-Caveat Lector-
>From Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald
Wednesday, April 28, 1999
BALKANS: THE CONFLICT
US plays a double game on oil sales
By CHRISTOPHER LOCKWOOD in Washington and TIM KING in Luxembourg
The European Union banned oil sales to Yugoslavia on Monday, but in a
development that will be regarded as scandalous in European capitals the
United States confirmed it had no plans to follow suit.
This means that while it is now illegal for any EU country to export oil to
Slobodan Milosevic, it remains perfectly legal for American companies to
continue to fuel the Serb war machine.
In fact, they already have. On April 10, a full two weeks into the conflict,
the American firm Texaco shipped about 65,000 barrels of oil products into
Bar, the Montenegrin port that now serves as Yugoslavia's only supply route
for fuel.
Other routes, including a pipeline from Hungary or the land routes from
Croatia and Bulgaria, have effectively been cut off.
The disclosure that American firms have been selling oil to the dictator
while America pilots have been risking their lives to bomb oil refineries
and storage facilities is likely to undercut American efforts to moralise to
the rest of the world.
Texaco has now stated it will no longer sell oil to Yugoslavia. But hundreds
of other companies have yet to do the same.
A US State Department official confirmed there were no plans to introduce
the same sort of legislation that EU foreign ministers adopted on Monday in
Luxembourg, which renders it a crime to sell oil to Yugoslavia.
The embargo will be implemented on Friday.
NATO's communique on Kosovo, published at the weekend, stops short of
calling on all NATO members to adopt legal instruments to halt the flow of
oil.
What NATO is committed to do, however, is to interrupt the supply of oil,
wherever it comes from, by means of a "visit and search" regime that will
board and inspect ships heading for Bar.
Since international law says ships can only be halted in pursuit of a United
Nations sanctions resolution, it is extremely uncertain what will happen if
a Russian, or indeed an American, oil tanker declines to be searched.
Russia has refused to commit to compliance with an oil embargo so the
potential for conflict is high. If Russian merchant ships were challenged on
the high seas, it might decide to give them military escorts.
Further economic restrictions have been placed on Yugoslavia and it emerged
yesterday that the European Commission would halt a promised package of
economic assistance for Montenegro - lest it fell into "the wrong hands." -
The Telegraph, London
Oiling a black market
New York: NATO's planned oil embargo of Yugoslavia has already created a
black market in which Serb-backed buyers are paying up to a 50 per cent
premium for petrol and other refined products, according to European oil
traders.
The traders said on Monday that Lukoil, one of the biggest Russian
suppliers, has extended new lines of credit to Yugoslavia.
How much fuel the Russians will be able or willing to sell to Yugoslavia
remains unclear. But the embargo, which is expected to be enforced from this
week, means that deliveries by sea may stop. - The New York Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Via CentralEuropeOnline (Reuters)
Macedonian Minister Quits Amid Kosovo Crisis
SKOPJE, Apr. 27, 1999 -- (Reuters) Macedonia's Economy Minister Zanko Cado
announced his resignation on Monday, sending shock waves through the
four-month-old coalition as it struggles to cope with thousands of refugees
from neighboring Kosovo.
"The functions of this ministry have been drastically reduced and I feel
completely inefficient. I feel blocked by lack of understanding from the
international community which pledged a lot and did nothing...and I also
have personal reasons," Cado said in a resignation letter to Prime Minister
Ljubco Georgievski, made available to Reuters.
"The new structure of the government, which envisages the formation of new
ministries, would cripple my ministry," he also said in his letter. A
reshuffle of the responsibilities of the various ministries has been
planned.
Three of the state's four economic ministries -- finance, development and
trade -- are held by the VRMO-DPMNE, the senior party in Macedonia's
three-way coalition and Finance Minister Boris Stojmenov and Trade Minister
Nikola Gruevski have taken some responsibilities that Cado's ministry would
have held. "I was left with all the problems, but all the means to solve
them were taken away from me," Cado, 35, told Reuters.
Slobodan Casule, a member of the executive office of Cado's Democratic
Alliance (DA) party, said the minister had felt frustrated at having some of
his suggestions for sharpening up Macedonia's lackluster economy rejected.
One proposal had been the privatization of OKTA, the main oil refinery in
the capital Skopje.
Cado's resignation was also triggered by the Kosovo crisis, Casule said.
Macedonia -- one of the Balkan region's poorest states with 35 percent
unemployment -- is buckling under the strain of having taken in 175,000
Kosovo refugees since NATO began air strikes on March 24. Cado felt let down
by foreign institutions.
"He feels betrayed by the international community, which personally promised
him some help but it never came," Casule said. He said investment of 100,000
million euros had been promised from different bodies, including the
European Union.
Stojmenov was quoted by Monday's Nova Makedonia as saying the country may
need as much as a quarter of a billion dollars in new international loans to
pay for the upkeep of refugees. Macedonia is due to meet its international
lenders in Paris on May 5.
"Kosovo undoubtedly had lot of influence on his decision because of the
promise of aid in the context of Macedonia's economic trauma, the presence
of NATO in Macedonia and the disruption of trade," Casule said.
Macedonia relies on its former big brother Serbia, its largest trading
partner, for most of its raw materials and the Kosovo conflict had pulled
the plug on foreign investment.
"Who in their right minds would invest in a country only 43 miles (60
kilometers) from the war? International banks simply aren't accepting any
guarantees from Macedonian banks," he said. "It's total collapse of the
Macedonian economy."
Cado's resignation was also linked to the situation of the private Almako
holding company, in which he has a 25 percent share and of which he was a
board member until he joined the government. A bank in the Almako portfolio
recently had its accounts frozen because of liquidity problems but Casule
said it was expected to begin operating again this week and Cado could
return to its board.
It was not immediately clear who would succeed Cado. He will remain in his
job until parliament approves a successor nominated by Georgievski, which
could take several weeks. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)
Milosevic Seeks Help From Libya's Qaddafi Again
TUNIS, Apr. 27, 1999 -- (Reuters) Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has
sent an envoy to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to ask for his help in
resolving the Kosovo crisis, Libya's official news agency JANA said on
Monday.
JANA, monitored in Tunis, said Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Lilic
had made the demand when he met Qaddafi on Sunday night.
Oil-rich Libya had been one of Yugoslavia's fuel suppliers, and Lilic's
visit to Libya took place shortly after a NATO leaders' summit in Washington
over the weekend approved measures to stop oil reaching Yugoslavia.
JANA said Milosevic believed Qaddafi "is a friend to all parties" and had
asked him to go ahead with an initiative to end the conflict. It was not
clear from JANA's dispatch whether the initiative was one proposed by
Milosevic or Qaddafi.
It said it included a full halt to military operations and the setting up of
a peacekeeping force in the Kosovo region. This would comprise forces from
several states, excluding those from countries taking part in the conflict,
it said. The initiative also included the return of deported people and
refugees to their homes, and autonomy in Kosovo within the Yugoslav
federation.
Unlike most other Arab states, Libya had condemned NATO's air strikes
against Yugoslavia, aimed at halting Belgrade's offensive against ethnic
Albanians in the southern province of Kosovo. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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