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| Hand over of duty in Council of Ministers | No changes of borders in Balkans, said in Sarajevo Javier Solana | OHR announced sanctions against RS for non-arresting Karadzic | Papandreou, Solana consider BiH as a part of EU |
| EUPM has been inaugurated | EUPM has been official inaugurated | Target of three-year mandate of EUPM is to help our country on the way to EU | Inauguration of EU police mission in BiH |
| Despite situation in Middle East and Venezuela, BiH still has no oil reserves | US demands NATO assistance in case of war against Iraq | A half an hour warning strike over difficult situation in education | Transfer of power between former and new Council of Ministers |
| Agreement on payment of salaries to the HN cantonal budget beneficiaries announced |
| Oil and gas supply in our country is regular, but world’s events warn | OHR explains sanctions will not be against RS citizens |
| Oslobodjenje | Former Gornja Maoca residents claim: SFOR forced them to leave their houses; EUPM officially inaugurated |
| Dnevni Avaz | Sead Avdic, acting BiH SDU President – Lagumdzija doing his best to politically destroy Ashdown; Inauguration of EUPM – Solana says BiH will get its place in Brussels |
| Dnevni List | Meeting of EU officials and BiH Presidency: Speeding up of reforms in BiH condition for approaching EU |
| Vecernji List | Due to its unwillingness to arrest Karadzic: RS gets sanctions |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Exclusive: How Federation cadre crossword will be filled in: Niko Lozancic President of BiH Federation, Dragan Curcic Minister of Defense? |
| Glas Srpski | Humanitarian organisations in Federation BiH: New round of investigation; IDs in January? |
| Nezavisne Novine | Karadzic is financed through the customs frauds; Papandreu and Solana at inauguration of EUPM: A step closer to Europe; SDS from Semberija will not support new government if it does not get a ministerial post; BiH does not have fuel reserves |
| FRY Nacional | OHR has not vetted ministerial candidates |
| Blic | Conflicts over ministerial posts postponed the RS NA; Single customs in BiH this year; Pastuovic: Sanctions will not hit citizens |
International community/OHR | |
| Special chamber within the Court of BiH to process war crimes
| Legal experts from the Office of the High Representative for BiH and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday agreed on the principles on which war crimes committed in Bosnia should be prosecuted. After a three-day working conference in Sarajevo, which was also attended by ICTY president Claude Jorda and Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, a joint statement was released yesterday saying it was decided the most suitable institution for processing war crimes in Bosnia was a special council within the Court of BiH. The council would also employ foreign citizens part time. The council would have jurisdiction over cases which would be forwarded by the ICTY as well as over the most sensitive war crimes cases which should be dealt with by the local judiciary. The conclusions on the way war crimes cases should be prosecuted in BiH will be presented to the steering committee of the Peace Implementation Council for Bosnia later this month. All motions are expected to be finalised at a special meeting of experts to take place at The Hague in February so that the entire project can be presented to the UN Security Council as soon as possible. (Oslobodjenje, p 3: “Crimes before a council of the Court of BiH”, Dnevni Avaz, p 3: “BiH has lawyers who will manage to handle war crime matters”, Nezavisne Novine, p 3 headline ‘War crimes before a special chamber of BiH Court’) |
| VL: Interview with Claude Jorda | Vecernji List (front and page 15, “Exclusively: Claude Jorda, President of The Hague Court: If Croatia does not extradite Generals, pressure against Croatia follows”) carries an interview with Claude Jorda, President of The Hague Court. Commenting on the three-day conference on processing of war criminals in BiH, which has just finished in Sarajevo, Jorda said: “Through talks with OHR representatives, Carla del Ponte, the Chief Hague Prosecutor, and I were looking for the ways to establish a special Commission for processing of war crimes committed on the BiH territory within the BiH Court. We have come to Sarajevo in order to speed up that process since due to processing of cases at a higher, commanding level and long trials to the defendants in The Hague, there is a standstill.” With regard to the problems that The Hague has with Croatia regarding the extradition of Croatian Generals Janko Bobetko and Ante Gotovina, Jorda stated that in case that The Hague decision is not respected he is obliged to inform the UN Security Council about the fact that Croatia does not respect decisions and work of The Hague Court and certain pressures follow then, even some sort of economic sanctions. |
| EUPM officially inaugurated | In the presence of the senior EU officials, the EUPM, which had started its three-year mandate on January 1 this year, was officially inaugurated in Sarajevo on Wednesday. The ceremony at the Mission’s headquarters was addressed by Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy, Mirko Sarovic, the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Adnan Terzic, the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Georgi Papandreou, on behalf of the Greek EU Presidency, and Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative of the international community in BiH. Before the official ceremony, the senior EU officials met with the members of the BiH Presidency and CoM, visited a police station in the Sarajevo Canton and talked to the Heads of the BiH State Border Service. (Oslobodjenje, p 7, mentioned on the front page: “Professionalism of the police, rule of law, fight against crime”, Dnevni Avaz, p 2, mentioned on the front page: “EUPM inauguration – Solana: BiH will get its place in Brussels”, Financial Times, Blic p 7 headline ‘BiH cannot go further with three customs’, Glas Srpski p 2 & 3, Nezavisne Novine p 2 headline ‘A step closer to Europe’) |
| EU officials’ meeting with BiH Presidency | Dnevni List (front and page 3, “Speeding up of reforms in BiH a pre-requisite for getting closer to EU”) reads that a conclusion of a yesterday’s meeting between EU High Representative for Foreign and Security policy, Javier Solana, and members of BiH Presidency, was that BiH authorities must speed up the pace of reforms if they wanted to get closer to the European Union. During the meeting Solana especially supported creation of single customs system and VAT saying that BiH could not have three separate systems in this area. “You cannot have three customs systems. It must be centralized in a way that revenues collected on accounts of customs and taxes go to the right hands”, said Solana. Solana also sent a message that nobody should think about changing of borders in the region stressing the issue was a part of the past not future. The meeting also tackled the issues of strengthening of police forces in BiH, institutions for fight against crime and corruption and giving support to BiH Agency for Information and Protection (SIPA). Solana and the Greek Foreign Minister, Georgios Papandreu, the country chairing the EU at the moment, are visiting BiH on the occasion of inauguration of EUPM forces in BiH. DL reports that the meeting was also attended by the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, and EUPM Commissioner, Sven Frederiksen. (Vecernji List, page 15, “You should think about EU and Slobodna Dalmacija, page 13, “No more changes of borders in the Balkans”, Dnevni Avaz, p 2) |
| EU officials meet with CoM members | BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Adnan Terzic has said during his meeting with Javier Solana, EU high representative for security and foreign policy, that BiH does not have any alternatives on its road towards Euro-Atlantic integration. A statement by the Council of Ministers says that Terzic, accompanied by Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic, Security Minister Barisa Colak and Civilian Affairs Minister Safet Halilovic met on Wednesday in Sarajevo with Solana, Greek Foreign Minister and EU chairman Georgi Papandreou, High Representative Paddy Ashdown and EUPM Commissioner Sven Frederiksen. They talked about the current situation in BiH and tasks ahead of the new government on BiH’s road towards the integration with the EU. “The introduction of the European police and the future replacement of SFOR are clear signals that the EU wants BiH within its fold. The most important task of BiH institutions is to introduce European standards in everyday life,” Terzic said. Solana said, that on its road towards European integration, BiH will be faced with difficulties “which it will have to solve on its own”. Papandreou said that, in the period ahead of the Thessaloniki summit in June 2003, which would define the direction for the countries in the Southeastern Europe, BiH should organize its independent police force, intensify its fight against corruption and crime as well as create conditions for the introduction of a state customs service. Ivanic said that reforms should not incite prejudice and new fears among people. (Oslobodjenje, p 7: “Single customs administration unquestionable”) |
| OHR says eventual sanctions to be imposed against Radovan Karadzic support network | Spokesperson of Banja Luka OHR Sonja Pastulovic said on Wednesday that the eventual sanctions, which would be imposed on the RS, will have the form of pressure against the support network of Radovan Karadzic, particularly the people who are supporting him and are part of the network that finances and supports him. “Sanctions that will be imposed on the RS due to failure to co-operate with the Hague Tribunal, regarding the apprehending of war crime suspects, will not be similar to sanctions we had seen in the past when the citizens of RS were forced to bear the consequences”, Pastulovic specified at press conference. “The actual sanctions will be pressuring”, she said not wishing to specify further details. Pastulovic could not confirm weather this would include issuing of a list of people who are suspected of supporting Karadzic. Commenting the allegations that part of funds, which are evaded due to not paying of taxes and other obligations, are directed towards financing of war crime suspects, Pastulovic said that these allegations are result of the investigation, which was carried out last year by CAFAO and that on basis of these findings it can be stated that there is a certain number of individuals who carry out such frauds. “We have reason to believe that part of the money is directed towards financing of war crime suspects”, claims the OHR spokesperson. (Oslobodjenje, p 3: “Sanctions against RS”, Dnevni Avaz, p 4: “Sanctions against network protecting Karadzic”, Nacional p 11 headline ‘No sanctions against citizens’; Blic p 7, Glas Srpski p 5, Nezavisne Novine p 5 headline ‘A circle around Karadzic’s accomplices is narrowing down’) Vecernji List (front and page 2, “International Community is introducing sanction against RS”) and Dnevni List (last page, “Sanctions against RS are part of pressure exerted against network around Karadzic”) also carry that Sonja Pastuovic, an OHR Spokesperson, stated that the International Community is intending to introduce sanctions against the RS as a response to unwillingness of the RS bodies to arrest Radovan Karadzic. |
| Ivanic, Spiric, Djordjevic, SDS on the announcement of possible sanctions against RS | BiH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic told the Banja Luka based Alternative Television on Wednesday evening that he was not aware of the existence of a network supporting war criminals in the RS. We do not have such information, Ivanic said, and added that the RS authorities had not received information on this from representatives of the international community. He said that if the RS authorities had received such information, then they would have carried out a full investigation. (FENA) “Citizens of the RS cannot suffer the consequences of the sanctions with which the OHR is threatening them due to failure of the RS authorities to become involved in the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, since the nation is not to blame for the fact that the OHR chose the wrong people,” Nikola Spiric, deputy of the Party of Independent Social Democrats [SNSD] in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, has said. Asking “why the people in the RS should be exposed to sanctions when the High Representative personally appoints every official in the RS and BiH,” Spiric said that to him “it all looks like an agreement between the OHR and the entity governments for the purpose of creating such an atmosphere as to justify the decisions of the RS authorities following the arrest of war crimes indictees”. (Oslobodjenje, p 3, Dnevni Avaz, p 4, Vecernji List, Vecernje Novosti p 4, Blic p 7 headline ‘Ashdown defends the RS authority’, Glas Srpski p 5, Nezavisne Novine p 6 headline ‘Ashdown and RS authority agreed apprehension of Karadzic and Mladic’) Slobodna Dalmacija (page 13, by M. Labus, “We cannot do more than it has already been done”) carries a reaction by RS Prime Minister’s Advisor for relation with ICTY, Sinisa Djordjevic, to alleged introduction of sanctions against the RS: “The way Ashdown reacted is really surprising and inappropriate. He probably got a reason for that after receiving criticism from the Federation politicians. After that he completely changed his story and concluded there was no reconciliation until Karadzic and Mladic have been arrested. He only forgot that there were crimes on all sides and not only on one and they were not only committed by the Serbs. I cannot understand why he let himself come out this way”, says Djordjevic and stresses that he is not clear how Ashdown plans to introduce partial sanctions against one part of BiH. Djordjevic also says there are no reasons for the RS to question the allegations of the RS Ministry of Interior “which does its work in accordance to the Law on relation with the ICTY”. “It is a fact that the RS is not capable to do anything more which has not been done more”, concludes Djordjevic. (Vecernje Novosti p 4 headline “Serbs were victims too’) Spokesperson of the SDS, Dusan Stojicic, said that Ashdown’s statement was a serious warning to the RS authorities, but he did not think there would be imposition of sanctions. “International legitimacy has BiH and not the RS. Imposition of sanctions would mean to sanction only a part of BiH. The SDS does not have information on Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic whereabouts,” Stojicic said. He said that Ashdown’s statement that the SDS had responsibility toward arresting Karadzic and Mladic was unacceptable. “That is the matter of competent bodies, not of political parties,” Stojicic said. (Glas Srpski p 5 headline ‘A bone in Carla’s throat’) |
| SD: “RS gets border crossing in exchange for extradition of Karadzic?” | Regarding yesterday’s report in Vecernji List that RS Customs have usurped the Federation territory at the border crossing at Bosanski Samac, today’s Slobodna Dalmacija (page 14, by FENA) reads that the whole scheme regarding the determination of border lines between the RS and FBiH in the area has been taken care of behind the scene, the scenario in which the RS would get the border crossing and in the return, the RS would extradite two most wanted ICTY indictees Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. |
| Batic on Del Ponte’s statement | Serbian Minister of Justice Vladan Batic said that ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte openly supports one side, because “she creates a court in BiH, and she has not accused former Bosniak President Alija Izetbegovic and other war criminals as she has promised”. (Glas Srpski p 5 headline “She forgets Izetbegovic’) |
| Human Rights Watch on RS co-operation with ICTY | In its annual report, Human Rights Watch says that the RS authorities have continued to refuse cooperation with the Hague. They denied having knowledge of the presence of Radovan Karadzic orany other Bosnian Serb indictee in the entity’s territory. Domestic war crimes trials continued in the Federation, sometimes marred by judges’ ethnic bias and inadequate witness protection measures. No war crimes trials were conducted in Republika Srpska, but in November the ICTY authorized Republika Srpska authorities to proceed in a case against eighteen Bosnian Serbs on war crime charges. (Nezavisne Novine p 5) |
| SFOR allegedly forced former Gornja Maoca residents to leave their houses | Some twenty families have been recently moved out from the village of Gornja Maoca near Srebrenik, according to an Oslobodjenje front-page story (continued on pages 4-5). Sedin Gulamic and Mersed Cekic, who with their families moved out from the village, say they left their homes because SFOR had been jeopardizing their human rights. “We are not mujahedeens, but such attributes are assigned to us,” they claim. The village of Gornja Maoca was being visited frequently by SFOR members particularly following the apprehension of Sabahudin Fijuljanin. |
Political affairs/establishment of new authorities | |
| Interview with Sead Avdic, acting SDU president | Sead Avdic, the acting president of the BiH Social Democratic Union, says in an interview with Dnevni Avaz (front page, p 9) that the newly-appointed BiH Council of Ministers Chairman, Adnan Terzic, did not have consent of some political parties for certain proposals he made in his inaugural speech. Avdic considered totally unacceptable the most recent statements made by SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija and he said that Lagumdzija was doing his best to discredit OHR and Paddy Ashdown. |
| Formation of the FBiH Government | The candidates have been nominated for four out of the six ministerial posts in the BiH Federation Government belonging to SDA, said in a statement for Dnevni Avaz (p 8) Ahmet Hadzipasic, a nominee for the Federation Prime Minister designate. According to the proposal, Nedzad Brankovic from Sarajevo should be the new Minister of Traffic and Communications, Edin Music from Mostar should be appointed the new Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic from Tuzla was nominated as the candidate for the Minister of Education and Science, as Desnica Radivojevic is likely to be appointed Labour and Social Welfare Minister. The SDA Una-Sana Cantonal Board is expected to submit the name of its nominee for the Minister for Veterans ‘ Issues by next Monday. On the same day, the name should be known of a candidate for the Interior Minister. Currently there are two candidates, one from Zenica-Doboj and the other from Tuzla Canton and both names have been sent to OHR for check. If they get green light, the final decision on who will be official nominated for the post will be made by the SDA Presidency. |
| SD: “Niko Lozancic, President of Federation of BiH, Dragan Curcic, Defence Minister?” | Slobodna Dalmacija (front and page 13, by Marijan Sivric) reiterates previous speculations regarding possible appointments for the Federation executive authorities. The daily repeats that HDZ’s Niko Lozancic looks likely to become the new Federation President whilst Vice President from the line of the Bosniak people will become Sabah Dzihanovic from S BiH. SD says the Serb candidate for the Federation Vice President is the President of Municipal Council of Srebrenica, Desnica Radivojevic. Regarding the future Federation Defence Minister, SD claims most serious candidate is general Dragan Curcic, whilst other candidates are HDZ Secretary General Rade Bosnjak and former advisor to Ante Jelavic, Miro Nikolic, who is regarded the most competent person for the office. |
| Formation of new RS Government | “OHR is still conducting the vetting process of candidates for ministerial posts in the future RS government”, Sonja Pastulovic, the spokesperson of Banja Luka OHR told a press conference. “The process is still in progress and we expect it to be completed before the session of the RS National Assembly, which was scheduled for Friday, January 17”, said Pastulovic. It is known that the SDS will get three ministries – economy and industry; education and ministry for veterans’ issues. Minister of Economy will be Bosko Lemez, Minister of Education Rajko Gnjato, while Mico Micic is a candidate for Minister of Veterans’ Issues. The PDP proposed Zoran Djeric for Minister of Interior Affairs, Simeun Vilendencic will most probably remain as Minister of Finance and Rodoljub Trkulja as Minister of Agriculture. The PDP will propose Croat Marin Kvaternik for Minister of Health, and Fuad Turalic will be offered to remain as Minister of Economic Foreign Relations. Also, the PDP will get posts of Minister of Local Administration and Minister of Traffic and Communications. Mikerevic, together with the RS President, should decide about new Minister of Defence. It is still uncertain which party will get Ministry for Refugees and DPs. According to available information, the SDA should propose its candidates for Ministries of Justice, Urbanism and Trade and Tourism. As the party announced, Sead Filipovic should be Minister of Justice, Mensur Sahagic Minister of Urbanism, and Omer Brankovic Minister of Trade and Tourism. (Nacional p 11 headline ‘ OHR has not vetted candidates for ministerial posts’) Vecernje Novosti (p 4 headline ‘SDA requests three ministerial posts’) reports that possible candidates from Minister of Defence are from the PDP and they are Milovan Stankovic, Novak Radojicic and Vlado Simeunovic. Also, Vojislav Radiskovic of the Democratic Patriotic Party is being mentioned as a PDP candidate for that post, since the DPS has decided to support the PDP. Zoran Lipovac should be new Minister of Local Administration, Dzemal Kolonic Minister of Traffic and Communications. According to the paper there is problem between the SDS and PDP regarding the post of Minister of Refugees, which is given to the SDA. The SDS is dissatisfied with Omer Brankovic and proposed Jasmin Samardzic instead. Blic (p 3 headline ‘Nikic angry with Sarovic’) reports that the RS NA’s session which originally was scheduled for today was postponed for Friday, 17th January, due to conflicts over ministerial posts within the SDS. President of the Bijeljina SDS Cvijetin Nikic is dissatisfied, because the SDS leadership has refused to propose him for the post of Minister of Finance or Economy, and he threatens that a part of the SDS delegates will not give support to Dragan Mikerevic. “Nikic is very angry, because Mirko Sarovic insisted on appointing Bosko Lemez for Ministry of Industry. Nikic thinks that he is the most meritorious for absolute SDS victory in Semberija (Bijeljina region) and that he deserves a ministerial post”, a source close to the SDS said. Nezavisne Novine (p 3 headline ‘They want a ministerial post in RS Government’) reports that conclusion of yesterday’s session of Bijeljina SDS is that if new RS Government does not have a minister from Semberija, 7 or 8 SDS delegates in the RS NA will not give their support to Dragan Mikerevic at tomorrow’s session of the Assembly. According to the paper, a meeting between Mikerevic and the SDS leadership was scheduled for Wednesday’s evening in order to overcome this problem. SPRS will not support new RS Government that will be proposed by Dragan Mikerevic at Friday’s session of the RS NA. (Nezavisne Novine p 3) |
| SDA to have three ministerial posts in the RS Government | The BiH Democratic Action Party (SDA) will have three ministerial posts in the new RS Government, learns Dnevni Avaz (p 2) from the sources close to the party’s leadership. According to the proposal delivered to the RS Prime Minister designate, Dragan Mikerevic, Omer Brankovic should be appointed RS Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Relations, Saud Filipovic should be the new RS Justivce Minister (if he gets OHR’s consent), as Mensur Sehagic should be appointed Minister of Urban Planning. |
Affairs | |
| VL: “Money for natural disasters transferred to intelligence service”
| Vecernji List (front and page 3, by Zdenko Jurilj) reads that the Federation Government took a decision in December last year to transfer a part of the money allocated to the Federation Administration for Civil Protection to the Federation intelligence service (FOSS) in order to increase salaries of the FOSS employees. Allegedly, the Federation Government re-allocated 546.000 KM. VL says there is nothing illegal about the decision, however it wonder how it’s possible that the Government allocates money for the natural disasters at the time of deterioration of weather which saw many BiH towns snowed in, which is especially the case in Una-Sana Canton. The papers also notes that funding of the FOSS has been taken care of through constant allocation of budget funds and goes on to say that it learned from its source that the Federation Government took a few decisions to re-allocate huge funds in the technical mandate. Finally, VL notes that the Federation PM, Alija Behmen, personally promised to repair damages caused by floods in Mostar in 1999. |
| CRA’s Bets on Eronet | The Communication Regulatory Agency (CRA) has these days come into the focus of public interest following an announcement it had started the procedure of the third GSM license issuance. : “I believe that, by the end of March at the soonest, we might be able to determine the price Eronet will have to pay in order to become the third GSM operator in BiH,” said in an interview with Dnevni Avaz (p 5) David Bets, the CRA Chief Executive. He added that the determined price would have to be verified by the BiH Council of Ministers. |
| VL: “Lijanovici move to east Mostar” | Vecernji List (front and page, by Zoran Kresic) reads that unofficially “Lijanovici”, a group of companies originally from Siroki Brijeg, have moved their seat from Siroki Brijeg to Mostar’s Municipality Stari Grad (Old Town). The reason behind the move, as previously announced by “Lijanovici” last year, lies in paying of special tax for financing of public utilities infrastructure in Siroki Brijeg, the tax “Lijanovici” deem illegal. “Lijanovici” state the tax will undermine the competitive abilities of the companies and regret they have to leave the domicile municipality. The author says the companies owe Municipality Siroki Brijeg 1,7 million KM and have problems with solvency and goes on to say that reliable sources claim Zagrebacka bank refused to give loan to “Lijanovici” to cover their debts. |
| Editorial: “What is Mostar without Travnik?” | Dnevni List (page 4, by Zvonimir Jukic) carries an editorial dealing with the re-organization of Mostar and Travnik. The editorial says that after the abolishment of special regime cantons in the Federation of BiH, the fear of majorization among Croats from Central Bosna and Bosniaks from Herzegovina has become evident. The editorial says that the way for overcoming this fear might start with the process of re-organization of Mostar and Travnik. Jukic says: “Since Travnik is now organized as one Municipality, provisions from the HDZ Platform on creation of one Municipality in Mostar are politically legitimate and they are justified in terms of economy, having in mind the expenses of a huge Mostar administration.” The editorial also says that some people are afraid that a radical HDZ faction, whose power must not be underestimated, is trying to establish the Croat domination in Mostar through this idea, however, according to Jukic, there are no chances this might happen having in mind the International Community supervision in BiH, but also unavoidable participation of Serb and Bosniak representatives in this process. Also, the SDA refusal to establish Mostar as a functional city unit can be interpreted as a victory of the SDA radical faction, which wants to preserve the current national division of territory and resources in BiH. This SDA stand might take the Federation of BiH again to a strict division of spheres of interest according to a national principle and soon in a division of this entity in two parts. The editorial concludes that if SDA and HDZ do not act on time then another chance to improve co-existence and release BiH peoples of fears will be missed and adds: “However, it is possible that fear, reign of terror and robbery are finally the main political interests of these parties and their leaders. God help that they dissuade us.” |
| Editorial: “Demonizing of third entity which does not exist” | Dnevni List (front and page 7, by Ivica Glibusic) carries an editorial, which says: “Last statements of BiH officials and leaders of some parties, especially Mirnes Ajanovic, the President of BOSS, who sees the only evil in the idea on the establishment of the third entity and public statements of prelates, especially Cardinal Puljic, are concerning.” The editorial says that according to Ajanovic the cantonization of the whole BiH is fatal, however, the existence of the RS and the ideas on the annexing of the RS to FRY are not fatal in his opinion. The article says that this attitude of Bosniak politicians in the Federation of BiH causes increased tensions between two peoples (Croats and Bosniaks) and this often results in tragedies whose victims are ordinary people. The editorial also criticizes the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), which, in Glibusic’s opinion, turned a sovereign state into a monster-state. Also, constant obstructions of the DPA caused its silent revision. Glibusic says: “Often conflicts between Croat politicians in BiH with representatives of the International Community, which were sometimes justified and sometimes not, resulted in a bad image of Croats in European and world political circles.” The editorial concludes that incapable and irresponsible leading of the Croat people caused the situation that the issues of the BiH re-organization and struggle for the Croat equality are being condemned and demonized in advance, no matter whether these ideas would contribute to the progress of the whole BiH or not. |
| New investigation into humanitarian organisations | According to head of BiH Coordination Team for fight against terrorism, Milan Lovric, due to recently committed crime in Kostajnica, near Konjic, nine Islamic humanitarian organisations and two citizens’ associations in the Federation are under investigation of Federation competent bodies. Spokesperson of the Federation Ministry of Interior Affairs Nedzad Vejzagic did not want to say which orgainsations and associations are under the investigation. (Glas Srpski front page headline ‘New round of investigation’) |