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MARJANOVIC PRESENTS DECORATIONS FOR MAJOR RECONSTRUCTION RESULTS
Serbian prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic conferred Saturday in the capacity of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's special envoy decorations on 112 workers and 23 firms for their outstanding results in the first phase of the country's reconstruction that has just been successfully completed.
Under Milosevic's decree, the workers in question were decorated for their outstanding role in the country's reconstruction and their patriotism, self-sacrifice, competence and initiative, in which way they have greatly contributed to the elimination of consequences of NATO's March 24-June 10 aggression and the creation of conditions vital for the Yugoslav people's life and work.
Marjanovic said that, by handing over to citizens and the country's economy facilities that had been destroyed by NATO aggressors, the first phase of the country's reconstruction had been completed.
He said that the country's infrastructure vital for the population's normal life and work and for the functioning of the country's economy and public services had been reconstructed within a few months. He said that 31 road and railway bridges, the entire network of damaged routes, and all schools, hospitals, heating system units and oil refineries had been reconstructed.
He said that 520 houses and flats had been rebuilt, in which way citizens left homeless by NATO's bombing had got new homes before the coming winter, saying that all that had been done within a very short period of time.
"We have shown in this way that we are strong enough to achieve the impossible when our country's survival and development and our entire people's well-being are at stake and that we are capable of doing so," he said.
Marjanovic said that the reconstruction results had confirmed the Serbian people's colossal unity and solidarity.
"All that has been achieved throughout Serbia in a very short period of time is a heroic feat and yet another major act of patriotism on the part of the most of the Serbian citizens," he said.
Stressing that the unity of the people and the country's leadership headed by President Milosevic had once again been demonstrated, Marjanovic said, "the unity demonstrated in the defence of the country, has also been demonstrated in reconstruction and development tasks. It is the best guarantee that we shall successfully defend our national interests, our freedom and independence."
Marjanovic voiced confidence that the second reconstruction phase would also be completed successfully and within set deadlines.
Also present were Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, Yugoslav parliament lower house speaker Milomir Minic, Serbian parliament speaker Dragan Tomic, Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, Yugoslav Minister for cooperation with international financial institutions Borka Vucic, head of the directorate for the country's reconstruction Milutin Mrkonjic, chief of the Yugoslav army general staff Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, Serbian Vice-Premier Milovan Bojic and other top Serbian government, Serbia's Socialist Party (SPS) and Yugoslav Left (JUL) officials.
YUGOSLAV OFFICIALS MEET WITH RUSSIA'S UN AMBASSADOR
Head of the Yugoslav government committee on cooperation with the UN mission to Kosovo and Metohija Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic and Chairman of the provisional executive council for the Yugoslav province and the committee's co-chairman Zoran Andjelkovic met Sunday with Russia's UN ambassador Sergei Lavrov at Slatina airport near Pristina, the province's chief city.
Vukicevic and Andjelkovic informed Lavrov about the latest developments in Kosovo and Metohija, said a statement issued by the committee.
They said that the situation in the province had been characterised by the ethnic Albanians' continued terrorising of Serbs and other non-Albanians since the deployment of the UN peacekeeping force KFOR and the UN civilian mission (UNMIK) to the province.
Murders, abductions and even attacks on humanitarian convoys are continuing unabated, they said stressing that KFOR and UNMIK were primarily responsible for such a state of affairs because of their tolerant attitude towards such activity by Kosovo and Metohija's ethnic Albanians.
Moreover, UNMIK and KFOR have failed to take necessary measures to protect the non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija and, consequently, have failed to achieve the basic goal of their mission which is the creation of conditions for the safe return and normal life of all living in the province, they said.
Vukicevic underlined that Serbia and Yugoslavia had fully complied with all obligations assumed under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, a military-technical agreement reached in Kumanovo, Macedonia and other relevant documents and that, subsequently, the country insisted that UNMIK and KFOR also meet their obligations and open dialogue on a political agreement.
Lavrov said that he was familiar with all positions cited in the Yugoslav government's memorandum on the implementation of the resolution, saying that the memorandum served as a good basis for a discussion at a recent Security Council session.
RUSSIA'S LAVROV - KOSOVO AND METOHIJA INTEGRAL PART OF SERBIA, YUGOSLAVIA
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations Sergei Lavrov said late Sunday that all laws adopted by the Yugoslav and Serbian governments must be enforced in Kosovo and Metohija.
Lavrov, who arrived on a two-day visit to the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province earlier in the day, told Serbian Radio and Television (RTS) that the province was an integral part of Serbia and Yugoslavia and that those who refused to accept the fact must resign from their posts.
He said that Moscow carefully monitored all activities by the UN civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) and that it had taken a critical stance on the implementation to date of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
He said that that was the reason why his country had demanded that UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner submit a report on his work and why it had stressed that UNMIK's decisions to date were not in keeping with the resolution.
Lavrov also said that he had been informed in talks with Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo and Metohija earlier in the day that, as regards non-Albanians, the security situation in the province was critical.
He said that, immediately upon ending his visit, he would insist that all ethnic Albanian terrorist attacks be prevented in the most efficacious way possible.
Lavrov meets with Kouchner and commander of the UN peacekeeping force KFOR Gen. Klaus Reinchard on Monday.
YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL - TALKS WITH RUSSIA'S UN AMBASSADOR CONSTRUCTIVE
Head of the Yugoslav government committee on cooperation with the UN mission to Kosovo and Metohija, Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic, described Sunday as useful and constructive talks with Russia's UN ambassador Sergei Lavrov, held in Pristina, chief city of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province, earlier in the day.
Vukicevic told Serbian Radio and Television (RTS) that Lavrov was acquainted with all problems encountered by Yugoslav officials in contacts with the UN civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) and the UN peacekeeping force KFOR and in particular with problems concerning normal life and work of the province's population.
Vukicevic said that it had been stressed in the talks that UNMIK's activity must be limited to the scope provided for by UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and that the mission must stop taking decisions violating Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Chairman of Kosovo and Metohija's provisional executive council Zoran Andjelkovic said that it had been noted in the talks that successful cooperation between international officials active in the province and Serbian and Yugoslav authorities was vital for a successful implementation of the resolution.
Andjelkovic said that this was also vital for solving issues concerning the security of Kosovo and Metohija's population.
SERBIA GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR FOUNDING OF MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
The Serbia Government Sunday adopted the final text of a bill on changes in and amendments to the Law on Ministries and forwarded it to the Serbia Assembly, a government statement said.
The Bill, designed to raise education in the republic to a higher level and help resolve issues at different education levels more efficaciously, calls for the existing Ministry of Education to be divided into a ministry of education and a ministry of higher education.
The proposal for the founding of a ministry of higher education reflects the Serbia Government's continued commitment to a further enhancement of the work of the universities, which are the protagonists of the country's development and progress, as they produce experts and are engaged in research.
The founding of the new ministry will also create conditions for a prompter and more successful resolution of the issue of a further improvement of the conditions in which the over 200,000 students live and study.
SERBIA MINISTER ANDJELKOVIC INAUGURATES BRIDGE IN VARVARIN
Serbia Minister Zoran Andjelkovic, as delegate of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Sunday inaugurated a reconstructed bridge on the Velika Morava at Varvarin, which was destroyed by the NATO aggressors in a May 30 attack, in which ten civilians were killed and scores wounded.
At the ceremony, attended by several thousand local residents, Minister Andjelkovic said that the country's reconstruction was the best proof of the unity with which the national interests were being defended.
Andjelkovic set out that a period of recovery and development lay ahead, and underscored that patriotism and the unity of the people and the state were the strongest guarantee of the country's security and stability.
The ceremony in Varvarin was attended by Federal Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, Federal Ministers Goran Matic and Velizar Djeric, Serbia Ministers Dejan Kovacevic, Slobodan Tomovic and Slobodan Cerovic, and Third Army Commander, Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic.
INTRODUCTION OF PARALLEL CURRENCY IN MONTENEGRO IS ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL
Yugoslav Finance Minister Dragisa Pesic told Tanjug Saturday that the measures and decisions taken by the Montenegro government in the monetary area on Nov. 2 was illegitimate and anti-constitutional, because they were adopted contrary to the existing federal monetary regulations.
The Montenegro government on Nov. 2 introduced the German mark as a parallel currency in the republic.
Minister Pesic set out that the purpose of the Montenegro government's measures was to do as much economic harm as possible to Serbia and Yugoslavia.
The Montenegro government has founded a separate, independent bank that can issue money without coverage, thereby creating an inflationary chaos, Pesic underscored.
"The issue of money does not mean only the printing of dinars but also money orders without a coverage, so that the decision taken by the National Bank of Yugoslavia Friday provisionally to suspend the receipt of money orders from jurist persons in Montenegro to be paid into the bank accounts of jurist persons in Serbia is legal and in keeping with the duties and prerogatives of the National Bank of Yugoslavia," Minister Pesic stressed.
The measure taken by the National Bank of Yugoslavia will prevent negative consequences for the monetary system, which is threatened by the Montenegro government's measures.
Yugoslav Finance Minister Pesic said that the Montenegro government's measures were a "way to introducing an independent currency and, therefore, a way to independence for the republic."
YUGOSLAV GENERAL - ALL THIRD ARMY FACILITIES TO BE RECONSTRUCTED IN 1999
Commander of Yugoslavia's Third Army Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic said Sunday that all facilities in the Third Army's zone of responsibility that had been damaged in NATO's bombing would be reconstructed by the end of the year.
Speaking in a ceremony held on the occasion of re-opening to traffic of the bridge at Varvarin, located some 130 km southeast of Belgrade, Gen. Pavkovic said, "All troops will return to their barracks, because 170 of the 280 facilities damaged during NATO's barbaric aggression are under reconstruction."
He said that more than 50 facilities had already been repaired.
Gen. Pavkovic also said that the reconstruction of army facilities was mainly financed by army funds and donations b companies and political structures in areas where the Third Army was stationed.
ETHNIC ALBANIANS IN VITINA AREA CONTINUE TO TERRORISE SERBS
Ethnic Albanians in the mixed village of Binac at Vitina, in the southeast of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, set fire on a nearby wood on Sunday, continuing to terrorise local Serbs.
Local radio enthusiasts reported that ethnic Albanians had also ravaged a wood belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church.
On Saturday, on the eve of the Serbian Orthodox holiday of St. Demetrius when Serbs pay respects to their dead, Serbs who have fled the village of Podgorce asked the UN peacekeeping force KFOR to provide an escort during their visit to the local cemetery.
Those who visited the cemetery where shocked to see that most of the tombs had been desecrated and the local church severely damaged. Ethnic Albanians tore down the church's door, setting fire to the church's interior and destroying icons on its walls.
KFOR troops protected the church until recently but then stopped doing so, ignoring the local Serbs' warnings that ethnic Albanians would destroy it.
ETHNIC-ALBANIAN TERRORISTS CONTINUE STAGING ATTACKS ON SERBS IN GNJILANE
The Serb who was seriously wounded by ethnic-Albanian terrorists in a recent attack on a group of Serbs in Gnjilane, Kosovo and Metohija, is still in a critical condition, according to doctors at the Vranje hospital, the Gnjilane Church and Lay Council said.
The Council also said that Serb Vojislav Stolic, a farmer of the village of Partes, was beaten and robbed two days ago.
Three Serbs Friday reported that their apartments in Gnjilane had been broken in and forcibly occupied by ethnic-Albanian bandits.
RAILWAY BRIDGE AT KOSOVSKA MITROVICA IS DAMAGED IN STRONG EXPLOSION
The railway bridge at Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo and Metohija, was damaged in a strong explosion late Friday, about 15 minutes before a Lesak-Kosovo Polje train, with 400 Serbs in it, was to reach the bridge.
KFOR spokesman Ole Irgens Saturday said that the train was stopped before it reached the bridge at the entrance to Kosovska Mitrovica.
A large quantity of explosive was placed on one of the bridge's pillars, which was damaged in the explosion.
Irgens described the attack as very serious.
He said the purpose was to put the bridge and a stretch of the railway out of use and cut off transportation.
MOB OF ETHNIC ALBANIAN MINORS STONE KFOR-ESCORTED CONVOY WITH SERBS
A mob of ethnic Albanian minors stoned in the village of Radivojce on Friday a convoy of vehicles with Serbs returning from Vranje to Strpce, escorted by the UN peacekeeping force KFOR, local radio enthusiasts said Saturday.
According to the board of the church-national council for Strpce, in the south of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, the attack, the second on a convoy of vehicles with Serbs, was evidently launched under orders by the young ethnic Albanians' elders.
One of the buses was severely damaged in the attack.
The council said it expected KFOR and the UN civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) to prevent such incidents and to arrest the ethnic Albanian minors' parents.
ONE SERB KILLED IN ETHNIC ALBANIAN MORTAR ATTACK ON VILLAGE AT GNJILANE
One Serb was killed on Sunday when ethnic Albanians in the village of Vlastica at Gnjilane, Kosovo and Metohija, opened mortar fire on the nearby Serb village of Pasjane, the local church-national board quoted local radio enthusiasts as saying.
The ethnic Albanians fired nine shells on the village, located in the west of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's southern province, soon after 6 p.m. local time.
The 65-year-old Serb, who was wounded in both legs by shell splinters, bled to death.
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA OFFICIAL SAYS UNMIK'S CLAIMS FALSE
Bajram Haliti of Kosovo and Metohija's provisional executive council described Sunday as false claims by officials of the UN civilian mission (UNMIK) that terrorising, violence and acts of usurpation had abated in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province and that the situation was changing for the better.
In a statement delivered to the Yugoslav Tanjug news agency, Haliti said that such claims were aimed at deceiving the UN Security Council and the world public and were a proof of patron-like attitude towards the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
A failure to implement and gross violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and other relevant documents on the part of UNMIK and the UN peacekeeping force KFOR are the main cause of the dramatic security and overall situation in the province that is characterised by continued terrorism, large-scale crime, violence, anarchy and ethnic cleansing of Serbs and other non-Albanians, he said.
More than 330,000 non-Albanians, primarily Serbs, Gypsies, Moslems, ethnic Turks, Goranies, Croats, ethnic Egyptians and ethnic Albanians loyal to Serbia, have fled Kosovo and Metohija before KLA's reign of terror since the deployment of KFOR and UNMIK to the province, he said.
UNMIK and KFOR have in this way violated one of the basic principles of the resolution providing for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija's multiethnic, multi-cultural and multi-confessional character, he said.
The UN secretary-general's special envoy and UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner is deliberately violating the mandate defined under the resolution and other relevant documents, specifically the principle of Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, is in the service of Greater Albanian separatism and terrorism and is ignoring the fact that Kosovo and Metohija is an autonomous province and an integral part of Serbia's and Yugoslavia's single constitutional, legal, economic, financial, monetary, fiscal, customs, transport and all other systems, he said.
KFOR AND UNMIK STOKE ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISM IN KOSOVO
Democratic Reformist Party of ethnic Albanians (DRPA) President Sokolj Cuse said in Pristina on Monday in a talk with reporters of the Turkish news agency Hurriyet that it was evident ethnic Albanian terrorism had received impetus since the arrival of the KFOR and UNMIK in Kosovo and Metohija, which he said was daily being increasingly described in the home and world public.
Cuse said the international force KFOR not only ignored, but even stoked separatist activities by Kosovo Albanian terrorists, whose main objective is to expel non-Albanians and ethnic Albanians who are opposed to their ideas, said a statement released by the DRPA information service.
He said the international community recognized Yugoslavia's sovereignty and territorial integrity under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
However, since KFOR assumed responsibility for the protection of the entire population in the southern Serbian province, ethnic Albanian terrorists have murdered more than 400 Serbs and other non-Albanians in the most brutal way, in the sweep to implement their separatist goal - ethnic cleansing, Cuse said.
Under the pretext of protecting human rights, NATO grossly interfered in the internal affairs of sovereign Yugoslavia, attempting to isolate Kosovo and Metohija and weaken Yugoslavia under a UN management, he said.
The KFOR and UNMIK, and civilian mission head Bernard Kouchner, must assume the role of unbiased fireman, since the fuse which has been lit in Kosovo and Metohija could cause a wide-scale explosion, Cuse said.
BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN, GREEK LEADERS URGE RESPECT FOR UN RESOLUTION 1244
Presidents Petar Stoyanov of Bulgaria and Emil Constantinescu of Romania and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis called at the close of a summit that just ended in Borovets, Bulgaria, on all ethnic groups in Kosovo and Metohija to honour UN Security Council Resolution 1244, Sofia media reported on Saturday.
This alone guarantees peace processes in Serbia's southern province and, consequently, in the entire Balkans, the leaders said.
The media also reported that the European Union had warned ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija that it would deny them all forms of assistance if they continued violence and genocide against Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province.
Local analysts say that ethnic Albanian terrorists and separatists have responded to calls to put an end to their reign of terror in the province by continued violence and genocide against the non-Albanian population, committed before the very eyes of more than 43,000 members of the UN peacekeeping force KFOR and the UN civilian mission to the province (UNMIK).
UNMIK's incompetence and inefficiency in preventing the genocide is best reflected in a warning to KFOR and mission members from Slav countries that they should not speak in their mother tongue in the next few days because of an increased security risk.
The warning, carried by a large number of Bulgarian radio and TV stations late Friday, is believed to be the first of the kind in the history of the world organisation.
Bulgarian analysts speculate as to how the troops that should ensure peace and protect the remaining Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should carry out their tasks if ethnic Albanian terrorists and separatists threaten to retaliate if they do so.
Sofia media said that the United Nations and in particular its Security Council should solve this problem.
GERMAN SPD, GREENS CALL FOR LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA
Politicians of the German Social-Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party were quoted by the Hamburg weekly Welt am Sonntag Sunday as saying that the sanctions against Serbia should be lifted as soon as possible.
Deputy head of the SPD Bundestag grouping Gernot Erler said that sanctions were not an efficacious means of attaining the Western goals in Serbia.
Erler called for the sanctions to be lifted before the winter.
SPD foreign-policy expert Markus Meckel said that the issue of heating oil and gas deliveries to Yugoslavia should urgently be settled.
"The West has imposed a blockade against the Serbian people... This must urgently be changed," he set out.
Greens foreign-policy spokesman Helmut Lippelt also said that the West must not wait long to lift the sanctions against Serbia.
Lippelt openly conceded the total failure of the embargo introduced against Serbia by the Western countries with a view to arousing the wrath of the people and forcibly toppling the legal authorities in Belgrade.
"The government in Belgrade cannot be toppled from the outside. This can happen only in elections," Lippelt set out.
PUBLICITY GIVEN TO YUGOSLAVIA'S MEMORANDUM
The international community must strictly respect obligations which stem from UN Security Council Resolution 1244, Chinese media on Monday carried a statement by Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergei Lavrov made during his recent visit to Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province.
Xinhua especially underscored the words of the head of the Yugoslav commission for cooperation with the UN mission Stanimir Vukicevic and Kosovo Temporary Executive Council President Zoran Andjelkovic to Lavrov that the KFOR and UNMIK "should bear responsibility for the deteriorating situation in Kosovo and Metohija because of their lenient stand toward terrorist actions by ethnic Albanians."
Violence and terrorist actions against Serbs and other non-Albanians have been an everyday occurrence since the arrival of the KFOR and UNMIK, Xinhua said, quoting statements by the Yugoslav officials.
The announcement of the Yugoslav government Memorandum on the situation in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province, which was sent to the UN Security Council president and secretary-general, was given noted coverage in Chinese media.
All leading dailies, including Renmin Ribao, Gongren Ribao, the army daily Jiefangjun Bao, radio and television stations, carried Yugoslavia's strong criticisms of the international force and UN mission in Kosovo and Metohija.
All reports underscored that 447 Serbs and other non-Albanians had been murdered, 648 abducted, and about 330,000 other civilians forced to abandon the province since the arrival of the KFOR.
INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE FAIR OPENS IN BELGRADE
Yugoslav Minister for cooperation with international financial and trade institutions Borka Vucic opened here Monday the 37th international fair of furniture, accessories and interior decoration and an exposition of wood-processing tools and machinery.
Addressing those rallied at the opening ceremony, Vucic said that a higher number of private small factories, which had developed from carpenter's and other workshops and which, instead of importing furniture, had started manufacturing it, was taking part in this year's fair.
She said that these factories boasted state-of-the-art technology and were capable of adapting speedily to demand.
About 400 exhibitors, including 50 from abroad, mainly from Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria, are to present the latest types of furniture and wood-processing machinery.
The Belgrade furniture fair is a member of the international union of fairs based in Paris.
The best exhibitors at the fair, which ends on November 14, will receive the Golden and Silver Key awards.