav political leaders to be
> military targets. This was in brazen violation of the Geneva
> Convention, which prohibits political assassination. To set the stage
> for the bombing, the CIA-backed "Kosovo Liberation Army"
> murdered dozens of Kosovar Albanians, Serbs, Roma and others
> who opposed secession from Yugoslavia.
>
> As well as being Yugoslavia's defense minister, Bulatovic was a leader
> of the Montenegro Socialist People's Party, which wants Montenegro
> to stay part of Yugoslavia. The US and NATO have been
> encouraging a separatist movement in Yugoslavia, as they did
> previously in Slovenia, Croatia. Bosnia and, most recently, Kosovo.
> The Pentagon has gone so far as to warn the Yugoslav government
> not to "interfere" in Montenegro's affairs. Montenegro has been a part
> of Yugoslavia since that country was founded.
>
> >From the 1961 murder of Congo President Patrice Lumumba through
> the repeated attempts on the life of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, from
> Operation Phoenix in Vietnam to the murder of tens of thousands of
> Latin Americans by CIA-supervised death squads, the CIA and
> Pentagon have long used assassination as an instrument of war and
> policy. The CIA overthrow of Salvador Allende's pro-socialist
> government in Chile in 1973 was preceded by a wave of political
> assassinations. Nor can we forget the FBI-CIA domestic
> assassination program—the COINTELPRO murders of members of
> the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement and other
> activist organizations in the '60s and '70s. There is evidence that Dr.
> Martin Luther King was among COINTELPRO's victims.
>
> The corporate-owned major US news media have not even raised the
> question of a US hand in the assassinations in Yugoslavia. Ignoring the
> Yugoslav government's statements, they have implied the victims were
> involved in criminal activity—a classic "make 'em look dirty" means of
> blunting outrage-or insinuated the Yugoslav government itself had
> carried out the murders. The media made similar allegation about the
> January murder of anti-NATO Serb nationalist leader Zeljko
> Raznjatovic, popularly known as Arkan.
>
> This is the same corporate news media that uncritically repeated wild
> and now disproven Pentagon allegations of mass murder by the
> Yugoslav army in Kosovo, claims used to justify last spring's
> undeclared war. They have refused to report non-government efforts
> to investigate NATO war crimes in Yugoslavia, such as the
> Independent Commission of Inquiry founded by former US Attorney
> General Ramsey Clark. They have completely censored any news of
> the recent US-orchestrated presidential coup in Ukraine, which
> threatens to bring US troops to Russia's border. This level of media
> complicity with the State Department and Pentagon has not been seen
> since the height of the Cold War in the 1950s.
>
> The Bulatovic assassination and the new attacks on Serbs in Kosovo
> coincide with other bellicose moves by the US toward East Europe
> and the former USSR. The past few weeks have also seen a pro-
> NATO coup against Ukraine's parliament, the US Navy seizure of a
> Russian ship in the Persian Gulf and the State Department's
> declaration of support for anti-government forces in the former Soviet
> republic of Belarus. The Pentagon has also revived its "Star Wars"
> program and is planning NATO military exercises in July in Ukraine,
> Bulgaria and Estonia. For decades the Washington warmakers have
> dreamed of the military conquest of East Europe and what was once
> the Soviet Union. Now they appear to believe they can make this
> dream a reality. They must be stopped.

--

--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
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