22.10.1997

OHR SRT News Summary, 22 Oct. 1997

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Headlines

  • European Union is preparing the field for the arrival of Hans Van den Broek in the RS; this was confirmed at today’s meeting between President Plavsic and Chiarini
  • NATO Council announced reinforcement of SFOR forces in order to provide adequate conditions for the forthcoming parliamentary elections
  • The division of local authorities in BL is still stalled
  • Djukanovic’s victory in Montenegro further electrified the situation in Yugoslavia
  • A step forward in Palestinian-Israeli peace establishment

These are the most important news stories of the day.

The news that you didn’t hear in the introduction is that the RS Government, according to SRNA, paid the health insurance contributions of family members of those killed in combat, invalids, demobilised members of the RS Army, refugees, pensioners and displaced persons.

President Plavsic met today with Donato Chiarini, official of the European Commission for Dayton BiH, at the highest level. Donato Chiarini, the presiding head of the EC for BiH, stated, after the meeting with President Plavsic, that the purpose for his visit to BL was to prepare for the arrival of the EC Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Hans Van den Broek, this coming Monday. This would be the first meeting of the EC Commissioner with President Plavsic after which, as Chiarini said, Hans Van den Broek would go to Mostar, Sarajevo and Eastern Slavonia.
1:00

SFOR will, as they announced, secure the forthcoming extraordinary parliamentary elections in RS. They will probably need new reinforcements in order to make sure that the elections pass without incident.

The NATO Council concluded in Brussels today that the international SFOR forces stationed in Bosnia will need help in order to provide adequate conditions for the forthcoming elections, under the condition that the elections are overseen by OSCE.
4:04

Today’s London “Daily Telegraph” writes that the Deputy Chief of the LA Police department, Mark Crocker, will leave the city very soon in order to carry out the reconstruction of the police forces in BiH, as the IPTF Deputy Commissioner. Crocker will have the task of carrying out the reform of all local police forces and, as pointed out by American special envoy Robert Gelbard, make them function as an institution for the protection of citizens.
1:01

In the course of his two-day visit to BiH the British Minister of Defence, George Robertson, announced that Great Britain would be making a bigger contribution to the campaign for the removal of mines, which cause the death of one person every 20 minutes, writes the military commentator in today’s “Daily Telegraph”.
1:06

The RS Government is starting to fulfil some of its earlier obligations to improve the status of the most vulnerable sections of the community in the RS. The RS Government made a 9,000,000 dinar contribution to the health insurance of family members of those killed in combat, invalids of the war and members of their families, demobilised members of the RS Army and their families, refugees, displaced persons and pensioners, reports SRNA. This was taken on with the aim of overcoming the obligation to a certain number of budget beneficiaries in terms of contributions for their health insurance.
1:21

The co-president of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Boro Bosic, stated in Bijeljina today that monetary power and monetary policy would be the responsibility of the Central Bank, which would consist of two units – RS and FBiH – and that in the next 6 years there would be no issuing of money without cheques covered by some convertible currency.

Members of the Council of Ministers of BiH from RS talked with representatives and directors of all the larger economic enterprises in Bijeljina region today about the laws from the Quick Start Package.
1:15

The SDS Main Board held a session in Pale today. SRNA sources inform that they are discussing, for the most part, the forthcoming parliamentary elections, for which they are preparing themselves, and the constituting of local authorities.
1:04

The constituting of power in certain municipalities on the basis of the election results is not going as smoothly as the political parties at first announced.

The best example of this is the biggest municipality in RS, Banja Luka, where the situation is getting worse between the socialist and the Serb Party for Krajina and Posavina.

The President of the city board of SPRS, Nebojsa Radmanovic, stressed ” We stand for the respect of the will of the citizens”. He also said that representatives of the SSKP were not ready to co-operate with the parties which won the mandate to form the assembly and the executive board.
1:50

In a letter sent to international representatives and all media, in response to the announcement of Mr. Milan Ninkovic, the president of the municipal assembly of Doboj, Drago Ljubicic, says:

“The reason for us leaving SDS is our disagreement with the situation and with certain events in our town and municipality; our disagreement with the situation in SDS and the policy which was followed by the municipal board of SDS, and which was created by you Mr. Ninkovic. Disagreement with the force, pressure and the torture which are being inflicted by you upon the people is our reason for leaving SDS.”
1:53


Summary SRT TV News Pale/Banja Luka

Monitored by OHR in Sarajevo
There was neither Pale nor Banja Luka news. There was only a text in Cyrillic saying that :
Upon the request of the HR, SFOR carried out a technical inspection of the SRT transmitter Veliki Zep, on October 18 1997. Upon SFOR’s arrival, they learnt that unknown RS citizens carried out an act of sabotage. SRT from Banja Luka will start with its programme as soon as conditions allow.