============================================ 21. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY PRESIDENT OF SERBIA: VANCE PLAN IS THE BEST B e l g r a d e, March 20 (Tanjug) - The Vance plan is so far the most significant and best international document, accepted in connection with the Yugoslav crisis, President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic stated on Monday. This plan has enabled not only a discontinuation of the war but also a successful development of the peace process between Knin and Zagreb, said Milosevic in a talk with Thorvald Stoltenberg, envoy of the U.N. Secretary General and Co-Chairman of the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic said that this development of the peace process made it possible to reach agreements on March 29 and December 2, 1994, on the cessation of all hostilities and the normalization of economic relations between Knin and Zagreb, said an announcement issued by the Serbian President's Office. Milosevic said that it was along this line that the remaining agreements should be continued and completed as regards the economic package and the holding of talks on a political settlement between Knin and Zagreb. As for the question of the further role and responsibility of the U.N. in the preservation of peace and materialization of a successful course of the peace process, the announcement said, it was mutually noted that a resumption of the negotiating process between Knin and Zagreb was very important, and in this domain the U.N. peacekeepers had a singular role. Milosevic stressed that since the enforcement of the Vance plan and in keeping with accords reached then, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has not been a participant in this negotiating process, because all the questions related exclusively to the Zagreb-Knin negotiations. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, although it is not a party in the negotiations, supports and helps the negotiating process, which it is also doing today, making it possible for Stoltenberg and his associates to meet with Serb Krajina President Milan Martic and his associates in Belgrade, the announcement said. Milosevic said he considered the meeting a positive step toward achieving an equal stand toward all sides to the conflict, which is of crucial importance also for the success of the U.N. peace operation. The announcement said that if the U.N. wanted to control the agreement on an end to hostilities between Knin and Zagreb, then it was necessary that it consult both Knin and Zagreb about its role in connection with their bilateral agreement. Milosevic set out that the U.N. was confirming its peaceful role only if it had an objective and unbiased stand toward the sides between which it was mediating, the statement said. Milosevic said the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would continue to contribute to the success of the peace process with its policy of peace. Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic also took part in the Milosevic-Stoltenberg talks. INTERNATIONAL MEDIATOR SAYS U.N. TROOPS IN CROATIA SHOULD BE A SSISTED B e l g r a d e, March 20 (Tanjug) - International mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg said Monday that the important issue now was how to meet the needs of U.N. troops in Croatia in the best possible way. This is the basic issue, along with the ceasefire agreement and the agreement on economic cooperation, Stoltenberg told reporters after a meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Stoltenberg said these were the most important issues to be taken care of in order to preserve peace in the region, which he said was the interest of all sides. THERE IS NO 'ALBANIAN QUESTION' IN YUGOSLAVIA N e w Y o r k, March 20 (Tanjug) - Ethnic Albanians in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have all minority rights and there is no 'Albanian question' to be solved, the Yugoslav Government said in a document, which Yugoslav Ambassador to the U.N. on monday handed over the Government's pro memoria to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The Yugoslav Government said that any form of support to ethnic Albanian secessionists in Serbia's southern Province of Kosovo and Metohija would encourage violation and abuse of the important postulates of international law. It said it would also endanger peace and stability in the Balkans and throughout Europe. A strong separatist movement has been active in Kosovo and Metohija in the past several decades, aiming to secede the Province from Serbia and Yugoslavia and join it to neighboring Albania. It is the legitimate rights of every state to protect its territorial integrity and sovereighty with all available means, the document said. It said about 400,000 Serbs and Montenegrins had been forcibly expelled from Kosovo and Metohija in the past 50 years, in an ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by ethnic Albanian separatists. Ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia enjoy all rights guaranteed under relevant international documents - from education and media in the albanian language to participation in the political life of the country, the Yugoslav Government said. It said that a part of the ethnic Albanian population in the Province, pressured by their separatist leaders, were refusing to be loyal to the state they live in and boycotting its institutions. Acting on instructions by their separatist leaders, Kosovo Albanians have massively abandoned their workposts and have sought asylum in western countries so as to create an impression that they were endangered and stripped of their rights at home, the Yugoslav Government said in the document. NEW MUSLIM OFFENSIVE IN VIOLATION OF BOSNIA CEASEFIRE B a n j a L u k a, March 20 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Muslim troops launched a strong offesnive at 4 a.m. local time on Monday on Bosnian Serb positions on the Mts. Vlasic and Majevica fronts in central and northeastern Bosnia, Bosnian Serb military sources said. UNPROFOR representatives in Bosnia have confirmed that the Muslims began the offensive and triggered heavy fighting on these fronts. Heavy fighting continues unabated in the afternoon hours, and there is hand-to-hand fighting in some parts of the Mt. Majevica front, the sources said. The Bosnian Serb Army Command said Serb fighters were firmly holding their defense lines, that there were wounded civilians, and that there was severe material damage. The General Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army said on Monday that the latest Muslim offensive, in violation of the ceasefire, was jeopardizing the peace process in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The General Staff said the international public had duly been informed about the preparations for the spring Muslim-Croat offensive, 'but had turned a deaf ear to these warnings.' 'On the contrary, the international community had provided direct support to the mentors of the Muslim-Croat coalition in their planned offensive,' the statement said. U.N. SPOKESMAN: MUSLIM OFFENSIVE A TERRIBLE BLOW TO BOSNIA TRUCE B e l g r a d e, March 20 (Tanjug) - UNPROFOR spokesman Lt.-Col. Gary Coward described the Muslim offensive launched early on Monday and the fighting that ensued as a terrible blow to the peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Coward said the events jeorpardized peace efforts, shattering the four-month ceasefire that could crumble before it was due to expire on April 30, the UPI reported from Sarajevo. REUTERS quoted an unnamed U.N. source in Sarajevo as saying 'this would appear to have all the hallmarks of a coordinated offensive action' by the Muslim army. REUTERS quoted other U.N. officials as saying the offensive had shattered the ceasefire and prompted a stiff Serb response. The sources said the U.N. had monitored over 2,000 Muslim troops advancing toward Mt Majevica on Sunday night. The officials confirmed earlier reports of at least 25 casualties among the Muslim Government troops in Sarajevo Monday morning. U.N. OFFICIAL: BOSNIAN MUSLIM OFFENSIVE JEOPARDIZES TRUCE IN B OSNIA N e w Y o r k, March 20 (Tanjug) - U.N. spokesman for peace operations Fred Eckhard said Monday that the latest Bosnian Muslim offensive in northeastern Bosnia, involving about 2,000 troops, was the most serious violation of the ceasefire so far. Eckhard said the offensive threathened to cause the ceasefire to crumble completely. Eckhard said the Bosnian Serb Army had returned fire, shelling army facilities in the Muslim-held town of Tuzla and wounding about 50 Bosnian Muslim soldiers. The number of the dead was not reported, he said. Eckhard quoted U.N. Special Envoy for the former Yugoslavia Yasushi Akashi as saying that he feared the truce signed the last day of December was close to crumble and appealed to the warring sides to refrain from offensive actions. MUSLIM ATTACKS MAKE PEACEKEEPERS LEAVE SOME POSITIONS AROUND G ORAZDE B i l e c a, March 20 (Tanjug) - U.N. peacekeepers left some positions around the eastern Bosnian town of Gorazde on Monday, following increasingly frequent Muslim attacks from the U.N.-designated 'safe area', Bosnian Serb sources said. The sources said that the cause for the peacekeepers' withdrawal were also mass movements of Muslim units from the Muslim-held town of Gorazde westward, toward the strategic town of Trnovo, south-southeast of Sarajevo. CROATIAN FORCES ATTACK U.N. TROOPS B e l g r a d e, March 20 (Tanjug) - A Canadian soldier received minor injuries when Croatian forces on Sunday opened fired at a UNPROFOR unit on the southern borders of the Republic of Serb Krajina, a U.N. Press Spokesman said in Zagreb on Monday. Spokesman Christopher Gunness said the incident occurred in an area which borders with the part of Bosnia that is controlled by forces of the Croatian Government and of the Bosnian Croat Croatian Defense Council, agencies reported. The Spokesman specified the Croatian forces had kept the UNPROFOR troops pinned down under machinegun and automatic rifle fire for an hour, including the U.N. Force Commander for Sector South, Gen. Rostislav Kotil. Gen. Kotil was approaching an observation post when his unit came under fire from Croat-controlled territory, 300 m away from the spot, Gunness said. Gen. Kotil said the fire was intensified and the Canadian soldier wounded when he tried to withdraw with his troops. Gen. Kotil and his escort returned safely after the attack stopped. UNPROFOR assessed the incident as a direct attack on UNPROFOR and lodged a strong protest with the Croatian Army. A representative of the Bosnian Croat Force in Mostar said he had no knowledge about the incident, and a Croatian Army representative in Zagreb denied that force was involved. TUDJMAN REVIVES IDEAS OF USTASHA WAR CRIMINAL LUBURIC Z a g r e b, March 20 (Tanjug) - Prominent Zagreb publicist Slavko Goldstajn said the idea on the 'reconciliation of all Croats,' revived by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, gave room for yet more suspicions that the present Croat state was fascist in nature. The idea was launched 30 years ago by ustasha war criminal Maks Luburic, Goldstajn said. In an interview to the Split Feral Tribune weekly on Monday, Goldstajn warned that the state was trying to pull ideological woolover the eyes of Croats, launching a debate about whether the ustasha were fascist or just 'radical nationalists.' The essential thing is that which is not being mentioned - that the ustasha were war criminals and that their state was a criminal state, Goldstajn said. Accusing President Tudjman and also Defense Minister Gojko Susak of flerting with the ustasha ideology and ustasha symbols, Goldstajn said that 80 percent of the Jews who had lived in the so-called Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) had been murdered, including many members of his own family. Goldstajn also told Feral Tribune about seeing the burned Serb village of Prkos which was torched in December 1941 by Croatian fascists. He said he remembered the fascists had the night before murdered 440 orthodox Serbs - elderly people, women and children. Goldstajn also commented the announcement that the Croatian Ministry of Science would finance the publication of a book, memoirs of war criminal Dide Kvaternik. Goldstajn said Kvaternik had been the chief organizer of all ratial and religious persecutions, all mass murders and ustasha crimes against the people - genocide - in 1941 and 1942. CROATIAN DAILY: IZETBEGOVIC USES CROATIA FOR ARMING FOR 'HOLY WAR' Z a g r e b, March 20 (Tanjug) - Leader of Sarajevo Muslim Government Alija Izetbegovic is using Croatia for arming for Islamic 'holy war' in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Croatian daily Slobodna Dalmacija claims Monday. Writing about Izetbegovic's recent visit to Bonn at the invitation of German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and his statements there, the daily noted that he had not abandoned the concept about a 'Muslimania', a Muslim state in Bosnia. The Croatian daily wrote that Izetbegovic needed the Muslim-Croat Federation only to the measure which would afford using Croatia and the Bosnian Croat-held territories to enable arming for 'holy war' and for a single Bosnia dominated by the Muslims, who were not only most numerous and would have the main say but would also play the only role. The Zagreb-based daily Vijesnik pointed out that the 'Federation (Muslim-Croat) was something that Izetbegovic had problems vocalizing.' In the German Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee 'Izetbegovic did not utter a single word about the Federation. Furthermore, he never mentioned the Croats, either,' the paper said. The Muslim leadership wants to retain the existing power and to politically totally to push the Croats to the margin, added Vjesnik. =============================================== 22. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER: GOVERNMENT NOT SUPPRESSING FREEDOM OF PRESS B e l g r a d e, March 21 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic, addressing the Yugoslav Parliament's Lower House in Belgrade on Tuesday, rejected allegations by opposition parties that the Yugoslav Government was suppressing the freedom of press. A group of 36 opposition Mps in the Chamber of Citizens of the Yugoslav bicameral Parliament has initiatied a no confidence vote in the Government, accusing it of having violated the consitution in the case of the Belgrade news publishing house Borba and of suppressing the freedom of press. Kontic said that, in the case of the 72-year-old daily Borba, the dispute concerned the question of ownership and that there was an attempt to raise it to a political level. Kontic said that the Federal Government had not violated the constitution, but had fulfilled its obligation ensuing from its constitutional powers and the provisions relating to the take-over of the founder's rights in Borba, which he described as a media house of special interest to the Yugoslav Federation. He said the Government urged the equality of all media, regardless of their founders and regardless of their party affiliation. KARADZIC URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO STOP MUSLIM OFFENSIVE B e l g r a d e, March 21 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic on Tuesday asked the international community to stop the Muslim offensive and warned that, should it fail, Bosnian Serbs would not accept any more ceasefires until they ended the war themselves. Karadzic told the British news agency REUTER that if Muslims continued to attack, that would mean that they wanted a military and not political resolving of the conflict. If that is so, then they will not get a single piece of Serb land other than that which they manage to take in the field, Karadzic said. And you may be sure that we shall defeat them, Karadzic told REUTERS. MUSLIM OFFENSIVE CONTINUES ON MOUNT VLASIC IN CENTRAL BOSNIA B a n j a l u k a, March 21 (Tanjug) - Muslims on Tuesday afternoon renewed attacks on Bosnian Serb positions on Mount Vlasic in central Bosnia-Herzegovina after a dawn offensive launched on Monday. Many casualties were reported on both sides, said the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA, quoting Serb Army sources. SRNA said four Serb soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded from Monday to Tuesday morning in fierce fighting on the Majevica mountain range in northeastern Bosnia for control over the Stolice communications tower. SERB KRAJINA PRESIDENT: WE ARE NOT OPPOSED TO CHANGING SIZE OF UNPROFOR B e l g r a d e, March 21 (Tanjug) - Serb Krajina President Milan Martic said Tuesday that the Republic of Serb Krajina is not opposed to changing the number of U.N. peacekeepers in the safe areas, but he demanded that their mandate remains the same. 'The Security Council should decide about the optimum size of the U.N. protection force,' martic said following the second round of talks with U.N. mediator Thorwald Stoltenberg in Belgrade. Martic said that the 12,000 peacekeepers currently deployed in Serb Krajina and Croatia 'could be reduced to 5,000, 6,000 or 7,000.' Martic said that UNPROFOR's size could be bigger or smaller than the current one, but should be such to 'enable it to secure peace along the separation lines.' Serb Krajina demands that UNPROFOR remains in its territory, Martic said and added that he had insisted on this during the first round of talks with Stoltenberg in Belgrade on Monday. 'We hope that the Security Council will objectively consider all positive aspects of the Vance plan and that the peacekeepers will remain in the territory of Serb Krajina with the same mandate, as a protection force,' Martic said. Martic said he had demanded from Stoltenberg that a Serb Krajina representative be present when the Security Council discusses this issue. Martic said that currently the Knin-Zagreb talks on the implementation of the Dec. 2 economic agreement had been frozen until UNPROFOR's mandate is resolved. 'If the Serb Krajina demand for an unchanged UNPROFOR mandate is met, i believe the talks will resume,' Martic said. Asked to comment the possibility of deploying UNPROFOR on the border between the Republic of Serb Krajina and the Bosnian Serb Republic, Martic said the Vance plan had empowered the peacekeepers to monitor the border between the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but underscored that 'regarding the control (of borders) - we cannot agree.' Stoltenberg said he would submit a report to the U.N. Secretary General about his talks in Belgrade and Zagreb. In Zagreb Stoltenbergmet on Monday evening with the Croatian President's Special Advisor, Hrvoje Sarinic. 'My task is in fact to find the common denominator for a plan which could be best implemented to the good of all the people in the region. I am looking for all the common points which could result in a new mandate for the U.N. troops,' Stoltenberg said. NEW YORK TIMES: BOSNIAN MUSLIMS BREAK TRUCE IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA N e w Y o r k, March 21 (Tanjug) - The New York Times daily said Tuesday that it seemed that Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina had definitely broken the truce that took effect on Jan. 1, more than a month before it was due to run out. The daily said Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic and Commander of the Bosnian Muslim Army Rasim Delic had announced last week that large scale fighting was inevitable if the Bosnian Serbs failed to accept the international 'Contact Group' plan for Bosnia. However, regardless of the outcome of the current offensive, it seems evident that the war in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina will enter its fourth year, the daily said. The daily said Muslim forces had been reinforced and rearmed during the ceasefire, despite the U.N. arms embargo for the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia, and considered themselves capable of regaining some of the 'lost' territory. The daily said that a coordinated Muslim-Croat offensive was in fact being prepared, after much talk about it, and that its objective was to sever the corridor linking Serb territories in the former Yugoslavia's breakaway republics of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina with Serbia. The New York Times said that in the light of the fact that a logic of war had prevailed, there was a danger of the local Serbs' attempt to capture the vulnerable Muslim eastern Bosnian enclaves of Gorazde, Srebrenica and Zepa. =============================================== 24. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY LORD OWEN: SITUATION IN BOSNIA IS VERY CONCERNING B e l g r a d e, March 23 (Tanjug) - The Co-Chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, Lord David Owen, Thursday said that the current situation in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina is 'very concerning.' Lord Owen described as 'good' talks he and the other Conference Co-Chairman Thorwald Stoltenberg had today in Belgrade with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on issues pertaining to the entire region and the war in Bosnia. Owen said that in Bosnia it is necessary to hold direct political talks, which have been suspended since July 1994. 'It is not good that over the past three years we have gotten used to the fact that people simultaneously wage a war and negotiate, but it would be even worse if they just fought and refused to talk,' Owen said. Owen said that the proposed Russian plan for the resolution of the Bosnian conflict and the latest French initiative represented 'a step forward,' but that much remained to be done. Commenting some initiatives for mutual recognition between the former Yugoslav republics, Owen said that 'in view of the current state of affairs, this will not happen neither fast nor easily, but this is the final goal.' He said that the best way to achieve this is through a dialogue. Thorwald Stoltenberg said he had sent a report to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali about the results of his talks with the representatives of the Republic of Serb Krajina and Croatia on the future mandate of the UNPROFOR and the UNPAS in Serb Krajina. He did not give the details of his report. SERBIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES U.S. OFFICIAL ON BOSNIA 'CONTACT GR OUP' B e l g r a d e, March 23 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic received Thursday the U.S.' representative to the 'five-state' Contact Group for Bosnia Robert Frasure. Milosevic and Frasure discussed ways and means for promoting the peace process, said a statement released from the Serbian President's Cabinet. An intensification of the efforts for eliminating the chief causes of the continuation of the crisis and the danger of the outbreak of fresh conflicts in the lands of the former Yugoslavia were also discussed, the statement said. CZECH REPUBLIC HOPEFUL OF SPEEDY LIFTING OF ANTI-YUGOSLAV SANC TIONS B e l g r a d e, March 23 (Tanjug) - The Czech Prime Minister's Special Advisor Jiri Veigl and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Radomir Sabel said Thursday they hoped that the U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia would soon be lifted. A Serbian Government statement quoted the Czech officials as saying in a meeting with Serbian Minister-Coordinator Dragan Tomic and Industry Minister Oskar Fodor that the Czech Republic also was suffering considerable losses through the sanctions. The two sides showed an interest in a speedy resumption of bilateral trade at the level that existed before the sanctions were imposed. The statement quoted the officials as saying that both sides were interested in projects in trade and the energy, transport, agricultural, textile, wood-processing and chemical industries. YUGOSLAV NATIONAL BANK WILL NOT 'FINANCE' INFLATION, SAYS GOVE RNOR B e l g r a d e, March 22 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav National Bank Governor Dragoslav Avramovic has said that this year, too, the National Bank will keep money supply under firm control. Speaking for Belgrade Television on Tuesday, Avramovic said restrictive measures limiting money supply had proved to be very successful over the past three months and had consolidated the entire Yugoslav economy. Avramovic said price rises had been checked and the strong pressure to change the rate of the dinar eliminited. This had resulted in a normalized situation on the Yugoslav market and satisfactory supply. In consequence, Avramovic said, panic of inflation had been removed as well as distrust in the dinar, which he said was strong. E.U. - TWO MILLION ECUS WORTH OF AID FOR REFUGEES IN YUGOSLAVIA B e l g r a d e, March 23 (Tanjug) - The Humanitarian Bureau of the E.U., ECHO, has earmarked two million Ecus as support to the World Food Program (WFP) which provides aid for refugees and the needy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Belgrade WFP Office said on Thursday. The funds will be sufficient to secure 5,765 tons of flour, beans and high-energy and protein biscuits, which will meet the two-month requirements of 200,000 refugees and 75,000 needy citizens, the statement said. The food will reach the population in late May and will be distributed directly to these people or through soup kitchens organized by the Yugoslav Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. EVIDENCE ON TORTURE IN CROAT-MUSLIM CAMPS IN BOSNIA B e l g r a d e, March 23 (Tanjug) - A team of experts of the Belgrade Medical School has established that as many as 37 ways of physical, 11 ways of psychological and 14 combined ways of torture had been applied on the prisoners in the Croat-Muslim camps in the former Yugoslav Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Most of those examined were civilians forced to put on uniforms to give them the appearance of war prisoners, the Belgrade medical experts' report said. The team, in keeping with the existing international norms, wrote the report to be presented as an official document to to public, and which has already been sent to the Federal Committee for Collecting Information on Committed Crimes Against Humanity and International Law. This report differs significantly from the 'spectacular' discoveries of news reporters, such as in the case of the figure used that several scores of ten thousand of raped Muslim women, launched at the time by the New York Times. The list of ways of torture - physical, psychological and combined - was highly provisional, because any torture, violence and stress it produces, leaves lasting consequences on both physical and mental health, said Dr Branimir Aleksandric of the Belgrade of Institute for Forensic Medicine, and also a team member. The most serious psycho-traumatic experience, he added, emergesas a consequence of lasting states of anxiety, uncertainty, fear and helplessness before violence and humiliation to which the victims in the prison camps have been subjected. ========================================== 27. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL: ALL CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING SANCTIONS HAVE BEEN MET M a d r i d, March 25 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia has met all the requirements for the lifting of the sanctions, a Yugoslav ranking Parliament official was quoted Saturday as saying. The Spanish daily Diario 16 quoted Slobodan Jovanovic as saying that Yugoslavia and Serbia supported the plan for Bosnia devised by the five-state 'Contact Group'. Jovanovic said that trust in the international community might be shaken if Belgrade's peaceful policy were not rewarded by the lifting of the sanctions. In such a case, the opponents of the peaceful policy might demand more radical methods in dealing with the crisis, he said. The crisis in the former Yugoslavia can be solved by peaceful means, through talks, with an equal treatment of all sides, said Jovanovic, who headed a Serbian Parliamentary delegation on a visit to Spain last week. The chief cause of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was the armed secession of some Yugoslav republics and, as has now been generally accepted, their premature international recognition, he said. The breakaway Yugoslav republics could have won their right to self-determination by peaceful methods, as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has done, without firing a single bullet, said Jovanovic. SERB KRAJINA WANTS UNPROFOR TO STAY UNDER CURRENT MANDATE B e l g r a d e, March 26 (Tanjug) - The Republic of Serb Krajina accepts that the United Nation peacekeepers stay in the region under their current mandate, Serb Krajina Parliament Speaker Rajko Lezajic said on Sunday. The Serb Krajina insists on implementation of the Vance Plan, Lezajic said in an interview with a local radio station in Kragujevac. Lezajic said the Republic of Serb Krajina wanted all issues under dispute to be settled peacefully, and therefore insisted on completing the two sides' economic talks and on subsequent opening of political negotiations. If UNPROFOR's mandate remained unchanged, the Republic of Serb Krajina would be prepared to immediately resume with Zagreb parallel talks on economic and political issues, Lezajic said. He said Co-Chairmen of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg had been informed about Krajina's stand. BRITISH MILITARY EXPERT: CROATIA OPENLY VIOLATES ARMS EMBARGO B e l g r a d e, March 24 (Tanjug) - Croatia is openly violating the arms embargo, British military expert Paul Beaver told Radio Free Europe. According to Beaver, proof of Croatia's violation of the embargo was fully visible during Croatian Army manoeuvres in Oct. 1994 because in use was 'much equipment which did not exist in the former Yugoslavia before the embargo.' In the manoeuvres used were, for example, Russian Mi-24 combat helicopters, which the army of the former Yugoslav federation did not have before the United Nations banned the delivery of weapons to the entire territory of the former Yugoslav federation in September 1991. Beaver said that the Croatian Army has a 'significant number' of MIG-21 planes. The majority of these aircraft still bear the camouflage markings of the former East German Air Force, thus clearly showing where they came from. Beaver said that a part of the weapons secretly imported into Croatia also went to the Bosnian Croats. Beaver said that the Muslim authorities in Bosnia acquired Chinese long-range guided anti-tank weapons, U.S.-manufactured sniper machineguns and other equipment. In a period of 18 months, until April 1994, the Bosnian Muslims and Croats acquired 616-million-dollars worth of weapons for which they have probably paid much more because they had to pay black market prices, Beaver said. CROATIA BUYS ARGENTINIAN ARMS DESPITE U.N. BAN B o n n, March 26 (Tanjug) - Croatia is busily buying arms in Argentina despite a U.N. arms ban, the Buenos Aires correspondent for the German news agency wrote on Sunday. The purchase is in no way affected by the fact that Argentina has 800 troops serving on the U.N. Protection Force in Croatia, the Deutsche Presse Agentur DPA said. Last year alone, Argentina sold Croatia 25,000 automatic rifles, grenades, mines and munitions, falsely declaring the shipment as destined for Panama. The deal was handled by the Argentinian Defense Ministry under the code-name of operation Panama. Somewhat earlier, the Foreign Ministry had managed at the eleventh hour to prevent an arms shipment allegedly for Liberia. That shipment, too, was meant for Croatia, the DPA said. ============================================== 28. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY SERBS WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY TRUCE AS LONG AS DEFINITE PEACE IS SIGNED B e l g r a d e, March 27 (Tanjug) - Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic has announced a counter-offensive against Bosnian Muslim forces, underscoring that this time the Serbs will not accept any truce as long as a definite peace is signed in Bosnia. Belgrade paper Nasa Borba on Monday quoted Karadzic as saying that the 'Serbs will go into a counter-offensive and once they set out, it is difficult to stop them.' Karadzic said that 'only when we threaten the Muslims that we will defeat them utterly, does the international community begin to seek some solution for Bosnia.' ECKHARD DENIES CLAIMS YUGOSLAV TROOPS CROSSED INTO SERB KRAJINA N e w Y o r k, March 27 (Tanjug) - U.N. Spokesman for peace operations Fred Eckhard denied Monday Croatia's claims on the alleged crossing of troops and weapons from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into eastern Slavonija, part of the Republic of Serb Krajina, which is a U.N-protected area (UNPA). Responding to reporters' questions, he said that for now the U.N. had no confirmation of any crossing of troops from Serbia.Voicing accusations on the alleged crossing of Yugoslav troops and arms to eastern Slavonija in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic claimed that members of the U.N. Belgian battalion were reportedly removed from the Batina border-crossing until the troops and weapons were being transported across the bridge on the Danube. Eckhard reminded that the Serbs in eastern Slavonija did hold manoevers which had ended and added there were no reports on any other troop movement. THIRD-BIGGEST TOLL OF U.N. PEACEKEEPERS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA B e l g r a d e, March 27 (Tanjug) - In the past three years, 145 peacekeepers have been killed in former Yugoslavia, which is the third-biggest toll in U.N. history, the Belgrade daily Politika Ekspres said on Monday.The daily said 1,300 members of the UNPROFOR had been wounded in the territory of the former Yugoslav federation.More peacekeepers were killed in Congo, 234 of them, and in Lebanon, 170 members of the U.N, force, the daily said.Politika Ekspres said that peacekeepers had been deployed in Congo for almost five years and that they arrived in Lebanon in 1978 and were still there. The gravity of the Yugoslav conflict is best illustrated with the figures that 'a total of 1,135 peacekeepers have been killed since 1948,' and that about 200 U.N. troops were killed in 'Israeli-Arab conflicts in Sinai, the Suez, Israel and Syria,' the hottest crisis areas in the world after World War II, the daily said.Politika Ekspres said that a record number of peacekeepers were engaged in the territory of former Yugoslavia UNPROFOR had a total of 44,631 members.There were 19,828 U.N. troops in Congo from 1960-1964, and only 6,411 peacekeepers have been deployed on Cyprus along the demarcation line for the past 30 years. The peacekeeping operation in former yugoslavia is also the most expensive ever, the Belgrade daily said.UNPROFOR's budget for 1994 alone amounted to 1.9 billion dollars, Politika Ekspres said, the sum which was spent by the U.N. peace force in Lebanon over a period of 17 years. YUGOSLAV PORT OF BAR SUFFERS DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF SANCTIONS B e l g r a d e, March 27 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia's largest port of Bar has suffered greater losses in the three years of economic blockade than it suffered in the 1979 earthquake that destroyed its vital segments.Yugoslav economists have said that barely about 13,000 tons of cargo was reloaded in the port last year, which was its one-day capacity before the imposition of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.The port stretches along 3.5 kms of Adriatic coast in Montenegro and is able to reload between eight and 12 million tons of cargo annually. It has 200 hectares of land and includes 22 kms of railways, 120,000 square meters of warehouses and additional 510,000 square meters of open-air storage space.This most important economic facility in Montenegro has so far lost at least 5.6 billion dollars as a result of the economic sanctions.Before their imposition, the port employed 1,867 workers, merely one third of whom are still at work. ================================================= 29. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY UNPROFOR DENIES CROATIA'S CLAIM YUGOSLAV TROOPS ENTERED KRAJINA Z a g r e b, March 28 (Tanjug) - U.N. Protection Force Command in Zagreb denied Tuesday the Croatian Government's claim that Yugoslavia's troops crossed the Danube into eastern Slavonija, part of the Republic of Serb Krajina, which is a U.N.-protected area (UNPA). UNPROFOR Spokesman Christopher Gunnes told a press conference that UNPROFOR had no evidence of an alleged crossing of Yugoslav troops over the bridge on the Danube near a place called Batina, northeastern Slavonija (UNPA sector East), as the Croatian Government said Monday in a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General. UNPROFOR ON CROATIAN ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS B e l g r a d e, March 28 (Tanjug) - Croatian regular army and Bosnian Croat forces, which made an incursion from Bosnia on the UNPA (Republic of Serb Krajina), deliberately and directly fired on members of the U.N. Protection Force, said an UNPROFOR for the UNPA sector South statement. The statement contains objections UNPROFOR Commander for the UNPA sector South, gen. Rostislav Kotil, sent to Croatia's Army whose soldiers attacked him recently at Budim, on the western slopes of Mt Dinara, on the separation line between the Croatian and Serb Krajina forces. UNPROFOR Spokesman for sector South Alun Robert confirmed in Knin on March 25 that the Croatian regular army troops and Bosnian Croat forces attacked gen. Kotil and eight of his officers. Two weeks ago, gen. Kotil and eight UNPROFOR officers found themselves under direct fire of the Croatian forces, wounding one Finnish military observer, said Robert last Saturday. 1,000 DAYS OF AIRLIFT TO SARAJEVO N e w Y o r k, March 28 (Tanjug) - During the 1,000 days of the U.N. humanitarian airlift to Sarajevo, there have been more than 12,000 flights by planes from twenty countries. Since July 3, 1992, when the operation, the biggest of its kind in air force history, was established, Sarajevo has received in excess of 151,000 tonnes of food, medical and other supplies necessary for the survival of its civilians. In addition, the planes have evacuated 1,100 sick people escorted by 1,380 relatives and ferried thousands of reporters to and from the city, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday, on the eve of the 1000th day of the airlift operation on Wednesday. YUGOSLAV AIRLINES RESTORES FLIGHTS TO 14 EUROPEAN CITIES B e l g r a d e, March 28 (Tanjug) - The Yugoslav Airlines (JAT) has restored flights to 14 European cities, following the partial suspension of the sanctions against Yugoslavia, the Belgrade daily Politika Ekspres said Tuesday. The Yugoslav Airlines subsequently restored flights to most European centers. It plans soon to start flying to Vienna, Kiev, Salonika, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv. The company also plans to restore flights to the United States and Canada, but has not yet received approvals from the respective countries' Governments. The Yugoslav Airlines lost 200 million dollars between May 1992, when the sanctions were imposed on Yugoslavia, and the fall of 1994, when they were partially suspended. NATIONALISM IN CROATIA ACQUIRES NAZI FEATURES Z a g r e b, March 28 (Tanjug) - Editor-in-Chief of the Informative Catholic Organization Zivko Kustic was quoted on Tuesday as saying that nationalism in Croatia acquired nazi characteristics. Kustic said in an interview with the Rijeka paper Novi List published on Tuesday that he perceived clear instances of nazism and racism in Croatia. Kustic said, 'some people are trying to bring the nation to the level of the criteria of good or evil so as to be able to sacrifice people and trample their dignity underfoot.' 'In a Zagreb cafe, I saw a notice saying 'No admittance for the Serbs'. It is horrible. The existence of only one such cafe thrusts the knife into the heart of democracy,' he said. He said Croatia published papers, which used to say: 'Serbs, be damned wherever you are,' and which now extended the curse to 'Serbs, Russians, Jews ...(be damned) wherever you are.' Kustic said it was strange that the authors of this curse were not put behind bars to serve the most severe sentence and wondered why the one saying in public that the Serbs belonged to an inferior race was not politically disqualified by his own party. ====================================== 30. MARCH 1995. YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY RETAIL PRICES IN YUGOSLAVIA UP BY 2.1 PERCENT IN MARCH B e l g r a d e, March 29 (Tanjug) - Retail prices in Yugoslavia have gone up by 2.1 and the cost of living by 2.5% in March in relation to the previous month, the Belgrade Federal Statistics Office reported Wednesday. Assistant Director of the Office Mirjana Rankovic said at a news conference that the highest increase of 9.7% was marked in the prices of agricultural products, but added that this was mainly due to seasonal price hikes of new vegetables. U.N. OFFICIAL SAYS CROATIA CAMPAIGNS TO BRING IN NATO V u k o v a r, March 29 (Tanjug) - U.N. Civilian Affairs Coordinator in sector East Philip Corwin said Wednesday that Croatia's endless misinformation campaign was part of an effort to prompt deployment of NATO troops to control its internationally recognized borders. Speaking at a news conference in Vukovar, Corwin said one such misinformation was Zagreb's allegation that a 500-strong Yugoslav force had recently crossed the Danube and entered eastern Slavonija, which is part of Serb Krajina and sector East, one of the four U.N. protected areas (UNPAs). Corwin said they understood the Croatian people's frustration, but said Croatian officials' irresponsible statements did not serve peace. Instead, he said, the statements served those who believed that they would make profit in the war. Commenting on debates over the extension of the UNPROFOR mandate in that former Yugoslav republic, Corwin said he did not believe the U.N. Security Council would take a decision that would not be first approved by both Croatia and Serb Krajina. Corwin said Croatia wanted U.N. military observers, deployed on bridges between Serbia and sector East, to be allowed to use force in order to prevent the crossing into UNPAs, but said the international community was not really willing to comply with Croatia's desire. Croatia's basic goal is to use international forces to make its internationally recognized borders airtight, he said. Moreover, Croatian press' unscrupulous campaign against UNPROFOR which is offensive and teaming with lies - goes on, he said. The campaign has stirred up acute antagonism toward UNPROFOR so that people there simply hate its members, he said. U.N. Information Officer in sector East Kirsten Haupt said Serbian and Yugoslav media's attitude toward UNPROFOR was extremely correct. Haupt said the situation in sector East was very tense, saying violations of the Zagreb ceasefire agreement had become increasingly frequent. Moreover, both sides' engineering units are busy fortifying their positions, she said. RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS AND KRAJINA SERBS MARK VICTORY OVER FASCISM E r d u t, March 29 (Tanjug) - Russian federation Ambassador Leonid Kerestedzhiyants said Wednesday that the main event celebrating the 50th anniversary of victory over fascism in eastern Republic of Serb Krajina would be organized by the local authorities and Russian UNPROFOR troops on May 9. He said victory over fascism was a joint victory of Yugoslav partisans and Red Army troops and that this was something he would make a special point of on May 9 during the ceremony at the monument devoted to the killed soldiers at a place called Batina, where Russian soldiers and Yugoslav partisans died together, said Kerestedzhiyants, Russian Ambassador to Croatia. Yugoslav partisans and Red Army members jointly forced the Danube at Batina in 1994 to liberate the Baranja region from fascist occupation forces. Kerestedzhiyants said in Erdut, where he made a stopover during a tour of eastern Slavonija and Baranja regions, eastern Serb Krajina, that he had toured the Memorial Center and was very satisfied with the way the Serb authorities of Baranja region cared for it. The Russian Ambassador said the celebration of victory over fascism must remain something pure and bright, quite above the present time problems, as he responded to reporters' questions whether he feared Croatian propaganda would abuse his presence at the celebration. Kerestedzhiyants said the reasons for his participation at the Batina ceremony were solemn and that all other interpretations would have to be on the consciences of those who thought otherwise. AUSTRIAN COURT REOPENS TRIAL OF BOSNIAN SERB DESPITE LACK OF EVIDENCE V i e n n a, March 29 (Tanjug) - The Salzburg court on Wednesday reopened trial of a Bosnian Serb charged with 'crimes of murder, genocide and arson' in June 1992, in which a Muslim had died. Prosecutor Hubert Maringgele admitted there was no direct evidence that the defendant, Dusan Cvjetkovic, aged 26, had committed some of the crimes laid at his door, but nevertheless demanded a conviction. The indictment is based on statements by alleged 'witnesses'- Muslims from the village of Kucice near Prijedor in western Bosnia, where Cvjetkovic lived. Defense counsel Guenther Stanonik said at the Wednesday hearing that the trial was part of a Muslim campaign and asked for an acquittal. 'In my 24 years as defense counsel, I have never heard so many contradictory statements. Any witness lying so blatantly in court should be arrested,' said Stanonik. He accused the police and the prosecution of a slip-shod investigation. Cvjetkovic has already been tried before the Salzburg court, in October and December 1994, when he was acquitted at the hands of the jury for lack of evidence, but the verdict was rescinded by judge Eckehard Ziesel. 'The jury was wrong,' Ziesel said at the time and referred the case to the Austrian Supreme Court. Before the first trial, a group of Austrian intellectuals accused the National Justice Department of bias and condemned the trial of Cvjetkovic as a 'political trial of all Serbs.' SWISS PAPER: U.S. SUPPLIES BOSNIAN MUSLIMS WITH ARMS G e n e v a, March 29 (Tanjug) - The Swiss paper Le Nouveau Quotidien on Wednesday said the Bosnian Muslim army had received weapons prior to its current offensive in Bosnia. It said the weapons had been flown in from the Croatian island of Brac in the central Adriatic. The paper's correspondent, who had visited Brac, said the Croatian Government had allowed the U.S. to have a base on the island. Le Nouveau Quotidien said the Pentagon was using the Brac airfield for sending out unmanned spying aircraft, and had a complete insight into the situation on the ground in Bosnia. The paper said Knat-750 planes, which are hardly dectecable to radars, had been taking off from Brac since last December, after originally flying from bases in Albania.