======================================== 24. FEBRUARY 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY RECOGNITIONS OF BOSNIA, CROATIA ONLY AFTER SERB ISSUE IS RESOLVED N e w Y o r k, Feb. 23 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic has said the mutual recognitions of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Croatia were possible only after all outstanding issues concerning the positions of Serbs in these two former Yugoslav republics are resolved. The premature recognition of Bosnia by the European Union and the United States led to the civil war and such mistakes should not be repeated, Jovanovic said in an interview published in The New York Times on Thursday. If someone really wants to help speed up the peace process, then the sanctions against Yugoslavia should immediately be lifted, and mutual recognitions can follow only after the question of Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia is resolved, Jovanovic said. The recognition of Bosnia is meaningless because the country is torn apart, and chances for recognizing Croatia are lessened through the very undesired, harmful and inconstructive decision of Zagreb to cancel the mandate of the U.N. Protection Force, Jovanovic said. Jovanovic said Yugoslavia was against a new Serb-Croat war, but added that he was not saying that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would not answer using all available means in the event of an attack. Serbs in Krajina are in a position to defend themselves alone for some time and even to teach their attacker a lesson, he said. Speaking about the plan offered by the international 'Contact Group' for lifting the sanctions against Yugoslavia in exchange for the recognitions of the breakaway republics, The New York Times said Jovanovic's statement was the most open criticism of the plan and lately the strongest criticism of Croatia by Belgrade. Jovanovic said Serbs in Croatia were discriminated against, that they were being evicted from their apartments and dismissed from work. The daily said this had been confirmed to a certain degree also by foreign observers. That is why the question of Krajina should be resolved slowly, in order to secure that Serbs in Croatia are not exposed to further harassment, Jovanovic said. He said they should continue to be protected by the United Nations. YUGOSLAVIA IS OPEN TO POSSIBLE MUTUAL RECOGNITION WITH EX-YUGOSLAV REPUB LICS ONLY AFTER SERB ISSUE IS RESOLVED B r u s s e l s, Feb. 23 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Assistant Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic said Yugoslavia was open to possible mutual recognition with the former Yugoslav republics, but not before all problems resulting from their unilateral secession have been settled. 'Would it be logical to recognize Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is rejected by a significant part of its own population.' Jovanovic asked in an interview with the Brussels daily Soar on Thursday. Bosnian Serbs do not accept Bosnia-Herzegovina as an independent state and they have proclaimed their own state, the Bosnian Serb Republic, while Muslims in western Bosnia are engaged in a conflict with forces loyal to the Muslim Government in Sarajevo, Jovanovic said. A premature recognition would increase, rather than ease the tension, he said, adding that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was cautious not to repeat the mistakes made by the European Union. Jovanovic said the peace plan drafted by the international 'Contact Group' for Bosnia was a sound basis for negotiations among the confronted parties in Bosnia. The international community has come to the conclusion that President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic is a serious and unavoidable partner in efforts to restore peace, said Jovanovic. He said that it was necessary to recognize Yugoslavia's right of succession to the former Yugoslav federation. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a pillar of stability in the Balkans, is ready to develop regional economic relations with neighbouring countries on equal footing and to gradually include itself in the process of European integration, Jovanovic said. He warned that this did not mean Yugoslavia was prepared to bow to more and more conditions set to it. Jovanovic stressed the importance of lifting the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Yugoslavia and said that they were putting Yugoslavia into an awkward position. He said that, without strict impartiality, the future international conference on the former Yugoslavia would be condemned to failure. The European Union was the first to impose sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and perhaps now it has a chance to initiate a reverse process, Jovanovic said. SERB KRAJINA PRESIDENT MARTIC SENDS LETTER TO U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL K n i n, Feb. 23 (Tanjug) - Serb Krajina President Milan Martic has requested of the U.N. Security Council to set up a group of neutral experts who would make an objective in-depth analysis of the causes and consequences of the Krajina-Croatia conflict. Such an analysis and also other facts to be established by the experts, historians and jurists, would be of great and vital importance for decision-making in the Security Council, Martic said in the letter sent to Council President. Martic said Croatia had not been condemned for ethnic cleansing and mass killings even in Security Council statements. He said the Council had in that way violated all rules of international law and the spirit of the U.N. Charter, enabled Croatia to continue with its state terror against Serbs still living on its territory and to carry out preparations for new aggression on the Republic of Serb Krajina. Martic said the world community ignored the actual state of relations between Croatia and the Republic of Serb Krajina and pursued a wrong policy of awarding culprits and punishing victims. MUSLIM AUTHORITIES IN ORCHESTRATED CAMPAIGN AGAINST UNPROFOR B e l g r a d e, Feb. 23 (Tanjug) - UNPROFOR Spokesman in Bosnia Alexander Ivanko on Thursday accused the Muslim authorities in Sarajevo of conducting an organized campaign against the peacekeepers and obstructing their mission in Bosnia. There is an entire series of facts which indicate that just such a campaign against UNPROFOR is underway, Ivanko said. 'What started as irritating incidents became more and more harassing,' Ivanko said. Such a climate of constant attacks has become unacceptable, he told reporters in Sarajevo, as quoted by foreign agencies. UNPROFOR members are exposed to constant and orchestrated attacks from the Muslim side, UNPROFOR representatives said, giving several examples to substantiate their claims. Ivanko said the Muslim authorities had prevented two U.N. civil engineers, a Fin and a Briton, from passing to an UNPROFOR observer point near the town of Visoko north of Sarajevo. The U.N. members were forced to spend the night in a military camp, Ivanko said. Muslim police in the Muslim enclave of Gorazde in eastern Bosnia on Saturday captured UNPROFOR translator Goran Posvandzic, Ivanko said, who still has not been released despite UNPROFOR's efforts to step up his release. UNPROFOR Military Spokesman Gary Coward said Muslim authorities had limited movement to UNPROFOR members north of Tuzla and in eastern Bosnia and were preventing them from patrolling close to the separation lines. In parallel with such actions, Muslim media continue their campaign against UNPROFOR, U.N. Spokesmen said, explaining that the Sarajevo daily Vecernje Novine had printed a series of reports during the past week, accusing UNPROFOR of allegedly disclosing military secrets to Serbs. Ivanko refused to speculate about the reasons behind these actions by the Muslim authorities toward the peace force. NATO TRANSPORT PLANES LAND OUTSIDE TUZLA Z a g r e b, Feb. 23 (Tanjug) - Outside the northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla, NATO's large transport planes land to deliver arms to the Bosnian Muslim Army, it has been confirmed by eyewitness reports in a Zagreb weekly. The reporters of the Zagreb weekly Globus, published Thursdays, said they had seen for themselves that large-sized transport planes were landing at an airstrip near the village of Zivinice which is not under control of the UNPROFOR. Seen landing at Zivinice were the American-made C-130 aircraft, otherwise possessed by NATO countries. The 1,800-metre-long airstrip enables landings in daytime, not by night, when military equipment is dropped by parachutes, Globus reporters said. Globus quoted military analysts as saying that these flights must have been either organized or tacitly consented to by NATO. The U.S. is believed to have begun supplying arms to the Bosnian Muslims who are getting ready for offensives, one analyst said. Another analyst asserted these were Turkish aircraft which, escorted by NATO fighter planes, were bringing arms to the Bosnian Muslim Army. Globus said that other routes had also been used via ports and airports in Croatia to supply munitions to the Bosnian Muslims. The weekly added that, for the use of these routes, Croatia was charging certain percentages of arms or equipment. ========================================== 27. FEBRUARY 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY CROATIA DECIDED A YEAR AGO TO BANISH U.N. PEACEKEEPERS V u k o v a r, Feb. 24 (Tanjug) - A senior official of the UNPROFOR on Friday said he believed the Croatian authorities had decided to banish the U.N. peacekeepers a year ago. UNPROFOR Coordinator for Civilian Affairs in sector East Phillip Corwin said at a regular press briefing in Vukovar that he believed the decision had not been made recently. Ever since the decision was really made, Croatia has been producing a great many false information about UNPROFOR, Corwin said and added that not a single positive article had been published in Croatia about UNPROFOR in the past year. He said this was more than a mere coincidence, it was a strategy. Corwin said the Croatian authorities' decision was based on an incorrect assumption that UNPROFOR would be replaced by NATO forces. Corwin said a frontal war between Croats and Krajina Serbs was highly probable if UNPROFOR withdrew from the zone of separation between the two heavily armed sides. He said the final say in the matter concerning UNPROFOR's mandate would be with the U.N. Security Council, and added that he believed the decision would not be adopted earlier than a couple of days before March 31. It is unthinkable for UNPROFOR to stay in the territory of a state that does not want it, he said, adding that the international community was therefore exerting pressure on Croatia to change the decision on banishing UNPROFOR. Asked whether there was a possibility for UNPROFOR to leave the Croatian territory but stay in Serb Krajina, an idea that has been accepted by the Serb Krajina leadership, Corwin said that it was impossible because the U.N. had not recognized the Republic of Serb Krajina as an independent state. RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR: SANCTIONS FOR CROATIA IF IT ATTACKS SERBS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 25 (Tanjug) - Russian Ambassador to Zagreb Leonid Kerestedijanc has said sanctions could be imposed on Croatia if it attacked the Krajina Serbs. Saturday's issue of Belgrade daily Politika quoted Kerestedijanc as saying that Moscow would vote for sanctions against Croatia in case of an attack. Kerestedijanc said that the regulation of the Knin-Zagreb relations 'could continue only in the presence of the peacekeepers.' 'We can change something in the structure of the force but someone should help and guarantee the peace process,' Kerestedijanc said. Kerestedijanc said it was necessary to 'return to the Vance plan' which, he said, has been accepted by Knin, Belgrade and Zagreb. Politika quoted Kerestedijanc as saying he constantly has to correct those who 'in talks speak about the occupied areas and the occupiers.' 'People who have lived here for centuries cannot occupy their own homes and the land of their ancestors,' he said. U.N. REPORTS TENSION ALONG SERB KRAJINA-CROATIA LINE OF SEPARATION K n i n, Feb. 25 (Tanjug) - A U.N. Spokesman said Friday tension was mounting along the line of separation between Serb Krajina and Croatia. Alun Robert, Spokesman for the U.N. Protection Force in sector South, based in Knin, said Croatia was refusing to allow the deployment of more U.N. observers along the line of separation. Speaking at a press conference, Robert said the Croatian side was restricting UNPROFOR observers' movement in the area of the Croatian-controlled town of Gospic in the Lika region and was intensively training troops in the area. UNPROFOR has also noticed Croatian troop presence in the vicinity of the highway through the western Slavonija region which the U.N. force regards as an obstacle to its normal work and a threat to traffic safety, Robert said. SERB KRAJINA PREMIER: U.N. FORCE STATUS MUST BE SETTLED BEFORE TALKS K n i n, Feb. 26 (Tanjug) - Serb Krajina Prime Minister Borisav Mikelic said Sunday that talks with Croatia on all questions would be resumed the moment the United Nations settled the future status of the U.N. peacekeeping force. The Republic of Serb Krajina wants to remain under U.N. protection, Mikelic told Tanjug, explaining that tension had been mounting and the war option gaining ground since Croatia decided to deny further hospitality to the U.N. force after March 31. The people in the Republic of Serb Krajina want the U.N. Protection Force to stay, because they see it as a guarantor of the resumption of the negotiation process and the implementation of the economic accords signed with Croatia, said Mikelic. If the United Nations wants peace, then the organization and its members must react at once and discourage the war option rather than encourage it (with UNPROFOR's withdrawal), he said. The international community, however, has given no clear answer about renewing UNPROFOR's mandate nor has it taken any concrete steps, although it is being heard from all sides that the U.N. peacekeepers should stay on, said Mikelic. U.N. SPOKESMAN: BOSNIAN SERBS ARE IN USKOPLJE UNDER TRUCE TERMS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 25 (Tanjug) - A U.N. Spokesman in Sarajevo said Saturday the presence of Bosnian Serb liaison officers at the U.N. Force Command in the central Bosnian town of Uskoplje was legal. Spokesman for the UNPROFOR Gary Coward said the presence in Uskoplje of Bosnian Serb liaison officers was completely legal and in keeping with article 3 of the agreement for an absolute cessation of hostilities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The presence of the laision officers of the Bosnian Serb Republic in Uskoplje has prompted Muslim troops to blockade the UNPROFOR command in the town since Friday. Coward specified that Muslims had put up four barricades, paralyzing the UNPROFOR Command for southwestern Bosnia in Uskoplje and demanding the surrender of the Bosnian Serb officers before lifting the blockade. Coward specified that UNPROFOR had spotted helicopters over Zenica and Vares in central Bosnia, over Ribnica, Tuzla and Kladanj in the northeast and over Coralici in the northwest. BOSNIAN MUSLIMS HARASS U.N. TROOPS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 26 (Tanjug) - U.N. officials in Bosnia said Sunday the Muslim Government in Sarajevo was taking a tougher stance on the peacekeeping mission and restricting the movement of U.N. troops. The Reuter news agency quoted U.N. Spokesman lt.-col. Gary Coward as saying that Bosnian Muslims 'are certainly much bolder than they were before,' and that 'they apparently wish to change their relationship with the U.N.' The Muslim Sarajevo Government Army is restricting the movement of the peacekeepers, not allowing U.N. patrols near front lines in the northeast, Reuters said. Quoting numerous examples of Muslim harassment of U.N. troops, Reuters said that Muslims had been blocking British peacekeepers at their base near the town of Gornji Vakuf, central Bosnia, for three days, objecting to the presence of Bosnian Serbs liaison officers. Reuters said that the Bosnian Serb officers were at the U.N. base under the Bosnian Muslim-Serb ceasefire agreement, effective as of Jan. 1. The Bosnian Muslim Army are blocking also a road outside the central Bosnian town of Visoko, where Canadian peacekeepers are facing increasing harassment from the Muslims, Reuters said. The news agency added that, earlier this month, a Ukrainian U.N. colonel had been detained for several hours in the Muslim-held eastern Bosnian town of Gorazde. Reuters quoted U.N. officials and western diplomats to the effect that the Muslim Government's tougher stance on the peacekeepers reflected its growing confidence in its army and a desire to consolidate its power in the territory under its control. LONDON'S GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER SAYS NATO HELPS ARM BOSNIAN MUSLIMS L o n d o n, Feb. 25 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslims are secretly receiving arms via Tuzla airport, with NATO's help, the London Guardian newspaper said Saturday, quoting U.N. observers. The daily said that since Feb. 10, U.N. observers had spotted four clandestine flights over the northeastern Muslim-held town of Tuzla, made with NATO air support. The NATO Command has officially denied the U.N. officials' reports, saying it has no information to support their claims. The U.N. observers replied they were telling the truth and would not give in to pressure from NATO, but would continue to report everything they see, The Guardian said. The daily quoted the NATO Command as saying that the U.N. observers had been confused by civilian flights in nearby Serbia, and by NATO training flights. The U.N. officials, according to The Guardian, have dismissed the explanation as absurd and a smokescreen, since civilian flight corridors were nowhere near Bosnia and NATO had no training flights of propeller-driven planes. The Guardian said that a Norwegian U.N. helicopter pilot had spotted the first clandestine flight over Tuzla in the night of Feb. 10 and that it was made by a hercules C-130 cargo plane.The daily said that Muslim troops had fired at Norwegian U.N. troops when they tried to inspect the cargo of the plane that had landed at the Muslim-controlled part of the airport. The next flights were by propeller-driven cargo planes, escorted by fighter jets, on Feb. 12 and 17 and they were spotted by a British intelligence officer, The Guardian said. The most recent flight was spotted on Feb. 23. The daily said that U.N. analysts were convinced that the flights were secretly bringing weapons to the Bosnian Sarajevo Government Muslim Army, with NATO's help. This is undoubtedly the case, a U.N. official told The Guardian, but had little hope of a reaction from France and Great Britain, the strongest opponents of the exemption of the Bosnian Muslims from the U.N. ban on arms deliveries to the former Yugoslavia. LONDON DAILY: U.S. ORGANIZES CLANDESTINE FLIGHTS TO MUSLIM-HELD TUZLA L o n d o n, Feb. 26 (Tanjug) - The London Independent newspaper on Sunday quoted U.N. officials as saying the United States was behind the clandestine arming of the Bosnian Muslims via Tuzla airport. The Independent said the UNPROFOR Command was a hundred percent behind its observers who had reported spotting several planes land at the Muslim-held part of Tuzla airport in northeastern Bosnia in the past two weeks.The daily said the cargo planes had been on a clandestine mission of delivering high-tech weaponry to the Bosnian Muslims and that they had been escorted by NATO fighter jets. The Independent said NATO had ordered an investigation into the matter, and that NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes was expected to report the findings of the enquiry within the next 48 hours. British media had reported three unidentified night flights over Tuzla - on Feb. 10, 12 and 17, and The Independent added two more to the list - on Feb. 16 and 23. The daily quoted the UNPROFOR Command to the effect that the United States as the organizer of the flights had not sent its own planes to Tuzla, but had probably engaged for the purpose the services of Turkey, also a NATO member.The daily quoted UNPROFOR as saying that the clandestine arming of the Muslims was the result of the U.S. administration's desire to avoid having to push for the Muslims' actual exemption from the September 1991 U.N. ban on arms deliveries to the former Yugoslavia. The Independent newspaper quoted analysts as saying that Washington was trying to arm the Muslims in good time, preparatory to another flaring up of the war after UNPROFOR's withdrawal from Croatia. The daily said that the clandestine operation threatened to cause the most serious conflict within NATO yet, pitting the United States primarily against Great Britain and France, the countries with the largest number of peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. CROATIAN GENERAL - FORMER USTASHA Z a g r e b, Feb. 26 (Tanjug) - Croatian Army general and adviser in the Croatian Embassy in Sarajevo, Mate Sarlija, was during the second world war an officer in the army of the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a quisling creation of the nazi-fascist occupiers of Yugoslavia. Zagreb weekly Panorama portrayed in its latest issue gen. Sarlija as a hero of the 'patriotic war' and said that his real name is Nijaz Batlak, that he is a Croat born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and that he had defended his homeland in the second world war with the rank of sergeant major in the ustasha assault troops. Sarlija, who after 1945 fled Yugoslavia and found refuge in south America and the Middle East, did not want to speak for Panorama about his experiences as a 'soldier of fortune' during time spent outside Croatia. In 1991, a year after the Croatian Democratic Union party, headed by current Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, came to power in the first multy-party elections, Sarlija returned to Zagreb where he was personally met at the airport by Defense Minister Gojko Susak. In February 1992, even before the outbreak of the fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarlija went to Sarajevo to, as he said, 'organize the defense of the city.'In late October 1992, Sarlija was promoted to first brigadier in the Croatian Army and not long after received the rank of general. =========================================== 28. FEBRUARY 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY YUGOSLAV PREMIER: YUGOSLAVIA WORKS FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF CRISIS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic said Monday Yugoslavia's actions and efforts to date had shown it was unreservedly for a peaceful settlement of the Yugoslav crisis. Meeting with outgoing UNPROFOR Commander in the former Yugoslavia gen. Bertrand de Lapresle and his successor gen. Bernard Janvier, Kontic deplored the fact that Yugoslavia's efforts had not resulted in the lifting of sanctions. Gen. de Lapresle said that his one-year tour of duty in the former Yugoslavia had convinced him that the sanctions against the Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro had harmed the people most. The sanctions, can therefore be said, to have generated violence rather than peace, said de Lapresle. The talk brought to light the shared view that UNPROFOR's withdrawal from Croatia, as requested by the Zagreb regime, was conducive to an escalation of war in a broader region. Both sides in the Belgrade talks agreed that the present regular rote of UNPROFOR Commanders was being carried out at a delicate time in the Yugoslav crisis. It was also agreed that the feeling was gaining ground in the world community that ultimatums, sanctions and threats could not bring peace and freedom to the peoples in the former Yugoslav federation. Kontic said that the former Yugoslavia had been the initiator of UNPROFOR's deployment, had adopted the plan devised by U.N. Envoy Cyrus Vance for settling the Croatia-Serb Krajina dispute and had made a palpable contribution to its implementation. The Yugoslav federation has taken over and carried out a number of undertakings from the Vance plan although the peacekeeping operation is not in its territory, Kontic said. He said that the Yugoslav Government, itself grappling with economic difficulties caused by the sanctions, had given also considerable financial and logistic support to the U.N. peacekeeping mission. SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION BETWEEN YUGOSLAV ARMY AND UNPROFOR B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, lt.-gen. Blagoje Kovacevic on Monday received the former and new Commanders of the UNPROFOR lt.-gens. Bertrand de Lapresle and Bernard Janvier. It was mutually assessed that the cooperation between the Yugoslav Army and UNPROFOR had been successful over the past period. The statement said the talks set out that the Yugoslav Army, in keeping with the state leadership's policy, had contributed remarkably to the efforts for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CROATIAN DECISION PART OF SCENARIO B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Croatia's decision to deny further hospitality to U.N. peacekeepers threatens peace in the U.N. Protected Area and is part of a scenario, rather than a unilateral move, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic said Monday. Jovanovic told reporters that the Vance plan, under which U.N. Protection Force troops have been deployed in the Republic of Serb Krajina and Croatia, was a binding document which could not be placed in question by unilateral moves of its signatories, which he said Croatia had in fact done. 'It (Croatia) should now either invalidate or formally revoke the decision,' Jovanovic told the press during a recess in a Federal Parliament session. Asked to comment a statement of a Croatian general who boasted on Sunday that Croatia would 'pound' the Montenegrin coastal town of Herceg Novi from the disputed Prevlaka peninsula, Jovanovic said he had not heard of the statement. He, however, stressed that he would not advise anyone to test the readiness and strength of Yugoslavia to defend its own territory. The issue of Prevlaka is part of very sensitive relations and it would not be good for any side lightly and irresponsibly to play with it, Jovanovic said. 'I do not believe that the Croatian side will play with that fire. It played with it three to four years ago, and a hot reckoning followed. I believe it will not happen again,' the Yugoslav Foreign Minister said. 'Prevlaka is not the same as Krajina. It (Prevlaka) has been placed under the protection of UNPROFOR under a special U.N. Security Council decision based on the well-known Cosic-Tudjman (Yugoslav-Croatian) agreement,' Jovanovic said. YUGOSLAVIA'S ROLE IN PEACE PROCESS CALLS FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS L o n d o n, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Assistant Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic stated Monday Yugoslavia's readiness to continue to further constructively participate in the peace process, but also the necessity for its equal treatment as the international community's recognized partner. Recognition of such Yugoslavia's status means also the lifting of sanctions, said Jovanovic during talks with assistant undersecretary for European affairs at the Foreign Office Anthony Richardson. Jovanovic said his British counter-part pointed out his Government's concern over the slowdown in the peace process and the danger inherent in Croatia's decision to deny further hospitality to UNPROFOR after March 31. Jovanovic and Richardson agreed incentives should be provided to the ongoing contacts between the British and Yugoslav businessmen. Facilitating visa issuing and travel for the two countries' citizens were also discussed. YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT NEEDS INDEPENDENT MEDIA B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic said Monday the Government needs independent media and that such a stand has never been questioned. Jovanovic told a federal Parliament session that as regards the daily Borba this was not an instance of strangling this Belgrade newspaper, but a matter of clearing up an ownership dispute. YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL AGAINST TURNING HAGUE TRIBUNAL INTO POLITICAL TOOL B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - President of the Yugoslav Committee for War Crimes, professor Zoran Stojanovic has condemned the practice of political-ideological interpretation of the term 'war crime' and its political instrumentalization. 'The countries which have given consent in the Security Council to form an ad hoc international war crimes tribunal in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, do not agree that it shall become a standing institution of the international organization. This is sufficiently indicative of political reasons standing behind,' Stojanovic told Radio Yugoslavia on Monday. Commenting on the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, he said that such a beginning of the work of the tribunal can compromise what is substantially an acceptable idea on a standing international court. Perpetrators of war crimes should be punished most severely, but solely according to legal norms and criteria, said Stojanovic. About the demand that the U.N. member-countries should extradite those suspected of war crimes, Stojanovic recalled that the extradition of Yugoslav citizens to other countries was prohibited by relevant provisions in the Constitutions of Serbia and Montenegro (federal units of Yugoslavia). 'This provision is contained also in most constitutions of the other countries. Unless the constitution is changed, the extradition is simply not possible,' said Stojanovic. MINORITY MEMBERS IN YUGOSLAVIA HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS AS OTHER CITIZENS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Members of national minorities in Yugoslavia have equal rights as other citizens, Yugoslav Minister without Portfolio Margit Savovic said Monday.Savovic, who is in charge of human and minority rights, made the statement in a meeting with International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia Ambassador Kai Eide. The minority rights in Yugoslavia are in keeping with relevant norms of international law, Savovic said. She set out that the minorities in Yugoslavia were able fully to preserve and assert their national identity and that their educational, cultural and information activities were financed by the state. YUGOSLAV BANK TO OFFER FOREIGN INVESTORS TO FUND PROFITABLE PROJECTS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav National Bank will this spring submit to world financial institutions a list of Yugoslavia's major economic projects that foreign investors might find profitable to invest in. Mihailo Nikolic, advisor to the Yugoslav National Bank Governor, told Tanjug on Sunday that the decision was mainly aimed at 'queuing' even during the sanctions against Yugoslavia for investments of the International Monetary Fund and other institutions that would be carried out after the lifting of the sanctions. Nikolic said the National Bank already had at its disposal 150 expert projects from companies seeking an injection of domestic and foreign capital ranging from several hundred million dollars to several billion dollars. Nikolic said National Bank experts would out of this total make a list of top priority and most profitable projects, which would be submitted to foreign investors before the lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia. He said National Bank experts found most interesting a project by the Yugoslav Institute of General and Physical Chemistry on the production of organic mineral fertilizers based on the use of liquid waste, whose patent has been protected and declared classified. He said the projects had mostly been made in line with the world bank standards. Nikolic said preparations were underway for changing the current regulations on foreign investments and free zones with a view to boosting the capital inflow into Yugoslavia. He said Singapore's experience in attracting foreign capital was very interesting because it had enabled investors to complete all the necessary formalities and obtain information about the degree of the offered projects' profitability and risk in a single day and at a single place. MORE CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA by Tanjug's Diplomatic Editor Stevan Cordas B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Having realized that Yugoslavia has met all requests made in a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing the sanctions against it, some key international factors are now trying to add more conditions to the list in order to extend their duration. Careful reading of the text of the controversial U.N. Security Council resolution 757 imposing comprehensive sanctions against Yugoslavia on May 30, 1992, is again conducive to the crucial conclusion that the Security Council did not have a single solid argument to punish Yugoslavia as drastically as it did. Resolution 757 contains five conditions, or U.N. Security Council requests: - that all sides and all those engaged in Bosnia-Herzegovina immediately stop fighting. It is clear, of course, that the request did not apply to Yugoslavia but only to the three Bosnian warring sides. - that all forms of external interference in Bosnia stop immediately. - that all Bosnia's neighbours take immediate action to end any interference and to observe the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. As for Yugoslavia, these two requests are absurd, as Yugoslavia in its Parliament's declaration of April 27, 1992, took a very clear stand on the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and on the Bosnian civil war, proclaiming that it 'has no territorial aspirations against anybody in its surroundings.' The Yugoslav Parliament also declared that it 'remains strictly committed to the principle of non-use of force in settling any outstanding issues,' respecting 'the objectives and principles of the United Nations and CSCE documents.' The U.N. Security Council requests, if impartially considered, were in fact related primarily to Croatia, which has so far not stopped interfering in the Bosnian conflict. Croatia has so far failed to observe the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, with its regular troops having constantly been present on the Bosnian battlefront. - the fourth request is related to the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has said in a report to the Security Council that the last JNA soldier left Bosnia-Herzegovina on May 19, 1992, which was 11 days before the sanctions against Yugoslavia were imposed. - the fifth request refers to a disbanding and disarmament of all irregular forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Even a cursory analysis of the U.N. Security Council requests leads to the single conclusion - the advocates of the sanctions against Yugoslavia had two goals. The first goal was to have Belgrade pressurize the Bosnian Serbs to lay their arms down and resign themselves to living in an Islamic Bosnia. The second goal was to use the sanctions against Yugoslavia to cause chaos there and to use this chaos to overthrow the legal authorities. None of the goals has been accomplished and this is the sole reason why the sanctions persist. They are, in fact, directly linked with the Bosnian war. If the war was brought to an end, there would not be a single argument for the sanctions to remain. The four-month truce, which is currently in force throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina has shown the first signs that it could grow into lasting peace. Under these very circumstances, 'somebody' starts to intensively arm the Bosnian Muslims with a clear-cut aim to prolong the war and have the sanctions against Yugoslavia stay. GANIC: BOSNIAN MUSLIMS USE TRUCE FOR WAR PREPARATIONS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslims have been using the current truce to reinforce the army and make preparations for resumed war, Bosnian Muslim Vice President Ejup Ganic said on Monday. 'The army today, two months after the signing of an agreement (on a four-month cessation of hostilities), is still stronger and better organized,' said Ganic in an opening address at a session of the Muslim Assembly in Sarajevo. The Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA quoted Ganic as announcing that, as the Serb side 'respects force', there would be 'increasingly more force' on the Muslim side. Ganic recalled a large number of contacts between representatives of Bosnian Muslims and those of Islamic countries, Germany and the United States, and announced an even more aggressive appearance on the foreign policy scene aimed at exempting the Bosnian Muslims from the U.N. arms embargo. BOSNIAN MUSLIM ARMY COMMANDER ADMITS HIS TROOPS VIOLATE TRUCE B e l g r a d e, Feb. 27 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslim Army Commander Rasim Delic publicly admitted Monday that his troops were violating the current four-month truce in Bosnia.Delic said Muslims were attacking even from the western town of Bihac, which has been designated a 'safe haven' by the United Nations. Speaking at a session of the Muslim Parliament, Delic said that, when asked by the UNPROFOR Commander in Bosnia, gen. Rupert Smith, why the Muslims were attacking, he had replied that this was their way of fighting a war. 'I explained that attack is a form of defense and that the Muslim Army naturally chooses the most efficacious ways of fighting,' Muslim-controlled Radio Sarajevo quoted Delic as saying. Delic specified that the same principle applied to the Bihac pocket and accused UNPROFOR of not discharging its obligations, the Radio said. ============================================== 01. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY SANCTIONS DENY RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT N e w Y o r k, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic warned participants of the coming World Summit for Development of the devastating effects of the U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia and of the fact that they denied the right to development to an entire people. In a letter handed Tuesday to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali by Yugoslav U.N. Ambassador Dragomir Djokic, Kontic stated regret that Yugoslavia was being denied the right to participate in the summit to open Monday in Copenhagen under U.N. auspices. Sanctions are highly inhuman, especially when applied, as in the case of Yugoslavia, to achieve certain political goals of those whose impose them, the letter said. Kontic said that imposing sanctions has strained further the economic crisis in Yugoslavia, invited a drop in employment, production and living standard, and brought a large portion of the population to the brink of starvation. The per capita gross national income in Yugoslavia fell in 1993 to a mere 1,163 dollars. About 700,000 of the work force of 4.5 million are now registered as unemployed, while many others were out of work as a direct result of sanctions, Kontic said. The letter, among other things, said that in January 1994, the average pay was only 26 dinars or the same amount in German marks, which bought only 43 litres of milk or 1.2 kilos of pork. The situation has somewhat improved after the introduction of the new dinar and curbing inflation, but living standard continued far below the level it recorded prior to the introduction of sanctions, said Kontic. Recalling the contribution of official Belgrade to the peace process, Kontic set out that Yugoslavia expected its reintegration into international life to enable it to apply the documents which would be adopted at the summit. This, he said, would be in the interest of not only Yugoslavia but would furthermore create global pre-conditions for elimination of accumulated social problems facing the world today, the letter of Yugoslav Prime Minister. RUSSIA, F.R. YUGOSLAVIA SIGN AGREEMENT ON MILITARY COOPERATION M o s c o w, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - The Defense Ministers of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Russia, Pavle Bulatovic and Pavel Grachev, here on Tuesday night signed an agreement on military cooperation between the two countries. The agreement, the details of which had not been presented to reporters, would take effect upon the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia by international community. Bulatovic and Grachev voiced content with the signing of this agreement. YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT: SANCTIONS, ESPECIALLY IN SPORTS, ARE SENSELESS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic on Tuesday thanked the International Olympic Committee for the support lent to the Yugoslav sports and said sanctions, especially those in sports, were senseless. 'We take your visit as a recognition to our peace policy and our stand that sanctions are totally meaningless, especially in activities such a sports,' Lilic said in a talk with IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. Samaranch, who heads an IOC delegation on a visit to Yugoslavia, said that only the lifting of the sanctions against Yugoslavia and the normalization of relations on the territory of the former Yugoslav federation could contribute to peace, a statement issued by the Yugoslav President's Office said. 'The policy of the IOC is a policy of peace and equality and our goals in this regard are the same,' Samaranch said. He recalled that IOC had defended the right of Yugoslav athletes to participate in sports events despite the comprehensive international sanctions and that it was still fighting for their equal role on the world family of sports. 'It is our sincere hope that we will be able to welcome a strong Yugoslav team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta next year. We have already done enough to this end, especially concerning team sports, in which your country is the strongest,' Samaranch said. Lilic said he hoped Yugoslavia would again have the opportunity to prove that it was a successful organizer of big international sports events, the statement said. MILOSEVIC THANKS SAMARANCH FOR SUPPORT LENT TO YUGOSLAV SPORTS B e l g r a d e, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia on Tuesday thanked International Olympic Committee Chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch on support lent to Yugoslavia's return to the international sports stage. Milosevic and Samaranch discussed the promotion of international cooperation in the domain of sports and the significance of sports for better understanding and closer ties among states and nations and their mutual acknowledgement, a statement released by the Presidential Office said. It was set out in the talks that Yugoslavia's return to the international sports stage, after an unjustified absence imposed on it by the international sanctions, was above all in the interest of world sports. IOC PRESIDENT SAY BRIGHTER FUTURE AWAITS YUGOSLAV ATHLETES B e l g r a d e, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - After easing and total lifting of sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia soon, brighter future awaited the Yugoslav sport which lived through two and a half years under them, said International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch Tuesday. IOC had from the outset been with the Yugoslav athletes, as it strived to prevent political manipulation in sport. We can never accept for athletes to be banned from participating in big international competitions, such as the Olympic Games, said Samaranch. We were very surprised by the U.N. Security Council decision to impose sanctions against the Yugoslav athletes, he said and recalled that the sanctions have been eased and that he personally believed they would, as he said, in late April be totally lifted. It was now most important to resolve the issues if Yugoslav football and waterpolo teams, who wish to return as soon as possible to big international competitions, said Samaranch. He added that in this the IOC enjoyed the support of the international swimming federation (FINA), which is, as he said, 100% behind the Yugoslavs. In the ensuing talk with Yugoslav and foreign reporters, Samaranch said a good course for Belgrade to host the olympics was that Yugoslavia was candidate to organize the summer Universiad and the Mediterranean games at the turn of the next century. U.N. OFFICIAL SAYS MUSLIM OFFENSIVE COMPELS SERB CIVILIANS TO FLEE B e l g r a d e, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - A Muslim offensive in central Bosnia has forced more than 350 Serb civilians, mostly children, women and old people, to flee their villages northwest of the town of Travnik, Spokesman for the UNHCR Kris Janowski said Tuesday. Serb refugees from Sisava, Mudrik, Rakita and other villages on Mt. Vlasic near Travnik have reached the Serb-held town of Skender Vakuf, according to foreign news agencies. Janowski said Serb civilians continued to flee before the Muslim offensive mounted last week. FRENCH LIBERATION: U.S. AIRCRAFT DELIVER ARMS TO BOSNIAN MUSLIMS P a r i s, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - The 'mysterious' aircraft which have for a month been landing in the utmost secrecy at the airport near the town of Tuzla in northeastern Bosnia have in all likelihood been delivering U.S. arms to the Bosnian Muslim Army, the Paris daily Liberation said on Tuesday. The daily said there was no other explanation for the total silence about the 'phantom' aircraft in NATO circles, in view of the fact that NATO Awacs radar aircraft were in charge of monitoring the 'no-fly' zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Representatives of U.N. peacekeepers have said that U.N. military observers trained to guide fighter planes from the ground have detected in the past month scores of helicopters, transport and fighter planes landing at Tuzla airport. An airman serving within the UNPROFOR was quoted by Liberation as saying the NATO explanation that its Awacs had been unable to confirm the U.N. reports was hardly likely. 'The NATO silence is just as mysterious as the allegedly unidentified aircraft,' the daily said. It said some U.N. officials were openly saying NATO was covering the U.S. operation of airlifting arms to the Bosnian Muslim Army. Liberation said 'the phantom planes could reportedly be Bosnian Muslim' since Muslims had 'twenty aircraft or so' according to western sources. The intensive air activity over Tuzla falls at a time of major Muslim troop movements on the ground, Liberation said. 'Scores of trucks heading for Tuzla have been seen in the past 15 days. The Muslim Army is totally reorganizing itself and its units are reinforcing their positions,' the daily said. NORWEGIAN U.N. PILOT SAYS U.S. SMUGGLES ARMS TO BOSNIAN MUSLIMS O s l o, Feb. 28 (Tanjug) - A Norwegian U.N. pilot was quoted Tuesday as saying that the United States was using Tuzla airport in northeastern Bosnia as a conduit for smuggling arms to the Muslims. The Norwegian daily Dagbladet quoted Major Erik Doken, Commander of a U.N. helicopter squad in Bosnia, as saying his trooper had been quoted in an official report as an eyewitness to the landing at Tuzla airport of what looked like a U.S. Hercules 130 cargo plane. The suspicious flights were first spotted in mid-Februry but their mission was not immediately clear. A fuller report followed from a higher place. The British Guardian newspaper, quoted by Dagbladet, said civilians serving with UNPROFOR were bearing up under pressure, fearing that all their reports in the future might be doubted. A U.N. source has confirmed that a secret U.S. mission was supplying the Bosnian Muslims with arms. The Norwegian daily wrote also that the United States had been insisting on exempting the Bosnian Muslims from a September 1991 U.N. ban on arms sales to the former Yugoslavia.