From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: News Dec 16 (from Haluk)
Date: 17 Dec 1992 14:48:06 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
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 - Yugoslav army chief calls for military's neutrality in politics
 - Croatian president may expel U.N. forces
 - Conference calls on U.N. to review sanctions on Bosnia
 - Eagleburger calls for ``aggressive measures'' to halt fighting in Bosnia

 Subject: Yugoslav army chief calls for military\'s neutrality in politics

        BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (UPI) -- Yugoslav army chief Col. Gen. Zivota
 Panic Tuesday called on the military to remain neutral in this weekend's
 federal and republic elections.
        ``We will not support any political party,'' Panic told a meeting of
 army officers broadcasted by the main nightly news of state-run Belgrade
 television.
        His statement came on the third-to-last day of campaigning for
 Sunday's elections for the presidencies of Serbia and Montenegro, the
 assemblies of the two republics and the legislature of the federation
 they forged last April.
        Panic called for the formation of a professional army capable of
 defending ``its national identity.''
        The Serbian remnants of the formerly multi-ethnic Yugoslav army are
 struggling to reorganize following the collapse of the former Balkan
 union, seeking to make a transition from a priviledge-bloated,
 communist-run force that played a major role in politics to a modern,
 professional organization.
        The army was badly mauled in last year's war in Croatia, in which it
 backed Serbian rebel siezures of 35 percent of the former Yugoslav
 republic. Members of the military native to Serbia and Montenegro
 withdrew this summer from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
        The officer corps is widely known to be split between those who want
 it to remain aloof from politics and hardline believers in the
 nationalist agenda of communist President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia,
 who seeks to merge Serb-held areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina
 with his republic.
        Milosevic is opposed in Sunday's election by Yugoslav Prime Minister
 Milan Panic, who has called for the recognition of Croatia and Bosnia-
 Herzegovina within their current borders.
        Milan Panic, who is no relation of Gen. Panic, is also the federal
 defense minister.
        ``We must have the support of all leading parties for depolitization,
 '' Gen. Panic said. ``The army has just emerged from difficult,
 traumatic times of war. It was blamed for everything. But history will
 put everything in its place.''
 =========================================================================
 Subject: Croatian president may expel U.N. forces

        CHICAGO (UPI) -- Croatian President Franjo Tudjman warns he may kick
 out U.N. peacekeeping forces by March and order his own troops to finish
 disarming Serbian militants terrorizing occupied Croatia, a report said
 Wednesday.
        ``Croatia wants a political solution but we are not prepared to
 tolerate further occupation of our territory,'' Tudjman said in an
 interview with the Chicago Tribune.
        If the United Nations does not fulfill its mission, Tudjman will not
 seek renewal of the U.S. mandate and said he will enforce the peace
 himself. That would bring Croatia back into conflict with the Yugoslav
 government in Belgrade, the newspaper said.
        Tudjman agreed to a cease-fire last spring that temporarily ended the
 war between Croatia and remnants of Yugoslavia. Despite the cease-fire,
 his country has been plagued by the political and military situation.
        The U.N. forces have a mandate expiring in March to disarm the ethnic
 Serbs who rebelled when the Croatian government declared its
 independence from old Yugoslavia.
        Col. Alexnder Khromchenkov, the Russian army officer in charge of U.
 N. forces in eastern Croatia, conceded his 2,400 international
 peacekeepers have been unable to pacify Serbian militiamen in the
 regions of Baranja and Eastern Slavonia.
        Clashes in the still disputed areas of Croatia kill a dozen people
 every week and Croatians attempting to return to their homes could be
 killed, Khromchenkov said in an interview with the Tribune.
        When the U.N. forces disband a large unit of Serbians, they change
 uniforms and create a smaller guerrilla band to continue an armed
 campaign against Croatia, Khromchenkov said.
        Tudjman acused right-wing, pro-communist forces in Russia of sending
 1,500 mercenaries to help Serbian fighters to partition Bosnia-
 Herzegovina.
        ``I heard this from our own people, from Croatian military forces,''
 Tudjman said.
        Tudjman predicted if the West does not intervene against Serbia, the
 conflict may spread south through Kosovo, an Albanian enclave in Serbia
 and into Macedonia. This would ignite a war pitting Europe against the
 Islamic world.
        ``I don't think the Western world can long tolerate an Islamic state
 in Bosnia,'' Tudjman said.
 =========================================================================
 Subject: Conference calls on U.N. to review sanctions on Bosnia

        STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A 52-nation European security summit,
 holding Serbs responsible for the conflict in Balkans, called Tuesday
 for the U.N. Security Council to review its ban on arms sales to Bosnia-
 Herzegovina and to consider enforcing the no-fly zone it imposed over
 the embattled country.
        The wording of the final communique of the Conference on Security and
 Cooperation in Europe indicated divisions within the group over whether
 the arms embargo and other sanctions should be lifted, and the
 organization avoided directly advising the world body to do so.
        The communique was issued more than two hours late because of debate
 over the harsh wording of an original communique proposal.
        ``Referring to the calls from some states for the United Nations to
 consider lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovina, (the CSCE)
 recalls the U.N. Security Council Resolution 713 and recommends that
 this issue should continue to be considered as a matter of importance,''
 the final communique said.
        ``In view of the many violations of the no-fly zone (the CSCE)
 believes that the Security Council should urgently consider taking the
 relevant decisions in the light of paragraph 6 of Resolution 786,'' the
 statement added.
        Bosnian Foreign Minister Haris Siladzic had threatened to veto the
 final communique unless the arms embargo against his country was lifted.
 But opposition from main Western powers resulted in a softening of the
 original communique.
        ``We are against anything that pours more weapons into a part of
 Europe that is already full of weapons,'' said British Foreign Secretary
 Douglas Hurd.
        Bosnian Muslims have repeatedly called on the international community
 to lift sanctions against their country, saying that without arms they
 are unable to defend themselves as Serbian attacks intensify in the war-
 ravaged country.
        ``We could have expected more,'' said Siladzic following the
 publication of the final communique. ``Nonetheless, it is a good
 agreement,'' he added.
        But if concrete steps were not forthcoming from the meeting, Siladzic
 could be in no doubt of moral support from CSCE nations.
        ``Primary responsibility for the conflict (in Bosnia-Herzegovina)
 lies with the present leaders of Serbia and Montenegro and with the
 Serbian forces operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina,'' the final communique
 said.
        ``These authorities continue to pursue territorial gain through the
 use of force and to violate basic human standards through the odious
 practice of ethnic cleansing and other brutalities affecting many parts
 of the former Yugoslavia. All this must stop immediately,'' the
 declaration said.
        The organization also said in its final communique that it supported
 the setting up of war crimes tribunals before which those accused of
 committing atrocities and human rights abuses in the former Yugoslavia
 could be brought to justice.
        It said the CSCE chair, Swedish Foreign Miister Margareta af Ugglas,
 was to travel to Belgrade later this week to officially inform Serbian
 authorities of CSCE decisions and to warn them of serious consequences
 if aggression in Bosnia does not cease.
        Apart from the former Yugoslavia, the 52-nation body, which counts
 all European countries plus the United States and Canada, also said it
 was to send observer missions to other European regions including
 Georgia and Estonia.
        In Estonia the mission was to try to end ethnic squabbling between
 the Estonian and Russian populations in the former Soviet republic.
        The two-day meeting of the CSCE did little to dispel complaints that
 the structure of the unwieldy organization prevents it from being much
 more than a forum for high-level discussion.
        The overwhelming majority of decisions taken by the group, set up in
 1975 at the height of the Cold War, require full concensus of all
 members under rules designed for improving East-West relations during
 the Cold War.
        The next summit of the organization was to take place in Rome in
 December 1993.
 =========================================================================
 Subject: Eagleburger calls for ``aggressive measures'' to halt fighting   in
 Bosnia

        GENEVA (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger said
 Wednesday Washington will pursue ``more aggressive measures'' to force
 Serbia and ethnic Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina to halt the bloodshed in
 the former Yugoslavia.
        Eagleburger specifically cited enforcement of the U.N. Security
 Council's 'no-fly zone' in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a re-examination of
 the unilateral arms embargo that many say keeps Bosnia's government from
 resisting the Serbs.
        The Bush administration also wants Serbian leaders to answer for
 crimes against humanity allegedly committed by forces under their
 control, he said.
        Eagleburger gave his tough speech, which included a list of alleged
 war criminals from around the splintered federation, to a foreign
 minister-level meeting of the International Conference on the Former
 Yugoslavia.
        Eagleburger said the Serbs have repeatedly broken promises given at
 London peace talks on the free movement of humanitarian aid, ending the
 ``barbaric'' siege of cities, halting military flights over Bosnia-
 Herzegovina and closing detention camps.
        The situation in the former Yugoslavia ``has become increasiongly
 desperate,'' he said, with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and
 Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ``systematically'' and ``cynically''
 flouting agreements.
        ``It is clear that the international community must begin now to
 think about moving beyond the London agreements and contemplate more
 aggressive measures,'' Eagleburger said.
        ``That is why my government is now recommending that the United
 Nations Security Council authorize enforcement of the no-fly zone in
 Bosnia, and why we are also willing to have the council re-examine the
 arms embargo as it applies to the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina,'' he
 said.
        ``It is because we have concluded that the deliberate flaunting of
 Security Council resolutions and the London agreements by Serb
 authorities is not only producing an intolerable and deteriorating
 situation inside the former Yugoslavia, it is also beginning to threaten
 the framework of stability in the new Europe,'' Eagleburger said.
        ``My government also believes it is time for the international
 community to begin identifying individuals who may have to answer for
 having committed crimes against humanity.''
        He then listed seven Serbian, Croatian and Bosnia Muslim commanders
 but above all Milosevic, Karadzic and Gen. Ratho Mladic, commander of
 Bosnian Serb military forces.
        Eagleburger said Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic ``must eventually
 explain whether and how they sought to ensure -- as they must under
 international law -- that their forces complied with international law.''
        ``They ought, if charged, to have the opportunity of defending
 themselves by demonstrating whether and how they took responsible action
 to prevent and punish the atrocities....undertaken by their
 subordinates,'' he said.
        Other field commanders charged by Eagleburger with atrocities
 included Borislav Herak, a Bosnian Serb who has confessed to killing
 over 230 civilians, two Croatians named ``Adil'' and ``Arif'' who
 belonged to a paramilitary force that killed more than 50 Serbian women
 and children, and Zeljko Raznjatovic, whose Serb ``Tigers'' are linked
 to brutal ethnic cleansing and mass murders of up to 3,000 children near
 Brcko.
        Others were Vojislav Seselj, the Bosnian Serb commander of the
 ``White Eagles'' paramilitary force also linked to the Brcko killings,
 Drago Prcac, commander of the Omarska detention camp where mass murder
 and torture occurred, and Adem Delic, camp commander at Celebici where
 at least 15 Serbs were beaten to death in August.
        Eagleburger after his statement to the meeting cancelled a news
 conference so he could fly straight to Brussels for a NATO foreign
 ministers meeting Thursday and Friday.
        NATO agreed on Wednesday to a request from U.N. Secretary-General
 Boutros Boutros-Ghali to ready plans for eventual military action
 against the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. That could include enforcement
 of the no-fly ban and helping U.N. protection forces in aiding
 humanitarian agencies.
        Earlier, the co-chairmen of the Geneva-based peace talks recommended
 to the one-day, high-level session the creation of an international
 criminal court to try those guilty of war crimes.
        The officials, U.N. special envoy Cyrus Vance and Lord David Owen of
 the European Community, also came out in favor of enforcement of the no-
 fly ban if Serbian infringements continue, for tougher sanctions against
 Belgrade and for warning Serbia against continuing repression of Muslims
 in Kosovo.
        Vance and Owen also outlined plans Wednesday to speed negotiations
 toward a peaceful settlement and urged additional international measures
 to stop the fighting.
        Their proposals included a meeting between U.N. Secretary-General
 Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Presidents Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and
 Dobrica Cosic of the truncated Yugoslav republic when Boutros-Ghali
 visits Geneva later this month.
        Vance and Owen said they intend to bring together in Geneva the
 leaders of the three warring parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina -- President
 Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Croat Mate Boban and Bosnian Serb Radovan
 Karadzic -- in early January.
        The co-chairmen, who so far have been unable to get the three sides
 to sit together, said they will ask the leaders to bring with them
 military commanders to discuss a cessation of hostilities,
 demilitarization of Sarajevo, ending the siege of cities and towns and
 free movement of humanitarian aid.
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