Headlines
- RS President, Biljana Plavsic, held separate meetings with Robert Frowick, Alexander Aksenionok and Hubert Whirt
- Mini-donors conference ended in Brcko
- The Head of the OSCE mission visited Serb Brod today
- Klaus Kinkel and Madeleine Albright discussed the future of SFOR in the Dayton BH
- Tchechnia declared independence
RS President, Biljana Plavsic, met with the Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Aksenionok, in Banja Luka today. They discussed the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the RS and the work of the media. Today’s meeting between RS President, Biljana Plavsic, and the Special Russian Envoy was also attended by Jakov Gerassimov, the Head of the Russian Mission in BH. The RS President also met with the Head of the OSCE mission in BH, Robert Frowick, in Banja Luka today, and Hubert Wurth, the Special Coordinator oft the European Union Chairman.
01:04
The RS Representative at the BH Presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, received a delegation of the Washington-based U.S. Institute for Peace led by Mrs. Hercit in Pale today. Tanjug quoted a statement released from Krajisnik’s Cabinet as saying that they discussed a proposal to establish a Commission for Reconciliation and Peace in the BH Union, based on the Dayton Agreement. The open and constructive meeting expressed the readiness on the Serb side to do its utmost to restore and strengthen confidence and help reconcile former warring parties in BH.
00:45
A two-day donors’ conference on Brcko today ended in the town. The following is a statement by the RS Vice-President, Dragoljub Mirjanic, who participated at the conference as a special representative of the RS President. “We have had a large conference here that involved participants from 12 different countries, representatives of the European Community, the World Bank, the United States, as well as representatives of a number of international institutions dealing with economic issues,” said Mirjanic.
04:27
The Head of the OSCE mission in the Dayton BH, Robert Frowick, today visited Serb Brod and met with representatives of local political parties who are members of the newly elected Serb Brod Municipal Assembly. Representatives of local political parties that will sit in the recently elected Municipal Assembly met in Serb Brod today. The meeting was also attended by the Head of the OSCE mission in BH, Robert Frowick, and by the respective representatives of SFOR and the international police force.
02:23
SRNA reports that the Serb Co-chairman of the BH Council of Ministers, Boro Bosic, and the Japanese Ambassador for BH in Vienna, Jushu Takashima, have signed a note on the donation by the Japanese Government for the reconstruction of public transportation in Sarajevo.
00:56
The Deputy High Representative for BH, Jacques Klein, today assessed in Strasbourg that international presence in BH would remain necessary for another five years, or at least until a state has been established there that will be able to function. At a press conference today, Klein warned that the absence of international representatives in BH could possibly lead to BH falling apart.
00:25
The Clinton Administration deems that the United States should maintain its military presence in BH even after the current SFOR mandate expires. After meeting the U.S. President, Bill Clinton, several American Senators assessed that Clinton wished to maintain the presence of American troops in Dayton BH even after the current SFOR mandate expired in June 1998, and that a consensus on the issue was possible.
01:02
A lottery took place at the premises of the Banja Luka SRT Studio today to determine the order by which representatives of political parties, coalitions and independent candidates would be represented in SRT programmes during the election campaign. SRT now broadcast a statement on a daily basis saying that the OSCE PEC has adopted a supplement to the parliamentary election rules and regulations, according to which those voters who did not register to vote in the local elections at the municipality where they currently live, will now be able to register at their respective local electoral commissions.
01:20
Commenting on the question regarding the work of the Select-Impex and the Centrex companies, Biljana Plavsic, the President of the Serb National Union, at a press conference of the party that took place in Banja Luka today, stated that she was not aware that there were many other companies where irregularities had also occurred. The President of the Party, Biljana Plavsic, went on to stress that leaders of the SDS were opposed to having their businesses controlled by anyone, perhaps for the reason that, for example, Dr. Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic, the RS Deputy Minister of Health, the former Director of SRT, Miroslav Toholj, and late Veselinovic, appear to be the owners of the Javnost company. As for the Bankom Company, the key person there was the former RS Minister of Justice, Momcilo Mandic.
02:16
Leaders of the Serb Party of Krajina and Posavina, at a press conference in Banja Luka today, also referred to the issue of the election of the Mayor of Banja Luka. A member of the Main Board of the Party, Predrag Lazarevic, said that the second session of the local Municipal Assembly had failed to nominate the Mayor, due to the fact that none of the two candidates proposed by the Serb Party of Krajina and Posavina and the RS Socialist Party respectively had obtained a sufficient number of votes. According to Lazarevic, this was due to obstruction by the SDS and the Serb Radical Party.
01:06
Spokesperson for the High Representative for BH, Duncan Bullivant, at a press conference today criticised the BH Federation Government for having passed a law on housing yesterday, according to which the right of everybody to return to his former property will be denied.
00:41
The local Muslim authorities in Celic last night switched off the transmitter at the hill of Zboriste in the vicinity of Tuzla. The transmitter belongs to a local Croatian TV station. According to the Croatian media today, local citizens of Croatian nationality are no longer able to watch any of the three channels of the Zagreb-based Croatian state TV.
00:29
Following the incident in which a famous boxer, Antun Josipovic, was last night injured in Banja Luka, the RS Ministry of Interior has released a statement saying that progress has been made in the investigation into the incident and that the investigation will be completed shortly. The statement went on to say that the public would be informed of the results of the investigation in due course.
00:18