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Topic
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Source
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Title
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Narrative
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SFOR
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Oslobodjenje
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SFOR denies allegations about inappropriate behavior
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At a press conference held in Bihac on Tuesday, Bob Kennedy, a
spokesperson for Canadian SFOR troops, denied allegations about
inappropriate behavior of Canadian troops. "We are not impolite.
Canadian soldiers are polite by nature, and they do not use force
more than necessary," he said. Admil Mulalic, a Democratic People's
Union (DNZ) deputy, was present during a Harvest Operation and was
appalled by SFOR troops' uncivilised behavior. He initiated a discussion
in the Parliament and insisted that the local authorities contact
the SFOR HQ and request that SFOR troops behave in a more appropriate
way. Kennedy said that Mulalic's initiative was politically motivated.
On the other side, Mulalic said that many citizens had congratuled
him on this initative. (Photo on page 3)
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SFOR
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Oslobodjenje
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Thomas Young transferred to British SFOR hospital in Sipovo
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Thomas Young, the head of the OSCE in Mostar who recently attempted
suicide, has been transferred to the British SFOR hospital in Sipovo.
His condition is stable. (Photo on page 6) /The same in Jutarnje
Novine (p.3)/
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SFOR
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Nezavisne Novine
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General Packett: The authorities in this country must eventually
wake up and take action to arrest Karadzic
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In an interview with Radio Free Europe, COSMFOR General Virgil
Packett said: "NATO troops will not rest until the Hague Tribunal
fugitives are detained. We will leave no stone unturned, we will
search every forest to find them and send them where they belong,
to the Hague Tribunal." Asked how is it possible that Karadzic has
been hiding for years in the heart of Europe, while Saddam Hussein
was easily captured in Iraq General Packett said: "It is a brilliant
question. But I am not the only one who should answer it. The authorities
in this country must eventually wake up and take action to arrest
Karadzic and the others. It takes willpower, which is now lacking.
The problem is a small but strong group that is helping PIFWCs hide."
He refused to give more information about terrorist groups in BiH,
emphasising that SFOR intelligence data were not to be made public.
"SFOR's task is to ensure a safe environment for the people in BiH.
We are determined to remove all those who pose a threat to the security
and stability of the country. We cannot make our intelligence data
public," he said. General Packett siad that BiH was a great success
for NATO. "We think that we have achieved a great success in this
country. SFOR has established a stable and safe environment. I think
that time has come to downsize troops. We have reached the level
of stability at which we can start transferring the control, step
by step, to the authorities of this country. However, we still cannot
be certain that things cannot go wrong. We have to be aware that
there are still people who want new conflicts. There are many challenges
ahead of us, but I truly believe that the future of BiH is bright,"
added General Packett. (p.3)
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AF IN BIH
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Slobodna Bosna
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Delic asks Dudakovic to step down because of "world trends"
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After Nezavisne Novine had published news that the former Commander
of the VF Joint Command and the current Military Advisor to the
Bosniac member of the BiH Presidency, Rasim Delic, was a candidate
for the post of BiH Defense Minister, several other papers in BiH
published his decision to reject that offer. When asked by Nezavisne
Novine whether he was participating in the campaign aimed at taking
down General Dudakovic from the post of the VF Joint Command Commander,
Delic answered that one should not occupy such a post for too long.
"Everywhere in the world, such posts are usually occupied by one
person between two and four years," said Delic. It is good that
Delic has decided to follow "the world trends", but he should have
started it earlier. As a reminder, Delic, despite "the world trends",
was the Commander of the Army of BiH, and, later, of the VF Joint
Command, between 1993 and 2001. He remained at that post despite
the fact that the aggressor had occupied a huge territory in 1993,
despite the fruitless attempts to free Sarajevo from the siege in
1995, and despite the fact that Srebrenica was occupied at the time
when he was the Commander of the ARBiH and when thousands of people
were slaughtered. (p. 15)
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AF IN BIH
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Jutarnje Novine
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Equipment for production of chemical weapons destroyed
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Yesterday, a ceremony of closure of the military facility and destruction
of equipment for the production of chemical weapons was conducted
in Livac near Mostar. The closure project was funded by the US government,
in accordance with a previously signed agreement. The SCM Secretary
general, Enes Becirbasic, said at the ceremony that BiH had been
obliged, in accordance with the Convention on Banning the Chemical
Weapons, either to ensure regular maintenance and control of such
facilities, or the demolition of such facilities and equipment which
had been used by former Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA). He added that
BiH had decided to implement the second option. The Charges d' Affairs
of the US Embassy in BiH, Tina Kaidanov, pointed out that the governments
of the US and BiH had begun planning the demolition of that facility
and the destruction of equipment two years ago. (p. 3)/The same
in Dnevni avaz (p. 10), Oslobodjenje (p. 8), Dnevni List (p. 7),
Nezavisne Novine (p. 2), Slobodna Dalmacija (p. 6)/
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AF IN BIH
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Dnevni avaz
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RS Defense Minister Stankovic announces a new territorial organization
of the VRS
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Yesterday, RS Defense Minister Milovan Stankovic announced that
a new territorial VRS organization would be established in the first
three months of 2004. He confirmed that the VRS General Headquarters
would move out from the Vrbas military Barracks by 30 June this
year. He also said that the VRS would undergo another downsizing
of its troops in 2004, and that the number of the VRS soldiers after
the downsizing would be 4,000. (p. 10)
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AF IN BIH
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Jutarnje Novine
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RS President Cavic: "Defence Minister at state level must be from
RS"
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The RS President, Dragan Cavic, reiterated the stance of RS senior
officials that the first BiH Defense Minister had to be from the
RS, adding that that stance was final and irrevocable. He said that
the RS would be able to propose the right candidate for that post
soon. (p. 4)/The same in Dnevni avaz (p. 9)/
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BIH - ARMS TRADE
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Dani
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Why Hasan Cengic is on Bush's list
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In its report submitted to the Federation Prosecutor's Office at
the end of last year, the Federation Police Administration claims
that the current HDZ leaders, Ante Jelavic, Dragan Covic and Miroslav
Coric, and the Directors of Soko Vita, Dragan Kolobaric, and Vitezit
Cromen, Marijan Skopljak, obtained personal gain of KM 2.6 million
by trading arms. In another case, Jelavic, as a former Federation
Minister of Defense, and his Deputy, Hasan Cengic, are charged with
failing to submit a list of countries under the UN, EU or US arms
embargo to military industry companies. As a result of neglect by
the former leaders of the Federation Ministry of Defense, two military
factories from central Bosnia, BNT Novi Travnik and Vitezit from
Vitez, allegedly violated the international arms embargo. The Federation
police also suspects that the Director of BNT factory in Novi Travnik,
Abaz Mandzuka, and the Director of Vitezit, Nikola Krizanovic, were
involved in this scandal. According to some sources, Hasan and Halid
Cengic ended up on George Bush's black list because of their involvement
in weapons trafficking during, and, more importantly, after the
war. (Photo on page 28)
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BIH - ECONOMY
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Slobodna Bosna
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The lowest economy growth rate in BiH last year
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The first of the four-year mandate of the ruling coalition of national
parties in BiH ended with devastating results. The BiH economy growth
rate was one of the lowest in the region. The BiH industry production
decreased from 15 to 5%. The number of the direct foreign investments
was drastically reduced. Also, the number of employed persons in
the Federation BiH dropped by 7,000. The BiH Budget deficit amounted
to KM 200 million. (p. 23)
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BIH - MEDIA
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Slobodna Bosna
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After foreseeing an attempt to assasinate Hilmo Selimovic, Avaz
announced assassination of Zlatko Lagumdzija!
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Several days ago, one of the newspapers owned by Fahrudin Radoncic
published a horoscope by the Avaz's psychic who foresaw that an
SDP senior official would be assassinated in 2004. A month before
an assassination attempt on Hilmo Selimovic, the owner of the Sarajevo
Brewery, one of the Avaz's newspapers wrote that it had "reliable"
information that Selimovic's deceived business partners were planning
to take revenge against him, and that he had no chance of escaping
their revenge. After an assassination attempt on Selimovic, Radoncic
had to explain his connection with the underground, which tainted
his image of a powerful and untouchable landlord. This time, the
message to Zlatko Lagumdzija was "phrased" in such a way so that
he will not have to explain it to the police. Lagumdzija said that
he was not surprised by Radoncic's threat and that he was not scared
by it. "Even though I do not believe in the saying that 'a dog that
barks does not bite', I can only say that regardless of any threats,
we will still insist that the Law on the Seizure of Illegally Earned
Property be adopted," said Lagumdzija. (Photo on page 15)
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BIH - MEDIA
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Dani
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Will Zlatko Lagumdzija end up in the same way as Zoran Djindjic?
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According to Dani, Zlatko Lagumdzija is probably not reading tabloids,
like Express, a newspaper published by Avaz, where psychic Mevludin
Duvancic foresaw in a weekly horoscope for Capricorn that a senior
SDP official would be assassinated in 2004. If Lagumdzija was reading
the horoscope, he would certainly be able to interpret this as a
death threat and take this warning seriously. Zlatko Lagumdzija's
reaction to this is the same as in Slobodna Bosna. (Photo on page
24)
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BIH - PARTIES
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Oslobodjenje
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Tihic responds to Ashdown (Front page story)
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Even though he thinks it unusual to correspond through the media,
on Thursday, the SDA President and the Bosniac member of the BiH
Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, responded to the ten questions posed
by the OHR concerning the appointment of Bosniacs to the police
and judicial institutions. His response was entitled: "Europe does
not want judges and prosecutors with wartime past." Tihic said that
he was familiar with the fact that BiH could not join the EU without
professional and independent judiciary, and that politicizing of
the appointment process would not contribute to this. He said that
he knew that the IC was becoming more and more concerned. He is
also aware that a small number of Bosniacs had applied for job vacancies
in the RS and that all current attempts have failed to change the
situation in this entity. "The fact that persons with wartime past
were appointed to police, judicial and prosecutorial posts is especially
worrying because the same persons held posts at the time when war
crimes were committed against Bosniacs, and they have so far done
nothing to try the criminals. You will agree with me that BiH cannot
join the EU as long as this kind of persons are in its judiciary
and the police," said Tihic. Half an hour after Tihic had issued
this press release, another press release arrived signed by the
SDA Vice President, Seada Palavric, in which the SDA responded to
the ten questions posed by the OHR. The press release said that
it was the SDA and not Sulejman Tihic that had initially posed the
questions. That is why the newspaper believes that Palavric decided
to send a response instead of Tihic. (Photo on page 1) /The same
in Dnevni avaz (p. 1), Jutarnje Novine (p. 5), Dnevni List (p. 2),
Nezavisne Novine (p. 6)/
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BIH - PARTIES
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Dnevni avaz
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Bringing constitutional and legal system in line with European
standards
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Mladen Potocnik, an independent deputy in the BiH Parliamentary
Assembly, stated on Thursday that he had joined the SDU in its initiative
to adopt a resolution on bringing BiH's constitutional and legal
system in line with European standards. This resolution is supposed
to be in accordance with the statements by 24 members of the European
Parliament, according to which BiH, as a country, will have a future
only if it forms state structures that will guarantee the security
of all its citizens and promote the economic and social development
of the whole country. "When the time is ripe for this resolution,
I will forward it to the BiH Parliament. Prior to it, roundtable
discussions about what this resolution should contain will be held,"
said Potocnik. (Photo on page 9) /The same in Dnevni List (p. 5)/
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ICTY
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Dnevni avaz
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Karadzic's "messengers" visited Kalinic before the New Year?
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According to unconfirmed information provided by SDS members, just
before the New Year, Radovan Karadzic's messengers visited certain
RS politicians in Banja Luka, including Dragan Kalinic, to convey
them Karadzic's instructions for political activities. (Photo on
page 3)
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INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
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Slobodna Bosna
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Zaric Dzuvo and Elpez, candidates for heads of the state intelligence
service, compromised by their wartime biographies
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Adnan Terzic, the Chair of the Council of Ministers, has nominated
Almir Dzuvo, his political advisor and the Head of the Anti-Terrorist
team, for one of the three key positions in the State Intelligence
Service. Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Minister, after consultations
with Dragan Cavic, nominated Risto Zaric, the current Director of
the RS Intelligence Service, for one of these positions, while Barisa
Colak, the HDZ President and BiH Minister for Security nominated
Mladen Elpez. They are to fill the positions of Director of the
state Intelligence Service, his deputy and the chief inspector.
The OHR is already reviewing the biographies of these candidates.
According to sources close to the OHR and the US Embassy, Risto
Zaric has the least chances for any appointment to the state intelligence
service because of his involvement in spying on international organisations
and SFOR. The RS side has already agreed on the nomination of Zoran
Djeric, the RS Minister of Internal Affairs if Zaric's candidacy
is rejected by the OHR. Almir Dzuvo does not enjoy the support of
Sulejman Tihic, but he is strongly supported by British spy circle
led by Morris Power and Alystair Sommerlad. Mladen Elpez was Grude
Chief Police before the war, and the Mostar Chief Police from 1993
to 1995, when the most atrocious war crimes were committed in Mostar.
(Photo on page 5)
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INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
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Blic
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Tihic against appointment of Sredoje Novic as Director of the State
Intelligence Service
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Sulejman Tihic, the SDA President, strongly opposes the appointment
of Sredoje Novic, the current Director of the State Information
and Protection Agency as the new Director of the State Intelligence
Service. Tihic said that those who had not co-operated with the
Hague Tribunal, who had not arrested war crimes suspects and who
had not processed cases of war crimes should not be appointed to
the position of Director of the State Intelligence Service. (Photo
on page 12)
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INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
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Oslobodjenje
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RS representatives criticise draft law on state intelligence service
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"RS representatives have numerous objections to the draft law on
the state intelligence service proposed by the Expert Commission
on Intelligence Reform," said Dragan Cavic, RS President. He said
that the state intelligence serice as proposed by the draft law
would not meet the requirements of the entities and the state of
BiH. (p. 7)
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MOSTAR
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Dnevni List
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SDA Hercegovina-Neretva Canton: OHR has the power but does not
respect the power of evidence
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Salko Sokolovic, the President of the SDA Hercegovina-Neretva Canton,
said that the OHR has power, which is why it does not respect the
power of evidence. "That is why some HR's solutions for Mostar were
unjust," he added. As for reforming the city of Mostar, Sokolovic
said that the Federation Parliament, and not the HR, a commission
or a mediator, should discuss the reform of the city of Mostar.
"The Federation Parliament is the only institution authorised to
form municipalities in the Federation," he said. He said that the
interests of the OHR concerning Mostar corresponded with those of
the HDZ. "They want to reform the city of Mostar by making it one
municipality, which would be dominated by Croats," he added. The
SDA supported the idea of Mostar as a united city with six municipalities.
(Photo on page 9)
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MOSTAR
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Oslobodjenje
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HDZ against Norbert Winterstein's proposal for Mostar
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The Mostar HDZ opposed Norbert Winterstein's proposal for the reform
of the city of Mostar and announced that this party would call for
referendum for Mostar Croats to see whether they want to live in
Mostar organised in accordance with Winterstein's proposal. Winterstein
proposed that Mostar be organised as a single municipality with
seven electoral units. Six electoral units would correspond with
the current municipalities and each would elect three deputies to
the city council. The seventh electoral unit would be the city of
Mostar, from which 13 deputies would be elected, four from each
constituent people and one from other nations. The HDZ claims that
this proposal was contrary to the will of the Croats. The HDZ insists
on organising Mostar as a single municipality and a single electoral
unit. (Photo on page 3) /The same in Jutarnje Novine (p.2.), Dnevni
avaz (p.4), Dnevni List (p.5), Nezavisne Novine (p.2)/
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POLICE/SBS
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Oslobodjenje
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RS Police Minister Zoran Djeric against establishing of a single
MUP in BiH
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RS Police Minster Zoran Djeric stated that the RS MUP would not
cease to exist after the implementation of reform of the police
in BiH. He added that it was natural that the RS MUP would undergo
certain changes because of the reform implementation, but that the
RS MUP would continue to exist and it would be even stronger and
more professional. He also said that advocating a single MUP in
BiH was absurd. (p. 3)/The same in Oslobodjenje (p. 3)/
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POLICE/SBS
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Slobodna Bosna
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Mevludin Halilovic to leave FMUP and join Colakovic's Ministry
of Security
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Slobodna Bosna received a piece of information from a very reliable
source that the Federation Police Minister, Mevludin Halilovic,
had decided "to voluntarily step down" because the SDA leaders had
sent him an unambigious message that they were dissatisfied with
his work. According to this information, the SDA leaders expected
Halilovic to remove Zlatko Miletic from the post of the Chief of
the Police Department, but he failed to do so. Further, the EUPM
sent a serious warning that Halilovic would be removed from position
because of his activities aimed at obstructing the work of Miletic.
Therefore, Halilovic decided to apply to a vacancy announcement
for the post of Assistant Security Minister in the BiH Council of
Ministers. (p. 12)
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TERRORISM
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Nezavisne Novine
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BiH authorities cannot prevent young men from going to battlefields
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"Nobody can ban young men in BiH from going to battlefields in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya because they have necessary documents
and visas. We cannot know in advance what they are going to do there.
What we can do is ban those organizations established to be organizing
the departure of young people from BiH to battlefields in Iraq or
some other countries," said Sredoje Novic, Director of the State
Information and Protection Agency (SIPA), commenting on an unnamed
source from SFOR that BiH young men were being recruited for battlefields
in these countries. Barisa Colak, BiH Minister of Security, did
not exclude the possibility that young men from BiH were leaving
for Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya in order to fight on the side
of radical Islamic groups there. "We have no official information
about their departure, but we also do not have an intelligence service
to collect this information," said Colak. The Nezavisne Novine's
source close to SFOR said that young men from BiH, mainly members
of radical Wahabi Islamic movement, were going to battlefields in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya. Their departure to these countries
is organized by several organizations linked in an unofficial association,
suspected of being linked to al-Qaida. They are paid KM 40,000 each.
The same source said that he had seen a VCR coverage showing Bosnian
young men engaged in fights. Colak said that it was impossible to
monitor foreigners entering BiH while they were in BiH because BiH
did not have a unitary state level security intelligence service.
(Photo on page 3)
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TERRORISM
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Slobodna Bosna
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Syrians, Egyptians and Algerians were granted BiH citizenships
easier than Bosnians
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Even though the BiH Council of Minister's Commission for Reviewing
Citizenships Granted completed its work six months ago, the Council
of Ministers has not yet presented the findings of this commission.
The reason for this is Safet Halilovic, BiH Minister of Civil Affairs
and Communications, who is against the presentation of the findings
by the commission. Out of a total of 740 BiH citizenships granted
to foreigners, which were reviewed by the commission, there are
360 disputed cases of persons established to have been granted citizenship
not on any legal basis, but most often on the basis of counterfeit
documents, signatures, information about their residence in BiH
and the duration of stay in BiH. (Photo on page 30)
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WOMEN TRAFFICKING
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Oslobodjenje
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BiH Court proves that crime can be fought successfully
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The OHR expressed its satisfaction with the fact that the BiH Court
had sentenced people indicted for women trafficking. At a press
conference held yesterday, the OHR spokesperson, Vedran Perisic,
said that the HR, Paddy Ashdown, was very pleased that the BiH Court
had rendered the first sentence for people smuggling. He added that
Ashdown was especially pleased with the fact that the chain of people
smuggling had been disrupted successfully through the joint efforts
of the BiH State Border Service and the BiH Prosecutor's Office.
He also said that Ashdown was very satisfied with the work of the
BiH Court, which was efficient and prompt, and had a positive influence
on the reputation of BiH in Europe. (p. 9)
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WOMEN TRAFFICKING
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Nezavisne Novine
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Milorad Milakovic ready to co-operate with the Prosecutor's Office
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Yesterday, the hearing of 18 people indicted for women trafficking
and enslavery in the Milakovic case before the BiH Court was postponed
at the request of the defendants Milorad Milakovic and Niko Arsenic.
"I have asked the BiH Prosecutor to spare a couple of hours of his
time to discuss everything and to expedite the procedure. Taking
into account that I am a BiH citizen and that I wish my country
the best, I have decided to help in order to make this procedure
more humane and efficient. First of all, I am ready to co-operate
with the BiH Court and the Prosecutor because it is the shortest
way that leads to justice," stated the first defendant in this case
and the co-owner of the Sherwood Hotel in Prijedor, Milorad Milakovic.
(p. 4)
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