BH-Central Institutions Halid Genjac asks for an urgent session of the House of Representatives which is to discuss the appointment of a new Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency; Wolfgang Petritsch meets Zivko Radisic - Jelavic and Genjac will be replaced simultaneously; Main Board of the SDA says international community wants to eliminate Bosniaks living in BiH; Expert Team on Religious Communities completes Draft Law on Religious Communities in BiH; Dobrinja refugees say returnees will lose their apartments if Dobrinja I and IV are given to the RS; RS Prime Minister says he supports the status quo in Dobrinja; Constitutional Commissions receive recommendations from the International Task Force on the constitutional reform; Round Table discussion on constituent status of people in BiH held in Banja Luka; Zvonko Miljko: Being a constitutional court judge in BiH is a punishment; HDZ-related news Secret meeting between the leaders of BiH and Croatia; Croatian Prime Minister says Croatia is against divided BiH; Croatia asking for a new Peace Implementation Council conference; Cardinal Vinko Puljic says Croats could work for equality through legally established institutions; Presidency of the HDZ says it does not recognize the decision of the High Representative; Federation Minister of Defense says there is no split in the Federation army; Federation Minister of Defense denies that a number of Croat officials have left the Federation Army and Police; Opinion poll shows Croats support decisions of the Croat National Assembly; Marko Tokic in an interview with Danas: We are the winners; Vecernji List says Croats disappearing in BiH; Circle 99 discusses OHR sanctions against the HDZ; Federation The Alliance agrees on the composition of the new government; Financial Police controls Unigradnja business transactions; Brcko District Oslobodjenje: Brcko Reservation; International community: OHR wants to see concrete progress in the Potocari memorial project; Vecernji List: Petritsch - person in the focus; Editorials: BiH -related Issues: Halid Genjac asks for an urgent session of the House of Representatives which is to discuss the appointment of a new Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency: In an open letter, the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Halid Genjac, asked the collegium of the BiH Parliament's House of Representatives to schedule an urgent session in order to discuss the appointment of a new Bosniak member to the Presidency. Genjac also asked Sead Avdic, the chairman of the House of Representatives, to call for a constituting session of the BiH House of Peoples, so as to ensure a more expedite resolution of this issue. Wolfgang Petritsch met with Zivko Radisic - Jelavic and Genjac will be replaced together: Weekend editions of both Banja Luka dailies quote the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, as saying that the filling of the vacant positions of the Croat and Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency will be carried out and resolved in a parallel manner. "It is well known that Halid Genjac, who replaced Alija Izetbegovic, is just an interim solution. The BiH Presidency comprising of two current members, Genjac and Radisic, is fully functional", says Petritsch. "Filling of these two positions have to be regulated by voting for candidates in the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. We have to work very fast and resolve this issue soon after the constituting of the House of Peoples. I hope that very soon we shall have a three-member Presidency", said Petritsch. Main Board of the SDA says the International Community wants to eliminate Bosniaks living in BiH: Speaking at a session of the Main Board of the SDA, the party president, Alija Izatbegovic, said that the International Community seeks to create a BiH without the Bosniak people. Izetbegovic stressed that the SDA does not believe in an "anational" concept of the state, a concept which is not viable in BiH. Other members of the Board warned that the Constitutional Commissions, which were established following the imposition by the High Representative, are inadequate replacement for the House of Peoples, in particular in the RS, where Bosniaks and Croats are still treated like national minorities. Expert Team on Religious Communities completes Draft Law on Religious Communities in BiH: A legal expert team created upon the initiative of the Inter-Religious Council completed last week the Draft Law on Legal Status of Religious Communities in BiH. According to Boris Koznjakov, a member of the team, the law is to regulate the legal status of religious communities and churches in reference to the state, and will offer new solutions pertaining to religious rights and freedoms. Koznjakovic also said that all four religious communities in BiH agreed that they would accept only the natural restitution of their property, and would reject any possibility of financial compensation. His colleague from the Islamic Community, Edah Becirevic, also said that anything but the natural restitution is unacceptable, since the state is not capable of paying an adequate compensation for confiscated property. Dobrinja refugees say returnees would lose their apartments if Dobrinja I and IV are given to the RS: The president of the Association of Dobrinja I and IV returnees "Nas Dom" said on Sunday that about 630 Sarajevo families could remain refugees in their own city if the Arbiter Judge Diarmuid Sheridan rules in favour of the RS in the case of the inter-entity boundary line in Sarajevo neighbourhoods Dobrinja I and IV. Fadil Suljic told Oslobodjenje that if the neighbourhoods were awarded to the RS only the resident who could pay cash for their apartments could actually become their genuine owners. "According to the RS Law, apartments could not be purchased with certificates. The proposals is that an apartment could be paid 50 percent in cash and the rest with the old currency savings. Who has the old currency savings at this time," asked Suljic, and added that the Arbiter is making a decision of extreme importance for Dobrinja residents. RS Prime Minister says he supports the present state of Dobrinja I and IV: In an interview with the Radio Free Europe, the RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, said that he believes that the factual state (status quo) of the inter-entity boundary line between Dobrinja I and IV is the only reasonable solution of this problem. "In the course of the past arbitration processes, the RS came out being hurt - certain parts of its territory have been taken away," Ivanic said, and explained that the status quo in Dobrinja is only natural and allows the neighborhood to function. He said, however, that the RS will fully meet its obligations with respect to property laws pertaining to non-Serbs residents. Ivanic stressed that any other solution of the IEBL in Dobrinja would be yet another case of the political abuse. Constitutional Commissions receive recommendations from the International Task Force on the constitutional reform: According to Oslobodjenje, the Constitutional Commissions of the BiH Federation Parliament and the RS National Assembly received recommendations for the constitutional reform in BiH from the International Task Force (ITF). The daily reports that the commissions were forwarded a document with concrete proposals and options for changes and amendments to the entity constitutions. An unidentified Oslobodjenje source said that one of the items in the document suggested the formation of the fourth caucus - of the Serb deputies- into the Federation House of Peoples and of the Constitutional Commission, which would protect the interests of all three constitutive peoples in the RS. The same source said that the International Task Force also offered several possible definitions of the term "the vital national interest". The mentioned document stipulated that the ITF is merely proposing different options to the constitutional commissions, which can offer alternatives on their own. Round Table Discussion on constituent status of peoples in BiH held in Banja Luka: The main conclusion of the 6th round-table called "The Implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court's ruling on the constituent status of all peoples in BiH" held in Banja Luka on Saturday is that this important ruling is final and binding and has to be implemented as soon as possible which practically means that amendments to the RS and the Federation Constitutions have to be defined. "The text of the amendments have to be the same in both Constitutions. One should bear in mind that both entities are entities of citizens, but at the same time are entities of Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks and Others. All peoples are equal in exercising the rights guaranteed by the Constitution", said Mirko Pejanovic, the President of the Serb Civic Council. During the round table, a working group has been formed, with intention to draft the summary of all relevant proposals and forward them to the entity parliaments and lawyers. The round table was organised by four NGOs from BiH: the Serb Civic Council, the Croat National Council, the Association of Independent Intellectuals "Circle 99" and the Bosniak Intellectuals Congress Council. Zvonko Miljko: Being a Constitutional Court Judge in BiH is a punishment: Speaking at the round table discussion in Mostar, Zvonko Miljko, a judge of the BiH Constitutional Court, said that being a CC judge in the country like BiH, where the High Representative has powers to impose laws, is like a punishment. Miljko also said that in the Court, all decisions are made by outvoting, where the international judges are always siding with Bosniaks on nearly all issues. This way, Croats and Serbs are always outvoted, explained Miljko. HDZ-related news (see also editorials) Secret meeting between the leaders of BiH and Croatia in Slavonski Brod: According to Dnevni Avaz, political leaders of BiH and the Republic of Croatia secretly met late Saturday night to discuss the present political situation in BiH. The daily say that the high level meeting was attended by the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, the Foreign Minister, Tonino Picula, the president of the HSLS (Croat Socialist Liberal Party), Drazen Budisa on one side, and the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Bozidar Matic, the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zlatko Lagumdzija, and the Federation President, Karlo Filipovic on the other. According to Avaz, the officials discussed the possible implication of the HR's decision to dismiss Jelavic and other senior HDZ officials, while the Croatian Delegation assured its BiH counterpart that it would support only legally established institutions of authority in this country. Croatian Prime Minister says Croatia is against divided BiH: The Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, told the Croatian Television - the HTV - on Sunday that Croatia is against the divided BiH. "BiH divided in such a way, based on the incorrectly interpreted Dayton, will further require the international protectorate, more funds and military forces of the International Community," Racan said, and added that the DPA does not improve the economic development of the country. He did not dismiss the possibility of Croatia offering a plan of cantonization in order to resolve the problem in BiH, and stressed that Croatia would prefer having normal relations with the state of BiH, rather then special and parallel ones with some of its parts, namely the Federation. Croatia asking for a new Peace Implementation Council Conference?: Zagreb's Vjesnik reports that the Croatian government will ask for a new conference of the Peace Implementation Council, in order to resolve the present political situation in BiH. The daily writes that the Croatian government will come forward with two proposals - the introduction of the House of Peoples in the RS, and the establishment of permanent rules for the elections of deputies for the Federation and BiH House of Peoples. Cardinal Vinko Puljic says Croats could work for equality through legally established institutions: "I think the only way to protect the equality is through the institutions in which the people will be able to express their identity and in co-operation with others and different ones. There are too many people who think that the stability of this country will be easier to achieve if we disappear or get pushed to the margins of the society, said Cardinal Puljic in an interview with Danas. He called all the "brave Croats and Catholics who have to face the policy of international power-wielders, which is not very inclined to us, as well as numerous intrigues of the domestic political leaders," to "swim against the current," and rely on God. Presidency of the HDZ says it does not recognize the decision of the High Representative to dismiss its senior officials: At a session held on Friday, the Presidency of the HDZ decided that it would not respect the decision of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, to dismiss Ante Jelavic and other three senior party officials and bar them from taking up any public functions. Following the meeting, Jelavic told the press that he does not want any further conflicts and will, therefore, withdraw from the BiH Presidency. He also dismissed statements of certain officials within the International Community who said that the HDZ does not represent the Croat people but personal interests of its individual members. Expressing his support for the conclusions passed at the Bishop Conference held in Sarajevo last week, Jelavic said that they are the best evidence that the recent events were not organized by the small groups of individual in the HDZ. "These conclusions are the best answer to Petritsch and others, they are a clear sign that all this is not about the HDZ or about a small group of people who are protecting their interests. This is about a general Croat consensus or about a consensus between the Catholic church and the Croat people on political Catholicism," said Jelavic, and added that he is responsible only to the Croat people and not to Petritsch. He also said that decisions of the Croat National Assembly will take effect despite the move of the High Representative, and that the Croat self-rule in BiH will be declared on March 19, 2001. The Presidency of the HDZ also decided to name Marko Tokic, one of the three removed HDZ officials, a civilian commander of the HVO (Croat component of the Federation army). Federation Minister of Defense says there is no split in the Federation Army: Commenting on the claims of Marko Tokic that the civilian command of the Croat component of the Federation army will, from today on, be in his hands, the Federation Minister of Defense, Miroslav Prce, said this is completely "out of question." Prce told Dnevni Avaz that he is coming to work on Tuesday and will be ready to confront anyone who thinks otherwise. He also said that everyone else in the Ministry will resume normal daily activities after Monday. Federation Defense Minister denies that a number of Croat military officials are leaving the Federation Army: Commenting the recent statement of the Federation Minister of Interior, Mehmed Zilic, that a number of Croat officials are leaving their post in the Federation Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense in Sarajevo and leaving for Mostar, the Federation Defense Minister, Miroslav Prce, said that not a single Croat person in those ministries have left. "It was strictly ordered that the persons working at the Joint Command of the Federation Army and in the Ministry of Defense remain at their place of work," Prce told Jutarnji List. He also said that only Ante Jelavic and Ivo Andric Luzanski, one of the dismissed officials, abandoned their apartments, which are situated in an army building in Sarajevo neighborhood of Kosevsko Brdo. Prce said that the fact that all this was happening in the military building probably created a confusion. According to Jutarnji List, some Croat employees left the Federation Ministry of Interior following the initiative of Ivan Bacak, the former deputy minister, who resigned after some allegedly illegal arrests of Croat war crimes suspects took place. Opinion poll shows Croat people support decisions of the Croat National Assembly: According to an opinion poll conduced among 850 individuals in the Federation, by a method of random sampling, most Federation citizens (the poll does not specify the nationality) - 80 percent - support the Croat National Assembly. As to the conclusions f the CNA, 55 percent of the polled individuals said they expected more, 15 percent said they were satisfied, while 30 percent were only partially satisfied with the results. Asked if they believed, like the International Community, that HDZ is only protecting its own interests, 85 percent of the polled citizens answered negatively. Marko Tokic: We are the generation of winners (interview with Danas) (translation provided by the OHR Mostar) Q: What is the Croat self-rule if you make it realized? A: The Croat self-rule is a form of the organization and self-protection of the Croat people and a try to defend Croat rights in BiH with a model how to defend these rights, that is, to take a part of the cake that belongs to us at the Federal and state level with absolute flexibility at lower Authority levels, which we shall respect and at which we shall try to participate in a way that we shall not put into question an integration approach of this country and achievements in the BiH society. Q: In which way the Croat self-rule in BiH will function? A: It will have Legislative, Executive and Judicial Authorities. However, we believe that we shall find a model and the way to have a dialogue with our political partners that we respect. We shall demand the discussion on the functioning of our relations in general and only out of these discussions we can find proper answers to all political problems that will crop up. Q: Mostar is supposed to be the capital of the Croat self-rule. Will the so-called Central Zone function in that case and what will happen with two Cantons with a special regime: HN Canton and Central Bosnia Canton? A: If there were no further violations of the legal-constitutional position of Croats, nothing would change in that light. We shall try to be very flexible and we shall try to preserve all those relations at the lower Authority levels. Q: What will happen with the HVO. One point of the conclusions, that the Croat People's Assembly passed, says that in case that the Chief Commander of the HVO, that is, the Croat member of the Presidency, is prevented to perform his duty, the President of the Croat self-rule, that is, you in this case, will take over the duty? A: We are willing to put our barracks with a very small number of the HVO members under the IC control, but we shall take care of demobilized soldiers in an interim period. Thus the announcements about the attack on SFOR are nothing but a nonsense, because none of us is trying to make something that would contribute to the state of the chaos and disorder. Q: Still, you believe that the Dayton 2 could take place? A: I personally believe that through the change of the American Administration, the approach towards BiH will change too. The new American Administration, unlike the former one, which also wanted to apply its American model in BiH, what was impossible, will respect more the opinion of its political partners in Europe. Q: They announced possible sanctions such as the taking away of passports from the leaders of the Croat People's Assembly, a ban on the activity of some political parties, blocking of the 'Hercegovacka banka', and the ban on the investing into Companies on the territory of the Croat self-rule. Is this possible? A: As far as the ban on the leaving of the country is concerned, unlike many Croats from BiH, who are Croatian citizens, I am not and I also do not have a BiH passport. Thus, if they pass such a decision we shall probably find the way to go abroad, because Croats went to Australia without the passports of any kind. Q: If they impose sanctions, you know that the unity of the Croats will be the most important thing. However, there will be no unity if only some people suffer sanctions. I refer to the car park and bureaucracy. You know that the corruption is an open sore of the BiH society and, unfortunately, it is also present in the leadership of the BiH Croats? A: Our people do not expect that the standard will become lower, but that it will increase. The people expect economic and every other progress. What might happen at the beginning if they impose sanctions, and probably they will, is that there will be difficulties and temptations. Probably there will be some poor solutions, but if our car park is so big, through the rationalization of our administration we shall sell this car park and we shall try to reduce all the unnecessary and large administration to a normal level. Vecernji List says Croats disappearing in BiH: According to Zagreb's Vecernji List, Croats in BiH have been experiencing national shocks since 1971, when there was a significant outflow of Croats from villages and cities in BiH. "The latest developments in BiH and the war between the Croat people and the International Community, which threatens with sever sanctions against Croats and their leadership, may be a new cause of insecurity for this groups," read the article in Zagreb's daily. Circle 99 discusses the OHR sanctions against the HDZ: All media in the Federation dedicated significant space to yesterday's session of the Association of Intellectuals "Circle 99" which discussed the recent dismissals of senior HDZ officials by the High Representative. During the session, the OHR senior spokesperson, Alexandra Stiglmayer, said that the High Representative did not have any other choice but to remove the disputed HDZ members, since their proclamation of the so-called self-rule in BiH was an unprecedented act. "The HDZ never accepted BiH or the Federation as its own state, and have always aspired to preserve Herceg-Bosna, to create a third entity, or at least to divide BiH even further," said Stiglmayer, and added that the HDZ has a strong lobby which does not understand that international treaties and constitutions could not be changed by a small group of individuals. Stiglmayer also said that it is unseen that one member of the Presidency walks around expressing his support to convicted war criminals. According to reports, most other members of the Association welcomed the decision of the High Representative, but said that it came too late. Federation The Alliance agreed on the composition of the new Federation Government: After an eight hour meeting held on Sunday, the Alliance parties agreed on the composition of the new Federation government. As was expected, the seats were distributed among the three strongest parties in the coalition - the SDP, the Party for BiH, and the NHI, while the BPS (Bosnian Patriotic Party) got one ministry - of Social Politics and Refugees - which went to Sefer Halilovic. A source close to the Alliance told Oslobodjenje that the priority tasks of the new government will be the economic reform, employment and the return of refugees. The Federation Parliament's House of Representatives is to confirm the proposed composition of the government later today (Monday). Oslobodjenje also reports that the constituting session of the BiH House of Peoples is scheduled for March 26, when this chamber will discuss the appointment of the new Bosniak and Croat members of the BiH Presidency. The same source said that Beriz Belkic of the Party for BiH will be the new candidate for the Bosniak member, while the Alliance still has not agreed on the Croat nominee for the Presidency. Proposed composition of the new Federation government: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance: Nikola Grabovac (NHI) Minister of Defense - Mijo Anic (NHI); Minister of Traffic and Communications - Besim Mehmedic (Party for BiH); Minister of Health - Zeljko Misanovic (SDP); Minister of Internal Affairs - Muhamed Besic (Party for BiH); Minister of Education and Science - Mustafa Demirovic (SDP); Minister for Veteran Issues - Suada Hadzovic (SDP); Minister of Social Politics and Refugees - Sefer Halilovic (!?) (Bosnian Patriotic Party); Minister of Economy, Mining and Industry - Hasan Becirevic (SDP); Minister for Housing Affairs - Ramiz Mehmedagic (Party for BiH); Minister of Trade - Andrija Jurkovic (NHI); Financial Police controls Unigradnja business transactions: Oslobodjenje reports that the business transactions and dealings of the Unigradnja construction company have been a subject of investigation by the Financial Police. Recently, the High Representative charged Edhem Bicakcic, the former Federation Prime Minister and the removed General-Manager of Elektroprivreda BiH, with transferring 700,000 KM to the account of the SDA, via Unigradnja, so that the money could be designated a "company contribution." According to Oslobodjenje, SDA spokesperson Safik Dzaferovic confirmed that the SDA received this donation from the company, and said that the funds were used for providing stipends for the needy students and for encouraging returns. The Director of Unigradnja, Mujo Durakovic, also conceded that the company donated money to the SDA, and added that he does not know how this donation was further spent, but he assumed that the SDA used it to help the returns. He rejected all allegations that the funds came from the Federation government. Oslobodjenje reports that the alleged Federation government donation to this company was not so surprising, since Unigradnja was privatised, with the help of the Federation government, in a very dubious and a non-transparent fashion - without a public tender. The daily also writes that smaller shareholders - its present and former employees - have been rapidly selling their shares, but it is still not clear to whom. Brcko District Oslobodjenje Editorial: Reservation Brcko - The first birthday of the District and syndrome of Potemkin's villages Celebration of the first anniversary of the Brcko District, as usual, was marked by listing the achieved successes in a short period of time and promises for a better future. The area where the celebration was held was under the super-police security with the SFOR support. Earlier the town had been cleaned of unwanted posters. The claim that Brcko is a model for future was opposed by an obituary written in Cyrillic alphabet with a note that "after long and serious illness Brcko District has passed away." There was no celebration on the Brcko streets or in the Brcko homes. Special police measures and ominous messages from posters reduced the speeches and projected improvement on question what the Brcko reality today is and where the real bases for much better tomorrow are. In appropriate speeches least of all the Brcko reality was mentioned. No speakers found right words for last-year orchestrated protests of Brcko high-school students which so painfully pointed out at Brcko and BiH reality, at a permanent presence of evil. The aim of the nationalistic manipulation with the youth was to achieve more goals with one action. The pupils were entangled in the darkest political game with a goal of permanent chauvinistic infection. A direct attack on the most sensitive and the most important segment of reaffirmation of BiH multi-layer - the education and upbringing as a process of human revive and tolerance that goes without saying - was undertook. The problem of upbringing and moral characteristics of some professors in Brcko has came to the surface. Some professors and parents encouraged kids on national exclusiveness and action in honour of the idea of Great Serbia. In that the most morbid way the essence of the project of Brcko District as a nucleus of possible reconstruction of BiH (self)importance has been attacked. Extremists' request that high-school students of different nationalities attend classes in separate buildings has not been realized, but anyway students attend classes in different shifts. Is there anyone who on the expert basis follows up the consequences of what happened among the youth in Brcko, as well as among their parents and teachers? Is there any area in the town where the youth gathers regardless of nationality and religious affiliation? Only new generations will or will not carry out real civilization recovery of Brcko. Has thesis on mutual unbearability become a permanent stance? Schools and other public institutions in Brcko are not anymore named after historic individuals. But, the monument of Draza Mihajlovic is still settled in the centre of town sending daily message on the continuity and justification of evil. Members of Cetniks' Ravna Gora Movement as keepers of that "sacred" thing are still there. In such a surrounding there could not be a talk about real democratic rebirth. Participants at the Brcko celebration have emphasized the function of multiethnic authority and police within the District as a model. However, Mladen Ivanic asks to have the elections as soon as possible, because, as he says, the current authority has not been elected by people. Ivanic is the only participant of the celebration who did not say a single word on the return. The Prime Minister of the RS would like to preserve the Serb majority in Brcko achieved by the aggression and genocide. 5,000 people returned to Brcko last year, but 10,000 have been waiting for the return of property. The action on the project of Brcko District is still in normative and declarative phase. The claim that Brcko is a model without any equal for the whole BiH is unhealthy exaggeration that looks like modern Potemkin's villages. The safety has been maintained by special police and army measures, which are not in use in other parts of country. Fortunately, there are areas and schools in BiH where young people attend classes together regardless of their religious and national affiliation, even in accordance with the unique education programme with the right for special subjects. Joint education and social activities are especially characteristic for Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica... Decision on the establishment of Brcko as a BiH district under the international supervision is potentially the most valuable after-Dayton solution which has been "supported" by the decisions of the BiH Constitutional Court on the people constituency and equality of all of citizens in the whole country. Due to that Brcko is an issue of responsibility of both the central institutions and the entities, but as well as of all democratic associations in BiH. The international officials have taken special authorities in regard to Brcko, which should have an adequate answer in their responsibilities to lines of special investments. Brcko should be under daily media monitoring as a subject of special interest. The District should not be a reservation for laboratory experiments. We need Brcko as a regenerated and healthy BiH tissue. International community related issues: OHR wants to see concrete progress in the Potocari memorial project: OHR spokesperson Oleg Milisic told Dnevni Avaz that the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, would like to see a more concrete progress in the implementation of the decision to build a memorial for the victims of Srebrenica tragedy in Potocari. Milisic said that the memorial centre co-ordinator, Susan Carnduff, has visited families of victims in Srebrenica and Tuzla areas and informed them that the plans for the memorial are still not finished. He stressed that Petritsch would like to urge local commissions working on the project complete their part of the job in order to undertake more concrete steps towards the construction of the memorial. Vecernji List: Person of the week - Wolfgang Petrisch, the High Representative for BiH: A Gentleman who removes people from office with conviction How the "likable, always impeccably dressed gentleman" from Carinthia, "a model member of the old diplomatic school", "a man of compromise", will cope with the tough challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was the question asked by newspaper analysts on August 1, 1999 which is when Wolfgang Petritsch succeeded Carlos Westendorp in the post of the High Representative of the International Community in BiH. Petritsch's knowledge of diplomatic skills was not the questionable at all... ...Wolfgang Petritsch on Monday removed from offices Ante Jelavic and three other high HDZ officials who were most noticeable at the session of the Croat National Assembly in Mostar. This was not the first time Petritsch resorted to his powers to remove from office political and state officials in BiH, thereby proving wrong those who two and a half years ago thought him too soft for the challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, this time too, he did it when there was no other way. For the sake of preserving his credibility and that of the entire international community, Petritsch simply had to remove Jelavic after the decisions of the Mostar gathering. It is a different question whether Jelavic decided to go for such a provocation against the High Representative because he overestimated his own and underestimated Petritsch's potentials. Or whether he deliberately, like so many times so far, played a move in someone else's political game. Petritsch has never given up his tendency towards a diplomatic compromise as long as he believed it was possible. Already before the Zagreb summit in late October last year, he was under pressure to remove Jelavic from office. He did not do it then thinking he would damage the positive image of the new Croatian authorities, which hosted the summit, and endanger the success of the new European policy in the region - says our interlocutor who often cooperated with Petritsch on resolving Bosnian matters. And maybe he truly believed that it was possible to avoid the removal from office. It was not realistic to expect that the HDZ, with its present leadership and its shadow helpers who together remind more of a military hunta than of a civilian authority, will change its political behavior... Petritsch is a good civil servant, precise, deliberate, he always weighs things twice before saying them - says our interlocutor who is also his frequent interlocutor and adds that Petritsch is not a classic diplomatic civil servant. From the old diplomatic school, he kept a certain distance in communication, he does not show too much spontaneity or sympathy, nor does he try to be liked by others. But he differs from the members of the old diplomatic school in that he truly believes in what he does, although he is aware of all the limitations in BiH and the Dayton Agreement. The question is, what are the limits of that belief of Petrisch as an individual, that is, when will he decide to give up Bosnian challenges and leave them to a successor with a stronger belief? In the very same way Westendorp left them to Petritsch, choosing a politically more monotonous, but for himself a much more pleasant solution. Always impeccably dressed and combed, having impeccable European manners, acting almost as a supernatural phenomenon in the relaxed Sarajevo, he copes on daily basis with classical Balkan insinuations and people who today make promises and agreements and tomorrow forget about them and deny everything they promised and agreed to. And these often ask themselves quite seriously who these international representatives, petritschs and his alikes, are that they should create the political life in the country like in any typical protectorate. At the same time, they do not ask themselves what would happen with that political life in Bosnia if the international representatives left and if the governing of Bosnia were left to them, local gentlemen. And haven't we already seen the result? Editorials: (provided by the OHR Mostar) Danas: How realistic are the threats to Croat leaders in BiH? It is only fair to present in the newspapers that those from the IC who cannot bear "the unbearable lightness" of Petritsch-Klein-Miller-Barry threats to the HDZ and individuals, always and again Croats, come by to see us on a daily basis. Many of them are ashamed of the aforementioned, but because of their own existence, they still do not want to testify publicly of the tragicomic correspondence and quarrels of their superiors and their looking for self-fulfillment in mentioning the names of Jelavic, Covic, Sopta, Brajkovic, Tokic and others. Thus, a Legal Advisor does not recommend abolishment of the HDZ B&H because it would be undemocratic, uncivilised and finally, impossible. The party could be banned from running in the next elections, it can be punished financially, but must not be prohibited. Croat people reproach Ante Jelavic for calculating, waiting, stalling his moves, choosing words when speaking about Alija and Zivko, trying to have a diplomatic communication even with those who stepped over all the norms of human and political manners. He is reproached for keeping Neven Tomic, called Lily. If the party leadership refused to carry out the humiliating orders from the OSCE, if the Prime Minister did it, it would make sense for the Mostar Mayor to do the same. For the fact that "they do not want a new Croat martyr," the HR and individual ambassadors agreed with Prlic and Zubak that Jelavic was not to be locked up, or even removed from the position of Presidency Member. It will suffice for Simic, Prlic, Zubak and the likes of them to heal their complexes via their Muslim and a few Croat journalists who write about "JNA lieutenant," "owner of banks, insurance companies..." The Anti-Corruption Team concluded as far back as last year that Mijo Brajkovic "should be arrested," but Petritsch was against it at a time. He must have inquired with Daimler-Benz, Krupp and other German and world-wide reputable companies that co-operate with the AF and concluded that the Factory is not an HDZ company, but one that hundreds of families live off, and not only in Herzegovina. Still, in a recent meeting with Jelavic, Barry threatened with "a different attitude" towards Brajkovic and the AF. Recently, many Croats have laughed at SFOR members who have been making rounds of the local roads. With helmets on their heads and with increased battle readiness, they looked as if provoking incidents. Croats only laughed at them. True, there were suggestions to "radicalise the situation" by closing the borders and causing conflicts with the international forces. Ideas were coming from the part of the Croat leadership that is considered the HDZ left wing in the ordinary manner of characterisation. They would use it as an excuse to retire from the ship that does not go to the course they like.

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