- BiH Council of Ministers confirms revocation of citizenship illegally given to 94 foreigners
- Lagumdzija calls on CEI countries to support BiH’s accession to the Council of Europe
- SDP’s Avdic supports Petritsch positions presented in the New York Times article
- AFP: Bosnian Muslim cleric denied visa for France
- Ten Bosnian imams denied from receiving visas for Netherlands, France, Switzerland
- BiH State Border Service seeks ways to prevent Al-Qaeda from entering the country
- Sredoje Novic says he has not been officially offered a job in BiH SIPA
- Vecernji List: Salvaging of Eronet failed
- Dnevni List: As of Tuesday, SNS members will also guard building of BiH Presidency
- Vecernji List: Announcement on return of HRT to BiH comes from Strasbourg
- Vecernji List: Mariofil Ljubic says a House of Peoples should be established in RS
- Nezavisne Novine: OHR North denies Boris Divjak’s allegations
- A Stolac primary school director does not allow Bosniak children to use donated computers
- Mehmedagic requests OHR to ban return of occupancy rights to the persons who lost BiH citizenship after April 30, 1991
- BiH Federation Financial Police completing anti-corruption investigation into 74 cases
- Dnevni Avaz: What did Sarovic, Ivanic, Kalinic and Cavic do in Russia?
- RS delegation coming back from Russia on Friday
- RS leader opposes Kosovo’s independence
- AFP: RS official urges public to accept arrests of war crimes suspects
- RS Prime Minister’s advisor for cooperation with the ICTY says RS ready to arrest General Milosevic
- AFP: Mass grave of Srebrenica massacre victims reveals 305 bodies
- RS Government accepts the entity’s draft election law
- RS Interior Ministry asks for better cooperation with the BiH Anti-terrorist Team
- Prijedor journalist Zoran Sovilj says he has receiving threats yet since 1993
- NATO to treats the Balkans as a region and unify its operations there
- An international conference on BiH’s role in the stabilization of southeast Europe takes place in Sarajevo
- Petritsch discusses economic situation in BiH with prominent businessmen, academics
- Sonn visits Mostar, supports Tomic and Jahic
- AFP: US military chief thanks BiH for support in fighting terrorism
- Human Rights watchdog accuses NATO-led Forces of civil rights violation
- NATO Spokesman rejects BiH Helsinki Human Right Committee’s accusations
- Reuters: Milosevic charged with Bosnia genocide
- Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
BiH State-related Issues
BiH Council of Ministers confirms revocation of citizenship illegally given to 94 foreigners
At its session held in Sarajevo on Thursday, the BiH Council of Ministers confirmed a decision made by the BiH Federation Interior Ministry to revoke BiH citizenship status illegally given to 94 foreigners. According to Oslobodjenje, it is about the citizens of Tunis, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Kuwait, Sudan and even Switzerland.
Lagumdzija calls on CEI countries to support BiH’s accession to the Council of Europe
The BiH Council of Ministers Chairman and BiH Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, on Thursday called on the Central European Initiative (CEI) countries’ foreign ministers gathered in the Italian town of Trieste to support BiH’s accession to the Council of Europe. According to Oslobodjenje, Lagumdzija emphasized that this represented one of the first steps on the BiH’s road towards the European integration. He reminded that the BiH Parliament had adopted the Election Law as the crucial pre-condition and that the Council of Europe’s Legal Affairs Committee had also supported the BiH’s admission.
SDP’s Avdic supports Petritsch positions presented in the New York Times article
Deputy Chairman of the BiH House of Representatives Sead Avdic told Dnevni Avaz he fully supported standpoints of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, presented in his New York Times article. Avdic considers the article a continuity of the High Representative’s ideas and positions. “I completely share them and I believe that they contribute to the well-being of not only BiH but also of the Balkans and the entire Europe,” Avdic said.
AFP: Bosnian Muslim cleric denied visa for France
France has rejected a request from a Bosnian Muslim cleric for a visa to travel to the country during the holy month of Ramadan, the French embassy here said Thursday. “The French government has decided that only the imams who are already in France can spend Ramadan with the Muslim community” there, said a French embassy letter sent to the leaders of Bosnia’s Islamic community. “This rule is applied to all countries without exception,” said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. The decision was taken as part of broader security measures adopted following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, it added. Bosnian imam Edin Kavazovic was due to travel to Paris to spend Ramadan with Bosnian Muslims living there, at the invitation of the Bosnian Cultural Center in France. French ambassador Bernard Bajolet voiced regret over the decision, saying Bosnia was a country which “knew how to develop an European Islam.” Bajolet said he hoped that the situation would soon normalize, noting that Muslims comprise the second largest community in France.
Ten Bosnian imams denied from receiving visas for Netherlands, France, Switzerland
“Ten imams from the BiH Islamic Community have not been granted visas to enter the Netherlands, France and Switzerland where they had intended to organise the religious life of the Bosniaks living there during the holly month of Ramadan,” the BiH Foreign Ministry confirmed to SRNA on Thursday. The assistant in the consular and international department of the Ministry, Ibrahim Djikic, said that it was within the competence of embassies to grant or refuse to grant visas to foreign nationals. The French embassy is the only one, which has explained such a move.
BiH State Border Service seeks ways to prevent Al-Qaeda from entering the country
Both Banja Luka dailies report that the management of the BiH State Border Service has called on its servicemen to double their efforts on the ground in order to prevent possible attempts by Al-Qaida members who fought with the Taleban forces in Afghanistan to enter BiH. A press release issued by the SBS said that the deputy directors of the State Border Service, Slavisa Vukovic and Nijaz Spahic; the head of the crime prevention task force, Stjepan Micic; the head of the office of the State Border Service director, Radisa Samardzic; and heads of services in the Brcko District, Bosanski Brod, Orasje, Bijeljina and Zvornik, had a meeting in Brcko on Thursday to discuss the work of the State Border Service units and the progress in implementing operational tasks related to antiterrorist activities. Other items on the agenda included measures to tackle illegal trafficking in people and organised crime prevention. A special attention was paid to the current issues of co-operation between customs and excise offices, the interior ministries in the two entities and the IPTF, the statement said.
Sredoje Novic says he has not been officially offered a job in BiH SIPA
Friday’s edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes former Republika Srpska Interior Minister Sredoje Novic as saying that he has never received an official offer for the post of the SIPA Head (SIPA – BiH State Investigation and Protection Agency). However, Novic does not dismiss the possibility that something like that may happen soon. The proposal of the international community on forming the SIPA, as the first state police and security service is still in process of consideration. According to the officials of BiH, the final position on the issue is expected to be agreed by the end of this year.
Vecernji List: Salvaging of Eronet failed
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Banja Luka’s Nezavisne Novine reported on Thursday that the Chair of the BiH Council of Ministers, Zlatko Lagumdzija, met with the Chair of the Steering Board of the Croatian Telekom, Ivica Mudrinic, in Sarajevo on Tuesday in an attempt to salvage Eronet whose 100 million KM were blocked after the blockade of the Hercegovacka Banka. Vecernji List reports that the Croatian Telekom is not receiving any profit from the Eronet despite a 39%-stake in the company due to unsolved ownership structure and unsolved status of the company. Mudrinic and Lagumdzija failed to reach an agreement but it was announced that the issue would be discussed at the next session of the Telecommunications Council for BiH. Apparently, the Deutsche Telekom, the majority shareholder in the Croatian Telekom wants to see this thing through, the Deutsche Telekom also being interested in getting the third GSM licence in BiH (…), reads Vecernji List.
Dnevni List: As of Tuesday, SNS members will also guard building of BiH Presidency
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The Bosniak political front (referring to Seadeta Palavric, a SDA representative in the Parliament and Sejfudin Tokic, the President of the BiH Parliament Assembly), helped by Ivo Komsic, has created a political consensus, whose stand is that a further functioning of the Croat component of the Intelligence Service in BiH is unacceptable. Faced with a Croat response, in the coming period, the Bosniak unitarists will focus the goal of their attack on the one who is the creator of their problems. Perhaps, on the ground of his principality, Jozo Krizanovic has a historical opportunity to finally gain sympathy of the people that he himself belongs to. Also, we have received the information that as of Tuesday, together with members of the Bosniak Intelligence Services, the Croat members of the Intelligence Service will also guard the BiH Presidency building. We are impatient to see as to what ‘a tolerant’ representative of the Human Rights Chamber will state on this occasion.
Vecernji List: Announcement on return of HRT to BiH comes from Strasbourg
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The BiH Presidency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH received in mid November a draft Resolution on the state of local and regional democracy in BiH, drafted in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe’s HQ, which carries pre-requisites that BiH has to fulfill if it were to join European integrations. The Council of Europe will continue to monitor the state of democracy in BiH even after the country has joined this organization, reads Vecernji List. Regarding the monitoring, as stated in the Resolution, the special focus will be on observing of four European covenants, among them a covenant on regional and languages of minorities, and the Sarajevo authorities have been warned that breaches of that covenant would have serious consequences on the status of BiH within European institutions. The covenant is important in light of the shutdown of the HRT in BiH. The document explicitly states that the member states take upon themselves to provide for direct broadcast of radio and television programmes from neighboring countries in a language which is the same or similar to the one used by a minority in the respective country. It is obvious that the covenant in related to the Croat(ian) language which is not represented enough in BiH. Vecernji List says that the Croat(ian) language is not represented enough on the FTV and the news have reached Strasbourg already commenting that the whole story could be taken as a first step towards the return of the HRT to BiH. Furthermore the papers reads that a member of the BiH Presidency’s working group for reconstruction of PBS and the Presidency’s secretary for media issues, Boris Kujundzic, made a proposal at a session of the working group aimed at the return of HRT and Serbian TV programmes to BiH. “I made an informal proposition that the BiH Presidency should perhaps approach the OHR and CRA with an initiative, according to which they should take into consideration a possibility of broadcasting programmes from neighboring countries via terrestrial network once the Radio-Television system has been fully established in BiH. Of course such a solution includes reciprocity so the viewers in neighboring countries could watch BiH programmes”, says Boris Kujundzic. Kujundzic added that his initiative was supported by the BiH Presidency and believes that the Presidency would discuss the issue at the next meeting with the HR (…), reads Vecernji List.
Separate article reads that the BiH Presidency and the HR, Wolfgang Petritsch would pay a joint visit to the PBS and FTV. They will be briefed about the results of the reconstruction of the Radio-Television system and problems they face.
Vecernji List: Mariofil Ljubic says a House of Peoples should be established in RS
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
(…) Co-Chair of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, Mariofil Ljubic, expressed pleasure with the fact that the HDZ MPs have met with the HR adding that it was a friendly conversation. “We talked about the constitutional changes. I stressed that in a complex state, as it was defined in the Dayton Constitution, there should be real instruments for protection of equality of all peoples, foremost the Houses of Peoples at the State and Entity levels”, said Ljubic. Mariofil Ljubic is also of opinion that a House of Peoples should be installed in the RS which would be a clear signal to the returnees to this entity. Regarding the contents of the current constitutional reforms, Mariofil Ljubic said that it would be an illusion to talk about equality, reads Vecernji List.
Brcko District
Nezavisne Novine: OHR North denies Boris Divjak’s allegations
Gerhard Sontheim, Deputy Head of OHR North, has denied the statements of Boris Divjak, President of the Transparency International. Boris Divjak stated that this town “has become an endangering element for the economy of both entities” through its liberal tax and customs policies. Sontheim claims that Divjak is “a newcomer to the group of those who are criticizing Brcko District, without previous verification of facts, or a discussion with those who are responsible for the situation in this town.” “If You had confirmed the truth of these facts, You would have known that none of the entities ever provided financial means for the Brcko District budget. Furthermore, Brcko District is about to enter into the second fiscal year with a budget entirely based on legal revenues collected within the District. You would have also known, if You wanted, what is the amount of state institution’s debts, in million KM, to the District. You would have also known that there are no “free zones” within the District, but I am sure that You already know how many free trade zones there are in the entities. It was published that You said: “Brcko needs to harmonize all… of the rates with the rest of the BiH, as both of the entities already did…”. Do You know how much the entities differ, for example, in sales taxes rates? Do You know that there is the law on income taxes, that has been harmonized on the level of the entities? I am sure that You know, at least, that customs rates are equal in the whole BiH, and in the District they do not differ from it. “I am also sure that You know that the RS Customs Administration is controlling the Brcko District Customs Service, therefore the RS Customs Administration is the first – and the competent one – to send any kind of remarks on irregularities. I hope You will be able to provide proofs for Your claims with regards to “undisturbed smuggling in Brcko”. If You will do so, You will witness the District Court’s efficient work, dedicated to tasks and capable to fight against illegal activities,” Sontheim stated in regard to the statement of Boris Divjak, who called Brcko District “a destroyer of the BiH economy”.
Federation
A Stolac primary school director does not allow Bosniak children to use donated computers
Oslobodjenje quotes UNMIBH Spokesman Stefo Lehmann as saying at a press conference in Sarajevo on Thursday that a UNMIBH computer team visited the Stolac Primary School on Wednesday to begin installing ten computers donated to the school last year by the International Community. “Until now the computers were in storage as the Principal of the school, Tomo Markovic, refused to share them among Bosniak and Croat children, which was in fact a condition for the donation. UNMIBH demanded that these computers be released from storage in order to be installed for use by all students. Unfortunately, the Principal is of the opinion that Croat and Bosniak children cannot share these computers, and now appears to want to deprive the Croat children of computer education if it means that the computers must be shared. We hope he reconsiders his decision,” Lehmann said.
Mehmedagic requests OHR to ban return of occupancy rights to the persons who lost BiH citizenship after April 30, 1991
According to Dnevni Avaz, the BiH federation Uraban Planning Ministry requested OHR to, through the amendments to the property laws, ban the persons who had after April 30, 1991, lost BiH citizenship to repossess their occupancy rights and buy the socially-owned apartments. The OHR, however, insists on the adoption of the proposed amendments. Head of the OHR Press Office Alexandra Stiglmayer said OHR hoped BiH Federation Urban Planning Minister Ramiz Mehmedagic would accept their initiatives.
BiH Federation Financial Police completing anti-corruption investigation into 74 cases
Dnevni Avaz reports that the BiH federation Financial Police is completing a total of 74 cases being investigated in the framework of the anti-corruption fight. The investigations have been conducted in cooperation with the BiH Federation Interior Ministry and the OHR Anti-Corruption team. According to the newspaper, the cases are mainly about the financial irregularities related to the work of the former Federation Government headed by Edhem Bicakcic and Dragan Covic and the former Ministry for Veterans’ Rights and Refugees.
Republika Srpska
Dnevni Avaz: What did Sarovic, Ivanic, Kalinic and Cavic do in Russia?
A visit of the senior Republika Srpska delegation to Moscow has probably experienced a fiasco. RS President Mirko Sarovic, RS Vice-president Dragan Cavic, RS National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinic and RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic were told by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister that Moscow’s priory were relations with the State of BiH and its institutions. The BiH Council of Ministers Chairman, Zlatko Lagumdzija, was also informed about such the Russian position by the Russian ambassador to BiH.
RS delegation coming back from Russia on Friday
Glas Srpski reports that a senior Republika Srpska delegation, comprising the RS President, Vice President, Parliament Speaker and Prime Minister is coming back from Russia late on Friday. The RS top leadership met on Thursday with representatives of the Russian Duma (a house of the Russian Parliament). After a meeting with the President of the Russian Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, Dmitriy Rogozin, RS President Mirk Sarovic stated that the Dayton Agreement was not an obstacle for the integration of BiH into Europe. Rogozin strongly condemned attempts to revise the Dayton Agreement and pointed out that an attempt to unify the two BiH entities might be very dangerous.
RS leader opposes Kosovo’s independence
Republika Srpska President Mirko Sarovic, said Friday that his entity was against Kosovo’s separation from Yugoslavia. “We are against any border changes on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and oppose the position mentioned by (the Albanian leader Ibrahim) Rugova, who is asking for Kosovo’s independence,” Sarovic told the Russian radio station Echo of Moscow. The Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica “was right to ask the Serbs (of Kosovo) to participate in the elections and to vote, (since) this would influence Kosovo’s future, he added. Sarovic gave the radio interview while visiting the Russian capital for several days. “The Balkans won’t have a future if borders are created every 100 kilometres,” Sarovic went on. “Chopped-up and reshaped states don’t have a future in Europe. He continued: “Today, after 10 years (of divisions), I support the process of re-unification, if only in the economic domain. With this, nobody has to give up sovereignty, but we can create a unique market and develop exchanges, providing our economies are complementary.”
AFP: RS official urges public to accept arrests of war crimes suspects
A Republika Srpska official called on the Serb population Thursday to accept the arrest of war crimes suspects being undertaken by the local authorities, without specifying when they are to start. “The public has to prepare itself for the fact that (arrests) of certain people will definitely be made,” Sinisa Djordjevic, advisor to the RS prime minister on cooperation with the UN war crimes court, told Alternativna TV. However, he added that he could not be precise about when the first arrests
by the RS authorities would begin. The RS parliament adopted the law on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in October, but the entity still remains the only part of the former Yugoslavia which has not started to bring suspects to justice. Bosnian Serbs have often protested against arrests of war crimes suspects in the past. Djordjevic said that according to intelligence service information, war crimes suspects often leave the country if they fear that they might be taken to the ICTY. “There are no war crimes suspects with permanent residence in RS. Those people are on the move constantly,” Djordjevic said. “They do not feel safe, they do not have a home (…) so you can find them perhaps on RS territory for five to six hours, but then they are gone for a month,” he said. RS authorities are facing mounting pressure to arrest suspects, especially the two most wanted by the tribunal — former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his war-time military commander Ratko Mladic, who are still at large.
RS Prime Minister’s advisor for cooperation with the ICTY says RS ready to arrest General Milosevic
Friday’s edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes Republika Srpska Prime Minister’s Advisor for Cooperation with the ICTY Sinisa Djordjevic as saying that the RS Government has received from the ICTY the arrest warrant for General Dragomir Milosevic. Djordjevic said that the RS Justice Ministry complied with the RS Law on Cooperation with the ICTY and forwarded the arrest warrant to the RS Government Bureau for Cooperation with the ICTY and to the responsible authorities that will check Milosevic’s residence. “If Milosevic is not at his residence and if it turns out that he cannot be found then the RS Interior Ministry will act in line with the RS Law on ICTY and issue the arrest warrant. If Milosevic is on the RS territory he will be arrested”, said Djordjevic. Djordjevic also told the paper that the RS Government will send to the ICTY new documentation and evidence against Alija Izetbegovic.
AFP: Mass grave of Srebrenica massacre victims reveals 305 bodies
The remains of some 305 Bosniaks, probably killed by Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, have been excavated from a mass grave in northeastern Bosnia, a local official said Thursday. “A total of 305 bodies of Muslim civilians, believed to have been executed by the Bosnian Serb forces in 1995, were found,” in the mass grave in the village of Litje, near Zvornik, Amor Masovic, head of the BiH commission for missing persons, told AFP. The exact number of victims has yet to be determined, as the exhumed skeletons are incomplete, most probably crushed by bulldozers, explained Murat Hurtic, a member of the commission, that completed its four-week-long exhumation work on Thursday. Many of the victims had had their hands tied with rope, Hurtic said. The remains of a woman and two children were also found in the grave. “Bullet holes were found in a number of skulls,” Hurtic added. The victims of the Srebrenica massacre were killed in a number of locations around the former UN-protected zone, the site of the worst atrocity of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. Their remains were later moved by Bosnian Serb forces to several mass graves in the area. Since the end of the war, the remains of more than 5,000 people have been exhumed around Srebrenica, most of them from mass graves discovered around Zvornik, located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Srebrenica.
RS Government accepts the entity’s draft election law
Both Banja Luka dailies report that, the Republika Srpska Government accepted, at its Thursday’s session in Banja Luka, the draft RS Election Law and forwarded it to the RS National Assembly for further procedure. “The draft RS Election Law regulates certain issues that are not regulated by the BiH Election Law, such as the organization of republic, town’s and municipal election commissions”, said Head of the RS Government Bureau for Public Relations Cvijeta Kovacevic. The Government also approved the allocation of KM 60,000 to the RS Documentation Center for War Crimes.
RS Interior Ministry asks for better cooperation with the BiH Anti-terrorist Team
The Republika Srpska Interior Ministry Spokesman, Zoran Glusac, has told SRNA that not one of the documents found in a house in Kabul and bearing the insignia of BiH has arrived at the Ministry’s address to be checked. “It is possible that the documents had been sent for checking, but they have not arrived yet at the RS Interior Ministry’s address,” Glusac said, adding that the Ministry was still working on putting into practice the plan for fighting corruption and crime in the RS. Glusac remeinded that it was the duty of the BiH coordination team for the fight against terrorism to submit to the Ministry the mentioned documents so that they can be checked, as well as all other material which is connected with corruption and crime in the RS.
Prijedor journalist Zoran Sovilj says he has receiving threats yet since 1993
Friday’s edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes Zoran Sovilj, a journalist from Prijedor in front of whose apartment an explosive device exploded two days ago, as saying that the first time he was threatened was in 1993 when he was writing articles about “some people and negative tendencies in the society. “I have been threatened for three years and at last they tried to kill me. They sent mercenaries, but everything ended well. I will never forget men saying to me: ‘You will keep silent, either dead or alive,” said Sovilj. He adds that, later, he received a few more threatening letters and then everything stopped a few months prior to the explosion that happened two nights ago. Sovilj says they probably wanted to make him feel relaxed and then to take me by surprise. The paper also reports that the OHR and the OSCE condemned the attack on Sovilj calling on the Republika Srpska police to conduct a thorough investigation.
International Community
NATO to treats the Balkans as a region and unify its operations there
Oslobodjenje reports that the NATO Military Council announced at its session in Brussels changes in the organization of forces currently participating in the peace-keeping missions in the former Yugoslavia’s territory. The president of the Council, admiral Guido Venturoni, said that the NATO would in the future treat the Balkans as a region through the unification of forces and funds for carrying out its missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. He emphasized that SFOR and KFOR would continue to assist police forces in BiH ad Kosovo in all tasks related to maintaining of the public order.
An international conference on BiH’s role in the stabilization of southeast Europe takes place in Sarajevo
According to Oslobodjenje, Head of the European Commission’s Representation Office in BiH Hansjorg Kretchmer said at an international conference on the BiH’s role in the process of the southeast Europe stabilization held on Thursday in Sarajevo that the police forces in BiH were yet not as efficient as they should be. “The most wanted war crime suspects are still at large. Moreover, the implementation of the property laws does not go well and the economy is still weak. I think that the administrative capacity might represent one of the key factors for a country to be admitted into the European Union membership. Politicians exist to serve the people, and not vice versa,” Kretchmer said.
Petritsch discusses economic situation in BiH with prominent businessmen, academics
Oslobodjenje reports that the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, hosted in Sarajevo on Wednesday the second session of the Civic Forum dedicated to the economic situation in the country and the region. (Note that Dnevni Avaz reported on the event on Thursday). See the OHR Press Release.
Sonn visits Mostar, supports Tomic and Jahic
Senior Deputy High Representative, Ambassador Matthias Sonn, stated on Thursday that he strongly supports the Mostar reintegration plan, presented recently by Mostar Mayor Neven Tomic and his Deputy Hamdija Jahic. On November 15, Tomic and Jahic had presented the document “Directions of actions and priority operative measures for acceleration of Mostar’s construction, as a functional city entity.” As they both said on that occasion, this plan, supported by the cantonal and Federation authorities, as well as the international community, create reunified city structures able to settle all contentious issues in Mostar. Ambassador Sonn said on Thursday he had arrived in Mostar to express his support to the plan. While in the city, he discussed the plan, in a separate meeting, with Mostar officials, as well as with the president of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Sefkija Dziho and his Deputy Dragan Vrankic. Following the meeting, in a media statement Ambassador Sonn assessed the plan drawn up jointly by Tomic and Jahic as a ”genuine effort aimed at creating a normal Mostar.” ‘The international community has had enough of politicization, coming from both Neretva banks, from those who would rather preserve their own petty interest than work on improving the living standard of all Mostar’s inhabitants”, Ambassador Sonn said. Highlighting the importance of the role of the cantonal authorities in implementing this plan, Sonn added that he ”met with cantonal officials to urge them to provide backing to Mostar’s mayor and his deputy in implementing their program.” In his words, the principal message of today’s talks was that ”time has come for action and not for announcement of good intentions.” Following the meeting with Sonn, Dziho and Vrankic stated their support for the two Mostar officials’ plan. (This is the ONASA report. Note that the FENA report, carried by Dnevni Avaz, covered the event in a pretty similar way. Mostar Dnevni List also covered the event.)
AFP: US military chief thanks BiH for support in fighting terrorism
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, thanked BiH authorities Thursday for their contribution towards the international fight against terrorism. “I would like to thank the local Bosnian authorities for … their efforts
to bring international terrorists to justice,” Myers told a press conference in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla, where he arrived to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with US soldiers deployed there. Most of the 3,300 US soldiers serving with the 18,500-strong Bosnia’s NATO-led peacekeeping Stabilization Force (SFOR) are stationed at Eagle Base, near Tuzla. BiH authorities were “very effective” in their efforts to eliminate the international terrorist threat, Myers said. He also emphasized that the war against terrorism was not a war against Islam, pointing to the presence of US troops in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and UN-administered Yugoslav province of Kosovo, both with large Muslim populations.
Human Rights watchdog accuses NATO-led Forces of civil rights violation
Nezavisne Novine reports that the chairman of the Helsinki Human Rights Committee for BiH, Srdjan Dizdarevic, on Thursday accused SFOR of overstepping its authorities and violating civil rights during detention of BiH citizens following terrorist attacks in the USA. Speaking at a round table on human rights record in BiH following the terrorist attacks in the USA, held in Sarajevo, Dizdarevic said that human rights had been violated in anti-terrorist activities, which followed the terrorist attacks, adding that violations had been committed both by domestic and international community organisations. A number of citizens were stripped of their citizenship overnight, bypassing usual procedures in such cases, Dizdarevic said. The participants concluded that the fight against terrorism should be conducted in a way which would not lead to abuse of human rights and that all anti-terrorist laws should be in line with the UN Charter and Human Rights Convention.
NATO Spokesman rejects BiH Helsinki Human Right Committee’s accusations
Nezavisne Novine reports that the spokesman for SFOR, Darryl Morrell, has denied statements by the Helsinki Human Rights Committee for BiH that persons suspected of having links to terrorist acts in the USA were maltreated by SFOR members during investigation. At a news conference by the international organisations on Thursday, Morrell said that the accusations were unfounded since all the actions by SFOR members, including temporary detention of suspects, had been conducted in line with their powers and with a view of securing peace and security in BiH. The suspects were treated according to the international human rights standards, which rule out any kind of torture and mistreatment.
Reuters: Milosevic charged with Bosnia genocide
The United Nations war crimes tribunal said on Friday it has charged Slobodan Milosevic with genocide in Bosnia in its third and gravest indictment against the former Yugoslav leader. The court confirmed that the new indictment, drawn up by Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to cover alleged atrocities by Serb forces against Croats and Bosniaks during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, contained enough evidence to go to trial. “Milosevic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the forcible and permanent removal of non-Serbs from the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina,” the tribunal said in a summary of the new indictment. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats were killed and thousands more imprisoned in more than 50 detention facilities under inhumane conditions, the indictment said. Many more were forcibly transferred from their homes. See the ICTY Press Release.
Editorials
Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
In the Oslobodjenje second-page editorial, Hamza Baksic analyzed the situation in BiH six years following Dayton with a basic conclusion that the Peace Agreement should not be seen as something unchangeable. Almasa Bajric wrote in the Avaz Commentary of the Day that signing of a letter of intent by which the BiH authorities accepted the Council of Europe’s post-accession obligations should become operational as soon as possible through the adoption of necessary laws and conventions. Bajric emphasized that the BiH accession procedure would not be completed by a probably positive decision of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in January since the final admission had to be confirmed by the Council’s Committee of Ministers. She reminded that, for example, the neighboring Croatia had waited a year for this decision to be made. Bajric concluded that, apart from the expression of verbal commitments, concrete steps had to be made.