(Morning edition) BELGRADE, 21 March 2000 F.R. YUGOSLAVIA - UNITED NATIONS a.. YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR b.. SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR c.. DIENSTBIER: SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA IS A RESULT OF WRONG POLICY FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA a.. MARJANOVIC: GOVERNMENT MEASURES ARE YIELDING GOOD RESULTS b.. JOVANOVIC: YUGOSLAVIA CAN LOOK AT THE FUTURE WITH OPTIMISM KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS a.. IVANOV PRESENTED THE RUSSIAN PROPOSAL FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA EUROPEAN UNION - F.R. YUGOSLAVIA a.. E.U. FOREIGN MINISTERS DECIDE TO SUSPEND FLIGHT BAN ON YUGOSLAVIA b.. E.U. MINISTERS AGAINST INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA NATO AGGRESSION - ANNIVERSARY a.. SAVOVIC: 79 CHILDREN KILLED IN AGGRESSION ON YUGOSLAVIA IS THE MOST SERIOUS CHARGE b.. 'WENHUI BAO': GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF NEOINTERVENTIONISM * * * F.R. YUGOSLAVIA - UNITED NATIONS YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR BELGRADE, March 20 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic received on Monday the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights rapporteur on former Yugoslavia Jiri Dienstbier. It was noted that the security and overall situation in Kosovo and Metohija had been continually deteriorating since the deployment of international presences under the U.N. flag to this Yugoslav republic of Serbia's southern province that had commenced on June 10, 1999, the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a statement. There are large-scale violations of human rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija, while the reign of terror, ethnic cleansing and organised crime practised by the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) continue, the statement said. Such a state of affairs is the result of the systematic violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 and in particular a failure to implement its provision stipulating the disarming and disbanding of KLA, the statement said. It is also the result of the breaking of Serbian and Yugoslav laws, postponement of the return of the Yugoslav army and police to the province, and the fait accompli policy pursued by the command of the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR and the U.N. civilian mission (UNMIK) and its chief Bernard Kouchner, the statement said. Jovanovic said that a lasting solution to the Kosovo and Metohija issue could only be found through the respect for Serbia's and Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the equality of all people and all ethnic communities living in the province. He said that no moves, decisions or acts that were not in keeping with that would ever be recognised. The Serbian and Yugoslav governments will never stop trying to determine the responsibility of each and every individual for the killing of 933 civilians and abduction of 860 more, nor for the ethnic cleansing of 350,000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Romanies, Goranies and other non-Albanians or the genocide practised under the U.N. auspices between June 1999 and March 11, 2000, he said. SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER RECEIVED U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR BELGRADE, March 20 (Tanjug) - Serbian Justice Minister Dragoljub Jankovic received on Monday the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights rapporteur on former Yugoslavia Jiri Dienstbier. Jankovic and Dienstbier discussed the treatment of prisoners who had to be transferred from prisons in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija to prisons in other parts of this Yugoslav republic, as well as prison conditions, the Serbian Justice Ministry said in a statement. Dienstbier, who had met with a number of inmates in the prison in Pozarevac, eastern Serbia, on Sunday, praised the treatment of prisoners and prison conditions, stressing that the inmates had no complaints. Jankovic said that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights should make a greater effort in tracking down Serbs abducted or listed as missing in Kosovo and Metohija, stressing the need for offering legal and other security to Serbs in prisons controlled by the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR and the U.N. civilian mission (UNMIK). He also stressed the need for the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights to use its influence with international civilian bodies in Kosovo and Metohija to hand over to relevant judicial bodies court files illegally kept by KFOR in district courts in Pristina, Kosovo and Metohija's chief city, and Gnjilane, in the east of the province. It was noted that there had been no administration of justice since the deployment of KFOR and UNMIK to Kosovo and Metohija, which had made the position of the arrested Serbs and other prisoners even more complex. The talks dealt also with other human rights issues, the statement said. It went on to say that it was vital to honour Serbia's positive legislation. Dienstbier described as good cooperation with the Serbian Justice Ministry, the statement said. DIENSTBIER: SITUATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA IS A RESULT OF WRONG POLICY BELGRADE, March 20 (Tanjug) - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights special rapporteur on former Yugoslavia Jiri Dienstbier said on Monday that the situation in Kosovo and Metohija was the result of the international community's wrong policy. Addressing a news conference at the close of his ten-day visit to Yugoslavia, during which he visited its southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, southern and central Serbia and Montenegro, Dienstbier said that chaos reigned in the province and that what he had seen there was the result of the international community's wrong policy and lack of vision of what to do next. Following the withdrawal of Yugoslav Army troops from Kosovo and Metohija, the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has pursued heinous ethnic cleansing of non-Albanians, which has all resulted in terrible and chaotic developments in the province, he said. He said that what he called private structures of authorities existed in some areas and villages in the province that were not under the international community's jurisdiction. These local structures control territories and fight each other, so that Kosovo and Metohija is open to criminal activities and international mafia, he said. Dienstbier called attention to an article published recently by 'The Guardian' of London stating that over two tons of narcotics had reached Europe via Kosovo and Metohija before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. He said that five tons of narcotics were smuggled into Europe via the province at this point, which was 40 percent of the total scope of illicit drug trafficking in Europe. He also said that it was far more difficult to dissolve parallel structures of authorities at this point than immediately upon the deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR and the U.N. civilian mission (UNMIK) to the province as it should have been done. He said that UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner had admitted in an interview to the Paris daily 'L'Humanite' that this was his personal failure. Dienstbier said that a report he was drafting would refer to the issue of persons listed as missing in Kosovo and Metohija, saying that no one knew for certain who had been abducted and who had been killed. He said that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were working hard on the issue. Referring to the situation in southern Serbia which is separated from Kosovo and Metohija by KFOR's administrative line of responsibility, Dienstbier said that he had the impression that ethnic Albanians living in the Presevo area had always been loyal to the state and that they did not want the area to be destabilised by KLA incursions. Asked to comment on NATO's air raid on the building housing Serbian Radio and Television (RTS), Dienstbier said that every crime was a specific crime and could not be compared to other crimes and that everybody was responsible for their acts. FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA MARJANOVIC: GOVERNMENT MEASURES ARE YIELDING GOOD RESULTS HORGOS, March 21 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic said in the northern town of Horgos on Tuesday that the measures adopted by his cabinet for agricultural development had yielded good results in the first three months and that this demonstrated the year could be a successful one in this area. Visiting the "Vitamin" company of Horgos, one of the most important food manufacturers of Yugoslavia, Marjanovic said industrial and agricultural production were intensely growing, which obliges the government to adopt even more stimulative measures in future. Marjanovic will also visit the "Potisje" construction company of Kanjiza, and a spa in that town where he will confer with businessmen of the district of Northern Banat. Marjanovic is accompanied by Serbian ministers Jovan Babovic, Leposava Milicevic, Dejan Kovacevic, Ivan Sedlak, and Tomislav Milenkovic. JOVANOVIC: YUGOSLAVIA CAN LOOK AT THE FUTURE WITH OPTIMISM KRAGUJEVAC, March 21 (Tanjug) - Yugoslavia's defense from the NATO aggression and national reconstruction, mostly by relying on its own forces, causes the deepest respect in the world, which shows that Yugoslavia can look at the future with optimism, Yugoslav Minister for Foreign Affairs and member of the Main Board Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Zivadin Jovanovic, said in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac on Monday. Jovanovic said the world opinion against force and violence was growing stronger, even in countries which took part with the aggression, and this is increasingly disturbing to the champions of the so-called new world order. They are not successful in their attempts to carry through subversive actions against our country either with media campaigns or in other ways, such as uniting with internal destructive forces, Jovanovic said, pointing out that Yugoslavia's most powerful weapon was the people and their unity. Stressing the support of friendly countries and Yugoslavia's readiness for international cooperation on an equal basis, Jovanovic said there were increasing demands and pressures in the world to eliminate sanctions and remove all barriers to cooperation on an equal basis, with mutual interest and respect. KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS IVANOV PRESENTED THE RUSSIAN PROPOSAL FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA MOSCOW, March 20 (Tanjug) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov presented on Monday Russian approach to the resolution of issues in Kosovo and Metohija, after informing about it his Greek colleague George Papandreou in two-day talks in Moscow. Ivanov told Russian State Television that the resolution of issues in Kosovo and Metohija was possible only within Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said that it was vital to open talks on Kosovo and Metohija's status within single Yugoslavia. Ivanov also said that it was vital to close Yugoslav borders with Albania and Macedonia because it was used for illegal crossings by criminals and for arms and weapons smuggling. He said that the border must be closed in cooperation with Yugoslav forces. Finally, it is vital to create conditions for the return to Kosovo and Metohija of between 250,000 and 300,000 non-Albanian refugees who have fled the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's southern province under pressure by ethnic Albanian extremists, and for the coexistence of people belonging to different ethnic groups and religions, he said. Ivanov said that his talks with Papandreou had dealt with different solutions to be applied in the resolution of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija. Papandreou said that these solutions had been reviewed in detail in the talks and that Greek and Russian positions on the matter were almost identical. Papandreou left for Brussels after the talks to attend a session of the E.U. Council held at the level of foreign ministers. EUROPEAN UNION - F.R. YUGOSLAVIA E.U. FOREIGN MINISTERS DECIDE TO SUSPEND FLIGHT BAN ON YUGOSLAVIA BRUSSELS, March 20 (Tanjug) - E.U. foreign ministers decided in a meeting on Monday to suspend a ban on airlinks with Yugoslavia, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told a news conference after the meeting. The foreign ministers accepted proposals for the implementation and working out in detail of the decision on the suspension of the ban, taken in a meeting of the E.U. Council of Ministers in mid-February. Monday's decision will enter force once it has been published by the European Union's 'Official Gazette', which is expected to happen by the end of the week. After that, Yugoslav airlines JAT will be able to resume flights to major European cities, while European air carriers will be able to resume flights to Belgrade. According to Brussels reports on Monday, Swissair is to resume flights from Zurich to Belgrade on Wednesday, a year after civilian flights to Yugoslavia were suspended because of NATO's aggression. Switzerland is not an E.U. member but it has acted in line with the ban, waiting for the European Union to decide on the matter. E.U. MINISTERS AGAINST INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA BRUSSELS, March 21 (Tanjug) - French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said in Brussels on Monday, that E.U. foreign ministers reiterated their opposition to the independence of the Serbian Kosovo and Metohija province. After the meeting of the E.U. Council, Vedrine stressed that no Western official with a sense of responsibility could accept the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, first of all due to the consequences of any such decision. The French minister said that one of the conclusions at the meeting pertains to the due implementation of U.N. Resolution 1244. The council also voiced support to the announced municipal elections, he said. However, the meeting conclusions do not indicate how it will be possible to organize elections in a territory from which more than 350,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have been expelled, and which is currently occupied by roughly 250,000 foreign citizens. NATO AGGRESSION - ANNIVERSARY SAVOVIC: 79 CHILDREN KILLED IN AGGRESSION ON YUGOSLAVIA IS THE MOST SERIOUS CHARGE BELGRADE, March 21 (Tanjug) - President of the Yugoslav Commission for Cooperation with UNICEF and Promotion of Position of Women, Margit Savovic on Monday said to Tanjug that on the occasion of the first anniversary of the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia a "White Book" had been prepared regarding 79 children killed in these criminal attacks against Yugoslavia. The book, which contains complete documentation on these deaths, will be presented to the public soon, she said. "It will be the strongest accusation so far, against those who are responsible for the aggression, and we believe that it will finally produce some reactions at the international level. Children cannot be treated as so-called collateral damage", she said. The "White Book" about the killing of 79 Yugoslav children, as documented so far, has been prepared in cooperation with the Yugoslav Government Committee for Collecting Evidence of Crimes against Humanity and International Law. Speaking about the aggression effects on Yugoslav children, Savovic stressed that three million children suffered the consequences of the criminal bombing. She pointed out that 10 percent of them have permanent psychological disorders, such as post-traumatic anxieties, neurotic behaviour, and psychoses, which demand constant psychological and psychiatrical supervision. Savovic said that the situation is worst among 200,000 refugee children in Yugoslavia, as well as among some 100,000 displaced children from Kosovo and Metohija who have been away from their homes for months. 'WENHUI BAO': GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF NEOINTERVENTIONISM BEIJING, March 21 (Tanjug) - The situation in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, a year after NATO began its aggression on Yugoslavia, proves that neointerventionism which openly tramples the sovereignty of another country under the flag of "human rights above sovereignty" cannot resolve an alleged humanitarian disaster or help settle ethnic or religious conflicts, the Shanghai daily 'Wenhui Bao' said on Tuesday. Facts prove that the policy of neointerventionism has aggravated the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and rendered problems even more complex, said the daily, voicing overall reactions by Chinese officials and media commentaries on the occasion of the anniversary of the onset of the 78-day NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia. The daily said the United Nations military and civilian mission, although in the province for a long time, have failed to implement U.N. Securty Council Resolution 1244 which calls for respect of Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity by the KFOR, the complete disarming of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, and ensuring the equality and security of all national communities. __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
