| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| CoM has not discussed today amendments to the Ploce Harbour Agreement and Neum passage | HR removes Mijat Tuka | Ashdown removes Mijat Tuka | Peace Implementation Council to convene in Brussels tomorrow |
| Croatian veterans’ association protested in support to “Gospic Group” | World news
| In effort to prevent unnecessary expenditures, HR might stop adoption of the FBiH Civil Service Law | High Representative removes NHI delegate Mijat Tuka |
| American and British forces keep moving towards Baghdad | Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic visits Hague | Meeting of the Peace Implementation Council and annual EC report on stabilisation and association | New RS Chief of Staff overtakes duty |
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| Meeting of the Peace Implementation Council | Session of the Federal Government | RS Government adopts strategy for privatisation of power sector |
| Oslobodjenje | FBiH Government adopted draft law on bankruptcy and liquidation: Workers must choose between the job and the salary |
| Dnevni Avaz | SFOR unveiled secret documents in Banja Luka: RS Army had plans for attacks on the Federation |
| Dnevni List | Political pressures surrounding changes to Agreement on Ploce Port; Pulled down crosses and graffiti of support to Saddam appeared in Stolac; High Representative for BiH Paddy Ashdown: BiH Presidency will have to explain “Orao” affair |
| Vecernji List | Cheaper fuel in ten days; Beams planted to HVIDRA? |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Economic forum on connecting Dalmatia and Herzegovina: Co-operation between Croatia and BiH a prerequisite to success; Dragan Covic in interview for “The Washington Times”: Al-Qa’ida’s connections in BiH are threat to Europe |
| Glas Srpski | Leadership of the Srebrenica Battery Factory opposes Ashdown’s decision: Dispensing other people’s property; Serbian MoI: Pacov hid the drugs |
| Nezavisne Novine | What did SFOR discover during the search at the premises of the 410th intelligence centre of the RS Army at RS NA building: RS intelligence officers took part in preparation of assassination of Djindjic?; Sarajevo: Paddy Ashdown removed Mijat Tuka |
| Blic | Mikerevic: Sanctions would mostly affect citizens; Dusan Stojicic: SDS Presidency does not prepare replacement for Sarovic; Bijeljina and Brcko police on offensive against narcotic dealers |
| BH Dani – April 1 | Exclusive: Adnan Terzic in the light of the biggest post-war robbery of BiH through Eronet and third license – I TOLD ASHDOWN THAT HE WAS A CRIMINAL |
| Slobodna Bosna | ‘Shocking discovery by SB about a dangerous conspiracy plan of the Bosniak top: the SDA renewed the Patriot League and is preparing for NEW WAR’ |
International community/OHR | |
| PIC session in Brussels
| Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘A decision on the Orao affair to follow’ – A two-day meeting of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) started on Thursday afternoon. During this two-day meeting the PIC will meet senior International Community, BiH and Entity representatives. Together with the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and his deputies, the PIC will hear from BiH’s highest ranking government executives; the BiH Prime Minister, Adnan Terzic, BiH Minister of Security, Barisa Colak, BiH Minister of Justice, Slobodan Kovac, RS Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic, and FBiH Prime Minister, Ahmet Hadzipasic. They will report on the progress BiH has made in fulfilling the Rule of Law targets agreed between the BiH authorities and the International Community when the PIC met in Sarajevo in September of last year. As part of this same process, the BiH State and Entity Prime Ministers will tomorrow present the latest part of their ‘Agenda for Reform’ – the Public Administration Reform targets. BiH and the RS have made some good progress in this field, civil service laws are in place, and civil service agencies have been established. The PIC will discuss the outcome of investigations into the ‘Orao’ arms-to-Iraq affair and consider what action needs to be taken in the light of it, according to an OHR press release. Avaz learns that late on Thursday Ashdown had an informal dinner with the PIC political directors. They discussed the situation in BiH and the region with the special attention paid to the international community’s activities following the assassination of Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic. The situation in the RS following a series of affairs was also discussed. |
| HR Ashdown on “Orao“ affair
| Dnevni List (front and page 3, by ONASA, “BiH Presidency will have to explain “Orao” affair”) carries the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, as saying that the BiH Presidency will have to explain the Peace Implementation Council in Brussels how the “Orao” affair occurred and what has been done to sanction the responsible ones stressing it is BiH and not either of the two entities, which will have to be responsible for violation of UN resolutions. “This is a matter of utmost importance, especially considering what is currently going on in the world”, said HR Ashdown adding that he does not want to speculate about the outcome of talks on final report on the “Orao” affair. “The only thing that is certain is that we will not have a situation in which nothing happens”, said HR Ashdown. Commenting on recent removal of Speaker of Assembly of Serb Sarajevo, Milovan Bjelica, and freezing of Bjelica and Momo Mandic’s bank account, HR Ashdown said there were other people who supported Karadzic noting that “this is just a beginning of the process, not its end”. |
| RS/Serbian press on PIC/Orao | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Orao flies to Brussels’ – NN carries bits and pieces from the OHR PR on two day session of the Peace Implementation Council in Brussels. Nezavisne Novine, page 2, editorial by Almedin Sisic, ‘Colonel or the deceased’ (Original title: Pukovnik il’ pokojnik) – Editorial comments on the ongoing Brussels meeting, which is to pass some major decisions, according to announcement of many officials, including HiRep himself, Paddy Ashdown. The author is also supportive of the indication that HiRep would remove Mirko Sarovic from the position owing to his alleged involvement in Orao affair. The author expresses the view that if this time Sarovic survives today’s Brussels meeting of the political heads of states, it will be clear and evident that the international community has managed to impose an absolute political control over him. Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Generals sentenced prior to court verdicts’ – Dragan Cavic, RS President, yesterday accused the Bijeljina Prosecutor’s Office for “having pronounced 17 persons involved in Orao affair guilty prior to the trial held on this”, by having announced names of the suspects in media. He further expressed great surprise over the fact that the Bijeljina Prosecutor’s Office has pressed charges against senior officials of the RS Army, charged with covering traces related to Orao affair. Regarding this, Cavic says that: “I am convinced that the trial proceedings would see them prove that all those accusations were ungrounded.” Nezavisne Novine, page 2, ‘Orao affair resulted in millions worth damage to arm sales from RS’ – RS Ministry of Defence confirmed to Nezavisne Novine that Orao affair severely endangered the sale of arms and military equipment from the RS. The affair namely resulted in millions worth damage to Directorate for trade and sale of arms and military equipment in the RS. The direct damage is reflected through suspension of deliveries made. The indirect damage is that position in the sphere of production and trade in arms will be lost. Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Reforms at the measure of Europe’ – Dragan Mikerevic, RS Prime Minister, yesterday expressed expectation that Peace Implementation Council would fully support reforms implemented by the RS Government in the fields of judiciary and civil service. On Orao affair, RS PM expressed hope that PIC would make decisions, that would protect the interests of the RS and BiH. Blic pg. 2 headline ‘Sanctions on the RS would effect people’ – “The RS has not intentionally violated the embargo on weapon trade with Iraq, but that is a consequence of unregulated relations in production and trade with weapon. However, the RS should not be sanctioned due to Orao affair, because that would mostly affect the people”, RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic says. As Mikerevic claims, at that time the RS and BiH did not have the list of countries under embargo, which is absurd. Mikerevic says that Orao’s leadership is responsible for the affair. The leadership should not go into an adventure that has far-reaching effects on RS. “I do expect that the High Representative will keep in mind all factors and that he will make a decision that will have an influence on political stability in the RS and BiH”, Mikerevic says. He says that the RS Government is determined to bring order to the state. When it comes to the Orao affair all responsible will bear consequences. “Such problems should not happen again, but the fact is that does not relieve us of responsibility. I claim that the RS has learnt its lesson, but not only Orao is involved in the weapon trade – there are other firms in the RS and Federation that have violated the embargo”, Mikerevic says. |
| SDS does not prepare replacement for Sarovic | SDS spokesman Dusan Stojicic denies the claims that the SDS Presidency on Wednesday evening in Sokolac discussed about filling in the post of Serb member of the BiH Presidency in a case that the High Representative removes Mirko Sarovic. Stojicic says that noone in the RS should bear political responsibility for the Orao affair. “I reiterate the SDS’s stand that in a case that Sarovic needs to bear political responsibility for Orao, negative political impacts in the RS and BiH will be inevitable”, Stojicic says. (Blic pg. 2) |
| Slobodna Bosna op-ed on possible removal of Sarovic | ‘Tonight we burn illusions’ column entitled ‘Sarovic as a collateral damage’ pg. 4 – Senad Avdic column. In this week’s issue deals with the possible removal of Mirko Sarovic by HR Ashdown. “Paddy Ashdown, who has been labeled by the Sarajevo international diplomatic elite colloquially, but with a decreasing discretion ‘failed British spy’. Even though he knows what kind of a message is trying to be sent with Sarovic’s removal, he simply does not have the strength to say goodbye to the Serb rep at the BiH Presidency. The most he has done is to ask his daily Avaz to recommend to Sarovic via their commentary to voluntarily step own from the post.” |
| Ashdown removed Tuka | Oslobodjenje pg. 7, mentioned on the front page ‘Ashdown removed Tuka’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 4, Nezavisne Novine pg. 7, mentioned on the front page, the same headlines – The New Croat Initiative (NHI) has failed to sanction Mijat Tuka, a NHI Deputy in the BiH House of Representatives, forcing the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, to take action himself. The High Representative removed Tuka from his position on Thursday, in line with the letter he sent to NHI Party President, Kresimir Zubak, on 20th of March. Issuing this decision the High Representative said “as seven days have passed, and the party has not taken action, nor has Mr. Tuka accepted responsibility and taken action himself, I have taken the decision to remove Mr. Tuka myself in order to protect the reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its institutions, at home and abroad”. The Special Auditors report presented last week highlights that Mr. Tuka, whilst leading the FBiH Ministry of Social Affairs and Refugees, failed to manage the Ministry’s budget in a transparent and a accountable manner. The report shows the systematic abuse of the financial controls for disbursing funds, by the very people who were charged to uphold them, including the acting minister at the time, Mijat Tuka. In effect these failures robbed some of the most vulnerable in BiH society today: refugees and displaced persons. According to Dnevni Avaz, at its session held in Sarajevo late on Thursday, the NHI Presidency fully supported Tuka, which means that it had no intention to press on him to resign. Oslobodjenje pg. 7 ‘Investigation against the Ministry for Refugees – Ferhatovic, Bekan, Salihbegovic and Beba relieved from duty’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘Minister Music urges for immediate investigation by the financial and criminal police’ – “My goal is that a real investigation by the financial and criminal police is conducted as soon as possible into the operations of the Ministry for Refugees, if there are elements for it, in order for the genuine responsibility to be determined both of the persons mentioned in the OHR report and those ones not mentioned,” Fena quoted FBiH Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons Edin Music as saying. Dnevni List (page 7, by FENA, “Possible extension of investigation in Ministry”) also carries a FENA interview with the Federation Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Edin Music, regarding the affair that has shaken his Ministry. |
| Slobodna Bosna on Tuka case
| ‘Tuka claims that after Halilovic’s departure to The Hague the Ministry was taken over by Ferhatovic who had the support of OHR!’ pg. 25, 26, 27 and 28 by Suzana Mijatovic – carries certain details from the OHR audit report on the Federation Ministry for refugees and DPs. Several statements by Mijat Tuka – denying responsibility for what he has been accused of. “Statements by senior OHR officials that thousands of houses could have been built from the stolen money represent the lack of knowledge of the subject matter,” said Tuka. Explained that Halilovic, before departing for Tha Hague, requested that his assistant Ferhatovic took over his duties. Hence, Ferhatovic had the authorities of Minister. |
| EC Humphries presents the EU Report on Stabilisation and Association for BiH | Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘BiH accession to EU depends on the speed of reforms’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘EU opens doors to BiH as well’ – “The length of the process of bringing BiH closer to the European integration will depend on its capabilities to accelerate reforms,” Michael Humphries, the Head of the EC Delegation to BiH, said at a press conference in Sarajevo on Thursday. |
| Srebrenica Battery Factory criticizes HR’s decision | Glas Srpski, cover page story, ‘Dispensing other people’s property’ – The essence concluded at yesterday’s extraordinary session of the Steering Board of the Battery Factory, which operates as stock company in which citizens hold 55% of the shares, is as follows: If proved true that High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, passed a decision, according to which the ownership over Battery Factory As Srebrenica. is transferred onto Srebrenica Potocari Memorial, it would represent an example of illegal dispensing with other people’s property. According to GS inset, Sonja Pastuovic, Spokesperson of the OHR Regional Office in Banja Luka, explained that RS Government was consulted on the transfer proposal. She further said that the RS Ministry of Finance should establish a tri-partite Commission, which is to set the compensation amount to be paid to the company owners. The owners would be compensated with the resources from the RS budget. |
| Russians announced withdrawal from BiH and Kosovo | Dnevni List (front and page 5, not signed) carries that SFOR’s Spokesperson Dale MacEachern stated yesterday that withdrawal of the Russian soldiers from the composition of the SFOR’s forces in BiH will not influence the situation in BiH and this process will be carried out with full coordination of the Government in Moscow and NATO. MacEachern confirmed that that there are indications that the Russian Government is preparing to withdraw its soldiers from the peace mission in BiH, however, he stressed that the final decision on this issue has not been passed yet. (Oslobodjenje) |
Political developments | |
| FBiH Government adopted draft Laws on Bankruptcy and Liquidation
| Oslobodjenje front page, pg. 7 ‘Workers must chose between the job and the salary’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘March pension will not be increased’ – At its session on Thursday, the BiH federation Government adopted the draft Law on the Bankruptcy and Liquidation, which might cause firing of thousands of workers as soon as by the end of this year. The economists believe that thanks to the bankruptcy law many companies will be saved from failing, but the trade unions and the workers are worried with reason. Even if the companies under bankruptcy survive there will be no jobs in them for the majority of the current employees. “The Government has no assessments how many companies might go bankrupt or be liquidated, and how many workers might lose their jobs,” Federation Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Radovan Vignjevic told journalists following the session. Dnevni List (page 7, by Miso Relota, “Draft Law on Bankruptcy and Liquidation defined”) and Slobodna Dalmacija (last page, by Dinko Pasic, “Reduce running costs by 10 %”) also report on the issue. Slobodna Dalmacija (page 18, by Dinko Pasic, “Unemployment will reach 50% soon”) carries that the Federation of BiH Government announced that that due to the adoption of the Bankruptcy Law about 100 000 workers will lose job by the mid of this year. SD says that due to this law but also due to the privatization of big, state companies unemployment in the Federation of BiH might reach almost 50%. |
| BiH delegation meets with the Dutch Government, The Hague Tribunal representatives | Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘Brussels’ support to the implementation of BiH’s reforms’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 – two separate articles ‘Meeting of Terzic with Del Ponte: The Hague has no new demands towards the BiH authorities’ and ‘BiH Delegation with the senior Dutch Government officials: Provision of assistance to the families from Srebrenica continues’ – A BiH delegation headed by Council of Ministers Chairman Adnan Terzic separately met on Thursday in The Hague with the Dutch Prime Minister Peter Balhende and Foreign Minister Dehop Shefer, and the ICTY President Theodor Meron and Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Dnevni List (page 5, by FENA, “BiH Court will gradually take over activities of Tribunal”) also reports that Terzic, yesterday met with Carla del Ponte. The daily carries a statement by the BiH Deputy Foreign Minister, Lidija Topic, who says the two talked about the past and future co-operation between BiH and the Tribunal, especially considering the existence of BiH Court that should gradually take over some activities of the Tribunal. Apparently, del Ponte noted that due to financial difficulties, the issue of existence of a department of ICTY that deals with the Road Map, is put into question. |
| Editorials in Osloboodjenje, Dnevni Avaz on FBiH Parliament session | Dnevni Avaz pg. 3 Commentary of the Day by Husein Orahovac ‘Political auto-goal’ – Orahovac claims that the adopted version of the FBiH Civil Service Law (foreseeing establishment of an Agency at the Federation level and 10 cantonal agencies) might further distance BiH from the European integration. Oslobodjenje pg. 2 In Focus column by Zija Dizdarevic ‘Hypocrisy’ – Dizdarevic conclude that by the rejection to vote for the HR-imposed constitutional amendments at the FBiH House of Representatives session, the SDA and HDZ actually showed they were against the constitutional and political consolidation of BiH. |
| Constitutional amendments will probably not be on the agenda of today’s FHoP session | Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘BiH Federation House of Peoples session to be held today – Without discussion on the amendments?’ – The BiH Federation House of Peoples is expected to hold its session today in Sarajevo and it will probably not discuss the HR-imposed amendments to the entity Constitution. The reason primarily lies in a fact this item was taken off the agenda of the HoR session two days ago at a request by the governing political parties SDA and HDZ. |
| BiH CoM does not discuss Ploce Port issue/comment by Mladen Ivanic | Dnevni List (front and page 5, by B. K., “Political pressures surrounding changes to Agreement on Ploce Port”) reports that the BiH Council of Ministers did not discuss the Draft protocol on changes to article 6 of Agreement on Ploce Port and passage through Neum at its session held in Sarajevo yesterday, the protocol which was signed by BiH and Croatian Foreign Ministers during the latter one’s recent visit to Sarajevo. The protocol envisions a possibility of changes to the Agreement regarding the composition of the Ploce Port’s Steering Board from the original solution which stipulates that the seventh member of the Board is a foreign national, to a possibility that the Board has no foreign nationals in it. According to BiH Foreign Minister, Mladen Ivanic, the CoM did not want discuss the issue because the Chair of CoM, Adnan Terzic, and Minister for Security, Barisa Colak, have not returned from Brussels. DL goes on to say that the protocol will not be easy to adopt and in light of that, carries Ivanic’s statement: “There are tensions of political nature and it is necessary that all the interested parties in BiH declare themselves about the proposed changes, thus assuming responsibility for the changes to the Agreement.” (Vecernji List, page 3, E. Medunjanin, “ Ploce Port on hold”) Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘Mladen Ivanic on Bulldozer Committee recommendations: Only reciprocity can be applied in abolishing visas’ – The newspaper quotes Ivanic as saying that the Committee had unequally treating some of the countries in its recommendation for the abolishment of visas. It proposed the BiH Foreign Ministry to abolish visa regime for the citizens of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary and not for the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania, which is, according to Ivanic, unacceptable. |
| HDZ Presidency holds session, discusses forthcoming convention | Dnevni List (page 4, by Miso Relota, “Croat determination for European BiH”) carries a report from a session of HDZ BiH Presidency. The Presidency discussed preparations pertaining to 8th Convention of the party passing a few decisions in the process, namely about the way of appointment of delegates to the Convention. In that perspective, it is expected that some 600 delegates will take part in the Convention. The Presidency also adopted the Convention slogan, it reads: “Croat determination for European Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Moreover, the Presidency discussed the rapport with the IC concluding the contacts and concrete talks ought to be continued in order to achieve a better co-operation. The HDZ BiH Presidency again stressed the necessity to implement the election results at all levels. |
| RS Government’s session | Nezavisne Novine, page 6, ‘Changes to the sale plan on RS EP passed’; Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Privatisation plan set’ – RS Government yesterday set the proposed changes and addenda to the proposed RS action plan on restructuring and privatisation of the electro-energetic system in BiH, which will be forwarded to the RS NA for further consideration. The innovated privatisation programme on the privatisation of the firm “Fruktona” from Banja Luka was also adopted. RS Government condemned the assault at Angelina Tomic, employed at the OMI in Zvornik. Accoridng to Cvijeta Kovacevic, Head of RS Government Bureau for Public Relations, the RS Government took a stance that this incident would not slow down the return process in RS. |
| Slobodna Bosna: United opposition requesting early elections | ‘United opposition requesting extraordinary elections’ pg. 12 and 13 by Asim Metiljevic – presidents of three biggest opposition parties, Lagumdzija, Dodik and Zubak met recently for the first time since the October elections. Tries to agree a strategy of joint action in the future period. The three agreed that the partnership between the IC and local authorities has been destructed, and HR Ashdown is partly to be blamed for this, as well as his administration, but also the local authorities unready of taking the responsibility. Further agreed that BiH was slipping into the economic abyss. The only thing they failed to agree upon was the relationship towards the current authorities. Dodik believed the RS authorities are not going to survive much longer, while Lagumdzija and Zubak think no real change will be made unless the authorities were changed at the Federation as well as at the BiH level, and not just the RS level. |
Affairs | |
| RS Army had plans for the attacks on the Federation
| Dnevni Avaz front page, pg. 3 ‘RS Army had plans for the attacks on the Federation’ – During the raid into the premises of the RS Army Intelligence Department on March 7 in Banja Luka, SFOR came in possession of unbelievable information, learns the newspaper. According to the reliable sources, the secret plans were discovered for the intelligence attacks on the Federation and Croatia. The most of the documents were coded, but their contents was unveiled following a proper decoding procedure. Nezavisne Novine, cover page & page 3, ‘RS intelligence officers took part in preparation of assassination of Djindjic?’ – During the search at the premises of the 410th intelligence centre of the RS Army at RS NA building in Banja Luka on Monday, 7th March, SFOR discovered hard evidence that this Agency was closely co-operating with the KOS (Counter-Intelligence Service of the Yugoslav Army). The evidence found also indicate that the RS Army was involved in the preparation of assassination of Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic. According to the NN source close to the international organisations in BiH, “It is presumed, and still not proved that coup d’-etat or revolution were prepared. Djindjic murder should have represented only a first step towards such goal.” According to NN inset, SFOR disclosed hard evidence that RS Army Intelligence Service spied on the international community officials in the RS and the BiH Federation. SFOR also found a list of The Hague witnesses, as well as the evidence proving that they were followed and tapped. |
| Terzic on Legija whereabouts
| Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Legija is not in BiH’ – Andan Terziuc, Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, stated yesterday that BiH authorities are not aware that any of the suspects for the involvement in the assassination of Zoran Djindjic is in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Terzic, who is paying a visit to The Hague, announced that he would visit Belgrade in the near future, where he would meet Serbia and MG officials and disucss the improvement of police co-operation between these two states. |
| Dani on affairs in BiH/IC policy | ‘The Seventh Day’ pg. 3 – Senad Pecanin’s column. This time devoted to the Eronet. The whole case Pecanin compares to an old American movies entitled ‘The gods have landed’ when a black native sees a bottle of ‘Coca Cola’ falling from the sky. According to Pecanin the look on the native’s face in that movie resembled the look on the face of the CRA Director David Betts when Pecanin interviewed him recently. Pecanin explains how Betts tried to sell him a story about the state getting two million KM as a tax from the Eronet, who will be granted the remaining third license by the CRA. “That’s his bottle of Coca Cola to me, as a package of legalities and European standards that he and HR Ashdown are camouflaging to complete a criminal plan of the biggest after-war, mega-robbery of BiH citizens. So, two million KM to BiH, while Croatia got almost two billion for using half of the same concession, and Serbia (during Milosevic) got a billion and a half for the third of the same concession.” Pecanin explains that the latest issue of DANI has been by large devoted to the issue of Eronet. ‘Bosanski Barometar’ column on pg. 6 – graded with three black dots the most recent statement by HR Ashdown related to 19 sacked Sarajevo policemen. “When he finally decided to reply to Lagumdzija, a bureaucrat in him spoke who will find the justification and support actions of the Spanish police, but not the professionalism of the Bosnian (as for referring to Spanish police – the introductory part of the article mentions footage of anti-war demonstrations in Spain were protestors were getting beaten by the police). The Ruler of our lives replied rather dryly and cynically that eh IPTF Mission in BiH has completed and he has no intention to cornet their decisions!? Maybe everything is a big mistake. Maybe Sarajevo policemen would reach European standards and get their licenses back if it was only proved they were capable to beating people as half as good as the contemporary European policemen.” ‘I told Ashdown that he was a criminal’ pg. 9, 10 and 11 by Senad Pecanin – a make-believe interview with CoM Chair Adnan Terzic. Three-pages long interview is nothing but an April’s Fool joke, which is revealed in the last ‘question’ of this interview. The interview is mainly about the Eronet case and the ‘pressures Terzic has been exposed in the process from the OHR – namely, Ashdown and Hays’. The article reflects opinions of the magazine editorial, and is, in a way, aloud wishful thinking. Senad Pecanin Dossier: the biggest robbery of BiH’ pg. 19, 20, 21 – as announced in Pecanin’s above-mentioned column, the magazine indeed is almost entirely devoted tot eh subject of Eronet. “The key actor of this scandalous affair is HR Paddy Ashdown, who, with the help of his Deputy Donald Hays, Hercegovacka Banka Provisional Administrator, Toby Robinson, and CRA Director David Betts, is completing a long-planned and well mastered project of the introduction of the powerful German operator Deutsche Telecom in the telecommunication sector and BiH market. Through the realization of the plan BiH will lose not less than two billion KM, and Deutsche telecom will become the first mobile operator in the world who has been allowed to cover and explore on the state’s most valuable resources without paying any compensation to the state. Yesterday Aluminijm, today BH Telecom, tomorrow Elektroprivreda. The only thing that remains is us, beech trees (meaning the citizens of BiH), but our turn will come too to enter the Europe! Willkommen, Deutsche Telecom! Danke, Ashdown!” On pg. 20 and 21 – a debate between Ashdown and Silajdzic related to telecommunication industry in general, with an example of the third GSM operator. Furthermore, on pg. 22 and 23 – interview with Betts. On pg. 24 – a short interview with President of the Croat telecommunication Monitoring Board, Slavo Kukic. Page 25 – elaborating on the price of the third GSM operator. Pages 26, 27, 28 and 29 – the course of events in the Eronet case. ‘How Karadzic’s web support was organized’ pg. 30 and 31 by Vildana Selimbegovic and Emir Suljagic – on a document that the magazine managed to get a copy of, which is also in The Hague and in details reveals that in the time of the Biljana Plavsic revolution the SDS came up and realized the general action of protecting and Karadzic and Mladic from being arrested. The action that involved hiding, blocking, avoiding, traps, church signals and everything necessary was mastered by the Serb Sarajevo leadership. Now, it practically means nothing even though the leadership indeed existed and was headed by Mirko Sarovic. The magazine stated that Sarovic was apparently so busy that he would not comment on the scandalous document about the mission he had before he became BiH President. ‘The electric shock for the human rights’ pg. 36, 37 and 38 by Ermin Cengic – on the events surrounding the removal of Edhem Bicakcic. Includes a short interview with Bicakcic and an insert entitled ‘How OHR has been removing’. |
Other issues | |
| Head of Stolac Municipality Zeljko Obradovic on last incidents in Stolac
| Dnevni List (front page “Pulled down crosses and graffiti of support to Saddam appeared in Stolac” and page 3, “Saddam, we will grow mustache”, by Vesna Leto) carries that graffiti supporting the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, saying “Saddam, we will grow mustache”, appeared in Stolac three days ago. The same night unknown persons broke crosses on the Way of Cross on Krizevac hill near Stolac. With regard to these incidents, the Head of the Stolac Municipality, Zeljko Obradovic stated: “Unfortunately, the forces, to whom peace and order do not suit and who still do not think about a better future, still exist. I sincerely hope that competent bodies will conduct an investigation and identify perpetrators. As the Head of the Municipality, I am concerned about desecration of the crosses and a message of the graffiti and it seems that they are nothing unusual for the other areas in BiH, however I am mostly concerned about the fact that this happened exactly in my town.” Slobodna Dalmacija (page 16, kta, “4 crosses in Stolac broken down”) and Vecernji List pg. 2 carry that 4 crosses on the Way of Cross on Krizevac hill were broken. |
| Local elections in BiH in October 2004 | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Municipal elections in October 2004’; Glas Srpski, page 2, ‘Municipal elections next year’ – Following frequent speculations in media, relating to the holding of elections, BiH Election Commission has announced that the local elections in BiH would be held first Saturday in October of 2004. This is in accordance with the rules and regulations of the BiH Election Law and BiH Provisional Election Commission. |
| Potocari funeral | Nezavisne Novine, page 7, ‘RS MOI will provide security to funeral in Potocari’; Glas Srpski, page 2, ‘Gathering of extreme risk’ – Zoran Glusac, Spokesperson of the RS MOI, told the press that the security is to be provided by the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs during the funeral of 600 Srebrenica victims on 31 March. According to Glusac, preliminary records and announcements indicate that around 100 busses and 7000 persons in total will be attending the ceremony. Dnevni Avaz pg. 10 ‘Funeral in Potocari to be attended by near 10,000 people’ also carries a story on the issue. Nezavisne Novine on pages 22 and 23 lists the names of 600 victims of genocide in Srebrenica, and invites their family members and friends to attend the joint funeral, which will take place on 31 March 2003 at 11:30 hrs at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial. |
| Cvetko Savic assumed duty of RS Army General Staff Chief | Glas Srpski, page 2, ‘Savic takes over duties’ – Cvetko Savic yesterday took over duties as the Head of the RS Army General Staff from the former Chief, Momir Zec. Stamenko Novkovic took over duties as the Deputy Chief. The transfer of duties was performed in the Cabinet of the RS President, who passed a decree on new appointment. (Blic pg. 7, Vecernje Novosti pg. 8) |
| FBiH Banking Agency press conference | Nezavisne Novine, page 2, ‘No bank accounts of accomplice’ – Zlatko Bars, Director of the BiH Federation Banking Directorate, yesterday told the press that there has been no case recorded that the persons, who financially support the war crime suspects, holds bank accounts in the BiH Federation. (Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Over suspicion for involvement in terrorism: 40 accounts in FBiH Banks blocked’, pg. 9 ‘Stable banking sector’) |