23 February 98, 19:30
OHR announced main regulations of the temporary Law on the BiH Flag. OHR spokesman Bullivant said that the new flag will have to be put on all state institutions, all diplomatic and consular offices, vehicles of the state officials, border lines, and all meetings with international officials. In all these cases, no other flag will stand next to the BiH flag.
2:00
Stolac municipality officials addressed a demand to OHR to influence on stopping the demolition of Bosniak property. Another incident occurred last night about 21:30 when a private house was burned.
1:00
HR Westendorp announced issues of his forthcoming discussions with the Croatian President Tudjman. Westendorp said that Tudjman has been cooperative in many issues until now, such as voluntarily delivering of war criminals and removing the people who are blocking the peace process, but there are still problems to be solved. Westendorp also said that the problems of Drvar, Stolac, Capljina, Mostar and other towns of Central Bosnia will also have to be discussed. Westendorp also commented on Tudjman’s recent statement regarding Bosnia as a Moslem state, saying that whenever there is a party congress or elections, politicians say things that they do not really think.
2:00
BiH Ambassador to Croatia, Trnka addressed a severe protest to the Croatian FA Minister, Granic. Trnka said that Tudjmans standpoints are unacceptable and improper and cannot be without influence to the future relations between BiH and Croatia. It can be explained as pretension towards the neighboring state and questioning of its territorial integrity. Trnka also said that this things show that the Croatian side does not have real intention to fully implement obligations from the DPA. BiH FA Minister deputy, Zivalj reacted to Prlic’s statement regarding three political concepts in BiH and said that questions remain open: did we basically agreed about full and specific interests of BiH, and do we have to accord totally, every day, about each matter, and did Mr. Minister specifically determined the contents of his comment with his two equal deputies as the representatives of three constitutional nations?
4:00
About 30 Citizens of Bosanska Krupa were banned to enter Croatia at the Licko Petrovo Selo borderline. Croatian customs officers explained that Bosanska Krupa is in the RS and that the special regime is valid for RS citizens. Croatian customs officers also stamped BiH citizens passports with “unwanted person” marks. These events also produced speculations about exchange of Bosanska Krupa for Brcko. The final explanation was that the BiH citizens will be allowed to Croatia, and that this was a misunderstanding because of some decision, expired long ago.
2:00
European Parliament delegation met with representatives of the BiH Parliament House of People and House of Representatives. Delegation representative, Spencer stressed that the main subject of the visit is efficiency of usage of money donated by the European Union to BiH. Other subjects were also improving the work of the BiH Parliament and possibilities for realization of the refugee return program in this year. It was also said that this project will not be possible to realize without assistance of the IC regarding the houses and facilities reconstruction.
1:30
International Red Cross organized five-days international meeting “Awareness of Landmines” in Sarajevo. The basic purpose of the meeting is to reduce number of landmine victims worldwide.
1:30