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BiH Media Round-up, 07/02/2001 |
President of BiH Presidency asks for expulsion of US Ambassador to BiH: Foreign diplomats are not here to "create the staffing policy, to announce which political option is modern and which is not, to influence the electoral body, media etc," Radisic said and when asked who are these diplomats replied that it is the US Ambassador. According to Radisic, Ante Jelavic, another Presidency member agreed with his views. Jelavic's office said that during the same Presidency session the name of British Ambassador to BiH, Graham Hand was also mentioned in the same context. "Member of the BiH Presidency Halid Genjac will vote against such qualification of foreign diplomats in our country", stated Mirza Hajric, advisor to Bosniak member of the Presidency. US State Department commenting on Radisic's statements said that Miller has the full support of the US Government. US reacs to Radisic as reported in BiH media:
Oslobodjene: "We have seen the comments made by Zivko Radisic. We consider them as part of internal political maneuvers prior to today's vote on the new central government. The United States of America have full confidence in Ambassador Thomas Miller. He and us will continue to work with the rest of the international community on economic and political development of BiH," a State Department official said. US Ambassador to BiH, Thomas Miller commented on Radisic's statements on RTV BiH main news program Tuesday evening. "This kind of behavior reminds me of the behavior from last century, something we do not see anywhere in the modern world," Miller said. "His accusations are a reflection of a totalitarian regime and this is pathetic and sad. I feel sorry for the people of BiH because they currently have such leaders. The people of BiH are those who will surely lose in all this and not my country and most surely not me personally. In this country there are serious problems and what my country is trying to do is to deal with these problems in a concrete manner. We fully respect the results of the BiH elections but no one in this country should think that they have the right for American help, that this is our obligation. These funds can be invested in other places in the region," Miller said. "I have to confirm to my government that what we are doing here, the money we are spending here and the efforts we are putting in is worth it and I have to explain why five and a half years after Dayton it is still important that the US stay here," Miller said. Dnevni Avaz carries the same statement of the US Embassy and the unnamed State Department official. It does not have any reaction from Miller himself. Jutarnje Novine in addition to the US Embassy statement have Miller himself commenting on Radisic's statement. "I do not feel unwanted in BiH, I do my job according to the responsibility of a diplomat," Miller told Jutarnje Novine. "I feel sorry for the people of BiH because they surely deserve more and better. I do not want to give the dignity to President of BiH Presidency, Zivko Radisic with any more comments. I was sent here to do a job and I will, rest assured, do it, Miller said. "I think that his statement brings injustice to the people of BiH. Radisic think in a manner I haven't seen for decades. He thinks in totalitarian manner. To be more precise, if he does not like someone he tries to eliminate him. This is not the way you do it in civilized countries," Miller said. Q: Do you think that your critic is not familiar enough with the job of a diplomat? "I think that Radisic should inform himself more on what a professional diplomat does. If he does that in the future (and I am in the diplomacy for 25 years) he will surely find out that a diplomat in any country has the responsibility to meet with the leadership of that country. That is what I am doing too. For example in last seven days I have met with Radisic but with the people from the opposition. What I am doing, my colleagues from the diplomatic corps are doing too. Q: You are being accused of secretly meeting at dinners with members of the opposition political parties. You comment? "I think that Radisic choose the wrong things to deal with. Instead of focusing on the issues of return, employment, reconstruction ... he deals with some completely different things. These are the issues I deal with and me and my country are trying to solve them. The US have donated a billion dollars to BiH to solve these issues. OHR reacs:
Oslobodjenje:
Nezavisne Novine: Following the High Representative's decision the duty free shops at BiH
border crossings closing down: BiH Parliament to elect the new Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers: Croatian President - Entities are Bosnia's reality but not necessarily its
future At the time the Dayton Accords were being drafted, entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina were a necessity, today they are a reality but they need not necessarily be the country's future, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in Zagreb on Tuesday. Mesic made the statement while opening a one-day round table called "The Establishment of the Croat Entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina - A Reality or Fiction", organized by the Forum HBH 2000, a non- governmental association advocating close relations between Croatia and Bosnia. The association was established in Samobor outside Zagreb last year. More than 50 university professors, diplomats, experts and political officials from both countries attended the debate, Hina reported. Mesic recalled that the current Croatian authorities, unlike the former ones, had given up the idea of Bosnia being split between Croatia and Serbia. "However, this does not mean that we have given up assistance to Bosnian Croats nor will we give it up because the Croatian Constitution binds us to it," Mesic said, adding though that Bosnian Croats had to build their future on their own, as one of Bosnia's three constituent peoples. Sabor deputy speaker Zdravko Tomac estimated the establishment of the Croat entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not the right way to accomplish the interests of the Croat people in that country and that discussions on that topic should be taken off the agenda. He explained that there was an almost ethnically cleansed entity in Bosnia - Republika Srpska, which aspired to join the mother-state of Serbia, i.e. Yugoslavia. For Croats to seek their own entity would only lead to the strengthening of the Bosnian Serb entity and eventually to the destabilization of Croatia itself, Tomac believes. Croatia is interested in Bosnia and Herzegovina being a united state of equal peoples, Tomac said. Croatia must repeat to Bosnian Croats that they are responsible for their future in Bosnia, that they cannot enter conflicts with the international community, even when the international community is not right, and that the worst solution for them is the establishment of parallel institutions. The most important thing for BiH Croats, as the least numerous nation in the country, is for state institutions to function, he added. A professor at the Mostar University, Slavko Kukic, said the entities were used as an instrument in partitioning Bosnia and Herzegovina both as a state and society because they were aimed at completing the ethnic grouping which was partially achieved through the war. Rejecting the state of nations as a possible model for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the two terms were not synonymous in Bosnia as they were in other European countries, Kukic advocated cantonal organization and strong regional self-government with precisely defined and protected national interests of all three peoples on the cantonal level. Supporting arguments against the establishment of the Croat entity, the president of the Democratic Party and Croatia's former foreign minister, Mate Granic, said that under the current international agreements all entities should have access to the sea, which would require changes to the border, which he said was currently impossible without provoking another war. Working group for monitoring of payments systems to be formed: This was stated at a regular meeting organized by the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) with directors of the Banking Agencies of BH Federation and Republika Srpska and head the BH Federation Deposit Insurance Agency on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by CBBH Governor Peter Nicholl. Most of the difficulties were caused by the lack of the room in the commercial banks which led to long delays in servicing clients and lack of education which led to many forms being completed wrongly, the CBBH said in a press release. There are also a lot of payment orders which value is smaller than the fees of the commercial banks and the meeting agreed this should be corrected if possible. CBBH said it will establish a working group with the banking agencies to monitor the new payments system. Nicholl stressed again that with the raising capital of the commercial banks, arrival of the foreign banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and opening of the deposit agencies the trust in the banks will increase. Nicholl will encourage the authorities in RS to establish the deposit insurance in RS as it was done in BH Federation, the release said.
BiH Workers Union asks Petritsch and Barry to press local political
parties to establish institutions on all levels: The Union said that if the two international officials "continue to tolerate the primitivism," of local politicians they will share the guilt and blame for the situation in BiH and the collapse of economy and the society here. Deputy Mayor of Mostar supports the reallocation of Liska Park cemetery: Oslobodjenje said that so far Mandic, Tomic and the Association of Croat war veterans HVIDRA are supporting the idea to reallocate the Liska Park cemetery while the East Mostar officials and institutions are against it. OHR position, Oslobodjenje, said is recognizable - sit down and agree on it. Ivanic to go on fighting Federation's two-year ban on purchase of
apartments: At its session held on 2 February, the Court said that the provision of the Federation Law on the Purchase of Apartments with Occupancy Rights, which stipulates that returnees must wait for two years upon the repossession of their apartments before they become eligible to purchase them, was not in contravention of the BiH Constitution. The decision was voted by five votes to four. "I see this decision as a continuation of the discrimination towards the returnees, and in my opinion it is a result of a political, not a legal approach," Ivanic told a news conference in Banja Luka, adding that he would seek assistance on the issue from all relevant international institutions. The RS prime minister went on to say that introducing a similar or the identical provision in the RS Law on the Purchase of Apartments would only be counterproductive and to the detriment of the returnees. He said he would during the next week appoint RS minister of defense, adding there were no particular reasons for the fact that the minister has not been appointed as yet.
Commenting on the announcement of BiH Presidency Chair Zivko
Radisic that
the Presidency would raise the issue of canceling the mandate of
certain international representatives who in their statements go beyond
their mandate,
particularly pointing out to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Miller, Ivanic
said the Presidency had the competence to launch such an initiative, but
added there was no need to raise tensions with the international
community.
Europe is tired of slow changes in BiH When commenting Radisic's statement Ivanic stated that "there was no need to sharpen relations with foreign diplomats. "BiH Presidency is competent for this filed of work", said Ivanic adding that BiH still had a special status and that certain moves of foreign diplomats are justified, but "generally speaking I think that relations with the IC would not significantly change". To speed up reforms Kalinic's cabinet informed that many current issues were discussed, specifically need for faster economic reforms in the RS as well as more active participation of its authorities in forming of public corporations.
OHR says HDZ must respect the decision of BiH Constitutional Court: HDZ has promised that it will start implementing election results immediately after the Constitutional Court's ruling but after the Court reached its decision HDZ is still dragging its feet and looking for new reasons to prolong the process. OHR expects that the HDZ will respect the Court's decision and fully participate in the establishment of authority on all levels, Oleg Milisic told the presser. IMC issues 20 long-term licenses for broadcast in Tuzla region: The whole process was very open to the public and even the Federation Ombudsmen for media participated in the process, IMC officials told the news conference. Nacional discovers the OHR's document on breaking of the HDZ B&H: The International Community has a strategy to arrange the situation, discipline three national parties, especially the HDZ B&H, counting on the assistance from official Zagreb. Nacional is in possession of the confidential documents from which it is evident that there is a comprehensive plan for the de-stabilisation of the HDZ B&H and bringing the Democratic Alliance for Changes to power, which was elaborated in the Office of the High Representative for B&H, Wolfgang Petritsch, under the title "Proposal of the strategy of the HDZ". It foresees severe sanctions, the abolishment of the HDZ B&H and removal of Ante Jelavic, a Croat member of the B&H Presidency. The plan foresees the de-stabilisation of the SDS and system of the authority in the RS. Nacional is in possession of a document, produced in the Cabinet of Zivko Radisic, a Serb member of the B&H Presidency, which indicates that the Serbs in B&H are ready to oppose the authority of the Alliance, whose actions and messages they consider anti-constitutional and contrary to the provisions of the Dayton Agreement. The Office of the High Representative in B&H is not ready to make any concessions to the HDZ B&H. The HDZ will be given a deadline until the Constitutional Court makes a decision, before one starts insisting on the House of Peoples and the establishing of the Assemblies in the Cantons 8 and 10. The OHR's document reads that the HDZ's leaders Luzanski, Covic, Ljubic and Raguz, a candidate of the B&H Presidency for the Council of Ministers, will be told that 'the HDZ has to take urgent measures in order to form the assemblies in the Cantons 8 and 10", that "Mostar will be viewed as a test of the HDZ's good will", and that "we expect the HDZ to respect the decision of the Constitutional Court". A real panic came over the HDZ B&H after it was discovered that the Office of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, developed a strategy for ousting of the HDZ, SDS and SDA and establishing of B&H as a single state. Clearly, in the outcries raised about Wolfgang Petritsch and the Democratic Alliance for Changes, Ante Jelavic was immediately joined by his Serb colleague from the B&H Presidency, Zivo Radisic, who is concerned that the OHR might abolish his separatist RS.
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| The BiH Media Round-up is being compiled primarily for the OHR's internal purposes under time pressure. Please disregard grammar and typing mistakes. The mentioned media reports do not reflect OHR views, and the OHR does not take responsibility for them. |
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