Sarajevo – German Defense Minister Volker Ruehe paid an unofficial visit to the Bosnian capital to meet with German contingent within SFOR and to discuss the issue of return of BiH refugees from Germany. Ruehe pointed out that conditions for return of refugees had to be created and informed that a coordinating bureau had already been established in Bonn and suggested that another one should be opened in Sarajevo.
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Sarajevo – BiH Deputy Foreign Minister Husein Zivalj, held talks with Mr. Eide, Ambassador and the OSCE Chairman’s personal representative in charge of the implementation of the Agreement on Arms control in FRY, Croatia and BiH. Mr. Eide stressed that in the light of conclusion of the Sintra meeting, all involved sides had to fully honor their commitments under the Agreement on Arms Control.
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Sarajevo – Minister Zivalj also met with Erhard Boschek, General Coordinator of the Initiative for economic cooperation of East European countries. Boschek informed his collocutor on the first meeting of a group “Projekten” for exploitation of natural energy resources in the region. Minister Zivalj emphasized the strategic interest of BiH in one of five transportation corridors in the region, which would imply the construction of road and railway major communication lines.
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Mostar – A session of the Herzegovina-Neretva Cantonal Assembly was adjourned. At this session, deputies were supposed to endorse an amendment on the organization of the city of Mostar.
Travnik – The Central Bosnia Cantonal Assembly held a session today. The proposed agenda contained 16 points. After a six-hour exhaustive debate, during which deputies argued about the proposed agenda, the budget draft was adopted. However, deputies dedicated most time to the debate on their salaries and other benefits
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Sarajevo – UN Spokesman Alexander Ivanko expressed concerns of the United Nations about frequent IPTF reports on acts of violation of human rights committed by the local police. Ivanko choose as the examples Sarajevo and Velika Kladusa where the police had beaten prisoners.
Interior Minister of the Una-Sana Canton, Edhem Veladzic responded to Ivanko’s statement by another statement. In his statement, Veladzic admitted that during an investigation of a criminal act involving a rape and murder, one of police inspectors exceeded his competencies against the suspect in this case. However, he added that the case was still under investigation but refuted that the case was in any way connected to “Abdic’s group” or that it had any political connotations.
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Letter of Appeal – President of the SDP Zlatko Lagundzija addressed in a letter Messrs Alija Izetbegovic, Kresimir Zubak, Momcilo Krajisnik, Boro Bosic, Jadranko Prlic, Neven Tomic, Carl Bildt and Michael Steiner requesting urgent action in the release of Ivan Mijacevic, a member of the SDP captured by the RS police.
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Summary SRT News
Banja Luka – The RS President Plavsic held a press conference with regard to the session in Sintra and Albright’s visit to the RS and the Federation. She said that the DPA must be fully implemented. Commenting on the Sintra Conference results, Plavsic said that they mainly discussed the return of refugees and freedom of movement, as well as the RS responsibilities towards the Hague Tribunal. ‘All the speeches can be summed up by the speech of the Japanese representative, who said that the general impression at the meeting was that the Serbs are trying to separate [from BiH] and join the FRY, and the proof for that is the Special Parallel Ties between the RS and FRY. Nevertheless, he also underlined the behaviour of Croats and their refusal to give Herceg Bosna up. In addition to that, for the first time it was said that the Muslims are trying to impose their majority in BiH, which is clear because they have the majority of representatives and hold all the political functions.’ Commenting on Albright’s visit to BiH, Plavsic said that she addressed Plavsic as the leading and the most important person in the RS. Plavsic also mentioned that the relations between the RS police and IPTF must be harmonised, especially in Brcko where all the RS citizens and authorities must be very careful and not forget that Farrand will make his decision based on their actions.5:00
Banja Luka – Plavsic talked with the members of the Venice Independent Organisation for Human and Constitutional Rights about their analysis of the human rights protection in BiH. One of the methods of human rights protection would be the establishment of the Ombudsmen Institution that would be politically neutral. Plavsic hailed the proposal as a step further towards democracy.
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Brcko – The RS Prime Minister Klickovic opened the fourth economy fair, on which more than 200 private and state companies from the RS, as well as a certain number of companies from the FRY, will present their products in the next five days. Klickovic said that this event proves that the RS will reach out to the world market, which will in return strengthen the RS state. He expressed his satisfaction because of the fact that the fair is held in Brcko – ‘which means that Brcko will stay as a part of the RS… All the RS paths lead to Brcko,’ Klickovic said.
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Flash news:
Luxembourg – At the press conference held after the session of EU, the newly appointed HR Westendorp said that additional efforts have to be made in the next few months in order to implement the DPA. The New York Times reports that Washington doesn’t need Croatia anymore, as was the case during the Bosnian war when the US made a ‘Faustian pact’ due to its own interests. Because of this pact, Washington turned its head away from ethnic cleansing in Croatia, in which 500 to 600 thousand Serbs were expelled from their homes. Instead of supporting the democratic processes in former Yugoslavia, the West recognised the secessionist countries too fast. The New York Times clearly pointed to the West as guilty for causing the war in the Balkans.
In his book, ‘The Balkan Ulysses’, Lord David Owen said that the biggest mistake of the West was to recognise BiH in spring of 1992. His book describes in detail the propaganda war waged by the Croats and Muslims with assistance from US lobbying companies. The Croats used to pay $ 10,000 a month for building of a positive image of Croatia in the West, and the Muslims paid for publishing of false reports in the press. The Hague Tribunal charge against Karadzic and Mladic is based on these reports.
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Prijedor – All the political parties in the RS held a joint meeting and a press conference with regard to the OSCE decision to take the main two SDS candidates off the elections list. The party representatives strongly criticised the OSCE, saying that this was an unacceptable decision and an attack on the Serb people with dubious intentions. Therefore the party representatives appealed to the voters to register, because if they don’t register and vote for the RS they will automatically give their vote over to the Federation, that is, a vote against the RS and the Serbs.
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World news:
Mostar – In the next three days the six Mostar municipalities [3 Muslim and 3 Croat] should be constituted in accordance with the DPA. This process should have been completed a year ago but the Croat authorities didn’t accept the results of the Mostar local elections.
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