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YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT DECORATES INDIVIDUALS, FIRMS OVER REBUILDING WORK
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday decorated 150 individuals and 12 companies for their contribution to national reconstruction, marking the end of the first stage of reconstruction of NATO-wreaked devastation.
At a ceremony at his Beli Dvor residence in Belgrade's exclusive Dedinje district, Milosevic conferred Orders of Merit and Orders of Labour on the deserving individuals and companies.
Addressing the assembled guests, Milosevic said:
"Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, let me first of all express my great pleasure at the successful completion of the first stage of reconstruction of the country. Its targets have been achieved entirely as planned and set at the end of NATO's aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
"The job was not easy, nor were the targets easily attainable.
"The targets in the first stage were to restore all functions vital to the people, the economy and the public services. This meant the electric power grid, water and gas supply, roads, bridges, the railway, schools, hospitals, houses and residential buildings for families left homeless in the NATO aggression.
"I believe that all those who took part in this - and the whole country took part, all its people - can be very proud of this great result of their efforts. All people of our country took part in the resistance to the aggressor and all pitched in to rebuild the country. The few exceptions are so minor that they do not deserve a mention.
"Our reconstruction is in itself a form of resistance to subjugation, to neo-colonialism, and its success sends a message to all countries and all nations that resistance to an aggressor is necessary and that the nation and the country determined to defend their freedom have every chance of defending it with success.
"We are contemporaries of all that has happened and we are certainly not in a position to see the true proportions of the giant strides made by our entire nation in the defence of the country and through the long weeks of reconstruction, which were all too short for the size of the job in hand.
"The future generations alone will be the true judges and see our achievement of the past few months steadily and see it whole, in all its glory. But, I believe and I am sure that the feeling of pleasure at this achievement and the undoubted feeling of pride are compounded by a feeling also of great responsibility to continue to build the country with undiminished enthusiasm, to achieve the development targets, to achieve the reform targets and put our country in development terms where it belongs with its potential and its capabilities.
"I am sure that all of you and all people of our country will continue to make their contribution to this goal.
"I wish, first of all, to congratulate those who took direct part in rebuilding the country in the first stage, which is more than 140,000 workers in a large number of companies, and especially those who are most deserving and who will this day be decorated.
"I wish you all success in this great job of importance to our whole country."
Milutin Mrkonjic, director of the Reconstruction Directorate, thanked President Milosevic on behalf of those who received decorations.
The great support that the builders enjoyed and continue to enjoy from President Milosevic became their great inspiration and gave them their greatest stimulus, while also insuring them with an obligation to persist, Mrkonjic said.
He stressed that the decorations were the highest recognition, not only for the recipients, but also for all others who participated and helped rebuild the country.
Mrkonjic promised that Yugoslav builders would meet the expectations of the people also in the second stage of reconstruction, which is continuing.
YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT SUBMITS MEMORANDUM ON KOSOVO-METOHIJA TO SECURITY COUNCIL
The Yugoslav government held a session Thursday chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, and adopted a Memorandum on the implementation of the Security Council Resolution 1244 and addressed it to the SC president and the UN secretary-general, the federal information secretariat said in a statement.
The Memorandum notes that the security and overall situation in Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province after the deployment of KFOR peacekeepers and UN civilian Mission UNMIK is characterized by mass terror against Serbs and non ethnic Albanians.
The murders of 447 Serbs and members of other ethnic communities, the abduction of 648 people and the expulsion of over 330,000 Serbs, Montenegrins and other non ethnic Albanians from the province are a direct result of the irresponsible and indolent attitude of KFOR and UNMIK, and particularly of Bernard Kouchner, special representative of the UN secretary-general, the government underlined.
As Yugoslavia has fully honoured all its commitments set out in the Resolution and other relevant documents, the government demands that all other factors, above all KFOR and UNMIK, also honour their commitments fully and without delay. This is a pre-condition for realizing the fundamental goals and tasks of the international presence in Kosovo-Metohija whose framework is clearly defined by the Resolution 1244, the statement says.
On the basis of respect of Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the government will not recognize KFOR's and UNMIK's decisions which are not in line with the Resolution 1244. Yugoslavia, as a sovereign country and UN member, has willingly accepted the deployment of international forces under UN aegis in its territory, but insists that the Security Council ensure the full respect of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to take all measures set out in its Resolution 1244 in this regard, the statement says.
The Yugoslav government insists that all Bernard Kouchner's illegal decrees and decisions violating Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, such as the introduction of a separate currency, customs duties, arbitrary appointment of judges, opening of the Pristina airport for civilian flights, etc, be nullified. It also demands that all illegally seized state, public, social and private property be returned to its legal owners.
The government again demands, in line with the resolution 1244 and the military-technical agreement, that the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police forces be enabled to return to Kosovo-Metohija in order to pacify the security situation in the province and prevent the exodus of the remaining Serb and other non ethnic Albanian inhabitants, the statement says.
The government firmly demands that the document on the transformation of the self-styled KLA be nullified and that the KLA be immediately, unconditionally and fully disarmed, and that its leaders who are accountable for mass crimes and systematic ethnic cleansing be taken to justice, the statement says.
The Yugoslav government also demands from the Security Council to guarantee free and safe return of all Serbs and other citizens expelled in the ethnic cleansing campaign since UNMIK's and KFOR's arrival in the province. It also demands the expulsion of all foreign nationals who have entered Yugoslavia's territory illegally.
The government reiterates its demand that an all-round agreement be signed by Yugoslavia and the UN on regulating the status of the international presence under UN aegis in Kosovo-Metohija, and on creating a committee to monitor the implementation of the resolution 1244 and other relevant documents, the statement says.
SERBIA'S P.M. - YUGOSLAVIA TO BE REVITALISED THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION
Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic said Friday that Yugoslavia's reconstruction was at the same time a process of the country's revitalisation and development.
Addressing several thousand residents of Surdulica, in the south-east of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, where 29 housing units have been completed, Marjanovic stressed that, consequently, it was vital that the unity that the people had demonstrated during the country's defence from NATO's aggression had been turned into the main driving force in the country's reconstruction.
He said that the world had been amazed by the Yugoslav economy's and the Yugoslav people's vitality and by the country's firmness.
"The reconstruction that we are carrying out successfully and at a fast pace is vital for a speedy economic growth and boosting the population's living standards as well as for maintaining economic and social stability and implementing reforms," he said.
These are at the same time the Serbian government's priorities in the coming period, he said adding, "When they see how much we have done in a short period of time in the reconstruction of that destroyed by NATO criminals, the heart of every patriot, and nearly all Serbian citizens are patriots, is filled with pride."
Marjanovic said that all towns and construction sites were equally important in the reconstruction process, because they were all parts of Serbia, saying that all who had fought for Serbia's freedom and successful development and for a better life stood by it.
"This is the essence of the unity of the people and the leadership headed by our President Slobodan Milosevic," he said.
JOVANOVIC DECLARES NATO-DAMAGED SPORTS CENTRE IN CUPRIJA OPEN AGAIN
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic declared in a ribbon-cutting ceremony late on Thursday the Ada sports centre in Cuprija, which was damaged in NATO raids on April 8 and May 29, open again.
Addressing those attending the ceremony, Jovanovic said that, in reconstructing bridges, schools, roads and homes shelled during NATO's March 24-June 10 aggression, Serbia had not forgotten sports facilities, especially in towns that had achieved outstanding results in the domain, like Cuprija.
Jovanovic also said that the reconstruction of ten more flats in Cuprija, located some 110 km south-east of Belgrade, would soon be completed, saying that the building of a modern primary school was about to begin. He said that the rebuilding of the town's facilities that were not so severely damaged in the NATO bombing would commence on Friday.
"We are brave, firm, united and resolved to build as long as and as much as Serbia and Yugoslavia need it. We shall continue to do so in future," he said felicitating all construction workers decorated by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic earlier in the day.
Also present were Serbian Construction Minister Dejan Kovacevic and head of the directorate for the country's reconstruction Milutin Mrkonjic and his aides.
WEST SUPPRESSES ITS CRIMES - YUGOSLAV FM MINISTER
Yugoslavia's foreign minister is quoted in Vienna on Thursday as sharply criticising NATO and the United States for their attempts to subjugate Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav government, which is defending the interests of Yugoslavia and its people, upsets NATO's concept by its consistent pursuit of the policy of independence, according to Zivadin Jovanovic, speaking for the Vienna Standard newspaper.
U.S.-led NATO, however, pursues a unilateral system concept, and accepts no equality-based relations, Jovanovic said.
NATO and the United States want subjugation, as evident from their treatment of Yugoslavia's neighbours, but they will not succeed, he vowed.
He further said that NATO and the United States have no right to preach about democracy, after they bombed and demolished Yugoslavia, and now want to install in power in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia precisely those who had cooperated with NATO during the air strikes.
He went on to say they are attacking the Yugoslav government because they are dissatisfied with the effects of NATO's March 24- June 10 aggression and because Yugoslavia has remained a sovereign country despite efforts to destabilise it with economic sanctions.
Speaking about the Hague-based tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, he said that the tribunal is a mechanism of the aggressors, set up in order to manipulate things so that the victims should appear to be the culprits.
The tribunal is not seeking justice, but trying to demonise the Serbs, working hard but futilely to suppress the lies about Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province, he said.
One such lie, he added, was the one about thousands of dead ethnic Albanians, who turned out never to have existed at all, but the Serbs were promptly accused as criminals.
He further said that 250,000 Serbs have been driven out of U.N.-administered Kosovo-Metohija since the international KFOR force was deployed, 400 others have been murdered, another 600 wounded, and more than 60 Serbian monasteries and churches destroyed.
Thousands of Albanians without Yugoslav citizens have crossed into Kosovo-Metohija from Albania in plain view of KFOR, Jovanovic said, stressing that obviously there is no political will to protect the province's non-Albanians.
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS BOMB SERB HOMES IN GNJILANE
Ethnic Albanian terrorists threw several bombs on Serb houses in Gnjilane, Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province, Thursday morning, wounding several persons, and continue looting the property of Serbs and members of other ethnic communities in the town.
A bomb was thrown about 10.30 a.m. on a group of six Serbs chopping wood in the yard of the house of Tihomir Lazic. Damjan Kocic was seriously wounded in the explosion, and Lazic and Vlasta Nikolic were lightly wounded.
On Wednesday night, ethnic Albanian terrorists threw three bombs at the house of Prvoslav Lazic, causing considerable damage, the Gnjilane church national committee said.
KFOR URGES SERBS IN KOSOVO POLJE TO JOIN ETHNIC ALBANIAN PROTECTION CORPS
Representatives of international KFOR peacekeepers and UN civilian mission UNMIK have begun handing to Serbs in the Kosovo Polje area, Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province, a pamphlet urging them to join the Protection Corps created by militant ethnic Albanian leader Hashim Thaci.
The pamphlet claims that the task of the Kosovo Protection Corps is to respond to any disaster affecting the province and its population, to search for and save endangered individuals, help in reconstructing infrastructure, help KFOR and UNMIK at their request and perform ceremonial duties.
Serbian Minister without portfolio and Co-President of the Yugoslav Committee for Cooperation with UNMIK Slobodan Tomovic described KFOR's action as a deceit and said that all Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija must refuse to cooperate and reject any contacts with KFOR and UNMIK in this regard.
Inhabitants of villages in the Kosovo Polje area told Tanjug they had no intention to even discuss the issue or to join the Protection Corps created by their enemies who are torching their homes and expelling all Serbs from the province.
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA SERBS PROTEST OVER ARREST OF HOSPITAL DIRECTOR
Serb doctors in the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica addressed an open letter on Thursday to regional UN administrator Martin Garrod over the arrest of their hospital director.
The doctors said the warrant for the arrest of Director Milan Ivanovic was the bleak underside of the democracy that Garrod was implementing.
They further said that this was the only hospital in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's U.N.-administered province of Kosovo-Metohija that was treating Serbs, while all others - in Pristina, Pec, Prizren, Djakovica and Gnjilane - had closed their doors to Serbs.
The Kosovska Mitrovica hospital was the only hospital that had not been deserted by a single doctor, and had even received those who had been forced to leave medical centres elsewhere in the province, the doctors said.
They said that Garrod seemed to resent this, and was issuing arrest warrants in an effort to drive the local doctors and the new arrivals out of Kosovo-Metohija and into central Serbia.
They warned Garrod that, if the Serb doctors left the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital, Serbs in Leposavic, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and north Kosovska Mitrovica would have no reason to stay in the area.
YUGOSLAVIA DOES NOT RECOGNIZE KOUCHNER'S ILLEGAL AND ILLEGITIMATE ACTS
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia does not recognize the illegal and illegitimate documents adopted by the head of the UN Civilian Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, Bernard Kouchner, and views such documents as null and void, Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister Ivan Markovic told Belgrade Radio on Friday.
Markovic set out that Kouchner acted in a completely unauthorized manner contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244 by adopting a decree on providing postal and telecommunications services in Kosovo and Metohija.
According to Markovic, this represents an attempt to seize the property of the Telecom Serbia Company and to prevent its activities in this part of Serbia.
Markovic demanded that Telecom Serbia, just like the Telecommunications Ministry, instigate proceedings before international courts for the protection of the rights of the employees and property of domestic and foreign shareholders.
Markovic stated that he had informed the general secretary of the International Telecommunications Union, Yoshio Uchumi, about Kouchner's gross violation of Yugoslavia's sovereignty in the telecommunications sphere.
Markovic reiterated the demand by the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry for a halt to the jamming from abroad of Yugoslav radio and television stations.
U.S. CHANGES POLICY TOWARDS YUGOSLAVIA - OR PLAYS A TRICK
The Clinton Administration's apparent willingness to relax economic sanctions against Yugoslavia has attracted global attention, as well as global speculations when it was announced by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday.
Albright said sanctions would be eased if Yugoslavia consented to democratic elections under the supervision of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
While there are those who believe the United States has made a turn-about in its policy and finally taken heed of the warnings of its closest western European allies that the sanctions are both unjust and ineffective, there are others who see this as just a trick.
The Clinton Administration would obviously like to see in power in Yugoslavia and its republic of Serbia people who would praise Washington after last spring's 79 days of air strikes on Yugoslavia, instead of those who consistently demand a comprehensive and just indemnity for the damage caused in the barbaric bombings.
Another purpose seems to be to have elections in Serbia as soon as possible, and then, if their outcome should turn out to be different from what Washington hopes for, to have them declared null and void with the help of the OSCE, and so get belated international justification for all the violence against Yugoslavia.
What is more, Albright did not promise a complete lifting of the sanctions, but only their easing, so that, through the United States' arrogance, the drastic violation of the relevant UN resolutions continues, since the isolation of Yugoslavia should have ended unconditionally with the ending of the Bosnia war.
It is well known, furthermore, that the United States has not honoured its international obligations under the 1995 Dayton Accords for Bosnia-Herzegovina or the Serb-Croatian Erdut accord reached at the time of the Croatian war.
It has not honoured, either, many other documents concerning the settling of the status of the town of Brcko (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the Prevlaka peninsula (straddling the Yugoslav-Croatian border), or the repatriation of Serb refugees to Croatia.
The aggression on Yugoslavia over the Kosovo-Metohija situation was the most drastic violation of UN resolutions and international law, leaving a yawning gap between U.S. declarations of support for Balkan stability and its practices.
It would seem that Albright's offer should be taken with a pinch of salt.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL HAS SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR KOUCHNER - LAVROV
Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations said on Thursday he would be visiting Yugoslavia from Nov. 5 to 10 to see at first hand why the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 on Kosovo-Metohija was not being implemented.
Sergei Lavrov said he would be informing the chiefs of the UN mission to that U.N.-administered province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia about the concern this state of affairs was causing in Russia.
Lavrov told Itar-TASS news agency that other members of the Security Council, too, had serious questions to ask of the chief of the UN civilian mission (UNMIK) to Kosovo-Metohija, Bernard Kouchner.
Many of Kouchner's practical steps were viewed as ignoring the provisions of Resolution 1244 which envisaged for strict respect for Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Lavrov said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has summoned Kouchner to New York for Friday, Nov. 5, to explain his actions to the Security Council.
"We insisted that the Kosovo force (KFOR) should not absolve itself of the responsibility for security in the territory, that they should give more attention to guarding outer frontiers of the province which are now quite transparent and through which, to this day, in violation of all resolutions of the UN Security Council, weapons are being supplied to extremists and there are various other prohibited deliveries, including drugs trafficking," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, the matter of returning the Yugoslav army and police to the province, which had been agreed upon in the Security Council, was not being settled, he added.
He said that special concern was caused by there being no dialogue between Belgrade and representatives of Kosovo-Metohija's population on the province's political status, although this too was demanded under the resolution.
E.U. CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINST SERBS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
The European Union has condemned ethnically motivated violence in Kosovo and Metohija, stressing that this complicates and makes more difficult its efforts to help reconstruct the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's southern province.
In a statement released in Brussels on Thursday by the Foreign Ministry of Finland that currently presides over the European Union, the body condemned the latest acts of violence against Serbs in the province.
The European Union primarily wants ethnic Albanian leaders to condemn these acts of violence and to exert influence to ensure the promotion of cooperation with officials of the UN civilian mission to the province (UNMIK) and other UN officials, the statement said.
The 15 E.U. member states expect all parties concerned to support consistently the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and to cooperate fully with UNMIK and the UN peacekeeping force KFOR, the statement said.
Urging a democratic and multiethnic Kosovo and Metohija, the European Union stressed that all living in the province, regardless of their ethnic origin, must be enabled to remain in it or to return to it and live in peace, without being the target of harassment or pressure of any other kind, the statement said.
This was and has remained the basis for every form of the European Union's engagement in Kosovo and Metohija, it said.
It went on to say that the E.U. member states were making great efforts in terms of financial assistance and assistance in personnel to help reconstruct Kosovo and Metohija, underlining that the continuation of ethnically-motivated violence only complicated the body's efforts to help build a stable society in the province.
The European Union calls on all living in the province to refrain from violence and to turn to cooperation, the statement said. The statement especially urged ethnic Albanian leaders in the province to condemn acts of violence, incidents and various forms of pressure.
The European Union called on all ready to cooperate and help bring to justice those responsible for violence, urging all political parties to open dialogue and put an end to threats targeting political opponents.
The European Union is shocked by the latest acts of violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, the statement said strongly condemning the incident that occurred in Pec, in the west of the province, on Oct 27 when a convoy with 155 Serbs, organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and escorted by KFOR, had been attacked.
WESTERN POWERS WAGE ECONOMIC WAR IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA - FRENCH MAGAZINE
Immediately after international KFOR peacekeepers were deployed in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo-Metohija, the leading western countries, headed by the US, began waging an economic war among themselves with the intention of securing the best positions and profit for their companies, French magazine Capital writes in its latest issue.
Companies from countries whose governments had planned and organized last spring's NATO aggression on Yugoslavia are resorting to any means to obtain contracts and the largest possible share in reconstruction projects in the province financed by their governments.
Company representatives are fighting competitors for the largest possible share of the market in the province, where reconstruction projects offer great prospects for which funds are not lacking. The European Union and the World Bank have promised to earmark between 26 and 32 billion francs as credits to that effect, the Capital writes.
The western companies have primarily a geo-strategic interest in taking the best positions now, as the entire Serbia should be reconstructed with several billion dollar investments, the magazine writes.
It is clear that the so-called humanitarian missionaries are misusing the UN mission and using their stay in Kosovo-Metohija not in order to resolve humanitarian problems, alleviate the suffering of the starving and exhausted population, protect unarmed Serb civilians from rampaging ethnic Albanian terrorists, or establish a multiethnic society, but in order to secure profits for their companies and the best possible economic, political and military positions for their countries, not only in the province, Serbia and the Balkans, but also for a future breakthrough to the East, which has cheap manpower and raw materials, the Capital writes.
It is hard to predict how the war booty will be shared by alleged western allies, or which part of the world they will target in the future. One thing is certain, the alleged humanitarian endeavour is nothing but a cover-up for the race for profits, which tramples on the ideas of humanism, democracy and freedom, the magazine writes.
Profit and the interest of the capital are the only values that the West recognizes, the Capital concludes.
RUSSIA-BELARUS PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY URGES YUGOSLAVIA'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY
The parliamentary assembly of the Russia-Belarus union called Thursday on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to step up the work by his government's special committee on the recovery of the Yugoslav economy.
The call, issued at an emergency session of the parliamentary assembly held in Moscow, stressed the need for coordinating the commission's activity with the work by the joint commission of the assembly, and the Yugoslav, Belarus and Russian parliaments.
Participants in the assembly's 13th session, which was also attended by a Yugoslav parliamentary delegation in the capacity of observers, urged Putin also to direct efforts by Russian diplomatic services towards removing the international isolation of Yugoslavia and restoring a just and lasting peace to the Balkans.
The call also stressed that the assembly had repeatedly strongly condemned NATO's March 24-June 10 aggression on Yugoslavia that ha not only caused devastation and a great loss of life but had also seriously undermined the UN credibility and confidence among European peoples and had dealt a severe blow to the system of international security.
Yugoslavia is taking decisive measures for the reconstruction of power industry and transport infrastructure, production facilities and the social sphere and, most importantly, for providing accommodation to all left homeless by the NATO aggression, the document said.
The document welcomed the Russian government's decision to set up a commission for assisting the Yugoslav economic recovery, chaired by Putin, voicing regret, however, that the commission had not been activated yet.
The assembly also said that it was concerned about a failure to end the international isolation of Yugoslavia, describing as impermissible attempts to ban the country from the United Nations.
The Yugoslav delegation to the session, led by head of the Yugoslav parliament lower house foreign relations committee Ljubisa Ristic, included also head of the lower house defence and state security committee and Serbia's Socialist Party (SPS) lower house whip Milutin Stojkovic, deputy head of the upper house committee on foreign relations and economic cooperation with abroad Zoran Zizic and Stevan Kesejic, a deputy.
YUGOSLAV NATIONAL BANK TO PREVENT UNCONTROLLED MONEY ISSUE IN MONTENEGRO - GOVERNOR
Following the Montenegrin government decisions of November 2 regarding the monetary system, the Yugoslav National Bank (NBJ) is no longer allowed to control payments operations in Montenegro's territory, NBJ Governor Dusan Vlatkovic told Serbian TV Thursday evening.
The Montenegrin government introduced last Tuesday the German mark as parallel currency in the republic along with the Yugoslav dinar. Announcing that decision, Montenegrin Minister of Finance Miroslav Ivanisevic said that the Montenegrin government had also decided to take over some of the NBJ (central bank) prerogatives.
In line with its constitutional and legal functions, and in order to prevent uncontrolled issue of money in Montenegro, the NBJ has decided to temporarily halt the transfer of funds by Montenegrin firms to firms in Serbia, Vlatkovic said.
LESS THAN 30 PERCENT OF CITIZENS OF MONTENEGRO FOR INDEPENDENCE
The vice-president of the Socialist National Party (SNP) of Montenegro, Predrag Bulatovic, denied on Friday the validity of public opinion polls according to which more than 50 percent of citizens of this republic support its independence.
In an interview to the Niksic paper Onogost, Bulatovic described such assessments by certain polling agencies as "completely untrue."
"Our party has organized a public opinion poll in which both SNP members and people from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) opted for the continuation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, while a poll conducted by the Montenegrin authorities shows that less than 30 percent of citizens want independence," Bulatovic set out.
According to him, claims that more than 50 percent of the citizens of Montenegro support its independence are solely propaganda messages "aimed at influencing changes in the civic mood."
Bulatovic described such propaganda activities as "a dangerous creation of a political basis for the violent secession of Montenegro which would, quite certainly, lead to conflicts."