OHR BiH Media Round-up, 10/12/2005

RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs)

TV PINK (18,00 hrs)

BHT 1 (19,00 hrs)

Gotovina arrest

Gotovina in The Hague on Saturday

Gotovina to be transferred to Hague

Regional news

Protests in Croatia – Gotovina arrest

Mladic file submitted to ICTY

Regional news

Andan on war crimes suspects

Croatians supporting Gotovina

Jovic on Del Ponte

Cavic’s call to Karadzic and Mladic

Update on talks on BiH Constitution

NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs)

FTV (19,30 hrs)

RTRS (19,30 hrs)

Protests in Croatia – Gotovina arrest

Gotovina to be transferred to Hague

Cavic calls for surrender

Andan on war crimes suspects

Reactions to Gotovina arrest

Regional news

Cavic’s call to Karadzic and Mladic

Graffiti on Gotovina in B. Gradiska

Hays meets Ivanic, Dodik and Cavic

Hays meets Ivanic, Dodik and Cavic

Mladic file submitted to ICTY

EC on police reform Directorate

Oslobodjenje

Belgrade after Carla del Ponte’s visit: Arrest of Ante Gotovina is example or last warning

Dnevni Avaz

Next up are Mladic and Karadzic (McElhaney statement)

Dnevni List

EUFOR from Mostar located Gotovina

Vecernji List

Vecernji List takes care of general’s debt (VL reporters at Tenerife paid for wine Gotovina was drinking during the arrest)

Nezavisne Novine

Political agreement on police is violated (Tesanovic statement on police reform Directorate)

Gotovina arrest/War crimes

Gotovina to be transferred to The Hague on Saturday, DL: Spanish EUFOR played important role in tracking Gotovina down

Pink, FTV, BHT, Vecernji List, pg 4 ‘Gotovina in custody in The Hague today’, by Stojan de Prato – The ICTY suspect Ante Gotovina will be transferred to The Hague Tribunal detention unit on Saturday, informed Spanish police. Gotovina is arrested two days ago in a luxury hotel on Canary Islands and is currently detained in Madrid. Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 4 ‘EUFOR from Mostar located Gotovina’, by M. Batarello – According to ‘intelligence sources’ of DL, the Spanish EUFOR contingent in BiH played a big role in tracking Gotovina down. DL sources say that Gotovina had been located in Herzegovina , which he left after realizing his cover has been compromised, after which he left for Mauritius and eventually for Tenerife. EUFOR notes that the Spanish contingent did not have the information that Gotovina was hiding in Herzegovina and that he left for Tenerife afterwards.

Demonstrations in Croatia over Gotovina arrest, Croat war veterans announce protests for Sunday, posters supporting Gotovina appear in Mostar

Pink – 11 demonstrators were arrested on Thursday night in Zagreb during protest against arrest of Croatian general, the ICTY indictee, Ante Gotovina, charged with war crimes over Serbs in Croatia. According to Croatian police, around 1000 persons gathered at Zagreb’s Bana Jelacic square and they walked towards the Croatian Government building. RHB – Croatian veteran associations are announcing support protests throughout Croatia. Dnevni List, pgs 2-3 ‘BiH Croats for Gotovina’, by Arijana Beus – President of HVIDRA of Herceg-Bosna (Croat war veterans), Andjelko Barun, announces that HVIDRA branches in BiH will organize protest rallies throughout BiH on Sunday at 1200 hrs. Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Posters of support to Gotovina in Mostar’, not signed – reports that posters supporting general Gotovina appeared in west, (Croat pre-dominant) part of Mostar. Posters stated ‘Ante Gotovina – hero, not criminal’. (reports on support to Gotovina also featured by BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, all print media)

Terzic on Gotovina arrest

RTRS – Council of Ministers Chair Adnan Terzic feels that by arrest of Ante Gotovina, the pressure on BIH and SCG to arrest Karadzic and Mladic will be even bigger.

McElhaney welcomes Gotovina arrest, calls on RS, SCG to arrest Karadzic and Mladic

RHB, Pink, Dnevni Avaz, front pg splash ‘Next up are Mladic and Karadzic’ pg 3 ‘RS and SCG should now help in arrest of Karadzic and Mladic’, by F. Vele  – US Ambassador Douglas McElhaney visited Mostar on Friday and welcomed the arrest of Ante Gotovina. He called upon RS and SCG authorities one more time to arrest Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

RHB feature on Gotovina arrest

RHB – Report by Ivica Simunovic – Mostar-based Radio Herceg Bosna radio brings its weekly commentary, this time on arrest of Ante Gotovina. The author says that whilst world officials are congratulating, the Croatian people are mourning. He says that although the arrest was inevitable, it was sad to see one of key people responsible for Croatia’s defence in handcuffs. Simunovic says that the sadness is greater since those who caused most evil in these areas, namely Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are still at large. Simunovic goes on saying that the indictment against Gotovina is in fact indictment against Croatia . He concludes that hopefully Gotovina and Croatia will defend the truth about war that occurred there.

Cavic calls on Karadzic and Mladic to surrender

Pink – RS president Dragan Cavic on Thursday called on Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to surrender. At the same time, he gave strong support to RS Ministry of Interior in order to continue activities in discovering Karadzic’s and Mladic’s whereabouts. Cavic does not believe that those two are on BiH territory. “Still, that does not mean that RS MoI should stop searching for them in order to conclude this issue, in cooperation with all international agencies, especially with the ICTY’s Prosecutors’ office”, said Cavic. Hayat, RTRS – “I am aware that this move would be painful and difficult, and I am aware that many do not support it, but we have to understand that institutionally and as a people, we are hostages of this situation,” Cavic added. Oslobodjenje, pgs 4-5 ‘It is logical to expect pressure on RS and SCG’, by Fena, Dnevni Avaz, pg 5 ‘They will up the pressure against Republika Srpska’, not signed – Following the apprehension of general Ante Gotovina, Cavic said it was logical to expect an increase of pressures on the institutions of RS and Serbia and Montenegro, because only Karadzic and Mladic now stand in the way of fulfilling the UN Security Council Resolution.  (also covered by RHB, Dnevni List, g 2 ‘Call to Karadzic and Mladic to surrender’, not signed, Vecernji List, pg 10 ‘Karadzic and Mladic must surrender’, by bs, Nezavisne Novine, pg 6 ‘Cavic called on Karadzic and Mladic to surrender’, by Srna)

Ljajic: SCG hands over files on Mladic

BHT, Oslobodjenje, g 5 ‘SCG authorities handed over new documents on Mladic’, by Beta – SiCG National Council for Cooperation with ICTY headed by Rasim Ljajic submitted the remaining part of Ratko Mladic’s military file to the ICTY investigators. According to Ljajic, the seven missing pages from Mladic’s file were found by Serbian Army. FTV – Ljajic announced that a large number of documents are going to be submitted to ICTY next week

Oslobodjenje feature: Support mounting on SCG to arrest Mladic and Karadzic

Oslobodjenje, front pg splash and pgs 4-5 ‘Arrest of Ante Gotovina is example or last warning’, by Branislav Boskov – Carries a commentary about the recent visit by the Chief ICTY Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, to Belgrade, which coincided with the arrest of Ante Gotovina. The author argues that del Ponte is going before the UN Security Council (scheduled to address the UN SC on Dec 15) with highly bad impressions from Belgrade since the SCG authorities have failed to both arrest Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, and fulfill other requirements. President of SiCG National Council for Cooperation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, says it is good thing that Gotovina will soon end up in The Hague , however he thinks that the Gotovina arrest has made the SCG’s position more difficult.

Ljajic: SCG authorities will arrest Mladic if he is in SCG

Dnevni Avaz, pg 5 ‘Nobody knows where Mladic and Karadzic are’, mentioned on front ‘I expect stronger pressure from The Hague’, by Sead Numanovic – carries an interview with the President of SiCG National Council for Cooperation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, along the same lines as in the article above (from Oslobodjenje). He underlines that nobody knows where Mladic is, saying if he gets found in SCG, he will be arrested and extradited to the ICTY.

SCG Defence Minister: SCG Army working on locating Mladic

RTRS, FTV – SCG Defence Minister Zoran Stankovic stated that SCG Army was actively working on locating Ratko Mladic.

Terzic: BiH CoM prepared law on confiscation of property used to help PIFWCs

Nezavisne Novine, pg 3 ‘Families of The Hague fugitives to be hit as well’, by M. Cubro – The Chairman of BiH CoM, Adnan Terzic, told NN that the BiH CoM had prepared a law on confiscation of property of war crimes suspects, their families and aides, the property which would be confiscated if determined that it is being used to hide a suspect. The proponent of the law is Terzic himself. “Adoption of the law is just one of measures we want to carry out to convince The Hague that we want to ensure a full cooperation”, says Terzic.

Constitutional reforms/Political Developments

Hays meets Cavic, Dodik and Ivanic, not much progress achieved, reports

Pink – Milka Mrdja – A political agreement on the constitutional changes in BiH must be reached by the end of the next week, if it is to be implemented before the 2006 elections, representative of the US Institute of Peace Donald Hays warned on Friday. He pointed out that there was a certain progress in constitutional talks that are being held for two months now. “The biggest differences are on whether BiH will be organized in line with the federal or republican principle and on whether the government authorities come from the State or the Entities,” said Hays. SDS President, Dragan Cavic, said earlier on Friday that there are many solutions with which work of BiH institutions can be improved and that SDS does not accept any changes in regard to entities’ status in BiH Constitution. “We have our positions and platform that we presented the first day and we will stick to it until the end of talks,” he said. PDP President Mladen Ivanic stated that, if agreement on constitutional changes in BiH is not reached, current Constitution will still be in use. “Entities’ abolishment issue is out of question,“ he said. BHT – Boris Gagic – After Friday’s meeting with Hays, PDP leader Ivanic stated that nothing new on constitutional changes had been said during the meeting. Politicians from RS still refuse to give up their stances on future organisation of BiH Council of Ministers, Presidency and Parliament. SDS Leader Dragan Cavic stated that the constitutional changes should strengthen the state institutions, but only with respect to existence and preservation of the entities.  SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik stated that SNSD was not going to support the idea of establishing education and agriculture ministries at state level. Despite of not so positive results of this weeks’ talks on constitutional changes, Hays announced another session of the talks next week. Hayat – report by ATV Banja Luka – “The loyalty of Serbs from BiH to BiH institutions goes through RS and its existence,” said Cavic. Parties from RS propose one president of BiH Presidency with two deputies. “There must be one representative of RS and two of FBiH, and that is what we can accept. I think this is a significant change comparing it with current practice and this is not cosmetic changes,” commented Dodik. RS parties are ready to accept appointment of the BiH Council of Ministers president and 11 ministries. One of new ministries would be Ministry of Agriculture, with different jurisdiction than entities’ ministries. Ivanic stated that agreement will be reached on issues that are possible to be agreed on or there will be no agreement. Dnevni Avaz, pg 2, mentioned on front ‘Milorad Dodik threatens with stopping of talks’, by N. Diklic – Unlike the report on BHT (see above), Avaz reports that Dodik supports establishment of state agriculture and European integration ministries. Dodik is also quoted as saying: “We will not support forming of education ministry at state level. We want a two-chamber, not a one-chamber BiH Parliament, a three-member Presidency, we will not talk (any more) without that. Otherwise, all talks carried out so far will fail”. Nezavine Novine, pg 2 ‘Deadline for agreement is December 16’, mentioned on front ‘Hays: Agreement must be reached next week’, by V. Popovic – Dodik accuses FBiH parties of “returning the story to one president and one parliament”. “If they keep insisting on impossible, there is no need to talk any more”, said Dodik. Also carries Hays’ and Ivanic’s statements. (meeting was also covered by FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje, pg 3 ‘BiH must improve role of state’, by O. Vukovic – features majority of Hays’ statements and Ivanic’s statement that abolishment of entities is out of question)

RS Government: We are not obstructing reforms

Pink – Ljubisa Davidovic – The RS Government does not share the opinion of the OHR that the RS is obstructing implementation of reforms and does not accept the assessment that this Entity is responsible for slowing down the reformatory processes in BiH, stated on Friday head of RS Government Communications department, Cvijeta Kovacevic. The Entity Government deems that in all reforms regarding the future ordering of certain sectors in BiH and RS, its representatives actively attempted in cooperation with representatives of FBiH and the Council of Ministers to reach solutions to protect the interests of all three peoples in BiH. RS Government concluded that it would make additional efforts to resolve the said issues, with full respect to the previously presented stands and opinions of the Government on certain issues with the aim of protecting the Constitutions of RS and BiH. (also reported by RTRS, Oslobodjenje, pg 3 ‘OHR’s assessments on obstruction of reforms dismised’, by Onasa, Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘There is no obstruction by RS’, not signed, Nezavisne Novine, pg 2 ‘RS Government is not slowing down reforms in BiH’, by R. S.)

EC welcomes decision to form Directorate for Police Reform

Hayat, RTRS – The Delegation of the European Commission in BiH welcomed on Friday the decision on the BiH CoM establishing the Directorate for Police Reform. “This decision represents key progress in the continuation of the police reform process. In making the decision on starting Stabilisation and Association talks the EU clearly identified the continuation of the police reform process as one of the priorities for the future progress of BiH in European integration”, the Delegation stated. The Delegation is especially pleased with the fact that the BiH CoM made this decision within the set deadline.

Cavic in favour of having foreing member in Police Directorate Steering Board, Dodik opposes it; Tesanovic says police agreement violated

Dnevni Avaz, pg 10 ‘It is logical to have representative of EC’, by Srna – RS President, Dragan Cavic, says that formation of the Police Reform Directorate cannot cause any problems. Cavic also believes it is logical that the Directorate’s Steering Board will have a representative of the EC, who will be appointed by an authorized ambassador of the EC in Sarajevo.

Dnevni Avaz, pg 10 ‘Dodik: We do not need foreigner’, by N. D. – Unlike Cavic, the SNSD leader, Milorad Dodik, notes that “we do not need a foreigner in the Directorate, because we have enough experts to do the job alone”. Dodik also fears of outvoting of peoples within the Directorate.

Nezavisne Novine, front pg splash and pg 3 ‘Political agreement on police is violated’, by M. Cubro – carries statements by both Cavic and Dodik (see above), as well as statement by BiH Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, Zoran Tesanovic (PDP), who says that a foreign member of the Steering Board Police Reform Directorate, who will have the right to vote in the Steering Board, will be the key person, which in turn represents the violation of political agreement that was agreed by parliaments in BiH. “At a session of BiH Council of Ministers, we got an explanation from Dragan Mektic, the BiH Deputy Security Minister, that he got consent from authorities in Banja Luka that the foreign expert gets the right to vote. He (Mektic) did not mention who reached the agreement”, says Tesanovic. RTRS – Tesanovic stated that CoM decision is violating police reform agreement. (NB: no details of Tesanovic statement are provided).

Cavic, Dodik, Ivanic on RS Govt issue

RTRS – RS President Dragan Cavic feels that it is impossible to talk on changing the RS Government until its current status and position is resolved. SNSD Chair Milorad Dodik stated that the situation is dramatic since RS Government does not have the necessary majority. BHT – PDP leader Mladen Ivanic stated that SDS and SNSD could establish a new Government in RS because they have the necessary majority of RS National Assembly to do so.

Economy

BiH and EBRD sign contract on restructuring of BiH railroads worth 70 million Euros

RHB, Pink, BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje, pg 2 ‘7 million Euros for BiH railroads’, by Fena, Dnevni Avaz, pg 8 ‘Fast train from Sarajevo to seaside in 2009’, by T. Lazovic, Vecernji List, pg 10 ‘Modern railroads in 5 years’, by Eldina Medunjanin, Nezavisne Novine, pg 8 ’70 million Euros for infrastructure’, by N. Krsman – BiH’s railway sector is to undergo significant restructuring with the help of a €70 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was stated on Friday at the ceremony of signing the contract on loan between EBRD and BiH. The loan will help renew 104 kilometres of track on a key rail route along the north-south pan-European Corridor Vc from Konjic to Mostar and from Mostar to Capljina and 70 kilometres of rail route parallel to the east-west pan-European Corridor X from Kostajnica to Josavka. The contract was signed by BiH Minister of Finance and Treasury, Ljerka Maric,and EBRD Director for Transport, Riccardo Puliti, while a series of following contracts were signed by representatives of EBRD, State and Entity authorities, BH Railway Corporation (BHZJK) and the railway companies in FBiH and RS. The Head of Delegation of the EC in BiH, Michael Humphreys, and representative of the OHR, Patrice Dreiski welcomed the EBRD’s commitment for supporting BiH rail infrastructure. They said that modernization of the railway sector and implementation of the Law on Railways would contribute to adoption of European standards in this sector in the technical as well as in the sense of security, market policy and liberalization.

Bukejlovic: OHR has been misinformed about allocation of incomes from joint ITA account

RTRS, Dnevni Avaz, pg 8 ‘OHR is misinformed’, not signed, Nezavine Novine, g 2 ‘RS submitted data on taxes’, not signed – RS PM Pero Bukejlovic feels that OHR is not well informed on division of income from ITA joint account. He added that ITA officials misinformed OHR on this issue.

Oslobodjenje, Dnevni List criticize Ashdown, BiH authorities over introduction of VAT with single rate

Oslobodjenje, pg 9 ‘First class cynicism’, by Mirko Sagolj – The author is heavily criticizing the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, for his recent statement that the VAT will initially cause chaos in BiH, saying it is the culmination of a moral and political cynicism that comes at the very end of Ashdown’s mandate. The author also points the finger at the OHR and Ashdown, saying they are most responsible that BiH will get a single rate VAT, which will cause many problems to the poor. Sagolj does not spare the ruling authorities either, focusing on the authorities’ decision to allocate additional 10 KMs to pensioners that get less than 200 KMs a month and to unemployed people. Dnevni List, pg 82 ‘VAT against the poor’, by Zvonimir Jukic – carries a similar op-ed criticizing HR Ashdown in particular.

Grahovac: Agreement on ‘Aluminij’ will have to wait until ‘Energopetrol’ issue is taken care of

Dnevni List, pg 8 ‘Energopetrol case is obstacle to Aluminij’, by Anja Vrebac – The FBiH Deputy PM, Gavrilo Grahovac, says the agreement between the FBiH Government and ‘Aluminij’ of Mostar, whose realization is being stopped because the enactment of the changes to the law on privatization was rejected by the FBiH House of Peoples, will not be solved until the ‘Energopetrol’ case has been resolved.

Miscellaneous

HR Ashdown highlights need for transparency in appointment of Constitutional Court judges

BHT – High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, stated that the recent appointments of judges to the BiH Constitutional Court highlighted the need to improve the transparency of the appointment process of judges to the Court. “If the Constitutional Court lands into the hands of politicians, rather than legal experts, then this could reduce to dust the whole structure of rule of law,” said Ashdown. Ashdown’s reaction came after the decision of FBiH House of Representatives to appoint SDA official Seada Palavric to the position of a BiH Constitutional Court judge. (Ashdown statement and similar comments also featured by Hayat, FTV, Nezavisne Novine, pg 3 ‘Constitutional Court must not be handed over to hands of politicians’, by D. R. Ashdown statement carried by Oslobodjenje, pg 2 ‘Improve transparency in appointment of judges’, not signed, Dnevni Avaz, pg 2 ‘Constitutional Court must not be out into hands of politicians’, by Fena)

BiH authorities fail to provide high education draft law, new deadline set for Dec 19

RTRS – Report by Sladjana Jasarevic – BIH will lose a 34 million US$ loan unless Council of Ministers adopts law on higher education by 19^th December. CoM working group for economic development and EU integration has prepared 90% of the law so far. CoM Chair Adnan Terzic stated that so far text of the law contains all Bologna standards. He added that only thing remaining is to include BIH standards. Reporter comments that due to competence of the working group it is unclear which level of government will finance universities in BIH. She adds that international community expects that all issues will be resolved by the end of next week. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft feels that the financing issue is a key political issue and adds that it is important for higher education experts to coordinate their stances. BHT, FTV – Deadline for the task group of BiH CoM to prepare the draft law on higher education expired on Friday, and the draft law hasn’t been completed yet. Major problem is the authority over higher education. BiH CoM Chairman Terzic expects the task group to complete the draft law by the end of next week. Terzic explained that the authority over high education might remain at the canton level, but it also may be transferred to the state level. (also reported by Oslobodjenje, pg 3 ’90 percent of text of law harmonized’, by An. Simic, Dnevni Avaz, pg 5 ‘Deadline for handing over of text extended until Monday’, by S. S., Dnevni List, pg 6 ‘Jurisdiction and financing of education still disputable’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic, Nezavisne Novine, pg 2 ’90 percent of text harmonized’, by M. R.)

BiH Ombudsman for Human Rights warns of mass violations, claims even HR Ashdown violates human rights

Pink – Dragica Tojagic – Since the BiH Ombudsman office was formed, it received over 50.000 cases of human rights violations. Human rights in BiH are violated by everyone, not only by the representatives of domestic authorities, but also by the representatives of the international community in BiH, the Ombudsmen for Human Rights in BiH, Vitomir Popovic, stated on Friday. Warning that respecting of human rights will be a dominant sector in the forthcoming negotiations with the EU, he told the press that the disrespecting of human rights in BiH must be reduced to the lowest rate possible. Violations are evident everywhere, including the violations committed by the High representative, Paddy Ashdown. “We currently work on the professor Lukic case, which is directed to the institution of High Representative and RS Government, we are now in the phase of correspondence,” said Popovic and announced that conclusions will be presented to public. (reports on violation of human rights also in Hayat, RTRS, Vecernji List, pg 11 ‘Half of citizens in BiH are poor’, by Eldina Medunjanin)

Sarovic, Govedarica and Bjelica remain in custody

BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz, pg 4 ‘Sarovic Govedarica and Bjelica remain in custody’, by Srna, Dnevni List, pg 6 ‘Sarovic Govedarica and Bjelica remain in custody’, not signed – BiH Court rejected appeal submitted against the order for detention of Mirko Sarovic, Milorad Govedarica and Milovan Bjelica, suspects in the case of “Privredna banka” Eastern Sarajevo.