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), December 11, 1996

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1996 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 4 PM
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    CLINTON'S MESSAGE TO MILOSEVIC

    US President Bill Clinton has called on Serbian President
    Milosevic to acknowledge the electoral results of November 17,
    saying ``the voice of the people must be listened to and human,
    political and civil rights must be observed,'' reported Reuters.
    Clinton said: ``Neither we nor anybody else wish to interfere with
    the Serbian internal affairs, but our sympathies are always with
    the free people who strive to express their freedom and who want
    the integrity of their elections to be observed.''


    CHRISTOPHER'S LETTER TO MILOSEVIC

    State Department confirmed last night that a letter by US State
    Secretary Warren Christopher was sent to Serbian President
    Milosevic through the US Chief of Mission in Belgrade, reported
    correspondent of the daily ``Nasa Borba'' Slobodan Pavlovic for
    FoNet. The letter reiterated the call to restraint and warned
    against the use of force to quell the peaceful demonstrations in
    Belgrade. The letter called for official Belgrade to work out a
    constructive way-out of the crisis by acknowledging the legitimate
    opposition electoral victories and also by entering a dialogue
    with the Zajedno representatives to deal with all key issues.
    Christopher stressed that if the Serbian regime fails to grant the
    legitimate human rights and democratic freedoms to its peoples,
    Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would be thrown into even deeper
    and more perilous isolation from the international community. As a
    sign of condemnation of Serbia's authorities, Washington has
    decided to cancel a previously announced Belgrade visit by its
    Peace Mediator For Former Yugoslavia, John Kornblum. Kornblum's
    visit to Belgrade and a projected meeting with Milosevic were
    scheduled to take place in the course of his visit to the Balkans
    this week.


    DJINDJIC: FEDERAL COURT'S DECISION NO SURPRISE

    Commenting on the decision by the Federal Court to overrule the
    appeal by the Belgrade Electoral Commission, Head of the
    Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjic said such decision was expected.
    ``The legality [of the judicial] system was an illusion from the
    very beginning,'' he told Reuters. ``The only thing that could
    influence Milosevic is the pressure by the international
    community, and it is certain he will try to come up with a
    solution of some sort in the following few days,'' he said adding
    that the 22 Zajedno members of the Federal Parliament would
    boycott all sessions until the local electoral results are
    acknowledged.


    KOSTUNICA: OPPOSITION HAD ``INDIRECT NEGOTIATIONS'' WITH MILOSEVIC

    Head of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Vojislav Kostunica
    said today that the opposition had indirectly rather than directly
    negotiated with Milosevic during the protests in Belgrade. He
    stressed the DSS did not take part in these negotiations for ``we
    (the DSS) had no illusions that it was possible to negotiate with
    Milosevic in secret.''  His assessment is that by returning the
    seats it has won in the Serbian and Federal Parliaments, the
    opposition will undermine the last remaining legitimacy of the
    Serbian regime. New elections will have to be called but this time
    they will have to be held on equal footing.


    ``WEEKLY TELEGRAPH:'' BULATOVIC CALLED FOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE
    SECOND ELECTORAL ROUND

    According to Weekly Telegraph, at a December 4 meeting,
    Montenegrin President, Momir Bulatovic called on Serbian President
    Milosevic to acknowledge the results of the second round of local
    elections. The weekly claims Bulatovic said to Milosevic
    ``Montenegro as well as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would
    suffer great economic and overall political consequences unless
    the civil demonstrations in Belgrade and other cities stop.''
    Milosevic replied that he could not influence court rulings and
    that he did not want to violate the Constitution. He reassured
    Bulatovic that the demonstrations would disperse after the
    protesters have realized that the courts had people's absolute
    confidence.


    PLAVSIC: MILOSEVIC NOT CRUCIAL FOR DAYTON IMPLEMENTATION

    President of Republic of Srpska, Biljana Plavsic expressed today
    her support for the demonstrations in Serbia, stressing that
    student protests ``have always been a signal that freedom and
    democracy had been jeopardized.''  AFP reports her as saying for
    the Serbian radio television in Pale that she disagreed with the
    international community's belief that Milosevic was the only
    guarantor for the implementation of the Dayton accords, pointing
    out that the success of the accords depends mainly on the leaders
    directly involved in the Bosnian issue.


    MINISTRY OF JUSTICE: BULATOVIC NOT IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

    ``Bulatovic has in no way been isolated form other convicted
    persons, he has not been committed to solitary confinement, nor
    has he been subjected to a treatment more unfavorable than that of
    others convicted for the same offense. He has made no complaints
    about the treatment he has received at the hands of the Belgrade
    Penitentiary staff. If any need for his further medical treatment
    arises, the Ministry of Justice will take all necessary measures
    for ensure medical protection of his health,'' said last night's
    statement of the Serbian Ministry of Justice.


    PROTEST '96 REFUSES TO MEET STUDENTS' ALLIANCE

    Spokesman of the Student Protest '96 Steering Board, Dejan
    Vasiljevic said today that the board members will not answer the
    call for a meeting with the UofB Students' Alliance. Radio B92
    reported Vasiljevic as saying that the Students' Alliance, ``which
    has pretensions about representing all students,'' has not made
    clear its position as regards the demands made by the Student
    Protest '96, such as the demand for the Dean of the UofB to be
    dismissed.

    Prepared by: Aleksandra Scepanovic
    Edited by: Vaska Andjelkovic (Tumir)

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