KOSOVSKA MITROVICA (Yougoslavie), 30 juin (AFP) - La question de la coopération avec l'administration de l'ONU au Kosovo suscite de nouvelles divisions au sein de la communauté serbe et menace d'éclatement le Conseil national serbe (SNV) de la province.

Des leaders du SNV menés par Mgr Artemije, évêque du Kosovo et président du SNV, ont décidé dimanche, après une suspension de trois semaines, la reprise de la participation d'observateurs serbes aux instances de l'administration conjointe créée par l'ONU.

Cette décision a été condamnée comme prévu par les leaders du SNV dans le nord du Kosovo, depuis toujours hostiles à une telle participation. Mais elle l'a aussi été par des membres du SNV jusqu'à récemment proches de Mgr Artemije, comme Momcilo Trajkovic, ancien numéro deux du Conseil.

La rupture est consommée depuis avril entre les leaders de Gracanica, une localité serbe située au sud de Pristina, et ceux de Kosovska Mitrovica, principale ville du nord du Kosovo, région où vivent une grande partie des Serbes restés dans la province.

Réunis au monastère de Gracanica, des représentants serbes dirigés par Mgr Artemije ont décidé le 2 avril l'entrée d'observateurs dans le Conseil d'administration intérimaire (IAC) et dans le Conseil de transition du Kosovo (KTC), que les Serbes boycottaient depuis leur création.

Mais les leaders du nord, Oliver Ivanovic et Marko Jaksic, leur ont aussitôt dénié toute représentativité réelle et ont fustigé leur décision. Selon eux, toute participation dans les conditions actuelles revient à légitimer le "nettoyage ethnique" subi par les Serbes du Kosovo depuis un an et que la mission internationale s'est avérée incapable d'empêcher.

M. Jaksic l'a répété après la reprise de dimanche, déclarant que le groupe de Gracanica n'avait "pas d'influence" parmi les Serbes du Kosovo.

"Les gens qui sont autour de Mgr Artemije se comportent plus comme des représentants de l'administration américaine que comme des avocats des intérêts serbes", a affirmé ce leader du SNV de Kosovska Mitrovica, ville divisée en une partie nord à majorité serbe et une partie sud presque entièrement albanaise.

En résumé, M. Jaksic a accusé Artemije et ses partisans de mener une politique "catastrophique" et "nuisible" pour les Serbes. "L'histoire ne leur pardonnera pas", a-t-il lancé.

De plus, la décision de reprendre la coopération avec l'ONU a été aussi désapprouvée par Momcilo Trajkovic, pourtant cofondateur du SNV l'année dernière avec Mgr Artemije.

Président du Mouvement serbe de résistance (SPOT), M. Trajkovic est comme Mgr Artemije un adversaire de longue date de la politique du président yougoslave Slobodan Milosevic.

Il a accusé un petit groupe au sein du SNV d'avoir pris une décision illégitime et s'en est pris violemment au chef de la mission de l'ONU au Kosovo (MINUK), Bernard Kouchner, lui reprochant de ne pas avoir fourni "l'assistance de base" nécessaire aux Serbes qui sont restés au Kosovo malgré les violences et les menaces d'une partie des Albanais.

"La communauté internationale internationale, et particulièrement la politique de Kouchner, a brisé la communauté serbe au Kosovo", a déclaré M. Trajkovic à l'AFP.

"Une année a passé et la situation des Serbes ne s'est pas du tout améliorée. Au contraire, elle a encore empiré", a-t-il dit.

"Avec sa politique erronée envers les Serbes, Kouchner a gaspillé tous les acquis du SNV au sein de la population serbe du Kosovo", a déploré M. Trajkovic.

Pour lui, M. Kouchner "n'est pas intéressé par des Serbes unis, en tant qu'acteurs (politiques) au Kosovo, mais seulement par les Serbes qu'il peut utiliser pour ses propres buts politiques".

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA (Yougoslavie), 29 juin (AFP) - A Kosovska Mitrovica, dans le nord du Kosovo, les soldats français de la force multinationale de paix (KFOR) luttent au quotidien pour surmonter les haines entre les communautés albanaise et serbe et éviter une stricte partition ethnique dans cette ville poudrière.

L'atmosphère dans la ville est pesante. Des militaires de la KFOR patrouillent en permanence dans les rues et de multiples check-points filtrent les voitures. Environ 1.200 militaires français et une centaine de Polonais sont chargés de cette mission.

Seule ville de la province encore vraiment mixte, Mitrovica est divisée par la rivière Ibar entre un sud presque intégralement albanais et un nord majoritairement serbe. Depuis la fin de la guerre du Kosovo il y a un an, elle est régulièrement le théâtre de violences intercommunautaires.

"La tension monte très vite ici", explique le colonel français Philippe Bonnel, chargé de la sécurité de la partie nord. Dans un délai de cinq minutes, une section composée de 30 militaires français est prête à réagir pour intervenir dans les endroits chauds.

La cité qui compte environ 70.000 habitants est devenue le symbole du casse-tête que représente le Kosovo pour la communauté internationale. Dans la partie nord, environ 2.000 Albanais vivent tant bien que mal au milieu de 10. 000 Serbes.

Depuis début juin, une trentaine d'Albanais sont partis, ne supportant plus de vivre sous la menace. Les conditions de vie pour les plus isolés sont très difficiles, certains restant cloîtrés chez eux et se faisant ravitailler par des voisins serbes.

La pression est permanente. "Une famille albanaise était partie de chez elle pendant quelques jours et une famille serbe en avait profité pour s'y installer. Nous avons dû la déloger", explique le commandant de la brigade multinationale nord de la KFOR, le général français Jean-Louis Sublet.

La situation dans le sud de Mitrovica est beaucoup plus simple à gérer pour les hommes de la KFOR, mais elle est en même temps un aveu d'un échec pour la communauté internationale.

Une quinzaine de Serbes seulement continuent à vivre dans cette partie de la ville autour de l'église orthodoxe lourdement protégée par la KFOR. Lors de certaines cérémonies religieuses, les soldats français sont obligés d'escorter des Serbes habitant au nord pour s'y rendre.

La KFOR craint un regain de violence dû au chômage, au retour d'enfants envoyés en Serbie pendant l'année scolaire et à la préparation des élections municipales prévues à l'automne.

"Le retour de réfugiés serbes est le principal problème" en raison du manque de logements, estime le représentant à Mitrovica de l'administration des Nations unies au Kosovo (MINUK) William Nash, un ancien général américain.

Sous son autorité, les leaders serbes et albanais acceptent quand même aujourd'hui de se parler et se sont mis d'accord récemment pour faire fonctionner conjointement une cimenterie.

Mais la méfiance a vite fait de reprendre le dessus. "Les Serbes ne veulent pas participer au recensement" organisé en prévision des élections, accuse un responsable albanais, Vehbi Beqiri, adjoint du maire de la zone sud.

De leur côté, les Serbes refusent de faire confiance à la KFOR et préfèrent se reposer sur leurs "gardiens", un groupe d'autodéfense muni de radio émetteurs qui surveille les passages dans la partie nord de la ville.

Le leader serbe de la ville, Oliver Ivanovic, ne veut pas entendre parler d'une extension des zones dites "de confiance" créées par la KFOR pour permettre aux habitants de toutes origines de coexister sous protection internationale. "La confiance, ce n'est pas des barbelés", dit-il.

Cette "politique des petits pas" a été mise en oeuvre après les très violents affrontements intercommunautaires en février et en mars. Elle a réussi tant bien que mal à résister à une stricte partition de la cité. Mais aujourd'hui encore rien ne semble gagné.

LAPUSNIK (Yougoslavie), 29 juin (AFP) - Des Albanais de la Drenica, bastion historique des séparatistes albanais dans le centre du Kosovo, ont manifesté trois jours de suite contre la Force multinationale de paix (KFOR), qu'ils avaient accueillie en triomphe à son arrivée il y a un an.

Les manifestants réclamaient la restitution par la KFOR d'un énorme stock d'armes clandestin qu'elle a saisi dans la région, ainsi que la libération du propriétaire du terrain sur lequel cet arsenal était caché, a indiqué un porte-parole de la KFOR, le commandant Scott Slaten.

Ils demandaient aussi le départ du Kosovo des soldats norvégiens de la KFOR et la fin des patrouilles de la force multinationale dans leur secteur, a indiqué le porte-parole.

La route nationale qui relie Pristina, chef-lieu du Kosovo, à Pec, dans l'ouest de la province, a été bloquée mardi après-midi par un millier de villageois des environs de Lapusnik, puis à nouveau bloquée de mercredi midi à jeudi midi, selon la KFOR.

Les manifestants, au nombre d'une centaine jeudi, ont levé le barrage sans incidents après avoir remis la liste de leurs requêtes, selon la KFOR.

Un porte-parole des soldats norvégiens qui patrouillent dans le secteur de Lapusnik, Carl Fredrik, a indiqué que l'une des banderoles déclarait "KFOR norvégienne hors du Kosovo".

Cette manifestation est "le premier signe que certains estiment que la communauté internationale va à l'encontre de leurs objectifs", a déclaré jeudi l'administrateur de l'ONU au Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner.

La force multinationale dirigée par l'OTAN avait été très chaleureusement accueillie par les Albanais en juin 1999 lorsqu'elle était entrée au Kosovo après le retrait des forces yougoslaves.

Les manifestants ont demandé que la KFOR rende quelque 70 tonnes d'armes et de munitions qu'elle a découvertes et saisies le 16 juin dans deux bunkers clandestins près du village de Klecka, dans la Drenica.

La force multinationale a identifié ces armes, parmi lesquelles des roquettes anti-char, des mortiers, des mitrailleuses et des dizaines de milliers de grenades, comme ayant appartenu à l'Armée de libération du Kosovo (UCK), la guérilla séparatiste officiellement démilitarisée depuis septembre.

Le général Agim Ceku, ancien chef militaire de l'UCK, a nié pour sa part tout lien entre son ancienne organisation et les armes.

Mais pour les villageois, il est clair que ces armes appartiennent aux Albanais et doivent leur revenir.

"Que la KFOR fasse d'abord des perquisitions dans les maisons serbes. C'est eux qui ont fait la boucherie, c'est chez eux qu'il faut chercher", a déclaré Rrahim Thaqi, un Albanais qui était sur le barrage dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi.

"Nous sommes pour le désarmement, mais pour tous", a renchéri Mejdi Thaqi, un autre manifestant.

Des villageois de Lapusnik ont déclaré à l'AFP qu'ils avaient obtenu la libération de Shabit Shala, arrêté après la découverte sur son terrain des bunkers clandestins. Mais un porte-parole de la KFOR, Damien Plant, a démenti dans la soirée que Shala ait été libéré.

Le commandant Slaten a par ailleurs exclu que les patrouilles puissent être suspendues. "La KFOR se rendra partout au Kosovo pour assurer la sécurité de tous", a-t-il dit.

Les revendications concernant les Norvégiens semblent liées à un incident survenu le 18 juin, lorsque des soldats norvégiens avaient confisqué et piétiné un drapeau albanais qu'arboraient des Albanais circulant en voiture à Kosovo Polje, un faubourg de Pristina.

"Nous ne sommes pas pour le départ de la KFOR, mais la KFOR norvégienne ne se comporte pas très bien", a expliqué Luan Bujupi, un habitant de Lapusnik.

"Nous nous excusons pour le drapeau. Cette chose n'aurait pas dû se produire et ne se produira pas dans l'avenir", a déclaré Carl Frederik.

"Les soldats ont agi dans leur droit en confisquant le drapeau" alors que les Albanais cherchaient à intimider les Serbes, "mais ils n'ont pas le droit de faire ce qu'ils ont fait", a-t-il ajouté.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia, June 30 (AFP) - In spite of a new accord with the United Nations on enhancing security for the Serb minority in the province, Kosovo Serb leaders remain split over cooperation with international officials.

As the Serb National Council (SNV) led by Bishop Artemije signed a memorandum of understanding with Kosovo UN mission (UNMIK) Thursday, other Serb politicians questioned the SNV's right to represent the province's Serb population.

Observers warned that differences among Kosovo Serb politicians could mean them ending up an ineffectual opposition in the Serb province, where the overwhelming majority is ethnic Albanian.

One analyst compared them to the political opposition to President Slobodan Milosevic in the centre of Serbian power in Belgrade.

"If Kosovo Serbs fail to overcome their personal rivalries and political differences, they will face the same destiny as the opposition in Serbia, which for years has failed to establish a serious threat to Milosevic," he said.

The Thursday deal was a condition for continued SNV participation in the UN's joint administration, which the SNV shunned for three weeks this month in protest at an upsurge in anti-Serb violence.

The text foresees a special security task force as part of UNMIK police to tackle organised crime and what Serbs call "ethnic Albanian terrorism." But other Serb politicians questioned the SNV's right to represent the province's Serb population.

The most suprising move came from veteran Kosovo Serb leader Momcilo Trajkovic, who helped to set up the SNV last year.

Trajkovic, for several years seen as the strongest Milosevic opponent in Kosovo, split with Artemije over participation in the UN-sponsored transitional administration council.

He lashed out at the UN administrator for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, accusing him of failing to provide essential assistance to Serbs, who have become regular victims of ethnic violence.

"Of course we are for cooperation, but the international community, especially Kouchner's policy, has broken the Serb community in Kosovo," Trajkovic told AFP.

He charged that Kouchner "is not interested in united Serbs, as a factor in Kosovo, but only in the Serbs he can use for his own political goals."

Trajkovic's Serbian Resistance Movement has launched an initiative for "political unification of Kosovo Serbs," and proposed round-table talks with the participation of official Belgrade, the Serb political opposition and Kosovo Serb representatives.

"The bottom line is that a year has passed and we have not at all improved the status and position of the Serbs," Trajkovic said: "On the contrary, it has become even worse."

The strongest criticism of the Artemije leadership came from the SNV splinter group in Kosovska Mitrovica, the most highly populated Serb enclave in the province.

It insists Artemije's group wields no influence over Serbs in Kosovo. Jaksic is an ally of the self-proclaimed mayor of northern Mitrovica, Oliver Ivanovic, who opposes Artemije's right to represent all Serbs in Kosovo.

Western officials believe the more radical position of Mitrovica Serbs towards international administrators inidcates that they are more strongly inlfuenced by the Milosevic regime in Belgrade.

The Ivanovic group denies this, but has hitherto failed to take a firm position either on distancing itself from Milosevic or cooperating with the UN and the KFOR peace force.

Meanwhile observers beleive the Belgrade regime is stirring up old divisions and quarrels.

"The state of Serbia and Yugoslavia does not want to cooperate with the UNMIK and KFOR," one analyst said.

Since Yugoslav troops pulled out of the province last June following NATO bombing, Belgrade has fiercely criticized UNMIK and KFOR for failing to protect the Serb population in Kosovo.

But apart from verbal threats and criticism, it has revealed no real projects for the future of the province which its more radical representatives often describe as occupied by enemy forces.

June 30, 2000

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) _ Fourteen Serb members of the Kosovo Protection Corps have resigned in a town south of Pristina, a U.N. spokeswoman said Friday.

Spokeswoman Nadia Younes did not give a reason for the move or offer details. But the development appeared to be the latest in a series of Serb protests against local U.N. officials running Strpce, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Pristina.

On Wednesday, all 23 of Strpce's police stayed away from work, to protest ``bad working relations'' between local U.N. authorities and the Serb population.

A senior U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the protest appeared to indicate that the Serb police ``were following orders.''

The moves followed U.N. accusations that radical Serbs from outside organized a recent rampage that destroyed a U.N. office in Strpce.

Locals said some of the ringleaders were not from the area, leading to suspicions that the destruction was planned in advance by outsiders, Younes said.

Strpce has been the scene of previous confrontations between villagers and NATO-led peacekeepers and U.N. police.

The Kosovo Protection Corps, set up by the United Nations, is meant to be a civic emergency response unit. It is dominated by ethnic Albanians, the overwhelming Kosovo majority, many of them former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought Serbs in the war that ended a year ago through NATO intervention.

BC-Yugoslavia-Terrorism Milosevic's allies pull back harsh anti-terrorism draft law for rewrite

June 30, 2000

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ In a major setback, President Slobodan Milosevic's government withdrew a tough anti-terrorism bill Friday after the hard-liners in his ruling coalition refused to back it.

The Yugoslav federal Cabinet had sent the bill to the federal parliament to pave the way for an even tougher crackdown on dissent. The measure provided for hefty prison terms for alleged anti-state activities, including a life sentence for the gravest acts of ``terrorism.''

But the bill was sent back to Cabinet after Milosevic's ultranationalist allies said it needed more ``tuning.''

According to deputy prime minister, Vladan Kutlesic, who addressed the assembly, the draft was pulled back for a rewrite. Kultlesic said ``new constructive proposals'' arose at the last minute and need to be added to the bill.

Despite the official explanation, the move signaled a serious rift within the ruling coalition _ which includes Milosevic's Socialists, neo-Communists led by his wife, Mirjana Markovic, and Vojislav Seselj's ultranationalists.

Seselj has not revealed specific reasons for his rejection of the anti-terrorist law. Some sources suggested he is using the bill to demand more power from Milosevic. A

Although the parliament is dominated by Milosevic's loyalists, Seselj's Radicals stood to block the vote in the assembly's 40-seat upper chamber, where Milosevic's side needed their eight legislators for a 21 majority approval.

Seselj's alleged dissatisfaction at his party's treatment by the rest of the coalition has long been rumored.

It remained uncertain how deep the rift ran. The revoking of the draft Friday, however, proved that Seselj is strong enough to pressure coalition partners into taking notice and acting on his demands.

Opposition leader Milan Bozic of the Serbian Renewal Movement said the Seselj's refusal was an insult to the regime.

``Milosevic has suffered a big blow and his ego was hurt,'' Bozic said. ``It is possible that the negotiations will continue in the next few days because Seselj is asking for something serious this time, probably within the repressive apparatus.''

Independent analysts and opposition officials had argued that the anti-terrorist law was aimed at curbing dissent in Yugoslavia _ which includes Serbia and much smaller Montenegro _ in the wake of growing opposition to Milosevic's rule after last year's NATO bombings and the loss of control over Kosovo, Serbia's Albanian-majority province.

In the vocabulary of Milosevic's regime, terrorism _ defined as actions jeopardizing the constitutional order and the country's territorial integrity _ is widely used. Political opponents and pro-democracy activists have consistently been labeled as ``terrorists.''

Over the past months, hundreds of opposition activists, including members of a student group called Otpor, or Resistance in Serbian, have been detained and accused of working against state interests.

``The ruling coalition is now in question with this discord and different interest,'' Dragoljub Micunovic, a Serbian opposition leader, told The Associated Press after the draft was pulled off the assembly agenda Friday.

Micunovic said that tensions between Milosevic's Socialists and Seselj's Radicals have been growing for some time and that the pulling back of the draft was the ``right moment to mobilize public outrage at this legislation.''

BBC - 30 June, 2000

The Yugoslav parliament is due to debate a controversial anti-terrorism bill on Friday.

Critics say the proposed law - which would impose long jail sentences up to life imprisonment - is designed to crush opposition to President Slobodan Milosevic.

Under the bill, jail terms of at least five years will be handed out for "acts that threaten constitutional order".

The phrase is often applied to groups opposed to Mr Milosevic such as the student-based Otpor or Resistance movement.

It was applied recently to an attempt to spray graffiti on a police station wall.

All the main Serbian opposition groups fear the draft would apply to them.

Some of the crimes cited include incitement to commit terrorism or membership of a group aiming to jeopardise Yugoslavia's territorial integrity.

The draft also warns against actions conducted "with help from abroad" - which would apply to groups funded by the West.

One of President Milosevic's leading nationalist supporters, Vojislav Seselj, the Serbian deputy prime minister and on whom President Milosevic relies on for his parliamentary majority, has called for the law to be sent back for further discussion. He said it was incomplete.

Albright opposition

The proposal has been condemned by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who said "its transparent purpose is to provide a respectable cover for repressive policies".

"Unfortunately for him, an anti-terrorism statute authored by a terrorist regime will have no credibility," she added.

Mrs Albright accused President Milosevic of trying to wreck democracy in his country and said he should surrender for trial for alleged war crimes in Kosovo.

Analysts say the law is aimed at giving Mr Milosevic a way of staying in power beyond the end of his mandate next year.

Belgrade officials have repeatedly accused Mr Milosevic's foes, especially Otpor of being involved in "terrorism" supported by Western powers.

The anti-terrorism proposals come at a time when there have been a number of assassinations of Serbian officials, some apparently linked to gangland activity,

The Serbian paramilitary leader known as 'Arkan' was shot dead in January.

President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist-led government in Belgrade has withdrawn at the last minute a widely criticised draft of a proposed anti-terrorism law.

The proposals were to have been voted on today by the Yugoslav Parliament, in which the government has a majority, despite objections from President Milosevic's opponents, who say that the law will be used to stifle dissent.

But the Radical Party leader in the governing coalition, Vojislav Seselj, has also opposed the draft law, saying it needed more discussion.

A BBC Correspondent says it's not clear if Mr Seselj objects to the proposals or is trying to bargain for concessions on other matters. The Yugoslav deputy prime minister, Vladan Kutlesic, told parliament that the draft law will be submitted later.

PRISTINA, Jun 30, 2000 -- (Reuters) The United Nations mission now running Kosovo signed an agreement with the province's minority Serbs on Thursday promising them better security in exchange for cooperation.

Despite a massive presence of NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers and armed U.N. police, fatal attacks on Serbs continue almost daily and their leaders have resisted joining the process of implanting democracy in Kosovo without better guarantees.

After lengthy negotiations, the moderate Serb National Council (SNC) agreed last Sunday to participate in joint administrative councils along with the United Nations and the Kosovo Albanian majority, while the UN offered an eight-point understanding on freedom, security and human rights.

"We are very clearly determined to improve the level of security for all the communities in Kosovo and of course mainly the Serbs," said UN special envoy Bernard Kouchner, who is in effect the province's governor, at Thursday's signing ceremony.

"But we need the goodwill of all the communities including mainly the Albanian community in implementing this understanding, without which we will certainly face problems."

Serbian Orthodox Bishop Artemije, the chairman of the SNC, said that by signing the agreement "I believe ... the position of the Serb community in Kosovo will become better.

"If we have practical implementation of it we hope that we will progress to further cooperation," he told reporters.

Little more than a year ago the United States spearheaded the NATO bombing campaign that eventually drove the Serb-led Yugoslav army and Serbian security police from the province.

But an SNC delegation recently visited Washington and a high-level State Department team met Serb leaders in Kosovo last week. On Thursday Artemije confirmed that the former enemy was now the effective guarantor of the agreement.

U.S. ROLE IN AGREEMENT

"We have discussed all these chapters also with the American administration ... Therefore I believe there will be no serious problem in continuing our fruitful cooperation," the Orthodox cleric told reporters.

Announcement of the SNC agreement predictably brought a furious reaction in Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, and also from hard-line nationalist Serbs in Kosovo.

"Bishop Artemije, (SNC spokesman) Father Sava Jancic and a group of people around them are behaving like employees of the American administration. Together with the mercenary Kouchner they want to form a new state in Kosovo," said Marko Jaksic, an SNC vice-president who boycotted last Sunday's meeting.

But Kouchner, clearly elated at bringing a significant number of the Kosovo Serbs on board, declared that Bishop Artemije "represents the best of the Serb community, but we are open to all others."

For hard-liners to make trouble over the cooperation accord it "will be counter-productive for them," Kouchner added. "But if others are open enough to come and work with us they will be very welcome."

The eight point agreement promises:

- a special security task force and a "neighborhood watch" scheme to maximize Serbs' protection and freedom of movement

- increased Serb presence in the Kosovo police service

- an international prosecutor and two international judges in each district court to try inter-ethnic crimes

- increased efforts through the Joint Committee on Returns to speed the return of displaced Serbs to their homes

- more efforts to find missing persons and free prisoners

- local community offices to be set up in Serb areas to ensure essential supplies

- a joint working group on community protection as part of efforts to develop the legal framework for self-government in Kosovo

- a committee on protection of the Serbian religious and cultural heritage in Kosovo.

BELGRADE, Jun 30, 2000 -- (Reuters) Serbia's interior minister was quoted on Thursday as saying "terrorism" in the country was financed by the West and carried out via student groups and some non-governmental organizations.

"The intention is to implement terrorism in our country through the so-called terrorist-fascist (student) organization Otpor and some non-government organizations which are in fact intelligence agencies of the West," Vlajko Stojiljkovic was quoted as saying.

Stojiljkovic said terrorism was directly financed and organized in the West, but would not succeed in Yugoslavia.

"The state is capable and determined to root out crime and terrorism in the country," he said.

The authorities have blamed Otpor and the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement for the murder of a high official of the ruling Socialist party in May. Both groups have denied any involvement.

Stojiljkovic was speaking a day before a controversial anti-terrorism bill, described by lawyers as dealing a blow to human rights, is to be discussed in the federal parliament.

UN's Bildt Sees No Chance of Deal for Milosevic

June 29, 2000

SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - United Nations special representative to the Balkans Carl Bildt said on Thursday there was no chance of a reported deal to save Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from war crimes prosecution.

"There is no way such a deal could be done under the existing rules," the former Swedish prime minister told a news conference.

The United States has flatly denied a June 19 New York Times report, which said Washington was exploring with some of its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and Russia the possibility that Milosevic be permitted to leave office with guarantees for his safety and savings.

Bildt, speaking at a World Economic Forum on central and eastern Europe, said that as far as he knew, no such discussions had taken place.

"Milosevic is not a stupid guy. His first question would be: How can you guarantee this? The answer would be that they cannot and he would say goodbye," Bildt said.

Bildt said so much international anger has built up against Milosevic that he would not be able to escape prosecution for the charges of war crimes with which he has been indicted.

UPDATE 1-Yugoslav anti-terrorism law delayed

BELGRADE, June 30 (Reuters) - The Yugoslav government withdrew a controversial anti-terrorism law from parliament on Friday after objections raised by Serbian hardliners.

Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vladan Kutlesic told parliament "useful suggestions" had been made and the draft had been taken off the agenda in order for the government to build these in.

Lawyers and opposition activists say the draft tramples on human rights and is designed to muzzle critics of President Slobodan Milosevic. The delay, which the government said would last just a few days, did not allay their fears.

The proposed anti-terrorism law has 19 articles envisaging stiff prison sentences for acts which threaten Yugoslavia's constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the federation or its members -- Serbia and Montenegro.

Some government officials have said the vaguely worded draft is not designed to target opponents of Milosevic, only genuine "terrorists".

But Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojilkovic sent a contrary message on Thursday when he reiterated an already-stated official line that the student protest movement Otpor was a Western-sponsored "terrorist-fascist" organisation.

Opposition political parties, media and non-government organisations in Serbia as well as the pro-Western government in Montenegro fear the law is aimed at them too.

Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic, one of the leaders of recent verbal attacks on Milosevic's critics, said the draft would return to parliament next week.

"The law will be put before parliament on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, we shall see," he told reporters in parliament, declining to say what would be changed.

"These are useful proposals that arrived over the past few days and which should considerably improve the law and remove all doubts that have over the past few days appeared in public," he said, without elaborating.

A government source said the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, which announced on Thursday it would not vote for the law, had objected to some of its articles.

Opposition analysts noted that Seselj is more extreme in his criticism of the opposition than the government so was not likely to have asked for a softening of the law.

They said it was more probable that he wanted the draft, which lawyers say is open to wide interpretation, to be more specifically targeted against them.

MILAN, Jun 28, 2000 -- (Reuters) Italian energy company Edison said on Tuesday it had delivered a study to the Albanian government identifying energy sector projects which would require investment of 2.5 trillion lire ($1.22 billion).

Edison said it had identified infrastructure projects, to be carried out over the next 10 years, for some two trillion lire in the electricity generation and transmission sector and for around 500 billion lire to develop a new link between Albania and international natural gas networks.

Edison added that in the electricity sector it reckoned that measures needing investment of some 500 billion lire were urgently required to restore the Albanian system to a level of security and reliability comparable with international standards.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it would not withdraw any Bronze Star medals awarded to U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine troops in the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia even though many were not involved in combat.

Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said the Defense Department found that there was historic precedence for such military valor awards and that even troops away from the action, such as members of aircrews who did not fly to targets over Serbia last year, were also responsible for mission success.

Notification of the decision was sent by Defense Undersecretary Bernard Rostker to the secretaries of the Air Force and Navy, Bacon told reporters.

"He (Rostker) found that the award of these Bronze Star medals to members of the Navy, Air Force and Marines was completely appropriate," he said.

"And he congratulated all the courageous recipients of these medals and others for their heroism and professionalism during Operation Allied Force."

The question arose after the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported that its review of Bronze Star citations for the U.S.-led air campaign against Yugoslavia last year showed that a majority went to servicemen far from the combat zone.

At least five Bronze Stars, for example, went to Air Force officers at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, home of the B-2 bombers which flew round-trip missions to the Balkans.

None were pilots, since the Pentagon's criteria for awarding Bronze Stars specifically says they are not for "participation in aerial flight."

"As you recall, one of the issues here was whether it was appropriate to issue Bronze Star medals to personnel who didn't actually enter the combat zone but may have been working as part of a combat team at some distance from the combat zone," said Bacon.

"And upon review, Undersecretary Rostker and his staff found that Bronze Star medals had been awarded to air teams stationed in Guam, for instance, during Vietnam and that it was completely appropriate to award them to air crews who were not exactly in the theater during Operation Allied Force."

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Yugoslav and Iraqi ministers on Thursday affirmed their countries' struggle against U.S. domination, the state news agency Tanjug reported.

Tanjug said Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic and Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh had "exchanged information on reconstruction and development of the two countries and their struggle against the hegemony and domination of the United States in the Middle East and Southeast Europe."

The two ministers also discussed raising the volume of trade between their countries, which have both experienced Western-backed air strikes and international isolation, through the U.N. Security Council "Oil for Food" program.

Yugoslavia and Iraq signed an economic and oil cooperation accord in November and set up a joint commission, co-chaired by Saleh, to boost ties.

Iraq has condemned last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia which Western leaders said was intended to halt Belgrade's repression of Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians.

Belgrade has criticized U.S. and British air strikes on Iraq and continued sanctions against that country.

Saleh met other senior Yugoslav officials on Thursday and visited Yugoslavia's sole car manufacturer Zastava, which has resumed operations at reduced capacity after heavy damage to its facilities in NATO's March-June 1999 air campaign.

Iraq is interested in cooperation with factories such as Zastava which produce passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, Saleh said.

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

RFE/RL - 29 June 2000

ALBRIGHT RENEWS CAMPAIGN AGAINST MILOSEVIC...

Speaking in Berlin on 29 June, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called for the ouster of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. "As far as U.S. policy is concerned, we want to see Milosevic out of power, out of Serbia and in The Hague" to face charges of war crimes, AP reported. She noted that the widespread poverty in Serbia is the result not of foreign sanctions but of "the mismanagement and thievery of a regime that has enriched Milosevic's cronies, while leaving everyone else with scraps." Albright called for support from abroad for the "courageous political and municipal leaders, journalists, students and other activists trying to assemble the nuts and bolts of freedom" in Serbia. She added that Milosevic "is now waging war against the democratic aspirations of his own people--a people that deserves far, far better." PM

...MEETS WITH SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS

Albright and her German counterpart, Joschka Fischer, met in Berlin on 29 June with Serbian Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic and representatives of the Social Democratic Union, the Civic Alliance, and Serbian Renewal Movement, Reuters reported. An unnamed senior State Department official told reporters that "what we see happening, and they discussed, was the gelling of democratic forces in Serbia and the need to remain united." PM

SIT-IN BY MAYOR LEADS TO RELEASE OF SERBIAN ACTIVISTS

Opposition Mayor Zoran Zivkovic led a sit-in outside the police headquarters in Nis on 28 June to demand the release of eight activists from the Otpor (Resistance) student movement and three news photographers. Police took the 11 people into custody at a demonstration, which was intended to satirize the proposed presentation of the Order of the National Hero to Milosevic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 June 2000). An unnamed police official told Reuters that "the rally was not banned, but it was not approved, either." Police released the 11 people after holding them for two hours. PM

ECONOMISTS: SERBIAN GOVERNMENT RUNNING UP RECONSTRUCTION DEBT

Just one day after the Belgrade authorities announced measures to tighten control over businesses that have debts, a leading economics institute issued a report saying the government itself has become a major debtor (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June 2000). The Institute for Market Research's chief research economist Slobodan Milosavljevic told reporters in the Serbian capital on 28 June that "the time has come [for the government] to start paying for months-long activities on reconstruction and raw material purchases," Reuters reported. The Milosevic government regularly gives extensive publicity in the state-run media to its reconstruction campaign. PM

KOSOVA SERBIAN POLICE 'FOLLOWING ORDERS'?

UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes said in Prishtina on 28 June that all 23 Serbian police in Shterpce handed in their "conditional resignations" that day to protest what they called "increased tensions" in the area and "bad working relations" with UN staff. She added that the Serbs "were following orders" but did not say from whom. Younes noted that a crowd of local Serbs led by outsiders recently "destroyed" the UN office in Shterpce, AP reported. PM
 
SPLIT IN SERBIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL

Slavisa Kostic, who heads the central Kosova branch of the Serbian National Council (SNV), told the private Beta news agency in Gracanica on 28 June that his organization has "broken off contacts" with Archbishop Artemije and other leaders of the main body of the SNV, following their decision to resume cooperation with the UN civilian administration in the province (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June 2000). Kostic said that Artemije refused to meet with him and his delegation without Artemije's closest aides present. PM

UNCHR BACK TO WORK IN NORTHERN MITROVICA

UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini said in Prishtina on 28 June that UNHCR officials resumed work in Serb-held northern Mitrovica after receiving guarantees of their safety from local Serbian leader Oliver Ivanovic (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 June 2000). He promised to provide 50 unarmed guards for the UNHCR staff, AP reported. PM

BRITISH, FRENCH COMPANIES TO MODERNIZE KOSOVA POWER PLANT

NPower, which is a subsidiary of Britain's National Power Plc in partnership with France's Alstom Power Centrales, signed a $38 million contract in Prishtina on 28 June to overhaul the lignite-powered Kosova-B power plant, Reuters reported. NPower's Project Director Bob Huntington told reporters: "Our primary objective is to deliver reliable power for the Kosovan [sic] people for the winter. We know Kosovo is politically unstable but we are comfortable with the [European Agency for Reconstruction] as partners and we foresee more projects in Kosovo and the Balkan region. We are not here to do one job and run," he added. PM

DJUKANOVIC: MONTENEGRO TO PAY DAMAGES TO CROATIA

President Milo Djukanovic said in Podgorica that his government is prepared to pay damages to Croatia "if necessary" to compensate for Montenegrin participation in Milosevic's campaign against the Dubrovnik area in 1991-1992 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June 2000). He did not elaborate, "Vesti" reported on 29 June. PM

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW PUT FORWARD FOR BOSNIA

Wolfgang Petritsch, who is the international community's high representative in Bosnia, and Robert Berry, who heads the OSCE mission there, unveiled a proposed freedom of information law in Sarajevo on 28 June. Opposition deputies from the Social Democrats and New Croatian Initiative then took the first steps to submit the measure to the parliament for approval. Petritsch, who has the authority to declare the bill a law if the parliament does not approve it, said that the proposal "will take Bosnia-Herzegovina several steps closer to Europe. It will take Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to a true civil society," AP reported. Barry added that "the initial reaction of bureaucrats is to dislike intensely a law like this because it takes away the shield of anonymity that otherwise cloaks the action of bureaucrats. [But] the public and the media like it very much." PM

GREECE TO WITHDRAW FORCE FROM ALBANIA

A government spokesman said in Athens on 28 June that the military contingent that Greece sent to help restore order in Albania in 1997 will soon return home. "The agreed time for this force's stay in Albania had elapsed. Following a decision by the leadership of the Defense Ministry, this force is leaving soon, having completed its work," he added. The total contingent is 137- strong, but 30 of the Greeks will remain in Albania as military instructors. Unnamed Greek Defense Ministry sources told AP that the Albanian parliament did not approve an extension of the mandate for the peacekeepers, but the sources did not elaborate. PM

ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT CHANGES RULES OF ELECTORAL GAME...

The government on 28 June approved an ordinance raising the electoral hurdle from 3 percent to 5 percent of the vote. Two-party alliances will need a minimum of 8 percent to gain representation, while alliances of more than two parties will require an additional 1 percent for each other member of the alliance. Presidential candidates will need 300,000 supporting signatures, instead of the current 100,000, to qualify to run in elections for the head of state, Romanian Radio reported on 29 June. MS

... AND PARTIES ABOUT TO CHANGE ELECTORAL PHYSIOGNOMY

Alliance for Romania (APR) Chairman Teodor Melescanu on 28 June confirmed media reports that former Prime Minister Teodor Stolojan is promoting an alliance between the APR and the National Liberal Party (PNL) that would support Melescanu's presidential candidacy and Stolojan for premier. APR Deputy Chairman Marian Enache said the alliance could "counterbalance" the "dominant position" of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania. PNL Deputy Chairman Valeriu Stoica said the PNL "welcomes" Stolojan's decision to make a political comeback but declined to specify how advanced the talks with the APR are. MS

ROMANIA DE-CRIMINALIZES HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONS IN PRIVATE

The Chamber of Deputies on 28 June approved an amendment to the Penal Code whereby homosexual relations will be an offense only if "conducted in public." Such relations are still described as "perverted sexual acts" and as "unnatural," however. The public display of homosexual behavior carries a sentence of five years in prison, compared with the two-year sentence for offensive heterosexual acts in public, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The amendment was opposed by the Greater Romania Party, which said it offends the "Orthodox spirit" of the nation and its traditions. The Romanian Orthodox Church has protested the amendment on similar grounds. Spokesmen for the ruling coalition said the amendment was a "compromise" intended to fend off renewed monitoring by the Council of Europe. The Senate has still to debate the amendment. MS

MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES MILITARY REFORM PROGRAM

The cabinet on 28 June approved the guidelines for military reforms submitted by the Defense Ministry. The document must now be approved by the parliament. Defense Minister Boris Gamurai said the program extends over 12 years and would be implemented in three stages. Among other things, it provides for an unspecified reduction in the number of troops while increasing the number of professional soldiers serving on contracts and granting higher budget allocations to the army. MS

CHINESE PREMIER IN BULGARIA

Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and his Bulgarian counterpart, Ivan Kostov, signed five economic and cultural cooperation agreements and discussed ways to increase trade turnover between their countries, Reuters reported on 27 June. The next day Zhu met with President Petar Stoyanov. During his two-day visit to Bulgaria, the Chinese leader said his country "respects the path of development chosen by the Bulgarian people" and that China sees Bulgaria as playing a "stabilizing role" in the Balkans, the BBC reported, citing Xinhua and BTA. MS

BULGARIAN BANK CHIEF ACCUSES GOVERNMENT OF 'UNDERVALUED' PRIVATIZATION

Chavdar Kanchev, director of Bulgaria's largest commercial bank, has said the government's plans to sell Bulgarbank to an Italian-German consortium for some $700 million are unjustified and undervalue the bank's assets, AP reported on 28 June. A statement released by the Bulgarbank managing board supported Kanchev's criticism of the government, saying the $700 million to be paid by the UniCredito Italiano-Allianz AG consortium represents only 7.5 percent of the net value of the bank's assets. Normally, it added, the price should be "60 percent above" the value of those assets. Kanchev said he has sent two reports to Kostov but the premier ignored them and refused to meet with him. MS 29-06-00



Ethnic stews mire US, UN in Bosnia and Kosovo

UPI Analysis

SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia, June 29 (UPI) -- For those who fear the United States may be mired in a Kosovo swamp for many years to come, they need look no further than Bosnia to confirm this suspicion.

The United Nations has been attempting to build a multi-ethnic democracy in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1995, just as they are now in Kosovo. In both cases, the United Nations, not to mention Congress, mandated the placement of troops in the region for one year. And in both cases, those deadlines have come and gone and the Western political officers, police units and army battalions remain.

The reason it's unlikely the West will leave either Kosovo or Bosnia anytime soon is because the United Nations' stated goals of building democracies and restoring ethnic populations displaced by war creates a kind of paradox. When citizens vote on the basis of ethnic loyalty, elections only serve to cast the majority ethnic faction over the minority. The policies of such elected regimes are to maintain ethnic supremacy, undermining the United Nations' other goal of returning minorities to the region.

Consider the Serb dominated town of Banja Luka, the capital of the Serbian area of Bosnia, Srpska. Its democratically elected mayor, Djordje Umicevic, used his men to physically block the return of Croats and other Bosnians into the city last summer.

In November the High Representatives in Sarajevo, Wolfgang Petritsch, an Austrian appointed by Western powers in the region to oversee the political development of Bosnia, stripped Mr. Umicevic of his powers. "When I intervene, when I sack politicians," he said, "it needs to serve a strategic goal, and that is of course to serve the Dayton accords."

The problem here that is likely to crop up for Kosovo is that the three strongest political parties that have emerged in Bosnia as a result of the United Nations' democracy-building efforts are run by nationalist hard-liners. As a result, 70 percent of the fledgling nation's non-U.N. budget goes to maintaining three distinct armies (Serb, Croat and Bosnian) and paying off the pensions to party loyalists.

Bosnia's parliament is another example of how a gain for democracy has become an obstacle to ethnic harmony.

The question for the U.N. mission in Kosovo is whether Mitrovica, a region in its center north, will learn the lesson of Banja Luka. Mitrovica has the most heavily concentrated population of Serbs left in Kosovo, yet the Serb political leaders there want more. And the United Nations is in the process of working out the return of 1,500 Serbs to the province, while attempting to woo Serbian political leaders to participate in elections scheduled for the fall. And one more thing, the United Nations controls 8,000 troops in Mitrovica just to keep the peace.

Another question is exactly where the Serbs who wish to return to Kosovo will live and whether they will be safe. If the Serbs return to Kosovo, they will not be returning to cohabitate with Albanians, instead the United Nations will have to create new ethnic zones, just as they have Bosnia. Indeed, many of the apartments occupied by the 40,000 Serbs in Pristina are now home to Albanians displaced from the war. Even the Albanian moderate leader Ibrahim Rugova said the 1,500 Serbs expected to return to Mitrovica would have to live in enclaves separate from the Albanians there.

On the road from Pristina to Montenegro, semi-constructed houses, burned by Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic's armies, stand as a reminder that Albanians on the ground intend to return to the villages sacked in last year's war. The other striking feature on the roadside are the monuments to Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army fighters killed in that conflict, sometimes no more than sticks and cloth.

The Albanian political leader most closely associated with the KLA, Hashim Thaci, is also the head of the strongest party. He told a group of delegates to the New Atlantic Initiative, that the KLA no longer existed and was transformed into a disaster relief organization. Yet Mr. Thaci has also pushed the United Nations for a firm date for national elections in time before holding municipal ones, a ploy some observers say is an effort to secure political power before the return of much of Kosovo's Serb population. While no official census numbers exist, most experts predict that Kosovo will be least 80 percent Albanian even if all of the Serbs who left last year return.

The elected Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jadranko Prlic, said that one of the main lessons Kosovo can learn from his country is that "it is a mistake to hold elections that only confirm political realities." In this sense, Prlic argues that elections should not serve as cover for policies of ethnic division.

If Washington wants an exit strategy in Kosovo, then the United Nations' current efforts to hold municipal elections in the fall may end up making NATO's job of returning troops to Kosovo even more difficult down the line.

So how do policy-makers sell the long-term presence of U.S. troops in the province, given that no one here expects that one can set a date when NATO forces could depart and leave a stable Kosovo in their wake? The former U.S. assistant secretary for intelligence at the State Department, Morton Abramowitz said that the way to do it is by stressing that unlike Bosnia, the majority of troops in Kosovo are not American, in fact American troops only compromise 15 percent of the forces stationed there. "I believe this is an alliance project, it must be sold as an alliance project and the alliances have fought a war on it, it must be sold on the basis that our presence is essential but that the Europeans are bearing the brunt of it."

House Approves Spending Package

The House gave final approval last night to an $11.2 billion emergency spending package after Democratic senators forced GOP leaders to abandon plans to include compromise language easing economic sanctions against Cuba.

Congress has spent the better part of four months dickering over funds requested by the White House for troops in Kosovo, anti-drug efforts in Colombia and disaster relief. The House adopted the package, 306 to 110, and the Senate was expected to approve it today.

The final package includes $1.3 billion earmarked for Colombia and other Andean countries for their war on drugs and $6.4 billion for the military, including $2 billion to replenish operating funds used for Kosovo.

There is also $361 million for relief from Hurricane Floyd and other disasters, $661 million for the damage a New Mexico forest fire caused to homes and the national laboratory at Los Alamos, $600 million for

low-income heating assistance and $700 million for the Coast Guard. While approval of the emergency funding was assured late yesterday afternoon, after final talks between House and Senate leaders,

Republicans will have to find another legislative vehicle for the Cuban sanctions agreement after they return from the Fourth of July recess.

The compromise plan for easing economic sanctions against Cuba that House Republicans worked out earlier this week was dropped from the package after Senate Democrats critical of the plan threatened a filibuster.

The dispute pitted Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) against House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who helped negotiate the compromise for allowing the sale of food and medicine to Cuba for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Dodd and Dorgan contend the terms of the agreement are too restrictive--denying Cuba access to U.S. credit or private loans--and would do little to open Cuba to U.S. grain sales. Dodd also strongly objects to a provision that turns current restrictions on travel to Cuba into law.

"The agreement is a political fig leaf that's not going to result in our ability to sell food to Cuba," Dorgan said. "And it's a step backwards in terms of travel."

Hastert vowed to retain the Cuba language but backed off after Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) advised him there was no way they could get around the filibuster until after the recess.

Dodd's state has an economic stake in the bill's passage because the measure would provide $234 million to purchase 18 Blackhawk helicopters to be used by Colombia's army and national police in their drug interdiction campaign. The Blackhawks are manufactured by United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn.

Meanwhile, environmentalists and Clinton officials complained about the Republicans' decision to insert language at the last minute to block the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing rules aimed at cleaning up the nation's waterways.