Headlines
- The Summit of Stability Pact ends with adoption of the Declaration;
- Talks between BiH Presidency members and US President Clinton; Dodik also met President Clinton;
- The Agreement on borders between Croatia and Bosnia signed;
- US to pay $ 4,5 million to the victims of NATO shelling of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade;
The Summit ends with adoption of the Declaration. SRT reported on main points of the Declaration such as development of democracy, human rights and economic prosperity. The Stability Pact members obliged to work on unified, stabile and democratic Europe and to comply to human rights. The Declaration leaves the open door for the FRY in case that country shows the respect for the principles and aims of the Summit. SRT carried the news regarding the economic issues such as free market economy, privatisation, removing all administrative and political obstacles for the functioning of free market economy…
SRT carried the statements of Marti Ahtisaari and Ante Jelavic who emphasised the importance of the BiH admission to Euro-Atlantic integration (EU and Partnership for Peace).
US President Clinton talked in separate meeting with BiH Presidency members. President Clinton also talked to the RS and Federation PMs, Dodik and Bicakcic. SRT reported on these meetings which were also attended by US State Secretary Albright. The entire report was accompanied with footage from the meeting showing the US representatives, members of BiH Presidency, RS and Federation PMs and CoM members. SRT carried the statement of Clinton on progress that has been made in BiH in the last few years, better co-operation in the work of common institutions emphasising the importance of improvement of work of common institutions which should be further improved in the future in order to provide BiH integration in Europe.
President Clinton visited the orthodox church in Sarajevo and talked to bishop Nikolaj; Bishop Artemije of Kosovo also attended the visit.
SRT carried the quotations from President Clinton’s speech in front of the 3rd Gymnasium in Sarajevo;
Reactions on the Summit
The report includes statements of Dodik and Radisic who commended the Summit. Radisic commented the signing of the Agreement on borders between Croatia and Bosnia. “The Agreement includes the part which leaves open the question of border, from Ivanjska downstream the river Una. That question will be ulteriorly solved between BiH, i.e. the RS and Croatia” said Radisic. Furthermore, SRT carried the statements of Bildt, J.P.Klein, Petersen (UNCHR) and Kouchner. The interesting statement is ones given by bishop Artemije of Kosovo at the press conference in Sarajevo who explained the reasons of his arrival to Sarajevo saying that stability of the region, human rights, economic and political changes are so important for Kosovo. Artemije also criticised FRY regime saying that nothing will change in FRY as long as present regime rules the country. SRT also dedicated almost 2 minutes to the statement of Milo Djukanovic (Montenegrin President) who talked about the future plans of Montenegro, economic and political changes, development of democracy and redefinition of relations between Serbia and Montenegro.
SRT carried the document on aims of the Pact (7 items).-AFP
Agreement on Bosnia-Croatia borders signed.
SRT carried the ONASA item on the issue. Izetbegovic and Tudjman signed the Agreement on borders between the 2 states. The BiH Presidency did not include an amendment, proposed by RS officials in CoM, in the agreement, and for that reason, Mihajlovic refused to attend the signing ceremony. Serb deputies, in this amendment, asked for security forces not to cross the left nor the right shore of the river Una until the agreement is ratified in the Parliament. SRT also carried the statement of Srpska Kostajnica mayor, Mladjen Djenadija.
Kosovo and FRY related news
Regarding the activities of the opposition parties in Serbia, SRT only carried the news item on reservists from Nis who went on hunger strike. The other news were dedicated to Kosovo situation, usual incidents, kidnaps, arsons, diminishing tension between the two communities in Kosovska Mitrovica, British K-for detained 4 Albanians suspected for involvement in the massacre of 14 Serbs.