OBN News Review, 4 April 2000

Headlines

• Momcilo Krajisnik will appear before the Hague Tribunal on Friday. Carla Del Ponte announced the arrest soon of Radovan Karadzic as well
• Escalation of economic crisis threatens B&H, warned the Steering Board of the Council for Implementation of the peace agreement
• A new B&H border commission will be appointed soon
• Independent businessmen from Canton Sarajevo announced a strike
• An attempted bank robbery in Banja Luka

The Hague

The main prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla Del Ponte, announced the first hearing of Momcilo Krajisnik before the Tribunal. It will take place on 7th April. At the moment, Krajisnik is in prison. He feels well and the hearing can start on Friday, said Jim Landale, the Hague Tribunal spokesman for OBN. Karadzic will not sleep well from now on, announced the State Department.

The report was produced by Zeljka Lekic.

The main ICTY prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte demanded “Narodna banka” in Slovenia investigate the claims about the existence of Milosevics bank account in this country.

About 7,30 p.m., Carla Del Ponte met the Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, in Zagreb.

Banja Luka

The Party of Independent Social-democrats and the Serb Democratic Union protested because of the existence of secret indictments of the ICTY, and they demanded their revelation. They support the passing of the Law on RS co-operation with the Hague Tribunal. Reported by Darko Savic from Banja Luka.

There was an explosion near the SFOR patrol in Modrica last night. SFOR will not tolerate this, and they will try to identify the culprits, announced the Multinational Division “North”.

Banja Luka

Two armed men tried to rob the Agency of “Banjalucka Banka” in Borik. The three employees prevented the robbery. Reported by Suzana Vukcevic from Banja Luka.

Sarajevo

The Steering Board of the Council for Implementation of the Peace Agreement had a meeting today. The main theme was the issue of economic reforms. The Board confirmed that the High Representative should remove all obstacles that prevent fruitful economic life in this country, said Wolfgang Petritsch, the UN High Representative. Some officials are not satisfied by the way in which the “Holiday Inn” was sold, and they say that this is not a good beginning of the privatisation process. The report was produced by Vedran Persic.

Sarajevo

The Border Commissions of B&H and Croatia will meet in the end of April. They will talk about the border lines at the river Una valley. Any suggestions cannot be considered until the formation of the Council of Ministers. The report was produced by OBN reporter Damir Kaletovic.

Sarajevo

Independent businessmen gathered in Sarajevo today. They protested against privatisation through tenders, and called it robbery and legalisation of corruption and crime. They said that in this way they could lose their properties, because higher prices could be offered. The privatisation process officially started on 13th May 1999. The businessmen announced a strike, if their requests were not granted. The report was produced by OBN journalist Sanjin Beciragic.

Sarajevo

The money which the Federation Prime Minister used to pay foreign lawyers for making an anti-corruption strategy could have been spent for much better purposes, said the Federal prosecutor Suljo Babic. The Prime Minister insisted on the presentation of the results of business transactions control in Tuzla. Mr Suljo Babic marked this as another pre-election game. The Law on money laundering will be passed soon, and the courts will have much more work to do, said Suljo Babic. Reported by Amarildo Gutic.

World

The Japanese government resigned today and therefore made possible a new Prime Minister to be appointed. The former Prime Minister is seriously ill.

At the Euro-African Summit in Cairo, the issue of poverty in Africa was discussed. The EU leaders insisted on democratisation of Africa.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, called the Russian government to form an independent commission which would investigate the violation of human rights in Cechenia.

The USA Federal Court found “Microsoft” guilty of violation of the Law on Monopoly. Bill Gates, the owner of the company, announced an appeal.

The piece on world events was produced by Duska Jurisic.

Nova Bila

Employees of “Sebesic”, the company for wood manufacturing, blocked the road between Travnik and Vitez today, because the state enterprise “Sume” refused to deliver them a working material. They announced new protests, if their demands were not granted. Reported by Ana Drmac.

Sarajevo

The municipal elections in B&H will take place in 4 days. OSCE announced that the counting of votes will start immediately after the completion of voting. 2 more candidates, Momcilo Vlasic and Radmila Delic were found ineligible for the municipal elections, said Tanya Domi, the OSCE spokesperson. Voters can inform themselves of all details through the Internet, by visiting the OSCE web page. The report was produced by OBN reporter Slobodan Maksimovic.

Banja Luka

Since the 1st April, it has been forbidden to Clinical Centre employees to have more than one job. This will provide a higher quality of medical services, said Branislav Lolic, the Clinical Centre director in Banja Luka. All out-patient departments now work in two shifts. Reported by Nedeljka Breberina.

Banja Luka

The RS Police celebrated their Day today. Reported by Dragan Stanimirovic.

Sport

Reports on football and NBA league were presented.