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| Reaction to Moscow visit | Defence Minister | Return process | Reaction-visit to Moscow |
| Sarovic on DPA | Visits to BiH re defence | OSCE on education | Joint statem.of Pol.parties |
| Aluminij form.employees | Dismissals of soldiers | FBiH Educational System | SNSD wants elections |
| Bosna Air at high risk | Reaction of B. Paravac | Brcko District issues | Spiric accuses SDS |
| Oslobodjenje | COMSFOR: Karadzic moving around, crossing state borders |
| Dnevni Avaz | EUFOR against crime and extremism |
| Dnevni List | “Beauty contest Queen of BiH for Queen of World held in Mostar”; “Nikola Spiric: RS MoI was hiding war criminals!?” |
| Vecernji List | “Beauty: Mirjana Andulajevic Queen of BiH”; “History of one people is being erased through new names of streets” |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features Croatia related headlines |
| Glas Srpske | Protests against appointment of Kemal Djuliman: Council faster than The Hague; Syndicate Union: Buying up of labour service length too expensive |
| Nezavisne Novine | Half a million unemployed in BiH; Petar Kunic: I will not return mandate to PDP; On the eve of appointments at BiH Operational Command and General Staff: SFOR checking up on candidates |
| Blic | Dimitrije Ivanic: ‘Crime is within the authority itself’; Protests: 1 KM for a bread |
Defence reform | |
| BiH Defence Minister issue
| BHTV – According to BHTV sources, new candidate for BiH Minister of Defence will be Dragan Kapetina, Advisor for military issues of Serb member of BiH Presidency Borislav Paravac or Milovan Stankovic, current RS Minister of Defence. Milovan Stankovic has three times rejected nomination for the post, even though his credibility within International Community is respected. In any case, none of them has suspicious war past. It seems that war past has become very important issue in reforms of Defence, but all Parties agree that it will be almost impossible to find Chief of General- stuff without this attribute. Function of Commander of Joined Command and Operative Command will demand a person with General rank, so it is clear that those couldn’t have deserved their ranks anywhere but in the war. Within SDA they claim that parallel couldn’t be drawn between those functions, because function of Minister of Defence will be civilian as Generals/military officers will be appointed to the other posts. Within PDP they claim that it is possible to find people who are professionals, without suspicious war past. Oppositional Parties claim that election of those people, with war past, in fact presents the inability of Nationalistic Parties to carry out this reform in its totality. “And it is not a problem to find people, which can be members of General- stuff and have no war pasts. That are, in fact the Officers with ten years of service, but it seams that no one is counting on them, until those, whose careers are related with war and murdering, are still in game”- said Nikola Spiric, from SNSD. Those Generals will be appointed by new Minister of Defence, whose appointment and appointment of his Deputies should be confirmed by BiH Parliament, at the session scheduled for Tuesday. Glas Srpske, pg. 3, ‘Four persons on the list’ – GS learnt from its source at SDS that SDS has a list of four persons, potentially to be elected to position of first BiH defence minister, are: Milovan Stankovic, Dragan Kapetina, Savo Sokanovic, Aleksandar Svaic (Visegrad Mayor). As GS lears, Stankovic will not accept the nomination, because of the current position he assumes. |
| SDA, HDZ on candidates for General Staff and Operational Command | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 3, ‘SFOR checking up on candidates’ – NN has learnt at the Federal Ministry of Defence that SDA and HDZ want, at any cost, to prevent the appointments of Generals Atif Dudakovic and Ivica Zeka and appoint the personnel supportive of them at the top positions of BiH operational command and general staff. NN source also claims that this is the reason why SFOR has demanded from the Federal Defence Ministry to deliver the list of all Generals and Brigadiers for check-up, in order to prevent any intention of the ruling parties to appoint their likes. |
| Demobilisation of soldiers | BHTV – Pressed by International Community’s deadlines, RS Government urgently prepares lists of names, of those soldiers who will be dismissed, but plans for their future are almost at the beginning. Sum of KM12 millions doesn’t sound promising to the Government and especially to those who will be dismissed. In RS not a single Agency exists, which would help demobilised soldiers to invest in certain project. President of RS Association of Private Employers, Damir Miljevic said that in this economic situation no one will be able to offer jobs to those people. He also pointed that in RS there is no one who can give them estimation of market of even the advice where to invest. |
| SCMM, Romanian defence minister discuss defence reform | BHTV, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Use Romanian experience in taking care about demobilized soldiers’, ONASA – Romanian Defence Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu said on Sunday in Sarajevo that it is important for BH to establish a strong defence institution with civil, democratic control. Pascu said that it is evident that BH, as well as the region, are involved in a transformation process that is heading in the right direction, towards Euro-Atlantic integration. Defence reforms, discharge of the excess of soldiers, possibility of military engagement of BH in international peace missions, transfer of jurisdiction of SFOR to EU armed forces, and cooperation between the two countries were discussed during his meeting with representatives of the BH Standing Committee for Military Matters (SCMM). Pascu said that Romania will continue to assist defence reforms in BH. SCMM Secretary-General Enes Becirbasic said that the Romanian delegation was informed of the progression of defence reforms in BH. “We also exchanged our experiences in the domain,” he said. |
SFOR/EUFOR | |
| Oslobodjenje interview with COMSFOR Packett
| Oslobodjenje front page, pgs. 4-5 ‘Karadzic is moving around, crossing state borders’ – Interview with SFOR Commander Virgil Packett. Packett said his soldiers were raiding private house only when they possessed a reliable information such the action was necessary. “It is not my job to arrest Karadzic, Mladic, Gotovina…. My job is to assist the Hague Tribunal. And it is up to the people of this country to raise upand realise they have the future,” Packett said. |
| What contains Solana’s report: EUFOR against crime and extremism | Dnevni Avaz front page, pg. 3 ‘EUFOR against crime and extremism’ – Fight against organised crime and political extremism in BiH might be one of crucial activities of the EU forces that are to replace current SFOR at the end of this year, learns the newspaper from the sources in Brussels. |
Political developments | |
| RS President says Moscow visit official
| RTRS, SRNA – President of the RS Dragan Cavic has said that he is visiting Moscow at the invitation of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, and that the time of the visit was agreed with Russia’s Ambassador to BiH Alexander Grischenko, through official diplomatic channels. Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, has said that the visit “of the mononational delegation of the RS to Moscow, prepared and organized in secret, without informing the BiH Presidency, is a serious violation of the Dayton Agreement”. “This is someone’s imagination running riot. Anything is possible. This is not a secret mission where big changes, almost new wars, or redrawing of the borders, are agreed,” Cavic said at a news conference in Moscow in response to Tihic’s statement. He explained that, after the schedule and the agenda for the visit had been agreed, he forwarded them to the Foreign Ministry of BiH. “I do not mind Tihic going to Saudi Arabia or Turkey and holding talks there as a member of the Presidency. I do not mind him visiting mosques. As a Serb, I have the right to visit orthodox church. I do not see any problem in this,” he said. |
| Paravac accuses colleague of constitutional meddling | Herceg Bosna Radio, BHTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘With his assessments Tihic directly challenging constitutional order’, Dnevni List page 5, “Tihic’s statements affect constitutional organization of BiH”, SRNA – With his statement on “the illegal and secret visit to Moscow by the RS delegation”, Sulejman Tihic, Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, is again creating problems in relation to the constitutional order of BiH, SRNA was told today by the office of the Serb member of the Presidency, Borislav Paravac. “Despite the full commitment and readiness of Serb representatives to create an efficient state on the principle of full equality of the three nations and two entities, the policy pursued by Tihic obviously goes in a completely different direction and will not bring anything good to BiH or its peoples,” the statement says. With regard to such already recognizable intentions, repeatedly expressed by Sulejman Tihic, the office of the Serb member of the Presidency warns the supporters of this policy that there can be no BiH without the respect for its constitutional foundation and full equality of its peoples and entities. Enforcing certain solutions to the detriment and without the consent of any of the constitutive nations will be impossible. “Thanks to its past experience, the Serb people in BiH will never allow any decision to be taken on the organization of the state where they live without their consent,” the statement says, adding: “Such messages, and humiliation and disqualification of all officials from the RS, as well as a number of other examples of Sulejman Tihic’s policy, are a bad sign for the future of BiH.” |
| ‘Mikerevic and Cavic went to Moscow following example given by people from OHR’ | Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Mikerevic and Cavic went to Moscow following example given by people from OHR’ – In a statement for the newspaper, Deputy Speaker of the RS National Assembly Sefket Hafizovic said he was not surprised with the visit by a mono-national RS delegation to Russia. According to Hafizovic, the RS leaders are just following example given by OHR officials who had frequently used to come to Banja Luka and discuss important issues only with the representatives of the Serb people. |
| Spiric says SDS leadership buying time by collective resignation | RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘SDS secretly works on apprehension of war criminals’, Dnevni List front and page 2, Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘RS needs SIPA as well’, Nezavisne Novine, pg. 5, ‘SDS is buying time while in search for war crime suspects’, Blic p 13 ‘SNSD: SIPA is the real thing for crime’, ONASA – Member of the Main Board of the Alliance of Independent Social-Democrats (SNSD) Nikola Spiric said Sunday that arresting of war criminals will be an additional condition of the international community for BiH on the country’s road to the Euro-Atlantic integration. Spiric assessed this will be additional responsibility burden to the actual authorities. “So far the RS authorities failed to show readiness in regard to arresting of war criminals and the RS Interior Ministry has served for hiding suspected for war crimes,” Spiric said. He accused the SDS for “buying time” by the collective resignation of the party leadership until arrests be made, so that the same people could be re-appointed on same functions. “The SDS is now more focused for war crimes suspects to be arrested than being concerned over stabilization of the party,” he added. He reiterated the SNSD will back legal projects at the state level regarding the intelligence service, as well as amends to the Law on Agency for Information and Protection (SIPA). Spiric will on Monday visit Modrica oil refinery, together with BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Adnan Terzic, which requested the state authorities and the international community in BiH to protect business in BiH and its trade brand. The company claims that private firm Maziva from Gradacac is illegally using its trade brand. |
| Dodik promises demonstrations demanding early polls | RTRS, SRNA – The chairman of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Milorad Dodik, on Sunday evening said that the party would take around 30,000 Banja Luka residents to the streets mid March to demand early parliamentary elections in the RS. Dodik said the March demonstrations would not be radical, adding that the more radical expression of dissatisfaction with the situation in the RS could be expected only after March, unless President Dragan Cavic called early elections. Dodik said the international community had nothing against early elections, but only if they were organized in line with the constitution. Vecernji List (front and page 5, “There is no atmosphere for thorough constitutional changes in BiH”, by D. Jazvic) carries an interview with SNSD President Milorad Dodik. Asked whether he believes that the current organization of BiH might be changed soon, Dodik says: “I believe that there is no atmosphere for this kind of changes in BiH and for this reason priority should be given to meeting of 16 conditions for beginning of negotiations on stabilization and accession to the EU. This is much more important thing and I believe that the constitutional organization in BiH absolutely allows considerable reforms in the organization of the administration.” Asked whether his party is willing for a dialogue on the new BiH organization, Dodik says that there is no doubt that the dialogue is necessary and possible. |
| PDP: OHR mandate should terminate next year | Dnevni list (p 10, not signed) carries Goran Milojevic, the PDP Vice-president, as saying that this party is of the opinion that the mandate of the OHR as it is now should terminate next year, meaning that imposition of legislation, removal of politicians and similar practice should stop. “To reach that, it is necessary to build higher level of trust among BiH politicians and to strengthen institutions of compromise that are forgotten in practice”, Milojevic says. Speaking of the PDP congress, Milojevic says one of the key messages is that commitment was made to maintain as many statehood elements in the RS as possible which is a guarantee of survival of the Serb people in the RS and BiH. “We are aware of unitarian tendencies and we will prevent them since they are, under cover of European standards, launched from certain political circles daily”, he says. Milojevic finds it necessary for BiH society to reform, but is against abuse of reforming of the RS and BiH. Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Close OHR down’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘IC in BiH until 2005’ also covered the issue. |
| ‘Statement of Day’: PDP President Mladen Ivanic | Dnevni List (page 2) carries in its ‘Statement of Day’ PDP President Mladen Ivanic as saying: “Strengthening of the state must not be at the expense of the entities.” |
| Petar Kunic says will not return mandate to PDP | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 3, ‘I will not return mandate to PDP’ – Petar Kunic, delegate at BiH House of Representatives, on Sunday stated that he would not return the mandate to PDP. Goran Milojevic, PDP Vice President, expressed expectation that Kunic, “being a moral man, would return the mandate at the BiH HoR to PDP, which PDP got as a compensation”. Kunic did not show up at the weekend session of PDP Congress, saying that: “Since I am highly moral man, I disassociated myself from those immoral. But I will not return the mandate to anybody.” He also says PDP is a party of one leader, stressing that Ivanic is in charge of everything while other just obey their orders. He also claims that PDP is not a reformistic party, because no reforms have been accomplished. He claims he had previously pointed at numerous affairs, including Srpske Sume, Customs, Elektorprivreda, etc. but nobody listened to him. |
| Interview with Vice President of BiH HoR Martin Raguz | Dnevni List (page 9, “It is unacceptable that one set of rules is in force in Mostar and the other set of rules in Travnik”, by I. Glibusic) carries an interview with Vice President of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament Martin Raguz who talks about the change of the current organization of BiH. Raguz says that BiH should be a functional and de-centralized state and that HDZ expressed readiness for the constitutional changes. Raguz added that they clearly stated that the situation in which different set of rules are in force in Mostar, Brcko, Banja Luka, Travnik is not sustainable in a long run and such situation cannot be defended by democratic principles. |
| DL editorial: “What kind of BiH EU wants? | Dnevni List (page 2, by I. Glibusic) carries an editorial criticizing the current situation in BiH and the author says that there are too many examples about non-functioning of BiH regardless of the fact that the International Community is exerting efforts to improve the situation. The author also says that meeting of the conditions set by the IC is being prolonged and this is a certain sign that there will be no joining the Western integration processes. The author concludes: “Certainly, such BiH is not what the EU wants to have in its neighbourhood and especially not within its borders.” |
| Renaming of Mostar streets together with town’s reorganisation | Vecernji List (front page, “History of one people is being erased through new names of streets”, and page 4, “Change of streets again”, by I. Barbaric) carries that at the same time when the reorganization of Mostar is taking place, the ideas about renaming of some streets in Mostar appeared whose purpose is to discredit and neutralize tradition, history and culture first of all of Croats in Mostar and then in the whole BiH. President of the Commission for Naming of Streets and other Facilities Jadran Topic says that according to a new Mostar Statute it has been envisaged that the decisions on this issue should be passed by a two third majority. Topic added that he believes that this issue will not come at the agenda soon and that some SDP members insist on it. Topic goes on to say that he had a meeting with them and initiated that one street in Mostar is named after late President of Croat Republic of Herceg Bosna Mate Boban. Topic added that the Council will discuss this initiative soon. He also said that Square Musala in eastern part of the city might be named after late honorary SDA President Alija Izetbegovic. |
| VL: “Party transfers shake political scene” | Vecernji list (front & p 2, by Eldina Medunjanin) carries that, although it is still uncertain whether sufficient funds will be collected for holding the October municipal elections, cadre transfers have already started on the BiH political scene. The paper says this is more obvious on the local than on the entity or state level. As an illustration, VL lists members of the state Parliament: Sead Avdic has left the SDU and will in the future act as an independent candidate, while Mladen Potocnik is about to leave Working for Prosperity and Petar Kunic is leaving the PDP. Another example are party transfers in the Brcko District (particularly among Croat-prefix parties). Turmoil is also registered in the eastern Republika Srpska where a huge number of PDP members, disappointed with Mladen Ivanic’s policy, have left the party. In Gacko, almost entire leadership of PDP has now joined the Democratic National Alliance (DNS). |
Economic/social issues | |
| FBiH employers request HR’s arbitration in Centrotrans-GRAS dispute
| BHT, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg. 9 ‘Stop the monopoly on wheels by arbitration’, ONASA – BiH Federation Association of Employers sent an open letter to High Representative Paddy Ashdown requesting his arbitration in the dispute between the private Centrotrans Bus passenger transport and the public Gras city transport enterprises.The Association asked the High Representative not to allow governmental institutions to prefer monopolies of public enterprises. “We believe you know that one of our primary missions is to protect private property, capital and profit, and the rights to work and associations are guaranteed in international conventions,” read the letter.Centrotrans Bus is a member of the Association and International “Eurolines” Association of transporters based in Brussels.The Association said that it sent a request to Canton Sarajevo Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic last December to resolve the demands of Centrotrans Bus regarding the establishment of inter-entity bus-lines, which would abolish the monopoly of one economic entity.”Unfortunately, we never received a reply,” said the Association, adding that Gras is not registered as an inter-entity transporter, and hence cannot offer this service.”Citizens of Sarajevo and BiH raised many objects in the city and state with their assets, including the bus-stops in the city, which ‘Gras’ now wants to own and prohibit their use to other enterprises,” said the Association. |
| VL on irregularities in appointment of Croat Telekom (HT) Mostar Supervisory Board | Vecernji list (p 3, “Conflict of interest in HT Mostar”, by zk) carries that selection of members of Croat Telekom (HT) Mostar’s Supervisory Board is accompanied by suspicious moves of the Commission tasked with appointments as the Commission intends to appoint employees of rival companies into HT Mostar’s Steering Board, which could directly harm HT Mostar. To illustrate the claim, VL carries information from a number of various unnamed sources (HT Mostar workers) that the Commission which is in HT run by Eso Osmanbegovic, the Secretary of the FBiH Ministry of Traffic and Communication, has accepted the candidacy of Enes Santic who is said to be a leading official of BH Telekom from Sarajevo. The daily adds that Osmanbegovic himself holds several various positions and is a member of Commissions in almost all the companies controlled by the Ministry of Traffic and Communication. |
| DL on RTV subscription fee
| In light of FBiH Government’s decision on payment of RTV subscription fee along the telephone subscription bill, Dnevni list (p 3, “Way for not paying RTV fee found again”, not signed) carries that that the result of poll carried by BiH portal pincom.info shows that over 65% of population is ready to cancel the telephone subscription. Apart from this, some people have come to an idea how to pay phone bills without paying RTV subscription fee and this is via postal money orders. |
| Unemployment in BiH | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 2, ‘Half a million unemployed in BiH’ – According to information compiled by the Institute for Statistics of Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of unemployed persons in BiH (conclusive with end of January 2004) is 445.182. |
| Length of employment record: Buy up | Glas Srpske, cover page story, ‘Buying up of labour service length too expensive’ – Republika Srpska Syndicate Union will today demand from the Republika Srpska Government to provide more favourable conditions for the buy-up of length of service to workers, who meet conditions for early retirement. This was announced by Cedo Volas, President of Republika Srpska Syndicate Union, on Sunday. |
| Republika Srpska Supreme Court on Ilic case | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 2, ‘Dimissal of Dragutin Ilic annuled’ – The Republika Srpska Supreme Court annulled decision passed by the Republika Srpska Government regarding dismissal of Dragutin Ilic from the position of the Director of Republika Srpska PIO Fund. The verdict reads that dismissal was implemented without concrete evidence and details regarding omissions during office running. |
Judiciary/security | |
| Protests against Djuliman’s appointment as judge in Visegrad
| Glas Srpske, cover page story, ‘Council faster than the Hague’ – The Association of the families of the missing persons from Visegrad and Association of families of the fallen and imprisoned persons yesterday released a press statement, signed by Milijana Bojic, which harshly protested against the appointment of Kemal Djuliman to the position of the Judge at Visegrad Basic Court. They claim justice can only be served be just and honest people, those who have not committed neither Gods’ or human laws. The release further stresses that bearing in mind the war past of Djuliman, conclusion is that he does not meet a single pre-requisite necessary for the appointment. |
| Leutar case | Nezavisne Novione, pg. 4, ‘Leutar case was instructed by Klein’ – Merim Galijatovic, the protected witness in the case of murder of Jozo Leutar, claims that he has been living in slavery for the past four and half years, claims Faruk Balijagic, attorney, who should be representing Galijatovic. Galijatovic claims he was offered to testify in the Leutar case in an exchange for acquittal, which he accepted. However, after defendants for Leutar murder were acquitted, he was immediately returned to prison, where he fears for his life. He also claims that he was often visited by a group of Generals, whom he called “Klein’s generals”. According to him, Leutar case was run according to instructions of Jacques Paul Klein, former UN SRSG to BiH. |
| VL on Law on Intelligence & Security Agency | Vecernji List (p 3, “Bosniak control over Intelligence Service made impossible”, by zk) carries that last week, the Commission for Defense and Security Issues of both Houses of the state Parliament set numerous amendments to the Law on Intelligence Service thanks to which mono-ethnic control over and management of the state-level Intelligence & Security Agency (OSA) have been made impossible. According to the original Draft, OSA Director General (a Bosniak) would answer directly to the state Prime Minister (also a Bosniak). The OHR is said to have already reacted demanding that the new amendments be rejected and that the Law that bypasses parliamentary control and the Presidency, which is not a democratic practice in the world, be supported. The daily says that there have been 114 amendments to the proposal by Kalman Kocisz altogether and that they have been proposed by Croat and Serb members. Bosniak members expressed their satisfaction with the text, which leads to conclusion that the original text of the Law favourised Bosniaks. |
Education | |
| Education reform | Vecernji List (front and page 2, ‘Its being decided in Belgrade on future of BiH Universities”, by D. Jazvic) carries that a person who participates in the education reform in BiH stated that financing of the Universities was let to the entities in order to please the Serb side and in return the Serb side agreed that the higher-education in BiH is harmonized. The same source added that in this way the basic Croat demand to let financing of the Universities to the Cantons or to raise is at the stat level was endangered. VL also says it is interesting that it is being decided on the future of the BiH education at the meetings in Strasbourg and Ljubljana, while the last meeting took place in Belgrade with an explanation that Belgrade suits more foreign experts than some of university cities in BiH. Dnevni List (front and page 4, “Barisa Colak: To raise higher education at state level”, by De.L.) carries that the World Bank (WB) representatives in BiH appealed on the BiH authority to launch the higher education reform and then the WB would be ready to invest considerable funds in improving of the higher education in BiH. BiH Minister of Security Barisa Colak stated that the BiH Council of Ministers (CoM) considered a draft of this law and added: “It has come out from the discussion to consider Draft Law on Higher Education once again within the Board for Internal Policy in which we involved another few members of the BiH CoM, but we shall also involve representatives of the OSCE, WB and Council of Europe in order to analyze some things in details and adopt the law, hopefully, as early as at the next session of the BiH CoM.” |