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YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT CONCERNED OVER VIOLATION OF RESOLUTION 1244
The Yugoslav government said on Thursday that Monday's accord between UN envoys and ethnic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo-Metohija on setting up a "Kosovo Protection Corps" grossly violated UN Resolution 1244.
The accord turning the KLA into the "Kosovo Protection Corps" was signed in Pristina by the international force (KFOR) and the UN civilian mission (UNMIK), on the one hand, and the ethnic Albanian terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), on the other.
The government expressed deep concern at the accord, describing it as unlawful and as an "attempt to give legal standing to a terrorist organisation, to salvage it and protect the terrorists, which can have incalculable consequences."
The government noted that the terrorist KLA has been neither disarmed nor demilitarised.
"This is well-known to those well-versed in the situation, and best to those who have just announced that the demilitarisation has been successfully completed and who have signed this shameful accord.
"They are directly responsible for the violence, terrorism and each and every victim of the terrorists," the government said in its statement released from a session chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic.
"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a free and sovereign country, will never recognise any kind of behaviour or any decision that runs counter to Resolution 1244, the Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari plan and the guarantees of the country's sovereignty.
"This arrogant and unlawful decision by KFOR and UNMIK is a major step in the direction of attaining ethnic Albanian separatist goals in Kosovo-Metohija, and as such is totally unacceptable to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," the statement said.
SIGNATORIES "DON'T KNOW" WHAT THEY INITIALED
The Yugoslav government has requested from the UN Security Council to cancel the agreement of the peacekeepers and the "KLA" on the founding of a "Kosovo Protection Corps," as a flagrant breaching of the UN peace plan on Kosovo and Metohija, the press in Brussels said Friday.
Belgrade's protest to the world organization warns, it is said, that the so-called agreement is a "mere hoax" legalizing the actions of a terrorist organization.
Analyzing commentaries and statements of the key protagonists around the paper on "transformation" that was recently initialled in Pristina, the media said that their positions were completely contradictory.
While "KLA" leaders stress that 10,000 pieces of arms have not been handed over to KFOR, but have been placed in depots from where they can take them at any moment, the commander of the peacekeepers, Michael Jackson, on the other hand, said that the arms are now in possession of KFOR and "will remain there."
Leader of ethnic Albanian extremists Agim Cheku said that the task of the "Corps" was to "defend the people from every danger" and that despite the change of uniform, it has retained its previous "military structure," while French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine was quoted as saying by the press in Brussels that the new organization "will never be an army" and that its tasks were primarily of civilian nature.
YUGOSLAVIA ADDRESSES PROTEST LETTER TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Head of the Yugoslav permanent mission to the UN Vladislav Jovanovic has addressed a strong protest letter to the UN Security Council President Peter Van Walsum on the conclusion of the illegal agreement between the UN security and civilian mission - KFOR and UNMIK - with the terrorist self-styled KLA. A copy of the letter was also addressed to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The following is the official text of the letter.
Excellency,
I have been instructed by my Government to lodge the strongest protest over the signing of the illegal Agreement between the United Nations security and civil presence in Kosovo and Metohija, the autonomous province of the Yugoslav constituent Republic of Serbia, and the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on the transformation of that terrorist organization into the "Kosovo Protection Corps", an allegedly civilian structure, and the statements made in that connection by KFOR and UNMIK to the effect that the KLA terrorists have carried out their obligation to demilitarize and disarm fully and on schedule. The falsehood of those statements is shown by daily attacks on Serbian towns and villages and cultural monuments and religious shrines that are often carried out by mortars and other heavy weapons.
The Agreement amounts to the legalization of the terrorist organization under the auspices of the Untied Nations and, alongside other illegal decisions of KFOR and UNMIK taken under the guise of the United Nations and in flagrant violation of the clear provisions of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Military-Technical Agreement and to the detriment of the authority of the world Organization, shall not be recognized by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and shall be considered null and void. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia shall continue to hold the United Nations presence responsible for the tragic consequences of their behaviour, the victims of which are Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma and other non-Albanians.
Excellency,
Time and again, the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has warned the Security Council and the Secretary-General of KFOR and UNMIK manipulations, committed in gross violation of their mandates established by Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). The obligation to demilitarise has been flouted on a number of occasions, most notably by the agreement on the so-called three-month public disarmament considering that the resolution provides for no delay in implementing its provisions. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia expressed its dissatisfaction at the manner and pace with which KFOR and UNMIK proceeded to implement the provision on the demilitarisation and disarmament of KLA terrorists since demilitarisation is the final outcome of a process affecting an organization and not its transformation. The establishment of the "Kosovo Protection Corps", headed by notorious terrorist Agim Cheku, amounts in effect to the strengthening, if not the resuscitation, of the moribund KLA, beaten in the anti-terrorist campaign of the Yugoslav security forces. Countenance of the KLA by KFOR and UNMIK is telling evidence of the existence of an ulterior purpose.
Encouraged by the attitude of KFOR and UNMIK, the KLA terrorists made no effort to conceal their aims. Owing to the support of some leading international actors, their leaders publicly demonstrate their intention to abuse the United Nations presence in the southern Serbian province and the United Nations protection to accomplish their separatist goals.
The flagrant violations of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Military-Technical Agreement have done little to make KFOR and UNMIK change their attitude, even though it is their bounded duty to ensure a strict implementation of the said documents. By failing to act, KFOR and UNMIK have become accomplices in a charade, designed to hoodwink the international public and to divert the attention of the Security Council from goals, different than those envisaged in the resolution, that are pursued in Kosovo and Metohija in behalf and under the auspices of the United Nations. For the worrisome development that ensues from such an attitude they bear full responsibility.
By setting very liberal deadlines to KLA terrorists to carry out their express obligation to demilitarize and disarm, as against the very short deadline within which Yugoslavia carried out much more complex operations, KFOR and UNMIK have indicated that they will not act with sufficient resolve to compel the KLA terrorists to carry out their obligation strictly and in full. Those deadlines have been allowed to lapse, while the KLA handed in trophy arms and re-armed itself with modern sophisticated weapons over the uncontrolled borders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with Albania and Macedonia unperturbed.
By acting in this way, KFOR and UNMIK have given ample evidence of the deliberate protection of KLA terrorists, aimed at preserving the core of a future Albanian armed structure in the southern Serbian province. According to Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), the only armed force in Kosovo and Metohija is KFOR. The resolution also provides for the return of part of the Army and police forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and not a creation of a "Kosovo Protection Corps" which in effect amounts to catering to the whim of Albanian separatists and terrorists and to their ambition to secede Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Instead of being a factor of stabilization in the Province, KFOR and UNMIK have thus become instrumental in cleansing it from non-Albanians and outright accomplices in the realization of KLA separatist goals.
Proceeding from the fact that it has carried out all its obligations from Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the relevant documents consistently and on schedule, the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia demands from the Security Council to take the most energetic measures to see to it that all others carry out their commitments. First and foremost, the KLA terrorists must be made to disarm themselves and must not be allowed to flout their obligations in whatever form.
To that end, the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia insists in particular that the illegal decision on the alleged transformation of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army and all other decisions taken by KFOR and UNMIK in flagrant violation of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the relevant documents, primarily those violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, be annulled.
This is the only way leading to the stabilization of the security situation in this Serbian province, return of all expellees and the creation of necessary conditions for the preservation of its multinational character and inter-national reconciliation as the principal pre-conditions for any future political settlement.
YUGOSLAVIA INVITES SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION TO VISIT KOSOVO
Ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic, head of the permanent Yugoslav mission to the United Nations, on Thursday sent a letter to the Security Council president on behalf of the Yugoslav government, underscoring that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija does not reflect the actual situation in this southern Serbian province.
Yugoslavia therefore proposed that the council send a delegation to Kosovo and Metohija to determine the actual situation.
The letter indicated the biggest problems in the province, not listed in Annan's report, which were caused by inadequate action by members of the UN mission and their tolerant stand toward the ethnic Albanian terrorist organization that calls itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Among other things, the letter pointed out the fact that the disarming of the KLA was not carried out as envisaged under Security Council Resolution 1244, and concluded that the international force KFOR was not resolved to implement this resolution.
The Yugoslav government draws attention to the fact that certain measures taken by Kosovo UN representative Bernard Kouchner not only prevent the implementation of Resolution 1244, but de facto help toward the realization of the secession of Kosovo and Metohija.
Certain articles listed in the annex of the report present a flagrant violation of Resolution 1244 and ignore or ever directly undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, said the letter.
This primarily pertains to the articles on setting up a customs and other services in Kosovo and Metohija and on currencies permitted in the province.
Annan's report does not mention the responsibility of the KLA for the acts of terrorism committed against Serbs and other non-Albanians since the arrival of the UN civilian mission UNMIK, which could imply that those responsible for these crimes are amnestied, the Yugoslav government said.
It is especially disturbing that the report openly supports the idea on the creation of an alleged Kosovo corps, which is also contrary to the Resolution which demands the full demilitarization of the KLA and presents one of the most serious forms of violations of UN documents and endangering of Yugoslavia's sovereignty.
Moreover, instead of objectively assessing the inability of the UNMIK and KFOR to preserve security in Kosovo and Metohija, protect the lives and property of all citizens and maintain law and order, Annan's report is satisfied to conclude that the level and nature of violence in Kosovo, especially against vulnerable minorities, remains the main reason for concern.
The implication that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, an integral part of Serbia and Yugoslavia, are a minority in their own state is completely unacceptable and points at secession, said the letter.
The part of Annan's report which pertains to the humanitarian situation does not say anything specific about any future actions to help the vast number of 250,000 Serbs who have fled Kosovo and Metohija and scores of others who have been thrown out of their homes but remain in the province, the Yugoslav government said.
MINISTER JOVANOVIC MEETS MINISTERS AT NEW YORK UN HEADQUARTERS
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic met with Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Thursday.
During the talks, the sides confirmed the two countries' common determination to continue work on realizing the principles and objectives of the Declaration adopted by presidents Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and Jiang Zemin of China during Milosevic's official visit to China.
Tang expressed full support to Yugoslavia's efforts to defend and protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity and independence. He also voiced support to the efforts at national renewal and reconstruction following the NATO aggression.
Yugoslavia can continue relying on China's support in efforts at the due implementation of the UN Security Council resolution on Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, respect for Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a political and peaceful solution based on respect for the equality of citizens and ethnic communities, Minister Tang said.
China and the Chinese people admire the courage and fortitude of the people and leaders of Yugoslavia, as in the period of the heroic defense from aggression, as now in the period of national renewal and reconstruction, Tang said, adding that China had resolutely condemned the NATO aggression.
Abuse of human rights for propaganda or promoting interventions cannot be allowed and is absolutely unacceptable in international relations, he said.
Jovanovic on Thursday also met with Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Isac Mudenge, who condemned the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia and underscored that this was a gross violation of the UN Charter and international laws, and a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a UN member.
This causes apprehension among all countries, as all sorts of pretexts are being used to interfere in internal affairs of other countries, Mudenge said.
Zimbabwe will urge the due implementation of Security Council Resolution 1244 (on Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province), he said. Mudenge said he was well aware of serious difficulties in the realization of this document and that Serbs and non-Albanians in Kosovo are victims. Zimbabwe will work toward stopping this trend, he said.
Minister Mudenge underscored that his country urges the reactivation of Yugoslavia's membership rights in the movement of non-aligned countries.
Yugoslav Minister Jovanovic also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk.
Yugoslavia, as a Danube River basin country, is most interested in reactivating normal traffic along this river, and it is ready for full cooperation with other Danube countries, especially within the Danube Commission, it was heard.
Regarding clearing the Danube following the NATO air strikes, Yugoslavia cannot be treated as an object and ignored, but as an active equal subject in the realization of this project which is of strategic importance for Yugoslavia and other Danube countries, said Jovanovic.
The ministers agreed to work together on promoting overall bilateral relations between Yugoslavia and Ukraine. They agreed that new consultations at foreign minister level would be organized at the earliest possible time and continuity of diplomatic contacts secured. Talks at higher levels will also be prepared, they agreed.
Violence against non-Albanians, expulsions and desecration of cultural and historical monuments are absolutely unacceptable, Minister Tarasyuk said, strongly condemning such developments in Kosovo and Metohija.
Jovanovic also met with Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, a member of the European Union Troika and the next E.U. chairman. Talks covered the implementation of Resolution 1244, bilateral relations, and relations between Yugoslavia and the European Union.
The Yugoslav minister said that the implementation of the resolution cannot be described as successful following the ethnic cleansing of over 250,000 Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, after such destruction of cultural monuments of the Serb and Montenegrin peoples, after the razing of over 50,000 houses of non-Albanians, and many other criminal acts.
He underscored that the solutions, stands and principles inherent in this resolution and the Ahtisaari-Chernomyrdin document are final for Yugoslavia, and that any violations or bypassing of these documents will not bind Yugoslavia, nor be recognized by Yugoslavia.
Jovanovic said any form of interference in Yugoslavia's internal affairs was unacceptable, in particular the use of humanitarian aid or other forms of cooperation for interference in Yugoslavia's internal affairs.
NATO's destruction of the infrastructure, economy, hospitals, schools, and especially bridges, roads, railways, and electricity objects, has inflicted damages not only on Yugoslavia and its citizens, but also on Europe and the European infrastructure, he said.
In view of all this, Yugoslavia expects that the European Union will remove all barriers in economic cooperation with Yugoslavia and secure funds for the renewal and reconstruction of the damaged objects in Yugoslavia, primarily the infrastructure.
Minister Gama said the European Union was considering forms of humanitarian and other aid and that he expected that corresponding decisions would quickly be adopted. Jovanovic informed Gama about the consequences of the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, and said it was the obligation of all governments that had taken part in the destruction of Yugoslavia with their decisions, now to compensate for these damages.
Jovanovic yesterday also met with Greek Foreign Minister Iorgos Papandreau.
The Yugoslav minister spoke about the lack of implementation of Resolution 1244, especially the lack of security for citizens and environments, the continued terror, violence and destruction by ethnic Albanian terrorists and armed bands of robbers. He emphasized that the decision of UN civilian mission head Bernard Kouchner and international force KFOR commander, Gen. Mike Jackson on the alleged transformation of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was unacceptable. Jovanovic described this as an act aimed directly against the UN Security Council resolution.
Yugoslavia will not accept any moves, decisions or stands which are contrary to the UN Charter, and it is resolutely opposed to any behind-the-scenes revisions of the relevant resolution on Kosovo and Metohija, Jovanovic said. Attempts are under way to revise a very clear and precise resolution, which presents further assaults on the renown of the United Nations and prestige of the Security Council, he said.
Minister Papandreau said Greece had always urged a peaceful political solution of issues in connection with Kosovo and Metohija, and the due implementation of the resolution and other relevant documents. Greece condemns ethnic cleansing and acts of violence, Papandreau said.
SERBIAN DEPUTY PM SAYS COUNTRY'S RECONSTRUCTION ACCORDING TO PLAN
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Dragan Tomic said Friday that the reconstruction of housing and business facilities and infrastructure destroyed in NATO's aggression, which was the Serbian government's priority, was going according to plan, stressing that in some cases reconstruction work had been completed before set deadlines.
Addressing a news conference held at the Serbian government, Tomic said that Serbia had fully met its obligations concerning the financing of Yugoslavia's reconstruction.
Commenting on the Serbian government's economic policy to be pursued until the end of the year, Tomic said that the Serbian economy's results to date indicated that the planned output growth of 15 percent would be achieved.
Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply Jovan Babovic said that this year's maize yield was expected to amount to about seven million tons, saying that this was two million tons up on last year. He said that, consequently, it would be possible to ensure regular food supplies, strategic reserves and marketable surplus.
Minister of Mining and Power Industry Zivota Cosic said that first oil derivatives produced at home would appear on the market early next week and that their price would be the same.
He said that Russia was expected to start gas deliveries to Yugoslavia soon, saying that power supply would be regular in the country during winter.
Trade Minister Zoran Krasic said that fresh meat shortages had been triggered by fears of inflation, stressing that Serbian market inspectors were taking measures against meat sellers who had raised the price of meat more than it had been greed.
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS CONTINUE TO KILL SERBS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA
The international KFOR force Press Centre in Pristina, briefing the press on Wednesday's events, said on Thursday that the bodies of a Serb man and his son, reported missing from their village of Silovo, were found near Gnjilane.
The names of the two were not released.
In Pristina, KFOR troops found the body of a 50-year-old man. The UN civilian mission (UNMIK) police is investigating the affair.
A Serb man was heavily wounded while a Serb woman sustained light injuries when a hand grenade went off in the town of Lipljan.
KFOR spokesman Major Ole Jirgens said that the unnamed woman was lightly injured in the legs, and the bombing provoked a disturbance in the town that eventually subsided.
An ethnic Albanian killed from firearms was found south-east of Kosovska Kamenica, KFOR said, adding that two Serbs have been arrested in connection with the incident, one of whom has been charged with the killing.
In Sector West of the U.N.-secured Kosovo-Metohija province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, KFOR troops searching the area seized a large quantity of hand grenades, ammunition and other weaponry.
South of Djakovica near the Albanian border, KFOR troops found a dead body believed to have been killed by a mine four days ago.
A Greek KFOR soldier was lightly injured when his bulldozer overturned near Urosevac, and has been hospitalised, KFOR said.
OVER 1,000 ETHNIC ALBANIANS SURROUND POST OFFICE IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
More than 1,000 ethnic Albanians encircled early Friday the main post office building in southern Kosovska Mitrovica whence all Serb families have been expelled, according to Petar Pisevac, one of the post office's top officials.
Pisevac and 70 other post office employees are in the building, while the number of ethnic Albanians around it is increasing by the hour.
Strong forces of France's contingent participating in the UN peacekeeping force KFOR, whose guns are at the ready, are preventing the mob from storming the building.
Ethnic Albanian representatives have requested that Serbs hand over to them the post office, which operates within Serbia's Telecom company.
KFOR troops have failed to prevent ethnic Albanians from rallying despite written orders by Martin Garrod, chief UN administrator for the Kosovska Mitrovica district, that every rally and demonstration must be announced 48 hours in advance.
SERBS IN ORAHOVAC TARGETED BY ETHNIC ALBANIANS AND KFOR
Ethnic Albanian nationalists killed five persons, abducted 21 others, torched 104 Serb houses and burglarised 620 apartments in Orahovac since the arrival of international peacekeepers KFOR in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, Orahovac Revenue Administration chief Novica Vitosevic said on Thursday.
Speaking at a meeting with humanitarian workers of a subcommittee of the Yugoslav committee for cooperation with the UN mission in Kosovo, Vitosevic said the population of Orahovac was especially disturbed by "arrests of innocent people by the KFOR."
It is enough for two ethnic Albanians to point a finger at a Serb for the KFOR to arrest him. Arrests take place like in movies - KFOR troops arrive in military transport vehicles with masks on their faces, they fire around houses, scaring the already petrified people, Vitosevic said.
KFOR members daily go from door to door carrying some lists, and they film people in the streets, he said. This is additional pressure to force Serbs to leave this part of the province, he concluded.
Mayor Andjelko Kolasinac and the only Serb doctor in Orahovac Dr. Vekoslav Simic were arrested a month ago, Vitosevic said. Their files, and that of Stanislav Levic, another arrested Serb, said that Prizren District Court Investigative Judge Pjeter Pergyoka, an ethnic Albanian, had ordered 30-day detention for all of them, starting from Aug. 20.
These 30 days have past and they have not been released or tried, he said. The investigative judge, interpreter and court clerk were all ethnic Albanians, he said.
Orahovac trade union organization head Branko Djinovic also addressed the meeting about the unbearable situation for Serbs in Orahovac.
Subcommittee for humanitarian aid member Dragan Jezdic told Tanjug that Serbs in Orahovac had complained to him that KFOR troops steal foreign currency and jewellery during house searches.
In Orahovac, about 3,000 Serbs remain rallied around the Orthodox Church on a plateau about 500 m in radius. They persevere, resisting ethnic Albanian terrorists and the arrogant members of the KFOR Netherlands contingent, Jezdic concluded.
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS CONTINUE TO EXPEL SERBS FROM KOSOVO POLJE
Ethnic Albanian terrorists have continued to expel Serbs from Kosovo Polje near Pristina and to plunder and torch their property, Cedomir Bojkovic, member of the Serb delegation to talks with the UN civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) and the ethnic Albanian side, said Thursday.
In a telephone interview with the Yugoslav Tanjug news agency, Bojkovic said that on Wednesday alone, a dozen attacks on Serbs had been reported, while three Serb houses had been torched.
He said that about 5,000 Serbs lived in Kosovo Polje and nearby villages, saying that ethnic Albanian terrorists had plundered offices of the Centre for Peace and Tolerance late Tuesday, seizing a computer with data about crimes committed by ethnic Albanian extremists.
Moreover, ethnic Albanians are trying to take over local primary schools and the St. Sava high school which was built two years ago.
THAQI URGES ETHNIC ALBANIANS TO DRIVE SERBS OUT OF KOSOVO-METOHIJA
Hashim Thaqi, the self-styled premier and political leader of U.N.-secured Kosovo-Metohija's ethnic Albanians, has openly invited his compatriots to expel all Serbs from that Serbian province, according to a report on Thursday.
Russia's Itar-TASS news agency quotes Thaqi, speaking at a meeting of his supporters in Srbica (the name itself shows it is a Serb town) on Wednesday as saying "it is necessary to exert the last efforts for driving Serb invaders out of the region."
About 1,000 armed ethnic Albanians dressed in uniforms of their separatist and terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which is supposed to have been disarmed already responded to their leader's exhortations by firing into the air from Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Asked to comment on Russia's negative attitude to Monday's accord transforming the KLA into a "Kosovo Protection Corps", Thaqi said Russia has the right to an opinion, "but we signed the agreement on the transformation of KLA with the world community."
Thaqi's statements come as no surprise to the remaining Serbs in that U.N.-secured province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, who have for three months now been the target of unbridled rampaging of KLA terrorists.
The statements are also very much at variance with the assurances from Western leaders that the "Kosovo Protection Corps" will not inherit the KLA "traditions" and will promote the formation of a multiethnic Kosovo-Metohija, Itar-TASS said.
GEN. PAVKOVIC: KOSOVO DEFENCE CORPS - ANOTHER TRICK
Yugoslav Third Army Commander General Nebojsa Pavkovic said on Thursday that the setting up of the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps is another trick and farce by the UN and NATO representatives.
Yugoslav state organs will not recognize this illegitimate action and any other decision contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo and Metohija and the Military-Technical Agreement, Gen. Pavkovic said in response to a question by the press about the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps.
Pavkovic attended an exercise by an armoured-mechanized unit and a special unit of the Third Army, carried out today close to Prokuplje, southern Serbia.
SOLANA RULES OUT INDEPENDENCE FOR KOSOVO-METOHIJA
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Thursday in Washington that Kosovo-Metohija cannot obtain independence from Serbia as this would undermine political stability in the entire Balkans, AP reports.
The Kosovo Albanians will have to give up their dream of independence, Solana told the press.
If the international community were to allow a redrawing of borders in Serbia's south, it will be difficult to prevent political fragmentation of the Balkans and even in Russia, Solana said.
Solana, whose term of office ends on October 6, said that KFOR peacekeepers, who arrived in Kosovo-Metohija last June, would have to stay in Serbia's province until its political status is definitely resolved, but could not predict how long it would take.
YUGOSLAV ARMY CARRIES OUT MANOEUVRES
A armoured-mechanized and a special unit of the Yugoslav Third Army carried out manoeuvres close to the town of Prokuplje, southern Serbia, on Thursday in the presence of Third Army Commander General Nebojsa Pavkovic, Pristina Corps Commander Lieutenant General Vladimir Lazarevic, Nis Corps Commander Major General Negoslav Nikolic and the representatives of local authorities.
The exercise involved units of the Prokuplje, Blace and Kursumlija garrisons which, acting together with a part of the special troops of the 63rd Paratroopers, successfully broke up and destroyed a terrorist group and carried out their combat task.
According to commentaries made during and after the manoeuvres, incorporated were the experiences gained during the war for the defence of Serbia from the NATO aggression resulting in excellent integrated actions by the armoured-mechanized and special units of the Yugoslav Army, and a high level of performance and morale shown both by the officers and rank troops.
COUNCIL OF EUROPE URGES LIFTING OF OIL EMBARGO ON SERBIA
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly urged Thursday in Strasbourg the lifting of the oil embargo on Serbia.
The request is contained in the recommendations the parliamentarians of 41 countries adopted after a debate on the situation in Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province and on the effects of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
They said that the people of Serbia should get international aid for their basic needs, especially as regards energy.
The Assembly noted that humanitarian aid provided to displaced Serbs and Romanies from Kosovo-Metohija was far below that given to ethnic Albanian refugees, and expressed concern for the fate of about 200,000 Serbs and Romanies who have fled the province.
YUGOSLAVIA NEEDS CONSIDERABLE HUMANITARIAN AID
Yugoslav Minister for Refugees, Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Aid Bratislava Morina said Thursday in Geneva that the difficult humanitarian situation in Yugoslavia cannot be alleviated without a considerable long-term aid from the international community, especially humanitarian organizations of the UN system.
Morina told a press conference at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva that Yugoslavia has for years been hosting nearly 700,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, that 250,000 displaced persons (Serbs and other non ethnic Albanians) had arrived in the past few months fleeing terrorism by the self-styled Kosovo Liberation Army, and that about 2 million people were left without livelihood due to the recent NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia will be unable to ensure additional funds due to the present economic situation and to the devastation caused by the NATO bombing, which has been assessed at 60 billion dollars, Morina said.
The NATO aggression caused the greatest damage to the profit-making and export-oriented economic sectors and the resulting drop of the GNP will cause a severe drop in wages and social security payments, Morina said.
Serbia and Yugoslavia cover 85 percent of the needs of refugees and displaced persons and UNHCR and other donors the rest, Morina underlined.
Referring to the situation in Kosovo-Metohija, Morina said that the mission of international KFOR peacekeepers had failed and even caused the exodus of Serbs, Montenegrins and others from the province.
Due to the unhindered policy of ethnic cleansing followed by the self-styled KLA since KFOR's arrival in Kosovo-Metohija, over 8,000 serious crimes have been committed against Serbs and other non-ethnic Albanians in the province, Morina said.
Since June 12, over 300 Serbs and others have been killed, 450 have been abducted, and over 50,000 Serb homes and 70 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries have been looted or burned, Morina said.
SERBIAN MINISTER - SOLUTION FOUND FOR 14,500 WORKERS LEFT JOBLESS BY NATO
Serbian Minister of Labour, Veteran Affairs and Welfare Tomislav Milenkovic has stated that the Serbian government has offered a solution through its programme of measures to 14,500 workers left jobless by NATO's March 24-June 10 bombing of Yugoslavia.
Speaking in a programme by the local television station FAN in Kovin, some 40km east of Belgrade, late on Thursday, Milenkovic said that some of the measures had been immediately implemented like the one under which 9,600 workers had received by Sept. 20 the amount of money equalling their two-year wages and had already set up their businesses.
He said that, moreover, 4,900 workers had opted for agricultural loans that had already been granted them.
Milenkovic said that 250 million dinars (1 U.S. dollar = 12 dinars) had been gathered through solidarity bonus, saying that the funds had been used for the reconstruction of the Krusik factory of Valjevo as well as Utva of Pancevo, Sloboda of Cacak and Zastava of Kragujevac.
He said that he was confident that a solution would be soon found for all 70,000 workers who had been left jobless by the NATO aggression.
YUGOSLAV FOREIGN TRADE MINISTER RECEIVES CHINESE BUSINESS DELEGATION
Yugoslav Foreign Trade Minister Borislav Vukovic received on Thursday a delegation of the Chinese Interimpex company that manufactures telecommunications and electronic equipment, the Yugoslav Information Secretariat said.
Vukovic said that economic cooperation between Yugoslavia and China was on the upturn, saying that new initiatives and visits by Chinese businessmen were encouraging because they signalled a great interest in and potential for the promotion of cooperation.
The delegation, headed by the company's director general Vang Jaomi, informed Vukovic that agreement on cooperation had been reached in talks with officials of the Serbian power industry, the oil refinery in Pancevo, Serbian Radio and Television (RTS) and other companies.
The delegation also said that China considered this visit to be of vital importance.
The need was stressed for setting up a Yugoslav-Chinese bank, which is already being negotiated by Beogradska Banka and Bank of China. It was noted that such one bank would make easier business deals and projects as well as diversification of cooperation between the two countries.