OHR BiH Media Round-up, 9/7/2002

Print Media Headlines

Oslobodjenje: Real owner of AM-SPED gave NHI a 400,000 KM gift; Oslobodjenje wins Quality Summit award

Dnevni List: Was Adnan Kadric preparing an assassination in Mostar?

Jutarnje Novine: Tuzla chemical workers ask for the help from Interpol; Assassination of General Sylvester planned in Mostar?

Vecernji List: Anthrax in Sanski Most

Dnevni List: Adnan Kadric offered $10,000 for assassination of General Sylvester

Nezavisne Novine: Matanovic’s killer walks freely the streets of Prijedor!; Assassination attempt of General Sylvester

Glas Srpki: Finance Ministry claims 20 million KM laudnerd; The Hague investigating Clinton’s role in Croatian offensive Storm; Kadric had a clear shot of General Sylvester

Blic: Planed assassination attempt on SFOR Commander in Mostar; Investigation against Clinton because of ‘Oluja’(storm);

Assassination attempt at General Sylvester preempted

“The fact that the Mostar police discovered firearms in the car of the detained Adnan Kadric from Zenica does not mean that he was planning the assassination of the COMSFOR, General John Sylvester. At this moment, the arrest of Kadric and the visit of the General Sylvester we can call a coincidence, however, we are concerned because we do not know what were the intentions of this man,” SFOR spokesman Scott Lundy told Dnevni Avaz (front page) commenting on the speculations of the Croat media that Kadric intended to assassinate the COMSFOR who was visiting Mostar on Saturday. Nezavisne Novine and Dnevni List (front pages) write that the SFOR and the IPTF have also engaged into investigation of this case, as there is a suspicion that Kadric is the leader of a terrorist association in Zenica. However, in a written statement, General Sylvester says that the Mostar police has prime responsibility for the investigation. (Jutarnje Novine f.p. Glas Srpski f.p., Vecernji List f.p., Blic f.p., Vjesnik p. 2, and Slobodna Dalmacija p. 14)

Financial Scandals/Affairs

Glas srpski (front page) quotes a source from the RS Finance Ministry as saying that according to the findings of the Anti-Money Laundering Team with the RS Finance Ministry, there is a reasonable suspicion that some enterprises from the RS and the Federation have laundered around 20 million KM. The paper reports that the findings indicate that these funds have been laundered by two enterprises from Laktasi – “Gama-trgovina” (6,7 million KM) and “Koneks-veritas” (3,3 million KM). Other companies also allegedly involved in money laundering are “MBS Trade” (2,3 million KM), “GMBH” (2 million KM), “RM komerc” from Pale (1,8 million KM), “Kompa trejd” from Srpsko Sarajevo (1,7 million KM), “Fera term” from Banja Luka (1,7 million KM), “Normal” from Banja Luka (1,4 million KM) and “Lukic-komerc” from Bijeljina (900,000 KM). The same source states that the RS Finance Ministry, the RS Tax Administration and the RS Public Prosecutor are working together on the “Gama-trgovina” case.

Dnevni Avaz (p. 5) reports that the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor asked the Federation Financial Police to audit accounts of the Federation Defense Ministry and all financial transactions made between 1997-2001.

Dnevni List (p. 2) reports that the shareholders, clients and depositors of Hercegovacka Banka sent a letter to the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, asking him to de-block the funds frozen in the bank after the raid by SFOR. 

Matanovic case

Both Banja Luka dailies, Glas srpski (p. 3) and Nezavisne novine (front page), report that the Second Instance Panel of the Banja Luka District Court yesterday extended by 30 days the detention of the five former police officers from Prijedor, who are suspected of committing war crimes against civilian population (Note: The murder of the Matanovic family in Prijedor in 1995.). According to media reports, the decision was passed because of a fear that the five suspects may flee the country before the case begins. Banja Luka media report that the families of the five police officers claim that the suspects are only a scapegoat. One of them said that Prijedor residents know “well the identity of the man who killed the Matanovic family”. “His name is well known. He works in the 1^st Police Station in Prijedor and I think that someone protects him but I do not know who“, said wife of one of the 5 police officers. (Blic p.11 also carries similar report)

BIH –Foreign Relations

The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, will meet today with the members of the BIH Presidency and discuss with them the extension of the UN mission’s mandate in BiH. “He will also congratulate the Presidency members on their mature attitude with respect to this problem. Ashdown shares the view of the chairman Beriz Belkic that this problem can be resolved and that it does not threaten the security in the Balkans,” OHR Chief Spokesperson Julian Braithwaite told Dnevni Avaz (p.2). Braithwaite said that Ashdown and Belkic will also exchange information about Ashdown’s recent visit to Brussels and the forthcoming summit of the three president of BiH, Yugoslavia and Croatia in Sarajevo. “Ashdown, not only as the High Representative but also a representative of the EU, considers this [summit] to be an exceptionally important event and a great step forward in the regional cooperation between the three countries.”

(Vecernje Novosti from Belgrade report that Croatian president Stipe Mesic and his Yugoslav counterpart, Vojislav Kostunica, will arrive in Sarajevo on July 15 for the long awaited meeting)

Speaking at a seminar “Managing changes and conflicts in the world in transition”, the BiH Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, said that the global responsibly today cannot be closed within the borders of the European Union or Euro-Atlantic association. “Today, the EU cannot shy away from its Balkans preoccupation, or its responsibility to more decisively participate in the global processes…We are ready to adjust, we are ready to pass the historical chasm, ready to accept the European standards and we are expecting EU to help us in this.”  (Oslobodjenje p. 3, Dnevni Avaz p. 4, Jutarnje Novine p. 3)

During a short meeting with the BiH Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, the former US President Bill Clinton, said that the future of BiH is in strengthening of the state institutions, rule of law and the speedy economic development. “Sarajevo is the best proof that Huntington’s thesis about the clash of civilizations does not have future. This is why I am always ready to help BiH and its democratic forces in the creating better future for its citizens.” (Oslobodjenje p. 3, Dnevni Avaz p. 4)

According to a poll conducted by Dnevni Avaz, 53% of the BiH citizens expects a concrete progress in relations between BiH, FRY and Croatia after the July 15 meeting of the president of the three countries. The poll indicated that 27% did not have a very high expectations, while almost 20% of the polled citizens had no opinion on the matter. The telephone poll was conducted among 300 citizens in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar using a method of random sampling.

Slobodna Dalmacija (page 15) carries reactions of the Croat People’s Union, the leader of the Republican Party, Stjepan Kljuic, and the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Vrhbosna (Sarajevo) Diocese, Pero Sudar, on the recent statement by the ICTY Deputy Chief Prosecutor Graham Blewitt that Slobodan Milosevic will be charged only for genocide against Bosniaks and not Croats in BiH. Kljuic said that problems in BiH should be solved by domestic people and not by foreigners: “All criminals must be brought to justice, regardless of their ethnic origin, because that is the way to take the blame out of one whole people.” Bishop Sudar said “I expected more sensibility for justice and fair relationship in sensitive issues that they (International Community) have taken responsibility for … For territory where Serbs have forced other two peoples to leave, Western countries have rewarded them by giving them a state.”

In his editorial in Dnevni List (page 2) Miroslav Vasilj also criticizes the announcements from ICTY that Slobodan Milosevic will not be charged with genocide over BiH Croats. The author quotes ICG report in which it says that in most cases the crime was committed over non-Serbs, and “Croats are obviously a part of that group”. After saying that no political party, with Croat prefix of without national prefix, did react on this, except for Croat People’s Union of Milenko Brkic, the author asks rhetorically “How hard have been working those who were entitled to prove that Croats were also victims of sick plans Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic who was not hesitating to commit genocide in order to destroy Croats in certain area? Just to remind, ex-HDZ authorities behaved very much ignorantly in this issue,” the author wrote. Vecernji List (page 3) also has a coverage this issue.

BiH State-level issues

The chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Dragan Mikerevic, the BiH Treasury Minister, Anto Domazet, and the Principal Deputy High Representative, Donals Hays, visited Brcko on Monday, where they met with representatives of the District authorities and the Brcko Supervisor, Henry Clark. “We have agreed to harmonize fiscal regulations in order to secure a single economic space in BiH. The Brcko District could be a blueprint for all other legislative solutions in BiH on her way to Europe,” said Dragan Mikerevic. (Oslobodjenje p. 6, Dnevni Avaz p. 10)

Representatives of the governments of the United States, BiH entities, BiH Council of Ministers and American organization Mercy Corps signed on Monday in Sarajevo the protocol on the launching of the project “Return to Srebrenica“, worth 3,300,000 KM . According to BiH Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Kresimir Zubak, this is the first joint project of return on whose implementation the governments at the state and entity level and representatives of the international community work together, and it foresees the enabling of a sustainable return.

The project that foresees the reconstruction of 100 housing units and local infrastructure, as well as the micro-grants for the employment of returnees to the area of Srebrenica, is financed by the entities governments, namely each with 600,000, the BiH Council of Ministers with 300,000 KM and the United States of America with more than two million KM. (All electronic and print media report on this item, however not very prominently)

Foreign Press/commentaries

In a commentary in today’s Guardian, David Chandler writes about the first month and a half of Paddy Ashdown at the post of the High Representative in BIH. “He has adopted a fresh, media-friendly approach in his first month in office, and has been widely seen as taking a new broom to the political problems of the divided Bosnian state. In his inaugural speech he stressed the theme of ‘partnership’: ‘I want the office of the high representative to be open and accessible… So, starting today, I will be spending more time out of Sarajevo, meeting people from across the country, and listening to their views.’ This is exactly what Ashdown has done, holding “town hall” meetings around the country and spending hours in discussions with local dignitaries. He argues that ‘we need to do more to give citizens a real voice’. Ashdown doesn’t want to be seen as a meddling outsider, but as a true popular tribune. ‘I see myself not just as a representative of the international community,’ he says. ‘I am also a servant of Bosnia and Herzegovina.’”

Daniel Simpson in The New York Times writes about Celebici near Foca, a village suspected of providing refuge to one of the most wanted war crimes suspects in BIH, Radovan Karadzic, and about the thus far failed attempts of SFOR to arrest him. “Anyone hoping the simple peasants in these remote mountains will betray their wartime hero to a few foreign soldiers can expect a long wait. The corner of Bosnia’s Serbian republic, where Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader who has been indicted for war crimes, has eluded NATO peacekeepers for six years is an impenetrable world. Maps show that the occasional dirt road snakes up through the forests to a porous border with Montenegro. But they reveal nothing about the suspicious and angry people who live there, reared on tales of centuries of oppression by outsiders and soured by the nationalist fervor Dr. Karadzic stoked.”

Vecernje Novosti (p. 4), Nacional (P. 5), Blic (p.9) report about yesterday’s promotion of Radovan Karadzic’s book of children poetry in Belgrade. Miroslav Toholj, the editor of the book and the secretary of the “International Board for truth about Karadzic”, said that in the recent search of Karadzic’s house in Pale, SFOR had not found any false documents or passports, but that the soldiers instead desecrated icons and destroyed furniture in the house. (Federation media also carried this item)

Blic (p. 8), Vecernje Novosti (p.8) and Glas srpski (front page) carry the article published in Monday’s issue of The Washington Times about the alleged ICTY investigation against the former US President, Bill Clinton, an his involvement in the Croatian army’s action ‘Oluja’ (storm) in Croatia in 1995.

Anthrax in BiH

Vecernji List (front page, signed by Zdenko Jurilj) reports about the outbreak of anthrax in Sanski Most, where seven persons have been diagnosed with this disease. According to the daily, all infected cows were a part of a donation from mostly European countries. 

Electronic Media Headlines

BHTV 1

• Matanovic case suspects to remain in custody for additional 30 days; Family members of suspects demand a provisional release
• NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirms that the SFOR arrested Miroslav Deronjic, suspected of committing war crimes in the Bratunac area
• Milosevic trial

FTV

• World news
• SFOR says Mostar police should investigate the arrest of Adnan Kadric, says not sure about claims of assassination attempts at General Sylvester
• NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirms that the SFOR arrested Miroslav Deronjic, suspected of committing war crimes in the Bratunac area
• Milosevic trial

RTRS

• Washington Post: ICTY investigating former US president B. Klinton for supporting Croat army in its offensive against Serb forces in 1995. (1.3)
• Kadric, suspected of attempted assassination of SFOR commander general J. Sylvester, arrested. (1.3)
• The five Serb policemen charged with illegal arrest and murder of Catholic priest Tomislav Matanovic and his parents will remain in prison for another 30 days, the Banja Luka County Court’s Council decided on Monday. (2)