21.10.1999

OBN News Review, 21 October 1999

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Headlines

  • The BiH election draft law presented after more than two years
  • Secretary General, Lord Robertson, and nineteen ambassadors of NATO visited BiH
  • The EC delegation met with top BiH officials
  • Exclusively for TV INFO: the High Representative in BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, and NATO Secretary General, Lord George Robertson
  • The “BH Bank” will pay 20% of what they own to all clients
  • Turkish Supreme Court postponed reaching of death sentence against the Kurd leader
  • KFOR confirmed that commercial flights in Kosovo were stopped

Sarajevo

The High Representative in BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, the Head of the OSCE Mission, Robert Barry and the Chairman of the Election Law Work Group, Francois Meurice, delivered today draft of the law to the BiH Presidency members, the Council of Ministers and Parliament. They called the BiH Assembly to start the procedure in the Parliament immediately and to adopt the law during next few weeks. OBN reporter, Amarildo Gutic, confirmed that this happened after more than two years and ninety versions of the law.

This was followed by a report on the visit of the Secretary General, Lord George Robertson, and nineteen ambassadors of NATO to BiH. Their visit and meeting with the BiH Presidency members clearly showed support to the Dayton Peace Agreement. The Secretary General said that NATO considered BiH for its success because stopping of fights and showing possibilities which peace provides. The General Secretary added: “There has to be more working together, more fight against corruption, more refugee return”. NATO delegation will visit Pristina tomorrow. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Zeljka Lekic.

Exclusively in TV INFO

The High Representative in BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the Secretary General, George Robertson, said that any changes of the Dayton Peace Agreement were out of question. The High Representative said that Croatian President’s, Franjo Tudjman, statement about the establishment of the third entity in BiH was unacceptable. The Secretary General emphasised that the Dayton Peace Agreement was the basis of the BiH Constitution and all politicians who signed it had to lived with that and made it work. The interviews were produced by OBN news editor, Jadranko Katana.

This was followed by a piece on the visit of the EC delegation to BiH. The delegation evaluated that the state in BiH had been improved comparing to their last visit. However, functioning of some joint institutions in BiH is still unsatisfactory. This refers mainly to the BiH Parliament. Reactions of some BiH officials to the four day visit of the EC delegation followed. The BiH Foreign Minister, Jadranko Prlic, said that there was a realistic chance that the issue of BiH membership in the EC be included in the agenda of the next session of the EC Parliamentary Assembly, scheduled for January. The report on this was produced by OBN reporter, Damir Kaletovic.

Brcko

The district of Brcko will be established by the end of this year. This was announced today in Sarajevo after one hour discussion between the Supervisor for Brcko, Robert Farrand and the BiH Federation Vice President, Ejup Ganic. Joint police operates currently in Brcko although officers wear different uniforms, that is uniforms of entities they are coming from. This should change by the end of this year, OBN journalist, Slobodan Maksimovic, confirmed.

Mostar

The BiH Federation Government held its session today in Mostar. The representatives concluded that construction activities in the area of Nekropola Radimlje were against law and Constitution because it breaches provisions on protection of BiH national monuments. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Mostar, Alisa Dzebo.

Sarajevo

A report on the “BH Bank” which faced with financial problems recently and could not paid money to its clients. Yesterday, the BH Bank Board met with its trustees. The Provisional Director of the Bank, Asim Zjakic, said that the bank did not go bankrupt for it still had its capital and was able to start paying 20% of what they own to their clients. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Anes Alic.

World

A report on the bombing of the President Palace in the Chechen capital, Grozny, where 50 people killed was followed by a report on clashes between police and protestors in the capital of Indonesia after the new president was elected. Reports on peace troops in East Timor, continuation of trial of the Kurd leader in Turkey, the four day visit of the Chinese President to the UK and current events in Middle East followed. The report was produced by OBN journalist, Mladen Maric.

Kosovo / Yugoslavia

The Yugoslav authorities canceled international passenger flights to Pristina. This did not include planes with humanitarian aid and equipment for KFOR. The Headquarters of KFOR announced that they were negotiating with authorities in Belgrade to reopen civilian passenger corridors for flights from and to Kosovo, OBN journalist, Gordana Frimel, confirmed.

This was followed by a report on the continuation of negotiations between leading opposition parties in Serbia. The opposition demands premature parliamentary elections.

The Hague

The Constitution Court of the Republic of Croatia decided to reject objection of Mladen Naletilic (Tuta) to the decision of the Supreme Court to hand him over to the Hague Tribunal. The decision is final.

Banja Luka

On October 14th, the International Hague Tribunal sent a request to the Court Council to separate trial of the RS Army General, Momir Talic, arrested in September in Vienna, from the trial of Radoslav Brdzanin. The explanation was that there might be collision of interests which could produce prejudice towards Talic’s defence. Today in Banja Luka, Talic’s lawyers addressed to the press explaining Talic’s case and why they think charges against Talic should be dropped. The report from Banja Luka was produced by OBN reporter from the town, Suzana Vukcevic.

Cazin

A piece on the difficult position of workers in the Una-Sana Canton and their support to the general protest meetings of BiH Federation workers, scheduled for October 25th in Sarajevo. The report was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Azra Bajric.

Banja Luka

The RS Minister of Education, Nenad Suzic, said that although they support the process of taking out offensive parts from textbooks, they could not accept intentions of some nationalistic streams from Sarajevo to create joint school programs and textbooks for that would mean unitarisation of BiH. OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Biljana Arsic, confirmed.

Sarajevo

A report on the International Theatre Festival “MESS 99” was produced by OBN reporter, Mirela Pehar.

Sport

A report on the European Champion League matches was followed by a report on local basketball.