Headlines
- President Poplasen visits the Eastern RS.
- Condemnation of last night’s incident in the RS NA.
- Political parties in Serbia both support and dispute the results of the Rambouillet negotiations.
- Mutual accusations by Baghdad and Washington about the consequences of last night’s bombing of the Iraqi capital
The RS President, Nikola Poplasen began his two-day visit to Srbinje today. Political and economic issues were discussed.
2:40
Predrag Curkovic, the president of the Association of RS war invalids hit Dzevad Osmancevic, a deputy of KCD BiH, while the latter was talking with the Interior Minister, Sredoje Novic, in the Assembly hall. Elvedin Rizvan, another KCD deputy reacted by hitting Curkovic. This was the immediate reason for the recess in the Assembly session.
0:50
RS NA deputy, Dzevad Osmancevic said in his telephone statement for the “Srna” agency that last night’s incident was scandalous, and a blow for the RS, parliamentary life and all positive democratic forces. He added that the incident should not be politicised, and accused the police of not performing their duties correctly.
0:50
“I was being provoked by Muslim deputies standing in the Assembly hall…One of them punched me, and my prosthesis fell off…I automatically hit someone…Now I find out it was Dzevad Osmancevic”, said Predrag Curkovic at today’s press conference.
1:50
Political party press conferences: SNS
1:45
SDS
0:30
SNSD
0:25
SDA
0:15
The HR Carlos Westendorp condemned last night’s incident. “It is an attack on the NA and on democratic processes”, reads the press release, adding that the OHR and IC will not allow for an artificial parliamentary crisis to be created.
0:35
The representatives of the international organisations strongly condemned yesterday’s incident in the RS NA at today’s press conference in Sarajevo. SFOR informed the press that two truckloads of weapons were stopped near Brcko this morning. Details were not disclosed.
1:00
The CoM held a session in Sarajevo today. Main items on the agenda were the draft budget of the common institutions and BiH international obligations for this year.
2:50
The Serbian Government supported the work of the Yugoslav delegation at the Rambouillet talks.
0:30
“Even though formal agreement was not reached, the meeting in Rambouillet affirmed the idea of negotiation as a key instrument to solve the Kosmet crisis”, said the head of Yugoslav delegation, Ratko Markovic.
0:20
EU special envoy, Wolfgang Petrich said for Vienna’s “Die Presse” that progress was made in Rambouillet, because both sides accepted about 95% of the political part of the agreement.
0:10
Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) spokesman, Ivica Dacic said a significant step forward was made toward reaching integral agreement. He rejected any possibility of deploying foreign troops in Kosmet.
0:25
President of SRS, Vojislav Seselj said the chief aim of the Rambouillet conference was deployment of NATO troops in Kosmet, and not a democratic solution for the crisis.
0:20
American Secretary of State said that the main obstacle in solving the Kosmet problems was the Serbian president Milosevic.
0:15
American Ambassador, Christopher Hill warns that the so-called KLA will have to understand that its members have a future as members of political parties or local police and not continuing the armed struggle.
0:10
The Kosmet Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova said on his return from Rambouillet that the document, in his opinion, contained both military and political aspects.
0:15
The KVM spokesman, Sandy Blight said the situation in Kosmet was mostly peaceful today.
0:15
The RS Minister of Religion, Jovo Turanjanin held a press conference today in Banja Luka. Among other things, the minister said that Muslim religious objects can be built in Banja Luka, but not at the former location of “Ferhadija” mosque.
1:25
Deputy HR and Head of regional office in Banja Luka, Miguel Arias visited Bihac today. (OHR press release read in part)
0:30