| FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Sarovic and ‘Orao’ affair | SFOR check points |
| War against Iraq | Ivanic on Sarovic |
| Potocari burial | Reuters on Ivanic |
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| Property agrmnt with CRO |
| Oslobodjenje | Today in Srebrenica the burial of genocide victims – the last cry of 600 mothers; The Hague – new indictments announced; Bulldozer destroying handicraft shops; Helicopters over Pale – SFOR increased control; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Biber – the Union will not give up on the revision; Justice for the genocide victims; Terzic – the espionage affair is the hardest blow for BiH; Orao affair disentangling – the RS Supreme Defence Council to be banned?!; Within the Coca Cola premises in Hadzici – a bomb found with an anti-American message |
| Dnevni List | Interview with Borjana Kristo – we do not accept amendments to the Law on State Service; Prosecutor lodged an appeal on Topalovic’s verdict; The Hague did not take into consideration new evidence of defence |
| Vecernji List | The US soldiers in Tuzla are preparing 0ofr the war in Iraq; Spy satellites are filming BiH; Sacirbegovic’s extradition questionable due to dual citizenship |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | War still has not commenced; An attempt to sell a stole cross to a priest |
| Glas Srpski | Findings of SFOR in ‘Orao’ and RS intelligence – there will be no removals over Orao and espionage; Potocari Memorial – the funeral of 600 Srebrenica victims today |
| Nezavisne Novine | Mirko Sarovic and Mladen Ivanic – they intended to extort removals |
| Vecernje Novosti | Legija paid 100,000 KM for Ivan Stambolic’s murder |
| Blic | 1,000 families left Bratunac; Srebrenica’s victims to be buried today, incidents in Potocari are not expected; Petar Dzodan – we are thinking of suing Croatia because of refugees |
| LJILJAN | Exclusive – Zemun Clan fought with Abdic’s soldiers against BiH Army’s 5th corps |
Potocari burial | |
| Everything ready for the burial
| Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – that by yesterday afternoon everything was ready for today’s burial of 600 genocide victims in Potocari. The prayer will be led by ef. Ceric. It is expected that 22 ambassadors as well as many other diplomats and IC reps would attend the ceremony. Presidency member Sulejman Tihic will address the gathering. On behalf of the victims’ families, Almedina Dautbasic, will deliver a speech. Oslobodjenje pg. 1, 4 and 5 – also reported on today’s ceremony and that Tihic and Ashdown would deliver speeches. Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 6 – reporting on today’s burial. Blic pg. 7 ‘Burial of Srerenica victims today’, Vecernje Novosti pg. 21 – “Potocari event is appraised as a high risk event and accordingly the RS Ministry of Interior Affairs has undertook all necessary measures in order to prevent any incidents,” said RS Police Chief Radomir Njegus. RS Interior Minister, Zoran Djeric, said there was no place for any speculations and assumptions that the event might jeopardise security situation in the RS because all activities aimed at preventing all negative developments had been undertook. According to Njegus, SFOR and Federation Interior Ministry will be also included in securing of this event. |
| HR Ashdown’s speech | Avaz pg. 2 ‘Justice for victims and peace for the survivors’ – the daily carries excerpts of the speech that HR Ashdown will deliver at today’s ceremony. Amongst other things, he will say the following. “Above all, I would like to thank families who personal suffering and courage is hard to imagine. I want to thank them for their patience, for the moral strength that showed in the past eight years since the horrible events that took place in the daylight.” Oslobodjneje pg. 5 ‘The world kept distant from the crime’ – OHR Spokesperson, Oleg Milisic, said that HR would say that the Memorial Centre would be a reminder that the world kept a distance while the Srebrenice crime was taking place. |
| Kofi Annan’s message | Avaz pg. 2 ‘Lessons from Srebrenica are not entirely accepted’ – a message by the UN SG, Kofi Annan, to be conveyed today by HR Ashdown. “This burial marks the end of a long period of waiting and fearing that the victims’ families went through, as well as the beginning of a significant phase in the recovery of the entire region.” |
| The coverage of the event | Avaz pg. 2 ’39 stations to report on the burial’ – the federation press Office received in total applications from 39 media houses – 21 from the Federation and 18 international – interested in covering today’s event. |
| PSC Srebrenica | Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘Today the burial of 600 Srebrenica people’ – a statement by Zeljko Vidovic, Head of the Srebrenica PSC, who guaranteed security to all those attending today’s burials. |
Political Affairs | |
| Terzic
| Avaz pg. 1 and 5 – an interview with CoM Chair Adnan Terzic. Asked to assess the damage BiH might suffer following the discovery of the new espionage affair in the RS, Terzic said that HR and some members of the PIC concluded this was the most rigid breaching of the DPA and the hardest blow to BiH since the Dayton was signed. “This is the strongest argument that we have to have a professional intelligence service at the state level.” Asked what the BiH bodies could do to prevent actions of the terrorist web KOS (FRY intelligence), he replied that eh CoM, unfortunately, could not do anything. Terzic however added that the Security Ministry had authorities to collect information related to the state security. Whether the state prosecution Office and Court would take over investigations against guilty parties from the RS for the latest affair, Terzic replied that he expected that HR would use his authorities and undertake measures of removing certain people until the legal procedures were implemented. As for the ‘Orao’ affair, Terzic again said that he was convinced that HR would make the right decision, use his authorities and sanction those involved in the affair. “I am convinced Sarovic will recognize the moment in time when all this is happening and do the best for BiH.” As for the possibility of Ivanic’s responsibility, Terzic said he did not know the extent of his responsibility. |
| RS Supreme Defence Council | Avaz pg. 1 and 3 – labelled as an exclusive story written by Sead Numanovic. Begins with a conclusion that is Sarovic is to be removed then there is not much space for leaving the RS Supreme Defence Council untouched. “That body, where the highest RS political authorities were seated, was either a flower arrangement or did not know how to perform a job of civil and political control over the RS military effectives.” The author goes on to list several affairs, which prove that deep reforms of military structures are necessary, and that the RS authorities are not capable of conducting them. “We could expect the transfer of authority from the RS Supreme Council to the Permanent Military Committee. Also, it would not be surprising if detailed revision of armies and ministries of defence in both entities were continued.” |
| ‘Orao’ affair | Avaz pg. 3 ‘The final report on Orao unsatisfactory’ by S.N. – according to the daily’s sources, the ‘Tiger’ Team that conducted a thorough investigation of the ‘Orao’ affair was not satisfied with the final report submitted by the RS authorities. According to the Team, the RS authorities again tried to avoid detecting political responsibility at the highest political and military levels in the smaller entity. Instead, they tried to overwhelm the IC investigation team with too many papers, reports and documents. Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 – a statement by OHR Spokesperson Julian Braithwaite. “Following the analysis it is hard to believe that the RS political top was not aware and did not take part in illegal trade between the ‘Orao’ Institute and Iraq, as well as in the espionage activities aimed against the IC and Federation.” Braithwaite further underlined that persons and institutions in charge of military and civil control over the army and military firms (which were mentioned in the Tiger Team report) did nothing to prevent the signing of new contracts with Iraq in 2000 and 2001. Also, the daily reported the Tiger Team concluded Sarovic and Ivanic were politically responsible for the illegal trade. An inset ‘’Federation also involved’ – the Team suggested that the investigation be extended to the Federation companies. BK TV news today at 07:00 hrs, RTS 1 at 08:00 hrs (Serbian electronic media) – former RS President and current Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Mirko Sarovic, is directly responsible for the RS defence industry’s violations of the UN Security Council resolutions against Iraq. The report also accuses former RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, saying that Ivanic knew about the violation. According to some unofficial information, Mirko Sarovic might resign on Tuesday or Wednesday. |
| CRO press on the possibility of Sarovic’s removal | Vecernji List pg. 2 ‘ Borislav Paravac to become a Serb member f the BiH Presidency’ – that anonymous Borislav Paravac from Doboj might become the new Serb member of the BiH Presidency as early as next week. An annonimous OHR offical told the daily that HR still has not passed the final decision ont eh issue, and that most probably it would be known in April 2. The same source further confirmed they were considering the responsibility of BiH Foreign Minister, Mladen Ivanic, and that his responsibility is far less compared to Sarovic’s. Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Sarovic without a comment on HR’s statement’ – Sarovic refused to comment for the RS Radio on HR’s statement that he has been authorized by the PIC to undertake necessary measures and sanction those politically responsible in the ‘Orao’ affair. |
| Serb media on Sarovic’s removal | Vecernje Novosti pg. 3 ‘Sarovic responsible for Orao’ – according to the report of SFOR Command on the ‘Orao’ affair, Mirko Sarovic is responsible. “According to the Constitution, Sarovic as RS President is responsible and directly controls the Army leadership,” the report says. It further says there were only two levels of command between ‘Orao’ Director Milan Prica and RS President: Prica – Commander of Aviation and Air force Defence Pandzic – Army HQ Chief General Simic – RS President. The report on ‘Orao’ affair by the RS leadership says that former RS President Biljana Plavsic was directly involved in Orao’s dealings when she signed the decisions that allowed this firm to cooperate with foreign partners. OHR Spokesman, Julian Braithwaite, told Sarajevo’s Oslobodjenje that Mirko Sarovic had to know about the ‘Orao’ affair and that due to that he must suffer political consequences. According to him, the OHR will decide about Sarovic’s destiny in three days. Reacting on Sarajevo’s media reports, Mladen Ivanic said that OHR should say who should be replaced and whether there was a need to replace anyone from the political scene. |
| Ivanic | Glas Srpski pg. 1 – Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Minister, stated the OHR should finally reveal who would be removed. Also, expressed a hope that it was high time the end came to times in BiH when media, especially those based in Sarajevo, were determining who should be replaced. |
| Commentary in Oslobodjenje | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Demagogy’ by Ibrahim Prohic – opens up with two contradicting opinions. One by HR Ashdown that the latest affair in the RS Army intelligence could not be neglected and a statement by Ivanic that he was against Sarovic’s removal. According to Prohic, this mirrors the depths of the political whirlpool that Bih has been struggling in for years. The author is shocked that Ivanic is not satisfied with all the presented proof so far, as sufficient for Sarovic’s removal. He thinks that Ivanic’s repeating that the removal would represent a blow to BiH represents manipulations resembling those of Momcilo Krajisnik. As for Ashdown’s removals, Prohic concludes they are not a solution without a radical change of the system. |
| OHR on Civil Service Law | Nezavisne Novine pg. 8 ‘The OHR is of the view that citizens should not pay 11 agencies’ – a statement by OHR Spokesperson, Mario Brkic, that HR Ashdown was not satisfied with the proposed Law on Civil Service in the Federation, which was recently passed by the FBiH HoR. |
| Tihic on RS intelligence spying on the FBiH | Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘No reasons for attack’ – Sulejman Tihic, a BiH Presidency member, could neither confirm nor deny reports in the Sarajevo media that the RS Army spied on the Federation and was preparing an attack on it. |
| Connections between KOS and RS intelligence | Nezavisne Novine pg. 2 ‘The Serbian authorities investigate links between KOS and RS Mary intelligence’ – according to a source close to the OHR, the IC has documents that prove connection between the RS Army intelligence and most wanted war criminals, including Radovan Karadzic. Also, the documents prove the RS Army intelligence kept connections with the KOS (FRY Intelligence service). According to the same source, the Serbian authorities demonstrated a great interest in the above information and launched an investigation into it. Furthermore, the daily informs that all relevant IC institutions in BiH last night held a session and discussed possible measures following the recent raid by SFOR of the RS Army premises. A statement by FBiH President, Niko Lozancic, said the intelligence in BiH do the least work in protecting citizens and the state. “It seems that the only task of these intelligence services is to spy on each other.” |
| Croatian witnesses in Milosevic’s case spied on | Vjesnik pg. 7 ‘Targets of spies were Croatian witnesses in Milosevic’s case’ by Zeljko Peratovic – a source from the Croatian Intelligence Service, Banja Luka intelligence agents took part in gathering information about Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, and other Croatian citizens who were witnesses in the case against Slobodan Milosevic. The same source says that these agents were following activities of Croatian officials and members of the Croat component in the Federation bodies. The goal was to de-stabilize BiH through manipulation of the gathered information. |
| Interview with Kristo | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 7 – an interview with the Federation Minister of Justice Borjana Kristo. She said the following concerning the Law on Civil Service. “It is necessary to pass the Law in order to implement the reforms in the Federation administration and especially in order to establish the administration, which would be based on principles of modern administration.” Asked whether they were pressured by the OHR to adopt the Law, she replied that OHR legal experts who drafted the Law insisted that eh FBIH HoR adopted the proposed text. |
| Dzihanovic on Civil Service Law | Dnevni List pg. 4 ‘The reform of huge administration in the Federation is not possible’ – Federation Vice-President, Sahbaz Dzihanovic, told the Federation Radio that with the new 11 civil service agencies the reform of the federation administration won’t be possible. With regard to a convention of the Party for BiH, Dzihanovic said that it would take place on April 12 in Sarajevo.”Documents will be adopted and new bodies will be elected at the Convention. As far as founder of the Party for BiH, Haris Silajdzic, is concerned, he will decide on his status on the eve of the Convention.” |
| JL editorial | Jutarnji List pg. 15 ‘The RS should be abolished ASAP’ by Davor Butkovic – after the most recent info on how the greater part of the RS functions, the only logical solution would be to abolish the RS. According to the editorial, the RS is a logistic base for the circles that want to see Milosevic’s politics being re-installed in Belgrade. |
| Tomljenovic | Nezavisne Novine pg. 9 ‘I support tri-partite presidencies in the RS and Federation’ – a short interview with Ivan Tomljenovic, RS Vice President, who says that he pledges in favour of establishing tri-partite BiH Presidency in both entities, the RS and Federation. He further warns of connections between criminal groups in the RS and Serbia and tight connections between state security with criminal structures. Whether his relations with RS President, Dragan Cavic, improved, he said the following. “Cavic used to be my student and this fact makes our contact more specific… My demand is that tri-partite presidencies should be established in the RS and FBiH without prior changes to the Constitution. I also fully support the idea of changing the hymn, coat-of-arms and flag.” In regard to the Pope’s visit to Banja Luka announced for 21 June, Tomljenovic says that it is a great plus for Banja Luka and the RS, expressing doubt that any incident resembling the one during the laying of the Ferdahija mosque cornerstone would take place because such would greatly disrepute RS. |
| Mikerevic | Glas Srpski pg. 2 ‘Special relations start functioning’ – Dragan Mikerevic, RS Prime Minister, stated in Novi Sad that the assassination of Serbian PM, Zoran Djindjic, should not have an impact on BiH’s admission to the European integration. On VAT, he said that the RS government would run the policy of realistic possibilities rather than follow individual wishes. |
| Andrijic’s letter to HR | Dnevni List pg. 8 ‘Andrijic: I demand reinstatement of my right to be elected’ – publishes an open letter of Stiepo Andrijic who was removed by former High Representative in May of 2000. Andrijic has sent numerous letters to both former and present High Representative asking for the reinstatement of the right to be elected. Andrijic says that this letter will also be a part of the book, which is being prepared and which will, together with other books that have already been published, make a document on the International Community’s rule in BiH. Andrijic also mentions a letter he received from Ian Campbell, Head of the OHR Legal Department, dated 6 February 2003, saying his own letter was not sent to Campbell and adding that Campbell got the date of Andrijic’s letter to the High Representative wrong. Andrijic adds that the reply is not legally valid without the signature of the Head of the OHR and says his personal conclusion is that the High Representative was not even aware of the existence of Andrijic’s letter. |
Economic Affairs | |
| Biber
| Avaz pg. 1 and 4 – Edhem Biber, President of the BiH Union, stated they would insists of the adoption of the law on the privatisation revision, which would include reviewing so-called Markovic’s model of privatisation (carried out in ex-Yugoslavia). “Recently, we adopted a document entitled Positions of the Union Association on the new approach to the privatisation,” said Biber. He further explained that the mentioned meeting was attended by Mehmed Avdagic, President of the PPDIVUT (Independent Union of workers in agriculture, food and tobacco industry) Union. Biber refused to comment why Avdagic was now distancing from requests that were earlier adopted by him and his Union. |
| OHR replied to the BiH Consumers Union
| Avaz pg. 4 ‘Slow reform postponing the reduction of prices’ – In a letter that OHR sent to Mesud Lakota, President of the BiH Consumers Union, they wrote that further delays to the implementation of the ‘Electricity 3’ project would result in the delay of forming mechanisms for establishing appropriate prices. Patrice Dreiski, Head of the Economic Department, signed the letter. |
| Bulldozer Commission vs. small businesses | Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 6 – almost an entire page article on the Bulldozer Commission reforms being detrimental for the small businesses. Apparently, many independent businessmen and members of their associations were shocked to hear that amongst the suggested measures was to abolish the obligatory membership in the entity and cantonal chambers for small businesses. Apparently, the Bulldozer brochure hasn’t got a single opinion of an owner of a small business (or, to be more literate in the translation, – has no opinion of a craftsman). “All this, it could be said, is a result of the Lord’s undermining of the small business sector (handicraft sector) and his abilities in creating better business climate.” An insert ‘Germans supported BiH small business owners’ – Karl Jirgen Vilbert, Director of the Small Business Koblenc Chamber, wrote to HR Ashdown warning him that the obligatory membership in the small business chambers was on of pre-conditions and foundation for representing the interests of businessmen in general. |
| Chamber of Commerce | Vecernji List pg. 5 ‘The Chamber of Commerce on voluntary basis only’ by Zdenko Jurilj – in future, a big number of the biggest BiH companies will not finance the work of the Chambers of Commerce at the cantonal, entity and state level. During the last meeting with HR Paddy Ashdown representatives of the biggest companies demanded a complete reform that would ensure them membership in the Chambers of Commerce. They also demand to regulate the paying of membership fee on a voluntary base. VL says that during the last week meeting of the BiH Chamber of Commerce, most members criticized its work and characterized it as more political than economic. |
Refugee Affairs | |
| Ministry has no info on 3 million Euro project
| Avaz pg. 8 ‘The Ministry was not informed of the project worth three million Euro’ – Mirsad Kebo, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees, stated that no one in Ministry was informed of the Memorandum of Agreement signed on Wednesday by the RS Refugee Commission and World Vision in BiH. According to a report in the Belgrade based daily ‘Danas’, the goal of the project, worth three million Euro, is to enable more efficient implementation of program of returning100 refugee families currently accommodated in Serbia to the areas of Bosansko Grahovo, Bosanski Petrovac, Bihac, Glamoc and Sanski Most. |
| Ivanic with Serb refugees | Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘Serbs as double-losers’ – Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Minister, yesterday in Banja Luka spoke with a delegation of Serb refugees from Croatia currently living in the RS. They discussed the accomplishment of their property rights. “The situation, where one group of people gets possession of its property in the RS and keep property in Croatia, is untenable. On the other side, Serb refugees from Croatia lose all their property rights in Croatia and accordingly are left without anything in the RS,” said Ivanic. He was firm in saying that the property issues should be solved in both, BiH and Croatia, in the same manner. |