Headlines
- Serb delegation led by President Plavsic departed for Bonn
- Supervisor Farrand designates new Judges in Brcko
- Milutinovic and Seselj to run in the second round of presidential elections
- Iraq accepted “Oil for Food’ programme
A two-day meeting of the PIC is to start at Petersburg, in the vicinity of Bonn, tomorrow. A RS delegation, led by President Plavsic, today departed from Belgrade for Bonn. Before departing, Krajisnik stated that the RS delegation participating at the conference would insist on full implementation of the DA. The IC is expected to put pressure on the three Bosnian sides to offer full co-operation in the implementation of the DA. Foreign ministers of over 50 states, the High Representative, the Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia and the Head of the Brcko Arbitration Commission are expected to attend the conference. Klaus Kinkel, the German Foreign Minister, who will be hosting the conference, stated that in order to establish self-sufficient structures in BH, the IC will have to squeeze further the three Bosnian sides. Kinkel went on to support the idea of extending the mandate of the High Representative to allow him to make decisions in situations where the three nations fail to do so themselves. The High Representative will thus be given a broadened mandate under which he will be able to remove all officials in BH that may be reported as obstructing the implementation of the DA. According to BETA, the final document of the conference underlines that there is no alternative to the DA. The conclusions laid down in the draft document anticipate that efforts will have to be made to ensure the functioning of respective BH and entities’ structures, to improve democracy, to ensure appropriate protection for human rights, the rule of law, successful return of refugees and the introduction of a market economy. A press briefing by Kinkel and Westendorp is expected to take place after the conference ends on Wednesday.
3:16
The OSCE PEC has accepted a proposal by its member from the RS, Slobodan Kovac, to verify the results from the RS parliamentary elections only after the Election Appeal Sub-commission have reviewed all complaints that have been filed regarding the voting process in the BH Federation. The results are now expected to be published on 12th December, after a meeting of the Election Appeal Sub-commission in Sarajevo.
0:26
The President of the SDS Presidency, Aleksa Buha, today stated that the SDS had filed a complaint regarding the preliminary election results from the parliamentary elections in the RS that were published yesterday. Buha specified that the complaint regarded ballot papers that had arrived from Vienna without appropriate documents, as well as the voting process at the 160 polling stations in the BH Federation, at a half of which access was denied for RS representatives during the elections.
0:41
President of the RS Radical Party Main Board, Mirko Blagojevic, today stated that the official results from the parliamentary elections that were published yesterday showed that the RS was under a sort of occupation by the IC. “The outcome of the elections will not resolve anything. The crisis in the RS will continue because even the two most powerful political parties together did not obtain a sufficient number of seats to have a majority.”
0:29
A second regular session of the local Municipal assembly was held in Bileca today. The agenda involved 24 items. The session, however, primarily focused on the election of members and the secretary of the municipal executive council. 30 out of the 40 deputies attended the session, which was chaired by the local mayor.
2:51
According to the “New York Times” today, the U.S. Secretary of Defence, William Cohen, believes that American troops will remain in BH after the current SFOR mandate has expired next June, only provided that international police forces have been strengthened by that time, where the lead role should be assumed by European countries.
0:19
The establishment of a multi-ethnic administration in a part of the Brcko municipality continues with the implementation of Supervisor’ Orders on the establishment of a multi-ethnic judiciary. After Farrand met with senior officials of the local court today, a Supplement to the Order on Multi-Ethnic Judiciary was made public. Referring to his mandate under the Brcko Arbitration decision, Farrand thus designated 6 of the 7 key officials of the local Court of First Instance, the Penalty Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Irfan Selimovic, a Muslim, has thus been appointed as the local Public Prosecutor. After consulting with the RS President, Supervisor Farrand will inform the appointees about the date of the official ceremony of their official taking over, which will take place at the RS National Assembly. Until then, they will also be able to perform their respective functions in line with an authorisation given by the Supervisor.
1:46
An expert from the Institute of Geological and Political Studies, General Radinovic, believes that a possible involvement of the RS Army in the “Train and Equip Programme” would require a completely changed system of military thinking and activities. Radinovic stressed that references to the Serb side as a potential aggressor in BH were fully unfounded for the Agreement on Sub-Regional Armament Control in the territory of the Former Yugoslavia that was reached in 1996 stipulates conditions preventing the RS Army from launching any major military offensives.
0:35
A pathologist from Belgrade, Dr. Zoran Stankovic, has established a group that will be in charge of investigating possible consequences of NATO bombings in the territory of the RS. Namely, there are indications that NATO missiles were filled with uranium 235 & 238.
0:48
The President of the Association of Expelled Serbs and Serb Returnees from Croatia, Djuro Kresovic, stated that Serb-owned houses were being sold in Croatia unreasonably cheaply. “The return of the Serbs must be a mass process, even though there are no longer houses to return to.”
0:33
According to a release by the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade today, the U.S. has decided to prolong economic sanctions against the FRY for another year.
0:14
Preliminary results of the Serbian parliamentary elections were published in Belgrade today, according to which the left-wing candidate, Milan Milutinovic, obtained the largest number of votes. However, the new president will only be elected at the next round of presidential elections scheduled for 21st December, where Milutinovic will compete with the candidate of the Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj. According to the results, Milutinovic obtained 8% more votes that Seselj, whereas the third candidate, Vuk Draskovic, obtained about 165 of the vote cast.
1:42