| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) |
| Tudjman’s 3rd death anniversary marked | First ID being handed over | UN SG calls on respect of human rights |
| Croatia and Yugoslavia signed protocol on Prevlaka | FBiH Parliament adopts budget for 2003 | FBiH’s next year’s budget |
| BiH HVIDRA announces blocking of border crossings | Croatia-FRY Protocol on Prevlaka | First Ids – ceremony in Sarajevo |
| Croatian general Mladen Markac talked with Hague prosecutors | 10 December – Human Rights Day | SFOR finds weapons in Trebinje |
| Oslobodjenje | Power splits SBiH; Ten rocket launchers in aq warehouse in Trebinje; New ID being issued |
| Dnevni Avaz | Behmen has a problem with Prosecutor Bisic too; Komsic – we are proud of what Lagumdzija is ashamed of; Daniela arrived from London; Cegar could get up to five years in prison |
| Dnevni List | Meeting of Cantonal Ministers for Defenders’ Issues with Minister Hadzovic and Deputy Minister Jonjic failed: Jonjic demands resignations of Minister Hadzovic and 6 Cantonal Ministers |
| Vecernji List | Zdravko Tomac, the Vice President of the Croatian Parliament, on his statements on BiH: They want to make me silent |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | People from Siroki Brijeg embittered by imputations that Croatian General is hiding among them: Ante Gotovina should not be hiding in Siroki Brijeg |
| Glas Srpski | RS Minister for Refugees says refugees will stay in collective centres during next year |
| Nezavisne Novine | New ID’s to be issued from New Year |
| Vecernje Novosti | Without passport on Prevlaka; Djindjic: Let them try to bring down the government |
| Blic | Sentences up to 10 years in prison for weapon smuggling; Sarovic: Still there no conditions for the joint BiH Ministry of Defence; Beecroft: Politics must leave schools; Cavic: We must protect tradition of a family |
| FRY Nacional | Key witness in Bobetko case is accused by the Tribunal for murdering civilians in Kosovo |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Behmen vs. Bisic
New IDs
BiH Presidency members in New York
BiH–Croatia dual citizenship
FBiH budget for 2003 adopted
Fiuljanin case
‘Alhos’ protests in front of OHR?
‘Orao’ affair
Joint Defence Ministry
Tomislavgrad
Tomac’s resignation requested
SBS opens system centre
HVIDRA to protest
Joint initiative by Balkan leaders
VL on Leutar case | Avaz pg. 1 and 11, Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 – Alija Behmen, Federation PM, instead of allowing the FBiH Financial Police (FP) to conclude their investigation in the FBiH Defence Ministry, requested from the FP to forward him a report about the inspection, which was ordered by cantonal Prosecutor Mustafa Bisic. Behmen, however, neglected the fact that it was not the Federation government that requested the investigation, and therefore he had no authority to follow-up the investigation or request any sort of a report about it. The investigation has not yet been concluded because the FP inspectors have not been given the access to all Ministry documents. According to the daily, Behmen recently repeated his sharp criticisms aimed at the Federation FP Chief Zufer Dervisevic, who, according to Behmen, ‘disrespects the PM’. The daily concludes that this action is yet another attempt by Behmen and a few ministers to remove the FP heads before their mandates expire. Behmen is also trying to indirectly compromise Prosecutor Bisic who ordered the investigation of the FBiH Defence ministry, but also of the BH Telecom, Postanska Bank and the CIPS project, which involve some of SDP President’s friends. In a separate article on pg. 3 ‘Financial Police has been controlling Post Office, BH Telecom and Postanska Bank’ – that the FBiH FP, following orders of the cantonal Prosecutor Bisic, has been controlling all financial transactions of the mentioned companies. Avaz pg. 2 ‘Mine victims issued the first new IDs’, Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘New ID handed over’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 ‘New Ids to be issued from New Year’ – 10 mine victims were the first BiH citizens who were yesterday handed over new Ids during a ceremony in a building of the main Post Office in Sarajevo. The samples of new ID’s were also handed over to several international officials, including HR Ashdown. “This ID will help us, amongst other things, to establish greater travelling freedom outside the BiH borders. One day when we submit a request to the EU for abolishing the visa regime, these ID’s will be our main argument,” said HR Ashdown. Svetozar Mihajlovic, BiH Minister of Civil Affairs and Communications, stated that the realisation of the CIPS project was one of the significant steps towards the establishment of the rule of law. He added that there would be 144 locations for issuing the IDs. Vecernji List pg. 2 ‘First step towards abolishment of visas’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 1 and 13 ‘Ashdown also received new ID’ and Dnevni List pg. 7 ‘First IDs to mine victims’. Avaz pg. 2 ‘BiH Presidency members meet today with Annan’ – the BiH Presidency members took off yesterday from Zagreb for New York where they are to address the UN General Assembly. Today afternoon they are scheduled to meet with the UN SG Annan, and their address as well as of the UN SRSG Jacques Paul Klein is planned for tomorrow. Avaz pg. 2 ‘Agreed text on dual citizenship’, Blic pg. 7 ‘New Ids handed over’ – the two-day talks between the Croatian and BiH delegations were concluded yesterday in Zagreb with an agreement on the most of the text concerning the dual citizenship. Bakir Dautbasic, a members of the BiH delegation, stated that the Croatian delegation still had to get the view of their government on the BiH delegation’s request that the obtaining of one country’s citizenship will not call for the denial of the other country’s citizenship. The Croatian delegation is to send a response to this suggestion in the next ten days. Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Adopted FBiH budget for 2003’, Avaz pg. 4 ‘The obligation towards the IMF met by the adoption of the budget’ – The Federation HoR adopted the Federation budget for the following year. The budget amounts to 1,2 billion-KM, which includes allocations for the Federation Army, refugees return, pensions to war invalids and for the Pension Disability Fund (PIO) Institute. The representatives adopted an amendment by the SBiH to allocate in the next year 500,000-KM for the Potocari commemoration centre. Semsudin Mehmedovic, and SDA representative, criticised the newly adopted budget because it does not include funds allocations for the Law on War Veterans Issues, PIO reform, education, Srebrenica return and the law suit against FRY. Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Fiuljanin spoke to his lawyer’, Avaz pg. ‘SFOR not denying possibility of extraditing Fiuljanin to US’ – SFOR announced yesterday that Sabahudin Fiuljanin, that they accused of connections with Al Qaida, met his lawyer again over the weekend. SFOR Spokesperson, Yves Vanier, told a press conference yesterday that he could not present proof that connects Fiuljanin with Al Qaida because that would endanger their investigation. He did not wasn’t to say anything about possibilities of Fiuljanin being extradited to either the BiH or the US authorities. He added the investigation was still on going and it was being carried out in co-operation with the FBiH MoI. Blic on pg. 6 quoted Vanier. “It would be silly to think that there are no terrorists in BiH”, he said. Oslobodjenje pg. 14 ‘Edhem Biber called for destroying of factory’, Avaz pg. 11 ‘Biber: force and Mafia are ruling this country’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 2 ‘OHR included in a list of those responsible’ – over 300 workers of ‘Alhos’ textile company decided to block on the daily basis Sarajevo cantonal Court, Avaz reported. However, according to Oslobodjenje, the dissatisfaction of the company workers will result in the series of protests in front of the OHR building in Sarajevo as well as the cantonal Court in Sarajevo. The workers are disappointed with the cantonal Court because the criminal procedure against their new owner, Pakistani Hamad Kianij, has not yet been completed. The procedure started after charges were brought again Kijami for breaching financial obligations towards his workers after the privatisation process. President of the BiH Union, Edhem Biber, already wrote to HR Ashdown asking him to take part in solving the serious violation of workers’ rights. Nezavisne Novine on pg. 3 ‘Cavic promises comprehensive report on Orao affair’ – quotes PDHR Donald Hays as saying that the RS President Dragan Cavic promised he would soon forward to OHR the final report on the ‘Orao’ affair, which was conducted by the RS authorities. The report, according to Cavic, will include a large number of documents relevant to business connections with the regime of Saddam Husein. “Besides that, all documents that were found in the Orao Aviation Institute would be given to SFOR and SFOR would also have an access to witnesses,” said Hays. According to Hays, Cavic promised he would comply with all the deadlines that the RS authorities had to meet regarding this case. The paper reports that yesterday Hays sent a letter to ‘Orao’ employees who had protested for almost a month requesting the release of three Orao managers who had been in detention for a month. Hays stated in the letter that the investigation, carried out by the RS authorities, proved that the accusations against ‘Orao’ management were grounded. FENA – the European Union yesterday requested that Belgrade and Sarajevo carry out a thorough investigation into the sales of weapons to Iraq describing it as a flagrant violation of the UN sanctions. “These states should quickly carry out investigations into the weapons sales and present results,” was stated at a European Council for Foreign Relations session. The same news agency reported that PDHR Hays replied to a letter that ‘Orao’ workers sent to HR Ashdown on December 3. In a letter, which was also sent to RS President Cavic, PDHR Hays stated that it was necessary for the ‘Orao’ investigation to end and that the BiH Presidency be given the final report. “Unfortunately, HR Ashdown or myself do not think it’s appropriate for us to visit your Institute considering the sensitive nature of the investigation. We hope you will understand our decision,” wrote Hays. Workers of the ‘Orao’ Institute held a rally yesterday and read the letter. They thanked the RS President Cavic for receiving ‘Orao’ delegation of employees and PDHR Hays for replying to their letter. Nezavisne Novine pg. 7 ‘BiH Chairman says there are no conditions for joint defence’, Blic pg. 2 ‘There can not be joint Ministry of Defence’ – a statement by the BiH Presidency Chairman Mirko Sarovic as saying that he supports the reform of the CoM, but is against the introduction of the state level defence ministry. He thinks that this issue can be resolved within the Standing Committee for Military Issues. During an interview for Radio Free Europe, Sarovic stated that it was much wiser to develop the Standing Committee, which was a constitutional category, because for any other option the Constitution would have to be changed, and there was no condition for it at the moment. Speaking about the BiH lawsuit against FRY, Sarovic said it was unacceptable for the Serb side in BiH and the RS. “In order to be equal in BiH, and the equality is being treated in this issue, we think that the Serb side, in this case Serbs in BiH, should give their approval for this lawsuit. One or two people cannot file complaint on behalf of BiH. It must be issue of consensus, and we do not support it because it is unacceptable for Serbs,” Sarovic said. “I think that everyone in BiH should support the Agreement on Special Relations between the RS and FRY. That is an agreement for all who live in the RS and not just for one people,” Sarovic said. Vecernji List pg. 7 by B.K. ‘Tomislavgrad without court after all’ – reads that Tomislavgrad authorities received a reply to a letter that they had sent to OHR in which they asked that the decision to abolish the Tomislavgrad Municipal Court be reviewed. The reply was signed by Bernard Fassier, Senior Deputy High Representative, and as the daily says, the lengthy letter could be summed up as “no, the court will be abolished”. VL also says that Fassier denied thesis that the Tomislavgrad politicians have not been informed about the process precisely stating all the meetings with the Cantonal Prime Minister and Deputy President of the (Tomislavgrad) Court. Fassier allegedly concluded that he was convinced that Tomislavgrad representatives would give support to the reforms of judiciary in BiH and the rule of law. Avaz pg. 4 ‘Tomac’s resignation request’, Oslobodjenje pg. 2 and 3 ‘I did not say that Tudjman was right’, FENA – HNS, PGS and SBHS delegates’ club in the Croatian Parliament demanded Croatian Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic Tuesday to start the procedure for dismissing Zdravko Tomac from the position of Foreign Policy Board Chair following his statements concerning Franjo Tudman’s policy towards BiH, and also demanded SDP to nominate a different candidate for this position. At a commemoration marking the third anniversary since the death of Tudman held late last week Tomac said that because of the current situation in BiH and the position of Croats in that country he fears it was Tudman and not him that had a correct approach to BiH. “Tomac’s statements that revive and support Tudman’s policy towards BiH fully contradict our positions and we also believe the positions of this coalition,” was stated in a letter sent by the HNS, PGS and SBHS delegates’ club to the Parliament Speaker. Oslobodjenje quoted Tomac as saying that he did not say that Tudjman was right or gave up on criticizing Tudjman’s politics, but simply left an option in case history proved I was wrong. Vecernji List pg. 1 and 5 ‘They want to shut me down’ – carries an interview with the Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Zdravko Tomac, regarding his latest statements on BiH and late Croatian President Tudjman. The interview was conducted by Zoran Kresic started with an assessment of Tomac being imputed by media that he did not recognise BiH to an extent that he could advocate for a third entity for Croats. “None of that is true because nobody made any efforts to read my document, which I wrote and submitted there (done at Siroki Brijeg probably) (…). The whole problem is that some media, and I do not think it was accidental, forged my statements, which than served for attacks against me and Croatia. They tried to discredit the Croatian policy throughout my statements, and I would say to put a band aid on mouth of anyone who dared to speak about the real situation in BiH and Croats’ problems in it”. FENA, Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘BiH diplomatic note to Croatia’ – BiH Ambassador to Croatia, Zlatko Dizdarevic, yesterday delivered to Croatian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Vesna Cvjetkovic-Kurelec, an official diplomatic note of concern and protest. The not was forwarded following the repeated public statements by Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker, Zdravko Tomac, concerning the internal situation in BiH and the Croatian policy towards BiH. ONASA, Avaz pg. 11 ‘SBS Main Information Center opened’ – Director of State Border Service (SBS) Nijaz Spahic and the US Ambassador to BiH Clifford Bond yesterday opened the SBS Main Information System Center in Srpsko Sarajevo. The center will be more efficient border through connections with units. The project presents a significant event in the implementation of the Law on SBS and protection of the state border, and was completed with the help of the US Government and the Ministry of Justice. ONASA, Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘First lists, then invalids pensions’, Avaz pg. 4 ‘Minister Hadzovic not giving up on her demands’, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3, Slobodna Dalmacija on the last page – members of the HVIDRA association of BiH Croat war veterans have announced a road blockade next Monday in protest of delaying payments of disability allowances to Croat victims of the war and compensations to the families of fallen and missing BiH Croat soldiers. According to HVIDRA President Andjelko Barun, the blockade will take place between 10 a.m. and noon on Monday unless the disability allowances and compensations were paid, while nearby border crossings and major roads would be blocked during the same period on Tuesday and Wednesday. “We will start a round-o’clock blockade which will last until our demands are met, and we will call the entire Croat people and members of the war veterans association to take part in the blockade,” Barun said. A meeting was held earlier on Tuesday between the FBiH Minister for War Veterans and Disabled Persons, Suada Hadzovic and her Deputy Dobrica Jonic on one side, and leaders of five cantonal war veterans administrations on the other. They failed to reach an agreement on the payment of October disability allowances to victims and war veterans of the Croat Defense Council (HVO). The reason being that the Ministry has not been provided with updated lists of disability allowance beneficiaries. Blic pg.2 ‘Together to the EU’ – the Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, Mirko Sarovic, the FRY President, Vojislav Kostunica, the Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, the Macedonian President, Boris Trajkovski, and the Albanian President, Alfred Moisiu, have sent a joint letter to the EU asking it to confirm at the forthcoming summit in Copenhagen a clear prospect and the integration of these countries into European institutions. According to a release issued by the BiH Foreign Ministry, the leaders express hope that the final document adopted at this summit will include an announcement on the possibility of granting EU membership to five countries that signed the letter. Vecernji List pg. 1 and 5 by Milo Jukic – reads that Judge Salem Miso who was in charge of the Leutar case, went to the US on Saturday, and an official explanation for his visit was ‘to attend a seminar regarding the work of the future BiH Court’. Judge Miso will stay in the US for ten days and according to the daily’s sources close to Sarajevo judiciary, the real reason behind the trip is that some US services are interested in the Leutar case. According to the same source, Americans will, in order to annul the negative role Jacques Paul Klein played, engage all its resources in BiH to apprehend planners and perpetrators of the assassination on late Jozo Leutar. |
Political parties/new government | |
| SDA about FBiH PM
Disputes within SBiH
Trade of votes from smaller parties
Dodik on ‘Boze pravde’ hymn
Establishment of RS government | Avaz pg. 3 ‘The SDA leadership still has not decided who will be new FBiH PM’ – the SDA leadership still has not discussed the nominations for the most senior posts in the executive power at the Federation and state level. However, certain names have been suggested. From the Zenica-Doboj Canton, the SDA suggested Ahmet Hadzipasic to be nominated for the future FBiH PM. The talks about the post have also been held with Bajazit Jasarevic, former Tuzla Canton PM, and Nedzad Brankovic, former Director of ‘Energoinvest’. The most serious candidate for the post of the CoM Chair is Mehemed Corhodzic, Director of ‘Borac’ company from Travnik. An anonymous senior official from the SDA told Avaz that they still however depend on whether their choice of personnel would be approved by OHR. Avaz pg. 9 ‘What’s happening in SBiH?’, Oslobodjenje pg. 1, 4 and 5 – about disagreements within the party. The session of the [party Presidency has been postponed on numerous occasions and all disagreement that have been put aside for a long time are now surfacing. Belkic, asked to comment what Silajdzic thought about SDA’s offer to him to be the BiH PM, stated that Silajdzic heard about it from the papers. It is also speculated that members of the party could hand over their MP posts to other parties. Avaz thinks that the party would not survive in the opposition. Avaz pg. 9 ‘Ajanovic: we could have asked whatever we wanted’ – the speculation of trade of votes from smaller parties following the non-presence of the SBiH and Haris Silajdzic in negotiations with the SDA. SDA Vice-President, Adnan Terzic, claims that none of the small parties were offered anything. From the LDS they confirmed Terzic statement saying that they were never approached by the SDA with an offer. However, Ajanovic, the BOSS President, stated that they were offered to participate in the government. “The conditions for the offer were not clear, so we could have asked what we wanted. The offer was made by the SDA,” said Ajanovic. Avaz pg. 9 ‘Playing of Boze pravde hymn supported by SDP representatives’ – Milorad Dodik, SNSD President, proposed yesterday that each session of the RS parliament started with the playing of Boze pravde hymn. Representatives from the SDS, PDP and SDA were against the proposal. Adil Osmanovic (SDA) RS NA Vice-President stated that Dodik’s view shows that his activity in the Assembly could be solely based on the national interests of Serb people, and added that they were surprised that the SDP reps supported Dodik. Blic pg. 7 – a press release issued on Tuesday by the SNSD expressed a regret that the SDS, SDA and PDP had rejected at the session of RS National Assembly the SNSD amendment to the distribution of the budgetary assets. According to the amendment, the salaries of the budgetary beneficiaries would increase, while the assets for the current maintenance and capital investments would be decreased. This party is of the opinion that the amendment was rejected due to the personal interests of individuals, who are manipulating tenders and procurement of goods by taking substantial advance payments from suppliers and contractors. Nezavisne Novine on pg. 7 ‘Changes conditioned with common good’ – quotes RS PM Designate Dragan Mikerevic as saying that he supports the formation of a government at the state level with nationalist parties. He is further of the view that the PDP is a good response to a bi-polarisation of BiH political scene. He dismissed the allegations that the PDP was in a coalition with nationalist parties. He said that the PDP was a pragmatic party that does not want to cause parliamentary crisis. Nezavisne Novine notes that Mikerevic first said that the PDP would not form a coalition with nationalist parties neither at the state nor at the entity level. “A sudden change of view came when Mikerevic said that sometimes politicians have to change their views in the interests of the common good,” notes the paper ironically. According to Mikerevic, the PDP is the party that wants to play an active role in political life, and not to remain just an observer. |
OHR/International Community | |
| HR’s visit to Moscow
Schroembgens’ visit
Hays on VAT
Clarke still has not made a decision
UNMIBH welcomes HR’s decision on MoIs
UN STOP Team
SFOR on Gotovina’s whereabouts
Reactions to Kostunica’s statement | FENA – HRPaddy Ashdown will travel on Wednesday afternoon to Moscow and is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Affairs Minister and address the Russian Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee tomorrow. OHR spokesperson Oleg Milisic yesterday told a press conference in Sarajevo that the Russian government invited the High Representative. He will inform Russian Government and Parliament officials about the peace implementation process in BiH and prospects for the future. Ashdown will highlight the growing consensus in the international community on how to speed up the implementation of peace in BiH and stress that Russia is a necessary part of that consensus. Avaz pg. 2 ‘Economists need changes in the law’, Oslobodjenje pg. 9 ‘Visit to factories, meetings with returnees’, Dnevni List pg. 3 ‘Gerhard Schroembgens paid visit to Gornji Vakuf- Uskoplje and Travnik: ‘Job and justice’ program presented’, Vecernji List pg. 4 ‘Schroembgnes in Central Bosnia Canton’ and Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 14 ‘Visit of Gerhard Enver Schroembgens, Senior Deputy High Representative: Support to entrepreneurship’– the SDHR Gerhard Enver Schroembgens visited yesterday Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje and Travnik. “I was impressed how a municipality, which was divided during the war, now functions as one,” stated SDHR. Yesterday afternoon he met with economists in Travnik and visited ‘Borac’ and ‘Borac OLIP’. SDHR Schroembgens stated they discussed problems that hold back not only big companies, but small ones too, and the changes in the legislation so that BiH could make a leap forward. Avaz pg. 4 ‘Those opposing VAT want to evade tax paying’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 5 – yesterday’s warning by PDHR Donald Hays in Banja Luka to representatives of political parties who participate in the work of the entity Parliament that those opposing VAT want in fact the evade tax paying. Hays stated that VAT was the best solution because it would increase the revenues for entities, cantons and municipalities. He said that an agreement regarding the disbursement of revenues collected form VAT had not been agreed yet. The revenues collected from VAT would be returned to entities and the only difference between the current system and VAT system was that with VAT system more revenues would be collected. “It is necessary to introduce VAT in 2004 because according to OHR assessments the turnaround in BiH economy will happen that year”, said Hays, adding that it was necessary to draft an efficient law in this field first and then to start with the implementation of the whole project. He said that BiH is one of the few countries in Europe that did not have VAT system, and VAT was much more efficient than sales tax. Glas Srpski carried a similar story on pg. 3 ‘New taxation system’. Avaz pg. 10 ‘Clarke still has not made a decision on Brcko Parliament’ – a list of candidates for appointing the new representatives in the Brcko District Parliament has been narrowed down to the last choices. Suzana Pejcic, OHR Spokeswoman in Brcko, stated that Brcko Supervisor Clarke still has not made a decision on the names of two Bosniaks and a Serb who should be appointed in the Brcko Assembly. FENA – UNMIBH welcomes the decision of the High Representative on imposing the Law that will support the process of accreditation of the police and law enforcement bodies in BiH in the remaining nine cantons in the Federation. UNMIBH Spokesperson Alun Roberts yesterday said at press conference that after the above decision the accreditation process for the remaining nine cantons would move ahead quite quickly. “Thus, the first accreditation ceremony,” said Roberts, “will take place December 12, when the Ministry of Interior of Zenica-Doboj Canton (Canton 4) will receive UNMIBH accreditation.” Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘STOP Team discovered 240 bars’ – UNMIBH yesterday announced that with the help of their STOP Team they discovered so far 240 night bars suspected of involvement in human trafficking in BiH. 152 of those bars have been closed. Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘SFOR keeping quite about Gotovina’ – SFOR yesterday refused to either confirm or negate Oslobodjenje’s information that Croatian indictee Gotovina was hiding in BiH. Yves Vanier, SFOR Spokesperson, stated that they do no reveal their sources. He added that if they would come across an indictee in BiH they would arrest him and extradite him to The Hague. Vecernji List pg. 3, Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 13 and last page, Jutarnji List pg. 4 – carry reactions of people from Siroki Brijeg and Blidinje Lake with regard to the information published in yesterday’s issue of Oslobodjenje about Gotovina is hiding in these areas. People from these areas say that they would be glad to be hosts of Gotovina. Dailies carry a statement of Andjelko Mikulic, the Prime Minister of the West Herzegovina Canton. “There is no need at all that General Gotovina hides in Siroki Brijeg, because he can freely walk through this city.” Dnevni List pg. 2 by Ivica Glibusic – an editorial on the issue. “ To write an article by using inflammatory language without valid evidence was done for one purpose only – to cause a bigger SFOR’s action in order to make Croats from Herzegovina pay more attention to the SFOR action than to Christmas.” Glibusic also says that there have been a lot of reactions to statements given by Zdravko Tomac, the Vice President of the Croatian Parliament. None, however, reacted to statements given by Doris Pack, a representative of the Council of Europe, who, according to Glibusic, was warning that more should be done with regard to the issue of equality of Croats with Serbs and Bosniaks. Blic pg. 2, Vecernje Novosti pg. 10 – Florence Hartmann, Spokeswoman for the Hague Tribunal’s Prosecution, described as shocking and absurd a statement by the Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica’s that Yugoslavia would not be extraditing any more war crimes suspects to the Tribunal because the court has neglected the guarantees it made. “It is shocking, not only for the prosecution, but also for the judges and the entire tribunal as a UN institution for the head of a UN member state to reject the obligations that stem from membership and to call for a violation of the law,” Hartmann told Tanjug. She stressed that halting ‘the extradition of fugitives and to end co-operation with The Tribunal’ would constitute a violation of Yugoslavia’s international obligations. Florence Hartmann also said that such accusations could be heard in Zagreb as well as Belgrade, saying that they were an excuse to avoid honouring the obligations towards the Hague tribunal. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica’s Office denied what was alleged in the Times article. The Yugoslav president’s office said that this was a mistake caused by the Times editors who put a wrong headline and made a fault in the translation in the first sentence of the interview. The office explained that Kostunica did not say, nor would he be able to say, that Belgrade would no longer extradite war crime suspects to the Hague tribunal. He actually said that ‘the real co-operation will hardly be possible if it continues to be one-sided’. According to the President’s office the article may mislead the public into believing that the FRY President does not fulfil his international obligations, and in that way create additional pressure from those who actually make that co-operation difficult. The League of Vojvodina’s Social Democrats condemned Kostunica’s statement, calling it a peak of political irresponsibility. President of the Serbian government, Zoran Djindjic, said ‘it would be irresponsible if proved that the statement was an attempt to gain more votes’. “The IC is like the climate – you cannot say I recognise it or I do not recognise it – you can only adapt to it. There is no emotion. The Hague Tribunal is a misfortune that happened to us, but it affects us very much. Everyone who ignores it calls people to commit symbolical suicide,” Djindjic said. |