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MILOSEVIC AWARDS NATIONAL HERO DECORATION TO 63RD PARATROOPER BRIGADE
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is also the supreme commander, decorated on Thursday the Yugoslav Army 63rd paratrooper brigade with the Order of the National Hero for acts which serve as an example of heroism, determination, self-sacrifice, disciplined and responsible realisation of tasks in the defence of the sovereignty, territory, independence and constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The decoration was awarded on the occasion of the day of the formation of this brigade (Oct. 14) and its 55th anniversary, the Yugoslav president's military cabinet said.
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC SENDS CONDOLENCES FOR NYERERE'S DEATH
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has sent condolences to the people and president of Tanzania on the occasion of the death of former president Julius Nyerere, who was a prominent African leader and one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as a proven friend of Yugoslavia.
YUGOSLAV ECONOMY IS EXTREMELY VITAL - GOVERNMENT
The Yugoslav government held a session in Belgrade on Thursday, chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, at which it reviewed a report on foreign trade for the January-to-September period of 1999, a government statement said.
The volume of foreign trade dropped considerably for the duration of NATO's March 24-June 10 aggression on Yugoslavia, while continued political pressure on Yugoslavia and sanctions have created a highly unfavourable environment for foreign trade.
However, despite all this, the economy is showing clear signs of vitality so that, although post-war reconstruction is intensive, industrial production and foreign trade are growing, and liberalisation of the foreign trade regimen is yielding results.
Export in September rose by 35.2 percent over August, and import, by 23.6 percent.
The biggest import commodities were raw materials, which gives a promise of further production growth, while the import of consumer goods dropped.
Counter-trade arrangements accounted for a steady percentage of foreign trade deals, while outward processing traffic arrangements were on the rise, which shows that the existing foreign partners are still there and new ones are being found all the time.
These results were achieved by developing cooperation with new markets, primarily in countries that have not joined in sanctions against Yugoslavia.
Despite strong pressure, foreign investors are showing considerable interest in investing in the Yugoslav economy.
Since the war operations stopped, new contracts have been signed with foreign investors, mostly for setting up joint-stock companies in areas of production and services.
On the strength of the current trends, foreign investments may be expected to total around 350 million German marks by the end of the year, the government statement said.
SERBIAN GOVERNMENT SEES NO REASON FOR PRICE HIKES
The Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Central Coordinating Team met in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss problems affecting production, price stability and market supply, a government statement said.
At the session chaired by Vice Premier Dragan Tomic, the body noted that, thanks to the government's economic policy measures, industrial production has recovered significantly since the war operations and NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia earlier this year.
Price stability has been maintained and the supply of all commodities on the market has been good, it was noted.
On the strength on this, the body took the view that there was no valid economic reason for the recent price increases by individual producers and traders.
Good results in agriculture, notably record yields of maize, soy-bean, sugar beet and sunflower, coupled with stimulating government measures, preclude the possibility of disruptions in the supply and prices of edible oil, sugar, milk and other necessaries of life.
Also, the economy's tax burden has been lightened and production has increased over the past months, which furnishes a good basis for stability of prices of industrial products.
The team noted it is necessary to implement urgent anti-monopoly measures so as to bring down the unjustifiably raised prices and prevent their further rise, the statement said.
PROGRESSIVE FORCES BACK SERBIA'S RECONSTRUCTION - MILUTINOVIC
Serbian President Milan Milutinovic said on Thursday that the entire Serbia, all patriots and progressive forces back the reconstruction of the country, the reforms and changes that should bring about a revival.
The "changes" which mean the surrender and the sale of Serbia, chaos and violence, are supported by a small number of individuals who act out of their own interests, Milutinovic said before more than 10,000 citizens of Nis, central Serbia, at a rally marking the liberation of this city and the opening of the rebuilt stone bridge in central Nis.
The date celebrated today by Nis is one of the most sacred examples in the historic struggle for freedom. Fifty-five years ago, Serbia successfully defended itself from fascism, from a force which wanted to impose a yoke on the entire world, Milutinovic said.
"The value and importance of the antifascist struggle can be seen even today at the end of the 20th century when, unfortunately, a part of the international community is reviving the ideas and forces which want a world according to the principles of force, subjugation of nations and states out of their own interests," he stated.
The NATO aggression on Yugoslavia proves that these forces are ready to do everything in order to realise their hegemony aims.
They toppled the patiently built international order, the UN Charter and destroyed the fundamental principles of cooperation between states and peoples, and the world security. The aggressors, who attacked Yugoslavia last spring, aimed to determine our fate according to their will and dictate.
The heroic defence based on the courage and ability of the army and police, but also the unity of all the people, prevented the aggressors from carrying out their aims. We preserved our independence, sovereignty and integrity and forced the aggressors to return to the principles of the Untied Nations and the resolution of all problems through peaceful means.
However, KFOR is seriously violating UN Security Council Resolution 1244 in Kosovo and Metohija in an attempt to mask the terrorists within some kind of civilian structure without protecting the Serbs and other non-Albanians, although this is its basic task. Those countries which do not respect the UN Security Council resolution should be aware that their mandate is not a permanent one. Yugoslavia will never recognise any document which is an attempt for the secession of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia and Yugoslavia, Milutinovic said.
NATO's attempt to rule Serbia has failed, but they have given up the aggression. They are using all means - political, economic and diplomatic, to continue the aggression on Yugoslavia. Their aim is to prevent the reconstruction of Yugoslavia, to break up the unity of the people, to prepare a basis for a future intervention in the Balkans.
These intentions will not succeed. They will fail just like all plans so far because Serbia is being defended by its entire people. The people are defending their freedom and the right to make decisions about their fate by themselves.
The people are defending themselves from all those who want to turn Serbia into an obedient vassal and their colony.
This is why, spurred on by the energy of the people, we have initiated the reconstruction throughout Serbia, Milutinovic said adding that successes in the reconstruction are neither a political trick nor an advertisement for the government. These are valuable and wonderful results of persistence, ability and the efforts of our citizens, and the patriotism and solidarity of all the people of Serbia and this is why the reconstruction will continue with even greater intensity.
"The reconstruction of Serbia today means changes that will protect its social stability and secure a better life for the people, changes that will mean development, and will not sell out Serbia.
"Reconstruction is not a campaign for repairing a road, a school, or hospital or a railway track. Reconstruction is national rebirth.
"Reconstruction is a reform of our society, which will give priority to work, honesty, knowledge, development, solidarity - fundamental values all, on which modern societies and states are based.
"Reconstruction means reforms which will make our companies more competitive, our state more efficacious and cheaper to run, our people richer," Milutinovic said.
"Serbia has had enough of destruction, suffering and divisions. What we need is work, development and unity.
"Changes that bring rebirth are backed by all Serbia, by all patriots, by all progressive forces in our country," the president of this Yugoslav republic added.
"This is why reconstruction will be a success. Serbia has no alternative. This is not an easy road to travel. Popular unity, things we have achieved so far and resources at our disposal are guarantees that we shall succeed.
"We can go forward as far as our own labour takes us and as far as we husband our resources.
"We look with optimism on the new century ahead, in which we shall again to do our all to make it a century of peace, understanding, cooperation among people, development and a better life for all in Serbia, Yugoslavia, the Balkans, Europe and the world," Milutinovic said.
The rally in Nis was attended by Yugoslav Vice Premier Nikola Sainovic, Ministers Borka Vucic, Ivan Markovic and Bratislava Morina, and representatives of the Yugoslav Army.
Also present were Serbian Ministers Dejan Kovacevic, Tomislav Milenkovic and Zivota Cosic, and officials of the Serbian interior ministry.
Milutin Mrkonjic, director of the National Reconstruction Directorate, officials of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and Yugoslav Left (JUL) for Nis and the Niski District, as well as local deputies to the Yugoslav and Serbian parliaments also attended.
BULATOVIC - YUGOSLAVIA HAS POLITICAL FORCES READY TO HELP ITS DEVELOPMENT
Leader of Montenegro's Socialist People's Party (SNP) and Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic has said that a wide and strong front of political forces ready to help greatly through Yugoslavia's reconstruction the implementation of reforms and its democratic development exists in the country.
Commenting on numerous obstacles in the functioning of the federal state at a municipal electoral conference of the SNP in Podgorica, capital of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, late on Thursday, Bulatovic said that there was no problem of relations between Serbia and Montenegro within Yugoslavia.
"The only problem is that Montenegro's alienated authorities do not respect federal laws and the Montenegrin constitution," he said.
He said that his party and federal authorities were ready to open dialogue, saying, however, that, "no one has the right to act contrary to the Yugoslav constitution nor to ignore the democratic and freely expressed will of citizens that Serbia and Montenegro co-exist in equality and harmony."
"For, there is no other better option for Montenegro nor a greater state interest than to incorporate itself firmly into the common state with Serbia," he said.
Bulatovic also said that Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic's recent meetings with more than 50 of his colleagues from all over the world showed that the attempt to isolate Yugoslavia politically had failed.
We want to cooperate with all countries in the world but on the footing of equality because there can be neither short-term nor long-term gain either in vassalage or in blind obedience, he said.
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL RULES OUT INDEPENDENCE FOR KOSOVO-METOHIJA
The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday that the Security Council Resolution 1244 clearly stated that Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province can only have autonomy within Yugoslavia, and that this must be honoured.
At a press conference in provincial capital Pristina, Annan directly rejected independence for Kosovo-Metohija, noting that his stance on this issue was clear.
Asked by a Serbian TV reporter how a UN secretary-general could be visiting a country without meeting its officials, Annan admitted this was true, and remarked that he had met Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic two weeks ago, during the General Assembly session.
Asked by a reporter of the Pristina Albanian-language daily Koha Ditore whether he thought that ethnic Albanians should have a representative at the UN, Annan said that only an independent state could be represented at the UN and that Kosovo-Metohija was not an independent state.
Commenting the murder of UN civilian mission official Valentin Krumov by ethnic Albanian extremists who had mistaken him for a Serb, Annan deplored the crime and promised measures would be taken to prevent a similar incident in the future.
Annan urged unidentified leaders of ethnic communities in Kosovo-Metohija to take measures for halting crime and creating equal conditions for all rather than just signing papers.
YUGOSLAVIA'S UN OFFICIAL ON ANNAN'S VISIT TO KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
Head of Yugoslavia's UN mission Vladislav Jovanovic commented Friday in an interview with BBC Radio on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recent visit to the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, saying that Annan had officially visited the Yugoslav territory but had failed to meet with the authorities of this sovereign country.
Jovanovic said that Annan had set his foot on Serbia's and Yugoslavia's sovereign territory and, consequently, should not have avoided a meeting with Yugoslav officials either in Belgrade or in Pristina, Kosovo and Metohija's chief city.
He said that Annan's meeting with representatives of Kosovo and Metohija's Serbs was the right thing to do, stressing, however, that this meeting could hardly make up for a meeting with Yugoslavia's official representatives in the province because they alone are symbols of the country's sovereignty over the province.
Annan's failure to contact authorities in Belgrade during his visit to Kosovo and Metohija will only serve as an encouragement to ethnic Albanian separatists in their insane intention to detach the province from Serbia and Yugoslavia, he said.
He said that the UN mission's activity and presence in Kosovo and Metohija was defined under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, stressing that the resolution was perfectly clear. The resolution does not at all leave room for any interpretations that Kosovo and Metohija could be granted anything but substantial autonomy, he said.
Jovanovic said that Yugoslavia's position was clear, firm and uncompromising, adding that the resolution, accepted in this form by all Security Council members, must be implemented. Any other attitude is contrary to the interests of peace and stability in the region and can only lead to a more complex situation and greater complications than before, he said.
KFOR PREVENTS ETHNIC ALBANIANS FROM ENTERING SERB PART OF KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
Strong French and Danish troops participating in the UN peacekeeping force KFOR prevented on Friday morning ethnic Albanians from entering forcibly the northern, Serb-populated section of Kosovska Mitrovica, in the north of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province.
The troops used shock and tear-gas bombs to force more than 1,000 ethnic Albanians to withdraw to the town's southern section.
One French KFOR member and one gendarme were injured when the ethnic Albanian demonstrators started stoning the troops.
The troops are still at the scene trying to force the demonstrators with shock and tear-gas bombs to disperse.
The bridge linking the town's two sections is guarded by strong French KFOR troops, gendarmes and armoured personal carriers, while in some places barbed wire has been put up.
Tensions are still high in the town that is being monitored by French KFOR helicopters.
Several hundred Serbs have rallied in its northern section waiting to see what will happen.
BRIDGE DIVIDING KOSOVSKA MITROVICA STILL BLOCKED
The situation on the main bridge over the Ibar river in Kosovska Mitrovica remains tense and the French KFOR contingent and gendarmes, aided by the Italian police, continue preventing a huge mass of ethnic Albanians from crossing into the northern Serb part of the city.
The bridge is spanned by a double barbed wire, behind which parked are about 20 armoured and other KFOR and UN police vehicles.
The French troops and gendarmes are still using stun grenades and tear gas to control the several thousand ethnic Albanian demonstrators, headed by terrorists, who are waving the flag of Albania.
French snipers and machinegun nests man the tops of apartment buildings in the northern Serb part of Kosovska Mitrovica.
KFOR DELIVERS BODIES OF 3 SERB CIVILIANS KILLED BY ETHNIC ALBANIANS
French KFOR troops delivered to the morgue of the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital late on Wednesday the bodies of three Serbs murdered by ethnic Albanian terrorists, according to a report on Thursday.
TANJUG learns at the Serb National Council for the Kosovskomitrovacki District that only one of the bodies has been identified as that of one Djurdja Nedeljovic, aged 60, who was shot to death.
The other two bodies, both male, have not been identified.
One of them was found with his throat slit in the Serb village of Valac, 2 km north of the centre of the Zvecan municipality.
The international KFOR force in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's U.N.-secured province of Kosovo-Metohija has given no details about the third body, not even where it was found.
The body of Djurdja Nedeljkovic was found in the village of Rudnik in the Srbica municipality, 35 km west of Kosovska Mitrovica.
She had lived in Kosovska Mitrovica and there were traces of blood in her house, indicating that she was murdered at home, and then dumped in Rudnik.
The Serb National Council further said ethnic Albanian terrorists had peppered the vehicle of a Serb with at least 50 bullets outside the village of Smrekovnica on the Pristina-Kosovska Mitrovica road, 5 km south of Kosovska Mitrovica, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Serb, whose identity was not disclosed, abandoned his car and escaped in a French KFOR vehicle and was taken to north Kosovska Mitrovica.
His car was seized by the ethnic Albanian terrorists.
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS BEAT UP SERBS, STONE SERB HOMES
Despite assurances by the international force in U.N.-secured Kosovo-Metohija that violence is waning, the Centres for Peace and Tolerance in Pristina and Kosovo Polje record brutal assaults by ethnic Albanian terrorists on Serbs and their property.
Five Serbs were brutally beaten up in Kosovo Polje on Thursday, together with an 82-year-old woman who had set out for the post office to pick up her pension check.
A Montenegrin's home in Kosovo Polje was stoned, and he has been given a deadline to move out or else.
The National Church Council in Gnjilane reported that the homes and shops of four Serbs had been stoned. Two Romanies were beaten up and had to be hospitalised.
ROBERTSON HEADS NATO STARTING TODAY
Former British Defence Minister George Robertson officially replaced Javier Solana as NATO secretary general in the NATO headquarters on Thursday.
Solana went on to new duties in the European Union.
The Brussels press said that Robertson's priorities would be "the strengthening of the European defence system" and the modernisation of weapons, without diminishing in any way the leading role of the United States.
Robertson also spoke about "the eastwards expansion of NATO" and "the stepping up of relations with Russia and Ukraine." However, these two goals rule out each other because expansion towards the former Soviet republics is strongly opposed by Moscow.
AGGRESSORS MUST PAY - YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL TELLS IPU SESSION
The speaker of the federal parliament's Chamber of Republics, Srdja Bozovic, who heads a Yugoslav parliamentary delegation at the 102nd session of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Berlin, on Thursday described the disastrous effects of the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Bozovic told Tanjug over the telephone that the conference is attended by parliamentarians from 133 countries whom he had told that the position of the world powers towards Yugoslavia is a clear example of their hypocrisy and application of the policy of double standards.
"By bombing Yugoslavia, the biggest advocates of democracy have violated all civilisation norms and the fundamental human rights, including the right to life," Bozovic set out.
"The people of Yugoslavia must be compensated for the suffering and material destruction incurred, and we also demanded the immediate lifting of all sanctions and the halting of all political conditions," Bozovic stated.
Bozovic informed the IPU about the horrendous ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Montenegrins, Romanies and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija.
He underscored that the UN Security Council, as a guarantor of the Kosovo and Metohija Resolution, should direct activities towards preventing the brutalities of the ethnic Albanian terrorists, should immediately disarm them, finally stop the ethnic cleansing in Serbia's southern province and create conditions for the safe return of all who were expelled.
YUGOSLAV REFUGEE MINISTER HOLDS TALKS WITH UNHCR SPECIAL ENVOY
Yugoslav Minister for Refugees, Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Assistance Bratislava Morina met Friday with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special envoy on the former Yugoslavia Dennis McNamara.
Morina and McNamara discussed joint activities in solving issues concerning internally displaced persons from the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province and refugees from the former Yugoslavia as well as the creation of conditions for their return, said a statement issued by the Yugoslav Information Secretariat.
McNamara informed Morina that heating problems had been dealt with in all collective centres where displaced persons and refugees are accommodated and that the centres would receive relief aid containing food and clothing ahead of the coming winter.
It was agreed to step up humanitarian assistance to Serbs, Montenegrins and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija whose lives are in jeopardy.
Morina stressed that Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina had failed to comply with obligations assumed under relevant agreements on the repatriation of refugees, saying that it was vital that UNHCR play a more active role in ensuring the planned pace of their return.
It was also agreed that internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija and refugees from former Yugoslav republics sheltering in Yugoslavia be registered through cooperation between UNHCR and relevant state bodies.
YUGOSLAV DEFENCE MINISTER RECEIVES IRAQI AMBASSADOR
Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Pulatovic received on Friday newly appointed Iraqi ambassador to Belgrade Sami Sadoun, the federal defence ministry's information service has said.
Bulatovic and Sadoun underscored the need for promoting economic cooperation between the two countries in all spheres, especially the military-economic and scientific-technical defence fields.
Discussed was the project Oil for Food which, both sides concluded, gives a significant chance to Yugoslav food manufacturers.
Bulatovic informed the Iraqi ambassador about the tragic effects of the NATO aggression in Yugoslavia and pointed out Iraq's efforts for the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia.
PAPANDREOU URGES E.U. TO TREAT YUGOSLAVIA EQUALLY WITH OTHER BALKAN STATES
Greek Foreign Minister Yorgos Papandreou said before leaving for Finland to attend a meeting of the European Union that all Balkan countries should become E.U. members, stressing that Yugoslavia should be included in the process.
Papandreou said that Athens urged immediate talks between the European Union and countries likely to join the body including Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta.
He urged the European Union immediately to take into consideration the possibility of other Balkan states also becoming its members, stressing that Greece's stand on the matter tried to emphasise that all countries in the region should be part of European processes.
ETHNIC ALBANIANS ALSO VICTIMS OF KLA TERRORISTS, SAYS BRUSSELS PRESS
Members of the terrorist organisation which calls itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and which urges the creation of some kind of greater Albania, are attacking Serbs, Montenegrins and Romanies, but also all ethnic Albanians who back a multiethnic Kosovo and Metohija within Yugoslavia, the Brussels press has said adding that 200 ethnic Albanians have been killed since the arrival of the peacekeeping force.
The so-called KLA "is untrustworthy" and its ultimate goal is to create a new state in the Balkans at all costs, the Brussels press said underscoring that this is one of the main reasons why the terrorists, despite KFOR's demands, have still not surrendered even one half of their weapons.
While the ethnic Albanian separatists insist on an independent Kosovo and Metohija and the creation of a greater Albania, NATO, despite its military intervention and the huge number of troops engaged, has not contributed to the easing of tensions in the region nor has it succeeded in providing safety to all inhabitants of the province.
"Since NATO and the so-called KLA have taken control over Kosovo and Metohija, more than 150,000 ethnic Albanians have left this region and about 200 have been killed," Belgian weekly Solider said quoting members of the pro-Yugoslav party Democratic Alternative for Kosovo (DAK), which rallies the representatives of Kosovo Albanians and other ethnic communities. DAK claims that the lives of its members are in danger and are constantly targeted by the so-called KLA.
DAK member Fatmir Sheholi, who was born in Podujevo, set out that "it is not true that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija did not have any rights."
"I am an ethnic Albanian. I obtained my college degree in the Albanian language," he said adding that, prior to the NATO intervention, the Kosovo Albanians had 65 papers and magazines in their own language, while there was only one daily in Serbian.
"Members of the so-called KLA killed my father two years ago saying that they did that because he was a traitor since he supported Yugoslavia, rather than the KLA. My father believed that all nations should live in Kosovo and Metohija under equal conditions," Sheholi said.