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21 March Latest News
Del Ponte Says Yugoslav Government
Not Co-operating With Tribunal
NEW YORK, United States -- Chief UN war crimes prosecutor
Carla del Ponte told reporters Wednesday (20 March) that the Yugoslav government
refuses to co-operate with tribunal investigators and is doing nothing to arrest
any of the 32 indictees wanted by the international court. She called on
President Vojislav Kostunica to order the arrest and extradition of Bosnian Serb
wartime commander Ratko Mladic in particular. She also urged NATO to create a
plainclothes unit that could arrest Radovan Karadzic and other suspects in
Bosnia.
Visiting Brussels Wednesday, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran
Svilanovic assured EU and NATO officials that Belgrade will hand over indictees
in the next two weeks. He insisted obligations to the tribunal will be met, even
if parliament fails to approve a law on co-operation by month’s end.
Washington has tied financial assistance to co-operation. (Reuters, AFP, AP,
B92, BBC, Serbian Studio B TV - 20/03/02)
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Council of Europe Admits Bosnia as Member
STRASBOURG, France -- The Council of Europe (CoE) Wednesday
(20 March) voted to admit Bosnia as its 44th member. The official ceremony will
take place during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly in late April. As a
new member, Bosnia will attend the CoE ministerial session in Vilnius on 2 May.
(Nezavisne Novine - 21/03/02; AFP, CoE press release, FTV, FENA - 20/03/02)
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Rift Reported in Kosovo Serb Coalition
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- There are reports of a growing rift
within Return, the Serbian coalition in Kosovo. The Belgrade-based B92 said
Wednesday (20 March) that Belgrade's co-ordinator on Kosovo Nebojsa Covic has
obtained police records that allegedly link several Return members to criminal
activities. Monday, several members issued a statement accusing other coalition
members of trying to undermine the image of the bloc. Return whip Rada Trajkovic
blamed Covic for supporting criminal elements in the coalition. She will meet
Thursday with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to discuss Return's
participation in Kosovo’s cabinet. (Tanjug - 21/03/02; B92 - 20/03/02)
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Macedonian Interior Ministry Poised to
Present Draft Disarmament Law
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Officials say the interior ministry will
present the new draft law on disarmament within days. It is expected to meet
government approval and be forwarded to parliament by the end of March. Its
adoption is seen as crucial to stabilisation, and to parliamentary elections
that will likely be held in September or October. The measure envisions the
voluntary hand-over of illegally possessed weapons by citizens, and stiff
penalties -- even criminal charges -- against those who fail to co-operate.
Media reports indicate the government may invite NATO, the EU and OSCE to
monitor the process.
Meanwhile on Wednesday (20 March), prosecutors formally
charged 19 members of the former National Liberation Army with crimes against
humanity. The indictments follow a recent court ruling exempting them from the
amnesty law, since their collective actions represented acts of genocide and war
crimes. The 19 ethnic Albanians are charged with the kidnapping and torture of
innocent civilians last August. (Nova Makedonija, Utrinski Vesnik - 21/03/02; A1
TV - 20/03/02)
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Anti-Terrorism Unit To Be Formed Within
Romanian Army
BUCHAREST, Romania -- Defence Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu
announced Wednesday (20 March) the formation of a special anti-terrorist unit
within the army. He declined to reveal specifics before the project was
implemented, but briefed parliament’s defence committee. (Rompres -20/03/02)
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Croatian Parliamentary Panel Says No
Immunity for Two Deputies
ZAGREB, Croatia -- A panel within parliament announced
Wednesday (20 March) it would support the request of prosecutors to strip the
immunity of two deputies from the opposition Croatian Democratic Union. A vote
in the lower house is expected by the end of the week. Deputies Ljubo Cesic Rojs
and Djuro Decak are accused of administrative violations and abuse of power.
Also Wednesday, parliament debated the government’s
anti-corruption programme. Representatives of the ruling coalition maintain that
the situation has improved somewhat since the new government was formed after
elections in early 2000. The opposition argues that public support of
institutions is dwindling due to corruption concerns. (HINA, HRT, Infopress --
20/03/02)
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Bulgaria's Prime Minister Will Not Head New
Party
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg says he
will not serve as chairman of the National Movement Simeon II(NMS II), once it
is formally registered as a party in early April. He discussed registration
Wednesday (20 March) with members of his cabinet and parliamentarians from NMS
II. A couple of names have been mentioned in the press as possible candidates to
head the party: Plamen Panayotov, chairman of the NMS-II parliamentary group,
and NMS II parliamentarian Emil Koshlukov. (Dnevnik, Standart, Sega - 21/03/02;
BTA - 20/03/02)
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Croatian Police Arrest War Crime Suspects
ZAGREB, Croatia -- Military police Wednesday (20 March)
arrested an army officer and two others suspected of killing a Serb prisoner of
war in 1992. The incident occurred in the village of Nos Kalica, when Croatian
forces captured a group of Bosnian Serb fighters.
Also Wednesday, authorities in Zagreb said they had begun to
exhume the bodies of Croat victims of Serb repressions during the 1991-1995 war.
A newly discovered mass grave in Bogdanovci near Vukovar was believed to hold
the remains of 12 people. Some 654 people are missing in this area, nearly 11
years after Serbs captured Vukovar.
Belgrade-based radio meanwhile reports that the UN war crimes
tribunal plans to issue at least five indictments against Croatians, including
former Prime Ministers Franjo Greguric and Zlatko Matesa. The charges all
reportedly stem from the army’s "Storm" and "Flash"
operations. (AFP, B92, HINA - 20/03/02; HINA, Jutarnji List - 18/03/02)
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Bulgaria, Romania Ban Kurdish Peace Convoys
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria and Romania confirm that they have
banned Kurdish convoys from entering their territories. Activists of Kurdish
origin, most of them Western European citizens, are trying to reach the
Bulgarian-Turkish border to express solidarity with Turkish compatriots. They
are protesting the death sentence in Turkey and voicing support of the use of
the Kurdish language in education and the media there. Bulgarian Foreign
Minister Solomon Pasi said Wednesday (20 March) that his country should not
become a staging territory for actions against any of its neighbours. Romania
has blocked busloads of activists from crossing its border with Hungary since
Monday, prompting a protest outside Romania’s embassy in Budapest. (Dnevnik,
Standart, Nine O'clock - 21/03/02; BTA, Mediafax, Rompres, BBC - 20/03/02)
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