04/19/1999

OHR BiH TV News Summary, 19 April 1999

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  • NATO in Brussels published official report on bombardment of refugee convoy in Djakovica
  • 45.000 Albanians expelled from Kosovo to Albania and Macedonia in the past three days
  • British Premier Blair promised to force Yugoslav troops to withdraw from Kosovo
  • As of today, Berlin is officially the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • BiH Presidency Chairman Radisic said that BiH territory must not be used for NATO actions on Yugoslavia
  • OHR decided that BiH Presidency and BiH CoM make decision on implementation of the Law on Customs
  • First documents for unique citizens’ account begins on April 23

NATO held extraordinary press conference, attempting to explain the bombardment of refugee convoy near Djakovica, but failed as the evidence remained on the level of the previous week. NATO spokesman said that in the past 24 hours, mass migration of displaced persons within Kosovo were spotted, and that about 40.000 new refugees crossed the border toward Macedonia and Albania.
1:30

After Belgrade closed diplomatic relations with Albania, Yugoslav authorities this morning closed the main Yugoslav-Albanian border crossing “Morina”. Kosovo Albanian agency “Kosovapress” reported that Serbian forces attacked more than 40.000 refugees in the mountain of Berisa with heavy artillery and tanks. Kosovo Liberation Army units also entered the conflict in order to defend civilians.
1:30

UNCHR announced that Yugoslav forces are seemingly returning refugees who are attempting to cross the border toward Albania and Macedonia. UNHCR spokesman Janovski said that the recent inflow of refugees to Albania was suspended during the night.
1:00

Russian President Yeltsin met with the state officials, in order to express Russian strategy toward the Balkans. Agency ITAR-TASS reported that Russian President Yeltsin said he will not allow Milosevic’s defeat.
1:00

RTV BiH reporter from Belgrade reported on last night’s actions in Belgrade and in Serbia, saying that NATO was mainly active in southern Serbia, around Pristina, attacking two TV transmitters, and the building of “the Council Executive” in Novi Sad.
1:30

OHR spokesman Fergusson announced tomorrow’s meeting in the OHR building between the BiH Presidency members, BiH CoM representatives and OHR officials. Fergusson said that the only item on the agenda of the meeting will be the decision on implementation of the Law on Customs.
0:10

BiH Presidency Chairman Radisic met in Banja Luka with the SFOR Commander, General Meigs. Radisic repeated that BiH territory cannot be used for NATO military action against FRY, and demanded from SFOR to remain within the framework of its mandate. The RS Government demanded from Bosnia and Herzegovina to withdraw its indictment for genocide against FRY before the International Tribunal, saying, “it is obvious that the charges were brought by a group of individuals and not the State of BiH.”
1:30

Session of the HDZ Presidency was held in Mostar. Main issue of the session was discussion on implementation of results from the HDZ session held on March 18, and after the assassination of BiH Federation MUP Deputy Minister Leutar.
2:00

The House of Representatives of BiH scheduled a session for tomorrow. One of the main issues of the session will also be the Law on Federal TV. Deputy Minister for Science, Culture, Education and Sport, Musa said that everything that is on the RS area, regarding the television, belongs to the RS, and analogue to this, everything that is on the Federation territory, related to television, should belong to the Federation. The Croat side proposed that the whole ownership and property of the present RTV BiH television, apart from the membership in the EBU would be transferred to the RTV Federation BiH. OHR representative Daniel De Luce said that as for the property relations between the present RTV BiH and the RTV Federation BiH, this is still an open issue, and that this matter should be returned to the Government, so that the government should make a compromise on this issue.
2:30