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 |
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 |
BIH –Foreign Relations |
(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 |
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 |
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 |
Electronic Media Headlines |
- 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)