Mustafa Hajrulahovic – Talijan was buried today in the Alipasa’s Mosque yard. BiH Army General Delic held a speech at the commemoration, as well as BiH President Izetbegovic and other persons of BiH political and public life. Hajrulahovic was buried with all military and religious honors, and numerous friends and citizens of Sarajevo followed the procession.
5:00
BiH President Izetbegovic organized a reception for retired BiH Army generals. BiH President Izetbegovic expressed his gratitude to the generals for their contribution against the aggression, and wished them a good health.
1:30
Brcko Arbiter, Owen is planning to postpone the decision on Brcko, as reported by the Washington Post, calling upon its sources in the US administration. Owen also postponed the decision in February last year, for the period of 13 months. According to WP, the decision will be postponed, because the western officials would not like to take the city away from Serbs, for it could undermine the new RS Government. BiH Federation President Ganic also made a statement, saying that rightful decision must be brought, otherwise the Dayton Agreement might be turned back to the beginning.
IPTF and local joint police forces in Brcko were put under a higher level of readiness. IPTF spokeswoman in Brcko said these are protective measures aiming to prevent unwanted surprises in the area after the decision is announced. She also said that no disorder is expected regardless to the decision.
3:00
HR Westendorp and OSCE Mission Head, Berry passed the arbitration decision for local election results implementation in Srebrenica municipality. It was said that the Coalition for Democratic and United BiH will appoint municipality president, SDS RS or radicals will appoint the co-president, while municipality secretary and deputy will rotate monthly.
2:00
Managing Board of the International Financial Corporation approved a credit, yesterday in Washington, for BiH for the amount of 25 Million DEM. The credit will finance wood processing enterprises from both BiH entities.
1:00
Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economy in the BiH CoM Nikola Grabovac held a press conference, with a subject of CoM refusal of the US credit for buying wheat. It was said that yesterday’s “Oslobodjenje’ published that the most responsible persons for this refusal are Minister Grabovac and CoM Vice-chairman Tomic. Grabovac said that there are ambiguities about this credit because of which the credit was not accepted. Grabovac added that all incomes of this credit would be used to pay back some former debts of the BiH state companies. Grabovac also said it is unacceptable for the State to pay the debts and that some private owners take over the companies.
2:00
Reuters published that former Checz FA Minister Dienst-Bier was appointed to the UN Special Envoy for Human Rights in former Yugoslavia.
1:00
US Secretary of State Albright announced that the US Government will approve one million dollars for investigation of the recent violence actions in Kosovo, which will be conducted by ICTY. Another peaceful demonstrations were held today in Pristina. About 100.000 Albaniand carried Albanian, Turkish, US and other European flags, protesting against the violence in Kosovo. Abright’s deputy Talbot, who is travelling to the region next week, said that a prompt action is necessary and that we must not make a mistake like in Bosnia.
3:00
Mediator for the BiH Federation Schwartz-Schilling visited Prijedor and Sanski Most. Schwartz-Schilling said that he was not satisfied, since Prijedor authorities did not accept OHR declaration from February 7, unlike Sanski Most authorities, for which Schwartz-Schilling said they have done lot of preparations for the refugee return process in Sanski Most.
1:30
- Turn the page
European Union projects for re-establishment of direct phone lines between Federation and the RS was realized. Connections were re-established between Sarajevo-Bijeljina, Bijeljina-Tuzla and West Mostar with RS. - 1.800 NATO soldiers from six countries will perform a joint military training called “Dynamic Answer 98” from March 23 to April 7 on the area of BiH. The aim of the training is to indicate NATO capabilities to allocate the troops in BiH as an urgent reaction to any attempt of peace jeopardizing in the region.
- HR Westendorp addressed a letter to the RS Prime Minister Dodik, reminding him on the obligations of the RS Government. Dodik’s Government is expected to issue orders for arresting war criminals, cerate conditions for refugee return, re-establish telecommunications and bus lines, and to adopt the laws from economy and land mines clearance.