Latest radio news broadcast at 12.00 on 27 May
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (12,00 hrs) |
| NATO raids houses at Pale |
| No Mladic at Ustipraca |
| Bukejlovic on cooperation with ICTY |
TV news broadcast on 26 May
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| Church holiday | NATO search in Pale | HR on OHR’s authorities |
| Jovic visits Plehano and B.Brod | Humphreys on police reform | Karadzic’s family property searched |
| CoM session postponed | BiH-Montenegrin protocol | BiH/Montenegro agreement |
| NATO search in Pale | OHR on economic reforms in BiH | New draft Law on high education |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| BiH CoM session postponed | Domestic violence in BiH | Humphreys on police reform |
| 4th SDA Congress starts | Suicide in Mostar | NATO search in Pale |
| 4th SDA Congress ongoing | War criminal arrested in | Trial of Purisic and Bojic |
| NATO search in Pale | Karadzic’s family property searched | Trial of Maktouf |
| Oslobodjenje | Ashdown’s last strike against the dead! |
| Dnevni Avaz | Tihic: With strong SDA, the State of |
| Dnevni List | We are eating GMO food |
| Vecernji List | 30 war medals of BiH Army to mujahiddins |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | My husband killed himself because they blackmailed us demanding 3000 KM |
| Glas Srpske | Our children are hungry! |
| Nezavisne Novine | Cengic criticized Tihic |
| Blic | Apartment of Karadzic’s son was searched as well! |
| Vecernje Novosti | Features |
| Srpski Nacional | Features |
LATEST NEWS OF TODAY | |
| NATO on raids at Pale
| RHB – NATO spokesman in BiH Derek Chappel told FENA news agency that the raids into houses of the Karadzic family in Pale from previous two days were successful. Chappel says that vast quantities of materials that had been seized, will be investigated into starting today, believing that information will give a better insight into movements of Radovan Karadzic and his support network. |
Political Developments/Reforms | |
| Fourth SDA Congress held in
| Dnevni Avaz pg 2 Sulejman Tihic re-elected President’, Oslobodjenje pg 7, mentioned on cover ‘Tihic remains SDA leader’, FENA – Sulejman Tihic was re-elected President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) at the 4th Congress of the Party held in Sarajevo on Thursday as Adnan Terzic was elected his deputy. In the elections for the SDA president, Tihic won 360 votes, as his counter-candidate Elmir Jahic won 223. Terzic with 424 votes defeated his counter-candidate for the Party’s deputy president Sanjin Halimovic, who won 149 votes. The five newly-elected SDA vice-presidents include Bakir Izetbegovic, who won most of the votes among the 11 candidates – 477, than Sefik Dzaferovic with 361 votes, Sead Jamakosmanovic with 269 votes, Adil Osmanovic with 232 and Ibrahim Nadarevic with 219. In his address to the delegates following the announcement of the results, Tihic said the 4th SDA Congress had demonstrated powerful unity and strength. Tihic believes that this day marks the victory of the Party and its European and BiH orientation. The Congress also elected 80 members of the SDA Main Board. In the course of the day, the Congress unanimously adopted the report on the SDA work between the two congresses as well as the program declaration and a separate statement on situation in Stolac claiming that the Bosniaks in this town are fighting for survival. The Chair of the Congress, Sulejman Tihic, said that problems were defined in these documents, which must be removed in order for the Party to function in full capacity. Speaking about the Program Declaration, Tihic said that it was result of work of all bodies of the Party and that the proposed text was largely harmonized. The resolutions on economic matters, human rights, democratization and political system matters were also adopted unanimously. The Statute of the BiH Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was also adopted on Thursday at the 4th Congress of the Party with only one vote against. The SDA General Secretary, Sefik Dzaferovic, said that the new Statute did not contain any significant changes in comparison to the current organization of the Party. However, there are several changes – the Party will have five instead of four vice-presidents, and 19 members of the Presidency, instead of 17. RHB, BHT, Hayat, FTV, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Tihic: Status of republic should be given back to state’ by M. Zorlak, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 8 ‘SDA should distance itself from nationalistic parties’ by H, Nezavisne Novine cover pg splash and pg 3 ‘Cengic criticized Tihic’ by A. Sisic, Glas Srpske pg 5, announced on cover ‘Bosniaks want a republic’ by E. G. S. also reported on the event. |
| SDA leader Tihic: OHR still necessary
| Dnevni Avaz cover page ‘Tihic: With strong SDA, the State of BiH is strong as well’, pg 2 ‘Tihic: We want to become a part of Euro-Atlantic integrations’, Oslobodjenje pg 7, mentioned on cover ‘Tihic remains SDA leader’, FENA – Party of Democratic Action (SDA) President Sulejman Tihic addressed delegates at the 4th SDA Congress that took place in Sarajevo on Thursday. He talked about the work of the party since the 3rd Congress, held 3 years and 7 months ago, and the draft Program Declaration that was adopted by the delegates afterwards. The death of Alija Izetbegovic was one of the defining moments for the party, but we have preserved our unity, achieved a victory at the local elections in 2004 and preserved the position of the strongest party, Tihic said. SDA is the leading party in implementing reforms on the road towards Euro-Atlantic structures, he added. The Program Declaration has 13 chapters concerning the most important issues and detailed answers on the political position of SDA as a Bosnian national party at the political centre that will work for a BiH republic as a civic, decentralised state with three levels of authority – local regional and state level, Tihic said. “Besides Bosniaks we also wish to see members of other peoples in the party and even more strongly distance ourselves from the nationalistic parties and emphasize the statehood character of SDA”, Tihic said. He said that SDA accepts European and democratic standards, but that it also wishes to preserve the tradition, culture and BiH identity and uphold the ideas of antifascism, as well as to oppose all forms of discrimination. The Party of Democratic Action will work on the establishment of trust and the establishment of truth on the character of the latest war, and it will remain committed to finding missing persons and bringing war criminals to justice. According to Tihic SDA will work on defining and directing economic development from the state level within five economically sustainable regions. He said that the institutional presence of the international community in the shape of OHR is still necessary and useful, while constitutional changes need to create conditions for a gradual transfer of authority to domestic institutions. |
| HR Ashdown announces transfer of authorities onto domestic institutions
| BHT, Dnevni Avaz, pg 4 ‘Plan of transfer of authorities from OHR onto domestic institutions on Tuesday’, not signed – Avaz reports that the BTH1 reported last night that the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown’s, plan on transfer of authorities from the OHR onto the domestic institutions would be revealed on Tuesday, May 31. BHT1 reported that Ashdown stated last night that it would be one of his fundamental pre-occupations until the end of his mandate. It is said it would be a test for the BiH authorities until a new EU special representative has arrived, who will not have the authorities of the current HR. Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Plan to transfer OHR powers to BiH authorities’, Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘He is renouncing his authorities’ by Srna also covered the issue. |
| Oslobodjenje on work of High Representatives
| Oslobodjenje, pg 9 ‘All of our Paddys’, by Hamza Baksic – Carries an op-ed in which the author speaks about the work of all High Representatives that worked in BiH. The author argues that Carl Bildt was the “biggest miss” of the IC, who did not have the (necessary) skills, that Carlos Westendorp managed to make up what Bildt managed to spoil, however his mandate was marked with too many removals i.e. removal of consequences, not causes, that Wolfgang Petritsch’s decision on constituent status of peoples was historic, which is a basis for re-integration of BiH. Finally, when speaking about the current HR, Paddy Ashdown, Baksic says he was unlucky that national parties came to power when he arrived. In that context, Baksic says HR Ashdown’s statement on “reformed nationalists” was like a blank check, which was abused by the national parties. Moreover, Baksic says the current HR’s problem is the same problem of the IC from past periods, namely, problems have amassed, which resulted in lack of jobs, problems with visa regimes, an atmosphere that is discouraging in general. |
| RS politicians’ comments on three years of HR’s mandate
| EuroBlic pg RS2-RS3, announced on cover ‘Democracy under strict control’ by Rajna Radosavljevic and Nedeljka Breberina – RS NA Chairman Dusan Stojicic (SDS) thinks in past three years HR Paddy Ashdown has mainly used authorities that were not in accordance with needs of BiH and democratic standards. BiH Minister for Foreign Affairs Mladen Ivanic (PDP) says Ashdown arrived to BiH full of ambitions and enthusiasm and had achieved some results that cannot be denied, however ‘I thinks Paddy Ashdown stayed in BiH too long and lost his impartiality, i.e. he got too close with some politicians’. Deputy RS President Adil Osmanovic (SDA) says most of Ashdown’s moves contributed to accession of BiH to European integrations. Economic analyst Dragoljub Stojanov does not compliment reform processes Ashdown had implemented, since the unemployment rate is still very high and corruption issue has not been resolved. A professor at Banja Luka Faculty of Laws Petar Kunic has assessed that the HR has too much of ‘colonial spirit’ and ‘his authorities were disputable’. The Chairman of the Center for International Relations from Banja Luka, Milos Solaja, believes the mandate of Paddy Ashdown would be followed with many controversial assessments and, at the end, no side in BiH would be satisfied with what he had done in three years of his mandate. Inset ‘Topic: remarkable, yet arrogant’ quotes political analyst Tanja Topic as saying: ‘If we compare Ashdown with his predecessors, he will surely remain one of the most remarkable High Representatives and will be remembered by his arrogance and drastic moves he had made’. Inset ‘Political trades in removals’ quotes sociologist Slavo Kukic as saying: ‘If we had tried to give an assessment of everything Paddy Ashdown had done in the past three years, then it could be summarized in only one word – horror. Instead of working on at least partial integration of the country and lessening of tensions – he had maintained tensions, contributed to blockade of the situation and, after three years, BiH is in worse situation than it was at the time he came here’. |
| HR stated that negative decision of RS National Assembly members regarding police reform will endanger the reputation of RS and entire BIH
| RTRS Report by Sanja Stankovic – HR Paddy Ashdown stated that negative decision of RS National Assembly members regarding police reform will endanger the reputation of RS and entire BIH. He stated that according to the reform police will be managed locally and not from |
| Humphreys on police reform: EU will not give up on its principles
| Pink, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz, pg 5 ‘EU principles do not undermine rule of law in any case’, not signed, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘EU will not give up from police reform’ by Srna, Glas Srpske pg 5 ‘No giving up’ by Srna – The Head of EC delegation to BiH, Michael Humphreys, told SRNA agency yesterday that the EU would not abandon the principles regarding the police reform, hoping that the RS NA would adopt the principles on May 30. Humphreys did not want to comment on the statement by the RS President, Dragan Cavic, who said the abolishment of the RS police would mean the abolishment of the rule of law in the RS. Humphreys says the EU principles are clear because they underline the rule of law, since they do not undermine the rule of law in any case. |
| NN int with Martens on police reform
| Nezavisne novine pg 5, announced on cover ‘Rejection of police reform would be a disaster for BiH’ by M. Cubro – In an interview to NN, Chairman of Police Reform Commission Wilfred Martens has stated member countries of EU have implemented police reform in their countries, therefore BiH is requested to do the same. He added that RS authorities should not be afraid that this entity would disappear through this process. Martens also said he expected from RS NA to grant a clear mandate to leaders of parties to negotiated on police reform agreement based on conclusions listed in PRC report. According to Martens it would be a disaster if RS NA fails to allow RS politicians to discuss police regions that would cross inter-entity boundary lines. Asked whether police reform in BiH would foresee a change of BiH Constitution, Martens said that the clear definition of the implementation of police reform reads that the budget and legislation should be defined at BiH level. ‘There are two ways to achieve this. First is the adoption of amendments to BiH Constitution, which is an easier, faster and the most simple way…A longer and harder way foresees a change of BiH Constitution’, Martens said. |
| SDS’ Sarovic on police reform: Proposed police reform is return to pre-war BiH
| Slobodna Bosna pgs 36 – 39 ‘Proposed police reform is return to pre-war BiH; Eastern part of RS was destroyed by wrong SDS policy’ by M. Dedic carries an interview with former BiH Presidency member Mirko Sarovic. Asked whether the police reform should be implemented and in which way, Sarovic says: ‘Of course I believe that the police reform should be implemented, however, first of all, within the standards and within its optimal and functional coordination.’ Sarovic also said that in his personal opinion, the police reform in the offered model is actually changing of the Dayton Peace Accord. He added that according to all indication there is no readiness in the RS for changing of the DPA and he wonders as to why such stand could not be called democratic, legitimate and legal stand. |
| CoM postpones making decision on SIPA Director appointment | Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Agreement on SIPA Director next week’ by M. Karacic – The session of the BiH council of Ministers, which was supposed to take place on Thursday, was postponed. According to DL unofficial information the reason for postponement is that BiH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic pays visit to |
| HDZ Stolac reaction to SDA Stolac press release
| Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘Making situation in Stolac even more difficult through plots’, by vle – The HDZ of Stolac came out with a press release reacting to a press release of the SDA Stolac, which claimed that the policy of HDZ Stolac was “fatal for other two constituent peoples”. HDZ Stolac believes that the key problem in Stolac is that individuals from SDA are influenced by certain groups that want to benefit from the situation. HDZ reckons the SDA must rely on its own forces and be more considerate in solving misunderstandings. |
| SD commentary on last mtg of Croat parties
| Slobodna Dalmacija pg 17 ‘Outwitting regarding ‘Croat Forum’ ‘ by B. Magas carries a commentary on the last meeting of Croat political parties, which took place in Sarajevo a few days ago in organization of Croat Cultural Society ‘Napredak’. The author says that according to their information this meeting was completely useless since participants did not discuss a single serious issue. According to SD, they spent the evening in outwitting whether some institution, which should gather them, should be established or not. The author concludes that the only result of the meeting was the decision to organize the meeting of Croat parties on constitutional changes on |
War Crimes/Organized Crime | |
| NATO raided into homes of Karadzic’s son, daughter
| RHB, Pink, BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘NATO raided flats of Sasa and Sonja Karadzic’, mentioned on cover ‘NATO raided home of Sasa Karadzic’, Oslobodjenje pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Flats of Sasa and Sonja Karadzic were being raided’, Dnevni List pg 7 ‘Flats of Sasa and Sonja Karadzic searched’ by A. Beus, Vecernji List pg 3 ‘Forensics look for Karadzic’s traces’, mentioned on cover ‘Forensics were looking for Karadzic’ by B. Stevandic, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 ‘Flat of Karadzic’s son in Pale searched’ by A. Macanovic, EuroBlic cover pg splash ‘Apartment of Karadzic’s sone was searched as well!’ and pg RS4 ‘They are taking away and they will again return it back’ by D. Stanisic, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘Son of Radovan Karadzic was interrogated for four and a half hours’, announced on cover ‘Son of Radovan Karadzic was interrogated for several hours’ by D. Muminovic, ONASA – NATO soldiers on Thursday raided the home of the son of top Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, who is still at large 10 years after Balkan country’s 1992-1995 conflict. NATO spokesman Derek Chappel said Sasa Karadzic had been questioned after troops searched his flat in his father’s wartime stronghold of Pale, 20 kilometres east of |
| Oslobodjenje: Law on territorial jurisdiction to hinder exhumations
| Oslobodjenje, front pg splash and pgs 4-5 ‘Ashdown’s last strike against the dead!’, by Edina Kamenica – According to the author, the Law on territorial jurisdiction means, among other issues, that exhumations on the territory of an entity can only be performed by that entity’s competent institutions. According the author, “the mindless knockout” comes from the current OHR. Oslobodjenje also carries a vice president of the FBiH Commission for missing persons, Marko Jurisic, who says this would mean the exhumations of the Srebrenica victims can only be performed by the Bijeljina prosecution, not the prosecution that is doing it now, namely the |
|
| Pink, BHT, Hayat, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘BiH Prosecutors will be allowed to conduct investigations in Montenegro,’ Dnevni Avaz pg 13, Dnevni List pg 4 ‘BiH Prosecutors will be able to conduct investigations in Montenegro’ by E. Mackic, Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘Investigations in the territory of other state’ by R. Cengic, FENA – BiH Chief Prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic and Supreme State Prosecutor of Montenegro Vesna Medenica signed in Sarajevo on Thursday the Protocol on cooperation in fighting all forms of organized crime. The Protocol will make possible direct cooperation between prosecutors at all levels in BiH with prosecutors at all levels in Montenegro in conducting investigations related to organized crime inlcluding trafficking of drugs, people, weapons, money laundering, international terrorism and war crimes. “Based on this Protocol Montenegrin prosecutors, if they have ongoing cases in Montenegro and evidence in BiH, will be able to successfully investigate cases in BiH and prosecutors at all levels in BiH will be able to conduct investigations in Montenegro”, Jurcevic said. This was described as a significant step forward that will allow prosecutors to communicate faster and successfully fight all forms of crime. The BiH Prosecutor’s Office has already signed such a protocol with |
| Witness in Maktouf case: Izetbegovic praised ‘El Mujahid’ unit
| BHT, RTRS, Vecernji List cover pg splash ‘30 war medals of BiH Army to mujahiddins’ and pg 3 ‘Izetbegovic praised ‘El Mujahid’ unit’ by vr – During the trial against Abdulahim Maktouf charged with the war crime, former member of ‘El Mujahid’ unit Avad Ajman testified. |
| US Congress to adopt Resolution on Srebrenica
| Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘American Congress soon to adopt a resolution on Srebrenica’ by VOA – US Congress should, latest by July 11, adopt a resolution by which it would condemn violation of human rights in Srebrenica. According to congressman Rush Carnahan (a democrat), the resolution reads it is important to find those responsible for crimes in Srebrenica in order to prevent something like this from happening again. |
Economic/Social Issues | |
| DL: ‘BiH citizens eat genetically modified food’
| Dnevni List cover pg splash ‘We are eating GMO food’ and pg 9 ‘BiH citizens eat genetically modified food’ by A. Vrebac carries an article about genetically modified food. Asked whether this kind of food is being imported and consumed in BiH President of the BiH Foreign Trade Chamber Petar Milanovic stated that it is hard to answer this question since BiH does not keep records on this issue. He also said that genetically modified food is not banned in BiH. |
| Update on demobilized HVO solder who burnt himself in Mostar because of unresolved housing issue
| Slobodna Dalmacija pg 10 ‘My husband burnt himself because they blackmailed us demanding 3000 KM’ by E. Karamatic carries a story on the case of Ante Coric, a demobilized HVO solder who burnt himself 2 days ago in Mostar (see yesterday’s OHR’s Media Round-up). SD says that Coric’s family received a formal decision of Soko company (whose disputable flat was) that they can live in this flat after the Soko employee who had been given this flat before them died. The article says that the municipal services reacted demanding eviction of the Coric’s family since according to their knowledge the Soko employee who died was not in possession of the flat. Coric’s wife claims that her family was told a few times that they should pay 3000 KM in order to resolve their housing problems. |
| Miljevina Coal Mine workers demand from RS Govt to privatize the mine
| Glas Srpske cover pg splash ‘Our Children are hungry!’ by D. Todorovic – Approximately 150 workers of Miljevina coal mine have attended a meeting of the Trade Union organization, at which they have agreed to demand from RS Government to urgently find a strategic partner for privatization of the mine. Coal reserves of the mine are estimated to more than 50 million tons, however the production has ceased a long time ago. |
| NN op-ed critical of RS and FBiH Trade Unions
| Nezavisne Novine op-ed pg 7 ‘Trade Union for history’ by Natasa Krsman – the author refers to a statement Chairman of F BiH Trade Union Edhem Biber gave two days ago, on the occasion of establishing of BiH Confederation of Trade Unions, when he expressed his support to reforms but not on the expense of workers. The author notes Biber and his RS counterpart Cedo Volas should first consider reforms within the institutions they lead before dealing with state and political matters. |
Education | |
| New proposal of law on higher education
| Pink, BHT, RTRS, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘Stands of Croat representatives respected’ by E. Mackic – Representative in the BiH House of Representatives Momcilo Novakovic and Representative in the BiH House of Peoples Bosko Siljegovic submitted to both Houses a proposal of the law on higher education and they forwarded it for the discussion in a shortened procedure. Novakovic stated the proposal of the law envisages forming of the agency for education at the BiH level and apart from this agency competent bodies in charge of education would be entity Ministries of Education, Cantonal Ministries of Education and the department for education in the Brcko District. Novakovic added: ‘In this way we would try to avoid an objection coming from the Croat Caucus and higher education would remain at the Cantonal level. According to the previous model, the Cantonal level should have been abolished and this caused dissatisfaction.’ Sarajevo dailies, Glas srpske pg 5 ‘In accordance with everyone’s will’ by Srna also covered the issue. |