| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18:00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19:00 hrs) | FTV (19:30 hrs) | RT RS (19:30 hrs) |
| Fires in Herzegovina | BiH HoR session | Strike in Bihać | HoR session |
| Law on Communications | US donation to BiH | Corridor Vc in Parliament | SFOR discoveries |
| World news | Bomb exploded in Iraq | Judges in Bihać | USAID donation |
| Weather | Operation ‘Harvest’ | Terrorism in Indonesia | Explosion in Baghdad |
| Oslobodjenje | HDZ pushing only for Racan’s offer; Zoran Cegar’s hearing – rather be dead than disarmed; Tuzla – bypassed by both corridor and customs; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Lozancic – they want to get extraordinary election by causing chaos; Bond – BiH and Iraq and totally different societies; Mesic – Izetbegovic and I are great friends; Palavric – FBiH requesting 15,000 from the RS |
| Dnevni List | Interview with a member of the Mostar Commission Josip Merdzo – the Grammar School issue must not be problem of the Mostar unification; Joseph Ingram – ‘Aluminij’ is a perfect example because it makes 25% of the total BiH export; Through announcing of vacancy notice for Supervisory Board members the law was violated |
| Vecernji List | Mostar encircled by fire; Nature destroyed for the next 50 years |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Bombs thrown on the ‘Salonit’ factory; Island of Vis is not in NATO’s combination |
| Glas Srpski | Meat more expensive as of autumn |
| Nezavisne Novine | After the attack on the house of Hilmo Selimovic in Sarajevo – opposition accused the authority of bad security situation in BiH; The SDS announces removals of SDA ministers from the Republika Srpska government – the SDA threatened with the termination of coalition with the SDS and PDP; How does Telecom Srpske co-operate with the ‘EUProfil’ – jobs done in Banjaluka, but paid in Budapest |
| Blic | Mines – another 50 years of fear; Milorad Jelisavac – prostitutions has moved from clubs to private houses |
| LJILJAN | How come Russian spy Babaev has been engaged with the European Police in Sarajevo? |
| BH DANI | Explosion (bomb attack on Hilmo Selimovic’s house) that shook Sarajevo – this is Radoncic’s terrorism! |
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| Political Affairs |
| BiH HoR session | CRHB at 18:00 hrs by Zana Rebo – the BiH House of Representatives at a session held on Thursday discussed and supported the BiH Security Policy document. However, representatives also expressed a series of objections requesting an additional review of the document. The main objection was that the document was not updated since December 2002 when it was drafted, and consequently it did not include a number of reforms achieved since then. Presenting the BiH Security Policy, Deputy BiH Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, stressed that the largest outside threats to BiH were organized crime and terrorism. As for the internal ones, Mektic stated they were of economic, military and political nature. The HoR further requested from the Council of Ministers and Presidency to include the ongoing defence reforms in the document and submit them to the BiH Parliament within 90 days. At the session, representatives also discussed amendments to the BiH Concession Law, and the discussion will continue at the next HoR session. The BiH House of Representatives further adopted the BiH Communications Law. In regard to the 5c corridor, representative Zlatko Lagumdzija said that activities on the construction of the corridor were going the wrong way, adding that a World Bank’s offer to finance the Feasibility Study should have been accepted. However, CoM Chairman, Adnan Terzic, explained that the offer for a loan was submitted to the authorities ten days after the Council of Ministers reached an agreement with the ‘Bosmal’ company on the matter. The FBiH government at a session held on Thursday established draft changes to the Bankruptcy Law. BHTV at 19:00 hrs – carried two separate reports related to the HOR session. The first, short report was on the Security Policy (read by presenter). The second report by Gvozden Sarac informed that the session was marked by tense discussion between Lagumdzija and Terzic on the issue of the corridor 5c. Representatives refused to discuss and adopt changes and amendments to the BiH Concession Law via urgent procedure. Those changes would ban the possibility of awarding a concession without a public tender procedure. In regard to the proposed amendments, Terzic made the following statement. “I think that this legal procedure that one of the HDZ delegates offered today was the continuation of the public, unfinished offer by Prime Minister Racan regarding the interest of the Croatian government to participate in the construction of the 5c corridor.” However, an HDZ delegate Filip Andric did not agree. “I think that those are ill-intentioned insinuations which have no grounds.” FTV at 19:30 hrs by Zlata Behram – Chairman Terzić agreed the Law on Concession needs improvement ‘as all laws prepared by the OHR, but it could be done for the entire Law, not only one article’. The FTV news carried then another item related tot eh HoR session and the issue of the Security Policy. RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Dragana Knezevic – carried a lengthy report on the HoR session. The following statements reported on the issue of the Security Policy. “The document does not contain the study of the capacities of the existing structures in BiH that will be in charge of conducting the document’s conception,” said SBiH delegate Beriz Belkic. HoR Vice-Chairman, Nikola Spiric, stated that the document does not satisfy the current interest regarding the security situation in BiH. Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 – carried the report. Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Palavric accused Lagumdzija that he was manipulating police’ – Palavric accused Lagumdzija that he was still ‘in charge in the police’ after Lagumdzija requested from the CoM to forward to the Parliament info on activities on the construction of the 5c. |
| Dokic on the Concession Law | Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 5 – BiH Communication Minister, Branko Dokic, gave an interview to the daily where he stated that the intention by the HDZ to amend the Law on Concessions could be connected to the announcements of the Croatian involvement in the financing of the 5c corridor construction. Dokic explained that if the HDZ initiative was to pass the voting at the BiH Parliament that would disable further negotiations with the ‘Bosmal’. |
| Mostar SDP on Mostar | CRHB at 18:00 hrs – theMostar SDP branch held a press conference on Thursday dedicated to the current issues in Mostar. They also presented the results of an SDP working group that was tasked to draft a possible solution to the territorial organization of the city. According to President of the SDP Mostar, Zoran Peric, the working group also drafted a proposal of the Mostar Statute, which was sent for further procedure to all other organizational units of the SDP in BiH. Peric added that following the SDP procedure a proposal will be forwarded to the City Council and the international community. |
| Interview with Merdzo | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 7 – an interview with a member of the Mostar Commission, Josip Merdzo (HDZ). Asked when the further talks on the devising of the Statute of Mostar would continue and in what manner, Merdzo said the following. “It is yet not clearly defined in what way activities pertaining to devising of the Statute of the City of Mostar would continue. It is indisputable that they would continue, like the High Representative said during the last visit to Mostar. The way things stand now, it seems that the IC will, in the next weeks, hold talks with representatives of parties and possibly with members of the Commission in order to ascertain a possibility of reaching a joint agreement. That solution will not, for sure, be outside the principles given by the High Representative.” Asked to comment how much the problem of the unification of two grammar schools in Mostar was burdening talks about the Statute, Merdzo said the issue should not be a problem when it came down to defining the Statute because. According to Merdzo, ‘it was not appropriate to name the Croat side when it came to the issue of grammar school, and remain silent about the position of the Bosniak side, which left the work of the Commission, boycotted the arrival of the EU ambassadors, which is far more important than solving of the Mostar grammar school issue’. “So, there are still traces of double standards when it comes to the IC’s behavior There is not a place for disunited education in a united city,” concluded Merdzo. |
| HDZ Capljina on Doko’s nomination | CRHB at 18:00 hrs – the HDZ Capljina municipal board held its extraordinary session on Thursday to discuss the nomination of Dragan Doko for the position of BiH Foreign Trade Minister. An HDZ press release reads that the Capljina board was surprised with Doko’s candidacy because ‘this was the person who has been living for past few years in Capljina, but was not a member of the HDZ’. “We have information that he was a member of the SDP,” reads the PR. Dnevni List pg. 1 and 5 – The HDZ of Capljina says the Statute of the HDZ BiH has been violated since the Presidency of HDZ BiH, which is in charge of staffing policy, did not discuss the nomination. Oslobodjenje pg. 9 ‘Doko is not our member’. Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 6 ‘Dragan Doko without support’. |
| Terzic on Doko | BHTV at 19:00 hrs – the HDZ decision to nominate Dragan Doko as the BiH Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs Minister is surprising, since the candidate so far has not been politically exposed. With bachelor degree in Economy, the most significant work he did was teaching at the Secondary School in Capljina. Even though Adnan Terzic forwarded Doko’s nomination to the OHR for a regular vetting procedure, he expressed his reserves regarding this proposal. “I have to admit that what I read from his CV was not encouraging, but I had to talk with Mr. Doko and to see. So far we always had PhD holders as the Foreign Trade Minister and we’ll see. I am not sure that we are in a position to say that Foreign Trade Ministers up to now secured BiH to have a stabile economic situation.” |
| Ashdown replies to Circle 99 | FTV at 19:30 hrs – High Representative Ashdown responded to a letter by the Intellectual Circle 99 from August 5. He denies allegation for cooperating with national parties, but he explains he makes alliances with those who were elected by the BiH citizens. As far as the ‘Jobs and Justice’ is concerned, Ashdown underlines that 50 reforms, which were already implemented, and ceasing of property of criminals and putting them in jail clearly demonstrated a progress achieved. Ashdown expresses his repugnance over the fact that war criminals are still at large. Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘Ashdown denies any alliance with nationalistic parties’; Glas Srpske pg. 2 ‘Co-operation with those elected’ – reported the HR response. Oslobodjenje pg. 9 ‘I did not want to be a protector in BiH’. |
| Early elections in BiH | FTV at 19:30 hrs by Zeljko Tica – the SNSD initiated the scheduling of the early general elections.AnSNSD member of BiH Parliament, Nikola Spiric, made the following statement. “The current circumstances in BiH are catastrophic and hopeless…economic problems, three cars are blown away in just one night. What else we need to illustrate how bad the situation is.” The opposition parties support this initiative, but consider it a premature campaign. NHI leader Zubak asserts that the current political leaders do not know how to solve the current problems. Dr. Behmen on behalf of the SDP said the following. “The international community helps current leaders a lot, but BiH is moving very slowly.” HDZ Vice-President Niko Lozancic said that ‘there is no opposition in BiH, since all position but a few top ones are still controlled by parties who lost the elections’. “If they complain then they complain against themselves,” said Lozancic. The cost of the last elections was 12 million KM – the BiH authorities financed 5 million KM and donors and the OSCE paid the rest. |
| Interview with Ombudsman Raguz | Vecernji List pg. 7 ‘Qualified people must sit in steering boards’ – an interview with a member of the FBiH Ombudsmen’s Office, Branka Raguz, regarding the issue of the FBiH government’s decision on the appointments of temporary steering boards in public companies. Raguz said the Ombudsmen’s Office received a reply (to their earlier request) from the FBiH government with a certain, vast documentation that needed to be analysed in the coming days adding that the Office would declare itself about the issue next week when things got clearer. |
| HT Mostar complains to OHR | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 5 – according to a source close to the OHR, the OHR received a letter, that is a complaint, from members of the HT Mostar Steering Board following the decision to issue a vacancy notice for positions in the HT Mostar Supervisory Board. DL says that the letter was also sent to the Federation Ministry of Traffic and Communications and the FBiH Ombudsmen’s Office. DL carries details of the letter, which, amongst other things, says that that the entire procedure violated provisions of the FBiH Law on Ministerial, Government and Other Appointments believing that the vacancies should be cancelled. |
| SDS vs. SDA | Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 4 ‘The SDA threatened with the termination of coalition with the SDS and PDP’, Glas Srpske pg. 2 ‘The SDA beyond Parliament’ – an anonymous senior officials of the SDS yesterday told BETA news agency that the SDS would demand from Republika Srpska Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic, to remove Bosniak members of the SDA from the RS government and replace them with Bosniaks with non-party membership from the Republika Srpska. The same source claims that the SDS will make this request owing to constant activities of the SDA ministers and their leader Sulejman Tihic, which are in contradiction with the positions of the majority at the Republika Srpska Parliament. “Their actions are also in violation of constitution and main interests of this entity,” said the source.Adil Osmanovic, Republika Srpska Vice President, responded by saying that the SDA would not act in support of the SDS and PDP at the Republika Srpska Parliament. According to him, Bosniaks will insist on the change of insignia of the Republika Srpska, regardless of whether the SDS demands removals of SDA ministers or not. Blic pg. 6 ‘SDS for removal of SDA’s ministers’ – In the next few days, the SDS will ask RS Prime Minister Mikerevicto replace Bosniak personnel from the SDA in the RS government with Bosniaks who are not party members. |
| Pastuovic on a request by RS Inmates | Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘The OHR will consider requests of the Republika Srpska Association of Inmates’ – Sonja Pastuovic,OHR Banja Luka Spokesperson, stated that the OHR would consider the request by the Republika Srpska Association of Inmates for the placement of a commemorative plaque at the ‘Viktor Bubanj’ military barracks. |
| Beslic writes to Ashdown | Oslobodjenje pg. 1, 4 and 5 – Selim Beslagic, a rep at the BiH HoR, reacted to the decision by the HR to place the Indirect taxation Admin office in Banja Luka. He wrote to HR Ashdown and PDHR Hays. Amongst other things, Beslagic wrote that he could not help but feel the decision (on placing the HQ in BL) was in favour of what was conceived in 1991: Bosniak-Croat-Serb principle, suited tot eh ruling national parties. “Tuzla deserved to become a seat of a single BiH institution – traditionally and historically – but also considering the population and the situation in economy and industry. We were not surprised that nationalists did not think so, but we were surprised the IC and its reps did not recognize the need for a true dispersion of state institutions and did not find the space in the process for Tuzla and other BiH cities.” |
| Reactions to Tihic’s initiative for the change of BiH Constitution | Glas Srpske ‘Tihic firing blanks’- from time to time, some of Bosniak political officials raise an issue related to the BiH Constitution, seeking its alteration. The explanation given is that the Dayton structure of the Constitution represents an obstacle to the proper functioning of BiH. Sulejman Tihic, Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, made such request recently. Following are some reactions of BiH politicians to Tihic’s initiative for the change of the Constitution. Borislav Paravac, Serb member to BiH Presidency, said the following. “To my knowledge, no one in the Republika Srpska has ever thought of that. Therefore, Tihic is again firing blanks.” Paravacfurther said that tax and customs reforms were in the interest of the Republika Srpska and FBiH. The caucuses at the Republika Srpska National Assembly share the view of Paravacregarding the initiative by Sulejman Tihic. Nevenka Trifkovic ofPDP is of the opinion that the current BiH Constitution allows achievement of equal rights for all three constitutive nations of BiH. Igor Radojicic of SNSD said that the initiative presented by Bosniak side was not acceptable. He also said that the attempted lobbying through international officials and institutions in BiH was an old story, stressing that the IC was aware of the necessity that key decisions for the future of BiH could not be passed in a biased manner nor through any imposition. |
| Oslobodjenje commentary on steering boards | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 by Zija Dizdarevic – the author points out that Federation PM Hadzipasic got into trouble that the SDA leadership was responsible for. Under the party pressure and bypassing regular procedures, Hadzipasic’s government dismissed members of the steering boards in public companies, which led to the reaction by the HR. Hadzipasic claimed the intention was ‘more qualitative and stronger participation of the FBIH govt in the public companies, but Tihic said that out of 2,000 leading posts the SDA has only 20 to 25. The author goes on to conclude that the reason behind the government’s decision could be found in Tihic’s statement, not Hadzipasic’s. “Rather hypocrite care for the state property by those who bargained former state owned property and ruined already war-devastated economy. Non-denied media articles best illustrate the benefit they had from public companies as well as a number of criminal reports against former and current SDA, HDZ and the SDS is no better. This is the case of parasite-like process, which in this country, including people, regards as their property that they can do anything with without being punished.” |
| LJILJAN op-ed on steering boards | Ljiljan pg. 5 Op-ed by Mirsad Sinanovic comparing views of High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, with regard to the appointment of steering boards in public companies in the FBiH. Sinanovic concludes that both officials are advocating for the introduction of professionalism in managing public companies. This means that we need a decision on the appointment of new steering boards made by the government, which will take into account this principle, according to the author. |
| DANI on Ashdown | BH Dani pg. 6 Bosnian Barometer – Three stars (excellent move) for Paddy Ashdown. The magazine claims that Ashdown has not for a long time made a better move than the letter he has sent to FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic stopping the implementation of the decision on the appointment of new steering boards in the state-owned companies. |
| Coric on alleged divisions in HNK govt | Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘There are no divisions in the HNK government’ – Prime Minister of the Herzegovina-Neretva cantonal government, Miroslav Coric, denied speculations saying that Bosniak ministers in the HNK government will leave this body due to the outvoting at the last session of the HNK government. Coric’s media assistant, Pero Pavlovic, stated that Coric’s stand on this issue is the following. “Such information, coming from some political circles, are obviously a product of speculations because during the recent session of the HNK government the Bosniak ministers did not mention such possibility with a single word. Also, the HNK government is working in accordance with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution. This means that there was no classical outvoting during the recent session and thus there is no reason for Bosniak ministers to leave the government.” |
| DL on BiH governments | Dnevni List’s Jurislav Petrovic on pg, 2 ‘Politicians, get serious’ argues that all 13 governments in BiH are behaving as if they have small states of their own, including the government of the Federation and BiH Council of Ministers (CoM). In that context, Petrovic criticizes the behaviour/decisions of the said governments regarding the appointments of temporary steering boards and the construction of the corridor 5c, for which the author claims that the CoM gave the concession to ‘Bosmal’ without inviting a public tender.“Someone once said that BiH did not need the High Representative and that it was necessary that he left. After all has been done, it is clear BiH indispensably needs the High Representative to fix mistakes of the politicians we pay. When you think better, why not dissolve all the governments and leave only the High Representative and his office in power”. |
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| Security Affairs |
| BHTV on security incidents in BiH
| BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Darko Doslo – two explosions in only three days occurred at the private properties of Sarajevo businessmen – a bomb threat on Wednesday in popular Sarajevo cafe, an explosion in the café bar and activating of a hand grenade in the street are acts of violence that may not be related.Their more frequent occurrence worries citizens, meaning that the police must offer answers soon. Investigations are ongoing. This wave of violence started several days ago with an explosion in front of the Euro café in Dobrinja 4 (Sarajevo), which caused a significant material damage, but nobody was injured. After that, two days ago in the Stup settlement, a bomb exploded under the field vehicle of ‘Stanic’ company owned by Vlatko Ivanovic. Again, there were no persons injured. The investigation has not even started, when new explosion took place targeting a family house of Hilmo Selimovic, Director of the Sarajevo Brewery. “There are absolutely no indications to confirm and to give any opinion that there is relation between incidents or that there is no relation. It is not a diplomatic answer, but an answer,” stated Spokeswoman for the Sarajevo cantonal Interior Ministry Ljiljana Sakic. She also added that no threats were made against Hilmo Selimovic prior to the explosion. The security of the café ‘Palma’ (in Sarajevo) found weaponry inside the object, which could pose serious danger for the guests and staff members. The explosions in Dobrinja and the ‘Hollywood’ facility in Pale are somewhat different from the others. “In regard to those two explosions, crime investigations are being conducted. There is also a rumour that this was about racketeering, … competition. In most cases of similar nature, the owners of such facilities mostly refuse to cooperate with the police,” said Chief of the Public Security Centre Banja Luka Gordan Jelisavac. FTV at 19:30 hrs – reported only on the explosion near the house of Selimovic. RTRS at 19:30 hrs – also carried a report on the explosion near the house of Brewery Director Selimovic. Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘An explosive device thrown at the house of Hilmo Selimovic’ – reported on the bomb attack on Selimovic’s house. Blic pg. 6, Vecernje Novosti pg. 17. |
| Lagumdzija vs. Terzic | Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 ‘Opposition accused the authority of bad security situation in BiH’ – Zlatko Lagumdzija, a delegate at the BiH Parliament, yesterday said that if Chairperson of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, failed to undertake measures, which will lead to the arrest of those involved in the bomb and terrorist attacks in Sarajevo, then his failure would make him an accomplice in those crimes. At yesterday’s session of the BiH House of Representatives, Lagumdzija sought from the BiH CoM and BiH Ministry of Security to conduct an investigation, apprehend and penalise those responsible for explosions in Sarajevo. Terzic responded to Lagumdzija by saying that the BiH COM did not have the authority nor means to engage in the fight against this sort of violence. |
| Lozancic on the security situation | Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – Federation President, Niko Lozancic, believes that the last bomb incident will not disturb the security situation in the BiH capital or in the larger entity. In an interview for Avaz, Lozancic said ‘it was more than obvious that someone was disturbed by the stabile situation in the Federation and therefore had been attempting to de-stabilize it by frequently planting explosive devices. |
| Avaz commentary | Avaz pg. 3 ‘Authority-love hug of Spiric and Lagumdzija’ by Fadil Mandal – the author thinks that requests by Lagumdzija and Spiric for urgent investigation on explosions that took place in the past 48 hrs leaves a lot of place for a doubt as both are known for being ready to do anything to get a piece of authority. Mandal thinks it’s hypocrite of Lagumdzija, who has proved to be a corrupted politician, to use the Assembly for disgracing politicians who think differently then him, as well as media that has constantly written articles, based on facts, on affairs he was involved in. As for Spiric, the author recalls that he changed all political jersey’s – from the SDS to Dodik’s SNSD, and he first started as a supporter of war criminal Seselj. |
| Russian spy Advisor in SIPA | Ljiljan pgs. 36-37 mentioned on the front page ‘Spies among us’ signed by an Investigating Team – a Russian Colonel Valerij Babaev, who is, according to some information, involved in human trafficking and who left BiH in January this year, has come back to Sarajevo and currently acts as Senior Advisor for the BiH State Information and Protection Agency (SIPA) Director. |
| Bomb attack on Selimovic’s house | BH Dani pgs. 1 and 18-21 ‘Horror in the Safvet-beg Basagica street’ by Irham Ceco – “A several months long conflict between the most influential local daily (Dnevni Avaz) and one of the most successful companies in FBiH (Sarajevo Brewery) recently got its ‘fire’ dimension. In the evening on August 6, someone fired first,” wrote Ceco referring to a recent bomb attack on the house of Sarajevo Brewery Director Hilmo Selimovic. “Now you see what they did. I was not even in the house. They were shooting at my family, my children. This is about Fahrudin Radoncic’s stories. This is terrorism,” Selimovic said. Radoncic, however, rejects all the insinuations that the bomb-attack on Selimovic’s house was a direct consequence of stories about him published in Dnevni Avaz describing them as fully ungrounded and primitive. |
| VL editorial | In light of the recent explosions that have taken place in Sarajevo over the past few days, Vecernji List pg. 2 by Zdenko Jurilj ‘Belfast-Mostar-Sarajevo’ says that after a clam period in Mostar, it is Sarajevo that has taken over the epithet of the ‘BiH Belfast’. The author further says if one is to judge by the number of perpetrators that have been detected so far, the only thing the BiH citizens are left with are fear and uncertainty. |
| | Education Affairs |
| Brkic | CRHB at 18:00 hrs – “The decision to integrate administrations of divided schools, so called two schools under the same roof by 1 September, has a full support of the international community because the integration of the educational system was the key precondition for the reconciliation and peace agreement implementation in BiH.” stated OHR Spokesperson Mario Brkic. He said that the segregation in schools still heated up divisions and increased the administrative costs in the schools. “That is the money which could be used for the salaries of teachers, facilities or the equipment used by students and teachers. Nobody’s identity will be lost… if European standards were applied,” added Brkic. |
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| Economic Affairs |
| Interview with Ingram | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 9 – an interview with Head of the World Bank in BiH Joseph Ingram. Asked about the importance of the Corridor 5c, Ingram says that he does not know whether the Corridor project will help the economic development of BiH and that no one can know it until the proper feasibility study, made by an objective side that would not have its personal interest in that project, is implemented. Asked how to reduce the trade gap, amongst other things, Ingram said that it was necessary to increase income and export and one of the basic measures was attracting direct, foreign investments. “The ‘Aluminij’ Mostar is a perfect example because it makes 25% of the total BiH export, and still it needs the direct, foreign investments amounting from $250 to $300 million because it will help them to increase their capacities, and that would result in the increase of export.” Ingram also added that it was necessary to speed up the privatisation of strategic companies because these companies were interesting to foreign investors. |
| LJILJAN editorial on 5c | Ljiljan pgs. 23-25 ‘Short-term doubts, long-term benefit’ By Editor-in-Chief Sejo Omeragic – according to Omeragic, it is clear why Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, must be a bit angry about this BiH highway (a part of 5c corridor through BiH) since it almost represents a competition to his own (the Adriatic highway). This is due to the fact that once the 5c corridor through BiH is constructed the majority of businessmen and tourists from the north will be bypassing Croatia on their way to the Adriatic Sea naturally choosing a shorter distance. However, Omeragic concludes that it is just about a short-term benefit for BiH in terms of a highway-related income because the Croatian tourism must at the end gain an increased profit from the BiH part of the 5c corridor as well. |
| ‘Bosmal’ paid advertisement | Dnevni List pg. 8 carries a paid advertisement which reads that “the BiH-Malaysian company ‘Bosmal’ would start an avalanche of production activities and services in whole of BiH with construction of the Corridor Vc, and our children and grandchildren would not have to leave the homeland because of economic reasons (…) Unfortunately, for years our workers have waited for a ‘miracle’ to happen so they get jobs and salaries on time (…) Bosmal offers the ‘miracle’ in shape of a huge construction site that will apart from construction workers directly and indirectly employ producers of various goods and materials, caterers, trade-people, tourism…” Also in Oslobodjenje and Avaz. |
| | Media Affairs |
| D editorial | Dnevni List pg. 6 by Pejo Gasparevic ‘TV Shortsightedness’ – questions the ability of the media, which call themselves the ‘BiH media’, to inform the public about what’s really going on in BiH. Gasparevic takes the example of the corridor 5c and the media coverage of the issue saying the Sarajevo-based media, with some exceptions, were racing each other in giving support to the ‘Bosmal’. In that context, Gasparevic says that any questioning of ‘Bosmal’s’ capability was labeled as an ‘anti-BiH deed’ by the said press. Gasparevic goes on to say that ‘the first signs of international correction to the speedily cobbled up myth on Bosmal was launched by Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays’and that Hays stated that the OHR and EC were closely following activities related to the corridor. “He (Hays) warned BiH principals that they have to abide by the European standards. Calling on the European standards means the necessity to invite a public tender for the construction of the corridor 5c, and that is exactly what the authorities in Sarajevo and the media that are not critical of them, hesitated (read avoided) to inform the public about,” argues Gasparevic. |