Headlines
- FRY President, Slobodan Milosevic, along with the respective Prime Ministers of the FRY and the Republic of Serbia, Radoje Kontic and Mirko Marjanovic, met with RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, and other members of his Cabinet
- Common ground expressed at the meetings in Belgrade – the new RS Government will work towards satisfying the interests of the RS people
- A Serb, Goran Jelisic, arrested in Bijeljina on alleged war crimes charges
- American President Clinton and the Palestinian Leader, Yasir Arafat, met to discuss the Middle-East Crisis
RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, along with the Minister of Interior, Milovan Stankovic, the Minister of Finance, Novak Kondic, the Minister of Trade, Nikola Kragulj, and the Minister of Defence, Milovan Manojlovic, met with FRY President, Slobodan Milosevic, and the respective Prime Ministers of the FRY and the Republic of Serbia. They discussed the current political situation in the RS after the formation of the RS Government. After meeting Milosevic, Dodik described the meeting as extremely useful, and added that Milosevic had expressed satisfaction with relations and co-operation between the FRY and the RS so far, particularly with the on-going process of transferring power from the outgoing to the newly elected Government. The meeting between the respective Prime Ministers of the RS and Serbia, Dodik and Milutinovic, which was also attended by members of their respective cabinets, discussed specific actions relating to the payment of outstanding obligations due to budget users in the RS, the future regime of the transit of goods, urgent steps to prevent grey economic activities, as well as possible joint actions by the respective Ministers of Interior of the RS and the Republic of Serbia. After meeting with the Federal Prime Minister, Kontic, Dodik stressed that the meeting primarily focused on implementation of the DA and the obligations that the FRY assumed as one of the signatories to the DA.
2:15
The RS Representative of the BH Presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, yesterday had his first meeting with the Spanish Ambassador in Sarajevo, His Excellency Hose Angelo Lopez Horin. After the meeting, Ambassador Horin stressed that his main task now was to get to know the realities of the country better in order to be able to take an impartial stand on all the sides involved.
0:45
The RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, scheduled the second session of his Cabinet for tomorrow in Banja Luka. The agenda, amongst other issues, includes an analysis of the implementation of the RS Government operational plan up until the end of January, and a report on the current situation regarding the disputed section of the IEBL in the area of Brcko. The session is also expected to design a draft law on the changes to the current Law on the RS Government, as well as a draft law invalidating all laws passed by the dissolved RS Parliament.
0:31
A Spokesperson for SFOR, Louis Garnet, today confirmed that SFOR troops had arrested a 30-year old Serb, Goran Jelisic, who was indicted by the Hague Tribunal on alleged war crimes.
0:18
The NATO Secretary -General, Javier Solana, stated that there would be no restrictions in terms of the duration of the SFOR follow-on force, that would, he said, be less than 30,000 strong and, basically, would not differ from SFOR. In an interview given to “Le Figaro”, a French daily newspaper, and entitled “We will make life difficult for war criminals in BH”, Solana recalled that SFOR had no mandate to arrest war crime indictees, and that arrests could only be possible in cases of direct contacts.
0:50
The Head of the World Bank mission in BH, Rory O’Sullivan, denied the existence of political motives behind the allocation of financial support worth U.S. $ 18 million for the RS. According to Sullivan, the granted loan represents only one portion of a relief package worth U.S. $ 65 million.
0:51
An English historian, Marc Dealer, in his witness statement at a hearing in the trial against Slavko Dokmanovic before the Hague Tribunal, said that the Croatian leadership had made a number of wrong moves that made the Croatian Serbs worry about their survival and had, thus, contributed to the break-out of the war in Croatia.
0:45
A Vice-President of the RS Government, Djuradj Banjac, who is also the RS Minister of Industry, today stated that preparations were under way to change the current Law on the RS Government to include the change of its location. According to Banjac, such a proposal will be presented at the next session of the RS Parliament in order officially to proclaim Banja Luka as the capital of the RS.
0:33
A Vice-President of the RS Government, Tihomir Gligoric, along with the RS Minister for Refugees and DPs, Miladin Dragicevic, received a delegation of the German Embassy in BH, in Banja Luka today. The meeting discussed the current situation of refugees and DPs in the RS. Dragicevic stressed that conditions must be created urgently to allow for the dissolution of all refugee collective centres. The German delegation was also interested in learning about on-going economic projects in the RS and stressed that Germany would offer support for the reconstruction and the development of the RS economy.
1:01
Members of the RS Governmental Cabinet met with an Advisor at the Norwegian Embassy in Sarajevo and representatives of Siemens Company in Banja Luka today.
The meeting signed an agreement on the delivery of electric power equipment needed for the area of Lukavica worth DM 1.5 million. The entire project will be funded by the Norwegian Government. The meeting also discussed the possibility of co-operation between respective electric power distributors from the RS and Norway .
2:05
The Advisor to the RS President for Economic Issues, Rajko Tomas, departed for Brussels today. Tomas is expected to have talks at the European Commission on de-blocking the financial support for the RS worth DM 110 million.
0:22
The RS Minister of Traffic and Communication, Marko Pavic, met with top level officials of the Telecom company and their guest from Korea, who is representing the Samsung Company. The meeting discussed the loan that will be granted by the Korean Government worth U.S. $ 20 million intended for the reconstruction of the RS telecommunication system.
1:13