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BiH Media Round-up, 15/03/2001 |
Ante Jelavic says the HVO removed all Federation insignia: The removed Croat member of the BiH Presidency, Ante Jelavic, said late last night at a public gathering held in Bugojno that HVO soldiers removed all Federation insignia off of their uniforms yesterday. "We kept Croat symbols on our uniforms, and we will put on the BiH coat of arms, because we want to have a single army of three national components," said Jelavic, and added that the HVO would never be placed under the control of the Alliance, because it does not have a legitimate support of the Croat people in BiH. According to Jelavic, the Croat self-rule in the Croat-majority territories is a way towards the Croat freedom in BiH. "The Croat self-rule will be a legal state with the rule of law, respect for human rights, where there will be no concentration camps and new Dreteljs (BiH Army-ran concentration camp)," said Jelavic, and added that the rights of Serbs and Bosniaks will be especially protected. Croat National Sabor held several other public gatherings yesterday across the Federation.
Federation government says there will be no separation in the Federation army or police: The new Federation Minister of Defense, Mijo Anic, annulled the decision of his predecessor, Miroslav Prce, to disband a larger portion of the HVO (Croat component of the Federation army) and his order that all HVO soldiers remove the entity insignia off of their uniforms. At the same time, the Federation Minister of Interior, Muhamed Besic, ordered his troops to secure an atmosphere of professional behavior and to undertake measures to prevent the possible confiscation of personal and commonly owned arms, ammunition, and other technical aid by para-police structures. UN Mission to BiH spokesman in Mostar, Stevo Lehman, said yesterday that there are no indications that Croat policemen would boycott the Federation Ministry of Interior, in particular in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. "Decent citizens do not want to endanger the progress achieved in the creation of a professional and joint Ministry of Interior because of few extremist leaders who want separate institutions in order to retain their power," said Lehman. Threats coming from the leadership of the Croat National Sabor that it will not give up the formation of the Croat self-rule in BiH provoked strong reactions by both local and international factors active in the country. The Croatian National Union (HNZ) called upon all relevant and interested parties to contribute to the resolution of the presetn political situation and the status of the Croat people in BiH. The HNZ president, Miljenko Brkic, said it will be difficult to achieve a peace in BiH with methods used by the US Administration and the Western Europe. IPTF spokesman for Banja Luka and Bihac regions, Alun Roberts, said that international organizations will closely follow the scheduled public gathering of the HDZ in Jajce, in particular the work of the local police. "If it turns out that the police is taking any part in this [gathering], they will be severely penalized," said Roberts. According to Republika, the situation in the army units is also confusing. Soldiers in Herzegovina removed almost all of the insignia from their uniforms because one who would not do it, would be considered a traitor. Many of the soldiers in Central Bosnia and Posavina refuse to obey the order, being aware that a wrong move may cause them to lose the job and rights enjoyed by Federation Army members. In spite of that, many of the HVO senior officers support Minister Anic.
Croat official say HVO will respect the will of Croat authorities: The deputy commander of the 1st Croat Guards Brigade, Brigadier Mario Bradara, told SRNA news agency that the Croat component in the army would accept any decision adopted by the Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina, adding that it had already been known "who the Croat nation voted for". "The Croat component in the BIH Army is above all the army of the Croat nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina and we will respect decisions made by our people," Bradara said in Manjaca, where competition in forced march and shooting with blanks was organized for teams of the RS, the Federation Army and the SFOR. He said that the Croat component had taken off the insignia of the BiH Federation Army from their uniforms, adding that these would be replaced in the next few days by the BiH flag as the new BiH Republic insignia. Bradara believes that the only army possible in Bosnia-Hercegovina is an army made up of three equal components. In other words, each nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina should have its own national component in the army, while in future there could be talks about joint structures at the level of ministries or about a potential joint command.
Wolfgang Petritsch holds talks with HDZ officials Covic and Ljubic: All Federation dailies report, not very prominently, that the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, met yesterday with senior HDZ officials, Dragan Covic and Bozo Ljubic and discusses the present political situation in BiH.
Main Board of the HDZ meets today in Jajce: According to the Federation press, the Main Board of the HDZ is to hold a session today (Thursday) in Jajce, during which its members are to decide on the future composition of the government of the Croat self-rule in BiH. Croat officials told Slobodna Dalmacija that they do not expect any support from Zagreb, and that they would suggest a new International Conference on BiH or an urgent session of the Peace Implementation Council. They also said that official contacts between Zagreb and authorities in Mostar have been reduced to a minimum, since the former are engaged in contacts with the International Community, while the HDZ BiH is working on the preparation of important rallies. According to Vecernji List, the Main Board is also to nominate the future government of the self-rule. The likely candidate for the post of the Prime Minister is Martin Raguz, an unsuccessful nominee for the Chair of the BiH Council of Ministers. Media speculate that the Board will also rule that the decision of the High Representative to remove Jelavic and other senior HDZ officials is null and void. According to unofficial reports, the Croat National Sabor is to convene tomorrow to discuss decision made today at the Main Board meeting. Croat self-styled body pledges to demand equality for Croat nation Representatives of the Croat National Sabor organized a discussion entitled "The same rights for all three nations - the future in Bosnia-Hercegovina", which was held at the Konak Hotel in Travnik last evening. "The fact that you are here confirms that we are united and that is why we support Ante Jelavic and other officials who demand equality for our nation," the Central Bosnia bishop, Rudo Vidovic, said. The president of the Croat self-rule, Marko Tokic, said the HDZ did not accept the dismissal of Ante Jelavic as member of the BiH Presidency, adding that 189,000 votes were more important than a signature by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch. The deputy chairman of the HNS, Petar Milic, said that the Croat self-administration in Bosnia-Hercegovina was not a ghetto but a political body through which the Croat nation was exercising its legitimate rights. "We will never let our people down. We have not given any orders to the HVO as they know what they need to do." "We are doing this to show that the Croat nation will never agree to be a national minority. The High Representative Petritsch has no authority to pass regulations which will make any of the nations unequal," the chairman of the HNS and the chairman of the HDZ, Ante Jelavic, said during the discussion.
SDA President says cantonization plans premature: Commenting the controversial plan for the cantonization of BiH, the President of the SDA, Alija Izetbegovic, said that the idea itself is very good, but that cantons should be multinational, rather then homogeneous, and based on geographic and economic criteria. "However, I do not see the political will for any radical moves on the part of the International Community," said Izetbegovic.
OHR says the Dayton Peace Agreement will not be abolished: Also commenting on the Croatian proposed plan for cantonization, OHR spokesperson, Alexandra Stiglmayer, stresses that the Dayton peace Agreement will not be abolished. "First of all, it [the DPA] has to be implemented in full and then we should think about ways to improve it. The heart of the DPA is Annex 4, the BiH Constitution, which can be changed and supplemented by a two-thirds majority of the representatives in the BiH Assembly. As far as the organization of the entities is concerned, changes will take place very soon through the implementation of the Constitutional Court Decision on the Constituency of the BiH Peoples in both entities. This means that there is no reason for abolishment of the Dayton Agreement," said Stiglmayer.
BiH Foreign Ministry comments the cantonization plans: The BiH Foreign Ministry has sent an official note to the Croatian Foreign Ministry yesterday regarding the various interpretations and statements by political figures in both countries, as well as the informal meetings and exchanges of opinion by senior officials of the BiH and the Croatian governments. The note said that one of the basic aims of our country's foreign policy is to further the development of good-neighbourly relations with Croatia and Yugoslavia. With regard to this, a whole series of bilateral agreements with these two states are being prepared. A commitment to the full implementation of the Dayton Agreement in this phase is a very important aspect of the overall normalisation of relations in our region, as is fulfilling the conditions for Bosnia-Herzegovina to find its place among the company of democratic and prosperous states. In this context, the BiH Foreign Ministry says it does not possess the mandate, nor does it consider it necessary, to deal with questions about amending the Dayton Agreement or organising international conferences which would open that question, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Foreign Ministry statement says.
Jacques Paul Klein says he does not want to interfere between Petritsch and Jelavic: Commenting on the recent accusations between the two, in an interview with Globus, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in BiH, Jacques Paul Klein, said that both the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and Ante Jelavic will have to present their evidence in the case of the assassinated deputy Federation Minister of Interior, Jozo Leutar. Klein did not want to comment on the alleged involvement of the HDZ in the this case, and stressed that the political leadership of the HDZ could not be arrested, "especially without evidence."
RS National Assembly passes the Decision on changes of the RS Constitution: Deputies at the RS National Assembly session accepted yesterday the decision to initiate changes in the RS Constitution through amendments pursuant to the BiH Constitutional Court ruling on constituent status of all peoples in BiH. The RS NA Speaker Dragan Kalinic said that amendments should be defined by April 16th. All proposed amendments will be looked into by the RS NA Constitutional Commission which will try to reach a consensus on the issue. The RS Deputy Prime Minister, Petar Kunic, said that the BiH CC ruling has to be implemented in such a way that prevents discrimination of any ethnic group.
High Representative gives mandate to the Independent Judicial Commission The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, issued a decision giving the Independent Judiciary Commission a new and a more comprehensive mandate. The IJC has been established last year in November to assess the judiciary in BiH and now became an official institution in the BiH legal framework. All Federation and the RS media carried the OHR press release, some prominently (Nezavisne Novine), some on their back pages (Avaz, Glas Srpski and most Croatian media).
The High Representative names the new supervisor for Brcko District: The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, named on Tuesday Gerhard Sontheim the new international supervisor for the Brcko District. Federation media carried the OHR press release on their back pages.
Globus: International Community preparing for the arrest of Ante Jelavic?: One of the main topics, which have been discussed in Herzegovina these days - on the eve of the decision of definite proclaiming of the 'self-government', what is, basically, the secession from BiH - might be the arrest of Ante Jelavic, the removed President of the HDZ there. In a rather long conversation with the editors of Globus, these days, a high-ranking foreign politician, who was formerly in charge of BiH issues, presented a strategy of the international community toward Ante Jelavic and the HDZ leadership in the neighboring country. The strategy is based on the evidence -which are allegedly in the possession of representatives of the western countries - on his criminal actions. It was mentioned in the conversation that the highest leaders of the HDZ BiH were allegedly involved in some murders. Thus, the real problem between Racan's Cabinet and a part of the international community is not Budisa's plan, but the alleged inefficiency of the Government in the actions against the present HDZ authorities in Mostar. A Globus' source judges that the Croatian Government should have shown incomparably more decisiveness in the past year to politically and economically isolate Ante Jelavic and his associates. According to him, the Racan's Government should have cut all relations with the authorities in Mostar and brought them into a full economic and political isolation. The suspension of all relations includes also the termination of payment of any expenditure for the Croat component in the Federation Army, in other words, for the Croat Defense Council (HVO). The Globus' interlocutor further claims that the Croatian Government, with its indecisive and reluctant attitude, helped the strengthening of Jelavic's position and fostered the landslide victory of the HDZ at last year's elections in BiH. First, it is a big question what can be achieved by straining relations with the HDZ BiH. Moreover, it is not certain what the Croatian Government could accomplish with those moves. It is difficult to reject the possibility that those moves would completely radicalize most of the Croats there: it would make Hercegovina and the remaining Croat-majority parts of Bosnia a belt of permanent and critical insecurity, on the brink of the armed conflict. However, some Herzegovinian public workers and businessmen are of different opinion: Quite harsh showdown with Ante Jelavic and very influential General Stanko Sopta would destroy the Herzegovinian HDZ and show to Herzegovinians, but also to the other Croats in BiH, that they should dare to vote also for the other political parties and that it is worth their while. Bearing in mind all previous results of the elections in the Croat-majority parts of BiH (in which the HDZ triumphed in the real sense of the word), I am very skeptical toward such a thesis. Second, and equally important, is the attitude of the Catholic Church in BiH toward the latest developments. In the press release issued last week, the BiH bishops, expressed their support to actions of the Croat National Sabor, the body which, de jure, proclaimed the interim self-rule and could turn it into a permanent state of affairs. Cardinal Vinko Puljic, who is considered even in the Croatian political and diplomatic circles to be closely connected with Vatican, signed the statement. So, it could be very hard for Cardinal Puljic to sign something like that against the will of the Holy See, what additionally complicates the correlation of forces. Third, the HDZ BiH is virtually in war with the entire world today: its leaders act in a suicidal and unreasonable way, as Slobodan Milosevic was acting for many years, until his end. However, unlike the opposition in Serbia, the organized political opposition in the Croat parts of BiH does not exist at all. Even if the SFOR, following the authentic accusations, arrests Ante Jelavic, even if Zagreb suspends all business relations with Mostar and the talks with the leadership of the HDZ BiH, there is no one, at least for the time being, who could come to power with a considerable support of voters. It seems, unfortunately, that a deepening crisis is the only perspective of the Croat parts of BiH. In addition, any radical move, no matter from which side it comes, will only make the crisis deeper. If the HDZ BiH, at the end of the week, proclaims the self-rule, and withdraws from the police forces, Football League, Army, and if its starts collecting customs on its own, it will harm to the largest extent the Croat people there. Any drastic reaction of the international community to that move of the HDZ might additionally mobilize the voters to stand for the Party, what would bring the Croats in BiH into a more difficult conflict with the world policy and turn them, in a political sense, into the Serbs from Milosevic's time. As the things are now, there is no hope for the Croats in BiH.
Globus: Cantonization plan simply needs to be internationally promoted and realized By Slaven Letica It will not be possible to have 'Budisa's plan' internationally promoted when it is known that President Mesic, who is by the Constitution authorized to participate in the creation of the Croatian foreign policy, is obstructing it from the very beginning. The President of the Republic believes that it is necessary, first, to realize the Dayton Peace Agreement (e.g. to enable the refugees and displaced persons to return and repossess their property) and then to change it. During the presidential campaign I was, personally, quite confident, as I am today, that it is much easier and more realistic for one to go from the opposite direction: to revise the Dayton Agreement, that is to say to federalize BiH as a state composed of cantons, and just then expect more serious return of DPs and refugees to happen.
Globus: How will the self-rule be implemented?: The 15-day deadline set for meeting the demands of the Croat People's Assembly is slowly expiring, and it is still not clear which municipalities will be included in the self-rule. Still, it is almost certain that its territorial organization will be similar to the organization defined under the Decision on the Establishment of Herzeg-Bosnia dated July 3, 1992. At that time, Herzeg-Bosnia included municipal areas of Jajce, Kresevo, Busovaca, Vitez, Novi Travnik, Travnik, Kiseljak, Fojnica, Skender Vakuf, Prozor, Konjic, Jablanica, Posusje, Mostar, Siroki Brijeg, Grude, Ljubuski, Citluk, Capljina, Neum, Stolac, Trebinje (Ravno). Mostar is supposed to be the capital of the Croat self-rule. In the words of Marko Tokic, the President of the Croat self-rule, the creation will have the legislative, executive and judicial authorities. However, neither Tokic nor any other Croat Self-Rule officials could explain the details of how this autonomous community in BiH would be functioning. For instance, if Mostar is to be the capital, the Croat self-rule can be realized in the three Croat municipalities of the six municipalities in Mostar, because the other three are Bosniak. What will be the status of the joint Central Zone in that case? If Croats start 'self-ruling' in it, what will the Bosniaks be doing? Also, a number of Croats are living in the east, Bosniak part of Mostar. What will happen to them? Will they have to move to the west part? No one explained to the local Croat municipal authorities as to how the self-rule is to be implemented. What are they supposed to do after Saturday, March 17? According to the information coming from Mostar, the local HDZ officials do not know what the change will be about. According to one option of the HDZ engineering, the Croat parts of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton are to be annexed to the only ethnically pure, West Herzegovina Canton. Unfortunately, the Croat-majority cantons in Central Bosnia Canton will not have a chance to be annexed to the Herzegovinian motherland because they do not border on it, but the Bosniak part of the Federation. No one really knows how the HDZ BiH strategists are intending to solve those problems. According to some theories, the Croat self-rule would eventually give up the Croat-majority enclaves in Central Bosnia, and the territory of the self-rule would stretch from Herzegovina to Prozor/Rama farthest to the north. Still, it seems that these are only fantasies. The International Community have spent ten years on establishing the extremely complicated political model, trying to satisfy all the ethnic passions. It is quite certain that they will allow no changes whatsoever. The HDZ proposals, in the long run, lead to restoration of ethnic intolerance, tensions and even migration of the population. According to the information from the international circles, the peace in the streets is deceiving. Should the Croat People's Assembly proclaim autonomy, SFOR will intervene.
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| 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. |
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