- BH-Central Institutions
- Martin Raguz to remain the Chairman of the Council of Ministers;
- Free Trade agreement between BiH and Croatia: Better opportunities
for producers and management;
- Editorial: Attempts to prevent an HDZ designate from taking the post
of a minister;
- Federation
- Tension rises in Bocinja;
- Federation pensioners announce more protests if December pensions
are reduced;
- Pensioners: If Petritsch does not help us, he can start booking his
ticket back to Austria;
- The first issue of a new BiH weekly Otvorene Novine released in
Mostar;
- Republika Srpska
- Biljana Plavsic goes to The Hague?;
- International Community
- Ante Jelavic challenges the authority of the OSCE before the
Constitutional Court;
- Editorials: Petritsch's New Year's Address and Constant Poverty;
- Ulrich Bucher, Special Envoy of the High Representative to Bugojno:
Bugojno is much calmer town these days;
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Central Institutions related Issues:
Martin Raguz to remain the Chairman of the Council of Ministers:
Speculating who could be the future chairman of the BiH Council of
Ministers, Dnevni Avaz writes that the HDZ is satisfied with Martin Raguz,
who is presently fulfilling this function, and it has no intention of
nominating any other candidate. The president of the HDZ and the Croat
member of the BiH Presidency, Ante Jelavic, said that it is not in the
interest of his party to nominate anyone else, while the Aide to the
Bosniak member, Mirza Hajric, told Avaz that Raguz is also supported by
the International Community and the Presidency. "Thus, if the House of
Representatives fails to reach a compromise on this issue, there will be a
serious political crisis in the country," said Hajric.
Free Trade agreement between BiH and Croatia: Better opportunities for
producers and management:
Zagreb's Vecernji Lists estimated that the Agreement on the free trade
between the Republic of Croatia and BiH will not bring negative effects to
the former, since the economies of those countries are not competitive but
complementary. In the last ten months of the previous year, Bosnia and
Herzegovina exported goods valued at more than 60 million dollars to
Croatia , and imported goods in the amount of 360 million dollars. On
January 1st the application of the Agreement on free trade between Croatia
and BiH came into force. It is expected that through the application of
the Agreement a balance will be made between the import and the export to
the Republic of Croatia, speculates Vecernji List.
Editorial: Attempts to prevent an HDZ designate from taking the post of a
minister:
Neither constitutional nor legal deadline has been set for the appointment
of the Prime Minister and the election of the Council of Ministers in BiH,
i.e. the forming of the executive authorities following the parliamentary
elections. However, it is clearly defined as to who is to nominate the new
designate. According to the current situation in the BiH Presidency, this
could be the Croat Member and the HDZ leader, Ante Jelavic. Naturally,
this does not suit SDP's Zlatko Lagumdzija and the international circles
which support the so-called Alliance for Changes, which has for its aim
the "disempowering" of the national parties - the HDZ, the SDS and the
SDA. SDP's leader Zlatko Lagumdzija said he "sees no reason" why it should
not be allowed to those who have the parliamentary majority
(non-nationalist parties) to form the Council of Ministers, i.e. BiH
Government. Ante Jelavic, if one is to judge from the statements he gave
at the Christmas and New Year reception in Mostar, is not even thinking
about verifying the disputable majority, Lagumdzija is talking about, and
nominating a Croat outside of the HDZ as the designate for the Council of
Ministers. Thus, the circle is closed and Bosnia keeps wandering in its
own labyrinth of the dysfunctional institutions due to, as the Croat
leadership in BiH claim, the imposition of solutions that violate the
sovereignty, the constituency and the equality of Croats in BiH.
Federation
Tension rises in Bocinja:
Federation media reported that there has been a great deal of tension and
an increased SFOR presence in the village of Bocinja over the New Year
holidays. According to the BH Press, SFOR soldiers blocked the road taking
to the local mesdzid (Muslim place of worship) and tried to prevent a
number of Bocinje citizens, mostly Mujahedeen families which recently
moved to this village, to attend Friday's prayer claiming that the mesdzid
and the area around it has been mined. At the same time, Serb returnees to
Bocinje demanded that the mesdzid be closed down and the property it
occupies returned to the village and turned back into a "social-cultural
house". A number of them even conditioned any further returns of Serbs to
Bocinje by closing the controversial place of worship. Bosniak authorities
from the Maglaj municipality stressed that the return of the cultural
house is not questionable and will occur when a substantial number of the
pre-war population returns to this village. Dzevad Galijasevic, the
President of the municipal Council, said that the issue should be resolved
in a civilized manner, and that the SFOR presence just contributes to the
increasingly tense atmosphere in the area.
On Tuesday, the SFOR denied having prevented anyone from attending a
worship service.
Federation pensioners announce more protests if December pensions are
reduced:
The Association of pensioners in the Federation announced more
demonstrations are to come if December pensions, which will most likely be
disbursed in February, are reduced. "We were shocked when we learnt that
we may not get our pensions before February," said the Association's Vice
President, Enver Sarajlic. "This means that some of us who live in
Sarajevo and other cities will have no income for two months."
Sarajlic stressed that the next protests and demonstrations will be
significantly stronger than the previous ones, and will take place again
in front of the OHR building in Sarajevo. He said that pensioners will ask
for the resignation of Wolfgang Petritsch, for his decision to impose the
new law on pension fund is "genocidal, inhumane and immoral". Sarajlic
warned that most pensioners in the Federation will not be able to pay
their dues and utilities for the month of January
Pensioners: If Petritsch does not help us, he can start booking his
ticket back to Austria:
In an interview with Jutarnje Novine, the president of the Association of
Pensioners in the Federation, Enver Sarajlic, said that if the High
Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, does not help and protect the
pensioners, he would be most responsible for the social catastrophe in
BiH. Asked to comment why his association refers such requests for help
only to Petritsch and not to any local bodies of government, Sarajlic said
that his pleas to the Federation Government and its Prime Minister, Edhem
Bicakcic, remained largely ignored and unanswered. "We are asking
Petritsch to be responsible, for he is the only competent person who could
help, he has both the power and strength to stop the irresponsible and not
very serious promises of our government."
Commenting on the possibility that the next pension may be paid in
February, and not during this month as was anticipated, Sarajlic said that
such decision would not be in accordance with the regulations of the
Federation PIO Fund Steering Board. "According to the Federation PIO,
there will be no irregular payment of pensions. Thus, the next
disbursement will be for August (pensions) and it should start by the end
of this week."
Sarajlic stressed that the fear of pensioners who recently addressed
Petritsch and protested in front of his office in Sarajevo was not
unfounded. He said that everyone in his association is aware that pensions
will be reduced, but he hopes that no one endorses the payment of December
pensions in February. "I don't know who will have a heart to allow the
disbursement of pensions in the amount of 117 KM in February, two months
after we received the last pension." Sarajlic said that most pensioners
will not be able to physically survive this winter, for they will have no
funds to pay their utility bills, food and medicines. "It takes only that
pensioners fail to pay their electricity bill for Elektroprivreda to shut
off their electricity - We will all freeze."
Concluding his interview, Sarajlic said that if Petritsch fails to help
the pensioners, he should start booking his ticket back to Austria. "As
far as the local politicians are concerned, we do not even know to whom we
could refer - who is the head of this technical government?" - asked
Sarajlic at the end.
The first issue of a new BiH weekly Otvorene Novine released in Mostar:
While the preparations are being made in the Mostar editorial office of
the new BiH weekly Otvorene Novine for the second issue to be released,
the first issue received numerous critical acclaims. The Mostar journalist
circles were disturbed with the news of attacks on the editorial office of
'Otvorene Novine', while readers complained about too high of a price of
the new weekly (3 KM). The next issue of Otvorene Novine will be
distributed tomorrow across BiH, including Banja Luka.
Republika Srpska
Biljana Plavsic goes to The Hague?:
The RTRS reported yesterday that Biljana Plavsic has not yet made any
comments regarding her alleged summon to the ICTY in The Hague, but that a
number of sources in the RS confirmed that the indictment of the SNS (Serb
national Alliance) President and one of the war time leaders of the
Bosnian Serbs has been completed last month. The same source told the RTRS
that upon the completion of the indictment, Plavsic was asked to resign
from her post of a deputy in the RS National Assembly to which she was
elected during the General elections held in November 2000. There are
still no official comments from the ICTY on this issue.
International Community
Ante Jelavic challenges the authority of the OSCE before the
Constitutional Court:
The President of the BiH Constitutional Court, Kasim Begic, told Dnevni
Avaz that the President of the HDZ, Ante Jelavic, initiated a process
before the Constitutional Court in which he questioned the authority of
the OSCE, i.e., the PEC (Provisional Elections Commission) rules and
regulations on the elections of deputies for the House of Peoples. More
specifically, Jelavic questioned the authority of the OSCE to enact laws
and pass regulations in either the entities or the state of BiH. Begic
also confirmed that Jelavic asked the Constitutional Court to put the
controversial PEC rules on hold until the final ruling on this case is
made.
Editorials: Petritsch's New Year's Address and Constant Poverty:
Sarajevo Dnevni Avaz and Oslobodjenje carried shorter editorials about the
New Year's address to BiH citizens by the High Representative, Wolfgang
Petritsch, in which he warned that the coming year 2001 may be more
difficult then any other post-war year in BiH. In his letter, Petritsch
stressed that this year may also be of crucial importance for the state
and its people, who "ought to become the owners of their country and its
faith." Avaz columnist notes that the serious and a warning tone which
dominates Petritsch's letter is appropriate, since this will be the first
post-Dayton year that BiH will have to rely more on itself then on the
International Community. Avaz comments that local politicians have been
"irritatingly irresponsible and sloppy" in the most important spheres of
the peace implementation - the economic reform, return and the compliance
with property laws - which will also be the OHR's top priorities in the
coming year. "Petritsch promised that we will joint the Council of Europe
this year...The real question is what will the 'owners of the country and
its faith' do in this regard," concludes Dnevni Avaz.
Oslobodjenje columnists was somewhat more critical of the content of
Petritsch's address. Ibrahim Polimac sarcastically noted that Petritsch
and the Federation Prime Minister, Edhem Bicakcic, finally agreed on
something - the fact that the year 2001 will be one of the most difficult
ones after the war. However, the columnist notes, in their respective
addresses neither one made any suggestions as to how to alleviate the
consequences of the difficult situation, if not how to resolve it.
"Neither Petritsch nor Bicakcic did anything substantial to remove the
negative consequences, despite the fact that the former constantly brags
about his successful imposition of various laws and the creation of a
viable framework for modern economy, and the later cites fictional
statistical indicators about the economic progress." Oslobodjenje further
quotes Petritsch's suggestions to local politicians to start paying more
attention to the economic and social reform and his warning that the IC is
increasingly losing interest in BiH. However, Polimac writes, these
warnings are as old as the post-Dayton peace. "It is important to note
that neither (Carl) Bildt, (Carlos) Westendorp, nor Petritsch made any
serious effort to change the economic reality of BiH, although they had a
chance to do so," - comments the columnist, and adds that the criticism of
the prominent diplomats failed to produce any concrete results, that is
to, for example, create any new vacant spots for the unemployed. "The
unemployment is a consequence, and in order to eliminate it, one ought to
remove its causes. On the contrary, it becomes a source of new
misfortunes, which is precisely the case here," - concludes Polimac.
Ulrich Bucher, Special Envoy of the High Representative to Bugojno:
Bugojno is much calmer town these days:
In an interview with Dnevni Avaz, the Special Envoy of the High
Representative, Ulrich Bucher, commented on significant improvements in
return rates in his area of responsibility - the Bugojno and Prozor-Rama
region. Bucher said that there has been a significant progress in the
process of reconstruction and the return of refugees to this area in the
past two years. "Bugojno is on the top of the success list in this canton
(Central Bosnia Canton)," noted Bucher, "When I arrived here (two years
ago) there were 2000 Croats living in the town. Now there are 7500 of
them, " he said, and added that Serbs too are increasingly returning to
Bugojno and the surrounding villages. Commenting on a number of alarming
incidents and attacks on Bosniak returnees in the past several months,
Bucher said that still there are serious problems in the town, and that it
appears that the Croat side is not very open to the return of Bosniaks and
their reintegration in the life in Bugojno. "Still, I believe that the
incidents that occur here are not always politically motivated; numerous
cases are clearly grounded on the criminal basis."
Commenting on the fact that the return of Bosniaks to Prozor is
transpiring on the somewhat slower pace, Bucher said that the main reason
for that is the lack of any substantial reconstruction project in the
area. "Prozor today is no longer in the center of attention of the
International Community and international organizations," he said and
added there most people refuse to come back to this 'lost and
poverty-stricken corner of the earth'.
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