Headlines
- Party Consultations in Banja Luka On Eve of RS NA Inaugural Session
- Military Manoeuver “Sadejstvo ’98” Completed
- First Verifiers Arrived in Kosmet
- “Jahorina ’98” Fair of Hotel and Restaurant Management Opened
RSNA Speaker, Petar Djokic scheduled the inaugural session of the RSNA to be held in Banja Luka tomorrow. Consultations with heads and deputy heads of representatives’ clubs and representatives of non-parliamentary parties started 30 minutes ago. The consultations will continue tomorrow morning before the inaugural session. Djokic said that the agenda is not yet completely agreed upon and that it would be very important that the newly elected RS President finally takes over his duty tomorrow.
00:38
RS PM, Milorad Dodik emphasised in an interview to SRNA this evening that the “Sloga” Government must remain, that political passions must be calmed and that well thought-out parliamentary political struggle must begin on a higher level. Dodik added that the current Government has the absolute support of the IC with regard to solving mounting problems in the RS. When asked whether the “Sloga” counts on support of the representatives from the BiH Federation, PM answered that, as unacceptable as it might sound to some, the representatives from the BiH Federation, by voting for this Government, significantly contributed to stabilisation of the RS.
00:45
Highest representatives of the RS, Biljana Plavsic, Zivko Radisic, Milorad Dodik and Petar Djokic met with the HR, Carlos Westerndorp behind closed door in Banja Luka today. There was no press release from the meeting.
00:20
RS President Plavsic, PM Dodik and RS Minister of Defence, Manojlo Milovanovic today had separate meetings with the Minister of Defence of Great Britain, George Robertson. Robertson told the press after the meetings that he noticed great improvement in the RS, for which he thanked President Plavsic. He also said that Great Britain is pleased about its contribution to the end of violence in this country.
00:38
Beta was informed by the OSCE Spokesman Mons Nyberg that the first 13 OSCE verifiers for Kosovo and Metohija had arrived in Pristina. All of them came from Norway, the country responsible for organising the work of the main office in Pristina. NATO informed the press that the latest reports show that police forces are withdrawing from the last 8 villages in Kosmet. The NATO Council met today in order to check whether Milosevic is making the final steps in fulfilling the demands of the UN Security Council Resolution on withdrawal of military and police troops. EU Presidency called upon Belgrade authorities and Kosovo Albanians to start immediate political negotiations for solving the Kosmet crisis and at the same time announced more efficient implementation of the existing sanctions on the FRY. According to Beta, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Igor Ivanov, said that Russia advocates the safety of the OSCE monitors in Kosmet to be the responsibility of the FRY state bodies and that it opposes automatic right of NATO to perform military operations in case the safety of the monitors is jeopardized. US President, Bill Clinton expressed his pleasure about the fact that NATO, with its determination, forced FRY President, Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw military and police forces from Kosmet and in that way fulfill the essential demands of the IC. He said that NATO‘s decision on indefinite postponement is a moment of hope but not a guarantee for the final, peaceful solution of the Kosovo and Metohija issue. French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hubert Vedrine emphasized today that the situation in Kosovo requires the IC to remain mobilised in order to impose an implementable political solution. Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Klaus Naumann, today estimated that it is good to keep pressure on the Government in Belgrade, due to the Kosmet issue. Special EU Envoy for Kosovo, Austrian Ambassador in Belgrade, Wolfgang Betritsch, called on the Kosovo Albanians to start constructive dialogue with representatives of the Belgrade authorities. Representative of Kosovo Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova, appointed his adviser, Aljusa Gasi, as the main coordinator for cooperation with the OSCE verification mission in Kosovo and Metohija. Rugova said that the presence of NATO is necessary for long term safety in this area.
08:15
Representatives of the “Kristal” bank and “Banjalucka banka” today signed contracts with the Credit Reconstruction Bank on the realisation of two credit programmes for reconstruction of the housing fund in the RS. The project amounts to DM 2.5 millions and is financed by the EU. Framework agreements were also signed on development of small and medium sized companies in the RS, amounting to DM 280,000.
00:47