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| State Presidency has not delivered Pope an official invitation to visit BiH | Those who have been charging more than 10 KM for new IDs will take responsibility | Cost of the new national IDs will be 10 KM | RS Finance Minister resigns |
| Croatia will officially submit tomorrow Croatian request for acceptance into EU | RS Finance Minister Simeun Vilendacic resigns | MND North Commander restricts disposal of waste near Seljublje village | Donald Hays talked to RS officials about VAT and single customs |
| Pope afraid of religious conflicts caused by the war in Iraq | In Prijedor, SFOR raided 4 facilities | Some 50 prisoners of Zenica prison are holding a hunger strike after stealing 1,5 tons of meat from storage | Cavic and Kalinic warn about centralisation of BiH |
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| Request for Croatian acceptance into EU has been signed | First members of Kosovo Liberation Army to face Hague Tribunal | RS Government on privatisation of power system |
| Oslobodjenje | Haris Basic, Deputy BiH Minister of Transport and Communications – 10 KM for ID cards as of today; FBiH Prime Minister Hadzipasic – I will bring Federation out of the crisis |
| Dnevni Avaz | Hadzipasic evicts Behmen’s Ministers; CoM decision – New ID cards for 10 KM |
| Dnevni List | Session of BiH CoM held yesterday: ‘They did not discuss issuing of license for third GSM operator” |
| Vecernji List | “Politics endangered Pope’s coming” |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Alija Behmen was illegally squandering state money at the end of his mandate: Former Prime Minister gave gift amounting to 15,3 million Marks to his company! |
| Blic | SFOR searched a hotel and three houses of Milakovic family; Simeun Vilendencic: I do not want to be a minister; Government proposes selling of 51% of RS Elektroprivreda’s capital |
| Glas Srpski | Milakovic family from Prijedor targeted by peace troops – SFOR barged into “Sherwood”; Dragan Todic and Geza Mezei charged for tax evasion |
| Nezavisne Novine | Owing to his role in disputable sale of Privredna Banka Doboj – Minister Simeun Vilendecic resigned; Prijedor: SFOR searched the property of Milakovic family; Professor from Cacak claims Minister plagiarised his textbook; BiH Council of Ministers – The ID card cost returned to 10 KM |
| Slobodna Bosna | Why it is not profitable to steal less than a million KM?!; Slobodna Bosna investigation – Who lies in prisons in BiH? |
| BH Dani | BiH – a country of pistols: The price for the death is 200 KM |
Affairs | |
| CIPS
| Oslobodjenje front page, pg. 3 ‘As of today 10 KM for ID cards’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2, mentioned on the front page ‘CoM stopped CIPS’ robbery of the citizens’ – The BiH Council of Ministers made a decision on Thursday that the BiH citizens would as of Friday pay 10 instead of 14.5 KM for the new ID cards. “It was determined that the authorized bodies should continue acting in accordance to the document stipulating the price of the forms for the new ID cards, which was adopted on December 24 last year. And according to the document, the price fvor the new ID cards is 10 KM,” Haris Basic, the Deputy BiH Minister of Traffic and Communications, told journalists following the session. He added that the difference in the price of 4.5 KM collected so far would be returned to the citizens. “Those charging citizens with more than 10 marks will be held responsible for abusing the law,” Basic said. In a statement for Oslobodjenje, Mirko Skrbic, the CIPS Director, said that “the price of 13.5 KM plus one KM for banking transactions was determined together with OHR.” Dnevni List (front page, “Licence for the 3rd GSM operator not discussed” & p 3, “The point on issuing of licence for the 3rd GSM operator withdrawn from the agenda”, by Miso Relota) and Slobodna Dalmacija (back page, “CoM BiH supported further work of the Agency in the implementation of CIPS project – overpayment for IDs will be punishable”, by Dinko Pasic) report that the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs was requested to complete information on the current stage in the CIPS project implementation. It was concluded that the Office for Revision of Institutions in BiH should conduct a thorough control of the work of the CIPS project implementation Agency. Nezavisne Novine, pg. 2, ‘ID card cost reversed to 10KM’; Glas Srpski, pg. 2 ‘Net gain on ID cards’ also report on the issue. Dnevni Avaz pg. 3 Commentary of the Day by Adi Hadziarapovic ‘Great victory of the public and Avaz’ – “The decision of the BiH Council of Ministers that the price of the new ID card cannot be higher than 10 KM represents a great victory of the public and Avaz in fight against corruption,” wrote Hadziarapovic. Blic pg. 7 headline ‘Voluntary decision’ also reported on the CoM session. |
| Third GSM license | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 “Not a word about the third GSM operator’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Consultations with CRA on the third GSM operator’ – In spite of the announcement, the BiH Council of Ministers did not at its session on Thursday discuss information on the issuance of the third GSM license. “The information was taken of the agenda due to a need that the Ministry of Traffic and Communications first, together with CRA, consider whole the documentation and procedures,” Haris Basic, the Deputy BiH Traffic and Communications Minister, told journalists following the session. |
| Orao affair | Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Orao affair – International comm. Unity requests political responsibility’ – SFOR Commander William Ward on Thursday sent a letter to the RS President Dragan Cavic requesting him to by March 17 this year respond on two questions: how it had been possible that the failures in the system allowed the violation of the UN sanctions by the RS military industry and who is politically responsible for such the big failures? After the deadline, the consultations will be launched within the international community on which measures should be taken with regard to the affair. US Embassy in Sarajevo maintains that there is a series of important questions to be answered with regard to the Orao affair. “We expect the RS authorities to deal with these questions and ensure all necessary information as soon as possible,” the Embassy officials told the newspaper. |
| ‘Hadzipasic evicts Behmen’s Ministers’ | Dnevni Avaz front page, pg. 4 ‘Hadzipasic evicts Behmen’s Ministers’ – The BiH Federation Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic has received an information prepared by the Government administrative service o0n the usage of 20 official apartments in the facility of Lipa and yet 45 one-room apartments in the Sarajevo suburb of Kosevsko Brdo. The information has been requested by the Federation Government in order for the illegal occupants to be evicted and the problem of the housing space for the new ministers resolved. |
| Civil Service Law implementation | Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Seven disputed secretaries in the state ministries’ – The illegal appointment of the seven secretaries in the BiH Council of Ministers was taken of the agenda of the Thursday’s session of the Council. At the same time, the CoM appointed the Appeals Board (consisting of Jasminka Putica, Milena Simovic and Enisa Hadzagic) within the BiH Civil Service Agency, which marked the start of the official implementation of the new Law on Civil Service Agency. “The Appeal Board will control hiring of the civil servants,” Haris Basic, the Deputy BiH Minister of Traffic and Communications, said following the session. (Dnevni List pg. 3) |
| Savanovic affair | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 5, ‘Non-existent Faculty approved the printing of ministers’ textbook’ – Veljko Brajovic, Professor of electrical engineering from Cacak, claims that the students at the RS Faculty of Electrical and Technical Engineering have been studying, for three years, from the textbook “Eletrothermal machines and installations”. Namely, Minister Gojko Savanovic signed this textbook as a co-author. But, according to Brajovic, Savanovic just plagiarised his main textbook. Furthermore, Brajovic claims that the printing of the textbook was authorised by the non-existent scientific institution. |
| RS Elektroprivreda | Glas Srpski, pg. 3, ‘Parliament to decide’; Nezavisne novine, pg. 2 ‘Majority shares at RS Elektroprivreda may be sold’ – At yesterday’s session in Banja Luka, the RS Government decided to amend the Action plan on restructuring and privatisation of the eletroenergetic system, which, inter alia, includes the sale of the majority shares of the state owned capital to the strategic buyer. Furthermore, the RS Government is of the view that it is necessary to conduct restructuring of the elektroenergetic system, in order to make it easier for the RS Parliament to decide which part of the capital would be sold. (Blic pg. 7 headline ‘Government proposes selling of 51%’; Nacional pg. 11 headline ‘First strategic partner, and then tender and decision’) |
| RS Telekom on accusations of the international community | Glas Srpski, pg. 5 ‘Continuation of old story’ – The author (Majstorovic) questions whether the recent Round Table (on Liberalisation of telecommunication system), which was organised in Sarajevo by the PDHR Donald Hays, represents another pressure against RS and BiH Federation authorities to repudiate their share at the most profitable firms as soon as possible. Milan Gvozderac, Director of the Directorate for Marketeering and Sale at Telekom Srpske, told GS that the Sarajevo Round Table “represents a pure lobbying of the American tycoons”, who have become a little bit inpatient in the chase for any profit and power. Gvozderac further noted that: “The international officials seem to be forgetting the fact that the cost scale in this area in dependent on the number of users of Telekom services. For example, Telekom Srpske has 285 thousand phone subscribers, while British Telekom has around 50 million users of its net.” |
| Slobodna Bosna on Doboj Bank privatisation, other financial affairs in RS | Slobodna Bosna pgs. 9-11 ‘Ivanic, Vracar, Vilendicic and Bisic are masters of the money in RS’ By Suzana Andjelic – “Although the media have been recently writing frequently about the criminal privatisation of the Doboj Privredna Bank, it is interesting that in the same way but without such media attention the privatisation was executed more or less of all other banks in the RS. The main actors of all these criminal acts are the same – a group of economists and financial dealers gathered around former RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic,” wrote Andjelic. |
| BH Dani: Mostar – divided city | BH Dani pages 29-31 ‘Mostar – divided town: SDA until the last breath’ By Vildana Selimbegovic – “The election rules, electoral units, the issue of ethnic majority/minority are the words shaking Mostar every day during the past weeks and raising the temperature in one of the coldest ever winters in Herzegovina. Aces pro at contra the establishment of Mostar as a single city, meaning one municipality, are currently dividing the political parties: on one side are SDA and Christian Democrats and on the other are more or less all the others. And the international officials are realizing as well that the situation is not benign at all. The French Ambassador has already announced a possibility of his country’s withdrawal form the project of Old Bridge reconstruction, “ wrote Selimbegovic. Bernard Bajolet gave an interview for this week’s Slobodna Bosna (pages 16-19 ‘Mostar might pay high price for the return of nationalists on power’ in which he explained among other things the French policy towards the Mostar unification issue. |
| SD on alleged Behemen’s financial irregularities | Slobodna Dalmacija (front and page 15, by Miroslav Landeka) reports that the latest financial scandal revealed about Alija Behmen, the former FBiH PM, after he left the position is the case of giving the FBiH budget money for the purpose of payment of contributions to companies “close” to him, primarily the Bosniak ones. It is indicative that not a single company in Herzegovina received a single Mark from the FBiH budget for the same purposes. SD reads that Behmen was particularly generous to FBiH Railways Co., the one which “launched” him onto the FBiH Prime Minister’s position. The daily finds it amazing that no political party from the current authority reacted to such decisions thanks to which, by a single amount, pensions and contributions to employees’ length of employment were paid at the same time, which represents a double robbery. The article concludes with a surprise at the lack of decisive reaction by the OHR bearing in mind some smaller-scale scandals due to which some persons were removed from office. |
International community/OHR. | |
| Ashdown’s letter to Ibrahimovic
| Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘Board for selecting police director under pressure’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘Problems of the Independent Board for Appointments must be resolved’ – The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, on Thursday sent a letter to the Speaker of the FBiH House of Representatives Muhamed Ibrahimovic warning him that a full support had to be provided for the Independent Committee for the Appointment of the FBiH Police Chief. Vecernji list (p 2, “Warning to FBiH Parliament”, by dja) also reports that the High Representative Paddy Ashdown sent yesterday a letter to the Chairman of the FBiH Parliament’s House of Representatives, Muhamed Ibrahimovic, in which he expressed his concern over the information received from the EUPM that the House of Representatives has so far in no way assisted the work of the Commission. The Commission members have not received their allowances for 5 months and still have neither premises nor equipment. “I am also concerned about information which indicate that there is political pressure on the Commission exerted in order to influence the election of the Police Commissioner. This is a piece of information which I will pay full attention to”, VL quotes a part of the HR’s letter. The daily also adds that the HR has requested Ibrahimovic to speed up the procedure of filling the vacant positions as 2 Independent Commission’s members have resigned.Nezavisne Novine, pg. 6 ‘Independent Appointments Commission has no equipment to work’ – In his letter, the High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, yesterday requested the Chairperson of the BiH Federation House of Representatives, Muhamed Ibrahimovic, to provide financial resources, equipment and appropriate premises for the work of the Independent Appointments Commission. Muhamed Ibrahimovic did not want to make any comment on this, noting that “No letter from Ashdown has arrived to the BiH Parliament as yet. But I can say that as for relation between the Parliament and Commission, the Parliament budget does not include any provision, which provides its financing.” |
| Dnevni List: Statement of Day: Julian Braithwaite | Chief OHR Spokesperson Julian Braithwaite: “OHR is against pressure exerted against CRA.” |
| VL: Interview with Clifford Bond | Vecernji List (front and page 7, “Eastern Europe better understands USA”) carries an interview with American Ambassador in BiH Clifford Bond. With regard to the Iraqi issue Bond says that they hope to have the BiH support in the UN. Asked about his relations with High Representative Paddy Ashdown, Bond says: “I believe that the two of us have a very similar opinions about future of this country.” Asked about the fact that a large part of public believes that he and the HR have rather opposite positions, Bond says: “I do not believe it is true. I am aware that journalists are interested in finding differences. However, we have almost identical stands about the most of the issues that refer to this country.” With regard to the Dayton Peace Agreement Bond says: “More we deviate from the DPA, more the DPA’s shortcomings are becoming clear. However, I believe that these shortcomings can be amended on the ground of the consensus reached among all people.” Asked about the position of Croats as the people smallest in number, Bond says: “In this country, in certain areas each constituent people is a minority. And for this reason I believe that it is important that all people do their best in order to make possible the higher level of human and civic rights. It is important to strengthen the right of individuals and not collective rights or the rights of a group.” |
| PDHR Hays in Banja Luka again | Glas Srpski, pg. 2, ‘Constitution is a key to reforms’ – The PDHR, Donald Hays, yesterday visited Banja Luka, where he met with RS Parliament Speaker, Dragan Kalinic, other RS NA leadership, the Heads of Caucuses and RS PM, Dragan Mikerevic. According to press statement released from Kalinic’s Cabinet, the meeting discussed the models of a possible functioning of the VAT at the levels of the RS and the BiH Federation, but also at the level of the BiH, as well as its preferences and disadvantages and realistic chances for seeing it incorporated inside a complex constitutional structure in BiH. Hays said that the meeting concluded that the Commission should start functioning next week. He further noted that “the Commission will decide on following issues: how the revenues would be collected and how the personnel of the Commission would be selected and trained”. |
| SFOR actions in Prijedor, Novi Grad | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 3 ‘SFOR soldiers searched the property of Milakovic family’ ; Glas Srpski, cover page story ‘SFOR barged into Sherwood’ – Both dailies report on yesterday’s SFOR action in Prijedor, when its soldiers blocked four objects owned by Milakovic family, searched the objects in search for illegal weapons and ammunition. The objects searched were: Hotel Sherwood, Grand Motel, family house and Crazy Horse night bar. SFOR, around 150 soldiers, launched the action at 05:00 hrs in the Thursday morning. According to Milakovic family, the SFOR soldiers were brutal and violent during the action. SFOR took away gold and a large amount of money from the family and said it would be handed to the RS police. According to SFOR Spokesperson, Mark Maxwell, stated that SFOR found several unregistered guns and a large quantity of ammunition during the search. Blic pg. 6 headline ‘They only found a lady with a gun’; Vecernje Novosti pg. 10 “Siege of Servud’ also covered the issue. Glas Srpski, pg. 3 ‘Soldiers were practising surprise attack’ – According to press release issued by SFOR, SFOR Tuesday nights search of Lignosper firm in Novi Grad was just a practise. SFOR searched the firm because they were informed there had been weapons stored inside it. However, no weapon or ammunition was found. The company personnel express great embiterness over the fact that the SFOR soldiers demolished a great deal of its property. Ranko Djurdjekanovic said that he established a Commission, which is to determine the level and cost of the destructions.(Vecernje Novosti pg. 5) |
| Serbian’s Djelic on visit to BiH | Serbian Minister of Finance, Bozidar Djelic, told SRNA that he got guarantees from BiH officials and IC representatives that the fiscal sovereignty of the entities would not be abolished. Djelic said that during his meetings in Sarajevo he got “guarantees that the interests of the entities and BiH will be respected in this procedure”. According to Djelic, High Representative Paddy Ashdown guaranteed it as well. (Nacional pg. 8 headline ‘Serbia doe not intend to interfere in BiH affairs, the Dayton is being implemented’) In addition, Vecernje Novosti pg. 7 (headline ‘About customs later on’) reports that although an agreement on cooperation between the Tax and Customs Administrations of the Federation and Serbia was prepared, it was not signed during Serbian Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic’s visit to Sarajevo. The reason is that Federation Vice-president and Finance Minister Dragan Vrankic insists that this agreement be signed by two states, BiH and Serbia and Montenegro. |
| Slobodna Bosna’s Avdic on Ashdown’s dinners with Croat, Serb journalists | Slobodna Bosna op-ed by Editor-in-Chief Senad Avdic ‘Ashdown’s dirty dance with wolfs’ – Avdic writes that at the beginning of this week High Representative Paddy Ashdown organised in his residence a dinner for a group of Croat journalists from Herezegovina. Wondering under which criteria the journalists were selected, Avdic concludes that it was not about geographic but about clear ethnic grounds. Therefore, according to Avdic, there was no seat at the dinner table for the Croat journalists engaged with FTV, Oslobodjenje, FENA and other media because they are not being considered as an authentic representatives of the Croat national interests. The same criteria, Avdic writes, was applied for organising a dinner for Serb journalists a few weeks ago. “According to this simple but deformed logic Croat journalists from Herzegovina are the only ones who articulate the original interests, wishes and political will of the Croat people in BiH,” wrote Avdic. |
| BH Dani’s barometer: Star to OHR, black dot to Ashdown | BH Dani Bosnian Barometer pgs 6-7 – The magazine gave one star (good move) to OHR due to its timely reaction to the cooperation agreement signed between the tax administrations of RS and Serbia. “In such situation one can see how the presence of OHR is necessary,” the magazine concludes. However, on the same pages, Dani awarded the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, with one black dot (bad move) because he was continuing Wolfgang Petritsch practice of holding endless meetings with key politicians on particular issues (the magazine refers to the recent Ashdown’s agreement with SDA, Party for BiH And HDZ on temporary freezing civil service appointments in FBiH). |
Political affairs | |
| Hadzipasic: I will bring federation out of the crisis
| Oslobodjenje pg. 3, mentioned on the front page ‘I will bring FBiH out of the crisis’ – Interview actually announcement of the interview for the newspaper’s Saturday’s supplement Pogled given by the FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic. “I believe that this government is oriented to the reforms and that there will be no inside obstructions,” said Hadipasic. |
| Cavic and Kalinic with Wheeler | Glas Srpski, pg. 2 ‘Dangerous unitarisation’ ; Nezavisne Novine, pg. 5 ‘BiH centralisation is a dangerous tendency’ – Both dailies report on yesterday’s meeting between the RS President, Dragan Cavic, the RS Parliament Speaker, Dragan Kalinic, and the ICG Director, Marc Wheeler. Kalinic and Cavic warned Wheeler that the attempted centralisation of BiH is a rather dangerous tendency. According to GS, the attempted centralisation denies constitutional structures of the RS and BiH Federation and is accordingly a dangerous action. |
| Minister Vilendecic resigned | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 2 ‘Minister Vilendecic resigned’; Glas Srpski, pg. 3 ‘Vilendecic resigned’ – Both dailies reported that the RS Minister of Finance, Simeun Vilendecic, yesterday filed his irrevocable resignation. According to NN source, he resigned owing to his role in disputable sale of Privredna Banka Doboj. PM Mikerevic will be assuming the duties of Minister of Finance until the new minister is appointed. According to Glas Srpski, Minister Vilendecic resigned owing to his opposition to the introduction of a single customs administration and VAT at the level of BIH. (Vecernje Novosti pg.3, Nacional pg. 8, Blic pg. 7) |
| Mikerevic sees RS and BiH as Siamese twins | RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic has told Bulgarian national radio that he sees BiH and the RS “as Siamese twins who cannot live without one another”. Mikerevic emphasised the determination of the political factors in the RS for rapprochement with the EU and recalled that the RS, as well as the entire BiH, want to join the pace adopted by other states in the region. Mikerevic believes that the speeding up of that process is a way of relaxing the entire internal relations in BiH. “It is necessary to develop solid inter-ethnic relations in the region of southeastern Europe. I think that the way to create such relations is to conclude free trade agreements, protect investments, avoid double taxation and conclude many other agreements which are already in the final stage of completion in some states in the region,” Mikerevic said. He emphasised the importance of preparing the economy for 2005, when a free trade zone will be established in southeastern Europe, where only the competitive advantage of certain states will result in economic success. (Nacional pg. 11 headline ‘RS and BiH – Siamese twins’) |
Other developments | |
| Cropress on Pope’s coming to BiH
| Vecernji List (front and page 3, by Dejan Jazvic, “Politics endangered Pope’s coming”) and Dnevni List (page 5, by Ivica Glibusic, “Is Pope going to receive members of BiH Presidency”) carry that Pope’s coming to BiH planned for June of this year has been brought in question since a confirmation on the reception of members of the BiH Presidency has not arrived from Vatican yet. It has been planned that during this reception in Vatican the members of the BiH Presidency hand over to Pope the invitation to visit BiH. The members of the BiH Presidency adopted the conclusion with this initiative and the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP) has been tasked to arrange the Pope’s reception. VL says that the MVP instructed the BiH Embassy in Vatican, however, according to unofficial information coming from the MVP they are not satisfied with the things that BiH Ambassador in Vatican Ivica Misic has done with regard to this issue and according to the MVP Misic is responsible for poor organization of the meeting. Misic rejected all accusations and said that he did what he was supposed to do but that people in the BiH Presidency and BiH MVP have to realize that some other events such as the Iraqi crises have a priority in Vatican now. VL says that apart from Banja Luka, the BiH Presidency is also thinking to invite Pope to visit Mostar. |
| VL: “Nevertheless Daimler Chrysler arrives with 1,5 billion Dollars!” | Vecernji List (page 2, by Zoran Kresic) carries that during the Mostar Fair, that is to take place at the end of March this year, representatives of the BiH authorities and entities’ Governments should sign the Memorandum with the German-American Concern Daimler-Chrysler about the investments worth 1,5 billion Dollars. VL says that Croat member of BiH Presidency Dragan Covic confirmed this information to VL. Covic added that Oil Refinery in Bosnaski Brod as well as Thermo-electric Power Plant Gacko might have interest from this investment. Also, the construction of another factory for aluminium processing is possible and Covic believes that it would be good that the sate keeps the ownership part in these companies. VL says that during the Mostar Fair the agreement on the starting of the production in BiH might be reached with European giant Airbus as well. |