22 October 97, 19:30
Today’s agenda of the Federation House of Parliament included drafts on administration and governing institutions, salaries of Federation judges and reports on the overall situation in the Federation and the work of the Interior Ministry.Most attention was paid to the reports submitted by the FBiH President and Vice President and FBiH Interior Minister. In his report, Vladimir Soljic, President of the Federation, stated that the situation in the Federation differed from canton to canton, but generally progress had been made. He specifically referred to the process of return of refugees and establishment of joint police forces. Despite numerous mistakes, Soljic assessed that the municipal elections provided legitimate authorities in the entire territory of BiH. Ejup Ganic, FBiH Vice President pointed to the division of authority between the municipality, canton and entity and explicitly referred to the detrimental effects of the ethnic segregation of school children.
Federation Interior Minister Mehmed Zilic qualified the security situation in the Federation as very complex and burdened with numerous problems. “I would like to remind you that in this period we had 56 murders, out of which 15 have not yet been resolved, and 172 explosions carried out by unknown perpetrators”, said Zilic. He further underlined that the security situation was further compounded by “major problems in the Federation, the slow formation of joint police forces, the partial control of the state borders, the high quantity of weapons in illegal possession and poorly equipped police forces”. Lastly, Zilic proposed urgent adoption on the Bill on Terrorism. His deputy, Jozo Leotar, fully supported Minister Zilic in his views on the security situation, underlined the report.
4:50
The deployment of Bosniak and Croat police officers according to the 1991 consensus has been completed in the Neretva-Herzegovina Canton. The exception is Jablanica, where Croat policemen failed to assume their duties.
01:00
Deputy Mayor of Mostar, Safet Orucevic stated that “the election results cannot have an impact on the vital interests of peoples”. Commenting on the results for the Mostar City Council, Orucevic said that HDZ made the wrong move in its electoral engineering by manipulating with the P2 form in order to create an artificial democratic supremacy.
0:50
An OSCE Spokesman told the press conference that Robert Frowick, Head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia, together with his associates, had been reviewing electoral results for the Mostar City Council. However, despite a request by some political parties, the OSCE was not going to repeat counting of ballots for Mostar, he specified.
0:50
US Special Military Envoy James Perdew arrived in Sarajevo to inspect progress in the implementation of military aspects of the DPA and the Train and Equip programme. Perdew visited the FBiH Army main logistic centre and told the press that his impressions were good. The US Envoy met with Kresimir Zubak, member of the BiH Presidency to talk about further building of the FBiH Army and the Train and Equip programme.
1:00
Christian Schwarz Schilling, Federation mediator expressed his satisfaction with results achieved in Orasje and Vares, but told the press that he would stop negotiations with the local authorities in Capljina. Schilling accused the local authorities in Capljina of obstructing the implementation of the peace accords and stated that he would recommend a total isolation of this municipality.
1:00