- BiH Presidency members meet with SFOR Commander
- BiH Foreign Ministry welcomes UN Security Council’s resolution on Afghanistan
- BiH Presidency adopts draft re-balance of the state Budget for this year
- AFP: Hard-line Islamic leader stripped of BiH citizenship
- Vecernji List: Interview with Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and SDP President
- Glas Srpski: Race for subjects Nezavisne Novine: Boris Divjak accuses Brcko authorities of damaging BiH developmentAFP: Bosnian policeman suspended for displaying poster supporting bin Laden
- Situation calms down in Stolac
- Dnevni List: Why is Stolac a case?
- Zenica-Doboj Canton policemen protest against dismissal of their colleagues
- HDZ BiH Presidency assesses draft law on veterans, war disabled persons rights unacceptable
- Tenth anniversary of Herceg-Bosna establishment marked in Mostar
- Jutarnji List:
Interview with Ante Jelavic, unrecognized HNS and HDZ leader- Contracts on the exchange of apartments to be legally recognized
- Durakovic says will not let politicians to edit Federation TV program
- What stands behind an initiative for formation of a Croat democratic block?
- Hercegovacka Bank affair: CroHerc evaded to pay 21 million KM in taxes
Mostar’s hotels under a strike: Bender takes Hotel ‘Ero’, while Orucevic takes Tito’s Villa- Slobodna Dalmacija:
- Izetbegovic denies existence of camps for Serb civilians
- Will early elections be held? – RS Government has nothing to say
- RS Prime Minister’s advisor says RS searching for ten persons from The Hague list
- The Banovic brothers plead not guilty before The Hague Tribunal
- AFP: Bosniak returnee killed in Pale
- Top RS officials visiting Russia
- Whom is OHR accusing of corruption in BiH – Bicakcic and Dodik’s Governments?
- Dodik responds to accusations that his Ministers were corrupted: I will deny allegations of the OHR and RS Chief Auditor
- Petritsch says World Bank stopped new BiH donor’s conferenceReuters: Pass laws or face consequences, Bosnian Serbs told
- Pope John Paul receives BiH Presidency members
- Petritsch appoints four national members of the BiH election commission
- Petritsch meets with World bank, IMF officials in Washington
- Petritsch meets with Deputy US State Secretary
- AFP: New DNA-testing system successfully used in Bosnia
- Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
- Dnevni List: Double standards
BiH State-related Issues
BiH Presidency members meet with SFOR Commander
SFOR Commander John Sylvester met in Sarajevo on Friday with the BiH Presidency members to inform them about the SFOR’s standpoints concerning the worldwide fight against terrorism with a special attention paid to the situation in BiH. Sylvester thanked the Presidency for the efforts being made by BiH in the anti-terrorism campaign. According to Saturday’s Oslobodjenje, he also informed the Presidency members on the current joint SFOR and local authorities operations.
BiH Foreign Ministry welcomes UN Security Council’s resolution on Afghanistan
Saturday’s Oslobodjenje reports that the BiH Foreign Ministry welcomed the resolution on the establishment of the future authorities in Afghanistan following the final breakdown of the Taliban regime made by the UN Security Council last Wednesday. The Ministry also supported plans of the UN Special Envoy in the country Lakdar Brahimi to organize an urgent meeting of all Afghanistan fractions in order for an interim government to be appointed.
BiH Presidency adopts draft re-balance of the state Budget for this year
At its special session held in Sarajevo on Friday, the BiH Presidency adopted the draft rebalance of the state Budget for this year and sent it into the parliamentary procedure. Saturday’s Oslobodjenje reports that, according to the draft, the 2001 Budget of the BiH state institutions is increased by 54 million KM, or 16 percent, and it amount a total of 351 million KM.
AFP: Hard-line Islamic leader stripped of BiH citizenship
BiH Federation Interior Ministry stripped a leader of a fundamentalist Muslim community of his Bosnian citizenship received during the country’s 1992-95 war, a Bosnian daily reported Saturday. Imad Al-Husein, known as Abu Hamza, leader of the Muslim community that had lived by strict Islamic laws in the central Bosnian village of Bocinja, was stripped of his Bosnian citizenship last week along with another 93 people, including 84 from Muslim countries, Dnevni Avaz daily reported. Most members of the Bocinja community came to fight on the side of the mainly-Bosniak government during the Bosnian war. The fighters — known as mujahedeen — were supposed to have left the country after the war, but many received Bosnian passports as members of the Bosnian army or by marrying local women. The authorities evicted mujahedeen families from Bocinja last year to enable the return of its pre-war Serb population. The decision, which still needs to be approved by the ministry of civil affairs in BiH’s central government, was passed due to “lack of documentation on the basis of which they received Bosnia’s citizenship,” BiH Federation Deputy Interior Minister Tomislav Limov said. Bosnia has a total of 11,000 naturalized citizens, the vast majority of them from Yugoslavia and Croatia. The figure includes some 420 people from Muslim countries.
Vecernji List: Interview with Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and SDP President
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The idea of forming of the Croat Block refers again to the fact that the Croat issue in BiH is still open?
Which is the Croat issue?
The Croat issue exists, just like the Bosniak and Serb issue, the issue of poverty, injustice and everything else. It is correct in that part, however, the constitutional changes…
You are aware of the SDP stands with regard to the constitutional changes. The Dayton Peace Agreement is being changed without pomp.
How?
For instance, the BiH Court and some other institutions, which have not been envisaged by the Constitution, are being established.
The Dayton is a frame in which you place some picture. The picture that we draw is not the frame. Harmonizing of the Constitution with the Constitutional Court decision, establishing of the Department, the State Border Service and other things are nothing else but parts of the picture that we draw. The most important thing is that the picture is not bigger than the frame.
Kresimir Zubak accuses that the NHI is being pushed away from the Alliance for Changes….
You should pose this question to Zubak.
Brcko District
Glas Srpski: Race for subjects
(Provided by OHR Brcko)
“Decision of Supervisor Henry Clarke to announce vacancies for the Brcko District Interim Assembly represents a grossly negation of democracy”, this is estimation of vice-president of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) Presidency, Dragan Cavic. Clarke said that through vacancies’ announcement he would fill the seats in the District Assembly that remained vacated after the SDS’s withdrawal from it. “Announcement of vacancies for councilors that will be selected by a man or a small group of people means negation of citizens’ political will,” Cavic said. Legal representative of the RS National Assembly in the BiH Constitutional Court, Radomir Lukic, said the election were only possible solution for the current Brcko situation. “Exemplify by Brcko we can see in deed the mechanism represented by Henry Clarke, who nominates councilors without any democratic elections,” Lukic explained. He claims Brcko is a typical example of protectorate, where one man, on the basis of immense authority, rules as he wants. resident of the Democratic-Patriotic Party (DPS), Predrag Radic, thinks Supervisor Clarke’s decision is rather strange. “I am not familiar with legal procedure that selects councilors by announcing vacancies. If people’s representatives in parliament were being selected by announcing vacancies, then nowhere in the world would be elections,” Radic said. Spokesperson of the RS Party of Democratic Progress, Igor Crndak, emphasizes that like in all others parliaments, councilors of the Brcko Interim Assembly have to be responsible to their voters – the District residents – and not to someone from the international community. Spokesperson of OHR North, Suzana Pejcic, told Glas Srpski that the move of the SDS councilors to withdraw from the District Interim Assembly and their request to organize elections is completely unjustified. “Supervisor Henry Clarke has not arbitrarily made this decision. He is just fulfilling the request of other Assembly’s councilors to fill the seats in the Assembly and to continue with its work,” Pejcic said. According to her words, Supervisor Henry Clarke thinks it is not time for elections yet, because the political structures in Brcko have not reach maturity yet. The SDS councilor in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Mirko Banjac, says the vacancies’ announcement represents classical form of autocracy. “Such a selected candidate cannot be anything else but a subject,” Banjac said, adding that expressing interest in vacancies’ announcement should be beneath everyone’s dignity.
Nezavisne Novine: Boris Divjak accuses Brcko authorities of damaging BiH development
(Provided by OHR Brcko)
The President of Transparency International BiH Boris Divjak claims that Brcko is importing as much of power sources as both entities in BiH, and also adds that the same oil, for sure, does not end within 400 square km of District. “In that way the economy of BiH is being destroyed. Brcko, not only that damages the development of BiH, but also it costs twice as much all the taxpayers in both of the entities, since they have to supply for the budged of the District from the budgets of the entities, and on the other hand, thanks to the black marketing which is going on without any obstacles in Brcko, they are loosing funds which would otherwise be in composition of those budgets”, stated Divjak for Nezavisne. Spokesperson of OHR in Brcko Suzana Pejcic rejected claims of Brcko endangering the economy of BiH and pointed out that Brcko is an attractive field for business activities, as a market for the entities, and also as its’ supplier. “It is impossible that Brcko is importing more fuel than the entire Federation unless if the import to the other areas is not being registered and not if the taxes were not imposed on it”, she stated for the Nezavisne. In OHR Brcko they believe that the most important source of an unjust tax competition and inappropriate income collection in the entities its’ inability to collect taxes from the taxpayers. “Brcko District reformed public administration, formed the independent court system, established efficient and transparent control system of public expenses and made some new project proposals for development of business activities. That leaded to registration of 500 more of the enterprises than in 2000 and 1,885 of new working places were created”, she stated. Divjak, on the other hand, believes that Brcko needs to harmonize all of the tax rates, the excises, and the custom rates with the rest of the BiH, as both of the entities did and to become part of the economic space of BiH.
“Why should we create free zone and to make a black hole out of Brcko that would only suck out fund from the rest of BiH and violate the unity of economic space of BiH and to damage any kind of economic development. There is no need to create a new Shanghai out of Brcko, as said by OHR, when we know that it is settled in China with population of 1 billion and 300 million people, so those comparisons in economic context are impossible”, added Divjak. OHR also rejected this claim as untrue. “The law in BiH defines custom rates, and custom rates of Brcko District do not differ from those in the entities. What is different in Brcko is existence of efficient, professional custom service and that could be the reason why the importers prefer the border crossing point in Brcko District”, said the spokesman if OHR.
Customs Administration of RS is controlling the Customs service in Brcko District in accordance to the contract signed with the Government of Brcko District. In District, according to OHR, in 2001 were collected 100% more of the tax incomes compared to the planned estimations.
AFP: Bosnian policeman suspended for displaying poster supporting bin Laden
A Bosnian policeman has been suspended for four months for bringing to work a poster in support of Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind between the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, a Republika Srpska daily reported Saturday. Mehmed Glibanovic, a police officer in the northeastern town of Brcko, brought the poster to his police station. The poster was printed up from the Internet by his son, bearing a caption which read: “Osama bin Laden wanted! They’ll catch me, but don’t hold your breath,” the daily Glas Srpski said. Police are investigating another case in which bin Laden’s photos were posted in a police station in the town of Brcko, the newspaper added.
Federation
Situation calms down in Stolac
According to Saturday’s Oslobodjenje, the situation in the Herzegovina town of Stolac calmed down on Friday following the Wednesday and Thursday incidents in which a group of Bosniak students had first beaten up Vido Raguz, their 16 years old colleague of the Croat nationality, whose father then came up to the school with gun in order to punish those who had attacked his son. The newspaper concludes that the situation in the town is still tensed although there have been no fresh incidents reported.
Dnevni List: Why is Stolac a case?
Written by Vesna Leto (Provided by OHR Mostar)
Nature has been generous towards this city, that some people, who do not live here at all and who do not belong to it, want to overshadow by trying to make a case out of it. Each of these ‘cases’ has its background. Stolac is the goal that has to be achieved through ‘the cases’. And ‘the cases’ were taking place one after another. First, it should have been presented to the public that Bosniaks cannot return to Stolac, and about 80% of them have returned. Then it should have been presented that they are being maltreated and attacked without any reason. Then it was the issue of the mosque’s reconstruction… Since there were no the cases anymore, because by the coming of a new Mayor, the issue of the Stolac High School Students of a Bosniak nationality was solved, the new case took place in Stolac again.
Miro Sutalo, the President of the School Board stated: ‘A parent of the boy, who was beaten up, stated in front of the OHR that he has a house in Stolac but that he is going to sell it and that his child will not attend that school anymore. This is the story that Bosniaks want to hear. Everything has been done for this purpose. There are 250 Croat and 30 Bosniak children in the school. This situation does not suit them.’
Zenica-Doboj Canton policemen protest against dismissal of their colleagues
Oslobodjenje reports on Saturday that the Trade Union of the Zenica-Doboj Canton police on Friday organized a five-minute protest rally in front of the cantonal Interior Ministry in regard of the de-certification of the four senior Ministry’s officials Kasim Alic, Ramo Ajkic, Nikica ostojic and Dragoljub Subotic. IPTF Commissioner Vincent Courderoy banned their further police engagement because they had not followed proper legal and professional procedure during the 1993 investigation into the killing of Gordan Tomasevic and Konstantin Simic. The participants at the rally sent a letter to the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch and the IPTF Commissioner expressing their full support to their de-certified colleagues, as well as their dissatisfaction with a Courderoy’s premature action.
HDZ BiH Presidency assesses draft law on veterans, war disabled persons rights unacceptable
At its session held in Mostar on Friday, the HDZ Presidency assessed as unacceptable the working version of the law on basic rights of the war-disabled persons and families of the fallen soldiers. Saturday’s Oslobodjenje reports that the Presidency said the Alliance for Change was, through such the proposal, annulling and reducing obtained rights of the Croat war-disabled persons.
Tenth anniversary of Herceg-Bosna establishment marked in Mostar
At a ceremony held on Friday evening in Mostar, the tenth anniversary of the Croat Community of Herceg-Bosna was marked. Saturday’s Oslobodjenje said that this was another confirmation of the Herceg-Bosna’s existence. However, according to Sunday’s Oslobodjenje, the Croat Home Herceg Stjepan Kosaca hall was not full as it was the case at the ceremonies marking previous Herceg-Bosna anniversaries. Moreover, in his address on the occasion, Ante Jelavic, the unrecognized HDZ BIH President, admitted for the first time there had been mistakes in the work of Herceg-Bosna. Jelavic also emphasized that all war criminals had to face justice. (ONASA’s report)
Jutarnji List: Interview with Ante Jelavic, unrecognized HNS and HDZ leader
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
It was announced at the HDZ Congress in October that the HDZ MPs would return to the Federation of BiH Parliament. Why aren’t they there?
Jelavic: It is a matter of days. Most probably they will show up at the next session. Presidency of the HDZ BiH has been given a mandate to act with regards to the participation of our MPs in both Parliaments, the State and Federation one. Depending on the agenda, we will decide whether the Heads of Caucuses, certain MPs to convey our stance on various items of the agenda or all MPs will show up. We are aware that we cannot do anything important in the House of Representatives. We have experienced in the post-Dayton BiH that the HDZ is minority in the HoR although it was victorious in the elections. Never have we changed a single provision of any law in these past six years. I do not believe that we will be able to do anything similar in the future too, apart from making our stance on various laws public, especially the laws important for the constitutional-legal position of the Croat people.
Constitutional changes are being prepared. Will the Croat parties join forces, the parties from the Alliance together with the ones gathered around the HDZ?
Jelavic: It is clear that the parties gathered around the HNS will appear together. But it must be noted that an atmosphere of some sort of Croat consensus, prior to the constitutional changes, is being created, which is probably a result of concern with the course of the constitutional reform, in other words the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision on the constituent status of the three peoples within BiH. The amendments to the Entity Constitutions, which were proposed by Entity Constitutional Commissions appointed by the HR, are unacceptable for the Croat side. If the amendments are adopted by the Entity Parliaments, it would be obvious that the reform is used to divide BiH in two parts, the Serb and the Bosniak Entities, and the Croat would wind up as a national minority. I think that the majority of the Croat parties are aware of their historic responsibility and I firmly believe that we will reach a compromise in Parliaments of both Entities, regardless of membership to different political parties.
Will you be able to agree with Zubak?
Jelavic: I firmly believe that there is no need for serious discussions because I think we share the same positions. I believe that Mr. Zubak and Heads of other Croat parties agree with us that the Constitutional Court’s decision must be fully implemented.
A decision on the destiny of the founders of the Croat self-rule should be made this week. Do you expect raising of an indictment?
Jelavic: I really do not think about the process against me and my associates, because what I have been doing since the decision on the establishment of the HNS until the Mostar session of the HNS in March was just our response to the process of stripping Croats of their constitutional rights, to debatable election rules and denial of the Croat electorate’s will. None of those was aimed at destroying BiH or undermining of the constitutional arrangements. I am not pressured because of the process. I think the BiH public realizes that it is a case of a politically rigged process. Creators of the process will probably be held responsible for it.
What’s so unacceptable within the amendments?
Jelavic: We cannot accept that the Houses of Peoples, which are guarantees for a people’s constitutional position, be replaced with some Constitutional Commissions, not even if the commissions become a constitutional category. Beside that national minorities cannot be equaled with a status of the constituent peoples. Finally the principle of the civic majority cannot be used in the process of establishing of an executive authority because BiH is a multi-national country, which means that Governments of both Entities must be cleared by both chambers (of the Parliament), not only by the HoR. In that case the Croat people would not have an influence on formation of an executive authority, said Ante Jelavic, reads Jutarnji List.
Contracts on the exchange of apartments to be legally recognized
The contracts on the exchange of abandoned apartments will be declared legally valid if the BiH Federation and Republika Srpska have accepted amendments to the property laws proposed by OHR. According to Monday’s Dnevni Avaz (a front-page article), the representatives of the Federation Urban Planning Ministry and Wolfgang Petritsch’s Office are expected to meet on Monday to discuss the amendments related to the Federation. The OHR has been insisting on the adoption of these amendments for a long time in order for the return of the occupancy rights to be accelerated throughout the country.
Durakovic says will not let politicians to edit Federation TV program
In an article on the current situation in the BiH Federation Television (published in the Saturday’s supplement Pogled – The View), Oslobodjenje journalist Amra Kebo quoted the Television Director Jasmin Durakovic as saying that, at the moment, the editorial staff of the news program was trying to free itself from any political influence. According to Durakovic, this is the reason why certain political parties are dissatisfied with the program. “The politicians have for a long time used to call journalist or editor in the morning and order the issues to be covered during the day. As the director, I consider such practice unacceptable,” Durakovic said.
What stands behind an initiative for formation of a Croat democratic block?
An initiative on establishing a Croat democratic block to protect Croat national interest, launched by President of the Croat National Alliance (HNZ) Miljenko Brkic, could be accepted, according to BiH Croat officials interviewed by Sunday’s Oslobodjenje, but only without the HDZ participation. Since the HDZ BiH Presidency supported the initiative, other Croat political parties have expressed their fears of HDZ’s domination in such a political block. In explaining his initiative, Brkic said that the establishment of the Croat democratic block represented salvation for the Croat people, as well as a possible response to a disastrous anti-Croat policy of the Alliance for Change. Ivo Komsic, the SDP BiH Vice-president, disagrees with this assessment, but he did not want to comment on the initiative itself. NHI Vice-president Ivo Zivkovic also rejected to talk about the Brkic’s initiative. HSS President Ilija Simic said his party supported the initiative, of course, if HDZ would not participate in its implementation. Commenting on the position of the Croat people in general, BiH Republican Party leader Stjepan Kljujic said that neither HDZ nor the Alliance paid enough attention to the equality of Croats with other peoples in BiH.
Hercegovacka Bank affair: CroHerc evaded to pay 21 million KM in taxes
According to Monday’s Dnevni Avaz, the CroHerc AG Company, 100 percent-owned by the Hercegovacka Bank in Mostar, evaded only during the last year to pay to the BiH Federation 21 million KM in taxes. According to the newspaper’s source from the Bank’s Provisional Administration, the CroHerc was the second strongest oil importer in BiH, immediately after the Sarajevo Energopetrol, with an annual turnover of more than 100 million marks.
Slobodna Dalmacija: Mostar’s hotels under a strike: Bender takes Hotel ‘Ero’, while Orucevic takes Tito’s Villa
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
There are grounded suspicions that together with hotel-managers from Zagreb, Ivan Bender wanted to buy Hotel ‘Ero’, in a way that relatives of Marijo Boras, who is the owner of ‘Tuh-Invest’, granted a loan amounting to 3,2 million Swiss Franks to this Company. On the other hand, ‘Tuh-Invest’ gave a mortgage loan to MIO Mostar, which MIO Mostar was not intending to give back but they were intending to give Hotel Ero in return for the loan. The lobby led by Safet Orucevic is trying to get Hotels in Mostar East through a process of privatization. In that light Hotel Tito’s Villa is the most obvious example. According to the last version of its sale, one America Company is already interested in Tito’s Villa, and behind this Company stands the name Safet Orucevic’ sister. For this reason the Mostar Municipality Stari Grad started with the reconstruction of Musala Square, which is located in the Hotel’s neighborhood. The question arises what is the priority: the reconstruction of the Musala square or the reconstruction of destroyed housing facilities. Only 100 meters far from this Square, Boulevard is located, whose desperate residents have been signing the petition by which they want to urge the Federation and State Authorities to start with the reconstruction of their flats. In a similar way Hotel Ruza was sold, and Safet Orucevic arranged that his close friend Emir Keco, the owner of Keco Company purchases this Hotel. According to a similar recipe this ‘strategic’ investor came into possession of an attractive plot located in Fejic Street next to the Post Office building, which was planned for the construction of shopping center.
Izetbegovic denies existence of camps for Serb civilians
Former Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency Alija Izetbegovic claims it is likely that The Hague Tribunal indicts him, but that the tribunal should not do that. In his interview with Oslobodjenje, Izetbegovic stated that all allegations against him were actually an attack on the Bosnian authorities. He said that claims on the existence of concentration camps for Serb civilians in Sarajevo and other parts of BiH under the control of Bosniak authorities during the war were a huge lie.
Republika Srpska
Will early elections be held? – RS Government has nothing to say
Weekend edition of Nezavisne Novine writes that President of the Republika Srpska Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) Milorad Dodik announced last week that the SNSD would request the RS National Assembly at its next session to immediately draft a plan of activities that have to be undertaken in order to hold early elections. The paper carries reactions of the leading RS political parties to the Dodik’s initiative and states that the initiative got a rather mixed reaction from the RS politicians. The paper quotes Chief of the RS Government Public Relations Bureau Cvijeta Kovacevic as saying that she has nothing to say about the Dodik’s initiative. RS opposition parties (Democratic Socialist Party, Democratic National Alliance, Serb National Alliance) and Socialist Party of the RS support the Dodik’s initiative to hold early elections whilst the SDS and PDP are against it. An SDA representative, Sead Cirkin, says that problems pertaining to constitutional changes and election law have to be resolved first and then elections can be held. SDP BiH deputy in the RS National Assembly, Zekerijah Osmic, says he agrees with Dodik when he says that the situation in BiH is catastrophic but underlines that he does not support holding of early elections before the regular ones. “We need changes but they have to be achieved through Government reshuffle”, said Osmic.
RS Prime Minister’s advisor says RS searching for ten persons from The Hague list
Weekend edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes the Republika Srpska Prime Minister’s advisor for relations with the ICTY, Sinisa Djordjevic, as saying that the RS Interior Ministry has been checking information on the place of residence of 10 persons indicted by the tribunal so that they can be arrested. Djordjevic said that these were persons with no permanent place of residence, who according to their data, had returned from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the RS. In an interview given for Reuters, RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said that the RS had started the hunt for persons indicted by the ICTY and that they included Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. However, Djordjevic says that these are not arrest warrants but rather “location warrants” (Please note that he used word “potraznica”) issued for persons who are in the RS. “You cannot issue an arrest warrant if you do not know where a person is. We issued “location warrants” and we want the Police to locate them and that is the first phase,” Djordjevic emphasised. The paper also quotes Deputy RS Justice Minister Mladjen Mandic as saying that the RS Justice Ministry has issued not a single arrest warrant and forwarded it to the RS Police. The RS Police neither could provide the information about the search for indicted war criminals nor could give more details about police units that are taking part in this action. Deputy RS Interior Minister Zeljko Janjetovic said that he is still collecting the information whilst Spokesman for the RS Interior Ministry Zoran Glusac said that the RS Police are undertaking measures foreseen by the RS Law on Co-operation with the ICTY. The paper also quotes Serbian Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic as saying that the RS Ministry of Interior has not informed him about the search for indicted war criminals. “I have not any information that Karadzic and Mladic are on the FRY territory”, said Zivkovic. An advisor to the Montenegrin President, Vuk Boskovic, said that the 10 persons being checked by the RS Interior Ministry are not in Monte Negro. “If Karadzic and Mladic would come to Monte Negro, they would be immediately arrested”, said Boskovic.
The Banovic brothers plead not guilty before The Hague Tribunal
More than six years after they had been indicted for war crimes, and a week following their apprehension by the Serb police and hand over to The Hague, the Banovic twins, Predrag and Nenad, pleaded not guilty to all counts of the indictment during an initial hearing before The Hague Tribunal on Friday. According to the Saturday’s Oslobodjenje, the Banovics indictment relates to the war crimes committed against Bosniaks and Croats in the Prijedor concentration camp Keraterm in summer 1992 and it contains 13 counts related to the war crimes against humanity and 12 counts related to the violations of the customs of the war.
AFP: Bosniak returnee killed in Pale
A 78-year-old Bosniak refugee, who returned a few months ago to his pre-war home in the Serb-run village of Pale, near Sarajevo, was found murdered in his house, police said Saturday. Seid Mutapcic, who returned to the Bosnian Serb stronghold during the 1992-95 war in August, was hacked to death with a hatchet on Friday, the Republika Srpska police told AFP. Mutapcic lived alone and nothing had been stolen, police added. An investigation has been opened. Since the Dayton peace agreement ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, some 230,000 people have returned to live among their former enemies, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) figures. Among them some 60,000 non-Serbs are estimated to have gone back to the RS which along with the Bosniak-Croat Federation makes up post-war BiH.
Top RS officials visiting Russia
Weekend edition of Glas Srpski reports that the Republika Srpska leadership, headed by RS President Mirko Sarovic, is paying an official visit to the Russian Federation on Sunday. The RS delegation also includes RS Vice-president Dragan Cavic, RS National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinic and RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic. The RS delegation will meet with President of the Russian Duma Genadiy Seleznyov, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Russian Patriarch Aleksei the Second and Russian business people.
Whom is OHR accusing of corruption in BiH – Bicakcic and Dodik’s Governments?
Monday’s edition of Nezavisne Novine reports that Head of the OHR Anti Corruption Unit (AFU) Manfred Dauster will meet on Tuesday with Republika Srpska Chief Auditor Bosko Ceko, representatives of the RS Financial Police and RS Public Prosecutor. They will discuss the results that have been achieved so far in fight against corruption. AFU experts claim that irregularities, misuse and frauds, made in entity budgets only during the last year, can be measured in hundreds of millions KM. “If BiH had a competent and transparent structure of public financing, it would probably be able to meet its obligations without receiving international foreign assistance. But, judging by this year’s assessments, institutions of both BiH entities are far away from a transparent and successful work”, say unnamed sources from OHR. OHR Spokesperson Sonja Pastuovic told Nezavisne Novine that 31 official from the RS and 71 from the Federation are under investigation but did not mention any names. However, the newspaper learns that the OHR Anti Fraud Unit could start an investigation against former Federation Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic, former General Manager of the RS Oil Industry Uros Gostic, former General Managers of RS Elektroprivreda, Marko Asanin and Slobodan Mrdic, former RS Finance Minister Novak Kondic, former Director of the RS Commodity Reserves Directorate Mirko Nozica, and former RS Interior Minister Sredoje Novic. Furthermore, the paper states that the OHR has started an investigation against RS Defense Minister Manojlo Milovanovic, former RS Justice Minister, Cedo Vrzina and two more ministers in the Dodik’s Government, Nikola Kragulj and Vladimir Dokic. The entire Dodik’s Cabinet is accused of providing donations to some municipalities in Serbia before the 2000 elections.
Dodik responds to accusations that his Ministers were corrupted: I will deny allegations of the OHR and RS Chief Auditor
Monday’s edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes former Republika Srpska Prime Minister and President of the Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) Milorad Dodik as saying that the OHR tends to control the situation and accuses everybody who deals with politics of being a criminal. “I have nothing against that everyone who is considered responsible is under investigation. I respect institutions but I cannot accept allegations coming from the OHR and RS Chief Auditor Bosko Ceko and I am going to deny them. Currently there is a witch-hunt against former Government’s officials going on in Banja Luka,” said Dodik.
International Community
Petritsch says World Bank stopped new BiH donor’s conference
The World Bank officials confirmed to the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, that the new donor’s conference for BiH would not be held all until the BiH state and entity authorities have fulfilled 18 conditions set by the European Union. “This program of further engagement, requested by the European Union, should have been prepared by mid-2001, but that has still not done. It is about 18 conditions which should have been fulfilled before drafting a study on the Association and Stabilization agreement,” Petritsch said in an interview with SENSE news agency. (Monday’s Oslobodjenje – front page – and Jutarnje Novine carried the interview) “Unfortunately, until these conditions are not fulfilled, the World Bank and the European Union will not be able to organize a planned donor’s conference. We have come into a situation when it is becoming very clear that the responsibility for the further success in the BiH development is being transferred to the local authorities,” Petritsch said.
Reuters: Pass laws or face consequences, Bosnian Serbs told
Bosnian Serbs politicians must stop blocking crucial reforms in the next two weeks or face the consequences, Bosnia’s top peace overseer said on Friday. High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, said the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) had to push through a range of 30 laws aimed at economic reform and stand by their commitments to allow refugees to return.
“These politicians must realize they are in a situation of responsibility and unless they deliver they need to face the consequences. In the case of this legislation, it is very clear this has to happen in the next couple of weeks,” Petritsch told Reuters in an interview.
Pope John Paul receives BiH Presidency members
Pope John Paul received in Vatican on Saturday members of the BiH Presidency Jozo Krizanovic, Beriz Belkic and Zivko Radisic. Sunday’s Oslobodjenje reports that the Holly Chair reiterated it would fully support BiH’s admission into the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization. Belkic told SRNA news agency he was pleased with the results of the visit.
Petritsch appoints four national members of the BiH election commission
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, on Friday made a decision to appoint four national members of the BiH Election Commission including Hilmo Pasic (Bosniak), Lidija Korac (Croat), Branko Peric (Serb) and Vehid Sehic (representing the others). (All BiH media carried the Press Release)
Petritsch meets with World Bank, IMF officials in Washington
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, on Thursday in Washington continued a series of meetings with representatives of the foreign governments and international agencies to strengthen support for BiH and inform the outside world on the situation in the country. At the meeting with the World Bank representatives, Petritsch emphasized that BiH still needed assistance of this as well as other international agencies. Head of the OHR Press Office Alexandra Stiglmayer told Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz that there was a readiness of the international institutions to provide additional assistance for BiH, but that this was being conditioned with the faster implementation of the economic reforms. (Saturday’s Oslobodjenje and Jutarnje Novine carried the Press Release, as Dnevni Avaz published a wider story on the HR’s Washington talks with Alexandra Stiglmayer’s comments)
Petritsch meets with Deputy US State Secretary
The High representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, met with Deputy US Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Washington on Saturday. (Sunday’s Oslobodjenje – front page, Dnevni Avaz – second page, and Split Slobodna Dalmacija carried the Press Release)
AFP: New DNA-testing system successfully used in Bosnia
A new DNA-testing system was tried for the first time in BiH on Friday, helping identify two teenagers killed during the country’s 1992-95 war. The DNA-testing data base, established by the International Committee on Missing Persons (ICMP), was run for the first time “with real samples that are being processed in Bosnia,” Gordon Bacon, head of the ICMP in Bosnia, told a press conference. “That generated our first DNA-assisted identification,” he added. The ICMP experts in Bosnia developed sophisticated database software, matching DNA isolated from victims’ bone marrow and blood with that from blood samples of living relatives. The two teenagers, identified Friday, were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the Srebrenica massacre, in 1995. The use of the ICMP’s DNA-testing system was expected to dramatically speed up the identification of the remains exhumed from mass graves throughout Bosnia. Currently there are more than 6,000 such remains, the majority belonging to victims of the Srebrenica massacre. After capturing the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces killed over 7,000 Bosniak men whose bodies were buried in mass graves around the enclave. So far the remains of some 5,000 killed in Srebrenica have been exhumed, but only around hundred have been identified. According to the ICMP estimates, between 25,000 and 30,000 people have been listed as missing in Bosnia since the war ended. The system developed by ICMP is also shared with US experts working on identification of the victims of September 11 terror attacks in New York. “For the United States, it is especially significant as this same system may be utilized to help identify the victims of the September 11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks,” a US embassy statement said welcoming the success of the DNA-testing system. The ICMP was created in 1996, with the aim of assisting tens of thousands of families in determining the fate of loved ones missing since the wars of the 1990s in former Yugoslavia.
Editorials
Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
In the Saturday’s Oslobodjenje In Focus column, Emir Habul wrote that the Bosniak society had succeeded to find a balance between the religion and real life. According to Habul, Bosniaks are fully aware that BiH is a common state of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, which survives only on the basis of equality. In the second Saturday’s Oslobodjenje commentary, Mirko Sagolj commented on the RS authorities’ failure to apprehend Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, while they, at the same time, presses war crime charges against the Bosniak wartime leader Alija Izetbegovic. He emphasized that, probably, there had been no Serbs in Sarajevo during the war hadn’t Izetbegovic prevent a mass revenge against them. In the Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz Commentary of the Day, Armin Zeba wrote about a difficult situation in the refugee tent settlements ahead of the winter, and a need to urgently help people living there. Zija Dizdarevic wrote in the Sunday’s Oslobodjenje editorial that Alija Izetbegovic for the first time said in an interview with the newspaper that there was an option of his trial before The Hague Tribunal, emphasizing, however, that this should not happen. In the Monday’s Oslobodjenje In Focus column, Ibrahim Prohic wrote about the official BiH candidacy for the organization of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the 2008 European Football Championship. He concluded that the best way to come out from poverty was to set too high social goals. Ramo Kolar describes in another Monday’s Oslobodjenje commentary the current situation in BiH as a mixed one, in which the Alliance for Change is still fighting to remain in power, the nationalist political parties are trying to correct the past as the High Representative is urging for reforms. Faruk Cardzic wrote in the Monday’s Avaz Commentary of the Day about the way in which BiH Constitutional Court judges were voting. He emphasized that a real dilemma was not whether the three international members of the Court would be appointed again or replaced by other internationals following the expiration of their mandate, but when would the national judges in the Court once make a decision by their own votes. In such a case, the appointment of international judges would not be of any relevance any more.
Dnevni List: Double standards
Written by Zvonko Dragic (Provided by OHR Mostar)
Judging the decisions according to which a material support has been secured for the realization of the projects from the area of economy, health and culture, and for a regular functioning of Municipalities and Citizens’ Associations, by the funds coming from Federation budget, it can be concluded that the Federation Government has money. Nikola Grabovac, Dobrica Jonjic, Mladen Ivankovic, Mijat Tuka and the other Ministers, who have been elected to their positions against the will of the Croat people, should explain to the Croat taxpayers, from the one who buys a loaf of bread to an Aluminij worker, as to why they have given their money to the Association of BiH War Prisoners, Pale Municipality and the place called Ustikolina?
The last ‘financial’ decisions of the Federation Government (in proportion 80:20) shows the best that the future of the Croats in the BiH Federation and its ‘multi-ethnic and democratic’ ornaments, prepared in Miller’s kitchen, will be dark.