BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN

BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO.2794 HINA Zagreb, 20 January 1998 GERMANY WANTS STRONGER ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH CROATIA STUTTGART, Jan 20 (Hina) - Germany wants stronger economic cooperation with its eastern central European neighbours, especially with Croatia, German Baden-Wuerttemberg state's Economy Minister Walter Doering said in Stuttgart on Tuesday. German concern Daimler-Benz organised a symposium entitled "Croatia in Europe" in Stuttgart on Tuesday in which many participants from Germany and Croatia will present Croatia as a German and European political and economic partner, as well as a new market. Highly qualified workers, relatively stable relations and a geographically favourable position are Croatia's economic advantages, Doering said. Combining politics, culture and economy, Daimler-Benz wants to create through this symposium a basis for strengthening business relations with Croatia as a model project of political engineering. Croatia was chosen as the economic bridge for opening the Adriatic region. Attending the symposium are the German and Croatian Foreign Ministers, Klaus Kinkel and Mate Granic, respectively, deputy speakers of the Croatian National Parliament Zarko Domljan and Drazen Budisa, Croatian Transport and Communications Minister Zeljko Luzavec, state secretary at the German Transport Ministry, Hans Jochen Henke, Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Penic and Economy Minister Nenad Porges. CROATIA EXPECTS EU'S ANSWER ON COOPERATION IN MAY - GRANIC STUTTGART, 20 Jan (Hina) - Croatia wants to sign an agreement on trade and cooperation with the European Union and it expects an answer from the EU in 1998, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic told reporters in Stuttgart Tuesday. Granic, who is attending the symposium "Croatia in Europe", which is being held in Stuttgart under the organisation of the concern Daimler-Benz, told reporters that Croatia would send a letter to the EU at the end of February, asking it to initiate negotiations on a trade and cooperation agreement, as well as on Croatia's joining the PHARE program. Granic said he expected the EU would send its answer in May. Granic was also asked about Croatia's view concerning the latest categorisation by the EU, according to which Croatia would belong to the so-called region "West Balkans", which would include all former Yugoslav states (except Slovenia) and Albania. "We cannot accept this categorisation nor the setting of regional conditions," Granic said. Croatia does not want to be held hostage to a region whose countries, such as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, have serious political and economic problems, which are yet to be solved, and it does not accept the EU's setting of any regional conditions, Granic said. "Croatia belongs to Central Europe and the Mediterranean," he said, adding that Croatia's strategic aim was to join European integration processes, regardless of other countries in the region. GERMANY WILL HELP CROATIA IN GETTING CLOSER TO EU - KINKEL STUTTGART, 20 Jan (Hina) - Germany will help Croatia in getting closer to the European Union, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said in Stuttgart Tuesday, following his meeting with Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic. Kinkel and Granic attended the symposium "Croatia in Europe", which was organised by the German concern Daimler-Benz. Addressing reporters after the meeting, Kinkel said he would help Croatia in "the matter of Europe". "When it comes to that, Croatia can count on me as it could before," Kinkel said. Granic described Croatian-German political and economic relations as good, stressing that Germany would "strongly support Croatia's integration into Europe". The German foreign minister commended the successful completion of the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube River region, and Croatia promised to continue the process of peaceful reintegration by establishing trust and the rule of law in the region, Granic said. Kinkel said Germany expected Croatia's help in solving the problem of refugees. Speaking at the symposium, he asked Croatia to facilitate the return of Croatian Serbs from the Bosnian Serb entity so that Bosnian Moslem and Croat refugees, currently living in Germany, could return to their homes in Republika Srpska. Granic told reporters he had cleared that question with Kinkel. He said he believed that the return of Croatian Serbs to Croatia was not a precondition for the return of refugees from Germany. According to Granic, there were between 30,000 and 40,000 Croatian Serbs in Republika Srpska and only 3,000 to 3,500 of them really wanted to return to Croatia. In solving this question one should take into consideration the fact that between 20,000 and 25,000 Bosnian Croat refugees from Republika Srpska currently lived in areas to which Croatian Serbs could return, Granic said. "It is clear that Croatia's priority is to care for these people since the international community cares for them least," Granic said. PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS HIS TURKISH COLLEAGUE ZAGREB, 20 Jan (Hina)- On Tuesday president of the Croatian National Parliament, Academician Vlatko Pavletic, received a delegation of the Great National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey, headed by its President Hikmet Cetin. So far political relations between Turkey and Croatia have been excellent and we can only hope that they will be crowned by strengthening economic relations, said Pavletić after the meeting. "Turkey unreservedly supports Croatia's bid for the Partnership for Peace initiative and the Euro-Atlantic integrations and Croatia hopes that Turkey would soon find its place in the European Union," said Pavletic. "We have already been co-operating in the peace process in this region and will continue to do that in the future," said Cetin. "We believe that the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Turkey are important for this part of Europe", said Cetin, adding that Turkey believed NATO should be expanding not only toward east and north but also towards the Mediterranean. The President of the Great National Assembly used the opportunity to invite the President of the Croatian National Parliament to visit Turkey. US$156 MILLION TO BE SET ASIDE FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES OSIJEK, 20 Jan (Hina) - One billion kuna (some US$156 million) has been set aside from this year's state budget for the reconstruction of the Croatian Danube River region. The money will be used for the repair of 3,500 houses which belong to damage categories between IV and VI, the head of the Reconstruction and Development Ministry's Reconstruction Administration, Ljudevit Herceg, said in Osijek Tuesday. The money will also be used for the reconstruction of some 5,000 to 6,000 houses belonging to the I to III damage categories. Speaking at a meeting with representatives of the administrative board of the Osijek-Baranja Returnees' Association, Herceg said that the stalemate in the reconstruction was caused by the slow issuing of reconstruction documents, since authorised county offices were not ready to issue a large number of reconstruction documents in a short period of time. Nevertheless, the situation is improving and the accelerated reconstruction of houses between I and III damage categories will start next week, Herceg said. The accelerated reconstruction of houses with higher damage degrees is expected to start in spring. FIRST CONTINGENT OF UNTAES'S RUSSIAN TROOPS LEAVE CROATIA OSIJEK, 20Jan (Hina) - Following the winding up of UNTAES's mission on 15 January, the first contingent of UNTAES's Russian troops left Croatia on Tuesday. At 16:30 hrs a train with 26 vehicles, including armoured vehicles, trucks, jeeps and ambulances, left the train station in the Croatian eastern town of Osijek. The rain escorted the 28 members of UNTAES's Russian batallion. The next Russian batallion is due to depart in late January. The first Slovak batallion, equipped with 80 vehicles, will depart on 28 January and the remaining Slovak engineering units by the end of February. SIXTY PEOPLE RETURN TO ERNESTINOVO ERNESTINOVO, Jan 20 (Hina) - Sixty people have returned to the village of Ernestinovo in eastern Croatia, where reconstruction is well underway. According to Ernestinovo municipal head Ladislav Ferenc, 1495 residents lived in that village near Osijek in 1991. All residents, except 250 Serbs, left Ernestinovo during the war. Today Ernestinovo has only 140 Serbs, some of them residents and some who have moved in from other parts of Croatia. About 800 displaced people have sent requests to reconstruct their destroyed homes. A BOMB LANDS IN THE FRONT OF A CROAT RETURNEE HOUSE IN THE REGION BELI MANASTIR,20 Jan (Hina)- On 19 January at 01:00 hrs an unidentified person threw a bomb in front of a returnee house in the Beli Manastir suburb of Secerana, in the Danube river region. According to the Vukovar office of Deputy Interior Minister Josko Moric, the incident did not cause any injuries. Estimated damage on the house and a car is US$550. The same source reports that on 18 January officers of the Beli Manastir police station found seven hand grenades and some ammunition in a canal between the Baranja villages of Karanac and Knezevi Vinogradi. 14 BODIES EXHUMED IN TWO VILLAGES IN DANUBIAN REGION ILACA, 20 Jan (Hina) - Experts of the Croatian Government's Commission for Imprisoned and Missing Persons on Tuesday exhumed the remains of 14 persons killed in 1991 in Ilaca and Djeletovci, the Commission's head, Lieutenant Ivan Grujic, said Tuesday. On Monday and Tuesday, 11 bodies were exhumed from several locations in Ilaca, while six more bodies are being sought. Nine bodies have been identified so far, while the families of two victims are yet to confirm their identity. The remains of three victims have been exhumed in Djeletovci and their identification is under way, Grujic told reporters in Ilaca. A forensic expert from the Osijek clinic, Mladen Marcikic, told reporters that all victims exhumed in Ilaca had suffered a violent death, that they were of both sexes, included civilians and defenders, and were aged between 20 and over 70. On Wednesday, the Commission will continue the exhumation in Tovarnik, near the border with Yugoslavia. Experts believe they will find a mass grave with at least 50 bodies. AMERICAN HISTORIAN TESTIFIES ON SERB REBELLION IN CROATIA THE HAGUE, 20 Jan (Hina) - In their case against Slavko Dokmanovic, the former mayor of Vukovar, ICTY prosecutors presented their first witness, historian Mark Willer, who spoke on circumstances surrounding disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and the outbreak of the Serb rebellion in Croatia. Professor Willer, an American who has been living in Britain for the past 28 years, got a PhD in history from the Cambridge University. His speciality is history of Yugoslav peoples, especially during Second World War. Willer, who speaks Croatian, taught at several British and American universities. He also headed UNTAES's expert PR team in the Danube region in 1996. The witness said that Slobodan Milosevic was the first secessionist in the former Yugoslavia, although he often stressed his committment to the preservation of Yugoslavia. In order to have an easier time centralising Yugoslavia, which had been transformed from a federation into a confederation by the constitution of 1974, Milosevic encouraged Slovenes to leave. After a democratic election in Croatia, the Serbs reacted to the victory of Dr. Franjo Tudjman's HDZ with "alarm". Tudjman's rash policies alarmed the Serbs in the rural areas of Croatia, who were then used by Milosevic for his expansionist plans in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Willer said. Disorientated after the disintegration of Yugoslav institutions, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) disarmed territorial defence units in former republics in order to arm the Serbs. In the spring of 1991 Serb paramilitary units dug-in in eastern Slavonia and the JNA openly backed the Serb party, Willer said. In August 1991 the JNA and Serb paramilitary units staged an all out offensive against Vukovar. Although the city was defended by only 1,000 to 1,800 persons, they were attacked by about 30,000 troops. After three months the Serbs managed to capture the town. By conquering Vukovar the Serbs "won a battle but lost a war", Willer said. OSCE MONITORS VISIT STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE IN SISAK SISAK, 20 Jan (Hina) - Monitors of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Coordination Centre in Sisak on Tuesday visited the State Attorney's Office of the Sisak-Moslavina County. State Attorney Franjo Jerkovic informed the monitors about the procedures that had been taken by the Office in the cases of criminal offences against members of the Serb national minority in areas liberated from Serb occupation two and a half years ago. He emphasised that the county and municipal State Attorney's Offices in Sisak and Petrinja had in time processed all punishable offences which had occurred in the war ravaged region, without regard to whether the victims were Croatian returnees, displaced Croats from Bosnia-Herzegovina who had settled into the region or Serbs. Jerkovic recalled that on 3 June 1997 the Public Attorney's Office in Petrinja raised charges before the Municipal Court in Hrvatska Kostajnica against 10 Bosnian Croats who took part in disturbances which had taken place following the unorganised return of Serb refugees Those Bosnian Croats, who had settled into the Hrvatska Kostajnica area, were charged for engaging in damaging conduct, causing light and heavy bodily injuries, lighting fires and causing material damage. The trial before the Municipal Court in Hrvatska Kostajnica was underway, Jerkovic said, adding that the State Attorney's Office in Sisak was acting timely and efficiently. The meeting agreed to cooperation between the County State Attorney's Office and the Sisak OSCE Office. FIRST EDITION OF "CROATIA WEEKLY" ISSUED ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - The "Croatia Weekly" whose first edition was issued on Tuesday will also be available to Internet users. The weekly newspaper's aim is to provide accurate and relevant information about the Croatian reality which could be of interest to the foreign reader, the Weekly said in its editorial. Croatia can only be accepted with the understanding and fondness of the readers who are familiar with its reality, Editor-in-Chief Nenad Ivankovic said. The Weekly published by the Croatian Information and Culture Bureau (HIKZ) will address all foreigners and "political forces that care so much about stability in this part of Europe and which have invested huge efforts and made considerable sacrifices to bring peace to this region". Through texts from the fields of politics, economics, culture and sport, reproduced from newspapers and electronic media, foreign readers - news agencies, newspapers, politicians and diplomats - should receive accurate information about the situation in Croatia. The Weekly will have a circulation of 12,000 at the beginning, of which 10,000 is to be sold abroad. The Internet site includes a postcard from Croatia with links to all state institutions, director Bekavac said, adding that every new edition would be available on URL http://www.croatia.hr as the Weekly is issued. CROATIA JOINS FAO PROJECT ON CORN BEETLE CONTROL ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - At its last session, the Croatian government decided to initiate the procedure for joining the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) project on corn beetle control in Europe. By joining this international project, Croatia will be able to get expert help of FAO experts, information about the course of infestation and protection measures in other states, as well as baits for monitoring and educational material. The corn beetle (Diabratica virgifera LeConte) is presumed to have been introduced in Europe in the mid-80s via Belgrade airport. It was first noticed in Croatia through extensive monitoring in 1995. The spread of the beetle was registered in 1996 in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Croatia, and even in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania. Experts from the United States and several European countries expressed the necessity of organised control of this pest. If urgent preventive measures are not undertaken, the corn beetle may become a major pest in several European countries. The corn beetle has decreased corn yields by two tonnes per hectare in central and western states of the US. WORLD BANK GRANTS FIRST CREDIT TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA SARAJEVO, Jan 20 (Hina) - Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia- Herzegovina Kresimir Zubak and director of the World Bank Office for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rorry O'Sullivan, signed in Sarajevo on Tuesday an agreement on two credits intended for reconstruction of the country, including the most important financial support for the Bosnian Serb entity so far. According to O'Sullivan, the World Bank will grant US $17 million to Republika Srpska for the project of reconstruction worth US $65 million. The remaining funds will be ensured by the European Union, Norway, Italy, Austria and Great Britain. O'Sullivan confirmed a decision by the international community that funds be granted to only those municipalities in which local authorities support the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The Foca municipality, in eastern Bosnia, which should have received funds from the credit, has been subsequently excluded from the project because the Office of the International High Representative had estimated that the local authorities were providing refuge to war crimes suspects. The second credit worth US $44 million has been intended for the reconstruction of the gas supply system in Sarajevo. The World Bank's share in this credit is US $10 million. Both credits were approved with a 35 year time of repayment without any interest, with a ten year grace period. THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ITEMS RELEASED BY 22.00 HRS TUESDAY 202258 MET jan 98