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| Kostajnica case | ‘Orao’ affairs | IC on single customs | Cavic about ‘Orao’ |
| Israeli government | Single customs | Radioactive emissions | Single customs |
| New cloning announced | Saddam Hussein | Increase on MPs wages |
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| Saddam Hussein on UK |
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| Oslobodjenje | Buljubasic – no proof that FBiH breached embargo; Charlie Powel behaves like a little boss; Uniting of customs – impostors damage BiH for 400 million KM; Unsuitable lawyers – being set up by Faruk Balijagic; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Davidi – Customs thefts source for financing criminals; Halilovic – Belkic’s statement is his own view; Orao – behind trade with Iraq is Mafia of generals |
| Dnevni List | Chair of BiH Presidency: Sarovic against the establishment of joint Ministry of Defense |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | FBI and CIA submitted list of suspects for attacks on Croats: Former Konjic Mayor Safet Cibo an ideologist of violence over Croats |
Orao Affair | |
| Buljubasic on the report
| Avaz pg. 1, 4 and 5 – Deputy Federation Defence Minister, Ferid Buljubasic, stated that ‘he could not wait to see a document which proves that FBiH companies breached the embargo’. Buljubasic stated that even after repeated extraordinary inspection of companies that trade weapons they did not uncover any illegal trade with countries under the UN embargo. He however pointed out that the Federation companies were trading with RS companies and it was not known whether the products from the Federation were then sent by RS companies to third countries. Buljubasic refused to comment Dodik’s statement that single command of the BiH army had already been agreed. |
| US embassy in BiH | Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘US government still included in the investigation’, Avaz pg. 3 ‘RS authorities promised full investigation’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 16 ‘US government still involve din the Orao investigation’ – the US government is still involved in the ‘Orao’ investigation. This was announced on Monday from the US embassy in Sarajevo. They however did not make a comment on the submitted report by the RS authorities saying that they wanted to examine it. |
| BiH Presidency | Avaz pg. 2 ‘Dragan Cavic bypassed Presidency’ – the latest report, unlike the one from yesterday’s media, reads that none of the Presidency members received the ‘Orao’ report. In an announcement issued from the Presidency it is said that they are still expecting to receive the report. Dragomir Vukovic, Advisor for political system, analysis and information in Sarovic’s Cabinet, stated that no report had been submitted to Sarovic’s office. |
| Powerful Mafia of army generals behind the affair | Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – former Chief of Plavsic’s Cabinet for Military Issues, Ostoja Barasin, stated that they were never asked for an approval for any sort of business arrangement by the Institute. He further recalled a meeting between Plavsic and General Pero Colic who tried to push for an engagement in Far East countries, but Plavsic firmly declined. Aleksandar Radic, editor of ‘Defence and Security’ and Military Analyst from Belgrade, told Avaz that political centres from Belgrade had been trying to ‘push it (the affair) under the carpet’. In his opinion, this case proved that Belgrade Mafia of army generals has strong connections in the RS. |
| Cavic | ONASA – Republika Srpska President Dragan Cavic reacted on Monday to yesterday’s statements by Ostoja Barasin, Manojlo Milovanovic and Milorad Dodik regarding the ‘Orao’ report. He described their statements as ‘inadequate and absurd’ since none of them has seen the final report. Milovanovic said on Sunday that the RS President presented incorrect information, adding that names and years Cavic mentioned in the report did not match. Dodik said that the goal of the report was to ‘transfer political responsibility on the structures that have nothing to do with it’. In a statement from Cavic’s office it was said that former RS PM Milorad Dodik, Mladen Ivanic, Defense Minister Manojlo Milovanovic and former RS President Mirko Sarovic were not responsible for cooperation with Iraq, since the investigation showed that they were not informed and that they did not make any decisions that violated international laws. |
| NHI | Dnevni List pg. 6 ‘The report contains a series of inaccuracies’ – an NHI press release on the ‘Orao’ affair. “It is confusing that in the case of obvious violation of international resolutions and conventions, there has been a lack of urgent reaction by the international representatives. However, in other, far more benign cases, removals were resorted to without valid justifications, they even resorted to banning the right to work which to individuals meant depriving of the right to existence”. |
| OSCE | Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Report on Orao affair impossible to comment’ – Urdur Gunnarsdottir, OSCE Spokeswoman, told Oslobodjenje that internaitonal organisations in BiH have been co-operating very closely on the case of the ‘Orao’ Institute and therefore will jointly react to the report submitted by the RS Supreme Defence Council. ‘The state of absurd’ by Mirko Sagolj in Oslobodjenje on pg. 2 – he claims that the report only illustrates the state of absurdity that BiH is currently in as a state. According to Sagolj, the only thing that is not disputable is that the embargo has been breached. “The current RS leaders claim that former RS President Plavsic is to be blamed and that she burned all documents after she left the post. Dodik, who was the RS PM during Plavsic’s time, claims on the other hand that his predecessors from the SDS burned documents when departing the government four years ago.” Sagolj concludes that burning documents is the worst act of barbarism, and adds that he is not surprised that mentioned RS officials did it when they used to burn people alive. He is surprised that HR Ashdown still keeps signing approvals for the appointments of those people for the most senior posts. And also the fact that the biggest victim of the same people are now voting for them. Only possible in a country of absurdities such as BiH. |
| Commentaries in Oslobodjenje | The second commentary also on pg. 2 in Oslobodjenje is written by Antonio Prlenda is entitled ‘A reportaccording to Saddam’s recipe’– basically saying that the IC requested from the RS authorities to answer eight concrete questions. According to Prlenda however thinks the report failed to answer fully any of the eight basic questions. In his view, it would be realistic to ask whether Cavic tried to buy time with the report just like Hussien did with the UN inspectors when he handed them over a report on thousands of pages, and hundreds of floppy discs on Iraqi weapons. Prlenda also points out that Cavic is trying to save his party Chief Sarovic, and is also hoping that once the new government was established Ashdown would not start removing officials who worked so hard to establish the same government. |
Political Affairs | |
| Mikerevic
| Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Justice Ministry offered to SBiH’, Dnevni List pg. 6 ‘RS PM designate Mikerevic on formation of the RS government’ – RS PM Dragan Mikerevic stated yest6erday that the SBiH had been offered a ministerial post in the RS Justice Ministry. In return, the SBiH should support the new RS government in the RS NA. Mikerevic further said that unless the SBiH was ready to support the new government then it would not be logical for its reps to participate in the new government. |
| Powel behaves like a sheriff | Oslobodjenje pg. 7 ‘Charlie Powel behaves like a sheriff’ – a half page article on OHR head in Srebrenica and Bratunac, Charlie Powel. Sadik Ahmetovic, Vice-President of the Srebrenica Assembly, stated that the latest campaign is the result of the latest election results. According to him, this is the word of SDP member who are trying to get space for their political manoeuvres. As for Powel, he said he once worked with him and had no problems. Hakija Meholjic, head of SDP in Srebrenica and Chief of the Federation Office for Return, has a very different opinion of Powel. According to her, it is about time for Powel to leave Srebrenica because he has been behaving like a small town sheriff. “It is true that he has been going hunting with Serb extremists and to picnics, and that they set him up with women,” said Meholjic. The article also carried a statement by President of the ‘Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves’ Association, Munira Subasic. She basically repeated the same thing as Meholjic, and added that the Association had been requesting for a while Powel’s removal. |
| Corruption in FBiH – part II | Oslobodjenje pg. 20 ‘Bribes received by policemen, doctors, politicians..’ – the second in the series of articles on the corruption in the Federation. Today’s article provides the statistic that every fourth inhabitant of the Federation in the past year at least once bribed a policeman or a doctor. Something called ‘small corruption’ is apparently deeply rooted in the society. For example, bribing policemen for minor traffic violations or a doctor for a routine examination. The article carried several testimonies of such cases by citizens of the Federation. |
| Commentary in Avaz | Avaz pg. 3 ‘Commentary of the Day’ column written today by Edina Sarac entitled ‘New farce by Doboj authorities’ – deals with the issue of illegal construction in Kotorsko. Sarac claims that Doboj mayor came up with a great scenario, and sweet-talked his way into making people believe that the illegal construction in Kotorsko would stop. She recalled how TV cameras recorded two or three months ago the beginning of removal of illegally constructed houses. The latest pictures from Kotorsko however prove that it was all good acting and even better directing. “All those who had tiles removed from their house roofs were received help to fix the damage. Judging by the situation, Serbs who constructed houses on the land they knew was Bosniak received instructions how to behave.” She concludes by saying that the question remains after this farce whether OHR and the RS government would react. |
| Union’s letter to Dzaferovic | Avaz pg. 4 ‘Representatives increasing salaries while thousands of workers are barely surviving’, FENA – the BiH Union is surprised that the first decision made by the BiH House of Representatives was to set criteria under which representatives can become professionals and also increase their wages. In an open letter sent to BiH House of Representatives Speaker Sefik Dzaferovic, the Union described the decision as irritating, especially coming at a time when tens of thousands of workers and their families are barely making ends meet. The BiH Union stated that representatives would receive between 2,500 and 3,000 KM while the average salary in the most elite manufacturing industry is 354 KM. |
| CIPS | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘New IDs next week’ – instead of January 2, as it was previously announced, the printing of new IDs will start in the second half of this month. Kresimir Kevo, a member of the CIPS Working Group, stated that a one-year deadline for the replacement of documents had not started yet. |
Economic Affairs | |
| Single customs
| Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Customs impostors damage annually BiH for around 400 million KM’, Avaz pg. 1 and 5 – Renzo Daviddi, Head of the Working Group for the establishment of single BiH customs administration and Chief of the EC, presented on Monday a report that diagnosis diseases of the BiH customs system. He said that the only solution for the country was a single customs administration, and added that further investments in BiH would depend on the introduction of the same. Daviddi said that there were foundations in the BiH Constitution for the establishment of single customs. He further explained that certain number of employees in customs administration would lose their job in the process of reform, but added that many of them were not professionals but were appointed through their political posts. He stated that marginal changes would make no difference for the BiH customs system. As for the customs revenues, Daviddi stated that the system would remain the same as so far, and that it would not be difficult to determine where the goods ended and who should get the money. The report has been forwarded to HR Ashdown who should declare his view on it. As for the deadline, Daviddi said there wasn’t one, and that the reform would take place once the consensus was reached with the local authorities. The Group suggested the establishment of a single customs by the uniting of existing three, reduction of number of customs terminals and introduction of equal salaries for all customs employees. Daviddi also gave an interview to Avaz where he said that there was clear proof that parallel structures and politicians, as well as some political organisations were the core of organised crime. (also reported in CRO media – Dnevni List pg. 3, ONASA, Slobodna Dalmacija last page ‘Without single customs BiH loses annually 600 million-KM’) |
| Vilendecic | Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Ban customs and customs administrations’ – RS Finance Minister, Simeun Vilendecic, said the RS would advocate the banning of customs and customs administrations, instead of the introduction of a single customs system at the BiH level. |
| Hercegovacka Bank | Vecernji List pg. 1 and 3 – the Provisional Administration (PA) for Hercegovacka Bank, after HR Paddy Ashdown made a decision to sell the Bank, is preparing a report about the selling of the bank via tender on the international banking market. The report will allegedly include a report on the current financial situation, shares and stocks in other companies, ownership over real estate, number of employees and assets and liabilities. VL learns from the spokesperson of the PA Johan Verheyden that the documents will be worked on in the next few weeks. He refused to give the exact date of the tender, which will be published in the local and foreign media. VL unofficially learns that the tender will be published not later than mid-2003 because allegedly HR Ashdown is interested in reactivating the bank. According to daily’s sources close to the OHR that Ashdown was influenced by some Herzegovina businessmen who were also stockholders in the bank. His predecessor Wolfgang Petritsch allegedly suggested the same to Ashdown after he had left the OHR. The daily also reads that the PA has submitted criminal charges against some members of Hercegovacka Bank former management to the Federation Prosecution. “All issues concerning the destiny of those people will not be dealt with by us, but by the Prosecution. As far as we are concerned, we have done our job”, says Verheyden. |
Judiciary Affairs | |
| Removal of 26 lawyers | Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘Monstrous set up by lawyer Faruk Balijagic’, Vecernji List pg. 2 – Ekrem Gfalijatovic, a respectable lawyer and President of the BiH Bar Association, stated on Monday that he doubted HR Ashdown intended to ban work for 26 respectable BiH lawyers. He stated that the fact the Association suspected the information was because they never received any information from the IC even though the BiH Chamber is a respectable member of the International Union of Lawyers. Ahmed Zilic, a candidate for the Judge at the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, also made a statement. He said he never met with anyone from OHR, including Zoran Pajic, to discuss the matter. Lawyer Faruk Balijagic however claimed that Pajic and Zilic helped Ashdown in making ‘the list of unsuitable lawyers’. Oslobodjenje also carried a statement by OHR Spokesperson Oleg Milisic who said that the stories in the media about the list of 26 lawyers were not founded and that there was no such list. |
Military Issues | |
| Sarovic | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Joint defence ministry unnecessary’, Avaz pg. 4 ‘Sarovic against NATO recommendation’, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3, Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 13 ‘Sarovic: There will be no joint Army’ – Mirko Sarovic, Presidency Chair, stated on Monday that he was against the establishment of a single defence ministry. He is convinced that despite the fact that this is against what NATO SG Robertson wants, BiH will become a member of the Partnership for Peace in the course of this year. He said that the Permanent Committee could perform all tasks of the joint defence ministry for Military Issues. According to him, the establishment of a joint army is for him ‘unnecessary job and the waste of energy’. “All those suggesting it do not understand problems and have very bad intentions,” said Sarovic. As for the change of name of the RS, he again declared against it saying that the establishment of the RS was part of the compromise when the DPA was signed. |
International Community | |
| DL editorial
| Dnevni List pg. 4 an editorial by Dr. Slavo Kukic ‘Ashdown is, unfortunately, right’ – regarding Ashdown’s statement on Karadzic’s arrest during a BBC interview, which caused dissatisfaction of SDP BiH whose leader, according to Kukic, accused HR Ashdown of blaming the entire Serb people of failure to arrest Karadzic. “As far as I am concerned, the High Representative is, unfortunately, right to good extent. Who could deny that Karadzic was not supported by a large part of population of the smaller BiH entity? And why run away from the truth that they are the citizens of the Serb nationality. I also understand Lagumdzija and SDP’s reasons. I am sure their motives are also honorable. And that they are in the function of future and well being of this country. But, it is very hard to escape the truth,” says Kukic. |
| Milisic on CoM | Avaz pg. 2 ‘The vetting of candidates will last until the end of the week’, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3, Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 16 ‘Vetting of candidates until end of the week’ – a statement by OHR Spokesperson, Oleg Milisic, regarding the vetting of CoM candidates. He stated that the process was still on going, but could not tell whether it would be completed by Friday. “I can not confirm whether it would be completed by Friday. The most important thing for HR now is to do the vetting job properly.” |
| Solana’s visit | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Javier Solana in Sarajevo on January 15’, Avaz pg. 2 ‘Solana arriving to Sarajevo on January 15’ – the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, will arrive in Sarajevo on January 15 to attend an inauguration ceremony of the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in BiH, announced Solana’s Spokesperson, Christina Gallach. The IPTF Commissioner, Sven Frederiksen, HR Paddy Ashdown and Greek Foreign Minister should also attend the ceremony. |
Education Affairs | |
| A letter to Ashdown
| Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 16 ‘Support to education reform’ – teachers from the municipalities of Maglaj, Tesanj, Kakanj and Zavidovici have sent a letter to HR Paddy Ashdown giving their full support to the education reform the HR has announced. The features of the current situation in this field are that there are ten different laws on elementary education, textbooks are inadequate and often do not even meet the minimal need in the education process. That is why these teachers in their letter demand from the HR that the elementary education be defined and uniform, if not at the BiH then at least at the FBiH level. The teachers are also dissatisfied with the attitude of the cantonal authorities, primarily the Education Minister, towards the problems in education field so they have no choice but to go on strike as a means to get their fundamental rights guaranteed by law. |
| School on Stolac | Dnevni Avaz pg. 19 ‘Working conditions below every level’ – notes that a secondary school that works according to the Federation curriculum was opened in Stolac a year ago and that the school has 7 classrooms and a workshop at its disposal. The daily adds that the school’s teachers also got two premises that do not meet criteria and that they are deprived of using the school library, kitchen and teacher’s room. “Although the removal of religious and national symbols has been requested with the help of the IC and municipal bodies, not only that the symbols have not been removed but they remain, especially the one at the entrance of the school, of a school in Croatia. In a joint document of international organizations – the OSCE, OHR and UNHCR – offered a proposal of merging of schools in Stolac as back as March 27, 2002. The proposal seems to be quickly forgotten because the state of education area in this town remained unchanged and there were no developments so one could call it the secondary school with a single roof and two schools”, reads Dnevni Avaz. |
Police Affairs | |
| SBS | Dnevni Avaz pg. 10 ‘Mayor of Brcko is not right’ – BiH Minister of Treasury, Anto Domazet, reacted to a statement by the District Mayor Sinisa Kisic regarding the funding of the SBS. Kisic said that the District would stop payment of funds for the SBS and abolish petroleum fees unless a petroleum corridor through Brcko was established. Ante Domazet stated that abolishing fees and stopping the payment of funds for the SBS would be a great mistake by the Brcko District and violation of the Sarajevo Agreement on Harmonisation of Petroleum Taxes. He explained that the Agreement did not condition the payment of the funds with proclaiming Brcko border crossing point as a border crossing point of the first category. He also says that Brcko is a part of BiH territory, and as far as BiH is concerned this border crossing point is already open for transports of all high-tariff goods, including petroleum. However, the situation is not the same at the Croatian side, since Croatia favours Orasje border crossing point. “We will do everything in our power, yet it is up to Croatia to decide,” Domazet concluded. Oslobodjenje on pg. 3 quotes Domazet as saying that the District does not have to pay the funds, because the Agreement states the District will not do this unless the Council of Ministers meets its obligation – open Gunja border crossing point. “We have tried to reach an agreement on this with the Croatian authorities, but we still have not got any response. For the moment, their priority is to open Orasje border crossing.” |