Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 12 midnight), February 19, 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 12 MIDNIGHT
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    CROATIAN AND YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET

    Croatian and Yugoslav Prime Ministers Mate Granic and Milan
    Milutinovic met in Belgrade on Wednesday. The Ministers said after
    their talks that they had discussed a number of agreements that
    should be signed within 2 months, when Minister Milutinovic visits
    Zagreb, according to Beta.

    The Ministers commented that these agreements were an important
    step forward in the development of good relations between the two
    states. Minister Granic said that one of the issues discussed was
    the peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia into Croatia and
    that the two agreed that the process was going well: Serbs in the
    region have been guaranteed full civil and human rights as equal
    citizens in the Republic of Croatia. Mr. Granic added that legal
    issues had also been discussed -- those concerning citizenship,
    visas and border-crossings, and also the future cooperation of the
    Serbian and Croatian Interior Ministries and mutual legal
    assistance. The stepping-up of the negotiations over property and
    legal issues as provided by the Agreement on Normalization of
    Relations was also discussed. He announced that the next meeting
    on this issue would be held in Belgrade on February 28. As a
    result of discussions on missing persons, Mr. Granic said that a
    meeting on intensifying the search for them would be held in
    Zagreb within ten days.

    In a written statement handed out to the press after the meeting,
    Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milutinovic said that ``in spite of
    evident progress, a halt was observed in several segments of
    relations and cooperation, above all over the repatriation of
    refugee and expelled Serbs, the protection of their property, and
    the property rights of Yugoslav citizens on Croatia's territory.''


    ZAJEDNO REACHES TWO AGREEMENTS

    The opposition coalition Zajedno reached two agreements on
    Wednesday, say Radio B92 sources. The one concerns the joint
    bodies, i.e.the Presidential Council of the coalition, in which
    the parties would be represented according to votes won in the
    1993 elections. The second agreement was on the coalition's joint
    campaign in the forthcoming parliamentary and presidential
    elections. According to this, the Serbian Renewal Movement would
    put up the presidential candidate, the Democratic Party would
    offer the candidate for Prime Minister, and the Civil Alliance the
    Parliamentary Speaker. The agreement on local government officers
    in Belgrade will be completed on Thursday.


    SERBIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION REFUSES COMPROMISE TEACHERS' DEMAND

    Serbian Minister of Education Jovo Todorovic said on Wednesday
    that the new demands of the Independent Teachers Trade Union of
    Serbia ``would lead to an inflation burst, which should not be
    allowed,'' the state Radio Television Serbia reports. He said that
    the solutions in the agreement the Serbian Government had made
    with the Council of the Independent Trade Union of Serbia were the
    maximum that the Government could offer. The agreement provoked
    outrage among the striking teachers, because it was way below
    their demands and was signed by unauthorized persons, they claim.
    Jagos Bulatovic, Chair of the Independent Teachers' Trade Union of
    Serbia said on Wednesday that the teachers' negotiating team had
    demanded an urgent meeting with Serbian President Slobodan
    Milosevic. He said that the negotiating team had demanded on
    Tuesday that the Serbian Government resumes negotiations with
    them, but that the reply they received was that ``there will be no
    negotiations with the negotiating team.''


    SERBIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION: RESUMPTION OF TEACHING DISCUSSED
    WITH UNIVERSITY DEANS

    Serbian Minister of Education Jovo Todorovic stated on Wednesday
    that his meeting with the delegation of school deans from the
    University of Belgrade concerned plans for the resumption of
    teaching and overcoming the problems at the University, the state-
    controlled Radio Television Serbia reports.

    Mr. Todorovic announced that the next sesson of the Serbian
    Government would examine the proposed appointment of new members
    of the Univeristy Councils.[Members are appointed by the Serbian
    Government.]


    SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER ON STUDENT AND TEACHER PROTESTS

    Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic said in an interview with
    the state-controlled Radio Belgrade on Wednesday, that the student
    protest was a partisan matter because none of its demands
    concerned the life and work of students. Speaking of the teachers'
    strike, the Serbian Prime Minister claimed that only 30 per cent
    of the schools were on strike and that the state must sack those
    who had stopped teaching and enable the schools to start working
    again.


    POLITIKA'S PART-TIME WORKERS DEMAND RESIGNATION OF EDITOR IN CHIEF

    The part-time workers at Radio Television 'Politika', who have
    been on strike for 6 days, added the resignation of the station's
    Editor in Chief Goran Kozic to their demands on Wednesday,
    according to Beta. The demand was provoked by Tuesday's statement
    by the Managing Board of the station.


    PROTEST IN SABAC CONTINUES

    Protests against the results of local elections continue in Sabac,
    because the Sabac Electoral Commission has refused to implement
    the 'Lex Specialis' reinstating the local electoral results
    according to the findings of the Organization for Security and
    Cooperation in Europe.

    Serbian Parliamentary Speaker Dragan Tomic has set the opening
    sesssion of the Sabac Municipality Assembly for February 21; by
    then it will probably be clear what the final results of the local
    elections in this city are, Beta reports.


    MILOSEVIC MEETS DELEGATION FROM DAILY 'BORBA'

    Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic received a delegation of the
    Belgrade state-controlled daily 'Borba' on its 75th anniversary on
    Wednesday, Radio Television Serbia reports. Mr. Milosevic spoke to
    them:

    ``'Borba' has remained firmly commited to the preservation and
    affirmation of the human values and the equality and independence
    of our country. It has also remained committed to progress and
    objective information, which has a huge importance, especially in
    times of obvious one-sidedness and media untruths about events and
    their causes in the Yugoslav region.''


    NEWS FROM CROATIA AND BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
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    CROATIAN SPECIAL POLICE FORCES TO BE SENT TO EASTERN SLAVONIA

    Croatian Minister of the Interior Ivan Penic said on Wednesday
    that the major priority of the Croatian Police in 1997 would be
    the establishment of the Croatian constitution and Croatian legal
    order in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem.

    Mr. Penic stated in a news conference in Zagreb that Croatian
    special police forces would be sent to the region under the the UN
    Transitional

    Administration on February 24, according to Beta.


    CROATIAN GOVERNMENT PROMISES RECOGNITION OF WORK AGE TO EMPLOYEES
    IN SREM-BARANJA REGION

    The Croatian Government will recognize the working age [the years
    spent working towards the old age benefits] of all the employees
    in the Srem-Baranja region, says a letter the Croatian Government
    sent to the Serb authorities in the regions of Srem and Baranja.
    The letter says: ``The above mentioned rights will be applicable
    to all who file an application for Croatian citizenship by March
    14 and are given the status of an alien with permanent
    residence,'' according to Beta.


    CROATIA DOES NOT RECOGNIZE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL'S DEMAND

    The Croatian Ambassador to the Netherlands and two representatives
    of the Bosnian Government appeared before a judge at the War
    Crimes Tribunal at the Hague on Wednesday. They had been summoned
    to explain why their respective governments had not handed over
    the evidence relating to the Blackic case.

    Stressing their opinion that the case should be solved by the UN
    Security Council, the three said that Croatia did not recognize
    the Tribunal's demand that the documents be handed over. They were
    prepared to solve the dispute informally through a meeting with
    the Hague Prosecutor in Zagreb, where the list of the documents
    demanded would be examined and the mode of their hand over
    possibly agreed on.

    Judge McDonald instructed the Croat side to inform the Tribunal of
    the exact date of this meeting by February 24, according to Beta.


    US PROPOSE SPECIAL POLICE UNIT FOR BRCKO

    The US has proposed the formation of a special police unit to its
    allies. It would be given a mandate by the UN to implement the
    decision of the International Arbitration Commission for Brcko,
    Beta learned from diplomatic circles in Brussels on Wednesday. The
    new unit would be independent of the Stabilization Forces and
    would not be under NATO command. Washington proposed that it be
    placed under the control of a US supervisor. As opposed to the
    International Police Forces, it would be armed, this implies a
    possible use of force, which is legal under Article 7 of the UN
    Charter.

    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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