BH-Central Institutions Alliance representatives (dis)agree on the leading post in both BiH and Federation institutions; BiH Parliament's House of Representatives to constitute the BiH Council of Ministers today; Niko Lozancic says the new House of Peoples will be para-constitutional institution; OHR and OSCE reject Lozancic's claims; NHI to boycott the constituting session of the Federation House of Peoples?; SFOR says HDZ game in BiH directed by Ivic Pasalic of the HDZ Croatia; Federation Mostar mayor rotation scheduled for today; Neven Tomic will not be the future BiH Ambassador to Belgrade; Republika Srpska Serbs protest against Bosnian returnees in Visegrad; International community: The High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch meets FRY's Vojislav Kostunica; Editorials: Slobodna Dalmacija: Dunja Blazevic on the Federation TV - No passaran! Central Institutions related Issues: Alliance representatives (dis)agree on the leading post in both BiH and Federation institutions: Information, presented by media yesterday, about the leading positions in both the Federation and BiH which are to be filled by Alliance candidates are highly contradictory. While the Habena news agency reports that representatives of the Alliance agreed on all the key positions, including the Ministry of Refugees which went to Kresimir Zubak of the NHI, other media claim that it is still not certain whether the NHI or the Republicans will participate in the Alliance at all. According to Oslobodjenje, Zubak and Stjepan Kljujic of the Republicans are seriously considering withdrawing from the coalition because they are highly dissatisfied with the distribution of positions to representatives of Croat parties. Speculations have it that the two could not accept that positions reserved for Croats would go the SDP (Croat) members and not to the parties with the Croat prefix. Dnevni Avaz, however, reports that the situation is not as dramatic and that Zubak and Kljujic will decide as whether they will accept the offered position early today. BiH Parliament's House of Representatives to constitute the BiH Council of Ministers today: At a session scheduled for today, the BiH Parliament's House of Representatives is to decide on the new Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Bozidar Matic, and the composition of the future Council. If Matic's candidacy is accepted and his proposal for ministerial positions taken, BiH could finally get its Council of Ministers. Niko Lozancic says the new House of Peoples will be para-constitutional institution: The Chairman of the Federation Parliament's House of Peoples, Niko Lozancic, told the press yesterday that the House of Peoples created without the majority of legal Croat representatives will be a para-constitutional institution. "The House of People should have 30 Croats, 30 Bosniaks and 6 representatives of others, however, thanks to the intervention of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, the new House will include 35 Bosniaks, 13 Croats, and 10 others," said Lozancic, and added that the constituting session, which was scheduled by his deputy, Alija Behmen, is contrary to the rules of the House. Commenting on the attitude of representatives of the International Community towards the House of Peoples, Lozancic said that certain high officials in the IC promised to him that he would remain the chairman if he calls for the formation of this body. "This shows how much they know about this House and how much importance they assign to it," said Lozancic, and added that the International Community has intention to abolish the House of Peoples in the Federation. Lozancic also said that HDZ deputies have not received an invitation for the constituting session, but even if they have, they would have refused to participate. Finally, he rejected the speculations in the press that the HDZ is planing to close down its party. "These allegations are unfounded - not a single body within the HDZ has discussed this possibility." OHR and OSCE reject Lozancic's claims: The OHR and OSCE spokespersons rejected the accusations of the current speaker of the Federal House of Peoples, Niko Lozancic, who claims that international community supports unconstitutional actions. The OHR spokesman, Partik Volf, said at today's press conference in Sarajevo that by such statements Lozancic and the HDZ were trying to divert the attention of the public away from the real problems. " The HDZ ignores its constitutional obligation to represent its voters in political bodies", Volf pointed out. He rejected Lozancic's assertions that the constituting session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Assembly was not convened in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House. "The procedure of convening the constituent session is in accordance with the FBiH Constitution", Volf said, and the OSCE spokesman, Luke Zahner, agreed with his opinion. "It is with regret to say that some cantons have not yet appointed their representatives for the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament. We remind Lozancic that the HDZ undertook obligation to comply with the Rules and Regulations of the Interim Election Commission. Parties cannot chose as to which rules to respect and which not", Zahner said. "Lozancic, as the speaker, refused to discharge his constitutional obligation to convene session of the House of Peoples and no play on words can change the fact", Zahner said, repeating the OSCE stand that constituting assembly of the House of Peoples must be held, as well as that open door is left for HDZ to enter the political body. NHI to boycott the constituting session of the Federation House of Peoples?: The NHI announced that they will not participate in the inaugural session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Federation, because only 14 out of 30 Croat Representatives have been elected. NHI's Ivo Lozancic (not to be confused with Niko Lozancic of the HDZ) said the party asked the OHR and OSCE to explain how the House of Peoples can function in such a situation. "If only 14 out of 30 Croat representatives have been elected, we need a clear explanation as to how many votes we need in order to reach a quorum and what kind of majority is necessary to pass decisions. The situation is not clear and we do not want to assume the responsibility for possible infringement of the constitutional rights of the Croat people, said Lozancic and added that the NHI would like concrete answers from the OHR and the OCES. The session of the House of Peoples was scheduled for Friday, and if the NHI does not receive the explanation in the written form by then, the four party representatives will not attend the session. SFOR says HDZ game in BiH directed by Ivic Pasalic of the HDZ Croatia: SFOR will "first protect the returnees and the local population and then protect themselves should they be attacked," stated SFOR MND SE Spokesperson Jorg Lehmann at the Wednesday press conference when asked to comment on Nezavisne Novine article which claimed the HDZ BiH is allegedly preparing an attack on SFOR in BiH. Referring to confidential sources, the Nezavisne Novine article reads that the chief author of all the tremors that have happened recently in the RC and BiH is former Tudjman's Advisor Ivic Pasalic. It is also said in the article that "the goal is to provoke riots in order to make space for the HDZ and its BiH counterpart to be able to act." "The action is conducted from the house of Milan Kovac, a representative in the Croatian parliament, and the chief operatives on the ground are Stanko Sopta Baja and former member of the Croat intelligence service Anto Bakovic. They are assigned with supervising Ante Jelavic, who does not have much influence on Ivic Pasalic's plans because he was characterized as an unstable person who tends to give in," read Nezavisne Novine. The article said that "it was decided a few days ago to go for a radical conflict with SFOR in order to make the overall situation in BiH extremely radical." The information about the action was, reportedly, presented to the Croatian State leadership, and some of the highest officials demanded the arrest of the organizers. The HDZ BiH announced a press conference for Thursday, and they are supposed to declare their official standpoint regarding the information that the party is preparing an attack on SFOR. Federation Mostar mayor rotation scheduled for today: According to Federation media, the regular rotation of leading positions in Mostar city administration is to take place today. As is envisaged, the present Deputy Mayor, Neven Tomic, will take over the mayoral function. Safet Orucevic will officially announce his resignation today, and propose a candidate for his successor. Media speculate that Orucevic will suggest Hamdija Jahic, the deputy head of Department of Urbanism in Mostar. Neven Tomic will not be the future BiH Ambassador to Belgrade: Before the official decision on Safet Orucevic's retiring from the Office of the Mayor was made at the session of the City Council of Mostar, the first side attack at the new Mayor Neven Tomic came from the East-Mostar sources, reports Zagreb's Vjesnik. Tomic's Office marked the allegation of the Sarajevo daily which first presented the claims that Tomic will be the future ambassador of BiH in the FRY as frivolous, to put it in mild terms. Miroslav Landeka, the Head of Tomic's Office, told Vjesnik that he was just preparing the invitations for the solemn session of the City Council of Mostar at which, according to the Constitution of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, verification of Neven Tomic as Mayor and Hamdija Jahic as Deputy Mayor, would be just a formality, after the leading persons of the Assembly of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton were elected. Tomic has a mandate for three more years as the (Deputy) Mayor. Every year a Croat and a Muslim rotate on the leading positions of the City of Mostar. A source of Vjesnik in the political circles of East Mostar claims that it was just Safet Orucevic who had his hands in the entire thing, which, basically, confirms what Vjesnik hinted yesterday - that the withdrawal of Orucevic is only a tactical move and not his fatigue of politics and real retirement. Republika Srpska Serbs protest against Bosnian returnees in Visegrad: Two Serb policemen were slightly injured Wednesday when a group of several hundred Bosnian Serbs demanding the arrest of a Bosniak returnee clashed with police in the Visegrad. The two officers were injured as the crowd was trying to break into the town hall after they had virtually surrounded Avdija Sabanovic and three other Bosniaks returnees and sough to prevent them from leaving the town hall building. According to the IPTF, the crowd has been demanding the arrest of Avdija Sabanovic, who was a pre-war SDA leader in Visegrad. The IPTF spokesman Douglas Coffman said Sabanovic has been moved to safety. Coffman did not say why the protestors were demanding Sabanovic's detention, but a Serb police official told the AFP that their demands stemmed from his activities at the outbreak of the war in BiH. The spokesman also said that "very aggressive" crowd had set to fire a car belonging to the Bosniak speaker of the Visegrad municipal assembly, Radzep Jelacic, who was also trapped in the building. Some 50 Serb police officers, including a special unit from Foca, were on the scene in Visegrad, and according to Sabanovic, who spoke in an interview with Dnevni Avaz, they were acting very fair and professionally. According to media reports, the crowd dispersed around 7 p.m. International community related issues: The High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch meets FRY's Vojislav Kostunica: All Federation and RS media reported (the meeting was, however, not a front page news) that the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, met yesterday with the FRY President, Vojislav Kostunica, and discussed several issues related to the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, including the establishment of the special and parallel relations between the FRY and the RS. All media carried the OHR press release. Editorials Slobodna Dalmacija: Dunja Blazevic on the Federation TV - No passaran! By Petar Milos When I read a short article about Dunja Blazevic in a Sarajevo newspaper, I experienced a triple surprise. First I was surprised at the fact that Ms. Dunja is a daughter of the late Jakov Blazevic, the State Prosecutor in the case against Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. The other thing that took me by surprise in the text is the fact that Dunja Blazevic has recently become a member of the Federal TV Council from the lines of Croats (along with another Croat - Slavko Kukic). No one knows who found Ms. Dunja and installed her to such a notable position as is that of being one of the seven members of the Council of the Federation TV to represent the Croat people, nor does anyone know how she was found. Naturally, Ms. Dunja should not be discredited a priori for her father's sins, she might be a good choice, a person that will be capable of representing the interest of her people, but the problem is that she was not elected by the people. The story I am going to tell evidently speaks of how Dunja Blazevic will be representing the interests of the Croat people on the Federal TV. Namely, the HRT offered the FTV in Sarajevo all the conveniences for opening a correspondent's office in Siroki Brijeg. At present time, it is the HTV correspondent's office, but the HTV managers in Zagreb are generous enough to give up the studio equipment, the offices and the journalists to the Federal TV. Who says that the HTV is in a financial crisis? Besides, the HTV is willing to present the FTV with around 50 educational and documentary broadcasts, while Denis Latin offered that his show, Latinica, be re-aired on the FTV for free. In return, the FTV was only supposed to give up the offices in Alipasino Polje, which would be turned into HTV correspondent's office. However, the proposal did not pass because Ms Dunja Blazevic put a veto on it. She explained it by saying that "the offer from Herzegovina should be carefully considered," and "the journalists thoroughly checked up" because they are "HDZ personnel." The Muslim representatives kept warning Dunja Blazevic, to no avail, that one cannot expect to get a better offer than that one and that the FTV cannot be established without Herzegovinian Croats. Dunja remained communist-like uncompromising. No passaran! That is what this Croat representative in the FTV Council said, and then she collected her daily allowance and probably left for Belgrade. Eventually, one gets the impression that the election of Dunja Blazevic to the FTV Council, as well as her behavior, is extremely humiliating for the Croat people in B&H. In fact, it is a severe case of provocation and the best way to turn the FTV into the media of one people alone. How can one, after all that has happened, expect the Herzegovinian Croats to accept the television as their own and pay subscription for it? And how exactly does Dunja Blazevic intend to solve the personnel problems in the future correspondent's office in Siroki Brijeg? I am absolutely convinced that there are no journalists in Herzegovina that would suit her. The case of Dunja Blazevic is yet another disgraceful act of the IC in their policy of discriminating the Croats in BiH. First they removed all those who raised their voice, and then they came up with the idea of looking for eligible Croats and installing them to positions by the national key. They did not find it difficult to take out of mothballs almost all of the Croats who proved themselves correct by persecuting their compatriots during the communist time. Communist pedigree is a very good reference for senior positions. Since BiH does not have a sufficient number of such people, they can be imported. That is how Dunja Blazevic, the person who never set foot in Herzegovina because she is sure that only Ustashas and slaughterers live there, found herself on the list of Petritsch and Barry's personnel. There are some rumors in the Federation that another eligible Croat - Denis Latin - will be imported, and he should take up the position of FTV Editor-in-chief. Since the current journalists from Herzegovina are politically ineligible for Dunja Blazevic, it means that the journalistic personnel could be imported (from Zagreb), and if possible, those should be persons who have never been to Herzegovina and who could only speak about Herzegovina and Herzegovinians from the studio in Sarajevo. That is because it is dangerous to go down there and, besides, one knows everything about them. Even Croatian President Mesic says he is not afraid of snap elections. Why should he be afraid when he has a secure position in case he loses elections in Croatia. The IC would immediately instate him to the position of Federation President.

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.

OHR BiH Media Round-up