PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

The Serbian Government remained firmly committed to the serious and productive dialogue with leaders of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija and it was determined to proceed with their meetings, Vladislav Jovanovic, Charge d'affaires of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

The status of Kosovo and Metohija should be addressed in the beginning of peace talks between the parties and a solution of that issue should be the outcome, Mr. Jovanovic said. It was important that both sides take confidence-building measures and his country was ready to make its contribution. First, all terrorist activity should cease and those from the ethnic Albanian side and the outside world should condemn those acts.

Instead of disappearing since peace negotiations began in May, terrorist activities had increased over recent months, he said. The assaults were not only directed at the police, but a variety of civilian and humanitarian targets had been attacked as well. As of 31 May, terrorist attacks had killed and wounded dozens of police officers as well as civilians. Police actions were restrained and were purely defensive. Their actions were part of their duty and the right of state authorities to protect public peace and order.

In addition, there had been illegal crossing and smuggling of arms over the boarder from Albania, he said. State organs had increased actions in order to prevent the steady flow of arms and armed people from Albania into Kosovo. Serbian authorities were not engaged in any policy of persecution or expelling people from their homes. All dislocated people, whether in Albania or Yugoslavia, were called by the Government to return and their safety was guaranteed.

His Government denied the accusations that there had been ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija, he said. Any comparison of the situation in those areas with incidents in other parts of the former Yugoslavia was totally artificial. The Serbs and not the Albanians had been victims of expulsion from Kosovo over the decades. From 1941 to the present, 400,000 Serbs had been expelled from Kosovo. Also, the assertion made by Kosovo Albanian authorities that Kosovo was 90 per cent Albanian, was false. The true figure was much lower, but that figure had been repeated by Western media.

Mr. Jovanovic said that the steady inflow of foreign mercenaries was a new element that had further destabilized the area. They had come, not only from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, but from as far as Pakistan, Sudan and Turkey. Another new development in Kosovo was the abuse of children. Albanian separatists continued to use and abuse children for political purposes, including using them in anti-Serbian political demonstrations.

His Government was seriously determined to pursue the dialogue with the representatives of Albanian political parties in order to achieve one sensible political outcome that could accommodate the interests of all. Unfortunately, the Albanian representatives did not appear at the second meeting between leaders of the two sides, scheduled for 5 June in Pristina.

Albanian leaders, instead of being seriously engaged in dialogue, were more engaged in political manoeuvring, he added. They had been trying to over- dramatize the situation in Kosovo and to mobilize support from the international community. The way to reach a solution was not to avoid condemning terrorism and justify independence, but to efficiently fight terrorist activity and work for a political solution.

The leader of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, had said that Kosovo independence would stabilize the region, a correspondent said. What was Mr. Jovanovic's response to that comment? He said the Albanian population in the Republic of Yugoslavia was a national minority and it was not entitled to the right to self-determination and independence. International law required that the territorial integrity of States must be upheld. It also required that members of national minorities be entitled to take part in decisions concerning their political, economic and cultural life. That was the scope of obligations a State had toward national minorities.

Mr. Jovanovic was asked why he refereed to Metohija in relation to the situation in Kosovo. He said that the area was called Kosovo-Metohija until 1980. The leaders of Kosovo-Metohija changed the name to disassociate it from its Christian heritage. Metohija is a Greek word, meaning monastery or church.

Was the Yugoslav Government moving toward allowing more autonomy for Kosovo, or was it moving to make Kosovo a district of Yugoslavia? a correspondent asked. Mr. Jovanovic said his Government was ready to put into practice the highest European standard in the field of nationality protection. In that regard, it intended to provide to ethnic Albanians full cultural autonomy. It was out of the question that a solution to the situation was to have Kosovo outside of the frontiers of Serbia.

A correspondent said that, in a statement issued on 5 June the Secretary-General had condemned the atrocities committed by Serbian military and paramilitary forces. "Were you saying that the Secretary-General was lying when you said there had not been atrocities?", he asked. Mr. Jovanovic said that he was not calling the Secretary-General a liar, but the statement did not correspond to the facts. Events may take place in clashes with terrorists that were unwanted, but State authorities did not deliberately commit atrocities. Mr. Jovanovic also questioned whether the Secretary- General should have received Mr. Rugova because he represented a separatist movement.

Press Conference by - 3 - 5 June 1998 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

"When you refer to terrorists, who exactly are you referring to and what are their motives?", a correspondent asked. Mr. Jovanovic said the organization operating in the area was a secret terrorist organization and for that reason information on it was limited. They wanted to achieve independence through the use of force because they say that other means were not productive enough.

Was the situation in Kosovo similar to that of Bosnia where civilians were targeted by the Yugoslav army? a correspondent asked. Mr. Jovanovic said the Yugoslav army did not engage in clashes with terrorists, unless it was directly attacked by terrorists. The army was deployed on the frontier region to stop the flow of arms and armed people into Kosovo. Only police were used for eliminating terrorism in Kosovo.

How do you explain the prevalence of Chinese arms being used by the ethnic Albanians fighting in Kosovo? a correspondent asked. He said that most of the arms being used were from the former Albanian army, which ended up on the black market. Most of the arms of that army were from China.

Some of the vehicles that belonged to United Nations forces in Srebrenica were found being used by Serbians against Albanian civilians in Kosovo, a correspondent said. What was your response to that? Mr. Jovanovic said he had not heard that report and he doubted that was true.

Were armed Bosnian Serbs fighting in Kosovo on the side of the Yugoslavia? a correspondent asked. He said that there was full control of arms possession in Serbia. Also, the Yugoslav army did not have any volunteers or paramilitary forces in Kosovo. If Bosnian Serbs were involved in Kosovo it was as members of the police or army, not independently.

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