Informazione
PULIZIA ETNICA A MEZZO DEPORTAZIONE NELLA ROMA DEL GIUBILEO
>
> Interrogazione a risposta orale e urgente
>
>
>Al Ministro dell'Interno
>
>premesso che:
>
>in relazione alla operazione di polizia, condotta dalla Questura di Roma il
>3 marzo scorso al Campo Nomadi comunale di Tor de' Cenci, il deputato
>on.le Rosanna Moroni ha presentato l'interrogazione parlamentare 5-07498
>indirizzata al Ministro dell'Interno;
>
>nella risposta del 9 marzo scorso,in sede di 1° Commissione, il
>Sottosegretario di Stato sen. Alberto Maritati ha affermato "che non è
>stato separato alcun nucleo familiare e non era quindi necessario avvisare
>il Tribunale dei Minori", e inoltre che " nessuna signora ha dichiarato di
>essere in stato interessante e nessuna era in condizioni apparenti di
>gravidanza";
>
>
>chiede di sapere con urgenza :
>
>se il Ministro dell'Interno era a conoscenza delle specifiche condizioni
>soggettive delle seguenti persone espulse:
>
>Sejdovic Sanela, nata il 1° marzo '84, minorenne, espulsa assieme alla
>figlia minore Seli, nata a Roma il 15 febbraio 2000. La giovane Sanela è
>figlia di Sejdovic Cazim, regolarmente soggiornante in Italia, trasferito
>nella notte del 3 marzo scorso nel Campo temporaneo comunale di via
>Carucci, a Roma. Anche il padre della neonata Seli, il giovane Hrustic
>Sejad, minorenne, è stato trasferito nel campo temporaneo succitato;
>
>Omerovic Mirsa, nato il 30 giugno '84, minorenne, espulso assieme alla zia
>Sevala, mentre la madre Devleta si trova a Roma presso il Campo temporaneo
>di via Carucci;
>
>Sejdic Sahira, nata il 12 dicembre '86, minorenne, è stata espulsa, essendo
>al momento dell'operazione a Tor de' Cenci assieme al convivente Omerovic
>Semir, nonostante entrambi i suoi genitori risiedano al Campo nomadi di
>Vicolo Savini a Roma.
>
>Omerovic Behara, è stata espulsa, nonostante si trovasse in evidente stato
>interessante al 3 marzo scorso, come risulta evidente dal video girato a
>Kladanj da un operatore dell'ICS- Consorzio Italiano di Solidarietà;
>
>quale ufficio abbia fornito al sottosegretario Maritati informazioni false
>o gravemente lacunose, tali da indurlo a dichiarazioni non corrispondenti
>al vero in una sede parlamentare;
>
>
>perchè mai il Ministro non fosse informato della reale situazione delle
>persone Rom suindicate, che sembrano chiaramente appartenere alle categorie
>protette dalla espulsione, ai sensi dell'articolo 19, comma 2, lettere a) e
>d) del decreto legislativo 25 luglio 1998, n.286 ( Testo unico
>sull'immigrazione e sulla condizione dello straniero), a quale ufficio
>dell'Amministrazione e a quali motivi debbano attribuirsi queste gravissime
>inadempienze della legislazione vigente.
>
>sen. Luigi Manconi
>
ZINGARI: ESSERI UMANI DI SERIE "B"
Ieri, 3/03/2000 alle ore 01.30 di notte, è iniziata un'imponente
operazione di polizia nei confronti del
popolo ROM abitante a TOR DE' CENCI, nel campo "attrezzato" del Comune
di Roma.
Gli abitanti in questione dovevano essere spostati temporaneamente, in
collaborazione con l'ARCI
Solidarietà del Lazio, per permettere alcune migliorie e la tanto attesa
installazione dei container
al posto delle roulotte ormai fatiscenti. Non erano previste espulsioni
fino al rientro al campo
finalmente riattrezzato (?) di Tor de' Cenci.
Alle ore 7.30, all'inizio del turno di accompagno scolastico, gli
operatori dell'ARCI, arrivati al
campo, si sono trovati la sorpresa: un numero sconsiderato di forze
dell'ordine, tante ruspe che
demolivano tutto ciò che c'era al campo e nessun abitante.
Gli operatori si sono subito diretti nel luogo individuato in
precedenza, dalla XII circoscrizione, per
l'eventuale spostamento ma anche lì le sorprese non sono mancate: non
hanno trovato un campo
accogliente, con luce, acqua e roulotte dignitose come promesso, ma un
piccolo lager contenente
un pugno di roulotte con dentro topi morti, 8 bagni chimici,
un'autocisterna e 114 persone
mancavano all'appello (38 maggiorenni, 76 minorenni di cui 24 iscritti e
frequentanti per l'anno
scolastico in corso).
Per tutto il giorno sono corse voci terrorizzanti di deportazioni in
massa verso la Bosnia.
La polizia smentiva la possibilità di rimpatrio immediato ma dichiarava
che tutti i fermati (50
secondo la questura), senza permesso di soggiorno o con reati, sarebbero
stati espulsi.
Venivano espulse e deportate 37 persone (13 maggiorenni, 24 minorenni di
cui 6 iscritti e
frequentanti per l'anno scolastico in corso, 4 iscritti alle scuole
elementari e materne per l'anno
scolastico 2000/2001, 15 nati a Roma e 1 a Parigi). Deportate in Bosnia,
loro "terra natale", in
realtà terra di origine solo dei più anziani. Ora le loro case, in un
paese di montagna a nord di
Saraijevo, sono occupate dai Serbi in base agli accordi di DAYTON (dove
la Bosnia venne divisa
"etnicamente").
Esulta il Sindaco Rutelli, esultano le destre forcaiole e razziste per
l'espulsione di pericolosi
criminali.
Piangono i bambini senza colpa, si disperano uomini e donne ai quali a
fatica si stava aprendo una
strada dignitosa (scuola, palestra, lavoro in cooperative), scacciati là
da dove sono stati già
scacciati, dove non hanno più nulla se non il terrore della
persecuzione.
E' l'Italia del centrosinistra (la destra farebbe peggio?), dove si
costruiscono lager per stranieri,
dove sindaci, prefetti e questori hanno la licenza di riconsegnare ai
boia chi li fugge.
E' la Roma del Giubileo, la capitale di uno dei 7 paesi più ricchi del
mondo che non trova pochi
spiccioli per un'accoglienza dignitosa a chi fugge guerra, miseria, e
persecuzione ma si abbellisce
per l'evento eliminando, senza "differenziarla", la spazzatura.
SONO ZINGARI, BRUTTI, SPORCHI E LADRI, A CHI IMPORTA?
Gli educatori e gli accompagnatori dell'ARCI e i volontari A.G.E.S.C.I.
del campo ROM di Tor de' Cenci
---
ARCI SOLIDARIETÀ LAZIO ONLUS
Via Goito 35/B 00185 Roma - Italy
Tel. +39 06 44701008 Fax +39 06 44701017
e-mail: lazio@...
RAPPORTO SULL'ESPULSIONE E IL RIMPATRIO COATTO
DEI ROM DI CITTADINANZA BOSNIACA DEL CAMPO DI TOR DE' CENCI - ROMA.
PREMESSA:
ARCI Solidarietà Lazio è una Associazione di promozione sociale che
svolge
fin dal 1992 attività in favore delle comunità rom presenti a Roma. In
particolare l'Associazione gestisce dal 1996 per conto dell'Assessorato
alle Politiche Educative del Comune di Roma un progetto di inserimento
scolastico dei minori di numerose comunità rom della città tra le quali
quella di "Khorakhané Cergarija" stanziata presso il Campo sosta di Tor
de'
Cenci. Tale comunità è composta nella quasi totalità da Rom di religione
musulmana provenienti dalla cittadina bosniaca di Vlasenica. Nume-rosi
nuclei familiari sono arrivati in Italia all'inizio degli anni ottanta,
altri sono giunti a Roma nel 1992 fuggendo dalla guerra esplosa in
Bosnia e
in particolare a causa dell'occupazione di Vla-senica ad opera delle
milizie serbo-bosniache. Dopo la fine della guerra gli accordi di pace
di
Dayton hanno sancito la divisione del paese in due "entità" etniche e
Vlasenica è rimasta sotto il controllo dei Serbi di Bosnia e appartiene
quindi al territorio della "Republika Srpska". Le case una volta di
proprietà dei Rom sono ancor oggi occupate da sfollati di etnia serba
fuggiti dai terri-tori appartenenti alla "Federazione di Bosnia
Erzegovina"
controllata da Musulmani e Croati.
GLI EVENTI A ROMA:
All'incirca all'1.30 della notte tra il 2 e il 3 Marzo 2000 il Campo
sosta
di Tor de' Cenci è stato sgomberato mediante un'operazione congiunta che
ha
visto impiegato sul terreno un numero ele-vatissimo di agenti di polizia
giudiziaria della Questura di Roma, agenti della polizia municipale e
funzionari del Comune di Roma (400 uomini in tutto, secondo quanto
riportato in data 4 Marzo dagli organi di stampa). Tale operazione era
stata precedentemente decisa dal Comitato Provin-ciale per l'ordine
pubblico e la sicurezza, un organismo di coordinamento presieduto dal
Prefetto di Roma e di cui fanno parte, tra gli altri, il Sindaco e il
Questore di Roma.
Le testimonianze rilasciate agli operatori ARCI dai bambini e dagli
adulti
del campo fanno rife-rimento ad un uso eccessivo della forza e ad
episodi
di violenza psicologica e fisica da parte degli agenti nel corso
dell'operazione di sgombero (Allegato nr.1).
A seguito dell'operazione, secondo quanto riportato dagli organi di
stampa
presumibilmente sulla base di informazioni fornite dalla stessa
Questura,
114 persone venivano fermate e trasferite in Questura per controlli.
Nelle
ore successive, gli agenti di polizia giudiziaria provvedevano
all'identificazione dei fermati anche con la collaborazione del Console
di
Bosnia Erzegovina appo-sitamente giunto da Milano. Al termine delle
procedure 82 persone venivano rilasciate mentre le altre 32, alcune
delle
quali munite di un lasciapassare appositamente emesso dal Console,
subi-vano il procedimento di espulsione dal territorio italiano con
accompagnamento immediato alla frontiera. I Rom venivano quindi
trasferiti
sotto scorta all'aeroporto di Fiumicino dove li atten-deva un aereo
appositamente noleggiato da una compagnia aerea civile con fondi del
Ministero dell'Interno. Sul volo venivano imbarcati, secondo quanto
riportato dalla stampa, 56 Rom in quanto nella stessa notte una analoga
operazione, sia pure di dimensioni ridotte rispetto a quella eseguita a
Tor
de' Cenci, era stata condotta presso il Campo sosta di "Casilino 700".
Il volo è decollato da Fiumicino alle 14.50 ed è atterrato all'aeroporto
di
Sarajevo intorno alle 17.00.
Dei 32 Rom rimpatriati provenienti dal campo di Tor de' Cenci 12 sono
maggiorenni e 20 mino-renni, di questi ultimi: 6 iscritti e frequentanti
le
scuole del territorio e altri 4 già iscritti dagli operatori ARCI alla
scuola materna o alla prima elementare per il prossimo anno scolastico.
Quindici di questi minorenni sono nati in Italia, uno in Francia; molti
di
loro non erano mai stati in Bosnia. Tra gli espulsi vanno segnalati i
seguenti casi:
1) Serbo Hrustic: un ragazzo nato a Parigi 14 anni fa, convivente presso
il
campo di Tor de' Cenci con la nonna Hajria Hrustic di 67 anni, anch'ella
espulsa. Il padre è detenuto e la ma-dre, convivente con un altro uomo
presso il Campo sosta di Vicolo Savini, non si occupa più di lui da
tempo.
Non risulta comunque che esista un provvedimento legale di affidamento
alla
nonna ragione per cui l'esecuzione dell'espulsione ha di fatto prodotto
la
separazione del figlio minorenne da coloro che legalmente tuttora
detengono
la potestà genitoriale;
2) Sanela Sejdovic: una ragazza di 16 anni espulsa con la figlia Shelli
Hrustic nata da poco più di 15 giorni. Il padre della ragazza è in
possesso
di regolare permesso di soggiorno e infatti è tra le 83 persone
rilasciate
dopo esser state sottoposte ai controlli di polizia. Anche in questo
caso,
quindi, un soggetto minorenne è stato separato da chi detiene legalmente
la
potestà ge-nitoriale;
3) Behara Omerovic: una ragazza di 19 anni al quinto mese di gravidanza
espulsa con la figlia Madalena Hrustic di un anno
4) Mirsad Omerovic: un ragazzo di 15 anni che al momento del
trasferimento
in Questura è stato separato dalla madre Omerovic Devleta. Conclusi gli
accertamenti, la madre è stata rilasciata mentre il ragazzo è stato
identificato erroneamente dal Console bosniaco come figlio di Ome-rovic
Sevala, iscritto sul lasciapassare di quella che in realtà è una zia, e
con
lei espulso;
Mentre le operazioni di controllo presso la Questura erano ancora in
corso
il Sindaco di Roma, Francesco Rutelli, diramava un comunicato stampa,
citato il 4 mattina da alcuni quotidiani, nel quale si complimentava con
le
forze dell'ordine per quella che definiva una "brillante operazione" e
"rispettosa dei diritti umani".
GLI EVENTI IN BOSNIA:
Sbarcati dall'aereo a Sarajevo, i 32 Rom di Tor de' Cenci espulsi non
hanno
potuto disporre di al-cuna forma di assistenza né da parte delle
autorità
bosniache né, ovviamente, da parte dell'Ambasciata italiana. Non avendo
alcuna possibilità di sistemazione a Sarajevo, 29 di loro hanno tentato
di
raggiungere le loro case a Vlasenica. Qui sono stati vittima di
un'aggressione fi-sica da parte degli occupanti le case e sono quindi
fuggiti trovando riparo a Kladanj, nella casa abitata dalla madre di uno
di
loro, Osman Omerovic. I dettagli di quanto avvenuto sono stati
co-municati
per telefono agli operatori ARCI la mattina di Sabato 4 Marzo. Una
famiglia
composta da 3 persone si è invece distaccata dal gruppo dei 29 e si è
diretta verso l'abitazione di parenti a Gracanica.
In considerazione della situazione di gravissima difficoltà nella quale
si
sono trovati gli espulsi, da Roma è stato immediatamente allertato
l'ufficio di Sarajevo dell'ICS - Consorzio Italiano di Solidarietà, ONG
di
cooperazione internazionale alla quale ARCI Solidarietà Lazio aderisce e
della quale ARCI direzione nazionale è tra i soci fondatori.
Il responsabile dell'ufficio ICS di Sarajevo si è recato a Kladanj nel
primo pomeriggio di Lunedì 6 Marzo e ha potuto verificare che:
1. I Rom di Tor de' Cenci ospitati a Kladanj presso la casa di Osman
Omerovic sono 29, 14 dei quali minori di 14 anni (Elenco all'Allegato
nr. 2);
2. Le loro condizioni sono critiche dal momento che vivono stipati in
due
sole stanze, non hanno cibo né denaro né vestiario di ricambio;
3. Alcuni di loro portavano ancora i segni delle percosse subite a
Vlasenica;
4. Solo a 4 di loro l'Ufficio Stranieri della Questura di Roma aveva
consegnato un decreto di espulsione, 13 di loro sono in possesso del
lasciapassare rilasciato dal Console bosniaco in Italia.
Al momento l'Ufficio ICS di Sarajevo sta contattando le agenzie
internazionali per organizzare una qualche forma di assistenza.
Mercoledì 8
marzo dei funzionari della Protection Unit dell'Ufficio UNHCR di
Sarajevo
si sono recati a Kladanj per valutare la situazione ed intervistare il
gruppo. È importante segnalare che sull'aereo erano stati imbarcati
anche
Rom provenienti dal campo di Casilino 700, sembra fossero 24. Non si
hanno
notizie certe sulla loro sorte una volta ar-rivati in Bosnia: secondo
informazioni raccolte ma non ancora verificate dovrebbero essere
stan-ziati
a Ilias - Sarajevo, presumibilmente presso le abitazioni di parenti o
amici.
CONCLUSIONI:
Le valutazioni dell'ARCI su quanto avvenuto sono le seguenti:
a) Nel corso dell'operazione di sgombero del campo vi è stato un uso
eccessivo della forza da parte della polizia, anche nei confronti di
bambini, con una evidente responsabilità in tal senso del/dei
funzionario/i
incaricato/i dalla Questura di Roma di organizzare e coordinare
l'operazione stessa;
b) Le espulsioni sono state eseguite in flagrante violazione del Decreto
Legislativo 25 luglio 1998 n. 286 "Testo unico delle disposizioni
concernenti la disciplina dell'immigrazione e norme sulla condizione
dello
straniero" e in particolare: 1) nel caso di tutti gli espulsi:
violazione
dell'art. 19 comma 1 ("In nessun caso può' disporsi l'espulsione o il
respingimento verso uno Stato in cui lo straniero possa essere oggetto
di
persecuzione per motivi di razza, di sesso, di lingua, di cittadinanza,
di
religione, di opinioni politiche, di condizioni personali o sociali");
2)
nei casi di Serbo Hrustic, Sanela Sejdovic e Mirsad Omerovic: violazione
dell'art. 19 comma 2 lettera a ("Non è consentita l'espulsione, (…)
degli
stranieri minori di anni diciotto, salvo il diritto a seguire il
genitore o
l'affidatario espulsi"); 3) nei casi di Behara Omerovic e Sanela
Sejdovic:
violazione dell'art. 19 comma 2 lettera d ("Non è consentita
l'espulsione,
(…) delle donne in stato di gravidanza o nei sei mesi successivi alla
nascita del figlio cui prov-vedono"). Considerando inoltre che, come
verificato dall'inviato ICS, solo 4 persone hanno ri-cevuto il decreto
di
espulsione, sono stati altresì violati l'art. 13 comma 3 ("L'espulsione
è
di-sposta in ogni caso con decreto motivato") e comma 7 ("Il decreto di
espulsione (…), nonché ogni altro atto concernente l'ingresso, il
soggiorno
e l'espulsione, sono comunicati all'interessato unitamente
all'indicazione
delle modalità di impugnazione e ad una traduzione in una lingua da lui
conosciuta, ovvero, ove non sia possibile, in lingua francese, inglese o
spagnola") dello stesso decreto legislativo; tale violazione sarebbe
tanto
più grave se compiuta con il fine di pregiudicare il diritto degli
espulsi
di ricorrere legalmente contro il provvedi-mento;
c) Le espulsioni sono state eseguite in modo tale da violare l'art. 4
del
protocollo aggiuntivo n. 4 alla Convenzione Europea dei diritti Umani
che
vieta l'espulsione collettiva di stranieri
d) Le procedure di identificazione svolte dal Console bosniaco sono
state
quanto meno superfi-ciali ed inesatte, come dimostrato evidentemente dal
caso di Mirsad Omerovic e dal fatto che sui lasciapassare di alcuni
degli
espulsi figuri come luogo di ultima residenza in Bosnia Kla-danj invece
di
Vlasenica;
e) In tutta la vicenda dello sgombero e delle espulsioni vi sono delle
chiare, gravissime respon-sabilità politiche del Sindaco di Roma, sia in
quanto componente del Comitato per l'ordine pubblico e la sicurezza che
ha
deciso l'operazione, sia per le pesanti dichiarazioni rilasciate alla
stampa a commento di quanto avvenuto.
Le responsabilità di Comune e Questura sono tanto più gravi considerando
la
censura espressa nel Marzo 1999 dal CERD - Comitato delle Nazioni Unite
per
l'Eliminazione delle Discrimina-zioni Razziali - sul trattamento
riservato
ai Rom in Italia, in particolare da parte delle forze di Polizia..
L'esecuzione dell'espulsione secondo le modalità adottate è inoltre un
atto
chiaramente irrespon-sabile che ha innescato a Vlasenica un episodio di
scontro etnico che compromette gli sforzi pa-zienti delle istituzioni
internazionali presenti in Bosnia per rasserenare gli animi e
consentire,
attraverso la concertazione con le autorità delle diverse entità
etniche,
la realizzazione dei rientri di sfollati e profughi nelle loro località
di
origine anche in zona etnicamente non omogenea. È del tutto evidente che
episodi simili rischiano di danneggiare il prestigio internazionale
dell'Italia compromettendo la sua immagine di paese rispettoso dei
diritti
umani, garante del rispetto delle norme di legge sia interne che
internazionali e dotato di una politica estera responsabile ed
equi-librata
rispetto ai delicati processi di ricostruzione della convivenza civile
in
Bosnia.
Attualmente l'impegno dell'ARCI in Italia è concentrato a garantire un
adeguato supporto legale per la presentazione dei ricorsi contro le
espulsioni, mentre l'impegno in Bosnia, attraverso le strutture di ICS e
in
stretta collaborazione con l'UNHCR, mira a fornire un'immediata ed
efficace
assistenza umanitaria agli espulsi per il periodo, che si spera il più
breve possibile, che li separa dal loro rientro in Italia.
È doveroso segnalare come alle attività di denuncia dell'accaduto, di
supporto legale, di sensibiliz-zazione dell'opinione pubblica e di
raccolta
fondi in favore degli espulsi si stiano attivamente de-dicando anche
l'AGESCI (Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani),
l'Associazione
……. .
Roma, 10 Marzo 2000
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Interrogazione a risposta orale e urgente
>
>
>Al Ministro dell'Interno
>
>premesso che:
>
>in relazione alla operazione di polizia, condotta dalla Questura di Roma il
>3 marzo scorso al Campo Nomadi comunale di Tor de' Cenci, il deputato
>on.le Rosanna Moroni ha presentato l'interrogazione parlamentare 5-07498
>indirizzata al Ministro dell'Interno;
>
>nella risposta del 9 marzo scorso,in sede di 1° Commissione, il
>Sottosegretario di Stato sen. Alberto Maritati ha affermato "che non è
>stato separato alcun nucleo familiare e non era quindi necessario avvisare
>il Tribunale dei Minori", e inoltre che " nessuna signora ha dichiarato di
>essere in stato interessante e nessuna era in condizioni apparenti di
>gravidanza";
>
>
>chiede di sapere con urgenza :
>
>se il Ministro dell'Interno era a conoscenza delle specifiche condizioni
>soggettive delle seguenti persone espulse:
>
>Sejdovic Sanela, nata il 1° marzo '84, minorenne, espulsa assieme alla
>figlia minore Seli, nata a Roma il 15 febbraio 2000. La giovane Sanela è
>figlia di Sejdovic Cazim, regolarmente soggiornante in Italia, trasferito
>nella notte del 3 marzo scorso nel Campo temporaneo comunale di via
>Carucci, a Roma. Anche il padre della neonata Seli, il giovane Hrustic
>Sejad, minorenne, è stato trasferito nel campo temporaneo succitato;
>
>Omerovic Mirsa, nato il 30 giugno '84, minorenne, espulso assieme alla zia
>Sevala, mentre la madre Devleta si trova a Roma presso il Campo temporaneo
>di via Carucci;
>
>Sejdic Sahira, nata il 12 dicembre '86, minorenne, è stata espulsa, essendo
>al momento dell'operazione a Tor de' Cenci assieme al convivente Omerovic
>Semir, nonostante entrambi i suoi genitori risiedano al Campo nomadi di
>Vicolo Savini a Roma.
>
>Omerovic Behara, è stata espulsa, nonostante si trovasse in evidente stato
>interessante al 3 marzo scorso, come risulta evidente dal video girato a
>Kladanj da un operatore dell'ICS- Consorzio Italiano di Solidarietà;
>
>quale ufficio abbia fornito al sottosegretario Maritati informazioni false
>o gravemente lacunose, tali da indurlo a dichiarazioni non corrispondenti
>al vero in una sede parlamentare;
>
>
>perchè mai il Ministro non fosse informato della reale situazione delle
>persone Rom suindicate, che sembrano chiaramente appartenere alle categorie
>protette dalla espulsione, ai sensi dell'articolo 19, comma 2, lettere a) e
>d) del decreto legislativo 25 luglio 1998, n.286 ( Testo unico
>sull'immigrazione e sulla condizione dello straniero), a quale ufficio
>dell'Amministrazione e a quali motivi debbano attribuirsi queste gravissime
>inadempienze della legislazione vigente.
>
>sen. Luigi Manconi
>
ZINGARI: ESSERI UMANI DI SERIE "B"
Ieri, 3/03/2000 alle ore 01.30 di notte, è iniziata un'imponente
operazione di polizia nei confronti del
popolo ROM abitante a TOR DE' CENCI, nel campo "attrezzato" del Comune
di Roma.
Gli abitanti in questione dovevano essere spostati temporaneamente, in
collaborazione con l'ARCI
Solidarietà del Lazio, per permettere alcune migliorie e la tanto attesa
installazione dei container
al posto delle roulotte ormai fatiscenti. Non erano previste espulsioni
fino al rientro al campo
finalmente riattrezzato (?) di Tor de' Cenci.
Alle ore 7.30, all'inizio del turno di accompagno scolastico, gli
operatori dell'ARCI, arrivati al
campo, si sono trovati la sorpresa: un numero sconsiderato di forze
dell'ordine, tante ruspe che
demolivano tutto ciò che c'era al campo e nessun abitante.
Gli operatori si sono subito diretti nel luogo individuato in
precedenza, dalla XII circoscrizione, per
l'eventuale spostamento ma anche lì le sorprese non sono mancate: non
hanno trovato un campo
accogliente, con luce, acqua e roulotte dignitose come promesso, ma un
piccolo lager contenente
un pugno di roulotte con dentro topi morti, 8 bagni chimici,
un'autocisterna e 114 persone
mancavano all'appello (38 maggiorenni, 76 minorenni di cui 24 iscritti e
frequentanti per l'anno
scolastico in corso).
Per tutto il giorno sono corse voci terrorizzanti di deportazioni in
massa verso la Bosnia.
La polizia smentiva la possibilità di rimpatrio immediato ma dichiarava
che tutti i fermati (50
secondo la questura), senza permesso di soggiorno o con reati, sarebbero
stati espulsi.
Venivano espulse e deportate 37 persone (13 maggiorenni, 24 minorenni di
cui 6 iscritti e
frequentanti per l'anno scolastico in corso, 4 iscritti alle scuole
elementari e materne per l'anno
scolastico 2000/2001, 15 nati a Roma e 1 a Parigi). Deportate in Bosnia,
loro "terra natale", in
realtà terra di origine solo dei più anziani. Ora le loro case, in un
paese di montagna a nord di
Saraijevo, sono occupate dai Serbi in base agli accordi di DAYTON (dove
la Bosnia venne divisa
"etnicamente").
Esulta il Sindaco Rutelli, esultano le destre forcaiole e razziste per
l'espulsione di pericolosi
criminali.
Piangono i bambini senza colpa, si disperano uomini e donne ai quali a
fatica si stava aprendo una
strada dignitosa (scuola, palestra, lavoro in cooperative), scacciati là
da dove sono stati già
scacciati, dove non hanno più nulla se non il terrore della
persecuzione.
E' l'Italia del centrosinistra (la destra farebbe peggio?), dove si
costruiscono lager per stranieri,
dove sindaci, prefetti e questori hanno la licenza di riconsegnare ai
boia chi li fugge.
E' la Roma del Giubileo, la capitale di uno dei 7 paesi più ricchi del
mondo che non trova pochi
spiccioli per un'accoglienza dignitosa a chi fugge guerra, miseria, e
persecuzione ma si abbellisce
per l'evento eliminando, senza "differenziarla", la spazzatura.
SONO ZINGARI, BRUTTI, SPORCHI E LADRI, A CHI IMPORTA?
Gli educatori e gli accompagnatori dell'ARCI e i volontari A.G.E.S.C.I.
del campo ROM di Tor de' Cenci
---
ARCI SOLIDARIETÀ LAZIO ONLUS
Via Goito 35/B 00185 Roma - Italy
Tel. +39 06 44701008 Fax +39 06 44701017
e-mail: lazio@...
RAPPORTO SULL'ESPULSIONE E IL RIMPATRIO COATTO
DEI ROM DI CITTADINANZA BOSNIACA DEL CAMPO DI TOR DE' CENCI - ROMA.
PREMESSA:
ARCI Solidarietà Lazio è una Associazione di promozione sociale che
svolge
fin dal 1992 attività in favore delle comunità rom presenti a Roma. In
particolare l'Associazione gestisce dal 1996 per conto dell'Assessorato
alle Politiche Educative del Comune di Roma un progetto di inserimento
scolastico dei minori di numerose comunità rom della città tra le quali
quella di "Khorakhané Cergarija" stanziata presso il Campo sosta di Tor
de'
Cenci. Tale comunità è composta nella quasi totalità da Rom di religione
musulmana provenienti dalla cittadina bosniaca di Vlasenica. Nume-rosi
nuclei familiari sono arrivati in Italia all'inizio degli anni ottanta,
altri sono giunti a Roma nel 1992 fuggendo dalla guerra esplosa in
Bosnia e
in particolare a causa dell'occupazione di Vla-senica ad opera delle
milizie serbo-bosniache. Dopo la fine della guerra gli accordi di pace
di
Dayton hanno sancito la divisione del paese in due "entità" etniche e
Vlasenica è rimasta sotto il controllo dei Serbi di Bosnia e appartiene
quindi al territorio della "Republika Srpska". Le case una volta di
proprietà dei Rom sono ancor oggi occupate da sfollati di etnia serba
fuggiti dai terri-tori appartenenti alla "Federazione di Bosnia
Erzegovina"
controllata da Musulmani e Croati.
GLI EVENTI A ROMA:
All'incirca all'1.30 della notte tra il 2 e il 3 Marzo 2000 il Campo
sosta
di Tor de' Cenci è stato sgomberato mediante un'operazione congiunta che
ha
visto impiegato sul terreno un numero ele-vatissimo di agenti di polizia
giudiziaria della Questura di Roma, agenti della polizia municipale e
funzionari del Comune di Roma (400 uomini in tutto, secondo quanto
riportato in data 4 Marzo dagli organi di stampa). Tale operazione era
stata precedentemente decisa dal Comitato Provin-ciale per l'ordine
pubblico e la sicurezza, un organismo di coordinamento presieduto dal
Prefetto di Roma e di cui fanno parte, tra gli altri, il Sindaco e il
Questore di Roma.
Le testimonianze rilasciate agli operatori ARCI dai bambini e dagli
adulti
del campo fanno rife-rimento ad un uso eccessivo della forza e ad
episodi
di violenza psicologica e fisica da parte degli agenti nel corso
dell'operazione di sgombero (Allegato nr.1).
A seguito dell'operazione, secondo quanto riportato dagli organi di
stampa
presumibilmente sulla base di informazioni fornite dalla stessa
Questura,
114 persone venivano fermate e trasferite in Questura per controlli.
Nelle
ore successive, gli agenti di polizia giudiziaria provvedevano
all'identificazione dei fermati anche con la collaborazione del Console
di
Bosnia Erzegovina appo-sitamente giunto da Milano. Al termine delle
procedure 82 persone venivano rilasciate mentre le altre 32, alcune
delle
quali munite di un lasciapassare appositamente emesso dal Console,
subi-vano il procedimento di espulsione dal territorio italiano con
accompagnamento immediato alla frontiera. I Rom venivano quindi
trasferiti
sotto scorta all'aeroporto di Fiumicino dove li atten-deva un aereo
appositamente noleggiato da una compagnia aerea civile con fondi del
Ministero dell'Interno. Sul volo venivano imbarcati, secondo quanto
riportato dalla stampa, 56 Rom in quanto nella stessa notte una analoga
operazione, sia pure di dimensioni ridotte rispetto a quella eseguita a
Tor
de' Cenci, era stata condotta presso il Campo sosta di "Casilino 700".
Il volo è decollato da Fiumicino alle 14.50 ed è atterrato all'aeroporto
di
Sarajevo intorno alle 17.00.
Dei 32 Rom rimpatriati provenienti dal campo di Tor de' Cenci 12 sono
maggiorenni e 20 mino-renni, di questi ultimi: 6 iscritti e frequentanti
le
scuole del territorio e altri 4 già iscritti dagli operatori ARCI alla
scuola materna o alla prima elementare per il prossimo anno scolastico.
Quindici di questi minorenni sono nati in Italia, uno in Francia; molti
di
loro non erano mai stati in Bosnia. Tra gli espulsi vanno segnalati i
seguenti casi:
1) Serbo Hrustic: un ragazzo nato a Parigi 14 anni fa, convivente presso
il
campo di Tor de' Cenci con la nonna Hajria Hrustic di 67 anni, anch'ella
espulsa. Il padre è detenuto e la ma-dre, convivente con un altro uomo
presso il Campo sosta di Vicolo Savini, non si occupa più di lui da
tempo.
Non risulta comunque che esista un provvedimento legale di affidamento
alla
nonna ragione per cui l'esecuzione dell'espulsione ha di fatto prodotto
la
separazione del figlio minorenne da coloro che legalmente tuttora
detengono
la potestà genitoriale;
2) Sanela Sejdovic: una ragazza di 16 anni espulsa con la figlia Shelli
Hrustic nata da poco più di 15 giorni. Il padre della ragazza è in
possesso
di regolare permesso di soggiorno e infatti è tra le 83 persone
rilasciate
dopo esser state sottoposte ai controlli di polizia. Anche in questo
caso,
quindi, un soggetto minorenne è stato separato da chi detiene legalmente
la
potestà ge-nitoriale;
3) Behara Omerovic: una ragazza di 19 anni al quinto mese di gravidanza
espulsa con la figlia Madalena Hrustic di un anno
4) Mirsad Omerovic: un ragazzo di 15 anni che al momento del
trasferimento
in Questura è stato separato dalla madre Omerovic Devleta. Conclusi gli
accertamenti, la madre è stata rilasciata mentre il ragazzo è stato
identificato erroneamente dal Console bosniaco come figlio di Ome-rovic
Sevala, iscritto sul lasciapassare di quella che in realtà è una zia, e
con
lei espulso;
Mentre le operazioni di controllo presso la Questura erano ancora in
corso
il Sindaco di Roma, Francesco Rutelli, diramava un comunicato stampa,
citato il 4 mattina da alcuni quotidiani, nel quale si complimentava con
le
forze dell'ordine per quella che definiva una "brillante operazione" e
"rispettosa dei diritti umani".
GLI EVENTI IN BOSNIA:
Sbarcati dall'aereo a Sarajevo, i 32 Rom di Tor de' Cenci espulsi non
hanno
potuto disporre di al-cuna forma di assistenza né da parte delle
autorità
bosniache né, ovviamente, da parte dell'Ambasciata italiana. Non avendo
alcuna possibilità di sistemazione a Sarajevo, 29 di loro hanno tentato
di
raggiungere le loro case a Vlasenica. Qui sono stati vittima di
un'aggressione fi-sica da parte degli occupanti le case e sono quindi
fuggiti trovando riparo a Kladanj, nella casa abitata dalla madre di uno
di
loro, Osman Omerovic. I dettagli di quanto avvenuto sono stati
co-municati
per telefono agli operatori ARCI la mattina di Sabato 4 Marzo. Una
famiglia
composta da 3 persone si è invece distaccata dal gruppo dei 29 e si è
diretta verso l'abitazione di parenti a Gracanica.
In considerazione della situazione di gravissima difficoltà nella quale
si
sono trovati gli espulsi, da Roma è stato immediatamente allertato
l'ufficio di Sarajevo dell'ICS - Consorzio Italiano di Solidarietà, ONG
di
cooperazione internazionale alla quale ARCI Solidarietà Lazio aderisce e
della quale ARCI direzione nazionale è tra i soci fondatori.
Il responsabile dell'ufficio ICS di Sarajevo si è recato a Kladanj nel
primo pomeriggio di Lunedì 6 Marzo e ha potuto verificare che:
1. I Rom di Tor de' Cenci ospitati a Kladanj presso la casa di Osman
Omerovic sono 29, 14 dei quali minori di 14 anni (Elenco all'Allegato
nr. 2);
2. Le loro condizioni sono critiche dal momento che vivono stipati in
due
sole stanze, non hanno cibo né denaro né vestiario di ricambio;
3. Alcuni di loro portavano ancora i segni delle percosse subite a
Vlasenica;
4. Solo a 4 di loro l'Ufficio Stranieri della Questura di Roma aveva
consegnato un decreto di espulsione, 13 di loro sono in possesso del
lasciapassare rilasciato dal Console bosniaco in Italia.
Al momento l'Ufficio ICS di Sarajevo sta contattando le agenzie
internazionali per organizzare una qualche forma di assistenza.
Mercoledì 8
marzo dei funzionari della Protection Unit dell'Ufficio UNHCR di
Sarajevo
si sono recati a Kladanj per valutare la situazione ed intervistare il
gruppo. È importante segnalare che sull'aereo erano stati imbarcati
anche
Rom provenienti dal campo di Casilino 700, sembra fossero 24. Non si
hanno
notizie certe sulla loro sorte una volta ar-rivati in Bosnia: secondo
informazioni raccolte ma non ancora verificate dovrebbero essere
stan-ziati
a Ilias - Sarajevo, presumibilmente presso le abitazioni di parenti o
amici.
CONCLUSIONI:
Le valutazioni dell'ARCI su quanto avvenuto sono le seguenti:
a) Nel corso dell'operazione di sgombero del campo vi è stato un uso
eccessivo della forza da parte della polizia, anche nei confronti di
bambini, con una evidente responsabilità in tal senso del/dei
funzionario/i
incaricato/i dalla Questura di Roma di organizzare e coordinare
l'operazione stessa;
b) Le espulsioni sono state eseguite in flagrante violazione del Decreto
Legislativo 25 luglio 1998 n. 286 "Testo unico delle disposizioni
concernenti la disciplina dell'immigrazione e norme sulla condizione
dello
straniero" e in particolare: 1) nel caso di tutti gli espulsi:
violazione
dell'art. 19 comma 1 ("In nessun caso può' disporsi l'espulsione o il
respingimento verso uno Stato in cui lo straniero possa essere oggetto
di
persecuzione per motivi di razza, di sesso, di lingua, di cittadinanza,
di
religione, di opinioni politiche, di condizioni personali o sociali");
2)
nei casi di Serbo Hrustic, Sanela Sejdovic e Mirsad Omerovic: violazione
dell'art. 19 comma 2 lettera a ("Non è consentita l'espulsione, (…)
degli
stranieri minori di anni diciotto, salvo il diritto a seguire il
genitore o
l'affidatario espulsi"); 3) nei casi di Behara Omerovic e Sanela
Sejdovic:
violazione dell'art. 19 comma 2 lettera d ("Non è consentita
l'espulsione,
(…) delle donne in stato di gravidanza o nei sei mesi successivi alla
nascita del figlio cui prov-vedono"). Considerando inoltre che, come
verificato dall'inviato ICS, solo 4 persone hanno ri-cevuto il decreto
di
espulsione, sono stati altresì violati l'art. 13 comma 3 ("L'espulsione
è
di-sposta in ogni caso con decreto motivato") e comma 7 ("Il decreto di
espulsione (…), nonché ogni altro atto concernente l'ingresso, il
soggiorno
e l'espulsione, sono comunicati all'interessato unitamente
all'indicazione
delle modalità di impugnazione e ad una traduzione in una lingua da lui
conosciuta, ovvero, ove non sia possibile, in lingua francese, inglese o
spagnola") dello stesso decreto legislativo; tale violazione sarebbe
tanto
più grave se compiuta con il fine di pregiudicare il diritto degli
espulsi
di ricorrere legalmente contro il provvedi-mento;
c) Le espulsioni sono state eseguite in modo tale da violare l'art. 4
del
protocollo aggiuntivo n. 4 alla Convenzione Europea dei diritti Umani
che
vieta l'espulsione collettiva di stranieri
d) Le procedure di identificazione svolte dal Console bosniaco sono
state
quanto meno superfi-ciali ed inesatte, come dimostrato evidentemente dal
caso di Mirsad Omerovic e dal fatto che sui lasciapassare di alcuni
degli
espulsi figuri come luogo di ultima residenza in Bosnia Kla-danj invece
di
Vlasenica;
e) In tutta la vicenda dello sgombero e delle espulsioni vi sono delle
chiare, gravissime respon-sabilità politiche del Sindaco di Roma, sia in
quanto componente del Comitato per l'ordine pubblico e la sicurezza che
ha
deciso l'operazione, sia per le pesanti dichiarazioni rilasciate alla
stampa a commento di quanto avvenuto.
Le responsabilità di Comune e Questura sono tanto più gravi considerando
la
censura espressa nel Marzo 1999 dal CERD - Comitato delle Nazioni Unite
per
l'Eliminazione delle Discrimina-zioni Razziali - sul trattamento
riservato
ai Rom in Italia, in particolare da parte delle forze di Polizia..
L'esecuzione dell'espulsione secondo le modalità adottate è inoltre un
atto
chiaramente irrespon-sabile che ha innescato a Vlasenica un episodio di
scontro etnico che compromette gli sforzi pa-zienti delle istituzioni
internazionali presenti in Bosnia per rasserenare gli animi e
consentire,
attraverso la concertazione con le autorità delle diverse entità
etniche,
la realizzazione dei rientri di sfollati e profughi nelle loro località
di
origine anche in zona etnicamente non omogenea. È del tutto evidente che
episodi simili rischiano di danneggiare il prestigio internazionale
dell'Italia compromettendo la sua immagine di paese rispettoso dei
diritti
umani, garante del rispetto delle norme di legge sia interne che
internazionali e dotato di una politica estera responsabile ed
equi-librata
rispetto ai delicati processi di ricostruzione della convivenza civile
in
Bosnia.
Attualmente l'impegno dell'ARCI in Italia è concentrato a garantire un
adeguato supporto legale per la presentazione dei ricorsi contro le
espulsioni, mentre l'impegno in Bosnia, attraverso le strutture di ICS e
in
stretta collaborazione con l'UNHCR, mira a fornire un'immediata ed
efficace
assistenza umanitaria agli espulsi per il periodo, che si spera il più
breve possibile, che li separa dal loro rientro in Italia.
È doveroso segnalare come alle attività di denuncia dell'accaduto, di
supporto legale, di sensibiliz-zazione dell'opinione pubblica e di
raccolta
fondi in favore degli espulsi si stiano attivamente de-dicando anche
l'AGESCI (Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani),
l'Associazione
……. .
Roma, 10 Marzo 2000
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
NUMERI UTILI
<< ...L'altro ieri informavo mia figlia di sei anni che esistono persone
che si alzano la mattina con lo scopo di studiare come distruggere gli
altri con le bombe. Mi ha risposto di darle i numeri di telefono per
chiamarli e per chiedergli il perché. Mi è sembrata una buona idea ed
uno spunto buono per un'azione semplice, di tutti i giorni. Ho così
compilato un elenco dei numeri di telefono delle aziende implicate nella
costruzione di morte reperibili a Roma, da correggere, ampliare e da
distribuire in rete perché i nostri bambini sappiano a chi poter
chiedere spiegazioni dell'operato di chi provoca deliberatamente morte e
distruzione. Forse in tal modo potrebbe essere miglior latore d'opinione
un funzionario di impresa addetto all'informazione di quanto non sia un
governante, che è solo uno strumento esecutivo del capitale. Che il
tabacco fosse nocivo è stato dimostrato dopo diversi anni di studi; che
una bomba sia distruttiva è praticamente un assioma e pure le armi hanno
un nome ed un costruttore. Questi devono perciò pagare in moneta sonante
tutte le loro distruzioni e la loro sete di risorse primarie (metalli,
fonti energetiche), prima di farci morire tutti di sete. Altrimenti chi
pagherà saranno i bambini di oggi, che domani, ammesso che possano
riprodursi, saranno costretti a chiedere il permesso alle holding del
transgenico....
ELENCO PROVVISORIO DELLE HOLDING IMPLICATE NELLA COSTRUZIONE
DI ARMI PER IL CONFLITTO CONTRO LA JUGOSLAVIA (telefoni di Roma):
1) USA-Boeing....................063720341 - 063720342
2) Lockheed-Martin...............
3) Raytheon Huges................
4) British Aereospace [Marconi...06886931]
5) Daimler-Chrysler..............0685353515
6) [USA] General Motors..........065919750 - 065919751 - [067801144]
7) Ford S.p.A. [Italia]..........06518551
8) IBM S.p.A. [Italia............0659661]
9) Motorola S.p.A......065754832 - 065717051 - 068073273 - 0657287491
10) Microsoft S.p.A..............06509501 - 0650950001
11) Seagram......................
12) Sony [Computer Entertainment Italia] S.p.A.........06330741 >>
[Dalla mailing list del comitato Scienziate/i contro la guerra]
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
<< ...L'altro ieri informavo mia figlia di sei anni che esistono persone
che si alzano la mattina con lo scopo di studiare come distruggere gli
altri con le bombe. Mi ha risposto di darle i numeri di telefono per
chiamarli e per chiedergli il perché. Mi è sembrata una buona idea ed
uno spunto buono per un'azione semplice, di tutti i giorni. Ho così
compilato un elenco dei numeri di telefono delle aziende implicate nella
costruzione di morte reperibili a Roma, da correggere, ampliare e da
distribuire in rete perché i nostri bambini sappiano a chi poter
chiedere spiegazioni dell'operato di chi provoca deliberatamente morte e
distruzione. Forse in tal modo potrebbe essere miglior latore d'opinione
un funzionario di impresa addetto all'informazione di quanto non sia un
governante, che è solo uno strumento esecutivo del capitale. Che il
tabacco fosse nocivo è stato dimostrato dopo diversi anni di studi; che
una bomba sia distruttiva è praticamente un assioma e pure le armi hanno
un nome ed un costruttore. Questi devono perciò pagare in moneta sonante
tutte le loro distruzioni e la loro sete di risorse primarie (metalli,
fonti energetiche), prima di farci morire tutti di sete. Altrimenti chi
pagherà saranno i bambini di oggi, che domani, ammesso che possano
riprodursi, saranno costretti a chiedere il permesso alle holding del
transgenico....
ELENCO PROVVISORIO DELLE HOLDING IMPLICATE NELLA COSTRUZIONE
DI ARMI PER IL CONFLITTO CONTRO LA JUGOSLAVIA (telefoni di Roma):
1) USA-Boeing....................063720341 - 063720342
2) Lockheed-Martin...............
3) Raytheon Huges................
4) British Aereospace [Marconi...06886931]
5) Daimler-Chrysler..............0685353515
6) [USA] General Motors..........065919750 - 065919751 - [067801144]
7) Ford S.p.A. [Italia]..........06518551
8) IBM S.p.A. [Italia............0659661]
9) Motorola S.p.A......065754832 - 065717051 - 068073273 - 0657287491
10) Microsoft S.p.A..............06509501 - 0650950001
11) Seagram......................
12) Sony [Computer Entertainment Italia] S.p.A.........06330741 >>
[Dalla mailing list del comitato Scienziate/i contro la guerra]
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
REUTERS 12/4/2000 ------------------------------------------------
TRENTA SOLDATI USA NELLE PRIGIONI MACEDONI PER UBRIACHEZZA MOLESTA
Wednesday April 12 12:45 PM ET
Macedonia Says It Detains 30 American Peacekeepers
SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Police in the former Yugoslav republic of
Macedonia said Wednesday they had taken 30 U.S. peacekeeping soldiers
into custody for drunken behavior.
``Thirty American KFOR soldiers in Macedonia were taken in by the police
Wednesday morning because of their indecent behavior and maltreatment of
citizens,´´ the Macedonian Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Officials from the KFOR peacekeeping force for Kosovo, which has a
back-up base in Macedonia, were not immediately available for comment.
The statement said the soldiers had been acting in a drunk and
disorderly way in a cafe in the Macedonian capital Skopje. One
Macedonian policeman was injured as he attempted to prevent a fight
between the American soldiers and passers-by.
The statement said the Macedonian police took in the men jointly with
KFOR military police, but made clear they were being held in a
Macedonian police station, not a KFOR detention center.
----------------------------------------------------------
500 PERSONE A SKOPLJE ALLA PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO
"PERCHE' LA NATO E' SOTTO ACCUSA"
Dragi prijatelji
Obavestavam Vas da se sinoc, 11.04. 2000 godine u hotelu Aleksandar
Palas u Skoplju, odrzala veoma uspesna promocija knjige "Zasto se sudi
NATO-u", ciji su autori Zoran Kraljevski i Ivan Stoilkovic.
Na promociji je bilo prisutno oko 500 gostiju, koji su burno pozdravili
promociju. Promoteri knjige bili su: Prof. Dr.Svetomir Skaric, redovni
profesor Ustavnog Prava na Pravnom Fakultetu u Skoplju,i gospodja
Jagnula Kunovska - advokat.
Za vreme promocije bio je prikazan dokumentarni film "Sramna godina
sile" ciji je autor Zoran Kraljevski. Za vreme projekcije filma bilo je
burnih reakcija posetioca od skandirawa do potpunog placa. Film je
prikazao dosad nevidjene slike brutalnosti NATO agresije na YU.
U svom obracanju promoter gosp. Jagnula Kunovska, osudila je agresiju
nato-a na YU i posebo osudila Republiku Makedoniju i njenu vladu kao
saucesnika u NATO zlocinu. Pritom gospodja Kunovska je citirala
Krivicni Zakon Republike Makedonije po kome saucesnik u zlocinu mora
odgovarati, a u datom trenutku nasa drzava je bila saucesnik i nasi
politicari koji su dozvolili koriscenje makedonske teritorije za napad
na YU moraju krivicno odgovarati za saucesnistvo u zlocinu.
Prof. Skaric, inace jedan od autora Ustava Republike Makedonije porucio
je da se svi kao jedinke konacno moramo okrenuti borni protiv
globalizacije i porobljavanja, borbi za povratak prava i pravnih zakona.
Dr.Zoran Kraljevski, jedan od autora je u uvodnom izlaganju napomenuo da
covecanstvo konacno treba da krene u mentalni rat sa mracnim demonima
koji sebe nazivaju ljudima, da buducnost covecanstva nije u materijalnoj
moci velikih naroda nego u istrajnosti i hrabrosti malih naroda i
obicnih ljudi.Zatim je Zoran Kraljevski naveo imena velikih svetskih
boraca za spas covecanstva:
Mikis Teodorakis, Remzi Klark, Peter Handke, Aldo Bernandini, Oskar la
Fonten, Icko Dimitrov, Michele Collon, Noam Comski, Jan Ditur i dr.
(Zoran Kraljevski)
OSCE -----------------------------------------------------
RISULTATI PRELIMINARI DELLE ELEZIONI COMUNALI
IN BOSNIA-ERZEGOVINA:
http://www.oscebih.org/pre_results/scripts/pre_results.htm
SerbiaInfo 11/4/2000 ----------------------------------------------
PRESENTATO IL LIBRO BIANCO SUI CRIMINI DELLA NATO CONTRO L'INFANZIA
White Book on the suffering of children in the NATO aggression
April 11, 2000
The youngest victims of the NATO aggression
Belgrade, April 10 - Chairman of the Yugoslav Commission for cooperation
with UNICEF Dr Margit Savovic said that White Book on the suffering of
children in the course of NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia would be
published shortly.
Margit Savovic told Belgrade state radio that the book would comprise
written records, court and forensic findings, testimonies and
photographs, all extremely stirring.
She said it was both sad and symbolic that 79 children were killed
during the brutal 78-day bombing campaign, which means that at least one
child was killed each day.
She said that, on behalf of the murdered children, indictments would be
issued against those responsible, who can in no way justify their
"collateral damage" where children are concerned. She stressed that
children could have never been considered as reserve soldiers, police or
any other kind of forces which represented danger for others.
Dr Margit Savovic underscored that those 78 nights and days of the
bombardment have psychically endangered 10% of the Yugoslav children who
require special help of psychologists and psychiatrists.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
BBC 9/4/2000 -----------------------------------------------
ANCHE DALLA POLONIA VOCI CRITICHE SULLA SITUAZIONE IN KOSMET
Sunday, 9 April, 2000, 21:52 GMT 22:52 UK
Poland defends ethnic rights in Kosovo
Poland's Foreign Minister, Bronislaw Geremek,
has warned that the violation of the principles
of a multi-ethnic Kosovo could threaten the
stability of the whole European continent.
Mr Geremek, addressing a conference in
Bulgaria of European countries hoping to join
the European Union, said that the idea of
bringing about a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo
should be defended -- along with the rights of
the Serbs.
It is estimated that some
two-hundred-thousand Serbs -- most of the
original Kosovo Serb population -- have fled
the province.
They've been vulnerable to attacks by the
Albanian population in the aftermath of the
withdrawal of Serb forces. Those countries
attending the meeting were Poland, Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
THE TIMES 9/4/2000 ---------------------------------------
GLI STATI UNITI NON SANNO PIU' CHE PESCI PRENDERE CON
LA JUGOSLAVIA; SI VA VERSO UN ALLENTAMENTO DELLA TENSIONE?
The Times (UK)
April 9 2000
America in talks to renew envoy links with 'pariah state' Serbia
Tom Walker
WASHINGTON has begun delicate negotiations with the government of
President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia aimed at re-establishing an
American presence in Belgrade, diplomats have revealed.
They say that a relatively junior American diplomat could be in the
Serbian capital as early as June, and that both sides have been anxious
to re-establish links for some time.
The talks appear to contradict Washington's publicly stated policy of
treating Milosevic's Serbia as a pariah state. The State Department
reacted angrily last Friday to Australia's appointment of a new
ambassador to Belgrade.
America and Britain broke off relations with Yugoslavia before Nato
airstrikes began last March, and Washington was disappointed that not
all nations in the western alliance followed suit.
Greece and Italy retained their contacts with the Milosevic regime
throughout the crisis. Britain, France and Germany have all
re-established "interest sections" since Nato and the United Nations
took over in Kosovo.
The Clinton administration had believed Milosevic might fall from office
because of Kosovo. It has felt increasingly uncomfortable as the
Yugoslav president has not only held on to power but has also moved
closer to China, which has become Serbia's biggest benefactor.
Determined not to be left out in the hub of a region where America wants
to dictate international policy, Washington has used intermediaries from
Russia and Greece to help pave the way for some rapprochement with
Belgrade, diplomats said. Moscow is expected to send its new ambassador
to Belgrade this week.
"We've been anxious to get an official presence there for nine months in
the way that Britain has," said an American source.
"The first guy in will probably be a first secretary, and we won't be
allowed much more than consular offices for the moment. But as soon as
we get the green light, we're in."
Diplomats said Washington was anxious to keep Milosevic at arm's length,
but wished to help Serbian officials become more involved in the running
of Kosovo under the UN.
They also confirmed that basic American intelligence- gathering in
Belgrade was rendering policy-making difficult. "They feel really
disadvantaged at the moment. They've got no feel for it," said one
European diplomat in the Serbian capital. "And the China thing worries
them. Milosevic's wife is much too keen on the Chinese."
Any deal will probably involve the Yugoslav government being given
access to its old embassy building in Washington.
The Croatian press suggested last week that William Montgomery,
America's ambassador to Croatia, could become the first official to go
to Belgrade. But Montgomery's office denied the reports, claiming: "We
don't have relations, there is no embassy, no mission, no job."
A Yugoslav government source confirmed that an American diplomatic
presence in Belgrade could bring mutual benefits. "It's much better to
talk direct," he said. "There's a lot of bargaining going on at the
moment."
STOPNATO 9/4/2000 ----------------------------------------------
MERCENARI BRITANNICI AMMETTONO DI AVER "LAVORATO" PER LA CROAZIA
Scots mercenary admits carrying out
war crimes
By Neil Mackay Home Affairs Editor
Publication Date: Apr 9 2000
A SCOTTISH bank robber who joined the Croatian
army during the Bosnian war has admitted carrying
out war crimes and murdering unarmed prisoners
and women while fighting in Yugoslavia.
John MacPhee escaped prosecu tion when the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugo
slavia in The Hague decided not to press charges
against him last October.
However, he has now admitted to a series of
barbaric murders in his memoirs, The Silent Cry. In
an interview with the Sunday Herald, MacPhee
defended his actions saying: "I was fighting a war. It
was a case of kill or be killed. The Serbs were killing
our prisoners and we killed theirs.
"I don't consider myself a war criminal. I regret what
I did, but I don't think it was wrong."
In his book, published this month, he describes
arriving at a hamlet near the town of Gorny Vakuf
and seeing the bodies of 37 men, women and
children who had been raped and tortured before
being killed by the retreating Muslim army.
"Two enemy soldiers were captured," he writes.
"Guilty or innocent I knew they had to die. I fixed my
bayonet and before I knew it one of them was
beneath me É My hand was ripping at his flesh, my
fingers gouging his eyes, I was becoming worse
than an animal É my aim was to kill É I bit into his
face, blood poured down my chin, my 18 inch knife
stabbed and chopped and slashed.
"I speared my bayonet into his neck one final time
and lifted his body into the air with such force that I
broke the bayonet É They shot the other enemy
soldier before I could lay a hand on him."
In another village, he returned sniper fire and killed
an unarmed civilian woman. He also describes
sneaking up on Serb positions, killing the sleeping
civilian girlfriend of a Serb soldier and decapitating
a wounded Serbian prisoner.
MacPhee explains that the death and rape of the
Muslim girl he fell in love with in Bosnia during the
war "helped turn [me] into an animal". He adds:
"War is a constant atrocity. Everything about it is
immoral and wrong. I am only telling the truth of my
experience. I was constantly on the edge of
madness when I was there."
MacPhee, who has two young children, joined the
Croatian militia in 1992 after being released from
Strangeways prison in Manchester. Born in
Glasgow, the 50-year-old spent 10 years in
children's homes and 21 years in jail for a variety of
crimes ranging from drug offences, annd firearms
charges to bank robbery. At one time he was
suspected of 13 murders and was one of the most
wanted men in the UK.
"I believe I only intentionally killed enemy troops,"
he said. "Whether they were armed or not, or
prisoners, is irrelevant. It happened. The only way to
stop the enemy being barbarous was to be
barbarous to them."
He denies that his book deliberately glamourises the
atrocities of the Balkan conflict and also insists that
he took no part in mass executions of civilians or
the rape of enemy civilians and troops.
But MacPhee claims he found "peace in war",
saying: "After all my years in jail and all the
violence I
saw in children's homes, I was basically a maniac.
When I heard about the Serbian atrocities in Bosnia
I was in jail, and I thought, 'my life has been a
waste'. I decided I'd go there and fight for something
I believed in."
MacPhee may still be called by the UN to give
evidence about alleged atrocities. The tribunal is
concentrating on prosecuting those who
commanded killings.
Colonel Bob Stewart, a British commander of UN
peace-keeping troops during the Bosnian war, said:
"I think this man should be behind bars." He added
that the book, published in Manchester by Empire,
should never have been printed and that its
revelations may allow for a prosecution against
MacPhee in the UK.
Publisher Ashley Shaw defended MacPhee's
memoirs as accurately reflecting the horror of war.
THE GUARDIAN 8/4/2000 -----------------------------------------------
L'AUSTRALIA RIALLACCIA RELAZIONI DIPLOMATICHE CON LA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,157169.html
The Guardian (UK)
[Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser]"I could think
of nothing worse for Australia than to be bound by
European Union or NATO policy. We're an independent
country, we need to make our own decisions."
Australian coup for Milosevic
Anger in US as Canberra falls out of line by telling
new ambassador to present himself to Yugoslav leader
Kosovo: special report
Christopher Zinn in Sydney and Owen Bowcott
Saturday April 8, 2000
Australia has broken ranks with the west by sending a
new ambassador to Yugoslavia and instructing him to
hand his credentials to the head of state - President
Slobodan Milosevic, who is charged with war crimes.
Charles Stewart, Canberra's new man, arrived in
Belgrade on Tuesday. He replaces the outgoing
ambassador, Chris Lamb, who left on February 15. A
time and date for formal presentation of Mr Stewart's
credentials is to be discussed with the Yugoslavian
foreign ministry, a spokesman for the embassy said.
Canberra's decision has provoked anger in western
capitals, where a policy of sanctions and diplomatic
isolation are viewed as crucial in the attempt to make
Serbia a pariah state and hasten the downfall of the
Milosevic regime.
Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state, is
understood to have phoned Canberra to urge the
administration to drop the idea.
The Foreign Office in London was reluctant to voice
any concerns. A spokesman said: "Australian diplomatic
representation is a matter for them. We are aware of
it. It is not causing us any worry."
The only UN embargo in force against what remains of
Yugoslavia - made up of Serbia and Montenegro - is a
ban on arms sales. An EU ban on commercial flights was
suspended in February; EU sanctions against oil sales
and financial investments go on.
There is speculation in the Yugoslav capital that the
improvement in relations with Canberra has its origins
in missions that visited Belgrade to seek the release
of three Australian workers from the aid organisation
Care, who were arrested at the beginning of the Kosovo
conflict and jailed on espionage charges.
Long meetings were held between leading figures in
Australia's large Serbian expatriate community,
government representatives and officials from Care, to
win the men's release. Malcolm Fraser, a former
Australian prime minister who is chairman of Care
Australia, went to Belgrade several times to meet Mr
Milosevic to lobby for the men's release; they were
freed late last year.
Defending its present move, Canberra's department of
foreign affairs and trade said the ambassador was
needed to serve the large number of Australian
citizens and dual nationals living in and visiting
Yugoslavia; it did not signify support for the regime.
Mr Fraser insisted that no deal had been struck to
secure the aid workers' surprise release: "There were
no bar gains." Asked about other nations' refusal to
renew diplomatic relations with Belgrade, he replied:
"I could think of nothing worse for Australia than to
be bound by European Union or Nato policy. We're an
independent country, we need to make our own
decisions."
EU and Nato states have so far avoided creating the
spectacle of a western ambassador paying homage to Mr
Milosevic, fearing it would boost his credibility. Mr
Stewart's presentation of his credentials to the
president is bound to be on Yugoslav TV and the press.
Other governments have avoided this by not rotating
ambassadors or by bringing in a lower level of
representative.
The US has no diplomatic post in Belgrade; the
British, French and Germans have so-called interest
sections hosted by other countries and confined to
cultural, consular and commercial activities.
Italy is very keen to have a full ambassador to handle
the substantial issues between Belgrade and Rome. It
wants a deal where a new ambassador does not have to
present him or herself to Mr Milosevic.
Under the Vienna convention, a new ambassador is only
an ambassador-designate until his "letter of credence"
is accepted by the head of state. So Mr Stewart will
be Australia's new ambassador only when Mr Milosevic
accepts him.
AIM 7/4/2000 -----------------------------------------
SEMPRE PIU' DURE LE SANZIONI UE CONTRO CHI E' ACCUSATO
DI ESSERE "VICINO AL REGIME SERBO"
'SANCTIONS AGAINST THE REGIME' BROUGHT ON
EUROPEAN UNION, April 7, 2000 (BETA)
The governments of EU member-countries adopted on April 6, a
regulation on tightening financial sanctions against persons,
companies and banks "being associated with or supporting" the
authorities in Yugoslavia and Serbia. The regulation will come into
effect on April 8, the day after it is published in the EU official
gazette.
As stipulated by the regulation, all individuals and companies
from Serbia that are unable to prove they are not affiliated with the
"regime" and are not issued a certificate testifying to their status
by the EU Commission, will be regarded by the EU as "being owned or
controlled by the Yugoslav government" and, consequently, subject to
the "sanctions against the regime".
As the Brussels-based EU Council of Ministers announced, the
regulation also envisages a "white list" of Serbian and Yugoslav
companies with which their EU partners can do business, on condition
that those companies meet three basic criteria.
Firstly, those companies and organizations should be capable of
resisting the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities' demands to surrender
a portion of their revenue or property. Secondly, "monthly financial
transactions of those companies with the EU should not exceed
EUR100,000," and, thirdly, they "should do business in the sectors
which are not related to banking and financial services, power and
fuel supply, the production of or trade in military or police
equipment, transportation, petrochemical industry, and the production
of iron and steel.
IL PRESIDENTE CROATO MESIC ACCUSA MILOSEVIC PER LA "OPERAZIONE
TEMPESTA": "L'ESODO DEI SERBI FU UNA MOSSA STUDIATA PER MANDARLI IN
KOSOVO". ALLORA ADESSO POSSONO RITORNARE ?
MESIC ACCUSES MILOSEVIC
SKOPLJE, Macedonia, April 7, 2000 (BETA)
Stjepan Mesic President of Croatia stated that exodus of Serbs
form Knin region after the "Storm" operation was a planned move by
Slobodan Milosevic, FRY president, with the aim to move these people
to Kosovo.
BBC/TANJUG 7/4/2000 --------------------------
PESANTI ACCUSE AL TRIBUNALE DELL'AIA
DALLA REPUBBLICA FEDERALE DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.centraleurope.com/features.php3?id=149374
April 7, 2000
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Demands Krajisnik's Release,
Condemns Hague Court
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic has sent a
letter to the UN Security Council condemning the
arrest of the former Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo
Krajisnik who is to stand trial in The Hague for war
crimes. He called for Krajisnik to be freed,
describing his arrest as politically motivated. He
also accused the Hague-based tribunal of acting on the
orders of the US government. The following is the text
of the letter carried by the Yugoslav state news
agency Tanjug:
Belgrade, 6th April: On the occasion of the criminal
arrest of [former leading Bosnian Serb politician]
Momcilo Krajisnik on the part of SFOR [Stabilization
Force], [Yugoslav] federal Foreign Minister Zivadin
Jovanovic has sent a letter on behalf of the
government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia [FRY]
to the UN Security Council addressed to current
president, Canadian Ambassador Robert R. Fowler. The
letter reads as follows:
"Esteemed president: the Yugoslav government and
public have most strongly condemned the treacherous
and shameful arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik, one of the
most prominent leaders of the Serb people in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, carried out on the night of 3rd
April 2000 by SFOR on the orders of NATO.
"This arrest, carried out in a terrorist manner, using
explosives to break into the house, frightening and
tying up children in a Gestapo fashion, is only the
latest and most drastic in a series of criminal,
immoral and politically motivated NATO acts under the
guise of the Hague Tribunal, whose aim is to frighten
and subjugate the Serb nation.
"Momcilo Krajisnik was not only the speaker of the
Serb Republic parliament, elected to that post in
democratic elections according to the people's will,
the result of which was confirmed by the OSCE, but
also a member of the collective Presidency of
Bosnia-Hercegovina and the highest Serb Republic
representative at the Dayton negotiations. Therefore
this brazen criminal act is all the more absurd,
because Momcilo Krajisnik has never held any executive
office, apart from being elected a member of
Bosnia-Hercegovina Presidency following the
Dayton-Paris agreement.
"This insolent act confirms what the FRY government
has been pointing out since the Tribunal was founded:
that this ad hoc body, essentially contrary to the
principle of international criminal and humanitarian
law, is not an institution of law and justice, but a
political creation whose purpose is to commit genocide
against the Serb nation.
"The Tribunal is not acting according with law or
international law, but the orders of the US
administration with a view to imposing hegemony and a
single will.
"If the Tribunal really acted on the basis of justice
and law, it would then above all have to call to
account those NATO leaders and individuals responsible
for the genocidal aggression against the FRY committed
through the crudest violation of the UN Charter,
international law, the national right of the member
countries, as well as the NATO founding document
itself.
"Were it a forum of justice, it would have long ago
indicted those leaders who ordered and commanded the
aggression against the FRY, who ordered the mindless
raids on a sovereign country and against an entire
nation, something without precedent in the history of
civilization, who ordered the killing of thousands of
innocent people, one third of whom were children, and
over four fifths civilians, killing patients in
hospitals, razing hundreds of schools, a huge number
of hospitals, maternity wards, refugee camps, heating
and power-line systems, television and radio stations,
refineries, roads, bridges, and suchlike.
"At a time when genocide against the Serb and other
non-Albanian people is going on before the eyes of the
world's public in the Serbian province of Kosovo and
Metohija, the Tribunal has not made a single attempt
to stop that continuous crime.
"The absence of indictments and arrests of those
responsible for the genocide against the Serbs in
Croatia at the time of Operations Flash and Storm
[Croatian Army operations to liberate Serb-occupied
regions of Croatia in 1995], as well as during the
civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, represents a planned
incitement of new crimes against the Serbs, as it was
clear that they can be committed with impunity. They
can even be committed by the same criminals who
acquired their criminal experience in Krajina and in
other parts of former Yugoslavia.
"Internationally renowned legal experts have expressed
their view that the Tribunal is not based upon the UN
Charter, because there is no legal basis for founding
a judicial body, auxiliary to the Security Council.
All international courts are founded exclusively
through agreements. The fact that the Tribunal has
been founded because of political goals and
manipulations with the international public can be
most clearly seen when one compares the rules of
procedure of the Tribunal and of the Permanent
International Criminal Court, particularly regarding
the position of prosecutor. The rules that the
Tribunal uses in its procedure do not exist in any
modern judicial system. The so-called "secret
indictments" are unknown to any judicial system. The
prosecution policy conducted by the Tribunal's
prosecutor demonstrates that the Tribunal is being
exploited politically by the US Administration and the
NATO countries. More than two thirds of those arrested
and indicted are Serbs, including the highest
political and military officials of the Serb Republic,
against whom the most serious accusations have been
brought and who are the only ones to have been
arrested in a brutal way.
"The work of the prosecutor and Tribunal so far has
clearly demonstrated that the US creators of the
Tribunal have been trying to impose the idea of the
Serbs being responsible for the civil war in
Yugoslavia and thereby conceal their own
responsibility for crimes. The Tribunal is a mechanism
for fabricating an excuse for the aggression against
the FRY and the genocide against the Serb nation.
"The Tribunal is failing to demonstrate any legal,
political, or moral responsibility for its work. This
is demonstrated, among other things through the
murders of Serbs during their arrests (Simo Drljaca
and Dragan Gakovic) and the inhuman attitude towards
those arrested (the tragic death of Slavko Dokmanovic
and Milan Kovacevic in the Hague prison).
"As a signatory and guarantor of the Dayton-Paris
agreement, the FRY points out that such an activity on
the part of the Tribunal represents a drastic
violation of the letter and essence of that agreement,
the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and international law in general, thereby
jeopardizing peace and security not only in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, but also throughout the region.
"Because of everything here presented, the FRY is
calling on the Security Council urgently to abolish
the Hague Tribunal as a creation without any legal
foundation.
"The evidence possessed by this quasi-judicial
institution should be handed to regular courts of UN
member countries in order that they may act in line
with their domestic laws, which, without exception,
have harsh laws concerning war crimes. [sentence as
received]
"The FRY particularly demands that Momcilo Krajisnik
and all other people accused and arrested without
reason be released from prison," the letter that
Zivadin Jovanovic sent to UN Security Council said.
BBC Monitoring/(C) BBC
AIM 6/4/2000 ---------------------------------------
DIBATTITO PARLAMENTARE IN GERMANIA SULLA INTEGRITA'
TERRITORIALE DELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
YU TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY RECOGNIZED IN GERMANY
BERLIN, Germany, April 6, 2000 (Deutsche welle)
One year after the NATO air raids on Yugoslavia, Germany's
parliament has debated post-war developments in Kosovo, which has a
majority ethnic Albanian population.
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer rejected as dangerous an
opposition German conservative suggestion that Kosovo split from
Yugoslavia. Germany recognized Yugoslavia's territorial integrity and
such an bid would only play into the hands of Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, he said, reigniting a new spiral of violence.
Deutsche Welle's Director-General Dieter Weirich has released an
audience survey showing that 220,000 Albanians listen regularly to
Germany's foreign radio service, mostly in the Albanian language, but
also in German. The survey in Albania showed Deutsche Welle radio in
third place behind the Voice of America and the BBC.
YDS 5/4/2000 ------------------------------------------------
DELEGAZIONE CUBANA OSPITE DEL PARTITO SOCIALISTA DELLA SERBIA
> GORICA GAJEVIC RECEIVES CUBAN DELEGATION
>
> BELGRADE, April 5 (Tanjug) - Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)
>Secretary General received on Wednesday Megalis Arkoya Dominguez, member of
>the Federation of Cuban Women Secretariat.
>
> The guest from Cuba conveyed expressions of solidarity of women
>and the entire Cuban people with the citizens of Yugoslavia, pointing out that
>Cuba strongly condemned NATO's aggression (last year, March-June) on
>Yugoslavia and the hegemonist policy of the United States in its attempt to
>impose its interests and goals on freedom-loving peoples of the world.
>
> Pointing out that Cuba was one of the first victims of U.S.
>hegemony, SPS Secretary General pointed out that the wide front of resistance
>to violence and tyranny was growing every day in international relations. The
>freedom of every individual and the freedom of all states is not an abstract
>category, but a real aspiration and essential characteristic of people and a
>precondition for development and progress.
>
> In the talks also took part Omar Medina, Cuban Ambassador in
>Yugoslavia and Margit Savovic, President of the Yugoslav Commission for
>Cooperation with UNICEF, and for the promotion of the position of women.
VOCI CRITICHE DALLA POLONIA SULLA SITUAZIONE IN KOSMET
> POLAND'S RAKOWSKI: SERBS STILL DYING IN U.N.-RULED
KOSOVO-METOHIJA
>
> WARSAW, April 5 (Tanjug) - Poland's one-time prime minister on
>Wednesday blasted the local press for whole-heartedly supporting NATO's air
>strikes on Yugoslavia last spring and continuing a year later to ignore the
>disastrous results of the intervention.
>
> Veteran political and media figure Mieczyslaw Rakowski said that
>nearly a whole year had elapsed since the bloody intervention ended and no
>peace had come to the region, with Serbs still being killed in the
>U.N.-governed Serbian (Yugoslav) province of Kosovo-Metohija.
>
> Rakowski made his remarks in an article in the Trybuna newspaper,
>which according to him is the only Polish paper to have stood apart from the
>throng of supporters of the west's allegedly humanitarian armed mission from
>the start.
MOMCILO KRAJSNJIK DEPORTATO ALL'AIA
PROTESTE NELLA RS DI BOSNIA, NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA ED IN RUSSIA
> HAGUE TRIBUNAL - KRAJISNIK
> KRAJISNIK TO APPEAR IN COURT ON FRIDAY
>
> ROTTERDAM, April 4 (Tanjug) - Momcilo Krajisnik, former member of
>Bosnia's three-man Presidency and R.S. Parliament Speaker who was arrested on
>Monday by Bosnia's Stabilisation Force (SFOR), will appear before judges of
>the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague on Friday, it was stated in
>The Hague. Krajisnik is to say how he pleads on charges of genocide and crimes
>against humanity cited in the indictment, brought in against him on February 21.
>
> The indictment was, however, kept secret until the brutal arrest
>of Krajisnik in Pale by French SFOR troops on Monday.
>
> The charges refer to the period between July 1, 1991, and December
>31, 1992.
>
> RALLY IN BIJELJINA CONDEMNS ARREST OF KRAJISNIK
>
> BIJELJINA, April 5 (Tanjug) - About 7,000 citizens rallied in
>Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, late on Tuesday, to protest against the brutal
>SFOR arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik in Pale early on Monday and the existence of
>sealed indictments which are not recognized in any legal system.
>
> The rally was organized by the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), within
>its election activities. The general message from the rally is that the arrest
>of Krajisnik, one of the founders of Republika Srpska, the first Srpska
>Parliament President, a participant in the Dayton Peace Accords, and the first
>post-war Srpska member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, is an assault on
>Republika Srpska and all its institutions.
>
> Speakers at the rally included SDS President Dragan Kalinic, and
>SDS Vice-President and Srpska Vice-President Mirko Sarovic. They both stressed
>that the international troops SFOR had stepped outside the framework of their
>mandate established under the Dayton Accords.
>
> KRAJISNIK'S ARREST AN OPEN THREAT TO ALL PROMINENT SERBS
>
> BELGRADE, April 5 (Tanjug) - Political parties, organizations and
>associations on Wednesday again most strongly condemned the brutal arrest and
>extradition to the Hague of Serb Democratic Party Vice-President and Republika
>Srpska former senior official Momcilo Krajisnik.
>
> The Serbian Writers' Association (UKS) said the demonization and
>persecution of the Serb people in this century by the western power centers
>had culminated with the arrest of Krajisnik.
>
> "Without a regular arrest procedure, violating elementary human
>rights, including respect of person, they took Momcilo Krajisnik barefoot and
>half-dressed to the Hague, in order to humiliate the very Serb nation with
>this act," the UKS statement said.
>
> The vandal arrest of Krajisnik was also condemned by the
>association of Serbs from Croatia. The association said the manner, method and
>time of his arrest showed how little the Dayton Accords mean to western power
>figures, in particular to the United States.
>
> The Patriotic League of Serbia (PSS) condemned with the deepest
>indignation the criminal kidnapping of Krajisnik, one of the most important
>figures in the political life of Republika Srpska.
>
> The mafia-style arrest is proof of disrespect for elementary human
>rights, breaches of international law, and violations of the independence and
>statehood of Republika Srpska, the PSS said.
>
> RUSSIA DEEPLY CONCERNED OVER KRAJISNIK'S ARREST
>
> MOSCOW, April 5 (Tanjug) - The Russian Foreign Ministry on
>Wednesday expressed serious concern over the arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik.
>
> The arrest of one of the leaders of Bosnian Serbs was carried out
>in open violation of legal norms and peacekeeper authorities, the statement
>said.
>
> Such steps initiated by the NATO Command undermine the already
>fragile situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, especially in view of the imminent
>local elections, the Ministry said.
>
> The Ministry urged all sides chiefly responsible for the
>realization of the Dayton Accords not to take any rash action which would lead
>to a destabilization of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
>
> This will determine the permanence of the achieved results and the
>fate of the agreement and inter-ethnic reconciliation, said the Ministry statement.
ANDKRONOS 5/4/2000 -------------------------------------------
CAMPAGNA ELETTORALE: DOPO UN ANNO DAI FATTI IL "SOLE CHE RIDE"
HA SCOPERTO QUELLO CHE ERA SOTTO GLI OCCHI DI TUTTI
Ambiente: Verdi Accusano, Guerra In Kosovo Peggio Del Vietnam
Roma, 5 apr. - (Adnkronos) - In Jugoslavia la Nato ha sperimentato una
guerra chimica peggiore di quella del Vietnam. Lo denunciano i Verdi in
un video-choch presentato oggi e inviato a D'Alema, a Violante e ai
ministri dell'Ambiente e della Difesa. Le bombe sulle industrie chimiche
a Pancevo, Novi Sadr, Nis hanno contaminato l'ambiente al punto che le
autorità sanitarie avrebbero sconsigliato alle donne di partorire per i
prossimi due anni. "La distruzione ecologica del territorio rientra in
una precisa strategia bellica consapevolmente pianificata dalla Nato"
accusano esponenti del Sole che Ride chiedendo al governo un intervento
riparatorio dei guasti ambientali "forte ed incisivo". NNNN
BBC/STOPNATO 5/4/2000 -----------------------------------------
ANCHE NELSON MANDELA CRITICA PESANTEMENTE LA MISSIONE IN KOSOVO
> BBC Ceefax Teletext, Wed. 5 April 2000:
>
> "MANDELA ATTACKS UK'S "POLICEMAN" ROLE
>
> Former South African president Nelson Mandela has accused the [British]
> Government of encouraging international chaos and playing "policeman of
the
> world".
>
> He said he resented the behaviour of Britain and the US for riding
roughshod
> over the UN and launching military actions against Iraq and Kosovo.
>
> "It's a totally wrong attitude", Mr Mandela told the Guardian newspaper.
>
> He said they must not ignore the views of countries like China and
Russia".
>
> According to a brief summary of the "Guardian" interview in Dutch "Leidsch
> Dagblad", ex-president Mandela called US/UK interventionism in
Irak/Kosovo,
> violating UN rules, "racist".
>
> [ Does anyone have the full interview from the on-line "Guardian"?
> Nelson Mandela has denounced the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as soon as it
> started.
> French Governor of Kosovo, B. Kouchner, by the way, repeatedly defended the
> UCK [KLA] in Kosovo by comparing it to Nelson Mandela's ANC; even though the
> two organizations are at very opposite ends to one another on the
political
> and moral spectra.
> PR advisers generally seem to think selling dubious people, by comparing
> them to Nelson Mandela, works wonders for their public image... ]
REUTERS 4/4/2000 -----------------------------------
A NIS ANCORA SI MUORE DI BOMBE A GRAPPOLO UMANITARIE
April 4, 2000
Serb Man Killed by Leftover NATO Cluster Bomb
Filed at 8:45 a.m. ET By Reuters
NIS, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - A man died Tuesday when he hit a leftover
NATO cluster bomb while digging in his garden in southern Serbia, police
said.
Vladimir Jovanovic, 70, died in the explosion, Nis police said. The bomb
was dropped by NATO in May during its 11-week air campaign against
Yugoslavia's repression of ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province.
Jovanovic's son Ljubisa told the state news agency Tanjug that his
father was wounded in a NATO attack 11 months ago in the same area.
AIM, AP 3/4/2000 ------------------------------
CAPORALE ITALIANO MORTO AMMAZZATO IN KOSOVO
ITALIAN KFOR SOLDIER DIES IN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING
PRISTINA, April 3, 2000 (Agence France Presse)
An Italian soldier in the Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) died
Sunday of an accidental gunshot wound at his military base in Pec,
eastern Kosovo, a KFOR spokesman said.
The 29-year-old corporal died of a bullet wound to the head, but
the spokesman said officials were "virtually certain this was not a
suicide." He gave no details of the incident.
Italian corporal, 19, killed in accidental shooting in Kosovo
The Associated Press
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (April 2, 2000 9:52 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - A 19-year-old Italian soldier died Sunday
in Kosovo after an accidental shooting in the Italian military barracks,
NATO peacekeepers said.
Cpl. Samuele Utzeri, 19, was pronounced dead at the Italian military
hospital in western Kosovo after suffering gunshot wounds from a pistol.
The circumstances of the accident were unclear and Italian military
police were investigating, said Major Zenon Quintana.
Utzeri was 10 days shy of his 20th birthday.
SerbiaInfo 1/4/2000 ---------------------------
MEETING DI INTELLETTUALI E GIORNALISTI AD ATENE
SUL PROBLEMA DELLA DISINFORMAZIONE STRATEGICA
www.serbia-info.com/news
Meeting of journalists on Kosmet:
Lies and manipulations in the service of politics
April 01, 2000
Journalists step forward against manipulations
Athens, March 31st - Two-day talks between the Greek and foreign
journalists were completed today in Athens, titled "War and information
- the Kosovo experience", held in the Journalist Association of the
Athens daily press.
Aside from the local journalists, Robert Fisk from the "Independent",
Philip Nightly from the "Sunday Times", John Pilger from the
"Statesman", Eva Ann Prentice from the "Times" and the renowned writer,
Peter Handke, participated in the meeting.
The Greek daily, "Elefterotipia" has, while evaluating the assembly,
stressed that the Greek media, regardless of the fact that some of them
are being accused of "Serbophilia", have mainly in an accurate and
timely manner, published information regarding the events in Kosmet and
the bombing of Yugoslavia.
The Greek daily devoted most of its attention to the statements made by
the veteran journalist of the British "Independent", Robert Fisk, who
spoke of the war against Yugoslavia mainly by viewing the consequences
of the bombing and by comparing them to the consequences of the bombing
of Iraq.
Fisk reminded that ten years after the war in the Gulf, thousands of
people are struck with diseases and the "Gulf syndrome", and that, among
the sick, there are some veterans of the allied forces, and added that
the number of victims in Iraq is still increasing.
"What will happen to Kosovo where bombs with Depleted Uranium were also
used", asked Fisk, adding that still there are no NATO official reports
on the consequences of the bombing of Yugoslavia. This British
journalist asked Jamey Shea the same thing, but always received calming
answers saying that this kind of lethal weapon, which NATO uses in its
newest operation, "is not dangerous".
"This was a great lie they told to the journalists, because I have in my
possession a classified document with a report in which it is clearly
stated that the use of bombs with DU is very dangerous for the
environment", stated Fisk.
Answering Handke's question - why did not he publish all that in his
country and other NATO member-states, Fisk said that he just made
agreements for series of visits to US cities where he would speak of the
consequences of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
According to "Elefterotipia", Fisk has, while answering the question
regarding the bombing of the RTS (Serbian Broadcasting Co.) building in
Belgrade, said that "the moment when you start killing people just
because you do not like them and because they do not speak the same
things as you do, you are drastically changing the rules of war".
Peter Handke, an Austrian writer, speaking about his experience during
his stay in Serbia under NATO bombs, bitterly stated that
"unfortunately, thanks to the media, an image of an executioner was made
out of the Serbian people" and that mass media do not longer exist.
"NATO is a gangster organization. In fact, NATO is worse than gangsters,
because it is hiding behind the mask of morality, putting its efforts
in, allegedly, higher humanitarian goals", stated Handke.
"Germany has", he added, "destroyed the most beautiful 'state utopia'
which existed - former Yugoslavia, because they could not stand a
country which had a future in every aspect possible. By killing Serbs,
the Germans and the Austrians "wash their hands" and clear their
conscience of the crimes they committed against the Jews in the WW II".
While talking about the policy of manipulation, Handke stated that there
is no leadership of a sovereign country, which would accept the planted
offer from Rambouillet.
Everything was a farce and a premeditated game in which, from the start,
NATO had a planned scenario of the development of the situation, stated
Handke.
The other participants of the two-day meeting, Pilger, Nightly and
Prentice also spoke of the obvious "media manipulation" in which "truth
was sacrificed" in order for certain political interests to be achieved.
Copyright ? 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
REUTERS 30/3/2000 ---------------------------
LA RUSSIA DI PUTIN TAGLIA LE FORNITURE DI GAS
ALLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=147085
Russia Cuts Gas As Serb Reconstruction At Stake
BELGRADE, Mar 30, 2000 -- (Reuters) Russia slashed gas supplies to
Serbia this week
without prior notice, a senior Serbian oil industry official said on
Wednesday, in a move that
could cut home heating and food supplies and even slow the rebuilding of
the war-damaged Balkan nation.
"They are now delivering between 105,000 and 110,000 cubic meters of gas
per hour to Serbia, compared to nearly 290,000
cubic meters an hour some three weeks ago," the official at Serbia's NIS
oil monopoly, told Reuters.
Serbia agreed to a supply deal with Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom for
humanitarian deliveries of gas last year, despite
debts of some $200 million.
The official said Russia had agreed to reschedule the debt and supply
250,000 cubic meters of gas per hour, pumped
through Hungary, to heat households and keep vital industries running.
He gave no details about payment.
The country normally consumes 650,000 cubic meters an hour during the
heating season, which normally ends on April 15.
While the weather was currently warm, Serbia was expected to experience
another cold spell in the first week of April
with temperatures plunging below zero, according to weather forecasts.
The cut deliveries forced NIS to halt supplies to central heating
plants, the main source of heating in the republic.
"They seem to have their own idea of what's cold. Based on their own
judgment, they've decided to cut these so-called
humanitarian gas deliveries. We expect such low quantities to continue
until April 1. Afterwards, there could easily be
no gas at all," the official said.
GAS USED TO PRODUCE FERTILIZER, FOOD
The imported gas, together with some 80,000 cubic meters per hour
produced at home, is being distributed to fertilizer
plant Azotara Pancevo and the food processing industry.
"There is no gas for cement makers. This can easily put the entire
reconstruction of the country at stake," the source said.
Rebuilding of roads and industrial facilities either damaged or
destroyed in NATO's March-to-June bombing last year,
is a top priority for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's
government, anxious to offer an illusion of normality and
prosperity ahead of an election due later this year.
Yugoslavia, or rather its dominant part Serbia, has turned east for aid
after NATO's air war last year, as the West has
declined to provide aid as long as Milosevic was in power.
In December and January, Serbian officials had urged ministers in
Kremlin to persuade Vladimir Putin, then prime
minister, now president-elect, to sign a decree allowing extra gas
deliveries.
"It is very difficult for us to establish what is going on. We are told
that Gazprom had agreed to supply 2.5 billion cubic
meters of gas for the year, and then out of blue they halt the
delivery," the NIS source said.
A delegation of the Serbian Energy Ministry and representatives of
ProgresGas Trading company, importing the gas, are
in Moscow this week trying to clarify the problem.
Statements from Milosevic's leftist government, which has a shrinking
number of supporters in the world, have
indicated he had hoped for a Communist victory in Sunday's presidential
poll in Russia, although he congratulated Putin
on his victory.
TANJUG 30/3/2000 --------------------------------
PRIMI CONCRETI ACCORDI PER LE TELECOMUNICAZIONI
TRA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA E REPUBBLICA POPOLARE CINESE
http://www.srbija-info.yu/vesti/2000-03/30/18878.html
Poèetak konkretne saradnje u oblasti telekomunikacija
30. mart 2000.
[Znaèajan sporazum Jugoslavije i Kine]
30. Znaèajan sporazum
marta Jugoslavije i Kine
(Tanjug) - Potpredsednik kineske vlade Vu
Banguo istakao je, u razgovoru
sa
saveznim ministrom za
telekomunikacije Ivanom
Markoviæem, u
Pekingu, znaèaj sporazuma o
saradnji
u svim oblastima
telekomunikacija,
koji su danas potpisali JP PTT
"Srbija" i "Telekom Srbija"
A.D. sa
vodeæom kineskom
telekomunikacionom
kompanijom "ZTE-Džunsing
telekom".
On je naglasio da Kina
ohrabruje
dalju saradnju preduzeæa dve
zemlje,
istièuæi da kinesko rukovodstvo
na
saradnju s Jugoslavijom gleda i
kao
"na bratski odnos i
prijateljstvo, a
ne samo kao na ekonomski
interes".
Vu je istakao da Kina pruža
bezuslovnu i bezrezervnu
podršku
Jugoslaviji, njenoj odbrani i
oèuvanju suvereniteta i
teritorijalnog intergiteta, kao
i
obnovi i rekonstrukciji posle
NATO
agresije.
Potpredsednik Vu je izneo
divljenje
prema jugoslovenskom narodu i
predsedniku SR Jugoslavije
Slobodanu
Miloševiæu, njihovom herojskom
otporu
NATO agresiji i uspešnim
rezultatima
u obnovi zemlje.
Ministar Markoviæ je ukazao na
znaèaj
saradnje dve zemlje u svim
oblastima
telekomunikacija, koja
predstavlja
doprinos ukupnom uspešnom
razvoju
jugoslovensko-kineskih
prijateljskh
odnosa.
On je izrazio zahvalnost
kineskom
rukovodstvu na principijelnoj
podršci
Jugoslaviji, ukazujuæi da se
odnosi
dve zemlje zasnivaju na
principima
meðusobne podrške,
ravnopravnosti i
zajednièkih interesa. Govoreæi
o
elementima današnjih svetskih
kretanja, Markoviæ je istakao
da ona
država koja na planeti krši
ljudska
prava svakog graðanina i svih
država,
nema pravo da drugima drži
lekcije o
ljudskim pravima.
Radi se o traženju izgovora
amerièke
administracije za mešanje u
unutrašnja pitanja drugih
zemalja,
rekao je on.
Markoviæ je ocenio da su iste
one
snage koje podstièu secesiju
Tajvana
bombardovale Jugoslaviju,
navodeæi da
su u Jugoslaviji izazvale
humanitarnu
katastrofu, a sada najgrublje
nasræu
na suverenitet i teritorijalnu
celovitost, jedne, nedeljive
Kine.
Markoviæ je upoznao sagovornika
da je
Jugoslavija inicirala pokret
slobodoljubivih zemalja na
nivou
šefova država ili vlada za
multipolarnost, za UN i
demokratski
parlament ravnopravnih zemalja.
U
oktobru æe biti održan skup
slobodoljubivih partija i
pokreta s
ciljem da se pruži otpor
globalnom
politièkom pritisku i politici
sile
amerièke administracije i bilo
kog
drugog hegemona.
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministarstvo za informacije Republike Srbije
Email: mirs@...
TANJUG 26/3/2000 -----------------------------
"LE MONDE" IN TRIBUNALE PER RAZZISMO ANTISERBO
"Le Mond" on trial for racist attitude
March 26, 2000
Paris, March 26th (Tanjug) - Tomorrow, in the Paris court of justice, a
trial to Le Mond will be held for publishing a text, whose author blames
the entire Serbian people for the alleged acts "committed in Kosmet
before the international intervention", as well as for refusing a right
to answer.
"Le Mond" was sued by the president of "Lawyers without borders", an
association fighting against all forms of racism, Gilles William
Goldnadel.
On August 12th 1999, Le Mond published, on the front page, a text by the
so-called psychoanalyst, Philippe Refabert, titled "Give justice to
Kosovar people", in which he tried to justify Albanian crimes against
the Serbs after the KFOR and UNMIK arrival to the province.
The author stopped at nothing, accusing all Serbs, which presents a
public disclosure of racist attitudes, punishable by the French law.
The president of the "Lawyers without borders" sent a letter on October
12th 1999 to the manager of Le Mond, Jean-Marie Colombani, pointing to
Refabert's accusations and emphasizing that the crimes were committed
against Serbs themselves.
Mr. Goldnadel requested from Le Mond to publish the letter, quoting the
right to answer assumed by the French press law. Le Mond refused to
publish the letter.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
====================================================================
NOTA DEL CRJ:
Le nostre selezioni di notizie non pretendono di informare
esaurientemente su tutti gli aspetti della problematica
jugoslava e balcanica, che e' vastissima, ma solamente di gettare
luce su alcune sfaccettature che non vengono trattate adeguatamente,
ne' potrebbero esserlo, dalla pubblicistica guerrafondaia attiva nel
nostro paese come in tutto l'Occidente.
Le notizie in lingua straniera sono sempre introdotte da un nostro
titolo in italiano per facilitarne la consultazione.
I brani provengono da fonti diverse:
AIM - e' il bollettino della Rete Accademica di Informazione:
> For more information visit our Academic Information Network site at
> http://www.aim.ac.yu/
> Please send us Your comments to news@... or comment@...
ANSA - E' la principale agenzia di stampa italiana
YDS - e' la "Yugoslav Daily Survey" del Ministero degli Esteri della
RFJ (cfr. http://www.mfa.gov.yu/ ).
BBC - sono le notizie tratte dal sito internet della radiotelevisione
britannica: all stories from the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk
REUTERS - sono i dispacci della omonima agenzia di informazione
AFP - e' l'agenzia di stampa francese France Presse.
AP - e' l'agenzia statunitense Associated Press.
SerbiaInfo - e' il bollettino del Ministero dell'Informazione della
Repubblica di Serbia: http://www.serbia-info.com
STOPNATO - e' la mailing list STOPNATO.listbot.com
Tanjug - e' l'agenzia di stampa jugoslava: http://www.tanjug.co.yu
TUTTE LE FONTI SONO CITATE
Distribution of copyright-protected materials is for general
information and discussion purposes only.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
TRENTA SOLDATI USA NELLE PRIGIONI MACEDONI PER UBRIACHEZZA MOLESTA
Wednesday April 12 12:45 PM ET
Macedonia Says It Detains 30 American Peacekeepers
SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Police in the former Yugoslav republic of
Macedonia said Wednesday they had taken 30 U.S. peacekeeping soldiers
into custody for drunken behavior.
``Thirty American KFOR soldiers in Macedonia were taken in by the police
Wednesday morning because of their indecent behavior and maltreatment of
citizens,´´ the Macedonian Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Officials from the KFOR peacekeeping force for Kosovo, which has a
back-up base in Macedonia, were not immediately available for comment.
The statement said the soldiers had been acting in a drunk and
disorderly way in a cafe in the Macedonian capital Skopje. One
Macedonian policeman was injured as he attempted to prevent a fight
between the American soldiers and passers-by.
The statement said the Macedonian police took in the men jointly with
KFOR military police, but made clear they were being held in a
Macedonian police station, not a KFOR detention center.
----------------------------------------------------------
500 PERSONE A SKOPLJE ALLA PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO
"PERCHE' LA NATO E' SOTTO ACCUSA"
Dragi prijatelji
Obavestavam Vas da se sinoc, 11.04. 2000 godine u hotelu Aleksandar
Palas u Skoplju, odrzala veoma uspesna promocija knjige "Zasto se sudi
NATO-u", ciji su autori Zoran Kraljevski i Ivan Stoilkovic.
Na promociji je bilo prisutno oko 500 gostiju, koji su burno pozdravili
promociju. Promoteri knjige bili su: Prof. Dr.Svetomir Skaric, redovni
profesor Ustavnog Prava na Pravnom Fakultetu u Skoplju,i gospodja
Jagnula Kunovska - advokat.
Za vreme promocije bio je prikazan dokumentarni film "Sramna godina
sile" ciji je autor Zoran Kraljevski. Za vreme projekcije filma bilo je
burnih reakcija posetioca od skandirawa do potpunog placa. Film je
prikazao dosad nevidjene slike brutalnosti NATO agresije na YU.
U svom obracanju promoter gosp. Jagnula Kunovska, osudila je agresiju
nato-a na YU i posebo osudila Republiku Makedoniju i njenu vladu kao
saucesnika u NATO zlocinu. Pritom gospodja Kunovska je citirala
Krivicni Zakon Republike Makedonije po kome saucesnik u zlocinu mora
odgovarati, a u datom trenutku nasa drzava je bila saucesnik i nasi
politicari koji su dozvolili koriscenje makedonske teritorije za napad
na YU moraju krivicno odgovarati za saucesnistvo u zlocinu.
Prof. Skaric, inace jedan od autora Ustava Republike Makedonije porucio
je da se svi kao jedinke konacno moramo okrenuti borni protiv
globalizacije i porobljavanja, borbi za povratak prava i pravnih zakona.
Dr.Zoran Kraljevski, jedan od autora je u uvodnom izlaganju napomenuo da
covecanstvo konacno treba da krene u mentalni rat sa mracnim demonima
koji sebe nazivaju ljudima, da buducnost covecanstva nije u materijalnoj
moci velikih naroda nego u istrajnosti i hrabrosti malih naroda i
obicnih ljudi.Zatim je Zoran Kraljevski naveo imena velikih svetskih
boraca za spas covecanstva:
Mikis Teodorakis, Remzi Klark, Peter Handke, Aldo Bernandini, Oskar la
Fonten, Icko Dimitrov, Michele Collon, Noam Comski, Jan Ditur i dr.
(Zoran Kraljevski)
OSCE -----------------------------------------------------
RISULTATI PRELIMINARI DELLE ELEZIONI COMUNALI
IN BOSNIA-ERZEGOVINA:
http://www.oscebih.org/pre_results/scripts/pre_results.htm
SerbiaInfo 11/4/2000 ----------------------------------------------
PRESENTATO IL LIBRO BIANCO SUI CRIMINI DELLA NATO CONTRO L'INFANZIA
White Book on the suffering of children in the NATO aggression
April 11, 2000
The youngest victims of the NATO aggression
Belgrade, April 10 - Chairman of the Yugoslav Commission for cooperation
with UNICEF Dr Margit Savovic said that White Book on the suffering of
children in the course of NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia would be
published shortly.
Margit Savovic told Belgrade state radio that the book would comprise
written records, court and forensic findings, testimonies and
photographs, all extremely stirring.
She said it was both sad and symbolic that 79 children were killed
during the brutal 78-day bombing campaign, which means that at least one
child was killed each day.
She said that, on behalf of the murdered children, indictments would be
issued against those responsible, who can in no way justify their
"collateral damage" where children are concerned. She stressed that
children could have never been considered as reserve soldiers, police or
any other kind of forces which represented danger for others.
Dr Margit Savovic underscored that those 78 nights and days of the
bombardment have psychically endangered 10% of the Yugoslav children who
require special help of psychologists and psychiatrists.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
BBC 9/4/2000 -----------------------------------------------
ANCHE DALLA POLONIA VOCI CRITICHE SULLA SITUAZIONE IN KOSMET
Sunday, 9 April, 2000, 21:52 GMT 22:52 UK
Poland defends ethnic rights in Kosovo
Poland's Foreign Minister, Bronislaw Geremek,
has warned that the violation of the principles
of a multi-ethnic Kosovo could threaten the
stability of the whole European continent.
Mr Geremek, addressing a conference in
Bulgaria of European countries hoping to join
the European Union, said that the idea of
bringing about a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo
should be defended -- along with the rights of
the Serbs.
It is estimated that some
two-hundred-thousand Serbs -- most of the
original Kosovo Serb population -- have fled
the province.
They've been vulnerable to attacks by the
Albanian population in the aftermath of the
withdrawal of Serb forces. Those countries
attending the meeting were Poland, Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
THE TIMES 9/4/2000 ---------------------------------------
GLI STATI UNITI NON SANNO PIU' CHE PESCI PRENDERE CON
LA JUGOSLAVIA; SI VA VERSO UN ALLENTAMENTO DELLA TENSIONE?
The Times (UK)
April 9 2000
America in talks to renew envoy links with 'pariah state' Serbia
Tom Walker
WASHINGTON has begun delicate negotiations with the government of
President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia aimed at re-establishing an
American presence in Belgrade, diplomats have revealed.
They say that a relatively junior American diplomat could be in the
Serbian capital as early as June, and that both sides have been anxious
to re-establish links for some time.
The talks appear to contradict Washington's publicly stated policy of
treating Milosevic's Serbia as a pariah state. The State Department
reacted angrily last Friday to Australia's appointment of a new
ambassador to Belgrade.
America and Britain broke off relations with Yugoslavia before Nato
airstrikes began last March, and Washington was disappointed that not
all nations in the western alliance followed suit.
Greece and Italy retained their contacts with the Milosevic regime
throughout the crisis. Britain, France and Germany have all
re-established "interest sections" since Nato and the United Nations
took over in Kosovo.
The Clinton administration had believed Milosevic might fall from office
because of Kosovo. It has felt increasingly uncomfortable as the
Yugoslav president has not only held on to power but has also moved
closer to China, which has become Serbia's biggest benefactor.
Determined not to be left out in the hub of a region where America wants
to dictate international policy, Washington has used intermediaries from
Russia and Greece to help pave the way for some rapprochement with
Belgrade, diplomats said. Moscow is expected to send its new ambassador
to Belgrade this week.
"We've been anxious to get an official presence there for nine months in
the way that Britain has," said an American source.
"The first guy in will probably be a first secretary, and we won't be
allowed much more than consular offices for the moment. But as soon as
we get the green light, we're in."
Diplomats said Washington was anxious to keep Milosevic at arm's length,
but wished to help Serbian officials become more involved in the running
of Kosovo under the UN.
They also confirmed that basic American intelligence- gathering in
Belgrade was rendering policy-making difficult. "They feel really
disadvantaged at the moment. They've got no feel for it," said one
European diplomat in the Serbian capital. "And the China thing worries
them. Milosevic's wife is much too keen on the Chinese."
Any deal will probably involve the Yugoslav government being given
access to its old embassy building in Washington.
The Croatian press suggested last week that William Montgomery,
America's ambassador to Croatia, could become the first official to go
to Belgrade. But Montgomery's office denied the reports, claiming: "We
don't have relations, there is no embassy, no mission, no job."
A Yugoslav government source confirmed that an American diplomatic
presence in Belgrade could bring mutual benefits. "It's much better to
talk direct," he said. "There's a lot of bargaining going on at the
moment."
STOPNATO 9/4/2000 ----------------------------------------------
MERCENARI BRITANNICI AMMETTONO DI AVER "LAVORATO" PER LA CROAZIA
Scots mercenary admits carrying out
war crimes
By Neil Mackay Home Affairs Editor
Publication Date: Apr 9 2000
A SCOTTISH bank robber who joined the Croatian
army during the Bosnian war has admitted carrying
out war crimes and murdering unarmed prisoners
and women while fighting in Yugoslavia.
John MacPhee escaped prosecu tion when the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugo
slavia in The Hague decided not to press charges
against him last October.
However, he has now admitted to a series of
barbaric murders in his memoirs, The Silent Cry. In
an interview with the Sunday Herald, MacPhee
defended his actions saying: "I was fighting a war. It
was a case of kill or be killed. The Serbs were killing
our prisoners and we killed theirs.
"I don't consider myself a war criminal. I regret what
I did, but I don't think it was wrong."
In his book, published this month, he describes
arriving at a hamlet near the town of Gorny Vakuf
and seeing the bodies of 37 men, women and
children who had been raped and tortured before
being killed by the retreating Muslim army.
"Two enemy soldiers were captured," he writes.
"Guilty or innocent I knew they had to die. I fixed my
bayonet and before I knew it one of them was
beneath me É My hand was ripping at his flesh, my
fingers gouging his eyes, I was becoming worse
than an animal É my aim was to kill É I bit into his
face, blood poured down my chin, my 18 inch knife
stabbed and chopped and slashed.
"I speared my bayonet into his neck one final time
and lifted his body into the air with such force that I
broke the bayonet É They shot the other enemy
soldier before I could lay a hand on him."
In another village, he returned sniper fire and killed
an unarmed civilian woman. He also describes
sneaking up on Serb positions, killing the sleeping
civilian girlfriend of a Serb soldier and decapitating
a wounded Serbian prisoner.
MacPhee explains that the death and rape of the
Muslim girl he fell in love with in Bosnia during the
war "helped turn [me] into an animal". He adds:
"War is a constant atrocity. Everything about it is
immoral and wrong. I am only telling the truth of my
experience. I was constantly on the edge of
madness when I was there."
MacPhee, who has two young children, joined the
Croatian militia in 1992 after being released from
Strangeways prison in Manchester. Born in
Glasgow, the 50-year-old spent 10 years in
children's homes and 21 years in jail for a variety of
crimes ranging from drug offences, annd firearms
charges to bank robbery. At one time he was
suspected of 13 murders and was one of the most
wanted men in the UK.
"I believe I only intentionally killed enemy troops,"
he said. "Whether they were armed or not, or
prisoners, is irrelevant. It happened. The only way to
stop the enemy being barbarous was to be
barbarous to them."
He denies that his book deliberately glamourises the
atrocities of the Balkan conflict and also insists that
he took no part in mass executions of civilians or
the rape of enemy civilians and troops.
But MacPhee claims he found "peace in war",
saying: "After all my years in jail and all the
violence I
saw in children's homes, I was basically a maniac.
When I heard about the Serbian atrocities in Bosnia
I was in jail, and I thought, 'my life has been a
waste'. I decided I'd go there and fight for something
I believed in."
MacPhee may still be called by the UN to give
evidence about alleged atrocities. The tribunal is
concentrating on prosecuting those who
commanded killings.
Colonel Bob Stewart, a British commander of UN
peace-keeping troops during the Bosnian war, said:
"I think this man should be behind bars." He added
that the book, published in Manchester by Empire,
should never have been printed and that its
revelations may allow for a prosecution against
MacPhee in the UK.
Publisher Ashley Shaw defended MacPhee's
memoirs as accurately reflecting the horror of war.
THE GUARDIAN 8/4/2000 -----------------------------------------------
L'AUSTRALIA RIALLACCIA RELAZIONI DIPLOMATICHE CON LA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,157169.html
The Guardian (UK)
[Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser]"I could think
of nothing worse for Australia than to be bound by
European Union or NATO policy. We're an independent
country, we need to make our own decisions."
Australian coup for Milosevic
Anger in US as Canberra falls out of line by telling
new ambassador to present himself to Yugoslav leader
Kosovo: special report
Christopher Zinn in Sydney and Owen Bowcott
Saturday April 8, 2000
Australia has broken ranks with the west by sending a
new ambassador to Yugoslavia and instructing him to
hand his credentials to the head of state - President
Slobodan Milosevic, who is charged with war crimes.
Charles Stewart, Canberra's new man, arrived in
Belgrade on Tuesday. He replaces the outgoing
ambassador, Chris Lamb, who left on February 15. A
time and date for formal presentation of Mr Stewart's
credentials is to be discussed with the Yugoslavian
foreign ministry, a spokesman for the embassy said.
Canberra's decision has provoked anger in western
capitals, where a policy of sanctions and diplomatic
isolation are viewed as crucial in the attempt to make
Serbia a pariah state and hasten the downfall of the
Milosevic regime.
Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state, is
understood to have phoned Canberra to urge the
administration to drop the idea.
The Foreign Office in London was reluctant to voice
any concerns. A spokesman said: "Australian diplomatic
representation is a matter for them. We are aware of
it. It is not causing us any worry."
The only UN embargo in force against what remains of
Yugoslavia - made up of Serbia and Montenegro - is a
ban on arms sales. An EU ban on commercial flights was
suspended in February; EU sanctions against oil sales
and financial investments go on.
There is speculation in the Yugoslav capital that the
improvement in relations with Canberra has its origins
in missions that visited Belgrade to seek the release
of three Australian workers from the aid organisation
Care, who were arrested at the beginning of the Kosovo
conflict and jailed on espionage charges.
Long meetings were held between leading figures in
Australia's large Serbian expatriate community,
government representatives and officials from Care, to
win the men's release. Malcolm Fraser, a former
Australian prime minister who is chairman of Care
Australia, went to Belgrade several times to meet Mr
Milosevic to lobby for the men's release; they were
freed late last year.
Defending its present move, Canberra's department of
foreign affairs and trade said the ambassador was
needed to serve the large number of Australian
citizens and dual nationals living in and visiting
Yugoslavia; it did not signify support for the regime.
Mr Fraser insisted that no deal had been struck to
secure the aid workers' surprise release: "There were
no bar gains." Asked about other nations' refusal to
renew diplomatic relations with Belgrade, he replied:
"I could think of nothing worse for Australia than to
be bound by European Union or Nato policy. We're an
independent country, we need to make our own
decisions."
EU and Nato states have so far avoided creating the
spectacle of a western ambassador paying homage to Mr
Milosevic, fearing it would boost his credibility. Mr
Stewart's presentation of his credentials to the
president is bound to be on Yugoslav TV and the press.
Other governments have avoided this by not rotating
ambassadors or by bringing in a lower level of
representative.
The US has no diplomatic post in Belgrade; the
British, French and Germans have so-called interest
sections hosted by other countries and confined to
cultural, consular and commercial activities.
Italy is very keen to have a full ambassador to handle
the substantial issues between Belgrade and Rome. It
wants a deal where a new ambassador does not have to
present him or herself to Mr Milosevic.
Under the Vienna convention, a new ambassador is only
an ambassador-designate until his "letter of credence"
is accepted by the head of state. So Mr Stewart will
be Australia's new ambassador only when Mr Milosevic
accepts him.
AIM 7/4/2000 -----------------------------------------
SEMPRE PIU' DURE LE SANZIONI UE CONTRO CHI E' ACCUSATO
DI ESSERE "VICINO AL REGIME SERBO"
'SANCTIONS AGAINST THE REGIME' BROUGHT ON
EUROPEAN UNION, April 7, 2000 (BETA)
The governments of EU member-countries adopted on April 6, a
regulation on tightening financial sanctions against persons,
companies and banks "being associated with or supporting" the
authorities in Yugoslavia and Serbia. The regulation will come into
effect on April 8, the day after it is published in the EU official
gazette.
As stipulated by the regulation, all individuals and companies
from Serbia that are unable to prove they are not affiliated with the
"regime" and are not issued a certificate testifying to their status
by the EU Commission, will be regarded by the EU as "being owned or
controlled by the Yugoslav government" and, consequently, subject to
the "sanctions against the regime".
As the Brussels-based EU Council of Ministers announced, the
regulation also envisages a "white list" of Serbian and Yugoslav
companies with which their EU partners can do business, on condition
that those companies meet three basic criteria.
Firstly, those companies and organizations should be capable of
resisting the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities' demands to surrender
a portion of their revenue or property. Secondly, "monthly financial
transactions of those companies with the EU should not exceed
EUR100,000," and, thirdly, they "should do business in the sectors
which are not related to banking and financial services, power and
fuel supply, the production of or trade in military or police
equipment, transportation, petrochemical industry, and the production
of iron and steel.
IL PRESIDENTE CROATO MESIC ACCUSA MILOSEVIC PER LA "OPERAZIONE
TEMPESTA": "L'ESODO DEI SERBI FU UNA MOSSA STUDIATA PER MANDARLI IN
KOSOVO". ALLORA ADESSO POSSONO RITORNARE ?
MESIC ACCUSES MILOSEVIC
SKOPLJE, Macedonia, April 7, 2000 (BETA)
Stjepan Mesic President of Croatia stated that exodus of Serbs
form Knin region after the "Storm" operation was a planned move by
Slobodan Milosevic, FRY president, with the aim to move these people
to Kosovo.
BBC/TANJUG 7/4/2000 --------------------------
PESANTI ACCUSE AL TRIBUNALE DELL'AIA
DALLA REPUBBLICA FEDERALE DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.centraleurope.com/features.php3?id=149374
April 7, 2000
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Demands Krajisnik's Release,
Condemns Hague Court
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic has sent a
letter to the UN Security Council condemning the
arrest of the former Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo
Krajisnik who is to stand trial in The Hague for war
crimes. He called for Krajisnik to be freed,
describing his arrest as politically motivated. He
also accused the Hague-based tribunal of acting on the
orders of the US government. The following is the text
of the letter carried by the Yugoslav state news
agency Tanjug:
Belgrade, 6th April: On the occasion of the criminal
arrest of [former leading Bosnian Serb politician]
Momcilo Krajisnik on the part of SFOR [Stabilization
Force], [Yugoslav] federal Foreign Minister Zivadin
Jovanovic has sent a letter on behalf of the
government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia [FRY]
to the UN Security Council addressed to current
president, Canadian Ambassador Robert R. Fowler. The
letter reads as follows:
"Esteemed president: the Yugoslav government and
public have most strongly condemned the treacherous
and shameful arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik, one of the
most prominent leaders of the Serb people in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, carried out on the night of 3rd
April 2000 by SFOR on the orders of NATO.
"This arrest, carried out in a terrorist manner, using
explosives to break into the house, frightening and
tying up children in a Gestapo fashion, is only the
latest and most drastic in a series of criminal,
immoral and politically motivated NATO acts under the
guise of the Hague Tribunal, whose aim is to frighten
and subjugate the Serb nation.
"Momcilo Krajisnik was not only the speaker of the
Serb Republic parliament, elected to that post in
democratic elections according to the people's will,
the result of which was confirmed by the OSCE, but
also a member of the collective Presidency of
Bosnia-Hercegovina and the highest Serb Republic
representative at the Dayton negotiations. Therefore
this brazen criminal act is all the more absurd,
because Momcilo Krajisnik has never held any executive
office, apart from being elected a member of
Bosnia-Hercegovina Presidency following the
Dayton-Paris agreement.
"This insolent act confirms what the FRY government
has been pointing out since the Tribunal was founded:
that this ad hoc body, essentially contrary to the
principle of international criminal and humanitarian
law, is not an institution of law and justice, but a
political creation whose purpose is to commit genocide
against the Serb nation.
"The Tribunal is not acting according with law or
international law, but the orders of the US
administration with a view to imposing hegemony and a
single will.
"If the Tribunal really acted on the basis of justice
and law, it would then above all have to call to
account those NATO leaders and individuals responsible
for the genocidal aggression against the FRY committed
through the crudest violation of the UN Charter,
international law, the national right of the member
countries, as well as the NATO founding document
itself.
"Were it a forum of justice, it would have long ago
indicted those leaders who ordered and commanded the
aggression against the FRY, who ordered the mindless
raids on a sovereign country and against an entire
nation, something without precedent in the history of
civilization, who ordered the killing of thousands of
innocent people, one third of whom were children, and
over four fifths civilians, killing patients in
hospitals, razing hundreds of schools, a huge number
of hospitals, maternity wards, refugee camps, heating
and power-line systems, television and radio stations,
refineries, roads, bridges, and suchlike.
"At a time when genocide against the Serb and other
non-Albanian people is going on before the eyes of the
world's public in the Serbian province of Kosovo and
Metohija, the Tribunal has not made a single attempt
to stop that continuous crime.
"The absence of indictments and arrests of those
responsible for the genocide against the Serbs in
Croatia at the time of Operations Flash and Storm
[Croatian Army operations to liberate Serb-occupied
regions of Croatia in 1995], as well as during the
civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, represents a planned
incitement of new crimes against the Serbs, as it was
clear that they can be committed with impunity. They
can even be committed by the same criminals who
acquired their criminal experience in Krajina and in
other parts of former Yugoslavia.
"Internationally renowned legal experts have expressed
their view that the Tribunal is not based upon the UN
Charter, because there is no legal basis for founding
a judicial body, auxiliary to the Security Council.
All international courts are founded exclusively
through agreements. The fact that the Tribunal has
been founded because of political goals and
manipulations with the international public can be
most clearly seen when one compares the rules of
procedure of the Tribunal and of the Permanent
International Criminal Court, particularly regarding
the position of prosecutor. The rules that the
Tribunal uses in its procedure do not exist in any
modern judicial system. The so-called "secret
indictments" are unknown to any judicial system. The
prosecution policy conducted by the Tribunal's
prosecutor demonstrates that the Tribunal is being
exploited politically by the US Administration and the
NATO countries. More than two thirds of those arrested
and indicted are Serbs, including the highest
political and military officials of the Serb Republic,
against whom the most serious accusations have been
brought and who are the only ones to have been
arrested in a brutal way.
"The work of the prosecutor and Tribunal so far has
clearly demonstrated that the US creators of the
Tribunal have been trying to impose the idea of the
Serbs being responsible for the civil war in
Yugoslavia and thereby conceal their own
responsibility for crimes. The Tribunal is a mechanism
for fabricating an excuse for the aggression against
the FRY and the genocide against the Serb nation.
"The Tribunal is failing to demonstrate any legal,
political, or moral responsibility for its work. This
is demonstrated, among other things through the
murders of Serbs during their arrests (Simo Drljaca
and Dragan Gakovic) and the inhuman attitude towards
those arrested (the tragic death of Slavko Dokmanovic
and Milan Kovacevic in the Hague prison).
"As a signatory and guarantor of the Dayton-Paris
agreement, the FRY points out that such an activity on
the part of the Tribunal represents a drastic
violation of the letter and essence of that agreement,
the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and international law in general, thereby
jeopardizing peace and security not only in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, but also throughout the region.
"Because of everything here presented, the FRY is
calling on the Security Council urgently to abolish
the Hague Tribunal as a creation without any legal
foundation.
"The evidence possessed by this quasi-judicial
institution should be handed to regular courts of UN
member countries in order that they may act in line
with their domestic laws, which, without exception,
have harsh laws concerning war crimes. [sentence as
received]
"The FRY particularly demands that Momcilo Krajisnik
and all other people accused and arrested without
reason be released from prison," the letter that
Zivadin Jovanovic sent to UN Security Council said.
BBC Monitoring/(C) BBC
AIM 6/4/2000 ---------------------------------------
DIBATTITO PARLAMENTARE IN GERMANIA SULLA INTEGRITA'
TERRITORIALE DELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
YU TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY RECOGNIZED IN GERMANY
BERLIN, Germany, April 6, 2000 (Deutsche welle)
One year after the NATO air raids on Yugoslavia, Germany's
parliament has debated post-war developments in Kosovo, which has a
majority ethnic Albanian population.
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer rejected as dangerous an
opposition German conservative suggestion that Kosovo split from
Yugoslavia. Germany recognized Yugoslavia's territorial integrity and
such an bid would only play into the hands of Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, he said, reigniting a new spiral of violence.
Deutsche Welle's Director-General Dieter Weirich has released an
audience survey showing that 220,000 Albanians listen regularly to
Germany's foreign radio service, mostly in the Albanian language, but
also in German. The survey in Albania showed Deutsche Welle radio in
third place behind the Voice of America and the BBC.
YDS 5/4/2000 ------------------------------------------------
DELEGAZIONE CUBANA OSPITE DEL PARTITO SOCIALISTA DELLA SERBIA
> GORICA GAJEVIC RECEIVES CUBAN DELEGATION
>
> BELGRADE, April 5 (Tanjug) - Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)
>Secretary General received on Wednesday Megalis Arkoya Dominguez, member of
>the Federation of Cuban Women Secretariat.
>
> The guest from Cuba conveyed expressions of solidarity of women
>and the entire Cuban people with the citizens of Yugoslavia, pointing out that
>Cuba strongly condemned NATO's aggression (last year, March-June) on
>Yugoslavia and the hegemonist policy of the United States in its attempt to
>impose its interests and goals on freedom-loving peoples of the world.
>
> Pointing out that Cuba was one of the first victims of U.S.
>hegemony, SPS Secretary General pointed out that the wide front of resistance
>to violence and tyranny was growing every day in international relations. The
>freedom of every individual and the freedom of all states is not an abstract
>category, but a real aspiration and essential characteristic of people and a
>precondition for development and progress.
>
> In the talks also took part Omar Medina, Cuban Ambassador in
>Yugoslavia and Margit Savovic, President of the Yugoslav Commission for
>Cooperation with UNICEF, and for the promotion of the position of women.
VOCI CRITICHE DALLA POLONIA SULLA SITUAZIONE IN KOSMET
> POLAND'S RAKOWSKI: SERBS STILL DYING IN U.N.-RULED
KOSOVO-METOHIJA
>
> WARSAW, April 5 (Tanjug) - Poland's one-time prime minister on
>Wednesday blasted the local press for whole-heartedly supporting NATO's air
>strikes on Yugoslavia last spring and continuing a year later to ignore the
>disastrous results of the intervention.
>
> Veteran political and media figure Mieczyslaw Rakowski said that
>nearly a whole year had elapsed since the bloody intervention ended and no
>peace had come to the region, with Serbs still being killed in the
>U.N.-governed Serbian (Yugoslav) province of Kosovo-Metohija.
>
> Rakowski made his remarks in an article in the Trybuna newspaper,
>which according to him is the only Polish paper to have stood apart from the
>throng of supporters of the west's allegedly humanitarian armed mission from
>the start.
MOMCILO KRAJSNJIK DEPORTATO ALL'AIA
PROTESTE NELLA RS DI BOSNIA, NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA ED IN RUSSIA
> HAGUE TRIBUNAL - KRAJISNIK
> KRAJISNIK TO APPEAR IN COURT ON FRIDAY
>
> ROTTERDAM, April 4 (Tanjug) - Momcilo Krajisnik, former member of
>Bosnia's three-man Presidency and R.S. Parliament Speaker who was arrested on
>Monday by Bosnia's Stabilisation Force (SFOR), will appear before judges of
>the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague on Friday, it was stated in
>The Hague. Krajisnik is to say how he pleads on charges of genocide and crimes
>against humanity cited in the indictment, brought in against him on February 21.
>
> The indictment was, however, kept secret until the brutal arrest
>of Krajisnik in Pale by French SFOR troops on Monday.
>
> The charges refer to the period between July 1, 1991, and December
>31, 1992.
>
> RALLY IN BIJELJINA CONDEMNS ARREST OF KRAJISNIK
>
> BIJELJINA, April 5 (Tanjug) - About 7,000 citizens rallied in
>Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, late on Tuesday, to protest against the brutal
>SFOR arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik in Pale early on Monday and the existence of
>sealed indictments which are not recognized in any legal system.
>
> The rally was organized by the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), within
>its election activities. The general message from the rally is that the arrest
>of Krajisnik, one of the founders of Republika Srpska, the first Srpska
>Parliament President, a participant in the Dayton Peace Accords, and the first
>post-war Srpska member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, is an assault on
>Republika Srpska and all its institutions.
>
> Speakers at the rally included SDS President Dragan Kalinic, and
>SDS Vice-President and Srpska Vice-President Mirko Sarovic. They both stressed
>that the international troops SFOR had stepped outside the framework of their
>mandate established under the Dayton Accords.
>
> KRAJISNIK'S ARREST AN OPEN THREAT TO ALL PROMINENT SERBS
>
> BELGRADE, April 5 (Tanjug) - Political parties, organizations and
>associations on Wednesday again most strongly condemned the brutal arrest and
>extradition to the Hague of Serb Democratic Party Vice-President and Republika
>Srpska former senior official Momcilo Krajisnik.
>
> The Serbian Writers' Association (UKS) said the demonization and
>persecution of the Serb people in this century by the western power centers
>had culminated with the arrest of Krajisnik.
>
> "Without a regular arrest procedure, violating elementary human
>rights, including respect of person, they took Momcilo Krajisnik barefoot and
>half-dressed to the Hague, in order to humiliate the very Serb nation with
>this act," the UKS statement said.
>
> The vandal arrest of Krajisnik was also condemned by the
>association of Serbs from Croatia. The association said the manner, method and
>time of his arrest showed how little the Dayton Accords mean to western power
>figures, in particular to the United States.
>
> The Patriotic League of Serbia (PSS) condemned with the deepest
>indignation the criminal kidnapping of Krajisnik, one of the most important
>figures in the political life of Republika Srpska.
>
> The mafia-style arrest is proof of disrespect for elementary human
>rights, breaches of international law, and violations of the independence and
>statehood of Republika Srpska, the PSS said.
>
> RUSSIA DEEPLY CONCERNED OVER KRAJISNIK'S ARREST
>
> MOSCOW, April 5 (Tanjug) - The Russian Foreign Ministry on
>Wednesday expressed serious concern over the arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik.
>
> The arrest of one of the leaders of Bosnian Serbs was carried out
>in open violation of legal norms and peacekeeper authorities, the statement
>said.
>
> Such steps initiated by the NATO Command undermine the already
>fragile situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, especially in view of the imminent
>local elections, the Ministry said.
>
> The Ministry urged all sides chiefly responsible for the
>realization of the Dayton Accords not to take any rash action which would lead
>to a destabilization of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
>
> This will determine the permanence of the achieved results and the
>fate of the agreement and inter-ethnic reconciliation, said the Ministry statement.
ANDKRONOS 5/4/2000 -------------------------------------------
CAMPAGNA ELETTORALE: DOPO UN ANNO DAI FATTI IL "SOLE CHE RIDE"
HA SCOPERTO QUELLO CHE ERA SOTTO GLI OCCHI DI TUTTI
Ambiente: Verdi Accusano, Guerra In Kosovo Peggio Del Vietnam
Roma, 5 apr. - (Adnkronos) - In Jugoslavia la Nato ha sperimentato una
guerra chimica peggiore di quella del Vietnam. Lo denunciano i Verdi in
un video-choch presentato oggi e inviato a D'Alema, a Violante e ai
ministri dell'Ambiente e della Difesa. Le bombe sulle industrie chimiche
a Pancevo, Novi Sadr, Nis hanno contaminato l'ambiente al punto che le
autorità sanitarie avrebbero sconsigliato alle donne di partorire per i
prossimi due anni. "La distruzione ecologica del territorio rientra in
una precisa strategia bellica consapevolmente pianificata dalla Nato"
accusano esponenti del Sole che Ride chiedendo al governo un intervento
riparatorio dei guasti ambientali "forte ed incisivo". NNNN
BBC/STOPNATO 5/4/2000 -----------------------------------------
ANCHE NELSON MANDELA CRITICA PESANTEMENTE LA MISSIONE IN KOSOVO
> BBC Ceefax Teletext, Wed. 5 April 2000:
>
> "MANDELA ATTACKS UK'S "POLICEMAN" ROLE
>
> Former South African president Nelson Mandela has accused the [British]
> Government of encouraging international chaos and playing "policeman of
the
> world".
>
> He said he resented the behaviour of Britain and the US for riding
roughshod
> over the UN and launching military actions against Iraq and Kosovo.
>
> "It's a totally wrong attitude", Mr Mandela told the Guardian newspaper.
>
> He said they must not ignore the views of countries like China and
Russia".
>
> According to a brief summary of the "Guardian" interview in Dutch "Leidsch
> Dagblad", ex-president Mandela called US/UK interventionism in
Irak/Kosovo,
> violating UN rules, "racist".
>
> [ Does anyone have the full interview from the on-line "Guardian"?
> Nelson Mandela has denounced the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as soon as it
> started.
> French Governor of Kosovo, B. Kouchner, by the way, repeatedly defended the
> UCK [KLA] in Kosovo by comparing it to Nelson Mandela's ANC; even though the
> two organizations are at very opposite ends to one another on the
political
> and moral spectra.
> PR advisers generally seem to think selling dubious people, by comparing
> them to Nelson Mandela, works wonders for their public image... ]
REUTERS 4/4/2000 -----------------------------------
A NIS ANCORA SI MUORE DI BOMBE A GRAPPOLO UMANITARIE
April 4, 2000
Serb Man Killed by Leftover NATO Cluster Bomb
Filed at 8:45 a.m. ET By Reuters
NIS, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - A man died Tuesday when he hit a leftover
NATO cluster bomb while digging in his garden in southern Serbia, police
said.
Vladimir Jovanovic, 70, died in the explosion, Nis police said. The bomb
was dropped by NATO in May during its 11-week air campaign against
Yugoslavia's repression of ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province.
Jovanovic's son Ljubisa told the state news agency Tanjug that his
father was wounded in a NATO attack 11 months ago in the same area.
AIM, AP 3/4/2000 ------------------------------
CAPORALE ITALIANO MORTO AMMAZZATO IN KOSOVO
ITALIAN KFOR SOLDIER DIES IN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING
PRISTINA, April 3, 2000 (Agence France Presse)
An Italian soldier in the Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) died
Sunday of an accidental gunshot wound at his military base in Pec,
eastern Kosovo, a KFOR spokesman said.
The 29-year-old corporal died of a bullet wound to the head, but
the spokesman said officials were "virtually certain this was not a
suicide." He gave no details of the incident.
Italian corporal, 19, killed in accidental shooting in Kosovo
The Associated Press
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (April 2, 2000 9:52 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - A 19-year-old Italian soldier died Sunday
in Kosovo after an accidental shooting in the Italian military barracks,
NATO peacekeepers said.
Cpl. Samuele Utzeri, 19, was pronounced dead at the Italian military
hospital in western Kosovo after suffering gunshot wounds from a pistol.
The circumstances of the accident were unclear and Italian military
police were investigating, said Major Zenon Quintana.
Utzeri was 10 days shy of his 20th birthday.
SerbiaInfo 1/4/2000 ---------------------------
MEETING DI INTELLETTUALI E GIORNALISTI AD ATENE
SUL PROBLEMA DELLA DISINFORMAZIONE STRATEGICA
www.serbia-info.com/news
Meeting of journalists on Kosmet:
Lies and manipulations in the service of politics
April 01, 2000
Journalists step forward against manipulations
Athens, March 31st - Two-day talks between the Greek and foreign
journalists were completed today in Athens, titled "War and information
- the Kosovo experience", held in the Journalist Association of the
Athens daily press.
Aside from the local journalists, Robert Fisk from the "Independent",
Philip Nightly from the "Sunday Times", John Pilger from the
"Statesman", Eva Ann Prentice from the "Times" and the renowned writer,
Peter Handke, participated in the meeting.
The Greek daily, "Elefterotipia" has, while evaluating the assembly,
stressed that the Greek media, regardless of the fact that some of them
are being accused of "Serbophilia", have mainly in an accurate and
timely manner, published information regarding the events in Kosmet and
the bombing of Yugoslavia.
The Greek daily devoted most of its attention to the statements made by
the veteran journalist of the British "Independent", Robert Fisk, who
spoke of the war against Yugoslavia mainly by viewing the consequences
of the bombing and by comparing them to the consequences of the bombing
of Iraq.
Fisk reminded that ten years after the war in the Gulf, thousands of
people are struck with diseases and the "Gulf syndrome", and that, among
the sick, there are some veterans of the allied forces, and added that
the number of victims in Iraq is still increasing.
"What will happen to Kosovo where bombs with Depleted Uranium were also
used", asked Fisk, adding that still there are no NATO official reports
on the consequences of the bombing of Yugoslavia. This British
journalist asked Jamey Shea the same thing, but always received calming
answers saying that this kind of lethal weapon, which NATO uses in its
newest operation, "is not dangerous".
"This was a great lie they told to the journalists, because I have in my
possession a classified document with a report in which it is clearly
stated that the use of bombs with DU is very dangerous for the
environment", stated Fisk.
Answering Handke's question - why did not he publish all that in his
country and other NATO member-states, Fisk said that he just made
agreements for series of visits to US cities where he would speak of the
consequences of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
According to "Elefterotipia", Fisk has, while answering the question
regarding the bombing of the RTS (Serbian Broadcasting Co.) building in
Belgrade, said that "the moment when you start killing people just
because you do not like them and because they do not speak the same
things as you do, you are drastically changing the rules of war".
Peter Handke, an Austrian writer, speaking about his experience during
his stay in Serbia under NATO bombs, bitterly stated that
"unfortunately, thanks to the media, an image of an executioner was made
out of the Serbian people" and that mass media do not longer exist.
"NATO is a gangster organization. In fact, NATO is worse than gangsters,
because it is hiding behind the mask of morality, putting its efforts
in, allegedly, higher humanitarian goals", stated Handke.
"Germany has", he added, "destroyed the most beautiful 'state utopia'
which existed - former Yugoslavia, because they could not stand a
country which had a future in every aspect possible. By killing Serbs,
the Germans and the Austrians "wash their hands" and clear their
conscience of the crimes they committed against the Jews in the WW II".
While talking about the policy of manipulation, Handke stated that there
is no leadership of a sovereign country, which would accept the planted
offer from Rambouillet.
Everything was a farce and a premeditated game in which, from the start,
NATO had a planned scenario of the development of the situation, stated
Handke.
The other participants of the two-day meeting, Pilger, Nightly and
Prentice also spoke of the obvious "media manipulation" in which "truth
was sacrificed" in order for certain political interests to be achieved.
Copyright ? 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
REUTERS 30/3/2000 ---------------------------
LA RUSSIA DI PUTIN TAGLIA LE FORNITURE DI GAS
ALLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=147085
Russia Cuts Gas As Serb Reconstruction At Stake
BELGRADE, Mar 30, 2000 -- (Reuters) Russia slashed gas supplies to
Serbia this week
without prior notice, a senior Serbian oil industry official said on
Wednesday, in a move that
could cut home heating and food supplies and even slow the rebuilding of
the war-damaged Balkan nation.
"They are now delivering between 105,000 and 110,000 cubic meters of gas
per hour to Serbia, compared to nearly 290,000
cubic meters an hour some three weeks ago," the official at Serbia's NIS
oil monopoly, told Reuters.
Serbia agreed to a supply deal with Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom for
humanitarian deliveries of gas last year, despite
debts of some $200 million.
The official said Russia had agreed to reschedule the debt and supply
250,000 cubic meters of gas per hour, pumped
through Hungary, to heat households and keep vital industries running.
He gave no details about payment.
The country normally consumes 650,000 cubic meters an hour during the
heating season, which normally ends on April 15.
While the weather was currently warm, Serbia was expected to experience
another cold spell in the first week of April
with temperatures plunging below zero, according to weather forecasts.
The cut deliveries forced NIS to halt supplies to central heating
plants, the main source of heating in the republic.
"They seem to have their own idea of what's cold. Based on their own
judgment, they've decided to cut these so-called
humanitarian gas deliveries. We expect such low quantities to continue
until April 1. Afterwards, there could easily be
no gas at all," the official said.
GAS USED TO PRODUCE FERTILIZER, FOOD
The imported gas, together with some 80,000 cubic meters per hour
produced at home, is being distributed to fertilizer
plant Azotara Pancevo and the food processing industry.
"There is no gas for cement makers. This can easily put the entire
reconstruction of the country at stake," the source said.
Rebuilding of roads and industrial facilities either damaged or
destroyed in NATO's March-to-June bombing last year,
is a top priority for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's
government, anxious to offer an illusion of normality and
prosperity ahead of an election due later this year.
Yugoslavia, or rather its dominant part Serbia, has turned east for aid
after NATO's air war last year, as the West has
declined to provide aid as long as Milosevic was in power.
In December and January, Serbian officials had urged ministers in
Kremlin to persuade Vladimir Putin, then prime
minister, now president-elect, to sign a decree allowing extra gas
deliveries.
"It is very difficult for us to establish what is going on. We are told
that Gazprom had agreed to supply 2.5 billion cubic
meters of gas for the year, and then out of blue they halt the
delivery," the NIS source said.
A delegation of the Serbian Energy Ministry and representatives of
ProgresGas Trading company, importing the gas, are
in Moscow this week trying to clarify the problem.
Statements from Milosevic's leftist government, which has a shrinking
number of supporters in the world, have
indicated he had hoped for a Communist victory in Sunday's presidential
poll in Russia, although he congratulated Putin
on his victory.
TANJUG 30/3/2000 --------------------------------
PRIMI CONCRETI ACCORDI PER LE TELECOMUNICAZIONI
TRA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA E REPUBBLICA POPOLARE CINESE
http://www.srbija-info.yu/vesti/2000-03/30/18878.html
Poèetak konkretne saradnje u oblasti telekomunikacija
30. mart 2000.
[Znaèajan sporazum Jugoslavije i Kine]
30. Znaèajan sporazum
marta Jugoslavije i Kine
(Tanjug) - Potpredsednik kineske vlade Vu
Banguo istakao je, u razgovoru
sa
saveznim ministrom za
telekomunikacije Ivanom
Markoviæem, u
Pekingu, znaèaj sporazuma o
saradnji
u svim oblastima
telekomunikacija,
koji su danas potpisali JP PTT
"Srbija" i "Telekom Srbija"
A.D. sa
vodeæom kineskom
telekomunikacionom
kompanijom "ZTE-Džunsing
telekom".
On je naglasio da Kina
ohrabruje
dalju saradnju preduzeæa dve
zemlje,
istièuæi da kinesko rukovodstvo
na
saradnju s Jugoslavijom gleda i
kao
"na bratski odnos i
prijateljstvo, a
ne samo kao na ekonomski
interes".
Vu je istakao da Kina pruža
bezuslovnu i bezrezervnu
podršku
Jugoslaviji, njenoj odbrani i
oèuvanju suvereniteta i
teritorijalnog intergiteta, kao
i
obnovi i rekonstrukciji posle
NATO
agresije.
Potpredsednik Vu je izneo
divljenje
prema jugoslovenskom narodu i
predsedniku SR Jugoslavije
Slobodanu
Miloševiæu, njihovom herojskom
otporu
NATO agresiji i uspešnim
rezultatima
u obnovi zemlje.
Ministar Markoviæ je ukazao na
znaèaj
saradnje dve zemlje u svim
oblastima
telekomunikacija, koja
predstavlja
doprinos ukupnom uspešnom
razvoju
jugoslovensko-kineskih
prijateljskh
odnosa.
On je izrazio zahvalnost
kineskom
rukovodstvu na principijelnoj
podršci
Jugoslaviji, ukazujuæi da se
odnosi
dve zemlje zasnivaju na
principima
meðusobne podrške,
ravnopravnosti i
zajednièkih interesa. Govoreæi
o
elementima današnjih svetskih
kretanja, Markoviæ je istakao
da ona
država koja na planeti krši
ljudska
prava svakog graðanina i svih
država,
nema pravo da drugima drži
lekcije o
ljudskim pravima.
Radi se o traženju izgovora
amerièke
administracije za mešanje u
unutrašnja pitanja drugih
zemalja,
rekao je on.
Markoviæ je ocenio da su iste
one
snage koje podstièu secesiju
Tajvana
bombardovale Jugoslaviju,
navodeæi da
su u Jugoslaviji izazvale
humanitarnu
katastrofu, a sada najgrublje
nasræu
na suverenitet i teritorijalnu
celovitost, jedne, nedeljive
Kine.
Markoviæ je upoznao sagovornika
da je
Jugoslavija inicirala pokret
slobodoljubivih zemalja na
nivou
šefova država ili vlada za
multipolarnost, za UN i
demokratski
parlament ravnopravnih zemalja.
U
oktobru æe biti održan skup
slobodoljubivih partija i
pokreta s
ciljem da se pruži otpor
globalnom
politièkom pritisku i politici
sile
amerièke administracije i bilo
kog
drugog hegemona.
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministarstvo za informacije Republike Srbije
Email: mirs@...
TANJUG 26/3/2000 -----------------------------
"LE MONDE" IN TRIBUNALE PER RAZZISMO ANTISERBO
"Le Mond" on trial for racist attitude
March 26, 2000
Paris, March 26th (Tanjug) - Tomorrow, in the Paris court of justice, a
trial to Le Mond will be held for publishing a text, whose author blames
the entire Serbian people for the alleged acts "committed in Kosmet
before the international intervention", as well as for refusing a right
to answer.
"Le Mond" was sued by the president of "Lawyers without borders", an
association fighting against all forms of racism, Gilles William
Goldnadel.
On August 12th 1999, Le Mond published, on the front page, a text by the
so-called psychoanalyst, Philippe Refabert, titled "Give justice to
Kosovar people", in which he tried to justify Albanian crimes against
the Serbs after the KFOR and UNMIK arrival to the province.
The author stopped at nothing, accusing all Serbs, which presents a
public disclosure of racist attitudes, punishable by the French law.
The president of the "Lawyers without borders" sent a letter on October
12th 1999 to the manager of Le Mond, Jean-Marie Colombani, pointing to
Refabert's accusations and emphasizing that the crimes were committed
against Serbs themselves.
Mr. Goldnadel requested from Le Mond to publish the letter, quoting the
right to answer assumed by the French press law. Le Mond refused to
publish the letter.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
====================================================================
NOTA DEL CRJ:
Le nostre selezioni di notizie non pretendono di informare
esaurientemente su tutti gli aspetti della problematica
jugoslava e balcanica, che e' vastissima, ma solamente di gettare
luce su alcune sfaccettature che non vengono trattate adeguatamente,
ne' potrebbero esserlo, dalla pubblicistica guerrafondaia attiva nel
nostro paese come in tutto l'Occidente.
Le notizie in lingua straniera sono sempre introdotte da un nostro
titolo in italiano per facilitarne la consultazione.
I brani provengono da fonti diverse:
AIM - e' il bollettino della Rete Accademica di Informazione:
> For more information visit our Academic Information Network site at
> http://www.aim.ac.yu/
> Please send us Your comments to news@... or comment@...
ANSA - E' la principale agenzia di stampa italiana
YDS - e' la "Yugoslav Daily Survey" del Ministero degli Esteri della
RFJ (cfr. http://www.mfa.gov.yu/ ).
BBC - sono le notizie tratte dal sito internet della radiotelevisione
britannica: all stories from the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk
REUTERS - sono i dispacci della omonima agenzia di informazione
AFP - e' l'agenzia di stampa francese France Presse.
AP - e' l'agenzia statunitense Associated Press.
SerbiaInfo - e' il bollettino del Ministero dell'Informazione della
Repubblica di Serbia: http://www.serbia-info.com
STOPNATO - e' la mailing list STOPNATO.listbot.com
Tanjug - e' l'agenzia di stampa jugoslava: http://www.tanjug.co.yu
TUTTE LE FONTI SONO CITATE
Distribution of copyright-protected materials is for general
information and discussion purposes only.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
TITOLO: Pulizia etnica? Un falso! Parola di generale
AUTORE: Gordon Poole
TESTO:
Il giornale inglese "Sunday Times" (2/4/2000) ha pubblicato un articolo
di
John Goetz e Tom Walker sulle rivelazioni diHeinz Loquai, generale di
brigata a riposo tedesco, secondo il quale non sarebbe mai esistito
alcun
piano jugoslavo per effettuare la pu lizia etnica della popolazione
albanese del Kosovo. Interessantissimo, considerando che la rivelazione
del piano, chiamato "Operazione ferro di cavallo", da parte di Joschka
Fischer, ministro degli esteri tedesco, convinse una parte dell'opinione
pubblica tedesca sin'allora contraria alla guerra ad accettare la
partecipazione della Luftwaffe ai bombardamenti NATO, in contraddizione
con la stessa costituzione della RFT. Dal 6 aprile 1999 in poi, quando
l'esistenza del piano di Belgrado fu rivelata - i bomb ardamenti
duravano
già da due settimane - tutte le conferenze stampa NATO teletrasmesse,
orchestrate dall'esperto di propaganda Jamie Shea, si riferivano
ritualmente ad "Operation Horseshoe". Ancora nel marzo scorso James
Rubin,
portavoce del Dipartimento di Stato americano, ha citato quel piano in
giustificazione dei bombardamenti.
Heinz Loquai, invece, sostiene in un recente libro sulla guerra che il
presunto piano sia stato creato dal nulla, sulla base di vaghi rapporti
dei servizi segreti bulgari su normali operazioni militari.
L'ex-generale,
che lavora ora per l'OSCE (Organisati on for Security and Co-operation
in
Europe), accusa Rudolf Scharping, ministro della difesa tedesco, di
essere
responsabile del falso. Intervistato dal "Sunday Times" Loquai ha detto
di
essere giunto alla conclusione che nessuna operazione del genere sia mai
esistita, aggiungendo che in Germania "Le critiche nei confronti della
guerra, che erano diventate un incendio quasi incontrollabile, furono
completamente spente grazie ad 'Operazione ferro di cavallo'".
Indipendentemente il giornale tedesco "Die Woch e" ha sostenuto che le
mappe, acquisite dalla NATO e diffuse dai giornali in tutto il mondo
come
prova dell'esistenza del piano di pulizia etnica serbo, siano state
create
nel quartiere generale tedesco della difesa nella città di Hardthoehe.
In
verità, secondo Loquai, il rapporto dei servizi segreti di Sofia
concludeva che lo scopo delle forze armate serbe era, comprensibilmente,
di distruggere l'UCK, non di espellere l'intera popolazione albanese,
come
invece hanno sostenuto sia Scharping ch e i leader della NATO.
Secondo Diana Johnstone, in un articolo che uscirà sulla rivista
"Giano",
l'operazione "ferro di cavallo" è banalmente una tecnica o tattica
insegnata in tutti i manuali militari, che prevede un attacco su tre
lati
contro un luogo fortificato, lasciando i l quarto lato libero per
permettere la fuga degli occupanti, così da evitare una difesa ad
oltranza. Essa sarebbe stata impiegata contro alcuni villaggi nel Kosovo
che erano stati occupati dall'UCK, abbandonati dagli abitanti e
trasformati praticamente in fortezze.
La NATO ha respinto le affermazioni di Loquai, pur dovendo ammettere di
non poter provare l'esistenza di un piano di pulizia etnica "Horseshoe".
Il "Sunday Times" cita una fonte NATO, non identificata, la quale
riferisce che: "Non c'è mai una sicurezza as soluta in queste cose.
Tuttavia, l'idea che non ci fosse nulla di pre-arrangiato è
anti-intuitiva. Basta pensare alla velocità con cui i serbi si sono
mossi.
Finché non entriamo in Belgrado e cominciamo a fare a pezzi gli archivi,
non saremo mai sicuri - e questo non succederà mai".
A Belgrado, fonti governative sostengono che diversi ufficiali
dell'esercito jugoslavo hanno liquidato l'idea di un' "Operazione ferro
di
cavallo" come semplicemente un'invenzione della guerra propagandistica
della NATO.
[diffusione a cura del Tribunale Indipendente per i crimini NATO]
---
New WORD Order:
Exodus, justified, bombing
-About the plan "potkovA"-
Dragan Pavlovic
Editor in chief, Dialogue, Paris
Explaining human aggression requires knowledge, patience, and a lot of
humanism. We are fragile, scared but very sophisticated beings. Still,
justifying aggressivity requires much more. Let us see what is this
more.
The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia is being justified, by those who
poured
bombs, by the number of Albanian refugees (1.5 million they say), by
the
conditions in Kosovo prior bombing, by hidden desires of Balkan
dictators,
viciousness of the Serbs, etc. What will be used depends of the moment
when
the argument is used. Today this is the number of Albanian refugees
(after
the bombing!), planed action which deserved bombing before the exodus
(German Secretary of Defense, R. Scharping). A piece of Copenhagen
variant
of quantum mechanics theory, I presume. Hope you follow. But let us see
the
facts to start with.
First of all this was a war, and quite bad one. The victims
(NATO
victims) were just from one side, the other side acting from the
distance
with high level of security. This makes particular atmosphere and
increases
the urge to hide, run away. The number of displaced people is difficult
to
estimate, though.
The number of refugees going south (Shiptars/Kosovo Albanians)
is
probably about 600 000. The number of 1.5 million, advanced recently is
of
course ridiculous. Total number of Shiptars (Kosovo Albanians) in
Kosovo
just prior the bombing was about 1.5 million. The reports from Kosovo
during
the NATO bombing were showing that significant number of Albanians was
still at their homes and the numbers of how many were in refugees camps
outside Kosovo was permanently changing from 600 000, to close to 1
million, and sank, just before the end of bombing, to 700 000. Also
pregnant with logic, of course. On the return of the refugees, at the
end of
bombing, TV reports showed this clearly, those who were awaiting
refugees in
the "abandoned" villages, obviously outnumber them.
Those who were displaced north, east or west include about 200
000
Serbs, Romes and others. Certainly more then 1 million of population
from
Serbia was displaced, close to their homes, or farther to the Republika
Srpska, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Those who obtained visas went to
the
other European countries or oversee. I slept more then 10 nights during
that
time away from my home, which is close to one military object and a
target
for NATO bombs. I was afraid. My family sent my niece and her father 200
km
away to the relatives in a quite village. This is what everyone did. Be
away
from the target, away from the military personnel, vehicles etc, was
the
thought which persisted in the minds of people during that time. The
explosions were terrifying, although in a big city they were often at
considerable distance and close just for those living in the
neighborhood of
the particular target. In a small city all explosions were close. I
suspect that Kosovo Albanians did the same thing (all detonations are
close
in villages and small cities) and, if they were surrounded by Yugoslav
army
"objectives", as they were, it is clear why they run away. On my way
to
Serbia I was twice in Budapest, twice in Sophia, spent 30 days in
Yugoslavia
during the bombing, travelled all along the country tree times from
the
north to the south. On all occasions, Budapest and Sophia were full of
Yugoslavs, busses were constantly living the country packed by people
who
were escaping the disaster. This lasted for more then two months. How
many
of them were displaced, all aspects of displacement taken into account?
As I
said, I do not believe that there were less then 1 million.
Herr Scharping may finally be "right": about 1.5 displaced
people,
and two third of those probably emigrating abroad, but Yugoslavs (!),
all
together, including Shiptars, Serbs, Romes, Hungarians etc.
But this is not whole explanation. Let us see about the
"plans".
1. When the bombing started there were strong confrontations
between Yu-army and KLA which was, quickly, just a couple of days
after,
pushed to the Albanian border. This did not make many people hesitate
what
to do in the circumstances.
2. KLA was encouraging, pushing, and forcing the population to
leave the country. They even distributed red leaflets (like Albanian
flag)
instructing the population to go to NATO refugees camps over the
borders.
Brutal violence and even killing were used, when "needed".
3. NATO, accompanied by journalists, NGOs etc, was announcing
reception of the refugees. Many of the refugees were hoping to finish
somewhere in California. They were filmed by the accompanying TV crews
marching along slippery hills of Kosovo covered with massive snow
(although
there was no snow in Kosovo at that time of the year).
4. In the regions of fighting Yu-army facilitated transport of
refugees, which they found reasonable since they probably believed that
massive exodus could stop the bombing.
5. Yu-army could have also believed that it had all strategic
reasons to get rid (in quite brutal military way) of potential KLA
fighters
behind its back and was on the search for KLA members, which further
scared
the population.
6. Rare paramilitary actions from the side of the Serbs were
reported which could have further encouraged the population to go.
So, probably (just probably though) there was a plan, or plans:
Serbian army believed that massive exodus would: 1. stop the bombing,
2.
destabilize NATO alliance, 3. bring the sides to the negotiation table,
and
4. permit the return of only Shiptars i.e. non-KLA population,
excluding
immigrants from Albania and KLA members.
NATO planned (not probably but surely), as declared, to win
militarily, which required: 1. that all Albanians abandon Kosovo
(temporarily), 2. carpet-bombing of Yugoslav army in Kosovo, and 3.
repetition of "Hiroshima" strategy, destruction of one or more Serbian
cities, which would force Serbian army to surrender.
As we know now, both "plans" did not work. The moment is
difficult
since European politicians have to justify something they cannot
justify,
and which could be "justified" only if the plan worked. Serbian position
is
considerably better since they can show that the population ran away in
even
bigger numbers from the regions (in Serbia proper) where only one
factor,
NATO bombing, was at work, without the Serbian army facilitating exodus,
and
without armed conflicts with KLA forces.
These are of course, speculations. Only sure thing which would
stand all
challenges is that nobody, just nobody - except pore population - did
not
sincerely want that the Kosovo Albanians stay at their homes, and this
was
clearly shown by the NATO, International community behaviour, KLA,
Serbian
forces, journalists, NGOs. Why should they stay then?
Justifying the exodus will mean now showing that the situation
in
Kosovo prior to the bombing justified bombing. The OSCE Report from
October
last year is a document of reference. Unfortunately, the vagueness of
the
OSCE Report, particularly of its first part (which speaks of what
happened
before bombing), does not support the argument. In addition, the Racak
Incident, being the main and only "clear-cut" Serbian crime cited in
the
first part of the Report, is shown now to be a set-up. This is
disappointing. Since the Racak Incident proved to be no "incident",
European
politicians are trying a well-known maneuver, "ignoratio elenhi" - to
change the thesis, forgetting Racak Incident and referring only to the
Serbian "plan" to chase all Albanians over the frontiers. Unfortunately
this leads even further into the logical labyrinth - they are namely
trying
to use a typical "post hoc ergo ante hoc" argument i.e., maintain that
the
result produced its cause. "Since there were 1.5 million refugees, to
achieve this the Serbs must have had a plan", meaning they were bombed
because of that "plan". You are puzzled? They are confident. To prove
the
thesis, requires not only a political skills of excellence, but also
quite
vicious mind, and they do not doubt in their capacities. If the idea is
to
justify NATO bombing of Yugoslavia then, the justification had to be
look
for in post hoc events since, they certainly know that, there is not
much to
find in propter hoc events. Understood?
We will take the liberty of reminding Herr Scharping that the
humanitarian situation in Kosovo pre NATO bombing was taken by the
"international community" to be critical and this was the basis for the
decision to break International Law (not entirely though, some articles
were spared), go far beyond the humanitarian objectives (in order to
achieve a "final solution") and impose the Rambouillet ultimatum, which
meant (Annex B) partial occupation of Yugoslavia by the NATO forces
and, in
two years, the secession of Kosovo, following a referendum of Kosovo
Albanians. Responsible for the critical humanitarian situation were, we
are
told, Serbian police forces and militaries. We are not told that those
Serbian forces were there to oppose imported Albanian armed secession,
the
long process which for more then half of the century could not attract
the
rural Albanian population of Kosovo. This was possible (Western
intelligence help included) only when illegal immigration from
neighboring
Albania reached a critical level, when Pristina university produced
enough
indoctrinated intellectuals who become the main revolutionary force,
and
finally, when the vertical hierarchy of the communist regime dissolved.
As
in the other regions of Yugoslavia, local powers understood well that
their
ambitions could only be achieved inside some previously imposed
frontiers.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was a problem, being very unhomogeneous. The
relative
Muslim majority had to be helped by the International community to
impose
its power and, following ethnic cleansing, achieve a homogenous
territory.
Kosovo was in that respect a simple problem. For whom, we may
ask.
The results of that turmoil will tell us. If we would, in the end, want
to
know what a politician thinks, not listening to what he declares but
seeing
what he does, we would have to conclude the following. It was desired
that
the Serbs be ethnically cleansed and ethnic (and by definition unjust)
states be established in the Balkans, that the NATO forces establish a
stronghold in the Balkans (the two military bases, in Macedonia and
Kosovo,
are not meant as a balance for dangerous Serbia, of course, but have a
much
more ambitious purpose). Etc. Who was responsible for the humanitarian
crisis in Kosovo was not really important, as clearly the best possible
solution for those people living there was not to be even considered.
That
was not the real problem for our politicians, they knew what they were
doing
and everything was, no doubt, done with a clear objective in mind. They
will
show us, one day, what is it; I do not worry about this.
What troubles me is that we, staying quiet, let them believe
that we not only do not see what they do, but also do not hear what they
say. They might even wary how the demagogy is going to work if we do not
listen to them. Let us reassure them that we did not overhear that they
shamelessly, in their power delirium, misuse what is sacred - the wisdom
of
antiquity. Unfortunately, this time this is not a coherent political
game.
The power-corrupted are finally exposing to us their weak points: their
simple and miserable ignorance, and this is, WE know it, a dangerous
thing.
I was told a long time ago that in some ancient times, when
people
discovered the power of syllogism of Aristotle, it was permitted to
execute
those who pretended to be wise but did not know syllogism. Indeed, here
we
just had one, fallacious, syllogism.
J'accuse? Non. Pourtant, J'attend...
(http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/NewsRoundUp)
“OPERATION HORSESHOE”: KOSOVO FORGERY
REVEALED
The eminent German daily Frankfuhrter Rundshau reported a fortnight ago
that Bulgarian and
German secret services had forged a “secret Serb plan” that
was used as
justification for NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia last year
(“General bezweifelt Existenz
des serbischen Kriegskonzepts,” March 21). The plan, code-named
“Horseshoe,” purported to prove that the Serbs had planned
ethnic cleansing of
Kosovo Albanians well before the NATO bombing campaign. The German paper
quoted Heinz
Loquai, a retired Bundeswehr brigadier general, who says that the
“plan” was no
more than an intelligence assessment written in Sofia and subsequently
embellished in Bonn.
But during the NATO war “Horseshoe” was given top billing.
It was first revealed
by Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, on April 6 last year,
almost two weeks after
bombing had started. Two days later, on April 8, 1999 it was mentioned
again at a press
conference by the Bundeswehr Inspector-General Hans-Peter von Kierbach.
The general claimed
that this document provided evidence that Belgrade wanted to liquidate
the KLA “even if
that would mean extermination of the Albanians in Kosovo.”
Then “Horseshoe” crossed the Atlantic. On April 15 it was
invoked by William Pfaff
in the International Herald Tribune in support of his claim that it
would be “immoral”
to stop the bombing. Pfaff treated “Horseshoe” as a given
fact:
Mr. Milosevic and his government are attempting to solve their Kosovo
problem by producing a
basic demographic change in the province through deporting its Albanian
population, the
overwhelming majority. According to German government sources, this
program for purging
Kosovo of its Albanian population was prepared at the end of last year
under the code name
“Horseshoe.” … Horseshoe was designed to produce a
permanent solution,
and was launched even before the Rambouillet discussions in February,
which the Serbian
leadership did not take seriously.
On April 24, 1999, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kostov also quoted the
“Horseshoe” to
justify the pending Bulgarian collaboration with NATO: “Operation
‘Horseshoe’ began on February 26 and aimed at two things: to
exterminate the KLA
and to turn Kosovo into a desert.” It was subsequently used by a
whole host of NATO
apologists, and most recently by State Department’s James Rubin
only two weeks ago.
But in Europe it is now common knowledge that Operation Horseshoe was
yet another Kosovo
Lie. On April 2 The Sunday Times of London followed the Rundschau story
up with a
comprehensive and conclusive report (“Serbian ethnic cleansing
scare was a fake, says
general,” by John Goetz in Berlin and Tom Walker):
Horseshoe - or "Potkova", as the Germans said it was known in Belgrade -
became a staple of
Nato briefings. It was presented as proof that President Slobodan
Milosevic of Yugoslavia had
long planned the expulsion of Albanians. James Rubin, the American state
department spokesman,
cited it only last week to justify Nato's bombardment. However, Heinz
Loquai, a retired brigadier
general, has claimed in a new book on the war that the plan was
fabricated from run-of-the-mill
Bulgarian intelligence reports. Loquai, who now works for the
Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has accused Rudolf Scharping, the German
defence minister, of
obscuring the origins of Operation Horseshoe. “The facts to
support its existence are at
best terribly meagre,” he told The Sunday Times. “I have
come to the conclusion
that no such operation ever existed. The criticism of the war, which had
grown into a fire that was
almost out of control, was completely extinguished by Operation
Horseshoe.”
Loquai claims that the German defense ministry turned a vague report
from Sofia into a "plan", and
even coined the name Horseshoe.
But this eagerness to embellish it in order to produce a convincing
forgery resulted in the
fundamental flaw: the Germans named the operation “Potkova,”
which is the
CROATIAN word for horseshoe. The Serbian for horseshoe is Potkovica. It
is a bit like claiming
that a secret IRA document was called “Operation
Londonderry” –
impossible by definition. “A state prosecutor would never think of
going to trial with the
amount of evidence available to the German defense ministry,” said
General Loquai. But
how about Carla Ponte? “Horseshoe” is now proven to be a
lie, but it may yet be
used to indict a few more Serbs by the “tribunal” at The
Hague.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
AUTORE: Gordon Poole
TESTO:
Il giornale inglese "Sunday Times" (2/4/2000) ha pubblicato un articolo
di
John Goetz e Tom Walker sulle rivelazioni diHeinz Loquai, generale di
brigata a riposo tedesco, secondo il quale non sarebbe mai esistito
alcun
piano jugoslavo per effettuare la pu lizia etnica della popolazione
albanese del Kosovo. Interessantissimo, considerando che la rivelazione
del piano, chiamato "Operazione ferro di cavallo", da parte di Joschka
Fischer, ministro degli esteri tedesco, convinse una parte dell'opinione
pubblica tedesca sin'allora contraria alla guerra ad accettare la
partecipazione della Luftwaffe ai bombardamenti NATO, in contraddizione
con la stessa costituzione della RFT. Dal 6 aprile 1999 in poi, quando
l'esistenza del piano di Belgrado fu rivelata - i bomb ardamenti
duravano
già da due settimane - tutte le conferenze stampa NATO teletrasmesse,
orchestrate dall'esperto di propaganda Jamie Shea, si riferivano
ritualmente ad "Operation Horseshoe". Ancora nel marzo scorso James
Rubin,
portavoce del Dipartimento di Stato americano, ha citato quel piano in
giustificazione dei bombardamenti.
Heinz Loquai, invece, sostiene in un recente libro sulla guerra che il
presunto piano sia stato creato dal nulla, sulla base di vaghi rapporti
dei servizi segreti bulgari su normali operazioni militari.
L'ex-generale,
che lavora ora per l'OSCE (Organisati on for Security and Co-operation
in
Europe), accusa Rudolf Scharping, ministro della difesa tedesco, di
essere
responsabile del falso. Intervistato dal "Sunday Times" Loquai ha detto
di
essere giunto alla conclusione che nessuna operazione del genere sia mai
esistita, aggiungendo che in Germania "Le critiche nei confronti della
guerra, che erano diventate un incendio quasi incontrollabile, furono
completamente spente grazie ad 'Operazione ferro di cavallo'".
Indipendentemente il giornale tedesco "Die Woch e" ha sostenuto che le
mappe, acquisite dalla NATO e diffuse dai giornali in tutto il mondo
come
prova dell'esistenza del piano di pulizia etnica serbo, siano state
create
nel quartiere generale tedesco della difesa nella città di Hardthoehe.
In
verità, secondo Loquai, il rapporto dei servizi segreti di Sofia
concludeva che lo scopo delle forze armate serbe era, comprensibilmente,
di distruggere l'UCK, non di espellere l'intera popolazione albanese,
come
invece hanno sostenuto sia Scharping ch e i leader della NATO.
Secondo Diana Johnstone, in un articolo che uscirà sulla rivista
"Giano",
l'operazione "ferro di cavallo" è banalmente una tecnica o tattica
insegnata in tutti i manuali militari, che prevede un attacco su tre
lati
contro un luogo fortificato, lasciando i l quarto lato libero per
permettere la fuga degli occupanti, così da evitare una difesa ad
oltranza. Essa sarebbe stata impiegata contro alcuni villaggi nel Kosovo
che erano stati occupati dall'UCK, abbandonati dagli abitanti e
trasformati praticamente in fortezze.
La NATO ha respinto le affermazioni di Loquai, pur dovendo ammettere di
non poter provare l'esistenza di un piano di pulizia etnica "Horseshoe".
Il "Sunday Times" cita una fonte NATO, non identificata, la quale
riferisce che: "Non c'è mai una sicurezza as soluta in queste cose.
Tuttavia, l'idea che non ci fosse nulla di pre-arrangiato è
anti-intuitiva. Basta pensare alla velocità con cui i serbi si sono
mossi.
Finché non entriamo in Belgrado e cominciamo a fare a pezzi gli archivi,
non saremo mai sicuri - e questo non succederà mai".
A Belgrado, fonti governative sostengono che diversi ufficiali
dell'esercito jugoslavo hanno liquidato l'idea di un' "Operazione ferro
di
cavallo" come semplicemente un'invenzione della guerra propagandistica
della NATO.
[diffusione a cura del Tribunale Indipendente per i crimini NATO]
---
New WORD Order:
Exodus, justified, bombing
-About the plan "potkovA"-
Dragan Pavlovic
Editor in chief, Dialogue, Paris
Explaining human aggression requires knowledge, patience, and a lot of
humanism. We are fragile, scared but very sophisticated beings. Still,
justifying aggressivity requires much more. Let us see what is this
more.
The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia is being justified, by those who
poured
bombs, by the number of Albanian refugees (1.5 million they say), by
the
conditions in Kosovo prior bombing, by hidden desires of Balkan
dictators,
viciousness of the Serbs, etc. What will be used depends of the moment
when
the argument is used. Today this is the number of Albanian refugees
(after
the bombing!), planed action which deserved bombing before the exodus
(German Secretary of Defense, R. Scharping). A piece of Copenhagen
variant
of quantum mechanics theory, I presume. Hope you follow. But let us see
the
facts to start with.
First of all this was a war, and quite bad one. The victims
(NATO
victims) were just from one side, the other side acting from the
distance
with high level of security. This makes particular atmosphere and
increases
the urge to hide, run away. The number of displaced people is difficult
to
estimate, though.
The number of refugees going south (Shiptars/Kosovo Albanians)
is
probably about 600 000. The number of 1.5 million, advanced recently is
of
course ridiculous. Total number of Shiptars (Kosovo Albanians) in
Kosovo
just prior the bombing was about 1.5 million. The reports from Kosovo
during
the NATO bombing were showing that significant number of Albanians was
still at their homes and the numbers of how many were in refugees camps
outside Kosovo was permanently changing from 600 000, to close to 1
million, and sank, just before the end of bombing, to 700 000. Also
pregnant with logic, of course. On the return of the refugees, at the
end of
bombing, TV reports showed this clearly, those who were awaiting
refugees in
the "abandoned" villages, obviously outnumber them.
Those who were displaced north, east or west include about 200
000
Serbs, Romes and others. Certainly more then 1 million of population
from
Serbia was displaced, close to their homes, or farther to the Republika
Srpska, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Those who obtained visas went to
the
other European countries or oversee. I slept more then 10 nights during
that
time away from my home, which is close to one military object and a
target
for NATO bombs. I was afraid. My family sent my niece and her father 200
km
away to the relatives in a quite village. This is what everyone did. Be
away
from the target, away from the military personnel, vehicles etc, was
the
thought which persisted in the minds of people during that time. The
explosions were terrifying, although in a big city they were often at
considerable distance and close just for those living in the
neighborhood of
the particular target. In a small city all explosions were close. I
suspect that Kosovo Albanians did the same thing (all detonations are
close
in villages and small cities) and, if they were surrounded by Yugoslav
army
"objectives", as they were, it is clear why they run away. On my way
to
Serbia I was twice in Budapest, twice in Sophia, spent 30 days in
Yugoslavia
during the bombing, travelled all along the country tree times from
the
north to the south. On all occasions, Budapest and Sophia were full of
Yugoslavs, busses were constantly living the country packed by people
who
were escaping the disaster. This lasted for more then two months. How
many
of them were displaced, all aspects of displacement taken into account?
As I
said, I do not believe that there were less then 1 million.
Herr Scharping may finally be "right": about 1.5 displaced
people,
and two third of those probably emigrating abroad, but Yugoslavs (!),
all
together, including Shiptars, Serbs, Romes, Hungarians etc.
But this is not whole explanation. Let us see about the
"plans".
1. When the bombing started there were strong confrontations
between Yu-army and KLA which was, quickly, just a couple of days
after,
pushed to the Albanian border. This did not make many people hesitate
what
to do in the circumstances.
2. KLA was encouraging, pushing, and forcing the population to
leave the country. They even distributed red leaflets (like Albanian
flag)
instructing the population to go to NATO refugees camps over the
borders.
Brutal violence and even killing were used, when "needed".
3. NATO, accompanied by journalists, NGOs etc, was announcing
reception of the refugees. Many of the refugees were hoping to finish
somewhere in California. They were filmed by the accompanying TV crews
marching along slippery hills of Kosovo covered with massive snow
(although
there was no snow in Kosovo at that time of the year).
4. In the regions of fighting Yu-army facilitated transport of
refugees, which they found reasonable since they probably believed that
massive exodus could stop the bombing.
5. Yu-army could have also believed that it had all strategic
reasons to get rid (in quite brutal military way) of potential KLA
fighters
behind its back and was on the search for KLA members, which further
scared
the population.
6. Rare paramilitary actions from the side of the Serbs were
reported which could have further encouraged the population to go.
So, probably (just probably though) there was a plan, or plans:
Serbian army believed that massive exodus would: 1. stop the bombing,
2.
destabilize NATO alliance, 3. bring the sides to the negotiation table,
and
4. permit the return of only Shiptars i.e. non-KLA population,
excluding
immigrants from Albania and KLA members.
NATO planned (not probably but surely), as declared, to win
militarily, which required: 1. that all Albanians abandon Kosovo
(temporarily), 2. carpet-bombing of Yugoslav army in Kosovo, and 3.
repetition of "Hiroshima" strategy, destruction of one or more Serbian
cities, which would force Serbian army to surrender.
As we know now, both "plans" did not work. The moment is
difficult
since European politicians have to justify something they cannot
justify,
and which could be "justified" only if the plan worked. Serbian position
is
considerably better since they can show that the population ran away in
even
bigger numbers from the regions (in Serbia proper) where only one
factor,
NATO bombing, was at work, without the Serbian army facilitating exodus,
and
without armed conflicts with KLA forces.
These are of course, speculations. Only sure thing which would
stand all
challenges is that nobody, just nobody - except pore population - did
not
sincerely want that the Kosovo Albanians stay at their homes, and this
was
clearly shown by the NATO, International community behaviour, KLA,
Serbian
forces, journalists, NGOs. Why should they stay then?
Justifying the exodus will mean now showing that the situation
in
Kosovo prior to the bombing justified bombing. The OSCE Report from
October
last year is a document of reference. Unfortunately, the vagueness of
the
OSCE Report, particularly of its first part (which speaks of what
happened
before bombing), does not support the argument. In addition, the Racak
Incident, being the main and only "clear-cut" Serbian crime cited in
the
first part of the Report, is shown now to be a set-up. This is
disappointing. Since the Racak Incident proved to be no "incident",
European
politicians are trying a well-known maneuver, "ignoratio elenhi" - to
change the thesis, forgetting Racak Incident and referring only to the
Serbian "plan" to chase all Albanians over the frontiers. Unfortunately
this leads even further into the logical labyrinth - they are namely
trying
to use a typical "post hoc ergo ante hoc" argument i.e., maintain that
the
result produced its cause. "Since there were 1.5 million refugees, to
achieve this the Serbs must have had a plan", meaning they were bombed
because of that "plan". You are puzzled? They are confident. To prove
the
thesis, requires not only a political skills of excellence, but also
quite
vicious mind, and they do not doubt in their capacities. If the idea is
to
justify NATO bombing of Yugoslavia then, the justification had to be
look
for in post hoc events since, they certainly know that, there is not
much to
find in propter hoc events. Understood?
We will take the liberty of reminding Herr Scharping that the
humanitarian situation in Kosovo pre NATO bombing was taken by the
"international community" to be critical and this was the basis for the
decision to break International Law (not entirely though, some articles
were spared), go far beyond the humanitarian objectives (in order to
achieve a "final solution") and impose the Rambouillet ultimatum, which
meant (Annex B) partial occupation of Yugoslavia by the NATO forces
and, in
two years, the secession of Kosovo, following a referendum of Kosovo
Albanians. Responsible for the critical humanitarian situation were, we
are
told, Serbian police forces and militaries. We are not told that those
Serbian forces were there to oppose imported Albanian armed secession,
the
long process which for more then half of the century could not attract
the
rural Albanian population of Kosovo. This was possible (Western
intelligence help included) only when illegal immigration from
neighboring
Albania reached a critical level, when Pristina university produced
enough
indoctrinated intellectuals who become the main revolutionary force,
and
finally, when the vertical hierarchy of the communist regime dissolved.
As
in the other regions of Yugoslavia, local powers understood well that
their
ambitions could only be achieved inside some previously imposed
frontiers.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was a problem, being very unhomogeneous. The
relative
Muslim majority had to be helped by the International community to
impose
its power and, following ethnic cleansing, achieve a homogenous
territory.
Kosovo was in that respect a simple problem. For whom, we may
ask.
The results of that turmoil will tell us. If we would, in the end, want
to
know what a politician thinks, not listening to what he declares but
seeing
what he does, we would have to conclude the following. It was desired
that
the Serbs be ethnically cleansed and ethnic (and by definition unjust)
states be established in the Balkans, that the NATO forces establish a
stronghold in the Balkans (the two military bases, in Macedonia and
Kosovo,
are not meant as a balance for dangerous Serbia, of course, but have a
much
more ambitious purpose). Etc. Who was responsible for the humanitarian
crisis in Kosovo was not really important, as clearly the best possible
solution for those people living there was not to be even considered.
That
was not the real problem for our politicians, they knew what they were
doing
and everything was, no doubt, done with a clear objective in mind. They
will
show us, one day, what is it; I do not worry about this.
What troubles me is that we, staying quiet, let them believe
that we not only do not see what they do, but also do not hear what they
say. They might even wary how the demagogy is going to work if we do not
listen to them. Let us reassure them that we did not overhear that they
shamelessly, in their power delirium, misuse what is sacred - the wisdom
of
antiquity. Unfortunately, this time this is not a coherent political
game.
The power-corrupted are finally exposing to us their weak points: their
simple and miserable ignorance, and this is, WE know it, a dangerous
thing.
I was told a long time ago that in some ancient times, when
people
discovered the power of syllogism of Aristotle, it was permitted to
execute
those who pretended to be wise but did not know syllogism. Indeed, here
we
just had one, fallacious, syllogism.
J'accuse? Non. Pourtant, J'attend...
(http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/NewsRoundUp)
“OPERATION HORSESHOE”: KOSOVO FORGERY
REVEALED
The eminent German daily Frankfuhrter Rundshau reported a fortnight ago
that Bulgarian and
German secret services had forged a “secret Serb plan” that
was used as
justification for NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia last year
(“General bezweifelt Existenz
des serbischen Kriegskonzepts,” March 21). The plan, code-named
“Horseshoe,” purported to prove that the Serbs had planned
ethnic cleansing of
Kosovo Albanians well before the NATO bombing campaign. The German paper
quoted Heinz
Loquai, a retired Bundeswehr brigadier general, who says that the
“plan” was no
more than an intelligence assessment written in Sofia and subsequently
embellished in Bonn.
But during the NATO war “Horseshoe” was given top billing.
It was first revealed
by Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, on April 6 last year,
almost two weeks after
bombing had started. Two days later, on April 8, 1999 it was mentioned
again at a press
conference by the Bundeswehr Inspector-General Hans-Peter von Kierbach.
The general claimed
that this document provided evidence that Belgrade wanted to liquidate
the KLA “even if
that would mean extermination of the Albanians in Kosovo.”
Then “Horseshoe” crossed the Atlantic. On April 15 it was
invoked by William Pfaff
in the International Herald Tribune in support of his claim that it
would be “immoral”
to stop the bombing. Pfaff treated “Horseshoe” as a given
fact:
Mr. Milosevic and his government are attempting to solve their Kosovo
problem by producing a
basic demographic change in the province through deporting its Albanian
population, the
overwhelming majority. According to German government sources, this
program for purging
Kosovo of its Albanian population was prepared at the end of last year
under the code name
“Horseshoe.” … Horseshoe was designed to produce a
permanent solution,
and was launched even before the Rambouillet discussions in February,
which the Serbian
leadership did not take seriously.
On April 24, 1999, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kostov also quoted the
“Horseshoe” to
justify the pending Bulgarian collaboration with NATO: “Operation
‘Horseshoe’ began on February 26 and aimed at two things: to
exterminate the KLA
and to turn Kosovo into a desert.” It was subsequently used by a
whole host of NATO
apologists, and most recently by State Department’s James Rubin
only two weeks ago.
But in Europe it is now common knowledge that Operation Horseshoe was
yet another Kosovo
Lie. On April 2 The Sunday Times of London followed the Rundschau story
up with a
comprehensive and conclusive report (“Serbian ethnic cleansing
scare was a fake, says
general,” by John Goetz in Berlin and Tom Walker):
Horseshoe - or "Potkova", as the Germans said it was known in Belgrade -
became a staple of
Nato briefings. It was presented as proof that President Slobodan
Milosevic of Yugoslavia had
long planned the expulsion of Albanians. James Rubin, the American state
department spokesman,
cited it only last week to justify Nato's bombardment. However, Heinz
Loquai, a retired brigadier
general, has claimed in a new book on the war that the plan was
fabricated from run-of-the-mill
Bulgarian intelligence reports. Loquai, who now works for the
Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has accused Rudolf Scharping, the German
defence minister, of
obscuring the origins of Operation Horseshoe. “The facts to
support its existence are at
best terribly meagre,” he told The Sunday Times. “I have
come to the conclusion
that no such operation ever existed. The criticism of the war, which had
grown into a fire that was
almost out of control, was completely extinguished by Operation
Horseshoe.”
Loquai claims that the German defense ministry turned a vague report
from Sofia into a "plan", and
even coined the name Horseshoe.
But this eagerness to embellish it in order to produce a convincing
forgery resulted in the
fundamental flaw: the Germans named the operation “Potkova,”
which is the
CROATIAN word for horseshoe. The Serbian for horseshoe is Potkovica. It
is a bit like claiming
that a secret IRA document was called “Operation
Londonderry” –
impossible by definition. “A state prosecutor would never think of
going to trial with the
amount of evidence available to the German defense ministry,” said
General Loquai. But
how about Carla Ponte? “Horseshoe” is now proven to be a
lie, but it may yet be
used to indict a few more Serbs by the “tribunal” at The
Hague.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
