| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Report on Srebrenica | Football | Konjevic Polje returnees | Dokic on Bosmal |
| Djukanovic on Milosevic | BiH Presidency visits Slov. | Medicines in Ze-Do Canton | Tihic on FOSS |
| Macedonia | Zitoprerada Bihac | Petritsch in Sarajevo | Middle East |
| World news | Petritsch on BH authorities | BiH Presid. visits Slovenia |
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| Oslobodjenje | Ferid Buljubasic: We did not sell weapons to the countries under embargo |
| Dnevni Avaz | Hadzipasic: We are doing our best to pay backlog pensions |
| Dnevni List | More difficult to get Slovenian visas as of next year; Mijo Brajkovic: State has different attitude towards certain companies; HT Mostar management replaced: First support, then removal |
| Vecernji List | Vitezit and Bratstvo were arming Iraq; Bosnia and Herzegovina loses fifty citizens per day |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features Croatia related headlines |
| Glas Srpske | Extraordinary circumstances and annulment of contracts on property exchange: War no longer valid |
| Nezavisne Novine | Privatisation: EBRD interested in privatisation of Telekom Srpske and Eronet; Pensioners dying of hunger |
| Blic | Violence destroys families; Guarantees for constricting 5c corridor have not been confirmed; SFOR sizes new arsenals |
Political developments | |
| BiH Presidency visiting Slovenia
| Croat Radio Herceg Bosna, BHTV, FTV, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Foreign currency savings represent private property’, Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Focus on pre-war foreign currency savings, new visa regime’ – BiH Presidency leaves for a two-day official visit to Slovenia today. Presidency members are going to have meetings with Slovenian President and Prime Minister. It is expected that Slovenians are going to express support to BiH’s political and economical stabilisation and association with EU, but It will be much harder to reach agreement on issues related to trade exchange between two countries especially in terms of export-import balance. Last year total exchange was 569 million Euros out of which Slovenia exported 500 million to BiH and imported 69 million from BiH. In addition, issue of Ljubljanska Banka debt is expected to be discussed during the visit. Dnevni List (front and page 5, “More difficult to get Slovenian visas as of next year”, not signed) also announces the visit. DL reminds that a representative of Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrej Ster, stated in May that it was very possible that Slovenia would make the visa regime towards citizens of BiH, Russia, Turkey etc. stricter as of May 1, 2004, when Slovenia joins the EU. Also, the Slovenian-BiH Agreement on Free Trade will be no more valid and for many Slovenian exporters this is a problem that is hard to resolve. |
| Petritsch in Sarajevo | BHTV, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg. 13 – Former High Representative Wolfgang Petrisch visited Vrbanjusa kindergarten, the construction of which had been supported by Petrisch family. Petrisch stressed that economic situation in BiH would improve after implementation of economic reforms and new employments. Petrisch: “Europe needs to be more energetic in accepting BiH as country, a sovereign country which is slowly developing. BiH needs to be accepted as a partner and that is happening”. “Domestic authorities must be more active to enable BiH in two or three years to function as sovereign state without the High Representative.’, added Petritsch. Vecernji List (page 2, by gk, Mission of international community in BiH – experiment”) – the daily says that a former High Representative for BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, confirmed during his visit to Sarajevo that the mission of the IC in BiH was an experiment for which nobody knows how it would end up, the mission which would not end soon. |
| VL on reform of public broadcasting, Petritsch, Ashdown | Vecernji List (page 2, by Dejan Jazvic, “On the bottom”) – the author opens the piece by saying that the recent decision by the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, to leave to the BiH authorities to handle the reform of public broadcasting system in BiH, is the biggest blow against his predecessor, Wolfgang Petritsch, and his alleged experts he had engaged to turn an out-of-date system into a modern one. According to Jazvic, all the attempts to carry out reforms to the public broadcasting system were total failures owing it to a fact that Petritsch and his “experts” turned the BHTV 1 into a training camp for young and inexperienced journalists. Jazvic also says that some people in the RTV building in Sarajevo must realize that cost cutting is inevitable. |
| Adil Osmanovic: Change of RS symbols unavoidable | Osloboodjenje pg. 5 ‘Change of RS symbols unavoidable’ – “Solution for the RS coat of arms, anthem and flag not having symbols of the two other constituent peoples is unacceptable. If the Bosniak and Croat peoples are constituent, and according to the Constitution they are, than I do not see any reason why RS symbols should not be changed through a democratic procedure,” RS Vice-president Adil Osmanovic said in Kozarac last week. |
| Kalinic on initiatives for change of BiH Constitution | Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘A dictate is a path towards disaster’ – Dragan Kalinic, Republika Srpska Parliament Speaker, yesterday said that arrogance, with which the issue of change of BiH Constitution is opened, astonishes. On the occasion of the Round Table “Declaration on necessity for changing of BiH Constitution”, which is to hold on 10 September in Sarajevo and was organised by BiH Academy of Science, Kalinic said that this initiative has surfaced at the moment when Republika Srpska side managed to find solutions within existing constitutional frames on delicate issues like indirect tax administration and defence reform. According to him, Declaration, which will be proposed at Round Table, irresistibly reminds of 1991, when Muslims attempted to impose the Declaration on Independence at BiH Parliament, to which all Serb delegates at Parliament had opposed at that time. |
| PDP’s Kunic on Hitchner’s initiative | Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘Gambling with Dayton’ – In a short interview to GS, Petar Kunic, PDP delegate to BiH Parliamentary Assembly, says that the fact that one of founders of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Richard Hitchner, supports the initiative for the change of BiH Constitution, represents an attempt of the American Administration to fulfil the promise it gave to Bosniak leaders. On BiH Constitution, Kunic says that it is a modern constitution containing elements from constitutions of democratic European states. According to him, BiH Constitution does not represent an obstacle for any kind of integration or BiH involvement in European processes. He also says that Republika Srpska is regularly losing some aspects guaranteed to it by the Dayton Peace Agreement. He also claims that those structures, that constantly pledge in favour of the constitution change (including centralisation of BiH), also represent main obstacle to economic reforms. |
| Dnevni List on constitutional changes in BiH | Dnevni List (page 4, by Fena, “Necessary amendments and final processing of Dayton Peace Accord”) – a report from inaugural meeting dedicated to the project entitled “Dialogue on Constitution of BiH”, the project which will last next twelve months and which is funded by the Norwegian Government. The implementation of it rests with the Center for security studies from Sarajevo and Center for Euro-Atlantic integration and democracy from Budapest. Reportedly, the position of participants of the inaugural meeting is that the Dayton Peace Accord is incomplete and needs changes. One of participants of the meeting, the President of BiH Constitutional Court, Mato Tadic, stated that he personally would not fix the DPA but would rather work on a new constitution which would be based on modern, democratic standards and principles of temporary democracy and absolute protection of all the three peoples and other citizens in BiH. Tadic belies this could be achieved under one condition only, the condition being the existence of political will. |
| Third seminar of CoE Forum in Mostar discussed Mostar restructuring as well
| Dnevni List (front and page 16, by D. K., S. B., “Islamic religious community suffers because of specific American terror”) – a report from a three-day seminar of Forum of Council of Europe entitled “Let’s learn from each other: Civic society, multi-ethnic and multi-religious dialogue”. The topic of the conference was urban planning and reconstruction. According to the paper, at the end of the forum, participants discussed the future organization of Mostar although it was not originally planned. DL carries the secretary of Mostar Mufti’s office, Adem Omerika, as speaking on behalf of the office that the Islamic religious community is having problems finding funds for reconstruction of Islamic religious facilities because “America applies specific terror in that segment”. Omerika also touched the issue of future reorganization of Mostar assessing the role of the IC, with rare exceptions, as hypocritical. He also stated that the Croats wanted unified Mostar because the public property in west Mostar (Croat predominant) has been “Croaticized”. |
| DL says OHR is unprincipled in implementation of DPA | Dnevni List (page 8, by Miso Relota, “OHR ‘falls’ on Mostar”) – the author argues that the OHR is applying different standards when it comes to Bosniak and Croat parties saying whenever the OHR deems the Croat side is at fault, a reaction by the OHR was vigorous, unlike when the SDA was evidently obstructing the process, the reaction was mild on non-existing. To back his claims up, Relota says the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Government was formed 8 months after the elections because of obstructions coming from the SDA and SBiH, even that only after the High Representative fined the parties 66.000 KMs. According to Relota, that’s peanuts. Saying that the work of the Mostar Commission was obstructed by the SDA, SBiH and SDP, the author claims that the OHR labeled the Bosniak parties as culprits, but there were no sanctions. Relota reckons that the same applies to the issue of establishment of the public utility company that would manage the solid waste at the city level, and in that context, Relota says the OHR should stop applying different standards towards the Croats and Bosniaks. |
| NN editorial criticizes Ashdown | Nezavisne Novine editorial by Slavisa Sabljic, pg. 7, ‘Ashdown and criminals’ – The author is extremely critical of the High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, namely of his statement given in FTV show “Dilemmas”. Author firstly makes a reference to HiRep’s statement that “politicians are not biggest entrepreneurs in BiH, since this role belongs to criminals in BiH”. Sabljic further reminds HiRep of crime and corruption related information, published by NN, on basis of which Republika Srpska Interior Ministry has launched investigations. Sabljic is further critical of HiRep’s statement when he said that there are two enemies to the economic revival of BiH, and those are international community and pessimistic attitude of a large number of citizens of BiH. The author concludes the editorial by saying the following: “The following statement of yours in “Dilemmas” is extremely surprising. You said that a large number of BiH citizens does not comprehend how far they have gone. However, you did not explain – gone to where. If you had in mind that every year, this state is getting farther from Europe and the world where people live lives worthy of human beings, then your were right. Unfortunately, you meant something else.” |
| Editorial: “Invasion of parasites” | Dnevni List (page 2, by S. Kuzman) carries an editorial in which the author wonders as to what kind of a country BiH is when a former cleaning lady from Tuzla (referring to Seada Palavric) is tailoring politics for SDA President Sulejman Tihic and honorary SDA President Alija Izetbegovic, who are complaining that there is no a single Bosniak at crucial positions in the BiH authority. The editorial also says: “It seems that the opposition in BiH is stronger than it has ever been and this causes fear among some individuals that possible ‘imputing of misinformation, in order to criminalize them and bring them in connection with corruption, other sorts of crime, war crimes and even terrorism might take place’. Strange. Why would you be afraid if you did not do anything, or, perhaps, you did?…Obviously, parasites started the offensive. Our parasites as well as theirs started the offensive in order to return in power in their parties in which the doors for them were closed long time ago.” |
Economic/social issues | |
| Former FBiH Deputy Defence Minister on arms selling | Oslobodjenje front page, pg. 7 ‘Ferid Buljubasic: We did not sell weapons to the countries under embargo’ – Former FBiH Deputy Defence Minister Ferid Buljubasic told the newspaper that during his mandate not a single approval had been signed for exporting weapons and military equipment to the countries placed under UN arms embargo. |
| VL: “Vitezit and Bratstvo were arming Iraq” | Front page story in Vecernji List (continued on page 3, by Srecko Stipkovic, “Vitezit and Bratstvo did arm Iraq”) – an inspection team formed by orders coming from the Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and FBiH MoD, following a one month investigation, established that “Vitezit” of Vitez and “Bratstvo” of Novi Travnik, two military equipment companies, were breaching the UN embargo on export or arms to Iraq. Apparently, the investigative team discovered some forged documents, and established that the deals were done via “Dolar” Company of Prnjavor and “Milan Blagojevic – Namenska” of Lucani (Serbia). According to the article, the “Vitezit” exported various gun-powders to Iraq whilst the “Bratstvo” exported spare parts for “Oganj” multi-rocket launchers to Iraq. In both cases, the gear found its final destination via the “Jugoimport” Company from Serbia. |
| Sarajevo University Professor of Economy comments on ongoing reforms | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Cosmetic changes will not stop strikes’ – Nikola Grabovac, the Professors at the Sarajevo University’s School of Economy, told the newspaper that in the past years BiH had failed to take economic measure that should have put a destroyed economy on their feet. “The economic measures being taken nowadays are only of a cosmetic nature. Most of them including many being proposed by the Bulldozer Committee will not stop strikes and ensure social stability”, said Grabovac. |
| Avaz interview with Hadzipasic | Dnevni Avaz front page, pg 4 ’We are doing our best to pay backlog pensions’ – In an interview with the newspaper, FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic described as immoral BiH Elektroprivreda workers’ opposition to the reduction of their too high salaries. Hadzipasic also said that the Government was doing its best to ensure payment of the backlog pensions. |
| BiH pensioners facing disaster | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 5, ‘Pensioners dying of hunger’ – NN report that pensioners in Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are dying of hunger. NN lists that out of 4 thousand pensioners in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2500 of them are having their meals at soup kitchens. |
| VL: “Tuzla against Law on taxation” | Vecernji List (page 5, by Z. Banovic) –the author wonders whether Tuzla can block the adoption of the Law on indirect taxation in the shape the OHR prepared it, thus blocking BiH’s path to Europe. Apparently, Selim Beslagic, an MP in the BiH Parliament’s House of Representatives promised a fight because he, as well as other politicians from Tuzla and Tuzla Canton, are angry that the draft law on indirect taxation foresees that the regional customs centre would be situated in the Brcko District and not Tuzla. Beslagic comments on the statement by the Chief OHR Spokesperson, Julian Braithwaite, that the choice is in the recommendations of the Indirect Taxation Commission, by saying “let him come to the parliament, then we will see”. The BiH HoR should convene on Tuesday. |
| Removal of Supervisory Board in HT Mostar | Dnevni List (front and page 3, by J. T. K., “First support, then removal”) – regarding the decision by the Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) to request the removal of the President of Supervisory Board of HT Mostar (Croat telecommunications), Slavo Kukic, which was justified by the FBiH Government with a reason that the company’s profit is smaller than expected, DL claims that is the opposite to the position the FBiH Government had four months ago when the Government stated it was satisfied with the company’s profits in last year and part of year 2003. On the same occasion, the FBiH Government gave support to the HT Steering Board and the management of the company. DL got a comment from the FBiH Minister of Traffic and Communications, Nedzad Brankovic, who says the FBiH Government made an analysis of the work (of HT Mostar), coming to a conclusion that the profits should be higher and in light of that, that the new staffing solutions should try to carry it out. Minister Brankovic adds that the removal does not bring into question the fight for the third GSM licence. |
| Interview with Aluminij CEO Brajkovic | Dnevni List (front and page 7, by Miso Relota, “State has different attitude towards certain companies”) – the “Aluminij” CEO, Mijo Brajkovic, reflecting on the issue of price of electricity for the company, says the politics is the key factor in BiH, claiming that the State has different attitude towards different companies. “Today we talk about Bosmal from Malaysia, whose investments are looked upon with sympathies, whilst in the same time an international contract with DaimlerChrysler is being terminated, which in fact averts the German capital. Behaviour of the State should be of a better quality, because without foreign investments you cannot do anything. We must understand that in international relations, it is a big deal to terminate an international contract”, says Brajkovic. Commenting on the issue of arbitration for the “Aluminij”, Brajkovic says it is pointless to lose money, energy and time on that. “We do not trust anyone, especially after the last OHR’s audit. The audit showed that the Aluminij worked in accordance with the current laws. I ask: why works on the report?”, says Brajkovic. When questioned whether there is going to be a settlement between the parties in question, Brajkovic says: “Aluminij stockholders will decide whether to accept the arbitration of not! I appeal to common sense. I talked to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Prime Minister, Ahmet Hadzipasic. They are ready to reach an agreement!” |
| Strike in “Zitoprerada” | Dnevni List (page 4, “Second month of hunger strike”, not signed) carries that workers of the “Zitoprerada” Company of Bihac have gone on hunger strike over a month ago. President of Strikers’ Board, Murat Dedic, stated yesterday that none visited strikers during the last two days and added that their health is deteriorating. On the same issue DL (page 4, “Discussion on Zitoprerada and illegal construction”, by S. Pasagic) carries that the Assembly of the Una-Sana Canton is to hold its session today during which the Assembly will be informed about the measures that have been taken with regard to the aforementioned strike. Sarajevo media also covered the issue. |
| EBRD on Telekom operators in BIH
| Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 4, ‘EBRD interested in privatisation of Telekom Srpske and Eronet’ – Ten-member delegation of the EBRD Board of Directors (European Bank for Reconstruction and development) will pay a two-day visit to BiH on Wednesday, during which they want to hold meetings with local officials and discuss the privatisation of the telecommunication operators in BiH, namely Telekom Srpske and Eronet. They would also like to discuss the issue of project “Power 3”. NN learnt that EBRD delegation will meet with Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Minister, Dragan Mikerevic, Republika Srpska Prime Minister, and Zeljko Jungic, Director of Telekom Srpske. According to NN inset, a source close to OHR confirmed to NN that OHR will publish audit reports into business dealings of BiH Telecom operators at the middle of this month. The same source noted that the reports will not name persons responsible for criminal dealings, but this would instead be investigated later on by OHR AFD (as NN put it). |
| Property exchange contracts | Glas Srpske, cover page story, ‘War no longer valid’ – War as general, extraordinary circumstance, on basis of which the courts in Republika Srpska had been annulling contracts on property exchange is no longer considered as valid justification. This is the interpretation of the OHR, which was forwarded to the Association of Citizens “Together towards truth” (Zajedno do istine). The letter was signed by Deputy High Representative, Richard Williams. Namely, the Court cannot pass a verdict, according to which each case of property exchange was extorted during the war. |
| Update to strike of Banjaluka Clinical Centre workers | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 6, ‘Decision on termination of strike on Wednesday’ – The health workers at Banjaluka Clinical Centre will make a final decision on Wednesday as to whether three-month strike would be terminated or continued. |
| Patriot on RS Elektroprivreda, PDHR Hays | Patriot, pgs. 10, 11 & 12 by Miljan Kovac, ‘What Bosmal can, EFT cannot’ – The following are first paragraphs of article, which, all in all, summarise the entire article. “Following months long campaign against Republika Srpska Elektroprivreda (ERS), and removals of ERS leadership charged for nothing, the Office led by unusual Brit, who behaves as supreme authority in BiH, now is not satisfied with the work of the newly appointed leadership of ERS. OHR says – nothing has changed for better! However, they do not say what should have changed. The works on Fatnik Polje – in spite of all OHR efforts to suspend them – proceed as planned: Thermal power plant Gacko has not still faced with disaster (although OHR banned its regular annual repair) and has not been placed under bankruptcy proceeding; London firm EFT does not give up on its intention to build hydro-power plant Buk Bijela; and lastly ERS still exists and it has not been sold (or given to OHR financial mentors). Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays, also known as “supreme pest” is obviously losing patience – now he would like to remove Pantelija Dakic from the position of General Manager of ERS (his statement that cow giving a lot of milk is not for sale costs him a lot). OHR now needs to think of the reason why he should be removed from position. If Hays’ frazzled nerves allow them, OHR will devise something stronger than just accusations resembling those spoken against former ERS leadership. These days, they came to – not such a brilliant idea – to discredit EFT and its plans to involve in construction of Buk Bijela. Namely, they accused EFT of making threats against the Republika Srpska Government! The reality of such a claim by OHR officials is denied by officials from Republika Srpska Ministry of Energy and Development, led by Milan Bogicevic (Hays’ friend, whom he calls “small god-for-nothing). On the other hand, Hays, the supreme pest, does not find suspicious at all activities related to the construction of 5C corridor. It seems like that in this case, “a prominent” Bosnian-Malaysian firm will get this job without prior publication of tender.” |
War crimes | |
| RS report on Srebrenica
| Croat Radion Herceg Bosna – RS Office for Cooperation with ICTY is on Monday to release the new report on suffering of Bosniaks in Srebrenica in 1995. Catherine Bombenger, Deputy Head of International Commission for Missing Persons in BiH said that office contacted her organisation several times asking for update on their findings. Through identification process, ICMP came up with figure of 7,700 killed persons in Srebrenica, but Bombenger could not confirm whether RS authorities are going to use that data for creation of the new report. |
| ICTY on Djukanovic’s testimony | Croat Radio Herceg Bosna, BHTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg. 20, Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘Milo Djukanovic might suffer consequences’ – Spokesperson for the ICTY Prosecution Florence Hartmann said that Prosecution regrets that Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic had refused the first invitation to take witness stand in the trail of Slobodan Milosevic. She added that he could suffer consequences if he refuses second invitation by the Court’s Council. Hartman stressed that if Prosecution decides to ask Court’s Council to re-invite Djukanovic, it would be obligatory. Dnevni List page 2, by H, D.L., “Decision on testifying is up to Panel of Judges”, Slobodna Dalmacija page 5, by H, “Djukanovic might suffer consequences” also covered the issue. |
| BiH lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 3, ‘Dispute between Serbia and Montenegro and BiH is a kind of war continuation’ – Tibor Varadi, head of legal team of Serbia and Montenegro in BiH lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro , assessed that dispute between Serbia and Montenegro and BiH before International Court of Justice in The Hague “represents a kind of war continuation”. He said that direct talks and negotiations between two sides, with mediation by third side, would be a better solution. |
Defence reform | |
| Comments on pre-draft defence reform document
| Nezavisne Novine, pg. 4, ‘Marko Pavic: One army is the final goal’ – Velimir Sakadn, President of Republika Srpska Parliament Board for review of defence and internal affairs bodies, expressed his view that the joint military command over armed troops in BiH does not stipulate joint army. James Locher, Chairperson of the Defence Reform Commission, on Friday met the Republika Srpska President, Dragan Cavic, Republika Srpska Parliament Speaker, Dragan Kalinic, and Heads of Caucuses at the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. They discussed the pre-draft document on defence reform. However, Marko Pavic, member of the RS NA Board for review of defence and internal affairs bodies, is of the view that the concept of defence presented by Locher stipulates unified military structure, introduction of a single ministry of defence of BiH, single BiH general staff. |
| HDZ believes each people should have its component of the armed forces | Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘HDZ supports joint command over the military’ – The members of the HDZ BiH Main Board discussed late on Saturday the ongoing defence reform in BiH. The party supports defence reform and the establishment of a joint command over the armed forces in the country. It, however, maintains that each people should have its component within the armed forces. |
Security issues | |
| Joint security agenda for Southeast Europe conference | Glas Srpske, pg. 3, ‘Balkan targeted by Mafia’ – The conclusion reached at the conference called “Joint security agenda for Southeast Europe”, which completed in Sofia on Saturday, is that economic crime, illegal trade and other sorts of illegal commercial activities destabilise the Balkans states and slow down their integration into EuroAtlantic structures. James Pardew, US Ambassador in Sofia, said at the conference that smuggling in stolen vehicles, trafficking in people, arms, drugs, foreign currency and passports undermine the national security and jeopardise reforms in Balkans states. George Robertson, NATO Secretary General, sought from the conference that future members of Alliance in the Balkans should perform more in the fight against organised crime and corruption. Zoran Djeric, Republika Srpska Interior Minister, stated after the conference that South-East European states urgently need a doctrine, which will frame newly-defined security affairs of entire Europe. |