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U.N. force lands in Yugoslavia
ZAGREB, Yugoslavia — U.N.
peacekeepers arrived in Yugoslavia
on Tuesday, a day before the Euro
pean Community was expected to
recognize the departure of Croatia
and Slovenia from the ethnically torn
federation.
Some of the 50 unarmed troops
arrived in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital,
and others in Zagreb, Croatia, to bol
ster a 12-day truce in the bloody Serb
Croat conflict. If the peace holds,
they will be followed by a United
Nations force of up to 10,000 sol
diers. *
Recognition of Slovenia and Croatia
by the 12-nalion European Commu
nity appeared imminent, although some
EC members still fretted that it could
intensify the Serb-Croat war by pro
voking Serbia to a more militant stance.
The EC agreed last month to rec
ognize the independenceofYugoslav
republics on Wednesday if they guar
antee respect for minority rights and
other conditions.
In Lisbon, Portugal’s Foreign
Minister Joao de Dues Pinhciro said
he expected all 12 members to back
independence for Slovenja and Croatia
immediately. EC recognition for the
republics of Bosnia-Hercegovina and
Macedonia was a “question of days or
weeks,” he said.
Slovenia and Croatia declared
independence June 25. Bosnia and
Macedonia have since announced their
secessionist plans.
An EC panel led by France’s Robert
Badinter was working on a report late
Tuesday specifying which republics
conformed to EC guidelines, which
also included commitment to peace
ful resolution of border disputes.
Germany, Iceland, Ukraine, and
the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Lat
via and Estonia have already recog
nized Slovenia and Croatia, and the
Vatican recognized the heavily Roman
Catholic republics this week. Bonn
was opening embassies Wednesday
in Croatia and Slovenia.
In Belgrade, the mood was gloomy.
Long the dominant Yugoslav repub
lic, Serbia has resisted secession by
both Slovenia and Croatia.
“(Recognition) leads Serbia deeper
into political, economic and cultural
isolation because all those who rec
ognize Slovenia and Croatia are likely
to reduce their links with Serbia,”
said Hari Stajner, a prominent Belgrade
columnist.
Serbia has been hit hard by sanc
tions imposed by the EC, which con
siders the republic the aggressor in
the war. Exports and imports have
plummeted, inflation is running at
250 percent a year and tens of thou
sands of Serb refugees depend on
government help.
Economic hardship and disenchant
ment has undermined support for
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
In response, he has toned down his
hawkish stance and embraced U.N.
efforts to end the war, which has
claimed thousands of lives in seven
months of fighting.
Supporters of recognition for Slov
enia and Croatia argue that fear of
further isolation will keep Serbia at
the bargaining table.
The 50 U.N troops that arrived
Tuesday were to set up channels of
communication between the warring
sides and to help restore peace if the
cease-fire is violated, said their com
mander, Australian Col. John Wilson.'
He said Gen. Andrija Rasctajrhc
army deputy chief of stalf, had ex
tended every cooperation and every
support that was prev iously promised
to my group. ... I am very satisfied
with all that’s been offered.”
Raseta told reporters after their
meeting, “We are pleased that the
U.N. team has come and that we are
going to work together on implement
ing the cease-fire agreement.”
Along with patrolling the provin
cial capitals, the U.N. troops were to
take up posts in 11 trouble spots across
the two republics and in the tense,
ethnically mixed republic of Bosnia
Hercegovina.
Leaders of the Serb minority in
Bosnia say they will secede from an
independent Bosnia.
Under the U.N. accord, the federal
army is to withdraw from Croatia and
all Serb irregulars in Croatia are to be
disarmed.
Some leaders of the Serb militias
in Croatia have balked at the scheme,
charging that it amounts to surrender
to an untrustworthy Croatian govern
ment.
Israel, Jordan meet
in Mideast peace talks
WASHINGTON — Israel and
Jordan began on Tuesday their first
ever formal peace talks, and Jor
dan said Israeli withdrawal from
the West Bank would not be a
precondition to peace.
At the same lime, Israel pursued
face-to-face negotiations with rep
resentatives of the 1.7 million Pal
estinian Arabs who live on Israel
held land and*arc seeking sell-au
tonomy.
Pressure grew on Prime Minis
ter Yitzhak Shamir’s government
not to offer self-rule to the Pales
tinian delegation and the wound
ing of seven Jewish settlers when
gunmen opened fire on a bus in the
occupied West Bank Tuesday
sparked demands Israel pull out of
the talks.
Tuesday’s meeting with Jordan
was a two-hour session at the State
Department was designed to set an
agenda. Two Palestinians attended,
under a compromise agreement that
ended a procedural squabble.
Jordanian spokesman Marwan
Mouasher said that while Jordan
wants Israel to withdraw from the
West Bank, this was not a precon
dition for a peace treaty. More than
100,000 Israeli Jews live among 1
million Palestinians in the occu
pied territory.
Mouasher added: “Our vision
of peace would certainly include
full cooperation including diplo
malic relations.” Only Egypt among
the Arab nations formally recog
nizes Israel.
A threat by Israeli right-wing
parties to bolt the government might
limit the Israeli negotiators to agenda
and procedural items.
“We have a mandate to negoti
ate,” Israeli negotiator Yosef Ben
Aharon told a news conference,
and will submit a self-rule pro
posal at an “appropriate time.” In
an interview with Israel TV, Bcn
Aharon noted that talks on agenda
can sometimes last for weeks be
fore substance is discussed.
The Palestinians intended to press
on, demanding that Israel present a
model of interim self-government.
Spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawt
said “if there is to be genuine prog
ress, the most serious and most
immediate issue that has to be re
solved is cessation of all settle
ment activity.”
The State Department has been
urging the Israelis and Arabs to get
beyond procedure and into the
substance of peacemaking. Spokes
woman Margaret D. Tutwiler de
clined to be drawn into the dispute
or to say if the Israelis should delay
their departure, scheduled for
Wednesday.
Tutwiler also said invitations
had been sent out Tuesday for
multilateral talks on water, secu
rity and other regional issues to be
held in Moscow later this month.
Twelve former Soviet officials charged in coup case
MOSCOW — Prosecutors charged 12 for
mer high Soviet officials Tuesday with con
spiring to seize power in the failed coup that
quickened the demise of the Soviet Union,
which they thought they were saving.
The hard-line officials—including the one
time prime minister, defense minister and KGB
chief — could face 10 to 15 years in prison or
a firing squad for their part in the August coup,
officials said.
No date has been set for the trial that prom
ises to be one of the most spectacular court
cases in modem Russian history.
The suspects, seven of whom formed an
emergency committee that claimed to have
taken power from an ailing Mikhail S. Gor
bachev, have already challenged the fairness of
the proceedings. Through their lawyers, they
have said senior politicians and the media have
distorted the facts against them.
Prosecutors earlier decided nottocharge the
suspects with “high treason.” The prosecutors
reasoned that the state they allegedly tried to
betray — the Soviet Union — has ceased to
exist anyway.
Among the former Soviet officials charged
were KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov; Prime
Minister Valentin Pavlov; Defense Minister
Dmitri Yazov; Vice President Gennady Ya
nayev; Security Council official Oleg Bakla
nov; Alexander Tizyakov, head of the state
enterprise association; and Vasily Starodublsev,
Peasants Union leader. All helped found the
eight-member emergency committee.
The eighth co-founder of the committee,
former Soviet Interior Minister Boris Pugo,
killed himself when the coup fell through.
Other suspects identified by Tass were:
Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov;
Oleg Shenin, a Politburo member; army com
mander Valentin Varennikov; KGB guard chief
Yuri Plckhanov; awl Vyacheslav Generalov,
who was Plekhanov’s deputy.
Two other officials under investigation were
not named in the formal charges because they
have been transferred to hospitals for health
reasons. They were Gen. Viktor Grushko and
Valery Boldin, Gorbachev’s former chief of
staff.
Yevgeny Lisov, deputy prosecutor general
of the Russian Federation, headed the investi
gation.
He was quoted Tuesday in the newspaper
I/.vestia as saying Gorbachev could become a
witness in the case, but there was no evidence
to accuse him of coup involvement.
“There is not a hint in his conduct of Gor
bachev’s support of the anti-constitutional
ambitions of the plotters,” Lisov said, although
he added that the plotters may have believed
that Gorbachev would support them because of
his “long relations” with them.
Lisov also hinted that Gorbachev might fall
suspect in other ongoing investigations con
cerning Communist Party finances and KGB
activities.
Nebraskan
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472-1766
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Production Manager Katherine Poilcky
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Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobe|da
472- 2588
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473- 7301
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Slow Christmas pushes down retail sales
WASHINGTON — A disappoint
ing Christmas shopping season pushed
the nation’s retail sales lower for a
third straight month in December,
holding the advance for all of 1991 to
the smallest in 30 years.
Analysis saw little chance for
improvement before summer because
of Americans’ worries over jobs and
incomes. Some said the report, which
also showed sales had been worse
than first thought in October and
November, could mean the economy
had slipped back into recession.
In December, the Commerce
Department said, sales totaled a sea
sonally adjusted $151.2 billion, down
from $151.7 billion in November. It
was the third straight disappointing
holiday shopping season, which many
retailers count on for half of their
annual sales and profits.
The department also calculated that
sales had fallen 0.5 percent in No
vember and 0.1 percent in October.
Originally, November’s sales had been
reported as rising 0,3 percent; Octo
ber* s were first reported as unchanged
from the previous month.
For the year, sales totaled $1.8
trillion, a gain of 0.7 percent after a
3.8 percent advance in 1990. Last
year’s gain was the smallest increase
since a 0.1 percent decline in 1961.
Kcrmit Baker, an economist with
Cahners Economics in Newton, Mass.,
suggested that the economy was fiat
in the Octobcr-Dcccmbcr period.
Because retail sales account for
one-third of the nation’s economic
activity, a lack of consumer partici
pation threatens any recovery from
the recession.
“Until the economy gels a boost
from Washington, consumer confi
dence will continue to drag, and as
long as consumer confidence is weak,
the retail sector will remain in the
doldrums,” said John M. Albertine,
head of a Washington economic fore
casting service.
Baker contended, however, that
falling interest rates, which already
have captured the attention of the
investment community, will show up
in other economic sectors by mid
year.
Sales of durable goods — big
ticket items including autos and ap
pliances expected to last more than
three years — declined 0.5 percent in
December after a 1.4 percent loss a
month earlier.
Sales of non-durable goods such
as food and clothing, which represent
two-thirds of all retail sales, declined
0.3 percent after being unchanged the
previous month. November’s activity
’ 1
Retail
Sales
Seasonally adjusted, billions of dollars
155 ~
154 --
153
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1991
Dec. 90 Nov. '91Dec.’91
I $149.8 | | $151.71 l $151.2 |
AP
was first reported as a 0.4 percent
gain, which would have been the first
advance since July.
Ex-HUD aide
gets indicted
WASHINGTON — A fed
eral grand jury today indicted
former lop housing aide Lance
H. Wilson on charges of fraud,
conspiracy and false statements
in the influence-peddling scan
dal at the Department of Hous
ing and Urban Development.
Wilson, a former executive
assistant to then Housing Secre
tary Samuel Pierce, was charged
with conspiring to steer housing
grants to projects being devel
oped by co-defendant Leonard
E. Briscoe.
The offenses occurred while
Wilson was working for a Wall
Street investment firm after
leaving HUD, the indictment
alleged.
Briscoe has previously been
charged with l6 counts in con
nection with the HUD scandal
Today’s indictment added 12
new charges against him.
Wilson is the first HUD offi
cial indicted in the case.