Headlines
- Interruption of negotiations between the Yugoslav army and NATO one of the topics of the G8 countries Foreign Ministers meeting
- NATO stepped up the bombing of Yugoslavia
- Municipal assembly of Srebrenica constituted
- Yugoslav handball players qualified for the second round of competition in the world championship in Egypt
Today in Prijedor at 10:55 hrs, SFOR and the multinational division West arrested Drazen Kolundzija, suspected by The Hague Tribunal of having committed war crimes in BiH, according to an SFOR press release submitted to SRNA.
The negotiations between the Yugoslav Army and NATO held in Kumanovo have not reached an agreement on withdrawal of units from Kosovo. A member of the Yugoslav delegation Nebojsa Vujovic stressed that Yugoslavia was ready to accept deployment of international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo under the auspices of the UN or the presence that would be established by a decision of the UN SC. On the other hand, the chief of the NATO delegation, General Michael Jackson, stated that the Yugoslav delegation had presented a proposal, which, as he said, would not guarantee a secure return of all refugees or the complete withdrawal of Yugoslav forces.
The Foreign Ministers of the G8 countries, in the Petersburg castle near Bonn, commenced talks on finalisation of the UN resolution on which to base the peace agreement for Kosmet, which was accepted last week by the assembly of Serbia.
China will not vote for any resolution on Kosovo until the bombing is stopped, Chinese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stated.
FRY reactions
The FRY Deputy PM Vojislav Seselj explained in an interview to “Glas javnosti” (Voice of Public) that the accepted plan of the IC was extremely unfavorable for Serbia and that the Radicals would not accept soldiers from USA, Great Britain and Germany. Seselj said he was sorry not to be on the list of The Hague Tribunal.
The document on the principles for a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis is the guarante that the talks in Macedonia are going to be successful, although some extremists within NATO Alliance as well as various other extremists, including domestic ones, do not want that, says the SPO press release submitted to the SRT.
Democratic Party from Yugoslavia stated that the chance for peace that was opened by acceptance of the general political agreement must not be ruined.
The leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica considers the present plan for resolving the crisis in Kosovo to be more unfavorable than the one from Rambouillet, since the Rambouillet plan anticipated some elements of Yugoslav authority.
Report on NATO bombing in the last 24 hrs by an SRT correspondent in Belgrade (Kursumlija, Rudnik, Jagodina, Cuprija, Kraljevo, Pristina, Strpce, Gora, Suva Reka, Djakovica, Pec)
NATO briefing: At today’s press conference, the spokesman for NATO Jamie Shea said that the meeting between General Jackson and the Yugoslav Generals in Macedonia had failed, blaming the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for that. Shea stated that the air campaign would continue and that it would last until Belgrade accepted NATO requests.
General Jertz stated there were no indications that the Serb army was withdrawing from Kosmet, but on the contrary those forces are very active, especially in the central and western part of Kosovo. Jertz also stated that artillery missiles fired from Serb positions were falling on the territory of Albania, and therefore the Albanian population was leaving its homes.
RS news
On the occasion of a visit to the municipality of Trebinje, the PM Dodik also met with the PM of the Montenegrin Government Filip Vujanovic. The topic of the meeting, according to unofficial sources, was the situation in Montenegro and RS caused by the aggression of the NATO pact and the realisation of some arrangements designed to repair the damage caused by the NATO bombing.
Today’s meeting between the RS Minister of Defence Manojlo Milovanovic and Swedish Minister of Defence discussed the situation in Kosovo.
The Srebrenica multi-ethnic municipal assembly was constituted today in accordance with the election results.
SNS press conference in Bijeljina
The SRT cameraman Rade Popovic was arrested on the IEBL in Sarajevo yesterday and released today. Popovic, after being released, emphasised his proper treatment by the police and judicial bodies of the Sarajevo Canton and explained the reasons for his arrest.