YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY
BELGRADE, 17 June 2001 No.3439
C O N T E N T S :
RUSSIAYUGOSLAVIA- PRESIDENT PUTIN'S VISIT
- PUTIN ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO BELGRADE, PRISTINA
- RUSSIA, YUGOSLAVIA INTENSIFY POLITICAL DIALOGUE KREMLIN OFFICIAL
- YUGOSLAV VICEPREMIER RECEIVES RUSSIA'S GAZPROM EXECUTIVE
YUGOSLAVIATHE WORLD BANK
- WORLD BANK URGES SPEED FULFILLING AID CONDITIONS
YUGOSLAVIATHE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
- CONCERN IF LAW ON COOPERATION WITH TRIBUNAL NOT
PASSED - DJINDJIC: YUGOSLAVIA'S
COOPERATION WITH ICTY IS A DUTY TO UN
- SNP OF MONTENEGRO WILL NOT VOTE FOR LAW ON COOPERATION WITH THE HAGUE
- BELGRADE AWAITS US REPLY
- HAGUE DENIES LIST OF 80 WANTED YUGOSLAVS
YUGOSLAVIA THE DANUBE COMMISSION
- THE DANUBE COMMISSION PRESIDENT VISITS BELGRADE
YUGOSLAVIAMEXICO
- YUGOSLAV, MEXICAN MP'S URGE CLOSER BALKANLATIN AMERICAN TIES
- MEXICO IS IMPORTANT YUGOSLAV ECONOMIC PARTNER OFFICIAL
YUGOSLAVIACROATIA
- YUGOSLAVIA SEEKS SIMPLIFICATION OF VISA REGIME WITH CROATIA
FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
- CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS HAVE TO BE LAUNCHED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
- YUGOSLAV DEPUTY PREMIER, BALKAN STABILITY PACT OFFICIAL ON NEW PROJECTS
- YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER SVILANOVIC RECEIVES HOMBACH
- FOREIGN CURRENCY RESERVES OF YUGOSLAVIA REACH 886 MILLION DOLLARS
- SERBIAN GOVERNMENT INSISTS THAT GEN. KRSTIC BE REINSTATED
KOSOVOMETOHIJA
- U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION ARRIVES IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
- UN SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM ON FACT-FINDING KOSOVO MISSION
- RUSSIA HAS HIGH HOPES OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM'S VISIT TO KOSOVO
- SERBS' STATUS IN KOSOVO TO IMPROVE, HAEKKERUP PROMISES
- YUGOSLAVIA ENTITLED TO CONTROL KOSOVO GOODS MOVEMENT OFFICIAL
- NORTH KOSOVO CANNOT ALONE BE MULTIETHNIC SERBS
- KOSOVO ALBANIANS DEMONSTRATE FOR RETURN OF PRISONERS
- UN POLICE IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA SEIZE HUGE WEAPONS LOAD
RUSSIAYUGOSLAVIA-PRESIDENT PUTIN'S VISIT
PUTIN ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO BELGRADE, PRISTINA
BELGRADE, June 17 (Reuters/B92/SRNA) - Russian president Vladimir
Putin arrived in Belgrade yesterday evening on his first official visit to
Yugoslavia.
Putin met with Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica last night
and early today to discuss the situation in Macedonia and Kosovo.
After their meeting today, Putin and Kostunica held a joint press
conference urging international leaders to support UN Security Council
Resolution 1244 by helping disarm Albanian "terrorists".
"Stability in the region is seriously threatened, above all from
national religious extremism and intolerance, the main source of which
today is in Kosovo," Putin told reporters.
Afterwards, Putin met with Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic
and justice minister Vladan Batic, along with other top Serbian officials.
Putin will fly to Pristina later today, his press secretary told
Russian news agency RIA Novosti today.
He will meet with UN officials and visit some 3,400 Russian KFOR
troops stationed as peacekeepers there.
RUSSIA, YUGOSLAVIA INTENSIFY POLITICAL DIALOGUE KREMLIN OFFICIAL
LJUBLJANA, June 16 (Tanjug) Russian President Vladimir Putin's
visit to Belgrade is geared to an intensification of Russian Yugoslav
political dialogue, according to a senior Kremlin official in Ljubljana,
Slovenia, on Saturday.
The unnamed official said Russia was intent on helping preserve
Yugoslavia's territorial integrity, settle the problem of its federal unit
Serbia's U.N.ruled KosovoMetohija province and find a solution for southern
Serbia.
The official said Putin, who met with U.S. President George Bush
in Ljubljana on Saturday, has a relationship of mutual trust and
understanding with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, forged at their
first meeting in Moscow last October.
Militant nationalism, extremism and terrorism are a threat to
peace and security in the region, said the official, who was in Putin's
party for the Ljubljana summit.
Moscow sees the problems of Kosovo, southern Serbia and Macedonia
not as individual hotbeds of crisis, but as parts of a general Balkan
crisis, he added.
YUGOSLAV VICEPREMIER RECEIVES RUSSIA'S GAZPROM EXECUTIVE
BELGRADE, June 16 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia's VicePremier and Minister
of Foreign Trade Miroljub Labus received on Saturday visiting Russian
Gazprom Co. Board of Governors President Alexy Miller, a government
statement said.
Labus and Miller reviewed matters of ongoing cooperation, ways and
means of creating conditions for its longterm stability, and the
realisation of Russia's state credit to Yugoslavia.
Also discussed were Russian gas deliveries to Yugoslavia,
modalities of clearing up the debt for past gas deliveries, and joint
industrial cooperation projects, the statement said.
YUGOSLAVIATHE WORLD BANK
WORLD BANK URGES SPEED FULFILLING AID CONDITIONS
BRUSSELS, June 16 (SENSE) - A manual for potential donors to
Yugoslavia at the Brussels' Donors Conference has been prepared by the
World Bank, European Commission and the Yugoslav Government.
The manual consists of an overall programme of the transition and
economic reconstruction of Yugoslavia, titled "Yugoslavia: a break with the
past, a road towards stability and growth".
"Donors will consult the data in the manual and thus decide which
sector to invest money in," a of World Bank spokesman said.
Yugoslav authorities should not wait until the last minute to
fulfil key donors' conditions, such as the Hague cooperation law, he warned.
"It's all up to Yugoslav authorities," he emphasised.
Responding to press questions about whether the conference could
succeed even without key donors, the official explained there were two
budgets in Yugoslavia now.
The first budget is paid for by taxes and enables the country to
survive; the second is intended to improve the situation in the country.
"If the donors conference fails to succeed in full, Yugoslavia
will stay at the first level," he said.
Yugoslavia needs 20.5 million dollars for the next five-year
period. The biggest part will go to finance Yugoslavia's residual debts.
YUGOSLAVIATHE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
CONCERN IF LAW ON COOPERATION WITH TRIBUNAL NOT PASSED
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Deputy Premier Miroljub Labus
called on Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who, in his opinion, is
the only one who has an influence on the Socialist People's Party (SNP) of
Montenegro, "to come to parliament and tell MPs what problems we are facing
and what we can expect if the law on cooperation with The Hague tribunal
is not passed."
Labus, who was speaking at a press conference about the upcoming
parliament sitting to debate the draft law on cooperation with The Hague
tribunal, said he was concerned by "the outcome of the whole process."
The decision of federal parliament on the draft law, Labus said,
is fateful for the future of the country, because, as he said, "it is not
only about The Hague, about guilt, it is about money, it is about our
country's place in Europe and it is about our future.
If the draft law is not passed in parliament, Labus said, there
will be no beginning of the process of cooperation and stabilization and
the door to Europe will be closed, which is the gravest consequence.
DJINDJIC: YUGOSLAVIA'S COOPERATION WITH ICTY IS A DUTY TO UN
Mt ZLATIBOR, June 16 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia must either start
cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague as a U.N. member, or step out of the United
Nations, according to a Serbian leader on Saturday.
Zoran Djindjic, premier of the Yugoslav federal unit Serbia and
leader of the Democratic Party (DS), was speaking to reporters at a DS Main
Board convention, being held on Mt Zlatibor, western Serbia (Yugoslavia) on
Saturday and Sunday.
"That would be fair. As it is, being in favour of U.N. membership
and against its bodies is hypocritical and goes to the detriment of the
country's political credibility", Djindjic said.
According to him, this is not just a matter of cooperation with
the ICTY, but a matter of "whether we shall continue our integration with
Europe and the world, or go back into isolation, which has a high price.
"This is about the future generations which shall live in this
country", he said.
He stressed it was wrong to ask "whether or not you are in favour
of extraditions... the question should be whether you are for isolation or
for integration", and the DS, according to him, is for integration.
Asked if jailed former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic could
be extradited to the ICTY even without passing the necessary legislation,
Djindjic replied that more jurists believe this to be possible than not.
SNP OF MONTENEGRO WILL NOT VOTE FOR LAW ON COOPERATION WITH THE HAGUE
PODGORICA, June 15 (Tanjug) A senior official of the Socialist
People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro Dragan Koprivica denied Friday reports
that SNP will in Yugoslav parliament, at a session expected to be held next
Thursday, vote for the law on cooperation with The Hague tribunal.
Koprivica confirmed that SNP was committed to cooperation with the
international community, and thereby with the Hague, but that it does not
support the extradition of a Yugoslav national to the international court.
"We are in favour of the full integration of FR Yugoslavia into
international institutions and in that context of cooperation with the
tribunal, but we do not think that cooperation directly implies
extradition, but that there are other ways," Koprivica said.
He said that the SNP stand was based in the Yugoslav Constitution,
which does not provide for the extradition of our nationals.
He said that SNP will uphold its viewpoints at the upcoming
session of Yugoslav parliament and will not back the daft law on
cooperation with The Hague tribunal, which has been approved by the
Yugoslav government.
BELGRADE AWAITS US REPLY
WASHINGTON, June 15(FoNet) America has still not decided whether
it will participate in the international donor's conference for Yugoslavia,
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said yesterday.
The US has made very clear it expects Belgrade to increase
cooperation with The Hague before replying to the invitation for June 29.
The spokesman commented that there exist various forms of
cooperation, but that Belgrade should be well aware of the jurisdiction of
The Hague.
He confirmed that the US is in constant contact with Belgrade over
the issue but denied they would send anyone to give the authorities a
gentle reminder.
HAGUE DENIES LIST OF 80 WANTED YUGOSLAVS
THE HAGUE, June 16 (B92) - Carla del Ponte's spokeswoman denied
information today that the chief prosecutor has a list of around 80
Yugoslav citizens the Tribunal plans to indict.
Belgrade daily Blic reported yesterday that the list wants the
most prominent members of the Serbian police ministry in connection with
events in Kosovo.
Florence Hartmann called the information "absurd", but noted there
were several ongoing investigations on Yugoslav territory.
Del Ponte will visit Belgrade next week without any new
indictments, Hartmann said.
She will once again address issues surrounding cooperation with
the Tribunal and the access to archives and witnesses, Hartmann added.
Hartmann denied del Ponte would meet Yugoslav president Vojislav
Kostunica on June 21.
YUGOSLAVIA THE DANUBE COMMISSION
THE DANUBE COMMISSION PRESIDENT VISITS BELGRADE
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Work on clearing the Danube River at
the northern Serbian (Yugoslav) city of Novi Sad will be stepped up,
because this is in the common interest of the Danubebasin countries,
according to Yugoslavia's transport minister on Friday.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Danube Commission
President Helmut Strasser, Minister Zoran Sami said they had discussed ways
and means of making Europe's longest river navigable again.
Strasser, in turn, said the talk was dominated by a common
interest to make the Danube at Novi Sad navigable again as soon as possible.
He went on to say the Commission had already selected contractors
for the job and would soon invite tenders for the main job of clearing the
river bed.
According to Strasser, firms entrusted with the job must be
prepared to work roundtheclock to clear the way for the ships at Novi Sad.
He further said the Commission would be approaching the European
Union for financial assistance for rebuilding one of Novi Sad's three
bridges demolished by NATO in its air strikes on Yugoslavia in 1999, and
expected a prompt positive reply.
YUGOSLAVIAMEXICO
YUGOSLAV, MEXICAN MP'S URGE CLOSER BALKANLATIN AMERICAN TIES
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Yugoslavia and Mexico need to enhance
bilateral trade and overall economic cooperation, according to their lower
house speakers, Dragoljub Micunovic and Ricardo Garcia Cervantes,
respectively, meeting in Belgrade on Friday.
Garcial Cervantes told a joint news conference that the new
parliamentary diplomacy could help strengthen economic ties between Mexico
and Yugoslavia and that overall relations could be promoted through
BalkanLatin American cooperation.
Garcia Cervantes, who is heading a multiparty parliamentary
delegation on a fourday visit to Yugoslavia, said that specific steps
towards promoting economic cooperation should be expected by the end of the
year.
Micunovic, in turn, said bilateral relations had practically
ceased during antiYugoslav sanctions and blockades, and there was now a
wish to put an end to this and raise economic and cultural ties to a level
reflecting the nations' traditional friendship.
MEXICO IS IMPORTANT YUGOSLAV ECONOMIC PARTNER OFFICIAL
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Mexico is an important Yugoslav
economic partner in Latin America, so there is a shared interest in and
capability for reviving and enhancing bilateral cooperation in many areas
and increasing trade, a Yugoslav official said on Friday.
Assistant Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Trade Dejan Jovovic was
meeting with a Mexican parliamentary delegation, headed by lower house
Speaker Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, according to a Yugoslav government
statement.
During the meeting it was agreed to reactivate the joint committee
on economic cooperation at the ministerial level, and convene its 5th
session in Mexico later in the year.
YUGOSLAVIACROATIA
YUGOSLAVIA SEEKS SIMPLIFICATION OF VISA REGIME WITH CROATIA
ZAGREB, June 15 (Tanjug) The abolition of the visa regime between
Yugoslavia and Croatia depends on the Croatian side, and Yugoslavia wants
the regime to be facilitated as soon as possible, as this would ensure
easier traffic and a greater circulation of passengers between the two
countries, Yugoslav Deputy Premier Miroljub Labus was qouted as saying by
the Zagreb daily Jutarnji list on Friday.
The Yugoslav government is considering the possibility of issuing
visas at the border, Labus said in an interview, voicing confidence that
the plan would be put into operation soon.
FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS HAVE TO BE LAUNCHED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Yugoslav parliament lower house
speaker Dragoljub Micunovic and Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe
coordinator Bodo Hmobach agreed Friday it was absolutely necessary to
launch as soon as possible concrete actions for the economic development of
Yugoslavia.
In the talks with Hombach, Micunovic underlined that the most
important issue was how to boost economic development and break the vicious
circle of investments not coming because the region is insecure "and the
region is insecure because nothing is invested in it."
Hombach said he expected that Yugoslav projects will be made
official at the donors conference of the Pact in Bucharest in October.
People must be given prospects, but without too many expectations,
we have to start somewhere and give visible signals for that beginning,
Hombach said.
YUGOSLAV DEPUTY PREMIER, BALKAN STABILITY PACT OFFICIAL ON NEW PROJECTS
BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Deputy Premier Miroljub Labus
met in Belgrade Friday with Balkan Stability Pact Coordinator Bodo Hombach
to discuss new joint projects due to be put into operation soon, in
particular, a free trade accord and a programme for the soonest possible
return of refugees.
The free trade accord will be incorporated into a memorandum on
understanding to be signed in Brussels on June 27, Labus and Hombach told
reporters, announcing also a separate conference on the return of refugees.
Hombach said that Yugoslavia would soon take over the presidency
at the Stability Pact's social issues department, noting that the country
had set an example in crimefighting, interurban partnership, and building
institutions.
YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER SVILANOVIC RECEIVES HOMBACH
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran
Svilanovic received in Belgrade Friday the coordinator of the Stability
Pact for Southeastern Europe, Bodo Hombach, the Yugoslav Information
Secretariat said.
The statement said that Svilanovic and Hombach assessed that the
announced signing of a bilateral agreement on the return of refugees and of
a memorandum of understanding on the liberalization of trade in the region,
due to be held on June 27 in Brussels, under the auspices of the Stability
Pact, will contribute to a more active and substantive cooperation of
countries of Southeastern Europe.
Hombach pointed to the importance of the constructive policy of
Yugoslavia in southern Serbia and of how well the policy was received by
the international community.
The Yugoslav foreign minister received Friday also the premier of
the German province of North RhineWestphalia, Wolfgang Klement, who
informed him about the great interest that exists in this German province
for economic, scientific and cultural cooperation with FR Yugoslavia.
Svilanovic said that for FR Yugoslavia cooperation with Germany
had exceptional importance both on the political and on the economic front.
FOREIGN CURRENCY RESERVES OF YUGOSLAVIA REACH 886 MILLION DOLLARS
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) National Bank of Yugoslavia governor
Mladjan Dinkic said Friday that the foreign currency reserves of the
country stood at 886 million dollars, after they were increased in the past
two days for the value of the Basel gold, following the division of assets
of the former Yugoslavia, and in part by the standby arrangement of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Foreign currency reserves cover the money mass by 145 percent, and
the primary money by 207 percent, which is a high percentage, given that
the optimal percentage for covering primary money is considered to be 110
percent, Dinkic specified at a press conference.
The governor noted that the National Bank of Yugoslavia had opened
its site on the Internet (www.nbj.yu), which will carry information about
monetary movements in the country.
SERBIAN GOVERNMENT INSISTS THAT GEN. KRSTIC BE REINSTATED
BELGRADE, June 15 (Tanjug) The Serbian government on Friday
recommended to Chief of Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic to rescind his order
relieving General Ninoslav Krstic of command of the joint government
security forces in southern Serbia (Yugoslavia).
The government noted that the coordinating team for southern
Serbia, the Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police had done a very good job,
and warned that Krstic's dismissal might produce negative consequences.
The cabinet adopted its conclusions, signed by VicePremier Momcilo
Perisic, after hearing a report on the activities of the coordinating team
for southern Serbia's Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja municipalities since
March 29.
The body has fully discharged all its obligations as set down in
the programme for dealing with the crisis triggered by the operation of
ethnic Albanian extremist groups in the southern Serbian municipalities,
according to the conclusions.
The performance of the coordinating team was evaluated as highly
successful, especially where coordination and direction of government
bodies in the joint security forces and cooperation with the international
community were concerned.
The government expects and recommends to the chief of staff to
alter, in the national and government interests, his decision relieving
Krstic of command of the joint security forces.
The government upheld the coordinating team in the exercise of its
future duties under the programme and other documents adopted in connection
with settling the crisis in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, according to
the conclusions.
KOSOVOMETOHIJA
U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION ARRIVES IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
PRISTINA, June 16 (Tanjug) A delegation of the U.N. Security
Council arrived in Pristina on Saturday, on a threeday visit to Yugoslavia.
The delegation, headed by Council President Anwarul Karim
Chowdhury of Bangladesh and comprising ambassadors of all 15 memberstates,
will study the problems facing the U.N. Kosovo Mission (UNMIK), including
the situation in neighbouring Macedonia.
The delegation plans to raise the issue of missing Serbs and
ethnic Albanians, and to invite the local Serbs to vote in the next general
election in this U.N.ruled Serbian (Yugoslav) province, called for Nov. 21,
according to local U.N. spokesman Susan Manuel.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM ON FACT-FINDING KOSOVO MISSION
NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) A UN security council team is to head
to Kosovo today to examine preparations for the province's November 17
elections.
Delegation head Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury told a press
conference: "The council's intention is to get a free, fair and nonviolent
election held in November. We would like to see broad participation also."
He continued: "The council will be carrying the message that there
should be an improvement in the security situation, enabling the refugees
to return - and when they return, to participate in the elections."
The 15-strong team will launch their visit in the capital
Pristina, before heading to the ethnically divided town of Kosovska
Mitrovica.
They will end their tour on Monday in Belgrade for talks with
Yugoslav president Kostunica, prime minister Zoran Zizic and foreign
minister Goran Svilanovic.
RUSSIA HAS HIGH HOPES OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM'S VISIT TO KOSOVO
MOSCOW, June 15 (Tanjug) The Russian foreign ministry on Friday
hoped that the upcoming visit to KosovoMetohija by a UN Security Council
team would be conducive to convincing all in the region of a need for
renouncing violence. A UN Security Council team, headed by current
Council President Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, will be visiting
that UN ruled Serbian (Yugoslav) province and Belgrade from Saturday, June
16, until Monday, June 18, according to the ministry's statement.
According to the ministry, the purpose of the mission is to
condemn extremist and terrorist operations, consolidate stability and
security and uphold the implementation of all provisions of the Council's
Resolution 1244 without exception, especially those affirming respect for
Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The team plans to investigate ways and means of increasing support
for the implementation of Resolution 1244, enquire into the performance of
the UN Kosovo Mission (UNMIK) in this context and then report to the
Council, the statement said.
SERBS' STATUS IN KOSOVO TO IMPROVE, HAEKKERUP PROMISES
PRISTINA, June 17 (Srna) - The security situation in Kosovo is the
only remaining barrier to the mass return of displaced Serbs, UN Mission in
Kosovo head Hans Haekkerup said today.
"UNMIK must neither allow further tragedies nor support the
situation where Serbs live in small enclaves," he said in an interview with
daily Politika.
Haekkerup said he had no precise record of how many Serbs had
returned to Kosovo because they usually don't register with the UNHCR.
Serbian participation in the November Kosovo elections will
increase their presence in political life, he said.
YUGOSLAVIA ENTITLED TO CONTROL KOSOVO GOODS MOVEMENT OFFICIAL
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, June 16 (Tanjug) Under U.N. Resolution 1244,
Yugoslavia is entitled to control the market and the movement of goods on
all of its territory, including KosovoMetohija, according to a Yugoslav
official on Saturday. Kosovska Mitrovica District Administrator
Nebojsa Minic told TANJUG this position was reiterated in talks with a
delegation of the U.N. Kosovo Mission (UNMIK) in Laplje Selo on Friday.
Yugoslav Committee on Kosovo Chairman Momcilo Trajkovic informed
the UNMIK delegation that Serbia has passed a regulation on the movement of
domestic and foreignmade goods, based on Resolution 1244, and this
regulation applies also to KosovoMetohija.
NORTH KOSOVO CANNOT ALONE BE MULTIETHNIC SERBS
ZUBIN POTOK, June 16 (Tanjug) The international community has
failed to create a multiethnic Kosovo over the past two years, and we
cannot now permit northern Kosovo alone to be multiethnic, Serb protesters
vowed at Zubin Potok on Saturday.
Some 200 Serbs from Zubin Potok, Kosovska Mitrovica and adjacent
villages in this U.N.ruled Serbian (Yugoslav) province gathered at noon at
a checkpoint of the Danish battalion of the international force (KFor) on
the Kosovska MitrovicaZubin PotokNovi Pazar road.
Among the roadblocks, tanks and KFor troops, Serbian MP Marko
Jarksic said the Serbs were determined to keep blocking roads until U.N.
Kosovo Mission (UNMIK) Chief Hans Haekkerup should rescind his decision
setting up tax collection points.
The protest was peaceful and incidentfree, and ended just after 1
p.m. The Danish KFor troops and UNMIK police watched the demonstration from
afar, absorbing a translation.
KOSOVO ALBANIANS DEMONSTRATE FOR RETURN OF PRISONERS
PRISTINA, June 16 (SRNA) - Several thousand Kosovo Albanians
protested in Pristina yesterday, urging world leaders to exert pressure on
Belgrade regarding the investigation of 2,750 Albanians, missing and
imprisoned during the Kosovo conflict in 1998 and 1999.
The protestors included poet Dr. Flora Brovina, detained in a
Serbian prison until November 2000 despite international campaigns for her
release because of poor health.
"Haekkerup visited Belgrade in order to talk about the prisoners,
but ended up with a plan for the return of displaced Serbs to Kosovo,"
protestors told press.
UN POLICE IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA SEIZE HUGE WEAPONS LOAD
PRISTINA, June 15 (Tanjug) UN police in Kosovo Metohija have
seized a large quantity of weapons in a lorry near the northwestern town of
Pec, according to a UN spokesman on Friday.
News agencies say the lorry with 318 Kalshnikov assault rifles,
1,008 rocketpropelled grenades and 512 handgrenades is believed to have
entered this UNruled Serbian (Yugoslav) province from Bosnia via the
Yugoslav coastal republic of Montenegro.
Spokesman Andrea Angeli said the lorry was found without a driver
in a line waiting to enter KosovoMetohija at a checkpoint outside Pec, and
that the driver probably ran away when he saw that international police
were checking the vehicles.
Deputy UN police commissioner Adalbert Gros said investigations
were being made to establish if the weapons had been destined for Macedonia.
Agence France Presse (AFP) quotes a source close to the
international Kosovo force (KFor) to the effect that the weapons were meant
for the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army militia in Macedonia.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
