BiH/Central institutions: BiH Parliament's House of Representatives endorsed candidacy of Belkic and Krizanovic for the post in the BiH Presidency; Jutarnje Novine: Ramiz Mehmedagic, the Federation Minister of Urban Planning and Environment "Restitution law will cause turbulence"; HDZ-related News: HVO troops leave barracks in Mostar, Vitez and Kiseljak; Commander of the First Guardian Corps in Mostar Zlatan Mijo Jelic says all Croats will leave the Federation Army within 24 hours; Dismissed commander of the Fourth Guardian Corps in Orasje destroys important documents; Headquarters for protection of identity and interest of Croat people formed in Vitez; Commander of Joint Command of the Federation army: Federation Army is not falling apart; Federation authorities say parallel financial system would collapse within five days; Deputy Chief of the US Mission to BiH, Cristopher Hoh, says Croat National Assembly does not represent BiH Croats; Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker Zdravko Tomac said Croat National Assembly is democratically oriented; Ante Jelavic sends an open letter to Jacques Plaul Klein; Federation: Federation Parliament's House of Peoples names judges of the Federation Supreme Court; International Community: The ICTY Prosecutor Carla del Ponte meets the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch in Sarajevo; Wolfgang Petritsch to meet the EU Troika; BiH State Institutions-related Issues BiH Parliament's House of Representatives endorsed candidacy of Belkic and Krizanovic for the post in the BiH Presidency: At yesterday's session, the BiH Parliament's House of Representatives supported the candidacy of Jozo Krizanovic (SDP) and Beriz Belkic (Party for BiH) for the Croat and Bosniak members of the BiH Presidency. If their candidacy is confirmed by delegates in the BiH House of Peoples, the two will officially take up the posts in the Presidency. Jutarnje Novine: Ramiz Mehmedagic, the Federation Minister of Urban Planning and Environment "Restitution law will cause turbulence" The Restitution Law should be adopted by the end of the year so as to enable the occupancy rights holders in the nationalized apartments to purchase apartments they are presently occupying. Unless, they are returned to the previous owners. When could the issue of the restitution be discussed? This law has been in the parliamentary procedure for a while. The procedure of determining the text before the Parliament has been finalized, and all submitted amendments have been tested. This means that the next step is the formal voting. I believe that it would be advisable to inform the new composition of the House of Representatives and the House of People about the text which had been brought by former deputies to this stage. It would not be correct asking this House to adopt something only to satisfy the procedure. This is why we believe that the new government should be acquainted with this text, and if the government accepts it, then we go before the Parliament with the final text. True, there have been certain indications coming from the OHR that one should also consider the financial restitution, since the prepared law is based on the natural restitution. What would that mean? There is a significant difference between the two. The natural restitution represents the return of property in its physical state, while the financial would include paying for that property. Both methods have been used in European, in particular East European, countries, and the experiences vary. Both methods have their disadvantages. I think that neither methods could be applied to BiH. The property has been confiscated in different ways, every country has different financial capacity and, therefore, different possibility for restitution. BiH has a specific position, it has just come out of the war, it is destroyed, and financially weak. The property which has been confiscated since 1945, and the one taken after 1918, is of different structure then the property in Slovenia, Czech Republic or Hungary. In these countries, only large property had been nationalized, and BiH does not have large property except for those which were taken in the period between 1918 and 1941. What has been confiscated since 1945 is by and large smaller property. I believe that the change of the starting point is the main condition for the financial restitution, i.e., the starting point can in no way be 1945 but 1918. At the end of the last year, you said that "at this moment, no one has guts to pas the Restitution Law." Has this changed? This law cannot be passed without causing major turbulence in the sphere of ownership. This process will surely hurt both the present occupants and former owners, and not a single law will be able to satisfy all sides. Here, the sides are confronting each other, and it is the responsibility of the state to resolve this issue in the least painful way. In any case, it has to resolve it once and for all, since the privatization cannot go on uninterrupted until this law is passed, and also because the political parities which are participating in authority must fulfill their promise to return the confiscated property. The Restitution Law is one of important ones in the Alliance's platform. I expect that the parties within the Alliance will be able to resolve this issue, that is, they are obliged to resolve it. In a case that the new government and the Parliament decide on the financial restitution, they should make sure to know from which fund they will secure the compensation, and they should change the starting point, i.e., the year. Some 80,000 citizens, who live in the nationalized apartments, ask for the removal of article 47 from the Law on purchase of apartments according to which apartments that are liable for restitution are excluded from the law until the Restitution Law is passed. What is your position? My position remains the same. This means that the article 47 cannot be erased until the restitution law is passed. They are announcing protests if their status is not equalized with the status of other occupancy rights holders. They have the same status as other occupancy rights holders. The procedure of purchase has not been completed yet and will likely last two or three more years. I do not feel that this group of occupancy rights holders is so special. They are fully realizing their occupancy rights and, so far, no one has questioned their rights. But they want to buy the flats. We have left a possibility that apartments are purchased under the same conditions in the future as well. This means that these apartments can be bought with certificates as well once the Restitution Law is passed but under the condition that this law emphasizes that there is no natural restitution, that is, that there is no return of flats to their earlier owners, but that the current users have the right to purchase them under the same conditions. I am not afraid of protests and I feel that these statements are premature. Their rights are by no means jeopardized and there is no need for such hasty statements. It is also relative how many such tenants there are. When we talk about 18,000 apartments, among them there are those that will be freed of restitution or have already been paid for through international agreements, and there will be no obstacles for current tenants to purchase them. In addition, some vakuf apartments are not pure vakuf apartments but vidajet-vakuf and as such are not to be returned, which means they can be purchased. The number of 18,000 is possible in the Federation but with different status under the future Restitution Law and under the Law on Purchase of apartments. Accordingly, we will try to resolve this problem this year. HDZ-related News: HVO troops leave barracks in Mostar, Vitez and Kiseljak: Following a statement of the Croat National Assembly (HNS) in which its leadership advised members of the HVO (Croat component of the Federation Army) to temporarily disband, almost 8,000 HVO troops [according to an unnamed Federation Army official quoted by the AFP] in the cities of Mostar ,Vitez, and Kiseljak walked out of their barracks late yesterday and today thereby expressing their support for decisions of the HNS. According to news agencies, the only persons who remained in the barracks are the guards. It is still not clear whether Croat soldiers in other towns followed suit. According to Col. Mladen Mikulic, the commander of the Rapid Reaction Brigade, HVO soldiers in Jajce will leave their barracks later today. Meanwhile, Federation Army officials could not confirm or comment on this move of the HVO troops, but strongly condemned yesterday's call of the HNS to temporary disband the Croat component. "Decision of the so-called Croat self-rule and the civilian commander Marko Tokic on temporary dissolution of the Croat component of the Federation Army is illegal and invalid," read the statement of the Federation Ministry of Defense. The Ministry accused the HDZ, who stands behind all decision of the Croat National Assembly, of trying to "draw into their dirty political games as many decent people as possible to whom their salaries are the only source of income," and advised Croat soldiers not to be tricked by the illegal calls of the self-styled institution such as the HNS. Commander of the First Guardian Corps in Mostar Zlatan Mijo Jelic says all Croats will leave the Federation Army within 24 hours: The Commander of the First Guardian Unit, Zlatan Mijo Jelic, said yesterday that all Croats officers, non-commission officers and soldiers will leave their units and commands of the Croat component in order to avoid accepting "the imposed commanders." "This does not apply to security guards who will, along with the SFOR, continue supervising our facilities and warehouses where the weapons are stored," said Jelic, and added that this is a symbolic act showing that Croat soldiers will not accept the "illegal integration and disappearance of the HVO." Dismissed commander of the Fourth Guardian Corps in Orasje destroys important documents: According to Dnevni Avaz, the removed commander of the Fourth Guardian Unit in Orasje, Ivica Matanovic, should be replaced today by Tomo Knezevic, who will be escorted to his new position by the SFOR. The daily reports that Matanovic dismissed on Monday all troops under his command and destroyed important documents and two computer hard drives containing data with names of soldiers on salary lists. The same source said the newly appointed commander, Knezevic, has been under tremendous pressure by the local HDZ officials who even offered him money just to refuse to take up the command of this unit. According to Avaz, Ante Jelavic has been paying senior Croat officers in order to secure their loyalty. Headquarters for protection of identity and interest of Croat people formed in Vitez: According to Habena news agency, the so-called Headquarters for the Protection of Identity and Interests of Croat people in BiH has been formed today in Vitez. The headquarters expressed its support for the decision of the Croat National Assembly to temporarily disband the HVO, the Croat component of the Federation Army. "Following this decision, that is from March 27 of this year, the Federation Army is mono-national , i.e., Muslim," said the Headquarters in its statement for the press. It also called all Croat officers and soldiers who have not yet left the Federation Army to do so by March 30, at the latest. "We also call the Croat people to not allow the tearing of the Croat being, and to stand by us and all others who strive towards the equality of the Croat people in BiH," read the statement. Commander of Joint Command of the Federation army: Federation Army is not falling apart: In an interview with Dnevni Avaz, the commander of the Joint Command of the Federation Army, Atif Dudakovic, said that the entity army is not falling apart, despite the allegations that numerous Croat officers and soldiers walked out of their barrack yesterday. He confirmed that some soldiers unilaterally breached their contracts, but stressed that the Federation Army is ready to adequately respond to any challenges. Dudakovic conceded that the Joint Command did not have control over or communication with the First Guardian Unit and some other Croats units in the Federation Army. However, he stressed that this chain of events will be a good lesson for the future and should be taken into account when forming the future single BiH Army and the desired Federation army as well. Federation authorities say parallel financial system would collapse within five days: The Federation Minister of Finance, Nikola Grabovac, told Oslobodjenje that the idea to restore payment bureaus (ZPP) for areas under control of the so-called Croat self-rule in BiH would be impossible to realize. "If they (HDZ leaders) are indeed planning to restore the ZPPs for the needs of the Croat self-rule...they should be aware that they will not be able to make payments abroad, while we will revoke our trust in banks who cooperate with them," said Grabovac, and added that those banks could also lose their licenses. He stressed that any parallel financial system could function for a while, perhaps for five days, and then the entire economy it caters to would collapse. "The International Community will not take part in these activities and businesspeople know what this would mean," said Grabovac. Deputy Chief of the US Mission to BiH, Cristopher Hoh, says Croat National Assembly does not represent BiH Croats: In an interview with Vecernji List, the Deputy Chief of the US Mission to BiH, Cristopher Hoh, said that the Croat national Assembly represents a small group of people who appointed themselves, and does not represent all Croats in BiH or even all members of the HDZ. "In the decisions made in Mostar I can see nothing that would lead to a better future. We will continue to work with people who want progress..." said Hoh, and added that those who make bad decisions and isolate one part of the country will be responsible for all possible effects of economy and businesspeople. Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker Zdravko Tomac said Croat National Assembly is democratically oriented: Croatian Parliament deputy speaker Zdravko Tomac said on Tuesday that a solution has been found for the crisis in BiH and added that the leadership of the self-styled Croat National Assembly (HNS) was democratically orientated. Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Students Center in Zagreb on the topic "Croats in BiH - stay or survival", Tomac said that the solution for the crisis in BiH was in changing of the election rules, changing of the entity constitutions in BiH and in the full implementation of the decision of the BiH Constitutional Court on constituent status of all three peoples on the entire territory of BiH. "The new HNS leadership is democratically orientated and BiH Croats do not want to re-establish Herceg Bosna," he said. "The crisis in BIH was caused by the development of the Republika Srpska as an ethnically clean state, while the BiH Federation developed in opposite direction," Tomac said, adding that the crisis culminated when the OSCE Mission in BiH changed the election rules. "The reaction of Bosnian Croats on that decision was too hard and was not in the interest of Croats," he concluded. Ante Jelavic sends an open letter to Jacques Plaul Klein: The dismissed member of the BiH Presidency and president of the HDZ, Ante Jelavic, sent on Wednesday an open letter to Jacques Paul Klein, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, in which he accused him of "continuous lies and insinuations" against him, as well as of political dilettantism. In the letter to Klein, whom he addresses as retired general, Jelavic said that Klein's statements after the recent moves by the self-styled Croat National Assembly (HNS) were " a part of plan of the international community which is aimed at discrediting the political leadership of BiH Croats." "You have been constantly trying to make a criminal out of me, a dangerous opponent of the Dayton agreement, with the manners of politician-beginner who has a power in his hands...Obviously referring to the establishment of the Croat self-rule, You have the courage and honor to speak about one-sided change of the Dayton agreement, and You know well that the self-rule is our temporary answer to drastic violations of the Dayton agreement," Jelavic said in the letter. He also accused Klein, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the Head of the OSCE Mission in BiH, Robert Barry, of one-sided violation of the Dayton agreement and of a silent revision of the agreement, which is "unjust and painful for Croats." "With that revision You have gone so far that You did not respect the results of the general elections and forced all the legitimate Croat officials from all parliamentary bodies in BIH," Jelavic said. Noting that the international community and not the HDZ or the HNS changed the Dayton agreement, Jelavic said that the international community allowed and stimulated the unconstitutional change of the election rules and regulation. He ended his letter by wishing Klein "end of his mandate in BiH. Federation: Federation Parliament's House of Peoples names judges of the Federation Supreme Court: At yesterday's session, the Federation Parliament's House of Peoples named new Bosniak and Croat judges to the Federation Supreme Court. Sofija Alifakic, Jasminka Cohadzic-Orucevic, and Husein Hubjer (Bosniaks) and Vlado Ademovic, Zdenko Eterovic, Danica Sain (Croats), as well as Mirjana Perisic (Others) were took up their mandate in the Federation Supreme Court. International Community : The ICTY Prosecutor Carla del Ponte meets the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch in Sarajevo: Yesterday's meeting in Sarajevo between the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia), Carla del Ponte, was the main news in both Federation and RS media. According to Sarajevo dailies, both Del Ponte and Petritsch urged the RS authorities to deliver Radovan Karadzic, one the most high profile war crimes suspect, to The Hague. Del Ponte stressed that she would like to see Karadzic arrested before the beginning of the trial for the other two senior Serb officials, Biljana Plavsic and Momcilo Krajisnik. Following the meeting, Petritsch called the SDS leadership to deliver on their pledge to cooperate with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Ideally, that would involve handing Karadzic over to the ICTY, Petritsch said, but at the very least they should distance themselves publicly from him following the document signed last December. "Three months after they have signed up to these commitments, it is high time they deliver Karadzic. The least they could do is to exclude Mr. Karadzic from their party and I am expecting quick action on this on their part," said Petritsch. Wolfgang Petritsch to meet the EU Troika: The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, will meet today with the EU 'troika' for the judiciary and internal affairs, with whom he will discuss the issues of illegal migration and trade. According to an OHR press release Petritsch will meet with the EU minister of migration and asylum, Inger Klingval, the EU commissar for the judiciary and internal affairs, Antoine Vittorino, and the Belgian minister of internal affairs, Antoine Duchesne. Stna news agency carries the OHR press release.

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