Prnjavor – Plavsic’s para-police took over the Prnjavor police station and illegally appointed the new head of the station. With this act she continued violation of the RS Constitution and law. This is a desperate act of hers because the local elections resulted in an absolute victory of SDS. Supported by the local leadership and Prnjavor SDS, citizens of Prnjavor peacefully protested against Plavsic’s act. In regard to the incident above, the local leadership held an extraordinary session, concluding that this was an illegal act of violence which could cause the split of the RS in two. Therefore, the leadership will act in accordance with the law and Constitution and prevent any attempt of division of the country. SDS also strongly condemned the violent take-over of the police station, adding that they will not take any responsibility in the future because the current chief of the Prnjavor police is not the legal one. SDS will also not take part at constituting of the new local administration in the town until this problem is solved. Previous head of the police, Mekic said that he had been threatened by the Banja Luka police that they would take over the station if Mekic did not become loyal to them in order to divide the RS. He also said that they threatened to kidnap him, demanding from him to set up check points on the road between Prnjavor and Derventa at the borderline, although there was no borderline there, he said (implicating that Plavsic wanted to establish the border and divide the RS). Representative of the local leadership, Vasic asked the people to calm down and not respond to obvious provocation.
4:00
Banja Luka – VRS General Colic said that the RS should not and would not be divided, because it represents the sacred land of the Serbs, and that those who are attempting to divide it should leave the country. This is a critical and the most difficult period for the young Serb Republic, Colic said to the VRS recruits at the Military Academy in Banja Luka.
2:00
Brcko – The OHR Brcko Supervisor Farrand and the local leadership held a meeting and agreed to postpone the procedure of issuing RS ID’s to Muslim returnees that should have started today. They also talked about the incident which occurred in the south region of Brcko where illegal Muslim returnees threatened 64 Serb families and “endangered” their existence. Up until now, 1471 Muslims and Croats have received RS ID’s because they accepted the RS law and expressed their loyalty to the RS Constitution. But the number of those who want to illegally inhabit the area is increasing daily, and it is clear now that they do not only want to settle down, but to cut the RS in half. Those people are mainly coming from Srebrenica, Zvornik, Kupres and other areas and illegally building houses that do not belong to them. SRT learned that about 20% of Muslims who were registered at the OHR Brcko had not been on the 1991 census.
3:00
Serbian election results – According to unofficial results, Milosevic’s Socialist party is leading with the SRS (Serb Radical Party) as the runner-up.
2:00
Flash news:
Brussels – NATO Secretary General, Solana said that he will discuss NATO’s extension of mandate in BiH after the summer of 1998. Henry Kissinger stated for German papers that the US should stop pushing the three sides in BiH to live together again after a bloody civil war by pressuring them to implement the DPA. He said that military and civil aspects of the DPA cancel each other, since the military one underlines the already established borderlines between the Entities and the three sides, whereas the civil one is attempting to put them together through political pressure. Kissinger does not believe in multi-ethnicity of BiH as long as Muslims are getting arms and protected by NATO, adding that every NATO attempt to arrest those accused of war crimes will be followed by strong resistance of the RS people.
3:00
Doboj – Ministry of Interior announced that the school year for future policemen will start in Doboj on October 1. All students are obliged to attend the lessons in Doboj, otherwise they will not be considered proper students and will not graduate.
Summary SRT TV News Banja Luka
Headlines
- In the armed incident near Prnjavor a police officer from Banja Luka, Simo Kecman, lightly injured
- International sources accuse the leadership from Pale for the conflict in Prnjavor and the police officers loyal to the former Minister of interior and his deputy
- The British Foreign Office supports holding of the special parliamentary elections in RS
- The strongest hint to date for extending the mandate of the international peace forces
- Supporters of Slobodan Milosevic on the verge of election victory
- While the echo of the Mostar explosion has not yet faded and the culprits have not been found, the international community announces the beginning of the construction of the new old bridge
- The first autumn day will be marked by a fresh morning and temperatures up to 24 degrees
Top Stories
In the armed incident near Prnjavor a police officer from Banja Luka, Simo Kecman, lightly injuredThe situation in Prnjavor is at the moment under control of the RS Ministry of Interior, headed by the minister Marko Pavic. Namely, a group of police officers loyal to the Ministry from Pale commanded by Milenko Karisik tried to come to Prnjavor probably with the intent to prevent the personnel changes in the Police Station in Prnjavor. SFOR prevented a more serious incident by a timely action. The wounded policeman was taken care of in a timely fashion and was released from the Banja Luka hospital today.
2′
The British Foreign Office supports holding the special parliamentary elections in RS
RS President Biljana Plavsic and the British foreign office political advisor talked today in Banja Luka about the forthcoming parliamentary elections in RS and functioning of the media. President Plavsic said that the British Government supported the efforts for the state media to be independent, i.e., not private. The British representative stated that the British Government supported the implementation of the Dayton agreement and the leadership appointed by President Plavsic. He added that the elections for the Parliament were the right way to go for the citizens of RS, and that he fully agreed with President Plavsic that the RS citizens needed free media.
2′ 03″
The strongest hint to date for extending the mandate of the international peace forces
NATO’s frontman, Javier Solana repeatedly restated the intent of NATO to stay here after July 1998. He said today that there was no dilemma about whether the West, including USA, would stay in RS and the BiH Federation after the July of next year, adding that he did not believe that anyone would leave in the middle of next year when the SFOR mandate expires. This is the strongest hint so far that the international community will keep its military forces after the mandate of SFOR expires, analysts said.
2’50”
Supporters of Slobodan Milosevic on the verge of landslide election victory
There are no official results yet from the presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia, but it is clear that the left parties and the followers of Slobodan Milosevic defeated their political opponents by a landslide. This is not surprising to those who are well informed on the situation in Yugoslavia. The SPS spokesperson Ivica Dacic said today at the press conference that, of the 3,429,963 counted votes, the Coalition left won 1,241,501 votes, the Serb Radical Party 1,025,375, and the Serb Renewal Movement 728,656, which was based on the 85% of votes from all polling stations. While the SPS did not have the results on how many people voted Dacic said that more than 50% of registered voters took part in the elections.
1’16”
Other Stories
- Major General Pero Colic visited the Center for military education in Banja Luka for the commencement of the new school year in the center.
- It seems that there will be no power cuts in the forthcoming winter season. The supply of RS with electrical power is satisfactory at the moment.
- Incel, a Banja Luka Company, has restarted production in its plants for paper production, cellulose, electrolysis, gas-concrete and polyester by using short term loans and has sufficient raw material on stock for two months. Future financing of the company has not yet been solved .
- While the echo of the Mostar explosion has not yet faded and the culprits have not been identified, the international community announces the beginning of the construction of the new old bridge. The Hungarian members of SFOR will most probably construct the bridge.
- US Vice-President Al Gore is currently on his three-day visit to Moscow.
- UN Secretary-General called today the member countries to pay their debt to the UN at the opening session of the General Assembly.
- In Poland, Solidarity won the majority of votes during the yesterday’s parliamentary elections.
- The Government in Teheran consistently tries to acquire weapons for mass destruction and long-range missiles, despite the opposition of the international community, said Netaniahu in Vienna.
- Iraq accuses Iran of still holding 20,000 of Iraqi POW’s captured during the Iraq-Iran war.
- “Islamic resistance,” a previously unknown organization, claimed responsibility today for the attack on two Israeli embassy guards in Jordan.