DATE=10/10/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=FRANCE / YUGOSLAVIA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-267712
BYLINE=STEFAN BOS
DATELINE=BELGRADE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: RE-ISSUING, CORRECTING SPELLING OF VEDRINE IN INTRO ///
INTRO: The new president of Yugoslavia, Vojslav Kostunica, has urged the international community to ensure the return of Serb refugees to Kosovo and to help his country rebuild after a decade of war. Stefan Bos in Belgrade reports the new Yugoslav leader made the comments following his talks with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine.
TEXT: French Foreign Minister Vedrine was the first diplomat from a major Western power to visit the Yugoslav capital since the NATO bombing campaign last year. Following talks with President Kostunica, the French minister told reporters he wanted to show what he called "European Union support" to Yugoslavia's new leadership.
But Mr. Kostunica made it clear that his country expects the United Nations to live up to its promises, including the protection of Serbs in Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia. President Kostunica stressed that Yugoslavia's government is concerned that more than one-half of the estimated 200-thousand Serbs living in Kosovo have fled the troubled region, despite the presence of NATO peacekeepers.
The French foreign minister said he shares the Yugoslav leader's concerns, but he did not indicate how the international community could improve the situation. But Mr. Vedrine promised an international aid package to rebuild Danube River bridges destroyed by NATO bombing.
Foreign Minister Vedrine also discussed the E-U's decision (Monday) to end the oil embargo against Yugoslavia and to end a ban on flights by the Yugoslav national airline.
News about an end to the sanctions has brought a sense of normality in Belgrade. Yet not everyone seems pleased with what they call Western interference in their everyday lives. Twenty-six-year old student Jelena Nesic says mistrust towards the European Union and the NATO alliance will remain for some time to come.
/// NESIC ACT ///
We don't like these countries. They bombed us. If they really want to make up (for what they did) they have to send money.
/// END ACT ///
The E-U has made it clear that some measures will remain in place to try to force the extradition of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. However, Aleksandar Tamaskovic, a 43-year old Belgrade fruit exporter, says keeping the sanctions in place will only punish small people.
/// TAMASKOVIC ACT - IN SERBIAN - FADE UNDER ///
"I think they should lift all the sanctions," he says. "Under Milosevic, we had to bribe politicians to get things done. Now we have a new era, but Yugoslavia needs more time to deal with the former leader. First we need peace and democracy."
In a sign of the country's rapid change, several foreigners who were seen as enemies of the state were freed from detention. In addition, on Tuesday a Serbian journalist jailed for reporting alleged war crimes by Serbian troops in Kosovo, was suddenly freed. (Signed)
NEB/SB/GE/JWH
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