PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTER OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
Press Briefing
PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTER OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
19980929
The Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Zivadin Jovanovic, stated at a Headquarters press conference today that terrorists operating in the Kosovo region of the Serbian Republic had been neutralized, and that conflict no longer existed in the region. He said that as of 28 September, all main terrorist strongholds had been eradicated and that there was no longer any fighting going on in Kosovo. Asked by a correspondent whether reports from the Associated Press of fighting on 28 September in an area 30 kilometres south of the Kosovo capital of Pristina were, therefore, inaccurate, the Foreign Minister stated that they were indeed inaccurate. Anti-terrorist actions had ended, he continued, and special security forces would return to permanent barracks in the region, but would remain on alert for terrorist provocation for the foreseeable future. Asked whether he was absolutely 100 per cent certain that there really was no fighting taking place, he said that "there really is no fighting going on in the area referred to and any part of the Kosovo province", and repeated that anti-terrorist activities ended yesterday, 28 September.
The reporter then asked whether Yugoslavia would return fire from aircraft of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the event of an air strike in retaliation against the alleged continuation of hostilities. Mr. Jovanovic said that the strategy of Yugoslavia was dialogue. Another correspondent asked whether his announcement that fighting had ended was a response to Security Council resolution 1199 (1998) whereby, under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council may determine that conditions exist which may result in authorization of the use of force, in this case, in regard to Yugoslavia's actions in Kosovo. To this, the Foreign Minister responded that terrorists in Kosovo were financed, trained and recruited in Albania, and that this had been omitted for consideration by the same body which was condemning terrorism. He added that Yugoslavia participated in the struggle of the international community towards the eradication of terrorism in the world, and that a principled approach was needed rather than a double standard.
Another correspondent asked about reports from humanitarian organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of a pending humanitarian catastrophe resulting from mass refugee movements into mountainous regions as winter approached. In reply, the Foreign Minister said that there was no burgeoning crisis in the region, that while there had been dislocation in the region, over 100,000 displaced persons had been returned to their homes. He noted that there had been disruption in services, but, with the cessation of conflict, the region's social and economic and political problems had been solved. Fifteen humanitarian centres had been operating throughout the region for the past two months, he added.
Yugoslavia had diplomatic relations with 170 countries, he stated. It was a participant in the Dayton and Paris Peace Agreements concerning Bosnia, and had participated in many multilateral activities, conferences and meetings, especially those involving issues in south-eastern Europe. Yugoslavia was a founder of the United Nations and the League of Nations, he added, yet the Yugoslav seat at the United Nations was empty. Asked by a correspondent whether this legacy should rightfully belong to all the original republics of the Yugoslav Federation, including Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, he replied that he believed every nation should have the right to participate, and added that the requirement for the current make-up of the Yugoslav Federation, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, to reapply for membership, was not consistent with the treatment accorded to the States of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, when they became separate States. Also, he said the constituent States of Austria-Hungary were automatically admitted into international bodies following that State's dissolution. The sooner Yugoslavia was reactivated as a full Member of the United Nations, the better.
A correspondent said the Chairman of the United States Congress House International Relations Committee, Benjamin Gilman, speaking in a press conference, expressed his belief that "Milosevic is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for his action in Croatia, Bosnia and, most recently, in Kosovo. Have your spies been able to assert that one of the sealed indictments in The Hague has Slobodan Milosevic written on it? Do you think that Russia will continue to shield the Milosevic regime, and stay on the record as supporting and condoning genocide?" The Foreign Minister replied that President Milosevic would remain in force, that the comments made were absolutely false, misleading and ill-intended. In regard to Russia, he suggested that she put the question to representatives of that country.
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* Revised to correct information on page 2.