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BiH Media Round-up, 08/02/2001 |
BiH Parliament House of Representatives did not support Martin Raguz: Oslobodjenje said that only the HDZ representatives and the SP RS representative voted for Raguz while all the others voted against. SDA representatives did not vote at all, the daily said. More than nine hours-long discussion was fruitless and ended in what Dnevni Avaz said might be a blockade of the Parliament because the HDZ President and a member of BiH Presidency, Ante Jelavic at the end of the session said that he will not give his vote for the candidate of the Alliance for Changes. Radisic's statements on US Ambassador and reactions:
Today's papers carry Zivko Radisic further explanation of his earlier
statements regarding the US Ambassador in BiH. "My party was pressed as well. I want to underline that this is not my position towards the United States, it is not a general position either towards Miller who I respect as a diplomat," Radisic said. President of BiH Presidency also said that someone has misinterpreted that he mentioned Robert Barry, head of the OSCE as one of the diplomats that apply pressure. In addition to this papers are full of reactions of various local and international officials. Oslobodjenje reported that Principal Deputy High Representative, Ralph Johnson told reporters in Banja Luka that OHR will soon announce its position regarding Radisic's statement and said that his personal opinion is that ambassadors sometimes have the task of telling things a government in a certain country does not want to hear. "This is something what the BiH Presidency will understand," Johnson said adding that any action against some foreign diplomat would be badly received by the international community, Oslobodjenje reported. Dnevni Avaz carried the OHR statement on the role of PIC Steering Board members Ambassadors.
RTV BiH General Director predict a grim future for this media: Bilic told the daily that John Shearer and Chris Riley will stay in BiH for a year or two and as a result of the effects of their work, people from RTV BiH and BiH public will suffer. He said that Federation TV has not been established as planned and neither the PBS has been established. When asked what are the problems for John Shearer Bilic said that he does not know. "Probably he has his own vision of the public media in BiH and probably all this is included in the second decision of the High Representative which Shearer prepared and the High Representative only signed. This is the only paper I have seen," Bilic said. He added that Riley and Shearer almost never talk to him or his deputy Fahrudin Balvanovic and that apart for two meetings they were never invited to any important meetings. According to him this one of the main reasons for a non-functioning Federation TV and the PBS.
Federation Health Ministry declares a flu epidemic: Mostar: From the session of the Municipal Council of the Mostar
Municipality Southwest: The budget for 2001 is 16 million KMs
At the end of the session two Councilors stated problems regarding their
return to the Mostar Municipality Southwest, and the Head of the
Municipality offered them his help.
Good news for RS Pensioners postman to visit them on Monday: Politics of the past "Radisic's remarks are reflections of totalitarian regime and that is sad and pathetic", Miller said, the RS dailies carry. "I feel sorry for BiH citizens for having such a leadership. It is the people of BiH who is going to lose in all this and not my country and especially not me personally", said Miller. It's high time pre-election promises were delivered
The High Representative appoints the members of the Constitutional
Commissions in the Federation and the RS: High Representative establishes Special Auditor for cantons in the
Federation: Dobrinja Arbitrator sends a public letter: International Community is planning new steps for destabilization of the
current political leadership in B&H - 'Once the Alliance is installed,
yes-men will take over all important companies' (by Zdenko Jurilj) This step will be taken for a more efficient political change and revision of the current political process and economy in B&H. The IC has had the information for several months now that most of the profitable companies in which the State owns a share, are controlled by the national parties, which exhaust money from them and use it for their political purposes. In order to take some of the sting from those parties, they will install the persons who will be eligible and co-operative with the IC to the supervisory and steering boards of those companies so that the process of the political restructuring of B&H could be carried out as soon as possible. Many think that this is the cause of the panic among the national party leaders because this move will probably strip them of both good positions and a direct source of financing. Since the international officials have a good insight into the structure of state-owned companies, illustrative is the recent example of the appointment of Edhem Bicakcic, former Prime Minister and member of the SDA, as the General Manager of Elektroprivreda. His appointment in the company that makes million marks of profit on a daily basis, must have gone through the hands of the OHR. A VL source claims that Bicakcic either has already made some concessions or is yet to make concessions to the IC when it comes to the implementation of their plan of action. The international officials have realized that they can destroy their political opponents by controlling the sources of funds. VL source claims the plan was made two years ago. "Remember the decision of the HR, Carlos Westendorp, banning all political officials and their families from active participation or membership in the supervisory boards of the companies in which the state's ownership exceeds 20%. Practically, it was the announcement of what will soon be carried out not only in the B&H Federation, but in the RS as well, or the IC will suspend the announced credits to some of the companies," says a source close to the Federation Government. First they intend to install eligible persons to power supply companies, post offices, some companies whose re-capitalization process is still being audited and which are making good business results. Although the HR's decision of two years ago has been implemented only in a declarative manner, there are the assumptions that some political parties and their leaders are using the money from those companies. Some banks will also be on the list after the change of the payment system in B&H. There are some indications that the money from some companies is put on the bank accounts of some politicians. The example of the announced structure of the future Federation Government and the recent revision of the structure of the RS Government testifies as to how radical the IC will be in this case. The newly elected ministers will be demanded to make urgent and radical moves in order to review a few dubious privatization, additional capitalization and the founding structure of some of the B&H banks that have the political structures, which have been in power for ten years, behind them.
Slobodna Dalmacija editorial: Conflicts throughout centuries The HR stated recently in Vienna that the national intolerance had not existed in BiH until national parties came to power. I guess that this was supposed to be an argument for the imposed elimination of the national parties from BiH Authorities and for the promotion of the Croat cadres, who were not legitimately elected by the Representatives of the Croat people, but who came to power through the IC election engineering. If Mr. Petritsch dealt with politics, even just a little bit, then he would know that the nationalism has been a European constant since the first nations appeared on a social scene. Since BiH is situated at the boundary of civilizations, cultures and religions, where the interests of the great powers were coming into a conflict, it is understandable that the religious and ethnic intolerance was even more intense. Historical events are a proof of it. The roots of the intolerance in BiH appeared before the Turkish Empire, when Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Patarenes were coming into the conflict. With the coming of the Ottoman conquerors these conflicts were intensified, while the Christian population never made a piece with the conquerors, who were a threat for the whole Europe. The whole epic culture grew out of these conflicts. A try of Austria to europeanize BiH and solve an ethnic issue through the creation of the so-called Bosnian nation ended with the First World War. Perhaps, Mr. Petritsch read only the literature from the Communist Yugoslavia time where he could read that the ethnic issue was finally and permanently solved by the formula of brotherhood and unity. Numerous examples have shown that the ethnic issue was not solved but only covered up by force. The try to create a Yugoslav supra-nation, only homogenized the nations. People have been living on this territory for a long time, the people often come into the conflict and they remember it for the long time, and there has never been a state or the Authority that succeeded to overrule customs and conflicts by the Law. This should be a starting point of the sincere try to solve the ethnic issue in BiH and to establish European values in international relations. To say that the national parties are a cause of all the conflicts means turning a blind eye to the problem, and saying that the consequence is the cause. Also, Petritsch might have realized during his mandate that the cause of the Croat nationalism lies in the DPA, which gave to the Serbs the Republic, which was the result of the ethnic cleansing, and in the manipulations of this Agreement, by which the Croat people is being turned into the minority. If the fight for the equality is the nationalism, then it is not surprising that the most of the Croats are nationalists. Dnevni Avaz, editorial: Social Earthquake Alhos employees hit the main Sarajevo streets on Monday and blocked the traffic in an attempt to draw attention of the authorities to the terrible position they have been in last 15 months. Forced to ultimate existential insecurity, because of which, even a trip to the doctor is questioned the workers precisely defined the guilty party. Guilty, according to the workers, is the state which as the owner of the majority of the company, realizes its rights but completely forgets its obligation. This is one of the examples of the consequences of the slowness of privatization. Thousands of workers throughout BiH fearing the mere existence of their families wait for a solution of the surely most important economy issues in the country. While the relevant ministers are bargaining and are waiting for strategic partners that do not show up, the workers are left on their own to the mercy of the BiH daily life. They do not think about the future owner's structure of the factories. They are only interested in a secure and adequately paid job. Mass strikes that shake BiH show that the workers are deprived of one of their essential human rights - the right to work - which guaranteed by all European conventions. But, even the carried out privatization does not guarantee that they will fulfill this right and on one from the authorities has the guts to publicly say this. Market thinking means an optimum number of employees after which many will be left without jobs. Unfortunately, the state, at least for now, does not have a single mechanism that could ease the difficult social situation.
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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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