Headlines
- The strike of railroad workers in the BiH Federation will begin tomorrow and will last until the demands of the Syndicate are fulfilled, a priority of which is establishing of a public corporation
- The Representative House of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and both houses of the BiH Federation Parliament held their sessions
- Topic of TV INFO: BiH is closer to becoming a the protectorate
- In a plane crash near the African coast in the Atlantic, out of 179 passengers, 10 passengers and crew members survived
- The UK Supreme Court refused a demand to cancel the release of the Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet
Sarajevo
A strike of approximately 4,800 railroad workers in the BiH Federation begins tomorrow. They ask the BiH Federation Parliament to enact laws which will protect their rights. The strike board of the railroad workers criticized the Office of the High Representative for not using its authority to enforce the establishment of a railroad corporation in BiH. The Syndicate representatives said that salaries were only one of the causes for the strike. Some 900 railroad workers currently do not have a job. The salary for August last year workers received ten days ago, OBN reporter, Sanjin Beciragic, confirmed.
This was followed by a report on the completed, three day session of the BiH Constitutional Court held in Sarajevo during the weekend. The Court confirmed that the positions of the BiH Council of Ministers Co-Chairman and the Vice Chairman were against the Constitution. However, the President of the Constitutional Court, Kasim Begic, said that this decision can not cause a constitutional crisis in the state. Judges from the RS have left the session. Because of that, the representative of the RS National Assembly in the dispute with the BiH Constitutional Court, Radomir Lukic, said that making a decision without the RS judges would be discouraging, thinking primarily about the decisions brought in order to balance the RS Constitution with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not clear whether the judges from the RS will attend the next session of the Constitutional Court scheduled for February 18th and 19th when solving the issue of constituency of all three peoples in BiH is expected. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Vedran Persic.
An item on the session of the Representative House of the BiH Assembly.
In the first part of the session, the Representative House gave several tasks to the BiH Council of Ministers, although according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Council might stop work. The representatives discussed changes of the Law on the BiH Council of Ministers, OBN reporter, Amarildo Gutic, confirmed.
The OSCE Mission in BiH submitted to parliamentary procedure information on the changes in the Draft Election Law. Today, the representatives of the Socialist Democrat Party discussed this with the members of both houses of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly behind closed doors. Our OBN reporter found out some of the details of the most important changes of the Draft Election Law. The method of election of the BiH Presidency members was left out of the changed draft of the permanent election law. These provisions will be adopted by the BiH Parliament before January 1st 2002, before the elections of the BiH Presidency scheduled for that year.
Although the discussion of the tenth session of the Representative House of the BiH Federation parliament was tumultuous, no important decisions were made, OBN reporter, Sefko Bajic, confirmed. The session was interrupted twice. The most important issue discussed at today’s session was the appointment of the BiH Federation Auditor and his deputy. The eleventh session adopted only the agenda for tomorrow when the session will be continued.
Banja Luka
A piece on the meeting between the BiH Presidency member from the RS, Zivko Radisic, and the Deputy High Representative, Ralph Johnson, in Banja Luka today. The topics of the talks were current situation in the RS and relations in the “Koalicija sloga”. Also, the Deputy High Representative met with the RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik.
This was followed by a piece on the meeting between the “Koalicija sloga” heads, Zivko Radisic, Milorad Dodik and Biljana Plavsic. After the meeting Prime Minister Dodik said this was an ordinary work meeting and nothing of importance happened. The RS Prime Minister, Ostoja Kremenovic, said that those individuals who were taking care of their own interest had to understand that the interest of the people had to be in first place. He added that he believed that “Koalicija sloga” would overcome the crisis. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Tatjana Lajsic.
Davos
A six day World Economic Forum is being currently held in the Swiss town of Davos. Some 3,000 politicians, businessmen, scientists, academicians, representatives of media and civil society participate in the Forum. Five experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are working on the “Transition in Peace” project of the MIT Center, have been invited to the Forum. Professor Zlatko Lagumdzija, the Director of the Center and the President of the SDP Party in BiH, is one of the BiH representatives at the Forum. In a phone interview made by OBN presenter, Duska Jurisic, Zlatko Lagumdzija said that the topic of the Forum “Globalization of World Economy” was unfortunately far away from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the BiH was only an observer at the Forum.
The Hague
The International Hague Tribunal for the first time sentenced a lawyer. The ex lawyer of Dusko Tadic, Milan Vujin, was proclaimed guilty of disrespecting the Court, bringing up false proofs at the Court and the manipulation of witnesses’ statements. The lawyer damaged his defendant. Milan Vujin will have to pay a fine of approximately 15,000 DEM, Vjera Bogati confirmed for TV INFO from the Hague.
World
“Kenya Airlines” plane crash near the African coast in the Atlantic of the out of 179 passengers, 10 passengers and crew members survived. An investigation is going on. The Russian planes intensified their strikes against Chechenia. The UK Supreme Court refused a demand for canceling the release of the Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The report on these and other current events in the world was produced by OBN journalist, Zeljka Lekic.
Zenica
Last week, representatives of the Regional Association of Refugees and displaced Persons met with the High Representative. They presented their strategy for return in 2000, OBN reporter from Zenica, Nela Kacmarcik, confirmed.
Sarajevo
A piece on the visit of the Croatian People’s Theatre from Mostar to Sarajevo from February 3rd to 5th was produced by OBN reporter, Mirna Sadikovic. Three performances will be shown during the visit.
Sport
Reports on international tennis and football was followed by an item on NBA.