Headlines
- The Hague – a trial of three Serbs indicted for raping and sexual molesting of female prisoners in Foca began
- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, met with the senior BiH and BiH Federation officials in Sarajevo
- Sarajevo – the topic of a non-governmental organisation “Alliance for Security” meeting was: “Why BiH should become a member of the Partnership for Peace, that is, of NATO“
- Banja Luka – a session of the RS National Assembly
- Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, came up with a plan for solving the Kosovo crisis
- Tuzla – more than 600 workers of the transportation equipment factory went on strike
The Hague
Today, a trial of three Serbs indicted for raping and sexual molesting of female prisoners in Foca, began before the Hague Tribunal. Common charges have been raised against Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic. According to the charges, the raping is treated as a part of ethnic cleansing which happened during 1992 in Foca. The report for TV INFO was produced by Vjera Bogati.
Sarajevo
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, visited the Sarajevo residential quarter, Dobrinja IV, the border line between two BiH entities. Also, the High Commissioner met with the BiH Presidency members where she expressed her support to the common initiative to provide a billion dollars for the refugee return in 2000, OBN reporter, Damir Kaletovic, confirmed.
An Exclusive Interview with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said that a proposal for providing a billion dollars for the return of 200,000 refugees in 2000 was good and that they would support it. She added that the initiative includes projects for return connected with the reconstruction of the country. Ms. Ogata said that there was a trend in the RS for more and more people coming back to this BiH entity. This exclusive interview for OBN was produced by OBN journalist, Duska Jurisic.
Sarajevo
The topic of the non-governmental organisation Alliance for Security meeting, held in Sarajevo today, was: “Why Bosnia and Herzegovina should be a member of the Partnership for Peace, that is, of NATO?”. The participants of this round table meeting were presented with the materials about the implementation of the conditions necessary for BiH membership in NATO which have been implemented in BiH up to date. The same document will be presented to the NATO in Brussels on March 22nd. However, BiH has implemented less than 20% of the conditions necessary for the membership in NATO, OBN reporter, Anes Alic, produced the report.
Banja Luka
The RS National Assembly held its session today. First, there was a long discussion about the agenda. Afterwards, the tensions became even higher when a representative of the CD Coalition said that in Prijedor, on the place where Muslim religious building were before the war, a parking lot was built and that many other things in the town have not been functioning. The RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, said that the future lies in the multi-ethnic government and promised that very soon, three Bosniaks will be appointed for the advisors in the RS Government. Tatjana Lajsic produced the report for TV INFO from Banja Luka.
World
At the meeting of the EU countries’ ministers of foreign affairs in Brussels, the EU Commissioners Xavier Solana and Christopher Patten reported that the main goal of Europe was the integration of the West Balkans countries into the European political and economic mainstreams. BBC reported that the EU ministers asked from the EC a plan on the more strict financial sanctions against Belgrade. The Presidents of Slovenia and Croatia, Milan Kucan and Stipe Mesic, confirmed their good-neighbours relations at the meeting in Ljubljana. Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, came up with a plan of Moscow for solving the Kosovo crisis. According to that plan, a territorial integrity of the Federal Republic Yugoslavia should be guaranteed first. In the South of Chechnya, the fights between Russian and Chechen troops have continued. This was followed by an item on the current dispute between Taiwan and China which has not been solved yet. The US President, Bill Clinton, visited Bangladesh. The Pope John Pole the Second arrived at Jordan. The report on current events in the world was produced by OBN journalist, Zeljka Lekic.
Sarajevo
Reactions on the story presented in yesterday’s TV INFO about some 20,000 DEM of support for the Gojko Susak Fund made by the BiH Presidency member, Ante Jelavic. No one from the office of Mr. Jelavic answered to the questions about this. The piece was produced by OBN reporter, Sanjin Beciragic.
Tuzla
More than 600 workers of the transportation equipment factory “TTU” from Tuzla went on strike because of unpaid salaries and social security. The workers ask the management to resign. The report was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Adis Nisic.
Banja Luka
The deadline for the RS citizens’ registration in the process of privatisation was prolonged until March 31st 2000 in order to provide an opportunity to all citizens to participate in the process. The piece was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Suzana Vukcevic.
Zenica
An item on the beginning of the festival “Zenica’s Spring 2000” was produced by Ninoslava Kolar TV INFO. The Festival will last until April 15th.
Sport
A report on the local race organised by both BiH entities was followed by a piece on the international tennis matches.