FRY Authorities Refuse to Discuss Refugees With Emma Bonino

Representatives of the Yugoslav authorities (Aleksa Jokic, head of the Serbian Refugee Center and Vladimir Sultanovic, coordinator for international humanitarian aid in the Federal Foreign Ministry) refused to meet and discuss the problems they face in taking care of refugees in Yugoslavia, European humanitarian aid commissioner Emma Bonino told a press conference.

She said that was the first time that a state receiving aid refused to discuss it and specified that without precise figures it's hard to estimate humanitarian needs. Bonino added that the Krajina refugees who came to FR Yugoslavia were housed in transit centers or with relatives. The Serbian Information Ministry said 154,274 refugees crossed the border so far.

Of the 20 million ECU the EU humanitarian office has earmarked for former Yugoslavia, six million will be used to help the wave of Krajina refugees, Bonino said. She added that her office will continue providing 80 USD of monthly aid per person for refugees in Yugoslavia. She also indicated that another 30,000 Krajina Serbs who took refuge in Banja Luka could come to Serbia and added that the local Moslems and Croats there were still moving out.

Bonino said the resettlement of the refugees in Kosovo is a sensitive issue and a political problem that has to be examined seriously since it could raise already high tensions.

Camps For Krajina Serbs

Beta news agency got a hold of a list of camps inside Croatia where Krajina Serbs are being held.

This is the list with phone numbers:

Sisak has two camps; one in the 22 Lipanj elementary school phone 044-522-753, the other in the economics school on 044-43-026. The local Red Cross office also has information on people in the camps their phone is 044-45-049.

Karlovac has one camp in a boarding school, phones 047-611-335 and 225-004. The local Red Cross is on 047-332-800.

Kutina holds Serbs in the fire brigade building phone 044-621-114. The local Red Cross is on 044-621-228 and social services on 044-622-550.

In Gospic information about Serbs only comes from the Red Cross on 058-572-851. There was no information available on where Serbs are being held there.

The situation in Ivanic Grad and Sinj is the same. Ivanic Grad Red Cross 044-681-161; Sinj 021-822-200.

Zadar has two camps fro Serbs; one in the Sime Budinic school, the other in the Simun Kozicic school. The only information there comes from the International Red Cross in Zadar on 023-437-726.

Sibenik's camp for Serbs is in the sports hall phone 022-24-040. Sibenik Red Cross phone 022-22-920.

Krajina Serbs are also being held in Novska but no one knows where. The Red Cross phone there is 044-71-572.

Beta did not get figures on the number of Serbs in the camps, but the numbers could run into the thousands since the camps are in fairly large buildings. Yugoslavia and Croatia do not have telephone links so the only way to get through is calling from abroad.

 

General Trifunovic's Appeal

Defence lawyers for the Varazdin corps officers sent a request to the federal supreme court for an urgent review of the sentences passed by the military tribunal in Belgrade which sent three officers of the former Yugoslav army's (JNA) Varazdin corps to jail for undermining the country's defence capabilities.

The defence demanded a retrial or freedom for General Vlada Trifunovic (seven year sentence), Colonel Sreten Raduski (four years) and Colonel Berislav Popov (3.5 years).

They also suggested the supreme court should let the three men out of jail.

The lawyers pointed out a number of violations of the criminal code and legal procedure which they said makes the sentences invalid.

Lawyers Branko and Milan Stanic pointed out unnecesary changes in the tribunal and added that deadlines for the sentences were exceeded by two months.

They warned that expert witnesses didn't focus on their fields but on legal interpretation which they aren't competent to do and questioned the head count of the Varazdin corps just prior to combat in September 1991.

The lawyers said the federal court can't establish the facts but will have to rule on whether their clients did what they did as a last resort or not which affects the judgment.

 

The Marshal's Mercedes

Tito's Mercedes van in a has been deteriorating slowly in the yard of the Health Institute in Podgorica for years. The van was bought for the Marshal's use in Montenegro. Pobjeda daily said the vehicle (worth thousands of DEM) is a mobile lab which can test water, air and food. Informed sources said the van drove just 1,100 kilometers.

The authorities said all the valuable equipment has been taken out and is being used while the van will soon be in use by the ecology ministry.

Besides all the little things that have to be fixed the new owners are going to have to buy new tires because the originals have been taken by thieves.