OBN News Review, 15 September 1999 - Office of the High Representative

Headlines

More than 2,5 million people evacuated from the South East part of the USA due to the hurricane “Floyd” – the officials called this the biggest evacuation in peace time in American history
Sarajevo – the work law were not rejected in accordance to the rules, the Federal Parliament decided
Bosanski Novi – thirty days of the Sana textile factory employees
Heads of the UN Mission in BiH and canton officials discussed how to improve the functioning of the BiH Federation police
UN resolution regarding sending of peace troops to East Timor adopted
Strasbourg – the European Parliament approved European Commission structure with Romano Prodi as the head
Hague – new Main Prosecutor of the Tribunal officially begins her work

The Special Coordinator for the South East Europe Stability Pact, Bodo Hombach, adopted the proposal for Sarajevo to be the host for the first half-year meeting of the Working Table for the South East Europe Security Issues. The first host of the working group for the economic reconstruction will be Skopje, and for democracy and human rights, Budapest, confirmed the SENSE Agency for OBN. The report was produced by OBN journalist, Danijela Bozic.

Sarajevo

A report on the second day of the Representative House of the Federal Parliament session. The representatives adopted laws on special taxes for oil, alchoholic and non-alchoholic drinks, beer, coffee and tobacco. The Minister of Finance, Dragan Covic, said that there will be no increase in the price of oil, although he could not anticipate effects this would have on other products. All these laws should now be confirmed by the BiH House of Peoples. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Amarildo Gutic.

Banja Luka

The RS Syndicate determined the ten day deadline for the RS Government to solve the issues in respect to the changes of the general collective agreement. If the agreement is not reached, workers in the RS will go on general strike. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Sanela Zivkovic.

Bosanski Novi (Novi Grad)

A report on the strike of the Sana textile factory workers in Bosanski Novi. The workers have been on strike for a month. Agreement reached between the Vice President of the RS and the representatives of the factory syndicate has not been implemented yet. The report was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Milena Letic Joves.

Sarajevo

The UN sent approximately 300 IPTF members to Kosovo and cut their budget in half. The topic of today’s meeting between the Head of the UN Mission in BiH, Jacques Klein, with the canton governors, prime ministers and foreign ministers in the BiH Federation, was the further improvement of the federal Police establishment. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Vedran Persic.

This was followed by a report on the working meeting of the BiH Presidency with the Council of Ministers members. They discussed functioning of the BiH institutions, especially relations between the Presidency and the Council of Ministers, OBN reporter, Sanjin Beciragic, confirmed.

World

A report on the UN resolution to send peace troops to East Timor was followed by reports on the current events in Romania and Strasbourg.

Kosovo

This was followed by a report on Kosovo. Four days before expiration of the deadline for the disarmament of the Kosovo Liberation Army, NATO warned the KLA not to try to form any other military force. The report was produced by OBN journalist, Gordana Frimel.

Banja Luka

The representative of the refugee and displaced Serb families, currently placed in Banja Luka, said that the Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons in the RS Government informed them that the High Representative Office agreed to stop evictions of those who were not provided with alternative accommodation. A report on the Serb refugee family from Croatia, currently living in Banja Luka, was produced by OBN reporter from the town, Valentina Knezevic.

This was followed by a report on the session of the RS Ministry for Soldiers Issues, Victims of War and Work. The ministry considers that stopping evictions is the most realistic solution at this moment.

Sarajevo

A report on the opening of the first “clinic for pain” in BiH. The project was supported by UNESCO and its donors from Germany. One hundred children who are civil casualties of the war will receive help in this clinic.

This was followed by a report on the US Agency for Trade and Development which approved 1.3 million dollars for the study and pilot project of providing support to “PTT” and “BiH Elektroprivreda”.

Mostar

A piece on the beginning of the Musala bridge in the center of Mostar, destroyed during the war. The project is worth 2,777,000 KM.

Zenica

This was followed by a report on the reconstruction of the steel factory “Zenica” and destruction of old facilities.

Sport

A report on the BiH football matches was followed by reports on the international basketball tournament “Radivoje Korac” and international tennis matches.