> Yugoslav Daily Survey > >(Morning edition) BELGRADE, 22 March 2000 FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF >YUGOSLAVIA YUGOSLAVIA AND CHINA ESTABLISH COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF >TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. AND NATO POLICY IN EUROPE NATO >AGGRESSION - CONSEQUENCES - ANNIVERSARY UNICEF CHIEF: CHILDREN IN THE BALKANS >ARE MOST ENDANGERED IN EUROPE NATO CONFIRMED THE USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM >PRODI: ANY POSTPONEMENT OF CLEARING THE DANUBE IS SHAMEFUL MANIFESTO ON THE >OCCASION OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF NATO AGGRESSION ON YUGOSLAVIA KOSOVO AND >METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS LUKIN: U.S. WANTS TO BLAME EUROPE FOR THE >KOSOVO AND METOHIJA FIASCO GREECE IS FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF U.N. SECURITY >COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1244 SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA SECURITY OF >SERBS IN GNJILANE AREA REPORTED TO BE IMPROVING ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS >TORCHED A ROMANY HOUSE KOSOVO ALBANIAN TERRORISTS MINED AN OVERPASS NEAR >BANJSKA * * * FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA YUGOSLAVIA AND CHINA >ESTABLISH COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS BELGRADE, March 21 >(Tanjug) - A bill endorsing an accord between the Yugoslav and Chinese >governments on cooperation in the sphere of telecommunications and postal >services was submitted to the Yugoslav Parliament on Tuesday. The accord >provides for the exchange of scientific and technical information, training >programmes, seminars and visits by the two countries' experts and consultants, >introduction of the latest technologies and diversification of joint >investments in the field of telecommunications and postal services. In order >to make easier the implementation of the agreement, a joint working group will >be set up and entrusted with working out cooperation proposals and defining >the framework and priorities of future cooperation. PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. AND >NATO POLICY IN EUROPE BELGRADE, March 22 (Tanjug) - The last year's NATO >aggression on Yugoslavia destroyed many companies, factories and institutions >leaving roughly 86,000 workers out of work, but the number of unemployed due >to the aggression has risen to as many as 700,000 people, Serbian Trade Union >Association President Tomislav Banovic told Tanjug on Tuesday. Banovic >stressed that Serbia has to provide for more than 350,000 people expelled from >Kosovo and Metohija and some 900,000 refugees from former Yugoslavia >republics, and pointed out the disastrous effects of the long-term economic >sanctions still imposed on Yugoslavia by some members of the international >community. Last week, the trade union started an action of signing a petition >for an urgent end to the sanctions against Yugoslavia, in which all citizens >of Serbia, pensioners and the Red Cross organization are taking part Having in >mind the national importance of the action, we have also sent an invitation to >other trade unions in Serbia to join in, as well as to trade unions in >Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Portugal, France, >Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, and China, Banovic said. He specified >that more than one million persons have already signed the petition, and that >after March 24 it will be sent to the head offices of trade unions in Europe. >From there, with signatures of their workers it will be forwarded to the >European Union, the United Nations and its Security Council. The action aims >to show world power-wielders that the isolation of Yugoslavia has deprived its >workers of the right to work, earn and live a dignified life, which is a great >injustice, Banovic said. NATO AGGRESSION - CONSEQUENCES - ANNIVERSARY UNICEF >CHIEF: CHILDREN IN THE BALKANS ARE MOST ENDANGERED IN EUROPE GENEVA, March 21 >(Tanjug) - Director of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) Carol Bellamy said on >Tuesday prior to the first anniversary of the start of NATO's aggression on >Yugoslavia that ethnic hatred, war and sanctions had combined to make the >children in the Balkans the most endangered in Europe. Associated Press (AP) >quoted Bellamy as saying that the prospects for the region remained poor >unless adults ended the ethnic hatred and violence "that so insidiously shadow >every new generation". UNICEF estimates that poverty has doubled in Yugoslavia >since NATO's March 24 - June 10 1999 bombing campaign, while nearly two-thirds >of the population live below the poverty line. Bellamy also said that more >than 200,000 Serbs, Romanies and members of other ethnic groups had fled >Kosovo and Metohija since the deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR >to the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's southern province last June. She said >that, moreover, over 500,000 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia were >still sheltering in Yugoslavia. NATO CONFIRMED THE USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM >BRUSSELS, March 22 (Tanjug) - NATO Secretary-General George Robertson >confirmed that the NATO officials and its command violated the Geneva >Convention by using banned cluster bombs during the aggression on Yugoslavia, >and ammunition with depleted uranium filling in Kosovo. This was admitted in >Robertson's answer to a U.N. request for a detailed report about the use of >dangerous radioactive ammunition. However, the mere confirmation of the use of >depleted uranium is not sufficient. NATO has to give precise information as to >where such ammunition was used in order to enable adequate protection >measures, the U.N. Environment Programme experts said. At a press conference >in Geneva on Tuesday, quoted by media in Brussels, the head of the Balkan Task >Force of the U.N. body Pekka Haavisto said that the fact that NATO admitted >the use of depleted uranium is not so alarming. He added that scientific data >about the use of such weapons were limited and that it was impossible to >establish the number of individuals exposed to radiation taking into account >only what Robertson said. In his report, Robertson said that during the >attacks on armoured vehicles in Kosovo and Metohija, 31,000 such bullets were >used in 100 sorties. Haavisto estimates that the used ammunition amounts to 10 >tons of depleted uranium. The places where the ammunition was used and its >quantities are kept highly confidential. Robertson's latest report also >contains no such information. PRODI: ANY POSTPONEMENT OF CLEARING THE DANUBE >IS SHAMEFUL BRUSSELS, March 22 (Tanjug) - European Commission President Romano >Prodi said on Tuesday that any postponement of clearing the Danube after the >NATO aggression on Yugoslavia last year (March-June) would be a disgrace for >the west. In a letter published by the 'International Herald Tribune', Prodi >said the opening of the Danube for navigation could be the first task on which >the E.U. could confirm its readiness to reconstruct the region after this >aggression. Resources exist, projects are ready, and any postponement of an >action would mean the further ruin of the entire region, which would be a >disgrace for everyone, he said. It is necessary to have a radically new plan >for the entire region with which the E.U. would take a comprehensive and >united approach to the crisis in the Balkans. Prodi's ideas, however, much >differ from what E.U. foreign ministers have been concluding for months at >council sessions. At Monday's session, for instance, the council concluded it >was necessary as soon as possible to remove various obstacles preventing the >opening of the Danube for navigation. The council even unscrupulously shifted >to Yugoslavia the responsibility for the possible consequences of the ruins of >Danube bridges downed by the NATO air force still blocking this waterway. >MANIFESTO ON THE OCCASION OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF NATO AGGRESSION ON YUGOSLAVIA >MADRID, March 22 (Tanjug) - Several Spanish associations on Tuesday released a >manifesto on the occasion of the anniversary of the onset of the NATO >aggression on Yugoslavia. The manifesto said this had been the first war >within the new strategic concept of NATO. The objective of this concept is to >legalize non-defensive interventionism outside the borders of NATO >members-states, without the necessary sanction of the international community, >which presents a clear violation of the United Nations Charter, said the >document. The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia was a dramatic example of >manipulation of information in the service of war, which the aggressors wanted >to justify with alleged humanitarian reasons, the manifesto said. In spite of >the Kumanovo Military-Technical Agreement between NATO and the Yugoslav Army >and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, there are no guarantees >for security or coexistence of peoples in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija >province, said the manifesto. In spite of the presence of 45,000 troops of the >international force in Kosovo and Metohija (KFOR) and 2,000 policemen of the >U.N. civilian force (UNMIK), more than 200,000 Serbs, between 30,000-40,000 >Romanies, as well as many Montenegrins, Muslims, ethnic Croats, and ethnic >Turks have had to leave the province because of terror which is still rampant >there. Since the arrival of KFOR in the province in June 1999, between >500-1,000 Serbs have been murdered, but also large numbers of ethnic Albanians >loyal to the regime, the manifesto said. KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL >REACTIONS LUKIN: U.S. WANTS TO BLAME EUROPE FOR THE KOSOVO AND METOHIJA FIASCO >MOSCOW, March 21 (Tanjug) - Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vladimir >Lukin said on Tuesday that the Western countries' proposal that the six-nation >'Contact Group' resume its work had been prompted by Washington's wish to >shift the blame for serious problems that had arisen in Kosovo and Metohija to >Europe. Lukin told Russian Itar-Tass news agency that the U.S. policy was >faced with a fiasco at the point when presidential election was approaching. >Consequently, the U.S. task is to pin the blame for everything on Europe and, >to a certain degree, on Russia, he said. The United States wants to withdraw >from the scene in an elegant manner before coffins with bodies of U.S. >soldiers start arriving in the country, he said adding that this was the last >thing that U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore needed at >this point. Lukin said that, if it were not for the conflict in Chechnya, he >would propose that Russia considerably reinforce its peacekeeping contingent >in Kosovo and Metohija and protect the Serb population and Serbian holy >places. He said, however, that by keeping its contingent in the Yugoslav >republic of Serbia's southern province, Russia was practically covering with >its authority the turning of the province into an ethnically pure region >independent from Yugoslavia and into one of Europe's most notorious crime >zones. On the other hand, it would not be good to withdraw the Russian >contingent from the province because it would mean to leave the few remaining >Serbs even without this protection, he said. GREECE IS FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION >OF U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1244 ATHENS, March 22 (Tanjug) - Greece >remains true to its original stand and insists on the implementation of United >Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo and Metohija, which >envisages the preservation of the existing borders of Yugoslavia, Greek >Foreign Minister Iorgos Papandreau said in a statement to Net TV on Tuesday. >Speaking about Monday's meeting of E.U. foreign and defense ministers in >Brussels, Papandreau said Greece had once more reminded its partners of the >seriousness of the latest developments in the southern Serbian province, and >that the most recent tensions were all the more reason to persevere in the due >implementation of this resolution. Papandreau reiterated that Athens urges a >multi-ethnic concept of life not only in Kosovo and Metohija, but in the >entire region as well, and that the European Union should intensify economic >and trade relations with the Balkans. SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA >SECURITY OF SERBS IN GNJILANE AREA REPORTED TO BE IMPROVING GNJILANE, March 21 >(Tanjug) - Representatives of Serb villages in the Gnjilane area, in the east >of Kosovo and Metohija, noted in a regular meeting with U.N. peacekeeping >mission officials that local Serbs felt safer following recent successful >actions by the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR against ethnic Albanian >terrorists. The Serb representatives said, however, that KFOR and the U.N. >civilian mission (UNMIK) must do more in ensuring security in the town of >Gnjilane where only 800 Serbs had remained of the town's once 12,000-strong >Serb community because of unprecedented terrorising by ethnic Albanian >extremists. Gnjilane's committee on protection and human rights said on >Tuesday that the peacekeeping mission officials had listed security in the >area as KFOR's and UNMIK police priority. Last week, KFOR successfully >completed its action of capturing ethnic Albanian terrorists in villages south >of Gnjilane, while on Sunday, the force arrested seven ethnic Albanian >terrorists in villages west of the town, seizing a considerable amount of >automatic weapons. Three more ethnic Albanians were arrested north of Gnjilane >for threatening local Serbs. The Serb representatives welcomed KFOR's actions >proposing that the force set up checkpoints in village areas in order to make >it possible to carry out spring sowing as well as round-the-clock patrols in >Serb villages in order to counter pressure exerted by ethnic Albanian >extremists. ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS TORCHED A ROMANY HOUSE ORAHOVAC, March >21 (Tanjug) - Ethnic Albanian extremists set fire to a house belonging to a >Romany in Orahovac, Kosovo and Metohija, at around 3 a.m. local time on >Tuesday, local radio enthusiasts reported. The house was located on the line >separating Orahovac's Serb- and ethnic Albanian-populated sections. According >to local Serbs, the torching of the house shows that ethnic Albanian >extremists oppose proposals by the newly-formed security committee on ways of >how to ensure peaceful coexistence of the three ethnic communities in the >town. A year ago, ethnic Albanian terrorists had abducted this Romany's son. >KOSOVO ALBANIAN TERRORISTS MINED AN OVERPASS NEAR BANJSKA KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, >March 22 (Tanjug) - Ethnic Albanian terrorists mined an overpass near the >Banjska village on the road Kosovska Mitrovica - Raska at about 5 a.m. >Wednesday. The railroad was damaged, but, fortunately, there were no >casualties. The mined overpass is surrounded by three ethnic Albanian villages >- Kosutovo, Bistrica and Ceranja. International force KFOR troops are >investigating the incident. __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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