MILOSEVIC RICEVE I DIPLOMATICI STRANIERI
MILOSEVIC RECEIVES HEADS OF YUGOSLAV DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES
BELGRADE, August 5 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic
on Saturday received a group of heads of Yugoslav diplomatic and
consular
representative offices in several dozen countries and international
organizations.
In the talks, Milosevic stressed that Yugoslavia sets great
importance on the intensive development of equal relations and open
cooperation with all countries of the world, in which the successful
work
of Yugoslav diplomatic consular representative offices has an important
role and responsibility.
Yugoslavia firmly urges the affirmation of the policy of peace
and
stability, and due respect of all fundamental international principles,
which inevitably includes respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity
and
independence of all countries, and noninterference in their internal
affairs. Yugoslavia appears everywhere in the world with such an
approach
and that is why it enjoys great renown and wide international support,
and
why all attempts to isolate Yugoslavia have failed.
Yugoslavia realizes comprehensive bilateral ties with the vast
majority of world countries, ties which are based on longterm
cooperation,
mutual respect and understanding, which presents an example of building
international relations and the best way in which a country's own
interests
should be realized and protected, Milosevic said.
With its heroic defense from the NATO aggression (MarchJune,
1999)
and impressive results in national renewal, Yugoslavia has joined the
frontline in the struggle against the new colonialism, in which the
truth
about Yugoslavia and the defense of its freedom are becoming fully
expressed, awakening the conscience of millions of people who refuse to
be
reconciled and are also resisting the policy of hegemony and dictate.
Milosevic spoke to the Yugoslav diplomats about the most
important
issues of the national home and foreign policies.
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic took part in the
talks.
---
CHI HA DISTRUTTO DEVE PAGARE I DANNI
BELGRADE BRIEFS FOREIGN DIPLOMATS ON DAMAGE FROM SANCTIONS, NATO WAR
BELGRADE, August 4 (Tanjug) There can be no reconstruction or
development of southeast Europe if Yugoslavia is left out of the
development projects, according to Yugoslavia's Assistant Foreign
Minister
at a briefing on Friday. Zoran Jeremic briefed foreign diplomats in
Belgrade on the damage sustained by Yugoslavia through the application
of
international antiYugoslav sanctions and last year's NATO aggression.
Jeremic was quoting data submitted to U.N. Secretary General
Kofi
Annan on July 31 and published as a U.N. document. Annan has requested
similar information from the other countries in the region.
Jeremic said that experts of the U.N. Economic Commission for
Europe attach great importance to the inclusion of Yugoslavia in the
process of regional reconstruction, believing that it has a central part
to
play in the process.
"As a relatively large economy, located on strategic routes
leading to Western Europe, the Yugoslav economy is important both as a
market for neighbouring countries and as a country of transit.
"In the opinion of the Commission, the FR of Yugoslavia plays a
decisive role in the reconstruction plans for the region and the
prevention
of the FR of Yugoslavia to play that role would threaten the economy and
political stability of entire Europe", he said. He added that, until the
outbreak of the Balkan crisis, Yugoslavia had been in the forefront of
the
transitional economies in economic and social reform.
Overall direct and indirect damage caused by NATO's
antiYugoslav
aggression is estimated at 100 billion dollars plus, according to
Jeremic.
---
SPARITI TRE PRIGIONIERI POLITICI SERBI DALL'OSPEDALE DI MITROVICA
SERB PRISONERS GO MISSING FROM KOSOVSKA MITROVICA HOSPITAL
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, August 4 (Tanjug) Three Serb prisoners
disappeared from a hospital in U.N.run Kosovska Mitrovica during the
night
between Thursday and Friday, Serbs sources in the divided city confirmed
to
TANJUG on Friday.
Dragan Jovanovic, Vlastimir Aleksic and Dragisa Peica were
being
treated after a protracted hunger strike in prison in Kosovska
Mitrovica,
where they had been held unlawfully for between 10 and 13 months without
a
trial.
They disappeared overnight while under U.N. mission (UNMIK)
police
guard.
SERBIAN OFFICIAL DOUBTS SERBS ESCAPED FROM KOSOVOMETOHIJA HOSPITAL
BELGRADE, August 4 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Republic of Serbia's
Deputy Justice Minister on Friday expressed doubt that three Serb
detainees, who disappeared from a hospital in U.N.run divided Kosovska
Mitrovica overnight, escaped of their own accord.
Zoran Bilinovac said that "the confused statement issued by the
UNMIK (U.N. KosovoMetohija mission) police saying that Dragan Jovanovic,
Dragisa Peica, and Vlastimir Aleksic three innocent Serbs whom the
socalled UNMIK justice department has kept in detention for a
year disappeared from the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica today, arouses
serious doubts about what really happened to them.
"The three were arrested a year ago on the sayso of the (ethnic
Albanian) socalled Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and during the
investigation have been threatened with being handed over to KLA
terrorists
unless they confessed their alleged crimes.
"In early June this year, (another Serb) Arsenije Vitosevic had
also disappeared from the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital. He was arrested
only
because his name was on a list submitted to (international force) KFor
on
June 18, 1999, by socalled KLA Commander Ismet Tari.
"The suspicion that KFor and UNMIK have handed over the four
Serbs
to their allies should not be entirely ruled out.
"It is, however, more probable that KFor and UNMIK have
stagemanaged events so as to bring additional pressure to bear on Serb
detainees to give up their demands for a swift and fair trial and
release
from detention, or in order to justify the transfer of detained Serbs
from
Kosovska Mitrovica deeper inside KosovoMetohija where they would not be
able to receive visits from relatives or attorneys, thereby making it
difficult for them to prove their innocence," Bilinovac said.
PEACE AND TOLERANCE CENTRE SEEKS EXPLANATION OF SERBS' DISAPPEARANCE
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, August 4 (Tanjug) The Centre for Peace and
Tolerance in divided Kosovska Mitrovica on Friday asked the U.N. mission
UNMIK and the international force KFor to explain how Serb prisoners
disappeared from a local hospital overnight.
The Centre issued a statement to say it "learned today that
three
Serbs, who had been detained in the Kosovska Mitrovica prison,
disappeared
from the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica early this morning. "They are
Dragan Jovanovic, Vlastimir Aleksic and Dragisa Peic.
"Since neither UNMIK nor KFor have given a valid and serious
explanation of what has happened to them, the Centre for Peace and
Tolerance shares the concern of their families and awaits an explanation
of
the circumstances under which the three Serbs disappeared from the
hospital
in Kosovska Mitrovica.
"Concern is all the greater in view of the fact that there has
been no explanation to this day of the recent disappearance from the
same
hospital of Serb detainee Arsenije Vitosevic, of whom nothing is known
at
this time."
The UNMIK office in this city in the Yugoslav Republic of
Serbia's
U.N.administered province of KosovoMetohija said on Friday UNMIK was
investigating the disappearance of the three prisoners.
---
SLAVO-MACEDONI ABBANDONANO LA FYROM OCCIDENTALE CAUSA NAZIONALISMO
PAN-ALBANESE
MACEDONIANS LEAVING WESTERN MACEDONIA
SKOPJE, August 5 (Tanjug) More and more Macedonians are
permanently leaving the western parts of their country for other parts
or
destinations abroad because ethnic Albanians have long been predominant
in
these parts, the Skopje daily Makedonija Denes warned on Saturday.
In Gostivar alone, Macedonians are currently selling some 400
apartments or houses, the daily said, underscoring that they are now
treated in this western town as secondclass citizens.
The inflow of ethnic Albanians into western Macedonian towns
began
several years ago when they started offering Macedonians large sums of
Dmarks for real estate. As a result of tense interethnic relations, but
also because they had been unable to find employment or become more
successfully engaged in private businesses, Macedonians had decided to
sell
their property and then leave permanently, the daily said.
In addition to houses and apartments, ethnic Albanian
businessmen
have purchased all business premises, department stores and main stores
in
Gostivar and Tetovo which had earlier been social property. The son of
former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has also invested in business
premises in Gostivar, since he has close business ties with ethnic
Albanian
businessmen, Makedonija Denes said.
The Macedonian municipality of Gostivar has a population of
45,000. The majority population were formerly Macedonians, but they have
now dropped to a mere 18 percent. Consequently, Macedonians now make up
the
bulk of the 11,000 unemployed persons in Gostivar, the daily said.
---
OLANDESI, CANADESI E BRITANNICI ARRESTATI IN JUGOSLAVIA.
L'ACCUSA E' TERRORISMO
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?f=/stories/20000805/361600.html
NATIONAL POST, Saturday, August 5, 2000
Yugoslavia facing pressure over 'terrorist' arrests
Canadians held by army: Axworthy blasts treatment of men as unacceptable
Stewart Bell
National Post
As Yugoslavia faced mounting international pressure over its arrest of
two Canadians and their British travel companions, Lloyd Axworthy, the
Foreign Affairs Minister, demanded his envoy be allowed to visit the
men, and called their treatment unacceptable.
A Canadian diplomat dispatched to the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro to
meet the detained Albertans, Shaun Going, 45, and his nephew, Liam Hall,
19, has been refused access to the men, who are being held in the town
of Andrijevica by the Yugoslav military...
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/080400yugo-arrest.html
August 4, 2000
Yugoslavs Hold 4 Westerners in Arms Case
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PRAGUE, Aug. 3 -- The Yugoslav Army said today that it had arrested two
Britons and two
Canadians in Montenegro, accusing them of possessing weapons and
explosives, in what
appeared to be another effort to stimulate fears of Western encirclement
before elections next
month.
It was the second arrest of four foreigners reported this week by
Yugoslav authorities. Four
Dutchmen whose detention was disclosed on Monday were seized last month
on Serbia's border
with Montenegro, reportedly because they were trying to kill President
Slobodan Milosevic.
The army said today that the Britons and Canadians were employees of the
NATO-led forces in
Kosovo and were suspected of training pro-Western secessionists in
Montenegro, Serbia's tiny
sister republic, to commit "terrorist actions." ...
YUGOSLAV ARMY ARRESTS FOUR ARMED FOREIGN NATIONALS
BELGRADE, Aug 3 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Army has arrested four
armed foreign nationals carrying military equipment and demolition gear,
the Army Command said on Thursday.
The arrests were made in the border belt beyond the border
crossing in the northeast of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro in the
night between Aug. 1 and 2.
The arrested persons are British nationals Adrian Michael
Prangnel
and John Connon Bredley Yore, and Canadian nationals Shuan Gerald Going
and
Liam Patrick Hall.
They were not authorised by the competent Yugoslav bodies to be
present in the area.
There are indications that the arrested foreign nationals have
been training Montenegrin interior ministry special troops and are
specialists in demolition and terrorist operations.
The competent Yugoslav Army authorities have information that
one
of the arrested is a member of the socalled Kosovo Protection Corps. The
authorities have also voluminous documents which clearly indicate the
true
plans and intentions of the arrested.
Investigation results will be made public in due course, the
army
statement said.
Yugoslavia suspects 4 Britons of spying
The Associated Press
PODGORICA, Yugoslavia (August 3, 2000 7:03 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The Yugoslav military has
detained four British citizens on suspicion of spying,
the private Montena-fax news agency reported Thursday.
It said the four unidentified Britons were arrested
Tuesday on Mount Cakor, on the border between
Montenegro and Kosovo. They were tourists, but arms
were allegedly found in their possession, Montena-fax
said.
"They were taken to military barracks under the
suspicion that they were conducting a hostile act of
spying," the Montenegrin news agency said, without
elaborating.
The British Foreign Office said Thursday it had no
reports of the arrests.
Yugoslav authorities said Monday that four Dutchmen
were arrested in July for allegedly plotting to
assassinate President Slobodan Milosevic.
The arrests follow allegations that NATO has hired
mercenaries to snatch fugitive war crimes suspects on
Yugoslav territory, tightening the noose around
indicted Serb leaders.
The Dutch government has demanded access to the
detainees, in accordance with international
conventions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Jochems
said Thursday. But he said a Yugoslavia official in
The Hague would not tell details of the charges, where
they were being held or their medical condition.
DUTCH ESPIONAGE TERRORIST GANG ARRESTED IN YUGOSLAVIA - MINISTER
BELGRADE,
July 31 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia's Information Minister said on Monday
state
security forces have arrested four Dutch special force troops who have
come
to Yugoslavia with the job of trying to assassinate President Slobodan
Milosevic. Briefing domestic and foreign reporters, Minister Goran Matic
said the espionage and terrorist gang was arrested while attempting to
enter Serbia from the other Yugoslav republic, Montenegro, via Serbia's
U.N.-run Kosovo-Metohija province. One of the four is a professional
soldier and they have all been trained by the British SAS. State
security
troops have seized some of the weapons and equipment found in the gang's
possession, Matic said, adding that the four, posing as war adventurers
and
weekend soldiers, have been organised and trained for subversive
operations
and assassinations. He went on to say that, by their own admission, the
gang had tried to get in touch with the Dutch KFor (international Force
in
Kosovo-Metohija) battalion and had planned to try to assassinate
Milosevic
or commit acts of terrorism on Yugoslav territory. Matic said the four
had
visited the territory of the former Yugoslavia on several occasions, as
evident from visas for (Bosnian Serb) Republika Srpska, Croatia and
Slovenia stamped on their passports, and prepared terrorist operations.
"Yugoslavia has an organised system of security, which is capable of
providing adequate protection to the people, the state and the political
system of the country. "No hired guns, military adventurers, special
troops
or gangs will ever penetrate our system of security and protection", he
vowed. The reporters were shown video footage of the arrested Dutchmen,
identified as Gotfrides Johannes Antonijus de Ri, Samrordijan Tjetje,
Johannes van Iersel and Ian van Stajk, who spoke about their arrival in
Yugoslavia and their terrorist plans. Asked by reporters who trains the
Montenegrin police, Matic said this is done by Great Britain, and that a
group of Montenegrin police officers has undergone training in U.S.
police
structures. "The truth is that the British provide some of the training
of
Montenegro's special forces, while Montenegro's interior ministry, for
all
the protestations of peace of its officials, has lately been busily
buying
various arms with Croatia's help", he said. "One cannot talk of peace
while
amassing weapons, the way Montenegrin President Djukanovic is doing",
Matic
added.
'This Is Fiction'
U.N. Tribunal, Dutch Govt. Deny Links to Milosevic's Alleged Assassins
The Yugoslav government showed a film of a Dutch citizen who was
arrested in Yugoslavia along with three other Dutchmen. All are accused
of planning to kidnap or kill President Slobodan Milosevic. (Reuters)
A M S T E R D A M, Netherlands, Aug. 1 — The International Criminal
Tribunal for former Yugoslavia today strongly denied links to a group of
Dutchmen being held in Serbia on suspicion of plotting to assassinate
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Yugoslavia said Monday it had arrested four Dutchmen,
allegedly sent by Western intelligence agencies, who were planning to
kidnap Milosevic and other alleged war criminals indicted by The Hague
tribunal.
"I would call it pretty good fiction," said Paul Risley,
spokesman for the tribunal. "This story is fiction and nothing more."
With pictures of the four and their alleged cache of
weapons spread across most Dutch newspapers, the Dutch government raised
the tempo of its own denials and said it was trying to find out more
about the incident.
"We deny any military operation," said a Dutch Foreign
Ministry spokesman. He said Dutch diplomats were trying to make contact
with their Yugoslav counterparts in The Hague and in Belgrade to find
out more about the incident.
Friends and colleagues of one of those detained, Godfried
de Rie, reacted to the news with shock.
"He is a dead honest, hardworking man who never planned to
kidnap President Milosevic," Jaap Havik, the owner of a Mercedes
restoration firm that employed de Rie, told Dutch television. "He's
always working on cars and motorbikes."
A next-door neighbor of de Rie's described him as a
perfectly normal person who once worked as a postman.
'Weekend Warriors'
Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic said the men were posing as
amateur "weekend warriors" but were in fact assassins sent by the West.
He said the men had been caught in Mehov Krs, an isolated
corner of Serbia near Kosovo and Montenegro, about 300 miles south of
Belgrade.
Matic showed a film in which one of the four, identified as
Jeroen van Iersel, told an unidentified questioner that he and his
friends had been looking for people indicted by the U.N. tribunal.
The Dutch spokesman said the Foreign Ministry was
investigating reports that the group was arrested as long as two weeks
ago.
"We will continue our efforts and go to the [Yugoslav]
Foreign Ministry to ask why we were not told earlier of their arrest,"
the spokesman said.
He added that de Rie had done his military service in the
army in 1989. "But he was an administrator, hardly a paratrooper."
The Dutch Foreign Ministry named the others as Bas van
Schaik, Sander Zeitsen and van Iersel. All are aged between 28 and 32.
"We are pretty sure that they are neither military nor
involved in military things," the spokesman said.
The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million
for information leading to the arrest of Milosevic, former Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who commanded Bosnian Serb
forces during the 1992-95 conflict in Bosnia.
In the film shown to journalists in Belgrade, van Iersel
said he knew Milosevic and Mladic were among those indicted. He said
that if he met the Yugoslav leader he would have been put in a box on
top of a car and driven out of the country.
'These Are No Pros'
Military specialists appeared in the Dutch media this morning to say it
was extremely unlikely that the four are professional militiamen.
If they were what the Yugoslavs claim they are —
SAS-trained assassins — then they would never have told their plans,
the experts argued. Those same specialists pointed out that Dutch
mercenaries fought in Croatia, mostly on the Croatian side.
Most of them came from extreme right-wing organizations,
they said.
They also pointed out that the $5 million bounty is for
information — not for kidnapping, much less delivering a human head.
One NATO source was reported as dismissing the whole
incident as "bizarre."
The Dutch anti-fascist group Kakfa, which monitors rightist
activity, believes the men could be former members of the ultra-right
CP'86 group, which was ordered dismantled last year by a Dutch court.
Like many other small skinhead groups, CP'86 played survival games on
the weekends.
Like most other European countries, the Netherlands has its
fringe groups of ultra-rightists and neo-Nazis — many of whom are also
hardcore soccer hooligans. They are closely monitored by the
intelligence services.
A Milosevic Stunt?
In Belgrade, the opposition dismissed the arrests as a propaganda stunt.
"Matic is crazy about conspiracy theories," said Bogdan
Grubacic, editor of the independent English language newsletter VIP. He
said the arrests are part of the propaganda war launched by the
Milosevic regime ahead of early elections, scheduled for Sept. 24.
And the alleged location of the arrests, on the border to
Montenegro, could serve the dual purpose of helping Milosevic to fuel
his war of words with the smaller, anti-Milosevic partner in the
Yugoslav federation.
The Milosevic regime says Montenegro is behind repeated
assassinations. Montenegro, in return, regularly accuses Milosevic of
sending his hit-men there.
Montenegro is boycotting the upcoming elections, saying the
laws had been changed by the Yugoslav government to favor the
re-election of Milosevic and his partners.
ABCNEWS.com's Sue Masterman and Reuters contributed to this report.
DATE: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 19:59:00
From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
To: right-left@...
On 31 July, Dutch TV rebroadcast Serbian TV tapes of four Dutchmen,
arrested in Yugoslavia. On those tapes, they claimed to be an armed
"special unit" with violence and abduction plans.
For whatever it is worth:
Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad ["NRC-Business Paper"] of Tuesday 1 August
on
one of the arrested, Godfried de Rie:
"According to the Group for Anti-Fascist Research, KAFKA, his name, with
the same initials and place of residence, is on the list of members for
1995 of the extreme Rightist [political party] CP'86. The [Dutch]
Ministry
of Defence confirms that De Rie was a conscript Army lance corporal, of
1989/8."
The CP'86 ["Center" Party, founded in 1986] political party was
notorious
for racism, violence, and open propaganda for Nazis like Adolf Hitler
and
Rudolf Hess. In the 1990s, they sent Dutch mercenaries to Yugoslavia, to
fight in extreme Right Croat units in Croatia and Bosnia.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
BLIC
English Edition
Goran Matic, the Federal Minister about the arrest of
Holland citizens
They planned assault on Slobodan Milosevic
Belgrade (Beta)- Goran Matic, the Federal Information
Minister said that
Yugoslav police had arrested four Holland citizens who had
planned an
assault on Slobodan Milosevic. Matic added that they had
been arrested on
Mehov Krs, at the Serbia-Montenegro border, just before the
Group of Eight
summit in Japan.
Names of the arrested are Gotfrides Johanes Antonius de
Rij, Samvordian
Tjetje, Johanes Andrianus Kornelius van Irshel and Ian van
Stajk Bastien.
(That's how the names were told to the journalists.)
Journalists could watch videotaped statements of the
arrested. One of them
said that the group's aim was to kidnap Slobodan Milosevic
and take him
abroad or to some foreign embassy in order to obtain the
warrant prize. "Our
plan was to kidnap Slobodan Milosevic, to kill him, cut off
his head, put it
in a box and send it," he added.
The arrested said that they had traveled from Slovenia, via
Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Montenegro. They added that they had
planned to go to
Kosovo and join the Holland KFOR battalion. The Holland
KFOR members were to
provide firearms for them.
Gotfrides Johanes Antonius de Rij said that his rank was
"Soldier number
one" and that his identification number was 690816197.
We intended to come to Yugoslavia to see the situation. We
planned to go to
the war zone, to Kosovo. We planned to fight against Serbs
there. We also
planned to visit the Holland battalion in Kosovo," he said.
He added that
they had entered the country through Montenegro, in a car.
"Situation at the check-point was very unusual. They didn't
ask us anything.
We were told that we had to pay car insurance and that
every person was
allowed to take in 5 grams of drug," he added. He mentioned
that they
possessed "special knifes, handcuffs, and a saw". They had
five cameras for
shooting military bases, nature and customs checkpoints.
They also had a dog
that guarded the car.
"Part of the plan was to kidnap an important person. I
cannot say the name,
but we could earn a lot of money with that person," the
arrested said.
Samvordian Tjetje said that they had planned to collect
information about
Milosevic, Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and other persons
indicted by The
Hague Tribunal.
Matic said that this group was a part of American
subversive activities
directed against Yugoslavia. Matic accused the Montenegrin
Ministry of Home
Affairs and Montenegrin President of purchasing
anti-aircraft and
anti-helicopter arms with the help of Croatia. He said that
the Montenegrin
police had been trained by members of special British SAS
units and members
of American intelligence service.
"In this case, Croatia is not benign. It's obvious that
there is space for
terrorist acts against Yugoslavia," Matic added.
Holland doesn't have information about arrested Holland
citizens
The Hague (Beta-AFP)- Yesterday, the Holland Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
announced that it didn't possess information about four
Holland citizens,
arrested in Yugoslavia and accused of planning to kidnap
and murder
President Milosevic.
"We don't know anything. We are not sure about their
nationality," spokesman
of the Ministry said for France Press. He added that
Holland authorities
were searching for "Credible information and affirmations".
"We are trying to gain some information through our embassy
in Belgrade. In
this moment, we don't have any information from Yugoslav
authorities," the
spokesman added.
---
SUL RIPRISTINO DELLA NAVIGABILITA' DEL DANUBIO BLOCCATA DALLA NATO
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON CLEARING OF DANUBE WATERWAY
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) Recent complex talks with the
Danube
Commission on clearing the waterway of debris from NATOdemolished
bridges
has produced results of interest to Yugoslavia and other Danube
Commission
members, the Yugoslav Government said on Thursday.
Navigation in the River Danube through Yugoslavia has been
blocked
by debris of bridges smashed by NATO in its aggression on Yugoslavia
last
year.
At the session chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, the
Government reviewed a report on the results of the negotiations, the
Government statement said.
Documents adopted by the Danube Commission incorporated the
positions set down in the Yugoslav Government's Memorandum that the
resumption of international navigation in the Danube through Yugoslavia
must be done with full respect for Yugoslavia's territorial integrity
and
sovereignty, its laws and regulations.
In the first stage of the navigation route rehabilitation, the
project envisages for building a new bridge across the Danube at Novi
Sad,
to replace the pontoon bridge erected after NATO planes had demolished
all
three bridges in this northern city.
The Yugoslav Government recommended that the Commission appoint
Radisa Djordjevic, director of the Yugoslav Institute for the
Maintenance
and Development of Inland Waterways, to head the project.
---
VERSO LE ELEZIONI DI SETTEMBRE NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
YUGOSLAVIA - GENERAL ELECTIONS
YUGOSLAV PREMIER CONFIDENT MONTENEGRO WILL JOIN IN SEPTEMBER POLLS
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia's Prime Minister said
on
Thursday that general elections called for September would be held also
in
Montenegro, because that Republic too is part of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.
Elections are a right, not an obligation, Momir Bulatovic told
reporters during a recess at the 2nd Diaspora 2000 convention of
Yugoslav
expatriates, being held in Belgrade. He added he would personally feel
very
happy if all people exercised this right.
Bulatovic noted that Montenegro is a single constituency in the
election of deputies to both chambers of the Yugoslav Federal
Parliament.
He said that the Socialist People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro,
which he heads and which is in opposition in Montenegro, would contest
the
elections.
On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro,
the
senior partner in Montenegro's ruling coalition, is threatening to
boycott
the polls, called for September 24.
He hoped a way would be found, in cooperation with Montenegro's
Government, to make it possible for the people of Montenegro to vote in
the
polls if they want to, and added this would be a test of the democratic
character of the present regime in Montenegro.
YUGOSLAV MEDIA, PARTIES SIGN ACCORD ON ELECTION CAMPAIGN COVERAGE
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) State radio and television
stations
in Yugoslavia, the Governments of Yugoslavia and its republics of Serbia
and Montenegro, and political parties contesting upcoming elections
agreed
on Wednesday on criteria for the contestants' fair and equal media
presentation during the election campaign. On behalf of the Yugoslav
Government, the accord was signed by Minister of Information Goran
Matic.
Elections for president of state and both houses of the Federal
Parliament have been called for September 24. Serbia will have local
elections on the same day.
Matic said the accord was open to all political parties
planning
to take part in the polls.
The accord determines the number and length of radio and
television appearances by the contestants on state radio and television
channels, according to Matic.
Under the election laws, state electronic media, both at the
federal level and at the level of the republics, are obliged to give
equal
coverage to all candidates in the information programmes during the
election campaign, he said.
The accord was signed on Wednesday by Radio Yugoslavia,
Yugoslav
Television, Serbian Radio and Television and Studio B.
About 30 parties have also signed the accord.
YUGOSLAV ELECTORAL COMMISSION ADOPTS REGULATIONS FOR COMING POLLS
BELGRADE, August 2 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Central Electoral
Commission met on Wednesday and adopted rules and regulations for
activities leading up to federal presidential and parliamentary
elections
scheduled for September 24, a Parliament statement said.
At its second session, held at the Federal Parliament and
chaired
by Commission Chairman Borivoje Vukicevic, the body defined uniform
rules
and standards for the coming elections. The rules are fully in line with
the laws that regulate presidential elections and elections to the
Chambers
of Citizens (lower house) and Republics of the Yugoslav Parliament.
The Commission further adopted rules and regulations for the
attendance of the presidential and parliamentary elections by foreign
observers.
It also appointed chairmen, secretaries and members of local
electoral commissions and their deputies in the constituencies in the
Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro, the statement said.
YUGOSLAV MINISTRY OFFERS AGREEMENT ON ELECTION CAMPAIGN
BELGRADE, August 1 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Information Ministry
on
Tuesday invited state media and parties contesting forthcoming general
elections to come to a consultation about election campaign terms on
Wednesday.
The Ministry said that, under the relevant regulations, the
radio
and television stations whose founders are the Yugoslav Federation or
either of its republics (Serbia, Montenegro), representatives of the
founders and parties taking part in elections should together decide
about
the number and duration of radio and television appearances of the
contestants during the election campaign.
The purpose of such an agreement is to give equal access to the
media to all parties and all candidates, and to give a balanced media
presentation and an equal treatment of the contestants in the election
campaign.
The agreement, to be reached on Wednesday, will be open to all
political parties contesting the elections.
Yugoslav presidential and parliamentary elections have been
called
for Sept. 24.
ELECTIONS - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
DINI AND ALBRIGHT AGREE OVER MONTENEGRO
ROME, Aug 1 (Tanjug) - The United States and Italy agree that Montenegro
should take part at the Sept 24 elections in Yugoslavia. U.S. Secretary
of
State Madeleine Albright and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini
reached
agreement on this issue during their meeting in Rome on Tuesday. In a
brief
statement after talks at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Albright said the
main subject at her talks with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in
Rome later today would be preparations for the Yugoslav elections, which
the United States considers of extreme importance. Italy, for its part,
believes it is necessary to urge the Montenegrin authorities not to
boycot
the elections, which Minister Dini also described as very important.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/01/montenegro.albright/index.html
Albright to ask Montenegro to reconsider election boycott
August 1, 2000
Web posted at: 4:43 a.m. EDT (0843 GMT)
From staff and wire reports
ROME -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to ask
Montenegro's president to
reconsider a planned boycott of Yugoslavia's presidential, parliamentary
and municipal elections
scheduled for September....
---
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RF JUGOSLAVIA - IRAN
YUGOSLAVIA'S MILOSEVIC SENDS MESSAGE TO IRAN'S KHATAMI
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Tanjug) Deputy Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zoran
Novakovic met in Tehran on Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal
Gharazi to whom he gave a personal message from Yugoslav President
Slobodan
Milosevic for Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
Novakovic is paying a severalday official visit to Iran.
During the cordial and frank discussion on the first day, the
two
sides exchanged views on the current situation in bilateral relations
and
supported new initiatives for cooperation, especially in the economy and
information.
Meeting separately with his host, Deputy Foreign Minister
Mortez
Sarmadi, Novakovic expressed pleasure at the attained degree of accord
on
most important international matters and at a mutually declared
readiness
to promote bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
---
NUOVE MISURE PER IL SISTEMA SANITARIO IN SERBIA
SERBIAN HEALTH MINISTER PRESENTS NEW MEASURES IN HEALTH SERVICE
BELGRADE, Aug 2 (Tanjug) The Serbian Medical Society will play
an
important part in the efforts to enhance health services, especially in
a
consulting capacity, according to the Serbian minister of health on
Wednesday.
Minister Milovan Bojic, who is also vice premier of this
Yugoslav
republic, was meeting with the Society's Executive Board. Bojic
explained
that medical professionals would in the future be given a greater role
to
play in shaping the policy of the health service, especially through
special commissions that are to be set up within the Ministry of Health.
He went on to say that doctors would be given a chance to
supplement their incomes by putting in additional work at state medical
facilities.
He said the government would set aside funds for building at
least
1,000 homes for young doctors, as one of the measures aimed at
preventing a
drain of highly qualified young professionals.
In future, greater attention would be paid to research projects
in
the health department, Bojic said, announcing tighter supervision at
medical institutions to replace the present slackness and even chaos in
some segments of the health protection system.
---
IL PIANO DI RICOSTRUZIONE ECONOMICA DELLA SERBIA
SERBIAN PREMIER SAYS GOVERNMENT RESOLUTE TO BOOST ECONOMIC GROWTH
KANJIZA, August 1 (Tanjug) Serbia's premier said on Tuesday
the
Government was committed to boosting economic growth and development in
order that this Yugoslav Republic should as soon as possible recover the
lost domestic product and repair the huge damage done by last year's
NATO
aggression.
Visiting the industrial town of Kanjiza in Serbia's northern
Vojvodina province, Premier Mirko Marjanovic inaugurated a new modern
plant
at the Potisje brickyard.
Marjanovic said Serbia was looking ahead to a period of brisk
development, with a twodigit domestic product growth rate.
According to him, the primary strategic project in the year
2000
is to build 10,000 homes at low cost and with all modern amenities as
the
first stage of a project for building 100,000 homes over the next ten
years.
The intensive housing development should boost the construction
industry, which had doubled its performance this year, and should
stimulate
the industry of building materials and other ancillary industries, he
said.
He added that the first half of the year had seen the
attainment
of the key goals of brisk economic growth and maintenance of
macroeconomic
and price stability.
In the period, industrial production had risen by 21.2 percent
over the same period in 1999, in line with the projected economic policy
for the year 2000 of increasing industrial production by 15 percent and
the
domestic product by 14 percent, he said.
The Government was, meanwhile, continuing its policy of firm
budget restrictions, i.e., of financing public spending solely from real
sources, which was the chief factor of price stability, Marjanovic said.
"Sanctions and other forms of outside pressure have not stopped
us
implementing reforms, building modern market institutions and adopting
major systemic laws: on companies, on concessions, on ownership
transformation, on value added tax, and others," he said.
He added the programme was a continuation of a policy that
meant
protecting the country's freedom, independence and integrity, settling
the
problem of KosovoMetohija politically, ending the missions of KFor and
UNMIK and returning that Serbian province under the full jurisdiction of
Serbia and Yugoslavia.
Also, he said, this policy meant a Yugoslavia as a state of
equal
people, nations and republics, economic and cultural development,
constant
growth of production and living standards, free education and medical
services, social security, affirmation of the policy of national unity,
development of democratic institutions, freedom of the media, national
and
religious equality, openness to economic, political and cultural
cooperation with all countries on an equal footing with respect for the
fundamental principles of international relations and international law.
Upcoming general elections, according to Marjanovic, will give
full support to the policy of heroic defence of the country against
aggressors, to reconstruction and the building of development projects,
and
will marginalise those who would like to come to power as exponents of
the
aggressors, betraying their country, sabotaging reconstruction and
justifying the crimes of the aggressors.
---
VUCIC: LA SERBIA E' UN AVAMPOSTO DI LIBERTA'
VUCIC: SERBIA BASTION OF FREEDOM
VRANJE, August 2 (Tanjug) Serbian Information Minister and
ranking official of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Aleksandar Vucic
said
in Vranje late on Tuesday that Serbia is a bastion of freedom and the
only
unsubdued country in Europe even though part of its territory is
occupied,
referring to Kosovo and Metohija province which is currently under de
facto
administration of the United Nations.
Speaking in a broadcast by the local TV station in this
southern
Serbian town, Vucic spoke about the upcoming local and federal elections
and the current political situation in Yugoslavia.
He said he believed citizens would decide well and that
patriotic,
nationallyoriented political forces would triumph.
Vucic strongly criticized political parties of prowestern
orientation.
Fifthcolumn activities by opposition parties in Serbia
demonstrate
the senselessness of propaganda activities which urge "the options of
those
who killed our children" in comparison with activists who "never left
the
country and want to preserve the common state of Serbia and Montenegro."
Vucic underscored that Kosovo and Metohija province "is not
lost,
but only temporarily occupied." Serbia is the only unsubdued state in
Europe and a nucleus of freedom, he reiterated.
Commenting on the upcoming elections for Yugoslav president,
Vucic
said opposition parties were proU.S. oriented and that all those who
support the policy of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic advocate
turning Montenegro, and even Yugoslavia, into an ethnic Albanian and
Muslim
country.
It is all the same to the west which opposition figure they
will
appoint "since they are all the same and all servants," Vucic said.
---
UCKFOR: KFOR PERQUISISCE LA CASA DI UN TESTIMONE DEI CRIMINI DELL'UCK
KFOR RAIDS HOME OF WITNESS AGAINST ETHNIC ALBANIAN MURDER SUSPECT
GNJILANE, August 1 (Tanjug) International force Kfor and
ethnic
Albanian police troops in U.N.run KosovoMetohija have raided the house
of a
Serb witness against an ethnic Albanian murder suspect, amateur radio
operators reported on Tuesday.
The ethnic Albanian, Afrim Zeqiri, is accused of murdering
three
people, including a fouryearold child, and wounding two Serbs in the
multiethnic village of Cernica near Gnjilane, in the east of the
Yugoslav
Republic of Serbia's KosovoMetohija province.
Kfor and ethnic Albanian police troops searched the house of
the
Serb, chief witness and one of two survivors of Zeqiri's attack.
The Serb, Zoran Stolic, sustained seven wounds at Zeqiri's
hands
and was hospitalised. After being discharged from hospital, he had gone
to
Smederevo, central Serbia, for further medical treatment and to
recuperate
with relatives.
A day after his departure, Kfor and ethnic Albanian police
troops
broke down the door to his home and turned the place upside down,
smashing
everything in sight.
Stolic returned home on Monday to find the place ransacked and
his
savings of 6,500 German marks gone, according to amateur radio
operators.
---
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RFJ - UCRAINA
UKRAINIAN MP VISITS YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT
BELGRADE, August 1 (Tanjug) A senior Yugoslav Parliament
official
received on Tuesday a visiting Ukrainian parliamentarian who heads his
country's parliamentary working group on cooperation with the Yugoslav
Parliament.
Ljubisa Ristic, who chairs the Foreign Policy Committee of the
Yugoslav Parliament's Chamber of Citizens (lower house), briefed the
guest
from Ukraine, Sergei Kiashko, on recent amendments to the Yugoslav
constitution.
Ristic said that procedures for electing MPs to the Chamber of
Republics (upper house) and for electing president of state had been
changed.
He explained that the 350,000 Serbs and other nonAlbanians who
have fled KosovoMetohija would be able to vote in forthcoming elections,
as
would the Serbs remaining in that U.N.administered province of the
Yugoslav
republic of Serbia.
The same applies to all other Yugoslav citizens in
KosovoMetohija,
according to Ristic.
"Forces of occupation in KosovoMetohija have carried out a sham
census in an effort to set the stage for unlawful elections without
Serbs,"
said Ristic, adding that such elections would be an attempt to legalize
KosovoMetohija's secession.
He went on to say that foreign observers would be invited to
the
elections, but they would not be from the countries that had launched
last
year's aggression on Yugoslavia.
"We maintain no contacts with the parliaments of these
countries,
as they will not have most of our MPs in their countries," Ristic
explained.
---
LA RFJ VERSO LA RATIFICA DELLA CONVENZIONE DI RIO SULLA BIODIVERSITA'
YUGOSLAVIA FOR PRESERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BELGRADE, Aug 1
(Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government has prepared for the federal
parliament
a draft law ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity whose
objective is the preserved and balanced use of biological diversity.
This
Convention implies that states have the sovereign right, in keeping with
the United Nations Charter and principles of international law, to
exploit
their own resources according to their own ecological policy, but also
the
responsibility not to cause damage to the environment and biological
diversity of other states or areas which are outside their jurisdiction,
said a statement by the federal government. Having in mind Yugoslavia's
central position in the Balkans, the high degree of biological
diversity,
and the need to follow the long-term effects of last year's (March-June)
NATO aggression on the environment, the draft law is also aimed at
preserving biological diversity in the wider region of the Balkans. The
international Convention on Biological Diversity, of which Yugoslavia is
a
signatory, was drawn up in Rio De Janeiro on June 5, 1992, and it
regulates
the area of the use of biodiversity along with securing conditions for
an
equal division of benefits from genetic resources and development.
---
LE CONCLUSIONI DEL CAMPEGGIO INTERNAZIONALE DI SIROGOJNO
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CAMP IN ZLATIBOR INTERNATIONAL CAMP URGES
SOLIDARITY WITH YUGOSLAVIA SIROGOJNO, Yugoslavia, Aug 1 (Tanjug) - An
international friendship camp in Sirogojno on Mt Zlatibor, west-central
Serbia (Yugoslavia), on Tuesday adopted a declaration urging solidarity
with Yugoslavia in its resistance to the new world order. Some sixty
representatives of various organisations from 21 countries have come to
Yugoslavia to analyze the current situation and consequences of last
year's
NATO aggression and sanctions, and have been the extent of the
devastation
at first hand. They also inquired into the situation in the Yugoslav
republic of Serbia's U.N.-administered province of Kosovo-Metohija.
According to the Declaration, reasons offered by foreign powers
notwithstanding, the March-June 1999 war against Yugoslavia had nothing
to
do with the situation in the country, since the government in Belgrade
had
never tried to expel, let alone commit a genocide of, the ethnic
Albanian
population in Kosovo-Metohija. The conflict between the Yugoslav
government
and the ethnic Albanian so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was the
result of numerous crimes committed by ethnic Albanian separatists, and
was
stoked by the super-powers, which took the side of the KLA and launched
an
aggressive policy towards Yugoslavia, the document says. It goes on to
say
that the pressure culminated at Rambuillet, France, talks in early 1999,
where Yugoslavia was forced to reject an unacceptable ultimatum which,
if
accepted, would have stripped it of its sovereignty. The refusal
furnished
a pretext for NATO's air strikes, which in fact gave air support to the
KLA, the paper avers. The Declaration says that the current situation in
Kosovo- Metohija, which is now administered by the international force
KFor
and the U.N. civilian mission UNMIK, is disastrous. The missions have
done
next to nothing to prevent crimes: 1,100 Serbs, Romanies and other
non-Albanians have been murdered along with 290 ethnic Albanians, 960
people have disappeared, 90 Serbian churches and monasteries have been
damaged or destroyed, it adds. More than 350,000 people have been forced
out of Kosovo-Metohija, the Declaration says. Yugoslavia, it adds, is a
hub
of telecommunications networks, oil pipelines, roads, railways that
transport raw materials, information and labour between the Caucasus,
the
Far East, the Middle East and Western Europe. According to the document,
the true reason for the so-called humanitarian war against Yugoslavia
lay
in its being seen as an obstacle in the way of multinational companies
attaining their objectives and increasing profits. The paper goes on to
call for solidarity with Yugoslavia and for lifting all anti-Yugoslav
sanctions and implementing the U.N. Security Council's Resolution No.
1244
on Kosovo-Metohija. The Friendship Camp participants urge
indemnification
of Yugoslavia for war damages and losses sustained through the
sanctions,
for prosecuting NATO politicians for war crimes, and for putting an end
to
the demonisation of Yugoslavia in western media. They also urge support
for
the forces in Yugoslavia that want dialogue between the ethnic
communities
and that oppose war, urge respect for the country's sovereignty and
international law and the disbanding of NATO.
INITIATIVE FOR LIFTING SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA
BELGRADE, July 30 (Tanjug) Prominent Norwegian politicians and
public figures will launch in their country an initiative for lifting
the
international economic sanctions imposed on the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Norwegian author Jo Eggen told Tanjug.
Eggen is taking part in the work of the International camp of
Friendship held in the village of Sirogojno on Mt. Zlatibor, western
Serbia.
Eggen has discussed this action, which is gaining in intensity
in
Norway, with certain members of the Norwegian parliament and government
all
of whom expressed readiness to support the demand for lifting this
inhuman
form of pressure on the people of Yugoslavia.
According to Eggen, the initiative will be joined by many
public
figures in Norway, trade union leaders and senior church dignitaries.
---
IN BOSNIA SI PRIVATIZZA QUANTO SI E' COSTRUITO IN 50 ANNI DI SFRJ CON IL
SUDORE E L'IMPEGNO DEI LAVORATORI JUGOSLAVI DI OGNI NAZIONALITA'
Bosnia to sell 51 pct stakes in 86 large firms
SARAJEVO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Bosnia's Moslem-Croat federation will
offer 51
percent stakes in 86 of its largest firms to strategic investors and 49
percent stakes to citizens through public share offerings, an official
said
on Tuesday.
Nedim Lulo, deputy head of the federation privatisation agency, also
said
that a swap of privatisation vouchers for shares in state firms in the
federation would start on September 29 after a three-month delay.
Lulo said that 51 percent share stakes would be offered to strategic
foreign
and local investors via tenders and solely for cash while the remaining
49
percent would be offered to citizens in exchange for privatisation
vouchers.
The list of firms, seen as of strategic importance for the state and
including two federation power and telecommunication companies, was
proposed
by an international group of experts.
In another list of 206 firms proposed by the federation's ten cantonal
privatisation agencies, 10 percent of shares would be offered for cash
with
the remaining 90 percent privatised in exchange for vouchers.
Lulo said that cantonal privatisation bodies should decide next week
whether
the state would keep 51 percent of shares in infrastructure firms, such
as
waterworks and sewage systems, and offer remaining shares via public
share
offerings.
He said that the federation privatisation agency is obliged to publicly
announce the final list of firms to be privatised by the end of August.
He
added that the exchange of vouchers for shares should be complete in 45
days.
The vouchers are granted to citizens as a compensation for war-related
debts,
such as unpaied salaries and pensions and frozen foreign currency bank
accounts. Their total value was estimated at 15 billion Bosnian marka
($7.09
billion).
Post-war Bosnia also comprises the Serb republic, where the distribution
of
vouchers to citizens has only just begun.
09:42 08-01-00
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
MILOSEVIC RECEIVES HEADS OF YUGOSLAV DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES
BELGRADE, August 5 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic
on Saturday received a group of heads of Yugoslav diplomatic and
consular
representative offices in several dozen countries and international
organizations.
In the talks, Milosevic stressed that Yugoslavia sets great
importance on the intensive development of equal relations and open
cooperation with all countries of the world, in which the successful
work
of Yugoslav diplomatic consular representative offices has an important
role and responsibility.
Yugoslavia firmly urges the affirmation of the policy of peace
and
stability, and due respect of all fundamental international principles,
which inevitably includes respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity
and
independence of all countries, and noninterference in their internal
affairs. Yugoslavia appears everywhere in the world with such an
approach
and that is why it enjoys great renown and wide international support,
and
why all attempts to isolate Yugoslavia have failed.
Yugoslavia realizes comprehensive bilateral ties with the vast
majority of world countries, ties which are based on longterm
cooperation,
mutual respect and understanding, which presents an example of building
international relations and the best way in which a country's own
interests
should be realized and protected, Milosevic said.
With its heroic defense from the NATO aggression (MarchJune,
1999)
and impressive results in national renewal, Yugoslavia has joined the
frontline in the struggle against the new colonialism, in which the
truth
about Yugoslavia and the defense of its freedom are becoming fully
expressed, awakening the conscience of millions of people who refuse to
be
reconciled and are also resisting the policy of hegemony and dictate.
Milosevic spoke to the Yugoslav diplomats about the most
important
issues of the national home and foreign policies.
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic took part in the
talks.
---
CHI HA DISTRUTTO DEVE PAGARE I DANNI
BELGRADE BRIEFS FOREIGN DIPLOMATS ON DAMAGE FROM SANCTIONS, NATO WAR
BELGRADE, August 4 (Tanjug) There can be no reconstruction or
development of southeast Europe if Yugoslavia is left out of the
development projects, according to Yugoslavia's Assistant Foreign
Minister
at a briefing on Friday. Zoran Jeremic briefed foreign diplomats in
Belgrade on the damage sustained by Yugoslavia through the application
of
international antiYugoslav sanctions and last year's NATO aggression.
Jeremic was quoting data submitted to U.N. Secretary General
Kofi
Annan on July 31 and published as a U.N. document. Annan has requested
similar information from the other countries in the region.
Jeremic said that experts of the U.N. Economic Commission for
Europe attach great importance to the inclusion of Yugoslavia in the
process of regional reconstruction, believing that it has a central part
to
play in the process.
"As a relatively large economy, located on strategic routes
leading to Western Europe, the Yugoslav economy is important both as a
market for neighbouring countries and as a country of transit.
"In the opinion of the Commission, the FR of Yugoslavia plays a
decisive role in the reconstruction plans for the region and the
prevention
of the FR of Yugoslavia to play that role would threaten the economy and
political stability of entire Europe", he said. He added that, until the
outbreak of the Balkan crisis, Yugoslavia had been in the forefront of
the
transitional economies in economic and social reform.
Overall direct and indirect damage caused by NATO's
antiYugoslav
aggression is estimated at 100 billion dollars plus, according to
Jeremic.
---
SPARITI TRE PRIGIONIERI POLITICI SERBI DALL'OSPEDALE DI MITROVICA
SERB PRISONERS GO MISSING FROM KOSOVSKA MITROVICA HOSPITAL
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, August 4 (Tanjug) Three Serb prisoners
disappeared from a hospital in U.N.run Kosovska Mitrovica during the
night
between Thursday and Friday, Serbs sources in the divided city confirmed
to
TANJUG on Friday.
Dragan Jovanovic, Vlastimir Aleksic and Dragisa Peica were
being
treated after a protracted hunger strike in prison in Kosovska
Mitrovica,
where they had been held unlawfully for between 10 and 13 months without
a
trial.
They disappeared overnight while under U.N. mission (UNMIK)
police
guard.
SERBIAN OFFICIAL DOUBTS SERBS ESCAPED FROM KOSOVOMETOHIJA HOSPITAL
BELGRADE, August 4 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Republic of Serbia's
Deputy Justice Minister on Friday expressed doubt that three Serb
detainees, who disappeared from a hospital in U.N.run divided Kosovska
Mitrovica overnight, escaped of their own accord.
Zoran Bilinovac said that "the confused statement issued by the
UNMIK (U.N. KosovoMetohija mission) police saying that Dragan Jovanovic,
Dragisa Peica, and Vlastimir Aleksic three innocent Serbs whom the
socalled UNMIK justice department has kept in detention for a
year disappeared from the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica today, arouses
serious doubts about what really happened to them.
"The three were arrested a year ago on the sayso of the (ethnic
Albanian) socalled Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and during the
investigation have been threatened with being handed over to KLA
terrorists
unless they confessed their alleged crimes.
"In early June this year, (another Serb) Arsenije Vitosevic had
also disappeared from the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital. He was arrested
only
because his name was on a list submitted to (international force) KFor
on
June 18, 1999, by socalled KLA Commander Ismet Tari.
"The suspicion that KFor and UNMIK have handed over the four
Serbs
to their allies should not be entirely ruled out.
"It is, however, more probable that KFor and UNMIK have
stagemanaged events so as to bring additional pressure to bear on Serb
detainees to give up their demands for a swift and fair trial and
release
from detention, or in order to justify the transfer of detained Serbs
from
Kosovska Mitrovica deeper inside KosovoMetohija where they would not be
able to receive visits from relatives or attorneys, thereby making it
difficult for them to prove their innocence," Bilinovac said.
PEACE AND TOLERANCE CENTRE SEEKS EXPLANATION OF SERBS' DISAPPEARANCE
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, August 4 (Tanjug) The Centre for Peace and
Tolerance in divided Kosovska Mitrovica on Friday asked the U.N. mission
UNMIK and the international force KFor to explain how Serb prisoners
disappeared from a local hospital overnight.
The Centre issued a statement to say it "learned today that
three
Serbs, who had been detained in the Kosovska Mitrovica prison,
disappeared
from the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica early this morning. "They are
Dragan Jovanovic, Vlastimir Aleksic and Dragisa Peic.
"Since neither UNMIK nor KFor have given a valid and serious
explanation of what has happened to them, the Centre for Peace and
Tolerance shares the concern of their families and awaits an explanation
of
the circumstances under which the three Serbs disappeared from the
hospital
in Kosovska Mitrovica.
"Concern is all the greater in view of the fact that there has
been no explanation to this day of the recent disappearance from the
same
hospital of Serb detainee Arsenije Vitosevic, of whom nothing is known
at
this time."
The UNMIK office in this city in the Yugoslav Republic of
Serbia's
U.N.administered province of KosovoMetohija said on Friday UNMIK was
investigating the disappearance of the three prisoners.
---
SLAVO-MACEDONI ABBANDONANO LA FYROM OCCIDENTALE CAUSA NAZIONALISMO
PAN-ALBANESE
MACEDONIANS LEAVING WESTERN MACEDONIA
SKOPJE, August 5 (Tanjug) More and more Macedonians are
permanently leaving the western parts of their country for other parts
or
destinations abroad because ethnic Albanians have long been predominant
in
these parts, the Skopje daily Makedonija Denes warned on Saturday.
In Gostivar alone, Macedonians are currently selling some 400
apartments or houses, the daily said, underscoring that they are now
treated in this western town as secondclass citizens.
The inflow of ethnic Albanians into western Macedonian towns
began
several years ago when they started offering Macedonians large sums of
Dmarks for real estate. As a result of tense interethnic relations, but
also because they had been unable to find employment or become more
successfully engaged in private businesses, Macedonians had decided to
sell
their property and then leave permanently, the daily said.
In addition to houses and apartments, ethnic Albanian
businessmen
have purchased all business premises, department stores and main stores
in
Gostivar and Tetovo which had earlier been social property. The son of
former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has also invested in business
premises in Gostivar, since he has close business ties with ethnic
Albanian
businessmen, Makedonija Denes said.
The Macedonian municipality of Gostivar has a population of
45,000. The majority population were formerly Macedonians, but they have
now dropped to a mere 18 percent. Consequently, Macedonians now make up
the
bulk of the 11,000 unemployed persons in Gostivar, the daily said.
---
OLANDESI, CANADESI E BRITANNICI ARRESTATI IN JUGOSLAVIA.
L'ACCUSA E' TERRORISMO
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?f=/stories/20000805/361600.html
NATIONAL POST, Saturday, August 5, 2000
Yugoslavia facing pressure over 'terrorist' arrests
Canadians held by army: Axworthy blasts treatment of men as unacceptable
Stewart Bell
National Post
As Yugoslavia faced mounting international pressure over its arrest of
two Canadians and their British travel companions, Lloyd Axworthy, the
Foreign Affairs Minister, demanded his envoy be allowed to visit the
men, and called their treatment unacceptable.
A Canadian diplomat dispatched to the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro to
meet the detained Albertans, Shaun Going, 45, and his nephew, Liam Hall,
19, has been refused access to the men, who are being held in the town
of Andrijevica by the Yugoslav military...
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/080400yugo-arrest.html
August 4, 2000
Yugoslavs Hold 4 Westerners in Arms Case
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PRAGUE, Aug. 3 -- The Yugoslav Army said today that it had arrested two
Britons and two
Canadians in Montenegro, accusing them of possessing weapons and
explosives, in what
appeared to be another effort to stimulate fears of Western encirclement
before elections next
month.
It was the second arrest of four foreigners reported this week by
Yugoslav authorities. Four
Dutchmen whose detention was disclosed on Monday were seized last month
on Serbia's border
with Montenegro, reportedly because they were trying to kill President
Slobodan Milosevic.
The army said today that the Britons and Canadians were employees of the
NATO-led forces in
Kosovo and were suspected of training pro-Western secessionists in
Montenegro, Serbia's tiny
sister republic, to commit "terrorist actions." ...
YUGOSLAV ARMY ARRESTS FOUR ARMED FOREIGN NATIONALS
BELGRADE, Aug 3 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Army has arrested four
armed foreign nationals carrying military equipment and demolition gear,
the Army Command said on Thursday.
The arrests were made in the border belt beyond the border
crossing in the northeast of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro in the
night between Aug. 1 and 2.
The arrested persons are British nationals Adrian Michael
Prangnel
and John Connon Bredley Yore, and Canadian nationals Shuan Gerald Going
and
Liam Patrick Hall.
They were not authorised by the competent Yugoslav bodies to be
present in the area.
There are indications that the arrested foreign nationals have
been training Montenegrin interior ministry special troops and are
specialists in demolition and terrorist operations.
The competent Yugoslav Army authorities have information that
one
of the arrested is a member of the socalled Kosovo Protection Corps. The
authorities have also voluminous documents which clearly indicate the
true
plans and intentions of the arrested.
Investigation results will be made public in due course, the
army
statement said.
Yugoslavia suspects 4 Britons of spying
The Associated Press
PODGORICA, Yugoslavia (August 3, 2000 7:03 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The Yugoslav military has
detained four British citizens on suspicion of spying,
the private Montena-fax news agency reported Thursday.
It said the four unidentified Britons were arrested
Tuesday on Mount Cakor, on the border between
Montenegro and Kosovo. They were tourists, but arms
were allegedly found in their possession, Montena-fax
said.
"They were taken to military barracks under the
suspicion that they were conducting a hostile act of
spying," the Montenegrin news agency said, without
elaborating.
The British Foreign Office said Thursday it had no
reports of the arrests.
Yugoslav authorities said Monday that four Dutchmen
were arrested in July for allegedly plotting to
assassinate President Slobodan Milosevic.
The arrests follow allegations that NATO has hired
mercenaries to snatch fugitive war crimes suspects on
Yugoslav territory, tightening the noose around
indicted Serb leaders.
The Dutch government has demanded access to the
detainees, in accordance with international
conventions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Jochems
said Thursday. But he said a Yugoslavia official in
The Hague would not tell details of the charges, where
they were being held or their medical condition.
DUTCH ESPIONAGE TERRORIST GANG ARRESTED IN YUGOSLAVIA - MINISTER
BELGRADE,
July 31 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia's Information Minister said on Monday
state
security forces have arrested four Dutch special force troops who have
come
to Yugoslavia with the job of trying to assassinate President Slobodan
Milosevic. Briefing domestic and foreign reporters, Minister Goran Matic
said the espionage and terrorist gang was arrested while attempting to
enter Serbia from the other Yugoslav republic, Montenegro, via Serbia's
U.N.-run Kosovo-Metohija province. One of the four is a professional
soldier and they have all been trained by the British SAS. State
security
troops have seized some of the weapons and equipment found in the gang's
possession, Matic said, adding that the four, posing as war adventurers
and
weekend soldiers, have been organised and trained for subversive
operations
and assassinations. He went on to say that, by their own admission, the
gang had tried to get in touch with the Dutch KFor (international Force
in
Kosovo-Metohija) battalion and had planned to try to assassinate
Milosevic
or commit acts of terrorism on Yugoslav territory. Matic said the four
had
visited the territory of the former Yugoslavia on several occasions, as
evident from visas for (Bosnian Serb) Republika Srpska, Croatia and
Slovenia stamped on their passports, and prepared terrorist operations.
"Yugoslavia has an organised system of security, which is capable of
providing adequate protection to the people, the state and the political
system of the country. "No hired guns, military adventurers, special
troops
or gangs will ever penetrate our system of security and protection", he
vowed. The reporters were shown video footage of the arrested Dutchmen,
identified as Gotfrides Johannes Antonijus de Ri, Samrordijan Tjetje,
Johannes van Iersel and Ian van Stajk, who spoke about their arrival in
Yugoslavia and their terrorist plans. Asked by reporters who trains the
Montenegrin police, Matic said this is done by Great Britain, and that a
group of Montenegrin police officers has undergone training in U.S.
police
structures. "The truth is that the British provide some of the training
of
Montenegro's special forces, while Montenegro's interior ministry, for
all
the protestations of peace of its officials, has lately been busily
buying
various arms with Croatia's help", he said. "One cannot talk of peace
while
amassing weapons, the way Montenegrin President Djukanovic is doing",
Matic
added.
'This Is Fiction'
U.N. Tribunal, Dutch Govt. Deny Links to Milosevic's Alleged Assassins
The Yugoslav government showed a film of a Dutch citizen who was
arrested in Yugoslavia along with three other Dutchmen. All are accused
of planning to kidnap or kill President Slobodan Milosevic. (Reuters)
A M S T E R D A M, Netherlands, Aug. 1 — The International Criminal
Tribunal for former Yugoslavia today strongly denied links to a group of
Dutchmen being held in Serbia on suspicion of plotting to assassinate
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Yugoslavia said Monday it had arrested four Dutchmen,
allegedly sent by Western intelligence agencies, who were planning to
kidnap Milosevic and other alleged war criminals indicted by The Hague
tribunal.
"I would call it pretty good fiction," said Paul Risley,
spokesman for the tribunal. "This story is fiction and nothing more."
With pictures of the four and their alleged cache of
weapons spread across most Dutch newspapers, the Dutch government raised
the tempo of its own denials and said it was trying to find out more
about the incident.
"We deny any military operation," said a Dutch Foreign
Ministry spokesman. He said Dutch diplomats were trying to make contact
with their Yugoslav counterparts in The Hague and in Belgrade to find
out more about the incident.
Friends and colleagues of one of those detained, Godfried
de Rie, reacted to the news with shock.
"He is a dead honest, hardworking man who never planned to
kidnap President Milosevic," Jaap Havik, the owner of a Mercedes
restoration firm that employed de Rie, told Dutch television. "He's
always working on cars and motorbikes."
A next-door neighbor of de Rie's described him as a
perfectly normal person who once worked as a postman.
'Weekend Warriors'
Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic said the men were posing as
amateur "weekend warriors" but were in fact assassins sent by the West.
He said the men had been caught in Mehov Krs, an isolated
corner of Serbia near Kosovo and Montenegro, about 300 miles south of
Belgrade.
Matic showed a film in which one of the four, identified as
Jeroen van Iersel, told an unidentified questioner that he and his
friends had been looking for people indicted by the U.N. tribunal.
The Dutch spokesman said the Foreign Ministry was
investigating reports that the group was arrested as long as two weeks
ago.
"We will continue our efforts and go to the [Yugoslav]
Foreign Ministry to ask why we were not told earlier of their arrest,"
the spokesman said.
He added that de Rie had done his military service in the
army in 1989. "But he was an administrator, hardly a paratrooper."
The Dutch Foreign Ministry named the others as Bas van
Schaik, Sander Zeitsen and van Iersel. All are aged between 28 and 32.
"We are pretty sure that they are neither military nor
involved in military things," the spokesman said.
The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million
for information leading to the arrest of Milosevic, former Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who commanded Bosnian Serb
forces during the 1992-95 conflict in Bosnia.
In the film shown to journalists in Belgrade, van Iersel
said he knew Milosevic and Mladic were among those indicted. He said
that if he met the Yugoslav leader he would have been put in a box on
top of a car and driven out of the country.
'These Are No Pros'
Military specialists appeared in the Dutch media this morning to say it
was extremely unlikely that the four are professional militiamen.
If they were what the Yugoslavs claim they are —
SAS-trained assassins — then they would never have told their plans,
the experts argued. Those same specialists pointed out that Dutch
mercenaries fought in Croatia, mostly on the Croatian side.
Most of them came from extreme right-wing organizations,
they said.
They also pointed out that the $5 million bounty is for
information — not for kidnapping, much less delivering a human head.
One NATO source was reported as dismissing the whole
incident as "bizarre."
The Dutch anti-fascist group Kakfa, which monitors rightist
activity, believes the men could be former members of the ultra-right
CP'86 group, which was ordered dismantled last year by a Dutch court.
Like many other small skinhead groups, CP'86 played survival games on
the weekends.
Like most other European countries, the Netherlands has its
fringe groups of ultra-rightists and neo-Nazis — many of whom are also
hardcore soccer hooligans. They are closely monitored by the
intelligence services.
A Milosevic Stunt?
In Belgrade, the opposition dismissed the arrests as a propaganda stunt.
"Matic is crazy about conspiracy theories," said Bogdan
Grubacic, editor of the independent English language newsletter VIP. He
said the arrests are part of the propaganda war launched by the
Milosevic regime ahead of early elections, scheduled for Sept. 24.
And the alleged location of the arrests, on the border to
Montenegro, could serve the dual purpose of helping Milosevic to fuel
his war of words with the smaller, anti-Milosevic partner in the
Yugoslav federation.
The Milosevic regime says Montenegro is behind repeated
assassinations. Montenegro, in return, regularly accuses Milosevic of
sending his hit-men there.
Montenegro is boycotting the upcoming elections, saying the
laws had been changed by the Yugoslav government to favor the
re-election of Milosevic and his partners.
ABCNEWS.com's Sue Masterman and Reuters contributed to this report.
DATE: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 19:59:00
From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
To: right-left@...
On 31 July, Dutch TV rebroadcast Serbian TV tapes of four Dutchmen,
arrested in Yugoslavia. On those tapes, they claimed to be an armed
"special unit" with violence and abduction plans.
For whatever it is worth:
Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad ["NRC-Business Paper"] of Tuesday 1 August
on
one of the arrested, Godfried de Rie:
"According to the Group for Anti-Fascist Research, KAFKA, his name, with
the same initials and place of residence, is on the list of members for
1995 of the extreme Rightist [political party] CP'86. The [Dutch]
Ministry
of Defence confirms that De Rie was a conscript Army lance corporal, of
1989/8."
The CP'86 ["Center" Party, founded in 1986] political party was
notorious
for racism, violence, and open propaganda for Nazis like Adolf Hitler
and
Rudolf Hess. In the 1990s, they sent Dutch mercenaries to Yugoslavia, to
fight in extreme Right Croat units in Croatia and Bosnia.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
BLIC
English Edition
Goran Matic, the Federal Minister about the arrest of
Holland citizens
They planned assault on Slobodan Milosevic
Belgrade (Beta)- Goran Matic, the Federal Information
Minister said that
Yugoslav police had arrested four Holland citizens who had
planned an
assault on Slobodan Milosevic. Matic added that they had
been arrested on
Mehov Krs, at the Serbia-Montenegro border, just before the
Group of Eight
summit in Japan.
Names of the arrested are Gotfrides Johanes Antonius de
Rij, Samvordian
Tjetje, Johanes Andrianus Kornelius van Irshel and Ian van
Stajk Bastien.
(That's how the names were told to the journalists.)
Journalists could watch videotaped statements of the
arrested. One of them
said that the group's aim was to kidnap Slobodan Milosevic
and take him
abroad or to some foreign embassy in order to obtain the
warrant prize. "Our
plan was to kidnap Slobodan Milosevic, to kill him, cut off
his head, put it
in a box and send it," he added.
The arrested said that they had traveled from Slovenia, via
Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Montenegro. They added that they had
planned to go to
Kosovo and join the Holland KFOR battalion. The Holland
KFOR members were to
provide firearms for them.
Gotfrides Johanes Antonius de Rij said that his rank was
"Soldier number
one" and that his identification number was 690816197.
We intended to come to Yugoslavia to see the situation. We
planned to go to
the war zone, to Kosovo. We planned to fight against Serbs
there. We also
planned to visit the Holland battalion in Kosovo," he said.
He added that
they had entered the country through Montenegro, in a car.
"Situation at the check-point was very unusual. They didn't
ask us anything.
We were told that we had to pay car insurance and that
every person was
allowed to take in 5 grams of drug," he added. He mentioned
that they
possessed "special knifes, handcuffs, and a saw". They had
five cameras for
shooting military bases, nature and customs checkpoints.
They also had a dog
that guarded the car.
"Part of the plan was to kidnap an important person. I
cannot say the name,
but we could earn a lot of money with that person," the
arrested said.
Samvordian Tjetje said that they had planned to collect
information about
Milosevic, Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and other persons
indicted by The
Hague Tribunal.
Matic said that this group was a part of American
subversive activities
directed against Yugoslavia. Matic accused the Montenegrin
Ministry of Home
Affairs and Montenegrin President of purchasing
anti-aircraft and
anti-helicopter arms with the help of Croatia. He said that
the Montenegrin
police had been trained by members of special British SAS
units and members
of American intelligence service.
"In this case, Croatia is not benign. It's obvious that
there is space for
terrorist acts against Yugoslavia," Matic added.
Holland doesn't have information about arrested Holland
citizens
The Hague (Beta-AFP)- Yesterday, the Holland Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
announced that it didn't possess information about four
Holland citizens,
arrested in Yugoslavia and accused of planning to kidnap
and murder
President Milosevic.
"We don't know anything. We are not sure about their
nationality," spokesman
of the Ministry said for France Press. He added that
Holland authorities
were searching for "Credible information and affirmations".
"We are trying to gain some information through our embassy
in Belgrade. In
this moment, we don't have any information from Yugoslav
authorities," the
spokesman added.
---
SUL RIPRISTINO DELLA NAVIGABILITA' DEL DANUBIO BLOCCATA DALLA NATO
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON CLEARING OF DANUBE WATERWAY
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) Recent complex talks with the
Danube
Commission on clearing the waterway of debris from NATOdemolished
bridges
has produced results of interest to Yugoslavia and other Danube
Commission
members, the Yugoslav Government said on Thursday.
Navigation in the River Danube through Yugoslavia has been
blocked
by debris of bridges smashed by NATO in its aggression on Yugoslavia
last
year.
At the session chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, the
Government reviewed a report on the results of the negotiations, the
Government statement said.
Documents adopted by the Danube Commission incorporated the
positions set down in the Yugoslav Government's Memorandum that the
resumption of international navigation in the Danube through Yugoslavia
must be done with full respect for Yugoslavia's territorial integrity
and
sovereignty, its laws and regulations.
In the first stage of the navigation route rehabilitation, the
project envisages for building a new bridge across the Danube at Novi
Sad,
to replace the pontoon bridge erected after NATO planes had demolished
all
three bridges in this northern city.
The Yugoslav Government recommended that the Commission appoint
Radisa Djordjevic, director of the Yugoslav Institute for the
Maintenance
and Development of Inland Waterways, to head the project.
---
VERSO LE ELEZIONI DI SETTEMBRE NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
YUGOSLAVIA - GENERAL ELECTIONS
YUGOSLAV PREMIER CONFIDENT MONTENEGRO WILL JOIN IN SEPTEMBER POLLS
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia's Prime Minister said
on
Thursday that general elections called for September would be held also
in
Montenegro, because that Republic too is part of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.
Elections are a right, not an obligation, Momir Bulatovic told
reporters during a recess at the 2nd Diaspora 2000 convention of
Yugoslav
expatriates, being held in Belgrade. He added he would personally feel
very
happy if all people exercised this right.
Bulatovic noted that Montenegro is a single constituency in the
election of deputies to both chambers of the Yugoslav Federal
Parliament.
He said that the Socialist People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro,
which he heads and which is in opposition in Montenegro, would contest
the
elections.
On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro,
the
senior partner in Montenegro's ruling coalition, is threatening to
boycott
the polls, called for September 24.
He hoped a way would be found, in cooperation with Montenegro's
Government, to make it possible for the people of Montenegro to vote in
the
polls if they want to, and added this would be a test of the democratic
character of the present regime in Montenegro.
YUGOSLAV MEDIA, PARTIES SIGN ACCORD ON ELECTION CAMPAIGN COVERAGE
BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) State radio and television
stations
in Yugoslavia, the Governments of Yugoslavia and its republics of Serbia
and Montenegro, and political parties contesting upcoming elections
agreed
on Wednesday on criteria for the contestants' fair and equal media
presentation during the election campaign. On behalf of the Yugoslav
Government, the accord was signed by Minister of Information Goran
Matic.
Elections for president of state and both houses of the Federal
Parliament have been called for September 24. Serbia will have local
elections on the same day.
Matic said the accord was open to all political parties
planning
to take part in the polls.
The accord determines the number and length of radio and
television appearances by the contestants on state radio and television
channels, according to Matic.
Under the election laws, state electronic media, both at the
federal level and at the level of the republics, are obliged to give
equal
coverage to all candidates in the information programmes during the
election campaign, he said.
The accord was signed on Wednesday by Radio Yugoslavia,
Yugoslav
Television, Serbian Radio and Television and Studio B.
About 30 parties have also signed the accord.
YUGOSLAV ELECTORAL COMMISSION ADOPTS REGULATIONS FOR COMING POLLS
BELGRADE, August 2 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Central Electoral
Commission met on Wednesday and adopted rules and regulations for
activities leading up to federal presidential and parliamentary
elections
scheduled for September 24, a Parliament statement said.
At its second session, held at the Federal Parliament and
chaired
by Commission Chairman Borivoje Vukicevic, the body defined uniform
rules
and standards for the coming elections. The rules are fully in line with
the laws that regulate presidential elections and elections to the
Chambers
of Citizens (lower house) and Republics of the Yugoslav Parliament.
The Commission further adopted rules and regulations for the
attendance of the presidential and parliamentary elections by foreign
observers.
It also appointed chairmen, secretaries and members of local
electoral commissions and their deputies in the constituencies in the
Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro, the statement said.
YUGOSLAV MINISTRY OFFERS AGREEMENT ON ELECTION CAMPAIGN
BELGRADE, August 1 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Information Ministry
on
Tuesday invited state media and parties contesting forthcoming general
elections to come to a consultation about election campaign terms on
Wednesday.
The Ministry said that, under the relevant regulations, the
radio
and television stations whose founders are the Yugoslav Federation or
either of its republics (Serbia, Montenegro), representatives of the
founders and parties taking part in elections should together decide
about
the number and duration of radio and television appearances of the
contestants during the election campaign.
The purpose of such an agreement is to give equal access to the
media to all parties and all candidates, and to give a balanced media
presentation and an equal treatment of the contestants in the election
campaign.
The agreement, to be reached on Wednesday, will be open to all
political parties contesting the elections.
Yugoslav presidential and parliamentary elections have been
called
for Sept. 24.
ELECTIONS - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
DINI AND ALBRIGHT AGREE OVER MONTENEGRO
ROME, Aug 1 (Tanjug) - The United States and Italy agree that Montenegro
should take part at the Sept 24 elections in Yugoslavia. U.S. Secretary
of
State Madeleine Albright and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini
reached
agreement on this issue during their meeting in Rome on Tuesday. In a
brief
statement after talks at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Albright said the
main subject at her talks with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in
Rome later today would be preparations for the Yugoslav elections, which
the United States considers of extreme importance. Italy, for its part,
believes it is necessary to urge the Montenegrin authorities not to
boycot
the elections, which Minister Dini also described as very important.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/01/montenegro.albright/index.html
Albright to ask Montenegro to reconsider election boycott
August 1, 2000
Web posted at: 4:43 a.m. EDT (0843 GMT)
From staff and wire reports
ROME -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to ask
Montenegro's president to
reconsider a planned boycott of Yugoslavia's presidential, parliamentary
and municipal elections
scheduled for September....
---
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RF JUGOSLAVIA - IRAN
YUGOSLAVIA'S MILOSEVIC SENDS MESSAGE TO IRAN'S KHATAMI
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Tanjug) Deputy Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zoran
Novakovic met in Tehran on Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal
Gharazi to whom he gave a personal message from Yugoslav President
Slobodan
Milosevic for Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
Novakovic is paying a severalday official visit to Iran.
During the cordial and frank discussion on the first day, the
two
sides exchanged views on the current situation in bilateral relations
and
supported new initiatives for cooperation, especially in the economy and
information.
Meeting separately with his host, Deputy Foreign Minister
Mortez
Sarmadi, Novakovic expressed pleasure at the attained degree of accord
on
most important international matters and at a mutually declared
readiness
to promote bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
---
NUOVE MISURE PER IL SISTEMA SANITARIO IN SERBIA
SERBIAN HEALTH MINISTER PRESENTS NEW MEASURES IN HEALTH SERVICE
BELGRADE, Aug 2 (Tanjug) The Serbian Medical Society will play
an
important part in the efforts to enhance health services, especially in
a
consulting capacity, according to the Serbian minister of health on
Wednesday.
Minister Milovan Bojic, who is also vice premier of this
Yugoslav
republic, was meeting with the Society's Executive Board. Bojic
explained
that medical professionals would in the future be given a greater role
to
play in shaping the policy of the health service, especially through
special commissions that are to be set up within the Ministry of Health.
He went on to say that doctors would be given a chance to
supplement their incomes by putting in additional work at state medical
facilities.
He said the government would set aside funds for building at
least
1,000 homes for young doctors, as one of the measures aimed at
preventing a
drain of highly qualified young professionals.
In future, greater attention would be paid to research projects
in
the health department, Bojic said, announcing tighter supervision at
medical institutions to replace the present slackness and even chaos in
some segments of the health protection system.
---
IL PIANO DI RICOSTRUZIONE ECONOMICA DELLA SERBIA
SERBIAN PREMIER SAYS GOVERNMENT RESOLUTE TO BOOST ECONOMIC GROWTH
KANJIZA, August 1 (Tanjug) Serbia's premier said on Tuesday
the
Government was committed to boosting economic growth and development in
order that this Yugoslav Republic should as soon as possible recover the
lost domestic product and repair the huge damage done by last year's
NATO
aggression.
Visiting the industrial town of Kanjiza in Serbia's northern
Vojvodina province, Premier Mirko Marjanovic inaugurated a new modern
plant
at the Potisje brickyard.
Marjanovic said Serbia was looking ahead to a period of brisk
development, with a twodigit domestic product growth rate.
According to him, the primary strategic project in the year
2000
is to build 10,000 homes at low cost and with all modern amenities as
the
first stage of a project for building 100,000 homes over the next ten
years.
The intensive housing development should boost the construction
industry, which had doubled its performance this year, and should
stimulate
the industry of building materials and other ancillary industries, he
said.
He added that the first half of the year had seen the
attainment
of the key goals of brisk economic growth and maintenance of
macroeconomic
and price stability.
In the period, industrial production had risen by 21.2 percent
over the same period in 1999, in line with the projected economic policy
for the year 2000 of increasing industrial production by 15 percent and
the
domestic product by 14 percent, he said.
The Government was, meanwhile, continuing its policy of firm
budget restrictions, i.e., of financing public spending solely from real
sources, which was the chief factor of price stability, Marjanovic said.
"Sanctions and other forms of outside pressure have not stopped
us
implementing reforms, building modern market institutions and adopting
major systemic laws: on companies, on concessions, on ownership
transformation, on value added tax, and others," he said.
He added the programme was a continuation of a policy that
meant
protecting the country's freedom, independence and integrity, settling
the
problem of KosovoMetohija politically, ending the missions of KFor and
UNMIK and returning that Serbian province under the full jurisdiction of
Serbia and Yugoslavia.
Also, he said, this policy meant a Yugoslavia as a state of
equal
people, nations and republics, economic and cultural development,
constant
growth of production and living standards, free education and medical
services, social security, affirmation of the policy of national unity,
development of democratic institutions, freedom of the media, national
and
religious equality, openness to economic, political and cultural
cooperation with all countries on an equal footing with respect for the
fundamental principles of international relations and international law.
Upcoming general elections, according to Marjanovic, will give
full support to the policy of heroic defence of the country against
aggressors, to reconstruction and the building of development projects,
and
will marginalise those who would like to come to power as exponents of
the
aggressors, betraying their country, sabotaging reconstruction and
justifying the crimes of the aggressors.
---
VUCIC: LA SERBIA E' UN AVAMPOSTO DI LIBERTA'
VUCIC: SERBIA BASTION OF FREEDOM
VRANJE, August 2 (Tanjug) Serbian Information Minister and
ranking official of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Aleksandar Vucic
said
in Vranje late on Tuesday that Serbia is a bastion of freedom and the
only
unsubdued country in Europe even though part of its territory is
occupied,
referring to Kosovo and Metohija province which is currently under de
facto
administration of the United Nations.
Speaking in a broadcast by the local TV station in this
southern
Serbian town, Vucic spoke about the upcoming local and federal elections
and the current political situation in Yugoslavia.
He said he believed citizens would decide well and that
patriotic,
nationallyoriented political forces would triumph.
Vucic strongly criticized political parties of prowestern
orientation.
Fifthcolumn activities by opposition parties in Serbia
demonstrate
the senselessness of propaganda activities which urge "the options of
those
who killed our children" in comparison with activists who "never left
the
country and want to preserve the common state of Serbia and Montenegro."
Vucic underscored that Kosovo and Metohija province "is not
lost,
but only temporarily occupied." Serbia is the only unsubdued state in
Europe and a nucleus of freedom, he reiterated.
Commenting on the upcoming elections for Yugoslav president,
Vucic
said opposition parties were proU.S. oriented and that all those who
support the policy of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic advocate
turning Montenegro, and even Yugoslavia, into an ethnic Albanian and
Muslim
country.
It is all the same to the west which opposition figure they
will
appoint "since they are all the same and all servants," Vucic said.
---
UCKFOR: KFOR PERQUISISCE LA CASA DI UN TESTIMONE DEI CRIMINI DELL'UCK
KFOR RAIDS HOME OF WITNESS AGAINST ETHNIC ALBANIAN MURDER SUSPECT
GNJILANE, August 1 (Tanjug) International force Kfor and
ethnic
Albanian police troops in U.N.run KosovoMetohija have raided the house
of a
Serb witness against an ethnic Albanian murder suspect, amateur radio
operators reported on Tuesday.
The ethnic Albanian, Afrim Zeqiri, is accused of murdering
three
people, including a fouryearold child, and wounding two Serbs in the
multiethnic village of Cernica near Gnjilane, in the east of the
Yugoslav
Republic of Serbia's KosovoMetohija province.
Kfor and ethnic Albanian police troops searched the house of
the
Serb, chief witness and one of two survivors of Zeqiri's attack.
The Serb, Zoran Stolic, sustained seven wounds at Zeqiri's
hands
and was hospitalised. After being discharged from hospital, he had gone
to
Smederevo, central Serbia, for further medical treatment and to
recuperate
with relatives.
A day after his departure, Kfor and ethnic Albanian police
troops
broke down the door to his home and turned the place upside down,
smashing
everything in sight.
Stolic returned home on Monday to find the place ransacked and
his
savings of 6,500 German marks gone, according to amateur radio
operators.
---
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RFJ - UCRAINA
UKRAINIAN MP VISITS YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT
BELGRADE, August 1 (Tanjug) A senior Yugoslav Parliament
official
received on Tuesday a visiting Ukrainian parliamentarian who heads his
country's parliamentary working group on cooperation with the Yugoslav
Parliament.
Ljubisa Ristic, who chairs the Foreign Policy Committee of the
Yugoslav Parliament's Chamber of Citizens (lower house), briefed the
guest
from Ukraine, Sergei Kiashko, on recent amendments to the Yugoslav
constitution.
Ristic said that procedures for electing MPs to the Chamber of
Republics (upper house) and for electing president of state had been
changed.
He explained that the 350,000 Serbs and other nonAlbanians who
have fled KosovoMetohija would be able to vote in forthcoming elections,
as
would the Serbs remaining in that U.N.administered province of the
Yugoslav
republic of Serbia.
The same applies to all other Yugoslav citizens in
KosovoMetohija,
according to Ristic.
"Forces of occupation in KosovoMetohija have carried out a sham
census in an effort to set the stage for unlawful elections without
Serbs,"
said Ristic, adding that such elections would be an attempt to legalize
KosovoMetohija's secession.
He went on to say that foreign observers would be invited to
the
elections, but they would not be from the countries that had launched
last
year's aggression on Yugoslavia.
"We maintain no contacts with the parliaments of these
countries,
as they will not have most of our MPs in their countries," Ristic
explained.
---
LA RFJ VERSO LA RATIFICA DELLA CONVENZIONE DI RIO SULLA BIODIVERSITA'
YUGOSLAVIA FOR PRESERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BELGRADE, Aug 1
(Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Government has prepared for the federal
parliament
a draft law ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity whose
objective is the preserved and balanced use of biological diversity.
This
Convention implies that states have the sovereign right, in keeping with
the United Nations Charter and principles of international law, to
exploit
their own resources according to their own ecological policy, but also
the
responsibility not to cause damage to the environment and biological
diversity of other states or areas which are outside their jurisdiction,
said a statement by the federal government. Having in mind Yugoslavia's
central position in the Balkans, the high degree of biological
diversity,
and the need to follow the long-term effects of last year's (March-June)
NATO aggression on the environment, the draft law is also aimed at
preserving biological diversity in the wider region of the Balkans. The
international Convention on Biological Diversity, of which Yugoslavia is
a
signatory, was drawn up in Rio De Janeiro on June 5, 1992, and it
regulates
the area of the use of biodiversity along with securing conditions for
an
equal division of benefits from genetic resources and development.
---
LE CONCLUSIONI DEL CAMPEGGIO INTERNAZIONALE DI SIROGOJNO
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CAMP IN ZLATIBOR INTERNATIONAL CAMP URGES
SOLIDARITY WITH YUGOSLAVIA SIROGOJNO, Yugoslavia, Aug 1 (Tanjug) - An
international friendship camp in Sirogojno on Mt Zlatibor, west-central
Serbia (Yugoslavia), on Tuesday adopted a declaration urging solidarity
with Yugoslavia in its resistance to the new world order. Some sixty
representatives of various organisations from 21 countries have come to
Yugoslavia to analyze the current situation and consequences of last
year's
NATO aggression and sanctions, and have been the extent of the
devastation
at first hand. They also inquired into the situation in the Yugoslav
republic of Serbia's U.N.-administered province of Kosovo-Metohija.
According to the Declaration, reasons offered by foreign powers
notwithstanding, the March-June 1999 war against Yugoslavia had nothing
to
do with the situation in the country, since the government in Belgrade
had
never tried to expel, let alone commit a genocide of, the ethnic
Albanian
population in Kosovo-Metohija. The conflict between the Yugoslav
government
and the ethnic Albanian so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was the
result of numerous crimes committed by ethnic Albanian separatists, and
was
stoked by the super-powers, which took the side of the KLA and launched
an
aggressive policy towards Yugoslavia, the document says. It goes on to
say
that the pressure culminated at Rambuillet, France, talks in early 1999,
where Yugoslavia was forced to reject an unacceptable ultimatum which,
if
accepted, would have stripped it of its sovereignty. The refusal
furnished
a pretext for NATO's air strikes, which in fact gave air support to the
KLA, the paper avers. The Declaration says that the current situation in
Kosovo- Metohija, which is now administered by the international force
KFor
and the U.N. civilian mission UNMIK, is disastrous. The missions have
done
next to nothing to prevent crimes: 1,100 Serbs, Romanies and other
non-Albanians have been murdered along with 290 ethnic Albanians, 960
people have disappeared, 90 Serbian churches and monasteries have been
damaged or destroyed, it adds. More than 350,000 people have been forced
out of Kosovo-Metohija, the Declaration says. Yugoslavia, it adds, is a
hub
of telecommunications networks, oil pipelines, roads, railways that
transport raw materials, information and labour between the Caucasus,
the
Far East, the Middle East and Western Europe. According to the document,
the true reason for the so-called humanitarian war against Yugoslavia
lay
in its being seen as an obstacle in the way of multinational companies
attaining their objectives and increasing profits. The paper goes on to
call for solidarity with Yugoslavia and for lifting all anti-Yugoslav
sanctions and implementing the U.N. Security Council's Resolution No.
1244
on Kosovo-Metohija. The Friendship Camp participants urge
indemnification
of Yugoslavia for war damages and losses sustained through the
sanctions,
for prosecuting NATO politicians for war crimes, and for putting an end
to
the demonisation of Yugoslavia in western media. They also urge support
for
the forces in Yugoslavia that want dialogue between the ethnic
communities
and that oppose war, urge respect for the country's sovereignty and
international law and the disbanding of NATO.
INITIATIVE FOR LIFTING SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA
BELGRADE, July 30 (Tanjug) Prominent Norwegian politicians and
public figures will launch in their country an initiative for lifting
the
international economic sanctions imposed on the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Norwegian author Jo Eggen told Tanjug.
Eggen is taking part in the work of the International camp of
Friendship held in the village of Sirogojno on Mt. Zlatibor, western
Serbia.
Eggen has discussed this action, which is gaining in intensity
in
Norway, with certain members of the Norwegian parliament and government
all
of whom expressed readiness to support the demand for lifting this
inhuman
form of pressure on the people of Yugoslavia.
According to Eggen, the initiative will be joined by many
public
figures in Norway, trade union leaders and senior church dignitaries.
---
IN BOSNIA SI PRIVATIZZA QUANTO SI E' COSTRUITO IN 50 ANNI DI SFRJ CON IL
SUDORE E L'IMPEGNO DEI LAVORATORI JUGOSLAVI DI OGNI NAZIONALITA'
Bosnia to sell 51 pct stakes in 86 large firms
SARAJEVO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Bosnia's Moslem-Croat federation will
offer 51
percent stakes in 86 of its largest firms to strategic investors and 49
percent stakes to citizens through public share offerings, an official
said
on Tuesday.
Nedim Lulo, deputy head of the federation privatisation agency, also
said
that a swap of privatisation vouchers for shares in state firms in the
federation would start on September 29 after a three-month delay.
Lulo said that 51 percent share stakes would be offered to strategic
foreign
and local investors via tenders and solely for cash while the remaining
49
percent would be offered to citizens in exchange for privatisation
vouchers.
The list of firms, seen as of strategic importance for the state and
including two federation power and telecommunication companies, was
proposed
by an international group of experts.
In another list of 206 firms proposed by the federation's ten cantonal
privatisation agencies, 10 percent of shares would be offered for cash
with
the remaining 90 percent privatised in exchange for vouchers.
Lulo said that cantonal privatisation bodies should decide next week
whether
the state would keep 51 percent of shares in infrastructure firms, such
as
waterworks and sewage systems, and offer remaining shares via public
share
offerings.
He said that the federation privatisation agency is obliged to publicly
announce the final list of firms to be privatised by the end of August.
He
added that the exchange of vouchers for shares should be complete in 45
days.
The vouchers are granted to citizens as a compensation for war-related
debts,
such as unpaied salaries and pensions and frozen foreign currency bank
accounts. Their total value was estimated at 15 billion Bosnian marka
($7.09
billion).
Post-war Bosnia also comprises the Serb republic, where the distribution
of
vouchers to citizens has only just begun.
09:42 08-01-00
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
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