Brussels – At the first day of the Donors Conference about 1,225 billion dollars was collected. EU commissioner Van den Broek said that no financial aid would go to places where war criminals rule. CoM Co-Chairman Sliajdzic said that he was satisfied with the results of the Conference. Silajdzic also said that despite this good news, our people are not yet in their homes, and it makes no sense that the people responsible for war crimes still rule.
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Sarajevo – BiH president Izetbegovic received Spanish Defence Minister Serra, and Spanish Ambassador to BiH Rodriguez. Izetbegovic expressed satisfaction with Spanish engagement in the DPA implementation.
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Sarajevo – Federation Vice-President Ganic talked to UN Chef de Cabinet Iqbal Riza. The discussion focused on the DPA, with an accent on enabling institutions of the state to work in accordance with the DPA. Other subjects discussed were human rights, Brcko, freedom of movement and the forthcoming elections.
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Mostar – During his visit to Mostar today, OSCE Ambassador Frowick met with officials of the leading parties. Frowick said that Mostar represented everything that the IC face in its mission in BiH. Answering a question about repeating the registration process in Brcko, Frowick said that there were some irregularities in the registration process, and that the elections would be held as scheduled. Senior Deputy HR Wagner also visited Mostar today. After meeting with political leaders, Wagner underlined the necessity of adopting the the cantonal constitution amendments and cantonal budget. Wagner also discussed the problem of Unions of municipalities with Croatian majorities. He said that it was legal as far as those municipalities worked within their authorisations, and that they should not make decisions for the canton government.
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Bihac – OSCE organised a one day seminar for political parties representatives, and non governmental organisations. The purpose of the seminar was to educate election observers to supervise the elections more effectively, but also the education of instructors for further education within their parties and organisations. European Council experts introduced the election process to the participants of the seminar. Such seminars are expected to be carried out in several other BiH cities.
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Tuzla – SFOR representatives talked with local authorities about the return of the refugees to Brcko. Multinational Division North Commander Gen. Grange said that the Soldiers from SFOR Camp McGovern are currently demining the area around the electrical facilities, mostly for the safety of American soldiers. Gen. Grange said that SFOR troops will keep on helping the local authorities in the rebuilding of infrastructures. Other subjects discussed included the return of refugees to Brcko and the removal of illegal checkpoints in the area of Serbs domain.
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Sarajevo – The head of the Brussels project Europe for Sarajevo Beom, talked about the rebuilding of waterlines and sewer reconstruction in Sarajevo and the Una/Sana canton. The project is worth about 25 million of ECU.
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Summary SRT TV News
The SRT news were aired half an hour early because of the live broadcast of the football match between Belgrade Partizan and Zagreb Croatia.Brussels – There are 48 international donors and 12 international organisations who are participating in allocation of financial aid worth of $ 2,5 billion for the period of 1997 and 1998 to the RS and Federation. The aid will be used for reconstruction of infrastructure, as well as support of the BiH budget and budgets of the entities. RS Prime Minister Klickovic expressed his hope that EU will distribute aid equally to both entities, adding that not only the RS can be blamed for non-implementation of the DPA.
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Rudo – The RS delegation (Minister of Trade, Minister of Reconstruction, and Minister of Sports) met the local leadership and discussed providing of accommodation for refugees. The Government promised to provide DM 100,000 for all the refugees in this town. They also talked about the start of economy and manufacturing.
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Rogatica – Vice-president of the RS Government Ostojic and Deputy Refugee Minister Vucina talked with the local leadership about realisation of the Parliament’s decision regarding accommodation of refugees, families of soldiers killed in war, and invalids of war, which should be carried out in line with the Law on Abandoned Property by July 30.
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Belgrade – The FRY President Milosevic took the oath before MP’s of both Parliament Chambers and officially assumes the presidential office. He said that the time has come for reconstruction and regaining of the lost integrity after six most difficult years for FRY since the World War II. In view of his statement, SRT concluded that the time has also come for the RS to overcome the crisis and start with a better life, as well as to, and which is the most important thing, to prove to the world that the RS is strong and indestructible, that is, that the world will never be able to melt it into BiH.
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Flash News:
Greek media reported that the RS will successfully overcome the current crisis and persuade the IC that it should receive the financial resources. Greek media explained their sudden hope by quoting Westendorp, who said that it would be a mistake if the distribution of aid was conditioned by Dr. Karadzic’s arrest. According to them, the Tango operation fulfilled SFOR’s three aims: Plavsic has one enemy less, SFOR is taken seriously for the first time, and the Hague has saved its reputation. German media thinks that Plavsic’s reputation fell to its bottom after the action in Prijedor and that SDS ousted her because her policy was not in accordance with the Serb interests.
Quoting their well-informed source in the Hague, Belgrade Dnevni Telegraf reported that there are 300 Serbs from the RS and FRY who are on the Hague’s list of indicted war criminals. They reported that the head of NATO Command in Europe, Gen. Clark said that the current relations between SFOR and Serb citizens could have negative consequences and that they cannot be tolerated anymore. Therefore, SFOR will undertake certain measures to stop it. Of course, Telegraf reports, they will need assistance from the local leadership, such as Plavsic, because Pale refused to co-operate with SFOR. Clark said to Milosevic to arrest all indicted Serbs who live in FRY, as well as Karadzic and Mladic if they cross to the FRY. Milosevic told him that that is against the FRY Constitution and laws, so he can only instigate proceedings in FRY if necessary. Telegraf concluded that the US and the West hope to cause chaos in the RS so that they have a good reason to get involved and start with a general attack.
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Banja Luka – Last night, during the special SRT programme that had Vlado Vrkes, head of the SDS directorate, as the guest, head of Plavsic’s security Dragan Vladanac entered the SRT studio, asking who allowed Mr. Vrkes to come to the SRT studio and who switched on the cameras. He was told that everything was in line with the SRT rules and programme. Vladanac only angrily replied that this was not fair because the President is dissatisfied and embittered.
Trebinje – The RS MUP of Herzegovina held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Interior, Karisik about the security situation in the RS. They concluded that the Herzegovina MUP guarantees to keep the security situation at a satisfactory level, to fully support the Constitution and the RS integrity, as well as the respective Ministry, Parliament and Government.
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