OHR SRT News Summary, 30 August 1998 - Office of the High Representative

Headlines

> > * Plavsic and Dodik met Albright – new support for ongoing reforms and the policy of opening towards the world * Crime in Mrkonjic Grad – two members of the local public security centre murdered * According to Serb officials in Kosovo – there has been no broad international condemnation of crimes in the village of Klecka * Decision on Chernomidin continuing to be the Russian Prime Minister to be known tomorrow RS President Plavsic met with a delegation of the RS Association of fighters in the vicinity of Bijeljina today. After the meeting, Plavsic stated that there were many problems that fighters were currently facing and that a new general session of the Association should be held as soon as possible. “Fighters believe that the recent murder of Srdjan Knezevic alone was enough to convene such a session, along with the fact that none of the leaders of the Association ever reacted to it.
1:28

Two members of the local public security centre were murdered in Mrkonjic Grad last night, when Radomir Iliktarevic, a citizen of MG himself, broke into a local police station, shot them dead and then ran away and hid in his house in the village of Ocinove, surrounded by the police. According to unofficial reports, Iliktarevic later committed suicide. The motives behind the murders are still unknown. However, presumptions are that they were not of a political nature. According to a report by the RS MUP, there was an exchange of fire in an attempt by the RS police to arrest Ilinkovic in which he was killed.
1:34

The U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, visited Bijeljina today, where she met with President Plavsic and Prime Minister Dodik. After the meeting, Plavsic stated that the meeting had discussed possible donations and investments into the RS. Dodik, on his part, stated that Albright had expressed support for the work of the RS Government and hoped that the forthcoming elections would confirm the democratic orientation of the RS. “Albright also gave assurances that no provision of the Dayton Agreement will be subject to any revision”. On the issue of Brcko, Dodik stated that the progress that had been made in the RS filled people with hope that the final arbitration decision would be “the one that we all want it to be”. During her visit to the town, Albright also visited a local electrical station that had been reconstucted by US AID and hoped that such good cooperation would continue. “The forthcoming elections would decide on the future of this country, on whether it is going to have good economic prospects or it is going to stagnate in isolation…Regardless of the results of the elections, we will only support those communities that will be contributing to the implementation of the DA.” On the Brcko arbitration, Albright said that it was an important issue and hoped that Mr. Owen would manage to make a final decision by the end of this year.
5:20

Local media in Serbia today continue to focus on the mass grave that was recently disclosed in the village of Klecka in Kosovo where the dead bodies of 22 kidnapped Serbs had been burnt by Albanian terrorists.
3:13

Dragoljub Trivanovic, the Head of the RS Customs Administration, today denied any possible involvement of the RS Government in the tobacco smuggling affair, and stated that 25 officers of the RS Customs had been fired because of their involvement in it. Trivanovic went on to accuse the former Government, led by Gojko Klickovic, of being involved in the affair. A new affair seems to be emerging now in relation to RS commodity reserves.
2:45

Madeleine Albright visited Zagreb this morning where she met with President Tudjman of Croatia. At a joint press conference, the U.S. Secretary of State expressed great concerns about the current level of democracy in Croatia and about the nature of relations between Croats from Croatia and Croats in BiH. Tudjman, on his part, denied all allegations made by Albright.
0:40

After six years of living in refuge, 150 Serb families have, today, returned to Mostar.
0:30

********** 1) The SNS – an election rally in Zvornik 2) The SNSD – an election rally in Brcko 3) The SNSD – an election rally in Modrica 4) The SP RS – election rallies in Serb Brod and Srbac 5) The SRS – an election rally in Doboj 6) The SDS – an election rally in Trebinje 7) The RS Radical Party – a public tribune scheduled to be held in Banja Luka cancelled because of poor attendance 8) The SDS – election rallies in Srebrenica and Bratunac 9) The SRS – an election rally in Misin Han .