Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 4 PM), March 13, 1997

    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 4 PM
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    UNIVERSITY COUNCIL TO CONVENE ON MARCH 19

    A meeting of University staff called by the acting Chancellor
    Tomislav Dragovic, appointed by outgoing Chancellor Dragutin
    Velickovic, was held on Thursday. Chancellor Dragovic announced
    that the University Council would meet to decide on the
    resignations of Chancellor Dragutin Velickovic and Student Pro-
    Chancellor Vojin Djurdjevic on March 19, a day earlier than
    expected. At the meeting, the Council will appoint a new acting
    Chancellor and a new Chairman and deputy Chairman of the Council.
    The University staff wished to keep Dragan Kuburovic on as Pro-
    Chancellor, against the orders of the resigning Chancellor,
    because they appointed him as acting Chancellor. The University
    staff said that Mr. Kuburovic did his best to find a rational
    solution which would return the students to their classes and
    succeeded in this, according to Beta.


    MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER FINISHES VISIT TO US

    Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has finished his
    working visit to Washington with talks in the US Congress,
    Slobodan Pavlovic reports for FoNet. A Tuesday briefing from the
    State Department described Mr. Djukanovic as an important Balkans
    leader. On Wednesday, however, the State Department expressed
    concern over the trial in Niksic of one of the Montenegrin
    opposition leaders, Novak Kilibarda. Mr. Kilibarda was found
    guilty and fined for statements ``offensive to the honour and
    reputation'' of Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic and
    Parliamentary Speaker Svetozar Marovic. The State Department
    warned that this court decision was a threat to the democratic
    process in Montenegro and hoped that it would be withdrawn and
    that such show-downs between the Montenegrin Government and the
    opposition would cease.


    SESSION OF ALLIANCE OF FREE CITIES ON MARCH 15

    Nis Mayor Zoran Zivkovic told Beta on Thursday that a session of
    the Alliance of Free Cities of Serbia would be held on March 15.
    The Alliance consists of cities where the opposition had won in
    the local elections. They will discuss finances and city budgets.
    Mr. Zivkovic, Chair of the Alliance announced that University
    lecturers expert in public finances would help the ``free cities''
    draft the local budgets. He also said that the session would
    discuss ways to keep local taxes for local, not central, spending.


    DOCTORS AND PHARMACISTS DEMAND RESIGNATION OF SERBIAN HEALTH CARE
    MINISTER

    Bosko Jovicevic, chair of the Trade Union of medical doctors and
    pharmacists of Serbia, said on Thursday that Serbian Health Care
    Minister Leposava Milicevic should resign because she had showed
    herself to be incompetent. Mr. Jovicevic stated that both
    physicians and pharmacists were working in conditions that were
    degrading to both themselves and their patients. He said it was
    unacceptable that all medical institutions were under the
    authority of the Health Care Ministry because the directors of all
    medical institutions were appointed on the grounds of their
    political allegiences rather than their professional capabilities.


    US PREPARING RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

    Reuters reported on Wednesday that diplomatic sources say the US
    are planning to propose a resolution at the next session of the UN
    Commission for Human Rights. The resolution will be critical of
    the poor human rights record in the former Yugoslav states,
    according to FoNet. The resolution would include Bosnia
    Herzegovina, Croatia and FR Yugoslavia. It will demand that these
    three countries increase their cooperation with the International
    War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague and extradite the indicted war
    criminals. The resolution will urge the Belgrade authorities to
    democratise, to drop the pressure against the media and to stop
    maltreatment of arrestees, especially Kosovo Albanians.


    IZETBEGOVIC IN SAUDI ARABIA

    Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic began his 6-day visit to Saudi
    Arabia, according to AFP. The visit will include a pilgrimage to
    Meca, FoNet reports.


    FR YUGOSLAVIA AND CROATIA DIVIDE AIR SPACE ABOVE BOSNIA
    HERZEGOVINA

    The Sarajevan daily 'Oslobodjenje' carried an article on Wednesday
    warning that the Brussels decision giving control of airspace over
    Bosnia Herzegovina to Belgrade and Zagreb was a continuation of
    the old agreement between the Serbian and Croatian Presidents to
    share out Bosnia The daily said that Bosnian officials were not
    invited to the March 6 meeting in Brussels, but Croats and
    Yugoslavs did meet representatives of the international community.
    The daily insisted that the air corridor should be under the
    direct authority of the Bosnian state.


    EASTERN SLAVONIA: INTEGRATION INTO CROATIA INEVITABLE

    The Council for the Srem-Baranja Region (Serb governing body in
    Eastern Slavonia) sent the UN Transitional Administration for
    Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) a report on Thursday, about the
    integration of public companies from this region into the Croatian
    system. The report said that all workers in these companies should
    be given employment contracts, according to SRNA and FoNet. The
    report also said that this integration is inevitable, and any
    hinderance would be counterproductive.

    The 37th protest rally titled ``Human Rights for All'' was held in
    Vukovar on Thursday. Vukovar residents demand that the Serbian
    population of Eastern Slavonia are enabled to remain there.
    Spokesman for the UNTAES Douglas Koffmann told AFP on Thursday
    that the Serbs in Eastern Slavonia have enough time to prepare for
    the local elections to be held April 13. He said that tens of
    thousands of Croatian residency papers had been issued to the
    Serbs in the region. He said the UNTAES expected many more Serbs
    to obtain these.

    Head of the UNTAES Elections Committee Honofre Du Santo stated in
    Vukovar on Thursday that a third of Eastern Slavonia's citizens
    and all Croatian refugees living outside the region had been
    registered for the elections, according to SRNA. He said that only
    those who returned to the region by January 15,1996 would have the
    right to choose where they would cast their votes. The rest of the
    electorate would have to vote in the places from which they had
    been expelled.

    The Serbs are dissatisfied with the procedures for obtaining
    Croatian papers. They say that the refugees are not allowed to
    fill in the registration forms for elections. This is done by the
    Croat clerks, and the Serbs warned this made room for fraud,
    according to FoNet.


    SLOVENIAN AND SERBIAN STUDENTS

    The University of Ljubljana's Students' Union, will hold a public
    discussion on student and opposition protests in Serbia on
    Thursday, the Slovene newsagency STA reports. Student
    representatives from Belgrade are to participate in the
    discussion. The students' union of Lubljana University will show
    its support for Belgrade students and their new organization and
    parliament by gathering computer equipment for them, according to
    Beta.


    INFORMATION MINISTER FAILS TO APPEAR

    Student Protest 96/97 organized a public discussion on the future
    of the media in Serbia at the School of Politics in Belgrade on
    Wednesday. Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic
    cancelled her appearance for ``an urgent trip.'' Former Serbian
    Information Minister Aleksandar Tijanic did not have such
    problems. He among other warned that the new Law on Information
    would put Serbia several steps back in its relations with Europe
    and would in no way democratize the society.

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    Edited by: Mary Anne Wood

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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