BOKA STAR carried stuff from BOSNIAN MUSLIM MILITARY FACTORY VITEZIT (manufacturers of Composite rocket fuels, explosives)
Mark502inf, you did know that. If you spread disinformation, you have to do it well. You are caught red-handed again.
SFOR interested in Vitezit
"It has been almost a month since inspectors of the Federation Defence Ministry, Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs and Customs Administration completed the inspection of the business activities of Vitezit, a military industry factory. However, it is not yet officially known whether anything illegal has been found or not. This company was an economic giant before the war. It employed 3,500 workers, and its products were exported to around 30 countries around the world. Nowadays, owing to the consequences left by the war in BiH, the loss of market space, SFOR's ban on the manufacture of military products, etc., Vitezit has lost its significance. Even though there is no official information, it is almost certain that the UN Embargo on the Export of Armament and Military Equipment to certain countries (Serbia and Montenegro, etc.) was violated. What will happen to this company, remains to be seen. The fact is that SFOR, in the past sometimes "duped" by Vitezit's wheeler-dealers, is really interested in the results of the inspection. (p.15)
The Supreme Defense Council of the Republika Srpska announced in Banja Luka on 28 October that Defense Minister Slobodan Bilic and General Novica Simic, who heads the General Staff, have resigned in conjunction with the scandal over the recent sale of military equipment to Iraq, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline" and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 25 October 2002). Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said he hopes the resignations will help prevent any "negative consequences" -- meaning sanctions -- as a result of the arms sales by the Bijeljina-based Orao company. A statement from the Republika Srpska president's office said Bilic and Simic are not "directly responsible" for the affair but that their replacement "will contribute to repairing the international position of Republika Srpska and Bosnia-Herzegovina," AP reported. PM
...AS YUGOSLAV GOVENMENT ADMITS VIOLATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ...
In Belgrade on 28 October, President Vojislav Kostunica chaired a meeting of the Yugoslav government that concluded that the Yugoimport-SDPR company violated the UN arms embargo against Iraq, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. Present were Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic, Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, and Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic, who is also chairman of Yugoimport's board of directors. Those present at the meeting called for the formation of a commission to look into Yugoslav arms sales abroad. It is not clear what further information Belgrade's investigators might have discovered about the affair so far, AP noted. Belgrade's official line has been that any arms sales have involved only repairing out-of-date aircraft. PM
...AND WASHINGTON EXPECTS MORE...
In Washington, D.C., on 28 October, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher hailed recent personnel changes in Belgrade and Banja Luka but said the United States expects more to be done as a result of the arms sales, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. Boucher repeated Washington's assertion that it has "firm evidence" that Orao and Yugoimport violated the sanctions. He did not, however, answer a question regarding recent media reports that Serbia has exported fuel and materials for the manufacture of missiles to Iraq. In Sarajevo, U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia Clifford Bond said on 25 October that the personnel changes are not enough and that investigations must continue, Hina reported. The United States maintains that the involvement of Orao in arms sales to Iraq constitutes not only a violation of the UN sanctions against Baghdad but also of the Dayton peace agreement. PM
...AND ASHDOWN SEES A 'REGIONAL' DIMENSION...
Paddy Ashdown, the international community's high representative in Bosnia, said in Sarajevo on 28 October that he wants a thorough investigation into the Orao affair, which will involve Bosnian central authorities as well as those from the Republika Srpska, AP reported. He added, "We do not know the extent of this matter, but my guess is it is going to be very wide-ranging. It's going to be regional, and it's going to extend into areas which will surprise us." Ashdown did not elaborate. PM
...WHILE BOSNIA BANS WEAPONS TRADE
Bosnian authorities have banned the import and export of military weapons and equipment, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported from Sarajevo on 29 October. Any such trading after 20 October will be considered illegal because no official permits have been issued since that date. PM
HAVE SERBS HELPED IRAQ DEVELOP A CRUISE MISSILE...
The "Washington Post" reported on 28 October that: "Yugoslav defense companies have been working for two years on the development of a cruise missile for Iraq, according to a document delivered by U.S. diplomats to Yugoslav government officials this month. The allegations were made in a 'non-paper,' or aide-memoire, accompanied by a stern letter to the country's top officials from the U.S. ambassador in Belgrade. The letter asked Yugoslavia to end its breach of the U.N. arms embargo on Iraq, according to a senior Yugoslav official who has knowledge of the U.S. document." The daily added that unnamed "sources within the Yugoslav government said the evidence presented by the [United States]...suggested Yugoslav firms had been working to update Iraq's military arsenal and equip Iraq with a weapon that could accurately target neighboring states. In February 2000, the U.S. document alleges, Yugoimport concluded a contract with a company called Al Fatah for the development of a cruise missile. Until now, Iraq has had access only to ballistic missiles, which are more difficult to control." PM
...AND PROVIDE IT WITH EXPLOSIVES?
Croatian police have found 200 tons of explosives on the Montenegrin-owned ship "Boka Star" in Rijeka harbor, dpa reported from Zagreb on 28 October. Police are investigating the nature of the explosives, which were packed into 14 containers, all of which were labeled as being something other than explosives. The ship's documents do not list explosives. The "Washington Post" reported that, "Police will try to determine whether the powder could be used in Iraq's weapons program." It is not clear whether there is a link between the explosives and the reports about the development of a cruise missile. The owner of the "Boka Star" is a Montenegrin citizen, Marko Balic. PM
For some further assistance in figuring out who in the Balkans is our friend and who is our enemy, you may also want to read about Milos Sarovic, President of the Serb Republic in Bosnia. He resigned over illegal arms sales to Iraq.
Our Serbian "friends" shipped arms to Saddam Hussein right up through 2002.
Since Milosevic's good buddy Qaddafi has been coming around of late, I'll leave out how Yugo was sending arms and advisers to Libya as well.