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Establishing sessions of Sarajevo, Posavina and Tuzla assemblies | Kalinic elected RS NA Speaker | SRSG Klein’s new promise regarding the Leutar case | New RS president and vice-president took over |
Financial Police investigation | Serbia – Montenegro union | RS NA established | Cavic of PM designate |
Social Democratic Party | Car bomb in Kenya | Assemblies of Tuzla, Bosnia-Podrinje, Sarajevo and Zenica-Doboj est. | Serbia-Montenegro Constitutional Chapter |
Kalinic elected for the RS NA Speaker | Passport with entity insignias expiring | Kenya – car bomb | Terrorist attack in Kenya |
Oslobodjenje | ‘Pensions on Monday; Bomb scare at a high school during HR’s visit; Kalinic and Hafizovic heads; Miletic Director of the FBiH police; Nazi messages in Konjevic-Polje; Old passports not valid as of today |
Dnevni Avaz | Cegar wanted by Croatian police; Unequal customs regulations filling criminals’ pockets; The Police Ministry within the BiH government |
Dnevni List | 73rd session of Federation government held in Mostar: Charges against TGP Alpina, Croherc AG, Herzcegovina Osiguranje and Hercegovacka Bank |
Vecernji List | Deadlines for establishment of mini Hague missed: The Hague transfers 70 defendants to Sarajevo |
Slobodna Dalmacija | American agents are investigating activities of Saudi millionaire Jasin al Kadi in BiH: Money for Bin Laden went through Sarajevo |
Glas Srpski | RS Housing Fund: New housing loans very soon; Federation authorities ban two humanitarian organisations – American order, BiH ban |
Nezavisne Novine | RS NA inaugural session: SDS, PDP and SDA support Kalinic; Schroembgens: CoM without Defence Ministry; Federation authorities ban two Islamic humanitarian organisations |
Blic | Kalinic is the Parliament’s Speaker; Former Prime Minister’s Cabinet knew about ORAO deals; Dodik: Ivanic ties together flags of SDS and SDA; Surplus of 9,300 soldiers in BiH |
Republika Srpska | |
RS NA constituting session
New RS Presidency
Nazi messages in Konjevic-Polje
| Avaz pg. 4 ‘Kalinic President, Sefket Hafizovic one of the vice-president’, Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Dragan Kalinic President’, Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘Kalinic is Speaker again’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 & 3 SDS, PDP and SDA support Kalinic’, all RS electronic media, Vecernje Novosti pg.4 ‘Kalinic is speaker again’, FRY Nacional pg. 6 ‘Kalinic has been elected again as the RS NA speaker’, Blic pg. 7 ‘Kalinic is RS NA speaker again’ – the RS NA constituting session held yesterday during which Dragan Kalinic (SDS) was elected the RS NA President and Sefket Hafizovic (SDA) on of the vice-presidents. Kalinic received support from the SDS, PDP, SDA, three representatives from the SRS, Democratic Patriot Party, Democratic Party and the RS Pensioners Party. The SNSD, SDP BiH, SBiH, DNS, NHI, SNS and SNP were not present in the building during the appointment procedure in a protest of Kalinic being appointed. Dodik stated that there was a ‘deadly combination’ made up of the SDS, PDP and SDA. “You can see which parties are making the assembly majority, especially the new SDA – SDS coalition. It is clear also that the PDP is going into a coalition with the SDS,’ said Dodik. Vecernje Novosti report that the first one who publicly congratulated Kalinic was Milorad Dodik. Kalinic stated briefly that parties from the RS that have Bosniak and Croat representatives were welcome to join the establishment of the new government. RS dailies quote SDS Spokesman Dusan Stojicic as saying that the SDS, SDA and PDP co-operate because they have the same interests. He said that the parties, which voted for Kalinic, did not make up a parliamentary majority. Member of the SDS Main Board, Milenko Stanic, said that the SDS would form the parliamentary majority with the PDP and the SPRS, and if that was not possible the SDS would form authority with the SDA. He added that on the state level there were negotiations between the SDS and the SDA, but they had not been talking about forming authority on the RS level. Stanic said that his party expected a support from the SPRS despite the fact that the SPRS’s high officials said they would not form a coalition with nationalist parties. The papers quote PDP Chairman Mladen Ivanic as denying that a parliamentary majority has been formed. He said that the most difficult period was coming, because a parliamentary majority had not been defined yet. According to him, PDP will not support either SDS or SNSD. Glas Srpski quotes Ivanic as saying that this is not a classical type of coalition that has to form a new government. Ivanic said that PDP’s offer to SNSD and other parties on formation of RS government is still on.(Blic and Nacional pg.7 & 6)- Ivanic said the PDP would not form a coalition with the SDS but it would was support a candidate from the SDS for the post of the RS NA Speaker. “Prime Minister designate should be from the PDP, which could provide the parliamentary majority without the SNSD, but the participation of Dodik’s party in RS Government would enable efficient function of authority in the RS. But if the SNSD does not want that, we will go our way.” Tihic (quoted by Sarajevo dailies) said that it was important that Hafizovic was elected the RS NA Vice-President because the post belongs to the SDA. He noted that out of 10 Bosniaks in the Assembly six of them are SDA members. Slobodna Dalmacija back page – reports that the BiH national anthem was for the first time played in the RS NA which was followed by the RS anthem ‘Boze pravde’. SD says that Adil Osmanovic, RS Vice President, and Edhem ef. Camdzic, left the session when ‘Boze pravde’ was played. Tihic however stated that all SDA members left the room when the RS anthem was played unlike the SBiH and SDP members. Nezavisne Novine pg. 3, Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘There is no BiH without RS’ – report that newly elected RS President Dragan Cavic and his two vice presidents Adil Osmanovic and Ivan Tomljenovic yesterday official assumed their duties. Cavic yesterday gave an inaugural speech in which he emphasised two issues – the first one is internal organisation of BiH, that is, that BiH is made up of two entities, which Cavic called one of the greatest achievements of the DPA. He said that the RS would exist as long as BiH exists. That is why he thinks that any sort of a constitutional re-organisation of BiH would be extremely dangerous. The second most important issue is BiH relation towards regional and global integration processes. Cavic also stressed the importance of the RS Army and said that the RS Army cannot be endangered by some integration initiatives, adding that some joint BiH army is not practically possible or its formation would be in line with the Constitution. Cavic said that he will nominate RS PM designate in 10 days. Oslobodjenje pg. 1 & 3 – Around hundred young Serbs (on their way to a football match) wrote insulting messages on a house of Adil Osmanovic, leader of the return program in Konjevic-Polje (Bratunac municipality), and wrote insulting messages such as ‘Knife, wire, Srebrenica’ and ‘This is Serbia’. The incident lasted for an hour and all took place in front of the local and international police officers who, as many times before, only registered the incident. According to returnees in the municipality, the security situation equals the one from 1992. |
OHR/International Community | |
HR Ashdown’s visit to Bihac
Interview with SDHR Schroembgens
| Oslobodjenje pg. 1 & 6, Avaz pg. 2 ‘Bad regulations filling criminals’ pockets’ – about HR Ashdown’s visit to Bihac yesterday. During the visit HR visited, amongst other places, the Customs administration, Bihac high school and owners of two rafting companies. During his visit of the Customs administration, HR Ashdown emphasised the importance of a single customs administration. “This country does not invest in children, but in criminals. Through cracks in the customs system and collection of customs, more money goes to criminals then education,” said Ashdown. Avaz reported that after HR Ashdown left the building of the Bihac high school there was a bomb alert. It turned out to be a false alarm. Dnevni List pg. 6, ONASA – carried reports on yesterday’s visit of HR Paddy Ashdown to the Izacic border crossing near Bihac. During the visit, the HR talked to members of the State Border Service on construction of this border crossing in which 12 million-KM would be invested through an international credit line. Avaz pg. 5 ‘The Ministry of Police and Security within the BiH government’ – a half-page interview with the SDHR Gerhard Enver Schroemgens. Talking about the new CoM, he summarised the talks down to the following facts – a non-rotating CoM PM and two deputies who would also be ministers and eight ministries. He explained that a new procedure for decision-making was agreed, that the Ministry for European Integration would turn into the Office for European Integration. As for the Defence Ministry, SDHR Schroembgens stated that it was up to the local people to reach an agreement on the issue. He stated that he expected the new government to be established soon, and that he expected that during the process of the CoM establishment an agreement reached yesterday was implemented. Also gave interviews on the same subject to Vecernji List pg. 5 and Nezavisne Novine pg. 6. Dnevni List ‘Statement of Day’ by Donald Hays “The claims that the BiH economy is stabilizing are not correct.” |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
Cegar case
CoM
New Social Democrats
Tunovic on judiciary
Srebrenica foundation
Commentary ‘Oslobodjenje’
Commentary ‘Nezavisne Novine’
Commentary ‘Vecernji List’
Mini Hague
Al Qaida
‘Orao’ affair
Fight against crime
| Avaz pg. 1 & 3 – Zoran Cegar, the current FBiH MoI Inspector and a member of the Independent Board for appointment of senior police officials, will probably be tried in absentia Croatia for the fraud (usual sentence for such crime – five years). Cegar apparently escaped from Croatia on September 4, 2000 after which the Zagreb Police Administration issued an arrest warrant, as approved by the Zagreb municipality Court. Judge Zdravko Majerevic from the Croatian Attorney’s Office stated that Cegar committed the fraud in 1993 when he sold some real estate in Kijevo and Bol (Brac). The article goes on to say that it is up to the local and IC officials – IPTF Commissioner, OHR, Minister Maslesa and BiH police – to take necessary measures. Avaz pg. 2 & 5 ‘Working Group to start devising law on BiH ministries over the weekend’, Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘HDZ suggesting state Defence Ministry’ – Avaz on pg. 2 carries a statement by Kresimir Zubak, a member of the Working Group, that during the following weekend they intend to start devising the Law on Ministries of BiH. Together with the Law on CoM, said Zubak, they represent a whole and would go together for further procedure. The daily further quoted (in a separate article on pg. 5 ‘We expected more functional CoM) Sefik Dzaferovic from the SDA as saying that BiH would have more functional Com, but it still did not have the efficiency and functionality that the SDA expected. He stated that the party was not happy with the decision-making procedure. Oslobodjenje carried a statement by HDZ Lozancic saying that things agreed during the Wednesday meeting at the OHR were mainly acceptable for the HDZ. He added he hoped their proposition on the rotation of the Chair to be accepted because it would allow representatives from all peoples to assume the post at some point. Nezavisne Novine pg. 6 – quotes OHR Spokesman Kevin Sullivan as saying that the OHR is surprised with the readiness of all the parties to participate in the talks on the CoM transformation. He said that by the end of this week the Working Group would draft the final version of the Law on CoM, which would reflect the talks that the parties had with SDHR Schroembgens. The paper also carried comments of some RS parties on the CoM transformation. SRS is against 8 ministries, but thinks the rotating principle should be eliminated. Dragan Mikerevic (PDP) said PDP supported elimination of the rotation principle, but sees no reason for increase of the number of ministries. SNSD does not participate in the talks, but its representative Krstan Simic said that the SNSD supported the rotation principle. He also said that changes in the CoM should be detrimental for the entities. With regards to the talks about the future of Council of Ministers, Vjesnik pg. 11, by Alenko Zornija – says that there could be problems with ethnic appointment of offices within the CoM because Lozancic stated that it would be logical that a Croat becomes the PM designate otherwise Croats would not hold a single executive post at both State and entity levels. Dnevni List pg. 2 by Miso Relota – features an editorial in which the author offers his view on the role of Serb parties during the talks on the future of CoM. “On countless occasions, they showed that they were united when they needed to disintegrate this state and not disunited when allocating offices. The IC representatives in BiH are still silently observing the destructiveness of the RS parties and do not even think of removing those responsible. And there are a lot of them, one does not know the number”. Avaz pg. 9 ‘Constituting Assembly of the Social democratic Party on December 8’, Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘Constituting session on December 8’, Dnevni List pg. 5 – members of the Initiating Board for establishment of the New Asocial Democratic Party – Sejfudin Tokic, Ivo Komsic and Goran Crnogorac – held a press conference yesterday where they announced the constituting session of the new part for December 8, 2002. Three months the latest after the constituing session, the party would hold a Congress. It is planned that the constitutional session be attended by 100 party founders. In a separate article entitled ‘Anic and Tuka move to the new party’ (pg. 9) the daily speculated that heads of the NHI Anic and Tuka could change parties and move to the New Social Democratic Party. SRNA – the Steering Committee for the formation of a new party of social democratic orientation has sent a letter to the Bosnia-Hercegovina Presidency demanding that this party be involved in talks on the formation of new authorities at all levels of Bosnia-Hercegovina. Avaz pg. 12 ‘BiH state and both entities soon to have prosecution in a new mandate’ Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ’15 judges at BiH Court’ – Sanela Tunovic, Spokeswoman for the High Judiciary and Prosecutorial Councils, stated yesterday that during a session of the HJPC BiH that the BiH Court would have 15 judges in total. Therefore, eight judges would be appointed in addition to seven appointed by HR on May 8, 2002. The Office of the Prosecutor would have 4 prosecutors and the HJPC is prepared to appoint more. The Supreme FBiH Court will have 21 judges and the FBiH Prosecutor’s Office will have nine prosecutors. As for the RS – Supreme Court will have 16 judges and the Prosecutor’s Office four prosecutors. On pg. 2 in Oslobodjenje ‘Help for judges and prosecutors’ – Samir Rizvo, Advisor at the IOM Legal Program, stated that the IOM had so far approved help in 33 cases of appointment of judges and prosecutors who are returnees. Nezavisne Novine pg. 2 – quotes Chairman of the RS NA Constitutional Commission Miroslav Mikes as saying that Croats and Bosniaks will run the RS judiciary, because Serbs got the post of RS NA Speaker and will probably get the post of RS PM. Mikes said that another four positions (RS NA Council of Peoples, RS Constitutional Court, RS Supreme Court and RS Public Prosecutor) would be distributed between Croats and Bosniaks, but that one of them can give that position to a representative from Others. Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Cliff and Masovic members monitors’, Avaz pg. 3 ‘The memorial can not be finished without new donations’ – members of the Srebrenica Foundation ‘Potocari’ Main Board repeated their appeal for donations without which it will not be possible to complete the building of the Potocari memorial. They thanked governments that already made donations – BiH, Great Britain, US, Dutch and Sarajevo Centre municipality. Oslobodjenje pg.2 commentary by Hamza Baksic entitled ‘Country in a web’ – covering the topic of prostitution and the involvement of the local and international police officers. “It is a significant problem that people who should be protecting law found themselves on the opposing side.” Nezavisne Novine editorial by DNS Chairman Dragan Kostic – he comments on the new SDS-SDA coalition. He said that the international community would be against the marriage of nationalists, because they do not want to have someone in the future RS government who will cause troubles during the transformation of the CoM and introduction of VAT. According to him, that will be a definite end of the RS, the way it is foreseen by the DPA. Milo Jukic signs an editorial in Vecernji List pg. 2 in which the author says that although the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, as well as domestic politicians, ascertain that the return process in BiH is successful, a lot of things are being pushed under the carpet. “If Ashdown and others made a three-day picnic to Podrinje they would see that hundreds of Bosniaks, from Foca to Bijeljina, live in tents, stables and ruins. There are not as many examples, but there are also Croats and Serbs whose lives are the carbon copy and this needs no special mentioning (…) And if the foreigners went through the ads which are dominated by changes of flats and houses, they would realize that the ethnic cleansing, now on the voluntary basis, continues”. Vecernji List pg 1 & 3 ‘Deadlines for establishment of mini The Hague missed: The Hague transfers 70 defendants to Sarajevo’ – although it was planned that a process of the establishment of the ‘mini Hague’ for BiH wouldl start at the beginning of January 2003, this deadline would be missed since a single prerequisite for the beginning of work of this court had not been met. VL also says that currently, on the ground of the investigations on 17 cases of war crimes conducted by The Hague, The Hague can already transfer reports against 70 persons. Refik Hodzic, The Hague Spokesperson, stated that The Hague will not transfer cases to BiH courts at any cost and that the establishment of mini The Hague depends on the judiciary reform, implemented by OHR. VL clarifies that the mini The Hague should act within the Court for BiH. Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 1 & 15 ‘Money for Al Qaida through Sarajevo Vakufska Banak?’ – reads that it looks likely that the funding of Al Qaida went through channels in BiH and Sarajevo. In that context, the article says that certain Jasin al Kadi, one of 12 Saudi millionaires who are on the secret list of CIA, was doing business in BiH. Namely, the alleged group of millionaires has been suspected of providing financial support to Al Qaida and Slobodna Dalmacija claims that Jasin al Kadi is a stockholder and co-owner in Sarajevo’s Vakufska Bank. According to SD’s information, the US intelligence is currently working on revealing his financial transactions in BiH. Moreover, the daily claims that Al Kadi had businesses in Albania, but after the September 11 events, the Albanian authorities decided to freeze all of his property and accounts on a suspicion of money laundering. Nacional pg. 6, Blic pg. 7 – that the cabinet of Milorad Dodik, former RS Prime Minister, had been aware of ‘very successful co-operation’ between the Belgrade-based ‘Jugoimport-SDPR’ company and the ‘Orao’ Aviation Institute in Bijeljina. A letter sent by Jovan Cekovic, then-Director General of Jugoimport-SDPR, to Dodik on March 16, 1998 (Beta news agency has it) states that the Yugoslav company, even at the time of sanctions never interrupted, but on the contrary, maintained very successful co-operation with several organisational units in the RS’. “These include, among others, the overhaul institutes ‘Orao’ and ‘Kosmos’, and the Cajevac and Zrak plants. The co-operation also involved the export of products from their programmes to third countries,” the letter reads. Two months later, on May 5, 1998 Dodik’s Cabinet sent to the special purpose production plants, including ‘Orao’, a written document in which it said that ‘it was the view of the RS PM that there was no reason why the successful co-operation should not continue’. “The RS government remains open to all contacts concerning the implementation of concrete projects,” reads the letter signed by Igor Davidovic, Dodik’s Chief of Staff at the time. Asked to comment for Beta on the content of the letters, Milorad Dodik, briefly said ‘that he knew nothing about it’. Slobodna Bosna has come in possession of documentation, which proves that Zoran Pajic, the Head of the OHR Legal Department, had been violating UN arms embargo on Iraq in cooperation with the biggest Serbian Mafia-man, Milosevic and Kostunica’s protégé, Zoran Drakulic, during his wartime stay in London. In a story on the issue published in this week’s edition of the magazine (“US to request Ashdown’s responsibility due to Pajic’s trade with Iraq”), Slobodna Bosna’s investigating team of journalists claim that the trade chain went from Belgrade (Zoran Drakulic) over London (Zoran Pajic) and Geneva (Drazen Petrovic, an UN employee and pre-war Pajic’s assistant at the Sarajevo University’s School of Law) to Baghdad. Blic pg. 6 ‘Joint MoI not needed’ – Ministers of interior and other senior European officials agreed at the London conference that a regional co-operation and co-operation with the EU was needed in order to root out one of the biggest problem in the region. President of the SNSD Executive Board, Nebojsa Radmanovic, said that a co-operation first on political and then on economic level needed to be achieved with neighbouring countries and the EU in order to act jointly against organised crime. Radmanovic stated that the SNSD supported the idea on co-operation. He said that at the conference BiH was mentioned as a single subject, because a lot of countries were involved, but it could not be an indication for creating a joint ministry of interior affair. Member of the SDS Main board Slavko Dunjic thinks that agreement on regional co-operation is the only way to fight organised crime, but he is not of opinion that a BiH joint ministry of interior affairs is necessary for that. |
Federation BiH | |
Miletic’s appointment
FBiH Financial Police | Oslobodjenje pg. 1 & 3, Avaz pg. 2 ‘Session of the FBiH government’, Dnevni List pg. 3 – The Federation government appointed yesterday Zlatka Miletic for the FBiH police Director. Behmen, Anic and Ivankovic voted for his appointment, Minister Besim Mehmedic was against and two ministers abstained. The government appointed Mirsada Beganovic-Zutic for the FBiH MoI Administration Director. The papers also reported that the government requested from the FBiH Privatisation Agency to submit all relevant documents for the ‘Eronet’ case in order to raise charges. Avaz pg. 8 ‘Financial Police investigating suspicious transactions of several broker houses’ – The Financial Police started a major investigation on Wednesday based on information received from the FBiH Commission for Security Papers. The information has been forwarded to the FBiH MoI, Customs Administration and OHR Anti-corruption Team. According to unofficial sources, the investigation will involve several broker houses. |