Latest radio news broadcast at 12.00 on 28 November
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (12,00 hrs) | BH Radio 1(12,00 hrs) |
| HR on rehabilitation [today’s press] | Zvronik war crimes trials in |
| PDP goes into opposition | Trial of Sadam Hussein continues |
| Elections in | Weather |
TV news broadcast on 27 November
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| Komarica on school centre in Livno | OHR on moving FBiH ministries | Three children buried in Janja |
| Ney’s letter to Hadzipasic | OHR on State property | OHR: 5 ministries to be moved to Mo |
| | VAT impact on municipalities | Storms caused power failures |
| Jurcevic on war crime cases | Integration of related faculties | Troubles with weather in |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| Bad weather caused damage in USK | War crimes suspects in Brcko District | Funeral of 3 children killed in fire |
| Storm caused power failures | Increase of utilities price in | 2 drug trafficking arrests |
| Troubles with weather in | OHR on moving FBiH ministries | Bad weather problems in Pale |
| Meeting on gender equality | OHR on State property | RS urbanism plan |
| Oslobodjenje | Five ministries should immediately be moved to Mostar |
| Dnevni Avaz | Ashdown’s important test for BiH authorities |
| Dnevni List | HT Mostar getting mass cancellations?! (article about collection of RTV tax) |
| Vecernji List | I am cancelling sanctions to removed politicians (interview with HR Ashdown) |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features |
| Nezavisne Novine | 90 removed persons will be rehabilitated |
| Glas Srpske | Roofs and trees were swept off [report on a bad weather in south-western RS] |
| EuroBlic | Furnace set hut on fire, three children died in fire |
| Vecernje novosti | Features |
| Oslobodjenje | Five ministries should immediately be moved to Mostar |
LATEST NEWS OF TODAY | |
| Trail of Zvornik group for war crimes commences in | BH Radio 1 by Slavisa Numic – The War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court has launched a trial against 7 members of ‘Yellow Wasps” group suspected of committing war crimes in Zvornik region. The group has been charged with murder of at least 22 and expulsion of over 1800 Bosniaks civilians from the municipality in 1992. |
| BiH HoP in session
| BH Radio 1 by Mustafa Karahmet – BiH House of Peoples have commenced the session this morning which will mainly discuss the set of the fiscal laws necessary for implementation of the VAT. The delegates will in first reading consider the draft law on procedure of indirect taxation, draft law on forcible collection of indirect taxes and law on customs offences. |
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Political issues | |
| SDHR Ney urges FBiH authorities to immediately move 5 ministries to Mostar
| PINK, BHT1, PINK, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje cover splash, pg 3 ‘Five ministries should immediately be moved to Mostar’, Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Move to Mostar, or leave Government’, not signed, Vecernji List, pg 4 ‘OHR warns it will move five ministries on its own’, by Eldina Medunjanin, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Seats of five ministries must be in Mostar’ by S. Gojkovic – The Senior Deputy High Representative, Martin Ney, sent a letter to the FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic stating that the FBiH Government must fulfill, without further delay, “its long standing constitutional obligation” to move five ministries to Mostar. “If the situation remains unchanged and the constitutional requirements are not respected, the High Representative may consider any appropriate action to complete this process before the end of the year,” warned Ney. The five ministries are: Trade and Tourism; Development, Entrepreneurship and Craft; Transport and Communication; Energy, Mining and Industry; and Education and Science Ministry. In his letter, Ney reminds the Prime Minister of his earlier commitment that he will invite any minister who is unwilling to implement the relocation to leave his Government. The Government Commission charged with organizing the move has already rented appropriate office space in Mostar, but responsibility for the move itself rests with individual Ministers. |
| Pasic: We’ll move as soon as conditions for that are met
| Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Pasic: We’ll move to Mostar as soon as conditions are met’ by A. Dedajic – SDHR’s letter also reads that the Ministries of Trade and Development have each completed the move. The Ministry of Transport has only three staff members still based in |
| DL on Ney’s letter to Hadzipasic: Will HR make another forcible decision?
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘No agreement!’, by Arijana Beus – Commenting on the SDHR Martin Ney’s letter, Beus wonders whether the issue will be wrapped up by another forcible decision (by the High Representative), and the author goes on to say that it would not be a surprise since it is the HR who is deciding about majority of issues. Beus also notes that the issue of constitutional changes cannot be solved by domestic forces solely, expecting an outside intervention i.e. that the Americans will decide about the changes. |
| OHR calls on State property Comm. to exempt property in
| PINK, Hayat, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Property in East Ilidzia to be exempted from Ashdown’s decision’, mentioned on cover, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Allow construction of BiH Court’s detention unit in Kasindol’, Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Help construction of state Court detention’, not signed, Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘Help in construction of BiH Court’s detention unit’, by F– OHR expects the State Property Commission to grant the exemption for property in East Ilidzia from the HR’s temporary prohibition of the disposal of BiH state propertyso that work can begin on building a detention facility for the Court of BiH. The request for the exemption was filed by the the BiH Justice Ministry and will be discussed at the session the Commission is to hold today [Monday]. This week, the Commission is also expected to develop general criteria for the identification and distribution of state property among BiH, the Entities, and Brcko. This State Property Commission will, during the coming weeks, draft legislation that will reflect the foundation for an inter-governmental agreement on the division of this property, and provide a mechanism for resolving transfers that are judged to undermine the interests of the State. OHR calls upon all commission members to ensure that the swiftest possible solution to these issues is found. |
| Ivanic to demand from PDP cause to be opposition in RSNA
| RTRS by Momcilo Ostojic – Following the PDP conference on Sunday in |
| Cavic: It is time to get rid of political parasites from PDP
| ATV, Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ‘It is time to get rid of political parasites from PDP’ – |
| HR to rehabilitate 90 persons
| Nezavisne Novine cover pg splash ’90 removed persons will be rehabilitated’ and pg 3 ‘Rehabilitation of 90 removed persons today’ by D. Risojevic – HR Paddy Ashdown told NN he would today (Monday) rehabilitate most of persons he had removed except for the highest raking persons and those who had been removed from their positions over obstructions of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. ‘The decision, with certain restrictions, includes approximately 90 officials’, HR Ashdown stated. He added all rehabilitated persons would be allowed to file their applications for posts at public services with certain restrictions – officials removed over obstructions in cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will not be in the position to apply for jobs at public services and will be able to do so only after Karadzic and Mladic are arrested. HR said he had decided to reach such a decision in light with the EU decision to launch |
| VL analysis on removal of officials in BiH
| Vecernji List, pgs 2-3 ‘Serbs punished because of The Hague, Croats because of ‘self-rule’, by Dejan Jazvic – carries an analysis in which the author says that when it comes to politicians/officials who have been removed by the High Representatives, majority of them come from the line of the Serb people, mostly because of obstruction of implementation of DPA and support to war crimes suspects, that Croats were second in number of removed officials (mostly because of implementation of property laws and ‘Croat self-rule’ case) and that Bosniak officials were mostly removed because of obstruction of implementation of property laws. |
| Covic and Martens to meet on Monday; HDZ spokesman says HDZ refuses to deal with issue of HDZ Convention
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Covic and Martens about Convention today’, by Ivana Rozic – Commenting on today’s (Monday) meeting between the HDZ President, Dragan Covic, and European People’s Party President (EPP), Wilfried Martens, the HDZ spokesman, Miso Relota, underlines that the whole campaign that is being led regarding the election of HDZ President has one aim: “Namely, the aim is to weaken the negotiating position of the Croat people and HDZ in talks on constitutional reforms”. Relota however notes that the HDZ refuses to deal with the issue of HDZ Convention any more. Vecernji List, pg 4 ‘Covic and Martens for better cooperation’, by Vlatko Ivankovic – announces the Covic-Martens meeting and learns that the EPP’s delegation will also meet with Bozo Ljubic, Josip Merdzo and Martin Raguz, who were recently expelled from the HDZ. (NB:article in VL defends the ‘legally elected HDZ BiH leadership’) |
| UNDP Early Warning System: SNSD enjoys biggest support in BiH
| Oslobodjenje, pg 2 ‘Dodik’s SNSD enjoys biggest support in BiH’, by Fena, Dnevni Avaz, pg 5 ‘SNSD would win most votes at state level at this moment’, by Fena – According to results of an opinion poll conducted in November for the needs of the UNDP’s Early Warning System, if elections were held today, it is the SNSD that would win most votes at level of BiH, some 10%. They are followed by the SDA (9,1%), |
| Novakovic: removal of Minister Pecelj additionally complicated situation at ES Faculty of Laws | Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Lukic holds keys’ by N. Zelenovic – Head of University of East Sarajevo Mitar Novakovic warned that the removal of the RS Minister of Education, Milovan Pecelj, had additionally complicated the situation at the Faculty of Laws of East Sarajevo. He added that neither the Faculty nor University were in the position to remove professor Radomir Lukic and said Lukic must understand this situation and he must understand everything depends on him, otherwise RS authorities ‘will have to use some kind of a force’. Professor Lukic refused to comment on his situation and he refused to confirm whether he still teaches students at the Faculty. |
War crimes | |
| Simic: If Mladic not arrested by 15 Dec,
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| Andan: There are good operative information about Karadzic and Mladic
| Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Republika Srpska MoI has information on Karadzic and Mladic’, not signed– RS Police Director, Dragomir Andan, told the press at the opening of the ‘Balkans as western gate of terrorism and new anti-terrorist technologies’ gathering that is taking place in Belgrade that ‘there were good operative information about ICTY indictees Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic’ and that ‘one should expect some results in the future’. Andan did not go into details, however he noted that police forces of the RS and |
| Brcko Association of missing Bosniaks claims names people allegedly involved in war crimes, still working in public institutions
| HayatAsim Beslija – Association of families of missing Bosniaks from Brcko District presents the list carrying names of persons who work in District’s public institutions who apparently have information about missing persons and are involved in the war crimes. About 500 persons are still regarded missing in the Brcko District. Dragan Bozic works for the OHR’s office in Brcko, and according to Hayat, the ICTY has issued an “A” mark from him, meaning he is suspected for involvement in war crimes. According to witnesses, Djordje Ristanic was head of crisis headquarters in Brcko and among first who called on division of Brcko. Today, he works for “Ital project”, company involved in large projects like |
| Jurcevic: | |
Constitutional changes | |
| ATV int. w/ Cavic
| ATV ‘Nedjeljne vijesti’ by Dragan Stegic – Commenting the initiatives to change the name of the Republika Srpska, RS President Dragan Cavic stated in an interview for ATV that there are no legal or constitutional arguments for such demand to be realized. Cavic adds that the initiatives all come from Sulejman Tihic and his followers, adding Tihic simply cannot accept the reality of |
| DA int. w/
| Dnevni Avaz pg 5, announced on cover ‘It is time to abolish entity organization of BiH’ by Sead Numanovic – carries an interview with former candidate for US President and former Commander of NATO troops for Europe Wesley Clarke who, inter alia, stated it is time to abolish entities, three armies, three members of BiH Presidency and he says election system must be changed so that voters vote for representatives of their election units, not for representatives of parties. |
| VN int w/ Hays: it is up to BiH peoples to decide how many entities there will be in future
| Vecernje Novosti pg 2 ‘Only consent preserves a country’ by Dubravka Savic – carries an interview with Donald Hays, in which he commented on the most recent talks on constitutional changes. Asked whether it was acceptable to have entities in BiH in future, Hays said he thinks a level must exist between municipalities and the state and he added: ‘I cannot specify how many entities there will be in the future – three, four, five…it is up to BiH peoples and their elected leaders to decide on this’. |
| Spiric on Tihic initiative: Pre-mature pre-election campaign move
| Dnevni List, pg 7 ‘Tihic endangers constitutional reforms’, by Dario Pusic – commenting on the initiative launched by BiH Presidency member, Sulejman Tihic, (contesting name of RS before BiH Constitutional Court), Deputy Speaker of BiH House of Representatives, Nikola Spiric (SNSD), notes that Tihic, instead of running a policy that would lead to constitutional changes, has made the move that will slow the changes. Furthermore, Spiric reckons it is about a premature pre-election campaign move that will cause negative reactions by the ‘other side’, which gives an alibi to some politicians from the RS not to talk about constitutional changes. |
| Bandur (
| Dnevni List, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘America will take part in further negotiations’, by Arijana Beus – carries an interview with Mate Bandur ( |
| Topcagic: European standards are core of negotiations
| Nezavisne Novine pg 2, announced on cover ‘Topcagic: the core of negotiations is in implementation of European standards’ by M. Cubro – The Head of Directorate for European Integrations, Osman Topcagic, has confirmed that EC will, by the end of the year, forward Draft Agreement on Association and Stabilization to BiH. He stated that domestic authorities still have not adopted a negotiating platform since it is a common practice that EC sends its version of the agreement first, which is later used to develop a platform. |
| Dukic: no const. changes before referendum; Cvjetinovic: if Kosovo become independent, RS should ask for separation from BiH | Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Same for Srpska as for Kosovo’ by S. R. T. – The Chairman of Serb movement of NGOs “Spona”, Branislav Dukic, has stated that the movement will not allow realization of constitutional changes without prior referendum. He added that “Spona” will demand for a special RS NA session to be held at which leaders of political parties would explain what they have signed in Washington. The Chairman of RS Veterans’ Association Savo Cvjetinovic said is Kosovo is granted independence, then RS too should ask to be separated from BiH. |
| DA editorial says const. changes are inevitable | Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Why EU wants a state for its partner’ op-ed by Edina Sarac – Following the confirmation that the constitutional changes are not necessary to lead the talks on the Stabilization and Association Agreement, editorial reads, it was expected that RS parties will resists even stronger to changing of the Dayton agreements. Author adds that while it was expected for Serb parties to strongly support DPA as it has guaranteed the RS, it is also clear that the constitutional changes are to inevitable. “If in this moment Europe says this doesn’t have to happen, that doesn’t mean it would not request so in several months. Regardless of who is the BiH Prime Minister, chief negotiation, chief of diplomacy – whether they are Bosniak, Serb or Croat – for Europe, that person is from BiH. They will not be addressed as the members of the constituent peoples, but as BiH officials representing the state and not the entities or cantons,” concludes the editorial. |
Other issues | |
| HT Mostar’s Prlic: RTV tax via phone bill could destroy HT Mostar
| Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 5 ‘HT Mostar getting mass cancellations?!’, by Tanja Dragic – According to the CEO of HT Mostar (Croat telecommunications Mostar), Stipe Prlic, the collection of RTV tax via phone bills could be causing big damages to the HT Mostar. Prlic fears that the way of collection of the RTV tax could result in mass cancellations by the company’s customers, however Prlic says the laws must be observed. Still, he notes that the HT Mostar will try to find a compromise solution with the RTV service (NB: Prlic does not explain what kind of compromise). (similar article in Vecernji List, pg 50 ‘TV tax will destroy HT Mostar’, by Milan Sutalo) |
| PINK: VAT introduction to jeopardize municipalities as system of transferring collected taxes has not be set up
| PINK by Milka Mrdja – RS Ministry of Finance have spent months working to establish an efficient system of distributing tax incomes from the entity to municipal level. Economists warn that the VAT introduction could bring functionality of municipalities into question, unless an efficient system of transferring the funds from accounts is established. “If we don’t manage to adopt amendments to the law on budgetary system by the end of the year, we will go with back up plan and that is for the RS municipalities to get same funds in 2006 as they did in 2005,” said the RS Finance Ministry’s Spokesperson, Radmila Mihic. In order to establish the system, RS Ministry of Finance needs information from the Indirect Taxation Administration (ITA) on the amount collected in each municipality. The information isn’t available for unknown reasons, comments reporter, adding that situation is even more complicated because funds from the joint account will be distributed in line with the previously defined rate. This way, RS is damaged for 30 and Brcko District for about 5 million KM, reports TV PINK. ITA explains that department for macro-economy analysis is established with a task to create contact with municipalities. |
| SBS Director Dumancic: SBS needs more staff and money
| Vecernji List, pgs 6-7, mentioned on front ‘We are checking records in SBS’, by Valentina Rupcic – carries a 2-page interview with the BiH State Border Service Director, Vinko Dumancic, in which he talks about the situation in the SBS. One of his key claims is that the SBS should be hiring additional 500 employees and that the additional hiring should be covered with extra money to properly equip the agency. |