Syndicate: Newsline RFI/RL, 9 July 1999

[Inke Arns <inke@berlin.snafu.de>]

Newsline RFI/RL
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE 
9 July 1999
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/4-see.html
[excerpts]


CACAK MAYOR: 'ENCIRCLE BELGRADE!'

Velimir Ilic, whose town of Cacak witnessed the first recent anti-Milosevic
protests, told the "Berliner Zeitung" of 9 July that Serbs outside the
capital must "encircle Belgrade" with protests across the country. He added
that the people of Belgrade remain "too afraid" to take to the streets, but
that Milosevic's removal will be "just a matter of time" once the capital's
citizens begin to demonstrate against him. Ilic stressed that the
opposition must be very broadly based and led by people "who are not
compromised by their past." He mentioned that he considers Draskovic
"unacceptable" because of his mercurial behavior and previous participation
in Milosevic's government. Some observers have suggested that several
established national figures--including Draskovic and Djindjic--are too
widely regarded in Serbia as opportunists and that a new generation of
leaders will most likely emerge in the provinces (see "End Note," "RFE/RL
Newsline," 8 July 1999). PM 


700,000 SERBS WITHOUT BASIC RIGHTS 

The Democratic Party said in a statement in Belgrade on 8 July that some
700,000 Serbs lack elementary civil rights, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service
reported. The party charged that the government has acted "immorally and
irresponsibly" by denying rights to Serbs who fled or were expelled from
Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosova. The displaced Serbs do not enjoy rights to
residency, citizenship, or education. The previous day, representatives of
Kosova's Serbian teachers' union said in Belgrade that the Education
Ministry has forbidden schools to register Serbian children from the
province, who number about 50,000. Teachers from Kosova are barred from
teaching in Serbia proper as part of the government's policy of forcing
Serbian refugees to go back to Kosova. PM 


GREECE DENIES THAT ALBANIAN EXPULSIONS ARE RACIALLY MOTIVATED 

Public Order Minister Mikhailis Khrisokhoidhis on 8 July rejected claims
that a series of recent roundups and checks of Albanian immigrants were
racially motivated, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 July 1999).
Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo is scheduled to visit Athens on 9
July to discuss the increasing number of expulsions of Albanian immigrants.
A Foreign Ministry official in Tirana said that Greek authorities have
expelled about 3,500 Albanian immigrants since 1 July, while Greek police
put the number at about 1,000. The Albanian Foreign Ministry also asked
Greece to investigate claims that Albanian deportees were being mistreated
in Greece. FS 



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