YUGOSLAV REPRESANTIVES WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION CANCELLED TALKS ON AID

Emma Bonino says that since she has been a Commissioner it has never haPPened that a state which needs humanitarian aid has not received her for talks

NASA BORBA (newspaper serbs), page 1, Photo Emma Bonino (photo caption=Aleksa Jokic and Vladimir Sultanovic are not receiving her for talks: Emma Bonino)

G. Tomljenlovic, S. Bisevac

Belgrade - Emma Bonino, European Union Commissioner for humanitarian aid, who has been on a humanitarian mission in the territory of former Yugoslavia since Sunday, experienced in Belgrade, for the first time in the world, and since she has been in the aforementioned function, the authorities of a state which needs humanitarian aid not receiving her for talks Namely, without explanation, as Bonino stated at yesterday's press conference, her meetings planned yesterday [sic] with Aleksa Jokic, from the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, and Vladimir Sultanovic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinator for international humanitarian aid, had been cancelled.

"In view of the size of the humanitarian crisis in former Yugoslavia, it is very difficult - almost impossible - for u, in the European Union Humanitarian Office to specify exactly what is needed to take care of refugees in the foreseeable future, because the exodus has not finished, and we are making all estimates on a daily basis", stated Bonino. In spite of the fact that, because of the unexplained cancellation of meetings with the Yugoslav authorities she had been unable to gain a precise picture of humanitarian needs in the F.R.Y., it had been estimated in cooperation with the UNHCR and on the basis of experience that the monthly sum needed for one refugee amounted to 80 dollars.

However, from the Yugoslav Red Cross, the European humanitarian representatives had got a very precise map of the accommodation of Krajina refugees in the F.R.Y., but Bonino stressed that, in Banja Luka, there were still about 30,000 Serbs of whom it was not known whether they would stay there or whether they should be expected in Serbia. It was a similar situation with Croatian and Moslem refugees in Croatia, of whom there could still be about 35,000. At any rate, of the 15,000,000 ecus which the EU had allocated through this bureau after the most recent wave, as new aid to Serbian, Moslem and Croatian refugees, Serbia, or rather the F.R.Y., would receive five to six million ecus. This was aid for looking after 165,000 Krajina people who had crossed into Serbia and would be implemented though international and local humanitarian organizations. Since 1991, the European Commission has allocated 1,200 million dollars for aid to refugees in the whole territory of former Yugoslavia.

To NASA BORBA's question as to what the EU standpoint was on sending Krajina refugees to Kosovo, and whether, in view of the already known standpoints of some countries about this settlement, the EU is estimating some kind of statistical "ceiling", Emma Bonino replied: "This was, in fact, one of the themes which I had wanted to raise with the Yugoslav authorities, but did not have the opportunity. It is well known that there is great (inter-ethnic) tension reigning in Kosovo and it is therefore a political matter. I had intended to draw the attention of the Yugoslav representatives, to warn them to take care to avoid increasing that tension, but in no way to assess and to suggest what to do and how to do it, or to deal with numbers, because that would be interfering in the internal affairs of the country".

In the last three days Emma Bonino had, inter alia, visited refugee reception centres in Petrovac and Popovac, and from l:he Croatian side had crossed the Sava to Dvor, and also to Vojnhc, 10 kms from Velika Kladusa. About 25,000 Moslem refugees loyal to Fikret Abdic were still blocked in Vojnic and their situation was exceptionally difficult - despite Abdic's agreement with the Croatian authorities for their return to Velika Kladusa, the refugees were not returning there from fear of reprisals and according to Bonino, had nowhere to go.

* * * * *

(text in box) UNHCR is investigating claims about the disappearance of 10,000 refugees

"The whole of that story on the alleged disappearance of 10,000 of Serbian Krajina refugees on Croatian territory is very strange. When I read the reports on it, I enquired about their fate. I say the story's strange because the Yugoslav Foreign Minister allegedly wrote to UN Secretary General Ghali about the case, but I was told in the office of UN special envoy Akashi that they know nothing of this document, and that the Croatian authorities are denying they know anything about these people, and at the same time rumours are spreading that there are 4,]00 of them at some motel in Lipovac", said Emma Bonino. In any case, as she informed journalists in Belgrade yesterday, the UNHCR was allowed the day before yesterday to send its representatives to investigate this case but as to the results of their investigations Bonino "so far knew nothing".