Wednesday March 31 ,1999

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Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday held a regular meeting with the country's most responsible state officials.

It was assessed that successfully being carried out were tasks for the country's defense from NATO's aggression. Despite the most severe armed attack since World War II, which our country is exposed to, Yugoslavia continues to conduct a principled peaceful policy, whose orientation is the equality of all citizens, nations and states. It is the firm belief of all Yugoslavs that this policy would defeat the criminal policy of force, being conducted by US-led NATO. Reviewing the realization of the prescribed measures and activities, it was concluded that state bodies, institutions and public services functioned well at all levels and that they had successfully adapted to the imposed conditions of a state of war. There is a high degree of connection and coordination among the activities for resolving issues of vital interest for the country's defense, as well as the citizens' life and work. Fully expressed has also been the citizens' resolve to defend our country's freedom and integrity.

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Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has addressed a personal message to Libyan leader Moammar el Gadaffi regarding the Nato aggression against FR Yugoslavia.

Expressed in the message is the credit of the Yugoslav leadership and nation to colonel Gadaffi regarding his message to the chairman of the Non-aligned movement, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of Islamic Conference and Arab League, calling on them to condemn and curb the aggression against Yugoslavia. President Milosevic's message was handed over to Libyan Foreign Minister Omar Mustafa el Munstaser by Yugoslav ambassador in Tripoli Radomir Bogdanovic.

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The president of Yugoslavia and supreme commander of the armed forces, Slobodan Milosevic, has issued a decree on extraordinary promotions, stated the supreme commander's military cabinet on Wednesday.

Lieutenant Colonel General Svetozar Marjanovic, the supreme command's deputy chief-of-staff, was promoted to Colonel General. The commander of the Third Army, Lieutenant Colonel Nebojsa Pavkovic was promoted to Colonel General. Generals Marjanovic and Pavkovic were promoted to higher rank for demonstrating exceptional skill and ability in commanding the units engaged in war operations in the defence of the country against the technically much superior NATO aggressor attacks.

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In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Yugoslav government called on all the citizens of Kosovo-Metohija not to leave their homes, native towns and country despite bombs, missiles and other death-dealing loads discharged by Nato on Kosmet and the whole of FR Yugoslavia.

The aggressor wished to cause a disaster and suceeded in this, a statement from the Yugoslav Information Ministry said, in order for the consequences of his aggression to be used to justify the aggression and crimes before the world public. The Yugoslav government especially calls on the Kosmet Albanians not to leave but to stick together in these hard times and help curb the aggression. There is no place only for the terrorists and murderers in Serbia and Yugoslavia, the statement from the federal government said.

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In the course of last night and this morning, the criminal Nato aviation launched fresh air-strikes against a number of cities accross Serbia.

In Pristina, the first missiles fell in the vicinity of the village of Lukare at one o'clock a.m. Six aggressor planes which came from the direction of Albania, pounded the district by cassette-bombs banned by international war-time law. Immediately after that, two missiles hit the vicinity of the monastery of Gracanica but there are no reports of any fresh damage to the monastery. The missiles hit the village of Grmije and Saskovac populated mostly by Albanians as well as Novi Badovac with the majority Serbian population. One of the missiles fell in the vicinity of Urosevac. In the course of the strike, two cruise missiles were downed, Tanjug reports. Nato aircraft bombed Pec on Wednesday. Two bombs hit the vicinity of the village of Belo Polje populated exclusively by the Serbs. There are no reports of possible casualties. Aggressor aircraft struck military targets in the broader Belgrade region at 3 o'clock a.m. In the vicinity of Mt Avala and Pancevo, the enemy aviation dropped mines with long-acting effect causing strong, muffled blasts but no flash. The detonations which could be heard in downtown Belgrade were caused by the activities of the Yugoslav Army's anti-aircraft defence, the City Public Alert Center announced.

A missile that fell in the village of Jelasnica near Vladicin Han but did not explode, inflicted damage on the nearby church and buildings, the bishop of Vranje, Pahomije, told Tanjug.

In an onslaught on the Sloboda factory of Cacak on March 28 and 30, the factory was completely destroyed and five thousand workers remained without their jobs. The material damage figure is put at more than 300 million US Dollars, the director general of the factory said on Wednesday.

Two blasts were heard in the broader region of Novi Sad at 15.45 and 15.55 hours on Wednesday. It has not been officially announced as to what kind of activities by Nato aviation is in question.

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Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Zebic on Wednesday saw a group of distinguished parliamentarians of the Italian Assembly and businesspeople with the head of MPs from northern Italy at its helm, Domenico Comino, the Yugoslav Information Ministry has announced.

The Italian parliamentarians came personally to express solidarity with Yugoslavia faced with the Nato aggression and to tell the Serbian and Yugoslav nation that more than 50% of Italians was not pro-Nato oriented and that more than 70% of them believed that with this criminal aggression against this country Nato had violated the agreement on its foundation. This MP group is conducting a drive aimed at condemning the Nato barbarian aggression against the sovereign Yugoslavia. They are about to put forward a motion of no-confidence in the Italian government and raise the question of the existence of Nato's bases in Italy.

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Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Lilic has said that the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia must stop in order for dialogue to be able to begin.

In an interview to the German ZDF, Lilic said that the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has violated all the norms of international law and all relevant documents of theN U, the European Union and the OSCE. Europe must realize that the aggression against our country has endangered security in all of Europe, Lilic warned, calling on Germany, together with other European countries, primarily Italy and Greece, to launch the initiative for starting essential talks on an autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija. He recalled that, since the very beginning, Yugoslavia has been ready to offer the Albanians and all other national communities in Kosovo-Metohija a broad autonomy, of the kind that no national minority in the world enjoys. Now, allegedly because of the non-acceptance of a non-existent agreement, the world's strongest power is trying to destroy our nation, because we could not sign a document with which we would renounce part of our territory, said the Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister.

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Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Lilic has expressed gratitude to the people of Greece for the support they are offering Yugoslavia at a time of NATO's aggression and called on European nations to condemn this barbarian act.

In a statement to Greek television after his visit on Wednesday to the wounded at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, Deputy Prime Minister Lilic emphasized the need for European nations to be even louder in their condemnation of NATO's aggression, in their own interest and the interest of all peace-loving people. He said that Serbia and the Serbian nation were part of European history and that they wished to live in peace and build their country.

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Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic addressed a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in which he recalled that he had warned on February 1, and March 17, that NATO was threatening FR of Yugoslavia with an aggression, requesting precautionary measures be taken in line with the UN Charter.

Yugoslavia's permanent representative with the UN informed the Security Council on March 24, about the carried out aggression and requested the Security Council take prompt action. I am deeply disappointed, stresses the Yugoslav foreign minister, that despite our address and efforts invested by the peace-loving Security Council member-countries, it did not act in accordance with its authorizations determined by the UN Charter. For the first time since World War Two, an open act of aggression was carried out in Europe. This is at the same time the first case that the most powerful military alliance is directly cooperating with a separatist terrorist organization in an attack against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a UN member-country. NATO's aggression, the criminal bombing of civilian targets throughout Yugoslav territory is blazing without a reaction coming from you, the Yugoslav foreign minister stresses in his address to the UN secretary general. In his letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic calls for urgent action within his authorizations in order to curb NATO's aggression and further compromising of international peace and security without delay. You have before you the historical chance to take the side of justice and rights and protect the UN authority on the threshold of the new century; to restore the confidence of humanity in the World Organization, it is said, among other things, in Zivadin Jovanovic's message to Kofi Annan.

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Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has said on return to Moscow from Belgrade and Bonn that Russia will continue to invest efforts in curbing the wrong and tragic Nato operation against Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav side has given a signal which, if one wished so, could be assessed as a signal for ending the bombing, Primakov said and added that the Russian delegation saw for itself in Bonn that western countries did not intend to end the strike. He reiterated Russia's stand that such an activity could contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the Balkans. One of the goals of his trip to Belgrade was to open the west's eyes for what is taking place in the Balkans, the Russian Prime Minister said. Primakov underlined no genocide was at issue or an alleged humanitarian disaster in Kosovo-Metohija whereby the West was attempting to justify its barbarian activities. The Russian Prime Minister said he had informed President Yeltsin about the outcome of his visit to Belgrade and Bonn even during his trip and that he would set out details at Wednesday's press conference.

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The director of the Russian military intelligence service and member of the Russian delegation which visited Belgrade on Tuesday, Vladimir Korabelynikov, assessed in Bohn that " there still existed a chance for a peaceful solution to the situation in Yugoslavia."

This chance was created by a very clear signal from Belgrade, which determined the possibilities for the way out of the current extremely difficult situation, in order to save both the Yugoslav people and those who are bombing it. If that chance is missed, further developments will inevitably lead to a dead end. Talking to Russian journalists, Korabelnyikov pointed out that the decision on NATO's aggression against FR Yugoslavia represented the biggest mistake since the end of the World War II and that those who made the decision to move on to the so-called "second phase" of the strike had lessened the chances for a political resolution of the crisis.

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The Council of the Federation, the Upper House of Russian Parliament, on Wednesday unanimously passed the text of a statment calling on the government to review the issue of offering economic, military and technical aid to Yugoslavia.

Likewise, the Russian president and government are required to convene an extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly to review both the problem of the flagrant violation of the UN Charter by the Nato member countries and a lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia.

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The Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Asnar, said at a Parlament session that he still believed in the peaceful resolution of the Kosmet problem.

In his reply to the comments by the members of the opposition, Socialist Party and the United Left Party that the aggression on the FR Yugoslavia represented a serious threat to the peace in Europe, Asnar said that every violence was dangerous and led to defeat. 'We are absolutely ready to support any peaceful solution. I believe that the Milosevic - Primakov talks is just the beginning of a new peace initiative which we will uphold, the Spanish Prime Minister stressed.

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Italy is in favour of peace and it has never renounced the political initiative for renewing the talks on Kosovo-Metohija even in this war-time period, Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said.

In a live televised address to the nation, he repeated official Rome's wish for taking the road of diplomacy in order to avoid even a much bigger disaster. Following the Prime Minister's expose, the left threatened it would step up its boycott since, as its leaders put it, the Prime Minister was expected resolutely to call for the cessation of the bombing. The leader of the League for the North, Umberto Bossi, most severely criticized D'Alema's address and said the Prime Minister was responsible for what was taking place, particularly for placing Italy's bases at Nato's disposal.

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India is resolutely against the Nato aggression on the FR Yugoslavia and calls for its immediate cassation, the president of the Indian Parliament, Bajalogi, said at the meeting with the Yugoslav ambassador to New Delhi, Cedomir Strbac. Bajalogi said that India would continue its activities aimed at curbing the Nato aggression. Ambassador Strbac said that there was no genocide in Kosovo-Metohija and that the humanitarian catastrophe was caused by the Nato aggression on the FR Yugoslavia.

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Slovak and Czech electronic media focus on the meeting between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov in Belgrade, stressing that this meeting produced results.

Czech national agency CTK carried excertps from a communique carried by the Serbian Radio and Television following the meeting, in which it was pointed out that president Milosevic had stressed the Serbs could not be broken by force. At the same time, expressed was the readiness to conduct constructive talks with the Kosmet Albanians, but on condition that the bombardments and support for Albanian separatists cease, the CTK said.

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In NATO's criminal aggression against FR Yugoslavia, many innocent citizens suffer - women, children, the old, as well as civilian facilities - schools, kindergartens, hospitals, cultural goods. Therefore, the Yugoslav Red Cross warns that the aggressors have seriously violated international humanitarian law.

In a statement to Radio Yugoslavia, Secretary General of the Yugoslav Red Cross Rade Dubajic stressed that the situation in Kosovo-Metohija was especially difficult, since the Red Cross building in Pristina was damaged during the barbarian strikes of NATO bombers. This has caused great problems in deliveries, storage and further distribution of humanitarian aid to the afflicted population of the southern Serbian province. The aid is distributed to all, regardless of their nationality. Dubajic said that the situation was also aggravated by the fact that almost all international humanitarian organizations had withdrawn from Kosovo-Metohija. The actions of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UNHCR and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are limited since the donations have been reduced, but they have left their supplies at the disposal of the Yugoslav Red Cross. All major cities in Yugoslavia have become targets of NATO's insane attacks, so that the endangered population is increasing daily. For this reason, the Yugoslav Red Cross has sent an appeal to all Yugoslavs in the world, all people of good will, as well as humanitarian organizations to help Yugoslavia in this difficult moment. The Yugoslav Red Cross reserves are insufficient, so that every kind of aid, including material, is needed. The most necessary are food, medicaments, blankets, hygiene products, clothes and footwear, it is said in the appeal of the Yugoslav Red Cross. So far, aid has been offered by Red Cross organizations of Republika Srpska, Macedonia, Romania and Germany, the Swiss Disaster Aid Organization, as well as by a large number of citizens. The Secretary General of the Yugoslav Red Cross stressed that concrete instructions for sending humanitarian aid to Yugoslav citizens can be obtained at all diplomatic missions of FR Yugoslavia in the world.

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Throughout the world, mass protests continue against NATO's aggression on FR Yugoslavia.

More than 20,000 citizens of Thessaloniki on Tuesday night once again expressed their unreserved support to the Yugoslav people, most sharply condemning the insane act of NATO's aggression against a sovereign country. Already around noon, large groups of citizens of the largest Greek harbour started walking towards Aristotle Square in the city centre, once again to express their protest against the unscrupulous killing of the citizens of friendly Yugoslavia and destruction of the country whose people rebelled against aggressors throughout its history. In the throng of protesters, who also swarmed the streets around Aristotle Square, among dozens of Greek, Serbian and Yugoslav flags and numerous banners, predominant slogans were: "Kosovo is Serbia" , "American fascism" and "NATO out of Greece". At a protest rally in Corfu, citizens sharply condemned NATO's aggression against FR Yugoslavia, and around 2,000 people protested in front of the US embassy in Nikosia, burning American flags. Protest rallies were also held in Cyprus.

In the centre of Beirut, students organized a demonstration against NATO's aggression on FR Yugoslavia, REUTERS reports. At a protest rally in Sofia, the Yugoslav national anthem was sung, and slogans "Long Live Serbia" and "Kosovo is Serbia" were shouted. Dozens of Yugoslav and Russian children with their mothers and teachers rallied in front of the Yugoslav embassy in Moscow. Protests of the Serbs in Germany are not slackening, agencies report, and protest rallies are held every day in all larger towns.

Rallies were also held in Oznabrik and Hannover. Participants in these gatherings strongly supported the Serbian and Yugoslav government in their resistance to the western military alliance. The Serbs living in Germany are especially enraged by the Bonn government which has sent German soldiers with bombs against Serbia, for the third time in this century, violating international law and the German Constitution. Members of the Green Party throughout Germany are infuriated by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government, and especially by Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer. More than a hundred members of the Green Party approached this party's leaders on the federal level with an open letter demanding that German aggression against sovereign FR Yugoslavia cease immediately.

More than 6,000 Serbs rallied in the central Vienna square - Stefanplatz, and protesters, besides numerous Yugoslav and Serbian flags, carried the slogans: "Homeland, we love you", " F 117 - invisible - what a joke!" , "Kosovo is Serbia". Throughout Canada, mass protests continue against NATO's aggression on FR Yugoslavia, in which an ever-increasing number of people takes part every day. Protest rallies were held in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary... The protesters also rallied in London, but British police prevented them from voicing their protest in Whitehall, the part of London in which most British governmental institutions are located.

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Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zoran lilic and the federal ministers of defense and health, Pavle Bulatovic and Miodrag Kovac, on Wednesday visited the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade and visited the patients being treated in this institution.

The head of the Military Medical Academy, Lieutenant General Aco Jovicic said that this organization was prepared to carry out its tasks in the organizational, personnel, material and technical sense. He pointed out that currently being treated are 22 wounded people, most of them civilians, but that there are also policemen and members of the Yugoslav Army. Jovicic stressed that, even in conditions of NATO's aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Military Medical Academy was performing its regular duties, only in a somewhat reduced scope. The deputy head of this institution, Colonel Radoslav Svicevic stressed that members of all nations were being treated at the Military Medical Academy. So far, it is mostly civilians, including Albanians, who have been injured the most in the bombardment, said Svicevic. Presented to reporters have also been parts of the banned cassette bombs thrown on the civilian airport of Surcin, near Belgrade.

Copyright (C.) Radio Yugoslavia