Mostar – The joint police forces of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton were not established today because the Cantonal Minister of Interior Valentin Coric did not attend the inauguration. He sent his assistant instead, who said that the cantonal joint police cannot be established on the basis of the 1991 census, but by taking into account the situation on the ground. The Federation Minister of Interior Zilic took a firm position that the joint police must be established by July 4, otherwise they would go ahead with promotion of all the police officers who do meet the conditions for the new police force at the moment, while everyone else will not have mandate to enforce law and SFOR will be asked to arrest all the irregular police officers after July 4.
5:00
Lukavica – Presidency session – The three members of the Presidency met HR Deputy Steiner, and the US Special Envoy Gelbard after that. With both of them they discussed the requirements for holding of the donors’ conference and the Rules of Procedure of the Standing Committee for Military Matters. Krajisnik confirmed that he is in favour of the establishment of the Committee and of finding a solution for the outstanding issues with regard to the donors’ conference. The Presidency agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding must be signed with the IMF in order to receive $ 90 million from the IMF. Gelbard said that all sides must take into account the statement from the Denver Summit that the full implementation of the DPA is a must, adding that the country is lagging far behind Europe. The Presidency did not discuss the diplomatic and consular network although this item was put on the agenda at the last session. Gelbard will meet separately the three Presidency Members later on.
4:00
Sarajevo – Seventh Conference of the Assistance Mobilisation Group for BiH – Among other things, fourteen Islamic countries discussed the humanitarian issues, reconstruction, Equip and Train Programme, the forthcoming elections, and the donors’ conference. The chairman of the conference said that BiH must fully respect the Sintra Declaration. BiH Foreign Minister expressed his hope that the Serb representatives will attend the next conference, which is in the interest of all peoples in BiH.
3:00
Izetbegovic met the Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia. In their talks, they focused on the establishment of joint police forces in Mostar. After the meeting, the Ambassador left for Mostar. London – The BiH delegation met the London Club of Creditors in order to write off and reprogram 13% of the former Yugoslavian foreign debt allocated to BiH. Over the phone, Silajdzic said that the negotiations are difficult, but he hoped that they will succeed in reducing at least a portion of the debt tomorrow.
3:00
Sarajevo – BiH and Croatian power industry public enterprises signed a contract by which BiH will export electricity to Croatia.
2:00
Brussels – The NATO Council called on all the parties in BiH to uphold the Sintra Declaration and decided to increase the presence of SFOR with additional 3,000 soldiers in the period between August and October this year. Stolac – The Stolac SDA accused the OSCE Office in Bonn of manipulations with the forms that the refugees from Stolac need to fill out abroad. SDA said that the refugees are being handed forms for registration in towns other than Stolac or prevented from registration by bureaucratic obstacles.
2:00
Jahorina – The RS Assembly adopted the laws on interior affairs, abandoned apartments, and refugees, despite the complaints by HR Deputy Steiner and the deputies of the Federation parties that these laws violate the DPA Annex 7 and the BiH Constitution.
3:00
Summary SRT News
Jahorina – The RS National Assembly concluded its two-day session today by adoption of a set of draft-laws, amongst which most important are draft-laws on housing units and on refugees and DPs.A draft- law on housing units had caused most attention. SDS deputy Aleksa Buha proposed that the relevant parliamentary commission should open negotiations with FBiH officials about the difference in an overall number of state-owned apartments in the RS and FBiH. According to statistic data, 35 % of housing funds in the former BH, used to belong to Serbs, and nowadays, they are reduced to 22 %. The Assembly accepted this proposal and the adopted draft on housing has been forwarded for public discussion.
RS Deputy PM Ostoja Kremenovic briefed deputies on a draft on employment policy, explaining that this draft would be finalized only after the first round of privatisation had been completed.
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Banja Luka – RS President Biljana Plavsic held talks with Robert Gelbard, US Special Advisor for the Balkans. The two collocutors discussed modalities to expedite the implementation of the DPA. Ms. Plavsic commented on the meeting by saying that Mr. Gelbard came after the Denver conference, at which it was decided to accelerate the implementation of the DPA. The report underlined that “Mr. Gelbard chose not to speak about current problems of the FBiH which are also impeding the implementation of the peace agreement, while at the same time he requested the Serb side to give additional guarantees that everything agreed in Sintra and Denver will be implemented”. In the course of this meeting, it was agreed that the US diplomatic office, a department of the US Embassy in Sarajevo, be opened in Banja Luka.
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RS President and Supreme Commander of the VRS promoted five high ranking officers on the occasion of the St. Vitus Day.
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Lukavica – Presidents in the BiH Presidency Momcilo Krajisnik, Kresimir Zubak and Alija Izetbegovic held a session today. US Advisor Gelbard participated in the session. The participants continued their discussion on the opening of airports in Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar. Mr. Gelbard introduced the three presidents with conclusions of the Denver conference.
A meeting of the Permanent Military Committee was held in Lukavica as well. Deputy HR Michael Steiner attended the meeting. According to President Krajisnik, the Rules and Procedures of this body were discussed, but agreement on appointment of President and members had not been reached. The RS representatives insisted on provisions of the London conference endorsed at the 10 March Presidency session. However, these issues are to be further reviewed at the next session of the BiH Presidency.
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