Headlines
7th April 1998- French President Chirac addressed the respective leaderships of the RS and the BH Federation in Sarajevo today
- Chirac met members of the BH Presidency
- Tenth attempt at dialogue between Kosovo Albanians and Belgrade fails
- Yeltsin against the establishment of a coalition government
An RS delegation led by Plavsic, Dodik and Mirjanic today attended a speech by the French President, Jacques Chirac, given at the Sarajevo National Theatre building. Plavsic described the speech as impressive, where Chirac appealed to peace but also warned all extremist elements in BH.
2:54
President Chirac also met with the three members of the BH Presidency. While details from the meetings still remain unknown, an agreement was reached to start printing and distributing BH common currency banknotes. Chirac stressed the need for a stronger involvement of French firms in reconstruction activities in BH, especially in the field of power supplies network.
1:30
Prime Minister Dodik today met with a delegation of the U.S. Congress. After the meeting, Dodik told the press that the RS had been granted another U.S. $ 5 million offered and approved by Madeleine Albright during his recent visit to Washington. Considerably greater financial support worth about U.S. $ 50 million is expected to be allocated by the end of June as a form of American support for ongoing reforms in the RS.
1:41
A three-member team of the American Congress is currently visiting the RS and meeting with representatives of different political parties and officials on how to encourage positive processes in implementing the DA. The team met with the Speaker of the RS Parliament, Dragan Kalinic, in Pale today. Kalinic proposed that the U.S. Congress Foreign Affairs Committee should organise a joint meeting of representatives of the respective Parliaments of the two BH entities in order to analyse current obstacles and attempts to revise the DA.
1:27
The tenth attempt to restore dialogue between Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians failed today. A referendum on foreign involvement in resolving the crisis in Kosovo has been scheduled for 23rd April.
2:15
The Party of Independent Social Democrats, at a press conference in Banja Luka today, offered three possible solutions to the question of Brcko. The conference stated that the SNSD advocated that a decision be made that the 250 square kilometres, which the RS had been deprived of under the 49/51% division, should be compensated for in the area of Brcko. The second option is that the missing part of the territory should be compensated by returning those parts of Sarajevo that were formerly inhabited by a Serb majority. Lastly, the third option is to establish a neutral zone in Sarajevo that would be controlled by a multi-ethnic police force. The conference also appealed to Carlos Westendorp to reconsider his decision to appoint the SRT Administrator.
2:36
A regular international press conference was held in Banja Luka today. The OSCE spokesperson in Banja Luka stated that PEC election rules had been amended to state that all political parties would be obliged to have at least three women on their lists of candidates, and that no war crime suspects or officials that had earlier been removed by OSCE would be allowed to run in the elections.
1:24
Tomorrow is World Health Day. This year the day is dedicated to women’s health protection.
2:03
The RS Minister of Religion, Jovo Turanjanin, today wished happy Bajram holidays to the Banja Luka Mufti, Ibrahim Halilovic.
0:32
The UN spokesperson in Mostar, Kelly Moor, today expressed concerns over the failure by the local police to prevent explosions and arson attacks against Muslim houses in the area of Stolac.
0:40
The Humanitarian Rights Foundation today stated that those refugees who had been deprived of their tenancy right to apartments in the BH Federation had to submit their property claims in their former municipalities of residence within six months of 4th April.
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