Saturday April 17, 1999

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Saturday held a meeting with the most responsible state officials, at which they reviewed issues concerning public finances, monetary institutions, the realization of economic activities and the work of authorized bodies and public services in conditions of a state of war.

Special attention was devoted to questions concerning the protection of the citizens' standard of living. Emphasized was the great importance of the efficient implementation of the government's measures for maintaining the stability of prices and the dinar's exchange rate. It was concluded that the measures were being successfully carried out and that financial discipline had been considerably stepped up in war-time conditions. It was assessed that, despite restrictions caused by the state of war, through the exceptional engagement employees, production activities were being maintained at a satisfactory level and regular supply on the market was ensured. All the public services are functioning well, work is carried out with great devotion, with a high degree of efforts and results, it was concluded at the meeting.

***

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic on Saturday held a working meeting with the heads of all the districts in the republic, which was also attended by Serbian Assembly Speaker Dragan Tomic.

The heads of districts informed the prime minister about the realization of the federal and republican governments' measures set by the decisions on a state of war. It was pointed out that the springs sowing was being successfully realized and that the distribution of diesel fuel for spring works was being carried out according to the set plan in all districts, whereby the dynamics of the sowing was being ensured. The heads of districts once again confirmed that this year's spring sowing, as one of the priority tasks in the country's defense and in providing the products crucial for satisfying the population's needs, would be fully carried out and that the sowing would be completed in time on every single hectare.

***

Due to the continued brutal NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic on Friday evening addressed a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, once again calling on the Security Council to live up to its role and obligations, to condemn the brutal attack and put a stop to NATO's crime against peace and mankind.

In his letter Minister Jovanovic recalls that, despite all of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's hitherto requests addressed directly to the secretary general and the UN Security Council, nothing has been done to condemn and halt the brutal aggression against our country and to eliminate the threats to international peace and security. The fact that the Security Council has done nothing, and that its functioning is blocked, only encourages the perpetrators of the aggression and brings into question the international legal order, including the very existence of the United Nations, the letter says. Minister Jovanovic reminds the UN secretary general that, in a situation where the number of civilian casualties and the scope of the destruction is dramatically increasing by the day, his duty is without delay to condemn NATO's aggression, to put a stop to NATO's crimes against peace and humanity and uphold the law and the UN Charter. Along with the letter, the Yugoslav foreign minister also addressed an annex to the UN secretary general, setting out the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's stands, which, at the same time, represent the Yugoslav government's response to the letter Kofi Annan addressed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on April 9. The annex points out that NATO's aggression has endangered international peace and security and that it is the UN Security Council's duty to take urgent measures so as most sharply to condemn and stop NATO's aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as to request the withdrawal of the foreign troops NATO is building up along the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's borders, thus threatening with the further escalation of the aggression. Kosovo-Metohija is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious province of the Republic of Serbia in which all the citizens enjoy equal treatment and protection from the authorities. Nothing except bombs is disrupting the peace in this province. The only obstacle to the stabilization of life and a return to a political process is NATO's daily massive bombardment. When the aggression ceases and when NATO troops are removed from our borders, the level of the army and the security forces will immediately be reduced to the peace-time level. Incomprehensible is the request for the withdrawal of the legitimate forces of a sovereign state from its own territory, instead of the urgent cessation of the foreign military aggression, the killing of civilians and the destruction of civilian facilities, the letter says. The safe return of refugees and displaced persons is a priority of the Yugoslav policy, the letter stresses, adding that, in their joint statement of April 6, the Yugoslav and Serbian governments called on all citizens to stay in their country, and on those who have left to return. What is obstructing the return of refugees and displaced persons is the systematic destruction of towns throughout Kosovo-Metohija. The number of civilian casualties resulting from NATO's aggression is dramatically increasing day after day, while the destruction of civilian industrial and other facilities as well as public services has left over a million citizens without means for life. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continues investing efforts for a peaceful settlement through direct dialogue with legitimate representatives of national communities in Kosovo-Metohija. Under way are the talks launched at Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's meeting with Dr.Ibrahim Rugova. Yugoslavia guarantees security to all its citizens and it is able to guarantee the realization of a ratified agreement, says the letter of the Yugoslav foreign minister.

***

Greek Prime Minister Kostas SImitis said on Friday that not only had a military intervention in Yugoslavia not solved the Kosovo problem but it had made it even more difficult and added taht it was very clear the problems in the region could be solved exclusively by dialogue and political means.

Taking this fact as a point of departure, Prime Minister Simitis announced Greece's latest initiative for peace in the Balkans with which he would acquint his European partners and the US at a session of Nato in Washington early next week.

***

At a meeting on Saturday, the leader of Germany's Democratic Socialism Party Gregor Gizi, who is on a visit to Albania, and Albania's President Rexhep Meydani expressed their open differences regarding the resolution of the Kosovo-Metohija crisis, a spokesman for the Albanian president was quoted by DPA as saying.

The spokesman said Gizi was against Nato's military intervention in Yugoslavia and in favour of resolving the problem within the UN. Gizi criticized strikes at Yugoslavia and voiced his opposition to any kind of Nato's role in Kosovo-Metohija.

***

On April 19, Russian President Boris Yeltsin will hold consultations at which the basic line of work for regulating the situation in Yugoslavia will be determined, said the Russian head-state's special envoy in charge of the Yugoslav crisis, Victor Chernomyrdin.

He also told the press that he would set out to President Yeltsin his way of regulating the crisis on the occasion. The Russian president's special envoy met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and the co-chairman of the State Duma, Sergei Baburin, and he also held a series of consultations with experts in Balkan issues. Yeltsin's special envoy met on Friday with Yugoslav Ambassador to Moscow Borislav Milosevic, and he also had meetings with the ambassadors of Germany, the US and France.

***

The Yugoslav Army's Third Army District has managed fully to preserve its material, technical and combat means in Kosovo-Metohija, and NATO has suffered great losses, said, in Pristina, the commander of the Yugoslav Army's Third Army District, Colonel-General Nebojsa Pavkovic.

In an interview to Radio Pristina, General Pavkovic said that the Yugoslav Army had managed to respond to assaults by 19 countries of the world, which have attacked Yugoslavia with the most modern military technology, while members of the Third Army District alone have managed to hit and down 16 planes, five helicopters, 46 cruise missiles and four pilotless aircraft. The effects of NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia are negligible, said General Pavkovic, stressing that the aggressor has not achieved its goals to cause a mass armed rebellion in Kosovo, or to destroy the Yugoslav Army and security forces. The third goal they have set, to bring in ground troops, cannot be achieved without great casualties, stressed the commander of the Third Army District, pointing out that there were over 150 thousand people under arms in this province. Even if every third rifle hits its target, this will be the price the aggressor will pay it he tries to come to Yugoslav territory, General Pavkovic warned.

***

For the first time after four days, the all-clear was sounded in Pristina at 6.35 on Saturday.

Despite Nato's daylight and overnight attacks on Pristina and its vicinity, particularly on Friday when some 30 missiles were fired, all vital systems and services are operating in the city. Electric power supplies are normal and water supplies for the city and its vicinity are satisfactory. City transport is operating without problems.

***

A US A-10, which sowed death across Yugoslavia, was hit by two projectiles on Friday and was forced to land on Skopje airport, it was confirmed in Skopje today.

Nato spokesman in Skopje, Erick Munjo, confirmed the aircraft had to make emergency landing on Skopje airfield but gave no further detail except that technical errors were in question.

***

The Krusik holding company of Valjevo was struck by four Nato missiles overnight and the massive fire, which then broke out, fire squads are still attempting to put out. The detonation damaged nearby residential areas and caused huge damage. Nato warplanes attacked the broader Uzice region overnight. There are no reports on the number of casualties or possible damage.

***

The NATO aggressor once again demonstrated its brutality and cynicism when, on April 12 in the morning hours, it launched several grenades on the Belgrade-Thessaloniki international passenger train no.393, full of innocent civilians. The investigation has, unfortunately, confirmed the fear that between 30 and 50 passengers lost their lives in this bloody campaign.

Investigative judge of the municipal court in Leskovac, Nebojsa Stojcic, has said that growing is the number of persons registered to have been in the train, but who are not on the list of the killed or injured. Identified so far at the Leskovac health center have been ten killed persons, including a six year-old boy. The bodies of two grown men are in such a state that it is difficult to identify them, and parts of the bodies of another two persons are in the chapel of the Leskovac hospital. At this moment, it is still not known how many passengers were in the train, while 50 tickets were sold at the Nis railway station alone. The composition consisted of four cars, whereas the second and third were the hardest hit. The best off were passengers in the first car and there are a few slightly injured among them, Stojcic said. The killed passengers were in the second car which, together with the third, was directly hit by the NATO criminals' missiles. Not a single passenger has been found in the third car that completely went up in flames, although it is more than certain that it was not empty, which points to the conclusion that all the third car passengers found their death in the fire. Eyewitnesses claim that five passengers fell out into the river from the fourth car which came to a halt on the very bridge, 12 meters above the swollen Juzna Morava River, and, for the moment, nothing is known about them. According to the engine driver of this international passenger train, Goran Mikic, the first missile halted the train. The fact that the target of this insane NATO attack was the train itself, is attested to by the pause after the second detonation. There was enough time to notice that hit had been a train, which went up in flames after the second missile. Then came the third, and fourth detonations, while the less injured passengers were fleeing in all directions. There is an increasing number of relatives asking about the fate of those they saw off on this horrible journey which, due to the will of criminals from the West, met its tragic end in the morning of April 12, on the Bistrica bridge, between Grdelica and Predejane. The name of the casualties will be made public after the identification of the killed passengers.

***

Some hundred Americans of Albanian origin arrived in Tirana on Saturday in order to fight for the cessation of Kosovo-Metohija together with Albanian terrorists, Reuters reports, citing a source close to the terrorist so-called KLA.

According to the same source, after landing at the airport, transfer to destined bases was organized for the newly-arrived terrorists. Since last spring, nearly between two and three thousand Americans of Albanian background left the US to participate in the terrorist actions in Kosovo-Metohija.

***

The federal minister for development, sicence and environment, Jagos Zelenovic, addressed an appeal to other countries' ministers for envorinment protection, in which he warns that NATO's strikes on the plants of the petro-chemical complex in Pancevo can cause a large-scale ecological disaster.

In the case of further war operations, there is the possibility of a large-scale ecological disaster causing immense damage, and that the tragical consequences could be felt in all pan-Danubian and central European countries, especially bearing in mid that the petro-chemical complex is located very near the danube, says Minister Zelenkovic's appeal.

***

Serbian Commissioner for Refugees Bratislava Morina has met in Belgrade a delegation of the Placo de MAyo Association, which rallies the mothers of children who went missing at the time of the military junta reign in Argentina.

The chairwoman of the association, Ebe de Bonafini, said that Argentine mothers had come to Yugoslavia to offer support to the mothers whose children are being sacrificed as victims of the powerful countries' imperialism. Morina thanked the guests from Argentina for their understanding and expressed hope that their voice will awaken the honourable part of humankind against NATO's and the US aggression against FR of Yugoslavia.

***

The traditional 12th Belgrade STARK marathon was held on Saturday, in which some 50 athletes from Russia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, germany, the US, Greece, Sweden and Yugoslavia took part.

The marathon epitomized protest against NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia, and all the marathon runners came through the finnish line achieving one of the most important victories in their life. With their visit to Belgrade, they confirmed their peace orientation, which was particularly manifested with the release of 200 doves at the beginning of the race. Just like in the previous years, a large number of world media released information and pictures from the start of the race, and over 800 thousand people visited the BELGRADE MARATHON Web-site. In rainy weather, some 15 thousand Belgraders participated in the five-kilometre JOY RACE.

***

Nato air-strikes have weighed heavily on public opinion in Sweden and an increasingly large number of Swedes it taking a negative stand towards the 19-member alliance, say the results of an opinion poll carried out by the Sifo Institute. The poll showed that even 52% of Swedes declared themselves against joining Nato which is 8% more as compared to the similar poll of January this year.

The citizens of Brussels have increased the number of protest rallies against Nato's aggression on Yugoslavia despite a police ban on rallies at which Nato's brutal aggression is condemned. In Ostende, a town on the Belgian coast, the hosts protested against the opening of an exhibition of jewelry belonging to none other than Madeleine Albright. They cautioned that at the moment when war is being waged in Kosmet and when aggression against Yugoslavia is under way precisely on orders from Mrs Albright, it is really no time for staging any exhibition of her jewelry.

In the Czech Republic, opinion polls show there is an increasingly large number of opponents to Nato's aggression and that the number of those condemning Nato's bombings has been up from 40 to even 48% over the past two weeks. At the same time, the number of Czechs backing the bombing campaign has dropped by six percent. The followers of almost all Czech parties, except the Union of Freedom, are among the opponents to the attacks against Yugoslavia, said the opinion poll carried out by the Stem agency and published by the Czech media.

***

After the increasingly obvious failure in the hitherto propaganda war in the aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO is seeking help from Alistair Campbell, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's press advisor, it was confirmed in London. Campbell has already paid a visit to Brussels where he met Javier Solana, and also gave new instructions to NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea.

France requested the right of veto to the decisions of the aggressor Alliance in choosing targets which are being struck in Yugoslavia night and day, claims the Paris Liberation quoted sources at the Elysee Palace. It is believed in Paris that the essence of the latest request lies in the increasingly frequent and tragic mistakes made by NATO's pilots, targeting and hitting civilians and civilian facilities. Out of the numerous mistakes, two have left a particularly nauseating impression in France - the shelling of the international passenger train in Grdelica gorge and the bombing of a Kosmet Albanian refugee column, which was returning to its home under the escort of the Yugoslav Army.

Now that the NATO bombs have killed the Albanian refugees, the question is now wide open - what is the reason for the bombing?, concludes the New York Times, which, together with The Washington Post, loudly criticizes the American media due to the increasingly obvious propaganda campaign conducted at the Pentagon and in Brussels.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF MEXICO, CARLOS IGNACIO GONZALES

"The Mexican government, as well as the Mexican people, sharply condemn the use of force in resolving political problems in Yugoslavia" said the Mexican ambassador to Belgrade, Carlos Ignacio Gonzales, in an interview with Radio Yugoslavia's Slavka Sunajko.

" The resolving of all problems by peaceful means is a principled stand built into the political essence of Mexico, the stand which means that a peaceful solution must be found for all conflict situations in any part of the world" ambassador Gonzales pointed out. "Therefore, the Mexican government supports all initiatives and steps taken with the aim of urgent solution to the Kosmet problem. I repeat, it is still not too late to start immediately the concrete measures which would lead to a peaceful solution", the Mexican ambassador said.

Ambassador Gonzales recalled that many Latin American countries separately, their parties, associations, organizations and intellectuals, have voiced their protest against NATO 's brutal attack on Yugoslavia. One of the most prominent Latin American regional organizations, the Rio Group, has sharply condemned NATO strikes on Yugoslavia. At these countries' meeting it was stressed that the use of force at any place, and especially against a sovereign state, without consultation with the UN, represents a flagrant breach of international law and the UN Charter.

Asked whether there was an option of the UN regaining their credibility, ambassador Gonzales responded that the Mexican Government would really want the UN to reasume its leading role in international relations and regain its credibility. "In resolving the Yugoslav issue, it would be good to have the assistance of other international organizations in charge of security and the preservation of peace in international relations. I repeat, Mexico will keep on insisting that the UN Organization should take the leading role in this conflict and therefore we will welcome with satisfaction the actions that its Secretary General may take in the future" the Mexican ambassador stressed.

Regarding his stay in Belgrade, in the days when the NATO aggressor's bombs are continuously falling on this city, ambassador Gonzales says: "My stay in Yugoslavia together with you in these hard moments is not only my personal decision, but also the decision of my government. Mexico and Yugoslavia are traditionally joined by years-long extremely friendly bilateral relations and cooperation. These friendly relations with Yugoslavia continue at this time as well. There is no reason for us to withdraw from Yugoslavia in these moments, which also includes other Latin American diplomatic missions", concluded the Mexican ambassador to Yugoslavia, Mr Carlos Ignacio Gonzales in his interview to Radio Yugoslavia.

THE 46TH FESTIVAL OF YUGOSLAV DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT-METER FILM OPENS

Not even the daily brutal bombardment of Belgrade by the criminal NATO alliance, nor the ominous sound of air raid allert sirens, have prevented Belgraders from filling the cinema of the Youth Hall at the opening of the 46th Festival of Yugoslav short and documentary film. Radio Yugoslavia's Slavka Sunajko has a report.

The oldest film festival in Europe - the Festival of Yugoslav documentary and short film, the popular "March festival", is being held this April in spite of everything. The "war-time edition" of this renowned festival has kept its traditional structure and faithful audience.

The honour of opening the festival went to Yugoslav film director Milos Radovic, whose short film "My homeland" last year won as many as 35 international film awards worldwide. Addressing the present guests and the audience at the Youth Hall, Radovic among other things said: " I can see that certain tyrants have sent a flying "delegation", to take away all my awards. Even if I wanted to, I could not give them this, and I see that you too will not give your rich and wise festival..." Milos Radovic also reminded the audience of Godar's sentence: "Where diplomacy appears for the first time, the film has already been.", wishing the creators and viewers that next film festival be held in peace.

In addition to the already traditional informative and competitive parts of the program, the novelty of this year's festival is the cycle named: "The aggression and resistance". Namely, a few days before the Festival's opening, the creators of the program invited all reporters, documentary directors and individuals who recorded with their video cameras tragic moments and misfortune that has befallen Yugoslavia. Thus, on the first day, short films were shown presenting razed bridges, kindergartens, hospitals, and fireworks in the sky from which our artillery managed to down some untouchable and invisible "sowers of death". The festival will last until April 19.

Copyright (C.) Radio Yugoslavia