BiH/Central institutions: BiH Presidency meets Federation officials, discusses the crisis Federation: Federation Defense Ministry completing the re-staffing of the Croat component of the Federation Army Vitez: A request of the HVIDRA Association and the Associations of the Families of Killed and Missing Croat Defenders: Croat National Assembly has to resolve problems with regard to the paying out of the assistance The Croat People's Community (HNZ) sent an open invitation to political opponents from the Croat National Assembly and the Alliance for Changes: HNZ calls for a dialogue! Anti-fraud campaign - Information about former HDZ BiH Vice President's embezzlements available - Ivan Bender bought himself a flat with the money of Herzeg-Bosnian pensioners? HVO Foundation asks for money for demobilised soldiers RS: Croatia to open a consulate in Banja Luka RS officials said 90 percent of Serbs will leave Dobrinja I and IV Construction of 50 Apartments in Srpska Ilidza to Start Corner Stone of Orthodox Church in Kozarac Blessed Serb Refugees Hold Protest in Bijeljina DPS (Democratic Patriotic Party) Announces Coalition RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic Visited Gradiska RS Law on privatization of Apartments Before the RS National Assembly on May 2nd Dobrinja I and IV after Arbitration Nezavisne novine editorial: Dobrinja Arbitration International community: The High Representative removes Dragan Mandic: Herzegovacka Bank Provisional Administrator regrets the share holders rejection of a meeting Germany to withdraw ten percent of its troops based in BiH SFOR condemned the pulling down of the monument erected in honor of Draza Mihajlovic in Brcko BiH/Central institutions related issues: BiH Presidency meets Federation officials, discusses the crisis BiH Presidency has meet on Friday with Federation officials and discussed the current political situation in this entity, Dnevni Avaz reported. Federation President, Karlo Filipovic said that the situation is being even more complicated by HDZ's actions and the establishment of the so-called Croat self-rule. Federation officials informed the Presidency of the plan that counters the activities of HDZ, Filipovic said and added that thanks to this plan and the support of the international community the situation in the Federation is begin slowly stabilized. Federation related issues: Federation Defense Ministry completing the re-staffing of the Croat component of the Federation Army Sarajevo papers reported that the Federation Defense Ministry said that it is completing the process of re-staffing of the Croat component of the Federation army. The Ministry in a statement said that in Herzegovina 50 percent of soldiers have signed their contracts. The statement also said that during the process of re-staffing, officials are taking into consideration the necessary downsizing of Federation Army according to the European standards adding that this process will be completed in the first half of this year. Vitez: A request of the HVIDRA Association and the Associations of the Families of Killed and Missing Croat Defenders: Croat National Assembly has to resolve problems with regard to the paying out of the assistance Split daily Slobodna Dalmacija reported that due to the irregular paying out of the assistance they demand from the Croat National Assembly to declare themselves immediately and in a written form about possible solutions of this problem, which is a priority for the Homeland War victims. They also demand an urgent meeting with the 'representatives of those who authorized themselves to demand from the Homeland War victims by using an economic coercion the approval for the solutions which are not favorable for us.' They believe that such a move is not human and that it is a consequence of the fact that they were not informed about this problem enough. In order to overcome the present situation and in order to avoid possible ill effects, they demand from the state institutions a continuation of already established procedure and paying out of the aforementioned assistance until different and for all of them acceptable solutions are found. 'We have used a term acceptable because the current procedure and proportion of the distribution from the budget funds for this purpose is 3 to 1 proportion to the benefit of the Muslim side.' The Croat People's Community (HNZ) sent an open invitation to political opponents from the Croat National Assembly and the Alliance for Changes: HNZ calls for a dialogue! Slobodna Dalmacija reported that along with the request for the dialogue with the opposing parties, the HNZ advocates the abolishment of the disputable OSCE decision on the way of the election of representatives in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament and BiH Federation. Anti-fraud campaign - Information about former HDZ BiH Vice President's embezzlements available - Ivan Bender bought himself a flat with the money of Herzeg-Bosnian pensioners? Zagreb daily Jutarnji List reported that Ivan Bender, former Vice President of the HDZ BiH, could soon be removed from the position of the Pension Fund Director in Mostar, Jutarnji List claims to have found out from the OHR in Sarajevo. The international auditors found the documentation which evidently proves that this HDZ hard-liner from Neum used his mandate in the Pensioner and Invalid's Insurance Bureau in Mostar to become, illegally as is believed, the owner of a flat of over a 100 m2 surface in the elite part of Mostar. According to the documentation that Jutarnji List avails of, on 11 April 2000, Ivan Bender paid 145,000 DEM to the construction company Vranica on the item of a purchase of a flat in the building called Ministarka where his neighbours would be other senior officials of the HDZ BiH - Miroslav Prce, former Federation Defense Minister, Damir Ljubic and Martin Raguz, who moved into a flat of 190m2. According to Jutarnji List's source, Bender paid for the flat with the money that the BiH Government allocated on the count of contributions for pensioner's insurance. It is about 5,450,000 KM that Bender, on behalf of the Pensioner and Invalid's Insurance Bureau, placed on time deposit in the Hercegovacka Bank in late 1999, and since then, there has been no trace of that money. Bender may use the OHR's blockade of the Hercegovacka Bank as an excuse for the dubious transaction, but the documents that the international auditors possess still substantiate the suspicions about his illegal actions. According to the findings of Jutarnji List, the OHR will come out in public about the activities of the Pensioner and Invalid's Insurance Bureau in Mostar (MIO) and Ivan Bender himself one of these days because of an illegal decision on the tenders for the sale of the Ero Hotel and because of some suspicious loan contracts. The OHR Anti-Fraud Team, apart from the contracts on the purchase of Bender's flat and the documentation on the sale of the Ero Hotel, also avails of the information about an illegal payment of 200,000 DEM from the MIO to the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which was done in July 2000, without the knowledge of the Management Board, but with the participation of the Management Board Chairman, Nikola Antunovic. HVO Foundation asks for money for demobilised soldiers Jutarnji List said that the fax machines of the prominent Croat companies in the BiH Federation have recently been flooded with requests from a phantom HVO Foundation based in Siroki Brijeg. The Foundation asked the companies to deposit some money on its account and assist in taking care of the demobilised soldiers that walked out of the barracks and left their duties in the BiH Federation following a recommendation from the Croat National Assembly. In a memo sent to the addresses of around a hundred companies in the BiH Federation, the Foundation appeals to the national conscientiousness of the sponsors and refers to "the difficult situation that Croat soldiers have found themselves in"?! As Jutarnji List found out, the response to the memo from Siroki Brijeg that the hard-line military lobby stands behind, is not too substantial. Since the Federation Defense Ministry daily issues more news about the filling-in of the army composition and the new contracts that have been signed by approximately 70% of the demobilised soldiers, a question is whom the HVO Foundation will be taking care of and where the money from possible sponsors will end up, reads the Jutarnji List article. RS related issues: Croatia to open a consulate in Banja Luka Croatia will on Monday open its consulate in Banja Luka, Dnevni Avaz reported. BiH Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija and his Croatian counterpart Tonino Picula will officially open the first Croatian diplomatic mission in the RS. They will also be present at the opening ceremony in Dvor na Uni where a bridge reconstructed by the USAID will be opened, the daily said. Banja Luka's Nezavisne novine announced the opening of the Consulate of Republic of Croatia in Banja Luka today. The Foreign Ministers of BiH and the Republic of Croatia, Zlatko Lagumdzija and Tonino Picula are to officially open the Croatian Consulate in Banja Luka, after which they will visit the RS Premier, Mladen Ivanic. Picula and Lagumdzija, as announced by BiH Foreign Ministry, should open border crossing at Dvor na Uni, which was reconstructed by USAID. Svetozar Mihajlovic, BiH CoM Minister for Civil Affairs and Communications, Jusuf Halilagic, his deputy as well as the Assistants to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Bilateral and Consular Related Issues, Milos Vukasinovic and Sidik Spahic are also in BiH delegation. RS officials said 90 percent of Serbs will leave Dobrinja I and IV President of the Assembly of Serb Sarajevo, Milovan Bjelica told the press that following the arbitration decision of judge Diarmuid Sheridan on Dobrinja I and IV, up to 90 percent of Serb population there will leave these two neighborhoods and seek housing elsewhere in the RS. Bjelica said that 870 families live in the two Dobrinjas and that they are mostly members of the RS army or police that do not want to live in the Federation. Construction of 50 Apartments in Srpska Ilidza to Start Glas srpski reports that construction of 50 apartments for the most jeopardized citizens of settlements Dobrinja I and IV is to is to start today, as stated by the Srpsko Sarajevo Mayor Predrag Lasica. President of Ilidza's War Veterans Association Dragan Savic said that, near the orthodox church in Dobrinja I, additional 380 apartments would be build within the following 6 months. Corner Stone of Orthodox Church in Kozarac Blessed RS dailies write on corner stone of orthodox church in Kozarac, near Prijedor, which was blessed by BL episcope Jefrem yesterday. Blessing ceremony was attended by Zivko Radisic, Presiding at BiH Presidency, Petar Kunic RS Deputy Prime Minister and Borislav Bojic President of the RS War veterans association. Serb Refugees Hold Protest in Bijeljina Glas srpski at length reports on protests of Serb refugees in Bijeljina. Over 3000 Serb refugees an displaced persons gathered to protest over evictions form property they temporary use. The organizer of the meeting, the Regional Association of Serb Refugees and Displaced Persons, who currently live in Ugljevik, Lopare and Bijeljina, requested the urgent stoppage of the evictions of Serb families whose property is destroyed, abolishment of the decision of the high representative to B-H on distribution of free plots to displaced persons. DPS (Democratic Patriotic Party) Announces Coalition Glas srpski carries DPS's announcement saying that a block of democratic parties in the RS will be established by September this year and it is going to take part in 2002. elections. DPS's President Predrag Radic said that this block would be formed in order to decrease a number of political parties and prevent splitting of political structures and electorate in the RS. "There will be no room for neither extreme right or left parties nor for individuals, who, so far, subject to personal interests, changed political options", said Radic. RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic Visited Gradiska Glas srpski report on the visit of the RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic to Gradiska. While explaining the difficult economic situation in the RS Ivanic said that debts of the RS Oil Industry were around 200 million KM. Ivanic stated that he wasn't pleased with financial discipline and that the daily income to the RS budget was 2,7 million KM, which was 500,000 KM less then needed for more regular payments to the budget beneficiaries. "The RS Government promised to strengthen the financial discipline. This process would not be conducted on the expense of the economy, but of the gray economy", added Ivanic. RS Law on privatization of Apartments Before the RS National Assembly on May 2nd Glas srpski writes that the RS Law on Privatization of Apartments would, most likely, appear before the RS National Assembly on May 2nd. Unofficially, GS writes, citizens would be able to pay their apartments off with 60% from old hard currency savings and 40% in cash. Aid to the RS Minister for Housin Issues Miladin Gacanovic said that the Government has practically given up on funds from privatization of apartments: "The Government has give up on this money so the housing fund could be established out of which construction of new apartments would be financed." Dobrinja I and IV after Arbitration Glas srpski reports on situation in settlements Dobrinja I and IV after arbitration. President of the Council for Defense of interests and rights of Dobrinja citizens Dragan Savic stated that civil control of police movements in part of this settlement, which by the decision belong to FBiH, would be continued until satisfactory solution for Serb population of this area was found. "It was agreed with representatives of Sarajevo Canton and Novi Grad municipality that police of FBiH announces its entrance to these areas and does it together with the IPTF and the RS police. He added that the arbiter's decision was respected but FBiH authorities couldn't gain control over these settlements over night. In the editorial published in today's edition of "Nezavisne novine" professor Nenad Kecmanovic explains his views on the Arbitration Award for Dobrinja I and IV. He says that one can get an impression that some representatives of the IC from time to time get an inspiration to start competing with Croat, Bosniak and Serb extremist in undermining the fragile, post-war situation in BiH, as it is now. The irrevocable decision of Justice Sheridan to move Dobrinja I and IV from the RS to the BiH Federation presents the latest example of this sort after which none can be sure that after falling a sleep in one entity would not wake up in the other. This specially goes for Serbs, because almost all revisions of the DPA have always affected only one side. However, in previous cases it was about issues which remained open in the DPA and the explanations were not so bad. This time, Justice Sheridan quoted a shocking fact that IBL goes through buildings, apartments and bathrooms. He probably was surprised because he became familiar with the implementation of the DPA, only three months ago. Otherwise he would have known that the IBL divides the entire villages and towns, but these are only internal entity boundaries. When a colleague of his, Mr. Badinter was drawing new boundaries of the former Yugoslavia 10 years ago he did not take into account the division of one country and the entire peoples. Finally, Sheridan was probably told that the main goal of the DPA is not division of the young country but its reintegration. Sheridan also quoted the letters he received from hundreds of Bosniaks, pre-war residents of Dobrinja I and IV, who neither permanently nor temporarily left Dobrinja. They simply had to leave Dobrinja during the war and now they are afraid to return to the RS. There is no doubt that they were complaining, that they had to leave Dobrinja under pressure and now are afraid to return, but we all know that obstruction of Annex 7 has always being punished with dismissals of local officials, not with change of IBL. Many Serbs who left Grbavica and other parts of Sarajevo and who still have not repossessed their property must feel cold at heart when they even think about returning to the town where they were fired, thrown out from their apartments, detained, interrogated, arrested and beaten up, and many of their fellow-countrymen ended up in "Kazani" pit. Do we have to expect that these buildings, neighborhoods and settlements will be put under the RS jurisdiction, due to principle of reciprocity? Certainly Dobrinja Case is not the most significant example of double standards practice, but it certainly sets an example of lack of legal, political and reasonable argumentation, so that is why Justice Sheridan quoted his conscience as an argument. If we understood him very well, he wanted to say that it was neither about politics nor about common sense, but rather about his sensitiveness for housing problems, The message sent to Serbs is clear: "Keep sending touching letters and you will get more than you asked for, regardless of 51:49 as it was agreed on in Dayton. International community related issues: The High Representative removes Dragan Mandic: Top story of a quiet weekend was the High Representative's decision to remove the Interior Minister of Herzegovina-Neretva canton, Dragan Mandic. Oslobodjenje reported on its front page on Saturday that in addition to Mandic's removal the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch on Friday decided to suspend three other top Interior Ministry Croat officials in this canton. Ivan Dzogic, Zvonko Prskalo and Branko Tadic are suspended for 30 days and the High Representative will decide whether they will be returned to their posts, all BiH media said. See the Press Release. Herzegovacka Bank Provisional Administrator regrets the share holders rejection of a meeting Herzegovacka Bank Provisional Administrator, Toby Robinson expressed her deep regret that bank officials and share holders have once again decided to reject a meeting with her, a meeting intended to speed up solving the problems in this bank, Dnevni Avaz reported. The administrator has been trying to organize this meeting of vital importance for weeks but has had no success, she said in a statement. All this is further prolonging the solution and the administrator hopes that the share holders will stop delaying a job that needs to be done urgently, the statement said. Germany to withdraw ten percent of its troops based in BiH Oslobodjenje reported that Germany will withdraw ten percent of its troops based in BiH. According to German Defense Ministry officials 180 of the 2,200 German troops serving as part of the SFOR peacekeeping mission will leave BiH. This is not part of a NATO action and German government evaluated the situation in BiH as positive and decided to downsize its mission, Oslobodjenje said. SFOR condemned the pulling down of the monument erected in honor of Draza Mihajlovic in Brcko Zagreb daily Vjesnik said that the way that the BiH Federation and IC circles reacted to this event is rather strange. Namely, although the embitterment over the act of vandalism is understandable, it is completely hard to understand that none of those who condemned the pulling down of the Mihajlovic's monument did not, at least, remind that the erection of the monument was a provocation and an impact on tolerance and co-existence in multi-ethnic area as Brcko District should be. General Mihajlovic led chetnics' forces, which are hold responsible for numerous crimes (especially those committed in Bosnia over Croats and Muslims) and collaboration with Nazis during the Second World War. It is also interesting that only a few condemned the devastation of the monument erected in honor of the killed HVO soldiers in Zenica, which was damaged for the third time this year. The incident in Zenica, practically, took place at the same time and such a reaction of a part of the public cannot be interpreted in any other way but that those who reacted (including the SFOR) have a different attitude towards the former chetniks' commander and the young men who were fighting and who got killed as members of HVO units.

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