| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18:00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19:00 hrs) | RT RS (19:30 hrs) |
| Fire in Ljubuski | Fires in Herzegovina | Crime in BiH |
| Sarajevo explosions | Liberia issues | Attacks in Kosovo |
| World news | Sniper in US | Sniper in US |
| Weather | Minorities in BiH |
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| Oslobodjenje | Eliminating politics from 52 schools this week?; Brcko – baptizing after all tortures; BiH Court – finally getting court police |
| Dnevni Avaz | Cavic diverting attention from real terrorists; ‘Bosmal’ company for the construction of highway; |
| Dnevni List | Winning coalition is being formed; Head of SIPA Sredoje Novic – crime in BiH connected with authority institutions; BiH Minister of Security |
| Vecernji List | Elite policemen are refusing ranks; Ljubuski – Police Commissioner attacked; Mostar and Livno the most expensive cities |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Feature Croatia related headlines |
| Glas Srpski | Saudi humanitarians involved in financing Al-Qaida – instead of the poor, they give to bombers |
| Nezavisne Novine | RS Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation into telecom affair; BGHF – Savima Terzic, Director of the International Legal Human Rights Group: penalties for jokes about blondes; Preparations for the new school year in eh RS – most textbooks can be bought |
| Blic | Strike – 81st day; Jovanka Kajmakovic – legalisation of 3,000 houses soon; Price increase of bread by 0.20 KM |
Political Affairs | |
| Herzeg-Bosna changing name
| CRHB at 18:00 hrs – the Livno Canton government has forwarded for parliamentary procedure changes to the cantonal Constitution, which envisages the change of name for the Herceg-Bosna Canton to Dinarski Canton. The coat of arms and the cantonal flag would be changed in order to present all three constitutive peoples, and not only Croats. Also in Avaz pg. 5 ‘it will be requested for Canton to be called Dinarski’. |
| New SDS delegate in HoR | RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Dragana Knezevic – following the departure of Borislav Paravac from the BiH HoR no Serb delegate has yet been appointed to replace Paravac. According to the BiH Election law, a new delegate should be the next person from the SDS list of candidates with the most votes. The person is Zoran Spasojevic, but he has already been appointed a delegate in the BiH HoP and the question arises whether he could be appointed to both posts. According to president of the BiH Election Commission, Lidija Korac, no candidate can be appointed to two delegate positions during the same mandate. Therefore, Spasojevic will most likely be offered to choose between the two posts. |
| Reaction to Cavic’s statement | Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – the biggest story in today’s issue describes as scandalous ‘Cavic’s attempt to plant the image of BiH abroad as a country that supports Islamic terrorist ghosts’. According to the daily, the statement was met with criticism. Elmir Jahic. SDA Vice-President, said the only thing that could indicate BiH was a terrorism centre were mass graves with thousands of innocent people who were killed upon orders of SDS leaders, amongst whom Cavic is included. Safet Halilovic, Chairman of the SBiH Presidency, said this was simply a political construction with an attempt to diver the attention from crimes by real terrorists, such as those that the Crni Vrh testifies of as well as many other mass graves of Bosniaks and were committed in the name of Cavic’s political option. |
| Avaz commentary | Avaz pg. 3 ‘Running away from responsibility’ by Almasa Hadzic – the author thinks that the current RS President, Dragan Cavic, is imagining some sort of radical terrorism in BiH, especially the Islamic one. Because for the uneducated, the terrorism is still the most powerful tool for placing people where they do not belong and at the same time divert attention from one’s own position and responsibilities. “When he found out about the existence of the ‘Islamic terrorism’ term he hurried to place it in BiH and locate it as a logical target that the world should deal with in the future. As for the whereabouts of the most wanted world terrorists, Mladic and Karadzic, and dozens of those alike, Cavic is simply not saying anything.” |
| IC supporting early elections | With regard to the recent demands for early elections, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 learns that, in principle, diplomatic circles support organizing of the early elections in BiH under one condition. The condition being that the Coalition Platform of the parties that are truly interested in the implementation of reforms in our country, and which could win at the early elections, is formed first. DL says that they found out that diplomatic circles calculated to form the Coalition with the SNSD, SDP and reformed Raguz’s HDZ. DL goes on to say that SNSD President Milorad Dodik has already announced presenting of the Coalition with the NHI and SDP, however, the international circles estimated that such Coalition could not get trust of the electorate and that it would not be able to form the authority by itself. For this reason, it has been counted on the reform forces within the HDZ. According to DL, the Coalition Platform has been made and it has been waited for the opinion of US Ambassador to BiH Clifford Bond who is to return from Iraq by mid September. The platform will be harmonized with the OHR and High Representative Paddy Ashdown, who should secure the implementation of this political platform, which, in the opinion of many people, is historical for BiH and the IC. |
| Spiric on situation in BiH | Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Weary reforms in BiH’ – Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Nikola Spiric, stated for the Radio Free Europe that proclaimed reforms in BiH had to wait the re-defining of competence of institutions and constitutional and legal subjects in order to be truly implemented. Also, it seems to Spiric that the state bureaucracy and political oligarchy in power are not ready for any changes because such way of organization of the state and authority suits the most political and other sorts of criminals. “Unfortunately, citizens did not see that trap at the last elections either and, I would say, they put their destiny in the hands of nationalists… Unfortunately, the result of their policy is almost 300,000 dead people.” |
Education Affairs | |
| OSCE
| CRHB at 18:00 hrs – on a PR issued by the OSCE. It reads that reps of the FBiH, RS and District Brcko, with a support of IC reps, have been intensively working ont eh development and implementation of five issues related tot eh education reform. The PR further says that the aim was to achieve maximum results by the time the new school year began. The OSCE further drew attention to individuals from Central Bosnia and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton who still attempted to isolate themselves from joint obligations of all education institutions, and delayed the publishing of guidelines on administrative merging under the program ‘ Two schools under one roof’. FTV at 19:30 hrs – reported the OSCE was dissatisfied with the recent announcement from the Education Ministry in the Central Bosnia Canton that ethnic schools might not be merged. OSCE Mission Head, Robert Beecroft, said such behaviour by the Minister in the mentioned Canton represented betrayal of given promises and warned that instructions on administrative merging of schools should be issued ASAP. PDHR Donald Hays said the OHR’s view was the project had to be implemented and that both the Federation and RS governments signed an agreement on the joint basics for the education curriculum. RTRS at 19:30 hrs – statement by OHR Spokesperson, Kevin Sullivan, said the HNK and Central Bosnia education ministers had deadlines by the end of the week to submit instruction on merging of divided school administrations under the ‘Two schools under one roof’ program. Avaz pg. 2 ‘Urgent changes in the remaining two schools’ – in two separate articles the daily reported on the issue. The first article reported on the OSCE statement and the second ont eh OHR statement. Glas Srpske pg. 3 ‘Time is running out’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 6 ‘Instructions about unification of Two schools under one Roof’ – statement by OHR Spokesperson Sullivan. Dnevni List pg. 8 ‘Politics must be kept outside of classrooms’ – the OSCE and OHR press releases. |
| Interview with Beecroft | Explaining the essence of the Common Curriculum Core (CCC) Agreement, in an interview for Dnevni List pg. 1 and 9 Ambassador Beecroft says that some possibilities it offers can be implemented this year, while others will take longer. He adds that mother tongues and identities of all the three constituent peoples are respected in the CCC as the group of national subjects enables preservation of one’s culture, tongue and identity. As for the instructions on unification of ‘Two schools under one roof’, he explains it is a process that requires the change of legal status of such schools. Ambassador Beecroft concludes by saying that for the education reform, which has the scope the reform in BiH has, it takes five to 10 years and it requires adequate resources. |
| Jarak | With regard to the issue of unification of two Mostar Grammar Schools, Dnevni List on pg. 15 entitled ‘Municipality with Croat majority has been demanding unified Mostar for a long time’ carries President of the Municipal Council of the Mostar Municipality Southwest Kresimir Jarak. He says that, most probably, a session of the School Board of the Mostar Grammar School ‘Fra Dominik Mandic’ will take place today. Jarak added that in case that the School Board refused the unification, the Municipal Council would respect that decision because they believed that Councillors were not so much familiar with this issue as the School Board. Jarak added that the Municipal Council could also pass the decision opposite to the decision of the School Board if the Board did not present its decision in the right way. “Three municipalities with the Croat majority have been demanding unified Mostar for a long time. If we demand the positive transformation of the entire Mostar why should we dispute it when the IC provides money and demands speeding up of that process though education.” |
Police Affairs | |
| Sarajevo explosions
| CRHB at 18:00 hrs – the Sarajevo Canton police has identified perpetrators of a series of bomb attacks that took place in the BiH capital. The CRHB refers to Oslobodjenje article, according to which the police are still looking for Sejo Dumancic, Fikret Kajevic, Jasmin Djipo and Adnan Sabanovic. |
| Organized crime
| RTRS at 19:30 hrs – “Pre-war experience confirms the involvement of state institutions in criminal actions,” stated Chairman of the State Intelligence and Protection Agency, Sredoje Novic. He further stressed that organized crime presented the greatest threat to the country, adding there was no doubt such groups existed in the entire region of the ex-YU and the strong ties between them. “BiH can not sleep peacefully until such activities are carefully investigated.” He put an emphasis on the drug trade saying that this form of organized crime was rapidly spreading over the years. Also reporte din Dnevni List pg. 1 and 7. |
| Trafficking | Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘Chains of trafficking in people will be cut off by the state’ – BiH Co-ordinator for fight against trafficking in people, Almir Dzuvo, said that 95% of women identified in many trafficking cases were indeed victims of trafficking. “Contrary to general perception, only 5% of those women are professional prostitutes looking for a job in BiH. The rest are trafficking victims.” |
| Interview with Colak | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 – an interview with Security Minister Barisa Colak. Regarding an attack on the Police Commissioner in the Western Herzegovina Canton, Colak said an investigation into the case would be completed very soon. As for the recent explosions in Sarajevo, he stated that the info collected so car had no indication there were political motives behind the attacks. He added it was possible the explosions were connected. |
| Terrorism | Glas Srpske front-page ‘Instead to the poor, they give to the bombers’ – in the report ‘Financing of terrorism’, an eminent French expert for the financing of terrorist organisations, Jean Charl Brisard, claims that the High Saudi Committee for Assistance in BiH, which was the leading organisation in charge of activities of all Islamic humanitarian organisations in BiH during and after the war, represents a front for radical activities akin to terrorism. In collaboration with a group of American lawyers and investigators, Brisard concluded that Saudi Arabia has opened the new ways for financing terrorist organisations, which is by means of traditional ‘zekat’ charity, which was described in Qur’an. In this way, bankers and wealthy people donated certain amounts of money to alleged humanitarian organisations. In this manner, Al Qaida managed to collect around $ 300 to 500 million in the past 10 years. |
| Masic case | Glas Srpske pg. 9 ‘Murderer on wanted warrant’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 15, ‘Murderer of Safija Masic still not behind bars’ – the Republika Srpska Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant against a person of Bosniak nationality suspected of being responsible for having murdered Safija Masic (age of 64), a returnee to Podmasici nearby Srpsko Gorazde. The identity of the person was established after a discussion with Masic family members and residents of Podmasici.No mention of the name was made in the interest of the ongoing investigation, and this person had not been arrested yet. Safija Masic was found dead in her family house on August 11. The post mortem examination conducted in the cantonal Hospital in Gorazde the following day established that her death had been violent and numerous injuries in the area of her head, neck, stomach and genitals were identified. The motive of this hideous murder is probably a gain. |
| Feral Tribune on Sarajevo explosions | Giving an overview of the recent incidents in Sarajevo, Feral Tribune (pgs. 48-50 ‘Bomb progress’ by Ivan Lovrenovic) comments that, when it comes to FBiH officials (SDA, HDZ), they blame the opposition. The author says the background for such a reaction lies in the fact that these two parties have not managed to remove some people, who started their mandates as true professionals during the short rule of the Alliance for Changes, from the leading positions within the FBiH Ministry of Interior (FBiH MoI) and he expects the continuation of the ruling parties’ offensive. The paradox is, Lovrenovic says, that this has been happening under the watchful eye of the IC, which has invested enormous efforts and funds to bring order in entity police forces. In his opinion, the crisis in FBIH MoI started at the moment when the IPTF Commissioner Frederiksen de-certified 12 members of Sarajevo Police Special Units and when Paddy Ashdown washed his hands off the case and failed to use his authorities in order to cancel the bureaucratic decision of his subordinate. What better gift or a signal to imaginative underground, Lovrenovic asks? |
Refugee Affairs | |
| Doboj returnees
| BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Cvjetko Udovicic – Croat refugees in Doboj municipality claim they are being unfairly bypassed by all humanitarian organizations. Some of the houses have no electricity, and the water supply us a big problem. There’s a lack of medical staff and there are no stores. The only donator to the municipality is the Croatian government, says the report. |
| Srebrenica | FTV at 19:30 hrs by Salih Brkic – the reconstruction of houses is not progressing as planned. Although an ambitious plan on the construction of 2,000 houses in Srebrenica has not been completed, 800 houses should be (re)constructed by the end of this year. The program is supported by the USAID and so far 500 houses have been reconstructed, and another 200 to 300 houses are expected to be finished by the end of this year. Abdurahman Malkic, Srebrenica Mayor, stated they were satisfied with the results so far and added that more houses had been reconstructed in this year than in all previous years combined. |
Economic Affairs | |
| Bosmal
| Avaz pg. 3 ‘Bosmal started promoting the highway’ – in several locations in Sarajevo the ‘Bosmal’ company has set up their promotion poster, which reads ‘This is our road. Highway 5c Bosmal’. |
| NN editorial on ‘Bosmal’ | Nezavisne Novine pg. 7 by Natasa Krsman ‘Bosmal steps’ – in regard to the letter that Bosmal sent last week to the Federation government. The author assessed the letter was ‘a slap in the face for Hadzipasic’. The letter shows how confident eh company is. Despite the fact that Dokic and Terzic condemned the statements it remains uncertain what the real interpretation is of the agreement between the Com and ‘Bosmal’, since both sides obviously interpret the agreement differently. |
| Third GSM licence | Dnevni List pg. 2 – Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Adnan Terzic, stated in an interview given to one Sarajevo daily that he would like to give the third GSM license to the HT Mostar and Eronet. DL wonders whether Terzic is aware of the fact that it is not possible to do it because according to the Law on Telecommunications it has been envisaged to issue only three GSM licenses by 2005. DL learnt from the sources close to the BiH CoM that the decision on the third GSM license was not passed due to several reasons. The first one is that members of the BiH CoM cannot agree as to who will be working on the so-called estimation of the third GSM license value. The second reason is the fact that it is not possible to reach the consensus among Croat ministers with other ministers in the BiH CoM because Serb and Bosniak ministers are afraid of the possible competition if the Croat mobile operator starts to function completely legally. DL says that former Minister of Traffic and Communications, Besim Mehemedic, proposed the solution for the third GSM license issue and that was to give the license to the HT Mostar, which would cede it to the Eronet through an agreement. DL says that the BiH CoM should not reject this Mehmedic’s idea. |