Yugoslavia:
Reconstruction commences

"We are obliged to complete the first stage of reconstruction, at 22 
locations in the territory of the entire republic, by November 1 this 
year", said Mr Marjanovic, Premier of the Yugoslav Republic and Chairman of 
the Directorate for National Reconstruction.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies estimates that NATO's war 
against Yugoslavia has US$6 billion. The amount of money needed to rebuild 
the destroyed bridges, roads, railway lines, factories, schools, hospitals 
and residential housing is huge.

The ecological clean-up of the land, soil and waterways is still being 
calculated.

The Yugoslav Republic is not waiting for money to come from investors. It 
has commenced reconstruction. Contracts were signed with 30 domestic 
companies to build infrastructure, residential buildings, central heating 
plants (winter is on the way), schools and hospitals.

The construction of bridges is under way and schools and hospitals are a 
priority.

During the war children and other students had to suspend their studies 
because of the bombing. Four hundred and fifty schools have been damaged to 
varying degrees.

Russia has sent some engineers and builders to assist with the rebuilding 
of bridges and TV station.

The Chinese are helping with telecommunications reconstruction and 
modernisation. There are plans to establish a permanent China Telekom 
office in Belgrade.

Kosovo remains tense

The situation in Kosovo remains tense. Looting is wide-spread, killings, 
kidnappings and torture of the non-Albanian population continues.

The ethnic Serbs are not the only ones whose lives are at risk — so too 
are the lives of the Gypsies, Turks and a number of others.

KFOR peacekeepers on the ground do not seem to be making much progress in 
disarming the ethnic Albanian terrorist organisation calling itself Kosovo 
Liberation Army (KLA).

The KLA is trying to re-invent itself as a de facto police and security 
force in Kosovo. The situation is aggravated by the porous borders of 
Kosovo, which allow not only local bandits but outsiders as well to come 
and go as they please.

The UN police force of 3,000 should be in place soon but meanwhile it 
remains very much a chaotic situation.

One of the issues that is being ignored by the Western media is the move to 
oust workers from their workplaces. 

The Serbian and Montenegrin employees of the Kisnica and Novo Brdo mines of 
the Trepca mining-smelting complex in Kosovo and Metohija have strongly 
protested at being thrown out of their jobs by KFOR peacekeepers.

A group of nearly 600 miners sent a letter to the Serbian Metal Workers' 
Union saying that KFOR Major Nicholson and Captain Stewart had driven them 
out of company premises.

"In addition to undergoing daily pressures and threats from ethnic-Albanian 
terrorists and criminals from Albania, we were driven out of the workers' 
premises on July 6," the letter said.

The miners said that the violence committed by the British KFOR contingent 
had denied them one of the basic human rights, the right to work.

They warned that the situation was similar in other metal industry 
enterprises in Kosovo and Metohija.

It is estimated that 20,000 workers had been sacked altogether.