Jugoinfo
YUGOSLAV INFORMATION MINISTER: GLOBALIZATION DESTROYS CULTURES
BELGRADE, Sep 15 (Tanjug). Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran
Matic Friday opened a meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the
Nonaligned
News Agencies' Pool hosted by Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, which focuses
on
the need for reinforcing mutual ties, exchanging information and
correspondents, and overcoming barriers imposed by the large world
information systems.
Matic welcomed the participants on behalf of the Yugoslav
government. The following is the official translation of his address:
It gives me great pleasure to have the honer to greet, as
Federal
Minister of Information, this important gathering, in the framework of
the
great family of the Pool of News Agencies of the Nonaligned Countries,
on
behalf of the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
My satisfaction is even greater because of the fact that this
special meeting of the members of the Coordination Bureau is devoted to
the
revitalization of the Pool of News Agencies of the NonAligned Countries
is
taking place in the Capital City of my country Yugoslavia, which was,
40
years ago, together with Egypt and India, the founder of the Movement of
the NonAligned, and, in 1961, the host of the First Summit Meeting of
the
Head of States and Governments of the NonAligned Countries.
Next year, as you know, will mark one quarter of a century of
the
existence of the Pool of the News Agencies of NonAligned Countries.
The World at the threshold of the new millennium
The modern world faces new, difficult ordeals, at the threshold
of
the Third Millennium.
Instead of diminishing, the differences between the rich and
poor
countries and peoples are increasing.
The last decade of the XX century will be marked in the history
as
the decade of the efforts of one country to be the master of the entire
world, to establish the new world order. That is, in fact, the cruel,
ruthless, almost always naked, criminal endeavour of the economically
and
technologically most developed country of the world, to establish, under
the mask of globalization, a modern colonization of the enormous
majority
of countries and peoples. Of all those who have natural, human and
market
resources.
Between the two millennia, the paradox of the new colonization
of
the world is even greater, because this century accomplished the closest
links between countries.
The subordination of the world to the moral, economic and
military
interests and principles of one country is accompanied by the hidden,
cruel
struggle against the culturalhistorical and spiritual national values of
ancient countries and peoples.
The globalization tries to destroy the enormous, real, treasury
of
the world its multicivilisational and multicultural values.
The economically developed Europe, blinded by the enormous
number
of instant information, by the consumers' mentality and dependent on the
increase of the capital of the multinational companies, has an
uncritical
attitude towards the globalization of the world, and the present
governments of some Western European countries accept the role of
European
satellites in the modern colonization of the world, in order to satisfy
and
promote their personal interests.
In that way, those Western European governments struck the most
terrible blow to the civilisational achievements, to the tradition and
to
the treasuries of their countries and of their historical peoples which
created the modern world.
Similar tendencies are directed against the countries which
represent the cradle of the civilization, like Egypt, Iran, India and
others.
The protagonists of the modern colonization use all possible
means
to achieve, as soon as possible, their global objective to rule the
world
from one single center. They threaten countries by diplomatic means,
they
impose sanctions, they maintain lowintensity conflicts, and when all
that
does not succeed they intervene with military power. As the
economically,
militarily and technologically strongest country of the world, they
govern
the most important international political, financial, and trade
organizations. They do not respect the international legal system, the
United Nations and all others who hinder the achievement of their
objective to govern, from one place, the movements of commodities, of
people, of ideas and of capital, in order to enrich ruthlessly the small
economic and military elite of the world.
The basic instruments for the achievement of the dominant
globalization are the provoking of regional crisis and of internal
crises
in countries all over the world, the lowintensity conflicts, the
disturbed
security, violence, the fear of terrorism, the armed interference and
the
ruthless interference into the internal affairs of sovereign countries.
That is usually done under the excuse of the prevention of humanitarian
problems and catastrophes, and under the excuse of the alleged defense
of
human rights and liberties.
The policy of globalisation "floats" on the low intensity
conflicts, it provokes poverty, it favours the groups which support the
policy of violence and of modern colonialism and it is against those who
want to preserve the basic national and state interests and liberties.
Opposing that, the enormous majority of the countries, the
countries with the biggest population, want freedom and peace. They
advocate integration and globalisation on equal bases, not on bases of
exploitation.
Because of its original principles in the struggle against
colonialism, the Movement of the NonAligned found itself under the blows
of
the creators of the new world order.
The advocates of the forceful globalisation of the world do not
want talks between equals, they want to preserve the political,
military,
technological and general economic domination over the poor and
developing
countries.
In order to justify the military interventions all over the
world,
the architects of the rule over the world resources try to win for
themselves the world public opinion and the voters in their countries by
financial and mediatic manipulation.
They establish special headquarters for information war and for
mediatic manipulation.
In order to achieve their goals, they use various methods and
the
biggest news agencies of the world, the global radio and TV stations,
the
daily newspapers, periodicals and professional magazines.
The concept of "information domination", according to which it
is
possible to rule over foreign countries by the control of information,
and,
if necessary, combine information with military interventions, imposes
the
need to intensify the activities of the Pool of News Agencies of
NonAligned
Countries.
It is interesting to note that a great number of scientists,
theoreticians and politicians in the NATO countries speaks about the
gradual disappearance of the war as we have known it in the past. They
are
talking about the new way of waging wars, with the emphasis on the
closed
circuit of information and intelligence data about the strategic,
operational and tactical situations. That shows that the promoters of
the
global colonialism do not refrain from violence as a means to achieve
domination; they invest enormous means in the development of new
technologies for new forms of conquest and subordination.
Therefore, the key question is the question of the struggle for
truth and for the conscience about the society in which we live. In
that,
information plays a very important, unavoidable role. The media in the
modern society have the possibility to discover truth, to influence the
reality, and, by destroying illusions and manipulation, to increase
human
knowledge and change people and societies.
If the basic assumption of a society is based on cheating and
instrumentalization of humans as beings, then such a society can not be
democratic, regardless of its selfproclamation; that society wants to
impose its own criteria of democracy to the entire world.
Were that society, in substance, democratic and prosperous, its
principles would be accepted willingly by all, the society would not
need
sanctions, isolation, black lists, bombing, information and media war in
order to impose such principles.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia said a resolute "NO" to the
new
world order, in spite of threats, sanctions, bombing and other numerous
pressures and special war.
We did not yield under the aggressor's attack of the strongest
military power of the world the NATO forces of 19 countries, which
bombed
us, criminally, senselessly, violating all international legal norms,
during 78 days, incessantly.
The global NATO machinery tried to conceal the crimes committed
by
the strongest military power against innocent civilians, against
economic
and communal facilities, against traffic infrastructure.
However, in spite of all these endeavors, in spite of the
censorship without precedent imposed by NATO on the reports about the
bombing of Yugoslavia, the world saw the atrocities done by the Alliance
in
our country.
In spite of that, NATO and the most powerful countries of the
world still do not want to admit the war crimes they committed in The
Mediatic Role of the NonAligned The last decade of the XX century is
marked, in the field of information and communication, as the period of
accelerated development of the media.
Due to the dynamic development of multimedia and of Internet,
and
of the world network of direct and uncontrolled communication, the
original
meaning of the world information got a new significance. Information
became
a first class product devoted to the broadest mass of consumers from
business people to simple consumers.
At present, the political and economic systems are greatly
based
on communication networks and on available information systems. The
establishment of such systems, the manipulation of information and the
elimination of undesirable competitive communication networks,
establishes
a new form of war, new according to its methods, but old according to
its
concept and its goals.
A new kind of war the information war was created and
established.
Therefore, it is extremely important to agree here, at this
meeting, about the revitalization of the pool of News Agencies of
NonAligned Countries. Otherwise, we will continue to be the victims of
the
globalisation, of the designed and dosed information.
The information is conditioned by the laws of the development
of
the human society, and by the need to preserve and link generations,
cultures and creativity. At present, it represents the prerequisite of
good
management of states, of businesses, of family budget.
The mediatic colonization and the terror of the global
information
media, however, try to eliminate the right to one's own views.
Therefore,
the concept of the globalisation of information, which they try to
impose,
could achieve a greater importance, could produce greater effects than
the
classical war or economic domination.
Therefore, the information is heading to the first priority in
the
development of the human society. It becomes the mostly wanted raw
material, although it is not a classical material good.
Unfortunately, the great agencies and other information systems
are dominant and developing. They are the systems which belonged, and
most
of them still belong, to the highly developed, to the economically and
militarily strongest countries. Usually, the dominant news agencies are
the
agencies from the metropola which were until recently the colonizers of
the
present nonaligned and independent countries. That applies especially
the
independent African states. It is easy to assume what are editorial
policies and the propaganda activities of those agencies and of other
information systems of those countries.
The mutual information among the nonaligned and other
developing
countries is still nonadequate. There exist information lacunas in many
nonaligned countries, which represent a fertile soil for the activities
of
the big news agencies of the powerful western countries.
That was best seen recently during the last year's criminal
aggression of NATO against Yugoslavia. And now as well in the
continuation
of the strong economic, diplomatic, political, media, psychological and
military pressures against the independent and sovereign Yugoslavia.
We are witnessing the media manipulation without precedent,
which
tries to bring legitimacy to the NATO aggression against our country,
and
to take off the responsibility of the orderers and executors of war
crimes
against civilian population of Yugoslavia.
These and similar events in other provoked foci in the world,
confirm the necessity of the establishment of the Pool of News Agencies
of
NonAligned Countries in 1976.
Unfortunately, the most recent examples show that there is
still a
lot of space, a lot of necessity for the activities of the Pool, that
the
Pool did not fulfil its task, due to obvious reasons.
Our objective is to establish information without
intermediaries
who deform the information in accordance with their own interests, thus
being harmful to all of us.
The Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries has an
unavoidable, important rule in the strengthening of the prestige and of
the
influence of the Movement of the NonAligned in international relations
and
its adaptation to the new international relations.
The Yugoslav state agency TANJUG is ready to give its maximum
contribution to that objective. By signing, recently, agreements on
cooperation with state agencies and media houses in Iran, Iraq, India
and
other countries, it made a huge step toward the exchange of information
without intermediaries.
The Development of the Telecommunication Infrastructure
In order to establish direct, rapid and timely exchange of
information in the framework of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned
Countries, it is indispensable to work on the expansion, development and
strengthening of the telecommunication infrastructure.
The existing network is usually monopolized by strong, powerful
world agencies, which do not hesitate to remodel original true
information
according to their own interests which are most often contrary to the
interests of the nonaligned and developing countries.
The crimes committed by NATO during the last year's aggression
against the FRY are the best illustration of how the independent
information technology and network troubles the developed West.
After destroying 300 radio and TV transmitters, and 19 big
transmitters, and the magnificent architectural work of world
importance the TV tower at the Avala mountain near Belgrade, NATO
committed, on April 23, 1999, the greatest crime in the history of free
press and journalism. On that night, the airplanes of the strongest
military power of the world bombed, without warning, the building of the
Radio and Television Serbia, it the center of Belgrade. 16 journalists
and
other TV creators of the information program of the state electronic
media,
which broadcasted, from that studio, authentic pictures about the war
crimes committed by NATO in Yugoslavia, Serbia, in Kosovo and Metohija,
were killed in the bombing.
By developing their own telecommunication network, the news
agencies of the nonaligned countries will have the necessary conditions
to
exchange, without intermediaries, authentic, true information.
That will also represent a possibility to avoid the pitfalls of
the western variant of the global information society, in which modern
technology is used for the production of enormous quantities of news and
information. The aim is obvious they try, by the quantity of naked
information to imprison the human mind and the human capacity to
understand
data and facts.
The western information society offers enormous, versatile
quantity, using the technological perfection to the detriment of the
needs
and of the liberty of human thinking and understanding.
The quantity of cheap information is the most expensive deceit
of
the modern civilization, of the future of the human mind, of the freedom
of
thought and expression.
Allow me, at the end of my expose, to express once more our
resoluteness to contribute as much as possible to the strengthening of
the
role of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries in the spirit
of
the reaffirmation of the original principles of the Movement of the
NonAligned, adapted to the present international relations.
I am deeply convinced that we will mark, in an appropriate way,
next year, the 40th anniversary of the Movement of the NonAligned, and
the
25th anniversary of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries.
I am also convinced, that we will succeed, until that time, in
implementing a good part of the agreements we will reach today and
tomorrow
at this meeting.
Distinguished members of the Coordination Bureau of the Pool of
News Agencies of NonAligned Countries,
I wish you a pleasant and successful time in our Capital City
in
Free Belgrade.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
BELGRADE, Sep 15 (Tanjug). Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran
Matic Friday opened a meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the
Nonaligned
News Agencies' Pool hosted by Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, which focuses
on
the need for reinforcing mutual ties, exchanging information and
correspondents, and overcoming barriers imposed by the large world
information systems.
Matic welcomed the participants on behalf of the Yugoslav
government. The following is the official translation of his address:
It gives me great pleasure to have the honer to greet, as
Federal
Minister of Information, this important gathering, in the framework of
the
great family of the Pool of News Agencies of the Nonaligned Countries,
on
behalf of the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
My satisfaction is even greater because of the fact that this
special meeting of the members of the Coordination Bureau is devoted to
the
revitalization of the Pool of News Agencies of the NonAligned Countries
is
taking place in the Capital City of my country Yugoslavia, which was,
40
years ago, together with Egypt and India, the founder of the Movement of
the NonAligned, and, in 1961, the host of the First Summit Meeting of
the
Head of States and Governments of the NonAligned Countries.
Next year, as you know, will mark one quarter of a century of
the
existence of the Pool of the News Agencies of NonAligned Countries.
The World at the threshold of the new millennium
The modern world faces new, difficult ordeals, at the threshold
of
the Third Millennium.
Instead of diminishing, the differences between the rich and
poor
countries and peoples are increasing.
The last decade of the XX century will be marked in the history
as
the decade of the efforts of one country to be the master of the entire
world, to establish the new world order. That is, in fact, the cruel,
ruthless, almost always naked, criminal endeavour of the economically
and
technologically most developed country of the world, to establish, under
the mask of globalization, a modern colonization of the enormous
majority
of countries and peoples. Of all those who have natural, human and
market
resources.
Between the two millennia, the paradox of the new colonization
of
the world is even greater, because this century accomplished the closest
links between countries.
The subordination of the world to the moral, economic and
military
interests and principles of one country is accompanied by the hidden,
cruel
struggle against the culturalhistorical and spiritual national values of
ancient countries and peoples.
The globalization tries to destroy the enormous, real, treasury
of
the world its multicivilisational and multicultural values.
The economically developed Europe, blinded by the enormous
number
of instant information, by the consumers' mentality and dependent on the
increase of the capital of the multinational companies, has an
uncritical
attitude towards the globalization of the world, and the present
governments of some Western European countries accept the role of
European
satellites in the modern colonization of the world, in order to satisfy
and
promote their personal interests.
In that way, those Western European governments struck the most
terrible blow to the civilisational achievements, to the tradition and
to
the treasuries of their countries and of their historical peoples which
created the modern world.
Similar tendencies are directed against the countries which
represent the cradle of the civilization, like Egypt, Iran, India and
others.
The protagonists of the modern colonization use all possible
means
to achieve, as soon as possible, their global objective to rule the
world
from one single center. They threaten countries by diplomatic means,
they
impose sanctions, they maintain lowintensity conflicts, and when all
that
does not succeed they intervene with military power. As the
economically,
militarily and technologically strongest country of the world, they
govern
the most important international political, financial, and trade
organizations. They do not respect the international legal system, the
United Nations and all others who hinder the achievement of their
objective to govern, from one place, the movements of commodities, of
people, of ideas and of capital, in order to enrich ruthlessly the small
economic and military elite of the world.
The basic instruments for the achievement of the dominant
globalization are the provoking of regional crisis and of internal
crises
in countries all over the world, the lowintensity conflicts, the
disturbed
security, violence, the fear of terrorism, the armed interference and
the
ruthless interference into the internal affairs of sovereign countries.
That is usually done under the excuse of the prevention of humanitarian
problems and catastrophes, and under the excuse of the alleged defense
of
human rights and liberties.
The policy of globalisation "floats" on the low intensity
conflicts, it provokes poverty, it favours the groups which support the
policy of violence and of modern colonialism and it is against those who
want to preserve the basic national and state interests and liberties.
Opposing that, the enormous majority of the countries, the
countries with the biggest population, want freedom and peace. They
advocate integration and globalisation on equal bases, not on bases of
exploitation.
Because of its original principles in the struggle against
colonialism, the Movement of the NonAligned found itself under the blows
of
the creators of the new world order.
The advocates of the forceful globalisation of the world do not
want talks between equals, they want to preserve the political,
military,
technological and general economic domination over the poor and
developing
countries.
In order to justify the military interventions all over the
world,
the architects of the rule over the world resources try to win for
themselves the world public opinion and the voters in their countries by
financial and mediatic manipulation.
They establish special headquarters for information war and for
mediatic manipulation.
In order to achieve their goals, they use various methods and
the
biggest news agencies of the world, the global radio and TV stations,
the
daily newspapers, periodicals and professional magazines.
The concept of "information domination", according to which it
is
possible to rule over foreign countries by the control of information,
and,
if necessary, combine information with military interventions, imposes
the
need to intensify the activities of the Pool of News Agencies of
NonAligned
Countries.
It is interesting to note that a great number of scientists,
theoreticians and politicians in the NATO countries speaks about the
gradual disappearance of the war as we have known it in the past. They
are
talking about the new way of waging wars, with the emphasis on the
closed
circuit of information and intelligence data about the strategic,
operational and tactical situations. That shows that the promoters of
the
global colonialism do not refrain from violence as a means to achieve
domination; they invest enormous means in the development of new
technologies for new forms of conquest and subordination.
Therefore, the key question is the question of the struggle for
truth and for the conscience about the society in which we live. In
that,
information plays a very important, unavoidable role. The media in the
modern society have the possibility to discover truth, to influence the
reality, and, by destroying illusions and manipulation, to increase
human
knowledge and change people and societies.
If the basic assumption of a society is based on cheating and
instrumentalization of humans as beings, then such a society can not be
democratic, regardless of its selfproclamation; that society wants to
impose its own criteria of democracy to the entire world.
Were that society, in substance, democratic and prosperous, its
principles would be accepted willingly by all, the society would not
need
sanctions, isolation, black lists, bombing, information and media war in
order to impose such principles.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia said a resolute "NO" to the
new
world order, in spite of threats, sanctions, bombing and other numerous
pressures and special war.
We did not yield under the aggressor's attack of the strongest
military power of the world the NATO forces of 19 countries, which
bombed
us, criminally, senselessly, violating all international legal norms,
during 78 days, incessantly.
The global NATO machinery tried to conceal the crimes committed
by
the strongest military power against innocent civilians, against
economic
and communal facilities, against traffic infrastructure.
However, in spite of all these endeavors, in spite of the
censorship without precedent imposed by NATO on the reports about the
bombing of Yugoslavia, the world saw the atrocities done by the Alliance
in
our country.
In spite of that, NATO and the most powerful countries of the
world still do not want to admit the war crimes they committed in The
Mediatic Role of the NonAligned The last decade of the XX century is
marked, in the field of information and communication, as the period of
accelerated development of the media.
Due to the dynamic development of multimedia and of Internet,
and
of the world network of direct and uncontrolled communication, the
original
meaning of the world information got a new significance. Information
became
a first class product devoted to the broadest mass of consumers from
business people to simple consumers.
At present, the political and economic systems are greatly
based
on communication networks and on available information systems. The
establishment of such systems, the manipulation of information and the
elimination of undesirable competitive communication networks,
establishes
a new form of war, new according to its methods, but old according to
its
concept and its goals.
A new kind of war the information war was created and
established.
Therefore, it is extremely important to agree here, at this
meeting, about the revitalization of the pool of News Agencies of
NonAligned Countries. Otherwise, we will continue to be the victims of
the
globalisation, of the designed and dosed information.
The information is conditioned by the laws of the development
of
the human society, and by the need to preserve and link generations,
cultures and creativity. At present, it represents the prerequisite of
good
management of states, of businesses, of family budget.
The mediatic colonization and the terror of the global
information
media, however, try to eliminate the right to one's own views.
Therefore,
the concept of the globalisation of information, which they try to
impose,
could achieve a greater importance, could produce greater effects than
the
classical war or economic domination.
Therefore, the information is heading to the first priority in
the
development of the human society. It becomes the mostly wanted raw
material, although it is not a classical material good.
Unfortunately, the great agencies and other information systems
are dominant and developing. They are the systems which belonged, and
most
of them still belong, to the highly developed, to the economically and
militarily strongest countries. Usually, the dominant news agencies are
the
agencies from the metropola which were until recently the colonizers of
the
present nonaligned and independent countries. That applies especially
the
independent African states. It is easy to assume what are editorial
policies and the propaganda activities of those agencies and of other
information systems of those countries.
The mutual information among the nonaligned and other
developing
countries is still nonadequate. There exist information lacunas in many
nonaligned countries, which represent a fertile soil for the activities
of
the big news agencies of the powerful western countries.
That was best seen recently during the last year's criminal
aggression of NATO against Yugoslavia. And now as well in the
continuation
of the strong economic, diplomatic, political, media, psychological and
military pressures against the independent and sovereign Yugoslavia.
We are witnessing the media manipulation without precedent,
which
tries to bring legitimacy to the NATO aggression against our country,
and
to take off the responsibility of the orderers and executors of war
crimes
against civilian population of Yugoslavia.
These and similar events in other provoked foci in the world,
confirm the necessity of the establishment of the Pool of News Agencies
of
NonAligned Countries in 1976.
Unfortunately, the most recent examples show that there is
still a
lot of space, a lot of necessity for the activities of the Pool, that
the
Pool did not fulfil its task, due to obvious reasons.
Our objective is to establish information without
intermediaries
who deform the information in accordance with their own interests, thus
being harmful to all of us.
The Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries has an
unavoidable, important rule in the strengthening of the prestige and of
the
influence of the Movement of the NonAligned in international relations
and
its adaptation to the new international relations.
The Yugoslav state agency TANJUG is ready to give its maximum
contribution to that objective. By signing, recently, agreements on
cooperation with state agencies and media houses in Iran, Iraq, India
and
other countries, it made a huge step toward the exchange of information
without intermediaries.
The Development of the Telecommunication Infrastructure
In order to establish direct, rapid and timely exchange of
information in the framework of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned
Countries, it is indispensable to work on the expansion, development and
strengthening of the telecommunication infrastructure.
The existing network is usually monopolized by strong, powerful
world agencies, which do not hesitate to remodel original true
information
according to their own interests which are most often contrary to the
interests of the nonaligned and developing countries.
The crimes committed by NATO during the last year's aggression
against the FRY are the best illustration of how the independent
information technology and network troubles the developed West.
After destroying 300 radio and TV transmitters, and 19 big
transmitters, and the magnificent architectural work of world
importance the TV tower at the Avala mountain near Belgrade, NATO
committed, on April 23, 1999, the greatest crime in the history of free
press and journalism. On that night, the airplanes of the strongest
military power of the world bombed, without warning, the building of the
Radio and Television Serbia, it the center of Belgrade. 16 journalists
and
other TV creators of the information program of the state electronic
media,
which broadcasted, from that studio, authentic pictures about the war
crimes committed by NATO in Yugoslavia, Serbia, in Kosovo and Metohija,
were killed in the bombing.
By developing their own telecommunication network, the news
agencies of the nonaligned countries will have the necessary conditions
to
exchange, without intermediaries, authentic, true information.
That will also represent a possibility to avoid the pitfalls of
the western variant of the global information society, in which modern
technology is used for the production of enormous quantities of news and
information. The aim is obvious they try, by the quantity of naked
information to imprison the human mind and the human capacity to
understand
data and facts.
The western information society offers enormous, versatile
quantity, using the technological perfection to the detriment of the
needs
and of the liberty of human thinking and understanding.
The quantity of cheap information is the most expensive deceit
of
the modern civilization, of the future of the human mind, of the freedom
of
thought and expression.
Allow me, at the end of my expose, to express once more our
resoluteness to contribute as much as possible to the strengthening of
the
role of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries in the spirit
of
the reaffirmation of the original principles of the Movement of the
NonAligned, adapted to the present international relations.
I am deeply convinced that we will mark, in an appropriate way,
next year, the 40th anniversary of the Movement of the NonAligned, and
the
25th anniversary of the Pool of News Agencies of NonAligned Countries.
I am also convinced, that we will succeed, until that time, in
implementing a good part of the agreements we will reach today and
tomorrow
at this meeting.
Distinguished members of the Coordination Bureau of the Pool of
News Agencies of NonAligned Countries,
I wish you a pleasant and successful time in our Capital City
in
Free Belgrade.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
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KFOR ED UNMIK RESPONSABILI DI UN DISASTRO AMBIENTALE *VERO* NELL'AREA DI
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: ACIDO SOLFORICO FUORIESCE IN ABBONDANZA DAGLI
IMPIANTI
U.N. KOSOVOMETOHIJA MISSION ADMITS TO SULPHURIC ACID LEAK
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Sept 14 (Tanjug) Sulphuric acid is still
leaking out of the U.N.held Trepca car battery factory in the ethnic
Albanian part of divided Kosovska Mitrovica and polluting nearby rivers,
according to a U.N. spokesman on Thursday.
U.N. KosovoMetohija Mission (UNMIK) spokesman Mike Keats told
media there had been another leak earlier in the day of sulphuric acid
from
Trepca's storage tanks into the River Sitnica.
According to Keats, 75 litres of the acid is leaking out a
minute,
which is 25 litres less than on Wednesday.
The statement was tantamount to an admission that the
international force KFor and UNMIK are incapable of preventing
environmental pollution, since the leaky facility has been in their
hands
for a year now.
Keats went on to say that, over the past 24 hours, Kfor troops
and
specialised teams have been endeavouring to stop the flow of the toxic
matter into the Sitnica and Ibar rivers, and pumping the acid into
another
tank.
Kfor and UNMIK again warned the local population to steer clear
of
the Sitnica, especially in the vicinity of the Trepca facility.
Local water factories are located in this part of Kosovska
Mitrovica, now populated almost exclusively by ethnic Albanians after
the
Serbs have practicly all been driven out.
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
KFOR AND UNMIK RESPONSIBLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Sept 13 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Committee
for
Cooperation with the U.N. and local authorities have condemned Kfor's
and
UNMIK's ineptitude in stopping the sulphuric acid spill that started on
Monday at a battery factory at Kosovska Mitrovica, a town in the north
of
the U.N.run Serbian province of KosovoMetohija.
Representatives of the Committee and local authorities have
said
that the spill caused a largescale environmental disaster coming from an
UNMIKrun factory, situated in ethnic Albanianpopulated southern Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Ironically, Kfor had shut down the facilities of the Trepca
metallurgy complex in nearby Zvecan using environmental reasons as a
pretext. Nevertheless, Kfor has proved unable to secure the facilities
it
seized a year ago, Committee representative Ivica Mihajlovic has told
media.
Serbia and Yugoslavia will take all the necessary measures to
neutralize the toxic substance that has reached the Ibar, a river
flowing
towards central Serbia. Experts are trying to prevent the acid from
getting
into the Morava river, Mihajlovic said, adding that the state would take
legal action against Kfor troops, as they had not taken the necessary
measures and had proved incompetent to preserve what they had taken away
from Serbia.
Chief of the Kosovska Mitrovica region Zdravko Trajkovic has
told
the press that a large number of fish died in the Ibar river.
Kosovska Mitrovica mayor Nikola Radevic has said that the
Serbian
environmental inspectorate has declared tap water in the area
bacteriologically unsafe, even for hygiene.
The water processing plants are situated in southern Kosovska
Mitrovica, which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians, as local Serbs
have been driven out of the area.
SULPHURIC ACID CAUSES ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, September 12 (Tanjug) The road connecting
Kosovska Mitrovica and Pristina was temporarily blocked early on
Tuesday,
due to a sulphuric acid spill at a battery factory located in the
southern
part of Kosovska Mitrovica, TANJUG learned from the UNMIK seat in
Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Although the pipes conveying the acid burst on Monday morning,
special Kfor units intervened no earlier than Tuesday, when a large
quantity of the toxic liquid reached the Kosovska MitrovicaPristina
road.
The units attempted to stop the leak with lime, gypsum, and
various chemicals, but the acid is still leaking into the Sitnica river,
some 200 meters from the spot where it flows into the Ibar river.
Throughout the afternoon, a local radio station has been
broadcasting an UNMIK statement warning the population to keep away from
the river, which flows towards central Serbia, and to avoid contact with
the contaminated water.
Reliable Serb sources say that there are huge deposits of
sulphuric acid at the factory.
UNMIK spokesman Mike Keats said that enormous efforts were
being
made to stop the leak, adding that, due to fair weather, there was no
possibility of air pollution in the area around the town of Kosovska
Mitrovica, situated in the north of the Serbian Kosovo and Metohija
province.
ABOUT 600,000 L SULPHURIC ACID SPILLS INTO RIVER IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, September 13 (Tanjug) Around 600,000
litres
of sulphuric acid spilled in the past two days into the Sitnica river
which
joins the Ibar river at Kosovska Mitrovica in the U.N.administered
Serbian
province of Kosovo and Metohija, an UNMIK spokesman said on Wednesday.
The spokesman said efforts to prevent a possible ecological
disaster would continue in the next couple of days.
UNMIK warned people over the local media not to enter the river
or
to fish in it.
Sulphuric acid spilled from pipes leading to the cisterns in an
electric batteries industry in the southern, ethnic Albanian part of
Kosovska Mitrovica.
---
INIZIATIVA A PARIGI CONTRO L'EMBARGO ALLA RFJ
MORE THAN 10,000 LEAFLETS AGAINST SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA TO BE
DISTRIBUTED IN PARIS
PARIS, Sept 15 (Tanjug) The Parisbased Committee for the
Protection of Human Rights has organized the distribution of more than
10,000 leaflets throughout Paris demanding urgent lifting of all
sanctions
imposed against Yugoslavia.
The Committee says that the sanctions have caused great harm to
all people in Yugoslavia, and can have dramatic consequences in
forthcoming
winter. The leaflet also notes that sanctions affect almost one million
refugees and expelled persons from former Yugoslavia, who are hosted by
the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
This is the reason why the Committee demands the lifting of the
criminal antiYugoslav sanctions that the U.N. and a part of the
international community have imposed.
INCONTRO A BELGRADO DELLE AGENZIE DI STAMPA DEI PAESI NON-ALLINEATI
NONALIGNED NEWS AGENCIES MEET IN BELGRADE
BELGRADE, Sep 15 (Tanjug). Representatives of the Nonaligned
News
Agencies' Pool are holding a meeting in Belgrade, hosted by Tanjug, one
of
the Pool's founding memberagencies.
The meeting will focus on strengthening mutual ties among
participating agencies, exchanging information and correspondents, and
overcoming barriers imposed by large world information systems.
The meeting will be opened by Yugoslav Minister of Information
Goran Matic, who also chairs Tanjug's management board.
UCCISA UNA DONNA SERBA IN KOSMET
SERB WOMAN KILLED IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA SERBS PROTEST
KOSOVSKA KAMENICA, Sep 14 (Tanjug). About 500 Serbs gathered
Thursday around a local church in Kosovska Kamenica, Serbia's
KosovoMetohija province, in protest against the murder of a Serb woman
Wednesday evening.
Two unidentified killers opened fire from an automatic weapon
from
a distance of 50 meters on Milijana Stojanovic, 46, mother of two, as
she
was rinsing dishes in her own yard. She died on the spot.
UNMIK police arrived at the scene of the crime, but has found
no
trace of the killers, who committed the murder at 10.40 p.m., 20 minutes
before curfew.
LA MISSIONE DELL'ONU HA VIOLATO IL SUO MANDATO, PERCIO' SE NE DEVE
ANDARE
MINISTER MATIC: UN MISSION PROTECTS KOUCHNER'S MAFIA
BELGRADE, Sep 13 (Tanjug). The UN mission in Serbia's
KosovoMetohija province is not implementing the Security Council
Resolution
1244 and is doing nothing to protect its population or to ensure the
return
of displaced persons, it is only working to protect (UNMIK chief)
Bernard
Kouchner's mafia and should consequently leave Yugoslavia, Yugoslav
Minister of Information Goran Matic said Wednesday.
After last year's (MarchJune) NATO aggression on Yugoslavia
ended,
international troops KFor and civilian mission UNMIK took over the
responsibility for administering KosovoMetohija in line with the
Security
Council Resolution 1244.
Matic told a press conference, attended also by press attaches
of
several embassies, that the results of the mission's "efforts" are
300,000
expelled nonAlbanians, over 1,000 Serbs killed and 1,400 abducted.
Under the umbrella of the UN mission and within the framework
of
the phantom socalled Kosovo Protection Corps (which is not even
mentioned
in Resolution 1244), Croatian instructors are creating at the Dragas
base
near provincial capital Pristina a special military unit of 3000 ethnic
Albanians wearing NATO uniforms, Matic said.
The UN mission is planning to replace troops from western
countries by ethnic Albanians. The fact that 700 Serbs are being held in
a
concentration camp near Pec, commanded by a brother of Agim Cheku, one
of
known war criminals in the former Yugoslavia, is another proof of
UNMIK's
failure, Matic said.
The reporters were shown unedited, authentic and shocking
footage
showing the mission's troops "from the inside", drunk, disorderly and
halfnaked, having "fun" in their bases in KosovoMetohija with young
women
and even ethnic Albanian children.
Commenting the behaviour of international troops, Matic said
the
mission was compromising the UN. If it is a NATO mission on the other
hand,
it is easy to understand that it is doing what NATO was doing all the
time,
Matic said.
The KosovoMetohija mission is attempting to destabilize
Yugoslavia, develop aggressiveterrorist structures to undermine its
interests, militarize the region and arm paramilitary units that the
mission's task was to disarm, Matic said.
Yugoslavia's fundamental political and state commitment is to
making the Balkans a zone of peace and security, demilitarizing the
region
and reducing tensions to enable its peoples to live in peace and to
cooperate, Matic said, pointing to attempts being made to make the
Balkans
a powder keg in order to realize the geopolitical and strategic
interests
of outside forces.
Underlining that the UN mission has not accomplished any of its
tasks, Matic recalled that Resolution 1244 defined the basic rules for
the
development of multiethnic coexistence in the province, the right of all
refugees and displaced persons to return home safely, and the need for
demilitarizing the "KLA" and other armed groups of ethnic Albanians and
for
the return of Yugoslav forces to KosovoMetohija.
MEMORANDUM DEL GOVERNO DELLA RFJ DISTRIBUITO ALL'ASSEMBLEA GENERALE
DELL'ONU
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES MEMORANDUM TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
NEW YORK, Sep 14 (Tanjug). Participants in the general debate
of
the 55th regular UN General Assembly session had the opportunity
Wednesday,
second day of the session at the Palace of Nations in New York, to read
a
Memorandum of the Yugoslav government on the difficult situation in the
UNrun Serbia's KosovoMetohija province.
The latest Yugoslav government document on the implementation
of
the Security Council Resolution 1244 was distributed to the General
Assembly to brief the participants of Yugoslavia's views and of the
analysis of the situation in the province that the Yugoslav government
addressed to the UN on August 21.
The Memorandum points to the continuing worsening of the
situation
in KosovoMetohija since the previous analysis of June 7, and underlines
that the situation has deteriorated dramatically due to acts of
terrorism
being perpetrated by ethnic Albanian separatists aided and abetted by
KFor
and UNMIK chiefs.
KOSTUNICA CONTESTATO DAI SERBO-KOSOVARI
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - E' finita male la prima incursione in Kosovo del
maggior rivale di Slobodan Milosevic alle presidenziali del 24
settembre.
Il comizio tenuto dal candidato dell'opposizione democratico, Vojislav
Kostunica nella città divisa di Mitrovica non è neppure iniziato, perchè
al
suo arrivo in auto alcuni serbi lo hanno bersagliato con uova, pietre e
pomodori al grido di "traditore" e "Slobo! Slobo!". Otto i feriti tra
cui
lo stesso Kostunica, che ha riportato un vistoso taglio sotto l'occhio
destro ed escoriazioni a una gamba.
(da "La Repubblica" online del 14/9/00)
PROCESSO AI LEADERS DELLA NATO IN SERBIA
TRIAL OF NATO AGGRESSORS ON YUGOSLAVIA TO START SOON
ARANDJELOVAC, September 13 (Tanjug) Serbian Minister of
Justice
Dragoljub Jankovic said that the trial of Bill Clinton, Madeleine
Albright
and 14 other leading protagonists of last year's (MarchJune) NATO
aggression on Yugoslavia would start on September 18 at the Belgrade
District Court.
This will be a very complex trial that can be compared to the
Nuremberg trials as regards the rank of the indicted and the seriousness
of
their crimes, Jankovic told a local TV station in Arandjelovac, central
Serbia.
A great part of the world public opinion, mainly
nongovernmental
organizations and popular tribunals, including some from NATO
memberstates,
has condemned the NATO aggression, Jankovic noted. The facts are
known and the evidence is so extensive and serious, that a verdict that
the
defendants deserve can be expected, Jankovic said, adding that
investigation was carried out in 28 locations throughout Serbia and that
NATO criminals would be tried by a panel of five judges from Belgrade,
Nis,
Cacak, Pristina and Novi Sad.
The defendants will be tried in absentia and the court will
appoint defense lawyers in line with Yugoslav law, Jankovic said,
expressing hope that some of the defendants would serve their sentences
one
day, after agreements on extradition are concluded.
INDICTMENTS FOR NATO AGGRESSION TO BE ADDRESSED TO ACCUSED
BELGRADE, Sep 5 (Tanjug). Indictments drawn up by the Belgrade
district attorney will be addressed to the persons charged with serious
crimes committed during last year's NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, the
Belgrade district court decided Tuesday.
The Yugoslav foreign ministry has been entrusted with
addressing
indictments to the accused through diplomatic channels. The defendants
are:
William Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Willian Cohen, Anthony Blair, Robin
Cook, George Robertson, Jacques Chirac, Hubert Vedrine, Alain Richard,
Gerhard Schroeder, Joseph Fischer, Rudolf Scharping, Javier Solana and
Wesley Clark.
The indictments were brought in line with the Yugoslav penal
law
for incitement to war of aggression, war crimes against civilians, use
of
forbidden ordnance, attempt to murder the Yugoslav president and
violation
of Yugoslavia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Investigation into the crimes was initiated immediately after
the
aggression ended throughout Serbia before 29 district courts and a
military
court.
On March 24, 1999, NATO launched a military aggression on
Yugoslavia which lasted 11 weeks and during which over 2,000 civilians
were
killed, in addition to extensive material damages.
The Serbian attorneygeneral has decided that all proceedings be
carried out jointly before the Belgrade district court.
I LAVORATORI DI TREPCA: L'ONU VUOLE FARCI ANDARE VIA DAL KOSMET
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
U.N. OCCUPATION OF TREPCA MEANT TO DRIVE SERBS OUT
ZVECAN, Sept 12 (Tanjug) The purpose of Aug. 14 U.N.
occupation
of the Trepca lead smelter in Zvecan, KosovoMetohija, was not to restart
production, but to drive Serbs out of that U.N.run Serbian (Yugoslav)
province, protesters said on Tuesday.
If the U.N. mission (UNMIK) had meant to restart production,
they
would have come with money and experts, not tanks and helicopters,
according to Desimir Timotijevic of the Trepca management, addressing
protesters.
"Their purpose is to drive us out, for the Serbs to forget who
they are, their history, battles, victories and heroes", Timotijevic
said,
speaking at another daily peaceful workers' protest outside the main
gate
into the complex.
"Those who have driven us out of our jobs are now offering that
we
return, telling us stories about modernisation and restarting of
production.
"How can be trust them, when we know what they have done in the
industrial zone in south Kosovska Mitrovica, setting the zinc plant on
fire", Timotijevic said.
COLLOQUI E ACCUSE RFJ-CROAZIA A GINEVRA SUI RIFUGIATI
YUGOSLAV, CROATIAN, UNHCR DELEGATIONS HOLD TALKS IN GENEVA
BELGRADE, Sept 12 (Tanjug) Yugoslav and Croatian delegations
are
holding talks in Geneva on Tuesday with officials of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about the repatriation to Croatia of
refugees sheltered in Yugoslavia.
According to a Yugoslav government statement, the Yugoslav
delegation to the tripartite talks is headed by Minister for
humanitarian
and refugee affairs Bratislava Morina.
Morina stressed Yugoslavia's firm position that the Protocol on
an
organised repatriation must be honoured.
All those who opt to return must be guaranteed the necessary
conditions for a free, normal and safe life, including property rights,
full personal safety and security of property.
They must also be guaranteed equal treatment as that accorded
to
the other citizens, and general amnesty, except in cases of the gravest
violations of humanitarian law.
Yugoslavia has discharged its obligations under the Protocol,
while Croatia is not only ignoring the Protocol, but trying to change it
in
its most important part, the statement said.
This means, according to the statement, that Croatia is in
violation also of the YugoslavCroatian normalisation accord, the 1995
Zagreb/Erdut CroatianSerb accord and relevant resolutions of the United
Nations.
Morina condemned in the strongest terms arrests of repatriates
and
the return to Yugoslavia of some whose repatriation had been approved.
She also stressed it is impermissible that Croatia should be
applying a new repatriation procedure outside the Protocol, instituting
criminal investigations and checks of accommodation, and so violating
the
international document, the statement said.
CONTINUA LA CAMPAGNA TERRORISTICA SOTTO LE BANDIERE DELL'ONU
TERROR CAMPAIGN UNDER U.N. FLAG IN SERBIA'S KOSOVOMETOHIJA CONTINUES
BELGRADE, Sept 11 (Tanjug) At a meeting of the humanitarian
task
group of the Peace Implementation Council in Geneva, Yugoslav Minister
for
Refugees and Displaced Persons Bratislava Morina has dismissed the most
recent document on the Serbian KosovoMetohija province as unacceptable.
The document treats the province as an entity outside the
political, economic, educational, social, legal and health system of
Serbia
and Yugoslavia, which is contrary to the U.N. Resolution 1244, Morina
said,
according to a statement of the Yugoslav government.
Morina went on to say that, 15 months after the deployment of
the
Kfor and UNMIK troops, the situation in the province was absolutely
disastrous.
Under the U.N. banner, a systematic and comprehensive campaign
of
terror, genocide, and ethnic cleansing, directed against nonAlbanians,
primarily Serbs and Montenegrins, is under way, Morina said. She added
that
Kfor and UNMIK were doing nothing to ensure the return of displaced
persons.
Morina stressed that Yugoslavia was fully participating in the
repatriation of refugees from BosniaHerzegovina and Croatia, in close
cooperation with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Various obstructions, such as murders, arrests, and harassment
of
returners, seriously undermine the repatriation process, Morina said,
appealing to the UNHCR for immediate assistance on these issues.
Morina described the reports by Karl Bildt and Bernard Kouchner
as
quite untrue. The reports misrepresent the state of affairs, and are not
a
contribution to stabilization in Yugoslavia and the Balkans, she said.
The Yugoslav delegation walked out on the meeting, in protest
against the reports, the statement said.
INAUGURATA LA NUOVA CENTRALE ELETTRICA ALLA "PORTA DI FERRO" SUL DANUBIO
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC INAUGURATES NEW IRONGATE GENERATOR
KLADOVO, Sept 12 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic
inaugurated on Tuesday the newest, 16th generating unit of the Irongate
II
HydroElectric Power and Navigation System in the River Danube.
Over the 30 years of operation, this biggest Yugoslav
hydroelectric power plant, which Yugoslavia shares with neighbouring
Romania, has generated 170 billion kilowatthours (Kwh) of electricity,
exceeding the plan by a whole fouryear output.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Yugoslav republic
of
Serbia's President Milan Milutinovic and Parliament Speaker Dragan
Tomic,
as well as Yugoslav federal parliament lower house Speaker Milomir
Minic.
Also present were Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)
SecretaryGeneral
Gorica Gajevic, and Yugoslav Left (JUL) President Ljubisa Ristic,
Yugoslav
federal and Serbian government officials.
Yugoslav Defence Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and Chief of Staff
Nebojsa Pavkovic with aides also attended.
ALTO ESPONENTE DELL'HDZ SOTTO ACCUSA PER LA VIOLENZE CONTRO I SERBI
DELLA CROAZIA
CROATIA - SERBS - CRIMES
CROATIA'S SEKS ACCUSED OF SUPPRESSING CRIMES
ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Tanjug) Vladimir Seks, who heads the Croatian
Democratic Union (CDU) club in the national parliament, has been accused
by
some former and present Croatian officials of suppressing crimes against
Serbs in the Gospic and Pakrac areas.
According to Croatian press, at least 120 people, mostly Serbs,
were killed in Gospic and there are indications that hundreds of others
were killed in Pakrac at the time of Croatia's war of secession from
Yugoslavia.
Current President Stipe Mesic, who was high up in the CDU
hierarchy while the party was in power, has raised the matter of the
accountability of Seks, who also held responsible party and state
offices
at the time.
According to Mesic, the new government does not mean to
criminate
the CDU, but only individuals and groups, among whom Seks, for the role
he
played as state prosecutor.
I LAVORATORI DI TREPCA IN LOTTA CONTRO I COLONIALISTI DELLA KFOR
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
TREPCA WORKERS CONTINUE PROTESTS IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
ZVECAN, Serbia, Sept 11 (Tanjug) Trepca workers held their
daily
protest rally outside the U.N.seized lead smelter in Zvecan,
KosovoMetohija, again on Monday, beginning a fifth week of protests
against
the smelter's violent takeover on Aug 14.
Nebojsa Toskovic, a Trepca stockholder, addressed the assembled
multitude, stressing that Trepca is owned by its stockholders and there
is
no truth in the claim that there should be a change in management.
Toskovic, executive director of the Krusevacbased 14. Oktobar
mechanical engineering company, dismissed as untrue also the claim that
Trepca was polluting the environment and concern for the environment
evinced by the occupiers.
"The occupiers care nothing for the environment; their purpose
is
quite different", Toskovic said.
"We are using all legitimate weapons under the laws of
Yugoslavia
and its republic of Serbia and under international laws to recover our
facilities", he added.
ANCHE L'ALBANIA NELL'ORGANIZZAZIONE MONDIALE DEL COMMERCIO
Anche l'Albania si e' unita al WTO, diventando il 138esimo membro
dell'organizzazione. Se
andate sul sito del WTO www.wto.org vedrete che sotto questo articolo
sono considerati dati
prettamente economici: esportazioni e importazioni. Come al solito,
nulla su ambiente, diritti dei
lavoratori e condizioni di poverta' della popolazione.
(da <Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.>)
8 September 2000
Albania joins the WTO
Albania became 138th member of the World Trade Organization today (8th
September). WTO
Director-General Mike Moore greeted the event by saying: "I welcome
Albania into the
multilateral trading system. Membership promises a more prosperous
future and raised living
standards for all Albanian citizens. I also believe that, by encouraging
the trade links between
countries, the WTO can help foster greater peace, stability and
development in south-eastern
Europe. Albania's membership brings this Organization ever closer to
being a truly 'World Trade
Organization'."
Albania has agreed to assume its WTO obligations upon accession. In
addition, it will sign on to
the two plurilateral agreements on government procurement and on trade
in civil aircraft. Albania's
accession package includes market-access commitments on goods and
services.
Within the region, Slovenia is already a member of the WTO and Croatia
will become a member
upon completion of the ratification procedures. Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are in the process of negotiating their accession
to the WTO.
Albania applied for GATT 1947 membership in 1992. Negotiations on
Albania's terms of
accession to WTO started in earnest in 1998. The WTO General Council
adopted the final results
of these negotiations on 17 July 2000.
During that General Council meeting, Albania's Minister for Economic
Cooperation and Trade,
Ermelinda Meksi, said that WTO membership "presents us with a new role
in the international
community" and would help bring "improvement of the wellbeing and
prosperity of my people."
Overall, 30 governments are currently negotiating to join the WTO:
Algeria, Andorra, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Cape
Verde, People's Republic
of China, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kazakstan, Lao People's
Democratic
Republic, Lebanon, Lithuania, Moldova, Nepal, Oman, Russian Federation,
Samoa, Saudi Arabia,
Seychelles, Sudan, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu,
Vietnam and Yemen.
IL GOVERNO DELLA RFJ BIASIMA L'AUTOPROCLAMATA CHIESA ORTODOSSA
MONTENEGRINA
RELIGIONS MINISTER MILICEVIC ON STATE STAND ON RELIGION
BELGRADE, September 9 (Tanjug) Relations between state organs
and
religious communities in Yugoslavia are good and, in keeping with the
Serbian and Yugoslav constitutions and international conventions, all
religions in Yugoslavia have equal status and all believers the full
right
to practice their confessions, Yugoslav Religions Minister Leposava
Milicevic told a panel hosted by Tanjug on Friday.
Confessions, or the religious communities which exist in
Yugoslavia, will be as dear to the state as they are fond of it, and
they
will get adequate help and support from the state, Milicevic said.
Asked to comment on the fact that the religions minister is a
member of the Yugoslav Left (JUL) and a woman, she said the national
policy
and respect of all nations secured this party legitimacy for such a
post. Serbia and Yugoslavia are defined as states of citizens and
the
Serb people are the most numerous and nationconstructive, and that is
why
Serbs have been targets of specific pressures and aggression in the
recent
years, Milicevic said.
The pressures are primarily within the attempts to topple the
authorities which are absolutely patriotic and which refuse to barter
with
freedom or independence, sovereignty or territorial integrity, she said.
The other method being applied in the efforts to dismember
Yugoslavia is to cause a rift in the Serbian Orthodox Church, the second
mostimportant institution of the Serbian people, she said. A blatant
example of this are the developments in Montenegro, where a socalled
Montenegrin Orthodox Church is trying to be inaugurated. All this is
proceeding with the assistance of western powerwielders, who first set
up
in office their servants in Montenegro, and then struck at the
institution
of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is an unprecedented act, said
Milicevic.
BLOCCATO CARICO DI ARMI DALLA TURCHIA PER I SEPARATISTI
KOSOVARO-ALBANESI
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - TERRORISM
ILLEGAL SHIPMENT OF RIFLES INTENDED FOR KOSOVO SEIZED IN BULGARIA
SOFIA, September 9 (Tanjug) Bulgarian customs officials
discovered and seized at the Kapetan Andreievo border crossing 115
hunting
rifles and several thousand cartridges being smuggled from Turkey to
Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, it was announced in Sofia on
Saturday.
Svilengrad Customs Office spokesman Kalina Petrova said the
Champion and Cobra rifles and 11,250 12caliber cartridges and 1,500
16caliber cartridges had been discovered in a hidden compartment in a
Man
truck travelling from Turkey to Kosovo and Metohija.
BATTELLIERI RUMENI BLOCCANO IL DANUBIO
NATO AGGRESSION - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
ROMANIAN SHIPPERS BLOCK NAVIGATION IN DANUBE
BUCHAREST, September 8 (Tanjug) Romanian shippers blocked the
River Danube on Friday after the Bucharest government turned a deaf ear
to
their demands for relief for losses suffered as the result of last
year's
NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.
During the 11week air campaign against Yugoslavia, NATO
demolished
several bridges across the Danube, blocking navigation in this important
international waterway.
The Romanian shippers are vowing not to lift the blockade, set
up
at the town of Calarasi, until their demands are met, and are asking to
be
received at once by Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, demanding that the
government cease observing an antiYugoslav oil ban.
They are seeking compensation for companies that have suffered
losses through the antiYugoslav NATO aggression, tax relief for the
period
from April 1, 1999 to July 31, 2000, and permission to buy oil without
paying excise duties.
Romanian river shipping companies complain that their turnover
is
down 80 percent and that they have lost in excess of 150 million
dollars,
and still continuing to lose around 10 million dollars a month.
The blockade was originally scheduled for Sept. 6, but the
trade
unions deferred the protest pending the government's session in the
hope,
which did not materialise, that their demands might be met.
L'ARMATA JUGOSLAVA E' PRONTA A RIENTRARE IN KOSMET
SECONDO QUANTO PREVISTO DALLA RISOLUZIONE ONU 1244
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
GEN. PAVKOVIC: KOSOVO UNIT READY TO CARRY OUT ITS TASKS
NIS, Sept 7 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Army Chief of General Staff,
Gen.
Nebojsa Pavkovic said on Wednesday that the Kosovo unit presented to the
home and foreign public last week was absolutely ready to carry out the
special tasks in the southern Serbian province, secure the state border,
and protect cultural goods.
Speaking in a broadcast of the regional program of Serbian
Radio
Television RTS in the central Serbian town of Nis, Gen. Pavkovic said
the
unit comprised highly skilled professional members of the Yugoslav Army
and
the Interior Ministry who will protect and defend the Serb population
from
ethnic Albanian terrorists.
"The unit is not intended for a violent return home," Gen.
Pavkovic emphasized.
"There are other forces for such an alternative. Other Yugoslav
Army units are prepared for such activities, actually. However, we are
duly
implementing in principle the (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1244
and
we do not wish to be the ones who will be blamed for its nonrealization.
That is why we can proudly say that our army is ready to join in the
peace
process and we think it would make a great contribution to that peace
mission because the KFOR and UNMIK have demonstrated that they are
incapable of doing so," Gen. Pavkovic said.
GEN. PAVKOVIC: SPECIAL YUGOSLAV ARMY UNIT READY TO RETURN TO
KOSOVOMETOHIJA
PIROT, Sep 1 (Tanjug). Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff and special
envoy of Supreme Commander Slobodan Milosevic, General Nebojsa Pavkovic,
accompanied by Third Army Commander Maj.Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic,
inspected
Friday in the vicinity of Pirot, southeastern Serbia, the Third Special
Unit of the Army set up to return to the UNrun Serbia's KosovoMetohija
province in line with the Security Council Resolution 1244 and the
MilitaryTechnical Accord.
Following an exercise with live ammunition Return 2000,
Pavkovic
said the unit comprised wellequipped army troops and police officers,
armoured vehicles and helicopters, as well trained and equipped as any
foreign unit within international force KFor.
The Third Special Unit is only one of the Yugoslav Army and
Serbian police units that are ready, as regards professional training,
morale and technical capability, to instantly return to KosovoMetohija,
base of the Pristina Corps and indivisible Third Army zone, to carry out
its peaceful mission in line with Resolution 1244 and MilitaryTechnical
Accord, Pavkovic said.
In abidance by the political decision and agreement reached
with
the international community, the Yugoslav Army was withdrawn from a part
of
Yugoslavia's territory only temporarily, to let the UN forces restore
peace
and order in the province and secure coexistence of all its inhabitants
regardless of ethnicity or religion, Pavkovic said.
However, since their arrival in the province on June 10, 1999,
KFor and UNMIK have failed to ensure the implementation of the
Resolution
1244. On the contrary, the situation in KosovoMetohija has become even
more
dramatic and has brought about a real humanitarian catastrophe. The life
of
Serbs, Montenegrins, other nonAlbanians and ethnic Albanians loyal to
Yugoslavia has become unbearable and their very survival is threatened,
Pavkovic said.
More than 5,000 terrorist crimes have been committed in
KosovoMetohija under the eyes of the force whose duty was to prevent
such
acts. More than 1,000 people, mainly Serbs, Montenegrins and Romanies,
have
been killed, about 1,000 have been wounded and as many have been
reported
missing, Pavkovic said.
About 50,000 homes of nonAlbanians have been burned down or
otherwise destroyed, as well as 86 monasteries and about 150 churches,
he
noted.
In the expectation that the Security Council will understand
the
failure of KFor and UNMIK and that it will, hopefully, take as soon as
possible the brave and honourable decision on the return of Yugoslav
Army
and Serbian police units to KosovoMetohija to help all in need there,
the
special unit for a peaceful mission was prepared on time and is now
being
presented to the public, Pavkovic said, presenting the unit's banner to
its
commander Maj.Gen. Momir Vukadinovic on behalf of Supreme Commander
Slobodan Milosevic.
Answering questions by the press whether the army would return
to
KosovoMetohia without a Security Council invitation, Pavkovic said the
Army
would not violate the Resolution 1244, and underlined that Yugoslavia
always abides by its commitments. He added he expected such an
invitation
would be forthcoming soon to enable the special unit to go to the
province
and join international peacekeepers there.
According to Pavkovic, the special unit would patrol the state
borders and border crossings between KosovoMetohija and neighbouring
states, protect Serb cultural monuments and help create conditions for
peaceful living.
The exercise was attended by Yugoslav Defense Minister General
Dragoljub Ojdanic, Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic,
Serbian
Minister of the Interior Vlajko Stojiljkovic, President of the
KosovoMetohija Interim Executive Council Zoran Andjelkovic, and military
officials from Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Iraq, Italy, Japan,
China, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Russia, and a UN liaison officer.
SE L'UNMIK NON VUOLE/PUO' FERMARE IL TERRORISMO ALLORA SE NE DEVE ANDARE
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
AMBASSADOR JOVANOVIC: U.N. MUST EITHER STOP TERRORISM OR PULL OUT UNMIK
NEW YORK, Sept 1 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia urged the U.N. Security
Council on Thursday to take urgent measures to stop the new wave of
ethnic
Albanian terrorism in the U.N.run Serbia's province of KosovoMetohija,
or
to suspend the U.N. mission which is responsible for the catastrophic
situation in that Serbian province.
Head of the Yugoslav mission at the U.N. Ambassador Vladislav
Jovanovic has sent a letter to the Security Council President and the
U.N.
SecretaryGeneral, saying that ethnic Albanian terrorists continue
perpetrating acts of violence, attacking those who are the most
vulnerable children and the elderly, and demolishing symbols of Serb
national heritage such as churches and cemeteries.
Stressing that ethnic Albanian terrorists have intensified
violence with the support of the international force KFor and U.N. peace
mission UNMIK, Jovanovic partially blamed the Security Council for its
passive attitude, too.
He went on to say that Yugoslavia had repeatedly pointed to a
series of inadmissible actions of the U.N. mission, ranging from the
forcing of local elections in KosovoMetohija, through the takeover of
Trepca smelting plant and opening of foreign representation offices
without
the approval of Yugoslav authorities, to KFor's and UNMIK's refusal to
cooperate with the Yugoslav government.
As the U.N. mission is not resolute in halting ethnic Albanian
terrorism and violence, it is in fact collaborating openly with
separatists
and terrorists, Jovanovic said.
It is absolutely clear that the U.N. mission, by flagrantly
violating the Resolution 1244, has failed to achieve the basic
goal multiethnic KosovoMetohija, he noted.
A series of terrorist attacks in recent months, specifically
brutal attacks on children and other crimes, proves that the Yugoslav
government statements are wellfounded.
The U.N. mission reacts inadequately or even cynically to such
crimes. Instead of making an effort to apprehend the culprits, KFor and
UNMIK are arresting Serbs, while UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner cynically
expresses condolences instead of reacting strongly to halt terrorism and
attacks on nonAlbanians, the letter says. Although the Security
Council is aware of all these crimes, it remains silent. If it does not
take measures to stop ethnic Albanian terrorism in KosovoMetohija, it
must
suspend the U.N. mission that has not achieved its goal, the letter
says.
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RFJ-IRAK
YUGOSLAVIA AND IRAQ DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM COMMON ENEMY
BELGRADE, Sept 5 (Tanjug) Iraqi Ambassador to Yugoslavia Sami
Sadoun said on Tuesday in an interview to Radio Yugoslavia (RJ) that
Iraq
and Yugoslavia have a common enemy and that the best defense from that
enemy is allround longlasting bilateral cooperation.
Sadoun said that Iraq has oil and experts to offer in exchange
for
food and technology from Yugoslavia.
Sadoun noted that the real goal of last year's (MarchJune) NATO
aggression on Yugoslavia was an attempt to control this country that
constitutes a link between Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
This would lead Russia to further isolation and lessen its
influence in both the Middle East and western Europe, he stressed.
Quoting Prof. Mira Markovic as saying that America is a country
without history, tradition or civilization, which is why it wants to
destroy all old civilizations, Sadoun said that such behaviour came as
no
surprise from a nation that had grown out of European convicts, who had
destroyed the ancient Indian civilizations more than 200 years ago.
Asked to make a comment on upcoming elections in Yugoslavia,
Sadoun expressed conviction that the Yugoslav people, together with
their
president, would say "no" for the fifth time to those who had been
killing
their children.
POLEMICHE E ATTI DIMOSTRATIVI IN OLANDA
PER LA AGGRESSIONE DEL 1999 CONTRO LA JUGOSLAVIA
Subject: Parliamentary report: Dutch troops to Kosovo: not enough
information
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 20:22:39 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
To: office@...
Dutch F-16 pilot, interviewed on Dutch TV at Volkel air base, 2
September 2000, when asked
about possibly bombing Kosovo: "Yes ... If you think too much, you
cannot do your job."
---------------------
Not just pilots:
The decisions to send Dutch soldiers to Cambodia, Cyprus, Bosnia, and
Kosovo, were based on
insufficient information at "all levels (UN, NATO, Cabinet, Parliament,
civil servants"
[NRC-Handelsblad, 4 September 2000]. This is one of the conclusions,
included in the final 500
pages plus report of the [Parliamentary] Bakker Committee; published on
Monday 4 September.
Various news media published summaries.
The committee, founded to find out about the decision making on sending
Dutch troops on foreign
military missions, says that the Dutch parliament has fallen short in
its task to control these
decisions. "In some cases, like the air raids in ex-Yugoslavia,
Parliament agreed with decisions of
which it did not appear to know the impact then." [NRC-Handelsblad, 4
September 2000]
The decisions turned out to be not really based on the situations in the
areas where the soldiers
went to; but on factors like fears that the military budget would be cut
without high visibility of the
armed forces, or the desire for good public relations for some branch of
the armed forces.
There is also criticism of Prime Minister Kok, and the ministers [of
Defence] De Grave and
Voorhoeve.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: F-16s painted red by peace activists
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 09:37:28 +0200
In the night of 1-2 September, at Volkel military air base in The
Netherlands, two F-16s and one other military plane were painted red by
peace activists, protesting against militarism.
At Volkel, there are [officially, the government will not confirm it]
NATO
nuclear weapons, each at least six times the strength of the Hiroshima
explosion in 1945. In the spring of 1999, F-16s started from Volkel to
bomb
Yugoslavia.
On 1 October 2000, there will be a demonstration against nuclear weapons
at
Volkel.
See [in Dutch]:
http://www.ddh.nl/vrede/kernwapens
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: ACIDO SOLFORICO FUORIESCE IN ABBONDANZA DAGLI
IMPIANTI
U.N. KOSOVOMETOHIJA MISSION ADMITS TO SULPHURIC ACID LEAK
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Sept 14 (Tanjug) Sulphuric acid is still
leaking out of the U.N.held Trepca car battery factory in the ethnic
Albanian part of divided Kosovska Mitrovica and polluting nearby rivers,
according to a U.N. spokesman on Thursday.
U.N. KosovoMetohija Mission (UNMIK) spokesman Mike Keats told
media there had been another leak earlier in the day of sulphuric acid
from
Trepca's storage tanks into the River Sitnica.
According to Keats, 75 litres of the acid is leaking out a
minute,
which is 25 litres less than on Wednesday.
The statement was tantamount to an admission that the
international force KFor and UNMIK are incapable of preventing
environmental pollution, since the leaky facility has been in their
hands
for a year now.
Keats went on to say that, over the past 24 hours, Kfor troops
and
specialised teams have been endeavouring to stop the flow of the toxic
matter into the Sitnica and Ibar rivers, and pumping the acid into
another
tank.
Kfor and UNMIK again warned the local population to steer clear
of
the Sitnica, especially in the vicinity of the Trepca facility.
Local water factories are located in this part of Kosovska
Mitrovica, now populated almost exclusively by ethnic Albanians after
the
Serbs have practicly all been driven out.
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
KFOR AND UNMIK RESPONSIBLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Sept 13 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav Committee
for
Cooperation with the U.N. and local authorities have condemned Kfor's
and
UNMIK's ineptitude in stopping the sulphuric acid spill that started on
Monday at a battery factory at Kosovska Mitrovica, a town in the north
of
the U.N.run Serbian province of KosovoMetohija.
Representatives of the Committee and local authorities have
said
that the spill caused a largescale environmental disaster coming from an
UNMIKrun factory, situated in ethnic Albanianpopulated southern Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Ironically, Kfor had shut down the facilities of the Trepca
metallurgy complex in nearby Zvecan using environmental reasons as a
pretext. Nevertheless, Kfor has proved unable to secure the facilities
it
seized a year ago, Committee representative Ivica Mihajlovic has told
media.
Serbia and Yugoslavia will take all the necessary measures to
neutralize the toxic substance that has reached the Ibar, a river
flowing
towards central Serbia. Experts are trying to prevent the acid from
getting
into the Morava river, Mihajlovic said, adding that the state would take
legal action against Kfor troops, as they had not taken the necessary
measures and had proved incompetent to preserve what they had taken away
from Serbia.
Chief of the Kosovska Mitrovica region Zdravko Trajkovic has
told
the press that a large number of fish died in the Ibar river.
Kosovska Mitrovica mayor Nikola Radevic has said that the
Serbian
environmental inspectorate has declared tap water in the area
bacteriologically unsafe, even for hygiene.
The water processing plants are situated in southern Kosovska
Mitrovica, which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians, as local Serbs
have been driven out of the area.
SULPHURIC ACID CAUSES ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, September 12 (Tanjug) The road connecting
Kosovska Mitrovica and Pristina was temporarily blocked early on
Tuesday,
due to a sulphuric acid spill at a battery factory located in the
southern
part of Kosovska Mitrovica, TANJUG learned from the UNMIK seat in
Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Although the pipes conveying the acid burst on Monday morning,
special Kfor units intervened no earlier than Tuesday, when a large
quantity of the toxic liquid reached the Kosovska MitrovicaPristina
road.
The units attempted to stop the leak with lime, gypsum, and
various chemicals, but the acid is still leaking into the Sitnica river,
some 200 meters from the spot where it flows into the Ibar river.
Throughout the afternoon, a local radio station has been
broadcasting an UNMIK statement warning the population to keep away from
the river, which flows towards central Serbia, and to avoid contact with
the contaminated water.
Reliable Serb sources say that there are huge deposits of
sulphuric acid at the factory.
UNMIK spokesman Mike Keats said that enormous efforts were
being
made to stop the leak, adding that, due to fair weather, there was no
possibility of air pollution in the area around the town of Kosovska
Mitrovica, situated in the north of the Serbian Kosovo and Metohija
province.
ABOUT 600,000 L SULPHURIC ACID SPILLS INTO RIVER IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, September 13 (Tanjug) Around 600,000
litres
of sulphuric acid spilled in the past two days into the Sitnica river
which
joins the Ibar river at Kosovska Mitrovica in the U.N.administered
Serbian
province of Kosovo and Metohija, an UNMIK spokesman said on Wednesday.
The spokesman said efforts to prevent a possible ecological
disaster would continue in the next couple of days.
UNMIK warned people over the local media not to enter the river
or
to fish in it.
Sulphuric acid spilled from pipes leading to the cisterns in an
electric batteries industry in the southern, ethnic Albanian part of
Kosovska Mitrovica.
---
INIZIATIVA A PARIGI CONTRO L'EMBARGO ALLA RFJ
MORE THAN 10,000 LEAFLETS AGAINST SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA TO BE
DISTRIBUTED IN PARIS
PARIS, Sept 15 (Tanjug) The Parisbased Committee for the
Protection of Human Rights has organized the distribution of more than
10,000 leaflets throughout Paris demanding urgent lifting of all
sanctions
imposed against Yugoslavia.
The Committee says that the sanctions have caused great harm to
all people in Yugoslavia, and can have dramatic consequences in
forthcoming
winter. The leaflet also notes that sanctions affect almost one million
refugees and expelled persons from former Yugoslavia, who are hosted by
the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
This is the reason why the Committee demands the lifting of the
criminal antiYugoslav sanctions that the U.N. and a part of the
international community have imposed.
INCONTRO A BELGRADO DELLE AGENZIE DI STAMPA DEI PAESI NON-ALLINEATI
NONALIGNED NEWS AGENCIES MEET IN BELGRADE
BELGRADE, Sep 15 (Tanjug). Representatives of the Nonaligned
News
Agencies' Pool are holding a meeting in Belgrade, hosted by Tanjug, one
of
the Pool's founding memberagencies.
The meeting will focus on strengthening mutual ties among
participating agencies, exchanging information and correspondents, and
overcoming barriers imposed by large world information systems.
The meeting will be opened by Yugoslav Minister of Information
Goran Matic, who also chairs Tanjug's management board.
UCCISA UNA DONNA SERBA IN KOSMET
SERB WOMAN KILLED IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA SERBS PROTEST
KOSOVSKA KAMENICA, Sep 14 (Tanjug). About 500 Serbs gathered
Thursday around a local church in Kosovska Kamenica, Serbia's
KosovoMetohija province, in protest against the murder of a Serb woman
Wednesday evening.
Two unidentified killers opened fire from an automatic weapon
from
a distance of 50 meters on Milijana Stojanovic, 46, mother of two, as
she
was rinsing dishes in her own yard. She died on the spot.
UNMIK police arrived at the scene of the crime, but has found
no
trace of the killers, who committed the murder at 10.40 p.m., 20 minutes
before curfew.
LA MISSIONE DELL'ONU HA VIOLATO IL SUO MANDATO, PERCIO' SE NE DEVE
ANDARE
MINISTER MATIC: UN MISSION PROTECTS KOUCHNER'S MAFIA
BELGRADE, Sep 13 (Tanjug). The UN mission in Serbia's
KosovoMetohija province is not implementing the Security Council
Resolution
1244 and is doing nothing to protect its population or to ensure the
return
of displaced persons, it is only working to protect (UNMIK chief)
Bernard
Kouchner's mafia and should consequently leave Yugoslavia, Yugoslav
Minister of Information Goran Matic said Wednesday.
After last year's (MarchJune) NATO aggression on Yugoslavia
ended,
international troops KFor and civilian mission UNMIK took over the
responsibility for administering KosovoMetohija in line with the
Security
Council Resolution 1244.
Matic told a press conference, attended also by press attaches
of
several embassies, that the results of the mission's "efforts" are
300,000
expelled nonAlbanians, over 1,000 Serbs killed and 1,400 abducted.
Under the umbrella of the UN mission and within the framework
of
the phantom socalled Kosovo Protection Corps (which is not even
mentioned
in Resolution 1244), Croatian instructors are creating at the Dragas
base
near provincial capital Pristina a special military unit of 3000 ethnic
Albanians wearing NATO uniforms, Matic said.
The UN mission is planning to replace troops from western
countries by ethnic Albanians. The fact that 700 Serbs are being held in
a
concentration camp near Pec, commanded by a brother of Agim Cheku, one
of
known war criminals in the former Yugoslavia, is another proof of
UNMIK's
failure, Matic said.
The reporters were shown unedited, authentic and shocking
footage
showing the mission's troops "from the inside", drunk, disorderly and
halfnaked, having "fun" in their bases in KosovoMetohija with young
women
and even ethnic Albanian children.
Commenting the behaviour of international troops, Matic said
the
mission was compromising the UN. If it is a NATO mission on the other
hand,
it is easy to understand that it is doing what NATO was doing all the
time,
Matic said.
The KosovoMetohija mission is attempting to destabilize
Yugoslavia, develop aggressiveterrorist structures to undermine its
interests, militarize the region and arm paramilitary units that the
mission's task was to disarm, Matic said.
Yugoslavia's fundamental political and state commitment is to
making the Balkans a zone of peace and security, demilitarizing the
region
and reducing tensions to enable its peoples to live in peace and to
cooperate, Matic said, pointing to attempts being made to make the
Balkans
a powder keg in order to realize the geopolitical and strategic
interests
of outside forces.
Underlining that the UN mission has not accomplished any of its
tasks, Matic recalled that Resolution 1244 defined the basic rules for
the
development of multiethnic coexistence in the province, the right of all
refugees and displaced persons to return home safely, and the need for
demilitarizing the "KLA" and other armed groups of ethnic Albanians and
for
the return of Yugoslav forces to KosovoMetohija.
MEMORANDUM DEL GOVERNO DELLA RFJ DISTRIBUITO ALL'ASSEMBLEA GENERALE
DELL'ONU
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES MEMORANDUM TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
NEW YORK, Sep 14 (Tanjug). Participants in the general debate
of
the 55th regular UN General Assembly session had the opportunity
Wednesday,
second day of the session at the Palace of Nations in New York, to read
a
Memorandum of the Yugoslav government on the difficult situation in the
UNrun Serbia's KosovoMetohija province.
The latest Yugoslav government document on the implementation
of
the Security Council Resolution 1244 was distributed to the General
Assembly to brief the participants of Yugoslavia's views and of the
analysis of the situation in the province that the Yugoslav government
addressed to the UN on August 21.
The Memorandum points to the continuing worsening of the
situation
in KosovoMetohija since the previous analysis of June 7, and underlines
that the situation has deteriorated dramatically due to acts of
terrorism
being perpetrated by ethnic Albanian separatists aided and abetted by
KFor
and UNMIK chiefs.
KOSTUNICA CONTESTATO DAI SERBO-KOSOVARI
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - E' finita male la prima incursione in Kosovo del
maggior rivale di Slobodan Milosevic alle presidenziali del 24
settembre.
Il comizio tenuto dal candidato dell'opposizione democratico, Vojislav
Kostunica nella città divisa di Mitrovica non è neppure iniziato, perchè
al
suo arrivo in auto alcuni serbi lo hanno bersagliato con uova, pietre e
pomodori al grido di "traditore" e "Slobo! Slobo!". Otto i feriti tra
cui
lo stesso Kostunica, che ha riportato un vistoso taglio sotto l'occhio
destro ed escoriazioni a una gamba.
(da "La Repubblica" online del 14/9/00)
PROCESSO AI LEADERS DELLA NATO IN SERBIA
TRIAL OF NATO AGGRESSORS ON YUGOSLAVIA TO START SOON
ARANDJELOVAC, September 13 (Tanjug) Serbian Minister of
Justice
Dragoljub Jankovic said that the trial of Bill Clinton, Madeleine
Albright
and 14 other leading protagonists of last year's (MarchJune) NATO
aggression on Yugoslavia would start on September 18 at the Belgrade
District Court.
This will be a very complex trial that can be compared to the
Nuremberg trials as regards the rank of the indicted and the seriousness
of
their crimes, Jankovic told a local TV station in Arandjelovac, central
Serbia.
A great part of the world public opinion, mainly
nongovernmental
organizations and popular tribunals, including some from NATO
memberstates,
has condemned the NATO aggression, Jankovic noted. The facts are
known and the evidence is so extensive and serious, that a verdict that
the
defendants deserve can be expected, Jankovic said, adding that
investigation was carried out in 28 locations throughout Serbia and that
NATO criminals would be tried by a panel of five judges from Belgrade,
Nis,
Cacak, Pristina and Novi Sad.
The defendants will be tried in absentia and the court will
appoint defense lawyers in line with Yugoslav law, Jankovic said,
expressing hope that some of the defendants would serve their sentences
one
day, after agreements on extradition are concluded.
INDICTMENTS FOR NATO AGGRESSION TO BE ADDRESSED TO ACCUSED
BELGRADE, Sep 5 (Tanjug). Indictments drawn up by the Belgrade
district attorney will be addressed to the persons charged with serious
crimes committed during last year's NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, the
Belgrade district court decided Tuesday.
The Yugoslav foreign ministry has been entrusted with
addressing
indictments to the accused through diplomatic channels. The defendants
are:
William Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Willian Cohen, Anthony Blair, Robin
Cook, George Robertson, Jacques Chirac, Hubert Vedrine, Alain Richard,
Gerhard Schroeder, Joseph Fischer, Rudolf Scharping, Javier Solana and
Wesley Clark.
The indictments were brought in line with the Yugoslav penal
law
for incitement to war of aggression, war crimes against civilians, use
of
forbidden ordnance, attempt to murder the Yugoslav president and
violation
of Yugoslavia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Investigation into the crimes was initiated immediately after
the
aggression ended throughout Serbia before 29 district courts and a
military
court.
On March 24, 1999, NATO launched a military aggression on
Yugoslavia which lasted 11 weeks and during which over 2,000 civilians
were
killed, in addition to extensive material damages.
The Serbian attorneygeneral has decided that all proceedings be
carried out jointly before the Belgrade district court.
I LAVORATORI DI TREPCA: L'ONU VUOLE FARCI ANDARE VIA DAL KOSMET
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
U.N. OCCUPATION OF TREPCA MEANT TO DRIVE SERBS OUT
ZVECAN, Sept 12 (Tanjug) The purpose of Aug. 14 U.N.
occupation
of the Trepca lead smelter in Zvecan, KosovoMetohija, was not to restart
production, but to drive Serbs out of that U.N.run Serbian (Yugoslav)
province, protesters said on Tuesday.
If the U.N. mission (UNMIK) had meant to restart production,
they
would have come with money and experts, not tanks and helicopters,
according to Desimir Timotijevic of the Trepca management, addressing
protesters.
"Their purpose is to drive us out, for the Serbs to forget who
they are, their history, battles, victories and heroes", Timotijevic
said,
speaking at another daily peaceful workers' protest outside the main
gate
into the complex.
"Those who have driven us out of our jobs are now offering that
we
return, telling us stories about modernisation and restarting of
production.
"How can be trust them, when we know what they have done in the
industrial zone in south Kosovska Mitrovica, setting the zinc plant on
fire", Timotijevic said.
COLLOQUI E ACCUSE RFJ-CROAZIA A GINEVRA SUI RIFUGIATI
YUGOSLAV, CROATIAN, UNHCR DELEGATIONS HOLD TALKS IN GENEVA
BELGRADE, Sept 12 (Tanjug) Yugoslav and Croatian delegations
are
holding talks in Geneva on Tuesday with officials of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about the repatriation to Croatia of
refugees sheltered in Yugoslavia.
According to a Yugoslav government statement, the Yugoslav
delegation to the tripartite talks is headed by Minister for
humanitarian
and refugee affairs Bratislava Morina.
Morina stressed Yugoslavia's firm position that the Protocol on
an
organised repatriation must be honoured.
All those who opt to return must be guaranteed the necessary
conditions for a free, normal and safe life, including property rights,
full personal safety and security of property.
They must also be guaranteed equal treatment as that accorded
to
the other citizens, and general amnesty, except in cases of the gravest
violations of humanitarian law.
Yugoslavia has discharged its obligations under the Protocol,
while Croatia is not only ignoring the Protocol, but trying to change it
in
its most important part, the statement said.
This means, according to the statement, that Croatia is in
violation also of the YugoslavCroatian normalisation accord, the 1995
Zagreb/Erdut CroatianSerb accord and relevant resolutions of the United
Nations.
Morina condemned in the strongest terms arrests of repatriates
and
the return to Yugoslavia of some whose repatriation had been approved.
She also stressed it is impermissible that Croatia should be
applying a new repatriation procedure outside the Protocol, instituting
criminal investigations and checks of accommodation, and so violating
the
international document, the statement said.
CONTINUA LA CAMPAGNA TERRORISTICA SOTTO LE BANDIERE DELL'ONU
TERROR CAMPAIGN UNDER U.N. FLAG IN SERBIA'S KOSOVOMETOHIJA CONTINUES
BELGRADE, Sept 11 (Tanjug) At a meeting of the humanitarian
task
group of the Peace Implementation Council in Geneva, Yugoslav Minister
for
Refugees and Displaced Persons Bratislava Morina has dismissed the most
recent document on the Serbian KosovoMetohija province as unacceptable.
The document treats the province as an entity outside the
political, economic, educational, social, legal and health system of
Serbia
and Yugoslavia, which is contrary to the U.N. Resolution 1244, Morina
said,
according to a statement of the Yugoslav government.
Morina went on to say that, 15 months after the deployment of
the
Kfor and UNMIK troops, the situation in the province was absolutely
disastrous.
Under the U.N. banner, a systematic and comprehensive campaign
of
terror, genocide, and ethnic cleansing, directed against nonAlbanians,
primarily Serbs and Montenegrins, is under way, Morina said. She added
that
Kfor and UNMIK were doing nothing to ensure the return of displaced
persons.
Morina stressed that Yugoslavia was fully participating in the
repatriation of refugees from BosniaHerzegovina and Croatia, in close
cooperation with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Various obstructions, such as murders, arrests, and harassment
of
returners, seriously undermine the repatriation process, Morina said,
appealing to the UNHCR for immediate assistance on these issues.
Morina described the reports by Karl Bildt and Bernard Kouchner
as
quite untrue. The reports misrepresent the state of affairs, and are not
a
contribution to stabilization in Yugoslavia and the Balkans, she said.
The Yugoslav delegation walked out on the meeting, in protest
against the reports, the statement said.
INAUGURATA LA NUOVA CENTRALE ELETTRICA ALLA "PORTA DI FERRO" SUL DANUBIO
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC INAUGURATES NEW IRONGATE GENERATOR
KLADOVO, Sept 12 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic
inaugurated on Tuesday the newest, 16th generating unit of the Irongate
II
HydroElectric Power and Navigation System in the River Danube.
Over the 30 years of operation, this biggest Yugoslav
hydroelectric power plant, which Yugoslavia shares with neighbouring
Romania, has generated 170 billion kilowatthours (Kwh) of electricity,
exceeding the plan by a whole fouryear output.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Yugoslav republic
of
Serbia's President Milan Milutinovic and Parliament Speaker Dragan
Tomic,
as well as Yugoslav federal parliament lower house Speaker Milomir
Minic.
Also present were Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)
SecretaryGeneral
Gorica Gajevic, and Yugoslav Left (JUL) President Ljubisa Ristic,
Yugoslav
federal and Serbian government officials.
Yugoslav Defence Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and Chief of Staff
Nebojsa Pavkovic with aides also attended.
ALTO ESPONENTE DELL'HDZ SOTTO ACCUSA PER LA VIOLENZE CONTRO I SERBI
DELLA CROAZIA
CROATIA - SERBS - CRIMES
CROATIA'S SEKS ACCUSED OF SUPPRESSING CRIMES
ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Tanjug) Vladimir Seks, who heads the Croatian
Democratic Union (CDU) club in the national parliament, has been accused
by
some former and present Croatian officials of suppressing crimes against
Serbs in the Gospic and Pakrac areas.
According to Croatian press, at least 120 people, mostly Serbs,
were killed in Gospic and there are indications that hundreds of others
were killed in Pakrac at the time of Croatia's war of secession from
Yugoslavia.
Current President Stipe Mesic, who was high up in the CDU
hierarchy while the party was in power, has raised the matter of the
accountability of Seks, who also held responsible party and state
offices
at the time.
According to Mesic, the new government does not mean to
criminate
the CDU, but only individuals and groups, among whom Seks, for the role
he
played as state prosecutor.
I LAVORATORI DI TREPCA IN LOTTA CONTRO I COLONIALISTI DELLA KFOR
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
TREPCA WORKERS CONTINUE PROTESTS IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
ZVECAN, Serbia, Sept 11 (Tanjug) Trepca workers held their
daily
protest rally outside the U.N.seized lead smelter in Zvecan,
KosovoMetohija, again on Monday, beginning a fifth week of protests
against
the smelter's violent takeover on Aug 14.
Nebojsa Toskovic, a Trepca stockholder, addressed the assembled
multitude, stressing that Trepca is owned by its stockholders and there
is
no truth in the claim that there should be a change in management.
Toskovic, executive director of the Krusevacbased 14. Oktobar
mechanical engineering company, dismissed as untrue also the claim that
Trepca was polluting the environment and concern for the environment
evinced by the occupiers.
"The occupiers care nothing for the environment; their purpose
is
quite different", Toskovic said.
"We are using all legitimate weapons under the laws of
Yugoslavia
and its republic of Serbia and under international laws to recover our
facilities", he added.
ANCHE L'ALBANIA NELL'ORGANIZZAZIONE MONDIALE DEL COMMERCIO
Anche l'Albania si e' unita al WTO, diventando il 138esimo membro
dell'organizzazione. Se
andate sul sito del WTO www.wto.org vedrete che sotto questo articolo
sono considerati dati
prettamente economici: esportazioni e importazioni. Come al solito,
nulla su ambiente, diritti dei
lavoratori e condizioni di poverta' della popolazione.
(da <Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.>)
8 September 2000
Albania joins the WTO
Albania became 138th member of the World Trade Organization today (8th
September). WTO
Director-General Mike Moore greeted the event by saying: "I welcome
Albania into the
multilateral trading system. Membership promises a more prosperous
future and raised living
standards for all Albanian citizens. I also believe that, by encouraging
the trade links between
countries, the WTO can help foster greater peace, stability and
development in south-eastern
Europe. Albania's membership brings this Organization ever closer to
being a truly 'World Trade
Organization'."
Albania has agreed to assume its WTO obligations upon accession. In
addition, it will sign on to
the two plurilateral agreements on government procurement and on trade
in civil aircraft. Albania's
accession package includes market-access commitments on goods and
services.
Within the region, Slovenia is already a member of the WTO and Croatia
will become a member
upon completion of the ratification procedures. Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are in the process of negotiating their accession
to the WTO.
Albania applied for GATT 1947 membership in 1992. Negotiations on
Albania's terms of
accession to WTO started in earnest in 1998. The WTO General Council
adopted the final results
of these negotiations on 17 July 2000.
During that General Council meeting, Albania's Minister for Economic
Cooperation and Trade,
Ermelinda Meksi, said that WTO membership "presents us with a new role
in the international
community" and would help bring "improvement of the wellbeing and
prosperity of my people."
Overall, 30 governments are currently negotiating to join the WTO:
Algeria, Andorra, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Cape
Verde, People's Republic
of China, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kazakstan, Lao People's
Democratic
Republic, Lebanon, Lithuania, Moldova, Nepal, Oman, Russian Federation,
Samoa, Saudi Arabia,
Seychelles, Sudan, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu,
Vietnam and Yemen.
IL GOVERNO DELLA RFJ BIASIMA L'AUTOPROCLAMATA CHIESA ORTODOSSA
MONTENEGRINA
RELIGIONS MINISTER MILICEVIC ON STATE STAND ON RELIGION
BELGRADE, September 9 (Tanjug) Relations between state organs
and
religious communities in Yugoslavia are good and, in keeping with the
Serbian and Yugoslav constitutions and international conventions, all
religions in Yugoslavia have equal status and all believers the full
right
to practice their confessions, Yugoslav Religions Minister Leposava
Milicevic told a panel hosted by Tanjug on Friday.
Confessions, or the religious communities which exist in
Yugoslavia, will be as dear to the state as they are fond of it, and
they
will get adequate help and support from the state, Milicevic said.
Asked to comment on the fact that the religions minister is a
member of the Yugoslav Left (JUL) and a woman, she said the national
policy
and respect of all nations secured this party legitimacy for such a
post. Serbia and Yugoslavia are defined as states of citizens and
the
Serb people are the most numerous and nationconstructive, and that is
why
Serbs have been targets of specific pressures and aggression in the
recent
years, Milicevic said.
The pressures are primarily within the attempts to topple the
authorities which are absolutely patriotic and which refuse to barter
with
freedom or independence, sovereignty or territorial integrity, she said.
The other method being applied in the efforts to dismember
Yugoslavia is to cause a rift in the Serbian Orthodox Church, the second
mostimportant institution of the Serbian people, she said. A blatant
example of this are the developments in Montenegro, where a socalled
Montenegrin Orthodox Church is trying to be inaugurated. All this is
proceeding with the assistance of western powerwielders, who first set
up
in office their servants in Montenegro, and then struck at the
institution
of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is an unprecedented act, said
Milicevic.
BLOCCATO CARICO DI ARMI DALLA TURCHIA PER I SEPARATISTI
KOSOVARO-ALBANESI
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - TERRORISM
ILLEGAL SHIPMENT OF RIFLES INTENDED FOR KOSOVO SEIZED IN BULGARIA
SOFIA, September 9 (Tanjug) Bulgarian customs officials
discovered and seized at the Kapetan Andreievo border crossing 115
hunting
rifles and several thousand cartridges being smuggled from Turkey to
Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, it was announced in Sofia on
Saturday.
Svilengrad Customs Office spokesman Kalina Petrova said the
Champion and Cobra rifles and 11,250 12caliber cartridges and 1,500
16caliber cartridges had been discovered in a hidden compartment in a
Man
truck travelling from Turkey to Kosovo and Metohija.
BATTELLIERI RUMENI BLOCCANO IL DANUBIO
NATO AGGRESSION - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
ROMANIAN SHIPPERS BLOCK NAVIGATION IN DANUBE
BUCHAREST, September 8 (Tanjug) Romanian shippers blocked the
River Danube on Friday after the Bucharest government turned a deaf ear
to
their demands for relief for losses suffered as the result of last
year's
NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.
During the 11week air campaign against Yugoslavia, NATO
demolished
several bridges across the Danube, blocking navigation in this important
international waterway.
The Romanian shippers are vowing not to lift the blockade, set
up
at the town of Calarasi, until their demands are met, and are asking to
be
received at once by Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, demanding that the
government cease observing an antiYugoslav oil ban.
They are seeking compensation for companies that have suffered
losses through the antiYugoslav NATO aggression, tax relief for the
period
from April 1, 1999 to July 31, 2000, and permission to buy oil without
paying excise duties.
Romanian river shipping companies complain that their turnover
is
down 80 percent and that they have lost in excess of 150 million
dollars,
and still continuing to lose around 10 million dollars a month.
The blockade was originally scheduled for Sept. 6, but the
trade
unions deferred the protest pending the government's session in the
hope,
which did not materialise, that their demands might be met.
L'ARMATA JUGOSLAVA E' PRONTA A RIENTRARE IN KOSMET
SECONDO QUANTO PREVISTO DALLA RISOLUZIONE ONU 1244
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
GEN. PAVKOVIC: KOSOVO UNIT READY TO CARRY OUT ITS TASKS
NIS, Sept 7 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Army Chief of General Staff,
Gen.
Nebojsa Pavkovic said on Wednesday that the Kosovo unit presented to the
home and foreign public last week was absolutely ready to carry out the
special tasks in the southern Serbian province, secure the state border,
and protect cultural goods.
Speaking in a broadcast of the regional program of Serbian
Radio
Television RTS in the central Serbian town of Nis, Gen. Pavkovic said
the
unit comprised highly skilled professional members of the Yugoslav Army
and
the Interior Ministry who will protect and defend the Serb population
from
ethnic Albanian terrorists.
"The unit is not intended for a violent return home," Gen.
Pavkovic emphasized.
"There are other forces for such an alternative. Other Yugoslav
Army units are prepared for such activities, actually. However, we are
duly
implementing in principle the (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1244
and
we do not wish to be the ones who will be blamed for its nonrealization.
That is why we can proudly say that our army is ready to join in the
peace
process and we think it would make a great contribution to that peace
mission because the KFOR and UNMIK have demonstrated that they are
incapable of doing so," Gen. Pavkovic said.
GEN. PAVKOVIC: SPECIAL YUGOSLAV ARMY UNIT READY TO RETURN TO
KOSOVOMETOHIJA
PIROT, Sep 1 (Tanjug). Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff and special
envoy of Supreme Commander Slobodan Milosevic, General Nebojsa Pavkovic,
accompanied by Third Army Commander Maj.Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic,
inspected
Friday in the vicinity of Pirot, southeastern Serbia, the Third Special
Unit of the Army set up to return to the UNrun Serbia's KosovoMetohija
province in line with the Security Council Resolution 1244 and the
MilitaryTechnical Accord.
Following an exercise with live ammunition Return 2000,
Pavkovic
said the unit comprised wellequipped army troops and police officers,
armoured vehicles and helicopters, as well trained and equipped as any
foreign unit within international force KFor.
The Third Special Unit is only one of the Yugoslav Army and
Serbian police units that are ready, as regards professional training,
morale and technical capability, to instantly return to KosovoMetohija,
base of the Pristina Corps and indivisible Third Army zone, to carry out
its peaceful mission in line with Resolution 1244 and MilitaryTechnical
Accord, Pavkovic said.
In abidance by the political decision and agreement reached
with
the international community, the Yugoslav Army was withdrawn from a part
of
Yugoslavia's territory only temporarily, to let the UN forces restore
peace
and order in the province and secure coexistence of all its inhabitants
regardless of ethnicity or religion, Pavkovic said.
However, since their arrival in the province on June 10, 1999,
KFor and UNMIK have failed to ensure the implementation of the
Resolution
1244. On the contrary, the situation in KosovoMetohija has become even
more
dramatic and has brought about a real humanitarian catastrophe. The life
of
Serbs, Montenegrins, other nonAlbanians and ethnic Albanians loyal to
Yugoslavia has become unbearable and their very survival is threatened,
Pavkovic said.
More than 5,000 terrorist crimes have been committed in
KosovoMetohija under the eyes of the force whose duty was to prevent
such
acts. More than 1,000 people, mainly Serbs, Montenegrins and Romanies,
have
been killed, about 1,000 have been wounded and as many have been
reported
missing, Pavkovic said.
About 50,000 homes of nonAlbanians have been burned down or
otherwise destroyed, as well as 86 monasteries and about 150 churches,
he
noted.
In the expectation that the Security Council will understand
the
failure of KFor and UNMIK and that it will, hopefully, take as soon as
possible the brave and honourable decision on the return of Yugoslav
Army
and Serbian police units to KosovoMetohija to help all in need there,
the
special unit for a peaceful mission was prepared on time and is now
being
presented to the public, Pavkovic said, presenting the unit's banner to
its
commander Maj.Gen. Momir Vukadinovic on behalf of Supreme Commander
Slobodan Milosevic.
Answering questions by the press whether the army would return
to
KosovoMetohia without a Security Council invitation, Pavkovic said the
Army
would not violate the Resolution 1244, and underlined that Yugoslavia
always abides by its commitments. He added he expected such an
invitation
would be forthcoming soon to enable the special unit to go to the
province
and join international peacekeepers there.
According to Pavkovic, the special unit would patrol the state
borders and border crossings between KosovoMetohija and neighbouring
states, protect Serb cultural monuments and help create conditions for
peaceful living.
The exercise was attended by Yugoslav Defense Minister General
Dragoljub Ojdanic, Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic,
Serbian
Minister of the Interior Vlajko Stojiljkovic, President of the
KosovoMetohija Interim Executive Council Zoran Andjelkovic, and military
officials from Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Iraq, Italy, Japan,
China, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Russia, and a UN liaison officer.
SE L'UNMIK NON VUOLE/PUO' FERMARE IL TERRORISMO ALLORA SE NE DEVE ANDARE
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
AMBASSADOR JOVANOVIC: U.N. MUST EITHER STOP TERRORISM OR PULL OUT UNMIK
NEW YORK, Sept 1 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia urged the U.N. Security
Council on Thursday to take urgent measures to stop the new wave of
ethnic
Albanian terrorism in the U.N.run Serbia's province of KosovoMetohija,
or
to suspend the U.N. mission which is responsible for the catastrophic
situation in that Serbian province.
Head of the Yugoslav mission at the U.N. Ambassador Vladislav
Jovanovic has sent a letter to the Security Council President and the
U.N.
SecretaryGeneral, saying that ethnic Albanian terrorists continue
perpetrating acts of violence, attacking those who are the most
vulnerable children and the elderly, and demolishing symbols of Serb
national heritage such as churches and cemeteries.
Stressing that ethnic Albanian terrorists have intensified
violence with the support of the international force KFor and U.N. peace
mission UNMIK, Jovanovic partially blamed the Security Council for its
passive attitude, too.
He went on to say that Yugoslavia had repeatedly pointed to a
series of inadmissible actions of the U.N. mission, ranging from the
forcing of local elections in KosovoMetohija, through the takeover of
Trepca smelting plant and opening of foreign representation offices
without
the approval of Yugoslav authorities, to KFor's and UNMIK's refusal to
cooperate with the Yugoslav government.
As the U.N. mission is not resolute in halting ethnic Albanian
terrorism and violence, it is in fact collaborating openly with
separatists
and terrorists, Jovanovic said.
It is absolutely clear that the U.N. mission, by flagrantly
violating the Resolution 1244, has failed to achieve the basic
goal multiethnic KosovoMetohija, he noted.
A series of terrorist attacks in recent months, specifically
brutal attacks on children and other crimes, proves that the Yugoslav
government statements are wellfounded.
The U.N. mission reacts inadequately or even cynically to such
crimes. Instead of making an effort to apprehend the culprits, KFor and
UNMIK are arresting Serbs, while UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner cynically
expresses condolences instead of reacting strongly to halt terrorism and
attacks on nonAlbanians, the letter says. Although the Security
Council is aware of all these crimes, it remains silent. If it does not
take measures to stop ethnic Albanian terrorism in KosovoMetohija, it
must
suspend the U.N. mission that has not achieved its goal, the letter
says.
RAPPORTI BILATERALI RFJ-IRAK
YUGOSLAVIA AND IRAQ DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM COMMON ENEMY
BELGRADE, Sept 5 (Tanjug) Iraqi Ambassador to Yugoslavia Sami
Sadoun said on Tuesday in an interview to Radio Yugoslavia (RJ) that
Iraq
and Yugoslavia have a common enemy and that the best defense from that
enemy is allround longlasting bilateral cooperation.
Sadoun said that Iraq has oil and experts to offer in exchange
for
food and technology from Yugoslavia.
Sadoun noted that the real goal of last year's (MarchJune) NATO
aggression on Yugoslavia was an attempt to control this country that
constitutes a link between Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
This would lead Russia to further isolation and lessen its
influence in both the Middle East and western Europe, he stressed.
Quoting Prof. Mira Markovic as saying that America is a country
without history, tradition or civilization, which is why it wants to
destroy all old civilizations, Sadoun said that such behaviour came as
no
surprise from a nation that had grown out of European convicts, who had
destroyed the ancient Indian civilizations more than 200 years ago.
Asked to make a comment on upcoming elections in Yugoslavia,
Sadoun expressed conviction that the Yugoslav people, together with
their
president, would say "no" for the fifth time to those who had been
killing
their children.
POLEMICHE E ATTI DIMOSTRATIVI IN OLANDA
PER LA AGGRESSIONE DEL 1999 CONTRO LA JUGOSLAVIA
Subject: Parliamentary report: Dutch troops to Kosovo: not enough
information
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 20:22:39 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
To: office@...
Dutch F-16 pilot, interviewed on Dutch TV at Volkel air base, 2
September 2000, when asked
about possibly bombing Kosovo: "Yes ... If you think too much, you
cannot do your job."
---------------------
Not just pilots:
The decisions to send Dutch soldiers to Cambodia, Cyprus, Bosnia, and
Kosovo, were based on
insufficient information at "all levels (UN, NATO, Cabinet, Parliament,
civil servants"
[NRC-Handelsblad, 4 September 2000]. This is one of the conclusions,
included in the final 500
pages plus report of the [Parliamentary] Bakker Committee; published on
Monday 4 September.
Various news media published summaries.
The committee, founded to find out about the decision making on sending
Dutch troops on foreign
military missions, says that the Dutch parliament has fallen short in
its task to control these
decisions. "In some cases, like the air raids in ex-Yugoslavia,
Parliament agreed with decisions of
which it did not appear to know the impact then." [NRC-Handelsblad, 4
September 2000]
The decisions turned out to be not really based on the situations in the
areas where the soldiers
went to; but on factors like fears that the military budget would be cut
without high visibility of the
armed forces, or the desire for good public relations for some branch of
the armed forces.
There is also criticism of Prime Minister Kok, and the ministers [of
Defence] De Grave and
Voorhoeve.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: F-16s painted red by peace activists
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 09:37:28 +0200
In the night of 1-2 September, at Volkel military air base in The
Netherlands, two F-16s and one other military plane were painted red by
peace activists, protesting against militarism.
At Volkel, there are [officially, the government will not confirm it]
NATO
nuclear weapons, each at least six times the strength of the Hiroshima
explosion in 1945. In the spring of 1999, F-16s started from Volkel to
bomb
Yugoslavia.
On 1 October 2000, there will be a demonstration against nuclear weapons
at
Volkel.
See [in Dutch]:
http://www.ddh.nl/vrede/kernwapens
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
MEMORANDUM OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
YUGOSLAVIA CONCERNING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
YUGOSLAVIA
IN THE UNITED NATIONS
I The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a Member State of the United
Nations.
1. Yugoslavia is a founding Member of the United Nations in accordance
with
Article 3 of the Charter of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of
the United Nations, as depositary of international treaties, lists it as
an
original Member in his annual reports (Multilateral Treaties Deposited
with
the Secretary-General).
2. Membership of Yugoslavia in the United Nations has not been
interrupted, so that the FR of Yugoslavia is a Member State of the
United
Nations.
3. There is no basis to limit the international legal continuity of the
FR
of Yugoslavia and its membership in the United Nations. All attempts to
do
so lack legal basis, are ill-intentioned and politically harmful and
represent the violation of the Charter of the United Nations. Any
initiatives to directly or indirectly challenge the membership of the
FRY
in the United Nations or challenge its existing membership rights are
aimed at: a) setting a precedent for extremely negative consequences for
the United Nations, principles of the United Nations and international
relations, as well as intimidating Member States; b) weakening the role
and credibility of the United Nations, particularly in the region of
southeastern Europe; c) preventing the stabilization of the situation in
the region of southeastern Europe, the implementation of the
Dayton/Paris agreement and UN SC resolution 1244 (1999); d) slowing
down
integration processes and multilateral cooperation in the Balkans, which
is
possible only with equal participation of the FRY
4. Representatives of the FR of Yugoslavia participated in the work of
the
United Nations General Assembly until 22 September 1992 and in the work
of
the UN Economic and Social Council until 28 April 1993. They continued
to
participate in the work of the UN Security Council and to appear before
the
International Court of Justice even after these dates.
5. United Nations General Assembly considers the FR of Yugoslavia its
Member State This position of the General Assembly was demonstrated
during
the adoption of resolution 49/19B on 23 December 1994 and 52/215 of 22
December 1997. in which it established Scale of assessments for the
apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations. In both
resolutions,
adopted by consensus, Yugoslavia was listed as a Member State and not as
a
non- Member like the Vatikan, Nauru, Switzerland and Tonga. Both
resolutions were adopted after resolution 47/1 of 22 September 1992,
when
decision was made not to allow Yugoslavia to participate in the work of
the
General Assembly. They were also adopted after General Assembly
resolution
48/88 (1993) calling upon the Secretariat to end the de facto working
status of the FR of Yugoslavia which did not produce any consequences
since
it was not possible because the FR of Yugoslavia does not have "the de
facto working status" and is a UN Member State.
6. UN General Assembly resolutions 49/19B and 52/215 point to the FR of
Yugoslavia. This is clear since the same resolution determines the scale
of
assessment for the former Yugoslav republics which became independent
States and UN Members - for Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia.
The claim of the representatives of some States to the effect that the
UN
General Assembly in referring to Yugoslavia actually meant the SFRY, is
absurd. All the more so, since the representatives of those States claim
that the FR of Yugoslavia ceased to exist. If that were true, the
membership of that State in the United Nations would also have to end.
It
is clear that the General Assembly in 1994 and 1997 established the
scale
of assessment for all five states from the territory of the SFRY. So
when
it mentions Yugoslavia it can only pertain to the FR of Yugoslavia. It
is
the usual practice of the UN to use the country's shorter name. In these
resolutions, the Republic of Croatia has been referred to only as
Croatia,
the Republic of Slovenia as Slovenia and that is the case with almost
all
other States.
7. The Security Council also considers the FR of Yugoslavia to be a UN
Member State. Resolution 777 (1992) of 19 September 1992 is a result of
a
political compromise. During its adoption, Ambassador Vorontsov,
Permanent
Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said: "... we were
unable to agree with the proposal, put forward by some States, that the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should be excluded, formally or de facto,
from membership in the United Nations... The compromise that has been
reached - that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should not participate
in
the work of the General Assembly - may seem unsatisfactory to some.
Frankly, we would have preferred not to have recourse to such a measure
to
influence the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, because even without this
measure it is already experiencing sufficient pressure from the
international community in the form of economic sanctions... At the same
time, the decision to suspend the participation of the Federal Republic
of
Yugoslavia in the work of the General Assembly will in no way affect the
possibility of participation by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
the
work of the other organs of the United Nations, in particular the
Security
Council, nor will it affect the issuance of documents to it, the
functioning of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia
to the United Nations or the keeping of the nameplate with the name
Yugoslavia in the General Assembly Hall and the rooms in which the
Assembly
s organs meet. In short, since the decision of the Security Council does
not provide for the expulsion of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from
the United Nations, the measures taken with regard to it must remain
strictly within the limits of the decision we are taking today."
(Security
Council, Provisional Record of the 3116th, Meeting S/PV.3116, 19
September
1992, at 2-5).
Ambassador Li Daoyu, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic
of
China to the UN said on that occasion: "the resolution just adopted does
not mean the exclusion of Yugoslavia from the United Nations. The
nameplate
"Yugoslavia" will be kept in the General Assembly Hall. The Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia will continue its participation in the work of
United Nations bodies other than the General Assembly. The Federal
Republic
of Yugoslavia will continue to issue its documentation in the United
Nations." (Security Council, Provisional Record of the 3116th Meeting,
S/PV.3116, 19 September 1992, at 7).
It is clear that the Russian Federation and the PR of China during the
adoption of Security Council resolution 777 (1992) of 19 September 1992
considered that this resolution only made a recommendation to
temporarily
limit some of the membership rights of the FR of Yugoslavia as a UN
Member
State.
8. By adopting a new resolution 821 (1993) of 28 April 1993,
recommending
to the General Assembly to make a decision to the effect that the FR of
Yugoslavia does not take part in the work of the Economic and Social
Council, the Security Council confirmed that it considered the FR of
Yugoslavia a UN Member State. If then, on 28 April 1993, Security
Council
considered that the FR of Yugoslavia was not a UN Member State, it would
not have made a recommendation to the General Assembly to decide that
Yugoslavia does not take part in its work. Never in the UN practice has
Security Council of the United Nations made a recommendation to the
effect
that a non Member be prevented from taking part in the work of the
General
Assembly or Economic and Social Council. That would be totally absurd
and
senseless.
The way in which the Security Council calls the representatives
to
take part in its work does not prejudge its position regarding the
membership of the FR of Yugoslavia in the UN. This has been confirmed by
the Security Council Working Group in its report in regard to the
documents
of the Security Council and other procedural issues of 31 May 1995. This
report confirms that the representative of the FR of Yugoslavia took
part
in the work of the Security Council seating at the table with the
nameplate
of Yugoslavia. The representative of the FR of Yugoslavia, inter alia,
also
took part in the subsequent meetings of the UN Security Council, after
the
adoption of General Assembly resolution 47/1 of 22 September 1992: 16
November 1992; 19 February 1993; 17 April 1993; 20 April 1993; 29 June
1993; 9 August 1993; 14 February 1994; 21 April 1994; 27 April 1994; 23
September 1994; 30 September 1994; 8 November 1994; 12 January 1995; 21
April 1995; 31 March 1998 and 10 June 1999. etc.
9. The International Court of Justice has constantly listed the FR of
Yugoslavia in its annual publications after 1992, as a UN Member State.
10. UN Secretariat considers the FR of Yugoslavia to be a UN Member
State. The Under-Secretary General and the Legal Council of the United
Nations addressed a letter dated 29 September 1992 to the Permanent
Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to the United
Nations
in response to their letter of 25 September 1992, stating, inter alia,
that
"While the General Assembly has stated unequivocally that the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia ... cannot automatically continue the membership
of
the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the United
Nations
and that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... should apply for
membership
in the United Nations, the only practical consequence that the
resolution
(47/1) draws is that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.... shall not
participate in the work of the General Assembly. It is clear, therefore,
that representatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... can no
longer
participate in the work of the General Assembly, its subsidiary organs,
nor
conference and meetings convened by it.
On the other hand, the resolution neither terminates nor suspends
Yugoslavia?s membership in the Organization. Consequently, the seat and
nameplate remain as before, but in Assembly bodies representatives of
the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... cannot sit behind the sign
"Yugoslavia".
Yugoslav Missions at United Nations Headquarters and offices may
continue
to function and may receive and circulate documents. At Headquarters,
the
Secretariat will continue to fly the flag of the old Yugoslavia, as it
is
the last flag of Yugoslavia used by the Secretariat. The resolution does
not take away the right of Yugoslavia to participate in the work of
organs
other than Assembly bodies." (A/47/485).
The representatives of some states, advocating the view that the FR
of Yugoslavia has dissolved and ceased to exist, claim that this
opinion
indicates that this is the membership of the SFRY in the United Nations.
This claim proves best that the thesis of discontinuity of the FRY in
the
United Nations is invalid. If the SFRY has dissolved and ceased to
exist,
its membership in international organizations would automatically cease
as
well. They maintain that the membership is not ended because the UN
bodies
did not make a decision to end its membership. However, this is absurd,
because the membership ends ipso jure, as a legal consequence of the
dissolution of a State and no decision to that effect is necessary.
After
the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist, the Security Council and
the General Assembly did not make any decision on termination of its
membership in the United Nations nor have they made any decision on
ending
the membership of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in the United
Nations.
11. UN Secretary-General regularly invites the FR of Yugoslavia as a
Member
State to fulfil its financial obligations towards the Organization which
Yugoslavia does.
12. In all agreements concluded between the FR of Yugoslavia and the
United
Nations after 1992, it is stated that the FR of Yugoslavia is a UN
Member
State, for example, in the Agreement on the status of the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights in Belgrade, concluded by the
exchange
eof Notes between the FR of Yugoslavia and the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights on 6 November 1998.
II The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continues the international
personality of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
13. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has continued the international
legal personality of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.
The
Declaration adopted on 27 April 1992 at a joint session of delegates in
the
Federal Assembly, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and
the
Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro on the occasion of the
promulgation
of the Constitution of the FR of Yugoslavia, inter alia, states: "The
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, continuing the State, international
legal
and political personality of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia,
shall strictly abide by all the commitments that the SFR of Yugoslavia
assumed internationally" (A/46/915, 7 May 1992).
14. The former Yugoslav Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of
Macedonia and the Republic of Croatia have confirmed the legal fact of
the
continuity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Article 5 of the Agreement on Normalization of Relations
between
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia, signed
at
Belgrade on 23 August 1996, reads as follows:
"Proceeding from the historical fact that Serbia and Montenegro
existed as independent States before the creation of Yugoslavia, and
bearing in mind the fact that Yugoslavia has continued the international
personality of these states, the Republic of Croatia notes the existence
of
the State continuity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
"Proceeding from the historical fact of the existence of the
various forms of statal organization of Croatia in the past, the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia notes the existence of the continuity of the
Croatian statehood.
The Contracting Parties are agreed to solve the issue of the
succession of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the basis
or
the rule of international law on succession of States and through
agreement." (The text of the Agreement on Normalization of Relations
between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia,
signed at Belgrade on 23 August 1996, is attached as annex to the letter
of
the Charge d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Yugoslavia to the
United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, dated 29 August 1996,
A/51/318; S/1996/706, 29 August 1996).
There is a substantial difference between the State continuity
of
the FR of Yugoslavia and the continuation of the Croatian statehood. The
State continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia is based on the historical fact
that Serbia and Montenegro existed as independent States before the
creation of Yugoslavia and on the fact that the FR of Yugoslavia has
continued the international legal personality of these States. Quite
differently, in the past Croatia enjoyed various forms of statal
organization. It had the status of a Republic - a federal unit in the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some part of today's Croatia
had
a sort of statal autonomy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But, before
armed
secession from Yugoslavia, it had no status of an independent State,
status
of a subject of international law. Accordingly, today's Republic of
Croatia can only continue the various forms of statal organization of
the
past but not the international legal personality.
Essentially, the same formula was used in the Joint Declaration
of
Presidents Slobodan Milo{evi} and Alija Izetbegovi}, made in Paris on 3
October 1996. Paragraph IV of the Joint Declaration reads as follows:
"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will respect the integrity
of
Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the Dayton Agreement which
affirmed the continuity of various forms of statal organization of
Bosnia
and Herzegovina that the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina had during
their
history.
Bosnia and Herzegovina accepts the State continuity of the
Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
Both sides agree to resolve issues of succession on the basis
of
the rules of international law on succession of States and by
agreement."
(The Joint Declaration is attached as annex to the letter of the Charge
d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Yugoslavia to the United
Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, dated 7 October 1996,
A/51/461;
S/1996/830, 7 October 1996).
The text of Article 4 of the Agreement on the regulation of
relations and promotion of cooperation between the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia, signed in Belgrade on 8 April
1996, differs more in terms of terminology than that of substance:
"In the light of the fact that Serbia and Montenegro had
existed
as independent States before the creation of Yugoslavia, and in view of
the
fact that Yugoslavia continued the international legal personality of
these
States, the Republic of Macedonia respects the state continuity of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
In the light of the fact that during the National Liberation
war
and at the session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National
Liberation
of Macedonia, the Macedonian people decided to organize the Republic of
Macedonia as a State and to join the Yugoslav Federation, and in view of
the fact that in the 1991 referendum the Macedonian people decided to
organize the Republic of Macedonia as a sovereign and independent State
and
appreciating the fact that this has been carried out in a peaceful
manner,
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia respects the state continuity of the
Republic of Macedonia.
The Parties agree to resolve their mutual claims on ground of
succession to the former Yugoslavia by agreement." (The Agreement is
published as an annex to the letter of the Permanent Representative of
the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations addressed to
the President of the Security Council, dated 17 April 1996, S/1996/291,
17
April 1996).
In both cases, i.e. Yugoslavia and Macedonia, the Agreement
used
the same term "the state continuity". But, it is quite obvious that the
same terms have not the same meaning. Before its peaceful secession,
Macedonia existed as the Republic of Macedonia - a federal unit of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It did not exist as an
independent state, a subject of international law. For the first time in
history, it became such a subject after peaceful secession.
15. The United States implicitly confirmed the legal fact regarding the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia. By its Note No.
C-42 of 5 May 1998, transmitted to the Federal Ministry of Foreign
Affairs,
the Embassy of the United States of America in Belgrade claimed the
extradition of Rifat Fteja, a Yugoslav citizen charged with several
criminal offences committed in the United States. The extradition
request
is based on the Extradition Treaty of 1901. Accordingly, the position of
the US Government is that the Extradition Treaty, concluded between the
Kingdom of Serbia and the United States of America on 12/25 October
1901,
is in force between the Kingdom of Serbia and the United States in 1998.
It
confirmed the international legal continuity of both States. Namely, if
the
FR of Yugoslavia is a new State, it should conclude a separate agreement
with the United States on succession in respect of bilateral treaties.
In
the absence of such an agreement, the United States considers the 1901
Treaty to be in force and, consequently, implicitly confirms the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia. The fact of the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia was also
confirmed
by exchange of Notes between the FR of Yugoslavia and the United States
(Notes Nos. 10763 and 22, respectively) in 1996 concerning the
establishment of the US Information Service Centre in Pri{tina. The
exchange of Notes shows that both sides consider that the Memorandum of
Understanding, signed between the Federative People's Republic of
Yugoslavia and the United States in Belgrade on 14 June 1961, to be
still
in force.
16. The largest number of other States have explicitly or implicitly
confirmed the international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia.
This
is an obvious proof of the existence of unbroken-off diplomatic
relations
between the FR of Yugoslavia and 160 States with which the SFRY had
maintained diplomatic relations. The majority of States consider that
bilateral agreements entered into with the SFRY are in force also in
their
relations with the FR of Yugoslavia. Some Members States of the European
Union, such as Austria, Greece and the United Kingdom, have also
formally
recognized this fact through exchange of Notes, whereas some other, like
Italy, have done so by making a unilateral declaration. The former
Yugoslav
Republics, upon becoming independent States, have established diplomatic
relations with other States. This was not the case with the FR of
Yugoslavia, since it is not a new State. These States have entered
separately into agreements with third States on succession in respect of
bilateral treaties which existed between these third States and the
SFRY.
In contrast to them, the FR of Yugoslavia has not done so. The former
Yugoslav Republics have requested that they be recognized as independent
States. The FR of Yugoslavia has not made such a request.
17. The basis of the international legal personality of the FR of
Yugoslavia is the fact that Serbia and Montenegro existed as independent
States before the creation of Yugoslavia in 1918. Both States were
recognized as independent at the Berlin Congress in 1878. After
Yugoslavia
was created in 1918, all international treaties of the Kingdom of Serbia
remained in force and were valid on the enlarged territory of the
Kingdom
of Yugoslavia (Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1974, vol.
II,
Part One, p. 208). The same applied to diplomatic relations as well.
18. The facts of the Yugoslav crisis cannot be associated with the
notion
of the dissolution of a State as defined under the Vienna Convention on
the
Succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts of
8
April 1983. The provisions of this Convention, although not containing
an
explicit definition of dissolution, point to an essential element of
this
notion, namely sequence of events. Dissolution and cessation of a State
come first and then new independent States emerge (Articles 18, 31 and
41
thereof). That was the sequence of events in the case of the Czech and
Slovak Federal Republic. It ceased to exist on 31 December 1992, and as
of
1 January 1993 they emerged as the independent Czech Republic and the
Slovak Republic. In its opinions, the Badinter Commission noted that the
SFR of Yugoslavia ceased to exist on 4 July 1992 (Opinion No. 8,
International Legal Materials, 1993, 1521) and that Croatia and Slovenia
became independent on 8 October 1991, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Macedonia gained their independence on 6 March 1992 and 17 November
1991,
respectively, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 27 April 1992
(Opinion No. 11, Ibid., 1587). The above shows the absurdity of findings
of
the Badinter Commission. According to this Commission, all the five
States
first attained their independence and then the SFRY ceased to exist. How
much this fiction is artificial is illustrated by the fact that the date
of
the adoption of the new Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia
was taken as the date on which it became independent. It is fairly
uncommon
in international law to quality the change of constitutional
arrangements
in a State as that State becoming independent.
19. The opinions rendered by the Arbitration Commission of the Peace
Conference on the former Yugoslavia, the so-called Badinter Commission,
are
irrelevant. Although it was referred to as the Arbitration Commission,
the
Badinter Commission was not a Court of Arbitration in the international
legal sense, but rather an advisory body of the international conference
charged with the task of finding solutions for a peaceful outcome of the
Yugoslav crisis. The opinions rendered by it are not legally binding.
Taking into account that the majority of members of the Commission were
judges of constitutional courts, and not experts in international law,
these opinions are not based on international law from the strictly
professional point of view.
20. The opinions of the Badinter Commission are politically motivated
and
not grounded in international law. All insistence on an alleged
dissolution
of the SFRY and on the FR of Yugoslavia not being a Member of the United
Nations is politically ill-intentioned and legally unfounded. Membership
of
the FR of Yugoslavia in the United Nations has nothing to do with the
question of the succession of the SFRY. The Badinter Commission points
out
that the request of the FR of Yugoslavia to be the only successor State
is
unacceptable. This is yet another proof of the absurdity of the opinions
rendered by this Commission. The FR of Yugoslavia does not consider
itself
to be the only successor State, nor does it at all consider itself a
successor State. The successor States are the newly-created States, i.e.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Croatia and
the
Republic of Slovenia. The FR of Yugoslavia is not a successor state but
an
old State which now exists on a shrunken territory. The FR of Yugoslavia
does not contest the status of successor States to the newly-created
States
of the former Yugoslavia and it is prepared to settle the question of
succession of the SFRY by an agreement entered into with these States in
accordance with international law. It has formally undertaken to do so
under the bilateral arrangements indicated below. It insists that the
negotiations on the succession of the SFRY that were abrogated following
the aggression of the Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization against Yugoslavia, be resumed within the framework of the
Peace Implementation Council. It sees the latest proposal, as put
forward
by Sir Arthur Watts, as a solid basis for a speedy resolution of this
issue
and has pointed out on several occasions already that it essentially
accepts and welcomes the new approach adopted by the Chief Negotiator in
these negotiations.
21. The Declaration of 27 April 1992 on international legal continuity
of
the FR of Yugoslavia has the legal relevance of a constitutional norm.
Therefore, all Yugoslav legal subjects and Government authorities are
obligated to respect it. All statements and acts of the Yugoslav
authorities contrary to it are null and void. In this respect, the
statement made by the then Prime Minister Milan Pani} in the UN General
Assembly on 22 September 1992 upon the adoption of General Assembly
resolution 47/1, in which he "formally sought membership in the United
Nations on behalf of the new Yugoslavia", is legally without effect.
Even
if the statement made by the Prime Minister had had any legal
significance, it could not have had any legal force since it was beside
the
point. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a Member of the United
Nations
and, consequently, its application for membership in the United Nations
is
pointless.
Belgrade, 1 September 2000
YUGOSLAVIA CONCERNING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
YUGOSLAVIA
IN THE UNITED NATIONS
I The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a Member State of the United
Nations.
1. Yugoslavia is a founding Member of the United Nations in accordance
with
Article 3 of the Charter of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of
the United Nations, as depositary of international treaties, lists it as
an
original Member in his annual reports (Multilateral Treaties Deposited
with
the Secretary-General).
2. Membership of Yugoslavia in the United Nations has not been
interrupted, so that the FR of Yugoslavia is a Member State of the
United
Nations.
3. There is no basis to limit the international legal continuity of the
FR
of Yugoslavia and its membership in the United Nations. All attempts to
do
so lack legal basis, are ill-intentioned and politically harmful and
represent the violation of the Charter of the United Nations. Any
initiatives to directly or indirectly challenge the membership of the
FRY
in the United Nations or challenge its existing membership rights are
aimed at: a) setting a precedent for extremely negative consequences for
the United Nations, principles of the United Nations and international
relations, as well as intimidating Member States; b) weakening the role
and credibility of the United Nations, particularly in the region of
southeastern Europe; c) preventing the stabilization of the situation in
the region of southeastern Europe, the implementation of the
Dayton/Paris agreement and UN SC resolution 1244 (1999); d) slowing
down
integration processes and multilateral cooperation in the Balkans, which
is
possible only with equal participation of the FRY
4. Representatives of the FR of Yugoslavia participated in the work of
the
United Nations General Assembly until 22 September 1992 and in the work
of
the UN Economic and Social Council until 28 April 1993. They continued
to
participate in the work of the UN Security Council and to appear before
the
International Court of Justice even after these dates.
5. United Nations General Assembly considers the FR of Yugoslavia its
Member State This position of the General Assembly was demonstrated
during
the adoption of resolution 49/19B on 23 December 1994 and 52/215 of 22
December 1997. in which it established Scale of assessments for the
apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations. In both
resolutions,
adopted by consensus, Yugoslavia was listed as a Member State and not as
a
non- Member like the Vatikan, Nauru, Switzerland and Tonga. Both
resolutions were adopted after resolution 47/1 of 22 September 1992,
when
decision was made not to allow Yugoslavia to participate in the work of
the
General Assembly. They were also adopted after General Assembly
resolution
48/88 (1993) calling upon the Secretariat to end the de facto working
status of the FR of Yugoslavia which did not produce any consequences
since
it was not possible because the FR of Yugoslavia does not have "the de
facto working status" and is a UN Member State.
6. UN General Assembly resolutions 49/19B and 52/215 point to the FR of
Yugoslavia. This is clear since the same resolution determines the scale
of
assessment for the former Yugoslav republics which became independent
States and UN Members - for Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia.
The claim of the representatives of some States to the effect that the
UN
General Assembly in referring to Yugoslavia actually meant the SFRY, is
absurd. All the more so, since the representatives of those States claim
that the FR of Yugoslavia ceased to exist. If that were true, the
membership of that State in the United Nations would also have to end.
It
is clear that the General Assembly in 1994 and 1997 established the
scale
of assessment for all five states from the territory of the SFRY. So
when
it mentions Yugoslavia it can only pertain to the FR of Yugoslavia. It
is
the usual practice of the UN to use the country's shorter name. In these
resolutions, the Republic of Croatia has been referred to only as
Croatia,
the Republic of Slovenia as Slovenia and that is the case with almost
all
other States.
7. The Security Council also considers the FR of Yugoslavia to be a UN
Member State. Resolution 777 (1992) of 19 September 1992 is a result of
a
political compromise. During its adoption, Ambassador Vorontsov,
Permanent
Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said: "... we were
unable to agree with the proposal, put forward by some States, that the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should be excluded, formally or de facto,
from membership in the United Nations... The compromise that has been
reached - that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should not participate
in
the work of the General Assembly - may seem unsatisfactory to some.
Frankly, we would have preferred not to have recourse to such a measure
to
influence the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, because even without this
measure it is already experiencing sufficient pressure from the
international community in the form of economic sanctions... At the same
time, the decision to suspend the participation of the Federal Republic
of
Yugoslavia in the work of the General Assembly will in no way affect the
possibility of participation by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
the
work of the other organs of the United Nations, in particular the
Security
Council, nor will it affect the issuance of documents to it, the
functioning of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia
to the United Nations or the keeping of the nameplate with the name
Yugoslavia in the General Assembly Hall and the rooms in which the
Assembly
s organs meet. In short, since the decision of the Security Council does
not provide for the expulsion of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from
the United Nations, the measures taken with regard to it must remain
strictly within the limits of the decision we are taking today."
(Security
Council, Provisional Record of the 3116th, Meeting S/PV.3116, 19
September
1992, at 2-5).
Ambassador Li Daoyu, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic
of
China to the UN said on that occasion: "the resolution just adopted does
not mean the exclusion of Yugoslavia from the United Nations. The
nameplate
"Yugoslavia" will be kept in the General Assembly Hall. The Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia will continue its participation in the work of
United Nations bodies other than the General Assembly. The Federal
Republic
of Yugoslavia will continue to issue its documentation in the United
Nations." (Security Council, Provisional Record of the 3116th Meeting,
S/PV.3116, 19 September 1992, at 7).
It is clear that the Russian Federation and the PR of China during the
adoption of Security Council resolution 777 (1992) of 19 September 1992
considered that this resolution only made a recommendation to
temporarily
limit some of the membership rights of the FR of Yugoslavia as a UN
Member
State.
8. By adopting a new resolution 821 (1993) of 28 April 1993,
recommending
to the General Assembly to make a decision to the effect that the FR of
Yugoslavia does not take part in the work of the Economic and Social
Council, the Security Council confirmed that it considered the FR of
Yugoslavia a UN Member State. If then, on 28 April 1993, Security
Council
considered that the FR of Yugoslavia was not a UN Member State, it would
not have made a recommendation to the General Assembly to decide that
Yugoslavia does not take part in its work. Never in the UN practice has
Security Council of the United Nations made a recommendation to the
effect
that a non Member be prevented from taking part in the work of the
General
Assembly or Economic and Social Council. That would be totally absurd
and
senseless.
The way in which the Security Council calls the representatives
to
take part in its work does not prejudge its position regarding the
membership of the FR of Yugoslavia in the UN. This has been confirmed by
the Security Council Working Group in its report in regard to the
documents
of the Security Council and other procedural issues of 31 May 1995. This
report confirms that the representative of the FR of Yugoslavia took
part
in the work of the Security Council seating at the table with the
nameplate
of Yugoslavia. The representative of the FR of Yugoslavia, inter alia,
also
took part in the subsequent meetings of the UN Security Council, after
the
adoption of General Assembly resolution 47/1 of 22 September 1992: 16
November 1992; 19 February 1993; 17 April 1993; 20 April 1993; 29 June
1993; 9 August 1993; 14 February 1994; 21 April 1994; 27 April 1994; 23
September 1994; 30 September 1994; 8 November 1994; 12 January 1995; 21
April 1995; 31 March 1998 and 10 June 1999. etc.
9. The International Court of Justice has constantly listed the FR of
Yugoslavia in its annual publications after 1992, as a UN Member State.
10. UN Secretariat considers the FR of Yugoslavia to be a UN Member
State. The Under-Secretary General and the Legal Council of the United
Nations addressed a letter dated 29 September 1992 to the Permanent
Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to the United
Nations
in response to their letter of 25 September 1992, stating, inter alia,
that
"While the General Assembly has stated unequivocally that the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia ... cannot automatically continue the membership
of
the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the United
Nations
and that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... should apply for
membership
in the United Nations, the only practical consequence that the
resolution
(47/1) draws is that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.... shall not
participate in the work of the General Assembly. It is clear, therefore,
that representatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... can no
longer
participate in the work of the General Assembly, its subsidiary organs,
nor
conference and meetings convened by it.
On the other hand, the resolution neither terminates nor suspends
Yugoslavia?s membership in the Organization. Consequently, the seat and
nameplate remain as before, but in Assembly bodies representatives of
the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... cannot sit behind the sign
"Yugoslavia".
Yugoslav Missions at United Nations Headquarters and offices may
continue
to function and may receive and circulate documents. At Headquarters,
the
Secretariat will continue to fly the flag of the old Yugoslavia, as it
is
the last flag of Yugoslavia used by the Secretariat. The resolution does
not take away the right of Yugoslavia to participate in the work of
organs
other than Assembly bodies." (A/47/485).
The representatives of some states, advocating the view that the FR
of Yugoslavia has dissolved and ceased to exist, claim that this
opinion
indicates that this is the membership of the SFRY in the United Nations.
This claim proves best that the thesis of discontinuity of the FRY in
the
United Nations is invalid. If the SFRY has dissolved and ceased to
exist,
its membership in international organizations would automatically cease
as
well. They maintain that the membership is not ended because the UN
bodies
did not make a decision to end its membership. However, this is absurd,
because the membership ends ipso jure, as a legal consequence of the
dissolution of a State and no decision to that effect is necessary.
After
the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist, the Security Council and
the General Assembly did not make any decision on termination of its
membership in the United Nations nor have they made any decision on
ending
the membership of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in the United
Nations.
11. UN Secretary-General regularly invites the FR of Yugoslavia as a
Member
State to fulfil its financial obligations towards the Organization which
Yugoslavia does.
12. In all agreements concluded between the FR of Yugoslavia and the
United
Nations after 1992, it is stated that the FR of Yugoslavia is a UN
Member
State, for example, in the Agreement on the status of the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights in Belgrade, concluded by the
exchange
eof Notes between the FR of Yugoslavia and the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights on 6 November 1998.
II The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continues the international
personality of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
13. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has continued the international
legal personality of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.
The
Declaration adopted on 27 April 1992 at a joint session of delegates in
the
Federal Assembly, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and
the
Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro on the occasion of the
promulgation
of the Constitution of the FR of Yugoslavia, inter alia, states: "The
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, continuing the State, international
legal
and political personality of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia,
shall strictly abide by all the commitments that the SFR of Yugoslavia
assumed internationally" (A/46/915, 7 May 1992).
14. The former Yugoslav Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of
Macedonia and the Republic of Croatia have confirmed the legal fact of
the
continuity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Article 5 of the Agreement on Normalization of Relations
between
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia, signed
at
Belgrade on 23 August 1996, reads as follows:
"Proceeding from the historical fact that Serbia and Montenegro
existed as independent States before the creation of Yugoslavia, and
bearing in mind the fact that Yugoslavia has continued the international
personality of these states, the Republic of Croatia notes the existence
of
the State continuity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
"Proceeding from the historical fact of the existence of the
various forms of statal organization of Croatia in the past, the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia notes the existence of the continuity of the
Croatian statehood.
The Contracting Parties are agreed to solve the issue of the
succession of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the basis
or
the rule of international law on succession of States and through
agreement." (The text of the Agreement on Normalization of Relations
between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia,
signed at Belgrade on 23 August 1996, is attached as annex to the letter
of
the Charge d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Yugoslavia to the
United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, dated 29 August 1996,
A/51/318; S/1996/706, 29 August 1996).
There is a substantial difference between the State continuity
of
the FR of Yugoslavia and the continuation of the Croatian statehood. The
State continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia is based on the historical fact
that Serbia and Montenegro existed as independent States before the
creation of Yugoslavia and on the fact that the FR of Yugoslavia has
continued the international legal personality of these States. Quite
differently, in the past Croatia enjoyed various forms of statal
organization. It had the status of a Republic - a federal unit in the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some part of today's Croatia
had
a sort of statal autonomy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But, before
armed
secession from Yugoslavia, it had no status of an independent State,
status
of a subject of international law. Accordingly, today's Republic of
Croatia can only continue the various forms of statal organization of
the
past but not the international legal personality.
Essentially, the same formula was used in the Joint Declaration
of
Presidents Slobodan Milo{evi} and Alija Izetbegovi}, made in Paris on 3
October 1996. Paragraph IV of the Joint Declaration reads as follows:
"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will respect the integrity
of
Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the Dayton Agreement which
affirmed the continuity of various forms of statal organization of
Bosnia
and Herzegovina that the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina had during
their
history.
Bosnia and Herzegovina accepts the State continuity of the
Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
Both sides agree to resolve issues of succession on the basis
of
the rules of international law on succession of States and by
agreement."
(The Joint Declaration is attached as annex to the letter of the Charge
d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Yugoslavia to the United
Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, dated 7 October 1996,
A/51/461;
S/1996/830, 7 October 1996).
The text of Article 4 of the Agreement on the regulation of
relations and promotion of cooperation between the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia, signed in Belgrade on 8 April
1996, differs more in terms of terminology than that of substance:
"In the light of the fact that Serbia and Montenegro had
existed
as independent States before the creation of Yugoslavia, and in view of
the
fact that Yugoslavia continued the international legal personality of
these
States, the Republic of Macedonia respects the state continuity of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
In the light of the fact that during the National Liberation
war
and at the session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National
Liberation
of Macedonia, the Macedonian people decided to organize the Republic of
Macedonia as a State and to join the Yugoslav Federation, and in view of
the fact that in the 1991 referendum the Macedonian people decided to
organize the Republic of Macedonia as a sovereign and independent State
and
appreciating the fact that this has been carried out in a peaceful
manner,
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia respects the state continuity of the
Republic of Macedonia.
The Parties agree to resolve their mutual claims on ground of
succession to the former Yugoslavia by agreement." (The Agreement is
published as an annex to the letter of the Permanent Representative of
the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations addressed to
the President of the Security Council, dated 17 April 1996, S/1996/291,
17
April 1996).
In both cases, i.e. Yugoslavia and Macedonia, the Agreement
used
the same term "the state continuity". But, it is quite obvious that the
same terms have not the same meaning. Before its peaceful secession,
Macedonia existed as the Republic of Macedonia - a federal unit of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It did not exist as an
independent state, a subject of international law. For the first time in
history, it became such a subject after peaceful secession.
15. The United States implicitly confirmed the legal fact regarding the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia. By its Note No.
C-42 of 5 May 1998, transmitted to the Federal Ministry of Foreign
Affairs,
the Embassy of the United States of America in Belgrade claimed the
extradition of Rifat Fteja, a Yugoslav citizen charged with several
criminal offences committed in the United States. The extradition
request
is based on the Extradition Treaty of 1901. Accordingly, the position of
the US Government is that the Extradition Treaty, concluded between the
Kingdom of Serbia and the United States of America on 12/25 October
1901,
is in force between the Kingdom of Serbia and the United States in 1998.
It
confirmed the international legal continuity of both States. Namely, if
the
FR of Yugoslavia is a new State, it should conclude a separate agreement
with the United States on succession in respect of bilateral treaties.
In
the absence of such an agreement, the United States considers the 1901
Treaty to be in force and, consequently, implicitly confirms the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia. The fact of the
international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia was also
confirmed
by exchange of Notes between the FR of Yugoslavia and the United States
(Notes Nos. 10763 and 22, respectively) in 1996 concerning the
establishment of the US Information Service Centre in Pri{tina. The
exchange of Notes shows that both sides consider that the Memorandum of
Understanding, signed between the Federative People's Republic of
Yugoslavia and the United States in Belgrade on 14 June 1961, to be
still
in force.
16. The largest number of other States have explicitly or implicitly
confirmed the international legal continuity of the FR of Yugoslavia.
This
is an obvious proof of the existence of unbroken-off diplomatic
relations
between the FR of Yugoslavia and 160 States with which the SFRY had
maintained diplomatic relations. The majority of States consider that
bilateral agreements entered into with the SFRY are in force also in
their
relations with the FR of Yugoslavia. Some Members States of the European
Union, such as Austria, Greece and the United Kingdom, have also
formally
recognized this fact through exchange of Notes, whereas some other, like
Italy, have done so by making a unilateral declaration. The former
Yugoslav
Republics, upon becoming independent States, have established diplomatic
relations with other States. This was not the case with the FR of
Yugoslavia, since it is not a new State. These States have entered
separately into agreements with third States on succession in respect of
bilateral treaties which existed between these third States and the
SFRY.
In contrast to them, the FR of Yugoslavia has not done so. The former
Yugoslav Republics have requested that they be recognized as independent
States. The FR of Yugoslavia has not made such a request.
17. The basis of the international legal personality of the FR of
Yugoslavia is the fact that Serbia and Montenegro existed as independent
States before the creation of Yugoslavia in 1918. Both States were
recognized as independent at the Berlin Congress in 1878. After
Yugoslavia
was created in 1918, all international treaties of the Kingdom of Serbia
remained in force and were valid on the enlarged territory of the
Kingdom
of Yugoslavia (Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1974, vol.
II,
Part One, p. 208). The same applied to diplomatic relations as well.
18. The facts of the Yugoslav crisis cannot be associated with the
notion
of the dissolution of a State as defined under the Vienna Convention on
the
Succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts of
8
April 1983. The provisions of this Convention, although not containing
an
explicit definition of dissolution, point to an essential element of
this
notion, namely sequence of events. Dissolution and cessation of a State
come first and then new independent States emerge (Articles 18, 31 and
41
thereof). That was the sequence of events in the case of the Czech and
Slovak Federal Republic. It ceased to exist on 31 December 1992, and as
of
1 January 1993 they emerged as the independent Czech Republic and the
Slovak Republic. In its opinions, the Badinter Commission noted that the
SFR of Yugoslavia ceased to exist on 4 July 1992 (Opinion No. 8,
International Legal Materials, 1993, 1521) and that Croatia and Slovenia
became independent on 8 October 1991, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Macedonia gained their independence on 6 March 1992 and 17 November
1991,
respectively, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 27 April 1992
(Opinion No. 11, Ibid., 1587). The above shows the absurdity of findings
of
the Badinter Commission. According to this Commission, all the five
States
first attained their independence and then the SFRY ceased to exist. How
much this fiction is artificial is illustrated by the fact that the date
of
the adoption of the new Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia
was taken as the date on which it became independent. It is fairly
uncommon
in international law to quality the change of constitutional
arrangements
in a State as that State becoming independent.
19. The opinions rendered by the Arbitration Commission of the Peace
Conference on the former Yugoslavia, the so-called Badinter Commission,
are
irrelevant. Although it was referred to as the Arbitration Commission,
the
Badinter Commission was not a Court of Arbitration in the international
legal sense, but rather an advisory body of the international conference
charged with the task of finding solutions for a peaceful outcome of the
Yugoslav crisis. The opinions rendered by it are not legally binding.
Taking into account that the majority of members of the Commission were
judges of constitutional courts, and not experts in international law,
these opinions are not based on international law from the strictly
professional point of view.
20. The opinions of the Badinter Commission are politically motivated
and
not grounded in international law. All insistence on an alleged
dissolution
of the SFRY and on the FR of Yugoslavia not being a Member of the United
Nations is politically ill-intentioned and legally unfounded. Membership
of
the FR of Yugoslavia in the United Nations has nothing to do with the
question of the succession of the SFRY. The Badinter Commission points
out
that the request of the FR of Yugoslavia to be the only successor State
is
unacceptable. This is yet another proof of the absurdity of the opinions
rendered by this Commission. The FR of Yugoslavia does not consider
itself
to be the only successor State, nor does it at all consider itself a
successor State. The successor States are the newly-created States, i.e.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Croatia and
the
Republic of Slovenia. The FR of Yugoslavia is not a successor state but
an
old State which now exists on a shrunken territory. The FR of Yugoslavia
does not contest the status of successor States to the newly-created
States
of the former Yugoslavia and it is prepared to settle the question of
succession of the SFRY by an agreement entered into with these States in
accordance with international law. It has formally undertaken to do so
under the bilateral arrangements indicated below. It insists that the
negotiations on the succession of the SFRY that were abrogated following
the aggression of the Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization against Yugoslavia, be resumed within the framework of the
Peace Implementation Council. It sees the latest proposal, as put
forward
by Sir Arthur Watts, as a solid basis for a speedy resolution of this
issue
and has pointed out on several occasions already that it essentially
accepts and welcomes the new approach adopted by the Chief Negotiator in
these negotiations.
21. The Declaration of 27 April 1992 on international legal continuity
of
the FR of Yugoslavia has the legal relevance of a constitutional norm.
Therefore, all Yugoslav legal subjects and Government authorities are
obligated to respect it. All statements and acts of the Yugoslav
authorities contrary to it are null and void. In this respect, the
statement made by the then Prime Minister Milan Pani} in the UN General
Assembly on 22 September 1992 upon the adoption of General Assembly
resolution 47/1, in which he "formally sought membership in the United
Nations on behalf of the new Yugoslavia", is legally without effect.
Even
if the statement made by the Prime Minister had had any legal
significance, it could not have had any legal force since it was beside
the
point. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a Member of the United
Nations
and, consequently, its application for membership in the United Nations
is
pointless.
Belgrade, 1 September 2000
...da Tamara, di Torino, appena rientrata dalla Jugoslavia:
> La visita alla Zastava è stata
> bellissima, stanno producendo, e ho anche incontarto alcune famiglie di
> bambini adottati a distanza, tar cui la "mia", era come se ci consocessimo
> da sempre! Sono stata anche tra i profughi serbi dal Kosovo, gli stessi
> dell'anno scorso, e là veramente è triste, e poi ho visto una bellissima
> Belgrado, piena di vita, confusione traffico, sono starordinari e spesso
> abbiamo aprlato con la gente che incontarvo del aftto che priam o poi
> bisogna che si riformi qualche specie di confederazione, non si può stare
> separati, mi è stato difficlie tornare a casa, sai cosa c'è laggiu' di
> straordinario? che pensano ancora, analizzano, fanno funzionare il
> cervello, insomma sono vivi, a volte qui dopo avere visto come la genta
> abbai bevuto al propaganda televisiva mi sembrano tutti morti, oppure sono
> semplicemente in malafede. Sono giuste le osservazioni sul Montenegro, vedo
> già qui tra la gente con cui parlo con cui alvoro che sta venendo fuori
> l'idea che la Jugoslavia stia togliendo l'autonoomia al Montenegro, ma come
> fanno a ri-beversi la stessa menzogna del kosovo? Penso che siano in relatà
> in malafede, e che ormai siamo in un paese profondamente colonialista, mi
> ha detto un anziano professore che gestiva un campo profughi dal Kosovo a
> Kraljevo che l'assalto alla Jugoslavia è stata una grossissima sconfitta
> della classe operaia europea, che non ha ne' saputo ma neppure voluto
> opporsi, capire...
> ...ho parlato con parecchie
> persone , gente qualsiasi e tutti cercavano di capire cosa era successo al
> mondo, e alla Jugoslavia, molti raccontavano le loro idee sulle cause della
> guerra, ci ahnno bommbardato perchè siamo l'unico paese che nello spazio
> dall'occidente alla Cina non vuole entrare nelal NATO, a Rambouillet ci
> hanno chiesto di dare del territorio jugoslavo alla NATO per le basi in
> cambio di un aiuto sulla questione del Kosovo e noi abbiamo rinunciato al
> Kosovo pur di non dare loro le basi, pur di non rinunciare alla nostra
> sovranità, e si sa cosa vuol dire per i Serbi dare il Kosovo, è la culla
> della nostra civiltà, ma la Jugoslavia vale di più, perchè la Jugoslavia è
> la terra della libertà, e noi siamo fatio così, combattiamo sempre per la
> libertà, prima o poi il mondo capirà che cosa ci è stato fatto, e
> soprattutto che ci hanno offesi dipingendoci come il contrario di quello
> che siamo, ci hanno bombardato perchè vogliono far passare il corridoio 8
> per il Kosovo, con il gas dal Caucaso, ci hanno bombardato perchè al
> finanziere Soros interessa la miniera di Trepca, perchè è la più bella
> miiera d'Europa di Piombo e Zinco, la più facile da coltivare, e forse le
> startegie energetiche stanno cambaindo e non sarà più il petrolio la
> materia prima più importante, e poi Soros vuole controllare i Balcani e
> finanzia l'opposizione, e Trepca è il simbolo della ipocrisia occidentale e
> del fatto che l'Europa si stia americanizzando: a Trepca ci hanno scacciato
> con i mitra e la maschere antigas, antiinquinamento, facendo finat che
> stavamo inquinando, proprio loro che hanno provocato con le loro bombe una
> vera e propria catastrofe ambiemntale, la loro ipocrisia è la stessa che
> hanno utilizzato quando hanno giustificato le loro bombe con l'aiuto ai
> profughi albanesi, questo è fascismo di una nuova specie, fascismo
> "umanitario", infido e ipocrita, un fascismo ancora peggiore di quello di
> Hitler e Mussolini, perchè ben nascosto, ma il resto del mondo, e
> soprattutto quei paesi che dovrebbero capire dove sta il loro vero
> interesse, alla fine capiranno che la dignità vale più di un paio di jeans,
> ci bombardano perchè la Jugoslavia è un paese ancora ricco, nonostante
> tutto, di cibo sano, di acqua, e l'acqua e la natura sono la futura
> ricchezza del mondo, ci bombardano per consumare le loro riserve di armi,
> ci bombardano perchè gli americani sanno di non avere cultura alle loro
> origini, ma un genocidio, e sanno che noi invece siamo un paese antico, con
> radici, e loro vorrebbero fare del mondo intero un fast food, e disprezzano
> la bellezza della natura, perchè la Jugoslavia intera, quella di una volta,
> era un paese bellissimo, e ce l'hanno disfatto, ed è anche colpa nostra, di
> tutti noi jugoslavi, ma in fondo l'abbaimo capito e non passerà molto che
> ce la faremo a ritrovarci, perchè siamo lo stesso popolo. Dopo le elezioni
> americane ci ribombarderanno con la scusa del Montenegro, ma questa volta
> saranno solo gli Inglesi e gli Americani (questo è l'unico punto su cui non
> mi trovo d'accordo, credo che non saranno solo gli anglo-americani a
> bombardare, dati gli enormi interessi coloniali di europei ed italiani in
> particolare, del resto la Zastava è stata bombardata proprio dagli Italiani).
> Non so se puoi trarre qualcosa da queste idee, che non sono le mie ma
> quelle di juigoslavi che ho trovato sul terno, in autobus, nelle case dove
> sono stata, è importante ascoltarli, perchè qui siamo messi molto male...
(5/6 settembre 2000)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
> La visita alla Zastava è stata
> bellissima, stanno producendo, e ho anche incontarto alcune famiglie di
> bambini adottati a distanza, tar cui la "mia", era come se ci consocessimo
> da sempre! Sono stata anche tra i profughi serbi dal Kosovo, gli stessi
> dell'anno scorso, e là veramente è triste, e poi ho visto una bellissima
> Belgrado, piena di vita, confusione traffico, sono starordinari e spesso
> abbiamo aprlato con la gente che incontarvo del aftto che priam o poi
> bisogna che si riformi qualche specie di confederazione, non si può stare
> separati, mi è stato difficlie tornare a casa, sai cosa c'è laggiu' di
> straordinario? che pensano ancora, analizzano, fanno funzionare il
> cervello, insomma sono vivi, a volte qui dopo avere visto come la genta
> abbai bevuto al propaganda televisiva mi sembrano tutti morti, oppure sono
> semplicemente in malafede. Sono giuste le osservazioni sul Montenegro, vedo
> già qui tra la gente con cui parlo con cui alvoro che sta venendo fuori
> l'idea che la Jugoslavia stia togliendo l'autonoomia al Montenegro, ma come
> fanno a ri-beversi la stessa menzogna del kosovo? Penso che siano in relatà
> in malafede, e che ormai siamo in un paese profondamente colonialista, mi
> ha detto un anziano professore che gestiva un campo profughi dal Kosovo a
> Kraljevo che l'assalto alla Jugoslavia è stata una grossissima sconfitta
> della classe operaia europea, che non ha ne' saputo ma neppure voluto
> opporsi, capire...
> ...ho parlato con parecchie
> persone , gente qualsiasi e tutti cercavano di capire cosa era successo al
> mondo, e alla Jugoslavia, molti raccontavano le loro idee sulle cause della
> guerra, ci ahnno bommbardato perchè siamo l'unico paese che nello spazio
> dall'occidente alla Cina non vuole entrare nelal NATO, a Rambouillet ci
> hanno chiesto di dare del territorio jugoslavo alla NATO per le basi in
> cambio di un aiuto sulla questione del Kosovo e noi abbiamo rinunciato al
> Kosovo pur di non dare loro le basi, pur di non rinunciare alla nostra
> sovranità, e si sa cosa vuol dire per i Serbi dare il Kosovo, è la culla
> della nostra civiltà, ma la Jugoslavia vale di più, perchè la Jugoslavia è
> la terra della libertà, e noi siamo fatio così, combattiamo sempre per la
> libertà, prima o poi il mondo capirà che cosa ci è stato fatto, e
> soprattutto che ci hanno offesi dipingendoci come il contrario di quello
> che siamo, ci hanno bombardato perchè vogliono far passare il corridoio 8
> per il Kosovo, con il gas dal Caucaso, ci hanno bombardato perchè al
> finanziere Soros interessa la miniera di Trepca, perchè è la più bella
> miiera d'Europa di Piombo e Zinco, la più facile da coltivare, e forse le
> startegie energetiche stanno cambaindo e non sarà più il petrolio la
> materia prima più importante, e poi Soros vuole controllare i Balcani e
> finanzia l'opposizione, e Trepca è il simbolo della ipocrisia occidentale e
> del fatto che l'Europa si stia americanizzando: a Trepca ci hanno scacciato
> con i mitra e la maschere antigas, antiinquinamento, facendo finat che
> stavamo inquinando, proprio loro che hanno provocato con le loro bombe una
> vera e propria catastrofe ambiemntale, la loro ipocrisia è la stessa che
> hanno utilizzato quando hanno giustificato le loro bombe con l'aiuto ai
> profughi albanesi, questo è fascismo di una nuova specie, fascismo
> "umanitario", infido e ipocrita, un fascismo ancora peggiore di quello di
> Hitler e Mussolini, perchè ben nascosto, ma il resto del mondo, e
> soprattutto quei paesi che dovrebbero capire dove sta il loro vero
> interesse, alla fine capiranno che la dignità vale più di un paio di jeans,
> ci bombardano perchè la Jugoslavia è un paese ancora ricco, nonostante
> tutto, di cibo sano, di acqua, e l'acqua e la natura sono la futura
> ricchezza del mondo, ci bombardano per consumare le loro riserve di armi,
> ci bombardano perchè gli americani sanno di non avere cultura alle loro
> origini, ma un genocidio, e sanno che noi invece siamo un paese antico, con
> radici, e loro vorrebbero fare del mondo intero un fast food, e disprezzano
> la bellezza della natura, perchè la Jugoslavia intera, quella di una volta,
> era un paese bellissimo, e ce l'hanno disfatto, ed è anche colpa nostra, di
> tutti noi jugoslavi, ma in fondo l'abbaimo capito e non passerà molto che
> ce la faremo a ritrovarci, perchè siamo lo stesso popolo. Dopo le elezioni
> americane ci ribombarderanno con la scusa del Montenegro, ma questa volta
> saranno solo gli Inglesi e gli Americani (questo è l'unico punto su cui non
> mi trovo d'accordo, credo che non saranno solo gli anglo-americani a
> bombardare, dati gli enormi interessi coloniali di europei ed italiani in
> particolare, del resto la Zastava è stata bombardata proprio dagli Italiani).
> Non so se puoi trarre qualcosa da queste idee, che non sono le mie ma
> quelle di juigoslavi che ho trovato sul terno, in autobus, nelle case dove
> sono stata, è importante ascoltarli, perchè qui siamo messi molto male...
(5/6 settembre 2000)
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