OBN News Review, 25 October 1999

Headlines

• More than 20,000 people gathered for the protest of workers in Sarajevo
• SFOR arrested Damir Dosljan, one of the ex commanders of the concentration camp Keraterm
• Canton Court restarted trial of Goran Vasic, indicted for war crimes
• Provisional Election Commission forbids the Radical and the RS Serb party to register for municipality elections
• New round of talks between the Serbian and Montenegrin delegations on redefining of relations within the Yugoslav Federation
• Israel opened the ground connection between Gaza and the West Bank which control Palestinian troops

Sarajevo

The Provisional Election Commission did not allow registration of the Serb Radical Party and the Serb Party of the RS for the municipality elections, scheduled for April 8th next year. PEC explained that these two parties did not respect instructions of the Commission regarding the dismissal of their leadership, OBN reporter, Amarildo Gutic, confirmed. OSCE Spokesperson, Tanya Domi, said that the decisions had been issued because the leadership of the mentioned parties personally obstructed the Dayton Peace process.

Travnik

President of the HDZ Party, Ante Jelavic, said that he was unsatisfied with the position of Croats in the BiH Federation and that there was a possibility of complete blockade of the Dayton Peace Agreement implementation. Ante Jelavic attended session of the Party Presidency in Travnik today. The report on this was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Olivera Dimac.

Sarajevo

A report on the arrival of the Special USA Envoy for Kosovo and BiH, James Dobbins, to Sarajevo. The Special Envoy met with the BiH Presidency members. He said they were discussing the progress that had been made in BiH since his last visit, three months ago. The Special Envoy added that all three members of the Presidency indicated that there had been a significant progress. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Zeljka Lekic.

This was followed by a report on the arrest of another person suspected for war crimes, Damir Dosen. His arrest had been carried out according to the order of the recently appointed NATO Secretary General, George Robertson. Damir Dosen, whose name was on the public list of the Hague Tribunal, had been indicted for war crimes allegedly committed in the Serb concentration camp, Keraterm, near Prijedor in the summer 1992, OBN reporter, Vedran Persic, confirmed.

Today in Sarajevo, more than 20,000 workers gathered at the protest meeting. The organiser of the protest was the Association of Independent BiH Syndicates. Workers came from Zenica, Tuzla, Gorazde and other towns of the BiH Federation. Although the number of workers was less than the organiser had expected, this was the biggest gathering of the kind in the post-war period. Among other things, workers demand more active participation in the process of privatisation and improvement of their difficult economic situation. The report was produced by OBN reporters, Anes Alic and Damir Kaletovic.

This was followed by reports on preparations in Gorazde and Zenica for the protest of workers in Sarajevo. Workers from these two towns had problems coming to the meeting because some of the companies’ directors from these two towns tried to prevent them protesting. The Prime Minister of the BiH federation, Edhem Bicakcic, did not attend the protest meeting. Today, he opened a bridge in Aleksin Han between Sarajevo and Mostar. He said he was not afraid to show up at the protest meeting.

Banja Luka

Association of the RS Syndicates officially supported, as they said, the justified demands of the BiH Federation workers. Although a similar protest gathering was planned in the RS, the Syndicate leaders gave up because they started negotiations with the RS Government. The report was produced by OBN reporter from the town, Suzana Vukcevic.

This was followed by a piece on the improvement in the state of of health of Zeljko Kopanja, who survived an attempt at assassination last Friday in Banja Luka. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Darko Savic.

Sarajevo

Today in Sarajevo, the Canton Court restarted the trial of Goran Vasic, indicted for war crimes. In April, Vasic was sentenced to ten years in prison due to war crimes committed against civilians and war prisoners. At that time, he was released from the charges for the murder of Hakija Turajlic, the ex Vice President of the BiH Government. The trial of Goran Vasic regarding the charges for the murder will be continued in December. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Danijela Bozic.

Srebrenica

The High Representative in BiH withdraw the OHR Special Envoy, Bent Jensen, from Srebrenica on Saturday. OBN crew from Tuzla visited the Srebrenica municipality in order to check reasons for the decision. OBN received confirmation from the sources close to the OHR that Jensen had to leave because all ethnic groups in Srebrenica were unsatisfied with his work.

World

Representatives of the Montenegrin leading Democratic Socialist Party and the Serb Radical Party discuss the platform of the Podgorica Government on how to redefine relations within the Yugoslav Federation. The report on this was produced by OBN reporter from Belgrade, Danica Ilic. This was followed by a report on current events in Kosovo. The Serb National Council of Kosovo was formed yesterday in the Gracanica Monastery. The Council will represent Serbs who stayed in Kosovo. Reports on Chechenia, Israel, China and Argentina followed. The report was produced by OBN journalist, Gordana Frimel.

Banja Luka

The Deputy High Representative, Ralph Johnson, met with the members of the RS Privatisation Council in Banja Luka today. The companies should deliver their programs for privatisation by the end of this year. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banaj Luka, Valentina Knezevic.

Sarajevo

A report on the eleventh day of the International Theatre Festival “MESS 99” in Sarajevo was produced by OBN reporter, Mirna Sadikovic.

Sport

A report on the marathon in Chicago was followed by a report on the rugby world championship.