Headlines
- A RS delegation led by the RS President and Prime Minister left for Moscow for a two-day official visit
- Javier Solana in Trebinje
- A pre-electoral silence is to start at midnight
- Y. Primakov – candidate for Russian Prime Minister
0:25
The RS President, Biljana Plavsic, and Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, departed for Moscow today. At BL airport the RS Prime Minister stated that they would talk about concrete economic agreements with the Russian Federation, such as the realisation of the agreed Russian loan to the RS amounting to $50 million.
On arrival the RS delegation visited places and objects of interest in Moscow. Tomorrow the RS President and Prime Minister are going to talk with the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Yevgeni Primakov and the Mayor of Moscow. In the afternoon the President is to be received by the Russian Patriarch while the Prime Minister will talk to the Deputy Minister of the Economy.
2:50
August pensions started being paid today. The RS Ministry of Finance issued a statement which, inter alia, says:
“To the 10th September inclusive, gross salaries were paid to teachers, professors, cultural workers, employees in the Ministry of Interior, in the VRS and civilians employed in the Army, compensations for protection of veterans and invalids and other ways of support that come from budget of the Republic. In 8 months of this year salaries and pensions have increased three-fold compared with the same period last year.”
1:00
The B&H Council of Ministers held a session today in Sarajevo. According to the co-chairman of the CoM, Boro Bosic, the CoM failed to reach agreement on the categorisation of border crossings between B&H and Croatia. The draft decision on that matter was returned to the authorised commission for amendment. However, the CoM adopted a set of sub-legal acts on foreign trade relations which refer to the control of exported goods.
1:50
Javier Solana, General Secretary of NATO, visited Trebinje today and spoke with the Trebinje Mayor about the elections and the Kosovo crisis. He also visited the Spanish SFOR base near Trebinje.
2:00
A new system of electric links on Kozara mountain were put into operation today. This system will improve the electric power supply to the RS and represents a modernisation of the electric power system in general. This project, which amounts to DEM 1 million, was realised by the “Cajevec” company from Banja Luka and “Genera” from Athens.
1:20
Richard Kauzlarich, the American Ambassador to B&H, and the RS Minister of Interior, Milovan Stankovic, in Banja Luka today promoted a project of the USA Ministry of Justice for the needs of the Inspectorate for Internal Control of the Republic Ministry of Interior. The document was delivered to 9 Heads of all Public Security Centres in the RS, to the Commander of the Specialised Police and the Director of the Staff Training Centre of the RS Ministry of Interior.
1:35
The second day of the meeting between business people from the RS and Germany continued today in Banja Luka: around 20 agreements were signed today between the RS and German companies. The German representatives invited the RS Minister of Energy and Mining, Vladimir Dokic, to visit Germany soon.
1:15
At a press conference held today in SA in the newly opened OSCE press centre, the OSCE Head of Mission, Robert Barry, stated that the OSCE had put a lot of effort into preparations for the 1998 elections in B&H, adding that 2,650 polling stations were going to be opened on Sep 12 and 10 million ballots distributed. He also informed the press that the first unofficial results would be known on Tuesday and the official ones 7-10 days after the elections. Nicole Scultz, the OSCE spokesperson, stated that the pre-electoral silence started at midnight and polling stations should be opened from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The chairwoman of the Commission for the media, Tanja Domi, stated that the case of the radio station Sveti Jovan (St. John) form Pale was reported to the Election Appeals Sub-Commission, which should resolve the matter.
1:30
The RS Deputy President and the Rector of BL University, Dragoljub Mirjanic, today received representatives of the German Conrad Adenauer Foundation. They discussed inter-university cooperation and assistance to BL University.
1:00
“The IPTF have not released 7 people indicted for the murder of Srdjan Knezevic. They are kept in Kula prison in Srpsko Sarajevo” the investigative judge Dragan Curlija stated today, denying a statement by the SRS President Nikola Poplasen published in “Politika”.
0:40
The following parties were presented:
- SLOGA coalition – rally held last night in Doboj
- The SRS – a public tribune held last night in Kotor Varos
- The SPRS – tribunes held yesterday in Ljubinje and Nevesinje
- The SRS – a public tribune held last night in Prijedor
- The SNS – a tribune held in Modrica last night
- The SDS – a rally held in Bijeljina last night
- The SDS – a tribune held today in Laktasi
- The SNS – a press conference held today in BL
- The Coalition for King and Fatherland – a press conference held today in Banja Luka
- The SDS – a press conference held today in Banja Luka
- The Party of Pensioners of the RS – a press conference held today in Banja Luka
- The SNDS of Banja Luka – a press conference held today in BL
- The Social Liberal Party – a press conference held today in BL
- The Serb Peasants party – a press conference held today in BL
- The Serb Fatherland’s Front – a press conference, today in BL
- The SPO – a press conference in Trebinje, today
- The SDS and SRS of the RS – a rally In Banja Luka in progress
The SLOGA Coalition issued a press statement which says: “The SLOGA Coalition has enormous confidence in Serbs who will vote on Sep 12/13. This confidence our representatives, i.e. representatives of three parties (the SNA, SPRS and SNDS) showed in the pre- electoral campaign. We addressed the voters with arguments, showing them what the SLOGA and the RS Government have done so far. The SLOGA Coalition informs that Serbs and voters have confidence in us. Our mutual confidence guarantees that we shall not return to the phase that we have already been through. The mutual confidence means that we have already won and with our victory the RS wins as well”.