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| Bozancic visits Andjelic | BH a shelter for criminals | First trial at BiH Court | Talks on security situation |
| BiH SBS extra cautious | Ashdown on Mostar | BiH a shelter for criminals | RS govt. adopts eco. policy |
| OHR on Mostar city | Anti-US protests in Kerbala | BiH HoP session | SNSD on parties in power |
| SARS in Peaking | Book fair in Sarajevo | Palestinian govt. | SDS – PDP on coalition |
| Oslobodjenje | Eight warrants issued for criminals from the RS; BiH in a regional fight against crime – waiting for the lists from Serbia; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Muratovic to be blamed for Spiric’s election; Diplomacy – financial scandal in the BiH embassy in Israel; |
| Dnevni List | Prior to 8th Convention of the HDZ – political conformity maintains unity in the HDZ; The Civil Service Agency at the Federation level only |
| Vecernji List | Bishop Bozanic – I will encourage help to Croats in BiH; Ashdown determines principles for the restructuring of city – Mostar with a single budget |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Entities getting their secret services abolished, one state service to be formed |
| Glas Srpski | Sector for the prevention of money laundering – banks were hiding launderers; Construction workers in BiH in Germany – licences expiring |
| Nezavisne Novine | Meeting btw. HR and BiH police officials – Ashdown ordered borders be closed for criminals; Relations within ruling coalition of the RS shaking – vote of Petar Kunic is a thorn in the side of the SDS and PDP; Dragan Covic, member of the BiH Presidency – I do not need immunity for criminal reports |
| Blic | Opposition answers to the authority attacks – SNSD: we have not contrived murders and bank robberies in the privatisation, DNS: it is known that the authority is connected with the organised crime; The government has promised a better life to citizens; 1/3 of citizens does not know what the BiH flag looks like |
Fight against Crime | |
| Ashdown and BiH officials in charge of security
| Avaz pg. 2 ‘Special measures at border crossings’ – HR Ashdown met yesterday with BiH Security Minister, Barisa Colak, entity police ministers, Mevludin Halilovic (FBiH) and Zoran Djeric (RS), EUPM Commissioner, Sven Frederiksen and BiH SBS Director, Nijaz Spahic, to discuss to discuss the security situation in the country. After the meeting Ashdown announced that in the next 24 hours entity MoIs, SBS and Security Ministry would intensify their activities to prevent persons from Serbia, who might be released following the abolishment of the state of emergency, seeks refuge in BiH. Added they would request from the Serbian authorities to submit a list of detained persons who are to be released and analyse whether any of them could be arriving to BiH. Colak stated the meeting confirmed OHR’s determination to fight against organized crime. Djeric said the RS police was ready for the fight against the organized crime and FBiH MoI Head Halilovic made the same statement. Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Eight warrants issued for criminals from the RS’ – Spahic said that SBS operation chiefs issued orders to their respective units to increase the control of persons and vehicles at the border with Serbia and Montenegro, and at the Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar airports. Vecernji List pg. 3 ‘Special forces awaiting criminals’ – VL says that a close co-operation between the BiH and Serbian Interpol is expected and that the Serbian Ministry of Interior is expected to submit a list of people who are going to be released from detention in Serbia and who have ties in BiH. According to BiH Minister of Security, Barisa Colak, BiH authorities do not have the list but have some knowledge about some people. VL also reports that the entity ministers of interior announced a possibility of the restructuring of special police forces and the establishment of a unit at the state level that would work under the BiH Ministry of Security. Also reported in Slobodna Dalmacija back page ‘Increase security measures at borders with Serbia and Montenegro’. Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 and Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘Decisive blow to crime’ – the HR announced that the meeting agreed on long-term and short-term measures, which are to be implemented within the 24 hours. Blic pg. 7 ‘Precaution at the border’ – “It is highly likely that certain individuals, released from custody after the lifting of the state of emergency in Serbia, who have connections in BiH, financial or family, will want to enter BiH. I believe we have to be very careful, especially at borders,” Ashdown said. |
| Warrants for criminals from the RS | Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 3 – Interpol today will issue arrest warrants against at least eight persons from the RS suspected of being connected with criminal groups from Serbia. BiH Interpol Director, Brane Pecanac, yesterday confirmed that the RS MoI already submitted requests to the BiH Interpol to issue warrants for two persons from the RS already. He would not reveal the names of the two people from the RS. RS Minister of Interior, Zoran Djeric, said the police would issue warrants for persons from the RS believed to be hiding in countries of the Balkan region. |
| A plan for fighting crime | Avaz pg. 3 ‘A plan devised for fighting crime’ – ministers of the entity MoIs will meet on Friday with HR Ashdown and SDHR Bernard Fassier to analyse results of measures taken to prevent criminals released in Serbia from crossing over to BiH within 24 hours. The daily claims this is the first detail from a plan devised to fight organized crime, the copy of which the daily has. Amongst many tasks, the plan outlines that in the next two to three weeks an operation agreement is to be devised between state prosecutors in Serbia and BiH, which would allow for the sharing of info on the criminal activities in both states. Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘Ashdown’s orders for police forces’ – at yesterday’s meeting with the most senior security officials of BiH, HR Paddy Ashdown asked them to undertake urgent measures, in order to ensure that BiH has an efficient response to the lifting of the state of emergency in Serbia. The HR asked interior ministers of the RS and FBiH to inform Head of the OHR Legal Unit, Bernard Fassier, on progress made on these matters within 24 hours. |
| Confiscating property obtained through crime
| Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘The OHR in favour of confiscating property obtained through crime’ – OHR Senior Spokesperson, Julian Braithwaite, stated the OHR supported an initiative of confiscating property from wealthy people in BiH who earned money by getting involved in criminal activities. He confirmed this was another measure by HR Ashdown for fighting organized crime. Braithwaite said he did not know whether people closely watched would remain those helping Karadzic and Mladic and Hague indicteees or whether the action might be extended to all those who got rich by getting involved in shady businesses. Even though OHR Spokesperson said members of the Peace Implementation Council did not discuss this issue at the last session, Zlatko Lagumdzija said the Council had been considering the issue as a measure for fighting crime since long time ago. An insert ‘PIK did not discuss the property confiscation’ – Adnan Terzic, CoM Chair, said there was no talk of the property confiscation at the last Peace Implementation Council session in Brussels. |
| Braithwaite | Vecernji List pg. 4 ‘Break the grip of organized crime’ – a commentary by OHR Director of Communications, Julian Braithwaite, on the issue of the fight against organized crime in the region. “As we saw in Serbia, these networks present a threat even to the state itself. They corrupt security services, justice, economy and politics in the whole region. They avert investments and slow the process of integration to Europe. The only way to free the Balkans of destiny of organized crime is to beat it in its own game. Criminals work internationally. Therefore, those who fight against them must learn to act internationally,” said Braithwaite. |
| SBS | Vecernji List pg. 3 ‘BiH seeks help from Croatian and Serbian MoIs’ – the BiH State Border Service has increased the control of BiH borders. “We have taken some decisions since the lifting of the state of emergency in Serbia in order to increase the control of borders. The situation will remain until further notice,” said Tomislav Mihalj, Deputy Director of the SBS. The daily also carries a statement by Deputy Director of the BiH Interpol, Zoran Buntic, as saying that the BiH Interpol is yet to receive from Serbia and Montenegro a list of person engaged in criminal activities in S&M. Buntic added the list could come within the next few days. |
Political Affairs | |
| Muratovic supports Spiric?
| Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – Seada Palavric, President of the SDA caucus in the BiH HoR, stated the fact that their member, Hasan Muratovic, abstained from voting for the new BiH HoR Deputy Speaker represented a breach of the party discipline. Muratovic was the only SDA member who was abstained when his party colleagues voted for Momcilo Novakovic (SDS) and against Nikola Spiric (SNSD). Palavric stated that they were surprised by Muratovic’s behaviour since he previously, at a meeting of the SD caucus, gave support to the SDS candidate. She added the issue would be discussed at the coming session of the SDA Presidency. Below this article, Avaz carries another one related to Spiric entitled ‘Spiric with Seselj’ – supplemented with a picture of Spiric with Seselj, the article reveals that the newly elected BiH HoR Deputy Speaker was very close to radicals during the war. |
| Novakovic on Spiric | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Spiric’s election will cause political crisis’ – head of the SDS caucus at the BiH HoR, Momcilo Novakovic, assessed the election of Spiric would cause the political crisis at the level of the RS and BiH institutions. He further thinks that the concept of the current authorities has been put in question. At yesterday’s press conf, Novakovic stated that Spiric’s election represented the victory of the Alliance, meaning the SNSD and SDP. As for a PDPD rep, Petar Kunic, who gave his vote to Spiric, Novakovic stated that he was not sure whether that represented Kunic’s personal view or PDP’s view. |
| SDS – PDP dispute over Kunic | Nezavisne Novine, pages 1 & 2 and Glas Srpski pg. 2 ‘The Spiric-Kunic Agreement’ – Momcilo Novakovic, SDS delegate to the BiH Parliament, assessed that Nikola Spiric was elected Deputy Speaker to the House of Representatives following ‘a private arrangement between Kunic and Spiric’. Owing to the deterioration of relations between the SDS and PDP within the ruling coalition, these two parties, held a meeting in Lukavica yesterday, which had only one topic on the agenda – the newly arisen situation between the two parties. PDP officials yesterday confirmed that Kunic did not get an assent from the PDP top to vote as he did. Kunic yesterday did not want to make any comment to NN regarding this issue. Nikola Spiric briefly commented. “Those who lose have a right to be angry. However, the SDS should finally acknowledge that Nikola Spiric as an absolute master within the Parliament.” Blic pg. 2 ‘Novakovic: private agreement with Kunic’ – Igor Radojcic of the SNSD says that Spric’s election is a proof of the SNSD claim that the authority is not strong and it does not function, as well as that the opposition candidate has higher reputation then the candidate of the ruling coalition. Vecernje Novosti pg. 19 ‘Kunic undermines the coalition’ – quotes PDP spokesman Igor Crnadak as saying that Petar Kunic’s voting for Nikola Spiric is a surprise for the PDP. He added ‘that this was Kunic’s personal decision’. Crnadak said that on this occasion the PDP Presidency would meet by the end of this week and take a stance on this issue. |
| FBiH HoR | Avaz pg. 4 ‘No removals in the FBiH Tax and Customs administrations’ – at yesterday’s session of the FBiH HoR reps adopted the Law on Bankruptcy, which was one of the conditions for the implementation of economic reforms and ending the privatisation process. FBiH HoR reps yesterday were distributed a letter by SDHR Gerhard Enver Schroembgens whose message was that positions in the state services, including the most senior ones, would remain frozen until the adoption of the draft law on Civil Service. The letter noted that protected posts were including those of the customs and tax directors and many others. An insert ‘A financial investigation of the FTV requested’ – Amila Alikadic – Husovic, an SDA rep, yesterday requested from the Financial Polcie to conduct an investigation at the Federation TV to find out whether certain journalists had been given large payments. Also, complained that no channels are in Bosnian. Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Draft Law on Bankruptcy’ – Sead Delic, President of the Comission for Defence and Security, stated the FOSS was getting out of control because their Acting Director, Ivan Vuksic, refuses to submit information on when and where vacancies for employees in FOSS were issued. Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Commission for Supervision of Intelligence Services appointed’ – Muamer Herceglija and Kasim Trnka from the line of the Bosniak people, Mirko Boskovic and Kata Fenjak from the line of the Croat people and Ranka Cvijic and Nedeljko Milicevic from the line of the Serb people were appointed members of the Council for Protection of Vital National Interests with the FBiH Constitutional Court. |
| Civil Service Law | Avaz pg. 8 ‘No cantonal agencies for the state service’ – the Federation government yesterday adopted amendments to the FBiH Civil service Law. According to the adopted version, there will be no 10 cantonal agencies for the civil services, but will all be covered by the agency at the Federation level. Dnevni List pg. 1 and 4 – a report from yesterday’s session of the Federation government during which reps adopted and sent to the parliamentary procedure the Draft Law on Civil Service in the Federation. |
| Mostar city | Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘Principles for Mostar’ – at a Tuesday session of the Council for the Re-Structuring of Mostar, SDHR Gerhard Enver Schroembgens, handed to Council reps a letter by HR, which outline eight ground principles that members should be led by. OHR Spokeswoman Avis Benes yesterday mentioned all eight principles at a press conf. Vecernji List pg. 1, Dnevni List pg. 14 ‘Eight principles for restructuring of the city’ and Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 15 ‘Eight principles for new Statute’ – asked by a journalist about the SDP’s stand not to participate in the work of the Commission, Benes stated that the OHR hoped the SDP would reconsider its stand. VL says that the local police and SFOR tightly secured the first meeting of the Commission and that this level of security measures did not exist even during earlier visits of Paddy Ashdown. On the same issue DL pg. 6 ‘Reconsider decision not to participate in work of the Commission for Mostar restructuring’ – the OHR sent a letter to the SDP BiH saying that the future of Mostar is too important for its citizens and for this reason every delay in the work of the Commission is unnecessary. In its letter, the OHR called on the SDP to reconsider its stand. Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘Current city borders should not be changed’ – HR Paddy Ashdown yesterday welcomed the establishment of the Commission for the devising of the Mostar City Statute. |
| Interview with Covic | Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 5 – in a short interview to NN, Dragan Covic, a member of the BiH Presidency, claims he does not need immunity for criminal reports filed against him by the BIH Federation Customs Administration. He is also of the opinion that no law can be implemented retroactively, including the Law on Immunity. According to him, the problem related to criminal reports against him has been present for two years already, but the issue comes to surface every two or three months when some political circles get the idea of reviving it again. “I rarely commented on them in order to avoid any kind of pressure against people who should be doing their job professionally.” |
| HR to meet CoM reps | Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘Ashdown with CoM at Bjelasnica’ – late last night, HR Paddy Ashdown went to Bjelasnica where he is to meet reps of the BiH Council of Ministers and discuss the fulfilment of pre-requisites necessary for the BiH admission to the European Union. Julian Braithwaite OHR Chief Spokesperson confirmed the info. He further stressed that the meeting was also to discuss the priorities of the ‘Jobs and Justice’ document, which is to be implemented in the coming period. |
| SNSD on RS govt. | Nezavisne Novine pg. 6 ‘Mikerevic Cabinet fails on all fields’, Glas Srpski pg. 2 ‘The government targeted’ – the SNSD yesterday called on all political parties participating in authority to withdraw their trust from the RS government and elect the new governments as a temporary solution until the extraordinary elections are held. At yesterday’s press conference in Banja Luka, Igor Radojicic, a member of the SNSD Directorate, stated that the government had no authority, initiative, trust and vision of the RS development. Blic pg. 3 ‘The SNSD for government’s replacement’, Vecernje Novosti pg. 4 ‘Early elections are solution’ – Igor Radojcic (SNSD) says that the first 100 days of Dragan Mikerevic’s government’s work is ‘an unsuccessful experiment on living people’, emphasising that the SDS, PDP and SDA, as the parliamentary majority, should take over responsibility for that and form a new government. Radojcic says that early elections will be the only right solution, but that the SNSD does not have any intention to make arrangements with these parties. He recalled PDP’s pre-election slogan ‘That Srpska becomes European’, saying that after 100-days work of the government the RS resembles more South-African government. “During this government’s work, due to the spying affair, the RS has lost its sovereignty and all OHR moves lead toward the centralisation. The Army and defence are in the worst position since the Dayton, and the government is not willing to implement any reform in the Army,” Radojcic says. |
| PDP on Dodik | Glas Srpski pg. 2 ‘Secret connection with Mikelic’ – the PDP claims that a time has come for Milorad Dodik to explain his connection with Borislav Mikelic and smuggling activities at Cazin Krajina. According to a PDP press release, the panic, which the SNSD has displayed over the past days, is a logical result of the wrong pre-election campaign, based on the sponsorship that was to be ‘awarded or paid off later on’. |
| RS govt. vs. RS opposition | Blic pg. 7 ‘During their fights journalists are not spared’ – on accusations that the authority and opposition refer to each other. Although they claim they do not wage the media war, the situation is a little bit different. “The SNSD is not in the media war as the parties in power claim. The opposition just clearly indicates on the authority’s failures,” Nebojsa Radmanovic, President of the SNSD Executive Board, said. According to him, the government has done nothing in its first 100 days ‘which indicates there is no way out of the crisis’. Radmanovic says that the RS bodies, especially Interior Ministry, are not ready to speak about the organised crime, but instead attack the opposition, journalists, etc. “Interior Minister Zoran Djeric either does not do his job or is trying to protect someone. There is no third option, which indicates he has to be replaced,” Radmanovic says. SDS Spokesman, Dusan Stojicic, says the SDS is not in the media war and that the SDS speaks with close reasoning. “As the biggest and strongest party we have an obligation to call people and events by their name,” Stojicic says, adding that political parties should say their opinions and criticisms publicly ‘but within the realistic limits’. “It is not true that competent bodies, that is the Interior Ministry, refuse to face organised crime,” Stojicic said, adding that many criminal charges had been pressed. PDP Spokesman Igor Crnadak rejects the opposition’s accusations saying that a part of opposition misuses the fight against organised crime in order to gain political scores. According to Crnadak, that creates an ugly image of chaos with the aim to paralysing the work of institutions. He adds that the fight against the organised crime is the PDP priority. Vice-President of the DNS, Jovan Mitrovic, thinks that the SDS’s statements that the opposition wants to create chaos in the country are ridiculous because the ruling parties have already created chaotic situation in the economy sphere in order to satisfy their personal interests. “This is a small country and it is well known that the authority is connected with organised crime,” Mitrovic says. |
| Helsinki Committee poll | Blic pg. 7 ‘They do not know about flag’ – every third BiH citizen would move out of BiH if given a chance, according to a poll conducted in 15 Bosnia-Hercegovina cities on almost 6,000 persons. The poll conducted by the Helsinki Parliament from Banja Luka shows that some 36 % of the polled persons do not see BiH as a democratic state, 42 % said that BiH was ‘partly democratic’, while only 11 % saw it as a democratic country. More than 55 % said they had a negative opinion about the entity governments, while more than 50 % had negative opinions about the Council of Ministers. One third of citizens do not know what the BiH flag looks like. |
| Anniversary of BiH admission to the CoE | Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Building of the rule of law and strengthening of economy’ – with regard to the first anniversary of the BiH admission to the Council of Europe, OHR stated that this was a very important step for this country on the way towards European integration. According to the OHR, now BiH should focus on the reforms that will build rule of law and strong economy and these are also the goals of the IC. |
| DL on HDZ | With regard to the 8th HDZ Convention, Dnevni List on pg. 1 and 7 by Ivica Glibusic carries that the support of IC representatives to a liberal fraction of the HDZ has resulted in the adjusting of a HDZ policy to the guidelines that the IC gave. According to a DL source, nothing will change during the coming Convention, Barisa Colak will be elected the HDZ President, while Dragan Covic and Ivan Bender will be elected vice presidents in spite of the fact that legal procedure has been instituted against Bender and criminal charges were filed against Covic. The same source announced that the 8TH HDZ Convention would be very important for the positions on the next elections. The author says that the future of the Croat people and HDZ is in the cooperation with the IC and realistic viewing of problems within the Federation so that Croats will have positions in all joint institutions. “Running away from the establishing of joint institutions in all segments, which have been envisaged by law and which do not endanger national interest, has resulted in the situation that Croats are not present in some institutions at all thanks to whims of incapable politicians who did not have at all a vision of Croat people’s future on the BiH territory,” concluded the author. |
| Brcko District | Glas Srpski pg. 2, Nezavisne Novine pg. 6, Dnevni List pg. 8 – yesterday, at OHR Brcko regular press conference, Brcko Supervisor, Henry Clarke, stated that a public discussion on the Draft Electoral Law of Brcko District would be ready before the summer. Supervisor Clarke also spoke about the reorganization of the government, by which more efficient work of the government’s departments would be enabled. As he stated, the selection of a candidate for the position of the Head of the Public Works Department would be conducted during this week. According to Clarke, other heads of departments will be appointed in a way similar to previous appointments, and they will intend to select the best managers, meaning people with the best qualifications. |
Economic Affairs | |
| HPT Mostar
| Avaz pg. 8 ‘If Eronet gets the third GSM licence, the destiny of 2,000 employees will be uncertain’ – the Independent Union of HPT Mostar employees sent an open letter to the Bih presidency, CoM, Federation president and government, OHR and CRA. The letter reads that after the recent ‘suspicious’ assessment of the value of the third GSM licence and an announcement that the same would be issued to the ‘Eronet’, employees at the HT and HP in Mostar feel abandoned and scared. “If they realize everything and implement illegal, suspicious and robbery-like intentions related to the third GSM network and ‘Eronet’ case’, then the destiny of 2,000 employees and four times the number of their family members would become rather uncertain. We therefore gave support to attempts by the HT Mostar management to try and get ‘Eronet’ back within the ownership structure of the HT Mostar.” Dnevni List pg. 2 ‘8000 people remain without basic living conditions’ – the Trade Union demands a reply from the aforementioned institutions and they announced that they would use all legal means in further struggle in order to protect rights of the workers. |
| Eronet | Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Eronet is legalized, but not as a third operator’ – Adnan Terzic, CoM Chair, stated the work of the ‘Eronet’ has been legalized a long ago, but the situation could only remain until the election of the third GSM operator. “Eronet was legalized quietly a long time ago, but only in a small part of BiH. This company is hoping to work in the entire state, but such approval could only be granted by the CoM.” Added they still expected position of the Ministry for Communication and Traffic, and then the CoM will declare who would get the third GSM licence. |
Police Affairs | |
| Joint intelligence | Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 1 and 13 – a source close to the OHR said the Federation Intelligence Service (FOSS) could be soon dismantled in light of the troubles the FOSS had been facing lately. According to SD, recent statements by SDA and HDZ leaders that BiH should have a state level intelligence made things even more complicated. “Does that mean they do not need FOSS any more?” wonders the author. In light of this, the daily wonders if the IC in BiH is going to abolish the entity intelligence services and goes on to say that that its source confirmed that this new, state level intelligence service, could in fact be the already established SIPA. The source from the OHR told SD that a working group, led by American experts, had been working for months on amendments to the Law on SIPA in order to extend the authority of this service. In a nutshell, according to SD, the future SIPA would have similar authorities and obligations as the American FBI. The same paper on pg. 13 entitled ‘The Republic of Srpska seen through the plan’ – reads the RS politicians have seen through the above mentioned plan regarding the role of the SIPA so they decided to install Sredoje Novic at the SIPA pinnacle in order to obstruct the work of the SIPA. SD’s conclusion is that the OHR, due to the reasons presented in the article(s), will be the one that is going to be instrumental when it comes to the establishment of the future intelligence service at the state level in BiH. |