SARAJEVO, Oct 22 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said in Sarajevo Sunday the establishment of diplomatic relations between his country and Bosnia-Herzegovina was a priority issue for the new authority in Belgrade, and
confirmed the cooperation between Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would soon be renewed.
SARAJEVO, Oct 22 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
said in Sarajevo Sunday the establishment of diplomatic relations
between his country and Bosnia-Herzegovina was a priority issue for
the new authority in Belgrade, and confirmed the cooperation
between Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would soon be renewed. #L#
"The commitment of cooperation with the international war crimes
tribunal is defined by the Dayton Agreement and we will make certain
steps in that direction. Primarily I mean the opening of the office
of the Tribunal in Belgrade which was closed down in 1996,"
Kostunica told reporters at the Sarajevo airport.
He failed to explain whether this meant a possibility of
extraditing war crimes suspects, while he mentioned the name of
former president Slobodan Milosevic only in answer to a question
whether he held Milosevic's influence on events in Serbia as
dangerous.
"Milosevic is no longer on the political scene. He has been defeated
even within his own party which has made power possible for him. His
power is now very little and the power of democratic forces in
Serbia is great," Kostunica asserted.
Kostunica visited Sarajevo Sunday at the initiative of the UN
Mission chief to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, and met
chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Zivko Radisic, a
member of the three-man Presidency, Halid Genjac, and Foreign
Minister Jadranko Prlic.
After the talks held at the airport Kostunica said the visit had
occurred earlier than planned, stressing this was primarily a
political event which should trigger an improvement in relations
between the two countries.
"We wish to integrate Yugoslavia into Europe and our relations with
our neighbours are the most important here," he said.
The establishment of diplomatic relations between Sarajevo and
Belgrade will be one of the first tasks of the new Yugoslav
government as soon as it is elected, he asserted.
According to Kostunica, the new authorities are prepared to fully
support the implementation of the Dayton agreement, and would solve
open issues with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the spirit of the already
expressed readiness to a new approach to the problem of succession
and Yugoslavia's membership in the United Nations.
The Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Halid
Genjac, told reporters he had expected the talks to focus on
concrete steps which would lead to an unconditional establishment
of diplomatic relations.
"My expectations were partially fulfilled," Genjac said, adding
there were difficulties which could not be removed during the first
meeting with Kostunica.
Kostunica left Sarajevo for Podgorica to continue talks with
Montenegrin representatives about the reorganisation of relations
between Montenegro and Serbia.
The new relations between the two republics would most probably be
based on a "very unconventional solution," he stressed.
(hina) lml