OHR BiH Media Round-up, 8/1/2005 – Office of the High Representative

RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs)	BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs)	FED TV (19,30 hrs)	RT RS (19,30)
Incident in Borovo	Christmas inSarajevo	Police reconstruction	Orthodox Xmas
Cro presidential elections	Christmas in BiH	Report on tsunami	Pavle served mass in Peja
HVIDRA supports Gotovina	Brussels on police reform	Mourning day in BiH	Xmas in Banja Luka
HSP BIH on Mostar	NATO released Tesic	Help for tsunami victims	Xmas in Bijeljina

Oslobodjenje	Scandal directed by Head of the State: BiH Presidency did not proclaim Day of Mourning
Dnevni Avaz	Interview with Paddy Ashdown: Police reform has not been stopped
Dnevni List	Last indictments from The Hague arrive in late January
Vecernji List	Features Croatia related headline
Slobodna Dalmacija	New set of laws in area of tax reforms full of loopholes: Cars, airplanes and jewellery are not luxury items
Nezavisne Novine	Christmas was celebrated; Investigation on illegal wire-tapping of Hague Prosecutors was launched; Srebrenica: returnees have not seen donations amounting millions; BiH Central Bank: Deficit in balance of payments has overstepped one billion KM
EuroBlic	Srpska defends its army and police
Vecernje novosti	Bosnia is a tripod

Political developments/reforms

Ashdown interview with Dnevni Avaz: Police reform has not been stopped

Dnevni Avaz cover page, pg 5 ‘Police reform has not been stopped’ – In an interview with the daily following his visit to Belgrade and meeting with RS Prime Minister in resignation Dragan Mikerevic, High Representative Paddy Ashdown once again emphasized the imperative of cooperation with The Hague Tribunal and bringing of war criminals to justice as soon as possible. “There is only one but a major obstacle on the BiH’s road towards a brighter future. And it is about cooperation with The Hague Tribunal. My message to the entire BiH and particularly RS would therefore be that this problem has to be resolved. Of course the biggest responsibility lies with RS, but the state-level organizations such as OSA, SIPA, SBS and the others have their portion of the job. We all have to assist in order for that obstacle to be removed,” said Ashdown. He emphasized that during his recent meetings with top Serbian/SCG officials he told them that it was their obligation as well to assist RS in fulfilling its obligations towards the ICTY. Commenting on his recent meeting with Mikerevic, Ashdown said Mikerevic had convinced him that the current political situation in RS would not have negative impact on completion of all the tasks arising from the Srebernica Commissions report and that they would be completed within the deadline set. With regard to the ongoing police reform, Ashdown said that the process was not stopped and that it should be completed in several phases including the additional explanation to people what the reform actually meant and making a final decision on the issue afterwards.

VN interview with HR Ashdown: Bosnia is a tripod

Vecernje Novosti, cover and pg. 2 ‘Bosnia is a tripod’ by Ana Grujic – On the occasion of his visit to Belgrade, High Representative Paddy Ashdown has stated for VN that RS has not been fulfilling its obligations, i.e. is not cooperating with the Hague Tribunal, prescribed by the Dayton Agreement for the ninth year and is violating it by not fulfilling the obligations. ‘However, I think a new will has developed in Banja Luka to overcome this barrier. I am sure they can succeed in this and I can help them. Belgrade must help RS with this, and not make it even more difficult as it is doing now. I am here to protect the Dayton Agreement, therefore RS as well as a part of it’, HR Ashdown has stated. The High Representative said some war crimes indictees from RS are in SiCG and the official Belgrade know where they are, but is not helping Banja Luka to arrest them.

Asked to comment on his New Years statement, High Representative Paddy Ashdown has said both in RS and in Federation of BiH the police are under a great political control and large parts of both of these structures are corrupted. ‘The difference is that the Federation, including Croats, has agreed on having the police controlled from the state level instead from the Cantonal level, while RS has not accepted this’. He emphasized that BiH cannot join Europe unless it realizes the police reform. With regard to his New Years message, HR Ashdown emphasized it is very important to clearly report on everything he has said: ‘Attempts to erase what the Dayton foresees are simply not good and are causing people to fear. The only way to get to a solution is through negotiations and it is necessary for Bosniaks to understand this’. He stressed that Bosniaks are more numerous in BiH than the other two peoples, therefore they, potentially, have greater power in decision-making, which does not mean they can overpower the other two peoples. ‘BiH is like a tripod – all three legs must come to an agreement’, HR Ashdown said.

At the end, the High Representative reiterated that the future of BiH lies in hands of its peoples and any structural change can only be a result of an agreement of all three peoples.

Inset ‘Mladic was in Han Pijesak!’ – quotes HR Ashdown as saying that he is in a possession of information provided by reliable, but confidential, sources saying that Ratko Mladic has left SiCG due to presidential elections because he had not felt safe after which he has spent two, if not even more, nights in RS.

EuroBlic on Mikerevic – Ashdown meeting

EuroBlic, cover and pg. RS3 ‘Srpska is defending army and police’ by Tanjug – the article reports on Dragan Mikerevic’s statement given on the occasion of a meeting with High Representative Paddy Ashdown, saying RS opposes the abolishment of RS Ministry of Defense and RS Ministry of Interior.

Mikerevic has also stated that the High Representative has accepted his invitation to explain his latest decisions to delegates and public at RS NA session.

EU supports Ashdown, not informed about any police reform delay

BHT – Official European sources in Brussels claim that they have never received any information on postponing of police reconstruction/reform in BiH. The postponement of the police restructuring process until summer has been announced by RS PM Dragan Mikerevic. No one in Brussels knows anything about alleged agreement of RS PM Mikerevic and HR Paddy Ashdown on postponing of the police reconstruction, and sources from the EU Ministerial Council claim that they have never received that information, which was published by some of BiH media. Sources from the Council, close to EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, stated that their support to HR had never been an issue and they emphasised the importance of reforms as well as of RS’ cooperation with ICTY, a lack of which is keeping BiH outside Euro-Atlantic institutions. Official stand on police reconstruction is expected to be made this month/early next month, when the session of PIC Steering Board will be held.

OHR says police reform a permanent process

FTV – After clear message of High Representative Paddy Ashdown delivered some twenty days ago regarding the necessity to abolish Entities’ MoIs, controversial claims about change of OHR stand on this issue have been released to the public and they include the statement of RS PM Dragan Mikerevic who said that HR had promised him that police reconstruction will be postponed till summer. FTV has asked OHR for the explanation, but is seems that Mikerevic was basically right. After his meeting with HR, Mikerevic said that police reconstruction will be postponed so that RS authorities could fulfil their obligations toward the ICTY until the April, but OHR rejected this claim. “There is no postponement in process of reform of police forces, because that is a permanent process”, said Vedran Persic, OHR Spokesperson. Even though they have officially denied Mikerevic’s statement, OHR didn’t explain is he telling the truth. Moreover it is obvious that HR isn’t talking about police reconstruction in sense of abolishment of Entities’ MoIs, but it seems that OHR is considering the personal reform. “Changes inside those structures are necessary so that RS could cooperate with ICTY, more concretely”, said Persic. The FTV reporter mentioned that OHR stated that they will not impose solutions and that this process will be solved by BiH politicians, and the reporter concluded that if we consider their previous experiences in negotiations and level of awareness of necessity to fulfil EU conditions, it is not hard to conclude that HR has indirectly gave the opportunity to buy some time for RS authorities.

OHR on abolishment of entities; comment by DL

Dnevni List, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘No abolishment of entity without consensus’, by Zvonimir Jukic – Carries an OHR spokesman, Vedran Persic, as saying that the position of the OHR is that constitutional changes in BiH can only happen with consent of all constitutional peoples through the appropriate institutions. This leads the journalist to say that the aforementioned statement shatters the hope of many citizens’ associations, politicians and intellectuals, who believed that that OHR would change the constitutional organization of BiH in first part of 2005 by way of decree. The author continues: “The logic says: the RS is indeed a part of the Dayton agreement, but a part of the agreement is the cooperation with The Hague too. If the RS does not abide by the agreement on cooperation with the Tribunal, in that case the IC does not have to abide by provisions on division of BiH into two entities. Taking into account this fact, it is clear that OHR would have a legitimate and political ground to abolish the entity”.

Oslobodjenje op-ed: Ashdown without compass

Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Ashdown without compass’ In Focus column by Gojko Beric – According to Beric, HR Paddy Ashdown is becoming partial. “In his New Year’s message to Bosniaks Ashdown said that RS had been created by signatures of their own leaders. But this is just a half of truth, result of a painful compromise Izetbegovic (wartime Bosniak leader) had to accept. Ashdown however not only failed to mention but he actually negated the second half of truth that Karadzic’s creation (RS) was a result of mass crimes and genocide. Or he maybe does not dare to tell Serbs such the truth in the face,” wrote Beric.

VL op-ed on constitutional changes in BiH

Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘Swiss model’, by Radoslav Dodig – Commenting on a recent statement by the President of HDZ BiH, Barisa Colak, who speaking about the organizational set-up of BiH stated that BiH could learn much from Switzerland and Belgium, the author argues that applying Swiss and Belgium models in BiH is only “HDZ’s dream”. Explaining his position, the author notes that cantons and regions in Switzerland and Belgium came to be through democratic means and circumstances, whilst the entities and cantons in BiH are results of the war and decision of the US. Furthermore, the author notes that regions and cantons in European countries agree among each other in democratic atmosphere, whilst in BiH, it is the High Representative that imposes his solutions to the entities and cantons. The author concludes: “We should make our own model: a bit of the Scandinavian model, a bit of the central Europe model, and a tad bit more of the Balkans model”.

Statement of Day: Barisa Colak

Dnevni List, pg 2 carries in its ‘Statement of Day’, the President of HDZ BiH, Barisa Colak, as saying: It would be good to change the BiH Constitution”.

BiH Presidency did not proclaim Day of Mourning

BHT, FTV, Oslobodjenje cover page, pg 3 ‘Scandal directed by Head of the State: BiH Presidency did not proclaim Day of Mourning’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Only three minutes of silence for tsunami victims today’, FENA – The advisor to the BiH Presidency Chair Borislav Paravac, Drago Vukovic, on Friday confirmed the Presidency’s decision of Thursday on paying respect to the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in south-east Asia by the three-minute of silence on January 8 at 13:00 hrs, but this day will not be proclaimed as the day of mourning, which was the proposal of the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs. According to him, BiH Presidency will at the next session scheduled for Tuesday initiate BiH’s activities to help the South-east Asian countries. “I think that some sort of a fund for aid will be established”, said Vukovic. Vukovic could not state whether the Presidency will than propose some other day to be proclaimed as the day of mourning considering that the tragedy in south-east Asia happened on December 26, and that January 8 is the second day of Christmas.

VN on RS Government

Vecernje Novosti, pg. 4 ‘Will Mikerevic stay?’ by Sl. Pesevic – the article reads that the legal deadline in which RS President Dragan Cavic should make public the name of a new designate for RS Government expires on January 8. The article also speculates on the possibility that the technical mandate of the Government, with Dragan Mikerevic at the head, might be extended since it is not likely Nedjo Djuric would be nominated for the position of the designate due to lack of support of political parties to this nomination.

NN op-ed on Dragan Cavic

Nezavisne Novine, pg. 7 ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ by Nedeljko Zugic – the author is criticizing RS President Dragan Cavic, by saying: ‘Cavic, unable to withdraw, is offering to minor parties to nominate the designate, instead of leaving this for a persistent fighter against causes of all evil in area of BiH – Milorad Dodik’. The author suggested to Cavic to offer his irrevocable resignation, saying that the people will be then able to find a solution, which they will never be able to find with him at the head.

NN on Nedjo Djuric, candidate for RS Government designate

Nezavisne Novine – Revija, pg. 2 ‘Nedjo Djuric – from a refugee to a millionaire’ not signed – The article features a story on Nedjo Djuric, a candidate for RS Government designate, saying he had left Tuzla as a refugee with only one suitcase and came to Bijeljina. A property records, published by the Election Commission in 2002, show that the property of Nedjo Djuric was estimated to approximately 1,4 million KM. Nedjo Djuric was the only SP RS member who opposed joining of “Sloga” political block in 1998, for which Mladen Ivanic, allegedly, rewarded him by appointing him to the position of the Minister for Urbanism in 2001. Nedjo Djuric owns “Geoteh” firm, which deals with land surveys, with a seat in Bijeljina. While he was the Minister for Urbanism, he has reached a decision obliging everyone to conduct a geo-mechanical survey of land prior to any construction. Since his firm, until two years ago, was the only firm in RS dealing with this, this decision created an opportunity to multiply his capital several times.

NN interview with NATO Commander Schook: Entity Defence Ministries in BiH must be abolished by end of 2005

Nezavisne Novine – Revija, Revija cover and pgs. 5-6 ‘Entity Defense Ministries must be shut down’ by Almedin Sisic – NATO Commander to BiH, General Steven Schook, has stated that the entity Defense Ministries in BiH must be abolished by the end of 2005 and all laws with regard to this matter must be implemented. ‘This is an old decision of the Commission for Defense Reform, only amended by the High Representative on December 16 last year’, General Schook said. He emphasized he fully agreed with decisions the High Representative made public on December 16, as well as with all his statements given afterwards. He also said he was not sure if there was a true will to arrest war crimes indictees in RS.

Inset ‘There are no active terrorist cells in BiH’ – quotes General Schook as saying there are no active terrorist cells in BiH. Asked to say whether there are any so called “sleepers” in BiH, General Schook said: ‘I think there are enough reason NATO earmarked funds for this and entrusted me with the task to ensure there are no potentials for terrorist activities here’.

SDS proposes removal of foreign judges from BiH Constitutional Court

Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Momcilo Novakovic proposes removal of foreign judges from BiH Constitutional Court’ – Head of SDS caucus in the BiH House of Representatives Momcilo Novakovic officially submitted a draft Law on BiH Constitutional Court basically foreseeing removal of foreign judges from the body.

Crime/legal proceedings/incidents

NATO releases Dusan Tesic suspected of aiding war crimes suspects

BHT, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Dusan Tesic released’, Nezavisne Novine, pg. 2 ‘NATO released Dusan – Bato Tesic’ by Onasa, FENA – NATO released Dusan Tesic and handed him over to the RS police in Bijeljina on Friday. NATO was satisfied with the outcome of the talks with Tesic, who has been released from custody, the NATO HQ public relations office in Sarajevo has said. On 24 December, NATO members detained Tesic, suspected of assisting persons accused of war crimes, for questioning in connection with anti-Dayton Agreement activities, believing that he had valuable information on the network assisting persons indicted for war crimes. Tesic was a former member of the RS special police. SFOR had previously detained him on 11 January last year on mountain of Jahorina near Sarajevo and he had his flat in Bijeljina searched on 8 October.

Hartmann: Last public indictments in late January

Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 2 ‘Last indictments from The Hague arrive in late January’, by Arijana Beus – Carries the spokesperson of the ICTY Prosecution, Florance Hartmann, as saying: “The Prosecution submitted its last indictments just before Christmas, that is December 25, however the Tribunal is on Christmas and New Year’s break until next week, so the judges will handle the indictments then. After the ICTY’s Council discusses indictments, the Tribunal will report to the public which indictments have been raised and against whom”, said Hartmann, believing that the judges will not be able to complete the job before end January. This applies on public indictments only, whilst in the cases of sealed indictment, the indictments will be revealed after indictees get arrested or when the ICTY assesses it is appropriate.

FBiH Government gave guarantees for Pasko Ljubicic in spite of FBiH MoI opposition

Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘FBiH Government gave guarantees for Pasko Ljubicic in spite of FBiH MoI opposition’ – In spite of a fact that the Federation Ministry of Interior negatively responded to the request for temporary release of Pasko Ljubicic, who is accused of war crime committed in the village of Ahmici as well as some other criminal acts, the FBiH Government at a session in December last year provided guarntees for Ljubicic’s temporary release.

RS Association of Former Camp Inmates claims there were 126 camps in Sarajevo

Nezavisne Novine, pg. 4 ‘Civilians were held in captivity at 126 locations’ by N. Krsman – RS Association of Former Camp Inmates claims Serb civilians were held in captivity at 126 locations in Sarajevo and neighboring settlements. The Deputy President of the Association, Slavko Jovicic, says this number has derived from statements of witnesses and people who have been held in captivity at these locations. He says the International Red Cross has not registered all of these locations as concentration camps because they had not known what was going on there.

The article features statements of people who were imprisoned at “Viktor Bubanj” barracks during the war.

VL: Prosecution will try to cut deals in Croat self-rule case

Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘Deal for attempt at secession of Herceg Bosna?’, by Zoran Kresic – VL announces that trials to seven former Croat officials, who were involved in the establishment of the ‘Croat self-rule’, namely Ante Jelavic, Miroslav Prce, Marko Tokic, Ivo Andric-Luzanski, Zdravko Batinic, Petar Milic and Dragan Curcic, should start before the BiH Court on Wednesday, January 12. According to VL’s ‘reliable information’, the Prosecution will again try to cut deals (with defendants). On top of this, VL says one cannot rule out a possibility that this case be linked to the ‘Hercegovacka bank’ case. Dnevni Avaz pg 12 aslo announces start of trial of Jelavic and the others.

VL: Croat leadership visits Jelavic; Covic on charged against Croat officials

Vecernji List, pg 4 “Former head of state in prison without arguments’, by Miroslav Vasilj – Reports that Croat political leadership in BiH, namely Dragan Covic, Barisa Colak, Niko Lozancic and Borjana Kristo, visited during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays a former member of BiH Presidency, Ante Jelavic, who is in custody at the ‘Kula’ prison in east Sarajevo. After the visit, they stated that it was humiliating towards a former head of stated because “he is being kept there without arguments, which has been shown by proceedings in the court so far”. VL also carries Covic as saying that each Croat official in BiH has at least several criminal reports against him/her, which are being kept under in the drawers and which are used at appropriate times. Covic also noted that the Croat officials in BiH get processed the most, noting that it is easier to international arbitrators to solve problems with two, rather than with three peoples.

Investigation on illegal wire-tapping was launched

Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 2 ‘Investigation on illegal wire-tapping of Hague Prosecutors was launched’ by M. Cubro – The Spokesperson of BiH Prosecutor’s Office, Edita Pejic, has confirmed that the BiH Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation on illegal wire-tapping of ICTY officials in the “coup d’etat” affair. She did not want to reveal names of persons who are under the investigation because no indictments have been brought as yet.

Serb Orthodox Church flag set ablaze in Glamoc

BHT, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 8 ‘Serb Orthodox Church flag set on fire’, Nezavisne Novine, pg. 2 ‘Flag of Serb Orthodox Church was set on fire’ by D. R., SRNA – Employees of the Glamoc police station noticed at 0125 Thursday night that the religious flag of the Serb Orthodox Church near the Orthodox church in Januz Durut Street in Glamoc had been damaged. Livno police administration employees have found that the flag was burned in the lower left corner, on an area 25 X 25 cm.

The police investigation is under say, the Livno Canton interior ministry has said.

Economic/social affairs

Advisor to FBiH Economic Chamber criticizes tax reforms in BiH

Slobodna Dalmacija, front pg splash and pg 15 ‘Cars, airplanes and jewellery are not luxury items’, by Dinko Pasic – Carries an expert for fiscal system and advisor to FBiH Economic Chamber, Mirsada Curcic Selimovic, as warning that the order of moves i.e. enactment of laws in the reform to tax system in BiH, was in fact wrong, which will result in the system not functioning as envisaged. Selimovic thinks it was wrong to have the Law on VAT in the parliamentary procedure before the law on sales taxes because the law on turnover of services and goods should precede the Law on VAT. Selimovic also warns that none of the laws that is related to the fiscal reform in BiH was subjected to public discussion, believing that economists would spot weaknesses of such laws in case they had an opportunity to discuss them. Selimovic stresses that the BiH Law on Excises does not mention such items as luxury cars, vessels, airplanes, jewellery and some other items, unlike in Croatia where each item is regulated by separate laws.