Headlines
- Pre-election campaign in RS in full swing
- Frowick concluded today in Banja Luka that the preparations for parliamentary elections in RS are going as planned
- In Bijeljina – a terrorist attack at the office of the Serb National Alliance
- Milosevic’s visit to China gained great publicity worldwide
- At the Book Fair in Banja Luka – four promotions
Republika Srpska is preparing for the coming parliamentary elections. The Chief of OSCE Mission in Bosnia, Robert Frowick, visited Banja Luka today.
“Generally, preparations for the parliamentary elections are going ahead as planned. There are ten days until the elections, and OSCE will be working on the technical issues and procedure matters”, said Frowick to journalists in Banja Luka. Representatives of OSCE will make it possible for everyone who is entitled to vote to do so, to exercise their right in the parliamentary elections. He stated that the important phase of the electoral process is under way; therefore, frequent meetings with representatives of the political parties are required. The leaders of the political parties in Banja Luka have suggested shortening the period of pre-election silence, which has lasted for 48h so far. A definite decision about that was not made today.
OSCE would pay much attention to the media, because they are trying to ensure that all political factions have equal access to the media. As to why some areas in the eastern part of RS do not have the SRT signal, he answered that they are not able to follow everything regarding the media, and according to their information there are many small independent televisions installed.
02:00
The President of RS, Biljana Plavsic, is visiting Herzegovina today. She participated at the promotion meeting of the Serb National Alliance today in Bileca. “The events in RS are tragic, but there is hope that soon it will all be in the past”, she said and added that with the elections for the RS Parliament, the domination of one party would be stopped. She also warned of war profiteering and smuggling by the leading people of RS throughout the last seven years.
She mentioned the one-sided approach of the media in Herzegovina towards the crisis in RS, and she spoke about the army programme “Equip and Train”.
01:30
Today in the National Theatre in Banja Luka, an open meeting of SDS was held. The President of the Town board of SDS, Djordje Mikic, said that SDS had a significant history, significant present and a future. The acting President of SDS, Aleksa Buha, stated that dual leadership in RS must be stopped, for which he accused the President of RS, Biljana Plavsic, who approved municipal and parliamentary elections to be convened according to the regulations of OSCE. He also stated his dissatisfaction with the new RS police uniforms which had not been agreed with the Government of RS; with the programme of SRT and the programme “Equip and Train”.
01:30
The President of the Serb Patriotic Party, Slavko Zupljanin, stated that these parliamentary elections were the most important event since the beginning of the war. He stated that new members would decide upon the continuation or destruction of RS and expressed his hope that democratic forces would have the majority.
01:00
The People’s Party of RS is satisfied with the pre-election campaign so far, and would participate in the elections with a full list, said the President of the party, Radoslav Brdjanin. He stressed the significance of the impartial approach of the media and his satisfaction with the re-establishment of the Co-ordination board of the opposition parties.
01:00
Slobodan Kosovic, a member of the United Left of RS, stated at a press conference today that in RS there are visible unnatural tendencies of social and territorial division.
The interest of this Party is the unity of RS, implementation of the Dayton Agreement, and stronger ties with FR Yugoslavia.
00:40
Early this morning, two unknown masked individuals carried out a terrorist attack on the office of the Serb National Alliance “Biljana Plavsic” at 29 street Nikola Tesla in Bijeljina, and destroyed it. “This attack caused great damage, not only to SNS, but also to the Serb people, said Djordje Krsmanovic. The Vice-president, Svetozar Mihajlovic, and members of the Main board and municipal board of SNS in Bijeljina held a press conference .
02:00
Regarding this event, the Party of Independent Social Democrats of RS stated in their announcement: “Because of the barbaric attack to the office of SNS in Bijeljina, we were forced to cancel our public tribune. It is not a coincidence that this happened in Bijeljina, where the main Ministry of Interior, loyal to Pale, namely to Momcilo Krajisnik, is situated. We wonder, together with our voters: who is spreading fear through RS? In Banja Luka shooting at the Olympic winner, in Bijeljina at SNS, is it all a part of somebody’s pre-election activities?”
01:30
In the announcement of the Socialist Party of RS, it was stated that this party was not satisfied with the work of the state media and they accused SNS of misusing the function of the President of RS, Biljana Plavsic. They considered that such a way of disseminating information did not contribute to general democratisation. They condemned the attack on SNS in Bijeljina, which would cause great political damage to RS in the eyes of the international public.
00:50
SDS strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Bijeljina this morning, stated the municipal board of SDS in Bijeljina. SDS would like to remind all citizens and members of political parties in Bijeljina that political struggle should be conducted through dialogue, not weapons. They demanded that criminals should be identified as soon as possible and brought to trial.
01:00
SNS in Banja Luka protested about this vandalism and stated that it was the last struggle of a wounded beast which would only accelerate it’s destruction, said a spokesperson of SNS in Banja Luka, Zeljko Baranic, at a press conference today.
00:30
The newly appointed Deputy to the High Representative for BiH, the German diplomat, Hanns Schumacher, stated today that the decisiveness of the International Community to implement the Dayton Agreement was strengthened after the Conference in Sintra and it would be confirmed at the PIC Conference on BiH in Bonn, on 10th December this year.
00:30
After news of crimes of the BiH army relating to Serb civilians in Sarajevo had leaked from the BiH Federal Ministry of Justice, and after Sarajevo’s independent newspaper DANI published it, the Voice of America gave it significant publicity this morning.
02:00