Headlines
- RS President Biljana Plavsic received French Ambassador Yves Gaudeul and Head of ICRC to B&H Peter Stoker
- Prime Minister Milorad Dodik addressed Municipal Assembly delegates during his visit to Bijeljina
- RS President Biljana Plavsic letter to IC High Representative against more frequent arrests of Serbs
- New government appointed in Serbia
- Further conflicts between Interior Ministry members and Albanian terrorists in Kosovo
RS President Biljana Plavsic held talks in Banja Luka today with the French Ambassador to B&H Yves Gaudeul and the Head of the ICRC mission to B&H Peter Stoker about the release of the captured and the finding of missing persons. The issue of refugee return was also discussed. “The ICRC is going to do everything in order to solve as soon as possible the issue of missing persons as well as the issue of refugees who are still in collective centres”, it was underlined at the meeting between Plavsic and Stoker. At the meeting between Plavsic and Gaudeul the current political situation was discussed with special emphasis on a further course of democratic changes in the RS.
1:45
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik visited Bijeljina today, where he addressed delegates of the Municipal Assembly, underlining the character and importance of current and future actions of the RS government.
2:30
A a press conference held today the UN and UN IPTF Spokesperson MacDowel expressed his concern about the fact that the Sarajevo canton police had not informed the IPTF on the arrest of Dragan Pejic. According to him, the cantonal authorities behaved in a similar way to the arrest of Milomir Tepes. Due to these events RS President Biljana Plavsic sent a letter to the High Representative to B&H Carlos Westendorp expressing protest against the flagrant violation of the DPA committed by the B&H Federation police and stating that in the past month there had been more frequent cases of the illegal arrest of Serbs. In her letter she underlined that, with the aim of calming down tensions and the fear of revenge, she was asking Mr Westendorp to respect the provisions of the DPA. The RS citizens should be released and handed over to the RS authorities.
4:45
The member of the B&H Presidency from the RS Momcilo Krajisnik met today in Pale with the Head of the OSCE mission to B&H Robert Barry. The issues related to the forthcoming September elections and the OSCE role in that process were discussed at the meeting.
0:30
His Holiness Serb Patriarch Pavle stated that he was against any violence in Kosovo. “The Orthodox Church is against violence regardless of who commits it and it sympathizes with those affected regardless of which nation or religion they belong to”, Patriarch Pavle said. However, in spite of everything, violence was committed again in Kosovo today. At the same time, the president of the Democratic Union of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova announced the names of 15 members of a team that would make a platform for the talks with a delegation to be appointed by the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. US State Secretary Madeleine Albright stated today that pressure upon FRY President Slobodan Milosevic must be further exerted since he has not fulfilled the key demands of the IC regarding Kosovo. “Belgrade still ignores the key conclusions of the Contact Group. We shall have to maintain significant pressure upon Belgrade in order to stop repression and to regain the autonomy of Kosovo”, she stated at a press conference. After the meeting with the Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini, and Vatican representatives she left for Bonn where the meeting of the CG is to be held tomorrow. The possibility of imposing new sanctions on Belgrade is also going to be considered at the meeting tomorrow. Mrs Albright is also going to meet with the Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov in Bonn tonight.
3:05