- BH-Central Institutions
- Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency sent the case of the RS Labor
Law before the Constitutional Court;
- BiH Parliament's House of Representatives to discuss the nomination
for the Chair of the Council of Ministers on Thursday;
- RS representatives asked the Dobrinja Arbiter to stop the
arbitration process;
- Zubak and Kljujic to leave the Alliance?;
- Current Issues: HDZ-related news
- HDZ ready to close down the party if International Community accepts
its platform;
- OHR blames HDZ for misleading posters in Herzegovina;
- Dragan Covic: Nothing should stand between Croats in BiH and their
fellow countrymen in Croatia;
- Federation
- Mostar mayor Safet Orucevic decides to resign;
- Bocinje Mujahedeens to move to Sarajevo?;
- Republika Srpska
- RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic says RS accepted as an important
factor in the region
- Decision on Special relations to be Reached Independently;
- International community:
- OHR, OSCE, CRPC UNHCR: Implementation of property laws slows down;
- Wolfgang Petritsch concerned about the dismissal of several media
boards of governors by the RS Government;
- Georges Bordot appointed new Head of OHR Banja Luka;
- Editorials:
- Jutarnji List: Crisis in BiH - HDZ will announce its decision to
close down after the Kordic verdict;
- Vecernji List: Who will represent Croats in BiH?;
- Republika: Instead of the third entity, HDZ wants Inter-Cantonal
Council;
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Central Institutions related Issues:
Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency sent the case of the RS Labor Law
before the Constitutional Court:
The Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Halid Genjac, initiated a case
before the BiH Constitutional Court claiming that the Article 152 of the
RS Labor Law is discriminating against the non-Serb workers. Genjac asked
the Court to annul this article, which is, as he said, contrary to the BiH
Constitution, and which justifies the ethnic cleansing by not allowing the
illegally dismissed workers to return to their jobs, and instead offers a
humiliating severance pay.
BiH Parliament's House of Representatives to discuss the nomination for
the Chair of the Council of Ministers on Thursday:
The Chairman of the BiH Parliament's House of Representatives, Sead Avdic,
confirmed that the next session of this body is scheduled for this
Thursday (February 22), when deputies will discuss the nomination of
Bozidar Matic for the Chair of the Council of Ministers. Avdic said that
this decision was not made by the Collegium, but by himself alone and in
accordance with the OHR's reading of the parliamentary rules and
regulations.
RS representatives asked the Dobrinja Arbiter to stop the arbitration
process:
During yesterday's meeting with the arbiter for Dobrinja I and IV, Judge
Diarmuid Sheridan, representatives of the RS refused to express their
views saying that they are not quite clear as to the process of
arbitration. Radomir Lukic and Stevan Savic asked the Judge Sheridan to
stop the arbitration process and postpone the discussion between the sides
until Monday.
Zubak and Kljujic to leave the Alliance?:
Kresimir Zubak and Stjepan Kljuic, the leaders of the NHI and the
Republican Party, might leave the Alliance for Changes because they are
dissatisfied with the distribution of the posts in the executive
authorities! This information leaked from the circles close to the
Alliance, and Zubak himself confirmed it in an interview for Dnevni Avaz.
Zubak said that, while they were forming the Alliance, it was agreed that
Croats must be represented in the executive authorities with the same
number of mandates as they have now. Croat mandates should be allocated in
the way that the SDP gets a half of them, and the other 50% would be
shared among the parties of the informal "Croat block" within the
Alliance, i.e. NHI, HSS and the Republicans. In case the agreement fails
to be complied with, Zubak left open the possibility of stepping out of
the Alliance for Changes. Stjepan Kljujic is allegedly not satisfied with
the fact that his Republicans, i.e. Kljuic himself is not in the
combination for getting the desired position of Federation President.
Current issues: HDZ-related news
HDZ ready to close down the party if International Community accepts its
platform:
According to Federation dailies, the leader of the HDZ, Ante Jelavic, is
ready to close down its party if the International Community accepts the
platform presently being drafted by the Croat National Assembly. The
document, which is being prepared in secrecy by Niko Lozancic and Bozo
Ljubic, will include five provisions related to the status and the future
of Croat people in BiH. Today's Oslobodjenje carries the article published
on Monday in Zagrebs' Vecernji List, and which provides more details about
the controversial document.
OHR blames HDZ for misleading posters in Herzegovina:
OHR Mostar Spokesperson, Avis Benes, said that the HDZ is responsible for
the posters portraying parties within the Croat National Assembly as
having support of nearly one hundred percent of the Croat voting body.
Numerous posters with misleading content showed up across Herzegovina over
the weekend. Benes marked this as one more attempt of the HDZ to portray
itself and its satellite parties as having an exclusive right to represent
Croat people in BiH.
Dragan Covic: Nothing should stand between Croats in BiH and their fellow
countrymen in Croatia:
At a public forum about status and future of Croat people in BiH, Dragan
Covic of the HDZ said that the International Community joined the forces
which try to make a civic BiH with two dominant peoples - Serbs and
Bosniaks, while the recent events in Croatia just contributed to this.
Regardless of the attitude of the present authorities in Croatia, Covic
said that nothing should stand in the way between BiH Croats and their
fellow countrymen in Croatia. "For, government is temporary, while the
people are eternal," concluded Covic.
Federation
Mostar mayor Safet Orucevic decides to resign:
All Federation media reported that the mayor of Mostar, Safet Orucevic,
decided to resign from his post and all other political functions after
seven years of struggle for a more unified city. Orucevic explained that
Mostar should not be regarded as the personification of two strong
politicians, him and Neven Tomic, but rather as an already unified city
with normal city administration. Asked if he feels that, by resigning, he
left his colleague Tomic in a difficult position, Orucevic said that he
believes that Tomic could easily finish the job in Mostar. "I did not make
this move without consulting with Tomic. With my resignation, I simply
left enough room for him to finish the process of unification of Mostar,"
said Orucevic. For the full text see the Orucevic's press statement
Bocinje Mujahedeens to move to Sarajevo?:
According to Oslobodjenje, Mujahedeens from Bocinje and their leader Abu
Hamza were recommended to move to BiH capital and construct their homes in
the municipality Stari Grad near the inter-entity boundary line with the
RS. Stari Grad official, who wanted to remain unidentified, told the daily
that certain Bosniak circles in this municipality advocate this idea,
while the official city authorities adamantly oppose any possibility of
Mujahedeens moving to Sarajevo.
Republika Srpska
RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic says RS accepted as an important factor in
the region:
Speaking at a press conference upon his arrival from the United States,
the RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, said that one of the main messages
of his talks with US officials is that the RS has been accepted as one of
the important factors in the region. "There is a notion in the US position
that the RS is a stable entity whose institutions and program directions
are acceptable. Commenting on the foreign aid to the RS, Ivanic said that
if the RS Budget could receive $20 million of immediate support from the
World Bank if it initiates a number of necessary reforms.
Decision on Special relations to be Reached Independently:
The RS President, Mirko Sarovic, said that the RS itself will decide on
the agreement on special and parallel relations with the FRY, and sign
this documents as has been envisioned by the Dayton Peace Agreement,
despite the present opposition. "The RS wants this agreement which neither
questions nor jeopardize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of
BiH," Sarovic stressed. He added that the establishment of special and
parallel relations with the FRY reflects the interests of both the RS and
the FRY, while the BiH Presidency has also been informed about this
agreement on January 19th.
Commenting on the controversial agreement, SNSD (Party of Independent
Social Democrats) spokesperson, Rajko Vasic, said that this issue has been
unnecessarily complicated. Vasic said that it is important that both the
RS National Assembly and the government itself are involved in the
discussion on this matter. The Vice president of the SNS (Serb National
Allaince), Svetozar Mihajlovic, said that the RS will never give up the
special and parallel relations with the FRY. "We just want to do the same
thing the Federation did (with Croatia)," stressed Mihajlovoc.
International community related issues:
OHR, OSCE, CRPC UNHCR: Implementation of property laws slows down:
All Federation media reported on yesterday's press conference held by the
heads of the OHR, the OSCE, the CRPC, and UNHCR about the process of
implementation of property laws in both entities in BiH. The High
Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, said that, despite some progress, the
entire process is entirely too slow, and that the gap between the
Federation and the RS in this respect is unacceptable. He said that he
expects the new authorities to take full control over and responsibility
for the implementation of property laws, while he will not hesitate to
take robust actions against those who engage in the obstruction.
Wolfgang Petritsch concerned about the dismissal of several media boards
of governors by the RS Government:
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, told SRNA news agency that he
is concerned about the decision of the RS Government to dismiss the Board
of Governors of several media companies. "This is not what I expect from a
government which purports to be a government of experts. It is not good
that the state interferes in media in such a way...we will contact the RS
Government and raise this issue," said Petritsch. The SRNA article is
carried by both Glas Srpski and Nezavisne Novine.
Georges Bordot appointed new Head of OHR Banja Luka:
Federation media report that the Banja Luka OHR welcomed its new head -
Georges Bordot. Bordot has an impressive experienced in the peace missions
around the world.
Editorials
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Jutarnji List: Crisis in BiH - HDZ will announce its decision to close
down after the Kordic verdict:
It is expected that the Hague verdict to Kordic will additionally
radicalise the atmosphere in Herzegovina and central Bosnia and prepare
the grounds in that way for the drastic decisions of the Assembly, which
have been announced. The unofficial information that the Assembly will
decide to disunite from the B&H Federation, form a special authority in
the Croat-majority areas and organise a new referendum has been heard for
days. One can not get the official confirmation of those information,
however, unofficially, all the options are open. According to Vecernji
List, the leadership of the HDZ agreed almost completely that the Party
should decide to close itself down if they get the guarantees on a
permanent and full equality of the Croat people. It would require for the
new constitution to be passed and the state to be re-organised according
to 'more than two entities' principle, with the key institutions on the
principle of parity, rotation and consensus. It means that the HDZ will
close itself down unless its requirements are fulfilled. However,
according to another variant, carried by the weekly Danas from Ljubuski,
the HDZ will provoke the international community to apply the radical
measures, which have been hanging in the air still from the founding of
the Croat People's Assembly and the referendum on the elections' day in
November. The HDZ itself will call for the disuniting and establishing of
a single authority in the Croat-majority areas. The HDZ expects that the
international community will, then, abolish the Party and remove Jelavic.
The Croat People's Assembly would then proclaim its authority at the
Croat-majority areas, with the incalculable consequences for the time
being.
Vecernji List: Who will represent Croats in BiH?
By Zoran Kresic
Posters with the message from the Croat People's Assembly member parties,
calling for equality of Croats, have appeared in almost all of the places
where Croats make up the majority. The posters show a graph of the
proportion of powers between those parties and the two minor Croat member
parties of the Alliance for Changes. "Same rights for all peoples, future
of B&H," this is the message on the posters that are pasted all over the
Herzegovinian capital.
The graph indirectly marks Zubak's NHI and Simic's HSS as "the green" and
the HKDU, HSP, HCSP, Croat Christian Democrats, HDZ B&H, HKDP and RZB are
presented as absolute Croat representatives that won over 90% of votes at
the elections.
It is directly suggested to Croats that the Croat parties in the Alliance
that won a minor number of Croat votes, according to the announcements,
will be granted ministerial seats in the state and the parliament and
that, by some logic, they will represent the Croats in B&H who did not
give them confidence for such a mandate.
While the President of the Federal House of Peoples, Niko Lozancic, said
that he would rather violate the OSCE Rules and Regulations than the
Constitution, in which the convening of the House of Peoples is defined,
his Bosniac colleague Alija Behmen, following the instructions from the
OSCE and the OHR, convened the inaugural session of the HoP for Friday, 23
February. The OSCE and the OHR claim that the House of Peoples should be
formed regardless of the fact that not all of the ethnic representatives
have been elected from six to ten cantons.
One Croat from Una-Sana Canton will be sitting in that institution. That
Croat is Ibrahim Mujic!? Still, that is not all. In order to present their
multi-ethnic character in the best way, the Alliance elected Ibrahim as
the representative of other peoples, in addition to one Bosniac
representative. Niko Lozancic said that as many as 8 Bosniac
representatives were elected as members of other peoples, which was
allowed by the new rule of Robert Barry. In Lozancic's opinion, this is
absolutely contrary to the purpose of the House of Peoples.
The same is the case of Senka Nozica, the Croat representative in
Petritsch's newly established Constitutional Commission for the Federal
HoR, which is in charge of preparing the changes to the Constitution in
accordance with the Constitutional Court Decision on the constituency of
peoples. Namely, in another institution, i. e. Barry's PEC, as one can see
on the official web pages of the OSCE, Ms. Nozica, who even ran for the
position of Croat Member of the B&H Presidency in 1998, presents herself
not as a Croat, but a representative of other peoples.
Republika: Instead of the third entity, HDZ wants Inter-Cantonal Council:
By A. Mrkonjic
The designate for the B&H CoM, Bozidar Matic, had talks in Banja Luka on
Monday with the leaders of the political parties gathered in the Alliance,
which, he believes, will support him during the voting in the B&H HoR.
Details from those talks have not been made public, and Matic only stated
that those were ordinary consultations, although it is known that some of
his interlocutors will be ministers in the Council of Ministers.
HDZ officials who are currently in power keep waiting to be called to
leave from work in Sarajevo and return to Mostar, where the preparations
are in progress for the Croat People's Assembly, which is supposed to take
a decision on the establishment of Inter-Cantonal Council. This, at least
in rhetoric terms, is a much milder option than the announcement of
establishing a third entity. Sources close to the HDZ leadership have
revealed that Jelavic and his associates are not so afraid of the IC as
they are of the resistance from the HDZ membership and officials in
Central Bosnia and Posavina who have never been told about the borders of
that entity. Allegedly, they have openly expressed dissatisfaction and
announced to leave the HDZ.
So far, the Inter-Cantonal Council has been functioning and disposing with
considerable funds mostly from the budgets of B&H and the Republic of
Croatia, without any significant tax collection. There has been no inflow
of Kunas from Croatia recently, and if they abandon the Federation system,
there will be certain problems with the funding of the expensive and huge
administrative apparatus, members of which have got used to a comfortable
living.
The HDZ counts that Inter-Cantonal Council will be made up of the WHC, HBC
and Posavina Canton, even though the HDZ does not have much too striking a
majority in the latter. Problems will arise with the CBC and HNC in which
the representatives of the peoples have the right to veto and must have
unique accounts, which is already the case in Travnik. The finances, for
the time being, are separated in the HNC and everything will be done to
keep it that way, but one must count on the resistance from Bosniacs who
will, most certainly, ask the IC for assistance. A decision on what will
be happening in the future, will be made very soon at the session of the
Croat People's Assembly.
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