News Headlines
- BiH Presidency members on official visit to Germany
- BiH Presidency and BiH Council of Ministers meet with World Bank Vice-president Johanes Lynn to discuss reform of financial system and corruption
- BiH House of Representatives session interrupted due to lack of quorum
- TV BiH crew covers parliamentary session, delegates do not show up
- RS National Assembly holds session
- High Representatives decides on entity property laws
- Petritsch’s mandatory decisions should make radical turnaround in implementation of Dayton Agreement, intensify two-way returns – refugee association Brcko for Brcko Citizens
- Farrand hosts visit of BiH Inter-Religious Committee to Brcko, Committee gives support to reconstruction and return
- Bosniak refugees from Serb Gorazde area await resolution of their status, municipal and cantonal bodies discuss issue while report on situation sent to 20 IC and BiH officials, who are invited to visit Gorazde
- Elections 2000
- Miller discusses Dayton Agreement and statement by Tudjman
- Dayton prescribes punishment of war criminals, very few war criminals in ICTY while proof of crimes is daily occurrence, 108 persons killed in 1992 exhumed in Gacko Municipality
- Children’s Embassy Ambassador Dusan Tomic visits Montenegro, where Veselin Vlahovic “Batko” is jailed for murdering baby
- First International Conference on Combating Organized Crime in Balkans held in Sarajevo
- World news
- Novi Travnik-based Alatnica company employees end hunger strike after being promised two back salaries
- SDA holds press conference
- HDZ and CD Coalition representatives are solely responsibility for failure of Wednesday session – SDP Parliamentary Caucus
- NHI comments on HDZ visit to Central Bosnian Canton
- BOSS calls on Zenica-Doboj Canton Government to take urgent measures to improve status of healthcare workers
- Democratic Pensioners’ Party believes that current authorities have not yet started consolidation of pension funds
- BiH Pension Fund demands Tuzla Canton Governor Tarik Arapcic and Premier Bajazid Jasarevic to stop implementation of procedure to overtake Pensioners’ Home until court decides issue
- Tuzla presents 11 cars to 100% wartime invalids
- Media in BiH discussed at Tuzla roundtable
- Sports
- Weather
News Summary
BiH House of Representatives session interrupted due to lack of quorum
The BiH House of Representatives session was interrupted due to lack of quorum and ended after two and a half hours. A suggestion by SDP representative Karlo Filipovic to count the missing members and publicly point to those spoiling the quorum was refused and it was up left to the Clubs themselves to sanction those not in attendance at their discretion. It is unknown when the session will continue. TV coverage, corruption and unemployment are the issues left to be discussed. Both Parliamentary Houses have a rising stack of legal proposals awaiting discussion.
01:11
RS National Assembly holds session
The Parliament of the other entity’s National Assembly has requested High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch‘s assistance in resolving the problem of the RS presidential institution. Their session started with a condemnation of the terrorist action and attempted murder of Zeljko Kopanja, for which they demanded a thorough investigation. These are the only concrete actions that Assembly took, again failing to adopt an agenda. Many annexes were made to otherwise extensive agenda proposals suggested by Assembly Speaker Petar Djokic for discussion in two parts. This was to be expected, because the parliament of this entity has not held an ordinary working session in almost three months. All Serb parties supported the SNS proposal to demand information on the Bosanski Brod oil refinery affairs from the government. The CD Coalition demanded that a vote of confidence be included in the agenda, although the initiative was not formally launched due to a lack of votes, with SDP and NHI representatives refusing to participate. The SRS sees this issue as unnecessary, saying that the government is illegitimate, while the SDS agreed to discuss the vote of confidence after the gathering of the necessary 20 signatures. CD Coalition delegate Safet Bico demanded that the election of anther Assembly Vice-president be deliberated, a position for which Munib Jusufovic was nominated in June.
03:17
High Representatives decides on entity property laws
“If there is non-compliance with implementation of my decision on changes and annexes to the property laws in both entities, my authorities will be used as a means against those responsible. I will abide by replacements made in the past and most likely required in the future” stated High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch to ONASA in an explanation of his decision on property laws. Let us clarify what the High Representative’s decisions mean. The first one relates to harmonization of BiH Federation and RS property laws, which changes the RS law with 20 annexes. Instead of the previous one-year deadline, a party requesting the return of ownership rights is required to return within 90 days of being informed that his/her flat has been vacated. Special circumstances allow for extended deadlines. The decisions oblige supervising bodies to evict multiple flat users within 15 days and penalties for non-compliance with the decision range from 50 to 500 DM. Refugees and DPs do not have to leave other peoples flats if they can prove that there is no alternative housing for them. Supervising bodies must obtain a written statement by those making housing requests that they will leave their temporary housing once their flat is vacant. The High Representative expects the government to build new housing if necessary, which is also supported by several other foreign representatives. The decision will be printed in an official newsletter in both entities. The Parliaments are expected to adopt the decisions in their regular procedures.
01:50
Elections 2000
For the upcoming elections in April 2000, the PEC has confirmed the registration of 73 political parties and 17 independent candidates. OSCE spokesperson Tanya Domi stated that three parties were required to change their name before registering for next elections. According to Domi, the party Action December ’93 was expected to reach a decision on changing its name by 17:00hrs on Thursday, while the deadline for the BiH Social Democrats of the RS expires at 13:00hrs on Friday. The registration of BiH citizens living abroad and wishing to vote through the mail is set for 19 October. Besides BiH Embassies and Consulates, NGOs abroad and refugee counseling centers possess registration material that can also be found on the OSCE web site.
01:05
Miller discusses Dayton Agreement and statement by Tudjman
When asked whether he thinks privatization is possible, US Ambassador to BiH Thomas Miller said, “I believe it is most important to implement everything agreed to in Dayton before discussing its revision. It is important to remember that the Dayton Agreement is the document that ended the war and, as Holbrooke claims, is not perfect, which we all must admitted. There are problems with Dayton and they will exist. Regarding the statements made by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, I believe we have been clear: One state – two entities – three constitutive nations. This has always been the view of the US and the IC.”
01:18
NHI comments on HDZ visit to Central Bosnian Canton
The NHI Travnik Municipal Board is surprised by the visit of top HDZ officials to Potkraj just 19 days after the shameful welcome citizens gave to USAID’s Craig Buck at the pipeline opening. The NHI wonders whether BiH Presidency Chairman and HDZ BiH President (Ante Jelavic) used the occasion to try to resolve the crisis in Central Bosnia Canton, explain to Travnik citizens what has been done to find the perpetrators of eight murders in the municipality and account for the success of the economy in HN Canton, contrasting the poor life of Central Bosnia Croats.
00:37
Media in BiH discussed at Tuzla roundtable
The IMC concluded that BiH has a great concentration of media (footage shows Dieter Lorraine with name bar for Daniel de Luce). The Media in this area represents the most politicized example of European media. The IMC representative said that almost half of the (older) permits were issued by local or cantonal agencies, depending on economic circumstances and political control. By adopting regulations in this area, the IMC has given all (media outlets) a chance to improve their functioning.
01:55