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YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT APPROVES YUGOSLAV DELEGATION'S U.N. ACTIVITIES
BELGRADE - A federal government session, chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, on Thursday reviewed and adopted a report about the activities of the Yugoslav delegation, headed by federal Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic, in New York from Sept. 20 - 29 at the start of the 54th regular U.N. General Assembly session.
The Federal Information Secretariat said in a statement that the government assessed that the extensive contacts and talks with more than 50 foreign ministers and heads of state and government from all continents, with top U.N. representatives and prominent U.S. political figures, represent an exeptional contribution to Yugoslavia's foreign policy activities.
This served to strengthen Yugoslavia's reputation and its international position and dispersed the illusion about this country's foreign policy isolation since, clearly, NATO is not the international community.
The New York talks underscored a high degree of solidarity with Yugoslavia, which was the victim of the NATO aggression, and expressed support for its opposition to the policy of dictate and pressures.
The majority of those who participated in these talks said that the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia represented the grossest violation of the U.N. Charter and the other principles of international law.
They all expressed disatisfaction over the concerning situation in Kosovo and Metohija resulting from the non-implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244.
During the numerous talks conducted by the Yugoslav delegation at the United Nations, everyone expressed support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Yugoslavia and rejected as unacceptable all attempts for the secession of Kosovo and Metohija. Yugoslavia expressed disatisfaction over the conduct of the special representative of the U.N. General Assembly and UNMIK head, Bernard Kouchner, who is violating his mandate determined by Resolution 1244.
All who met with the Yugoslav delegation strongly condemned the ethnic cleansing campaign by the terrorist so-called KLA agreeing that its transformation into the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps is a farse and a weapon for the destabilization of the region.
The federal government concluded that the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia was in the focus of this year's General Assembly session and that the majority of speakers underscored that this flagrant precedent of the violation of the U.N. Charter and the international law represents a serious danger to all peace-loving countries.
YUGOSLAV OFFICIALS MEET OSCE CHAIRMAN
PRISTINA - President and Vice-President of the Yugoslav government committee for cooperation with the UN mission in Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province Stanimir Vukicevic and Zoran Andjelkovic met Thursday in Pristina the Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Knut Vollebaek, the Kosovo-Metohija Interim Executive Council said in a statement.
Vollebaek expressed concern over the large number of refugees from Kosovo-Metohija, and Vukicevic and Andjelkovic cricitized the non-compliance with the Security Council Resolution 1244 and the policy of double standards towards Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the province, the statement says.
The security situation in Kosovo-Metohija is bad, despite the presence of 50,000 KFOR peacekeepers and members of the UN civilian mission, Vollebaek was told.
Daily acts of terrorism have forced 250,000 Serbs and other non ethnic Albanians to leave the province, where conditions have not been ensured for education or business activities, the officials told Vollebaek, the statement says.
VOLLEBAEK'S CALL TO KOSOVO-METOHIJA ALBANIANS
PRISTINA - Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, asked Thursday in Pristina from Kosovo-Metohija Albanians to stop threatening Serbs and to demonstrate more ethnic tolerance, without what, as he said, there can be no "new democratic Kosovo."
Vollebaek, at a press conference, appealed especially to "ethnic Albanian leaders" to "make clear steps" that would mean an end to violence, stressing the exceptional importance of ethnic reconciliation in that southern Serbian province.
The OSCE chairman was apparently forced to launch the appeal to Kosovo-Metohija Albanians, who terrorize almost every day Serbs and other non-Albanian populations in Kosovo-Metohija before the eyes of close to 50,000 KFOR troops.
Terrorist attacks have even increased in frequency after the alleged transformation of terrorist "KLA" into a "Kosovo Protection Force." A real transformation would involve a complete disbanding of the "KLA and its full demilitarization.
BRITISH JACKSON LEAVES AS KFOR CHIEF, MAKES WAY FOR GERMAN REINHARDT
PRISTINA - British General Michael Jackson leaves Kosovo-Metohija and his command of the international KFor force in that province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia on Friday, to make way for German General Klaus Reinhardt.
Gen. Jackson will probably be remembered for endearing himself to Kosovo-Metohija's Albanians and for a large number of Serbs getting not even a minimum of protection from his troops and being forced to leave their homes before ethnic Albanian terrorists.
Leaving Kosovo-Metohija, Gen. Jackson said he had seen little sign of tolerance, and admitted that no amount of troops or police can prevent anybody from killing anybody else, if they have a mind to it.
Gen. Reinhardt, in turn, who has spent the last 18 months as NATO land forces commander central Europe, has given indication of a different approach to ethnic Albanian terrorists, saying he is prepared to use force to bring peace to Kosovo-Metohija.
This might mean that KFor will finally have to come to grips with the ethnic Albanian terrorists, who are the biggest threat to peace and security in the troubled Serbian province.
Gen. Jackson, who has undisputed military qualities, has failed in this, and this will be remembered as one of the biggest failures of the U.N. mission to Kosovo-Metohija.
NATURAL HABITATS DAMAGED IN NATO'S AGGRESSION
BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Slavisa Mladenovic said Friday, opening the Balkan ecology conference on the subject ecological consequences of the war in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that during NATO's aggression on the country were damaged natural habitats and mountains, as Fruska Gora, Divcibare and Zlatibor.
Mladenovic said that a lot of time will be needed to assess all the consequences of the ecological disaster.
President of Serbia's young investigators Branko Karapandza warned that the war devastation had had un unfavorable impact on the environment in the Balkans and in Europe.
The Balkan ecology conference, held in the Belgrade hotel Mladost, is attended by 133 participants from Balkan countries, and guests from ecological organizations from Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Australia.
WAR IS THE WORST FORM OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE
BELGRADE - During the work of the Balkan Ecology Conference on the ecological effects of the recent war in Yugoslavia, currently held in Belgrade, Friday's speakers presented elements showing that war is one of the worst forms of consciously created ecological catastrophe.
The participants of the conference recalled that over 1,000 missiles had hit the summits of Mt. Fruska Gora in Vojvodina where radio and television relays were located, as well as the Brankovac hotel and numerous villages, with damages also recorded to the monasteries on this mountain - Sisatovac, Vrdnik, Staro and Novo Hopovo.
The constant bombardment of Mt. Ovcar, central Serbia, also damaged many monasteries, although the absolute recordholder is Mt. Grmija - a picnic ground near Pristina.
A total of 1,200 missiles were dropped on Mt. Kopaonik, which is a national park bordering Kosovo and Metohija and northern and central Serbia. The blasts razed the mausoleum to famous botanist Josif Pancic and the nearby hotels.
One of the first targets of the aggressors was Mt. Jastrebac, central Serbia, while mountains in the vicinity of Belgrade - Avala, Kosmaj and Rudnik, were repeatedly bombed, as were those further south - Gucevo, Tara, Jadovnik, Sara, Pastrik, Prokletije and Goles.
One of the lecturers, Zorka Vukmirovic, spoke about the uncontrolled emmission of dangerous, toxic and carcinogenic substances into the atmosphere and their effects on the environment. She said that the oil refinery in Pancevo, close to Belgrade, was bombed seven times.
The shelling of the Utva plant in Pancevo released the compounds of sodium-hydroxide, while the razed Pancevo refinery leaked chlorine which creates acid compounds and causes acid rain in Europe.
The most frequently bombed triangle, made up of Obrenovac, Pancevo and Batajnica (all in the vicinity of Belgrade), is inhabited by nearly two million people.
The Balkan Ecology Conference, which closes on Oct. 11, is attended by 133 participants from Balkan countries and guests from Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Australia.
GERMAN TRAVEL AGENT - TRAIN TRAVEL THROUGH YUGOSLAVIA IS SAFE
BELGRADE - Travel by train through Yugoslavia is safe and passangers from Western Europe and other parts of the world can have a safe and comfortable trip towards the south, the director of the German travel agency Optima Tours, Renata Menoni-Schwerko, said here on Friday.
Speaking on the final day of the seventh International Conference of Agency Passanger Car Trains which opened in Belgrade on Oct. 5, Schwerko set out that her customers did not have any difficultues or conflicts while travelling through Yugoslavia - from Sid, on the border with Croatia, to Dimitrovgrad, on the border with Bulgaria.
Next year, Optima Tours trains will pass through Yugoslavia on their way to Greece and Turkey from May to October.
Last season, Optima Tours transferred 35,000 passangers and 13,000 cars through Yugoslavia.
The conference was attended by the representatives of rail companies from a dozen European countries, including Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia and Slovenia.