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- BiH Central Institutional-related Issues
- BiH State holiday today?;
- Minister of Defense urges BiH Presidency to complete the draft on
common defense policy;
- SDP criticises OSCE draft election law;
- HDZ-related Issues
- Ante Jelavic leaves the Federation to Bosniaks;
- Ante Jelavic sends letters of support to sentences Croat war
criminals;
- New Federation President to try to bring the HDZ back into
Federation institutions;
- HDZ party slams international community, refuses to cooperate;
- Federation
- Federation House of Peoples confirms Karlo Filipovic and Safet
Halilovic as President and Vice President of the Federation;
- SDA disappointed with Petritsch's visit to Belgrade;
- Republika Srpska
- RS Prime Minister says Ninkovic appointed by the SDS;
- Agreement between the RS and the FRY;
- International community:
- OHR investigates also the former Deputy Prime Minister Dragan Covic:
- Editorials:
- Vjesnik: Petritsch will remove Jelavic and ban the work of the HDZ
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BiH Central Institutions-related Issues:
BiH State holiday today?;
Officially, today is the BiH state holiday, the independence day, however
authorities in the RS say that in this entity the day will not be
celebrated as such. Moreover, the economy and government in this entity
will function normally and without an interruption "Despite the talks on
the BiH level, March 1st as the state holiday remains disputed and RS
representatives will not observe it," Svetozar Mihajlovic, the BiH
Minister of Social Affairs told Srna news agency, and added that until the
law on public holidays is passed, RS representatives will not feel
obligated to celebrate certain state holidays.
Minister of Defense urges BiH Presidency to complete the draft on common
defense policy:
The BiH Minister of Defense, Miroslav Prce, told Oslobodjenje yesterday
that he hopes that the BiH Presidency will agree on all controversial
issues and complete the draft on the common defense policy in the near
future. "Our view is that we need to have a common defense policy and we
discussed our problems with military attaches which were present at the
session," Prce said following his meeting with military envoys held
yesterday in Sarajevo.
SDP criticises OSCE draft election law
The SDP said on Wednesday that the draft election law of the OSCE working
group was unacceptable since it did not meet the minimum of principles of
equality of citizens and it included elements of segregation, the deputy
chairman of the SDP main board, Sejfudin Tokic, said. Speaking at a news
briefing, Tokic said that the SDP would suggest the BiH Parliament House
of Representatives to discuss this draft after the harmonisation of the
entities' constitutions with the BiH Constitution, meaning the decision of
the BiH Constitutional Court on constituent status of all peoples in BiH.
In an explanation of this view, Tokic said that segregation was shown in
the fact that not all Bosnia-Herzegovina citizens could be equally
nominated or elected to the post of BiH Presidency member, or to BiH
Parliament's House of Peoples. "The voters are not able to influence the
election of all three members of the Presidency, and thus the fate of BiH
citizens depends on the functioning of the Presidency as a body, and not
on individuals in the Presidency," Tokic said.
HDZ-related Issues
Ante Jelavic leaves the Federation to Bosniaks:
Speaking at a support rally for two sentences Croat war criminals in
Busovaca, the Croat member of the Presidency and the leader of the HDZ,
Ante Jelavic, proclaimed, once again, that the Federation is dead and
could be regarded as a solely Bosniak entity. "Today, there are more then
70 percent of Bosniaks living in the Federation. Mr. Izetbegovic, is the
Federation Bosniak entity? I am giving it to you and I say that from
today on, the Federation is a Bosniak national entity, but without
Croats," said Jelavic before a cheering crowd of people. He also
reiterated that Croats do not recognize the present authority as
legitimate and therefore will not participate in it. Jelavic stressed that
the Croat National Assembly will make a historic decision during its
session scheduled for Saturday and called all Croats to take part in it.
Other speakers, including high HDZ officials and members of veterans
associations, were slightly more radical. Some blamed the present
authorities in the neighboring Croatia who "betrayed" their Bosnian
brothers, some warned the International Community that it would regret its
advocating of Islamization of BiH.
Commenting on yesterday's statement of Ante Jelavic, OHR spokesman, Chris
Bird, told Reuters that this is a usual extreme nonsense of the HDZ
leader. Asked if Jelavic will be penalized for his rhetoric, Bird said
that the High Representative never announces his decisions in advance, but
he reminded the news agency that he has quite broad powers, thus not
eliminating the possibility of Jelavic being removed from his posts.
Ante Jelavic sends letters of support to sentences Croat war criminals:
The Croat member of the BiH Presidency and the leader of the HDZ, Ante
Jelavic, sent an open letter of support to the sentenced Croat war
criminals, Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez, in which he claims that the
verdict of the ICTY was unfair. "According to The Hague, you and other
Croats in Lasva Valley are guilty only because you managed to defend
yourselves from the attacks of aggressors and remain put on your ancient
homeland," said Jelavic in the letter, and added that the verdict was used
to place the collective guilt upon the Croat people in BiH.
New Federation President to try to bring the HDZ back into Federation
institutions:
BiH Federation President Karlo Filipovic said on Wednesday that he would
do his utmost in order that deputies of the HDZ return to the federation
parliament. After the session of the Federation Parliament House of
Peoples at which Filipovic was elected the Federation President and Safet
Halilovic Vice-President, Filipovic said that he regretted that HDZ
deputies did not attend the session of the House of Representatives on
Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, they decided to obstruct the process of constitution of
authorities in certain cantons. I will personally do everything in order
that this process is completed in those municipalities too. I am open for
cooperation with the authorities in those cantons, since that is one of
the pre-conditions to successfully meet all our obligations that are ahead
of us," Filipovic said answering the question how would he cooperate with
the cantons where HDZ was in power.
HDZ party slams international community, refuses to cooperate:
The HDZ BiH condemned the threats and the preaching by the head of the EU
mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hans Joerg Kretschmer, who called the
actions of the HDZ BiH unconstitutional, announcing sharp measures by High
Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina Wolfgang Petritsch, in case the Croat
People's Assembly were to establish extra Croat institutions.
The HDZ BiH claims that election engineering by the international
community that went on for several years, decisions about constitutional
acts, one-sided changes to the Dayton agreement that harmed the Croat
people, denial of the election will, attempts to reduce the Croats to a
national minority, dismissals of Croat politicians, attempts to abolish
the Croat Defence Council [HVO], have led the Croat people into the
position of a second-rate nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and into the
situation where it wants to speak openly about all the issues at the Croat
People's Assembly.
In its press release, the HDZ BiH outlines that the election law is drawn
so that the Croat people in BiH will never again be able to transfer its
sovereignty to its representatives, because that will be done on their
behalf by other, more numerous peoples in BiH.
Federation
Federation House of Peoples confirms Karlo Filipovic and Safet Halilovic
as President and Vice President of the Federation:
The Federation Parliament's House of Peoples confirmed yesterday the
candidacy of Karlo Filipovic (SDP) and Safet Halilovic (Party for BiH) for
the President and the Vice President of the Federation respectively. Their
candidacy was confirmed by 43 votes in favor, 11 abstentions, while no
deputy voted against. Representatives of the HDZ failed to come to this
session as well.
SDA disappointed with Petritsch's visit to Belgrade:
The SDA believes that the representatives of all peoples, and not only of
the Serb people, should participate in the creation of the agreement on
the especial relations between the Serb Republic and Yugoslavia. "The RS
is the entity of three constitutive peoples, others and citizens, so the
representatives of all peoples, and not only of the Serb people, should be
included in the creation of this agreement. In the opposite, this would be
the agreement of Serbs from the two sides of the River Drina," SDA
spokesman Sefik Dzaferovic said on Wednesday. Dzaferovic said that the SDA
was shocked that High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch has discussed this
agreement with the heads of the RS and Yugoslavia in Belgrade without the
representatives of the BiH institutions.
Republika Srpska
RS Prime Minister says Ninkovic appointed by the SDS:
At yesterday's press conference, the RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic,
said that the SDS appointed the disputed Milan Ninkovic to the post of the
RS Railway General Manager and that the government could not find any
substantial arguments to reject this. "It is clear that MR. Ninkovic was
nominated by the SDS, and since we asked for any evidence or a record of
criminal activity and could not find it, we could not reject this
nomination," said Ivanic, and added that he will discuss this issue with
the OHR.
greement between the RS and the FRY:
According to "Tanjug" report the draft agreement on special parallel
relations between the FRY and the RS that will be signed in Bajaluka on
Tuesday, March 6, by the FRY President, Vojislav Kostunica, and the RS
President, Mirko Sarovic, and it foresees a cooperation within the field
of standardization and recognition of dual citizenship right.
According to "Srna" report, the FRY and the RS will cooperate within the
fields of economy, judiciary, privatization and de-nationalization of
education, culture and health service, the information on protection of
freedoms, the rights of citizens and stamping out the crime. The draft
agreement, harmonized by the leaderships of the FRY and the RS and the
High Representative to BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, says that the special
parallel relations between the RS and the FRY should be established on the
basis of respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity and political
independence of the BiH, and establishment of permanent peace and
stability in this part of Europe.
International community related issues:
OHR investigates also the former Deputy Prime Minister Dragan Covic:
A senior official of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), who
wanted to stay anonymous, told Onasa that the OHR was intensively
investigating Federation Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Dragan
Covic, on the counts of illegal use of the federation budget. According to
the official, Covic was directing government funds to the church
structures in Hercegovina and in central Bosnia, ensuring that priests, at
services held during the pre-election campaign for the November general
elections, urged the Croats to participate in the referendum of the Croat
People's Assembly (HNS) and to vote for the HDZ.
"The transactions were directed as donations for the reconstruction of
churches, but the OHR has not yet completed the investigation into the way
of the budget funds flow," the source said.
"The OHR has also informed Vatican on this case, and sent to it
information on the participation of some priests in the HDZ pre-election
rallies," the source added.
According to unofficial media reports, Covic was the main creator of a
parallel system in Herzegovina, and, as an anonymous Mostar HDZ official
told ONASA, he is currently "engaged in establishing a finance system that
would fund the functioning of authority in the part of Bosnia-Herzegovina
controlled by the HDZ, after a decision on separation from the Federation
expected to be made by the Croat People's Assembly on Saturday. OHR
Spokesman Christopher Bird told ONASA that the "OHR will not comment an
investigation that is under way." "Covic is under an investigation, but
that investigation is ongoing and the OHR thus has no comments" Bird said.
Editorial:
(Provided by the OHR Mostar)
Vjesnik: Petritsch will remove Jelavic and ban the work of the HDZ:
Wolfgang Petritsch, the International Community's High Representative in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, might ban the work of the HDZ BiH and remove Ante
Jelavic from the position of the member of the state Presidency if, as
announced, decisions on creating parallel legislative, executive and
judicial bodies of authority of the Croat people are made at the session
of the Croat People's Assembly due next Saturday in Mostar and if these
bodies form their own system of customs and tax collection that would
re-direct the current original revenues of the BiH Federation, which has
also been announced.
Yet, it is exactly this move that could lead the HDZ to the ban of its
work. The High Representative Petritsch has so far avoided such a radical
move, obviously taking into consideration the arguments that Jelavic's
removal and abolishing the party might, in the minds of the people, turn
the current HDZ leaders into heroes. But, such a possibility is now
already being mentioned in public. This week, this has, for instance, been
done by Hansjorg Kretschmer, the Head of the European Commission's Mission
to BiH. "We know that the Office of the High Representative is
deliberating on the HDZ ban, yet that will not make us waver", Ante
Jelavic claims saying his party does not want a conflict but a dialogue
with the IC. "But, we cannot give legitimacy to annulment of the political
will of a whole people", Jelavic adds.
On Thursday, he is to meet Kresimir Zubak, the leader of the NHI - the
biggest Croat party within the Alliance for Changes, face-to-face in the
most popular TV political talk-show and will try to win the public for his
positions. Jelavic has also offered "self-abolishment" of the HDZ but in
return for passing of such a Constitution and the Permanent Election Law
that would guarantee the constitutional rights of the Croat people.
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