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| Youth conference in SA | Hurricane in | | Hurricane in |
| HR in | Report on hostage crises | Hostage crisis follow-up | Report on hostage crises |
| Hercegovacka Bank case | Youth conference in SA | Tornado | Terrorism in BiH |
| Cro support to veterans | RS Interior Minister issue | Kostunica ‘s request | Denial of PSC Serb Sa |
Oslobodjenje | Minister Safet Halilovic: |
| Dnevni Avaz | Tihic: BiH will not withdraw lawsuit in |
| Dnevni List | Interview: Ljubo Beslic, Deputy Mayor of Mostar: |
| Vecernji List | Chechens will attack again |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Body-count still goes on |
| Glas Srpske | No attempted assassination of Rasim Ljajic: Conspiracy in imagination; Modrica: Pre-election fight |
| Nezavisne Novine | Fight in Modrica: Removed mayor beat up on two members of SNSD youth; School year 2004/05 commenced in BiH: The classes commence; |
| Blic | Mladen Ivanic: BiH is not a priority for BiH |
| Vecernje Novosti | Dragan Mikerevic: We are about to go bankrupt |
| Belgrade’s Nacional | Features Serbian related topics |
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| Crimes/security/legal proceedings/incidents |
| Tihic says BiH will not withdraw lawsuit against SCG
| Dnevni Avaz cover page ‘Tihic: BiH will not withdraw the lawsuit in |
| SNSD on Tihic
| Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Sulejman as Alija’ by D.Z. – Krstan Simic, SNSD Vice President, reminded Sulejman Tihic, Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, that “BiH is a complicated state, with three equal peoples and other citizens, whose interests should be accomplished through the work of BiH joint institutions”. In yesterday’s press release upon Tihic’s statement (that “BiH would not withdraw lawsuit against SiCG before the International Court of Justice in The Hague”) Simic noted that Tihic has continued the practise of his predecessor, Alija Izetbegovic, identifying himself with the BiH and making decisions by himself. |
| Kostunica calls on war crime indictees to voluntarily surrender
| FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Voluntary surrender the best option’ – Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica called on all war crime suspects to surrender to ICTY.According to him, this would be the best solution for SCG because of its international obligations but also for suspects because the state would be obliged to help them in case of voluntary surrender. Kostunica mentioned example of |
| Appointment of RS Interior Minister/RS cooperation with ICTY
| BHT – SDA believes that the cooperation with ICTY could be improved if new RS Minister of Interior would be a Bosniak and at the same time the RS Prime Minister announced that new Minister would be appointed soon. However he did not say who that might be.SDA thinks that one of two key positions in RS MoI should be given to Bosniaks, place of Minister or of a Director of RS Police. “First of all that has to be very experienced politician, a professional in Police sector, and the one who enjoys strong support of RS Government and RSNA majority,” said Tarik Sadovic from SDA.“Who ever is the Minister his first responsibility will be fulfilment of obligations toward ICTY”- said Dragan Cavic, RS President. Even though, according to some sources close to RS PM Dragan Mikerevic, best chances for the appointment has the current BiH Military Attache in Brussels Darko Matijasevic, Mikerevic still keeps quiet. “I hope that I will soon have the opportunity to announce that name,” said Mikerevic. |
| RS Chief Auditor Ceko on audit report on RS MoI
| Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Draft in the cash register’ by V. Janjic – Bosko Ceko, RS Chief Auditor, confirmed in a statement to Glas Srpske that RS Chief Audit has received report with remarks of RS Interior Ministry upon Audit Report on RS MOI, stressing that those remarks have only slightly influenced the compilation of the final report to a great extent. According to him, the corrections were of minor importance, which had no great impact upon the content of the report. One of such change is that Zoran Glsuac, Spokesperson of RS MoI, did not actually get the gun. Ceko concludes that the procurement services during Pope’s visit to |
| HDZ BiH delegation to visit ICTY
| Nezavisne Novine cover and pg 2 ‘HDZ officials of BiH on Thursday with Carla del Ponte in The Hague’ by M. Cubro – Goran Mihaljevic, the Croat Liaison Officer with the ICTY, yesterday confirmed that the BiH officials of HDZ would on Thursday go to The Hague, where they would meet with Carla del Ponte, ICTY Chief Prosecutor. He said: “I can confirm that the meeting with del Ponte is to take place on Thursday in The HDZ delegation leaving to |
| Dnevni Avaz: Del Ponte sent new letter to Croat officials in BiH
| Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Carla Del Ponte again warned Croat officials in BiH’ – Chief ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte on August 31 this year sent another letter to the addresses of all relevant BiH institutions and officials requesting them again to ensure submission of the wartime documentation of then Croat Republic of Herceg Bosna to the ICTY. |
| Incident in Modrica: two SNSD members beaten up by former mayor
| Nezavisne Novine cover and pg 3 ‘Removed mayor beat up on two members of SNSD youth’ by S. Jeremic; Glas Srpske cover page report ‘Pre-election fight’ – The fight broke out on Saturday around 15:00 hrs between Goran Radulovic (31) and Dragan Sjencic (28), both members of the SNSD Youth, and Novak Gojkovic (43), Dragan Jevtic (31) and Milenko Misic (36) on the other side. Gojkovic was Modrica Mayor before High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, removed him from this position on 30th June. Doboj PSC announced that “Sjencic and Radulovic were injured in the heads in the fight. The investigation o this event is still ongoing.” Sjencic says thathe and Gojkovic were leaving the Municipal building when a Mercedesstopped, from which Gojkovic, Jevtic and Misic stood out. He further said: “Gojkovic hit me with the gun in the head.” He noted Gojkovic was bothered with the fact two of them were wearing T-shirts with SNSD signs. According to him, Gojkovic said that he is still “lord and master of this city.” |
| Denial of PSC Serb Sarajevo re alleged assassination attempt against Ljajic
| Glas Srpske cover page story ‘Conspiracy in imagination’ by N.Z. – Spokesperson of Centre of Public Security- Srpsko Sarrajevo, Radovan Pejic has denied the statements of some media in F BiH that there was an attempted assassination of the SiCG’s Minister for Human and Minorities’ Rights, Rasim Ljajic. Pejic said that in vehicle, which has followed the procession, weren’t criminals from Niksic, but plain passengers, who tried to reach their destination a bit faster by joining the procession. RS MoI has denied the information that RS police did not provide the necessary security, including police escort, for Minister Ljajic. He noted: “In accordance with the announcement, we started with escort at |
| Update to work of entity Commissions for search after missing persons
| Glas Srpske pg 5 ‘Wardens of false pictures’ by N. Zelenovic – GS carries reports with comment of Slobodan Skrba, member of the RS Commission for search after missing persons, who denied all accusations of his colleagues from F BiH (that Serb side is abusing human remains). Skrba claims that it is actually the opposite as F BiH Commission claims, meaning that Federal authorities have been deliberately hiding, for years now, information related to missing Serbs, including sites where they were buried and re-location of graves. He further adds that Federal Commission has been lately deliberately postponing DNA analysis of human remains, in order to keep the false picture pf Bosniaks are major victims during the past war in BiH. Skrba also says that Federal Commission used to exchange the bodies of the Serbs from |
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| Economic/social issues |
| IC supports introduction of a single VAT rate in BiH
| FTV – BiH Council of Ministers accepted a request by International Community regarding a single VAT rate for all products.International Community insists on one VAT rate because of a lack of personnel, which is able to calculate multiple VAT rates. Single VAT rate of 17% would mean that basic food products, like bread, would become more expensive. On the other hand, luxury products, like alcohol or cars, would become cheaper. Budget/Finance Commission of BIH parliament suggested amendments to the proposed law and introduction of three different VAT rates. Renzo Daviddi, Head of Economic and Political Department of European Commission Delegation in BIH: “It’s not a question of number of people, but a question of their work and ability to follow different transactions which are necessary. VAT system is quite complicated. I think that, if one VAT rate is implemented, nothing prevents BiH from adding new rates later, as the system becomes more complex, after several years, once when the administration has understood how the VAT system works.” Dnevni Avaz pg 5, mentioned on cover ‘BiH cannot have two VAT rates’ carries an interview with Daviddi on the issue. |
| BiH journalists request for three different VAT rates
| FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘Zero rate or boycott’ – The Coordination of BiH Journalist Associations requested deputies to the BiH House of Representatives to adopt amendments to the draft VAT law and ensure introduction of three different VAT rates. This would ensure introduction of a zero VAT rate for basic food products, textbooks and other publications as well as press. The journalists called on IMF and OHR to respect and protect basic human rights of BIH citizens. If however a single VAT rate is adopted, the Coordination will invite journalists and the public in BIH to boycott political and other activities. They will also request for support to their VAT-related position from journalist associations from throughout the world. |
| NN op-ed on telecom operators
| Nezavisne Novine op-ed pg 7 ‘Ethnic telecom operators’ by M. Cubro – The author is writing about “BH Telekom” starting the op-ed with the statement that Hamdo Katica, Director of “BH Telekom” has the (monthly) salary of BAM 8.5 thousand, but the services of the company he is running are as bad as his salary is. The author claims “BH Telekom” is nowadays vastly lagging behind other two operators in BiH (Telekom Srpske and Eronet), in regard to favourable services it is providing to its users. Cubro further notes that the three telecommunication operators in BiH have been ethnically divided, substantiating it with the reference to a statement a senior official of the SDA made few months ago that third GSM licence would be allocated to Mostar HT, so that “Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats have their operators”. The author further claims that SDA has placed Katica to this position at “BH Telekom”, noting that SDA is still running the policy of holding the monopoly, in order to keep this company and its income under its control. He concludes the article by saying: “The authority has failed to do anything to change the situation at these firms. Does not this substantiate proof that the power-holders are those making the best benefit of the chaos. It is logical that when the authority makes the money, the citizens are losing it.” |
| DL: 630 former members of HVO go into favourable retirement
| Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘630 members of HVO go into favourable retirement’, mentioned on front, by Ivica Glibusic – The HQ for protection of rights members of HVO (750 of them), who were retired by the commander-in-chief in 1997, got an information from competent persons in the FBiH Ministry of Defence regarding the realization of military pensions according to the Decision on favourable conditions for early age retirement of members of the FBiH Army. According to an interpretation of the information by the President of the said HQ, Pero Blazevic, this means that 630 of them will be given the favourable pension, whilst 120 do not meet the requirements. |
| Eronet to decide on appeal to
| Dnevni list, pg 8 ‘Gavranovic: Decision on appeal to RAK’s decision on Friday’, not signed – The President of Eronet’s Supervisory Board, Robert Gavranovic, says the Board will be taking a decision whether to appeal to the BiH Court regarding the Communications Regulatory Agency’s (RAK) decision to issue 3rd GSM licence to HT Mostar at its session scheduled next Friday. |
| New affair with Kuwaiti loans in Mostar at sight
| Vecernji List, pg 5 ‘Bosniak loan from Kuwait becomes Croat debt’, by Miroslav Vasilj – notes that another affair could soon be surfacing, this time it is about a Kuwaiti loan worth 14 million KMs plus the interest, which the Bosniak authorities took during the times of the Interim Statute of Mostar, when six municipalities were in place. According to VL, the money was allegedly spent on infrastructure, but only in the Bosniak-majority areas and after the municipalities ceased to be, all the liabilities were transferred onto the single, city budget, which in turn means that all Mostarians, regardless of their nationality, will have to return the loan in case it is included in the city budget. VL goes on to say that the Croat side is unhappy with efforts of the Bosniak side to ‘shove’ the loan into the city budget, which could cause more problems to the implementation of the Mostar Statute. VL also learns that the loan was discussed during the last visit to Kuwait by Haris Silajdzic and the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, and apparently there were efforts to write the loan off, but the Kuwaiti authorities were clear in saying that the loan must be returned. |
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| Political developments |
| High Representative Ashdown to visit London, Brussels
| Herceg Bosna Radio, BHT, RTRS, Nezavisne Novine pg 5 ‘Ashdown to meet British Secretary for Foreign Affairs today’ by Onasa; Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Ashdown in London’, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Meetings with Straw and Solana’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Ashdown to discuss situation in BiH with Straw and Solana’, Vecernji List, pg 2, ‘Ashdown with Javier Solana’, by f, and Dnevni List, pg 3, ‘High Representative visits London and Brussels’, by Nina , FENA – The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, on Monday will be in London where he will meet the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, OHR said in a press release on Sunday. From |
| Border disputes between SCG and BiH
| Oslobodjenje cover page, pgs 4-5 ‘Serbia requests yet 40 square kilometres of the BiH territory’ – At a recent meeting of the BiH/SCG Interstate Council in Belgrade, the Serbian officials requested for a change of the boundary line at four locations along the Drina river, said BiH Minister of Civil Affairs Safet Halilovic in a statement for the daily. The four locations include the Janja area, an area along the Belgrade-Bar railway line and the space around the hydro-electric power plants Zvornik and Bajna Basta. Halilovic warns of an inappropriate almost ignorant attitude of the BiH state bodies towards this issue. Halilovic also believes that the international community as a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement has an obligation to protect BiH state borders. |
| Oslobodjenje: Ministers to request debate on Finci re-appointment
| Oslobodjenje pg 7, mentioned on cover ‘Ministers to request debate on Finci’ – The members of the BiH Council of Minister might at the first coming session of the body request a debate on why had CoM Chair Adnan Terzic signed a document extending the mandate of BiH Civil Service Agency Director Jakob Finci by 2007. According to the daily, in this way, Terzic violated the Law on Civil Service. |
| Vecernje Novosti interview with PM Mikerevic
| Vecernje Novosti cover and pg 2 ‘We were about to go bankrupt’ by Slobodan Pesevic – In a brief interview to VN, Dragan Mikerevic, RS Prime Minister, says that “regardless of the fact progress has been achieved in some areas, we have failed to achieve the desired progress. All departments of my Government have not, unfortunately, contributed to the same extent. We have several problems piling up, and if we fail to resolve them, they might escalate. Hearby I refer to urbanism and housing problem.” He also expresses dissatisfaction with the process of privatisation and something would have to be changed in this regard. He denies speculations regarding the abolishment of RS Interior Ministry. On appointment of new RS MoI, he expresses hope he would appoint Minister during the course of next week. On removal of SDA ministers from RS Government, he says that he was satisfied with their work, noting that “we have not had any major problem, but instead some democratic debates at Government sessions.” He adds that “I must take care of Government stability. I will make a move in the coming ten days or so to calm down political tensions.” |
| DL int: Beslic on Aluminij, Mostar Statute
| Dnevni List, front and pg 7 ‘Croatia will not allow continuation of problems in Aluminij’, by Ana Andjelic – carries an interview with the Deputy Mayor of Mostar, Ljubo Beslic, who was recently received by the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, together with the CEO of ‘Aluminij’ Company of Mostar, Mijo Brajkovic. Talking about the meeting with PM Sanader, Beslic notes that PM Sanader is well informed about the situation in BiH and Mostar and that talks were held about the political situation, forthcoming local elections in BiH and relations within the HDZ. Regarding the talks on Aluminij, Beslic is quoted as saying: “A full support was given to Brajkovic and it was said that Deputy Mayor Beslic was also asked to comment on the Mostar Statute: “The new Statute is not good, but if you look at what we had had before, the situation back then was much worse. The new Statute is therefore a big step forward. I hope it is interim as was the one before it and that it represents a transition towards making a normal Mostar, a European city. BiH cannot go to |
| VL int: Coric on language(s) in schools
| Vecernji List, pg 5 ‘Croatian language is not endangered, Croat children will learn it’, by Miso Relota – carries an interview with the Canton 7 Prime Minister, Miroslav Coric, in which he comments on the issue of language(s) in elementary and secondary schools. “As far as the curriculum and language for the Croats, as well as the Bosniaks and Serbs, are concerned, I can say there are no reasons to be afraid. Children that want lectures in the Croatian language, it will be enabled to them. I responsibly claim that the Croatian language was never in question. This year we will have in Ivanjica, PM Coric also notes that the HNC budget for 2004 will likely be subjected to re-balancing in late September since the collection of revenues is not matching the plans. |
| Paravac: Economy is key issue, not constitutional changes
| Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Paravac: Obstacle to progress are not constitutional changes’, not signed – the Serb member of BiH Presidency, Borislav Paravac, told journalists in Bijeljina that the biggest obstacle to BiH’s progress were not constitutional changes, but low level of economic development. He also reiterated that the Constitution clearly stipulated that changes to the Constitution required a consensus among all three peoples. |
| VL: No more national prefixes in names of public companies in FBiH
| Vecernji List, pg 4 ‘Telekoms and post offices to lose national adjectives’, by Dejan Jazvic – argues that big public companies in the FBiH will soon be forced to change their names because the FBiH Government is preparing a new legislation that deals with the issue. Apparently, all the public companies in the FBiH that have either a national or state determination in their names, will have to lose them. VL notes that almost every big public company in the FBiH has either ‘Croat’, ‘BH’ or ‘BiH’ prefix in their names, which suggest that they belong to a certain people or state, something that will have to change in the future. |
| Halilovic supports special status of Srebrenica
| Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘There would be justice for Srebrenica if it were in RS’, not signed – The President of Presidency of SBiH, Safet Halilovic, supported the special status of Municipality of Srebrenica in BiH stressing that “there would be justice for Srebrenica if it were not in composition of the RS”. Halilovic also stated that “justice for the RS is that Srebrenica exists and shows the way the RS was created”. |
| SDU demands that Tomislav Nikolic (Radical Party of
| Dnevni List, pg 4, ‘Proclaim Nikolic persona non grata’, not signed, and Vecernji list, pg ‘Tokic: Ban Nikolic from entering BiH’, by f – in light of continuous participation of Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of Radical Party of Serbia, in pre-election rallies in BiH, SDU finds it not permissible that the BiH Presidency and the Foreign Ministry tolerate such participation of especially such officials who in their speeches deny existence of BiH and who spread inter-ethnic hatred. The SDU reminds the BiH Presidency of its constitutional obligation and right to protect BiH sovereignty and demands that Nikolic and persons of similar profile be proclaimed personae non grata. |
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| Miscellaneous |
| Youth, Development and Peace ” Conference opened in
| Herceg Bosna Radio, BHT, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Peace is a pre-condition for development’, Dnevni Avaz pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘The young people can be agents for changes in the world’, ONASA – A two-day World Bank’s conference dubbed “Youth, Development and Peace” was opened in Sarajevo on Sunday, and will be attended by approximately 170 youth representatives from 83 countries and 40 senior officials of the World Bank and other international organizations. Education, employment, conflict prevention and resolving, high-risk behavior and AIDS are among the key topics that will be discussed during the conference, jointly prepared by the European Youth Forum and World Scout Organization in cooperation with the BiH Council of Ministers. “The title of the conference reflects our devotion. Youth, development and peace are what we are focusing on,” the BiH prime minister, Adnan Terzic, said at the opening of the Conference. Terzic said that BiH youth have greatly contributed to the drafting of the BiH Development Strategy. “This convinced us that the youth can take responsibility if they are given the right opportunity,” he said Vecernji List, pg 2, ‘Youth needs specific help, not mere analysis’, by Renata Radic, and Dnevni List, pg 3, ‘Through youth policy to needed changes’, by Vedran Vujovic – VL carries that, on the first day of the “Youth, development, peace 2004” conference which is being held in Sarajevo under the auspices of the World Bank and the European Youth Forum, one could hear that education, employment, prevention and resolution of conflicts are the areas in which state institutions should help the young people. Jan Zlatan Kulenovic, the Director of Sarajevo-based Youth Agency, is quoted as saying that practically nothing changed since the last year’s youth conference in |
| UNDP to present study on small and light weapons in BiH
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Republika Srpska leads the way when it comes to number of armed people’, by NINA – the UN Development Programme will present the public a study on small and light weapons in BiH in Sarajevo tomorrow, the aim of which is to inform politicians, the IC and wider public about post-war challenges BiH is facing when it comes to arms and ammunition. Apparently, there are registered 353.000 pieces of weapons owned by civilians, of which 200.000 in the RS, 144.500 in the FBiH and 8.500 in the Brcko District. UNDP notes it is very hard to even measure how much illegal weapons there are among the citizens. |
| Serbs from Tuzla to ask for removal of Bishop Vasilije
| Vecernji List, pg 8 ‘Serbs from Tuzla request removal of Bishop Kacavenda’, by Miro Petrovic – noting that the Serbs made as much as 25% of the pre-war population in the Municipality of Tuzla, the number which is now down to 2%, VL reports that the Serb Civic Council of Tuzla (SGV) is blaming the Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla, Vasilije Kacavenda, for the situation. According to the President of SGV in |