Main News Summary
Friday, 5 December 2003

SFOR
SRNA
SFOR removes Serb flag from centre of Bosnian town
(Factiva) SFOR [NATO-led Stabilization Force] members took down a Serb flag in Bosansko Grahovo [north-western Bosnia-Hercegovina, near border with Croatia] yesterday. The flag had been hoisted in the town centre three days ago, alongside the Croatian one, BH Radio 1 reported. The Croatian flag remained where it was, and SFOR intensified movement in the town after pulling down the Serb flag. Grahovo mayor Nebojsa Prpa said the situation with the flags was a provocation, since 3,500 Serbs and 170 Croats lived in Grahovo. He said Serb returnees were asking that Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation and Bosnia-Hercegovina flags be hoisted in Bosansko Grahovo. Prpa said the municipal and cantonal authorities would try and resolve the situation.
SFOR
Oslobodjenje
SFOR constructs road in Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje municipality
The Dutch SFOR unit, in co-operation with the Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje municipality, asphalted a section of the Pajic Polje-M16 road and set up mirrors to provide unobstructed views of the road to drivers. This project worth 11,000 KM was conducted by the Korak local company. Even though it is only fifty meters long, the newly asphalted section of the road is of a great importance to an increasing number of returnees in Pajic Polje, and especially to pupils of the elementary nearby school. The ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the completion of the project was led by the Gornji Vakuf Mayor Salih Muftic and Capt. Patrick Willems. (Photo on page 14)
AF IN BIH
Jutarnje Novine
One step closer to NATO through defense reforms
The chances of BiH joining the Partnership for Peace Program is one of the topics discussed at a two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the NATO member countries in Brussels. With regards to that, the OHR spokesperson, Oleg Milisic, stated at a press conference in Sarajevo yesterday that the adoption of the BiH Law on Defense as well as amendments in the defense area would give NATO ministers proof that BiH was serious about joining the Partnership for Peace and NATO. "The adoption of the defense reforms opens the door for the processes of BiH's integration to NATO, and gives BiH citizens the best chances for lasting peace and stability," said Milisic. (p. 4)
AF IN BIH
Jutarnje Novine
SNSD requests that obligatory military service be applied for next six months
The SNSD President, Milorad Dodik, issued a proposal that the RS National Assembly adopt an interim decision that obligatory military service continue for the next six months. He added that such a solution would resolve the problem that emerged after the RS Parliament had adopted an amendment to the Law on Defense which abolished obligatory military service, and such service is stipulated by the BiH Law on Defense. A member of the SNSD and the Chairman of the BiH House of Representatives, Nikola Spiric, stated that he was sorry that an SNSD amendment had not been adopted by the RS Parliament. "If adopted, this amendment would constitute a radical step in the area of defense reform. Since this did not happen, I am of the opinion that the military will be divided into three national components, and that is not in anybody's best interest. National parties thus want to retain conscription as a voting machinery, and it also makes room for various manipulations where poor people are obliged to serve in the military while the rich can easily avoid it," said Spiric. (p. 4)/The same in Dnevni List (p. 12), Dnevni avaz (p. 4), Oslobodjenje (p. 3)/
BIH - CROATIA
Oslobodjenje
Exchange of inter-border territories possible
If BiH and Croatia reach an agreement on borders, these two countries might exchange their inter-border territories soon. According to Mustafa Begic, a member of the BiH Inter-State Diplomatic Commission, the commission is drawing up a proposal for a new border line with Croatia in Imotski at this time. He said that a total of one thousand kilometers of border strip area between BiH and Croatia was under the magnifying glass of the commission. These are uninhabited narrow strips of land, but Begic did not specify where they were situated. He said that the commission would draft its proposal and submit it to the state government and parliament for consideration. The commissions from both countries will meet in January again. (Photo on page 8)
BIH - CROATIA
Oslobodjenje
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic visits BiH
The Croatian President Stjepan Mesic visited BiH on Thursday. It was announced that BiH and Croatia could sign an agreement on mutual cancellation of visa requirements in Sarajevo today. This agreement means that BiH and Croatian citizens will be able to cross the border between the two countries with only their IDs. The agreement will be applied starting from the date when it is signed. A Protocol on co-operation for joining European integration process and a Protocol on co-operation and joint stance in third markets will also be signed. The Croatian delegation includes, apart from President Mesic, Neven Mimica, Minister for European Integration, Ingrid Anticevic-Marinovic, Minister of Justice, Radimir Cacic, Minister of Public Works, Reconstruction and Civil Engineering, Roland Zuvanic, Deputy Minister of Maritime, Transport and Communications, Ivan Simonovic, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josip Vrbosic, Croatian Ambassador in BiH, and Nadan Vidosevic, President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Upon his arrival in Sarajevo on Thursday, the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic laid a bouquet of lilies on the tomb of the late former BiH President of the BiH Presidency Alija Izetbegovic. (Photo on page 3) /The same in Dnevni avaz (p. 2), Jutarnje Novine (p. 3), Dnevni List (p. 3)/
BIH - CROATIA
HINA
Croatia and Bosnia sign agreements
(Factiva) Representatives of the governments and chambers of commerce of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in Sarajevo on Friday signed four agreements promoting cooperation between the two countries and easing border crossing procedures. After a meeting of the Council for Cooperation between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which involved delegations led by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Bosnian Presidency Chairman Dragan Covic, the two countries signed an agreement cancelling visa requirements. The agreement will enable citizens of the two countries to cross the border using only an ID card as of January 1, 2004, Covic said. Also signed were annexes to the agreement on joint locations at border crossings, under which the two countries will have joint border crQings at Velika Kladusa and Maljevac, and at Izacic and Licko Petrovo Selo. The two countries signed a protocol on cooperation in European integration processes, and a protocol on cooperation in third markets. The latter was signed by the president of the Croatian Chamber of the Economy, Nadan Vidosevic, and the president of the Bosnian Chamber of Foreign Trade, Milan Lovric. Mesic and Covic expressed satisfaction with the agreements signed, saying they were yet another indicator of good relations between the two countries.
BIH - ECONOMY
Oslobodjenje
Petrol costs more because of oil lobbies
At a meeting held on Thursday in the Federation Chamber of Commerce, the decision of the Government and Premier Hadzipasic on the establishment of the "FBiH Oil Terminals" company encountered dissatisfaction from both importers and distributors of oil products. The President of Section of oil importers and distributors, Muhidin Alic, said that the decision had been made because of the influence exerted by some oil lobbies and political mafia that has its companies abroad. "We will purchase fuel at the terminals only when we are convinced that it is offered to us under favourable conditions and at lower prices," said Alic and warned that the ultimate goal of this economic society's establishment is a monopoly. Distributors announced that they would purchase fuel in Brcko District, where conditions are different. (Photo on p.4)
BIH - JUDICIARY
Slobodna Bosna
BiH legal system is the biggest (unsuccessful) experiment in the world!
The process of judicial reforms in BiH, which is being implemented by the OHR, has turned into general chaos in the past several months. Having undermined the pre-war judicial system, the international community started performing experiments by adopting and amending individual laws without harmonizing them with other laws. So, the BiH judicial system can now "boast" an unbelievable mixture of contradictory solutions adopted from French, Swiss, German, Roman and American legal concepts, both in criminal and civil law. Domestic judges and attorneys think that this legal insanity will hardly be applicable in practice, as foreigners who compiled these laws failed to provide a legal interpretation for them. "They were not able to provide an interpretation of these laws, because they are not the re-written laws of some European country, but a mixture that did not function in the SFRY or BiH. The problem is that these laws were compiled very quickly, because international personnel stay in BiH for between one and six months only," a Judge of the Federation Supreme Court told Slobodna Bosna. (p.29)
BIH - PARTIES
Slobodna Bosna
Izetbegovic and Ceric fight for leadership in the party
According to well informed sources, the race to become the "first man of Bosniacs" has already started. One of the most serious candidates for this position, the SBiH founder Haris Silajdzic, gave up at the very beginning after he realized that he had no chance of winning this competition against Mustafa efendi Ceric and Bakir Izetbegovic. Silajdzic is disappointed with his party's rapid loss of credibility. The SBiH has completely been drowned in the dreariness of the ruling coalition of national parties, and Silajdzic concluded that his comeback would be risky and uncertain. Several days ago, Dnevni avaz sent a clear message to Adnan Terzic, Chair of the BiH Council of Ministers, that he was out of the competition. Also, Avaz's support for Sulejman Tihic was also seen. Avaz is openly in favour of Bakir Izetbegovic and Mustafa Ceric, but if the two of them become each other's competition, Avaz will always openly support Bakir Izetbegovic, who is one of the financial and (il)legal creators of the Avaz publishing house. (Photo on page 13)
BRCKO
Dnevni avaz
Monument in honour of Draza Mihajlovic removed in Brcko
In compliance with the Article on Monuments and Insignia of the Brcko District, on Wednesday the members of the Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement removed a monument erected in honor of Draza Mihajlovic in the Brcko District in 1996. Its removal cost the Brcko District Government 30,000 KM. (Photo on page 12) /The same in Jutarnje Novine (p. 5), Nezavisne Novine (p. 11)/
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Oslobodjenje
Price of third GSM licence to be known on Thursday
"The BiH Ministry of Transport and Communications will propose a price for the GSM licence for BiH at a next meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday," Deputy Minister Haris Basic told Oslobodjenje. "If the BiH Council of Ministers submits its decision on a price for the GSM licence soon, or if it extends the deadline for deciding on it past 31 December, the Communications Regulatory Agency will postpone shutting down Eronet, which is operating without a licence," CRA spokesperson Amela Odobasic said. (p.4)
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Oslobodjenje
European Commission demands that the BiH Customs Administration Director be appointed by Monday
The appointment of the BiH Customs Administration Director is a part of the trading for posts that goes on between the leading BiH parties. Elmir Jahic, SDA Vice President, says that Croat Ministers, members of the HDZ, are conditioning the appointment of the Administration Director on gaining certain posts in the Federation. He was not willing to say which posts the HDZ was specifically interested in, but he did say that it wanted positions in institutions such as the Pensioners'-Disability Insurance Institute and some others. "We have not yet begun inter-party talks about positions in the Ministry of Defence and agency for intelligence services," Jahic says. Niko Lozancic, HDZ official, confirmed that negotiations about distribution of functions were underway "not only in the Federation, but also at state level." Lozancic also said that the HDZ insisted that a Croat be at the head of the Customs Administration, since "it is most interested in that position". Fuad Kasumovic, the best candidate in the first competition for the position of Director of the Indirect Taxation Authority, which was voided, requested that Adnan Terzic, Chair of the Council of Ministers, appoint him as Director. "The second competition was illegal and unauthorized, and therefore not valid, as BiH Ombudsperson Frank Orton confirmed," Kasumovic said. (p.6)/The same in Dnevni avaz (p.4)/
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Jutarnje Novine
Appointment of the Director of the Indirect Taxation Authority delayed
The appointment of the Director of the Indirect Taxation Authority, for which the most serious candidate is Kemal Causevic, has been postponed again because the HDZ and SDA failed to reach an agreement. As Jutarnje Novine has learned in the Council of Ministers, this appointment has been delayed because the HDZ is conditioning it on placing its candidate in the position of Director of HTP Mostar. Chair Adnan Terzic did not succumb to this blackmailing by the HDZ. As for the SIPA main office location, there are two locations in Sarajevo that are options. One is the Zrak company building and the other less likely one is a building in the vicinity of the EUPM building in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Nedzarici. A Commission composed of representatives of the Council of Ministers, OHR and US Embassy is supposed to suggest a location instead of the Council of Ministers. (p.4)
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Slobodna Bosna
Is Jasarevic a proper candidate the Federation Civil Service Agency Director?
As said before, the position of Director of the Federation Civil Service Agency has been promised to Jasaravic as a reward for his agility in carrying out secret investigations of main persons involved in the so-called state coup and, subsequently, his merciless questioning of fellow employees who had been said to be possible associates of Munir Alibabic. However, despite the guarantied political support on which he can count, Jasarevic's appointment as the Director of the Federation Civil Service Agency might be questioned for at least two reasons. The first reason is that he spent his entire work life dealing with police and intelligence matters in the former State Security Service within the BiH Ministry of Internal Affairs and later in the AID, and now FOSS. The second one could be his very dubious education, as just before the war Jasarevic received a degree from the Faculty of Security in Skopje. This faculty is called a "cadre school" in police circles, where it is quite normal to take even ten exams in one week! Slobodna Bosna adds that if loyal Osman Jasarevic is appointed to the Federation Civil Service Agency, the SDA will gain full control of the hiring of all future employees in the Federation authority structures. (Photo on p.17)
ICTY
Slobodna Bosna
Borislav Paravac to be indicted for crimes in Doboj!
Slobodna Bosna learned from sources in The Hague that Borislav Paravac might be the second member of the BiH Presidency to be indicted and tried for war crimes! The first member of the BiH Presidency indicted for war crimes was Momcilo Krajisnik, who was arrested by SFOR three years ago and transferred to The Hague where he is waiting his trial scheduled to begin next year. Unlike Krajisnik, Borislav Paravac will be tried before a local court, the Cantonal Court in Zenica. On the basis of evidence gathered from Germany, he will be indicted together with other members of the so-called Doboj Group for ethnic cleansing and forced movement of the non-Serb population from the Doboj Municipality. (p. 15)
ICTY
AP
Tribunal convicts Bosnian Serb general for commanding snipers in Sarajevo
(Factiva) A Bosnian Serb general was convicted Friday of commanding a deliberate two-year campaign of terror against the civilians in Sarajevo. He was sentenced to 20 years for the sniper fire and shelling of the Muslim sector of the city in which hundreds were killed and thousands wounded. By a two-to-one decision, the U.N. war crimes tribunal said Gen. Stanislav Galic, 58, ordered his troops, "with the primary purpose of spreading terror," to fire on civilians while they were shopping, tending gardens and fetching water from the river. Galic was convicted of five counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes during the two-year period he commanded the siege from 1992 to 1994, the tribunal ruled.
NATO
Dnevni avaz
NATO invites BiH to join PfP
"BiH and SCG might join the Partnership for Peace Program in June 2004, provided that the governments of these two countries successfully complete reforms in the area of defense and ensure full co-operation with the Hague Tribunal," reads a statement of the NATO foreign ministers issued at a session in Brussels yesterday. NATO ministers pointed out that BiH and SCG might join PfP at the NATO summit scheduled for June 2004. "The decision that was adopted by the NATO foreign ministers represents a historical step for BiH on its path towards Euro-Atlantic institutions," stated HR Paddy Ashdown, welcoming the Brussels decision. (p. 2)/The same in Jutarnje Novine (p.8), Dnevni List (p. 3), Oslobodjenje (p. 10), Nezavisne Novine (p. 2)/
NATO
Dnevni avaz
Security in the Balkans is stable
"The security situation in the Balkans is stable, but still fragile," reads a conclusion of the foreign ministers of the NATO member countries issued at a meeting in Brussels yesterday. The ministers also pointed out the fact that the Alliance was very interested in preserving peace and stability in that strategically important region. They also emphasized and gave their full support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all the countries in the region. "NATO is ready and determined to help the Balkan countries fully integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions, which requires the continuation of implementation of democratic reforms and establishment of full co-operation with the Hague Tribunal," reads a press release issued after the meeting. Foreign ministers also stated that, when it comes to co-operation with The Hague, the most important issue was the arrest and transfer of Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and Ante Gotovina to the Tribunal. (p. 20)
PROTEST
Jutarnje Novine
Government survives blows
At the beginning of the talks held yesterday with representatives of Sarajevo-taxi, it was obvious that the Sarajevo Canton Government would pass its first serious test and retain its credibility. It was evident from the introductory speech delivered by Premier Denis Zvizdic that the Government was firmly behind the stance of Minister Zlatko Bursac. This removed all speculation about his being dismissed and "a purge that taxi drivers will force in the Government". For the second day already and despite the increased dissatisfaction of Sarajevo citizens, taxi drivers crowded the Cantonal Government building and streets downtown, and it appears that the blockade of Sarajevo is continuing. (p.19)