BiH/Central institutions: BiH Presidency holds session today BiH House of Peoples removes the HR-imposed laws from the agenda Dobrinja Arbitration Federation Police retreats from Dobrinja, Serb residents continue with protests Sarovic and Cavic Are Returning From the States Due to Dobrinja - RS Does Not Accept the Decision Kalinic Is Disappointed With the Arbitration Award Serb Sarajevo Municipal Assembly Sends Letter to OHR Requesting the Suspension of the Award PDP Reacts To the Arbitration Award Head of Novi Grad Municipality Says Implementation Will Be Carried Out in a Couple of Days Asanin Demands Ivanic's Resignation OHR Spokesman Chris Bird Says Sarovic, Cavic and Ivanic Have to Implement the Award Dnevni Avaz: Person in Focus - Diarmuid Sheridan: A Just Arbiter HDZ-related News ABOLISHMENT OF CROAT SELF-RULE AFTER REFORMS IN BIH, SAYS RAGUZ "Negotiator" splits the HDZ Croat Coordination in Zagreb today Croatian Prime Minister said aid for BiH misused Jelavic, Covic and Raguz are not in Croatia Disturbance in the Sanctuary of the Queen of Peace Globus: Interview with Ante Jelavic - Croats in BiH will not provoke conflicts with SFOR even in the case of my arrest Head of the OHR Mostar Colin Munro denied having talks with Jelavic HDZ: Raid on Hercegovacka Banka - a catch of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank Republika Srpska Doboj authorities distribute Bosniak-owned land to Serb refugees from Federation Srebrenica mayor calls for declaring the town a neutral district Editorials Slobodna Dalmacij A: The Alliance on 'a remote control' BiH/Central institutions related issues: BiH Presidency holds session today The BiH Presidency will hold a session today during which the three members will discuss the preparations for the meeting of the Inter-state Council for cooperation between Croatia and BiH. The Presidency will also verify the expert negotiating team for the succession talks. BiH House of Peoples removes the HR-imposed laws from the agenda Deputies in the BiH Parliament's House of Peoples decided during yesterday's session to remove from the agenda the discussion about the 16 laws which were imposed by the High Representative in BiH, and to consider them during one of the future sessions. According to Momcilo Novakovic, a delegate of the HoP, the Serb caucus in the House wanted these laws removed from the agenda, and said he did not understand why these laws need to be accepted in a speedy manner and without amendments. Dobrinja Arbitration Federation Police retreats from Dobrinja, Serb residents continue with protests According to media in the Federation, Serb residents gathered on the streets of Dobrinja I and IV for a second nigh protesting the hand-over of these neighborhoods to the Federation. Reuters reported that several hundred youths lit bonfires at two crossroads and jeered at German peacekeepers within SFOR who were patrolling in armored personal carriers. The Cantonal Television reported late last night that the Federation Police, which entered Dobrinja on Tuesday retreated once again on Wednesday fearing clashes with angry Serb residents. Dragan Savic of the Association of Dobrinja Serb refugees said that the residents will set checkpoints across the neighborhood if their housing problems are not resolved. "An unrest may occur because people's patience is running out," said Savic. Late last night, deputies in the Serb Sarajevo Assembly visited the disputed neighborhood and told the angry residents to stay calm and united. They said that the time for the implementation f the arbitration decision is too short and commented that they do not want to live under the Federation authority for even ten minutes. The delegation of the RS government led by its vice president Petar Kunic also visited Dobrinja yesterday. They asked the IPTF to prevent the Federation and the Cantonal Police from entering the parts of the neighborhoods which were awarded to the Federation. Kunic asked the residents not to leave their apartments and promised that the RS government will ensure with the International Community that the "Serbs are not thrown on the street." Sarovic and Cavic Are Returning From the States Due to Dobrinja - RS Does Not Accept the Decision Today's editions of both BL dailies quote the RS President and Vice-president Mirko Sarovic and Dragan Cavic as saying that the Arbitration Award did not take into account the minimal requirements of the RS Expert Team and that it can trigger a number of undesirable consequences. In his statement to Radio Serb Sarajevo he said that the Award is unfavourable and detrimental to the RS, and is aimed at causing another crisis in the RS. "That is why I think it is very important for us as well as for those who made the Award, to stay calm", said Sarovic and called on all citizens who live in Serb Sarajevo and in the RS to express their solidarity with Serbs from Dobrinja. Vice-president Cavic stated that the Award is completely unacceptable for the RS, stressing that the new situation might cause instability of the RS. "Those who made the Award will have to face the fact that nobody in the RS is going to accept it", said Cavic and added that the RS institutions will initiate demarcation issue between the RS and BiH Federation in other areas as well. The Cabinet of the RS President issued press release yesterday which reads that this is a political not legal decision. The press release further reads that one cannot avoid the impression that certain political factors from BiH and from outside wish stabile RS and BiH. Kalinic Is Disappointed With the Arbitration Award RS National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinic is stunned and disappointed with the Arbitration Award. "The Award is unjust and unfortunately made at the moment when the RS seeks strengthening of democratic institutions, resolving of economic and social issues, which only causes the instability in this entity", said Kalinic. He commends views and measures undertaken by the RS Government and the Serb Sarajevo leadership. Serb Sarajevo Municipal Assembly Sends Letter to OHR Requesting the Suspension of the Award Today's edition of "Glas srpski" reports that the Serb Sarajevo Municipal Assembly sent letter to the OHR and other international institutions in which they requested suspension of "the shameful and unjust Arbitration Award for Dobrinja I and IV". At the same time Serb Sarajevo Municipal Assembly requests the High Representative to resolve the issue of the disputable 258 km that it was agreed upon. The municipal Assembly of Serb Sarajevo called on citizens of Dobrinja I and IV to remain calm, stay where they are and not to leave these two settlements. PDP Reacts To the Arbitration Award Party of Democratic Progress issued press release yesterday in which they say that the Arbitration Award for Dobrinja I and IV is unjust and can be interpreted as another blow to the interests of the Serb people and the RS. "The fact that minimal requirements of the RS were not taken into account and that the boundary-line was moved over the disputable line to the detriment of the RS give us room for suspicion that Justice Sheridan's decision is aimed at destabilization of the RS", reads the press release. Head of Novi Grad Municipality Says Implementation Will Be Carried Out in a Couple of Days Today's edition of "Nezavisne novine" quotes Mayor of Novi Grad Municipality Damir Hadzic as saying that in the next three of four days citizens of Dobrinja I and IV, Serbs before all, will accept the presence of Sarajevo Canton Policemen in this area. Implementation of civil part of the Award will begin after holidays. He stated that the protests of Serb citizens were organized and orchestrated aimed at raising tensions but Sarajevo Canton Policemen did not accept this game. Asanin Demands Ivanic's Resignation Member of the SNSD Executive Board Marko Asanin accused the SDS-PDP coalition for the new developments in Dobrinja I and IV. "I am asking myself what is the next thing for sale just to keep this coalition in power", says Asanin. Asanin called on RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic and Mayor of Serb Sarajevo Predrag Lasica to resign. OHR Spokesman Chris Bird Says Sarovic, Cavic and Ivanic Have to Implement the Award Today's edition of "Nezavisne novine" quotes OHR Spokesman Chris Bird as saying that the Arbitration Award for Dobrinja I and IV is final and binding for the RS authorities and that Sarovic, Cavic and Ivanic have the responsibility to implement it. "Sarovic, Cavic and other SDS members know very well what the situation is like when it comes to Dobrinja. They also know that Justice Sheridan's decision is final and will not be altered", says Bird. Commenting on Cavic's and Sarovic's yesterday's statements that the Award is unacceptable and that nobody in the RS is going to accept it, Chris Bird says that these statements are out of place, since this is not a political but independent decision made by Justice Sheridan. "The High Representative expect the RS Government to implement the Award. The Award is final and the implementation of it rests with the RS authorities", says Bird. Dnevni Avaz: Person in Focus - Diarmuid Sheridan: A Just Arbiter Dnevni Avaz chose the International Arbitrator, Judge Diarmuid Sheridan, for the person in focus. The daily says Sheridan is a judge who proved that he could stand above political disputes and make rulings that are legally grounded. "By making his decision on Dobrinja I and IV, Sheridan proved that he is a professional," noted Avaz. HDZ-related News: ABOLISHMENT OF CROAT SELF-RULE AFTER REFORMS IN BIH, SAYS RAGUZ The main coordinator of the inter-cantonal Council of the "Croat self-rule," Martin Raguz, said on Wednesday that the Croat leadership is ready to abolish the "self-rule" if it receives clear international guaranties on righteous solving of the Croat national issue in BiH. "We are going to abolish the Croat self rule after serious reforms in the country," Raguz told the Croat Radio Herceg-Bosna in Mostar. The BiH Croats are expecting that constitutional reforms in BiH lead to establishing of a house of peoples in the Republika Srpska, for which the representatives would be elected just by members of one nation. They also expect that members of the state's Presidency are being elected by all three national caucuses of the state's House of Peoples. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to have new elections, argues Raguz. According to him, the present government in Sarajevo is illegitimate, since it was elected contrary the will of Croats in BiH. Raguz was optimistic concerning the start of negotiations with the international community in order to solve the "biggest political crisis" since the Dayton Accord was signed, and added that the contacts are decreased due to the actions in Hercegovacka Banka Mostar. It is unessential that international officials do not want talk to dismissed officials from the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) BiH, and especially with sacked president Ante Jelavic, claimed Raguz. "Anyone who thinks that the problems concerning this political crisis are in individuals, are wrong," Raguz said. He added the Croat leadership in BiH is not against dialogue or withdrawing from their positions "if that is the price for solving this crisis." "Negotiator" splits the HDZ: According to Oslobodjenje, the HDZ will experience a severe internal split if the hard-liners in the party refuse to start with negotiations with the International Community. An anonymous HDZ source told the daily that the party is presently searching for an adequate person for the possible negotiations, however, it is still not clear as to who this person will be or who he will represent. The same source said that Bozo Ljubic, perhaps the most moderate HDZ political, is the strongest candidate who would be accepted by the International Community. The other two are Martin Raguz and Perica Jurkovic. Oslobodjenje notes that the dismissed HDZ president, Ante Jelavic, is generally not opposed to the idea of negotiations, however the other hard-liners, such as Marko Tokic and General Stanko Sopta Baja, would unlikely accept Ljubic as their representative. Croat Coordination in Zagreb today: Members of the Croat Coordination meet today in Zagreb with the Croatian President, Stipe Mesic, the Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, and the president of the Croatian Sabor, Zdravko Tomac. The president of the Coordination, Marko Tadic, told the press that he and his colleagues presented their views of the situation in BiH to the Croatian leadership and discuss the so-called Croat self-rule in BiH and the HDZ obstruction in the Federation institutions of authority. The Coordination is also represented by Ilija Simic (Croat Peasant Party -HSS), Kresimir Zubak (New Croat Initiative - NHI) and Mladen Ivankovic - Lijanovic. The Croat National Assembly criticized yesterday the Croatian government for accepting talks with "illegitimate" representatives of the Croat people in BiH. "BiH Croat Co-ordination supports the existing Draft Election Law, holding that Election Law should be passed as soon as possible as it is crucial precondition for the accession of BiH to the Council of Europe", Tadic said following his meeting Mesic. " We support the existing Draft Election Law, of course, with a clear regulation that each constitutive people elects its representatives in the Houses of Peoples, namely House of People", Tadic said. According to him, after the Election Law is passed, BiH will access to the Council of Europe, and after that the procedure of amending of the BiH Constitution will be initiated in accordance with the European Convention. "Our aim is to amend the provisions of the Constitution referring to the election of the BiH Presidency members, because we are in favour of enabling each Croat, Bosniac and Serb to be candidate of the Presidency", Tadic pointed out. Mesic said after the meeting that he agreed with the delegation that the Decision of the Constitutional Court has to be implemented. As he said, the Election Law being implemented in one entity has to be implemented in the other. " Solution for BiH is not in ghetoization , but rather in return of Croats to the entire region. It can be realized", Mesic pointed out. He stressed that international community is not against Croats in BiH , but on the contrary, it is for equality of the three peoples. All those using illegal ways are doomed to failure. But Co-ordination and all those being engaged are doing good job to the benefit of all Croatian people, especially Croats of BiH, Mesic said. Croatian Prime Minister said aid for BiH misused During a session of the Croatian Sabor in Zagreb, the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, said that no one in Croatia will be determining criminal actions in BiH, however, the Croatian government will investigate what happened with the funds Croatia sent to BiH. "There are indications that these funds were misused," said Racan. At the same session, Anto Kovacevic of the HKDU (Croat Christian Democrats) was interested to know the position of the Government regarding the "operation carried out by army, tanks and dynamite in the Hercegovacka bank". The Prime Minister Racan said that no one could be satisfied with such actions and underlined that the Government insisted that the fight against crime be separated from solving of the open political issues in BiH. He also said that he Government advocated changes to the Election law and the Constitutions of respective entities in BiH which would lead to equality of Croats. "Yet, it is our duty to ask ourselves in what way the assistance funds which Croatia had sent to BiH were spent, as there are serious indications that they have been misappropriated", Racan said. Ante Beljo (HDZ) stated that there was a Stalin-like persecution of Croats in act in BiH, that the Croatian Government communicated only with a part of the Croat representatives in BiH and asked whether there was an agreement, unknown to the public, between the Government and the international community that might explain the Government's behavior. Prime Minister Racan denied that there was any secret agreements and accused Beljo of insinuating. "We do not create the policy of Croats in BiH, but the extreme individuals in BiH cannot create the Croatian Government's policy either", Racan stated and announced that, in the days to come, there would be a number of talks held aimed at calming confrontations in BiH down. Jelavic, Covic and Raguz are not in Croatia: The Federation Ministry of Interior is conducting investigations of a number of persons suspected of designing and attempting to implement the project of the illegal Croat self-rule in BiH. This was confirmed by the Federation Deputy Minister of Interior Tomislav Limov in an interview published in Dnevni Avaz on Wednesday. He explained that the investigative procedure is directed only at criminal, and not political activities. In answer to a question about the allegations that some of the HDZ representatives are preparing to move to Croatia in order to escape a prosecution in BiH, Limov stated: "If nothing else, we shall request their extradition via the Interpol. I think Jelavic is already packed and in Croatia." The Croat National Assembly denied the allegations published in Dnevni avaz that the leaders of the Croat self-rule and the HNS, Ante Jelavic, Dragan Covic and Martin Raguz "are moving to Croatia in order to evade a prosecution in BiH," saying that the paper publishes ordered texts. "It is not true that Croat officials are preparing to move to Croatia, nor is it true that they are spending less and less time in Mostar," reads a press release from the HNS. They claim Dnevni avaz published false data about the real estate owned by Jelavic, Covic, Raguz, and about their private and family life, which contravenes the right to privacy. Dnevni avaz publishes what someone wants it to publish, and not what is true, concluded the HNS and announced a suit against the paper. Disturbance in the Sanctuary of the Queen of Peace Vjesnik reported that that SFOR tanks had first withdrawn, but came back again to the the sanctuary of the Queen of Peace, which bad for Medjugorje. It is said that the friars and pilgrims in Medjugorje who want to mark the 20th anniversary of the Virgin Mary's apparition in the most dignified manner agree that the peace in BiH cannot be reached by a disturbance of peace in a place such as Medjugorje. For that reason, and despite all of the lack of understanding on the part of the SFOR and their order-issuing authorities, the message of peace that over 100,000 people intend to send from Medjugorje on 25 June could be the loudest ever, reads the article. Globus: Interview with Ante Jelavic - Croats in BiH will not provoke conflicts with SFOR even in the case of my arrest Q: Mr. Jelavic, there have been some rumours that you are leaving the politics. Is that true? A: Those are malicious fabrications. Nowhere have I said that I am leaving the politics, but I am surely not irreplaceable. Sometimes I have a hard time, I get tired of pressures and think it would have been much easier for me if I had not taken the role in the top of the Croat politics in BiH. Still, a question is whether it would be responsible to the Croat people. As for responsibility, I am absolutely at peace, my conscience is clear, and I could withdraw if necessary, but not to the detriment of the Croat people. Q: Did you participate in the organised resistance to the OHR investigators in the Hercegovacka Bank affiliates? A: I do not have the information that there was any organised resistance. To me it seems to have been a reaction of the passers-by, ordinary people who were obstructed in their regular, everyday life and activities. Not to mention the fact that the money in those Bank affiliates was the money of depositors, who, as ordinary people, were appalled by the way and means used to conduct that "audit." Q: Tear gas was thrown at the OHR investigators in the central building of the Hercegovacka Bank, they were shot at from the nearby buildings. That was not a typical reaction of revolted citizens. A: I really do not know anything about that. Did someone shoot at their own responsibility and why? I know that the situation could have been worse had we not sent our people to calm the situation down around noon that day. The people were embittered, some them were under the influence of alcohol. We had to intervene to avoid fatalities. We succeeded in that, as you could see. Q: But there were injured people on the OHR side. A: Unfortunately, it happened too fast for us. I found out about those events relatively late, in the afternoon hours. The night before, I was sitting in a big company, including Bishop Ratko Peric and HNS officials, but we did not even dream that SFOR armoured vehicles would occupy the Hercegovacka Bank the next day. Q: Did you have any information that a similar action could happen? A: We did have some information from Sarajevo about that, but we did not know any details. SFOR caught us by surprise with their unnecessary use of force. Also, the "black hoods" were involved in all that, which was a pure provocation of our citizens. In fact, the way in which the first action was conducted had to cause a reaction. Why was there no reaction on the occasion of the second entry in the Hercegovacka Bank building in Mostar? Q: Because the members of the British SAS acted with more authority than the Italian Carabinieri did? A: No, but because everything happened outside of the working hours, without the unnecessary disturbance of citizens. Still, it is still not clear as to why they were auditing the Bank's operations armed to their teeth. Q: HDZ refused to take part in the authorities, in the segment that was offered to the party? A: We are offered crumbs, and in fact, they are chasing us away from the authorities. It is ridiculous to claim that we are against the constituency of the peoples in BiH having in mind the fact that we suggested it at a time. Q: Still, two Croat members of the BiH Constitutional Court refused to support the draft law on the constituency of peoples throughout BiH. A: Believe me, they did so following their own conscience, and I advised them to the contrary. Q: Really? They acted contrary to the party's decision? A: I give you my word. However, that was not a decision of the party, but my advice. Further on, what is interesting is the treatment of the category of "Others" under the section of nationality. It refers exclusively to the BiH Federation because the RS does not have two houses of parliament. They have no national minorities. Therefore, instead of the "Others" under the section of nationality, it should read "national minorities." This way, all "Others" were crammed into the House of Peoples, in order to provide for a dominance of the Alliance. The category of "Others" in the House of Peoples has 20 mandates. Q: Is your Croat National Assembly a parallel institution in the BiH Federation? A: No, it is not. It is the body with the greatest legitimacy of the Croat people in BiH. Q: You deny the legitimacy of the BiH institutions. A: I do not, not at all. That is perhaps what our political opponents would like to happen. We only deny the legitimacy of the Croat representatives in those institutions. Q: It means that, in your opinion, the Croat self-rule is not a parallel authority in the BiH Federation? A: Of course it is not. We still keep paying the taxes and customs fees in to the Federation accounts, therefore, we are acting with legal and political responsibility. As for the issue of legitimacy, the Croat National Assembly consists of the persons elected at the elections - from municipal to state levels. You can say it is a nonsense or a debating club, but we consider it the umbrella political organisation of Croats in BiH. In Finland for instance, there is the legitimate Swedish National Assembly, which discusses the cultural identity of the Swedish people and the vital problems of their community. Q: Still, you are not acting on the line of cultural identity. Soldiers walk out of the barracks following your directives... Is that not evidence that your activities are parallel, outside of the institutions of the State, outside of the Constitution? A: No, we pass no regulations or directives. We have a right to come up with suggestions to citizens, voters, soldiers, anyone... It is up to them as to whether or not to do as we say. Q: What are you going to do with them (soldiers)? Where will you employ them? Is that your private army? A: They are not on the street, they will be taken care of. They are absolutely not a private army. They are simply no longer soldiers, but demobilised soldiers. Q: How do you plan to keep paying those people? A: We will certain make sure not to leave those people on the street. We will provide some money from a part of our cantons' revenues, and some money through the sponsorship of the major companies that are aware of the problems. Q: Some people would have a different name for those sponsorships of yours. A: I am aware that some people maliciously and mockingly call that a racketeering. However, it is really an assistance to the people who, by a combination of political circumstances, were left jobless. We have an obligation to take care of them. Q: When you say "we," which companies exactly do you have in mind? A: The companies that are strong enough to be able to expand and to have a need for more workforce. That is, of course, unless the most recent measures of the international community and SFOR jeopardise their business operations. Q: Are you afraid you might be arrested? Will you stay and live in BiH? A: I am not afraid of being arrested. I will stay in BiH. After all, I can see no reason why I should be arrested. If someone wants a radicalisation of the situation, they will not get it. They will not have a side to enter in a conflict with. Head of the OHR Mostar Colin Munro denied having talks with Jelavic: At yesterday's press conference of international organizations in Mostar, the Head of the OHR South, Colin Munro, rejected the claims of the dismissed HDZ president, Ante Jelavic, that the OHR held a series of negotiations with certain representatives of this party. "We stressed that we will not hold any talks with the dismissed HDZ officials, however, it would be good if Jelavic would leave some room for negotiations with those have not been removed," said Mounro. HDZ: Raid on Hercegovacka Banka - a catch of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank (Slobodna Dalmacija) Ante Jelavic, the leader of the HDZ BiH and the President of the Croat self-rule, in his statement given to 'Slobodna' on Sunday stated that there are speculations that 'the raid in the Herzegovacka Bank, one of the most lucrative Banks in BiH, was made in order to overtake this Bank for a small amount of money.' A BiH weekly 'Danas' in their last edition made a step forward with regard to this story accusing the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch of wanting to destroy the Hercegovacka Bank in order to sell it cheaply to the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank. Josip Seremet, one of the Managers of the Raiffeisen Bank in Zagreb, was mentioned as a person who led the this Bank in the operation of the purchase of two banks in Sarajevo and Mostar. We asked Seremet to make a comment on the last writings but after he had consultations with his superiors in their seat in Vienna, he kindly directed us to Michael Muller, the Manager of the Rafffeisen Bank in Sarajevo. In the line of the strategy of the Raiffeisen Bank to cover the whole BiH market the Hrvatska Postanska Bank seemed as the best way to secure the presence in the Herzegovinian part of the Federation, on whose market the Market Bank was not present. A diagnostic report of the Hrvatska Postanska Bank with another very positive result was made in November, 2000. The Hrvatska Postanska Bank proved as a lucrative bank, which perfectly meets the needs of the Bank Group Raiffeisen. Manager Muller stressed that, according to everything, it is clear and transparent where the initiative for taking over of the two BiH banks came from. With regard to the writings that Petritsch made it possible for them he answered: 'There have not been any contacts, consultations with the HR with regard to the takeover of any bank. The aforementioned decisions have been made, exclusively, on the ground of the Raffeisen Zentrale Bank strategy for this market and on the ground of analyses of the banks, which were included in the diagnostic reports. Based on these principles the Raiffeisen Zentrale Bank has already entered markets of 10 countries in the Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from the Hravtska Postanska Bank, the Bank Group Raiffeisen does not have an intention to overtake any other bank in the Herzegovinian part of the Federation,' said Muller. German ambassador: We need a way out of this serious situation in BiH: Talking about the current political situation in BiH, the German Ambassador to BiH, Hans Jochen Peters, said that by leaving the HDZ representatives out of the joint institutions of authority, a very serious situation has been created, and which is a challenge for the members of the BiH Presidency, the Federation Government and the IC. "I am convinced that it is necessary to find the way out of this serious crises because no one benefits from it. My duty is to have talks with politicians, who have been democratically registered and who work within the legal institutions. The German Government supports the High Representative and the newly-elected Authority in BiH and it is concerned over the current situation," said Peters. He added that the return of the HDZ to the joint institutions of authority would be an important contribution to the resolution of the current crises. Republika Srpsk A: Doboj authorities distribute Bosniak-owned land to Serb refugees from Federation According to Dnevni Avaz, the RS authorities in Doboj/Kotorsko distributed 200 pieces of privately-owned land to Serb refugees from the Federation. Some sources say that the newcomers have already started building their houses on this property. The daily reports that the land belongs to Bosniaks who were expelled from this area in 1992/3. Commenting on this, OHR spokesman Oleg Milisic said that, if the land is indeed privately owned, its distribution is completely illegal. "The affected owners of the property should immediately initiate a legal process before the court," said Milisic. Srebrenica mayor calls for declaring the town a neutral district The Bosniak mayor of Srebrenica, site of the worst massacre of the Bosnian war, has called for this town to be placed outside the authority of the RS and made a neutral district, Glas Srpski reported today. "Srebrenica should be a district under the authority of Bosnia's central government, with its own administration to help solve economic problems and facilitate the return of refugees," mayor Sefket Hafizovic said in a letter Wednesday to the BiH central government. The letter was also sent to the governments of both entities, to the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and to the OSCE mission to BiH. Editorials: Slobodna Dalmacij A: The Alliance on 'a remote control' Written by: Petar Milos Even if all that is true, how does the Alliance intend to rule the Federation if its leaders cannot, must not or do not want to visit almost each municipality with a Croat majority. Not only that they have not won the majority of the votes at the elections in these municipalities, but some Croat representatives do not have their own parties organized in these municipalities, and some of them do not have a single voter or a sympathizer. As someone said, its election headquarters is, actually, the SFOR's headquarters. Aware of all this, they have barricaded themselves in Sarajevo, and from their offices and the sessions they are sending messages to the Croat people, that they, allegedly, represent and for whose interests they are fighting for. Thus, for instance, it does not occur to Brigic to come among his compatriots in Tomislavgrad, and not to mention Grude or Siroki, just like Komsic avoids Kiseljak and Krizanovic his native Vitez. The most of the Croat representatives, within the Alliance, collect most of the information about their own people and their problems from the Sarajevo media, which has been satanizing not only the HDZ, but also all its voters, and which calls the HVO a terrorist organization. Especially the people from Herzegovina are their target. It was not difficult for the IC to pass a decision on the abolishment of the 'Erotel' because of the 'non-objective and inflammatory reporting', and at the same time they support endless lies, imputations and slanders in some Sarajevo media. After the establishment of the Alliance Authority Jozo Krizanovic, a current member of the BiH Presidency from the lines of the Croat people, who visited Mostar East on Tuesday, is the one who came closest to the Croats. Jozo also invited the Croat representatives to the building of the Cantonal Ministry of Interior, but they have not showed up and Jozo expressed his regret and a hope 'that they will overcome the problems through a dialogue'. The Jozo's coming to Mostar East and his invitation for talks were as a typical provocation judged among the Croats. If he had had good intentions then he would have come among the people that he is representing and he would have had the talk with them. Thus, he sent a clear message to those on the right bank of the Neretva River that he does not trust them, that he is afraid of them and that they are terrorists. Thus Jozo secured another proof on the extremism of the BiH Croats, that the Sarajevo media are strongly underlining, connecting all this with threatening leaflets and banditism related to the Lijanovici case. And instead of discovering the authors of these terrorist acts, which are highly reprehensible, they are manipulating with them for daily political purposes in order to disqualify the whole territory and the whole people. And Jozo hopes that 'the problems will be overcome through the dialogue'.

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