Brcko remained the top story of TVBiH prime time news. The negative attitude of RS officials initiated SFOR commander US Gen. Montgomery Meigs visit to Brcko, TVBiH reported. As long as there are people in RS that pose a threat for peace there will be a need for tight security measures in the area, Gen. Meigs told a news conference in Brcko. He also said that a SFOR investigation proved that the shooting in Ugljevik, where a Bosnian Serb was shot to death by a SFOR officer, was in self defense. At the same presser Ambassador Robert Farrand said he does not take seriously statements that he is not welcome in Brcko, TV said.
2:00
TVBiH also read in full the letter Ambassador Farrand sent to Borko Reljic, Mayor of Brcko. Farrand told the mayor that it is not true that OHR staff in Brcko incorrectly reports from meetings of the Brcko council and working group. “I fully trust my staff,” Farrand said in the letter. Ambassador messsage to Brcko mayor was clear: there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Brcko and Reljic should start working instead of attacking Supervisor’s staff, TVBiH said.
1:30
The dismissed RS President Nikola Poplasen after last nights session of RSNA attacked verbally and insulted the High Representative Carlos Westendorp, TVBiH said. TV aired a Poplasen sound bite where he, playing with the word High (Visoki, which can also means tall) called Westendorp the “not so High Representative”. The direct translation would be “the medium height representative.”
0:30
Reactions of Poplasen and his radical party do not surprise anyone, TVBiH commented. A completely different thing is the fact that Milorad Dodik, once their favorite, turned his back to the international community, TV said. Backing their comments TVBiH aired Dodik’s saying that “Westendorp has to protect the Dayton agreement and suspend the (Brcko) decision.”
0:30
Staying with the situation in Brcko TVBiH allocated more than four minutes to OHR’s view on the issue. Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR spokeswoman said that “the decision to replace Poplasen is a final decision, there will be no changes.”“High Representatives decision are always final and Mr. Poplasen will have to step down,” Stiglmayer said. “He is not the President anymore and he has to accept it.” Talking about the Brcko decision she said that High Representative “is prepared to cooperate with sides and to secure that their major interests are protected.” “OHR hopes that after the initial tensions have cooled down the RS representatives will realize that it’s better to cooperate than to boycott,” Stiglmayer said. She reminded that Ambassador Owen said in the decision that “he keep the right to give Brcko to one side if the other entity fully boycotts the decision.” “We hope that the Brcko problem will be solved and that the decision will be implemented,” Stiglmayer said. “Everything else will have worst consequences for RS.”
4:20
Matica Hrvatska, a Croat NGO, organized a two day round table with the main topic on the agenda being the “third entity,” in BiH, TV said. The meeting started Monday and the most asked question was can there be a three identities and only two entities in BiH. Representatives of Croat political parties and other Bosnian Croat VIPs will continue their discussions on Tuesday, TVBiH said.
3:00
BiH still has not returned some 100 million Euros of its prewar debt to European Union, TV said. Will this bring BiH at odds with the Eu and European Bank, TV BiH asked.
1:30