- BH-Central Institutions
* BiH Council of Ministers to hold a session on Monday;
* Money laundering to become a criminal offense;
- Federation
* Serb returnees to Sarajevo neighborhood of Vraca hold peaceful
demonstrations;
* HDZ official says re-organization of BiH possible but with support
of the International Community;
- Republika Srpska
* RS Government dismisses Steering Boards of SRNA, Glas Srpski, and
Serb Oslobodjenje;
* RS Government removes the General-Manager of RS Elektroprovreda;
* RS Prime Minister to visit Belgrade on Monday;
* RS bans import of beef;
* Milorad Dodik says the Alliance is proof that authority in BiH could
b formed without nationalist parties;
- International community:
* The High Representative removes Edhem Bicakcic from the post of
Elektroprireda's General-Manager; Bicakcic and the SDA reject all
allegations of corruption;
* International NGO lunches anti-corruption activities in BiH;
* OHR welcomes the formation of the Federation House of Peoples;
* ICTY rules on two high ranking Croats today;
- Editorials:
* Jutarnji List: Croatia is no longer paying one million DM for the
HVO;
* Vjesnik: (Un)reliable key for the state authority in BiH;
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Central Institutions related Issues:
BiH Council of Ministers to hold a session on Monday:
Only three days after his nomination was approved, the Chairman of the BiH
Council of Ministers, Bozidar Matic, called for a session of this body to
be held on Monday (today). The invitations were sent to the present
Ministers and their deputies as well as to the former members of the
Council.
Money laundering to become a criminal offense:
According to Jutarnje Novine, money laundering could become a criminal
offense in the BiH legal system. The daily claims that international
experts and legal practitioners in BiH are preparing the amendments to
entity criminal laws and are even considering including the money
laundering into the state criminal law. OHR Spokesman, Oleg Milisic said
that the laundering should be included in the entity criminal laws in
order to effectively fight the corruption and enable the country to meet
European and world standards in this sphere
Federation
Serb returnees to Sarajevo neighborhood of Vraca hold peaceful
demonstrations:
The peaceful demonstration of Serb returnees to a Sarajevo neighborhood of
Vraca, near the inter-entity boundary line with the RS, caught a
tremendous attention of Sarajevo media. The gathered citizens criticized
the slow implementation of property laws in Sarajevo canton and condemned
the recent arson of three Serb houses in this neighborhood. According to
Avaz, some 400 returnees were to be present at the demonstrations, however
only thirty turned up.
HDZ official says re-organization of BiH possible but with support of the
International Community:
Speaking at a forum about the status of Croats in BiH, Bozo Ljubic of the
HDZ said that all conditions for the reorganization of BiH have been met.
He stressed that the best solution for the country is canonization and
political structure of bicameral parliament. Ljubic said that another
option is a BiH without entities or with more then two multiethnic
entities. He concluded that Croats should try to win the sympathies of the
International Community, since no changes within BiH could transpire
without its involvement.
Republika Srpska
RS Government dismisses Steering Boards of SRNA, Glas Srpski, and Serb
Oslobodjenje:
According to RS media, the RS Government dismissed the steering boards of
SRNA news agency, Glas Srpski, and Serb Oslobodjenje, because it was
dissatisfied with their work and activities. The deputy RS Prime Minister,
Petar Kunic, told the press that the government could not find any written
documents which would suggest that members of the respective steering
boards were actually appointed. "Thus, we need to appoint the new ones,"
Kunic said and dismissed the criticism coming from the OHR. "I believe
that the High Representative has not been well informed about this issue,
and I am confident that he will understand once we explain it," Kunic
stressed.
RS Government removes the General-Manager of RS Elektroprovreda:
Weekend editions of both Banja Luka dailies reported that the RS
Government removed Marko Asanin from the post of the RS Elektroprivreda
and and appointed Svetozar Acimovic on his place. The government also
removed Nedeljko Cubrilovic (general manager of the "RS Roads
Management"), Marinko Miljanovic (general manager of the "RS Railway") and
Branko Miladinovic (general manager of the "RS Telecommunications) and
appointed Nemanja Vasic, Milan Ninkovic and Zeljko Jungic to these three
posts respectively.
Commenting on this, Nezavisne Novine provides more details on the
background of Milan Ninkovic and Nemanja Vasic (newly appointed general
managers of the RS railway and the RS Roads Management. NN carries en
excerpt from the ICG report - Who are the people in your neighborhood ?
-which reads that the Human Rights Watch report identified Milan Ninkovic
as "one of the five principal organisers of ethnic cleansing in the Doboj
area. Ninkovic served as President of the SDS for Doboj and President of
the municipal council of Doboj during the war. In 1996, he retained these
positions and also served as the Republika Srpska Minister of Defence.
According to the report, in early 1993, Ninkovic announced on the Radio
Doboj that all Bosniaks should be killed and that the city should remain a
Serb city". He served on the Doboj municipal assembly until removed by the
OSCE in May 2000.
RS Prime Minister to visit Belgrade on Monday:
The RTRS reports that the RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, is to visit
Belgrade on Monday (today) for talks on the establishment of special and
parallel relations between the RS and the FRY. The office of the Prime
Minister announced that Ivanic is expected to meet the FRY Prime Minister,
Zoran Zizic, and his Serbian counterpart, Zoran Djindjic.
Commenting on the content of the agreement on the establishment of special
ties between the two, the Deputy RS President, Dragan Cavic, said it
foresees the establishment of several bodies which will be in charge of
the implementation of the agreement. He explained that these bodies will
be divided in four levels: political, operational, technical, and
parliamentarian.
RS bans import of beef:
The Republika Srpska banned pork imports on Friday following an outbreak
of foot and mouth disease in Britain and a recent discovery of illegal
drugs in the animals' feed, local
radio reported. The Agriculture Minister, Rajko Latinovic, said that the
RS ministry of agriculture banned imports of live animals, meat products
and pig feed. The RS last year banned beef imports from all countries
which had registered cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or
mad cow disease. Both of BiH entities -- the RS and the Federation are
considered to be BSE free.
Milorad Dodik says the Alliance is proof that authority in BiH could b
formed without nationalist parties:
In an interview with Vecernji List, the president of the SNSD, Mladen
Ivanic, said that the Alliance for Changes is not the "final solution"
(please note in Bosnian this term does not have the typical negative
connotation) for BiH, but is an attempt to build new relations, new BiH as
a functional state community which guarantees the existence of two
entities and three peoples. "The Alliance is only a proof that the
authority in BiH could be formed without the HDZ, the SDA, and the SDS,"
said Dodik.
International community related issues:
The High Representative removes Edhem Bicakcic from the post of
Elektroprireda's General-Manager; Bicakcic and the SDA reject all
allegations of corruption:
The decision of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, to remove
Edhem Bicakcic, the Vice President of the SDA and the former Prime
Minister of the BiH Federation, from the post of the General-Manager of
Elektroprivreda was the top story in the media over the weekend. According
to the OHR, Bicakcic was removed because of numerous instances of abuse of
his position, corruption, and illegal manipulation of state funds. In an
exclusive interview with Dnevni Avaz, Petritsch said that Bicakcic has
been a symbol of corruption and of one rotten system. "We need to rid
ourselves of symbols as well as of the very system of corruption,"
Petritsch said, and added that this removal should be a seen as a very
serious message to the BiH Federation authorities that such behavior will
not be tolerated.
Commenting on his removal, Bicakcic stressed that the decision of the High
Representative is illegal, for he does not have a power to interfere in
the sphere of economy. "I expected Petritsch's Alliance, which he tries to
install on power by all legal and illegal means, to remove me...but I did
not expect that such labeling would be used by a representative of
countries with developed democratic system," said Bicakcic in his
statement for the press, and asked individual citizens to evaluate the
possible motives behind the High Representative's decision.
The SDA also issued a press release on Saturday in which it said that it
could not, at this time, comment all the allegations but stressed that it
is certain that Bicakcic did not have any personal benefits from decisions
he made. The SDA also said that Bicakcic's actions have been a result of
the existence of parallel systems, "which have been tolerated by the
International Community for years," and stressed that this decision of the
HR could be seen as one more injustice done to the party "which has been
most consistently implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement." Neither
Bicakcic nor the SDA commented on particular allegations presented by the
OHR.
International NGO lunches anti-corruption activities in BiH:
An international anti-corruption organization opened an office in Banja
Luka on Friday to help fight graft, one of the major problems that
post-war Bosnia has to deal with. "There is a tremendous amount of work
still to be done to rebuild Bosnia-Herzegovina. A precondition for success
is a high degree of public accountability and transparency," the head of
Transparency International in Bosnia, Peter Elgen, said.
Berlin-based Transparency International will focus its activities in
Bosnia on fiscal management, monitoring the newly elected administration's
progress in combating crime and conducting surveys on corruption. A group
of international experts hired by the Bosnian government reported last
year that the level of corruption in the country was serious, and required
concerted action. It also warned the level of corruption might further
inhibit Bosnia's integration into European structures. Transparency
International is a non-governmental organization present in more than 75
countries with a mission to increase government accountability and curb
both international and national corruption.
OHR welcomes the formation of the Federation House of Peoples:
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, welcomed the formation of the
Federation House of Peoples and the nomination of Federation delegates to
the BiH House of Peoples. All Federation media carried OHR's press
release.
ICTY rules on two high ranking Croats Monday:
The international war crimes tribunal (ICTY) handed down its verdict today
on two highest Croat official indicted of committing war crimes. Dario
Kordic has been sentenced to 25, and Mario Cerkez to 15 years of
imprisonment. Kordic, 40, and another Bosnian Croat Mario Cerkez, 41, are
accused of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" during much of the 1991-1995
Balkans wars, particularly in the central Bosnian Lasva Valley in 1993.
Prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) have demanded that the two men, who gave themselves up on October
6, 1997, be sentenced to life imprisonment. Born in Sarajevo, Kordic is
the most important political leader currently
detained by The Hague-based tribunal. He was a high-ranking member of the
Bosnian Croat political and military establishment and became
vice-president of the self-declared Croat state within Bosnia-Herzegovina,
which was never officially recognized. By virtue of his position, Kordic
knew of and actively participated in the planning of systematic attacks on
Bosnian Muslims, ICTY prosecutors allege. He is therefore indicted for
individual criminal responsibility but also command responsibility, crimes
which carry a much heavier sentence. He is accused of ordering attacks on
Bosnian villages and territory to try to bring them under Croat control.
To achieve that goal, the prosecutors say, Kordic "planned, initiated and
executed a political-military campaign to
ethnically cleanse them of the Bosnian Muslim population." Cerkez became a
commander of the Croatian militia (HVO) brigade in Vitez, central Bosnia,
in 1992 and also bears individual and criminal responsibility for vicious
attacks on Bosnian Moslems in the region.
The charges against Kordic, including crimes against humanity, violations
of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva convention,
were increased from 13 counts to 22 and those against Cerkez from 10 to
22.Both men pleaded not guilty in December and their lawyers said they
should be acquitted because the prosecution did not prove they were
responsible for persecuting Bosnian Muslims. The defense argued that
the pair led "a desperate defensive battle for the survival of the Croat
community in central Bosnia." Their trial, which began on April 12, 1999,
is one of the longest in the court's history with 240 days of hearings and
500,000 pages of documents.
Editorials
Jutarnji List: Croatia is no longer paying one million DM for the HVO:
Croatia stopped its payment to the Croat component of the B&H Federation
Army, which was, by the decision of the Croatian Parliament, expected to
amount for 50 million Kunas in 2001. During the talks with the USA
Ambassador to Croatia, Lawrence Rossin, President Stipe Mesic emphasised
that Croatia is not financing in any way the military forces of the Croat
component in B&H. It has not been announced officially so far that the
Government, contrary to the decision of the Parliament and state budget,
would terminate its assistance to the HVO. The amount of nearly 1 million
DM, should have been paid by each 15th day of a month according to the
Agreement signed by the Ministry for Finances of the Republic of Croatia
and the Ministry of Defence of the B&H Federation. Miroslav Prce, the
Minister of Defence of the B&H Federation, confirmed to us the information
on termination of the payments. " We have still been waiting for their
reply. Unfortunately, we will have to reduce the salaries because of that,
since the entire amount was meant to be given for the payment of salaries,
" Minister Prce said. He says he does not know why the payment was
terminated and refuses to speculate about possible pressures to the
Croatian Government. We could not manage to get the official confirmation
that the payment was stopped at the request of the international
community. The agreed payment of 4 million Kunas for February was stopped
after the meeting of Premier Ivica Racan with the High Representative of
the international community for B&H, Wolfgang Petritsch. Also, the
President Mesic met on Monday with Michael Dodson, the SFOR commander. As
it was said, they were talking about further integration of all three
armies in B&H. The international community in B&H tries to complete the
process of forming of the authority at the state and federal level without
the HDZ B&H, so the request that the payments from Croatia should be
stopped would be one of the pressures to the HDZ B&H. It is quite
uncertain in what way the parties of the Alliance for Changes will take up
the control over the Army, especially over the HVO. Even in the
composition of the new Federal Government, the position of the Defense
Minister should be allocated to the Croats. Mijo Anic, from Zubak's NHI,
is often mentioned as the new Minister. During the war Anic was leading
the HVO defense near Brcko.
Vjesnik: (Un)reliable key for the state authority in BiH:
Last week two important steps were made in the implementation of the
results of the parliamentary elections. First, the House of
Representatives of the B&H Parliament gave their votes of confidence to
the newly-composed Council of Ministers, led by the Academician Bozidar
Matic. Then the inaugural session of the House of Peoples of the Federal
Parliament was held on Friday. The international representatives in B&H
expressed their satisfaction with the job that has been made: the Head of
the OSCE Mission to B&H stated that he was encouraged with the programme
presented by the Chairman of the CoM, Bozidar Matic. Also, the High
Representative Wolfgang Petritsch expressed his satisfaction after the job
was done, since, as it was announced from his Office, it was high time,
three months after the elections, for the state government to be
established. Petritsch also welcomed the formation of the Federal House of
Peoples and the appointment of the delegates of the Federation to the
House of Peoples of B&H, "the only institution of authority, which has not
been formed after the November elections." That very important job was
done in the political ambient which should not follow such events and in
the way which is not fully in line with the valid constitutional
provisions. It is illogical that the Council of Ministers, which has the
role of the state government, is formed before the House of Peoples of the
State Parliament is formed, in other words before the inauguration of the
B&H Parliament was made. The HDZ B&H, the Party that indisputably received
a huge majority of votes of the members of one of the three constituent
nations, participated neither in the election of the Council of Ministers
nor in the forming of the Federal House of Peoples. According to the rules
of the OSCE, the delegates of the House of Peoples are not elected by the
delegates of their respective peoples, but by the all delegates, which
means, due to the fact that the Croats are majority in only three out of
ten Federal cantons, that even in seven cantons the Croats can not decide
about the Croat delegates in the House of Peoples. However, the House of
Peoples is the institution within which the issues of special national
interest should be discussed. It should guarantee in the multinational
community, such as B&H, that no decision will be made in the Parliament
which would be contrary to the fundamental interests of one of the
constituent peoples, however, the question is also if it is able to
fulfill that task.
Zdravko Tomac, who participated at the session of the Standing Committee
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, stated on Friday that OSCE
should re-examine its policy toward B&H. Tomac warned again that the
rights of the Croat people were violated, since 'the Croat people are
prevented from electing their representatives to the House of Peoples by
the election rules made by the OSCE'. The Mission of the OSCE to B&H and
other international institutions have been turning a deaf ear to that
request maybe also for that fact that it was only Dr. Tomac who has been
insisting on it. Or, maybe, they cannot come up with a more subtle way of
removing of the HDZ's influence to the political developments in B&H. If
it is just about that, in other words, if their intention is to remove the
HDZ and not to take away the position of the constituent people from the
B&H Croats, they should have used other measures, which will not diminish
the rights of the Croat people in B&H. This way, they contradict
themselves every day. While 'expressing his regret' that the HDZ B&H keeps
refusing to participate in the work of the Federal House of Peoples,
Wolfgang Petritsch stated last week that the Party ' is turning a deaf ear
to the constitutions of the cantons, entities and state'. However, it is
just the HDZ that asks for the Constitution to be respected, that is to
say for the rules, which are not in accordance with the Constitution, to
be annulled.
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