IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT Sept 14, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the press Briefing held on 14 September 1996

Colum Murphy: the Office of the High Representative has no statement this morning. This is OSCE's day, and in a much larger and more important state, the day belongs to the people of Bosnia, so I'll ask Agi to take it from here. Agi. Agi kuperman: thank you. I take the podium for the first time. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. As the spokeperson for the OSCE, whose mandate it is to organize and monitor today's elections, I would like to make the following statement: nine months after Dayton, the Bosnian people have an opportunity to vote in elections that will lay the foundations for legitimate national institutions in a multi-ethnic state. They are ready to do so. 24 political parties and five coalitions are contesting these elections. The Bosnian people -- Croat, Muslim and Serb -- are overwhelmingly in favor of these elections. Polling data shows us that this has been the case since the days immediately following Dayton and continues to be the case today. We expect Bosnians to exercise their right to vote in great numbers as refugee voters already have. Over 80% of refugee votes have come in and they turned out to vote. The international community has labored hard these past nine months to create an environment conductive to elections. Peace has been established. We no longer witness daily reports of killings and ethnic cleansing. Establishing democratic institutions in the wake of a horrific war that pitted three ethnic communities against eachother has not been an easy task. Perhaps, it's a more difficult job than bringing peace to this troubled country, but progress has been made. Parties have held hundreds of rallies -- the vast majority unmarred by incidents. Candidates from the nationalist and opposition parties debated on BH TV and Srpska television nightly. Even freedom of movement has improved with 1.3 million crossing the IEBL over a six month period. We're not talking about ideal democratic conditions, or conditions that prevail in western countries. But Bosnia, unquestionably, has embarked on a democratic course. These elections are a crucial step in the continued pursuit of that democratic course. The OSCE, with tremendous support from IFOR, has given the people of Bosnia an opportunity to choose their future.. We hope that these elections will mark a start in bridging the ethnic divide created by four years of war. These elections are only a beginning in a long process of democratization. They will provide the institutions of a democratic multi-ethnic state, legitimate legislative and executive powers. The OSCE is committed to Bosnia. Our mandate doesn't come to an end with these elections. The parties have asked us to stay, and we'll organize and monitor municipal elections, probably in November. We'll continue to monitor respect for human rights and assist Bosnians in creating a stable military environment. The OSCE is grateful to IFOR in particular and all the other international organizations in Bosnia which have helped organize what are perhaps the most complex elections in history. We are all working for the same goal -- a peaceful, democratic and ethnically tolerant country. We hope that the Bosnian people opt for these same goals. Thank you.

C. Murphy: Alex. A. Kuperman: wait. I'd like to just make a couple of notices on the record. All voter routes are open since 9 a.m. Initial blockages have been cleared. That's the latest news we have. And all polling stations opened on time at 7 a.m. The OSCE is in close touch with all the international organizations and with our GEOC. You can always reach, in addition to Skejndaria, my office at 466-455 and ask for either myself or Tom Leary, or at 444-444 extension 222. Plese do not hesitate to contact us at any time. C. Murphy: Alex. Alex Ivanko: the United Nations international police is satisfied with the security situation as of 1100 this morning. All security arrangements are in place, and except for a few minor incidents, the voting from a security perspective is proceeding normally. Concerning a number of initial reports of problems in certain areas, there was a report that voter Route 1 between Sanske Most and Prijedor was closed. That is not the case. Three busses carrying 122 voters passed through safely without any problems at 9:30, and another seven busses are on their way to the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. The UN international police in the area says that as many as 7,000 people may utilize this route today. The (inaudible) route -- also a problematic area, we thought. No problems -- seven busses carrying 300 people passed safely. In Veluka, situation astable and normal. Stable and steady line of people at the polling stations. No incidents reported. There was a report of a shooting incident near Foletici which is outside of Sarajevo. The UN international police can confirm that yes, one shot was heard near the village of Foletici not far from a polling station. The federation police is investigating this incident. There was also a report of seven busses being stopped on their way from Kladijne to Vlasinice. As far as we understand, this is an incorrect report. Six busses traveling from FRY to Bosnia -- they were travelling to Goradze and made the wrong turn and ended up on the Inter-Entity Boundary Line near Kladijne where they were checked by IFOR and then allowed to proceed. They are now proceeding through Han Pijesak to Goradze. So as far as we understand, no busses anywhere on the voter routes are blocked, and as far as we understand, all crossing points are open. Thank you. C. Murphy: Brett. Major Brett Boudreau: thank you. Good morning. Just like to reenforce a couple of points that were brought up by Alex and Agi that all the voter routes are open. There was a bit of a stuttering start to the transport plan initially, but those problems appear to be resolved. The initial reports of stoppages, or vehicles being stopped, appear to have... Appear to be a result of local traffic on the recommended voter routes. We mentioned before that there apparently were some difficulties at Brcko. What was happening there were a number of people looking to use their own private vehicles to cross the bridge. There was a long line beginning to form. The police rightly asked those people to park their vehicles by the side of the road, get out and use the busses to transport them across the bridge to vote at the polling station. So we are quite pleased at the reports so far with respect to how that is proceeding the overall security situation is going as planned. We're pleased at the progress to date. We have a couple of other items and church notices to make. First of all, in MND North, there was a slight problem with the ballot distribution effort, and MND North photocopied some 12,000 ballots and were looking to distribute those to polling stations who required them. The soldiers spent most of last night physically hand-stamping those ballots so we could have an accounting system to them and have distributed some 4,000 ballots to some of the polling stations that required them, so that is proceeding well. The pool we announced yesterday which will observe the voter routes from the air is now organized, and I'll just let you know those members are: Reuters Tv, Time Magazine, Reuters Print, The Guardian with Chris Stevens, and BBC radio. We had no takers for still photographs, so please make arrangements with those individuals or organizations I've named. They should be back in Sarajevo no later than 1500, and that is of course weather dependent, but at this point it looks lile a go. As well, we still have some limited spaces for the media oppoptunity at 1430 today at the elections response group -- that body of both IFOR personnel and representatives from the various international organizations and interior ministry police at the headquarters at Ilidza. That's at 1430. Like I said, I've still got a couple of spots left if you're interested. Please come see me after this, and I'll make arrangements to get you up there. Mr. Holbrook will be conducting a news conference at the IFOR Press Center at the CPIC at 2300 hours tonight. We'll open the doors to the CPIC at 2100 so you can get in in plenty of time to set up. Just a reminder that there will be the regularly scheduled IFOR press brief tomorrow, Sunday, at 1100 at the CPIC. That's all I have. Jeff fischer: I have two additional items on the electoral scene. As I had reported at 9 o'clock this morning, the HDZ in Borgojne had pulled its members on the polling station committees in response to the grenade attack last evening on the lec chairman's home. After negotiations, it has been reported to me through our regional office in Mostar that the HDZ has agreed to return its poll workers to the polling station committees in that municipality. We have also received reports through our Bihac office and here in Sarajevo of difficulty that voters are having locating their names on the voters list. I don't think that this is a problem of omission. Some of these lists are rather cumbersome to handle. We have provided backup computers with the 1991 census database at our regional centers to support the Local Election Commissions in this look-up process in case there are problems and also have distributed additional lists to some of the LEC's. We will monitor this closely to assure that it does not become a problem today. If a voter's name was on the provisional, preliminary voters list, they will be accommodated and remain eligible to vote. C. Murphy: questions. J. Fischer: I'd like to remind you that there are microphones at the front on either side we would like for you to use. Q: Brett, could we get a bit more detail about exactly what happened in Brcko? Where is the bridge? Where does it cross from? These cars -- these were without eight people in them, and the Serbs are insisting... On the busses? Did some of the vehicles have eight people but weren't allowed to cross etc? Maj. Boudreau: no. As I understand it, there was a fair number of private motor vehicles attempting to cross the bridge. Apparently, they were Croat voters. The line was long; the local police asked them to park their cars by the side of the road and take the busses across to the polling station which is some 200-300 meters on the other side of the bridge, very rightly saying that the bridge is a choke point, and that amount of traffic would in fact, block the bridge. All, as I understand it, the vehicles had three or four persons in them -- not a bus as defined by the agreement reached by the interior ministers, so their actions were right. And as I understand it, people are now proceeding to the polling stations in that location. C. Murphy: there's a question over here. Would you just identify your organization please, everybody, before you pose your question? Q: .... (inaudible) from Dusseldorf, what is the attendance so far? Is there any brisk interest or is it slow moving? C. Murphy: Agi. A. Kuperman: so far, we don't have an overall picture, but in some polling stations at 7:00 a.m., There were already some people waiting, but at others, there was no one there yet. So we don't yet have a reall assessment on voter turn-out. C. Murphy: yes. Q: Cassandra Sweet with ONASA. I wonder if you could give us an update on what happened in Prijedor with the chief of police and the mayor in exile? Brett, do you have details on that? Or Alex? A. Ivanko: concerning the situation with the... As we understand, the mayor in exile who was planning to go through the city of Prijedor to vote, that is currently being discussed with the authorities in Prijedor concerning the closure of the voter route. We understand that's not the case. Voter Route 1 has been open since 9 o'clock this morning. As I said, 122 people have passed through this route and 7 more busses are on their way. Q: follow-up. What happened with the chief of police? Did he just make some... A. Ivanko: the chief of police in Prijedor has not been one of the most cooperative people on this planet. He has made a number of very inflammatory statements and has been the chief of police of Prijedor since 1992 which speaks for itself. So this is not the first time he's making some off-the-wall statements. The bottom line is the situation there is normal, and the busses are utilizing route 1. C. Murphy: David. Q: sorry Alex, can you give more detail about what the off-the-wall statement he made was? A. Ivanko: there were some reports that he was saying that he will not allow any Muslims to enter Prijedor. These reports come from the local police... From the local media so we're not even sure he made these statements. But as I said, the chief of police has been known before for making inflammatory statements and does have a dodgy biography. C. Murphy: other questions. Lucky. David and then Lucky. Q: sorry, Brett. At 9 o'clock, you said that IPTF and IFOR would assist in Bugojno in an effort to get the... Address the security concerns of the Croat election workers. Can you give any details about what IFOR has done? And Alex, do you have any information about what IPTF has done to resolve that crisis? Maj. Boudreau: as I mentioned at nine, in light of the security situation there, IFOR military personnel on the ground have a great deal of authority and delegated powers to assist in resolving situations on the ground. I understand that there were IFOR patrols in the area in light of the incident last evening, but as we hear most recently, OSCE has since resolved that. A. Ivanko: I have nothing additional to what Brett said. Q: question for Alex. Do you have any details about what happened in Maglaj? Apparently reports that a bus was stoned? A. Ivanko: I've heard the report. I can't confirm it. The only report I have from this morning that there may have been an excessive number of people gathering around the polling station and maybe a little more than usual number of local policemen there. As far as I understand, UN international police went to that area, and that problem has been resolved. I cannot confirm any stoning of busses in Majlaj. C. Murphy: yes. Q: yes just a general question... C. Murphy: could you just identify your organization? Q: oh yes, John Vasnich, Inter-Media Center, Tokyo, Japan. When you give us a correction of false reports, could you please cite the source of the report which you are denying so we can sort of track the origins of these reports and compare them to yours, because you're getting information that we may not have immediate access to. I'd like to track who's saying what and how you correct it. C. Murphy: yeah, understood. Anybody else? Q: ... (inaudible), Sarajevo. Question for Alex. Do you have any details about last night's attack on Dr. Radko Mlumja, joint list candidate, and how will you comment that? A. Ivanko: no, I have no reports. After the briefing, if you give me what you have, I'll try to chase it up, and I'll give you an update at 3 o'clock. C. Murphy: anybody else. If not, thank you very much. A. Ivanko: just one announcement. I have a direct PTT number. It's 458-574, so you don't have to go through the switchboard. C. Murphy: thank you.