Sarajevo – OHR Spokesman Duncan Bullivant conveyed HR Carlos Westendorp’s message to voters which was quoted extensively by the media. The forthcoming elections provide an opportunity for you to express you will and take the future in your own hands, said Mr. Westendorp in his message. The High Representative reminded that those who favour elections only when sure of their victory, are not true democrats and that the international community has made considerable efforts and invested US $ 14 million to organize the elections.
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Sarajevo – Today’s session of the BH CoM was evaluated as extremely successful, said the report. Prior to the session, the two Co-Chairmen Silajdzic and Bosic and Deputy Chairman Neven Tomic held consultations with Deputy HR Gerd Wagner on problems concerning the work of the Council. All members of the BiH Council participated in today’s session, underlined the report. Boro Bosic, who chaired the session told press that an agreement has been reached on opening of the airports in Banja Luka, Mostar and Tuzla.
In addition, the Council authorized Dr. Silajdzic to sign an agreement on financial aid with the USAID and instructed the BiH Foreign Ministry to initiate activities for opening of four crossings with the Republic of Croatia. The memorandum on telecommunications was on the agenda as well. It is expected that this memorandum will be harmonized before the next session.
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Sarajevo – Robert Frowick, Chairman of the PEC has decided to include additional 250 people in Brcko registration lists, David Foley, OSCE Spokesmen told the press. Foley explained that a large number of people (over 2000) were missing from registration lists in Brcko, plus 259 people who were earlier rejected by the commission. Hilmo Pasic, a member of the PEC made the statement to the effect that the commission has not been informed about additional voters in Brcko which leads to the conclusion that Mr. Frowick made this decision alone.
However, Foley rejected the claims that additional Serb voters were included in the lists, underlying that the confusion was caused by technical mistakes.
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Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has been increasingly pressurized to use his influence with the Bosnian Croats not to boycott the local elections, said the report. If further informed that HR Carlos Westendorp and his Deputy Jacques Klein met with President Tudjman today to warn him that the elections have to be held in BH or all nations, including Croats would suffer consequences. Despite the warning, underlined the report, the meeting ended without any tangible results.
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Co-Chairman in the BH Council Haris Silajdzic commented for BH TV on problems concerning the forthcoming elections by saying that if it is true that the number of voters in Brcko has been increased, then it contradicts the decision by the Appeal Sub-Commission.
Mr.Silajdzic expressed concerns whether such practice would lead to questioning of the legitimacy of the elections.
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The FBH Interior Ministry issued a statement informing that on 9 September a fight broke out between two Bosniaks and two Croats in the village Kokosari, municipality Travnik. One of the participants, Jelnic Juro, died two days later from inflicted injuries. The two Bosniaks involved in the incident had been taken into custody and an investigation process was under way, concluded the statement.
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In response to the Kokosari incident, Kresimir Zubak, a member of the BH Presidency, issued the following statement: This is the fourth murder which only proves that our protests addressed to the OHR, IPTF, UNHCR and other international organizations and factors have yielded no results. It has definitely showed that the local authorities in Travnik are not prepared to provide minimal safety conditions for Croatian citizens. Thus, SFOR Commander Gen. Shinseki has been requested to take necessary measures for security of Croats in this area.
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