The Observer, British newspaper printed information which was carried over by the international media, that Malcolm Rifkind, former British Foreign Office Secretary, using his veto right, has prevented the opening of a dossier which intelligence officers keep on Slobodan Milosevic. He disabled the opening of an investigation against the Serbian President. Rifkind had also at the time, refused to give orders to the British soldiers serving with UNPROFOR in BiH, to arrest the BiH Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic both indicted for committing war crimes in BiH, the Observer informed reminding that Milosevic’s regime has secretly given 160.000 US dollars to the persons close to the British Conservative Party.
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A first train has officially passed the railroad from Tuzla to Doboj. The train – was marked with 89 – the official number for BiH railways in the International Organisation for the Railway Traffic. Today’s passing by of the train from Tuzla to Doboj represents another important political and economic step forward for the BiH state in the time of the post war reconstruction, said a presenter. Combining Tuzla and Doboj, i.e. Federation and the Serb entity with this very important rail knot, is a positive sign for the integration of Bosnia.
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Relating to a diplomatic note sent to the Foreign Ministry of the R. of Croatia by the Office of Husein Zivalj, Deputy BiH Foreign Minister on May 17, the Office of the BiH Foreign Minister, Jadranko Prlic was authorised to inform that the content of this note was a personal standpoint of Zivalj, or a standpoint of only one of three sides in the leading structure of the Ministry. Not trying to judge the foundation for the note, the intonations of its announcements and especially the conclusions and remarks related to possible harmful consequences on future relations between BiH and Croatia, but it does not represent a stance of the BiH Foreign Ministry, which could be incorrectly be concluded from the Statement, reads the information.
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Mate Granic, Croatian Foreign Minister, failed to inform the Croatian public of the most important point of the talks he held with the American officials during his recent visit to the US. After his talks with Madeline Albright, Granic mentioned only two conditions set to Croatia for stepping closer towards the joint western institutions: a meeting of the DPA requirements concerning Serbs and war criminals. He forgot to inform of the extremely strong accentuated conditions for American friendship – the refugee return to Bosnia, co-operation with the Hague Tribunal on Bosnia war crimes and supporting a revitalisation of the BiH Federation.
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Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, Zagreb’s Archibishop, distanced himself publicly today from the acts of Vjekoslav Lasic, the priest who tried in Zagreb during the First of May celebration, to stop this anti-fascist gathering. The gathered people demanded that the old name of the square ”Square of the Victims of Fascism”, which the Croatian authorities changed into the name Square of the Croatian Genius be returned. Father Lasic, however, praised the fascists achievements publicly. Lasic drew attention to himself recently when he served a mass for the Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic in Zagreb cathedral, asserting that he is more important for the Croatian people than Jesus Christ himself.
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A convention of the Association of citizens from Bosansko Podrinje was held in Gorazde yesterday and today. The conclusions were: Return of refugees, FoM, building of a road from Sarajevo to Gorazde, and creating conditions for refugees return home.
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Klaus Kinkel warned BiH of the possibility of losing financial support from Germany if it failed to more decisively in receiving refugees who are coming back home from the western countries, Reuters report.
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Ambassador Michael Steiner, the HR’s Principal Deputy talking for German Radio, explained that Bosniaks who were ethnically cleansed, cannot return to their homes in the RS entity, before the conditions are met for their return.
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Summary SRT News
Banja Luka – RS President Biljana Plavsic met with HR Carl Bildt and SFOR Commander Gen. William Crouch today. RS Vice President Dragoljub Mirjanic, RS Interior Minister Dragan Kijac, Supervisor for Brcko Robert Farrand and UN SRSG Kai Eide are also attending the meeting which is still in progress..1’50”
Pale – Upon his return from an official visit to Washington, Co-Chair in the CoM Boro Bosic commented on the visit by saying that he had received assurances from his American collocutors that the RS would be treated in the same way as the Bosniaks and Croats. According to Bosic, it was jointly agreed that the economic recovery of BH was the top priority and the key element in the implementation of the peace agreement. The US presence will continue in some other form beyond the next year when SFOR withdraws, Bosic maintained. The upcoming municipal elections were also discussed. Bosic opined that Co-Chair Silajdzic was not so much in favour of elections being held in September, while Bosic himself was supportive in that respect, underlining that “elections represent a democratic process with no other alternative”.
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Hague Tribunal and US – “The US is holding “under lock” incriminating evidence on crimes committed by Muslims and Bosniaks and thus the ICTY can go on safely with its farce”, wrote Evropske novosti. According to the same paper, there is sufficient evidence to prove that the Muslim leadership was responsible for mass killing of civilians in Sarajevo in several instances. UNPROFOR reports forwarded to Lord Owen and some other officials were quite explicit about it, claimed the author, adding that the objective of the Muslim leadership was to internationalize the conflict.
Officials from various organizations for human rights request of the UN to establish an international permanent court for human rights. Even though Clinton’s Administration supports this concept in principle, unofficially it has expressed concerns about it, maintained the report quoting the Lost Angeles Times. Washington prefers a temporary arrangement such as the ICTY where it can retain control over it through the UN SC.
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President of the Electoral Commission Petko Cancar appealed today to voters to register on time or else it was likely that they might not be able to vote at the future election in 1998.The media carried an extensive report on the registration for election in various municipalities.
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At the beginning of May, “the Muslim police” arrested illegally five Serb civilians who “believed” in FOM, informed the media with a comment that it was not surprising. “But the indifference of the international community is disturbing”, underlined the report.
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Zvornik – A few days ago, in a village near Zvornik, monuments in a Serb cemetery were desecrated and a nearby forest set ablaze by a group of Muslims from Tuzla.
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