Headlines
The RS got new legislative authority today. Inaugural session of the Serb Parliament started today with the anthem “God of Justice”, during which the representatives from Bosniak and Croat people were not present. The agenda proposed by the current NA Speaker, Petar Djokic, was adopted as neither of the two suggestions for changes to the agenda got the necessary majority of votes. Verification Commission was established, with a Chairman from the SDS and it verified the mandates of the 83 NA deputies. A nine-member Electoral and Appointing Commission was also elected and the majority of votes decided that SDS deputy Branimir Salovic will be the Chairman, instead of the suggested SPRS deputy, Dragutin Ilic. After a two-hour break, the NA session should have continued, but that has not happened as yet.01:10
According to Djordje Latinovic, Spokesman of the RS Government, a regular session of the RS Government was held in Banja Luka today and was mainly dealing with preparations for today’s session of the RS NA. President of the RS, Biljana Plavsic, President of the BiH Presidency, Zivko Radisic, the HR, Carlos Westendorp and the Head of the OSCE Mission, Robert Barry, attended the second part of the session.
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The announced reconstruction of the RS police was one of the issues discussed at a meeting of the President of the BiH Presidency, Zivko Radisic with Special UN Envoy, Elizabeth Rehn in Banja Luka today. Mrs. Rehn emphasised that the first steps have already been made towards reduction in the size of the police force to 8,500 employees, out which 400 should be Croats and Muslims. The UN Envoy also spoke with the newly elected RS President, Nikola Poplasen, about a negotiating team which is established for the mentioned reconstruction and will consist of representatives of international agencies and two representatives from the RS.
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Poplasen and Radisic met with NATO Commander for Europe, Wesley Clark, today in Banja Luka. Clark said that he only wanted to assure the two Presidents that NATO wants to work with them in a cooperative way in order to realise consistent implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
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While the FRY Army is withdrawing from Kosmet, the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo is occupying positions the Serb forces left. According to the estimations of world experts, it is exactly the militancy of the Kosovo separatists from the illegal Liberation Army of Kosovo that could be fatal to a peaceful solution of the Kosovo issue. Americans are warning that the “Albanian guerrilla forces in Kosmet” could jeopardize the process of normalisation in Kosovo and Metohija. Police sources from Pristina reported today that members of the so-called Liberation Army on two occasions attacked vehicles of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Media Centre in Pristina reports that one Albanian was killed in Djakovica municipality, in his own yard. Members of the family of the dead Albanian told the investigators that the assassins were four man in camouflage uniforms, with Liberation Army insignia. According to TANJUG, withdrawal of FRY troops continues in Kosmet. President of the Serb Resistance Movement, Momcilo Trajkovic, said in an interview to SRNA that there is great despair among the Serb people in Kosmet, as “…the authorities are abandoning the territory and leaving it to Albanian terrorists…” Members of the humanitarian mission of Germany and France estimated that the situation in Kosovo is still difficult but that one can notice that there are more DPs returning to their homes.
04:45
A delegation of the BiH CoM, led by the Co-Chairman, Boro Bosic, signed a protocol in Paris, with the Paris Trustees’ Club, on reduction and reorganising of the BiH debt. According to the agreement, some countries will write off Bosnia’s debt by 67% on 23 years with a six years grace period while the other members of the Paris Club will write off the debt by 100 % on 23 years.
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