- BiH/Central institutions:
- Leading parties agree about the necessity of adopting the Election
Law
- RS Parties on the Election Law
- The Austrian repeat performance of the 'Sacirbegovic case': It is
unknown who was filling a secret account for Kuwait and Tripoli
- HDZ-related News:
- Doris Pack says the new election rules are a failure
- Wolfgang Petritsch meets Ivica Racan and Tonino Picula
- HNS: Petritsch does not want to understand the fear of the Croats
- Croat Coordination members to meet the Croatian leadership in Zagreb
- BiH Presidency: Croat officers increasingly turning up for work
- Zlatan Mijo Jelic: The First Guardian Corps never had any
documentation
- A verbal war between the Centra Bosnian Headquarters and the Federal
Ministry of Defence: Who is manipulating the salaries of the Croat
component of the Federal Army
- Posavina Canton opens a new account with Zagrebacka Banka in Orasje
- Mostar Pension Fund financed "Herceg-Bosna"?:
- Threatening flyers turn up in Mostar:
- The High Representative names Croat members of the Constitutional
Commission
- Changes in 'Slobodna Dalmacija' today
- Republika Srpska
- Robert Barry: SDS denied that Karadzic has been expelled from the
party
- Karadzic often crosses the Drina at Janja
- Cabinet of the RS President and Vice President Issued a Press
Release Denying Writing of SA Based Dnevni Avaz
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BiH/Central institutions related issues:
Leading parties agree about the necessity of adopting the Election Law:
At a meeting held on Saturday in Sarajevo, the leaders of the strongest
parties on both entity and state level agreed on the urgency to adopt the
Election Law and discussed the alternative provisions, which could speed
up the adoption process. An anonymous source told Avaz that the
participants are confident that the Law will be adopted by June, 2001.
RS Parties on the Election Law:
RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic stated, after a meeting between RS and
FBiH political parties, which took place in Sarajevo on Saturday, that BIH
Election Law could go into procedure in the form proposed by the OSCE
only.
"That is all we can say about the Law. FBiH Parties have some remarks
regarding election of BiH Parliament's House of Peoples".
Ivanic added that the Election Law had to be in accordance with the
Constitution and that there was no need for alternatives since "version
proposed by the OSCE was fair".
"The position supported is that draft proposed by the OSCE was in
accordance with the BiH Constitution. The Law should be passed by BIH
Parliament in a month, two months the latest", stated Svetozar Mihajlovic,
who attended the meeting on behalf SNS (Serb Peoples Alliance).
The Austrian repeat performance of the 'Sacirbegovic case': It is unknown
who was filling a secret account for Kuwait and Tripoli (Vecernji List)
The case of Muhamed Sacirbegovic, former BIH ambassador to the UN, is not
an isolated example of unconscientious and illegal business operations of
the BiH diplomatic representatives in the world. It is increasingly
becoming certain that the Investigative Commission of the BiH Ministry of
Foreign Affairs will find quite a bit of 'interesting' information in the
BiH Embassy in Vienna. The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch,
informed the public about these financial transfers two months ago,
accusing Edhem Bicakcic, who was the Federal Prime Minister at that time,
for the illegal re-direction of money to SDA 'secret cash boxes'.
HDZ-related News
Doris Pack says the new election rules are a failure:
The president of the European Parliament's Board for Southeast Europe,
Doris Pack, said, during the election convention of the Croatian
Democratic Center in Zagreb, that by imposing changes in the election
rules in BiH, the International Community fostered the decision of the BiH
Croats to leave the legal institutions of authority in the country. "Even
the International Community admits that this was a failure," said Pack,
and invited the Croats in BiH to return to the legally established
institutions.
Wolfgang Petritsch meets Ivica Racan and Tonino Picula:
All Federation media prominently reported that the High Representative,
Wolfgang Petritsch, met on Friday the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica
Racan, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tonino Picula, for talks about
the present situation in BiH. According to media reports, Racan expressed
his support for the stable and democratic BiH, while Petritsch stressed
that the International Community will not tolerate any illegal and
criminal activitiy in the country.
HNS: Petritsch does not want to understand the fear of the Croats:
Commenting on the Friday meeting between the High Representative, Wolfgang
Petritsch and the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, the Croat National
Assembly (HNS) said in a statement that Petritsch showed that he does not
want to recognize or understand the fears of the Croat people in BiH. The
HNS also dismissed the comparison between the Croat self-rule in BiH and
the Republic of Srpska Krajina in Croatia, which was made by the High
Representative, saying that, unlike the Serbs in Croatia, Croats in BiH
are a constituent nation. The HNS also stressed that the Croat self-rule
in not a parallel institution in BiH, but an alarm activated because of
the unequal status of the Croat people in the country.
Croat Coordination members to meet the Croatian leadership in Zagreb:
According to Jutarnji List, members of the Croat Coordination, Marko
Tadic, Kresimir Zubak, Ilija Simic, Miljenko Brkic, and Mladen Ivankovic
will meet for talks with the Croatian president Stjepan Mesic on Thursday
and Friday, later this week. The Croat Co-ordination will demand from
Croatia to strongly support its position on the constitutional reform and
the election law.
BiH Presidency: Croat officers increasingly turning up for work:
Following their meeting with senior officials in the Federation Ministry
of Defense, members of the BiH Presidency, Beriz Belkic and Jozo
Krizanovic, said that Croat soldiers and officers are increasingly
returning to the Federation Army. According to them, the most responsive
were the soldiers from Posavina and Central Bosnia where over 70 percent
of them already returned.
Zlatan Mijo Jelic: The First Guardian Corps never had any documentation:
The former commander of the First Guardian Corps in Mostar, Zlatan Mijo
Jelic, dismissed the allegations of the former Federation Defense
Minister, Miroslav Prce, that all financial documentation of the Ministry
could be found in the barracks of the First Guardian Corps. "The financial
documentation of the Federation Defense Ministry has never been held in
the Mostar barracks," said Jelic, and added that he believes that Prce,
like numerous other Croat officials, succumbed to the pressure and tried
to distance himself from the ongoing processes in the country.
A verbal war between the Centra Bosnian Headquarters and the Federal
Ministry of Defence: Who is manipulating the salaries of the Croat
component of the Federal Army
The Central Bosnia Headquarters for the Protection of the Identity and
Croat National Interests sent an open letter to the High Representative,
Wolfgang Petritsch, in which it warned him that Mijo Anic, the Federation
Minister of Defense, is manipulating the December salaries for the HVO
soldiers. The HQ further demanded that the High Representative act in
accordance with his authorities and take certain measures against the
manipulation of the salaries. Antun Mrkonjic, an Assistant to the Defense
Minister, said these funds were transparent and were earmarked at the
beginning of this year.
Posavina Canton opens a new account with Zagrebacka Banka in Orasje:
According to Dnevni Avaz ,quoting Habena, which again quoted the Finance
Minister of Canton 2 (Posavina), Josip Vidovic, the Canton has opened a
new account with Zagrebacka Banka in Orasje. Vidovic said it would take at
least 10 days before enough revenues would have accumulated to enable the
Canton to pay its employees for last month (it's not clear whether that
refers to April or March). He could not tell when the Canton would gain
access to its money with Hercegovacka Banka and refused to reveal the
amount of the funds.
Mostar Pension Fund financed "Herceg-Bosna"?:
According to Dnevni Avaz, from the moment Ivan Bender became the director
of the Mostar Pension Fund (MIO) on, this institution has become one of
the main sources of financing of the illegal "Herceg-Bosna". Daily's
source said that the MIO transferred, without the approval of its Steering
Board, about 200,000 DM to the account of the so-called Herceg-Bosna in
July 2000. The above approval was secured somewhat later, only after
Bender pressured the president of the SB, Nikola Antunovic, to produce a
document confirming this transaction.
Threatening flyers turn up in Mostar:
Sarajevo dailies report that numerous flyers with threats to the
newly-elected Croat representatives appeared on the streets of Mostar
early Sunday. According to Onasa news agency, the flyers referred to
Kresimir Zubak, Jadranko Prlic, Jozo Krizanovic, Ivankovic brothers and
other "illegal" Croat representatives as the traitors who will be
penalized. The same flyers also call upon the High Representative,
Wolfgang Petritsch, the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Robert Barry, and
the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Jacques Paul
Klein, to "stop with their hypocrisy". "Don't put the guns in our hands,"
reads the paper.
The High Representative names Croat members of the Constitutional
Commission:
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, appointed on Friday Ilija
Simic (Croat Peasant Party) and Ivan Plejic (Croat National Union) to the
vacant positions of Croat members of the Federation Constitutional
Commission. All Federation media carried the OHR press release.
Interview with Mijo Brajkovic, the General Manager of the Aluminium
Factory in Mostar - We have become the most successful without anyone's
help and we have a reason to ask: where did 5 billion $ of donations
disappear?
In an interview with Slobodna Dalmacija, Mijo Brajkovic, the General
Manager of the Aluminium Factory, said that it would be easy to check
whether the Factory was one of the main financiers of the Croat self-rule
in BiH, and stressed that every penny in the AF was hard-earned and is not
squandered. "If by financing, they mean our help in the construction of
the Croat National Theatre, we are doing it and will keep allocating money
for the Theatre," said Brajkovic.
Commenting on the events connected to the Hercegovacka Bank and the IC
raid of its offices in Mostar and other towns in Herzegovina, he said that
this should have been done in a more democratic manner. He said that he
regrets that poor people and pensioners are affected by the situation in
this bank. "The international community should do its job in a more
transparent manner if it wants to earn some sympathies," said Brajkovic.
HDZ: Political tactics that will not work
In a statement for the press, the HDZ BiH welcomed the efforts of the
political representatives in BiH and the international institutions
regarding the adoption of the election law which would reflect the real
position of BiH as a complex state of the three equal and constituent
peoples and citizens. The HDZ also accused the IC and the Alliance of
stealing its ideas: "This policy is a continuation of planned political
steps that are to contribute to the resolving of the political crisis in
BiH which culminated following the adoption of the wrong electoral
decisions at the wrong time."
The Croat National Assembly says the abolishment of the Croat self-rule is
possible
The Presidency of the Croat National Assembly announced on Saturday that
they will abolish the Croat self-rule in BiH if the Constitutional Court
Decision on the constituency of the peoples in both entities is
implemented in full. They stressed that they have never wanted to annex
the Croat territories to the Republic of Croatia. "The Croat National
Assembly and the temporary Croat self-rule do not want to split BiH and
they want even less to annex it to Croatia. These are fabricated
insinuations, that they were persistently trying to impute to the Croats
in BiH," read the statement.
Changes in 'Slobodna Dalmacija' today:
"From Monday on, a political prostitute 'Slobodna Dalmacija' will be truly
free for all honest and democratic journalists, and its journalists Gugo,
Celan, Marijacic, Vukman and Jovic can write in some other, less
important, political newspapers. After this group of the journalists leave
the newspaper, 'Slobodna Dalmacija' will be again what it used to be
before their arrived. Honest people will not have to read it from the back
page, from death notices, but they will read it as a normal newspaper,"
said Vinko Bajrovic, a reputable SDP Croatia member.
Republika Srpska:
Robert Barry: SDS denied that Karadzic has been expelled from the party:
In an interview with Banja Luka's Glas Srpski, the Head of the OSCE
Mission to BiH, Robert Barry, said that he hopes that moderate Croats and
members of the HDZ will realize that the idea of the so-called self-rule
is a dead-end street. He also said that numerous Herzegovinian businessmen
are already increasingly becoming aware of this, as the tourist season is
approaching. Commenting on the situation in the RS, Barry said, among
other things, that he does not believe that Radovan Karadzic has been
expelled from the SDS, because the party leadership denied this
information. He stressed that he does not have much confidence in the
newly reformed SDS, as this party has done nothing yet to make good on its
promises to arrest the indicted war criminals and eliminate officials who
are still closely connected with Karadzic.
Karadzic often crosses the Drina at Janja:
According to Dnevni Avaz, the indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic often
crosses the Drina river between BiH and the FRY at Janja, near Zvornik.
The daily also says that the Russian troops within the SFOR which are
stationed in the region are aware of this, but are unwilling to act.
Cabinet of the RS President and Vice President Issued a Press Release
Denying Writing of SA Based Dnevni Avaz
Both RS dailies carry press release from the Cabinet of the RS President
and Vice President Mirko Sarovic and Dragan Cavic in which they deny
writing of SA daily Dnevni avaz suggesting that RS authorities support
so-called Croat Self-rule and secretly meet with Ante Jelavic and Ivic
Pasalic.
"The writing of Dnevni avaz is fully fabricated from its first to the last
letter", reads the press release.
"Instead of this dishonorable deed and an obvious intention to transfer
this deep FBiH crisis on to the RS, witch hunting and finding guilty ones
on the wrong side, we suggest the creators of this frame to turn to the
essence and find realistic and democratic solution to the FBiH crisis",
reads the press release from Sarovic's and Cavic's Cabinet.
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