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Monday, June 18, 2001
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B92 Website | Breaking News | Subscription Information |
Security Council delegation in Belgrade
BELGRADE, Monday - United Nations Kosovo chief Hans
Haekkerup accompanied Security Council ambassadors to Belgrade today
for discussions with senior Yugoslav regime officials.
Delegation head Anwarul Karim Chowdhury described the
meetings with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Foreign Affairs
Minister Goran Svilanovic and Police Minister Zoran Zivkovic as the
beginning of relations between Yugoslavia and the international
community.
Chowdhury added that healing processes in Kosovo
should begin with the rejection of extremism and violence and
promote a multi-ethnic society before cooperation could be begun on
economic reconstruction.
The delegation noted that security should be stepped
up in Kosovo to allow for refugee repatriation and to encourage
Serbs to take part in elections.
200,000 refugees
Svilanovic told the delegation that it was essential
to fin ways in which to improve Haekkerup's Constitutional Framework
for the province and for Serbs to return before political life could
begin again in Kosovo.
He added that there were more than 200,000 Kosovo
Serbs now living in Serbia proper.
The delegation welcomed President Kostunica's decision
to encourage Kosovo Serbs to register for elections scheduled for
November 17.
The delegation chairman confirmed they would address
the issues of missing people and Albanians still held in Serbian
prisons during talks today in Belgrade. (B92) |
SERBIAN POLITICS |
Radicals riot in Parliament
BELGRADE, Monday - Extraordinary scenes have broken
out in the Serbian parliament with Radical Party members being
man-handled one-by-one from the chamber.
Trouble began when Radical MP Stevan Kesejic was
accused of obstructing the session and asked to leave.
When he refused, security attempted to eject him, only
to be confronted by a human shield of Radical colleagues.
The party claimed Kesejic had a serious heart problem
and should be handled with care. He was eventually carried out on a
stretcher.
Party members reportedly smashed furniture outside the
main assembly room, having also been escorted out one by one.
Today's parliamentary session to discuss the draft law
on extra-profit tax was postponed while police conduct an
investigation into the ruckus.
Kesejic was later reported to have "recovered". The
farcical scenes were sparked by accusations of tax-dodging by MPs.
(B92)
Government begins media compensation
BELGRADE, Monday - The Serbian Government has begun
returning fines paid by publishers under the now-repealed Public
Information Act.
Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic told media that he has
received some of the funds necessary to begin the compensation
program.
More than eleven million dinars has been returned to
organisations and 2.9 million dinars to individuals, said Djelic,
adding that DOS official Cedomir Jovanovic would be given 350,000
dinars in compensation of a fine he had paid under the act.
The companies to which money has so far been returned
include the publishers of dailies Blic, Glas javnosti and the
weeklies Vreme and Nin. (SRNA) |
MONTENEGRO |
United we stand
PODGORICA, Monday - Montenegro's Socialist People's
Party will be united in voting against the draft Hague law when it
comes before the federal parliament on Thursday, according to party
spokesman Dragan Koprivica.
"All deputies will vote against the draft law,"
Koprivica told press in following a party meeting in the Montenegrin
capital Podgorica.
The party's federal partners the Democratic Opposition
of Serbia managed to force the draft through government but will
rely on Montenegrins backing to steer it through parliament.
All seven Montenegrin ministers voted against the
draft during last Thursday's government showdown.
"The SNP deputies in both chambers of the Yugoslav
federal parliament have decided to fully support the decisions made
by the SNP main board and all the party's local boards regarding the
draft law on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal," the Socialist
People's Part spokesman announced. (Reuters)
Socialist People's Party to demand transparency
PODGORICA, Monday - The Socialist People's Party are
set to demand a public vote in the federal parliament session on the
Hague law, to avoid accusations of a political trade-off.
The Montenegrin federal coalition partner has
scheduled a meeting today of its federal ministers to finalise
agreement on the draft law on cooperation.
Ministers are expected to reach agreement on the model
of voting at the parliamentary session scheduled for Thursday.
The Democratic Opposition of Serbia last week pushed
the draft through the federal government but may face stern
opposition in the federal parliament where they do not enjoy a
majority.
Socialist People's Party leaders claim they will
request a public vote to avoid accusations of vote trading and
subsequent state crisis. (B92)
Council of Europe to assist Montenegrin referendum
PODGORICA, Monday - The Council of Europe is prepared
to give any assistance necessary to Montenegro for the proposed
referendum legislation.
Council Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer said in
Podgorica today that he had emphasised to President Milo Djukanovic
that the stability of Montenegro was important to peace throughout
the region.
He had also called for relations between Serbia and
Montenegro to be solved by patient dialogue and political means.
(SRNA) |
KOSOVO |
Serb policeman sentenced to 15 years over Racak massacre
PRISTINA, Monday - A former Serb policeman was
convicted and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment today for his
part in the 1999 Racak massacre.
A Pristina court found Zoran Stanojevic guilty of
killing a sixty-year-old Albanian and wounding two others.
He was the first Serb policeman to stand trial over
the massacre in which 45 unarmed civilians were killed.
(KosovaLive)
Albanian jailed for eight years over child killing
PRISTINA, Monday - Albanian Imer Sfarqa was today
sentenced to eight years in prison after killing a Serb child and
injuring two others.
A Pristina court found Sfarqa guilty after hearing
evidence that he had driven a car into a group of Serb
schoolchildren near Lipjan. A six-year-old child died as a result of
the incident.
UNMIK representative Susan Manual said that Sfarqa had
been convicted of committing an act which seriously endangered
public safety. (KosovaLive)
No one's going to stop us now, says UNMIK
PRISTINA, Monday - The controversial plan for
self-government developed by UN administrators in Kosovo is final
and will not be revised in the light of criticism from Moscow and
Belgrade, UNMIK said today.
"No one's going to change it," said UNMIK
representative Susan Manuel in response to criticism by Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
Manuel said that extra regulations may be added but
that there would be no changes to the Constitutional Framework,
which Putin described as having been elevated almost to the status
of a constitution.
Putin, making his first visit to Kosovo at the
weekend, said that the document contravened the UN Security
Council's Resolution 1244. (Reuters) |
BOSNIA |
Second mosque ceremony sparks repeat rioting
BANJA LUKA, Monday - Rioting broke out in the Republic
of Srpska capital Banja Luka today during attempts to mark the
rebuilding of a mosque.
Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of some
thousand protestors attempting to break down a cordon guarding the
Ferhad Pasha mosque.
The first attempt to lay the cornerstone on May 7
sparked extensive rioting by Bosnian Serbs against the Muslim
community, provoking international condemnation.
Police briefly succeeded in dispersing protestors
today, only for them to regroup and throw back the tear gas
canisters.
According to unofficial information, fifteen policemen
were injured, three seriously. Four demonstrators were also wounded
and five others arrested.
Before the ceremony, Republic of Srpska authorities
appealed to the citizens of Banja Luka to act peacefully and to
refrain from repeating the events of May 7.
Some thirty demonstrators were detained this afternoon
after the riots. (B92/Srna) |
MACEDONIA |
Macedonian talks deadlocked
SKOPJE, Monday - Cross-party talks aimed at ending the
insurgency in Macedonia have entered day four.
The summit is said to be deadlocked over Albanian
demands for the creation of a new parliamentary chamber and the post
of vice-president, reserved for an Albanian leader.
B92's correspondent reports that the proposals by
Democratic Party of Albanians leader Arben Xhaferi will most likely
be rejected.
The Macedonian side has proposed the Constitution
preamble be rewritten and for the Albanian language to be used at
all state levels.
Despite both sides in the conflict extending a fragile
ceasefire on Monday, police sources claim Albanian extremists opened
automatic weapon and sniper fire on security forces throughout the
night in the Skopje village of Aracinovo.
Skirmishes also took place around Kumanovo. No
casualties were reported in either incident. (B92)
Rebels torch harvest in Aracinovo
SKOPJE, Monday - Albanian extremists have set fire to
wheat fields in villages north of Aracinovo, police sources in
Skopje said today.
The fires have apparently been lit in order to draw
Macedonian police out of the villages.
The same sources reported that guerrillas in Aracinovo
have not observed the current ceasefire. (SRNA)
Bush foreshadows cooperation with Russia on Macedonia
WASHINGTON, Monday - The US and Russia may work
together in an attempt to bring a halt to ethnic conflict in
Macedonia, George Bush said today.
The US president told media that the two countries
shared an interest in a stable Macedonia.
He added that Washington and the Kremlin both believed
that the conflict was endangering the stability of the entire region
and that President Vladimir Putin was also keen to cooperate.
(SRNA)
MFOR on the horizon?
BRUSSELS, Monday - The proliferation of international
military missions in the Balkans seems set to continue with some
European NATO members ready to contribute troops to a disarmament
project among ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
NATO and European Union sources quoted by Reuters
today say that the US is shy of sending its Balkan units into
Macedonia but has not objected to European troops crossing the
border if peace depends on it.
This does not mean there will be a European Union
military mission, one EU diplomat said, adding that the EU force was
not yet operational.
The guerrilla National Liberation Army is believed to
have called on NATO to send a Macedonian peace mission.
(Reuters) |
SIC TRANSIT... |
Court hears evidence on Milosevic heart condition
BELGRADE, Monday - One of Slobodan Milosevic's lawyers
said today that a court medical consultant had advised that the
fallen president was being inadequately cared for in prison and
should be transferred to hospital.
Zdenko Tomanovic has demanded that Milosevic be
transferred immediately to the Military Medical Academy as the only
hospital with the specialists needed to deal with Milosevic's
coronary disease and high blood pressure.
Lawyers representing the former dictator have also
laid charges against a consultants from the Dedinje cardiology
institute alleging that they failed to provide adequate care as
defined by the Serbian Criminal Code. (FoNet) |
Weather
| |
June 19 |
June 20 |
June 21 |
June 22 |
| Belgrade |
15C/21C, cloudy |
15C/17C, rain |
15C/19C, rain |
16C/21C, showers |
| Nis |
16C/20C, showers |
11C/19C, showers |
10C/20C, rain |
14C/20C, showers |
| Podgorica |
17C/24C, showers |
14C/24C, showers |
14C/21C, rain |
16C/23C, showers |
| Pristina |
12C/17C, showers |
9C/18C, rain |
9C/17C, rain |
14C/17C, rain | |
Foreign Exchange Rates
| 1 Deutschmark |
= 30.78 Yugoslav dinars |
| 1 US Dollar |
= 69.91 Yugoslav dinars |
| 1 British Pound |
= 98.32 Yugoslav dinars |
| 1 Euro |
= 60.24 Yugoslav dinars |
|
Exchange rates as of Monday, June 18, 2001
17.30 GMT+2 | |
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Serbian Politics | Montenegro | Kosovo | Bosnia | Macedonia | Sic Transit... | Weather | FX Rates |
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