A very productive session of the Steering Board
of the Peace Implementation Council was held in Sarajevo today, with renewed
commitments made to the refugee return process, financial aid to the Republika
Srpska, and preparations for the September elections.
REFUGEE RETURNSThe High Representative reported on the positive outcome
of yesterday's Regional Conference on Refugee Returns in Banja Luka, and
Steering Board members welcomed the renewed commitments of several parties. The
High Representative emphasized the need for more to be done on a number of
fronts, to prevent incidents such as those in Derventa and Drvar in recent days
from recurring.
However the Steering Board members expressed strong disapproval at the
failure of the Government of Croatia to respect its commitments to the rights of
refugees. As a result, it was decided that proposed conference for
reconstruction and development in Croatia would be postponed until an acceptable
procedure is in place for refugee returns.
AID TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKASteering Board members agreed that it was
essential to ensure equitable distribution of financial aid to both entities.
Support by all members for the Dodik Government was underlined, as was the need
to ensure this support was matched by international financial commitments. The
High Representative proposed to try to ensure a fairer split of aid to both
entities, to rectify the present imbalance. This suggestion was approved by all
the main donors. The Steering Board underlined its support for the joint work of
the High Representative and the OSCE in preparing for the September 1998
elections. In particular, the work of the Provisional Election Commission was
applauded. It was agreed that the High Representative's media strategy was
crucial to ensuring the climate of openness and equality necessary to these
elections. To this end, the Steering Board members urged Bosniaks and Bosnian
Croats to engage fully in the prompt restructuring of RTV BiH and public media,
in line with democratic broadcasting standards.
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