IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT Sept 5, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the press Briefing held on 5 September 1996

Colum Murphy: good morning everybody. We are now just ten days from he OSCE supervised elections, and I would like to bring you up-to-date on some of the activities of the OHR. Over the last days, the High Representative Mr. Carl Bildt met with German Foreign Minister Kinkel in Bonn. He later met with the an advisor of President Chirac in Paris, and both of these meetings produced useful and very strong support for what we are trying to do here in Bosnia. This morning Mr. Bildt had a working breakfast with European Union Ambassadors in Brussels. Just ahead of the meeting of the steering board, to which we report and which is beginning more or less an hour as I speak. Over the next hours the steering board will be discussing mainly post election issues in Bosnia, something on which Mr. Bildt has been focused for some time. Tomorrow morning Mr. Bildt will meet NATO Secretary General Solana. He will later meet with the European Union officials, with Mr.'s Vandenbroek and Santier and with Emma Bonnino. On Saturday morning he will meet with the Contact Group in Frankfurt, and there both election and post-election issues will be discussed. Mr. Bildt then leaves for Ireland for an informal meeting of European Union ministers and he returns to Sarajevo on Sunday evening. Yesterday Mr. Bildt's Deputy Ambassador Michael Steiner presided at a meeting at the airport of Mr. Krajisnik, Mr. Zubak and Mr. Muratovic of the RS, the federation and the Bosnian government respectively. As you know, they produced an agreement on exhumations and mass graves which a number of you have already received and of which Mr. Steiner spoke at his press conference yesterday. The essence of this agreement is that the process has been re-started and the parties have again focused on their responsibilities towards ordinary families, families who we think have the right to need and to know what has happened to their missing relatives and to begin, if necessary, the process of grieving without which they cannot even begin to put their lives together again. In regard to the agreed statement by the ministers of internal affairs on election security, we will take your questions. Alex Ivanko will have something to say on that matter also. It is not something we have yet endorsed but we will explain that to you if necessary further on in the briefing. And finally Mr. Daniel Blessington of the OSCE is here. He's in the front row and will take questions as necessary. He is the chief prosecutor of the Election Appeals Sub-Commission. Brett. Major Brett Boudreau: thank you. Good morning. Again, it was a busy but relatively quiet day in the area of operations with one incident we want to give you details of in Banja Luka. Yesterday afternoon a British patrol from 3 Regiment Royal Military Police was monitoring an authorized move by RS interior ministry police of two four-wheeled light armored vehicles -- known by their initials in Russian as B-O-V's - from an authorized weapons site in Banja Luka to a nearby VRS cantonment site. When the patrol inventoried the convoy, they discovered some unauthorized vehicles - a third BOV APC-armoured personnel carrier, a truck towing a light gun carriage, and a twin 30 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Further inspection turned up even more unauthorized weapons inside one of the vehicles - a multiple barrel rocket launcher and a 12.7 mm machine gun. Needless to say, this is not authorized equipment for a police force, and our soldiers moved quickly to confiscate it.

While arrangements were being made for the equipment to be transferred from the truck and a specialist driver found for one of the vehicles, a crowd of about 200 civilians gathered and became angry. At one stage the crowd attempted to overturn one of the RMP land-rovers. The IFOR commander on the ground, a sergeant, judging that the situation was putting his troops at risk, fired a single warning shot in the air. This was all it took to send the message to the crowd, and the civilians dispersed. The soldiers then moved the convoy on toward the IFOR base at the Banja Luka metal factory. However, fifteen minutes later, the convoy pulled off the road in the vicinity of a VRS barracks to regroup and make sure all the vehicles remained under their control. When they did, the entire convoy was quickly boxed in by interior ministry police and civilian vehicles. The VRS commander on the scene lent his cooperation, and no violence broke out. To break up this crowd of civilians, the commanding officer of the Royal Military Police regiment brought the Banja Luka chief of police to the scene and directed his men to calm the crowd. The IFOR troops then temporarily parked the confiscated equipment in the VRS barracks and while there, an M-80 infantry fighting vehicle, driven by an interior ministry policeman, arrived at the barracks. Needless to say, this vehicle was also unauthorized and was also confiscated. This guy has got to be in real trouble. This is probably the first time IFOR troops have confiscated an unauthorized weapon that was actually driven directly to them while they were at a faction barracks. The following vehicles and weapons were confiscated and secured at the Banja Luka metal factory shortly after midnight: the 20 mm anti-aircraft system, the infantry fighting vehicle, a BOV armored personnel carrier, a wheeled vehicle, the rocket launchers and a total of 13, 20- millimeter cannons. The ARRC commander, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker, deplores the conduct of the RS interior ministry police in this incident, and had this to say this morning: "The situation the RMP patrol dealt with in Banja Luka yesterday was handled brilliantly and sensibly. The vehicles and weapons that the interior ministry police were trying to move never left their sight, and our troops reacted in a professional, disciplined manner. The people who need to review their actions are the interior ministry police. They are evidently holding weapons that no respectable police force in the world would be hauling around. As for the civilians, trying to interrupt IFOR soldiers in the line of duty in this fashion is putting lives at risk. Their lives." End quote. The commander of MND-Southwest is conducting an investigation into the full facts of the incident. Meanwhile, he is contacting civilian and military leaders in Banja Luka to register his concerns. Lt. Gen. Walker will be speaking today with Mr. Kijac, the RS interior minister, who has been getting a lot of attention from IFOR recently. And I believe Capt. Van Dyke has Adm. Lopez's reaction to the incident as well, which he will give shortly. Just one other item of note. Elsewhere in the area of operations - tomorrow at 1030, IFOR engineers and Civic officials will open the bridge at Vojkovici, just South of Sarajevo, and you might recall this bridge was destroyed in a deliberate demolition during the war. A team of 30 MND southeast engineers have spent about three weeks dismantling and removing the damaged remains and putting in place a 42-meter long, single-lane bridge. We've also coordinated the effort to renovate the Vojkovici school, including painting the interior, replacing glass and plumbing, providing heating, restoring the power and provide lighting and that restoration work will be complete September 11. I just have one more item before I turn over to Captain van Dyke, and that is the ODA will have a photo opportunity today at 2 pm at the Butila gas station. Several local dignitaries including the President of the Sarajevo assembly and Dr. Zlatar, head of the reconstruction unit for Sarajevo will be attending, and Jill Swift of the ODA office is here today available for more information if you're interested. That's all I have. Captain van Dyke. Captain Mark Van Dyke: thank you Brett. Brett's already given you the operational details. What I'd like to do now is read you a statement from Admiral Lopez, which reflects his concern over the serious nature of the threats against IFOR yesterday. "Yesterday's incident in Banja Luka involving weapons violations by the Republika Srpska is a clear instance of non-compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement. But even more troubling is the danger and irresponsible behavior from the RS interior ministry police and threatening actions against IFOR troops by a crowd of local citizens." COMIFOR Admiral Lopez is today sending a letter to acting President of the RS Plavsic to call for her immediate investigation into this incident and quick action against those who are found responsible. IFOR soldiers are trained to protect themselves. Yesterday they were conducting a mission to remove weapons that were not in their authorized locations. Our troops fired a single warning shot over an angry crowd. The crowd may have been provoked by local authorities, and their actions were certainly allowed to threaten IFOR soldiers and their vehicles. Our forces exercised extreme restraint in their actions and are to commended for not allowing the situation to deteriorate. But our soldiers are not required to fire warning shots. They don't have to fire over anyone's head or into the ground. They are trained and are authorized to shoot to kill in order to defend themselves and others. It is not our intent to harm anyone, but when threatened we will respond. Yesterday the soldiers chose to fire a warning shot. The next time the consequences could be fatal. Our troops will do what is necessary and prudent. And they will have the support if their commanders if they required to protect the lives of other IFOR troops. Over the next few days IFOR will deal with the weapons which we recovered yesterday, and we will meet with the interior ministers to discuss additional measures which must be taken to ensure we do not have a repeat of the civil unrest which we saw yesterday, especially as we approach elections. COMIFOR has also warned President Plavsic of the seriousness of the incident which occurred yesterday and he's insisted that she take responsibility for her police and the actions of her people. But ultimately it is that people themselves who are accountable. Government officials, national and local authorities and the people of this country must not jeopardize the opportunities that lie before them. They must take responsibility for their actions. And absolutely no one should doubt the resolve of IFOR in protecting our soldiers lives in implementing the military aspects of the Dayton Peace Agreement, and in ensuring that the deserving people of this country can have a safe and secure environment and which they can continue to enjoy a peaceful environment, conduct elections and ultimately enjoy democracy and free enterprise. Thank you. Alex Ivanko: as Colum mentioned yesterday, the ministers of interior of the federation and Republika Srpska and the deputy minister of interior of the federation signed an agreed statement on election security. Still a number of outstanding issues have not been cleared up. The UN police commissioner will withhold his support for the agreed statement until he's satisfied with the arrangements made to resolve these outstanding issues. To do so he will meet again with the ministers of interior on Friday. In other developments, yesterday we were informed by the local police in Teslic that they are investigating a murder of a Moslem male which occurred on Tuesday. It seems that this Moslem man was badly beaten by five Serb refugees and died in the hospital. The five Serb refugees have been detained and we are monitoring this investigation. Also in Teslic, we received a complaint yesterday from a Moslem male who said that his house was visited by a number of local policemen who told him and his family that they must leave Teslic in the next two days. We will be meeting with the chief of police of Teslic to try to clear that up. And on the activities of ICTY, we are continuing to work at the ??? Site and they have in the past two days exhumed 58 bodies and will continue working throughout, through the weekend. That's all I have, thank you. C. Murphy: Kris. Kris Janowski: the UNHCR. I have brief and mundane statement form UNHCR. UNHCR this week has launched a project to rehabilitate up to 2,000 apartments in Sarajevo in apartment homes owned by the state or cooperatively owned. And this whole project will cost about $4.5 million, and the idea is to allow the original inhabitants of those apartments to be given the priority in taking up residence in those apartments to which the city government agreed. We have identified those owners and will publicize the fact that the apartments are being refurbished, and the original owners, be it people living in federation-controlled Sarajevo or somewhere in Republika Srpska as refugees or even abroad, will be welcome to move back into their apartments as a matter of priority. Thanks very much. C. Murphy: Tom. T. Leary: as Colum mentioned earlier, Dan Blessington, the Chief Prosecutor of OSCE's Elections Appeals Sub-Commission is here, and Dan will make a brief statement concerning the role and activities of the Elections Appeals Sub-Commission and then we'll respond to your questions. D. Blessington: yeah, hi. Again, I'm Dan Blessington. The reason I'm here today is because we understand there's been a great deal of interest in the work that we do. And we have provided, or we haven't really distributed them yet, we just received some, summaries of the work that we do - the cases and the categories of cases that we've worked on, and they will be available to you. We also have two copies of our bilton? Which is published by Sluzbeni list and it contains selected opinions and decisions that the sub-commission has reached since we began in July. That's all I have to say now. I thought that some people might have some questions. C. Murphy: questions? Matt. Q: good morning, a question for Alex. You said the interior ministers still had some unresolved issues. Could you name maybe one or two issues, you know, about the freedom of movement - people crossing inter-federation..... A. Ivanko: until the Friday meeting, we will not comment on the issues that, in our opinion, have not been cleared up. Q: why not? A. Ivanko: until the meeting.... That's the position of the commissioner that he prefers first to meet on Friday with the ministers before we go public on these issues that we believe have not been cleared up. C. Murphy: let me just say, Matt, if I could add to that, that the position of the High Representative is that this agreed statement in regard to election security should in no way detract from Dayton. Thus, the essence and heart of the matter. If it enhances security, which it's intended to do, it's something we will endorse. If it does not, we will not endorse it. Q: just a follow up question. Given the numerous violations in the past weeks of the July 19th agreement by the SDS, does the High Rep. believe that Mr. Karadzic is having any influence on the election campaign in the Republika Srpska. C. Murphy: I'm sure he is, no more than may have been the case over the previous weeks which we already discussed. Not any extra influence over the last days. Colin. Q: for Brett and Alex, I wondered if you could clarify what the rules are regarding the possession of these sorts of anti-aircraft weapons, these sorts of APC's by interior ministry police. I mean, what are the rules governing that, and do you intend to change them at this point? Maj. Boudreau: we don't intend on changing those rules. Interior ministry police, under Dayton, are classified as "forces" and as such, they are required to declare all of the equipments and put them into approved storage sights. What we had here, yesterday on the surface it appears, was the movement of two of these BOV's. Now these BOV's are internal security vehicles - armored personnel carriers, but they're still internal security vehicles. And we had authorized the movement of two of those from the downtown Banja Luka station to a VRS cantonement sight. Of course, the remainder of that equipment is not authorized, and we will deal with that over the course of the future. So all of that stuff that I've recounted should have been declared long ago before d-plus 120 and then put into approved cantonement sights. Q: was that material, was all the material taken out of the downtown Banja Luka station? Maj. Boudreau: I believe so, yes. Q: but wasn't the Banja Luka station supposed to have been inspected? Maj. Boudreau: we inspect, as forces, by declaring the interior ministry of police as forces, we have the right to inspect all of the, all of their barracks and facilities, and we do so on an "as-required" basis. I suspect that this particular site would probably be now quite high on the list of a visit. Q: I thought you said all 700 sites had been visited now. Maj. Boudreau: what I said was, all 700-plus authorized sites had been inspected. Q: but the Banja Luka station was an authorized site. Maj. Boudreau: as a... No that was a police station, not necessarily as an authorized storage facility. And that is why those two BOV's were being moved from there to another site. C. Murphy: David. Q: Colum, with regard to Mr. Bildt's meetings across most of Europe this week. What movement is there, or what feeling is there about what's going to happen after the elections? Will the Serbs engage in the bh-wide institutions? And what movement is there on the new, sort of Dayton-2, or getting a mandate for the continued presence of IFOR and the high rep. Here. C. Murphy: well, two things. First of all, we should wait 'till the end of the week and specifically to the end of this morning's meeting of the steering board. The steering board.... The steering board, if you will, is our board of directors to which Mr. Bildt reports. He's doing that at this moment, and they are exchanging ideas, and that will go on for the next few hours. So at the end of the week, we will have a better assessment of what happens in regard to the post-election period. Secondly, he's very concerned about the post-election period - how the common institutions will work. And he has already received assurances from the federation and the Republika Srpska that they will do their best to make those common institutions work, but of course, there are concerns. Finally, as to what you call Dayton-2 or (inaudible)-2, that's certainly an idea that has entered the debate. Our position is very clear: Dayton is not negotiable. Dayton is to be implemented. But of course, there is life after December, and something of that nature, no doubt, will be discussed by whoever. Philip. Q: you said that you hope the agreement between the ministers of interior would not detract from Dayton. And I believe this is a public agreement - it should be on the record. Alex, first, could you tell us what the agreement is and then Colum, can you explain why Carl Bildt is concerned it could detract from Dayton. C. Murphy: well, shall I answer it first and then go to Alex? Q: if he tells us what it is, then it's easier for you to answer. A. Ivanko: it's an agreement between the parties that is signed by Dragan Kijac of the Hebib and Jozo Levtar and it's up to the parties to decide either to make this agreement public or not - not up to us. C. Murphy: you want my comment? Q: if this thing's going to be secret, so be it. I mean, but it looks bad when things like this are secret, when it's supposed to be on election day security question. C. Murphy: it is certainly not secret. Like all agreements, it's only when it is ready and has been endorsed and is ready to fly that it goes public. So it is certainly not secret. Our concerns, which are natural and normal, are that designated crossing sights and so on should not be used to limit voter access to polling stations. The best analogy I could use is a football stadium. It's normal that crowds are channeled in certain directions. So we have to balance the question of safety with the question of freedom of movement. But it is an agreement of the parties, so when it is completed, if completed, and receives our endorsement, then it will be completely public, of course. A. Ivanko: I believe it may be made public on Friday. Q: and then secondly, in terms of the push now to end the talk of secession and try to get the Serbs to come around and agree to... Agree to Dayton. Is there some thinking now in Carl Bildt's office that this is an essential flaw of Dayton that the secessionist rhetoric hasn't been prohibited - therefore it's permitted, and they're using these elections to get what they want, which is just to break away anyway? Is this considered an essential flaw or one of the shortcomings of the Dayton accord? C. Murphy: well, several things. First of all, it's not a flaw in Dayton. It's a flaw in the rhetoric used by the parties. Often they have not moved from the rhetoric of war to the rhetoric of peace, as you know very well. Is there thinking about these things? Yes, of course, we do worst-case scenario thinking and planning. There's a good deal of staff work done. Of course we are concerned about the meaning of this secessionist rhetoric, and as i've said before, secession is not on the cards. We think that, were the Republika Srpska to attempt to secede, that it would cause war or certainly hugely raise the danger and threshold of war. There's a question over here. Q: for Brett, just a couple details. When did the incident start? I know it ended at midnight. How many IFOR soldiers involved? Was the mob armed at any point and with what? And what's the mob made up of? What kind of individuals. Maj. Boudreau: all right. It started at about 1400 yesterday afternoon; ended shortly after midnight when the vehicles were driven into the MND Southwest compound. There was about ten British soldiers involved. The crowd was not armed in any way. And what was the fourth question? Q: who, who, who was in the mob? Can you give me...... Maj. Boudreau: who was in the mob? Just as I understand it, the vehicles were stopped close to a local market, and apparently members of the local community simply gathered around. No one particular group that I'm aware of - simply people who were bystanders in the area. Q: any sense that the local radio station was saying, "go out and defend our soldiers or..... Maj. Boudreau: no, we haven't got that. It doesn't appear to be a repeat of the Zvornik incident. It just appears on the surface that the vehicle was stopped beside the road close to downtown where there were markets nearby, and people simply congregated in the area. Q: okay, thanks. C. Murphy: there's a question here, and then afterwards, Rod (inaudible). Q: yeah, my question is for OSCE - the electoral appeals sub-commission. I would like to know whether the sub-commission is going to initiate any action concerning the fact that in Australia and in Iran, no voter has received any ballots for the voting? That Srebrenica and Srebrenik voters in Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany and Austria are constantly being given the wrong ballots. Srebrenik and Srebrenica - one is Republika Srpska, one is the federation. And what's the percentage of people who receive the ballots in countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Austria? I hear it's less than half. Also in Trebijne, Doboj and Foca, the (inaudible) apparently there is constant trying to put the Republika Srpska ballots into the hands of federation voters and vice-versa. Is there any way that the sub-commission is going to initialize something, or do you have to have a complaint from a voter, and if so, how does it work? T. Leary: let me take that question first and then pass it to dan blessington if it's necessary. We discussed the case of Trebijne here yesterday and the day before. It is correct that approximately 1,700 voters in the Dubrovnik area received RS- Trebijne ballots incorrectly. That situation is being corrected; they will be allowed to vote on election day, September 14, with the proper ballots. Now, I think you raised another point about voting in Syria and... Q: Iran and Australia. T. Leary: Iran and Australia. I don't have any information on refugee voting in Iran; I'll check that for you. As to the refugee voting in Australia, the ballots arrived late, and we will extend the deadline for all refugee voting until September 14th. The OSCE will accept any ballots that arrive in Vienna by September 14th. Was there another part of that question. Q: percentage of voters that received ballots in different countries. (inaudible) T. Leary: there have been isolated instances of delay in receiving mail ballots, one of which I just described - Australia. I know of no other more serious problems. The percentage of eligible voters who requested absentee ballots we believe to be a hundred percent. C. Murphy: if there's nothing further on that, there's a question from Rod at the back here. Q: yeah, just to follow up a little bit more on the Banja Luka incident. It sounds like your men were rather seriously outnumbered and out-gunned, at least at some point during the confrontation. Was there any threat of force used on their part to gt the Serbs to turn over these weapons? How could you characterize how this came about? Did the Serbs just willingly surrender this stuff, or was their any kind of exchanges of threats or anything of that nature? Maj. Boudreau: well, obviously the interior ministry police were entirely and extremely uncooperative. It must be said that the chief of police in Banja Luka was quite helpful in assisting the co - the commanding officer - of the military police patrol to calm the crowd and allow all of the vehicles to move into the local VRS barracks. To that extent, the VRS were quite cooperative as well. So we would say that the RS interior ministry police certainly bear the full brunt and weight of responsibility for the actions in Banja Luka. Q: but did your soldiers have to threaten to shoot them if they didn't turn over their weapons or their.... Maj. Boudreau: no, there were no overt or covert threats other than, of course, the soldier firing a warning shot in the air to disperse the crowd. Once again, they moved on; they were stopped further on, and he quite rightly decided at that point that given the situation, it was best to remove themselves into the VRS barracks until the situation calmed down, and they could move out to their own home base in a more appropriate... More appropriate fashion. C. Murphy: David. Q: while I've got you all here, I'd like to ask about the sort of nineteen routes that have been proposed for refugees to move across the line on voting day. Across IEBL or inter-federation lines as well. There are only, ICG says between 150 and 250 buses available to be used in Bosnia, and very few of those would be allowed to be used. Are people going to be able to drive their own personal cars across the line, and will there be inspections, searches, checkpoints, etc? And are you saying, by what you said earlier, that this balance between freedom of movement and safety, that people will be required to only use those areas, those routes and they will not be able to simply drive across wherever they want? C. Murphy: no, and this is the heart of the matter. Anybody who wants to vote will vote - can vote. If somebody wants to cycle his bicycle from one end of the country to the other to vote, he or she is free to do so. There is no way the IEBL will be sealed. We would not countenance any such thing. However, there is a concern in regard to managing resources, and so certain routes will have enhanced security and safety and will receive more attention. But there will be no restrictions on people voting, no matter what the means they are using are. Q: yeah if I could... T. Leary: I'd like to follow up on what Colum said, David, and ... The OSCE's position on this is that we are comfortable with any provisions that are made to provide enhanced security for voters choosing to take advantage of those procedures. However, we are not comfortable with any restrictions that would limit a voter's ability to get to the polling place on elections day. Q: I'd like to follow up. Given that there's no restrictions, etc. As part of your nineteen routes, you're specifically saying to people that you want them to vote in polling stations outside of the municipalities. In other words, you want the refugees to go specifically to certain polling stations along these nineteen routes as they pass through each of the various Serb municipalities, and you don't want them to go in. I mean, I've heard before, OSCE says, "voting day is a day for, for... Election day is a day for voting, not for visiting graves and not for visiting homes. If people can't visit on those, on this day of all days, what does that say about your plan for routes and your plan for freedom of movement? T. Leary: as to those comments, David, I really, I really can't, I really can't follow up. Our position is that we, we, we will not countenance any measures that restrict voters' ability to get to the poll on elections day- to get to polling places. C. Murphy: it's very simple. Our, our endorsement will be withheld from any such agreement if we think it restrictive. However, it's a question of resources. It's a question of providing sufficient security at these designated places, but anyone who wants to go by any other means is perfectly free to do so. Matt, do you have a question? Q: would widespread obstruction of the freedom of movement by any of the local authorities, i.e. The local police and any of the.... Would that be a reason to cancel the results of - to annul the election results? T. Leary: as you know, that is a question for our chief of monitors, Mr. Van Thijn. He'll be observing the events on election day - observing the OSCE's supervision of those elections as much as the elections process itself. And he will report on his decision to the chairman in office, Mr. Cotti. Q: but Mr. Cotti is the person who will finally take that decision, isn't it? It's not Mr. Van Thijn, it's Mr. Cotti. T. Leary: that is my understanding. Q: so he can overrule Mr. Van Thijn. If Mr. Van Thijn says the elections were not free and fair, I cannot certify these elections or certify the result, Mr. Cotti could overrule him and vice-versa. Is that... I'm trying to find out where the buck stops. Where does the buck stop? T. Leary: by.... Q: and the decision of the certification of the elections and the result of those elections. Who makes the final decision? Is it Mr. Cotti or Mr. Van Thijn. T. Leary: my understanding is the final decision is made by Mr. Cotti, but let me check that for you. C. Murphy: Colum. Q: question for Tom, for dan, and for Colum as well. The crucial... What sparked the cancellation of the municipal elections were the allegations of irregularities in form-two registration in federal Yugoslavia. There have been more and more anecdotes, more and more information coming out of federal Yugoslavia on what appears to be serious manipulation and fraud there. Is there any consideration - and as well, form-two remains a very serious concern of the parties other than the Bosnian Serbs. Is there any sense that form-two is going to be canceled? Is there any consideration of that at the moment on the part of OSCE? Given the sort of problems that have come about. T. Leary: of course, that's one of the options that's being considered for the municipal elections. No final decision has been made. As you know, Colin, the OSCE's mandate expires on September 14th. The contact group will meet on Saturday in Frankfurt, and we hope raise the issue of extending the OSCE's mandate to supervise the municipal elections with the parties. Q: but, I meant the overall cancellation of the form-two so that people would have to go back... T. Leary: for the September 14th elections? Q: yeah. T. Leary: no, there's no discussion that I'm aware of within the OSCE for canceling form-two registration for the September 14th elections. Q: okay, just following up on what you said about the municipal elections. The Serbs have said, at least they said last week they're going to hold their own municipal elections. After October 14th, they will have the legitimate, the legitimately elected or potentially legitimately elected government to do so. What is in the works at this point to try and persuade the Serbs not to hold them - to let OSCE hold them or let some other international institution supervise them? T. Leary: well, of late, there hasn't been much rhetoric from the Serb side concerning holding their own municipal elections. Our position is as I described it earlier. We're awaiting a decision to extend the OSCE's mandate to supervise the municipal elections. C. Murphy: Matt. Q: just a short (inaudible) question. Mr. Van Thijn, the - I'd like to know what is the official function? Exactly who gave him his mandate? And you said that you reported to Mr. Cotti. I mean, I'm trying to establish where does he fit into the whole picture of the OSCE mission of running the elections. T. Leary: Mr. Fontaine? Q: the election... The person... The election supervisor who will report to Mr. Cotti. T. Leary: I'm sorry, Edward Van Thijn. Q: sorry. T. Leary: yes, he's responsible for the monitoring of the elections. He reports to Mr. Cotti. Q: and he works for, I mean he... His authority or his mandate, or his job, his job description is given to him by your organization? He works under Mr. Frowick within the whole OSCE mission? T. Leary: he works at the OSCE mission in Sarajevo headed by Ambassador Frowick, but he reports to Mr. Cotti. I don't.... Q: okay. C. Murphy: are there any other questions? One more question from Yon. And there's one over here, sorry. Q. Could you make it one and a half. C. Murphy: one and a half, two and a half, here. Q: a half question is to you, Colum. Is OHR, in any way, involved in preparing the meeting between President Milosevic and Izetbegovic this weekend? C. Murphy: can I give you a half answer to the half question? Q: yes. C. Murphy: the answer is yes. Q: answer yes? Do we know the .... C. Murphy: in, in... To some degree, yes. I mean, it is, it is their decision to meet, but we are aware of this, informed, involved, yes. Q: full question, thank you. Full question. They are talking in the last week about the police force in rupublika Srpska that is equipped with rocket launchers, anti-aircraft systems, tear gassing the refugees. And still we hear, that it is a fully cooperating force. Isn't there a little contradiction? We have Zvornik police chief who threatened two days ago to come back to mahala with 3,000 police. Maj. Boudreau: what I was talking about specifically here, Yon, was the RS interior ministry police. I wouldn't, if I was a betting man, I wouldn't put too much money on them getting that equipment back. Certainly, we are in the process, have been in the process of investigating and monitoring, observing, inspecting those kind of sites. And as in this case, when we find the equipment, it will be confiscated, and in most cases destroyed. Q: I thought more to ask this question to Colum, because madame Plavsic forbade the arbiter to... And BH federation delegation to come to Brcko. You don't really have compliance in the last two weeks, do you? C. Murphy: well, we will tell madame Plavsic that that is not acceptable, but that hasn't happened yet. She has said... Do I have a microphone... She has said that she will not permit the arbitrator to come to Brcko. That is not acceptable. There's one last question over here, and then was there one more question? Yes, Tom has one further thing to say, and then we'll wrap it up. T. Leary: I just want to mention that the OSCE's Elections Appeals Sub-Commission Chief Prosecutor Dan Blessington has left a summary of the decisions to date at the OSCE information desk. C. Murphy: and I'll take your question after the press conference. Maj. Moyer: ladies and gentlemen, we have an MND Southwest press release outside that outlines in great detail the events in Banja Luka. K. Janowski: one more announcement for you. There's a press conference at the Bosna hotel at 12 o'clock by the refugee bunker and organized by the European commission