Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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      ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

      Odraz B92 vesti (by 4 PM), April 18, 1997

      E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
   5  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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      C O N T E N T S
  10  ==================================================================


      NEWS BY 4 PM

        DS: Yugoslav Government Incapable of Helping Serbs in Eastern
        Slavonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
        Expert Meeting on Kosovo in Vienna . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
  15    Kilibarda Expelled from His Party  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  67
        Evasion of Offense Procedures Against Police Members . . . .  75
        Health Care and Social Workers Protest on April 22 . . . . .  83
        Teachers Announce New Strike for April 21  . . . . . . . . .  91
        Bosnian Serb Freed of Charges with War Crimes  . . . . . . .  99
  20    Trial against Zvornik Seven Postponed  . . . . . . . . . . . 105
        ``Demokratija:'' 25 Police Colonels Resign . . . . . . . . . 111
        ``Gradjanin:'' Milosevic and Izetbegovic to Meet in May  . . 122
        DT: Bulatovic Has It until May 1st to Defeat Djukanovic  . . 133

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  25  NEWS BY 4 PM
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      DS: YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT INCAPABLE OF HELPING SERBS IN EASTERN
      SLAVONIA

      Slobodan Vuksanovic, spokesman for the Democratic [Zajedno] Party
  30  (DS), accused the Yugoslav government on Friday of being incapable
      of protecting the interests and rights of the Serbs in Eastern
      Slavonia. ``The Yugoslav Government no longer has any authority
      either in the world or at home. It seems that the major issue for
      them is to prove that 50,000 Serbs have not left Eastern Slavonia,
  35  as if it mattered whether 35 or 50 thousand of them left,'' Mr.
      Vuksanovic told a news conference in Belgrade. He went on to
      emphasize that even the statements by representatives of the
      international community confirmed that the elections in Eastern
      Slavonia had been irregular, according to Beta.

  40  Mr. Vuksanovic said that the ``defeat'' of Montenegrin President
      Momir Bulatovic at the hands of Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo
      Djukanovic's faction might induce Serbian President Slobodan
      Milosevic to give up the idea of becoming Yugoslav President. In
      that case, Mr. Vuksanovic predicted, President Milosevic would
  45  breach the Constitution and run for Serbian president once again.
      Mr. Vuksanovic accused the ruling Socialist (SPS) and its allied
      Yugoslav United Left (JUL) party of having no intention of
      allowing proper and democratic elections and stressed that
      ``neither citizens nor the opposition have patience for new frauds
  50  by the SPS and JUL: they [SPS and JUL] will have to agree to
      democratic electoral conditions or there will be no elections.''


      EXPERT MEETING ON KOSOVO IN VIENNA

      Vienna will next weekend host an international meeting of 40
      experts from the US, Europe, Serbia and Kosovo to look into the
  55  options for the solution of the Kosovo issue, it was announced in
      Vienna on Friday. The conference is organized by the Washington-
      based Carnegie Foundation for International Peace and the
      Amsterdam-based European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans.

      The meeting will be a continuation of the recent New York talks on
  60  the same issue and will be closed to the public. The chairman of
      the meeting, Secretary General of the Austrian Foreign Minisry
      Albert Rohan, said that the meeting will be an informal discussion
      by experts rather than a debate among politicians. The organizers
      announced that after the meeting recommendations would be sent to
  65  all interested governments and international organizations,
      according to FoNet.


      KILIBARDA EXPELLED FROM HIS PARTY

      The Managing Board of the Peoples' Party of Montenegro announced
      on Friday that it had voted to expel its president Novak Kilibarda
  70  from the party by 24--1. The party's statement accused Mr.
      Kilibarda of convening an extraordinary session of the party's
      assembly ``with the intention of breaking up the party,'' and
      attempting to impose his own ambitions on the whole party by
      dissolving the party's city boards, according to Beta.


  75  EVASION OF OFFENSE PROCEDURES AGAINST POLICE MEMBERS

      The Fund for Human Rights warned on Friday that the courts in
      Pristina were delaying and evading initiation of disciplinary
      procedures against police members. The Fund pointed out that the
      Pristina teacher Feriz Bljakcori died on December 10, 1996 of
  80  beatings recieved while in Pristina police station and that as yet
      no investigation has been launched to find those responsible,
      according to Beta.


      HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL WORKERS PROTEST ON APRIL 22

      The union of health care and social workers of Serbia announced on
  85  Friday that they would organize a protest on April 22 due to the
      late payment of wages. Half hour protest meetings will be held all
      over Serbia. The protesters will express their dissatisfaction
      with the delay in the payments and ``the living standard of the
      workers on the breadline'' in silence during these meetings,
  90  according to Beta.


      TEACHERS ANNOUNCE NEW STRIKE FOR APRIL 21

      The Forum of Belgrade High Schools announced on Friday a one-day
      stoppage on April 21st because the Serbian Government is late with
      the payment of wages to teachers. The Forum's statement said that
  95  the teachers would persevere in the struggle to exercise their
      legal rights and condemned the Government's ``ignoring tactics''
      towards the teachers'demands put forward at the April 9th one-day
      strike, according to Beta.


      BOSNIAN SERB FREED OF CHARGES WITH WAR CRIMES

 100  The Bosnian Serb Goran Grabez who stood trial in Switzerland for
      brutalities in detention camps in Bosnia during 1992, was granted
      a free discharge on Friday, a court representative told Beta. Mr.
      Grabez now has the right to sue for damages because of the
      unfounded accusation.


 105  TRIAL AGAINST ZVORNIK SEVEN POSTPONED

      The trial against the group of Bosnian Muslims called ``The
      Zvornik Seven,'' accused of murdering four ethnic Serbs, has been
      postponed until April 22nd, according to AFP and FoNet. UN
      spokesperson Andrea Agnelli said that the postponement was due to
 110  unspecified ``technical difficulties.''


      ``DEMOKRATIJA:'' 25 POLICE COLONELS RESIGN

      Bozidar Spasic, a former police inspector now owner of the
      detective agency SIA, told the Belgrade daily 'Demokratija' that
      the appointment of Vlajko Stojiljkovic as Serbian Interior
 115  Minister has introduced a complete breakdown in the police system
      in Serbia. He said that this appointment indicated that some top
      police chiefs would be replaced and that 25 police colonels had
      resigned because of his appointment. Mr. Spasic concluded that
      this was the end of the ``era'' of the recently murdered Serbian
 120  Deputy Interior Minister Radovan Stojicic Badza, known for his
      firm control.


      ``GRADJANIN:'' MILOSEVIC AND IZETBEGOVIC TO MEET IN MAY

      An unnamed Yugoslav diplomat told the Belgrade daily ``Gradjanin''
      on Friday that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and President
 125  of the Bosnian triumvirate Alija Izetbegovic were to meet soon,
      perhaps in May. The diplomat, who is preparing the meeting, told
      ``Gradjanin'' that the meeting would be held at the Mr.
      Izetbegovic initiative. He is, according to the diplomat, pressing
      to establish full diplomatic relations with FR Yugoslavia. He
 130  further said that the meeting could result in big economic deals
      between the two countries, because Bosnia was gravely dissatisfied
      with the deficit in trading with Croatia and Slovenia.


      DT: BULATOVIC HAS IT UNTIL MAY 1ST TO DEFEAT DJUKANOVIC

      The Belgrade daily 'Dnevni Telegraf' claimed on Friday that
 135  Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had given his Montenegrin
      counterpart the deadline of May 1st to defeat Montenegrin Prime
      Minister Momir Bulatovic's faction and thereby prepare Montenegro
      for Milosevic's election as Yugoslav President and the change of
      the Yugoslav Constitution. The Belgrade daily claimed reliable
 140  sources as saying that President Milosevic was dissatisfied with
      the Montenegrin government's decision to allow Prime Minister
      Djukanovic to wait two months for a government reshuffle.

      The Managing Board of the Democratic Party of Socialists of
      Montenegro is scheduled to convene on Friday and investigate the
 145  implementation of its March 23rd resolutions as regards the
      government reshuffle.

      Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
      Edited by: Steve Agnew

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 150  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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