BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 2965

SIMONOVIC: PREVLAKA IS EXCLUSIVELY A SECURITY ISSUE WASHINGTON, July 11 (Hina) - Croatian Ambassador in the United Nations, Ivan Simonovic, has called on the Security Council to clearly confirm Croatia's sovereignty over Prevlaka in its next resolution on this question. In any new resolution on this issue the Security Council should be even more explicit and make known that Prevlaka is exclusively a security question and not a territorial one as well, Simonovic said in a letter published in New York on Friday. The Security Council should by mid July issue a resolution with its decision on the mandate of the U.N. monitoring mission on Croatia's southernmost peninsula. Simonovic welcomed Montenegro's willingness to resolve the problem of Prevlaka as well as Belgrade's readiness for talks. However, he rejected any questioning of Croatia's international borders. Croatia is encouraged by the first positive reactions of the Montenegrin authorities to its proposal. Croatia views these reactions as a contribution to a more constructive approach towards improving cooperation and resolving the remaining bilateral questions, Simonovic said. Such an approach contributes to the establishment of a realistic negotiation framework, based on the principles of international law, in particular the principle of inviolability of international borders, the Croatian Ambassador said. He welcomed the readiness of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for talks, expressed in a letter sent by the Yugoslav Prime Minister to the Security Council last month. The letter theoretically supports bilateral negotiations but it also implies talks on the change of the internationally recognised borders. This approach, which ignores the principle of inviolability of borders, remains unacceptable, not only for Croatia - it is also dangerous for the prospects of security and stability in other parts of the region, Simonovic said. The Yugoslav stand is strongly opposed to the relevant Security Council resolutions on Prevlaka, adopted under the item "Situation in Croatia", which confirms Croatia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Commenting on accusations concerning alleged violations of the demilitarisation zone by Croatia, presented by the Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic in the letter to the Security Council, Simonovic said Bulatovic's claims were strongly opposed to a report by the UN Secretary General, which was an objective and reliable source. In his latest report on Prevlaka, the UN Secretary General said that the most severe violations of the demilitarisation zone were those committed by the Yugoslav Army. Bulatovic, on the other hand, accused Croatia of violating the zone daily. He described Yugoslav violations as seldom and unintentional, resulting from misunderstandings about the borders of the demilitarisation zones. The process of resolving the question of Prevlaka could be additionally strengthened if the Security Council provided an effective impulse to accelerating the bilateral negotiations, Simonovic said. Such a step would stress the interests of the international community in achieving the necessary sustainable stability in this part of Europe, Croatia's Ambassador said in the letter. BOOK "STEPINAC AND JEWS" BY LJUBICA STEFAN LAUNCHED IN ZAGREB ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - The Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac was an anti-fascist and anti-racist who shunned Hitler's political movement, pagan racistic principles and violence and bloodshed and abided by the encyclic of Pope Pius XI of March 14, 1937, said Frano Glavina presenting a book "Stepinac and the Jews" by Ljubica Stefan in Zagreb last Thursday. Stepinac viewed Communism as a deadly threat to the Catholic church and Croat people but he also attacked the fascist ideology and racism. The idea of Croathood was for Stepinac primarily the idea of ethic, which reflected in his efforts in saving the Jews in World War II, Glavina said. The book, published by the Zagreb publishing house "Croatiaprojekt", deals with the decision of the Yad Vashem Memorial Centre in Jerusalem not to award Cardinal Stepinac the "Righteous Among the Nations" charter and medal. The "Righteous Among Nations" award is presented, in line with decisions by the Israeli Parliament, exclusively to non-Jews who during WWII saved Jews and jeopardised their own lives. Ljubica Stefan, herself a recipient of the award, presents selected documents and lectures containing facts and written testimonies by witnesses on Stepinac's help in saving Jews in WWII. Stefan claims that the decision of the Yad Vashem Centre was unjust. The Croat people is not genocidal and Cardinal Stepinac is not a war criminal but is the pride of the Croatian nation, Stefan said. Both the Croat and Jewish peoples are entitled to the truth, Stefan said adding that there were many intellectuals in Israel who fought for the truth about Croatia and unmasked lies about the Croat people. SREBRENICA WOMEN GATHER IN FRONT OF WESTENDORP'S OFFICE SARAJEVO, July 11 (Hina) - A group of 30 women from Srebrenica and Podrinje gathered on Saturday in front of the Sarajevo-based office of the international high representative for Bosnia to hand him a list with the names of members of their families who are still filed as missing. The women demanded that light be finally shed on their fate. July 11 this year is the third anniversary marking the day when Srebrenica fell in memory of the largest massacre which took place in Europe after World War Two. On July 11, 1995 Serb forces commanded by Ratko Mladic entered the UN-protected enclave in eastern Bosnia and killed at least 8,000 Muslims. Unlike previous years, there was no mass gathering of women from Srebrenica in Sarajevo this year, as the central event marking the tragedy was organised in Tuzla, a town in north-eastern Bosnia. "They have sent our people to Tuzla so that we could not bother them in Sarajevo", an older woman shouted in front of the high representative's office and produced a photograph of two young men. While waiting, deputy high representative Hanns Schumacher talked to five children from Srebrenica who lost their parents. The children handed him a letter demanding that someone finally establish what exactly happened to their fathers. The women had to wait almost an hour to be received. One of them told a reporter "(...) we are not here because we like it. We have come here because (Bosnian Presidency chairman) Alija (Izetbegovic) did not want to either receive or hear us out." Appearing a while later, the high representative's spokesman Simon Haselock passed on Ambassador Schumacher's message that he could not receive them because he was busy, but that he would like to read any written messages. Haselock suggested talks with the high representative in the near future. In an ensuing discussion, Haselock and the Srebrenica women tackled the fate of the missing, the Srebrenica massacre, the fact whether Yugoslav President Milosevic ought to be addressed as Sir or if he was a war criminal, and whether Generals Janvier and Morillon, and Yasushi Akashi and Butros Gali, should go to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Haselock could not say when the fate of 8,000 missing persons would be determined. The process has just begun and will take time, he told the women. "We have been promised everything and today we have nothing", said a woman whose husband and son were killed in 1992. "Not even the sirens have been sounded today", she added quietly. CRIME AND CORRUPTION THREATEN TO DESTROY BOSNIAN ECONOMY SARAJEVO, July 11 (Hina) - Crime and corruption seriously threaten the economic recovery of Bosnia-Herzegovina and jeopardise its future, US diplomat Richard Sclar said in an interview with Saturday's issue of the Sarajevo daily "Oslobodjenje". Sclar, who visited Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first post-war year of 1996, is now on a special two-week mission to Bosnia aimed at providing assistance in the resolution of economic problems, primarily those in the privatisation process. We must not allow post-war criminals to do the same thing nationalist politicians had done earlier - destroy this country. This is a civilised European country and this has to be stopped, said Sclar, who is currently holding an office in the US Mission in the United Nations. Sclar said he had held talks with Bosnian business people who lived honestly and paid taxes and they all told him that it was impossible to compete with people who were involved in smuggling and corruption. US experts have confirmed that large amounts of customs and tax liabilities are not being paid to the state and this type of crime exists in all three ethnic groups, Sclar said. Assessing the overall situation in the Bosnian economy, the US diplomat said that at first sight the situation was good but in reality the same problems, such as a high unemployment rate and non- existent self-sustainable economy, continued to exist. Sclar expressed hope that Bosnian citizens would in the forthcoming elections think of their own welfare rather than ethnic criteria. RUGOVA ASSESSES KOSOVO SITUATION EXTREMELY COMPLEX & DANGEROUS PRISTINA, July 11 (Hina) - The Kosovo Information Centre (KIC) reported on Saturday that Serbian forces resumed attacks on eight Albanian villages in Decane Municipality and that the Albanian population was fleeing in panic. The KIC also reported violent battles between Serbian forces and Albanian defenders backed by units of the Kosovo Liberation Army in eight villages in Djakovica Municipality, on the border with Albania. The Albanian side confirmed the death of five fighters and said the number of the victims on the Serbian side was much higher. Around noon Serbian forces launched a heavy weaponry attack on villages north of Mitrovica, the KIC reported. No information on possible victims and damage is available. Since yesterday evening Serbian forces have been attacking villages near a coalmine in Veliki Belacevac, 10km west of Kosovo capital Pristina, the source added. The Pec-based Human Rights Watch reported today that a 78-year-old Albanian man was killed and three younger ones were wounded during the violent attacks launched this morning on the nearby village of Lodja. Sources from Pec said that because of the latest attacks, the Albanian population continued abandoning their homes and heading towards Montenegro. Armed Serbs are preventing them from returning, the sources added. The residents and all political factors of Pec today denied a report that the town was allegedly shelled on Friday which a satellite programme of Albania's state television broadcast yesterday. No shelling occurred yesterday, but the news greatly upset some people making then flee to Montenegro. Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova today discussed the latest tensions in the south Yugoslav province and the possibilities of peacefully resolving the crisis with the United States Ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill, who is in charge of negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade, and the British Ambassador to Yugoslavia Brian Donel. According to the KIC, Rugova assessed the situation as extremely complex and dangerous. He requested immediate intervention by the international community to stop the Serbian violence and to protect the population of Kosovo. THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ITEMS RELEASED BY 21.00 HRS SATURDAY 112153 MET jul 98