OHR BiH Media Round-up: 14/11/2002

Headlines in Print Media

Oslobodjenje: Life is in danger of those who were using oil from transformer’s stations during the war; Oil prices in entire BiH at old prices as of tomorrow; Following trial in Leutar case – the acquitted suspects to sue the state

Dnevni Avaz: Paddy Ashdown – Bond has a full right to skepticism; George Robertson – BiH must have a single defense ministry; Leutar case – prosecution announces appeal, lawyers seeks for compensation

Dnevni List: Lawsuit against FRY divides Presidency; Cardinal Puljic serves mass in Zenica prison

Vecernji List: Leutar case: Released Croats celebrate the verdict: False witness returns half a million marks; Cardinal Puljic visits Zenica prison

Slobodna Dalmacija: Leutar case: Following the acquittal for six Croats: Jozo was like father to me and they charge me with his murder; Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic visits Zenica prison: Croat prisoners have to complaints on treatment by management

Glas Srpski: Islamic fundamentalists threaten Balkans: Al-Qaeda secret connections; Belgrade: Milosevic seriously ill

Nezavisne Novine: NATO Secretary General sends letter to Sarovic, Tihic and Covic: Robertson requests establishment of BiH Defense Ministry; Republika Srpska: Pensions lowered with no explanation; Reform of BiH Customs system: OHR sees the solution in single customs administration

Blic: Bomb planted under policeman’s car; Ivanic: Solution is minority government of RS; Uranium takes its toll; Britons establish military college in BiH; Anic: Federation imported weapon to FRY; Clarke: Not only Dedeic received threats

Nacional: Carla del Ponte decided to kill Milosevic

Partnership for Peace

At a joint press conference in Sarajevo on Wednesday, the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown and the SFOR Commander, William Ward, presented a letter wrote a day earlier by the Secretary General of NATO, George Robertson, to the Presidency.  This letter sets out clearly NATO’s rules for joining Partnership for Peace and what progress is required before BiH can be considered for membership. According to Ashdown, the letter also makes explicit reference to the Orao affair and its implications for military reform, setting out the areas where the BiH authorities can take immediate action. “First, it makes it crystal clear that if BiH wants to be considered for PfP membership, it needs to establish a State Ministry for Military Matters and shift the center of gravity in defence decisively from the entities to the State, and that as a first step the Secretary General of the SCMM should be given ministerial rank,” said general Ward. (Oslobodjenje, p 3, “NATO requests appointment of the state defense minister”, Dnevni Avaz, p 3, mentioned on the front page – report on the press conference plus excerpts from Robertson’s letter, “BiH must have a single Defense Ministry”, Nezavisne Novine, p 3, Glas Srpski, p 3, Vecernji List, p 3, by Dejan Jazvic)

BiH has not yet met the criteria for admission into the NATO’s Partnership for Peace Programme [PfP], but it has been making big steps to that direction, General Secretary of the BiH Standing Military Committee Stjepan Pocrnja said on Wednesday after a meeting with a delegation of NATO from Brussels. According to Pocrnja, NATO representatives led by Director of the Programme for Security Cooperation with BiH Bruce McLane did not clearly state whether the defence ministry at the level of the state of BiH was a condition for the admission into the Partnership, namely whether the Standing Committee for Military Matters satisfies the NATO’s standards. Pocrnja mentioned that, in accordance with the constitution, the BiH Presidency represents the supreme civil commander of armed forces in the country and supreme defence authority at the state level, and that the Standing Committee for Military Matters is a coordinating and advisory body. (Dnevni Avaz, p 2, Oslobodjenje, p 3, Blic p 7)

Other OHR/international community’s activities

“When it is about the special policemen, I believe it is needed to say something. We can also make a mistake. That is why the appeal proceeding exists, and before making position about anything, one should wait for the completion of this proceeding. And there are those who make a political issue from this. They must understand that by inflammatory statements they are only additionally complicating the entire situation, not helping anyone and particularly those people,” said the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, in an interview with Dnevni Avaz (front page: “Bond has a full right to skepticism,” p 5: “Problems of policemen cannot be solved by inflammatory statements of the politicians”).   

Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays, the Head of the Customs and Fiscal Assistance Office in BiH, Allan Jensen, and the Head of Economic Department of the EC Delegation, Renzo Daviddi, hosted a seminar on customs reform with representatives of all parties represented in the BiH House of Representatives in Sarajevo on Wednesday. At a press conference following the seminar, the senior international officials described the event as the first step in a dialogue on the establishment of a single BiH Customs Administration, since the existence of the current tripartite, fragmented customs system in the country was the main obstacle to any serious reform in this sector. (BHTV 1, Nezavisne Novine, p 2, Glas Srpski, p 3)

Supervisor of Brcko Henry L. Clarke during the regular OHR Brcko press conference held on Wednesday condemned the violent act of the so far unknown perpetrators who used explosive device against the house of the Brcko District Head of Department of Urbanism. “Monday night there was an explosion at the home of Ismet Dedeic, Head of the Department of Urbanism of the Brcko District Government. Fortunately, no one was hurt.  But it was a serious crime, nonetheless, punishable under several different laws with prison terms of several years. No civilized society permits this kind of violence against anyone. I am asking the police to give high priority to their investigation,” Clarke emphasized. (FENA,  SRNA, ONASA,  RTRS, Dnevni List, p 5, Oslobodjenje, p 8, Glas Srpski, p 3, Blic, p 8, Vecernje Novosti, p 13)

The situation with oil is an excess that has been caused by the past conduct of the Brcko District in this field and by November 15 in 24 hrs, both entities will take over their previous obligations in this field and the Brcko District will introduce indirect fees on oil till the end of this year. FBiH Prime Minister Alija Behmen confirmed this for Fena on Wednesday after the meeting with delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As Behmen said, the participants at this meeting harmonized the letter of intent, which would be forwarded to the IMF Board of Directors for discussion and the supplementary amendments to economic and fiscal policy, which follows the conclusion of certain tasks till the end of the year. “In the letter of intent, we enhanced the obligation to stick by the “monetary board” and the stability of KM and this is an issue of monetary policy. The second part refers to financial discipline, and the third refers to macroeconomics consolidation that should lead to restructuring of economy including the change in ownership, in reference to an accelerated process of privatization in comparison to the past period”, Behmen said. He emphasized that IMF commended the entity and State governments on maintaining the fiscal discipline. IMF declared that fiscal discipline in entities and BiH State has been firm, which means that de-balance of the budget has been reduced, with simultaneous fulfilling of all obligations to budgetary beneficiaries. It was ascertained that structural reforms have been deepened, because treasury system has been introduced at entity and State levels and that financial discipline has been strengthened. (Oslobodjenje, p 3)

Slobodna Dalmacija (back page, FENA’s report) reads that representatives of Education Issue Set Steering Group (EISSG) and Entity and Cantonal Ministers of Education signed the Education Reform Strategy Paper in Mostar on Wednesday, the document which will be presented to the Peace Implementation Council at Brussels on November 21. “This document is very important because it realizes interests of parent and their children and interests of BiH”, said the Senior Deputy High Representative Gerhard Enver Schroembgens. “This document will show Brussels that we are ready for reform of education”, said the Federation Minister of Education Mujo Demirovic. (Oslobodjenje, p 6)

The leader of the SNSD, Milorad Dodik commented on SDS’s release which said that SNSD is welcomed to the new RS Government but without Dodik and called such statement childish (Glas Srpski, p 2, Nezavisne Novine, p 5). Dodik also rejected claims of Mladen Ivanic who said that the RS is having post-election political crisis. According to Dodik, this is a period of normal consultations. Nezavisne Novine quotes Dodik: “If the consultations fail and authorities are not established, only then we can talk about political crisis.”

Mladen Ivanic, the RS Prime Minister and president of the PDP, has said that the post-election political crisis in the RS could be resolved by forming a minority government. “The setting up of a minority government will most likely be the only way to overcome the current situation,” Ivanic said in an interview with Belgrade-based TV Politika. He said that the PDP would most likely get support for forming a government which would exclude ministers from the SDS and comprise representatives from the PDP, the SPRS and a number of other parties which would support such a government. Ivanic went on to say that the president of the SNSD, Milorad Dodik, had rejected his suggestion that the two of them should participate in BiH’s institutions in Sarajevo, adding that he believed that Dodik was exclusively interested in the RS government. “Dodik’s unwillingness to consider other options and his somewhat irresponsible attitude makes it almost unfeasible to hold any talks,” he said. The RS Prime Minister said that it would be good to form a government in BiH which would have a strong international support and not carry a legacy of the critical attitude towards the nationalist parties. “The citizens of the RS and BiH have opted for something slightly different and it will be very difficult to reach an agreement which will appease all, observe the election results and fulfil demands by the international community,” he said. He went on to say that one of the problems was that USA wanted a non-nationalist government by definition, but that it was less concerned whether that government would manage to yield any results. Commenting on whether the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, has the competency to appoint the designate Prime Minister, Ivanic said that this was plausible, but that he would in that case have to bear the consequences of that government. “Ashdown has begun a worthwhile process of partnership between BiH’s key politicians, international institutions and the High Representative with the aim of reaching agreements which can be implemented,” he said. Commenting on whether war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic should be extradited to the Hague tribunal, he said that there was no other alternative and that failure to cooperate with The Hague would be detrimental to the RS. “Those who care for the RS will do their best to prevent pressures being exerted on it,” Ivanic concluded. (Blic p 3)

The SNSD issued a press release on Wednesday which reads that the SDS, SPRS and PDP cannot form a government, because together they have 38 seats. The press release says that at the elections only the SNSD has increased the number of councillors which shows that trust toward this party is increasing, and that the SDS “has lost the elections”. The SNSD says that “since its establishment the SDS has been dividing the RS on eastern and western part, using Banja Luka only as the electorate, and creating a world of perpetual darkness out of so-called eastern part keeping it uninformed and in fear”. (Blic p 3, Nacional p 11)

Dnevni List (page 5) carries that Vice Presidents of SDP Sead Avdic and Ivo Komsic and SDP Secretary General Miro Lazovic sent a letter to delegates of the extraordinary SDP congress in which they request changes to the party Statute, election of a new Main Board and changes within the party leadership. According to the troika, the Book of Rules passed by the SDP Main Board gives a new SDP President broad authorities i.e. enables him/her to influence the election of SDP Vice Presidents, Presidency and Secretary General. The letter also reads that the extraordinary congress of SDP looks to be convened not to analyse the failure of the party in the elections but to give support to the President of the party and his undemocratic management of the party. (Sarajevo dailies also report on the letter)

Vecernji List (page 4, by Alenko Zornija) carries an editorial saying that during the last few days news about strong pressures of the International Community exerted in order to form so-called moderate Governments at as many levels in BiH as possible, have been coming lately. The editorial wonders whether this division to nationalist and moderate parties is fair and true and Zornija says that exclusivity and prejudice, no matter of what kind, lead to wrong conclusions and this is the case also here. Zornija also wonders as to what will happen if Clifford Bond, the American Ambassador in BiH, manages to form the Governments made of real or pretended moderates. The editorial wonders whether we would get unstable Governments, inefficient Parliaments, the atmosphere in which Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, would have free hands for passing of most important decisions (also)? The editorial also says: “Ashdown already has almost all protectorate authorities, and this would only make job for the International Community easier when the depriving of domestic partners of any kind of serious competence is in question. After all, this is probably the goal.” Zornija says that, perhaps, the protectorate is not such a bad solution, however, it should be demanded from those who will be most probably deciding instead of elected representatives of citizens to overtake not only authorities but also responsibility. 

Arms trade

Slobodna Dalmacija (page 14, FENA’s report) carries the Federation Minister of Defence, Mijo Anic, as saying that an investigation conducted by the Federation MoD has so far shown that companies from the Federation did not take part in trade with Iraq. Anic said that a special inspection team has so far checked 70% of the military industry capacity and that the information obtained so far say that there were no breaches of the UN embargo. “There were sales of weapons to FRY and it is possible that somebody abused those arms and sent it to third countries, but we do not have that data”, said Anic.

Several hundred employees of the Orao Institute protested on Wednesday in Bijeljina, expressing again their full support to three Institute officials who are in custody (Glas Srpski, p 3).The release read at the protest gathering said: “We want to inform all RS citizens and all state institutions that our directors are not criminals. They are successful employees of this company, good managers and loyal citizens of RS.”

Dnevni List (page 10) reads that workers of the “Orao” Aviation Company of Bijeljina have not stopped working despite the latest crisis. It is reported that workers do their usual working hours after which they protests against arrests of three executives of the company and that the company does not want to lose important deals with the English “Rolls Royce” and French “Meka-31” companies.

Leutar case

The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office has been surprised by the acquittal of the accused in the Leutar case and deems it unfinished. It will lodge an appeal at the Federation Supreme Court as it believes it has sufficient evidence. At the same time, the defence has announced it will request from the canton and Federation damages for their defendants. After the acquittal, a question remains what happened with half a million convertible marks had been promised to a person who provided information leading to the persons who had committed the assassination. Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein, the Head of UN mission to BiH, who used to be the loudest person promising that the killers would be found, now refuses to make any comments on the issue. (Oslobodjenje, pages 4-5, mentioned on the front page, Dnevni Avaz, p 26, mentioned on the front page)

With regard to the Leutar case and 500.000 KM that were allegedly paid to Merim Galijatovic, a protected witness number 30, Vecernji List (front and page 15, by Zdenko Jurilj) carries Nikola Grabovac, a removed Federation Minister of Finances, as saying that since the Ministry of Finances is not in charge of the investigation, this Ministry paid 500.000 KM from the Federation budget to the account of Reiffeisen Bank in Sarajevo according to the order of Muhamed Besic, who was the Minister of Interior at that time. Grabovac added: “We are aware that someone took the money from the account instead of Galijatovic. After the end of the staged process, Galijatovic has to give the money back and his mentors will end up in prison “

VL reminds that Sefika Hafizovic, the Federation Assistant Minister of Finances, denied last summer that any kind of money was paid to Galijatovic.

In addition to this article Vecernji List carries an editorial on this case also signed by Zdenko Jurilj who says that by this case the court has shown that it is independent to a certain extent. The article also says that the whole process was taking place with an open support of Jacques Paul Klein, a Special UN Envoy for BiH, but that representatives of OHR and International Intelligence Services including FBI and Scotland Yard, with the passive attitude of the domestic authority, were not any better. The editorial says that only a few months before the acquitting sentence was proclaimed Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, stated that he has the information that the process is being obstructed by the suspects of the defense. The editorial says that, perhaps, due to these statements Klein and the HR have not given any official statement on the end of the trial yet and it was also not possible to get any official statement in the seats of OHR and UN Mission.

President of the RS Dragan Cavic and Chairman of the RS National Assembly Dragan Kalinic has supported the Doboj Municipality’s representatives in activities they have been carrying out in regard to allocated land plots for building houses for Vozuca’s refugees. “Noone challenges the fact that a solution for Serb refugees from Vozuca has to be found, but the temporarily ban of OHR which forbids construction in Kotorsko until a final decision of competent court is brought must be obeyed,” reads the press release issued by the President’s Cabinet.

• Ministry of Defence on state level priority of BiH authorities
• Agreement on dual citizenship with Croatia possibly to be reached by end of this year
• Summit of Central European Initiative in Skopje
• Old petrol prices from November 16

FTV 1 (1930)

• Revolted workers barged into the factory Fruteks in Celic
• Dispute in state Presidency over the suing of BiH against FRY
• Exhumation of the victims of the war performed in Slavonski Brod
• 6 factories of targeted production in Federation did not breach UN resolution

RTRS (1930)

• BiH Presidency determined draft budget for next year
• Permanent Military Committee – BiH hasn’t fulfilled conditions for acceptance into the Partnership for Peace
• Ashdown – Single defence ministry is condition for military integrations
• OHR proposed single customs in BiH