BiH local elections were officially postponed again, this time to September 13 and 14. Head of the OSCE mission in BiH, Frowick, and the PEC insisted on it after they consulted all international organisations in BiH. HR Bildt, in his comment on the postponement of the local elections, said that he fully supports Frowick’s decision. He said that the international community will gain time because it must carry out all preparations and create conditions necessary for the elections. However, US Defence Minister, William Cohen, did not approve the postponing of elections saying that this decision, once again proves the incapability of the international community to conduct its mission in BiH. He emphasised that this will not postpone the withdrawal of the US troops scheduled for June ’98.
3:00
Vienna – BiH TV learnt that the Brcko supervisor will be appointed at the conference tomorrow. The OHR will present their programme for return of refugees to Brcko, WB their plan for economic reconstruction of the region, and IPTF the plan on protection of Brcko citizens.
2:00
Banja Luka – Ambassador Steiner met RS President Plavsic. They talked about the Agreement between FRY and the RS, adoption and implementation of the QSP, and Gajevi problems. Plavsic was somewhat refrained with regard to the Agreement. Steiner said that there was a question of who has the authorities to sign the Agreement. That should have been Plavsic according to the RS Constitution. She will go to Pale tomorrow and discussed this issue with the authorities down there, Steiner said. After the meeting with Plavsic, Steiner met members of the opposition parties in Banja Luka. They talked about the forthcoming elections, the CoM work, and FRY and the RS Agreement. Opposition party representatives said that they were not satisfied with the space and time allowed to them for representing their position in the media by the leading party.
4:00
Sarajevo – CoM Co-chair, Silajdzic met Federation Arbiter Schwarz-Schilling and talked about FRY and the RS Agreement. Silajdzic said that the Agreement is a factor of BiH destabilisation and it seriously violates the DPA. Schwarz-Schilling met Federation Prime Minister Bicakcic and talked about the return of refugees to Jajce and Bugojno, as well as establishment of legal authorities in Central BiH.
2:00
Tuzla – US Defence Minister, William Cohen visited the US troops today and held a press conference. He said that NATO will leave BiH by the end of June ’98. He emphasised that BiH needs to establish a strong police force, to provide conditions for the local elections, to reconstruct the country etc., but the US troops cannot help them with that. They can only help BiH people to the understand advantages of peace, compared to the war period, and learn a good lesson.
2:00
Summary SRT News
The agreement on special parallel relations between the RS and FRY should bring them closer and stimulate them in finding mutual interests in all social and cultural spheres. Thereby, the RS parliamentary delegation, headed by the President Dragan Kalinic, met in Belgrade with the President of the Council of Citizens, Milomir Minic, and with the President of the Council of Republics of the FRY Assembly, Srdjo Bozovic. The talks concluded that this agreement provides better grounds for upgrading relations between the RS and FRY. Both delegations emphasized that the agreement has been extensively supported by peoples in RS and in FRY. The agreement is based on the Dayton and Washington pact. Both delegations expressed interest for inter-parliamentary co-operation.4 min
Late in the afternoon, the RS delegation met with president Slobodan Milosevic. The meeting was held behind closed doors. ( photo opportunity only)
Still in Belgrade: The RS Government representatives, led by Gojko Klickovic, held talks with Slobodan Milosevic and discussed ways of advancing the economic co-operation. Also present was the CoM Co-Chair, Boro Bosic. The Muslim side is against special ties because they are good both for the RS and FRY, stated premier Marjanovic and Klickovic after the meeting with Milosevic. The main themes of the talks were export of goods and creating a common market. Marjanovic said that the Serbian President supported all initiatives, including the one about “resources groups”. Gojko Klickovic added that RS President Biljana Plavsic has nothing against economic co-operation between the two countries, but the fact that she did not sign the agreement explains that this is a political matter, and that in the inner political circles an understanding was reached on who shall sign agreements and when. After this one there will be many others that will be most likely signed by President Plavsic.
5 min
In Banja Luka, the RS Vice President, Dragoljub Mirjanic held talks with representatives of UNESCO and the European Council. Most attention was devoted to the situation at the universities in RS.
2 min
Tomorrow, the conference on implementation of the arbitration decision in the Brcko area will start in Vienna. The RS delegation will be guided by the President Biljana Plavsic. Modalities for the return of refugees and stabilization of political and economic situation in the area will be on top of the agenda.
1 min
The local elections in BIH, scheduled for mid-June, will be postponed for two months, announced Danish minister of Foreign Affairs, Petersen. US Defence Secretary, William Cohen, strongly criticized in Tuzla the OSCE decision to postpone the municipal elections. He blamed the International Civilian Organizations for that and added that American troops will withdraw on time from BIH.
40 sec
The HR Principal Deputy, Michael Steiner, informed journalists in Banja Luka that the Permanent Council of the OSCE is considering to postpone local elections. Talking about the recently signed agreement between the RS and FRY, Steiner confirmed that RS has the right to establish such ties with FRY. He pointed out that the International community should review agreements signed before Dayton and annul them if they are not in line with the Dayton agreement.
2 min