Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 11 PM), March 15, 1997

    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 11 PM
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    KOSCHNIK ON BELGRADE

    The former EU administrator in Mostar, Hans Koschnik, left
    Belgrade on Saturday after a three-day visit. He was in the city
    on a mission from the European Trade Unions Association, to
    observe processes for dealing with social issues in Yugoslavia. Mr
    Koschnik told media at the end of his visit that his most
    significant impression in Belgrade was that those committed to
    change in Yugoslavia were also committed to non-violent methods of
    seeking that change.

    Mr Koschnik said that he had agreed with Yugoslav Foreign Minister
    Milan Milutinovic that Serbia could not be bypassed in Europe's
    development of relations with Eastern Europe. However he stressed
    that Yugoslavia must accept European standards, saying that the
    conditions for any country's entry into the European Council
    included free media, freedom of opinion and expression, respect
    for human rights, local self-government and freedom of
    association.


    COPENHAGEN CONSULTATIONS FOR SERBS

    The Zajedno triumvirate, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan
    Milutinovic and a representative of Belgrade's student protest
    will have talks in Copenhagen on Monday with Niels Hoelveg
    Petersen, chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
    in Europe.


    LAWYER CRITICISES LEGISLATORS

    The chairman of the Montenegrin Association of Lawyers on Saturday
    described the Yugoslav legal system as disintegrating. Tomislav
    Dedic justified his criticism by pointing to a number of recent
    Republic laws which were not in accordance with the Federal
    Constitution.


    FREE BROADCASTERS UNITE

    A Pool of Independent Television has been formed by those cities
    in Serbia under opposition control. The Alliance of Free Cities of
    Serbia established the body at their meeting in Nis on Saturday.
    The Pool will operate from March 17. Alliance spokesman Nebojsa
    Popov said that the objective of the Pool was to provide an
    alternative to the unsatisfactory state system of information.


    NOVI SAD STUDENTS IN MEDIA PROTEST

    Students from Novi Sad University will protest on Sunday,
    demanding freedom of the media in Serbia. The students are angry
    about the draft law on public information released last week and
    state media's moves to limit BK television's transmissions to
    Belgrade. Both of these measures will restrict information in
    regional areas of the country.


    INFORMATION MINISTER PRAISES DNEVNI TELEGRAF (BUT DOESN'T READ IT)

    Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic told Belgrade's
    Dnevni Telegraf on Saturday, that she had not been concerned by
    Zajedno's absence from a parliamentary panel discussion on her
    draft law on public information. ``This is a matter of political
    relations among parties. I am not a member of any party. I have
    come here to work for Serbia and all its people. Maybe Zajedno
    will come next time. We shall also have other forums and
    discussions.''

    Mrs Milentijevic told Dnevni Telegraf's reporter that she did not
    have time to read the daily, but that she thought there was much
    to commend in it.


    SPO ON MILENTIJEVIC

    The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) on Saturday expressed outrage
    at Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic's statements
    that she had no time to read newspapers and was not interested in
    political differences in Serbia. FoNet reports that the SPO asked
    whether the Information Minister's only source of information was
    Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his wife.


    BILDT'S OFFICE SLAMS RS AGREEMENT

    Republika Srpska's ratification of the Agreement on Special
    Relations with Yugoslavia is legally invalid, according to Duncan
    Ballivent, spokesman for the UN High Representative for Bosnia
    Herzegovina. Mr Ballivent told AFP on Saturday that the
    ratification was outside Republika Srpska's authority.


    SERB DIES AFTER BEATING

    International Police Force spokesman, Liam McDowell, told media on
    Saturday that an elderly Bosnian Serb had died of injuries
    suffered in a clash with Muslims two weeks ago. According to AFT,
    Slavko Subotic (80) and his wife were passing through the central
    Bosnian village of Visoko on March 1, when a group of about 30
    Muslims blocked their route and beat them. Mr McDowell said it was
    alarming that the murder appeared to have no motivation other than
    ethnic hatred.


    US SNUBS CROATIA IN IMF

    US State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns on Sunday said that
    the US had abstained from voting in International Monetary Fund
    discussions which approved loans to Croatia last week. Mr Burns
    said that Washington wanted to send a strong signal of disapproval
    over Zagreb's refusal to extradite indicted war criminals at the
    request of the Hague Tribunal.


    CROATIA BUYS ARMS IN SLOVAKIA

    Croatian Defence Minister Gojko Susak visited Bratislava last week
    to seek the purchase of weaponry in Slovakia, according to
    Slovakian daily Narodna Obroda. Mr Susak and his Slovakian
    counterpart Ian Sitek signed an agreement on military cooperation.
    Several sources have claimed that Croatia had illegally bought
    large quantities of arms from Slovakia during the 1991 clashes in
    the former Yugoslavia.

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    Edited by: Steve Agnew

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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