General Krstic pleaded ‘not guilty’ before The Hague Tribunal, or according to the TV BiH’s prime time newscast, “the arrested Serb general denied the fact that he was….”. According to the reporter from The Hague, Krstic followed the reading of the indictment peacefully and without a reaction.
2:00
Preparations for the exhumation of a mass grave in Hrastova Glava, believed to contain remains of Bosniaks which were detained in the prison camp in Omarska, began today. The remainings of Bosniaks were buried into a 50-metre deep, one-metre wide shaft. Amor Masovic spoke to the camera in the shaft, disclosing that unlike the representatives of other international organisations, “unfortunately” no OHR representatives “came to help… in the exhumations”.
1:30
The US Government is planning to pay five million US $ for any information leading to the arrest of war criminals in BiH. According to the report, Special Envoy Gelbard’s office will be coordinating the efforts aimed at the apprehension, but no names listed on a possible list of war criminals to which the payment will be applied were confirmed. Closely followed a report on the Conference on Human Rights, which was staged in Sarajevo today – highlighted was Jirzy Dinstbyr’s appeal that the perpetrators of war crimes be brought to justice.
2:20
Following his separate meetings with the RS President Poplasen and Premier Dodik in Banja Luka today, the US Special Envoy Robert Gelbard accused the Poplasen of being against the DPA, and “using democratic mechanisms to anti-democratic purposes”. Gelbard simultaneously praised Dodik’s Government for the progress achieved during the past year.
1:00
Chairman of the BH House of Representatives, Halid Genjac, announced that the House would hold its session on December 10. Similarly, the Federation HofR session is postponed, according to the Chairman Enver Kreso, for December 16-17.
0:20
Kosovo opened the international news bloc. Albanians, according to the correspondent from Pristina, have rejected the US (Christopher Hill’s) plan for the province, labelling it a “political and diplomatic slap into the face”. Croat member of the BH Presidency, Ante Jelavic, chaired the round table, discussing the possibilities and perspectives for return, as well as the position of Croats in Bosnia, in Sarajevo today. The round table participants also agreed that all the refugees from BH should return home.
1:00
Next was an optimistic news item on the return to the Mostar South municipality, where “the step-by-step reconstruction of the ethnic image from before the war” is in place, due to the return of Bosniaks and Serbs to their pre-war homes. The report was illustrated with a poll among the returnees in Pijesca, all describing the atmosphere in their district as good. A story that the refugee return to Brcko was delayed due to a “peculiar bank transaction”, which left six million DM, aimed at the reconstruction of housing in Brcko, deposited to an account of the Promdej bank in Zagreb, instead to the account of a bank in BH which was supposed to transfer the money to the town.
3:20
Federal Privatisation Agency announced that the privatisation might start in 60 days. However, its President, Adnan Mujagic warned that the Law on Restitution needs to be adopted first. Four other requirements featured on Mujagic’s list, even though he appeared optimistic that the requirements would be met in the designed period.
1:00
From the political parties’ bloc the most interesting was a report on the LBO press briefing. Muhamed Filipovic announced that eight (centre) parties from both entities have signed a political agreement on forming a united party (Republican Party, SLS, RS Social Liberal Party, HSS, HNZ, Serb Peasants Party, Party for Economic Prosperity).
1:00