- Entity Constitutional Commissions held second consultative meeting in Sarajevo
- SGV urges Petritsch to ensure implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decision
- Nezavisne Novine: BiH Council Of Ministers and OHR agree on CIPS project
- Ivanic says having entity name written on the BiH IDs very important
- Alliance for Changes approves Alibabic’s appointment as AID Director
- Not a single Zepce Group member appeared before Zenica court for hearing
- BiH Federation and World Bank sign agreements on three projects
- AFP: Bosnia’s Croat, Bosniak news agencies tie the knot
- Vecernji List: Federation Television starts broadcasting on Saturday
- Vecernji List: “Secret dinner” in Kiseljak – Krizanovic and Komsic sense danger
- Jutarnji List: HDZ and NHI leaders discussed in Kresevo to take a joint stand in the Parliament
- Slobodna Dalmacija: Brcko Deputy Mayor Ivan Krndelj, who left NHI, seriously accused the Federation Minister of Defense
- Slobodna Dalmacija: Nikola Grabovac, the Federation Prime Minister, says the Government has never discussed Aluminij issue
- Dnevni List: Interview with Castimir Mandaric, the President of the Cantonal Court in Mostar
- Slobodna Dalmacija: A round table discussion on investigative journalism organized by Journalists’ Association Apel took place in Mostar
- Ivanic visits Mostar
- Bosnia Serb health workers in general strike
- RS Ministry for Urban Planning rejects request for rebuilding of five mosques in Bijeljina
- AFP: Republika Srpska to resume big energy project
- RS Finance Minister Milenko Vracar says the RS Budget not implemented as planed
- A delegation of the RS Parliament to visit FRY
- US, British Bosnia missions reopen after arrests
- Petritsch and Hajric to visit Prevent Company in Visoko on Tuesday
- OHR says session of the Stolac Municipal Council might be held soon
- Dnevni List: OHR says new HN Canton Interior Minister appointed prior to clearance from international organizations
- AFP: Slovene company Prevent buys 42 percent of Volkswagen Sarajevo
- The Hague’s Chief Prosecutor requests extradition of seven more indictees from FRY
- Vjesnik: Is Klein leaving BiH
- Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
- Dnevni List: Croat and Bosniak pensioners
BiH State-related Issues
Entity Constitutional Commissions held second consultative meeting in Sarajevo
Oslobodjenje reports that the BiH Federation and the Republika Srpska Constitutional Commissions held its second consultative meeting in Sarajevo on Monday but without any concrete results apart from general assessment that both Commission had well done their job. According to the newspaper, the members of the both Commissions still have the same and even more different positions related to the way of equal representation of peoples in the executive bodies and ways of protection of vital national interests.
SGV urges Petritsch to ensure implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decision
The BiH Serb Civic Council – The Movement for Equality sent a letter to the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, urging him to ensure that the amendments to the Constitutions of the BiH Federation and Republika Srpska related to the implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decision on equal constitutional status of all three peoples in the entire BiH territory are passed. The NGO said in the letter that the will for the return had significantly increased also among Serbs after the Court’s decision, which was an integral part f the Dayton Agreement.
Nezavisne Novine: BiH Council Of Ministers and OHR agree on CIPS project
Nezavisne Novine reports on a meeting of representatives of the BiH Council of Ministers and the OHR, which took place yesterday, which discussed the CIPS project. According to the daily, it was agreed that new tender for integrator of the project would not be published, but that just some other companies besides “Siemens” should be given an opportunity to apply for the job. Nezavisne Novine writes that, according to their sources, several companies have been in touch with the Council of Ministers, including the company “Bundes-drukeraj” which was in charge of printing the first BiH passport.
Ivanic says having entity name written on the BiH IDs very important
Glas Srpski carries a statement of the Republika Srpska Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic, who said that the CIPS project was very important but that it was equally important to have name of entity written on the new BiH ID. “It is important to us that BiH Identity Card has the name of the entity on it and I think these are elements for a compromise on the issue” said Ivanic and added that the RS insisted on transparency in the process of issuance of the IDs.
Federation
Alliance for Changes approves Alibabic’s appointment as AID Director
The Coordination Body comprising representatives of the Alliance for Changes members decided late on Monday behind close door to nominate Munir Alibabic Munja for the position of the acting Director of the Agency for Investigation and Documentation (AID). Safet Halilovic, the President of the Party for BiH Presidency and the Alliance Coordinator, told Oslobodjenje that the political parties belonging to the Alliance had also supported Rifat Skrijelj as the candidate for the BiH Federation Minister for Labor, Social Welfare, Refugees and Displaced Persons, as well as the appointment of Ramo Maslesa as the BiH Federation Interior Minister.
Not a single Zepce Group member appeared before Zenica court for hearing
Zenica Canton Court Investigating Judge Hilmo Ahmetovic told Oslobodjenje that, for the second time, not a single out of 14 Zepce Croats accused of war crimes committed against Serbs and Bosniaks in the area during the war had appeared before the Court for hearing. According to Ahmetovic, the further legal measures will now be taken in order to bring them before the Court. In a statement given to the newspaper, Head of the OHR Press Office Alexandra Stiglmayer denied media speculations that High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch had already promised to certain BiH Federation senior officials he would transfer the proceeding to some other cantonal court in the entity.
BiH Federation and World Bank sign agreements on three projects
Oslobodjenje reports that BiH Federation President Karlo Filipovic and Head of the World Bank’s Mission to BiH Joseph Ingram on Monday signed three agreements on financial support to the process of privatization ($19 million), community development ($15 million) and local initiatives ($20 million). These projects will be financed on the basis of credits provided by the International Association for Development to support process of transition in BiH.
AFP: Bosnia’s Croat, Bosniak news agencies tie the knot
Bosniak’s and BiH Croat news agencies, both established during the Balkan country’s 1992-95 war, have merged after years of division, the BiH Federation Government said on Monday. The joint news agency, grouping the Bosniak BH press and Croat Habena, will come under the joint authority of the BiH Federation’s Government and is called FENA. Republika Srpska has its own official news agency SRNA.
Vecernji List: Federation Television starts broadcasting on Saturday
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
“Federation TV (FTV) will start its broadcast on Saturday at 1930 hrs when it will air its first news show”, said Editor-in-chief of the Information-Political Program of the Television, Marija Topic-Crnoja. Channel One of the FTV will cover “more serious” information programs, and the Channel Two will cover sports and entertainment. “I must say that only 50 or so journalists meet the Federation TV requirements and one third of the (current) cadre does not meet them. It means that we need a quality cadre that will create program without any political interference”, said Topic-Crnoja. According to technical calculations, Channel One will cover 87% of the FBiH whilst the Channel Two will cover 64% of the same territory (Bosansko Grahovo, Drvar and Neum are the black spots). “The EU will donate 10 million EUROs so we can have a 100% coverage and improve our gear. But prior to that the PBS, FTV and the RS TV must be transformed in accordance to previous agreements on the functioning of the Public service in BiH”, added Topic-Crnoja. Whilst the FTV is preparing to start working, a political consensus within the Federation Government is still not reached. Politicians still do not know who will fund the FTV. Some parties within the Alliance, aiming to manipulate with the new TV, are in favour of funding it from the Federation budget. The Federation Parliament will discuss the subject at its tomorrow’s session. Topic-Crnoja, like her colleagues in the Steering Board of the FTV, thinks that that sort of funding would be a mistake because that would undermine its political independence (…) When it comes to the language that will be used on the FTV, Topic-Crnoja says that both the Bosniak and Croatian languages will be used depending on the ethnicity of a journalist and the language that he or she uses. “At the moment we have more Bosniak journalists and in turn the Bosniak language is more represented, now the Croat journalists have to remedy that. I am sad because of the fact that the Croat journalists, because of the fear or political influence, are reluctant to join the FTV. I invite them to join the FTV”, stresses Marija Topic-Crnoja, reads Vecernji List.
Vecernji List: “Secret dinner” in Kiseljak – Krizanovic and Komsic sense danger
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Chair of the BiH Presidency, Jozo Krizanovic, and the Chair of the Federation House of Peoples, Ivo Komsic, held a secret meeting at a restaurant at Kiseljak, Vecernji List learns from an SDP official. The source could not confirm whether other officials – Croats took part in the meeting, but instead he claims that the meeting is a beginning of the new Croat political gathering. The only surprise might be the fact that only the SDP members decided to undertake such a move, both of them being seniors in the SDP. There are more reasons behind that. It would appear that even Ivo Komsic has had enough with the Federation TV situation, which would shut down the HTV (Croatian TV) signal in the FBiH. When Komsic, together with the Federation Deputy Minister for Culture, Education and Sport, Dubravko Lovrenovic, warned of it, he was labeled as a nationalist (…) reads Vecernji List.
Jutarnji List: HDZ and NHI leaders discussed in Kresevo to take a joint stand in the Parliament
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Ante Jelavic and Kresimir Zubak talked last week in Kresevo, near Sarajevo, about a possible cooperation of their parties. The most important Croat parties should agree a joint stand in the Parliament debate on Constitutional changes. The cooperation suits both of them at the moment. The HDZ has not been able to find the way out from isolation since spring, when the HR removed Jelavic, and Zubak is expressing his dissatisfaction over the attitudes of other parties from the line of the Alliance and over the way that the NHI is being treated. According to our source, international diplomats also advocate the cooperation of the strongest Croat parties. The isolated HDZ can only become more radical, and drastic moves of the international diplomats are strengthening its popularity. On the other hand, the NHI, as an acceptable and moderate option, is losing due to clumsy moves made by the Alliance, which are being judged as anti-Croat, as an attack on Aluminj was. While trying to find a solution for the political crises, which emerged by the imposing of the inappropriate election rules and proclamation of the Croat self-rule, diplomats are questioning a possibility to bring the HDZ and NHI closer to each other.
According to well-informed sources, the Americans advocate the establishment of a new party that the Croat parties from the line of the Alliance would join. They would be probably led by Marko Tadic, a removed Head of the Mostar University, and it would include all those from the line of the HDZ, who are dissatisfied over the fact that the influence of radicals has become too great. They believe that the HDZ and NHI should be brought closer to each other or unified but also without the radicals.
Slobodna Dalmacija: Brcko Deputy Mayor Ivan Krndelj, who left NHI, seriously accused the Federation Minister of Defense
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The meeting of the NHI Presidency, which was held in Brcko on Saturday, was the end of the campaign, which was led against me and some other persons within the party. Ivan Krndelj also stated: “I was very surprised by very rude words of Mijo Anic, the Minister of Defense of the BiH Federation, who is also a Vice President of the NHI. They have shown that he prepared a final showdown with me without any arguments and it has started when the investigation on his criminal acts committed during the time when he was the Mayor of the Municipality Ravne-Brcko and that he still commits started. He directly accused me that I am standing behind this investigation. The thing that insulted me the most was when he stated in front of witnesses: ‘He is a Herzegovinian. All Herzegovinans are slime and scam. I think that I will file a private suit because it is an insult for one people that I am not ashamed of and I will never be.’
Slobodna Dalmacija: Nikola Grabovac, the Federation Prime Minister, says the Government has never discussed Aluminij issue
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Regarding the initiative launched by the lawyers of arrested BiH Generals Sefer Halilovic, Enver Hadzihasanovic, Mehmed Alagic and Brigadier Amir Kubura to provide guarantees for their being let out on a pre-trial release, the Government of the BiH Federation, during one of its sessions, ‘has expressed its readiness to respond to the invitation of the ICTY Trial Chamber.’
However, some Sarajevo media carried the information that the Government of the BiH Federation passed the decision to provide guarantees for their being out on a pre-trial release. Nikola Grabovac warned on Monday that the decision that the Government passed is not identical with the decision that the media is speculating with, at the moment. He did not want to say precisely as to what kind of the decision the Federation Government has passed. According to him the basic problem is the way that the public is being informed. He stated: ‘ The BiH Federation has not passed such a decision. We have passed a different one. However, the problem regarding the way of informing has appeared. You can pose the question regarding the Aluminij factory. The Government has never either discussed the Aluminij case or passed any decision to send the Financial Police to Aluminij or block its account. However, if the competent Minister passed such a decision then he and his Ministry should demand it and they should be hold responsible for it.’
He stressed that he demands that the way and methods of work of the Federation Government completely distance themselves from the way and methods of work of the Ministry.
Commenting on the accusations of the HDZ Central Board addressed at Alija Behmen, the Prime Minister, and the Federation Government regarding the payment of ’42 million Marks, and these are also funds of the Croat taxpayers, to the Pension and Disability Fund Sarajevo, that is directed to the Bosniak side only, Grabovac stated that the information that these are the budget funds is not correct.
Dnevni List: Interview with Castimir Mandaric, the President of the Cantonal Court in Mostar
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
In an interview for Dnevni List, Castimir Mandaric, the President of the Cantonal Court in Mostar and a member of the Presidency of the Association of Judges in the Canton 7 and the Federation of BiH, said, in response to “some tutors who say the judiciary is the weakest link in the Federation and the cantons,” that the judicial authority is one of the strongest and most stable links in the Federation system under the circumstances.
He said politicians and parties are not interfering in the judges’ work, but since the judiciary is in an extremely difficult material position, it could be subject to an indirect interference.
In answer to a question about the material position of the courts and judges in Canton 7, Mandaric said: “When we speak of our material position, we are in the last place compared to the other two authority structures. Can our material position be reflected in the correlation with the legislative and executive authorities? It certainly can in an indirect way because one that ‘spoon-feeds’ you money is in a possibility to dictate your future behavior.”
Mandaric agreed with the statement of Rakel Surlien, the Director of the Independent Judicial Commission in BiH, that BiH has too many courts, judges and prosecutors. “The court networks in all cantons should be re-organized because there are too many courts, even in places that have no more than two or three thousand inhabitants. I hope a project that will provide for this issue will be published soon. Assessments of the international officials in BiH are based on the European standards of the number of judges proportional to the number of cases, and as far as they are concerned, the number of judges in BiH seems too high compared to the number of cases. I think we should take the things in our hands instead of waiting for breakthrough solutions from others and accepting initiatives that are not in conformity with our domestic system and tradition.”
Slobodna Dalmacija: A round table discussion on investigative journalism organized by Journalists’ Association Apel took place in Mostar
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Slobodna Dalmacija carries that OHR representatives were also among numerous participants of this round table discussion. It was stressed that the investigative journalism in BiH has just started to develop and the reason for this is 50 years of totalitarian Communist system, ten years of war and rule of national parties, which controlled media justifying such a situation with higher national interests and this way they openly blocked and suppressed investigative journalism and its affirmation. It was stressed that it is dangerous to deal with some subjects only in one city or within one people, that is, it is necessary to have an equal approach towards everyone. As the most obvious example, they stressed articles on privatization of the Mostar factory Aluminij that the Sarajevo media gave so much attention, while they have not written a single word about the privatization of Sarajevo Pivovara and Tobacco Factory Sarajevo. Participants of the round table sent a public appeal to the Authorities to finally make possible the functioning of the Rule of Law.
They also condemned attacks and maltreating of Edin Avdic, a journalist of Slobodna Bosna, Boro Jelic from Usora, who works as a journalist of Croat Radio Herzeg Bosnia and Antonijo Kramatic, from Posusje, a correspondent of Slobodna Dalmacija, who were exposed to attacks of some criminal milieu and Authority institutions.
Republika Srpska
Ivanic visits Mostar
According to Oslobodjenje, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic on Monday visited Mostar where he met with Mostar Mayor Neven Tomic, his deputy Hamdija Jahic, Mostar City Council Chairman Milan Jovicic, representatives of the Serb Civic Council and with officials of the Serb Orthodox Church. Ivanic said following the meetings that the RS Government would soon open an office in Mostar, which would help Serbs seeking to return t the town. He told a press conference that he did not know an exact number of Serbs who wanted to return to their pre-war homes in the BiH Federation, but that the RS Government had an obligation to help them repossess their properties.
Bosnia Serb health workers in general strike
Hospitals in Republika Srpska were closed on Monday as 12,000 health workers began a general strike to demand payment of wage arrears and new contracts. Workers asked for an immediate payment of one month’s late salary and guarantees that three further months’ outstanding wages would be paid in the future. They also asked for all necessary supplies for their work to be made available and that the RS health fund completes a report into its work and makes the findings public. Milenko Granulic, head of the Bosnian Serb health workers’ trade union, said 90 percent of employees had joined the strike, which would not end until their demands were fulfilled. He said that only emergency services would be provided to citizens during the strike. This is the second general strike by Bosnian Serb health workers in the past year. The first time, they went back to work after a month when the government promised measures to improve their status.
RS Ministry for Urban Planning rejects request for rebuilding of five mosques in Bijeljina
The Republika Srpska Ministry of Urban Planning backed the municipal authorities in Bijeljina in their decision not to grant the approval for the rebuilding of the five Bijeljina mosques devastated during the 1992-95 Bosnia war. The RS Ministry rejected the appeal lodged by the Medzlis of the Islamic community in Bijeljina against the Bijeljina municipal authorities, although the BiH Human Rights Chamber made the decision in October last year ordering the Bijeljina municipal authorities and the RS authorities to issue the permits for the reconstruction of the devastated mosques. Head of the Bijeljina Office of the High Representative Francois Peres told ONASA he had sent a letter to Bijeljina Mayor Dragomir Ljubojevic reminding him that the decisions of the Human Rights Chamber are binding. ”I do not know why that decision is not implemented, and I reminded the mayor that failure to implement it can result in certain sanctions,” Peres said.
AFP: Republika Srpska to resume big energy project
The Republika Srpska authorities signed Monday a 26-million-euro (23-million-dollar) contract to finish a large energy project that was disrupted by the war. The contract will ensure that a 16-kilometre (10-mile) water supply tunnel will be finished in the south of the country between the Bileca accumulation lake, Dabarsko and the Fatnicko valley, where two artificial lakes will be built for energy production. Work on the tunnel is to be finished within two-and-a-half-years, Radio RS reported. RS President Mirko Sarovic and Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic both said that future works would be a turning point in development of the power industry and the economic development of the region. The contract was signed in the southern town of Trebinje between the RS and the British Energy Financing Team (EFT), the radio said. The project was 65 percent completed when it was halted by the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Rivers in the southern part of Bosnia are believed to have great potential as power sources, especially the Trebisnjica river, which is considered one of the longest underground rivers in Europe.
RS Finance Minister Milenko Vracar says the RS Budget not implemented as planed
For the first 9 months of this year, the Republika Srpska budget was executed in the amount of 552,3 million KM which is 10% less that planned but still 17% better than at the same time last year, said the RS Finance Minister Milenko Vracar, the Banja Luka dailies carry. The Government adopted a report on execution of the budget for the period January 1st to September 30th this year and passed it through to the RS National Assembly for consideration and adoption.
A delegation of the RS Parliament to visit FRY
Glas Srpski writes that a delegation of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, lead by the RS National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinic, will visit FRY on Wednesday, says a press release from the Cabinet of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker. The delegation is scheduled to meet with a delegation of the Council of Citizens of FRY Parliament, a delegation of the Council of Republic, another House of the FRY Parliament, as well as FRY Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic. Topics of these meetings are to include political and economic situation in the RS, BiH and FRY.
International Community
US, British Bosnia missions reopen after arrests
The U.S. and British Embassies in Sarajevo reopened on Monday five days after closing due to security threats which led to the arrest of five people. Local media said those arrested were Algerians. An official at BiH Federation Interior Ministry told Reuters five people had been arrested and handed over to the Supreme Court, but would give no further details. Officials at the court, whose remit includes international terrorism cases, were not immediately available for comment. Sarajevo newspapers reported on Monday that police had arrested three more Algerians, in addition to two detained on Wednesday, in connection with threats made to the embassies. The newspapers quoted BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Zlatko Lagumdzija as saying the five were on a list of about 20 people suspected of links to terrorism. A Western diplomat said last week the list was given to Bosnian authorities by the United States after the September 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington.
Petritsch and Hajric to visit Prevent Company in Visoko on Tuesday
All Sarajevo dailies report that the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, will meet with General Director of the BiH Agency for Promotion of Foreign Investments Mirza Hajric and his associates on Tuesday. Petritsch and Hajric are then scheduled to visit the Visoko-based Prevent Company, which is a joint venture of Slovenian investors (80%) and BiH businessmen (20%).
OHR says session of the Stolac Municipal Council might be held soon
OHR South Spokesperson Avis Benes told FENA news agency (a new agency established through merger of BH PRESS and Habena, which started its operation on Monday) that a session of the Stolac Municipal Council to appoint top municipal officials might be held soon. Oslobodjenje reminds that BiH Federation President Karlo Filipovic and his Deputy Safet Halilovic two days ago requested OSCE Head of the Mission to BiH Robert Beecroft and High Representatives Wolfgang Petritsch to ensure urgent implementation of the municipal election results in Stolac. According to Benes, facts that Stolac Mayor has been in resignation for a long time, as the Municipal Council Chairman has assumed other duty have caused a blockage in work of the municipal authorities.
Dnevni List: OHR says new HN Canton Interior Minister appointed prior to clearance from international organizations
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The Spokesperson for the OHR Mostar, Avis Benes, stated that the Minister of the Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton was “appointed before being cleared by the relevant international organizations so that the Government’s crisis in this Canton could be overcome,” reads Dnevni List.
The practice applied so far has been that ministerial candidates are nominated and appointed to the position only after being cleared by the international organizations.
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Governor Sefkija Dziho, in agreement with his Deputy Dragan Vrankic, appointed Goran Bilic, an HDZ candidate, as the Minister of the Interior on Friday, and addressed the appointment decision to the international organizations for clearance.
In 11 months following the general elections, the Cantonal Government has not had a single session. Cantonal Prime Minister Josip Merdzo was refusing to convene a Government session before appointment of the Minister of Interior because he thought the national balance in the Cantonal Government was disarranged without this appointment. According to an inter-party agreement, the candidate for this position was to be appointed by the HDZ BiH, and the two previous candidates nominated by the party did not receive clearance from the international organizations.
“As for the local authorities, the appointment has been completed and now it is up to the international organizations to declare themselves. However, this appointment does not mean that Bilic’s appointment to the Minister’s post has been automatically cleared and only once he is cleared will he be able to perform this duty in the proper capacity,” stated Benes.
AFP: Slovene company Prevent buys 42 percent of Volkswagen Sarajevo
Slovene car seat cover producer Prevent has bought a 42 percent stake in the Sarajevo-based car manufacturer Volkswagen Sarajevo, the STA news agency reported Monday. The contract worth one million euros (900,000 dollars),was already signed last Wednesday, the STA added. Under the deal Prevent is to invest an additional 9.2 million euros in Volkswagen Sarajevo in next two years, the chairman of Prevent’s board, Joze
Kozmus, told journalists. Volkswagen Sarajevo employs 84 workers, who put together some three thousand Skoda cars annually. According to Kozmus, Prevent plans to boost the production to 30.000 or more cars annually.
The Hague’s Chief Prosecutor requests extradition of seven more indictees from FRY
Nezavisne Novine writes that Carla Del Ponte, the Chief Prosecutor of The Hague Tribunal, on Monday visited Belgrade, where she met with Savo Markovic, the FRY Justice Minister, as well as Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic. She asked FRY authorities to de-block cooperation with The Hague Tribunal. After the meeting with Zoran Djindjic, Del Ponte stressed that she had seven sealed indictments against individuals whose identity is well known to the Serbian and FRY authorities.
Vjesnik: Is Klein leaving BiH
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Vjesnik carries an article about the possible departure of the Chief of UN Mission in BiH, Jacques Paul Klein. The article writes about Klien’s promises that he failed to keep, such as the “Leutar case”, when he promised on several occasions that the process would be solved by that date(s) but the process has been stretched indefinitely. Than there was his pompous promise that Karadzic and Mladic would get arrested but they are still at large. Not only has Klein not kept his promises, but the IC got embarrassed because of its officials in BiH, including Klein too, so they should resign because of the obvious failure, reads Vjesnik. Sarajevo-based “Slobodna Bosna” goes further with a list of Klein’s “gems” and links him to the appointment of the former wartime commander of the Banja Luka’s Special Police, Brano Pecanac, to the Director of Interpol for BiH. Klein is apparently “up to his neck” in it and mounts constant pressure on Minister for Civil Affairs and Communications, Svetozar Mihajlovic, who is to appoint the new Director for Interpol in BiH, reads Vjesnik.
Editorials
Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
In the Oslobodjenje In Focus column, Mirko Sagolj criticizes a lack of natural gas in BiH. “In every normal state someone should be held responsible for this. It would be logical that even City or Federal Government resigns, but here not a single low-ranking official has been removed. The Alliance for Changes seems to forget that there will be more parliamentary elections,” Sagolj wrote. In the second editorial on the Oslobodjenje’s second page, Editor-in-Chief Senka Kurtovic commented on a series of political moves and statements made recently by Chairman of the BiH House of Peoples Sejfudin Tokic, including the claim that there is a photo allegedly showing Izetbegovic and Bin Laden together, describing them in general as childish and immature. According to Kurtovic, Tokic should be sent to Disneyland to take a breath and have some fun. Fadil Mandal wrote in the Dnevni Avaz Commentary of the Day that the reopening of the US and British Embassies in Sarajevo might symbolically mean a new page in BiH relations with the key international factors. The event, according to Mandal, followed, until now, unseen political-diplomatic offensive by the new authorities. Mandal concludes that the State of BiH in this way has in a very difficult situation showed it can function successfully, as the new authorities has passed another examine in establishing partnership relations with the international community.
Dnevni List: Croat and Bosniak pensioners
Written by Marko Tokic (Provided by OHR Mostar)
There is always something interesting happening in BiH. When the ancient Chinese wanted to curse one, they would wish one to live in interesting times. Consequently, if they had wanted to curse someone to live in interesting times for eternity, they would have wished them to live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of course if they had known of the existence of Bosnia (and Herzegovina), says Marko Tokic in his Dnevni List commentary.
For instance, what is possible to happen here is that Alija Behmen, out of the blue, decides to allocate 42 million KM for consolidation of the pension fund in Sarajevo from the budget of all citizens of the Federation of BiH and both of its peoples, without a budget revision at the Parliament, as Behmen is convinced that he will later receive a blessing from what asks him no questions and is called the Government.
If you offer resistance to the generous intention of paying out one overdue pension to the Bosniak pensioners, you will get into big trouble. Being such a person, you indeed deserve the epithet of a rightist because you do not have a slightest sense of social sensitivity to those who have not been able to live off their pensions for years, who have been living on the edge of society and whose lives are a suffering rather than a decent living. They ask and they beg. They dream of the better past and curse the presence, and their future is interesting.
Still, what if the Federation Government were obliged to take care of the Croat pensioners who are not having the best of times, either? This question suggests itself as one of vital importance, and speaks not only of Alija Behmen’s good heart, but also of the equality of peoples, I mean, Croat and Bosniak pensioners.
At the time when everything was wrong (while the HDZ was representing Croats in the Federation Government), Croat pensioners would automatically, on the basis of the payment to Bosniak pensioners, have received a measly 14 million KM paid into their own pension fund. It is not much, but it would definitely add to the stability of the pension fund operation, and would probably ensure a pension raise, however insufficient.
While Behmen is squandering millions, it is interesting to note the warning from the a former Minister in the Federation Government, Davor Cordas, who said that people forget too easily that it is not about 42 million, but about three times 42 million. The first 42 million that belonged to both Croat and Bosniak pensioners, has already been given to the Bosniak pensioners, directly from the budget of both Croat and Bosniak pensioners.
The second 42 million is a debt that Behmen wrote off for the Bosniak companies. We all tend to forget the third 42 million. Privatization process is forthcoming, and those companies are supposed to be bought by someone and this someone was supposed to pay off the debts (which Alija forgave them), but now the debts are gone and the value of those 14 little companies has been increased by 42 little millions. This “forgiving” game does not include companies from the Croat territories, not even Lijanovici which Mladen is so wholeheartedly promoting in the Federation Government.
Speaking of the Government, which, of course, is unconstitutional, we must say that its Minister, let me not forget, God forgive me, Besic, has walked out of it.
In spite of his reasons to resign, which I know no details of, I think that he, like all other honest people, should have gone a long time ago, or, even better, should have never been elected, ever since a long gone year during the communist times when he was sending special forces out. Since he was elected after all, he should, like an honest person, resign over the hoods in this time of anti-terrorism. And finally, he should do it for lying to Klein, just like Zilic.