- Central Institutions-related Issues
- The HDZ conditions its participation in the implementation of the
elections results;
- The Alliance Troika widened its circle - smaller parties also
invited to consider the "platform for changes;
- Old passports to be issued until the new ones are ready;
- Round Table on Private Property: Restitution or a new war;
- Federation sues the RS before the House of Human Rights: Dobrinja
issue is not within the jurisdiction of the High Representative;
- High IC official says there will be no early Presidential elections
in BiH;
- Refugee Associations protest in Sarajevo;
- Federation
- Democratic Pensioners Party dismisses its President;
- Franjo Topic: Robert Barry put Croats in endangered position;
- Republika Srpska
- The RS Supreme Court annuls decision of the Elektroprivreda Board of
Governors;
- Talks between the SDS and the PDP on the establishment of new
government;
- International community
- OHR decision on the abolishment of Skelani the most positive event
of the past week;
- The IMF accepted Lagumdzija's suggestions for the rebalance of
budget for the next year;
- Oslobodjenje carries excerpts from an interview with Wolfgang
Petritsch published in Vienna's "Der Kurier";
- Robert Barry asks for a drastic reduction of entity armies in BiH;
- Weekend newspapers carry the OHR press release on the PIC's Steering
Board meeting with the HR;
- Editorials
- Nezavisne Novine: When BiH rebuilds all destroyed churches, the RS
will construct mosques;
- Glas Srpski: OSCE as a back up;
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Central Institutions related Issues:
The HDZ conditions its participation in the implementation of the elections
results:
At Saturday's meeting held in Orasje, the Presidency of the HDZ decided to
condition its participation in the formation of a government, i.e., the
implementation of the elections results. It specifically asked for the PEC
to revoke its new rules and regulations for the elections of deputies to the
Federation's House of Peoples and for the Elections Appeals Sub-commission
to return mandates taken from Croat (HDZ) candidates following the elections
to the party. The Presidency concluded that only after these conditions are
met, the HDZ will take part in the implementation of the elections results.
Moreover, it was agreed that it is necessary to finally create an atmosphere
which could guarantee constitutional and constituent status to Croat people
in BiH. However, this could not be accomplished by ignoring the national
question and by trying to create a government without legitimate Croat
representatives - read the statement issued by the HDZ.
The Alliance Troika widened its circle - smaller parties also invited to
consider the "platform for changes:
According to Sarajevo dailies, the Presidents of the SDP, Zlatko Lagumdzija,
and the NHI, Kresimir Zubak, hosted leaders of smaller Federation parties,
the HSS (Croat Peasant Party), the BPS (Bosnian Patriotic Party), the LDS
(Liberal Democratic Party), the Republicans, and the GDS (Civic Democratic
Party) on Saturday, and discussed their potential participation in the
Alliance for Changes. Oslobodjenje sources say that the talks passed in a
very productive atmosphere and that suggestions of the present leaders would
be considered and compiled in a single document by the leaders of the
Alliance Troika, the SDP, the NHI, and the Party for BiH.
Old passports to be issued until the new ones are ready:
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton announced on Saturday
that its Travel Documents Department will continue with the issuance of the
old passports until the new ones are ready. The Head of the Department,
Medzida Ceskic, said that the obtained passports will be valid for only six
months, and that the new ones are expected to be printed within 60 to 90
days. Ceskic also said that her department has not received a written
approval for this move from the OHR, but that the Ministry has been assured
by the BiH Council of Ministers that the OHR agreed to extend the deadline
for the issuance of the old travel documents.
Round Table on Private Property: Restitution or a new war:
At a weekend round table discussion on the restitution, which was organized
by the Commission "Justice and Peace" of the BiH Bishop Conference, it was
concluded that unless the private property is returned to the previous
owners, the buildings which are under restitution will be burned and the
country will be ravaged by new conflicts!? Among the less radical
conclusions of the discussion was that despite the fact that most national
parties embraced the idea of restitution, the International Community, in
particular the OHR, strongly oppose the natural return of property and will
not allow that the present occupiers of the nationalized apartments
compensate the previous owners. The present lecturers and participants also
agreed that the International Community obstructed the process of
restitution because "it has the same interests as Muslims", but it did not
specify what kind of interests were in question. Finally, the Cardinal Vinko
Puljic, who was also present at the round table, informed the gathering
about the attitudes of the International Community on this issue. "They
explained to me that the state has no money to implement the restitution,
that the economy is in the state of catastrophe,... and that it would be
difficult to determine genuine owners", said Puljic, and added that the IC
was not open to some of his own initiatives.
Federation sues the RS before the House of Human Rights: Dobrinja issue is
not within the jurisdiction of the High Representative:
The official representative of 5000 Federation citizens who sued RS
authorities before the House of Human Rights for its failure to resolve the
issue of the inter-entity boundary line in Dobrinja, Seada Palavric, told
Dnevni Avaz that this issue is not considered to be a dispute between the
two entities. Palavric also said that the Dobrinja problem could not be
resolved in accordance with the Annex 5, which suggests an arbitration if
the entities cannot agree, since this is, as she suggests, the part of the
military implementation of the DPA. Only after the SFOR completes its job,
she said, the High Representative could step in. Until the House of Human
Rights makes a decision which would require the RS to withdraw from the
territory which was awarded to the Federation by the DPA, Wolfgang Petritsch
cannot use any of his powers to resolve this issue, concluded Palavric.
Meanwhile, the President of the BiH Presidency, Halid Genjac, sent a letter
to the SFOR Commander in Chief, Michael Dodson, in which he reminded the
General that only the entities with the support of the SFOR could resolve
the problem of Dobrinja, and that the OHR does not have the mandate to alter
the IEBL.
High IC official says there will be no early Presidential elections in BiH:
According to Dnevni Avaz, a senior international diplomat in BiH, who wanted
to remain anonymous, said that there will be no early Presidential elections
in this country. He said that since the High Representative imposed the
amendments to the Law on Filling a Vacant Position in the Presidency, there
is no need for an early elections. The same source added that the recent
Conference in Dayton, Ohio reached the same conclusion.
Refugee Associations protest in Sarajevo:
The association of refugees and displaced people in BiH, as a member of the
United Nations Committee for Human Rights,said that human rights abuses were
widespread in the country. "As we speak, around 700,000 displaced people
from BiH are out of their homes and without a roof over their heads. In
Brcko, Kozarac and Zvornik the right to receive education is being ignored.
If people are allowed to live in tents and containers in the heart of
Europe, then we can certainly say it is simply not possible for many people
in BiH to exercise their human rights," the chairperson of the association,
Merhunisa Zukic, told BH Press. That is why the association is trying to
underline the fact that refugees, displaced persons and returnees are
citizens whose rights have been reduced to a minimum, she added.
Federation:
Democratic Pensioners Party dismisses its President:
After it issued a vote of no confidence to the Democratic Party of
Pensioners' President, Alojz Knezovic, the Regional Board of the Party asked
the Financial Police to undertake an investigation of business transactions
of the DPP. According to a letter drafted by the Board, the Party and its
President are responsible for the "misuse" of over 100.000 KM which were
transferred to the DPP's account from the Federation's Budget, Sarajevo and
Tuzla Canton governments. Members of the Board claim that Knezovic made very
high bills by holding frequent press conferences, issuing statements for the
press, and by traveling more then the party's budget would allow for. They
also said that he acted "on his own will" and often failed to consult other
members before making important political decisions. On his part, Knezovic
denied all the allegations and said he would not recognize the decision of
the Board.
Franjo Topic: Robert Barry put Croats in endangered position:
Split's Slobodna Dalmacija carries excerpts from an interview with Franjo
Topic, the President of the Croat Cultural Society, and which as originally
published in Dnevni Avaz. In the interview, Topic criticizes the OSCE and
the International Community for undertaking inappropriate steps (he
concretely meant - the PEC's decision to introduce new rules and regulations
for the elections of deputies for the Federation's House of Peoples) thereby
endangering the position of Croats in BiH. "I can understand that the IC and
the OSCE are tired of the absolute majority of the HDZ and its insufficient
cooperation. However, I am not sure if Barry's formula is the best way of
resolving the problems", said Topic, adding that the existence of the HoP in
a multi-national state like BiH is of great importance.
Republika Srpska:
The RS Supreme Court annuls decision of the Elektroprivreda Board of
Governors:
The Supreme Court of the Republika Srpska annulled the decision of the Board
of Governors of the RS Elektroprivreda to dismiss Slobodan Mrdic from the
position of the Director General of Elektroprivreda and appoint Marko Asanin
in his place, reported Glas Srpski. The press statement issued by the court
reads that the legal procedure has not been respected during the appointment
procedure. If the decision of the Supreme Court is not implemented, Mrdic
could ask for a forceful implementation.
Marko Asanin, in a reaction to the decision of the RS Supreme Court, said
that "the decision of Elektroprivreda's Board was annulled and not changed,
which means, in legal terms, that the appeal for a new decisions was passed
once again to the government". According to Asanin, the Government acted in
accordance with the conclusions of the RS National Assembly, which assessed
the situation in Elektroprivreda as "very bad" and urged for a shortened
procedure. For Slobodan Mrdic this decision was expected "as it should be
for all people who respect the law."
Talks between the SDS and the PDP on the establishment of new government:
The newly-elected president of the RS, Mirko Sarovic, and the leader of the
Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), Mladen Ivanic, whom some see as the
future prime minister, have not yet met officially to discuss the forming of
a new government but the meeting is expected to take place before the next
session of the RS National Assembly, SRNA was told by the PDP deputy
chairman, Branko Dokic.
Dokic added that representatives of the PDP and the SDS had met informally
on the same topic, but not Sarovic and Ivanic. Dokic, who was in Derventa to
attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the PDP municipal committee,
said that "the US administration will exercise most influence in the
formation of the new RS government" but rejected the possibility of a
"pro-US government" in the RS. "If appointed prime minister, Ivanic will try
to form a stable government that will be supported by the International
Community, primarily by the USA and by the EU, and, of course, by the RS
People's Assembly deputies," Dokic said.
International Community:
OHR decision on the abolishment of Skelani the most positive event of the
past week:
In a regular Sunday section, Dnevni Avaz evaluates the most positive and
most negative developments and\or events of the past week. This Sunday, the
OHR's decision to abolish the Skelani municipality in Srebrenica was marked
as the "greatest plus" of the week, while the Banja Luka authorities
obstruction of the process of rebuilding of Ferhadija as most shameful move
in the past seven days.
The IMF accepted Lagumdzija's suggestions for the rebalance of budget for
the next year:
The International Monetary Fund decided to accept suggestions of the SDP for
the rebalance of the budget for the next year. IMF officials say this will
be done in accordance with priorities of new governments, and after all
relevant party leaders sign the "letter of understanding". While presidents
of all opposition parties signed the document without hesitation, the SDP's
Zlatko Lagumdizja conditioned his approval. He demanded that more funds in
the budget are earmarked for the return of refugees.
Oslobodjenje carries excerpts from an interview with Wolfgang Petritsch
published in Vienna's "Der Kurier":
Saturday's issue of Oslobodjenje carried excerpts from an interview with the
High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, which was published in Viennese
"Der Kurier". In the interview, Petritsch said that the Western politics on
the Balkans thus far could be described as "more reaction then action", but
that that after the democratic changes in the FRY and Croatia, there is a
chance for a more "conceptual politics" in the region.
Robert Barry asks for a drastic reduction of entity armies in BiH:
Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Robert Barry, asks for the more radical
reduction of the entity armed forces (EAFs), because BiH cannot affords
sustaining the present number of soldiers. In an interview with Sarajevo
daily "Oslobodjenje," he said the requests for the funding of the
existing structure are three times higher than the military budgets, and
that it is necessary to complete further reduction of military forces by
50%. According to Barry, the EAFs should be reduced until there are 15,000
soldiers altogether in the entire BiH.
"You have some 3.7 million people, and with 15,000 soldiers in the entire
BiH, that would mean some 0.5 percent. That is an European average. The
more you wait, the harder it gets," Barry said. He added that another reason
to reduce the EAFs is that the current structure of the forces was
established in 1995 because of a "threat that they will again start a
war," so it is now needed to direct these forces to the defense of BiH
from possible threats from the outside.
Barry rejected the possibility of social unrest because of the dismissal
saying that the "number of unemployed persons is already enormous anyway."
"The number of the unemployed persons would increase by only two percent.
Even less than two percent," Barry explained.
Weekend newspapers carry the OHR press release on the PIC's Steering Board
meeting with the HR
Editorials:
Nezavisne Novine: When BiH rebuilds all destroyed churches, the RS will
construct mosques:
Construction of Ferhadija, undoubtedly, is one of the hottest political
issues in Republika Srpska, about which the newly elected RS authorities
would have to take position clearly and quickly. After a long time of
waiting to get an urban permit and permit for the reconstruction by the
local management of Banja Luka, the Islamic Community has started a heavy
attack.
Center for Islamic architecture Rijaset of Islamic Community has lately
announced its positions, which echoed as a political scandal in the RS
political public. Firstly, Kemal Zukic, the director of the Center, stated
that reconstruction of Ferhadija should be financed by the RS Government and
added that the RS authorities and not the Islamic Community should request a
construction permit for the mosque. Zukic stressed that he Islamic Community
did not need a permit from any institution of the RS for construction of the
mosque but a decision of the High Representative.
A year ago, Human Rights Chamber reached a decision according to which
construction of Ferhadija should be allowed, but the RS, even after that,
tried to show as if the construction of the mosque was not political but
urban and communal issue. Just because of Ferhadija the High Representative
dismissed Djodje Umicevic, previous Mayor of Banja Luka, but the dismissal
hasn't influenced efficiency of local administration, at least when it came
to famous construction permit for reconstruction of the mosque in a very
center of the RS capital.
What do a representatives of parliamentary parties in the RS think about
positions of Rijaset of Islamic Community?
"Request of Islamic community for the RS Government to finance
construction of Ferhadija is a pure nonsense", said Ostoja Barasanin,
spokesperson of Democratic National Alliance (DNS). According to him, all
mosques destroyed during the war should be financed "by those who ask for
the reconstruction".
Biljana Plavsic, President of Serb National Alliance (SNS) thinks that
request of the Center for Islamic Architecture Rijaset of Islamic Community
in BiH, for the RS Govt. to finance reconstruction of Ferhadija, is
"unfounded".
"That is not right. Where will Srpska get that kind of money: we do not have
enough money to fulfill our basic obligations, not to mention construction
of new facilities", says Biljana Plavsic for Nezavisne Novine. " Of course,
it is possible to solve this problem on basis or reciprocity; Let FBiH
finance the construction of all destroyed churches and monasteries on its
territory and the RS will finance the construction of mosques", suggests
Plavsic.
"The fact that the Orthodox church in Sarajevo was not destroyed doesn't
mean that religious objects were not destroyed in the Federation. A
beautiful church in Mostar was destroyed, which was a proper historic and
cultural monument; monastery Zitomislic was destroyed as well as many other
religious objects and nobody asked of Government in FBiH to finance its
reconstruction", says Plavsic.
Milan Tukic, Head of Information department of SNSD stated that the
initiative of the Islamic Community, according to which the RS Govt. should
finance construction of Ferhadija was unwanted, since the money, as he said,
should be invested in reconstruction of industrial facilities and not of
religious objects.
"I would ask the Islamic Community a counter-question: Could one mosque,
even if it were Ferhadija, build one factory? In case of moved industry, it
could, by its profit, build religious objects, including mosques", says
Tukic.
SDS representatives refused to comment on the issue of the reconstruction
of Ferhadija. From SDA representatives in Sarajevo, we also could not get a
comment, since, as we were told in the party, SDA officials were preoccupied
by religious customs due to Ramazan.
As Branko Dokic, Vice President of PDP claims, this party which is
seriously interested in taking over responsibilities for forming of the new
government in the RS, "has not taken a position on the construction of
Ferhadija yet". Asked to comment position of the Risajet of the Islamic
Community that the RS Govt. should finance the construction of this mosque
and that the RS authorities, and not the Islamic Community, should ask for
the construction permit for Ferhadija, since "they were the ones to allow
the destroying", Dokic said: "It is the first time I hear about it,
therefore I have no comment".
Glas Srpski: OSCE as a back up:
Election process, slowly but surely is getting into hands of domestic
officials. Confirmation of that is obvious in a statement of OSCE Head of
Mission Robert Barry, who says that the OSCE, in a future, would be dealing
more and more with the issues of administration (management). Obviously
domestic election officials proved to be ready to take up responsibility but
the issue of permanent election law remains unresolved.
However, according to prognosis of the OSCE's Head of Mission , it would
certainly be done by next elections in 2002. To that time OSCE will be
working on municipal and cantonal level. Certainly, before that, election
results have to be implemented and work with BiH Parliament has also been
announced.
OSCE's plan involves improvements in work of administration and in public
relations, which hasn't been the case so far. The Law on Freedom of
Information, which should be adopted and which should mean greater freedom
in access to information than in some European countries, is being closely
linked with this. In that respect, officers in administration have to be
ready to reply to all requests, and there are probably going to many of
those.
Apart from that, administrative bodies are expected to work more
efficiently as well as to start resolving political problems and use
resources available. With this aim, OSCE created a plan in both entities in
order to identify responsibilities of Srpska towards municipalities and in
FBiH responsibilities of Cantons, when it comes to income from taxes.
So, the accent is put on lower levels of authorities. Improvement of work
of local authorities, or cantonal authorities in FBiH, could, to a good
extent, influence other levels of authorities. Municipal bodies have
suffered certain changes at the previous elections already and the number of
employees has been reduced compared to the previous period. Now, they are
left to prove they readiness to justifies high expectations of citizens.
All in all, a year of great expectations is ahead of BiH. The
International Community thinks that newly elected authorities should start
working as soon as possible and deal with numerous issues. Europe is the aim
they are heading for. Obstacles on that road are numerous. Economic as well
as political. Of course, elections are an exam of democracy which is
successfully passed. This exam should be passed by politicians too and
judging by everything, the International Community will be here to have a
final say in a great part of it.
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