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| Interruption of BiH HoR session | Interruption of HoR session | HoR session interrupted | Serb deputies left session of BiH HoR |
| Party for BiH supports imposition of Law on CoM | Party for BiH proposes Halilovic from BiH PM | SFOR says Fijuljanin had links with Al-Qaeda | OHR: cynical tactics of Serb deputies |
| CoM adopted State Budget for 2003 | Dodik among nominees for RS PM designate | HDZ proposes its candidate for BiH PM designate | Siljadzic, Colak nominated for BiH CoM Chairman |
| Fijuljanin case | Fijuljanin susp[ected for links with Al- Qaeda | World day of disabled persons | Sava River traffic agreement |
| Oslobodjenje | Fijuljanin has links with Al-Qaeda; Close cooperation of OHR with Serb politicians (in Bijeljina) |
| Dnevni Avaz | Bairam interview with Mustafa Ceric: They wanted to put Bosniaks on mark; Ashdown before European parliamentarian – BiH faces bankruptcy; First session of the BiH House of Representatives failed – Representatives from RS caused interruption |
| Dnevni List | OHR took over initiative in forming of new BiH authority: Colak is Prime Minister designate for composition of Council of Ministers |
| Vecernji List | Due to fact that Serb representatives left the session, the session of BiH Parliament House of Representatives was interrupted: Parliament has already fallen apart |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | HVO victims embittered because disability allowances were paid to Bosniaks only: Croat invalids will block roads as early as for Bairam |
| Glas Srpski | In front of “Sveti Sava” Primary school in Doboj: two pupils stabbed; Sarajevo: From Serbia to Al-Qaeda |
| Nezavisne Novine | Inaugural session of House of Representatives of BiH Parliament interrupted: Serb delegates from RS left the session; Drama in Banja Luka “Cajavec” Company: Director threatens to kill employees; Jovan Spaic for Nezavisne Novine: Prosecutor’s office to investigate selling of banks in RS; Zlatko Lagumdzija: There are no reforms with national parties; Association of Srebrenica women: SDS and SDS bring BiH back to 1992 |
| Blic | Serb councillors left the session of BiH Parliament; Fuel price in BiH to be equal by the end of year |
Interruption of inaugural BiH HoR session | |
| Serb deputies walk out of the HoR session
OHR on the interruption of HoR session
Nezavisne Novine on the interruption of BiH HoR session | All Serb deputies from the RS walked out of the inaugural session of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly’s House of Representatives as a sign of protest over High Representative Paddy Ashdown’s imposition of the law on Council of Ministers by which he ignored regular parliamentary procedures. Before the Serb deputies walked out of the assembly hall, the newly elected deputies swore an oath. Asked what would happen if Ashdown stood firm on his decision, Socialist Party of the Serb Republic deputy Tihomir Gligoric said that the aim of this protest was to urge the High Representative to explain the motives behind the imposition of the amendments and addenda to the law on Council of Ministers, as the Serb deputies believe that this law should have been adopted in parliamentary procedure. “The imposition of the law ahead of the inaugural session of the House of Representatives casts a shadow on the parliament and its democratic working practice,” Gligoric said. All Serb deputies, except for Serb Radical Party deputy Mirko Blagojevic, after walking out of the assembly hall signed and submitted a written protest note. (SRNA, Dnevni Avaz, p 4, mentioned on the front page: “RS representatives cause3d the interruption”, Oslobodjenje, p 8, Blic p 7) Vecernji List (front and page 3, by E. Medunjanin, title “Due to fact that Serb representatives left the session, the session of BiH Parliament House of Representatives was interrupted: Parliament has already fallen apart”), Vjesnik (page 11, “Serb representatives left constituting session of Parliament”), Slobodna Dalmacija (last page, “12 RS representatives left session”) and Dnevni List (front and page 5, “Beginning of end of the RS”) carry reports on the issue. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) said on Tuesday that it was not surprised at the decision of the Serb delegates to walk out of today’s inaugural session of the BiH Parliamentary House of Representatives. The OHR said it was cynical tactics, which is more related to the buying of time for negotiations on the establishment of coalitions than to the new law on the Council of Ministers. It added that the law is the result of the agreement of political parties, so it warned that any further waste of time could also prevent the adoption of the budget by mid-December this year. (ONASA, Dnevni Avaz, p 4, Blic, p 7) Nezavisne Novine (p.3) reports that the inaugural session of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly was interrupted as the Serb delegates decided to leave the session as a sign of dissatisfaction over the imposition of the Law on BiH Council of Ministers. The SDS delegate, Ljiljana Milicevic offered the explanation for the move of Serb delegates: “Serb delegates from RS are leaving this session as a sign of protest over the fact that the Law on CoM was imposed by the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, i.e. that this Law was not discussed through the parliamentary procedure.” The Serb delegates submitted a letter to the working presidency of the House, with the explanation of their act. The letter was signed by the following deputies: SDS – Borislav Paravac, Momcilo Novakovic, Nenad Misic, Milos Jovanovic, Ljiljana Milicevic, SNSD – Milorad Zivkovic, Nikola Spiric, Nikola Kragulj, PDP- Petar Kunic, Jelena Zivkovic, SP RS – Tihomir Gligoric. The SRS delegate, Mirko Blagojevic, also left the session but did not sign the letter as he did not want to put his signature on any document that also contains names of SDS representatives. The SNSD delegate, Nikola Spiric stated that the move of Serb deputies represented their desperate wish to protect the dignity of the state parliament and its delegates. Representatives of political parties from BiH Federation, as well as two members of the BiH Presidency, Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic, do not believe that this is the appropriate way to begin with the work in House of Representatives. The OHR Spokesman, Kevin Sullivan, assessed the action of Serb deputies as “cynical tactics to buy some time for coalition building negotiations and the imposition of the Law on CoM is not the real problem.” The Chairman of the SDS, Dragan Kalinic, claims that he did not know that the Serb delegates will leave the session: “I believe that this is not the way in which the Parliament should function and the first working session will be held next week.” |
International community/OHR | |
| Fijuljanin case
Ashdown’s address to the EU Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs
Anto Domazet denies claims BiH faces bankruptcy
Sefika Hafizovic planning to discredit Ashdown, CAFAO
Vecernji List on HR-initiated reforms
PDP denies Ashdown’s claims
Political parties on imposition of Law on CoM
A citizens association request Ashdown to remove Head of OHR in Bijeljina
OHR on announced HVO war victims’ protests
| A former member of the Al-Mujahid unit, which fought as part of the BiH Army during the war in this country, has been suspected of being connected with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group led by Osama Bin-Laden. A spokesman for the SFOR, Yves Vanier, said in Sarajevo on Tuesday that an investigation into the actions and connections of Sabahudin Fiuljanin, arrested in Brcko a month ago, had confirmed that he had been connected with Al-Qaeda. Fiuljanin, a Bosniak from Sandzak in Serbia by origin, was arrested on October 26 under suspicion that he had spied on SFOR facilities and members in the north part of Bosnia, where mostly American soldiers are deployed. He became suspicious after being seen several times around an SFOR base, and during a subsequent search of his home, a pistol and a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher were found. During the investigation, Fiuljanin admitted to having spied on SFOR facilities, but his attorney later refuted this. Vanier refused to say which concrete pieces of evidence was used against Fiuljanin, stressing that giving such information out could hinder the future course of the investigation. (Oslobodjenje, front page, p 3, Dnevni Avaz, p 9, mentioned on the front page, Glas Srpski, cover page, Nezavisne Novine, p 3) The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, yesterday in Brussels addressed the EU Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs also in the capacity of the EU’s Special Representative in BiH. Today, Ashdown will be traveling to the Hague to give evidence in the Brdjanin case. In his address to the EU parliamentarians, the High Representative drew attention to the changing circumstances in BiH, as the country moves from post-conflict peace implementation to a state in transition, much like its neighbours. This transition itself presents a new emphasis and will require support, albeit a new kind of support, from the European Union.The Stabilisation and Association process presents BiH with the reforms that it must implement, and it in itself will start to drive the agenda of BiH’s politicians as citizens demand more and more stridently that – rather than sliding back into chronic economic crises — BiH follow Slovenia’s example — Slovenia is set to enter the EU in 2004. The High Representative emphasised that his job was as he put it “to do himself out of a job”, but this meant that BiH politicians had to increasingly tie themselves to the necessary reforms that will get BiH moving in the right direction. (Dnevni Avaz, p 3, mentioned on the front page:”BiH faces bankruptcy”, FENA, Oslobodjenje, p 5) Vecernji List (page 5, by D. Jazvic) Oslobodjenje, and Dnevni Avaz carry an opinion of Anto Domazet, the Minister of Treasury of BiH institutions, opposing the statements of some International Community officials who stated that the bankruptcy of BiH is possible. Domazet said: “BiH as a country is far from the bankruptcy. BiH is reducing and not increasing deficits.” According to Domazet the bankruptcy might take place only if the BiH authorities are so unserious that they spend more money than they have. Vecernji List (page 2, by Robert Soldo, “Sefika Hafizovic is planning to discredit Ashdown and CAFAO”) carries that Sefika Hafizovic, the Deputy Federation Minister of Finances, told her friends, who are high-ranked BiH officials, that Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, cannot be the HR because he covered up his love affair at the beginning of nineties. The article says that Hafizovic also said: “We always have to refer to the HR’s sins as a sort of pressure and when there is a need to implement our strategic decisions.” Hafizovic added that the HR has a good opinion of her and that everything should be done in order to make that it stays like that. With regard to the persons that work in CAFAO, Hafizovic said that a bunch of illiterate people, who are extremely well paid, are working there, however, according to Hafizovic, it is good since as long as the situation is like that she can implement her ideas. VL says that it was indicative that before the removal of Nikola Grabovac, the removed Federation Minister of Defense, Grabovac had to wait for 20 days to get some documents from CAFO while Hafizovic would get the documents in two or three days. VL also reiterates the story about Hafizovic’s role in the oil war. Under the title “The new state Government and the VAT abolish the RS, Vecernji List (page 15, by Robert Bubalo) comments that, by imposition of the Law on the Council of Ministers of BiH, the High Representative initiated a process in which internal borders in this country may be erased. Those who are in favor of abolishment of entities, as well as those Serbs who in the reforms of the state Government see a threat to the RS, agree with such an assessment. Their disapproval was expressed yesterday when they walked out of the state Parliament session requesting lord Ashdown to explain to them the latest reform package. The biggest novelties are the formation of the Ministry of Security and Justice and the abolishment of the rotation on the position of the Chair. The PM will thus have a 4 year mandate in the future. Although many had desired for it, Ashdown nevertheless did not make more radical moves the formation of the Ministries of Defense and Finance, saying the Ministry of Defense makes a part of another process of reforms initiated by the IC, primarily the NATO. Had he imposed this Ministry, that would be an open message to the BiH public that the entities do not stand a chance for survival. Bubalo goes on to say that a great part of the RS population does not believe any longer in its survival therefore it is exactly from this entity that harsh reactions to the minimal strengthening of the state pyramide came / so that even worse things would not happen in the RS in the future. And it is exactly such things that Ashdown did not miss to underline following the imposition of the Law. He pointed to the necessity of customs reforms and the introduction of VAT at the state level. The RS fears these reforms even more than the introduction of the state Defense Ministry. Though he has the reputation of the Serb friend, Ashdown does not leave them much hope in their efforts to keep financial independence because losing it would mean the borders would disappear by themselves. It is interesting that the scared SDS nationalists do not dare to publicly oppose such announcements while it has been constantly done by modest SNSD president Milorad Dodik, the IC favourite. He even announced a total civil disobedience of the Serbs in case the VAT becomes a serious matter. Bubalo says the IC seems to be determined to introduce the state level VAT at any cost, and the VAT would soon erase the internal borders and would help create unified economic space that would enable foreign investments. Glas Srpski (p 5) carries an article by Gojko Dakic and Milenko Sajic on the High Representative’s decision to impose the Law on CoM and PDP’s support or lack of support to it. The author of the article says that he contacted OHR, trying to obtain the PDP letter of support to the High Representative’s decision and was told the following: “We do not give other people’s letters sent to us.” The daily also quotes the Vice President of PDP, Zoran Djeric: “Once again we call upon the High Representative to show our letter that he allegedly has and to say when, where and from whom he got it. We do support changes but not at the cost of violating the BiH constitution.” Djeric also said that objections that his party had on the Law on CoM were not respected and after that, there is really no need to talk about PDP’s support to the Law. The author of the article says that it is obvious that SNSD, SDS and SRS did not support the law – representatives of these parties say that they are against the imposition and reject claims that they accepted these changes in the Council of Ministers. Then the question is, wonders Glas Srpski, on whose support is Paddy Ashdown relying upon? Nezavisne Novine (p 3) reports political parties have different views on the new Law on BiH Council of Ministers. The SNSD leader, Milorad Dodik, said that the High Representative has a right to impose laws but “I would prefer that the law was forwarded to the parliamentary procedure, and passed in line with it.” Dodik added: “I cannot speculate on the motives of the High Representative to make this decision. I think it is good that there will be eight Ministries, not thirteen. In that sense, the decision is okay.”According to Zlatko Lagumdzija, the SDP BiH is not satisfied with the solutions imposed by Paddy Ashdown. SDA representative, Sefik Dzaferovic, emphasized that the Law imposed by the High Representative must be respected, regardless of the views of political parties. HDZ was more cautious in its assessments of the Law on CoM and the party representative, Niko Lozancic, said that the Law is a result of a compromise. President of SDS, Dragan Kalinic, stated that such important laws as the Law on CoM should not be imposed by the High Representative: “Some parts of this Law do not reflect results of political parties agreement reached in OHR.” (Oslobodjenje, p 6, also carries reactions on the issue) In a story on pages 4-5, mentioned on the front page (“Close cooperation of OHR with Serb politicians (in Bijeljina)”, Oslobodjenje claims that the ‘Return and sustainable survival’ Citizens Association in Bijeljina sent a letter to HR Ashdown requesting that he immediately removes Head of OHR in Bijeljina Francois Peres. “We think that the chief of OHR Bijeljina, Mr. Peres, is one of the most responsible people for the difficult position Bosniaks and Roma people because he is one of key-supporters of the great Serbia politics here. Not a single appeal, request we sent to Peres gave any results and therefore we were forced to stop cooperating with him,” the letter read. With regard to the blockade of roads that HVO Homeland War victims announced due to the fact that disability allowances were paid to Bosniaks only, Mario Brkic, an OHR Spokesperson stated for Slobodna Dalmacija (page 15): “The pensions are the issue that the BiH Federation Government has to take care of. OHR reminds of a strict implementation of a law that refers to this issue and it refers to the most endangered social groups, and this means that everybody should be equal before the law. “ SD (last page) carries on the same issue the HDZ press release saying that this party supports requests of the Croat Homeland War victims and, according to HDZ, such attitude is continuation of anti-Croat politics of the current Government. |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Consultations on BiH Council of Ministers Chairman
Bairam interview with Head of BiH Islamic Community
A coordination body formed for creating a single oil market in BiH | The BiH Presidency yesterday continued consultations on the candidates for the BiH Council of Ministers Chairman with the representatives of HDZ, SDA and SDS. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of BiH its acting chairman, Barisa Colak, for the post of prime minister designate of the Council of Ministers, deputy chairman of the HDZ Niko Lozancic told journalists in Sarajevo. “We expect to have a good parliamentary majority at the BiH level,” Lozancic said after consultations at the BiH Presidency. He added that the HDZ did not know about a demand of the parties from the RS for the post of the Council of Minister’s chairman. “I do know that the Serb side is interested in the post of BiH’s foreign minister, which is acceptable to the HDZ,” Lozancic said. Deputy chairman of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Adnan Terzic said in Sarajevo on Tuesday that the SDA would stick to the proposal that Haris Silajdzic be nominated to the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers. After consultations at the BiH Presidency, Terzic said that, should Silajdzic not want to stand as a candidate, the SDA kept the right to nominate another candidate for the post. He confirmed that it had not yet been decided from nation prime minister designate would represent. According to Terzic, there are differences between the SDA and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of BiH when it comes to appointments, but he pointed out that this would not influence the power-sharing agreement between the two parties, which was reached recently. According to Dnevni List, SDA does no longer think about Haris Silajdzic as the Prime Minister designate and that Nedzad Brankovic is a new name that might be discussed in this context. The chairman of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), Dragan Kalinic, on Tuesday said that the SDS would like to participate in the new executive authorities at the state level, in line with its election result. He conveyed this view to the BiH Presidency during today’s consultations on the establishment of new authorities. “We want to see competent and capable people in the Council of Ministers, so that it can function as well as possible,” Kalinic said. He added that it was high time a Serb candidate was appointed foreign minister in the Council of Ministers, but that he did not necessarily had to be a member of the SDS. “This is a matter of agreement between the parties which will support the appointment of the new Council of Ministers,” Kalinic said. He expressed the hope that the crisis of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, which is currently boycotted by the Serb MPs, would be overcome next week, and that the Council of Ministers would be appointed by the end of the year. Kalinic rejected OHR’s statement that the Serb MPs’ boycott was staged to buy time for additional party consultations on parliamentary majority. (SRNA, FENA, BHTV 1, Dnevni Avaz, p 2, Oslobodjenje, p 6, Dnevni List, front and page 5: “Barisa Colak Prime Minister designate for Council of Ministers”) In a Bairam interview with Dnevni Avaz (front page, p 5: “They wanted to use Bosniaks as targets”) the Head of the BiH Islamic Community Mustafa Ceric said that no one has the right to hold moral lectures to Bosniaks after Srebrenica and cure their frustrations – political or moral – at the expense of BiH and Muslims who were victims of hypocritical politics. He further said that this was exactly wanted by bringing Muslims in connection with terrorism. The Council of Ministers on Tuesday formed a coordinating body responsible for creating a single economic market in BiH in the field of oil derivatives, which should be completed by the end of the year. According to the Council of Ministers, this body consists of the ministers of finance of the RS and the Federation, the BiH treasury minister and Brcko District mayor. According to an earlier agreement of representatives of all levels of authority in bIh, the prices of petrol in the District should be harmonised with the existing prices in both entities by the end of the year. (Blic p 6) |
Republika Srpska | |
| Consultations on RS PM designate
Lagumdzija: SDP to support Ivanic
RS Radical Party in crisis
Srebrenica women against SDA-SDS coalition
Orao case | RS President Dragan Cavic on Tuesday continued consultations on candidate for prime minister designate and the new government with the parties that have parliamentary floor groups in the RS parliament. President Cavic held separate consultations in Banja Luka with representatives of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Party of Democratic Action (SDA), and the Serb Radical Party (SRS) of the RS. SNSD representatives proposed to RS President Dragan Cavic to appoint Milorad Dodik as prime minister designate. SDA deputy chairman Adil Osmanovic said after the meeting with the RS president that the SDA was prepared to accept prime minister designate who would, in the future RS government, give three ministerial posts and the position of deputy prime minister to candidates of the SDA. “The SDA position is quite clear: we are prepared to support a candidate from the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP). We would like to see Mladen Ivanic on that position. We are also prepared to support an SNSD candidate. We are not prepared to support prime minister designate from the Serb Democratic Party,” Osmanovic said. With regard to the appointment of prime minister designate, the SRS will primarily take into account the interests of the people of the RS and not personal or party interests, stated SRS chairman Radisav Kanjeric. He did not specify which candidate for prime minister designate would be supported by the SRS. RS President Dragan Cavic was today also supposed to hold consultations with representatives of the Party for BiH but its representatives did not show up at the meeting. RS President Dragan Cavic said at a news conference in Banja Luka on Tuesday evening that the consultations on the candidate for prime minister designate were completed. Although reporters expected President Cavic to announce the name of prime minister designate tonight, that did not happen. President Cavic informed the public that the consultations with the parliamentary parties from the RS had been completed on Tuesday, adding that he would announce the name of prime minister designate in the next few days. Cavic pointed out that there was a Serb majority with the support of a part of Bosniak parties for the composition of the new government but revealed no more details about that. He said he would hold another round of consultations with three major parties from the RS. (Dnevni Avaz, p 10, Nezavisne Novine, p 7, Glas Srpski, p 3, Blic p 2 headline ‘SNSD offers Dodik’, Nacional p 11 ‘SNSD proposes Dodik for PM-designate’) Nezavisne Novine (p 4) carries an interview with the President of SDP BiH, Zlatko Lagumdzija, in which he said that those Bosniaks who voted for SDA, got Dragan Kalinic as a guest of honor and that those Serbs who voted for SDS got SDA as the bearer of democratic changes in this country. Commenting on the election of the Chairman of BiH CoM, Lagumdzija said that his party will not support any candidate of a party that will be in coalition with SDS, SDA and HDZ. He also said that SDP BiH will support Mladen Ivanic only if he joins the moderate option, represented by SDP: “Mladen Ivanic is capable and successful man who works on a political project that I believe in.” Milanko Mihajlica, the RS NA delegate, stated on Tuesday at a press conference that the SRS delegates acted as the opposition at the RS NA session on Monday. He also said that three (out of four) SRS delegates voted for Dragan Kalinic, but nobody of them voted for the deputy speaker. “Voting for Kalinic does not imply coalition with the SDS but only the election of the parliament leadership and avoiding the parliamentary crisis”, Mihaljica said. When asked about problems in the SRS, Mihajlica said that there are some misunderstandings, but that every misunderstanding will be resolved within the party. However, a day earlier, on Monday, the other fraction of the SRS headed by Ognjen Tadic, secretary general of the SRS, and Milan Lazic, the RS NA delegate, held a press conference, at which they indicated that there was “a split” among the Radicals by saying that the three delegates had violated the agreement – they had voted together with the parliamentary majority instead of acting as opposition. (Vecernje Novosti p 13 headline ‘One party two wings’) Members of several Associations of Women of Srebrenica are embittered with the way of voting of SDA at the inaugural session of the RS National Assembly and the SDA’s support to SDS leader, Dragan Kalinic. Zineta Mujic, the Chairwoman of the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje said that by voting like this, SDA in fact awarded aggression and genocide over Bosniak population in Podrinje. Srebrenica women ask whether some new war is ahead of us and are we going back to 1992. The defence lawyer of the three detained managers of Orao Aviation Institute from Bijeljina, Milos Peric, said that he had learnt about the extension of the investigation against his defendants from the media and he was not informed about it. “I have no information about the extension of the investigation against Orao’s director general Milan Prica, his deputy Teodosije Kecman and the head of the marketing department, Gordan Santrac, nor about an investigation against new persons in this case,” Peric said. Peric added that he would submit a request to the judicial bodies for release of Prica, Kecman and Santrac, as the hearing of witnesses showed that there was no reason for their detention. (Blic p 6) |