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Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: Morning everybody. Following up on what Simon said yesterday about the duty of the media here to cover the NATO campaign in Yugoslavia in an unbiased, inoffensive and professional manner, the High Representative and IMC are very concerned about the performance of SRT. SRT's coverage is extremely biased and one-sided. Where its news programs use almost exclusively footage from Serbia's television RTS, and its main sources are Tanjug and statements by countries that oppose the NATO operation. The rest of the time, the RS broadcaster shows war movies and plays national and nationalistic songs.
It is very sad that at a time when maximum responsibility is required, SRT is failing to uphold minimum journalistic standards. We are also very disappointed that all efforts to restructure the main TV broadcasters in the country and turn them into professional media organizations seem to have been futile. The OHR and IMC will continue to monitor the SRT program as well as the coverage of the Kosovo crisis by all other media. At the moment, we are trying to improve the situation in direct talks with SRT and the RS government.
On another point, yesterday Deputy High Representative Hans Schumacher attended a meeting between representatives of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications, and the Bundesdruckerei, at which the so-called Certificate of Approval was signed. This document endorses that Bundesdruckerei has completed its contract on the production and supply of passports to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Delivered goods and services include some two million blank passports, 34 computer and printer systems, two databases, as well as software training and servicing. The participants also signed a memorandum of understanding as an addition to the original contract, identifying further assistance of Bundesdruckerei within the scope of the regular 12-month guarantee period.
Ambassador Schumacher was satisfied with the professional and businesslike manner in which the meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of Minister Marko Asanin, and the assistance of Deputy Minister Nudzeim Recica. The only flaw was that Deputy Minister Valentin Coric did not attend, apparently because he is putting narrow-minded party politics above the interest of the state. Nonetheless, the OHR is very pleased at the Law on Travel Documents, after a rather long and painful process. It's the first BiH law that has not only been adopted by the proper institutions, but also implemented.
And that's all I have for you.
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: Good morning. UNHCR strongly condemns the attack against its premises in Banja Luka yesterday. UNHCR understands that its office was not directly targeted and has decided not to change its policy in the area, which is to remain and help the people UNHCR is in charge of, facilitate return of refugees and displaced persons. There is another demonstration today in the same area in Banja Luka. UNHCR hopes that the crowd will demonstrate in a much more peaceful and democratic manner, and calls for the authorities and the police to do its utmost to ensure law and order, their primary responsibility.
On another topic, I had lots of questions about arrival from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Bosnia, to Sarajevo. It seems that people, ethnic Albanians, are not arriving so much from Kosovo anymore. It seems that there are transport problems. However, we did have quite a big number of people arriving from Sandzak. We've been monitoring their arrival with one UNHCR team, which is located in Rudo at the border between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska. And then we've got another team which is at the bus station in Sarajevo. We haven't got details about the number of people arriving, but it seems to be quite an important number of people, from Novi Pazar, Zenica, Rozaj and Priboj. Except for two individuals, no one has asked UNHCR assistance, neither legal nor humanitarian. It seems that people are staying with their family and with relatives. We are currently negotiating with the authorities for a possible bigger influx, we're negotiating with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communication which is the central ministry, we're also negotiating with the Federal ministry. So far, people, I mean the Kosovo asylum seekers, are still in Rakovica and in Bosanski Petrovac, which are two reception centers, as well as two transit centers in Srednje and Bosanski Petrovac. And we're negotiating with the Federation to have the possibility to use more transit centers in case of a bigger arrival from Kosovo of ethnic Albanians or Sandzaki.
I have to insist that the negotiation we have with the authorities right now are very positive. The authorities have agreed to offer protection to all people arriving from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of course, with the support of UNHCR, in the framework of the sub-agreement that we've got already with the Central Ministry, but as well with the arrangement we're currently negotiating with the Federal ministry.
Thank you.
Douglas Coffman, UNMIBH: There were several incidents reported yesterday in the Republika Srpska. Yesterday evening in Banja Luka, a crowd of approximately 700 to 1,500 people, predominantly students and teenagers, held a protest march against the NATO air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Although the majority of the participants acted in a responsible and peaceful manner, a handful of protesters threw eggs and stones at the local offices of the United States, German and United Kingdom embassies. This resulted in windows being broken at all three premises. Additionally, the local security officer at the U.S. premesis was assaulted. The police officers at the scene were able to keep the overall level of violence to a minimum. Later, a smaller group of demonstrators went to the offices of the UNHCR and broke some windows there as well.
Additionally, last night in Bosanska Gradiska, an hand grenade exploded sixty meters away from the United Nations - IPTF station. There was no damage to U.N. property or personnel.
Once again, UNMBIH would like to call upon all the citizens of the RS to remain peaceful and to respect the rule of law. Additionally, we urge all politicians and media from making comments that incite violence. UNMIBH continues to believe that the Republika Srpska police will honor their commitment to provide security to all citizens and the international organizations working here. In this regard, UNMIBH has approved a request of the RS Ministry of the Interior to set up additional traffic controls. UNMIBH has taken a series of precautionary measures to provide for the security of its personnel and property.
Thank you.
LtCdr Sheena Thomson, SFOR: Good morning from SFOR. I just have one thing for you this morning, and that is to echo my colleagues' comments on events in Banja Luka last night. Clearly, the majority of the people who were on the street last night were protesting in a peaceful manner, but where any kind of hooliganism or violence is incited, we do strongly condemn this, but we do continue to look at the local police to fulfill their obligations and keep this to a minimum, and we again appeal for calm in the population.
Peaceful protest is acceptable in a democracy, but when violence and injury is involved, this is not acceptable, and we will continue to watch by the sidelines and act appropriately.
That is all from SFOR.
Nicole Szulc, OSCE: Good morning everybody. I would like to join Alex in criticizing SRT's coverage, particularly in the last 24 hours or so. As we've been seeing for some time now, balanced reporting is the linchpin of transparency and democracy. And secondly, I want to also point out that the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether it's in the RS or in the Federation, should take this golden opportunity, tragic as it is, to be a catalyst for reconciliation rather than to be throwing gas on the fire and inflaming passions.
The second thing I would like to say is that Ambassador Robert Barry, the OSCE Head of Mission, will have a press conference today at 2:30 p.m. at the OSCE headquarters.
Thank you very much.
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: Do you have any questions?
Questions
Daria Sito Sucic, Reuters, Q: A question for OHR. Does anything happen to the OHR office in Banja Luka? And today's protest - we got information that yesterday's protest is building up. Are there any plans to evacuate staff or close the office down?
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: Yesterday nothing happened to our office, and today we are taking precautionary measures, but we are not evacuating.
Daria Sito Sucic, Reuters, Q: And another question for SFOR - there is also a rumor that some Serbs were shooting in Zvornik against SFOR. Can you confirm that?
LtCdr Sheena Thomson, SFOR: When was this alleged to have happened?
Daria Sito Sucic, Reuters, Q: We don't have information.
LtCdr Sheena Thomson, SFOR: I certainly have no reports this morning, or even recently, of any such shootings.
Ranko Mavrak, HINA, Q: Sheena, the airspace over Croatia has been reopened since this morning. I'm interested if you have any information if it's possible to, for a similar thing to happen in Bosnia, and what has happened at the end with these two jet fighters which landed at Sarajevo airport yesterday.
LtCdr Sheena Thomson, SFOR: The airspace and airports in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to remain closed until further notice, and I have no information as to when they will be reopened, but we will, obviously, make an announcement when that is the case. The current status of the two F15s - they are still at Sarajevo airport, they are still on the ground, and repairs are being conducted prior to when they'll be able to depart and return to their home unit in northern Italy.
Nancy Tonner, UPI, Q: Ariane, I know you don't have numbers of people, but do have any idea how many buses are coming from Sandzak?
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: Well, I think what we've been trying to do, and you should do the same basically, is be at the bus station and monitor what's going on at the bus station. Our first assessment, from the bus station, but that's why we don't take for granted what the director of the bus station tells us, but our first assessment that we're looking into is that there would have been over 20 buses arriving on Wednesday and over 10 to 15 yesterday. But once again, this is not a UNHCR figure. That's what I'm talking about - considerable numbers. Because we had a team in Rudo, and we've been monitoring the bus station in Sarajevo, but I mean that's not a UNHCR assessment. Once again, just go there. The only thing I can say is that it's apparently important numbers. Now you also have to keep in mind that there's Bajram on Monday, so a lot of people, I don't want to underestimate the situation in Yugoslavia, but a lot of people would anyways have come to Sarajevo for this specific weekend to spend the weekend with their families. So you have to look into the combination of the two. But once again - go to the bus station, because they will tell you how many additional buses there have been coming from Sandzak.
Nancy Tonner, UPI, Q: Also, do you know exactly what kind of problems there are at the border for the Kosovars who are trying to leave, or who might be trying to leave? You said there's apparently problems at the border.
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: No, I said there's apparently a problem to leave Pristina, which is different. I'm not talking about problems at the border, and once again we've had the team monitoring at the border, that's not the problem. But it seems the last bus which arrived from Kosovo, from Pristina, arrived on Wednesday to Sarajevo. We had 40 asylum seekers registering with UNHCR yesterday, on Thursday. We had no buses arriving from Pristina yesterday. Something, you know, you've got to talk to the people. It seems, according to what they tell us, that there are no buses, which would sound pretty logical, that there are no buses from Pristina making their way to Sarajevo, but you might want to talk with the people as well, which is like doing the same job - talking to the people and trying to find out what's going on.
Nancy Tonner, UPI, Q: Just one last question. Can you, I'm sorry, but once again, give us the figures of, total figures of refugees we have from Kosovar at this point?
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: Kosovar, ethnic Albanians. Let me get back into my16 March, which is already ten days ago, you would add a hundred people7,150, put it that way. Out of - in refugee reception or transit center, there are about 1,500 of them, which are either in the two reception centers I mentioned, Rakovica or Bosanski Petrovac, or in two transit centers, which is Srednje in Sarajevo canton and Bosanski Petrovac as well. We, UNHCR, we estimate that there would be about 10,000 Kosovars, Albanians from Kosovo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Richard Byrne, Riverfront, Q: Alexandra, back to media for a second. Two questions: number one, how long has this broadcast behavior by SRT - how long will you allow it to continue before you take prophylactic or punitive action against the station. And second, in terms of Federation media, has there been any improvement over the first night's coverage that you've been able to see?
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: Well, we're taking action, because we're discussing SRT, with SRT management and the RS government. So, we hope we can solve the problem through talks without having to take any punitive measures. And Federation media - I mean, of course you can see some bias, but there haven't been any outrageous cases, or at least not to my knowledge. But it always takes some time until all the reports get to us. For example, I haven't seen all the reports of what was on the air last night.
Vedran Persic, OBN, Q: Ariane, please, can you just inform us just how many people were in that UNHCR office in Banja Luka, and where they are now?
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: Well today, UNHCR has a minimum presence in the office, but we have a few people. There is a demonstration on exactly the same street, so you learn the lessons. We do have people in the office because there's no way we are going to leave our office unattended. And once again, I insist that it doesn't seem that the attack was targeted against UNHCR, so there's no way we should feel directly and aggressively threatened. However, the same demonstration, or the same type of demonstration, is going to take place in the same type of, in the same area, so of course we're taking precautions, and we have a very minimum presence in the office, but we're still in the office. We're still operating in Banja Luka, and we're still operating in the Republika Srpska.
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: To add to that, we're also trying to contact the Ministry of Interior Affairs in the RS and ask them to protect all offices and premises of international organizations.
Ariane Quentier, UNHCR: And I would even add that there's nothing that - the police did a proper job, there was not much, that's our observation, there's not much they could do at that stage because there was quite an important crowd. But we are satisfied with the way the police has been reacting. They've done their best in a very limited framework and with very limited possibilities.
Vedran Persic, OBN, Q: Alex and Doug - U.S. Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina issued two nights ago a press release where they wrote that basically they expecting those attacks will happen, and they underlined that they think that Serb Radical Party is behind that. But do you have any clues or leads who might organize that?
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: We don't. I mean, we are not in the business of gathering intelligence. The Radical party here has repeatedly overstepped certain, say, borders - I mean, former president Poplasen called for violence once, they brought in newspapers from Serbia in which they appealed on attacking international organizations, so they have a record. But we have no evidence over the last few days.
Nicole Szulc, OSCE: And of course you saw statements yesterday by Seselj calling for attacks against any U.S. interests anywhere in the world.
Douglas Coffman, UNMIBH: If I could add as well, once again yesterday the majority of those demonstrating were students and teenagers. It's certainly possible that mixed in among those 1,500 people you had some radical elements. But once again, the demonstration was, the majority of the people participating were peaceful. It was just a handful that made it a bad event.
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: If there's real evidence that the Radical Party is organizing violence or pushing for violence, then the High Representative would not hesitate to use his powers, because he can penalize whole parties, not just officials.
Nicole Szulc, OSCE: And I want to remind you also that when people like Mr. Poplasen signed up to be candidates, they signed pledges in which they said they would abide by the Dayton agreement, by the rules and regulations of the Provisional Election Commission, by the Code of Conduct, for parties and candidates, and any kind of inciteful language, inflammatory language, and certainly any actions of the kind we are talking about here would be a direct violation of pledges that they took.
Vedran Persic, OBN, Q: If I may just follow up - if investigation finds that Radical Party is behind those demonstrations, are they facing sacking from the political life of Bosnia - Herzegovina?
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: It depends on what kind of evidence and who is behind it, but they could. I mean, you have a whole set of measures you can take. You can ban them from running in the next elections, you can, I don't know, remove a few officials, you can set some conditions and punish them until they fulfill the conditions - I mean, you can be creative in that regard.
Nicole Szulc, OSCE: Not only that, the pledges that were signed not only by Mr. Poplasen but any candidate, an any president of party - there were two separate pledges that they signed in both their capacities as individual candidates and party leadership figures, and so they would be, both as a party and as an individual, in violation of the promises that they made.
Daria Sito Sucic, Reuters, Q:
Nicole, what is Ambassador Barry going to give a statement on today?
Nicole Szulc, OSCE: He'd like to talk about precisely the sorts of things we're talking about here - about abuses by the media, by politicians, and by anyone else who would incite to violence or inflame the situation already existing.
Goran Pirolic, BH Press, Q: Federation MUP yesterday issued a warning to travelers who are traveling to Croatia through the Mrkonjic Grad area. It's a question for SFOR and IPTF - do you have any information about security situation in that area?
Douglas Coffman, UNMIBH: I'm not familiar with this release that you're speaking of, these comments you're speaking of.
LtCdr Sheena Thomson, SFOR: Could you repeat the name of the town? I have no information either. We haven't put out any travel advisory at all. I'm not familiar with the one that you referred to either.
Alexandra Stiglmayer, OHR: So, I think there's no more questions. Thank you very much.
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