10/19/2000

OHR BiH TV News Summary, 19 October 2000

News Headlines:

  • Street protests involving Brcko high school students of Serb nationality continue in Brcko
  • Brcko District Assembly interrupts classes in three Brcko high schools until further notice; discusses measures to overcome current unstable security situation caused by street protests involving high school students of Serb nationality
  • Brcko Mayor Sinisa Kisic and International Supervisor for Brcko Gary Matthews call on high school students to end demonstrations
  • Brcko District Assembly Speaker Mirsad Djapo tells TV BiH that street protests of Serb students in Brcko orchestrated by nationalists fighting against Brcko District’s multiethnic character
  • UN Mission to BiH condemns street violence in Brcko, including attack on IPTF member – UN Mission to BiH spokesman Douglas Coffman (00:20)
  • OHR maintains that practice of using Brcko as political instrument should be stopped – OHR spokesman Oleg Milisic (00:17)
  • UN Mission to BiH spokesman Coffman says that family of Bosniak returnee stoned late on Monday in Janja (00:24)
  • BiH/EU Joint Consultative Commission holds eighth session to discuss fulfillment of conditions for BiH integration into Europe
  • BiH Council of Ministers holds first session chaired by Martin Raguz and discusses priorities for next two months, including economic and social reforms, and sustainable return of refugees (00:51)
  • BiH Federation Government adopts draft law on free access to information, and establishes BiH Federation News Agency through merger of BH Press and Habena
  • World news: tensions still high in Middle East
  • Euro-Asian summit opens in Seoul
  • Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte officially announces intention of meeting with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica; no response from Kostunica yet
  • Hundred cases of devastated property by interim beneficiaries before hand over to pre-war occupants recorded in Zenica-Doboj Canton
  • Large-scale privatisation in BiH Federation to start in 11 days; 550 enterprises to be sold in first phase – Director of BiH Federation Privatization Agency Nedim Lulo

TV BiH Election 2000 News:

  • HDZ, in reaction to Petritsch statement that referendum organized by political party has no legal basis, states it has started initiative to convene all-Croat congress to decide on holding of referendum on position of Croats in BiH (00:25)
  • SDA considers HDZ-announced referendum cannot be referendum in the legal sense, it can only be opinion poll without any legal force (00:17)
  • “HDZ position that only it knows how to represent Croat national interests is incorrect and damaging” HSS assesses, and supports PEC decision on election of delegates to BiH Federation House of Peoples (00:20)
  • NHI considers HDZ President Ante Jelavic and Vice President Marko Tokic stated many falsehoods at expense of NHI; first lie is that NHI consented to participate in all-Croat congress and, the second, HDZ offered coalition deal to NHI (00:38)
  • LDS asserts recent events in Brcko extremely ill-intentioned and unacceptable; party demands Radovan Karadzic and all indicted war criminals be arrested as soon as possible (00:21)
  • Party for BiH asks from Brcko Supervisor Matthews to do everything in his power to normalise life in Brcko District (00:27)
  • SDA calls on Brcko Supervisor Matthews to implement Final Brcko Arbitration Decision and secure normal living conditions for all Brcko citizens (00:13)
  • BiH Republicans condemn recent events in Brcko and stress “fascist forces are attempting to create picture of impossibility of coexistence in BiH” – press conference (00:20)
  • SPRS caucus leader Dragutin Ilic considers as inappropriate that Petritsch and Miller called on citizens to vote for Milorad Dodik; Ilic requests punitive measures against Haris Silajdzic and his party because his campaign is based on slogan “Vote for BiH without Entities”
  • SDP delegation headed by Lagumdzija visits returnees to villages in Srebrenica and presents program (00:25)
  • Sports
  • Weather