Headlines
- OSCE publishes results from the extraordinary parliamentary elections in the RS
- Citizens of Serbia to elect their President today
- 42 victims of the aircraft crash in Irkutsk reported so far
Roger Bryant, Director of the OSCE Regional Office in Banja Luka, at an extraordinary press conference today, stated that the RS Parliament would be comprised of representatives of 6 political parties and 1 coalition. The SDS will thus have 24 seats, the Coalition for United and Democratic BH – 8, Serb National Union and the Serb Radical Party will have 15 seats each, the Socialist Party – 9, and the Party of Independent Social democrats and the Social Democratic Party of BH – 2 seats each. Bryant added that 712,448 voters turned out to vote, which is about 75% of the total electorate. He specified that 8,584 votes were needed to obtain one seat at the RS Parliament.
1:33
The British Minister of Interior, Alun Michael, along with the UK Chief of Police, David Blakely, today visited IPTF police officers stationed in Brcko. After meeting with the Head of the local IPTF Station and representatives of the Brcko Supervisor’s Office the two high-level British officials visited the border crossing at the Sava River, and held a brief press conference inside the ZOS. Michael told the press that: “We came to see how co-operation was between British IPTF police officers and those from other countries and local political structures. We are surprised at the way in which our police officers and other international police have agreed to help the development of a democratic police force in the area”. HM Inspector of Police, who is one of the candidates for the position of the future IPTF Commissioner in Bosnia, also accompanied the British delegation that visited Brcko.
1:51
BETA has quoted the spokesperson for the High Representative, Duncan Bullivant, as expressing dissatisfaction with the work of the three national TV stations in BH. In a statement given to the Split-based “Slobodna Dalmacija” daily newspaper, Bullivant referred to the Pale Studio of SRT and said that it would not start to work until all necessary conditions were met. The same goes for Croatian TV Mostar. On BH TV, Bullivant said that often references regarding aggressors on this TV station were disturbing and that there were too many programmes relating to the military and military training. Bullivant assessed that the Banja Luka studio of SRT was not Plavsic’s TV station, and that its programmes were no longer offensive.
0:51
The International Mediator for Succession Issues, Sir Arthur Watts, has presented the former Yugoslav Republic with a framework agreement on the distribution of property owned by the former Yugoslavia. The agreement is now expected to be accepted by the countries concerned at a session planned between 9th and 11th December in Brussels. According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, if the agreement is not accepted, the FRY, BH, Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia will be given a deadline until 31st March 1998 to agree on a partial distribution. The session of the PIC scheduled for 9th /10th December in Bonn is also expected to hold some key discussions on the matter.
0:48
The Croatian Ambassador to SOCE in Vienna, Mario Nobilo, stated that the OSCE mandate in Eastern Slavonia should act as an independent committee of OSCE. He added that his expectations were that no more than 250 international monitors would remain in the area until the end of 1998.
0:16
The Head of the Civic Association for Human Rights in Croatia, Zoran Pusic, has warned of a difficult situation of Serb returnees in the area of Krajina. Pusic thus denied a recent statement by the Croatian Prime Minister, Zlatko Matesa, describing the living conditions of Serb returnees as very satisfactory. The UN have repeatedly been warning Zagreb of a catastrophic humanitarian and security situation in the former RSK. The Croatian opposition media, such as the Split-based “Feral Tribune” weekly newspaper, report that local gangs still continue to loot and harass Serb residents of villages in the area and claim police involvement in such activities.
1:17
The Vienna-based Standard newspaper today published a report on a number of crimes committed by the BH Army against Serbs in Sarajevo. The correspondent of Standard in Sarajevo quoted a number of articles from local newspapers claiming that, while the entire town along with the military and the political leadership were aware of the crimes going on, no one dared to talk about those aloud or to prevent them.
0:38
Citizens of Serbia are today voting their President in. 32.16% of the voters had turned out to vote in Serbia and Kosovo by 15:00 hrs today. According to the State Electoral Commission no further details regarding the voting process will be published today. The first results will be published tomorrow. Polling stations are to close at 20:00 hrs, after which the three presidential candidates have announced they will hold press conferences respectively. Expectations are that over 50% of the voters would turn out to vote.
The only statement released by the Electoral Commission said that its Head had met with an OSCE delegation and had informed it that the elections had so far proceeded in a democratic and fair atmosphere.
1:28
According to the Sarajevo-based independent media, SFOR Polish Battalion troops have recently increased their presence and activities in the area of Zepca. Namely, tensions have increased there over the last three days after a group of Croat demonstrators forcibly prevented their federal partners from establishing local authorities in Zepca, in line with the results from the local elections in September.
0:21