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================================================= 02. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY MILOSEVIC: YUGOSLAVIA FAVOURS BOSNIA TALKS BASED ON CONTACT GROUP PLAN B e l g r a d e, March 1 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic said Wednesday that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia urged for the negotiating process on Bosnia to resume as soon as possible and successfully end on the basis of the solutions in the peace plan of the Contact Group which Yugoslavia has earlier upheld. Milosevic said this during conference with the senior officials of the Foreign Ministries of Great Britain, France and Germany, with whom he discussed 'steps to be taken towards securing positive development in the peace process,' a statement from President Milosevic's office said. 'Undoubtedly, the path towards stable peace and political settlement to the crisis led through essential steps to be taken by the international community, primarily by lifting sanctions, as well as by creating the conditions for the resumption of the negotiating process in former Bosnia-Herzegovina and the negotiations between Knin and Zagreb, as a way towards reaching political solution,' the statement said. YUGOSLAV DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS HIS RUSSIAN VISIT USEFUL M o s c o w, March 1 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic on Wednesday appraised his visit to Russia as useful and significant for reiterating Moscow's understanding of Yugoslavia's problems. Bulatovic told Yugoslav reporters in Moscow that Russia, as a U.N. Security Council member, would not unilaterally infringe U.N. resolutions. He denied certain western media speculations about the Russian-Yugoslav military cooperation agreement, stressing that 'this was not a military pact at all.' He pointed to the threats arising from a possible withdrawal of the UNPROFOR from the territory of former Yugoslavia, and in a situation when the Croatian and Muslim sides were arming themselves as the whole world could see, said he. Bulatovic added that Russian officials also knew that no one was undertaking anything as regards drastic violations of the U.N. embargo on arms deliveries to the areas of former Yugoslavia. YUGOSLAVIA-RUSSIA MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT AS DOCUMENT IN FAVOUR OF PEACE B e l g r a d e, March 1 (tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic on Wednesday stated that the Yugoslav-Russian military cooperation agreement was bolstering bilateral relations and representing a document in favour of regional peace and security. Jovanovic told Radio Yugoslavia that the agreement, signed in Moscow, would be enforced only upon the lifting of U.N. sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia in May, 1992. The sanctions constitute a formal impediment which Russia, just as other countries, has to observe, Jovanovic said adding that the 'Yugoslav side understands these reasons and does not insist upon infringements of sanctions.' Jovanovic said that the Yugoslav side 'also appraises that the readiness of an increasing number of countries to institutional cooperation with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia represents a pressure of sorts upon the international community toward the lifting of the sanctions. 'This is also a signal to the U.N. Security Council that a large number of countries are not ready for a longer-term extension of the application of sanctions to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,' said Jovanovic. UNPROFOR CONFIRMS AIRCRAFT SIGHTED OVER TUZLA B e l g r a d e, March 1 (Tanjug) - UNPROFOR Belgrade-based Spokesman Yuri Chizhyk on Wednesday confirmed that U.N. observers had more than once sighted unidentified aircraft over the airport in the Muslim-controlled northern Bosnian town of Tuzla. He said that UNPROFOR yet had no evidence that the aircraft were landing at the airport or moving in any shipments, because the Muslim authorities had barred U.N. observers access to the landing strip, making any further investigation impossible, Chizhyk told a news conference in Belgrade. Chizhyk said that NATO radars had not detected the aircraft sighted by U.N. observers over Tuzla airport in February. Western media said the aircraft were supplying arms to Bosnian Muslims in violation of a U.N. ban on arms deliveries to former Yugoslavia. Precise identification of all flights, said Chizhyk, would be possible only after UNPROFOR installed new equipment at Tuzla airport. Aleksandar Ivanko, Sarajevo-based UNPROFOR Spokesman, confirmed that U.N. vehicles were frequently blocked on roads around the Muslim-controlled central Bosnian towns of Gornji Vakuf and Bugojno. UNPROFOR representatives suspect that roads had been blocked on orders from Sarajevo, but the Sarajevo Muslim authorities asserted that the orders were coming from the local-level bodies. U.N. REPORTS MORE FLIGHTS OVER BOSNIAN MUSLIM AIRFIELDS B e l g r a d e, March 1 (Tanjug) - A U.N. Spokesman said Wednesday that U.N. observers had spotted more flights by light aircraft over Muslim-held airstrips in northeastern and central Bosnia. 'Overnight there were further reports of fixed-wing flights in the area of the Tuzla highway strip (in northern Bosnia),' the Reuter news agency quoted UNPROFOR Spokesman lt.-col. Gary Coward as saying in Sarajevo. Coward said U.N. ground observers had also sighted at least one plane in the area of the airstrip at Visoko, 40 km northwest of Sarajevo.Reuters quoted U.N. sources to the effect that the Muslim Army had managed to build a gravel airstrip at Visoko. The sources were quoted as saying that Muslims had in the past weeks significantly increased their use of helicopters, possibly for supplying troops in their eastern towns or conducting training missions. 'We know that there are aircraft and helicopters flying over Bosnia and they are apparently carrying something besides bananas or candy bars that is to say, arms,' French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was quoted by Reuters as saying in Paris on Wednesday. NEW YORK TIMES: NATO-U.N. DISPUTE OVER PLANES AT TUZLA AIRPORT N e w Y o r k, March 1 (Tanjug) - Relations between the United Nations and NATO have been exacerbated by an ongoing controversy about suspect planes at Tuzla airport, according to The New York Times. The paper said Wednesday that U.N. observers' open suspicion that the Bosnian Muslims were being armed via Tuzla airport and that NATO was concealing facts in the matter had done nothing to improve relations, strained over differences in approach to the Bosnian war. A report by a U.S. officer in NATO's south command in Naples, quoted by The New York Times, said that the flights over Muslim-held Tuzla in the northeast had been either regular NATO patrol flights or commercial flights in approved corridors in Serbian air space. The report has enraged U.N. officials, the daily said. The idea that trained officers might mistake low-flying cargo planes over Tuzla for commercial planes flying at 35,000 feet in Serbian airspace is ridiculous and insulting, to say the least, The New York Times quoted a ranking U.N. official as saying. The daily said that U.N. observers had reported spotting C-130 cargo planes escorted by fighter jets over Tuzla on several occasions in February. Planes of this type are used by the U.S. and Turkish air forces, which gives ground for suspicion that they are carrying arms for the Bosnian Muslims, with NATO turning a blind eye to the operation, the daily said. With the United Nations depending on NATO's support in case of a pullout of the UNPROFOR from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, individual countries are trying to pour oil on the troubled waters, The New York Times said. As a result, there is a growing number of public statements to the effect that nobody has actually seen planes land at Tuzla or knows where they came from, the paper said. NEO-NAZI MERCENARIES FIGHT IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA B e l g r a d e, March 1 (Tanjug) - More than one thousand extreme rightists from western Europe, mostly Germans, are fighting in the war-torn parts of the former Yugoslavia, German mercenary Eugen Kamerer told the Hamburg weekly Focus. Kamerer, 43, said he had been fighting for 18 months in a Croatian terrorist unit near the town of Mostar, southern Bosnia-Herzegovina. Kamerer said that the German mercenaries included former troops of the Bundeswehr and former German Democratic Republic's National People's Army. 'They all use fascist slogans... and they all want just one - to shoot and kill,' Kamerer said. He quoted the names of some German mercenaries he had met while fighting in the former Yugoslavia: 'Andreas of Dresden, former National People's Army lieutenant,' 'Marcus, sergeant from Nuremberg, who has deserted his post and is actually a coward, but has tortured Serb soldiers and killed one with an iron club,' 'Michael of Wolfratshausen,' and many others. Kamerer said that arms supply channels were functioning well and that Germany had not stopped delivering arms to the former Yugoslavia. The Kroacija Bus Company has an important role in supplying Bosnian Croats and Muslims with arms, Kamerer said and added that the company organized 180 trips from major German cities to the crisis region every week. Kamerer said that organizers from Croatian cultural clubs and Muslim charities were pulling strings of these jobs and that consuls with diplomatic status and German neo-nazis also participated in them. The Muslim 'Hanjar division' has close contacts with the Ingolstadt 'Werwolf' group, Kamerer said. Kamerer said he had come to Croatia after the German Intelligence Service contacted him as a former foreign legion soldier and recruited him to supply it with information as a mercenary in the Croatian Army for 4,000 German marks (about 2,800 dollars). ================================================ 03. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY YUGOSLAV RED CROSS OFFICIAL: CLAIMS ABOUT CAMPS IN YUGOSLAVIA UNTRUE B e l g r a d e, March 2 (Tanjug) - No prison camps exist or have ever existed in Yugoslavia, Head of the Yugoslav Red Cross Missing Persons Department Branko Popovic has said. In an interview published in the Belgrade daily Politika on Thursday, Popovic denied allegations of the forming of such camps by Head of the U.N. Special Commission for Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia Manfred Novak and said that Yugoslavia only had 33 refugee centers. Novak told the Zagreb daily Vecernji List in an interview that Yugoslav authorities did not let him check statements by families of missing Croatians from the town of Vukovar that the missing persons had been taken to camps in the city of Nis and mines near the town of Aleksinac, Serbia. Popovic said that over the past two years, Yugoslavia had repeatedly communicated a list with the names of 999 missing Serbs and other Yugoslav citizens to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Croatian Government officials, but that it had never received any reply. Secretary of the Red Cross in Nis Stojan Prokopovic said that 400 Croatian guard troops had been detained in the Nis prison between late 1991 and February 1992, but that they had been exchanged in the village of Nemetin near the town of Osijek in the summer of 1992, when in an 'all-for-all' exchange, 722 persons crossed into Croatia and only 250 others into Yugoslavia. Novak's statements are surprising, because the story about prison camps ended for Yugoslavia in August 1992, when representatives of international organizations toured the sites that had been marked as camps and saw for themselves that such allegations were untrue, Politika said. ================================================= 06. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY CROATIA JUSTICE MINISTER RESIGNS Z a g r e b, March 4 (Tanjug) - Croatia's Minister of Justice Ivica Crnic resigned on Friday in protest over totalitarian processes at home. He explained he was unwilling to participate in non-democratic and totalitarian processes that were jeopardizing the independent and autonomous judiciary in Croatia. Crnic said the judiciary was pushed to the margin to serve only 'as an ornament' displayed to convince the democratic world that 'Croatia is a state ruled by the law'. He was the only non-party politician in the Government of the Croatian Democratic Union, the party led by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Crnic resigned right after his candidates were not appointed judges of the supreme court of croatia. Crnic had begun to clash with the ruling party over the issue ofjudge appointments for the supreme organ that is supposed to warrant the independent character of Croatia's judiciary. Earlier last week, the Croatian branch of the Helsinki Human Rights Committee appraised that the appointments were illegal and unconstitutional for having been made upon party and political criteria. The Committee said the opposition was absent from the parliament session at which judges were appointed in what was only a single-party procedure. SECRET FLIGHTS OVER TUZLA BLAMED ON TURKEY L o n d o n, March 5 (Tanjug) - Turkey has been blamed for secret arms supplies for Bosnian Muslims at Tuzla airport, the London Sunday Times newspaper said on Sunday citing american central intelligence agency and western sources. The paper said the CIA and western intelligence services were confident that Turkey had organized the arms supply operations that were partly financed by Saudi Arabia. American intelligence officials, the Sunday Times said, notified Ankara about their suspicions based on a U.N. official's statement, but they were rejected. Since the air space over Tuzla has been under absolute control of NATO, which asserts that it has no data on secret flights, it were the Americans who had been believed to stand behind the secret arming of Bosnian Muslims because American planes were most active in the 'no fly' zone, said the Sunday Times. British intelligence analyses, published earlier, indicated that America had organized the flights over Tuzla not with its own but with the aircraft of another NATO member, Turkey. BOSNIAN SERBS TO PREVENT ARMING OF BOSNIAN MUSLIMS Z v o r n i k, March 5 (Tanjug) - A Bosnian Serb Army high-ranking official has said the Bosnian Serb Army will be forced to prevent a further arming of Bosnian Muslims via Tuzla airfield in northeastern Bosnia. Maj.-Gen. Milenko Zivanovic said on Sunday that the Bosnian Muslim side 'is getting ready for another offensive against the Bosnian Serb Republic rather than for a peaceful settlement.' Gen. Zivanovic said 'arms and military materiel shipments via Tuzla airfield' were 'no mystery' to the Bosnian Serb side. ================================================== 07. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY U.N., E.U. ENVOYS: YUGOSLAVIA KEEPS BORDER WITH BOSNIAN SERBS SEALED N e w Y o r k, March 6 (Tanjug) - International Mediators reported Monday to the U.N. Security Council that Yugoslavia had continued in February to honor its pledge to seal the border with Bosnian Serbs. David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg said in their report that there had been no record of the border being crossed by unauthorized goods during that month. The report further said there had been no record of helicopter flights from Yugoslavia over Bosnian Serb territory. The latest report said there had been individual smuggling attempts, which Yugoslav border and customs officials had efficiently prevented. The report confirms that Yugoslavia still satisfies the criteria for the suspension of sanctions, effective since early October 1994. The report went on to say that helicopter flights over Bosnia had gotten completely out of NATO's control, with nearly 4,000 helicopter violations of Bosnia's 'no-fly zone' registered since the zone was declared in 1992. SERBIAN GOVERNMENT - NEW MEASURES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE BUSINESS B e l g r a d e, March 6 (Tanjug) - The Serbian Government has announced for mid of March new legislation to stimulate the development of private enterpreneurship in this Yugoslav republic. Serbian Minister of Private Enterpreneurship Radoje Djukic has earlier said that this legislation will definitely establish the 'rules of the game' between the state and enterpreneurs which stimulate the development of private business, and illegal parallel economy into legal flows. In Serbia there are currently 400,000 private firms which employ almost a million people. One of the major novelties in this legislation is the enterpreneurs' right to deposit their foreign exchange funds with the National Bank of Yugoslavia for six months and obtain dinar countervalue in return. after half a year, they will be able to return these dinars and at the same time withdraw the entire deposited foreign exchange amount, but without interest. It is estimated that this was a legal novelty which would to a certain degree check the illegal black market exchange rate. It is envisaged that new measures would bring higher tax on property, which will this year be between six to eight times higher than the one paid last year. CROATIA, BOSNIAN MUSLIM-CROAT FEDERATION SET UP JOINT ARMY COMMAND Z a g r e b, March 6 (Tanjug) - Croatia and the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia signed here Monday an agreement to form a joint army command to coordinate their operations against the Serbs. Croatian Gen. Janko Bobetko was appointed chief of staff, with Gen. Rasim Delic and Gen. Tihomir Blaskic of the Muslim-Croat army making the innermost command staff. The setting up of the body gives official recognition to the war against the Bosnian Serbs and heralds a common effort against the Krajina Serbs. After the signing ceremony, Gen. Bobetko said the joint command was aimed at protecting the territorial integrity of the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its future confederation with Croatia. Croatia has had troops fighting in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina since the outbreak of civil war in early April 1992, which the U.N. has confirmed, and their number has been known to reach 50,000 at times. The generals said in Zagreb that the joint command already had its logistic and operational components, and it now remained to concentrate on the joint forces' technical improvement. The document has been signed although the binational federation has remained largely a dead letter, for which the two sides blame each other. DER SPIEGEL SAYS TURKEY, IRAN DELIVER ARMS TO BOSNIAN MUSLIMS B o n n, March 6 (Tanjug) - Turkey, Iran and possibly the U.S. stand behind the latest deliveries of arms to the Muslim Sarajevo Government Army, the German weekly Der Spiegel said Monday. The weekly said that the muslim organization of arms supply was improving and that a former sports airfield northwest of Sarajevo and one of Tuzla military airfield runways were being used for this purpose. This is the expanded part of the road running southeast of the northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla toward the town of Zvornik, which had been used as a reserve runway by the former Yugoslav People's Army's local air base. Der Spiegel quoted U.N. observers on the ground as saying that over the past three weeks, C-130 Hercules cargo planes had delivered plenty of new arms - multiple rocket launchers, 'Stinger' missiles and spare parts for the existing armament. The weekly said that the U.N. embargo on arms deliveries to all of the former Yugoslavia had thus been violated and that Turkey could not have participated in delivering sophisticated arms to the Bosnian Muslims without Washington's agreement. The weekly also said that U.S. military advisers had been training Muslim Sarajevo Government army officers since last fall. ======================================= 08. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY YUGOSLAV MINISTER: MINORITIES HAVE NO RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION B e l g r a d e, March 7 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Minister without portfolio Margit Savovic on Tuesday said minorities had no right to self-determination but this was precisely what some international factors were trying to impose on Yugoslavia. She said the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia still respected the laws on minority rights that were in force in the former Yugoslav federation. Savovic, who is in charge of human and minority rights, said this during talks with head of the Cabinet for Political History of the Strasbourg Social Science University Jean Nuzij. 'The creators of the so-called new world order hold human and minority rights as the formost issue when it serves their own interests. this is clearly perceptible in the latest (U.S.) State Department report on human rights in certain countries, which shows U.S. spheres of interest,' Savovic said. The problems in the territory of the former Yugoslavia result from the unprincipled attitude of the international community, said Savovic and added that the international community had treated differently those who were seceding from the former Yugoslav federation and those who trying to preserve it. LORD OWEN: QUESTION OF UNPROFOR MANDATE WILL SOON BE RESOLVED Z a g r e b, March 7 (Tanjug) - The Co-chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, Lord David Owen, Tuesday said the question of the mandate of the UNPROFOR would be resolved over the next few weeks after which other moves for settling the Yugoslav crisis would be discussed. Lord Owen and the other Co-chairman, Thorwald Stoltenberg, met in Zagreb with Hrvoje Sarinic, the head of the Croatian delegation in talks with the Republic of Serb Krajina. Owen expressed hope that progress would be made in the Croatia-Serb Krajina talks. He said that economic talks had slowed down due to the uncertainty over the UNPROFOR mandate. UNPROFOR WARNS ABOUT GROWING TENSION ON CROATIA-KRAJINA BORDER Z a g r e b, March 7 (Tanjug) - Tension grew on the lines of separation between the Croatian and Serb Krajina forces after Croatia's decision to deny further hospitality to the UNPROFOR, UNPROFOR Spokesman Michael Williams said on Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference in Zagreb, Williams voiced concern over the growing number of ceasefire violations. He said massive offensive actions had not been observed, which did not mean that there had been none because U.N. peacekeepers were limited in monitoring. SLOVENIA WANTS TO ESTABLISH RELATIONS WITH YUGOSLAVIA L j u b l j a n a, March 7 (Tanjug) - Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek said Tuesday that Slovenia might open a bureau in Yugoslavia in the near future. Drnovsek told a news conference in Ljubljana that an agreement was expected shortly with Yugoslavia on opening a Slovenian bureau in Belgrade. He said Slovenia was ready to deal with all questions outstanding with the Yugoslav Federation. He said that the establishment of relations would help resolve a number of practical issues, primarily in the social field. ============================================= 09. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY C O N T E N T S : BOUTROS-GHALI RECEIVES MEMORANDUM ON SUFFERINGS OF SERBS IN CROATIA N e w Y o r k, March 8 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Ambassador to U.N. Dragomir Djokic on Tuesday presented to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali a Memorandum on the sufferings and persecution of Serbs in Croatia. About 350,000 Serbs have been driven out of Croatia since 1991. The lengthy document states that Serbs have for centuries populated the territories which are now under U.N. protection (UNPAS). The ethnic territories of the Serb people have never in history been part of Croatia except at the time of 'The Independent State of Croatia', the fascist puppet-state during World War Two, the document says. It goes on to point out that the ethnic Serb territories were in 1945 incorporated into the administrative boundaries of Croatia. The document gives the history of the World-War-Two genocide against the Serb people within what are now 'internationally recognized borders of Croatia.' In death camps and other sites of mass murders alone, including Jasenovac and Jadovno, about 900,000 Serbs perished. A similar policy started being implemented when Croatian President Franjo Tudjman came to power in the spring of 1990, the Memorandum says. According to U.N. figures, 250,000 Serbs have been driven out of Croatia since 1991, but the actual figures stands at 350,000, the document says. It notes that Serbs have systematically been harassed, dismissed from jobs and evicted from homes and apartments. Since Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in the summer of 1991, 95 camps have been set up in Croatia, camps in which Serbs, both civilians and prisoners of war, have been tortured, raped and killed applying the same regime as the one applied in 'The Independent State of Croatia,' the Memorandum says. The document in detail describes the sites and details of the crimes committed against Serbs and gives figures about the number of Serbs driven out of towns by Croatian authorities. The document says that, among others, 30,000 Serbs have been driven out from Karlovac, 28,000 from Zadar, 20,000 from Sisak, 15,000 from Sibenik, and 10,000 from, each, Vinkovci, Slavonski Brod and Daruvar. According to figures of E.U. monitors, about 500 serbs are still daily evicted from their homes in Zagreb, the Memorandum says. Hundreds of Serb villages and nearly 200 churches have been plundered or destroyed, it adds. The document sets out that deputy head of the Croatian Bureau in Belgrade Dr.Dusan Bilandzic conceded at the meeting of the State Committee for the normalization of Croatian-Serbian relations on May 24, 1993 that 250,000 Serbs have been driven out of Croatia. Bilandzic added that such actions of Croatian authorities concealed an intimate wish for ethnic cleansing. The Memorandum quotes U.S. Ambassador in Zagreb Peter Galbraith as raising the question at the University of Zagreb on Sept. 30, 1992 about whether it was a coincidence or an unavoidable phenomenon of war that about 10,000 Serb homes had been blown up on the territory controlled by Croatian authorities. BOSNIAN SERB OFFICIAL: SERBS WILL BE READY FOR DECISIVE BATTLE B e l g r a d e, March 8 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb Parliament Speaker Momcilo Krajisnik said Wednesday that the setting up of a joint army command by Croatia and the Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation heralded a decisive battle which the Serbs would be ready for. 'It is to be expected that this could be the decisive, final battle, the last attack on the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Republic of Serb Krajina, which we must be ready for and counter with all means at our disposal,' Krajisnik told Bosnian Serb Radio and Television. He said that the Serb side was still trying to establish political dialogue in order to prevent a resumption of the conflict in the spring, but was not ignoring the threat made by the Muslims and Croats when they agreed Monday to form a joint army command. 'All information at our disposal clearly indicates that the Muslims are intensively arming themselves preparatory to an offensive against the Bosnian Serb Republic, but the Serbs are not sittingidle, either,' he said. Krajisnik said that, if the Muslims opted for war, the Serbs would no longer consider valid any of the U.N. Security Council resolutions. 'We have given the international community, the U.N. and our friends enough scope to find a peaceful settlement, we have agreed to certain compromises, made concessions. If, despite our peace offers, the enemy still wants war, the Serbs in the Bosnian Serb Republic are ready for the final battle,' Krajisnik said. BOSNIAN SERB ARMY ASSISTANT COMMANDER: CROAT-MUSLIM MILITARY AGREEMENT WAS EXPECTED B a n j a L u k a, March 8 (Tanjug) - The forming of a joint command of the Croatian army and the Bosnian Croat and Muslim forces was not unexpected, Bosnian Serb Army Assistant Commander Lt. General Milan Gvero said here Wednesday. Gen. Gvero said that 'although there are significant military and political differences between the Muslims and Croats, both sides still have a joint interest in persuing an anti-Serb orientation.' Gvero said this is only temporary and that the Bosnian Croat-Muslim clashes would be renewed because both sides publically urge a military option as the final solution to the conflict in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Gvero said that the increasingly fierce violations of the four-month ceasefire in Bosnia were crushing hopes that the agreement was an indication of a peaceful solution to the fighting in Bosnia. 'Although it was of primary importance both for the Croats and Muslims, and made at the expense of the Serbs, the former were responsible for the basic violations of the agreement. They use the period without heavy fighting to arm, equip and reorganize themselves and thus prepare to continue attacking in the spring,' Gvero said. He said that confirmation of such preparations were recent events at the Muslim-controlled Tuzla airport in northeast Bosnia. ============================================== 13. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY KRAJINA REMAINS OPEN FOR DISCUSSION ON PEACEFUL SOLUTION K n i n, March 12 (Tanjug) - Serb Krajina Foreign Minister Milan Babic said Sunday that Serb Krajina remained open for discussion on the peaceful settlement of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. The Serb Krajina news agency Iskra said Babic also welcomed the participation of all well-intentioned mediators, who cared about equitable and lasting peace in the region. Babic said that the U.S. participation in settling the Croatian-Serb Krajina crisis was extremely important. He said this after a meeting in Copenhagen on Sunday between U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, after which Tudjman announced he had agreed to let peacekeepers stay, despite the previous demand for their withdrawal. ======================================== 14. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY DRUG TRAFFICKING VIA YUGOSLAVIA ON DOWNTURN B e l g r a d e, March 13 (Tanjug) - The war in the former Yugoslavia and the sanctions against the successor state, the Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro, have reduced the narcotics flow to Western Europe via the Turkey-Bulgaria-Yugoslavia land route, the Yugoslav Government said in a document published on Monday. The document, which will be published as an official report by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, said the situation on the territory of the former Yugoslavia had led to the opening of new land routes that went across Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs will hold its 38th session in Vienna on March 14-23. Yugoslav experts, however, estimate that the economic blockade of Yugoslavia has reduced drug transit via Yugoslavia and opened alternative routes toward Western Europe only temporarily. The document said that the sanctions 'accounted for the suspension of the UNIDCP project of equipping mobile customs teams to combat illicit traffic in narcotic drugs,' and resulted in Yugoslavia's exclusion from the Interpol telecommunication network. This has made it very difficult for the Yugoslav authorities to suppress the illicit drug transports, the document said. For 30 years, the former Yugoslavia used to be a busy transit route for illicit drug trade, which its authorities very successfully combatted. The document said that ethnic Albanians from the South Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija were very active in the international illicit drug trade over the past ten years. 'Much of the proceeds from the illicit traffic are put towards purchasing arms and smuggling them into the F.R. of Yugoslavia, i.e. Kosovo and Metohija, for the purpose of seceding forcibly from the F.R. of Yugoslavia'. The document said in illustration that 'in the first half of 1988, 55 persons, mainly ethnic Albanians, were arrested in (the province's center of) Pristina,' and that 'about 40 Yugoslav citizens, mainly ethnic Albanians,' were arrested in Vienna also in 1988, on charges of illicit drug trade. More than 300 ethnic Albanians from Yugoslavia were arrested in Switzerland between 1991 and 1993, the document said and added that they had sold about 200 kg of heroin in Switzerland. MARTIC: KRAJINA DOES NOT ACCEPT CHANGE OF UNPROFOR MANDATE K n i n, March 13 (Tanjug) - Republic of Serb Krajina President Milan Martic on Monday opted for the U.N. peacekeepers' stay under an unchanged mandate. He said he was not opposed to cutting down the number of UNPROFOR troops on the ground. Croatian president Franjo Tudjman acted sensibly when he agreed with UNPROFOR's stay, Martic said in an interview with Knin Radio, commenting on the change of the Croatian decision to banish UNPROFOR after the expiry of its current six-month mandate on March 31. Martic said the Republic of Serb Krajina was not likely to agree with a possible re-deployment of the U.N. troops. He said he expected the Serb Krajina authorities to receive soon an official report on the proposed mandate and the composition of the peacekeeping troops. Martic said Serb Krajina had agreed in principle that UNPROFOR should stay, but added that the final decision on the matter would be made after all details of the proposal were studied. The Serb Krajina president said he had sent a letter to U.N. Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi, requesting answers to the questions of composition of the peacekeeping troops, their mandate and command. Martic said Serb Krajina demanded that official U.N. Security Council documents no longer include only Croatia's demands. Krajina Foreign Minister Milan Babic on Monday told reporters that all those who favour peace had received with relief the general agreement that the U.N. troops should stay in Serb Krajina and in the zone of separation with Croatia. Babic said the people of the Republic of Serb Krajina expected that the positive effects of the U.N. peacekeeping mission so far would not be annulled by any new, and possibly different, mandate. SERBS PROTEST TO UNICEF OVER KILLING OF TWO SERB GIRLS B e l g r a d e, March 13 (Tanjug) - The Bosnian Serb Ministry of Education, Science and Culture on Monday protested with the UNICEF over the death of two Serb girls killed by a Muslim sniper. The ministry also appealed to UNICEF to protect the innocent children. The Bosnian Muslim general staff on Monday admitted that a Muslim sniper had shot Milica Lalovic, 11, and Natasa Ucur, 9, in the Serb part of Sarajevo on March 11. 'In the name of hundreds of thousands of Serb school children, who responded emotionally to the news about the killings, we make this protest with a feeling of anger and bitterness and ask you to be on their side and protect them,' the Bosnian Serb ministry said. The letter of protest was sent to the UNICEF office in Zagreb, the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA said. The ministry appealed 'to the conscience of reasonable people around the world and to those who are willing and able to stop this madness and protect the innocent and unprotected.' The Muslim general staff described the killing of the two innocent girls as an 'accident' and did not as much as express regret. ================================================== 15. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY KRAJINA FOR EXTENSION OF UNCHANGED UNPROFOR MANDATE K n i n, March 14 (Tanjug)- Serb Krajina President Milan Martic on Tuesday informed U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that the Republic of Serb Krajina was for the extension of the mandate of UNPROFOR in an unchanged form. The Republic of Serb Krajina is ready to accept some corrections in the mandate of UNPROFOR troops, which expires on March 31, on condition the corrections are accepted by all signatories of the Vance plan, Martic said in a letter sent to Boutros-Ghali. UNPROFOR troops were deployed in Croatia and the Republic of Serb Krajina on the basis of the Vance plan, with the mandate to separate the warring sides until a political solution to their conflict and to do so without prejudicing that solution. The plan of U.N. mediator Cyrus Vance was signed by Belgrade and Zagreb after being first accepted by the Republic of Serb Krajina. Martic said in the letter to Boutros-Ghali that when it voted on a new resolution on the further engagement of U.N. peacekeepers, the U.N. must proceed from an equal status of both sides. He underscored that before any decision was taken, consultations would have to be held with the Republic of Serb Krajina negotiating team, so that peace would not be threatened by 'the adoption of a one-sided resolution which favours the Croatian interest.' ========================================== 16. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY ARMY OFFICERS ARRESTED UNDER SUSPICION OF ESPIONAGE B e l g r a d e, March 15 (Tanjug) - Three Yugoslav Army officers were arrested on March 11 on suspicion of having spied for the Croatian Intelligence Service, the Yugoslav Army General Staff and the Serbian Interior Ministry said in a joint statement late Wednesday. The statement said that 'a joint action by the Yugoslav Army's Security Service and the Serbian Interior Ministry's State Security Department severed the three Yugoslav Army officers' intelligence and espionage activities for the Republic of Croatia.' The statement said the three officers were in investigative detention in a Belgrade military court prison. They are under investigation for espionage under article 128 of the Law on Criminal Proceedings of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, it said. LE FIGARO ON MASS ARMING OF CROATIA AND BOSNIA P a r i s, March 15 (Tanjug) - The Croatian Army and the Bosnian Muslim Army have used the ceasefire in the former Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to arm themselves as never before, Paris daily Le Figaro said on Wednesday. Le Figaro quoted the head of 'a foreign spy network codenamed major Martin' as saying that every week 50-60 Russian-made Neva and Luna missiles, with a range of 60 km, are discretely being transported to Croatia, via Hungary. Le Figaro said that major Martin has 'the best spy network in all capitals of the former Yugoslav six-member federation.' Major Martin, who works for a country not involved in the Yugoslav conflict, says that the 'Croats have just ordered from Malta 10,000 beretta 92 fs handguns, the same quantity of Austrian-made Heckler, Koch and Glock automatic guns and 18,000 uniforms for the Army of the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia'. Major Martin says that the deadline for the deliveries is April 10. According to Le Figaro, the intelligence service of a neighbouring country 'is monitoring the route of a shipment from Odessa, Ukraine, to the Adriatic Sea.' The paper said that the shipment also contains MI-24 combat helicopters. Le Figaro said that reports from various sources show that the Croats had recently acquired sophisticated electronic devices which will enable the modernization of the t-55 and m-84 tanks, manufactured in Croatia. Le Figaro said that night-guidance and shooting systems mainly arrive from Germany, and spares from Singapore. These shipments pass through Germany, Hungary and Austria without any difficulty, the paper said adding that the 'corresponding documentation for the containers say that in question is 'cotton' officially destined for Albania. Le Figaro warned that foreign spy networks estimate a renewal of hostilities in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and that 'such a conclusion is indicated by the fact that the latest deliveries to the warring sides also contain significant quantities of medical supplies from Russia and Germany.' ===================================================== 17. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE E.U. SHOULD INITIATE LIFTING OF SANCTIONS B e l g r a d e, March 17 (Tanjug) - The European Union was the first to voice the introduction of sanctions against Yugoslavia, so it should now initiate their lifting, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic said in talks with Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias. Papoulias met with Milosevic in Belgrade on Friday on his way to a E.U. ministerial meeting. Milosevic and Papoulias exchanged views on the most important political issues relating to peace and stability in the region and about continuing the successful development of Serbia's and Yugoslavia's bilateral relations with Greece, said a statement released by the President's Cabinet. The two officials stressed the importance of continually promoting mutual relations and cooperation between the two countries, which has in the field of economy recorded an unremitting rise, as confirmation of a solid friendship, mutual understanding and closeness between the Serb and Greek peoples. The statement said it the two governments should finish off the activities undertaken to conclude necessary inter-state accords. Assistant Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic was present at the talks. YUGOSLAVIA HAS NO TERRITORIAL CLAIMS ON OTHER COUNTRIES B e l g r a d e, March 16 (Tanjug) - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Zoran Lilic has repeated that Yugoslavia has no territorial claims on neighbouring countries. In an interview with the Belgrade daily Ekspres Politika, Lilic said that he expected those countries to show equal respect of Yugoslavia's territorial integrity and independence. In case of a possible aggression, the Yugoslav Army is prepared and able to protect the Yugoslav borders, Lilic said. He said that, as the President of the Supreme Defense Council, he was in the position to assure himself of a high degree of combat readiness of the Yugoslav Army and of its ability to protect Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity at any moment. 'I have always stressed that there is no alternative to peace and that the F.R. of Yugoslavia is exposed to all forms of pressure and threats with the use of force except an open aggression,' the Yugoslav President said. The immediate lifting of all international sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia would provide the quickest way to a final solution of the crisis on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Lilic said. He said that, if it was to lift the sanctions against Yugoslavia and equally treat all warring sides, the international community would discourage all militant forces and create conditions for a peace agreement to be reached quickly. He said Yugoslavia could participate in a summit of leaders of former Yugoslav republics, to be held under the aegis of the international conference on the former Yugoslavia, if it was guaranteed absolute equality and an equal treatment. Lilic said Yugoslavia was consistent in its stand that its succession to the former Yugoslav federation was indisputable both in terms of the actual state of affairs and of international law norms. He said Yugoslavia had no territorial claims towards any former member of the Yugoslav federation and would recognize Croatia after a political agreement was reached between Croatia and the Republic of Serb Krajina, as envisaged under the plan of U.N. mediator Cyrus Vance, the only plan acknowledged by all international factors. Lilic said Croatia would also have 'to cease disputing the succession of the F.R. of Yugoslavia to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.' The Yugoslav President said Yugoslavia could recognize Bosnia-Herzegovina under similar conditions as those in the case of Croatia. 'That means a political agreement between the directly involved sides - which used to live in the former common state, broken up against the will of the Serb and Montenegrin peoples and an end to the denial of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's succession. I also have in mind the indispensability of an equal treatment of the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation and their identical rights,' Lilic said. The Yugoslav President said Yugoslavia was firm in its stand that the international 'Contact Group' plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina was a solid starting point for talks and hoped that that would soon be realized by the Bosnian Serb leadership in the interest of the Serbs in Bosnia and the Serb people as a whole. Lilic said the recent statement of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke on the linkage of the suspension of the sanctions against Yugoslavia also to the issue of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija was not conducive to the resolution of the crisis on the territory of the former Yugoslavia but to the spreading of that crisis to other parts of the Balkans. The Yugoslav President said the Holbrooke statement could be taken as well-meant provided the U.S. official was hinting that members of the Albanian national minority in Kosovo and Metohija might be influenced to exercise their rights through Serbia's institutions and to carry out their duties. Lilic reiterated that it was the U.S. administration's official position that Kosovo and Metohija is an inalienable part of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia, which he said 'it can only continue to be.' The disputed Adriatic peninsula of Prevlaka will remain under U.N. control until Yugoslavia and Croatia reach an agreement on the line of demarcation in the area, Yugoslav President said. He said that he was concerned over Croatia's stepped up 'gross violations of the demilitarized zone in the area of Prevlaka and attempts at prejudicing the final solution by means of unilateral measures.' President Lilic said the Prevlaka issue was of great significance for Yugoslav-Croatian relations and it would not be good for either side to resort to unilateral steps and seek a solution outside of the existing accord. MUSLIM COMMANDER WANTS WAR TO SPREAD TO ENTIRE BALKANS B e l g r a d e, March 16 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslim Army Commander Rasim Delic has said he wanted the war to spread from Bosnia to the entire Balkans, Muslim Sarajevo Radio reported Thursday. In an interview with the Muslim paper Oslobodjenje on Thursday, parts of which were quoted by Sarajevo Radio, Delic admitted that the Muslim Army had used the period of truce 'for additional training' of personnel and troops and 'transformation of inner organization.' Upon the expiry of the agreement on four-month cessation of hostilities, which took effect on January 1, 1995, 'war option is more certain than the possibility of establishing lasting peace,' Delic said. Speaking about risks of the war spreading, Delic said that 'those who speak about war spreading to the Balkan level exaggerate' but underscored that he personally would 'like this to happen.' ============================================ 20. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES AMERICAN CONGRESSMAN RICHARDSON B e l g r a d e, March 18 (Tanjug) - President of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic has received American Congressman William Richardson. In a comprehensive talk of some length, views were exchanged on the most significant questions relating to the political situation in the region, the Serbian President's Office announced on Saturday. EUROPEAN UNION REFUSES TO PROPOSE LIFTING OF ANTI-YUGOSLAV SAN CTIONS P a r i s, March 18 (Tanjug) - The E.U. Foreign Ministers on Saturday did not accept a request by President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic to launch an initiative for the lifting of the U.N. sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Belgian Foreign Minister Frank Vanderbroek said that the E.U. ministers at their two-day informal meeting in France had assessed on Saturday that Milosevic's request 'cannot be met.' Insisting on the international Contact Group's proposal according to which a partial suspension of the anti-Yugoslav sanctions was made conditional on a recognition of the former Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina within the boundaries they had had in the former Yugoslavia, Vanderbroek said that the ministers concluded that a chronology would have been changed by accepting the request to lift the sanctions first. MARTIC SKEPTICAL ABOUT CHANGE OF UNPROFOR MANDATE B a n j a L u k a, March 18 (Tanjug) - Serb Krajina President Milan Martic has said he does not believe that the UNPROFOR mandate in the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia will be changed. In an interview published in the Banja Luka Glas Srpski newspaper, Martic said it was only possible that the number of U.N. peacekeepers would be reduced and the Vance plan slightly altered. Martic said the redefining of the UNPROFOR mandate was only a bit of 'wishful thinking' on the part of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Martic said the Vance plan was a framework that would not be changed even it that was a condition for UNPROFOR to remain in the region. Martic said the Vance plan did not predjuge a political solution to the Croatia-Krajina issue, and said under the plan UNPROFOR was to stay in the region until the issue is resolved through political means. Martic said, 'the Vance plan has shown its qualities over the past three years and its alteration or renouncing would be an act of political blindness that would bring no good.' SERB KRAJINA, CROATIA AGREE TO OPEN BELGRADE-ZAGREB RAILWAY O k u c a n i, March 18 (Tanjug) - The Serb Krajina and Croatian economic commissions have agreed to open to traffic a section of the Belgrade-Zagreb railway through western Slavonija in mid-April, U.N. officials said Saturday. The UNPROFOR Command for Sector west said the agreement was reached at a meeting of the two commissions on the implementation of the economic agreement signed between the two sides in Zagreb on Dec. 2. 1994. The meeting was held behind closed doors at the Jordanian peacekeepers' base in Sector west, on Friday. WEST BOSNIA LEADER FIKRET ABDIC SAYS HE WILL PROCLAIM REPUBLIC N o v i S a d, March 17 (Tanjug) - Leader Fikret Abdic of the Muslim Autonomous Province of West Bosnia, which is not recognized by the Muslim authorities in Sarajevo, has said that a republic will be created on what is the Province's territory today. Abdic said in an interview to the Yugoslav daily Dnevnik of Novi Sad on Saturday that there was no room in West Bosnia for Islamic fundamentalism, which he equated with fascism. 'We are for a civic type of democracy, like the one in Europe,' Abdic said. 'The future republic of West Bosnia will absolutely be equal with the Bosnian Serb Republic and the (Bosnian Croat) Republic of Herceg-Bosnia,' said Abdic. 'International factors continue to treat (Alija) Izetbegovic as president of an integral, sovereign and indivisible Bosnia-Herzegovina. The misconception should be eliminated as soon as possible. That would prove to be more useful for all peoples on the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina,' Abdic stated. Abdic said Izetbegovic's Democratic Action Party was banned in West Bosnia because 'it is the party which caused the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.' 'We have nothing against other parties being formed in the future republic of West Bosnia. It is a democratic way. But, the Democratic Action Party will never act on its territory,' the West Bosnia leader said. CROATIA AGAIN SETTING CONDITIONS FOR REMAINING OF U.N. PEACEKE EPERS N e w Y o r k, March 17 (Tanjug) - Croatia's U.N. Ambassador Mario Nobilo threatened his country would not accede to U.N. peacekeepers'remaining unless U.N. Secretary General's report contained all the elements of the Tudjman-Gore accord. The negotiations were still in a very sensitive stage, and the 'catch' was in the details, said Nobilo, in response to the question why was Tudjman avoiding newsmen. Nobilo said it was agreed the UNPROFOR mandate in Croatia was terminated and that a whole new approach to peace operations in this former yugoslav republic should be adopted. The peace forces, in his view, should be reduced in numbers and should concentrate on three main things: control of Croatian borders so as to prevent arms deliveries, contribution to maintaining truce and assistence to 'reintegration' of Krajina into Croatia. Nobilo claims that during the talks with Boutros-Ghali and Madlene Albright it was agreed for Croatia to have the last say as to how many troops and from which countries should make up the U.N. forces, as well as where would they be deployed. In Nobilo's view, Croatia would not strongly insist on the figure of 5,000, should it turn out this number was inadequate. Nobilo claims that neither Knin (Krajina's center), nor Belgrade had the right of veto with regard to the composition and nature of the new mandate of the peace forces, but that, as he said, their cooperation would be welcome.