Headlines in Print Media |
Dnevni Avaz: Vaccine-related storm continues – Puvacic should be removed; Paddy Ashdown in Gorazde – This country need investments
Dnevni List: HNC suffers damage of dozens of thousand KM – Prime Minister’s wife does not pay taxes; Dnevni List fights by telling the truth
Vecernji List: A bomb exploded in the house of a returnee’s family in Bugojno – A girl killed in the explosion; BiH – the largest construction site of religious facilities in Europe
Glas Srpski: RS Governments Bureau for Relations with ICTY – One subject – 18 names (referring to a subject submitted to the Banja Luka ICTY office with names of 18 Bosniaks and Croats accussed of committing crimes against Serbs during the war)
Nezavisne Novine: NDI Poll – SDP before Party for BiH, SNSD closer and closer to SDS; Valentina Vucic killed in a bomb incident in Bugojno
Vecernje Novosti: The Hague Tribunal’s Prosecutor’s Office announces – Seselj under investigation
Euro Blic: The most popular in the RS – the SDS, Cavic and Sarovic; Fikret Abdic – Judicial authorities hamper my pre-election campaign; Ognjen Tadic – I call Sarovic for a TV duel; Zivko Radisic – Kostunica’s statement is a reflection of the campaign
Nacional: Stipe Mesic accuses Milosevic in the Hague for the attack on Dubrovnik; Labus – Kostunica is a coward
The disputed vaccines-related affair in the BiH Federation; other Federation affairs |
Vecernji List (front page and page 3, by Faruk Vele) carries that on Monday night a hand-grenade exploded in a house of Croat returnees in Bugojno which killed an 18 year old Valentina Ivana Lucic. VL says that the evidence, which have been collected so far, are contradictory. Namely, according to unofficial information, Police suspects that this was a suicide while family Lucic claims that their daughter did not commit suicide. According to Ivana’s father, a guard, who works in a nearby company Minpek, stated that immediately before the explosion he heard creaking of breaks. According to VL, in the other part of Bugojno another explosion was heard afterwards, however, Police did not receive any information about it. VL says that the Police did not want to give any information about this event since the investigation is still underway. (Nezavisne Novine, p 3)
Slobodna Dalmacija (page 13, by Zvonimir Cilic) carries that Croats in Bugojno are shocked over the news that the ICTY and Central Bosnia Cantonal Court will give up launching of criminal procedures against Dzevad Mlaco, the President of the Bugojno War Presidency, and other 482 Bosniaks from Bugojno. According to SD, the most powerful radical Islamic forces stand behind Mlaco. According to Ivo Mrso, a member of the Bugojno Municipal Council, ‘the Croats in Bugojno are appalled especially since The Hague investigators clearly hinted that Mlaco will be charged with crimes and prosecuted’. Stjepan Vukadin, a lawyer from Bugojno, says that ‘this decision of the court will negatively reflect on the return of the Croats to Bugojno.’ Vukadin added: ‘If all persons, who committed war crimes, are not held accountable for these crimes then BiH is being built on bad grounds and it cannot last long.’ (Oslobodjenje, pages 4-5)
Dnevni List (page 4) carries that Alija Behmen, the Federation Prime Minister, sent a letter to Mladen Ivanic, the RS Prime Minister, in which he informed Ivanic that ‘recent vandalism of fans in Bijeljina, Prijedor, Kozarac, Sarajevo settlement Dobrinja and elsewhere rightly caused numerous reactions of Associations of Returnees and returnees to the RS.’ Behmen added that he ‘believes that these reactions to the incidents were also addressed to Ivanic as the Prime Minister of the RS Government.’ Behmen also stated that ‘the purpose of these events is intimidation and preventing of the return to the RS.’ Behmen believes that ‘an efficient action of the RS Ministry of Interior is necessary.’ (Nezavisne Novine, p 2, Glas Srpski, p 3, Oslobodjenje, p 3, Dnevni Avaz, p 4)
Dnevni List (pages 5, 11 and front page), Slobodna Dalmacija (page 42) and Vecernji List (page 2) deal with the attack on Dnevni List and yesterday’s press conference organised by this daily. VL says that during the press conference Mirjana Skoko, the owner of DL, stated that she is ‘especially embittered over the fact that the perpetrator was released immediately after the hearing and that Police kept silent on this event.’ For this reason, she demanded a removal of Goran Bilic, the Minister of Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. Skoko added that according to their information the perpetrator is Stanislav Krezic, a co-owner of café ‘Marko Polo’. Valentina Rupcic, the Editor-in-Chief of DL, stated that DL is not inclined to any political party. She added: ‘We do not want to connect any political faction in BiH with this event, however, the things that we managed to learn about a cause of this attack refer to it.’ VL carries that apart from Apel, other representatives of other media outlets/organisation also condemned the attack. In addition DL carries a press release of the HNC Ministry of Interior on this incident. Among the other things, the press release says ‘that misdemeanor charges were filed against the perpetrator.’ DL also carries a reaction by Tadej Labernik, the Slovenian Ambassador to BiH, who during his visit to Mostar also visited the editorial board of Dnevni List and condemned the attack. Zlatko Lagumdzija, the President of SDP, issued a press release saying that SDP will insist on revealing of the perpetrator’s identity.
Dnevni List (front and page3, by Zoran Vidic) learns from a source within the office of Tax Administration Mostar that Zehra Macic, owner of a boarding-house “Civelj” on Jablanica lake and a wife of the current Prime Minister of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Government, has failed to pay a single KM on account of tax duties ever since she opened the boarding-house on July 1, 1999 thus damaging the HNC by thousands of KM. DL says that the fact that Zehra is a wife of the current HNC PM prevented the tax inspectors to even consider filing a report against her. Dnevni List goes on to cite Macic previous affairs, such as the case when he was removed from the position of President of Executive Board of Jablanica Municipality (NB: Municipal Government) back in 1980 for abuse of office and illegal construction and says that Macic even nowadays uses his position for financial scams. Namely, DL accuses him of spending HNC money i.e. of buying tombstones from “Sani-eksport” Company, a company owned by Macic’s good friend Musfata Hondzo.
Ivanic-Belkic polemics |
In his opinion, “the climate needs to change in Sarajevo more than anywhere else in the region”. He added that “the efforts to build a Berlin Wall between BiH, the RS and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will not bear fruit because they are not part of the modern development which is taking place in the region and in the world”. (Oslobodjenje, p 2, Vecernje Novosti p 3, Blic p 7)
The Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Beriz Belkic, told Dnevni Avaz (p 3) he did not intend to polemicize with Mladen Ivanic through the newspapers. “Let everyone doing his own job as I am. I do not at all attempt to be a big Bosniak, neither I believe there are bigger or lesser Bosniaks, Serbs or Croats. I do not even understand what does that mean,” Belkic said commenting on Ivanic’s allegations.
OHR acitivities |
The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, has on Monady written to the speaker of the RSNA Dragan Kalinic, to inform him of his decision to annul the appointment of two Judges from the RS to the BiH Constitutional Court. In his letter, the High Representative explains that by failing to consult the RS Constitutional Commission, the RSNA did not follow the correct procedures laid down by law for such appointments. The High Representative emphasises that he has issued this Decision “with immense reluctance”. He adds that the “Constitutional Court has played and will continue to play, a crucial role in the institutional development of BiH. If every subsequent judgement of the Constitutional Court were to be open to challenge because the proper legal procedures were not followed in its foundation, this could seriously undermine the integrity of the court.” (Oslobodjenje, p 3, Dnevni Avaz, p 3)
The Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays, on Monday visited the Lukavac-based Cement Factory. In the talks with the Factory’s management team, Hays expressed his satisfaction he had an opportunity to see another genuine example of the successful privatization carried out thanks to the foreign investments. Last year, the Lukavac Cement Factor was bought by the Austrian Alas International Company for KM 35 million. (Dnevni Avaz, p 2)
NDI Poll; other pre-election news |
Regarding Monday’s article published in Dnevni List, which accuses senior HDZ BiH figures, Dragan Covic in particular, of illegally paying Petar Milic, a founder of Croat Christian Democrats, Dnevni List (page 44) carries a reaction by Petar Milic himself. Milic says: “Knowing the editorial policy of Dnevni List in the past few months, it is clear that the article is a pamphlet full of lies, deceptions and unprincipled constructions of some facts (…) Regarding all the lies stated in Dnevni List on September 16, 2002,(…) the owner and editor-in-chief will be held accountable since I will file a lawsuit with the competent institutions”.
Regarding the same issue, the same papers on the same page carry a reaction by Association of citizens “Unborn child”, Siroki Brijeg branch, in which the association expresses gratitude to the international community and the Provisional Administrator for “Hercegovacka bank”, Toby Robinson, for going public with the truth about the association “Movement for family and birth of conceived children”.
Glas Srpski(p 3) quotes the RS Vice-President, Dragan Cavic, as reacting to the statement made by the BiH Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija during the session of the UN General Assembly. Please note that according to the paper, Lagumdzija said that with the DPA, an unjust peace was set up in BiH. “This is an anti-Dayton view to which Lagumdzija, as a BiH foreign minister, is not entitled and which deviates from the BiH foreign policy and its goals,” Cavic said, He then asked himself whether the BiH Presidency, as a body that is responsible for foreign policy, agreed on the platform for the presentation of the BiH delegation in New York. “If it did, then how the Lagumdzija’s statement will be punished”, stated Cavic.
President of the PDP, Mladen Ivanic, said at Monday’s press conference that “The RS citizens have three main options: The PDP, the SDS and SNSD. If they want nothing to happen and if they want the RS only to keep changing people who govern without initiative, then let hem vote for the SDS; if they want debts, disorder and chaos, they will vote for the SNSD; if the citizens want a regular payment of salaries they will vote for the PDP.”
He also criticized Dragan Kalinic’s statement that “only the SDS saves the RS, while PDP and SNSD do the opposite”, and said that SDS actually does not even comment on important events, let alone do something – these statements are only for election purposes, and “the RS is absolutely safe with PDP”. (Blic p 2, Nacional p 11)
Slobodna Dalmacija (pages14-15), Vecernji List (page 4) and Dnevni List (pages 10-11)carry reports on pre-election activities.
Jadranko Prlic (ProENS) stated in Livno that promises on increased pensions in Federation are false, because Federation Government decided to recognise 208,000 years of service to workers in Tuzla and Zenica.
Leaders of HDZ BiH Dragan Covic and Barisa Colak visited site of reconstruction of catholic church in Plehan near Derventa and stated that they will help for church to be reconstructed.
Election HQ of SDP BiH asked Election Commission to remove billboards of Croat Rightist Block because they are marked with “Za Dom spremni” sign, which means “Ready for Homeland”, that Ustasha, collaborators of nazis, used in World War II.
Mijo Anic (NHI), a candidate for BiH Presidency, visited Kakanj and called refugees from this area to came back home.
Dnevni List (page 4, by Slavo Kukic) carries a comment on the meeting between the HDZ delegation and leaders of the Mostar City Administration, that took place last week. The editorial harshly criticizes hypocrisy of Dragan Covic, an HDZ candidate for the position of a Croat member of the HDZ Presidency, who on that occasion also met with Neven Tomic, the Mostar Deputy Mayor. Kukic says that Tomic actually created Covic and helped Covic a lot in his career, however, Covic stabbed Tomic in his back. Kukic also says that Covic now supports the plan of activities of the Mostar City Administration, although, only a year ago secret HDZ ‘parties’ were organized because of this plan and Tomic was exposed to attacks. Kukic concludes that one simply cannot trust people like Covic.
BiH House of Representatives adopts law on the protection and usage of BiH’s name; other BiH-related developments |
Vecernji List (front and page 2, by Edina Medunjanin) reads that the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs will deliver FRY authorities a note by the BiH Presidency in which the Presidency requests an apology from the FRY President Vojislav Kostunica regarding his statement that questions integrity and sovereignty of BiH. However, VL learns from a source within the BiH Foreign Ministry that BiH authorities are not expecting Kostunica to apologize and explain himself in the matter but use the note just to send a message to FRY authorities that BiH authorities will not stay silent to such statements. The source told VL that whatever a reaction from Kostunica might be, BiH-FRY relations will not be completely frozen, substantiating it with facts that the countries are close to sign an agreement on dual citizenship and that the two countries’ Foreign Ministers Lagumdzija and Svilanovic agreed to overcome all the problems during their meeting in New York the other day.
Vecernji List (page 3, by Dejan Jazvic) reads that the Chair of BiH Presidency, Beriz Belkic, believes that BiH can make a significant step forward in the next month in fulfilling obligations for joining the Partnership for Peace program. Namely, the BiH Presidency, at its latest session, adopted criteria for appointment of a Secretary General of the Standing Committee for Military Matters (SCMM) which is allegedly very important, because in abundance of a state Ministry of Defence, it is the SCMM that should play an important role in the process of joining the PfP. ”Presidency believes that the (general) secretary will be appointed by end of this month. It is a wish of the members of Presidency that the secretary starts working before the end of their tenure i.e. before the elections”, says a spokesperson BiH Presidency, Boris Kujundzic. VL announces that the BiH Presidency will today talk about the SCMM related issues to the British Minister of Defence, Geoffrey Hoon, and to a senior NATO delegation that is visiting BiH on Thursday. (Dnevni Avaz, p 2)
RS-related news |
Glas Srpski quotes on its front page the President of the Banja Luka Municipality’s Land Allocation Commission, Milica Petrovic, as saying that the Office of the High Representative still has not issued waivers for any of the 420 land plots, which were allocated to refugees in the Banja Luka municipality by the Banja Luka Town Administration. “None of the waivers has arrived from Sarajevo despite the fact that some land plots were allocated almost a year ago”, said Petrovic. The paper reports that the OHR Banja Luka representatives claim that the procedure is very complicated and that the documentation that is being sent to Sarajevo is not complete. That is why the documentation is going back and forth from Banja Luka to Sarajevo. The paper reports that refugees to whom the Banja Luka Town Administration allocated the land plots are, among other things, requested to submit a document on their place of residence from 1992 to 1996 as well as the paper, which proves that they are not occupying someone else’s property.
The RS Government Public Relations Bureau on Monday lodged an appeal with the BiH Press Council against print media from the BiH Federation, which describe the RS as a forged creation, its current authorities as sponsors of fascism and the RS premier as a fascist swine, Glas Srpski reports (p 2). The reason for the appeal is a report in the Sarajevo-based magazine Dani on 6 September in the People in Focus column, which violates seven articles of the press codex. A statement issued by the press relations bureau of the RS government says that contrary to the codex and journalistic ethics, the magazine failed to publish a response by the bureau, which states that an astonishing amount of hatred and anger is contained in the controversial article.
Headlines in Electronic Media |
- The Law on use a name of BiH adopted
- A control of liquid fuel: what will be its effectiveness?
- According to the preliminary results, the Coalition “For Macedonia Together” won the elections
- Negotiations of Sri Lanka government and rebellions started
FTV 1 (1930)
- State Office for Revision is supposed to make a separate verification of the CIPS project
- A member of the BiH Presidency Zivko Radisic, believe that last statements of the FRY President and local BiH politicians serve pre-election campaigns
- Forcibly entry of a person into Dnevni List offices may have a political background
RTRS (1930)
- The draft law on use and protection of the BiH title has been adopted
- The European Economic Summit started in Salzburg
- ICTY holds investigation against Seselj