PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
Press Briefing
PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
19960927
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
The Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Milan Milutinovic, told a Headquarters press conference this morning that the first part of the implementation of the Dayton and Paris Agreements had been completed with the holding of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 September. But the implementation of the Agreements' second part would be harder to accomplish. The new institutions of government elected in Bosnia should start working together in order to serve the people that elected them.
"So, we hope that it will be less and less some kind of a dictatorship of the surrounding countries and dictatorship of the international community", he said. "All those institutions and new leadership should resume their duties and pay the bill to the people to show to the people the benefits of peace."
The Minister expressed hope that the sanctions imposed on his country would be lifted formally and completely in the coming days in accordance with paragraph 4 of Security Council resolution 1022 (1995). According to its terms, he said, the sanctions should be lifted 10 days after the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was unfortunate that that Council resolution had not yet been implemented. Asserting that the international community would have pounced on his country the minute it infringed upon some law, he said that that community's delay in implementing one of its laws would threaten its credibility.
The 12-, 13- or 14-day delay in lifting the sanctions was unwarranted, he stressed. The matter should be resolved next week since all important statesmen and international organizations had recognized the Bosnian elections as "excellent, with everything being good or even better than in some normal countries with long democratic traditions". There had been a large turn-out of voters, freedom of movement and no clashes or injuries. That was a big success, bearing in mind that the country had just been through "a big, big and very severe civil war between the factions".
In response to a question as to what, apart from the sanctions, were impeding the normal functioning of the new Government in Bosnia, Mr. Milutinovic said that the new institutions should start functioning normally in due course. The parliament of the entire State of Bosnia and Herzegovina should elect leaders from the ranks of politicians who had a broad range of support. Many of the issues regarding the establishment of new institutions in Bosnia had been settled in advance. For instance, while
President Alija Izetbegovic would head the collective presidency, it had been agreed that a Croat would lead the State's diplomatic services.
Just as it usually took some time for post-election governments to be formed in peaceful countries such as Italy and Spain, he said he expected some time to pass before the parliament and other organs of government started functioning fully in a country that had just stepped out of war. There were good omens, though, he added. "Yesterday, they were looking at each other through rifles, now they have to meet and to work in the same room, which is not as difficult as it seems."
In response to a question as to whether his Government would lift its ban on a local newspaper and some television stations and allow the resumption of parliament in the Serbian province of Kosovo, he said the problem with opening that parliament was that the ethnic Albanians there did not want to take part in elections for parliament. The main obstacle was the reluctance of the Albanians to use the institutions that had been provided for in the Federal Republic's constitution. To a further question, he replied that there were 20 opposition and Albanian newspapers functioning in Kosovo. No one had been stopped from continuing his or her business.
Since the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had paid its dues to the United Nations, what was that federation's legal position in the Organization? a reporter asked. Mr. Milutinovic replied that, although his country was still a Member State, it was not allowed to occupy its seat due to the provisions of some United Nations resolutions. But the federation had met its obligations as far as its assessments were concerned. He expressed hope that the Assembly, the United States and the international community would understand the federation's contributions to the peace process and allow it to sit in the United Nations.
The Federal Republic would not reapply for membership even if those parties insisted, he said in response to a question as to whether the federation would do so. It was one of the founding Members of the United Nations and had belonged to the League of Nations. The Federal Republic was not a new State, as it had been recognized since 1870. "We fought to preserve Yugoslavia and we remain in Yugoslavia while others left. Those who left have to ask for membership", he said. "The situation is very, very contradictory. The countries which left, countries which generated secession, are rewarded and we, who fight to stay in the country, are punished. That's crazy", he said.
Asked whether he would recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said that the Federal Republic had recognized that State. The trouble, however, was that the two States would have to iron out some issues before diplomatic relations could be established and ambassadors exchanged. For example, Bosnia had to withdraw its charges against the Federal Republic from the International Court of Justice in The Hague. With both sides having lodged
Yugoslavia Press Conference - 3 - 27 September 1996
counter-complaints against each other in the Court, it would be odd to try to establish diplomatic ties in such circumstances. Despite that, the two States were cooperating in, for instance, the economic sphere.
Replying to a question as to how far his country would cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Foreign Minister said that it was already working with the Tribunal, which had a bureau in Belgrade. The main problem between them was over the issue of the extradition of Yugoslav citizens, a constitutional problem which could not be overcome easily. The constitutional prohibitions against extraditions could not be amended easily.
On the question of the distribution of assets among the successor States of the former Yugoslavia, he said a commission had been set up to draw up guidelines for sharing them. Outstanding issues would be cleared up in talks between the sides.
Asked how he could ask for the lifting of sanctions when not all elections, especially municipal polls, had been held in Bosnia, Mr. Milutinovic said, "According to the Dayton Agreement, if you read it carefully, especially the section about the elections, communal elections had not been set for now. So, if you make the link, there is no link. Only for propaganda reasons would you make the link." The federal- and entity-level elections in Bosnia, provided for in the Dayton accords, had been held.
The relations between the United States and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were very good, except for the fact that they had not exchanged ambassadors. "We have meetings with American officials sometimes on a monthly basis, sometimes on a weekly basis, sometimes on a daily basis", he concluded.
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