The HoR and HoP sessions will not be held on April 8, as it was agreed by the Federal and the RS representatives before. However, the MPs held a meeting at the OHR today and agreed to postpone the sessions to April 15. The sudden change came as result of the RS MPs disagreement with the Agenda.
The CoM will hold a session tomorrow and give their best to agree on the most important issues and laws from the QSP. They should discuss the Foreign Policy Law, package of the Privatisation, Restitution and Property Laws, the Law on Diplomatic Immunity, and the issue of air traffic control.
Sarajevo – BiH Presidency member Zubak met the head of the OSCE in BiH, Frowick to discuss the local elections, and organisation of the local elections in Mostar and Brcko in particular.
Sarajevo – Vice-president of the BiH Federation and President of the Federation Commission for Brcko arbitration, Ganic met Brcko Supervisor Farrand and HR Deputy Steiner, to discuss the Arbitration decision and its further implementation, as well as implementation of the DPA in general. Brcko Supervisor Farrand met with the Federal Commission for Brcko to discuss the same issues.
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Tuzla – A public proceeding against seven Bosniaks from Srebrenica, who are in a Bijeljina prison, will begin on April 17, but without their lawyers from the Federation. The RS authorities from Bijeljina appointed Serb lawyers, who will work as public defenders, to represent the Bosniaks charged with four murders. After 20 months of wandering throughout the RS territory, those seven men turned themselves into IFOR who delivered them to the Serb police. The BiH TV condemned the IFOR act saying that the Bosniaks were unarmed, and therefore, there was no reason for keeping them in custody.
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Sarajevo – The Shadow Government headed by its President Beslagic, held a session prior to their trip to the USA. They stressed that the current situation in BiH is very difficult because of disrespect of the DPA and its Annexes in general. They will also present their position to the US State Department.
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Answering to UNHCR spokesman Khris Janovski’s accusations that the local Sarajevo authorities do not allow ethnic minorities to return to their previous homes in Sarajevo, the Cantonal Government of the Sarajevo Canton said that 29 apartment owners did not receive permission to get their flats back because they hadn’t applied in time. Therefore, discrepancy on the national basis is out of question.
Pale – The US President Special Envoy, Claude Ganz, and the Federation and RS Ministers of Energy, Kapetanovic and Skoko, respectively, held a meeting to discuss the current gas situation.
Summary SRT News
RS President, Biljana Plavsic, stated there is nothing wrong so far with Farrand’s arrival to Brcko at the end of this week. Plavsic expressed her believe that the IPTF will do nothing to contradict the law and will treat all citizens equally. She also said that only by working hard will we make Brcko a model-city in which laws are respected and where there is economic prosperity. Plavsic reiterated that RS has guarantees that in Brcko there will be no resettlement of Serb people. Of 38.000 Brcko residents, 30.000 are refugees that have changed addresses at least two or three times so far. Plavsic added that the return of Muslim refugees will not be possible without huge foreign investments for reconstruction. If everything goes as foreseen, there is nothing to fear, because the region will develop much faster with such investments, concluded Plavsic.2 min
VRS Chief of Staff, Pero Colic, evaluated the reorganization of the army as very successful. Combat readiness is on a such level that we can successfully defend RS, and its people can live peacefully, said Colic for “Semberia” newspaper. Commenting on the current military situation with regard to the implementation of the DPA, Colic pointed out that Muslims do not want to reconcile with the status defined by the DPA. Their aim is to form an Islamic state, Colic said.
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RS still insists that the International Community exclude the policy of double standards pertaining to investments to RS and the Croatian-Muslim entity. Namely, most of the financial aid of the World Bank and the European Commission stays with Muslims and Croats. This is not in line with what the Inter. Community committed itself to. Out of $270 million, that the World bank approved for the reconstruction of the electric-power industry, only 26% belongs to RS. This was the subject of today’s talks in Pale, where Minister of Energy and Industry, Milorad Skoko, met with Bildt’s deputy for Economic Issues, Claude Ganz. Also present was the Muslim-Croat Federation Minister Kapetanovic.
Report: The main theme of discussion were investments of the Int. community in the reconstruction of the electric-power industry. Skoko emphasized that an equal approach should be taken, since the Muslim-Croat Federation was privileged so far. He also said that companies from RS should be seconded for the reconstruction work. Ganz promised to influence the Int. community to correct such stands and pointed out that problems should be identified first and than solved gradually.
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Representatives of the RS Government and a Danish Humanitarian organization signed an agreement for helping refugees in Reception Centers.
At the Auto fair in Belgrade, the Modrica oil refinery and Cajevec-Holding company from Banja Luka made a presentation today. Dragan Kalinic, Speaker of the RS Assembly, said on this occasion that “for a country that is still struggling for international affirmation, the stand of the RS leadership is that such business successes have the same importance as diplomatic ones.”
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