Headlines
- Gelbard on Kosovo
- Milosevic: the Kosovo crisis has to be resolved within Serbia
- Election results implemented in 115 RS municipalities
- NATO manoeuvres begin
Kosovo belongs to Serbia. If the whole of Serbia was democratised in terms of establishing a legal state in which freedoms and rights were respected in line with European standards – that would bring the solution for Kosovo, the RS President stated yesterday for the Beta agency commenting on the Contact Group’s decision.
0:35
Kosovo is still the major topic throughout the world. Special American Envoy for the Balkans, R. Gelbard, spoke to S. Milosevic last night and conveyed the Contact Group’s message on sanctions. Gelbard spoke to the Kosovo Albanian representatives in Pristina today. Gelbard called for the immediate end of violence and the start of confidence building.
2:50
After his meeting with the Special American Envoy for the Balkans, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stated that the problems in Kosovo could be only resolved in Serbia and exclusively by political means.
0:20
Russian President Boris Yeltzin ruled out the possibility of sending Russian troops to Kosovo. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Primakov stated that it would be counter-productive if the IC only focused on imposing sanctions on Belgrade. Officially, Peking considers Kosovo to be an internal affair of Yugoslavia; therefore FRY sovereignty and territorial integrity have to be respected. The Italian Foreign Minister considers that Kosovo is an integral part of FRY and that independence for the southern province of Serbia is out of the question. Canada decided to impose economic sanctions on FRY. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Madrid fully supported the decision made by the Contact Group, and added that he was ready to support the use of force if necessary. The Presidents of the Czech Republic and of Poland appealed to the authorities of FRY to open constructive political dialogue with representatives of the Albanian minority. Officially, Ljubljana supports the Contact Group’s decision. Officially, Tirana is satisfied with the Contact Group’s decision.
4:00
Parliamentary parties of the RS voiced their views about the Kosovo crisis: The Socialist Party of RS considers that the problems of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija should be resolved in a peaceful manner with no casualties, and that the issue is an internal matter for Serbia and FRY. Nenad Bastinac, General Secretary of Independent Social Democrats of RS, claims that the attitude of the Contact Group is positive, whereas the sanction-imposing regime is not. The Party considers that the intervention of international factors is not desirable because it may influence the further implementation of Dayton.
1:40
The RS Prime Minister spoke to the Head of the Soros Foundation in Banjaluka today.
2:00
NATO General Secretary Javier Solana is to visit Banjaluka and Brcko on Thursday March 12th. He will hold talks with the RS President and the RS Prime Minister.
0:35
The Deputy Supervisor for Brcko stated that everybody there was waiting for the decision on Brcko, which the International Arbitrator for Brcko would declare on Sunday, March 15th. The Deputy Supervisor denied rumours about Supervisor Farrand’s illness and explained that the Supervisor would be back in 6-8 weeks.
0:30
A press conference of international organisations was held in Banjaluka today. It was announced that the September election results had been implemented in 115 municipalities of the RS and that the Cajevec company manufacturing licence plates in Banjaluka would start work in the next two days.
2:00
The HR to B&H Carlos Westendorp decided to apply the draft Law on direct foreign investments that was not adopted at the session of the B&H Parliament.
0:30
The RS Prime Minister’s cabinet denied allegations by Aleksa Buha that the RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik had participated in negotiations about the united Army of B&H.
0:40
A representative of Austrian Airlines spoke to representatives of companies from western RS at the Chamber of Commerce in BL today. They agreed that regular flights between Banja Luka and Vienna would start in April.
1:50
The RS Minister of Information Rajko Vasic, the newly-appointed Head of SRT Andjelko Kozomara and International Administrator Dragan Gasic spoke to employees in the Pale Studio about reorganisation and creating a united information system.
0:25
UNHCR introduced two more bus lines between the Federation and the RS: Vlasenica- Kladanj four times a week and Zvornik-Kljuc twice a week.
0:40
The RS Prime Minister was informed about Deputy High Representative Hanns Schumacher’s letter to the RS Minister of Sport and Youth, Milorad Karalic, regarding the status of RS football. The Council expects sport associations in the Entities to establish teams that will jointly represent B&H as one state – under one flag. The attitude of the Steering Board and of all the main international sport organisations is clear and unambiguous- RS sports teams can compete on the international scene only within B&H – through the establishment of new B&H sport associations that represent the whole state with its two Entities, according to the letter.
2:00