| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| Tomljenovic on | Sredoje Novic on police structure | Arnoro’s crew arrives today |
| Investigation re: Arnoro crew | Tihic on West Balkans Resolution | Old depositors in BiH |
| CRO officials on Gotovina’s arrest | Request of the ICTY registrars | Statement of Ivan Tomljenovic |
| EU Ministers on CRO negotiations | Explosion in Banjaluka | Sredoje Novic on police reforms |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| Tomljenovic on | Visoko mun. cancelled rock concert | BIH won’t go bankrupt, says Kozaric |
| Mesic on Ante Gotovina | Monuments issue in Brcko District | Terzic trying to resolve CoM crisis |
| Shiites celebrate the holiday | Affair in BiH air-company “Arnoro” | SIPA Director on police restructuring |
| Contagious diseases in | SDA main board held session | Tomljenovic on |
| Oslobodjenje | INA, BIO and the State in fight for the terminals? |
| Dnevni Avaz | Fleeing from review (of privatization), Chambers of Commerce protect criminal |
| Dnevni List | Citizens live in fear of depleted uranium |
| Vecernji List | Features Croatia related headlines |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features |
| Nezavisne Novine | Kevin Carty: There is a connection between politicians and criminals |
| EuroBlic | Features Serbian related topics |
| Vecernje Novosti | Features Serbian related topics |
Police reform | |
| SIPA Director: Police agencies in BiH do not cooperate
| SRNA – Director of the BiH State Agency for Investigations and Protection (SIPA), Sredoje Novic, has said in a RTRS programme “Oci u oci” Friday evening that radical police reforms are needed in According to him, it is necessary to establish a joint system of operation, which means that the police should have a joint command, budget, education and have a joint equipment supply system. The SIPA director said that the High Representative Paddy Ashdown had never said that the reform of the police force envisaged the abolition of the entities’ interior ministries, but only the establishment of a state police command and that politicians often interpreted the police reform wrongly because of their ignorance. He said that, nevertheless, it would be down to the RS and F BiH Parliaments to have the last word on the police reform issue. Novic said that there was no continuous cooperation between BiH police structures and that this was the key problem as far as the security system was concerned. TV PINK, FTV, RTRS, BH TV 1, Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Novic: There is no cooperation amongst 14 police agencies in BiH’, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Police agencies in BiH do not cooperate’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘To implement reform of BiH police forces’ by De.L., Vecernji List pg 2 ‘EU will not accept BiH police’ by B. Stevandic – also carried extracts from the interview. |
| NN int. with EUPM Commissioner: There is a connection between politicians and criminals
| Nezavisne Novine pgs 8-9 and announced on cover ‘There is a connection between politicians and criminals’ by Almedin Sisic – In a two-page interview to NN, Kevin Carty, EUPM Commissioner to BiH, notes that the people, who turned on to crime after the war can still rely on their old friends of political influence. He does not deny there is a connection between authority of BiH and organised crime, warning that the crime originates from this region. On this he adds: “Mafia does not only operate in On police reform and abolishment of MoI’s, he notes it has never been stated that RS MoI should be abolished as a result of police restructuring process, stressing: “HiRep said that the institution of minister should not be abolished, since there are other functions that Ministry can carry out. The recommendation of Commission is that there is a joint structure at the state level, while the political influence in entities should be removed.” |
Political affairs / Constitutional changes | |
| Tomljanovic: Entities served as a transitional phase
| Nezavisne Novine pg 3 and announced on cover ‘Entities served as a transitional phase’ by M. Kremenovic – RS Vice-President Ivan Tomljenovic believes that the creators of the Dayton Agreement had envisaged the two entities in BiH as “temporary forms and a transitional solution”. Tomljenovic told journalists in Banja Luka Friday that it was a matter of waiting until the situation itself proved that the entities are an obstacle to BiH more rapid progression towards membership of the EU. He said: “The situation is ripe now to leave the BH TV 1, RHB, NTV Hayat, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘Authorities of the entities should be transferred to the State’, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Entities formed as interim solution’ by A.B., Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Entities are interim solution’ by B. Stevandic – also report on the statement. |
| Tihic: Entities are temporary products
| TV PINK – The Foreign Policy Committee of the European Parliament has recently presented the draft Resolution of Western Balkans. A part, which refers to BiH, stipulates the need of constitutional changes, which has been fiercely judged by some BiH politicians. Member of BiH Presidency Sulejman Tihic said “You are familiar with my opinion. I think that entities are temporal products, which soon or later should be abolished. That has to be done through certain constitutional procedure, in accordance with BiH politicians. We should not discuss on abolishment of entities, we should discuss on establishment of a normal, modern and functional European state.” When it comes to RS President Dragan Cavic’s statement, in which he said that the change of BiH Constitution could not be carried out beyond Serbs; Tihic said that it was nothing else but the policy of certain RS politicians. |
| Richard Holbrooke: BiH is Bosnian, not OHR’s state.
| NTV Hayat – In an interview given to NTV Hayat, one of the Dayton Peace Agreement creators, Richard Holbrook said that BiH was progressing, but that the process was too slow. He pointed out that BiH had to have single military army and single Minister of Defence. When it comes to entities, he said that entities should be abolished but that the issue should be solved within BiH. When talking about Radovan Karadzic, Holbrook said that he was no hero, who supported Serbs, but criminal who robbed them. On being asked whether there was any deal made between Radovan Karadzic and him, or any USA Government official, Holbrook said that there was no deal and that was just another lie, stated by Karadzic and his family. He said that BiH authorities should start taking the responsibility, and that OHR should stay in BiH as long as BiH citizens wanted them to stay. He said that BiH was Bosnian state, and not OHR’s state. |
| RTRS feature on BiH CoM crisis
| RTRS – CoM Chairman Adnan Terzic is trying to resolve CoM crisis. He stated that he will speak with parliament majority party representatives before the next session of CoM. Terzic stressed that he expects from PDP Ministers to remain in the CoM but if they don’t want to participate in it they will be replaced. Terzic feels that the matter will be resolved by the end of February. PDP wouldn’t issue a statement regarding the resignations of its members in CoM. When it comes to BIH Minister of Justice Slobodan Kovac and his resignation Kovac says that he gave many statements regarding that and adds that he has no intention to comment requests for his dismissal in the future. |
| SDS officials uninformed, HDZ does not comment on Cavic’s statement
| Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘SDS officials uninformed, HDZ does not comment’ by M.Kr.-Ra.R. – Momcilo Novakovic, member of the SDS Main Board, on Saturday stated that if Dragan Cavic, SDS Acting President, stated the agreement had been reached with the HDZ (regarding resolvement of crisis at BiH COM), then it should be so. However, Novakovic said he had no information on this. Pero Pavlovic, HDZ Spokesperson, could not confirm nor deny the information on this agreement, adding: “At this moment, I hold no information as to whether SDS and HDZ officials met, neither that any solution was agreed.” |
| SDA Main Board discusses preparations for the party Congress
| Oslobodjenje pg 2, mentioned on cover ‘To stop police hunt on prominent officials’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Some members of the Board requested for reduction of SDA President authorities’ – SDA Main Board held session in Sarajevo on Saturday.Preparations for 4th SDA Congress were discussed. The Congress is scheduled to take place on May 26 this year. SDA Presidency position is that judiciary should stop media, political and police campaign to equalize defenders and aggressor through objective judicial proceedings. SDA Main Board is concerned about challenging of BiH lawsuit against Serbia-Montenegro for genocide and aggression. SDA is against increase of privileges to State parliamentarians because that is not in accordance with economic and social situation in the country. The Board did not adopt the final version of the new SDA Statute since some members of the body including Hasan Cengic and Hilmo Neimarlija had objections to certain solutions. They believe that these solutions including certain SDA President powers do not contribute to further democratization of the party. The Board therefore decided that the draft Statute should be additionally discussed inside the SDA bodies before the Congress. Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘My discussion is not indirectly referred to Sulejman Tihic’ carries a statement by Neimarlija who denies that his objections is directed against the current SDA leader Sulejman Tihic. FTV, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Delegates privileges are inappropriate’ by M.R., Dnevni List pg 2, mentioned on cover ‘SDA is electing its new President in May’ by M. Zorlak – also report on the issue. |
| NN unofficially: Ivanic lied PDP officials
| Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘How Ivanic lied to PDP?’ – In the column “unofficially”, NN reports that a day before PDP was to decide on whether to support the Government of Pero Bukejlovic or not, Mladen Ivanic, PDP leader, lied the highest officials of this party that American Ambassador to BiH, Douglas McElchany, told him during one of two meetings that “any Government is better than none”. NN claims that this lie has broken resistance of PDP officials, who opposed the appointment of Bukejlovic from the very beginning. After some PDP officials were suspicious about the alleged meetings Ivanic had with US Ambassador to BiH, Ivanic told them that this message of the US Ambassador was passed on to him by PDHR |
| RS CoP chairman Kadric: Issue of RS Govt appointment might end up before | Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ‘If Caucuses challenge the decision, the issue of Government appointment goes to |
Economic affairs | |
| Privatization of Energopetrol: INA, BIO and the State in fight for the terminals?
| Oslobodjenje cover page, pgs 4-5 ‘INA, BIO and the State in fight for the terminals?’ M. Kavaz-Sirucic & A. Avdic – The Sarajevo-based Energopetrol Trade Union and shareholders have announced to enter into a fierce struggle for their interest in the course of the upcoming re-capitalization of the company. They are waiting for the start of the process together with the Federation of BiH Government, which holds 67 percent of Energopetrol shares, but with the quite opposite positions. The Croatian INA Company and BiH BIO have allegedly also been involved in the process. The Energopetrol shareholders assembly is to decide on February 28 will the ownership over oil terminals in Blazuj, Zivinice, Ploce and Mostar be transferred to the FBiH Terminals enterprise. |
| BiH Trade Unions Association criticizes FBiH Chamber of Commerce request
| Dnevni Avaz cover page, pg 8 ‘Fleeing from review (of privatization), Chambers of Commerce protect criminal’ E. Plecic – The BiH Association of Independent Trade Unions considers as unfounded a request by the Federation of BiH Chamber of Commerce to withdraw the draft law on review of privatization from the parliamentary procedure. For months the Chamber has been attacking any idea on review of the ways in which their members got the capital in the privatization process, according to the BiH Trade Unions. “They have not reacted even in the most obvious cases of privatization contracts violation such as Zitoprerada in Bihac, Alhos in |
| FBiH Gvt withdraws lawsuit against Ljubljanska Banka d.d.
| Dnevni List pg 5, mentioned on cover ‘FBiH Government withdraws lawsuit against Ljubljanska banka d.d. Sarajevo’ by I. Glibusic – At the session held on Thursday the Federation of BiH Government decided to withdraw the FBiH lawsuit against Ljubljanska banka d.d. Sarajevo since the Municipal Court passed the verdict, which creates adequate prerequisites for successful appearance of BiH in inter-state negotiations with Slovenia on debts of Ljubljanskaa banka d.d. Ljubljana towards BiH citizens. On the same issue President of the BiH Association of owners of old foreign currency savings Amila Omersoftic stated that the lawsuit, which this Association filed against BiH banks, is before the |
Other issues | |
| BiH HoR formed commission in charge of depleted uranium radiation
| Dnevni List cover pg splash and pg 3 ‘Citizens live in fear of depleted uranium’ by E. Mackic – At the session of the BiH House of Representatives held on Friday MPs formed an investigative commission which should identify locations where ammunition with depleted uranium was used. Also, the commission should determine degree of depleted uranium radiation and its consequences for health of BiH citizens. |
| NTV Hayat features on Alijagic case
| NTV Hayat – After the RS authorities have tried in many ways to prevent family Alijagic from being paid for the property worth KM 40 million, which was stolen from them during the war, it seems as if International Community representatives decided to involve in the case, offering proposals such as the one by which Alijagic should be paid only for main damage, with no interest rates and on longer period of time. If such proposals are to be adopted, and if the RS Supreme Court decides to reassess the whole case once again, it would present the greatest RS authorities’ won. It seems as if the IC representatives are saying – the war ended, and what had been robbed is robbed, and lets move on. Representative in the RS National Assembly (RS NA) Tarik Sadovic said “Yesterday, in Banjaluka, in the RS NA, a meeting was held between a team of the |
| BiH pilots arrived home from
| Nezavisne Novine pg 3 and announced on cover ‘BiH pilots finally at safe’, Oslobodjenje pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Arnor flights suspended’ Dnevni Avaz pg 11, mentioned on cover ‘Focic, Tabakovic and Fejzic returned home’, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Investigation on ‘Arnoro’ case begins tomorrow’ by I. Rozic – Report on a safe come-back of BiH pilots to BiH from Gabon. RHB, BH TV 1 – BIH Deputy Security Minister Dragan Mektic stated that as soon as Arnoro airplane and crew return to BIH this Ministry will carry out an investigation regarding the events in |