Headlines
- RS MPs’ conclusions from the second session of the RS Parliament – to restore payment operations with the FRY Immediately
- Chief of the RS Army General-Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Momir Talic – RS military fully compliant with Dayton Agreement provisions
- President Poplasen’s congratulations to President Milosevic of Yugoslavia and the FRY PM, Momir Bulatovic, on 80th anniversary of the first Yugoslavia
- 1st December – world’s day of struggle against AIDS
The RS Government have made a decision annulling its earlier decision on fixing the exchange rate between the Yugo dinar and the KM to 7.5. The decision is to take effect one day after its publication in the RS Official Gazette. This item produced a number of discussions and comments by RS MPs during the second day of the second session of the RS NA. Conclusions were also made on the matter and proposed by the Speaker of the RS NA, Petar Djokic, and then adopted by MPs present. The conclusions stressed that the cessation of payment operations was detrimental to both the RS and the FRY and tasked the RS President, the RS PM, the Speaker of the Parliament along with the RS representative at the BiH Presidency to ensure that measures should be undertaken in conjunction with the FRY Government to remove obstacles preventing the implementation of the Agreement on Special Paralell Relations between the RS and the FRY and to inform the RS NA accordingly at its next session that will take place by 21st December at the latest. The fourth conclusion proposed by the SDS but refuted by MPs present said that the RS Government should commit to remove obstacles preventing the restoration of payment operations with the FRY within seven days or to resign if it failed to do so. Aside form the above issue, the agenda of the second session also includes another 27 items, including the package of draft laws on property relations and the draft Law on changes and Amendments to the Law on the RS Intelligence and Security Service.
3:29
The Chief of the RS Army General Staff, General Momir Talic, in an interview to SRNA agency stated that the RS military was fully compliant with the DA and that any effort to create a common BiH military would represent a breach of this Agreement. Explaining the position of the RS military on the recent letter by the HR related to the conditions for personnel changes within the military and the letter by SFOR related to the movement of military units through the RS, General Talic stressed that, under the RS Constitutions, the policy of defence fell under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Defence Council and the RS Government, through its Defence Ministry. Talic went on to stress that no mention had ever been made on any common BiH army at any session of the JMC. Talic concluded by saying that it had never been offered to the RS to join the “Train and Equip” military program and that the current ways of education and training of RS military personnel fully met the needs of the RS military.
2:25
A three-day international seminar on possible modalities of military support for civilian authorities ended in Banja Luka. The seminar discussed all possible aspects of military support for civilian authorities in conditions of serious natural disasters, and a conclusion was made that the results of the working groups should be presented to civilian authorities in both BiH entities, as well as to common BiH institutions for the purpose of continuation of such activities. The issue of the Standing Military Committee, which was also tackled during the Banja Luka seminar, along with some other open issues will be discussed at a seminar on Democratic controlling of armed forces scheduled for the next month in Sarajevo.
1:42
Exhumation works on individual and mass graves in the RS and the BiH Federation today ended for this year. According to Alexandra Stiglmayer, the Spokesperson for the OHR, over 1,700 bodies had been exhumed at 359 locations during this year. 89 bodies have been exhumed at the five localities in the area of the town of Sarajevo in the past few days. Exhumations in the area of Sarajevo, and elsewhere in the country, are to resume next spring.
2:20
The RS President, Nikola Poplasen, has today congratulated President Milosevic of Yugoslavia on 80th anniversary of the formation of the first Yugoslavia.
0:48
(Kosovo-related news)
1:14
The first shipment of 10 and 20-pfenning coins worth 936.000 KM arrived in BiH today and will, presumably, start circulating on 8th December. 50-pfenning coins are expected to start arriving in BiH after 8th December.
1:21
A regular international press conference took place in Sarajevo today. The Spokesperson for the OSCE, Nicole Schulz, told the press that Ambassador Barry and HR Westendorp had addressed a letter to the RS authorities informing them that SDS and SRS officials continued to behave in an illegal way in the municipality of Srerbrenica, that the only legal authority there was the Transitional Executive Board and that the sessions of the local MA had, so far, been illegal as not attended by legally elected counsellors and with no approval of the IC.
01:08
(Federation-related news)
1:18
The SNS held a press conference in Banja Luka today denying reports by the German newspaper of “Spiegel” claiming the involvement of former RS President Plavsic in the so-called credit card affair. The Vice-President of the SNS, Svetozar Mihajlovic, informed the press that activities had already started within the SNS aimed at preparing for the local elections scheduled for next year, stating that the SNS would, to that end, have its own internal elections in January 1999 to best prepare for the elections.
0:58
Representatives of respective RS trade unions today discussed changes and amendments to the general collective contracts and measures to improve living standards of RS workers. Members of the General Council of the RS Trade Unions Association thus proposed that the discrepancies in salaries coefficient proposed by the responsible commissions should decrease and that the minimum wage guaranteed should increase. A proposal was also made to include a provision into the general collective contract that would regulate the protection of female workers, and that amounts to be paid for night-shift and overtime hours of female workers should be fixed.
1:34