PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was vitally interested in seeing a speedy end to the crisis in Kosovo and a lasting political settlement, the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vladislav Jovanovic, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Mr. Jovanovic was speaking about the latest developments in Kosovo, including the agreement recently signed by President Slobodan Milosevic and United States Envoy Richard Holbrooke. He said the Federal Republic was implementing the agreement in good faith. In recent weeks, there had been no anti-terrorist action, except when police were directly attacked or provoked by the remaining terrorist groups. The Government was complying with the request to pull back the police units sent to the region in February and was also reducing the number of armed units.

He said increasing numbers of displaced persons were returning to their homes, and the Federal Republic had plans to increase the number of humanitarian centres from 18 to 100. The Government was cooperating with international agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). They had full freedom of movement and unhindered access to any part of Kosovo. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission would begin soon and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air verification mission was ready.

Albanian citizens were continuing to hand over arms which had often been given to them by force, he continued. Life was returning to normal: health services were open, schools, particularly primary and secondary schools, were operating and traffic was moving freely. Unfortunately, remaining groups of terrorists were still active and were trying to interrupt traffic and create instability.

Contrary to Government actions, the Albanian side, including its political leadership and leaders of terrorist organizations, were not as cooperative, he said. For example, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ibrahim Regova, was still not complying with Security Council resolutions denouncing terrorism and separatism, and calling for a resumption of immediate and unconditional dialogue, he added. Albanian leaders had either rejected the agreement or given it only conditional and lukewarm support.

"Even Mr. Regova", he continued, "conditioned that agreement with the restoration of the international protectorate in Kosovo and the full withdrawal of all police and army units of Serbia from that region, which was not part of the agreement and would never be accepted by any Serbian State, including Serbia and Yugoslavia."

The so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was continuing its terrorist activities, he said. In the last week, five policemen had been killed and up to 12 wounded. A large number of the 250 Serbian and Albanian civilians abducted in recent months were still being held. So far, there was no information about 169 people kidnapped by that organization. On Sunday, two journalists, Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic from the Yugoslav News Agency, TANJUG, had been abducted and there was no information about their whereabouts. Two other journalists had been missing for nearly two months, he added.

The United Nations TANJUG correspondent, Nevenka Jovicic, said that, according to the latest information, Mr. Radosevic and Mr. Dobricic had disappeared, while trying to reach the village of Magura, on the road from Pristina to Pec. Their car had had Belgrade registration plates. Mr. Radosevic was posted to the TANJUG bureau in Pristina and Mr. Dobricic, a photographer from Belgrade, had been in Kosovo for a couple of weeks. She said there were indications of involvement by the KLA. The ICRC representative in Kosovo, Beatrice Veber, had written to the KLA political representative, Adem Demaci, pointing out that his organization was very active in the region and was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based organization, had also written to Mr. Demaci, appealing for release of the two men, Ms. Jovicic continued. She then read the following excerpt from its letter: "Because the KLA has been active in the area, we fear that Radosevic and Dobricic were abducted and were being detained by the KLA. We call on you to conduct an immediate and exhaustive investigation. If the reporters were indeed held by the KLA they should be immediately released unharmed."

She said she feared the journalists' lives were in danger. Recently, Mr. Demaci had answered inquiries about the two men by saying that if they were in the hands of somebody from KLA headquarters, they might be unharmed. However, if they had fallen into the hands of someone else, they might have been harmed. In Belgrade today, 300 local and foreign media professionals had met to express their support for journalistic freedom. They had also given a letter to the United States embassy asking it to help find their missing colleagues.

Mr. Jovanovic said there had to be pressure on the Albanian political leadership to ensure the release of the journalists.

A correspondent asked what could be done in New York to help save the journalists. Mr. Jovanovic said proper coverage of such incidents was important. There was an impression that whenever Serbs were victims of kidnapping, the coverage was not the same as when people from the other side -- such as Albanians in Kosovo -- were in danger. A one-sided approach should be dropped to ensure similar incidents did not reoccur. Journalists should have freedom of movement.

Yugoslavia Press Conference - 3 - 21 October 1998

Ms. Jovicic said the power of the word was very strong and every side of a story should receive objective coverage, to pressure whoever kidnapped journalists. Hopefully, the KLA terrorists would listen to pressure from the press and the diplomatic world.

A correspondent asked Mr. Jovanovic whether the concern for press freedom was a signal that the Federal Republic intended to end its widely reported crackdown on Serb independent reporters in Belgrade. Mr. Jovanovic said there had been no crackdown, only a particular action because of a certain exceptional situation, namely the immediate threat of aggression from some foreign countries. The Serbian Parliament had adopted a new media or information bill. The provisional Government decree that the correspondent referred to was no longer valid. The intention was always to lift the measure as soon as outside threats were no longer serious.

A correspondent asked for comment on the statement last week by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, that the court's jurisdiction was not for Mr. Milosevic or anyone else to decide. Would there be more cooperation with and recognition of the Court's jurisdiction in Kosovo? she asked. Mr. Jovanovic said there was no war or armed conflict in Kosovo. There had been an active terrorist organization and an anti-terrorist response from the special police and, in some situations, from armed units.

A few weeks ago, he said, the B-92 radio station in Belgrade had reported Ms. Arbour's statement requesting support from the Security Council and other international forums "to limit the Serbian aggression in Kosovo". That kind of political statement was not expected from a high official of the Tribunal, he added. There had been no aggression by Serbia within Serbia itself, but rather aggression from terrorist organizations and a legitimate response by security forces to protect the territory and the lives of its citizens. In its agreement with Mr. Holbrooke, his Government had agreed to allow Tribunal investigators to visit the region to see if there had been atrocities by either side -- atrocities that had been allegedly committed by Serbian police. But the agreement did not mention cooperation with the Tribunal in the case of Kosovo.

Asked if his Government supported the endorsement of the agreement through a Security Council resolution, Mr. Jovanovic said his Government was not opposed to a resolution endorsing the agreement, which it was determined to apply in good faith. However, his Government would not like to see an attempt by any Council members to extend the endorsement to other unrelated issues or to further politicize the situation.

Asked for further clarification, the Ambassador said endorsement meant supporting and repeating the objectives of the agreement and not getting away from it by including other issues.

Yugoslavia Press Conference - 4 - 21 October 1998

What benefits did the Government get from the agreement? a correspondent asked. Mr. Jovanovic said the agreement had helped save the whole region from a dangerous escalation in tensions and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia itself from the threat of NATO air strikes. The Government had also proved that its objectives were transparent and complemented those of the United Nations. It did not oppose a resumption of normal life by its Albanian citizens. Nor did it oppose their enjoyment of the highest degree of autonomy as stipulated by international standards for national minorities. The Federal Republic had already offered substantial autonomy, in addition to the cultural autonomy already in place. It had repeatedly invited Mr. Regova and his team to resume negotiations immediately and unconditionally. However, Mr. Regova had not accepted the invitation.

He said the Security Council had fully supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of his country. Claims for independence were contrary to Council resolutions and the stand of the whole international community. His Government had decreased the number of security forces. Normalization of life in Kosovo and the beginning of the political process was in the Government's interests. The agreement also helped Albanian citizens to understand that it was within their best interests to remain in the Federal Republic as equal and fully integrated citizens, with full protection of their rights as a national minority.

The Government respected and wanted its Albanian citizens to play an important role in the country's social and political life, he continued. They could easily be power brokers not only within their region but also within the Federation because of the sizable numbers of representatives they could have in the Serbian Parliament and the Federal Parliament.

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